Chapter 3: Flight of Delight!
"So, what's the plan?"

"What plan?"

Tristan rubbed his eyes sleepily as he dropped the blue phone receiver.

"Oops", he mumbled, as he picked it up again, as it dangled a few centimeters above the floor.

"… Mai told us everything about the disaster. What's the plan?" he heard Joey's annoyed voice say.

"Err… what plan? Sorry, Joey, I dropped the phone."

A long moan followed, before Joey continued:

"I said Mai told us everything about the disaster."

"What disaster?"

Another moan.

"Do you've to be such an idiot? And don't come and say 'what idiot?' because then I'll kill you."

"Alright, but what's going on? You phone me at five am and can't even tell me what's wrong – I'm going back to bed."

Tristan was halfway putting the phone back onto its former place, before Joey said hurriedly:

"Hey, wait! It's about Tea."

"Tea? And Yami?" Tristan blinked in astonishment as he lifted the receiver to his ear again.

"OK, what's up with them?"

"NOT THEM. It's Tea. She's going away for Christmas. She's going away… tomorrow."

"WHAT!"

"Yeah, I know. I TOLD YOU THERE WAS A DISASTER, IDIOT!"

"Whatever… how're we going to stop her? Take her ticket?"

"Are you stupid? Where and when?"

"At her home, of course."

"And how will we get there?"

"Take a bus, or –"

"No, I mean, how do we get in?"

"What get in? She lets us in, of course."

"Really, Tristan, are you stupider than I think you are? She won't let us in!"

"Why?"

"BECAUSE SHE'S ANGRY WITH US, STUPID!"

"Why?"

"'Cause… how should I know why? I'm not a girl!"

"Yeah, whatever.. how are we going to stop her?"

"That's why I'm phoning you!"

"… Great. Mai told you about it?"

"Yeah."

"Can't Mai just tell her not to go?"

"She has already, stupid. Or else I wouldn't have been phoning you now."

"Can't we just stop her at the airport? I bet'cha she's going to be so touched she's going to
stay. We can convince her, y'know – we're her friends."

"Brilliant, Tristan!" Joey exclaimed with sarcasm. "I've thought of that already. I'm phoning you now because… ah! I just got a message from Mai on the mobile. She says we're leaving… now?"

"… Wonderful! I wonder where my fashion magazine is", Tea said sarcastically as she threw a hairbrush to the floor angrily.

"What's wrong with you, Tea? I thought you were happy to skip school?" her mother said, raising an eyebrow, before adding: "Oh, of course. Your friends! They'll meet you at the airport, won't they?"

"No, they won't", Tea said with an evil cheerfulness, "Because I've got no friends."

"What! Tea, you're feverish. Take some fever medicine with you to the airplane – here –
" Her mother handed her a brownish bottle with a white liquid inside it, but Tea pushed it away.

"I'm not feverish, mum. I've just… given up. Given up on trying to help my friends. It's not worth the job, that's all."

"But… Tea… I thought they were your best friends? You've known Yugi since middle school, and the others… well.. you said you were going to the same college with them…"

"Who said I must? We were just saying we MIGHT. And there're more than just one college in the entire Japan."

She threw a book into her bag and slammed it closed.

"There we go. I'm done…" She sat down on the bed, and stared furiously at the white ceiling. To be honest, she didn't want to go. Loads of protests bubbled in her heart, but she pushed them away. She had to escape from the lovebirds. They were... DISGUSTING. Just that morning, Belinda had phoned her to inform her of how MUCH Yami loved her, because he had sent her a card which told her how much he didn't want her to go, and how sorry he was for everything.

"Not that I will go anywhere, but my sweet little idiot doesn't know that!" she had exclaimed with evil happiness, as Tea slammed the receiver back onto its former place, tears burning in her eyes.

It was disastrous.

"It's a disaster! I sent it to Belinda and now she's cuddling the more with me, like some kind of pig!" Yami groaned, as he threw a love letter which scented strongly of roses into a paper bin nearby.

"Oh, aren't you that?" Mai snapped. "You deserve it, dork."

She then turned away, glaring furiously at the road in front of them, which led to the bus station. Tristan and Joey eyed each other nervously, while Duke, Bakura and Yugi discussed how they were going to reveal to Tea that they were spying on her later.

