Peacecraft Memorial Infirmary
"Noin!" Miliardo almost stumbled across the hospital room, but he noticed Duo Maxwell sitting beside the bed, and he managed to compose himself.
The young pilot stood, and Miliardo noticed the bruise on his forehead. "Are you are right, Duo?"
Duo nodded. "I'm sorry, Zechs. I couldn't help her!"
She was so pale against the white sheets of the bed. There were wires collecting data from her temples and a monitor for her heart, but she was at least breathing without assistance.
Not caring that Duo saw, Miliardo lifted her limp hand and carried it to his lips. "Lucrezia," he murmured softly.
The doctor entered with Sally Po following.
Miliardo did not wait for the doctor to speak before asking fearfully, "Will she be all right?"
"She is in a coma." The doctor moved past him to check her vital signs.
Sally cleared her throat. "The attack on the Epyon was designed to render both the machine and pilot unable to counterattack." In other words, to destroy the machine and kill the pilot.
"Commander Noin took quite a shock to her system," the doctor told Miliardo. "But she is young and strong. At the moment I don't see any danger, but she needs rest."
Miliardo continued to hold Noin's hand, stroking the back with his thumb as he stared at her peaceful, unconscious face. Come back to me, he urged silently.
Sally was speaking again. "We do have a problem, sir."
Reluctantly he took his gaze from Noin's face to see that Sally was very serious.
Duo announced, "We fought a gundam."
Miliardo fixed his stare on him. "According to Noin's pre-operation report, she was planning to take Wing Zero with her. What are you doing here?"
The long braid fell forward as Duo hung his head.
Sally spoke. "According to the preliminary data, this unidentified gundam probably would have killed a pilot using the Zero System. As it is gundam 02 needs extensive repairs and Epyon is all but destroyed. It will take months to repair."
Miliardo didn't care about the gundam mobile suit. He squeezed Noin's hand. "Bring me your report in the morning. It is late." He glanced at Duo. "I believe you have an advanced physics test tomorrow. That is the reason my sister gave for going to Seaside Lab, to study with Heero Yuy. Could that explain his absence on the mission?"
By the look that Sally and Duo exchanged, Miliardo concluded he had guessed correctly. He would have to deal with his single-minded sister later. For now he only wanted to be with Noin for as long as he could before duty called him away.
As Duo followed Sally out, Miliardo heard him say, "You'd think falling out of the sky at hundreds of feet per second and smacking into the ground on your head might get you out of a physics test."
"There's nothing to damage in your head," responded Sally.
Miliardo did not hear Duo's reply. He let out a breath and leaned down to touch his lips to Noin's forehead, but he saw her long, dark lashes flutter open and her deep violet eyes met his. He froze.
She groaned.
"Are you in pain?" he asked, reaching to press a button to call the doctor back to the room.
Her hand snagged his arm, stopping him. "No, I am fine. I just feel sore all over."
"You took a foolish chance," he admonished her softly.
"Why don't you take a foolish chance?" she goaded as she reached up to run her fingers through his hair.
Miliardo could not resist her invitation. He leaned forward to kiss her, but the door swung open, and he sprang back to see Lieutenant Benton enter carrying a large bouquet of red roses. Several nurses followed carrying similar bouquets and they cast envious glances at the woman on the bed. Miliardo realized he had forgotten to cancel the flowers.
Before leaving, Benton winked at him. Or was he winking at Noin?
Noin sighed. "Does a girl have to die to get a kiss from you?"
"Almost," he replied, and pushing back all the reasons why he shouldn't, he touched his lips to hers.
Seaside Laboratory/Royal Academy
"Duo! Get up!"
Duo pulled a blanket over his head. Maybe he wouldn't be seen.
"Duo!"
"Go away," he groaned.
Something was poking his back, and he threw back the blanket. Sally Po dropped his clothing on his head.
"The others have already left for the academy. I must go too, and you are coming with me. You will miss assembly, but I expect you to attend classes as usual."
