Chronoa

D. Gray-Man

Chapter One

Revised

"Class, pay attention! We have two new students coming in today, so be on your best behavior!" Christine's teacher yelled, making her come out of the daze she was in and jerk her head to the front of the classroom. Her light brown, almost blonde hair that hung straight just beneath her shoulders followed the movement and landed haphazardly in her dull green eyes.

'Great,' she thought dejectedly, 'more people to hate me.'

"Class, please welcome Allen Walker and Yū Kanda. I expect you all to behave kindly," the teacher said, glaring around the room. His eyes rested on Christine for a moment, making her flinch back at the clear warning, before he moved to the door. When he opened it, two boys were standing there waiting with bored expressions.

The first one was considered a little short for a boy and wearing all black – black skinny jeans, black boots and a black zip-up hoodie that covered his hair; he was also wearing a black eye-patch that completely covered his left eye. He waved slightly, smiling, as he opened his eye to reveal it to be a shocking silver in color.

The other boy stood at least a head taller than him, and was dressed similarly in dark, straight-legged jeans that hugged his legs, black trainers, and a slim-fitting black leather jacket that was zipped half-way closed, exposing the dark blue t-shirt that had silver graphics on it. His hair, which was much longer than usual for a male, was pulled back into a neat ponytail with a few pieces falling to frame his face and cover his piercing, dark blue eyes.

"Please introduce yourselves." The teacher, whose name was Mr. Haknoys, smiled widely at the two. The boys grimaced slightly and stepped forward simultaneously.

"My name is Allen Walker," the shorter one told everybody. "It's a pleasure to meet you," he said, bowing slightly. He spoke with a slight British accent, making most of the girls in the class swoon. Christine wasn't paying attention though; she had started gazing out of the window again. Why should she pay attention to the new arrivals, anyway? It wasn't like she would interact with them.

"Che. Kanda," the Asian one said, glaring. Mr. Haknoys shrank back slightly from the intensity of the glare.

"Welcome," he said. "Please take an empty seat." He made a vague gesture towards the students before going to sit down at his desk in a corner of the room. The two new students look at one another briefly before moving as one to the mostly empty back of the classroom.

Christine watched the duo warily as they sat next to each other a row behind her. What they would do to her, she wondered. Everyone in her class seemed to think she was a stuck-up brat for some reason, without even bothering to try to talk to her. This made her wonder if the two new students would agree with them or not. Not that she would mind, per se; she added everything up to being a teenager, and in high school. As Mr. Haknoys started the lesson, the majority of the class drifted off into dreamland; it was only 7:00 AM after all.

When the bell rang, obnoxious as usual, there was a mad dash to gather everything up and rush out of the door. Sighing to herself, Christine slowly stood up and gathered her nondescript backpack up on her shoulders. As she made to shuffle out of the door, Mr. Haknoys called out to her.

"Ms. Nicholes, if you would come here for a moment," he said with a false grin covering his face. Sighing again, this time with apprehension, she walked quickly to his desk. "I've noticed that your work has been even more dismal than usual. I expect that you'll work harder from now on," he told her flatly. Christine nodded, looking down, and turned to walk away. Mr. Haknoys stood and stepped pass her swiftly, making her trip in the process.

"Oof," she grunted as she landed gracelessly on her hands and knees.

"Are you alright?" a soft, British-accented voice questioned. Looking up, she noticed the one called Allen Walker kneeling in front of her, holding out a hand. Kanda was standing, arms crossed, behind him.

"Mm-hm," she muttered, ignoring the proffered hand and climbing shakily to her feet. Situating her backpack correctly on her shoulders once again, she gave the two a weak smile before heading to her next class.

"That was fairly unusual, don't you agree, Kanda?" Allen asked his companion. Kanda shrugged.

"Che. Hell if I care; the teacher's a jackass," he muttered. Allen chuckled quietly.

"Yes, I suppose he is. We'd better head to our next class." He said as he headed out of the door, Kanda following silently behind him.

