PART 2 [Crappy Day]

(Nicole's POV)

As I jumped back to my senses, I heard footsteps come from behind. I turned around to see who it was quickly recognizing that Yugi kid that helped me up earlier.

"Nikki, you OK?" Yugi's kind voice spoke, "Cause it looks like you made Kaiba really mad" He added.

"Good, because he made me really steamed." I countered as something hanging from his neck caught my attention. There was something... weird about it that I couldn't quite put my finger on.

"Are you sure you are alright? He asked gaining my attention again.

"I'm fine. Hey, what's that thing hanging around your neck?" I asked pointing at the weird shape at the end of the chain.

"Oh this," he commented holding it up, "This is my Millennium Puzzle."

"Millennium Puzzle huh" I asked looking closer in intrigue,

"Yea, my grandfather's friend is an archaeologist, and he discovered it during one of his digs in Egypt." He explained a giant smile spreading across his face.

"That's cool," I remarked.

"Hea," he said as a group came up from behind him, "These are my friends Tea, Tristan, Joey, and Duke." Tea was wearing the same uniform as me obviously, Tristan wore his dark brown hair all slicked back and a motorcycle jacket, Joey wore his blond hair neat except for his bangs that sort of spiked to the side, Duke wore his long black hair in a ponytail with his bangs the same way as Joey. "Hea guys this is Nikki Silvers. She's new!" Yugi spoke up introducing me to them.

They all seemed to greet me, as I recognized one or two of the words they used from the basic phrase book I had been studying since my arrival. The Tea girl started to speak, but she went way too fast to even try to understand, so I could only look over at Yugi slightly on edge. Yugi seemed to catch my gaze and quickly understood my predicament and stated something to her in what I could only assume was Japanese.

"I'm sorry." She smiled weakly, " I was just saying I did not think you are from around here are you?"

"As if it couldn't be anymore obvious now?" I asked kind of red in the face.

"Well, if you were from around here you wouldn't have called Kaiba a jerk then tried to slap him." She giggled in amusement, "Anyway," she continued, "you're from the U.S. cool. I heard it's nice there. Did you like living there?"

"Actually, I didn't have that many friends back there, but yeah it's home I guess." I mumbled looking down thinking about the band I left behind after the incident with my father.

"It's different here," Yugi replied bringing me from my thoughts, "You can be our friend. I mean, to pull the stunt you just did takes a lot of courage." He explained.

"Well, thanks! I think I will." I smiled not really meaning a word of it.

Suddenly, a bell rang. I looked over at the group still out of my element on what to do.

"Don't worry that's our pre-class bell." Yugi stated.

"Do you know what class you're going to?" Tea asked.

"Uhhhh... no? I think I was to report to the main office first, but I got a little distracted?" I shrugged.

"Well, that is on our way to class. How about we take you up there and maybe try and find you at lunch if you aren't with any of us?" Yugi suggested.

"T-Thank you. I'd appreciate that." I nodded allowing the group to lead me to where I needed to be.

*Couple hours later*

After several periods of trying to keep up with lesson after lesson, I give up realizing I'd have to just rely on listening to the audio recordings at home so I could go through each translation then just study off that. Lunch was a short but welcomed break. Though the food was anything but normal to me, it was nice to know that like back home students got to enjoy the lunch hour with a bit of freedom. I found myself a quiet spot in the school's courtyard and took the break to get a head start on trying to translate the lectures from earlier this morning.

"Heya Nikki!" A cheery voice announced over my recording. Glancing up, I saw the Yugi Moto kid.

"Uhh, hi. Yugi right?" I asked pausing the lecture and setting down my pen.

"Yeah! What are you doing all the way out here on your own?" He asked taking a seat on the ground next to me.

I looked back over where most of the student body were in the cafeteria or in the designated picnic tables. "I-I was just getting a head start on translating my lessons from this morning."

He must have noticed the recorder in my hand and looked down at my notes. "You know, I am pretty sure my friends and I could help you with this if you wanted?"

"Thanks Yugi but..." What can I tell him? 'oh yeah... thanks! But I don't really do attachments. Makes my inevitable move here soon that much messier!' Nope! Not going down that path, "I think I got this. Besides, I do much better self-teaching especially when it comes to another language."

"Wait, you know something other than English?!" He asked with a look of amazement in his eye.

"Y-yeah... My dad's family is from Piacenza, Italy outside Milan. So, I kind of had to learn Italian to talk with them." Why am I telling him all this?! It's not like he wants to know my family lineage! I mentally scolded myself.

"Oh! That's awesome! You sure you don't want any help with your class notes though?"

