Elizabeth shut her locker door and rested her forehead against its cool surface. It was Monday once again and Elizabeth hadnt slept well at all last night, her dreams plagued with images of her almost attack the other day. Even though she would never admit it to anyone, she had been terrified, and the prospect of running into Akihiro that day was making her feel a bit sick.
"Hey, good party Lizzie!" A girl exclaimed as she walked past Elizabeth. The blonde raised her head and gave the other girl a smile.
"Thanks." She replied, and once the girl carried on walking, Elizabeth returned her forehead to her locker door.
"I'm surprised you can remember it, you were that drunk." A mocking voice said. Elizabeth groaned internally. She was not in the mood to put up with Seto Kaiba so early in the morning.
"Go away, Seto." Elizabeth muttered under her breath. The fact that she was the one who was partially deaf and not those around her often slipped Elizabeth's mind, causing her to say things that people overheard.
Seto picked up what she said and had a retort on his lips but the words died when he really caught sight of the girl standing a few lockers away from him. She was pale and had dark circles underneath her eyes, though Seto could see streaks of make-up across them were Elizabeth had tried to hide them. Her hair was more frizzy than usual, indicating a night of restless tossing and turning. This coupled with the fact she was almost falling asleep against her locker door told the CEO that Elizabeth had had a bad nights sleep. He wondered if she was still hungover, since she could barely move the morning after the party. But surely the alcohol must have left her system by now?
Seto pushed it from his mind and let whatever remark he had just been about to say go. He placed a book into his locker and then shut the door - almost receiving a heart attack in return. A girl was leaning against the lockers on his other side. The locker door had obscured her from Seto's view and he had been shocked to find someone there, though not even a flicker of emotion graced his face. His eyes narrowed at the girl.
"Hi, Kaiba." She said, her voice high pitched. She giggled to herself after she said it, as if it was the most hilarious thing she could think of.
Please, not this again, Seto thought desperately to himself.
This girl, who Seto couldn't even recall the name of, would try about every two or three weeks to flirt with him. And no matter how cold or distant Seto seemed, and no matter how many insults he threw at her, the girl kept coming back again and again.
"I'm busy." Seto informed her. The girl just picked up one of her light brown curls and began to wrap it around her finger.
"That's fine." She replied. "I was just, like, wondering if you wanted my number."
"No. I don't." Seto harshly answered, glaring at the girl for good measure. The brown haired girl literally pouted before walking away and catching up with her friends.
Seto sighed, glad she was gone. He could strike fear into all of his employees and business rivals, yet one girl didn't seem to get the message. As Seto heard a spluttering sound to his left he sighed once more. Make that two girls…
"Oh my God!" Elizabeth suddenly said, her voice raised in pitch to match the previous girl. "She was so totally into you!"
"Shut up." Seto growled. Elizabeth laughed hysterically. She's perked up, Seto commented to himself. The blonde began to walk past him, still grinning madly.
"Erm, like, call me!" Elizabeth shouted over her shoulder as she walked away. Seto clenched his hands and shook his head. Any sympathy he had been feeling for her just moments ago quickly vanished.
As summer finally faded and autumn took its place not much of interest happened. The students accepted Elizabeth, the blonde remarking on how such petty things could win people over, so school wasn't as much as a burden for her as it had been. She still continued to spend her free time on the roof, and if the weather didn't permit that, she sought out a lone table wherever possible. It was only on rare occasions that she sat with the other students, she much preferred isolating herself still.
Now that the vicious name calling towards her had died down, Yugi felt a little better about Elizabeth being on her own constantly, though he still preferred it when she sat with them. He knew there must be a reason for her isolation, but he'd only known her a month and didn't feel like it was his place to pry.
As the green leaves turned multiple shades of red, yellow and orange - a new student arrived at Domino High School. Her name was Carlie Adams and she was from California. Her father had just taken over the city's newspaper and had taken a large pay raise as well. What little fascination surrounded Elizabeth quickly dispersed at Carlie's arrival. She too was not only new but foreign as well - but she was newer than Elizabeth so, in the students eyes, that made her more interesting.
Elizabeth caught sight of her on her way to maths one day. She was tanned and skinny with dull blonde hair and chocolate brown eyes. She was surrounded by a large group of people and they were all laughing together. As Elizabeth passed she heard Carlie say something to one of the other girls.
"Are you seriously wearing that?"
It was something that was probably said all the time when teenage girls were involved, but something about it made Elizabeth's skin crawl. It reminded her of something that had happened at her old school. She pushed the thought from her mind, clearly making something out of nothing, and continued on her way.
But the thought still lurked there, in the back of her head. What if?
"So what do you think?" Joey grinned.
"Huh, what?" Elizabeth asked, shaking off her recent daydream. Yugi chuckled at Joey's side. He'd noticed Elizabeth would always seem to stare off into her world quite often.
"We're going shopping tomorrow. Téa insisted we invite you since she wants a girls opinion for a change." Joey explained before exchanging a look with Tristan that seemed to convey all the strangeness of the female mind.
"I'm sure you can find someone else." Elizabeth pointed out as she looked towards the schools exit. It was a Friday, the first Friday of October, and Elizabeth was eager to get home and spend all weekend doing nothing.
"Lizzie, seriously." Tristan interjected, giving the blonde a stern look. "How many girls do you think Joey knows?" Joey immediately protested, yelling at Tristan. Yugi and Elizabeth exchanged smirks. What the hell!
