A/N: Hey! I'm back again. Sorry it took so long for me to update. My exams just finished so I've just gotten back to writing. Just so you know I've change things in the last chapter because it could have been done better.
Christmas day.
So far Tripp didn't see what all the hullabaloo was about. All it was so far was gift giving and lots of red, green and fairy lights but she got something for the boys anyway.
Before she'd arrived at the Orphanage the old man-whose name would still remain a mystery-gave her some money saying it was to help her get back on her feet while at the Orphanage. She tried to refuse it but the old man was persistent.
Tripp went looking for the two boys fifteen minutes ago and so far found nothing; it was 11:45 now. She hoped they weren't in the lounge because from behind the door all she could hear was bubblegum chipmunks on helium music, the music genre she personally detested. Sighing she went in anyway hoping to get out quickly, with or without the boys. The music was louder inside the room making her head spin. The room was darker than it usually was, a large Christmas tree in the corner with tinsel wrapped round it along with thousands of coloured bobbles. Tinsel Garlands, hung from the ceiling with paper snowflakes and a silver disco ball. Food was laid out on the long table in the room, just beside the fire, covered with a white cloth and kids danced to the helium music in swaying and jumping motions that Tripp found slightly odd. She found them leaning against the far wall, Mello with his hands in his pockets, mumbling something and Matt engrossed in his PSP.
"Hey Mello! Matt! Catch!" Tripp said to the two boys throwing Mello a bar of chocolate and Matt a gift card for GAME ™ when the music was switched off.
"What's this for?" asked Mello, wondering why she was giving them something after only two days of knowing them. Usually everyone was staying clear of the two boys by that time.
"You're showing me around aren't you? It's a thanks." She told them smiling her usual calm and laid back smile. She looked just as she did when she first arrived at the Orphanage, only her hair was now a bright Forest Green for the holiday. The two boys had helped her out a lot over the passed two days, more than she'd expected. They'd filled her in with everything and anything, including L.
They –by they it was Mello as Matt never got a word in edge ways- explained to her exactly what he did and how he was a role model to everyone in the Orphanage. He also told her about the BB murder case and all the other cases he'd solved.
By the end she had to admit this L guy did sound pretty amazing.
Matt then got to tell her about Quillsh Wammy or 'Watari' as he was more commonly called, the owner and founder of Wammy House. An inventor who opened an Orphanage for the gifted which was later called Wammy House.
"Thanks I guess." Mello said to her.
"Thanks," Matt said copying Mello.
"What? No present for me Tripp. I'm hurt." Kyle said from behind. Tripp groaned inwardly, she'd hoped she was done with him on the first day after she punched him, sending him to the ground. According to Mello and Matt Kyle was the local Playboy, an asshole who dated and made out with a different girl on a daily, no hourly, bases. He also constantly made remarks about Mello and Matt, but that was only when there was a teacher around or when the boys weren't in the room. Everyone knew not to mess with Mello unless you wanted a broken bone.
Hoping to get it over with so she could get out of the room and away from the irritating music, she turned swiftly on her heel, facing Kyle and smiled again.
"Oh I have a present for you." She told him, clasping her hands behind her back and standing on her tiptoes, then, with out warning, she kneed as hard as she could in groin making him fall to the floor.
"Merry Christmas!" she told him when he collapsed to his knees, arms out as if bowing. With that she bolted, knowing that Kyle wasn't going to leave it.
Kyle's buddies looked to their leader in shock that he had been floored-once again- by the new girl.
"What are you idiots doing?! Go get her!" Kyle shouted to them, making them run after the black haired girl who was laughing as she left the room, after jumping onto several tables and dogging the food as Kyle's gang attempted to do the same but falling flat on their faces instead.
She intended on going to her room but knew that's the first place they would look for her, instead she ran down the opposite hall from her room. She could hear the boys shouting at each other but they were too far away to know what they were saying, making them sound like a pack of wild animals more than anything else.
She caught her breath at corner, leaning against the wall so she knew if anyone came near her. She looked round the corner and saw Kyle himself at the end of the hall, unfortunately he saw her as well, mostly because of her hair.
