AN: Hello! So, basically, I finished my other Yugioh story "Desert Rose" and now I've decided to do a trial run for this other idea floating around in my head. So, I'm going to post the first two chapters and based on the response I get, I will then decide whether or not it's worth continuing. Just throwing that out there – thanks!
Chapter One
BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!
"Gugh..." a whine was heard beneath a tangle of bed sheets and pillows. A slender hand ungracefully began to feel around for the alarm clock, and in the process managed to knock over a variety of items. Finally, her fingers flicked the switch of the alarm. Silence enveloped the room. The girl didn't move from beneath her warm covers.
A crash was heard somewhere outside of her sanctuary and the methodical sound of running footsteps soon followed. Her bedroom door flew open and the sunlight from the hallway burst inside, making her flinch. She rolled over and pulled the covers over her head.
"You're stillasleep? Ugh, wake up, Alice!" the boy tugged and nudged at his older sister. A mop of startling red hair emerged from beneath the blanket.
"Go away, Mokuba," Alice grumbled.
"You're not staying home again, are you? Don't make me call Seto." The younger boy warned.
"You wouldn't. Now go away." She blinked wearily at her digital alarm. Seven o'clock on the dot.
Mokuba sucked in a deep breath and prepared his infamous tattletale yell for their oldest brother. "SET-"
"Okay, okay! I'm up. Shut up!" She shot up and clamped her hands over his mouth, effectively silencing the shriek.
But it was too late.
"Alice, what did you do to Mokuba now?" came the eldest of the Kaiba siblings' voice. Seto walked into the room, buttoning up his uniform jacket with his suitcase on the floor at his feet. He had a disapproving aura about him.
"Nothing," Alice muttered, folding her arms over her covers.
"Then why did he shout for me?" Seto asked, looking to Mokuba.
"She was gonna skip class again!" Mokuba virtually finger-pointed at his older sister.
Seto sighed and his shoulders slumped. "Alice..." His voice sounded strained and Alice grimaced. She hated feeling like a child, but oftentimes Seto would assume that fatherly persona which put Alice to shame. Granted, she did ask for it most of the time.
"Was not," she grumbled.
"Alice, you know you can't miss anymore classes. How many times have your teachers warned you about being held back?" Seto asked sternly.
"I'm going! Sheesh, don't let the world end or anything." She pushed off her covers and shoved her brothers out of her room. "Go away so I can change!"
Alice went to her nightstand and picked up the various items she had knocked over in her failed attempt to quiet her alarm. The first were her thick-rimmed glasses. She slid them over her face and pushed them up the bridge of her nose. She blinked her blue eyes - Kaiba blue, she had always been told. Her brother and her had always shared the same bright blue, sometimes icy blue, eye color. She sighed. Then she picked up the second item. It was a picture of the three Kaiba children taken while they were still at the orphanage. Alice smiled despite herself. There she was, in the middle of her brothers where she had always belonged, in linked arms. Seto was at one side, smiling the smallest smile he could muster. Alice had to laugh. That was Seto. Never cracked a grin, that boy. And then there was her sweet Mokuba at the other side, clinging to her with a wide smile, showing all of his teeth. She loved them more than anyone and vowed never to let a bad thing happen to them. She replaced the framed photo and yawned. Time to go to hell, she mused darkly.
Alice didn't hate school, nor did she hate waking up early to go to school. What she did hate, however, were the bullies. Ever since she was just a child, she had a bully problem. Seto had taken care of it then, and she knew that if she told him, he would do something about it now. But she was nearly sixteen, for Christ's sake, and had to learn how to handle things herself. No, she wouldn't bother her brother with her problems. Alice went to her closet and pulled out her pink and blue school uniform and pulled it on before brushing her long red hair. She pulled half of it up into a slight ponytail and left the rest to hang past her shoulders and down her back.
"Alice, come on!" Mokuba's voice rang from downstairs. Alice gave herself a once over in the mirror before deeming herself worthy to go out into civilization.
She hopped down the steps to stairs at a time, making sure not to bump into the maid on the way. She rushed into the kitchens, grabbed an apple, and met her brothers at the door. "Ready!" she said happily.
"Good, come on. Roland's waiting," Seto said as he led them out into the driveway where their black limousine sat. Roland was standing beside it, waiting for the siblings.
