Chapter I:

First Day

I let out a deep sigh, pulling on the hem of my skirt as I started out the car window. I was uncomfortable in my new school uniform, both with the skirt length and the pink color of the coat. But, this was the school in my new town so I was going to live with the uniform for the time being.

Turning away from the window, I looked to my mother, Jasmine. She was sketching on a large sketch pad, her light blue eyes that I inherited focused on the drawing. Her dark brown hair was pulled back in a low messy bun. My father, Chris, was on the phone with his business partner that they were going to meet with in France after they dropped me off at school.

"I hope you guys have a good trip," I said, getting their attention effectively. Dad hung up his call and Mom closed her sketch pad.

"My darling, are you going to be okay?" Mom asked, taking my hands in hers.

"You've always traveled with us when we go out of the country for business," Dad added.

I nodded. "I need to be around other kids my age. Besides, it will be cool to make friends."

Mom smiled. "You'll make friendships that will last a lifetime, my Amy."

I smiled at her in return. "Thanks, Mom."

Dad looked out the window at the school. "Looks like other students are arriving. You better get in there."

Taking another deep breath, I grabbed my white messenger bag. I kissed both of them on their cheeks and climbed out of the car. With one last wave, I walked onto the school grounds and into the main building to go to the office, thanking Ra that the office was near the front entrance, smiling at the receptionist. "Good morning," I said politely. "I am Amelia Carroll."

The receptionist smiled at me in return. "Yes, Miss Carroll. I have your paperwork here. Our principal will be escorting you to your classroom." She turned to the door that led to the principal's office. "Mr. Kimura, our new student has arrived!" She then turned back to me and handed me a folder of papers. "This folder has your locker number and combination as well as other important documents."

"Thank you, ma'am," I said sweetly.

Mr. Kimura, a nice looking older gentleman, exited his office and smiled at me. "Ah, Miss Carroll. I am sure you are ready to go to your class." His voice was nice, but had a firm tone.

I nodded. "Yes, Sir."

"Then let's go," he said, leading me out of the office.

We walked up a couple flights of stairs before reaching the fourth floor. He stopped in front of a classroom, making me stop as well. I looked in the room and saw a large group of students already in the room. I bit my lip, my nerves finally getting to me.

Mr. Kimura looked down at me. "It's all right, Miss Carroll. There are many good students in this classroom who are very kind and will welcome you."

I looked up at him, giving him a small smile. "Thank you, Mr. Kimura."

He gave me a soft nod and he walked away.

I looked back into the room and exhaled, taking steps to walk into the room. All my classmates looked like they had their own little niches, so where could I go? I ended up standing in th back of the room, watching my peers as the bell rang and the homeroom teacher walked into the room. He saw me standing in the back and gestured for me to come up to the front of the class. I could just hear the students whispering about how pretty I looked.

"Everyone, our new student will be joining us today," he announced and I stood beside him. "This is Amelia Carroll. She has been homeschooled her entire life, so this is her first time attending public school. Please help her as she learns her way around the school."

"It's nice to meet you all," I stated, giving them a bright smile and doing a medium bow from my waist.

"There is a free desk next to Yugi Muto," the teacher

I sat down in the seat the next to the boy with spiky tri-colored hair. He was much shorter than the rest of the class, a little over 5'0, and had childlike eyes. He turned to me and offered me a smile and gave one to him in return.

He then leaned over. "Hi, I'm Yugi Muto," he greeted in a whisper.

"I'm Amelia Carroll, but you can call me Amy," I whispered in return.

"Well Amy, would you like to join me and my friends at break?" he asked nicely. I must have looked surprised because he laughed a little. "I just don't want you to be lonely, is all."

I gave him a grateful smile. "Thanks. I would enjoy that a lot."

Sharing a nod, we turned to see our teacher doing math.

Ugh, Math…my mortal enemy!

About an hour later, the bell rang and the second teacher left the room and the class was free for break. I raised my arms and stretched to regain feeling in my muscles. Once finished, I looked over at Yugi to see him pulling out a puzzle box. "Is that an Italian puzzle box?" I asked curiously.

He nodded. "My grandpa owns a game shop and we had an extra in our new shipments. He gave it to me to solve."

"That was nice of him." I looked to see two more boys and a girl coming over to us. "Are those your friends?"

Yugi looked up and nodded. "Yeah, they're my best friends!"

The girl introduced herself first. "Hi, I'm Tea!"

"I'm Joey and this is my buddy Tristan," the blond boy added.

"Hi, I'm Amy. It's nice to meet you guys," I said with a soft voice.

"So, where're you from, Amy?" Joey asked, sitting in a chair in front of Yugi but leaning on his elbow on Yugi's desk.

"I was born in New York, but I've grown up all over," I answered.

"Why all over?" Tristan asked.

"My mom is a fashion designer and my dad a business man. They travel a lot and I was always with them," I explained. "They made a new deal here in Domino, but they had to leave for a meeting in Paris. I've always wanted to go to public school, so they agreed to enroll me here at Domino High School."

"All that moving, you must have a lot of friends," Tea stated, interested in my travels.

I shook my head. "No, actually. I don't have any friends."

"Oh, I'm sorry!" Tea pouted, seeming genuinely sorry. "You must be so lonely."

