Hello Again!

I'm back with the first of many installments of Fashion Revolution.

I don't really have much to say which is lucky for you readers. You can just get to reading.

I do not own Final Fantasy VIII or any of it's wonderful characters.

The day started out as any other bad day would. I woke up late, tripped over the mess in my bedroom while getting dressed and even accidentally put salt in my coffee instead of sugar. As soon as I stepped out the door to go to school, some asshole on the road drove by and splashed me with the puddle made by the rainfall the night before. With my school uniform soaked, I turned to go back inside, only to realize that I had locked my keys inside the house. I wouldn't be able to get back inside until later tonight when my Dad came home from work. So I started walking, sopping wet, to school.

It was a good thing that nothing else happened until I got to school, because I wasn't sure if I would be able to survive a run-in with an SUV. But when a bird flew too close to my head, I ducked and covered my head with my arms. It would only count as bad luck if the bird pooped while flying over me, or if people saw me and thought I was a retard. But, after a quick poop-check of my outfit and a people-scan of the street I realized that I was safe. Nobody was around and I wouldn't have bird crap all over me today.

It took me my usual twenty minutes to walk to school, and before I even stepped on school property I knew that I shouldn't. Just skip the whole day and go home-despite my lack of keys. Sitting on my front porch for ten hours would be better than going to school and sitting through a whole days worth of torture. What is so torturous about school, you may ask? I'll tell you.

Seifer and his current treat of the week were standing in the parking lot beside his black shiny new SUV, arguing again. Seifer only dated 'somebody's' around the school; the captain of the girls soccer team, the tennis star, even the top of the drama class. This girl? She was head of the student counsel; she recited all of the morning announcements on televised broadcasts that reached all over the school. Right now, her eyes were red and puffy, tears streamed down her face, ruining her perfect make-up job. In a way, I felt sorry for her… But that's what happens when you date the great Seifer Almasy.

Ever since JK, Seifer was the most popular guy in class. But as he grew older, his reign spread to the grade, then eventually the school. When we graduated from elementary school and into middle school, kids from other schools knew who he was, so again; instant popularity. Everything got worse in high school when his Dad got this huge promotion at work and they struck it rich. Seifer had everything. Girls, money, popularity… But I have never seen him with a smile on his face… It made me wonder if he was ever happy.

I however remained practically nameless throughout my years of schooling. Seifer and I were friends for about a week or two in JK, until he realized how popular he could be. Even as a kid, he dropped me like a rock. But, that's when I met Squall. Squall and Zell, Best Friends Forever! I know, I sound like a total girl, but shut up. We're still friends now! Although, he has a girlfriend named Rinoa whom he met in sophomore year, who introduced us to Irvine and Selphie. Now we control the school from behind the scenes.

Irvine is a babe-magnet. And since girls practically control the school, he knows his way around pretty well. Selphie is energetic. She's on almost every sports team you could imagine. Don't' underestimate her size, because she'll kick your ass for looking at her the wrong way. She is our intimidation, actually. Rinoa is the negotiator. She is such a smooth talker… She talks us out of trouble when we get caught in our little schemes. Squall and I simply do whatever we planned. Mostly we smuggle stuff into school. Counterfeit student cards, library cards, hall passes… We even hack the school computers, sometimes. Oh yeah, we're badass.

Anyways, back to the Seifer situation; Last time he broke up with Stacia—captain of the tennis team—Selphie had to play her during practice… And then she was rushed to the hospital with a concussion when Stacia hit her over the head with the tennis ball. These girls get wild and dangerous after Seifer breaks up with them… I really didn't want to be around when the student-body goes into chaos because of Seifer and his broken hearted ex-girlfriend. I stepped backward, trying to get out of sight of the school before one of my friends decided to show up and drag me inside, but that's when someone linked their arm in mine and started dragging me forward. I sighed, looking up at the familiar face of Irvine.

But almost as soon as he linked his arm through mine, he unlinked it, flicking it in the air as if it would get the water out of his sleeve. He turned to look at me, a disapproving frown spread over his handsome face. "You are aware that showers are meant to be taken with your clothes off, right Zell?"

I rolled my eyes, patting Irvine's shoulder. Of course my uniform was still wet from that stupid guy in his cavalier. "Bad day…" I muttered, not exactly wanting to explain. When I saw realization in his features, I continued. "And it's about to get worse. Seifer and Amanda are at it again."

"Amanda… Amanda…? Oh! That student counsel girl! Ah-hah! She's quite fun." Irvine grinned at some memory I was sure he wasn't about to tell me. "Hmm, you were trying to skip out today, but did you forget our math test?" That's when the brunette grabbed my hand and dragged me along, despite my kicking and screaming.

"Who needs math anyways?" I asked, fishing through my locker for my first period English binder. "It's not like we use it every day, anyways!"

"I do." Irvine replied, leaning against the locker next to mine. He never used a locker, and just carries everything around in his book bag. He pointed past me, to where two blond girls were standing. "See those girls? Subtract their boyfriends, add me, multiply that by he amount of money I their bank accounts—" I hoped he was joking. "—and if that's an answer I like, we'll see how he numbers look when we add a bed and subtract our clothes."

