Chapter 1: So it begins...
Author Note(s): hehehe...great title for the first chapter, eh? *sighs* We don't own YuGiOh!, just the characters that don't appear in the TV shows...please don't sue us! Thanx from all of us...keep reviewing....(^o^)
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Glory up to blinding sunlight as she opened her eyes. Damn! Ro' must've opened the blinds to wake me up. Grrrrrrrr.... She growled in mild annoyance and sat up groggily. She rubbed her eyes and threw back the covers, put on her slippers and walked out of the room and down the hall. "Ro'? You here?" She went into the kitchen, didn't find Ro', turned around and walked back to her room. She noticed a note taped to her door and grinned. "Glory, gone to school early to work on a project with Yugi and co. (^-^) Ro'." The grin quickly left her face, however, when she glanced at her clock. Damn! I'm gonna be late. Again!
She quickly went through her dresser and pulled out a pair of black jeans and a red sleeveless top. She glanced out the window, decided it was too hot for her black duster, grabbed her backpack and headed for the door of the small apartment. She pulled on her brown hiking boots, locked the door behind her and took off towards the elevators. Of course, they weren't working, so she dashed down the stairwell and ran out the doors. School was only a block away. She might just make it in time. She sped up and sprinted down the street, making it onto school property just as the bell rang. Panting, she stumbled up the school steps and pushed open the doors, to be greeted by the national anthem.
Guess that was the second bell… She sighed and waited for the anthem to end. She knew the principal would be standing just on the other side of the corner, waiting for someone to walk by so he could tell them to "have some respect and stand still for our nation's anthem". She rolled her eyes as the anthem ended with a grand flourish. She sighed as she watched the principal walk by and headed straight for her first class. She hadn't brought a coat and had her first period textbook in her backpack from last night's homework. She tried to slip into her seat while her teacher was droning on about mathematics, which of course, didn't work. She waited for his customary monotonous "thank you for deciding to grace us with your presence Miss Toumes. Kindly take your seat and we'll go over the reason for your tardiness after I give the lesson." She sighed and slid into her desk. "you may borrow the notes for this lesson from Miss O'Conner" She rolled her eyes and turned to her best friend Rowlena O'Conner, or as she called her Ro'. Ro' handed her the note and she mouthed a quick "thank you" and proceeded to copy out the note. She looked down at the two pages in her hand and up at the already half covered blackboard. She would definitely have a cramp in her wrist after this class. She sighed and settled into her seat to write out the notes and do the work the teacher was already assigning.
She quietly copied out the notes, waiting for Mr. Kleghorn to come over. Of course, he did and proceeded to lecture her. "I don't understand how you can be late for this class so often Miss Toumes, and still retain a place in the top three of this class. I suppose being friends with Miss O'Conner helps, but let me tell you Miss Toumes, you will not always have Miss O'Conner to help you out like she does for this class." or any other class for that matter. She grimaced. I really should try to be on time a bit more. How does Ro' do it? She has time to get all her work done and the extra assignments, while I barely have time to get anything done… She sneaked a glimpse at Ro' and caught her smirking at her while she did her work. Mr. Kleghorn sighed heavily. "I can see that this isn't going to help you Miss Toumes. You might as well get to work, but you'll have a detention today after school." She looked up at Mr. Kleghorn incredulously. "Don't give me that look Miss Toumes. This is the fourth time you've been late for my class. That warrants a detention." She nodded and finished copying out the notes and started her work.
She looked over at Ro' who was openly grinning at her. She mouthed "why didn't you wake me up this morning?". To which Ro' replied with a shrug. She rolled her eyes and hit her with her pencil. Ro' giggled and a few of the students around them looked up at them, including both Seto Kaiba and a boy Glory had never seen before. She leaned over to Ro' and asked, "Who's that?" Ro' glanced over at the boy and murmured, "Oh. Him. His name's Jason Kidd. He's new." Glory nodded wisely. "Oh." Ro' elbowed her. "Better get to work Glory, before Kleghorn catches you." Glory rolled her eyes and leaned back into her desk to do her work. The class finally ended at 10:12 and nearly the entire class sighed with relief as they were dismissed. Glory quickly headed for the door followed by Ro' and some of the other students.
