Seto Kaiba opened his eyes. It took him a while to realize where he was, but when he did, he wished he was still at the beach.
"Awake again?" a nurse asked.
"What time is it?" he croaked, ignoring the pain in his head and hand.
"Around 6:00 p.m.. How ya feeling?" she replied cheerfully.
"......" Kaiba chose to remain silent and not answer the question with an obvious answer. He pulled out the IV in his arm and sat up.
"Where's Mokuba?" he asked the nurse.
"The adorable little boy with long black hair? Oh, he's in a room down the hall, visiting another patient."
Kaiba studied the nurse. She wasn't the same one as before, but maybe, just maybe she might be as kind and not ask him too much about himself. That would be for the best. Maybe he could go home and back to work. If she didn't release him willingly, the small matter of money could always change her mind.....
"Where are you going?" she asked.
"To "visit" the other patient." More like strangle him. This was all his fault.
"Come back!" she cried when he began to unsteadily wobble his way through the door and down the hall. What was he WEARING anyways? Where was his clothes and who put him in this dress? Oh well, which room? A loud shriek came from the one farthest away followed by laughter. It just figures that the room farthest away would be his destination. Kaiba slowly wobbled his way down the hall.
"You know, I think I feel kinda bad about writing that thing about Kaiba...." Tea said.
"What?! You wrote that column?!" Joey yelled a bit too loudly.
"Shut up Joey and yes I did." That was the half truth anyways. The other part they didn't need to know about.
"But I don't want to hurt any more people like that. I mean, look at Kaiba. He came to apologize and now he...." Tea trailed off.
"Don't sweat it. Kaiba will NEVER change. He's a cold-hearted jerk who lives alone. What do you expect?" Joey said encouragingly.
"I guess. Um, you guys? I need to tell you something," Tea said seriously.
"You can tell us," Yugi said with a small, encouraging smile directed at Tea.
Tea took a deep breath. No one would force her to say it. It was up to her. She could always just pretend that she had nothing to say. All she had to do was close her mouth.....
Tea took another deep breath and said, "My parents divorced." She began to cry.
"Oh Tea! When? Are you alright?" Tristan said.
"Tea....." Yugi said softly. They all hugged her.
"Yesterday," she said in a small voice.
"Tea, don't- HEY! What the hell do you want?!" Joey suddenly snapped, startling Tea who was still locked in their arms.
"What? Surprised?" Kaiba sneered.
"Get lost Kaiba," Tristan snarled.
"On the contrary, I think I'll stay. Nice hair, Wheeler," he smirked.
"You have the same haircut," Joey said calmly.
Kaiba seemed at a loss for words. Then he remembered why he wobbled his way down the hall to this room full of people he hated. "Where's Mokuba?" he snapped.
"He was here, but even YOU can clearly see that he's gone now," Tea said, an occasional tear escaping her shining eyes.
"Oh. Well what happened here? Your boyfriend almost die? Or did you realize that no one gives a damn about your speeches?"
"Not that it's any of your business Kaiba, but-" Tristan was cut off. He stared at the figure in the door frame.
"Hey, Kaiba finally got a new outfit. Wait a minute. It's a DRESS!" Everyone turned to stare at him, then burst out laughing.
"Where's your trench coat Kaiba boy?" Joey said in an imitation of Pegasus. They laughed harder.
"SHUT UP! I don't care! At least I don't burst out crying at every goddamn little thing!" Kaiba snarled, directing the insult at Tea.
"Her parents divorced Kaiba!" Yugi shouted. "Not that you would know! You don't even HAVE parents! They probably would rather be dead than spend time with the cold-hearted jackass you are!"
Kaiba stared at the little, angry boy. How DARE he insult his parents?! How dare he?! Wait, Tea's parents divorced? Well good! Now the arrogant bitch would feel some of the pain he felt, thought not enough. No, not nearly enough. Yet a small part of him felt sick. He wanted to comfort her but that would mean siding with the enemy. Tea? An enemy? What was going on? HE felt a growing pressure in the back of his brain, then, it was dark.
"Seto!" Mokuba cried as his older brother went crashing to the floor.
"When did you get here?" Joey asked.
"I just went to get a snack," he replied. "What's wrong with Seto?"
"Still a bit tipsy," Tea commented.
