Samantha Corona and Alysse Readen grew up together, though not in the traditional sense. Through a series of coincidences, they spent nearly all their lives together. At the age of two, they entered the same gymnastics class. Drawn together by the similarity of their hair, they played rather than listen and received time-outs together. Their parents made small talk while their daughters tumbled across the blue mats.
At the age of eight, once the girls tired of gymnastics, their mothers signed them up for horse-back riding. Though the parents did not speak and the girls remembered each other as 'my gymnastics friend', they met again in the stables. Once a week for four years, the pair tacked up, jumped, chatted and obtained reprimands for excessive talking. Their mothers spoke about the weather while the girls steered powerful animals toward progressively higher walls.
The girls lost touch until Samantha changed schools at the age of thirteen. She entered the Grade Nine homeroom at Citustill School for Girls and Alysse's laughter rang through the room. The pair took similar classes, skipped some to buy lunch and received detentions for talking in class.
The girls rarely separated and people often demanded, "Are the two of you sisters?"
"No," Alysse would reply swiftly.
"We don't even look alike," Samantha added.
To strangers, however, they held a strong resemblance. Both had dark curls, though Sam's curled tighter and possessed a darker chestnut shade. Alysse had blonde highlights in her loose, light curls. Samantha possessed a Spanish tan and build while a natural darkness covered Alysse's thing frame. Large brown eyes showed each of Sam's emotions and Alysse's tawny ones usually held a mischievous light.
A soon as school ended in June, the pair moved to downtown Domino in preparation for university. The girls wanted to go somewhere exotic for university but their parents refused. "You will get no work done if you are roommates and in England. The farthest you can go is downtown," they stated. Samantha and Alysse glared, but eventually agreed. They found a spacious three bedroom apartment in downtown and moved in as soon as summer began. They planned to attend University of Domino, Alysse for Business and Samantha for Teaching.
In the short time they spent in the apartment, many disasters had occurred. Alysse flooded the bathroom:
"Crap, I got yoghurt on my shirt," the petite girl muttered.
"Well, put it to soak," Sam suggested.
"Fine. I'll take a shower then." Alysse wandered into the bathroom, dropped her shirt in the sink and turned on the faucet. She observed the way the water drained away since Sam lost the plug for the drain on their first day. She concluded to leave the faucet on while she showered in the hopes that it would soak her shirt thoroughly.
Half an hour later, Alysse stepped out of the shower into several centimeters of cold water. She gaped at the flooded bathroom and jumped forward to turn off the tap. Pulling a bathrobe on, she screamed, "Sam!"
Samantha ran to the door and nearly slipped on the water that seeped under the door and onto the hardwood hallway. "Alysse! What did you do!"
"It's not my fault!" the girl cried and pulled open the door. "How was I supposed to know the sink would overflow if I left it on?"
They bailed water out of the bathroom with dustpans for an hour.
Samantha set a cup of microwavable noodles on fire:
I'm too lazy to make dinner," Sam stated.
"I think we have some microwaveable stuff," Alysse muttered as she looked up from her bowl of ice cream.
"Cool." Sam grabbed the first cup she saw and scanned the instructions. She pulled the lid halfway, filled the cup with water and placed in the microwave. "I think I'm going to get a job, Alysse."
The thin girl snickered. "Sucker. What for?"
"Uh…to have money," Sam responded.
"Yeah, right. That small point…Sam, what's going on in the microwave?"
Sam turned sharply, and noticed flickers and sparks in the microwave. She pulled open the door and stared, dumbfounded, at the flaming cup on the glass turntable.
"Nice job," Alysse called sarcastically. "Aren't you supposed to be the one who can cook? This totally makes up for me flooding the bathroom."
Sam hastily put out the flame and pulled the cup from the microwave. "Shut up. And, no – this is not nearly as bad as you flooding the bathroom."
The smoke from the charred noodles reached the smoke detector. The small object began its shrill, obnoxious ring.
"Now it is," Alysse said smugly.
And they got lost on the way to the mall:
"Are you sure you know where you're going, Alysse?"
"Of course I…no, I really don't. I'm not even gonna lie."
Samantha sighed. "Wonderful."
