"Whoa! How'd that happen, Joey?" Tristan asked, seeing Joey's eye for the first time that day at lunch.

"I don't want to talk about it," he growled under his breath. Despite Serenity's efforts, his eye had gone yet a darker shade of bluish-black. He had been getting an assortment of questions about what had happened all that morning.

"You can tell me, Joey," Mai smiled, scooting up closer to him on the bench.

"I really don't want to talk about it," he said.

"He doesn't have to if he doesn't want to, guys," said Yugi.

"Right," added Tea. They could tell that she wanted to know as bad as the rest of them, despite her efforts to conceal it.

"Haven't you heard?!" a boy, probably a ninth grader, ran up to them. "He was in a fight with Kaiba!"

"A fight with Kaiba?!" exclaimed Yugi, turning in shock to his best friend. Joey groaned.

"Yeah, a fight with Kaiba. It was about Serenity," he finally sighed.

"She was with Kaiba?!" Bakura exclaimed.

"Yeah. They decided to cut class all day," he said.

"Why?!" Tea asked. As her curiosity had already surfaced, she had nothing to lose.

"She liked him," Mai said.

"What?!" the group exclaimed together.

"You heard me. She liked him," Mai repeated.

"You mean . . . you knew all along?!" Joey concluded.

"Yeah, and I wanted her to figure everything out by herself. She needed to," Mai said.

"Yeah, I guess you're right," said Yugi. "Come to think of it, I haven't seen either of them all day."

"Me either," Bakura said. "Odd."

"They're both suspend," Joey cut in.

"Suspended?" Bakura asked, awe evident.

"Yeah, they both got a day. They would've gotten more, but first offense really doesn't count against you," Joey explained.

"Wow. I really would have thought of Serenity as the last person to be in suspension," said Yugi.

"I know what you mean," agreed Tristan. "She must have really liked him, to put her perfect rep on the line,"

"You bet," Joey said.

The bell rang, and they were all forced to leave and go back to class. Mai and Yugi to history, Joey to language arts, and Tristan and Bakura to math.

All their lessons seemed like they were missing something. All of the hard questions never got answered in math and science, and no one read any new poetry aloud in language arts.

However, there were odd rumors floating around all day regarding the unexpected absence of the two of them yesterday. One of the most popular had something to do with aliens. The others were more sensible, but somehow seemed less likely.

As they end of the day neared, the whole school seemed to know that the CEO of KaibaCorp and some girl, supposedly related to the second-place Duelist Kingdom champ had disappeared off the face of the earth around fifth period.

If there was one person who needed to know what was (really) going on, I bet you could guess who it was. Mai sat through the rest of the day, willing the fire alarm to ring, a tornado drill to happen, something. Sadly, nothing unexpected occurred. When the bell finally rang, it seemed like days had gone by. Grabbing her book bag, she dashed outside and pulled out her cell phone.

Quickly, she dialed Serenity's number. It rang about three times, and then finally someone picked up.

"Hello?" a voice asked. She certainly didn't seem bored out of her mind. Actually, she seemed rather elated.

"Well hello yourself! How was yesterday?" Mai asked eagerly.

"So that's what you were calling me about. Don't get any ideas. We just went out to eat, and walked on the beach a little," she said.

"Right," Mai said sarcastically. "For four hours?"

"That's about the extent of it," Serenity shrugged.

"I don't believe it. You were with the richest, most desirable guy in school for four hours, and all you did was 'go out to eat and walk on the beach for a little while'. Gimme a break."

"You can believe what you like, but that's what we did," Serenity replied.

"You didn't even kiss? Not once?" Mai said.

"Nope."

"Fine," she relented. "So what's the deal with Joey?"

"He showed up, and got into a really awful argument with Seto. I jumped between them before the punches started, but Joey pushed me aside. I tried to stop them, but it didn't work," she sighed.

"You can't expect them to listen to reason. They've hated each other for as far back as either want to remember. What happened to Seto anyway?" she asked.

"He came out with a split lip, and an extremely bloody shirt," Serenity said. Mai winced.

"Ouch. They were serious, weren't they?"

"You better believe it," Serenity sighed.

"Well, I hope things get better by tomorrow afternoon," Mai said.

"Why?" Serenity asked.

"Pool party?" Mai reminded.

"Oh! Good thing I got off with a one-day sentence," replied Serenity.

"You're grounded?!" Mai said, stifling a laugh. That was a first.

"Shut up," Serenity sighed.

"Well, see you there," Mai said.

"You betcha! Bye!" Serenity smiled, and hung up. Only a day away . . .

****

How'd you like it? I have a few ideas for the next chappie, and I've written most of it. I like the idea with the song, Daisy-chan1! That gives me a few ideas . . . Well, thanks for reading this far, and please review! =) Oh, and thank you gorgon medusa! I've fixed that!