3. The Project
Lunch had come, and the day still proved to be breezy. Even the teachers must have slept well, taking into account that they gave out hardly as much detentions as usual. The group of friends had met just as they had planned, outside beneath the large oak tree in the school's grass field. Why spend such a beautiful day trapped in the cafeteria?
Yugi was just joining the group, when a blonde bombshell landed in front of them. Five heads turned toward the panting teen with wide eyes.
"I'm here!" Joey announced after finally catching his breath. He looked up and smiled at the confused faces.
"Ah... hey man... you do realize it's almost 12?" Tristan asked, raising an eyebrow. Joey sat up properly now that he had regained his composure, and crossed his legs beneath him, sitting on the grass in front of the group.
"'Course, duffus. Whaadya take me for? Stupid?" Joey glared at his so called friend.
Tristan just shrugged smugly and looked up. "You said it not me..."
Joey fumed, and his hands twitched with the restraint of holding back a punch. "Watch it Tristan..." He warned. Yugi interrupted, wearing a huge smile.
"Joey! You're here... I was starting to get worried!"
"Course I'm here," Joey said proudly. He grabbed a bun off of Tristan's plate and started to chew. "Have I ever missed a class?"
"I'm not even gonna say anything..." Tristan said to himself as he moved his tray protectively away from Joey.
"Well... why were you late?" Yugi asked, curious. He sat down beside his best friend.
"Stupid alarm didn't go off..." Joey narrowed his eyes at his watch. It was still broken; he just wore it out of habit.
"Hey! Joey, that's exactly what happened to me!" Yugi spoke with great interest. Maybe Yami had been right...
"Hmm... that is Strange..." Ryou decided to comment. He had a finger to his lips in thought.
"Yeah..." Tea agreed, neatly putting her tray down. "What time did yours go off, Joey?" She asked. Joey looked down at his watch.
"Ahh... 3.21 am."
"Now that's freaky." Duke commented. "What are the chances...?"
"What? Did the same thing happen to you, Yug?" Joey asked curiously.
"Yeah... 3.21 am..."
"Maybe it was an electrical spike. You know... they send out electrical waves through the air, and they mess up everything... it must of happened at that exact time." Tea suggested.
The others looked intrigued with the coincidence, but Joey just shrugged it off.
"Yeah, well... all I know is I got a major headache. Was it jus' me or did anyone else have a really bad night?" Joey asked casually as he layed down on the grass, resting his head on his folded arms beneath him. When he didn't receive an answer, he looked up to see five raised eyebrows. Confused, Joey asked "What?"
Tristan shook his head at the blonde. "You're definitely one in a million, Joe." Joey was unsure whether that was meant as an insult or compliment. The bell rang, and the six of them stood up. Joey sighed.
"History next. Why'd I even bother to come?"
"Because you have class with me now... and you know you can't refuse that..."
"Shuddup Tristan," Joey said, irritated as Tristan laughed. His head hurt too much for the brunette's teasing.
True, both Joey and Tristan had history together, along with the rest of the group. This was the only class they had all together, so normally, they were able to make some fun out of it. The crazy teacher didn't help, although her intentions were usually otherwise. Unfortunately, trying to make history fun just wasn't an option with today's generation.
Seto Kaiba was the first to enter the class room. That didn't surprise the young CEO. He took his familiar seat in the back row corner and pulled out his laptop to fill the time. May as well check how his stocks were doing... although he could already guess. He was about to log into his network when his cell went off.
"Kaiba." He answered gruffly after he flipped open his phone. He turned away to face the side for a bit of privacy when he saw that the door was opening.
"Hi Seto..."
"Mokuba?" He asked, surprised his younger brother would call. He was supposed to be in school at this time. "Is everything alright?"
"Ahh... well... My teacher kinda needs to talk to you..."
Kaiba sighed.
