Chapter 3

A/N: Hey guys! I'm back again! Hope you like it... Sorry I held it up so long 'cause of a stupid writer's block... oh well, here it is...

Thanks to Subaru the Jaguar/The Dark Angel Reborn who gave me a really superb idea. Hope you like it too. By the way, instead of an orientation, I made it an initiation instead... hope you don't mind! Actually we had our initiation this year and boy, were we frightened to death! But it turned out to be a pretty fun day for us, and kinda memorable too!

REVIEWS:

EVERYONE: THANKS SO MUCH FOR REVIEWING! GLAD YOU ENJOY THE STORY SO FAR!!! And thanks for waiting, I had a REALLY bad case of writer's block... Luv ya all! Please keep reviewing! My day brightens up just because of your reviews... thanks a lot!!!

Disclaimers: I don't own Yu-gi-Oh!

Joey Wheeler hopped off the bus, glad that Kaiba used his limo today and not the bus. Serenity giggled. "Joey! You're so hyper today!" she said happily.

"Yeah, I am! No Kaiba on the bus to ruin my day!" he exclaimed.

"Oh. Ok." She said in a tone that Joey couldn't define. He glanced at her. "Hey, are you okay?" he asked his sister.

"Um, I'm fine." She answered. Joey wasn't satisfied. He thought he heard something suspicious in her tone of voice. 'Sorry I can't tell you Joey, but you won't understand...' she thought dismally. She was disappointed that Kaiba was not on the bus today.

Joey decided to ignore it instead. He went in the school premises and stopped by his locker, waving goodbye to his sister.

"Hey, Joey!" Yugi said. His locker was only two away from Joey's and he was waiting loyally for his friend.

"Hey, Yugi! Where's Tristan and Tea?" Joey asked, doing the combination on his locker.

Yugi's eyes glinted. "Well, Tristan's not here yet and Tea is with Serenity." He answered. Joey slammed his locker shut.

"Ok, got all that I needed. Come on, let's take a little walk." Joey said, while Yugi followed him.

"By the way, Joey... why'd you come so early? I didn't expect you to be there a while ago. Usually you come about 5 minutes to the bell in grade school." Yugi commented.

Joey rolled his eyes. Sometimes Yugi just had to get a CLUE. He wanted to make a good impression in high school, now that he was more "mature and grown-up."

"So... Yugi, ever seen anyone familiar around?" he asked, changing the subject, emphasizing on the word familiar.

"Um... aside from you, Tristan, Duke, Serenity and Tea?"

"Yeah."

"Um, no one. Why?" Yugi asked.

"I-I saw Mai." Joey stuttered. He suddenly felt very nervous.

"Mai? Mai Valentine?"

"Erm-yeah!" Joey said.

"Oh, I see... then what Tristan told me was true, then... Mai's here!" Yugi said, flashing Joey a wink.

Joey blushed, much to his horror. "Hey, Yugi! Don't think of it in that sense... I don't like her that way!" he protested. Why did people keep saying that he liked Mai as more than a friend?!

"If you say so." Yugi said distractedly. He was looking at the sign near the lockers.

"Huh? What are you looking at, Yugi?" Joey asked, his blush creeping away and he glanced at where Yugi was looking at.

"I'm looking at the poster of Duel Monsters... It says there's a club. You interested?" Yugi asked eagerly.

"Wanna bet? I can't wait to beat other challengers!" Joey said, pumping his fists in the air.

"So... the mutt is joining the club? Better not get squashed by other players. I bet they're fairly better than you. So don't even think about it." Said a voice behind them. You know that creepy voice that makes your skin crawl...

"KAIBA! You're joining it too?" Yugi asked.

Kaiba snorted with evil laughter. "Of course. I'll easily be number one-and I'm going to beat you once and for all, Yugi." He said gruffly, and with one last smirk, he turned away, leaving an infuriated Joey and Yugi with a strange look on his face.

"THERE'S A WHAT!" yelled Joey.

"There's an initiation."

"WHAT???"

"You don't know what an initiation is?"

"OF COURSE I KNOW."

"Then why are you saying WHAT!!!?"

"What are you guys talking about?" someone butted in.

Tea sighed. "All of us have to go through some stupid initiation." She announced.

Tristan scratched his head. "What IS an initiation?"

Joey was about to blow his head off. "An initiation! DON'T YOU KNOW WHAT THE HELL THAT MEANS?"

"Calm down, Joey! I was just asking!" Tristan said.

"DON'T BE SO DENSE!"

"Stop fighting you guys!" Serenity yelled.

"Ah... hi Serenity!" Tristan yelped eagerly. Joey sighed. Tristan's one weakness was so far, his sister. He'd better find a way to get Tristan's hands off her.

