Chapter 3
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Colors seemed to race from every direction over a black empty background. Vibrant greens and blues raced back and forth, up and down, and every diagonal. They looked like lights flashing and speeding, leaving trails of almost-color in their wake. The lights seemed to grow dimmer with every dance they performed, then within one second, they all went out. Sounds. There were no sounds. But strangely, there were. Almost like muffled sobbing. But it was more of an imaginary sound, like when you listen to nothing for a very long time, and your mind begins to get paranoid. The "sobbing" took up a rhythm, quiet and almost non-existent. It began to get louder, but as it did it changed. It was harsher, almost like footsteps, or a drum.
Few minutes passed before Serenity realized that she was listening to her heartbeat. It was slow and steady. Everywhere around her was still pitch black, so she fell back asleep.
Time slipped by slowly, but soon enough, she heard a creak, and opened her eyes. Her father had opened the door a bit, letting light in and waking her for school.
"Hey Serenity! Wow you look awful. Rough night?" Tea said. She was always the first one to meet Serenity in the morning.
"Yea, I had this weird nightmare . . . but I cant remember what it is, I can only remember lights . . . blue and green lights." She said, meeting her at her house. The walk from Serenity's house to Tea's was about 3 minutes, and everyone else was about 10-15 minutes away. Not a bad walk but still a bit long in such a section of town. Serenity and Tea walked in silence as they passed certain alleyways, and took lookout for each other. They made it into an almost spy-like game. One would look blankly down an alleyway, as not to look at anything in particular, in case there was someone down there, while the other looked around the street for anyone looking creepy. They had done it hundreds of times over the summer, and nothing had happened yet, so they weren't as worried as when Serenity had first moved there.
"Ren!" Joey called, waving. Tristan and Yugi joined suit, smiling and waving hello. A big smile stole across Serenity's face and she ran to meet with her brother. Tea, who also ran to meet with the friends, handed Yugi some money.
"Here, thanks for spotting me last night!" She said, somewhat out of breath.
"Hey, no prob." He said, taking the money, and putting it in his backpack.
"Yea, I just wish you could have made it Serenity." Tristan said, shifting his feet.
"I wish I could have come too, but Dad's really strict about curfew." Joey scoffed at the mention of his father, but just nodded.
"He's too hard on ya Ren. You're almost eighteen. You should be allowed to stay out later." He said, kicking pebbles into the street.
"Well, sometimes he does. He just . . . doesn't really know how to cook. And with money tight, he cant really afford to call for pizza or Chinese a lot."
"Yea, well, that shouldn't be your responsibility." Joey stopped and looked at his little sister. "You know, you could always move in with me. I know the place isn't that big, but you could have the bedroom, and I can sleep on the couch. It's a bit dirty and all, but it's home. . . . and . . . I wouldn't make you cook for me!" He smiled.
"I couldn't make you sleep on the couch Joey. I'm fine. I'll be fine. It's just more rules than you're used to." She said, pausing once to push through the large doors of the school. "Besides, you would so make me cook!" She said, rushing by him and laughing. "Bye! See you at lunch!"
"So, are you gonna run for student president, cause my vote's for you if you do." An annoyingly high voice squeaked.
"No."
"Why not?" Another chimed in.
" . . ." Kaiba closed his eyes and sighed. How quickly the migraines are forming today . . . First thing in the morning it was Mokuba with the orphanage papers, and now it's still too early for this annoying interrogation. "I don't want to deal with people like you asking me stupid questions." At that the student around him took a step back.
"Well, you kind of would be the logical choice." Chimed a new voice in the room. It was the voice of one of the very few people whose presence didn't entirely piss him off. Kaiba looked up at serenity's ever-changing honey eyes and lifted a brow. She smiled at him, like he was a naive little child, asking a silly question. "Knowing your status, wealth, and resources, you would probably be able to at least get a good deal on a great hall for prom with little more than a phone call. Let alone help with managing the schools fund raisers, seeing as you have a little bit of background in marketing." Her eyes glimmered as she teased him. She knew well, along with most if not all of the other people in the school, that his business was all about marketing, and if it wasn't for him, it's wouldn't be the masterpiece organization that it is.
"You would probably also really be able to aid your school council on how to better manage the senior week activities, and give greatly needed and appreciated advice on how to better run things during that hectic time." She said, looking away, and more thinking to herself then trying to convince him. "You would have to deal with a campaign and, how did you put it? 'People asking you stupid questions', or something like that. Yeah, you would have to deal with that all, but hopefully your status as a role model for most of the students here would mean that what you have to help us will stick to us and help us better run things in the future." She finished with another smile. Was she always this happy?
"Why do you care?" He said, after a long pause. "You're not even a senior, you have nothing to benefit." He said. Her smile didn't waver.
"It would seem like that, but your impression in this school is greater than you think if you really do believe I have nothing to gain. People follow you, whether you want them to or not." She said, leaning on his desk. Kaiba hadn't noticed her move through the crowd around him, but her words made sense. If he did something well, it would definitely be copied a few times, just because he did it. She would be able to go through the same senior year as the one he had planned, and for some reason that made him . . .happy? . . . . No . . .Content. It made him content.
"I'll think about it." He said, dismissing them all for the beginning of the class.
"With the student elections up and running, I think I am going to take this opportunity to give the first project of the year." Mr. Mizaki stood at the front of the classroom, talking as he wrote on the large blackboard behind him. "I want you all to make campaigns for the people you think should run. You can work in groups or pairs, and I'll even let you work alone. It would be best if you ran a campaign for someone in this class, seeing as they know about the project, but it's understandable if you dont see the people in this classroom as ideal for the assignment." He said, eying some troublemakers, who snickered in response. "Just make sure you inform the person you are supporting knows about the assignment and agrees to let you use them. There will be interviews and such, requiring their assistance." Lots of heads fell. Serenity looked across the room, wondering why so many people were dampened by the statement.
