Sorry about the delay- Been kind of sick and very busy…I'll try to be more speedy in the future.

            "Again, Mr. Zelgadis," Miss Aqua muttered as he came in, "You and Miss Inverse must be competing for the record."

            Zelgadis only smiled, "Not really. Lina has me beat by at least a dozen."

            "Try 18," a familiar voice sounded from behind him, "I'd have to skip nearly a month's worth of school days for you to catch up."

            He turned on his heels, "Lina…"

            "You suck, Zelgadis."

            Zelgadis opened his mouth to protest, but found no words for response, and he watched as Lina passed him, handed her detention slip to Miss Aqua, and took her usual seat. Zelgadis shook his head and handed his slip to Miss Aqua, then took a seat across from Lina. He wanted to ask why she had an attitude so suddenly, but decided against it. Lina would tell him if something pissed her off.

            "So, why are you in today?"

            "Because of the new Lit teacher," he answer came back flatly, "You would think that they would hire somebody of at least average intelligence to run a literature class."

            "Who do you have?"

            "Who do you think? Miss Naga, the teacher who should be a student."

            "Didn't she graduate from Claire University?"

            "Yeah. Some good it did her," Lina countered, "All she ever does is laugh and parade around her good looks."

            Zelgadis thought about it for a moment. Lina was right; Miss Naga, no older than 27, was very much an overgrown teenager, something he was sure was not how she got hired. However, with an almost exaggerated hourglass figure and breasts that could be used as wrecking balls she was the lurid fantasy of nearly every male student and faculty member in the school.

            "Hey Zel, doesn't she have relatives in this school?"

            Zelgadis quietly licked one of his canines, "Yeah, I think a younger sister, though I'm not sure who it is."

            "Right…How did your uncle like our practicing in his garage?"

            "Oh, he was happy about it," Zelgadis said as he flashed a smile of disbelief, "He says that it is fine for the band to come over and practice during the weekends."

            "Very good, we have a concert in three weeks."

            "Lina, can I ask you something?"

            "What?" Lina asked, leaning closer to him, then recovering a moment later as she realized what she was doing.

            "Why did you say I sucked?"

            Lina's expression widened to a smile, "Oh, I was kidding…mostly."

            "Mostly?"

            "Yeah, well, you see, I was up late last night because of you."

            A small fear crept over him as he made eye contact, "Okay, why?" His stomach was turning and tumbling. This was something completely unexpected. Since when did Lina think of him at night?

            Lina produced a folded packet of paper from her hip pocket and tossed it to Zelgadis. He caught it, eyed it and looked to her, then unfolded it. His eyes immediately recognized the notes.

            "My melody," he said, tracing his notes, "And yours too. How did you manage to meld the two of them?"

            Lina snatched the music away from him, "Because I couldn't get your melody out of my head, no matter how I tried."

            Zelgadis only chuckled, "So I was on your mind, huh?"

            A blush came to Lina's cheeks, then she scowled in anger, "What's that supposed to mean?" In a flash of movement, Lina had half-leapt from her desk and had seized Zelgadis' shirt, glaring inches from his face.

            Zelgadis nearly found himself falling out of the desk, "Whoa Lina, it meant nothing. It was only a joke." Why hadn't he thought about it before he said it? Now he had Lina's temper up, and it was only a guess what she was going to do next. And yet, confronted by this energy reminded him of the performance at Explosion Array.

            She narrowed her eyes at him, then pulled him back into his chair, "Okay." She slowly slipped back into her chair and handed the music back to him, "So, what do you think of it?"

            He looked at the score again, this time reading each measure carefully before moving on, "Our melodies compliment each other very well…"

            "But?"

            "But there is a major imbalance in the instruments. If you want this to sound good, you're going to want to boost the bass part and definitely add more keyboard to balance the powerful lead guitar part."

            Lina flinched a little, "I can see where you're coming from, but I don't want this to be a piece that blasts. Is there anything else I could do?" She scooted her desk over to look at the music; Zelgadis was right.

            "Well, you could always create your lead as a duet between a high lead and a low lead," he suggested as he looked up from the music. Lina's close proximity made him squirm. She smelled of soap and air-dried clothes, and he could still barely see traces of gold in her hair.

