"Sorry, I'm afraid I'm not sure which page we're on…"
When the words register in Zexion's mind, he looks up to find someone leaning close to him, looking over his shoulder at his book.
He quickly glances at the teacher before answering.
"Page 23. We're writing a freewrite on the paragraph where Juliet finds out she's betrothed." He quietly murmurs back. He takes a finger and points to the line. "See? Here."
When he looks up at her, she's smiling. (Somewhere in his mind, he remembers her name…Tifa. Tifa Lockhart.)
"Thanks."
He just nods, and goes back to reading, concentrating on his freewrite.
(Though for the rest of the period, he sometimes found himself glancing over at the girl next to him, almost as if trying catch her eye.)
It's in moments like these, where Yuffie is in her panicdistresslikeOMG-mode, that Zexion regrets making friends with her. Almost. (But then he reminds himself that Yuffie is one of his friends, one of his only friends. Though then he would regret being an awkward anti-social loser who couldn't make friends.)
"Where. Are. My. EARPHONES!" Yuffie shrieks as she frantically searches her bag. "Cheee, I'm going to find you you evil things…"
Zexion is in a happy place. A very happy place that's quiet. A nice happy little patch of grass in a secluded corner of a happy forest ignore ignore ignore…
When he finds that he can't seem to concentrate on his reading, he finds himself glancing over the field to where the preppy kids and the punk cliques mingle. The place where the girly girls and their boy toys gossip and gab about…whatever girls talk about. The place where Tifa Lockhart sits, smiling and laughing as she talks to another boy (Zack? Or was it Leon?).
When he realizes that he's staring, he quickly glances back to his book. (It's just a girl, an attractive girl. Just a small crush, a phase that'll pass like all the others. No need to make a big deal out of it. Girls are troublesome anyway.)
Too late.
Yuffie's suddenly beside him, silent as her eyes follow where Zexion had been looking. A crafty smile forms on her lips, an odd little giggle escaping her.
"So…Who were you staring at?" She drawls out, her eyes calculating as she scans the croud. Zexion makes no response and just rolls his eyes. "Is it Aerith? Wait, no, she's too old for you. Kair—Oh, that'd be kind of scary actually. Tifa? …Well, it's plausible, but…"
Despite the fact that he knew he shouldn't say anything, his curiosity presses him to ask.
"…But?"
Yuffie scrunches her eyebrows, her mouth forming into a frown, almost as if she's trying to imagine the two of them together.
"Well…She's a bit too…" Yuffie pauses, stopping to try to find the right word.
He waits.
"…happy."
Zexion raises an eyebrow, the word echoing in his head.
"Happy." He repeats. Yuffie nods.
"Yeah…She's too happy and confident and…well, you're not." She attempts ahalf-smile. "You know, you're always so broody and weird! And besides, I've heard she's already taken by Cloud…"
Yuffie suddenly stops talking, and freezes, her mouth gaping open as her eyes focus on some far distance.
"Oh…my…gawd…"
Zexion sighs, waiting for the oh-so-great Yuffie epiphany. Perhaps she remembered where her earphones were? Hopefully.
"You have a crush on Namine!"
Or not.
And so, by the next day, Zexion had learned that Namine's favorite color is green, she likes mint chocolate, she likes to draw, especially with crayons, she likes blackberries, and many other really insignificant pieces of information about Namine that he didn't really care about, courtesy of the "Great Ninja Yuffie".
Or maybe she had some kind of illegal job as a hacker or something.
(He wasn't sure if he was too keen on that idea.)
And thus, phase one of the plan, "Operation: Get Namine to fall in love with Zexion" began in English class, the only class that Zexion shared with Namine.
"Psst, pssst, Zexion raise your hand. Go participate! Impress Namine with your mad English skills!" Yuffie whispered to him quietly. Zexion gives her a glare, not even need to say anything to her: Shut up.
But since when did Yuffie listen to little old Zexion?
"Psst psst. Psst psst."
No response. Yuffie tries again.
"Psst psst."
Zexion continues to ignore her, concentrating on the person speaking…Tifa.
He was jealous how she spoke so confidently, analyzing the character's action, supporting it with quotes…he wonder how she did it. How she thought about her words, how she spoke, how she was able to seem so surprisingly smart for such a girly-girl who's nail polish was much too sparkly, and her hair was much too long.
He wondered if it was possible for a girl like her, to fall for a guy like him.
"Psst…Yooo, Zexion!"