"Good morning Mister Kaiba, Miss Kaiba, and Mister Kaiba!" Roland greeted, fixing his sunglasses. Alice narrowed her eyes suspiciously. Never, not once since she met the man, had she seen what his eyes looked like. When she was younger, she would jump out and try to startle him when he was unawares, just to see if he'd take of his sunglasses. He even wore them indoors! It astounded her as a child...and even more so now as a teenager.
"Roland," Alice said, looking up at the gray sky, "The sun isn't out. Why are you wearing those?"
He cleared his throat and straightened his tie. He opened the door for the Kaibas and as Alice approached, he said. "Nice try."
She pouted and stuck out her tongue at him before sitting down beside Seto. Mokuba sat on the other end, nearest the door so he could get out easily when they made their first stop at his school.
"Bye!" the boy waved, shutting the door behind him.
"Behave!" Alice said through the open window. She gave him a pointed stare over the rims of her glasses. Mokuba only rolled his eyes.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever!"
Alice scoffed. "The manners on that boy..."
"He's no worse than you are," Seto said, sparing her a glance up from the book he was reading.
She faked offense. "Oh, the nerve." She nudged his leg with her toe. "Jerk."
He gave her a dry stare before looking back down at his book, though his small smirk wasn't uncaught. She grinned to herself and looked out of the window, watching the houses pass as they drove. Soon enough, they were pulling up outside their school.
"Bye Roland!" Alice called, waving at the car.
"Come on, we'll be late." Seto led them to the homeroom they shared after stopping at their lockers. They were placed next to each other, since alphabetically they shared the same letterand name. They sat next to each other near the back of the class, keeping to themselves as the other students straggled in just in time before the bell tolled.
Alice glanced at her older brother. He sat quietly, nose successfully submerged into his book. She huffed and tapped her pencil tip on the desk to a tune in her head. Bored...was the only coherent thought she could produce among the inane babble from the teacher as he lectured. Alice rolled her eyes. She, like Seto, had been a gifted child when it came to academics. While the teacher was lecturing about the muscular system of the body, Alice was two chapters ahead reading about the limbic system. Homeroom stunk. But it was a blessing in disguise since she and Seto were in the same class. He being a couple years older than her and ready to graduate to take on full responsibility of Kaiba Corp, would naturally have higher level classes. She pouted. After this year, she didn't know what she'd do without him. His presence and his presence alone was the only reason why the bullies were kept at bay. She cast a nervous glance to the front of the classroom where a group of loud girls sat around a beautiful blonde with luscious curly locks. Her name was Nadeen Fitzgerald and she was the bane of Alice's existence.
Alice wasn't too sure what the reason was of why Nadeen hated her so much. Over the couple of years she knew Nadeen, Alice had plenty of time to devise reasons. Reason number one: Nadeen crushed on Seto (which was true for many of her classmates) and loathed Alice due to some sort of sense of disturbing jealousy. Reason number two: Nadeen could sense Alice's rather obvious low self-esteem and fed on it like a drug. Reason number three: Nadeen was just mean, plain and simple. Perhaps it was all of those reasons - perhaps none. Either way, after lunch when Seto left (he had special permission from the school since he ran his own company and all...) to go back to Kaiba Corp, Alice knew she was in for some new form of torture from the blonde haired, green eyed femme fatal. Nadeen caught Alice's gaze and sent her a cruel grin which sent unpleasant shivers of fear down Alice's spine. She grimaced.
Seto glanced at his sister. "You alright?"
She quickly covered and scratched the back of her head nervously. "Yup, couldn't be better. Just a chill from the window over there."
Seto eyed her suspiciously for a few seconds before shrugging and returning to his book. Alice let out a deep sigh of relief.
"Joey! Hey, earth to Joey! It's your move." Alice heard a voice say. She glanced over to another group of friends near the rear of the class, closer to her and Seto by the windows. They were playing Duel Monsters. Alice didn't even notice the bell ring as study hall began.
"Sorry, Yug. Here goes nuttin!" cried a blonde boy as he slammed a card down on the table.
The group giggled as the blonde, Joey, lost the game horrendously. Alice watched them longingly. What she would give to have friends like that. Ever since she started school here with Seto, that group had been inseparable. They even picked up a few more characters along the way, like that white-haired boy...what was his name... Bakura, she thought. Not that Alice was antisocial or rude that she couldn't hold friends for long - it was just easier to keep people away. Once they knew she was related to the great Seto Kaiba, then everything would change. They'd ask to go to the mall more often than anything and just happen to leave their wallets at home. Or they'd find other ways to leech off of her. A leech was a leech, and Alice found it to be far more simple to just stop trying. So she did.
