Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Pools of Glass ❯ Judgment ( Chapter 2 )

Well, like I said, here's chapter two! I hope this isn't too lame… it's not a usual cliché Mary-Sue fic, if that's what you're thinking (at least I think so!). Anyway, enough of my rambling, here's chapter 2!!

Judgment
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

8:15AM…

Jou walked into the main block on time for once, and met up with the rest of the group outside his locker. Yugi greeted him cheerfully as always, as did Anzu. Honda put a hand on his shoulder and asked him if he was feeling any better.

Jounouchi shrugged. "Yeah, I'm alright. Got detention for the rest of da week, though." He replied as he opened his locker. There was a note on a small piece of blue paper in there. It read: "Stay away from her, Mutt."

Jou fumed. "Whaaaaaaaaaaaat?!"

Honda and the rest turned around to see a VERY ticked-off Jou with his teeth clenched, holding the small piece of paper at arms length out in front of him.

"What happened, Jou-kun?" Yugi asked gently.

"Kaiba!!!! I'm gonna… grrrrrr!!"

Anzu rolled her eyes and held her head in one hand. "Not again…"

"I'm gonna KILL him!!!"

"What does it say, Jou?" Yugi asked as he took the note out of Jou's shaking hands. "Who is Kaiba talking about in this note?" Yugi asked.

"This girl in detention yesterday… I was talking to her and apparently Kaiba has a thing for her." Jou slunk down the side of the lockers to the floor and sat with his knees up.

Anzu perked up. "Really? Kaiba has a crush on someone? Now that is gossip! Who is she, Jou?"

Jounouchi groaned, and then suddenly grinned. "Bell Ramika."

Everyone looked down at Jou in stunned silence, both from shock that Kaiba liked a girl like Bell Ramika and that someone like her would get a detention - and that Jou would actually talk to her. Honda suddenly burst out laughing, followed by Yugi and then Anzu.

"Hey come on you guys… she's really not that bad." Jou said, rather defensively. This only made them laugh harder.

"Bell Ramika is like, the queen of nerds!" Honda bellowed with laughter and hoisted Jou to his feet.

"You don't know her though, she's a nice gal." Jou remarked.

"You don't know her either though, Jou." Yugi said.

Jou sighed. "Well, I can see why Kaiba's got da hots for her."

Anzu twisted her face up. "How?" She asked.

"She's just as brainy as he is… they seem to have a bit in common. I mean she's not hideous or anything either." Jou replied.

The bell rang demanding everyone into class. Jou had Japanese first period with Yugi and Ryou, where as Honda and Anzu had math. At lunchtime, Bell was nowhere to be seen, so Jou thought he'd go into the library to see if he could find her there; and ask her if she knew anything about the note. He had to admit, it took a bit of courage to step foot in the library, since he had never been in there before in his life.

"You sure you don't want me to come with you?" Honda asked as he and Jou stood outside the main entrance to the library. Jou fiddled with his fingers and jiggled about on the spot.

"Nah, I'm fine." Jou breathed deeply before setting foot into the foyer of the library. Honda patted his shoulder.

"Good luck man."

"Yeah… thanks. See ya at the caf', yeah?"

"Sure."

Jou disappeared inside the building and walked confidently, but felt feebly nervous on the inside. He never knew that bookshelves could be so incredibly high… then again, how many times had he ever been inside a library? About twice. He felt terribly out of place as all the other not-so-popular students gawked at him as he went by so casually and coolly.

Soon Bell came into view. She was sitting at a desk… with Kaiba. Some air caught in Jou's throat so he quickly threw himself behind a bookshelf before either of them noticed him fumbling around klutzily. He spied around the corner and noticed that Bell was doing some kind of writing. She was curling her bangs around a pencil. Kaiba was sitting around the other side of the table from her with his fingers entwined and his elbows up on the desk. He had a tiny little smile on his face that made every bone in Jou's body crunch. The library was so quiet that he could hear every word that they were saying…

"I don't know why I took this subject." Bell groaned.

"Do you need some help?" Kaiba asked affectionately.

Jou grit his teeth and listened some more. "Oh no, it's okay. If I pick my brain hard enough then I'll get the answer." Bell replied shyly.

Kaiba smiled and went back to reading some book. Jou decided now was a good time to go up to her. He stepped out from behind the bookshelf and confidently made his way over to her, fingering the note in his pocket. He was more than ready to make Kaiba look like a complete and utter fool.

Kaiba looked up from his book as he noticed the blonde strutting over. He snarled from behind his book at Jou. Bell looked at Kaiba and then turned around to see what he was staring so sourly at. Her face lightened ever-so slightly when she saw him advance on her.

"Heya, Bell." Jou said smugly.

"Hi… Jou. What brings you here?"

"Yeah… didn't you see the sign outside? No dogs in the library." Kaiba smirked. His eyes widened slightly as Jou kept his cool and ignored him.

