Chapter 9

The tapping of rain was heard crashing against a window, as Claudia sat backwards in a chair, her index finger tapping her lip, she blinked a few times before taking a deep breath as she looked forward to the woman who sat in front of her, Closing her eye's taking a deep breath, her red waist coat shined slightly in the light, as her legs was crossed wearing black skinny jeans, her three chains on the side of her belt.

Looking up at the time she sighed, for two weeks now, she had met up with Zane at 5pm, two hours after school got out and she was progressing quite well in learning his cyber dragon deck, but within those two weeks she had at least bailed out on him 4 times to sit here now with this woman in front of her.

Leaning forward running a hand through her long red locks then down her face, "It sounds like things was going easy at first and now it's starting to bring back up old memories… these friends you mention you have here Claudia seem to help keep you In that balance…" giving a nod to the woman, "I know Abigail, but there is something that's holding me back from being able to fully connect with them. Maybe it's this fear of abandonment I have… Everyone else has apart from everyone back at the B&B… well almost… I've tried to contact Steve now for over a month and each time I just get his voice mail and he never replies."

Abigail reached over taking Claudia's hand, "I'm sure he's thinking about you, when he left that same morning you did for your entrance exam, his face held a look of regret." Claudia stood up and paced the room slightly, using her left hand to continusly come her hair, "I don't feel that way, we've been through so much together and yet not once has he been in touch to see how I'm doing…. Or to let me know he's ok. I don't want to find him in another hanger Abigail… I don't want to find him…gone…"

Leaning against the wall and sliding down to the floor, "Yes I've made friends here, they are really close to me like Steve was, I can't imagine trying to get through school here without Jay and Sy, then there's Zane… he's been so good to me showing and teaching me his deck…. I feel…. So Angry with him Abigail…." "I know you do sweetie, and that's understandable, it's good to feel angry it's good to feel them emotions I myself isn't happy with the way Steve's been acting"

"If he doesn't want to be friends with me anymore I can handle that, but he has to tell me…" Abigail nodded, and looked to the time, "We have 20 minutes left Claudia, what I would like to know is how your progressing with from our last session…"

Throwing her hands up in the air, she sighed "Fine I guess, I mean I've told Jay and Sy about my past with the foster homes and abusive fathers…. They've seen the scars and they accept me… I've come to the point where I can only allow them two to touch me as I feel safe with them, Zane tried to corner me once after our last session and instantly when he grabbed my wrist I freaked and just ran…. Because all I could see was Him…" Abigail jotted the notes down, "That's good, I know it takes time to trust new people sweetie, and I'm sure it will work out" Claudia began playing with the necklace Kaiba gave her, "I know…. And what's worse is that…. I think I might have some feelings for him too. How am I supposed to have a relationship if I'm not stable?"

Abigail stood up and walked over kneeling in front of Claudia' she brushed some hair behind the girls ear, "You are stable sweetie, and we are working through these problems, you are making so much progress! In which I have some good news, we managed to track down Dr Michnier, his institution has been shut down from foul play and his license has been taken away from him. After what you told me what went on in that institution I couldn't sit by and allow him to continue what he was doing."

That made the red head smile slightly, "thanks, that means a lot to me, in any case… are we done? I'm meant to be somewhere…" Abigail gave a look at the time and nodded, "Sure, we can skip the next 15 minutes but I want you to stay later on the next session ok?" Claudia nodded and with the help of the inn keeper/therapist, she was able to get off the floor. "An when I see Steve I'll tell him to call you ok?"

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On the other side of Duel Academy Island, The tall dark blue haired teenager was stood in the rain, underneath a tree near the docks, he had been waiting there for almost two hours, "So she's a no show again….if she's actually serious about this then she should be here."

The dirty blonde haired girl next to him sighed, "she's just a pest Zane, I don't know what you see in helping her…." His eye's squared slightly towards the girl, "Because Alexis, there is something about Claudia that draws me too her, I'm not too sure if it's because of the same connection with Cyber Dragons or something else…. You should be a little nicer to her, After all she made sure you wasn't in detention a few weeks ago for breaking into the school with that little match against Chazz."

Crossing her arms Alexis stood tall, "Yeah well, I still don't like her, she's just a cocky brat that never even knew a thing about duelling, plus she's rooming with two boys! That's disallowed on school campus!"

Zane suddenly turned to the girl, and sighed shaking his head, "You know the Slifer red dorms are only small and there's not many females in the school duelling. Plus she is older than you," he could see the envy in Alexis eye's she held for the girl, placing a hand to his forehead, "From what she's told me, her and Jaden are only friends….in fact she speaks rather highly of him being her brother figure."

