Disclaimer: I do not own digimon. However, I do own Duncan. Enjoy the story.
"Duncan, wake up! We're gonna be late for school! You know they'll punish us if we're late!"
Groaning in reply, Duncan-whose head felt like it had been smashed against an oven door several times- fell out of bed in a heap.
"Well, that's a start. Now how about getting your uniform on, huh?"
"Shut up, my head hurts from... something. And who are 'they'?"
Sighing exasperatedly, the other boy picked him up off the floor.
"Look, Duncan, the reason your head hurts is because you were acting like a prat last night. And as for this 'who are "they"?' crap, cut it out. You know that I meant the people who own this orphanage. Duh. Now get dressed, we're 5 minutes late as it is."
"Right, sorry. Guess I bumped my head a bit harder than I thought, huh?"
"Cool, now there's the Duncan we all know and hate. Now get dressed and meet us downstairs. You might be late, but we won't be."
Bidding farewell to the boy, whom he didn't couldn't for the life of him recognise, Duncan sighed, looked out the school uniform the nuns that ran the orphanage had bought him, and got dressed, hoping he would fit in. 'Mind you,' he thought half-heartedly, 'since I look like I'm wearing bits of old elephant skin, I highly doubt it.'
"Boy! Get down here this instant, or so help me, I'll come up there and give you the belt!"
Recognizing the voice as Sister Patricia's, he ran down the stairs two at a time. Making it to the front door just before it closed, he slipped through it just in time to see the bus taking them to their new school pulling away, and also to see Sister Patricia standing there with her traditional evil leer on.
"Well, well, well. You missed the bus, boy! Looks like you're walking to school with me today. And don't complain. I hate you enough as it is."
"Yes ma'am. I won't ma'am."
Setting off down the road, Duncan keeping pace with Sister Patricia-nothing angered her more than people who were slower than herself- and Sister Patricia muttering darkly to herself. Not looking where he was going- the nuns hated people who looked up and stared at people while walking past them- Duncan crashed into someone. Looking for the source of the noise, Sister Patricia was delighted with a chance to have a go at her least favourite child in the orphanage.
"Clumsy little boy. Can't you watch where you're going?! You knocked this poor girl to the ground. Don't you have anything to say for yourself, boy?"
"I'm sorry miss. I should have been paying more attention to where I was going. I apologize for knocking you over. Allow me to help you up."
Unfortunately for him, he didn't get a chance to try and redeem himself- the girl had already got up, and was glaring. But not at him, though-at Sister Patricia.
"Excuse me, madam, but don't have a go at him because of your own shortcomings! If you would've let him look where he was going, he wouldn't have bumped into me, now would he?! If anyone is going to apologize, it should be you, not him!"
Turning to Duncan, the girl opened her mouth again, and he visibly cringed. A look of mirth appearing on the girl's face, she shook her head in amusement.
"Don't worry, I'm not gonna kill you. I was gonna offer to walk you the rest of the way to school."
Glad of an excuse to escape Sister Patricia, who looked as though she was about to murder him, Duncan quickly accepted the girl's offer. Heading off, he didn't dare look back, for fear that he would see the Sister behind him.
"So, what's your name?"
"My name? My name's Duncan."
"Duncan, huh? That's cool. Mine's Rika. Rika Nonaka. So was that your guardian or something? Kinda fierce, isn't she?"
"We're not supposed to talk badly of the nuns, or they punish us. And yes, in a manner of speaking. She is my guardian. I'd like to tell you my last name, but I don't know it. I'm an orphan, I never met my parents. Sorry, you didn't want to hear my life's story, Miss Nonaka."
Stopping in her tracks, Rika stared at him with a mixture of anger and pity. Duncan didn't know which one made her look scarier.
"First things first, Duncan, it's Rika. Got it? None of that 'Miss Nonaka' stuff. I hate it when people call me that. Secondly, the nuns aren't here, are they? They won't know if you're badmouthing them or not, right?"
"I guess you're right. Sorry, Rika. The nuns told us not to talk to someone you just met while using their first name. Said it was impolite. "
By this point, they had reached the school gates, and he realized something.
"Oh no! I didn't get on the bus this morning. I don't have my lesson timetable!"
"Relax. There's a special assembly for all the new students. We get given our timetables then. So that means both of us are going to be there."
Relaxing slightly, Duncan's brain started putting the facts together.
"Wait. You're gonna be there too? But that means..."
"Yeah. I'm new here too. But don't worry. I know a couple of people here that we can hang out with."
"We?"
"Well, yeah. I was including you in that group, y'know."
"You'd actually wanna be friends with me? Thanks, Rika."
"No problem. By the way, you might not wanna stand in the middle of the road for much longer. I think that's the orphanage bus arriving now."
Turning round, he yelled and jumped to one side quickly, to avoid being crushed. Some of the kids nearby started laughing and yelling noisily.
"Is that good or bad that they're laughing, Rika?"
"Well, considering that you nearly got run over there, and now they're laughing at it, I'd say it's a bad thing, Duncan."
By now, most of the kids from the orphanage had piled off the bus, including a few of the boys he shared a dorm with. One of them, the same boy that had woke him up earlier, walked over and wolf-whistled.
"Well, well, well, Duncan. Looks like you missing the bus was a good thing, huh. You managed to avoid Sister Patricia, and get yourself some eye-candy at the same time. Nicely done, dude."
While Duncan merely slapped his hand to his face and groaned, Rika took a more violent option-she drew her arm back, before punching the boy so hard that his nose nearly broke. Falling to the ground, the other kid scrambled away from her, while he just stood there, rubbing his eyes in disbelief at what had happened. Two miracles in the same day. Not only had Rika verbally murdered Sister Patricia, but now she had punched the most chauvinistic and annoying boy in the orphanage right in the face! He was beginning to like her more and more.
"Well, now that that's that sorted, why don't we go get seats for the assembly, hm."
"Right. By the way, Rika, thank you. You just made sure that the most self-centred guy in the whole orphanage got taken down a peg."
"No problem. Just remember, no-one calls me eye-candy and gets away with it."
"I'll be sure and remember that, Rika."
"I bet you will. Now c'mon. Everyone else is heading inside to get seats at the back of the hall. If we don't hurry, there won't be any for us."
"Coming."
Looking back at his dorm-mates, he gave them a cheeky wink that spoke volumes, before heading inside to follow Rika.
"I will have revenge on that girl, if it's the last thing I ever do."