"As usual? Does that mean I can skip literature class?" She raised a brow. "Guess not!"
Sally was already gone, but a driver dropped him at the Royal Academy. Duo's head was still pounding, and he could only think about his humiliating defeat the previous night. To be beaten in combat was one thing, but to be laughed out of the sky was quite another. Sally had been saying something about a houseguest, but Duo couldn't concentrate. The Shadowhawk's laughter was still ringing in his ears.
Assembly would end in a couple of minutes, so Duo went straight to his locker in the hall where he pulled out his physics book. He tried to balance it on his knee while scribbling answers between his fingers. The teacher would never see them there!
"Duo!"
Hilde's voice startled him into dropping the book. "Hey! I only have five minutes before class! Cut me some slack!"
"We had plans last night! It was my birthday!" She was glaring at him.
"Really? Happy birthday!" Duo didn't need Hilde nagging him now. If his hair didn't hide the bruise on his head, she might feel sorry for him. But Duo certainly didn't want her hanging all over him like Prince Miliardo was over Noin.
Hilde smacked his arm. "We were supposed to celebrate together last night. Remember?" She poked his head with her forefinger and he almost yelped in pain.
"I had more important things to do!" It slipped out before he could stop himself. Oh God, now he would have to deal with hurricane Hilde!
"Well! With that attitude, you probably don't care that I stopped by for you and when you were too busy, Quatre took me to see a movie."
Saved by good old Quatre! "Whatever makes you happy!" Duo scribbled another answer on his finger.
"Afterward, we went out for ice cream."
With his foot he flipped a page of his physics book and found another term to add to his notes. "Glad you had fun!"
"Then we went for a walk on the beach and saw some shooting stars."
One was me, he thought.
Suddenly she was nose to nose with him. "We held hands, Quatre and I, then he kissed me."
With Dorothy out of town, he could afford to be so brave. "So what's your point?"
Hilde stomped her foot on his. "We are through!"
Duo raised his injured foot and hopped a bit just as the bell rang to signal a return to classes. He put his foot down, not noticing until it was too late that it came down on a shoelace. The owner tumbled to the floor, books flying in many directions.
Looking down, he saw a girl he had never met staring up at him. Her hazel eyes seemed like green fire as she glared at him over the rims of gold wire glasses that were crooked on her nose. Her curly hair was the color of bright copper and several strands had fallen out of the knot that was twisted at that back of her neck. There were freckles sprinkled across her nose.
"It's not everyday a girl falls at my feet," he joked, reaching down to help her up.
"I wouldn't think so!" She brushed off his offer of help to collect her books quickly herself, and then she stood.
Duo whistled softly. "My, but aren't you a prickly thistle!"
"Are there any other kind?" she retorted. And without another word she marched away.
Duo almost called out to her to warn her that her shoes were untied, but he changed his mind. He was in no shape to combat the insults she seemed capable of hurling, and there was only a matter of minutes before physics class.
The bell rang again.
"You're late," commented Wufei as Duo slipped into the seat across the aisle from him.
"I'm not late unless the teacher notices," whispered Duo. "And old featherbrain hasn't noticed."
"Duo Maxwell!" The physics teacher, Dr. Elias Plume, bellowed. "Perhaps you have a good reason for being late today."
"Not today!" responded Duo.
Trowa and Heero were several seats away towards the back of the room, but Duo did hear them snicker.
"Good, because we don't have time to listen to one of your entertaining tales. Today we have a test on the information in Chapter Twelve. Everyone close your books."
Duo sneaked a peek in his book and realized he had written answers to another chapter. He looked at Wufei. "What happened to Chapter Ten?"
"Three weeks ago," said Wufei.
"Do I hear talking?" demanded Dr. Plume. "Mr. Maxwell, need I repeat myself? Close your book!"
With a sigh, Duo did as ordered and wondered what they would be writing about today. Maybe old featherbrain would give a true-false test and he would have a chance! Then he remembered the last true-false test Plume gave. Sally Po was not impressed by three out of one hundred correct.
