It had been four months since the three had gotten together, and since then they had dubbed themselves as the 'Tremendous Trio'. Jen and Wyatt came every weekend at the mall just in time for Jude's lunch call. Jen had of course, convinced her mom to let her stay under the supervision of Mrs.Williams and soon they were seeing each other after school for sleepovers and all-nighters. Though when the sad days of weekday lives kicked in they still made a pact to see each other at every single recess. Jen was in Mr.Bluntberry's class and the two boy's had sweety pie Mrs.Sanna, so they often shared their different activities that went on during such and such period.

Jude was getting better at skateboarding, especially when he had asked from help from a professional skateboarder. A Punk Teen. Never mind that Jen was nearly pulling his hair and dragging him away, begging him not to embarrass her that way. Wyatt was biting his nails at the sight of the blue mo-hawk and vulgar language clothing. But Jude pulled it off after the teen got a few laughs at his attempts at tricks and said he'd help them out but only before noon. Thus Jen had given him the skateboard if he'd promise to show her how to do it aswell. He had promised.

Wyatt was sharing poems and he had gotten a mini guitar for his birthday that passed in the first month. A big birthday was spent and they had played games together and Jen got introduced to the rest of Wyatt's family. So the big boy was now nine years old. He had immedietly attached himself to music and writing little kiddy songs. His parents were so impressed with the talent and passion he was showing for 'The Arts' they put him into guitar lessons and vocals. Although shy, he had quickly sought out the praise of his two friends and was overjoyed when they had said, "It was the most amazing musical piece I have ever heard Wyatt!" and, "Woah, that rocked my little pink toe socks with the manaical bunnies!". I'm sure that you can work out who said what by yourselves now...

As for Jen, she had insisted on the fact of learning how to skateboard purely for acurate speed and balance skills. Though enjoyable it was more of Jude's thing. Her snowboarding skills had improved marvelously and was complimented by her instructor. The rush you felt when going downhill, the wind whipping your hair as you sped on... To her that was what life was all about. But no. She needed more. Her drive for success had probed her to try new things like, skiing, hockey, figure skating, gymnastics, tennis, baseball, soccer... You name it. She was training herself to be the best she could be and that was quite intimidating, even for her friends. Her family had laughed and joked of course, and her classmates hated the fact she could challenge them to the x-treme. Their disaprovment had only caused the flaring temper to grow and between her mom's dating and her sister's outshining, she had become fiesty and bossy. Yet every leader is a good team player and her friends had helped her through everything.

Yup, their lives together were swell.

Jen sighed as the reflection had wasted about ten minutes of her time, the math in front of her refusing to get complete. It was nothing hard, just some division and multiplication no biggie. Neatly writting down the answers she had allowed herself to regain ultimate focus. That was why she nearly jumped out of her skin when the teacher spoke out so suddenly.

"Class, we have a new student today arriving from a long visit to China. Please do your best to welcome Ms. Nikki Wong." said Mr.Bluntberry, his voice loud and demanding attention. Jen sat up in her seat as she awaited yet another girl that would make her life unbearable. By the sound of her name she bet it was one of those cheerleader types. 'Hey Nikki your so fine...' You know that rhyme...

She was more than a little surprised and so were her judgmental classmates. In walked a Chinese girl with long black hair, purple eyes and she was a little skinny. Sound's normal right? No, she was far from. Jen's mouth dropped as she looked at the girl's hair that had purple highlights and then to her clothes that she had made 'unique'. She had worn alice shoes with purple and black socks and her jeans were ripped slightly and she had a buckle that practically hung off her. Her shirt was a normal white with a picture of a red dragon on it. She had a slightly bored expression on her face as she nodded, expecting their gazes and sat down beside Jen. It was the only table after all that was empty.

Jen was shocked at first, but then she felt bad as the girls started to whisper behind them. Comments like, "Freak" and "What is she wearing?" came along that were just loud enough for them to hear. Pity became over her as she looked at Nikki who was sitting beside her with an elbow on the desk and her chin resting against her hand. It was obvious that she could hear, but she merely rolled her eyes and shrugged. Again, Jen was shocked. Didn't this girl even care? Weren't her feeling crushed? Didn't she feel singled out and alone? Well... she guessed no as the girl started doodling on a piece of lined paper.

