DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own Yu-Gi-Oh!™ or any of the characters. I only own my own characters! So no suing! Or sallying…heh, heh, heh …yeah…. --'
Chapter 3: A Tiresome Day…For Everyone
The boy winced as the sunlight pierced though the darkness of his room. He rubbed his eyes and let out a long yawn. He was still sleepy. He had spent the previous night drawing duel monsters without noticing the time fly by. He closed the velvet curtain next to his bed so that the sunlight wouldn't be blinding him anymore. The boy groaned and flopped back over in his warm inviting bed. He suddenly realized what day it was and his eyes got as big as saucers. ' Today is the interview day!' he exclaimed in his thoughts. Mokuba Kaiba always liked to watch his brother, Seto, interview people.
Though his brother may be harsh when telling people why he wouldn't hire them, he had to admit that it proved to be quite amusing to see the look of shock on the previous hopeful faces. He smiled as he turned his face towards the digital clock, expecting to see that he had waken up too early. " Eleven fifteen!?" The boy exclaimed. He jumped out of bed and changed his clothes as quickly as he could, before running downstairs to his older brothers office.
The door to Seto Kaiba's office flew open as Mokuba busted in. The preteen went to the office chair behind the mahogany desk. He swung the chair around only to see it unoccupied. 'Seto's probably still eating breakfast' Mokuba thought as he plopped himself down on the chair. He positioned the chair towards the window and propped his feet up against the seal. Though, once again sleep was overcoming him. His eyes were drooping gradually when he was suddenly jerked backwards. Yelping, he grabbed the sides of the chair and looked up to see who had the audacity to wake him from his sleep. Mokuba's frown quickly faded into a smile as he looked into the smirking face of his older brother. "I was wondering when you were going to get up and help me get ready." Seto said as he released his hand off the chair, letting it and Mokuba fall back in its original estate.
Mokuba rubbed his eyes one more time and jumped out of the chair and looked surprised at his brother searching through a filing cabinet. According to Mokuba's memory, he thought Seto's attire only consisted of his own weird personalized clothing. Yet, Seto was now clad in a gray business suit. Now it was Mokubas turn to smirk as he coolly leaned against the wall behind the filing cabinet and crossed his arms. Seto glanced up for a second, wondering why Mokuba was just standing there and not helping him look for the file.
"So," Mokuba began, his smirk deepening with each word. " Are we trying to impress the ladies this time? Because if we are," he looked down at his t-shirt and jeans, " I need to go change." Seto shook his head. It was hard for him to believe that his little brother was already thirteen. Not to mention he was already thinking about 'impressing the ladies'."
"Fat chance." Seto finally responded as he made his way to his desk drawers. " I've already graduated high school so I'm trying to look professional." Mokuba rolled his eyes. "Come on , Seto. You're my big brother. You're supposed to be showing me some techniques on how to get girls."
"You're only thirteen. You should be studying your school work. There, how's that for advice?" Seto stated, a hint of annoyance in his voice. "Not good. But I guess I'll let you slide this time." Mokuba smiled.
Suddenly a loud voice cam from the speaker on the ceiling saying, "Three minutes until interview time."
"Well," Seto started, repositioning himself in his seat while Mokuba went to sit on one of the comfortable seats off the side, " Lets get this started."
"Damn it!" Tea cursed as she vigorously brushed her teeth. Her hair was pulled back into a sloppy bun and she was still in her sleep wear. She spit out her toothpaste and glared at her reflection in the mirror. 'Idiot! Of all the days you had to wake up late.' Tea angrily thought as she stalked out of the bathroom into her bedroom. Her dad was sitting at the table in the mini dining room drinking coffee and reading the newspaper.
"It's eleven thirty!" he called with a smirk on his face. Although he wasn't really impressed when his daughter told him she wanted to work for Seto Kaiba, he had to admit that the responsibility is what she needs. "I know, Dad! There's a clock in my room." Tea responded , while she messed up on her eye liner a second time. Tea felt like pulling her hair out. Mornings like these were always a sign that the rest of the day was going to turn out bad also.
Finally getting her makeup right, she rushed to her closet to put on her out fit. She glanced at the digital clock on her night stand. It read 11:45. She gave a frustrated sigh as she put on her last piece of clothing. She grabbed her resume and went straight to her dad. "Okay, I'm ready to go." Mr. Gardner glanced her over. "You know what I think would look great with that out fit?" He asked from behind his newspaper. 'Oh, God.' Tea thought. "What?"
