Chapter 9 – Unsettling the frenemy
AN: Frenemy is the combination of friend enemy. I heard it in a song by the New Radicals back in the day on the Now 1 or 2 CD.
Instructor Trepe glanced across the room gauging the faces of her students. Many were in deep thought trying to finish the pop quiz, while a few waited patiently for the rest to finish. However one student caught her interest. The young man was hurriedly writing, upon closer inspection she noticed the paper was at the wrong angle. Walking slowly down the isle to him she noticed that he was drawing all over his paper. Shaking her head at his antics, she circled the rest of the class to make sure no one was cheating. Once she resumed her seat behind her desk, she asked the class to pass up their tests and dismissed them.
As the last of the students filed out of the classroom, Quistis began the tedious task of grading them. She was so focused on her work that she didn't notice another person enter the large room.
Squall quietly entered the room and stood in front of the door contemplating the best way to make his presence known. A devilish smile appeared on his face, must like the grin he gave the wooed women in the apartment. Stalking behind her, he leaned in and placed a gentle kiss at the nape of her neck. For good measure her blew softly on her right ear, as he withdrew to his full height.
Upon feeling the small kiss, the young women stopped all movement. She slowly turned her head around to face her assailant, and frowned in confusion upon seeing no one there. Turning back around she jumped slightly at seeing Squall standing in front of her desk holding a red apple.
"Squall! What are you doing here?"
"Just visiting, I brought you an apple."
"Oh that's very kind of you, as you can see I'm quite busy checking papers, so I'll have to ask you to leave."
He glanced down at the small pile of unchecked papers, and gave her a skeptical look that clearly said 'yeah right'.
"You look tense."
"I'm fine thank you."
"Let me help you." He sat the apple down on one of the student desks behind him. Turning to the Instructor he placed his hands palm down on either side of the desk and inched closer.
Quistis' eyes widen by a fraction, the fishnet brocade cross shirt left little to the imagination. She had to reframe from tracing his muscles as he arms flexed to support his weight. When his tongue darted out of his mouth to lick his lips, she immediately pushed back from the desk and caused rolling chair to slide about a foot backwards.
Standing up, she tried her best to glare at the young man before her. "Squall that is inappropriate behavior."
Squall stood up and craned his head a little to the side. "I guess you'll just have to punish me."
Before Quistis could reply to the seductively spoken comment, her door opened a female student entered. "Ms. Trepe are you in here?"
Upon seeing the two, the student began to fidget nervously. "Uh that's okay, I'll come back later." The student turned to go, but surprisingly it was Squall who called out to her. "That's okay the Instructor and I were just having chatting. We'll finish this later." Grasping the apple he walked over and handed it to her before leisurely walking out of the room.
Oh Hyne! I don't know what's going in that black and red head of his. However, it could have been worse if you walked in on something else…Well just focus on your student.
"Hello Miss Stuart how can I help you?"
Following his thwarted attempt at seducing Quistis in his office, Squall decided to stir things up a bit with the rest of his friends.
"Um, yes. I was wondering if I could have that doodle back? The one with the dog in the straightjacket."
She reached into her briefcase and pulled out the paper. "Oh of course, I would appreciate it if you don't draw when I lecturing from now on okay?"
"Yes Ma'am." The young girl quickly left clutching the strange drawing in her hand.
Staring down at the red apple in her hand, she briefly wondered if it held a dual meaning. I have noticed that Squall hasbeen eating a lot of red apples lately…
Sitting down in her chair, she sat back and contemplated her relationship with Squall. I wonder if things would intensify unless if I told him I accepted is proposal. A slight tinge of blush spread across her at the implication of that thought. Maybe I should keep that to myself a bit longer. I don't want to give him any ideas.
It was a strange sight indeed to see the Commander of Balamb to be carrying a Transformers tin lunch box as he made his way through Garden to the cafeteria. Squall ignored the few stares he was given and calmly sat down at the usual table. Shortly thereafter, Zell appeared. The young man was carrying a brown paper bag. When he reached the table he set it down and began to take out the sandwich, chips, cookies and juice in the bag while greeting his lunch mate.
Squall too followed his example and secretly smiled on the inside. The moment he popped the lid, Zell's eyes landed on the lunch box.
Funny that looks like one of my old lunch pails that Mom gave me back in the day. I bet it's just a coincidence.
Opening the box, the alluring aroma of home made spaghetti wafted out of the tin container.
"Wow that sure smells like my Ma's cooking."
You have no idea…"Yeah, I stopped by there earlier today. She made me lemonade, spaghetti with meatballs and some banana split cake on the side. She gave me enough to share if you want."