"Hey, let's ask those boys if they know where a good club is!" Alysse suggested.
"I though we were looking for the mall," Sam reminded with a laugh.
"Eh. Mall, club, it's all the same to me!"
Despite minor setbacks and disasters, the pair remained close and managed to fix any problem they encountered. And Alysse only flooded the bathroom on one other occasion.
…
Samantha's radio alarm pulled the tanned girl from her dreams and into a new Linkin Park song. She pulled the covers over her head in an attempt to block out the bright sunlight. The song continued – loud and incessant. Finally, Samantha sat up and reached for the snooze button on her alarm. The music ended and she started blearily ad the clock – 10:13. With a sigh and mutters about work and late nights, Sam stumbled into the bathroom. She stepped under the shower's steady warmth in hopes that it would wash the exhaustion from her body. Forty minutes later clean and clad in beige pants and a long, green shirt, Sam made her way to the kitchen. She poured some cereal and milk into a bowl and sat heavily at the table.
Alysse wandered into the kitchen in search of water to help with her hangover. She groaned a greeting to Samantha. The Hispanic laughed softly. "Hung over, are we?"
"Shut up, I hate you," Alysse mumbled. She took two Advil and cocooned herself in a thick blanket on the couch.
"Do you want something to eat?" Sam asked, half- concerned. Alysse grumbled loudly and pulled the blanket closer around her body.
Samantha rolled her eyes and cleaned her bowl. "How about more alcohol? I've heard that helps with hangovers."
"I hate you."
"You aren't very articulate," Sam teased.
Alysse poked her head out from under the blanket. "Don't you have a job to get to?"
Sam flinched at the prospect of two hours in front of inexperienced cooks with access to knives. She shoved her files of recipes into her bag and glanced at the clock. "Alright, Alysse, I'm off. Don't die while I'm gone."
"Bring a boy home!" the petite girl called.
"I'm going to work, not a bar," Sam replied.
"And?"
Samantha laughed. "Good-bye Alysse."
The door closed and within moments, Alysse fell asleep.
The brunette Hispanic walked through Domino, unknowingly retracing her mysterious, coffee boy's steps. She arrived at City Hall before noon. She signed in and set up her room several times in an attempt to quell her nerves. At a quarter to one, Samantha sat on her chair and waited.
…
Seto Kaiba glared at his sullen reflection. Cooking class, he scoffed. What was Dr. Rasputin thinking?
"Seto," Mokuba said as he entered the room, "are you ready? It's almost time for you to go."
"I know that," Kaiba replied, his voice as dismal as his expression.
"It could be fun, Seto," Mokuba implored.
"They why don't you do it?" Kaiba replied icily and stalked out of the house.
…
Yami and Yugi met their two friends a block from City Hall. Once again, the two girls remained absent from their group.
"Where are Mai and Tea?" Yami demanded.
"Mai called me," Joey began, "and said that she and Tai will meet us there."
"What? It's her fault that we're doing this stupid course in the first place," Tristan muttered.
"Technically, it was Tea's idea," Yugi reminded.
"Exactly," Joey agreed. "So leave Mai out of it."
Yami rolled his eyes. "Just because you have a…"
"We should go," Joey interrupted loudly. He shot a cold glare at Yami and led the way to City Hall.
…
"This is stupid," Bakura spat.
"Just give it a chance," Ryou responded patiently.
"It's going to be the longest two hours of me life."
"Don't be so pessimistic."
"This is shit," he cried. A mother covered her infant's ears and glared at the albinos as she passed.
"And you are an asshole, so shut up." Ryou's patience finally frayed and he stormed in the direction of City Hall.
…
Samantha watched the second hand tick languidly around the clock's numbered face. Five minutes before the hour, panic settled into her stomach once more. People should arrive soon.
The door opened and Samantha forced a confident smile to cover her terror. A tall, slender girl entered, he eyes focused on the ground. Her think, auburn hair sat in a snug knot at the nape of her neck. When she finally lifted her eyes, Samantha smiled, still forced. The girl's eyes held a mix of violet and blue.
"You're here for cooking class?" Samantha asked.
"Yes. My name is Sofia DeMarr. It is very nice to meet you, Miss."
