A/n: This is my first J/T fic, so bear with me…… BTW, Joey and Tea are really close best friends, closer than in the anime.

Disclaimer: AllDay doesn't own one bit of Yu-gi-oh! End disclaimer.

Chapter Two: Let's get to Work!

:"So….what were you an' Mai talkin' about meda other day, Tea?" Joey gave his second best friend a hopeful, bright smile. "About me…..?"

"Well, yeah," was the answer, thought Tea was hesitant on how to make him getelected for King. He never listens to me, or barely does! "Listen…..how would you like to be……" She paused dramatically, turning on her brown heel. "this year's….Prom KING?!?" She spread her arms with a flourish, to make it sound as exciting as possible. Ta da!

Tristan sniggered, beside them. "That's a hoot! Eh, buddy?" He nudged his childhood chum in the side. Taller and more self directed, Tea thought that maybe he, Tristan,could be of help to convince Joey. Then again……!

"...Why do ya want me to be dat….?" Joey's dark brows furrowed together in confusion, pondering it. I don't think it's really my style….!

"Uh, no reason…." Tea hedged, not meeting either sets of eyes. But they just looked even more confused; it wasn't like her to be secretive. "Just… to see... if you can do it…..!" She finished lamely. When she saw it wasn't really helping being convincing, she thought fast. "And plus, which, Mai said----she agreed---to go out... with you……if you were….you know, prom king, Joey." She lifted her cerulean eyes slowly to take in his reaction to that.

"Huh" was all he said, staring into the distance."Dat's a weird condition….still…..I dunno…..it's not really me….besides," he tossed his head self-assuredly, "it'll betoo easy, I'll be bored."

Tristan and Tea exchanged meaningful glances, ones that said, Riiiiiight….'easy.' "Look, Joey," Tea said seriously, stopping in mid-walk in the hall, making them stop also, "You have to try!"

"Why? Why do I hafta."

"Uh. 'Cause….." She said, scratching her head.

"... Yeah, right, man," Tristan was still shaking his pointed head over that, stuffing his hands in his pockets exasperatedly at his friend's smugness. Lord knows I've tried! "It's as likely that you'd be elected as a meteor hitting our school. And I mean hitting it and bouncing right off again... into space!"

Joey frowned, warming up to the idea. Tea saw it. Trust that he WOULD like to take up on a challenge! Now, just one final push…. "Dat's not funny….I could... if I wanted to, I bet!" He sulked at the floor and then smiled. "I just doan wanna!"

They started moving along, with Tea thinking of another tactic, but then Tristan beat her to it. "Besides, you'll have to beat Kaiba for the title. He wins every year……" Even though he always also refuses every year! They were all thinking. "Nah, it's impossible, dude!" Tristan laughed again uproariously and clapped his friend hard on the shoulder before walking away.

Joey turned to Tea, who was still thinking.

"Awright, when do I start?" Besides, Tea said dat Mai would go out with me! I'll ask her to the prom, to see my 'crownin' acheivement!'

"Well---" The class bell jangled a ringing tone that stayed in the ears. "We'll talk. Later. If I don't call you... this afternoon," Tea hoisted her pack onto her shoulder, eyes serious, "Swing by my place, okay? Around... four."

"Four. Okay."

"Don't forget!" Tea walked inside his history class. I hope he actually remembers! We have a lot of work to do….and only two weeks to do it in!

I'm glad he agreed, Tea thought later, waiting for her friend at her house.She walked past her family modest TV set. Though... that was the simple part! It was sunny outside, the sky... with nary a cloud in it's blue bandwidth. Count on his hatred for Kaiba to be the final push over the edge! Ha.Her sandal tapped impatiently while she looked longingly outside at some kids riding their bikes, passing by her window.

Where IS he?! Grr!!... Her mouth set. I KNOW where he is! Such a goofball……Driving over to Domino Mall, Tea worked herself into a stew of hopping madness. Punctuality…..definitely something we'll have to work on! If I don't want to be driven crazy, that is! Though, I didn't really expect anything less…..

A picture of Mai wearing a I-told-you-so smirk floated into vision in her head while shaking her long, golden locks ruefully. You'll never be able to do it! It's impossible! said the imagination Mai.

Tea waved it away with the back of her hand. Anyone can change, even Joey! That's what I have to keep believing! But it was hard to, since he'd already forgotten about this afternoon…..After I told him not to! After I reminded him a million times during the day.

Shoppers inside the wide, bustling halls of the mall veered out of her way as she marched, half-chargeddirectly towards the…….Domino Arcade.

Yup, exactly. Just as I thought! Time to learn Lesson Number One….

