Here's the new chapter. I don't have much to say right now, but enjoy this chapter.
Chapter 25: Terrific Indeed
It was three thirty in the morning and Arisa couldn't sleep. Actually, she couldn't even stay in the house! Not while Joey was in the hospital in that room alone. The thought that he was in there was enough to get her angry, let alone at Kaiba: The one who, might as well, was responsible for him being there in the first place. True, Joey and Yugi shouldn't have gone to the place in the first place. But then again, from what Syd had told them, everything was going fine until Kaiba showed up, as usual, and things went from potentially bad to very bad in a hurry. And now? What was a girl who was obviously fighting a huge bout with insomnia to do?
She could watch some TV. Problem was, there was hardly anything on at this time of night. Unless you count infomercials and late night movies of course. There were videogames. She did have her Sony Playstation 2 hooked up, but unfortunately she left her controller at, ironically, Joey's house. They just had to have an Ironman Tekken battle. What was it for? Let's just say that she was generous enough to give Joey a chance to win his Red Eyes back. Too bad he lost…
So she can't watch TV, she can't play any videogames. She guessed she could study. After all, she did have more than plenty of room for improvement in Chemistry. But the thing about Arisa? When it came to studying, she couldn't do it unless she was in a good mood. Damn it, having insomnia sucked ass.
Right now she wanted to peel out of her sleep clothes, place on her school uniform and hopefully be able to at least see her boyfriend before she had to go to school. But she knew that she couldn't. And why? Her so-called "loving" soon-to-be "stepfather" had unpredictable hearing. At times he could hear a pin drop and at others she could call out to him and he still wouldn't hear. The fact that she didn't really think much of her didn't help things either. At times, she suspected that he was looking for any excuse to get her into trouble. Maybe it was out of hope that she'd be sent to boarding school so that he'd have her mother to himself. That was the reason why children are always against their parents remarrying. Their so-called new stepparent may seem nice and caring, but they're actually seen as a nuisance, a problem, or just in the way. Usually resulting into child abuse, as horrifying as it sounded. But back on subject, Arisa decided that there was only one thing to do in which she knew that she had the least chance of getting in trouble…
Arisa walked to her dresser as she grabbed her cellphone. As she went through the list of numbers on her phone, she saw exactly the one she needed to talk to. She could only hope that she was awake, or at least up for discussion. But knowing her, Kara Wilson was always an insomniac, even more than she was at time. "Please be awake…" She said silently. Arisa really needed someone to talk to right now…
"Arisa…" The tired, aggravated voice of the blue-haired girl replied.
"Kara." She asked, "Were you asleep?"
"Can I answer that with a question of my own?" She replied before Arisa was forced to move the phone from her ears. "ARE YOU A SOCIALLY-CHALLENGED MORON? DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT TIME IT IS?"
"Listen I'm sorry, but I really need someone to talk to!" The blonde said, almost in a pleading tone towards the usually placid teen. "Please don't hang up."
A sigh could be heard from the other end. "Okay, you got no more than 15 minutes. But after that, I'm going straight back to bed."
"Okay…" Arisa sighed. "Joey got shot today…"
"What?"
"Yeah…"
"You're kidding!"
"I'm serious. He and Yugi went to one of those underground duels, and from what I've found out everything went fine… until Kaiba showed up."
Kara sighed, "What did he do now?" She knew where this was going. Arisa was going to bitch about Kaiba for the rest of the conversation.
"Kaiba manage to get someone to shoot at him, and Joey had to save his life by taking the shot for him! That's how he got into the hospital in the first place. And you know what pissed me off the most? Not only did Kaiba hardly showed any concern for Joey's health, but he said that he got what he deserved!" Her grip on the phone tightened a bit as a small cracking sound was heard. "That bastard was the one who should've been sent to the hospital and he said that Joey deserve that? And for what, just because he didn't want to duel him?" She shook her head. "I'm sorry Kar, but you sure know how to pick 'em."
"And what is that supposed to mean, hmm?"
