Frack-tasticness: Soccer almost every day on top of summer school. That is all that needs to be said.
Warnings: Dub names, JadenXChazz fluffiness, OOCness, psycho Misawa... and not much humor. Serious, YIKES. Times ten.
Disclaimer: I had a witty one, but I forgot what it was.
Chapter 10: Realizations
The arena was silent, dark. Chazz smiled, pleased with this "get-out-of-duel-free" opportunity before he realized that it was so dark that he couldn't see the exit. Anywhere. 'Fuck!' he thought angrily, and, for good measure, yelled it.
Jaden was rooted to the ground, deciding it was best not to move in the darkness, when he heard a yell of anger.
'Who was that?' he thought curiously. 'It's so familiar... I KNOW I've heard it before...' His initial thought was 'Oh, it's Charlene.' But that couldn't be right, it just... didn't sound like Charlene. He searched his memory for clues and came up blank. Still, it was so familiar, recognizable, routine...
"Congratulations. You can use a thesaurus!"
The voice echoed through his mind. Who said it? Who was it?
"Charlene, this isn't funny." Banner's voice broke the odd silence.
"It wasn't meant to be." Charlene's voice! Yet... no... it didn't sound like Charlene! Well, it did, but... it didn't, at the same time. Someone he knew... Frustrated, he shook his head and tapped his foot impatiently. Footsteps echoed through the pitch-black arena, and Jaden could only assume it was Banner trying to activate the emergency lights.
"You're pitiful, Jaden - jumping up and down like some fool, never taking anything serious. That's why you'll never be a champion. It takes discipline to win. You need to have a sense of duty. You need to have some kind of plan! Well I have a plan! And I have a sense of duty! That's why I'm going to beat you, Jaden!"
That's when it hit Jaden Yuki.
Out of the still darkness, his voice called out quietly, "Chazz?"
The flood lights came on, and through the dimness, Jaden realized that Charlene Parkins was no longer in the arena.
'Was Chazz here or am I just going crazy...?' Jaden thought, shaking his head in confusion. 'I would bet my deck that he was in here! And that's a pretty big bet, since my deck is the best in this whole school...'
"Jaden, are you coming? It seems Charlene ran off."
Jaden jerked in surprise and realized that Banner, Syrus, Chumley, and Alexis were waiting at the door for him while he was lost in his thoughts.
'Chazz...'
"Yeah, I'm coming."
---
Chazz was hunched on his bed as Atticus chuckled. The two had cut the power and fumbled for the door, narrowly escaping before Banner activated the flood lights. As they had escaped, Chazz could have sworn that someone had called out his name - his name, his!
"You look preoccupied," Atticus commented cheerily. "Anything the matter?"
"Maybe," Chazz said slowly. "Did you hear anything when we were leaving?"
Atticus gave him a strange look. "No. Nobody said anything, Chazz. Why?"
'No, I KNOW I heard something,' Chazz thought. 'I'm positive... wait... it was Jaden! Jaden knows who I am! This is bad...
'...Or is it? Will Jaden care that I'm Chazz Princeton? Will he be revolted, or will he just flash that annoying grin and say "Chazz, you made one heck of a girl!"? I kissed him, damn it! What will he think when he finds out that his first kiss, one that he thought was from a girl named Charlene Parkins, it was really from Chazz Princeton?'
Chazz could think of no response for this question. Then, he realized that Atticus was talking, and had been for quite some time.
"...been in the psycho ward for almost a week now, poor kid," Atticus was saying. "I just think the poor, under appreciated kid just got stressed out. A bunch. Just snapped, you know?"
"Sure," Chazz said, distracted.
"I think he needs a girlfriend-" And with that, Atticus went into a long talk about all the possible girls he could hook Misawa up with when the Ra boy got back from wherever he really was.
Chazz wasn't listening; he merely nodded and said "yeah, sure" whenever Atticus paused for breath. He was really thinking about who had given him a sex change, the one responsible for all his troubles. His mind ran over a list of possible suspects. He eliminated many of them, until he reached a few. He thought about it for a second.
That's when it hit him like a truck headed west on Route 66.
"...would be good, don't you think, Chazz? Chazz?" Atticus frowned at Chazz's vacant expression, and waved a hand in front of Chazz's face. "You alive, pal?"
