Chapter 1: Destruction of Dorks!
"Teaaaaaa! Teaaaa!"
The voice of Mrs. Gardner echoed loudly in the house. She scratched her neck, sighing.
"Why does she never listen?" she muttered to herself, as she eyed herself in the mirror. She brushed her hair gently with a red brush, and then took all the hair and made it into a nice-looking bun with an emerald-green, shiny clip. She eyed the mahogany wardrobe, which looked as though a meteorite had struck it, and bit her lip. Now she had to find a couple of nice outfits; she only had five minutes to get herself done, and she wanted to be nice-looking. After all, she was a perfectionist nobody could stand, according to Tea's father, whom had now divorced with Mrs. Gardner, and Mrs. Gardner was very delighted to admit it.
"… Tea Gardner! Come here at once!" she bellowed in the house, fingering the rough surface of her pastel-pink morning-gown.
"I'm coming!" Tea's voice yelled loudly back. "Wait a minute or two! Get yourself done first!"
"She's right, actually", Mrs. Gardner sighed for herself. "But…" She eyed the explosive wardrobe, and sighed once more. "I really do need to hire a personal servant…"
"Oh my freaking god, can somebody help me?"
Tea threw clothes all around her. Her neatly made bed was covered in several different colors and clothes, and the whole room looked as though a meteorite – no, an entire planet – had exploded there. Dusty shoes on the computer, dirty socks among her homework papers, an evening gown thrown in her old kindergarten backpack, her Harry Potter books drowning in an ocean of different gloves… well, I could go on and on and on forever… but you get my point.
"Where's that freakin' shoe! Where is it! Where? Where?"
A pastel-pink towel was wrapped around her newly washed hair, and it was wagging uncomfortably on her head. She was wearing the school uniform for girls; a pink jacket over a white blouse with a blue bowtie and a short, blue, skirt.
"… Tea…!" she heard her mother's voice shout warningly. She bit her lip. She could look for her shoe later, but then her mother would force her go to school.
"OK, I think I'll just take a pair of shoes, and try to make them look casual", she mumbled for herself, and grabbed a pair of shoes and practically flew down the staircase.
"OK, mum, what IS it?" she hissed, as she glared at her mother right in the eye, still holding her shoes, looking rather dangerous.
"… There you are, Tea", her mother said with ease, as though her earlier bellows were already forgotten. "Somebody's left an envelope for you, and I can see it's important."
"An envelope…?" Tea repeated in disbelief.
An envelope! It could be anything. It could be a love letter, it could be a letter
about a job, it could be…
"… winning a lottery prize?" Tea said, breathlessly.
"That's great, honey!" her mother burst out, hugging her daughter close. "What did you win? A cruiser? A million dollars? A… a… a villa!"
"… NO! I won a journey for one person to Taiwan!" Tea gasped.
"Why, that's… that's average", her mother said disappointedly. "Congrats, hun. I'm busy, I've gotta find my shoes…"
Tea rolled her eyes, and stuffed the envelope into her pocket, and pulled on the shoes. Thankfully, it was a pair of blue tennis sneakers…
"I – AM – FREEZING - TO - DEATH!" Tea bellowed, but her bellow was almost drenched in the wind's non-stopping howls. The snow blew into her mouth, making her choke, as she rubbed her two hands, dressed in a pair of snug, wine-red winter gloves against one another.
"… I am, too", Joey complained, as he rubbed his two hands on his arms, making grimaces. "Can't they give us a bit better uniforms?"
Yami laughed merrily with the gang at Joey's comment, and then thought about how strange it felt to be THERE with Yugi together with the gang. Besides, he had never been present in school, so it was quite strange for him to come here for once.
"... I don't still get it", Yami said, a bit thoughtfully. "Why do you need uniforms, why can't you be dressed as you like?"
"Because the teachers are barking mad", Joey muttered, but Tea ignored him and smiled:
"Well, that's because they try to avoid having teased people. Not that it works, though", she added, as she saw the others raising their eyebrows, "But, if you for example dress strangely, people would laugh at you, right? So they try to avoid having people being teased in school for being dressed strangely. Or, uniquely, if you want to be exact."
"Amen", Joey added, dead-serious, making a bow, making the others shriek of laughter and then make choking sounds because of the snow that came into their throats when Tea strangled them.