"You obviously have feelings for Mr. Roboto." Arisa accused.
"No I don't…" Kara replied. "I just feel sorry for him. I mean it's obvious that he wasn't born to be a jerk. We all know that he was basically raised to be this way. He basically said it at the last meeting."
"Well that still doesn't excuse him for his attitude." Arisa stated. "Did you know that he basically was taunting Joey using a blimp with his big melon on the screen?"
"Really?" Kara sighed. "Looks like I just found a big project for me to work on…"
"Are you saying that because it could really help your resume and your school transcripts, or are you saying it because it give you the perfect excuse to be around Captain Charisma?" Arisa had a smirk on her face. While she didn't like the idea that her best friend could possibly have feelings for a jerk like Kaiba, it was still fun to tease her about it nonetheless.
"No!"
"I can't see you, but I betcha my life savings that you're blushing right now!"
"Whatever, I'm going to bed! Bye!"
"Keep denying it, Kara Wilson! Keep denying it." Arisa sighed as she heard the clicking sound indicating their connection was broken. "You like Seto Kaiba, just admit it." As much as she didn't like him, it was basically Kara's decision on whomever she liked. Besides, it's the roles were reversed, Kara would do the same for her, right?
The Next Day…
It was a very slow morning for Arisa, as she stepped out of the house, she made her long walk to school. Temptation to ditch school and go to the hospital was high. So high that it took just about everything inside her within reason to keep her on the path to school! For one reason, she'd already got in trouble for ditching school that she was grounded for an entire weekend. It was a nice long walk before she heard the sound of a familiar motorbike rev up close to her. Arisa looked back as she saw the rider. It was Tristan.
"Y'wanna ride?" He offered with a smile. "Beats walking alone!"
"If you're going to the hospital!" She smiled.
"Love to…" Tristan started before sighing, "Can't. I've just got this bike back, no thanks to your boyfriend, and the last thing I need to do is to have my parents take the keys away because I ditched…again."
Arisa couldn't help but giggle at the memory about how angry he was after he got in trouble for ditching with Joey. And she remembered Joey telling her how angry Tristan was after 'the secret' was out. Tristan dismounted as he decided to walk his bike along with Arisa on the way to school as Arisa asked, "Okay, but how about after school?"
"No problem!" Tristan nodded, but sighed. "Although, we're gonna have to bring everyone along. Bakura, Serenity, Melody…" His voice became colder as he then mentioned, "Devlin…" Went back to normal. "Oh, and Yugi, too! Wherever the hell he is…"
"Yeah. What happened to him?" The cute little blonde wondered. She hasn't, hell she doubt that anyone has seen Yugi ever since Joey got shot. If there was any, Arisa felt a bit of resentment towards the spiky-haired duelist. After all, he was supposed to be his best friend! Hell, even Kaiba, of all people, showed up, and he didn't even like the guy! Of course Joey wasn't the president of the Seto Kaiba fanclub himself, and she already had a strong disliking of the CEO. But at least Kaiba actually showed up! In fact, he was the last person anyone would think who'd show up. Arisa at least expected Yugi to at least show an ounce of care for his best friend…well…supposedly. As the two walked by, they were greeted by another.
"Hey guys!" Kara saw the two walking by as waved at them. Usually, Kara was usually one of the first people at school as, as some had come to known, she was basically a bookworm. But after hearing about Joey, who was usually the one who Arisa walked to school with, Kara thought that Arisa could use a friend. She didn't expect Tristan, of all people, to be there. From what Arisa had told her about what Joey had said…or complained rather about Tristan constantly hitting on Serenity, wouldn't he usually try to be with her?
"Kara!" Tristan greeted. "What's up?"
"I heard about what happened." The blue haired girl said. "Have you heard any-"
"None…zip, nada." Tristan admitted.
"I was tempted to go straight to the hospital…" The blonde admitted. "But we are planning on going after school ends."
"Sounds good to me." Kara nodded. "Who else?"
