The bell rang. I soon found myself in the hallway next to Chidori, who held a slip of paper in her hand, her eyes darting from it to the doors.
"What class do you have next?" I asked, deciding to be helpful.
Her eyes, once again, looked mistrusting, but she answered anyway. "AP Calc with Mr. Macao," She laughed slightly. "Do any of the teachers here go by their last names?"
"No, they don't." I felt appalled. "What class did you say you had again?"
"I said Advance Placement Calculus." Her eyes suddenly looked angry. "What, just because I have dyed hair, you don't think I'm smart?"
I opened my mouth, but nothing came out. Yes, I had that stereotype, but I had always expected myself to be right. With one last spiteful glare, she turned on the heel of her boot and marched down the hallway. I had no choice but to follow her: we had the same class, after all.
Chidori turned into a classroom on the right and I slid in after her, just barely making it in before the bell rang. Mr. Macao was a middle aged man with close cut black hair so dark it almost looked blue. He also had a thin mustache and beard. After he quickly took roll, he started. "Okay class, today we're going to have a quiz on what we went over last week." The general groan rang out in the room. "Ms. Rosenkruez, I know you just transferred her, so you don't have to take the quiz."
"Oh, I'll be fine," she assured him with a sweet smile. As he turned his back to pick up the papers, she shot a venomous glare at me.
After all the papers had been passed out, I found myself chewing on the end of my pencil as I reached the tenth and final question. The first nine had been easy enough, but this last one was tricky. I finally worked it out to the best of my ability and took my quiz up to the teacher. One glance down at his desktop showed me that Chidori had managed to get a perfect score. I gritted my teeth and went back to my desk.
I spent the rest of the class period brooding about it. I knew I had only managed a ninety. So how in the world did this little punk rock school girl just waltz in here and magically outperform me? It didn't make sense.
Out the corner of my eye, I saw someone slide into the desk next to me. "Hey." It was her.
Figuring I might as well play nice, I turned to face her. "Hello."
"Sorry for losing my temper earlier, I just hate when people just judge me outright, you know?" She bit her thumbnail and looked at me.
I shivered again, this time for reasons unknown. "It's alright," I told her, refusing to smile. "I shouldn't have had those prejudices in the first place."
"So will you help me?" Chidori smiled tentatively. I nodded, not knowing how to react with this bomb of mood swings in front of me.
"Can you tell me where the rest of these classes are?" She asked, passing me her schedule.
"Sure," I answered, not smiling. My eyes skimmed over the words printed on the page, getting wider with each class I skimmed over. "In fact, I can show you where they are."
"Won't you be late to your other classes though?"
I lifted my eyes to meet hers. "These," I raised her schedule for emphasis. "are my other classes."
_
The next two classes basically went the same way. Chidori showed off her brilliance in both AP Lit and Chemistry honors. It ticked me off. I had always been the top of my class since elementary school. Then she shows up and threatens my chances of staying that way? No. I wouldn't allow it.
I was relieved when the ball rang. I rushed out the room, not bothering to wait for Chidori this time. She would be able to find the lunch room on her own. When I got to the cafeteria, I went straight to the table where Lucy was eating her home made lunch. I never bothered to eat during this time. I was never hungry enough to.
"Where's Keru?" Lucy asked, taking a sip from her bottle of water.
"I dunno." I glanced around the room. There he was, walking in with that cat girl. "No way."
"What?" Lucy turned eagerly. Her mouth dropped open. "He's carrying her books for her?"
"He works fast." I smirked. I saw Chidori sitting across the cafeteria, staring at the two of them like she couldn't believe it. I watched her nudge Natsu, who was busy scarfing down his lunch. He stopped for a moment to glance up and froze.
I stifled a laugh at this reaction as Keru and Finni parted. Keru ran his fingers back through his hair as he sat down and grinned. "I hope you guys don't mind, but I invited Finni and her friends to sit with us today."
"Nah, we don't mind." Lucy told him. I just shrugged my shoulders as the three of them started to sit down. Natsu ended up beside Lucy, Finni next to Keru, and Chidori next to me. How grand.
"So," Lucy started. "How long have the three of you known each other?"
"Since we were little." Chidori smiled. "Finni's mom, Natsu's dad, and my dad were all friends in high school and stayed friends afterwards."
"What do all you parents do?" I asked, almost regretting it at once. Finni's expression darkened as she quickly picked up a book off her pile and started reading it.
"My dad works in, uh, management." Natsu snickered, glancing at Chidori, who had broken out in a sly grin. He lost the laughter in his voice in his next sentence. "My mom died when I was born."
Lucy gasped, clapping a hand to her mouth. "That's horrible." Natsu shrugged, his eyes looking down.
"My dad is a stock broker," Chidori commented smoothly, directing unwanted attention from Natsu. "My mom owns a boutique franchise called 'Xianan Culture'."
"Oh em gosh, I love 'Xianian Culture!" Lucy squealed. Keru and I both nodded. We had been dragged to that accursed store many a time to help Lucy pick out outfits for dates and dances. Each and every memory kept me shuddering.
"I live with my brother though, as does Finni." The cat girl shot the punk beside me a fretful look, but none of us had time to question it. The bell rang at right that moment and there was a scurry to get to the closest door so none of us would be late.
A/N: I just want to say thanks really quick to anyone who continued on to the second part of this story. Reviews and ideas are greatly welcomed and might even cause the next segment to be written quicker! Thanks again!