Seyruun High Jinx Summer Special

The Slayers: Lina   Zelgadiss  Xelloss  Gourry  Amelia  Val  Filia  Sylphiel

~*~    Seyruun Summer High Jinx Special!    ~*~

Part Twenty-three

          Friendship.  That's what was important, right?  Lina knew it as much as anybody.

          "Yo!" Val called out as the kids started for their assorted vehicles, parting for the evening.  "The night is just startin' out! Fil here wants ta see the 'Two Towers'.  Anybody else?"

          "You know we all missed it earlier cause we were running through the caves looking for you," Filia nudged him with her hip for emphasis.  "I think he should treat us all, what do you say?"

          That got a round of cheers.  Before Val had a chance to argue, everyone was piling into their cars—and his—ready to meet at the local mall theater where one showing was still scheduled. 

"Where's Xelloss?" Filia asked, curious when she noticed his irksome personality missing from the group.

          "I'll go get him!"  Amelia cried out as she hopped and tripped getting out of Val's car.  "He was talking to Sylphiel's father, I think.  See!  There he is still.  Mr. Xelloss!  Are you coming?"

          "I'm not sure what to do, Mr. Nels Lahda," Xelloss was saying.  "I would like to return to my duties, but I haven't any idea when I'll have free time, what with both the high school and the university classes jarring for my attention.  Lately I've been considering just dropping the whole mess.  I don't really need it anyway…"

          "Now young man, I don't want to hear that you've dropped out of school.  I know your…Rezo wants…expects you to finish up.  I know it may seem inconsequential to you right now, but somewhere down the line you are going to need that degree.  Not only that, you need some kind of focus to your life.  The shrine can give you that, but so can school.  Now, you enjoy this last week before high school classes begin and don't worry about your priest duties.  But don't forget them either!  I won't let you."  Nels Lahda put a warm hand oh Xelloss' shoulder.  "I like you, young man, and I know you have a wonderful future waiting for you.  I want to help you get there."

          "Thank you," Xelloss smiled sincerely.  This was almost as nice a surprise as Lina's forgiveness of the man's daughter.  "And I know it's not just because you can't find anyone else to manage those databases for you who's better than me, right?"  Xelloss winked and grinned.

          "Xelloss, now you know me better than that…" Nels Lahda smiled and shook his head.  "Looks like you're wanted by the little princess!"

          "Princess?  Oh, Miss Amelia…princess…that's a good one…" Xelloss smiled widely.

          "Well, don't tell her I started that nickname," Nels Lahda whispered.

          "Who me?  No, I keep secrets very well!  Later!"  Xelloss waved and jogged off to join Amelia in Val's car.  Gourry and Zel had already taken off to wait in line at the theater.

          "Will you be okay this time, Mr. Zelgadiss?"  Amelia asked.

          Zel had found himself wedged in-between Amelia and Sylphiel buying popcorn.  "Yes, I have my ear plugs this time."  He didn't know why he was buying popcorn exactly.  He wasn't hungry.

          "Get me somma that candy and a soda too…and I'll save ya a seat!"  Lina yelled at Zel.

          Of course.  Lina was why.  He knew she'd want 'something' so he might as well get a few supplies now so as not to have to miss part of the movie later in order to satisfy a Lina-craving.

          "Hey!  It's that alien-dude!"

          Zel froze.  Oh…not…here…

          "Hey!  This ain't the Star Wars Freak show, ya know!" some greasy kid pointed out to Zel.

          And here he was just getting to think he might wear shorts to school on Monday…

          "Who are you calling a freak, you…unjust creep!"  Amelia stood proud, forthright, and disclaimed loudly.

          "He's an elf!"  Sylphiel interjected.  "For real!  He's also a famous guitarist in a rock band, or haven't you been going to concerts this summer?!"

          With two truly beautiful girls, one on each arm, it was convincing the creeps that perhaps they had picked on the wrong guy.  They could see two pointed ears adorned with rings poking through Zel's strange lavender-toned hair, and his intense eyes glared from beneath the wiry bangs unnaturally.  Super-naturally, in fact.  The lines of scars, mostly faded and masked by the light tan, came into focus last.  Sword fighting scars.  His dude's seen battle, serious battle.  Alien or…elf.  Yep, definitely elf.

