Entering: Sakura Haruno

"Ms. Haruno, your identity card will be issued in a few more days. Until then, you must keep your allotment letter with you, or else you won't be allowed to enter. Is that clear?" The blonde lady sitting in front of Sakura warned her, Sakura was listening to the instructions, but she glanced over to the lady who might be in her 50s but looked gorgeous as Cindy Crawford. Her bosom for one thing was huge. By huge, I mean really huge. She was as kind as she was pretty, Sakura liked her.

"Yes ma'am!"

"Good, you may leave now!"

Sakura was ready to set foot in this new school for the first time. The most exciting thing is that she doesn't have to wear uniforms anymore. The first sign of freedom.

The school had lockers, which means no more carrying heavy backpacks. She was loving it all. Until she stepped inside her classroom, she could feel all the gazes upon her. It's obvious that knowing a new person walking into the class, everyone is eventually going to stare at her, but the gazes give her jitters.

She walked up to a bench in the row beside the window and stopped. It had a really good view of cherry blossom trees outside. She was about to keep her bag on the seat, but a girl with two buns stopped her,

"You don't want to sit there,"

"Why?" Sakura was hazed,

"Yeah, nobody sits there until they have a death wish." Someone from back passed a comment,

"Deathwish?" She mumbled to herself, then looked at the girl and decided there was nothing much to fuss over, so she chose the seat next to it.

The class was about to start, and all the seats in the class were filled except that one seat. It was empty. Sakura wondered why nobody had let her sit there. Was it haunted? Was it cursed by some ex-student who did su!cide? The thoughts could only get worse, so she put a stopper on them.

She waited while their sensei walked into the class,

"Good morning, class! I welcome you all this semester. I hope you had fun while your vacation, and here we are! Today's our first day, and let's not give each other a hard time for the rest of this year. Now, if you allow me, we'll start with lesson number 1. Permutations and combinations, it's really easy if you understand the logic...."

And without any other chatting, this man straight up started his lecture. That was neat.

Sakura thought she'd be introduced to her classmates first thing in the morning, but she convinced herself, she was not in the middle school to expect such a thing from professors, and really needed to grow up, her thoughts diverted towards the empty seat beside her.

"Oh, and how could I miss everyone! May I have your attention, please?" Her thoughts were struck by the announcement of her teacher.

"I know this is not mandatory, nor do we get new students each semester. So I'd like to call upon the new student among us. Will you please do me the favor of coming up here?" And the middle-aged man pointed towards Sakura. She was flabbergasted for a moment, as she stumbled upon her own desk before standing up,

"Oh, careful!" She heard a soft voice from the back. It came from a girl whose face was almost covered by bangs, and all she wore was purple. Intriguing.

"Alright, now would you please introduce yourself to the class!" And the teacher went up to a corner, giving her the space. She was now standing in the spotlight. All gazes were locked to her but more softened now.

"Greetings, everyone. I'm Sakura Haruno. I'd be joining class 11-2 this semester, and I'm glad to make your acquaintance. Hope we all have a good time!" A little speech that she prepared before coming to the school really helped her to earn some applause.

"Great! Sakura is a transfer student. Make sure you guys make her feel included. Now then, should we get back to the subject." He gestured for Sakura to go back to her seat,

When she got back, a new hand was raised,

"Yes, Lee."

"Iruka sensei, how come you didn't introduce me when I got here last semester.?" The boy with the bowl cut spoke,

"I did not?"

"Nope."

"Ah, it must've slipped my mind."

"Because of that, half of the class doesn't even know me." He complained while the class was engulfed in chuckles.

"Is that so? Then what you're waiting for, come up here right away!"

"Aye aye, sir!" The boy almost ran off towards the podium.

"As most of you know me! I'm Lee, and I've been with y'all since last semester. I'm glad to make your acquaintances too." Then glanced over the class, and his gaze stopped at a certain brunette, and he let out a huge smile.

The classes went by, and one by one, Sakura was greeted by each teacher. It was better than she thought.

"So what club you're gonna get into?" A blonde girl initiated the chat,

"Is that even a question? I'm definitely applying for a sports club."

"You over there! What are you planning?" The blonde girl tried to include Sakura in the conversation, but the sudden question made her flinch.

"Um, I haven't thought yet," Sakura replied,

"Since you're new, let me tell you, if you don't participate in extra-curricular, you get penalties." The girl warned.

"What kinds of penalties?"

"Defaulter or.." 

"Minus 3 points from overall credits!" Tenten added,

"What? That's crazy."

"You've not seen even 1% crazy of this school, trust me." The girls laughed, "By the way, I'm Ino, over there's Tenten, Hinata, and you don't wanna know other girls."