"Mai's really angry with Yami, isn't she?" Joey whispered to Tristan in a low voice as Mai started to march across the road, quietly followed by the rest of the gang (or as quiet as they could ever be). Suddenly, as they reached the other end of the road, Yugi was pinned down to the pavement by a surprise hug from behind him.

"Darling!" a familiar voice chirped, and Mai rolled her eyes dramatically as the little blonde almost strangled Yugi with a hug.

"Um… hello, Rebecca", Yugi grinned. Yami didn't seem to notice, as he stared thoughtfully into the sky. With a snort, Mai turned to stare at the store's window, and deciding to break the ice, Joey leaned foolishly forward and said:

"What're you looking at, Mai?"

Mai was about to blush because of their closeness, when she thought, 'It's alright, it's Joey', and she nonchalantly answered:

"Nothing special. When're we going to that bus station anyway?"

"We might need to wait a while", Joey answered, jerking his head in Rebecca's and Yugi's direction, where Rebecca still clung to Yugi as he struggled to stand up properly, grinning apologetically at the other guys.

"… The plane isn't going to wait for us", Mai replied abruptly, and she turned to Rebecca and Yugi, staring sharply at the little girl. "Y'know, Rebecca, we've got some business to finish. We're hurrying to a plane."

"A plane? Where're you going? We've just met!" Rebecca whined, as she waved her hands impatiently in the air. Yugi immediately broke himself free of his hugging prison-guard, feeling quite uneasy with her close presence, even with Tea not around, glaring at them.

"Can I come along… please?"

She made puppy eyes at the hesitant Yugi, and with a groan, Mai decided to make a quick decision.

"Alright, I booked an extra ticket in case we dropped one of the others, but if you've got to come, you must. C'mon, we're already late…"

Tea gazed sadly at the glass ceiling, where the sun shone through as she walked towards the gate where her plane was going to go off. Plopping down on a red, hard chair next to a fierce-looking man, she stared at the locked doors which led to the airplane. When she had been very little, she had always been very excited to travel somewhere, but somehow, the vacation seemed more disturbing than actually an entertainment.

"Hullo, honey, are you alone?"

Tea jerked her head so abruptly she could have sworn it'd have cracked. She rubbed her aching neck as she stared, frowning, at a grinning youngster before her. He was a senior, just a few years older than herself; tall and rather nice-looking, but in her eyes, he was a disturbing, foolish object she'd have ignored rather than look at. He had amber-colored eyes, glittering mischievously in the morning light, and he had smooth, black hair which lied in waves over his suntanned, bare shoulders; he was wearing a blue top and a bright yellow vest to match his eyes, and a pair of rather tight-looking jeans. He had a golden wrist watch on his left wrist, and he had black leather shoes, which shone brilliantly in the lamp's light, as though they were newly bought.

"Do I know you?" Tea said with a slightly annoyed voice, as she turned to continue stare at the doors, still frowning.

"Aww, don't turn on me, sweetheart. Look at me… please?" He made puppy eyes. She could see it from her left eye's corner, but she didn't care. She continued to stare at the doors.

"I – am – not – your – sweetheart", she said with a deadly calm voice. He stared at her.

"Oh, are you already taken? That's a pity."

"I'm not taken at all", she found herself saying.

Ah, curse me, she thought angrily as his grin returned again, and he continued:

"That's great. Will you at least look at me, chocolate chip cookie?"

"Chocolate WHAT!" Tea stared at him, half in disbelief, half in increasing anger. His foolish
grin just turned wider.

"Chocolate chip cookie", he repeated sheepishly. "That's a sweet treat, isn't it? That's why I'm calling you it, aren't I?"

Tea didn't reply. It was better not to say anything, just in case she exploded. If she caused a fight before she had even gotten onto the airplane…

"… So, what're you going to do in Taiwan? Meet me? Ah, c'mon, m'beauty, look at me, at the very least… I DO deserve as much as one second's look."

He continued to flirt with her. Tea felt for slapping him, but she kept herself seated, and decided to mask herself with a polite surface. She turned to look at him, half-kindly.

"Are you talking to me, mister?"

