Promises to keep (or Subdivisions)
By Julia Macgregor
The day seemed to prefect for many people of Domino city, that Joey Wheeler was hoping for the best of luck for his new friend named Bethany. Bethany was a shy, but clever duelist. He wondered why she did not show up for school. He knew she was sick with a slight cold during the weekend. Yet, this was a Monday. He stopped over at Kame's game shop to see where Yugi was.
Kame's game shop, Yugi was in the back doing homework. He was trying finish out his work before dueling against himself. He heard the shop door bell ring. On looking up from his work, Yugi said, "A customer?"
Yugi's grandpa, Kame Moto was standing in front of a large display of the latest Dueling monster cards. He said as he noticed Joey entering the shop, "Joey…are you looking for new cards?"
"Naw…grampa…I was hoping to see Yugi!" Joey shrugged. He stuck his hands in his jacket pockets. He glanced around the store for his friend.
With a smile, Kame said, "He's finishing out his homework in the back. He would like some help with math!"
Joey blanched at the word math. He didn't want to do homework, rather he be playing duel monsters instead. Then, the idea of finding his friend Bethany shook him back to the beginning of his quest. He asked if Yugi could come out and help.
On hearing his name mentioned countless time, Yugi began to clean up his work from the table he was using to do his work on. He felt the power of the Millennium puzzle stirring inside of his mind.
"What's wrong?" Yugi asked his other half in his mind.
"Something doesn't feel right for now!" Yami said. He closed his math work book slowly. He glanced up at the clock before leaving the room. He was hoping for a call from Tea. She had been helping him figure out the facts behind the mysterious puzzle he wore around his neck.
"Why don't we find out what Joey wants?" Yami said.
Yugi nodded before the Millennium puzzle let the spirit housed inside transfer into Yugi's body.
Yami stood where Yugi stood. There was a distance feeling of uncertain coming from usually place. Where this place was, even the Great Pharaoh didn't know. Yami stood up from the table. He turned to leave the room. He knew his dueling deck was with him at this very minute.
"Joey?" Yami said as he opened the door to the main shopping area of the gaming shop. He noticed his friend's face. He asked Joey what was going on.
"Tons!" Joey sighed, placing a hand up to his chin. He told what he believed that happened to their new friend, Bethany.
"She must be a new girl…" Grampa added as he glanced at Yugi, then at Joey.
"Yea," Joey nodded. He told the story on how he and his friends met Bethany. Bethany worked a local flower shop with her grandma and mom. The mom was gone about half the time as Bethany and Grandmother Bea worked at the shop.
Yugi added, "She is very quiet, but loves duel monsters as much as we do!"
There was a slight wince on Joey's lips. He knew that Bethany's mom hated duel monster and her dad wasn't there to stop her mom. Her dad had gone to find a new job which paid more to keep the shop going if something would happen to him. Joey knew it was hard to be on your own. Yet, Bethany was lucky to have her grandma taking care of her. "Her grandma is like you, Grampa. She doesn't really hate duel monsters. She hopes that Bethany isn't using them as excuse to skip school or work."
Joey shook his head, sadly. He knew there was more it than just a mere disagreement over duel monsters.
Tea and Bakura were at the library entrance. They were going to finish out their homework and a possible game of duel monster if they were quiet enough. They had a difficult project to start on about the First World War. They had to do a time line about the events leading up to the war. Then, they had to make up another time line that featured a list of films, books and other smaller events that happened during the war. Tea wasn't going to be happy until the work was finished. Bakura had a good knowledge about the World War one from the letters that his grandfather had sent to his grandmother. He was going to use them as a sort of study guide.
The two sat at a small table near the fire place. Tea had a large book that was written by a historian about the events leading up to the First World War. Bakura had a small box tied in string on the table. He had also a few smaller books on the subject. He had his note book opened to his notes from history class.
Tristan was going to show up later to help out with Tea's notes. He had looked up on line about the American involvement during the sinking of the Lusitania. There were always ties to German-American and the sinking of the sister of the framed Titanic. He had to stop over at the game shop to see if Joey and Yugi were there.
Kame, Yugi's grampa told Tristan that Yugi and Joey were going to the library, but they were going to stop at a friend's house before heading out to the library. Tristan took off to the library.
Joey had to figure out what happened to Bethany. She had not shown up for classes for a couple of days. No one what happened to her mother as well. He didn't like prying into someone else business. Yet, this was his idea just to ask what happened to her.
He and Yugi walked down the street talking about Bethany. Joey was reflecting on how he was beaten by a new comer and a girl in the same package. Yugi had to smile at the thought of a girl who was generally quiet and shy, beating the living daylights out of Joey.
