"She said no," A voice echoed from the back of the room.
I turned from the open door. My brother, aster, was leaning against the frame from one of the side rooms. His white suit stretched tightly against his body as he kept his arms crossed over his chest. When I glanced back around at the open front door, the man standing there looked undazed at the comment.
"It's a once and a life time oprotunity Miss. Phoenix." The man at the front door began once again. "You can be signed as a professional duelist now instead of waiting two year like the rest of the students in your class."
I stuttered, trying to find the right chose of words to get the guy the leave the house. Nothing. I couldn't think of a damn way of saying it politely This is when the footsteps began. Aster's heels tapped against the marble flooring. He strutted across the room and made it to the door. Standing 4 inches taller than myself he grabbed the end of the door.
"She said no thanks."
And with that Aster slammed the door shut. The entire house rattled from the impact of the door hitting the frame. I jerked from the noise and was expecting to hear the worst from Aster.
"if you don't want something, you can just say no." Aster stated a bit harshly as he pivoted on his toe.
"I did say no."
"Clearly."
He made an eye rolling motion and began to walk off to the room he had just walked out of. I fallowed. I hated the way he constantly used sarcasm. Sure it was funny but at times it was plane out annoying.
"Well the guy left so who cares." I called behind Aster as he planted himself on the couch that faced the TV.
He lied his arms out beside him and gave me another glance.
"yeah he did and you did a marvelous job at doing so. Its was so marvelous that you deserve an ovation for your efforts."
He clapped loudly with a smirk on his lips. Slowly anger began to build up in my body. I clenched her first and tried her best not to act on her annoyance and fury.
I had learned the hard way that my anger didn't do me any good. It was in duel prep school, that i learned that bullying of other students was wrong and left me with few friends. In fact it wasn't until I met Atticus Rhodes, did I learn how to truly respect others sometimes however, especially with Aster I lose it.
"you're an ass Phoenix."
He continued to smirk as i took a seat on the couch beside him, flipped on the television. I kept it on the dueling station and the two of us watched silently.
"What made you say no anyway?"
I shrugged. Thoughts flutter to school. Sure I could have signed as a pro but that would mean not being able to attend Duel Academy anymore. It wasn't as though anyone would miss me at the school. Its not as though I am exactly Miss. Popularity but the thought of finding Atticus make me hold on.
"School."
"School?" Aster spoke slowly, letting the word linger on his tongue.
I realized he would never understand.
"You still holding on to hope that that Atticus kid is still alive aren't you."
He seemed to get it more than I thought he would. I smiled anyway. It was my responsibility to take care of him not vice versa.
"I'm over it. I know he wont be coming back."
Aster gawked at my response. It was as though his cobalt eyes were staring down into my soul, reaching for any hint at a bluff. He ended up struggling and staring back a the duel on the TV. It was almost over.
"you know," Aster began, "I'm not saying he wont be coming back. He could, for all we know. But for now, its out of our hands. Its destinies move."
"Destiny is a bitch."
Aster chuckled. "true, but a powerful one."
I began to laugh as well. At least we could agree on something. I leaned over on the couch and placed a kiss on Aster cheek.
"Thanks Aster,"
"for?" He questioned, a brow raising high in the air.
"For being you." I laughed, "Oh and for placing your deck in such a great place to grab."
I held the deck in my hands waving it in his face. Before Aster could react to it I jumped off and couch. His body immedatly flew off of it.
"If you don't hand back that deck you're dead!" Aster warned. His body lunged toward me in a sharp motion but I managed to stagger out of the way in the last second. He was chasing me through our large home. Our bodies would knock into delicate pieces of china and antique wooden chairs, yet neither one of us chose to stop our chaosed behavior.
"I'm being serious Ivy, if you don't hand it over I'll-"
"What kill me?" I mock in the same sarcastic tone he had used on me all day.
He leapt toward me. I squealed and grabbed a chair by its side and throwing it between the two of our bodies using the device as a shield. Aster straddled the space between us, ready to jump in either direction if I chose to go either left or right. I chose the alternate route. I lunged my legs onto the chair and stood on my toes, my whole being reaching the high ceiling of our complex.