          "Oh, man…sorry…really…sorry…ah…no offense or nothin'…" one creep muttered and allowed his buddy to yank him away to the safety of darkness.

          Before Zel could say anything, the kid behind the counter asked, "What can I get for you…er…sir?"  He filled Zel's order in a flash, without batting an eye.  "Here's your change.  Cool earrings.  Can I help the next in line?"

          Yeah, where would we be in this world without friends?

          Val's entry into the theater cleared a path.  No one wanted to mess with a scary punk like him.  This was fine with him.  He had worked hard to establish a hard-edge reputation just for that reason.  It had kept him relatively unscathed in Gaav's house of hoods and now it kept the riff-raff out of his way.  He felt protective of Xelloss, which was rational considering Xelloss' history of being drawn to trouble; and so, he moved through the theater with Xelloss on one side and Filia on his other.  "Keep movin'.  Fergit the food.  It's bad shit here.  Go fer those prime seats in the middle.  Don't worry, everyone will scatter when we get there," Val muttered to Xelloss, aiming him in the right direction.

          "He's right," Filia said.  "Val claims his place and the women and children run for their lives."

          Xelloss giggled, thinking they were both full of it, but sobered when he found that magically, the few people closing in on those seats did indeed move off once Val moved in.  "Impressive, Val.  When did you say you last bathed?"

          Val growled and attempted to smack Xelloss, but the Karate master dodged his lazy thrusts with ease.

          "Now boys," Filia chided them.  "Behave or I'll have to report you to your father…Rezo, you know who I'm talking about.  Come on, here comes Gourry and the rest so…I want each of you…one on either side of me.  Why?  So you don't fight like children and disturb the other patrons, silly!"

          Val rolled his eyes and chuckled, but Xelloss wasn't used to this cheerful, playful Filia.  He was expecting the same old stuck up, self-righteous Filia he'd grown accustomed to provoking.  But then, he wasn't feeling confrontational at the moment.  More…warm and fuzzy.  Friends.  He was surrounded by other people who liked him—to varying degrees, yes, but more than tolerated him, and for an entire year now!

          "Stop grinnin' like an asshole, Xelly-boy, or yer'll ruin my effect," Val said.

          "I can't.  I'm happy," Xelloss smiled.  "I'm sitting here with my friends, guys that…like being around me.  You see, a year ago I was so loaded with antidepressants I could hardly see straight.  And I had this job…and I wanted it all to stop…"

          "Oh, Mr. Xelloss, it did!  You changed all that, don't you see?  You changed it all.  Now it's the next year and you can start all fresh and new.  This year you have a house and brothers and a great father and lots of friends and the best band in all of Seyruun!  No one is trying to use you or make you do evil things.  This year you can fight only for the just and righteous causes you choose to fight!  Only what is noble and virtuous…"

          Amelia was interrupted in her speech as she slid into the seat beside Xelloss by Val, who said, "The only cause he's goin' fer that I can tell ain't so virtuous and wears black lipstick…from the smears on his shirt the other night…heh, heh, heh…"

          "Oh!"  Amelia's voice caught in her throat and a blushed colored her cheeks.

          "Val!  That wasn't nice," Filia whacked him on the arm.  "No one wants to hear your dirty thoughts."

          "It's the truth…He ain't no choirboy…" Val persisted, only to be pounded on the head by Lina.  She and Gourry had just settled into the seats open on Val's other side.  "Ow!  What was that fer?"

          "For whatever, you name it.  You probably deserved worse," Lina said, then pushed him back in his seat so she could look down the row for her food-boy.  "Zel?  Send that popcorn thisa way!"