The test paper appeared on his desk. Explain the theory of relativity and its role in quantum physics and how it has been applied in the propulsion designs of space transportation today. Confine your answer to no less than 2,000 words and no more than 5,000.
"Oh my God! I am so screwed!"
"Mr. Maxwell, is there a problem?"
Duo looked up to see other students busy writing. He looked at the teacher. "No sir!"
"Good, then I suggest you write." The teacher turned his attention to another student, and Duo recognized the girl from the hall. "Miss Stryfe, are you sure you wish to take this test as this is only your first day in this school?"
"I shall endeavor to keep my answer to less than 5,000 words," she replied in the same acid tone she had used with Duo in the hall.
"Friendly girl," murmured Duo.
"Get used to it," whispered Wufei who did not even pause in writing.
Duo had no idea what he meant, so he turned his attention back to the test. He wondered if his name and the date would count in the final tally towards the minimum 2,000 words. He glanced back at Trowa and saw him chewing on the eraser at the end of his pencil. Good! He was having problems too! But then Trowa started writing after spitting the eraser out the corner of his mouth, hitting Heero in the eye.
Duo snorted with laughter.
"Mr. Maxwell!" Dr. Plume raised his voice now. "You have a test to take. I suggest you begin now so you can get at least your customary one hundred words scratched on the paper before the end of the period."
"Yes sir." Duo stared at his paper for several minutes, the white page mocking him. He would regret it, but he glanced back at Heero in time to see him press down his pencil so hard the lead broke and flew straight at Trowa who was busy writing. Destination, his nose.
Trowa sneezed so loudly only Duo heard Heero mutter, "Mission complete."
Duo bit the knuckles on one hand to keep from laughing and caught a warning look from Wufei. He glanced at Quatre who was sitting two seats away and saw that he was busy writing his test in poetry form complete with pencil drawn flowers and vines along the edge of his paper. Duo wondered what featherhead would think of that?
Time was slipping away, so Duo ordered himself not to look back at his fellow pilots. Instead, he caught a few ideas from Wufei's paper. But as he was writing, Miss Stryfe who marched to the teacher's desk and dropped her stack of papers in the middle under Dr. Plume's nose distracted him.
"I am sorry, sir, but I have gone over your limit by five words. Feel free to subtract them from my grade."
All pencils stopped scratching for a moment as she walked back to her seat. Duo noticed her shoes were still untied. One of her stockings was falling down and her glasses had slipped to the end of her small nose. What a sight! How was he supposed to work with that in the room?
Wufei left his seat and handed his paper to Dr. Plume who was staring at Miss Stryfe's paper with puzzlement. "I have stayed within your limit."
Duo sighed, then shoved himself from his seat and walked up to the teacher, passing Wufei who frowned at him. Duo slipped his paper on the desk. "I have reached my limit!" he declared.
Dr. Plume curled his lip as he looked at him. "I am not surprised you would hand in your paper after Mr. Wufei as you have been copying his."
"I didn't copy it all!" Duo defended himself. "I couldn't write that fast!"
He heard a giggle and could have sworn it came from the general direction of Miss Stryfe's seat, but when he looked over his shoulder; she had a serious, disapproving look on her severe features.
"I shall have to have yet another talk with Miss Po," Featherbrain was saying, his tone stern. "You are a disgrace! I don't know why she wastes her time and ours attempting to educate a buffoon like you! You will never amount to anything more than a taxicab driver, and I seriously doubt you even have the intelligence to operate a motor vehicle!"
"Would I have to steer and accelerate at the same time?" asked Duo, scratching his head.
"Take your seat and keep your mouth shut!" Plume was ready to burst a vein, so Duo complied.
As he sat down, he saw Quatre wink at him. Wufei wrote something on a paper and slid it toward Duo.
After last night's performance, I wouldn't ride in your taxi.
His head was pounding again, so Duo laid his head on his desk and before he knew it, he was sound asleep.
