When the bell finally rings, I hurry to the cafeteria to grab a good table for my friends and I. While I wait with my bag on the seat next to me, I see Kankuro walk in with Gaara and sit down at a corner table. Lee and Naruto walk up just then, placing their bags on their chosen seats. "How'd the tour go this morning?" Lee asks. I keep my eyes on the two boys. "It went well. Naruto didn't tell you?" Naruto chuckles nervously and scratches the back of his head. "Doesn't matter. They're over there," I say, pointing in Kankuro and Gaara's direction. Lee and Naruto look at them.

More of our friends arrive at the table and set their bags down. I get up and stand in line behind Ino. Sasuke, a sophomore, gets in line behind me. I've known him since third grade. He wraps his arm around my waist. "How's my girl doing today?" I slap his hand away and move in front of Ino. "I'm not your girl. So stop touching me and leave me alone" Naruto places a hand on my shoulder and guides me in front of him, glancing at Sasuke while shaking his head. Hinata moves to stand beside me, casting a worried glance at me. "I'm alright." I smile at her. Hinata nods, then asks the lunch lady for the days special.

I throw a look at Gaara over my shoulder. He's glaring daggers at Sasuke. The lunch lady asks me what I want, so I asked for a cheese quesadilla and French fries. I grab a chocolate milk and a banana after I put in my lunch pin, then grab a straw and sour cream. I begin to walk back to the table watching Gaara the whole time.

You know the saying, "Watch where you're going?" Yeah, I wasn't watching.

One minute I'm looking at Gaara, the next minute, I wind up on the floor covered in sour cream and chocolate milk. Gross! I turn to look at what had happened. Some senior boy had thought it would be funny to trip me, and now his whole table was roaring with laughter, pointing at me. "Hey Kikima," the boy said. "How about you become more ' hyumen ' than a zombie and watch where you're going next time!" He bursts out laughing again. Tears threaten to spill from my eyes as I sit there. A small group of people gather, and I fell like dying right then and there. I'm a mess, and my favorite blouse is ruined.

The boy who tripped me is suddenly jerked to his feet and turned around. The next thing surprises everyone.

Crack!

There's a sound of bones cracking, and the boy bent over to holding his nose. Gaara stood in front of him, knuckles red and swollen. It didn't seem to faze him at all that he just broke some kids nose. And he looked mad. The boy looked at Gaara. "You seriously want to mess with me kid? What, you got a thing for pale face Hyumen here?" Ignoring him, Gaara looked at me with a softer expression. He walked past the boy, grabbing my hand and pulling me to my feet. "Hey! I asked you a question." The boy said to Gaara. Kankuro walks up and pulls him back. "My brother doesn't have to answer you, Kingston."

Walter Kingston, the senior king. Rebecca, his so called queen, was cowering behind her friends. Gaara pulls me away from the growing crowd toward the wash station with some paper towels in hand. He gets them wet, lightly, and hands the wet paper towels to me. "Thank you," I say, taking the towels. Our fingers brush against each other, and a blush appears on both our faces. Gaara looks away. "Just, watch out next time. Okay?" I nod as he turns away and walks off.

I'm left standing there, wet paper towels in hand with a dumbstruck look on my face.

Sakura and Shino come running up to me. "Are you alright?" Sakura asks as Shino checks for injuries. I give them a small nod. Regaining myself, I wipe up the mess as best I can and throw the paper towels away. The bell rings then, so I grab my bag and make my way over to gym class. Gaara is ahead of me, so I jog to catch up. Over the intercom, Shizune calls seniors to the front of the building for class pictures. "You confuse me." I tell Gaara, walking beside him. "How?"

I pull the gym doors open, and we walk in. "I mean your moods. Its like one minute you don't really care, the next minute your mean and on guard like I'm going to say something hurtful." Gaara just heads to the boys changing room. "I want to help! You're my friend." Gaara stops in his tracks and turns to me. He looks me in the eye. "Friend?" he asks. I nod. "My only best friend." Gaara walks up to me and drops his backpack, pulling me into a bear hug. I hug him back. "Alright. We need to change for gym. Get going!" I give him a small push toward the boys locker room.

I'm in and out in about three minutes, dressed in the gym uniform with my long hair pulled back into a ponytail, my hairband holding back loose hairs. Gaara comes and stands beside me, while Tenten sits on the stage just above me. Gai comes out of his office when the bell rings. "All right, listen up! The gym is being used for student pictures, so we're going to run the mile today. Now hit the track!" Tenten hops down, letting out a loud groan. "On the first day? Really?"

As soon as we're all on the track, Gai shouts at us to start running and starts a timer. We take off running on the blacktop outlining the football field. Gaara and I keep a steady pace side by side, finishing after only 10 minutes. "Good work Hyumen, Sabaku." Gai says as I collapse to my knees, panting heavily. Gaara kneels beside me. "This was much worse than I thought," I say as I lean on the fence.