Secret Passages- Chapter Two: The Lift Surprise
What in the world am I doing? Squall thought to himself as he accidentally had placed his hand on top of Selphie's.
"You're late." He spoke, narrowing his eyes before turning his head away from her. He covered up his actions quite well. Picking up Selphie's hand and removing it from the paper, he retrieved the rest of his lost work and stood. Selphie, consumed by her confusing wonder, stood as well and held the few sheets she had collected out toward him.
"I know. I'm sorry. I tried to get there, but they changed the meeting area. It wasn't until a few minutes ago that I was informed about the detention being held in Quistis' classroom! And..." Selphie stopped. Squall had only raised a brow at the spunky little girl in front of him. She seemed to talk really fast at times... but never faster than the speed of light. Is that even possible? To speak faster than the speed of light? No, of course not. Squall mused to himself, containing his laughter and hiding it well.
"What?" Selphie asked. "Why are you smiling?!" Selphie stomped a foot to the ground. Squall was smiling. He couldn't hide his laughter that well, apparently. Eh? I am smiling! Squall's thought and Selphie's instant action made the smile fade quickly, as if it had never happened to begin with.
"Nothing. And I wasn't smiling. You were seeing things." Squall shook his head, as if to emphasize his response. "You might have stood up too quickly. Anyway, continue with your explanation about being late." Waving away the smile topic he motioned for her to continue.
"That's all I have to say. I was working with the posters. Thought I could work on it until the five minutes before I had to go down to the Cafeteria to meet with the detention thing, but no one was there for it. Then Quistis told me about the meeting being held in her classroom and I freaked out and ran to the elevator, but some IDIOT was using it to get from the third floor to this floor and they were taking forever so I had to wait until they were done. When the elevator got to the first floor and I got inside, it was going MEGA-SLOW and it took me forever to get up here!" Selphie huffed and crossed her arms over her chest, looking to her right, away from Squall. She wasn't really angry, but this detention was already enough damage to her perfect record and now that she was late! Geez, it was just a bad day all together. She had high hopes that it wouldn't end bad, but apparently, it was going to.
That idiot was probably me. Again, Squall mused. Only this time, he made sure she could not see a smile, if ever there were to be one, and raised his hand to the crown of his nose and rubbed it, as if he had been annoyed.
"Come with me. Seeing as you're late, your punishment would be tenfold the amount of work they give you in Detention." Squall piled the papers she had handed him into his folder and began walking toward the elevator. Selphie looked up and followed him. "It really isn't any better than picking up trash... Spending time with the Commander instead of with the other delinquents, I mean. Only difference is, you don't get messy." They reached the elevator and Squall hit the 'down' button on the panel before turning to look at Selphie. He wasn't one to try and cheer someone up, but Selphie was practically the life of their group and seeing her down, everyone tried their hardest to cheer her up, even Squall. Flashing a smile, he had hoped she would at least giggle or return a familiar happy expression, but she didn't even notice, and the smile was gone almost as soon as it came.
"Yeah." She didn't know what to say, if anything, to Squall. She was in trouble, and she didn't want to make it worse. Feeling a pat on her arm, Selphie looked up from the floor to see Squall trying to put on another smile, since the first was a failure. She laughed softly, and he let out a short chuckle, just as the elevator reached their floor, and the metallic doors opened to invite them inside.
Yes, the elevator doors once were glass, but Zell had an accident one day, not too long ago, with his T-Board and ran right into the doors, thinking they were open. The glass had broken and Cid had decided it was time for a change anyway and ordered the replacement elevator to be metal instead. Although, the group, to this day, still insist that the new elevator doors were changed to metal so that Zell could actually see that they were closed.