Joey was laughing at Tristan when the group walked into the history room. They had turned up a little earlier than usual, but Ryou had insisted, knowing that today's was going to be an extraordinary lesson. The other's hadn't taken their teacher's warning seriously, though, but humoured the white-haired teen anyway.
Joey was the first to enter, and instantly stopped his laughing when he saw that Kaiba was already there... and on the phone. He rolled his eyes as he walked towards his usual seat. Yugi was hushing the others out of politeness, seeing that Kaiba was talking, as they followed Joey inside.
'Probably firing some employees...' Joey thought sarcastically, as he obeyed Yugi's request to stay quiet for Kaiba. However, once he heard the teen CEO speak his brother's name, Joey's interest was piped. His friends were talking silently to each other, and Joey leaned forward as if to listen as well, but he instead payed attention to the conversation the CEO was having with his young brother.
"...What do you mean you accidentally yelled at the teacher? Mokuba, I told you to let me handle those things..."
Joey rolled his eyes again, but continued to eavesdrop. The brunette was talking in hushed tones, not wanting to draw attention to himself.
"She what...? ...fine, put her on. Yes, this is Seto Kaiba..." Joey thought Kaiba sounded angry when he was talking to Mokuba... but now he sounded... deadly. The difference was almost... scary. "Would you mind telling me what you said that was so stupid Mokuba felt the need to object?"
Again, Joey fought the urge to roll his eyes. The rest of the conversation drowned out as more students filled the room, chatting animatedly. The supposedly bright day still hadn't worn off, it seemed. He didn't understand why everyone kept saying how well the night had gone... although, with nightmares like his, it was probably a little harder to tell.
'Hang on...' Joey's eyes widened without him realizing as he recalled his earlier dream. Something was familiar about the dream... was he remembering something?
"...don't think you understand who I am, lady..." Joey vaguely heard the conversation Kaiba was carrying out.
'...Kaiba! He... somethin' about Kaiba... Was he in my dream...?'
"Joe... hey, Joey!" Tristan was now yelling, waving a hand in front of the blonde's face.
"Wha..? Ah.. What?" Joey asked defensively, feeling his cheeks redden with embarrassment as he was pulled back to reality.
"I asked you a question... you zoned out there for a bit, is everything okay?" Tristan asked with a raised eyebrow. Five heads were again looking at him.
"Ahh... yeah, sure. Fine... I was kinda jus rememberin' a dream I had, is all."
"Must have been a scary dream... you looked a little freaked..." Yugi added with a hint of concern. Joey, unsure how to respond, just laughed and put his hand behind his head. He could imagine how stupid he looked.
Just then, the History teacher walked in, saving Joey from his dilemma. The class quieted and watched her with anticipation as she put down her things and addressed the class.
"Good to see you all again, class... hope you had a good weekend. Now let's get down to business. Today we're going to start a project that I think you'll all enjoy."
Almost everyone in the class groaned at this. The history teacher's pasts ideas of 'fun' involved geography maps and dress-ups of old infamous sea-travellers. Ryou, on the other hand, had an excited gleam in his eye. Joey felt like punching him on the arm.
The teacher continued, oblivious to the class's negative response.
"I know how you young ones dislike the criteria for 'historical trademarks in local settings'; so I have taken the initiative to choose a site that I think you all will be interested in. It will be a fun learning experience!" More groans. This time, the teacher took note of them. "Now, now, kids... hear me out at least! I know you haven't thought very highly of my ideas in the past, but I think you might be very intrigued by this. Now... seeing as how you are all pretty much failing, I decided to make this project worth 70 percent of the final score for this unit. Do this well and you'll get a great score for the Unit!" She beamed, and then suddenly frowned. "Don't do this, you fail."
Now this grabbed everyone's attention. All eyes were wide and looking down at her in disbelief.
"Ahh... can you even do that...?" A girl somewhere in the front began to ask sceptically. But this history teacher had always been a bit of a nut.
"Of course I can! Oh, please stop looking at me like that. These will be easy marks, that's why I decided to do this. You'll see."
