Hey! This is it! The second-to-last chapter! Whoo! So, here it is! Enjoy!
Our Sucky Little Keyboard That No One Cares About and Will Probably Never Look At (OSLKTNOCAWPNLA for short)
Is OSLKTNOCAWPNLA even a word? Hmm, somehow, I don't think so...but, I can make up words! So can you! Like Fudgeamania! (watches readers back away slowly) ...oops?
Anything written in normal text (like this) is the actual story.
Anything written in italics (like this) is when flashbacks or dreams are occurring.
Anything written in bold (like this) is someone acting as a narrator-slash-voice over. (You think I'm rich enough to hire two people?)
Anything written in bold italics (like this) are song lyrics.
Joey sighed, sitting at his computer in his bedroom that afternoon. It had been an early release day. One hand rested on the keyboard, the other propped up onto the desk. His head rested against the propped up arm.
In front of him, was an email that he was trying to write. At that moment, he had absolutely nothing except the email address.
Sighing once again, he lowered his arm and typed in, "Dear Julia…"
Joey read that for a moment than shook his head, pressing backspace and deleting the words. Frowning, he closed the window and stood up. He couldn't be there right now. Walking over to the bed, he picked up his jacket and left his bedroom.
Meanwhile, Julia sat on the floor of Cecelia's Diner, scrubbing the floor. A full bucket of water stood beside her.
She stood up but slipped on her skates, falling back on her bottom. Sniffling, and getting ready to cry again, she unlaced the skates and tore them off, tossing them away.
Ishizu walked out from behind the counter, and watched Julia for a moment. She sighed, and gave another waitress the tray of food she was holding.
"Julia, what are you doing?" Ishizu asked in a gentle voice.
Julia sniffed. "I'm trying to get these floors clean."
Ishizu sighed and walked over to Julia. "Come on, sweetie. Get up."
Ishizu held a hand out to the teenager, who looked up at her and accepted her hand. She raised an eyebrow at the now-standing Julia.
"What I mean is," Ishizu continued. "What are you doing with your life?"
Julia was silent for a moment. "I'm Diner Girl. I'm doing what diner girls do Ishizu."
Ishizu rested a hand on Julia's shoulder and looked her over with concern. "Baby, what's gotten into you?"
Julia switched her glance away, but Ishizu continued nonetheless. "You don't even realize how blessed you are."
Ishizu tucked a strand of dark hair behind her ear and then reached over, lightly lifting Julia's chin and forcing the girl to look at her. She smiled slightly. "Look, you got a whole family behind you. We have faith in you. And you got to have faith in yourself."
Julia nodded slightly, still feeling crummy. But the feeling didn't last long as Tea and Serenity stormed into the diner, slamming the door behind them. The guitar clock shook slightly and fell, bringing the flowered wallpaper with it.
Julia's eye caught the bare walls, which had writing on them.
"Never let fear…keep you from…" Julia muttered to herself before smiling. "Never let the fear of striking out keep you from playing the game."
For the first time in days, Julia smiled and silently thanked her dad for the message, for the reminder.
Serenity and Tea looked around at the wall and gasped just as Cecelia walked in.
"Oh, mother!" Serenity wailed dramatically. She pointed to the wall. "Julia destroyed your wall."
"What?" Cecelia turned to face the wall with her grey-eyes and smirked. "Oh yes, you did."
She turned back to Julia, still wearing the smirk. "Well, that's going to come out of your paycheck."
Cecelia walked to the register as Eleanor rolled her eyes. Rishid growled and went on with his work in the kitchen, kicking the counter doors with his foot.
"Cover those stupid words." Cecelia snapped.
"Never let the fear of striking out keep you from playing the game." Julia whispered once more to herself.
"I'm going off to get more micros." Cecelia snapped. She waved her hands at Tea and Serenity. "Come on girls. Someone needs it to clean the pool tonight."
Julia growled and clenched her fists. It was time for a reality check. "No!"
Everyone in the diner froze and turned to watch the argument between Cecelia and Julia. Cecelia frowned.
"Excuse me?" She snarled.