Trynity Stryfe sat with her back straight staring ahead to the chalkboard where the teacher had written the answer to an equation for a previous class. She doubted he realized there were several mistakes. Perhaps that pretentious oaf Mr. Wufei might notice. Trynity's father would laugh at the teacher. That was his annoying solution to everything! If it weren't for Trynity, nothing would have gotten done in his lab. Dr. Ivan Stryfe was more like that fool Duo Maxwell. Her father had been a brilliant scientist but his foolishness had landed him in a position on the furthest colony from civilization. Yet, through the years he kept in close contact with his colleagues, and he had somehow earned the honor of designing a gundam mobile suit. Trynity had been at his heels the entire time, at first pestering him with questions, then offering advice. No one was more surprised than she was when her father had decided to abort his mission because of ideological differences between him and the man who had made what had become his life's work possible. Gundam 06 did not join the others in operation Meteor in the year A.C. 195 because it was destroyed in an explosion in Dr. Strye's remote laboratory. All but Ivan Stryfe and his daughter had forgotten Gundam 06 as Operation Meteor proceeded on schedule.
But when her father had learned that the other gundams designed by his former colleagues had managed to bring the long hoped for peace between the colonies and Earth, he decided the time was ripe for unveiling his ultimate creation. Despite her warning, he took a shuttle with the intention of joining his fellow gundam designers to share with them the advanced processes he had used in designing a perfect gundam. He never reached Earth. His shuttle had been attacked and diverted to a secret location where he was held prisoner. One day while running diagnostics tests on the Shadowhawk, its sensors flashed a warning of approaching ships. Trynity didn't think twice about taking the gundam into action. No one would take it from colony L10! Shadowhawk easily destroyed the shuttle and carrier sent to take it away.
However, later as she was congratulating herself, Trynity received a sub-space communication from a group calling itself the Coalition for Earth and Colony Independence. The leader demanded that she surrender the gundam or her father would be killed. She had no choice. She had no one but her father. To the rebels' dismay, however, the gundam was so complex that only one person could pilot it. Now Trynity was forced to carry out the missions of the Coalition or her father would suffer.
Sighing, Trynity glanced back at Duo Maxwell and saw him sleeping. If only her father had used more sense, she wouldn't find herself here on earth. Before he had left on his failed mission, he informed her that he had made provisions for her to be cared for by the pacifistic Peacecraft family ruling the Cinq Kingdom on Earth should anything happen to him. Trynity had no intention of going, but her blasted father had built a beacon into Shadowhawk that was set off by the capture of his shuttle. That beacon sent a message to the Cinq Kingdom, and Trynity had no choice but to follow her father's wishes. She had been assigned to Seaside Laboratory where she was to become one of a set of orphans who were wards of Prince Miliardo Peacecraft.
She did not land on Earth by shuttle, as they believed. Shadowhawk had brought her, and when she neared the moon she received a communication from the Coalition which contained orders to destroy gundam mobile suit Epyon and its pilot as well as Wing Gundam Zero. As Trynity entered the atmosphere, she had been approached by the gundam matching the specifications sent to her by the Coalition of the Epyon. But the other gundam was not Wing Gundam Zero, so she was somewhat relieved to not have to destroy it as she did the unprepared Epyon. There was no room in her heart for remorse although the pilot of the Epyon was surely killed. Her father's life depended on her.
The unknown gundam had attempted to attack, and Trynity counted herself lucky that it had malfunctioned because Shadowhawk's scan had been scrambled by it. She even felt some fear as it spread its frightful black wings and charged with a deadly scythe, and when it had failed, she could not help her laughter of relief. So after incapacitating the unknown gundam, Trynity engaged the cloaking device on the Shadowhawk that was her father's special design feature and landed it among the treacherous rocky shoreline not far from the Seaside Laboratory which was her destination. Using the communicator in her gundam, she called a taxicab, then left Shadowhawk resting unseen in the rocks as she stepped out to wait on the side of the road. The taxi driver did not question why she stood in the road in the middle of no where with a suitcase, nor why she asked him to drive her only a few kilometers. He took the money she paid with a foolish grin. No doubt he had as much air between his ears as Duo Maxwell.
