Chapter Three; Hello again...
The next day, when Kiana woke up, and looked on her calender, she relised she had forgotten what day it was, then jumped up in hysterical delight.
"Yay, yay, yay! It's my birthday today! Yay, yay, yay! My birthday's today!" she shouted.
"Hey, whats with all the noise?" Eddy asked through the door as Kiana opened it.
"I'm 17 today! Yay, yay, yay!"
"Great...Do you mind quieting down a bit?" Eddy said, rubbing his eyes.
"Oh geez, sorry. But it's just so cool!"
"Why?" he asked
"Because...I dunno. That's right, I get free chocolate today. Yepee!"
"Shh, quiet down." He hissed. "People are still sleeping."
"Well gee, sorry. But I wasn't saying it that loudly."
"Yeah, I know. I've just got a headache, that's all."
"Well, why don't we get some food? You wait over
here while I get dressed, okay?"
"Sure." Eddy said, turning around while Kiana went into the bathroom.
"I'll have an apple-pie with some cherry-cola and a chocolate health-nut bar." Kiana said to the cafeteria lady.
"That will be four-fifty, thanks." The old lady said as Kiana handed her the money over and recieved her order, finally making it to the table where Eddy was waiting impatiently.
"You took forever." he said somewhat sourly.
"Yeah, but it wasn't my fault that Jesi took ages ordering his food, whereas I took only a minute..."
"Yeah, yeah. Anyway, he gave me time to get ya a present." Eddy said as he pulled out a book and a note.
"What's this? The Ghost Of A White Lion...Thanks! You didn't need to get me this." Kiana said happily, then giving Eddy a friendly hug.
"Nah, I wanted to, and that note is from the Panthera Space Exploration Centre." Eddy said, pointing to the writing on the paper. Kiana read outloud;
Dear Kiana Artemis,
As a result of exploring the Beta quadrent of the galaxy, we have found a planet you might be very interested in-planet Earth! After three years of searching for life outside the Kora System, we have finaly found your home planet. Please contact us. You may go and see Earth for yourself. We have currently made an alliance an with the country of New Zealand and have started negotiations with America and Japan. We already have a visitor frome your home country, his name is Josh Stratus and will be accompaying you at Firrah the day you get this. You are to meet him with the headmisstress at 1015 hours.
Dr Zeran Kupir of PSEC
"Wow, I can go home! Dude, I can go home!" Kiana exclaminated so that everyone in the cafeteria could hear her. "I've gotta tell Drake!"
"Then go now! He's in the 'single' with the good view." Eddy said heartly.
"Really? Kiana that's great!" Drake congratulated happily.
"But if I do go, it will only be a visit." Kiana said, sitting on the chair beside the bed.
"I hope you do go, then you can find out about your family."
"Yeah, mabey..." Kiana said, suddenly dully.
"Mabey? What do you mean?"
"I have to go to the headmisstresses office to meet someone..."
"Who? One of your friends?" Drake asked, with a little enthusiasm.
"My old crush...Josh Stratus..." Kiana answered with a tint of sorrow.
"Oh..." Drake said, his heart sinking for some reason. "Why do you sound sad?"
"Remember how I told you I jumped off a cliff and landed in a whirlpool that was actually the dying gateway to here?"
"Yes, vaguely..."
"Well, he saw me jump off that cliff and had probably thought that I had drowned."
"Yeah, but why did you jump? You never told me..."
"That's because I could never remember...But maybey Josh knows...I think I told him...It was three years ago."
"I think you should go now, you'll be late. I could go with you if you want..." Drake offered.
"Thank's, but I need to do this on my own. I'll see you at dinner, okay?"
"Yeah, six-o'clock sharp. Bye."
Kiana then nodded, and left the room and headed for the elevators.
As she reached for the door, someone behind her made her jump.
"Hey, do you have permission to be here?" a tall, curly-haired blonde guy asked sternly.
"Yes, Jesi..." she said, returning the tone.
"Okay, okay. Just checking..." he hummed. "Hey, you're the chick that blacked out...aren't you?"
"Yes...But I have to go now. Laters..." She said, pushing the huge door open, and entering it.
"Oh, okay, see ya."
After closing the door behind her, a tall, blonde boy, around about her age, gazed at her as if she was a ghost.
"Hello...Josh..." Kiana said, feeling her heart thump very hard and very fast.
"Kiana? Kiana Artemis? Every one thought that you had..."
"Drowned? Yeah, but instead I jumped into a closing portal to this world...How is everyone back home?"
"Still mourning. Your adoptive dad is really rich now, he's a millionaire in Australia...He gave some money to your adoptive mum and Lea tells me that she cries every day because you're gone. They'll be really happy when you go back home..."
"To visit you mean..." Kiana corrected.
"Visit? You don't wanna go back home, do you?"
"To live, no, to visit every now and then, yeah."
Josh didn't say a word. He just frowned.
"I can't go back there to stay forever. Look, I'll show you around the academy. Let's just forget we've ever had this conversation."
"...I felt sick for weeks after what happened. Just to let you know." he said grimly.
"Sorry..." Kiana paused. "First stop, the caff, they have the greatest chocobo-burgers on the planet! Even though they're not really made from chocobo-meat."
"You mean like in Final Fantasy?"
"Hmm, yeah. I s'pose so...anyway, down the elevator on the second floor-that's where the class rooms and the instructors' rooms are."
Chapter Four: Can It Be True?
