Who's ready for round two of the reunion?

I hope you guys enjoyed the first part; this part should be as equally entertaining!

Remember if you want quick updates, make sure to Follow and Favourite.

If you can, leave a review, I promise after this chapter (seeing as we've made the 10-chapter mark), I will stop with the review plugs!

Anyway, you're not here to listen to me waffle on, let's get this going.

Buckle up and enjoy the ride,

Writey x

Alexis's POV

Great, I thought to myself picking up the book I was carrying, I'm already late to the common room and now I'm injuring people on my way there.

I am never, ever late for things, it is something I am proud of but today, everything had just gotten out of hand, there had been way too many surprises for one day.

My day, like most since I've been back at Duel Academy, had started just about the same way. I got out of bed, showered, did my hair, put on the outfit that I had laid out the night before and made my way to breakfast to join the others.

Over the past few days, Chazz, Chumley, Blair and my annoying brother Atticus had joined Jesse, me, Jim, Hassleberry and Axel on the island for the reunion.

Chazz and Blair had arrived together (I decided there was more to this, if you get what I mean) and Chumley had arrived very early this morning.

Aster wasn't scheduled to be arriving until after breakfast whilst, Zane, Bastion and Syrus weren't coming early, let's put it that way.

I wasn't sure about Jaden; all I knew however was that something inside me was excited to see him, but I didn't want to admit it to myself.

I'd made my way down to breakfast. We had our own dining room and kitchen as a floor, something they had added since I was last here. It was all self-catering which meant everyone was cooking for themselves, well everything except dinner, Dorothy had agreed to make us all dinner for the few days whilst we were here.

I was always usually first down to breakfast but not today, in fact somehow Jesse had beaten me down, which was the first surprising thing to happen today.

"Ahh, Lexi," he said turning around as I walked in, "I've made pancakes, do you want some?"

I stifled a laugh as I looked at him, he was wearing an 'I love cooking apron' with a chef's hat on, covered in dough.

"No thanks Jess," I said holding in my laugh, "I'll just stick to coffee and cereals."

I made myself a brew as Jesse whistled, flipping another pancake, "why are you in such a good mood?"

He smiled at me, "just am, I get all my friends in one place again."

It was true. Everyone was turning up today, we were all going to be together and I would have been lying if I said I wasn't as excited as Jesse.

As I sat eating my breakfast, everyone else started to arrive.

Chazz made a statement about Jesse's outfit but Jesse just mentioned the fact that Chazz and Blair had both arrived at breakfast at the same time which made Chazz go bright red.

We all sat and chatted for a while, everyone eating their different breakfasts before I decided to head upstairs and relax before the pandemonium of everyone arriving would begin.

Jesse being first down to breakfast never happened, that was the first surprise in store for the day.

The second came later and well, I wish now I had managed it in a different way, but you'll understand what I mean.

After about an hour or so, there was a knock at my door.

That's strange I thought to myself, I wasn't expecting anyone.

I shuffled out of bed and put the book down I was reading.

I opened the door and Jesse stood in front of me, smiling. He had clearly showered since his cooking exploits this morning.

"Hey, Jess," I said motioning for him to follow me inside, "you know, you don't have to knock."

Our friendship had developed so much over the past few months that I didn't mind him coming in unannounced as long as he checked I wasn't changing or anything.

He followed me in and closed the door but didn't take a seat, he simply stood by the door.

I was confused because he never acted like this, "is everything okay Jesse."

He looked up at me and I realised I could see he was nervous, "yeah everything is okay Lex, it's just this morning in the kitchen, when you we talked about our friends being in one place, I realised that there was something I'd been meaning to tell you."

My head suddenly became an encyclopaedia, going over everything that statement meant.

Are some of our friends not coming today? Is he leaving early or skipping the reunion? Does he know something about Jaden that I don't know? Has someone told him something about Jaden that he's going to tell me?

Oh god!

He wasn't about to say he wanted to be more than friends, was he?

I tried to keep a composed face and encouraged him to go on.

