KT: Welcome back. I'd like to thank Zoe, dragonlady222, Masami Mistress Of Fire, unseenwater, Anime WarriorSkye, cheeky-eyes, HOPPY-SAN2345, MikosWish, Goddess Of Pain and Suffering, Cherry Romancer, Atemu Yugi Lover34, moonlit-leaf, kingleby, Yura Dark Angel of Death, Coolgirlmch, Yami Nefebre, and yamisgirl13 for reviewing. I apologize for the wait, but I have been on bedrest for a while. A few complications with the pregnancy, but nothing too serious.
Juni: And on to the chapter.
4: Another New Friend
"Oh, don't tell me you're going to miss cheer practice."
"I'm afraid so." Tea Gardner swiveled around in her desk chair, the cordless phone glued to her ear. "I can't risk spreading a cold around the girls."
Across the line, Serenity Wheeler sighed. "I'm gonna miss you there," she said. "How many days of school do you think you'll skip?"
"Probably just two or three," Tea estimated. "Hang on." She pulled the phone away from her ear and sneezed into her waiting tissue. "Okay, I'm back," she said, putting the phone back to her ear.
"I heard that sneeze, and I pulled the phone away from my ear," Serenity commented with a laugh.
"Very funny, Serenity," Tea said. "Hey, maybe we could call Amy on three-way."
"Nah. I talked to her earlier, and she's going to the mall," Serenity answered. "Speaking of Amy, what did you think of that kid she cracked on at school today?"
"The short one with the funky do?" Tea asked. "He was weird, like Shannon said."
"Yeah," Serenity said. "Did you know he's going to tutor my brother? I heard Joey talking about it to himself during a commercial on TV."
"Really?" Tea said, surprised. "I guess he is a really smart kid. How old is he, anyway?"
"I think he's, like, eight or something. I don't know. Oh, darn, I gotta go, Tea. My mom needs to use the phone."
"Too bad," Tea said. "Call me tomorrow after school, okay?"
"You got it. Bye, Tea."
"Bye, Serenity."
So, did you give any more thought to that poem in the back?
No, not really. I've been a little preoccupied with things.
Something bad?
I guess not. Joey's a lot smarter in math than he gives himself credit for. He just doesn't like all the hard work. I basically have to take him step by step through each problem.
Is he mean to you?
Actually, it's kind of the opposite. Joey's a little nicer every session. And I met his sister Serenity yesterday when she came back from the mall. She was one of those girls in the group that teased me.
Did she tease you again?
No, she didn't say much, just ran upstairs. Atemu, there's something I've been thinking about.
Tell me.
What happens when we run out of pages?
There was a long pause without any answer. Yugi bit his lip and looked down at the page. Was Atemu afraid to answer? Was the answer that bad?
...Well, Yugi, I had hoped we'd never have to cover this, but I should have known you'd ask sooner or later.
What is it?
Once we fill up the last page, Yugi, I believe I will cease to exist.
Yugi nearly dropped his pen. He stared at the page in shock. Cease to exist? Why? What would happen to Atemu that would cause him to cease to exist when the pages were full of writing?
But why?
It's a part of the spell that the one who wanted to overthrow me used. My guess is he was planning to fill up all the pages with nonsense, and then cause me to cease to exist, but somehow he lost the book or got it taken away from him.
Is there anything I can do?
I guess there's nothing you can do. All we can do is enjoy the time we do have together.
But I have no other friends! Yugi could feel his eyes filling with tears. He wiped them away so they wouldn't spill on the page. What will I do without you?
You will learn to live. You cannot go on with your only friend being a pharaoh trapped in a book, Yugi. You must spread your wings and fly, because we both know I won't be here forever.
I guess you're right. At least we still have a ton of pages left.
Yes. And we will enjoy those pages. And when I am gone, I am certain the book will remain as a memory of our friendship.
Okay.
Let's move on to a better subject. Could you tell me more about this "computer" we were talking about last time?
Yugi managed a smile. Sure thing.
"...Okay, so if dis goes like dis, den..."
Yugi sat patiently. "What's the answer?"
"Gimme a sec..." Joey's tongue stuck out slightly as he bent over his work, figuring math in his head and on the paper. "Okay." He sat up. "Da final answer is...xy squared over seven?" He ducked as if expecting Yugi to throw a book at him if he were wrong.
"That's right!" Yugi exclaimed. "You got them all right on your first try today!"
"I did?" Joey stared at the paper. "I did! No way!" He leaped from his seat and did a victory dance around the table. "Yeah! Woohoo! Go Joey, go Joey, yer a genius, yer a genius!" He grabbed Yugi up out of his seat and spun the younger boy around in a circle. "I'm a genius, yo! I'm a genius!"
