Chapter Two

Dear Olive,

Hey! How are you doing? I don't have a lot to say, but I wanted to write to you one last time before you come home. There's not a lot going on here, which I'm sort of grateful for. After all that happened at Duelist Kingdom, it's sort of nice to relax. Kaiba's been developing a new technology that transports you to a virtual world. We sort of got to experience it, but that's another long story. Other than that, we haven't heard from him. We do see Mokuba from time to time though. Tea has dance every single day. I swear, when she's not dancing, she's at work. Bakura is working and hasn't been around much. It'll be nice to get back to school where we can all hang out with each other. Everyone misses you. Can't wait to see you, Olive!

Sincerely, Yugi

Dear Olive,

Tea keeps bugging me to write to you, so what's up, Reynolds?

Joey

P.S. Tristan says hi.

Olive,

I haven't seen you in so long! I still can't believe you didn't call me before you left. But whatever. I guess I can forgive you. I don't have a lot to say, but Tea said you were coming home in a couple weeks. We miss you.

Best wishes, Bakura

Dear Olive,

I can't wait to see you! You have no idea how boring life has been working here at Kaiba Land without my favorite Olive ever dropping by to say hi to me. My brother will never admit it either, and I promise he won't write to you, but he misses you. He told me not to write that, but I'm going to anyway. Well, I can't wait for you to get home! I hope you're having a good time. Send pictures!

Love, Mokuba

Hi Baby!

Oh, Olive, I miss you sooooo much! I can't wait to see you! I had something else to tell you, but I can't remember what it was.

Love, Mom

When I finished reading the letters, I looked through the pictures. There was a picture of my mom at the store. She was standing behind the front counter, grinning and making the peace sign with her fingers. Her long blonde hair was done in tight ringlets that fell to her waist. Her dark green eyes, identical to mine, sparkled. My mother was an eternal youth – carefree, fun, irresponsible, and all over the place.

There were two pictures from Mokuba. In one picture, Mokuba was standing in front of the huge blue eyes white dragon statue at Kaiba land. His hands were on his hips and he was grinning at the camera. The second picture was of his older brother, Seto Kaiba, my ex boyfriend who I had failed to inform of my summer vacation. He was holding out his hand, trying to block Mokuba from taking a picture of him. I laughed at that.

Joey and Bakura hadn't sent any pictures, but in Yugi's envelope, there were three pictures. The first was of Tristan and Joey with their arms around Tea's shoulders. They were all smiling. The second was a picture of Tea posing in an outfit from Reynolds and the third was of Joey and Yugi playing duel monsters.

The plane taking me back to Japan left the following morning with a layover in Paris and a second layover in Seoul. Going home was still so far from my mind. Going back to a life with real responsibility, having to do things that I had to do, rather than the things I wanted to do, seemed impossible. I felt like I had spent the summer in a different reality and I wasn't ready to go back to my home.

"What are you looking at, kid?" someone asked.

I looked up. "Hey, Blondie," I said, smiling.

He was standing just inside the opening of the tent, watching me. His arms were folded across his chest and there was an arrogant smile on his face.

"I got some letters and pictures from home," I said. "You want to see?"

"Sure," he said, walking over to the cot and sitting next to me. "You just about ready to go home?" he asked.

I nodded. "Yea," I said. "I'm all packed. I'm just waiting for the bus to get here and take me to the airport, so I thought I'd read some letters from home. I miss my family and friends, but I'm really going to miss being here. These have been some of the best months of my life." I grinned. "Particularly these last couple of weeks, wouldn't you say?"

He smiled and took the pictures from me.

"This is my mom at the store she owns," I said. "This one I got a couple weeks ago. It's my mom with my friends Tea and Bakura at the store. This is Mokuba and Seto Kaiba. I dated Seto for a while, but we don't talk much anymore. Mokuba's sort of like a little brother, though. This is a picture of Tristan, Tea, and Joey and that one is Joey and my friend Yugi playing duel monsters."

"Do you play duel monsters?" he asked me.

"No," I said, shaking my head. "I have a deck, but I'm no good. I actually brought my cards here with me but they went missing. I must have left them somewhere on accident."

He studied the picture of Yugi. "He's a duel monsters champion, no?" he asked.

I nodded. "He beat Maximillion Pegasus in the Duelist Kingdom tournament."

He frowned. "I didn't realize you two were friends," he said.

I nodded. "Yea. We go to school together," I said.

"That's cool," he said, handing me back the picture. "When does the bus get here?"

"It should be here in a few minutes," I said. "So, anytime now."

He took me by the shoulders and leaned back on my pillows, pulling me with him so that I was lying on top of him. "That's too bad. I'm gonna miss hanging out with you, kid. You gonna try and keep in touch?"

"Are you going to leave me a name and address?" I asked.

He smiled. "We'll see," he said. "Are you going to leave me a name and address?"

I smiled too. "We'll see," I repeated.

"I got you something," he said, reaching into his pocket and handing me a box.

I opened it. Inside, lying on dark green silk, was a gold anklet with tiny ankh shaped charms hanging off of it. "It's beautiful," I said. "Thank you. I didn't get you anything."

"That's okay," he said. He kissed me, passionately, on the lips and I kissed him back.

I heard the bus pull up loudly outside and I broke away from him. I stood up and grabbed my suitcase. I threw my duffle bag over my left shoulder and put the letters and pictures in my backpack. I held the box with the anklet in my right hand. My friend didn't get off the bed, but I didn't care. He was gorgeous, there was no denying it. If I could, I would have spent years here with him, without a care in the world. The fact was, it had been an irresponsible fling and now that the summer was over, I had a life to get back to.

At the tent opening, I turned and blew him a kiss.

"Nice knowing you, Blondie," I said.

"You too, kid," he said, smiling.

I turned and left.

I slept on all three planes. The past few months had worn me out, but I would have done it all again in a heartbeat. In fact, I would have turned around and gone right back if I could have. As we pulled into the airport in Japan, I began to get a little bit excited about seeing my mom and my friends. I was even more excited about being able to take a shower. I got off the plane and went through the different lines I had to get through. When I got down the stairs and made my way to baggage, I stopped in my tracks and laughed out loud.

My mom, Yugi, Joey, Tea, Tristan, Bakura, and Mokuba were standing next to baggage claim calling my name and waving. They already hand my purple suitcase and duffle bag with them. Joey and Tristan were holding up a banner that I was sure Tea had made. The writing was neat and cute and covered in designs. It said, "Welcome Home, Olive!"

"You guys!" I said, walking towards them. They all hugged me. "I look like shit, guys. You should have bombarded me after I showered."

They laughed. "You never looked better," said Tristan.

I laughed. "Is that an insult?" I asked.

"Olive, your skin is so tan!" said Tea.

"Can you even tell?" I asked. "I'm covered in dirt. I can't wait to show you guys all my pictures and the stuff I brought you."

"Your hair is so long, baby," said my mom. "Didn't you trim it at all?"

"There are no salons in the desert, Mom," I said.

"We're going out to dinner tonight," said Mokuba. "We already have reservations."

"Okay, well you better take me home to shower first," I complained.

They laughed and agreed and we climbed in the car. In a way it was funny. Almost a year ago, I'd arrived at this same airport totally alone and totally bitter that my mom had forced me to move so far away. Now I was here being met by a whole bunch of friends with a smile on my face.