Chapter Two

Meet Avis

Upon entering Rinoa's dormitory Zell had to take a step back in utter shock. He had never been in a girl's room (minus that of his adoptive mother) and the sudden burst of baby blue and an assortment of colourful ornaments, including an excessive amount of teddy bears and a couple 'Squall and Rinoa' photos, made Zell's eyes water. The designing skills of Rinoa, or lack thereof, made Zell feel like he was peeling a large onion with his teeth. The only thing that Zell found particularly comforting in the dorm room was the fact that there were two beds; Zell was glad, he was in no mood to sleep on the floor.

"Welcome to my humble abode," Rinoa said smiling sweetly. She seemed to not notice the utter deficiency of taste of her 'humble abode'. Zell thought it best not to tell her, if Rinoa could turn him into a girl when she was pleasant there was no telling what she could do if she was annoyed.

"Thanks for letting me stay with you," Zell replied, he was sure that damn purple teddy on the windowsill was giving him the evil eye.

"It's a bit a mess but I've seen the state of your room Zell Dincht and it can't be much worse." Well she was right there, Zell's room was a tip but being a guy made it not much of an issue. You're not a guy anymore Dincht… Remember?

Realising how sad and down Zell looked Rinoa placed a hand on his shoulder sympathetically and ushered him to sit down on her unmade bed. Rinoa was beginning to get use to the sight of him as a girl; the same Zell but different, especially now that black tribal tattoo was no longer planted on his face.

"Look," she began, "I know this must be hard but I'll help as much as I can and I won't tell a soul okay? I promise." Zell nodded, his head still bent slightly downwards. It wasn't that he didn't trust Rinoa but he was beginning to lose hope that he could change back.

"I guess we need to make up a story for this new female you. First let's start with a name."

They spent the next hour thinking up names and trying to create the most plausible back-story possible. It was mainly Rinoa who came up with the ideas and she seemed to be enjoying it as well. There was just something about making up a character that was just so… fun.

"Okay okay," Rinoa started, she was trying to hide the gleeful smile that was appearing on her face. It was playing with a doll; in fact she decided to name Zell after her favourite childhood doll. "So your name is Avis Delavy, you're an old friend of mine from Deling City, you came over here to visit me and try your luck at teaching a Martial Arts. Get it?"

"Yes of course I fucking get it, you've been telling me for a half hour," Zell shouted, but he soon regretted it. He didn't mean for it to sound as harsh as it did and he felt guilty when the hurt look appeared on Rinoa's face. She is trying her best. "Sorry I-um- I'm tired and it's already about two in the morning. We should talk about this again tomorrow, okay?"

Rinoa nodded in agreement and they both got ready for bed.

Zell was awakened by the high-pitched excited squeals of none other than Rinoa Heartilly. At first he was confused as why she he could hear her when her dormitory was so obviously on the other side of the building from his. It was until he reached down to say 'Hello' to his 'Mr Happy', and finding out that 'Mr Happy' had gone bye bye, did Zell remember the happenings of last night. After figuring this fact out he opened his mouth and yelled a profanity loud enough to confuse a fat pigeon outside, thus making it slam against the dorm window with a loud thud.

"I'm glad you're awake Zell," Rinoa said grinning from ear to ear, a large pile of shopping bags lay at her feet. "But I think you may have just killed a pigeon with your obscenities." At this remark Zell just stared at her.

"Do I look like I care about pigeon welfare to you?" He replied while pulling himself up to a sitting position on his new bed. He looked down at the pile of bags and then up at the flushed face of Rinoa who appeared to have just ran a marathon. "What's with the bags?"

"I took the liberty of buying you some more feminine clothing that I thought would fit the role of Avis Delavy perfectly," Rinoa responded in answer to Zell's second question, she ignored his first. "Oh and I also talked to Squall. I told him that you, Zell, had an urgent Dincht family matter to attend to and had to leave immediately. After that I told him about you, Avis, and how you would be replacing Zell and teaching his Martial Arts class instead. He soaked it all up like a sponge."

"You-but-I- What time is it?" Zell asked confused. He was amazed at how long he must have slept to allow Rinoa to do all this, either that or Rinoa was just super-efficient. He knew it was humanly possible; he had once seen Selphie organize a whole festival in a matter of minutes while Headmaster Cid was nearly weeping at the stress of it all.

"2pm. You've been asleep for over twelve hours lazy bum."

At these words Zell jumped from his bed in utter shock. He was an early bird since he could remember and have probably never awoken after 9am, no matter how late he slept the night before. Perhaps this being-a-girl thing changed his biological clock – or whatever it was called. He looked into the bag of clothes Rinoa had gotten him, grateful for her yet irritated that she didn't wake him up beforehand. He was glad to see that the underwear, although puzzling at first, did not look all that uncomfortable to wear.

Rinoa guessed what he was thinking and answered his unasked question. "I didn't think you would want me buying you any thongs or anything else too… flashy. I decided to buy you cheap but comfortable underwear instead. Oh and I kept the clothes as casual as I could." She grinned even wider, if that was possible, flashing pearly white teeth. "Be proud of my initiative Zell, be very proud."

Ten minutes later Zell was dressed in the most casual of all the casual outfits Rinoa had bought for him, although Rinoa did have to persuade him that it was a good idea to wear a bra even if he didn't want to. He was dressed in faded blue jeans and a plain white tank top that, no matter how much he hoped it wouldn't, accentuated his breasts quite a bit.

It was quite an effort for Rinoa to get her new roommate out of her dormitory and on the way to the cafeteria. Thanks to Zell's over-sleeping they were now serving lunch, which meant hotdogs in the food-related part of his mind.

"Remember you owe me ten hotdogs," he reminded the girl walking beside him.