Ro' laughed at her once they were on their way to their next class. "I can't believe you got a detention Glory. You had it coming though. How do you always end up being so late for that class?" She glanced at her friend before continuing. "I know! I know! You're not a morning person. But really, Glory! Just try to be on time tomorrow, 'kay?" Glory nodded sulkily. "Yeah, yeah. I'll try. So…how'd the project go?" Ro' raised an eyebrow. "Oh! You mean the one I was working on this morning?" Glory rolled her eyes. "What else do you think I meant?" Ro' laughed. "It went okay. Joey had no clue, as usual, and Tristan flirted with almost every girl in the study hall, but other than that, we got most of the work done." Glory laughed along with her friend. "Good thing it wasn't just you with Joey and Tristan. I don't think even YOU could have got any work done without Yugi and Tea there to help you deal with those two." The two continued laughing as they walked into their Art class together and took a seat just as the bell rang for second period.
Miss Githem took attendance and proceeded to explain the next project to the class. Glory tuned out until she heard the word 'partner' but slumped disappointedly when she said that she'd be the one picking their partners for this project and began to name off the pairs. She looked at her classmates and sighed. With her luck, she'd be paired with Weevil Underwood or Joey Wheeler. Not that Joey was a bad guy or anything, but he didn't exactly get his work done on time and Weevil was just disgusting, always going on about some bug or another. "Weevil Underwood and…Tea Gardener". She straightened, but slumped again as she continued down the list. "Rowlena O'Conner and Joey Wheeler". She looked over at her friend who was looking relieved that SHE hadn't been the one paired with Weevil. Glory looked over at the remaining students left over and sighed again. Rex Raptor, the new guy, Yugi Motou, Duke Devlin and Seto Kaiba. Now, she'd probably get stuck with Rex or Duke, who, in her mind, were both no better than Weevil. She slouched even more when Miss Githem announced "Yugi Motou and Jason Kidd. Yep. Here it comes… "Rex Raptor and…" She buried her face in her arms on her desk.
"…Duke Devlin". She looked up and nearly laughed at the two of them, who were openly glaring at each other. But that meant…"and that leaves Seto Kaiba and Glorianna Toumes." She grimaced at Miss Githem's use of her whole first name. She looked over at Ro', who was staring at he in disbelief and walked over to her. "Well, Glory-ANNA, this is the first time you haven't been paired with either Weevil, Joey, Rex or Duke. How ever did you manage?" Glory growled at her before swatting her arm. "Don't you EVER call me that again!" Ro' blinked innocently. "Call you what? Glory-ANNA?" Glory growled once more and would have hit Ro' again except Miss Githem spoke up again. "If you'd please sit with your partners and look over the assignment in the textbook." Glory rolled her eyes. How sad is that? A textbook? For ART?
She gathered her things and offered Joey her desk before moving to where Weevil sat next to Seto Kaiba. She quietly tapped him on the shoulder. "Excuse me Weevil, but can I borrow your desk for the period?" Weevil grunted and moved his stuff over to the desk beside Tea. Glory dropped her things on the desk and sat down after carefully examining the chair. "Can't be too careful around Weevil. You don't know what kind of bug he'll leave behind…" She looked up as Seto chuckled quietly at her. Her eyes widened. She hadn't meant to say that out loud! She tried to think of a way to gloss the whole thing over, couldn't, so she just took out her pencils and sketchbook and waited for him to say something. He didn't. She sighed quietly and turned to him. "Can I borrow your textbook? I sorta…misplaced mine…" He raised an eyebrow in mild surprise. "First you're late for math, now this…it's a wonder you're in the top of all your classes, Glorianna." Her jaw clenched involuntarily. "Don't.Call.Me.That." She unclenched her jaw and tried to sound less irritated. "I prefer to be called Glory." She shrugged. "It's a lot shorter than Glorianna." He smirked. "Alright, Glory…Yes, you can borrow my textbook, but I already know what the assignment is." She raised an eyebrow. "Is that so?".
