Florence smiled and waved back at her sister as April made her way towards the desk. April managed to throw the depressing thoughts of her no longer fitting in with her family; but part of her knew that the thoughts would eventually come back.
April opened her mouth to speak.
"Hey."
Wait, that's not my voice. April thought turning to source of the voice.
April blushed upon seeing a certain set of light brown eyes and blond hair.
"Oh, hi…Joey is it?" April smiled shyly.
Joey smiled and raised an eyebrow - a notion which showed he was trying to be suave, "Oh, so you've heard of me?"
"I've heard a couple of teachers yell out your name from time to time." April admitted with a giggle.
"Oh…" Joey scratched the side of his head.
"I'm April by the way." She smiled; but it faded quickly. You're supposed to be sitting down with your sister; not talking to some guy you think is charming, you dork! April yelled at herself.
"See you around." April blurted quickly, leaving Joey standing and heading towards Florence's desk.
Florence seemed amused by this; April like her rarely showed any likeness towards a boy…Let alone a boy Florence didn't really favour.
"Ooh," Florence teased while smirking at her sister, "You better watch out, April. I hear he's real charmer!"
"Florence!" April said whilst covering her face to hide the dark blush forming on her cheeks.
"This is payback; it's completely fair." Florence smiled sweetly at her sister; it was a harmless way to mock each other in their book.
"Hmmph." April's bangs fell to her face hiding her eyes. You don't fit in. April pushed that thought out of her head the thousandth time of that day.
"Hey, Flo. You n' April know each other?" Joey said steeping into their conversation.
Oh, Joey did not just call Florence "Flo"; April glanced up with a spark of amusement in her eyes.
That's it, Florence thought to herself, I am going to kill him.
"My name is Florence! Not "Flo", you…" She lifted her hands in exasperation, "you caveman facsimile!"
"All I was asking was if you and April knew each other!" Joey shouted back indignantly.
"Florence," April sighed with a small smile on her face.
A scoff from the side caught the younger sister's attention. April nearly fell out of her seat when she found an obviously icy brunet gazing in Florence's direction.
He so likes my sister, April thought in her head as she tried to drown out the loud voice of Florence and Joey. The boys head immediately snapped in April's direction and once again she nearly fell off her seat.
"I take it you're Driver's sister," His cold voice was heard clearly and loudly.
April nodded, "Yeah."
"Whoa!" Joey's voice boomed out, "April n' Flo are sisters?"
April blushed a little at Joey's confused expression - she found it cute. "I'm adopted, of course."
Usually, April didn't mind saying that she was adopted; though now was different. April wished that she could just crawl into a hole until everything blew over.
April was relieved, it was finally nearing the end of the day. She'd struggled to pay attention in lessons, her mind continuously wandered to thoughts of her real parents… who they were…what they were and where they were…
Several times she had almost landed herself in detention due to her lack of attention, but now she sat looking blankly at the computer screen on the desk in front of her, oblivious to her companion's attempts to catch her attention.
"She's not listenin' Tristan." Joey said in an exasperated voice. For the last few minutes, both Tristan and Joey had desperately been trying to catch the eye of the pretty, tanned girl sitting next to them.
Of course, it was beyond mere coincidence that Joey had ended up next to April. A small smile spread across his face. But Tristan didn't need to know that.
Tristan rolled his eyes at Joey, he didn't know why his friend was bothering, then again, he often failed to understand Joey's logic. Turning back to his computer, he indicated for the blond to do the same. Ignoring his friend, Joey tried once more to jolt the girl from her reverie.
"April, you 'k?" He asked softly, laying a gentle hand on the small girl's shoulder. April jumped slightly, shocked by the sudden contact she spun in her chair to meet a pair of deep, concerned brown eyes.
"Oh, hey Joey. I'm… I'm fine, just a bit tired I guess." April replied with a vague smile, her voice was distant and her eyes were still clouded with thought. Joey frowned slightly at her response, but turned to his computer monitor as the teacher entered the room.
April barely registered the teacher's presence, much less the instructions for the lesson as the voice droned on, occasionally addressing a question. Rubbing her forehead, April gazed out of the window, wishing she was anywhere else but in the classroom looking at a screen. She wished she could leave the pointless lesson and do something more important… like finding out about her real parents.
