Friendships Meets His Match

By EntreriRose

She groaned softly, cursing the restricting skirt of her brand new school uniform. This had to be her hundredth transfer, but the was the penalty of being a "military kid." Squirming slightly in the uncomfortable clothing, the girl mounted the stairs of Odaiba High.

Others peered at her curiously, but thankfully no one asked any questions. She was grateful for the peace, she didn't need any other distractions as she struggled to remember the location of her first class. But, as if by cruel twist of fate, the bell rang before she could find her way.

"It's about time," a rather disgruntled woman of a teacher snorted when the girl finally slid in silently through the door.

"Terrible sorry ma'am," she whispered with a respectful bow of her head.

"Well then," the teacher continued, "class, this is Chigiri Maelyn. She just transferred here from America. Please try to make her feel welcome."

The room full of the blank faces of idle teenagers only murmured and muttered in reply before turning back to their own vapid conversations. Shaking her head, the teacher turned back to her new student.

"Maelyn, please take one of the empty desk between Yamato and Jun."

With another bow of her head, Maelyn started down the row, avoiding all the eyes that turned her way. Not wanting to seem a snob on her first impression, she smiled slightly to a few. Her smile increased tenfold as she reached her desk and met the gazes of three dumbfounded boys. A bit of pink touched her cheeks as two of them, a red head and a very handsome guy with equally wild hair, stuttered their greetings. The third, the Yamato the teacher had referred to, only blinked his deep blue eyes at her.

"Hello," Maelyn whispered, quickly taking her seat and turning away from the boys, especially the tall blond. She supposed the pink in her cheeks was now burning a bright red.

"Listen, sweetie." Maelyn nearly fell backwards in her chair as the large face with unkempt maroon hair pushed in close to hers.

"Yammy's my boyfriend. He loves me. So keep those eyes to yourself."

Maelyn glanced toward her left, where Yamato slammed his head repeatedly onto his desk and his two friends simply laughed at him. Then, her gaze returned to the obnoxious Jun.

"Got it. "Yammy's" yours." The girl backed away, thankfully taking the rank odor with her, and Maelyn set her head down with a sigh of relief.

�

"Wow, what a babe, huh? Taichi whispered to Yamato, running a hand up through his hair.

"Yeah . . . I guess she's ok," Yamato replied, still fighting the envy that his encounter with Sora had planted in him.

"Those things make her too top heavy," an unexpected voice added. "Not very aerodynamic if you ask me. But they look . . . well, prodigious."

The two young men turned to look at Izumi "Izzy" Koushiro, the quiet genius of their group of friends. Neither had expected him to even glance at a girl, much less make such a comment.

Izzy grinned sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head. "Well, I can admire the female anatomy, can't I?" He had blurted the statement out a bit louder than intended.

"Izumi Koushiro!" the teacher scolded. "I don't care what you are admiring. This is a history class, not a burlesque hall!"

"Sorry ma'am," Izzy said, frowning at the class' ensuing laughter.

"Good. Now Maelyn, perhaps you can tell me what you know about Columbus."

Yamato yawned, as he did in every class and only half listened to the new girl's soft-spoken answer.

"Umm . . ." she began timidly. "Christopher Columbus was commissioned by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain to a find a new, all water route to India. He supposedly discovered America, but he only really stepped on the islands of the Caribbean. The true credit for discovering America goes to the Norsemen centuries earlier."

"Is that all?" The teacher seemed far from impressed. "Can you tell me what he called the inhabitants that he found."

"The stories say he called the native peoples "Indians" because he thought he had reached India," she continued coyly. "Though I would give more credit to Columbus' intelligence. So actually, he called the people "In Dios" which is Latin for "People of God." It was later changed to the present pronunciation by lazy peasants, and, unfortunately, it stuck." Every jaw in the room dropped, even Izzy had to admit that he didn't know that little bit of trivia.

For the first time, Yamato turned to get a good look at the girl. Maelyn's face was flushed with embarrassment, her thick, shiny brown hair forming a curtain to hide her from view. She had high cheekbones, a tiny nose and large, expressive green eyes. Nothing short of beautiful, Yamato felt slight warmth creeping over him as he continued to look at the girl.

The bell rang, snapping Yamato out of his daze. He rushed out of the room, praying no one saw the redness of his face.

�

Finally, lunchtime, Maelyn thought. She didn't think that she could handle many blanker stares every time she said anything intelligent. And thankfully, she hadn't encountered the gorgeous Yamato and his obsessive stalker.

Now she was being pulled along by Sora, who had promised to show her the best spot for lunch and introduce her to the "gang." Sora seemed nice enough to Maelyn, a bit too perky and preppy, but at least she was going out of her way to be nice. Not to mention that Maelyn sorely needed a friend at that moment.

Two others, obviously freshmen, greeted them. One of them was a slight girl with light brown hair and the other was a lanky blue eyed blond wearing a khaki bucket cap. He reminded Maelyn oddly of Yamato.

