Hey again!
To those who reviewed:
TornAngelWings: Thanks!
Valk: LOL, I can't say no to you, so here you go! More Cloud!
Miss Layla and vLuna: I wonder... ;p
Scribbleness: Aw, I'm sorry... I hope the Cloudy-ness of this chapter makes up for it!
Petrovna: Hmmm, we'll see, I guess... and thanks!
Vanilla Raindrops: I'm very proud of Tifa too! You go, girl! ... As for your lines: Ouch. I know exactly how that is!
Okay, I know I said I'd try to update soon, but school just wouldn't let me. In fact, it might be a little while before I can update again, since I've got so much to do --daily exams, papers, reports, practicals-- all in the space of a few weeks. So I'm leaving you with this one. As promised, it's longer than the last one. I hope you enjoy it!
Same disclaimers apply.
CHAPTER 4: Lunch with the Misfits
For the first time since freshman year, Tifa found herself dreading school.
It was Monday morning and nearly seven, but she was still in bed and not moving.
The past weekend, she had gone through her usual routine, making lunch and dinner for Denzel and her father who would probably starve without her. She'd helped Rosie, the cleaning lady who went over to their place every weekend, do the laundry and sort the clothes.
To everyone else, she probably seemed normal. A little less cheerful than usual perhaps, but still fully functioning.
But they didn't see her at night when she was curled up in a fetal position on the bed, crying into her pillow to muffle the sound. She wasn't a crier, but the phone call that weekend, combined with her little scene with that boy Cloud seemed to have opened the floodgates and when she was alone, she couldn't seem to stop crying.
In fact, the tears were starting up again.
"Tifa?"
Immediately, she stopped the whimper that was threatening to escape from her lips. She cleared her throat so she wouldn't sound odd to her little brother. "What is it, Denz?"
"Dad says to hurry up. We're gonna be late."
Sighing, Tifa swallowed past the lump in her throat and forced herself out of bed. "Yeah. Tell him I'll be right down. Give me a few minutes."
"Okay." Her brother's footsteps thumped away and faded as Tifa grudgingly left her bed to get ready for school. Time to face the consequences of her decision.
She sighed as she pulled a dark red sweater over her head and fastened her charm bracelet onto her wrist. Elena and Jessie had identical bracelets. They'd all gotten it last year when charm bracelets had been the thing for BFFs and stuff like that.
At least she still had her friends. If she couldn't hang out with Zack, then she'd hang out with Elena and Jessie and some of the other girls.
Cheering up slightly, she combed her long hair out, applied some gloss over her lips and grabbed her schoolbag from the foot of her bed before rushing down the stairs.
Denzel gave her a small smile. Her father scrutinized her with a half-concerned, half-exasperated look on his face. They hadn't talked about her breaking up with Zack over the weekend and she hadn't divulged any further details. She wasn't sure she wanted to. As much as she loved her father, he really could be clueless about some things. She shrugged and gave his cheek a small kiss as she slid into the passenger seat of their car.
A few minutes later, her father pulled up in front of the school and she got out. Waving goodbye to her dad and little brother, she walked up the steps to the school building.
Once inside, she noticed something odd.
People seemed to be a little... distant today. She wondered what was different. She stopped and said hi to the usual people, smiled at the kids she usually encountered in her classes, waved at people she knew. They all responded in the same way: a small, uncertain smile that seemed a little cold before turning away quickly.
What was that about? Maybe something had happened at Rufus' party. Had Reno gotten drunk again and danced naked on the table like he did last time? Had Loz thrown somebody out of the third floor window again?
Obviously, she was missing something.
It bothered her a little, but she decided to ask Elena and Jessie about it when they met later. She was late for homeroom and the teacher peered at her sternly from above wire-rimmed glasses. Tifa gave her an apologetic smile and went to take a seat in the middle of the classroom.
As she walked down the aisle, she spotted Elena sitting with Cissnei. Elena didn't seem to notice her and turned to pass a note discreetly to the other girl. Cissnei looked up and gave Tifa a slightly baleful look, but her cheeks were red and she turned away quickly to respond to Elena's note.
Tifa ignored her and took a seat beside Jessie. The other girl fidgeted with her ballpen, playing with the pink pompom at the end. She returned Tifa's smile with a quick, nervous one of her own.
"Hey, Jess."
