Chapter 9: A Day in the Life of Cary

Duel Academy, like so many colleges, had a student-driven school paper. Unlike other colleges, the paper was called The Daily Duelist. Yeah, maybe it's not all that creative, but what do you expect from a founder who named the school "Duel Academy"?

Cary was trying to finish up her article on part-time jobs available for students when someone stepped up behind her and called her name. She wasn't really paying attention because she was trying to finish before she forgot what she wanted to say, but she could tell it wasn't a regular reporter or editor because they always start talking right away.

"Part-time jobs? This is your big article of the week?"

Without looking up, Cary said, "I'll be with you in a minute, Matt. I just want to finish this thought."

Matt simply watched and waited for thirty full seconds as she typed away at light speed. "I just wanted to—"

"Finish a thought," she interrupted him and continued typing.

After another thirty seconds went by and she was still clacking away at the keyboard, Matt asked, "What are you writing? The Magna Carta?"

"Just sit over there," Cary snapped. She didn't actually point anywhere, but Matt noticed the green couch just a few feet away. When he sat on it, he could actually see into five cubicles pretty easily, but he only watched Cary's to see when she'd finally stop tapping away at the keyboard.

Finally she stopped typing, looked over what she wrote, and spun around in her chair so she could see Matt. "Is this a long favor you want to ask, or a short one?"

"A short one." She spun back to her computer, typed a few more keys, saved the file in two locations, then spun back around and stood up to stretch her legs while she spoke with Matt.

"How's the article coming?"

Cary scoffed at him. "I thought you said this would be a short one."

He made a face and asked, "How do you have time to do all the things I ask you to do when you're so busy?"

"It varies depending on the day of the week," she reminded him. "We print twice weekly and tomorrow's one of them. Besides, you're one to talk about being busy. How do you have time to come here and chat me up about the school paper?"

"I told Dr. West that I needed about an hour to come here and try to recruit you to Team OTK."

Cary folded her arms across her chest and put on a hidden smile. "It's about time." Then she asked, "Wait. Why do you need an hour for that?"

"I told him I had no idea how long a duel with you would take, so I just asked for an hour off. He's actually very flexible with the schedule most of the time; as long as I finish up these lectures by the end of the month, he doesn't mind letting me put it off a little. He's not going to use them until next semester's class."

But Cary had a look of disgust on her face. Matt was hesitant to ask why. "You were going to make me duel you? I've already dueled you a dozen times. You know how I duel. I've even beaten you once."

"I didn't say I was going to duel you. I told Dr. West I didn't know how long a duel with you would take. It was just an excuse for me to get out of the office for a little while and take a nap. You think anyone will mind if I confiscate this couch for a while? It's actually rather cushy." He yawned and stretched himself out across the couch with his feet propped up on the arm rest.

"Really? You just came here to take a nap? How can you sleep someplace public like this, and one so noisy?"

"Work has me exhausted," he replied. "I can sleep anywhere."

"What makes you think I won't draw on your face while you sleep?" He admitted he had no defense against such a possibility except that she was too busy to spend time on such a juvenile prank. She admitted he might be right. "Did you at least bring an OTK badge to prove you were going to let me join regardless of the outcome of a duel?"

He already got comfortable on the couch and had his eyes closed. "It's in my back pocket. I'll get it when I get up."

Cary stepped up and reached into his pocket anyway. "I'm not afraid of your ass," she told him. She did take notice, though, that it was pretty much as solid as Kasumi described it to her. The OTK badge was a little patch with ornate, golden letters that could be sewn onto a Duel Academy jacket. Most members, Matt included, wore it on the left shoulder. She could probably have it sewn on by the weekend, but she'd have to wait for Matt to awaken before he could tell her officially when the first meeting is. Then again, she was pretty well informed about campus activities, and her best friend was an intimate part of Matt's schedule, besides; she knew how to find out when and where Matt goes for OTK meetings.

