Another new transfer student. The news made the whole room of Class 3A ( except of course for the boy in the straw hat ) groan. The last new student that transferred in was a hyperactive, bouncy child who would stand from his seat to answer questions without being called on, and who managed to answer most of them incorrectly. It had been amusing for awhile, while some of the students thought he was trying to be funny. But upon realizing that, no, he was just that stupid, their entertainment quickly faded into bemusement. They went from sniggering and dropping their heads to hide their laughter to yelling at him to sit down and slapping their palms to their foreheads in frustration. The last thing they needed in here was another one like him. Even the teacher seemed wary of the news she was sharing. She glanced back to the paper to continue her report when Luffy stood up from seat, holding up his hand high, a rather determined look upon is face. A few students exchanged confused glances, but everyone kept quiet.
"It seems that our new student won't be from Tokyo," she reported, then raised brown eyes to survey the students' response to the question, only to see the boy out of his seat. She sighed gently, and placed her hands against the desk, and leaned into them, staring Luffy down. Occasionally, this was all it took to make him sit back down, but this time, he stayed on his feet, and kept a straight face, pouting his bottom lip at her when she didn't call his name. Tilting her head to one side, she closed her eyes. "… Alright. I'll bite. What is it now, Luffy?" she inquired, her voice dull. She clearly didn't anticipate at all what he had to say or ask; most of the time he just wanted to be excused to the hall for a drink at the fountain - which he would then get a response to sit down and wait until lunch time - or declare he really had to go to the bathroom, and if he waited, it wouldn't be good. Quite frankly, she wasn't in the mood for either of those. She wanted to finish her announcement and let everyone get to studying for their tests - so she could actually write it up.
He seemed to perk up at hearing his name, and dropped his hand, grinning at her. "Robin - Sensei, can the new student sit next to me?" he asked, motioning to the empty desk next to him as if it wasn't obvious. He sat in the front row. If someone managed to not notice it, then they really needed to invest in an appointment with their optometrist. "I'll help him take notes and stuff!" He had to add the last bit for good measure, of course. He didn't want to be questioned on why he'd possibly request this.
Nico turned her head away from the obnoxious student, and looked over the classroom. She considered the other empty seats - most of them where in the very back. It wouldn't be proper to place a new student in the back without meeting them first, especially if she or he couldn't see what was written on the whiteboard from back there. But, it would also damning the poor child to put them next to Luffy without their given permission. No one really wanted to deal with him, and expecting the new student to sit through that torture wouldn't give him a very good first impression of her - unless he somehow liked Luffy of course. On the off chance that he did, maybe it would be a good place to seat him. She looked back to the expectant child, and picked up her file. "We'll see," she said dismissively. "Please take your seat, Luffy."
He frowned, seeming disappointed by the answer. He was about to say something again when the boy at his left shoved his hip lightly and hissed at him to just sit down so they could study for their test. He reluctantly did so, and slumped over his desk to make sure his disappointment was made very clear to the well - endowed woman standing at the front of the classroom. Not that, of course, Nico really cared. If he wanted to act like that and sulk, then that was really no one's issue but his. She had a class to teach, and she intended to use the last forty five minutes to do just that.
"… It says here that he's transferring in from …" She paused, and stared hard at her paper. The city name was foreign to her, and its pronunciation was even more so. "Bu … Bujumbura … ?" She frowned, and looked up to see if anyone had any corrections. When no one offered any, she shrugged it off and looked down. "… Bujumbura, in Burundi." A nod in satisfaction. A hand shot up, which she noticed out of the corner of her eye - and thanked whatever God there was that it wasn't Luffy's again. But before the owner could ask, she simply answered, "It's a county in the country of Africa."
Silence hung over the class as they puzzled what this would lead to, then murmurs broke out, accompanied by giggles and sniggers as people wondered how bad off the new student would be. Luffy even sat up to engage in the conversations with everyone else, curious to know what was going on, and wanting to be part of it. The room was instantly silenced, however, when the teacher cleared her throat and brought everyone's attention back to her.