"Fine, fine." Elizabeth said, interrupting Joey and Tristan. "I'll come with you. You still have my number, right?" The night of the party Joey and Tristan had stolen Elizabeth's phone and had gotten her number from it.
"Yup, sure do." Joey grinned, looking far too pleased with himself for Elizabeth's liking. She rolled her eyes.
"Then call me tomorrow." Elizabeth replied. The three boys watched her go, a little surprised that they had persuaded her to join them tomorrow.
Elizabeth waited outside the game shop, her hair tightly woven into a french plait to keep it from annoying her in the autumn breeze. Leaves littered the ground, most of them crushed and trodden on. Elizabeth studied them as she waited.
"Lizzie!" A voice yelled. Elizabeth looked up and was shocked to see Mokuba racing down the street to her.
"Mokuba! What are you doing here?" Elizabeth grinned. Mokuba grinned back.
"Yugi asked if I wanted to go shopping with them." He explained.
"I'm surprised you weren't grounded after last week." Elizabeth laughed. "Your brother looked majorly pissed off."
"Actually…" Mokuba replied sheepishly. "I was grounded."
After Seto had driven himself and his younger brother home he had given Mokuba a lecture so long the small boy had felt himself falling asleep. It was true that Mokuba felt a little guilty about making his brother worry so much, but Mokuba had wanted Seto to see how little he was around. When Mokuba had tried to explain why he'd done what he had Seto simply dismissed his claims with the usual I'm doing this for you, so you get a good life. Mokuba had given up at that point and stormed off to his room.
"Wow, you're a right little troublemaker." Elizabeth laughed once again. Mokuba smiled.
"It was only for a week though, so I'm not breaking any rules being here." He continued. Elizabeth leaned in closer to the small boy.
"Even if you were, I wouldn't tell." She whispered in his ear. She pulled back with a smile and got one in return. Just at that moment Yugi, Joey, Tristan and Téa exited the game shop.
"Oh, you two are here already." Téa observed. "That's good."
"Let's head out!" Tristan declared excitedly. The group began walking, murmurs of conversation rippling between them.
"I hope the house was too wrecked after the party." Joey said to Elizabeth as they walked. The blonde girl chuckled.
"Nah, it was fine." She replied. "I hired a cleaning service."
"Good thinking, Lizzie." Joey commented, grinning widely at her. Elizabeth shrugged.
"I wasn't up to it, that's all." She explained. Mokuba laughed from her other side.
"You should have seen her in the morning." He told Joey. "She looked awful!"
"Hey!" Elizabeth yelled. "That's not nice to say." She waggled her finger at Mokuba, playfully chastising him. It just caused him to laugh harder.
As the group rounded a corner those at the front stopped walking, causing Elizabeth to almost run into Téa who happened to be in front of her.
"Oops, sorry." She said as she stumbled over Téa's feet. The brunette didn't even spare her a glance.
Elizabeth frowned and looked past her, wondering what had her attention. Standing in the middle of the street, blocking their way, was a man with black hair wearing a black cape, the hood pulled up so his features were obscured.
"Do you mind moving?" Tristan asked, not too politely. The man simply cracked a smile.
"That depends." He murmured.
"On what?" Yugi questioned. Elizabeth picked up that his voice sounded different, but the girl pushed that thought away and concentrated again on the man blocking their path.
"On whether she is willing to duel me." The man pointed, his cape billowing as he did. Everyone followed where the man was pointing to only to see a very confused Elizabeth. She glanced over her shoulder. No one was stood behind her.
"Do you mean me?" She inquired, shocked. Why would anyone want to duel me? I haven't played the game in over a year.
"Yes, I mean you." The man clarified. "And I think we should make it more interesting." Elizabeth raised an eyebrow.
"How so?" She questioned.
"If I win, you answer any question I have for you regarding St Isabelle's." The man explained. Elizabeth's eyes went wide. St Isabelle's - my old boarding school?
"Why do you want to know about St Isabelle's?" Elizabeth demanded.
"What's St Isabelle's?" Joey butt in.
"My old boarding school." Elizabeth answered absent-mindedly. A million thoughts were flying through her head. Why did this man want to know about her old school? Were her friends in trouble - danger even? She gazed at the man before her, waiting to hear what he had to say.
"If you win, I'll answer any questions you may have." He smiled mockingly at her, obviously not believing for one second that Elizabeth could beat him.
Elizabeth clenched her jaw. She didn't want to duel this man, she could barely even remember how to play. But she needed to find out this mans agenda, especially as it involved all her friends back in Paris.
"Fine. I accept." Elizabeth replied.
"Wait, Lizzie, you cant just agree to this!" Joey told her, a worried expression on his face.
"Yes I can." Elizabeth informed him. Yugi turned to face her and Elizabeth frowned. Did he look a little different than he did do before?
"Are you sure about this?" He questioned seriously. Elizabeth nodded.
"All of my friends, my best friends, are at that school." She explained, her gaze unwavering as she stared down Yugi. "If they're in trouble then I need to know."
"All right." Yugi nodded.
"Great, shall we get started?" The man asked, holding out a deck for them all to see.
"Yes." Elizabeth replied, a determined look on her face. It quickly faltered. "Erm, guys… do you any of you have any cards I could borrow?"