"Melody, Bakura…" Tristan's eyes then narrow a bit, "Duke…" Back to normal, "Serenity…" Tristan was silent before looking towards Arisa. "Téa."
"Isn't that swell…" Arisa sarcastically said as Kara and Tristan both sighed.
"You know that you're gonna have to get over your hatred of her. Just because she has feelings for your boyfriend doesn't mean you should hate her!" Tristan reminded.
"Tell that to her!" Arisa scoffed. "I mean, you saw the way she treated me when she first met!"
"Even if she did started this, you should at least be the better person in this and try to work things out." Kara suggested, only to get a hmph from the blonde. "Jeez Arisa, when will this little rivalry between you and Téa end?"
Arisa scoffed, "When Joey and Kaiba become the best of friends."
"Terrific…" Kara sighed, knowing exactly what she was saying. Free snow cones freshly made from the ice water in the depths of hell had a better chance of happening than Joey and Kaiba even tolerating each other. She felt that if…no when Joey got out of the hospital, things would quickly turn from bad to worse! Terrific indeed…
Kara's eyes suddenly went wide as she stopped. Terrific! The idea that just hit her that was. What if Joey and Kaiba did become the best of friends? Not only tolerating each other, but become close together. After all, they appeared to have plenty in common: Broken families, dueling, just to name a couple of things. A smile formed on her face, the benefits of this were certain. Joey and Kaiba wouldn't go at each other's throats and their eternal feud could finally end. Kaiba would finally have friends he can trust and at least loosen up a bit. And it would bring hope to end the other developing feuds: Arisa and Téa, and, from what she got from his tone of voice earlier, Tristan and Duke. A Terrific idea indeed.
"Kar…" Arisa asked, noticing her blank expression. "…Are you alright?" Her friend's smile turned into a grin as she had a feeling where this was going. "Ohhhh no…" She shook her head. "Please tell me you're not thinking what I think you're thinking."
"What am I thinking?" She replied innocently.
"Oh I don't know… perhaps a certain blonde I'm dating and a certain brunette that you obviously having feelings for becoming friends?" Arisa asked as Tristan held up a hand as he also shook his head.
"I'm not touching that one with a 40-foot pole." He stated.
"Oh c'mon! It's not that bad of an idea! It's perfect!" Kara exclaimed.
"Please, it's like bringing fire and ice together!" Arisa explained. "You're only going to just piss'em off!"
"You're being paranoid. I think it's a genius idea! With the two of us, we can do anything!"
"You mean the three of us, Tristan's-HEY!" She was interrupted by the sound of a motor revving up as she saw the pointy-haired brunette on the bike! "COWARD!" She shouted at him.
"YOU DAMN SKIPPY!" He shouted back as he rode away, leaving the two girls alone.
Arisa let out a groan as she looked towards the bluehead. "…You're not really going to go through with this, right?"
"What are you so afraid of? I don't think anyone's ever even thought about this!"
"There's a reason why nobody thought about this! It's because…well…lesse…BECAUSE WE HAVE A BETTER CHANCE CONVINCING TWO GAY GUYS TO MARRY US IN THE NEXT TEN MINUTES?"
Kara sighed, "Arisa, Arisa, Arisa…" She shook her head. "Ye of little faith. Just calm down and leave everything to me! I mean, how hard could it be?"
Arisa rolled her eyes. "Oh god, please tell me she's not this naïve…"
Kara ignored Arisa's protest as they continued their walk to the school. She knew that it was going to take a little…okay a lot of work. But she was confident enough to convince Joey and Kaiba to at least get along with each other. It may've not been easy, but then again, most of the best things weren't the easiest to maintain. She was confident that with the right methods taken, she might be able to turn two enemies into two friends. A terrific idea indeed! Now the question was which person she should work on first: The now-calm, yet still occasionally hotheaded Joey Wheeler, or the cold, yet misunderstood Seto Kaiba?
Next Chapter, it's back to the hospital as Joey finally wakes up. What will happen then? Tune in next chapter.
