Chapter 4

A/N: Hello! Sorry it was really long until I updated this. I just am not good at thinking up the next chapters, once I upload one chapter. Big writer's block, and I can't get rid of it. Anyways, here's chapter 4.

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

It was a cold morning, and Joey Wheeler felt cold shivers come up his spine. He stretched his arms and yawned. It was too early to be off to school, but once he got up, he couldn't sleep again.

His thoughts loomed to one thing, which was Mai. He had a long talk with her last night, and he felt like she was the only one whom he could talk to nonstop. He found himself thinking about her. No matter what he tried to do, he just couldn't stop. He felt different about Mai-like he was developing some sort of crush on her.

Tucking his hands in the pockets of his shorts, he quickly stepped in the bathroom to take a short shower. When he finished, he was ready for school, but it was still an hour before it started.

He thought that it would be great to be early for once. So he set off eagerly for school. He was in perfect school spirit, and that happened only once in a blue moon.

But as he thought, something else bothered him. Serenity was acting weirdly all night yesterday. After he finished his talk with Mai, she was still hanging eagerly around, saying that she was finishing her homework, but Joey believed that she had finished it and was just waiting for him to stop using the phone.

He didn't mention it, and cheerfully let his sister use it. But she had a nice blush on her cheeks like he'd never seen before, and she was suddenly energetic. Was it possible that she had met someone new and was developing a crush on him? Joey pondered over this. He was usually protective over his sister, especially in situations like this.

And speaking of Serenity, she was coming out of the door, her hands in her pockets. She didn't look as hyper as she was yesterday. And she didn't look remotely happy today. Perhaps it was a bad day for her today.

"Are you okay, Seren? You look…down." Joey commented.

"Um, I'm fine, Joey. I bet you're really eager to get to school, huh? Why this early?" she said, yawning.

"Yeah, just felt like it." Joey smiled and his thoughts slipped back to Mai.

"Hey Mai! Wait up!" called a voice behind her. Mai spun around and saw Joey Wheeler running towards her. "Hey Joey," she called and smiled. Joey was panting when he reached her.

"Phew. I was pretty early to school and I walked around the whole school and I got these for you." He said, stretching out his arm to give Mai a small bouquet of flowers. They were bright, yellow daffodils, matching her golden locks.

"Wow, Joey, they're beautiful," Mai said. Joey pretended to tie his shoelaces but instead he was spying on Mai's reaction. She was looking at the flowers intently, and she had a sad look on her face for a moment. Joey wondered why. Why should she be sad when she had just received flowers? Any girl would have been happy.

Joey was determined to know why, without asking Mai. 'I need to know what's bothering her…' he thought carefully and walked Mai to her classroom.

"So…" Mai said, trying to start a conversation. Joey walked on casually, carrying his backpack. "So, are you still dueling?" she began at last.

"Yeah! I'm getting better than ever. I want to become a really good duelist." Joey said cheerfully. "What about you, are you still dueling?"

A slightly sad look passed her face, and she said, "Yes. But I don't practice as much anymore."

Joey bit his lip. He didn't know how to find out the information he needed, as a concerned friend. After all, if he was a true friend, he needed to know how to cheer up his friends, right?

"Oh." Joey said. "Why don't you duel much anymore? You used to be so competitive and all that." He commented.

"Um… something came up." She said.

'Something is just not right here,' Joey thought. He guessed that he would just have to ask Mai to tell him all about it. "Come on, Mai, what's the matter?" he asked reproachfully.

"I-I'm fine, really," she said but a tear rolled down her cheek.

"Mai, you can trust me." Joey said soothingly, leading her out onto the grounds, away from the attentions of many other students.

"I just don't know what to do anymore," she blurted once they were alone. She had burst into tears. "I can't tell you, Joey, I'm sorry." She said sorrowfully, burying her face in her hands.

Joey reached out and gave her a hug, and his spine tingled. "Sshh… it's ok, Mai… it's ok if you don't want to tell me," he said quietly.

"Hey, Wheeler, don't tell me you two are going out." Said a really ruthless voice, appearing in front of Joey and Mai.

"KAIBA!" Joey yelled, and he felt the extreme desire to pummel the CEO into pieces. "WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING, SPYING ON US?!" Joey accused. He was already standing up, confronting the tall Seto Kaiba.

"I was not spying on your romantic moment, mutt." Kaiba said scornfully, giving a sinister smirk. "But I can't believe it myself," he continued, injecting more venom into his voice, "that you and Valentine are going out. Only a really bad matchmaker would have made a disgusting match like that. Imagine, Valentine would go out with a sickly mutt?"

Insulting as his words were, Kaiba looked like he didn't regret them at all. He smirked evilly.

"SHUT THE HELL UP, KAIBA!" Joey yelled.

"Stop, Joey… he's not worth all your yelling. Come on," Mai said suddenly and grabbed Joey's arm, dragging him away from Kaiba.

Meanwhile, Serenity was miserable. She knew it-she had a huge crush on Seto Kaiba. She didn't know how or why it happened, but suddenly she couldn't look him in the eye, and her heart pace was moving faster than ever when she walked past him.

And the worst thing was that she couldn't tell anyone, especially Tea, who was too inquisitive, and wanting to know more about her private life. She was not Serenity's best friend, and was totally exasperated whenever Tea was snooping around her life.

And speaking of Tea, she had just gone over to Serenity and spotted her looking at Kaiba. "No way, girl, he is WAY out of your league." Tea remarked ruefully.

"What, me? Have a crush on him? No way." Serenity lied.

"I don't think so… you were looking at him with some weird look in your eyes." Tea commented. Serenity was more annoyed than ever.

"For one thing, I know he's going out with super beautiful, rich and devastatingly popular Misuko Hoyagi." Tea said, "Plus I don't think he likes the fact that you're Joey's sister," she added after an afterthought.

Serenity suddenly felt dejected but she didn't show it. "What do I care?" she said. Just then, Kaiba passed by, talking to a girl about her age with raven black long hair, acid green eyes with long eyelashes, and a pretty face. A miserable feeling cast through Serenity. She remembered how she tried to call him yesterday evening, and how it didn't work… because he was out that night. 'But I think that was quite daring…' said a voice in her head.

'I don't care. What's wrong with getting to know him?' Serenity challenged.

'But you are way out of his league. No matter what you do, I think he won't fall for someone like you. He's got a really beautiful girlfriend, and you don't stand a chance, as Joey's sister.'

'You are starting to sound like Tea. She doesn't think there's hope for me either. Why can't you just believe that there's hope? And besides, I think I like him… I just don't know what Joey would say…'

'See? You know that your brother doesn't think that you are a good match. And he's already taken.'

'I don't care. I want to get to know him. I feel like there is some good in him that Joey doesn't see. And I just need to find it.' Serenity thought determinedly.

'You are so stubborn. Never mind, I give up trying to convince you.'

And then it was quiet once more in Serenity's mind.

A/N: So I guess that's it for Chapter IV… stay tuned… and please review. Any comments, suggestions, or violent reactions are welcome.