            "A duet? Yeah, I can see how that would work. Where did you learn…"

            Lina looked up, finding her eyes staring into his. She felt the heat rise to her cheeks, and she looked away.

            Zelgadis looked down at his desk, his own face red. Why was he acting like this? He was too big a deal of this. They were only looking at music.

            "Thank you, Auntie," a familiar voice rolled to them. They looked to it and saw Xellos approaching them, wearing a white buttoned shirt with the sleeves rolled up to the elbows over a pink dress shirt tucked into matching white pants and wearing a mismatched pair of sneakers, blue and red.

            "Xellos?"

            "In the flesh Lina."

            "But how…"

            "Easy Zelgadis. I completed my test for the period early, excused myself to go to the bathroom and my locker, and wound up coming here to check up on you two. Looks I may have missed something exciting."

            The two of them looked to one another and suddenly slid their desks apart. Zelgadis could feel his stomach tighten nervously.

            "You didn't miss anything Xellos," Zelgadis grumbled.

            "Right, we were just looking over a new song that I wrote," Lina added, "Show him, Zel."

            Zelgadis only nodded and handed the music over to Xellos' waiting hands. He quickly scanned the music, bringing it within a foot of his face.

            After several minutes, Lina finally spoke, "Well, what do you think?"

            Xellos lowered the music, a slight smile on his lips, "Well…"

            "Yes?"

            Xellos scratched the back of his head, "To be perfectly honest, I can't read music. But I do like the lyrics." His smile widened, and Lina and Zelgadis drooped their heads.

            "Sorry I asked," Lina groaned.

            "That's okay Lina," Xellos said, "It was kind of fun, watching the expressions on your face." He handed the music back to her and took a seat at the desk ahead of her, "I didn't come here to discuss music though. I came here to invite."

            "Invite," Zelgadis raised an eyebrow, "What kind of invite?"

            Xellos reached into his left hip pocket and pulled a couple of slips of bright orange paper, "Here, read this."

            Zelgadis took it quickly and read the label:

Xellos' Haunted Halloween Bazaar

When: Oct. 31, starting at 8:00 P.M.

Where: Xellos' Place, 2190 Astral Break Blvd.

What to Bring: Costume, a few friends

            "Xellos, since when have your parents ever let someone over, let alone entire groups of someones?"

            "Well, in a week my parents leave for a cruise. They will be gone for an entire month, which means that they will no idea what's going on the 31st."

            "That's in ten days Xellos, isn't it?" Lina asked. Xellos nodded.

            "Of course, anyone can come, but I'm handing out invitations to a select few, you know, just to keep down the attendance."

            "Mr. Xellos," called an almost laughing voice, "There you are. I was beginning to think I wasn't going to find you."

            The group turned to see, Xellos and Lina both flinching as they saw who it was. Buttoned-down navy-blue shirt stretched to its capacity and black skirt riding dangerously high on her hips, Ms. Naga stepped forward as she pushed her glasses up and tossed her purple hair. Martina followed her quickly, and Zelgadis groaned quietly. Why did she have to show up as well?

            "Well, it looks like you did," Xellos chuckled apprehensively, "Why were you looking for me?"

            "Because Xellos, after you finished your test and left for the bathroom, you never returned to class."

            Lina and Zelgadis looked to Xellos. They could sympathize as to why he didn't want to go back.

            "Well Ms. Naga, the reason I was not able to, uh, return to class is very simple…"

            "Yes?"

            "Well, you see, it's a little embarrassing to mention it…"

            Ms. Naga looked to Xellos carefully, leaning in closely to his face, and Xellos held his breath. A thought seemed to occur to her, and she stood straight again, a devilish grin coming to her face.

            "Oh, I understand."

            "You do, Ms. Naga?"

            Ms. Naga nodded, "Of course. You were wandering the halls when a teacher caught you. And since you don't have the natural charm or seniority I do, the teacher sent you here to detention to serve out the rest of the period. Am I wrong?"

            Zelgadis looked at Ms. Naga in stoic wonder. How could someone ever buy an excuse like that, let alone make it up?

            "Oh, right," Xellos agreed, slowly nodding as his smile returned, "Yes, of course. I was only serving detention here. Silly me, I got caught."

