I slammed the door behind me. 'For gods sake…' I muttered under my breath, this day just couldn't get any worse! I'd just come home from the office after a problem came up in the programming of a new video game the company was producing. It was such a simple glitch but it had taken hours to find and correct. On a day like today, when it was hot and humid and didn't look set to change for a while, the office was the last place I wanted to end up, especially straight after such a crap day at school. I inwardly cringed as my mind travelled back to earlier today. It was such a stupid thing, a series of stupid things actually, and they probably meant nothing, but it had bothered me ever since it happened.

I'd just gone to the boys bathroom between classes, as you do, and while I was washing my hands Joey Wheeler, or 'Mutt' as I liked to call him, had come in through the door. I just glanced at him, didn't pay much attention to him, why would I? However, as he went to walk behind me, he managed to brush against me just enough to knock me off balance slightly, not enough for me to stumble or anything, I wasn't that weak! But enough that he felt the need to grab me on the hips and 'stabilise me' whilst saying 'Woah sorry there Seto!'. I was momentarily stunned, not only by the fact he used my first name instead of my surname like he usually did, but by the fact he left his hands on my hips for a few seconds longer than necessary, before smiling at me in the mirror and then going into one of the stalls. I stood there for a few seconds staring after him, before I realised with horror I was blushing! I put my hands on my face and looked at myself in the mirror. Why on earth was I blushing? I turned the tap on and splashed some water on my cheeks to try and cool the increasing hotness that was occurring there. 'Seto what the hell? Control yourself!' I said to myself. It didn't work. I heard Joey flush behind me. I would rather die than him, or anyone for that matter, see me blushing, so I quickly dived back into one of the stalls just as he unlocked the door to his. I listened to him wash his hands and hum to himself as he walked back out the door. My face felt a bit cooler now, but as I went back out I could see I still looked a bit flushed. I heard the bell ring for class. 'Dammit!' I muttered, looked like I'd just have to hope people would think it was down to the hot weather.

As I walked into class, Spanish of all things, I noticed the only free seat was next to the 'Mutt'. I looked around the class again, there must have been another seat somewhere! I sighed as I realised there wasn't. I slowly walked over to the seat. As I did, Joey looked up, smiled again, and pulled the chair out ready for me to sit on. I looked at him suspiciously. What was up with him? Normally he would scowl at me and throw some quip about me being too rich, and he would never smile! I sat down slowly, still glaring at him, wondering when whatever joke he was planning would make itself known. But nothing happened. Once I was sat down, he looked down at his open textbook, and didn't say or do anything as the teacher started the class by greeting us with a cheery 'Hola!'. Maybe he was just having a good day, or trying to wind me up, or both. I shrugged it off and didn't think anymore of it until later on in the class, when the teacher suggested we practice the basic Spanish phrases we had learnt earlier in the year. I groaned inwardly. It was times like this I hated school, it just seemed a waste of time it was so basic. When I was younger, and my stepfather was still alive, he'd insisted on having both me and Mokuba educated at home. For Mokuba it wasn't such a big deal, he was only small and spent of the time playing or colouring, but for me it was a whole different story. I'd have lessons in all the subjects from 8am till 6pm, plus homework, and it was exhausting! However, I'd always get it done, otherwise, ergh! It didn't bear thinking about the consequences that were always threatened towards me if I didn't finish all my work. I shivered slightly at the memory of it. 'You ok?' Joey suddenly asked. Again surprise took over my features as I turned to look at him. Joey asking if I'm ok? What the hell? Seriously? Was he sick? In my surprise I answered quickly 'Yeah..yeah I'm fine..are you?' WHAT? Did I really just say that?!

'Yeah I'm good' he replied, his honey coloured eyes looking back at me with a hint of warmth in them. I must be sick I decided, delusional perhaps, maybe the weather was making me hallucinate, I should go see the doctor. It was not possible that Joey, Mutt, could appear to be being genuinely nice to me, when our usual method of communication was either insults or just plain ignoring each other. I looked down at my book to choose a phrase to recite. As I tried to decide which was the most interesting, seeing as I knew them all already off by heart, Joey suddenly said 'Te Amo'. I couldn't contain myself this time. I snapped round to face him and glared at him.