Squall put out his left hand, holding the elevator doors open, and motioned for Selphie to enter with the other. Selphie stepped inside and Squall followed behind her, turned to the panel of buttons inside and pressed the small button with the number one on it. The doors closed and the elevator slowly descended toward the first floor. Squall turned to look at Selphie, since it was unusually quiet. He liked the quiet. It always brought him great happiness, but he had gotten used to seeing Selphie ramble on and on about useless things. Thoughts turned in his head on whether he should start up a conversation with her or not, to see if it would cheer her up. She wasn't in trouble with him, even if he was the one who gave her detention. He couldn't necessarily let her 'off the hook' because of Seifer. Plus, it wouldn't be fair to Zell. If she was with Squall... it would be like being in detention, wouldn't it?
Selphie looked up from the floor, having the feeling of being watched, and looked over at Squall. Oddly enough, he was looking at her, with intense eyes that would normally scare the daylights out of her, or anyone for that matter. Squall realized he was still looking at her and blinked before turning away. He was too busy thinking to turn away in the first place, but now he found sudden interest in the panel by the elevator doors. He decided to start up a conversation anyway.
"So, any new recruits into the infamous Garden Festival Committee?" He asked, and turned to look at her once more, only to meet his normal blank expression with a harsh glare.
"Don't call it that. Anyway, it's just me and Zell now. Since you sent Irvine back to Galbadia Garden and all." The glare vanished as soon as she turned away. She thought of Irvine and how much she missed him. He was so much help to the Garden Festival. Since he was practically her best friend, he could come eye to eye with everything she wanted done. She didn't see why he couldn't just stay in Balamb Garden. Yeah, he was constantly taking girls to his dorm at night, but... Ah, she still didn't see what was wrong with that. They were only there to watch movies. ...Or so Selphie was convinced. Selphie sighed at the thought of her lifelong friend, now so far away. This reaction caused Squall to try again with cheering her up.
"It must be really hard if only two people are working on the Festival, right? You must spend a lot of time on it." His last statement seemed to be more like a question. His eyes were still fixed on her face, even if it was turned away and looking at the floor. His arms were folded in front of them, his right hand still holding on to the folder containing the rather important papers he needed to deliver to Quistis. Following the direction in which her eyes were looking, Squall turned his head to find what amazing entertainment the floor was offering her.
"Well, yeah. It takes up all of my afternoon. I have a couple of classes in the mornings and when I am finished with those, I go right to the Quad. By that time, it's usually 2:30 in the afternoon. With the date I decided to have it all ready coming up in less than two weeks, I need as much time as I can get. BUT!!!! Now with those dumb detentions, I've been set back and my plans are totally screwed up. I scheduled everything out just right. I had just enough time to get everything ready, but now... I'm going to have to throw out a few things." Again, like the speed of light. The entire time Selphie was speaking, she flailed her arms around like there was no tomorrow, which made Squall move a little closer to the wall so that he wouldn't be hit by the mad girl standing beside him.
"AND WHY ISN'T THIS THING MOVING ANY FASTER?!" Selphie had taken action, on behalf of the slow moving elevator, and stomped on the floor, still flailing her arms around. Yet, no sooner had she spoke the words, the elevator plummeted to the MD level, or so it seemed. This, in turn, startled the spunky girl. Upon the hit, she fell back and Squall grabbed a hold of her before the two fell to the floor, both wide-eyed and shocked by what had just happened. Papers, from Squalls folder, floated all around them as they sat on the elevator floor.
"Selphie... You can let go of my arm now." Squall said, wincing a little as her grip was so very tight. Yeah, she had freaked out and miraculously gained a lot of strength. Who wouldn't? You would if you were falling ninety to nothing in such a small compartment!
"Well, you can loosen your grip around my waist, Squall!" Before she could even finish, he let her loose, and in return, she released the death grip on his arm. Selphie slumped forward, looking at both Squall's legs and her own, not caring for the papers that were all over the place. Squall leaned his back against the wall behind him and watched as Selphie sat in front of him. He didn't seem to care for the papers either. He was oh-so grateful that she hadn't fallen on his precious area. Just the thought of that pain made his stomach turn. Yet, pushing that unhappy thought aside, he could tease her for once. Would he?
Of course.
