*climbs out of hole in the ground* I'm baaack!

So, you guys remember that time when I said that I was going to try to be more consistent? Yeah, I hope you got as big of a kick out of that as I did during that two-month break. Sorry!

It's been a while. It's been longer than a while. I could apologize profusely for my unwarranted absence, but I know that you guys only want to read the new chapter, so I'll make this quick.

1: Holy crap! One hundred reviews! Thank you guys so much for all of the support you've given me and my horrible procrastination. I know that OC fics tend to not get as many reviews as, say, Puzzleshipping fics, so thank you. It makes me so happy to see that there are people out there who love reading this story as much as I love writing it!

2: AHL is officially one year old! I couldn't have done it without you guys. Unfortunately, I have no virtual cake to give my story, so a happy birthday will suffice for now.

3: Check the AN at the end to find out why my posting schedule is all kinds of messed up at the moment.

4: A bit about this chapter: It's a little shorter than I wanted it to be, but I couldn't fit some parts into it without throwing logic and the plot out the window. This is a filler chapter, but I tried my hardest to make it interesting and worth the wait. I hope you guys like it!

Disclaimer: I only own Erin and Miri.

Enjoy!

Chapter 20

"How long are ya gonna stare at that paper before ya write something?" Joey asked, breaking me out of my stupor.

I looked up to find that he and Tea were watching me with worried expressions on their faces, both trying to determine whether I was actually stumped on the worksheet we were teaming up on or not alright after yesterday's events. Honestly, it was a weird mix of the two. Instead of the normal Egypt dreams I had grown used to by that point, I had had one of those surreal Roman ones instead, and I was none too thrilled about what had happened in it.

It took place after the first vision, when Celeste (who I had elected to refer to as Roman Sagira) left with the guy on the horse to save the people who had been with her in the temple from dying fiery deaths. Turns out, her decision hadn't affected their fates at all. She had been forced to watch as the entire building was engulfed in flames, trapping innocent lives inside. Their screams still rang in my ears. And Frieda, Celeste's sister...I had woken up in tears. Luckily, no one in my house had been awake to hear me stumble out of bed and throw open Miri's bedroom door to make sure she was alright. I had collapsed on the floor and sobbed silently for a good ten minutes before tiring myself out and going back to my room to stare at my ceiling for the rest of the night.

Suffice to say, if they hadn't been already, the visions were beginning to wear on me.

And on top of that, we were currently doing a worksheet about King Henry VIII and his six wives. Even with a decent amount of sleep, I would have had trouble determining which ones were divorced, killed, or spared.

"I was just getting to it." I answered Joey's question, picking up my pencil and writing an answer down. I wasn't sure if it was the right answer, but it would suffice for the "I'm totally fine" act I was putting up.

"Are you okay?" Tea asked the dreaded question.

I raised my eyebrows at her. "Yeah. Why?"

"Because you were zoning in Chemistry, and you were doing it again just now. And no amount of concealer is going to hide the circles under your eyes, Erin."

Silently cursing Tea's best-friend instincts and her hawk-like vision, I sighed and put my pencil down once more. "I didn't get a lot of sleep last night. I'm just tired, that's all."

"Are you sure?" She asked, leaning closer. "Or is it about yesterday? Did something happen that you're not telling us?"

"Whoa, Tea." I said, fake-laughing a little. "Calm down. It has nothing to do with yesterday. I just had a bad dream. No big deal." I hated myself for how easily half-truths and full-out lies came to me nowadays.

"Yeah, Tea." Joey piped in. "We all have those nights."

Tea's expression told me that she didn't buy it. "Erin, you know you can tell me anything, right?"

I nodded. "Of course."

She studied me for a little longer with her bright blue eyes, but when she could find nothing in my face that would give her a reason to be worried, she exhaled in disappointment and settled back into her chair. "Just saying." She said, voice strained.

I clenched my teeth and looked down at my paper. She talks like I'm the only one who's been acting strange.

Before we could get back to work, the bell for lunch rang, and I all but jumped out of my seat. My tiredness faded away. I was eager to see Atem, and to know what he was going to ask me. A giddiness that I could only compare to a child's when meeting their favorite character at Disney World welled up in my chest.