"If you want it so badly come and get it bro."
Laughing, I lowered the object in my hand above his head and taunted him with the good looks of his deck. The boy jumped, his arms reaching the sky as high as he could but it wasn't good enough. I was still higher up than he was.
"And you wonder why no one likes you!" he yelled in frustration.
"What do you mean by that-" I questioned as I stopping laughing and put on my serious face.
Aster ignored me and took a step backward as though he were suffering cold feet. Before I had time to even process what was going on I saw him charge. He came in full speed and kicked into the wooden chair I was standing on. The chair wobbled. I screamed and tumbled to the ground. Aster took the right opportunity and tried to claw the deck out of my hands but I held onto it for dear life.
"What did you mean about the friend comment!" I screamed.
Instead of taking the easy way out to get his deck back Aster chose the defensive route. he grabbed a wad of my hair and yanked it in the worst degree he possibly could have.
My screams filled the house as I shrieked in pain. The words of remorse fluttered out of my mouth as I begged my brother to stop with his torture. It didn't take long before Aster ripped my fingers off of his deck and left me lying on the cold hard ground.
"That really hurt you jerk,"
"Well, that's your fault isn't it?" Aster barked.
I sat up from the ground right as DD walked in. His footsteps were so shallow it was nearly impossible to have heard him walk into the room. A look of confusion flashed over his face. DD, being the only father figure Aster and I really had, made the two of us cower in fear. The look of confusion on his face changed instantaneously. Anger showered over him. I glanced around the room and could see why. Furniture led improperly against the walls pillows were scattered across the floor. The room looked like a pigsty.
"What. Happened. In. Here?"
It was clear he was trying to hold in his anger by the way he had to pause after every word he spoke. Asters eyes darted to my own. We thought fast. Sure we normally got into events such as these but never did either one of us want to get in trouble especially with DD.
"Sorry DD, I was messing with Aster." I chucked and shot my brother a look. It wasn't as though I was lying or anything, but I especially didn't want to mention how I stole his deck and this was only the result of such actions. Aster got the point however and nodded his head in agreement.
"Yeah, we're sorry."
He reached a hand out to help me after he tucked his deck into his pants pocket. The two of use flashed a smile, as though we were the perfect siblings. The thought of getting D mad shakes the two of us. We had both seen it once after the two of us had gotten into a huge argument. The memory of DD's angry side scared the two of us senseless to the point where neither one of us wanted to see such a thing again.
DD stationed himself at the frame of the door, his arms crossing over his chest, his teeth biting his lip. He was deciding what to do with us.
"Its fine, just clean up the mess." he mumbled.
The two of us agreed eagerly and went straight to picking up pillows and moving the furniture. We could feel DD's dagger like eyes on our backs as he stood at the doors frame. It must have been a minute or so of cleaning before either one of us even noticed that DD had turned and crept out of the room.
"That was a close one." I chuckled and Aster shot me a look.
"yeah sure it was. Please tell me more about how you almost got in trouble."
I rolled my eyes and chucked a pillow at his head. The object bounced off of him and plopped to the ground. He was not pleased one bit.
"Don't you have something better to do today?" Aster grumbled in annoyance.
The thought of Zane Truesdale, the number one duelist at Duel Academy, popped into my head. The thought of him was soon followed by the duel Academy entrance exams. The exams were today at noon. Anyone who was anyone would be there to try and make it into the school. Being a second year student I didn't have to go to the exams but everyone always went, especially Zane Truesdale.
There wasn't anything negative I had to say about Zane, he was my best friend, and my biggest rival. I could beat practically anyone at the school except for him but Zane was simply the best, even Aster couldn't beat him when he was a junior.
"I suppose I can do something today. Today is after all the DA entrance exams. A bunch of people from school are going to see who the new students are going to be."
"Why don't you go as well?"
"I was planning on meeting a friend there, but the exams don't start until noon." Aster glanced at the grandfather clock that stood pressed against one of the walls. His eyes trailed back onto me. He frowned.
"Noon. Good job sticking to that commitment." he commented sarcastically
I shot my glance over at the same clock Aster had just looked at. The hands read 12:34. Crap. I cursed loudly though the room and started to scatter across the premises, trying to find my bag and keys.