Yugi was surprised to find himself laughing at Joey's happiness. "Yes! You're a genius! Put me down!"
Joey finally released Yugi and plunked down in his chair, worn out from his dance. "I don't believe it. I actually got it right! I was sure I'd messed somethin' up!"
"Well, you didn't," Yugi said. "See? I told you that you had a great capability for math. You just needed to believe in yourself."
"I guess yer right, Yugi," Joey said. He looked across the table at Yugi. "Ya know, you ain't weird like people're always sayin' at school. You're a pretty decent kid, jus' kinda shy."
Yugi's heart leaped. "You think so?" he asked.
"Yeah, Yugi," Joey said. "Look, there's somethin' I been wantin t' say for a little while, but I wasn't shure how t' say it." He leaned forward on his elbows. "Listen, Yugi. I'm sorry about da way I used t' treat ya at school. Dat was real messed up. Ya don't deserve it at all."
Yugi was shocked. "You mean it?" he said in disbelief.
Joey nodded. "From now on, I wanna be yer pal, I mean, friend. You deserve friends jus' like any otha guy. Jus' 'cause yer younger and shorter, and smarter than most of us, don't mean we should treat ya so mean. Will ya accept my apology?"
"Of...Of course I will," Yugi said, overwhelmed. "You...really want to be my friend?"
"Yeah," Joey said. "I think you'd be a betta friend than most of da guys in our school. Dat is, if ya want me as a friend."
"Yes!" Yugi exclaimed. He felt a happiness inside of him like he had never felt before. A real friend? A real, true friend?
"Here." Joey extended a hand. "Let's shake on it, so if I eva go back on my word for some stupid reason, you can remind me o' dis."
Yugi reached across the table and shook Joey's hand.
A locker slammed. Yugi winced, and turned to see what was happening.
"Hey Short Stuff," the girl said. She was leaning on the locker next to his, smiling cruelly. The rest of her group was standing nearby. "Is it me, or did you grow three inches shorter over the weekend?"
Most of the girls giggled. Yugi noticed that one, a girl with chin-length brown hair in a sharp cut and blue eyes, was simply standing there with a straight face. Yugi, of course, kept his face unreadable and said nothing.
"Seriously," the girl went on, tossing some of her long blond hair out of her face, "why are you even in high school? You need to get back to kindergarten where you belong."
The girls, except the blue-eyed one, giggled again. Yugi said nothing and simply put some books back in his locker.
The giggles died away. Yugi glanced at the blond who was making the remarks, and saw she had a confused look on her face. Good. So his plan had worked.
"Hey, kid," the girl said, "why don't you ever say anything? What are you, deaf?"
There were a few less giggles this time. Yugi said nothing and simply stared at her. Even though she was a head and a half taller than he, he managed to stare her down. The girl fidgeted for a few seconds, and then turned. "You damn freak," she muttered. "Let's go, girls."
Comments like "He's so weird" and "Why doesn't he say anything back?" floated back to Yugi as the girls walked away. The blue-eyed girl hesitated, looking after the others, and then, seeming to make up her mind, turned and walked back to Yugi.
"Are you faking, or did those comments really not get to you?" she asked.
Yugi didn't answer.
"Listen. I'm sorry about what Amy said to you," the blue-eyed girl said. "I should have stopped her from saying those things. I just want to make sure she didn't really hurt you."
"No," Yugi finally said. "I'm used to those kinds of comments."
"Okay," the blue-eyed girl said. "Listen, I gotta go, but I just wanted to make sure." She looked embarrassed. "Well, bye." She turned and walked down the hall.
Yugi watched her go.
Those are indeed interesting occurrences.
I know. The strange thing is that they both happened in the same week.
At least you have a new friend now, Yugi. I'm happy for you.
I'm happy too. But nobody could ever take your place, Atemu.
You think so? Yugi had the notion that Atemu was pleased at this. I appreciate that, Yugi. Your friendship means very much to me as well.
Yugi found himself smiling again. He had two new friends, and a possible potential friend in that blue-eyed girl. He had never felt so truly happy in his life, as far as he knew. Perhaps things in his life would begin to look up for once.
Atemu, I feel happy.
What do you mean?
I feel like my life is actually becoming worth living. I feel like things are changing for the better now.
I'm glad you feel that way, Yugi. I'm sure you like it better when you're happy.
I do. It seems like things have turned up since I met you, like somehow you had something to do with it.
Now how could that be? I'm in a book.
Yugi had the distinct feeling that Atemu was laughing at him.
Juni: I hate to sound like Taku, Maru-chan, but I didn't know you had the capacity for real fluff.
KT: Yep.
Taku: (has finally shut up)