"Just call me Samantha," said girl insisted. "You're only a year younger than me according to your info, so there's no need to be formal. Have a seat, Sofia."
The tall girl nodded and swiftly and took a seat in the centre of the room.
A tall, sullen brunet strode forcefully into the room. He glared around the space and sat before Samantha could recover from his sudden entrance. Four teens entered noisily. Samantha inhaled sharply as she recognized one – a tanned boy with spiky black hair. Wonderful, she thought dryly. Exactly what I need.
The blond of the group paused halfway across the room and turned to the tall brunet. "Kaiba? What are you doing here, moneybags?"
"The same thing as you, mutt. Learning how to cook."
"Don't you have people to do that for you?" a shorter brunet asked. 'Moneybags' merely glared.
Sofia looked terrified at the prospect of so many boys; her expression worsened when two albino boys entered. They also recognized the tall brunet and joined in the loud conversation. Sofia sank into her seat. Lastly, two girls entered, involved in a discussion about fashion.
Samantha did a quick head count – all present. She cleared her throat; no change.
"Excuse me," she called. The group continued to talk.
"Excuse me!" Sam called louder, to no avail.
She decided to employ a tactic her mother used. Sam fell silent, leaned against her counter and cast a cold look about the room.
Within moments, everyone felt Sam's eyes on their back and hastily found a seat. Samantha retained her stern look and addressed her students. "We start at one o'clock, and while I have no objection to you conversing, I would appreciate it if you would quiet down at said time." Sam impulsively smiled at their startled expressions. "That being said, don't worry – I'm not a strict teacher, at all. Welcome to what I like to call Cooking 101. My name is Samantha Corona and feel free to just call me Samantha. I will be seeing all of you for two hours, three times a week until the end of August.
"In terms of cooking, I feel that actually doing it is the best way to learn. And, I am a believed that everyone can cook, so I won't tolerate quitters. All I ask is that you try. Are there any questions?"
"Are we going to get dirty?" the blonde girl asked.
"Yes," Sam replied. She studied the girl and heard Alysse's voice scream insults in her mind. Sam smiled and grabbed her attendance sheet. "I'm going to do attendance, so please answer when I call your name. Sofia is here. Ryou?"
"Present," an english accented voice called. Sam noted the speaker as one of the albinos.
"Bakura?"
"Yeah," the other albino called lazily.
Samantha cocked an eyebrow and continued. "Tea?"
"I'm here," the brunette girl said in a perky voice.
The Hispanic shuddered. "Mai?"
"Yes?" the revealing blonde replied.
"Yugi?"
"Hi." A short boy with violet eyes waved.
"Hey. Yami?"
"Here," the boy from the coffee incident said quietly. Samantha made a mental note of his name.
"Joey?"
"Right 'ere," the blond boy replied, his eyes fixed on the left side of the room. Sam followed his gaze and saw Mai, bored and vapid. She smiled.
"And, Tristan."
"Here. And did you know that there is a beer with your last name?"
"I did indeed."
"You did not call me," the sullen brunette muttered. "Does that mean I can leave?"
"No, it does not, and what is your name?" Sam asked. Tall, thin and a jackass – Alysse would love him, she mused.
Kaiba attempted to hide the surprise that this municipal worker did not recognize his face. "Seto Kaiba. As in the Seto Kaiba who owns Kaiba Corp."
Samantha's expression remained unimpressed. "Nice to meet you Seto. Now, I have very few rules. You've already heard one. Three others are: wash your hands before you start cooking, clean up when you are done, and no stabbing each other. Understood?"
"Is the stabbing rule enforced all the time?" Kaiba asked.
"It is while you are in my classroom. Once you leave though, go nuts."
Several people laughed at Samantha's comment. The Hispanic relaxed slightly. "Alright, let's get started. Splint into pairs, wash your hands and then come up and get a recipe. You have two minutes. Go."
The room exploded into chaos.
"Oy vey," Samantha muttered.
…
Alysse pulled the remote control off the side table with as little effort as possible. She flipped through the channels and paused when an attractive, angry brunet flashed on the screen.
"Well no here's something worth watching," Alysse mused aloud.
