Heh, I'm a baaaaaad person...I haven't updated since Tuesday *grin* But really, it's not like there's much to say anyway. More fires on Wednesday at almost the same time as Monday; Ball has been fined a fair bit of money. Apparently they caught the first guy, he's got a $25000 bond or something. I'm not entirely sure. Tonight's the homecoming game, we're playing against Kingwood (the only reason I know this is because we had to make a webpage about it in Webmastering o.O;;). Needless to say I'm not going. I'm assuming the Powderpuff game (I dunno if other schools have it; girls play football while guys cheer, etc) was Wednesday, even though the principal said we wouldn't have it this week...riiiight...Y'know, Dr. Trilica was a bit weird in some of what she did, but at least she stuck to what she said. Ms. Reume is great and all, more student-oriented, but she's less reliable. A lot of the time she'll say one thing and something else will happen. It's confusing *sigh*
Since I'm on the subject, here goes the principal rant. I didn't really care either way about Dr. Trilica, really. She was a cool person - I had the opportunity to meet her as a hardworking student in the halls in the morning, and then again at a lecture about the TAKS as a student who didn't really keep their parents up-to-date on school stuff. She was pretty nice. She understood what I said and meant both times, and wasn't all evil about it, which is something you don't always see in principals.
On the down side, she had the tardy tables and the ID fetish. If you weren't in before the bell rang, you were pretty much tardy because the security guards (and boy, did we have a lot - I think ten or fifteen) pretty much checked individual IDs. And then, when you were already late, you had to go get a tardy ticket. Again, more wasted time; it sometimes took ten minutes to get through the lines. And as mentioned above, there were quite a few police around, and we were pretty much barricaded into the lunch room during lunch (there weren't separate bells for releasing one lunch and calling in the next, so they kept us in so that there wouldn't be that many people in "alphabet lunch"). It kinda sucked, having to say "No, really, I'm just going to the library/restroom/talk to a teacher!" every time you tried to go do one of the above...
Now for Ms. Reaume. Not much else to say, really; she's laxed off on the ID thing, they're only required to get in, to go to the library, or to be in the halls during class time now, we don't have to wear them all the time anymore. Which is a good thing, since teachers don't have to check them during class. She's also gotten rid of the tardy tables. Another good thing. (Man, I was always terrified of being late, and for that reason exactly. That was the main thing that kept me from being tardy, really: I didn't wanna be seen with those slackers who stood in line for thirty minutes talking instead of being in class!) Now there's just a tardy sign-in sheet inside the door of every teacher's room. It's a lot more convenient. She also got rid of all but three police, which is hell when it comes to firedrills (we had ten fights and two foodfights the first day, and I think about seven the second) but it means you aren't always afraid of running into one just around the corner. There's less security during lunch, too. If you can sweet-talk your way around the teacher standing by the main door of the building, you can pretty much wander at will. (I don't bother; the library and restrooms suit my purposes just fine *grin*) All they ask is that you enter and leave through the front of the cafeteria so they can kind of keep an eye on how many people are going in and out; you know, the "head count" kinda thing. And like I said above, she's a lot more about the students than Dr. Trilica was. Dr. T was more "get everyone moving forward and keep the order," while Ms. R's more along the lines of "Keep the students happy and you keep the school happy."
Downside: As I also said above, Ms. R doesn't stick to her word as strictly as Dr. T. If the doctor said there wouldn't be a Powderpuff game Wednesday, there wouldn't be a Powderpuff game Wednesday. If she said the pep rally would start at 2:00, the pep rally started at 2:00. Ms. R, on the other hand... She said the Powderpuff game wouldn't be played until next week, if we held it at all this year; it continued almost on schedule. She said the pep rally would be over by the time the bell rang; those of us who sat on the bus instead of going were waiting for fifteen minutes before they finally released it. So it's basically a win/lose situation.
On a side note, I'm not quite sure what to think of the new superintendent's way of doing things, either. She's trying to improve the student-teacher relations and all that. So she's having the teachers refrain from writing people up - which IMO accounts for the fires - and meet students at the door and shake hands. Which, of course, means, that once one person gets sick it spreads like wildfire. This is the first year I've been sick before January, and I've already had two minor colds... There's one girl I've known for years that has a fairly weak immune system, she's been sick all year. And quite a few of the teachers have been sick lately, so I almost wouldn't be surprised if we have a few epidemics this year...

