Authors Notes: Muhahaha, I'm back yet again for another chapter. Again, I have a comment on another review I got. Someone sent me a review telling me how much they liked my "A Miracle named Akane" story. Well, it wasn't me, I don't even know who Akane is. I found out that the story is by someone named V-Star, not V-CHAN. Just wanted to clear that up. This Zell story is my first (and only) FF8 story posted (as of yet, at least), and the only story I'm working on now, period.
As always, please read and review! Thank you so much to everyone who has reviewed, your feedback is what has kept motivating me to start the next chapter! And when I'm done with this story, I hope to continue writing...so I'm open to suggestions. (I will NOT do Zelphie, though, so don't even mention it.) By the way, I'm working on this little thing where, at some point in the story, I will explain a "quirk" of all the main characters. For example, I'm going to explain Zell's tattoo (as if that hasn't been done to death), and Irvine and his cowboy motif (again, no points for creativity). I know it really has nothing to do with the story, but I thought it would be interesting, and the story is long enough to throw it in without distracting too much from the actual story line. I already know definitely what I'm doing for Irvine, Selphie, and Zell, but I'm at a loss for the other characters. So, suggestions are welcome there, too.
CHAPTER 4: The Cowboy Gets Mad
The next day, lunch was as bad as the one before. Lore was there, all right, and practically on Irvine's lap. And in front of him was a plate of spaghetti. I sat next to Selphie, who filled me in on the whole story. In a low voice, she said Lore had bought Irvine spaghetti as a peace offering. Irvine brought her another glass of iced tea, saying hopefully this time it could stay off his clothes.
"Well, how nice," I replied bitterly, watching Kinneas' hands. Him and Lore sat there joking and laughing. I wanted to kill him.
"Yeah, I thought so, too!" Selphie said happily, completely missing my sarcasm. I tried to ignore her friend Lore and Irvine the rest of lunch. It was nothing to do with Lore, I just thought Kinneas was being a real jerk, acting like this in front of Selph. I mean, he wasn't DOING anything, but still. I wished some guy would start flirting with her, and then he'd see how it is. The only reason she doesn't have a boyfriend is because everyone knows Kinneas likes her. And he's a sniper. Not to mention a very tall, intimidating looking guy. You'd have to be out of your mind to mess with him. Which gave me a brilliant idea.
I watched as Kinneas left to get himself another drink, and one for Quistis. Once he left, I stood up behind Selphie and began rubbing her shoulders. "I don't know how you can stand him some of the time," I stated.
She smiled. "Easily." Then she grabbed my collar and pulled me down closer to her. Quieting her voice, she continued in a hushed whisper, "Who I can never get is Squall and Rinoa. Complete opposites, but look at them. It's amazing." I glanced over at them and saw them sitting together in their section of the table, paying no attention to anyone but each other. Squall was smiling a little at something Rinoa said, and she giggled, leaning on his shoulder. He looked slightly self conscious, but put his arm around her anyways. I felt a stab of jealousy and looked away quickly. It might seem hard to believe, but it was the first time I had felt that. I pushed it aside, and turned my attention back to Selphie. "Yeah, I know what you mean." I looked up, and saw Irvine coming back to the table. His eyes darkened when he saw us, and he frowned a little. Perfect. Unseen by Kinneas, I moved my hand and tickled the back of her neck. She giggled, and he almost dropped the drink he was sitting in front of Quistis. Not once did he take his eyes from us. Keeping my head down to her, I whispered something stupid about how long her hair was getting. She started to answer, but I never did hear what she said. Someone grabbed my shoulder and pulled me away from Selphie. Quickly turning me around to face him, I saw it was Irvine, like I expected. Next was the part I hadn't seen coming. He raised his fist and punched me, right in the nose.
My hands flew up to my bleeding nose.
"Zell!" Lore cried.
"IRVINE!" Selphie yelled.
"Holy shit!" I exclaimed. "Christ, Irvine, what the frickin' hell was that about?!"
"Keep your hands the hell off her!" he said angrily.