Mr. Gardner couldn't contain his laughter any more "Some shoes." Tea looked down at her bare feet. " I hope you're having fun." Tea muttered under her breath as she paced back to her room for her shoes. "Oh, I am." Mr. Gardner chuckled as he finally put down his paper. Tea practically flew by her father and out the door. "I guess this is going to call for fast driving" Mr. Gardner stated to himself as he let out a big sigh a went out the front door.
" What qualifications do you have?" Seto asked in a monotone voice. Interviewing had already gotten boring after the first 30 applicants and now that he was on the 58th, Setos' brain felt like mush. Not to mention that his office now looked like a Valentines store since every applicant brought him gifts in hopes of scoring a date with him. ' At least somebody's having fun.' Seto thought as he glanced over at Mokuba.
Mokuba was on the edge of his seat, practically drooling at the graciously stacked applicant before them. He caught sight of his brother staring at him and responded with moving his eyebrows suggestively at the 'gifted' woman. Seto just shook his head in a negative manner and channeled his mind the womans' words. "… unless you would like to do other things on the side. My husband doesn't have to know…" Cooed the woman with a seductive smile while batting her long eyelashes. Mokuba was going crazy in his seat. Seto nearly knocked his custom made chair over as he abruptly rose from his seat and thrust his arm towards the door " Get Out!" he commanded in his trademark dark intimidating voice, his nostrils flaring. The woman nearly wet her dress as she shakily made her way out the door.
As soon as the door shut Mokuba wailed "What did you have to go and do that for?!" He just about had enough of Seto ruining his mental fantasies. "Get a grip, Mokuba! Like you actually had a chance anyway!" Seto growled as he vigorously marked the applicants' number off a long list. " If I would have had a few more minutes…" Mokuba quietly whined under the glare of his older brother. " Why aren't any of these morons taking this interview seriously?! Do they think it's going to just be a big game working here?!" Seto angrily wondered aloud as he ran his fingers through his hair. What he wouldn't give for a nice warm bath right about now… "Well that last one was really serious about going out with you. What do you expect when you're a rich guy who wants a female employee?" Mokuba stated , pouting with his arms crossed over his chest. "Don't start that with me again." Seto simply muttered, finally banging his head on his desk out of frustration.
"Are you sure you don't want me to go with you?" Mr. Gardner asked, concern clearly written all over his features. Seeing as his daughter was already late, he didn't want her getting yelled at. "In case you haven't noticed, daddy, I'm a big girl." Tea gave her father a quick peck on the cheek before getting out of the car and making a quick stride to the entrance of Kaiba.Corp.
The first thing that caught Tea's eye was that all of her competition were wearing revealing clothes. Looking down at her cute modest womens' business suit, she just smiled. 'There is no way I'm going to degrade my self for anybody. Especially Seto Kaiba.' Tea thought as she sat down next to a woman who she only knew as number 76.
"I guess this is going to take awhile." She stated to her self, looking down at a small piece of paper labeled 77. "I don't really think so. These last few, applicants have been sent out of his office in a matter of seconds." 76 chuckled with a smirk on her face. Tea was surprised to have someone respond. It was then that Tea realized that the woman wasn't dressed like the others. She was dressed in a modest suit and her face wasn't caked with make up either. She was basically like Tea except in her early thirties and had long jet black hair. "What number is in there now?" Tea finally responded, facing her newfound acquaintance. 76 leaned forward and looked down the line of seats, counting with her eyes. " It should be 67." she confirmed, giving Tea a smile. Just then the door to Kaibas' office swung open and out scurried 67, snatching her purse from her previous seat in the waiting room, receiving all the stares in the room. From within the office a dark voice blared out, " And never come back into my establishment again!" Tea 's stomach started to hurt out of nervousness. A snicker of a kid was also heard from within as the door finally closed shut. Tea smiled to herself.
That kid was more than likely Mokuba. 'Mokuba and I were always cool.' Tea thought and that made her feel better and comfortable. "Wow. Lets all hope we can please the king or it's the end for us." whispered 76 sarcastically. Tea chuckled and held her hand out to 76. "I'm Tea Gardner. It looks like we're actually the only ones competing here." 76 took her hand and shook it. "Yuko Saito. So why is a young kid like you applying for this kind of job?" Yuko asked generally out of curiosity. Most of the women there were in their mid 20's or early 30's.
