Since things might get a little hectic for me this week, I wanted to go ahead and post this chapter now. Thanks for all the support, follows, and whatnot, and I hope you enjoy it. ^^

Chapter 33

The rest of winter vacation flew by quickly and before Alex realized it, it was the beginning of the new year and school would be starting again. As Alex, Kaiba, and Mokuba were in the limo, Alex looked at Mokuba and asked,

"Looking forward to school again?"

Mokuba shrugged and replied, "I guess, but I wish vacation had been longer."

Alex laughed and replied, "I understand, but there are upcoming holidays and all to look forward to."

Kaiba muttered, "I'll be glad when I'm done with it."

Alex looked at Kaiba and asked, "Because you'll have more time for Kaiba Corp?"

Kaiba nodded and replied, "That, and I won't have to be around those dweebs."

Alex shook her head and replied, "They're not so bad, and I consider myself a dweeb. Does that mean you'd rather not be around me?"

She pouted cutely and softening slightly, Kaiba chuckled and replied, "You're the exception."

He leaned in to kiss Alex, and after their kiss ended, Mokuba replied,

"They're going to figure it out if you don't tell them."

Alex replied, "I know, but it's not like we can just make a whole huge announcement about us."

Kaiba scoffed and replied, "We should do that."

Alex looked a bit annoyed and replied, "Hey!"

Kaiba looked teasingly at Alex and replied, "Calm down. You know I was only joking."

He turned to Mokuba and said, "We'll try to be discreet around others, but we're not ready to announce our relationship."

Mokuba nodded and replied, "I understand."

The limo arrived outside Domino High, and Alex commented, "We're here."

She turned to Mokuba and said, "You have a good day, and we'll see you later."

Mokuba grinned and replied, "You both have fun now."

Alex shook her head and then she got out of the limo. Kaiba exchanged a few words with Mokuba and then he followed Alex outside. Together, the two of them headed inside the school building and towards their classroom. Although they didn't hold hands (as it would have been obvious that they were a couple), they walked very close next to each other, feeling happy and comfortable.

Soon, they entered the classroom, and Alex waved happily at Yugi and the others while Kaiba simply nodded his head in acknowledgment. Then they took seats and just talked for a few minutes.

After the bell rang to signal the start of the day, the homeroom teacher entered. However, he wasn't alone. Someone else followed him, and immediately, Alex recognized him. Feeling unsettled, she looked down at her desk, avoiding anyone's gaze. Kaiba noticed this and wanted to ask Alex what was the matter. Alex looked at him and simply shook her head, as though silently telling him that she would explain later.

The homeroom teacher then announced, "Welcome back, everyone. I hope you had a good vacation and are ready to start classes again. Also, we have a new student joining us this term."

He looked to the person next to him and asked, "Would you like to introduce yourself?"

Max grinned and replied, "Sure." He then looked at the class although his gaze was on Alex a little longer than the rest. Alex continued to avoid looking at Max, though, which confused him. He then said,

"I'm Max Stanton, but just call me Max. I recently moved here from California, and I'm looking forward to meeting all of you."

The homeroom teacher nodded and said, "Thank you, Mr. Stanton. Now let's see where we can put you."

The teacher looked around the room and seeing a free seat, he pointed to it and said, "Why don't you sit next to Ms. Gardner?"

Tea waved her hand and smiled dreamily at Max, as did a lot of the female students. Max nodded and took a seat next to Tea. The two of them exchanged a few brief words, and then classes began.

The morning hours flew by, and soon, it was time for lunch. As soon as the bell rang to signal its start, many of the female students surrounded Max, wanting to talk to him. Meanwhile, Alex took a breath to calm herself and looking at Kaiba, she quietly asked,

"Can we get out of here? We need to talk in private."

Kaiba nodded and replied, "Sure, but I have a better idea. Pack your things and follow me."

Alex nodded and she quickly packed up her things. As she followed Kaiba out of the classroom, Yugi noticed the two of them and asked,

"Where are you two going?"

Kaiba replied, "Something has come up."

Following Kaiba's lead, Alex added, "I'll text you later, ok?"

Yugi nodded, and Alex and Kaiba left the classroom but not before Max noticed the two of them leaving. He couldn't help frowning, as he wanted the chance to talk to Alex but couldn't.