Trying to play it cool, I kept a normal pace with Joey and Tea so Joey could lighten the mood with playful jabs that earned him a few friendly smacks from Tea. But inside, my pulse was racing and I wanted to leave those two in the dust.

When we got to our usual table, Tea and Joey left to get in line for hot lunch, leaving me to guard our territory with the turkey sandwich that I was too nervous to eat.

Why did Atem make me so...girlish?

Forcing myself to take a bite of the sandwich I already knew I wasn't going to finish, I drummed my fingers on the table, waiting for someone to show up and distract me from the weird tingling in my chest.

"Good, you've taken a bite. Now, it's time to chew it. Makes it easier to swallow." I jumped at Atem's voice, which was right next to me as he sat down. A playful glimmer was in his eyes, making my heart flutter.

Taking his oh-so-helpful advice, I finished off the chunk of sandwich in my mouth and grinned. "Thanks. I needed the encouragement."

"I figured." He said, picking at the cafeteria spaghetti on his tray with his fork. It didn't look very appetizing. I was pretty sure I could make better spaghetti than the glumpy monstrosity sitting before him.

"Now it's your turn to eat." I said wryly, nudging him with my shoulder.

He chuckled a bit. "I think I may have to pass on this one."

"I don't blame you. Here, take my sandwich." I began tearing the food in question around the part I had bitten into.

He put a hand over mine. "No, it's okay. Thanks."

I made a face at him and continued tearing the sandwich, dodging his attempts to grab my fingers and stop me. "Come on. I still have yogurt and a bag of cereal in my lunchbox. Besides, I'm not even that hungry."

"Erin." He said.

"Atem." I mocked. I had finished tearing the sandwich, and pulled my hands out of his grasp to wave it in his face. "Eat me, Atem. I am but a lonely sandwich." I whined in a comically high voice.

"Whoa, save the dirty talk for the bedroom." Duke teased, setting his plate down across the table.

I stopped what I was doing and looked over at the green-eyed playboy. Suddenly, I couldn't stop the laughter, even though my face was bright red. "That's not what I meant, Duke." I tried to say in what I hoped was a dignified voice. Which it probably wasn't, because I was about to die of embarrassment due to the innuendo he had drawn from my words. Turning back to Atem, who was watching us with an eyebrow quirked, I grabbed his hand and placed the sandwich into it. "Sandwich. Eat it."

To his credit, Atem held on to the food I had just forced into his hand. But he didn't make a move to eat it. Giving him a look, I said, "Don't make me shove it in your mouth, because I will."

Duke snorted from across the table. I shot him a playful glare.

Atem blew out a fake sigh and took a bite.

"There you go. I knew you had it in you." I cooed, knowing my words were going to elicit another fit of super-manly giggles from Duke.

Giving a lighthearted eye-roll, Atem smirked at me. "Glad I met with your expectations."

I was about to shoot a quip back at him when Tea and Yugi sat to my left. "Erin, why does Duke look like a twelve-year-old who just understood a dirty joke for the first time?" Tea asked, confusion evident in her tone.

I turned my attention from Atem to Tea and snorted a bit. "You're not that far off, actually."

Yugi raised a questioning eyebrow at Atem and me. "Do we even want to know?"

"Probably not." Atem said. I looked back to him and we shared a secret smile.

"Okay," Tea said, dragging out the word. "Well, I was just thinking, since Ishizu and Marik are in town, we should hang out with them or something before they leave. When did you say they were going to head back to Egypt?" She asked Yugi.

Yugi thought for a moment. "Uh, next week, I think. Ishizu has some things to do back at the Cairo museum that she can't get out of."

"So maybe this weekend we could schedule something, like a night out. We could go to that bowling alley on the pier!"

I made a face at that. "Not so sure about bowling. It brings back some bad memories for me."

Everyone's faces turned to me. In the time we'd been talking, Joey and Tristan had also made it to the table, and were poised to hear why I was afraid of bowling balls.

"Why is that?" Tea asked for the rest of the group.

I took a breath. "I broke my toe at a bowling alley when I was seven."

"How?" Joey asked.

"And how bad could that memory possibly be?" Tristan added.

Tapping my index fingers together nervously, I laughed a little. "I...may or may not have...dropped a bowling ball on my foot." Joey snorted. "...after slipping and falling because those shoes are so goddamn frictionless..."