Joey noticed Yugi's grin. He asked, his eyes narrowing out of suspicion, "What are you thinking of?"
Feeling his best friend's glare, Yugi coughed, "Nothing!"
"Nothing' Yug?" Joey snapped a little coolly.
"Sorry!" Yugi was trying very much to cover upon his feelings. Yugi returned to his body in order for the Pharos not to cause any grief with Bethany's mom or anyone in her family.
At the White rose Flower shop, an older woman noticed Joey and Yugi walking up the street. She attended to her work as she cleaned the front of the shop's windows. She was surprised to see Joey and Yugi stopping front of the shop.
"I think that's were she lives, Yugi!" Joey pointed out.
"Oh?" Yugi asked, his eyes fixed themselves on the large amounts of fresh flowers in different large cut glass vases. They seemed to have a very gently touch of warmth in their display.
"I'm going in to find out!" Joey said as he pointed to the entrance way.
Yugi felt like stopping Joey before he said something stupid, although Yugi had the same idea as well. He had to hold back until Joey was either kicked out or he got what had come into the shop for.
The older woman heard the bell to the front door ring for a second. She glanced around the shop to see Yugi and Joey entering the shop. She had been standing at a table getting a bouquet of flowers ready for the cooler. She said in a semi-friendly tone, "May I help you?"
Joey felt the back his neck tense up. He wasn't doing anything that was wrong. He forced a fake smile, "I'm looking for someone or something!"
"Oh…is that all?" the older woman asked with a pleasant smile.
"Yea…" Joey gasped. He was going to start stammering hard if he did not quit with his mouth.
"O.K." the older woman said before going back to her job.
Yugi remained quiet and watched as Joe tried to scan the room for the girl who he wasted to see. He felt at peace with this shop. It was nice, quiet as Bea the owner of the shop busied herself with orders. He noticed how tall and thin she was. Her blond hair was pulled back in a neat pony tail. She spoke again with a cockney accent, "Do you want anything youn' man?"
"Oh…not me," Yugi blushed. Then, he pointed at Joey, "I'm with him!"
"Young people!" the older woman giggled.
"Joey?" Yugi questioned his best friend. "Why are we here in the first place?"
"I was lookin' for Bethany!" Joey started to spaz out. He wondered if he and Yugi ended up in the wrong shop. Was there a girl with great dueling skills that end was just a dream in Joey's mind. What was on Joey's mind? There was something beside what he had the idea of a rematch with Bethany.
"If that's the case…" the older woman interrupted the two as she spoke up. "...you just missed her…she went to school about a 'alf ago!"
"What?" Joey started to spaz out like he would normally do when he was instantly pushed into a concern. His face turned red and his eyes scanned hard as his head jerked from side to side. His face became a deep shade of red. He wanted to talk to her. She was nowhere to be found.
"Joey?" Yugi asked as he tried to settle down a panicked Joey. He glanced at the older woman, "We're really sorry that we are taking up your time?"
What?" Bakura's voice could be heard coming down the street. He, Tea and Tristan were walking down the street. They were finished with their housework. They all deiced to find both Joey and Yugi. They were gouging to hang out one way or another without Dueling monsters.
"Yea…the museum is so cool!" Tristan said as he stopped in front of the two.
"Oh nuts!" Joey gapped as he noticed his friends standing in front of the shop winnow. He could feel the idea of being caught in a flower shop. Oh, the humiliation of the dreaded flower shop was too much for Joey to bear.
"What's wrong?" Yugi asked innocently. He knew Joey was always putting on the tough guy act with him and the others. He spotted Bakura and Tea standing with their backs to the large picture window in the front of the shop. He knew Joey was not in a tough guy place. He ordered Joey in a quiet tone of voice, "Calm down…"
"What me…I'm calm!" Joey snapped nervously. He was going to be a cool cumber if he had to be scarped off the ceiling first. This was not his kind of a shop to be in at the first place.
"You are not going to that good love, if you don't 'eep you head!" the older lady giggled at the sight of Joey flipping out.
"I got everything together. I just don't want to be spotted by Tea or Tristan!" Joey sighed, blushing a hot red.
"What about Bakura?" Yugi asked with a raised eyebrow. He hoped to cover all the bases with his friend.
"Him too!" Joey nodded quickly. Without looking Joey began to walk into a large flower pot. Then, there was a crash. He had smacked into the pot so quickly, Joey ended up on the floor. He gasped loudly.
