Call On Me
Chapter 4:
During Marik and Malik's Reading 3 class, they were more than halfway, if not completely, ignored by their substitute Buddy-Buddy, Bakura. He'd led them to the classroom, looked at them, and then sat on the opposite side of the room. Malik felt rather disturbed about the whole thing. Ryou was his Buddy, not Bakura. Marik, still, was unfazed.
As their teacher assigned a few reading pages to the class, Marik was still anxious and feeling sick over the note that Yugi had undoubtedly read by now.
A tap on the side of his head interrupted Malik's reading. He looked down at a piece of paper that was now lying on his desk; upon further inspection, Malik figured out that it was a note from his yami, whose seat was two rows behind his. He opened it…
Malik, this is a disaster! How could you do such a thing? Taking that note to Yugi's locker without me! Oh Ra, our whole mission is in danger, now! What have you got to say for yourself?
Malik pursed his lips together and scribbled down something. When he was done, he folded it into a football and flipped onto Marik's desk. Marik opened it up…
You're over reacting, Marik. Nothing's going to endanger our 'mission'. You're such a drama queen.
When Marik received the paper, he rolled his eyes and wrote back. (The rest of the note between them follows…)
You don't understand! I drew awful, un-friendly pictures of them on the bottom! I was going to erase them, but I was called upon to do a stupid math problem! If they see that, they wont want to be our friends!
Ah… Quiet a pickle, Marik. What are you going to do about it?
Me! Why must it be me to do something about our 'pickle'! This is your pickle, too, Malik! You and Ryou's pickle!
I don't even like pickles, you're insane!
I saw you eating a pickle one time! You do like pickles, you just sneak them when you think I'm not looking! You are such a pickle eater!
Malik was about to write back, being furious now that his yami new about his deepest, darkest secret. His love of pickles. But before he could retaliate, a hairy, sun burnt hand swiped the note off his desk. Malik looked up, surprised to find Mr. Chapman holding his piece of paper.
"Hmm? Writing notes are we? I thought I assigned a few reading worksheets, have you finished?" The teacher looked at Malik's blank worksheet and raised an eyebrow, "I see. Well, let's just take a look at what you've been doing that doesn't involve class work."
"W-Wait, I-I…!" Malik faltered as he watched Mr. Chapman reading his and his yami's sacred note. He turned back to see his yami's reaction. Marik was looking on, mouth and eyes widened in shock.
After two minutes of unbearable silence, Mr. Chapman looked away from the paper and looked over at both Marik and Malik, his gaze lasting longer on Marik than Malik. He put the paper down and addressed the classroom, "Well, thanks to your new friends, Kiram and Kilam, I've decided that these assignments aren't enough for you. So, you now have pages 5-68 to do for homework, due tomorrow for a test grade."
The whole class moaned in disbelief, some of them shouting that this was in no way fair. Mr. Chapman answered simply that nothing in life was fair and they needed to get used to it. When he sat back down to his large, wooden desk, the class took this time to glare evilly at Marik and Malik. Including Bakura, who was the most intimidating for the yami and hikari pair, because they new he carried a dagger to school.
Marik slapped himself in the face, 'Great…'
…
The rest of the class passed quickly. With Marik and Malik avoiding the awful stares and death symbols that their classmates were making, it was all they could do not to run out of there. Malik, himself, was relieved in a way… Marik, too. They realized, shortly after that incident that Mr. Chapman could've made it a lot worse and read it out loud.
In the note, they'd used each other's real names. Reading their argument to the class would've accomplished nothing but totally destroying them on their first day in school. It might not have been so bad if Bakura wasn't there. Everyone else would've thought they were only role-playing (which still had an odd sound to it, they thought). But if Bakura heard them talking, he'd know right away. And Bakura couldn't keep a secret. He'd sell them out for a bit of Whiteout to sniff. No, it had to be a secret.
Ding Ding Ding.
Everyone jumped out of their seats and headed for the door. Malik and Marik followed, but being careful about not being noticed. The last thing they wanted was confrontation about their actions in the classroom.
Bakura was waiting for them by the lockers outside the room. Marik and Malik looked at him expectantly. He growled and began to walk away, "Come on, Mario, Luigi. Let's get out of here."
"School is over now?" Marik asked, catching up with Bakura's fast pace.
"No. Although, I wish it was. But, no, we've gotta meet Ryou in front of the lunchroom. I'm starving, I swear…!"
They followed him, along with a rather large group of teenagers to two large double doors with the words Student Dining over the doorway. They all went in and the room was much larger than any of the classrooms. The walls were a light yellow, with rows of kids that seemed to go on forever. The high ceilings harbored about fifty bright lights that shown down, giving the grungy floors a glossy finish.