Next to me, Atem snickered a bit. I turned to him, an incredulous look on my face. "Hey, you weren't there, okay? It was very traumatizing."

"I'm sorry." He sobered up just enough to get his next words out. "But now all I can see is seven-year-old you with Oscar's face and a bowling ball on your toe." Then he was chuckling again.

That was it. I couldn't help the laughter that escaped at the thought of me with that terrified cat's face instead of mine. "You mock my pain!" I wailed jokingly, clutching my chest. Atem continued to chuckle, eyes watching me with a familiar amity shining in them.

The two were so busy laughing that they hardly registered the bewildered expressions around the table.

Yugi admitted it – seeing Atem this laid-back and teasing was a relief after everything his closest friend had been through. He had almost forgotten what Atem's real laughter sounded like. It had been so long since he had heard it, and even back then it was only for a few moments before the former king had turned solemn again and regained his poker face. He needed to laugh more.

Erin was changing him. Yugi was unsure if she had had the same effect on Atem in the past, but if the stories Atem had told him from time to time when they couldn't sleep at night were any indication, she brought out the best in him. It was a nice change. Sagira (or Erin, rather) reminded Atem that he didn't have to be serious all the time.

Smiling to himself, Yugi realized how interesting the relationship between Atem and Sagira must have been. Where Atem was impulsive and sometimes hard to crack, Sagira was easygoing and knew exactly how to break the famous poker face. It was an admirable dynamic.

Atem's reservations about asking Erin out seemed weak at this point. She was obviously into him, so why was he holding back?

Tea, on the other hand, was fighting an internal battle with herself. While Yugi watched the two banter with joy, she was struggling to keep herself from putting a stop to the spectacle. Yugi's words the night before had definitely affected her, considering that she was now scanning Erin's face and hands and eyes every so often to make sure she didn't find any kind of evidence that her best friend was on the brink of death. Erin's weariness in Western History had almost given her a heart attack.

She felt almost selfish to admit it, but she didn't want Erin and Atem to work out. Because that meant she would be gone indefinitely. Maybe if she stayed, they could find some way to stop the curse Yugi had discussed with her.

But at the same time, her heart wrenched at the sight of them. Atem, with a grin she had never seen the likes of before on his face, laughing. Because of Erin. Because she made him happy, and it was obvious that the feeling was mutual. Why would she want to rob either of her friends of their happiness?

Maybe she was jealous?

She shook her head. No. I have Yugi...Even if that is still in the works.

Sighing quietly, she looked back down to her tray and began prodding at her salad. There has to be a way to make things work out for everyone.

There has to be.

As I was opening the door of my locker, I jumped and squealed a little in surprise. Atem had somehow appeared right next to me, so close I could feel his breath on my cheek. "H-Hey!" I stuttered, moving back a bit at his unexpected proximity. "You scared me!"

He smirked. "I believe I recall you telling me to meet you at your locker. Shouldn't you have been expecting me?"

I blew a strand of hair out of my face and scoffed in a joking manner. "Well, I mean, when you say it like that, it makes me sound like a ditz..."

"Not a ditz." He took my bookbag and held it for me so I could put my books in my locker. "Maybe a tad absentminded."

"Gee, thanks." I said, shooting him a soft glare as I stuffed my Algebra textbook on the one shelf.

There was a bit of a pause, in which I had time to grab my jacket out of my locker and put it on before he handed my bag back. Then, seeming to steel himself up for his next words, he said, "You remember how I said I have something to ask you?"

I nodded, giving him an encouraging smile. The excitement was back in my chest again, but this time, I managed to keep it in check. "I believe I recall that." I mocked his phrase.

Lips turning up at one corner, he took a breath. "Well, I was just wondering...did you have any plans tonight?"

There it is! Biting back a grin, I pretended to shuffle through my schedule in my head. Friday night, no obligations. The joy was almost overwhelming. "Not any that I know of, actually."

"Great!" And then there was silence. The awkward sort. He didn't seem to know what to do or say at this point. No notion of a place to go or any activity at all.

Has he never asked a girl out before?

I cleared my throat. "You know what I could go for? Pizza."

He cocked his head at my not-so-subtle hint. "Pizza?"

"Yeah." I shrugged. "I mean, I've been in this city for, like, two months now and I haven't managed to scope out the best pizza place. It's funny, because usually that's the first thing I would've thought to do. But, then again, if I had someone who's from around these parts to help me, that might make things a little easier."

