WARNING: A bit more swearing in this chapter.
Chapter 17
Zanarkand High Panics
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"Come on move it move it! Get on the bus already!" Auron hollered, "Okay, I don't see everyone here! Who the hell is missing? I did say nine o'clock on the freaking dot!"
His team merely glanced around as one by one; their names were ticked off by another gym teacher whilst stepping onto the bus. With one hand placed on the side of the bus and the other lazily resting above his pelvis, Auron didn't need an answer as the sight of the disheveled blonde gradually came into better view.
"So nice of you to join us." Auron spoke sarcastically once Tidus was standing right in front of him. There was a pause, almost like he was waiting for a reply. What was Tidus meant to say? 'Uh yeah coach, I do tend to make people's days.' Or 'nice to see you too coach!' What the hell? It wasn't even a question, he didn't need to reply.
"Stop staring and get on the bus! We're late!" He finally concluded by snapping Tidus out of his 'Monday morning daze'.
Ever since the unexpected news came upon his knowledge, he couldn't stop letting it repeat in his mind, though somewhere inside of him, he was tremendously thankful that the news didn't bother him much. He found out. He was surprised. He continued thinking about it. Continued to be surprised…. And he continued to think about Yuna. Simple as that. Damn was he thankful, he honestly couldn't store any more in his head now, especially with the Blitzball tournament in four days.
"Listen up 'cause I ain't gonna repeat myself." Auron stood tall in the aisle of the bus as everyone's attention was diverted to him.
"Today will be the only chance that we get to train at the stadium. Tomorrow, we train at the gym and that is it. Two days, you get two days before the competition to give yourselves a rest. So Yevon forbid, if I see any of you punks slacking off today, I will personally see to it that you get your sorry ass beaten. Got it?"
The bus merely gave a pathetic mumble as a sign of acknowledgment before the engine was ignited and the bus was on its way to the stadium.
Numerous solemn faces stared down at their individual assignment marks, failing to hear Miss Daniel's words of encouragement.
"Look, these assignments aren't easy. Don't let the marks bother you too much; they were after all your first attempt."
Even after her little speech, many students remained uncharacteristically quiet, obviously fazed by their results. Miss Daniels couldn't' help but look at them with signs of sympathy. It had finally occurred to them the seriousness and the level of difficulty they were yet to face in the coming weeks before exams. With all the events such as camp and the anticipated Blitzball tournament, it was understandable that the school's curriculum had been carelessly brushed to the side of every individual's minds.
Worry, disappointment and stress were the three main emotions displayed on each student's faces. As much as Miss Daniels had tried to convince them not to worry too much over the results, they knew that the exams were not going to be as kind, and if they had struggled with the practice assignments, they refused to even think of how they would do for the real exam. And to add salt to a wound, memory told them that these assignments were to be collaborated and shown on the report cards.
Panic stretched upon many faces once again as Miss Daniels started walking around and handed out an A4 piece of paper, one that was too similar to their previous in-class assignment. "No point stressing over something you cannot change. Here is your next assignment. Your topic is on the top of the sheet. You have 45 minutes to work on this with your partner. I assume now, you will take it more seriously."
Simon, Yuna's assigned partner leaned towards her and whispered, "How did you go with the first one?"
"Not good."
"Sorry, I also didn't do too well." He spoke with sincerity as he shifted his glasses higher on the bridge of his nose.
"It's okay, let's just get on with this one." With that, she flipped the piece of paper over after the teacher's announce of approval and couldn't suppress the urge to groan as she looked at her and Simon's topic.
'Will cloning Human embryos lead to new treatments for debilitating deceases?"
Even though they were assigned partners, everyone was expected to write up the report or essay on their own.
And suddenly, just for this period, everyone forgot about the Blitzball tournament.
Desperately trying to finish off the last of what they were writing, a few students purposely ignored Miss Daniels' command to stop writing.
"Understand that this is not a good habit because in the exam, if they say pens down, then they mean pens down."
Grudgingly, the teenagers allowed their pens to slip from their grasp, silently agreeing to her previous statement.
"Leave your work on the table. I will collect them." And then with a lighter tone, she announced, "It's recess."
As the students started to depart from the room, Miss Daniels made sure to grab Yuna's attention, "Yuna, may I have a word with you?"
