Call On Me
Chapter 3:
Madame Lovelady may have seemed sweeter than Raspberry pie, what with her long blonde hair, pale complexion, and ruby red lips… but looks can be deceiving. As she continued her lecture to them, in French, (Marik notice he couldn't understand a word she was saying) more and more assignments appeared on the chalkboard. So many homework assignments and not one was in English.
But before she began that day's lesson, she assigned Marik and Malik a guide for their first day. A 'Student Buddy-Buddy' as Madame Lovelady called it. Double 'buddy' because there were two boys in need of buddies. And only one was available.
"Ryou, be a dear and help these two Italians get through their first day. We're short-handed on Buddies this week, because of that… incident… with the P.E. teacher." She whispered the last words and the rest of the class nodded solemnly.
"Of course," The pink-haired boy beamed over at his two new classmates, "I'll help them with whatever they need!"
Malik eagerly waved at Ryou, forgetting temporarily that he was no longer Malik, but Kilam. A complete stranger in Ryou's eyes. Though, Ryou waved back, smiling all the same.
When the teacher turned her back, continuing to write on the board, Ryou switched seats with another boy, sitting next to Marik. "Welcome to Domino High. My name is Ryou, how are you?"
Malik giggled, "Hi, Ryou. I'm Ma…. I'm Kilam. And this is my…" He pointed to Marik but was now at a loss for words. What to call him? There was no way he could refer to him as a yami, so he decided to improvise, "H-He's my great-aunt's sister's nephew's son twice removed. O-On my mother's side."
Marik and Ryou starred at him blankly. Marik was ready to smack his hikari and Ryou simply grinned shyly, 'Well… they are Italian, I suppose I shouldn't be surprised.' He thought to himself.
After Marik introduced himself properly, Ryou took the initiative and introduced him to the class, silently, so Madame Lovelady wouldn't notice, "…And that's Joey and… oh, this is Yami and Yugi. They're really good friends of mine."
Upon hearing their names, the spiky-haired boys whirled around to finally notice their newly transformed enemies. Yami smirked and said hello. Nothing special and a standard greeting at best. Yugi, on the other hand, was a bit friendlier.
"So, do you like it here in Domino? Are you two related? You don't look much like each other. You don't look Italian either, were you born there? Where are your parents? Do you live alone? Are you hobos? I'm not fond of hobos; I hope you're not. You don't look like hobos, you look shiny and clean. Do you take showers everyday? I know this girl who takes a shower once a month, she's in my Biology class, you'll probably get to see her later. Do you think-"
"Please." Yami placed a hand over his hikari's mouth, gently, "Yugi, maybe now would not be the best time to… engage in a question and answer session."
Marik nodded, relief washing over him. 'Ra, that kid has a mouth on him! I've never heard so many words pour from one kid at one time!'
"Ahem!" Madame Lovelady was glaring down the five youngsters' backs, totally unaware of her presence the moment before. "I understand that you're new, Kilam, Kiram… but I trying to teach here! And, Mr. Motou, would you like to teach them French?"
"Eh…" Yugi shivered, "Non, Madame Lovelady, je nes suis pas."
She nodded her approval and scooted back to the board, continuing her writings and occasional rants in another language. As an effect of her interruption, Yami and Yugi quickly turned around and so had Ryou, now paying full attention to the board.
Marik tapped his finger on the desk and turned to look at Malik, who was whispering to Ryou, obviously becoming fast friends once again. Marik was about to address his hikari but as he tapped him on the shoulder, the bell rang. Ding Ding Ding!
Everyone got up and headed out of the front door, Madame Lovelady saying goodbye in French on their way out. Ryou stood with Marik and Malik as they looked around, quiet a bit of panic in their eyes.
"What's going on?" Marik asked, "Everyone's leaving. Is school over so soon?"
Ryou was about to answer but was cut off by Malik's strange reaction to the bell.
Malik raised his arms into the air, "This… The Great Migration!"
"…" They both starred at him. Ryou shook his head and smirked, "Um… no, no, I don't think it is. It's time for our second class and homeroom. C'mon, you have Algebra 1 next, right?"
Ryou led them out of the room and out into the hallway. It was painted an off-white dingy color, and the lockers were a harsh green. Papers and lollipops streamed along the floor, as the busy students' feet shuffled along. They past a young student in a blue uniform, she saluted to Ryou and continued to stand there.
"What is that?" Malik asked, pointing to the young lady.
"Oh, her? That's Sable. She's the Hall Monitor for the sophomore class this year. She's very strict some times and aspires to be a cop after she graduates. If I were you two, I'd stay away from her though. She can get… overzealous with her duties."
Malik nodded and smiled back at Sable, no comment from her. Soon, they arrived at another room on the second floor, "Well, here were are." Ryou said before opening the door and entering along with them.
Marik looked around the classroom eagerly, trying to search for Yami and Yugi. Their first period together had been ruined, due to interruptions and lack of interest. Yugi was sighted in the front of the classroom, pencil in hand and facing the teacher. Obviously a class pet. Then he looked around. No Yami.
"Hey, Ryou." Marik looked at his 'Buddy' when they sat down, "Where's the Pharaoh?"
Ryou shot a look at him, "The Pharaoh…?"
"Ah, no! No, no! I-I meant… Y-Yami. You see, he has such an Egyptian look to him and so… I slipped and called him a…"
"Oh! I see. He he he. You had me confused for a moment there. Well, anyway, Yami has a T.A class right now. So it's us, all by ourselves."
"Hmm…" Marik furrowed his brow. This was unacceptable. He wanted and needed to befriend not only Yugi but the Pharaoh as well. But, he decided, one, for now, was better than nothing.