Seeming to understand what I was getting at now, he nodded. "You know, I think I know just the place."

I smiled. "Really? Then maybe we can go and see if it meets my standards of Grade-A pizza."

He returned my smile with one of his own. "Yes. You can deem the pizza worthy or unworthy of your pallet."

"Then it's a date!" I said, trying to keep the ecstatic edge of my voice from being too obvious. It probably didn't work. I was shaking with joy.

"Yeah, uh, a date." He cleared his throat, trying to regain his composure from the shock that had seeped onto his features when I said the word "date." He grinned. "Any time in particular?"

Cocking my head, I stared into space for a moment. "Hmm...well, I have to make sure Mom and Miri have something to eat for tonight, which they probably will. Just in case, I'll make a call to that Chinese place down the street. Let's say around...six-ish?"

"Sounds great. Are you driving, or do you want me to pick you up...?"

"I'll text you." I said.

He nodded. "Alright."

There was another awkward silence. I began walking, hoping he got the hint that I needed to pick Miri up. Thankfully, he followed suit. I did my best to calm myself to bring the normalcy back to the stifling air. "So, about that art project..."

Miri was quiet on the way home.

Too quiet.

I nudged her arm as I drove. "Hey, chatterbox, cut it out."

She looked at me and sighed, then pursed her lips and crossed her arms. "Whatever you're going to say about Mokuba, please just say it now so we can get it over with. Be merciful."

"Okay, first of all," I began, raising an eyebrow and giving her a look of feigned hurt, "I am ashamed to learn that my little sister thinks I am such a judgemental person."

"Oh, no, you're not judgemental," Miri cut in, "you're insane."

"True."

Silence. "Go ahead, let it out." She moaned, putting her face in her hands.

Sending her a catlike grin to scare her just a bit, I paused for a long second, then took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. "He's cute."

She stared at me, stunned, waiting to see if I had anything else to say, since I hardly ever didn't have something to say. "...That's it? 'He's cute?'"

"Yup."

"But..." She stuttered, surprise lacing itself into her attempts to form a logical question to ask that would help explain my bluntness to her. "...Seriously?"

I shrugged. "What did you want me to say? His eyes sparkle like the light of the moon on the ocean? His hair reminds me of a very majestic lion? His skin is the color of a thousand -"

"Okay, no, just leave it at cute." Her face was turning red.

"That's what I thought."

She turned back to face her window, trying to hide the blush that had crept across her face. I assumed she also wanted to end the conversation before I said something weird and embarrassing.

Too bad she had already brought this upon herself.

I cleared my throat, indicating that this exchange was far from over. "So...did you two get your homework done?"

A "here we go" sigh escaped her lips. "Yes, we did."

"How did he get home?"

"Roland picked him up."

I didn't question who this Roland guy was, considering I could never see Seto Kaiba personally driving into our average suburban neighborhood to come pick his little brother up. Of course he probably hired a personal chauffeur. "When did he get picked up?"

She narrowed her eyes at me. "Six forty-five. Why do you want to know?"

I dodged her question, instead keeping my voice light and conversational. "What time did you finish your homework?"

"Around six..." Then it dawned on her what I was getting at. "No! No! I am not answering any more questions!" Her blush returned at twice its previous intensity, flushing her entire face from forehead to chin. Her hands covered her face again.

"Oh, come on! I'm your sister! I deserve to know what happened between the time you two lovebirds finished your homework and when he left the nest!"

She groaned into her hands. "God, I walked right into that one!"

There was a short silence, while I waited for her to answer me. When it became apparent that she wasn't planning on doing that, I nudged her again. "I'm waiting."

She took an agitated breath, then glared at me. Even then, I could tell she was finding it very hard to stay mad, especially considering the goofy grin on my face. "We talked, okay? We ate some sandwiches, talked for a while, and then he left. That's it. That's what happened. Are you satisfied, you big prying turd?"

"Very." I said, looking back to the road.

Huffing, she went back to staring out her window. We were about five minutes from home, and we were both comfortable with sitting in silence for that time, especially considering I had just gotten her to tell me exactly what I wanted to know and now had nothing else I felt I needed to discuss with her.

