~XxX~

I was lost, that much was certain.

Unless Japan had one hell of a ridiculous school system and held their Physics lessons in girl's bathrooms. A curious development, even given the fact that I now lived in the eccentric capital of the world.

I decided to make the most of my lapse of any sense of direction and checked that I looked okay in the mirror. Whether the move was narcissistic or not was lost on me, being raised to look presentable at all times was a useful skill for my first day in a new school in a new country. I looked down at my map after flattening my fringe against my face and found that it didn't have the bathrooms marked on it. I made a disgusted nose in the back of my throat.

"Pathetic bloody maps, not even having main landmarks on them..." I was muttering under my breath with annoyance, not noticing the person in front of me until I'd walked into them.

"Ummm..." Said the pretty brunette girl I had just shoulder bumped as I glanced up and instantly apologised, my British manners leaping over themselves to say sorry.

"Oh god, I'm so sorry! I didn't see you there!" I rushed my words as the girl smiled at my words and waved them away.

"You're the new girl right? Sophie? I'm in your class, Teá Gardner, it's nice to meet you but..." She paused, "don't you have a class?" I rolled my eyes and placed my head onto the white doorframe.

"Yep," I nodded, "But I'm as lost as possible. Could you…help me?" A frown as I thought of something, "And while you're possibly doing that, could you tell me why you aren't in Physics either?"

"Yeah! Sure, it's hard to get to know where everywhere is in this place, you've got to keep in mind," Teá said as she lead me out of the girl's bathroom hallway and showed me what she meant, gesturing to the branching off corridors, "This place is built like a honeycomb, all ajoining hexagons and wrong turns." I laughed slightly, feeling my spirits pick up in the presence of this good-natured girl. Her friendly atmosphere was infectious and I soon found myself chattering away with her, finding out that she wasn't in Physics because she was on the Faire Committee and they were busy setting up for the end of quarter Faire in two weeks time. She expressed exasperation with her three male friends as they were, for some reason, more interested in some card game or another. Apparently it was big news over here, whereas I'd barely even heard of it.

Leading me to the door, she gestured deliberately-overly-theatrically and smiled. "This is the Lab sector, you should only be..." She checked her watch and with a Pavlovian promptness I checked mine, 11:17am, "Twenty minutes late?" She hissed through her teeth before opening the door for me, "Maybe it would be better for me to come in with you and explain why you're so late...being on the committee gives me a little sway with the Teachers." I laughed a little at her words.

"Oooh, abuse of power." I sang the last word at her, and she laughed too. Social grace wasn't something I possessed in droves, but Teá was easy to relax around.

"Well, it's for a good cause." She stated, shooting me a look of amusement as I stepped through the door and came face to face with a stern-looking man with eyebrows that took up half of his face. I almost visibly gulped before regaining my dignity and cowardly stepping out of the way before speaking.

"Sorry I'm late, I got lost." The man regarded me carefully for a moment before turning to Teá for an explanation. As he did, I looked around the room, noting two people I already knew out of a classroom of twenty. I tried to remember their names from the first registration earlier but failed miserably, I could remember one name however, Ryou Bakura. I planned to greet him at the next opportunity, just so that I knew there was someone here from my 'homeland'. His English accent had been welcome when I'd heard it earlier. The second person I noted was a brunette boy, sat stiffly in his chair. I inclined my head slightly after making eye contact with both of them, a polite, if silent, greeting.

"Alright, fine. Sophie McCallaghan?" I tuned back into the real world just in time to hear the Teacher ask me whether or not I would get lost again, after replying 'no' he informed me that I was lucky to have befriended the Head of the Student Body. I kept my amusement to myself and resisted saying that she was very easy to befriend, merely waiting until he turned his back to walk over to his desk before mouthing 'Thank You' and 'Head?' At her. The response I received was another smile and a half-wave as she left, no doubt to go and attempt to drag her three male friends away from their card game for long enough to help her get the Faire together in time.

My newest Teacher, whose name was scrawled on the blackboard behind him as "Dr Azari", looked at me for several seconds as he ran his finger down the length of a file, ticking off something and pointing at an empty desk in between the brunette guy and a blue-haired girl. I suppressed my inner eye-roll and smiled mildly at the both of them as I took my seat. The boy's eyes narrowed momentarily at me as he frowned slightly, I could almost feel the sneer. The polite smile morphed into a smirk on my face as I narrowed my eyes back. Apparently someone had a stick up their ass.

