A Bowl of Cherries
by Black Cherry Bomb

Chapter 2

Yugi walked fast past the group of jocks who were taking up all the space in the hallway.

Not that he was looking forward to get to his next classes. First, there was a test in trigonometry, then two periods of physical education. His worst nightmare.

On the bright side, he might see Yami again today. He hadn't had a chance to speak to him yesterday, since the taller teen had nearly been assaulted by hordes of girls (and even a few boys) after class. Yugi had been quick to give up, telling himself that he'd get a chance to introduce himself to him some other time. It wasn't like he was going to transfer again soon, was it?

He was distracted from his thoughts by a powerful shove. Yugi came crashing into a nearby locker.

"Oh, sorry man, didn't see ya!" The unnamed jock who had 'accidentally' pushed Yugi laughed at his own joke and high five'd one of his friends.

"Hey! Hey you!"

Heads turned at the sound of Anzu's voice. Her very, very angry voice.

"Did you just push him?"

"He didn't push me," Yugi intervened meekly, eager not to be the center of attention.

"I'm not talking to you, Yugi. What did you guys do exactly? Huh?"

The jocks stayed silent, not knowing what to say. Anzu might be a girl, but she was pretty fit and had quite a reputation.

"They didn't - eek!" Yugi didn't finish his sentence, because at that moment he saw, from the corner of his eye, Yami coming into the hallway. He grabbed Anzu by the sleeve and dragged her away from the jocks and out of the transfer student's sight.

"Yugi! What's gotten into you?"

"N-nothing!" He wanted to keep running, but Anzu was stronger and stopped him.

"You'll never learn to stand up for yourself if you run away from them like that!"

It's not that he was 'avoiding' them. Well, not this time. He didn't know why, but he just didn't want Yami to see him in a situation like this. Like a victim. First impressions mattered.

"We've got to head back, whether you like it or not. We're going to be late for class if we don't. Plus you shouldn't worry about the jocks - I'm with you!"

Yugi knew the jocks had all but forgotten about him, so they weren't a problem. They weren't nice and took advantage of Yugi's weakness, but they weren't cruel or persistent. They never really were mean to him. It was just teasing. Erm, rough teasing.

Yugi still felt nervous for some reason. What if Yami had been told by the jocks about what just happened?

Anzu started walking back, so he had to follow her. "Besides, you were totally defending them," she admonished, breaking Yugi's train of thought. "That's totally not helping! That's completely stupid and you know that! I mean, we've been through this before, Yugi!"

She shook her head, clearly disappointed, but didn't press any further and followed Yugi to trig. They got to class just in time before the bell rang. Yugi threw a quick glance to where Yami was seated yesterday as he walked into class, hoping to catch sight of him.

Yami was there as hoped, calmly flipping through the pages of another paperback. He was wearing a small choker necklace studded with small silver pins, and a matching bracelet around his wrist. He either wore the same black leather pants, or had more than one pair, which intrigued Yugi.

While he had merely been curious yesterday, Yugi now looked at Yami with a pang of envy. Yami looked so cool and confident, it wasn't fair. Plus, he was really good looking. Blood rushed to Yugi's cheeks; he turned away immediately and sat meekly in his chair, hoping nobody had noticed how he looked at the other teen. Probably no one had noticed. No one paid attention to Yugi anyway.

It felt safe and cozy in the space between the window and his friend Anzu, who acted as a shield of sorts against the rest of the classroom.

The teacher started handing out blank examination sheets. The whole class was silent. Anzu gave Yugi a friendly smile as a peace offering and whispered 'good luck'. They were the last ones to receive their copy of the exam, because they were sitting at the far left of the classroom, in the front row.

"You can begin your exam right away, class. I'll be right back. Don't be cheating now," said the teacher casually before slipping out of the classroom.

The room was silent except for the scratching of pencils and flipping of paper. A few whispers rose here and there, but judging from the giggles that accompanied them, the exam clearly wasn't the topic being discussed. It was actually a wise thing that the teacher had done, leaving at the beginning of the exam. Because nobody actually had started solving any problems yet, there were no answers to copy at all.

So for a little while, the room was a peaceful heaven for Yugi. He took the liberty to let his gaze wander out the window a bit. He wasn't in a hurry; going over the exam he recognized two of the optional numbers from the textbook. Which, of course Yugi had tried and solved successfully. This would be incredibly boring, but not difficult in any case.

And then 'it' began. Something, more likely someone, was kicking against the back leg of Yugi's chair.

It was light and infrequent at first, so Yugi was able to shake it off and concentrate on observing the world outside. The schoolyard was empty, but a few lonely birds flew here and there. Probably migrating to the south. It would be snowing soon. Yugi sighed. He loved the holidays, but Christmas was getting more and more awkward every year, with his grandfather's insistence that 'he should bring a girlfriend home this time'.

The kicks were getting stronger and more insistent. Yugi knew it came from the jock who had taunted him yesterday, the one sitting right behind him. Soon Yugi wasn't able to take his mind off of it. He knew the last thing he should do was turn around. It would give the guy way too much satisfaction to know that he had successfully annoyed his target.

Then the kicking stopped. Yugi decided he might as well start working on his exam. But unfortunately, his relief was short lived.

"Fag." A whisper.

Yugi couldn't help but turn around to look at the source of the voice. He stopped himself just in time, but it was too late, actually. The jock had noticed. He repeated the slur, but louder this time, and hid it in a fake cough.

"Fag."

Yugi stared straight into the blank sheet of paper in front of him. Don't let Anzu notice, he prayed. She's not going to to notice, he asserted for good luck. But he was proven wrong at that very moment.

"Did you just say what I think you just said?" Anzu said loud and clear so that everyone in the classroom could hear. She was never afraid to stand out, if it was for a good cause.

"You're delusional," he dismissed quietly, pretending he was absorbed in problem solving.

"Oh, and you're a total coward on top of that. Wow."

By now pretty much everyone in the classroom was paying attention.

"Anzu!" Yugi hissed.

"Okay, you're acting like nothing happened, but I'm not letting you getting away with this," she added defiantly. "Just because the teacher's away doesn't mean you can call my friend all kinds of things."

Yugi became pink, then red, then purple. He didn't want to be outed. It had taken him every effort to tell one person about his sexual orientation, so he definitely wasn't ready to let the whole class know! He didn't dare protest anymore; at this point it would only throw oil on Anzu's fire. He stared at his examination sheet so hard he was literally going to burn a whole through it.

"What did he say?" asked a girl.

"I don't know. Anzu, what'd he say?"

"Oh you know," said the jock before Anzu could say anything. He then sent his tongue poking the inside of his cheek and laughed loudly at his own leery gesture. Some students laughed along. Not everyone did, but enough of them did.

This was a nightmare. Yugi wanted to die. And there was no safe escape. If Anzu tried to deny the claims that Yugi was gay, then it would sound like she was trying too hard to justify herself and it would sound suspicious. Besides, she had already made it clear, in one of her many speeches, that Yugi shouldn't try to hide his sexuality, either, that she was willing not to out him, but that she wouldn't lie about it if it came up, either.

Yugi heard Anzu end the fight with a 'eww', then say 'forget about them' quietly but loud enough so that Yugi could hear her over the fading laughter of their classmates.

Then the laughter stopped abruptly, followed by a collective gasp. Curiosity got the better of Yugi and he turned around to see what was going on.

What he saw made his jaw drop.

Yami was standing behind him and Anzu, holding the jock by the collar, lifting him off the ground.

A/N I hope you enjoyed and thanks for reading! See you next chapter! Cherry