Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ High School Love ❯ High school love chapter eight ( Chapter 8 )

HIGH SCHOOL LOVE

 

CHAPTER 8

 

 

 

 

Yami sat in the library, poring intently over his essay. He had finally overcome the snag that had kept him up so late last night, and he wrote busily, nibbling thoughtfully on his lower lip as his pencil flew like greased lightning over the paper. Books lay open all over the desk where he sat, and a small pile of pencil shavings lay at his elbow. An appalling headache was starting to form behind his eyes, but now that he knew exactly what he wanted to write, he ignored it and kept going, determined not to stop for anything or anyone.

 

The sound of a throat clearing abruptly derailed his train of thought, and he scowled as he lifted his eyes to see who it was who had dared to interrupt him. His scowl immediately turned into a death glare, and anger swirled around in the pit of his stomach, making him feel violently ill all of a sudden. “What the fuck do you want?” he demanded, his voice low but furious.

 

Tea twisted her hands in front of her nervously. “I just wanted to apologize,” she said hesitantly. “I acted like a real bitch last week, and I'm really sorry for all the trouble I caused you and Yugi. I hope you can forgive me. I was just so angry and upset that I didn't know what I was doing, and I realize now that I was wrong for the way I acted.”

 

Yami looked at her for a moment, and then he turned back to what he was doing. “Nice try, Tea, but I don't have time for your games and your lies. If you really were sorry, you would have apologized to me and Yugi the day after the dance. Now if you'll excuse me, I have an essay to write. I don't intend to fail because of a sneaky, slutty little bitch like you.” He began writing again to emphasize his point, hoping against hope that this would work. If she tried to insist, he'd wring her damn neck.

 

He looked up again after a few lines, and saw to his relief that Tea had taken the hint and was gone. Good fucking riddance. The nerve of that bitch was never-ending! First she had tried the most underhanded tactics to break him and Yugi up, and then, when her first efforts had failed, she had tried again the next day to put a wedge between them when she had seen the closeness they were developing despite her efforts. And now this! Gods above, didn't she yet understand that no matter what her tactics, she was never going to get what she wanted?

 

Yami sighed as he laid his pencil down again. Tea HAD sounded sincere, but the senior wasn't prepared to believe a word of her apology, not after the coldness with which Mai and Tea had treated him and Yugi all this week. It seemed as though the brunette was getting desperate if she had suddenly shifted tactics like that to try and get into his good books so she could then turn around and stab him in the back anew. No way on this planet was he letting her do that to him or to Yugi. He was going to have to warn his doppelganger at lunchtime, in case Tea tried to sweetalk him to lull him in a false sense of security so she could then lead him on and stab him in the back anew. Yami hoped very much that Yugi would have the common sense to knock his former friend back.

 

 

 

 

Yugi nearly passed out from shock when he came around the corner on his way to his next class, and saw Tea coming towards him. Her face lit up at the sight of him, and he felt an ill sensation in the pit of his stomach. “I have to get to class,” he told her, making as if to sidestep her and be on his way. He didn't want to be within three feet of her right now, not after the way she had treated him.

“This won't take long,” Tea said, reaching out to put a hand on his arm. He stepped back with a cold look on his face, and she let her hand fall as she continued speaking, clasping her hands tightly behind her back with a look of appeal on her face that didn't fool Yugi in the slightest, and he felt even more ill than before. “I just wanted to apologize for the way I acted last week. I was a total bitch, and I hope you can forgive me. I never meant to be so mean. I was so angry I couldn't think straight, but I would never hurt you in a million years. You're still my friend, aren't you? Tell me you forgive me, and we can go back to the way it was before I acted so stupidly.”

 

Yugi sidestepped her and kept walking, boiling with anger. “If you were really sorry, you would never have done it in the first place,” he said over his shoulder. He then increased his pace, blood boiling. What a nerve! She dared try to apologize to him after all the pain she had caused him? Hadn't she learned her lesson? Her new tactics were only going to let her down, and she was going to end up in even more trouble that before. Wasn't that just like her? Try a new approach to an old line of attack, fail, and get burned even worse than before. Yugi shook his head in mingled disbelief and wonder as he entered his classroom and sat down, rubbing his face tiredly once he had set his books down. Good grief. Her attempt to try and butter him up so she could stab him in the back again was so lame it was a wonder she had even dared to try it in the first place. His good mood had definitely been soured by that unpleasant encounter.

 

Damn it to hell, he really needed a hug right now.

