Episode 01:
Domino City- Meet Ree!
BEEP! The sound of Ree Zephryon's desperate alarm clock woke her disorganised mind to the chaotic reality of Monday morning. "U-urgh," she groaned over her clock's digital beeping, sitting up in her bed. Trying not to yawn, she read: "6.30am" but then collapsed into the fit of yawning she had just promised not to do. Rubbing her groggy eyes, Ree sighed.
This morning was the start of a day of first's, and Ree was starting a new school year as a new student, at a new school. Most teenagers would embrace this change as a chance to make a fresh start, find new opportunities and excitement. But for Ree, however, this was the least most exciting thing she had ever experienced, least of all needed.
Her family had moved to the Domino area only recently, and so Ree was still adapting to the changes of her home and life, never mind school. Also, her previous school had given her a hard time, where all her ideas were criticised and the only way to escape was to become invisible-- which she did. Her old friends eventually gave up on her, and she had got used to being alone. Unfortunately, now that she had been transferred to a new school, everyone would notice her... which is definitely not what she wanted.
You might as well stick a label spelling "NEW"on my forehead with permanent marker, thought Ree. The least thing that she wanted was to be noticed and be ridiculed again... Which I probably will because I won't know anyone and get lost in the corridors or something.
She sighed again, thinking. She sat motionless in bed for a few seconds, before starting to climb out to get dressed. But who knows, she thought, maybe I'll make friends... Ree opened the door of her dresser, revealing the mirror contained within. She grabbed her brush and started to furiously attack her hair. Ree didn't know any other person who had worse bed-hair than she did... and it was very thick, dark hair too, violet at the tips. When she had finally finished taming her wild locks and tied her purple hair ribbons, she slipped out of her night-dress and into her blouse. Putting on her skirt, Ree noticed how short it was. She wasn't too sure how she would get through the winter... but she pulled on her stockings and arranged her bow. After doing so, she felt like something was missing. But what was it? Smacking her head mentally, Ree remembered that her blazer was still hanging in the dresser. She pulled it out from the hanger and winced at the bubblegum pinkness of it.
"Wow," she said aloud, blinking as bright pink spots started to dance in front of her eyes, dazzling her. Closing her eyes for a moment to adjust, Ree hesitated, but put the blazer on. As soon as she did, she heard her mother's voice trailing from downstairs. "Ree," she called, "I hope you're already up, honey, because your breakfast is on the table."
"Coming, Mum," she replied, racing to the bathroom to brush her teeth and a quick morning face wash and exfoliation. Several minutes later, a very breathless Ree appeared at the bottom of the staircase for some breakfast.
"Oh sweetie, you look so lovely in your new uniform," said Mira Zephyron when her daughter was seated at the table. Ree pulled a face.
"Well, I just wish it wasn't so... pink," she exclaimed, and then stuffed a large piece of bacon in her mouth. Her mother sighed exasperatedly.
"Well then, I wish that you didn't just eat like a pig. You know it's more feminine to cut your food into pieces. Besides, it's tidier, too." Ree hung her head.
"Sorry," she apologised. "I was thinking of other stuff."
Ree looked at the kitchen clock hanging above the microwave. "7.00am." That meant that she had to leave soon. Gulping down her orange juice, Ree raced around the house collecting her schoolbag, wallet, and cellphone. She had an hour to walk to school, but she had wanted to be early so she could get used to the school and find out where all her classes were. Also, since she was new, she would have to obtain her locker key and timetable from the main office. As she got to her house door, Ree quickly stole a look at the window for a final check-over on her appearance. When she was satisfied, she put her hand on the door knob, waved a goodbye to her mother-- who was now reading the paper-- and ran out to the fresh air outside. As she ran down the path, she turned her head for a final goodbye.
However, this wasn't a very good idea because it prevents you from seeing where you are going... and because Ree was especially clumsy, the combination soon led to her tripping over a large rock. As she fell, Ree instinctively put her arms out to protect her body from the hard ground. Unfortunately, she somehow twisted to one side slightly and one hand lands with the most impact on the ground, her body following shortly after. As she laid dazed on the ground, Ree suddenly was conscious of a painful throbbing. "Ow," she muttered, and tried to think what on earth had just happened. Then she noticed that there was a pair of shoes before her. "Are you alright?" she heard a voice above her say.
Ree looked up to see the worried face of a teenage boy. He had warm, gentle brown eyes, and long, silvery-blonde hair. The boy offered her a hand. She tried to reach for it, but a sharp pain made her realise that the hand she was attempting to use was probably the one she had landed with, so Ree grabbed the boy's hand with her good one and he helped her to her feet. As Ree studied her injured hand, she saw scratch marks obtained by her landing on gravel, but also a deep gash near a large, raw spot where her hand must have landed on the rock. Gritting her teeth, she tried to ignore the throbbing of her hand.