"Ohh… flirting with me, are you?" His grin turned so wide she thought his cheeks would crack. "… Oh, yes, I am, sweetie – gimme a kiss, honey."

Tea was about to raise her hand to slap him when the bored-looking woman, leaning towards a counter made a clicking noise with the door, and announced:

"Please go on board the airplane, misters and missies. We're now going to leave Tokyo."

Relieved to leave the disgusting boy, Tea moved forward, and was soon between a fat, posh-looking woman, wearing pale blue clothes and a tall man whom looked as though his head would go through the ceiling any moment.

"Your ticket, please", the woman smiled, but she gave Tea a sharp look, as though she did not approve of Tea's clothing – OR age, as Tea also guessed.

"Here, ma'am", Tea smiled kindly back, but with a blazing look in reply. Looking quite shocked, stammering a 'thanks', the woman took her ticket, pressed it through the machine and then returned it to her.

"Thank you", Tea said sweetly, bowing as she, filled with giggles, rushed down the corridor to the airplane.

"Welcome, miss", the women chorused and smiled falsely as Tea stepped over the threshold to the airplane. It was comfortable, of course. Large, soft seats, big windows, big tables, and big space between each seat. Tea felt as though she was in heaven. She wondered whom her neighbor would be, as she sat down, staring out of the window.

Leaning back, she grinned widely. But her grin faded away quite soon, as she was reminded how she was here, alone, in an airplane, while Belinda was probably clinging to Yami and the others had fun in school.

What was she doing? Tea smacked her head in her mind. She was supposed to think of something else now when she was going on vacation! Her whole purpose of not rejecting the invitation of the lottery was that she wanted to leave the lovebirds chirping where they were and everything. Learn to get new friends.

I'll probably start with my neighbor, she thought with a smile, putting her pink handbag in her lap, pulling out a book with a chocolate-brown cover. I hope it's a kind girl with the same interests as me… that'd be quite fun and interesting. We could discuss a lot of things...

"Hey, babe, didn't know you sat next to me! You did this on purpose, didn't you?"
Tea stiffened, her smile quickly fading, as she turned up her head to see the boy from the waiting room. And she had hoped so badly he'd sit elsewhere.

I hope time goes just as fast as people says, she thought, because I'm not going to survive the fifteen hours I'm going to sit next to this idiot otherwise!

"She went to first class!" Mai hissed in Joey's ear, "What're we going to do?"

"Erm… aren't you the genius?" Joey whispered back as they entered the airplane.

"Welcome!" the uniform-dressed women chorused, as they bowed, smiles glued to their faces.

"… Don't be stupid!" Mai hissed again. "OK, she's looking our way. Let's hurry."

Mai was almost rushing through the first class as silently as possible as a cat, while Joey followed her clumsily, and only dodged in time so she wouldn't knock people over. Tristan followed, and Serenity threw an anxious glance at Tea, whom was looking out of the window, before grabbing the arm closest to her as people started to push from behind. Tristan looked quite satisfied as he took Serenity's hand.

"You don't need to be afraid", he whispered, "I won't let you get lost."

Duke looked jealously at them, as Serenity looked more relieved, but he couldn't reach them through the crowd, and he didn't dare to, either; Mai would kill him if they were revealed before Tea.

Yami walked as swiftly between the gaps between the persons standing in his way as possible, not wanting to be seen at all. People would surely recognize him, and that was the last thing he wanted to do; be revealed in front of Tea and be scolded and yelled at once again. Yugi followed him quietly, following Yami's spiky hair, dodging swiftly away from people's elbows and backs so he could get through the flood of people. Last, but not least, was Rebecca, whom was clinging to Yugi's arm, biting her lower lip anxiously, afraid to get lost; she didn't know this airplane well, and didn't dare ask in case Tea overheard her talk – how was she going to explain being on the same airplane?

Ryou was in the front, following Mai and Joey as quickly as possible.

"Where're our seats, Mai?" Joey breathed in her ear. Mai almost blushed; his breath was hot… and he was so close. He was almost clinging to her from behind as people continued to push through the crowd.

"The middle rows… nr 18 and nr 19..."

"And mine is at 18a… hey, where's yours?"

"Um… 18c, I think. But who's sitting in 18b?"

"How should I know?"

"Ouch!"

"What?"