 

 

 

 

Tea slammed her books into her locker at lunchtime, eyes blazing. She was going to throttle Mai! The blonde had told her that changing her tactics in order to appear contrite for what she had tried to do last week would fool Yugi and Yami so that they would let her back into their good books. Then she would be free to start working on driving a whole new wedge between them. Mai had assured her the plan was foolproof. And what had she got for her trouble? Sweet fuck all. Mai was a dead woman. Now Yugi and Yami would never let her anywhere near them. Her new tactic had backfired spectacularly and left her with a very sour taste in her mouth.

 

Her sour mood was made no better by the fact that Mai would probably just shrug her failure off and tell her to bide her time before trying to talk to either Yugi or Yami again. “They can't ignore you forever,” the blonde would say, and Tea scowled as she slammed her locker door shut before going in search of her fellow senior. She should've KNOWN Yugi and Yami would rebuff her. But would Mai listen? No.

 

Tea growled under her breath as she exited the seniors' locker hall. Her partner in crime could be very dumb sometimes. She never would realize she was beaten. Tea, on the other hand, knew when to give up. After a week of having to swallow the memory of her failure like a bitter pill time and time and time again whenever she saw Yugi and Yami together, she was ready to give up and throw in the towel. She had had about as much as any sensible person could take. And she was going to make sure she told Mai so. She was sick and tired of fighting against something she knew would never be ruined, no matter what she and Mai tried to do. It was time to accept the inevitable and get back on with her life. Maybe one day she, Yugi and Yami would be friends again. It was going to take a while, but Tea was prepared to wait. In the meantime, however, she had other matters to worry about, such as the best way to kill Mai for making her go through the humiliation of rejection once again.

 

As her luck would have it, she spotted Mai coming from the direction of the science wing. Her face lit up when she saw Tea coming towards her. “How'd it go, hon?” she asked eagerly.

 

Tea stalked up to her, and the blonde's smile slid off her face when she saw the anger in the brunette's eyes. “I'm very put out with you at the moment,” she hissed.

 

“What on earth is the matter with you?” Mai demanded. “It obviously didn't work, but is that a good reason to get annoyed with me?”

 

“Good and plenty reason,” Tea said angrily. “Let's go somewhere where we can have a nice, private discussion. I think it's about time you realized a few hard truths, Mai. Allow me to be your instructor in this particular subject.” For all that she did like the blonde, Tea suddenly found herself possessed of an intense desire to see her squirming in the dirt. It was going to be a very interesting afternoon indeed.

 

 

 

 

Joey was very puzzled.

 

Ever since Saturday afternoon, when he had been laid up in the sickbay with that cursed gastro, Kaiba had been acting very oddly. There were times when he would treat his fellow senior the way he always had - winding him up at every opportunity - and then there were times when he ignored the blond altogether, which sometimes annoyed Joey even worse than Kaiba's perpetual teasing and name-calling.

 

But then there were times when Joey would catch that peculiar look in Kaiba's blue eyes, and he would again start wondering if it were really true, that the CEO was really in love with him. He would then inevitably fall to questioning his own feelings, and he'd be left with a headache and more questions than what he had at the start. He just couldn't make head nor tail of it. If Kaiba really was in love with him, why didn't he show it? Unless he was waiting for Joey to make the first move?

 

Or maybe he was scared that Joey didn't return his feelings. Maybe that was why he was acting so oddly at times now. Or perhaps he was feeling a little peculiar now that he had allowed the blond to see into his inner soul. Revealing so much of yourself in so simple a way - with just a few casually spoken words, or a meaningful glance that was meant to be innocuous at the same time - was bound to be painful for someone who hitherto had never revealed much of his inner self to anyone before, and perhaps it was giving Kaiba good cause for some soul-searching. But while Kaiba might be certain about his feelings, Joey wasn't so sure. He was still having a hard time adjusting to the fact that his worst enemy was actually in love with him - if it was true - let alone coming to terms with the fact that HE returned those feelings - if THAT were true, of course.

 

Gods, he was getting a headache. Joey massaged his temples as he sat at his table at lunchtime, waiting for the rest of his friends to show up. He wondered what could be taking them so long. Not having anyone to talk to was leaving him with room to think, and with the current subject running around in circles in his head, he wasn't sure if he liked the solitude. Damn it all, he needed someone to talk to before he went crazy!

 

A plate plonked on the table in front of him and he jumped, glaring up at the newcomer. “You could warn a person,” he snapped.

 

“Well, excuse me for living,” Tristan snapped back. He was in a bad mood enough as it is. Joey's somewhat ungracious welcome did nothing for his own frazzled nerves. “I'm sorry if I invaded your personal space, Your Highness.” These last words were spat out with such venom that Joey blinked, his anger totally forgotten in an instant.

