Love was such an easy game to play
By Yuffie Valentine
Zell walked down the hall with his headphones on blasting some heavy metal band into his ears. He banged his head slightly to the beat. His favorite part of the song was coming up, put the music stopped as he was thrown to the ground and his headphones were sliding across the hall.
"TAG!" Selphie giggled with her normal sweetness. Zell was flat on his face and not too happy about it. Selphie sat on him with a victorious smile.
"Selphie! Not this again!" Zell said. The girl had tackled him everyday for two weeks now. Always when he was least expecting it. She seemed to pick on him. Like everyone picked on him. She never did this to Irvine or Rinoa. No, just lucky old Zell got tackled everyday.
"Well, when are you going to learn to tag back?" Selphie said. She leaned over so she could look at Zell's face, but she did not give up her seat on his back.
"Is that what you want?" Zell asked.
"I just wanted to play a game with you, and you never play back." Selphie said. Zell covered his face with his hands. It was very stressful dealing with Selphie when she was in her playful mode.
"If I play tag with you today, will you stop jumping on me every morning?" Zell asked. Selphie nodded her head and stood up.
"Give me a head start okay?" Selphie said and dashed down the hall. She seemed to run on air.
"Why me?!" Zell said. Three people popped up behind him.
"Why you is right." Irvine said. Him and his two followers (Irvine copycats) looked at Selphie run off. "What I wouldn't give to have her tackle me like that."
"Oh I want to do more then tackle!" Brian said, a perverted grin came across his face.
"Lucky old Zell here gets to play tag with her!" Bobby laughed, "You should tag her onto a bed.'
"Now Bobby, we know Selphie ain't that type of girl." Irvine said. "You are a lucky man Zell, I wish I was in your boots."
Zell bent down and picked up his Walkman off the floor and put the headphones back on his head. "Fine have the damn boots, I am going to get lunch."
"Thanks Zell." Irvine said, his and his posse started to walk in the direction Selphie had skipped off in. Zell shook his head. Crazy Girls and Hard up boys, that's this entire damn Garden, seemed to be made up of. He walked into the lunchroom.
"Zell! Over here!" Rinoa waved her hand in the air. She was sitting with Squall and Quistis enjoying some coffee. Zell made his way through the maze of tables to the back where his friends sat.
"Hey guys, what's up?" Zell said. Squall looked at Zell's banged up headphones and Walkman.
"What happen there?" Squall pointed to the damage. Zell sat down with an annoyed look on his face.
"Oh Selphie wanted to play tag again this morning, oh joy!" Zell said in a bitterly sarcastic tone. Quistis smiled.
"I think it's cute how she tries to flirt with you in her own special way."" Quistis said with a grin on her face. Rinoa and Squall almost choked on their coffee.
"FLIRT!?" Zell, Rinoa, and Squall said at the same time. Quistis looked at them like they were the ones confusing her.
"You mean you don't see it?" Quistis said. They all nodded 'no'. "Oh, well I thought everyone knew. I mean come on; she tackles you every morning, no but you. She wants you to chase her around the Garden playing tag. She has just found some cute little way of her own to show she wants you."
"You are kidding me right?" Zell said. He couldn't believe that Selphie had a crush on him. That would be like if Rinoa or Quistis did. Selphie was Irvine's girl and everyone knew that. "But what about her and Irvine, I thought they were a couple?"
"Oh Zell, you are way behind on the love gossip. Selphie said she only wanted to be friends with him. Said that they weren't each other type." Rinoa said, she sighed. "But I think they were each others type. Irvine was just a bit too forward and Selphie was a bit too shy."
"Selphie and shy do not go together in the same sentence." Squall said. He took a sip of his coffee. "I thought Irvine would maybe calm her down, but he seemed up interested in firing her flame."
"Well, I for one thought Zell and Selphie was a great couple from the start. They always worked so well together. She would always cure him first and he would protect her first." Quistis said. She got that glaze look in her eye. The same look came over Rinoa's face.
"That is so romantic!" Rinoa said. Zell blinked.
"Okay, I am a bit lost here." Zell said. Squall nodded.
"You and me both." Squall said. They heard and set of footsteps. They looked behind them to see Irvine. He was holding an ice pack to his eye.
"What happen to you?" Quistis asked. Irvine removed the ice pack to reveal a black eye.
"Oh let me guess, Selphie didn't like the idea of you being the tagger." Zell said with a chuckle. Irvine smiled.