"H-Hey, Teef." Jessie was looking down at her notebook where she had scribbled little doodles of smiling suns, rainbows and flowers. She seemed to be studiously avoiding Tifa's gaze.
Tifa frowned. "What is up with everyone today?"
Jessie drew whiskers on the kitten face she was doodling before finally turning to her with innocent-looking green eyes and an over-bright grin. "Nothing."
"Yeah, sure, nothing." Tifa scoffed and rolled her eyes. "Everybody's acting weird. Did something happen at the party?"
At the mention of the party, Jessie winced and gave in. "Yeah, kinda..." she flicked a glance at Cissnei and Elena across the aisle and leaned closer to Tifa. "We, uh, heard all about it."
"About what?" Tifa asked.
"You know..." Jessie looked at her pointedly as though she were being dense. "You breaking up with Zack."
"... Oh." Tifa released a long exhale and leaned back in her seat.
She supposed she should have known the news would spread fast, especially since it concerned the school's hero. She'd heard enough through the grapevine to know how quickly gossip spread. But she highly doubted Zack had announced the news to the entire student body.
"How did you find out?"
"Reno heard Zack on the phone, and you know Reno. When he gets drunk, he gets chatty-- among other things, but that's beside the point. Anyway, he told Rude and Yazoo, and Yazoo told Loz, who let it slip to Rufus, who told Tseng, who told that brunette whatsherface, who told the newbie, and the newbie told Elena, who told me... and well, you get the picture." Jessie shrugged helplessly.
She did get it, unfortunately.
Jessie went on. "Anyway, everybody thinks you dumped Zack for somebody else, and you know every other girl out there is out to get their hands on Zack. So they're all comforting him, and everybody's angry at you for dumping him."
So now Tifa was the bad guy. She wanted to protest against the unfairness of it, but she knew people's minds were made up. She and Zack had split, and the school was siding with its hero.
Jessie leaned forward curiously. "What really happened?"
Tifa shook her head. "I don't want to talk about it."
And she really didn't. She had never been much for sharing whatever happened in her personal life with everybody else, instead preferring to keep her feelings private. And it wasn't as if telling anyone what had really happened would change everybody's opinion of her. They were too loyal to Zack.
Jessie pouted and leaned back into her seat when it became clear Tifa wouldn't divulge more. Clearly disappointed at Tifa's reluctance to give her more information, she turned back to her doodles.
Tifa glanced across the aisle at Elena. The other girl seemed a little too focused on the morning announcements than usual. When homeroom was over, she stood up and linked arms with Cissnei without so much as a backward glance at Tifa. Jessie shot Tifa a small, apologetic smile before hurrying after them.
Tifa just watched them go. She couldn't believe it.
Elena and Jessie were her best friends in the whole campus. She had hung out with them since sophomore year, ate lunches with them at the same table in the cafeteria everyday, gone with them to the mall on weekends, went to the same parties as they did.
But now, just because of a rumor they probably didn't even believe, they were avoiding her.
She stood up from her seat and left the room. The absence of her friends seemed to be an indicator of how low she'd sunk. It also made her notice other people more.
It felt like every student in the corridor was staring at her as she walked down the hallway. It was pretty obvious they were whispering to each other. Some kept their voices low, others didn't care if they were heard.
It was like that almost all day long. Every time she caught them at it, they would turn away and pretend they hadn't been looking. But every time her back was turned, she could hear the whispers.
"She dumped ZACK?!"
"No way! It was probably the other way around."
"Who in their right mind would do something like that?"
"Think she was cheating on him?"
"I'll bet! I always knew she was a little slut. I mean, come on, who wears skirts that short if they're not asking for it?"
Tifa slammed her book shut as the bell rang, signaling the end of the class. Avoiding the students' gazes, she hoisted her bag onto her shoulder and hurried out of the classroom.
Slut? Asking for it? Was that really what everyone thought of her? That she was the kind of girl who went around cheating on her boyfriend? She didn't know if the opinions were formed before or after the gossip spread, but it confused and hurt her to know that people thought so badly of her.
She'd never given any indication that she was "asking for it", had she? True, her skirts were a little on the short side, but the length wasn't that indecent (or else her father probably wouldn't allow her out of the house).