'What?!' I said.

'Te Amo' he replied, 'It means I love you'

'I know what it means Mutt! Why are you saying it?!'

'It's one of the phrases in the book' he replied holding said book up so I could see it. He pointed at the phrase he had just said, 'See? Right there, I just picked coz it seemed easy to say'.

I sat there with my mouth hanging open and felt a familiar burning creeping into my cheeks. Oh god not now! Not when the Mutt and everyone else could see! I turned away and quickly covered my cheeks with my hands. 'Seto, are you o-' Joey started.

'I'm fine!' I snapped, a little louder than I meant to be. The whole class went silent and looked over at us. I felt the flush spread to the rest of my face. This could NOT be happening. The teacher walked over to our desk and looked at us both. 'Is there a problem here? Seto, are you feeling alright? You look a little flushed, do you need to..' but I was gone. I stood up and despite the stares just walked out of the class. I walked quickly down the hall and went back into the bathroom, where I turned the cold tap on full blast and splashed my face again. I felt the hotness ebbing away when I heard the door open. I didn't need to look to guess who it might be.

'What do you want?' I groaned.

'Geez! I just came to see if you were ok' Joey replied, 'what was up with you back there' he gestured towards the door.

'Nothing, it's just a hot day' I lied.

'Pffft! Yeah right Kaiba, you ain't kidding me, seriously, do you want me to get you anything?'

'I want you to get away from me' I replied glaring at him in the mirror.

Joey just shrugged and pursed his lips before muttering quietly 'Whatever'. He went back to the door and opened it. It was only when I didn't hear it close again that I looked up and realised he was standing there holding it open, looking back at me. He made a gesture as if to say 'Well, are you coming?'. Still not saying anything, but just glaring at him, I grabbed a towel and dried my hands and face before going back out the door and back towards the classroom. I heard his footsteps behind me. I didn't look back but just carried on walking. As we entered the room I could feel the rest of the classes' eyes on us both, so I kept my head down and just sat back in my seat. Thankfully the rest of the class passed without any more events, but as the bell rang at the end and I collected my stuff together and everyone bustled out of the room, Joey leaned over. I almost jumped out of my skin when he touched my arm. I glared at him, but I was ashamed to feel my gaze soften when I realised how caring his expression was. Wait, what!? I pulled my arm away sharply. His honey coloured eyes looked hurt at this. Before he had another chance to say anything to me, I nearly ran out of the room and outside, to where my car was waiting.

Jumping in, I looked back at the school building and saw him coming out, headphones on, not looking like he had a care in the world. 'Ergh!' I said quietly to myself, how could such a low life have had such an effect on me, and why? Must be the weather I concluded. 'Everything ok Mr Kaiba?' the driver said through the intercom.

'Just get me out of here!' I groaned.

….

So….this is the start of something new, but old at the same time. As most of you may have seen on the original 'Why?', I decided to rewrite this story, as life has thrown me many cards over the years, especially in the last 6! A lot of you seem to like the story, and while I am going to do my best to not deviate too far from it, there will be some changes along the way. Please still be honest with me though, I always value my reader's opinions, and do my best to incorporate them into my ideas. I will do my upmost best to keep updating this story on a regular basis, but sadly it may not always be possible. I am no longer a teenager who has oussles of time on their hand to write stories. I'm now a 22 year old university student doing my best to get on in this big bad world. Writing stories like this is my passion though, it helps me unwind and relax from the stresses of everyday life, so hopefully I will be able to keep it up. This story will be a more 'slow cooked' version than the last one too, I want to take time to build up the story, and get to know the characters, and get my ideas together, not rush into anything. Thank you everyone, and thank you to those who still read my stories even in my time of dormancy, and encouraged me to keep writing. I love you all x