Chapter 14 - Good (and bad) surprises

Good (and bad) surprises



`KAEDE! I WON'T CALL YOU AGAIN, SO GET OUT OF BED!'

Her grandmother's voice shattered the dream she had been having and she sat up in bed, eyes still closed and shook her head to beat away the sleep. Standing up and stretching, only then did she open her eyes, and the sunlight streaming through the bedroom window blinded her a little. Shielding her eyes, she grabbed her school uniform and threw it on, picked up her satchel and ran downstairs, brushing her hair frantically as she went.

She grabbed her toast from the plate on the kitchen table and jumped into the passenger seat of her grandfather's car, and off the sped.

Jumping out of the car she ran full pelt through the school, pushing past a giggling group of girls in the year below, who all glared after her as she ran. Arriving at her classroom she found to her astonishment that their teacher hadn't arrived yet, and she flopped down in the chair nearest to her and dropped her bag onto the floor.

`Usually morning rush, Kaede?' Ana said, looking at something that wasn't Honda, for once.

Kaede didn't bother replying and began to hunt around for her books. One by one more of their friends entered the classroom, Joey arriving with half his uniform on back to front and the other half in his hands.

`Nice lie-in, Joey?' Kaede asked, standing up to meet him. She helped him sort out his uniform and handed him a hair brush.

`What's this for?' he asked, glaring down at the hair brush in his hand.

Kaede's eyes narrowed and she raised an eyebrow when she looked back at him again. Getting the hint (finally) Joey brushed his hair and sat down next to Kaede.

`Ugh, I really wanted to stay home today,' Sakura groaned after she arrived and threw her bag on the floor. `There are so many things I need to do at home and there's nothing here I have to do.'

`Yeah, totally, I could be working right now. So many people's birthdays are coming up and I don't have enough money to buy them presents,' Kaede said, smiling weakly.

`You don't have to buy people birthday presents you know, it doesn't matter if you don't,' Joey exploded. Kaede shoved him, laughing, and said, `Just because you don't buy people things doesn't mean I don't have to.'

The bell rang for their lesson and they trooped off to physics. Kaede crossed her legs as she sat on her science stool and threw her satchel onto the table.

`Aren't you going to remove your books?' Ryou asked politely, trying to ignore Yuula who was sitting on the other side of him and was being strange, talking in a weird soft delicate way.

`No, I figured if I just act as sloppy as possible, I'll get asked to leave the lesson,' Kaede shrugged, untucking her school blouse from her skirt and untying her laces. `Or I could just wait and see if he bothers turning up before getting my books out.'

Ryou smiled and turned back to Yuula. Kaede looked round to say something to Honda, but, as per usual, whenever Honda was with Ana, it was just impossible to get any sound out of his mouth other than kissing noises. Kaede leaned on the desk, waiting for Honda's mouth to become vacant so she could talk to him.

When this simply did not happen, Kaede got impatient and tapped him on the shoulder. Having no effect, she leaned back in her chair and analysed the situation. If she tried talking to Honda, Ana would simply go ape and shout at her. If she did nothing, she would be bored out of her skull. So she decided to shout at them.

`FOR GOD'S SAKE, WILL YOU TWO JUST CUT IT OUT?' she shouted. They leaped about a foot into the air and stared at Kaede, along with everyone else in their class.

`Okay, I know you two like each other very much, but this has got to stop. We can never talk to either of you anymore and the constant kissing noises are enough to drive me insane. Honda, just take Ana out on a date some time, after school today if necessary, but don't continue this never ending kissing because you'll just become loners because us, your friends, will completely forget about you.'

`Is that really a bad thing?' Ana asked dreamily, turning to Honda as if to kiss him again, but Kaede pulled Honda off his stool and away from Ana. `Yes it's a bad thing!' Kaede almost yelled again.

Their teacher choose that precise moment to walk through the door, examining a little piece of paper in his hand, and Kaede pushed Honda back to his chair, giving him and Ana a warning look before reaching into her bag for a pen and a book. She tore out a page from the book and scribbled the address of her favourite café and underneath it a note saying `Take Ana there tonight otherwise we will all kill you,' and then shoved it at Honda beneath the desk.