"Kaiba will never agree to that . . ." One girl said behind Serenity, whispering to a friend.
Ah. So they all wanted to run campaigns for him. Serenity giggled. She had someone else in mind.
"So . . . Are you going out with Kaiba?" Serenity spit the remaining juice she had planned to drink all over her friends face.
"What?" She said, after a poor attempt at wiping the juice from Tea's blouse.
"Well, word is that he gave you his number, and that he asked you to sit next to him in your music class." She said, wiping at the juice, then giving up after a while. Serenity almost laughed.
"He gave me the number to his house so I could call Mokuba, and do you really think Joey wouldn't be making a big scene if Seto Kaiba came up to his little sister and ask-"
"Ren, You are forbidden to date Kaiba!!!" Joey said, barging into the lunchroom and making a scene. Heads turned, Serenity turned red, the whole room got quiet. Perfect.
"Joey, I'm not dating Kaiba!" She whisper-yelled, pulling him down into the seat next to her. "I got his number so that I can call Mokuba, and we made it sound like I got his number for other reasons so the girls at lunch would leave him alone. We're barely friends!" She said, as sternly as whispering allowed.
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Kaiba stepped out of the lunch line, cursing himself for forgetting his lunch and having to eat cafeteria food. He immediately noticed that the room was dead silent. People had their heads turned down to their food, quietly eating. He noticed a few more glances at him than usual, and, unusually, a quite a few at Serenity, who was talking almost angrily at her mutt brother. So she wasn't always happy. That was a relief: No one should be happy all the time. It wasn't right.
After a few confused minutes, he decided on a course of action.
"What's going on in here?" He asked, leaning between Serenity and her brother, separating them from their conversation. He wasn't going to put up with anything more today. If it was possible, the room got even more quiet. People weren't even trying to hide their curiosity anymore. They all stopped eating and turned their attention towards the objects of their gossip.
"Hey! I was talking here! Get lost, we dont want your company." Joey said, trying to push Kaiba out of the way. He just glared at him, not budging before turning back to Serenity.
"Can I talk to you where we're not in front of people?" She said, standing, and staring him in the eye. He nodded and started for the exit.
"No way. No way! No! You cant take her all alone. I'm going too. I dont trust you!" Joey said, straining Kaiba's last nerve.
"What the hell do you think I would do with her? I just want to figure out what the fuck is going on! Like I'd fucking spend one more minute than I have to with a disgusting dog's sister." He almost screamed. He didn't need all the damned added stress. There was so much going on in his life right now that needed attention and wasn't getting it. He had company sellouts, mergers, new systems coming out of testing, new systems starting testing, the launch of the Virtual games, all the school projects, Mokuba's broken ankle, and grades, and projects, and all around hyper-activity. The stress would have made anyone else snap sooner.
" . . . What did I do to you?" The voice almost seemed non-existent, like a ghost's. Serenity stood less than three feet from him, eyes filled with raw hurt. Kaiba said nothing, but went from extremely angry to almost . . . guilty? He couldn't move while she was looking at him like that. He never looked away, though he felt like he should. "Fine. I get it. You don't want or need anyone. Hell you probably don't even like anyone, and I'm no different." She smiled, pushing the obvious hurt in her eyes back, and straightening herself.
She suddenly wasn't herself. Her eyes seemed hollow and empty. Her posture was one he had seen a hundred times or more; the one of a cold, uncaring, and unfeeling corporate official. It wasn't Serenity, but somehow, he had seen this before. He remembered this. It was familiar. It wasn't right.
She broke him from his thoughts by turning and leaving without a word. He was almost inclined to follow her, but he would see her soon enough.
"Ren, ya ok?" Kaiba heard Joey ask as he stepped into the room, invoking silence and a glare from the dog. Serenity was sitting at the keyboard. She only looked at Kaiba briefly, checking who Joey was giving the dagger glare to, smiled hesitantly, and resumed playing at the keyboard. Kaiba only moved to the full piano, and seated himself. It seemed like Victoria, the blond annoying girl, was absent.
It was only the third day of this class, and the years before he had played by himself, but it just felt . . .lonely. Like someone was supposed to be annoying and take up too much space next to him. Or using up half of the piano so he was limited to certain practices and songs. It seemed odd, especially for only the third day of class.
Unknowingly Kaiba had subconsciously turned his head and had begun to stare at her. She had a smile on her face and was joking with her brother as if he hadn't said anything to her at all during lunch. Like if he walked over and talked to her just then she would greet him with a smile and joke like it happened 15 years ago, rather than 15 minutes.
He shook himself out of it. He couldn't be spending time meant for class on thinking about girls. This was his relaxation class. This was his chance to shake his stress and fall in love with the music he wrote and played. He began to play, but something was wrong. He couldn't get the third measure right. His figures were slipping and he was starting in the wrong areas. He couldn't shake the image of her falling into herself in the lunchroom. The hollow empty eyes. Where did he remember that from? Why was it so familiar?
He slammed his fists down hard on the keys after messing up the Moonlight Sonata for the sixth time. He stood abruptly, and glared at the teacher, who just nodded and returned to the guitarist he was working on. He briskly walked to the door, ending the dramatic display, and quietly slammed it behind him.
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^.^ As much as I hate giving Kaiba bad days, I LOVE giving Kaiba bad days!
Thanks for the reviews! Every Review is worth more than the greatest treasure to me, because the confidence it gives inspires me to do the greatest I can, and there is no price I could put on that!