Anyway. Enough of that. I fell asleep last night without finishing this, so I'm just gonna post it as is *grin*

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Random Quote of the Day
"I collect things too. But they have to be shiny."
- A Friend

-----------------------------

*yawn* I am so totally not up to writing anything today. I'm exhausted. I dunno, maybe I'll blabber on about something tomorrow... But until then, in the ever-lasting words of Hiro (sp?) from Gundam Wing (or at least I think that's where he's from):
"The Hell Beast will be back. But right now, I need some sleep."


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Not Quite
A Yu-Gi-Oh! Alternate Universe fanfic

Yugi Mouto was a good kid. He was one of those students every teacher likes: hardworking, intellegent, and honest. Even if he wasn't the greatest in the class, he certainly gave the most effort.
It wasn't just teachers that liked him, either. He was popular with the students, as well. Those big innocent eyes of his marked him as a good person and better friend, and his ever-present grin did nothing to dissuay this opinion.
Which didn't explain why he currently had a rather malicious look on his young face, or why a rather extensive setup in the back corner of the men's restrooms was beginning to smoke.
"Time to go," he muttered to himself as the first wick caught flame. He snagged his bag from the counter and exited casually, heading toward the cafeteria.
BOOM!

***

"Yug!" Joey shouted, running up to his friend. "What's going on, man? I heard there was an explosion by the cafeteria!"
"I don't know," Yugi said, shaking his head. "I had another black-out - I don't remember anything."
"You don't sound too good. You all right?"
"I'm...I'm fine, Joey," Yugi said, forcing a small smile. It quickly mutated to a frown; the look didn't fit him. "I'm just worried. I mean, every time I have one of my spells, something bad happens. It can't be just a coincidence."
The blonde shook his head forcefully. "Nah, man. There's nothing to it. You're just jumping to conclusions."
Yugi rounded on his friend suddenly. "Am I? Am I really? Then tell me why every time I black out, something happens - and I'm usually about ten feet away from the thick of it!" His voice was angry, and confused, and scared.
"Geez, Yugi, what's gotten you so spun up today? Calm down, buddy."
"They haven't told anyone," Yugi said flatly. "But I overheard the teachers talking about it. There was a student in there, Joey," he said, and now his voice was haunted. "In the bathroom. In the stall right next to the explosion. He...he may not make it."
"....oh. Man. Man, that's bad. That's really bad. Who could do that? Who would knowingly set a fire in an occupied bathroom?" Joey was outraged, his hands clenching into tight fists at his side. Yugi left him to his anger and slunk away silently.
How can I tell him? he asked himself silently. He wouldn't understand; he wouldn't believe me. But it's true. I'm the one doing all this. The fire last week, and the broken waterlines the week before, and the heat the week before that... I don't remember any of it. Just black, and then suddenly I'm walking away from whatever happened...it's got to be me, there's just no other way! He shook his head sadly; he knew what he had to do, and how badly it would hurt his friends and grandfather to learn the truth.

***

"Mr. Mouto? This is Joey." The Brooklyn boy's voice was somewhat shaky. "Have you seen Yugi in the last fifteen minutes?"
"Of course I haven't," Sugoroku snapped, "you know as well as I do where he is."
"That's just it, Mr. Mouto," Joey said. Even more shaky now. He was skating on thin ice here. "You...may want to turn on your television for a second."
There was a quiet click as the game store owner pressed the power button, and the screen came to live.
'...news, repeat, breaking news: Yugi Mouto, the freshman who turned himself in as the troublemaker who has been causing such a ruckus at Domino City High these past few weeks, has escaped. Witnesses say that he was very calm, sad even, right up until the time officials tried to put him in handcuffs; here is the footage of the scene." A short pause, and then the sounds of a fight as a poorly focused camera caught glimpses of uniformed officers and a few flashed of tri-colored hair. "He escaped, leaving three officers badly wounded. There is a good possibility that he is armed and dangerous. We suggest that all citizens keep an eye out for this young delinquent, and report any sightings of him to the police. Now we move live to Cindy, who is currently in an interview with the Domino City High principal..."
"Mr, Mouto?" Joey asked quietly, calm now. "Have you seen Yugi?"

