Author note: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh or any of the characters.

'Love or Pretend?'

Chapter two is up! Thanks for reading. I hope you all enjoy!

Chapter two: The unsure decision

Tea gasped. "Excuse me for a second. I think I just hallucinated. What? I thought I just heard you say you wanted to go out with me. What did you just say to me?"

"I did just say would ya go out with me."

Tea looked at him like he was crazy or something like it. 'Joey's got to be kidding me. He wouldn't really ask me out...would he?' "Joey, you're joking, right? I mean, you really wouldn't ask me out...would you?"

"Tea, I've got uh little proposition for ya."

Tea raised an eyebrow. "What kind of proposition?"

"Just hear me out. I want us ta pretend we're goin' out so dis other girl I like will start ta notice me."

"Melody Thomason?"

Joey gasped now. "How did you know?!"

Tea rolled eyes playfully. "Never mind that. But why you want to take me out when there's a billion other girls in school that would probably love to go out with you?"

"Because I can trust ya and...no one else would."

"Joey!"

"Tea, please! Ya huff ta do dis for me! If ya don't Melody will never see as nothin' more den uh classmate or friend. Please! I'm beggin' ya! I'll get down on my hands and knees and beg ta ya if I huff ta. Just please do dis one thing for me."

Tea looked at him in disgust. "No! Joey, I am not going to be used as your little pet to get another girl to notice you. I'm sorry, but I just won't do it."

"I'll do anythin' for ya in return if ya do dis for me! Please! You're my last hope!"

Joey got down on his hands and knees and started to pretend to cry at her feet.

'You have got to be kidding me. I think Joey's finally cracked. (A/N If he already hasn't.) There is no way I can be seen in public like this. I would be laughed at for the rest of the year if anyone saw us like this.' "Joey, get off of the ground. You're embarrassing me and you look pathetic," Tea whispered at him.

Joey got up and tightly wrapped his arms around her body.

"Please, please, please do dis for me, Tea! I promise I'll do anythin' for ya in return. I just need ya do dis one thing for me."

Tea started to look sad and guilty until--

'No, Tea! Don't you dare give into Joey's act! He would be using you only to get another girl. Oh, why did Joey have to become one of my best friends! I always give into his acts. But what choice do I have now? I don't want to hurt his feelings if I say no. I can't believe I'm going to say this and I know I'm making a huge mistake saying this, but here it goes.' "Fine! I'll make you a deal, Joey. Just let me think about it for a little while then I'll call you tomorrow night and tell you my decision, but until then no more asking me about it, all right?"

A smile started to form on Joey's lips as he let go of her.

"Ya got it! I won't say uh word about 'you know what' until ya ready ta talk about it. Danks, Tea!"

"You're welcome. Now get out of here before I change my mind."

"Alright, I'm goin' and danks again. You're the best kind of friend uh guy could ask for. I love ya!" then Joey gave Tea a friendly kiss on the cheek and ran off to tell Tristan the news.

Tea watched Joey leave. After he was out of sight she touched her cheek softly and felt the small kiss he planted there.

She smiled as she walked away to find Yugi.

"Hey, Wheeler! Over here, man!" Tristan yelled over to Joey at the cafeteria.

Joey ran over to him in a hurry.

"Where's your food? Aren't ya hungry? What's the rush?" Tristan kept asking him question when he came over.

"Dare's no time to eat, man! Just forget about food for right now!"

Tristan looked at him strangely. "The food here isn't that bad, man. You've never complained about it before. What's your problem?"

"Tristan, guess what? Ya'll never believe what just happened!"

Sitting down in a chair at one of the tables, Joey literally looked like he was ready to pang off the walls any minute.

"What?" then Tristan started to take a sip of his drink.

"Your never gonna believe it! I got uh maybe out of her! Tea said maybe."

Tristan immediately spit out his drink. "WHAT?!"

Suddenly people in the cafeteria started to look and stare at them. Once they stopped Tristan went back to his questions. "Tea actually said maybe. Man, what did you do to her to get even a maybe out of her!"

"I just kept beggin' and cryin' 'til she finally gave up and said maybe ta me. Though, dare is uh catch. I'm not allowed ta speak about it for da next day. She's goin' ta call me tomorrow night after school and give me her answer."