"Initiation... for all the new first years in high school." Serenity said. She got everyone's attention. "It's supposed to be really embarrassing. They're going to make us do some... horrible stuff." She concluded.

"WHAT THE HELL!!!"

"FIRST YEARS, PLEASE GO TO THE ASSEMBLY AREA RIGHT NOW!" shouted the principal through the megaphone. Everyone covered their ears at the loud blaring.

The friends went together to the assembly area in silent expectation. "I hope it's not too hard." Serenity whispered to Tea. "I hope so too," Tea murmured.

"It's okay guys. The fourth years probably won't let you do something TOO embarrassing or not decent. I bet the principal won't allow it." Mai whispered to the gang.

"Mai! What are you doing here? It's only first years allowed here!" Joey hissed.

"Yes, but I just stopped by for a little moment. Good luck!"

She followed her friends and waved goodbye to Joey. At the corner of her eye, Serenity saw Joey's blood rise to his cheeks.

"You probably know why you were called here, right, first years?" the principal barked into the microphone. Some people gave sleepy nods.

Then the principal gave the microphone to a black-haired fourth year girl, who easily started her short speech. "Hey, first years," she said in a loud voice. "I'm the representative for my batch and we're going to be holding an initiation, as part of your being part of this high school's society." She announced.

Many students groaned. Others just reacted to this statement by leaning over to his or her seatmate and chattering away loudly, making lots of noise. "SILENCE!!!" The principal grabbed the microphone and shouted.

"Anyways," the fourth year said with a sly smile, "let's begin!"

"Not embarrassing huh???" Joey Wheeler complained, one hour later.

He put his hand on the plastic nose and pulled. "Look at this thing! I'm going to be the laughing stock in the whole school!!! They're going to name me "Joey the Red-Nosed Clown!!!" You know how embarrassing that is??"

"Not as embarrassing as what they made ME do," Tristan contradicted, blushing a bright red because girls passing by were giggling at him uncontrollably. He was wearing a big brown barrel around his body, his long, lanky legs sticking out from the barrel.

"Look at that Duke," Joey complained. Duke Devlin was standing around girls, flirting with them. A bomber jacket was draped over his shoulders, and the distinct biker look was about him. He was wearing superior cool sunglasses, trying to impress the girls surrounding him.

"You'd think he'd try to change, but noooo, he had to get the girls," Joey grumbled. He was so through with high school. "Man, if this is how tough high school is, forget it, I'm dropping out," he thought aloud.

"Oh, come on Joey, high school isn't so bad."

Joey spun around to see who was talking to him. A bright pink blush appeared on his cheeks. "Mai!"

"Really, Joey, it isn't. That was just a bit of fun, you know. I had to dress up as a Viking while I was in the first year." Mai said, examining a perfectly manicured fingernail.

"Okay. Fine, I believe you. But what's up with this? I mean, hello! I'm A CLOWN!!!" Joey said, pinching his fake red plastic nose between his index finger and thumb.

"That's okay, Joey. You don't need to complain about it. It's over, okay?" Mai insisted. She had the initiative to say, "But you know, you still look really adorable in the clown suit." She whispered and turned away. Joey couldn't believe what he heard. Mai actually thought that??? Geez, why was his heart doing ridiculous cartwheels and flip-flops? And he knew that he was blushing as red as a tomato!

'Come on, Joey! NOT IN FRONT OF EVERYONE!!!! ESPECIALLY IN FRONT OF MAI!!! STOP BLUSHING, DAMN IT!' Joey wanted to kick himself for looking like a fool.

"Hey, Joey, are you alright? You look as bright red as a tomato." Serenity commented, studying her brother's face carefully.

"Y-yeah! Whoops looks like I better get going if I want to go to my part time job at the pizza parlor! Catch up with you guys later!" Joey said quickly, excusing himself. "Bye!" his friends called after him.

"Don't forget to come home early, Joey!" Serenity reminded her brother reproachfully.

He waved to his friends until he was able to finally go the men's room, finding an empty cubicle and slamming the door behind him. He heard the men's room's door open once more and a mean cackle filled the room. 'Damn it! Tell me it's not them...' Joey pleaded silently. He was hoping that it was not the bullies who he had met. (A/N: That was in the 1st chapter.) But luck was not with Joey this time...

"WHEELER! WHERE THE HELL WERE YOU??? GET TO WORK! YOU HAVE 15 PIZZAS TO DELIVER!!! AND YOU'RE LATE!!! NEXT TIME YOU'RE LATE, YOU'RE FIRED!!!"

"Okay, okay," Joey said in a small voice. He was so embarrassed. All the people in the parlor were staring at him like he was some sort of alien, and his boss just humiliated him. And just because he couldn't get out of the men's CR because he wanted to avoid some bullies. Great. His life was so OVER.

