Thank you to KHLegacy, Riku Uzumaki, and IenzoRenaNipah69 for their reviews. So, since everyone I know is out of school, these next few chapters will cover the final days of Ven's ninth grade year. And as usual, I own nothing.
-miano53
Final School Days, pt. I
May 20th, Radiant Garden High School, 9 p.m…
The entire school, parents of students and politicians of Radiant Garden were in attendance in the school's auditorium. There were chairs lined up in rows and a banner behind them said, "100th Annual Spelling Bee". Balloons were connected to the banner, giving the banner a festive feel.
Terra, Aqua, Eraqus, Cloud, Tifa, Angeal, Squall and Rinoa sat together as Luneth, Ven, Roxas and Zack were competing in the spelling bee. Others sat near them and Cloud saw someone that everyone was so sure he wouldn't. Sephiroth sat several rows behind them and Cloud saw him.
"Sephiroth…" Cloud said.
"Don't try to kill him again…" Tifa warned.
"Yeah. He threatened to put a restraining order on you after the last time," Angeal said.
Cloud mumbled and Rinoa asked, "Aqua, you won these spelling bees, didn't you?"
"For three years straight. First as a sophomore. Then a junior and I won my senior year as well," Aqua said.
"Yeah, you were a bookworm," Terra said.
Aqua glared at him and Angeal agreed. "Yep. The 'bluebird bookworm' is what we used to call her," Angeal said.
"Shut it…" Aqua said, glaring at him.
Backstage…
Fifty students all waited in the back of the stage and each practiced words they thought were going to be in the spelling bee. Luneth, Zack, Lea, Isa, Ven, Roxas, Yazoo, Yuffie and Firion were all practice, but one had a difficult time with the practice.
That person was Firion. Due to nervousness, he misspelled several words. One of them was "wristwatch".
"W-R-I-S-T…W-O-C-K….'Wristwatch'," Firion said.
His trainer was Vivi and he yelled, "I can't do this anymore, Firion! We've been practicing for hours!"
"What do you expect? What hope do I have against this…this 'too-smart-for-his-britches-Jenova-boy'!" Firion yelled, pointing at Yazoo.
Yazoo looked at him and said, "Well, I guess I'll be going. Good luck."
He then rushed into the restroom, where he saw his brother Kadaj hitting Loz upside the head with a dictionary. "What are you doing?" he screamed.
"What does it look like? Loz is 'hitting the books'!" Kadaj said.
Yazoo took the dictionary from him and Kadaj said, "Hey! He was cramming for the spelling bee! You feel any smarter, Loz?"
"What? Why are there three of you, Kadaj?" Loz asked.
"Well, I do commend Loz for his bravery in taking on the spelling bee. But I feel this may be a bit of…a challenge for Loz…" Yazoo said.
"Nah, it won't. 'Cause you're taking a dive in the final rounds. I've already placed my bets with Braig and Marluxia on Loz winning the spelling bee this year," Kadaj said.
"WHAT? You think I would actually consider doing that?" Yazoo yelled.
He then stormed off, leaving the two confused.
The spelling bee, Rounds 1-5.…
Garnet til Alexandros, wearing a pink dress, walked up to the podium and said in the microphone, "Good evening and welcome to the 100th annual Radiant Garden Spelling Bee. This year, we have many contenders from each of the grade levels. Whoever wins the spelling bee will win the Crystal Trophy as well as 10,000 munny towards any college or university of their choice."
"Our first contender is…Yazoo," Garnet said.
Yazoo got up, walked over to the mike and smiled. "Your word is…fasti…fast-I…"
"Excuse me, don't you mean 'fastidious'?" Yazoo asked.
"Yup. Think so," Garnet said.
"'Fastidious'. F-A-S-T-I-D-I-O-U-S. 'Fastidious'," Yazoo said.
The audience clapped for him and he took his seat. Backstage, Braig and Marluxia smiled as they knew that 1500 munny was coming their way.
After five other students, with one going home, it was Luneth's turn. "Luneth, your word is…'bumptious'. Hey, I got it!" Garnet said.
"'Bumptious'. B-U-M-P-T-I-O-U-S. 'Bumptious'," Luneth said.
Tifa cheered for him and Luneth sat down. Next was Roxas.
"Roxas, your word is…'coria'," Garnet said.
"'Coria'. K-O-R-Y-A. 'Coria'," Roxas spelled.