"Joey!" she shrilled, hands on her waist, attitude out. He was off to one side, playing the latest game with Tristan, who choked on his sip of soda. He had never seen Tea looking so angry. And that was saying something.

"Huh?" Oh, shoot I forgot! Regret flooded over, for a second...

….oh well. "I, uh, changed my mind," he said absently, dark eyes glued to the screen. The urge to pulverize some shrieking girl overtook his need to win... the contest, of course.

Oh, no, you don't! Tea snagged him by the arm and practically dragged him out of there, while other guys jeered and laughed at the sight, their eyes wide. She let go of him when they were outside.

Tristan followed his friends more leisurely, taking another sip. "This time, at least, she didn't drag him through the women's clothing department," he commented to himself. Then wistfully, at a second thought,"too bad…."

"Hey, what da big deal?!" Joey was shouting, face red from being publicly embarrassed like that…..right out in…..well, public! "So I was a little late! Don't haveta pull my arms out!"

"Try four hours!" Tea took a deep breath for calmness then forced a cheery smile fixed brightly on. "Well, now that we're here anyway…..we can work on your appearance!" Tristan sidled up, one hand in his brown pants, like usual, watching the two with interest.

"Me? What's wrong wit wit my 'pearance?" Joey ran his hands through his messy dark blond mane protectively, like he expected her to whip out scissors and start hacking away. Psycho...

"Plen-Tee!" Tea said, still making cheerful, while he growled at being told what to do. Tristan made wholeheartedly sounds of agreement, drawing his glare. "Just trying to support Tea, dude," he said shrugging his square shoulders offhandedly.

Dragging them once again towards the nearest salon in the mall, Tea disappeared while Yugi popped around the corner, large violet-hued eyes curious. "What was THAT all about? You guys just left me back in the arcade….."

"Sorry, dude, Tea's going off in one of her trippy trips again." Tea's taking a trip? Wonder where, thought the short but slow and easygoing kid. "And I don't want to miss this! Come on!" Tristan raced off, and Yugi close at his heels.

The two jogged to the Hair Affair, a posh and upbeat hair salon that vaguely resembled more a disco than a hair salon. Yugi asked if Tristan was sure this was where they went, and Tristan just answered, "Listen and follow the screaming."

Indeed. "Stop pouting," Tea commanded, standing up ramrod straight, like a drill sergeant from Psycho Army, thought Joey, tied to the chair against his will aganist the wall. "Hmmm….oh! Yugi! Tristan! Which do you think?" She show the other two a thick photo album of models modeling different hairdos, all staring off in the distance, as if getting new hairdos made then reflect on their mortality..

"Uhh, Tea, don't you think we should ask his um, parents first?" Yugi said tentatively.

"Ooh! Ooh!" Tristan jumped around excitedly with a big grin. "Get him a Mohawk!" He cast a grin at Joey, who shook his fist, promising a soon vengeance.

"Oh, Yugi, I'm sure it'll be okay," Tea said as the hairdresser, a woman with half green, half red hair, approached them, smiling. "Oh! Yes, we've decided…." Tea sidled up to the woman and pointed. "Can you do this one…..?" Tristan peeked over her shoulder, and promptly broke into guffaws.

"Oh! Ha! That is priceless!" he said, while Tea pushed him to the floor. "Ow…"

"What? What? I wanna see!" Joey hollered from his chair, struggling against the restrains. Tea betta not make me look like a dork!

At the end, though, he did look like a dork. Sort of. Tristan nearly split his sides, tears streaming from his face when the hairdresser finally turned him around to look in the mirror. Well….it IS sort of short, Tea thought, putting a fist into her mouth. But he does look a lot better! the once long blond tresses were actually combed, so it was flat against his head, stopped just above his ears. Yugi shuffled his feet awkwardly, not wanting to hurt neither Tea's nor Joey's feelings. After all, he thought, Tea paid a lot of money!

"M-m-my-my-my-my-m-my……hair!" The mirror crunched in his hand into thick chunks, as Joey's grip tightened in horror.

"It's the latest look," the hairdresser smiled, sweeping up the dark blond chunks of hair from around the chair, piled up in little mountains. She had half green hair, half red.

Yeah, dis...from da livin' Christmas tree over dere! Joey kept telling and resassuring himself, It'll grow back, it'll grow back.

"My, Joe….I never knew you had such a small head underneath all that hair," Tristan managed while a giggle just burst from Tea. Then all three, Yugi, Tristan and Tea,were laughing again.

"Awright --dat's it! I QUIT!" Joey shot out of the salon, leaving a small dust cloud behind. No GIRL is worth dis! Meanwhile, the three stopped laughing and looked at each other.