 

“Whoa, Trist', what's da matta wit' ya?” the blond inquired. “Ya don't normally fly off da handle like dat for no reason. What's been eatin' at ya?”

 

Tristan sighed as he sat down. “I dunno,” he grumbled. “I've been like a bear with a sore head ever since the weekend, and I dunno what's gotten into me.”

 

Joey was about to say something when he spotted Duke making his way towards them, looking like the cat that had gotten the cream. “Well, at least someone's lookin' like dey didn' eat nails for breakfast,” the blond joked, earning him a snort of laughter from Tristan, who nodded to the green-eyed senior when he came within earshot. “What's got ya so chirpy?” Joey added.

 

“I am now officially a hitched man,” Duke announced proudly, holding out his right hand. On the third finger gleamed his class ring. Joey's eyes widened, and Tristan made a slightly ill sound, unnoticed by either of his friends.

 

There was an unspoken rule about the class ring. So long as it was on the middle finger of the right hand, the student wearing it was considered fair game, and, as such, was therefore allowed to be pursued. As soon as the ring was seen on the third finger of the right hand, however, the student wearing it was considered out of bounds, and therefore no longer allowed to be courted. No one dared break that rule for fear of committing the worst social breach a person could commit.

 

“Well,” Joey said, finally breaking out of his stunned amazement, “I'm really glad ta hear dat, pal. Serenity's gonna be well looked afta by ya. I told her dat if she had any brains she'd date your good self.”

 

“Yeah,” Tristan added, although there was a very faint green tinge to his cheeks. Joey peered closely at his friend. “Somet'in' bot'erin' ya, Trist?” he asked, coming to the point. “Dere's somet'in you're not tellin' us.”

 

Duke blinked at the brunette in his own turn as he sat down. “Yeah, you can tell us,” he said encouragingly. “Does the news of my newly hitched status pain you somewhat as you continue to languish in your woefully single state?”

 

“Watch it,” Joey growled good-naturedly. Duke flashed him an impudent grin.

 

Tristan managed a weak smile. “Promise me neither of you will laugh at me,” he said, sounding almost as though he was pleading. “You're right, there is something I haven't told either of you, and I feel like a loser for keeping you in the dark so long.” He took a deep breath and turned to Duke. “Listen, man, there's something I've been meaning to tell you, but I never had the courage till now.” He sucked in another huge breath. “First of all, the both of you should know I'm gay.” Joey reached out and squeezed his shoulder as he continued, suddenly on the verge of tears. “Duke, I've had the biggest crush on you for as long as I can remember, and I was looking forward to the day when I could tell you how I felt. But, well, now I guess I'm kind of too late.”

 

Duke bit his lip, his green eyes suddenly glinting with unexpected tears of his own. “I'm sorry,” he said simply, his voice full of the same pain Tristan had been expressing only a few moments ago. “I never dreamed you felt that way. I thought, well, that my feelings were unreturned. That's why I decided I'd go for someone who showed some kind of interest in me.” He looked down, his face contorted with the pain throbbing so strongly in his voice. “I might as well confess too. I'm bi. I like both guys and girls, so you can kind of understand why I decided to go for a girl when I thought that my chances of dating a guy were next to none.” He sighed and put his hand on Tristan's other shoulder. “I'm really sorry, Tristan.”

 

Tristan closed his eyes for a moment as a new, stronger pain flashed across his face. Joey and Duke watched him anxiously, their hearts in their throats. He opened his eyes and smiled after a tense moment. It was a weak smile, but it was genuine. “That's okay,” he said. He took a deep breath. “I guess I should have realized that maybe it wasn't meant to happen.”

 

“Maybe ya might discover you're bi as well,” Joey suggested encouragingly. “I mean, t'ink about it. Ya can neva tell wit' your luck.”

 

This time, Tristan's smile was more real, and he was looking like his old self again. It had taken him an enormous amount of courage to face the fact that he and Duke would never be a couple, but he had done it, and he earned a new respect from both his friends for being so selfless as to accept that fact without bitterness or rancor. “I guess you never know your luck in a big city,” he agreed.

 

Joey smiled in heartfelt relief. He was glad that matters had been sorted out without any bloodshed, so to speak. He had been direly afraid that Tristan might take this news of Duke's new unavailability status too much to heart, but it looked as though the brunette's sense of fairness had prevailed once more, allowing him to move on without looking back and wishing for what would never be.

 

Fuck, if only HIS romance problems could be resolved this easily!

