Struggle
"Without a struggle, there can be no progress. "
-Frederick Douglass
Chapter 19: Frown
It's alright that I didn't get worse. After all, school also prevents me from going to the museum... Although there was that one time, soon after Battle City, that Yami took over my body and suggested that I skip math class to go to it. So I should be on my guard, I suppose, but I feel so relaxed to be in a rigid school setting again.
Tea goes to school, after all. It would be a shame not to get to see her. When she walked into the classroom, Yami alerted me as if he had something to say to her, which he didn't. It's like he just wanted to nudge me and point out her arrival.
"And then he just ran?" Bakura's voice has the effect of someone pouring ice down my back. I visibly shudder badly.
"Are you okay?" Tea asks as she stands near my desk.
"Yeah," I say, as the same time as Duke.
"He just ran," Duke confirms. I slink down in my seat.
"Yugi?" Tea blinks at me. "Are you... sure you're ok?"
"I'm... I'll be fine." I smile at Tea. "I was feeling sick yesterday... my mom made me rest all day. I couldn't leave the guest room."
Tea gives me an amused look. "Why the guest room?"
"Mom was afraid that if I stayed in my room, I'd just play games all day," I explain, smiling, knowing that it was true. The laughter that comes from her, gracing me, says that she knows it's true as well.
"Yeah, I thought about stopping by when you didn't come to school yesterday," Tea explained.
Why couldn't Duke and Bakura have gossiped about my yesterday, when I wasn't here?
Duke and Bakura's voices are buzzing... buzzing... buzzing in my head. Bakura's still asking Duke about when I ran away two days ago. (It feels like just minutes ago. I'm sure my face is burning with embarrassment, that's probably why Tea's looking at me weird.) It would've been just a bit after I left Bakura and Joey to talk about... huh... I wonder what they were talking about?
"Maybe Bakura was confessing his undying love for Joey," Yami teases. Now I really feel sick.
"That's /disgusting/" I hiss. Tea looks at me oddly.
"Huh?"
"Oh, uh, nothing Tea..." I scrunch up my face, trying to think of something to drive attention away from myself. "So... um... do you want to talk to Yami before class starts?"
Tea shakes her head. "Nah, that's okay. I'll just wait until Lunch." Yami's been eating Lunch with my friends everyday. Well, our friends everyday. Aren't they? Of course they are. Just now, Joey enters the room.
"Hi Joey!" I chirrup. Tea turns and greets Joey as well as she makes her way back to her... seat...
"You might want to stop staring at her butt, Yugi," Tristan admonishes me as he takes his seat by mine.
"What? I wasn't!" I protest. Tristan rolls his eyes. "I swear!"
"Whatever..."
"Hey guys." Joey comes over and plops down in the seat next to mine, even though that isn't his seat. He sits near the front of the classroom (an obvious attempt to make him buckle down and stay out of trouble) next to Bakura. He grins at Tristan, grins at me, then tosses a glance back over toward where Bakura is standing, in the back of the room next to Duke, still talking about me, but in a hushed tone. Bakura looks at me. Or maybe he's looking at Joey, but they're not talking about Joey, are they? Joey grins. Bakura turns to Duke and whispers something... and Duke looks surprised. Joey's grin fades.
"So, Joey, what did you guys do this weekend?" Tristan asks. The question is directed towards both Joey and me. Tristan doesn't know that I ditched Joey so that he could take to Bakura. "Joey?"
Joey stands up and goes to his seat as the teacher comes into the room, frowning at Bakura. Tristan gives me an odd look.
"What was that about?"
"I shrug. I don't know."
"...What?"
"Huh?"
Tristan explicates: "You just said 'I shrug.' "
I blush, embarrassed. I guess I'm not fully recovered yet.