She let Matt sleep and returned to her desk. As she returned to her article, her editor Jerry McCulloch walked over to ask her about her article. Before he starting talking, he noticed Matt lying on the couch with his eyes closed. He pushed aside his curiosity about Dr. West's assistant taking a nap in his newsroom and turned his attention to Cary.

Softly, he asked, "How's it coming?"

"Why are you whispering?" she asked in her normal voice. "I slipped him some Benedryl. He's not going to wake up for a while."

Jerry didn't realize she was making a joke, which is just as well because Cary thought that was funny, too. Instead, he took another look at Matt before asking Cary if she needed a round of editing before the four o'clock deadline.

"I doubt it," she replied. She sped through another minute of typing and loudly clapped the desk when she reached the end and hit the "Print" button. "That's lunch." She stood and threw her notebooks into her bag, then she patted Jerry on the shoulder and said, "The article is on the printer." On her way out, she smacked Matt's butt just like a football player and said, "Thanks for the badge."

Cary's lunch on Thursdays usually involved meeting Lucy and Kasumi at the blue dining hall. Kasumi didn't have immediate access to the building, but as long as she joined up with either of her blue-resident friends, she was allowed into the building without issue. At least she developed thick enough skin to ignore any comments some of the less mature residents who lacked appropriate respect for lower-ranked students.

Cary walked into the dining hall without her blue jacket, instead wearing a purple sweater atop her blue skirt.

"Where's your jacket?" Kasumi asked her.

"I dropped it off at the bookstore. One of the people in the clothing section is going to sew my new OTK badge onto the shoulder for me."

"You made it in?" Lucy asked and congratulated her friend.

"It wasn't a big stretch," Cary pointed out. "I do have an 'in' with the guy in charge."

"So do I," Kasumi replied, "but I didn't get invited."

"He's just worried that doing so will seem like nepotism," Cary commented. And she was absolutely correct; Kasumi didn't do much in her duels in terms of one-turn-kills. Besides, Kas wasn't exactly eager to join the team. She didn't like it when Matt gave her advice on adjusting her deck, and she really didn't like the idea of being in a group where she was inferior to him. "You have easy access to him, anyway."

"Well, it's not easy," Kas admitted, citing his busy schedule, "but we make it work." She took a bite from her plate and then asked Lucy, "How's Bryan? I saw him flirting with Numbers Harper this morning."

"That's not news," Lucy said. "He tends to flirt with everyone. And he's sucking up to Numbers lately because he really wants to get on Team Lockdown."

"It didn't seem like the 'sucking up' kind of flirting."

"Don't worry about it," Lucy assured her. "Bryan is… hesitant. He's used to flirting and dating around. I'm the longest-lasting girlfriend he's ever had. He's just worried about committing."

"Exhibit A in the world of men," Cary commented dryly.

Kas suggested, "Maybe you should write an article about men." Cary reminded her that the school paper doesn't have a "personals" section and that article would only cover about two hundred words, besides.

"What you should write about," Lucy offered, "is that Ghost Duelist everyone keeps talking about."

"You're probably right," Cary agreed. "It will go well in my article about the unicorn and yeti infestations that have been spotted in the locker rooms at the gym. And the ones about Sarah Palin's daughter with the 200 IQ." Sarcasm came easily to her.

"Jason is convinced the Ghost Duelist is real."

Kasumi asked, "Who's Jason?" Lucy described to her Jason Maxim, one of the freshman prefects who Lucy was tutoring so he could understand the use and versatility of spell counters a little better. "I'll bet Bryan loves you spending so much time with another guy."

"Bryan's part of the problem. He keeps telling Jason he's an idiot, and he always tries to look even bigger than he already is when Jason's around."

"Men do that to look intimidating," Cary said. "And Bryan's obviously threatened by Jason. Even if you think Bryan has commitment problems, Jason wouldn't bother him so much if Bryan didn't think you might have a crush on the freshman."