"See what you did?" Squall would have grinned, but only if Selphie had not turned around to face him with another scary glare of hers. Squall lifted his eye brows, wondering what had gotten into the spunky girl. He quickly pulled his legs to his chest, not too sure if he felt comfortable with their current position. Selphie looked as if Diablos himself had taken her over. "Selphie, I was only kidding." He thought that if he told her that, she would calm down... but it didn't.
"Oh yeah right, we both know that whenever someone says they are kidding, it's usually half true. Even that weird train lady in Timber said that! Remember?! So just... Hush!" Selphie slammed her fist down on the elevator floor next to Squall's feet, which were now right in front of him. Wide-eyed and a little startled, he looked down at her fist and back up to her face. Is she crazy?! She's so close to hitting me where guys don't… wait. She's teasing me again. Hyne! I hate it when she picks on me, it gets annoying after a while. With that thought, Squall turned his head away from her, trying his best to ignore her now.
"Whatever..." He spoke, not really caring what threat she might do next. He was a SeeD too, he could handle it. A second later, he felt her presence move away from him, and his tense body relaxed. His eyes were closed and had been since he first looked away from her. He could hear the scratchy sounds of papers and decided it wouldn't hurt to see what she was doing. He turned his head to see Selphie sitting with her back facing him, collecting papers. Her knees were bent, so that she was sitting on her legs and her feet were somewhat behind her. Squall looked at those ugly brown boots of hers that she always seems to wear with everything.
Deciding it wasn't really her place to be collecting his papers, Squall placed his hands on the floor beneath him and pushed his weight forward to settle on one knee, while the other leg was bent close to his chest, and picked up a few of the papers too. He managed to get a hold of the folder and stuffed the few bit of papers he had collected inside. When he was finished clearing 'his side' of the elevator, he turned his head to look at Selphie. She sat there, facing him, the rest of the papers neatly placed together in her hand. Squall reached out for them, but Selphie pulled the papers to the side and reached out and pushed him, causing him to topple over and hit his head on the elevator wall.
"Hyne Selphie! Do you think you could be any rougher?!" Squall looked at the odd girl while rubbing the back of his head and sitting up to lean his back against the elevator wall. Luckily, he had a tough grip on the folder and none of the papers flew out. While leaning his back against the wall, Squall stretched out on leg and propped the other up, much like he did in the Infirmary on that fateful day he received the scar on the crown on his nose. He looked at Selphie with one eye halfway closed and the other opened enough for her to see the blue-grey coloring. She only sat there, in shock he supposed. Removing his hand from the back of his head, he leaned his head back against the elevator wall as well, still looking at her and waiting for an explanation on her sudden outburst.
"Sorry... I didn't think you would hit your head. You're not hurt are you?" Selphie crawled over to Squall and sat down next to him, her back leaning against the same elevator wall as his. She handed him the papers she had collected and lowered her head. Squall only watched her as she crawled over to him, trying his hardest not to look down the front of her yellow jumper. It wasn't something he would normally do, especially to Selphie, but Irvine's influence had gotten to him, even if he was only with them for less than half a year.
"No. I'm fine." He replied coldly and took the papers from her, placing them in the folder with the rest of them. Before looking at Selphie, he placed the folder on the floor at his other side. She looked kind of depressed now, something that was different and very unusual when it came to her. She had always been bouncing off the walls and doing something completely stupid, or so Squall thought. The fact that she was unhappy was something everyone took seriously, even the Headmaster took it seriously... and yet Squall only sat there, watching her.
Selphie turned to look at Squall, who again, immediately turned away. This made Selphie cringe at heart, since she thought of him as a friend, yet he kept turning away. He never really wanted to have friends, she could tell, but she kept trying just as much as Rinoa kept trying, maybe even more.
"You know... you still haven't answered my question." Although Squall had looked away, Selphie hadn't. She nudged his arm with her elbow a little, trying to get his attention. He didn't turn to face her until she had reached out and pushed him again, yet this time, he caught himself before he actually hit the wall. This, since he didn't get hurt, made Selphie laugh. Then again, as soon as he turned to look at her, she turned away, afraid of the glare she would receive.
