“Be more careful?” Wizardmon asked, raising an eyebrow in jest.  Carey nearly spat out the coke she was drinking.

“Okay,” she confessed, laughing, “so it was cheesy and cliché…but only a little…”

Wizardmon shook his head and returned to reading the newspaper.

“Sure thing…” he mumbled.  Carey sighed and leaned out the window.  The busy streets of Odaiba bustled with early morning activity.  The sun was just peering out over the mountaintops, but already life was breathed into the lively city within a city.

Odaiba was huge; she could barely believe it was only a small district in the heart of Tokyo.  She looked out at the beach.

“Beautiful…” she murmured.

“Hmn?” Wizardmon queried, poking his witch-hat head over the newspaper.  Carey blushed.

“Oh nothing,” she said with a slight pause, “nothing at all.”

She smiled and started to think of other beautiful things, like the boy she had saved last night.  Was THAT Yamato?  He was even more handsome in the flesh than he was in pictures.  A pity angel laws had to be so confining, she liked this assignment.

“Don’t you have school?” Wizardmon looked at her, raising an eyebrow.  Carey immediately ceased her musing.  OH CRAP!

She flew to the dilapidated chair in their dilapidated, abandoned greenhouse of an apartment.

“I’m going to be late,” she groaned, “FIRST DAY!”

Wizardmon tossed aside the paper and stretched.

“I’ll follow you in invisible mode,” he said with a smirk barely visible over his collar, “so I can watch you in action.”

Carey rolled her eyes.

“You make it sound like a video game,” she scoffed, stuffing papers and books in her backpack, “this is serious business!”

“Oh of course,” Wizardmon sneered, “I fight while you drool over the cute blonde.  Some partnership.”

Carey shot him a glare over her shoulder and ran out the door, Wizardmon following close behind and vanishing as he passed through the arch of the door.

 

Impatiently, Carey slapped the measurements down on the table, causing the secretary to jump.

“Excuse me,” she said with a wide, breathless grin, “do you have a uniform in this size?”

The secretary peered at the paper, her glasses magnifying her glasses to a most ridiculous of sizes. 

“I’ll check,” the secretary murmured, “but we’ve had a lot of new students your size, enrolling in grade 9 this year, so I can’t guarantee anything…”

Carey blushed.  How embarrassing that she was enrolling in grade 10.  The secretary disappeared into a room in the back of the office.  As soon as the secretary was out of sight, the chair where she had been sitting started to spin around and around quickly.  Ghost-like laughter rang through Carey’s ears, and she rolled her eyes.

“Mature…” she said snidely to the ghostly Wizardmon.

The secretary emerged from the room.

“I’m sorry,” she said, “but we don’t have your size!”

Carey’s heart sank.  Wait a second…magic!

“Can you check again?” she asked.  The secretary was about to object, when Carey sent a thought to her mind.

~Might as well…~ she thought.

The secretary shrugged and disappeared back into the room.  Carey shut her eyes tight, and snapped her fingers.  Sure enough, a minute later, the secretary returned.

“Here’s one I must have overlooked!” she said with a smile, “the last one!  Lucky you!”

Carey smiled and took the uniform.

“And can I have my schedule, please?” she requested, handing a slip with her name on it to the small woman.

The secretary took the slip, entered the fragment of data, and printed out a schedule.  She peered at the name a little closer.

“There you are, Miss…Acquiesce,” she said with a kind smile, “have a nice day, and welcome to Odaiba Secondary!”

Carey smiled and left the office, her invisible Wizard friend following suit.

 

“How long can it take to change into a school uniform?” the now materialized Wizardmon asked impatiently.  He heard a helpless whimper from inside the stall.

“I don’t know…” she murmured, “there are so many clasps and buttons, I don’t know where to begin!!!”

Wizardmon sighed and floated a bit.

“Need any help?” he asked.

“NO!” Carey barked, “I’m fine…”

She then set to the daunting task of inserting eyelet after eyelet, clasping that God-forsaken skirt, pulling on her shirt, buttoning up her vest, and pulling on her knee-highs.

“Okay,” she said with a heavy, heaved sigh, “I’m done.  FINALLY.”

“Well,” her Wizard companion cried, “let’s see it!”