"You!" he shouted running over to her. Running as fast as her feet could to take her she ran and turned the next corner only to run into something hard making her fall to the ground, hitting her backside hard.
"Ow." She stated. Opening her eyes she saw the brown ceiling and a voice calling for her.
"Are you okay?" it asked. Groaning she sat up lithely to come face to face with a raven-haired boy.
"Are you okay?" he asked again, standing and holding out his hand to her. She nodded and took his hand, pulling herself up. When she was vertical she shook her head to clear the white sparkles that appeared in her vision, then looked at the boy that she'd ran into wanting apologize. The boy was skinny; she could see that even through his baggy jumper and jeans. He also had dark rings under his eyes, making it look like he hadn't slept for days, something Tripp could relate too as she tended to stay up longer than she should, of course it always seemed like a bad idea the next day.
"Sorry for running into you." Tripp said, brushing herself off and looking behind her to see no Kyle. Woose.
"You must be Tripp. Near told me that you have a tendency to run into people." The boy said. Tripp frowned.
"Who are you?" she asked slowly, it kicking in who he was, her eyes widened.
"You're the boy that was with the old man!" she exclaimed, pointing, most likely looking a bit crazy. The boy nodded.
"Yes, I am L and the 'old man' is Watari." He told her. Tripp nodded in understanding then it hit her again.
"So I was brought here by Quillsh Wammy himself. Well that's a bit of a bolt from the blue." Tripp said, looking into space at the end of the sentence.
"Kyle bothering you?" L asked. Tripp snapped her head up quickly.
"How did you…you know what forget it. Dumb question. Yes he was."
"Tripp! There you are!" Matt called, running over to L and her. He nodded at L.
"Hello L." he said politely as Mello came running up after Matt.
"How many times are you going to make us run after you!" he complained to Tripp, stopping dead in his tracks as he saw L.
"Well I never ask you to come after me." Tripp mumbled, but Mello was no longer listening to her. Too focused on his one and only idol.
"L! When did you get here?" Mello asked, trying to be as friendly as possible but not succeeding to that level. Tripp saw Matt roll his eyes under the orange tint of his glasses.
"He arrived here at three this morning. You were asleep at the time." He told Mello as all eyes went to him.
"What? I stayed up a bit late playing Halo 3. Is that a crime?" he asked. Tripp snickered and turned to L.
"Where was it you saw Near?" she asked him.
"What! Near saw you first! Damn it!" he shouted then mumbling an apology when L glared at him.
"He's in the playroom. Go down the hall then right and it's the second door on the left." He told her. She thanked him and was about to run off when he stopped her.
"And when you're done there come to Roger's office. Watari and myself would like to talk to you privately." Tripp saluted him and ran off down to the playroom, L also going in his own direction after saying goodbye to the boys.
"How the hell does she know Near!" Mello shouted to Matt who was seriously wishing she hadn't also. He didn't want another Mello rampage today, not that they were ever a good thing.
"How should I know? Lets go see." He said walking the same was Tripp had gone, Mello fuming behind him.
Tripp skidded to a halt as she reached the playroom, and poked her head through a gap in the door.
"Hello? Near are you here?" she called into the blinding white room.
"Over here." He called back. When Tripp knew were she was looking, she saw that he was crouching on the floor, barely visible with the white pyjamas he was wearing, surrounded by a dice city.
"Wow. That is so cool." She told him walking over to him.
"Was there anything you particularly wanted?" he asked, placing another die on a tower. Tripp snapped out of her awe and gave an awkward chuckle.
"Actually yes. Here." She said, taking a rectangular box from the small bag that slashed from her shoulder to hip. Near took the box with caution.
"What is it?" he asked.
"It's a present to say sorry for breaking your toy." She told him. He opened the wrapping paper carefully, not to rip it, reviling a new Jazz Transformer. Near had to admit- to himself at least- that he was surprised. He wasn't used to getting presents as all the kids at Wammy House, except Linda and Matt, were wary of Near because of his rank as number one and his coldness towards people. He only ever really got present from Matt, Linda and Roger and maybe one from L when he wasn't working on a case.
"Thank you." He said genuinely. Tripp smiled, happy that she'd made someone else happy that day.
