Another chapter up! I hope you enjoy this one even though it's not the most exciting chapter ever. But it's going to get good! I can't wait to type up the next few chapters!
I want to thank everybody for reading and reviewing. Here are my replies to your reviews!
Ilikeyaoi: Thanks for reviewing again! The next chapter will be up soon, and it's going to be getting really good!
Kayrie: Thanks for reviewing! This story will be getting really tragic; it's good that you're enjoying it! And thank you for showing me some of my grammar mistakes! I try my hardest to edit it. (I edit several times) but I can never seem to edit it to my expectations, oh well. I'm sure that I used semi-colons in several places in which I was suppose to use a comma, or I used the wrong a comma when I should have used to period. Thank you for your help! I'll be sure to edit this whenever my English teacher decides that instead of criticizing our bad grammar, she should be teaching us to use it correctly.
Yumi-Wheeler: Thanks for reviewing! The next chapter will be good, I promise. And yes, I wish I could hit Mr. Wheeler over the head with a mallet, but that would ruin the story (sigh). However, I do promise that something bad will happen to Mr. Wheeler. I hate him!
And now onto the story! I hope you enjoy! Please review!
The Life of a Blonde
Chapter 5: On My Way Home
By yllom21
Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh (But when my friend rules the world, I'm sure he'll give it to me)
The streets were busier than they had been in the morning; more people were out consisting mainly of elderly people and mothers with small children. There were also a few middle and high school students running about, as they had just been let out of school.
Joey was probably the only teenager walking by himself. All of his fellow or non fellow classmates were walking in packs. The noise was uncomfortably loud, but the blonde easily ignored it as his headphones were securely locked onto his head and rock music could be heard blearing out of it if you listened closely enough.
The teenager looked like he was in a good mood as most high school kids were when school was done. But Joey was not in a good mood, he had done something incredibly stupid, even for him. And he was furious at himself, in fact he wanted to stop by a coffee shop and guzzle down a few cups of coffee while exterminating the life out of napkin.
He couldn't of course, as he was saving his 'coffee money' for the mornings and perhaps he would even have to skip that because his ankle was severely bothering him. He was craving painkillers more than he was craving coffee and that was saying something, coming from the mind of a coffee fanatic.
Joey was unable to shred a napkin into pieces. He would have probably used the napkin as a scapegoat for his problems. All the blonde could do was listen to the music blearing out off his headphones in an uncomfortably loud volume as he mused over the happenings of the day.
The day had started out alright. He had started out early as he wanted to travel as far away as possible from his alcoholic father. He had a cup of coffee and had gotten directions to the high school. In his spare time he had managed to successfully get a morning job at McDonalds. Then he had gone to school, managed to get lost and somehow managed to find the way to the office. There he had met one of the secretary's that had reminded him of a clown. But of course, a normal secretary popped up and pointed him in the right direction.
Then he had managed to find his locker (a fete that still surprised him). Later he made it to his homeroom in which he met Shawn and Alex. He had an uneasy feeling about Shawn, but he had struck it off with Alexandra who had volunteered to show him around the way-to-big-for-its-own-good school. Things had stared to get better after that, as Alex had introduced him to her friends at lunch; Paige, a cheerful smart girl, Toby, a football fanatic, and Evan, the dumb pretty boy.
He had pretended to pay attention in the last few classes before they were allowed to leave. Things had gone good if you count being stared at 24/7 good, in which Joey didn't. He had decided to ignore the stares a few periods before lunch, as every single class behaved the same. It was actually kind of funny. Of course, it would have been funnier if it was happening to somebody else. Since it was happening to him, it wasn't so funny.
After the bell rang something happened in which got Joey so incredibly mad that he could probably have outwitted Seto Kaiba (well, most likely not, but it was a good thought). Joey had managed to be dumb without even trying. Curse his blondness!
Joey had headed to the foyer in an incredibly excited mood, as this part of his day was going to be the spotlight, he was certain. He would finally be able to contact his friends and sister! Sure Alex was great, but he missed his friends, the ones back in Domino. It was great that he would finally be able to contact them!
He was in such a good mood that he managed to ignore the pain creeping up his leg and the other parts of his body as he headed down the hallway towards the foyer. He had earlier said goodbye to Alex, Paige, Evan and Toby who each had an assortment of things they had to do. Alex had to go to karate, Paige had to go to Drama, Toby had to go to football practice and Evan was heading home. He had told them that he had to go immediately since he had never been able to finish unpacking (in fact he still didn't know where his bedroom was). He wanted to make the call to his sister and friends in private; it was just something that he wanted to do alone.
Excited for the first time that day (after all, why would he be excited to go to school)? He patiently waited for a tall senior (or at least, he looked like a senior) who was talking to his girlfriend. Joey figured that she was his girlfriend as he said 'sweetheart' plenty of times. Either that or he was very affection with his mother.