She never flirted with other guys, and she'd certainly never slept with any of them. She hadn't even slept with Zack, for goodness' sake! Wasn't that the root of the problem in the first place? How could she be a slut?
It was so unfair!
And what was worse, she couldn't do anything about it.
She was just one person against practically the whole student body who worshiped Zack. Of course they'd side with him. Zack was the cool guy, the epitome of popularity. He drew people to him like ants to a picnic, not only because of his charm, talent and good looks, but also because simply hanging out with him or taking his side would mean entrance to the "cool crowd" as well.
When she and Zack had gotten together, she had really and truly been in love with him. The popularity and status were just perks that came with it. But now she was beginning to realize just how devoted people were to their hero. Now that she officially wasn't with Zack anymore and was no longer part of the horde of people who kissed the ground he walked on, she was an outcast.
And as one of the outsiders, they could officially say anything they wanted about her, whether it was true or not.
Still absorbed in her thoughts, she entered the cafeteria. It may have been paranoia on her part, but it seemed as if it had gone momentarily quiet. She blushed as she felt the stares of students boring into the back of her head.
It lasted for less than a second, then the noise level went back up again. Still slightly flushed, she got in line and got her usual veggie salad.
A new problem presented itself when she left the line to find a table.
Where was she going to sit? She had sat at the same table with Elena and Jessie and the other girls since sophomore year. But today, she'd rather eat a Zolom.
When she'd been with Zack, she'd never lacked welcome in any table in the entire cafeteria. Everyone would have only been too happy to have the school hero's girlfriend sitting with them. But now, no one moved to offer her a spot. No one even looked her way. She would have taken a table to herself gladly, but all the tables were taken.
For a moment, she just stood there, unsure of what to do.
It was a very disconcerting feeling, to be standing in the middle of a room full of people who disliked her. She'd never been the odd girl out in all her years of high school because she'd always belonged to a crowd. Now she knew what it felt like to be one of the outsiders.
She was just beginning to consider dumping her tray and skipping lunch altogether when she felt a light tap on her shoulder. Tifa turned and found herself staring into a pair of sapphire eyes.
"Cloud."
Tifa greeted him with a mixture of gratitude, hesitance and defensiveness. Like the rest of the school, Cloud probably knew that she and Zack had broken up. And like the rest of the school, he probably hated her. He was Zack's cousin, after all.
"Hey." The boy in front of her rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. Tifa felt a sharp stab of pain as the small, awkward move reminded her of Zack when he was uncomfortable. "I, uh, was wondering if you... um..."
His face was red beneath his chocobo spikes and Tifa couldn't help but smile a little. He looked so awkward, it was kind of cute. "Yes?"
She watched Cloud take a deep breath. "Um, I was wondering if you wanted to sit with us for lunch today?"
For a moment, she blinked and stared at him. "Lunch? With you?"
Cloud nodded and motioned over to a table near the back of the cafeteria where four kids were gathered.
It was one of the strangest assortment of people Tifa had ever seen. There was Aerith, who was scribbling furiously on a large piece of cardboard, her emerald eyes focused and intense. Beside her was a dark-haired boy with the beginnings of a moustache, holding --of all things-- a stuffed cat with a cape and a crown. On the other side of the table sat a boy with long, black hair covering half his face, who was wearing a red, short-sleeved turtleneck over a long-sleeved black shirt and matching trousers. A petite, raven-haired girl with skinny legs and an impish grin crouched behind his chair.
Tifa had seen them around the campus every now and then, but she didn't actually know them. She knew Aerith because they'd been in the same History class in middle school. The others she only knew by sight. She turned back to Cloud, slightly disbelieving.
"You want me to have lunch with you?"
Cloud reddened a little. "Well, if you want to... If you don't, that's fine."
"No, I want to," Tifa hastened to explain. "It's just that..." It was just that she couldn't believe there was actually a person in the whole campus who didn't hate her. And Zack's cousin, no less. "Are you sure it's okay? I mean, I don't really know any of your friends well. Won't they be a little... uncomfortable?"
Cloud smiled and shrugged. "Nah, I'm sure they won't. They're cool like that... I can introduce you, if you like."
"Sure, I guess."
"Cool. Here, let me take that..." Cloud offered his hand out to take her tray. A little surprised at the offer, Tifa shook her head with a small smile.