"I just can't believe she said maybe. You may just have a chance now."

"But she can't know ya know about da whole thing. I didn't tell her it was your idea. So keep your mouth shut if ya know what's good for ya!"

"Did you tell Tea about Yugi yet?"

"Tristan, ya know I can't warn her about Yugi unless I'm actually goin' with her first. Plus, if she did know dat Yugi's has uh crush on her it could ruin da plan with Melody."

"Good point."

"Well, it seems everything's almost in place. All I got ta do now is wait for an answer from Tea."

"But what if she does says no?"

Joey gave him a mean look.

"Well she could, man! Ya never know. I'm just laying out the possibilities," Tristan told him.

"Ya got nothin' ta worry about. She won't say no. I know Tea. She's not goin' ta disappoint me."

Now Tristan started to get mad. "What? Suddenly you're an expert on how Tea thinks because you want her to do something for you."

"Don't be so negative, Tristan. I don't know for sure, but it's some feelin' inside dat tells me she will."

Tristan rolled his eyes in annoyance. "I sure hope your feeling is right, man. Because if it's not you can kiss having anything chance with Melody goodbye."

"Tea, over here!" Tea heard someone call out her name from behind her.

Tea spun around to find the face of Yugi at the top of a case of stairs.

"Hey, Yugi!"

Yugi finally caught up to her a few seconds later. "God, I thought I'd never find you, Tea. I've been searching for you everywhere. Where were you earlier at lunch? I thought we were suppose to meet at my locker."

Tea started to get nervous around Yugi again for some reason. 'Think, Tea, think. What should I say to Yugi to get myself out of this?'

Then it hit her.

"Oh, I completely forgot to tell you, Yugi! I had to go talk to one of my teachers about a missing assignment I had. I'm sorry that I didn't tell you. I guess it just slipped my mind. Can you forgive me?"

'What's wrong with me? First I practically give into Joey's act and now I'm lying to Yugi. What's going on?'

"Oh..." Yugi seemed a little upset but put on a smile anyway. "Well of course I can forgive you, Tea. You're one of my best friends. I'm just glad I was able to find you. I haven't been able to find the rest of the gang anywhere for some reason."

"I'm sorry, Yugi, but I'm glad that I found you, too. But I'm sure the others are around here somewhere. They're probably just off somewhere that we don't know about doing God only knows what."

Yugi laughed. "Yeah, you're probably right."

'Now I'm really lying to Yugi. Being around Yugi right now seems so wrong and so weird for some reason. Oh, what am I saying? Yugi's my best friend and I shouldn't be acting like this. I should glad to be around him.'

"What do you want to do now? We still have some time left before our next class. Do you want to go get something to eat at the cafeteria or go and find the rest of the gang?" Yugi offered.

"No. I'm not that hungry. Why don't we just go take a walk or something?"

"But what about the guys? Don't you want to find them and hang out with them as well?"

Tea smiled. "No. I'd rather just hang out with you alone right now. Is that okay?"

'Maybe a walk with Yugi alone will make me feel better.'

Yugi began to blush. "Um, sure. That's fine with me. I'd love to take a walk with you alone." (A/N Yeah, like Yugi's NOT really showing the fact that he has a crush on her. Oh, if Tea only knew!)

Tea tried hard not to notice the redness of his cheeks. She could tell he was blushing for some odd reason.

"Okay, then what are we waiting for? Let's go!"

Later that night...

'What should I do? Should I pretend to go out with Joey and play his game so another girl will like him? Or should I say no and this whole thing be over and done with for me?' Tea sat at her desk that night, thinking about what to do. 'What would people think if they saw that I was going out with Joey? What would the guys think? What would my friends think? What would they say? What would Yugi say...'

Tea slammed her head on her desk. 'This is just too much pressure! Joey should have never even asked me to do this. It's making me go nuts! I told Joey no once and I should have done it again. I've got so many questions about this and I don't even think it's something I want to do this. I mean, I care about Joey a lot, maybe even more than I think at times, but I can't pretend to be his girlfriend. It wouldn't be right. Especially when I've got so many other friends as guys. It just wouldn't be right.'