"Hey guys! This is Maelyn," Sora beamed. "Maelyn, this is Hikari, Tai's little sister."

"Hi!" the girl's smile was brilliant. No wonder her name meant, "light."

"And this cutie," Sora continued, "is Takeru. We all call him T.K."

Maelyn simply smiled, nodding her greetings to them.

" . . . Sorry . . . I'm . . . late," another freshmen popped up, bent over and panting. He seemed almost identical to the Taichi in Maelyn's history class, only younger and his hair weighed down under a pair of ridiculous looking goggles. When he caught his breath, he came as close as possible to Maelyn, grinning stupidly. "Hiya! I'm Daisuke, soccer player extraordinare! And you . . . re real cute!" Everyone burst into laughter as Maelyn stared at him in confusion.

"You'll have to forgive Daisuke," yet another new voice said. "The only thing he is, is bonehead extraordinare." Maelyn looked over her shoulder at Tai for a moment, flashing a friendly smile.

"Yeah, he may be dumb, but he makes for a good punching bag."

Turning back around, she saw Daisuke struggle as Yamato held him in a half nelson and rubbed his fist down into his scalp. Maelyn also saw three other had joined them. Izzy, who she recognized, but the spectacled girl and the pale, raven-haired boy, she did not. Maelyn found she smiled nonetheless, especially as Daisuke continued to be tortured by the older boys.

"Hello," a timid voice said to her side. She glanced over to the pale face framed by chin length black hair. "I am Ichijouji Ken, he said, making a small bow at the waist. "And you are?"

"Chigiri Maelyn," she returned his formal politeness. A chuckle rose in her throat as she spotted the rouging of his cheeks.

After introductions and other idle banter, the small talk began.

"So . . . do you have any hobbies or anything?" Hikari asked.

"Well," Maelyn thought it well to measure her words. "I dance, play guitar and sing."

"And you're a genius babe that stole my heart . . ." Daisuke received several hearty slaps on the back of the head, which promptly shut him up.

"Really?" TK beamed. "You know, my bro here has a band. And it just so happens that they're looking for a new guitarist."

"You two are brothers?" she looked back and forth between TK and Yamato.

"Yeah, but we're separated," Yamato replied in his ever ambivalent tone. "And we don't do any acoustic sets."

"Acoustics?" Maelyn furrowed her brow in confusion

"We're a rock band, not a touchy-feely, feminine folk set."

"Is that so?" Maelyn rose to her feet, hands planted firmly on her hips. "You think that just because I act a little bit shy, am quiet and, above all else, am a girl, that I can't play? That I enjoy the crap Jewel puts out?"

"Umm, don't you?"

Yamato winced as her open hand connected with his jaw. It stung like hell, and when he opened his eyes Yamato saw Maelyn storming a3way, several of the others rushing after her.

�

She was fuming for the rest of the afternoon. A folk singer; Maelyn had never been so insulted in all her life. But she would show him, she would go to that audition and blow the competition away. After a short detour home for more comfortable clothes consisting of her fuschia blouse and jeans shorts, Maelyn returned to the school auditorium with her trusty guitar. She waited patiently as the other hopefuls stumbled through simple chords and were easily dismissed.

"That's all of them," Yamato sighed. "We're never gonna find a replacement . . ."

"Wait!" Maelyn called from the back row of seats. "I haven't had my audition yet."

The other band members looked at one another, nodding and snickering among themselves. Yamato simply sat, refusing to acknowledge her.

Taking a moment to properly tune her instrument, Maelyn strummed a single, dissonant note. Smiling while those present began to frown, she began to pound out the beginning of "Purple Haze," not a single not being overlooked.

"No?" Maelyn said to the dropped jaws and retuning the faded red guitar. "Something from a later period, perhaps?"

The most heavenly sound poured from her skilled fingers as she caressed the strings through the opening of "Stairway to Heaven." She began to sing her voice on perfect pitch, in perfect English. It went on for nearly five minutes, the softness of the music locking the boys into a spell of sorts. It was exactly what Maelyn wanted, when she suddenly changed tempo, key and style all together. She slammed harder on the strings, pumping out strong, urgent notes that seemed to blur together in perfect harmony.

None of the four band members could see how her fingers could work her guitar so furiously while she continued to sing in perfect time. Each found their eyes closed as the last notes slowly faded into blissful silence, like the last remnants of a sweet kiss.

They all grinned at Yamato as they hurried out, making their selection to which they wanted as the newest member clear. Now it was up to him.

"So," Maelyn said rather haughtily, "whose the folk singer now?"

Yamato's blue eyes narrowed. Would she never get over that? He sighed, moving up beside her on the stage.

"Well? Am I in or not? Everyone else liked what I have to offer."

The tall young man was just about to speak, searching for some reason to deny her, when they were both blinded by an intense glow. The Crest of Faith raised slowly out of its place in the pocket of Yamato's uniform jacket to land in the palm of Maelyn's hand.

"Not her, anyone but her," Yamato groaned as he face the confused look of the newest Digidestined.