Chapter 13 - A day at the beach

A day at the beach



`YAY! I LOVE THE BEACH SO MUCH!' Ana shouted as soon as she woke up. The rest of the girls opened one eye each and watched as their friend jumped up and down on the bed. Eventually Yuula reached up and grabbed one of Ana's legs and she came crashing down onto the bed and then rolled onto the floor.

`Shut up otherwise you won't be going,' said Kaede, who hadn't even bothered to open her eyes.

`But we're going to the beach!' Ana jumped up, but had to dodge Kaede's hands trying to grab her ankles as she ran to the door. `I'm going to wake up the boys,' she said as she ran out of the room, slamming the door behind her.

`I pity them,' Tea said, rolling over and pulling her duvet over her head to block out what they all knew was coming. From down the corridor they heard her shout: `WE'RE GOING TO THE BEACH! WAKE UP GUYS!' But they hadn't expected another shout.

`GET OUT NOW! WE'RE NOT WEARING A LOT!' they heard Takumi yell at her.

Kaede sat up with her eyes still closed and started trying to get dressed. Occasionally she would peak open one eye to search for an article of clothing, but shut it again instantly. Sakura was watching her, half fascinated, and said bewildered, `I thought you got up at five every morning to go for a run?'

`Not every morning, sometimes there are mornings when I just cannot get up, I guess this is one of them,' Kaede said, and gave up trying to find her clothes. She stood up, a bit uncertain on her feet and stumbled to the door. `I'll be back in a few minutes, just going to get used to being up.'

She walked along the corridor, her hand brushing along the wall in front of her for support. She reached Takumi's bedroom and knocked on the door.

`If that's Ana again-' Takumi warned through the crack in the door.

`Then come in,' Honda said quickly.

`NO!' shouted Joey, Takumi and Duke together.

`It's me,' she said, pushing open the door. She opened her eyes a bit, lifting her hand up to block the light streaming in through the windows.

What she did manage to see of the room looked like a boom site; littered with rubbish. She noticed that they hadn't bothered to find any mattresses, and most of them were just sleeping on the floor. `What happened in here? Or does your room normally look like this?' she said, picking her way across the room to where Joey was lying.

`Nope, this is pretty much normal,' Takumi said, and swung his legs off the bed, going back the way Kaede had come. When he had shut the door behind him and his footsteps headed towards the bathroom had faded, Honda and Duke jumped up and ran to the bed. Honda got there first, but Duke pushed him off and spread out his arms wide, so there was no more room. Honda grabbed him by the leg and tried to grab him off but Joey cleared his throat. `I think that the lady should get the bed.'

Honda and Duke got off the bed and returned to their initial places on the floor. Kaede sat on the bed, and Joey came and lay down beside her. Leaning over so she could whisper in his ear, she said, `Did you just use me as an accuse to get the bed?'

`Of course not, I wouldn't dream of it,' he said, and grabbed her by the waist, pulling her down to lay next to him.

Kaede lay on the bed and closed her eyes, trying to remember her dream. But nothing came back to her, except…

She sat up and looked at Duke, who was lying on the floor below the window. Smiling, she lay down again and turned to Joey. `Did you know that Duke has a pet name?' she said quietly, so only Joey could hear.

`No, what is it?' Joey murmured back, on the verge of sleep again.

Kaede fought to keep a straight face. `Dookikins.'

Joey sat up roaring with laughter. He clutched his sides as tears of laughter rolled down his cheeks. Yugi, Honda, Duke and Ryou all stared at him as he fell onto the floor laughing.

`What's the matter Joey?' Yugi asked, sitting up in bed.

Joey couldn't speak for laughter, but he shook his head at Yugi. Yugi shrugged, and began folding up his duvet.

Kaede knew she was as awake as anyone could expect her to be at this time of the morning. She left Joey on the floor and went back to Yuula's room. She grabbed her clothes and her bag and ran to the bathroom. Takumi was sitting in there making himself look pretty, but Kaede grabbed him by the arm and hurled him into the corridor, locking the bathroom door as she went back in.

Kaede changed into her bikini and then threw on a denim miniskirt and white top which showed off her stomach. She brushed her hair and teeth and then emerged into the hall.

`About time,' Takumi stood up from where he had been sitting in the hall. `I have been waiting for ten minutes.'

Ignoring him, Kaede went downstairs to the kitchen. She entered and was greeted by the smell of pancakes. Yuula stood by the cooker wearing a pink frilly apron and had a frying pan in one hand. On the kitchen table was a large plate piled high with pancakes. Kaede sat down and grabbed a few of them and began to eat.

One by one the others came down. When Joey and Honda saw the pancakes, they immediately grabbed a fork each and began eating as many as were put in front of them in an attempt to see who could eat the most.

`Slow down guys, otherwise you'll make yourselves sick,' Yugi said when he came in.

`No time to talk; must beat Honda,' Joey sat through a mouthful of pancakes and honey.

`If you eat anymore then you won't float, and I am not going to save you if you do,' Kaede said, calmly cutting up the pancake in front of her.

Yuula watched them all eating and refused to cook anymore because she was starving. Kaede and Sakura finished their mouthfuls and took her place; Kaede mixing, Sakura flipping.