The balding interviewer turned to the young man. "So, Mr. Kaiba, how dies it feel being the richest man in Domino?"
"It feels like it always has." Kaiba's tone held impatience. Alysse drooled while the interviewer addressed the topic of charities. Kaiba's dry laugh caught Alysse's attention again.
"I pulled myself up from nothing," he said venomously. "No one helped me, so what obligation should I feel to help others?"
Alysse sighed dreamily.
…
After several minutes of turmoil which ended when Bakura hit Ryou with a bowl while Sam searched for a recipe, the group chose partners. Yami and Yugi came forward and while Yami searched for words, Yugi collected a recipe. Tristan and Joey already managed to spill something and the two girls continued their gossip.
Kaiba grumbled orders in Bakura's direction and the albino retaliated with threats to set the billionaire's hair on fire.
Ryou and Sofia maintained a shy silence.
Finally, everyone gathered their ingredients and fell prey once again to Sam's look. She grinned at the silence. "As you can see from your recipes, we're making Peanut Butter – Oatmeal – Chocolate Chip cookies. Just follow the directions very carefully. I will be making them up here as well, so you can watch me if you get confused. I'll also walk around to make sure everything is going well."
Samantha gave them a quick lesson on the difference between drop cookies – the kind they would make – shaped cookies and refrigerator cookies. Once her students had a general understanding of these topics, she began her baking.
"The first instruction is to cream together the butter and the sugar. Make sure your butter is at room temperature."
Sam put the required amounts of the ingredients in the mixer, turned it on, and walked around the room. Tristan accepted Joey's dare and ate some butter before they dumped it in the mix. Samantha laughed.
"I'm not toughing that. It might clog my pores."
Tea sighed. "Fine, Mai. Measure out the sugar then."
"You're doing it wrong," Bakura muttered.
"I am not," Kaiba spat.
"Yes, you are."
"Why are you even here?" Kaiba demanded.
"Why are you here?"
Kaiba flinched as Sam passed and gave their empty mixer a quizzical look.
"What are you, a parrot?" Kaiba demanded. "Just put the stuff in the mixer."
"Your name is Sofia?" Ryou asked quietly as he turned on the mixer.
The auburn haired girl started. "Oh, yes. I'm afraid I didn't catch your name."
"It's Ryou. Sofia is a very pretty name."
Said girl flushed and changed the subject. "Is Bakura your brother?"
Ryou glanced at his yami and rolled his eyes. "Yeah, something like that."
"Yami, focus! You have to take the wrapper of the butter first!" Yugi cried softly.
"What? Oh yeah. My bad." Yami peeled the silver wrapper from the fatty ingredient.
"Are you okay, Yami?" Yugi asked.
"I'm fine. Just, a bit distracted. Don't you recognize the girl?"
"Our teacher? No."
Yami sighed. "She's the girl from LaSenza."
"Oh! I get it. Well, I'm sure she…wait, Yami, put the butter in the mixer, not the wrapper!"
With minimal mishaps, the group finally reached the time to add dry ingredients to their cookies.
"Okay," Sam began, "the important thing to remember is not to dump it in all at once while the beater is going or else…"
A shout from Tristan's table along with a cloud of white flour interrupted Sam. Joey and Tristan hastily wiped flour off their faces.
"Or else that will happen," Sam said with a laugh. "Are you guys okay?"
Joey hastily wiped flour off his face, but it clung to he eyebrows and hair. Tristan appeared too stunned to react.
"So, don't imitate the idiots," Kaiba announced dryly. Sam fought the urge to join in her class' laughter; even Sofia grinned.
"Okay, that's enough," the instructor called over the mirth. "Let's finish up and get these cookies in the oven."
…
Alysse glanced at the clock and rolled off the couch. Sam's class finished in half and hour and Alysse planned to meet her roommate and convince her to go shopping. The interview with Seto Kaiba finished and as Alysse dressed, she thought about the sullen teen. He lived in Domino – the interviewer gave out that piece of information. A plan formed in Alysse's active imagination. Now, she merely had to convince Sam.
…
Two trays of burnt cookies and four perfect ones left the ovens. Tristan and Joey celebrated that they didn't burn down the building. Kaiba glared at the charred morsels and tried to think of a way to hide his failure from Samantha. Surprised by this thought, he quickly replaced his disappointment with resent.