Lucy suddenly blushed and looked down at the table. "Well, I think Jason has a little crush on me." Kas asked why she thought that. Lucy suddenly became very coy and reluctant to offer any more information.

With a somewhat panicked expression on her face caused by all the thoughts that sprung to mind, Cary asked, "Did you sleep with Jason?"

"No!" Lucy eagerly replied. "We just… we almost kissed."

"You almost kissed?" Kasumi repeated.

Lucy nodded. "That means something, doesn't it?"

"Of course," Cary said. "In junior high." Realizing the situation was nothing significant, she returned to her food. Kasumi picked up the conversation, though.

"Is he cute?"

Lucy sighed. "Yes, he's cute. But it's just because he seems so sweet and pays a lot of attention to me. I guess there are times when I worry that Bryan flirts with other girls because he's not that interested in me."

"It sounds like he's not the only one with commitment problems," Cary said. "If you're worried about Bryan, talk to Matt. Tell him what you're thinking and what you want to find out that Bryan's not saying. He'll talk to Bryan for you, and he'll be discreet about it."

"They're basically the same person," Kasumi replied. "If you kissed Matt, I don't think that would count as cheating. Not that I'm suggesting you do it."

Cary argued, "That's not true. Matt is dependable and he knows how to keep a secret even from Bryan." Her words trailed off at the end as Mitsuro Itachu approached the table at high speeds and with heavy steps. She wore her uniform as usual, but the collar and her hair were in slight disarray, suggesting her quickened pace lasted longer than just since she entered the dining hall.

Mitsuro pounded her hands down on the table and said, "I just heard that your name was bounced around as a School Duel participant."

Cary made a face as she took her hand off her glass, which she grabbed to prevent it from falling over when Mitsuro landed. "So what? They considered me last year, too, before Matt beat me for the spot."

"Last year they specifically wanted a freshman. This year it's supposed to go to whoever's better. The rumor is the Godwin representative is using a deck of uncommon but very powerful cards. That describes my deck perfectly!"

"Mine, too," Cary argued. Then she noted, "Actually, it seems like everyone on this campus has a unique deck… or at least uses unique cards. What are the odds no one else on campus but Bryan would use Elemental Heroes?"

"They're tough to win with," Lucy pointed out.

Mitsuro returned them to the topic. "You don't even have time to be the Duel Academy representative. You've got articles to write and homework to do for all your advanced classes."

"I still have time to duel," Cary countered. "It is called Duel Academy. Why do you want it so badly?"

"I'm applying for a Navy grant next year, and having the School Duel victory under my belt vastly improves the odds of getting it."

"Is this about that boat picture on the wall in your office?" Lucy asked.

Mitsuro looked at her and said, "It's not a 'boat'; it's a ship. And yes, I am trying to add as many points to my resume as I can to improve my chances of getting on the crew. Why else would I be resident advisor to a bunch of students who couldn't care less about a resident advisor?"

Cary pointed out, "You're not the only one who could benefit from more resume points. But I'll be happy to settle this the Duel Academy way."

"Fine." Mitsuro reached in her bag and pulled out her cards. "Let's duel."

Cary made a face. "Not now. I'm eating here, and I have to run back to the newsroom to check on my article and make sure Matt got out okay."

"Matt's in the newsroom?" Kasumi repeated. Cary relayed that Matt wanted a nap and used the Team OTK recruitment as an excuse to get out of the administration building and away from his office.

Returning to Mitsuro, Cary offered, "Either hit me up after dinner tonight or take the time to fill out a proper 'Duel Request' form."

"Fair enough," Mitsuro admitted. "After dinner, then. We'll meet in front of the RA office." Cary agreed, and Mitsuro apologized for interrupting lunch.

Kasumi leaned forward and asked, "Do you really have time for the School Duel?"

"Absolutely. I was frustrated earlier because I was passed over for the chance to write the article covering the duel, but now I have a perfect in: an article from the perspective of the Duel Academy representative. After the article I wrote last year about the Shadow Realm, this one will be an excellent addition to my portfolio."