When Takumi came down after making himself pretty, he grabbed a few pancakes, sprinkled them with sugar and left the room. Kaede heard him talking on the phone a minute later.

`Yeah, we're going to the beach. You seriously want to come? Okay, we'll meet you there at 9.30,' he said, and hung up.

`Who was that?' Yuula yelled after swallowing her mouthful.

`Seto Kaiba,' Takumi called back. `He and Mokuba are meeting us at the beach.'

`WHAT?' Kaede and Joey yelled at once.

`He's not coming,' Joey said.

`I'm not coming,' Kaede said firmly.

`What? Kaede, you have to come,' Ana pleaded.

`Not if he's there,' Kaede replied.

`Kaede, come on, we're going to go surfing and they don't have to surf too, so it's not like he's going to be around to annoy you,' Sakura coaxed her.

`No, nothing you can say or do will make me go,' Kaede said firmly and began to wash the dishes.

Ten minutes later she was sitting in the driver's seat of her van, keys in the ignition and Yugi, Tea, Duke and Takumi in the cargo. She looked through her window at Sakura and Joey, who were grinning at her through the glass.

`Just to let you know, I'm not very fond of either of you, and I'm only going because I have no choice,' Kaede said viciously. `Now please will you put my surfboard back on the rack?'

`It's already there,' Joey said, getting into the passenger seat. He leaned over and kissed Kaede gently on the cheek. `This is for your own good, you know.'

Kaede muttered something under her breath, and reversed out of the Miharu's driveway. She braked and waited until Sakura had put the picnic basket they were taking with them into the back of her kombi and pulled out in front of her and then they set of, heading for the beach.



***



They arrived at the beach to find a breeze had blown away the clouds and left them with a perfect clear blue sky. Kaede leapt out of the van and untied her surfboard and laid it on the sand. Sakura laid hers down too and they began to wax them so they wouldn't slide off whilst paddling.

The others laid mats and towels down on the sat and covered themselves with sunscreen. Honda asked Joey if he could put some on his back. Joey squirted almost the whole bottle out onto his hands and slopped it all over Honda's back, creating a good snowman effect.

Everyone was laughing and having a good time until a black limousine pulled up next to the vans. Seto Kaiba stepped out of the passenger seat; followed by his little brother Mokuba and a little girl that none of them knew. Seto shut the door as she got out and said something to the driver which sounded suspiciously like: `We'll get a lift home with Kaede,' and the driver nodded and reverse, then drove away.

`Hi everybody,' Mokuba waved at them all, and then he grabbed the little girl's hand. `This in Tenshi.'

The little girl had black hair and dark violet eyes. Although she said she was 12 years, she was very short, even shorter than Mokuba. Tea tried to fuss over her, but by the way that Tenshi glared back at Tea, is was obvious that she could look after herself.

Kaede finished waxing her surfboard and stripped off her skirt and top until she was in just her bikini. Ignoring the stares, she picked up her board and, with Sakura next to her, ran into the sea.

The sea had been warmed by the sun and wasn't cold at all, so she and Sakura saw out until they were submerged to their chests, and then lay on their boards, waiting for a wave.

When one came, both of them began paddling frantically. As it broke, Kaede pushed herself up and stood on the board, her arms out to balance. Turning it sideways, she surfed along the wave until the water ran out, and she dived off it into the water.

Whilst the two of them were surfing, their friends on the beach were stuck for things to do.

`We could have a game of Duel Monsters?' said (surprise, surprise) Yugi.

`How about, NO!' Takumi murmured from where he was lying sunbathing.

I know, let's play a game with a ball,' Ryou suggested, and everybody agreed that that would be better than nothing. Yuula found a rugby ball under the passenger seat in Kaede's van. They sat down to devise the rules. Joey had played a game recently called BUMS. Basically, you stand in a circle and pass the rugby ball around the circle, throwing it to whoever you want. But if you drop it once, you get a B. If you drop it again you get a U and so on until you spell out BUMS. The first person to spell out BUMS stands 10 feet in front of everyone else and bends over, and everyone else gets to dropkick them in the butt. And anybody who cheats goes up to join them.

`But that isn't fair!' Tea moaned. `I can't rugby pass or catch, and I can't dropkick either. Can't we change the rules?'

Joey was furious at this suggestion but then Kaiba interrupted, setting out the new rules. You could pass the ball to anyone in the circle, and throw in however you want. Every time you dropped or missed the ball you had to face a penalty.

`But what's the penalty?' Yugi asked.

`You have to take of one article of clothing,' Tenshi said darkly, with a grin on her face. Everybody stared at her, but couldn't think of any other penalty, so it was agreed.

All of them stood in a circle on the beach, and Seto, who had taken the ball, started the game by making a perfect but difficult rugby pass to Joey, who somehow managed to catch it.

It began peacefully, but then Mokuba complained because Honda missed the ball and it had hit the ground, spraying Mokuba with sand. Irritated, everybody started through Mokuba these really hard passes and every time he missed, he would begin to cry.

`SETO!' Mokuba whined the third time this happened, almost in tears. Kaiba shuddered, but stood up for his little brother.

