Chapter 3: "Let's Make a Bet…"
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Yugi sat down at the gang's normal table, although it seemed like he had more space to put his lunch tray. He glanced around the table, "Hey Joey," Joey looked up from the so-called 'meal' the cafeteria was serving that day, "Where's Duke and Tristan?"
Joey swallowed a large, gray lump that he hoped was potatoes, and not some bizarre mystery meat such as 'rat' or 'chipmunk', "Duke's probably skipping out like he always does, but Tristan ran into an alley-gang on the way home from the arcade, so he's at his apartment taking care of some cuts and bruises, nothing serious."
There was a loud 'bang' as Tea dropped her tray on the table in between Ryou and Marik, and stared with disgust at the questionable 'food'.
Marik raised an eyebrow at his friends cafeteria lunches, "Right now I'm glad I live in an Egyptian cult, at least we get real food." He snickered, oblivious to the glares he was receiving from everyone else sitting at that particular table.
"I know how to spice things up a bit…" Tea said sinisterly, "Let's make a bet. The name of the bet is, 'Who would Joey's sister be most likely to go out with'!"
"No way!" Joey yelled, attracting the attention of some of the students, "There's no way I'm betting on anything to do with Serenity!"
Tea shrugged, "Your loss. The candidates are: Duke Devlin, Tristan Taylor, and Seto Kaiba. So, who wants to bet first? What about you Ryou?"
Ryou rolled his eyes and slammed some money down on the table, "$15 on Kaiba."
Yugi reached into his pocket, "I bet $12.50 on Tristan."
Marik groped around in Ryou's backpack, "Heehee, I bet $13.82 on Duke."
Tea felt around in her purse, "I guess I'll put up $17 on Tristan."
The five teenagers looked at Joey, who sighed and pulled out some money, "If I have to, I'll bet $11 on Kaiba. I don't like the guy, but I think Serenity really does."
"Speaking of Serenity and Kaiba," Ryou said, "Where are they?"
The five teens looked around, "Ryou's right!" Marik exclaimed, "I don't see either of them!"
Yugi forced down the last bite of what has been appropriately dubbed 'rodent casserole', "Let's go look for them, quickly, while my stomach is still inside my body."
"Let's look outside." Ryou suggested, "There are a lot of people that eat in the courtyard."
The five exited the building and walked a short distance to a beautiful courtyard, with all sorts of exotic flowers and trees. It made one wonder, "what is this amazing sanctuary doing in a hellhole like a school?" Well, the students need somewhere to spend their breaks.
"Hey!" Tea exclaimed, pointing to a large oak tree in the center of the yard, "I see them!"
Sure enough, Serenity was sitting against the trunk of the tree next to Seto, and looking over his shoulder as he typed away on his laptop.
"I can't believe they're actually sitting together!" Yugi exclaimed, "Since when were Kaiba and Joey's sister even friends?"
"What's hard for me to believe is that she can actually stand watching him work! I mean, when we were dating I was bored out of my mind working with him!"
Actually Serenity was not watching the millionaire work, but picking out a dress for his dance online (With Seto's help of course).
"What about this one?"
"Shows to much cleavage."
"That one's pretty."
"Clashes with your eyes."
"Alright, so what's your problem with this one?"
"Doesn't show enough cleavage."
Serenity sighed, "Honestly, I should slap you for being so picky!"
Seto raised an eyebrow, "Then what, may I ask, is stopping you?"
The honey-eyed girl laughed, "The fact that you're so cute, that's what's stopping me!"
Seto placed his laptop on the ground and took Serenity's face in his hands. His mouth was mere centimeters away from hers and…
…The bell rang.
"Damn bell." Seto muttered, "As soon as I graduate I'm going to smash that dumb thing."
"And then I'll help you take out the speed bumps." Serenity commented sarcastically, "I've got to get to class, see ya after school!"
"Yeah," Seto mumbled, closing his laptop, "see you after school."
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Serenity took a deep breath to calm herself, and then rang the Kaiba Mansion doorbell.
"Yes? Who is it?" Mokuba's voice crackled over the speaker.
Serenity pushed the 'speak' button, "It's me, Serenity Wheeler."
"Ok. Hold on a sec."
The large mahogany door creaked open and Serenity entered. The welcome hall was made of sparkling white marble floors and dark green walls. Blue Eyes White Dragon statues with piercing blue eyes were lined against the walls and seemed to be looking up with admiration at the huge (25 foot!) Blue Eyes Ultimate with glowing sapphires in place of eyes. Serenity approached the statue and ran her hands over the Dragons smooth white talons.