"What's Bryan going to think when he finds out you want to duel in his place?"

"He'll do the honorable thing and stand aside if he knows what's good for him," Cary joked. "So this Ghost Duelist…" Cary said suddenly, changing the subject so she wouldn't have to clarify her vague threat. "Did Jason say what kind of deck he uses?"

Lucy answered, "Some kind of zombie deck. He supposed to be really good, but only a couple of people have seen him so far. He dueled two freshmen simultaneously and beat them both. Ty and Clyde Something-or-other."

"A trained monkey could beat those two," Cary replied. "Does anyone know what this Ghost Duelist looks like?"

"No one's gotten a good look at him. He sticks to the shadows, like so many mystery duelists."

"Did they track his Duel Disk?" No one had an answer for that. Cary smirked. "Well, there's a good place to start. They can find out if there's even a real person on the other end of Ty and Clyde's story." She finished chugging her glass of water and grabbed her tray. "Well, I am headed back to the newsroom for a bit. I will see you, Kas, in class later, and I will see you, Lucy, whenever I get back to my room this evening."

The class to which Cary referred was a general education course focused on psychology. The course included introductions to some of the biggest names and events in psychology's history, but it had a special focus on social psychological concepts because the professor, Dr. Sasha Kerr, was a social psychologist by trade and held a bias toward her discipline. Mostly the class was a 200-level course attended by sophomores, but it was not uncommon for people to put it off and take it junior year.

Even though seating was not assigned, Cary usually sat in the same seat anyway, next to Kasumi and Darius. Cary and Kas were roommates in the Red Dorm freshman year, and she got to know Darius when he became Matt's roommate during the same year. The class was also attended by a particularly rambunctious group of Yellow duelists centered on Vic Rocks. He was still riled up by the idea of a Ghost Duelist somewhere on the island who was better than both of his flunkies Ty and Clyde. He was discussing the issue heatedly with his friend/rival Abel Shinzou, a black student who looked more like a basketball player than a duelist.

Was it possible this guy was a real ghost, or were Ty and Clyde just idiots… Better question: Was it possible this guy was a ghost despite the fact that Ty and Clyde are idiots? How would a ghost manage to duel? Does he play invisible cards? Was his big trump card called Casper?

"Would both of you shut up?" Hayley Wilson screamed. She gave them a particularly dirty look and her voice was a little strained, like it was lower in pitch than usual. "Stop talking or I'll eat your children."

"What's your problem?" Vic shouted back. "If you've got a problem, why don't we duel it out?" He whipped out his Duel Disk and turned it on. Hayley reached for her own deck.

"Don't start a duel now," Dr. Kerr interrupted. "Class is about to begin. Play High Card or something short." She sighed to herself as she gingerly sat in her chair. "Cary. Could I speak to you for a moment?" Cryptic, but Cary just hoped it didn't have anything to do with the thirty pounds Dr. Kerr was putting on.

Kasumi was still watching Hayley and Vic circle one another like two dogs in the park. "Hayley's awfully bitchy lately. You think she's on her period?"

"Twelve days out of the month?" Cary pointed out. She suggested as a more likely situation, "She's probably bipolar and refuses to take her meds." She left Kasumi to enjoy the show while she went to find out what Dr. Kerr wanted.

Dr. Kerr spoke more softly when Cary approached the table at the front of the classroom. "I'm getting ready to go on leave," she explained. Cary could understand that; Dr. Kerr was starting to arch her back so much she looked like she was in permanent yoga mode.

"Is everything okay?" Cary asked.

"Oh, sure. Everything's fine. It's just getting harder to get up and down all the time."

"You're probably also responsible for the drastic drop in milk on the island." Dr. Kerr chuckled at the part-joke, part-pregnant woman commentary.

