The Heart Does Go On

Monday came around all too quickly for my liking. I spent most of Saturday night at Yugi’s house, Yami seemed really nice. I kind of felt guilty for getting so creeped out by his closeness during our talk about Joey. He seems to care about his friends, and that’s all he was probably doing.

Gramps’ afternoon tea was delicious. He made some sandwiches, baked some scones, and a cake. He even made his own whipped cream and bought some jam from the marketplace. It was delicious! We all ate so much we didn’t eat dinner that night, but we stayed there late and munched on some popcorn whilst we watched movies.

I stayed over at Yugi’s that night with Tristan. Tea had a curfew, and Joey didn’t want Serenity to be driven on Tristan’s motorbike in the dark. He was very apologetic, but I understood.

We didn’t stay up for that long after the others left, Yugi had promised his grandpa he would look after the shop for a couple of hours on Sunday while his grandpa went to the market and ran some other errands.

On Sunday I helped Yugi for a while looking after the shop, but then I had to go home and do homework. Talk about a drainer...

And then, Monday arrived. Back to reality.

Mr. Teresy, our homeroom teacher didn’t even end up showing up, so Kathryn and I sat on top of the table opposite where Yugi and Tea were seated.

“Hey Ella, you never told us what happened with Kaiba on Saturday morning.” Yugi said.

“Kaiba? As in Seto Kaiba? Something happened?” Kathryn asked, blinking

“Yeah, Ella worked for that jerk face for about a day and then quit. So what happened on Saturday morning?” Tea asked.

“He came to my doorstep and begged me to work for him – as a secretary. He was almost on his knees, it was funny. I accepted, I felt sorry for the poor guy.” I slightly lied.

Whilst I did have that effect on him, I was the one with that effect at the end of the conversation. But like I’d say that to a bunch of Kaiba haters.

“Wow. He has a soul.” Kathryn joked.

“Yeah, that is a little out of character for Kaiba. I wonder what his intentions are.” Yugi said, thinking.

“That’s what I thought. I asked, but he said he wouldn’t tell me why. He was like ‘a businessman doesn’t give away his secrets in case a competitor comes along’ or something, but I’m an unskilled worker, no competitor would try and grab me. He was trying to throw me off. Oh well, his brain is too complicated. If we could work this out we would be able to work out why he’s such a jerk.” I said, and Tea burst out laughing.

“Anyway, we still have like 10 minutes of homeroom and Teresy isn’t going to show up, I’m out.” I said, and walked into the hallway.

I ducked into Joey’s homeroom. His homeroom teacher was a teacher named Mrs. Fuller. She was a friendly art teacher, and pretty much let students get away with anything. All across the classroom I saw students with phones out and eating things.

“Hey babe.” I said, hugging Joey from behind and kissing him.

“Hey Joey, who’s your friend?” Mrs. Fuller asked, coming over to make conversation.

“Hi, I’m Ella. Mr. Teresy didn’t show up for homeroom, so I’m hanging here.” I shrugged, and she laughed.

“Well as long as he doesn’t show up, I don’t care if you come in here.” She said, and she went to talk to other students.

“Wow, she’s cool.” I said

***

I waltzed into maths class about 10 minutes late. I knew how to suck up though. I pretended to nervously knock on the door.

“Miss, I’m very sorry I’m late. I’d be happy to tell you why, but it’s kind of private and I don’t want to interrupt the lesson.” I said to her.

She said nothing as she motioned for me to go into the hallway with her.

“Tell me here.” She said.

“Look, I know this is an excuse all girls use. But I got my period on the way to school, and I didn’t realise until the end of homeroom. Luckily one of my friends had an overnight bag from the night before and lent me this skirt, so I had to go to the bathroom and insert a tampon and change into this skirt. I know you may not believe me, but that’s the truth.” I said, sounding sincere.

“That’s okay Ella, there’s no way you could have prepared for that. I only outlined today’s lesson, I wrote it all on the board so you can easily follow that. Thank you for not interrupting the lesson.” The teacher said, and I walked back in and sat next to Kaiba.

