AU high school story. Pairings are: Ziva/Gibbs, McGee/Abby, Tony/mm, I don't know.
Ziva David did not know what to make of Stillwater High School.
It was a small school, and completely different from her school back in Israel. There was no uniform here-something she appreciated-and unlike her old school (which had been an all-girls school), there were boys-something she also appreciated…
She stood still in the middle of the hallway, as her classmates moved around her, the hallway a crowded mess as her classmates tried to get to their classes on time. Suspicious glances were thrown at her from many different students, and Ziva sighed-no doubt the facts that she was Middle Eastern and this was a small town, everyone would automatically assume that she was a terrorist and dislike her, in spite of the fact that she was most definitely not a terrorist. But there was not a doubt in her mind that once the student body discovered who her brother was and what he had done to their classmate, they would all hate her regardless, just for being associated with him.
Ziva looked down at the paper in her hand-her class schedule. Where was the English III classroom? She looked around the hallway helplessly, when all of the sudden, someone slammed into her.
"Benzona!" Ziva swore in Hebrew as she fell, her rear stinging painfully as she hit the ground, her books and papers scattering across the tile floor. And because all of her new classmates were apparently-what was the American word for it?-jackasses, not one of them bothered to stop and maybe help her pick them up, or even help her back onto to her feet. Instead, they continued to walk, trampling her stuff in the process.
Ziva muttered to herself in Hebrew as she got on her hands and knees and attempted to collect her stuff. She did not bother to look for her assailant, instead focusing on trying to get all her stuff together.
She could hear a group of people laughing somewhere nearby-laughing at her. Their laughter seemed to cut her to the core.
Ziva stood and her gaze landed on the group of people laughing. They laughed harder once they saw she was looking. She raised her chin and hardened her already icy cold gaze.
The group of students stopped laughing.
Not saying a word, Ziva turned around, and began walking in the other direction. To hell with going to class, she thought, trying to keep her composure as she hurried towards the auditorium-the only room she had cared enough to remember its location when the principal had given her and her father a tour of the school before she had enrolled. I am not going to put up with this shit.
The bell had already rang by the time she reached the auditorium. Pushing the door open, she practically ran inside, biting back tears of anger and frustration. Ziva slammed the door shut behind her. She hadn't been in the school more than fifteen minutes, but already she hated it. She hated the people who went to school here for being absolute jackasses. She hated her brother Ari for what he had done to that poor dead girl Caitlin, for all the pain and grief he had caused her family and friends. She hated her father for forcing her to move to Bum-fuck Egypt Stillwater in the first place.
Too angry to think, Ziva began to pound her fists against the wall nearest to her. It hurt her hands, but the more she beat the wall, the better she felt. After about five minutes of taking her anger out on the wall, she stopped, slumping to the ground in an unhappy heap. She wiped away the few stray tears that had slipped out onto her cheeks, taking deep, calming breaths at the same time. She sat on the ground for a moment, blankly surveying the auditorium. Her brown eyes lit up when she spotted the piano on the stage.
{Page Break}
Skipping first hour was a tradition for Gibbs, Abby, Tony, Tim, Ducky, and when she was still alive, Kate.
The six of them-the five of them now-always made a point to skip first hour at least once a week together. They would go to the auditorium and do whatever they wanted to do. Sometimes they would mess around with the piano, sometimes they would do homework that they should have done the night before, and sometimes they would just hang out and talk. And once or twice, they had even gotten ahold of some weed and smoked it in there-but Kate hadn't taken part in that. She had been very much against drugs and alcohol.
The day after Kate's funeral, it seemed only appropriate to skip first hour in her memory. Wednesday morning, Gibbs was the first to arrive at the auditorium, about three minutes after the first bell had already rung. He paused outside of the auditorium door, craning his head towards it. It sounded as if someone was playing the piano that rested on the stage.
Very quietly, Gibbs opened the door slowly, careful not to make a sound. He stepped inside and his eyes landed on the girl playing the piano on the stage, her back facing him. He quietly shut the door behind him, and standing there silently, he listened to the song she was singing. It was a song he recognized-one of his favorites, actually.
"…Baby I've been here before, I know this room, I've walked this floor, I used to live alone before I knew you, I've seen your flag on the Marble Arch, love is not a victory march, it's a cold and it's a broken Hallelujah…"
Her voice had a throaty, seductive quality to it, and it sounded as if she had an accent of some kind. She had a beautiful voice. And listening to her sing, for the first time since Kate had died, Gibbs felt as if though his guilt had lessened.
"…Maybe there's a God above, all I ever learned from love was how to shoot at someone who out drew you, and it's not a cry you can hear at night, it's not somebody who's seen the light, it's a cold and it's a broken Hallelujah…Hallelujah…Hallelujah…Hallelujah…"
Gibbs listened to the girl, entranced by her voice, and the song she was singing. She sounded so...sad and angry and frustrated, and all of her emotion was pouring out through her voice, compelling him to listen in an awed silence. Her voice trailed off into silence, signaling the end of the song. Gibbs wished she wouldn't stop singing that the song would never end. In the silence that followed, Gibbs clapped loudly, walking forward towards the stage.
The girl jumped up off of the piano bench in surprise, turning around to stare at him incredulously. "How long have you been listening?" she demanded in her accented voice. Gibbs couldn't place where her accent was from-but it sounded exotic.
"Since about the middle of the song." Gibbs answered. He walked closer, trying to get a better look at the girl. He doubted that she was someone he knew-he would have recognized her by her accent if he did. "You have a beautiful voice." He stopped in front of the stage, looking up at her.
The girl had a beautiful face to match her beautiful voice. Her skin was a lovely shade of golden brown and was flawless. She had eyes the color of melted chocolate, and a strong face. She watched Gibbs cautiously, as if she was expecting him to attack her or something like that.
"I'm Gibbs." He offered, smiling slightly at her.
"Ziva David." She replied, still watching him warily.
"It's nice to meet you." Gibbs said. "Are you skipping first hour too?"
"Not intentionally." Ziva smiled, her tone of voice dry. "I did not plan on skipping first hour my first day of school in America, but unforeseen circumstances forced me to."
Gibbs looked at Ziva carefully. Despite her hard exterior, the girl looked like she could use a friend. "Some of my friends are going to join me in the auditorium in a few minutes. Would you like to join us?"
Ziva looked hesitant at first, but then nodded. "Very well."
AN: okay, so the song that Ziva sings is Hallelujah, written by Leonard Cohen. It's a great song, and I encourage everyone reading this to look it up on youtube if you haven't already listened to it. Review Please!