Take a Chance

Yumi glanced down at her piece of paper that let her know where she needed to go and what classes she had. She looked around nervously as she entered the dorm building and made her way up a few flights of stairs. She passed down a hall as she arrived to the door and unlocked it with the key that the front office had given her.

She was arriving half way through the term so her room mate was already settled in, she looked over to the spare bed and placed her things down. She wondered who her room mate was and hoped she'd get along with them.

---

Sasuke finished football training and took a swig of water from his bottle before gathering his things and making his way to the changing rooms inside the gym. He took a shower to get rid of the sweat and changed back into his uniform as he prepared to head back to his dorm room.

He still had to study for the pop quiz tomorrow but he wasn't too worried, after all he was an honor student. Getting back to his dorm room he unlocked it and went in, he noticed the mess left by his room mate and tsked in disgust. Stepping over littler to get to his side of the room. He took out his notes and slumped into his office chair before leaning over and beginning his study session.

Gaara had spent his day in the usual manner, having dealt with classes and such. He hadn't bothered to join clubs or anything throughout the school year, having found the thought kind of boring. There weren't any clubs or sports teams that interested him, anyways. Once he got to his dorm room that was usually empty aside from him, he made his way inside, only to stop in his tracks when he saw somebody inside.

Then he remembered that the dean had called him in to speak to him a few weeks ago about a new student who would be joining him and the immediate surprise left him. "So, you're the new girl?" he asked with curiosity, though his tone barely showed it. Ignoring it, he made his way to his side of the room and sat down in an almost lazy manner on his bed, arms behind him as they supported him in a slight upright position.

---

A bored yawn escaped Rei's lips as she made her way back to her dorm. After classes, she had ended up having to deal with the drama club since it was the only thing that held her interest, but they were still debating on which play to do this time. She had no actual preference and didn't really plan on actually being in the play - she preferred working behind the scenes rather than on stage.

Walking into the dorm she shared with Sasuke, she blinked several times upon noticing the boy already inside and at his desk. She had expected for him to be at practice still, but maybe she had lost track of time - especially since she had planned on cleaning up her mess upon her return in hopes of getting it done before Sasuke returned because she didn't want to hear him voice his annoyance.

Yumi jumped slightly at the sound of a guys voice and turned to spot red hair and a guy as he made his way over to his bed and lay down on it. "O-oh, yes, I'm Yumi Sinclair, nice to meet you," she stated politely, before realizing she'd be sharing rooms with a guy.

Her face turned slightly red as she blushed, looking away shyly and beginning to unpack her things and put them away, hoping she'd get use to the idea of sharing a room with a male.

---

Sasuke heard Rei walk in, indicating that she was back from her club activities. Sasuke didn't look up or acknowledge his room mate as she walked in, he knew she was probably hoping to clean up her mess before he got back but he had finished slightly earlier than usual.

"If you plan on cleaning up keep it down, I'm studying," He said gruffly, scribbling some notes into his notebook as he read from his text book.

Gaara offered a subtle nod upon hearing her introduce herself, though it was obvious she hadn't expected that she'd be rooming with him. He was certain that, with her being a transfer, she hadn't been expecting to room with a guy at all, but he didn't think much about it. It was just how things worked at the school and nobody really questioned it much. "Gaara," he introduced himself.

He watched her unpack, remaining silent for a few moments later, before he eventually let out a sigh. "Will you need a tour of the school or did the Student Council manage to do that already?" Usually, it was either the Student Council or the roommate that had to do the tour and he supposed he might as well be somewhat accommodating if it was necessary.

---

Rei rolled her eyes after hearing Sasuke's words and glanced over at him. "Well, maybe you should have studied in a quieter place," she said simply before she went ahead and got started on cleaning her mess. Honestly, she would have rather been roomed with Naruto or even Kiba, people that she could joke around with or done whatever she really wanted to do. Shaking her head of the thought, she concentrated on the task at hand.

Still, she did try to be as quiet as she could manage to be. It was easier said than done, considering that she had a few things lying around, but she did try and Sasuke would just have to deal with it.

