Disclaimer: Digimon is Toei's.

Author's notes: Sorry for the delay and the unremarkable chapter! College apps and the related are driving me insane!

Summary: Yamato's in his senior year of high school. What is he doing in the junior girls-only class, home economics?

MANNERS MANNERS
—Chapter Four—

"Hi Yamato!" Mimi said cheerfully as he walked up the risers towards his seat.

He raised an eyebrow at her as he sat down. "Uh, hi?" 'Wonder what's got her so awfully perky this afternoon?'

"I like your necklace. Where'd you get it from?" She asked, smiling at him with her white white teeth, which made him think of a shark waiting to close its jaws around an unsuspecting seal.

"Uh birthday present."

"Cool! Was your birthday recently?"

"Uh no."

"So when's your birthday?"

"Do I need to tell you?" Yamato asked suspiciously. 'What the hell's she up to? Is she and her blonde sidekick planning something...'

"No but—"

"Then I'm not telling you." He stared at her. "God, what have you and blondie been smoking lately?"

Mimi's facial expression finally changed and a tic appeared at her forehead. "She has a name you know—"

"BLONDIE?" Hoshiko nearly shrieked, butting in. "Look at you, you insufferable prick! You're just as blonde as me!"

"Not personality wise," he shot back. "Last time I checked, my head wasn't filled with air."

"Are you calling me an airhead?" the other girl demanded. "Mimi, did you hear that? He called me an airhead!"

"She's right next to you, you don't need to yell, I'd like to keep my hearing for as long as possible," Yamato said blithely and ducked as Hoshiko threw a pen at him. "Hey, hey, stop throwing things! Jeez, how old are you, four?"

"Are you saying I'm immature?" Mimi screeched, her eyes alit with fire. The nerve of him! Here she was, trying to be nice to him, and this was how he repaid her? By suggesting she was a toddler with a penchant for throwing items? What a jerk!

"Good gods, I wasn't even talking to you!"

"What an insensitive prick you are!" Mimi snapped and then moved away from him. "Let's igore him. He's so stupid we'd become stupid too, sitting so close to him."

Yamato rolled his eyes. Girls. This was exactly why he didn't have a girlfriend and wasn't looking for one either. They were all whiny brats that mangled anything and everything, from language to a man's sleeve due to constant tugging and needling for new clothes. "That doesn't even make sense," he said. "Stupidity isn't contagious, first of all."

Hoshiko rolled her eyes. "Well your ego is."

"Holy... do you even know what you're saying?" Yamato asked in disbelief. "Seriously, listen to what's coming out of your mouth. Ego, for chrissakes... wow I can't believe this is the future generation... dumb as a brick and—" He would've gone on when he noticed Mimi growing considerably redder and wisely, shut his mouth.

"Future generation... dumb as a brick?" Mimi nearly screeched. "We're only a year younger than you, and we are NOT dumb as bricks! In fact, we happen to be on the dean's list, and we're in the top ten percent of our grade, so you better watch what you're saying! In fact, I think you're the one here who's dumb as a brick!"

He groaned. Why oh why did he have to sit next to two whiny girls who spouted nonsense from their lipstick-slathered mouths? "I quit."

"Good, because you wouldn't have had a chance otherwise," Hoshiko smirked.

"I don't need to drag myself down to the likes of you."

"Eat dirt, Yamato." She snapped.

"I agree. You need to be grounded, and what better way than eating dirt?" Mimi snipped and turned away.

'Someone remind me why I'm here again,' Yamato thought exhaustedly. 'Did I do something so wrong that this is my punishment?'

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Everyday was the same routine, or at least similar. Yamato, on his way to his seat, would exchange insults with Mimi and Hoshiko. The girl he once thought was nice, mature and heck, even a little sweet, turned out to be some vicious shrew who sank her claws into the closest poor fellow possible. Hoshiko, who he already thought was some typical ditz, only further cemented his belief that the next generation was totally screwed and wholly responsible for its own damnation. Although perhaps, generation was too much of a leap.