 

 

 

 

Yami lay on his back, looking up at the sky overhead. It was quite cool today, with plenty of cloud cover, although the sun was attempting to shine as brightly as it could. A cold breeze had forced him to don his blue school jacket, but he wasn't too bothered by the change in weather. He was quite content at the moment, his earlier anger at Tea gone as if it had never existed.

 

The reason for his contentment was Yugi, lying on his stomach close by, his head resting on his folded arms, his eyes closed. To all appearances he looked as though he was asleep, but he was very much awake. “And then,” the smaller of the two said, amusement in his voice, “Marik tried to shrug it off and look as innocent as he could, when all the while his hands were stained with blue paint, and there were little dabs of it all over his face. There were even a few blue streaks in his hair in places. The teacher knew that he was lying through his teeth, of course, and gave him a week's worth of afternoon detentions starting today.”

 

Yami chuckled. “The smooth Marik Ishtar got caught red-handed,” he said. “Or in this case, blue-handed.”

 

Yugi laughed, opening his eyes to bestow a look full of affection on the taller teen. Yami returned the look, and they were silent for a moment, lost in each other's eyes. These moments of complete and utter stillness were growing more and more frequent with them, and each time, Yugi felt as though they were on the verge of something that he couldn't quite define, but which promised to be utterly breathtaking and mindblowing nevertheless. He had no doubts that Yami felt the same way, and he reached out to intertwine his fingers with those of the older teen. “He's going to find himself cleaning the toilets for a week,” the amethyst-eyed junior said, speaking slowly and with the utmost reluctance. He hated to break such a precious moment between them, but sometimes the intensity of these moments of stillness grew too much for him to bear, and he HAD to say something in case things happened too quickly. That was the last thing he wanted to do, and he hoped very much that Yami would understand why he felt the need to lighten these moods.

 

The crimson-eyed senior did understand, thankfully, and he squeezed Yugi's hand gently. The younger of the two smiled again, letting his head rest on his arms once more. “I wonder why Marik feels the need to be such a larrikin at times?” Yami mused, and Yugi shrugged. “Maybe there's a girl he wants to impress?” the shorter teen guessed.

 

“Perhaps,” Yami agreed. “I certainly wouldn't put it past him. He's always getting himself into scrapes. I, fortunately, am a model of perfection, and I provide the perfect example of how a senior should behave.”

 

Yugi muffled laughter in his sleeve. He loved it when Yami spoke in a fake posh tone. It always made him laugh without fail. He reached out with his other hand and ran his fingers lightly through the other's teen's hair.

 

Yami closed his eyes, feeling a wave of warmth travel over him from head to toe at the touch of Yugi's hand in his spiky hair. He adored the way Yugi would grow endearingly curious and let his hands explore the other teen's hair, or his face, as if he was discovering either for the first time, like an explorer happening upon an extraordinarily precious treasure, the value of which was limitless, boundless in its price, its worth beyond compare. It touched Yami to the heart to see how much Yugi loved to touch him, to get to know him not just by talking, but by touch as well.

 

He reached out blindly with his other hand, his fingertips brushing over Yugi's cheek. He was rewarded with a soft exhalation, and the smaller of the two paused his ministrations for a moment so he could give the elder teen better access to his own hair. Then he allowed his fingers to tangle in Yami's hair once again, while he began playing gently with the other teen's hand, withdrawing his fingers almost completely before twining them with Yami's again. He smiled softly at the discovery of this new game, and he began moving his fingers in a steady rhythm, never once guessing the impact this would have on the elder teen's emotions. Yami felt his breath hitch as Yugi's fingers moved gently back and forth, almost as if he was making love to Yami's hand with his own, and he felt as though something had just turned over inside him, turning every bone in his body to water. He could barely breathe from the emotions that were raging inside of him. {Gods, I hope Yugi knows what he's doing} he thought, amazed that he could still think coherently. {He's driving me absolutely CRAZY}

 

The bell rang a few minutes later, bringing the precious moment to an end, and Yami sighed as he rolled over and sat up, absently running his hands through his hair to get any stray blades of grass out. Yugi likewise attended to his own spiky hair, and when both teens were satisfied no unwelcome passengers had been picked up, they got to their feet and started back towards the school, hand in hand. Yami couldn't help but feel disappointed that they hadn't had more time together, but there was always the library after school, and a smile crept across his face as they reached the entry to the main hall. As usual, there was a mad rush to get to lockers before the second bell rang. It almost resembled a stampede, and Yami held down his concern as best he could. He hated letting Yugi venture into that wild press, but as the smaller of the two had proven time and time again, he could hold his own even in the worst crushes. He pulled his hand free before reaching up and pecking Yami on the cheek. “I'll see you after school,” he said, before venturing into the press of students. “Meet me in the library,” Yami called after him, and he nodded before being swallowed up entirely. The elder teen then turned to go to his own locker, sighing at the prospect of a surprise algebra test. It always happened on Wednesday afternoons without fail, and he was not looking forward to it in the slightest. He should have brushed up a little more in the library this morning. He was a dead man.