Suddenly, an idea struck April. What if she could find something out on the internet. True, it was unlikely, but it was worth a try. First thing was first; she typed in the name of the town in England they had moved from. Scrolling down the page, April found a list of facilities in the town… yes, there it was – the orphanage!
Her heart began to beat faster. Surely it couldn't be that easy – could it? The page seemed to take hours to load, the small green bar at the bottom of the screen gradually filling up as the monitor remained ominously blank.
"Hey April, how're ya doing with dat database?" Joey asked, breaking through her thoughts as he peered over her shoulder, hoping that the girl could possible help him. His eyes widened as the page loaded to show a banner of a large, grey stone orphanage and the heading read 'St. John's' in Gothic script. Just from the style of the building, the orphanage looked unappealing.
"Err… April? That's not da database."
April turned slightly in her seat to face the mystified blond. It was too late to shut the screen and play dumb, so she might as well explain.
"You're right Joey. I've been worrying all morning 'cause… well, it's difficult to explain, but you know what I said about being adopted?" Joey nodded to show he was listening, they were both unaware of the teacher's glare fixed upon the chatting teenagers. "Well I don't actually know who my parents are…" April blushed slightly. It must sound ridiculous to him. How could he understand? As a matter of fact, how could anyone?
She looked away, embarrassed. Why did I even bother saying anything? Now I've just made a fool of myself!
"Dat's alright April. So are ya lookin' dem up on here?" He asked, lowering his voice slightly as he noticed the teacher's disapproving gaze.
Surprised at Joey's concern, April allowed a shy smile to grace her lips. "Yeah, I thought there might be a chance… but, I don't know." Joey watched as April scrolled down to the list of children who had been up for adoption in the last fifteen years. There was no April.
Letting out a pent up breath, April sighed miserably. It wasn't as if she had expected to find all the answers there, but it was still disappointing. Seeing his new friend's distress, Joey placed a caring hand on her shoulder.
"Hey, don't worry April, I'm sure you'll find 'em." He paused for a moment and April could almost visibly see the cogs working in his mind, "Tell ya what, d'ya wanna meet up sometime and we can go look togeder? Ya never know, we might get something!" He enthused, a goofy grin spreading across his face.
April nodded and smiled in return, meeting the blonds' sparkling eyes. He was sweet, and very kind. "I'd love to, what about-?"
April was cut off as a loud voice cleared its throat. Slowly drawing her gaze away from Joey's, the girl's eyes slowly trailed up to meet a pair of angry black ones.
"And may I ask what is so important that you have abandoned your work? Or would you perhaps like to continue talking and share it with the whole class?" April blushed a brilliant red and averted her gaze to the keyboard, aware that the entire class was staring at her.
Taking pity on the small girl, Joey confidently turned to the teacher. "Sorry miss. April was just telling me what I gotta do with da database." Joey invented, oozing charm on the teacher.
The teacher glared at him for a moment then turned away. "This is individual work Mr. Wheeler, so if you need help, you ask me." She strode off before swooping down on another pair of chatting teenagers.
April glanced up gratefully and sent a thankful smile at Joey whose cheeks coloured slightly before he turned back to the screen. After a few moments of careful consideration, he turned back to the girl. "Do ya know how ta do this?" He asked.
April laughed.
Meanwhile:
Florence yawned. This was so tired, not to mention tedious. How could anyone possibly find this difficult?
She clicked her mouse idly. Apparently April had a computer lesson too, it was a shame they weren't in the same class or they might have been able to talk.
Still, it had only taken her ten minutes to complete an entire database sheet and now she was left with vacant seats either side of her while the rest of the class huddled at the front of the classroom, laughing, talking and asking the teacher for help.
Florence had preferred a seat further back, at least this way she wouldn't get such a bad headache.
Now beyond bored, Florence lazily opened up a window and typed a combination of letters and numbers into the little box. She wondered how easy it was to hack into the system. School systems were often under protected.
The teenager didn't register as a hush fell over the room, and at the far side, the classroom door slammed open to admit a tall, arrogant, blue-eyed teenager. After a few moments, the children returned to their conversations and the intruder was forgotten. The teacher didn't bat an eyelid at his tardy appearance and simply turned to shut the door which he had left slightly ajar.
Kaiba strode moodily to the back of the classroom, ignoring the few stares and whispers uttered as he walked past the teenagers, briefcase clasped tightly within his grip. They were all pathetic, worthless and below him.