After the senior said goodbye (and stared at Joey with awe) Joey took a few quarters he had saved from lunch and inserted them into the pay phone. A few coins later there was a dial tone and Joey stood there sucking his breathe as he waited for his friend, Tristan, to answer. He knew that contacting Yugi was difficult as he lived above a store. Tea had dance practice on Mondays, so he knew she wouldn't be there. So he opted with Tristan who was most likely to be there to answer.
After letting it ring a grand total of seven times, he suddenly remembered that since he had just been set free of the teenage torture center, Tristan wouldn't have been able to make it home yet. In a temper he left a message telling Tristan that he had moved and that he would contact him later. After biting his lip violently so he wouldn't let loose a loud sting of curse words that would give him detention for years to come, Joey began to wonder if he dare chance it with Serenity. Since he was in Japan and she was in the States their time zones where way off, heck she could be sleeping at the moment! (1)
After deciding that he would chance losing a few quarters and a lovely cup of coffee, the blonde inserted the coins into the machine and waited. After it rang eight times, the answering machine popped up and Joey left a similar note that he had left Tristan, he had moved and he would contact her soon, hopefully.
After making the calls, Joey had swung his backpack onto his shoulder with enough energy to knock Yugi flat and headed out of the school in a much worsen mood than he was when he had headed in.
So that was how dear sweet old Wadesville found itself in the presence of a furious young Mr. Joey Wheeler. Of course, nobody knew it was Joey Wheeler as the blonde had taken precautions so that he wouldn't find himself in the same situation he had been in earlier that day. He had pulled the hood of his sweater up over his head which covered his head, hair and headphones.
That didn't ease his anger, as he furiously wished he wasn't a dumb stupid blonde! He had wasted money that he could have used later to call his friends at a more appropriate time. But he had been stupid accidentally! Of course, that happened plenty of times to the blonde. How many times had he forgotten to duck under a doorway that he had just previously whacked himself in the head? How many times had he tripped over the same fallen branch? It was countless really, its numbers reaching into the thousands! But this was an important issue, and he had been stupid again!
He decided to pause someplace and do his French homework before going on a wild search in an attempt to find an after school job. He figured that it would most likely end up fruitless.
He had had a study hall that day, in which he managed to complete his math, science and history homework and yet fool around with Evan. They laughed at an unfortunate boy who had just realized that he had taken a take-home test that was suppose to be done in pencil in pen. It had been amusing really, but yet now that Joey thought about it, how many times had he used the wrong writing utensil for homework or for a quiz? It was as countless as the amount of times he had tripped over various stable objects. In which was a pathetically high number if Joey ever took the time to count them all. Which he never would do, he had enough trouble trying to figure out what the answers to his math problems. When he wasn't wasting his brains trying to figure out the impossibly hard homework, he was either hiding from his father or just mussing about his difficulties in life.
But at the moment, all Joey was doing was mussing and craving chocolate, painkillers and coffee. It was nice taking a break from school, even though he was still furious at himself. But of course, no matter how angry he was or how badly he swore (mentally of course, there were children there!) it was never going to change the fact that he had done something incredibly stupid, even for him.
So after having a rather rough mental debate, Joey voted to let his anger cease; something good indeed, because a mad Joey was never a good thing. After he walked down three streets humming to his music all the way, his anger began to cease. Joey opted to begin his French vocabulary which hopefully was not going to cause his head to spin.
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His French homework was relatively easy, something that cheered the blonde up considerably, although he was still highly cranky. All he had to do was define ten vocabulary words, an easy enough task. But it did take a while to complete as Joey was beginning to space off, not even blinking when some middle school kids threw a Frisbee his direction.
However even though he didn't blink, his instincts did come in handy. Joey was easily able to catch it and throw it back, while still pondering his current development. He had stopped worrying about his payphone issue. He had, at least contacted them, even though he wasn't able to converse with him. It could have been worse, which was Joey's motto in life. It could always be worse!
Things were really starting to stretch thin, and Joey was beginning to worry, although his hidden face didn't show it. He had to get at least one more job, perhaps two if he could swing it. He already had a morning one, those were usually the hardest to get, he was lucky that the manager there had an empty shell. That was something to look forward too. Getting an afternoon job would be difficult. He had only found out previously that day what the name of the city he was in was called, and he still couldn't remember anything about it!
Do to fame; Joey had traveled quite intensely all over the world. So shouldn't he recognize a town in his homeland country? It would seem so, but from all of his traveling (which was usually unexpected) Joey couldn't remember ever traveling to Wadesville or anywhere near it. It was a dilemma in itself.
