Hey Peeps! This chapter begins the excitement! Oh, the next few chapters are going to be great! Keep the reviews coming folks, they keep me happy! Just like sugar!

Note to all readers: Hey, I'm pretty sure the rest of you are also getting to the end of the school year right? Exams start for me on Thursday, and they don't end until Wednesday! It'll take me a bit longer than normal to post the next chapter due to the fact that I have to study! Wish me luck! And as soon as the exams are over I'll start writing the next chapter! I'll post it as soon as possible!

The Life of a Blonde

Chapter 6: Visiting the Hospital

By yllom21

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh (If I did, it would be screwed)

Days turned into weeks and weeks into months, and before Joey knew it three months had past since his arrival in Wadesville. Much to his surprise as well as Alex's, it took him less than a month to memorize his way around the school building and things were going well. He had become good friends with Alex, Paige, Evan and Toby, but he still missed his friends at home.

It took him a while, but he finally managed to contact Tristan as well as Serenity. They had been confused about his sudden disappearance. They didn't understand why his father would suddenly decide to move away. He had told them that it had been an emergency. He wasn't about to tell his friend's that his father was a drunk.

Just like his friends back in Domino, his friends here didn't suspect a thing. Perhaps he should think about going into acting, after all he was a superb actor. But he still wished to be an Animator and he didn't need the extra fame being an actor would bring him. Being a duel monster champion was more than enough.

However things weren't always a pile cherries. His father's constant abuse was getting worse and worse. Joey was really starting to panic whenever he thought about going home. Previously, while he was in Domino, the abuse wasn't every night. Now it was, ever single night. When he made it home after his night job at the grocery store, his father was always there waiting for him, with a horrible stench of beer on his breathe. How his father managed to figure out that his son came home at the exact same time while severely boozed, Joey would never know. But he did know that he was drinking more, as there money was severely going down the toilet and his father's rages were becoming worse and worse.

There were problems outside of the apartment as well although Joey didn't worry about them to much. His jobs were easy and they paid pretty well. The one in the morning at McDonald's was fun. He seemed to make a friend with Andre, the friendly cashier. His after school jobs were fun to, and Joey managed to make enough of an income to pay the rent, just enough though. He had finally been forced to give up coffee as well as painkillers.

School wasn't that big of a deal either. Sure it was boring, but that's the common thought most teenagers have over what they call the Teenage Torture Center. His friend's really helped pull him through most of it. Alex's daily sugar highs became a normal routine, like brushing his teeth. Paige had a habit of bringing a book to lunch and fighting furiously with Evan when he tried to steal it. Toby was trying to learn Duel Monsters along with Alex. The two of them were good, not national level or his level but they were better than some he had seen. Then there was Shawn and Valerie. Shawn's attitude was not as nearly as bad as it had been in March. He was now quite tolerable, unless you pressed his buttons. Who was tolerable when there buttons were pressed anyway? He had even seen Yugi mad once. Some of the school bullies tried to steal his deck and split it among themselves. They thought that since Yugi was the supreme champion, he would have some good cards. The shocking thing was Yugi's attitude. When his deck was stolen he seemed several inches taller and he actually yelled at them and even more surprising, uttered a cuss word! Before anybody could recover from there shock, Yugi turned into the Pharaoh who mind crushed the bullies and stole back the cards that had been stolen from him.

Shawn could still be annoying and he could still be a sarcastic jerk, but compared to some other people, he wasn't half bad. However somebody who had earlier been annoying Joey was still doing it constantly. Valerie was her name, the classic prep. She seemed to think that Joey would eventually date her. Joey's heart belonged to a blonde girl who was currently traveling throughout the states. And even if she loved somebody else, it helped him say "No" every single time. Although the two of them didn't know it, neither of them were a burden to the blonde.

The only things that worried the blonde were, if his friends would notice his abrasions and what would happen when he went home that night. It was the constant thing on Joey's mind. He heavily flinched if anybody touched him a certain way. They didn't notice it and if they did, he told them he had sunburn. Even though his twisted ankle had somewhat healed, in still hurt whenever he stepped on it. He was slightly worried that if he put to much pressure on it would snap and then he would in serious trouble. He didn't have the money and he didn't want any doctors examining it. There minds would have to be full of fluff for them not to notice at least one of his scars. Even an average doctor would realize that he had way too many scars for common accidents.

So his main worry was always about his father's abuse. It was a shame really, that such a wonderful young man had to be kept down in such an expositive way. Joey didn't complain, imagine what would happen if he did.

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The student's at Wadesville High School were beginning to get excited. Only two weeks left and then exams start and after that was summer! Which was everybodies, not just teenagers, favorite time of the year.

