It would probably help while reading this chapter if you listened to the song first~! If you haven't already :D It's a very awesome song. I may have got the lines wrong in some parts~ All the lyric websites I've found don't include some of the little side bits :/ and I currently don't have my iPod (wahhh~!)

Day Nineteen (Monday)

Music class happened fifth period on Mondays. It also happened directly after a half-hour lunch break, during which Miss James imprisoned Seto and Joey in the music centre for some final vocal exercises and run-throughs of their song.

"How are we actually going to do this?" Seto asked suddenly. "Are you just going to call us up at the end of class or-"

Joey had never heard anybody with a more evil laugh than Miss James. "Oh, no; this is still a punishment, remember? There's going to be a big lead up to it at the beginning of class and then, after performing, you're going to have to sit their and partake in normal classroom activities until the bell goes, just like everybody else."

Christ, this lady is a sadist, Joey thought, grimacing. But he didn't have it in himself to feel any more concerned; he had been mentally preparing himself for this day for three weeks. Three weeks…was that all? Fourteen afternoon lessons and four six-hour days on the weekends, practicing with Seto. Was that really all?

Joey just shrugged. "Whatever; I've given up on caring about stage fright at this point."

She slapped his back. "The words of a true performer. Now, listen closely, this is what's going to happen." She dropped her voice as though she were about to tell them a secret. "You two will wait in this rehearsal room until five minutes after class has started, then come and wait outside the door. When I announce your presence, you will come in and perform. Got it?"

Seto and Joey nodded.

"Oh, and one other thing…if you don't show up, you will be repeating this whole process with another song, and will be forced to perform both this one and the new one. Savvy?"

Again, they nodded.

"Good-o!" She stood up. "Which brings lunchtime to its conclusion," she announced, just as the bell sounded somewhere overhead. "Five minutes, then I'll begin announcing." She suddenly gave them a very sincere smile. "It's been a pleasure working with you both. Best of luck."

And on that note, she was gone.

Silence passed for a second, before Seto looked at Joey. "So this is it, huh, Wheeler?"

Joey sat down on the piano seat, laid-back as ever. "I guess so. I'm Jane now."

Seto laughed. "It nice doing business with Jane. Tarzan happy."

Joey laughed as well. "Jane happy too."

They lapsed back into silence for a moment. "You know, Kaiba…I think I understand you better now."

Seto leaned against the door. "I should take offense at that, shouldn't I?"

Joey smiled. "Probably; it wasn't meant to offend. I just meant that…you're not such a bad guy as I thought…Seto."

For the first time in his life, Joey saw Seto at a loss for words. "Neither are you…Joey."

Joey rested his chin on his hand. "After this is over, I'm probably going to want to kill you again for putting me through all of this. But until then…I'm glad it happened. James knew what she was doing; she wanted us to stop fighting, and against all odds, I think it worked."

Seto smiled too, his face strained at doing such an unusual action. "I know it did." He paused. "I used to think that this was your fault. This…penalty. Then there was a little voice in my head saying it was my fault. But now I think I finally know whose fault it is, and…it's nobody's. This is just something that happens in the same way a thunderstorm is something that happens; people hate each other, things happen, they learn not to hate each other."

"Thunderstorms are a good analogy," Joey said. "They make everybody miserable for a while, but once they're over, there's more water to spare, plants can grow, people are brought closer together in the recovery and there's a rainbow in the sky."

Seto suddenly laughed. "I didn't know you could say that word."

Joey frowned. "What word?"

"The one you just said. The thing in the sky."

"A rainbow?"

"Ha! You said it again."

"Shut the hell up, Kaiba!"

"Okay, so you're probably wondering where Seto and Joey are right now…"

Joey was crouched low, peering through the gap between the door and the side of the frame into their music classroom. Above him, Seto was doing the same.

"Could she be any more dramatic about it?" Joey wondered aloud.

"I dare her to."

"Don't say that; she might actually take you up on it."

"She's a witch; you can't reason with witches," Seto agreed, stepping away from the door.

There was another awkward pause before Joey rubbed his hands together with mock anticipation. "So! Ready for some ready-made embarrassment?"