Alex and Kaiba walked in the hallway, heading towards the principal's office. Kaiba quietly said,

"I know something's wrong, so I think it's better if we're excused from classes for the rest of the day. I'll say that something has happened at work and since you're working at Kaiba Corp, I need your help."

Alex nodded in understanding and replied, "That'll work."

The two of them made their way to the principal's office, and they entered, as the principal was present. After Kaiba briefly explained that there was a work emergency and he would need Alex's help since she was an intern there, the principal excused them from classes for the day. Alex was thankful that they were no hiccups on that end.

Afterwards, they headed outside, waiting for the limo that Kaiba had called for earlier after having talked to the principal. After several minutes passed, the limo arrived and the two of them got inside. As the driver headed towards Kaiba Corp, Kaiba looked at Alex and said,

"Now that it's just us, you can tell me what happened."

Alex nodded and she took a deep breath. Then she replied, "I know him, the new student."

Kaiba looked thoughtful for a couple of moments and then he replied, "Is he from that time agency?"

Alex replied, "Yes, that's right. He's a friend as well."

She sighed and added, "I knew they were going to send others after you, but I didn't think they'd send him."

Kaiba replied, "Is he an actual threat?"

Alex replied, "He's not nearly as good as me. He tends to be hot tempered and somewhat emotional at times, but he's a good guy, overall."

Kaiba frowned and replied, "I saw the way he was looking at you."

Alex looked confused and replied, "What do you mean?"

Kaiba replied, "Are you two just friends?"

Alex was surprised by Kaiba's question but nodding, she replied, "Yes. He's just a friend, and besides, romantic relationships at the time agency aren't allowed."

Kaiba replied, "He looked at you as if he's hoping for something more. You avoided looking at him, so you wouldn't have noticed."

Alex replied, "Seriously?"

She sighed and continued, "I like Max as a friend, but nothing more. You know that I only truly like you in that way."

Alex smiled softly at Kaiba, and Kaiba felt relieved upon hearing Alex's reply. He then replied,

"Of course you only like me, but now there's the problem of what to do about him."

Alex nodded and replied, "Yes, I don't know how I should act. I'm wondering what Cas' plan is. Assuming that she's still the one in charge of sending agents, she may or may not have told Max the truth. If she didn't, Max might be here as some sort of revenge for what happened to me. But no matter what, I won't let him hurt you."

Kaiba replied, "Borrowing your words, you know I can take care of myself."

Alex smiled and replied, "True, and I suppose it doesn't hurt that I gave you a heads up on future visitors."

Looking thoughtful, she added, "It might be too risky to contact Cas directly, but we should keep that option open as a last resort. For now, I think we should continue acting as normal, and I'll pretend that I don't know him. We can observe how he behaves and then figure out what to do from there."

Kaiba nodded and replied, "That's a good plan, and we should stay together, especially when he's around."

Alex replied, "I agree. Also, we should let Yugi in on this. Since he knows about me and all."

Kaiba replied, "Agreed. Send him a message to ask him to drop by Kaiba Corp after school."

Alex nodded and replied, "Ok. I'll text him on the pretense that we need him to drop over homework and all that."

Kaiba added, "Make sure to tell him to come alone."

Alex replied, "Of course."

Alex took out her phone and sent a quick text message to Yugi, asking him to drop by Kaiba Corp after school and to make sure to come by himself. After that was done, she looked at Kaiba and said,

"I guess we'll be going to work early today then."

Kaiba smirked and replied, "I certainly don't mind, but we'll have lunch first."

Alex smiled and replied, "I'd like that a lot."

Later that afternoon, Kaiba was working at his computer when his phone rang. He picked it up and the secretary on the other end said,

"Sir, there's a Yugi Muto here to see you."

Kaiba replied, "Let him in, and also, call Ms. Lawrence and tell her to drop by."

The secretary replied, "Right away, sir."

Kaiba then hung up the phone and waited until there was a knock at the door. After it was opened, Yugi entered, and Kaiba told him to take a seat. A couple of minutes later, Alex dropped by Kaiba's office after the secretary informed Kaiba of her presence.

Once the three of them all sat down, Kaiba said, "You probably want to know why we asked that you come here alone."

Of course, Kaiba was addressing Yugi, to which Yugi nodded and replied, "I am curious, yes. I saw you two leave earlier."