" I'm trying to raise enough money so I can pay for my dancing classes after school. My father would pay for it but he doesn't really want me to be a dancer so of course he'll try to end my classes any way he can." Tea answered . She gave a small smile, she hadn't meant to sound so bitter but that was how she felt. Yuko just blinked at her, not really knowing what to say. "Oh. Well I'm sure you'll raise enough money from this job. I'm trying to get a job again after 6 years of unemployment. My husband got laid off recently, so I'm trying to help out with the money."
Tea felt bad competing with someone like Yuko who really needs a job for her family. 'Well I'm not going to give up after coming this far. Besides, Yuko probably has a lot more experience than me in these kind of job. She can apply for other jobs like this. I'm just hoping it'll be a plus for me that a already kind of know them.' Tea thought, though still feeling bad. "It looks like everybody else had a gift to give him." said Yuko, trashing Tea's thoughts. "I never thought about that." she said while digging through her purse. " You think he'll like this." Yuko asked, handing Tea a paper. Tea smiled at the really cute drawing of a Blue Eyes White Dragon in her hands.
" My 6 year old son drew it for me. He really likes that dragon thing and I heard Kaiba boy liked it too. So what do you think?" asked a once again blinking Yuko. Tea seriously pictured Kaiba tearing the drawing in Yuko's face and then eating it or something horrible of that sort. "I think he'll appreciate that there are others that like his favorite duel monster also." Tea finally responded, giving Yuko a wryly smile, handing the drawing back to her. " Though I don't think you'll need a gift to get hired." Tea said matter-of-factly. "Yeah well, better safe than sorry." Yuko grinned just as a man shouted, " Number 76!" "Well that's me. Here goes nothing." Yuko uttered as she picked up her purse and headed towards the office. "Good luck, Yuko!" Tea yelled over the other conversations in the room. Yuko turned and gave Tea a thumbs up sign before disappearing behind the office door.
Tea smiled to herself and leaned back against her seat. She felt her nervousness slowly coming back as she realized that she was next. She crossed her arms over her chest. 'All I know is if he starts yelling at me for some reason or another, I'm yelling back. I didn't go through all that stress this morning just to be treated like a moron.' Tea thought confidently as she made her way to the nearest restroom to check her hair.
"…Leave a short message and I'll get back to you as soon as I can. Chow!"
"Man! I think she's just avoiding me!" Joey declared loudly in Burger World. Every one turned to see what the commotion was all about. "What?! You all never heard a guy think out loud?!" Joey screeched at the onlookers all around. Everyone just rolled their eyes and went back to what ever they were doing. "Calm down, Joey. You're making a scene." a short teenager chided while taking a sip of his orange pop. (A/N: Soda, pop, soda pop, soda water. Whatever! I'm from Chicago, IL. I say pop!' )
"Sorry, Yug. But I know Mai's home. She's just still mad at me." Joey whined, crossing his arms over his chest, much like Mokuba. "Don't worry, Joey. I'm sure once you apologize to her, she'll forgive you and everything will be back to normal." Yugi said reassuringly. "Yeah, I know. I just don't like the feeling of her being mad at me." Joey sighed. Yugi gave him a sympathetic smile. Just then Tristan came to their booth with his purchase. "Ah," Tristan said while rubbing his hands together, "Chili cheese fries. It doesn't get any better than thi-" Tristan was suddenly interrupted by Joey. "Hey tristan. Thanks for the grub." Joey acknowledged before taking Tristan's treat and eating it himself.
Tristan was about to wring Joey's neck when Yugi gave him a look that said "Give him a break." Tristan gave Joey a glare. "Alright! I'll be back!." Tristan declared frustratingly before throwing down his napkin and going back to order from Serenity. "What the deal with tristan?" Joey questioned, chili and cheese all around his mouth. Yugi just shrugged and laughed to himself.
Tea was about to doze off comfortably in her chair when she heard the click of the thick office door open. Yuko came out laughing, Kaiba chuckling right behind her. They shook hands and exchanged words then Seto went back into his office. 'She makes it look so easy.' Tea thought. Yuko walked over to Tea and gave her a toothy smile. "That was the best interview ever! And he actually liked the drawing. He said it reminded him of something." Yuko exploded as soon as she and Tea were in earshot. Tea smiled back at her, surprised that Kaiba liked the drawing. "He said he'll give me a call." Yuko went on. "That's great!" Tea said happily. "Number 77!" The pain in Tea's stomach came back full force. "Good luck." Yuko grinned. "I'll wait here for you when you come out."