"Okay, be honest. What made you so late?"
Tea, Yugi, Joey and Tristan grinned nervously at each other, exchanging glances to say 'What're we going to do now?' before Yami interrupted their thoughts with astonishment, saying:
"We were in the cafeteria getting some breakfast. Tristan –" He made a quick nod with his head in Tristan's direction, " – didn't get any breakfast."
Wow, he's good at quick lies, Tea thought for herself, barely being able to blink in the surprise that had struck her. I didn't know that. I wonder if the Pharaohs had to lie sometimes so they'd set a good example for the people?
"Hmm…" The teacher threw another suspicious look at the five of them, before turning to Ryou, the boy with the chocolate-brown eyes and the long, silvery hair, which he knew often hung around them. He knew that they'd tell him about what had happened, even if he wasn't late, so he turned toRyou and said:
"I saw you in the schoolyard with them, before you departed. Did they tell you they were going to the cafeteria, Mr. Bakura?"
"You mean me, Mr. Oroka?"Ryousaid, blinking in surprise.
"Yes, how many Mr. Bakuras are here?" Mr. Oroka said with sarcasm, folding his arms and glaring at Ryou.Ryou turned bright red, while a few muffled giggles were to be heard. "Well?"
"Yes, they did",Ryou mumbled, still quite embarrassed.
"Hmm. I'll have to believe you this time, then", Mr. Oroka said, pointing at them with his index finger warningly, "But you'll get detention for being late. No break for you today, misters and miss; you'll have to clean the cafeteria."
Joey and Tristan gaped at him, dumbfounded; the cafeteria was gigantic. Yami, however, blinked blankly; he hardly ever dined in the cafeteria during lunch. Since students were able to move around, choosing where they could eat, themselves, he mostly chose to eat in the classroom, the corridors, or in the schoolyard. The cafeteria was noisy and filled with girls who would giggle and beam at the sight of him, making him feel uncomfortable – and of some odd reason, Tea always got mad at them, and sometimes she'd mutter about them all day, or she'd be sulky and not speak to the gang for a whole day. Therefore, Yami preferred not to be around in the cafeteria, seeing how the girls always chased him during break anyway, and that was annoying enough, seeing how Tea often got so mad at them that she'd start to argue with them.
"Hi, Yami. I can help you do the cleaning", a voice whispered in his ear, and a silent giggle followed. The voice was too familiar, and made him stiff. Not her again…
Tea glared at the girl behind him sourly. Why was she so stupid? She always behaved like that during the lessons. And the teachers never punished her, because she was the principal's beloved little daughter, whom unfortunately, admired Yami so much that she always followed him around. What annoyed Tea the most was that Yami never turned her down. She always flirted with him, and he always replied stiff answers. And she always made the teachers give up their punishment about Yami, because otherwise, she'd yell at them and tell her father to fire them. And everyone did her bidding, and the girls in school followed her around to giggle. Every single guy, or almost, loved her like the darkness loves light, and every girl hated her like light loathes darkness.
"Want to go to the Christmas ball with me?" Belinda chirped in Yami's ear, and Yami could only blink. Belinda withdrew, beaming with delight, into her chair, taking that as a yes. Hearing what Belinda said, Tea stared intensively at her test, trying to force back the fiery tears that filled her eyes.
"Yami, if you like Belinda so much, why don't you tell her it?" Tea suddenly asked Yami abruptly during lunch, not even caring to look at him. Her fork missed the beef for the second time the same minute, making her the more annoyed. The screeching sound that followed when the fork instead met the plate made the other boys around the table stare at her.
"Hey, Tea, what's up with ya today?" Joey asked, "You haven't been normal since we left maths… and you weren't even normal then. You went to the toilet at least five times, and you said your eyes hurt and you had to go to the school nurse…"
Unfortunately for Joey, and for the others, neither of them knew that Tea had seen Belinda offer Yami to help him clean. What Belinda had really meant was that she'd threaten to fire the mathematics teacher if he didn't withdraw the punishment personally for Yami, and so he had done. Yami himself didn't know. Only Yugi did; he disliked Belinda too, because she'd always specially ignore Yugi or occupy Yami so he ignored Yugi whenever the two of them were around. Since Yami was practically Yugi's twin brother, Yugi was very concerned about that.