Alex replied, "Something unexpected happened. Well, it was sort of expected but unexpected at the same time."

Yugi looked confused and laughing a bit, Alex replied, "Sorry. I'll make myself clearer. You know that new student, Max?"

Yugi nodded and replied, "Yeah, what about him?"

Alex replied, "He's from the time agency, and he's a friend. I believe he's here to complete my original mission."

Yugi widened his eyes and replied, "I see. No wonder something was off about you two. That's why you didn't look at him?"

Alex nodded and replied, "That's right. It unsettled me, and I didn't know how to behave. I already told Seto, so he knows to be on the lookout."

Kaiba nodded and replied, "You should be wary of him."

Alex asked, "Has he talked to any of our friends?"

Yugi frowned a bit and replied, "He was chatting a lot with Tea. She seems to like him."

Alex smiled sympathetically and replied, "I see. I wouldn't worry about it, though. Max is generally a friendly guy although hot tempered and emotional at times."

Kaiba replied, "You should keep Gardner away from him. He won't get anywhere near Alex."

Alex raised an eyebrow and replied, "You know it's not like that."

Kaiba frowned and replied, "I'm not taking any chances."

Yugi coughed and added, "We talked to him a little, and he asked about you."

Yugi looked at Alex, and Alex asked, "What did he ask?"

Yugi replied, "He wanted to know who you were, so I told him that you're an exchange student."

Alex nodded and replied, "I guess he was curious about my cover here."

Yugi thought of something and said, "If he and you are friends, can't you tell him the truth? About your memories being ok and that you know something is wrong?"

Alex replied, "I considered that, but the problem is that I don't know what Cas told him. Assuming that she has to be really careful, she probably didn't tell him the truth, so it would be risky for me to do so."

Kaiba added, "Alex and I talked about it earlier, and we decided not to change things for now."

He paused and looking at Alex, he added, "But if that guy makes any sudden moves, I will take action."

Alex replied, "Let's try not to resort to violence. He is my friend, and he could be reasoned with. I just don't think it's a good idea to be too risky at this time."

She turned to Yugi and said, "Be careful around him, but try not to make him suspect anything. It would be quite bad if he found out that I told you two who I really am."

Yugi nodded and replied, "Of course. I won't say anything."

Alex shook her head and added, "It's kind of hard to believe that Cas would make Max's cover as a student, too."

Yugi looked curiously at Alex and asked, "Why's that?"

Alex replied, "He may look our age, but he's actually a few years older than I am. He really better not do anything creepy, or I may just beat him up myself."

Yugi laughed awkwardly, while Kaiba smirked and replied, "Of course, you can take him down."

Alex nodded happily and replied, "Totally. I was trained well, after all, and I wasn't kidding when I said that I'm the better agent."

Kaiba replied, "So he's more likely to slip up?"

Alex nodded again and replied, "Yes, the chances are good that he will. If it happens, then we can take that opportunity to figure things out."

Kaiba nodded and looked thoughtful. Alex turned to Yugi and said,

"That's all the really important talk. You do have our homework as well, right?"

Yugi replied, "Of course."

Kaiba replied, "I can't believe you'd bring that up."

Alex shrugged and replied, "We had to have a good reason for Yugi to drop by. Besides, I like having things be normal, to a point."

Kaiba shook his head, while Yugi took some papers out of his backpack and handed them to Alex. He commented,

"Here's everything from this afternoon's classes."

Alex smiled and replied, "Thanks. I guess that's it then, unless you want to bring up anything else?"

She looked at Kaiba, but Kaiba simply shook his head. She nodded and turning back to Yugi, she said,

"Just be on the lookout and call or text us if you think that something's off."

Yugi nodded and replied, "Ok."

Kaiba commented, "We're finished."

Alex nodded and replied, "Ok. I should get back to work. I'll walk with Yugi to the elevator, and I'll see you later at home."

Kaiba smiled briefly and replied, "I'm looking forward to it."

Alex smiled back and turning to Yugi, she said, "Let's go."

Yugi nodded, and he and Alex walked out of Kaiba's office, heading to the elevator. The two of them talked briefly as they walked and were in the elevator but parted ways once they got off their respective floors. Alex headed back to work, while Yugi left Kaiba Corp, heading towards the game shop. There was a lot to think about, and the three of them needed time to process it all.