***

Two weeks, and no sign of the young duelist appeared. It seemed he had just vanished from the face of the earth.
"Where d'you suppose he could have gone?" Ryou Bakura asked in his soft accented voice. "It's not like Yugi to just up and disappear like this."
"Yeah, well," Joey snorted, "it's not like him to blow up the school or try to kill three guys, either, and he did that easily enough. I think we underestimated the little guy."
"You don't really think he's behind all this, do you?"
Joey shook his head with a sigh. "I don't know, Tea, I really don't. I mean, this is all so unlike Yugi, but then again he was acting so strange...always tired, short-tempered even. And those blackouts. He told me right before he turned himself in that he was always out right when something happened."
"I hope he's all right, regardness," Ryou murmured.

***

Yugi awoke with a start, only to find himself lying on his face in the middle of some deserted forest and feeling rather beaten. It was as though every inch of his body was bruised.
"What...where the hell am I?" Under normal circumstances he never cursed, but then this wasn't exactly a normal circumstance. Rolling over, he brought his watch up to his face and read the date. It was the twenty-ninth. If he remembered correctly, it should have been the thirteenth. What the hell?
"Hikari has finally awakened," a voice came, deep and dark and angry. Yugi jumped.
"Who are you?" he exclaimed. "And why am I all bruised?"
A fairly short (but rather tall, in relation to Yugi) firuge emerged from the trees. Yugi gasped; other than the height difference, it could have been his twin. "I am the hikari's dark," the figure said simply. "The hikari would not wake, so I hit him." Yugi suddenly realized that this other person was much larger and much stronger than he was, and that they had a rather disconcerting gleam in their eye. Not to mention the complete and total advantage over him, should it come down to violence. He decided to tread cautiously.
"And...where are we?"
"Hikari asks many questions."
"Well, I don't know much. I have to ask."
The taller figure sneered. "Hikari is stupid. Hikari is weak and frail. How does hikari live so long?"
"I resent that! Just because I've apparently been unconscious for over two weeks and thus have no idea of what's going on gives you no right to - aah!" His words were suddenly cut off as the other figure's fist found his stomach.
"Hikari talks too much."

***

"You're being awfully quiet, Yami," Ryou said, glancing at his dark in concern. Are you worried about something?"
Bakura's distant gaze found its way slowly back to Ryou's pale face. "It's Yugi," he said reluctantly. "He's been gone three, almost four weeks now."
"The authorities are doing everything they can. It's just a matter of time before he turns up."
"It's not that," the Egyptian spirit said with a sigh. "I've just got a bad feeling about this whole situation. He was acting strangely ever since he solved that Millennium Puzzle...I don't know, there's just something nagging at the corner of my mind, something I should see but don't."
"If a Tomb Robber has a bad feeling about something, that's not usually a good sign," Ryou said.
"I never told you this," Bakura said slowly, "but I'm not the only soul who was sealed inside an Item. The Pharaoh was, too. Problem is, no one really knows which Item he ended up in - there wasn't really a way to control it, it just kind of happened."
"So you think maybe the Pharaoh is in the Puzzle, and now that Yugi solved it he's become Yugi's yami?"
"Right. And...well, to put it frankly, Pharaoh-sama wasn't exactly the most stable of people. He could be violent."
Ryou gasped. "Yugi could be in danger!"
Bakura nodded. "Exactly. And if he falls to the power of the former Pharaoh, more lives than his could be at stake."
"We have to do something, Yami!"
Bakura sighed. "There's one problem with that. The Pharaoh...he and I were - are - mortal enemies. He is more powerful than I am; if he were to see me, he would kill me instantly. I'd do nothing but waste my life, and yours in the process."
Silence.
"Then I'll go."
Bakura jumped to his feet. "What? Are you crazy? You could be my twin, he'd kill you on first sight! You can't possibly - "
"I have to help Yugi," Ryou called over his shoulder as he disappeared through the door and down the hall. Bakura gave chase, but holding his physical form was tiring, and he fell behind rapidly. In a last-second burst of energy he threw himself into the Ring and fell, drained, to the floor of his soul-room.