"Oh. Sorry about your parents Tea," Mokuba said sympathetically.
"Wish Seto said something like that," Tea sniffed.
"You know Tea," Mokuba looked up from his unconscious brother. "Seto cares. He cares about a lot of things. But he isn't the best at showing it. Yugi, he's grateful to you for saving him. Twice. But also to Joey, Mai, Tea and Tristan. He's glad you didn't turn your backs on him. He just didn't want you to know..."
"You know, when you put it that way, Kaiba doesn't seem too bad," Joey said. "Well, let's move him to the bed." Joey got out and threw Kaiba onto his bed. Oddly enough, Joey was dressed in his own clothes. They noticed a discarded hospital gown in the corner, shoved halfway under his bed. Kaiba was still in his gown.
"Great. My brother's a cross-dresser," Mokuba muttered.
Joey let out a snort of laughter and accidentally cracked Kaiba's head on the wall. Kaiba groaned and turned over. His eyes opened and he stared at the group of people. Realizing what he was wearing, he yanked the covers over himself. He cowered under the covers, glaring at everyone. They just stared back.
"Hi Seto," Mokuba said brightly.
"What are you doing here?" he asked groggily.
"Actually, what are YOU doing HERE?" Joey said loudly, not bothering to hide the scorn in his voice.
"What do you mean?" Kaiba croaked.
"Whoa, that poison must have really screwed up your brain," Tristan commented.
"Shut up," Kaiba said but with no real force.
"Guys? Maybe we should leave Kaiba alone," Tea whispered.
"Fine, we'll lay off, but only because you're physically disabled. Mental disability doesn't count!" Joey laughed.
Kaiba groaned and tried to sit up to grab Joey. His efforts went to a lost cause.
"Mr Kaiba?" a nurse asked, cautiously poking her head into the room.
"That's the loser," Joey informed her as he pointed to Kaiba.
"Come on. Time to go back to your room," the nurse said. Placing Kaiba in a nearby wheelchair, she wheeled him back into bed. But, not before she gave Joey a piece of her mind and medical advice that was meant to be followed and not questioned.
"Mr Wheeler, back into the gown and back into bed!"
"I'm-"
"NO! You are NOT fine! Now, GET BACK IN BED!!!"
"Okay, okay," Joey squeaked meekly, thoroughly cowed. He climbed back into the bed. "Hey, uh, wanna wash the covers, 'cause Kaiba was in it?" he asked.
"No, and yo will be out of here anywhere from tonight to tomorrow."
"Damn," Joey muttered. "I was hoping for an excuse to get out of school for a week." This comment produced a laugh from everyone, even Seto Kaiba who was halfway out the door. Of course, he was laughing mostly at Joey, not at his creative ways to get out of school.
The next day, Tea met Yugi and Tristan infront of the school.
"Where's Joey?" she asked.
"Over there," Tristan lazily pointed to a bush. Tea stared blankly for a few seconds, but she heard that odd noises were coming from it.
"Joey, get out of the bush!" Yugi laughed.
"No! NO ONE is going to see me with this stupid, weird, incredibly retarded haircut!" the bush snarled stubbornly.
"Joey," Tea pleaded.
"No," it/he replied.
"Fine, have it your way." While saying this, Tristan passed an exaggerated wink to Tea and Yugi. Grinning, the trio crept up on the unsuspecting blond hiding in his bush.
"There is absolutely- HEY!"
Tristan seized Joey's legs, Joey's arms were held by Yugi and Tea.
"Lemme go, lemme go, lemme go!" Joey struggled uselessly; they had him.
"Alright, bush man. No more hiding," Tea lectured. "Hey. Guys? I think we're kinda late....." Noticing they were alone, they ran inside and were able to sneak into their seats. Well, not quite...
"Where were you?" a voice that sounded like snapping icicles demanded behind them. They guilty group froze. Their teacher eyed them with a stern gaze. "Seeing as they're is no reasonable explanation as to why you're all late, all of you will receive a half-hour detention. Miss Gardener, you will serve your usual detention instead." Seeing they were dismissed, they went back to their seats. Unfortunately, the teacher was not quite finished with Joey yet.
"Mr Wheeler! Take off that ridiculous hat!"
Joey replied, "What if I don't wanna?" The glare he received could have frozen the ocean.