"And why should I?" I yelled back.
"Cause I don't want you touching my girlfriend!" he shouted, and I think he was about to hit me again. Then he realised what he had just said, and I could see him freeze. We all just stared at him for a minute, even me with my bloody nose. Finally, Selphie squeaked, "Y-your girlfriend?"
Bingo. They could figure the rest out on their own. Meanwhile, I was a little pissed off about my nose.
"Frickin' hell," I muttered. "I'm outta here."
Lore caught up to me in the hall outside the cafeteria.
"Zell! Zell, wait!" she pleaded, grabbing my arm. I shook her off abruptly. "Zell, come on, don't. Are you okay? Is your nose broken?"
"No, it's just bleeding. I'll be fine."
"Let me help."
"I don't need any help!" I snapped.
"Zell..."
"I told you, I don't need help! I can handle a stupid bloody nose," I said, annoyed. She started to walk off, and I felt a little pang of guilt. I ignored it, continuing down the hall to my dorm. She ran back towards me. And this time, she looked pissed.
"Listen, I don't know what kind of macho kick you're on, but I just saw Irvine Kinneas pop you right in the nose. Now you're bleeding, and you and I are going straight to Dr. Kadowaki to make sure your nose isn't broken!"
"I really don't think-"
"You heard me!" She grabbed my elbow, and I allowed myself to be dragged to the infirmary.
"Dr. Kadowaki!" she called cheerfully into the infirmary. How she changed moods so quick is beyond me. We walked into the room, and found the doctor sitting at her desk. Seeing us, she stood up. "Lore, how are you? Do you feel all right?"
Lore gave her a Look and glanced to me. The doctor nodded. "I'm fine," Lore answered. "It's him, Zell..."
"Dincht," I supplied.
"Yes, that. His nose is bleeding. Could you see if he broke it or something?"
"I know it's not br-"
"Would you just be quiet for a minute?"
Dr. Kadowaki grabbed a tissue and started cleaning the blood off of my face. "Injured in training?" she inquired.
I hesitated. "Something like that."
"Lore, did you read my note to you?" the doctor asked, bringing her attention back to Lore.
"Yes, and I'm sorry you feel that way, although I understand why you do. I don't feel it's necessary yet," she replied.
The doctor looked uncertain. "Well, I won't force the issue. Yet. But if you should change your mind, let me know." Dr. Kadowaki had finished looking at my nose and gave the diagnosis, finally something I could understand. The whole note conversation had lost me. "Well, it's not broken."
"I told you."
Lore wrinkled her nose at me and stuck out her tongue. I tried not to laugh. Boy, she could be sassy.
"Be careful not to break the clot or it will start bleeding again," the doctor continued. "It's your nose, after all, so that shouldn't be too hard. Just don't walk into a wall."
"Thanks, doctor. Can do," I answered
"Thank you, Dr. Kadowaki," Lore said sweetly. We headed towards the dorms. She asked me a couple questions about exactly what I had been doing around Selphie, and I briefly explained my intentions. She nodded, and I enjoyed listening to her chatter on for a few minutes. "Well, at least maybe Irvine will get a clue now. I couldn't believe he just hit you like that! I mean, we all knew something was going on, but geez!" she threw her hands up into the air in disbelief.
And hit my nose.
I groaned, grabbing my nose. Sure enough, it was bleeding. Again. She spun around to face me. "Oh, Hyne! Zell, I'm sorry! Are you okay?"
"I think we need to go back to the infirmary. Now my nose is broken."
"Oh, it is not!" she exclaimed indignantly. "Now don't talk, you're bleeding!"
"What does bleeding have to do with talking?"
"You'll... you'll jar your nose!" "Lore, you're hysterical."
She glared at me again. "Where's your dorm?"
"Just a few doors away." I began fumbling for the key, then remembered the door didn't lock anymore. I opened the door, and she looked at me incredulously. "You don't lock your dorm?"
"It doesn't lock right." I replied.
"Oh...a maintenance thing?"
