Chapter Two: Opinionated

"No." There was a pause. "Absolutely not."

"Come on, Tristan, we should be happy for Joey. We should be excited!" Teah shifted her gaze from Tristan to Joey. "Well, I think you should totally do it. We'd miss you, obviously, but it's such a great opportunity for you and," she shifted her gaze back to Tristan, glaring at him, "we'll completely support you." She said through gritted teeth. Tristan gave her a sheepish grin.

"And we'll get to see you on TV!" Yugi chimed in.

"Yeah!" Duke cried excitedly.

"The TV's not the same as being there in person." Tristan defended with a pout.

"We can call him, too." Teah retorted.

"And there's Skype and FaceTime!" Yugi added. "It's not like there aren't ways to keep in touch, Tristan."

Joey stared at his friends as they talked. They all seemed to agree that he should go through with the pro duelist thing. Well, all but one. He looked at Tristan, who had his arms crossed, and asked, "Why don't you want me to do it, Tris?" If there was any reason that he shouldn't he'd like to know.

Tristan looked at Joey and answered hesitantly, "I dunno, I guess I'll just miss you, man. School's not the same without you. Hell, life's not the same without you. Imagine all that psycho shit happening without you there… it's impossible." The others seemed to agree with Tristan on that. "You're a necessary part of this group and… well, if you go away it's just not the same. But… I guess if we maintain communication—all of us—it could be like you're still here. So I guess I think you should do it, too." Tristan said, finally.

Joey took a deep breath. It had already been a couple of days since he'd met with… that man. He swore he had told him his name before, but it slipped his mind. He'd have to ask. Did it even matter, though? Whatever. It had been Friday and today was Monday, which was why his friends were only finding out now. He hadn't seen his friends all weekend due to having gone to see his sister in the next town over.

"My only real issue is…" Joey paused as he chewed on the thought, a slight look of distaste on his face. "…the fact that I'd be working for Kaiba."

Yugi eyed his friend remorsefully. "I'm sure it's not as bad as you're thinking. You probably won't even ever see Kaiba. From what you told us, it doesn't sound like he's all that involved in the agency's operations."

"I know for a fact that he's too busy dealing with some big new project to be paying attention to anything else. That, and some new device he's supposedly coming out with soon." Everyone stared at Duke, who gave them a look as if he'd expected that to be common knowledge by now.

"Since when do you know so much about what Kaiba's doing?" Tristan asked.

"I'm practically in the same business as he is; I have to know that stuff. Gotta keep up with the competition." Duke shrugged.

"I wonder what the project is all about. Do you have any clue, Duke?" Yugi questioned.

"All that's been leaked is that it's something about a school, but it's only on paper right now. Probably will take ten years or so to actually be finished, give or take. I don't know too much about it or if he's really trying to build a school."

Teah leaned forward. "He's got more patience than I've given him credit for if that's true." Everyone nodded in agreement. She addressed Joey now. "In any case, Joey, Kaiba's not gonna bother with you so don't even think about it." She smiled sweetly at him.

"Wait a second," Tristan said suddenly, "why wasn't Yugi approached for this?" Everyone suddenly looked at Yugi.

"Or was he?" Duke asked no one in particular. Yugi looked at everyone as they each looked to him for an answer. He shook his head.

"Don't look at me like that, I get nervous!"

"Were you approached to duel for them, Yug?" Joey questioned his friend. "I think I remember him saying something about me being highly recommended. Was that you?"

Yugi once again shook his head and waved his hands frantically. "N-no! It wasn't me. Yeah, I was approached, but I declined. I don't want to be a professional duelist or anything like that, but I didn't say anything about any recommendations. Honest."

The rest of them sighed and changed the topic.

The bell rang and they all simultaneously stood from the lunch table they had been sitting at and dumped the contents of their trays into the waste bin and split up to head to their next classes. Come day's end, they all walked out of the school gates talking and laughing amongst themselves.

A few more days passed and suddenly it was Thursday. Yugi perked up after school and invited them all to hang out at his house for a few hours. Everyone agreed minus Duke, who had to check up on his game shop. He regretfully waved goodbye and even hugged Joey before leaving. And then they headed off to Yugi's.

They watched TV, played a game or two, ate together, laughed together and, once it was time to go, cried together. They wanted to spend as much time as they could with Joey, now that they knew it was only a matter time before he'd be off travelling the country to duel. Tomorrow Joey would meet with the scout and get himself officially recruited.

And there you have it! Like I said last chapter, uploads will be sporadic. I'm sorry, but that's just my situation right now. But look at the bright side. At least we know what the next one's about! :D

Please review and have a good day!