          "Yes, sahib…" Zel muttered.  He was sitting beside Amelia with Sylphiel's fiancée, Tarou, on his other side, followed by Sylphiel and Martina bringing up the rear.  He passed the popcorn, then the drink and candy all the while pointing out that Lina was the destination, not anyone else's mouth.  "You can take it up with Lina if you want, but I don't think she'll want to share or have your grubby little hands on her food.  Take heed."

          The movie had been out for several months so the theater was not crowded.  They could all see and were comfortable as the lights dimmed then…after ten minutes of previews, the feature presentation began…

          Zelgadiss found himself in the role of 'educator' for the young Japanese man.  He kept up a running commentary throughout the two and one half hour movie, pretty much explaining the plot devices, names, cultural oddities, and untangled language difficulties.  Zel was an expert on Tolkien and Tarou was an appreciative audience.  Oddly enough, Lina was busy doing the same task at the opposite end of the row, only she was explaining it all to Gourry, who had never read the books completely—although he had tried…he had meant to…really!

          Amelia took pride in Zel's helpful attitude.  At last he seemed to be coming out of his shell and befriending that 'poor guy' was just…well, a very special and kind gesture, she thought.  She didn't have to monitor him any more, she decided; Zel was coming along nicely.  Now, Xelloss, he seemed a little, well, not blue, exactly, but…subdued.

          "Mr. Xelloss?"

          "Hmm?"  he leaned toward her and down so that he could hear her without her having to disturb folks around them.

          "Having fun?"

          "Me?  Of course I am.  You?"

          "Yes, but Oooooh….that Gollum guy looks real doesn't he?"

          "He does.  Great computer design.  You know, change the hair color and that Frodo character looks like Zelgadiss, don't you think?"  Xelloss smiled as the breath caught in her throat.

          "Gasp, w-why yes…I thought so too but…we shouldn't tell him, should we?"

          "Oh no!  He'd get all defensive.  Besides we've gone to too much trouble convincing him of the 'elf' thing to switch roles on him now," Xelloss gave her a knowing look and winked.

          "You are such a tease, you know that, Mr. Xelloss?  Is everything going okay at home, between all three of you guys living together?"  Amelia probed carefully.  She didn't want to shut down Xelloss open communication port by questioning him too deeply.

          "Never been better.  Now, shhhh, this is my favorite part…the dead faces in the marshes…."  He said in a scary voice the sent shivers down and through Amelia.  He patted her arm gently and left his hand on hers, a comforting gesture, nothing more.  He hadn't meant to scare her much.  He forgot how much younger Amelia was; she seemed so mature most of the time.  And aside from Lina, she was the girl he found easiest to talk to; she was knowledgeable on many topics, wasn't silly or snotty, and she had a pretty good sense of humor.  He smiled inside when he thought of how difficult a time Zelgadiss had talking to her, though.  How amusing…

          Gourry was having a grand time.  He has Lina's attention fixed exclusively on him, a huge bucket of popcorn—all his since Zel had gotten one for Lina before the show started—and nothing to do.  Just listen and watch.  No expectations from anybody.  So soothing…dark and warm…full tummy…Lina's voice…

          "Gourry you…jell-o-for-brains-idiot!  Don't you fall asleep on me when I'm talkin' to you!  I'm givin' you the stuff you need ta follow the story.  Now, listen up!"  Lina punched his shoulder and took his popcorn.  "And you can share some of this, or go get me more…oh, and I could use another soda while you're up, too!"  she called after the tall blonde as he blocked the view of twelve people by standing up, and moved out of the theater.

          Oh yeah, well…it had been very good for a while there.  Just pick up a few things and…oh, Lina would like that candybar, he bet, and bought that as well.  Soon he'd have everything squared away again and things would be just fine.  Yep, just fine indeed.  If he'd thought Xelloss getting a girlfriend would have made his life so much easier, he would have gone out and gotten one for him.  Maybe he'd have to pay a little more attention to what was going on with his friends.  Yeah, but that was so confusing most of the time.  People just kept coming and going.  Ah…there was Lina and the empty seat next to her.  At least some things stayed the same.

          "Here ya go, Lina," Gourry whispered as he took his seat as quietly as possible.

