Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ A Figure from the Past ❯ The New Kid ( Chapter 1 )

A Figure from the Past

Chapter 1: The New Kid

Heaven Sent Tenshi

 

Disclaimer: I have not and will not own the manga, or anime, Yu-Gi-Oh! (including rights related to it). The character, Lea, however, is my own creation. Theft or copy of this character and/or her story will lead to a serious butt-kicking.

 

 

Nothing stirred. Her blue eyes shifted back and forth. The unsettling quiet of the hallway almost spooked her. Her shoes tapped on the tile floor, her skirt swayed to and fro, and her nervous hands twisted the small slip of paper into a tiny tube. She slowly looked up at the door beside her. The number shining there was the same as the one on the paper. She checked again, just to be sure it was the right classroom. When she was satisfied, she reached out and pulled the door open, very slowly.

 

There were many desks in the room, all lined up in six neat rows. The students who occupied those desks were all bent over sheets of paper, their hands moving rapidly, their pens and pencils creating little etching sounds that seemed audible from three yards away. An air of anxiousness hung about the room, eyes shifted nervously, and all of the students agonized over remembering what was written upon their tests. No one spoke for fear of being accused of cheating, save two boys near the back of the room who whispered as quietly as they could. As the door creaked open, nearly every pair of eyes in the room rose to see who had entered the room. Each looked keen to know what name might be on that slip of paper, eager to leave the dead room. The teacher, sitting at a large desk on the other side of the room looked up from his paperwork. He evaluated her with his eyes for a moment as the girl made the long, uncomfortable walk toward him; all eyes were on her.

 

“Do you have a name for me?” the teacher asked, expecting this girl to be an aid from the office, coming to pull one of his students out of the class for one reason or another, just as the other students hoped for. Confused, the girl froze, watching the teacher intently.

 

“I…” She took two more steps forward with her hand outstretched, offering the teacher the paper. As he took it, the students began to murmur; the two boys in the back of the room went back to swapping answers while bugging another boy and girl beside them, attempting to actually pass this test.

 

“Ah, I see…” the teacher whispered. “They're taking a test at the moment. You may take the empty seat beside Mr. Wheeler.” One of the two boys who had taken to cheating looked up.

 

“Me?” he asked, his eyes widening with hope.

 

“No, Mr. Wheeler; it isn't an exit slip; she's a new student. Don't hurt her.”

 

Joey scoffed as he deflated. “Hurt her, where'd he get that idea…?”

 

The teacher scanned the paper again. “Your name is Lea…? Wait, there isn't a last name here…” He looked up at the brunette. Her whole body tensed as she shook her head. The teacher frowned. “You do have a last name, don't you?” he asked, jokingly. Again, the teen shook her head. The teacher's head recoiled as the girl quickly made her way down the isle and sunk into the desk beside Joey. She stared at the fake wood of the table-top and tried her best to block out the whispering around her. Yugi and Téa peered round Tristan to see this girl.

 

She sat with her head tilted down; she seemed confused and lost, and quite uncomfortable. Her hair was a golden brown and her eyes a deep blue; she had eyes one could easily get lost in. She wore the typical school uniform, though it was faded and old, and a bit tattered and torn. It looked as if it were nearly as old as she was. She also wore a bandana around her forehead; an odd accessory when paired with her earrings, choker and metal headband.

 

As the teacher regained his composure, he asked the students for quiet. Quickly, the muttering dissipated and silence filled the room again. Lea sat at her desk, unmoving and silent and waited with the class for the bell to ring. Time ticked by with a torturing slowness. Writing utensils etched away as Lea's eyes drifted in and out of focus. The tiny, darker lines blended with the lighter base of her desk, then back to their crisp designs, then back again. Her ears blocked out all but the etching and she focused only on her desk. The ticking of the nearby clock tolled in her mind, the low thud of each second sounding like a foghorn in her mind.

 

With tiny sighs, students began to finish their tests, pushing away the paper, throwing away the pencil, and burying their aching heads in the nook of their arms. Lea's eyes drifted into focus as they rose to see the backs of many heads. Her ears tuned into the whispering beside her. She needn't listen, though, to know that two of her new classmates were cheating on their tests. Her eyes slowly drifted over to Joey and Tristan. They seemed to be arguing over an answer. She waited, watching to see what would unfold. Finally, Joey turned to Téa, who had long finished, and asked her, outright, what the answer was. Hushed retorts lead the cheating pair down a dead-end road. They next turned to Yugi, but Téa saved him from saying anything. Lea smiled as she allowed a curtain of hair to hide her from their argument.

