Chapter Three
The Meeting
After my run-in with Queeny McB*tchface and her two jesters I go back to my previous task of looking for the school. As I am traveling, I spot a river crossing near an old condemned factory that sits in the middle of the river. "I think this is the River Seinne." I say to myself trying to remember the little map in the guidebook. "Yes, I remember now, this factory used to manufacture cars, Renault, if I'm not mistaken." As I cross the river I see the huge letters on the front of the building."Yep, that's it alright. I must be close."
Just then I see a group of 5 kids emerge from the factory doors. They look like they are all the same age as that bitch and her cronies. Maybe they're a nicer bunch than that other ones, but what are they doing in an old condemned factory? None of my business. I just need to find this school, I'm already late for a meeting with this Delmas guy. I'll ask those kids if they can point me in the right direction. I hope that they can understand me with my accent. They moved off the bridge of the factory onto the sidewalk. I slowly drive up to them. It seems that no matter how obnoxious your vehicle is, as long as you keep it under 5 miles an hour nobody notices you. I pull up along side the group of five and shut my engine off. Apparently noticing the lack of background noise they stop and turn toward me.
"Can I help you?" says the tallest member of the group. She is of Asian descent. Probably Japanese. She is dressed in a black long sleeve shirt that is just a little too long to be a belly shirt but too short to be a regular shirt, black pants, black platform boots and has straight black hair.
"Yes, actually I am looking for Kadic academy." I say as I analyze the rest of the group. Wait, there's only four now. what happened to the other one? A streak of purple and yellow flies by my peripheral vision and half a second later a grinning face is less than a foot from mine. "Ahh!" I fall backwards into the seat.
"We can help." says the face that just scared the bejeebers out of me. "We go to school there."
A blond boy with glasses and a blue turtle neck accompanied by tan khakis speaks up with no introduction. "Thats an American truck. Judging by your facial hair, I'd say your in your late teens and the bags in the back of the truck mean you are moving somewhere. You speak with a New England accent and your looking for our school. You must be the new student. Welcome." he said all this as if he knew it all along. As if he was Sherlock and I was Watson.
"You'll have to excuse Jeremie, hes been having a bad day." Says the pretty girl with pink hair.
"That's all right it just kind of surprised me is all." I turn back to Jeremie "You're a lot smarter than I pegged you for. Ok, pop quiz hotshot. What's my name?"
"Roger Edwin Costa the second"
"No way. How?"
"Odd stole your passport."
"What did?"
"Odd"
"Whats odd?"
The blond haired one who scared me popped up "I am."
"You're odd?"
"Yep thats my name,"
"What is?"
"my name is Odd."
"Can't be that bad."
"No thats actually my name."
"What is?"
"No,no, my full name is Odd Della-Robia."
"Oh, I get it now. My B."
"Here ya go." he said and handed me back my passport.
I accept it with a question "How did you get this out of my locked Glove box?"
"I'm pretty handy with a paper clip," he says and winks.
"Ok." I take a moment to look at him now. "You're kinda scrawny ain't ya? even for your age."
"I'm not scrawny, I'm Svelte," he says. He is dressed from head to toe in purple with gold-yellow colored shoes and a belt to match his hair which has a small purple spot in the front of the gravity defying do.
"Nice style, I can see why they call you Odd"
"Thanks! I like it it too, and I like your truck." he goes off to inspect it.
"Don't worry, he's a little crazy, but he's got a good heart," says the pink haired girl.
"Well, stealing someone's passport isn't exactly the best first impression you can make," I respond
Odd pops out of nowhere again, "Hey I'm sorry dude. I shouldn't have taken it."
Jeremie speaks up again. "Umm... actually thats my fault, I told him to take it. I wasn't sure if we could trust you."
"All right, I understand, kinda, sorta not really" I shrug, "but after that encounter I had with 'Bitchzilla' back there, I'm really not in the trusting mood either."
"You met Sissi?"
"Thats her name? Well she can certainly turn your mood sour quickly. And those two she had following her were real pieces of work too. That Herb kid tried to kick my truck, but I scared the crap out of him."
"How'd you do that?"
"I revved my engine."
"That must have been the noise we heard."
"Yeah, it probably was. You heard it way the hell over here?"
"Yeah, that was loud."
"Thats the advantage of making your own exhaust system. I also have a sweet Air horn up top and the Dukes of Hazzard horn under the hood. So whose the rest of the group. I've only got Jeremie and Odd." gesturing towards each in turn. "Wait let me guess. Yumi right?" I ask pointing to the Japanese girl.
"How did you know that?" she asks astounded.
"My amazing powers of intuition." I say. "Also your math homework is sticking out of your pocket." At this, everyone cracks up. Even the one dressed all in green with brown hair who has not said a word the whole time. "So lets get the formal introduction out of the way. I'm Roger Costa. My friends call me Rudger or Rud for short. I moved here from Rhode Island in the States. I decided that I put too much work into my truck to give it up so I brought it with me. I am going to attend your school because the education standards in Europe far exceed standards in the states. I was a junior in high school, but I got bumped back to the 8th grade over here. That's about it." I extend my hand in a friendly manner.
"Odd Della-Robia, Resident weirdo and class clown." says the purple clad kid nearly shaking my hand off.