"Hi, I'm Jen." she whispered to Nikki and gave a welcoming smile. The girl had looked at her from the corners of her eye in boredom and blinked, almost as if saying, "Yeah, and I should care because...?" Instead of gruffing about how rude the new girl was being Jen's smile only got wider. "Oh don't worry, I already know you're Nikki. Welcome to Maplegarden Elementary."

Nikki had smiled back, the smile had almost suited as a smirk. "Thanks...Jen." she had said and got back to listening to the pointless babble of the teacher.

At Recess

"So Jen, tell us about this new girl." said Wyatt as they sat on the daisy-filled field playing 'Stella Ella Olla' a simple hand game that children well under the age of ten played to pass tha time. At the mention of Nikki she shrugged, not really knowing how to describe the weird reluctant girl.

"She's different." Jen started out as she slapped Jude's hand at 'ten' and gave a triumphant grin as he 'Owed'. Wyatt had widened his eyes in surprise at Jen's choice of words but nodded for her to continue. 'Like, you should see her really.. The clothes she's wearing is kinda strange. And she's doesn't seem nice at all!" once again a spaced out Jude got his hand slapped for the second time as the count to ten had commenced.

"Well... Did you try talking with her? Sometimes people only seem like their mean at first because they are so shy. Like, I'm different and so are you right?" Jude had put in shyly as he soothed his red hand. Now and days at this age being different was tough, but he guessed if you were nice enough then you could have a chance to fit in. That's how he saw it. His shyness melted away as Jen smiled and nodded, "That's what I thought too-OW!" Jen had suddenly cried as her hand had ripped from Judes to clutch over her other red printed hand.

Wyatt had grinned slyly like a wolf trying to pose as a sheep. "Sorry Jen, you weren't paying attention." Said girl started to gape at him as her eyes rose to meet the challenge, when another certain girl had come up, her presence being made by and overcast shadow. The trio looked up startled and Jen immedietly recognized the new girl.

"Oh hi, what's up?" she asked as she smiled to her polietly. The new girl folded her arms in a slightly protective stance as she held that calculatingly bored look. Jude and Wyatt saw what Jen meant by different as they scanned over her clothing choice and odd hair. The girl had chosen to ignore them as she addressed only Jen.

"The teacher said to be with you during recess, I didn't know anyone else to hang out with so do you mind if I just sit here and watch?" she asked, her tone holding indifference. Jen had rolled her eyes and at that Nikki was about to turn away and save herself the disappointment when she saw what it had actually meant. Jen had smacked herself in the forehead with her hand and muttered, 'dumb' underneath her breath.

"I'm so sorry! How did I not think about that?" Jen asked herself more than Nikki. She gave an apologetic look to her before looking at her two friends. "Jude, Wyatt, this is Nikki Wong, the new girl I told you about. Nikki, meet Jude and Wyatt." she said inclining her head over to the guys as she said their names.

Jude smiled and waved up at her in a goofy yet friendly kind of way, his blue eyes sparkling happily to meet someone new. "Hi Nikki!" he had said with hyper excitment. Nikki was surprised at this as she blinked at him a few times. He seemed to be a combination of dazed and platonic happy.

The next guy was a bit more calmer as he gave a smile and a polite nod of his head. "Hi Nikki, I'm Wyatt. I hope you like our school. It's simply the best." Then he squinted his eyes as he gave a toothy grin revealing one missing tooth. At this Nikki had almost laughed at the cuteness. He seemed so friendly and he wasn't macho and mean. That was the kind of person she liked anyways. They both were.

'Uh... Hi..." she said awkwardly as she lightly drew circles with her toe on the ground. Regaining her confidence she looked back up at them and casually said with a genuine smile, "Mind if I hang out with you guys for awhile." The three had nodded encouragingly.

