Chapter Two: Not So High and Mighty

It was beyond obvious that Penelope and Seto clearly didn't get along. Despite that one flaw, Penelope liked her new school. The people were friendly, and she didn't get harassed or picked on because she was a top duelist.

As soon as she began winning lots of matches around Domino and other surrounding cities, she began getting a lot of attention. That included appearing on TV and even attending a couple of parties that were for promoting new and rare cards. She even got a chance to meet Maximillian Pegasus and have her photo taken with him. (Her rich parents managed to pull a few strings for her).

That was when the other kids started getting jealous. It started with kids wanting to duel her to try and put her down. And when they lost, that was when they started harassing her and verbally abusing her in front of everyone in the hallways between classes.

It wasn't until she told her mother about all her problems that they decided to change schools. The principal recommended having her attend Domino high school where the kids would be more accepting of her. Not to mention that some of Domino's best duelists went there as well. Natalie would also attend for her safety as well. Her parents decided it would be easier of both twins went to the same school.

Unlike most families, the Fultons could actually afford to spend a little extra money on their children. They owned a huge five-star restaurant, as well as several floating crab houses along the coast. That gave them plenty of money to send Ned to a prestigious university, allow Natalie to shop whenever she pleased, pay for Penelope's dueling hobby, and let Chris buy whatever he wanted.

The Fulton family had four children, but Penelope didn't feel like telling her new friends that. They would eventually find out that she has an older brother in college who spends most of his days playing beer pong and trying to hook up with younger girls. Eventually they would learn that Natalie was very obnoxious and selfish and only wanted to be in the limelight. And they would even learn that her younger brother Chris spends most of his money on drugs, instead of paying for his clarinet lessons and computer parts. At times, Penelope felt like she was the only normal person in her family.

Yugi invited her to hang out with him and his friends, but she declined. Even though her parents were more than willing to pay for her dueling supplies and tournaments, she wouldn't take their money. Instead she worked for it.

She had an after school job at a local restaurant where she bused tables and washed dishes. The pay wasn't bad, but it wasn't great either. It was just enough to pay for her expenses and give her a little extra money to play around with. She usually spent her extra money on keeping up her dark gothic look. Some of her relatives found it disturbing, but it helped her stand out in the dueling world. And once she started winning matches, they dropped the issue all together.

Around three thirty or so she made it to the pizza place where she worked and changed into her uniform, which was a pair of jeans, a black t-shirt and a red apron.

"Hey Penelope." Her friend Stephanie was already here and was getting a nametag out of her locker.

"Hey Steph."

"How was your first day at your new school?"

"It was alright."

"Did you make any friends?" she asked.

"Yeah. It turns out that Yugi Mouto goes to my new school."

Stephanie was flabbergasted.

"You mean the king of games? Or are you just playing with me?"

"Steph, you've known me since we were little kids. Would I ever kid?" Stephanie didn't say anything. She ran a finger through her blue-green hair, playing around with the black and red pieces that she had added to her hair a week ago.

Stephanie Larsen and Penelope Fulton had been friends since early childhood and they were so close that they were practically siblings. She was also the one person who stood by her when the other kids began harassing her because of all the attention she had received.

"No, you wouldn't kid."

After they both started their shifts, they began by cleaning up the pizza place and started setting up for the dinner rush.

"So anything else interesting happen to you?" Stephanie asked Penelope.

"No, but there was this one guy at my school who was a complete jerk."

"Really? Who?"

"Seto Kaiba."

"You mean the guy who runs a gaming company? I didn't think he would be a jerk."

"He is. I accidentally bumped into him before class and he made a huge scene about it. I never met anyone who irked me so much in my life."

"Are you going to do anything about it?" she asked, her lime green eyes looking up at her through heavy dark lashes and eyeliner.

"Yeah. I'm going to win nationals and beat him in the world championship tournament."

"Whoa, don't get ahead of yourself. Those things cost an arm and a leg to get into, and last time I checked, you were trying to save up for a car."

"I could always ask my parents. They've become more supportive in the past few months."

"That's not a bad idea. But just be careful around Seto Kaiba. You already have enough enemies as it is."

"You're right. I need to focus more on making friends instead of enemies…but it would be nice to put rich boy in his place."

"Penelope!"

She laughed and they continued preparing the pizza place for the dinner rush.

"How was your day big brother?" Seto looked up from his laptop and over the desk at his younger brother.

"Same."

Same was not exactly how he would describe his day. More like annoying.

'That annoying girl…Penelope…she had some nerve talking back to me like that…and in front of everyone!' It was fairly easy to forget about people who annoyed him. It was very easy to forget Wheeler and the other nerds. But this girl…for some reason he just couldn't get her out of his mind.

He couldn't forget about that wild hair the color of orchids, her bright turquoise eyes, her alabaster skin or her down-turned rosy pink lips. She was tall and slender, only a head shorter than he was, and she had beautiful legs that went on forever.

Normal people would admit that maybe they liked someone if they couldn't stop thinking about them. But Kaiba was not exactly a normal person. Normal seventeen year-olds are not running corporations.

Even if he did admit that he may be interested in Penelope, he did not have time for such ridiculous things. He had a company to run, straight and simple.

That weekend Penelope was invited by Yugi to hang out with him and his friends.

This time she accepted his offer and decided to bring Stephanie along with her. It was always nice to have someone with her when she was meeting new people.