As the fat math teacher waddled up to the overhead, turning it on and beginning his lesson on Quadratic Formulas, Marik and Malik were busy conspiring.
"Okay, okay," Marik whispered to his hikari, getting out a clean sheet of paper, "We're going to write Yugi a friendship note. A note showing that we're interested in quote-unquote 'belonging' to him."
"… Sounds kinky."
Marik glared, "Shut-up and write." He began saying whatever he wanted in the note and Malik wrote it down. Partly because Malik's handwriting was sweet and clean… and partly because Marik can barley write the English language. When he was almost done, Mr. Bloomsburg, the Algebra teacher, notice the two talking and not taking notes.
He walked over and stood behind their desks, "Kiram."
Marik paid no mind and continued to study the note.
"Kiram!" Mr. Bloomsburg continued calling his name, "Mr. Ashley!"
Malik noticed their teacher standing there, an annoyed frown plastered on his face. "Um… Kiram." He nudged his yami with his forehead, "Kiram, our teacher is talking to you."
"What?"
"Kiram…" Malik leaned in and whispered, "Reversed… Marik…"
"Oh… oh!" He whipped his head around, "Sorry, man, didn't hear you calling me. You need something?"
"Well, it'd be nice if you stopped congregating with your little play-mate and joined us in the Math World. Please come up to the overhead and solve equation number fourteen. That is… if you can."
Marik sneered, taking that as a full-on challenge. Being the aggressive boy he is, he gladly snatched the marker from Mr. Bloomsburg and strutted up to the overhead. Once there, in front of twenty students, he gulped and looked down at the problem, nervously, "Okay… Number fourteen."
The equation was long and dragged out. B plus over minus the square root of B squared minus 4 times A and B all over 2A. (A/N: Yes, that's a real formula. I have to do it…) Marik scratched his head then set to work. It took him about forty minutes and when he'd finished more than half the class had fallen asleep.
Mr. Bloomsburg blinked and walked over to see what his new student had done. He looked at the problem and saw that in the forty minutes, Marik had merely put 3 ½ as the answer. Which was completely off.
After receiving skeptical and annoyed looks from his teacher, Marik shrugged, "What?"
"… Sit down, Mr. Ashley."
"Whatever." He said and returned to his seat.
However, before Marik even reached his seat, the bell rung. He walked out into the hallway and saw Ryou and Malik walking over to him. Marik asked where they had wandered off to and he got his response.
"Kilam wanted to deliver something to Yugi's locker. We left a note in there and headed back here." Ryou explained.
Marik looked at his hikari, "Great job, Ma- Um… Kilam, Ryou. Now we got em for sure…" Realization flashed in Marik's eyes, "Wait! Ma- Kilam, I didn't finish the note! It had mistakes! No punctuation!"
"Umm. Oops?" Malik hadn't realized there were mistakes. He didn't even look at it when his yami left to do the math problem. He just folded it nicely and put To Yugi Motou :D on the front in nice cursive. Malik waved away the comment and sighed, "Kiram… Don't worry, I'm sure there was nothing too bad in there."
"No, Ma- Kilam, you don't understand! I doodled some-"
Before Marik could finish his sentence, Ryou looked over his shoulder and waved wildly. "Hey there, Bakura!" He smiled at a young man, identical, yet slightly taller to Ryou. His spiky silver hair tied in a ponytail, he stood in the middle of Marik and Ryou.
"…" He looked at Ryou, "I want to go home."
"Oh, now don't be that way! Look here, Bakura," Ryou gestured towards Marik and Malik. Their disguises masking them from a man who knew them so well, "New students! This is Kiram and Kilam Ashley. They're Italian and I've been deemed their Student Buddy-Buddy. Isn't this exciting?"
Bakura frowned and looked blatantly at the two, "I hate Italians."
Malik looked slightly hurt by this (Ra only knows why, he wasn't really Italian). Marik, however, was unfazed.
Ryou sweatdropped and tried to smooth things over, "Now, now. Let's not judge. I have a feeling that you three will be good friends! Um, anyway, I have an Economics class to attend. Bakura, you have Reading 3 next, don't you? Could you please show them to their class?"
"Eh. I was going to bite the freshmen some more, but…" He looked at his watch, "I suppose I can fit you in. Let's go, Mario and Luigi."
They followed, Marik laughing at being called 'Mario' and Malik looking a little uneasy about being without his new and yet old friend. Ryou waved them off and said they'd meet up later before walking off in a different direction.
In another hallway of the school, over by the locker rooms, Yugi was working at his locker's combination. He'd almost gotten it open, when Yami walked over, books in hand.
"Yugi, are you ready to go to our next class?" He asked his hikari, who'd just gotten the locker open.
"Sure, let me just…" He trailed off as he caught a small, folded piece of paper that had tumbled off a few of his textbooks. Yugi tilted his head and held it up to Yami, "Um, did you put this in my locker?"
"No, it wasn't me."
"Oh… Hmm."
"You should open it."
"…Okay," He first read the front of it, saying To Yugi Motou :D. Then opened it, he read fully the note out loud to his yami, "Yugi. I'd like to take this opportunity to say that me and my… acquaintance are very interested in you. We'd like to become your… friends. We will be better than any you have had. You may confide in us your deepest, darkest secrets. That is all. Signed, Ma (scribble) Kilam and Kiram."
"Odd. What kind of note is that?" Yami rolled his eyes, "Those Italian students write it?"
"Yes, that's - Hey!" Yugi looked down at the bottom of the page, "What's all this?" Further down, beside a bunch of eraser marks were a few pictures of Yugi and Yami in some strange situations. One was of Yami's head on a pig's body. Another of Yugi on an autopsy table, and the last one of both the boys burning in hell.
Yami peaked over his hikari's shoulder, "… That doesn't look too nice."