"I'm leaving Zane, I'm cold…and I'm wet…she's not going to show up little witch is probably too scared to get wet…" with that before he could say anything else she walked off into the distance, turning and looking at the way Claudia normally drove up to the docks on her Ducati, he could see that she wasn't going to come tonight. He had a feeling the girl was hiding something from him but wasn't too sure what it was, turning his back about to leave himself he heard the sound of tyres speeding up, looking over his shoulder he saw the red haired girl, body soaked from the rain, make up running and looking apologetic.

"Zane Dude! I'm so sorry! I had this thing and I didn't know it was going to take so long…" holding up a hand to stop the girl from speaking, he walked up and smirked, "You're here now, just means lessons are going to be a lot longer and, You're buying pizza" he looked up to the sky and noticed the rain wasn't going to let up.

A strike of lightening hit the ground and he noticed the girl flinching slightly from it, his eye's softened slightly, "How about we skip the lesson tonight and just head straight for pizza?" she gave a thankful look and handed him a helmet, "Sounds good to me dude, hope on" with that he got on the bike, wrapping his arms around her waist. It was a good job Claudia was facing forward, so he couldn't see the sudden panic in her face and blush in her cheeks.

"Hold on tight, Roads are a little slippery, didn't expect it to throw it down." with that he did so and she sped off into the distance.

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Sitting inside a small diner on the Island, which it didn't have much to offer anyway, both teenagers was sharing a large pepperoni pizza, reaching forward Claudia was on her fourth slice, "I really am sorry for making you wait in the rain tonight Zane…" the boy closed his eyes and took a sip of the water he had.

"it really wasn't polite of you, this is the fourth time in two weeks you've skipped our sessions without notifying me on the reasons, if this thing of yours is so important then why not tell me?" he saw her run a hand through her wet locks, and look down to the table, "i… can't… Sorry Zane but it's not something I'm comfortable sharing with." He held a hand up and just smiled to her,

"It's alright I understand, so is it every Monday and Thursday's that your thing lands on?" she nodded to him while taking a bite out of her food, "Alright then, we will hold off on lessons on those days but we will meet up on Saturday mornings instead to make up for it, I'll train you twice as hard and for twice as long."

Claudia suddenly realised something, "You know what…. Saturday's are perfect, there's only one Saturday a month I got to miss cause that's when I catch up with my older sister but that's not for another 2 weeks yet when half term starts. In which do you have anything planned for that?"

Sitting back crossing his arms, "No I don't, most likely spend the time at my family's estate going over my deck, I graduate this year and you already know." She gave a nod, "I see, for me it's most likely lounging around my guardian's place. Chill out at my local coffee shop, tinker about with some type of gadget and most likely do my guardian's inventory work since he's too lazy. Oh and to make sure he's not screwed around with the security system I had installed."

Straight after the two had made the deal for Claudia to learn Zane's deck, she had spilled about how she hacked into the Duel Academy's main frame for the info on Chazz, he didn't really believe her at first until she took out her laptop and hacked into the school again using his name as a reference, and right there on the screen all Zane's personal data was shown, but she wasn't looking at the screen so she could keep it private for him.

He told her that he wouldn't tell anyone and to this day he still kept it a secret, a few days after that he had walked up onto the roof to find her tinkering with what looked like a skate board, and had sat with her for two hours as she worked wondering where the hell she got the equipment mess about with a skateboard. She had explained to him that she was working on the future of duelling, that just standing about was boring to her, so she was going to attempt to make the game more fun.

Once the teenagers had finished eating, Claudia paid for the meal with her credit card and smiled, "It's still pouring outside but I think I can get you back to the dorms before you're drenched…" he nodded and they made their way outside the dinner, when a sudden buzz came from Claudia's pocket.

Zane saw her take out a black IPhone or what looked like an Iphone and opened it up, he saw a look off surprise on her face, "JINKSY! What the hell!"

The man on the other end spoke up, "Hey Claud, sorry it's taken me so long to get in contact, the mission I was on was in a remote place and I couldn't get signal to call you back. Wait are you standing outside in the rain?"

A slight anger flashed in her eye's and Zane noticed it, "yeah right, a mission that you can't even tell your BFFE about, Steve! I've been worried sick about you every day! We were tight!"

"I know and we still are… I just got back to the B&B now and you're the first person I've spoken too since getting back, everyone else is either on a mission, and you know where Artie will be." Zane noticed Claudia was shaking slightly, he was almost tempted to take his jacket off but she began walking away and her voice was getting louder.