"You'd better go talk to him, Tea," Tristan advised, holding his aching, laughter-spentsides and hobbling out. Yugi, beside her, looked up.

"Yeah, but I've have to do some shopping for him... first….." Tea headed for the men's clothing store. "See you, guys….."

"Hey, Joe," she said quietly from underneath the tree where Joey was hiding. "Stop hiding, we're not finished yet!" She said in a ultra-cheery voice, for his benefit.

"No, I'm not eva' showin' my face 'round again. Eva'!" came the muffled reply. "Besides, there's no Joey here."

"Then who am I talking to? Now, come on, it's getting late!" She tapped her foot. "I brought you some-thing….."

He poked out a bit. "What?"

"New clothes!" she said gaily, and he sighed and disappeared again. "Come on, you promised me that you'd do this!"

"I neva promised ya. Now go away." Isn't it enough you maimed me? he sulked.

Lesson Two: Prom Kings don't sulk like little boys in trees, Tea thought, struggling up the tree. Inside, there was a small, rickety looking treehouse with a shabby roof. "Come on-n-n it'll grow back. It's only for two weeks, anyway…" she reached the floor of the house. "The others…..will….." she stopped when she saw how it was. Her lips trembled with laughter.

"Go ahead, yuk it up," he scowled away in the darkness; it was always sundown.

"No, I just….never seen you with neat hair that is," she said smoothly. "It's really……something. Really...something..." Certainly is!

"Itchy is mo' like it," he replied, and rubbed his hands all over his head in it's poofy hairstyle up again, destroying the stylist's work in a split second. "Ah, much betta." He sighed, like he does after eating a big meal, with satisfaction.

"Jo-ey!" Tea complained. "You-you've messed it up!"

"So!?"

"Do you have any idea how much it cost? Now that you've destroyed it? I know you don't like it," she said with growing agitation, "But you can at least keep it, for my sake!"

"All right all right, Tea," he smoothed it back down into place hurriedly, "Don't get all ultrasonic on me!" Now, half of it was smooth and half still stuck up oddly, like a compromise.. "Dere, see? Right as rain."

She frowned, "Not really…..but I'll swing by your place before school to help fix," she said obstinately. "I bought you a brand new uniform," she added, lifting the navy blue material for him to see, "as well as some new shoes and……oops."

" ' Oops?' What was dat? Lemme see!" He snatched it from her grip and riffled through the bag. Pulling out a straw brimmed hat with a plastic flower on it, he raised an eyebrow. "Okay, I am NOT wearin' dat, okay? Da rest is fine, but---" Great, she's gonna turn me into a fancy pansy!

"That's for me! You goof." she said, flushing as she snatched it back. Does her really think wearing a flower would get him elected? "And don't be so rude---jeez, we got a lot of work to do," she sighed, thinking a minute. "Anyway---"

"Why are ya doin' dis?"

The question hit her like a 747. "Excuse me? But you're my friend, okay? I-I'd do anything for my friends!" she tried to convince him, but didn't meet his eye guiltily.

"Anythin'?"

"Anything."

"Really..?" He looked her up and down, in surprise, and as if for the first time. Tea grew irritated, as she did at being given the once-over. We have to work on that leering too!

"Plus, I want you and Mai to finally go out already," She rolled her eyes and punched him hard on the arm to get his attention again. "Now remember I'll be early by your place tomorrow, so don't get all riled up---"

"I won't. Really," he promised, holding both his hands up.. "I…..'preciate it, Tea. You're all right….for a chick," he grinned, teasingly swiping at her bare arm. It was nearly summer, and the heat was already creeping up on them.

Tea climbed down again before the guilt struck her again. She knew she was only doing this to win the bet, otherwise she wouldn't subject herself through this hell….not that I don't like him or anything, but this wouldn't be worth it otherwise. "I'm not a 'chick', Joey, if you call me that again, I will personally come to you house and shave your head while you sleep, you got that?" she threatened from the foot of the tree, with a mock shake of her fist at her friend.

"Got it!" He saluted from up above. "Yes, ma'am." Then he disappeared.

Something about that wide grin made Tea think, as she walked home with her bags, that he was subtly flirting with her. But he flirts with all the girls in school. So? She adjusted her cotton sundress, waiting for the "WALK" sign. Besides, I don't know what I'm saying. Maybe I'm spending too much time with him……even though it's only been one afternoon! Besides, he KNOWS already about my crush on someone else.So….okay. just win this thing over with…..

I hope this isn't something I end up regretting later!

To be continued next chapter…..

A/n: a little, too late for that Tea! Review please. See you next chappie……(wave)