Tea nodded and made a quick stride over to Kaiba's office, disappearing behind the door.
As soon as Tea entered Kaiba's office, she had to plow through a thicket of heart balloons, from applicants, just to get to his desk. When she could finally see her surroundings, neither Kaiba or Mokuba were there. Wondering where they were, she looked around from the seat she had taken in front of Kaibas desk. She saw Yuko's drawing placed neatly on his desk and was thankful that he didn't eat it like she had imagined. 'Maybe I should have brought a gift. Anything!' She thought. The thought of grabbing piece of paper and drawing something really quick crossed her mind but then it was interrupted my the sounds of Kaiba and Mokuba's voice nearing. Tea's body stiffened as she tried to plaster on a perfect smile. entered first with a slice of pizza on a paper plate, followed by Kaiba with two slices.
Mokuba was the first to notice Tea. "Tea! Wow! I haven't seen you in a really long time!" Mokuba exclaimed practically dropping his food in the process. Tea laughed as Mokuba gave her a hug. "Hey, you cut your mop." Tea teased, ruffling Mokuba's short hair. Mokuba blushed and ran a hand through his hair. "What are you here for?" Mokuba asked while sitting down in the chair next to her instead of off the side. "Well I came to apply for the job." Tea grinned receiving a pizza grin back from Mokuba. A snigger came from behind Kaiba's desk which made Tea realize that Kaiba was actually there. "You came to try and work for my company?" he smirked before taking a bite from his pizza. "That's what she said isn't it?" Mokuba answered giving his brother a death glare. Kaiba rolled his eyes. What's with his brother and friends? Suddenly Tea took off her bracelet and placed it on the desk. "Here…it's a gift." Tea said regretting every second of it. "What do I want with a bracelet?" He asked slightly confused. " I don't know, everybody else gave gifts…" Tea started but thought it sounded dumb. It did. They all sat there in awkward silence, Tea with a huge sweat drop. Kaiba looked at Tea eyeing her favorite bracelet. "Go ahead. Take you bracelet." He didn't even have to finish speaking and the jewelry was off his desk. "From now on no more gifts." Kaiba commented. "Now lets start the interview since you say you want to work here." He said in a monotone voice
As Kaiba began to ask questions, Mokuba was looking a Tea. 'I'm going to make sure she gets this job. Seto is always teasing me about my friends. I know Tea can do this job but I bet he wont hire her just because she's my friend because she's considered a kid.' Mokuba thought. Besides, the owed it to her for saving his life and for always trying to find a good side in Seto even when things seemed bad. By the time Mokuba finished thinking the interview was already over. "Well thanks for giving me a chance and not just blowing off just because I'm Yugi's friend." Tea genuinely thanked. "It was tempting." He said plainly, then vanished into the room from which he entered. Since Mokuba seemed to be in his own world, Tea decided not to say good bye.
Tea was ambushed by Yuko as soon as she had exited the office. "Well, how did it go?" Yuko demanded excitedly. "It was okay. There was no laughing out loud like in yours. He said his secretary would call but he sounded sarcastic." Tea replied feeling like she had lost the battle. "Aw, I'm sure he was just tired. The secretary will call." She looked down at her watch. "Well I have to go pick up my son from school. It was nice meeting you Tea." She smiled once again. "It was nice meeting you too. See around sometime maybe." Tea waved as Yuko walked down the long hall way and then turned the corner out of sight. Tea sighed. She was pretty sure she blew it. She felt like crying. 'Leave it to Mondays.' Tea thought as she called her dad to take her home.
8:00 A.M
Tuesday
:: phone ringing::
A delicate arm staggered out from under pink covers and answered the annoying phone. "Hello?" said a groggy voice. "Yes, this is Michelle Yagami, the head secretary of Kaiba Corporation. May I speak to a Ms. Tea Gardner please?"
A/N: So what do you think? Yeah I know I've been gone for a really long time but a lot of family stuff happened and then with finals… Please review it means a great deal to me. Please tell me if Kaiba seems OOC. Because that is the last thing I want.