"Oh brother…" the older woman sighed, rolling her eyes. ""Ere we go again!"
Yugi and the older woman came to see what had happen to Joey. With the noise of the situation, Tea turned around to see what was going on. She wanted to crack up laughing at the slight of Joey now trying to stand up. She said, "I'm in shocked!"
"Shocked about what, Tea?" Bakura asked.
Joey's eyes met with Tea's. He wanted to crawl into a hole. His cover was blown! Yugi wasn't helping at all in Joey's view. He stood there like a brick for a minute or two. What was going on here with Joey? Tea said, "It's really nothing, if you want to not count Joey Wheeler in a local flower shop!"
Both Tristan and Bakura were puzzled in to stone silence. They glanced at each other. What was going on with her? They turned to see Joey and Yugi. Yugi smiled weakly when he had waved to them. Joey was just bug-eyed and standing complexly polarized. "What are they doing here?" Bakura asked innocently as he glanced at Tea.
Tea shrugged with a blank stare.
"It beats me," Tristan sighed, a little shocked at his best friend. "Joey is with Yugi..."
Bakura said, "Maybe that Yugi is getting something for his mum?"
Joey smiled weakly as he over heard the conversation between the other three. He nodded his head. He said, "We better leave now!"
Yugi was stumped and asked, "What about Bethany?"
The older woman said, "Don't worry. I'll tell her that you and your mate were here!" her smile was the right amount of reassurance to Joey.
"Beside, we will see her at school, tomorrow!" Yugi shrugged. He reached over to give Joey a tug on his sleeve. He needed to go home and finish out his homework.
Joey said, "Yea…you're right!"
The two excused themselves from the shop. The older woman said with a smile, "I'll her that you were here. Don't worry about it!"
"Oh?" Joey said with a surprised look on his face.
"Yes. I'm her grannie!" she nodded slowly.
"That's good." Yugi agreed with her.
With her words, Joey had to smile a little. He said, "I'll be back to see her. She wants to have a rematch or something!"
"Or something?" Yugi asked with a sly grin.
"Yugi!" Joey gasped, trying another shade of red.
"It's the true!" Yugi teased.
The two boys left the flower shop with the idea of Bethany had a normal life. That's what they thought.
Bethany was just a normal girl doing her dueling by herself. It was something she had been doing for months. She was a lonely girl who needed someone to talk to outside of her grannie. She was in her room with her radio. She had to get the news. Her father was working at a job that was very dangerous. She did not want him to leave in the first place after she had found out about his work. Her grannie talked her into staying with her in Dymonio city until he had came.
Her mother had also had words with her. Her mother wanted nothing to do with the flower shop. Nothing to do with her grannie or her father, outside of money. There was a never ending war of nerves with the drinking of her mother and the heavy work load of her father.
Her grannie was the only one that she found a hold and comfort in. she knew that her grannie was her father's mom and was a fighter. She had fight long, hard days of shop keeping during the 60's when she was a young girl. She reflected on the first time she had entered into Joey's class and his world. She remembered it did cause a ripple in his life. She was strange and shy.
"She just moved in from New Zealand!' Bakura said.
Joey wondered as he worked on his dueling deck. There was new power boost cards Joey had bought with his birthday money. He wondered if there any way of finding out that Bethany had any special cards in her deck. He had looked at her notebook in class. There was a page that was covered in math figures. It turned out to be dueling monsters point spreads.
After what seemed like a long time, Joey finally calmed down. He was very much embraced about his outburst in the flower shop. He was not going to let himself get out of control when Bethany was there. Tea asked Joey about Bethany. There was something about this new shy girl that Tea had a hard time pinning the feeling down. He was going too back himself into a corner if she did come out and told him what was in her deck.
Yugi could see if it coming. He was going to stop Joey from doing his work one-way or another.
Bethany sat at her desk in her room, starting at the wall. There was a picture of her home. She wondered what her friends were doing at the time. She wanted to give her friend, Jill a phone call. Yet, she had to stop herself from making the call due the time change between Domino city and her home town in New Zealand.
"Bethy!" her grandmother's voice called out from the kitchen.
"Yea…grannie?" she asked. She was sitting at her desk, looking over a book. She wanted to see what she could do with her homework. She had found out by her grannie that Joey had stopped in for a visit. She wanted to find out why and she wasn't there to stop him.
"There is a phone call…" her grannie said.
"From whom?" she asked back. She still had her mind on Joey.
"It's from that boy…the one who stopped over the other day…Joey Wheeler was 'is name!" her grannie said.
"Joey?" she thought. What was he thinking of.