He ignored her and continued. "We're supposed to be coming up with some idea for a sculpture." She raised an eyebrow. "Really? And are we supposed to make the sculpture, too?" He nodded. She laughed. "You're kidding, right?" He shook his head. "No." She stared at him before shrugging. "Alright. Any ideas, genius?" He shook his head. "Not one. But I'm not supposed to be the only one thinking, Glory." She glared at him. "Alright. You want me to come up with the idea? Fine. But, we're gonna stick to it. Is that okay with you?" He looked at her carefully. "As long as it's nothing girly or stupid…" She faked mock hurt. "Me? Come up with something girly or stupid? Do I look like that kind of person to you?" He looked at her before responding. "No…" She smirked. "Good." She opened the textbook.. "I already read the assignment.." He smirked. "Before you lost your book?" She glared at him again. "Would you let me finish?!" She took a deep breath. "Now, as I was saying.." She paused to look at him pointedly. "..I've already read the assignment and I've got an idea that's NOT girly or stupid." He looked at her in interest. "And what, exactly, is your great idea?" She smiled smugly. "Oh. I don't know…I thought we'd do a Blue Eyes White Dragon or something…but, of course, we could just do something else…" She glanced over at Tea, who was trying to convince Weevil that they should do something that wasn't a bug of some sort. From the looks of it, she was failing miserably. She must have realized it too, because she had this incredibly depressed look on her face and she wasn't really getting into any of the things she was saying. Glory turned back to Seto with a grin. "So...what'll it be, smartass? You wanna stick with my idea or take a page out of Tea's book and do something disgustingly cute like the Shining Friendship card...?" He glared at her. "We'll stick with your idea.." She laughed. "Good...now, I guess we should start with a rough sketch or something..." She looked at him. "How 'bout I draw it and you can tell me what I'm doing wrong...since I hear you're the expert on Blue Eyes White Dragons..." He nodded. "Fine."
She opened up her sketchbook and quickly flipped to the back, where she only had a few blank pages left. She didn't even glance at Seto, just pulled out a pencil and an eraser and started sketching a dragon. She started with the body and built up to the head and massive wings and long tail. She squinted at her sketch before continuing, adding in the details, changing the curve of the tail, widening the wings... She finally finished and handed over her sketchbook to Seto. He carefully scrutinized the sketch before passing it back to her. She rested her head on one of her arms. "Well...? How is it?" He shook his head. "It's fine the way it is..." He suddenly looked directly at her, catching her by surprise. "How'd you do it?" She swallowed. "Do what?" He glared at her. "How'd you draw that without looking at a card or anything?" She shrugged. "Oh..I don't know...I guess I'm just good at picturing things in my head and drawing them. It's nothing...I'm sure a lot of people can do it...." He studied her before shrugging. "You're lying. But, it's none of my business anyway..." She blushed ever so slightly.
"Damn straight, it's none of your business..." She glanced at him and sighed. "But, I'll tell you anyway. I...I drew the original for most of the Duel Monsters cards out there." She didn't look up. " I don't know how I landed the job. These guys just showed up one day a few years ago and told me a certain Mr.Pegasus wanted to offer me a job. I went to see him and he asked me to draw the pictures for his new game...I thought he was joking, but then he said I'd be going to Egypt to see some artifacts that I was supposed redraw. Sort of 'revamp', I guess..." She trailed off and finally looked up at him. He was staring at her in disbelief. "Are you serious?" She nodded. "Dead serious. But, you can't tell anyone! You and Ro' are the only two that know...and I don't want to be chased around the school by Duel Monsters haters or worse, rabid Duel Monsters fans...so don't tell a soul! Understand?" He nodded slowly. "Alright...I won't tell anyone........let's get back to the assignment.."
She sighed when he decided to change the topic. I shouldn't have told him...Why did I tell him anyways?...
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Author Note(s): uh...anyone got a good remedy for writer's block? Hehe...we'll be back with the next chapter soon...hopefully....REVIEW! (^0^)