A familiar voice called out to them over all the chattering. "Hallo! Bakura, bring them over here!" Ryou's bright pink hair was seen and they walked over to him from across the cafeteria. When they reached him, they noticed he was carrying five trays of food. He smiled and moved them around a little, "I figured, being your first day, you wouldn't want to wait forever in a line. So, I got food for you all! Take your pick."
Bakura and Marik actually fought over one tray. Neither won the fight; the tray broke in half and they each got some. Malik just picked one that was closest to him. They walked off and over to a table that was occupied by a few people. Ryou and Bakura sat down, Ryou motioning for Marik and Malik to do the same.
Everyone looked at the two new boys in question.
Ryou smiled brightly at them, "Look what I have! This is Kiram and Kilam Ashley. I've been deemed their Student Buddy-Buddy. They just moved here… they're Italian."
"Ooh…" Their eyes widened and their interest in the boys deepened. "Italian…"
He turned to Marik and Malik, "Let me introduce you to my friends." He went around the table, naming names that Marik and Malik already knew, but they pretended they'd never laid eyes on these people before, "That's Joey, Tristan, Otogi… and of course, you already know Yugi and Yami."
Yami gave Marik a threatening look and yet his eyes showed a flash of confusion. Yugi tried to fake a smile and Marik knew they'd already seen the note. He looked at his hikari who was laughing with Ryou about something or the other. Marik decided this was a job for him.
"You know," He said, directing it at Yami, "In… um, Italy, the pig is the animal of wisdom and reverence. And Yugi, I just want to say that your… body is interesting. S'why I… um, want to…" He shuddered, "Look inside."
Yugi's eyes were wider than diner plates, his face a deep shade of red. "…!"
"On a scientific basis only!" Marik amended, knowing his last statement sounded more than disgusting, "That's only… only on a scientific basis…" He trailed off and mentally slapped himself.
The table was quiet. Ryou and Malik had stopped their conversation, and were starring at Marik with the same expressions. Bakura had lapsed into a laughing fit, and the other boys were suppressing their giggles.
It was then that Yugi and Yami mentally connected what Kiram had just said to the note they received. With the pig and the autopsy table… and the burning in hell. Yugi sighed in relief, "Oh, Ra, thank you for clearing that up… I was… worried."
Yami nodded, still a bit uneasy, "Um, yes, I'm very relieved as well."
"But what about that burning in hell picture?"
Marik swallowed hard, "Oh, yeah, that… I… I mean, we…" He nudged his hikari, and whispered, "Help me out here, you idiot!"
"Oh! Well, in… Italy, hell is a wonderful place with bunnies and flowers and… fire. Everyone goes there for… fun in the sun and a facial." Malik smiled at everyone, thinking he'd just saved the day. Yami and Yugi were more confused now than ever.
Marik growled at Malik, "What the hell was that!"
"It was better than your autopsy explanation!"
"Says who!"
Ryou let a few giggles slip and they looked at him, questioningly. "Oh… I'm sorry. It's just that you two remind me of a few people I know. Don't they, Bakura?"
"Oh, yeah. You argue just like them." He said, not looking away from Ryou.
Marik and Malik looked at each other and gasped, knowing whom they were acting like… themselves. They quickly clamped up and starred down at their trays.
Everyone continued to eat in silence.
Malik then noticed, for the first time, what was on his plate. A rather large helping of spinach, a cup of Green Bean Gelatin and a mound of an orange, wet mold-type thing. He tapped his Buddy, "Ryou, what is all this?"
Ryou sighed, a little unsure. His answer was simple, "Some sort of food, I'm almost certain."
Malik didn't look pleased with the answer he received and Bakura noticed this. He grinned evilly at the young hikari, "That's what we get every day, Kilam. You see that lunch lady over there? The one with brown hair?" He pointed towards the line, and Malik nodded, seeing her fully.
"Yeah, what about her?"
"Well, everyday, she eats these clams that don't agree with her. And, right before the bell rings, she throws up all over the mashed potatoes! She doesn't want anyone to notice, so she passes them off as clam-flavored potatoes. Thus the name… Clamtatoes. That's been going on for a while."
Everyone at the table booed him as he laughed at Malik's face turning colors. Ryou gave him a rather stern nudge to the ribs and directed his attention towards Marik and Malik, "Don't listen to him. That's just a… myth. Doesn't mean it's true."
Bakura eyed his hikari, "Oh? Then why does no one ever put them on their tray? I'll tell you why… because they're REGURGITATED SPUDS!" He stood and shouted at the end of his sentence. The room falling into a silence, starring at the wicked-looking albino and whispering, shoving their plates away gently. Ryou blushed and dragged Bakura down by his shirttail.