"Someone stepped on my foot. C'mon, let's move into this thing…" She moved swiftly to the middle seat, Joey sitting two seats away. The gang, finding this as a signal to eye their tickets, Ryou sat down next to Mai, and Duke next to Ryou; in the seat in front of theirs, sat Yami on the middle seat, while Yugi sat on his right, and Rebecca to Yugi's right; on Yami's left, sat Tristan, and to Tristan's left sat Serenity.

"Err… why is there a seat between us?" Joey asked, looking dumbfounded at Mai.

"How should I know? I wasn't the one placing us, y'know", Mai answered. She then pulled out a book out of her purple handbag.

"What's that?" Joey asked interestedly, as he looked over his shoulder to see.

"A book!" Mai said swiftly as she stuffed it bag where it belonged.

"What's so secret with it?" Joey protested.

"Nothing", Mai replied simply, and the conversation ended as they announced that they were going to start the journey now. She blushed in her mind, not wanting Joey to know that the book's name was Where Rainbows End, a book which was about two childhood friends whom fell in love with each other. Friends which fell in love… sometimes she dreamed during the nights that the persons were Joey and her, but then she'd feel awkward and guilty for dreaming such a dream afterwards. Joey looked at her as he looked upon his sister; a girl he cared about, a close friend, somebody who's important – not a love, which she, for the fifth time the same week, reminded herself of.

Plus, being about three years older than him, she was more of an older, naughty sister than a girl his age. She had graduated already, while he was still a freshman…

"Ladies and gentlemen, please tie your safety belts. We're taking off into the air."

Bored, Tea tossed a wrinkled paper into the bin in front of her, where you put trash and which the flight's ladies emptied when they were asleep. The boy had babbled on about his 'deeds' for about an hour, and she was already bored.

"Would you mind shutting your mouth for a while when I'm reading my book?" she said as kindly and politely as she could.

"If you say 'Sweet Samuel'", he said innocently, blinking uncountable times. She groaned.

"Alright, 'Sweet Samuel'", she moaned, "Would you PLEASE shut up now?"

Samuel looked quite satisfied as he put a pair of headphones over his ears, and started to watch a movie on the TV screen in front of him. Relieved to finally hear silence (or at least as silent as it could be on an airplane) she pulled out her book again and began to read.

"When're we getting there?" Yami asked for the thousandth time the same hour. With a sigh, his 'twin brother' eyed his wrist watch.

"In twelve hours, Yami. Why are you so impatient?" Yugi replied, as he turned to the TV screen again. "Relax, you can play cards against a computer on this TV thing. Try it out, I've already won five times in a row on the hardest level..."

Heaving a sigh, Yami loosened the controller from his chair and clicked the buttons, making the black TV screen turn bright chocolate-brown, and soon was recognizable as an arena.

"Hey, we could play against each other! It says 'Play against another user' here. Just type your name first."

"Sure", Yami replied, shrugging. He typed in 'Yami' as Yugi typed in 'Yugi', and the two of them challenged each other. Serenity was giggling nearby as she was playing a game against Tristan, whom was laughing, too. Duke was watching them sourly from behind, as his TV screen showed scenes of Tokyo, a news-reporter's voice babbling in his headphones.

"This is boring", Joey yawned.

"Well, yes", Mai said, rolling her eyes. "Sitting still in fifteen hours is not supposed to be FUN, Joey."

"By the way, what about the place we're going to? Ken Ding?"

"Yeah… we're taking in on a hotel. The same hotel as Tea's, of course, and it was surely not cheap", Mai muttered.

"What hotel is it?" Joey said, looking gleeful at the thought of a luxurious hotel.

"It's called Caesar Park… it's really beautiful there and everything. Since we're nine persons, we can't just share one room… so we're divided into pairs." She pulled out a notebook from her purple handbag. "Let's see… so it's Tristan and Serenity –"

"WHAT! TRISTAN WITH SERENITY!"

"Joey, CALM down!" Mai snarled at him. "Tea is going to hear us otherwise."

"But… but…"

"Don't you even trust your friends?"

Joey seemed to calm down at this, at least a bit.