Seto grinned, a totally unnatural gesture. "I was born ready!"

"Shame attacks," Joey said.

Pause.

"What?" Seto shot him an obscure glance.

Joey sighed. "It's something a friend told me he used to do; go out of his way to embarrass himself so he'd get desensitised to humiliation. He called them shame attacks."

Seto nodded a few times, staring into space. "I never did anything like that."

"Neither did I." Joey laughed. "Looks like we're about to go through hell then, in that case."

Seto hesitated. "You know, Joey…I…wouldn't mind getting humiliated…if you were there with me."

Joey looked up in surprise. Why were his cheeks blushing? What the hell was going on with his heart? "I…yeah, me neither," he stammered, trying to keep his head.

Seto looked Joey square in the eyes. "I just wanted to say that."

Joey gulped, his heart skipping one of its frantic, overdriven beats. "Th- thanks."

Seto paused, before one of his hands crept up and cupped Joey's cheek. Not shifting his gaze, he moved ever so closer.

Realising what was about to happen, Joey leaned closer to.

Their lips had just touched when a sudden yell from within the classroom pulled them back to reality. "Aaaaand, welcome for us everyone, Tarzan and Jaaane!"

Seto and Joey broke apart. His mind completely stupefied, Joey pushed open the door, without casting Seto another glance. Together, they filed in.

He just- oh god. Why couldn't she have waited one more second to call us in? Why? Okay, calm down; think later. I'm supposed to be singing, right? Right. Sing. Random noises at the start.

"Oi oi oi oi oi oi eh," he bellowed.

"Deep in the jungle, in the land of adventure, lives Tarzan!"

Joey didn't meet the eyes of any of his sniggering classmates as he repeated himself. "Oi oi oi oi oi oi eh, I am Jane and I love to ride an elephant!"

The class's laughter was drowned out by the backing's rendition of Tarzan hitting a tree. Then, Seto stepped in.

"My name is Tarzan, I am jungle man."

"The treetop swinger from jungle land," Joey sang.

Seto turned to Joey, meaning in his eyes. "Come, baby come, I will take you for a swing."

"Let's go, honey, I'm tingling." Joey was almost grateful that the class was their; it legitimised the blush that fell across his face as not being from Seto. "Tarzan is handsome, Tarzan is strong. He's really cute, and his hair is long. Tarzan is handsome, Tarzan is strong, so listen to the jungle song!"

Their classmates were all doubled over in pain from their relentless laughter. A few sympathetic individuals were trying to hold it in by covering their mouths, and failing miserably.

"Oi oi oi oi oi oi eh," Joey repeated, shocking himself. He hadn't truly realised until now how far he and Seto had come with this song; they were singing it much better than he had imagined they would. Was this how musicians felt?

"I am Tarzan from jungle, you can be my friend!"

"Oi oi oi oi oi oi eh, I am Jane and I love to ride an elephant!"

Joey closed his eyes. Now for the worst part.

"When you touch me, I feel funny," Seto sang, his voice dropping ever so slightly.

Joey couldn't look at him, even if it meant he had to look at the audience. "I feel it too, when you're touching me."

"Come to my tree house, to my party."

"Yes, I'll go, if you carry me." Joey couldn't figure out why his face hadn't burst with all the blood rushing to it. "Tarzan is handsome, full of surprise, he's really cute and his hair is nice. Tarzan is handsome, Tarzan is strong, so listen to the jungle song."

They repeated the chorus.

Joey and Seto had sung these words together hundreds of times. And yet…it wasn't until now that Joey had even considered…hearing any meaning behind them. Suddenly, he had forgotten his own name. He was Jane Porter. The man standing beside him was Tarzan. They were in love.

"Go cheetah, get banana. Hey monkey, get funky!" Seto sang. "When I am dancing, I feel funky."

Joey gulped. It was coming. That…line. "Why do you keep ignoring me?"

"Tarzan is here, come kiss me, baby."

And…here it was. "Oochie coochie, kiss me tenderly."

"Yeah!"

Before he had time to hear the laughter, Joey plunged on into the chorus. "Tarzan is handsome, Tarzan is strong!"