"Yumi Ishiyama" She says, with a smile and a firm handshake. The one dressed in green comes up but doesn't shake my hand "Ulrich Stern."
"Hey, he speaks. Can he do anything else?" I say jokingly, Odd laughed but the others seemed a little nervous.
"Sorry, I don't trust strangers as easy as everyone else."
"Well I'm Roger and you're Ulrich. There, now were not strangers."
"Ha, I guess you're right." he says and grasps my hand "Nice to meet you, Rud."
"Likewise."
Next came Jeremie. "Jeremie Belpois, Resident nerd and computer guy."
The last one to shake my hand was the pink haired girl. "Aelita Stones. Like the rock group. I'm Odd's cousin." she says and shakes my hand. She was dressed in a pink dress-type-thing with pink boots.
"Lovely name."
"Thank you." she says and blushes.
"Well that's everyone." I say when suddenly a muffled sound comes from the gym bag in the passengers seat. Odd notices and looks at me. "Odd, can you keep a secret?"
"Sure whats up?"
I turn towards the passengers seat and bring back a football sized fluffball in my arms.
"What is that?" asks Yumi.
"Its my dog, Tommy."
Jeremie says, "Ya know Rud, your dog, looks really dumb."
"Don’t say that. He’s very sensitive and he can get real mean," I say and hold him out towards Jeremie.
"Oh yeah, really?" he says and backs away nervously.
"Nooo" I say and give a goofy grin. Ulrich puts his face in his palm and shakes his head. We all share a laugh and then Odd nearly knocks Jeremie over to get to see Tommy up close."Wow! He's cool. What is he?"
"He’s a shitzu and he’s blind in one eye. But I don't think dogs are allowed in the dorms, so please don't tell anyone."
"We won’t. I’ve got a dog too. His name is Kiwi. I bet they'll get along great."
"I’m sure they will. Lets get back on topic shall we? How do I get to the school?"
"We’ll show you if you give us a ride."
"I’ve only got one open seat."
"No problem" says Ulrich as they climb into my truck bed. Aelita sits in the cab to give me directions. I hear a thump and suddenly see yellow shoes in front of my windshield.
"Nice seat Odd!" I yell up to him "Hold on!" I start the engine, shift into drive and take off so hard that Odd falls back into the bed with an "oof."
"I told you to hold on," I go back to driving normally, Aelita gives me directions and soon we arrive at the front gates. They get out of the bed and Odd says "We gotta go, but thanks for the lift."
"No prob, thanks for the directions," they wave and head off towards what looks like the dorm rooms. I find a parking spot and think about the days events as I start to unload. Nice kids. 4 seconds and I've already got 5 friends. That's a lot better than back home. No, not back home. This is my home now, France, Kadic academy. Oh well, gotta unpack. As I am unloading I get the feeling of being watched. I turn swiftly to see whose there only to find the tree I parked near. I stare at it, daring it to move. Suddenly, a shadow moves from under the tree on its own and disappears into the shadows of the building. I blink rapidly, like the action will suddenly clear my vision and reveal a squirrel or something. Nothing. Better stay off the late night movies and caffeine drinks. As I continue to move my luggage to the pavement, a shadow looms over me. I drop my bag, turn and kick hard towards the head. Before I even complete the action I realize that it is actually a large muscular man in a jogging suit. I can't stop my kick in time and he catches it in the side of the head sending him to the ground.
"Ah jeez kid what'd ya do that for I was only going to help with the luggage!" he says still laying on the ground.
"I'm not buying it, Who are you, why were you following me, why are you wearing that bandage?" I demand and put my boot on his throat.
"I’m James Morales, but you can call me Jim. I’m the phys.ed. teacher here at the academy. Ya know, you should think about joining a sparring class or something. You're pretty good," he says with a smile, and as he says this, I can't help but wonder why he is smiling when he is in this position. Before I can render a thought he grabs the leg on his throat and uses it as a holding point to whip his body around and try to take out my standing leg. I jump over his attack, but that is just what he was looking for. He turns the leg he is holding while I'm up in the air and sends me into a barrel roll. I land on my right foot, and without missing a beat I whip around with my left expecting to catch him in the side of the head as he is getting up. Instead I find my leg in his grasp again and him standing in front of me. I can't pull my leg out of his iron grip. "That enough of that for now. Fighting is strictly prohibited on school grounds. I should report you to the principal, but since your not technically a student yet, I guess I cant." he says and releases my leg.
"Right, Well thanks" I say and brush myself off, "So Jim, where did you learn those moves?"
"I picked up some martial arts skill when I was a soldier in china, but I'd rather not talk about it. The principal, Mr. Delmas is waiting for you in his office. You’ll find it easily. I’ll take these things to your room for you, here's your key. You're gonna have a room mate and we don't have a bed set up for you so you have to sleep on the floor tonight. we will have it set up tomorrow."
"Don’t bother, I already got one."
"Alright your choice."
"I’ll go see Mr. Delmas then. Thanks Jim. and good fight." I hold my hand out to him and he shakes it. As I walk away I remember Tommy and go back and grab the bag he is in. "I’ll keep this with me. Very fragile." I walk towards the administration building and enter my new life.