Tea was just about to pick up the phone and tell Joey that she couldn't do it when something in her mind stopped.

'Don't do it, Tea...' a vague voice inside of her said.

'Huh? Who said that?'

'Don't do it...' the voice kept telling her.

'Why not?' she asked the voice.

'Because think about Joey. He's counting on you to do this for him. How do you think this would make him feel if you said no.'

'But what about my friends? It wouldn't be right if I did this with them around. And besides, what would they think about this? It would probably be kind of weird for them.'

'Don't you mean for Yugi?'

'Yugi? What about Yugi? I don't like Yugi in that way.'

'Oh...really? It sure seems like it.'

'It does not! Yugi's just a friend of mine and nothing more.'

'All I'm saying is think about how Joey would feel if you turned him down. Would you want to be turned away from your friends if you needed help from them?'

'I guess you've got a point there.'

'Just think about. You might just be surprised by what you find out...'

And then the voice was gone.

"What did that voice mean 'I might be surprised by what I find out?' And what should I do now?"

Tea thought about it for a few more minutes and then made a decision.

"Alright. I've convinced myself. I'm going to pretend to go out with Joey for Joey and only because I really do think he needs my help."

One night later...

RING!

Joey heard the phone in his apartment ring.

"Joey, get the phone right now!" Joey heard his father yell at him from in the shower.

'I wonderin' who's callin' at dis time of night.'

Joey picked up the phone. "Hello?"

"Joey, it's me, Tea. I called to tell you my decision about what we talked about yesterday afternoon."

"Tea?! Oh, God! I completely forget about that. Dank God ya called. Da whole thing went past my mind."

'That doesn't surprise me,' Tea dully said in her mind.

"Well, do you want to hear what I have to say anyway?"

"Yes! Tell me! Tell me right now!" Joey said all excited.

"Joey, take a chill pill, okay?"

"All right!"

"Now that you've hopefully calmed down a bit I'll tell you my decision."

'Dis is it!' Joey said in the back of his mind.

Tea took a deep breath. "I've decided that I will pretend to go out with you. But ONLY for a short time. I don't want to do this forever."

Joey remained calm on the outside, but his insides were screaming with joy.

"How long will ya do it?"

"How's a week sound?"

"Just uh week? Dat's not enough time!" Joey complained.

"Joey..." Tea growled at him.

"I mean, uh week sounds great! Yeah, we'll try it out for uh week."

"I think a week should be long enough for Melody to start liking you. What do you think?"

"Uh week's fine with me, Tea. Danks for pullin' through for me. I owe ya one."

"Yeah, we'll see about that. I'll see you tomorrow at Yugi's, alright?"

"Yugi's? Oh, yeah! I forget it's Friday. K! I'll see ya den."

"And Joey can you remember something for me, please?" 'Not that it's likely.'

"Sure. Anythin'."

"We don't 'pretend' to go out until Monday. This weekend we're still friends, okay?"

"Gottcha."

"Oh, and one more thing, Joey. I have a special request. Yugi's been acting really weird around me lately and I don't think he would like the idea that we're pretending to date, since we're only friends and all. So I was wondering, could we keep this away from him? You know, at least until I want to tell him. It would mean a lot to me if you could understand and agree with me on this."

'I almost forget about Yugi. Oh well. She's practically done all da work for me.'

"Um...Sure, Tea. We can keep dis between us. I don't mind. I'm just so glad ya said yes."

"You're welcome."

"Danks again, Tea. I'll never forget what you've done for me today."

Tea smiled.

"Honest. I won't forget."

"Thanks, Joey. That's really sweet of you."

"Tea! Dinner's ready!" Tea heard her mom yell to her from the kitchen.

"All right, mom! I'm coming!" she called back.

"I gotta go now, Joey. My mom's waiting for me so we can have dinner. I'll talk to ya tomorrow at Yugi's."

"Alright. See ya."

"Bye."

They both hang up the phone and Tea looked down at her phone for a few seconds. She closed her eyes and said, 'I hope I'm doing the right thing. Even though I don't fully agree on Joey plan I know in my heart that Joey really needs my help now and as one of his best friends I knew I couldn't let him down.'

