Chapter 1: The Girl named Zalbar
This is not the kind of life you would want to have...
My name is Zalbar. My parents came up with the name through playing Kingdom Hearts, the video game. I was quite a small baby for my age and they wanted to make sure that I would be able to protect myself, so they gave me what they believed was a strong name, only, it didn't really help with things.
I was a normal girl starting grade 9 in high school. Being quite small for my age, I had always been natural target for school bullies. I was used to it.
"Ha! Punk! Watch where you're going!" a guy said, "Oh wait...lookee here, it's a short little girl! Haha! Go back to kindergarten midget!"
His friends all burst out laughing.
Ignore them, I thought to myself, they're just a bunch of small fry.
Truthfully, I've always liked reading fiction. I've always wished I was stronger and more independent. I even read the comics and wish I was a superhero for the matter.
"Forget it," I told myself, no one's EVER gonna take me seriously.
I looked at my schedule. French, English, Science and Drama. All my worst subjects combined into a semester. Then again, I'm no good at anything. I sighed. There was not one human in the world who had a worse life than me.
I bumped into this large kid.
"Whoa! Check it out! You must be the shrimpiest shrimp I've ever seen!" the guy said.
I looked down and tried to walk past him. He held his arm out and grabbed me by the shoulder. I turned around.
"Don't be in a rush to leave, shrimp! I wanna play basketball with you! You wanna be the ball?" the guy continued.
I struggled for him to let go of me, but to no avail.
"Leave her alone...cowards...can't pick on anyone bigger than shrimp," a voice said.
I turned to see who it was.
I didn't really recognize the young boy. He was approximately my age, maybe a little older, and he was...really short...too.
"And who are you to decide who I can pick on?" the guy asked.
The boy glared at him.
The bully flinched. "Yeah, well, I'll let you off easy this time kid, but next time I'll totally...beat you up," he said.
And then the guy ran away.
That was awkward.
"Hi," the boy said, "I'm Semix. You're Zalbar, right?"
I nodded.
"Ah, nice to meet you," he said.
The way he said it, you'd almost think he had been waiting for me for a millenia.
"Nice to meet you too. By the way, thanks for rescuing me back there..."
"No problem," he said, "just helping out a fellow Mind..."
"What?"
Why did he break off in mid-sentence? Who or what was a Mind...?
He coughed. "Just helping out a fellow student..."
"Oh, well, thanks."
"No problem," he said, "I'll see you around."
I walked off to my English class, pondering about what Semix had said. I sat down in class, daydreaming about Semix.
"Zalbar? Zalbar? Is there a student named Zalbar here?" the teacher asked.
I snapped back into reality.
"Yes sir!" I raised my hand.
"Ah, Zalbar! I see...check!" the teacher said.
The teacher finished taking attendance and started with the introductions.
"My name is Mr. Janus Hazard. You may call me Mr. Hazard or just Janus, whichever you may prefer," Mr. Hazard said. "I'm a new teacher to this school, just like you guys, and I probably won't be staying long. I'm only here as a substitute for a teacher on maternity leave. So, let's start with the introductions!"
We went around the classroom and everybody said their name, their hobbies and their goals for the future. Coincidentally, I saw Semix in my class too.
"Hi. My name is Semix. I...have failed this class once..." he began.
Everyone laughed.
"But...I intend to pass it this time. And, I'd rather not talk about my goals or my hobbies," he said as he sat down.
That was...subtle... I thought about his speech for a short amount of time, because soon enough, it was my turn. I got up out of my seat abruptly.
"Well, here's an enthusiastic one!" Mr. Hazard said.
"I'm...I'm Zalbar. Er...I like playing games and uh...I want to be a skilled gunner when I grow up. I want to help defend the helpless people."
Everybody burst out laughing except Semix and the teacher. I immediately felt embarrassed. Semix looked at me expectantly.
"Now now class, everyone has different dreams. There is nothing to be embarrassed about, Zalbar. But is it quite IRONIC...hm..." Mr. Hazard broke off. "Well, now that the introductions are done, why don't we do some work? And uh...Zalbar...I want to see you after class."
I froze in shock. What did I do wrong? I immediately looked over to Semix for an answer. He didn't look back, instead, he was staring at...Mr. Hazard. I stared at Semix, then at the teacher, and I sighed. I must be paranoid.
The rest of the class went by pretty quickly. The English worksheet we did was simple, I breezed through it easily.
"Zalbar!" Mr. Hazard called as he waved.
I went over to the teacher's desk. We waited until everyone had packed up and left.
Mr. Hazard sighed. "You're not gonna let this go are you?" he asked, staring directly at me.
I paused, wondering what he meant. The answer came a few seconds later.
"No, I'm not," the voice said.