Ah! I see you've actually clicked on this story though I don't know why you would! HAHAHA!! I don't blame you if you flame me because it's not very well written but please don't! Don't review if you're going to flame!! Only good reviews!!

The Day the Music Died

By i heArt YUugi ChAn

Yuugi woke up one morning to see the rays of the sun glittering in through his window shaped like the Millenium Puzzle. As happy as ever, he jumped out of bed and got ready for school. He had the strange feeling that today would be a really good day!

He went downstairs and met Jounouchi at the door. "Hey, Jounouchi-kun, how are you today?" he asked.

Jounouchi shrugged. "I could be better, I guess."

"Aww, really?" Yuugi frowned. "It's a beautiful spring day! I think it'll be a GREAT day!!"

Sugoroku came out with a big plate of pancakes with all the trimmings. "Grandpa, you know how I don't like blueberries on my pancakes!" Yuugi complained with a chuckle.

"That's why I made this OTHER batch!" said Sugoroku as he pulled another plate of pancakes out from behind his back with everything on them except blueberries.

"Extra blueberries for me!" said Jounouchi as he dug in.

"Thanks, Grandpa!" Yuugi took his plate and started eating as well, but in a more dignified manner than Jounouchi was.

"Eat quickly, boys! You don't want to be late for school!"

"Aww, Gramps..." Jounouchi whined with a mouth full of pancakes. "It's such a nice day outside! I really don't want to go to school..."

Yuugi giggled. "Don't worry, Jounouchi-kun. School isn't that bad, is it?"

Jounouchi grunted. "I guess I'll go. And I'll kick that bastard Kaiba's ass while I'm at it!"

"Jounouchi! Language!" scolded Sugoroku.

Sugoroku looked out the door to see a big yellow school bus pull up to the curb. "Boys! The bus is outside! You better hurry!"

"Oh no!" cried Yuugi as he grabbed his things and ran out the door. Jounouchi ran after him but quickly passed the shorter boy and boarded the bus before him.

Yuugi ran up the steps of the bus and sat next to Jounouchi, who instantly bragged, "I won! Yeah!"

"Jounouchi-kun," he sighed, "It wasn't a race."

Bakura, in the seat behind them, peeked over the back of their seat. "Don't worry about him, Yuugi-kun. Are you alright?"

Yuugi smiled and looked up at him. "Yeah, I'm fine! Today is going to be a GREAT day!!"

"How can you tell?" asked Bakura curiously.

"I guess I just have a sixth sense about this sort of thing." said Yuugi brightly. "I mean, today we're getting back our big research papers and I KNOW I got an excellent grade on it!"

"What would you do if you didn't?" asked Bakura.

"Well, I know that's not going to happen!" said Yuugi as he put his arm on Jounouchi's shoulder.

"But suppose it DID..." asked Bakura.

"Well..." Yuugi thought for a moment. "I'd kill myself!" Yuugi chuckled at his funny. "But I just KNOW that I'll get a good grade!"

"That's what Jounouchi said last time!" laughed Honda, who had overheard, as he threw a wad of paper at the blonde from the other side of the bus.

Jounouchi growled. "What did you say, Honda?!"

Giggling, Bakura added, "Well, that's something to expect from Jounouchi-kun!"

"Oy! Bakura, don't make me come back there!"

"Hey, Jounouchi-kun!" Yuugi pulled down on his arm, laughing. "Calm down, they're just joking!"

Pretty soon the school bus pulled up to the school. Yuugi, Jounouchi, Bakura and the rest of the gang parted ways. "Good luck on your paper Yuugi!" called Jounouchi as he walked down the hall to his locker.

"I don't need it but I think YOU might!" Yuugi laughed.

"What's that supposed to mean?!" asked Jounouchi in an appalled tone.

"Just kidding!" Yuugi chuckled as he walked into his classroom.

'Here goes nothing!' Yuugi thought to himself. He placed his shoes in his locker and put on the cream-and-blue slippers. Then, gathering his books, he walked back to the classroom. Taking a deep breath, he opened the door and stepped in.

As soon as he reached his desk, the teacher started talking in front of the class. "As you all know, you're getting your research papers back today! Most of you did very well, but some of you could have done better."

'I know which category I'M in!' thought Yuugi, wearing a big grin.

Almost as if the teacher had read Yuugi's mind, he came right over to Yuugi with a large packet in his hand. He sighed as he handed the papers to him with coffee stains all over it and plenty of red marks on it.

"I was seriously expecting better from you, Yuugi..." said the teacher solemnly. Yuugi gasped as he picked up the paper that he had slaved over to look at his grade.

"F?!" Yuugi yelled out loud. "There has to be some mistake! I worked non-stop on this paper for days! My grandfather helped me with this! I couldn't have gotten an F!"

"I was really disappointed too, Yuugi." said the teacher.

Yuugi couldn't take it anymore. "May I go to the bathroom?" he asked. He didn't even wait for the teacher's response before excusing himself and running to the bathroom.

