*throws self at readers feet* I'M SO SORRY! I KNOW I SHOULD'VE UPDATED SOONER, BUT MY COMPUTER GOT A VIRUS AND I HAD TO START CHAPTER FOUR ALL OVER AGAIN!!!

Notes- I'm not sure how many of you caught this in chapter one, but Atem is blonde. Just blonde. This will be fixed later, but for now he is blonde. Also, Ryou is Ryou. Not Yami Bakura, not Thief King Bakura (Jeez, how do the directors handle all these people?!? I can barley control the ones I've got!).

Atem- Enough with the chatter! When do I get to make out with Yugi?

Yugi- Yeah! I'm feeling very unloved here!

Angel- Boys, as of right now, Atem is straight. The making out doesn't happen until chapter seven. At least. Depending on what I write and when.

Atem and Yugi- Why do you hate us so much?!?!

Angel- Oh shut your mouths. What do you think this is, some kind of cheesy Disney movie where everyone falls all over each other at first sight?!?

Atem- Yes.

Yugi- I already did that!

Angel- Both of you, be quite! I need to get through the disclaimer.

I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh!, or any of the songs used in this chapter. Also, I am not LittleKuriboh, I just borrow his jokes every now and then.


Chapter Four- Teenage Superstar

Take a stand and armor up now

she's second hand

you'd better kick her ass down

she's black night - you're daylight

and now she's weak and around

be aware - she's coming your way

don't be scared - don't let her stay

She's a teenage superstar

always got the V.I.-punky cards

she thinks she can turn back time

make you lose your mind - yeah

she's a teenage gone too far

poor little superstar


Atem was a little worried when Yugi didn't show up for homeroom the next day. He couldn't help but wonder if Tea or Seto had found out what he'd said to Yugi about trying out for the play and maybe they'd gotten rid of him. Throughout homeroom he kept coming up with worse and worse scenarios, until by the time the bell rang he was sure that Yugi was wandering around the North Pole after having been dropped their and abandoned by a team of highly trained ninja's.

It seemed like the kind of thing those two would do.

However, as he walked down the hall to English, he swore he saw a backpack that looked exactly like the one Yugi had lying on the floor next to a row of lockers. Of course, Atem had no clue as to why he knew what kind of pack Yugi carried, but he couldn't see an owner nearby so went over to see if he could find a name somewhere inside.

Then he heard a loud banging sound coming from inside the locker.

Atem automatically jumped back and backed away quickly. The first thing he thought of was the ghost that supposedly haunted the school. Then the adrenaline rush caused his brain to wake up and start functioning, and he put the pieces together.

Atem marched over to the locker and pulled it open. Just as he'd suspected would happen, Yugi fell out of the locker.

Atem caught Yugi easily- the smaller teen weighed next to nothing- and pushed him onto his feet. It was pretty easy to guess what had happened.

"Football team?" Atem asked.

Yugi nodded. He tried to keep his breathing even and hide his panic. He wasn't doing a very good job.

Sensing Yugi's distress, Atem placed his hand comfortingly on his shoulder.

"Are you alright?" He asked gently.

Yugi managed to nod. "It's just-" he tried to think of something to say. "It's… cramped in there."

Atem was suddenly furious. "Which way did they go?" He snarled, looking left and right as if he expected the perpetrators to still be lurking around somewhere. But the only people in the hallways were a few stragglers who still hadn't made it to first period. A few people were staring; Atem glared at them until they looked away.

Yugi stood straight and pulled on Atem's sleeve to get his attention. Once he had it, Yugi gave him a shaky smile. "Don't worry about it, I'm fine."

Atem's face showed his disbelief. "You're kidding, right? What am I supposed to do, let it go?"

Yugi nodded. "That's what I always do."

'Maybe that's why they keep coming back.' Atem thought.

Yugi could tell Atem wasn't going to let this go, so he decided that it was time for a distraction. "Oh, crap! I'm gonna be late for English!" He started to run, but Atem grabbed his arm and pulled him back. "Oh no you don't! I'm not through with you yet- we both have English and Mrs. Heran won't care if we don't show up for a few more minutes."

Yugi was puzzled. "What do you mean? Her room's right over there."

"Yeah I know, but I'm taking you to the nurse's office."