That didn't change the fact that he was there with no notice. He had to get a job soon unless he wanted to be kicked out of the apartment with an extremely furious father right behind him. Who would probably give him the beating of the century, not something to look forward to, I ensure you.
But Joey pushed all that away (It could always be worse) and shoved his French book into his backpack right next to his duel disk. After zipping it up, he headed off in a random direction.
Some little kids began to run around yelling so loud that he could hear it over his music. Joey guessed that the elementary school had just let out, either that or a very large group of kids decided to skip. It would have been funny if they had. Joey guessed that that was not the case as they passed (screaming in a very rude way I might add) two police officers who were eating donuts, very typical indeed.
Joey walked away from the uniformed men his stomach craving food all the way. Joey came upon a Grocery Store that was large, larger than the one back home which was saying something. Cars were backing in and out, honking loudly as they all wished to get out as soon as possible. It made Joey chuckle. Some people these days were so stupid, even stupider than he was and that was really saying something.
But it was not the honking or the size of the building that made Joey pause in the first place. Grocery stores were the best place to get a relatively late job, not very late or Joey would never wake up. If he could swing a job here, it would be easy enough to get an after school job. They were easy enough to get, in fact… he probably could swing a job after school without lying, it would be a miracle.
After spending less than two seconds deciding whether he should enter the massive grocery store, he entered it. It seemed even larger inside, if that was possible. But even better than that, it smelled wonderful! There was a wonderful scent of coffee (his favorite), chocolate, bread, pastries and about any other food out there that has a scent. It was enough to cause a person on a diet to go into frenzy. The bad thing about it was that less than two seconds after he entered, his stomach began to growl so loudly that for a second or two he began to wonder about yelling, "Bear!" He realized in enough time that it was his stomach and not a large furry mammal that was making the noise. Thank the lord.
Whether it was bear growling or his stomach, Joey still knew that he was starving. For a second or two, he debated going outside and trying to get a job somewhere else, but he decided against it. Ignoring his stomach, he headed further into the store on a quest to find the manager or anybody else that seemed important.
After circling the store 3 times (and was almost persuaded to buy a glazed donut) Joey was no closer than finding the manager than he was finding the Easter Bunny. He had just finished circling it a fourth time when an elderly old man wearing a scarlet red apron caught his eye. There was more to his apron that the other workers, and after squinting, he managed to make out the word "Manager" scrawled neatly on the man's uniform. He had finally found the manager!
After staring at the man for over a minute, the blonde deciding that unless he approached him, he was going to be standing there (looking like a gaping fish) for a long time. After coughing and putting on a fake mass of happiness, Joey headed to the man. His hood still covering his face incase the man was a fan of duel monsters, you never knew these days.
"Excuse me, sir," Joey said as he watched the old man. He looked normal enough, thank the lord. Like any normal old man his hair was half gone, and the parts left were as white as snow. His large glasses were slipping down his nose in such a way that one normally saw on TV. He turned around the second he was questioned and critically stared at the young teen.
"Yes, young man?" the man said in such a way that Joey thought he had did something wrong.
"I'm here to get a job," Joey said as he shifted from foot to foot, wanting to get out of there as soon as possible, "A night one if possible,"
"Are you in college?" the man asked suspiciously, "You look like a high school kid to me,"
The teen look at him in a way that said 'You actually think I look like a high school kid?'
"I'm in college," Joey said in such a manner that it would be hard to lie. Joey was the best of liars; he lied every day of his life.
The man in question nodded in satisfaction.
"We have a shift from 9 to midnight open," the man said as he led Joey into his neat office. He shoved a difficult looking form into the blonde's hands, "Fill this out and it's yours,"
Joey thanked him (he did it twice for good measure). He filled out the form which caused him to get such a headache. He then headed out of the store, buying a bottle of painkillers on his way.
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Joey walked back to were he believed his apartment was in a very good mood. He had decided that he would call his friends at the first payphone in sight (he would never use the school ones again; they were cursed). But naturally his good mood was not going to last long.
Joey had a funny feeling in the pit of his stomach, it wasn't nervousness, or so he thought. It was more like something unexpected was going to happen. Deciding to ignore it, he snapped his headphones back on and turned the volume up so his music successfully covered up any surrounding sounds. The third song was almost done with when he felt a tap on his shoulder. Turning around he saw the last person he wanted to see, Valerie.
Deciding that politeness might help somewhat, Joey turned off his c.d. player and snapped off his headphones.
"Yes?" he asked making sure his hood still hid his recognizable face.
"Hi, I'm Valerie," Valerie said with a cheerful smile that did not match her eyes. She looked as evil as ever, if 'evil' was the correct word to call her.