"Why didn't you tell me sooner?"
"You should be thankful I said a damn thing."
I yelled in frustration and waved my brother off. I grabbed the keys to the car D had gotten me for my 16th birthday and sped through Domino City. I loved the city, with all the building lining up the streets. Typically when I have to drive around, I take my time to admire all the building and the scenery, but today was an exception. Zane was most definitely going to kill me for being this late. The drive to the entrance exams was short. I ran through the entrance in my jeans and tank top hoping that no one would notice my absence but they all did. Even students I had never seen before seemed to have their attention on me as well.
I tiptoed through the building. The whole place was packed with the flowing colors of blue, red and yellow. I recognized students from the year before, some now third years and some second years. There weren't many upperclassmen at the event but the ones that did decide to show went that bad. My eyes searched the balcony. Zane Truesdale was easy to find. He seemed to always stand out from the others in our school with his teal blue hair and eyes and his rigid stance. I ran up the steps in Zane's direction. His gaze well on mine as I got closer and closer to his spot.
15 feet. I smiled waving over to my friend. A faint smile crept up on his lips. It had always been a challenge to get Zane to smile, even Atticus Rhodes was glad to get a faint smile from the teal head anyway. The blonde girl next to Zane also turned her attention to me. I recognized her face. Alexis Rhodes. I've only talked to her once before, thanks to her brother.
Atticus and she looked much alike, minus the hair color and the eyes. Alexis was beautiful, tall and blonde while her brother was dark and stylish.
5 feet. I began to walk aimlessly. Excitement rushed liked a wave through my body. A whole 3 months without Zane Truesdale and my life felt as though it were falling apart. As I walked closer and closer to Zane and Alexis I barely noticed where I was walking into until I smacked head first into someone.
"Hey watch where you're going." shouted a boy.
The boy wasn't someone I had recognized from the year before. He was tall- not nearly as tall as Zane or Atticus but still taller than myself. He had this raven black hair that spiked up on the top. His body was covered in an Obelisk blue uniform, a deep shade of blue ran like a river down this threads. It took a moment for me to realize there was a cocky expression on his face. He must have thought I was new to the school considering the way I was dressed.
"Maybe you should watch where you were going too freshman." I spat.
This seemed to anger the black haired boy. In fact he seemed shocked that someone would even consider talking to him in such a way.
"You better watch who you're talking to," The boy warned.
I looked over the kids shoulder. I had caught Zane's eyes. He looked uneager to jump in and see what was going on but it looked as though he were about to do something soon.
"I'll remember that for next time." I gave the kid the best fake smile I possibly could have mustered. After I did so, I took a dangerous step to the side of the guy to get past him.
2 feet. I was right there but when I felt my wrist get snatched by the black haired boy behind me I froze. I snapped my head back at him my brow grinding in anger.
"Wait, aren't you the Snow Queen of Obelisk?" the kid questioned, his whole tone of voice changing from that moment to something much softer. My mouth hung in shock, not because of his change of heart but because of the name. Snow Queen of Obelisk. I shuttered at the nickname. I've hated the name since Atticus gave it to me. He was the first one to ever use that name, being the Blizzard Prince and all, but who would have expected it to get out of hand the way it had? What used to be an inside joke soon turned to a full out expression to describe me. That is until I established a new name for myself. Tsarina. The Empress of Duel Academy. It makes sense since I am the best female at the school.
I took a deep breath and smiled politely.
"I used to be that, but I go by Tsarina now,"
"Empress..." he spoke impressed with a smile.
I opened my mouth to answer back. Right as I was about to utter another word I felt a hand slip to my side.
"Is everything alright here Ivy?"
The black haired boy took a step back. He seemed to know exactly who Truesdale was and didn't want to get involved. He mumbled something under his breath and backed away. He scurried off and down the nearby stairs, to the stands where the others students stayed sheltered.
My eyes met Zane's and he nodded his head.
"Do you know who that kid is?" I asked
"That Chazz Princeton." Alexis Rhodes started walking over to the two of us.
