Author Note: I don't Yu-Gi-Oh or any of its characters.

'Love or Pretend?'

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

Chapter four: Just a little closer to you

'Why did I do that? Why did I kiss Yugi when I know I don't have feelings for him in that way? I mean, yeah, Yugi's a great friend, but I never thought it would go any deeper than that. So why did I kiss him?' Tea said to herself that night. 'Plus, what was going on with Joey? He was acting really weird around me after we said goodbye to Yugi earlier. He seemed really mad at me for some reason, but why? I didn't do anything wrong, did I? It's like I could have sworn I hadn't said anything to offend him any way so why was he so mad at me?'

RING! Tea heard her phone ring at her desk. She walked over to it, picked it up and said, "Hello?"

"Tea, it's me Joey."

Tea was surprised to hear Joey at the other end of the line. 'I wonder why he wants to talk to me now? He sure didn't want to earlier.'

FLASHBACK

"Hey guys. Are you ready to go?" Tea asked after walking down the stairs to see the guys.

"Yeah, let's go," Tristan said, then he walked outside to Tea's car.

"Coming, Joey?" she asked him while walking out to her car also.

Joey was lazily sitting on the couch with a grumpy look on his face.

Tea stopped walking when she saw his face. "Joey, is there something?"

"No!" he spat at her.

Tea was surprised. "Then why are you acting like this?"

"Like what?"

"Like you're mad at someone or something. Did Tristan eat all of the potato chips that Grandpa let the both of you have?"

Joey quickly got up from the couch. "No! Now are we goin' or what?"

"Yeah, we're going, but I want to know what's wrong with you first."

"It's nothin'! Stop askin' me questions all right? I'm fine. Ya know ya don't huff ta hold my hand all da time. Now leave me alone and let's get goin'!"

"Fine! I'm sorry for just trying to be your friend!" then Tea stormed out of the house and left Joey behind to follow her.

"Bye, Tristan! We'll see you tomorrow!" Tea called out to him after he left for his house.

"Bye guys! See ya later!" Then Tea drove away.

Joey sat slumped in the front passenger seat next to her. He still didn't look too happy. His face looked angry and his arms were folded across from each other.

She looked over to him. "Now will you tell me what's wrong, Joey?"

"No! Dare's nothin' ta tell! Nothin' wrong, Tea! I'm fine! Okay?"

"You don't look fine, Joey," she said while keeping a calm attitude this time.

"Just don't talk ta me, okay? I don't feel like talkin' ta anyone right now. Just drive me home and we'll be done with da day."

Tea decided not to go there with Joey. She knew this wasn't time to pick a fight with Joey, even though she really did want him to tell her what was wrong.

FLASHBACK OVER

"Tea, are ya still dare?" he asked her.

"Yeah, I'm still here. I just spaced out for a few seconds--."

"Try like two minutes."

"Why did you call me, Joey? From the looks of things that happened between us earlier, I figured you wouldn't be talking to me the rest of the night, let alone the rest of the year."

"I called ta tell ya dat I'm sorry. What I said earlier was way out of line and I shouldn't huff said those things."

"Then why did you?"

"I got upset over somethin', but I'd rather not talk about it. Ya understand, don't ya?"

Tea sighed. "Yes, I understand, Joey. Just don't ever do that again. You really got me worried."

"Sorry."

There was a long silence between the two until Tea decided to switch the subject. "So are we still on for another edition of 'Joey Pretends to date one of his Friends to get Another Girl' tomorrow?"

Joey laughed. "Dat's funny, Tea. Where did ya come up with dat?"

Tea rolled her eyes. "I just thought of it now."

"Oh."

"So are we or do you just want to forget about--."

"We're still on!" Joey cut her off.

Tea was surprised. "Well I can see that now. It was almost like you were planning to say that or something."

"I gotta get all of da chances I can get, Tea. Wouldn't you if ya liked someone?"

She blushed. "Yeah, I guess I would."

"Um, Tea? I dink we've still got uh little problem."

"With what?"

"Yugi comes back in ta school on Wednesday."

"Yeah, so?"

"I was hopin' ta get Melody ta notice me before den."

Now Tea laughed. "Joey, you do realize you haven't said more than two words to the girl, don't you? I highly doubt she's ever going to want to date by tomorrow."

Joey started to get angry again. "Den do you got any bright ideas?!"

"Joey, calmed down, okay? You don't need to have an attitude. I got plenty of that from you earlier, remember?"

