Chapter I: The Brilliant Idea
Hello Yu-Gi-Oh GX fans, and welcome to the first joint venture between me and my fellow Dysfunctional Sibling, 15animefreak15! She came up with the idea to write a story and we collaborated over a couple of days. It was a joy to collaborate with her and we went in directions I never thought we'd go. It was a lot of fun! And so begins "A Guy's Worst Nightmare." The characters Rosa Jimenez and Violet Haverbrook belong to 15animefreak15, while Annie Hanson belongs to me. And so…enjoy the show and the insanity!
Disclaimers and legal stuff: We don't own Yu-Gi-Oh GX. James Cameron is the rightful owner of the 1997 movie, "Titanic." Diane Warren owns "Faith of the Heart," which was sung by Rod Stewart and later Russell Watson. Walter Lord is the author of "A Night to Remember," which was made into the successful 1958 film, though its historical accuracy is in question in light of the discovery of Titanic's wreckage in the mid-1990s. "A Walk to Remember" was a romance novel written by Nicholas Sparks and was made into a movie released by Warner Brothers Pictures.
Authors' note, over four years later: This tale's plot remains largely unchanged; however, some spelling errors made at the time are being corrected in this edition. This was a pilot episode of sorts for our wildly successful series of tales. Now that Peach has a little time on her hands, she's making some minor repairs, tweaking it to fit with the rest of our alternate universe or timeline, if you will. This mild tweaking was done with her co-author's help.
It was a beautiful sunny day at Duel Academy and yet…something was amiss. The boys at the school had as of late been insensitive clods. Chancellor Andrew Sheppard had called a meeting with the female staff and faculty of Duel Academy to deal with this after conventional methods had failed. In desperation, they had decided to turn to the female Duel Academy students. And so, they called in the Obelisk Blue girls. Among the girls that now filed into a medium-sized classroom were a Latino girl with chocolate-brown eyes, ruddy-brown hair and a heart-shaped face, a girl with green eyes and purple hair pulled back into a ponytail, and another girl with dark brown, slightly curly hair. No one knew exactly why Chancellor Sheppard had called them into the room, but they were all slightly nervous.
"Annie?" Violet asked. She was 15 years old and the one with the purple hair. She was sweet, but she also had a tendency to fight if she had to. This had led to her being in detention on more than one occasion. She and Bastion Misawa had been friends since their first year, perhaps because they appeared to be total opposites. When he was reserved, she was outgoing. While he used an expansive vocabulary, she was reaching for the dictionary. Yet somehow, the two had struck up a friendship that seemed on the verge of becoming more. It was well-known among the Obelisk Blues that while Violet wasn't the greatest of students, she was one of the most loyal and entertaining. "You don't this is about us girls fighting, do you?"
"I doubt it, Violet. Maybe it's that they're finally letting me have a Star Trek club!" Annie said excitedly, but then sighed. "The chancellor would've talked to me about it first, though, so I could've made a presentation about how cool it is…"
"If you say so, Annie," Violet said, laughing a little. Annie was a confirmed Star Trek fan, and Violet tolerated it. Annie was the girl with the dark brown curly hair and blue eyes. She was a brilliant Obelisk Blue and an acceptable duelist. She was also slightly heavier than a lot of the girls at school and consequently had gotten permission to modify her uniforms so she had a longer skirt and a more modest top. The 16-year-old girl was quite sensitive about her looks and was convinced she wasn't pretty.
"Oh, Dios mìo, could this be about my Spanish for España club?" Rosa, the red-headed Latino girl wondered.
"Man, I hope this isn't about the little prank we pulled on Doctor Crowler last week," Alexis Rhodes, the dishwater blonde-haired brown-eyed Queen of Obelisk Blue whispered to her roommates, a red-headed girl and a dark-haired girl who suddenly looked fearful. However, within a few short minutes, the girls' fears were discovered to be groundless.
"Good morning, girls," Chancellor Andrew Sheppard greeted. "We have a situation that requires that our male students learn to be gentlemen in and out of the dueling arena, as they have lately forgotten their manners. As you all know, there was that incident when Mrs. Wheeler came to Duel Academy and she and another co-founder have requested that our boys undergo some sort of sensitivity training. As you all may know by now, last week's sensitivity training workshop did not go well for the male members of this school. Therefore, we will entertain more… unorthodox methods to help them get in touch with their softer sides again. How would you ladies propose we deal with this?" And then there was dead silence. "Anyone have any ideas?" When the silence continued, he sighed. "Let's let you discuss among yourselves for a bit."
Alexis sighed as she sat next to her friends and roommates. "Any ideas?"