Today she was dressed in a pair of ripped jeans, a white halter top, a studded leather jacket and a pair of black sandals with studs on them. Her belt was red plaid along with her hat, and she wore her favorite spiked chocker around her neck. Her makeup was equally dark, especially the dark purple eye shadow she had on.

Stephanie's look was also on the extreme side, but more colorful than Penelope who mostly wore black. Stephanie had on a black t-shirt, lime-green jeans, black sneakers and all of her jewelry was electric blue.

There was a knock on the door to Penelope's room. She got up from the plush white rug that sat on the floor of her room and opened the door.

"Natalie."

"I'm going to the mall. Can I borrow one of your miniskirts?"

"Sure." Penelope and Natalie may not see eye to eye on a lot of things, but had no problem with borrowing each other's clothes. Natalie went over to her twin sister's dark and twisted closet that had a silver spider web curtain. She moved the curtain aside and pulled out a denim mini skirt. With safety pins in it.

"Why the hell are there safety pins in this?"

"You've got a problem with creativity?" Penelope asked her sister.

"Take them out," she ordered.

"I don't have to do anything. You can take them out yourself. Just put them back in when you're done with my skirt."

"Fine, have it your way." Natalie left the room and Penelope sighed and closed the door.

"I apologize for her rudeness."

"Don't worry about it. We should get going now. I don't want to keep your friends waiting."

"They'll be your friends too before you know it," Penelope said opening the door and leaving her room.

Down the hall was Ned's room. The plain white door was shut, but on the other side she knew there was a collage of posters of half-naked girls and sports teams all over the walls.

Natalie's room was on the other end of the house, and it was a huge wash of pink and other girly things that Penelope could not stand.

Chris's room was next door and she didn't mind being next to him. He was usually quiet due to the fact he was on the computer, getting high, or both. His room was very messy, the floor covered in clothes, and the walls painted dark blue.

Penelope loved her room. It had red walls, a black bedspread with spider web curtains, black furniture and a plush white rug, and a zebra striped chair. Her room was always neat and despite the constant objection from her parents about the dark theme, they did appreciate the fact that she kept her room clean.

The two girls went down the large wooden staircase and out the front door. They would be meeting Yugi and the others at the park, and it wasn't a long walk to get there. Even though Penelope changed schools, she still lived in the same house since she was born.

"Hey Penelope!" Tristan was waving to her as she and Stephanie approached the park.

"Hi Tristan."

Tea, Joey and Yugi also said hello.

"And who's your friend?" Joey asked pointing to the girl standing next to Penelope.

"Everyone, this is my friend Stephanie. Stephanie, meet Yugi, Tristan, Joey and Tea," she said pointing to each of her new friends.

"It's nice to meet all of you."

"We were just getting started on a game of Frisbee, you want to join in?" Tea asked.

"Sounds good to me," Stephanie said.

The group separated into two teams, with Penelope being on a team with Yugi and Tristan, and Stephanie teaming up with Joey and Tea. Even though they didn't exactly know the rules of how to play, they still had a blast.

"Hey Penelope, go long!" Tristan yelled out to her. Penelope ran over to the other end of the field and Tristan threw the Frisbee. She was getting ready to catch it, but she miscalculated how high it was going and the Frisbee sailed straight through the trees and towards another section of the park.

"Oops, sorry!" Tristan called out.

"That's okay, I'll get it!" Penelope called back. She ran through the trees and stopped when she saw the one person she never wanted to see holding her Frisbee. Seto Kaiba appeared rather irritated, especially since he had his hand over his nose.

'Not so high and mighty now, are you?' Penelope thought smugly.

"Is this yours?" he asked sourly.

"Yeah. Can you give it back?"

He glared at her through those icy blue eyes.

"I will if you promise to watch where you throw your toys."

"I would if I was the one who threw it."

"I don't care who threw it. You and the dweebs need to get out of my hair."

"Geez, are you always this cranky after someone throws a Frisbee at your face?" Penelope said through her teeth.

Kaiba tossed the Frisbee back to her, and she caught it. He didn't expect that she would.

For a short moment, she thought she saw a hint of surprise in his eyes.

"Don't you have somewhere to be?" Seto said, clearly annoyed.

"You mean away from assholes like you?"

Seto was close to fuming at this point as he went from being annoyed to irritated. His glare was more intense and most sensible people would run away at this point. But not Penelope.

"Enough with the tough guy act, you don't scare me," she said crossing her arms.

"Big brother!" a younger kid with long black hair came running towards the two arguing teens. She could tell he was much laid back and carefree than his older brother, who was wearing a suit with a long trench coat in the middle of a bright fall afternoon.

"You promised you would play catch with me, why are you standing around talking to girls?"

"Mokuba, I'm in the middle of something, if you don't mind."

"Well, then I'll leave you two then," Penelope said. "I've got better things to do than to put up with you."

She walked away and Mokuba and Seto stood there, staring at her. Mokuba was still trying to figure out who interrupted their game of catch. Seto on the other hand was staring at her. He may of disliked Penelope, but even he couldn't resist the hormones in him that drove him to begin having endless fantasies about what could be underneath that white halter top or those tight jeans.

"Seto, wasn't that Penelope Fulton? Are you guys friends or something?"

Seto glared at his younger brother.

"We are not friends. She is nothing but a thorn in my side and I can't wait to crush her in a duel."

"Duel?"

"Yes. I'm going to host another tournament. Not only will I crush Yugi, but I will humiliate Penelope as well. Then maybe she'll think twice about talking back to me."

Mokuba sighed.

"Whatever you say Seto."

Thanks for reading! Please review! :)