"But Tristan's still –"

"Ah, if he as much as touches Serenity, I'm going to punch him in the face. Serenity is as much as my little sister as yours", Mai assured him, and Joey seemed to be calm at this. But Duke pouted the more as he heard it. "And then we've got Duke and Ryou… and Yami and Yugi were supposed to share a room, but since Rebecca is here, I guess she's gotta join them… WHAT!" She clasped a hand to her mouth.

"What?" Joey said alarmed, looking at the notebook. "Am I going to share room with… you!"

"Who planned this? I thought I was going to share room with somebody else!" Mai said furiously.

"Didn't you write this list down?" Joey said, raising an eyebrow. "You could change it!"

"Yes, I did, but I can't now. The names are already listed in the hotel's room list, and… and I didn't plan this, somebody has changed it!... Serenity…"

Mai's voice turned into a low growl as an eyebrow twitched.

"Serenity?" Joey raised an eyebrow. "My little sister? Impossible!"

"She was the only one whom knew of the list", Mai said darkly. "And I left to get the phone… she changed it. I thought it was strange that she was going to share room with Tristan too – because I remembered that we had to share room, since we were both girls, and you and Tristan had to share one. I didn't know she had changed it!"

She waved her hands impatiently.

"But that can't be helped now. The hotel receptionists already know and we can't change. I asked her to phone them and tell them who'd have which room, and now…" She shook her head. But insides, she was a deeper shade red – and it was not because of fury, but of embarrassment. Joey leaned back in his seat again.

"Don't you at least have an mp3-player?" he yawned. "I'd like a bit of music. The music they've come up with on this TV is lousy."

"You don't want to hear what I've got on my mp3", Mai said, a bit embarrassedly; she didn't want him to know that she had recorded most of their meetings with the others, so she could hear her friends whenever she liked, and it was too late to remove them now.

"C'mon… please?" Joey made puppy eyes, and Mai sighed. Well, it couldn't be such a pain, after all. He was her friend, for heaven's sake! She reached for her purple and white mp3 in her handbag and handed it to him.

"And be careful with it! It cost me a fortune!" Mai warned him, as she pulled out the controller to watch TV.

Hours 'flew' past… as much as they could fly anyway, as the airplane soared through the air. The clouds hovered below them like a fluffy Atlantis, blue patches of sky lying like frozen lakes among the white 'cloud-snow', mountains competing in being the highest. As Samuel continued to babble on about his boring life, Tea made a grimace and stared out of the window. The sun was setting – the clouds were deep purple, and the sky dark orange; the ground below them was pitch black, and everything was like from a fairy tale – though she didn't feel like the princess. Then the darkness came upon them, and the lights flicked out. Samuel clicked a button on his TV-controller, switching on the little lamp above him, and she copied his move, as another lamp lit up their seats.

"And then I was all, 'Hey, have you got any gold' and he totally freaked out, and –"

"Samuel", she interrupted over-politely, "Would you please be quiet?"

"Oh, yeah, sure. Wanna borrow my mp3-player, babe?"

"Mm, alright."

He handed it to her, and she switched it on. Any kind of music would do now, even the worst rock-music…

Oceans apart, day after day…

And I slowly go insane…

Tea's eyes were filled with bubbly tears.

"Samuel?" she said in a thick voice. "Would you please excuse me? I've got to go to the ladies' room."

"What? Oh, sure", Samuel said, looking up from his book, and putting his feet on his seat so that she could walk past him. The toilets were very small in the airplane. In the little 'hall' between the first class and the economy class, you could push open the 'walls' into small cupboards with a sink, paper and a toilet. The ladies' room had a pink figure wearing a skirt on it, and she slowly pushed it open, as somebody nudged her back.

"Sorry", a familiar voice mumbled. Stiffening, she whirled around, but only saw a black shoe disappearing into the boys' toilet. With a sigh, she walked in, and leaned towards the wall right in front of the toilet.

… I will be right here waiting for you…

Snore! Another loud snore followed.

Mai awoke.

Who's snoring so loudly? she thought, as she looked irritably around, when she noticed a weight on her knee. A blond head…

First, she blushed, startled to have a boy sleeping in HER lap. Then she calmed down. It was just Joey. Smiling, she looked around. Nobody looked at her. The lights had flicked out, so it was just good enough. She stroked his hair and his face slightly, like it had been a cat in her lap and not a seventeen years old boy. She then closed her eyes again.

