chapter two.
last chapter's reference was the excuse me for living part...which was from The Bean Trees, which is not that great of a book, but that line was fitting.
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Lily had spent an hour and a half at the mall and buying groceries, so it was four o' clock and she started to walk home. It was half a mile, but she didn't know the bus routes yet and she didn't have car like she did back in California, so she had to walk. The bags weren't helping either. But luckily for her, a limo passed by, containing none other than Mokuba Kaiba returning home from a games club after school. He had noticed her struggling with all the bags and told the chauffer to stop the limo.
"Hey, do you need some help? A ride or something?"
"Oh! That'd be great! Thanks."
After getting into the car she asked, "So, who are you?"
"Mokuba, my big brother is Seto Kaiba."
"Really. He's in some of my classes. Well that's cool, I guess. I'm Lily. So what's a kid like you doing in a limo?"
"You don't know?"
"Know what?"
"My brother owns Kaiba Corp., so he can afford these things."
"You don't say. What about your parents?"
"I can tell you're new here, huh? But that's okay. We grew up in an orphanage and Seto managed to get our evil step-father's company, and here we are."
"So you're pretty well off."
"I guess. I just wish that big brother spent more time with me, that's all."
"Oh, my apartment's here. So no parents, huh? I guess you haven't had a good home-cooked meal in a long time. I bet you're hungry. You know, I can whip up something for you, just think of it as payment back for the ride. I could use the company, too."
"I'm gonna check with Seto. ::calls:: It's fine."
"Nice. So, what are you in the mood for?"
"I don't know."
"I'll just surprise you. Oh, don't mind the boxes. I just moved in yesterday."
"Oh, so you live here with your parents?"
"Nope. My mom passed away when I was two and my father is doing some business in Hawaii."
"Oh, I'm sorry."
"Don't be. It's cuz I'm alone that I get a whopping 8000 bucks a month and this apartment on top of that. It's my dad's way of buying his way out of spending time with me. But, I know I'm going to miss my friends back in California."
"So why'd you move?"
"How bout I just say I was a troubled kid?"
"Oh."
"Don't worry. It's not like I'm dangerous. I got arrested for trashing a hotel room when I went on a road trip with some of my friends. I was just in a bad mood, that's all. I'd have to say I'm 99% a decent person."
"Oh, ok. Well, I'm sure you'll make plenty more new friends here. Everyone is really nice. Have you met Tea? I think she goes to your school. She's always looking out for her friends."
"Oh. Well, I'll watch out for her. Why don't you go play some video games while I cook? You'll see I have a pretty wide selection."
"All right."
::Twenty minutes later::
"Your dinner is served, sir," Lily imitated a British waiter, (yes, waiter, as in low voice.) and the two laughed. She returned to her normal voice, "So, what do you think?"
"Mmm! This pasta is really good, hmm...almost as good as...Kraft's mac and cheese!" Mokuba exclaimed and then started to crack up as Lily playfully hit him on the head.
"Wait till you try the desert."
"Where'd you learn to cook like this? Seto could sure learn a thing or two from you."
"Me and my best friend used to own this café."
"What happened?"
"Well, I started having these problems in my relationship with my dad and then my boyfriend, and I took it out on her. I got so mad and quit and haven't talked to her since."
"Oh, sorry. ...But you should talk to her. I'm sure you could have worked things out."
"Nah, I was too proud to admit anything. I still am, but not with that. Anyway, enough with this history about me. I bet you can't beat me in a game of Mario Kart! It's my favorite, so you better watch out!"
"You're on!"
They played until seven when Seto called and told him that he'd better go home.
"You're a cool kid, Mokuba. You can come over anytime you want. Thanks for giving me a ride."
"See you!" Mokuba smiled and dashed down to the limo.
Lily spent the night unpacking and organizing everything before going to bed.
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::Kaiba household::
"Where have you been, Mokuba? You should have been at home hours ago and started doing your homework."
"I told you I was at Lily's house for dinner."
"Lily? Who's Lily?"
"I met her on the street. She was carrying these bags and needed a ride, so I stopped to help her."
"Mokuba, you can't just stop and help someone. She was a stranger and could have been dangerous."
"But she wasn't! She was nice and an awesome cook, and she even let me play her video games."
"You went to a stranger's house? You know better than that, Mokuba."
"She said she had classes with you."
"Anyone can say that. ...wait, Lily? Did she say she just moved here?"
"Yeah, so you do know her."
"Hmm. That's still no excuse."