- Forever with a Headache -
Black Satin Dress
"You still look like an ass to me."- Puss-n-Boots, Shrek2
Chapter 3: A Tiresome Day…For Everyone
The boy winced as the sunlight pierced though the darkness of his room. He rubbed his eyes and let out a long yawn. He was still sleepy. He had spent the previous night drawing duel monsters without noticing the time fly by. He closed the velvet curtain next to his bed so that the sunlight wouldn't be blinding him anymore. The boy groaned and flopped back over in his warm inviting bed. He suddenly realized what day it was and his eyes got as big as saucers. ' Today is the interview day!' he exclaimed in his thoughts. Mokuba Kaiba always liked to watch his brother, Seto, interview people.
Though his brother may be harsh when telling people why he wouldn't hire them, he had to admit that it proved to be quite amusing to see the look of shock on the previous hopeful faces. He smiled as he turned his face towards the digital clock, expecting to see that he had waken up too early. " Eleven fifteen!?" The boy exclaimed. He jumped out of bed and changed his clothes as quickly as he could, before running downstairs to his older brothers office.
The door to Seto Kaiba's office flew open as Mokuba busted in. The preteen went to the office chair behind the mahogany desk. He swung the chair around only to see it unoccupied. 'Seto's probably still eating breakfast' Mokuba thought as he plopped himself down on the chair. He positioned the chair towards the window and propped his feet up against the seal. Though, once again sleep was overcoming him. His eyes were drooping gradually when he was suddenly jerked backwards. Yelping, he grabbed the sides of the chair and looked up to see who had the audacity to wake him from his sleep. Mokuba's frown quickly faded into a smile as he looked into the smirking face of his older brother. "I was wondering when you were going to get up and help me get ready." Seto said as he released his hand off the chair, letting it and Mokuba fall back in its original estate.
Mokuba rubbed his eyes one more time and jumped out of the chair and looked surprised at his brother searching through a filing cabinet. According to Mokuba's memory, he thought Seto's attire only consisted of his own weird personalized clothing. Yet, Seto was now clad in a gray business suit. Now it was Mokubas turn to smirk as he coolly leaned against the wall behind the filing cabinet and crossed his arms. Seto glanced up for a second, wondering why Mokuba was just standing there and not helping him look for the file.
"So," Mokuba began, his smirk deepening with each word. " Are we trying to impress the ladies this time? Because if we are," he looked down at his t-shirt and jeans, " I need to go change." Seto shook his head. It was hard for him to believe that his little brother was already thirteen. Not to mention he was already thinking about 'impressing the ladies'."
"Fat chance." Seto finally responded as he made his way to his desk drawers. " I've already graduated high school so I'm trying to look professional." Mokuba rolled his eyes. "Come on , Seto. You're my big brother. You're supposed to be showing me some techniques on how to get girls."
"You're only thirteen. You should be studying your school work. There, how's that for advice?" Seto stated, a hint of annoyance in his voice. "Not good. But I guess I'll let you slide this time." Mokuba smiled.
Suddenly a loud voice cam from the speaker on the ceiling saying, "Three minutes until interview time."
"Well," Seto started, repositioning himself in his seat while Mokuba went to sit on one of the comfortable seats off the side, " Lets get this started."
"Damn it!" Tea cursed as she vigorously brushed her teeth. Her hair was pulled back into a sloppy bun and she was still in her sleep wear. She spit out her toothpaste and glared at her reflection in the mirror. 'Idiot! Of all the days you had to wake up late.' Tea angrily thought as she stalked out of the bathroom into her bedroom. Her dad was sitting at the table in the mini dining room drinking coffee and reading the newspaper.
"It's eleven thirty!" he called with a smirk on his face. Although he wasn't really impressed when his daughter told him she wanted to work for Seto Kaiba, he had to admit that the responsibility is what she needs. "I know, Dad! There's a clock in my room." Tea responded , while she messed up on her eye liner a second time. Tea felt like pulling her hair out. Mornings like these were always a sign that the rest of the day was going to turn out bad also.
Finally getting her makeup right, she rushed to her closet to put on her out fit. She glanced at the digital clock on her night stand. It read 11:45. She gave a frustrated sigh as she put on her last piece of clothing. She grabbed her resume and went straight to her dad. "Okay, I'm ready to go." Mr. Gardner glanced her over. "You know what I think would look great with that out fit?" He asked from behind his newspaper. 'Oh, God.' Tea thought. "What?"
