By Lethe
Chapter Fourteen: Mocking
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Argh! I'm not very fond of this chapter. __ However, I'm planning for this to lead up to an interesting development.
I just couldn't write it the way I wanted to.
Ah well! Please review! ^__^
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"He's so good-looking!"
"Yeah, I guess. But I heard he's a total jerk."
"No kidding?"
"I spoke to him once. He brushed me off like I wasn't even there!"
Kaiba glanced up. The group of girls noticed and went silent. He sighed inwardly and then returned to his book. They resumed their conversation, giggling.
"Seriously. He's a snob."
"Well, it makes sense. Isn't he the head of some company?"
"Yeah, KaibaCorp."
"Does he even have any friends?"
"I doubt it. He probably spends all his time working."
"Yeah, and admiring himself in a mirror." They all laughed.
That was what they always said. Kaiba usually ignored it. They were just proving their idiocy, he would tell himself, especially with that last comment. Who were they to talk, those self-centered girls who would whip out their compacts every other minute to check their reflections? Those brainless, worthless, annoying girls that would never amount to anything, not with their mental skills…
It sounds like you really are annoyed, Kaiba, said the voice inside his head. The voice was the result of years of virtual isolation at school – a projection of himself that he could talk to when no one else would. What you're thinking isn't entirely true, and you know it.
Don't they have anything better to talk about, though? Why me? What have I ever done to them?
Lots of things, actually.
All right, so I was rude. But I've changed now.
You still look down on people. Did you hear yourself thinking about those girls?
They deserved it. And besides, it's not like I actually said any of it, unlike them. I do have some self-control.
Ah-ah-ah, chided the voice. Not that much. You do remember what happened between you and Jonouchi last night?
You make it sound like we did… like we did that.
Oh, Kaiba, you have such a sick mind. Fine, I'll rephrase. You do remember how you couldn't stop yourself from kissing him in the park last evening?
Hey, he seemed to enjoy it.
Whatever you say, Kaiba. Oh, by the way, they're talking about you again. With that, the voice went silent.
"Even if he is a genius, he could try to be polite. It's not like he's royalty."
No, and I never asked to be treated that way, either.
"I know! He is a total snob!"
You said that already. All I wanted was to be left alone.
"I bet that he doesn't even have any friends."
You're so repetitive. Don't you realize that all you do is say the same things over and over?
Then one of the girls laughed. "What would happen if someone told him they liked him?"
"Ugh, I would feel so sorry for them."
Why?
"He would break their heart!"
Shut up.
"Yeah, it's hard to love people when-"
Shut up.
"When you don't have a heart."
"Shut up!" Kaiba stood, slammed a hand on his desk, and glared at the girls. They hushed immediately and stared at him. No one had ever seen Kaiba acting anything but indifferent. "How would you know?"
That would later become one of the most talked-about events in school. How Seto Kaiba stood up and left the classroom, right in front of the teacher.
And some of the students, who had been able to witness the whole thing, would swear he had been crying.
Seto Kaiba, crying? The other students would laugh. Impossible.
Until the rumor spread to a boy named Katsuya Jonouchi, who believed every word.