'Ello! Welcome to a collab fic between myself and my best friend, Guardian Soul. Go look at her work because it's amazing - as you'll see in this chapter :) We alrernate between chapters. Also, you'll notice we follow the dub, so those names will be used, as well as having zero knowledge of the fourth season- which depresses us greatly.
Disclaimer: Guardian Soul and Winter Poison do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! GX. If we did, the dub would have gone up to the fourth season.
"Come on, Sy!" Jaden said, tugging on his friend's arm as he tried to pull the shorter teen into the gym. Duel Academy was celebrating its tenth birthday that year, and to commemorate this occasion Chancellor Sheppard had organized a dance for the students. Since the moment Jaden Yuki had heard about the event he had not stopped talking about it, which would have been a nice reprieve from his constant dueling tirades had he not insisted on Syrus joining in the festivities.
"Jaden!" Syrus whined. He attempted to pull away from the brunette's grasp, but Jaden was stronger and much more determined.
"Syrus, really, you're going to a dance, not the electric chair," Jaden told him.
"There's a difference?" groaned Syrus.
"Big one," Jaden said. "Like, dances are fun and electrics chairs…aren't. You'll have fun, okay? A lot more fun if you actually go in instead of listening to the music out here."
Jaden swung himself around so that he was behind Syrus and started to push his friend forward, which turned out to be no more successful than pulling him. The blue-haired boy had a stubborn hold on the ground where he stood. He was bracing his body against Jaden, tensing each of his muscles in a desperate attempt to save himself for the humiliation that he was sure awaited him at his first-ever school dance.
"Jaden, why don't you just go yourself?" Syrus suggested meekly.
"Because it's no fun to go myself," Jaden stated matter-of-factly. "What are you so worried about, anyway? What's the worst that could happen?"
"The worst?" Syrus asked. "Um, that would be that I'm left sitting alone in a corner, with no one to talk to because everyone else who can dance and make conversation and have fun are off having a good time."
"Aw, come on! Like I'd let that happen!"
"Well…"
"Okay," Jaden cut him off. "You want to take a dare?"
"Um…Not really."
"Will you at least listen to it?" asked Jaden. Syrus cautiously glanced at the dueling prodigy, worried by the smile playing over Jaden's features. "Go in there and ask the very first girl you see to dance. You do that, and you can dare me to do anything you want, okay?"
Syrus was silent, considering this proposition. Jaden was practically bouncing due to the mixture of excitement and anticipation coursing through his body. He nudged Syrus's shoulder, urging him to answer. Syrus bit his lower lip and pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose.
"Fine," he said finally. "Fine, let's go."
"Yes!" Jaden cheered, throwing his fist in the air. "You won't be sorry!"
The DJ's music pounded even through the walls of the ladies' room, the beat vibrating up the walls and across the floor. When it reached Lacey's legs it continued to rattle up them, slowly filling her body with the rhythm of the latest hip hop tunes. At any other time she might have found this cool. Currently, though, she was just trying to apply some eyeliner without drawing all over her face.
"I still don't know why you dragged me here," Lacey's friend, Spade, said. She was leaning against a sink beside Lacey, her arms crossed over her chest.
"Oh, I don't know," Lacey replied. "Maybe because it's a dance, and typically teenage girls go to dances to do things like dance, frolic, and enjoy themselves all while listening to insanely loud music that parents and teachers disapprove of and spending time with friends?"
"We're going to frolic?" Spade inquired, a delicate eyebrow raised in question.
"Among other things." Lacey slammed her eyeliner pencil onto the sink's lip, a frustrated sigh slipping past her lips. "That's it. I can't win."
"Does that mean we can go?" Spade asked hopefully, dropping her arms to her sides as she launched herself off of the sink she'd been leaning on.
"Nope," Lacey replied, and the sound that came from the other girl made it seem as though all of her lifelong hopes and dreams had been crushed by that simple word. "It just means I can't apply eyeliner when the floor is moving. Besides, you promised me we'd stay for an hour and you still have approximately twenty minutes until we leave."
Spade glanced at her watch, which she had insisted on wearing, despite her friend's protested, the minute Lacey had told her they would only stay an hour. "Actually, it's twenty-four minutes and fifteen seconds."
"Even better," Lacey said, her brown eyes lighting when she smiled. Spade shook her hand and raked her fingers through her snowy hair.
"Have I told you lately that I hate you?" she asked. Lacey slid her eyeliner back into her purse and glanced up at her friend.
"Only every ten minutes since we got here."
"Oh," Spade said, and then she added, "Well, I hate you."
"I love you too, hun," Lacey said as she slung her bag over her shoulder. "Now, let's go!"