There was a minute or two of complete quiet. It was just enough time for Bethany to said, "I'll take it!"
She wanted to scream out loud for joy. A boy who wanted to call her even if it was Joey wheeler. Bethany was not going to be picky. She hoped that he was going say something nice about her. She had to remain calm.
She was laying on her bend with her phone near her pillow on the night stand. She reached over to make a grab. Something had struck her quiet. Why was Joey calling her out of the blue? It made her wonder. She quickly shrugged it off as quickly as it came. She was going to remain, young and calm lady.
Joey was at his house in the living room. He wanted to get a hold of Bethany. He was a little nervous as he dialed the number. At first he was surprised to hear her Grannie's voice over the phone lines. He quickly remembered that the flower shop never had a private phone line.
She waited for a minute before speaking. "Hello?" she said with a quiet voice.
"Hello, Bethany?" Joey asked with a wavered voice.
"Yes, what do you want, Joey?" she was remaining calm. She could feel her heart nearly skipping hard.
"Nothin'!" Joey lied. He had a feeling that she knew about it too.
"Oh?" she remained coy. She knew that Joey was just a boy from her school. He was perfectly harmless. "What is on your mind?"
"Like I told ya…nohnin'!" he gasped. Then, he thought, "What are you stalling for, Joey. Why is she acting like she is!"
"Do you want to talk about class!" she said.
"Yea…that's it. Math is not my favorite!" Joey agreed. He knew she had come to the subject of cards if the math subject would come up that easily.
"Math is kinda easy for me!" Bethany sighed. Then, she asked, "What about your dueling deck. We can use it as problem solver!"
"UH?" Joey gasped loudly. He knew she was fast thinker. Joey had a feeling of dread creeping up on him. He knew that the dueling monsters had a very powerful hold. This was something he learned from Yugi. Why all of a sudden that he felt like the feeling.
"Joey?" she asked. There was too much quiet for Bethany to like.
"Yea!" he was now wondering if she was reading his mind or not. Joey was a hard read over the phone. He was not going to be overly concerned at first if he did not get what he had wanted. "I wanted to just call ya!"
"Oh, is that reason why?" she asked. She voiced sounded soft and sweet. She was going to just herself with him. He was not the one that liked girls who were going to put up a fake front for him. It was annoy with him when Mai would be so stuck up. He dragged her down a lot of pegs to his level.
"Naw!" he sighed as he tried to be a little friendlier to her.
"Then, what?" she asked.
"You want to go out and have a coke with me…I need to talk to you face to face!" Joey said. He knew she wanted to get out from working in the flower shop. She could just stay at the shop, yet there was no fun in that.
"What are you asking? You want to go out?" she asked with a hint of surprise in her voice.
"Well…" he paused for a minute. He knew that the others would tease him for user. He had to pick a time and place for the meeting between the two. "I would like to see that new shop at the mall. I heard it's like an old fashion drug store!"
"You mean the Bird blue?" she asked. She did not know on how toy prentice the same of the stores.
There was a slight pause coming from Joey's end. He was not sure what to do with a cute girl. He was very much tongue tied.
"Are you there Joey?" Bethany asked. Her voice sounded a little loud.
After a minute of quiet, Joey's voice cracked, "Yea...I'm there!"
"Oh, good. I thought you were spacing out me!" Bethany giggled a little.
"That's very funny!" Joey pouted. He wanted to get his real main idea of being a toughie from the world go. Yet, there was something even Tea did not even own which was on Bethany's personality. He said, "Look. Just be there…"
It sounded more like an order than a simple request for a date. Bethany did not like being forced into a date. She was very modern girl and did not like a boy throwing his weight around. "Give until tomorrow for me to answer you!"
"What?" Joey groaned loudly. It was like Bethany was pulling the rug right from under Joey's feet.
"You heard me…I am going to think about…" she snapped. She was getting her deference's up. She was giving him a cold shoulder which left him hanging. She could hear him gasping for an answer.
"But, why?" he finally croaked out an answer.
"You can force me into a corner that quickly. I am a modern girl who needs time to time…that's all!' she sighed with a sour tone of voice. She was growing a little weary of boys who were pushy.
He caved in very quickly when he said, "Yea?"
"Yes. I want to think it over. Give me until tomorrow morning!" she sighed, rolling her eyes. She had finally won a small victory none the less.
"What are you are to do?" a voice rang in her mind. The voice sounded young, yet there was a tone that was old as time itself.
There was a sign of a storm coming from the distance. Joey or Bethany did not know it yet. It was going to come when they least thought of Duel monsters. It was gouging to involve Yugi and Bakura as well.