 

“Misters Wheeler, Taylor, and Moto, and Miss Gardner… do you mind informing the class about your little debate?” the teacher asked, without even looking up. The four students froze.

 

“Debate?” Téa asked, weakly, “What debate, Sir? H-heh….”

 

“Please stop your quarreling; else I fail all of your tests.” The four nodded as Lea suppressed a giggle, surprised to see that they had gotten away mostly unscathed. The teacher sighed. “Alright, students, please pass your tests to the front of your row.” Joey and Tristan scribbled their names on the little horizontal lines at the top of the tests before handing them to Yugi and Téa, respectively.

 

Mutters of, “How'd you do?”, “Did you get number thirty-seven?”, “Yeah, that one was hard!” broke out all over the room as the students began to regain life. Lea lowered her head again, hiding from the murmurings. She closed her ears to these sounds and stared intently at the desk.

 

She jumped when the bell rang. The teacher rose, bid the students a good lunch, bid Lea good luck and turned, with a suitcase full of tests, toward the door. The students around the new girl began to sift through book bags and backpacks, pulling out sack lunches or money with which to barter with other students. The aromas of lunch filled the small room. Lea's stomach churned as a tiny noise flittered from her thin body.

 

“Why wouldn't you tell us that answer, Téa?” Joey hissed as leaned back in his chair, tearing open a bag of chips. Lea listened in, having nothing better to do and no control over it anyway.

 

“Why else, Joey?” Téa replied, “Cheating is wrong, you should know that.”

 

“Yeah,” he continued, “But me and Tristan mighta failed that test!”

 

“You did tell us we need to get our grades up,” Tristan added.

 

“But not by cheating!” Téa retorted. She scoffed, muttering, “Stupid boys…”, then turned to her lunch. Lea stifled another giggle before turning to face the window beside her, hiding from the small noise she had made. Yugi looked back at her, smiled and turned to the others.

 

“I think she's been listening,” he whispered as the others turned to look at him, then over at the new girl.

 

“Yeah,” Tristan murmured, turning in as Téa did the same, “I've heard her laugh a couple times…”

 

“We should talk to her,” Téa added, “Y'know, be nice; she is new, we should make her feel welcome.” She looked at Joey. “You first, Joey, since you're the one staring at her.”

 

Joey blinked, looking back at his friends. Tristan grinned. “I wasn't starting at her,” Joey hissed. He had barely been paying attention and hadn't noticed that he was even watching her.

 

“But, Joey,” Yugi whispered, “she knows you best, the teacher introduced her to you.”

 

“She doesn't know any of us! Especially not me!”

 

“But you're sitting right there.” Tristan shoved Joey's arm lightly, as if nudging him forward to do something. Joey growled quietly. Another noise leaked from behind the curtain of hair. Yugi looked over in time to see Lea's right eye disappear behind the brown wall.

 

“I'll do it,” he whispered, standing up, and then walked around his row of desks and down the isle Lea had hurried down earlier last period. As he approached the desk beside Joey's, the new girl lifted her eyes to the spiky-haired teen. Her face had turned a deep red, flushed with embarrassment. “Hi,” he greeted.

 

“Uh… hi…” Lea replied, no sense of strength apparent in her voice.

 

“My name's Yugi Moto. You're new, right?”

 

“Heh… what on Earth gave you that idea…?” She lifted her head just enough for her hair to slide back into its normal position, the numerous pieces of chin-length hair once more framing her face. “My name is Lea… if you didn't hear the teacher before…”

 

“I'm Téa Gardner.”

 

“I'm Tristan Taylor.”

 

“And my name's Joey Wheeler.”

 

Lea looked over at the others. She nodded, placing names with faces. “Nice to meet you…”

 

“You can join us, if you'd like,” Téa invited, gesturing toward her friends.

 

“Thank-you, but,” Lea hesitated, “I… uh… I ate just before I got here…” Lea looked away, hiding from her embarrassment.

 

“That's ok,” Yugi interjected, “you don't have to eat if you don't want to, but, that doesn't mean you can't join us.” He smiled kindly. Lea lifted her eyes again. Slowly, her lips pulled back into a smile that matched his. She rose from her desk and walked with Yugi around the row and down the isle surrounded by the group of friends. Yugi sat at his desk in front of Joey and Lea sat in the desk in front of Téa and Tristan.

 

“So… what school did you transfer from?” Téa asked, smiling at Lea as well.

 

“Um…” Lea looked around, “I doubt you've heard of it… it's… way out of town… not a big reputation, either…” Her voice drifted away as she looked down at her scuffed shoes.

 

“What d'ya think so far?” Joey questioned, leaning inward toward the isle to see the girl.