She linked arms with her friend, her smile growing across her face as she led the other girl out of the bathroom and into the hall. As they made their way back into the gym, Spade glanced down at her watch again. Twenty-three minutes and forty-two seconds.
The gym, usually only made useful for physical education classes, had been decorated with streamers and glitter and a huge 'Happy Birthday Duel Academy' banner along the back wall. When he walked inside, Syrus stayed close by Jaden with his eyes closed, letting the sound of his friend's footsteps guide them into the gym. When they got further into the gym, however, Jaden's footsteps faded into the mesh of girl's heels clicking on the floor and the laughter and shouting of various teens and the throbbing music coming from the DJ across the room. Because of all these noises melding together in his ears, Syrus was not able to hear Jaden suddenly stop walking. This caused the blue-haired teen to slam right into his friend. Jaden gasped, throwing his arms to stop himself from falling.
"Woah, Sy," Jaden said, turning around to find Syrus with eyes still closed. "Okay, that bet we made? Hard to ask the first girl to see to dance if you can't see anyone."
"Aww," Syrus muttered, defeated. "There goes that plan."
"Just open your eyes, okay? And then first girl you see, you ask to dance. That's all you have to do," Jaden instructed. Syrus sighed, the knowledge that he had already bound himself to this ridiculous dare the only thing running over and over again through his head.
You can do this, he thought. He kept repeating that as he drew in a breath and slowly opened his eyes.
"Uh…Jaden? There's a problem."
"What's that?" Jaden asked, looking back at his friend. Syrus pointed ahead of him and Jaden followed his gaze, his eyes landing on a pair of girls just walking into the gym from the hallway, their arms linked together.
"There's two of them."
"Sweet!" Jaden exclaimed, his trademark grin working its way to his eyes. "I'll ask one, you ask the other."
"Uh, sure," replied Syrus. He clasped his hands together, twiddling his thumb as he followed Jaden towards the pair of blondes. They were both the same height, one wearing a red dress and the other a white button down shirt and dress pants. The first was walking in strappy black heels while the other had casual converse sneakers.
"Hi!" Jaden greeted, waving as he approached the girls. The one in red smiled, nudging her friend.
"Hi there," she replied.
"I'm Jaden," the brunette introduced, and then he pushed his small friend forward. "This is Syrus."
Syrus gave a timid smile and a wave. The girls smiled at them as they released each other arms.
"I'm Lacey," the first said.
"And I'm Spade," said the second. "It's nice to meet you guys."
"You, too!" Jaden said. He nudged Syrus's arm with his elbow, causing the smaller boy to gasp.
"Oh," he squeaked, glancing rapidly between Jaden, Lacey and Spade. "Um, I…I,uh…Well, we…"
"Yes?" Spade urged, her head tilted to the side. Her short hair, when it grazed against her shoulder, almost matched her shirt in color.
"Uh, well, I- I mean, we just…We were wondering if…If you guys…Do you want to dance?" he stammered. Lacey giggled, her hand fluttered up to her mouth as if she could catch the sound. Spade's eyes went wide with panic, watching as her friend then reached over to take Syrus's arm.
"Sure," she said. "We'll dance with you guys."
"We will?" Spade blurted. Lacey started to lead Syrus towards the dance floor, looking back over her shoulder to talk with Spade.
"Of course we will, Spade, you've gotta have some fun. One dance won't kill you!"
"That's what you think!" Spade exclaimed.
"Come on," Jaden laughed. "She's right. Just one dance?"
Spade thought for a moment, watching as Lacey quickly found the rhythm to sway her hips to, Syrus standing beside her and trying to figure out how to move his body without looking like a fool. She looked back at Jaden, her blue eyes narrowing slightly.
"One," she cautioned, holding up her index finger. Jaden nodded and walked towards their friends, Spade following reluctantly behind him. Jaden, although not as smooth a dancer as others in the gym, seemed to find dancing among his many talents. Spade glanced at the three other people around her, then at the crowd of teenager bouncing to the music. She sighed and tapped her foot against the floor, moving her hands and arms around just to humor everybody.
"Hey, Ace?" she shouted over the music, but before Lacey had a chance to respond Jaden had grabbed Spade's hand, spinning her around in a circle. "Ack! What are you doing?"
"Dancing!" Jaden said. Spade groaned as Jaden spun her again in another flailing, far-from-graceful turn.
"Ace?" Spade said again the moment Jaden released her.
"I know, I know," Lacey said. "You hate me."
"At least you know it," sighed Spade. Lacey shook her head and she continued to dance.
"Um," Syrus hummed just loud enough for her to hear.
"Yeah?" she asked.
"Should I, um…Am I supposed to…spin you, or something?" he asked timidly. Lacey smiled, offering him her hand.