"No I only owe you ten if I turn you into a koala, and I didn't. It's only five hotdogs for you mister- I mean missy," Rinoa taunted. She couldn't help but poke a bit of fun at Zell's mishap. He simply grunted in reply, or attempted to but his feminine voice made it sound a lot more high-pitched than he intended.

A sudden bleep from Rinoa's direction caused Zell to jump then wonder why he jumped in the first place because the bleeping was only Rinoa's pager in her breast pocket. - Why does Rinoa have a pager? - She picked it up and squinted her eyes to read the message that was scrolling along on the screen, her face slowly lit up as she read.

"Um… Sorry Zell – I mean Avis - but my Squall, he needs me and um… Good Luck." After saying this Rinoa ran off leaving Zell shouting "But you owe my hotdogs" behind her. Unfortunately she didn't turn around but just kept on running, eager to see her beloved most likely. Zell stamped his foot in irritation and was just about to walk through the door to the cafeteria when someone tapped him on the shoulder and a familiar voice spoke.

"I'll buy you hotdogs if you promise to sit with me," it was Irvine Kinneas, the regional ladies' man and one of Zell's best friends.

"I'm not in the mood Kinneas," Zell said waving his hand in Irvine's to signify him to leave, however with no avail.

"Hey you know my name," Stupid Zell, "Come to think about it you do seem familiar. How long have you been here?"

"I just came," answered Zell as quickly as possible. He never realised how annoying Irvine could be.

"What's you name gorgeous?"

"Z-Avis. Avis Delavy."

"Pretty, but not as pretty as you. Are you sure I haven't seen you before?"

"I'm sure."

"But you knew my name."

"Lucky guess," and as Zell said this he slammed the cafeteria door in Irvine's face, hearing a faint 'ouch' from Irvine as it collided with his nose. Really that guy was just too much and it made Zell shudder with repulsion. But he did look good with that cowboy hat… Shut up.

As Zell entered the brightly lit cafeteria he received three whistles from some overly-horny SeeD cadets at a nearby table. He decided to just ignore the annoying catcalls and buy his much-needed hotdog instead. This day is just getting better and better. Find an empty table, sit, and eat. That's all. No need to do anything else. Don't attract any attention and… Who was that in the corner? Seifer Almasy with Raijin and Fujin? They're laughing? About what? Seifer just looked at me. Did that bastard tell? Zell felt his legs walking for him, walking towards Seifer's table. He felt his face redden with anger and felt his fist clench. Did that fucking bastard tell?

"Hey Almasy!" Zell shouted in Seifer's direction causing Seifer to stand up and walk towards him. Both Raijin and Fujin looked confused and were about to stand and follow but Seifer appeared to give a sign telling them to sit back down again.

"What do you want?" Seifer said as he reached him, he was smiling but he kept his voice low enough so only Zell could hear.

"You told," this was more of a statement than a question; although Zell was beginning to doubt that it was true. Seifer was talking quietly.

"You don't trust me?"

"Not really."

"I'm hurt," Seifer placed a hand over his heart in a sign of fake offence.

"Yeah right Almasy." Zell said in scorn. Nevertheless he was still glad that Seifer didn't tell. He expected him to shout from the rooftops but apparently he had more… humanity than Zell had first thought.

"Hey this is the new reformed Seifer remember. I'm still a cocky bastard but I'm also a trustworthy cocky bastard." Seifer then turned to rejoin his friends at the corner table; Raijin and Fujin were looking at him expectantly, hoping for some story of this new attractive, yet rather fiery, girl.

"GIRLFRIEND?" Fujin boomed in her loud monotonous voice as soon as Seifer reached their table.

"What? No, no way," Seifer replied laughing. It had taken him a while to get use to his friend's peculiar speech but now he understood every thundering word she said.

"She looks familiar, ya know?" This time it was Raijin who spoke, another member of Seifer's posse in which Seifer Almasy was the leader of it all. Raijin was loyal but he was also, unfortunately, not the sharpest of gunblades in their threesome, or perhaps in the whole of Balamb Garden.

"Hmm? Maybe," Seifer muttered, his voice vague and far away and his eyes staring blankly at the back wall.

Rinoa skipped happily down to the cafeteria, she felt bad about leaving Zell behind but Squall wanted to see her and well… you know. She could bribe for forgiveness with hotdogs anyway. However before she could get to him she found Seifer Almasy and his two trustworthy followers walking out of the cafeteria, then she remembered.

"Seifer I need to talk to you," she turned and looked at the rest of his posse, "Alone." Seifer nodded and told his friends to go on without him, they reluctantly agreed.

"Look I don't know if Zell told you," Rinoa's voice was barely audible, Seifer had to lean right in to hear her, "but he has a new name and I think it's best you call him that from now on; it's Avis Delavy."

The trademark smirk appeared on Seifer's face yet again.

"Purty name Rinoa. Where'd you get it from?"

"Oh… my-um-doll was called that." Rinoa answered, for some reason she felt embarrassed.

"Doll?" The smirk had now gone off Seifer's face, "so there's another doll for your spoilt self to play with eh?"

Yes… "NO! Of course not. I don't think of Zell that way." Now she was definitely embarrassed, and ashamed that she actually once thought that.

"You mean Avis?" Seifer said slickly and at this he walked off leaving Rinoa gaping and wondering where in the HELL Seifer got his new brain.

AN: Good? Not good? At least it's longer right? Right? Eee, I'm sorry. There's no action. Sorry. Nothing's happening whimpers. But don't you worry something will because I had a deal with my muse and she better shakes fist. Anyway thanks for the reviews, it is because of you this crappy new chapter went up so quickly. But I promise the story will get better and I have some pretty gosh darn juicy bits in the hollow that is my mind. Seifer and Zell are becoming friends? Really?