I tried out the html format, so I hope it's okay. (If not, I'll upload the normal one.)
"All right, I'm off!" Laguna reached for his car keys, but was promptly halted by three burly guards.
"Mr. President!" one yelled as he and the others surrounded the vehicle.
Laguna pretended not to hear him and began to roll up his window. The guard, being accustomed to the president's antics, quickly stuck his arm through the open hole. The man sighed, annoyed that protecting this president meant escorting him to school events instead of warding off assassins......not that anyone wouldn't want to assassinate President Loire. The guard decided long ago that he did.
"Sir, I cannot allow you to leave unprotected."
"Chill, Kiros and Ward are with me," he answered with the air of a teenager.
"I must insist that my men accompany you."
Laguna bit his lip as he eyed the stiff soldiers. Kiros and Ward waved their hands, motioning him to give in. It was a toss up, though, if he would listen to them.
"C'mon, man, let's get going! You're going to be late, and that won't look good," Kiros urged Laguna from the back seat.
The president stared at the wool covering his steering wheel, occasionally rubbing the fur with his thumbs. "Okay, get in," he said just above a whisper.
The guard smiled as he removed his arm, then cursed aloud when the car sped away. His desperate pleas were silenced by the roaring engine as he raced after the pearly white vehicle. The others looked on; one in disbelief, one in sheer happiness.
"I can't belie - that wasn't - you KNEW he'd - you shouldn't take advantage of the new guy!" the shorter of the two whined.
The taller man smiled smugly and held out his hand. "20 gil. Hand it over."
-_-_-_-_-_-
After fooling the airline workers into believing he looked like President Loire because he was cloned..... Laguna and his friends boarded the plane and departed for Balamb. Unfortunately, their lateness forced them to split up on the airplane in order to find empty seats.
Laguna spotted a chair by a lone teenager and hastily ran to claim it. He bumped Kiros out of the way (causing him to fall into the aisle) and plopped down.
"Hi! Looks like we'll be sitting together on this flight," Laguna cheerfully greeted the boy on his right.
The teen gave a small nod and turned up the volume on his headset.
"Nice hair. I've always loved the color pink. And is that a tattoo of a three-toed sloth?"
The boy nodded again, then turned his attention to the window. He stared intently at the ground below as the plane took off, laughing occasionally.
"The end is near," he muttered.
Laguna confusedly turned to the punk kid. "What....do you mean?"
"They are coming."
"Who?"
"THEY."
"Who's 'they'?" he asked, his voice cracking on the words.
"Not Who. They."
"Oh, I get it." Laguna threw his head back and grinned when he thought he solved the riddle. "This is one of those 'Who's on first' things, huh."
"They will be here soon."
".........Right. Oh, miss!"
The stewardess stopped her cart for Laguna and smiled politely. "Can I help you, sir?" Without waiting for a reply, she quickly uncovered the tray of airline food and began riddling off the choices. "We've got chicken in red sauce with peas, red chicken in pea sauce, peas in red chicken sauce, and chicken in red pea sauce with a.....er......I believe it's a brownie."
"I'll take the one with the brownie, please."
"Laguna!" Kiros yelled from across the aisle. He waved his hands frantically, trying to get his attention. "Don't eat the food!" Kiros pointed to Ward who had his head resting on the tray in front of him, apparently unconscious.
"Ah, that's right. I almost forgot how nasty and cold it always is. Can I have some peanuts instead?"
The stewardess sneered and rolled her eyes, but handed Laguna a packet of nuts anyway. She then continued down the aisle, ignoring passengers and mumbling to herself.
-_-_-_-_-_-
By the time the clocks chimed one, most of the guests had arrived and were being treated to lunch in the cafeteria. Quistis' family had gotten to Garden early and were sitting at their own table with her. The rest of the SeeDs gathered at their usual spot, chatting like normal.
"Selphie, pass the salt, please," Squall asked.
She jumped nervously. "What?! W-what are you gonna do with it?"
He stared at her for a second then shrugged. "I promise I won't use it for anything illegal," he smiled. "I just want to salt my greenbeans."
"Oh.....yeah." Selphie tensely nodded her head and handed him the salt with great care. Squall mimicked her movements and salted his plate extremely cautiously, treating the shaker as if it were made of crystal. Rinoa laughed to herself and shot a grin to an embarrassed Selphie. "Well, I heard the cafeteria ladies talking about how expensive they are and-"
"They're made out of plastic!" Zell chuckled.
"Australian plastic!" she shot back.
"Er....sure."
Selphie sighed irritably and picked up her tray. She started toward the garbage can, but was cut short by the mass of students hurrying off to the hall. "Hey! What's going on?!" she yelled into the crowd, not really expecting an answer.
"The president of Esthar's here!" one screamed back.
"I heard he's really cute!" another student squealed.
Selphie whipped around, accidentally hitting two of the lower classmen with her tray. "Stay away from Lagu- uh...the president!" After attempting to ward away the crazed teenagers, she walked back to her table and sat down.
"The president's here? They....they're kidding, right?" Squall looked intently at his teammates.
"Urgh.... I thought.....it was a good idea, since you seemed to had lost your form...and-"
"So he's here?" he asked eagerly, scooting his chair closer to Selphie.
Selphie took a cautious step back from the table and turned her head away from Squall. "Mmm....Maybe...."
"I see." He paused a moment. "Excuse me."
Rinoa watched as Squall got up from the table and began toward the kitchen. "Where are you going?"
"I want to see if they have any more plastic sporks left," he grumbled.
"Death by spork wounds," Quistis mused. "That's going to hurt, Selphie."
-_-_-_-_-_-
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