Disclaimer: I don't own anything that relates to the Final Fantasy Series, for that belongs to Square Enix.

Just The 6 Of Us

Chapter 4: All In A Days Work And Alcoholic Beverages

---

Zell walked into the cafeteria, noticing Selphie, Rinoa, and Squall sitting at a table, just the people that he was looking for. Of course, Quisits and Irvine were missing, but oh well!

"Well someone looks happy!" Rinoa smiled at her spikey-haired friend who was strolling casually, as if trying to impress him.

Selphie wrinkled her nose, "If you mean happy as in gay, then yeah!" Zell shot her a dirty look.

"For you information, I am happy, and by that I do not mean gay!" Selphie rolled her eyes at him. "I talked to Camilla yesterday, and I got a job at the library!" A grin spread across his face. "This means that I will get to see her all the time!"

Squall looked at him like he was some crazed fan girl, "So should we congratulate you for your stalker abilities?"

"You know, usually a comment like that would upset me but I don't care because I get to work with Camilla!" Zell interjected. He then got up from his seat, "HELL YEAH!" He boomed, making everyone in the cafeteria stop what they were doing and look at him. "Excuse me." He muttered before leaving the cafeteria.

"So he sounds excited." Rinoa said as she took a sip of her water.

Selphie nodded her head, "Yeah, well he better not get too excited because my friend at Trabia was so excited to go to his date he crapped his pants."

Squall looked at her in disgust, "... What?"

Selphie laughed, "Like that never happened to you!"

"Well it didn't." Squall replied, making Rinoa sigh in relief.

The brunette girl just raised her eyebrows, "Okay." Selphie laughed. Squall looked at her in disbelief.

"Prove it." He challenged her making Selphie raise her eyebrow.

"The only proof I have is the leather pants hanging off one of the trees stinking up the place!" Selphie spat.

"Seriously?" Rinoa asked out of curiosity.

"Yeah! It just hangs on the branch, blowing in the wind.." Selphie smirked. "One time, this exchange student thought it was out school flag or something and did the pledge to it." Selphie and Rinoa were now laughing in their chairs while Squall sat there not amused by any of it.

"Whatever."

Selphie got herself back together and stood up from her seat, "Now if you will excuse me, I have some business to attend to." She looked over at Rinoa. "Definitely not the business that Squall attended to!" She quipped, and she and Rinoa shared a catty giggle.

"So what 'business' are you attending to?" Squall asked, ignoring her last comment.

"Well if you must know, I am working on the Garden Festival!" She smiled cheerfully, but it was quickly switched with a frown. "Actually, I'm probably going to be there all night because of the lack of committee... so, if you guys aren't busy you could always come help out!"

"Oh, I want to!" Rinoa voluteered herself.

"Oh, yay!" Selphie then looked over to Squall. "Sssqqqquuuuaaaalllll..."

"..."

"Sssqqqquuuuaaaallllll..."

"..."

"SQUALL!"

"What!"

"Could you help? Pretty please?" She looked at him with puppy dog eyes. "Don't look at her... don't look at her..." He thought, avoiding her stare. "Look at me, you stupid bastard! LOOK AT ME!" Selphie thought.

Finally getting tired of her looking at him he sighed in defeat. "Fine."
---

Zell walked into the library, looking around for Camilla. He then spotted her putting books on a shelf. He walked over to her casually, trying to impress her. "Hey there, Camilla." He said in a deep voice, 'casually' leaning on the bookshelf. "I hope I'm not late."

She smiled at him, "Actually you're right on time. Oh, not to be rude or anything but you shouldn't lean on the bookshelves. The last time something like that happened, the bookshelf fell over and I had to clean everything up." She shook her head as she placed another book on the shelf. "You won't believe how much I wanted to strangle the person who did that. I was stuck here for hours."

"Don't you just hate it when that happens?" Zell said nervously, as he had caused that whole mess.

"Yeah. But thanks to you I don't have to work as much." Camilla told him. "Booya! One point for the Zell-man! Zell-man? Ah, we can think of a new nickname later, Mr. Mind! Er.. we'll think of a new one for you too." Zell then shook his head to shake off his thoughts, not realizing that she had been talking. "- he will show you how to do everything."

"Uh... huh?"

"Yeah. So, I'm going to take off!" Camilla smiled before she walked to the library entrance. "You guys have fun!"

"'Guys'?" Zell's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "Plural?" Zell then felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned around and saw a very tall man, with the body of a body builder. He had tan skin and dark brown hair. He showed off his body in a white beater and black jeans.

"Yes. Plural."

---

"No, Irvy! That's supposed to go all the way over there!" Selphie pointed to the entrance of the quad for Irvine, who was holding a very large banner covered with glitter and the words 'Welcome to the Festival!' embroided with flowers.

"So what do you think we're supposed to do?" Rinoa asked Squall as they watched Selphie and Irvine from afar.

"I don't know. She hasn't told us to do anything."

Rinoa furrowed her eyebrows, "So we're supposed to do nothing?"