0-0-0

When lunch came, Christine was very relieved. Hurrying out of the classroom before the teacher could corner her, she made her way to the cafeteria. After sitting in her usual spot, at a small round table in a corner, she allowed herself to relax slightly. She pulled out the book she was currently reading and had just started getting into it when a commotion near the food line made her look up.

Allen and Kanda, accompanied by a third boy with flaming crimson hair, were arguing quite loudly.

"Shut up BaKanda! Like you don't need to eat!" Allen yelled at him. Apparently, Kanda had made some comment related to the vast amount of food that Allen was balancing in his hands. In response, Kanda simple tsked and motioned for him to find a seat. The trio wandered around the immensely crowded room before Allen pointed to the corner Christine sat.

"Hello, do you mind if we sit here?" Allen asked in his usual polite manner. She shrugged with indifference and gestured for them to take a seat. "I know you know who Kanda and I are, but this is our friend, Lavi," he introduced.

Lavi was tall, at least as tall as Kanda, and was dressed in fairly simple clothing. He was clothed in worn, faded blue jeans that fit his thin hips snugly, a fitted black t-shirt that was partially covered by the checkered zip-up hoodie he wore, and a pair of classic Chucks. His hair was what caught Christine's attention the most; it was a bright, crimson red that stuck up at an odd angle and was held in place by a black bandana. His eyes were also pretty unusual – he had one electric green eye, the other was covered in an eye patch similar to Allen's. He waved energetically at her.

"You don't talk much, do you?" he asked when she had nodded back at him in greeting. She shook her head with a slight smile.

"That's alright, neither does Kanda," Allen said with a grin.

"Che. Shut up, bean sprout," Kanda muttered menacingly. Said bean sprout just grinned at him.

"Anyways," Lavi interrupted the soon to be fight. "Did you already eat?" He asked her, shoveling a sporkfull of salad into his mouth. A frown marred his features when she shook her head.

"Why not?" Everyone at the table looked at Kanda in surprise, not expecting him to have even been paying attention to their conversation.

"No money," Christine said, her voice somewhat hoarse from continued disuse. The trio frowned, knowing what it was like, not being able to buy anything.

"We know how that is," Lavi said, shoveling even more food into his mouth. "Here, you can have some of mine." He slid his try closer to her.

"No, thank you." She said, shaking her head.

"C'mon, one bite won't hurt you," Allen joined in this time, holding a spork that had a heap of spaghetti on it in front of her mouth.

"You two need it more than I do," she argued, her voice cracking. They stared at her in disbelief. The plain clothes she wore hung off of her small frame loosely, making her seem much smaller than she really was. And she thought that they needed to eat more?

"Just eat it. They won't give up until you do," Kanda said in exasperation. He had finished his own lunch of noodles that he had brought from home, the chopsticks he had used resting neatly on top of the container.

"B-but…" While she was protesting, Allen shoved the spork into her mouth, forcing her to eat it, choking slightly.

"That wasn't so hard now, was it?" Lavi asked. He and Allen had seemingly innocent smiles plastered on their faces.

"S-sure," she choked out, still coughing slightly. When a flash of bright pink entered her peripheral vision, she jerked her head in that direction. The sight that greeted her was less than pleasant. The schools resident Queen Bee, Hailee Southside, was striding towards their table with her 'best friend', Kaylie Brown. Both were wearing way too much pink for anyone's tastes but their own.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" Hailee questioned sinisterly. "What are the new students doing hanging around with trash?" she asked, wide eyes giving off a sense of false innocence. Christine, still coughing every once in a while, looked down at the table with embarrassed eyes. She knew it wouldn't be long before the new kids turned against her also.

"I don't see any trash anywhere, actually," Allen said politely, smiling up at the two.

"Really now, cause I see a big pile of trash right there," Kaylie sneered, pointing at Christine. Lavi lost the usual grin that graced his face and instead a more feral type took over.

"Well all I see is our new friend, Christine, and I would appreciate it if you didn't insult her and left us alone," Lavi said with false merriment. The two pink-covered girls went wide-eyed with disbelief. It wasn't often that someone contradicted what they had to say.

"Excuse me?" Hailee asked, putting a hand on her hip.

