Disclaimer: Anything you recognize belongs to Disney/Haim Saban

"New school, new term. Same old boring people." Eva Stevens roved her eyes over the squat building that was to be her new school for however long her parents decided to stay. It was never that long.

She squared her shoulders, took a step forward – and yelped when she was nearly run over by an idiot on a skateboard. "Oh crap!" He slid to a halt, eyes wide as he pulled off his helmet to reveal nearly white blond hair. His eyes, though, were a warm brown and slanted. He looked Eurasian. "Man, I'm so sorry about that."

"No harm, no foul," she replied. She looked him up and down. He was seriously cute, she had to admit.

"I'm David," he said, sticking out his hand. "David Bradley."

"Eva Stevens. I'm new here," she added.

"You are? Cool. Well, welcome to Blue Bay High." He grinned at her. "What home room are you in?"

She told him and his grin widened. "Hey, I'm in the same room. What say I give you the grand tour?" He added, kicking the edge of his skateboard so it flipped up. He caught it in one hand.

"That'd be nice," she admitted.

"Hey Bradley!" The call came from behind them moments before arms grabbed David from behind. A girl with long curly brown hair and light blue eyes appeared over his shoulder. She spotted Eva and her mouth split into generous smile. "Hiya! I'm Marissa Brooks!"

"I'm Eva Stevens," she replied, wondering what the girl was riding high on.

"Ris's kinda like my honorary cousin," David informed her as she entangled her arms from around his neck. "Ris, Eva's new here. She's in our home room too."

"You are? Cool." Her grin widened. "Me and David've known each since before we were born. His mum's my mum's teacher."

"Huh?" Eva tried to wrap her mind around that.

David made a face. "It's a long story. Believe me," he added with a face. "Come on, let's get to home room before we're late." He quickly checked his watch.

"David's Mr Responsible," Marissa said with a roll of her eyes. "Can't be late to anything."

"Better than being late to everything," he shot back. "If it weren't for me, you'd have the largest collection of late slips."

"I do, remember honey?" She replied in a genial voice.

"How could I forget?" He asked.

"David! Ris!" They turned to see a tall boy of New Zealand descent strolling towards them. He, like David, had a skateboard tucked under his arm. With him was a boy of Asian descent, like David, except with jet black hair. On his other side was a girl with red hair and wearing glasses. Even from that distance, Eva could see she had the most brilliant blue eyes. "More honorary cousins," David muttered.

"Not Jeanie," Marissa said. "Jeanie's your real cousin, remember?"

"Hey." The tall boy flashed Eva a quick grin. "I'm Jay Clarke. You're new, right?"

"How can you tell?" She asked, trying not to feel too overwhelmed.

"Jay has a thing with faces," the girl said. "I'm Jeanie Bradley."

"Oh. You're David's cousin, right?"

"Uh-huh." She nodded and pushed a strand of brilliant red hair behind her ear.

"Trevor Watanabe," said the Asian looking guy, shaking her hand. "And don't try remember all our names," he added. "It can hurt anyone's brains to be hit with all of us at once. Even mine."

"Guys," David began shifting on his feet. "We've got to go or we'll be late."

"All right, all right," Jay said, pulling a face. "Jeez, you're just like Auntie Tori."

"Someone has to be or you'd be getting nowhere," he retorted. "Home room's starting. Eva's in mine."

"Yeah, come on dudes!" Marissa said, practically bouncing on her feet. She bounded off, not checking to see if anyone bothered following.

"Dudes?" Eva asked with an arched brow.

"She gets it from her dad," Jeanie said.

"It's not the only thing she gets from her dad," Jay muttered. "Ow! Hey!" He glared at her but she just looked at him with raised eyebrows.

"Come on," David said, shaking his head. He started walking and Eva followed, looking behind to see Jeanie go off with Jay, and Trevor head off alone.

"Are they…?"

"Always like that?" He asked. "Yeah. All the time. You'll get used to it."

