12: One Week Left!

I told Zell about what had happened while I was in the library. His black eye looked a little better. He smiled as I related the memories I experienced. When I mentioned Irvine, he got a little sad. He assured me that he didn't mind if I went with Irvine. He was a very bad liar. I went to Irvine next and related the same story. I finished, glancing at him to see his reaction. He just kept smiling at me. I wondered if he had even heard me. He suddenly snapped out of his daze and gave me a hug.

"Selphie, you an' I are gonna put everyone else to shame at the Festival!" he cried. I giggled and slapped him on the arm playfully. The posse also got to hear the story. Fujin and Raijin were interested in hearing my memories and all three of them confessed they weren't surprised that Irvine was on my mind. I gotta be less predictable.

I got to my "cell" and related the story to Nida. I hardly got finished with it when swarms of SeeDs formed lines at our tables. I was a bit confused but when they put down money I understood what was going on. Nida stared at the SeeDs at his table, as if trying to figure out if they were really there. Students that weren't SeeDs yet were also buying tickets. We were both so surprised that we moved in a trancelike state. I sold the last of my roll in about five minutes and Nida got rid of his about a minute later. Those that didn't get tickets left in search of other people on the committee. All of this happened in the span of ten minutes. Nida and I sat there, still dazed over what had happened.

"I have no more tickets," said Nida, as if he couldn't believe it. He stared at his empty hands.

"Neither do I." I knew that they would all wait until the last minute to buy their tickets. Bums. "I guess we'd better put these tables away." We folded our tables up; Nida picked his up easily, me having a little more trouble. We returned them to where we had borrowed them from. We came back to the center of the Garden and glanced around the deserted area. I still couldn't believe what had just happened.

"So, what shall we do now?" asked Nida.

"I donno," I shrugged. Zell suddenly skidded by, nearly crashing into a wall.

"Did I miss it?" he asked breathlessly.

"Miss what?" I frowned.

"The tickets! Are there any more left?" Nida and I both held out our empty hands.

"Sorry, Zell. We sold all of ours," apologized Nida. "Perhaps another committee member will have some."

"Okay, thanks!" I grabbed the back of his jacket before he could take off. He squirmed restlessly, trying to shake me off. Despite his strength, I was able to keep my hold on him. "Aack! Selphie, you're chocking me!"

"I just want to make sure once and for all that you're not mad at me for going with Irvine."

"I told you I wasn't! You can go with whoever the hell you wanna. I still got a dance with you; don't forget! Now, please let me go!" I obeyed, giggling playfully. "See you in class, Selphie!" He ran off.

"Zell is a very strange person," observed Nida.

"You just now noticed?" I asked. He rolled his eyes. I slapped his arm a little too hard. "I was just kidding, Nida!"

_____

It had been so long since I had been with Quistis and Rinoa. I mean for long increments of time, of course. The last time I saw either of them, I was asking for their advice concerning Irvine. I wanted to have a girl's night out, with no guys to distract us. I went to Rinoa's room first, since she usually had a date with Squall or something to tie her up. I listened closely before I knocked on her door. I didn't hear anything out of the ordinary, so I rapped my knuckles on the door.

"Come in!" Rinoa invited. I did exactly that. "Oh, Selphie. What a nice surprise!" She gave me a friendly hug. "What brings you here?"

"I want to go out and do something," I answered. "A girl's night out." Rinoa's bright face suddenly dulled.

"I can't today. Squall and I planned to…" I held up my hand before she could finish.

"No need to tell me your plans. I figured you'd be busy with Squall. Thanks anyway." I next went to find Quistis. Normally her nights were free, unless she was taking a student on a field exam or something. I knocked on her door and entered when I was invited to. Quistis was sitting at her desk grading papers. She didn't even look up. She didn't need to; she knew it was me.

"Sorry, Selphie, but I'm very busy. Whatever it is, please make it quick." I tried to think of something to say.

"You're still going with Nida to the Festival, right?"

"Of course I am."

"Good. Just checking." I exited her room, gently closing the door behind me. I guess we'll have to have our girl's night out later, I thought. The main reason I wanted to have a night with my girlfriends was so they could get to know Fujin better. Thinking of Fujin made me wonder what she was up to. She had no responsibilities, no boyfriends, nothing to keep her from going wherever she wanted to. At least she and I could hang out together.