 

“Of the school…?” She looked up. “It's alright… I've only been here… for a little over an hour.” The group nodded. “Plenty of nice people, though.” And simultaneously, they smiled.

 

“Do you have any hobbies?” Yugi asked, reaching down and opening his backpack. He slowly pulled out a deck of cards.

 

“You're asking if I play Duel Monsters, aren't you?” Yugi looked up, a bit confused. Lea pulled her book bag onto her lap and opened the clip. She pulled out a small deck and held them up for all to see.

 

“I'll duel you,” Joey cried immediately. He sounded eager to show her he was able to duel.

 

Lea smiled, nodding in acceptance of his challenge. “Alright, but, I have to warn you… I'm a bit rusty…” She rose to her feet, shuffling her cards as Yugi switched her seats so they would be able to play.

 

Joey sifted through his backpack, pulled out his deck, shuffled a few times, then placed them in front of Lea as she placed her stack in front of Joey. They cut their opponent's decks then passed them back.

 

Joey then announced, “Ladies first.”

 

“Thanks… but… you might regret it…” She drew her preliminary hand of five cards, Joey mimicking her action. “Two thousand life points, right?” Joey nodded and Lea looked down at her hand, her face blank. She pulled a card from her hand, placing it face-down in defense mode. She then pulled out three more and laid them behind the first. “Alright, go ahead.”

 

Joey frowned. She was planning something, but what it was was a mystery. He pondered for a moment, and then laid his Armored Lizard in defense mode on the field. Lea's face didn't move, but her hand did. Turning over the card behind her unknown monster, she put her Stop Defense card into play. Joey's mouth twitched as he slid his Lizard into attack mode. One side of Lea's lips moved upward. She reached forward a bit, turning over her Maho Vailo, and turned it upright. Téa smiled.

 

“Nice,” she murmured, “that didn't seem rusty. Maho Vailo has fifty attack points more than Armored Lizard.”

 

“I'm not done…” Lea muttered. She reached over to the other two cards that sat on either side of Stop Defense, revealing to the others a Black Pendant and a Malevolent Nuzzler. Joey furrowed his brows a moment, totaling up Lea's new attack points. “Maho Vailo has an attack value of 1550 points; Black Pendant adds 500 while Malevolent Nuzzler adds 700. That's 2750…” Joey's face melted into a look of shock, “but… thanks to Maho Vailo's special effect, I get 500 points for each of my equipped cards… I now have a grand total of 3750 attack points… more than enough to blow your Lizard and your life points away…” The group sat in stunned silence. “I win.” Lea smiled and extended her hand out to Joey to shake.

 

“A lucky play,” Joey remarked, taking her hand in his.

 

“Funny enough,” Lea replied, retracting her hand and collecting her cards, “that isn't the first time I've had an opening move like that.” She smiled and looked up from her book bag after hiding her cards within the black depths.

 

“Seems like you know the game,” Yugi mentioned, “How long have you played?”

 

“Not sure… I think it was just after it was released. Something about it… caught my attention…. I don't really know what it was… but I felt… like I had to play.” Lea shrugged. “I'm glad I started, though.” She smiled again.

 

“Yug's the best one here…” Joey complemented, “I doubt you'd've beat him if you'd played him.”

 

“With a hand like that,” Tristan began, “I dunno if anyone would have survived that…”

 

“Well, that'd depend on their opening move…” Téa corrected, “Joey just put down the wrong monster.”

 

“Hey,” interrupted Joey, “I didn't have much of a choice; I got a bad hand; she lucked out!”

 

“If you'd like to play again sometime, I'd be glad to give you a rematch.” Lea shrugged.

 

“Yeah… maybe tomorrow…”

 

“Tomorrow's Saturday, we won't be here then,” Lea informed him.

 

Yugi looked over. “And you guys were going to come over to the shop tomorrow, too, Joey; remember?”

 

Joey thought for a moment then smiled weakly. “Oh yeah, don't worry, Yug, I didn't forget.”

 

Lea looked away a moment, and Yugi noticed this. “You can come, too, Lea. My grandpa owns a card shop; you can update your deck if you'd like.”

 

“I'd love to come… but I doubt I could buy anything… I have a… tight budget.”

 

“That's ok,” Yugi chirped. “We can meet at your house tomorrow and then-”

 

“No,” Lea interrupted hastily, “no… uh, not my house… maybe somewhere else…. Y'know, scratch that… I'll find your grandfather's shop… I'm… good with maps.” She began to rub her arm so furiously that the group was afraid she would rub it off. Yugi nodded, confused, along with Tristan, Téa, and Joey. Nevertheless, he gave his newfound friend the directions to the shop just before the bell rang and the next period's teacher entered the room.