          "Eh?  Oh, snacks, thanks, Gourry.  You can come in pretty handy at times, ya know?"  Lina's yes glittered in the half-darkness.  "Look at the Ents, now.  Looks real, huh?"

          Gourry snaked an arm over the back of her seat and placed a big hand carefully on her shoulder.  After a count of ten, he breathed again.

          "If you use that to sneak food," Lina warned, "then I'll bite it off."

          Gourry smiled, "Okay."  Like he was that dumb!

When the movie was over, Sylphiel sought out Zelgadiss.  Before he climbed into his car she scooted close and gave him a quick little hug.  Gratefully, she whispered, "Thanks, Zel…for talking to Takou-kun and treating him like…he's a friend.  Um…I think he was worried that it was his fault my friends were ignoring me.  I-I told him that like…you were all just giving me space to be with him some…Oh, and especially thank you for inviting him to our practice.  He's sooooo excited.  Oh, I gotta go!'  She pressed a kiss to Zel's cheek and skittered off.  "I'm coooomiiiiing!"

          Amelia smiled and covered her face in attempt to hold back an onrush of giggles.  The expression on Zel's face, along with the obligatory blush at the close contact, was priceless.  When she uncovered her face, she found him in conversation with two other friends.

          "Kagome, Inu….ah…yes, it's my new car…"

          Inu grumbled something about 'rich kids' as he practically panted to get in and drive the hot sports car.

          "I know it's a bit…much," Zel said sheepishly.  "But I did lose everything I owned, including my old car, when our house was destroyed and I needed a way to get Xelloss and myself to the university each day since the high school cut the budget for a bus to get us back by lunch time…So when I got the insurance settlement, well…"

          Inu flashed him a knowing smile of sorts, "Yeah, I woulda done the same.  Ah…I was wonderin'…"

          "Would you like to take Kagome around town in it?"  Zel stared the other boy directly in the eye to show he meant it.

          "Yeah…" Inu grinned wickedly and turned to his girlfriend.  "Hey, hear that?"  He caught the car keys Zel flung at his head in a blur of motion while continuing to talk.  "The guy's all right.  Can I have it fer an hour?"

          Zel nodded and scribbled an address into his pocket notepad and tore off a page.  Handing it to the gruff-voiced boy, he said, "This is where I live.  Slip the keys in the mail box if the house is dark when you come by.  Just be sure it still has some gas in it though, I need it in the morning."

          "That's sweet of you, Zel," Kagome said.  "But how will you and Xelloss get home.  He's looking for you…over there."

          "Don't worry about it.  Have fun," Zel waved them off and turned to look for the remnants of his friends.

          "Hey, Zelgadiss?  You're lending…him…your car?"  Xelloss asked as he trotted over.

          "Yes."  Zelgadiss shouted over his shoulder to his other friend, "Amelia? Just a second, Xelloss.  Amelia!  Can your driver give us a ride home?  Val's taken off."  Zel, acting far more animated than he had in years, was surprising his friends.  He never asked others for favors, but now he felt he could.  Friends could do that.

          "Oh, Mr. Zelgadiss, of course.  And tell Mr. Xelloss he can come too!"  Amelia cried out.  She was thrilled to do her Zelgadiss a favor of any sort.  She placed a call for a van pickup without hesitation.

          In answer to their unasked questions, Zel began.  "The worst case is…he bangs it up.  I get it fixed then.  In the mean time, someone gets to have a good time and maybe…maybe…he doesn't slaughter me in fencing this year."

          That made them all laugh.

          "I'd invite you both in, but it's late and Daddy expects me up early tomorrow."

          "Thank, but we weren't looking for an invitation.  It is late.  Good night.  And thanks for the lift!"  Zel said as he and Xelloss got out to the van and headed up the walk to their house.

