The Heart Does Go On

The rest of the holidays went really fast after New Years Eve. Seto went back to work and was busy as hell for the New Year, so I spent most of my time with the gang.

When Seto sobered up, he immediately denied saying that Joey was anything better than a third rate duelist, and that the night was pretty dull, but it was worth it ‘to see me smile’

I was a little disappointed he said those words; I know that once he was drunk he was having a fun time bonding with the boys, but I can’t say I wasn’t surprised.

I’d spent some time with Kathryn over the holidays too, but she was now officially ignoring Duke. Duke was kind of glad too, he was ashamed and disgusted with both himself and her, so he was spending a lot of time with Joey and Tristan. I sometimes joined them.

Dad also returned from L.A. last week. He was being fairly quiet, more quiet than usual. It was hard to get more than a few sentences from him. I had no idea why. I guess he missed L.A. and was sad to be back here.

All in all it was a good relaxing break from school, and I wasn’t looking forward to going back.

***

I slowly trudged into homeroom, feeling dead. My sleeping patterns were still out of whack from the holidays, so I didn’t get a lot of sleep last night.

“Good morning Ella!” Kathryn chorused, and I put my head on the desk and gave her the finger.

“I’m going to be with my other friends today, is that okay?” Kathryn asked me.

“Yeah, whatever. I just want to sleep.” I moaned, closing my eyes and falling into a very light slumber.

I was awoken by Joey a short time later.

“Tea and Yugi told me you were still in here. I thought I should wake you so you can go to class.” Joey sheepishly grinned.

I muttered a quick good bye as I packed up my stuff, and RAN to my maths class.

I slammed my books next to Seto.

“You’re late.” He smirked.

“It doesn’t count if the teacher isn’t here yet.” I smirked back, and rested my head on my books.

“Did your father tell you he quit his job?” Seto asked, and I shot my head up.

“What?!” I asked loudly, grasping the attention of others nearby.

“Hmm, interesting. I take it he didn’t.” Seto murmured, and I could tell he wasn’t enjoying the conversation.

“Why did he quit his job?” I asked Seto, shocked.

“SHE’S AWAY!!!!!” One of the students in the class shouted while walking in, and everyone cheered and high fived.

When a teacher is away, it meant the class had a free period to do whatever they felt like.

“I was afraid you’d ask. Well, follow me. I think this is something we’d need to discuss in private.” Seto said, grabbing both of our books and lightly directing me by the wrist into the empty classroom next door.

“Okay spill. Why did Dad quit?” I asked Seto.

He let out a sigh. Sighs were quite rare for Seto. So something fishy was going on.

“Your father didn’t technically ‘quit’ on the spot. He gave a month’s notice. He said he’ll work for Kaiba corp. for one more month.” Seto explained.

“Why? Did he get another job or something?” I asked him.

“You could say that. He’s relocating to L.A. within the next month, and you’re apparently going with him.” Seto sighed, using a tone of despair.

…

What. He can’t be serious?

I was speechless. So many emotions ran through me. Confusion, fury, despair, hopelessness, depression, anger.

“I did ask about you. I mentioned to your father that you had grown accustomed to how the education system in Domino worked, and that shifting you back to your old education system mid year could really affect your grades. I also mentioned that you had made friends and other social factors, but he wouldn’t have a bar of it. He stormed out of my office.” Seto said, and you could tell he sounded a little angry.

I put my head on my desk. This wasn’t fair. I finally had everything I had ever asked for in life, and it was going to be snatched away from me so I could go back to the life that I was so happy to leave behind.

Every true friend I had ever had in L.A. had turned their back on me or stabbed me in the back and thrown the friendship away. The few friends I did have weren’t true close friends, just acquaintances.

I had the best and loyal friends someone could ask for here in Domino, and now after this short time I’d have to say goodbye?

And what about Seto? He was pretty much the perfect boyfriend. People spend their whole lives searching for ‘Mr. Right’ so far was so good, would all my efforts have gone to waste?

“Don’t worry Ella. I am VERY good at persuading, there’s no way in hell that you would go with your dad. I am happy to let you live in my mansion, and if we cannot convince your Dad to let you stay, then my lawyers can find some loophole that will allow you to stay.” Seto growled.

The rest of the day I was fairly quiet. I sat by myself at lunch, I didn’t want to face reality and have to explain to all of my friends that I might be saying goodbye so soon.

How could Dad not tell me? I guess that’s why he had been quiet lately.

The emotion I was feeling at the end of the day was anger. That’s why when I arrived at Kaiba Corp. after school with Seto; I stormed down floor 3 with Seto hot on my heels, about to confront my father.

It was so unlike me to ‘speak back to my parents’ I was a good daughter, and usually did as I was told. I don’t think I had ever argued with my father before. But I was not about to give up everything I had received from this move without a fight.

I stormed into my father’s office, and didn’t back down when he looked up and gave me a slight glare for barging in.

“What’s this I hear about us moving back to L.A.?” I demanded.

“Ella, take a seat.” Dad said firmly, I obeyed.

“I think we can both say we enjoyed L.A. more than we enjoy Domino. All our family and friends are there, and we’re both used to the lifestyle back home. There are more reasons to go back home to L.A. than stay here in Domino.” Dad explained to me.

“NO THERE’S NOT!” I shouted angrily, which shocked even Dad.

“And why not?” He asked, clearly annoyed.

“I’m doing well in school. I’ve made the best friends I could ever make. I happen to be dating a billionaire. I’m fairly sure that Domino is better for me right now than L.A. could be.” I argued.

“What do you suggest we do then?” Dad sneered.

“You can move back to L.A, I can live with Seto until the end of the school year and we can decide from there.” I suggested.

“I’m not having my 17 year old daughter live with her boyfriend. That’s totally trashy and you’re too young to be living with your boyfriend!” Dad argued.

“Fine! Drag me back to L.A. in the middle of the school year. Don’t expect me to get good results in school! I’ll be unable to cope with everything and will have to end up a McDonalds worker who lives in Louisiana because I won’t be able to afford to live in L.A!” I loudly complained, and stormed out of his office.

I saw Seto waiting outside.

“He’s all yours if you can get him to come around.” I muttered, and stormed off to the elevator, wanting to be as far away from my Dad as possible at this moment.