Their teacher, oblivious to this, began scribbling on the board about sound waves and other physics rubbish, and then remembered the piece of paper and raised it to his face to read it again.

`Um, Kaede Mishua has a phone call down at reception, will she please come to receive it,' he read in a shaky voice, as he was very unaccustomed to receiving such information, even when it was not for himself.

Grabbing her bag off the desk, Kaede hoisted it onto her shoulders and jogged to the door, turning around as she did so to point and laugh at her friends, all of whom obviously wished to be let out early too. Noticing her teacher still looking at her, she smiled sweetly at him and ran out of the door to the reception near the entrance of the school.

When she arrived the secretary thrust the receiver of the phone at Kaede and swivelled her chair around so Kaede couldn't see her and began to give herself a manicure. Kaede tutted and put the phone to her ear.

`Hello, Kaede Mishua speaking?'

`Hello Kaede, its Marik Ishtar.'

`Woah, Marik, how are you? I haven't spoken to you for over a year, how are you?'

`I'm fine, I suppose, how's everything there?'

`It's cool, Japan is so different from Egypt, but it is cool, everything is really nice.'

`That's good, everyone tells me how nice it is, I can't wait to see it all.'

Kaede almost dropped the phone when she heard this. `What? You're coming to Japan?'

`Yeah, with my whole family. Don't you remember? Your parent's inquest is this week.'

Kaede's mouth ran dry, she couldn't think of what to say to this. Her mind went blank and she curled up on the floor, curling up her legs underneath her.

`Kaede? Kaede, are you there? Kaede?'

`Yeah, I'm here,' Kaede licked her dry lips. `Um, okay, when are you arriving here?'

`Well, we're on the plane now, so-'

`You're on the plane?' Kaede almost shouted down the phone at him.

`Yeah, I love planes, they are amazing. D'you know you can watch TV and listen to radio-'

`MARIK! YOU CAN'T TALK ON THE PHONE ON THE PLANE! IT INTERFERS WITH THE EQUIPMENT!'

She waited for a reply, but heard a little squeak on the other end of the line, and Marik said quickly, `I'll call you back when we land,' and hung up quickly.

Kaede smiled as she stood up and hung up the phone. Smiling at the secretary, who was wearing a gold suit and had just painted her nails silver, and said under her breath to her, `Never, ever, wear gold and silver together, just a little bit of advice.' Smirking at the glare she got, she ran out quickly and returned to her form room.



***



`Do any of you believe in reincarnation?'

Everybody stared at Ana as she said this. `What? Don't you think it is likely that we were reincarnated and had previous lives in some long forgotten country?'

`Normal people don't usually think about that sort of thing,' Tea said, gazing at her nails. Ana shot her a horrible look, the incident with Marc clearly fresh in her mind. Tea bowed her head and muttered something inaudible underneath her breath (in Maria style).

`Yeah, I do think I have a past life,' Sakura said confidently.

`I KNOW I have a past life,' Kaede added.

`Really?' Everyone gathered around interested. `How do you know?'

`I have these weird visions when I am asleep or dancing or whatever,' Kaede explained. `And I get all these memories of my past life.'

`I bet you were a beautiful princess and I was your handsome prince charming,' Joey said, putting his arm around her.

There was silence and then Duke and Honda both collapsed in a heap of laughter and pointed at Joey, clutching their sides.

`You?' Honda roared with laughter. `A handsome prince?'

`More like a dog,' Duke grinned. Honda and him did a high-five thingy and collapsed once more with laughter.

`Hey, shut up!' Joey yelled at them, his face red.

`Actually I wasn't a princess,' Kaede said calmly. `I was a slave.'

Silence again.

`REALLY?'

`Yes, really,' Kaede sighed. `I was brought up by thieves in ancient Egypt after my mother died, but when I was about five they sold me to this farm owner. This guy was really nice and he was going to adopt me but one of his farm workers accused me of sleeping with him when I was thirteen, and he believe him. So he sold me as a dancing slave and I got passed on from one owner to another, until one day when my current owners were selling me, the crowd around started throwing stones at me trying to get me to dance for them, but I kept refusing. They kept throwing stones at me until I couldn't stand on my legs anymore because they were cut and bleeding. I collapsed in pain and I was saved by a high priest who was passing by in his chariot. He took me back with him to his temple and looked after me there.'