"You heard me." Julia snapped back, her eyes narrowed in anger. "I quit. I quit this job and I quit your family. And I'm moving out!"
Tea, Serenity and Cecelia started laughing. After a moment, Cecelia looked up and sneered. "Oh? Where are you going to live?"
Ishizu smirked and wrapped an arm around Julia's shoulders. "With me."
The waitresses and Rishid grinned.
"You can't just walk out on me." Cecelia pointed.
Julia shook her head. "You know what, Cecelia? You can mess with your hair, and your nose, and your face and you can ever mess with my dad's diner, but you are through messing with me!"
Julia pulled away from Ishizu and walked by Cecelia, knocking shoulders with her roughly. Cecelia frowned and made a move to grab Julia's wrist, but Ishizu cut her off.
"Julia, wait up."
The teenager turned around and quirked a brow at Ishizu. Cecelia frowned.
"You can take one more step and you're fired." Cecelia threatened.
"Oh, that won't be necessary." Ishizu smiled. "Because I quit too."
She paused for a second before pointing at Cecelia. "You know what? The only reason why I stayed around and put up with you all these years is because of that girl."
Ishizu smiled at Julia and then turned her attention back to Cecelia. "And now that she's free of you, there's nothing stopping me from kicking your butt!"
Cecelia shrieked and ran behind Tea and Serenity. "Oh, come on! No, no! Not my face! It's much newer than the girls! Go for the girls!"
Tea and Serenity shrieked in response and turned to look at Cecelia. "Mom!"
Julia snickered and looked at the smirking Ishizu. "Ishizu. Ishizu, she's not even worth that."
Ishizu nodded and pretended to lunge at Cecelia, and the two girls, who all screamed in reply. Snickering, Ishizu walked over to Julia.
"You're right."
Eleanor shook her head. "You know what? I quit too."
She walked over to Ishizu and Julia. Rishid's eyes lit up. "Me too! Hey Ishizu, wait up! I need a ride!"
He ran out of the kitchen and then back in and picked up his favourite black spatula. He hugged it for a moment and then ran back out, tripping and falling face first into the floor. Everyone in the diner laughed as Rishid stood back up, grabbed his spatula and walked over to the ones who had already quit.
One waitress walked by Cecelia, tearing up a sheet of paper and throwing it up in the air. "Well…"
A second waitress walked by and snapped her fingers in Cecelia's face. "See ya."
Chuck, a customer walked by, eating a doughnut. "Send me a bill."
That night, Julia stood in Ishizu's living room, unpacking a few clothes she had grabbed from the house. Ishizu was nearby, setting up the couch. She had apologized to Julia about the lack of bedding, but Julia had just smiled and thanked her.
Laughing lightly, Julia grabbed a pair of jeans and a pink halter top. "Cecelia actually thought you were going to slap her."
Ishizu tossed a pillow onto the couch. "I was going to do more than that."
"I had no idea that you thought to quit that job." Julia pointed out, selecting out a black denim jacket.
"You know, I'm proud that I did." Ishizu joked, walking over to Julia, who turned and smiled back at her.
"Ishizu, are you sure that this is okay?"
Ishizu nodded. "Julia, I wouldn't have it any other way."
The two hugged for a moment before pulling away.
"I haven't felt this much at home for such a long time."
"I'm sure, compared to that Adams' family." Ishizu joked. She raised an eyebrow at Julia. "What's on your mind?"
Julia grabbed her clothes. "I'm going to do something tonight. Don't wait up, okay?"
Julia took a look at her watch. 6:45. She sighed and smoothed her black jeans she had decided to wear then fixed her black bucket hat. She opened the door to the boys' locker room and walked through it, keeping her eyes out for one person.
Perverted wolf-whistles from guys came at her from all directions, and one "Diner Girl," call, but Julia ignored it. She spotted Joey standing and talking with Yami and Tristan, all three getting ready for the big game.
Julia walked over to the three and stopped, resting her weight onto one leg while crossing her arms. Joey looked over to her.