Carefully, the teenager opened the stall and stepped out.  She had to admit, it was a pretty uniform.  It had a green skirt, with a green sailor’s shirt, and a dark grey vest.  The green ties of the shirt tucked into the vest decently, and the grey-trimmed knee-high socks were quite cute.  She zapped her normal clothes back to the apartment (which was more of an abandoned rooftop greenhouse) and slung her backpack over her shoulder.  With a touch of magic, she zapped some cute, sparkly green butterfly clips in for decoration.  She spun around, admiring herself in the mirror, when Wizardmon cleared his throat.  She glanced at him, and he pointed at her feet.

“Methinks Cinderella need some glass slippers…” he said in a thoughtful tone.  Carey snapped her fingers yet again.  Her presto sneakers were now replaced by a pair of modest black mary-janes.

“There,” she affirmed, “THAT’s perfection.”

Her thoughts were cut short by the shrill ringing of the bell.  She was late!!!  For her first day of classes!!!

Quickly, she bolted out the door to her first class.

 

Yamato had been staring out the window at the nice, sunny day outside.  He hated sunny school days.  At least when it rained he had an excuse to stay inside.  But now it was all perky and happy.  The girls situated around him were fretting and worrying over him, seeing as over the weekend EVERYONE had learned of his close encountered with the automotive kind.  He sighed deeply as the girls continued to coo and soothe him, for God knows what.

“Please, God,” he prayed, “send me something, ANYTHING to get them off my back!!!”

As if on cue, the door opened, and a figure slunk into the room with cat-like grace.  It was a small, lithe-looking girl, with short, mousy brown hair.  He couldn’t see her eyes.  Solemnly, she passed the teacher a slip of paper, and stood, with her hands clasped, in front of the class.

“Class,” Miss Holierthanthou said with a smile, “it appears we have a new student in our class starting today!  Please welcome Carey…..Carey…..um….”

“Acquiesce.” The girl said in a smooth, raspy voice.  It put Matt on pins and needles.  Where had he heard that voice before?

“I beg your pardon?” Miss. Holierthanthou inquired.

“My name is Carey Acquiesce.” The girl replied.  Miss. Holierthanthou sneered.

“Pleased to meet you, Carey,” she said with a smug smile, “please, take a seat next to Yamato, the blonde at the back.  Yamato?  Would you mind raising your hand?”

Matt slouched in his seat, so as not to be spotted.  So far, his ruse was working!  The teacher didn’t see him at all!

“Matt…” Sora scolded from the seat in front of him, then turned to the teacher.

“He’s here, Miss. Holierthanthou!” she chirped, and pointed to the empty seat next to Matt.  He looked up at the redhead and scowled.  Sometimes she could be the most annoying little goody-goody…

He looked up at the girl, who was finally lifting her head.  Her shaggy brown bangs obscured her eyes slightly, but he was certain he caught traces of emerald fire in them.  She smirked slightly, and strolled leisurely to the seat next to him.  With grace, she sat down, and almost immediately, like his prayers had been answered, the girls turned their attention from poor little him, to the new girl.  She was such a mystery, and everyone wanted to know who she was.

But she didn’t speak to them, she just smiled politely and then looked back at Yamato.  Her eyes were a brilliant mossy green, with a spark of energy in them, and her brown hair was textured very finely, with wispy, feathered strands framing her face.  A memory came back to him:

“Be more careful…” the girl had said.  She had a raspy voice, as did this Carey character, the mysterious girl had brown hair, as did Carey, and they both had glimmering green eyes. 

Carey gave him a smug smirk as his jaw went slack, and reached down to pull a notebook and pen from her backpack.  She uncapped the pen and opened the notebook, and scribbled something down in a neat, left-handed shorthand.  Quite deliberately, she turned it so that, without craning his neck, Matt could read what it said.

“So, have you been more careful these days?”

She pulled the notebook back, flipped the page, and proceeded to draw an anime character that Yamato recognized from some of the manga he had been collecting.

Hey, she was a pretty good artist….

 

 

A/N: And NOW for the disclaimers! <g> I know you’ve been waiting for them!!!  Anyway, I don’t own Digimon (because if I did than Yama would get more lines, and a bigger part in the plot, plus there would be a tad more cool Yama scenes….<drool>) I DO however, own my little character, Carey! <grins> But a few of my friends use her for THEIR fics, so I’m freelancing her!  Anyway, back to the topic at hand…Yama?  NO!  Disclaimers!  Anyway, that would be it for those awful disclaimers, Acquiesce 3 should be out sometime soon, sorry to keep anyone waiting!  Later!

~Mistress Aquatre~