Chapter 1: Since When Did Time Travel Factor Into First Impressions?
Kyo examined the computer map printout of the school's layout as she stood before the school front. Summerton High, yeah how original could they get? shethought as she maneuvered around the cliques of kids and into the hallways. As she made her way to the office, she could feel several pairs of eyes on her as she walked past the kids in the hall. Other than the fact that she was new, she had blue tips at the ends of her long, straight black hair. It wasn't a huge trend back in her old town but here, it must have been really odd if someone showed up like that here.
Since her old school had a really bad system of sending over transcripts, Kyo's registration took nearly all of second period to complete. How lame. The secretary kept apologizing for the wait and Kyo reassured her that it wasn't a big deal. Finally after what seemed like eternity, the secretary handed her a printout of her schedule, her locker number, and lock combination.
"I have P.E. third?" she muttered as she skimmed the printout. The secretary pulled one of the campus security aids aside while Kyo kept reading the printout. She was startled out of her reverie by the secretary telling her that the campus security person was going to take her to her P.E. coach. Joy. Not.
"All right people!" hollered Coach Willis at the nearly sleepy P.E. class, "Since we have been demonstrating some poor enthusiasm this past week, you know what we get to do?"
"Have the period off?" a hopeful, scrawny 14 year old by the name of Charlie Tuttle piped up. Everyone snickered at Charlie's response and Coach Willis glared at him.
"Nice try Tuttle but obviously incorrect," he barked back, "No, today, we are running 5 laps without walking in between." The entire class groaned at the thought of it and Coach added in a poisonous tone that he could make it 10 if the class kept it up.
"What was that all about Charlie?" asked Charlie's best friend Virgil as he jogged alongside him, "Did you really expect that Coach would even cut us slack for any time of the day?"
Charlie made a face at him and remarked, "It was wishful thinking you know." Virgil snorted at Charlie's last remark and started to jog ahead of him. Typical Charlie behavior. As he continued to stay ahead of Charlie, a sight caught his eye and made him slow down a little. Coach had turned his back on the class to talk to the campus security aid that had come down from the main school building to talk to him. An Asian girl of 5'3"-5'4"ish with long, jet-black hair and dyed blue tips was standing next to the aid.
Virgil came to a stop to observe the sight and Charlie caught up to him. After catching his breath, Charlie waved his hand in Virgil's face to get his attention. "We're going to fail today's running assignment if we continue to stand here," he reminded the dazed Virgil, "Come on already!"
Virgil shook off Charlie and reluctantly started to jog again. "She, she's got to be new," Virgil mused as he chatted with Charlie. Charlie turned his head to get a better look at the girl and he had this eerie feeling after seeing her. It was too early to judge though.
Coach Willis shook hands with Kyo, as she forced herself to sound positive. "Well I'm having the class run right now," Coach remarked as he watched the group run. His eyes fell on her outfit of black Bermuda shorts, Converse© high tops, and yin-yang t-shirt. "Do you think you could run a few laps like that?" he inquired curiously, "There's not enough time to change before the period ends."
Kyo shrugged as she dropped her backpack on the ground and joined her classmates on the track. It wasn't a big deal anyways, after standing in the stark white office for 2 periods, some jogging wouldn't do her any harm.
Meanwhile, Virgil had caught up to Kyo and left Charlie in the dust again. "Hey, uh, you must be new, right?" he asked Kyo as he caught her attention. Kyo turned to face Virgil and she started to tie her hair up in a ponytail quickly.
"Yeah, I am," she confessed, "I'm guessing that dyed rainbow tips isn't a popular thing here isn't it?"
"Honestly, I believe not," Virgil replied with a small grin on his face, "But hey, it's still cool. I'm Virgil by the way." He extended his hand to her and she took it.
"I'm Kyo, nice to meet you Virgil," she responded as she shook his hand. Virgil gave her a funny look as soon as he heard her name. Kyo sighed as this wasn't the first time that people had asked about her nickname. Since she wasn't terribly fond of 'Kyoko,' she shortened it to 'Kyo' which sounded so much cooler. "Yeah well, my real name is 'Kyoko' but I got sick of hearing it so much so I just shortened it to 'Kyo.' Get it now?" Virgil's expression of confusion cleared up and he nodded. Charlie was getting tired of being left in Virgil's dust, so he jogged up to him.