"Here." Ree looked up to find that the boy had unbuttoned his school jacket and was tearing off a piece of his school shirt. Before she could say or do anything, he wrapped the fabric around her wounded hand, creating a temporary bandage. "Oh, um..." she began, not knowing what to say. "Thank you." The boy smiled. It was a nice smile.
"You're welcome," he replied laughing, "Besides, I couldn't leave you alone after a fall like that!" Ree smiled at him. The boy then said, "I haven't seen you around here before. Are you new?"
"Actually, yeah... I am... I moved here about a week ago," Ree answered, "Life's a bit crazy ever since my dad left us, so... it's just me and my mum."
"Ah, I see," said the boy, with an understanding look. "My name is Bakura... I live next door. Nice to meet you." Ree smiled shyly. "Nice to meet you too, Bakura. I'm Ree." Bakura returned the smile, and his eyes suddenly lit up.
"Oh, I know," he suggested. "How about I walk you to school, Ree? You probably need someone to show you around, and besides, it's better than having to walk alone." Ree laughed and accepted his offer. "Well, I guess that's true..." It was only then that Ree realised that he was wearing the Domino High boys' uniform. Oh, she thought. Silly me... Then they both started to walk towards the direction of school.
"So what do you think of Domino so far, Ree?" asked Bakura.
"Well, um... it's alright I guess..." she replied, "but I haven't seen all of it yet, so I can't decide."
Bakura smiled. "Don't worry, you'll like it here."
"Thanks... you're so nice."
"Well I'm just glad to help!" said Bakura, turning pink slightly.
Ree smiled. "And I'm glad that I met you."
"Me too."
Then all of a sudden the school was in front of them, a tall, grey building with a giant clock fixed into the top. What seemed like hundreds of students horded around outside, Ree was pretty sure more were inside... like some kind of weird ant farm. As they walked into the main corridor, Bakura suddenly turned to her and said, "Sorry, Ree, but I've forgotten to do something, and I need to go, is that alright?" Ree was a bit surprised to lose her new friend so soon, but if he needed to go, then she wouldn't stop him. "No, that's okay, I'll manage fine," she told him. He apologised a few times more before saying, "If you need anything, my locker is 564." Then Bakura raced off, turning left down another corridor, where Ree lost sight of him. She sighed. Well, I guess I'll have to find my locker number by myself, then. she thought, and started walking. Fifteen minutes passed, by which time Ree had travelled through countless corridors with lockers, one of which could have been hers, had she known what number. But eventually, she found the office, at the end of one corridor. The lockers there were in the 800's, and Ree memorised that so she could find it again. As she approached the office, the stern-faced secretary looked her up and down, as if judging appearance. "Name?" she inquired sharply.
"Oh, um... Ree Zephyron," stated Ree, breathless from all that power-walking. The secretary searched through a list in the school database on her computer, and when she found Ree's name, opened her file, printed out a class schedule and handed her two keys. "That is your class timetable," the secretary explained. "And those are your locker keys. Don't lose either or you'll have to pay a fine." She gave Ree a hard glare as if she had lost them all a thousand times before.
"Um, excuse me," stammered Ree nervously. "If I have only one locker, why do I need two keys?" The secretary continued to glare at her.
"Well that's so if you lose one of them, you don't come complaining to me."
"But wouldn't it be riskier losing two keys than one? I mean, both keys have the locker number printed on them so someone could steal one key and instantly know which locker it was for..."
"Don't be smart with me, lass," said the secretary sharply, "I don't make the rules. And all losses are to be the owner's problem. Now go away to your classes, the principal doesn't like his students to be late." She just said that to get rid of me, thought Ree, because she knew for a fact that she still had ten minutes before school begun. She pulled out her locker keys and saw that the number was 781. She then remembered that Bakura's was 564... 217 lockers away-- probably a few corridors apart. Oh well, Ree thought, I'll have to manage without him for a bit, until we meet again. She found her way through the corridors easier this time, because she had found out the pattern of the lockers in each corridor. Each corridor had a hundred lockers, two rows stacked above each other. Luckily her locker was in the 700's, therefore being the next corridor down from the office, so it didn't take her long to find 781.
Collecting everything she needed for the next lesson, Ree decided to head to where she thought her first class was... and was soon lost. She checked her timetable. She had Science first, but where she had thought the classroom was turned out to be wrong. She had no clue where she was, so Ree kept walking, until she reached the next corridor. It was packed with students.
Ree tapped one on the shoulder. The boy spun around; a blonde, with a wide grin. "Uh, hi," he said. "Hello," said Ree nervously. "Um... I'm a new student here... and I was wondering if... you could help me?"
