Chapter Eight- Good, Hard Look

Chazz typed on her computer the next day to learn more about Adrian, the Ojama Brothers hovering around her. Unlike her, Adrian was the eldest child and was such a dork it made her sick and want to duel him even more. He's nothing like Jesse who is so much like Jaden, it's remarkable. He's also a rather likeable guy.

I've heard that the foreign duelists must due at least once every week while they're here and I intend to be the first one to duel Adrian.

"You're mine, Gecko," she muttered as she scanned his dueling profile. She moved the cursor over the history link and clicked on it. A series of pop-up boxes with yellow triangles and a red exclamation point appeared. The message was clear: Access denied.

"No!" she exclaimed in anger. "No one denies The Chazz. I will uncover his history and I know who to ask." She grabbed her PDA and called her home number. She was soon in touch with her friend. "Franz, I have a favor to ask. I need you to look up the history of one Adrian Gecko. His family site and dueling profile has denied me access."

"Adrian Gecko," Franz murmured and Chazz could hear keys clacking in the background. "Gecko, Gecko…ah, here we are. Interesting. Well, Chazz, it says here that…"

Adopted? Chazz thought as she went through school. Adrian's adopted? So, he's not really a Gecko. He wasn't born into a rich family, like I was. Well, he's still a dork. Nothing's going to change that. I still want to duel him. She turned in her seat in her last class to look over to where Adrian was sitting. He seemed to be taking notes, but then he paused as if sensing he was being watched. He looked up and around before his eyes landed on Chazz. His eyes had a gentle look to them that contrasted with the smirk on his face.

That snob, she thought as she faced forward. Thinks he's better than everyone just because he happened to be adopted by a rich family. I'm proof that one does not need a rich family to be a good duelist. I earned the deck I have by proving my skills with a mix of random cards and later I beat Slade with a deck of monsters with 500 attack points or less. I got where I am on my own merits and I'll prove it by beating him.

"Chazz," Jaden said as class ended. "Hassleberry said he's gonna duel Jim. You wanna watch?"

"I was thinking of looking for Adrian," she answered.

"Too bad. Word is Jim duels with a fossil deck."

"Fossils versus dinosaurs. Interesting," Chazz said before giving a small smile. "On second thought, I'll watch. I can find Adrian later."

An hour later, Chazz was looking for Adrian having just seen in interesting due that Jim had won. Chazz chose to enlist her Ojamas to cover more ground. Yellow and Green came back from their searches having not seen the foreigner. Chazz combed the school with no success and had come out to consider her next place to look.

"Boss, I found him," Black said as he flew over.

"Where?" she demanded.

"Follow me," he said and floated off with Chazz behind him.

Chazz soon found herself at Zane's favorite spot with the subject of her search just a few feet away. The Ojamas vanished, leaving her free to approach Adrian alone. "Adrian," she called.

Adrian turned with that same expression from earlier still on his face. "Ah. Miss Chazz Princeton," he said a slightly mocking tone. "I did some research on you and learned you recently changed gender."

Chazz bristled as she folded her arms with a scowl. "I didn't volunteer to be female. I was perfectly happy with the way I was."

"I'm sure you were." He approached her and cupped her chin before tilting her head up. "Still, your gender presents an opportunity. Think, Chazz: We could join our families through marriage and you won't have to try to duel and be a pro."

She jerked away. "What do you mean 'try'?"

"Well, with your gender and dorm-,"

Chazz gave him a death glare that made him trail off. "How dare you," she snarled. "You think I'm weak just because I'm a girl and in Slifer?"

"I don't just think it, I know it," Adrian countered.

Chazz scowled again. "You arrogant snob. Girls can be strong duelists. I know one personally. I can prove to you that I'm not weak. Let's duel. Right here, right now."

Adrian smirked. "No, thanks." He walked away, calling over his shoulder, "I don't duel girls."

Chazz stared after him, hardly believing what she heard. He doesn't duel girls? Why the hell not? Does he truly believe that girl duelists are weak? I know that's not true. I've seen Alexis duel plenty of times. Her Cyber Angel deck is strong. It could have gotten her an A in our Ritual Monsters class.

She trudged back up to the island and heard the sounds of a duel. Curious, she joined the crowd that had formed and what she saw made her blood boil: Adrian was dueling and his opponent was an Obelisk girl! What the…? He just said he doesn't duel girls! The hypocrite! The duel ended in Adrian's victory and Chazz was about to approach Adrian and demand a duel when a hand landed on her shoulder. "Hold it, Chazz," came Alexis' voice. She steered the Slifer girl away from the scene.

"Alexis, what are you doing? That guy tells me he doesn't duel girls and then I find him dueling a girl," Chazz said when they were near the Ra campus.

"Chazz, I hate to tell you this, but Adrian doesn't want to duel you."

"And why is that?"

"Well, your dorm for one. Another is the rival between your two companies and finally…he hates you."

"Hates me?" Chazz repeated faintly.

"I saw him head toward Zane's spot earlier before you headed there. When Adrian returned, I saw him smirk and asked if he saw you. He said he did and said a lot of hurtful things about you. He said he had researched you and said that he was on your brothers' side in changing your gender. His words were that you were a failure to your family and that being a girl was a fitting punishment."

Chazz's cheeks burned with anger. "And because of all that, he hates me."

"I think he's most convinced about you being a failure. He bragged that he never let down his family."

Chazz's cheeks returned to normal and calmly said, "That's his opinion. Let me tell you something about him. I learned that he was adopted."

"He was? The poor guy. He was lucky to be adopted."

Lucky? Chazz thought. Well…I guess that it was lucky to be adopted; to be taken in by a family and raised in a loving environment. Chazz's own childhood memories flashed in her mind and came to a startling realization: Adrian wasn't a snob, she was.

I'm the arrogant, spoiled brat of a snob. I did fail and should pay for that failure. I'm a girl and should act like one. That is my punishment and I should fulfill it.

"Chazz?"

She came out of her thoughts to say, "Yes, he was lucky."

Alexis blinked at Chazz's soft tone. She had been under the impression that Chazz was trying to make Adrian's adoption sound like a bad thing, but now she sounded sympathetic like her. "You okay, Chazz?"

"Perfect," she said. "I need to go. Lots of studying to do." She turned and walked toward Slifer, tears burning her eyes before sliding down her cheeks. She had been humbled and was ready to be the girl she should have been the day she changed. Time to be in touch with my female side. No point in fighting it anymore.