Of Heart and Spirit

Chapter 2 - New Girl in School

Joey sighed as he leaned back in his chair. Serenity's friend had said she'd be here the first day of the school week, but she hasn't been here the last two. This of course didn't mean she'd left a bad impression on the others already, but it did have him worried, what if something happened? If she didn't show up today he planned to call his sister after school.

"Hey Joey, is that new friend of yours coming to school today?" Tea asked as she took the seat next to him. Joey just shrugged his shoulders as he sat forward in the desk. "I'm not sure, we didn't exactly exchange numbers before we left the hospital, so I haven't heard from her since." he said as he turned to face his friends. "Hopefully nothing bad happened." Yugi said as he sat in the desk in front of Joey. "Yeah, me too. She's a good friend of Serenity's, so I'd hate it if anything happened to her. Serenity would feel terrible." he said as he leaned his chin on his hand.

They all grew quiet as they turned to face the teacher as classes started for the day. Loud foot steps suddenly could be heard from the hallway before the door was forced open. "I'm sorry I'm late!" a voice yelled from the door. Everyone turned to face the new comer, causing the girl's face to turn a bright red. "Sorry, I guess I didn't need to yell." she said sheepishly as she scratched the back of her neck.

The teacher perked up with a small smile as he motioned for her to move to stand in front of the rest of the class. "That's alright young lady, we hadn't started just yet. I'm glad to see you were able to make it today. Class, this a new student, (Y/n) (L/n). Treat her well everyone." the teacher introduced her. She turned to face everyone with a small smile before giving a bow. "It's nice to meet all of you."

Joey smiled wide as he gave her a subtle wave. She smiled and waved back at him. "Well, since you already seem to know Wheeler, why don't you go sit next to him, in the desk behind Ms. Gardner." the teacher stated. With a small nod, the girl moved to take a seat in the desk next to Joey. "Glad to see you finally showed up." Joey whispered, leaning towards her. "Sorry, I'll explain at lunch." she whispered back sheepishly. Joey nodded his head before turning his attention back to the teacher, who had started the first lesson.

~Later~
The group met had decided to meet up on the roof to enjoy their lunch period. Joey was the only one who hadn't shown up yet because he had volunteered to show the new girl to the cafeteria. "What do you think she's like guys?" Tea asked as she started to unpack her lunch. "Well, Joey said Serenity compared the two of them." Tristan said with a shrug before taking a sip of his soda. "Maybe she's an air head like him." Tea grumbled as she flicked his forehead. "That's not nice Tristan, Serenity thinks only the best of Joey, so this girl is also probably great to her too." Tea reminded him. Yugi chuckled as he watched them. "Well, if she is like Joey, then there'll be no problem in us getting along."

The door to the roof suddenly opened and two people walked out. "Hey guys! Sorry it took us so long!" Joey said as he walked over to the group, the new girl following behind him. The two sat down next to each other and opened their bento boxes. "They didn't have a whole lot of choices left and the line was super long." Joey explained as he opened the school provided lunch. "Yeah, sorry, its also kinda my fault. I've got food allergies to worry about, so Joey had to explain what was in each package for me." (Y/n) explained sheepishly as she started to open her bento box. "Don't worry about it, that's totally not your fault at all." Yugi said with a small smile. "I'm Yugi, by the way. Joey told us about you and how your friends with his sister." Yugi said as he held his hand out to her. She smiled sweetly at him as she took his hand and gave shook it. "Joey didn't tell me much about you all, but he said we'd get along just fine. I'm glad to see he was right so far." 

Tea smiled as she scooched closer to the new girl. "I'm just glad to finally have another female friend at this school! I'm Tea." she said as she offered her an unopened can of soda. "I noticed you didn't have a drink, so you can have this." (Y/n) smiled wide as she accepted the soda. "Thanks Tea! That's really nice of you!" she opened the can and took a small sip. "This is actually pretty good!"

The (h/c) haired girl blinked as someone suddenly swiped one of her rice balls. "If you're anything like Joey, of course we'd get along." Tristan said as he took a bite out of the stolen food. "I'm Tristan by the way." he said with a smile. Joey's eye twitched before his arm shot out and grabbed Tristan in a head lock. "Hey jerk, don't go stealing her food you moocher!" Joey exclaimed as he rubbed the knuckles of his fist into the top of Tristan's head. "Ouch! Okay, I'm sorry (Y/n)!" Tristan exclaimed as he tried to get out of Joey's head lock.

He sighed as Joey finally let him go. "It's okay Tristan, I'm at least glad you're comfortable enough around me." she said with a sweet smile. Tristan's shoulders relaxed as he smiled at her, maybe she wasn't like Joey after all. Suddenly, she reached out and grabbed his ear, pulling his head down, pinching his ear hard. "But if you ever steal my food again, we're gonna have some problems!" she exclaimed as she continued to pull on his ear. "Ow! Ow! Ow! Okay, okay! I'm sorry, please forgive me!" Tristan shouted as tears started to form in his eyes. Tea, Joey, and Yugi all laughed as the new girl released Tristan's ear, causing him to cradle it with one of his hands. "Well, you and Joey do seem to have one thing in common. I'll try to remember not to steal food from you again." he whimpered. The girl hummed in satisfaction as she started to dig into her food. "That's right."

Joey kept laughing as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders, pulling her to his side. "See, I knew we'd all get along!" he said. (Y/n) smiled up at him as she leaned her head on his shoulder. "I glad you were right!" They all started to laugh again in the comfortable vibe that had settled around them. As they all went back to eating their food, a small smile stuck on (Y/n)'s face. She feared going to a new school because she'd be leaving her only friend Serenity. But because of Serenity, it looked like she had gained four more friends. She hummed softly to herself as she finished her food and listened in to the others conversations. She didn't feel comfortable enough to join in, but she knew she was welcomed to if she wanted to pipe in. For now, she was content just listening and getting to know her new friends.