"I seriously doubt that," she muttered under her breath.

He looked at her, surprised. "Oh, they're not that bad."

"No." She let out a long breath. "It's just that…my parents move around a lot. I doubt I'll stay long enough to get used to anything."

"Hey," he reached out to touch her shoulder. "You never know; they might find out this is the place they want to settle."

"Yeah. Right. And tomorrow, we'll find out the sky's not really green!"

He shut up, unsure of what to say. Catching the expression in his face, she sighed. "Damn. I'm sorry. I didn't mean it to come out like that. It's just that…sometimes…"

"Yeah. I know what you mean. My dad…he used to do motocross. One year, he took me on tour with him. I was in junior high. I liked it; it was fun and all. But all that moving around," he hunched his shoulders and shook his head. "It's not for me. But I know how you feel."

"You're a very understanding sorta guy, David Bradley."

He grinned. "People say I get it from my mum. People say I get a lot of things from my mum. Including this hair," he rolled his eyes up towards that shock of white-blond hair.

"You don't like it?"

"I'm not complaining. Not really," he added with a grin.

"Come on guys," Marissa appeared suddenly, hair bouncing. "Jeez, you guys take forever."

"This coming from a girl who can't tell the time."

"I can so tell the time," she shot back. "As long as the clock's digital," she added with a chuckle. "Come on," she grabbed Eva's arm and – to the girl's shock – started pulling her along.

Chuckling, David followed.

---

At lunch, Eva, David and Marissa met up with their 'honorary' cousins again. Jeanie had her head buried in a book, Jay was messing around with his skateboard and Trevor was typing on a laptop. "Do you guys hang around with each other all the time?" Eva asked, hanging back a bit as Marissa bounded off to greet them.

"Pretty much," David replied, not sounding the least put off by the question. "Our parents are pretty close, so it makes sense that we are as well."

He flopped down next to Jeanie as Jay coasted to a stop on his skateboard. Marissa was currently bombarding him with random questions. Jeanie looked at them over the top of her black rimmed glasses. "Hey…Eva, right?"

"That's right. And you're Jeanie."

The red head looked impressed. "Most people can only remember David's name. Something to do with his hair."

"Shut up about my hair," David muttered, lifting one hand up to cover it.

"You shouldn't be too embarrassed. Uncle Hunter had hair like yours when he was a kid," Trevor said, looking at them over his laptop.

"Yes, but by the time dad was your age, it had already darkened to dirty-blond. Of course, Aunt Tori's hadn't changed a bit. I do believe it's the same shade as it was when she was first born," she added, thoughtfully tapping the edge of her book against her chin.

"Jeanie?"

"Hmm?" She looked at him.

"Shut up," he suggested mildly. "And hand me Jay's lunch. Aunt Jasmine always gives him the best lunches."

"You could buy your own," she said even as she passed him the red container.

"Yeah, well. School lunches pale in comparison." He opened it. "Oh yeah! PB and J!"

"Those are mine," Jay swiped the container from him. "Get your own."

"Oh man! Come on." David made a face. "At least give me a piece of that cake."

"All right." With a sigh, he tossed it to him.

"Yes!" Grinning, he ripped apart the wrapping, pausing when he saw Eva watching him. "Um…want some?"

"It's okay," she replied, putting a hand up. "I'm fine. I've got my own lunch." She took out her packed meal. "My mum doesn't trust cafeteria food. And I don't either." She peeled the top open and Jay's eyes nearly popped out.

"Man! Looks like she trusts KFC!"

"Yep." Grinning, Eva couldn't help but offer the container to him. "Want some?"

"Oh yeah." He dropped in half a sandwich and grabbed a chicken leg. "I love KFC."

"You love everything," Jeanie said in a dry voice. She had a tray in front of her, with what passed for a meatloaf, a canned drink and yoghurt. She picked up a fork and waved it at Trevor. "Trev, switch that thing off and eat something."

"Yeah, I will. As soon as I finish coding this program."