"Speaking of which," came the first voice again from a boy with tri-colored hair sticking up in all sorts of directions, "My Grandpa has this super rare card he covets more than anything. Maybe he can show us after school."
"Cool!"
Seto's blue eyes shifted in their direction. They narrowed. Alice glanced between her brother and the group before asking, "What is it?"
"Nothing. Don't worry about it."
Alice made a face. Fine, so that's how it'd be? She could just keep lying to him, too. "Whatevs," she muttered, doodling in the margins of her notebook.
The lunch bell rang. Alice felt her stomach drop. Seto stood and began gathering his things. She walked him outside to the front gates, where Roland was waiting by the limousine. She must've looked sick, because Seto noticed.
"You look green, Alice. Something wrong?"
She gulped and quickly shook her head. "No, I'm fine. Just hungry I guess." She smiled up at him with feigned happiness. "You go on, don't you have a corporation to run or something?"
Seto sighed deeply. "Yeah. Call me if you need anything, you know I'm never too busy to come pick you up if you need me to-"
Alice shrugged off the offer. "Yadda, yadda, I'm not a kid anymore, sheesh. Go on, Mister President of a Multi-Billion Dollar Company! Shouldn't you be firing someone right about now?"
Seto sneered at her and rolled his eyes before getting into the limo. "Seriously, Alice," he said, before shutting the door, "Call me if anything comes up."
She rolled her matching blue eyes and shut the door for him. "Goodbye!" She emphasized.
"I'll be here at 3 o'clock to pick you up, miss Alessandra," Roland said.
Alice groaned. "How many times have I told you, Roland? Alice, please!"
Roland smiled and nodded. "Sure, miss Kaiba." Alice rolled her eyes, knowing it was a losing battle. Roland never called her 'Alice', always 'Miss Kaiba' or, to her pure dismay 'Miss Alessandra'. She gagged. Roland laughed and got into the driver's side and drove her brother away. Alice watched the car disappear down the street until it turned a corner and vanished. She sucked in a brave breath and made her way out to the lawn where the students were permitted to eat lunch on particularly nice days.
Before Alice could even open her school bag to retrieve her lunch, Nadeen appeared, flanked by her usual crowd of bubble-gum chewing cheerleaders. Nadeen grabbed Alice's bag and threw it on the ground.
"Hey, richie-rich! What do you think you're doing at my lunch spot?" she yelled.
Alice felt her face grow hot. She hated confrontation. "I was just walking by..."
"Were you? I didn't see much walking. Maybe you should get your glasses fixed, nerdlette!" she grabbed Alice's glasses off of her face and dangled them above her head. Nadeen would be better off being a basketball player than a cheerleader, she was so tall.
"Hey!" Alice went to grab them, but Nadeen was quicker and yanked at her red hair.
"Who said you could have them back? I didn't hear anyone say so, did you girls?"
Her posse shook their heads in unison. "Nope!"
"Come on, Nadeen, just give them back! I need them, seriously!" Alice pleaded, trying her hardest to blink away her tears as Nadeen pulled her hair harder.
"Just buy a new pair with all of your brother's money, rich girl. He an afford it, can't he?" Nadeen sneered. Before Alice could do anything to stop her, Nadeen had thrown her glasses to the ground and stomped a strong foot down. There was a horrible 'crunch' sound as the lenses shattered into the grass.
"Hey! What are you doing?" came a new voice.
"Pfft, nerd brigade. Come on, Nadeen." One of the cheerleaders said, departing with Nadeen, who dropped Alice's hair. Alice fell to her knees and gripped her aching head.
"Ow..."
"Yeah, dat's right! Keep walkin!" she heard a familiar voice accompany the other.
"Hey, are you okay?" It was a girl's voice.
Alice looked up and squinted her eyes. She was dreadfully near-sighted. She sighed. "Yeah, I guess. Thanks," she murmured, feeling her face grow more hot. Talk about an awful day.
"Oh, man!" the Brooklyn accent said as he knelt down beside her, "Are these your glasses?"