"Virgil," began Charlie as he caught up to him, "Remem- oh uh, hi. You're uh, new aren't you?" Was it really that obvious? Do I really stick out like a sore thumb? thought Kyo as Charlie grilled her. Virgil quickly introduced them and Charlie seemed satisfied with the introductions. He then turned back to Virgil to complete his thought.
"Remember when you were telling me yesterday to invent something useful? Something to make you "popular"?" asked Charlie.
"You know I was kidding, right?" Virgil replied with a shrug of his shoulders, "Why what are you getting at?"
Charlie drew himself up proudly as he announced, "Virgil, I have created the perfect invention of a machine that can create time travel." Virgil stared at Charlie as if he was crazy and then shook his head.
"Oh come on, Charlie," he snorted amused, "You're 14 years old. And I'm supposed to believe that you created time travel." Virgil ran ahead of Charlie again and Charlie slowed down.
Charlie hollered after him, "Well excuse me! How's your time travel formula going?" Kyo had been listening to the very conversation as it took place. While Charlie caught his breath, she summoned words to formulate the very same thought that Virgil had.
"Did you watch Back to the Future while you were doing this 'so-called' invention?" she bluntly asked him. Honestly, time travel? Was this kid for real or was he just trying to mess with Virgil and her?
Charlie shook his head no and he snapped back, "Funny, but I didn't as a matter of fact." Kyo shrugged at him and told him to chill out. Charlie inhaled deeply then exhaled as he tried to calm himself. Then that funny feeling he had at the back of his mind hit him again. This girl that he had just met a few minutes ago, acted and almost had a rebel-like appearance like the recluse that had parked his motorcycle on the sidewalk this morning! Was it possible that they were…
"Hey just a question to ask you," Charlie began as Virgil caught back up with them again, "Do you happen to know a guy-hmph!" Virgil clapped a hand over Charlie's mouth just as he was about to ask Kyo his question. A puzzled Kyo watched Virgil struggle with Charlie to keep him silent. Charlie scowled under Virgil's hand-first this morning for that freak parking his bike on the sidewalk and now this! Unbelievable! He licked Virgil's hand and Virgil let go.
"Cut it out with the hand over my mouth!" Charlie yelled at Virgil, "That's twice today!" Charlie whirled around and quickly finished his question, "Do you happen to know a kid that rides a motorbike and wears a leather jacket?"
Kyo's puzzled expression turned into one of confusion. "Why, is this some kind of quiz or something? I don't know anyone here other than you guys."
"He's freakishly tall!" blurted out Charlie as he warded off Virgil's hand, "He looks like any second that he'd-hhmph!" Virgil silenced Charlie again and ignored Charlie's slimy tongue on the back of his hand.
"Sorry about asking," Virgil apologized, "We met him this morning and Charlie thought that somehow you two were related."
Kyo scrunched up her nose and asked slowly, "Uh okay? How would be related in any sort of way? I'm not freakishly tall and I don't have a motorcycle license."
Charlie wiggled free again and shouted a little too loudly, "You two act alike! It was like déjà vu meeting you and to realize that you two are similar!"
Kyo blinked in amazement and she turned to leave. As she picked up her backpack, she muttered under her breath, "Fantastic. I now am being compared to a boy who is said to be my clone. Great…"
Virgil let Charlie go and he irritably asked, "What was that all about Charlie? Now she thinks that we're crazy or insane."
"I had to say that!" Charlie exclaimed as he threw his arms in the air, "You know sooner or later they are going to somehow discover each other!" Virgil walked toward the locker rooms and shook his head. No way could that tough biker guy be in anyway, like the girl they had just met. Besides, there were tons of people at the school, so chances of crossing paths were less than likely. "It won't happen," he muttered at the thought of it, "Charlie's going crazy…"