"It's another reason I wanted to stay here. I wanna make friends." I looked around the room. "But everyone already has their niches. I don't know where I would fit in."

"You could always be friends with us," Yugi announced, looking up from his puzzle box.

"Really?" I asked with hope in my voice.

The four of them nodded.

"We'll be your friends, Amy," Tea said with strong conviction.

I smiled brightly and stood up, hugging her. Soon, the boys joined in and it felt good to have friends.

Lunch came around and Tea had shown me the location of our lockers and we went to the cafeteria to get something to eat. We sat in the courtyard garden to eat and get to know each other, just us girls while the boys were doing remedial lessons.

"Thanks for showing me around, Tea," I said.

"That's what friends are for," she replied. "We help one another."

I smiled at her. "It feels nice to have friends. Especially a girl friend. So, what do you like to do? Any hobbies?"

"Oh, I love to dance!" Mentioning the sport made her face light up and her large blue eyes sparkle. "I am saving up to go to college in New York to become a professional dancer."

"That's so cool! I have two left feet, so I can't dance." I laughed at myself.

"Well, what do you like to do?" she asked, taking a drink of her water.

I bit my lip and shrugged my shoulders. "I like to draw. It's how I remember things better than taking pictures. My new apartment has a little art area for me to paint and draw. But I'm not sure that I want to do art professionally."

"Well, you still have time to discover what you want to do," she encouraged me.

I gave her a grateful smile. "Thanks, Tea."

"No problem, Amy."

We finished lunch and threw our trash away, heading to our lockers to go to gym. I was sized for a PE uniform-which was even more uncomfortable than the ordinary school uniform! I mean, who thought it would be a good idea for the female PE uniform to consist of a t-shirt, bikini bottoms, socks, and sneakers? Ugh! I wore the stupid uniform and we played tennis, where Tea volunteered to be my partner so that she would go easy on me and help me learn. It was fun.

After PE, we met back up with the boys back in the classroom and waited for the English teacher to arrive. I asked, "What are you guys doing after school?"

"I have work today," Tea answered.

"I gotta get home and help my dad," Joey added.

"And I am going to work on my motorcycle with my cousin," Tristan added.

"What about you, Yugi?" I asked the shortest of us.

"Oh, I'm not doing anything," he answered. "Would you like to come over after school? I can show you my grandpa's game shop."

I gave him a big smile. "I would love that, Yugi!"

The end of school couldn't come fast enough, but it finally came and Yugi escorted me to his house at the local game shop his grandfather has owned forever. It was a small shop, but I liked in and when we entered, I was met with shelves just stocked with any type of game you could imagine.

"Gramps, I brought a new friend!" Yugi announced, making me giggle.

An older male, obviously Yugi's grandfather, came from the back room and stood behind the sales counter. "Oh, you made another female friend, Yugi!" he exclaimed.

I raised an eyebrow and tilted my head to the right. "What's that supposed to mean? Who wouldn't be friends with Yugi? He's very kind and friendly."

"Amelia is from America and is new at my school," Yugi explained. "We're going to go do homework."

"Okay, have fun," his grandfather replied.

I followed Yugi to the house section of the shop and up the stairs. We entered his bedroom and I sat on his bed, getting my homework folder out of my bag. "So, should we do math or science first…huh?" I saw a glisten off something shiny and looked to see a golden upside down pyramid hanging from Yugi's neck on a brown rope. Huh? How did I miss that? I thought to myself. "Yugi, what's that?" I asked, pointing at the pyramid.

He smiled and held it in his hands. "This is the Millennium Puzzle. It's an Ancient Egyptian artifact that Grandpa got while on a dig. He brought it back for me to solve."

"How long did it take for you to solve it?"

"Eight years," he answered. "I solved it just after I became friends with Joey and Tristan. I made a wish on the puzzle, wanting true friends."

"And it gave you Joey, Tristan, and Tea," I chimed it. "That's amazing."

"Thanks," he said. "Now, let's get math out of the way. That way, we don't have to suffer later."

I let out a laugh. "I agree."

We ended up doing homework until late into the night. I let out a large yawn as we finished our homework. A knock came to the door. "Come in," Yugi said sleepily.

The door opened and Yugi's grandfather entered the room, looking around at the papers and books scattered around the room because of us doing homework. "You two seem to have had a productive afternoon. Amelia, what time are your parents expecting you?" he asked.

I shook my head. "My parents are on their way to meet their business partners in another country. I live by myself."

"It is late…why don't you stay the night, Amelia?" Yugi suggested. "We have a guest room you can use."

I bit my lip. "I guess I could do that. It's a good thing I keep a pair of clothes in my backpack."

"Okay, it's settled," Mr. Muto stated. "Sleep well, children."

"Good night!" We said in unison as he headed for his room to go to bed.

"Come on, Amelia, I'll show you the guest room," Yugi said, showing me to the guest room down the hall. "I'll see you in the morning!"

"Hey, Yugi," I said shyly.

"Yes, Amelia?" he asked, turning back to look at me.

I gave him a smile. "Thanks for being friends with me. I'm so lucky that I found such good and caring people as friends."

Yugi gave me a bright smile. "It's no problem, Amelia. Night!"

"Night, Yugi!" We entered our rooms and that's how it all began. I had moved to a new country and found true friends. Then, my entire world changed.