Jou threw the note down on the desk in front of Bell. "I'd just like to let ya know that this… was in my locker this morning. You know anythin' about it?"

Bell unfolded the crumpled piece of paper. She read it out quietly. "Stay away from her…Mutt? Who is this from…?"

An angry growl escaped Kaiba's throat as he gathered his things and left the library. Jou tried to suppress his giggles as he sat down in Kaiba's now-empty chair. Jou couldn't stop grinning as Bell turned a deep shade of crimson.

"If that doesn't prove somethin', then I dunno what does!" Jou shrieked. Bell gaped at the note.

"Oh my… oh dear…" Was all she could manage to say.

"I got him good! But can you believe that?" Jou cried.

"He must be really… uh… jealous." Bell cracked a smile.

Jou's body went rigid - Kaiba, jealous of… him? The absurdity of the situation was too much for him. He looked closer at Bell's face. She had perfectly clear skin and long, thick black lashes. Her eyes were actually rather pretty behind those thick lenses of hers. On closer inspection, her eyes were an incredibly deep, dark chocolate brown.

"You wanna come meet da gang?" Jou asked abruptly.

"Pardon?"

"Me and my pals. You wanna come? Sure beats studyin' when ya supposed to be eatin'."

"You have a point." Bell closed her books and put her pens and pencils away and put her schoolbag back on. Together they got up and left the library and made their way to the cafeteria.

In the cafeteria…

Mountains of black, edged with crimson moved around to face a geeky looking brunette standing next to one of the cockiest blondes in the school. Her big brown eyes looked around the room nervously. Yugi picked up straight away that she was not one to enjoy crowded, noisy places.

"Guys, this is Bell. I said she could sit with us." Jou said, scratching the back of his head.

Ryou looked up and smiled at her. "Hello." He said. "I'm Ryou."

"Hi Ryou." She replied. She took a seat between Ryou and Jou and started to jabber to Ryou about - what else - schoolwork.

"Dude… I still don't know why you wanna be friends with her." Honda whispered, looking at her nerdy glasses and funny looking bangs.

"Give her a chance man. She's got no friends and she's not a half bad person." Jou replied. "Just accept her… even if it's for a little while."

Detention…

Ms. Sae made the teens clean the science lab for their punishment this afternoon. Bell was busy scrubbing the basins while Jou was wiping down the benches. Bell seemed to be having an awful time keeping her glasses on the bridge of her nose, as they kept slipping down. Jou couldn't help but notice, so he asked about them.

"You ever considered getting contact lenses?" He asked.

She looked up at him, and then went back to cleaning the basins. "Of course I have. Do you have any idea how expensive they are? I've saved up enough to buy some, though. I'm thinking about getting some tomorrow."

"Wow… really?"

"Yeah. I finally get to get rid of these old things. I'm so excited. " She laughed, pointing to her glasses.

"I'll bet ya are."

A bit of an awkward silence loitered in the air as the youths continued to clean out the science lab. Bell soon spoke up.

"I like your friends, Jou. They are really nice. Especially Ryou."

"I told ya you'd like `em. Ryou's everyone's best friend. So is Yug'." Jou replied.

"Yeah… um, about Kaiba…" Bell said, deciding to change the subject.

"What about `im?"

Bell stopped scrubbing for a second and leant against the science bench. Jou stopped and looked at her questioningly. "I want to thank you. You kind of… saved me from him."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah… he wouldn't leave me alone. I think he's backed off a bit now. It was his own fault anyway, though." She remarked.

"Yeah… stupid Kaiba. That'll teach him for ever calling me a mutt… he should think twice before he tries something like that on again." Jou chuckled conceitedly to himself.

Bell sighed, somewhat relieved and went back to scrubbing. Jou went back to wiping down the benches.

It was a warm and windy summer afternoon when the two were let out from their detention. They walked home together, rather hushed, just admiring the warm weather and taking in the sweet scent of the sakura blossoms. It began to rain lightly when they came to the corner of Bell's street. Raindrops fell onto Bell's glasses so she took them off to wipe the lenses on her school shirt.

Jou felt a glitch in his stomach. "Wow…" He breathed. Her eyes were breathtaking. He hadn't seen her take off her glasses before.

"Wow what?" Bell asked, confused somewhat.

"Um, nothing." Jou was shaken out of his brief daydream. "I guess I'm nothin' but a blur to you right now huh?"

"You got that right." Bell laughed, and put her glasses back on. "But not anymore." She grinned.

Jou grinned with her. For a nerd, she was pretty funny. "See you tomorra, a'ight?"

She gave a nod. "Will you let me have lunch with you again?"

"Course. You're part of da gang now… that's if you wanna be."

"Thanks Jou."

"Don't mention it."

"See you tomorrow."

He nodded. "See you tomorrow."

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