Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ The Past is Present ❯ Bad Day ( Chapter 2 )

PT: Hey! Welcome to the second chapter of my fic. This chapter primarily focuses on the bashing of my own character in order to make less mary sueish like, though I doubt it helped. Hee hee. (Don't worry, it's not true bashing. I just make her have a really bad day.) I hope you all enjoy it.

~ Chapter 2: Bad Day ~

Marie desperately galloped through the forest on a bay stallion. She raced down the forest path and turned sharply into a clearing. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a man with blazing white hair jumped out of the trees in front of her. He looked strangely familiar. Marie's horse reared in fear and threw its rider to the ground. Then it turned and raced back the way it had come. Marie stood up and tried to run but felt as though her legs were made of iron. The man grabbed her arms and forced her to the ground. "GET AWAY FROM ME!" she screamed, but he just grinned at her evilly and took out a knife. "No please, don't hurt me!" she pleaded. The man started to laugh, a loud merciless laugh that sent chills down her spine. "No! STOP! HELP!" she cried.

~

"Arrrrrrghhhh! Noooo!" Marie shrieked as she jerked herself awake. She sat up quickly in her bed and looked around in confusion, forgetting where she was at the moment. Her heart was beating hard and she had woken up in a cold sweat. For a few moments she stared up at her ceiling, trying to calm her jittery nerves.

At last she leaned back and recalled the nightmare. It was so vivid and unlike any dream she had ever had before. She could still hear the maniac laughter of the man and shivered as she remembered the way he had grinned with his knife held up above him. Strangely enough, he seemed to resemble Ryou in a way, but Marie brushed those thoughts from her head. She knew it was just her mind's way of dealing with the recent events by twisting Ryou's sweet features and her own jumbled thoughts together to form a distorted and evil version of the British boy.

Marie glanced at her clock and groaned. It was only 4:30 in the morning and she wasn't the least bit tired. She tried to get back to sleep for an hour but finally decided to get up when her mind refused to be lulled back to sleep.

On the way to school, Marie shoved her hands in her pockets and kicked a stone in annoyance. Her dream had left her feeling tired and cranky, and she was in no mood to deal with the gang after what had happened yesterday; especially Joey Wheeler. The sky was dark and a light drizzle sprinkled the ground with moisture; it seemed to be expressing her mood. As the large building loomed into view, Marie stared up at it and without realizing what she was doing, walked right out into the street.

BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP

The sound of a car horn startled her so badly that she jumped and spun around in one fluid movement. A long black limo whizzed passed and sprayed her with a jet of dirty water from the road. "Aiigh!" she shrieked in disgust. She was soaked, and her new shirt was ruined. Thanks a lot! Why don't you just ruin the rest of my day while you're at it?

At that moment the limo pulled over to the side of the road and a teenage boy stuck his head out of the passenger window. He had thick brown hair and glowered at her through narrowed blue eyes. Great, this is just what I need, Marie thought sarcastically. She recognized the boy as Seto Kaiba from her history class. Yeah, the one she'd made a fool of herself in front of. Or rather, Joey had taken the liberty of doing that for her. Who else could afford to drive himself to school in a limo? Or have his driver take him, whichever he preferred at the time.

"Hey! Why don't you watch where you're going," the boy snarled. "Stay out of the road if you don't know how to walk properly." He glared at her and the limo sped off, leaving her staring emotionlessly after him as dirty grey water dripped off her skin.

"Nice to see you again too," she muttered grumpily, before continuing her journey to the school.

~ ~

"Having a bad day?" Tea grinned as Marie plopped down next to her with a sigh, slamming her books onto her desk. She just scowled and tried to ring some of the water from her hair.

"Whoa! What happened to you? You're all wet!"

She looked up as Joey and Tristan came bounding into the room, jostling each other as they made their way over to their seats.

"Thanks for noticing." Marie replied shortly. Then she glared at Joey.

"What?" he asked defensively.

"I'm sure you can guess who I ran into this morning," she answered.

Joey looked puzzled for a moment before realization dawned on his face and he began sniggering. "Kaiba?"

"Yes, and it's your entire fault!" Marie snapped, almost shouting at him.

"Huh? Why's it my fault? What'd I do?"

"If you hadn't said those things to him yesterday, he probably wouldn't have treated me like he did!"

Joey sniggered again. "Yeah, whateva ya say!"

"Kaiba's always like that," Tea explained as Marie gave her a puzzled glance. She just frowned and turned her attention away from the three friends, burying her head in a book.

"Ohayo gozaimasu!" Ryou greeted the gang cheerfully as he strode in through the door, "How are you lot today?" He was followed in by several more half-asleep students, who appeared as though they'd rather be back in bed sleeping than at school.

"Hey, Bakura," Tea responded. Joey and Tristan put up a hand in greeting and then continued on with the argument they were having about lord knows what. Marie glanced down at her watch to check the time and realized they still had ten minutes before school officially started.

Ryou sat down opposite from Marie and said apologetically, "Um…I seem to have forgotten your name since yesterday. What was it again?"

"Marie," she snapped without looking up from her book. "Now leave me alone."

"Uh, right," Ryou answered, rubbing the back of his neck in embarrassment.

Tea poked Marie in the arm and hissed, "Stop being mean. Just because Kaiba was rude to you doesn't give you the right to be rude to everyone else!"

Marie mumbled a response that no one really caught and continued reading while Tea and Bakura exchanged glances.

