Me: O.O …How's it going?
*crickets chirp*
Ya, I know WAY overdue update, but life (cough-school-cough) and writer's block got in the way. LOTS of writer's block. -_-'
BIG thanks to all who reviewed and are still interested in this story! Thanks for all your patience. You all get a cookie!
Disclaimer: I, Autumn, DO NOT own Yu-Gi-Oh! GX or any of its characters or places. I own Ari, my OC and my part of the plot. GX belongs to the people who created and not I.
So, enough of my blathering! Let's get on to the chapter! Sorry if it's too short, but I wanted to get it updated.
Oh. P.S. Forgive me for the last chapter. Ari was Mary-Sue and I am going to fix that. I'm re-figuring things out a bit, such as what is going to happen, when and where the events of the story are taking place and also Ari's deck will be changed to an original deck that I am making. Also, I am not writing the story in the way that Ari is going to be added in every episode as a tag-along. The story is going to focus on what happens in other parts of the Academy. So basically, Ari is having her own little adventure. I'm also not sure about writing a duel. I don't know if I'll be able to.
Italics = Thoughts
Not a Normal Year
Chapter 3: Lunch Time Talk
Ari waited for the impact, but it didn't come. She opened her eyes and saw who caught her. A blush crossed her face.
She was looking into the face of her fellow Exchange Student. If you guessed Jim, you're right. "Are you alright Ari?" he asked while held her with one arm around her waist while trying to balance his lunch tray with the other.
She nodded, not trusting her voice. "That was a close call there." she thought inside her head. "Thankfully Jim was there. He looks kind of handsome from this angle… GAH! STOP IT ARI!" she mentally screamed. "Just calm down! Breath!" She took a deep breath and tried to calm down, but it seemed that her heart wouldn't stop beating like a drum. "Ummm Jim, I can stand you know." she told her fellow exchange student. "You can put me on my feet now." He obliged and stood her back on her feet.
"Are you sure you're O.K.?" he asked. Ari nodded again. Now, the jerk that caused this little upset recovered from his "injury" by now and was looking pretty mad.
"I told you no one embarrasses an Obelisk Blue!" he snarled. He took a step towards her but Jim interfered.
"I think you did enough of that yourself, mate." Jim remarked. "How about you run along before she embarrasses you farther?"
The Obelisk looked somewhat shocked that another one of the Exchange Students was telling him what to do. "What is it to you? What is she, your girlfriend?" he remarked. Ari turned red at this, either out of anger or embarrassment or both. But she recovered quickly and glared at the Obelisk jerk.
"Where are your manners? Threatening a girl! Shame on you!" she taunted. "You know what Jim? I think he may talk tougher than he duels." Jim smirked slightly. This really peeved off the Obelisk.
"I'll show you! You should learn to respect your upperclassman!" he shouted. He activated his duel disk. Ari went to activate hers, but a booming voice interrupted the would be duel.
"THAT'S ENOUGH!" The whole Obelisk cafeteria went deathly quiet. They all turned to see Chancellor Sheppard standing there, along with Bonaparte, Crowler and Viper. "What's going on here?" he asked a little more calmly. Ari opened her mouth to say something, but nothing came out. Luckily, Jim spoke up.
"That bloke there was harassing Ari and she defended herself." he told the Chancellor.
"Is that true Ms. Ryan?' Sheppard asked.
"Yes sir." she admitted rather quietly. She always got nervous when confronted by authority figures.
"Well then. Since you're new here, I'll let it go this time. Just don't let it happen again. You wouldn't want me to contact your parents would you?" he warned as he turned and walked away, with the other professors behind him.
Ari gulped and nodded. "It won't happen again sir." After he was gone, Ari sighed in relief and turned to Jim. "Thanks Jim." she smiled.
"No problem." he smiled. They started walking back the line up, so Ari could get another tray of lunch. When she finally got another tray full of lunch, they walked to the table that Adrian saved for them.
