Chapter Three – Encounters Of The Sarcastic Kind
Mina knocked lightly on the door before entering, always remembering the courtesy taught to her by the nuns. She stood awkwardly, as the teacher turned to face her. "Oh", he beamed, "you must be the new girl!" The man was of roughly forty years, with kind eyes and laughter lines.
"Yeah, uh yeah" Mina stammered, and heard snickers emerge from the class in front of her. "Well don't be shy, miss?"
"Wilhelmina De Noir", Mina answered, her eyes focused on the ground, she didn't dare to look up, for fear the taunting faces of her new classmates would make her go weak at the knees.
"Ah, un nom français! Est-ce que tu parles français? / Ah, a French name! Do you speak any French?" The teacher asked, intrigued.
"Oui Monsieur, mais je ne suis pas très bon/ Yes Sir, but only a little".
"No matter, no matter, now let's find a seat for you, perhaps next to – er – ah Mr Kaiba over there". Mina felt her blood freeze in her veins in total shock; she quickly broke her fixed gaze from the floor. Of course, he would be in her history class, and of course there would be no other vacant seats in the entire classroom. Someone has it out for me, she thought with dread.
Kaiba gave her a disapproving look, before turning his head, more content to stare out a window than to bother with the brit. Mina stared at her new teacher pleadingly, but he didn't catch her gaze. Mina trudged forward quietly, her head down and her books clutched tightly to her chest. She took her seat, and tried to occupy herself in every way feasible. She removed her pens from her bag, and prepared to take notes for the lesson, Kaiba paid her no attention, not that she expected any more of him, Mina honestly preferred him not to.
"Now class, for our new comer, today we will do a summary lesson of what we have covered so far
Mina began to rapidly take notes as fast as Mr Lebeny dictated them. It was three months into the term (or should she say semester) and the class was studying The Cold War, which to Mina's relief, she had already studied at GCSE in England. Her curled cursive sprawled across the page in inky black as Mr Lebeny spoke at length on the space race between America and the USSR. Mina knew that she had sufficient notes that could easily carry her though the course, but she wanted to take notes, she wanted to listen eagerly, and she wanted to fit in. Mina threw herself into her work, and blocked out everything bar Mr Lebeny's voice. She nipped at the tip of her tongue with her teeth and ignored the death stares that she was receiving from members of Jax's group and the terrible sense of anxiety that had spiralled in her stomach.
Next to her, Kaiba grew increasingly bored. He was itching to return to his office, he attended school as a formality and to satisfy both social services and the board of education, not giving them any reason to interfere with his life. History in particular, was a subject that he detested with an unmatchable hate. It was his own personal philosophy that the focus should be fixed firmly on the future, not the past.
He almost outwardly protested when Mr Lebeny had assigned De Noir the seat next to him, he sat alone in all his classes, as per his demands. Kaiba could not bother himself with interacting with those he saw as his inferiors. He may have technically been a student, but all the teachers in the school knew that they had no restraints over him Despite his slight fondness for Mr Lebeny, Kaiba knew that he was pushing it.
It was thirty minutes into the lesson before Kaiba bothered to pick up a pen, and it was merely to scribble down a design that had popped into his head for a new gaming device. That done, he was back to being bored. He allowed his eyes to wander and he looked down at the girl. She had written page upon page, her head bent low and hair falling over her work. Kaiba watched her work, slightly intrigued and disgusted by her fast writing, and the state of her notes. She wrote so quickly that the pages were peppered with little blotches of ink, still, the girl was working at a very fast pace, which was more than Kaiba could say about his fellow classmates. As he scanned her notes with a more critical eye, he realized that half of what she wrote was never mentioned by Mr Lebeny, most was her own knowledge. "Wilhelmina, Wilhelmina ralentissez/ slow down – the rest of us can't keep up with you!" Mina dropped her pen in embarrassment, had she been muttering to herself? She tended to do so when she was working. Mina looked up to see everyone staring at her, but she couldn't understand why. This was how they took notes at her old school, was it so different here? She laughed awkwardly under her breath. Mina reached for her pendant beneath her shirt as she always did when flustered, just knowing it was there had a calming effect on her. She picked up her beloved Conway Stewart pen once more, twirling it hesitantly. "At least you aren't completely incompetent", he growled, as he briskly made his way towards the door of the class, "See you around De Noir".