The teacher gave some time for the students to chat amongst themselves. Many were confused, and some where outraged. Joey, however, didn't mind. He knew he was failing and he doubted that whatever 'outrageous' idea this teacher had this time would change that. Instead, he decided again to think about his dream.
While Yugi talked enthusiastically with Ryou – gesticulating madly, might he add – Joey cautiously glanced at Kaiba from the corner of his eye. The broody CEO was in the corner, not speaking but just looking peeved. Well... okay, more peeved than usual. He had obviously finished his conversation with Mokuba's teacher and had heard what the History teacher had to say. Joey frowned. Now that he thought about it... he was sure Kaiba had a part in his strange dream. He still couldn't remember what happened, but he just... knew it.
'Well, that's not surprisin'...' Joey thought sarcastically, 'No wonder I'm havin' nightmares... even when I'm asleep he's torturin' me...'
But Joey thought those words with a heavy heart. He didn't believe them, even though they sounded logical to him. He – strangely enough – didn't think Kaiba was the bad guy in his dream.
His thoughts fleeting, Joey decided to take one last look at the tall brunette. Seeing his friends were still busy discussing, he thought it safe to turn his head and look up at the CEO. But as soon as his honey coloured eyes reached its destination, two dark ones were staring right back. Joey gulped, realizing the focus of his attention was looking straight back at him, and quickly turned back away. He sat straight in his chair, facing the front and entwining his hands in front of him on the desk as he sweat-dropped. He could feel the dark eyes burning into him from behind... and the speculation made him too nervous to make a move.
'Man... that was weird...'
"Class! Come on now, quiet down!" The history teacher called out to the class. All eyes went back to her. She sighed with a sort of relief, putting her hands on her hips. Tentatively, Ryou raised his hand.
"Yes... what is it?" the teacher asked, pointing to the white-haired teen.
"Uh... exactly what is the project, Mrs Macarthur?"
"Oh, yes! I was just about to explain!" she stated excitedly. "Listen up, class, I'm sure you're gonna like what I have to say..."
"She keeps saying that!" Tristan irately whispered over Yugi to Joey, who rolled in eyes in agreement.
"... so get ready. How many of you have heard of the old 'Golden Spirit' Hotel in Fare Vrone City?" There were just a few unsure nods among the class. "Well, The Golden Spirit Hotel was founded many years ago..." The teacher now added a hint of eeriness to her voice as she continued – supposedly trying to sound engaging. "Approximately 200 years ago, and was very popular during it's time. It's -" She stopped mid-sentence as a thought popped into her head; "Well... it's not a hotel anymore, actually... just a tourist attraction – but that's not the point. Anyway. This hotel is actually a very famous trade-mark. It may not be revolutionary in itself, but it did cause quite a bit of trouble in it's time. Many – now quite well-known – philosophers, explorers and archaeologists had passed by and stayed at the Golden Spirit Hotel... it was famous for all the celebrities it attracted, and had taken part in many great events of our past. But it also caused much controversy. Much of the upper class would go to the Hotel... whether as sceptics or to be part of a great mystery. But one thing is certain about the old hotel... no one ever came out the same..."
By now, all students were hanging on the teacher's every words – with the exception of Seto Kaiba, of course - and she purposely lowered her voice and leaned in, escalating the effect she was having on her students.
"This is what they call the Curse of the Golden Spirit... no one who ever stayed overnight in this hotel ever came out the same. No one would understand why... or how... but once the customers left the elegant resort, they would never have the same look in their eyes again. Whether it was because they saw something... experienced something... or, well, because they disappeared..." she frowned at her thought, but shook it off, "either way, no one would ever speak a word of what happened during their stay."
Taking in a deep breath, the proud history teacher took a step back to properly observe her damage. Students had leaned in as close to the front as possible, and some jaws were dropped. Several people even looked scared. "Now, I won't say anymore... why spoil all of the fun? That's up to your research. Any questions?" She waited for someone to respond.