"It's just that," he said, I was getting nervous now, "I'm…."

I couldn't take it anymore, so I just blurted out "Jesse, I don't like you like that."

Jesse stopped and looked very confused, "what Alexis, I wanted to tell you that I'm moving to New Domino City after the reunion, what did you think I was going to say?"

I went bright pink, "umm, well, yeah that was….. totally what I thought you were about to say?"

Then, Jesse sparked up a cheeky grin and came towards me.

"Did you… you thought I was about to tell you I liked you didn't you," he said poking and teasing me, "aww, how cute, you thought I had a crush on you."

I wriggled away from him before turning around trying not to blush again, "No I did not, I just had to tell you I don't like you, at all."

I tried to put on my hard exterior again but suddenly, what Jesse had said sunk in.

"Wait, you're moving to New Domino City?"

Once I said that, his body language automatically shifted back to what it had been when he originally walked into the room.

"Yeah Lex, but I was going to tell you honestly, I just needed to find the right time," he said, "why don't you move with me, then we can still be near each other and start fresh again."

I sat at the edge of my bed in silence. What he was saying made sense. We could both move there and start again. But it was all so sudden and why couldn't he just tell me straight away!

I felt me blood temperature rising.

Why, when I am on this bloody island, does everyone think they can't tell me things about themselves!

I looked at Jesse, but I wasn't angry, I was just disappointed.

"Jesse, you know I love you like a brother, but I need you to leave."

He looked up at me and I could tell my words had hurt him, "but Alexis please, come on, jus…."

"Jesse," I said holding back the tears, "last time I had a conversation like this, it ended up in a huge argument, just go before we start shouting."

I could see the disappointment on his face, but he understood.

I watched as he turned and left, then, my face crashed into the pillow tears flowing from my face.

Yep, so my day started off all joyous and lovely until that happened.

The final reason and probably the one I was least expecting, was this.

After reapplying my make-up and composing myself, I headed out of my room to go and find Jesse and apologise to him.

I was probably too harsh on him. Who was I to tell him what he can and can't do, if I was his friend, I would support his decision, however hard it might be for me.

I made my way out of my room. Because our floor was on the second level, we could look out onto the whole of the open area of the Obelisk Blue dorm and I realised that people must have been arriving because there was a lot of noise coming from just over the walkway.

I peered over the edge and there was an array of people I recognised from my time at Duel Academy.

I realised that maybe Zane and Syrus might have arrived and started to look hastily along the line.

I hadn't seen them in forever and I really wanted to surprise them at their door.

I walked along the hallway a bit before finally spotting them.

They were just making their way towards the lift to take them to the second floor.

I started to hurry try to beat them to second floor lift entrance until something caught my eye or rather until someone caught my eye.

"Jaden…." I whispered under my breath, coming to a halt.

It was definitely him; I could tell by the hair; it was still exactly the same. His look was different though, he looked more…. mature. I didn't know whether that was a good or bad thing but all I knew was something was stirring inside me; except I wasn't really sure what it meant.

I hadn't felt anything like this for nearly two years, I'd almost forgotten what the feeling had felt like.

I looked at him and realised I had been smiling the entire time.

Right let's stop that, I said to myself.

It didn't take long for my smile to disappear.

He wasn't alone.

"Agh," someone said from beside me, "this reminds me of the first time we saw Jaden Yuki, just standing over him watching his duel again Crowler."

The smile reappeared on my face, "Zane," I said wrapping my arms around him in a hug.

Because of my daydream, I didn't even realise he was there.

"Woah, easy Alexis, I'm here," he said hugging me back, "however, I see you have your mind on another old acquaintance anyway."

I felt my face heat up and I kept it buried on Zane's shoulder so that my blush would disappear.

When I felt it go away, I pulled my face back to look at him.

"No, Zane, I was actually coming to find you."

It was true, I did mean to come and see Zane and Syrus at first, but I couldn't take my mind off the redhead that had been stood next to Jaden.

Did he have a girlfriend?

Another strange sensation came over me, one I'd never really felt before and one I definitely didn't want to feel again.