Mr. Gardner couldn't contain his laughter any more "Some shoes." Tea looked down at her bare feet. " I hope you're having fun." Tea muttered under her breath as she paced back to her room for her shoes. "Oh, I am." Mr. Gardner chuckled as he finally put down his paper. Tea practically flew by her father and out the door. "I guess this is going to call for fast driving" Mr. Gardner stated to himself as he let out a big sigh a went out the front door.
" What qualifications do you have?" Seto asked in a monotone voice. Interviewing had already gotten boring after the first 30 applicants and now that he was on the 58th, Setos' brain felt like mush. Not to mention that his office now looked like a Valentines store since every applicant brought him gifts in hopes of scoring a date with him. ' At least somebody's having fun.' Seto thought as he glanced over at Mokuba.
Mokuba was on the edge of his seat, practically drooling at the graciously stacked applicant before them. He caught sight of his brother staring at him and responded with moving his eyebrows suggestively at the 'gifted' woman. Seto just shook his head in a negative manner and channeled his mind the womans' words. "… unless you would like to do other things on the side. My husband doesn't have to know…" Cooed the woman with a seductive smile while batting her long eyelashes. Mokuba was going crazy in his seat. Seto nearly knocked his custom made chair over as he abruptly rose from his seat and thrust his arm towards the door " Get Out!" he commanded in his trademark dark intimidating voice, his nostrils flaring. The woman nearly wet her dress as she shakily made her way out the door.
As soon as the door shut Mokuba wailed "What did you have to go and do that for?!" He just about had enough of Seto ruining his mental fantasies. "Get a grip, Mokuba! Like you actually had a chance anyway!" Seto growled as he vigorously marked the applicants' number off a long list. " If I would have had a few more minutes…" Mokuba quietly whined under the glare of his older brother. " Why aren't any of these morons taking this interview seriously?! Do they think it's going to just be a big game working here?!" Seto angrily wondered aloud as he ran his fingers through his hair. What he wouldn't give for a nice warm bath right about now… "Well that last one was really serious about going out with you. What do you expect when you're a rich guy who wants a female employee?" Mokuba stated , pouting with his arms crossed over his chest. "Don't start that with me again." Seto simply muttered, finally banging his head on his desk out of frustration.
"Are you sure you don't want me to go with you?" Mr. Gardner asked, concern clearly written all over his features. Seeing as his daughter was already late, he didn't want her getting yelled at. "In case you haven't noticed, daddy, I'm a big girl." Tea gave her father a quick peck on the cheek before getting out of the car and making a quick stride to the entrance of Kaiba.Corp.
The first thing that caught Tea's eye was that all of her competition were wearing revealing clothes. Looking down at her cute modest womens' business suit, she just smiled. 'There is no way I'm going to degrade my self for anybody. Especially Seto Kaiba.' Tea thought as she sat down next to a woman who she only knew as number 76.
"I guess this is going to take awhile." She stated to her self, looking down at a small piece of paper labeled 77. "I don't really think so. These last few, applicants have been sent out of his office in a matter of seconds." 76 chuckled with a smirk on her face. Tea was surprised to have someone respond. It was then that Tea realized that the woman wasn't dressed like the others. She was dressed in a modest suit and her face wasn't caked with make up either. She was basically like Tea except in her early thirties and had long jet black hair. "What number is in there now?" Tea finally responded, facing her newfound acquaintance. 76 leaned forward and looked down the line of seats, counting with her eyes. " It should be 67." she confirmed, giving Tea a smile. Just then the door to Kaibas' office swung open and out scurried 67, snatching her purse from her previous seat in the waiting room, receiving all the stares in the room. From within the office a dark voice blared out, " And never come back into my establishment again!" Tea 's stomach started to hurt out of nervousness. A snicker of a kid was also heard from within as the door finally closed shut. Tea smiled to herself.
That kid was more than likely Mokuba. 'Mokuba and I were always cool.' Tea thought and that made her feel better and comfortable. "Wow. Lets all hope we can please the king or it's the end for us." whispered 76 sarcastically. Tea chuckled and held her hand out to 76. "I'm Tea Gardner. It looks like we're actually the only ones competing here." 76 took her hand and shook it. "Yuko Saito. So why is a young kid like you applying for this kind of job?" Yuko asked generally out of curiosity. Most of the women there were in their mid 20's or early 30's.