"No were not Steve! You know how scared I was to come here alone, you PROMISED! Me you'd call when I arrived here. An you never did! You never even left me a voice mail or you know what forget it…" "Claud! Wait! I'm sorry!"

Claudia looked up, she could feel herself about to break down, and Steve could see that through the Farnsworth, "You're a terrible liar Steve… I've told you this before… you know what I'm like with people leaving me… it's been almost two months!"

"Claud! I called as soon as I could! I never abandoned you! Please just hear me out!" she gave off a snarky laugh, "Oh so you're going to tell me where you've been for all this time?"

He let out a sigh, and was about to speak but saw movement with the screen, and a HEY! From Claudia in the background, a second late he saw Zane's face appear on the screen, "I think this conversation is over, you better think twice before upsetting Claudia again." With that Zane snapped the Farnsworth shut. Then handed it back to the girl who had wrapped her arms around her stomach, something snapped inside him, he had never seen the tough girl so …. Venerable

"Want to talk about it?" he heard her sniffle slightly and look away, "There's nothing too talk about Zane, it doesn't matter anyway I think… my friendship with Jinksy just ended." The boy sighed and did the only thing he could do and that was bring the girl into his arms holding her close, as she broke down crying in his arms.

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A few day's had passed since Claudia's fight with Steve, and within those few day's she had been stuck in bed with a cold she caught from crying, Syrus had Professor Banner come and check on her, to confirm that she was sick and he agreed telling her to take a few days off school to rest and that Syrus and Jaden would bring her school work to her.

She had received several phone calls and messages from Steve attempting to talk with her, but she ignored them giving him the cold shoulder just like he did her.

He had finally given up earlier that morning, as she was laid on her side, tissues all scrunched up. Syrus had taken her temperature that morning and she was still running a high fever, so he had mentioned he would pick her up some medication to try and bring it down. Jaden had tried to make her eat, but her stomach just started doing belly flops and wasn't agreeing with anything.

So now currently she was laid on her side, facing the wall, when a sudden knock was on the door, she heard it open and close, "Jaden did you forget your gym bag again? I can't…run you back up to school at the moment…"

"Well if he did, I can always deliver it to him later on" spoke a familiar voice, turning around, stood there was Zane, his arms crossed looking to her sympatheticly, sitting up quickly in shock, she almost fell out of bed from feeling faint. Quickly he tried to catch her but his hand ended up touching something rather soft causing the teenager to jump and slap his hand.

He hadn't realise what it was until he noticed her covering her chest, "Hands to yourself Trusdale! I maybe sick but I can still kick your arse!" bowing his head to the ground, realising his mistake, "I'm so sorry!" smiling she relaxed slightly. He looked back up to her, and sighed, this was his fault for keeping her in the rain two long. Her face was pale and sweaty, hair stuck to her forehead, bed full of tissues and crackers. She was just sat there in a vest and a thin purple sheet covering her legs. "Dude why are you here?"

Zane sat down on a chair looking up to the female he had grown close too, "I bumped into Syrus today and I asked him why you hadn't shown up for the past few nights, he told me that you had caught a fever, causing you to be stuck in bed. So I'm here to check up on you and to also deliver the medication Syrus got for you." He held a paper bag up which she gladly took, cracking open a bottle of water she smiled, "Thank you that's so sweet…. But it's not your fault that I got sick… "

"Well it feeling like it was my fault… I do hope you get better, you're rooming with some good friends that care about you." That had placed a smile on her face, "I also know it's Thursday tomorrow and you have that thing you have to do so remember lessons are cancelled, plus I have plans of my own." That caught her attention, "Plans? Are you going to tell me or is it a secret?"

He gave her a smirk, "Are you going to tell me what your thing is?" she sighed, "touché…. In any case is that the only reason why you are here?" Standing up Zane gave her a smirk, "No, I'm going to take care of you…" he took off his trench coat, so he was just stood in a black t-shirt and blue dress pants, "Now where's the kettle I think Tea is in order…"

"Right near the bathroom, and Zane?" he looked up to her, and saw a smile on her face, one he had been hoping to see, "Thanks…"

With that, Zane spent the rest of the school hours waiting on Claudia's hand and foot nursing her back to health.

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I soooooo had to do a Fluffy chapter between Claudia and Zane! I hope you liked it!

What's Zane got planned for while Claudia's in her therapy session?

Will he find out about her therapy sessions, and why she keeps flinching every time he touches her?

And why does Alexis hate her?

Curedream90~ and ArticDragonSlayer~ over and out!