Marik's voice rang out across the hollow room as he lapsed into a howling fit, lasting for over a moment. Malik, just realizing he'd eaten some of the 'regurgitated spuds', fainted.
Lunch went by quickly and so did a few other classes. Malik spent all of English and Biology in the Clinic at the front of the school. Marik told the nurse before he left that Malik was "A little bit of a sissy and is prone to black-outs."
It was the last period that Marik shared with Yami and Yugi, and he was grateful that he'd get some one-on-two time with them without Malik to say something stupid. Physical Education was their last class and, after dressing out, Marik joined the other boys at the line-up outside.
He noticed Ryou who'd suddenly appeared next to him, "Hello, Kiram! Oh… Oh, where's Kilam? He's still in the Clinic?"
"Yeah…" Marik said, rolling his eyes.
"Oh, you must be so lonely. Well, never fear! I, your Buddy, am here. Bakura has this class too, I can't imagine where he could be…" Ryou looked around and was about to address Marik again but then their Coach came out and blew his whistle.
"Alright, girl scouts, look alive!" A rather short man with a hairy chest and spandex on inspected each boy. Checking their uniforms and looking at their cuticles, "Today, we'll be building your senses and skills with a Military game I played when I was young… Foursquare!"
Marik whispered to Ryou, "That's a Military game?"
As soon as the words escaped his mouth, Coach Lugs was in Marik's face, "You got something to say, Italy? (Marik shook his head) I didn't think so. Now, girl scouts, let's move, move, move!"
When people began to spread out and pick teams, Ryou turned to his friend, "Kiram, who do you want to play?"
"Mmm…" He looked around, his eyes finally resting on two spiky-haired boys on the blacktop, by the tetherball. Marik immediately grabbed Ryou's wrist and dragged him over to the two boys, "C'mon, Ryou, I want to play Yami and Yugi!"
"Um, o-okay, Kiram…! But is there any reason why?"
"I want to get to know them better." He said simply. When Yami and Yugi noticed Marik and Ryou, they turned to them and accepted Marik's rather loud challenge to a game of Foursquare. They got to a court and Yami was holding the ball.
"Okay," He said thoughtfully, bouncing the ball in his square, "Since I'm in A square, I'll choose first. Cherry Bomb to Kiram!"
Yami slammed the red kick-ball onto the ground, in Marik's direction. It bounced high; Marik starring at it on it's way down, only to meet him right in the middle of his forehead. He went reeling backwards and made a thud on the blacktop. "Gah!"
Ryou and Yugi gasped, "Kiram, are you okay?"
Being Egyptian and used to a large amount of pain on a daily basis, Marik recovered quickly and stood up, unharmed… except a large, red bump on his forehead that was the size of Texas. "I-I'm okay…" He directed his statement towards Yugi and Ryou's worried expressions.
"Um…" Yami tilted his head towards his hikari, "He was supposed to dodge and hit back to me, right, Yugi? Is that not how Cherry Bomb is played?"
Marik growled to himself, careful to keep his temper in check, 'Breathe,' he told himself, 'Just breath…'
Yugi gently tossed the ball over to Marik, as he and Yami switched from the A to D square. Marik sighed, letting out his rage, he was now more content due to the fact that he got a penalty switch, "Alright, this time it's Popcorn."
He threw the ball into the air right above himself and clapped once, "One." He caught the ball and threw it to Yugi, who was in B square.
Yugi caught it, threw it up and clapped twice, " One. Two." He then threw it to Ryou when it was caught. This continued without anyone losing for, surprisingly, twelve rounds. When it was yami's twelfth turn, he began sweating. Not knowing a lot about the modern day counting system, he was running on empty.
Ryou finished clapping, "… Forty-six. Forty-seven!" He caught it with much difficulty and threw it to Yami. He threw it as high as humanly possible and counted till he was stumped.
"Um… Thirty-three. Forty-eight… um, Yugi, what comes after- OUCH!" His question was cut short by the ball falling down and bonking him on the head. He fell down immediately and looked rather dramatic whilst on the floor, writhing in pain and agony. "Augh…! Oh, it hurts!"
Marik did his best to stifle a giggle. Even though he was trying to be pleasant, he just couldn't bring himself to go over and tend to his enemy's wounds. Not just yet.
The distant sound of the bell from the school building was heard, and Coach Lugs blew his whistle for the boys to go get changed and go home. Ryou said a very endearing goodbye to Marik before they parted ways. Yugi was friendly as well and Yami grunted a goodbye, obliviously sore about his defeat in Popcorn.
On his way out of school, Marik stopped by the Clinic to pick up his hikari. The Nurse released the boy with some aspirins for his headaches. Malik was sleeping when Marik picked him up, so he couldn't walk home on his own two feet… Marik found a wheelbarrow by the Janitor's utility closet and rolled him home.