After dragging Yugi to the nurse (who gave him some ice for a bruise on his arm and checked to make sure he didn't have any broken bones or severe mental scarring), Atem refused to let Yugi out of his sight for the rest of the morning. Even during their lunch period, Atem made Yugi sit with him. He kept shooting the football team death glares as he and Yugi bought their lunch.

Atem's friends gave the pair a funny look as they walked past their usual table and sat at a smaller one. Atem gave them a look that clearly said "Leave it alone."

Once they sat down, Atem asked, "So Yugi, what are you going to do about the play?"

Yugi thought about the best way to phrase his response. "Well, I'm really not sure. I thought I'd go watch the auditions, and then see if I had a chance."

Atem nodded. "That's logical."

"Yeah, but I'm kinda nervous. I don't know anyone in the drama club, and I don't want to ask my friends to go with me. Just in case I blow it, or just don't audition at all."

"Well, maybe I'll go with you," Atem said thoughtfully.

Yugi almost choked. "Really?"

Atem was just as surprised as Yugi, but the words kept coming out. "Sure. I mean, it can't hurt, right?"

"Wow, thanks Atem!"

"Yeah, no problem." Atem muttered.

On the other side of the cafeteria, a janitor -who was wearing headphones that were blasting dance music- smiled mysteriously and crept out of the room.


They walked into the auditorium together at 3:11. Immediately, Atem ducked behind a row of seats.

Yugi shot him a puzzled look, then saw Tea and Seto glaring at him from the stage.

In the interest of keeping his face in one piece, Yugi joined Atem behind the seats.

They stayed like that for several minutes before Yugi said, "Maybe I'll just check out the competition from back here. Just so this doesn't become a bigger deal than it needs to be."

Atem nodded in agreement. Not long after, Ms Valentine walked onto the stage and announced the start of the auditions.


Ryou Bakura had started in show business when he was only ten; It had been in a school play- he was in charge of lighting. He'd loved it so much that he'd gone back after the production was over to try sound direction. The theater had been his passion ever since, and he'd been trying to actually write a play for some time, but when it was finally finished, the head of the drama department had said that they were no longer accepting scripts written by students. But now he'd moved to a new place- Domino City- and to his delight, Ms. Mai Valentine had not only demanded to read his play once she'd found out about it, but she loved it so much that now it was the school's winter musical.

During the auditions, Ryou had volunteered to play the piano for the auditioners. They had to sing "Livin' On a Prayer" by Bon Jovi- selected because the play took place in the 1980's and all the music was to come from that era. So far though, nobody had really stood out for the singles auditions.

Ryou was really looking forward to the pairs auditions, because it was the first time that he was going to get to witness a performance by the legendary twins Seto Kaiba and Tea Gardner. The whole drama club gushed about their talent all the time, and while he'd heard that they could be cruel, he was sure that it was just a nasty rumor that some jealous people had started.

As they approached center stage, Ryou hurried over to the duo.

"What key are you using?" He asked Seto.

The other boy didn't even glance at Ryou. "We actually have our own music."

Ryou held back his disappointment. "Oh. Okay then." He turned and went back to sit on the piano bench.

Tea stood with her back to the audience- AKA Ms. Valentine. She hummed a bit and shook out her hair. "Okay! Ready Seto?" Seto nodded. "Five, six, seven, eight!"

The music came on and Tea started to sing.

"Tommy used to work on the docks

Union's been on strike

He's down on his luck...it's tough, so tough."

Then Seto came in.

"Gina works the diner all day

Working for her man, she brings home her pay

For love - for love."

The together they crooned-

"She says we've got to hold on to what we've got

'cause it doesn't make a difference

If we make it or not

We've got each other and that's a lot

For love - we'll give it a shot!"

And through all that and the rest of the song, Ryou sat in horror. They had killed the song! The music they were using was some kind of remixed, synthpop club beat as opposed to the original instruments, which was what they should have been using. He looked over at Ms. Valentine, hoping that she would be just as horrified, but to his surprise she actually seemed to be enjoying the monstrosity!

Once the twins had finished and accepted the applause, Ryou took it upon himself to let them know that this version of the song would just not work. He approached Tea this time, since Seto had seemed a little crabby.