"Hey, did you guys get the answers to questions five and six on the homework we got last night?" Tristan asked as he pulled out a four page packet they were supposed to have completed for that day.

Marie's head shot up from her book. "NANI?!? WE HAD HOMEWORK?!" she shouted. "Crap!! I completely forgot!" She quickly rummaged through her folder and located the packet, mentally cursing the teacher as she did. "What kind of teacher gives homework on the first day?" she muttered to the rest of the gang.

Tea shrugged, "I always get homework on the first day."

"Oh….well, I've been home schooled for the past few years," Marie muttered, "I guess I always thought the teachers give you a break."

"Heh, maybe in first grade," Joey grinned, "when the teachers are nice."

"Yeah, it's like they think we don't have lives or somethin'," Tristan added. "Here, you can look off mine." Marie gratefully accepted his packet and started scribbling down answers.

"Hey, how'd ya forget `bout the homework in the first place?" Joey asked slyly. "Thinkin' `bout Kaiba?"

Marie began blushing furiously and bent her head down so no one would notice. "Shut up, Joey!" she snapped. He was quickly becoming her least favorite person of the gang. Joey just grinned and leaned back in his chair.

There was a sudden hush as Seto Kaiba walked in and glared coldly about the room. His eyes caught Marie's for just an instant, and he smirked before heading toward his seat. As he drew nearer, Joey tensed. Grinding his teeth, he began growling deep in his throat.

"Down mutt," Kaiba provoked as he strode passed Joey's chair.

"Arrgh, Kaiba! Keep talkin', and you'll find yourself wid a bloody nose!"

Kaiba stopped and turned around. With an amused smirk he replied calmly, "I highly doubt you have the intelligence to understand what you're getting yourself into, Wheeler. So I'm telling you this one time; keep your big mouth shut and stay out of my way, or you'll be asking for trouble. Understand?"

Joey snorted, "And what are ya gonna do? Sue me?"

Kaiba raised an eyebrow, "I wouldn't waste my time on you. You can hardly afford to feed yourself, let alone pay for a decent lawyer."

"It's called: havin' the right to a lawyer no matter how much money ya have, dumbass!" Joey growled. "I woulda thought a big shot genius like you would've known these things."

Kaiba smirked, "Let me clarify. I said a decent lawyer, and even so, there's no way in hell you'd have the amount of money I'd sue you for."

"Well, excuse me," Joey snapped, "some of us actually have to work for our money, and don' just happen to inherit companies from step dads who `mysteriously' vanish."

"Joey!" Tea muttered, elbowing him in the ribs. "Watch what you say around him."

Kaiba stood quite still glaring at Joey as if to bore a hole through his head. When he finally did speak it was with forced calmness. "I would expect that kind of remark from someone of your class, Mutt. One who'll never have the intelligence or understand the sacrifices needed to survive in the business world. I have never or will ever depend on anyone for anything, you dog, and do you know why?"

"Because you're a first class jerk with an ego the size of Japan?" Joey suggested.

The room had gotten quite quiet, as everyone was listening to the two boys' argument with interest. Kaiba's eyes narrowed. "Because wasting my time with worthless dreg like you will only slow down my progress," he sneered. Then, knowing how much Joey hated hearing about his financial problems, he added. "Maybe I should explain this to you when you raise your status above poverty……………Or maybe pigs will fly before that ever happens." He smirked at Joey and then turned around and strode to his seat.

Joey was too stunned at Kaiba's response to reply and simply watched his retreating back.

Marie glared at Kaiba for a moment before getting up herself and going over to him. Sure, she was still mad at Joey for what he had done yesterday, but that didn't mean she wasn't mad at Kaiba for talking to him that way. After all, he had started it.

She came up to his desk and plopped down in a chair across from him. He glared and her and asked, "Well? What do you want?"

"Why do you treat them so badly?" she asked angrily, ushering to the group several desks away. "And why were you so rude to me this morning? I never did anything to you!"

"You were in my way," Kaiba replied, "as for your friends; I couldn't care less about losers like them."

"You know?" she exclaimed, "I didn't think you were such a bad guy," a little bit of red made its way to her cheeks at this statement, but she was too angry to care. "But now I see how rude and self centered you are. It's no wonder no one likes you!" The class began a chorus of ooooos. Nobody had ever had the courage to speak to Kaiba like that before. Well, except Joey.

"Is there a point to your babbling?" he asked, glancing down at her. "Why don't you go back to your little geeky friends and stay out of my business?" Marie glared up at him. Kaiba stared back at her with his icy blue eyes, and after a moment, Marie began to feel very stupid and self conscious. She broke eye contact and looked away. The young CEO stood up and grabbed Marie by the back of her shirt, pulling her off her feet.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing?" she demanded furiously, "Leggo of me!" She squirmed and kicked at Kaiba, but he had a firm grip and wasn't bothered by her struggle. He walked over to where Tea, Tristan, Joey, Ryou, and Yugi (who had come in just in time to hear the tale end of the argument) sat and dropped Marie in her seat.

"I think this trash belongs to you," Kaiba said coldly, before turning around and heading to the back of the room.

Marie was so mad she couldn't speak, and she could feel the eyes of all twenty six students staring at her, wondering with interest what her reaction would be. She knew there was no way she'd have any chance against Kaiba, so she simply gave up. With her face burning red, she sank back in her chair and wished that she could just crawl under a rock and die. This is going to be a long year, she thought grimly.

PT: Ok, that's all for this chapter. Please, please, PLEASE leave a review after you read it! Thank you.