When she stopped she was met by silence. She looked around at her friends; Honda sitting on a desk with his feet resting on one of the chairs, and Ana sitting on the chair resting her head on his legs; Joey sitting next to Kaede with his arm around her waist; Duke, Yuula and Ryou sitting in a line on the desk (Duke had slowly snuck his arm around Yuula's waist when she was listening to the story); Sakura and Yami (he had taken over Yugi's body, feed up with being left out and wanted to be with his darling Sakura) sitting on chairs next to each other and Tea sitting on a chair on Kaede's left. All of them were looking at her really weirdly.

`What?' Kaede asked worried, looking at them all looking at her with the same weird look on all their faces. `Is there something really weird about that because it's not as though I dreamt it on purpose-'

`No, that's amazing,' Yuula said.

`Oh, and you're there, too Yuula, and you, Sakura,' Kaede said, remembering suddenly. `Yuula is this really weird psycho girl who was found wandering in the desert by the high priest and the priestess and they took her in and looked after her and taught her stuff because she forgot everything from her life before and nobody knows what happened to her beforehand. Sakura is the Pharaoh's wife who is really nice to me and looks out for me when the high priest is at the market or wherever,' Kaede said quickly. `And Yami you are obviously the Pharaoh.'

`Woah, that is so cool,' Tea said in awe. `Am I there?'

`No, just me, Sakura, Yuula and Yami,' Kaede shook her head.

`Oh,' Tea said, looking disappointed. `Well, I reckon I was a beautiful dancer in Arabia or something.'

`No, I was the dancer, you'd be something like a servant who waited on rich ladies in England,' Kaede laughed at her.

`I was a French noble,' Ana said excited all of a sudden.

`And I was your Princely consort,' Honda smirked.

`No, you were the random peasant in the street who we threw the contents of our chamber pots at you every morning,' Ana said, pushing him backwards off them desk. Everyone roared with laughter as she ran to help him up. Yuula suddenly shrieked and jumped up from where she was sitting and started shouting at Duke for putting his arm around her, causing everybody to laugh even more.

The bell sounded for the end of the school and they walked out of the school and across the courtyard together, Ana and Honda skipping off ahead to the café Kaede forced Honda to take her to. Kaede was walking hand in hand with Joey but something further ahead caught her attention. A boy about their age with long blond hair, tanned skin and a purple shirt, purple to match his bright purple eyes. A crowd of girls stood around him staring and posing and flicking their hair from side to side, trying to get him to notice them. But he saw Kaede and waved at her until she noticed who it was. She dropped Joey's hand and ran to him, glomping him in front of all of his new fans.

`Wow! How are you?' she said ecstatically, hugging him so hard it was crushing him.

`I would be much better if you didn't insist on this way of greeting me every single time we meet,' he pulled himself free and looked around to see the rest of their group running to catch up.

`Kaede, who is this?' Duke asked, looking at the boy suspiciously.

`Guys, this is my best friend in the whole wide world. I've known him since I was, like, three. This is Marik,' Kaede beamed at them with her arm around Marik's shoulders (she was a couple of inches taller than Marik and therefore was able to do this quite easily). `Marik, this is Duke, Yuula, Ryou, Tea, Yugi, Sakura, Joey and Honda and Ana have run off ahead so you can meet them some other time.'

`Hi,' Marik raised his hand in a salute type way and dropped it again.

`Dude, why are your eyes purple?' Joey inquired after a while.

`Yeah, are you wearing contact lenses or something?' Sakura asked, leaning closer towards him.

`Um, no,' Marik said slowly, then leaned towards Kaede and whispered in her ear, `Um, Kaede, what are contact lenses?'

Kaede grinned, and whispered back, `They are these little lenses that you put in your eyes that help you to see better as an alternative to glasses or they can be used to make your eyes look different, like a different colour or shape.'

`Ooooooh!' Marik exclaimed.

`Well, we have to go,' Kaede said quickly. `Can't keep your family or my grandparents waiting. Come on Joey, you're staying the night, right?'

Marik, Kaede and Joey waved goodbye to their group and left the school and walked together all the way home.

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