"Nope, she was might happy with that. She was so excited to have someone to play with. Bobby got mad when she said he looked bad in his cowboy gear. For some reason he blamed me and punched me." Irvine said. Zell laughed out. It was always funny when Irvine got hit. That meant his cool lady killer moves were at fault.
"Hmmm, maybe I was wrong about Selphie and Zell then." Quistis said. Zell didn't show it on his surface, but he was a bit sad. It always seemed that he was the one getting the crushes on girls. No girls ever got a crush on him. Oh well, Selphie was a friend anyway.
Selphie came skipping into the lunchroom. For some reason the lunchroom seemed to get a bit brighter. Brian and Bobby limped in not far behind her, beaten and bruised. Rinoa waved Selphie over to their table.
"Hi!" Selphie said. She gave one of her smiles that seemed to lighten up the room even more. Selphie either had a 24-hour sugar high or was the happiest girl on Earth.
Selphie pulled a chair from another table and placed it in between Irvine and Zell. She took a seat and everyone looked at each other as in saying 'So she does like one of them.' Selphie was clueless on the look and ignored it just as them being silly.
"So you beat up Irvine's cult there?" Squall said pointing to Bobby and Brian who were getting ice from the lunch lady. Selphie grinned with a slight touch of embarrassment on her face. Everyone gave a laugh to this.
"They were being jerks and bad mouthing Irvine." Selphie said, " I had to shut them up some how."
"To think, my own friends making fun of me in front of a pretty girl like you. Now that is just wrong. Thanks for sticking up for me Selphie." Irvine said. He reached down and gave her hand a small kiss. Selphie blushed, Zell frowned.
'Damn Quistis and Rinoa, get my hopes up.' Zell said inside his head.
Selphie gave a look at Zell when no one was looking, 'Zell, why couldn't you have just came after me? Why couldn't it be your hips on my hand?' She looked away. No one would have seen the true despair of Selphie through her smokescreen of cheer and smiles.
'Damn I'm smooth!' Irvine though to himself as Selphie gave him of loving glance. The cowboy was totally clueless that the glance was meant for someone else.
"Rinoa, would you come with me to the bathroom. I have this new shade of lipstick that would look great on you!" Quistis said. She yanked Rinoa out of her seat and dragged her off. Everyone looked at each expecting the other to answer. After they couldn't find one, they went back to talking and sipping on their coffee.
Meanwhile, in the bathroom. Quistis checked to make sure no one was listening. If just one of Irvine's adoring female fans got a hold of what Quistis is about to say, the whole Garden would be buzzing with the rumor. After making sure no one was around she turned to Rinoa.
"We weren't wrong, Selphie does like Zell!" Quistis said, " I saw her giving him the most loving glance."
"Really? But wait, why would she be letting Irvine all over her in front of Zell?" Rinoa asked. It seemed rather strange to her. She thought Selphie only wanted Irvine to be friends with her.
"Don't you see? Zell sent Irvine off in his place to play tag. Selphie must think that Zell doesn't like her. Thus she goes for the next man." Quistis said. Rinoa thought about it for a second.
"But what if Zell doesn't like Selphie in that way. He never told us how he felt. And what about Irvine, he would give the world for that girl." Rinoa said, " I think we are best letting them sort this whole mess out on their own."
"I guess you are right." Quistis said. Her and Rinoa walked out into the lunchroom once again. But only the three boys welcomed them back, Selphie was missing.
"Where did our little ray of sunshine skip off to?" Rinoa asked with a joking manner in her tone.
"She said she was a little warn out from running all over this morning, said she was going to see if she could catch a few winks." Zell said. He thought it was odd how she seemed so hyper but claimed to be sleepy.
"Oh well, anyone up for a trip to a town? I was getting bored around this Garden." Quistis said. Everyone seemed that would be the best idea.
Selphie sat on her bed looking up at the ceiling. She was thinking over her thoughts again. Zell or Irvine. She liked Zell a lot, but she also had feelings for Irvine. Irvine treated her like a queen, but Zell would back her up if she was ever in even a tiny bit of trouble. Irvine showed ALOT of interested, while Zell seemed to not show any.
"Well, it seems like the best choice would be Irvine. But something about Zell won't let me forget him too. I know I would feel the same way if I was with Zell and Irvine was giving me the cold shoulder. " Selphie laid back down and rested her head on the pillow. She prayed there was a way she would find out whom she really liked and no one's feelings would get hurt.
Fin for now
Okay, this will be my first FF8 series!