"Yeah, sure you did," he said moving one of his bags towards me, "you can help me take me stuff to my room if you really were coming to see me."

I smiled and picked up his bag.

I helped him move all of his stuff back to his room and quickly helped him unpack.

"Alexis," he said mid unpacking, "that's not his girlfriend."

I looked confused for a moment before understanding.

"I never asked if it was," I said, trying to play it off cool.

Secretly, for some reason, I did care but didn't want him to know.

"Just thought you might like to know."

I could hear the smirk in his voice whilst he said it, but I decided I'd had enough disagreements for one day.

We sat and talked for a while longer before we realised what the time was, and we started to leave the room to go to meet the others.

"I need to go get some stuff from my room, meet you at the common room in a bit?"

He nodded and locked the door behind him.

I made my way down the hallway and entered my room. After what only felt like a few seconds I heard my neighbour's door go.

I wonder who that is, I thought to myself.

I could have gone to see but for some reason I decided to continue getting ready.

I quickly sorted my hair and gathered everything I needed.

I quickly headed for my door but as I reached it someone knocked.

I waited a second and then answered.

I was very surprised by who was stood in front of me.

"Jaden, have you seen my…." Said the person who was rummaging through a bag before realising I wasn't Jaden, "oh sorry, I thought this was Jaden's room, must have got the numbers muddled."

It was the red-haired girl that had been with Jaden in the queue.

I felt a surge of anger come through me, but I calmed myself.

"Hi, I'm Alexis, that's no problem, I don't know what room he is but I can help you find him, are you his…."

I couldn't even finish my sentence before she looked at me with daggers.

"Alexis, hi I'm Amalie, now, I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt because we've just met and I've barely seen another girl since I've arrived but please, don't ever try to ask me that again, I'm getting fed up of people asking me if I'm his boyfriend, like do we really give off that vibe?"

I looked at Amalie for a minute as she looked at me, then we both smiled and burst out laughing.

"You know…." I said between laughs, "people literally used to ask me the same thing."

We kept laughing until we were both on the floor from our giggles.

"Oh dear," Amalie said still trying to recover, "it's annoying isn't it."

I looked at her and nodded.

Once we had finished all our laughing, we both sat up.

She stuck her hand out and smiled, "let's do this right shall we, hi I'm Amalie."

I smiled back and shook her hand, "nice to meet you Amalie, I'm Alexis.

I suppose I must admit to myself that I judged her slightly to quickly, "what have you lost?"

Amalie suddenly looked concerned again, "oh it's just this book I'm reading, it's about these people who get taken and need to be recused…."

"But the twist is that the place they end up in makes you age much quicker than normal," I said realising exactly what book she was talking about.

"Yeah, that's it, have you read it," she said looking up at me.

I nodded, "yeah actually, I think I have a copy with me, you can borrow mine until you find yours," I said turning my back and quickly heading into my room.

I realised that I was probably incredibly late to the common room by now so what was another few minutes, "Amalie," I shouted from my room.

"Yeah," she said peering her head in.

"If you go back to your room, I'll drop the book off on my way to the place I'm going," I said, my head buried in one of the bags I had brought with me.

"Okay, thank you, I'm room 204," she said, closing my door and heading back off to her room.

Now you see, that is how I had ended up in this position. I had found the book for Amalie but in doing so I had ended up on my backside, in a rush to give her the book so I could get to the common room and see people before we have dinner.

You follow?

I was trying not to go bright pink at the embarrassment of crashing into some complete stranger because I was running late. I just hoped it wasn't Dorothy, I couldn't stand the thought of injuring her because she was trying to be nice to us.

"Oh, I'm so sorry," I said not wanting to look up due to the embarrassment.

The other person didn't respond.

I stood up slowly making sure the book wasn't damaged before meeting the eyes of the person I had crashed into.

You know how I said everything bad was happening for a reason, I was pretty sure this was the reason everything was going so wrong.

I couldn't have walked into a complete stranger, oh no, I had to crash into the one person that I hadn't spoken to in almost two years.