"Glad to see you could make it."
Serenity looked past the Dragon and saw Seto descending the stairway she hadn't noticed behind statue, "Hi Seto!" She greeted.
"How do you like my Entrance hall?" Seto questioned motioning to his many Dragon statues, "I redesigned it when Gozaburo- er, my father committed suicide."
"It's amazing!" Serenity breathed, "I've never seen anything like this! And you designed it all yourself?"
Mokuba came up behind his brother, "Actually, I helped too." He chirped, catching Seto by surprise, "It's great to see you again! Thanks for playing DDR with me yesterday."
"Don't thank me, I had fun."
Seto cleared his throat, "Ahem, Serenity I need to see you in private for a minute. Mokuba, I'd prefer it if you could sat downstairs for the nest little while." He led Serenity up the long staircase (that looked as if it was right out of the movie Titanic) and entered a room. Serenity followed, expecting a lavish study.
The room wasn't as grand as she had hoped.
The floor was barely visible through all of the books, paperwork and clothes! The paint on the walls and windowsills was chipping, but you could hardly see that considering all the dust covering everything! But underneath the mess of clothes, books, ect. Serenity could still make out an unmade bed and a door leading off into what she assumed to be a bathroom.
Seto sifted through the pile of stuff on the bed, "I know it's here somewhere…" He cleared away a pile of paperwork, "Augh! Damn it! Where is that thing? Oh here it is!" He showed Serenity a (slightly wrinkled) black dress, "Do you like it?" He asked softly, as if he was worried Serenity would hate him for eternity if she didn't.
"Oh, it's gorgeous!" She exclaimed, barely even glancing at it, "Is there anywhere I could try it on?"
Seto brightened slightly (as slightly as possible, this is Seto, not Mokuba) and pointed to the door inside the room. He cleared a path through the mess for Serenity to walk through, then gave her the dress and allowed her to change in privacy, (But he still stayed in the room and tried to clean up a bit.)
As Serenity stepped into the dress, she began to wonder about Seto, /If he's so rich why doesn't he have a maid or something?/ She thought as she slipped her arms through the sleeves, /And why doesn't he talk about Gozaburo like he's his father?/ She then remembered the incident in the Noa's Virtual Reality World, /Oh. That's why./
Serenity examined herself in the mirror, only now realizing what the dress actually looked like. It (the dress) was straight and black, coming to the middle of her thighs and showing off her perfect legs. As for the sleeves, they were sequined and peach colored, a darker shade at the top, but growing lighter as they flared out at her wrists. The tops of the sleeves came down over her shoulders and flaunted her tattoo of a Mystical Elf reading a book titled Le Phantom du L'Opera (The Phantom of the Opera) She imagined herself dancing with Seto in a large ballroom, and as the song ended Seto leaned in for kiss, but before his lips could touch hers…
…There was a knock at the bathroom door.
"Are you okay in there Serenity?" Seto called through the door.
"No, I'll be right out." She sighed, /I can't even kiss him in my dreams./
Seto gaped at Serenity as she exited the bathroom and into the messy room (that Seto had cleaned up a little) "Wow." He stated incredulously, "Wow! Serenity you look more beautiful than usual!"
Serenity blushed, "Should I wear it to the dance?"
"I would like that a lot." He replied, "But now you really have to steer clear of Pegasus!"
Serenity twitched. She hated all womanizers and playboys, no exceptions. She hardly even liked Duke Devlin! "Um, Seto?"
"Yes?"
"Do you honestly think that Pegasus would-"
"I don't know Serenity, but I would suspect it from a rat like him."
"Oh." Serenity hung her head and allowed her light brown hair to fall over her eyes. There was an awkward silence until Seto's voice pierced the quiet.
"It's on the Tuesday after Tea's party, at 7 o' clock P.M. So try not to make any plans for then, okay?"
"Okay."
Seto lifted Serenity's face gently and locked his eyes with hers, "Don't worry, Serenity." He assured, "I'll see to it that, that womanizing snake stays far away from you."
Serenity smiled and hugged Seto closer, "I love you." She whispered in his ear, "And I wouldn't have it any other way."
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SL: So there you have your next chapter. I've probably said this countless times, but REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thank you for your patience, remember… I care!
