Chapter 2

After a while, Duo became restless. It hadn't been a full hour since picking up McWoodan, but he was already bored. He looked over at the young Chinese boy sitting across from him, silently reading a thick book, eyeglasses perched on his nose.

"Hey, Wufei! I'm lonely! Keep me company until the end!," he teased.

Chang Wufei gave him a sideways glance and just shook his head. Duo laughed.

"Just joking, guy. Any cds I can borrow?"

The boy sighed without looking up. "Why don't you read for once, Duo? Ii wouldn't kill you to pick up a book."

"You never know, now do you or don't you?" THe scowl on Duo's face dissolved into a grin as he was handed a large CD holder. "'Preciate it."

"I'm sure."

As Duo flipped through the massive collection, he failed to notice the slender young woman in blue he had been watching before standing in the aisle next to him.

"That is a very good book."

His head shot up at the sound of her voice. Kalial was smiling down at Chang, who was staring almost agog. "You know this book?," he asked.

"Oh sure." She laughed quietly. "I've read this more than a couple of times. It's my favorite." Her face held tenderness as her eyes scanned the pages. "Very moving even if it was fictional. How are you finding it?"

Duo had never read the book, but he could see Chang was impressed and it took a lot to impress Chang Wufei. "Would you care to sit down? This could take a while."

Holding out one hand, he gently assisted Kalial into the seat while he himself scooted over to the empty seat next to the window. Already a small smile was forming on his usually serious face. "I do like it so far. I've been trying to get some commentary on it, but no one I spoke to had read it. It's difficult at some parts, but overall it's quite an interesting read."

They began to discuss the matter animatedly, too animatedly for Duo's taste. He wasn't a book person, only reading when it was required. He would rather listen to a book on Itunes than actually pick one up. Turning back to his music, he lowered the volume so he could still hear Kalial's voice.

"May I ask you something? And please don't think me rude," he heard her say.

"Go ahead."

"Are you Chinese?"

Black eyes widened along with Duo's. Not many could differentiate one Asian from another, thus lumping them all together. "Why yes, I am actually."

Kalial smiled. "Ni hao."

Chang snatched off his glasses hurriedly. "You speak Chinese?"

His voice raised loud enough to alert the rest of Duo's friends, including Kalial's. The two girls shifted in their seats and turned, one a dark mahogany skinned girl, the other a light toast. Both were very lovely in Duo's eyes, but Kalial had his attention. A blonde haired boy popped his head over the seats in front of Chang, questions in his bright blue eyes. Another boy sitting next to him, his brown hair styled straight and long over one side of his face, suddenly turned around completely to look into Kalial's face. Duo saw Relena peering over her own seat, curious at to what was going on.

"I'm not fluent, I'm afraid," Kalial told Chang, fully aware of her new audience and giving a nervous smile. "I haven't had as many lessons as I would have liked before meeting you."

Chang's face softened as she spoke. "Ni jiao shen me ming zi?"

"Wo shi Kalial Morgan."

The response came so quickly Duo thought she was just being modest when she said she wasn't fluent. "Wow. You're good," he broke in.

Dark eyes focused on purple and he felt a tug at his heart. "Thank you," she replied. She took him in fully as she smiled. "May I ask your name?" Wow, Southchester does have some very cute guys, she thought.

"Maxwell Church, but you can call me Duo."

"It's very nice to meet you, Duo, and…..?" She turned to Wufei.

"Wufei. Chang Wufei." Then he did something Duo had never seen him do. He took one of Kalial's hands in his and held it gently, kindly, as though she were a friend instead of someone he just met. "Wo hen gao xing neng gou ren shi ni."

Kalial's brows furrowed as she attempted to translate in her head. "I told you that I wasn't very good at it yet, but I know someone who is." She leaned into the aisle. "Hey, Lei! Come here!"

The toast complexioned girl popped her head over the seat. "What's up, Ka'?"

"Come here for a minute. I have someone you need to meet. Kaelyn sleeping?"

The girl looked down. "Knocked out already. Hold on. Here I come."

She seemed to be stepping over something before coming out into the aisle and headed towards them. Dressed in the bohemian style with a flowing pecan colored skirt, fitted tank, braided sandals and bangles everywhere, the almond shaped eyed girl flopped down in the empty seat beside Duo, the only available seat there was. "Greetings, greetings," she said genially with a wave to everyone. "I'm Lei."

"Lei, this is Wufei. I told him I was still working on my Chinese and there was something he said that I didn't catch. Care to translate?" She turned to Wufei to explain. "Lei is half-Chinese. She's really my tutor when you get down to it."

Wufei looked over at Lei, intrigue all over his face. "Oh, ok. Well, what I said was 'Wo he gao xing neng gou ren shi ni'."

Lei looked at Kalial and rolled her eyes. "Oh come on, Ka'. That's basic. He said it was nice to meet you. Don't you remember anything, girl?"

Kalial laughed. "I try." Glancing up at Duo, she smiled. "It's nice to meet you both."

Duo smiled back, a blush reaching his cheeks. What a pretty girl, he thought. "Oh, uh, hey, why don't you meet the rest of the gang," he suddenly said. "This is Trowa." The brown haired boy gave both girls studious looks similar to Wufei's and didn't smile, but wasn't deterred from extending a hand to them. Duo rolled his eyes as he watched Trowa continue to study both of them. "That's Quatre." The blonde was more responsive.

"Duo was right. You are good, both of you," he said brightly. "Do you speak any other languages?"

"She's the language freak," said Lei, gesturing to Kalial. "Wants to be a translator for the UN one day. I just speak Chinese."

"Well, I'm working on the Chinese," said Kalial, nudging her friend good naturedly. "But I do speak Japanese much better. I'm also working on Italian, Spanish, Russian and French. I would definitely like to study more."

"Have you thought about Arabic?"

"Yes, but unfortunately, there's not much I can do with it. There's really no one around to teach that." Kalial sighed. "It sounds so interesting, too. Hard, but interesting." She looked back into sea blue eyes. "Do you know of anyone who could teach me?"

Those bright eyes shone like diamonds. "I would be happy to teach you."

Kalial looked shocked as she realized what Quatre just said. "You? You would teach me?"

"Why wouldn't he?," Trowa finally spoke up. "He is Arabian. It makes sense, doesn't it?"

He sat, turned in his seat, legs and arms crossed, eyes closed as he spoke in his usual abrupt manner, his hair hanging in his face. Kalial and Lei looked at him and Lei narrowed her eyes.

"Hey, chill out, love. She didn't realize it, that's all. Ease up, baby."

Trowa's eyes snapped open, caught off guard by the endearments. His cheeks reddened slightly and he looked away. Duo would have liked to have bitten Trowa's head off for trying to embarrass Kalial, but he decided to ignore his friend and engage the lovely girl in conversation.

"So you're into languages, hm?"

Kalial grinned at him. "Lei, switch." In an instant, she was at his side. "Yes I am. I find them fascinating." Looking over her shoulder to check on Lei, she saw that her friend and Wufei were engaged in conversation, in Chinese from the sound of it. She smiled. She'll be fine. She always is. Focusing on Duo, she leaned back in the seat. "You're all very sweet. Is all of Southchester like you?"