Mina was determined as she packed away her books, she had to speak to Mr Lebeny, he would have to understand. Kaiba hated her guts and the feeling was mutual, it would be torture to expect her to be stuck with him for the rest of the year. She charged into the hallway, it was a sea of pink and blue, her eyes scanned desperately for the scruffy tweed blazer. Mina navigated the crowd, still weary of bumping into any of Jax's friends, everyone was on route towards the cafeteria, and she felt like a salmon swimming against the current … with little success, eventually she was swept away with the tide of students, and Mina vowed silently that she would find him before the end of the day.
Inside the cafeteria, she searched for Blake and Sarah, and when that failed she kept her eyes peeled for crimson and gold spikes. Still she had no such luck until finally a friendly hand touched her shoulder. "Lost?" Mina spun to be met with a smiling Teá holding a lunch tray.
"Just a tad", Mina laughed uncomfortably, not that Mina didn't like the girl, she just felt awkward. "Come with me, we eat outside when the weather's good, Blake and Sarah are already outside", she told her. Mina followed Teá blindly, she prayed silently, half the day was gone, she prayed for strength to get through it. Outside the building the sun was shining, the yard was littered with wooden picnic benches, and beautiful orchid trees provided a cool shade for the teens. The table was already packed, but there was still room for the two girls. "Hey guys", they were greeted cheerfully. Teá took the space between Tristan and Yugi, whilst Mina took the final space at the end of the bench. Blake broke away from his conversation with Tristan and Yugi and smirked at his friend, "So", he grinned, "You going to tell us about this morning?"
"What, you got your ass in a fight and I jumped in, what's more to tell?" Mina questioned, stealing a strawberry from his tray.
"Three words; tall, dark and scary as hell", he replied, "and for some reason stepped in to save your sorry behind". Mina's eyes narrowed and she groaned in annoyance.
"Yeah, Kaiba is a person in particular who doesn't like lifting a finger", Joey grumbled.
"Believe me I think his aim was to humiliate rather than help", she replied harshly.
"Well speak woman, don't leave us all in the dark", Blake prodded her further and Mina rolled her eyes, it was a trivial mishap, something Mina did not want to turn into a big thing. "Remember Mokuba, last night, the kid we dropped home last night?" she continued, "Well while you two got to sleep peacefully I had to bring him to his house, and guess who the big brother is".
Blake looked puzzled, "Oh, shouldn't he be, what's the word I'm looking for, grateful then?"
"He's a bloody psycho!" Mina finally snapped, "He is the one who let his little brother stay out in the pouring rain, and Jesus, we tried to bring him home and he scolds me at the bloody door and accuses me of kidnapping him!"
"When it comes to Mokuba, Kaiba goes into overdrive, don't sweat it", Tristan said.
"Yeah, I've noticed", Mina huffed, she decided not to mention the incident in History, she didn't want to add to her own misery, perhaps it was better to suffer in silence. In fact, if she kept her head down and kept quiet, she could survive History in peace.
"Don't worry Mina, you're really nice and Kaiba's just a creep, just stick with us and you'll be fine". Teá smiled, and for once, Mina returned it genuinely. Maybe this place won't be so bad, she thought. Sarah, Teá and Mina managed to strike a conversation, it turned out that Teá wanted to be a ballet dancer, and Sarah beamed with delight, "Well Mina's a gymnast, and you did ballet for a while didn't you?"
"Really Mina?" Teá smiled and Mina blushed, "Yeah, I took ballet when I was a kid, but I had two left feet, I was always better at gymnastics. My aunt though is a teacher at the Academy of Dance in London, I know they offer a summer school".
Teá gasped, "Really?"
"Yeah, I will phone her later and ask about it, I just have to work out the time difference", Mina smiled.
"Oh, my God", she beamed, "I finally have some real girlfriends!"
"Hey and what are we, chopped liver?" Joey grumbled, and the whole gang erupted into laughter and Mina could finally relax into her seat.
"Well look at that, the nerd herd seemed to have acquired some new members".
Oh, come on. Mina recognised the voice immediately, and gritted her teeth in retaliation. She turned her head, Kaiba had spoken to the group of boys who followed him, and hung to his words, sniggering and laughing. The sensible part of her screamed to behave, stay silent and ignore him, but it was rare for Mina to ever listen to that voice. She sipped at her water before smirking, "Better the nerd herd than the dick patrol".
Tristan choked on his food, and Joey laughed loudly. Sarah gave her a stern look, but it was too late to take the comment back. Seto Kaiba halted in his tracks, growling under his breath, "Excuse me?"
"You heard me", Mina snapped, and turned to face him, "unless you're deaf as well as rude".
"Mina", Sarah hissed, "what are you doing?"
Kaiba's menacing cold eyes narrowed on the girl, he approached the table slowly, the trail of his coat hitting against his ankles. Mina didn't move from her seat, instead she continued to sip at her water bottle, very calmly, she may not be able to fight, but at least she could still stand up for herself.
