Hello all! This is my first Death Note fanfic, so excuse the lameness . I just love anime, and I've written a few Pokemon ones, so this might not be ENTIRELY pathetic. I had this idea REALLY late at night when I was daydreaming about lemons. That has nothing to do with it, but I love lemons. And I bought some cinnamon Tic Tacs today that I heard you could only get in America… ok, stop rambling, you. Get on with the damned fanfic! Ok, ok.

Chapter One – The New Kid

LESLIE

Before I start, let me give you a bit of background information.

My mother died giving birth to me. I know that sounds tragic and overdone, but it's not my fault. And poor dad. He really, really loved mum. He tried to take care of me, but when I was three he couldn't cope. He jumped off a bridge. So, at just three years old I lost my immediate family. Both my parents were only children, but my mum's parents were still alive, so they came over from England to take care of me. Up until I was 13, we lived happily in Melbourne, until the horrific car crash that killed my grandparents. So I was all alone. And what to do?

It turned out that if all my relatives died (which they did) I would be sent to the UK to go to an orphanage. I was put through some tests and it seemed that I would go to an orphanage for "gifted children". I'm no prodigy, my Maths is average and my Science… lets not talk about that. But I had a brilliant problem solving mind, and my guesses were usually accurate. Everybody decided that it was the best idea.

If I'd know what was ahead of me, I would've joined my parents in Heaven. Then again, maybe it was worth it for just one person…

"And now, may I introduce Leslie Charles, who will be joining us. She is 13, and from Austria…"

"Australia," I corrected.

"Yes, well, she's not from here. Now, go sit next to L."

"Uhm…" I immediately turned to a girl with a nameplate reading Elle, but the seat next to her was filled with an evil looking blonde boy. There was a slightly mad looking boy whose name appeared to be L, and a nametag reading Leslie was next to him, so this was my best bet.

I walked over to him and slid into my seat.

"Hi," I whispered.

"Hello," he whispered back.

We sat in silence for the rest of the lesson, but I knew I'd made my first friend here in the

UK.

L

Ok, so this girl was… different. She wasn't really that worried that I'd forgotten to wear deodorant that morning (to my great embarrassment) or that my hi was more of a he-LLO.

At the end of the lesson she gathered up her books and turned to me expectantly.

"So, now what?" she asked, obviously directing the question to me.

I blushed and went a beet red. Girls generally didn't talk to me. Nobody generally talked to me, except that Near kid and some others. But no girls.

"Uh, uhm, well, ummmm…"

Why hadn't that whispered hi bothered me like this? Maybe because I didn't have to answer, so there was no pressure…

I gulped.

"Well, uhm, now we have, uhm, free time. It's the end of the day and we, uhm, usually fool around a bit, or do homework."

Only I did homework. And that Near kid.

LESLIE

As we left, that evil looking guy stopped and stared at me. A boy in stripes stood behind him, like a bodyguard or an unbelievably devoted friend.

"Hi, I'm Leslie!"

I stook out a hand. He ignored it.

"Mello. This is Matt."

"Mello, is it? And Matt? Nice to meet you both!"

He just frowned at me, and left. I raised an eyebrow at L.

"That's Mello."

"I gathered."

We walked in silence up the stairs to a large dorm.

"This is Dorm 3. C'mon, I'll introduce you to everyone," L said.

I wondered why he was doing that. He seemed very shy. As we walked around the room, I saw that the other kids seemed to treat him with a degree of awe.

"Why do they stare at you like that?" I asked him.

He shrugged, a blush rising on his pale cheeks.

"Meh."

You must be wondering what I look like. Well, I'm about middle height, maybe a bit short, not exactly lacking in the chest area, with messy short auburn hair. L is taller than me, pale as, with messy black hair and dark eyes that remind me a little bit of a panda's. My skin's fairly tanned, kinda olive, I guess.

"You know what I think?" I teased.

"What?"

"I think you're REAL smart or something."

He nodded, embarrassed, and quickly moved on.

"This is Near," L said, obviously more comfortable with the white-haired boy.

"Hi!" I said cheerfully, my eyes curling into happy semi-circles.

He held out a hand and I shook it. Everything about this Near kid was white. His clothes, his hair, his skin… he even smelt like white, whereas L smelt like sugar and I smelt like lemons.

"You must be Kate," he said.

"Nup. Leslie," L corrected.

Near even blushed white. Good lord, is this kid a vampire or something?

L

Well, Near was making an idiot of himself. Great. To save him any more pain, I dragged Leslie as much as I could drag somebody I'd only known for two hours and was a girl, and a pretty one at that.

"Well, here's your bed," I said, gesturing down at the bleak scene.

There was a bedside table/chest of draws and a bed-box with lock. That was it, apart from the actual bed.

"Your clothes are in the chest of draws. Your suitcase is in the bed-box. It looks locked, but it's not. The key'll be inside. Then you can really lock it," I explained.

I watched as she got out her suitcase and opened it up on her bed. The top drawer on her chest of draws was also lockable. She took out a wooden box, also locked, and placed it in the top drawer. From under he clothes she took a necklace with a small brass key and some lucky Chinese coins on it. I blanched.

"You're not allowed to wear any jewellery except for a watch and studs in your ears, you know," I informed her, panicking.

"It's ok," she said, sliding the new key onto the chain and putting it back on. "The collar's high. The chain's long. And I'm NOT taking it off. The keys are important, and as well as that, these coins are all I have that's not borrowed or clothing. I never got pocket money. I saved up loose change and bought them. They mean a lot to me. Plus, they're really lucky."

I wasn't superstitious. I didn't believe that lucky crap for a second.

"How are they lucky?"

"They ward off bad luck, more."

I gave her the question in my eyes.

"The day I took them off, my grandparents crashed."

Enough said. I left her alone.

"It's ok," she reassured me, "They were awful. But, they were better than nothing… they fed me nice food, and I went to a nice school…"

She looked misty and stared off into space.

"Yeah, well. So. Where's your bed?" Leslie asked.

I stopped. Where was my bed? I looked around and realised that I had the one next to her. What luck! What unbelievable, brilliant, sappy-novel like LUCK. I didn't even need lucky charms to make my day go well. All I can say was that I was looking forward greatly to being friends with Leslie.

Well, waddaya think? I really don't know about Leslie… I'm thinking about what I'll do to her… I've got a few ideas… maimed in a car crash is SO cliché, so that's off the list…

"But I'm hideous!" "I don't care, I love you!" kiss

Ugh.