Chapter Two

"Game over."

The arcade around us beeped and buzzed as Yugi did a little victory dance in front of Duel Monsters arcade game. Every night, he and Joey came and played to the 'death', and every night, Joey lost at least half of the games.

They made a deal to where the person who lost five games had to pay until the other lost five. Things weren't going so well for Joey, not only because he was running out of money. Yugi was the top score and had been since fifth grade.

We saw another acquaintance standing, a scowl on his face, in front of PacSun. Yugi looked dubious as I motioned him over. His name is— was— Ryou. He looked like the 'bully magnet' type— the type that always seem to get picked on— but in reality, he held a certain power over half the school. He has white hair, and his deep brown eyes always seemed to have a shy, innocent look to them, even when he was angry.

He sauntered over to us. My first impression was that he was uncomfortable— he never hung out with us. My second was that he was sick to even think of joining us. The hard light in his eyes vanished, however, as he almost dreamily stared at me. I was considering acting repulsed, and was figuring out the exact sarcastic words to say when Mai shot me a sweet, deadly, warning look. My attention was diverted for a few minutes as I wondered why she cared.

"Mind if I join you?" Ryou shifted his gaze to Yugi, and his expression was almost one of loathing. Yugi didn't seem to care, but his face was stony. He leaned stiffly against the box-like game. Two punks walked by and stared at him, then walked away, making rude gestures. I nearly flicked them off, but Yugi whacked my hand. I stuck out my tongue.

"Sure, if we can go another way, other than the highway."

"Another way? What other way?" What other way? I thought.

"Oh, you know, through the forest—Oh, yeah! I remembered.—down that unused sewer main that turned into a rat nest (I made a face), and out through the meadow."

"Sure, I don't care. Why the secrecy?

I interrupted Yugi's indignant stutter. "It's really none of your business, but if you must know, we like the meadow, so we go home through it."

Yugi started to scowl, but then I guess he realized that I was protecting him. Even the strong ones need protecting sometimes, and he would find that the truth more and more often as time passed. His expression softened, and he put his arm around my waist. "Yeah." he echoed. A couple walked past and the guy slapped Yugi a high-five. He grinned at their retreating figures and winked at me. Ryou looked sick. I glanced at him quizzically, and his scowl became even deeper as he turned and stomped off in the direction of the door. We followed close behind him.

We seem to be following a lot…