“Whatever you said, you’re certainly a good liar. I don’t think the teacher would be that pleased at knowing you were sucking the face off Wheeler.” Kaiba snarled.

I stayed silent.

“I thought you said you would change things if your friends were disadvantaging you.” Kaiba said to me.

Damn, he kind of has a point.

I sighed.

“You’re right, I’ll just not make out with Joey during class time anymore.” I smirked, and he frowned.

I didn’t say the answer he wanted to hear.

“So it’s Monday night. Are you coming to work tonight?” He asked me.

“Of course I am. Will I be meeting you at the gate?” I asked him.

“Yes, you will.” Kaiba said, and then went onto his work.

He kept his promise at least.

***

The end of the day took a while to come around, but it did.

I heard the rest of the gang make plans to go to the arcade (‘the gang’ consisting of Joey, Tea, Tristan, Yugi and Bakura) but went silent when I arrived at my locker.

“It’s okay guys. You don’t have to stay silent around me because I have to work tonight.” I told them.

“Is it jealousy if I wish you could ditch work just so you don’t have to work for that creep Kaiba?” Joey asked me.

“No.” I replied.

“Can’t you just skip work? Tell Kaiba you got your period or some other girlie problem.” Joey grinned.

“Wheeler, she’s already used that excuse today.” Kaiba said coldly, as he approached the group.

The entire group just sent him dirty looks for being in our presence.

“Ella, are you coming?” Kaiba asked.

“Yeah, just hang on.” I said, grabbing all my books and putting them in my bag.

“Bye.” I said to everyone, and hugged them all.

However, as I went to hug and kiss Joey, Kaiba pulled me away. Joey got really mad, and followed us down the hallway.

“Keep your hands off my girl you creep!” Joey protested, and Kaiba ignored him as he continued to drag me down the hallway.

I shot Joey a look to say ‘don’t worry’ but he either didn’t notice or didn’t care.

“Hey, I’m talkin’ to you!” Joey shouted.

“All I can hear is ‘yap yap yap’ from a mutt.” Kaiba said, finally breaking his silence.

Joey then went to take a swing, but Kaiba grabbed his fists mid punch.

“You know I’m capable of much more, Wheeler. But I don’t want to be expelled from school for the likes of you.” Kaiba sneered, and dragged me off.

“Bye Joey.” I called out, shrugged and blew him a kiss.

Kaiba didn’t let me go until we were in his limousine. Unlike last time, he forced me to sit next to him and not opposite of him.

Although I didn’t want Joey to pursue anything, I was still mad at Kaiba for dragging me off against my will and cutting my goodbyes short, and not being able to say goodbye to my boyfriend properly.

“You will be with me today, just so you can get a grip on things.” Kaiba explained.

“Lucky me.” I said sarcastically.

“You might want to be careful of what you say. If you play the right cards you could become part of the company’s elite and be invited to the special events. However, if you play the wrong cards-“ Kaiba started, and I cut him off.

“I didn’t accept your job offer to build a career, Seto Kaiba. I accepted your job offer to look good on my resume, and as a part time job,” I told him “I couldn’t imagine working long-term with you as my boss.

“You’re bluffing.” He smirked, and I got angry.

Why isn’t he angry at my statement? Why is he saying I’m bluffing? Why am I angry? Argh!!!

“Do explain.” I said, trying to remain calm on the outside.

“Admit it, Ella. You need me. Maybe not in the romantic sense, but you need me to protect you. You need me to show you the life you need. You need me to steer you away from mistakes. You need me Ella Campbell.” Kaiba smirked.

“I need to BARF MORE LIKE IT.” I replied, and he kept on smirking.

“Let’s recap our little adventures together. I arrive at your company a little under a week ago to see my Dad. You offer me a job. I quit on my first day. You come to my doorstep the next day offering me a higher role. If I’m not mistaken Mr. Kaiba, it seems you’re the one who needs me.” I said, mirroring his smirk.

He frowned.

“It seems that way now, yes. But trust me Ella, one day you will come to your senses.” Kaiba said.

I decided to stay quiet. There was no way to reason with this guy! I obviously wasn’t going to change his mind and he wasn’t going to change mine, so I’d rather just ignore the idiot.