Yumi finished unpacking and turned to face Gaara when he mentioned if she'd need a tour "I wasn't shown around but I don't want to bother you either," Yumi spoke. Gaara seemed quite reserved and indifferent but she thought she'd be able to get along with him as room mates. She just had to remember that she was rooming with a guy from now on, no biggie right.

Yumi took her timetable out and held it out for Gaara to take, "Do we have any classes together though?" She asked, hoping she knew at least one person in her large classes, but also feeling unsure if it'd make her feel any more better. "My classes are English, Math, Music, Biology, Art and History," Yumi stated.

---

Sasuke rolled his eyes at Rei's words mumbling that it was his room too, and he should be allowed to study where he wanted. He tried his best to ignore her ruckus, thanking the heavens she was actually trying to be quiet. He had to give Rei credit she wasn't a bad room mate, and her mess wasn't even that big of a deal. It was just Sasuke's fussiness that made him difficult to be a room mate.

Sasuke soon gave up on the idea of studying, he wasn't to bothered by it, he knew this topic already but was just wanting to revise. Closing his books, he set them aside, sighing.

Gaara blinked as he turned his attention down to the timetable, eyeing it carefully for a moment as he listened to her. "We have English, Math, Art and History," he told her before handing it back towards her and offering a slight shrug. Returning back to his previous position of leaning back on the bed.

"Are you sure you don't want to be shown around? Or at least for me to tell you where the Student Council room is, if you'd rather be shown around by one of them?" He didn't really care either way, but he didn't want to come off as too cold or rude. After all, they'd be rooming together and it was best to at least try to get along with her. Otherwise, the rest of the year would be bad for both of them.

---

Rei finished cleaning up fairly quickly - well, mostly, anyways. The only thing she really had left to do was her laundry but she wasn't particularly comfortable to handle that with knowing she'd have to move her clothes around with Sasuke around. Even if they had been rooming together for a while now, she didn't really want to risk the chance of him seeing any of her clothes.

Seeing that he had stopped studying, she moved to plop down on her bed, slipping her shoes off and crossing her legs underneath her on the bed. "Hey, Sasuke? If you're done studying, could you help me out with the Math homework?" she asked with curiosity. It wasn't a first that she asked for help, but she usually ended up owing him a favor in return.

Yumi blinked, surprised that they had four out of six classes together. "I guess, we'd be seeing a lot of each other then," she felt relieved and couldn't help but smile thankfully. "I guess, if it wouldn't be too much of a bother, if you could show me around?" Yumi asked hopeful.

It was strange, she wouldn't have pegged Gaara as someone that would try to be nice, she guessed this was why you shouldn't judge someone or something by their appearance. At least thins new school would seem bearable.

---

Sasuke paused for a moment, before nodding his head "Yeah, but you know the deal, you'll owe me a favour when I need one," he reminded her as he gathered his own maths textbooks and went to sit at the shared table they had in their room, making sure Rei had enough pace her motioned her over.

He begun pointing out how to solve each problem, explaining them to Rei in detail so she'd understand it as clearly as possible, not because she was stupid but because Sasuke liked to be thorough. Only when Rei had grasped what she needed to know did Sasuke stop to mention that they should go and get dinner.

Gaara nodded slightly to her words before gesturing for her to follow after him. "Well, come on, then," he told her as he stood up and made his way out of the room, waiting at the door for her. "I'll show you around a bit, then we'll grab dinner. Afterwards, we can either continue the tour or save the rest of the tour for tomorrow."

They'd have a while before their first class the next morning, depending on how early they woke up, so they should have enough time to finish the short tour if she wanted to wait until then. If not, they could just get it done tonight. He didn't mind either way, though he figured he'd have to get to his homework eventually. It was fairly easy, though. "Where'd you come here from, anyways?"

---

"Got it. Another quick escape from your fangirls is probably what the favor will be," Rei joked lightly before she went ahead to focusing her attention on the work. Really, Math was the only subject that she had enough trouble with that she would ask Sasuke for help on. She wasn't a genius, but she was good enough with everything else.