"Class, today our topic is, 'Friction.' Turn your books to this page," Dr Azari wrote '194' on the blackboard under his name, "and read it through before I start asking and taking questions." He sat himself down behind his chair and stared around the room, unnerving me slightly. Was this what all Teachers did? Stare at their pupils like they was planning which one to have for dinner? I turned to the page regardless of my feelings on the matter and laughed a little inside, feeling slightly assured.

'No. You promised your Mother that you wouldn't act the prissy, prim, precocious little know-it-all this time. That's what got you into trouble last time.' My conscience niggled at me, pointing out the flaw in my attitude. It was right though, regardless of others out-of-line reactions, my demeanour was what got me into trouble three years ago.

"Alright, that's fifteen minutes, does anyone have any questions they want answered?" Several hands went up as I fretted the tiniest bit, I had been preoccupied with my small inner struggle than to read the pages. I looked down at the book, sighing inside as I read things I already knew. Well, at least I wouldn't be getting a detention on my first day.

"Sophie, could you tell me the coefficient of friction?"

'Two cats sliding down a hot tin roof.' "Mew, sir." He nodded at me and continued moving down his list of pupils, calling out their names and asking them questions. I took my water bottle out of my bag and drank a little, calming my nerves. I was always scared of authority and losing face in front of them. I took this, however, as an opportunity to memorise the names of the two people I was currently sat between. The girl went by the name 'Miho' and I found myself wondering if blue was a natural hair colour for her, considering her eyebrows matched. At the mention of the brunette's name I made a connection and received a small answer as to the previous and condescending look.

"Ohh..." I said under my breath, side-eyeing him.

"Is there a problem Callaghan?" He asked with deadly calm as I shrugged slightly, feeling the atmosphere shift to one slightly more antagonistic.

"Seto Kaiba?" I asked, "As in the building?" I nodded another slight greeting at him. "Does your Father own it?"

I've never been especially good with people. I can hold conversations. I can somewhat comfort a grieving human. But my social skills have rusted to a standstill for the past three years, and I can only really pick up on things and reactions that I've read out of a Psychology textbook.

I didn't need a textbook here to know that I'd said something catastrophically incorrect. The class-wide intake of breath with scattered giggles, the flaring of his nostrils and the narrowing of the eyes. Something happened there.

"No. I own the building, and the company. You would do better not to showcase your ignorance." He sniffed and moved to look back at the blackboard. I frowned.

"I'm hardly ignorant," My indignant tone at his rudeness was something I hadn't had to use for quite a while. "I've never heard of your company. New to this country, remember?" I raised an eyebrow and smirked a little. "You would do better to not assume, it makes an ass out of you to me." Part of me was happy to have a chance to exercise my sarcasm muscle, part of me was wondering why the Teacher wasn't on us for talking like this in class. There was a smaller part of me that was trying to not blush at the unusual and sustained eye contact.

"I would prefer it if you didn't attempt to get one over on me via pathetic word breakdowns, Callaghan." He continued to glare at me. "New or not, you should know that I don't take kindly to fools thinking they know more than they do."

It was my turn to narrow my eyes and flare my nostrils like some kind of enraged bull, this wasn't how most people worked. I have a biting reply for most things, but in recent years I gained an emotional barometer. I tend to make sure I don't hurt others feelings, this guy hardly seemed to care. The exasperated look on Dr Azari's face told me to save whatever reply I had.

"Fine." I nearly spat the word. "But I'd prefer it if the owners of ridiculous buildings didn't attempt to belittle me in return."

I, unfortunately, have an issue with people getting the last word.

"Quiet, Callaghan." He answered, smirking at me as I flushed in mild anger and hissed under my breath while the bell rang, signalling the end of the lesson. I refused to leave it there. I'm regrettably immature and competitive sometimes.

"What kind of company has dragon statues outside it?" I said, lacing my voice with scorn as he stood to pack his bag and I did the same, finding out that I was just a little shorter than him, an odd experience.

"Ignorance. You don't even know a multi-billion-dollar, world-wide company when you see one." He left, tossing the remark over his shoulder as he did so and leaving me without time to reply. I looked down at my still unpacked book and pens, a slightly predatory smile appearing on my face.

Oh yes. I liked him. He would be fun.

~XxX~