"Um, hi, Tea, I'm-"

She cut him off. "Oh, you're Ryou, right? You wrote the play?"

He nodded, feeling a little more confident now. "Yeah, and I actually wanted to talk to you about your song. You see, I actually pictured it as sticking to the original so-"

Tea interrupted him again. "Um, I'm sorry but, how many times have one of your plays been performed?"

Ryou's confidence vanished. "This- um- would be the first time."

Tea smiled condescendingly and continued, taking a step closer to him as she did so. "So what you're saying is you have next to no experience with this sort of thing, whereas my brother and I have been acting since we could walk; so you don't get to tell us what to do, or how to do it. We run the show around here, got it?!?"

As she'd ranted, Tea continued to walk closer to Ryou and he'd walked backward to avoid her. Because of that, he'd now been forced against a wall with a very angry looking Tea standing in front of him with her finger jabbed into his chest. So, he did what anyone else would do in his situation. He agreed with her.

"I got it."


Yugi watched from behind the seat as all the students left the auditorium. Ms Valentine stood up and looked around. "Anymore auditions? No? Good."

Atem looked over at him. "It's now or never," the older boy whispered. Yugi nodded and stood up.

"I'd like to audition, Ms. Valentine!"

But she shook her head. "I'm sorry, you're too late. I already called for singles auditions, and doubles. Besides, there are no other pairs."

Atem's jaw dropped in shock. He could not believe what he was hearing, Yugi deserved an audition. He stood up, fully intending to give Ms Valentine a piece of his mind, but instead what came out of his mouth was, "I'll sing with him."

Yugi and Ms Valentine both looked as surprised as Atem felt, but Ms Valentine quickly recovered and told them, "Yes, well, as I said I already called for auditions and you didn't respond. Perhaps you could try for the spring musical."

And with that she turned and walked away.

Atem looked over at Yugi and saw the devastated look on his face. Just as Atem reached out to comfort him, they heard a crash come from the stage. The two of them turned to see the boy who'd been at the piano during the auditions on the floor with music sheets scattered all around him. Without hesitation, Atem jumped onto the stage and began to help him pick them up.

Yugi followed quickly, and helped the boy up.

"Thanks," he said as he brushed off his shirt.

Atem handed over the papers. As the boy took them Atem asked, "So you wrote the play?"

He blushed and nodded. Yugi recognized him as Ryou Bakura; his picture had been on the audition sign up sheet.

Atem continued, "So if you wrote the play, how come you let Tea and Seto boss you around like that?"

Ryou shrugged. "They scare me."

"Yeah, they scare me too," Atem admitted. "But doesn't being the writer make you like the playmaker in basketball?"

"The what?" Ryou and Yugi asked at the same time.

"It's like the most important position on the team. Without the playmaker, nothing happens."

Ryou laughed. "I wish. I'm nothing like that."

"You could be," Atem told him.

Ryou was quiet for a bit. Then he looked up. "Do you really want to audition?"


Three minutes later, Atem and Yugi were singing,

"We've got to hold on ready or not

You live for the fight when it's all that you've got

Whoa, we're half way there

Whoa!!!!!!! Livin' on a prayer!!!!

Take my hand and we'll make it - I swear

Livin' on a prayer!"

They finished the song and high-fived. "Yeah! That was awesome!" Ryou shouted.

"I couldn't agree more," came a female voice.

The three boys whirled around the find Ms Valentine looking at them expectantly.

"Congratulations, boys. You have a callback. Ryou, work with them on their technique and help them pick out a song. Oh, and don't let Tea and Seto know. They wouldn't get that it's just to give them a fighting chance."

As Ryou excitedly explained his schedule to Yugi, Atem was left alone to realize that he had quite possibly started a revolution in school hierarchy.


As Ryou left the auditorium later that afternoon, he almost ran into someone as he exited the theater. The man was very tall, with tan skin and a turban wrapped around his head. He was carrying a broom and dressed in a janitors outfit. He was wearing a pair of head phones, and Ryou could hear loud dance music coming from them. Ryou apologized for the run in.

"It's alright, young man." The man turned around and began to walk down the hall, but turned back after a few steps and called, "Good luck with the play!"

Once he'd exited the school, Ryou realized that even though he'd only been here for a short time, he'd never seen that man in the school before.


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