"Something wrong, Tea?"Ryou asked, after exchanging looks with the boys as the screeching sound reached their ears as answer on Joey's question.
"Nothing", Tea mumbled, and practically attacked her mouth with the fork, a pea successfully sitting on it. Yami blinked at her in mere astonishment, staring at her because of the question.
"What do you mean with that?" he managed to ask at last after the intensive tension, when Ryou, Joey, Tristan and Yugi looked from Yami to Tea and then back again.
"I mean", Tea pressed on, "That you two are always flirting, right? So isn't it quite obvious that she likes you, and you like her? Then you should really be boyfriend and girlfriend, and the only requirement to do that, is to tell her that you like her, and she'll be so excited that she'll jump in the air and tell everybody and then you can go around not only flirting but kissing and hugging and everything, right, so isn't that a lot funnier, because then her admirers can't say a thing about it, because then you're together, so…"
Tea's voice was unsteady, or almost blank, and it became louder and louder for every word. It didn't show the slightest fury, and she had her face strictly turned to her white plate. She rarely ever talked about such senseless things, and she never blabbered on that fast and that much, but she was so filled with anger that she couldn't stop. When she at last took a deep gulp of air to finish, the chilly air made her throat burn and want to cry.
"I'm not hungry", she added at last, and arose from the chair, rushing out of the classroom. Before she left, a tear trickled down her right cheek fast, wetting her burning throat from the outside, leaving the boys dumbfounded with her speech, and Belinda triumphantly smiling in the other end of the classroom, with her gang of girls.
Yami must think I'm stupid. Maybe I should go back and apologize? she thought for herself, as she sat under a big oak tree in the other end of the schoolyard, hiding in the shadows. It was peaceful here, because nobody ever went here. The schoolyard was big, and very few preferred to be here, except for nerds who liked to study and do their homework in peace. She pressed her back to the tree, her red eyes filled with tears that trickled down her cheeks. She was unable to stop them; her store with napkins had run out, and her handkerchief was too wet to even dry her nose.
No, you can't, another voice said in her mind. He must think that you're stupider, then. I don't think he even gets why you got angry -
Of course he does! Yami isn't stupid… he must know that is because I think he
doesn't suit the girl -
Oh, no, he doesn't, didn't you see his dumbfounded expression?
But -
No 'buts', he has no idea you're in love with him.
I'm – WHAT!
Well, that's obvious, right? Even Yugi knows.
No, he doesn't.
Yes, he does.
Oh, stop that! He doesn't know.
Oh, right, he doesn't know; but Rebecca knows. Remember during the time of our Orichalcos adventures? Well, she told you that she liked, and she still likes, Yugi, and she said that it was good that you liked Yami.
She only guessed –
Yami must think I'm stupid. Maybe I should go back and apologize? she thought for herself, as she sat under a big oak tree in the other end of the schoolyard, hiding in the shadows. It was peaceful here, because nobody ever went here. The schoolyard was big, and very few preferred to be here, except for nerds who liked to study and do their homework in peace. She pressed her back to the tree, her red eyes filled with tears that trickled down her cheeks. She was unable to stop them; her store with napkins had run out, and her handkerchief was too wet to even dry her nose., another voice said in her mind.That's because it's obvious. You hardly need to guess. Why otherwise do you blush when he bores his eyes into yours? And that funny expression you always wear when Belinda flirts with him?
I don't love him.
You do.
I don't.
You do!
I DON'T!
OK, fine. Do whatever you like, it won't matter to me.
Relieved to finish her brain argument, Tea dried her tears with her hands, which had clutched the grass. She felt like a little girl whom had lost her doll… her precious treasure…
One of her best friends. One of her very best friends…
"Mai", she whispered for herself, and pulled out a pink mobile phone. On the back of it was a small photo-sticker with them on; Yami, Yugi, Tea, Joey, Tristan, Duke, Serenity, Bakura and Mai, all trying to join the picture by pressing together in the very small photo room. Rebecca had been very sulky to see that she wasn't on it, though she was in Australia by the time they took the picture.
She quickly browsed the mobile phone's menu, choosing the 'Phone Number List', she saw Mai's number in the list and clicked once more, allowing her to phone Mai.
"Miss Valentine, may I ask what this is?" the boss barked, as he eyed suspiciously Mai's work. A bunch of papers neatly piled on Mai's desk was the object he was inspecting, and Mai turned just as nervous as usual.