When he suggested dinner, a broad grin spread across her features and she nodded as she quickly moved to put her things away. "Ah, food!" she cheered happily, unable to help it. Since she had spent her time at the club, she hadn't gotten to eat yet. The thought of food was enough to brighten her up any time, though.

Yumi put her jacket on quickly and followed Gaara out of their room, wondering where he'd take her first on their tour. She hummed as she caught up to him, thinking about what he'd said and wondering what the easiest thing to do was.

"We can continue the tour tomorrow, before classes, it'd be easier," Yumi stated matter-of-factly. She glanced around focusing on familiarizing herself with her surroundings. She was about to say something else when a hyper-active blonde boy ran up to Gaara, greeting him before spotting Yumi and grinning at her. "Is this the new transfer student Gaara?" He asked.

---

Sasuke thought about it the favour, the fangirls were really annoying, but for whatever reasons they never crossed paths with Rei, sure they had had major beef with Rei when they found out she'd be rooming with him but they stopped complaining about it soon after. Then there was the fact that she could always help him escape from their clutches and they would back off.

"The favour, pretend to go out with me." Sasuke declared, he couldn't see why not, nothing had to change except maybe holding hands in front of people sometimes, a peck on the cheek once in awhile. Nothing drastic, Sasuke could live with it.

Gaara nodded to her decision, figuring that it would be best. At least, then, he'd be able to finish his homework sooner rather than later. He was in the midst of leading her towards the classes, only to stop when he heard Naruto. Turning his attention to the boy, he offered a slight nod. "Yes," he muttered bluntly before gesturing to Yumi. "Yumi, this is Naruto. He's annoying at times, but he's an okay guy. Naruto, this is Yumi."

Since he didn't kow much about Yumi, he couldn't add much else to his introduction. Regardless, he figured Naruto would probably pry all sorts of information from the girl within moments because of how talkative he was. "Do you want to join us on the tour, Naruto?"

---

The decision caught Rei by such surprise that she stopped in her tracks, staring at him for a long moment. "Pretend to go out with you?" she repeated, furrowing her brows. She knew he was desperate to keep away from his fangirls, but for him to be desperate enough to have her pretend to be his girlfriend when he could very well actually get a real girlfriend by just going up to almost any girl in the school and ask them didn't make sense.

After a long moment, she crossed her arms over her chest and arched an eyebrow. "How long?" she asked with curiosity before she started towards the door, turning around for a moment. "And do I get to pretend break up with you?"

Yumi smiled at Naruto and waved "Hi, like Gaara stated, I'm Yumi, I come from Kumogakure," she stated to both Gaara and Naruto. "That's cool!" Naruto explained "And sure, I'll join you guys, don't be fooled by Gaara's complex, I'm actually a good friend of his," Naruto grinned and Yumi smiled back.

"So what made you move here Yumi?" Naruto asked. "U-um, I just, I needed a change of scene, I guess," It was mostly true, Yumi supposed, back in her old school she was bullied a lot so her mum decided to send her to this boarding school that was far away, telling Yumi it'd be a nice change of scenery.

---

When Rei stopped in her tracks Sasuke paused as well turning to her and giving her a blank, serious look. He could guess what Rei was thinking, she was like an open book, at least to Sasuke. "You're the only one I know that'd be able to handle the fangirls," he told her.

"Just long enough for the fangirls to move on," He didn't really have a pinpoint time though, that was the problem. He followed after her and chuckled knowing that she would dump him in the most humiliating way possible, he decided to agree, just to see what she'd do. "Yeah," he said.

Gaara arched an eyebrow as he turned his attention to Yumi with curiosity, rather surprised with her words. "A change of scene?" he asked, figuring that there was probably more to it - especially with how she had worded it. He didn't want to really get too nosy since it might not be the best choice. It wouldn't be very good if he made her upset, after all.

Turning his attention back ahead, he went ahead and got started on the tour, explaining a few places as they passed them. "Naruto might have a class or two with you as well," he mentioned, figuring that it was probably likely. Most students actually shared a few classes together, either way.