"Your welcome." She replied as Mello rampaged through the door.
"How do you know Near?" he asked her, trying to keep his voice low enough so no one would come running.
"I ran into him two days ago. I broke one of his toys so I bought him a new one and I was giving it to him now. What did I do?" she asked, confused at what was going on.
Mello was about to say something else when Matt came to the rescue.
"Mello." he said calmly.
"What!" he shouted.
"The
chocolate cake has been set out in the lounge." He said simply. That was enough to have Mello run out the room and down to the
lounge, out of the playroom.
"Well that was…odd." Tripp
stated, looking at the door Mello had just ran out of.
"Nothing will keep Mello from chocolate." Matt told her, handing Near a small box full of dice.
"What was with him anyway?" Tripp asked.
"Mello doesn't like me because I'm number one in line to becoming L's successor." Near said, not taking his eyes off the dice city as he continued lengthen the city. Tripp frowned. Dumb reason to hate someone.
"Tripp. You're supposed to go to Roger's office. Remember." Matt reminded her. Tripp jumped.
"Oh yeah. Gotta go." She saluted then running out the playroom. It was quiet in the play room until Matt thought.
"Do you know why she was brought to Wammy's?" he asked, sitting down to help Near with the dice city.
"No. But L told me that it was Watari's idea." Near replied. Matt chuckled.
"Sent by Quillsh Wammy himself eh? Must have been something good." He thought out loud.
Tripp knocked on the heavy wooden door and waited for a reply before going into the office.
"You wanted to see me?" she asked walking in cautiously. Roger was sitting at his desk as L and Old man sat in the seats opposite. Tripp couldn't help but smile when she saw L's way of sitting.
"Yes, yes. Sit down Tripp." Roger said, motioning to a chair that was angled towards L and Watari as well as Roger. She couldn't help but be a bit uncomfortable with them all staring at her.
"Now Tripp I believe you know Watari and L." Roger stated. Tripp smiled.
"Yes. Thank you again for helping that night." She told them. Watari smiled at the girl.
"Well I could leave a girl dying in an alley now could I?" he told her. It was silent for a minute, the only sound coming from L who was eating some cake.
"Tripp I guess you already know what Wammy House Orphanage is for." L asked, breaking the silence. Tripp nodded.
"It's a school for people gifted intelligently. Which is what I don't get. Why am I here?" she asked, truly confused. Watari smiled again. Tripp couldn't help but like this old man, even if he hadn't been the one to find her.
"Remember the day after I found you? When I asked you to follow the instructions to make a buzzer that would contact me through my phone?" he asked. Tripp nodded. It had been simple enough to do and fun enough that it got her mind off the pain from her back.
"Well, what you didn't know was that all the instructions were wrong." L stated. Tripp froze for a minute. How could that be? The pager worked perfectly when she was finished and she'd followed the instructions.
"But I followed the instructions and it worked perfectly." She said a bit confused to where this was leading.
"Exactly. You unconsciously changed the instructions to make them work. Something only a very talented inventor would do." Watari explained. Tripp sat without saying a word for a moment. A talented inventor? Her?
"Why did you give me the task in the first place?" she asked, solemnly.
"We found a recording device in one of your jackets inside pockets. Very well made but when I looked for who created it I couldn't find it anywhere. So I decided to see if it was you who created it or someone you knew. Seeing as you passed the test it must have been you. The recording contained very valuable information about a drug smuggling company. " Watari told her.
"So what does this mean?" she asked.
"What it means is that, if you like, you would be Watari's successor. If something should happen to him you would take his place. As you could guess, working as my spokesperson and personal assistant would have it's life threatening moments. He would help you perfect your talent and, if needed, you would join Watari and I on cases. " L said, popping the strawberry from his cake in his mouth. All three men looked at her expectantly, waiting for her answer. Working with L to bring bad guys to justice?
Tripp paused again then smiled.
"Where do I sign?"
A/N: So? How was it? Now please review!! I can take criticism so don't feel bad! It helps me change it for the better. So please review.
You should be happy I find holding chapters hostage a bad thing to do to my faithful readers. So please review!!