Joey finally let out a sigh. "So what are we going ta do? I mean, if we want ta get Melody jealous of ya before Yugi starts ta find out what we're doing den we've got ta do somethin' and FAST!"

"I know, I know, but I don't have any ideas. Are you sure you don't?"

"Well..." he began to say.

'Oh, great... Here it comes,' Tea said to herself.

"I dink we need ta push our pretendin' ta date ta da next level."

"The next level? Joey, do I even want to know what you're thinking?"

"It's nothin' big, Tea. Don't go freakin' out. I was just thinkin' dat we need ta do more things dat couples do when datin'."

"And what do you have in mind to accomplish this little goal of yours?"

"Ya know, me carryin' your books, holdin' hands togethers, goin' ta da movies, and maybe do uh (cough) kiss every once--."

"Whoa! Did you just say kiss? Joey, there is NO way I am ever going to kissyou to get another girl you like to get jealous. You can just forget that."

"Tea! Ya huff ta! It's da only way Melody will notice us, notice me. Please! Ya gotta do it!"

"Joey, I refuse! I am not going to do it. No matter what you say I am not going to kiss you."

"Well ya sure didn't huff dat problem when ya decided ta kiss Yugi dis afternoon!" then Joey hung up.

Tea gasped. 'How did Joey know I kissed Yugi!' "Joey! Joey!" she called to him, but the line was already dead. She hung up her phone. "Oh my God! I can't believe Joey saw me kiss Yugi. How could I have been such an idiot? Ugh! So that's why Joey was so upset this afternoon. Now everything makes sense."

Tea quickly picked up the phone again and called his phone number. "I've got to talk to him again." Though, not to her surprise, she only got the message machine. "Joey, pick up the phone! We need to talk. I know you saw me kiss Yugi this afternoon and I want to talk about it. Please, just pick up the phone!"

Joey just sat there next to the phone. Fighting in his mind whether or not he should pick up the phone.

"Please just talk to me, Joey! I know you're upset! And that's why we need to talk."

Joey quickly picked up the phone before the message was gone. "How could ya kiss Yugi when ya know we're workin' on somethin' together!"

"Joey, just let me explain. I'm still trying to figure it out myself. I'm still not even sure."

"So does dis mean dat ya do huff more den just friendship feelings for Yugi?"

Tea looked up at her ceiling and sighed. "I don't know what it means, Joey, but I do think I know why I did kiss him now."

"Why?"

"I think I kissed him because I felt sorry that he was sick and alone. Though, I only did kiss him on the cheek. It really doesn't mean anything."

"Tea, please! Dat's not uh reason. I've heard better excuses from Tristan."

"You know what, Joey? I'm sick and tired of your complaining. Did you know that I went against my own feelings of not wanting to do this whole scheme of yours because you were my friend? I lied to Yugi and didn't tell the others about this. I've been keeping this whole thing a secret for you and this is how you repay me? You insult me from my own free-will actions and decisions? Well, you what know? I'm tired of it. We're still friends, but from here on out I'm no longer going with your plan. So find yourself another girl to do your work and don't plan on calling me for the rest of the night because I won't answer to you!" then she sharply hung up.

Joey just stared at the phone after she hung up. "How could Tea do dis ta me? I haven't been pushin' her dat hard with dis, huff I?" Then Joey took a few minutes to think about until he realized that he was wrong. "Oh man, how could I be such uh jerk ta Tea. No wonder why she's pissed off at me. I've been completely takin' advantage of her lately. Man, Tristan was right. I should huff never pushed Tea into doin' dis for me. And she did it even though she hated it because we're friends. I've got ta make it up ta her somehow."

"Hey Tea," Bakura walked up to her the next morning.

"Hi, Bakura. How are you?"

"I'm good, but could I borrow something for a little while? I need to borrow your history notes for my first class. Is that okay?"

"Yeah, sure. You can have them. But I need them back by lunch. I'll need them for my open note quiz we have today in fifth period."

"Okay. I'll give them back to you then."

Tea reached into her backpack, grabbed them, and handed them to Bakura. "Thanks, Tea. You're the best."

"You're welcome."

"Well, see you at lunch! Cheerio!"

"Bye, Bakura!"

Later in English class...

"Okay, class. It's once again time to hear some of you say your thoughts on a person you really care about in our 'feelings for others' session," Mrs. Bell announced during first period. "Do we have any volunteers?"

"I would like ta go first, Mrs. Bell. If ya don't mind dat is," Joey spoke up.