---

Rei couldn't help but smirk when he decided that she'd get to be the one to initiate the fake break up. Immediately, thoughts flew into her mind over how she could do so. Still, she eventually nodded. "Fine, fine, I'm in," she decided, looking at him as she eyed him carefully before returning her attention ahead.

"But, it is fake," she reminded, "So don't even think that you'll be climbing into my bed in the middle of the night." She smirked slightly with amusement, fully aware that Sasuke wouldn't do something like that, anyways; it was still fun to tease him, though, because she was definitely certain that Sasuke was a closet perv.

Yumi nodded her head, biting her lip she looked at her room mate as he questioned her, "Bullying." she stated, "I was bullied." She looked away from the two boys and pretended to be interesting in reading a post on a nearby bulletin board.

After a moment or so Yumi finally took her time table out and gave it to Naruto who in turn looked over it "Aw neat, we have English and Art together," Naruto grinned. "Art's really fun, I'm sure you'll love it Yumi," Yumi smiled in response.

---

Sasuke begun to regret agreeing to letting Rei initiate the fake break up, he could see the flash of mischievousness cross through her eyes and he shook his head. "I'd like some dignity left after it though," he muttered, as they headed toward the cafe.

He scoffed at her words and rolled his eyes, "You wish," he replied, flicking her forehead lightly as they entered to get dinner. Lining up he got his meal and took a seat, seeing familiar faces and nodding his acknowledgement.

---

Total word count (for this month): 1, 449

A frown tugged at Gaara's features when he heard Yumi's words. At one point in time, he had been somewhat of a bully. Well, not particularly a bully, but he had been intimidating enough that people thought of him as a bully. After making a few friends here and there, though, he wasn't like that anymore.

Seeing that Naruto had taken the liberty of changing the subject, he decided to save his questions for later. "Just stay away from Naruto when he decides that he's going to paint," he said simply, turning his attention to Naruto for a moment, "He'll get paint all over you. Not on purpose, of course, but it happens."

---

Rei pouted, rubbing at her forehead. "Ow!" she complained, though it hadn't hurt much at all. "You wish that I wish, Uchiha," she mused with a smirk. "Besides, isn't it terrible to abuse your fake girlfriend? Maybe I'll use that as the reason that I'll be breaking up with you." She smirked at the thought.

With a shrug, she moved to follow after him. She went ahead and got her meal, though she wasn't entirely sure about joining him since he had just flicked her forehead and she'd rather not take any more abuse to her head or face. After a moment, though, she did join him and sat down.

Yumi thought she could see Gaara want to talk about it some more but he stops himself when Naruto changes the subject and Yumi smiles, pleased that she has met another person that she has classes with. When Gaara mentions Naruto's habit of getting paint everywhere she giggles while the blonde boy pouts at his friend. "Thanks for the warning Gaara," Yumi says, slightly teasing Naruto as well.

"Not fair you both are ganging up on me!" Naruto exclaims, pretending to be hurt. Yumi continues to follow the boys around as they show her where some of her classes are and where other facilities are. Lastly they arrived at what Yumi guessed was the cafe, and just in time because she was hungry.

---

When Sasuke heard Rei mention abuse his behaviour darkened and he clenched his fists. "I don't think that's funny Rei." he all but hissed, if people thought that Rei was being abused by Sasuke his whole school life could be kissed goodbye, not just socially but academically as well, heck, he might have the police called on him.

Sasuke at his food in a more sour note to his attitude, "I may be a douche but I'm not that bad," he muttered, he guessed he might be being a bit over dramatic but with his back story abuse wasn't a laughing matter to him, not that anyone at school except his older brother would know about.

Gaara smirked slightly with a faint amusement at hearing Naruto's exclamation. Shaking his head, he turned his attention ahead of them. Once they were in the cafe, he gestured for Yumi to walk ahead, pointing out the line. "Go ahead and get in line first," he told her quietly, figuring it was best to keep to the old fashioned ladies first motto. He was almost certain Naruto would try to go first, though, so he made sure to hold the blonde back.