"That's right." Selphie spotted them and began to walk towards the two. "Damn. We must have jinxed it."

"Okay! I need you two to bring this," She pointed to a tiki torch, "Over there." She pointed to the right side of the stage.

"All the way over there? That's like the other side of the Quad!" Rinoa whined, shaking her jet black locks in despair. "Plus, shouldn't the guys do the heavy lifting?"

A smirk appeared on the petite brunette's face. "Exactly!" She then walked off, holding her clipboard and pen.

"Look, this won't be that heavy." Squall told Rinoa, picking up the top of the tiki torch. "C'mon get the other end."

Rinoa frowned, "Alright." She walked over and picked it up. "Hey, you're right. I actually thought this would be heavier, but I guess not! I must have gotten some muscle or something-"

"Okay, now we move." He told her, cutting off her sentence. They walked across the room, being careful not to trip over anything, as there were wires and props sprawled across the floor.

"I don't know how Selphie is going to manage this!" Rinoa told Squall as the put the tiki torch into place. "I mean, isn't the Garden Festival supposed to be today?" A worried look appeared upon her face.

"Yeah, well you know Selphie. She's always doing things at the last minute..." He muttered leaning against the wall. Before the raven-haired girl could give him a reply, the intercom came on.

"Hello Balamb Garden students." A woman's voice rang throughout the entire garden.

"Hey!" Selphie bounced up and down. "It's Xu!"

Irvine furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. "Xu? Shouldn't the headmaster be making the announcements?"

"I just want to make sure that everyone is aware that Headmaster Cid won't be in for a few days. So if you wanted to speak with him, then it's just going to have to wait, now isn't it!" Selphie, Irvine, Squall, and Rinoa exchanged looks. "Ahem. Also, there is a Garden Festival later this night with a Beach theme. So don't be afraid to go in your swimsuits or board shorts! Especially to you, boys!"

----

"Phew," Zell wiped his head with his sleeve. He had been putting books on the shelves for the last hour and thirty minutes, and it had already took the energy out of him. "I can't believe Camilla does this for a living!" He sighed as he took the empty cart to the front desk.

"A little tired there, pipsqueak?" His coworker, Darien, said from behind.

You could see the anger in Zell's body, as his face was red and his chest was puffing as though he was having an asthma attack. "At least I have the strength to do all the work!"

"Excuse me?" Darien cocked an eyebrow, challenging him to keep talking.

"Yeah, you heard me! All you do is sit at that computer all day, giggling to yourself like some sissy!" Zell was obviously pumped and ready to go. "No wonder you're so big - you probably spend most of your time in the gym trying to impress your boyfriend!"

Darien grabbed the blond by his shirt collar, lifting him about seven inches off the ground. "You better take that back, pipsqueak. Or you'll pay." He threatened, gritting his teeth. He dropped him to the floor, causing Zell to fall on his butt. "Oh, look at the time!" He looked at the clock that read eight o'clock. "Guess I'll see you at the Garden Festival. I know Camilla is going."

"W-W-Why would I care about that?" Zell stuttered with his hands on his hips.

Darien smirked, "I've seen you waltz in here, staring at her like some fiend trying to find something to prey on. And at the Garden Festival, she's going to be wearing a bikini! But I don't think you're going to be able to feast your eyes on that." He knocked over some book carts, causing hundreds of books to fall over. "Not with this mess."

---

"Selphie!" Rinoa cried as she spotted the brunette talking to some people who had also just entered the place. She was wearing a white string bikini, that went well with her natural coloring. She was still wearing her silver necklace with the ring, and she even put on tons of silver bracelets and bangles on her arms. She wore white flip flops to match.

"Hey!" Selphie exclaimed, running over to her friend and giving her a big hug. She had worn a cute pink halter bikini, that was sparkling in the moonlight. She had put her hair in a ponytail, and wore white framed sunglasses on her head. She was wearing white flip-flops with pink rhinestones embroided on them.

"The Garden Festival looks great!" Rinoa complimented, and it sure did. The tiki torches added light to the place, as did all the sparkles that glittered in the moonlight. There was a band playing on the stage, and people were dancing on the floor. There were flowers everywhere, especially next to the food table. Rinoa squinted her eyes, as she saw an older man who looked a lot like Cid, pouring something into the punch bowl with a flask. She blinked her eyes a bit and didn't see the flask anymore. "Maybe I'm seeing things..."

"Gee, thanks! I couldn't have done it without everyone's help though! It just looks so good! Of course it does, I designed the whole look of it." Selphie said, boosting her already huge ego.

"Hey Sephie!" Irvine greeted her. He was wearing brown swim trunks to keep up with his cowboy look, although he wasn't wearing the hat anymore. He had simply left his hair in a ponytail.

"Oooh, Irvy..." Selphie greeted, obviously mesmerized by his six pack. Drool was practically spilling out of her mouth. Rinoa giggled, and then saw Squall in the distance. He was standing next to the punch bowl, wearing black swim trunks with a red stripe going down on both sides. He still wore his Griever necklace and silver stud in his ear, and on his feet he wore black flip flops, which in Rinoa's head added up to: Damn Sexy!