I hesitated again. "Something like that," I replied, my face flushing as I remembered losing my temper the day before and breaking the door open. Well, Lore didn't need to know about that.
She forgot about the door pretty quickly, dragging me into my room and making me sit down. Grabbing some tissues from my desk, she sat next to me and held them over my nose, putting her other arm around me in a half hug. "Oh, you poor dear, I'm sorry, I really am."
"Hey, it's okay. I'll live. Swear," I replied. She took her arm away, a little sooner than she needed to, really. My eyes suddenly fell on a picture laying on my desk.
The picture I had found in Lore's room yesterday. I swear for a moment I stopped breathing. I began praying to whatever gods were listening that, no matter what happened, She Would Not See That Picture. I realised she was looking around my room, and calmed down slightly. My heart rate went back to something close to regular. That is, until she started looking at my desk. I had never wished so much to be dead. I attempted to think of something to distract her. "Um, uh, so, um, how long till you get your cast off?" Not a bad save. Unfortunately, she still insisted on looking at my desk. "I have to go talk to Dr. Kadowaki and have her look at my arm again, make sure it's healed and all, but it should only be a couple more days." Then it happened. She looked at the picture. Right at it. I quickly changed my prayer to one that the gods would be merciful and kill me right then. She turned to look at me.
"The last time I saw her was Friday and she said maybe in a week."
Whaaaat? Oh yeah. Her cast. Dr. Kadowaki. "Oh, that's great."
She nodded. "Can't wait. Is your nose still bleeding?"
"No, I'm pretty sure it stopped." I carefully lifted the tissue from my face. "Yeah, it stopped."
"I have a class in about 10 minutes, so I better go. I'm sooo sorry I hit you!"
"Hey, I'm strong, remember?"
She grinned and stood up. "It's that macho kick again, I see. I'll talk to you later, tough guy."
"Have fun in class."
"Oh, for sure. It'll be a blast," she replied, leaving. I looked over at my desk, confused. She hadn't seen the picture? How could she have missed it? It was a foot away. Then I saw it. I had called my mom that day- I call home every Friday- and when I put the phone back on the desk, I set it so it blocked the picture. The only part she had been able to see was Selphie, which she probably didn't think anything of.
And to think, I thought Hyne was simply out to torture me.
As always, please read and review! Thank you so much to everyone who has reviewed, your feedback is what has kept motivating me to start the next chapter! And when I'm done with this story, I hope to continue writing...so I'm open to suggestions. (I will NOT do Zelphie, though, so don't even mention it.) By the way, I'm working on this little thing where, at some point in the story, I will explain a "quirk" of all the main characters. For example, I'm going to explain Zell's tattoo (as if that hasn't been done to death), and Irvine and his cowboy motif (again, no points for creativity). I know it really has nothing to do with the story, but I thought it would be interesting, and the story is long enough to throw it in without distracting too much from the actual story line. I already know definitely what I'm doing for Irvine, Selphie, and Zell, but I'm at a loss for the other characters. So, suggestions are welcome there, too.
CHAPTER 4: The Cowboy Gets Mad
The next day, lunch was as bad as the one before. Lore was there, all right, and practically on Irvine's lap. And in front of him was a plate of spaghetti. I sat next to Selphie, who filled me in on the whole story. In a low voice, she said Lore had bought Irvine spaghetti as a peace offering. Irvine brought her another glass of iced tea, saying hopefully this time it could stay off his clothes.
"Well, how nice," I replied bitterly, watching Kinneas' hands. Him and Lore sat there joking and laughing. I wanted to kill him.
"Yeah, I thought so, too!" Selphie said happily, completely missing my sarcasm. I tried to ignore her friend Lore and Irvine the rest of lunch. It was nothing to do with Lore, I just thought Kinneas was being a real jerk, acting like this in front of Selph. I mean, he wasn't DOING anything, but still. I wished some guy would start flirting with her, and then he'd see how it is. The only reason she doesn't have a boyfriend is because everyone knows Kinneas likes her. And he's a sniper. Not to mention a very tall, intimidating looking guy. You'd have to be out of your mind to mess with him. Which gave me a brilliant idea.