"Erica Dawkins is going to cover a few of my classes while I'm gone. I wanted to ask if you would consider being a teaching assistant. I know you are busy with your own things, which is why it's perfectly alright to say 'no.' But Erica is also pretty busy and could use the extra help from my best student. It wouldn't be for this class, of course, but for the dueling classes you took last year. And particularly for the technical writing class."

"Well, sure," Cary agreed. "You probably considered Sean after that essay he wrote on god's grudge against New Orleans, but I'm sure the deciding factor was that I've never misspelled my own name."

"Is that a 'yes'?"

Cary nodded and said, "I like Erica. I'm happy to help."

Dr. Kerr put on a big smile. "I'm so glad to hear it. Let me give her email address so you two can get together and discuss how you want to do things."

"I've already it," Cary said. "I did date her roommate for a little while. We used to hang out." She felt compelled to admit coyly, "She may have already told me that you were going to ask me to be her assistant, and so I've already had time to think about it and try to figure out my schedule."

"Well, that ambition is why I feel confident leaving you two in charge."

Cary started to head back to her seat, but then she stopped and looked back at her temporary teacher. "Who's replacing you for this class?"

"Dr. Apple volunteered. He's also got a psychology degree."

"Any chance I could suck up to you more? His tests are always full of trick questions."

"I'm still writing the tests," Dr. Kerr assured her. "And he's still going to teach according to the agenda you received at the beginning of the semester." That was a relief. Dr. Apple was known for his tendency to wander off topic and ask questions about that tangent just to find out who was listening during class and who zoned out. He also liked to ask questions about information contained in the addendum boxes in the text book—you know; those little bits of information in the Tables and Figures that aren't actually part of the main text.

Cary replied, "Thank god for email."

Cary spent the rest of the day in class and made a quick trip to the gym before meeting up with some friends for dinner. Afterward, she headed back to the Blue Mansion to finish some homework and give Erica a call about how she wants Cary to do the assistant gig.

Each of the suites in the Blue Mansion was a collection of three large dorm rooms alongside a common bathroom. One of Cary's suitemates was Naoko Kojima. She was a beautiful, mirror-wielding student who was fairly content to be just among the best duelists in the school as long as she got to remain the most attractive. When Naoko wasn't around, Cary referred to her as "Mirror, Mirror" in reference to the witch from Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. And Naoko was a very physically attractive woman, but her snobbish attitude stopped even Bryan from hitting on her; what does that tell you?

Speaking of Bryan, Cary's other suitemate was Lucy, and Bryan was standing outside her closed door at the moment trying to peer in through the keyhole, which was inside the knob and provided as much visibility into the room as a cow's rectum.

"If you're trying to find your marbles," Cary suggested, "I'd start by looking somewhere bigger."

"Very funny," Bryan muttered. "Lucy's in there with another guy."

Now Cary was intrigued. "You mean with another guy?" Then she realized what was more likely happening: Lucy was probably having one of her tutoring sessions with Jason and Bryan was just getting in the way. Lucy mentioned earlier that Jason's lack of confidence stems from people calling him an idiot all the time.

"Well, he is!" Bryan insisted. "But he isn't unconfident."

"What do you mean?"

"I think the little weasel is trying to steal Lucy from me."

Cary chuckled. "Well, women love it when their boyfriends play the 'paranoid' card, so if you want to stay on Lucy's good side, I suggest you find a new hobby than treating a locked doorknob like a kaleidoscope."

"I'm not paranoid. I know what horny little guys like that are thinking."

"It takes one to know one."

Bryan huffed when he realized he set that up, but he wasn't discouraged. He knew he was right about Jason even if there was no proof, and no matter how many times Lucy threw him out for interrupting their tutoring sessions, he would find out exactly what Jason was really up to. The little punk didn't seem threatened by Bryan, but maybe the kid's roommate knew what he was planning. A little shakedown on Clinton could be fun; it'd been a while since Bryan hogtied someone.

"Lucy also wanted me to tell you that you can't do this upcoming School Duel."

