A/N: Sorry about the weirdness of last update. Hopefully, it won't happen again.
REVIEW RESPONSES: To Ishbu girl: Aw, well, I'm glad I made you smile. If you never go to the Boards, then yeah, I'm definitely thinking of someone else. Anyway, thanks for the review. To Psyco yaoi fan girl: Thank very much! Here's the update. To Chimpo: Yay! Sorry about all the confusion, I really don't know what happened. Well, you may like the sound of it, but Jag sure doesn't! And, yeah, being nice to Jaina, especially when she has no such deal made...
Chapter 18: Conspicuously Absent
Jag walked into Biology class Wednesday morning, determined to ask Danni out on a date and make it official. Unfortunately, he'd been put into a bad mood by Wyn, who had reminded him several times of their agreement.
He sat in his seat at the lab table. Jaina was already there, scribbling away furiously in a notebook he assumed was the same she claimed held her hit list.
The late bell rang. Zekk, as usual, had not come in yet. But Danni was conspicuously absent. Had she gotten sick?
"So, should we get started?" Jaina asked, after looking up from her notebook. All the hate from yesterday seemed to have disappeared.
"Don't you want to wait for Zekk?" he asked somewhat angrily. She might be willing to forget all about yesterday, but he certainly remembered how she went to Zekk's defense even when he was obviously in the wrong.
"He's skipping first," she answered dryly. "It looks like it's just going to be us."
"Well, aren't we lucky?" he asked sarcastically.
"I was thinking of petitioning for a national holiday in commemoration of the day," she responded in kind, as she began pulling out the work they had done from yesterday.
"I thought Danni had all of that?"
"She called me this morning and told me she wouldn't be here, so I got the stuff out of her locker."
"She called you?" he asked carefully, sure he'd heard wrong. Danni had called Jaina, but not him? It didn't make sense; after yesterday, he was sure Jaina and Danni hated each other above all else.
"Yeah, see, there's this thing called a telephone –"
"I know what a telephone is. I was just surprised."
"And I was just making sure. You can never be too careful these days."
"Did she say why she's not here?"
"Nope."
"Why would she call you?" he, again, voiced the question that began nagging him the moment she said it.
"Listen, I'm sorry your girlfriend didn't call you to let you know that she won't be at school, but I really didn't feel like playing twenty questions this morning at five – which is, by the way, when your delightful girlfriend decided would be the perfect time to call – so I didn't get all the facts. She didn't tell me why she couldn't be here or why she called me, especially at five AM, nor did she tell me anything else which I didn't already tell you, okay? Now can we please just get to work?"
Jag was about to argue back, but the disapproving gaze Mrs. Sebatyne had fixed on them changed his mind. "Sure."
The two worked quietly, for the most part ignoring each other. Other groups were laughing and talking, and they just sat there.
Jag mentally sighed. Wyn would be on his case until he made friends with Jaina. No better time than the present. Of course, he had no idea what they could possibly talk about. Fencing. That was a safe topic. Or, at least, relatively safer than other topics…
"So… do you ever get nervous?"
"What?"
"Before a fencing match, do you ever get nervous?"
"No."
"Wow, that's … very confident of you."
"When you have what it takes to back it up, why not be confident?"
"Right…" he responded, then mumbled under his breath, "'Cause that's not arrogant at all…"
"Did you say something?" Jaina raised an eyebrow, but Jag had the feeling that it was a genuine question rather than a sarcastic comeback.
"No." The pitiful conversation died and they continued their work.
Okay, so it wasn't his best attempt at conversation, he conceded. But it was an attempt, and that's what counted, right? Wyn should be pleased with that.
"Why all the interest?" Huh? Was she seriously keeping this lame excuse for a civilized conversation going?
"No reason, just, you know, making conversation. And that's probably the only thing we have in common so…"
"So, it was merely an attempt to get rid of silence?"
'No, it was an attempt to keep my sister from murdering the girl I like because that's what will happen if I'm not nice to you.' "Something like that. I'm not really good at the whole small talk thing…"
"Huh, I couldn't tell," she said with an eye roll. "At least you managed to pick a good topic." They fell silent again. "Do you?"
"Do I what?"
"Get nervous?"
"Um, yeah, a little, I guess."
"Good, use it."
"Use it?"
"The adrenaline, use it."
"On Csilla, they always told us to ignore the nervousness." He leaned forward unconsciously, interested in what she had to say.
"No, that's impossible. You have to take it in and channel it to your advantage."
"All right, I could try that."
"Do or do not, there is no try."
"Huh?" Why did that sound familiar?
"My uncle, it's this weird little mantra he picked up from his mentor during the War."
"Oh, it sounded familiar."
"Do you watch Civil War documentaries?"
"No."
"Yeah, me either… um, have you ever played the video game Rogue Squadron: Civil War? He says it in that."
"That's right. Wow, I haven't played it in so long… I never figured he actually said that, though. You play?"
"Oh yeah, I have all the Rogue Squadrons. I'm obsessed."
"That's the only one I have."
"Seriously?" she leaned her elbows on the table and gave him a stare of complete incredulousness. "How can you only have one Rogue Squadron? They're the best!"
"Well, yeah, but my father isn't exactly thrilled with the idea that I love Rogue Squadron video games so much."
"Oh, yes, the Imperial Baron wouldn't be, would he? Oh well, I'm probably biased about them anyway. It's kind of hard not to be when you know the Rogues."
"You know them? All of them?" He'd met his uncle, Wedge, a total of one time, but to know all of the Rogues was something he couldn't fathom, especially in the flippant way she spoke about it.
"Every single one of them, which trust me, isn't as glamorous as people like to think."
"Those are some of the best sailors in the world."
"They are the best sailors in the world. And they know it too. They're the cockiest asses alive." The bell rang signaling the end of class, but they kept talking as they walked out.
"Well, when you have what it takes to back it up, why not be confident?"
Jaina grinned widely, this time a hint of laughter could actually be seen in her usually cold eyes. He couldn't understand why she wouldn't do that all the time. Everyone had seen her smiling in magazines and on television, but she looked even more beautiful when she did it in person – whoa, where did that come from?
"Touché, Fel, touché."
"Jaina."
"Oh, hey, Zekk." Jaina turned to look at the boy, obviously trying to keep the smile from her face and failing.
"C'mon, let's get to class."
"Zekk? Wanting to get to class early? Are you feeling all right?"
"Fine." He threw his arm around Jaina's shoulder and glared at Jag over her head. Jag looked after Zekk and Jaina. Maybe getting to know Jaina wouldn't be so bad after all. It would keep Wyn off his back and civil toward Danni and would piss Zekk off at the same time. Besides, Jaina wasn't so bad; she could actually be almost fun to hang out with, as long as she never smiled like that again. If she did… well, that would be very problematic…