Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Unbelievable Connections ❯ She's never heard of pizza? ( Chapter 1 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh! But I do own the “new students” - you'll discover their names if you read the fic - so don't steal them.

This starts out right before the Battle City Tournament.

Chapter 1~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The final bell just rang on the first day of the school year. Students started piling out of their classrooms at Domino High. Duke Devlin waited in the hall for his friends to come out. He stood next to a girl with long, curly, white hair in a ponytail and blue eyes. Yugi Muotu, Joey Wheeler, Tristan Taylor, and Tea Gardner walked out of their classroom.

“Hey, Duke,” greeted Tristan. “You didn't wait for us last year.”

“That's because this year, my class has a new student,” Duke told him. They saw the girl beside him for the first time.

“Hel-lo!” said Joey, staring at her. “Who might you be?”

The girl giggled. “Hi. My name's Marissa Millennium,” she told them. She extended her hand, and Joey shook it.

“Hi. My name's Yugi,” said Yugi. “These are my friends Joey, Tristan, and Tea.”

“It's very nice to meet you all.”

“She moved her all the way from Egypt,” Duke said. Everyone else's eyes went wide.

“Egypt!?” exclaimed Tea. “That's quite a trip. Why did you decide to come here?”

“Well, I've was learning English as my foreign language in school,” Marissa explained. “My mom decided it would be good for me to get hands-on experience using the language.”

“Foreign language?” asked Joey.

“Yeah, dufus,” insulted Tristan. “They don't speak English in Egypt.” He slapped Joey on the shoulder.

“Well, if you're so smart, tell me what language they do speak.” Tristan was dumbfounded. “So there, Tristan!”

“Isn't it Arabic, or something like that?” asked Tea.

“Exactly,” said Marissa.

“I thought it was something like Heroflics,” Joey said.

“Hieroglyphics?” asked Marissa. Joey nodded. “That's only the written language of our ancient culture. I still had to learn it in school, though.”

“You know hieroglyphics?” asked Yugi.

“Yep. It actually isn't all that hard to learn.”

“I got an idea,” Duke said. “Why don't we all go down to the pizza place.”

“Great! Let's go,” Tristan said as he started down the hallway. The rest followed.

“Excuse me, Duke,” spoke up Marissa while they were walking. Duke looked at her inquiringly. “What's `pizza'?” Everyone stopped dead in his or her tracks.

“You've never had pizza before!?” Joey practically screamed.

“I guess they don't have pizza where you come from,” Tea said soothingly. Marissa shook her head.

“Don't worry, I'm sure you'll love it,” ensured Duke. “It's one of the most popular foods here in America.” Marissa nodded. `I sure hope I like it,' she thought. `I don't want to be left out. Then again, I was the “unusual” one back home.' She smiled.

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“Joey! We don't need everything on our pizza!”

“C'mon, Yug,” replied Joey. “Can't you be adventurous?” He began listing different toppings he wanted.

“What would you like on it, Marissa?” asked Duke. She looked confused. “Well, how about you look at the menu and see if there's a food you've heard of, and you like.” Tristan handed her the menu from across the table. She looked through the list of foods Duke indicated. She never heard of most of them before. Suddenly, her eyes lit up.

“That one,” Marissa told Duke. She pointed to one of the items on the list.

“Pepperoni it is!” exclaimed Yugi.

“One of my favorites,” Tristan said.

“Let's get one pizza with pepperoni and one with-” Tea started.

“Anchovies!” Joey yelled.

“Yuck! Joey!” yelled Yugi, Tea, and Duke.

“We could just get the second one plain,” suggested Yugi.

“So that's one pepperoni and one plain?” conformed Tea. Heads nodded around the table. “Okay, I'll go get them.” She walked up to the counter and ordered. When she came back, she was balancing two cardboard boxes. Tea set them on the table and took her seat.

“You can have the first slice, Marissa,” said Tristan. He opened one the boxes. Marissa looked inside. As she saw it, there was a circle cut into eight triangles. On the edge was cooked dough, and in the middle was melted cheese. It looked like Provolone or Mozzarella. Oh - and of course Marissa recognized the pepperoni scattered here and there. Tea picked up one of the slices. She put in on a plate, then handed the plate to Marissa.

“Just pick it up and bite,” explained Duke. Marissa nodded. She lifted up the slice of pizza towards her mouth. She carefully bit down, pulling the rest of the slice away. It was silent while she chewed.

“What'd you think?” asked Joey when Marissa swallowed.

“It's delicious!” answered Marissa. She took another bite.

“Yay!” exclaimed everyone else. They took their own slices out of the pizza boxes.

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By the next week, Marissa had become accustomed to Domino High. She knew her way around, but Duke still insisted on bringing her to all her classes. They sat together at lunch, and he walked her home. She was oblivious to why he spent so much time with her.

“Hey, Marissa,” Tristan spoke up on Wednesday. He was at Yugi's Game Shop with Yugi, Joey, Tea, and of course Marissa. “You ARE aware that Duke has a crush on you, right?” He looked at her expectantly. She looked up from a chess game, confused.

“What do you mean, Tristan?” she asked.

“Do you know what a `crush' is?”

She shook her head. “We never used that term back in Egypt.”

“Who feels like explaining it?”

“I will,” offered Tea. “When you have a crush on someone, it means you sort of love them, except you're not quite sure if you do or not.”

“Does that mean Duke wants to be my boyfriend?” Marissa asked.

“Right. You're getting it now.”

Marissa suddenly looked really upset. “That's too bad.”

“Why do you say that?” asked Yugi.

She sighed. “Because…I already have a boyfriend.” All the others gasped.

“But you've only been her a week!” Joey complained.

“He doesn't live here. He's still in Egypt….…I think. The last time I saw him was two years ago, when I lived in Egypt.” Marissa closed her eyes. She rested her head on her knees. It took a minute or so for the others to soak in the information.

“But I thought you JUST moved from Egypt,” Tristan spoke up after a while.

“No,” replied Marissa. “I came to America two years ago, but last year I was home schooled, so I could finish up learning English.” Tristan nodded.

“How are you going to break the news to Duke?” asked Tea.

“I don't know. *sigh* I've got to go. My mom will be expecting me home soon. Bye.” She stood up and walked out the door. “Byes” were said as she left.

`What have I gotten myself into?' Marissa asked herself while walking down the sidewalk. `Why does Duke have a “crush” on me?' She sighed. `And how am I going to tell him without breaking his heart?'