"Impressive show there Ari." Adrian applauded.
"Thank you all. I'll be here all year." she said while bowing and setting her lunch tray down on the table. "I must work on my act though. When Sheppard showed up, I was speechless. It happens sometimes." She quipped while shrugging.
"You speechless? That's a laugh and a half." A voice sarcastically said from behind them. Ari turned around and saw Axel standing there with a self satisfied smirk on his face. She narrowed her eyes and looked ready to leap out and choke the living life out of him, but again put on her fake, sweet smile.
"Aww. Miss me that much Axel?" she taunted. Axel narrowed his eyes and also looked ready to kill, but again, Jim stepped in between the two.
"Ari, remember what the Chancellor said." he cautioned. Ari just sighed and nodded.
"I'm just wasting my breath on him." she muttered. She turned around and grabbed her tray and headed to the door. "I'm going to eat outside. You two can join me if you want."
"At least it's quiet now." Axel muttered. The other two just shook their heads and grabbed their trays and followed after Ari.
Outside
Jim and Adrian walked outside and saw Ari sitting on the ground under a tree growling and stabbing viciously at a piece of chicken on her plate of chicken alfredo. They looked at each other and shrugged.
"Ari, you know that chicken is already dead, right?" Adrian asked.
Ari looked up at them. "I know. I'm just envisioning that it's Axel's face." she said with a smirk, then sighed. "I'm only here half a day and I'm already ticking people off. That must be a new record." The two boys just shrugged again.
The rest of lunch passed with the exchange students chatting about their schools and such. So, all in all, it was a pleasant enough of a conversation. Well, that was until Adrian brought up the unpleasant part about her family.
"What about my family?" she asked a bit too quickly and sharply. The others kind of stared at her. "I mean, what do you want to know?" she said a little more quietly and composed.
Before she could get an answer, the ringing of a phone interrupted the unanswered question, which gave Ari some relief. The students all reached for their cell phones to check and see whose phone was ringing.
"Oh, it's mine. I'll just be a second." Ari said as she grabbed her phone and answered it. "Hello?" she asked as she spoke into the other end.
There was a pause as she listened to the person on the other end.
"Oh, Mom! Yes, yes, I got here all right. Yes Mom; I know where the infirmary is! Yes, I did take my first aid kit! Stop worrying, please! No, I haven't talked to Dad yet. Mom, don't start that again please! Aren't you at work? I'll call you later tonight. Ok. Talk to then. I love you too Mom." Ari answered. She then shut her phone, sighed, closed her eyes and leaned her head against the tree trunk.
"I take it that was your mother?" Adrian asked.
"That obvious huh?" she quipped.
"Just a bit." Adrian answered.
"Everything alright?" Jim asked, seemingly a bit concerned.
"Just my mom making sure I arrived in one piece." Ari replied with a hint of sarcasm. "No big deal. I'm used to it." The other two just nodded, but still the question of her family remained unanswered and Ari seemed happy to leave it unanswered, for she didn't answer it after the conversation with her mother.
"The less people know about me and my family, the better it is for everyone. There's less of a chance of someone getting hurt." Ari thought.
After a while, Adrian left and Jim and Ari were left, each trying to think of something to make a conversation. After a couple of minutes, Jim asked Ari if she had seen any of the grounds surrounding the Academy, which she hadn't.
So, the two decided to tour the Academy grounds. As Ari noticed before, Duel Academy Island was beautiful, but as she walked around the grounds, Duel Academy was becoming even more beautiful.
I know it's a short chapter, but I think it was time for another chapter. I'll pick up next time with some Jim and Ari getting to know each other! :) I hope everyone likes this chapter! A review would be appreciated; if there are any errors, let me know so I can make note of them.
I don't know when the next update will be, unfortunately. I don't have much time fore writing as I used to, but I'll try my best!:) Also, as I said in the beginning authors note, I'm re-planning things, so it will take a bit of time.:)