"Y-yeah. I'm pretty sure. How about this, if I change my mind, I'll come find you?" I tried to force a smile to stay friendly, but inside I was wanting this guy to leave like yesterday.

He seemed to buy my façade and smiled, "Sounds like a plan. Just let us know if you want any help! I'll leave you to your work."

"Thanks," I nodded slipping the headphones back in my ear and starting back the recording.

The rest of lunch went quietly as did the one class that followed. I only had one more class for the day to be over, and that was computer technology. Finally! Something I might be able to follow on day 1! I mentally cheered to myself. I managed to find the classroom pretty easily. The room was as I suspected it would be. Though on the smaller side, it was a small cubicle farm where each cube had its own PC station and a wall with a whiteboard and projector which I assumed was for the teacher to project what we were doing or learning. Looking around, I noticed I was the first one to arrive, so I just picked a computer to sit at and sat down. I was slightly confused when I looked down at the keyboard only to find what seemed to be Japanese text on the keys. Even when I think I'm going to catch a break; the damn language barrier strikes again! I thought to myself with a sigh as I let my head fall onto the desk in front of me.

"What's your problem?" a deep voice huffed.

I turned my head so I could see the tall figure to my right. It was the guy from this morning. Seth? No. It started with an S though. Set- something. Seto!

"Nothing you'd have to worry about Seto." I sighed straightening back up. Though the keyboard was in Japanese, I could tell that the PC's OS was Windows. So, I can at least get the computer set to English!
"First, like I told you this morning..." He quipped making me jump just slightly, "you and I aren't friends, so it's Kaiba not Seto got it?"

"And second?" I snipped trying to match his grouchiness. This guy's attitude was starting to get on my nerves. I tried my best to ignore him as I followed the path that would be to the master Window's settings to override the OS' display language.

"Second, I'd say I do... considering you're in my seat..." He pointed over at something on the cubical wall. It looked like a chart of some type, but again all in traditional Japanese text.

I could only give an aggravated sigh as I blew the hair that had fallen in front of my eyes out of the way. "Let me guess, that's a chart of names and not some silly tooltips list like I thought it was? Right Kaiba?"

He stood there for a moment as if peeved, "Of course it is! Can't you-"

It must have been the glare I gave him, because his words fell short.

It had to be the stress of the day. Hell! The entire week! I stood up abruptly grabbing my bag, "Can't I what Kaiba?! Read!? Sure! I can read! But of the three or so languages I read and speak fluently, Japanese is not yet one of them! You want to get mad at me for sitting in your seat instead of being helpful, fine! Apologies... I'll find one that isn't taken."

(Seto's POV)

After her outburst, the new girl stopped right in front of me, but her focus was on the seating chart on the cubicle's wall. Like this morning, she stood to just under my nose, but unlike this morning she was close enough that I could just barely catch the smell of what had to be whatever she washed her hair with. Where most girls used things that gave off an overly floral scent, hers was soft like fresh linen of rainfall. She reached over and started to trace the class number with her fingers. What the hell is she doing? Is she crazy or something?

It was when trudged past me and onto the lines of cubes behind me did her actions make sense. She seemed to find and trace over the same class number on the listings posted on each cube. She went cube by cube tracing the letters and then dragging her finger over to find the student name next to each.

"Taken... Taken... Taken..." I could barely hear her sigh in frustration as she went cube to cube.

She went on to the next two rows. I could see her frustration building as she passed each station already with an assigned name. I knew that the station next to mine was the only one open. I had planned it that way day one of classes when I found the class was one person short of max capacity, but she had skipped the rest of this row at the start. Probably to put distance between us. Not that I'd argue.

"New girl.." I spoke up getting her attention.

"What?" She sneered.

I only pointed at the cube next to mine. She looked at me oddly for a moment before walking over and looking at the chart. When she traced the class number symbol then took her finger to the empty space next to it, her head dropped.

"Thanks..." she muttered under her breath as she pulled out the seat and started doing something with the mouse.

I took the break and sat down at mine immediately taking notice that the settings had been altered. Had she changed the language? Who else could it have been?!

"Did you already change this one over?" I spoke up making her jump again.

"Yes... Here..." She sighed and reached over me taking the mouse in hand and clicking her way into the Time and Language settings and setting it back to the Japanese app pack. This girl had no clue who I was, did she? Of course, I knew how to change the basic defaults on a PC! I ran an entire tech company for crying out loud! "Fixed." Without another word, she turned back to her station and kept going with whatever she was doing with her mouse.