He pushed through the 'Staff Only' back door and ignored the blank stares of the other employees. "Here ya go, Joey. Sorry it's a bunch, but you know the boss." Another employee named Stan told him sympathetically, handing him 15 pizza boxes.

"That's okay Stan. It's my fault, I was late." Joey said quickly, grabbing the pizzas in two hands, getting ready to head out of the door.

"Hey, wait, Joey, there was a really beautiful blond woman who was asking for you a while ago. She said that she just stopped by to know if you're okay. Is she your girlfriend?" asked another employee eagerly.

"Blond woman? Did she leave any name?" Joey asked, finding that his heart was beating wildly. He had never felt his heartbeat pace along that fast before.

"No, but she just wanted to say hi and know if you're okay. So is she your girlfriend?" the young girl asked, pushing her chestnut brown hair into a hairnet.

"Oh, I see. No, she's not my girlfriend... just a friend from school." Joey said, wanting to end the conversation as soon as possible. He was already beginning to turn red. And the last thing he wanted to happen now was hearing the other employees' laughter.

He rushed out the back door before anyone could ask him any more questions. He knew perfectly well that the girl who stopped by was Mai-it was really thoughtful of her, but he stiffened whenever he thought about her. He had never felt a spark like this before. Electricity and static was swarming to every inch of his body, and he knew that what he was feeling for Mai was not ordinary. Definitely not ordinary.

"Now where could Joey be? I told him not to be late for dinner." Serenity said aloud, pacing across the living room floor and looking at her watch impatiently.

It was not like Joey to be out this late. If he ever was late to dinner, it would be because of work. But that was rare for him. Serenity had tried calling the pizza parlor Joey worked for, but Joey was not there.

She was bursting from worry. Where could her brother have gone? She hoped fervently that he was all right. The phone rang and she scrambled up to answer it, hoping it was Joey.

"Hello?" she answered quickly.

"Hello. Is Joey there?" a female voice inquired.

Serenity heaved a sigh of relief. "Mai! It's me, Serenity! No, sorry, Joey's not here... I was wondering where he was... I called the pizza parlor a while ago and he wasn't there!"

"Oh, I see... I went there a while ago too myself. He wasn't there yet; I remember he left school early. I wonder what happened to him... But don't worry about your brother, Serenity, he's bound to come home soon." Mai reassured her.

"Okay... thanks! Whoops, gotta run... I need to finish cleaning my room. Okay, I'll tell Joey you called. Bye!" Serenity said and put the phone back.

2 hours later... Wheeler Residence

Joey Wheeler trudged up to the front door of his house. He inserted a key and opened the door quietly. He was so exhausted, and he wanted to collapse on the couch. But his sister, to his surprise, was pacing the living room floor so anxiously that he felt like something was wrong.

"Serenity!" he said.

"JOEY! There you are! Finally... I was really getting worried you know..." Serenity breathed slowly. The creases on her forehead disappeared and were replaced by a look of relief.

"Did you think I wasn't going to come home?" Joey said in a tired voice, flopping onto the couch.

"Yeah! As in..." She heaved a sigh of relief. Joey hated making his sister worry. He knew that Serenity can really get sensitive at times. She also had the sense to sermon him about getting home late.

"By the way, Mai called." Serenity said casually. She straightened out her long brown hair.

Joey's eyebrows shot up. "Really? What did she say?" he found himself asking eagerly.

"She wanted you to call her back."

"Really? Ok, Serenity, thanks!" Joey said quickly. Serenity clamped a smile on her face as she walked away from the room to leave her brother alone.

Joey quickly picked up the receiver, dialing Mai's number as fast as he could. His heart was beating so fast... KRING... KRING... two rings... come on... pick up! Joey screamed in his head.

At last...

"Hello?"

"MAI!" Joey nearly shouted, surprised even to hear his own voice. He never knew he'd react like that to a girl's voice. 'Joey, calm down, what do you think you're doing? Damn, you don't have to get weird in front of a girl!' he thought.

"Joey! Hi, it's nice to hear your voice." Mai said.

Joey was already red, and he felt like he had a giant fever. If a thermometer was put into his mouth, he was sure that it would shoot up to a hundred degrees. Then he started talking with Mai as if there was no tomorrow.

Serenity, meanwhile, grabbed the Domino phonebook directory and scanned the names under the letter K.

'K... K... Kaiba! There he is!' she thought excitedly as she spotted the name 'Kaiba, Seto.'

She grabbed the wireless phone in her bedroom, and flopping on her bed, she dialed the Kaibas' number. It immediately rang...

'Come on, please tell me he's home...' she thought.

Haha bad cliffie, sorry you guys! Yay! I finished Chapter 3 at long last! Please review!!! I'd honestly appreciate any comments, questions, or violent reactions... thanks! Tell me also if it's going crappy, corny or good... thanks so much! See ya next time!