Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Pools of Glass ❯ Practice Makes Perfect ( Chapter 6 )

JG: Here is chappie 6… hope you like it! Any ideas welcome! Sorry this one is a bit short -_- but I'm saving the actual prom until the next chapter XD sorry!

The Almighty Elena: I'm glad you like my fic ^_^ in fact, thanks for reviewing all my stories! I'm flattered!

Avvy: Glad you enjoyed, here's the next chapter.

Practice Makes Perfect
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Monday after school, music room, drama department, Domino High…

"Ooh, yea-" Jou's voice suddenly shot up in to a high-balls tone at the beginning of the song. A groan from the other guys behind him on the instruments sounded.

"Jounou! That's the third time in a row that this has happened! What the hell is up with your voice man?" Honda shrieked from the side of the stage, taking his fingers off the guitar.

"Hey lay off man! It's been a while since I've sang you know!"

"It sounds to me like your voice is breaking---again."

"Shut up Honda, you bastard."

Honda snorted a laugh.

"Perhaps we should let Honda start off. Or at least until Jou gets his voice sorted out." Yugi suggested as he leant on the keyboard.

"But Jou's voice suits the first part of the song better than my voice!" Honda protested, and then added complacently. "My voice is too deep."

"Balderdash." Ryou replied. "Your voice is fine."

Honda, Jou, Otogi and Yuugi looked at him oddly at his choice of words. Then again, he was from England. His language made no sense to others as far as they were concerned. But Bell secretly liked his accent. She was fascinated by people from other countries.

All the while, Anzu and Bell were sitting on a couch with Yami and [Yami] Bakura opposite the stage in the music room watching the boys practice their first song. Anzu severely objected to Jou's idea of having them become a heavy metal rock group, and suggested they become something more in the likes of Westlife. Naturally, they all disagreed to her suggestion, so they decided to settle on Ryou's proposal - the U.K pop band Blue.

"Come on Jou, I know you'll get it right this time!" Bell shouted.

"You can do it Jou! Believe in yourself!" Anzu added.

Jou sighed and adjusted the microphone again. "Alright, let's try this again."

"On three," Otogi said as he grabbed his drumsticks. "One, two, three!"

Jou started off singing, but this time without the squeaky voice. He gave the thumbs up and the group continued playing. Otogi pounding the drums, Yugi running his fingers over the keyboard, Ryou being the lead singer and Jou and Honda being the backup singers on the guitars. They finished right through the song smoothly, without any faults.

"Nice work, hikari." Bakura smirked from the other side of the room, making Ryou blush.

"I never knew you could sing so well, Jou." Bell said.

He reddened. "It all comes naturally ya know?" For once nobody could argue with him there.

"You guys should do a few songs for the school prom." Anzu suggested.

They all looked at each other inquiringly.

"You know she could be right." Otogi replied.

"We'll have to talk to the student council about it." Honda said.

"I can't see why they wouldn't let you." Bell commented.

"Speaking of proms," Anzu piped up. "Have you guys got your gear sorted out? It's this Saturday you know."

"Saturday?!" Jou, Honda, Ryou and Otogi all cried at once. Yugi just grinned nervously in the background; it seemed he was the only male who had remembered.

"Guess we'll have to hit the mall after school, hey buddy?" Honda said as he nudged Jou in the ribs.

"Joy." Jou remarked glumly.

"Well you guys, I think we should wrap it up. My voice is going all scratchy." Ryou said as he rubbed his throat.

"Yeah, it's nearly five o'clock anyway." Yugi said as he switched off the keyboard. Honda unplugged his guitar and Otogi got up and stretched his legs from behind the set of drums. Otogi put his school blazer back on and grabbed his schoolbag.

"Where are you all heading now?" Ryou asked; hand-in-hand with his yami as he and the group were exiting the school gates.

"I gotta get back to the game shop. We have a lot of cleaning up to do." Yugi said. Yami winked at his hikari, gone unnoticed by the others.

"Come on you, you have… homework to do. Yes, homework." Bakura fruitlessly lied.

Ryou sighed. "I'll see you all tomorrow." And went tottering off down the road with a very restless yami.

"I have to go tune up my motorbike. I think some nuts fell off of it on my way home from work yesterday." Honda said as he began walking off down the road.