There was a brief hesitation before Yuna spoke unsurely, "Uh, yeah."
Slowly, they both walked towards the front of the room after all the sheets were collected and sat down at the teacher's desk.
"Please do not be at all offended with what I have to say next okay Yuna?"
At this point, Yuna was hastily digging through her memory, trying to find if she had done something wrong.
Sensing her nervous demeanor, Miss Daniel's immediately waved a hand in the air, signaling that she wasn't in any type of trouble.
"Yuna, all I want to know is, did you help Tidus at all with his Camp evaluation?"
That was definitely not what Yuna had expected. Why would she help Tidus on the evaluation? Relief washed over her instantly, realizing that this was the reason why she was called to stay behind.
"Uh, no."
Nodding and believing Yuna without hesitation, she continued, "You must be wondering why I asked you that question." Taking her silence as a silent agreement, she spoke, "You see, I've taught Tidus before and let's just say, none of his work thus far has reached up to this evaluation's standard. I couldn't help but wonder if you had anything to do with it."
Yuna panicked, and quickly jumped to her and Tidus' defense, "Honest, I didn't write it for-,"
Soft giggles interrupted her hasty explanation before the blonde in front of her cleared her throat and mumbled an apology, "I know, I know. That is not at all what I meant." Then she took a moment to just look at Yuna, almost observing her. "You haven't read it at all have you?"
"Um, should I have?"
"Well that's up to Tidus. Look between you and me," she sighed whilst taking off her glasses, "Tidus' coach Auron came up to me the other day and we had a little chat about him. Basically Auron was asking me if I've noticed anything wrong with Tidus lately. Something about him being distracted during practices, well it's more serious than that you know what I mean?" At that, Yuna merely nodded.
"I myself would also like to know if there is anything bothering him. So I was wondering if you would have a clue about it."
"I uh, I'm not sure, sorry." And that was the truth. She honestly didn't know what was wrong with Tidus, but she was pretty certain it had something to do with her. And now, it left her feeling guilty as ever.
"Okay then, thanks anyway. You can go now."
Nodding, Yuna stood up and proceeded her way towards the door. Just before she left, she turned around and asked, "Miss Daniels? Um, why of all people, me?"
Once again, she gave Yuna that look. Almost like a look of praise. "I can't show you Tidus' evaluation. But trust me when I say that it leads me to believe that ever since your arrival at this school, your presence has had an impact on Tidus. I would know. I've watched him gradually change, even if he tries to hide it."
If Yuna had any lingering thoughts of the scenario that played before her moments ago, it definitely left her the second she stepped out of the room as she was suddenly met with countless banners being hoisted up everywhere around the school. The sight left her staring stupidly at the many students decorating the hallways with Blitzball Logos. Every corner was decorated with something that was yellow and blue, and proudly written across the numerous banners were none other than the words 'Zanarkand Abes'. Along with the eye catching headings, their were also subtitles like, 'The one and only' or, 'The undefeatable' and so on.
As students excitedly decorated the hallway, that now looked completely over done considering that there were also pictures of the 'Almighty' Blitzball team, Yuna finally snapped out of her daze as a bunch of cheerleaders pushed past her in their uniforms that represented a particular player's number.
"They just like to flaunt to the school that they're also part of the Blitzball team, well that's what they like to believe anyways." The cool voice of none other than Lulu spoke from behind.
Without turning her head, Yuna continued to stare at the school that now appeared to be in the midst of a festival, "What?"
"The Cheerleaders. They think they're best friends with the Blitzball team. Well in a sense I guess they are… at least at after parties, if you know what I mean."
With the slight suggestive tone at the end of her sentence, Yuna immediately felt a tight squeeze at her heart, refusing to allow her thoughts to wander too far into conclusions. For a brief second she cruelly hoped that the team would lose just so that there wouldn't be an after party, however instantly reprimanded herself for that brief moment of selfishness.
"Is it normally this…" she left the sentence unfinished as she was unable to find the appropriate word for the scene surrounding her.
"Big, celebrated, or if you like, overrated? Yes. We might not have the most academic kids here, but Blitzball is like the pride and joy of this school. Well for as long as Tidus is here."
An unstoppable sense of admiration along with jealousy swelled within Yuna. Undoubtedly Tidus was known as the "Lord" of the school, but never had Yuna taken that unofficial title seriously. And now, it had become clear that as unofficial as it was, he was as close to it as anyone could ever get.
