New chapter is up. This will be the last one for 2021, but I'm looking forward to writing up the next one. ^^

Chapter 20

The next morning, Alex woke up to the alarm on her phone. She opened her eyes, feeling a bit dazed. For a few moments, she didn't remember that she agreed to spend the night at Kaiba's mansion. However, once her vision was clear and she recalled last night's events, then everything came back to her. She sat up in bed and smiled to herself, having slept well and feeling refreshed. It was as though there had been a warm, loving presence next to her although when Alex woke up, she was, of course, alone.

There was a knock at the door, followed by a voice.

"Miss, are you awake?"

It was the maid who had escorted Alex to her room last night, and Alex replied,

"Yes, I'm awake."

The maid replied, "May I come in?"

Alex replied, "Of course."

The maid then gently opened the door and entered the room. Greeting Alex with a smile, she said,

"Good morning. I hope that you slept well. I wish to know what you would like for breakfast."

Alex looked thoughtful and replied, "I usually like having something simple, so coffee and maybe a croissant?"

The maid replied, "Alright, miss, but are you sure that's all you want?"

Alex nodded and replied, "Yup. I usually eat light in the morning. Anything too heavy, and it upsets my stomach."

The maid replied, "I understand. When you're finished getting ready, please go downstairs to the dining room."

Alex replied, "Ok. I won't be long."

The maid smiled and then left the room. Alex then went into the bathroom to take a quick shower and after she was done, she dried off and put on her uniform. She finished getting ready and taking her bag, she left her room and went downstairs, looking for the dining room. After asking one of the other maids where it was, Alex walked towards the dining room and there, she found Mokuba. She smiled at him and said,

"Good morning, Mokuba."

Mokuba grinned and replied, "Good morning, Alex. Did you sleep well?"

Alex nodded happily and replied, "Yup, I did."

She noticed that Kaiba was absent and asked, "Where's Kaiba?"

Mokuba replied, "Seto will be here soon. It's fine to go ahead and start without him. Sit next to me."

Alex happily took a seat next to Mokuba and as one of the maids brought breakfast over for her, Alex took out a chemistry textbook from her bag. Then she started sipping her coffee while she was reading. Mokuba looked curiously at Alex and asked,

"Why are you studying this early?"

Alex looked up from her book and replied, "You can never be too prepared, but actually, we have a quiz today."

Just then, Kaiba entered the dining room, looking like he had just gotten out of the shower. He looked at Alex and asked,

"There's a quiz today?"

Alex looked at Kaiba and replied, "Good morning to you, too, and yes, we have a quiz today. Didn't you know?"

Kaiba looked indifferent and replied, "As if I care about such things."

Alex replied, "I'll take that as a no. But it's a pop quiz, so there's no way that-"

Kaiba interrupted, "A pop quiz? Then how do you know about it?"

Alex realized that she had goofed up and replied, "Oops, I wasn't supposed to say anything. But let's just say that I overheard the teacher mentioning it the other day and got a bit of info on what's on it."

Kaiba raised an eyebrow and replied, "And you weren't going to say anything?"

Alex shrugged and replied, "It's good to have an advantage."

Kaiba let out a smirk and replied, "I like the way you think."

Alex smiled and replied, "Thanks."

Kaiba took a seat across from Alex and gently asked, "How did you sleep?"

Alex replied, "I slept well. Thanks."

Mokuba smiled mischievously at Kaiba, and Kaiba coughed and averted his gaze. As Alex wondered what was up with that silent exchange, Kaiba recalled what had happened a couple of hours earlier.

Kaiba had woken up and as he gazed at Alex sleeping peacefully beside him, he let out a smile. He recalled that she was having a nightmare and he had rushed into her room to calm her down. Once he realized, though, that Alex might either panic or get furious at him if she were to wake up and find him with her, so as quietly as he could, he got out of bed, making sure not to wake her up. He then left the room.

As he closed the door and walked back towards his room, he noticed Mokuba looking at him. Kaiba sighed and replied,

"It's not what you think."

