Chapter 33 : New Arrangements
Stephanie woke up to the sound of a rather strange dispute, and opened her eyes to find that she was lying on a long, green couch, her body covered with a soft, blue blanket. She swerved her aching head to the side and found Yuko and Jack, facing opposite to each other on the kitchen table. She blinked, and started to recall what had happened. She had trespassed into Yuko's house, and then fainted, now she was lying comfortably on a sofa at Yuko's house as if nothing unusual had happened.
"You know what!? I give up! You win!" Exploded Yuko, and got up, not bothering to tidy up his cards that were spread over the table.
Jack chuffed. "So what's the score so far then? 15-0 to me?" he boasted, and slipped his cards back into his deck box.
Yuko shrugged and went over to clean the rest of the dirty dishes. "Anyway, you still owe me from the coffee which I paid for you a while back! Now go buy me one of those new booster packs", ordered Yuko mockingly.
Jack huffed. "You forgot to say please!" he replied, and stood by Yuko with his arms crossed.
Yuko smirked. "Please Jack! Will you go buy me a booster pack!"
Jack huffed and pulled out a golden covered booster pack from his white, coat pocket, placing it on the table. "Here it is, chum! Happy?"
Yuko smiled, and quickly finished cleaning the dishes, stacking the dried ones perfectly and put them all back into the cupboard next to the fridge.
He then turned round and walked back to the kitchen table so to reach for the booster pack, as Jack attempted to make himself a cup of tea.
"God! I hate making my own coffee! I prefer the ones which Stephanie makes", he stated, and accidentally spilled some coffee over his stainless, white boots, while Yuko was now looking though the new cards he had received.
Meanwhile, Stephanie tried to cover her face over with the blanket, blushing a little after having heard Jacks priceless complement.
"Ah ha! Finally! I've got it! My first 8 star Synchro!" cheered Yuko as he waved the new card in front of Jacks surprised face.
"Impossible", he stated, and snatched the card off Yuko. His eyes widened as he observed the Synchro's image and ATK points. However, he then smirked and tossed it over back on to the table. "It's a good card, too bad you can summon it", he remarked, now rather amused and sat back down on to his chair, holding a cup of home made tea in his hand.
"Wait? What do you mean?" asked Yuko quickly.
Jack smirked. "The only way to summon it is with a Dark Attribute tuner monster, which I know that you don't have, Yuko", he said mockingly, and Yuko picked up his card from the table to look at it more closely.
The card was called "Void Ogre Dragon" and Yuko shrugged as he read the summoning requirements.
"Damn", he commented, but decided to keep the new card anyway, and safely slid it into his black deck box. Yuko knew that the only 2 tuner monsters which he had presently were a Fire Attribute (Magna Drago) and a Light Attribute (Hanawata). He was missing a Dark Attribute tuner monster.
Yuko sighed and sat back down on his chair, watching Jack sip at his tea. Instantly, Jack made a face of disgust and was about to put down his cup of tea when he noticed Yuko grinning.
"How does it taste?" Yuko asked casually.
Jack snorted and sipped it proudly, trying his best to keep a straight face. "Quite acceptable", he replied, though it was obvious that he was lying.
Suddenly, the two friends heard a light chuckle coming from behind Yuko, and they both turned to find Stephanie giggling, her mouth covered over with the blanket as she tried her best not to laugh.
"Well well, look who's finally decided to wake up!" blurted out Jack, who decided to stop drinking his repulsive tea and emptied the rest of it's content down the kitchen sink, while Yuko wasn't looking.
Stephanie removed the covers and sat up, and felt a sharp ache on her forehead, causing her to yelp slightly.
"If you are wondering where you got that bump on the head from, ask Jack!" blamed Yuko cheekily.
Stephanie's eyes widened and she turned to glare at Jack. "Jack! Did you punch me when I was asleep?" She asked angrily, already aware about what had happened to Yuko's eye.
Jack shook his head quickly and turned to glare at Yuko, who was nodding in response to Stephanie's question.
"Yuko! Stop that! I didn't punch Stephanie, stop messing about with me!" denied Jack angrily."Though...I might have accidentally dropped you..."