The students seemed to come back to themselves at the change in atmosphere, and looked around nervously. Yugi was the first to speak.
"We're... We're researching a... a haunted hotel?" he asked fearfully, almost squeaking his words.
"That's right! I thought this would make you happy!"
Yugi looked at his friends nervously. Even Ryou looked a little nervous. But the rest of the students began chatting excitedly.
"Uh... Miss Macarthur?" Ryou asked, raising his hand.
"Yes, what is it?" She frowned, pointing to Ryou.
"Uh... well, how does a hau... a haunted hotel relate to the 'historical trademarks in local settings' criteria? Doesn't it have to involve individual influences in local History?" The rest of the class stopped to listen to the teacher's answer.
The teacher nodded, not seeming deterred at all. "That's the beauty of this hotel, my boy. Like I said, many famous philosophers and explorers had passed by, and after staying at that hotel, had come up with some of the most influential theorems of our time. Many believed whatever happened in that hotel affected their thoughts enough to put them on such a successful path. They were the lucky ones though... most who stayed at that hotel ended up dead or in the mad house."
The class stared wide eyed at the teacher, who spoke very casually for such a topic.
"Anyway, I've decided there will be two parts to this project. The class will be paired off, and together you will work on the two assessments I have separated the criteria into. The first is based on a famous historical figure who had stayed at the Golden Spirit hotel. The second is about the hotel itself, and its modern influence on our society after its foundation and participation in strong historical events. I'll be randomly choosing pairs, no exceptions. I'm serious about this... a significant amount of marks will be graded according to how well you work in a collaboration, so I want to see evidence of discussions and group research. Here are the guidelines you will need to follow..." She began handing each student a photocopied piece of paper with instructions on it, "And I'll call out your pairings in just a minute."
Joey rolled his eyes at the clipart ghost that was on the end of the page, and looked at Yugi when he heard a soft whine.
"Joey, I don't want to research a haunted hotel..." the small teen looked up to his friend with dependant eyes. Joey smiled reassuringly at him.
"Hey, don' worry Yug. This might even be cool. I mean, why should you be afraid of a haunted old run-down buildin'? You kinda have ya own haunted puzzle there." Joey pointed to the millennium puzzle hanging around Yugi's neck. The small teen instantly brightened at his best friend's words.
"Hey! You're right!" he said brightly.
"When am I not?" Joey narrowed his eyes when he heard Tristan snort from his seat, but quietened down when the teacher began reading out the pairs.
"Okay, class... I'm just going to be picking out names from a box that I prepared earlier, so... Kyle Mouyo... you will be with Britney Zammit..." Tristan looked at Joey while the teacher called out names.
"So Joey... How's Serenity...?"
The side of Joey's mouth twitched at the mention of his little sister, and he crossed his arms, making sure to not look at Tristan. "...You'd know better than I would... bastard..." Joey whispered the last part to himself. Tristan caught it though...
"Hey!" he said defensively, "Can I help it if she happens to like spending more time with me than you?" The serious way Tristan spoke made Joey turn to face him and growl...
"Why I oughtta...!" he began to reach for the smug looking brunette, but quieted when the teacher called out Yugi's name...
"Yugi Motou... will be with... Ryou Bakura..."
Ryou looked to Yugi with an excited grin, who returned it just as enthusiastically.
"Hey, this is great, Ryou! We'll do great together!" Yugi spoke enthusiastically, to an eagerly agreeing Ryou.
"Joey Wheeler... will be teamed with..." Joey looked at the teacher with interest, almost feeling sorry for whoever he had to be partnered with. He was a guaranteed F no matter who he was teamed with... "Seto Kaiba..."
Joey froze. The five heads of his friends turned to look at the blonde expectantly.
Joey twitched but didn't move.
"Oh! I forgot to mention, class... In two weeks time, we will be going on an excursion to the Golden Spirit Hotel!"
TBC