However, the quiet didn't last for long. My phone began ringing, and before I could reach for it, Miri had it in her hands.

A sly grin slid across her face. "Ooh, who's Atem?"

My eyes widened in alarm. Why was he calling me now? "Give me the phone, you little butthead." I growled through my teeth. One thing I hated the most was when my teasing could very easily be turned back on me.

"I'm going to answer it."

"If you answer that phone, Miri, I will end you faster than you can say -"

"Hello?" She said, doing a scarily-accurate impersonation of my voice. "Oh, hi, Atem. I'm doing great!"

"You little shit!" I yell-whispered, grabbing for the phone whilst trying to keep the steering wheel straight. She slapped my hand away.

"Tonight? Yeah, I would love it if you would come pick me up. Maybe you can even come inside and meet my mother and my wonderful little sister -"

"Miri Elizabeth Stephenson, I'm going to murder you!" I shouted and lunged for the phone again. She dodged. The car swerved.

"Hold on just a sec." She held the phone away from her ear, but didn't cover the speaker so Atem could hear everything we said. "Geez, speed racer, watch what you're doing, or you won't get to go out on your date tonight!"

I was seething, feeling my cheeks blush in spite of myself. "Give me the phone, before I personally make sure that Mokuba knows that you still suck your thumb when you sleep sometimes!"

"You wouldn't."

"Oh, dear sister, I would." I said, voice low and threatening. I addressed the phone. "Atem, hold on just a second! My sister is being a brat."

I heard him say something that sounded like, "Is this a bad time?"

"Yeah, she'll call you back." And before I could stop her, she had pressed the "End Call" button.

"You'd better sleep with your eyes open tonight." I growled.

She leaned back in her seat and kicked her feet up on the dashboard, then pretended to examine her nails. "Whatever. Looks like you have some explaining to do."

"No I don't. Get your nasty shoes off my dashboard."

"Not until you tell me about Atem."

"Do you want to live to see your fourteenth birthday?"

She shrugged. "Not unless I hear about my sister's new boyfriend."

"He's not my -" I stopped myself, knowing that any protest I threw at her would just end up begin ignored. I sighed. "What do you want to know?"

Her grin grew bigger. "Everything."

"Let me get this straight. You want me to lure those two morons into this party by pretending that I've invited their friends? Wasn't this party supposed to be fun? Why does it have to be tonight?"

He sighed in frustration. There was no doubt: Astrid hadn't changed at all since sophomore year. He held the phone a little tighter. "Yes. If we get them, we get the real prize. You do want that, don't you?"

"Almost as much as you do. But we've been waiting forever."

"It's only been a month, Astrid."

"That's a long time."

"Not compared to how long I've been waiting."

She scoffed. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing. Just meet me at the gazebo around back at nine-thirty. No doubt the bait will have showed up by then."

Astrid huffed. He bit back a growl. "Fine. Let's get this over with."

She didn't seem to understand the long process they needed to go through to accomplish this. He chuckled a bit, knowing that this would prompt her to end the call. "No, Astrid, the real party's only just begun."

Yay! Atem and Erin are going on a date...sort of! I love writing awkward Atem. He's adorable.

That exchange between them was cute, no? Atem is coming out of his shell and I love it!

The dream she talked about was morbid. I know. It will all be explained later.

And Erin and Miri have the boyfriend talk! What do you think Miri is going to do next chapter, when Erin is about to leave?

And the last part. Yes. I actually put that in just as a spur-of-the-moment thing. I'm trying to build up tension in your minds. Did it work? Are you intrigued? Have you figured out who the mysterious boy working with Astrid is? I think it's obvious by now.

Okay, so about my posting schedule. I am now officially working two jobs on top of going to school, being a member of an out of school-focused student organization, and playing a sport. The stress and the writer's block have become unbelievable. My posts will probably remain very inconsistent for a while. However, when I do post, it will always be on a Wednesday or Sunday, whenever I can get it out to you the soonest after I finish a chapter. I'm far from done with this story; I just want you to know that I may not get new chapters up twice or three times a month like I used to.

But I still plan on updating. You can count on me seeing this story through to the end. I love it and you guys so much.

Thanks for all of the support you've given me! I look forward to seeing you next time!

Don't forget to drop me a review if you enjoyed this chapter!

-creativelybored