"I don't really know where we should sit, so I'll just leave that decision up to Naruto. Unless you'd rather find a place to sit on your own, if you don't want to join us, Yumi," he muttered as he turned his attention back to her, arching an eyebrow in a faint curiosity.

---

"Then don't flick my forehead anymore," Rei grumbled with a frown as she stared at him. "Flicking my forehead just because of a silly comment isn't exactly the nicest thing." She rolled her eyes slightly before looking down at her food for a moment. Seeing that she had somehow managed to get on Sasuke's bad side within the past two minutes made her lose a bit of her appetite.

She wasn't exactly close to Sasuke, of course. But that didn't mean that she wanted him to absolutely hate her because of some joke. After a few moments, she ate a bit of her food but she showed little interest in it, eventually just pushing her plate aside. Maybe she could just grab a snack from one of the machines instead.

Yumi obeyed Gaara and got in line first, she picked out what seemed to look good to her and after paying for her meal she waited for Gaara and Naruto to grab theirs. Yumi quickly shook her head no at the thought of sitting alone as she turned to Naruto who in turn spotted more friends eating dinner and grinned "Let's go annoy Duck-butt!" Naruto stated waltzing over to a guy and a girl as Yumi looked over at Gaara before following Naruto.

"Yo Rei, Sasuke, this is Yumi, she's the new transfer student, she's rooming with Gaara." Naruto introducing Yumi as they all took a seat across from Rei and Sasuke. "H-hi," Yumi waved shyly, getting a curt nod from Sasuke but otherwise nothing else from him, not that Yumi minded as she started eating her food.

---

Sasuke supposed he was being a little bit over dramatic but only because Rei didn't know abuse was a hard subject for him. "Sorry, some day, I'll tell you why I overreacted, I won't flick you anymore, truce," he stated, looking away. If he wanted Rei's help being mean to her wasn't going to help him.

Not long after he heard a voice and glanced up to spot Naruto, Gaara and a girl he'd never seen before but guessed was the transfer student, Naruto introduced her to him and Rei and Sasuke merely nodded his head, to focused on eating to really pay much attention. "So what's new duck-butt?" Naruto asked and Sasuke narrowed his eyes at Naruto and growled "How many times have I got to tell you to stop calling me that," Sasuke said but sighed and let it go, it was only Naruto after all, he didn't want to admit it but Naruto was his best friend.

Once seated, Gaara concentrated on eating. It had been a long day, filled with school and the surprise of walking in on a new room mate - which he still admitted he shouldn't have been surprised about, but he ignored that. "Rei and Sasuke are room mates," he explained to Yumi, figuring that it'd be best for her to know for sure that they weren't the only room mates that were mix genders. Most were, actually, though there were the occasional same sex pairings on room mates.

"Don't let Sasuke's indifference bother you too much. He's generally like that," he added. There was no point in going on to explain Rei because, chances were, she'd probably be almost as talkative as Naruto was. "If Naruto or Rei get too annoying with questions, just say so and they'll probably stop." Easily ignoring the slight glare that Rei gave him, he went ahead and returned his attention to eating his food, though he listened in on the conversations just in case either Naruto or Rei made Yumi uncomfortable.

---

Rei couldn't help but be amused at Naruto's greeting. "You should know by now that he's not going to stop calling you that," she mentioned to Sasuke, though her amusement was in her voice. Leaning back in her seat, she offered a wave towards the new girl and Gaara. "It's nice to meet you, Yumi," she mused, letting a grin take over her features. Her mood had significantly lifted compared to a few moments ago, which she was thankful for - mostly because it meant her appetite was returning.

Pulling her plate back to herself, she took a bite of her food and eyed the group quietly. Figuring that Naruto would probably keep Sasuke busy, she concentrated her attention on getting to know Yumi, since it was always nice to make new friends. "So, you're Gaara's new room mate? He's at least being nice enough, I assume?" she asked, though she wasn't sure; she wasn't really close to Gaara.

(Here's the alert xD)