"Are you arguing with me?"
"No sir," Joey replied quickly. Sheepishly, he pulled off his hat, which was really more like a purple balaclava. Ignoring the stares and giggles he received from his classmates, he glared at the teacher's back like it was all his fault. No one noticed that one desk was empty. That one student was absent.
What seemed like days later, the lunch bell finally rang, signalling the end of class. Joey leapt up from his desk, barely after the teacher stopped talking. He jammed the purple hat over his head, stuffed his books into his bag and ran out the door with Yugi, Tea and Tristan following him.
"Guys, I've gotta go to the bathroom so I'll meet up with you at the table," Tea said.
"Okay, see you there," Yugi called as he and Tristan waded through the crowded cafeteria.
They met at the usual table, with Joey waving around the newspaper. "Let's see what you wrote today, Tea!" he crowed.
"Quiet Joey! Not so loud. She doesn't want people to know," Yugi hissed.
"Oh. Right...." Joey grinned sheepishly. "Anyways, here it goes."
After about five minutes of silence, Tristan finally asked, "Well? What's going on? Aren't you going to read the paper?"
"Now that you mention it, it's not that interesting anyways! What do you have for lunch?" Joey said quickly, obviously hiding something.
"Just read the damn paper!" Tristan hissed.
Joey gulped and read,
"Is it just me or is there something really wrong with Tea Gardener? Not only does she look like a complete freak with that retarded haircut, she wears the ugliest clothes in the world. Tramps and bums couldn't dress worse than her and they find their clothes in a dumpster. Not to mention the fact that she makes totally sickening speeches about friendship and caring. If she even had friends in the first place. Guess what Tea. My advice to you is to shove those friendship speeches right back up your butt and stop stealing clothes off dead people. The funeral home wants them back. Oh, and stop stalking Seto Kaiba. He may be a complete jerk, but he's too good for you."
Joey stopped reading and looked up. Three shocked faces stared back at him. Tea had apparently joined them after leaving the bathroom.
"Tea," Yugi said weakly.
"Why would you write something like this about yourself?" Joey asked, completely confused.
"I didn't," she wailed.
"Well, then who did? I thought you were writing the column!" Tristan said.
"I only wrote that article about Kaiba! I didn't write any of the other ones! I swear!" Tea was on the verge of crying.
"It's okay Tea, we believe you," Yugi said softly.
"Yeah, don't worry about it. We'll find out who writes this thing and kill them!" Joey laughed insanely, making the group seated around the table turn and stare at him.
"Stop staring at me!" Joey snapped at Tristan.
"I wasn't," Tristan retorted.
"Oh yes you were!" Joey shot back.
"Was not!" Tristan said calmly.
"Was too!"
"Guys! Come on, not now! Let's just eat, okay?" Yugi, ever the peace keeper ended a potential all out free-for-all brawl before it began. By now, he and Tea were familiar with the warning signs.
Obeying their newly elected leader, the rest of the group ate calmly, but calm was far from the mood at the table.
Lunch was over and the group was back in class. Naturally, the remaining hours passed by uneventfully and in complete boredom. Slowly, the time passed by, but a surprise was in the end for the foursome.
"Will anyone bring Seto his work and catch him up with what he has missed?"
Seeing as no one raised their hand, the teacher decided to pick someone. "Miss Gardener? Can you bring him his work?" Tea shrunk into her seat as far as possible.
"Fine," she mumbled. Great.
"Class dismissed," the teacher announced as the bell rang, leaving a bunch of thoroughly bored teenagers to enjoy their remaining hours of the day.
"Miss Gardener, Mr Wheeler, Mr Moto and Mr Taylor, remember, you still have half-an-hour. Miss Gardener, you have one hour." Joey let out an audible sigh as he was caught trying to sidle out the door. The guilty group sank into their seats.
"Well, this sucks," Joey muttered.
"Shut up Joey!" Tea hissed.
"Quiet!" came a stern order from the front of the room.
So they sat in miserable silence for the rest of the day as they served out their detention. Tea couldn't help but miss the times when she could actually go HOME after class, but eh, what are ya gonna do?
When half-an-hour was up, Yugi, Tristan and Joey took their leave. Actually, it was more like they were thrown out because they tried to wait for Tea. Naturally, their teacher's temper had snapped and they soon found themselves out the door.