Finally, just to make Yuffie shut up, he raises his hand timidly, stutters out a few stupid words, and spends the rest of the class mentally hitting himself repeatedly for even trying.
And distantly, in his mind, he wondered what Tifa must think of him now.
"You know, doesn't Namine seem to be a mirage of Kairi?"
"Unless you're trying to say Namine is a distorted water reflection of Kairi, I'm guessing the word you're trying to say is mirror."
Yuffie shakes her head.
"No...I mean mirage. Doesn't Namine seem so…fake? I don't know, I just…Why do you like her?"
"I don't…" He stops himself completing his sentence of, "I don't like her." If Yuffie thought he liked Namine, he might as well let her. It would keep her busy. And…
(And it could cover up his small attraction to Tifa.)
"I don't know," He says lamely. "I guess…she's just pretty."
He sees Yuffie frown and give off a little hum of annoyance.
"You know…that's a bit shallow. Liking someone only for their looks." Yuffie says, almost as if chiding him, almost as if talking to herself. "Shouldn't you try to get to know her?"
If only he could get to know Tifa…
"How?"
And Yuffie suddenly seems to snap at him, a hint of frustration in her voice.
"I don't know! Try talking to her for once, maybe? How hard can that be?" Yet as she's talking, he can see she doesn't seem to be talking to him. And he wonders, maybe if Yuffie liked someone? Maybe she liked…him?
No, probably not. (That would be one nasty situation.)
Yuffie sighs, as if giving up waiting for his answer.
"I'm sorry, I'm a weird mood." She mumbles out, a grumpy look on her face. "Sugar-deprived."
He can see that's she thinking of something, that she's not her usual self. So he brushes it off.
"...I'll try." He says. "I'll try to talk to her."
He felt old. He felt pathetic.
In gym class, he found his eye always searching for long brown hair, and his mind seemed to be continuously calculating: how to get behind her in the line? How to get on the same team? How to get the chance to be near her?
…He felt like a stalker.
And amazingly enough, he finds his chance when he ends up right behind her when the batting team lines up.
Perhaps some god was smiling down on him today. (Or perhaps they were feeling pity on him, so they decided to let the poor, foolish boy get at least one dream come true.)
His heart seems to beat faster than usual, and his mind is racing, plotting and planning out scenarios, words for him to say to her. Maybe he could pretend to trip and land on her, before going all embarrassed and gentleman-like. Maybe he could ask her for the English homework. Maybe he could kneel on one knee and go, "Will you marry me, QueenTifa?"
Or…maybe not.
And so he just watches, watches as she talks to her friend in front of her, watches as she cheers the others on, watches as she attempts to braid her hair over and over and over…
…when the words spill out.
"Need help?"
For a moment, he didn't realize he had said anything, but when she turns to him, eyes open in surprise, he can't help but feel…giddy. And suddenly, he's regretting saying a word.
But she has already smiled and whipped her hair around to him.
"Yeah, that'd be great! You know how to?"
His hands are shaking as he works. Just relax, just relax…
"Ye-yeah…I have a little sister, so I pick up random stuff." He stumbles out. Her hair is so smooth and shiny, glittering gold in the sun.
"Really? You seem like the type to be an only child."
"...Sometimes I wish I was," He says, and finishes, quickly tying up her braid. "It's done."
It's a bit lopsided. It's a bit lopsided and loose and he wants to fix it…
Tifa runs her hand over her braid, a smile growing on her face.
"Huh, this is so much better than what I could do." She says, before turning to him. "Thanks, Zexion."
She knows his name. As she steps up to the plate, he can't help but feel…happy. She knows his name, and she talked to him, and she smiled at him…
Perhaps he should stop thinking before he starts smiling, heaven forbid.
"Zexion, get me a sausage dog at the truck for me!" Yuffie chirps, latching onto him as soon as lunch comes.
"No."
Yuffie glares at him.
"Come on, it's so cold outside! Don't you love me?" She whines. Zexion just settles himself in his seat, taking out his lunch. Yuffie scrunches her face up in a narrow stare. "Oh that's right, you love someone else. Hmph."
Zexion decides to chance the topic quickly.
"What about you? Surely you like someone," He says teasingly, and begins to scoot closer to her in a way that she would often do to him. He puts on a high-pitched voice and starts poking her. "Who is it? Who is it? Is it Axel? Or what about Roxas?"
Yuffie laughs and bats him away, though her face turns a bit red.
"Don't be silly, I wouldn't like those soccer jerks. Hmm…no, it'd probably be…Sephiroth. It's such a pity he's going out with someone."