"That's… my work, sir", she said, weakly.
The bald, tall, muscular man, wearing a brown suit, bent down and took a paper, and then eyed it.
"What is this space, Miss Valentine?" he asked after a moment's tense silence. The other colleagues eyed Mai, grinning evilly.
Curse them, Mai thought for herself, as she stared blankly at her pen, which still rested in her right hand.
"Err… that's where you're supposed to sign the paper, sir", she managed to say.
She knew that this paper was delayed, but it was all her own idiotic mind's fault… NEVER try to help dorks.
"And, tell me WHY was this paper supposed to be signed 23rd May?" he asked in the same cold voice. Mai's cheeks turned bright pink. It hadn't been her fault. Or, well, it had. Back then, Joanne had found a paper stuck in a paper pile on her desk, which had fallen down, and she had looked in such a badly state afterwards, that Mai had thought she'd be kind to her colleagues once – that might make them treat her better – and offered her help. Then Joanne had handed her the paper, and Mai had just been trying to concentrate on doing her job (which was to sort papers) AND get an idea how to hide that paper without failure.
"I… err… I…", was all Mai could manage to stammer.
A high-pitched giggle was to be heard from the other end of the room. As the boss slowly turned his head and glared at Joanne, whom, too, turned bright pink and went back to her work, Mai clutched her pen with her sweaty fingers, which were shaking. She just couldn't lose this job, she just couldn't lose this job…
The slow melody of Für Elise reached their ears, as Mai's face turned from bright pink to tomato red. She shouldn't have left the mobile phone on… oh, she was so stupid, why had she been hoping that Joey would've phoned after work…?
Oh, Joey! she thought for herself bitterly. She hadn't seen him since she had been released from Orichalcos... only once, when they took that group photo sticker on the back of her mobile phone, and they had been so awkward then…
He would've protected her now, in front of the boss, shooting him rude comments for offending her. This warmed her heart and gave her some more courage. He had phoned her the day before, telling her of the Christmas ball. She hadn't exactly got the point why he had told her of it before he burst into an angry cry, telling her about Serenity's newly gained admirer, Franco, whom was known to be a boy a girl couldn't trust. He was handsome, and charming, but he always got a new girlfriend before the end of the month. Serenity had been quite thrilled by his beauty, but she was yet unsure to get a relationship with him. Mai only chuckled and told him to trust her, because she, Mai Valentine, would make sure Serenity wouldn't hang around with such a guy as that, seeing how she was Mai's very good friend and almost her little sister herself.
And Joey had promised to phone the day after, and had asked for the time she stopped working, and Mai had been so… happy.
"I'm sorry", Mai said, grinned apologetically at the raged boss, and then went to the ladies' room, her purple mobile phone clutched tightly in her other hand. She didn't realize she had brought the black pen to the ladies' room before she replied.
"Hello…", a voice said thickly in the phone. Mai blinked at her reflection in the round mirror in astonishment.
"Tea? Why are you phoning me this early? Aren't you still in school?"
"Yeah, I am… it's break…"
"Wow, you sound enthusiastic about it", Mai said, raising an eyebrow.
"Sorry… well, it's just…" She heard a small gulp and sob in the other end of the receiver, and she finished:
"Yami?"
"Yeah. Kind of…"
"Kind of?"
"Well, yeah… it's another girl, too."
"WHAT! HE'S HANGING AROUND WITH ANOTHER GIRL!"
"Yeah… she asked him to the Christmas ball, and everybody knows that only… girlfriends and boyfriends go together to the Christmas ball…", she said with the thick voice in a tiny whisper. Mai had to press the phone to her ear to hear.
"Did he say yes, that… that bug!"
"Yeah…"
"OK, emergency meeting. I'm at job right now, OK, hun? Let's meet at Domino Coffee after I'm done working. I'm in a crisis anyway, my boss is already barking mad…"
Just then, she heard a familiar cough behind the door. She would've turned even redder, if it had been possible.
"Remind me of not speaking so loud again, OK?" she added in panic. "Err… well, wait for me there after school, OK? See ya then! Bye!"
She quickly stuffed the phone into her pocket, and then opened the door, where the boss was standing, glaring at her. She smiled stiffly.
"Err… I'm back again!"