Tea, on the other hand, was stuck waiting for another half hour to pass by. Yugi left a note saying that they would wait for her in the school library. At least she didn't have to spend another day with Kaiba.
Speaking of Kaiba, Tea was finally released. Trying to sneak out the door in an unsuccessful attempt to avoid giving Kaiba his homework, she was caught and reminded, sternly, by an annoyed teacher.
"Give Mr Kaiba his homework, Miss Gardener. I don't want to hear an excuse that it somehow managed to slip your mind," he had told her.
"Um," her brain desperately searched for a way out. No dice. "I don't know where she lives," she argued weakly.
"Here's his address."
"Um, er..... I don't know if HE knows I'm coming."
"Well then, use the telephone. That's what they're there for, are they not?" came the curt reply.
"I-" she began.
"Let me guess. You don't know his phone number."
Tea nodded, then mentally smacked herself. "Idiot," she thought.
The teacher sighed. "Go to the office and ask the secretary. I don't know if you're allowed to phone from here though." Handing her a thick stack of paper, he excused her from the room.
"Great..." she thought. "I get to bring Mr Jerkhead his homework. Geez, I didn't know we did so much in class." She plodded dutifully into the library.
"There you are," Joey sighed loudly.
"Shhhh!" someone shushed him.
"He he he...." Joey laughed weakly.
"Anyways, I have to call Kaiba," Tea said sadly.
"Do you want us to come?" Yugi asked quietly, lest the anonymous annoyed reader strike again.
"If you want...." Tea trailed off.
"GREAT! I wanna-" Joey yelled.
"SHHHHH!!!" the voice said again.
"Who is doing that?!" Joey snarled.
"Shhhh!" the voice persisted.
"Why don't you?!" Speaking loudly, Joey followed the sound of the mysterious voice until it reached the science-fiction section. Bakura was sitting on the floor, a book in his lap and appeared to be shushing someone. Any guesses who?
"Bakura?!" Joey exclaimed loudly.
"FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, SHUT UP!!!!" the normally soft-spoken, silver haired boy yelled.
"Calm down there, Bakura," Joey said sarcastically.
"What's wrong with you?!" he shrieked. "You keep talking so damn LOUD! What's WRONG with you!?"
"Sorry Bakura," Tea said.
"Yeah. Joey's just a huge idiot. The whole concept of "quiet" in a library is foreign to him. There's nothing you can do." Tristan shook his head sadly.
"Heeeyyy......" Joey started.
"What happened to you?" Bakura finally choked out. He was shaking with suppressed laughter.
"There, there. No need to cry. We all know Joey's new haircut is scary, but there's nothing to cry about," Tristan stated matter-of-factly.
Bakura and the rest of the group lost it. They just stood there, laughing, leaving Joto- I mean, Joey, to steam and glare.
"Grrrr. KNOCK IT OFF!!!" Joey yelled.
"SHHHHHHH!!!!!!" a very loud, very violent "shhh" stopped the hysterical teens.
"Let's get outta this creepy place," Tristan whispered.
"Yeah," Yugi said in wholehearted agreement.
"Coming, Bakura?" Tea asked.
"Okay, why not? Joey has already ruined my reading anyways, with his incredibly loud mouth." Bakura said calmly as he rose and put the book away. Apparently Joey didn't hear him.
The group of friends walked out of the library, leaving a thoroughly cowed Joey to stand stupidly for a few minutes, wonder where everyone is, wonder how he got into the library in the first place, then finally run out the door, screaming for Yugi to wait up.
"Um, may I please have Seto Kaiba's phone number?" Tea asked nervously.
"Why?" the secretary didn't even bother to look up.
"I have to call him about homework," Tea said.
"Look in the student address book," she said, still not looking up from her work.
Grumbling, Tea opened the big book and flipped through the pages. Reading through the K's, she noticed that his name wasn't there. So she asked about it. Her answer was that since Kaiba Corp supplied the computers, he was in the front of the book. She grudgingly flipped to the first page and wrote down the number.
"Ready?" Bakura asked.
"Yeah, yeah," Tea said hurriedly. They were about to leave when the secretary asked them to bring this package to "Mr Kaiba." Not knowing what else to do, she accepted and was stuck with a heavy box. So, she gave it to, of all people, Yugi. Upon taking the ominous parcel, he promptly fell over backwards, the box on his chest. Noticing what just happened, Joey snatched the box and continued along, leaving Yugi to try and figure out what just happened.