"You can if you want," she said. Syrus took her hand, hoping she didn't notice that his was trembling ever so slightly.
"Um…I don't really know how to do this….I, uh, never really danced before," he explained nervously.
"It's cool," she said. She lifted his arm, their fingers still intertwined, and ducked under it, twirling a bit as she arrived at his other side. "It just goes like that."
"Oh," Syrus said, smiling. He spun her back the other way, grinning wide when she smiled.
"There you go!" she encouraged. Jaden took Spade's hand again, tugging her towards him and spinning her again.
"Oh, God," she groaned as Jaden made them turn in a circle together. That was when Spade bumped into another girl. She stumbled backwards, tightening her grip on Jaden's hand so she didn't fall. "Sorry," Spade mumbled. The girl turned, brushing her long her over her shoulder.
"Oh, don't worry about it," she said. She smoothed out her green dress as she smiled at Spade. Then her golden gaze turned to Jaden, her eyebrows knitting together in an expression of confusion. "Jaden?"
"Hey, Alexis!" Jaden said cheerfully. He dropped Spade's hand and rubbed the back of his neck a little nervously.
"Hi," she said slowly.
"Uh, this is Spade," Jaden said, pointing to the girl in question. "And that's Lacey," he continued, noticing that Lacey and Syrus had apparently seen the awkward exchange between himself and Alexis and had come to stand by them.
"Hi," Alexis said, looking over each of the girls.
"We're transfers," Lacey explained.
"Oh, I see," Alexis said and her smile returned to her lips.
"Transfers?" Jaden asked. "So that means you're in Slifer?"
"Hence the red," said Lacey, tugging at her skirt.
"She likes to show dorm pride," Spade added. Then she noticed that the last beats of the song were fading into the background and she threw her hands the air triumphantly. "Thank you, Jesus!" she exclaimed. "My one dance is over. Let's go find a table and sit."
"Fine, a deal's a deal," Lacey replied. "I need to get these shoes off anyway."
"You guys can come to my table," Alexis suggested. "My friends are off dancing anyway, so I doubt anyone will be there."
"You're sure that's okay?" Spade asked. Alexis nodded her head.
"Sure, come on!" She lead the way to a table in the far corner of the gym, far enough away from the music that you could talk below a yell and have your friends still be able to hear you. Jaden and Syrus plopped down in seats beside each other, Lacey and Spade taking to the two seats opposite them. Alexis settled in the middle of the group. Lacey leaned over, slipping off her shoes and shoving them underneath her seat.
"Ahh, much better," she said.
"I don't understand why you insisted on wearing those," Spade told her. "You knew you were going to take them off, anyway."
"They're cute," Lacey protested. "You cannot deny me cute shoes!"
A hand slammed suddenly on the table, causing everyone to jump. They all turned to see a new boy standing behind Alexis, one hand resting on the back of her chair, the other flat against the tabletop. He flashed a white smile to the group and slipped into an empty seat between Alexis and Lacey.
"Hey," he said as he brushed his dark bangs away from his eyes.
"Hi," Jaden said. Syrus, Lacey and Spade just waved while Alexis leaned back in her seat, giving this new boy a strange kind of sideways glance.
"Didn't you drag Zane here or something?" she inquired. The boy shrugged his shoulders.
"Yeah, why?"
"Where is he?"
"Oh, he's off being a boring wallflower somewhere," he replied. Alexis shook her head, propping her elbow on the table and holding her head in her hand.
"It seems like we all have a friend like that," Lacey laughed, giving a discreet glance in Spade's direction. Spade whacked her arm playfully.
"Hey, I may be a wallflower, but I am anything but boring!" Lacey held up her hands in defense.
"Okay, fine! You're my not-boring-wallflower-friend," she corrected.
"Thank you," Spade said. The boy raised an eyebrow at the two.
"Um, you guys are…?"
"Oh, sorry," Alexis said. "Guys, this is my brother, Atticus. Atticus, this is Lacey and Spade."
Atticus seemed like he was about to say something to the girls, or perhaps even offer his hand for them to shake, but he was quickly distracted by the familiar opening strains of a classic song drifting from the DJ's speakers.
"Finally!" he shouted. Alexis started shaking her head, covering her eyes with one hand.
"Oh no, please don't," she begged, but her brother was already lost in the song.
"Summer lovin', had me a blast!" Lacey perked up, recognizing the lyrics. Spade saw that familiar gleam in her friend's eyes and shook her head as well.
"Lacey…"
"Summer lovin', happened so fast!"
"I met a girl, crazy for me!"
"Met a boy, cute as can be!"
"Atticus, please stop," Alexis pleaded, grabbing her brother's arm.