"I believe you heard what he said quite clearly. Now please leave us to eat in peace." Allen said, his smile thinning dangerously. Kanda was glaring at the people who had dared to interrupt his meal time; not to mention the fact that the mass of bright color hurt his sensitive eyes.

Clearly shocked, the two spluttered for a witty response, but found that none came to mind. Christine was also in shock, but for the fact that, instead of agreeing with the majority and turning their backs on her, they had stuck up for her, even it if was just a miniscule amount. After seeing that they had clearly lost, the two girls gave one last malice-filled glare towards Christine before they marched back to their own table.

"Why…?" Christine muttered weakly, glancing up at the trip that had resumed eating.

"Because we're your friends," Lavi shrugged.

"Is that a normal occurrence?" Allen asked. Christine nodded meekly, making all three pairs of eyes darken.

"B-but, you don't have to worry about it! It's fine!" she quickly said, waving her hands in front of her.

"Obviously," Kanda said quietly, making the other's turn to look at him, "it is something to worry about, why do you not stand up for yourself? Che," he asked, folding his arms across his chest.

"W-well…I'm just so used to it by now…I guess I just kinda ignore it," she said, her voice cracking again at the end. Allen shook his head, adjusting the hood that still covered it.

"It's not right, Christine. Why don't you tell someone about it? I'm sure someone in this school could put a stop to it."

"Actually…" She trailed off as the bell rang, signaling the end of the lunch break. "Goodbye," She said, quickly gathering her bag and joined the hoard of students making their way to class. She was getting too attached already, and just because they had stood up for her one measly time. What would her mother think? Christine shuddered at the thought. Her mother could know nothing of her encounter with the new students. If she ever found out that someone, or in this particular case, some people, had actually stood up against the continuing onslaught against her daughter…Christine didn't even want to think about what she would do.

0-0-0

After suffering through three more classes, the last one which she had with Lavi, it was finally time for the school day to be over. Waiting until after the mass of talking students had hurried out of the classroom, Christine slowly gathered up her backpack and walked out of the classroom with Lavi at her side.

"So, what are you doing after school?" Lavi asked, folding his hands behind his head carelessly. She shrugged, flinching internally.

"Stuff," she muttered noncommittally . Lavi raised his one visible eyebrow in curiosity.

"Well, what kind of stuff?"

"Just stuff," she said softly, her voice still somewhat hoarse. "I have to clean, do homework, cook dinner, stuff like that."

"Aah, you gotta do all of that?" Lavi said as the two met up with Allen in the hall. "Where's Yū?"

"We're in different classes last hour, so I don't know," Allen shrugged. "Hey, Christine." He gave a little wave, smiling.

"H-hello Allen," she muttered, blushing slightly. She still wasn't used to people actually talking to her, let alone any sort of male her age. Especially one as cute as he was.

"Well, we're gonna go find Yū, so we'll see you tomorrow!" Lavi said, hugging her quickly before bouncing off. Allen grinned and waved before following after the eternally-excited redhead. Christine blushed a bright red and nodded.

"Later," She whispered, turning slowly to begin the hour long walk home. Dreading what she would find when she made it home, she quickened her pave to a swift walk, hoisting her heavy backpack higher on her back.

0-0-0

Arriving home an hour later, Christine sighed when she saw the lights on and the front door slightly ajar.

'So, she's home…' she thought, slowly heading up her driveway. Entering her house warily, she gazed around for her mother.

"So, you're finally home are you?" Whirling around, she spotted her hawk-like mother standing in the middle of the staircase. She nodded fearfully; her mother wasn't supposed to be home for at least another two hours. "Why are you home so late?" Her mother growled out, stomping down the stairs and forcefully grabbing Christine's arm.

"S-school," Christine stuttered out. Her mother's soulless eyes glared down at her.

"Humph. Get home quicker. Now, clean this mess up, you worthless brat," she sneered, throwing Christine's arm away from her. Christine nodded and hurriedly put her backpack down. Looking around at the extremely messy house, she sighed and got to work.

'This…is going to take a while.'

A/N: It's fully revised. R&R

-ZH