Alex seemed more hyper than usual; the summer heat was getting to her. She was screaming down the halls, yelling things along the lines of "Hurry Up, Paige!" and "We're going to be late, and when we are I am so suing you!" The three boys in the group; Joey, Evan and Toby were walking down the halls in a more luxurious pace.

The heat was getting to Evan as well, but not in the same manner as Alex.

"I am not running in this heat!" he complained half-heartily knowing that if he didn't run, the penalties would be a lot worse.

"I think there's a breeze out there," Toby remarked as he glance outside hopefully as the trees, "See the trees are quaking,"

"I'm with Evan, I'm not running," Joey said as he swept his hair back followed by Evan who did the same movement. Both of them had rather long hair for boys although it wasn't long enough to be considered long. The only difference in there hair was that Evan's was a chestnut brown and was tied in a ponytail and Joey's was blonde and successfully covered half his face.

"Then you should cut your hair," Toby said with a smirk as he patted his hair which was cut so short it was almost invisible. He looked a lot different that the other boys who were both amazingly pale and untouched by the sun's rays. He had olive-dark skin which only got darker with the sun's influence. "And you think you have it bad. I have football practice today, in pads and everything!" said Toby.

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"Where are you shorts?" Evan whispered to Joey as a loud "One, Two, Three," was chorused around them as the boys did there daily pushups. The girls were on the other side of the field and were doing jumping jacks. Even with the distance Joey could spot Paige and Alex who had the same gym period as them. Alex's flame red hair was unmistakable and Paige was wearing a hot pink shirt.

"Forgot them at home," Joey whispered back as they reached the twenties. Evan as well as Toby shook their head's sympathetically. After all the two of the where wearing shorts and muscle shirts trying to make themselves as cool as possible.

As soon as they made it to fifty, their teacher let them take a break as even he was affected by the heat. Thankfully, the boys ran to the drinking fountains, budging as much as possible. The girls were still on the opposite side of the field bending over boxes and removing bright colors from them. It didn't take a genius to figure out what they were about to play.

"The girls are playing flag football," Toby said as he watched them take there positions, "I wish we were playing football,"

"Are you kidding?" Evan said with disbelief as he looked up from the drinking fountain from which he was taking a long sip. "Football is so tiring, and in this heat?"

Joey had to agree with Evan as he took his drink from the fountain, "Have you ever seen the football stars on T.V? They sweat!"

Toby had to roll his eyes at his comrades. The two of them weren't nearly as interested in sports as he was. Neither of them was as good at football as he was. They were too scrawny and thin to be able to plow there way through anything.

"You two are lazy!" he said as the walked back to the benches.

"Not lazy," they both chorused together, "We're just conserving our energy,"

Toby just rolled his eyes again and began to wonder if he should try and train his smaller friends in football.

Luckily for Evan and Joey, their Teacher announced that they were going to play kickball. And even more luckily for them, they got assigned to kicking, which meant that they got to sit down on the nice cold benches.

"Couldn't we have sat near the front?" Toby asked as he heard there teacher yell "Second out!" as a slightly obese kid walked back mumbling that he was sorry and whatnot. At this rate they wouldn't be able to kick, or run around the bases, or exhaust themselves doing useless activities.

"Nope," they both sleepily as Toby turned to them in aghast, "Are you two falling asleep?"

"No," Evan muttered, but as he glanced at Toby's face he added in," Maybe… Yeah,"

"You two are worthless," Toby said with a roll of his eyes as he watched a boy scramble to catch the flying ball and get hit square on the head.

Joey wasn't listening to there conversation as they began to argue about sports. (Although Evan hated football, he loved swimming as he could get exercise as well as stay cool. The pool he had wasn't heated.) He felt drained of energy and severely sick, almost so that he felt weak. As the next person was called to the home plate, Joey slid down the seat and realized in panic that something was wrong with his leg, it hurt worst than when it had been twisted! In panic he pinched it and realized that he couldn't move it without pain. He thought back and wondered why it was like that.

Early that day, Joey felt completely normal. The abrasions he got last night did hurt much as well as the black eye that took plenty of lotion to hide. He had been in a good mood nonetheless. His job had been good and he had made it to school early enough that he managed to witness Paige chase Evan all the way around the school and back when he had 'accidentally' grabbed her book. Classes were boring as usual, but now that he thought about it he could remember something that happened right after French. He had been happy to get out of French do to the fact that they had their Orals that day as well as the next. Their teacher picked random people out of the hat, and good enough he managed not to have been picked that day, he still had a day left to study.

Of course, that was it! Right after French he had accidentally met up with Shawn. Who it seemed wasn't in a good mood as one of his friends had taped a "Kick Me" note onto his back and a tall senior had honored his request. "Beat it Wheeler!" he had growled like an angry bulldog and had furiously kicked Joey's previously twisted ankle and slammed into him causing some of his injuries to break open. He had to visit the bathroom before anybody noticed and bandage his wound. And unfortunately enough, he had been late to Study Hall and almost earned himself a detention. Luckily his teacher was conversing with his daughter who seemed to be going into labor.