Tea gushed over her perfect cookies; Mai maintained a bored expression.
"Well done, everyone."
"Well done can only refer to the level that our cookies were cooked to," Bakura drawled. "Kaiba burnt ours."
"I did not," Kaiba retaliated. "You did!"
"It doesn't matter," Samantha interrupted firmly. "Joey and Tristan burnt theirs and you don't see them fighting. Are the cookies edible?"
"I don't…" Bakura began.
"As long as they are edible and nothing exploded, you did well. Once this session is over, you will learn to tell when baked goods are done. Divvy up your cookies and wash up. If want any of my cookies, help yourselves."
Ryou counted out half the cookies and wrapped them up fro Sofia.
"Here you are, Sofia. Thanks for all your help."
Sofia flushed once again and awkwardly too the cookies. "It was fun. Maybe we'll be able to work together again in the future."
The students loaded their dirty supplies into the dishwasher and wiped down their counters. Sam turned on said appliances and faced her class once more.
"Did you enjoy yourselves today?" Sam asked.
"Yes," came the general reply.
"I'm glad. Next time, we're making pizza from scratch and a salad to go along with it. Thanks guys – see you later."
Sofia left swiftly, dropping her cookies into a garbage can. The other tens wandered out with calls of 'thanks' and 'later'.
Samantha carefully cleared off her desk and packed her bag.
"Samantha?"
The Hispanic looked up quickly and saw Yami in the doorway. She swallowed her surprise and smiled.
"Hey, Yami. What's up?"
"I, uhh," Yami paused and attempted to ignore unfamiliar nerves. "I just wanted to apologize properly for the coffee thing yesterday."
"Don't worry about it," Sam assured. "It was my fault too."
Yami had a brief internal discussion and asked, "Just to make it up to you, hoe about I take you out for coffee?"
"And it'll stay in the cup?" Sam joked.
"I won't make any promises," Yami returned. "So, is that a yes?"
"Sure." Sam grinned. "How about after next class?"
"Great, see you then." Yami smiled and met Yugi outside City Hall.
Alysse walked briskly toward City Hall, late by nature. As she waited for a light to change, a tall brunet caught her attention. She removed her sunglasses and stared.
"No way," Alysse muttered. "It can't be."
She stepped forward to follow the teen with her eyes and shrieked when a car honked loudly. The driver glared and Alysse grinned widely in reply. She continued on her way to City Hall. She passed through the glass, double doors and a tanned boy walked past with a large grin.
"Alysse?"
"Sam!" The shorter girl cried. "I'm in love!"
"No, you aren't," Sam said reasonably.
"Yes I…okay, you're probably right. But, I'm in like."
"Tell me on the way home."
"You mean on the way to La Senza," Alysse reminded.
"Oh yeah." Sam sighed. "Fine, tell me on the way to La Senza."
The pair exited the building and walked toward the lingerie store.
"So, who is this boy you are in like with?" Sam prompted.
"Okay, so I was watching TV and there was nothing good on, so I was channel surfing…oh my god, it was beautiful."
"You're lucky I understand you," Sam said with a laugh. "Okay, so what guy was on TV?"
"There was the hot billionaire. Tall, skinny, brunet…"
"A jackass?"
"No!" Alysse proclaimed. "I'm sure he's just misunderstood."
"What was his name?"
"Give me a second…Kaiba! Seto Kaiba! And I think I saw him downtown today."
"No way!" Sam stopped and stared at her friend.
"I know! Who would think I would see him around?"
"Alysse, he's in my cooking class."
"Oh my god." Alysse made a sound similar to a squeak. "This makes my plan so much easier."
"Plan?" Sam asked. She faced Alysse once again. "What plan…oh no. I know what you are thinking and no."
"Come on, it'll be fun. Here's what we do…"
………………………………………
Gato: A mini cliffhanger. Okay, so not really a cliffhanger, but whatever. And yes, I do realize it has been an age since I last updated. But, anyone who has read my stories before knows that I procrastinate. But, anyhow, I hope you enjoyed this most recent installment.
Irie: REVIEW!