Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. They all belong to Masashi Kishimoto.
Italics- Shikamaru's thoughts(unless obviously otherwise)
For the first time in his life, Shikamaru wished the clock's hands would move slower.
He had gotten a text that morning from the school office that read: Hello, Shikamaru Nara. Thank you for joining the Konoha High School Peer Counseling Program. There will be a meeting with your supervisor in the library after school today. Please be there by 2:45.
However, the clock continued to move at its normal pace. If anything, the clock hand seemed to move even faster than usual. In less than 5 minutes, the bell rang, signaling the end of the day. He sighed as he got up and left the classroom. Just his luck, the library was on the other side of campus.
As he opened the library door, the sight that greeted him surprised him.
He had expected that only one or two people besides him would sign up, considering that peer counseling was often viewed as lame by students. But instead, there were... 21, 22, 23, 24 students waiting in there. He frowned as he walked in. Were there really that many kids interested in helping other people with issues?
Shikamaru sat down at a table far enough away from everyone else that he wouldn't have to get involved with them, but close enough to not be noticed. He checked his phone for the time. The numbers 3:08 graced his screen, with a picture of aesthetic clouds serving as his lock screen wallpaper. (What else was he supposed to put? A picture of his crush? Not like he had one, but still...)
The library door was suddenly slammed open, causing almost everyone in the room to jump. A man in his early 30's entered the room. It was none other than his homeroom and Pre-Calculus teacher, Asuma-sensei. He set down the pile of papers he had been carrying onto one of the library tables, and turned towards the students.
Everyone's began to take a seat down at the tables as he started speaking. "Hello everyone, thank you for joining the Peer Counseling Program." Some people began to clap, but they immediately stopped when he continued. "My name is Sarutobi Asuma, but you may call me Asuma-sensei. For those of you who don't know or have me, I teach Algebra, Pre-Calculus, and Calculus. But that's enough about me. The Konoha Peer Counseling Program is a program me and a couple of students started about 4 to 5 years ago." Asuma-sensei cleared his throat once before continuing. "The main goal of this program is to help fellow students who may have troubles in their lives, and give them advice and counseling. We also help provide support they may otherwise be too scared to ask for or don't know how. Everyone here is to be a role model for others. This includes showing kindness, respect, diligence, and leadership. Failure in any of these will result in you getting dropped from this program. Bad grades will also result in the same consequences. However, at the end of each semester, you will be given the chance to join this program once again.
"We will now go over appointments. Appointments will be used to actively listen to your peers to offer steady advice and help. These appointments will be during lunch on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday and after school on Mondays and Fridays. On Wednesdays, we will go through a 'training' for counseling. We will also occasionally host and/or attend events; the events are listed on this paper here." He picked up the first half of the paper stack and handed it to a platinum blonde sitting by him. "Here, pass it around to everyone."
The platinum blonde stood up and began passing the papers around. When Shikamaru received his, he muttered a thanks and proceeded to look at its contents.
Peer Counseling Program 20XX-20XX Schedule
- Homecoming/September 21
- Konoha Annual Autumn Festival/ October 18
Shikamaru scanned the rest of the schedule before snapping a quick pic of it(who knows if he'd lose the paper with the schedule later?) and returned his attention to Asuma-sensei.
"If you look at the bottom of the paper you just received," Asuma-sensei said, pointing at said area on his own paper, "you'll see an example agenda of a week in the Peer Counseling Program. Remember to refer to it whenever necessary. Now, moving on," he flipped the paper over. "On the back, you'll see an example of an appointment request form. When we schedule all of the appointments for..."
Shikamaru flipped his paper over, took another quick picture of it, and leaned back in his chair as Asuma-sensei droned on about appointments. He honestly didn't get why Asuma-sensei needed to explain the appointment procedures. One could easily figure it out just by looking at the example on the back of the paper. He wished Asuma-sensei would hurry up with all the introductions and explanations. Asuma-sensei typically never took more than 15 minutes to teach a lesson in his math classes, which Shikamaru personally preferred. It was just the right amount of time for him to master the concept and finish homework with ample time remaining to slee-
"NARA!" Asuma-sensei roared all of a sudden. Shikamaru jolted, his teacher's voice bringing him back from his thoughts. "Did you hear what I was asking?"
"Ummm... if everyone had the Remind app downloaded?"
"... that is correct. However, next time, Shikamaru, at least look like you're paying attention."
"Alright," Shikamaru answered lamely, before muttering troublesome. A few kids snickered at Asuma-sensei's comment, but they both decidedly ignored it. It just wasn't worth bothering with.
Asuma-sensei cleared his throat before saying, "Back to what I was saying. If you don't have the Remind app downloaded, just text the number 810-10 the class code. The class code for the Peer Counseling Program is @khspcp. Make sure to join. This is where you will receive notifications and announcements related to the Peer Counseling Program. You can also ask me questions through the Remind thread/chat, especially if you're having trouble with a situation concerning any of your peers. If you have trouble joining or you don't have a phone, let me know after this meeting. Now are there any questions?"
One kid on the right raised his hand. "Are you eating a lollipop?"
Asuma-sensei gave the kid a deadpan look before turning away with a fake smile plastered to his face. "Does anyone have any relative questions?" No one raised their hands.
Asuma-sensei cleared his throat uncomfortably, taking a lollipop out of his mouth, before saying, "Well then, if there aren't any questions then we will move onto the icebreakers. Everyone knows what an icebreaker is right?"
"It's an outdoor clothing brand!" a kid in the back yelled.
"Uhhh, not in this situation."