The entire class looked straight at Joey.

"Has Joey gone nuts?" Tristan asked Duke.

"I think he's gone insane," Duke replied. "Too bad Yugi had to miss it."

"You may, Joseph," Mrs. Bell smiled at him. "The floor is yours."

"Danks."

Joey walked up to the front of the class and stared at each and every one of them...especially at Tea.

"Dis is somthin' I made dat reminded me of one of my friends. I dink at da end of my speech da person I wrote it ta will know its them. And dis is how it goes..."

'Friendship is something I didn't always understand. When I was growing up I thought it was just some mindless ideas that people had for each other. I probably thought this because I grew up most of my life by myself with no one else to be with. But then one day I met someone that showed me how important friendship truly was. This person was like no else I had ever met. She was someone I'd never thought I would come to like, but I got to know her. I got to see why friendship was so important to her and to everyone else in the world.

Ever since we first became friends she had always been there for me. She stood by me through thick and thin, never once doubting the potential and strength I had in myself. But when it was my time to do the same for her... I failed. I always pushed her to try harder. I never thought what she did for me was good enough. And then I finally made the biggest mistake of all. I risked the impact of our friendship. I said things I soon realized that were wrong and cruel.

Though, now I stand here before you to ask for a second chance. A second chance to prove to you once and for all that your friendship means the world to me. Because without your friendship I know in my heart I'd feel lost. I would feel scared. But most of all I would feel alone again. So let me have a second chance to show you what I've learned 'cause now I know how important friendship is. And I know how much you mean to me.'

Then Joey looked up at everyone in class.

"That was the most beautiful thing I ever heard," Tristan said with tears in his eyes.

"You're telling me, man. I'm practically cryin' up a storm here," Duke agreed.

"Anybody got a tissue?" Tristan asked.

Mrs. Bell wiped the tears from her eyes. "That was beautiful, Joseph. You may go sit back down now."

Tea looked up at him and smiled. She stared into his eyes and that's how he knew she got the message that he written that for her.

"Do we have any other volunteers?" Mrs. Bell asked the class.

"You wrote that for me, didn't you, Joey?" Tea asked him after class.

"Couldn't ya tell?"

"Yes, I could. And I think I know why you wrote it."

"No, I don't think ya really do."

"Oh, really?"

"I wrote because it's what I meant. You're one of my best friends, Tea, and I don't ever wanna ta lose uh friend like ya. I don't care if ya want ta help me anymore. Your friendship is always goin' ta be more important den any girl I ever meet. Before ya and da others dare wasn't a lot other people in da world dat cared about me."

"Joey, I don't know what to say. I guess I'm the one that should be sorry. I doubted your friendship when you got all crazy about impressing Melody."

"No, ya aren't da one dat should be sorry. I am and I know dat. Just promise me we'll never fight like dat again."

Tea smiled. "I promise," she wrapped her arms around him and gave him hug. "I'm so glad that you're one of my friends, Joey. I don't know what I'd do without a friend like you."

Joey hugged her back softly. "Either would I."

"So that's why I decided to pretend to be your girlfriend again."

"Tea, I don't want ya ta do dat if ya don't want ta--."

"But I do. I mean, now I do. I want to show you how much you mean to me as a friend like you showed me today. So from now until Melody notices you we are back to pretending to date."

"Really?"

"Really."

Suddenly Joey picked Tea up and twirled her around in the air. "Thank you, thank you, thank you, Tea! You're da best friend in da entire world!"

Tea giggled. "Joey! Stop that! You're making me dizzy!"

Joey let her down. "Danks, Tea. You're da best."

"So are you."

(Knock, knock) Tea knocked on Yugi's door that afternoon.

"Come in," he told her.

Tea walked in and saw that Yugi was still in his pajamas. It looked like he had been playing around with his deck again. His cards were scattered all over his bed.

"How are you feeling today? Better?" she asked him moving some cards over and sitting down on his bed with a stack of his books.

"Much."

"That's good. So you'll be coming to school tomorrow, won't you?"

"Believe me. If I stayed here another day cooped up like this, I'd just sneak out of the house and go to school myself."

Tea laughed. "Then I guess you're more than ready to go back to school."

"Yes!"

"I brought over your make-up work like I promised I would."

"Thanks again, Tea. That was really nice of you to do. So what do I have to make-up tonight?"

"Okay, in history you need to answer the questions at the end of chapter 11 and do this worksheet. It's a study guide for tomorrow's test. Plus, you'll need to do the make-up the quiz we had today. But don't worry it's open note and I gave you my notes to copy."