I waved to her and she gave me a polite smile back in which her lips curled only slightly. She really was beautiful with her long blonde hair and such. She was the girl every guy wanted, that was clear. I didn't mind all too much however. I didn't hate the way I looked. I liked the way my platinum blonde hair reached the small of my back and the way my body didn't look like some disfigured Barbie doll.
"He seems like a jerk,"
"Well he is a jerk," She commented back, "I went to duel prep school with him last year and let me tell you he is just a stuck up rich kid."
My eyes trailed down in the direction Chazz had run off to. It wasn't very hard to find him in his Obelisk blue uniform. From the look of it, he did seem to be a jerk or at least that was the impression I seemed to get from the way he was acting.
"I will keep note of that."
There's a pause. They were both looking at the duels again.
"You're pretty late." Zane muttered. His cobalt eyes didn't trace over me it had only a moments before. Typical. I wasn't surprised at all how the man switched from being friendly to being completely serious.
"Oh come on, not even a hello?" I fake complained. "Come on Zaney, at least a smile, I know you missed me during this summer vacation." I stated. My hand reached over to him as I began to play with the tips of his hair. I could feel the daggering stares from Zane's fan club girls from the distance. Zane tilted his head to the side. He glanced at me with the corner of his eye. A gentle smirk appeared across his face. Attaboy.
I hadn't missed much after being late to the entrance exams. Some student passed and other failed. From the students chosen it looked as though this was going to be a good year at the academy. It didn't take long for Zane, Alexis and I to get bored from the duels. There was a rare case of unpredictability when the students dueled and the only thing that seemed of any general interest was the outcome.
"Who else is dying of boredom here?" I asked
"This shouldn't be a shocker. These things are always boring, but there are always one or two students that end up surprising you at things like this."
I allowed Zane's words to sink in. I couldn't disagree with that but what about last year?
"Who surprised you last year?"
Alexis seemed to pay attention now as well. All the attention was on Zane. He didn't dare glance over at either one of us.
"Don't you think it's obvious at this point?"
"No." Alexis and I said in unison. Zane sighed.
"It was you. Imagine what Atticus and I thought when we saw this small girl wearing this huge biker jacket and beat the test proctor in two turns."
I smiled. I could remember that day better than most days at the academy. I remembered the way my body felt as though it were glowing when I won. Even though I had no friends at the school it felt as though I were the star after that win.
The first person to talk to me after the win was Atticus. His face shined with a smile when he greeted me outside the arena after the examinations were over. He gave me words of encouragements and told me how great I had dueled. Zane was with him too, yet he didn't say a word. He stood a few feet away from his friend and acted as though my duel wasn't impressive at all.
Hearing that I did in fact impressed Zane that day created a ripple of excitement through my body. I could barely grasp the words coming out of his mouth.
"I never realized."
"Well Atticus always had a way of expressing his excited side."
There was no doubt about that. In fact Atticus showed more emotion than Zane did any day.
"You two flirted too much back in those days anyway."
I gasped harshly for air. The comment took me so off guard that when I realized exactly what he said I was a deep shade of purple. The one month that Atticus and I dated was the most awkward and fun month of my Duel Academy existence.
My days were filled my giggles caused by jokes and days spent at the beach. The one month Atticus and I spent together as a couple was great only it got awkward and almost ruined the tight friend ship we had.
Despite the relationship lasting so little that didn't stop the amount of times the two of us jokingly flirted with one another. This however was not something I wanted to admit to Zane.
"We were not." I argued back in defense.
A cocky smile spread across his lips.
"What do you call it then?"
"Socializing,"
Zane raised his hands in the air playfully and rolled his eyes as though he would like to be excused.
I giggled before I noticed how silent Alexis was. Realization drowning over me. I had forgotten how sensitive the topic of Atticus was for the blonde.
"You alright Alexis?"
She seemed to realize the way she shut off at that moment. She jumped slightly and smiled the best she could, but it was clear from the look in her eyes she was haunted of the thought of her brother absence.
"Yeah, I'm fine, don't worry about me."
Of course this made us worry even more.
"You sure Lexi."
She nodded, "I'm sure Zane."
Zane and I exchanged a look. We knew better. Even though I didn't know Alexis the way Zane did, I knew enough about her from Atticus to know she wasn't alright with his disappearance. They were close, maybe even closer than I was with Aster.