Mokuba mischievously replied, "I wasn't thinking anything. Only that it's nice to see you two getting along."

Kaiba replied, "We weren't doing anything inappropriate. She was having a nightmare, and I helped calm her down."

Mokuba nodded knowingly and replied, "Oh, I bet."

Kaiba frowned and replied, "Mokuba, stop and don't say anything to Ms. Lawrence. The last thing I need is for her to unleash her fury on me."

Mokuba replied, "I won't say a thing."

"Uhh, am I missing something?"

Hearing Alex's voice snapped Kaiba out of his thoughts and he quickly replied,

"Nothing important."

Alex shrugged and replied, "Ok."

Alex went back to eating her breakfast and studying, and Mokuba asked, "Is that really all you're going to eat, Alex?"

Kaiba noticed as well, and sighing, Alex replied, "Yes. I don't like to eat a lot in the morning. I have a delicate stomach and all. But I'll be fine."

Mokuba replied, "Are you sure? It's important to eat well in the morning and-"

Kaiba interrupted, "Mokuba, I'm certain Ms. Lawrence knows how to take care of herself."

Although Kaiba himself had his doubts, he thought it best to press the issue. Alex smiled gratefully and replied,

"Thanks. People tend to worry about my eating habits, but I know what I'm doing."

The rest of breakfast passed by uneventfully, and then Kaiba said, "We should get going."

He looked at Mokuba and asked, "You'll be ok taking the limo by yourself? I'll take the car with Ms. Lawrence."

Mokuba looked surprised but nodded and replied, "I'll be ok."

Alex added, "Any special reason for the transportation arrangements?"

Kaiba replied, "It'll be faster if I drive, and we'll have to drop by your apartment after school before work."

Alex nodded and replied, "That's true."

She realized that all her work clothes were at her apartment, so she would need to drop by there after school.

Kaiba then got up and said, "See you later, Mokuba."

Alex got up as well and added, "You have a good day, Mokuba."

Mokuba replied, "You, too, Alex."

Alex followed Kaiba as they headed towards his ferrari in the garage. He opened the passenger door for her and Alex quickly slid in, putting her bag in the backseat. Kaiba then got in the driver's side, and then the two were off, heading towards Domino High. Along the way, Alex said,

"Thanks for letting me stay over last night. I hope I wasn't too much of a bother."

Kaiba replied, "It's fine. As I said, you're welcome to come whenever you want, and that includes staying for the night."

Alex smiled a bit and replied, "Thanks. I'll try not to take advantage of your hospitality too much. I know I can be troublesome."

Kaiba muttered, "It's endearing."

Alex replied, "What?"

Kaiba quickly replied, "Nothing."

Alex shrugged her shoulders and the rest of the ride was quiet. They soon made their way to school, and Kaiba parked his car in a good spot. He and Alex then got out and walked together as they headed towards the building.

As they walked in the hallway, heading towards their classroom, Yugi saw the two of them and said,

"Hey, you two. Can we talk?"

Kaiba replied, "Yugi, there's nothing I want to say to you right now. Not after the stunt that you and your friends pulled yesterday."

Alex looked at Kaiba and replied, "I think it's only fair to let Yugi speak."

Kaiba sighed but didn't protest further. Alex smiled gently at Yugi, silently telling him that it was ok to speak up. Yugi smiled back and said,

"Thanks, Alex. I wanted to apologize for what happened yesterday. I can't speak for the others, but I'm really sorry and if it helps, I didn't want to go through with it. Joey was just so pushy about wanting to speak to you, and we haven't talked to you for a while."

Alex replied, "I understand, but I wish that he had explained it to me instead of tricking us like that."

Yugi replied, "I get it. Well, he got what he wanted to say out of the way, so I hope he'll put the matter to rest."

Alex nodded and replied, "Same here. Thanks for clearing things up, Yugi. We should head on inside."

Yugi nodded, and Alex and Kaiba followed Yugi inside the classroom.