One thing was for sure. This girl was odd. I studied her out of the corner of my eye as she pulled a couple items out of her bag. One looked like a recording device of some type while the other looked like a small tablet with a keypad. She set the keyboard to the side, placed the recording device up on the wall between our two work centers, and the tablet in front of her before returning to clicking away with the mouse. Without being obvious, I leaned back slightly getting a look at her screen. I was surprised to see a virtual keyboard on the bottom half of her screen and she was giving her keyboard commands via clicking on the virtual keyboard with the mouse. She was going about it a long way, but at the same time she had somewhat solved her problem on her own. Got to give the odd girl some credit.

Students had started filling the other seats and my attention was brought back to present. I had one more class to get through and I could get to the office. Given this class is a snooze fest not to mention a waste. As the teacher came in and started talking, I pulled up what I knew would be the day's "assignment". Having that ready to open on a moment's notice, I pulled up one of my remote work drives and started looking through some code work that the R&D team was putting together for a recent project. They noted the string wasn't working as designed, so I wanted to take a peek as to what was causing the issue. I gave it a quick scan through and saw nothing strange in the one hundred or so lines. What can be causing the issue? I scrolled back up and started to go through it again.

"Line 67." A voice whispered. I looked away from the screen thinking I was hearing something at first. That was when I felt the light nudge on my right elbow. Glancing over, I saw a capped pin being held by the new girl of all people.

"Excuse me?" I asked eyebrow raised.

"Line 67" She whispered with a shrug as she leaned back and looked up at the board where the teacher was showing something on his screen. I glanced up and saw nothing about a 'line 67' on the teacher's screen. What was this girl talking about? "Your string..." She quietly sighed, "If it's C++ like I am thinking it is, you have a colon instead of a semi colon on line 67."

I glanced back at her for a moment and she met my eyes only briefly before taking her attention back to the lesson. I took her words and looked back at my screen scrolling down to the 67th line. Well I'll be damned... she was right. How did I miss that rookie mistake?! Actually, how had my R&D staff missed such an easy fix? I scanned the piece again finding a couple more similar errors and saved the string to continue working on it when I went to the office. I looked over at the new girl from the corner of my eye studying her.

To add to her already odd nature, she recognized computer coding language? Shouldn't be that much of a shock. More women are entering the engineering fields now. It's not like programming is that complex a skill to learn? Her focus wasn't totally on the lesson though. Instead of focusing on the teacher, her eyes were on a small book in her hand. With her outburst prior to class, it made sense. She said she was not fluent in Japanese, so the lesson being taught was probably going right over her head. Which would be why she has the recording device? She must be recording then translating the lessons outside of class? Again, a long way to do something, but a problem solved on her own.

Though I couldn't see the title of her book, what caught my attention was the speed she seemed to be skimming the pages. Where it should take a normal person say one to two minutes to read two pages of that size, she was clearing it in only a quarter of the time? Was she actually reading the book? Had she read it before? There was no way she was reading all that text that fast?

She might speed read? That's quite the skill to combine with programming language knowledge if so? As odd as she may be, this new girl may be useful in a professional setting. I would have to find a way to test the theory though?

(Nicole's POV)

I was reading a book at my desk when I noticed something on my computer screen blinking. I glanced up noticing a little messenger box to be the source.

Station422: You look bored.

I looked at the text for a moment before replying to the message.

Station421: Who is this?

Station422: Next to you.

That's when the name seemed to make sense, I looked up at my monitor and each computer had what had to be a three-digit code on each in Japanese numbers. If that were the case, I was looking for the PC with the same first and second digit as mine with the third digit symbol matching the second to be the person talking to me. I looked at the computer to my right first and saw the first two but the third was a different symbol. I held my breath and looked over at the computer to my left where Kaiba was sitting. Just as I figured, the first two symbols matched my computer and the third symbol was a repeat of the second. Station422 is Kaiba's station. I cringed.

Station421: And what if I am?

Station422: I have another code string if you think you can fix it?

I paused for a moment. What was this guy's deal? Grouchy as hell one moment and asking for favors the next? Just humor the guy. No need to make enemies even if they are only temporary.

Station421: Why not? What do you have?

That is when a small .txt attachment came through. I opened the document and started to read through the packet of information. I knew enough of C++ and a couple other languages like html and java through self-study to get myself around. Though I had no official certification in any, knowing the subject was half the fight, right? I was able to spot a couple easy issues, but like everything else I had encountered the past week, the text was undecipherable as it was in Japanese. I made what edits I could and sent the file back.

Station421: I can only correct non-text syntax. You're on your own with the Japanese text being correct.
Station422: And if the string were in English? How quick could you read and fix?

I looked over at him and briefly met a serious gaze telling me it was a legit question.

Station421: That would depend on how jacked it is. You trying to learn?
Station422: Not exactly. More like I'm helping someone else learn.