"It's fine, you don't have to. It's not at all heavy." But Cloud insisted on carrying her tray for her. Which Tifa thought was quite gentlemanly of him. In the end, she relented and he led the way to his friends' table.
Tifa followed him silently. She was aware of other people staring at them and she kept her gaze forward. Fortunately, Cloud was there and slightly in front of her, half-shielding her from the other students' view. She didn't know if he was doing it on purpose or not, but she was grateful and said nothing about it.
When they reached the table, everyone looked up, except for Aerith, who was still busy scribbling something with a bright pink marker. Cloud set Tifa's tray on the table and pulled out a chair for her. She took a seat and smiled shyly at the others.
"Hey guys, this is Tifa. Tifa, these are my friends," Cloud pointed them out one at a time. "You already know Aerith," --the brunette raised the hand that wasn't scribbling and gave her a small wave-- "Don't take it personally, she's always like that. That's Reeve," --the boy with the stuffed cat saluted her-- "That's Vincent," --the boy in red and black nodded a little, one crimson eye surveying Tifa through a curtain of black hair-- "and that's Yuffie," --he pointed to the girl crouching behind Vincent's chair.
"That's the Great Ninja Yuffie to you! And you can't see me! I'm using my ninja techniques to be invisible to the human eye!" the tiny girl snapped, giving Cloud a glare, then she turned to Tifa. "You can't see me, right?"
Tifa blinked, unsure of how to answer. Yuffie looked at her hopefully, and from the corner of her eye, Tifa saw Cloud roll his eyes."Um... No! You're totally invisible."
Yuffie gave a small squeal and threw her arms around her, locking a surprised Tifa in a chokehold. "YAAAY!!! You're my new best friend!"
Before Tifa had a chance to react in any way, the giggling girl had released her and was sticking her tongue out at Reeve and Vincent. "See? I AM a ninja! I can make myself invisible with my secret ninja technique! Tifa said so!"
Cloud cleared his throat, interrupting any remark either boy might have made, and looked pointedly at Yuffie. "Yuffie, I think you have something that belongs to Tifa."
Immediately, the 'ninja' shook her head. "No, I don't."
Cloud raised an eyebrow and pointed a finger at Yuffie's pocket. When he spoke, his voice was that of a stern older brother. "Yuffie, give it back to her."
Tifa, thoroughly confused by this exchange, glanced down, intending to look at Yuffie's pocket. As she did so, she caught sight of her bare wrist.
"My charm bracelet! It's missing!"
"Precisely." Cloud narrowed his eyes at Yuffie. Caught, Yuffie heaved an enormous sigh and fished Tifa's silver charm bracelet out of her pocket.
"Sorry," She held it out to Tifa with both hands, making a cute apologetic face. Her coffee-black eyes were wide and swimming with tears. Her lower lip was pushed out and trembling adorably. "I just like sparkly stuff. Please don't be angry at me?"
Tifa couldn't help it. She was always a sucker for puppy eyes (a fact her little brother exploited often) and Yuffie possessed an impressive set of those. "It's okay. I'm not angry. I don't think I'll be needing that anytime soon, anyway."
Not with her so-called best friends ignoring her.
"Don't worry about it, Tifa," Aerith called from behind her cardboard. "It means she likes you. Yuffie steals from everyone she likes."
Tifa dropped the charm bracelet into her bag and everyone else began digging into their food. Cloud peered at the cardboard Aerith was writing on. "What are you working on, anyway?"
Aerith was still lettering feverishly onto the cardboard. "I decided to up my number of protest days. My Thursday protests just don't seem to be enough to alert the people about the seriousness of the situation. So from now on, protest days are Monday in the cafeteria and Thursday in the quad. Hmmm... do you think I should write a letter to the principal telling him to make the cafeteria stop serving those salads? Or maybe I could chain myself to the school doors and hold my signs up?"
Tifa glanced at Yuffie, Reeve and Vincent. Reeve nodded. "Yeah, she's always like that."
"There! I'm finished!" Aerith announced triumphantly, brandishing her pink marker like a conductor waving a baton. "What do you guys think?"
She held up her cardboard which now bore the words STOP PLANT MURDER!!! in big, bright pink letters. "There you go. Short and sweet. Hmmm, I think the color is eye-catching, don't you? Plus, it's my favorite color and I thought I ought to use my favorite color when I--"
The brunette stopped in mid-sentence and her mouth fell open as she stared at the tray in front of Tifa. Then she gave a loud gasp and one hand went up to her chest. Everyone at the table looked at her in concern. The cardboard dropped dramatically to the floor.