Chazz turned his head slowly and looked at Atticus firmly. "I have to go tell Jaden."
"Tell him what?" Atticus asked, puzzled. "If you go to him, he'll ask why you ran off-"
"And I'll tell him exactly why I ran off, Atticus," Chazz replied heavily. "Be back soon."
Atticus watched the door slam behind Charlene Parkins and he let out a sigh. "No you won't, Chazz..."
---
I bet everyone is curious as to what happened to our favorite genius. Well, he did end up in a mental asylum, but he was definitely improving. In fact, he was improving so much that the doctors were planning on letting him go back to Duel Academy within the next few days.
"And how are we today, Mr. Misawa?" the cheery nurse with short brown hair and twinkling blue eyes asked, setting Misawa's medications on the table next to him.
"Atticus," Bastion supplied helpfully.
"Excellent!" the nurse smiled, and hummed as she handed him a cup of juice. "Take your meds, Bastion, sweetie. Do you need anything?"
"Sex change," Bastion said, swallowing his pills and washing them down with his juice.
The nurse giggled. "Oh, you are too funny. Have fun, Bastion! Chancellor Sheppard is coming to visit in a few minutes. I'll go get him right now."
"No!" Bastion cried, breaking his odd pattern of words.
The nurse froze halfway out the door. "I'm sorry?"
Bastion beckoned for her frantically, and she rushed back to the bed. "What is it, Bastion?" she whispered, taking his hand and patting it. "Something wrong?"
"Not Sheppard!" Bastion whispered hoarsely. "Atticus... no... sex change!"
"Hon, I don't under-"
"I think I can take it from here," said a deep voice from the doorway.
"Chancellor Sheppard?" the nurse asked, eyes widening. "I thought I told you to wait down-"
"I needed to speak with Mr. Misawa," Sheppard interrupted as if the nurse hadn't said anything. "Please do not disturb us, I really don't have time for this."
"Of-of course." The nurse gave the two a confused glance before closing the door behind her.
"So, Bastion," Sheppard said, a slight smile curving on his lips. "Have you figured it out? Who gave Chazz Princeton a sex change? I'm sure you've figured it out by now. After all, Mr. Misawa, you're one of the brightest students in my school."
Bastion whimpered and pulled his sheets up to his chin, but remained silent. His eyes darted toward the phone, but his half-delirious mind told him not to make a move.
The chancellor leaned next to Misawa and smiled. "No? I'm surprised. All right, I'll tell you..."
He whispered a name in Bastion's ear, and stood back up. "I must go now, Mr. Misawa." He swept out of the room without another word, leaving behind a terrified Bastion Misawa.
---
Perhaps what surprised Jaden Yuki the most wasn't that it was about midnight when there was a rapping on his dorm room door, but rather who was doing the rapping.
Syrus got to the door first, and a sleepy Jaden waited behind him to see who in their right mind would want to come to the Slifer Red dorms at midnight.
"Charlene?" Syrus asked, eyes widening. "What are-"
"Jaden, I need to talk to you," Charlene said tersely, ignoring Syrus completely.
Jaden stifled a yawn and rubbed his eyes. "Right now? Can't this wait until morn-"
"No, I really have to tell you now," Charlene interrupted. "Alone," she added, shooting a glance at Syrus and the sleeping form of Chumley. "It's very important that I tell you now, I'm afraid I won't be able to tell you in the morning."
The brown-haired Slifer heard the urgency in Charlene's voice. He nodded. "All right, let me get my shoes." He shoved them on, all thoughts about socks completely erased from mind, and he hurried after Charlene, who seemed distracted - more so than usual, anyway.
"Charlene, what's going- oomph!" Jaden's question was drowned out as Charlene grabbed him and roughly pulled him into some nearby bushes, landing awkwardly on top of him. Her hand immediately covered the boy's mouth to prevent him from inquiring further.
"...thought I saw her leaving her dorm, Professor," someone was saying. "We went and looked, there was nobody there."
"Very well, keep an eye open for her." Banner's voice drifted through the air. "I want all suspicious activity reported back to me."
"Yes sir."
The two were lying in the bushes for several tense moments. Charlene didn't seem to notice (or care) that she was lying on top of Jaden, but the boy was quite nervous. Why was Professor Banner looking for Charlene? Was it just because she'd run out of the placement duel, or was it because she had done something... bad?