My eyes fell upon Tsarina and Kaiser who still stood in the spot I had left them in. Tsarina was leaning across Kaiser, trying to talk to Alexis who stood at Kaiser's other side. The expression on Alexis' face made me know they were having a serious conversation of some sort.
I gawked at the sight of Alexis Rhodes. She was unbelievably beautiful with her long gold locks and emerald eyes. Her skin seemed silky smooth to the touch. I wish I had the ability to touch her and to please her the way I had always wanted to.
The longer I stared at the sign of Alexis the more my eyes seemed to travel over to Tsarina. She had a different beauty than Alexis. She was cute, not hot. She had a round face and deep blue eyes that anyone could get lost in. She was short and animated like. I had to wonder who she really was. There wasn't anyone at Duel Academy who hadn't heard about the Snow Queen of Obelisk Blue.
I had to mentally slap myself. This wasn't the event to go and stare at girls; it was the time to find out which losers were going to attend Duel Academy. I turned my head back down to the duels taking place in the arena.
Two of the kids I had gone to duel prep school with, called my name. I glanced over at them with the corner of my eyes to see what they wanted. They both seemed interested in me, or rather something I had done.
"Who were you looking at Chazz?"
"Yeah Chazz, was it Alexis?"
They both turned right over on their seats to stare up at Alexis. From the looks of it Alexis and her friends didn't even notice the staring eyes looking at her. I rolled my eyes and forced them back at the duel, ignoring the temptation to stare right back up at the blondes.
"I wasn't looking at Alexis. I was wondering what Tsarina's real name was."
"Oh, that an easy one," one of them began, "That's Ivy Phoenix, she's the second best duelist at this school, right behind the Kaiser. I even heard a rumor that she even beat Kaiser a few times, but no one is there when it happened."
I closed my eyes and the image of Ivy popped into my head. The vivid colors of what she was wearing streamed into my mind. Ivy. I liked that name, it suited her.
It was difficult to imagine a duel between her and Kaiser. I had heard the way Truesdale used his Cyber Dragons when he duels and imagining him losing to her, made no sense.
I huffed at the thought and focused my attention back on the duels below.
"Is that Crowler?" Zane questioned suddenly.
My eyes darted toward the field. It wasn't hard to find Dr. Crowler in the mix with his long blue blazer hanging to ankle length. All the duels seemed to be finished with except with one student. He was a brunette, about a few inches taller than myself. He and Crowler were strutting onto the field.
What seemed to shock Zane and myself the most was the fact that is was Crowler down there on the field. He never dueled anyone- not even in the academy. The professor had his duel vest already attached to him, he was meaning business that was for sure.
"I wonder what he's doing down there?"
Zane shrugged with his arms crossed over his chest. The kid dueling Crowler had already taken his place on the field opposite of the professor. I frowned. I couldn't help but feel as though Crowler was taking advantage of this freshman.
"I feel almost bad for the kid."
Zane stood stiff as a board; Alexis however nodded her head in agreement.
"It should be an interesting duel." commented Zane.
Interesting I suppose, considering the type of deck he has, too bad that kid had no chance against Crowler.
I stood there wide mouth and feeling incredibly stupid. The sight of Dr. Crowler being beat by the kid was unimaginable. He was amazing, but just knowing that someone could beat Dr. Crowler's rare cards made us all question exactly how good this kid really was. Zane licked his lips his brow filing in a strange angel. He was thinking. It probably had something to do with the how good the kid was. Maybe he was the only one that impressed Zane all day.
"That guy's good. He just might be able to beat you Zaney." I teased.
He huffed, rolling his eyes. He took a sudden step away from the rail he was resting on during the duel. He looked pissed off from the comment. I followed his movements off the rails and grabbed onto his arm.
"I was joking around Kaiser." I giggled in defense.
"I realize that but at the same time; your jokes never were funny."
My mouth hung wide open in shock. He smirked at his own comment. It was obvious he was joking around.
"You suck Truesdale!" I yelled as he walked away from Alexis and I. We watched as he held his hand in the air giving the two of us a wave goodbye.