Author's Note: Happy May Everyone! It's the husband's birthday on the 20th, and today he's in especially good form. Here's the chapter that we promised, the next one is almost done. We're in good form, our Kindles arrived today, and it's been a while since we read so much, honestly, eBooks are the future of reading, so let's make sure that reading has a future! And with that, we dedicate this chapter to all of our new readers, who hail from many weird and wacky locations around the globe. Hopefully the bloopers section at the end won't completely alienate too many of you. Special brownie points for anyone who gets the reference in the last blooper. And as always, COOKIES FOR REVIEWS! ~Flawless Masquerade
Chapter Nine
Emily was in a better state of mind since her chat with Mokuba. She felt she understood Kaiba's point of view a little better. The next time she saw him, she decided, she was going to sort things out. Seto was going to get a piece of her mind!
However, things didn't happen exactly the way she had planned. It was Tuesday morning. She arrived early to Infotech and sat down in her usual corner and logged into the computer. She tried to access Malcolm's "secret" movie folder, but it looked like he had changed his password.
"Hmmm," she wondered aloud. "I wonder if I can trick Malcolm into revealing his password..."
"Social engineering will only get you so far," said a gruff voice behind her. "Sometimes you've gotta get your hands dirty."
Emily looked up. Kaiba loomed over her.
"Lemme show you," he said. She moved aside wordlessly. He pulled up a chair, sat down in front of the keyboard and accessed a command prompt. Emily watched him mutely as he deftly navigated around the school's security protocols. After a while, even Seto noticed that she wasn't saying anything.
"Listen, about the last few weeks... hmm. Look, I don't do apologies. I still consider you a friend..."
"Mokuba talked to you, didn't he?" said Emily slyly.
"Yeah," Kaiba replied. He paused in his typing. "You and I just had a misunderstanding, that's all. Plus I haven't slept for the last half-month. What I'm working on is something really groundbreaking, and I've been working on it non-stop." He began typing again and tapped the Enter key with a flourish. "By the way, Malcolm's password is sp4c3b4lls. Wasn't he watching that movie last week?"
Emily nodded. Then she smiled. "It's good to have you back. But next time you do something like this, get Roland to drive me to your house so I don't have to walk over when you deserve a chewing out!"
The week passed pleasantly, Emily was happy as Kaiba was back in classes (mostly), and the dark circles under his eyes were slowly fading. The following Wednesday, after IT, she and Seto remained in class during the morning break for a lesson in the finer points of hacking, courtesy of one S. Kaiba. They were using the School's network as their playground. After successfully gaining unabridged access to the student's personal records, Emily decided to dig up some dirt on a person she was most curious about. However, when she attempted to access the record, her computer shut down abruptly.
"Hey!" she said, wrinkling her nose at the monitor. "When I tried to look at that record, my PC turned itself off!"
"My bad," smirked Kaiba. "I must have accidentally bound a shutdown command to my permanent record. Silly me; how careless."
Emily pouted.
"Who am I meant to spy on now?"
"You could always tweak your test scores a little."
"Seto Kaiba! Why I never!"
"You could use the points. My scores are superior, as usual."
"Oh yeah?" Emily retorted playfully. "Why don't you log in and proveit?"
"Like I'd fall for that. Oh yeah, I've got something for you."
Emily cynically noticed the change in topic, but the object in Kaiba's hand swiftly distracted her.
"My yearbook! I didn't even notice I'd lost it!"
"Surely you must have noticed that your bag was about 10kgs lighter," replied Kaiba dourly. "I've been lugging it around all morning."
Emily plonked the book into her bag. It landed within with a satisfying thud. Sitting back down in front of her computer, she gestured to Kaiba, who was casually modifying his attendance records.
"Y'know, this hacking stuff isn't nearly as glamorous as it looks like on TV. There aren't any interesting animations or noises!"
"Yeah," replied Kaiba. "But it sure is fun."
Emily had spent the last two weeks since she and Kaiba had resolved their differences steeling herself to do it. But she was sure of herself this time. He was a great guy when he wasn't being moody, fiercely intelligent and sardonically humorous. It was time to take things to the next level. It was time to see how good he looked in a suit. It was time to find out if Seto Kaiba could dance!