"Lacey, you can't sing," Spade chided. The two were, however, evidently inside their own world in which their voices sounded good compared to those of John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John.
"Summer days, driftin' away, to uh-oh those summer nights!"
"You like Grease?" Atticus asked.
"Love it," Lacey replied.
"Hmmm," he hummed, tapping his index finger to his chin as he thought. "Hairspray?"
"The Broadway show was infinitely better than the movies."
"West Side Story?"
"Can't live without it."
"Guys and Dolls?"
"You're Rocking the Boat gets stuck in my head constantly." Atticus smiled.
"What was your name again?" he asked.
"Lacey," she replied. "You can call me Ace."
"Ace," he repeated, feeling the word on his tongue. "I like it."
The music pounded in their ears, causing the two to abandon their conversation in favor of the song.
"She swam by me, she got a cramp," Atticus sang.
"He ran by me, got my suit damp," Lacey continued.
"I saved her life, she nearly drowned!"
"He showed off, splashing around! Summer sun, something's begun, but uh-oh those summer nights!"
Spade glanced mischievously over at the pair of off-key singers, a sly smirk playing over her lips. She couldn't stop these two from singing an awful rendition of the classic Grease song, but she could certainly derail their performance a bit.
"UH WELL-A, WELL-A, WELL-A, UH!" she shouted as loud as she could, her voice carry over the recording. "Tell me more, tell me more, was it love at first sight? Tell me more, tell me more, did she put up a fight?"
Lacey turned her head slowly to face Spade. The blonde grinned, waving sweetly to her friend as she leaned back in her chair. She glanced down at her watch, her eyes going wide when she saw the digital numbers blinking up at her.
"Well, now that I have your attention," she said, holding up her arm and tapping the face of the watch, "I can tell you that we've now been here fifteen minutes longer than you promised, and we can leave now."
"Party pooper," Lacey said with a pout.
"Hey, you promised." Lacey leaned down, grabbing her heels by their straps. She adjusted her bag on her shoulder as she stood up, Spade excitedly following suit.
"Well, it's been fun, you guys," Lacey said.
"Yeah, yeah, lots of fun," Spade said, waving to the small group. "Let's go, Ace."
"Wait," Jaden said. "We're in Slifer, too." He motioned to himself and Syrus. "We can walk you back to the dorms."
"You sure?" Lacey said. "We don't want to cut your night short or anything."
"Nah, it's fine," Jaden said. The girls looked to Syrus, who eagerly nodded in agreement.
"Okay, sure, that sounds good," Lacey said.
"Can we go now?" Spade asked. Her words her rushed so much so that they all seemed to run together, and she was bouncing on the balls of her feet. "Please?"
"Yeah, yeah, let's go. Bye Alexis! See ya, Atticus," Lacey said. Jaden and Syrus rose to their feet and said their goodbyes and the small group of four went towards the gymnasium doors, Spade hurrying in front of the other three.
"She really hates dances, doesn't she?" Jaden said.
"Oh yeah," replied Lacey.
"I completely understand it," said Syrus.
"Come on, don't tell me you didn't have any fun," Jaden said, bumping the teen's arm with his elbow. "You can't deny it."
"I can!" Spade called back.
"No one asked you!" Lacey said. Spade spun around, walking backwards and sticking her tongue out at her friend. Lacey was about to reciprocate the gesture when her friend suddenly tripped on a tiny rock in the path, her arms pinwheeling in a desperate attempt to catch herself. Lacey smiled when she came up to the fallen girl and offered her hand. Spade grabbed it tight and hung limply, forcing Lacey to heave her entire body weight up.
"Thanks," Spade said.
"Whatever." They came up to the Slifer dorms, finding most of the lights already out. Only a handful of other red-dorm stragglers were making their way back into their rooms. "Well, we're this way," Lacey said, pointing to the right.
"We're straight ahead," Jaden said.
"I guess we'll see you guys around?" Syrus asked.
"Definitely," the girls said in unison. They said their goodnights and headed their separate ways. The girls came to their door and Lacey rummaged through her bag, fishing for her key. Spade was hopping up and down beside her, impatient, but before Lacey would open they door she posed a question.
"Now, tell me the truth," she said. "Was tonight really that awful?"
Spade rolled her eyes, a long, melodramatic sigh breezing past her lips. "Fine, I'll humor you. It wasn't actually a totally, completely awful night."
"Thank you," Lacey said. She pushed open the door and allowed Spade to go in before her. "By the way, you owe me five bucks."
"I hate you, Ace."
"I love you too, Spade."
Well? Did you enjoy it? We certainly hope you did! Please let us know in a review! Once again, I'd like to mention that the credit to this chapter goes to Guardian Soul :)
~Winty