I watched as Kinneas left to get himself another drink, and one for Quistis. Once he left, I stood up behind Selphie and began rubbing her shoulders. "I don't know how you can stand him some of the time," I stated.
She smiled. "Easily." Then she grabbed my collar and pulled me down closer to her. Quieting her voice, she continued in a hushed whisper, "Who I can never get is Squall and Rinoa. Complete opposites, but look at them. It's amazing." I glanced over at them and saw them sitting together in their section of the table, paying no attention to anyone but each other. Squall was smiling a little at something Rinoa said, and she giggled, leaning on his shoulder. He looked slightly self conscious, but put his arm around her anyways. I felt a stab of jealousy and looked away quickly. It might seem hard to believe, but it was the first time I had felt that. I pushed it aside, and turned my attention back to Selphie. "Yeah, I know what you mean." I looked up, and saw Irvine coming back to the table. His eyes darkened when he saw us, and he frowned a little. Perfect. Unseen by Kinneas, I moved my hand and tickled the back of her neck. She giggled, and he almost dropped the drink he was sitting in front of Quistis. Not once did he take his eyes from us. Keeping my head down to her, I whispered something stupid about how long her hair was getting. She started to answer, but I never did hear what she said. Someone grabbed my shoulder and pulled me away from Selphie. Quickly turning me around to face him, I saw it was Irvine, like I expected. Next was the part I hadn't seen coming. He raised his fist and punched me, right in the nose.
My hands flew up to my bleeding nose.
"Zell!" Lore cried.
"IRVINE!" Selphie yelled.
"Holy shit!" I exclaimed. "Christ, Irvine, what the frickin' hell was that about?!"
"Keep your hands the hell off her!" he said angrily.
"And why should I?" I yelled back.
"Cause I don't want you touching my girlfriend!" he shouted, and I think he was about to hit me again. Then he realised what he had just said, and I could see him freeze. We all just stared at him for a minute, even me with my bloody nose. Finally, Selphie squeaked, "Y-your girlfriend?"
Bingo. They could figure the rest out on their own. Meanwhile, I was a little pissed off about my nose.
"Frickin' hell," I muttered. "I'm outta here."
Lore caught up to me in the hall outside the cafeteria.
"Zell! Zell, wait!" she pleaded, grabbing my arm. I shook her off abruptly. "Zell, come on, don't. Are you okay? Is your nose broken?"
"No, it's just bleeding. I'll be fine."
"Let me help."
"I don't need any help!" I snapped.
"Zell..."
"I told you, I don't need help! I can handle a stupid bloody nose," I said, annoyed. She started to walk off, and I felt a little pang of guilt. I ignored it, continuing down the hall to my dorm. She ran back towards me. And this time, she looked pissed.
"Listen, I don't know what kind of macho kick you're on, but I just saw Irvine Kinneas pop you right in the nose. Now you're bleeding, and you and I are going straight to Dr. Kadowaki to make sure your nose isn't broken!"
"I really don't think-"
"You heard me!" She grabbed my elbow, and I allowed myself to be dragged to the infirmary.
"Dr. Kadowaki!" she called cheerfully into the infirmary. How she changed moods so quick is beyond me. We walked into the room, and found the doctor sitting at her desk. Seeing us, she stood up. "Lore, how are you? Do you feel all right?"
Lore gave her a Look and glanced to me. The doctor nodded. "I'm fine," Lore answered. "It's him, Zell..."
"Dincht," I supplied.
"Yes, that. His nose is bleeding. Could you see if he broke it or something?"
"I know it's not br-"
"Would you just be quiet for a minute?"
Dr. Kadowaki grabbed a tissue and started cleaning the blood off of my face. "Injured in training?" she inquired.
I hesitated. "Something like that."
"Lore, did you read my note to you?" the doctor asked, bringing her attention back to Lore.
"Yes, and I'm sorry you feel that way, although I understand why you do. I don't feel it's necessary yet," she replied.
