Ok folks! Let's see if your guess is correct! Sorry if he's not the person you wanted him to be! I kind of like him so I'm using him. Enjoy! And thank you for all of your reviews! Most writers in my opinion love getting reviews and reviews motivate us to write!

Dedications in alphabetical: .CriMsonxLadY., Alice, Byron Lancaster, cagallifangurl, Dhevz, eternalasucaga, Fii aka Ficchan, hellopanda23, Jodeist, Joker Oak, Katina Uchiha, kamille murasame, KazumiSakura, Litari Hatake, Miyu Nanami, mokonamodoki93, mrs. zala, patzie24, sakurayamato1, SaKuRaYukIe, Sandyx5, The Blue Mask-cara, The Only Love For Soujiro Seta, trulyanimelover06.

Disclaimer: I do not own gundam seed.

… … …

Chapter 11

Athrun Zala was ecstatic; he was smiling like a fool for days. Cagalli Hibiki liked his present. She had said so herself. And she probably wasn't lying either. Kira had told him that Cagalli had spent most of her free time playing with Koneko and she was really fond of it. Kira thought that Koneko was good for Cagalli too. She wasn't disturbing him as much now that she had a new pet to channel all her excess energy into.

Athrun still remembered the little argument the twins had over which mechanical pet was better. Athrun thought about Kira's disappointed face when he told him that he would not be able to make Tori talk as Tori was built and programmed differently.

Looking over at Cagalli, Athrun was smiling to himself again. She was now more than a friend Athrun had decided. He was going to confess his feelings to her soon and Athrun prayed that she would not reject him straight away and instead give him a chance to make her happy.

Cagalli was in full concentration and she didn't notice the bluenette looking at her. She was in the midst of arm wrestling with a boy named Sai at one of the classrooms right before the lesson.

"Come on Sai! Don't embarrass us guys! You can't lose to a girl!" the classroom boys shouted.

"You can do it Cagalli! Show the boys what we girls are made of!" the classroom girls cheered for Cagalli.

It was barely ten seconds into the challenge and it was soon over. Cagalli had a victory smirk plastered on her face right before she ended the game and slammed Sai's hand on the table.

"Oh man! You've got to be kidding me! She won again!" a boy said depressed.

"Great job Cagalli! You sure showed those egoistic boys!" the girls said to Cagalli.

The first bell rang signalling the start of the lesson and everyone returned to their seats to prepare for the lesson. It was now Physics class with Miss Marrue Ramius. Rumour has it that she was going out with the history and life skills teacher, Mr Mu La Flaga. The teacher seemed to be running late today. The bell had rung and Miss Ramius was not here yet.

"Cagalli," Athrun hesitated.

"Yes Athrun?" Cagalli asked.

"I err... What I mean is... Umm... Err..." Athrun couldn't find the right words to say. "Zala what is wrong with you? If other people hear you they will laugh their heads off! You have to pull yourself together!" Athrun thought.

Athrun took a deep breath before he finally muttered out his words. "Can we meet alone later? I need to tell you something," Athrun mumbled. "Finally! You said it! It wasn't that bad was it now?" Athrun thought to himself as he exhaled as a form of relief.

Cagalli looked puzzled. "Umm yeah. Sure. Ok!" She replied.

Just then, Miss Ramius entered the class. "Good morning class," the teacher greeted. "Today, we have a new student." Turing to the door, Marrue gave a nod as a signal. "Please come in now and introduce yourself," Miss Ramius said.

A boy with jet black hair and ruby red eyes walked in.

"Shinn!" Cagalli suddenly said out loud.

"Oh hey Cagalli," the new student smiled.

"What are you doing here?" Cagalli asked. "You're a month early."

Flashback

The phone rang and Cagalli picked up the phone.

"Hello?" Cagalli said.

"Hey Cags! Guess what?" the other person said excitedly.

"Shinn! It's you! What's up?" Cagalli smiled.

"I'll be transferring to Archangel Academy!" Shinn said.

"REALLY! Oh my gosh! When are you coming?" Cagalli asked. She was so excited that she was jumping up and down on the sofa.

"Next month!" Shinn replied.

"Oh my gosh! I can't wait! But what made you decide to come and join us?"

"Well you keep telling me how wonderful Archangel Academy is and I'm curious!"

"That's great Shinn!" Cagalli said. "Oh I'll call you back later ok? Kira's getting angry. He's over-reacting as usual. I merely made a little mess in the kitchen and now he's yelling at me. Oh! Got to go now! Bye!"

And the line went dead.

"Cagalli, how many times do I have to tell you..." Kira was almost shouting.

"Oh guess what Kira?" Cagalli interrupted. "Shinn's coming to our school next month!"

End of flashback

"The papers were done way earlier than expected, so I decided to come earlier and surprise you," Shinn said mischievously.