***

"Unh..."
"Hikari should not speak so loudly," the dark spirit (Yugi had finally begun to piece together what was going on, and had come to the rather painful conclusion that this person was indeed his "dark," or his yami, and therefore another ancient Egyptian spirit) said, wiping Yugi's blood from his fist. "Hikari is mine; hikari will do what I say, and nothing else."
"Don't you understand? I need to go back! My grampa - "
"Hikari will speak only when I say!" the spirit roared, fixing Yugi with a hateful glare. The young duelist cringed, expecting another blow, but was gratified when it never came. Instead, it was a very familiar voice that he hadn't thought he'd ever heard again that floated through the air.
"Leave him, Pharaoh!" Bakura shouted. "Your quarrel is not with the young one. Leave hiim be."
"R...Ryou? Is that you?" Yugi's speech was somewhat slurred due to his split lip and swollen jaw. The dark spirit had been rather brutal in his "lessons."
Said spirit's eyes narrowed with hatred. "Tomb Robber," he hissed. He took a step closer to Yugi, and the teen couldn't decide if it was a threatening or protective glint that suddenly appeared in his eye.
"I said, leave him alone."
"Hikari is mine!" He grabbed Yugi by the hair and hauled him to aching feet; Yugi gritted his teeth.
Bakura stepped forward, eyes blazing with fury. "He is a person, Pharaoh! Not property, not a slave - a hikari. A part of your very soul. You cannot hurt him further!"
"Tomb Robber cannot tell the Pharaoh what not to do!" the dark spirit roared. Fpr emphasis, he dug long nails into Yugi's shoulder, who gave a quiet exclamation of pain and fell to his knees. "Tomb Robber is nothing!"
Enraged by the former Pharoah's abuse of his young reincarnation, Bakura let loose a deadly blast of Shadow energy. It glowed around the Pharaoh for an instant, then shimmered into nothingness as he absorbed it all. Bakura cried out in agony as the Pharaoh returned the favor.
"Ryou!" A shadow passed over Yugi's face as his friend crumpled to the ground. "No! No..."
"Hikari does not care for the Tomb Robber," the dark spirit snapped, but somehow his voice was not quite so hateful; somewhere deep inside, there was a hint of tenderness that slipped through and reached Yugi's ears. "The Pharaoh does not wish it."
"Then does Pharaoh wish to hurt hikari?" Yugi asked quietly, spitting out blood. "The Tomb Robber is my friend. I care about him. If you hurt him, you hurt the hikari."
The dark spirit looked confused. "Hikari does not hate the Tomb Robber?"
"No," Yugi said, shaking his head, "hikari doesn't hate anyone."
"Not...not even the dark?"
"Not even the dark."
Silence.
Yugi could tell the former Pharaoh - for that was obviously what he was, judging by his attitude and by Bakura's words - was turning things over in his mind. It took a few minutes for him to reach a conclusion.
"Then...hikari will forgive the dark for hurting him?"
Yugi gave a faint smile. "Of course."
Whoa, he thought. Are there supposed to be three of him?
"And for covering the hkari's light? For locking him away?"
Yugi nodded. This served the dual purpose of answering the dark spirit's question and multiplying the three figures into six.
Nope, he decided. Definitely not. Slowly, the spirit's glowing eyes and careful voice faded away into nothingness.