I looked all over the Garden for her. She wasn't in the training room or the cafeteria, I couldn't find her in the Quad, the garage had only a few parking attendants occupying it, and I had no idea where her room was. The ballroom was still marked off with crepe paper; she had no reason to go in there. I next tried the library. There she was, sitting at a table with Jacob. I was a little surprised to find her there. Not that I thought she didn't like libraries. I just figured she never went in one because of her normal speaking voice. They both looked up when they heard me walk up and pointed to an empty chair.

"Hello, Selphina," greeted Jacob in a whisper.

"Hello, Jacob," I returned. Fujin glanced at both of us in confusion.

"SELPHINA? EXPLAIN," she insisted. Her voice was a little louder than what was tolerated in the library. Nonetheless, no one scolded her.

"When Jacob and I first met, we of course introduced ourselves. My full name is Selphina, and his full name is Jacob. We thought it funny that we both have nicknames, so we call each other by our full names as an inside joke," I explained. He's the first person to call me by my full name since I first came to Matron's orphanage, I realized. It didn't bother me anymore.

"SELPHIE BETTER NAME," Fujin noted. She smiled at Jacob. "JAKE BETTER NAME." His cheeks turned bright red. I tilted my head to one side.

"What're you doing here, Fujin?"

"LEARNING," she answered.

"Learning what?"

"READ." That certainly caught my attention.

"I never knew you were illiterate!" Fujin tapped her black patch with her finger.

"ONE EYE," she explained. "NEVER TRIED." She smiled and patted Jacob's arm. "GOOD TEACHER. LEARN A LOT." This only made Jacob blush more.

"So how did you guys meet?" I wondered.

"It's kind of funny," Jacob chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck.

"FUNNY?" Fujin repeated, sounding offended. Jacob grinned nervously and shrugged his shoulders. "SORRY. CONTINUE."

"I saw her roaming the halls. I knew a little bit about her, but she didn't seem so bad. So I said hi." He glanced at Fujin to see if she wanted to finish the story. She shook her head and urged him to continue. "She said hi back and we started talking a little. I told her my name and we found out we were both friends with you. She said that your friends were trustworthy people, and that's when she asked me if I could teach her how to read."

"SHORT VERSION," Fujin chuckled. Jacob shrugged his shoulders.

"That's what happened."

"Well, I'm just glad that Fujin made such a good choice in a friend," I smiled. This time it was Fujin that blushed. The color added to her cheeks made her look a little less like a ghost. "I was hoping to have a girl's night out, but I guess you're fine here." Fujin smiled and winked with her good eye.

"LIKE TO LEARN. JAKE GOOD TEACHER." I pouted and crossed my arms.

"All my girlfriends are busy! Who am I supposed to hang out with?"

"IRVINE," Fujin answered. Now it was me that was blushing. "LIKES YOU."

"Oh, well, since you put it that way…" I giggled and got to my feet. "You two better behave while I'm away." Jacob chuckled and held up his right hand.

"I promise to be good." Fujin also assured me she would behave herself. I thanked them and went in search of Irvine.

_____

I found Irvine in his room playing a game of "Zell's Chess" with Zell. This version of chess was a bit different from regular chess, because Zell made up the rules, thus the name "Zell's Chess". The pawns were the only pieces that moved the traditional number of spaces. Every other piece was controlled by a pair of dice. Whoever was making the move had to roll the dice and move their piece the number of spaces the dice indicated. Some rules stayed the same, however: the castle could only move horizontally or vertically; the knight had to make an L shape; the bishop had to go diagonally, and so on.

"Bye bye, Knight!" Zell laughed as his bishop took out one of Irvine's knights. I cleared my throat loudly. The boys glanced up at me and they both broke into grins. "Hey, Selphie! You wanna play?"

"Our game ain't over yet, Zell!" Irvine reminded him. He rolled the dice. "Damn! Snake-eyes again! Zell, did you fix the dice again?" Zell grinned innocently.

"Now why would you think that?" he asked. I chuckled. The one thing that remained constant with Zell was that he could make me laugh. Okay, he isn't very funny when he's mad, but other than that, he can always make me laugh.

"What're you up to, dahlin'?" Irvine wondered.

"Nothing much. I wanted to go somewhere with my girlfriends, but they were all busy. Do either of you want to do something?"