          Special attractors.  (In reality, this is real physics based on the book Chaos by James Gleick)

          "I diverge to an area of Chaos theory I always found most fascinating as a physicist.  I often thought about turbulence.  A smooth-flowing fluid does not act as though every piece of it is capable of infinite independent motion.  Instead, bits that start near one another tend to remain nearby, like husky wolf-dogs harnessed to a sled.  You see, flow is more orderly and more readily explained, but turbulence such as oil in a pipeline, creates stupefying drag.  What about the vortices and eddies in blood vessels, or those evolving in explosions, smoke, flames, shock waves?  How does a smooth flow suddenly turn turbulent, I ask?

          "Turbulence is just a mess of disorder at all scales, small eddies within large ones.  It is unstable and dissipative, meaning that turbulence drains energy.  Motion turned random eventually dies away.

          "Think of the channel below a rock in a stream.  It becomes a whirling vortex that grows, splits off and spins away downstream.  Alternatively, take a plume of cigarette smoke.  It rises smoothly for sometime, and then splinters into wild eddies.  Add a little energy and chaos takes over.  A trickle of water will follow a simple path down the drain, but turn up the water and watch it roil and bubble.  Now that is chaos!

          "Enter the strange attractor.  It lives in phase space as one of the most powerful inventions of modern science.  Phase space gives a way of turning mathematical numbers into pictures, abstracting every bit of essential information into describing a system and creating a map of all its possibilities.  So there is a chaotic system with lots of energy, stuff just flying around, then…add some realism—FRICTION—to slow things down.  The friction dissipates the system's energy and in the phase space the dissipation shows itself as a pull from the higher energy to the lower energy locations.  The attractor is like a pinpoint magnet embedded in a rubber sheet.

          "The attractor displays infinite regress—like an unending sequence of Russian nesting dolls, one inside the other.  Using computer modeling, the eerie effect of the strange attractor can be appreciated when a shape emerges in time point by point, like a ghost of the mist.  New points scatter so randomly that it is incredible when a structure appears.  Given any number of points, it is improbable to guess where the next will appear--except of course, that it will be somewhere near the attractor.

          "The points wander so randomly, the pattern appears so ethereally, that it is hard to remember that the shape is the attractor.  So, you turn on the water and watch the drops splash around.  Hard to describe that chaos, except that you know that it will all eventually go down the drain—as if they are attracted to their demise.

          "Yes, revealed by computer exploration, the strange attractor has grown from a mere possibility to become something physicists see everywhere, whenever nature seemed to be behaving randomly.  Maybe the earth's weather lies on a strange attractor?  The stock market! 

"Disorder is actually channeled, seemingly into patterns with some common underlying theme.  I decided to give the themes I had been studying a name, chosen from my homeland.  I call mine, Mazouku, and the strange attractor, Xelloss."

Xelloss closed his eyes and set down the notebook of writings from his father's office, something he had managed to stow away and save from fire and mildew.  Then he knew, through a complicated series of interactions, that his father had discovered…no CREATED… the most special attractor of chaos of all time, himself.

Well that explained a lot.  Why his life was so messed up…why everything bad happened to him.  He attracted it.  He diluted and scattered chaos around himself and then sucked it up.  Cool.

Xelloss lay down, tears welling in his eyes briefly, and then fell into despair, crying himself to sleep.  Hopeless, life was hopeless, his future was hopeless and now he knew why: he was a special attractor Mazouku of the highest order.

((((.-)) Zel   |||^.^|||  Xelloss  |{{^.^}}|  Lina  ||{.^}|| Gourry  ((^.^)) Amelia

            (Ed.--If you experience a bit of déjà vu, that's all right.  The following is a take-off on the original starting chapter for the series, with necessary modifications to reflect the changes to the kids, which have occurred.)

Summer was almost over, only another week until classes at Seyruun High School would start.  Today everyone was picking up their class schedules, paying fees, and greeting friends not seen all summer.  At the center of the whirlwind of activity, stood a petite, fiery redhead named Lina Inverse, third year student at Seyruun High School.  She extruded confidence and 'can do' energy, and so, attracted followers like moths to a street-lamp.

            "Ah, ha!  Yes!" she cheered, "Got 'em all again!  Hey, Zel, how about you?"