"Did I dismiss you to talk?" Everyone remained quiet. "I didn't think so. Now let me finish. It says his name is … …" She paused again, finding herself at a total loss on his last name. Not willing to say anything to the students, however, she simply dismissed it. "… His name is Usopp. And I expect all of you to be on decent behavior, and welcome him as we have all our students." She shot a glance around the room, lingering on Luffy for a moment, then set the file down. "Alright. You're free to study whatever you feel you need to. We went over what will be on the test, and if you forgot, it's still on the board. Any questions that don't involve the new student?"
When no one raised their hands, she nodded, and sat down, picking up her pen. Hopefully she'd get some peace and quiet enough to finish writing out the test so she could do some grading tonight.
- x ; x ; x ; x -
He slammed his locker shut, and shifted the bag strap over his shoulder. Glancing around, he finally spotted Zoro, and waved to him. "Hey, Zoro!" He trotted away from the shoe lockers, pushing through the growing crowd as people left their classrooms and went to get their things to go home. The green - haired teenager was headed for the front door of the building, but he paused when he heard his name. Luffy bounced up to his side, and grinned up at him. "You gonna meet Sanji today?"
"… Why is that the first thing you ask me?" He laughed despite this, and nodded as he pushed the door open, and headed out, holding it long enough for the shorter male to follow him out, then let the steady flow of students behind them take care of it for themselves. "Yeah. He said he'd meet me out front today, but he might be late." He paused, and fished around in the pocket of his uniform pants, pulling out his cell phone, and flipped it open. "He said something about a surprise after school. … I got a bad feeling that it's another study session that will end with me getting double the amount of homework I already got, and a late dinner 'cause he's too busy stalkin' me like a starving hawk …" He pressed a few buttons, bringing up his texts to read over any missed ones. Luffy watched on in his curiosity, though Zoro didn't think much of it. It was just … something the guy did, and it wasn't like he was hiding anything. He and Sanji's texts merely consisted of bad grammar and a lot of typos - since usually neither of them should have been texting in the first place, ad they rushed, or texted out of their sight and hoped it sent right.
See you after school. Got something for ya.
That's all it said. He shrugged, and snapped the phone shut, looking to the raven haired boy at his side again. "What about you? What're you doin'?"
"Uhmmm …" He cocked his head, his hands moving into his own pockets. He seemed to debate several things that he could do, then looked back up at him. "I think I'm gonna go do my chores so Ace won't get mad at me, then go to the arcade ~ !" he concluded, giving a light snort at the look on Zoro's face - pure envy. "Maybe we can all go on Sunday!" He pulled out a hand to offer the older male a pat on the arm, laughing. "Sanji can't make you work on your one day off, right?"
Zoro groaned. "Don't say that. He'll hear you, and I'll be screwed on Sunday, too." He ran a hand through his short hair, and glanced around through the thinning crowd. No sign of the blonde man yet. He shrugged it off, and glanced back to his side - only to find Luffy gone. He raised a brow, and spun around to look behind him, but there was no sign of him at all. "… The Hell, Luffy?" He scoffed. The kid had a knack for running off in the middle of conversation, but that was the fastest he'd ever seen him take off for no particular reason. "… Whatever …" He pulled out his cell phone again, and looked impatiently at the time. School had ended about seventeen minutes ago. "… Where the fuck is that duck?" he muttered aloud.
"Turn around."
The voice startled him. He cursed under his breath, and turned to see Sanji, an unlit cigarette perched between his pursed lips - unlit only because he wasn't allowed to smoke on school grounds, of course - and Luffy on his shoulders, grinning. He rose a brow. "… I don't know how you tolerate that kid, Sanji," he shot, only getting a laugh from the black - haired teen in response, and a half shrug from the blonde. "If that's my surprise, you keep it." He grinned, then stepped around them, heading for the parking lot.
"Oi, Marimo, you're going the wrong way." He plucked the cigarette from his lips, and patted himself down until he found his lighter, and pulled it out of the pocket of his suit pants, heading in the opposite direction, eye closing as he flicked the lighter wheel absently. "… How I deal with that idiot is beyond me," he muttered.