"You two know each other?" Miss Ramius asked.

The whole class suddenly perked up. They were very interested in the relationship between the star student and the new one. The boys including Athrun were wondering about their chances on dating Cagalli if the new guy really was her boyfriend. The girls on the other hand were assessing Shinn and were mentally taking notes of how cute a couple they would make.

"Oh no! Is he her boyfriend?" Athrun thought. "Then what about my chances now? No, it can't be. She would have told me or I would have heard about it from Kira. Oh dear, I hope there's nothing going on between them!"

"Yes, we're good friends Miss Ramius," Cagalli said happily.

"Yup!" Shinn confirmed it as he gave a playful grin to Cagalli

"There is something SO going on between them!" the other students were saying in their heads.

"Well in that case, you two should sit together. It would make Shinn more comfortable," the teacher said. "Athrun, could you please move to the empty table behind so that Shinn could sit with Cagalli?"

"What? Why do I have to move? This is so unfair!" Athrun was screaming inside his head. "No! Cagalli can't sit with him! I want to sit with her!"

However, Athrun replied, "Sure Miss Ramius."

Athrun stood up and walked to the seat behind. He then eyed Shinn jealously. Shinn was walking to Athrun's former seat with glee and Cagalli was smiling right back at Shinn. To Athrun's dismay and everyone else's surprise, Cagalli stood up and gave Shinn a hug when he reached the seat.

"I knew it! Something IS going on!" the students were thinking.

"No Cagalli! Why? What's going on?" Athrun was having a mental breakdown. He really wanted to cry when he saw her hugging Shinn.

The hug was short and friendly, but to Athrun, it seemed like an eternity. Athrun now really disliked Shinn. The whole lesson was agonisingly long to Athrun. Every second was pure torture to him. He could not stand watching the two people sitting in front of him chatting merrily away. And Miss Ramius did not help at all. She gave the class pair work, giving Shinn and Cagalli the opportunity to talk without getting into trouble.

To make it worse, Athrun was assigned to work with Meer and her partner, Asagi, since Athrun had no partner. Meer practically ignored Asagi and only gave her attention to Athrun. Of course, Athrun just ignored her as usual and tried his best to finish the work with Asagi despite the constant flirting from Meer.

Finally, the bell rang. It was now break time.

"Hey Athrun," Cagalli said. "Do you mind meeting the others by yourself first? There is a little problem with Shinn's schedule and I'm going to take him to the office now."

Athrun wanted to say, "Of course I mind! Don't go with him! He can go himself! Come with me!" But of course, Athrun instead said, "Not at all."

"Great! See you later Athrun!" Cagalli waved goodbye to Athrun as she pulled Shinn out of the class.

Athrun frowned as he watched Cagalli and Shinn left. "She forgot about the agreement to meet me after class," Athrun thought to himself. Athrun was really disappointed, but there was nothing he could do. After packing his things, he made his way to the cafeteria alone.

"Hey Athrun! Where's Cagalli?" Lacus asked as she saw Athrun walking towards them alone. It now became a habit for Athrun and Cagalli to walk to the cafeteria together. On the few classes which Athrun and Cagalli did not have together, Athrun would walk Cagalli to her class first before he went to his own and then wait for her afterwards so that they could walk together. To people who didn't know them, they would have thought that Athrun and Cagalli were a couple. Of course, we all know that it's not true yet.

"She accompanied this new boy called Shinn to the office," Athrun replied.

"Hold on a second," Kira said. "You mean Shinn as in Shinn Asuka?"

"The one and only," Athrun thought. "Yea, that's him. You know him?" Athrun asked.

"He's here already? I could have sworn Cagalli told me he's coming next month. And yea, I know him. He's Cagalli's childhood friend. He really cares about her. He's actually one of the few people I trust Cagalli with," Kira replied matter-of-factly.

"I trust Cagalli with... trust Cagalli with... trust Cagalli with..." these words kept on ringing inside Athrun's head. Athrun really felt like breaking down. Kira had actually said that he trusted Shinn with Cagalli. If Athrun disliked Shinn before, he loathed him now. Athrun felt his heart wrenching. Kira had approved of Shinn but he did not approve of him. What are his chances of being with Cagalli now?

"Kira! Look who's with me!" Cagalli suddenly called out to her brother.

"Shinn!" Kira smiled as he dashed off to give Shinn a manly hug.

"Everyone, this is Shinn Asuka. He's my friend and we have known each other practically our whole lives!" Cagalli introduced Shinn to the gang.

Of course, everyone welcomed Shinn straight away. With the exception of Athrun that was. Everyone apart from Cagalli could tell that Athrun was shooting daggers at Shinn.

"I don't think Athrun likes me very much," Shinn whispered to Cagalli.