"Give her a chance. She doesn't have any friends yet. I'm sure you'll like her, Seto."
"We'll see."
"You should invite her over or something."
"Huh."
"Maybe you should ask her out, since you won't with any of the other girls."
"I don't need a girlfriend, Mokuba."
"But why no—"
"I don't have time for these silly things, Mokuba. I have a company to run."
The next morning Lily found out Seto's locker was right next to hers. (Coincidence? I think not. :D) He was taking his English binder out as she arrived. As she opened her locker, she said, "You wanna hear a story? Yesterday, I met this handsome guy, who happened to be in three in my classes, and he failed to mention that he owned his own company and had the sweetest little brother."
"Well, I believe someone didn't ask, or converse much either. And as a matter of fact, she failed to mention that she used to own her own café."
"Ah, co-owned."
"Oh, my mistake."
"You know, I'm curious."
"Yeah?"
"Well, I was just wondering if that guy happened to be single."
"I do believe that he is."
"Really? There are so many pretty girls around and with looks like his, I'm wondering why."
"Because they know better than to mess with Seto Kaiba," he said with a grin.
"You know what? I'm thinking there's one who does, and who's quite interested," Lily whispered into his ear, closing the space between them as she did so.
"Really. Well tell her she doesn't know what she's getting into," Kaiba remarked, moved away, and closed his locker.
"No, but she'd sure like to find out."
::ring::
"Well, I'm off."
"Hold it there, bud," Lily said as she grabbed his arm and rolled up his sleeve. She pulled out a pen and wrote her number on his wrist: 225-1287 Lily. She left him in shock, staring at the pen marks on his skin. Nobody ever dared to approach Seto Kaiba without him calling them first. Some the girls admired him but never had the guts to ask him out, for fear he would humiliate them like he did to Susie Parks. She had asked him to the winter ball their sophomore year and he laughed in her face. He announced in the cafeteria, "You want me to take you to the dance?" She nodded her head. He yelled, "In your dreams." Whenever he accidentally bumped into someone, he'd just ignore them, even if all their things were on the floor. From then on everyone was scared to ask him anything.
He hadn't gone to a single school dance and didn't care to; after all, he did have his business to run. But Lily entered his bubble, his world. She had befriended Mokuba. He had just gone along with their first flirting session, and now she had written her number on his wrist. She had guts; that's for sure. No one, no one ever bothered Seto Kaiba, but he wasn't sure whether he actually thought she was bothersome or not. One thing was for sure, she couldn't be ignored like the rest of the girls in the school. She had gotten herself into his life, and he had no way of getting her out.
Kaiba shook it off and went to English not showing any sign that he was puzzled or different in any way, but he was disturbed. His life was altered and he had lost control. She sat right behind him, and he couldn't change his seat and was stuck wondering if she was scheming of more ways to affect him; women and their evil ways. (muahahahaha) Suddenly he felt a poke in his back and he turned around. Lily was trying to slip him a note, but he was unsuspecting, and naturally, since almost everyone was scared of him. His inexperience with note passing led Lily to get caught.
"Excuse me, Miss Chan, passing notes?"
"Er..."
"Do you have something to share with the class?"
"No, Mr. Brown."
"I really think you do. Let me see that note."
"It's ok, you don't have to."
"Well, in that case, why don't you stand up and tell the class."
"I don't think they'll be interested."
"That's fine, go on."
"Fine. I was just going to tell Kaiba here that I think he is very handsome and I would like to go out with him some time," Lily said with a smile, no hint of embarrassment whatsoever. The class burst out laughing, and Kaiba struggled to hide his embarrassment. Normally they would have been deathly silent, but since they were in the presence of a teacher, Kaiba couldn't do anything to them and so they let out their real responses.
I am Seto Kaiba. I have no reason to blush. This is ridiculous. I do not get embarrassed. Why is everyone laughing? What happened to the respect? My world is officially falling apart. I'm losing control...
"Well then class, back to work."
All the girls in that class was eager to tell all their friends that the new girl had the hots for Kaiba and they knew it was going to be huge in gossip land. Sure enough it was. By lunch time, the whole school knew and everyone was talking about it. Lily couldn't care less about the gossip and the stares and the whispering; she thought it was pathetic, that this tiny thing would cause such a ruckus. Back at her old school, a girl getting pregnant wasn't even this big. They sure don't have much drama in their lives.