I looked at Jaden and it made me feel about ten different feelings in ten seconds, but I tried to calm myself.

He slowly rose to his feet brushing off his knees and looked at me.

Now, considering I hadn't seen him in almost two years, he had certainly grown up a lot in that time. For a start, he was taller and more muscular, he looked older; it made him look wiser, he'd definitely been working out, he just looked a lot more se…

I stopped myself.

What the hell!

I wasn't about to repeat what I had just thought but I agreed with my brain never to think like that again.

"Hi Alexis," he said, snapping me out of my daydream.

It sounded like he was…. nervous.

Jaden Yuki.

Nervous.

"Hey," I said back, trying not to show emotion. As much as I wanted to forgive him, last time we had spoken he had said some pretty horrible things.

Not that it was any good, I was feeling so many different things that I would probably just start acting really weird.

I wasn't really sure what to say to him, there had been so much I wanted to say to him but now he was actually here, I was at a loss.

We stood again for what felt like forever before he started talking again, "Alexis, I think I owe you an apology."

"I think I owe you one as well," I said back.

He shook his head, "no you don't, for two years, I've been replaying that moment on the clifftop over and over in my head."

I was shocked, he didn't want me to apologise, even after the things that I had said.

"And all I could think about was how much I hurt you. Those words… my words, no friend should ever say something like that to someone they care about. I've been playing it over and over again in my head all this time. If, you're willing to hear me out, I want you to know that, I want you to know me more."

I giggled slightly. That had made no sense but so much sense at the same time.

I could feel a tear, running down my cheek as I stood there looking at him.

Jaden gave a slight chuckle, "I know, I know but what I mean is, I don't want to keep secrets from you anymore. I don't want to argue anymore. I don't want to feel like I can't talk to you anymore. I just want to be me again. For us to be us."

I could see that he was trying not to get all emotional, so I just let him go on.

"You don't have to be sorry, you didn't know, no one did. I never really let anyone in, so how can I blame you for what you said, I don't need an apology, I just want you guys back."

"Have you seen the others," it sounded like he had but I wanted to be sure.

He nodded, "yeah, I've told them but I had more to say to you, I can't change the past, I can't take away what I said from existence but I want you to know that, I'll be by your side always, I never meant it. I know you said you don't ever want to see me again."

I looked down at the ground in shame, but he put a hand on my chin to make our eyes meet once more and my heart fluttered.

"Hey, look at me, I will get on my hands and knees if you want, I just want to you have you back as my friend."

I was at a loss for words.

Again.

I was relieved, it was what I was hoping for two years, it was all I could think about, this apology, but why did him saying the word 'friend' hurt.

Either way, I smiled and cried all at once.

"You know Jaden, for someone so clueless, you are really good with words," I said laughing.

He started laughing as well, "I guess, I'm forgiven?"

I looked at him, "hmm, depends, you better not ask me to dance tomorrow?"

He laughed, "I think if that's the only rule, then I can live with that."

In one movement, he pulled me in for a hug and I nestled into his midriff.

There was a time where I was actually taller than him but right now, I didn't mind being shorter, it was nice to have my friend back.

We stayed there for a few more seconds before a cough from behind Jaden startled us.

"Umm, sorry to interrupt whatever this is, but I'm really hungry and would quite like that book please, Alexis," said a smirking Amalie.

I'm pretty sure both Jaden and I were bright red as we quickly separated.

"Wait, you guys know each other," Jaden said, trying to change the topic of conversation quickly.

I looked at Amalie and we both smiled, "it's a long story."

"Yeah," Amalie said, "but how about Alexis explains to you over dinner otherwise, I'll eat your dinner as well Yuki."

I looked at Jaden, who looked panicked, "yeah, okay, let's go, just don't eat my food."

I laughed as we turned away to head to the dining hall.

As we all walked together to dinner, I couldn't help but think that this weekend was going to go really well.

Jaden's POV

I sat at the dinner table looking around at all my friends and a smile came across my face.

If you had told me this morning, that I would have been in this position now, it would have been my dream situation.