The day was a cold and grey day. There was nothing like having a rainy day to ruin a person's plans. Joey knew it all too well as he sat in front of his window. He had to go down town to see if Bethany was going to be there for the date.
The phone rang. Joey was about to head for the coat-closet. He stopped and dart back to the phone table in the front room. He noticed the number on the caller ID. It was Tea who was calling. He picked up the phone and said in a curious tone of voice, "What is it, Tea?"
"Nothing, Joey. I wanted to see if there was a problem?" she asked innocently. She was surprised to see Joey in flower shop.
"There is no problem…I was getting ready to go out…I have got things to do!" he said. He was going to leave her hanging.
"Oh?" Tea questioned him. Her voice sounded like she was going to tear him up very slowly, very carefully. There was no room for messing up. She was just as nosy as the other three. Why did Joey have a change in plan with Bethany? He was hoping to out with with Mai Valentine for a long time. He had been planning weeks with Mai for a non-duel monsters date. "Have you heard from Mai, lately?"
"What?" Joey gasped. His face turned red as he nearly dropped the phone. He knew she was out of town for the weekend. It was the prefect bomb to drop on Joey when Tea opened her mouth.
"Are you O.K., Joey?" she asked with a surprised tone of voice. She was wondering why Joey was gasping on the other end.
"Sure…" he squeaked. He had totally forgotten about Mai. He had known about her leaving Domino City for another Dueling match up. She had no ties to anything outside of Yugi and the others. Joey's mind was racing. He tried to remember the last time he had a text or email from Mai. He did not want to make her mad with him. "I have not heard from her lately!"
"Oh?" Tea asked. She wondered if Joey even bothered to check. It was hard to think about getting him to open up sometimes. Yugi had a better time at making Joey spill. There was a strong and quick bond between Joey and Yugi.
"Yea…what's to you?" he huffed in to the phone. He hoped his point got across.
Tea nearly lost the use of her ear. She yanked the receiver off of her ear. Gulping a little hard, she bit her lower lip. She thought, "What's gotten into him, lastly!"
"Look…I'm sorry…but, I have things to do…" Joey said as he tried to be nice. He had to leave quickly or he would be late.
"Yea!" Tea sighed as she heard Joey talking. "I have to go too!" the wheels in her mind were now spinning fast in the discretion of why Joey was acting so strange. She had to talk it over with Tristan and the other two just to see what was behind Joey's change.
Joey nearly ran down the street towards the spot where he was supposed to hook up with Bethany. He hoped he was the first one there. After he had hung-up the phone, he looked at the wall clock. It was going on ten in the morning. He grabbed his cel-phone and his wallet before making the trip down. He had forgotten the ringtone on his cel-phone. He had to change one day soon before anyone had realized what the ring-tone was like.
He stopped at the corner of fourth and maple streets. He noticed a poster for the duel-monster's game. It was opened to anyone. He wondered if Mai was going to show up.
When he saw Bethany walking up the street, he called out, "Hey…Bethie…"
"Oh…" Bethany turned to see Joey walking up the street. "Hi…Joey!"
Then, by a weird twist of fate, Joey's cel-phone began to ruing. A sweet young teenage female voice buzzed out of Joey's jacket pocket, "Hi..Sweetie…text message. Hi...sweetie…text message."
It was like being struck by lighting in Joey's view point. Joey's face turned red and he nearly ran into a large lamp post. Bethany watched poor Joey as he skirted his way to the other side of the post. She smiled a little when she saw Joey.
"You would please shut up!" he growled at the phone. He had to pat down his jacket in his feeble attempt on finding his cel-phone.
"Joey…are you getting a text?" Bethany ribbed him. She had to get him to loosen up a little before he lost it.
"Uh?" he gasped. He glanced at her. She looked nice in a white sweat shirt and jeans.
"You…silly!" she hushed him. She went over to see if she could help him or not. She said, "You need to relax!"
"Oh…this?" he pointed with a klutzy finger pointing at his jacket pocket. He had to grin with his eyes closed.
"Yes…" she nodded. "It is that...it's a cell phone, right?"
"Yea…I'll have to shut it off!" Joey said. Before he could say another word, he asked Bethany if she would like to go to a game shop.
"Thanks…I would like to see where you get those wild cards!" Bethany smiled. She was going ease Joey into a calm manor or die trying.
"Wild cards?" Joey gasped. He finally found his cell-phone and flipped off the call button.
"Yea…I live your red eyes…I just wish I can get a power booster like your time wizard!" she said with a far await look in her eyes.