"Tifa, how could you?!" The girl's voice was high-pitched and shaking.
"What?" Tifa asked in alarm. "What did I do?"
A trembling finger pointed at Tifa's tray. Tifa and everyone else looked down at it as well.
The only thing there was the salad plate Tifa had ordered. She couldn't see what was wrong, but the others recoiled in apparent horror. Yuffie winced.
"Uh-oh. Veggie salad."
Aerith herself drew in a breath and covered her green eyes. "I'm sorry, Tifa, but I cannot sit idly by and watch while you commit murder--"
Tifa blinked. "What?!"
Aerith opened her mouth to speak, but Yuffie, Reeve and Cloud exchanged looks and at some invisible signal, the three immediately sprang into action.
Yuffie clapped one hand over Aerith's mouth and the other over her eyes, Cloud reached out and snatched Tifa's plate off the tray with a muttered apology and passed it to Reeve, who untied the red cape from his stuffed cat's neck and spread it neatly over the plate, tucking it around the edges so that none of the contents showed.
From his side of the table, Vincent spoke for the first time since Tifa joined them. "Seven and a half seconds."
"Yeah!!!" Yuffie crowed as she released Aerith, who was taking deep breaths to calm herself. "We're getting faster! Or at least Cloud and I are. Reeve took forever untying Cait's cape."
"Yeah, well, you try working on a stubborn knot when you're under time pressure!" Reeve retorted as he pushed Tifa's now-covered plate away.
Yuffie rolled her eyes. "How can you solve complicated math problems, explain the theory of relativity, know the meaning of almost every word in the dictionary, and yet not know how to untie a knot you made yourself?"
Reeve said something Tifa couldn't hear and he and Yuffie engaged in a battle of retorts. Vincent ignored them completely. Aerith seemed calmer now that Tifa's plate was covered.
Tifa turned to Cloud and asked in a whisper, "What was that about?"
Cloud rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. His face was slightly red. "Yeah, sorry about that. Aerith always freaks out whenever she sees vegetable salads. She's against vegetarianism, see, and she hates 'plant murder'. We do this whenever we're eating somewhere and someone's having a vegetable salad, so Aerith won't see it. It's become kind of a tradition with us and we always try to beat our own record. Last time took eight seconds... Yeah, it's weird, I know."
Tifa stared at him disbelievingly for a full minute. Then she giggled, covering her mouth with her hand to muffle the sound. "I think it's kind of funny. Weird, yes, but funny. And kind of sweet in a way."
Cloud smiled at her and the blue of his eyes lightened.
He had a very nice smile, but once again, Tifa was struck by how much he looked like Zack when he smiled like that. It squeezed at her heart and reminded her momentarily of the very reason she was here. It hurt and she had to look away. Which was good, because Yuffie was now tugging at her arm.
"Here ya go!" The girl pushed a container toward Tifa. Inside, there were what looked like little orange rolls made out of rice. "It's maki! And there's wasabi, too! My dad makes reeeeally spicy wasabi! Consider it a peace offering for stealing your bracelet."
"Yeah, and here, I've got an extra sandwich," Reeve offered. "It's tuna."
"Oh, yeah!" Aerith gave a small start and began rooting around her bag. A second later, she fished out a cup of strawberry-flavored yogurt. "Here you go, Tifa. Sorry about freaking out on you like that."
Vincent nudged his tray silently toward Tifa. "Fries."
"Here," Cloud held out a package of cookies toward her. "They're chocolate chip. My mom made them herself."
"She makes the best cookies in the world!!!" Yuffie piped up.
Tifa stared at the food they were all offering to share with her. For some reason unknown to herself, she turned pink and shook her head. "No, I'm fine, really. I couldn't--"
Cloud smirked. "Don't worry about it. We don't let anyone go hungry around here, especially after Aerith's episodes. And since we took your food, this is the least we can do."
They all dug in to their food, half of which they had each shared with Tifa, who hesitantly followed suit. They all spent the remainder of lunch period eating in a strangely companionable silence, broken only occassionally by a teasing comment or two about each other's eating habits (Reeve was unusually picky, while Yuffie just ate whatever was on her plate and tried to "ninja" stuff from the others).