After spending most of the day showing Josh around the Academy, Kiana decided to go and have a rest after an emotionally exhausting day, getting Eddy to take over the orientation. Josh had told her that he had joined the army after begging his dad to let him go to military school, and she had told him that he would do great if he came to Firrah Academy.
"Firrah is moving position tommorrow morning," Kiana said to herself. "I wonder if I should tell him...Nah, I'll let him find out on his own. It would be fun to see him panic...mabey not..."
There was a knock on her door.
It was Drake. Kiana scrambled out of her bed and lazily opened the door.
"Hi, Kiana..." Drake said, seeming a little jumpy.
"Hey, what's wrong?" She said, standing beside her window, gesturing to Drake to come in.
"Ahh, nothin'. I was just wondering if that blonde guy's-"
"Are you...worried about me?" Kiana asked, kind of surprised. "Or jealous?"
"What? Jealous? No, I'm just worried about you..." Drake said through gritted teeth, scared stiff that she might find out that he was jealous-that he really liked her.
"Oh..." Kiana said, kind of dissapointed. She really liked him, too. But could never find the courage to tell him. "Well, he's not here. He's with Eddy and Celestia, I'm too tired to show him around."
"It's only quater-passed three..."
"I'm emotionally tired, and I'm hungry." Kiana said, plopping
herself into bed again, hiding her head under her sheet, concealing tears of happiness and saddness, yet not knowing why. Patheticly melodramatic, she thought sourly.
"Do you want me to get you something?" Drake asked, sitting down beside her.
"Yeah, could you get me a soda and a chocobo-burger, please?" She said, wiping her eyes under the concealment of her blankets.
"Yeah, of course. I'll pay for it, this time..." Drake said, starting for the door.
"Thanks." Kiana whispered. "You know what?"
"What?" He paused, his hand on the door handle.
"You're my best friend, thank you for that."
"Sure, no worries...I'll see ya in a few."
At dinner, Kiana was very quiet and ate very little.
"It's a clear sky tonight, maybey we can watch the stars, or attack thunderfish..." Drake started.
"No thanks. I'll have an early night." Kiana said, stirring her soup.
"Are you alright, Ki?" Celestia asked.
"Yeah, you don't look to well. Are you gonna eat that?" Eddy asked, gestruing to her untouched bowl. Kiana pushed it towards him, staring into a blank space.
"Edmund!" Celestia hissed. "Can't you think about anything else but your stomach!"
"Sorry, here..." Eddy said, about to push the bowl back.
"No, have it. I'm not hungery anymore..."
"You haven't been hungery all night!" Celestia exclaminated loudly. "Are you sure you're not sick?"
"No, I'm fine." Kiana said reasuringly.
"Uhh, mabey you should go to the Infirmary. Mabey it's a chick-thing..." Drake said passively.
"Eww, don't talk about stuff you don't understand very well, especially if it has to do with the opposite-sex...we don't talk about your stuff, do we?" Celestia hissed again.
"It's not that anyway." Kiana said, getting up from her seat. "I'm going to bed. Goodnight, everyone."
"Great, now look!" Celestia hissed once more. "She's gone! I hope she's alright though..."
"She'll be okay. I remember when she got sick last time-she vomited everywhere, lasted for about five days...but she got better and then she was okay." Drake said, before chewing on a piece of steak.
"Yeah, but what if it's not like that at all?" Celestia protested. "What if it's something that even medicine and drugs can't cure, and she really needs us? Well I'm going to check on her. I'll see you guys' later." She said, getting up from her seat and running to catch up with Kiana.
"I do hope that she's okay." Eddy mumbled.
"Yeah, same. I wonder if it has anything to do with that guy..." Drake said thoughtfully.
"What guy?"
"Josh or whatever...Ever since he came, she's been acting really weird."
"Like what?" Eddy asked, swallowing a large piece of roasted potato.
"Like, when she came and told me about how she knows how to go back to Earth and stuff, she seemed really sad, not happy at all."
"But when she read the letter, she jumped up and down and made a hell-oh fuck!" Eddy swore, but unintentionally.
"What?"
"It's her birthday today!"
"Shit!" Drake yelled, jumping up right out of his seat. "I've gotta go! I can't believe I forgot her birthday!"
"Just don't go in while she's getting dressed or anythin' or she'll tear your head off!"
But Drake was already out of the caff, and down the main hall.
Passing the shrub with the violet flowers, Drake finally reached the door. Knocking franticly, a tired and pale person appeared, muttering, they went back to sleep. Wrong dorm. A door flung open and out of it came Celestia.
"She's reading a book, you can go in if you want. We could hear you banging on that girls' door." She said in a really snobby voice, then walked off to her own dorm.
Putting a piece of paper in her book and laying it on the table next to her bed, Kiana gestured to Drake to sit next to her.
"I'm really, really sorry..." he started to apologise.
"For what?"
"I forgot your birthday." Drake said sadly.
"That's okay."
"It is?" He said, very confused.
"You made a fuss over my sixteenth and you helped me out today and you gave me gift ages ago anyway."
"Oh. By the way."
"Hmm, what?" Kiana said as he stood up.
"What gift was it?"
"Friendship. Friendship in general. I really need that. Back home, the friends I had where the best; they where thoughtful, honest and kind. But whenever I told them something, they would usually shove it back at me. I would sit with them, but usually just ignore what they where saying to each other."
"Yeah, I value our friendship more than anything else in the universe."
He quietly shut the door behind him.