He hardly registered the blonde teenager sitting by herself as he threw himself into a nearby computer chair and dumped his case on the desk. His computer beeped and chugged as it started up, reminding him of how rubbish the school computers were in comparison to the high-tech ones at his company. Glowering at the screen, Kaiba inadvertently found his eyes wandering to the screen of the computer next to him. On it was a series of numbers and letters mixed together in a seemingly random code. Yet it wasn't a code… he frowned.
Florence typed in a few more digits. The school system had been far too easy to hack into, as she had predicted. But that wasn't very entertaining, so seeking a bigger challenge; the teenager opened a new document and began to write down the foundations for a computer program.
Feeling the force of an intense gaze weighing heavily on the back of her neck, Florence spun around on her chair to meet a pair of clear cerulean eyes.
After a few long seconds of silence, Florence spoke; "Is there a problem?"
Kaiba smirked cynically, his eyes scanning the program she had begun to write. He had to admit, it was impressive, but nothing of his standards.
"No. But shouldn't you be doing something?" Florence raised an eyebrow. "Your work." He prompted in a matter-of-fact tone.
Florence flicked her hair arrogantly. So if that was how he played it, she would just have to reciprocate. "For your matter of interest Mr. I-must-stick-my-nose-in-everything-because-it's-so-big, I actually happen to have finished my work."
Kaiba paused for a moment, his smirk fading into a trademark glare. Then he broke the silence. "That's the basis for a game."
Florence looked up, surprised by his sudden comment. "Yes. I've been thinking about making it for a while. My sister…" She trailed off. Her sister. Her sister who wasn't, in fact, her sister but rather somebody else's. Florence knew by intuition that April still was unsatisfied, even if she didn't voice her concern. Pulling herself back to the present situation, she glared straight back into the pair of unrelenting, emotionless blue eyes. "It doesn't matter." She finished with a sigh.
"Hm." Obviously she was hiding something. Not that he cared. But that program was interesting. Enough of that, you've got more important things to do than watch some stupid girl make an amateur program. Kaiba chastised himself.
With a final glance back over her shoulder, Florence looked back at her program. Well, it was interesting to know that the notorious Seto Kaiba actually did communicate on the rare occasion. Allowing a smirk to spread across her face, she focused back on her program… Kaiba had given her inspiration for a new antagonist…
April's POV
April walked from the last lesson with Joey, glad that the bell had rung and the day was over – finally. On the way to the school gates, Joey introduced the girl to his friend Tristan who had said a brief 'hi' before dashing off to meet a pretty brunette who had just appeared from an adjoining corridor.
Puzzled, April watched as Joey's eyebrows lowered into a frown of disapproval while Tristan talked animatedly to the pretty girl. A slight wave of disappointment washed over her. Could it be that Joey fancied the brunette?
Joey's fists clenched as Tristan playfully reached out to touch the girl's shoulder and she blushed a pleasant red before giggling. "Taylor…" Joey growled. Enough was enough.
The blond roughly fought his way through a surging crowd of students in an attempt to reach his friend and the girl. April followed, unsure what to do, but at the same time torn towards Joey.
"Get your dirty paws off my sister, Taylor!" Joey yelled once he was close enough.
So that was it! April smiled in relief. The girl was Joey's sister. And apparently he was very protective of her.
As if timed, another voice entered the fray. "I was under the impression that you were the mutt, Wheeler."
Kaiba.
Joey swept around immediately, unsure whether he wanted to punch Tristan for touching his sister, or hit Kaiba for insulting him.
He chose the latter option. "Watch it Kaiba! If I were you I'd get myself a new deck 'cause next time we duel moneybags, you're goin' down!" Joey shouted back to the tall brunet.
Kaiba looked mildly amused. As if. "Get back to the zoo where you belong, Wheeler." He replied casually, agitating the hot-headed teenager even further. Kaiba smirked as Joey lunged towards him but was pushed back by the throng of people separating them.
"Why dat…" Joey fumed, he hated the arrogant CEO. Kaiba sent one last look of disdain in the blonde's direction before parting the crowd before him and heading towards the exit.
"Don't blow a fuse Joey. He can't help being a jerk." Tristan supplied helpfully, glad that Joey had seemingly forgotten the reason for walking over in the first place.