"Tea, are you coming to dinner or are you going to stay in your room all night?" her mother called to her again.

"Coming!" then Tea put the phone down and raced out of her room.

Joey slowly closed the door of his bedroom while a wide smile on his face. He got on his knees and remained calmed until--

"Yes! Tea said yes! My life has meaning now! Dis is da happiest day of my life! I actually have uh chance ta go out with Melody now! YES!!!!" Joey screamed out loud.

"Joey, ya better shut up right now! If ya don't the neighbors will call the cops and you'll be grounded for two months!" Joey heard his father screaming at him from his bedroom.

"I'm shutin' now, alright?" Joey called back to his dad.

"Ya better!"

Joey really didn't care what his father was saying to him. All that matter now was that he finally had a chance with Melody when all of this was over.

"Oh, God! I better call Tristan and tell him da news."

The next day...

"I can't find it! The remote could be anywhere in here," Tea heard Joey yelling in Yugi's house the next morning when walking in.

"I know. I've searched everywhere for it and I still can't find it," Tristan called out.

"It has to be somewhere around here, you guys. Let's just keep looking," Yugi jumped in.

"So you guys lost the remote?" Tea asked them.

Yugi immediately smiled when he saw her face. "Hey, Tea. I'm glad you finally made it. We thought you'd never get here."

Tea smiled at him. "Well, here I am."

"Can ya help us find da T.V. remote? We've been lookin' everywhere," Joey begged for her help.

Tea rolled her eyes. "Guys, didn't you know you don't need a T.V. remote to use the T.V.?"

"Well of course ya do. How else do ya turn on uh T.V.?" Joey asked her.

"Like this," then Tea walked over to the T.V. and pressed the power button on it. It turned on and the guys stood there in amazement.

"Wow..." said Tristan.

"You can do dat?" Joey asked.

"Yeah. It doesn't take rocket science to turn on a T.V. without a remote. You just go up to it and turn it on. It's that simple."

"Ya know, I never thought of dat before. Dat's uh good idea, Tea."

Joey quickly went over to Tea and wrapped an around her shoulder. "See, dis is exactly why we needed uh friend like you in our lives. Ta keep us on track."

Tea looked at she had been strangled while he was holding her.

She weakly asked him, "That's great, Joey, but can you get off of me now?"

"Oh, sorry, Tea." Then he let go of her.

After catching her breath, Tea winced and said, "That's okay."

SLAM!

The sound of Tea's locker shut. It was Monday morning again. (A/N God knows I hate Monday mornings. Who doesn't?) She was about to leave for her first class when she saw Joey coming up to her. He had a bright smile on his face. She knew he was in a good mood.

"Mornin', Tea."

"Hey, Joey."

"So are ya ready ta go ta English class or what?"

Tea just had to giggle. "Yeah, I'm ready."

They were about to leave when Tristan ran up to them.

"Tristan, what's goin' on, man? Why were ya in such uh hurry ta see us?"

After he regained his breath he told them. "Guys, you'll never believe what I just heard from Yugi's grandpa."

"What? Is everything okay? Is Yugi alright?" Tea asked extremely worried.

"He's alright, Tea. He's fine. It's just he woke up with the flu and he won't be in school for at least the next two days."

"Oh, that's awful. The three of us should go and see him after school today."

"I agree, Tea, but I gotta go somewhere right now. I'll catch up with ya two later! Bye!" Then Tristan ran off before either of them could say bye back to him.

"Well there's go, Tristan," Tea said.

"Yeah, I guess so."

Tea nodded. "Yep."

Joey looked over at Tea. "So...where were we before we got interrupted?"

Tea smiled. "We were going to go to class together I believe."

"So are ya ready ta go?"

"Ready."

Then Joey held out a hand to Tea. Tea knew this would begin their pretending to date. 'Well, I guess this is it. I'm actually going to go through with this whole thing after all. I still can't believe that voice talked me into doing this. Whoever that voice was. Here it goes.'

She slowly raised a hand to reach his hand and placed her hand in his.

Joey smiled at her as they walked off to class together. And at that moment they become an official couple. (A/N Well at least in other ppl's eyes. )

That's all for now. Hope you liked it. Please review!