" I'm trying to raise enough money so I can pay for my dancing classes after school. My father would pay for it but he doesn't really want me to be a dancer so of course he'll try to end my classes any way he can." Tea answered . She gave a small smile, she hadn't meant to sound so bitter but that was how she felt. Yuko just blinked at her, not really knowing what to say. "Oh. Well I'm sure you'll raise enough money from this job. I'm trying to get a job again after 6 years of unemployment. My husband got laid off recently, so I'm trying to help out with the money."
Tea felt bad competing with someone like Yuko who really needs a job for her family. 'Well I'm not going to give up after coming this far. Besides, Yuko probably has a lot more experience than me in these kind of job. She can apply for other jobs like this. I'm just hoping it'll be a plus for me that a already kind of know them.' Tea thought, though still feeling bad. "It looks like everybody else had a gift to give him." said Yuko, trashing Tea's thoughts. "I never thought about that." she said while digging through her purse. " You think he'll like this." Yuko asked, handing Tea a paper. Tea smiled at the really cute drawing of a Blue Eyes White Dragon in her hands.
" My 6 year old son drew it for me. He really likes that dragon thing and I heard Kaiba boy liked it too. So what do you think?" asked a once again blinking Yuko. Tea seriously pictured Kaiba tearing the drawing in Yuko's face and then eating it or something horrible of that sort. "I think he'll appreciate that there are others that like his favorite duel monster also." Tea finally responded, giving Yuko a wryly smile, handing the drawing back to her. " Though I don't think you'll need a gift to get hired." Tea said matter-of-factly. "Yeah well, better safe than sorry." Yuko grinned just as a man shouted, " Number 76!" "Well that's me. Here goes nothing." Yuko uttered as she picked up her purse and headed towards the office. "Good luck, Yuko!" Tea yelled over the other conversations in the room. Yuko turned and gave Tea a thumbs up sign before disappearing behind the office door.
Tea smiled to herself and leaned back against her seat. She felt her nervousness slowly coming back as she realized that she was next. She crossed her arms over her chest. 'All I know is if he starts yelling at me for some reason or another, I'm yelling back. I didn't go through all that stress this morning just to be treated like a moron.' Tea thought confidently as she made her way to the nearest restroom to check her hair.
"…Leave a short message and I'll get back to you as soon as I can. Chow!"
"Man! I think she's just avoiding me!" Joey declared loudly in Burger World. Every one turned to see what the commotion was all about. "What?! You all never heard a guy think out loud?!" Joey screeched at the onlookers all around. Everyone just rolled their eyes and went back to what ever they were doing. "Calm down, Joey. You're making a scene." a short teenager chided while taking a sip of his orange pop. (A/N: Soda, pop, soda pop, soda water. Whatever! I'm from Chicago, IL. I say pop!' )
"Sorry, Yug. But I know Mai's home. She's just still mad at me." Joey whined, crossing his arms over his chest, much like Mokuba. "Don't worry, Joey. I'm sure once you apologize to her, she'll forgive you and everything will be back to normal." Yugi said reassuringly. "Yeah, I know. I just don't like the feeling of her being mad at me." Joey sighed. Yugi gave him a sympathetic smile. Just then Tristan came to their booth with his purchase. "Ah," Tristan said while rubbing his hands together, "Chili cheese fries. It doesn't get any better than thi-" Tristan was suddenly interrupted by Joey. "Hey tristan. Thanks for the grub." Joey acknowledged before taking Tristan's treat and eating it himself.
Tristan was about to wring Joey's neck when Yugi gave him a look that said "Give him a break." Tristan gave Joey a glare. "Alright! I'll be back!." Tristan declared frustratingly before throwing down his napkin and going back to order from Serenity. "What the deal with tristan?" Joey questioned, chili and cheese all around his mouth. Yugi just shrugged and laughed to himself.
Tea was about to doze off comfortably in her chair when she heard the click of the thick office door open. Yuko came out laughing, Kaiba chuckling right behind her. They shook hands and exchanged words then Seto went back into his office. 'She makes it look so easy.' Tea thought. Yuko walked over to Tea and gave her a toothy smile. "That was the best interview ever! And he actually liked the drawing. He said it reminded him of something." Yuko exploded as soon as she and Tea were in earshot. Tea smiled back at her, surprised that Kaiba liked the drawing. "He said he'll give me a call." Yuko went on. "That's great!" Tea said happily. "Number 77!" The pain in Tea's stomach came back full force. "Good luck." Yuko grinned. "I'll wait here for you when you come out."