"Isn't an icebreaker like one of those things that sink ships? Like the Titanic?"
A girl wearing pigtails began crying and muttering the names Jack and Rose while another girl next to her tried comforting her.
"That's an iceberg."
"Oh."
"Oooh, oooh! Do you mean icebreakers like the candy?"
"No, if you want candy go to the store and buy some. There's no way I'd waste my money to buy you guys stuff like that."
"AWWWW," the whole room sounded, obviously disappointed that they would not be receiving free food.
I don't even like mint-flavored candies anyway, Shikamaru thought to himself, lazily drawing circles on his paper with a pen he found on the ground. It was very sparkly.
A girl with pink hair(pink hair? really??) raised her hand confidently. Once given permission to speak, she said, "An icebreaker is a game or joke that makes people who do not know each other feel more relaxed together." She spoke as if she was answering a question about the mass of a molecule of benzene.
"Thank you for defining what an icebreaker is, though that wasn't exactly what I was looking for." Asuma-sensei paused for a moment. "Did you get that from Urban Dictionary?"
"Nope, Cambridge Dictionary."
"Cool."
"Thanks."
"Name?"
"Haruno Sakura. I'm in your Pre-Calculus class, sir."
"Oh, sorry... well, anyways, we will now be playing an icebreaker to get to know everyone in the program. The game is called Two Truths, One Lie. Everyone knows how to play it right?"
The girl with platinum hair who had passed the papers around earlier raised her hand up like a shotgun. "You play Two Truths, One Lie by sharing three things about yourself; two of them are true and one of them is a lie. Everyone else has to try to guess what the lie is." She shot a look at the girl named Sakura with a look that obviously said, I'm not going to lose to you!
Now that Shikamaru looked closely at the platinum haired girl, he realized it was Yamanaka Ino. She was an old family friend, but they were never that close. Ino was always bossing him and his other family friend, Chouji, around whenever their families got together. However, as he and the other two grew older, they hung out less and less until their family meet-ups were practically nonexistent. Not that he missed being around Ino.
"Umm... thank you for the explanation, Yamanaka." Ino put her hand down with a haughty look. Sakura looked irritated by this, and Shikamaru could hear them fighting while whispering.
Ha! You're not the only one who can give out answers! Ino whispered at her.
As if your answer was any great! You just explained how to play a game everyone knows how to play. You might as well have explained how to play Duck, Duck, Goose! Sakura fired back.
You're just jealous that he remembered my name and not yours!
Who would be jealous of you! You sounded like an idiot just then when you raised your hand!
Who are you calling an idiot, Forehead Girl!
Obviously you, Ino-Pig!
Take that back!
You take it back first!
Asuma-sensei cleared his throat(he clears his throat a lot too much), causing both girls to stop their bickering. "Is there anyone who'd like to go up first for Two Truths, One Lie?"
Both Sakura's and Ino's hand shot up at this.
At this moment, Shikamaru decided to take a nap; he had a feeling this was going to take a long time...
---------------------------------------------
Shikamaru completely regretted joining the Peer Counseling Program's Remind. It was more like joining a group chat than anything. Sakura and Ino from earlier were constantly sending messages back and forth and, of course, fighting. It went along the lines of this:
Haruno Sakura: Hi everyone my name is Haruno Sakura. Hope to have a great year with everyone!
Yamanaka Ino: Hey this is Yamanaka Ino, hope to get along with everyone this year~<3
Forehead Girl: Ino, change my name back now!
Yamanaka Ino: What are you talking about Sakura?
Forehead Girl: I know you're the one who changed it, change it back.
Yamanaka Ino: I didn't do anything. And why can't you just change it back? Hm?
Forehead Girl: Because some b*tch has hacked my computer and made it unable for me to fix it.
Sarutobi Asuma: Language, Haruno. And Yamanaka, if you did change her name, turn it back.
Yamanaka Ino: Ugggh, fine
Haruno Sakura: Thank you
Yamanaka Ino: You're welcome ;) <3
15 minutes later
Haruno Sakura: I'll have a strawberry smoothie
Haruno Sakura: Oops wrong chat sorry
Yamanaka Ino: Is this strawberry smoothie from Jamba Juice? And are you going to pick it up at Jamba Juice as well?
Haruno Sakura: Yes, why?
Yamanaka Ino: I bet you're going so that you can hit on Sasuke-kun! How could you?! You know that I like him!
Sarutobi Asuma: Language, Yamanaka.
Haruno Sakura: Who on earth are you talking about? The only guy I know working at Jamba Juice is Naruto...
Yamanaka Ino: Don't lie to me!
Haruno Sakura: Ino, which Jamba Juice do you normally go to?
Yamanaka Ino: The one by the school?
Haruno Sakura: I go to the one by the Konoha Sports Stadium. We're talking about totally different Jamba Juices here.
Yamanaka Ino: oh... sry Sakura
Haruno Sakura: But if this Sasuke-kun works at the Jamba Juice by our school, maybe I should start going to there >:)
Yamanaka Ino: Don't you freaking dare!
Haruno Sakura: lol I'm just joking
Yamanaka Ino: Okay good
Haruno Sakura: But if I do happen to stop by there sometimes... :)
Yamanaka Ino: Don't you dare!
Shikamaru groaned as his phone screen lit up once more. Ino's and Sakura's texts were driving him crazy. Did they ever get tired of texting each other?! It was already 2:34 in the morning! He covered his head with his pillow and curled up into a ball on his bed. He was definitely going to complain about this tomorrow.
A/N: Thanks for reading as always and please comment/vote!