"Jimmy! We need three more banners over at the Gym!"
"Okay careful guys! On the count of three, you hoist it up okay!"
"Hey somebody! We need more fricking balloons here!"
"Yeah! We've run out of yellow ones already. IS ANYONE LISTENING!"
"Have the replica Jersey's been made yet?"
"Yeah, they're pinned on every bulletin board all ready!"
"Cheerleaders! We will follow through with the routine we practiced…"
"Kate! The ordered jerseys have arrived. Want me to stack 'em up?"
"No! Start selling them now!"
"Gotcha!"
"Oi! I specifically asked for a banner with Tidus' face on it. Why the hell can't I find the damn thing!"
Yuna's lips tilted upwards at the sound of his name. 'Make us proud Tidus.'
"CONCENTRATE DAMN IT! YOU ONLY HAVE THREE MINUTES LEFT!" Auron's voice boomed through the stadium to ensure that the players could hear him from outside the sphere.
For nearly two hours, the Blitzers trained intensely non stop. The team was split in half, one playing defense, and the other playing offense. At every blow of Auron's whistle, there would be an immediate role reversal, defense turning to offense and vice versa, regardless of who held the ball captive. Muscles were beginning to noticeably tense up whilst bones were starting to give way. Many of the female blitzers and a few of the male ones looked oddly pale as their energy had by now been drained.
"45 SECONDS LEFT! KEEP IT TOGETHER!"
It had truly been an intense and grueling session as not once were the players allowed a short break. Had they tried to stop moving in the sphere pool to regain energy, they would have then been rewarded with ten laps around the sphere before resuming their position in the practice game. Fortunately, no one put Auron's warning to the test.
"3… 2… 1 AND STOP!" The shrill sound of a whistle penetrated the stadium much to the Blitzer's incredible relief, as slowly, many struggled to push themselves out of the pool.
"Well done everyone. Now get your asses off the bench if you don't want to see the Luca kids. They'll be here shortly."
His statement was only heard by a few as some had already retreated to the change room whilst some desperately ran to the toilets, hurling what they had for breakfast into the bowls. Thankfully a real Blitzball tournament only lasted an hour and a half including the 3 minute breaks in between and the constant player replacements, or also known as subs.
Even for someone like Wakka, it was undeniable that this training session was the hardest one thus far. Chuckling lowly, he asked, "You okay there brudda?"
"yeah.." was the weak response he received before Wakka was almost certain he saw a piece of cooked egg yolk spurt from his mouth.
"You'll be fine. It'll be hard on Friday, but we'll definitely manage." Tidus said as he began taking off his Blitzball gear.
"Confident are we?" a taunting voice belonging to no one from the Abes' team spoke out.
The entire locker room went quiet as the two rival teams stood opposed to each other.
"To think that I was actually looking forward to this challenge." He glanced at the figure hunched over the toilet before staring at his long time rival, "Guess we're just up against another bunch of amateurs."
His fists tightly curled into balls as his jaws visibly clenched. Tidus tried to remain unfazed by Bickson, but having him sound so much like his old man stirred something within him.
"We'll see who the real amateurs are on the night ya?" Wakka retorted, successfully provoking his team to laugh.
Bickson merely ignored him as he and his team gradually made their way further into the change rooms, seemingly getting ready for their training session. Although Tidus nonchalantly remained getting his usual garments on, he, just like the rest of his team, felt the tension in the air.
"Well we'll just have to see huh?" Bickson replied to the previous statement Wakka had made as he began to get changed.
Tidus knew just as much as everyone else did, that Bickson was only trying to provoke him. So to spare his team form further ridicule, he started making his way out after draping his sports bag on one arm and a white towel on the other. Just as he was reaching the door, Bickson stood in his way with an arrogant smirk that Tidus wished he could wipe off that instant without getting suspended.
"Just one thing," Bickson smugly said, "I'm tired of amateurs, so at least give me some sort of a challenge." Tidus merely ignored him as he continued his way out but pausing against his better judgement after realizing he had not finished.
"Don't want you to fuck up like your 'old man' right? You know what they say, 'like father, like son.'"