Dinner had been great; well it had been amazing actually.

Miss Dorothy had come and cooked us an amazing array of food. There was Italian, Chinese, Japanese, American, there were so many dishes that I didn't even recognise them all.

I'm pretty sure she was spoiling us all because of how fussy some people were.

The drinks to go with it were also going down a treat.

Well for me anyway.

I'm pretty sure everyone was drinking some form of alcoholic beverage, but I wasn't entirely sure, largely due to the part that I'd probably had one too many to drink.

To top everything off, the conversation was great, I'd managed to have a quick catch up with everybody because people were always changing seats.

Chazz had reluctantly told me about the family business, I also had a feeling from talking to Blair that they were both seeing each other, but I didn't want to pry too much.

Atticus had spoken to me about working at Duel Academy. He mainly just told me about the perks of being a member of staff and how he never gave any detentions.

Jim, Axel and Aster told me about their experience on the pro circuit. Each of them would be competing in the World Championships but none would face each other until later rounds, just like Zane and Syrus.

Chumley and Hassleberry were still doing very well for themselves, but I didn't really expect anything less. They'd both worked so hard whilst at Duel Academy that they deserved everything they got.

I'd intentionally tried to sit between Syrus and Zane, purely to avoid having to talk about myself. I mean after the past few hours I'd had; I didn't really feel like talking about myself anymore. I just wanted to catch up on everything.

I suppose the only person I hadn't spoken to at dinner was Alexis.

Her, Amalie and Juniper had spent pretty much the entire meal talking to each other, with Bastion just sat pretending to be interested.

In a way it was good, I had a chance to think about my conversation with Alexis.

It went pretty much the same as the one I had in front of the group, except, it felt more important.

I struggled to even get my words out at first, just seeing her had brought back so many memories but once everything spilled out, I didn't look back.

I think the most surprising bit was the fact that she forgave me, I wasn't expecting it but I certainly wasn't going to complain about it either.

Hell, she even started to cry slightly, I thought I was in trouble then at that point.

All in all, I was just really happy to have everything back to how it was.

After a while everyone had finally finished their food and we all vacated the dining room.

"Hey, guys," Jesse said halfway down the corridor.

He had been particularly quiet at dinner, but I wasn't really sure as to why.

"Why don't we go into the common and chill for a bit, Hassleberry, bring a bit of your port as well," he said, giving a cheeky wink and looking like his normal self.

I could tell it was just a coverup, but I didn't want to push him into saying why. I'd only just seen him after a few years, I was going to try to make everything better and act as if we had been close the entire time.

I wobbled on my feet for a second and realised that I was definitely the most drunk.

"Okay, I'll get the port but the sarge isn't having any," Hassleberry said looking and laughing at me.

Everyone looked and started to giggle.

Yeah, I was definitely drunk, how embarrassing.

I felt a vibration in my pocket and looked at my phone.

Damn 10% battery, "I needy go put my phone in the charge," I said through the burps. I was sure it didn't make sense, but I didn't really care that much.

Everyone looked at each other, as if deciding whether to let me go or not.

"Okay, but drink some water before you come back," Syrus said, turning and heading towards the common room.

Amalie locked arms with me and said, "don't worry, I'm going to bed anyway, I'm dead tired and need to be raring to go tomorrow, I'll make sure he gets back."

That remark got a few questioning looks, but I knew that she secretly wanted to check in at home so I let her tell the other what she wanted too.

Once, everyone disappeared into the common room, we made our way back to my room, bumping into a few things along the way.

Once we arrived, Amalie took the keys to my door out my pocket.

She opened the door, trying to keep me upright and let me stumble inside.

As I got my bearings, Amalie just stopped for a minute, waiting for me to crash onto my bed before talking, "hey, Jaden, I know you probably won't remember this in the morning but thank you for inviting me, I'm so glad you chose to come."

I smiled and mumbled a, 'you're welcome' before Amalie laughed, handed me a cup of water and said goodnight.

It took a couple of attempts before I sat myself up and drank some water.