"I'm doin' somethin' right now! I'm kickin' Irvine's ass!" Zell declared. He picked off another of Irvine's chessmen.

"I don't know why I play this with you. You always win," Irvine complained. He glanced up at me. "I'm free for tonight. Anything in particular you want to do?" My mind went blank. I tried to form words but nothing came out.

"Just walk, I guess," I managed.

"Checkmate!" Zell shouted. "I win!"

"Big surprise," Irvine groaned, rolling his eyes. He stood up and offered me his arm. "Would you like to go for a walk with me?" I smiled and slipped my hand through his elbow.

"Thank you, I would."

"Hey! What about me?" Zell demanded.

"You can go for a walk too if you want," Irvine shrugged. He laughed at his own joke and the two of us went on our way. It was getting darker outside but there were still many students roaming about. According to my watch, we had three hours before curfew. Three hours was a long time. Irvine led the way; I allowed him to take me wherever he wanted to go. We walked into the garage. The parking attendants had all left but someone forgot to lock the door. There was a door in the back of the garage that would take us outside the school. This was the door that students used if they wanted to skip class. I was sure Irvine had learned about it from Zell.

Outside dusk was beginning to settle. The back of the school was overgrown with plants and weeds alike because the caretaker rarely went back there. We had nothing to fear from monsters we might encounter; they knew better than to attack anyone from the Garden. The clouds were starting to look ominous. Several of our brightest stars were beginning to appear in the darkening sky. I remembered that, in our youth, Irvine and I would sit outside and make up names for the constellations. Zell would sometimes join us, but he could only sit still long enough to name one constellation before he was back to bouncing around, demanding that someone play with him.

"We're going to have to thank Mr. Dincht for showing you this place," I noted.

"Zell knows all the ways of gettin' outta here," Irvine agreed. "But I didn't bring you out here to talk about him." I waited anxiously for him to continue. "I'm glad that you an' I are goin' to the Festival together. After that guilt thing Zell threw on you, I was sure you'd go with him."

"I was actually going to go with Seifer." I looked to see his reaction. His face showed curiosity.

"What changed your mind?"

"Well…" I blushed. "I just decided I wanted to go with you."

"I'm glad you did." I was sure my cheeks were the same color as an apple. I cooled myself down by rubbing my cheek on his arm. Along with his pine trees scent, I could smell a very distinct rain smell.

"It's going to rain soon. Maybe we should go in."

"All right." We went back inside and closed the door behind us. The lights had dimmed and I could hear a parking attendant shuffling around. They were going to close down the garage soon. We quietly exited the garage before we were locked in. Irvine guided me to my room. It was very quiet in the Garden and we didn't run into anybody. I could hear rain pattering above us.

"Looks like we came in just in time," I noted. I gave Irvine a hug. "Thanks a lot for walking with me. I'll see you tomorrow." Irvine held onto my arm.

"Uh, Selphie?" He paused and for a moment I thought he was going to say something. I glanced at him expectantly. He shook his head. "See you tomorrow."

"Okay." I kissed him on the cheek and went in my room. Oonagh was waiting for me; she looked so excited that I knew something good had happened.

"Where've you been, Miss Petite?"

"I went walking with Irvine," I answered casually. Her eyes bugged out.

"You and Irvine went on a date?"

"No! We just went on a walk." That's not a date, is it? What if it is? Does that make me Irvine's girlfriend? Oh, wow. Irvine's girlfriend. That has a nice ring to it.

"Walter asked me on a date, too," announced Oonagh proudly. Now it was my turn to be surprised. "I'm so excited, Miss Petite, but I'm scared too. I don't know what to do or what to say or anything. What if I make a complete fool of myself?" She wrung her hands worriedly. "I've never been on a real date before. Zell and I hung out a lot when I still liked him, but we never really went on an actual date. What am I supposed to do?" This is so cool! Oonagh's going on a date with the man of her dreams! I thought. She looked a little stressed, so I put my hand on her shoulder.

"Calm down," I soothed. "You know he'll like you as long as you be yourself. When is your date?"

"Tomorrow." I made a face. That was a little too soon for my taste.

"Oh, wow. Well, you've gotta fill me in on everything."

"Okay." She paused and calmed herself down. "Do you really think he'll like me?" I laughed and patted her on the back.

"Oongah, I know he'll like you."