Station421: I'm not a credited pro, but I know my way around well enough.

Station422: Try this one.

Like earlier, there was a .txt file. Unlike earlier, the text was in English and there was a lot more of it! What was this guy doing? Who was he teaching? It beats boredom. Humor the jackass. My inner voice quipped. From what I could tell, the string was a couple hundred lines long, but it was only a snippet not the entire string. That made deciding what to edit a little trickier. What may look like an error here may actually help a portion of the string not featured. Keeping that in mind I took a couple notes as I made the changes I knew were obvious issues. I hit 'send' just as the bell was ringing to end the class. I tore out the paper of notes I took and set it on the desk next to Kaiba's hand as I started to gather and put all my things in my bag.

"Have fun with that Kaiba. Your friend seems smart enough to do this stuff well on their own. Just a couple things here and there to tweak."

I made it to the school's front gates when someone calling my name stopped me. Looking back, I noticed the Yugi kid with his friends in tote. Jesus! These people just don't know when to quit do they?!

"Uhh... Hi guys!" I forced myself to grin.

"Hiya Nikki! How were the rest of your classes?" Yugi asked.

"Eh... didn't understand a word of them, but I will work on that when I get home."

"Yugi was telling me about that," Tea stated taking my hand, "You know it would be easier if you just let some of us help you. We can all take notes and put them in English for you."

"Look guys. Thank you for looking out for the newbie, but I really do learn better when I teach myself."

"How about while you are learning? You don't want to fall behind because you're are trying to learn a language while also trying to learn the subject" the Tristan guy pointed out.

From what I could tell, there would be no shaking this group while I was here. Might as well face the music and let them have their way Nic.

"Fine.I'll agree to take some extra note help. Satisfied?"

"Almost!" Joey grinned.

"What do you mean almost?"

"Well easy! We'll be satisfied when you let us take you someplace to hang out and study to celebrate your first day." He shrugged.

"I'd watch who I hang around new girl. You'd hate to catch fleas from the mutt." A deep voice announced from behind me.

"Say that again Kaiba!" Joey snapped breaking past me and walking up to the guy I had the last class and stupid morning run in with.

"What? Calling you a mutt? What about it dog-boy?" Kaiba scoffed.

"Do you like just being an outright asshole to people Kaiba?" I asked pinching the brim of my nose. He just looked in my direction with a half-closed glare. "Look dude, if the shoe fits, don't be surprised when someone calls you out on it! As you have told me I think twice today, we don't know each other. So, who I and who I don't choose to hang around would be none of your business!"

Joey said something I could only assume was a smart-ass remark by the tone in his voice and the grin on his face followed by the glare from Kaiba in his direction.

"Whatever you just said Joey, my comment also applies to you. You only fuel his ego when you play into his attitude. Leave him be."

The two glared at each other before Kaiba muttered something I couldn't understand and stormed off. Joey opened his mouth to say something, but I took him by the arm grabbing his attention.

"You said something about helping me with my notes?"

"Y-yeah... You hungry?"

"Maybe a little?"

"Then we have just the place!" Tea cheered taking my hand and pulling me away.

"Hold up!" I announced getting the group to stop.

"What is it Nikki?" Yugi questioned.

"Can I get my bike? I-I kind of rode it here, and would like to maybe ride it home when we are done?"

"Oh! Sure! There is a bike rack at the place we were going. You can walk with your bike and lock it there. It's only a couple blocks away." Tristan smiled.

I nodded and the group followed me to grab my bike from the school rack. It didn't take long to get to the place they suggested. I was happy to find a simple sit-down dinner place. The group did as they said, as I talked through each class I was in, they pulled out their books and notes giving me the English version of what was covered. It took a couple hours, but all of them seemed happy to do so. I couldn't help but feel... accomplished as I packed my bag after to head for home. I told the group goodbye promising to see them at school the next day before taking off for home on my bike.

Looks like mom got her wish after all. Even if I didn't think I would do it...

(Yugi's POV)

I arrived home after hanging out with the guys and found grandpa sweeping the front of the shop. I traveled upstairs to my room and began thinking about that Nikki girl. There was something weird about her.

"You sense it too." a strong voice came out of nowhere. I knew it was only Yami. No need to freak out. You should be used to this by now!

"Yea Yami, there is something strange with that girl."

"I feel an ancient presence within her. She doesn't have a Millennium item, but somehow she has something to do with our past."

"You mean like a reincarnation?" I suggested slightly shocked at the news. How could that be true?

"Possibly. We must figure out more about her." Yami stated before returning to the puzzle leaving me alone with my own thoughts.