A buzzer was heard and Roxas was surprised. "Sorry. That wasn't it," Garnet said.
Dejected, Roxas left the stage. Surprisingly, Lea got it right. When it was his turn, he spelled, "'Coria'. C-O-R-I-A. 'Coria'," Lea spelled.
The rest of the Fair's 14 that were not in the competition cheered for him and was surprised that he spelled a latin word right. After ten other student went, with eight of them leaving the stage for misspelled words, it was Ven's turn.
"Ven, your words is…"axi…axle…ology," Garnet said, trying to pronounce a word.
Yazoo sighed and said, "Axiology."
"Yep, that's it. Thanks, Yazoo!" Garnet said.
"Uh…'Axiology'…Um…A-X-I-O-L-O-G-Y. 'Axiology'?" Ven said.
"That's correct," Garnet said.
"Oh thank god!" Terra yelled.
Once Ven was done, it was Firion's turn. His family from Fynn had came to see him compete, hence the nervousness. He panted heavily and looked as if he was having a panic attack.
When his name was called, he walked up to the mike and held his right arm. "Firion, your word is…'gemmiparous'. I got another one!" Garnet said.
Instead of spelling, Firion stood there. "My mind goes blank…" he said.
Panting heavily, he said, "'Gemmiparous'…"
The whole room went silent as they waited for Firion to spell the word. Instead, they got something else.
In true rebel fashion, Firion yelled, cursing in his native tongue, "Forget this! Curse this monkey ritual of the English language!"
He then slapped the mike down to the ground, receiving applause from his family. "Thank you, Maria!" Firion said and left.
"Okay…next is…'Plank'? What the…? A piece of wood?" Garnet said, confused.
She then shrugged her shoulders as the school's…oddball (even for the outcasts) waltzed up to the mike with his piece of wood for a 'friend'. "Okay, your word is 'Gemmiparous'," Garnet said.
Silence once again captured the room as they waited for the buzzer to 'silence' the wooden board. When it did, Garnet said, "Oh. Sorry."
"What are you? Deaf? He got it right!" the child known as Johnny said, yelling at her.
"I got my eye on you! Wood hater!" Johnny said and left.
"Okay…That was creepy…" Garnet said.
After a hour, the group of spellers was wilted down to ten. That ten included Ven, Zack, Luneth, Yazoo, and, surprisingly, Loz. Ven was up next and headed for the mike.
"Ven, your word is…'insessorial'," Garnet said.
"Uh…can I have the origin?" Ven asked.
"It's from the mid 19th century to modern Latin," Garnet said.
"Um…the definition please…" Ven said.
"'Used to describe birds that are adapted, or have feet that are adapted, for perching," Garnet read.
"'Insessorial'…E-N-S-E-S-S-O-R-I-A-L. 'Insessorial'…" Ven said.
"Oh. Sorry, Ven. Maybe next time," Garnet said.
Ven promptly passed out and was carried off by nearby students. "Okay…That's a first…He should be okay. Okay, next is Loz. Your word is the same as Ven's," Garnet said.
"Ooh! OOH! I know! I saw it in a documentary once," Loz said, happily hopping off his seat and towards the mike.
"'Insessorial' I-N-S-E-S-S-O-R-I-A-L. 'Insessorial'," Loz spelled.
The audience looked at him with shock as well as the contestants. "He got it right…" Yazoo muttered.
Within moments, the crowd cheered. After another twenty minutes, eight more contestants were defeated, leaving only Loz and Yazoo. "Okay, Loz, your word is…'brachial'," Garnet said.
"Ooh! Ooh! I know this one too!" Loz said.
He rushed to the mike and started to spell. "'Brachial'. B-R-A-C-H-I-A-L. 'Brachial'," Loz spelled.
The crowd cheered again and many thought that Loz was a idiot savant (or autistic savant). After Loz spelled the word, it was Yazoo's turn again. "Okay, your word is 'Canidae'," Garnet said.
"Maybe next year, Loz," Yazoo said and headed to the mike.
There, he spelled, "'Canidae'. C-A-N-I-D-A-Y. Oh, I meant E. E is what I meant to say…" Yazoo said.
"Oh, sorry. The winner is…Loz!" Garnet said.
The crowd cheered and Loz was given the crystal trophy. He also had a ribbon pinned to his chest and he looked happy. Yazoo, however, looked dumbfounded.
'What just happened?' he thought.
After the crowd left, Yazoo sat there. When Marluxia and Braig found him, they yelled, "You lost it!"