Had his back not been turned towards the taunting man, it would have been obvious to everyone that his right eye was twitching from the uncontainable anger. Slowly but surely, Tidus felt the blood reach up to his ears as the rage coursed though his entire being. His breathing became low, almost dangerous and he knew any minute now, he would begin to shake unwillingly.
"Why don't you just shut the fuck up Bickson!"
"You're one to speak Leathen. I'll see to it that you get your ass kicked on Friday."
"Potential threat, but from someone like you Graav? Who gives a flying fuck right?"
In the midst of all the insults, Tidus felt a hand land on his shoulder above his towel.
"Ignore the faggot. He's only trying to stir you up brudda."
That seemed to calm Tidus slightly, but not enough for his blood to cool down.
However, Wakka's words didn't go by unheard and finally thought it best to leave the faggot.
Much to Wakka's annoyance and Tidus' anger, Bickson still had one thing left to say. "But we can all excuse your 'old man' for losing that last game, after all, his bitch did die days before." Then he laughed, "Get it? Son of a bi-,"
Before he could finish, a powerful and swift punch was delivered right across Bickson's cheek bone before an onslaught of harsh punches were delivered continuously at him. "DON'T YOU DARE SAY SHIT ABOUT HER YOU FUCKING CUNT!" By this time, Bickson who was pummeled to the floor had snapped out of his shock as he blocked off an incoming kick to his side and in return punched Tidus mercilessly in the gut, knocking the wind out of him.
To say that Bickson was shocked was an understatement. No one, and that meant NO ONE ever got into fights before the game. That was just a no no. That would be the most avoided incidents of all incidents.
Wakka, who was now struggling to pull Tidus back yelled, "Shit, Tidus, you'll get into trouble for this. He's not worth the time and effort!"
Blinded by pure rage and pent up emotions, Tidus broke free from Wakka's grasp.
"I DON'T GIVE A SHIT! YOU'RE GONNA PAY BASTARD!" And with that, he grabbed an unguarded Bickson by the collar and flung him painfully onto the lockers.
He knew Wakka was right. He heard what his best friend had said. Too bad it never registered. Because when it did, it was too late.
"So, tomorrow morning, on my desk, no excuses, no notes. If it's not here by morning, you fail it, simple as that. Dismissed."
Yuna almost leapt into the air out of happiness after two long periods of listening to Ms. Mann's ongoing lecture of human, to animal to environment rights. Quickly, she stuffed all her stationary and books into her bag before rushing out the door as if her supply of oxygen had run out.
Once she left the room, she was again bombarded with students, this time, twice the amount of them, either running around with white A4 paper and approaching every vacant student or sticking the A4 sheet outside of every single classroom.
'Yevon, are they still decorating?'
"Move Move Move! We need to get around to the whole school!"
There were many other shout outs but what they were saying, Yuna couldn't decipher as the size of the crowd completely muffled anyone's voices. Glancing around, she then came to the conclusion that the white sheets were being passed onto students to sign them.
"Hey Yunie! Woah! The hell is going on?"
"Did someone faint from excitement already?" Lulu asked sarcastically.
A frown made its way onto Yuna's face as she noticed that a few people were actually… CRYING! This was just getting scary. Two periods ago, everyone was running around joyously like they were at a damn parade, and now this.
"MAKE SURE TO STICK A FEW UP OUTSIDE THE STAFFROOM!" A student yelled across the hallway to another fellow student.
"WE'RE RUNNING OUT! WE NEED MORE PHOTOCOPIES!"
By now, the hallway was packed to the rim as student after student came barging in, desperately looking for the white forms. It was almost like no one knew how to speak without yelling and it was gradually becoming suffocating with the lack of space.
"I don't know. I walked out here and they-," Even Yuna had to strain her voice to a much louder volume just so that she could be heard.
"Yuna, Rikku, Lulu! Good! More people. Quickly, sign it!" A tall lanky student by the name of Marc panted.
Snatching the piece of paper from the exhausted boy's hand, Rikku read aloud. "Petition? What for?" Confusion now evident on all three ladies.
"Haven't you heard yet?" he asked with an incredulous expression as if they were the daftest people on earth.
They only shook their heads innocently, save for Lulu who remained in her poised composure.
"TIDUS man!"
Silent.
Rolling his eyes dramatically, he finally burst, "He's been suspended from the tournament!"