            Zelgadiss, known to everyone as Zel, was sitting apart, slight smile at the side of his mouth.  His classes were as expected: advanced literature, computer lab…Japanese 1.  He smiled slightly at this.  Zel had not exactly signed up for the Japanese class, yet, somehow, he knew he would get it just the same.  Ever since that accident in his grandfather's lab, which had left the young boy scarred on his hands and chest and over his right eye and bleached his dark hair lavender, he had shunned other kids, except Lina, of course.  He had known Lina since kindergarten.  She did not care about his looks.  In fact, she once mentioned that he reminded her of an elf, but she had been reading a lot Tolkien at the time.  But now, he had a whole slew of friends that agreed with her, in spite of his denials—he was an elf.  Nuff said.

            "Well?  Are you listening to me?  What did you get?  Oh just gimme that!"  Lina yelled, snatching his schedule out of his grasp.  "Yeah…mostly the same stuff.  Hey, I got Japanese and ad-lit too, that's cool, Zel!"

            A gaggle of starry-eyed choirgirls chimed in, "Japanese? Ooooo we have Japanese too!"  Well, not exactly choirgirls, but Filia and Sylphiel both could sing.

"I hope we get to learn to write love poetry!" said one particularly dreamy one.  Yes, that was Sylphiel.  She swung her beautiful shiny black hair shyly out of her face and smiled at a newcomer, "Hi, Gourry.  Is everything okay?"

Gourry.  Gourry and Lina, now that was a match Zel never understood, but he had grown to accept them together knowing that someday some of Gourry's affection might spill over into Lina and put her life into a tailspin.  "Ah, hi…"  Gourry greeted Sylphiel politely, and then turned to Lina, "Ahhh, Lina!  What's this Japanese 1 class all about?!"

Before Lina could answer that, a punk dressed mostly in black decorated with studs, piercings and chains, roared with amusement.  "Japanese!  I can hardly read English!"  Ah, yes… that one.  A very tall arrogant kid with long, green hair strode up to Lina.  He draped an arm over Lina's shoulder and asked about her plans for the afternoon, "Hokuto and little Subaru's place, right?"

Lina had squirmed out from under his arm while cleverly nabbing his class schedule, "You betcher!  And yer drivin' Gourry and me!  Look, Val, we've got Japanese together too!"

Gourry watched the incident out of the corner of one eye and smiled.  Well if Val could handle Japanese, so could he.  He just did not remember signing up for that class; course the end of last year was all kinda strange and foggy now…

Filia smiled as Val strode up to her and draped his arm over her shoulder.  Two beautiful tall reeds in the sea of shrubs.  "You're taking me and Sylphiel?"  Filia asked.

"Yeah, and I guess Lina and Gourry.  Maybe everyone, who knows?"  Val smirked, but when his golden eyes settled on Filia's blue ones, his heart melted and his smile grew sincere.  "Hey, we got history together, too.  You can be my own personal tutor."

  Zel's head had sunk to the cafeteria table where they were clustering.  "Oh gods…Xelloss…you did it to them all, didn't you?  They all have Japanese." he murmured into his sleeve.  "Well, "he thought, "That means Filia would be there, she's pretty nice, and Sylphiel…Amelia, no doubt.  Hmmm…  I wonder if Kagome would be there?  Inu wanted her to go to Japan with him next summer and she needed to get better at the language.  And she is nice to talk to…"

"I'm taking Japanese too!" laughed a kid standing nearby.

"Oh, naturally, Xelloss!"  Zel chuckled, "That settles it."

Zel stood and made for the door.  Lina latched onto the sleeve of his short-sleeved t-shirt, effectively restraining him.  "And where do you think you're going?" she asked.

"I'm going to go find some others and see if they all have the same class," he said, roughly removing her hand from his clothing.  "Don't stretch it out, it's new."

"You're not getting away that easily.  We're all heading out to see Hokuto and Subaru, remember?  GOURRY!  Come here, sit on Zel and DON'T LET HIM GO!"  Lina yelled.  "I have someone I want you to meet.  Stay here, I see her over there.  I MEAN IT, STAY PUT!"