            Ms. Naga threw her head back and laughed, causing all in the room to cringe, except for Miss Aqua, "I knew I was right. Who could doubt the deductive talents of Naga, the world's foremost…"

            "That is quite enough, Ms. Naga," Miss Aqua cut in, "If you would, please return to your class now."

            Ms. Naga huffed indignantly and spun on her heel, "Very well Miss Aqua, I will leave these students to you." She left quickly, Martina on her heels as they exited the room.

            "Glad I got out of that one," Xellos said, then added jokingly, "No thanks to you two. I swear being friends with you two could be dangerous to my academic future."

            "Shut it Xellos," Lina cut in. She shook her head in disbelief, "I still don't know how you manage to pull off these little stunts Xellos."

            "Maybe I'm just lucky?"

            "Hardly," Zelgadis countered, "He's just good at arranging these coincidences, aren't you Xellos?"

            Xellos shrugged and smiled, "Maybe, but I'm not telling anyone." He leaned on Zelgadis' shoulder, "So, are you two interested in attending?"

            "I'm really not one for parties Xellos," Zelgadis shook his head, "It's just that…"

            "Sure we'll come," Lina interjected, "Besides, we need a break from the band stuff for now."

            "Hey, did I say you could speak for me?" Zelgadis shot her a glare.

Lina glared back, rising from her desk, "You want to start something with me?" The fire in her eyes flared, and for a quiet moment Zelgadis felt his spine turn to jelly. Was she serious about starting a fight? She couldn't be. He was going to call her bluff.

"What if I do? Do you want me to be your escort for the evening?"

No sooner had the words left his mouth than Lina threw a punch, connecting hard with his lower jaw. He tumbled out of his chair and onto the floor, his head spinning and jaw stinging with white pain.

"Lina," Xellos exclaimed, "I know he can be a jerk sometimes, but did you have to kill him?"

Zelgadis reached with his right hand and rubbed his jaw. She had actually hit him! She hadn't been bluffing. His mouth didn't hurt that much, but he felt stunned, shocked she had the nerve to punch him.

Sitting up, he gave her a confused look, "You actually hit me."

She shrugged, "So I did. What're you going to do, hit me back?"

"But why did you?"

"You were being a jerk," she grumbled, "I thought it'd be something the band could do together."

Zelgadis stretched out his lower jaw, which cracked noisily, "You forget something Lina, I'm not a band member. Damn, you hit hard!"

"Alright you two, what's going on?" Miss Aqua's voice echoed into their ears.

"Nothing important, Miss Aqua," Xellos called cheerfully, "Just a little lover's quarrel."

At his last words both Lina and Zelgadis turned deep red. She leapt from her desk and hooked Xellos around the neck with her arm.

"Shut up Xellos," Lina muttered angrily to a now choking Xellos, then to Miss Aqua, "He's right Miss Aqua, nothing important." She threw in her best fake grin and hoped that Miss Aqua would ignore the fact that Xellos was starting to change colors.

The period bell rang, and Lina released Xellos, who only grimaced as he started to breathe again, "I guess I'll see you both there then."

"If she doesn't kill us before that," Zelgadis remarked as he kept well out of Lina's reach, "Hey Xellos, didn't you have a pile of those invitations when you came in?"

            "Yeah, why," Xellos asked as he looked around for them and after seeing they were gone, "Oh. That's odd."

            "That sucks, someone took them." Lina said.

            Xellos once again shrugged, "Oh well, I guess I'll just make more copies and hand them out. I'll see you two later."

            "Later," they both said as he dashed out of the detention hall. The two of them walked out slowly, mindful of each other's distance.

            "Lina, why did you really hit me?"

            "Like I said earlier…because you suck."

            "What class do you have next?"

            "P.E., why?"

            "Isn't today the day we have that field hockey tournament between classes?"

            "You're right Zelgadis, we do," Lina said, then shrugged, "Guess I'll see you out on the field then."

            "Alright. Promise you won't kill me out there?"

            Lina shook her head, "It you don't suck too horribly. Otherwise, don't count on anything. Fair?"

            "Fair." Zelgadis said, then wandered down the hall. It was only a moment later he realized that Martina was in his P.E. class.

            The thought of what Lina had done to her before echoed in his mind as he reached the locker room, and he laughed as he pushed the door open.

            "This is going to get interesting."