A Series of Extremely Questionable Decisions

Dueling Dates and Number Cards

The weeks flew by at Duel Academy, and during those weeks, James got used to her new life. She spent time with Chazz, getting to know him even better than she already did and earning her place in his heart. She and Bastion continued their research into Arc-v tech, and had made a breakthrough in some of the necessary formulas. She became a top student, getting perfect grades and endearing herself to several teachers despite her mischievous tendencies. The only teachers who were iffy about her were Banner and Crowler. Crowler because he hated James on principle for beating him and being a menace in his classes, and Banner because James treated him with suspicion and still wouldn't give back Pharaoh no matter how much he asked. Not that Pharaoh wanted to go back with him. The cat was getting fatter than ever now that he had taken up residence in the blue dorm and was being fed gourmet salmon for every meal.

Hell, James had even gotten closer to Zane. They spent a lot of time together, hanging out in his room or on walks around campus, and sometimes even Chazz joined in. The two boys seemed to get along well, and all three of them had bonded over their love of dueling. Zane may have been 'the King of Obelisk blue', but it wasn't that difficult to spend time with the guy when the only person he really hung out with besides her and Chazz was Alexis.

And Zane (somewhat surprisingly) wasn't as much of an asshole as he had seemed in the anime. He was actually rather soft and cared greatly for Cyrus (who James had barely interacted with since school started). Zane seemed to bring Cyrus up in conversation way more than he thought he did, and James wondered how he had ever come across as a cold Kaiba rip-off to the more critical members of the audience. If anything, Zane embodied all of Kaiba's best traits without any of his worst flaws; he was skilled but not arrogant, thoughtful and quiet but not cold, he loved his brother, and he knew how to have fun and let loose. James hated to dunk on Kaiba (especially when she had already booked a date with the guy), but it was the truth. The only thing Zane didn't have that Kaiba did was money, since Zane had mentioned at one point in conversation that he came from a solidly middle class family.

Eventually, between chilling out with her crew in the school yard, finding trouble and never working too hard, James managed to plan out her and Chazz's first date. It wasn't that hard. All she had to do was pick a night for it to happen when she was sure the school would be completely empty, ask Bastion for some food from the Ra kitchens so James could follow through on her promise of a picnic after the duel, and steal some stuff from one of the Obelisk reception halls to give the picnic a more 'romantic' atmosphere. James had sent Chazz an invite video on her phone (because she had given up on fucking with her PDA a long time ago), and now all she had to do was get ready.

James hummed along to the tune of 'the Anthem' by Good Charlotte as she applied her sexy winged eyeliner, the song blasting on her phone at full volume. She didn't have any makeup with her in her backpack when she got stranded on that park bench, so she was using eyeliner she stole from the school thot and one of Alexis's friends, Mindy. James had broken into her room undetected during her free period several days ago and stole several things of makeup. It took nearly a week for Mindy to shut up about her missing stuff and accept that she had just 'misplaced it'.

As James put on the casual clothes she had woken up on the park bench in, the music on her phone was interrupted by a notification 'ping'. James shrugged on her coat and reached across her bathroom counter for the phone. She smiled softly when she saw that it was a text from 'The Chazz <3' and tapped on the notification. It opened to a video message, and James immediately played it. When she did, she was greeted by her boyfriend's smirking face. To anyone else, he would have looked mean or threatening, but James could see the playfulness behind his eyes.

"Hey McKenna, I got your message. So you finally decided to make good on your promise and duel me, huh? Alright then, I'll meet you at the Obelisk arena. Tonight at midnight, it's on. Don't expect me to hold back. Oh, and why don't we make it interesting? Winner gets one of the loser's cards.", Chazz said in his 'arrogant tough guy voice'.