Tea nodded and made a quick stride over to Kaiba's office, disappearing behind the door.
As soon as Tea entered Kaiba's office, she had to plow through a thicket of heart balloons, from applicants, just to get to his desk. When she could finally see her surroundings, neither Kaiba or Mokuba were there. Wondering where they were, she looked around from the seat she had taken in front of Kaibas desk. She saw Yuko's drawing placed neatly on his desk and was thankful that he didn't eat it like she had imagined. 'Maybe I should have brought a gift. Anything!' She thought. The thought of grabbing piece of paper and drawing something really quick crossed her mind but then it was interrupted my the sounds of Kaiba and Mokuba's voice nearing. Tea's body stiffened as she tried to plaster on a perfect smile. entered first with a slice of pizza on a paper plate, followed by Kaiba with two slices.
Mokuba was the first to notice Tea. "Tea! Wow! I haven't seen you in a really long time!" Mokuba exclaimed practically dropping his food in the process. Tea laughed as Mokuba gave her a hug. "Hey, you cut your mop." Tea teased, ruffling Mokuba's short hair. Mokuba blushed and ran a hand through his hair. "What are you here for?" Mokuba asked while sitting down in the chair next to her instead of off the side. "Well I came to apply for the job." Tea grinned receiving a pizza grin back from Mokuba. A snigger came from behind Kaiba's desk which made Tea realize that Kaiba was actually there. "You came to try and work for my company?" he smirked before taking a bite from his pizza. "That's what she said isn't it?" Mokuba answered giving his brother a death glare. Kaiba rolled his eyes. What's with his brother and friends? Suddenly Tea took off her bracelet and placed it on the desk. "Here…it's a gift." Tea said regretting every second of it. "What do I want with a bracelet?" He asked slightly confused. " I don't know, everybody else gave gifts…" Tea started but thought it sounded dumb. It did. They all sat there in awkward silence, Tea with a huge sweat drop. Kaiba looked at Tea eyeing her favorite bracelet. "Go ahead. Take you bracelet." He didn't even have to finish speaking and the jewelry was off his desk. "From now on no more gifts." Kaiba commented. "Now lets start the interview since you say you want to work here." He said in a monotone voice
As Kaiba began to ask questions, Mokuba was looking a Tea. 'I'm going to make sure she gets this job. Seto is always teasing me about my friends. I know Tea can do this job but I bet he wont hire her just because she's my friend because she's considered a kid.' Mokuba thought. Besides, the owed it to her for saving his life and for always trying to find a good side in Seto even when things seemed bad. By the time Mokuba finished thinking the interview was already over. "Well thanks for giving me a chance and not just blowing off just because I'm Yugi's friend." Tea genuinely thanked. "It was tempting." He said plainly, then vanished into the room from which he entered. Since Mokuba seemed to be in his own world, Tea decided not to say good bye.
Tea was ambushed by Yuko as soon as she had exited the office. "Well, how did it go?" Yuko demanded excitedly. "It was okay. There was no laughing out loud like in yours. He said his secretary would call but he sounded sarcastic." Tea replied feeling like she had lost the battle. "Aw, I'm sure he was just tired. The secretary will call." She looked down at her watch. "Well I have to go pick up my son from school. It was nice meeting you Tea." She smiled once again. "It was nice meeting you too. See around sometime maybe." Tea waved as Yuko walked down the long hall way and then turned the corner out of sight. Tea sighed. She was pretty sure she blew it. She felt like crying. 'Leave it to Mondays.' Tea thought as she called her dad to take her home.
8:00 A.M
Tuesday
:: phone ringing::
A delicate arm staggered out from under pink covers and answered the annoying phone. "Hello?" said a groggy voice. "Yes, this is Michelle Yagami, the head secretary of Kaiba Corporation. May I speak to a Ms. Tea Gardner please?"
A/N: So what do you think? Yeah I know I've been gone for a really long time but a lot of family stuff happened and then with finals… Please review it means a great deal to me. Please tell me if Kaiba seems OOC. Because that is the last thing I want.
- Forever with a Headache -
Black Satin Dress
"You still look like an ass to me."- Puss-n-Boots, Shrek2