"You really need to lighten up, Ulrich," Odd informed, punching his brunette friend lightly in the shoulder. Ulrich scowled.

"You put glue in my shampoo, Oddball. I think it's you who needs an attitude change."

"It was washable, Ulrich, c'mon!" Odd pleaded his case with dreadful puppy dog eyes. Aelita giggled behind her hand and Yumi just shook her head and smiled. The group of five was walking around campus, killing the time left over from their lunch hour. The day was clear and bright, the sun staring down at them in the late summer afternoon. It was the perfect temperature without even the slightest breeze. Even Jeremie could not resist the call of the outdoors, as he normally kept himself locked away in his dorm, typing away online. Even at his present age of 10 he was a computer genius.(A/N: In this story Jeremie and Aelita are 10 years old, Odd, Ulrich, and Zephyr are 11, and Yumi is 12 until it is noted in later chapters)

It was a perfect day.

Aelita turned her head to a foreign sound. It sounded like it was just ahead, a little ways away, probably behind Jim's gardening shed. The voices were of young adolescent males, maybe 4 or 5 of them. Yumi sneered. She knew exactly who it was.

"Theo," She spat bitterly. The boy she spoke of was mature for his age, already vying for the Japanese girl's attention, much to the dismay of poor Ulrich. The group kept walking, now curious as to what was going on behind the shed. There was a loud thud, then what was clearly Theo's voice ringing brazenly through the courtyard.

"Hey, get back here!" A blur shot from behind the garden shed. It wasn't really a blur as much as it was a person sprinting, fueled by fear. It was going extremely fast, each foot barely touching the ground. It chanced a look back at its pursuers and its marvelous grace as put to an abrupt stop just as it smacked straight into Odd, momentum neutralized. The blond, however, was taller than what had collided with his frame and stayed standing, though a little dazed at what had just happened. He looked down at the former blur and saw a girl.

She looked at him with gray eyes, breathing just a little heavily. She was just sitting there now, knees bent, a scared gleam in her eye. Odd extended a hand to her, helping her up when she took it. She wasn't heavy at all, probably just shy of 90 pounds.

"Hi," He greeted, flashing his most winning smile, "I'm Odd. Odd Della Robbia." He waited for the witty remark, such as "But what's your name?" or "You sure are," but none came. There was no reply except for,

"Zephyr. Zephyr Blitz," and a returned, shy smile. Odd's smile grew a little wider as he introduced the others.

"That's Yumi Ishyama, Ulrich Stern, Jeremie Belpois, and Aelita Stone," He pointed to each and turn and they waved or said a simple greeting. Zephyr waved at them, again shyly. Odd was trying to decide if she really was a shrinking violet or if it was something else. He had no time to discover anything more about the girl as Theo and his cretins spotted her. She didn't make a sound, just nodded politely, turned, and leaped into her sprinting stride.

"She's weird," Ulrich remarked, watching her run, teasing Theo. She would slow down to a jogging pace, and just as Theo was launching himself through the air she shifted either left or right and back up to her top speed. They watched in amusmant as Zephyr led them on until they they gave up, Theo waving his hand dismissively at her. Odd and his friends noticed now that she stopped, winded. She looked back, a sunlit expression of triumph. She then walked to class like a normal human being would.

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"Class," Ms. Hertz pleaded as the tardy bell rang but the mouths of the students did not cease. Had Odd, Ulrich, Jeremie, and Aelita been able to see over the heads of standing students and the paper wads, spit balls, and rubber bands, thye might've seen the only quiet student in the room, standing at the front. "CLASS!" Ms. Hertz shouted. The students stared at her, then collectively, instantly took their assigned seats. The older woman calmed down by rubbing her temples with her wrinkled index and middle fingers and whispering, "Vacation," over and over in a whisper. She straightened herself up and cleared her throat. "Class, before we begin today I would like to introduce our new stundent, Zephyr Blitz. She's from America." The class grumbled a greeting and Odd could see her face light up when she saw the four people she already knew.