`I'm going to take all of Mokuba's penalties,' he said, and took of one of his shoes. Joey and Honda smirked at each other, at when the ball came to them; they threw it as hard as they could at Mokuba.

Soon everybody was ganging up on Mokuba, and Seto was taking all of Mokuba's penalties. After ten minutes he was down to his shorts and socks, and Joey and Honda still looked as though they wanted to keep going. Even Tenshi was joining in, but not directly. Every time she got the ball, she would throw it to someone who could throw well, or she would just throw it as hard as she could to Seto, trying to hit him on his bare back where the now sand covered ball would bruise the skin easily. Each time she did this she would smile innocently and flutter her eyelashes, and Seto would just glare at her, and take off another piece of clothing.

Sakura and Kaede had long before taken a break from surfing and sat in the sun drying off and watching. She smiled whenever Joey threw the ball hard, trying to catch Seto out. But she also smiled unconsciously whenever Seto caught the ball, for either himself or his brother.

But, to be fair for Seto, they gave up when he only had his swim shorts on so that he could remain modest. They ran back to where Kaede and Sakura sat, and, just to torment Seto, Joey kissed Kaede right in front of everyone. She pushed him away after a while with a little embarrassed laugh, because she hated kissing in public, and began to unpack the picnic.

After their lunch they sat sunbathing and Yugi (it was inevitable) pulled out his Duel Monsters cards and had a small duel against Duke, who ended up losing pitifully.

They just had time for one more surf before they had to go, and Kaede and Sakura grabbed their surfboards and swam out again. Kaede caught a wave and surfed the wave until she fell off. Dragging her board back to the beach, she was met by shouting. She dropped her board and ran over to where Seto was standing next to Joey, shouting his head off.

`WHERE ARE THEY, YOU DOG?' Seto yelled.

`I DON'T KNOW, I WASN'T WATCHING WHERE YOU PUT THEM,' Joey shouted back.

`What's going on?' Kaede asked, forcing herself between them like an umpire at a football match where two players are arguing about a red card.

`This genius has lost his clothes and he is blaming me because of it,' Joey jabbed his finger at Seto.

`Well it's because of this idiot that I had to take them off in the first place,' Seto's voice began to rise a few decibels.

`HEY! DON'T BLAME ME BECAUSE YOU DIDN'T PUT YOUR CLOTHES BACK ON, DUMBASS!' Joey yelled, unable to keep his temper.

`YOUR REPULSIVELY LOW INTELLECT MAKES ME PHYSICALLY AND MENTALLY SICK!' Seto shouted at him. `I CANNOT BEGIN TO BELIEVE HOW STUPID YOU ARE, YOU DOG!'

`STOP CALLING ME THAT, YOU SCUM!' Joey pushed Kaede out of the way and squared up to Seto. He raised his fist by was interrupted by Mokuba pointed out to the sea and saying, `Seto, I think those are your clothes.'

Seto looked and saw his clothes floating out to sea. He ran to the edge of the water and was about to wade in to swim after them but Kaede grabbed his arm and held him back.

`They're too far away, you won't be able to swim that far,' Kaede gasped under the strain of holding his back. `You'll either drown or get eaten, just forget it.'

He struggled for a while longer, but then gave up. The force of keeping him back being greater than the force of him trying to pull away, Kaede was thrown backwards when he finally stopped trying. She landed a few feet back and then scrambled to her feet, her fists raised.

`You could at least have told me when you were going to stop trying to be an idiot,' she said as spitefully as she could, and, grabbing up her surfboard again, headed back to her van. She tied her surfboard to the rack and picked up the rest of the stuff that lay around the area they had been. Seto walked back up to the beach sat on the ground, a strange superior look playing across his face.

`You know, now that I have now clothes, one of you is going to have to lend me some, or go buy me some new ones,' he said calmly.

Hearing this, everyone flung on their clothes and said they had no money, except for Kaede who was folding up her towel.

She noticed everyone looking at her. `What?' she asked, and then what Seto had said finally filtered through her brain. `Oh come on!' she raised her hand in protest, but everyone got into the vans and refused to come out.

`Cheers dudes, you are so selfless,' Kaede yelled at them and then turned back to deal with Seto, who was looking at her expectantly, smirking as he did. `I don't know what you're smiling about buster; wait `til you see what's coming.'

She held up her clothes and the smile vanished from Seto's face. `No, um, I'll go buys some, no, I mean, NOOOOOOO!'

Faces appeared at the windows of the vans as Seto appeared wearing Kaede's miniskirt and small white top, and they erupted with laughter. He tugged at the miniskirt, wishing it was longer, but this did nothing to change the way he looked and made them laugh louder.

Kaede covered her mouth with her hand and bit her lip so she wouldn't laugh too, because although he looked hilarious, she felt mean laughing at him. So instead she pushed him into the back of her van along with Mokuba, Tenshi and some of the others and jumped into the passenger seat. Joey sat beside her and smiled. `Glad you came now?'

Still laughing, she turned the key in the ignition and drove them all home.

You are not authorized to comment here. Your must be registered and logged in to comment