"You love him, right ~ ?" Luffy chimed in, hugging a bit more around the other's neck. He nuzzled slightly into the other's hair and continued before the other could reply: "Wait, did you ever tell him that? You told me about it, but did you tell him yet?" He sat up, and moved to rest his hands on the other's head, then leaned down to the right, trying to peek at Sanji's now red face - only to throw off both of their balance. Luckily, Zoro had finally gotten the memo, and caught up with them in time to snag the noodle - limbed boy off of the other's shoulders, giving him time to right himself.
"… Tell who what?" he asked, voice piqued with curiosity. When neither Sanji nor Luffy offered an answer, he looked down to the boy doubled over his arm. "Well?"
Luffy squirmed desperately, both hands moving to lace over his mouth so he wouldn't spit out the answer to Zoro's question. He'd learned the hard way that he wasn't allowed to interfere with these two when Sanji gave him a good knock upside the head last time.
"Nothing, Zoro. Put him down …" He rose the cigarette to his lips, and lit it up once his foot hit the sidewalk. Far away enough for him, and if people didn't like it, well, they could just suck it up. It wasn't like half the students here didn't do it themselves anyhow. He glanced over as Luffy was straightening out his white uniform shirt, then looked up to Zoro. "… See you tomorrow, Luffy."
Zoro looked confused, but Luffy nodded. "'Bye, guys … ! Have fun … ~ !" He gave a grin, then bowed his head as he spun on his heel and trotted off for the parking lot. He usually cut through it to get to his place faster.
Questioning eyes turned away from Luffy to Sanji again, only to find him merely two feet away from him. He furrowed his brows, frowning. He made it very clear enough times that he hated the smell of his cigarettes. "The Hell are you doing? Get out of my face, idiot." He reached up to wave the smoke away from his face, but his wrist was snatched before it got up past his chest. He gave an irritated noise, his expression wary as the cigarette was removed, and the blonde straightened himself up. "… … What? Why are you staring at me like that?"
"… … Tch. … You're so clueless, Marimo." He turned his head, exhaling heavily. He lifted the cigarette again, and took another pull to stall for a few moments. A hopeless and silent plea that he wouldn't have to say it, and that Zoro would just understand it without prompting.
"Wha- … Fuck you! It wasn't like I was followin' along behind you two, how the Hell should I know-"
"I love you, moss head."
His jaw practically dropped to the ground. He started at the other with an almost lost look, then shut his mouth. A smirk slowly twitched onto his lips, and he laughed, a hand moving up to scratch his head. "Heh. Pretty good, Sanji …"
"… What?" The blonde rose a thin eyebrow, visible eye narrowing slightly.
"Ya had me there for a second." He reached up, and patted the other's shoulder, shaking his head. "You-"
"I wasn't kidding, dumbass," he grunted, giving a discontented sneer as he felt another blush rise on his face. He turned away with a mutter, taking a long drag to calm himself even a little.
"… … Shit."
Whoo. Hello there, readers. 8D I'm Vani. This is just a short introductory chapter. They'll be longer than this in the future, I promise. This one is actually a bit disappointingly short, so I'll be sure to write more in next time because I don't want to be getting, " Son, I am disappoint. " Ffff. ( I use too many internet memes. See if you can catch any in my writing, I guarantee that you'll see one somewhere in the weirdest place ever. )
If you have any critiques, suggestions, or comments - send them. I'll be cool and reply to all of them. That's how awesome I am. ( Only not really, I'm not; I'm pretty dorky. ) ... Okay, I'm terrible when it comes to rambling, especially for no reason like this, so ... Thanks for reading, thanks for any comments ( or flames! 8DD ... well actually, please don't do that. .. unless you really want to, then go ahead ), and thanks for ... liking One Piece! |D Chyeah. ( Look for other stories I'm writing, too. And suggest some. I know a lot of fandoms, and if you don't get enough love for one you like, maybe I'll write for it? y/y? B| yeah. )
... Okay, I'll stop now. ; w ; Thanksgaiz.