Since Lily had run a bit late that morning, she had to buy lunch in the cafeteria and happened to be standing behind Tristan. People started asking her about whether or not the rumor was true and she was just sick of it. She didn't respond to them and thought it would be better if she talked to Tristan instead.
"Where's the rest of the gang?"
"They're sitting and eating over there. I had to check up with one of my teachers."
"Getting into trouble on the second day of school?"
"Well, I wouldn't be talking if I were you. Is it true?"
"Is what true?"
"About you and Kaiba."
"Ah, well, I don't know. I'm gonna have to figure that out ::grinning::"
"I would have thought you'd be way more embarrassed, the whole school's talking about it."
"Why should I be?"
"I guess it's only a rumor then, huh."
"I never said that. For all you know, I could be going out with him, I could be having a crush on him, I could not be having a crush on him, I could hate him, you just don't know."
"Oh man is Joey going to be crushed."
"Well, you shoulda warned him that he'd never have a chance with me, I mean, give me a break here, asking me out after knowing me two seconds? What a turnoff."
"Haha, tell me about it," Tristan said as the two walked together. He stopped at the table where his friends were.
"Well, catcha around."
"You don't want to sit with us?"
"It's ok. I prefer eating outside while the weather is still nice."
Tea replied, "You're right. Mind if I join you?"
"I don—::remembering what Mokuba said:: uh, okay." Lily forced a smile and the two stepped outside.
"I wonder what's going on," Joey said, more to himself than anyone else.
"Must be girl talk," replied Tristan. Yugi just shrugged.
::outside under tree::
"It is nice to eat out here."
"Yeah."
"Nice weather."
"Yeah."
"Nice day to spend outside with friends."
"O-kay."
::silence::
"So, I hear something going on about you and Kaiba; is it true?"
"A few minutes ago, I thought to myself, if someone asks me that one more time, I'll explode. Lucky you Tea. I am sick and tired of it. All I wanted was a little peace during lunch and what do I get? A bombardment of questions. You and your stupid gossip-crazed school! What's the REAL reason you wanted to talk to me? You know what? Don't. Go back to your stupid friends, and your stupid boyfriend, and your stupid lunch, okay?"
Tea, struggling to keep her anger inside, said, "First of all, Yugi is not my boyfriend. He is a friend, nothing more, nothing less. And second, I just want to clear up what happened yesterday."
"Yeah, ok, first of all, have you seen the way he looks at you? ::Tea blushing:: He's not your boyfriend like I'm not having a major issue with rumors right now. And, SECOND, there's nothing to clear up."
"Grrr...there is. I just want to say that you hurt Joey's feelings yesterday and so I became really defensive and I didn't mean to yell."
"::chuckling:: you call that yelling? Forget about it. You were just looking out for your friends. You want to hear yelling? DO YOU?!"
"Calm down, okay? I'm trying to be friendly right now, and once again you're not helping."
"Well gosh darn it, doesn't that suck."
"Yeah, it does. I also wanted to warn you."
"From what, Tea? The friendship lecture I'm about to hear?"
"No, if you do decide to pursue something with Kaiba, you should know a few things."
"Yeah? Like what?!"
"Well, for one thing, he's cold, cruel and selfish. He's not very friendly at all."
"So?"
"So? Why would you want to spend time with someone mean instead of someone friendly?"
"Well, how well do you know Seto Kaiba? Not very much, huh? So, don't you think you're being a itsy bitsy bit presumptuous there for a oh!-won't-you-be-my-friend-forever kind of person?"
"Well, I've seen the way he acts enough to tell that he is in fact, not boyfriend material. Have you even seen him with friends?"
"Maybe he just hasn't found the right ones."
"Face it, Lily, he's just not a nice guy."
"::calming down:: Mokuba doesn't seem to think that way. He looks up to him."
"Yeah, he doesn't see his meanness at all."
"Well, he hasn't been very mean to me."
"You'll see it soon enough."
"I think I'm gonna give it a chance and you know why? BECAUSE I FREAKIN FEEL LIKE IT OKAY?!?!"
"Ok," Tea gave up and left for the cafeteria.
The silence around Lily was broken by the bell.
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heh, more arguing! that's the way...er, uh. NO! being mean is bad. bad. bad.
if you can't tell, Lily has some attitude to work out, so we'll just see how compatible Lily and Seto are together...they do have four letters in each of their names...heh, annyyywwways. nobody guessed what the reference thingy was last time. ::SOB:: hah, well, this time i had something for all the Johnny Depp fans out there...
so...REVIEW. yes. do it. :D it helps mucho if i get feedback.