Tifa tried a little of each from the stuff the others gave her, not wanting to offend the giver. The wasabi Yuffie's dad had made really was reeeeally spicy, but it went well with the maki. And Cloud's mother really did make the best cookies in the world. Even better than the ones she made. She wondered if there was a secret recipe to it.
It was unlike any other lunchtime Tifa had ever spent in the school.
In less than an hour, she had been robbed, called a murderer, and group-fed. It was strange, but she kind of liked it.
It was as if she had somehow stepped into a different, slightly more bizarre world than the one she had been moving around in this morning.
Whenever she'd had lunch with Elena and Jessie and the other girls for the past couple of years, they'd always ordered vegetable salad (a fact Aerith would probably have a nervous breakdown over). Everyone was always on a diet, and even though Tifa didn't really need it since her training kept her fit, she'd gone along with it. It would feel a little odd not to be doing something all of your friends were doing.
Dieting wasn't the only thing they did at lunch, though. Lunch with the girls was usually the time to swap gossip and criticize other people's outfits. Tifa doubted Elena would be caught dead wearing Aerith's mud-specked pink jacket or Yuffie's ninja headband. Or that any of the other girls would be spending their lunchtimes breaking records or nicking stuff from each other's plates (which would break a cardinal rule of the dieting thing) or writing protest signs.
"Hey, Tifa," Reeve said as they got up from the table. "You haven't been formally introduced to Cait Sith, have you?"
Aerith rolled her eyes. "Oh no, here he goes."
Reeve ignored her and held up the stuffed cat dangling on his left arm. "This is Cait Sith. He's a science project of mine that was quite successful--"
"Successful? That cat is a crock!" Aerith huffed as she stuffed her STOP PLANT MURDER!!! sign under her arm. Yuffie snickered behind her palm. Tifa couldn't tell, but she thought Vincent might have rolled his eyes.
"He's a fortune-telling robot," Reeve explained to Tifa as though Aerith had not spoken. "I entered him in last year's inter-school science competition, and he won."
"By 'entered', he means he had Yuffie steal it from me and performed stuffed-cat-surgery on it." Aerith muttered to Tifa.
"Would you like to test him?" Reeve asked, holding the cat up for Tifa's inspection.
It was quite cute, with squinty little eyes, long ears, a gold crown, and little red boots. Its red cape was now stowed neatly in Reeve's bag. It seemed ridiculous that this thing could tell her future, and she never believed in those things anyway, but what the heck? Tifa was just about to say yes, when Aerith interrupted.
"Ew, Reeve, she just ate!"
Tifa started to ask what Aerith meant when Cloud tapped her on the shoulder. "Um, I don't want to pressure you guys or anything or interrupt Reeve's demo, but we're all about to be five minutes late for our respective classes. We gotta get going."
With a small start of surprise, Tifa realized he was right. She had English Literature next, and Professor Verdot did not like people being late for his class. At Cloud's words of warning, everybody jumped to their feet and quickly filed through the exit. Before they parted for their classes, Tifa touched Cloud's shoulder tentatively.
"Hey. Thanks for letting me sit with you guys at lunch today."
"No problem," Cloud shrugged. He smiled, his blue eyes earnest and sincere. "You can sit with us anytime you like."
Tifa smiled back at him. "Thanks, Cloud."
They bid their goodbyes and Tifa went down the hallway to her class.
People were still staring at her as she walked down the corridor, but she found that it was easier to bear now than it had been before. Her encounter with Cloud's friends had transported her momentarily to a weird, but interesting world where no one hated or disliked her just because they'd heard that she had broken up with the school hero.
She still wasn't sure if she had already returned to reality completely.
One thing was for sure though, Cloud and his friends were unlike everybody else in the school.
And maybe, just maybe, that could turn out to be a good thing.
A/N: Ah, high school. I was pretty much one of the losers then (weirdo, and darn proud of it!). I just couldn't resist making our favorite gang part of the loser crowd! Woot! Hooray for the nerds and weirdos and geeks! They're cool enough for it, anyway. BWAHAHA! (Yeah, this is the toxicity of school catching up with me)
So, please leave a review. I really and truly love them! I could just gobble them up!
Thanks! See ya next chapter! (If I survive, that is)