"Me Tarzan!" Seto yelled, a massive grin on his face. Joey somehow found it possible to blush even more.

"He's really cute and his hair is long~!"

"Long hair!"

"Tarzan is handsome, Tarzan is strong, so listen to the jungle song! Oi oi oi oi oi oi eh!"

"I am Tarzan from jungle, you can be my friend!"

"Oi oi oi oi oi oi eh, I am Jane and I love to ride an elephant!"

Finally done, Joey let his muscles relax as the backing took over for the end.

"And so, they got funky! But, will Tarzan have Jane? Staaaay tuned!"

Joey closed his eyes at this last line. He already does.

For all the laughter that had lasted throughout the entire song, as soon as it was over, the class fell silent, their expressions ones of shock and disbelief at what had just happened.

"What?" Joey yelled, unable to keep the grin off his face. "Never seen a pair of worst enemies get up and perform Toybox songs together?"

Only three weeks had passed since Joey and Seto had stood side-by-side in front of this very desk, talking to this very teacher. Exactly three weeks since Seto had pulled that ridiculous song from that ridiculous pile of ridiculous pieces of paper.

"Listen…Seto. Joey." Miss James smiled with all the sincerity in the world. "I'm proud of you both. You did good today."

Joey hit himself in the forehead. "Does that mean we're released from custody?"

She laughed, gesturing to the door. "Yes; the bell has gone, and you're free to go."

"Phew!" Joey dramatically wiped his brow. "That was…"

"…Intense," Seto finished.

Joey felt a squeeze in his hand and blushed as though it had activated a button. After they had returned to their desks – sitting together so as to avoid being around anybody else's sniggers – Seto had taken Joey's hand as casually as he had once tormented him. And since then, they hadn't let go.

"Look…miss." Joey hesitated. "Miss James…I wanted to thank you."

Miss James sat back in her chair, drumming her fingers together. "Thank me? Perhaps you need some more punishment," she joked.

"No!" Joey yelled, horrified. After a second, he calmed down. "No…it's just that…"

"We were both able to hate you," Seto said matter-of-factly. "For the first time in our lives, we had something to agree on. And you gave us that."

"And it helped us realise that we aren't too different."

"So…we…don't hate each other anymore. And we have you to thank."

"So, thank you, Miss James," Joey concluded. "You have taught me a more valuable lesson than any other teacher I've ever had."

"Me too," Seto said.

Joey looked at him, unconsciously turning towards the door. "'Me too'? What is 'me too'? I at least went to the effort of making a nice closing sentence. You can't just steal that!"

"Ha. You said 'nice'."

"Shut the hell up, Kaiba!"

Watching them leave the room from her place behind the teacher's desk, Miss James gave a soft sigh and a smile, looking at their entwined hands. Then, still smiling, she gathered up her folders, preparing to go home.

"Tarzan is handsome, Tarzan is strong," she quietly sang under her breath. "He's really cute, and his hair is long..."

God, I love that song.

Okay~ I would like to say a few words and 'thank you's:

Thank you to Miss James, my grade ten music teacher after whom the character in this story is named: I don't expect you to ever read this, but I had a great time in your class :D

Thank you to Ms. Neil, the music teacher who inspired me to write a story about music~ I came up with this whole thing during choir practice, and it wouldn't have happened without you :'D I don't expect you to have read it either :') But…yeah :D Thanks~!

Thank you to Bakura-Puppy1266, who inspired me to ship a pairing I was at first sooooo determined to detest with every fibre of my being XD You're drabble series quite literally converted me :'D What happened to that, by the way? O.o

And an especially humungousful thank you to absolutely everybody who read, reviewed, alert listed, favourited and enjoyed this story – you guys are just awesome :D I love you so much :D :D :D You are amaaaaaaaaaaaazabubble~! I had a great time writing it :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D C; Thank you soooo much for sticking with me for the whole story, especially one with a premise as bizzarre as this. I LOVE THAT SONG XD ALMOST AS MUCH AS I LOVE YOU~!

PLEASEPLEASEPLEASE review :'D *glomp* I love you soooooo much :D :D :D You are my favourite person, dearest reader~! :'D

~I-

Huzzah~!

~IA