He sighed as Mrs. Sato returned the tests from the meal unit, and frowned at the 76 he received and the written reprimand from the teacher. Glancing over surreptitiously towards his hellish neighbors' desks, his jaw dropped when he noticed 100 on both Mimi's and Hoshiko's exams. How in the world... But of course. There could be only one explanation as to how and why. "Cheaters," he muttered under his breath.

And lo and behold, the two girls did not fail to disappoint. "Excuse me?" They said simultaneously as they whirled about to face him, each with the same horrified look and the slowed blinking of eyes. "What did you just say?" Same shrill voice, same flushed face, same clenched fists, same narrowed eyes.

'Yep, two peas in a pod alright,' he thought. "Nothing."

"You said something," Mimi accused.

"Actually I said 'nothing'," he grinned.

"Psh. We don't hear things!" Hoshiko said vehemently. "Did you call us.. cheaters?"

Yamato shrugged carelessly. Did they take everything coming out of his mouth so seriously? "Maybe I did, maybe I didn't. What's it to you?"

"You insulted us," the brunette pointed out, as if she was speaking to a young child. "You called us cheaters. Just because you did poorly on your test and we aced it doesn't mean we're cheaters. We studied our butts off, okay."

Hoshiko nodded. "Yeah, maybe you're just stupid, you know?" Seeing the look on his face, she continued cheerfully. "It's okay though. Not everyone can be smart, and you gotta balance the world with stupid people. Guess you're one of them, but don't feel too bad, I'm sure there's millions others just like you!"

Yamato could only bury his head in his hands, as the two girls burst into a fit of giggles and high-fived one another. 'Why me, why me?' He still wondered how the teacher could possibly not hear the girls' unbelievably loud laughter, and yet hear even the lowest of disgruntled comments that he made. Whatever. It didn't make a difference. So long as he passed the class, he was good to go.

That was what he kept on telling himself, everytime he got back something graded. He didn't understand why he was receiving mediocre marks, though he figured effort played a big role. He compared the two girls' homeworks to his, and shook his head. When it came to quality and quantity, the woman chose quantity. He wouldn't be surprised if Mimi's and Hoshiko's homeworks were drawn-out pieces of utter bullshit, and obviously Mrs. Sato lapped it all up, with comments like "Excellent work!" and "Wonderful ideas!" His, on the other hand, were short and to the point, earning remarks such as "Support your reasons" and "Did you do this last period?"

"Whatever," he muttered, as he shoved into his bag yet another C+ quiz. Hoshiko glanced over her shoulder and once again burst into a wave of titters. He glared irritably at her, and was rewarded with a casual wave of the hand. "Nosy brat," he bit out under his breath, loud enough so that she could hear.

Mimi slapped her pen down on the table. "What is your problem Ishida!" Yamato's head snapped up, and he was utterly shocked. Was she going to do what he thought she was going to do?

Mrs. Sato looked up. "What seems to be the matter Tachikawa?"

"Sato-sensei, Ishida is making foul comments about Yamada and I. Time and time again we have asked him to please refrain from making such crude comments and to keep them to himself, but he ignores us and continues to insult us." He stared at her, horrified and infuriated. She sat there primly, her hands clasped loosely together, the spitting image of perfection and goodness. No doubt she was playing up her little act. He couldn't help but grit his teeth and let loose a growl under his breath. This girl really did have issues.

The elderly woman strode over, her brown eyes gleaming with ferocity as they bore into his blue-green eyes. Yamato had to swallow down a lump in his throat. Mrs. Sato had the distinction of being the only woman ever who could stare down Yamato Ishida.

"Ishida, I do not understand you. You sit there, daydreaming all along, turn in awful homework, do poorly on the examinations, and now you insult these two young women?" She clucked her tongue. "See me after class." With that she returned to the front of the room, keeping a wary eye on the senior.

He could only groan as he put his head down on the desk.