Alice sighed. "If they've been stomped on by a blonde cheerleader...then yes, those would be mine."
"Here," a softer voice nearer to her said, taking her arm and pulling her up, "Sorry about your glasses..." he handed them to her and Alice squinted to see them. She lifted them close to inspect them. Broken was an understatement. She made a face.
"That's okay, it's not your fault. Good thing I brought my contact lenses with me." She dug into her bag and super quickly popped them in. She blinked to look up at her saviors. It was the group of friends from her homeroom who were playing Duel Monsters.
"Oh! Hello, nice to, er... see you." She said with a half-hearted smile.
"Hiya! I'm Joey Wheeler. This is Tea Gardner, Tristan Taylor, and mah best bud, Yugi Motou." the blonde said with a grin.
"Nice to meet you," Alice smiled.
"Hey," Tea had a thoughtful look on her face, "Aren't you Kaiba's sister?"
"Eww, you're related to Money Bags?" Joey made a face.
"Joey! Be nice!" the brunette, Tea, elbowed him in the ribs.
Alice sighed. Here we go again. No point in denying it at this point. "Yeah, that's me. Little sister to the great and industrious Seto Kaiba," she deadpanned.
"Does he know those girls pick on you?" Tea asked.
Alice shrugged. "What Seto doesn't know won't hurt him. Besides, it's not his business, it's mine."
"Why were they bullying you anyway?" the tri-colored hair one asked. Yugi, was it?
"Who knows?" Alice dug into her bag and retrieved her lunch and began to unwrap her sandwich. "Nadeen has hated me since I met her. Dunno why. Though, I do have my theories."
"Such as?" Joey asked.
Alice raised a skeptical brow. "Why do you care? Don't you hate my brother or something?"
Joey sweat-dropped and laughed nervously. "Well, you're not your brother, yeah? Besides, you seem loads nicer than him."
She didn't appear convinced. "Er...thank you?"
"Why don't you sit and have lunch with us?" Yugi offered.
"Really?" Alice asked in surprise.
"Sure! The more the merrier. Besides, you always sit alone when your brother's not around. Why not make some new friends, hmm?" Tea asked with a sweet smile.
Alice blinked a few times, unsure of how or even why they would take notice of her loneliness without her brother. "Um...that's a bit unexpected." Was all she could say.
"Come on," Tristan grinned. "Let's go sit under the tree."
"Coming, oh...er..." Yugi appeared abashed, "Sorry, we didn't even ask your name!"
Alice smiled. "Alice."
"Coming, Alice?" he asked.
She nodded with a wide and happy grin. "Okay!"
"So...Alice Kaiba, huh?" Tristan asked, eating his potato chips.
Alice smiled guiltily. "That's me."
"Why don't you tell your brother about those girls?" Tea asked worriedly.
Alice's shoulders slouched. She stared down at her half-eaten sandwich as if it were the most interesting thing in the world. "Look, all of my life my brother has looked out for me. And because of it, I'm always in his shadow. He takes care of everything in the company, he insisted on raising Mokuba and I himself instead of handing us over to the butler or maid after our step-father disappeared. He's sort of a control freak, in that respect. And I want to show him I can handle myself."
"Er," Joey coughed. "But...it didn't look like you handled yourself at all back there. You just let them do whatever."
Alice bristled. "Look, if I could do something about it, I would! But I can't. So, maybe if I let them get bored with me they'll just go away."
"That's hardly logical," Yugi said.
"Well, what do you think I should do?" she asked, looking over at him.
"Me? I'd defend them against bigger bullies and then they'd become my best friends," he said with a pointed glance at Joey and Tristan, who both looked away comically.
"Right..." Alice laughed, "Flawless plan."
Yugi laughed as well. "Okay, I can see how that might not work with you. But still," he became serious, "You should stand up to them."
Alice frowned. "I...don't know how."
"Easy!" Joey stood up and flexed his muscles. "Tell 'em your friends with Joey Wheeler! Then they'll think twice about messin with ya!"
"That just might work! They wouldn't dare mess with a friend of a psycho!" Tea teased.
"Who ya callin psychic?"
Tea rolled her eyes. "Psycho. Not psychic."
"Whateveh."
Alice laughed again. She hadn't felt so accepted into a group so quickly before. They didn't even care she was Seto's sister, well, not after the initial shock. Could this be it? Maybe, after all, she could have friends.