Yuko started laughing and turned back to face Stephanie, his kind chestnut eyes meeting with hers. "When you fainted, Jack caught you, but dropped as he was moving you on to the sofa, causing you bumped your head on the concrete floor. I'm really sorry for not having caught you in time when you fell", apologized Yuko.
Stephanie sighed in relief. "Oh no no, it's ok. I'm the one that should be sorry since I was the one that trespassed into your house", she said, causing Jack and Yuko to exchange puzzled glances.
"Trespassing? What are you talking about? I invited you here remember?" said Yuko, confused by Stephanie's remark.
"Yeah, but it was only so to bring you hot chocolate", murmured Stephanie, causing Jack to scratch the back of his spiked-up golden hair in confusion.
Yuko smiled. "Oh, it doesn't matter", he reassured her and went over to sit on the sofa, next to her. "However, now that you bring that up, isn't the cafe gonna find it strange that you just left without your uniform?"
Stephanie shook her head. "No...you see...I just got fired", she confessed. "They didn't think that I was taking my work seriously and since I scared away Jack, they aren't making as much money as before and knew that I was the cause".
Jack sighed as Stephanie turned to face him. "L...look Stephanie I...", began Jack before being cut off.
"Say no more. It's all my fault anyway. I knew that you already had a girlfriend and got jealous, but I just never stopped to think about your feelings. I was selfish to think that you could just cheat on Carly and I'm sorry", continued Stephanie, a few tears building in her eyes.
Jack said nothing. He took a seat back on his chair and fiddled with the empty cup which used to contain the most tasteless tea he had ever tasted before tipping the substance down the sink.
Yuko sighed. "I'm really sorry to hear that", said Yuko pathetically. "I kinda feel responsible."
Stephanie quickly turned to face Yuko. "Oh no, I should have listened to you that morning, when you told me to leave Jack be with Carly. This is in no way your fault, Yuko", she assured.
Jack grunted. "Wait. What did Yuko say about me and Carly?" asked Jack, not sure where the conversation was going.
Yuko brushed away the question, still facing Stephanie's defeated expression. "Do you at least have a place to stay?"
Stephanie nodded and sniffed. "Yes, but not for very long, since I doubt I'll be able to find a job within the next week. Plus, I'm already late on my rent!".
Jack got up and straightened out his suit, having heard about enough of listening to Stephanie's sad situation and pointed at her. "Ok then, here's what I propose", boomed Jack intimidatingly. "You can work for us!"
Stephanie and Yuko both glared at Jack in astonishment from the sudden out burst.
"No no no, don't get me wrong. What I mean is that everyday, you come round and clean up this place, serve me up every day with a good cup of coffee that your so good at preparing, and sometimes do small errands that we tell you to do. In exchange, you'll be allowed to bunk here from time to time, you can eat and drink here and we'll pay the rent for your apartment every month instead! Plus, every week, you'll get some money just so that you can buy whatever you want, depending on how well you've worked" he exclaimed, in a very proud manner.
Stephanie stopped glaring, and took some time to think of the proposal. She would practically be under the same roof as Jack and Yuko, during the whole day and every day, working around the top duelists (Jack and Yusei) in the world. Sure, she didn't like the idea of serving coffee for Jack everyday, but to never have to pay for her apartment again! This was probably the best offer she could ever obtain!
"Jack! Stop joking around, will ya? This is serious, and where will we get the money to pay for her rent!?" stated Yuko, a slight tone of anger in his voice.
Jack smirked. "Oh, come on Yuko! Don't tell me that you've forgotten about the cheque which we are going to collect from Sayer later today?"
Yuko was about to protest, but then remembered about how he was going to be paid for having help Zane break out of prison. He sighed. "Yeah, but I doubt Stephanie is gonna like working here. I mean, around here it's almost always a mess, and I don't think she'll like the idea to be in a house filled with only boys!"
"No wait, Yuko. It's fine", declared Stephanie quickly and stood up, dragging the blanket with her as she walked over to face Jack challengingly. "I will accept your proposal, Jack!"
Jack grinned in a proud manner. "I thought you might..."
At 10:30am, Jack had just finished explaining Stephanie her duties, which Yuko did not approve of. He claimed that since their friend, Bruno (which Yuko hadn't a clue who he was) was never here, Stephanie would be taking his bed in case she needed to bunk over.