"I gotta get back to my game shop. Anyone want to help me close down for the night?" Otogi asked.

"I will!" Anzu volunteered. "It's not far from home anyway."

With everyone out of sight, Jou and Bell were left in the street standing next to Jou's car who he affectionately named "Bob", which stood for `bucket of bolts'. Bell grasped his hands and smiled at him. Jou looked down at her and grinned. She made him so happy. She was actually making him excited about the upcoming prom.

"So what's your dress like?" Jou asked. "Even though I know you'd look flattering in anything."

Bell reddened at his comment. "I haven't seen it yet. But I know what it will look like. You'll just have to wait and see."

Jou grinned cheesily as he unlocked the door to let Bell in and went and jumped into the driver's seat. "I'll be damned if Bob starts up for me today. I'm nearly outa gas."

Bell chuckled quietly as Jou attempted to start up the car. Bob coughed and spluttered a few times before actually starting.

"Thatta boy! Eh hehehehe." Jou laughed as Bob started up and backfired a few times. "I knew you wouldn't let me down!"

After Jou had dropped Bell off at home, he parked Bob down on the street and went into the spare room and put on his boxing gloves. The rest of the night was spent working out, trying to improve his physique and get rid of his `beer gut' (or so Jou thought he had) before the big night on Saturday.

Friday after school…

Busy with band practice, Otogi, Honda and Jou had left buying their prom suits until the last minute. After school on Friday they all busted down to the mall in Bob with wallets bursting full of cash from their Thursday night pay checks. Ryou and Bakura had gone down on Wednesday to get Ryou's outfit and to book an appointment at the hairdressers. Ryou's hair needed to be washed, conditioned, clipped, combed and brushed to absolute perfection for Saturday night. It was such a nuisance to keep tidy all the time, as Bakura could also relate to.

Bell had helped Anzu pick out a dress on Tuesday, and had seen and tried on her own prom dress, compliments to Kaiba's flamboyant dressmaker. The dress was beautiful though, and the dressmaker even gave her a pair of shoes, some jewellery and a purse to match. At the moment, Bell was down at the café/bookstore in town. Ryou worked here, and was busy making cappuccinos and lattés for all the customers at the moment.

After having a double short black with a squirt of honey, Bell went into the bookstore side of the café and searched the aisles for a particular book on philosophy that she had been searching for.

"Oh where is it? It must be here…" Bell thought out loud. "Oh come on!" She was getting frustrated now.

"What are you looking for? Perhaps I could help you."

Bell turned around at the sound of the coppery voice behind her. She peered up into two exotic purple eyes lined with thick black lashes and unusual markings near the bottom. A mop of gleaming platinum hair came down past his shoulders and gold jewellery seemed to hang from every joint on his body. Bell seemed entranced by this never-before-seen exotic newcomer.

"Oh- well, uh-" Bell stuttered, and flushed.

"I'm Malik. If you're looking for that book on philosophy by Jack McCormack then you won't find it. Somebody already came and bought it yesterday."

Bell slumped her shoulders. "Great. And I had just enough money to buy it today too!"

"I'm sorry. If you had come in a day earlier I could have held it for you." Malik replied.

"You work here?"

"Yeah, just a part time job. I know I don't look the part," Malik replied sheepishly. "You don't need to tell me. I get it a lot."

Bell nodded. "Well, I'm Bell. Thanks for telling me about the book. I probably would have been searching for hours otherwise."

Malik shrugged. "It's okay. Anything else I can interest you in?"

Bell was tempted to say something she really shouldn't. She pushed that thought aside and shook her head. "No thank you. I'm sure I'll find it in the library."

"Alright. Well I'd better get back to work. Nice meeting you Bell."

"You too uh---um---uh…"

"Malik."

Bell grinned. "Sorry, I'm shocking with names."

"That makes two of us." Malik said before turning off to get back to work behind the counter.

Bell sighed and exited the store, before giving Ryou a friendly wave goodbye. She couldn't help but feel feebly nervous about the coming night. For starters, Kaiba was her date, Jou would want to dance with her too, then there was the matter of getting her hair styled and after the prom was the after party… the list went on. I guess all she could do at this stage was hope for the best, or more like pray for the best. What she didn't know is that the worst was yet to come…

@!*(_&^$!)_+%#@!*(_&^$!)_+%#