The teacher sighed. "Poor child. Jounouchi, do you think you could please go out and check on him?"

"Sure." Jounouchi stood up and followed after his small friend.

Yuugi leaned on the sink and looked at himself in the mirror. "I can't believe it. How could I have gotten an F on that paper? I worked so hard... it's not fair..."

Life isn't always fair, Aibou, came the deep voice in Yuugi's head.

"But I worked so hard, Yami! I was so confident in my work! And... like I said..."

Yami suddenly jolted to attention. Aibou! Don't even think of...

Yuugi laughed. "I already thought of it." Then he frowned. "Goodbye." He blocked his Yami's mind from connecting with his own, tears streaming down his face. He wasn't really considering killing himself, but he thought some worrying would do his Yami good.

"Yuugi!" The door slammed open and Jounouchi ran in.

Yuugi whipped around quickly to face his blond friend standing in the doorway. "Yuugi...what's up? I've never seen anyone go this crazy over a paper..."

"You don't understand Jounouchi! I poured my heart and soul into that paper and...and..."

"Yuugi, it's all right!" Jounouchi comforted his shorter friend. "I'm here for you until the bitter end."

Yuugi wiped some tears away. "Really, Jounouchi-kun?"

"Yeah..." Jounouchi smiled and winked. "Howzabout we go back to class now? You don't want a bad grade on participation also, do you?"

"No way!" The two ran back to class as fast as they could.

Yuugi and Jounouchi reentered the classroom. The teacher knew that Yuugi had had a rough time dealing with the grade on his paper so he didn't say anything to the two boys. Yuugi sat down at what he thought was his desk but in his state of discombobulation, he sat down in the wrong desk.

"What more could go wrong!" Yuugi sighed as he stood up and took his seat in his real chair. Yuugi listened in on other people talking about how well they had done on their papers while he secretly thought about his F. "Why is it only me?"

Seto Kaiba snorted and faced his rival. "Yuugi, what did you get on your paper?" He smirked. "I, of course, got an A."

Yuugi sank back in his chair, making himself seem shorter than he really was. "You know what I got, Kaiba-kun. I'd rather not talk about it."

Kaiba shrugged. "Okay, I can respect that." He sighed in fake wistfulness. "I'd sympathize for you, Yuugi, but, unfortunately, I've never gotten an F..."

"Kaiba!" Anzu, who had just walked up, glared down at him. "How can you be so heartless? Can't you tell that Yuugi's having a hard time?"

"What did you get?" Yuugi asked Anzu as he looked up pathetically. Anzu smiled nervously and looked away. "It's okay, you can tell me." Yuugi urged. Anzu smiled again and looked at Yuugi.

"I got an A-." she admitted. Yuugi forced a smile but he couldn't help but be jealous of his friend.

"Face it." said Kaiba. "Even Jounouchi got an A!"

Yuugi wanted to scream but he also wanted to be happy for his friend.

'Okay... calm down...' he thought to himself. 'It's just one paper... It'll all turn out fine in the end... It's just some freak accident or something...'

"Oh, by the way, Yuugi," Kaiba sneered. "Did you know that this paper is worth a quarter of our final grade?"

Yuugi's jaw dropped.

"Yuugi-kun..." A hand rested on his shoulder. "Are you okay?"

Yuugi looked up into Bakura's big, brown eyes. "Ah... ah..." Quickly, he thought that perhaps Kaiba was just torturing him. "Bakura-kun, how much was the paper worth?"

Bakura blinked. "It's a quarter of our grade," he said, matter-of-factly.

"That'll bring my average down!" Yuugi gaped. "Even if I get a one-hundred on everything else, the most I can get in this class is a C!"

"A C isn't that bad." said Kaiba. "Isn't a C AVERAGE? Isn't it okay to be average?"

"Not at how hard Yuugi was working!" Anzu said as she looked at the distraught Yuugi. "Maybe you should talk to the teacher."

"I don't know what good that will do." said Yuugi. "I doubt he'll change my grade."

"But you deserve better!" Anzu said.

"No. I deserve what I got and I got an F." said Yuugi. "Failures don't deserve anything more."

"Don't talk that way, Yuugi!" gasped Anzu, appalled. "You're not a failure! Of course you deserve more! You're the King of Games!"

"Pfft. Mazaki, you have no idea what you're blabbering about." Kaiba rolled his eyes.

"Of course I do!"

"Stop pretending that you do!"

Bakura winced at the shouting. "I don't think this is doing much good, guys..."

"Bakura-kun's right," said Yuugi. "Stop it, I'm not worth fighting over like that." He looked up at Anzu. "Kaiba's right, you know."

Yuugi pulled himself out of his chair. It was quite a difficult task because his spirit was so heavy. He walked solemnly out of the room and no one followed him.

"Yuugi..." Anzu said wistfully as she watched Yuugi trudge out. He needed some time alone.

Aww, I'm almost crying already. ;_____________________; R&R, pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeezz!! It'll make me happy, and I'll ALSO write the next chapter if I get enough reviews! No flames, or you won't see the next chappie… (