"Gottcha."

"In Biology we to do a lab experiment so since you weren't here for that you got excused in the worksheets we had answer after it was done."

"Thank God! That's one class I don't have to make up any work."

Tea giggled. "In English we read another poem. So you're going to have to read that and you need to answer the 10 questions on the next page."

"The fun never ends, does it?"

Then Tea sighed. "And then there's Geometry."

"Well I know I definitely don't like the way this is going. How much did I miss?"

"I'm sorry Yugi, but you have a lot of make-up in this department."

"Just tell me. I can handle it."

"A pop quiz, two sections in chapter nine, and five pages of class notes."

Yugi lied back down on his bed and put a pillow over his face. "I'm going to be up all night long. Ugh..." he muffled out.

"That's what happens when you're sick."

"I'm never going to be sick ever again because I'm never going to do make-up work again."

"Come on, Yugi. There's still P.E. to talk about."

Throwing the pillow off of his head, Yugi asked, "What could I have missed in there? It is just P.E. after--oh, God! Tea, don't tell me that I missed the run."

"Well...yeah, you missed the run. I talked to Coach Morty and he said that you're going to have to make it up next Monday. Plus, he also said that you missed the push-up test today. You're going to have to make that up tomorrow if you still want to get credit."

"Ugh...I'm going to be up all night working on this stuff."

"No, you won't. Don't worry about it, Yugi. All of your teachers said that you have until Friday to turn in all of your stuff so you don't have to do it all tonight."

"Yeah, that makes me feel a lot better," he said sarcastically.

Tea looked over at Yugi's alarm clock. It was almost 5:30 and she needed to be at her house by then.

"Um, Yugi? I need to get home. My mom's going to kill if I don't get home soon."

Tea got up and was about to say goodbye when Yugi grabbed her hand. "Tea, don't go yet. I need to talk to you about something. It will only take a few minutes. Please."

"Yugi, I really can't. I need to get home."

"But this is important to me. Here, I'll make you a deal. If you listen to me for a few minutes, then after you leave I'll call you're mom and tell her that you were helping me and it was my fault you were late coming home."

Tea sighed. "All right. I'm listening." Then she sat back down on his bed.

"Tea, I was wondering...why you kissed me yesterday."

Tea stared at him. She could barely even blink after she heard him say that. "I don't know why, Yugi... I guess I kissed you because I felt sorry that you weren't feeling well."

"But doesn't make sense, Tea. Even you said I didn't look that sick. Come on, there has to be another reason."

Tea was a little upset by this. 'First Joey and now Yugi. Why are they like acting this?' "Yugi, I'd rather not talk about this. It's just something I'd rather wait to talk about with you. Please understand."

"But why?"

Tea got up from his bed. "Because I don't have an answer for you. At least not yet. I don't know why I did that. Maybe I never will. I just need to be alone right now. I'm sorry to leave like this, but I need to go. I'll see you tomorrow at school. Bye."

Then Tea left Yugi's room before he could tell her to stop her.

She ran out of his house and went to her car. Tea started it up and drove off.

"Hey, honey. How was school today?" Tea's mother asked to once she got inside her house.

"It was fine. I'm going to my room, mom. Just bring dinner to my room after it's done, okay?" Tea said to her as she walked to her room.

Tea shut the door and leaned against it. She started to cry and buried her face in her hands. 'What's wrong with me?'

"Why are ya cryin', Tea?" she heard the voice of--

"Joey! What are you doing here?"

"Your mom let me in. I figured we could spend some time together figurin' out what we should do tomorrow at school."

"Joey, this really isn't a good time for me right now. Can't we talk about this tonight on the phone?"

Joey walked over to her. "Tea, why are ya so upset? Did somethin' happen over at Yugi's house?"

Tears started to go down her face. "Please, I don't want to talk about it right now. I just want to be alone."

"Ya can tell me anythin'. Ya know dat, right?" he said while slipping his arms around her waist gently.

That's when Tea realized how close Joey was to her. His eyes focused on her and his was nose only centimeters away from hers. She could even feel his warm breath against her face. "Joey..." the nervous tone in her voice was obvious. "What are you trying to do?"

"Ya worry too much," was all Joey would say to her.

And the next thing Tea knew Joey began to lean in closer and closer to her until...

What do you think will happen?

Will Joey kiss Tea or will Tea push him away? Find out in chapter five.

To be continued...