"I lost a bundle on you, has been!" Braig yelled.
"About 2,000 munny to be exact," Marluxia said.
The two left, leaving Yazoo in the empty auditorium.
At the Jenova house…
Yazoo sat up in bed, sniffling. He looked at his trophy case and saw all the trophies that he won in life. Sadly, the spelling bee section was empty. Yazoo started crying and became depressed.
The next day, Yazoo headed to school alone and saw that Loz was in his locker. Apparently, he arrived at the school early and was hiding from the other kids. "What are you doing?" Yazoo asked.
"Don't let them see me!" Loz said and slammed Yazoo's locker door.
"Hey! There he is!" someone yelled.
Yazoo saw that Larxene and several of cheerleaders had found Loz in the locker. They pushed Yazoo out of the way and opened his locker. Larxene pulled Loz out and said, "Okay, egghead. If x=7, what is the answer to 2x+y=12?"
"Larxene asking Loz for academic advice?" Yazoo said.
Kadaj, passing by, saw and rushed over to him. "Hey! 200 munny per question!" Kadaj yelled.
"Shut it, Kadaj!" Larxene said.
Loz looked in the book and said, "What is an x? Must it be replace by a number?."
"What? That's the dumbest thing I've heard!" Larxene said.
She was about to pummel Kadaj when one of the cheerleaders yelled, "Wait! Loz's right! If you replace the x with 7, you'll get the answer!"
"He's mine!" Kadaj screamed.
He then took Loz and started advertising him to the student populace. Ven and the others saw and said, "He's advertising Loz?"
"Why that idiot?" Luneth said, rather angry that he lost to Loz.
"Well, the economy's bad…" Zack said.
"It's not that bad that you advertise someone like Loz for homework help," Luneth said.
"Aw, you mad, bro?" Yuna said.
"'Bro'?" Ven asked.
"Oh…I learned it from Tidus," Yuna said.
The Fair's 14 looked and saw that many kids had rushed over to Loz for homework help. "Well, it wouldn't hurt," Roxas said and went over.
"Yeah, I need help too!" Vivi said, rushing over.
Luneth looked in shock as he saw his friends head over to Loz for homework help. "They'll regret it…" he said, putting his things away.
4th hour lunch…
Yazoo, troubled, headed to the lunchroom and was shocked that he couldn't open up the door. "Locked?" Yazoo said.
He peered through the door's window and saw many kids eating lunch. None of them noticed that he was still outside. "Hello? Anyone?" Yazoo said.
He started pushing the door, hoping that it would open. "Allow me!" Loz said.
He pulled open the door and Yazoo entered the lunchroom. Kadaj saw him and said, "Hey! 'Egghead' Loz just helped you with a problem."
Kadaj held up a jar with munny in it and Yazoo said, "I miss the days when you used to use my intellect for monetary gain…"
He walked off and Kadaj pointed at the jar, waiting for Yazoo to put munny in it. The boy never did…
After school…
Kadaj and Loz rushed out of school and headed for the store. "I'm rich! Candy, here I come!" Kadaj screamed.
Loz loyally followed his brother and Kadaj came to a screeching halt when he saw the Fair's 14, minus Luneth, the jocks, and some of the cheerleaders. "Uh, hi guys. What's up?" Kadaj asked.
They all showed him their homework papers and Braig yelled, "We flunked out!"
"All Fs!" Garnet yelled.
"'Egghead' Loz is a fake!" Roxas yelled.
"He's just plain stupid!" Larxene screamed.
The mob saw that Loz was coming and started chasing after him. Loz turned around and ran away. "Run away!" he yelled, running back to the school.
Kadaj did the same and the two slammed straight into the school doors as they were closed. Within moments, the mob found them and started pummeling them. After pummeling them, the mob took their money back.
"Sucks to lose, huh?" Braig said.
"Hey! I gained that money fair and square!" Kadaj yelled.
Yazoo walked out of the school and looked at his brothers with pity. "Yazoo, help me!" Kadaj yelled.
"Why don't you ask Loz?" Yazoo said.
The two looked and saw that Loz was picking his nose. "Cheese makes my fingers smell!" Loz said.
Kadaj looked saddened and Yazoo left the two at the school. The next day, he explained to the teachers what happened and they allowed for the students to make up their failed assignments.
Well, that's part one down. So, Ven and them learned their lesson on giving their homework to Loz.