Zel sat back down obediently.  There was no denying Lina her way when she had her shackles up.

"Uhhh, Zel you know what the Japanese 1 class is, doncha?" asked Gourry.

Gourry sat next to Zel.  He looked at the paper in his hand, confusion obscuring his usually affable features.  He was dressed in his usual skater attire: baggy cargo pants with lots of pointless 'things' hanging from the pockets and a huge, brightly-colored T-shirt.  He wore his thigh-length blond hair loose with bangs partially covering his handsome face.  He was a year older, but was taking pretty basic classes, just like last year-- Zel could tell.

"It's the first year Japanese class.  Everyone's taking it, it appears," answered Zel with a faint smile.  "I'll let you guess how that happened…"

 "…And here's my best guy-type friend, Zel.  Zel, this is Utena, star of the girl's fencing team and now for the first time a member of the new COED fencing team…so, make her feel welcome and smile a little," Lina demanded.  "Ya know, I might have ta join the team too!"

Utena's eyes narrowed just a bit at the sight of the odd-looking, scarred boy.  "Lina…Zelgadiss and I have met…several times.  The last was at that dance club last year."

"Yes!  Yeah, I remember.  You started a revolution and now our teams will be blended.  Thanks," Zel smirked.  "You can have Inu as an opponent anytime!"  He was relieved that the tall girl with the long wavy pink hair and the gorgeous blue eyes thought what he had said was funny.  He knew she was as good as or better than he was with a sword and preferred not to be her enemy.  "Oh, and stay away from the student council…ah, speaking of which, here comes one now…Amelia!"

Zel allowed Lina to introduce the two girls as he felt someone else approach.  An average-height kid with silky purple hair cut in a page-boy style stood smiling to Zel's left.  "Guess we ought to get going, huh," asked Zel without turning to look at who it was.  He knew.

            "My, my, Zelgadiss, why such a hurry?"  Xelloss asked smiling goofily, but eyes fixed on the attractive Utena.  "Friend of yours?"

            "Not that it's any of your business…just a minute.  Utena?  Excuse me Amelia, but my friend…"  Zel began.

            "Brother.  I'm his older brother, Xelloss," he held out a hand, which Utena shook uncertainly.

            "Xel-loss…nice to meet you.  Maybe we'll have a class together?" she asked.

            "That's unlikely," Zel began as he examined his own again.  "Hey!"

            Zel's class list had appeared almost magically in Xelloss' hands.  "Let's see…We'll have advanced literature together.  Isn't that nice?  Computer lab…" he frowned a little, "Hope we can do a fun project together like last year's video tape, right?" he grinned at some mutual secret, and continued ticking off all Zel's classes, "Of course Japanese 1…and the science and math on campus…"

            Zel sighed, "You say 'of course', but you wouldn't know how we all got that class, would you?"

            Xelloss grinned, "That's a secret!"

            Zel sighed, "When did you have time to muck with the registration?"

            Xelloss placed a finger to his lips to silence him.  "Why not keep this all in the family, okay?" suggested Xelloss.

            Utena smiled, "You two are funny.  Xelloss, you fence too?"

            "NO!"  Zel supplied.  "Never!"

            "Well, I could be convinced to take it up," Xelloss smiled and then opened his eyes to gage Utena's reaction.  She did not even blink.  Oh, she's a tough one…he thought to himself.  "Would you be willing to teach me?  I'm a very quick learner!"

            "Ahhh, not now.  We've got to get out of here!"  Zel said abruptly.  He tugged on Xelloss' sleeve.

            "Umm…well," Utena tried to find a way to worm out of it.  Xelloss was a little too friendly, and besides, she was just a freshman, and she didn't want to be giving anyone lessons!

            "Anytime.  I'm always available," Xelloss continued, graciously.

"Not now," Zel stated clearly for even Gourry to understand and gave Xelloss a not-so-gentle push towards the exit.

            "He's such a flirt," Amelia put in.  "But he's harmless, I assure you."

            "You know Xelloss well?"  Utena asked.