***

"...out cold," someone said.
"Who wouldn't be? All but starved for four weeks, and treated like a slave on top of that - it's a wonder he's in as good shape as he is."
"He'll be fine," a British voice said. "Bakura's been talking to the Pharaoh. He's thought things over a bit and decided that maybe he doesn't hate Yugi quite as much as he thought - or so Bakura says. Personally, I think it was the death threats that changed his mind."
"If you harm so much as one hair on his head ever again, I swear to Ra I'll banish your soul back to the Shadow Realm where it belongs," Joey said in a fairly accurate imitation of the Tomb Robber.
Tired of listening to the conversation and not understanding any of it, Yugi cracked open his eyes and was rewarded with a brilliant light.
"Would someone please tell me what's going on?" he asked.

Several halls away, Bakura could have sworn he saw the former Pharaoh's ears prick up.
"The hikari," he said simply.
"Yes. Yugi is awake," Bakura confirmed through his link with Ryou. "And I think now would be a good time to explain things a bit, don't you?"
"Dark does not agree with anything the Tomb Robber says," was the flat reply.
Bakura raised an eyebrow and turned to leave. "Then you don't think the hikari is beautiful and perfect and yours, all yours and forever yours?"
A stuttering Pharaoh was left standing alone in the hall.

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Changing the layout here. I'm putting the fun part first from now on, and the complaining afterwards *grin*
Not much to say about today, really. Woke up late because I was absolutely exhausted, managed to somehow get to school on time, studied Japanese all through my first period class, stood outside during most of the second and third periods because of a fire drill, checked out a book on Chinese during lunch, had a 45-minute Chemistry class (yay!), blazed through a World History test afterschool in ten minutes flat, and sat on the front steps for half an hour waiting for a ride...
I'm serious, we had two fire drills today. Last year, they would have let us go home the first time (we were outside more than 30 minutes), but they changed the rules this year. No leaving unless it's during 4th or 8th period, or if there're fumes or something so much that it poses a health hazard. Kinda sux.
Ah, well, an interesting day to say the least...and now that I've gotten all that out of my system, I'm going to bed before I fall asleep on the keyboard *grin*

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Just got in from a weekend in Wisconsin, Saturday was my great grandmother's 90th birthday... She did 2 dances, a waltz and something else, it was great. For the first dance she actually wore her youngest daughter's wedding dress. There were about 20 family members there, too, 2 named Barbara and 4 named Tom... *sweatdrop*

But I'm tired, and it's late, and it's a schoolnight, and I'm going to bed. No fic tonight...

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History Post
The next morning came waaaaaaaaay too early... Up at about 6 (mostly because my mom had the damned window open and it was about 30 degrees outside) to get dressed and go eat an early brunch at the Heritage... The food was okay, but I really don't like breakfast foods at all, so I kinda picked at everything and ate nothing. Typical. Followed my aunt and the two kids onto the grounds to go look at the fish and the gazebo, froze my toes off... My aunt said, "Oh, just follow the building on around and you'll come to the front door." (The rest were locked.) Riiiiiiight. That went around Heritage andPeabody Manor, which is absolutely huge. And of course Anna whined the whole time. Great fun.
When that was all over with it was just in time to pile back into the vans for the 2.5 hour drive to the airport. I got put in the adult van again. I took my stuff so I could sit in the back seat and listen to my tunes, but nooooo, my gramma wanted the back seat... Why, I don't know, the middle seats were a lot more comfortable, but whatever. Actually, that wasn't so bad. I was just alternately bored out of my mind or embarassed (ever try having a conversation with your grandmother and great-grandmother? Their favorite thing to do is compliment you on absolutely everything, I swear...and I don't like being complimented... *sigh*).
But eventually we made it into and through the airport, dashed all the way across the next one (we had 15 minutes between flights; it took 10 for the faster group to get there and 20 for the slower group o.O;;) and caught the plane just as they finished boarding, and finally ended up back in good ol' Texas...
I know I've said this before, but man! I thought this'd be easy! It was worse than a camping trip!! *yawn*


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