"Don't worry! He's always like that! He's called the ice prince after all. But he'll warm up to you soon enough," Cagalli whispered back.

The break was soon over and Cagalli walked up to Athrun. "Oh yea Athrun, you said you wanted to talk to me earlier on right?" She asked him.

"You actually remembered..." Athrun muttered.

"What? Sorry I didn't catch that," Cagalli said.

"N-nothing. It's nothing," Athrun replied.

"Huh?"

"What I meant is that it's nothing important. We don't have to meet afterwards," Athrun told Cagalli.

"Ok, if you say so," Cagalli said.

Athrun had decided that he would not confess his feelings anymore as he would only embarrass himself.

"Oh and one more thing, you're coming to our house later tonight right?" Cagalli asked Athrun.

"Yea sure. For what by the way?" Athrun asked.

"Weren't you listening earlier?" Cagalli replied rolling her eyes. "We're throwing a welcome party for Shinn."

"What? I can't believe I just agreed to go to the welcome party of that guy! What was I thinking? Wait, I wasn't thinking. Hell, I wasn't even listening! I knew I should have paid more attention to my friends! Now I have to face him later on and put up with his crappy business!" Athrun screamed inside his head.

"Great! I'll see you later in class ok? I've got to take Shinn to his class first lest he gets lost," Cagalli said as she broke Athrun's train of thoughts. She then left the cafeteria with Shinn.

"Oh how marvellous. Now she walks him to class. What's next? Go with him to the prom?" Athrun mumbled to himself. He thought no one heard him. However, he was wrong.

"Most probably unless you ask her first Zala," his platinum blonde haired friend said before walking off to his class. Apparently, Yzac had heard his mumbles.

... ... ...

It was now after school. Cagalli was down in the hallway where the lockers were neatly arranged. She had to retrieve some of her things to bring home. Cagalli opened the gray metal door of her locker. She looked inside and saw a piece of white paper in one of the compartments.

"Another fan mail or love letter," Cagalli sighed. "When will they stop?"

She reached for the paper and opened to see what it said. Would it be anything new? As Cagalli unfolded the paper, she frowned.

"Cagalli? What's wrong?" Athrun suddenly asked which made Cagalli jump. He was in the hallway too and had spotted Cagalli rooted to the spot.

"N-Nothing! Just another fan mail," Cagalli quickly replied as she crumpled the piece of paper and slid it inside her pocket. "Gosh Athrun! Don't do that! I nearly had a heart attack!"

"Do what?" Athrun asked innocently.

"Suddenly appearing out of nowhere and scaring me!" Cagalli exclaimed.

"Sorry for scaring you, but I didn't appear out of nowhere. I was right beside you for quite a while now. You were spacing out and didn't notice me." Athrun told her.

"Have you seen Kira?" Cagalli asked Athrun changing the topic.

"Have you forgotten? I thought you told him to buy some groceries right after school for the party tonight," Athrun replied.

"Right... Must be getting senile..." Cagalli said. "Have you seen Shinn then?" she asked somewhat desperately.

"Is something the matter?" Athrun was getting worried after hearing the tone of Cagalli. "Why is she in a hurry to find Kira or Shinn? Could it be something to do with the fan mail? But why can't she tell me instead?" Athrun thought as his face fell.

"There he is!" Cagalli suddenly said. "Gotta go! See you later at my house tonight ok Athrun! Bye!" With that, Cagalli dashed off. She didn't even answer Athrun's question.

Athrun just stood rooted to the spot and stared until he could not see Cagalli anymore. It really pained him as he knew that Cagalli was keeping something from him. The worst part was that Cagalli was probably going to tell Shinn.

... ... ...

"Shinn!" Cagalli called out as she ran to the entrance of the north block.

Immediately upon hearing her voice, the jet black haired boy stopped and turned around.

Shinn had known Cagalli for years and he could tell straight away that something was bothering her. "Cagalli what's wrong?" Shinn asked worried.

"It's this," she replied as she handed the crushed piece of paper to Shinn.

Shinn furrowed his brows. "Are you sure it's addressed to you? I thought you're the most popular girl in school?" Shinn said.

"Well I guess you thought wrong Shinn," Cagalli replied.

"It's alright Cagalli. Don't worry. I'm sure it's just some crazy bitch who's jealous of you," Shinn assured Cagalli. He then pulled her into a tight embrace.

Ten metres away, Athrun hid in the shadows as he watched Shinn hugging Cagall. Unable to watch any longer, Athrun walked away heart broken.

"Yea I know. But we have to tell Kira first," Cagalli told Shinn as she pulled away from him.

"Of course!" Shinn replied. "He gets angry every time we keep something from him even if it's as trivial as hiding the Swiss truffles."