After Stephanie agreed to the terms, she told Jack and Yuko that she just need to get some things from her apartment before starting.
Yuko told Stephanie that Yusei and Crow might be back soon (since they had surprisingly decided to go food shopping, and Yusei had thought it best to take care of Crow's injuries instead of coming along to the Arcadia) and that she may need to explain the situation to them. She nodded excitedly and told him not to worry.
After 5 minutes, Yuko and Jack got all their gear together and made their way outside, leaving Stephanie to get started.
"Well, I must say. That was pretty kind of you, Jack", complimented Yuko, as they both walked over to their duel runners.
Jack turned to glare Yuko. "You thought that I did that out of kindness? I thought that it would be good to have a maid around the house so that I don't ever have to clean it ever again!" he said sternly, looking at Yuko with accusing eyes. Yuko grinned, remembering that he and Yusei had told Jack to clean the place up before Stephanie's arrival.
"Ok fine! As long as you won't boss her around all the time!" replied Yuko, and caught sight of Jack's gleaming "Wheel of Fortune" duel runner. He shrugged at the sight. It really down graded Yuko's duel runner which was parked right beside it.
"Alright Yuko! How about a race! First one to the Arcadia wins", bellowed Jack as he took a seat on to his majestic D-wheel. "The first one to reach the Arcadia wins!"
Yuko smirked. "Ok, but I'm not gonna hold back!"
Jack laughed and took off all of a sudden, before Yuko even had the chance to put on his helmet.
"Damn it!" thought Yuko, putting on his helmet and jumped on to his duel runner, quickly pushing the throttle to the max. His duel runner began to skid loudly on the spot, giving off some white steam, and then zoomed out though the garage doors and out on to the streets.
As he made it to the highway, he noticed Jacks runner far ahead of him. "Wow! That's a pretty fast duel runner", he thought, but tried his best to catch up.
At one point, Jack decided to slow down so to make conversation with Yuko.
"Honestly, Yuko! Is that the fastest you can go!?" he shouted in amusement.
Yuko shook his head quickly. "No way! My duel runner can go way faster than this!" he yelled back, causing Jack to chuckle.
"Well then, let's see if you can catch up with me!" he said, and sped up, causing him to fly forward leaving Yuko behind.
Yuko's eyes narrowed and looked down at the famous red button, which he had only ever used twice, and took a deep breath before pushing it.
Suddenly, another burst of fire came scorching out from the exhaust engine, pushing him up and right past Jack.
"What the..", yelped Jack in alarm as he was easily over taken. Yuko couldn't help, but laugh as he sped ahead, and even with his helmet on, Yuko's eyes began to water slightly from the insane, inhuman speed.
Jack growled to himself and pushed the throttle to the max. Even with the extra speed boost, Jack's bike wasn't quick enough and slowly fell behind, causing him to feel beaten (which was rare), and watched Yuko reach the Arcadia before him.
When they arrived, Jack couldn't hold himself to blurt out questions about what he had seen. "Yuko! How the hell did you get your duel runner so quick!? No one has ever beaten my duel runner apart from Yusei, and that was only by a little, but your D-wheel just stormed right past me without a problem!"
Yuko felt flattered. The turbo booster on his duel runner had just been a fun idea which he had had back in the Satellite . He didn't actually think that it would have worked until he tried it with Akiza and Yusei. "It's nothing, just a small adjustment", he stated proudly.
Jack shrugged and huffed. "Well then, when we get back to Yusei's, I want you to install one of those turbo boosters on my D-Wheel!" He ordered angrily, and the two friends entered the two large glass doors, entering the Arcadia.
Carly: Do you have any...sevens?
Yuko: ...
Yuko: No...go fish...
Jack: Don't lie, Yuko! I can see your hand!
Yuko: I hate this game -_-
Carly: To be honest, so do I...why did we start playing this?
Yuko: It was either this or "Yatzee".
Carly: Oh well...
Carly: To all you amazing readers, don't forget to Review! :D
Yuko: ...Please don't forget!
Carly: Now give me all your sevens...
Yuko: No! Their all mine! :3
Carly: T_T