            "As well as anyone can."  Lina answered.  "Ya got somethin' in common with him, though.  He lost both parents too."  

            "NICE shirt, man!"  Val admired Gourry's new t-shirt advertising some J-Pop band Lina was enamored of lately.  "You been doin' e-bay?"

            "Yeah, it's from Lina.  Their music's crap," Gourry said lowering his voice.  "But I've got girls crawlin' all over me…wantin' ta buy it."  Gourry grinned knowingly and Val gave him a 'thumbs up'.

            "Yeah, like, this one earring!  I've got this black dragon one—"

            "Whoa, with the flashy, gold eyes!  Yeah, that's so cool!"

            "Filia picked it out.  Hey, you could use a stud or two.  I could set you up…"

            "Nah, Ma would kill me," Gourry shook his head.

            "Which reminds me, I got some ideas fer that German song…the bass line, ya know?  Wanna listen to it on the way?"

            "Hey Lina, me and Val are gonna go do some music on the way, you comin'?"

"Yeah, sure, I'm done here.  Amelia?  You goin' with the Zelly boys or with us?"

"Oh, Miss Lina, thank you for introducing me to Utena.  I just know she's going to win for the freshman student body president!  I am running for sophomore year president, of course," Amelia said as she waved good-bye to a group of boys, including Chiriko and Duo.

"Freshman?"  Xelloss blinked.  "I thought she was much older.  She has such…poise and grace!"

"I was thinkin' more along the lines of nobility and swashbuckle," Lina corrected him, "But…yeah, she seems older'n she is, I guess.  But you know, Amelia, I don't think she's really into student government stuff.  She hates authority-types…"

            "But why ever would she—?"  Amelia began, and Lina tried to wave it off with something about free spirits and revolutionary ideals.

Zel stood looking vacantly out the window by the door.  The halls were emptying as most the kids were heading home for one last week of vacation, happy not to have to hang around school any longer than necessary.  He shook his head.  How things had changed.  He had once liked to spend time in the science labs or the computer center, any place but home, but now…he looked forward to time alone, of course, but he welcomed his time at home with his 'brothers' and fooling around with his friends he considered to be time well spent.

 The grandfather he'd so very much wanted to move away from, was his father and not so bad a man after all—even pleasant to visit once in a while.  And as for the plastic surgery to make him look normal again, well… he could afford it now, if that was what he wanted…"Ah, great!  Now everyone's gone," he sighed.

"I'm still here," said Xelloss.  He had been standing alongside Zel, watching him silently so as not to disturb his obviously private thoughts.  "And here comes Amelia, whom you offered a ride to, I believe."

"Oh, yes…I see…"  Zel blushed to find both friends standing at his side waiting for him to move or say something.

"Shall we go then?"

"To Hokuto and Subaru's!"

"I'm ready, Mr. Zelgadiss!"

"Yeah, sure.  My car's this way…Xelloss, I think it is your turn to stretch out in the back seat."

"That's fine with me," Xelloss said cheerfully, "We don't want to be late!"

Zel shook his head, quickly scooted around the odd purple-haired kid, and practically ran out the door.  "We're supposed to pick up a cheesecake from the deli, too!  I almost forgot!"

"I probably forgot to write that down in his little planner," Xelloss whispered to Amelia as they rushed to keep up with Zel.

"Should I tell him that Val already picked it up?"  Amelia asked, a sly smile spreading to her eyes.

Xelloss raised an eyebrow.  "Oh, my, Amelia…that's good…Why don't you wait until we get to the deli, then I'll tell him, hmmm?"

"Oh, no…I can't let you have all the fun!" she chirped and scampered to the car.

"What are you guys laughing about?  Hurry up!"  Zel said urgently.

Together, Amelia and Xelloss said cheerily, "That's a secret!"  then fell into peals of laughter.

((((.-)) Zel   |||^.^|||  Xelloss  |{{^.^}}|  Lina  ||{.^}|| Gourry  ((^.^)) Amelia

~*~ End, Seyruun Summer High Jinx Special, Part Twenty-three.  ~*~