Joey's head snapped around. "You touched my sister." He remembered conveniently.
April couldn't help but smile as a look of horror appeared on Tristan's face before he dodged Joey's swipe and ducked through the crowd. She exchanged glances with the weary brunette who tiresomely rolled her eyes.
"He's at it again, first Kaiba, then Tristan…" She sighed then spared a smile for April.
"Hi." The teenager said shyly.
"Hey, I'm Serenity, and that dork over there's my brother Joey."
April nodded. "Yeah, he was in my computer class."
"Oh dear, he didn't make you do everything for him, did he?" She asked as if this was an everyday occurrence. Seeing April's enquiring expression, Serenity elaborated. "He's always like that, he does it to everyone."
"Well…not really…" April paused to correct herself. "Not much."
Serenity sighed in exasperation then reached down for her bag. "You gonna come out or have you got detention?" She asked, a bright concern, not dissimilar to Joey's, glittering in her eyes.
"No… I mean, yes I'd like to come, and no I haven't got detention." The girls smiled at one another for a moment, recognizing a similarity between each other. Carefully, they weaved through the bustling corridor and emerged into the bright sunlight and a gentle breeze which ran soft fingers through their hair.
April breathed in contentedly; glad to finally be outside of the large building. Her happiness was short lived as she recognized a familiar blonde teenager having a heated conversation with a tall brunet by the school gates.
"Oh no…" Sending a quick wave to Serenity, April mouthed something similar to 'troublesome siblings' over her shoulder before running towards her sister.
Florence stood, eyebrows joined in a frown, hands laid aggressively on her hips and green eyes burning with a ferocious glare as she squared up to the arrogant CEO.
"You're insufferable. Did you know that?" She told him indignantly.
Kaiba smirked and leaned back against the pillar behind him looking smugly indifferent. Judging by their positions, April deduced that the brunet must have once again provoked her sister.
"Maybe you should just watch where you're going, Driver." Kaiba replied in an ice-cold, calm voice, his blue eyes sparkled with an intensity that equalled Florence's. April smiled, realising that her sister had finally met her match…
Like I said, she hardly needs me anymore…
"Maybe one day I'll see things from your point of view, but I don't think I'll ever get my head that far up my ass!" Florence bit back. This was unusual. She must be really fired up because normally the blonde never insulted people so strongly; normally she was unshakeable.
Unimpressed, Kaiba simply glared back at her, then fixed his cerulean gaze on the crowd of observers, daring them to speak. He sent one last scornful look at the teenager before sweeping past with a barely audible comment.
"Insult me again Driver, and I will make sure you get suspended from this school," Her green glare met his icy blue one. "And don't assume for one minute that I can't." He added as a final touch.
That was intimidating enough. Without a backwards glance, Kaiba strode indifferently through the school gates before climbing in his limo and slamming the door shut behind him.
"What an arrogant jerk!" April announced from Florence's side as her sister watched the vehicle depart with narrowed eyes, then she lowered her voice slyly, unable to resist the temptation to tease the older teen. "But you so blatantly like him…"
"I do not!" Florence snapped furiously, turning away to hide an inexplicable pink tinge which had risen to her cheeks. Luckily, Joey chose that moment to call April over so Florence was saved from a potentially embarrassing situation.
Fortunately the crowd which had gathered to watch the teen's confrontation with Kaiba had now dissipated leaving a few people mulling around absently while a steady stream of students poured from the school and out of the gates.
April smiled at the waiting Joey, wondering why he had called her over.
"Your sister sure gets flamed up about rich-boy!" Joey commented admiringly. Apparently Florence had somehow heard his praise and turned her glare on the quailing Joey. However, her expression softened slightly as she noticed a short, spiky-haired boy make his way towards her.
"Yeah, certainly seems that way." April agreed, "So…?"
Realising that the girl was waiting for him to explain the reason he had called her over, Joey raised a hand to run it nervously through his hair. "Well, ya know I said I'd help ya find your parents?" He asked, sounding slightly embarrassed.
April nodded, a smile working its way back onto her face.
"Well I thought maybe dis weekend ya'd like to… I dunno, hang out? See what we can find?" Joey avoided April's eyes as a light blush worked its way onto his face.
April's smile widened into a grin and her eyes sparkled happily. "I'd love to Joey!"
Perhaps I am needed after all…