She walked over to him, kind of nervous as she was just wearing a bikini. "Hey, Squall." She waved shyly at him.

"Hey Rinoa." He greeted her back. "Do you know what is in this punch?"

Rinoa furrowed her eyebrows. "No, why?"

Squall shook his head. "It's nothing really, it just tastes a bit... 'Irish'."

"Oh... well I think I saw Cid putting something in there earlier. And the stuff he put in there came from a flask, so..."

"Ah.. the mystery is solved." Rinoa giggled and got herself a cup of punch.

"Cheers?" Rinoa asked before they toasted.

"Cheers."

---

"Man... I can't believe it! The time when I finally get to see Camilla in a bikini I have to miss it because some stupid guy knocks over some stupid books..." Zell sighed as he put another book on the cart. It had took him about thirty minutes just to get the books in alphabetical order, and for Zell it had seemed like 30 hours.

"Hey Zell." Zell looked up with hope in his eyes, although it was immediately gone after he had saw that it was Quisits.

"Oh, hi Quistis." He said with a disappointment in his voice.

Quistis frowned, "You don't seem happy to see me."

"Sorry, I just thought that you were someone else. But I am happy to see you." The blonde woman smiled at him. She then noticed the piles of books on the ground and then looked up at Zell who looked like he didn't even have a drop of energy in him.

"Need some help?"

"Yes, please!" Quistis laughed at how desperate he was. "Hey, where were you? I haven't seen you all day... until now."

"Oh, well I kind of had to find someone else to be in charge of the disciplinary committee. And after a long, tiring search I finally find some one and they tell me that they have decided to keep Seifer in charge."

Zell nodded. "Awesome."

So they finished putting the books on the cart, almost in total silence until at one point where they heard someone in the distance saying: "I didn't put anything in the punch bowl! I swear!"

Quistis wiped her hands on her skirt. "So you want to go to the party?"

Zell frowned, "But we aren't wearing anything that's like, beachy." He said, pulling at his pants at the same time.

She shrugged. "Oh well, who cares?"

"Good point."

"So are we going?"

"Yeah!" Zell grinned. "Just not to the punch bowl."

Quistis nodded in agreement. "Right.."

---

Rinoa and Squall had had about twenty cups of punch each in about an hour, and they had gotten rather... tipsy.

"Oh, man. I'm so tired from all that laughing." Rinoa slurred a bit, clutching her stomach. "I think I'm going to go back to our dorm."

"Alright, I'll go with you." Squall slurred as well. "I shall escort you Madame." He bowed.

The raven haired girl curtsied. "Why thank you, kind sir. Oh, but my legs are tired from dancing. Would you carry me back to my suite?"

Squall sighed. "Alright." Rinoa giggled as he lifted her up and carried her in his arms.

"Hey! Those two look druuuunk!" Selphie pointed out to Irvine, giggling and jumping up and down at the same time.

Irvine scratched the back of his head. "Do you think that we should go with them, you know, just to make sure that nothing bad happens?"

The petite girl thought for a moment, "I dunno. Would you want me to do that if you looked drunk?"

Irivine shook his head no, "Nah, because I'd probably be getting it on with Rinoa."

"Alrighty, problem solved!"

---

"Hey there's that guy Darien!" Zell pointed at the big guy who was dancing with some girl on the dance floor. Quistis looked puzzled.

"Who?"

"It's this guy that I have to work with that likes Camilla! GAH! He's the reason that I had to pick up all those books and why you had to help me put them back!" He explained to her.

"Okay, got it."

"OH! And there's Camilla!" Zell now pointed to a girl in a brown crochet bikini, talking to some fellow upperclassmen.

"The library girl?"

"Yeah!"

"Why don't you go talk to her?" Quistis enquired.

"Oh, I don't know, it would just seem so weird because she is in a bathing suit and I would be so nervous and..." Zell said, looking at the ground. "But I really want to talk to.." He looked up from the ground to see Camilla standing in front of him. "Camilla!"

"Hi Zell." She looked at him shyly.

Quistis waved at him. "See you later."

---

As soon as Rinoa and Squall were out of the Quad, Squall dropped her on the floor.

"Hey! That hurt!" Rinoa laughed. "Man, I'm sure going to feel that in the morning!"

"Sorry my arms got tired."

"What? Are you saying that I'm too heavy?" Rinoa stood up, almost falling over. "Dang, what was in that flask! Oh well, it sure was goooood!"

Squall and her locked eyes. "Definitely not." Squall then leaned in to kiss her, and kept kissing her as they made their way to their dorm. Luckily, there had been no supervisors out that night so they couldn't see two students making out as they made their way to the dorm rooms.

He opened the door to the room and slammed the door shut. If they had been at a hotel, there would be a sign hanging on their doorknob that read 'Do Not Disturb'.