Zell's jaw hit the floor and the bologna sandwich fell from his grip. It landed with a disgusting splat. ARGH! What's he doing at my house? And why is Ma making her specialties for him? He IS trying to steal my Ma. Well I won't let that happen without a fight…though that can wait till after I eat. Then I'll talk to him, but then again maybe it's not conscious. Oh I don't want to make him feel bad. I'll just have to keep an eye on him.
Squall raised an eyebrow as he watched the sandwich hit the ground. Zell didn't seem to notice. He held back a light chuckle, as he the martial artist was briefly lost in thought.
I wonder what's Quistis is up to right about now. Maybe I should try to ambush her again. I knew I should have locked the classroom door, but that would have been too suspicious. Though I don't think I wanted to know what she was going to say to the whole punish me line. Then again, I don't know what I would have done if she… While waiting for Zell to emerge from his paranoid thoughts, he started eating his apple.
I wonder if I should mention that Ma Dincht invited me for dinner tonight now or later. On second thought, I'll wait till we're finished eating. His expression would be classic. Though, I must remember to get Irvine soon. I just have to wait till the opportunity presents itself.
The familiar chime of the Garden intercom system sounded, followed by the voice of Headmaster Cid.
Would Squall Leonhart, Seifer Almsay, Zell Dincht, Quistis Trepe, Selphie Tilmilt and Irvine Kinneas please report to my office? That is all.
The respective SeeDs each made hurriedly made their way to the Headmaster's room.
Once they all arrived, he took them into a back conference room with a large table surrounded by leather chairs. Zell's fidgeting caused his chair to weave back and forth while waiting for the meeting to start.
Cid cordially ignored the behavior; he knew that the young man couldn't help it he needed to be in constant motion. However, his eyes did stray over to Squall and was quite shocked at the latest choice in fashion. Oh well, I really can't fault the boy for dressing the way he pleases, thankfully this mission doesn't require much outside interference. I'm not quite sure how someone could take him seriously looking like that.
"Okay, I would like to thank everyone for their prompt arrival. The reason I have called you here, is because I have a small mission that I think all of you have a personal claim in. Therefore, I decided to offer it to you first. You may however decline this mission if you so chose."
He looked around the room to gauge the reactions of everyone. Zell had stopped and was unconsciously leaning forward in anticipation. Selphie looked ready to burst, while Seifer, Squall, Quistis and Irvine kept more reserved expressions.
"Edea has decided to move back into the orphanage. However, she won't be opening it up to the public as before. She simply wants a place to retire that is filled with wonderful memories. Sadly the building is in disrepair and is in desperate need of immediate attention. President Laguna of Esthar has offered to supply the building materials free of charge, since Ellone found out about it. Edea and I do not wish to hire many outside contractors because that would compromise her safety, as I'm sure you know. The main objective is to simply refortify the structure, make it inhabitable once again and clear the area of monsters. Laguna has also given us some wards that should keep some of the beast at bay. Do you accept the mission?"
He received a chorus of conformational nods and voices.
"Wonderful, you'll leave tomorrow at 1100. You can take the Ragnarok. I advise you to use it as your shelter until the house is more stable and the wards are in place. Some other SeeDs have all ready started filling the ship with provisions. Dismissed."
Later that night as Squall packed his bag he briefly thought about taking his normal pants and jacket with the fur lined collar. Hm, that won't be necessary. If I take that I risk shattering the illusion that I've created. Besides, I'm glad this isn't a 'real' mission so to speak. It allows me to stay in character without jeopardizing it or my friends. Grabbing the last of his things, and leaving one outfit out for the morning. He put his Gunblade case next to the suitcase and checked his supply of ammo. Maybe I could use our time at the Orphanage to my advantage. Looks like Irvine and I are about to have some fun…With Seifer along, I'm sure things will be twice as crazy. He'll probably mix things up quite a bit. Yawning, he quickly finished his nightly routine. It'll be nice to see the orphanage again the way it was before. I wonder how Edea, no Matron will like it? I'm not sure what to call her anymore. I guess Matron is best, but I don't have time to dwell on that. I need to rest. Climbing into bed he quickly fell asleep.
AN: Once again, I'm a little late in seeing new reviews after posting a chapter. So, I'll try and clear answer the ones I think I missed. Any reviews between chapter 6 and 7 may not reach by the time I post this. Next chapter I'll answer them, or feel free to drop me an email. Three more chapters to go! Maybe I should put them all out at one time? That would take a few more days. Or one at a time? About 1 every day. I have some writing/revisions to make. Oh well, I hope you like it!
SurvivalHorror: I hope you like the next few Squall/Iori moments. However there will be some alternative chapters featuring the characters in thier perspective roles that couldn't work out in this fiction. So you can check those out for more zany moments.