"I'm Joey," the blonde said with impatience as he stared at the beautiful brunette. It was time to get out of here, "I have to get going, I'm already late," Joey said, and with that he headed back to where he believed his apartment was. As he walked, he fiddled with his headphones.
"Joey, you're the new kid right?" the brunette said catching up to him with speed he didn't think she possessed, "I thought I saw you in math,"
"Yeah," he said in the same annoyed voice, as she didn't seem to posses the ability to leave people alone, "I really need to go,"
"That's ok… I'll walk with you!" she said with a sort of Alex-cheerfulness. But Alex's cheerfulness was real, this Valerie was a fake. Just because he was a blond it didn't make him stupid! Well, maybe it did… but at least he had enough intelligence for situations like this!
"I wouldn't want to bother you," the blonde said with haste, maybe if he started to run he could get away, "I'm fine on my own,"
"I just wanted to offer you some help," Valerie said with a large smile on her beautiful face, "You're new after all,"
"What type of help?" Joey asked suspiciously, his eyes narrowing although his hood and bangs hid them from view. He didn't trust this girl.
"I could show you around," Valerie said as she began to walk faster so she could keep pace with Joey, "Perhaps we could go out together sometime,"
Silence, complete utter silence and then, "Did you just ask me out?" in such a loud voice that it could awaken the dead.
"Well, yeah, you're pretty cute," she said with a flutter of her eyelashes, "What do you say?"
Although Joey was slightly flattered that such a pretty girl called him cute, he didn't take her seriously at all. You didn't have to be a Seto Kaiba or a Rebecca Hawkins to figure this one out. She only wanted to date him because he was Joey Wheeler, a celebrity. It had happened plenty of times before, fan girls wanting to go out with him because he was Joey Wheeler. They wouldn't care a penny about him if he wasn't famous. It was kind of depressing really. Sometimes Joey wondered if some of his friends were only his friends because he was Joey Wheeler. That was why he stuck with Tea, Tristan and Yugi, because they had been friends with him before he was famous, and heck, Yugi was even more famous that he was!
"Sorry, I have a job," Joey said in the most apologetic voice he could muster, "Perhaps some other time?"
Another silence, and then Valerie shrieked in such an un-lady like voice, "Did you just say no?"
"Not necessarily," Joey said wondering how Valerie could be so vain that she expected a yes every time, "I'm just busy that's all,"
She glared at him and left in a huff, her miniskirt and hair whirling in the ever so increasing wind. Joey shook his head thinking how she was a female version of a friend of his, Duke Devlin, except for the fact that Duke was nicer.
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Now that the time had come, Joey had wished that he had decided to stay out later. Although many would differ, Joey hated someone even more than he hated Kaiba, and he loathed someone more than he loathed Valerie; his father. In fact, now that he thought about it, he probably hated and loathed his father more than he hated and loathed Kaiba and Valerie combined, and that was truly saying something.
He had gotten a tad bit lost on his way back to his apartment (he spent twenty minutes walking down the wrong road before he realized his mistake). He had managed to make it back to his new home, safe and sound. He had then spent five minutes trying to remember his room number and then another ten minutes going up the stairs because the elevator was broken. And after that he had spent another ten minutes walking down the wrong hall before he realized his mistake. At the moment he was losing another four minutes (going onto five) because he was staring at the door and wondering if his father was home yet.
He stared at the door for another three minutes. He headed in, taking his shoes of with an even more graceful ease than Yami Bakura could have even managed. It was silent, dead silent, so silent that Joey was beginning to wonder if he had died and he was in the after life. After pinching himself (and suppressing an 'Ow') the blonde convinced himself that this was not the case and headed further into his new home, wondering were his room was (if he even had a room).
He hadn't spent much time investigating the apartment, except for noticing its upper class quality. Joey was taking his time now as he headed down a random hall hoping to enter an empty bedroom and not one that his father occupied (that would be suicide).
He was just about to check the living room, when he was punched severely in the back. He tripped over his feet and fell to the floor.
"Thought you could avoid me did you?" the culprit snarled (who turned out to be his father, not to Joey's surprise). He began to swear and curse the existence of his son. Joey was beginning to wonder if he could sneak away quietly while his father was having a swearing conversation with himself. When the old man turned around and grabbed Joey by his sweatshirt, punching him in the eye with such ferocity that was bound to leave a black eye. Joey unsuccessfully managed to hide his gasp as his father began to abuse him again. It wasn't until his father picked him up and threw him into the wall that Joey lost conscious.
I'm not sure if Serenity lives in the States and I don't feel like looking it up. But if she doesn't, just pretend that she does. I am the author after all, what I say goes!
Please review and reply peeps! The reviews make me feel all bubbly, and I am in the mood for a bubble bath! So please review and I hope you enjoy the story! I'll update soon! Bye-bye for now!