 

 

 

 

“A 90?”

 

Yugi's eyes nearly bugged out of his head when he was given back his science assignment. He read the mark at the top of the paper again, just to make sure he'd been given the right one. There was his name in black ink in the left hand corner, just as he'd written it when starting the paper two weeks ago. And there, in the right hand corner, was the mark, written in blue ink; 90%. Next to it was a small note. “Well done, Yugi,” it read.

 

The amethyst-eyed teen snuck a look at his teacher. Mr Sagakaki was the most difficult taskmaster in the whole school. He was ruthless with his classes, and even the coolest-as-cucumber students had been reduced to tears when given back their assignments. Even the icy Seto Kaiba had squirmed when he'd been given back his last paper; he'd managed to score a whopping 78 - his worst mark for the entire year. Mr Sagakaki had grilled him in front of the entire class, lecturing him on the importance of study in order to achieve the best marks possible. He had finished with a scathing, “Even the CEO of Japan's largest gaming company should realize the value of hard work. Life is not a free lunch, you know,” he'd said.

 

“Whoa,” said a voice behind Yugi, and he turned to see Malik Ishtal looking at him, his lavender eyes wide. The doppelganger of Marik Ishtar had the same tanned skin and platinum-blond hair as did the senior, save that his hair was not as wild. It was the same with Ryou and his doppelganger, Bakura Geisuke. Both had the same white hair and chocolate brown eyes, but Bakura's face was a little harder, and his hair was a lot wilder than Ryou's, just as Marik's hair was.

 

“What did you get?” Yugi asked, grinning at the other junior's stupefaction.

 

Malik sighed and brandished his own paper. “An 80,” he griped. “Mom's gonna tan me for this.”

 

“At least you tried,” Ryou said, his face sheepish as he showed his fellow juniors his paper. “I got a lousy 70. Dad's gonna blow a gasket when he sees this.”

 

“Poor Ryou,” Yugi and Malik chorused, patting him on the head. He grimaced and pulled away.

 

“So how DID you get a 90?” the white haired teen asked his spiky-haired friend. “Normally you only manage to pull an 80, maybe an 85 if you're lucky.”

 

“I dunno,” Yugi admitted, looking down at his paper once more and tracing the score as if to convince himself that he really wasn't dreaming. “I admit I did study like mad, and I put a lot of effort into it, but I know this is more than I thought I'd get.”

 

“Maybe Mr Sagakaki was in a good mood or something,” Malik said with a snicker. “Y'know, better than he usually is.”

 

Ryou grinned. “You don't think he's… y'know,” he said suggestively.

 

“No way,” Yugi said. “A new girlfriend? He NEVER lets his love life” -

 

“Or lack thereof,” Malik interrupted with a sly grin.

 

-“influence his moods,” Yugi continued, as if he hadn't been cut off. “He's the most level-headed teacher I know.”

 

Malik snickered again. “Either that or he got laid real good.”

 

Ryou and Yugi burst out laughing. “If the sex was as mindblowing as all that,” the former said, “then it must've been a doozy.”

 

“Or maybe he got a good blowjob,” Malik surmised, and this sent his two friends into fresh convulsions of mirth.

 

Yugi was amazed to discover, even as he tried to control his laughter, that he was so comfortable talking about sex and related subjects. He'd NEVER been this free-minded before. Was it something to do with the fact that he was growing more and more comfortable with his own sexuality that was allowing him to discuss something that would normally have reduced him to blushes and led him to change the subject? Or was it Yami's influence that was freeing him from the old conceptions he had once had about sex? Either way, it had to be a good change, and with that, he let go another small part of the old him without really being aware that he was doing so.

 

“Can a blowjob have the power to change teachers' attitudes and make them give their students good grades?” Ryou asked. “'Cause if that's the case, maybe it wasn't as good as we all thought.”

 

“I dunno,” Malik said. “We all pulled good marks. I think it was a blowjob personally.”

 

Yugi snickered. “Maybe he should get them more often,” he said. The three started laughing again.

 

 

 

 

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