Zexion smirks.
"Oh, is Yuffie feeling a little jealous?"
Yuffie shakes her head.
"Hah! There's no way I could compete with Tifa! Naw, I'm going to set my sights on someone else." Yuffie says.
…Funny. He feels funny.
"So Tifa is going out with Sephiroth?" He tries to comment casually. Yuffie nods.
"Yup! For about a few weeks now!" She lets out a dreamy sigh. "Sometimes I wonder what it would be like to be part of that crowd, those popular people who are all fashionable, you know?"
"…Yuffie, I don't think it's possible for you to be fashionable."
And as they continue to talk about nothing, he feels oddly distant. So Tifa is taken already? She has a boyfriend? Figures, she and Sephiroth were always close.
And he wonders…if he could, would he undo his crush on her? If he could forget all about ever liking her, would he?
But he doesn't even have to think: No, he wouldn't.
After all…it was just a small attraction.
It's weird, but somehow, he ended up getting Yuffie's sausage dog anyway.
"Oh miss, your valet has arrived with your food." He drawls out in a bored tone, coming into the classroom. Yuffie squeals and jumps him.
"FOOD!"
However, she barely has time to even take a bite of it, as people start filling in, signaling the start of the next period. Yuffie makes a noise of annoyance, and starts to gather up her stuff.
"Bleh…Global history next, and I haven't even eaten yet." She turns to Zexion. "You have another free next?"
He nods. She just slumps down even more.
"Lucky…" She grumbles, and lifts a hand in a wave. "Bye."
And so, Zexion finds himself alone, wandering the halls with nothing to do, when he remembers that he has an art project on watercolour washes due soon.
Thus, he finds himself bumbling along to the art room, which luckily had no class in it that period.
But when he arrives, someone is already there.
…Namine.
And he remembers how he told Yuffie that he would try to talk to her.
Namine looks up from her little corner, blue eyes focusing on him eerily.
"…Is there a class here?" She asks in her odd breathy voice.
"No, I'm working on my independent art project...Do you mind if I work here?" He asks.
She shakes her head, so he moves to get a piece of watercolour paper and some tools and begins to work.
Minutes pass by peacefully, and he just thinks, about anything and everything. For once, his homework was done, and he didn't have any last minute things to do, so he just painted, despite the fact that he was dreadfully bad at watercolour. It was weird because…he didn't seem to care.
A gentle thwuk brings him out of his thoughts, and he suddenly realizes that Namine is still there in the corner, working on something.
…And he did tell Yuffie he would try to talk to her.
"What is that?" He finds himself calling over to her. She looks up, startled and almost unsettled.
"Sorry?"
Perhaps he shouldn't have interrupted her…
"What are you working on?" He asks again. She blinks a few times again before nodding and holding up her work for him to see.
"It's a xylograph…a wood carving for my independent art project." She explains. "I thought it would be nice to do something…different."
He looks at it again, yet he is unable to figure out what it is. For a few moments, he's just staring at it, trying to figure out what to say.
"…Interesting," He says for a lack of a better word.
Silence.
"And you?" She asks after a few off beats, tilting her head curiously. "What are you doing?"
He points to the piece of paper in front of him, unwilling to hold it up for clearer view.
"Watercolour washes." He says simply, not really wanting to explain any further.
"That's nice."
After a few seconds of seconds of silence, Zexion just goes back to working on his watercolour. A few seconds later, he hears a thunk!
And every so often, he would glance up to her, just to see how she was doing. Fake? …He could see it. He could how she almost seemed to be a bad imitation of Kairi, how it seemed as if she was trying to imitate Kairi's fashion, her posture, her look.
Fake, huh…
He wonders what it's like to be Namine, what's inside her head. He wonders if she consciously is copying Kairi, her wonders if she constantly styled her hair like Kairi every day in the morning, he wonders if she really just a wannabe…
Shuffling of feet and conversations in the hallway alert him that next period has started. He looks at his paper and sees that he hasn't done much. Pity.
He packs up his stuff and is about to leave when he hears a quiet, "Have a nice day" from the corner.
He turns to see Namine giving him a polite wave, her face blank. And he wonders what's behind that blank face, the blank smile…
He finds himself waving back.
"Bye."
And it's funny, how in that one hour, he had completely forgotten about his crush on Tifa because instead, his head had been filled with wonderings of a yellow-haired zorro.
Author's Note: ABC Contest from angelofsweetness. And I totally messed up the format. Eheheh... Sorta based this on my high school too.