Yami leaned towards the sink as the toilet made a small noise. He had only found an excuse to think in peace. He could feel Yugi looking into his thoughts whenever he tried to think of something; knowing that Yugi was only trying to stop him from thinking of Belinda, he sighed.

He had not wanted to go to the Christmas ball with her at all. He just knew that he'd be punished for telling her no, plus that you weren't allowed to speak under a lesson. SHE was the only exception because she was the headmaster's daughter, and that was all.

The last thing he had wanted to do was to upset Tea, but he hadn't know how to speak to her during lunch. Girl language was just so hard to understand – couldn't she just tell out loud about her feelings? Why must girls be so complicated?

Irritated, he pulled the little thing on the toilet's side again, and the noise was to be heard again.

And now Mai was all mad at him. Alright, so he knew that Mai and Tea were really close and such, but did she need to call him 'jerk' or 'dork' or 'idiot' every single hour just to show that she was angry about him making Tea upset and going to Taiwan?

Girls were just so… hard to understand.

With a final sigh, he walked out of the toilet and went back to his seat.

"Where've you been?" Yugi asked mentally, eyeing him.

"To the toilet", Yami sighed, "But, aibou… must you be so suspicious? Belinda isn't hiding in the toilet on the airplane."

"That's not why I'm asking. I saw Tea walking into the girls' toilet, she was just whirling around in time to see you walking in –"

"SHE was the girl I accidentally nudged?"

"Yes."

"… Rebecca is sleeping on your shoulder."

Flushing, Yugi looked at Rebecca, whom was sleeping on his shoulder, her head resting on his head, her long, golden hair tickling his neck.

"Don't try to change the subject. And why are you calling me 'aibou' anyway?" he mumbled, and Yami chuckled slightly.

Dawn had broken. With a sigh, Tea pulled off the mp3-player and put it in Samuel's lap. He was snoring loudly. She had not slept once during the night; she was not even sleepy now, when they only had four hours left. 'Only' and 'only', time had passed very slowly. She had already went to the toilet twice this hour just to do something, and she had been watching the same movies five times now. She had listened to music, played games… well, it had been very boring, still.

She arose, just as the lamps flicked on. Slowly, she sat back in her seat and fastened her belt as the little symbol with the belt flicked on, too. Heaving another sigh, Tea poked Samuel.

"Um… Samuel. Put your belt on."

Samuel mumbled something she couldn't hear, before he rubbed his eyes and stared wide-eyed at her.

"Yea, what's up, babe?"

"The belt", she said shortly, pointing at the ceiling, where a black block was, with two signs on it, 'No smoking' and 'Put your belt on'.

"Thanks, sweetie", Samuel grinned, as he fastened his belt. Trying not to roll her eyes, Tea pulled out her book, The Da Vinci Code, out of her handbag, and started to read again.

"That book's great, isn't it? If you can read it instead of listen to me", Samuel said, making a jealous grimace as the brown book, as he folded his arms.

"Well, yes", she said, rather amused, "I've never read a better book."

"Good. Then I'll buy one in Taiwan", Samuel beamed at her, and Tea stuck out her tongue at the book in disgust.

"Mm… that was one nice dream…" Joey yawned and rubbed his eyes, as he stretched out his arms, and then blinked.

"Huh? Is this my seat?" He then sat up abruptly, and stared. He had been sleeping in Mai's lap for hours! Scratching the back of his head half guiltily, half embarrassed, he poked the sleeping Mai.

"Err… Mai? Mai?"

Mai blinked, and rubbed her eyes too, as she mumbled:

"Yeah, what's wrong?"

"Um, Mai, why did I sleep in your lap?" Joey asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I don't know. Because I was too kind to push you away?" Mai said, raising an eyebrow, too.
"And besides, you were like a little cat", she giggled.

"I'm not a cat!" he protested, but Mai continued to giggle.

"My little cat", she teased, "My little kitten Joey!"

Joey sighed, and then grinned at her.

"OK, OK, but only yours, then."

Mai went a bit pink, but decided to leave it, and Joey just half-shrieked "THE FOOD CART!" waking up everybody in the gang anyway, and Mai strangling him to tell him to be quiet.