The doctor looked uncertain. "Well, I won't force the issue. Yet. But if you should change your mind, let me know." Dr. Kadowaki had finished looking at my nose and gave the diagnosis, finally something I could understand. The whole note conversation had lost me. "Well, it's not broken."
"I told you."
Lore wrinkled her nose at me and stuck out her tongue. I tried not to laugh. Boy, she could be sassy.
"Be careful not to break the clot or it will start bleeding again," the doctor continued. "It's your nose, after all, so that shouldn't be too hard. Just don't walk into a wall."
"Thanks, doctor. Can do," I answered
"Thank you, Dr. Kadowaki," Lore said sweetly. We headed towards the dorms. She asked me a couple questions about exactly what I had been doing around Selphie, and I briefly explained my intentions. She nodded, and I enjoyed listening to her chatter on for a few minutes. "Well, at least maybe Irvine will get a clue now. I couldn't believe he just hit you like that! I mean, we all knew something was going on, but geez!" she threw her hands up into the air in disbelief.
And hit my nose.
I groaned, grabbing my nose. Sure enough, it was bleeding. Again. She spun around to face me. "Oh, Hyne! Zell, I'm sorry! Are you okay?"
"I think we need to go back to the infirmary. Now my nose is broken."
"Oh, it is not!" she exclaimed indignantly. "Now don't talk, you're bleeding!"
"What does bleeding have to do with talking?"
"You'll... you'll jar your nose!" "Lore, you're hysterical."
She glared at me again. "Where's your dorm?"
"Just a few doors away." I began fumbling for the key, then remembered the door didn't lock anymore. I opened the door, and she looked at me incredulously. "You don't lock your dorm?"
"It doesn't lock right." I replied.
"Oh...a maintenance thing?"
I hesitated again. "Something like that," I replied, my face flushing as I remembered losing my temper the day before and breaking the door open. Well, Lore didn't need to know about that.
She forgot about the door pretty quickly, dragging me into my room and making me sit down. Grabbing some tissues from my desk, she sat next to me and held them over my nose, putting her other arm around me in a half hug. "Oh, you poor dear, I'm sorry, I really am."
"Hey, it's okay. I'll live. Swear," I replied. She took her arm away, a little sooner than she needed to, really. My eyes suddenly fell on a picture laying on my desk.
The picture I had found in Lore's room yesterday. I swear for a moment I stopped breathing. I began praying to whatever gods were listening that, no matter what happened, She Would Not See That Picture. I realised she was looking around my room, and calmed down slightly. My heart rate went back to something close to regular. That is, until she started looking at my desk. I had never wished so much to be dead. I attempted to think of something to distract her. "Um, uh, so, um, how long till you get your cast off?" Not a bad save. Unfortunately, she still insisted on looking at my desk. "I have to go talk to Dr. Kadowaki and have her look at my arm again, make sure it's healed and all, but it should only be a couple more days." Then it happened. She looked at the picture. Right at it. I quickly changed my prayer to one that the gods would be merciful and kill me right then. She turned to look at me.
"The last time I saw her was Friday and she said maybe in a week."
Whaaaat? Oh yeah. Her cast. Dr. Kadowaki. "Oh, that's great."
She nodded. "Can't wait. Is your nose still bleeding?"
"No, I'm pretty sure it stopped." I carefully lifted the tissue from my face. "Yeah, it stopped."
"I have a class in about 10 minutes, so I better go. I'm sooo sorry I hit you!"
"Hey, I'm strong, remember?"
She grinned and stood up. "It's that macho kick again, I see. I'll talk to you later, tough guy."
"Have fun in class."
"Oh, for sure. It'll be a blast," she replied, leaving. I looked over at my desk, confused. She hadn't seen the picture? How could she have missed it? It was a foot away. Then I saw it. I had called my mom that day- I call home every Friday- and when I put the phone back on the desk, I set it so it blocked the picture. The only part she had been able to see was Selphie, which she probably didn't think anything of.
And to think, I thought Hyne was simply out to torture me.