"Oh, uh... sure thing!" he exclaimed. "Whaddaya need? Oh and by the way, the name's Joey. Nice to meet you, uh..."
"Ree. Um... Do you know which way is Room 53?"
Joey thought for a moment. "Hmm... let's see," he muttered to himself. "If we're here...then the Science rooms should be there and...
'Oh! I got it!" he shouted. "You should take the stairs, turn left in the corridor, and 53 should be somewhere around there... just look for the number at the top."
Ree brightened. "Oh thank you so much!"
Joey laughed with pride. "Aw, it was nothing..." Then he noticed her bandaged hand. "Ouch, what did ya do to your hand?"
Ree blinked. "Oh, this?" she asked, pointing at her hand. "Well... I was running and I didn't look where I was going and--"
"--You fell," finished Joey. Ree nodded and looked sheepish. Joey laughed.
He's a nice guy, Ree thought. Nice, but funny.
"Hey, let's compare timetables," suggested Joey. "I've got History next, but I wanna see if we share any classes." Ree nodded and brought out hers. She saw that they did indeed share a few classes, but the closest today was P.E.-- in third period. "Well then," said Ree, "I guess I'll see you then." Joey grinned.
"Yeah!" he yelled. "Seeya then!" Ree waved back at him as she walked up the stairs. When she had reached the top, she stopped a little way beside it, out of the way of the stairs. Ree wanted to make a good impression and stay out of trouble as much as she could, so she thought it was a good idea to be organised and carry all the books she needed for the lesson in her hands-- that way she didn't need to rummage through her bag in class to find them. Putting on her bag and carrying the books under her good arm, Ree began to turn left in the corridor.
But as she walked around the corner, she met something... or someone. BAM! Ree realised that she had forgotten to slow down and watch for other people. Some other person had obviously done the same thing. Ree's-- and theirs-- possessions flew out in every direction as both she and the person tried to quickly pick up everything that they thought were hers or theirs. By the time Ree had tidied up her papers and books, the other person had long finished. She tried to stand up without putting pressure on her bad hand, a pile of heavy books in the other. But to no avail, she just fell backwards again. Ree sighed in frustration. Angrily, she stuffed everything in her bag. She sighed again.
Ree looked up in front of her and suddenly realised that the boy; she could tell by the uniform; was offering her a hand. Obviously used initiative, he was holding out the opposite hand to her good one. "Geez, it's already the second time I've fallen over today," Ree muttered to herself as she grabbed the boy's hand. As the boy pulled her to her feet, she noticed that he was actually quite tall. Ree gazed up to meet a pair of steely cold blue eyes that seemed to glare right through her.
The boy had short brown hair with a fringe that fell slightly over one eye. He watched her, amused. "Uh... thanks," said Ree nervously, averting the petrifying, almost basilisk gaze, of the the tall stranger. The boy shrugged indifferently. "Whatever," he replied, "Looks like you can barely help yourself." He nodded at her bandaged hand. Before Ree had a chance to reply to his little remark, the boy sweeped out gracefully downstairs. Hmmm, what a strange individual... Ree thought, puzzled. It's almost as if he thinks he is a king! Then she felt dizzy all of a sudden... and realised she had been holding her breath the entire time. She quickly exhaled with relief. Amazing how just one person can make the room seem so claustrophobic... Ree glanced at her watch. "8.05am-- What?!" She was late! She immediately started to sprint down the corridor. 46, 47, 48... 53 wasn't far now... Then finally have found classroom 53, Ree snatched at the doorknob, yanked it open and bolted through the door. "Sorry..." Ree panted, breathless yet again. "Sorry I'm late..."
The teacher raised an eyebrow. "Ah, you must be Miss Zephyron. Indeed, you are five minutes late... but no matter, you are here now. We are about to start the test." Ree mentally started to panic. Test? What test? I never knew about this... The teacher, whose name she finds out later is Mr. Halliwell, saw her confused look and told her that it was just a test to find out what she knew and what she needed to learn or improve on. "Oh, I see," Ree said, nodding her head in understandment.
"Now please be seated at your desk next to Miss Gardner over there by the window so we can begin," ordered the teacher. 'Gardner', who Mr. Halliwell was referring to, turned out to be a tall brunette girl with blue eyes. She smiled at Ree as she sat in her seat. "Hey there," the girl said to her, "My name is Tea.
'You must be Ree Zephyron, the new girl, right?"
Ree nodded. "Hello Tea, nice to meet you," she said politely. Tea smiled and told her, "Well, if you need anything, just shout, okay? I'll help you out!" Ree was surprised by such friendliness and couldn't help a small smile spreading over her face. "Thank you," she said. Who knew I'd get this far and find so many kind people? Ree actually felt content in Domino High... she felt like-- she belonged.
Well, she thought, I can certainly settle with this...