"Huh, I thought you had a sliver of intelligence De Noir, I see now that I was wrong if you are actually willing to associate with these dogs", he replied starkly.
"Hey who yah callin' dogs yah creep", Joey barked, rising from his seat. Kaiba ignored him completely, instead focused on his new target.
"Seriously De Noir since you're new, here is a little bit of advice, ditch these losers before they degrade your status any further", he smirked.
Joey was fuming in the background, but Mina refused to let it show on her. Instead, she smiled politely and spoke sweetly, "Aw, why thank you Kaiba, how very thoughtful of you". She then rose from her seat, as if she was about to leave the table all together, "And I'll give you some advice to thank you", Mina then paused, "Acting like a dick won't make yours any bigger". By this stage the entire yard had stopped to listen, eager to see if another fight was about to break out, but what they got was a far bigger shock. It was one thing for the new girl to stand up to Jax, but Kaiba was a whole other level. Mina smiled and sat back down at the table and she flicked her dark hair over her shoulder.
Kaiba remained were he stood, utterly enraged by the little wretch. He glared, but failed to come up with a response, instead he leaned forward and placed a rough hand on her shoulder. Mina jumped, but his strength kept her down. He growled and whispered harshly, "this isn't over".
Mina, not one to back down, met his stare, "Take your hand off my shoulder before I break it".
Kaiba grunted, but released his grip and left without saying another word. Mina waited until he left before letting out a breath she didn't realise that she was holding. She took another drink of her water, and it took her a moment to realise that everyone at the table was staring at her. "What?" she asked, "Is there something in my teeth?"
Joey gaped, "You guys are definitely staying here right?"
"Yup", she smiled, and suddenly the table erupted in cheers. Mina smiled awkwardly, but she saw the look on Sarah's face. It was etched with worry, but Mina reassured her quietly, "Hey, he deserved it, and he insulted your friends".
"I know", she mumbled, "just try not to make things worse for yourself".
Mina laughed, "How could I make things worse?"
"This day couldn't possible get any worse", Mina groaned to herself as she trudged from the school building. Dark grey clouds gathered in the sky. She had promised to meet Blake and Sarah at the school gates, as well as their new American friends. She recounted the disasters of the day; the fight, her new history partner and lunch …. Not to mention Kaiba's goons torturing her after the lunch incident. According to Teá, he had left school after lunch in a fury, and left his dogs to do his work for him. Mina shuddered, bad luck most have been following her like a shadow. She could see in front of her, the mismatch gang, Tristan and Joey were arguing about something, but she was too tired to inquire, or quite frankly care. "Mina, Mina!" Sarah waved her arms wildly in her direction with a gay smile. She begrudgingly approached them, Mina wanted nothing more than her bed, but not the ghastly one in their new house with horrible lumps in the mattress and protruding metal rods, she wanted her bed, she wanted her home. Mina mustered a thin smile, not wanting to seem rude as Sarah beckoned her closer. "Oh, Mina we invited everyone round for a bit of tea, you don't mind, do you?" she said sweetly.
Mind?! Mina thought aghast; I haven't even got the shopping to feed three mouths! But then Mina saw Sarah's face, every inch painted with excitement. "I suppose so..."
"Perfect!" Sarah cried.
"Oh but, I'll have to nip out to the shops to get a few things and –
"Not a problem, we'll take the key and you take the car. Oh, Mina it'll be lovely". Sarah was rambling, Mina knew at this stage there was no use trying to reason with her, in her mind, Sarah had already begun to draw up a perfect picture, and she wouldn't settle until it was brought to life.
"One problem, I don't know how to get there so I might be a while" Mina tried to be the voice of sanity.
"One of us can go with you", Tea suggested, seeing that Sarah was getting carried away with herself. "If that's alright with you".
"Of course,", Mina smiled. Lie. "I would be glad of the help". Another Lie.
"I'll help yah Mina", Joey chirped in first, but that wasn't the end of it.
"I can go Mina; Joey here would drag you over half the city before you get back" Tristan interrupted.
"Why I ought a –
Teá groaned and Sarah crossed her arms in annoyance. Yugi shook his wild hair and laughed, Mina looked in his direction, "Do you mind?" she asked, if she had to take someone, at least let it be someone with a level head.
He smiled, "No problem".
The two slipped away before the three boys could notice, and walked to her car. "How come you have a license so early anyway?" Yugi asked her.
Mina smiled, "Somebody owed me a favour".
Yugi laughed, "Must have been a pretty big favour".