Once I had finished the cup, I felt slightly better, like I wasn't going to be sick.

Man I need to remember that cure, I thought to myself.

I looked at my phone and realised I'd been almost 30 minutes, so I put my phone on charge and quickly headed for the common room.

As I made my way to common room, I could hear talking but it wasn't a lot of talking, it was as if everyone was having one big conversation.

Something inside me told me to slow down, so just before I got to the door, I waited outside and listened to what was being said.

"I don't care, he turns up, says sorry and then gets smashed, I'm sorry but it doesn't seem very sincere," said a voice that was definitely Chazz.

I tightened up slightly, they were talking about me, talking whilst I wasn't there.

"I agree with Chazz," Blair said, it was definitely Blair, "we haven't heard from him in almost two years and this is how he acts."

I knew that my actions weren't great. But surely, they could have just told me to tone down the drinking at dinner or something.

A few more people spoke, but I wasn't really listening.

I was hurt, I knew I shouldn't have been, I didn't even know the context of the conversation really.

But I had only just seen them again, I'd put everything on the line, sadi how sorry I was and I'd blown it already.

Wait, they were talking behind my back though.

That made me angry but then even more sad.

They couldn't even talk to me.

It was just like what I did to them two years ago, I didn't tell them, anything.

I wanted to go back to my room, I didn't want to hear them judge me anymore.

Before I could leave, I quickly tuned back into the conversation, but I don't know why. I just wanted to be sure I wasn't wrong.

It was Alexis talking, "and to be honest with you, I'm tired of this conversation, I'm going to bed."

I suddenly panicked as she came to the door.

I tried to act cool but I was too upset and angry to do anything other than stand there.

She came around the corner and we almost collided once more, "oh, wow, almost again," she laughed, she kind of sounded nervous and for a minute, I felt good again.

Suddenly, everyone else appeared and that good feeling disappeared fast.

Alexis looked at my facial expression, I could tell she knew how I was feeling, "Jaden, how long have you been here?"

She sounded very worried and looked around at everyone else, but I couldn't tell her facial expression.

"Jaden," Syrus said, clearly realising was she meant, "it wasn't what it sounded like."

I felt the anger boil inside of me, back to this again, thinking I'm stupid.

Why did my friends think I was stupid?

I wasn't going to shout though, I wanted to at least remember the good parts about the day, I could at least keep those.

"I heard what I needed to hear," I said.

It probably came out more venomous than I really intended, but I didn't care.

"I knew coming here wasn't a good idea," I said, not wanting to meet the eyes of anyone, "I just thought, that maybe, I was wanted here but clearly I was wrong."

I looked at the guys, they were all silent as I thought they would be.

I then looked at Alexis, who had a tear in her eye.

I don't know what made me, but I wiped it from her cheek. For some reason, I felt even worse for that tear being there.

"I'll go home tomorrow; I can get the first boat back."

It felt wrong saying that, but I didn't want to be here right now.

I suddenly thought about Amalie, "I'm not ruining this for Amalie. Syrus, I expect you to make sure she gets back."

I looked at him and he gave a simple nod.

I glanced at Alexis, but she wasn't even looking at me anymore.

It bothered me, did I hurt her again?

I put that to the back of my mind.

"Jaden," Zane said stepping forward, "Don't do thi…"

"It's okay Zane, I've made my decision. I'll be seeing you guys."

And with one quick movement, I made my way to my room, water streaming down my face.

Wow, okay, that took a lot longer to write than I expected.

Was a hard one I must say but what did you guys think.

While you all digest it, I'll say, for the last time in this story I PROMISE, to please, please, please review, let me know what you think, story ideas and all that.

I'll continue to remind you all to favourite and follow because I didn't promise I'd stop that ;)

I know it was quite a long one, but surely it was worth it?

Final thing is just everyone, look after yourself, especially at the moment, take care of loved ones and people around you, help people and don't be too selfish.

You don't know what you have until it's gone.

Anyway, I'll get the last part of the reunion up when I can.

Until next time,

Writey x