Major Sally Po who Trynity realized was a housemother of sorts had greeted her. Because it had been late, she was escorted to a room on the fourth level of the complex, and after exchanging pleasantries during which she seemed preoccupied, Miss Sally excused herself. Trynity was glad because she wanted to be alone with her thoughts, and trying to converse with the kind woman was nerve-wracking. Trynity had difficulty sleeping in her new surroundings, but she did manage to drift off to sleep shortly before dawn while still worrying about Shadowhawk being discovered.
That morning Miss Sally tried to talk her out of attending school, but Trynity wanted something challenging to take her mind off the battle of the previous evening. Leaving her room and finding the dining room, Trynity had the dubious honor of meeting the other residents at the Seaside Laboratory. Each had been orphaned during the war, and Sally explained that the prince was caring for them to symbolize his desire to help all those who had been left with nothing from the wars.
They were seated in the dining room before their breakfast speaking quietly, but when Trynity walked into the room, they stopped immediately.
Trynity had enough experience with boys like them. Two test pilots had come to L10 and trained to pilot the Shadowhawk. They had been conceited oafs and she saw the same in these boys.
The first to speak was the only blond among them. His big, limpid blue eyes were friendly as he reached out to take her hands. She forced herself to suffer his limp grasp and sloppy kisses to her cheeks without the scathing comment she wanted to make.
"I am Quatre Raberba Winner. I am so very pleased to meet you."
She mumbled some reply and jerked her hands away from him.
Miss Sally put one hand on another boy's shoulder. He glanced at her with the one eye she could see. The other was covered by the greater part of his brown hair hanging over it. Trynity wondered if that hair was hiding an empty eye socket.
"Trowa Barton here, just for the record." He turned his attention back to the poptart on his plate, but he did no more than stare at it.
Another silent boy sat beside him stubbornly contemplating his toast and jelly, and Trynity wondered what they found so interesting about their carbohydrates. When Sally touched his arm, he glared at her through his own too long spiked bangs and Trynity suspected from that look that he would end up in some penitentiary.
"I am Heero Yuy. It's a pleasure." He spoke as if it were anything but. Trynity tried to stare him down, but Miss Sally interrupted their duel of wills.
"This is Chang Wufei busy studying."
Trynity looked at him. "What are you studying?" she asked when he did not look up from his book.
"Advanced quantum physics," he said, turning a page. "You wouldn't under-stand."
Several words came to mind for a response, but Trynity did not think saying them aloud would make a good impression on the gracious and polite Major Sally Po. So Trynity remained silent.
In fact, not one of them spoke again as they munched on their breakfast. Even the friendly Quatre seemed distracted, so Trynity contented herself with staring from boy to boy, ending with the egotistical Wufei. He caught her and shot her a look of disgust.
The limousine ride to the academy was equally uncomfortable, but she made a notable discovery: Trowa Barton did have two eyes. Once at the academy, they parted ways and Sally Po took her to the headmaster's office to register. Trynity had taken courses through satellite schools, but most of her education came from her eccentric father. She chose her own classes, and then Sally Po changed her schedule after informing her that the prince expected his wards to have a well-rounded education. So trigonometry was replaced with philosophy, technical design with art and chemistry with physical education. She fought literature, finding it a deadly waste of time, but Sally insisted.
Before leaving, Sally assured her that if she needed any help, Quatre, Heero, Trowa or Wufei would be glad to assist. Trynity truly doubted it and decided she would rather be back in deep space at the remotest colony than to have to suffer their presence more than necessary.
Physics class finally came to an end. Trynity noticed Wufei bump Duo Maxwell as he walked out, waking the oaf. Duo sat up blinking and she noticed a bruise on his forehead. She wondered if the blow that caused it had damaged his brain, what little was in evidence.
Quatre came to her as she was exiting the room, and she forced herself to look away from Duo Maxwell. "What class do you have next?" asked Quatre with a friendly smile.