"Julia! Okay, I know that you're thinking I'm some –"
"Coward? Phony?" Julia cut Joey off.
"Okay, just listen –" Joey began before Julia cut him off once more with a sharp look.
"No, you listen!" Julia snapped, attempting to control her temper. The locker room went quite, everyone watching the female. "You turned out to be exactly who I thought you were. I never pretended to be somebody else. It's been me all along. And it was me who was hurt in front of everyone."
Joey watched Julia, feeling guilty. Tristan and Yami watched the angry teenager and switched their glances to Joey. Tristan opened his mouth to say something, but Yami smirked and elbowed Tristan roughly in the stomach.
Julia rolled her eyes, and saw Joey inviting her to continue. "I didn't come here to yell at you, okay?"
Joey's eyes widened and he was about to speak but Julia cut him off for a third time with a wave of her hand. "I came here to tell you that I know what it feels like to be afraid to show who you are. I was. But I'm not anymore."
She turned to go but turned around, holding up her finger. "The thing is, I don't really care what people think of me. Because I believe in myself and I know that things will be okay. And even though I have no family, and no job and no money for college…it's you that I feel sorry for."
"Yo," Duke yelled to Joey from across the room. "Dress up. The game's in five minutes."
Joey turned to Duke, frowning. "I'm coming!"
Julia shook her head. "I know that guy that sent those emails is somewhere down inside of you. But I can't wait for him. Because waiting for you is like waiting for rain in this draught. Useless and disappointing."
She turned and stormed off. The boys whistled in appreciation as Joey watched the female's retreating form with a sigh.
"Julia!" he called after her, but she didn't turn around to answer him. Growling, he turned and punched the locker door with his fist.
Julia walked out of the locker room, heaving a sigh.
"Julia."
Julia jumped and turned to face Yugi with a slightly smile. "Hey, what are you doing here?"
Yugi smiled and approached Julia. "Ishizu told me where you might be and I thought you could use a friend. Come here."
Julia smiled and hugged Yugi before pulling away from him. Yugi grinned. "Julia, I'm so proud of you. You…your step-mom…Joey…all in one day. How do you feel?"
"I-I'll let you know when I can catch my breath." She turned to Yugi. "Let's do something tonight."
"I was actually thinking about going to the game…" Yugi trailed off. "But I understand if you don't want to do that."
Julia shook her head. "No, I'll go."
"Really?" Yugi asked, lifting his head. "You'll go to the game?"
Julia nodded, giggling. "Yeah, I can handle it now. It'll be our first and last."
Yugi smiled and Julia slipped her arm through his.
"Besides," she went on. "If I don't go, who else would explain the game to you?"
"Oooh." Yugi nodded slowly as the two walked off.
Julia smiled and turned to Yugi. "I like what you're wearing. Look good today."
She nodded towards Yugi's blue jeans, his long black t-shirt and his blue denim jacket. Yugi grinned. "Guess so."
Julia nodded. "I think it's your best look."
"Thank you."
Julia giggled once more and let go of Yugi, pushing him backwards lightly before taking off down the hall, laughing. Yugi grinned and ran after his best friend, both looking forwards to the game.
Whoo! Next chapter is the last one for this fic! There will also be a small surprise for you guys' next chapter as well! Please review!
the peace pixie: Thanks for the compliment! I'll see what I can do bout Valon, here.
Xx sTaR-bLuE-AnGeL xXI dunno, but you mustn't question Joey's intelligence. (grins) Only I can make fun of him. (huggles Joey) LOL I love that joke! XD Hehe, I hate my English teacher. He's like Kaiba all over again (growls and slaps Kaiba) Thanks for the compliment. LOL I would LOVE to see the cast acting this out! LOL
chinkeepdaughter126: LOL, I know! But because I get the aura that Dartz would act like that, and the fact that he just HAD to be in this, I couldn't resist! XD No story is complete without humor!
Phersule: I hate Mai so much! I seriously hope something really bad happens to her! Grr, as long as they don't put Mai and Joey together in the anime, I'll be happy. I hate the Mai-Joey pairing. Grrr…anywho, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. One more to go!