It must have caused his ankle to become injured again, and for some reason after the vast amount of pressure, it broke. Besides that he felt lightheaded and extremely weak. Why did he have to be in the middle of Gym class… why?

"It seems like we'll be able to kick after all!" Toby said with way too much enthusiasm. On his right Evan groaned and Joey almost followed suit, neither of them wanted to get off the bench. Evan because he was to hot and Joey because he didn't think he'd be able to make it. They were close to the end, in fact the next person up was sitting right next to Toby and seemed to be just as disappointed about his misfortune as Evan and Joey were.

Toby's neighbor walked to the plate and was later followed by Toby. Joey was seriously beginning to worry. Even if Toby or somebody on the bases managed to get an out, he would still have to get up. He began to curse his luck silently as he didn't want Evan to think he was ragging mad. He began to pray that the coach would blow his whistle and they would head in. But nothing happened as Toby managed to kick a high ball and make it to second base.

His head full of fear, Joey forced himself up. Could he make it? One step, good, two steps, good. It hurt worse than fire and Joey seriously wanted to fall down. His head was lightheaded and he felt extremely weak. Thankfully he made it to the plate.

Toby was encouraging him on while Evan whispered to him to stall. Joey ignored them both and used all of his attention to make sure that he was still standing. The pitcher rolled the ball and Joey leaned forward and… managed to kick it! It wasn't as good as Toby's but it was satisfactory. It wasn't until after he kicked the ball that he remembered that he had to run.

Cursing silently he began to run, ignoring the pain he ran forward. He was almost to the plate when a large rock suddenly popped into view and Joey tripped. He didn't get up.

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The girls didn't immediately realize that something was up. Most of them were having fun even though they were experiencing the heat as much as the boy's were. At first they had wondered if they would even be playing. When they realized they were, they began to argue about why they couldn't play tackle football. Most weren't complaining as tackling took a lot more energy then stealing a flag and most of the girls liked wearing the flag belts. (1)

Alex always had a blast no matter what the weather. But Paige was experiencing the heat just as bad as Toby and Joey had been.

"It's too hot," she complained to her friend who seemed to only be interested in running circles around her, "How can you be so hyper?"

"Easy!" she laughed, "I had Reese's Puffs for breakfast!"

"You're going to be fat some day!" she yelled to the energetic redhead.
"Not if I run as much as I do!" Alex yelled, "Come on! Mrs. Peterson says breaks over!"

Once they made it to the spot in which there teacher decided to be the Line of Scrimmage, they began to pick positions; almost everybody wanted to be the center.

"I'm being a corner!" the short girl happily said to the taller girl, "What are you being? And what are you staring at?"

Normally Paige was one of the girls who also wished to be the center, but now she seemed more interested in watching the boys play kickball.

"What are you staring at?" Alex said with a smirk, "Is your crush playing?"

"No, it's just, I can't see Joey, where is he?" the brunette said as she stepped onto her tiptoes, trying to catch sight of there blonde friend.

Finally interested Alex stood on her tiptoes to; she could spot Toby who was on third, and Evan who was sitting on the bench. Both of them were staring at something, and the entire field was beginning to walk towards a particular spot.

"I wonder what's got them so interested," Paige continued.

"Perhaps somebody dropped something while they were running," Alex said with a shrug, there teacher was blowing her whistle, telling them to go into positions, "Let's hurry Paige!"

"But it doesn't explain were Joey is!" Paige reminded the anxious redhead, who was almost skipping on her toes.

"He's probably in the bathroom," the girl reminded her friend, "Let's go, I think you got stuck with being Linebacker!"

True enough Paige got stuck with the Linebacker position, not that the position was to bad, it was close to Alex's. She couldn't help but think that something was wrong.

"Alex, something's not right! Alexandra, are you listening to me?" the brunette said as she gazed toward her hyper friend.
"Yeah, yeah," Alex said in a way that clearly said, 'I am not listening,' Paige just shook her head and began to wonder when the offense would say "Hike," They were clearly taking there time, perhaps they wanted to wait as long as possible so there energy would be restored. Paige had to agree with them although Alex did not. Hot or cold, rain of shine the redhead was always moving.

Finally the quarterback called, "Hike!" and the girls finally moved into action. Alex began to chase after the running back while Paige headed to the quarterback. In excitement she noticed that the girl playing the quarterback had thrown it to the running back in question. Maybe she could get an interception!