Although she wished he would disappear into another dimension, she opened her schedule, and seeing her class list, he chuckled. "Just as I thought! Sally has put you in the same classes we all are in. She just doesn't want to deal with more than a handful of teachers."
That remark was telling!
Suddenly she remembered Dr. Plume's comment to Duo Maxwell about contacting Sally Po, and turning she saw him approaching. Oh no! He could not possibly live in their house! Not him!
"Hey, Quatre!" he said as he slapped him on the back, propelling the lighter Quatre forward to bump into Trynity. She had trouble keeping her books in her arms. "Seems congrats are in order! Hilde gave me the good news. She's all yours buddy!"
Trynity saw Quatre blush. He really was a nauseating young man. The three entered the main hall to blend in with the many other students. Trynity noticed three girls approaching from coordinates further down the hall, two stopping by Trowa and Heero who had positioned themselves in the shadow of a door. At least their personalities blended in with the wall.
A girl with long blondish brown hair stretched to kiss Heero, but he jerked up his head so that she planted her lips on his chin. Trowa was not so lucky as a girl with wavy darker hair trapped him against the wall. Quatre called to the girls and saved him from the embarrassing length of her kiss.
"Catherine and Relena, come and meet Trynity. She will be living with us."
They quickly left their victims - Trynity could think of no other word for them - behind as they came to check her out. Another girl with short dark hair joined them and the three looked her over carefully from top to bottom, their eyes coolly assessing her, and apparently judging her unequal and no threat to their ambiguous relationships, they smiled warmly in welcome.
Heero's attacker spoke first. "I am Relena Peacecraft." She held out her hand.
Trynity took it reluctantly. "Are you related to Prince Miliardo Peacecraft?" For the sake of the Cinq Kingdom, Trynity hoped not.
"My brother," answered Relena before turning to catch Heero Yuy attempting a daring escape. "Heero! You are walking me to literature class!"
Trowa made a sound that resembled a whip, but it was cut short by the jab of an elbow in his ribs from his pretty admirer.
"My name is Catherine Bloom," she announced herself to Trynity as she curled her arm around Trowa's, dumping her books in his hands in the process. "We will be seeing a lot of each other if you are living at Seaside. Right Trowa?"
Reluctantly he nodded.
Heero snorted.
Relena started toward him, but a bell rang and Heero turned on his heel and started away, disappearing quickly among the many students headed toward their classes.
"Heero!" called Relena as she followed him. "Come get me Heero!"
As Trowa was dragged away by Catherine, another girl snagged Quatre. Quatre turned to Wufei.
"Show Trynity to Lit class."
Wufei glared at Trynity. "I don't walk women to class." And he left her.
To her dismay, Duo Maxwell came to her side. "I think I know where Lit class is. Confidentially, I haven't been there in a week."
Trynity looked away from his silly grinning face, not because his big dark blue eyes were fascinating or his smile infectious. He was simply annoying! She started forward and almost tumbled because he was standing on her shoelace.
Duo reached out to steady her, but she slapped his hands away while attempting to keep her books in her arms. "I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself!"
He threw up his hands. "Just trying to help!" Duo's nap had cleared his head. Unfortunately Miss Trynity Stryfe's disposition seemed to have gotten meaner.
"You can help," she stated, glaring at him over the rims of her glasses, "by removing your foot."
Duo saw that he was standing on her shoelace. "Oops!" When he lifted his foot, she shot away. Oh well, if she wanted to run around with her shoes untied, who was he to complain? But as he followed the untidy girl down the crowded hall, he wondered why no one else stepped on her shoelaces.
She entered the classroom before him, then slammed the door in his face. The bell had rung before he got it open.
"Damn! Late again!" he muttered as he walked in.
"Well, well, well! Class, we have a visitor today. Please welcome Mr. Duo Maxwell." The teacher was staring straight at him.
Duo acknowledged the applause of his classmates with a bow then took one of the only two seats remaining. By the look on Mrs. Drivel's face he knew he had sat at the wrong one, so he scooted across the aisle and folded his hands on his desk.