"What question?" Squall couldn't really be annoyed with her, since he had put up with this sort of thing since the day they met, but he couldn't help the small amount of annoyance that could be heard in his voice. He sat back up in his previous position and shook his head as he waited for Selphie to answer him. Selphie turned back to look at him and gave him a questionable expression.
"What do you mean, 'what question'? You should know what I am talking about. I ask everyone this question, sometimes people who aren't even students at Garden." Selphie raised a brow at the commander who, in return, did the same. What is she talking about? Like I could remember anything that happened yesterday. Squall thought to himself before she continued, since he apparently had no clue what she was talking about. "Would you like to join the Garden Festival Committee?" With that said, Squall let out a sound that was some where around the equivalent of an 'Argggggggh' type of sound and looked away from her.
"Oh, come on! I know you have a lot of things to do with being the 'Commander of Balamb Garden' and stuff, but you can still help out. Even if it's only an hour a day! Squall! Hey, are you listening?" Selphie leaned closer to him, since he was slowly easing away from her. Squall had tried his hardest to ignore her, but she just kept talking. He turned to look at her and tell her some lame excuse, but as soon as he did so, their heads slammed into each others.
"Ah! Come on, Squall! You knew I was leaning right there!" Selphie leaned back and rubbed her forehead that was now throbbing with pain. Squall didn't seem to mind what little bit of pain he had received. He sat there, blinking every so often, and watched Selphie in her attempts to recover from the contact.
"Are you okay? I didn't think that hurt that bad." Squall tilted his head a little before crawling over to Selphie. Her legs were stretched out, so that she wouldn't show her glory to the world, which made it rather hard to get to her without touching them. Squall straddled her, placing a leg on each side of her own and leaning forward to check out her forehead, which Selphie had been rubbing frantically. He wasn't trying to be anything but caring as he took this action, but Selphie couldn't help but tense up at their position. She let her hand drop to her lap and looked up at Squall. Her forehead showed an enormous red bump, as if she had been hit in the head with a baseball bat or a pole, anything but Squall's head, or a head in general.
"Wow. You have a--" Squall stopped to place his hand on her forehead and feel the bump. He chuckled. "I didn't think my head was strong enough to do that, Selphie." He removed his hand from her head and sat down on her legs, still starring at the large bump on her forehead. Selphie looked at him, wondering why he couldn't just sit next to her and stare at it from there. She wanted him off of her, still not feeling at all comfortable with the position. Squall didn't seem to notice though, he was still staring at her forehead. Selphie decided to play as if his weight was hurting her legs, even though it wasn't.
"Ow! Get off! Get off!!" She flailed her arms around until Squall noticed where he was and stood up, taking a step back. He looked down at Selphie and grabbed on of her arms, pulling her to her feet. She looked up at him and even though he wasn't that tall, he was tall to her, since she no taller than five feet. Five feet and one and a half inches if we had to get technical. Squall released his grip on her arm and shook his head back, trying to get some of the loose strands from in front of his eye sight. Selphie looked away and pulled her hand back up to her forehead to rub it some more.
"I'm getting sleepy, Squall." She looked back to see him picking up his folder from the elevator floor. As soon as he stood, Selphie lowered her arm from her forehead and fell into his arms. She was in fact, very dizzy and sleepy. Yet, since she had been hit in the head with a rather large amount of force that gave her such a large bump on her forehead, she was not allowed to fall asleep. She was able to go into a coma state and not wake up for a long while. Squall, realizing this, shook her, trying to keep her awake.
"Selphie! Stay awake. Come on." Squall held on to her and looked around the elevator, since it had been stopped for the past ten minutes. He had hoped it would begin running soon. He needed to get Selphie to Doctor Kadowaki before something bad happened. "Selphie Tilmitt!" His voice was hoarse as he yelled at his comrade and shook her at arms length like mad. "Come on... please don't fall asleep. Selphie... Selphie!"
Selphie could hear his voice, but it kept sounding as if it were farther and farther away with each word. She tried to speak, but that wonderful slumber had already taken her away.