"Do you know how to play Stella Ella Olla?" asked Jen and tilted her head up at Nikki. Nikki had shook her head and sat down to observe. The brown haired girl actually seemed pleased more than annoyed at being given the chance to explain something. "Oh it's real simple just watch." she had said reassuringly as she took the hand of the two boys in her own. She had made sure that they had overlapped each other so the each could hit the next persons palm. "Stella Ella Olla Quack Quack Quack say 'Yes' Chiqo Chiqo, Chiqo Chiqo Chaq, Say 'Yes' Chiqo Chiqo... FeLOW FeLOW the toilet overflowed!" she paused after a time of them hitting each others palms to the beat of each word in the silly, meaningless rhyme. She them pointedly gave Nikki a stare so that she could see this was the main event of this little game. "So 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9..." Jen had now gulped, it had seemed that the count led for Jude to hit her palm on the beat of 'ten'. Jen's hand was twitching over Jude's as he waggled his eyebrows cutely at her expense. Revenge was sweet...

"10!" he yelled happily and slapped his palm over hers with a triumphant cry of his own. Jen had whipped her hand out of his in defeat as she gave a disapointed gurgle in her throat. Defeat aside she looked at Nikki and held out her palm. "Wanna play?" she asked and Nikki smiled, taking her hand excepting her invitation.

All too soon the bell rang for them to go inside and the four children, although red palmed and flushed in the cheeks, were smiling brightly. Even Nikki, who turned out not to be such a rude little girl after all. That was just her way of dealing with being shy and although she still held that outcast, rebel type of persona she was still a kind young little girl who wanted to make friends. She had of course as she reliesed Jen was very enthusiastic about that as she made plans for the next recess and promised she'd show her around the school. So far the people she met weren't those sterotypical types you'd meet.

She and Jen waved goodbye to the two boys as they hurried to line up out beside their class doors. Jen had quickly taken her hand and led her to their's, telling her about how evil the teacher could be if you were late. They stood outside the door as Jen chattered about the people Nikki could like and about those she should stay away from.

" Alison and Jessie are okay, those two leave everyone alone mostly. Todd is a bit mean but once you get to know him he's okay. The girls sitting behind us were Lily, Ember, Christina and Delisha, they are really mean." Jen chattered and Nikki nodded in understanding. It was great to know who to keep away from when you were new, because people tend to act differently with "fresh meat" as her father had put in with a joking matter. Like people thought you were vulnerable and wanted a good laugh. Nikki gave an unfeminine snort at that thought, which sounded like a sneeze with her eight year old self. In time she'd perfect that for sure... Anyway, she'd let no one walk all over her.

"Out of my way!" was a yell that came from behind them as two strong arms pushed apart Jen and Nikki. "Ow!" they had both cried out and Nikki watched as Jen fell on the floor. Her head turned sharply at the offender and noticed it was a chubby kid with an ugly face and screwed up eyes that seemed to be pushing through to the front of the line. "Hey! You could at least apologies after you push my friend!" Cried the brave girl sprawled on the floor as she quickly got up to yell at the pudgy kid. Nikki blushed faintly... Did Jen just call her her friend?

The boy's eyes squinted at Jen and snarled in familiar offense. "Why should I scrawny? Like I said, you guys were in my way. I suggest you stop talking before I really get angry.' he had somehow made out, his voice an octave deeper than rest of the boys around. Nikki had laughed, was that supposed to be intimidating?

"Ooh... And what's going to happen? You'll squash us underneath that weight? Only if you catch us first." said Nikki as she folded her arms, liking the fact that some action was finally gunna happen! The boy wrinkled his nose and was about to say something nasty but the teacher had already started to usher the kids into the classroom, so with a warning glare he stomped off to take his seat.

"Wow Nikki! You totally stood up to him!" Jen admired the daring words her new friend had used and somehow Nikki seemed so much more mature and older-in a good way of course. Nikki smiled smugly and told Jen a little secret on the way in to class.

"Whe you've lived with whiny brats with sharp tongues for most of your life it's survive or be eaten alive. Me-I'm the type that will not only survive but butcher them whole." Jen blinked and then giggled, not understanding the inside metaphor but heck, with Nikki she had a feeling that there would be many things she did not understand about this Asian Rebel.

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AN/ Wow, I wanted to post this at 6:00 in the morning but... I was really sleepy. Anyways, Happy Valentines Day everybody! Thank you my kind reviewers, I like to know that it's going swell and everything since this is my first story. -Ahem- I'm a little weird with this chapter because I wanted to portray Nikki as herself but as and eight year old. I guess that she's like that and seems more mature and everything... I just hope it feals realistic. Please tell me what you think and feel free to give any suggestions. Till next chapter!

Evil-Sama