Mindy Carrington, Alexis's dark-haired friend, frowned. "I'd suggest cotillion, but it's expensive and a lot of the guys would hate it. I didn't like it either when Mom and Bubby Sarah made me do it. I think you can learn to be polite without the suits and ties or the dresses and gloves."
Jasmine Fairbanks nodded in agreement, grimacing. Her mother had tried to get her to go to cotillion classes, but the redhead had refused. "But would they respond any better to regular etiquette lessons?"
"That's true, but it might be the best we can do…"
When Chancellor Sheppard called the girls to order, Alexis, Mindy and Jasmine made their suggestions. "…I think the potential weakness is the same if we had a sensitivity training workshop again. Most of the guys would resent it and fail the training," the blonde Obelisk explained. "It might work, though…"
The girls discussed this, debating just how well it might work. Finally the chancellor called a vote. "All in favor of cotillion?" Only a few hands raised. "All opposed?" Several hands raised. "The motion for cotillion is not carried. All in favor of traditional etiquette lessons?" The result was the same. And the truth of the matter was that the girls didn't want to have to suffer through it too. "All right, I'm open to other suggestions." Two hands shot up from the small crowd of girls. "Yes, you two?" called Sheppard.
"Chick flicks!" squealed Annie and Violet. They had wracked their brains and this very odd idea was what came up.
"Chick flicks?" he asked, suddenly confused.
"Well," Annie Hanson started and then blushed, noticing that she was in the back of the room, everyone staring back at her. Had she been at the front of the room, she wouldn't be blushing furiously, but being at the back of the room was another story.
Violet had no problem taking up the answer. "Chick flicks are great for bringing out a guy's sensitive side! No one can hold back tears at the end of Titanic. I know it made my father and older brother bawl like three-year olds," she explained in all seriousness.
Some of the girls snickered and for some reason, Annie gained courage. "Well, that is one good point, Violet. But...I think what Mrs. Wheeler wants is to see our guys...get in touch with their softer sides so they won't do what they did. I... got to see her last year at a dueling convention. She was really cool."
Violet was about to build on that when the name "Wheeler" registered in her brain. "Wheeler? You mean like Joey Wheeler? Oh my goodness! He's so cute!" she squealed, blushing crimson.
"Yeah...That's her husband. Mai is so awesome and Joey is really nice. He came up to her with their kids after a duel... and he said win or lose, she was his everything," Annie sighed, hoping she'd find a guy like that.
Violet was hunched over, bad vibes emanating from her. She now straightened, crossing her arms over her chest with an indignant frown on her face. "I might like her, but I wish he was still single! Anyway, back to the point. Chick flicks plus guys equal intense sensitivity training. Plain and simple. Besides, I don't hear any better ideas."
"Well...um...what do the female leaders of this school think?" the chancellor asked, looking toward Dorothy, Miss Fontaine and the other female instructors of Duel Academy.
"I say it's a great idea. Nothing like a good romance!" said Dorothy.
"Well," Fonda Fontaine mused, "if all else fails, the students will become more interested in their studies. But a good romantic comedy can help you relax. Plus, both the boys and girls might learn how to better relate to each other." The other female instructors nodded in agreement.
"Well then, young ladies? Shall we do it? All in favor of the Duel Academy Chick Flick Day?" Chancellor Shepherd asked, smiling kindly at the girls.
Everyone raised their hands, Violet nearly popping her arm out of its socket. Some of the girls were thinking the same thing. Maybe I'll find someone there!
"Motion carried! Now, what movie would you girls like to watch? And remember that we have to pick something that's somewhat educational," Chancellor Sheppard said calmly. A few of the girls groaned.
Jasmine raised her hand. "How about Autumn in New York? It follows a couple that meets and falls in love. It… doesn't end well."
Violet blew a raspberry at that suggestion while Jasmine rolled her eyes. "The Titanic's a way better tearjerker! Plus it probably has enough action to make the guys pay attention," the purple-haired girl countered, grinning.
"Um...there are two versions, guys," Annie said shyly.
Violet face-faulted, quickly standing to look at Annie like she had five eyes. "There are? Why did no one tell me about this?" Violet yelped.
"Well…oh crud, I did it again," Annie groaned. She knew she had a terrible habit of telling more than she needed to.
"You lost me. What exactly did you do again?" asked Violet, frowning.
"I brought up something that maybe I didn't need to...my brain just doesn't know when to shut up..."
"Nah, it's okay! I'm just overreacting again!" replied Violet. She slapped Annie's back good-naturedly, perhaps a little too hard, and turned to Sheppard. "Sound good, Chancellor?"
"All right, but Annie, what were you referring to?"