"Why not?" Bryan wondered aloud, not really caring enough to turn around.

"I want it. If I go ahead and do it this year, I can write a first-person narrative of the School Duel for the paper and really get my reputation set early."

"I thought that thing you did last year about the Shadow Realm experience built your reputation." Cary admitted that was true, but she wanted something new to work on. Besides, a lot of people still thought the Shadow Realm piece was exaggerated and a work of fiction; not a lot of people believed in the Shadow Realm these days.

"That's fine," Bryan conceded.

Cary look surprised. "That was easier than I expected. Did Lucy hit you in the head when she threw you out?"

"Matt and I talked to Garry Daher earlier." Garry was the Godwin representative at last year's School Duel. He dueled against Matt with an Infernity deck and almost won; it was one of the toughest decks Matt ever faced. "He said the representative they have this year is nowhere near as good as he was. I'd rather wait for a higher class of opponent. Or my senior year; whatever comes first."

"Fair enough," Cary replied. When Bryan asked if the weak opponent bothered her, she told him, "It's not the opponent is weak; just weaker than Garry. He's obviously good enough to climb to the top of Godwin's duel chain."

"Well, have fun with that," Bryan said and resumed peering through Lucy's doorknob.

Cary just shook her head and went into her room and propped the door open just slightly. She was in there for maybe twenty minutes when the door burst open all the way and the intimidating visage of Mitsuro Itachu stood in the doorway. Standing tall and with her hands on her hips to make her seem as big and broad as possible, she smiled at Cary. "It's time to duel."

Cary scoffed. "What a cliché." But she promised, and so she grabbed her Duel Disk and followed Mitsuro outside.

"Dr. Lankford is using the arena downstairs, so we're going to find a room in Marufuji Hall," Mitsuro explained. Cary wondered why not duel outside; that's what Duel Disks are for. Mitsuro pointed out that it was too windy today. They could lose their cards in a poorly timed breeze and that wouldn't be helpful for anyone.

The Marufuji building was where most of Cary's classes were located, including the social psyc class from earlier today. It didn't have a duel arena, but like Cary pointed out, that's what Duel Disks were for. All they had to do was find one of the ground-floor classrooms with a flat floor. Being somewhat of a neat freak and a lot smarter than anyone realized, Cary picked up a wadded up paper towel on the floor in the hallway and said she'd be right back. She stepped over to the janitor's closet and opened the door.

Vic and Hayley were both in the closet with his shirt off and her jacket open in the front. Cary just said, "Excuse me," and threw the paper towel into the large trash bin before shutting the door and joining Mitsuro in the classroom for a duel.

I'll pick up from here next week. I've been awfully busy, which I'm sure most of you can identify with. Sometimes, it's just hard to find time to sit down and write out a duel, especially with concept decks (i.e., cards I don't actually own). Rest assured my delays are not through writer's block (fortunately); it's all my being too busy to write (and sometimes being unsure how to word something). I promise to try my best to get another chapter out next week to make up for the delay. I think it will have two duels in it, starting with Cary vs. Mitsuro.

Why does everyone always seem to want their male characters to be six feet tall? These are duelists, not basketball players. Even Matt is only five-foot-eight.

Credits:
Darius Mantzios....tiramisu19
Jason Maxim....Maxim and Knight
Nathan Zislaw....Mavrik Zero
Hillary Delaney....Nodqfan144
Lili Von....Happy2BMe
Carter Jade....Jaden2010
Mitsuro Itachu....Titanic X
Sean Bivins....DarkVestroia2
Naoto Kurotsuki....Kurotsuki Haru
Hayley Wilson....TeamRocketDiva
Maikeru Stone....onyxshade7
Victor Rocks....Iron-Arm-V
Abel Shinzou....Iron-Arm-V
Alister Kazama & Jessica Parks....ZaneKazama001
Synthia Spencer.....Madly Chessur
Everyone else so far....YamiRuss