"Swiss truffles are not trivial you know! I'll get angry too if he hides them from me," Cagalli said. "Anyway, he's at the grocery store now. Let's just wait for him at home."

An hour and a half later...

Cagalli and Shinn were watching television while waiting for Kira to come home. Suddenly, the front door opened.

"Cagalli! I'm home!" Kira called out as he stumbled into the living room with bags of groceries.

"Finally! Kira, I need to tell you..." Cagalli immediately stopped talking as she saw Lacus trailing behind. "That you are very late and you will hear it from me later."

"Oh don't blame Kira!" Lacus said. "It's my fault really. I couldn't decide on the serviettes. I was debating on the floral print or the bunny print."

"Phew! Thank goodness she believed it!" Cagalli thought to herself. "Oh so umm, which one did you get in the end?" Cagalli asked Lacus. Frankly, Cagalli couldn't care less on which napkin to get but right now she needed to act interested.

"I bought a plain pink colour one instead!" Lacus said happily.

"Figures..." Cagalli muttered soft enough that no one heard.

"Come on Kira and Cagalli! We have to get ready! The others are coming soon!" Lacus said as she ushered the twins into the kitchen. "Shinn, make yourself comfortable ok? We're going to fix dinner. This party is for you so just relax ok?"

Half an hour later, almost everything was ready. Cagalli did not have a chance to talk to Kira at all as Lacus was always there. Just then the door bell rang and the rest of the gang arrived.

"WHY IS EVERY FREAKING THING PINK?" Yzac yelled. The plastic cutleries, cups, plates and the serviettes were pink, even the table cloth was pink. Everything was pink.

"Good thing the food's not," Dearka joked. "But what can you expect when Lacus plans it?"

"Oh, wait till you see the cake guys! It's pink too! I bought it to match everything!" Lacus said with glee.

"Oh how nice!" Yzac said sarcastically which earned him a whack on the head from Shiho. "Ouch! What was that for woman?" he shouted.

"You were being rude!" Shiho yelled back.

... ... ...

The party was a success. The food was scrumptious. Even the pink cake was delicious. Almost everyone had enjoyed themselves. The exception was of course Athrun. The afternoon scene of Shinn hugging Cagalli kept on replaying in his head. Athrun felt really miserable every time he saw Shinn and Cagalli together. Yes, he was jealous. Truth be told, Athrun wanted to be Shinn, Athrun wanted to be the one to hug Cagalli and comfort her.

The gang had played charades. Lacus was the game master; she didn't play but facilitated the game instead. Cagalli was paired with Kira, Dearka with Mir, and Yzac with Shiho. That left Shinn and Athrun to be the last pair. Athrun wasn't really happy at first. He wanted to be paired with Cagalli but he eventually comforted himself on the fact that Cagalli and Shinn weren't paired up.

"Yes! Cagalli we won!" Kira said happily as he gave a high-five to his twin.

"I know! Can you believe it? The other teams didn't even come close!" Cagalli was jumping with joy. Kira and Cagalli won the game by a landslide.

"This is your entire fault woman!" Yzac shouted. Yzac and Shiho came in last place with a pathetic three guesses right.

"How is it my fault when you are the one who cannot act properly?" Shiho yelled back.

"My acting is perfectly fine! You're the one with the problem woman!" Yzac retorted.

"We make a pretty good team don't you think Athrun?" Shinn said. "We were only behind Dearka and Mir by one guess."

"Yea, I guess." That was all Athrun could say. Even though he managed to work well with Shinn throughout the game, he was still not too fond of Shinn.

... ... ...

"Aren't you going home too?" Athrun questioned Shinn. Mir, Shiho, Lacus, Dearka and Yzac had already left. Athrun and Shinn were the only ones left.

"Yea, in just a few minutes. I have something personal to tell Kira first," Shinn replied.

Raising an eye brow, Athrun said, "Is that so? Well then I'll make a move first. See you guys tomorrow." Athrun now felt more miserable than ever. His best friend, the girl he likes and the boy he hates are keeping a secret and Athrun was not included.

After the front door closed, Kira finally spoke, "What was that about?"

"Kira, I think you should see this first," Cagalli said as she handed the crumpled paper to Kira.

Kira looked at Shinn and Cagalli puzzled. He could feel something was going on. As Kira unfolded the paper to read its contents, he frowned, unable to believe what he just read.

To be continued...

I hope some parts are not confusing, especially some of the speeches where there are many different people talking. Is Shinn a little too OOC? But I guess he has to be this way for this story to work.

School is starting soon. Meaning I won't be able to update regularly when the work starts rolling in. But no worries for now, I should be able to add in a chapter or two after this one. I doubt they'll give us that much work on the first week of school.

To those who actually read my ramblings and stuff, thank you! And lastly, please review and have a happy new year!