A/N: OK, here's another short story -- and I mean ULTRA short! It's only four chapters long and this one is pathetically short. It's just a brief intro but not totally insignificant. It is, in fact, the shortest thing I've EVER written.... I'm starting to get a little scared, it seems my stories are getting shorter and shorter T_T .
Anyway, this is just a story I've been thinking about for a while and I wanted to write it down. Plus, I've wanted to do a Jim story for a long time now but haven't thought of anything very good until this. It'll probably be a lot like the Syrus story (in length and general idea I mean.) Anyway, hope you like it.
Disclaimer: I do not own YuGiOh GX or any of the characters.
Jodi Abbott took a deep breath as she breathed in the salty air around her. It was a relief to be here at Duel academy at last and looking out over the vast ocean made her feel like she was worlds away from the one she left behind. Yes, things were definitely going to be better here, she'd make sure of it.
The raven-haired girl sat down at the cliffs outside the Slifer dorms and dangled her feet over the edge. She'd dubbed this the most peaceful spot she could find and decided to sit here and eat her lunch while she studied her new deck. She'd only had a chance to have a few minor battles with the deck and was still getting used to it.
After a long time, feeling that she'd memorized ever word, every line and every image on every card, Jodi reached down to pick up the rest of her BLT when she felt something hard and rough. Looking down at her hand in confusion with furrowed brows, Jodi blinked a few times at the thing under her fingers. Once she'd established that she wasn't seeing or feeling things, Jodi screamed in fright and jumped up and away from the spot. Upon doing so, the girl managed to bump into something else, making her scream again. Once she'd turned around and discovered she'd bumped into a boy -- a rather attractive boy -- she jumped behind him and peered around his frame to the edge of the cliffs.
To her utter shock and amazement, the boy laughed and approached the cliff. Jodi's eyes widened in horror as she stuttered to form a coherent sentence.
"Ah! Wh-what are you doing! Don't touch it, it might eat you!!"
The boy stopped by the cliff and bent down to touch the thing that had startled Jodi so much just previously. He turned to her with a smile as the thing -- which just so happened to be a real, live crocodile -- closed it's eyes while he petted it.
"No need to be afraid Sheila." The boy said with a laugh. "This here is Shirley, she's as harmless as a pussy cat -- most of the time."
Jodi blinked at the two in disbelief. When she was finally over her shock and surprise, Jodi laughed.
"OK, so he has a pet crocodile. I can tell I'm going to like it here."
The boy laughed again and watched Jodi approach him and the croc.
"She's not really a pet." He said with a smile. "She's more of a ..... companion."
Jodi nodded and knelt down beside the two as she hesitantly reached out a hand.
"Is it OK?" Jodi questioned cautiously.
"Dunno. If she doesn't want you to, you'll know."
Jodi turned back to Shirley and cautiously reached down to pet her. The croc watched Jodi carefully but didn't move and even closed her eyes when Jodi's hand gently stroked her head. The boy looked up at Jodi with a smile.
"There, ya see. Nothin' to be afraid of. Name's Jim by the way. Jim Cook."
Jodi shook Jim's outstretched hand with a smile.
"Jodi Abbott, nice to meet you." Looking down at the croc, Jodi laughed and added "Nice to meet you too Shirley. Hope you liked my lunch!"
Jim laughed and scratched behind his head sheepishly as he got to his feet.
"Right. Sorry about that mate, Shirley here never did have good manners when it came to her appetite. How about I buy you a new lunch?"
Jodi laughed and stood as well.
"It's alright. I think Shirley scared away any appetite I had anyway."
Jim smiled at her, but before he could say anything more someones voice sounded behind the two.
"Hey Jim, who's your friend?"
The two turned to see a brunette Slifer student walking towards them. Jim smiled and gestured to Jodi.
"Hello there Jaden. This is Jodi. Jodi, this here's Jaden Yuki."
Jaden beamed and reached out to shake Jodi's hand.
"Hey! Nice to meet you. You must be new here huh?"
Jodi nodded.
"I transferred in this weekend. Nice to meet you too by the way."
"I guess you haven't really met many people yet then am I right?"
Jodi nodded.
"You guys are the first ones actually. I've been around some parts of the school but I haven't seen it all."
Jaden beamed again.
"Cool! Then how about I introduce you to some people and we'll show you around!"
Again Jodi smiled and nodded.
"Sounds good." She said honestly. It would be nice to know some people before classes started up. At least then she might not feel so awkward when she was introduced as 'the new girl'.
"Alright!" Jaden said enthusiastically. "This is Jesse Anderson, Syrus Truesdale, Alexis Rhodes, Chazz Princeton, Blair Flannigan and Tyranno Hassleberry.... But we all call him Hassleberry."
Jodi smiled and returned their gestures as each person either extended their hand to her, gave her a small greeting, or -- in Chazz's case -- merely nodded his head in acknowledgement.
"t's nice to meet you all." Jodi said with a smile. "And it's nice to know I won't be going into strange territory alone."
The others laughed at Jodi's playful comment and Jim placed a hand on her shoulder.
"No worries mate, you won't be alone."
With another grateful smile, Jodi followed the others as they proceeded to give her a proper tour and make her feel more at home.
"Now this is what I've been waiting for." Jodi thought happily. "Finally, something to over-shadow my past. My patience paid off... I deserve this."
A/N: Yea yea, I know. The things she says/thinks are a little setchy, but I promise it's not another one of those pathetically cliche stories where the past is all angsty and terrible and the love interest helps her to live life to it's fullest again and blah, blah, blah. She does have something suckish to leave behind but it's nothing overly out-of-the-ordinary, something a lot of people do and/or would leave behind if given the choice.