"Uh, there's A Night to Remember which is largely considered historically inaccurate and then James Cameron's Titanic which is considerably more accurate," Annie said. The girls were looking at her with awe, shock and in some cases, disgust, as they often did when Annie showed her strange ability to recall unusual details.
Violet was staring into space, twirling one of her purple locks with a finger. Apparently, she could care less about the historical accuracy of the films. "Very well, then. We'll watch the more historically accurate version. Any other ideas?" asked Sheppard.
"How about My Big Fat Greek Wedding?" Mindy offered. "It could be argued as education on cultural sensitivity."
"I've never seen it, but it sounds funny. I second the motion!" yelled Violet.
"Right...those two movies it is. We'll set up a special projector screen in the largest lecture hall," Sheppard stated, sweat-dropping. "You're all dismissed." He sweat-dropped again as a "Finally!" echoed around the room, having likely come from Violet.
"YAY!" Annie squealed.
"We did it, Annie! High-five!" yelled Violet, holding up her palm.
Annie giggled, returning the high-five. "I think you might be able to convince Bastion to come..."
At the mention of said genius's name, a light blush crossed Violet's cheeks. Oh, I won't let her get away with that! she thought. "Yeah, and you could probably get Sy to come, too," replied Violet, smirking knowingly.
Annie flushed a bit. "Like he'd go out with me," she sighed. She'd nursed a silent crush since last year when she'd seen the small then-Slifer Red in class. She'd later seen him seemingly skulking outside the girls' dorm. She'd then seen what looked like Dr. Crowler in a very revealing wetsuit. Alexis, Mindy and Jasmine had helped confirm that it was indeed Crowler later after Alexis's duel with Jaden. Annie had run to the Slifer dormitories and talked to the blue-haired boy. They had become firm friends since.
Violet grinned and elbowed Annie in a friendly way, sending her a wink. "Let's make a deal. I'll try to make Genius Boy mine, and you steal that little cutie's heart, got it?" she offered, holding out her hand.
"Maybe...we'll just go as friends," Annie said softly. She'd never had a boyfriend and had never really had a date. In fact, a boy had said he'd liked her in the sixth grade and she'd been happy and then he'd used that to make fun of her. While she wished Sy was more than a friend, she couldn't stop worrying that he wouldn't feel the same.
Violet pouted, then frowned as her mood darkened. I'm being too direct again. Hell, I'd probably lose Bastion as fast as I lost Mike, she thought. She didn't notice that her head was hanging, pale hand clutching her opposite arm tightly.
"You won't lose him. I think he likes you for you," Annie smiled knowingly. She'd seen her friend like this before.
Violet's head shot up in surprise, turning to look at her friend with wide eyes. Annie knew about Mike, but Violet didn't think she'd be able to tell that's what she was worried about. "I hope you're right, Annie. I don't think I could take another heart break," muttered Violet, biting her bottom lip.
"He's different, Vi. We've known him for a year and a half." They headed from the room, Annie with her arm around her friend. And she started to hum a song she hoped would calm her friend down.
"But he might not like my differences. What if it's too much? What if he's okay with them in a friend but not in a girlfriend?" Violet wondered. She took a few deep breaths, Annie's humming helping to calm her down. Flashbacks of the event still tended to hit her when she least expected them, and humming was a relaxation technique she had learned to cope with them.
Annie ceased humming. "Violet, I think if Bastion likes your differences as a friend, I think he'd like them if you two started dating. Mind if I sing a little?"
"Of course I don't mind. You have such a nice voice." Violet smiled softly, feeling she had to comfort Annie as well. "You know, I don't think Syrus would have the heart to reject you. He's too nice for that."
Annie sighed. "I don't want to lose him as a friend. He's shy too, but… maybe we just need to have faith." She began to sing one of her favorite songs, "Faith of the Heart."
Violet nodded and listened to her sing, a soft breeze from the ocean ruffling the girls' hair. Something tells me things will work out. They just have to...
Annie sang out, her voice catching in the wind. Maybe...he'll want to be more than a friend...
In another room, Alexis Rhodes, Queen of Obelisk Blue, heard Annie. Maybe Jaden will finally realize I'm interested and like me back, she thought, smiling.
Rosa was leaning against the wall, nose stuck in a Spanish romance novel. Oh, Lorenzo, you're so dreamy. If only Hassleberry had as much nerve as you. He is too afraid of being less than a gentleman, Rosa glanced up and thought as the girls passed, hearing Annie's song and smiling. Maybe he will finally relax….
And finally Annie concluded with the last line of the song, wondering where the school would be in a couple of days.
And that concludes chapter one, everybody! What madness awaits the girls and the boys? Just stay tuned and please read and review! 15animefreak15 and I await your opinions!