His mind wandered back to the duel, and how he'd thought that he had heard Chazz's voice instead of Charlene's. His thoughts kept wandering back to the same conclusion: Charlene Parkins is really Chazz Princeton.
She looked similar to Chazz Princeton, and close up, he realized that she even had the same dark determination in her eyes that Chazz Princeton got before engaging in a reckless activity. Her breathing was sharp and ragged against his chest. Her expression turned from sheer determination to a look of surprise and fear when a flashlight beam passed near the bushes where the two were lying. Instinctively, she pressed herself closer to Jaden, waiting for the beam to strike the bushes. Luckily, it didn't. The girl didn't know what she would have done if Banner's guards (really just a few select Slifer boys) had discovered the two lying there, on top of one another; she did know it would have been something she would regret for a long time. She was very glad that Atticus had gotten out of her dorm before they caught him there.
The light passed, and the three guards left the area, satisfied that Charlene was not in the area.
The girl moved her head and looked at Jaden. Their faces were centimeters apart; her warm breath tickled the side of his face as she whispered in his ear, "Let's go. Quickly."
Cautiously, she moved to a crouching position, still sitting on Jaden's legs. She peered around, ensuring that the area was clear. "We're going to hide in the woods. Let's go."
"Hide from- Charlene-"
She pressed her hand to his mouth again. "Not here!" she hissed. "Let's go!"
As they ran for what felt like an eternity (which was probably only about ten minutes), Jaden realized that he knew now, beyond all doubt. Chazz Princeton was Charlene Parkins... or was it the other way around? Either way, it made him twist inside to realize that he had kissed Chazz. Charlene hadn't said anything about it, but... was she - he? - revolted about that? Jaden's insides twisted further when he thought about how he really wasn't as revolted as he probably should be...In fact, part of him really enjoyed the kiss... His stomach lurched as Charlene grabbed his hand and pulled him through the thick trees, toward a deserted clearing.
She turned, her expression unreadable in the darkness. "I think we're safe now."
"From what?" Jaden blurted before he could help himself, plopping down on the ground under a large tree.
She sat down next to him and took a deep breath. "Remember when we were in detention together, when I was trying to kill Atticus and you kissed me to get me to stop?"
Jaden's face crumpled. Even in the darkness, Charlene could tell that he was very uncomfortable about that particular subject. "Yeah... actually, I'm really sorry..."
"Don't be," Charlene said instantly. "I actually... kind of enjoyed it..." She was shocked that she'd just said that. "Really, it should be me who apologizes."
"How come?" Jaden asked curiously.
"I'm sorry that you wasted your first kiss on me," Charlene said, her voice rushed now. "Jaden, I'm really... I'm... I'm Chazz."
There was a silence broken only by crickets chirping and birds chirping. Finally, Jaden spoke.
"I...see."
Charlene cringed against Jaden's oddly flat tone. "I didn't mean for this-"
"No, no," Jaden interrupted. "I thought you might be Chazz. I wasn't sure until tonight, when I heard you yell in the arena."
So Chazz hadn't imagined it. Jaden went on, "I thought about the kiss, too. I'm really... I'm not sorry that my first kiss was with you, Chazz. I thought maybe there was something horrible about that, but... I actually kind of liked it..." His voice faded.
Now it was Chazz's turn to be silent. He could think of nothing else but what his mind told him to do - so he obeyed, as if in a trance. "Jaden..."
"Yes?"
"Would you like another kiss?"
The brunette smiled. "I'd love one."
The two leaned in, feeling around in the darkness for the other. Jaden's hand moved up Chazz's arm, Chazz's hand moved across Jaden's back. Their lips brushed together, and they leaned closer... closer...
"Aw, how touching."
The two broke apart instantly. A bright beam of light flashed in their eyes, and Jaden squinted, trying to make out the figure holding the flashlight.
"Chazz and Jaden? Who would have thought... Oh, I'm sorry, did I interrupt something?" the voice taunted, laughing.
The two boys recognized the voice, and as their eyes adjusted to the darkness, they saw the faint outline of that person.
Chazz paled. "No..."
To Be Continued...
Sorry for general lack of humor in this chapter, I was in this weird mood when writing it. Just review. See if you can guess correctly who it is! I bet you can't... :3