"Whatever," Sakura didn't pay much attention to them since the thoughts of finding a club membership started popping into her mind.

That's when she remembered the encounter from last night, the volleyball practice. She promised Naruto to watch him play. He was her first-ever friend,

"Where's the volleyball team practices?" Sakura asked,

"Left to the Gym, but why ask? There's no volleyball team for girls." Ino was the head cheerleader this year for a basketball team.

"That's a shame, but I'm not playing," Sakura answered while packing her things.

"Then why'd you wanna go there?" Tenten asked,

"Just because!" That was the reply before Sakura disappeared into thin here and got summoned in front of the volleyball court. It was far from what she imagined. She grew up watching her cousins play volleyball in open ground, bamboo net. The scenario here was different, a nicely furnished wooden court with sophisticated nets, trolleys full of volleyballs, and all students practicing their moves. The gymnasium was huge. It even had an extra floor, just the right place to watch the game. No wonder it's reputed for its game. When accommodation is so good, why won't players be good?

When Sakura arrived, the first set was just about to start. She reached up to the railings of the first floor,

The game started, and all the team players were divided into two teams. She spotted a silver-haired man in his 30s sitting in the corner, reading a book--which she found peculiar, as the match continued. The game was getting a bit aggressive, most likely the raven-haired setter of one team seemed a bit stressed, each ball he set was perfect, but if Spiker missed it, he'd send chilly glares to them on which even Sakura shrieked.

"What's with this guy?" She mumbled to herself.

"Talking about our setter, hm?" Sakura flinched when suddenly a voice appeared from behind.

"Er.. um, yes. " She gave out awkward laughter.

"May I join you?" That girl was a bit older than her. There's no way she'd be upperclassmen.

"Sure!" The lady stood beside her,

"He might seem hot-headed now, but usually he's the most calm and cool-headed person on the team," the lady replied.

"I see. He seems stressed about something."

"Hm, there were inter-school matches held, and we lost miserably. Thus, everyone on the team is under peer pressure. So much as they missed their classes on the first day."

"Wow, that must've hurt."

"Of course, but those boys are ambitious, I'm sure they'll win every match this semester, by the way. What's your reason to pop up here? We don't have a girl's team, I'm sorry if you're here for that."

Why is everyone thinking she wants to be on the team? She ignored it.

"To watch the match. I like volleyball." Sakura held her gaze firm on the match while answering.

"Do you know? What's your name?"

"Sakura Haruno, I'm actually a transfer student."

"Great, by any chance, have you applied for any club? It's compulsory if you didn't know."

"Wow, that really slipped my mind. I haven't ma'am."

"Then would you like to be the manager of the team? Our old one graduated, and nobody wants to be the manager since they think all they have to do is fill up bottles and arrange hankies for players, which is not really what a manager is." She talks a lot," Sakura thought. But she gave her an opportunity she didn't know she needed.

"Can I be the manager? Do I have to give interviews or something?" A ray of excitement emerged from within.

"There used to be interviews about basic knowledge of the game, but since you like the game, you must already know the basics, right? Anyway, you'll learn while watching the game, right? So you in?"

"Sure am!" Sakura punched in the air, the lady smiled too,

"Let's go now, I'll introduce you to the coach."

They walked downstairs and approached the same man whom Sakura spotted reading a book.

"Kakashi-San, this is Sakura from 11-2. She'd like to be the manager of our team."

"Um, Izumi, here's a thing..." and he called the lady whose name's Izumi aside.

"Actually, somebody already applied for this post, so?" Kakashi tried to whisper, but Sakura could hear it all.

"Oh, but do they like volleyball? Sakura here likes it." Izumi put on a view.

"Well, it's not like the team won't need another manager. We will have two managers this year. How does that sound? Sakura, was it?"

"Yes, sir." Sakura bowed in front of him out of habit.

"Where is it.." He started checking his pockets, "Ah, here it is. Since you're the first one to approach, you'd be the chief manager! Be a good one!"

Sakura held the badge. It was embedded with C. Manager with silver ink on it, she felt a little surge of joy rushing through her, that honor was something!

Meanwhile, the match was almost over. She thought of handing over water bottles to everyone, but before she could, all the guys picked it up themselves, almost ignoring her, and went to the first floor. They were all tired from the game, no doubt.

"You can start working from tomorrow, get some rest." Izumi tapped her shoulder.

"Sure."

Every time she was getting ignored when it was her chance to be introduced, then again, there'd be times when people would introduce themselves.

Nevertheless, now things are about to get busy.