It was lunchtime, and Alex and Kaiba were spending it together, like they had been all week. However, Kaiba surprised Alex by saying,

"We should study for that quiz."

Alex replied, "But what about work?"

Kaiba replied, "That can wait. Besides, you solved that problem. Your workaround is preventing further sabotage."

Alex replied, "I'm glad it's helping, but I still haven't found the hacker. They're quite elusive. They keep escaping my search programs. I might have to come up with another idea."

Kaiba replied, "You've done more than enough. I mean, I'd still like to find out who's responsible, but you took care of the most pressing problem. Besides, I'd like to ace that quiz, too. Then we can leave early and go to work."

Alex laughed and replied, "Of course."

Kaiba got up and said, "I'll get us coffee and something to eat."

Alex nodded, and after Kaiba left, Alex took out her chemistry textbook and notes, preparing for an impromptu study session. After a few minutes, Kaiba returned with coffee and a couple of sandwiches and took a seat next to Alex. Then, the two of them studied together while having lunch for the rest of the lunch period.

It was the last class of the day, which was chemistry, and the teacher announced,

"Ok, everyone. Time for a pop quiz."

Most of the class groaned except for Alex and Kaiba, who had known about it. The teacher handed out papers, and then the class got started. Alex quickly got to work on her quiz and as she had known what would be on it, she breezed through the questions although she made sure to check her work and such.

Meanwhile, Kaiba had gotten through the questions quickly as well although it helped that he studied with Alex earlier. He finished his quiz quickly at the same time that Alex did, and the two of them got up at the same time. Alex noticed this and couldn't help smiling and shaking her head. Kaiba smirked at her, and as the two of them walked towards the teacher to hand in their quizzes, Joey noticed all of this and did all he could to contain his annoyance.

The teacher took Alex's and Kaiba's quiz papers and after quickly grading them both, he quietly commented,

"Great work, you two. Perfect marks."

Kaiba smirked and replied, "I'd expect nothing less."

Alex laughed and replied, "Of course. We're free to leave, sir?"

The teacher nodded and replied, "Yes. You have a good weekend."

Alex and Kaiba headed to their desks, quickly gathered their things and then left the classroom. Kaiba would take Alex to her apartment and then they would head to work.

Meanwhile, back at school, Joey and the others had finished up for the day. Although Joey would normally be happy that it was the end of the week, he only looked defeated. Tristan asked,

"Hey, what's wrong?"

Joey looked at him and asked, "Are you really asking that? It's bad enough that Alex won't agree to another date, and now moneybags has his claws on her."

Duke replied, "Yeah, it's pretty obvious. It's strange. Those two couldn't stand each other at first and now they're suddenly like friends."

Joey angrily replied, "I hate it. He's just taking her away from us."

Tea replied, "You mean from you, but yeah, I miss hanging out with Alex, too. It's not the same."

Yugi replied, "Guys, I don't mean to be the weird one, but maybe this is a good thing?"

Joey looked incredulously at Yugi and replied, "What do ya mean?"

Yugi replied, "I've never seen Kaiba open up like that, not even around us and not even around him."

Of course, Yugi was referring to Yami. He then continued,

"Maybe what Kaiba really needs is a good friend, and if Alex can be that for him, I don't see the problem with them hanging out."

Joey replied, "Seriously? And we all know that Kaiba isn't after Alex just to be friends with her."

He gritted his teeth in frustration, and Tristan replied, "Calm down, Joey. Look, we'll think of something."

Tea nodded and replied, "That's right. Listen, I'll talk to Alex alone on Monday. Kaiba probably won't get on our case if it's just me and her talking and no tricks are involved. I'll ask her what's going on."

Joey smiled a bit and replied, "Thanks, Tea."

Bakura added, "Let's get out of here. We have the weekend to look forward to."

Yugi replied, "That's right. Let's go to the game shop. Gramps mentioned that he got some new cards."

Joey's eyes lit up and he replied, "Why didn't you say so before? Let's go!"

Yugi chuckled, and the group left the classroom and the school, heading towards the game shop.