"What program?" Eva turned away from watching Jay tear into the chicken.

"Some new program he's made. It's meant to speed up the rate his laptop processes new information but, in my opinion, all it'll do is bog up its hard drive."

"Everyone's entitled to their own opinion," Trevor replied in a mild voice without looking up from the screen.

Marissa wriggled her way onto the table and, sitting cross legged on it, she picked up a candy bar from Jay's lunch. "Trev's dad works for this big-butt company that works on making new programs." She said in a bright voice, tearing open the wrapping.

"Big…butt?" Eva couldn't help but ask.

David made a face. "Uncle Dustin – um, Ris's dad – caught her swearing in front of her kid brother. He's banned her from swearing."

Eva slid her eyes across to Marissa. "You do realize he can't hear you, right?"

"Oh you'd be surprised," Jay muttered in a surprisingly dark voice. "You'd be surprised."

They descended into an awkward silence until Jeanie dropped her fork with a clatter. "Jay, if you keep chewing with your mouth open, I'm going to jam my knife down your throat!"

He immediately shut his mouth. "Jeanie gets her brains from my aunt – but her temper from my uncle," David said in a mild voice.

"Hey," Marissa said in a bright voice. "We're having a barbecue this Friday, at my house. Wanna come?"

Eva blinked. "Um…I dunno. I'll have to ask my parents."

"Oh! They can come too. My dad says everyone can come." Marissa finished off the candy bar and took one of Jay's sandwiches. "Well…everyone I invite anyway."

"Will you guys be there?"

David grinned at that. "We don't need invites," he said. "We can crash anytime."

"All right," Eva said. "I'll ask my mum and dad, and get back to you tomorrow. Is that okay?"

"Cool," Marissa said and happily munched on Jay's PB and J.

---

After school, Eva walked out with David and Marissa. "Where d'you live?" David was asking as he led her over to a beaten up blue van. "We can give you a ride."

"Actually David," Jeanie interrupted gently. "We can't. Monday, remember?"

"Oh. Yeah!" He smacked his head. "Sorry." He sent her an apologetic look. "We've got…um…"

"Tutoring," Trevor slid in smoothly. A bit too smoothly, but all Eva did was nod, though she couldn't help but look at them suspiciously.

"It's all right. I've got my own ride." She jerked her thumb to her brother's old motorcycle – the one he'd given to her when he'd gotten a car.

"You've got a bike?" Marissa's eyes widened. "Cool!"

"Ris." Jay caught her arm. "We haven't got time. We'll see you later, 'kay?" He added to Eva.

"Yeah sure," she replied, stepping back as they all piled into the van. She watched as David pulled on his seat belt, gunned the engine, then gave her a little wave before pulling out of the lot and away.

He was watching her in the rear view mirror as he drove. "Man, I feel so bad lying to her."

"That's the first time you've ever forgotten about ninja training when with a girl," Jeanie commented. She sat beside him, Jay beside her, and Ris and Trev were in the back.

"Dude," Jay leaned forward and grinned at him. "You're so into her."

"I am not," he replied, keeping his eyes in front.

"Yes you are."

"Please don't tell me you're going to get into a juvenile fight regarding the two words; are and not." Jeanie sounded totally disgusted by the prospect.

"We're not," David replied.

"Good," she said, and returned to her book.

"But you totally dig her," Ris breathed into his ear before dodging back and nearly crashing into Trevor's laptop.

"Oi!" He whipped it out of harm's way. "Watch it!"

"Yeah," Jay smirked. "Don't hurt Trev's baby."

"Shut up," Trev muttered and returned to his laptop.

David arrived at the edge of the woods that hid the Wind Ninja academy. "Wind Ninja stop," he announced.

Jay, Ris and Trev hopped out, but Jay leaned back in. "See you Thunders later," he said.

"Yeah," David nodded as he shifted into reverse. "See you guys later." He drove away, leaving his honorary cousins to make their way to the waterfall.