On Tuesday, she brought her make-up kit to school. She barely ever wore make-up, but today she decided she could use all the help she could get. She left her fourth period class early to get to a bathroom so she could have her face made up by the time the lunch bell rang. Her teacher was more than happy to accommodate the wishes of such a gifted student. Emily felt she could have gotten away with just about anything if she tried hard enough!
Face painstakingly decorated, she strode out of the bathroom, doublechecking her dress was straight, and headed for Kaiba's typical hangout on a Wednesday afternoon – these days he liked to sit under a tree on the edge of the field, reading or holding hushed calls on his cellphone. She hurried through the school just as the bell went, sending students scattering left and right. Emily pushed past them and tried not to catch anybody's eye – she suddenly wasn't so sure about the dress she was wearing. It was a bit too sexy for an afternoon's serious schooling – although not nearly as revealing as the kinds of clothing some girls wore. She skirted the edges of the school, striding as swiftly as her skirt would allow, hoping fervently that she wouldn't be seen by her friends.
When she reached the tree, to her slight annoyance, Seto was already there, busily engaged with a slim novel. Emily gulped. It was now or never! She sat beside him, carefully tucking her skirt down.
"Hey," he said, not looking up from his book.
"Hey Kaiba," she said. She paused for a moment – how on earth did you go from "hey" to "do you want to go to the ball with me"? She summoned up her courage.
"So do you want to, er, I mean, the ball, I..." she faded out.
"Mmh?" said Kaiba, looking up from his book.
"Are you going to the school ball? It's only two weeks away." she asked quickly, mentally headbutting a wall.
"Probably not," Kaiba said slowly. "I don't really have the time to get all dressed up. Masquerade is not exactly my wardrobe of choice, either," he said wryly.
"I think you'd look good in a tailcoated suit," Emily gushed. "With a wig, and a top hat, and a wig, and a mask, and a -"
"You said wig twice," grumbled Kaiba. "I assume you are attending this event?"
"Oh definitely, I've been working on my costume ever since the theme was announced!"
"You're such a girl," he said, baring his teeth in what he clearly considered a friendly manner. "Speaking of which, 'the hell's all that on your face, anyway?"
Emily glowered. "Asexual bastard," she thought to herself.
Kaiba pulled another disappearing act in the week leading up to the ball, but Emily didn't have time to fret about him, as she still had a mountain of sewing to do. Her spare time kept disappearing into mounds of fabric, and she was even bringing sections to school with her to work on during break times (and IT – Malcolm had given up on trying to teach her anything). Seniors got the day off before the ball, which was a blessing. She sewed and sewed right up to the last minute.
Finally, she stood up and surveyed the dress on the mannequin. Barf was curled up in a corner sleeping fitfully in a nest of off-cuts. Her room was covered with threads and pattern sheets. She glanced at the package sitting against the edge of her bed. She hoped like hell Kaiba would show up. It was his birthday after all. Everything seemed so uncertain – she'd put so much effort into her outfit that the other details were quite disorganised. She'd only realised a few hours earlier that she didn't have a way of getting to the ball, and had desperately appealed to her mother for transport.
But the dress was perfect. She smiled to herself. It was going to be a night to remember.
And for those of you who can take the lighter side, for those of you who feel some seriously inappropriate comedy would mar the story, stop reading after the bold. Again, this is how we fight writer's block. We're not some kind of sillies who write this kind of stuff all the time. Then again...
...Emily and Kaiba were happily tinkering in Malcolm's workshop. Kaiba masturbated slowly as Emily sexily placed parts in a chassis.
"Yeah baby, insert that RAM," said Kaiba huskily. "Ooh yeah, gimme another harddrive! Yes! Yes! Oh God, attach it like that, ye-eesssss, don't stop, don't sto – OOOHHH FUCKKKKK YESSSS!"
"Hey!" she said, wrinkling her nose at the monitor. "When I tried to look at that record, my PC turned itself off!"
"Gahahahahaha-HIC!" laughed Kaiba, hiccuping abruptly.