The teacher turned her attention to the carrot top girl standing inside the classroom to the back. "You must be Miss Trynity Stryfe," said Mrs. Drivel. "Please take the seat near Mr. Maxwell."
Duo watched Trynity drop her books on the desk and sit on the chair with an audible plop. He grinned at her, but she stared straight ahead. So much for Lit class! She wasn't about to make it any more interesting.
"Today we are beginning a unit on poetry," announced Mrs. Drivel.
"How exciting!" cried Quatre, half standing. "I love poetry!"
"Mr. Winner, please contain your enthusiasm," scolded the teacher. "We are well aware of your predilection for poetry."
Duo opened his book to the glossary hoping to find that word.
"Preference," whispered Miss Stryfe to his right.
Duo looked at her with surprise, but she was staring straight ahead. Damn, she was good!
"There is a short introduction on page one hundred thirty-three. Please read it silently while I take attendance."
Quatre's hand shot into the air. "Mrs. Drivel, may I please read it aloud."
"No, you may not!"
Duo opened his book and found himself staring at word problems. Wrong book! He dared not ask for permission to return to his locker. Both he and Mrs. Drivel knew the odds were against him returning. So he rested his chin in his hand and glanced at Trynity's shoes. Both were untied and he wondered how she kept them on when she walked. As he watched, she kicked off one of her shoes and wiggled her toes. He almost laughed.
Trynity caught him looking and quickly put her foot back in her shoe. Info to be filed for future use, thought Duo. But before he could consider just how, the teacher called his name.
"Duo Maxwell, since you have graced us with your presence today, I would like for you to read the first verse on page one hundred thirty-three."
Duo flipped to that page. "Okay, Mrs. Drivel, but you aren't going to like it!"
"Begin!" she ordered.
He took a deep breath.
"Mrs. Drivel!" exclaimed Quatre. "May I please read?"
Duo looked hopefully at the teacher.
"No! There will be plenty of time during this unit for you to render us speechless with your recitation."
She turned her cold stare on Duo. "Mr. Maxwell?"
The words jumped out from the page, so Duo read loudly and with as much feeling as he could muster.
"A supersonic transport leaves New York City at twelve o'clock and arrives at Oldtown one thousand five hundred miles north in exactly five hours and twenty-three minutes fourteen seconds. What was its rate of speak in kilometers per second if it makes one fourteen minute and three second stop in Clarksville and another twenty-one minutes seventeen second unscheduled stop in Harrisburg. Calcuate considering a wind velocity of sixteen miles per hour blowing southwest."
When he finished, there was only a second of silence before he heard from his right, "Four hundred twenty-six kilometers per hour."
Duo looked at Trynity.
She almost smiled.
"That was very moving," remarked the teacher. "Mr. Maxwell, I will see you after class. Miss Stryfe, you may join our little tete-a-tete."
Wufei raised his hand, then did not wait for the teacher to acknowledge him. "The answer is four hundred twenty eight kilometers per hour, not twenty-six as previously stated."
Trynity slammed her book shut, startling Duo. "Double check your figures!"
"Double check yours!" challenged Wufei.
They stared at each other for a moment, and then Wufei looked at his paper as Trynity did not take her gaze from him.
"This is not mathematics class!" the teacher reminded them.
Duo looked from Trynity to Wufei.
Finally, Wufei crumpled his paper, launched it at the trash basket, slammed his book shut and walked out of the room.
"Not too shabby," muttered Trowa from the back.
"Miss Stryfe one, Wufei nothing," commented Heero.
The teacher look at the door, then turned her attention back to the class. Before she could even take a breath to speak, Quatre stood holding his book before him. As he read the verse, the teacher sighed with defeat. Duo noticed Hilde watching Quatre with dreamy eyes, Relena busy writing Heero a note and Catherine tracing on Trowa's back with her finger. Against his will, Duo looked at Trynity Stryfe.
She frowned at him.
She likes me, thought Duo