"Here, you can use my cell phone," Bakura offered, once they were outside.
"Thanks," Tea said gratefully. She dialled the number from the book and waited. After five rings, someone picked up. Or at least, she thought they did.
"You have reached Seto Kaiba and Mokuba Kaiba," Kaiba's voice came on the answering machine. "I'm sure that for whatever reason you are calling me is not as important as my meetings, so you can just-"
"Seto! Be nice! You can tell people to go to-"
"Quiet Mokuba! Great, look at what the machine recorded. Why can't you just stay in one place?! Oh-" BEEP!! The beep sounded so Tea hung up. She couldn't help but think that the message was quite humorous and wonder what obscenity had been beeped out by the machine.
"So?" was the question Tea was confronted with.
"Answering machine," Tea replied calmly.
"Oh, too bad," Joey said sarcastically.
"Guess Kaiba ain't getting his homework," Tristan grinned.
"Aw, poor little Kaiba!" Joey mocked.
"Yeah, well, I might as well find out if he's alright," Tea said regretfully. She dialled Kaiba's number again and left a message to Mokuba. A few minutes later, Bakura's cell phone began to ring.
"That's odd," he said as he stared at the caller ID screen. "I don't know who this is. It's not identified at all." Truth be told, it was just a bunch of stars.
"Hello?" he finally answered the phone. "Tea? No, I'm not Tea. You can talk to her though." Placing a hand over the phone, he said, "It's for you."
Giggling slightly, she took the phone. "Hello? Oh hi Mokuba. How did you get this number? Wow. He did that? That's pretty cool. So, did Kai- Seto come home from the hospital yet? No? Oh. Okay then. By the way, I have to give him homework. What? No! Mokuba! Err........ Hello Kaiba. Can I speak to- hmmm? Really? Why not, your work. Goodbye."
While Bakura whined about his phone bill, everybody else wanted to know how it went.
"Well, Mokuba got this number because Kaiba installed a program where, it's kinda complicated. Basically, you say the name of the person you want to call. It also shows the name of the last person who called, not just the number. There's more to it then that, but that's just the simple version."
"So is Mr Big shot back yet from the Jellyfish Journey's to the ER?" Joey asked sarcastically.
"Actually, he is. Just got back today. But, um...... heinvitedmeover."
"Say what?" Yugi asked.
"Oh great! Now I have to pay ten dollars for five minutes! Oh man, I'm in sooo much trouble! This is great.....!"
"Bakura, man, you REALLY should change phone companies." Tristan shook his head sadly. Bakura continued complaining.
"He what?!" Joey exploded and he wasn't talking about Bakura. "Well, it'll be funny to see what he says when all of us-"
"Joey, he said that if you come, than there's no point in going," Tea replied flatly.
"Well, you're not gonna go, right?" Yugi said.
"Of course I'm-" Seeing the looks on Joey and Yugi's faces that clearly said to her that they're worried about her. It made her think.
"Guys, I'm sorry, but I have to give him his stupid work and that God awful parcel. I'll fail personal planning if I don't."
"Fine, but call if you need us," Yugi said.
"Actually, why doesn't she just take you with her? I'm not allowed to go, but you........" Joey mused.
"Joey, no. He doesn't want any of you there. Especially you or Yugi," Tea explained gently.
"Um, Yugi, Tea doesn't have a cell phone," Tristan stated.
"Well, obviously! There has to be some phones in there. If Kaiba doesn't have any, then the world's spinning upside-down and backwards.
"Or Joey has a brain," Tristan piped up.
"Watch it....." Joey threatened.
"I guess that's a pretty accurate way to look at it," Tea grinned.
"You could say that again," Yugi laughed.
"Well, I guess I better get going," Tea said.
"So I guess we'll see you later? If Kaiba doesn't kidnap or kill you or anything, I mean," Joey asked her.
"Yeah. I'll make sure he doesn't. If by any chance I do get kidnapped or killed or something, you'll be the first to know! Okay, later! Bye!" she called over her shoulder as she headed in the direction of the Kaiba mansion, laden down with a thick stack of paper and a very heavy parcel.