The running back was to far ahead, and she managed to catch it. Rapid thoughts told Alex to grab the flag, and she did, but the other team had managed to gain a few yards. Slightly disappointed with herself, Alex was just about to give the other girl her previously stolen flag back when she noticed the excitement in the boys' side of the field. They were all circle around something, and in a sudden panic she remembered Paige's words, "Alex, something's not right!" Abandoning all earlier thoughts, the girl began to run to the crowd of boy's the yellow flags circling around her waist. What if something wasn't right?"

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The curious boys were beginning to worry themselves. At first they had just thought that the blond had tripped; but that thought was pushed out of there minds when Joey never got up. The closest boy to the teen had shaken him and after getting no reply had yelled to his teacher that something was wrong. That was when all the boys, even those playing in the field, began to head over to Joey Wheeler.

The teacher had at first thought that the blonde had been joking around. But after threatening his student with detention, he began to realize that this was no joke.

"Wait here!" he commanded his students, "And don't do anything! You'll get a week detention if you do!" That told everyone that he was serious. He was a rather laid-back sort of teacher, his normal punishments being a lap or so around the track at the very worst. A week of detention was really saying something to the teenage boys.

"What do you think happened?" Toby whispered to his smaller friend. Kids didn't collapse every day, in fact this was probably the first time anyone like this had ever happened.

"Perhaps he's sick?" Evan suggested, "Or maybe he has heat stroke. I've heard if somebody gets to hot they'll faint," That could certainly happen on a day such as the one the boys were experiencing. It was certainly a record temperature day.

Evan was just about to ask Toby what he thought their teacher was up to when he heard a familiar voice behind him.

"What's wrong?" Alex yelled as she ran puffing slightly to them. "Is something wrong with Joey?" She wasn't sure what gave her that thought, but she couldn't see the tall blonde and Paige had been worrying about him earlier.

"He's fainted," Evan said in a way of description. Paige who had been following Alex came to a stop next to them adding in, "He fainted?"

"We think it's the heat," Toby said adding on to Evan's crude explanation. It was the only thing the boys had been able to think of.

"That is possible," Paige agreed, "My cousin Jackie fainted once on a vacation to Jamaica,"

"But what's happening to Joey!" Alex said not finding the boys answer satisfying. She had completed forgot about the game they had run off on and the flag that was still gripped tightly in her hand.

"The coach ran off," Toby said, "I think he went of to get Miss Rose,"

That answer was satisfactory, there nurse was probably the nicest and best around.

It was a couple more minutes before the coach returned with the school nurse. Miss Rose was holding a canteen of water as well as a few washcloths; she obviously thought it was the heat as well. The students got out of her way as she came running, a job her dress made difficult. She wet a few of her washcloths before placing on her patients head. After that she pulled out some smelling salts that she held right above the teen's nose; he didn't wake up.

"That's odd," she whispered faintly, but the students didn't hear her, "I think we should call an ambulance," she added in as an afterthought. She glanced up at the older man who agreed and pulled out his cell. Much to the students' surprise, he began to dial. They hadn't realized it was so serious!

"Do you think he'll be alright?" Paige asked her nervous friends. The other girls had joined them out of curiosity, and there teacher had come to help.

"He'll be fine," Evan assure her, "There probably only calling because he's not waking up,"

"That's the problem!" Paige called out, "Why isn't he waking up?"

"Because… because… uh," Toby said as he scratched his chin, unable to think up a good answer. Impatient the redhead girl interrupted him and told Paige," He'll be fine," but she wasn't so sure herself.

When the ambulance did arrive, sirens screaming, Joey still had not awakened. The doctors had a quiet word with Miss Rose before they carried Joey to the ambulance on a stretcher.

"Miss Rose can we come?" Alex yelled out at she ran towards the nurse, Toby, Evan and Paige following closely behind her.

"You can't leave school," she told them sternly, "He'll be fine, he only has a bit of sunstroke." Then she headed back into the school, wishing to get out of the accursed heat herself. The four teens watched her walk away, frowning at her response.

"We'll visit him right after school," Evan told the nervous Paige as he and Toby walked away from the girls and towards the boys' locker room. "See you in Lunch!"

"Eh, see you soon!" Alex called out, pulling Paige towards their own locker room, but she was still nervous herself. It was terrible not knowing.

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The doctors in the ambulance frowned as they watched their teen patient mumble and jerk in his sleep. Perhaps this was more that a case of sunstroke, but if so what was wrong with the boy?

Hint 1: You all do now what Flag Football is right? It's when you wear a belt with two flags attached around your waist. Instead of tackling you steal the flag, wherever the flag is pulled off is where the line of scrimmage is moved to. Just a few little incites!

Bye Peeps! Please read and review, you have no clue how happy you're nice comments make me feel!

If anybody wishes to e-mail, my number is on my Bio. Heehee, if you have any questions or you just want to help leave a message! Or if you just want to talk I'm an open ear!

Vale! (Heehee, that's Latin folks)