As he laughed, I rolled my eyes, closing my locker. "Those are big words for a virgin."

Irvine stopped laughing; swiftly looking around in case anyone had heard me. As soon as he was satisfied that nobody had, he glared at me. "Oh, so Blondie's got jokes, now!"

This time I laughed, watching a tinge of pink touch his cheekbones. He was the only one in our group who was a virgin. Selphie and I shared our first time together. W weren't together, but we were the kind of friends who wanted to see if it could evolve into anything more… But it didn't. And Squall and Rinoa? They claim that they haven't done anything, but since they've been together for two and a half years, nobody believes them. Plus, we see the way they look at each other when they think we're not watching.

I watched Irvine push himself up off of the locker he was leaning on and start walking towards the stairs, noticing the fact that I was finished digging for my books. I knew how much it bugged Irvine that he was still a virgin, but I could do nothing but joke about it. When he's in a good mood, he may even joke around with you… I guess I struck a nerve, today. I started to follow Irvine after giving him a small head start. He'd wait if he wasn't too mad at me. I didn't get to see if he stopped, because Selphie distracted me by tackling me into a hug.

Despite our failed love attempt, we're still amazingly close. I don't know if she finds it awkward at all, but if she does, she doesn't show it. I for one, don't feel awkward about it at all, unless we're watching a movie and some romantically climactic scenes coarse through it. I stumbled backward, but managed to stay on my feet. "There you are! I was wondering where you were." Selphie usually meets Irvine and me at my locker, because she is in my English class.

She grinned, flashing her perfectly straight white teeth. It was that devilish grin that told me where she was. She was in the parking lot, watching the scene between Seifer and Amanda. Selphie has had a thing for Seifer every since she first laid eyes on him. She always loved watching his relationships with other girls fail. Tat's when she said her punch line… She said it every time Seifer broke up with his treat of the week. "That's one more girl down before he chooses me!"

I couldn't argue with her. Hell, at least she's optimistic.

By the time I looked over her shoulder and up at Irvine, he was halfway up the staircase. I frowned at him, only to hear Selphie ask; "What's his problem?"

"His virginity."

"Ah, must be eating him alive" She replied sarcastically, rolling her eyes.

Because Selphie said that, my imagination kicked in. I pictured a giant blue blob of gloop, and it was clearly labelled 'virginity'. I'm lacking in the imagination department, so. yeah. I watched as the giant blob swallowed a little version of Irvine. Oh man, it was hilarious to me! So, I burst out laughing. Selphie gave me a weird look, and I was going to explain it to her, but… You'd have to be inside my head to be able to understand anything that goes on.

Anyway, English class was a total waste of time. W were supposed to be working on our stupid essays, but nobody did. Instead, we sat around and talked. It turned out that Selphie started a game called "Selphie Says". Just like "Simon Says" but more fun. Everyone was ordered to give her al the pennies in their wallets, run down he stairs, outside and grab her a leaf, and even do a handstand. Because our teacher tells us what to do then leaves the classroom, we just have fun. The class after that was gym. We played football. Nothing that happened was worth mentioning. Except that I scored half the goals for my team! Think I should try out for the team? Nah. But, I was happy to see Amanda, bright eyed and bushy tailed over the televised announcement system. I thought she and Seifer made up or something, but I learned otherwise when I walked to our usual table in the lunchroom.

"Amanda says she convinced Seifer to let her keep all of the nice things he bought her. Turns out she was only in it for the money." Rinoa explained. She had second period with Amanda. I think it was Law, or something.

Selphie huffed, crossing her arms over her chest. "I would never do that to him! Can't he see that?"

Squall shook his head, rolling his eyes, just as I sat down between him and Selphie. "Ugh, why would you want to date him, anyways? That's just so wrong…"

"Because! Underneath his hard-ass shell, there is something beautiful… I just know it!"

Rinoa exchanged sarcastic glances, then we both burst out laughing. Seifer and beautiful should never he used in the same sentence, unless it was something along the lines of; "Seifer likes to date beautiful women." Or, "There is nothing beautiful about Seifer Almasy."

Our laughter was interrupted by Irvine, when he ran into the lunchroom and slammed his hands down on our table, making Selphie jump and drop her apple onto the floor. He was completely out of breath, but he held a goofy grin on his face. I was happy to see that he was feeling better about himself. "What's up, Irv?" Rinoa asked, her tone bright and cheerful.

"Seifer… Announcement… Behind gym…" As Irvine huffed out his words, I held up my unopened water bottle for him, which he gratefully accepted. He downed half of it in about six seconds, handed me back the bottle and wiped his mouth. "Thanks." He muttered, before he went off to telling his huge announcement. "Seifer has something to say to the entire student body. He is making some big announcement behind the gym like, right now! Raijin and Fuujin were talking about it in the hallway beside his locker. He set up someone to distract Amanda while he televises everyone to meet him back there."

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Selphie asked, standing up quickly, disregarding her half eaten lunch. "Let's get a head start back there. I want a good seat!"

"There are no chairs behind the gym, Selphie."

"Shut up, Squall. Nobody likes a smart-ass."

"I do!" Rinoa said as she herself stood up, picking up her lunch tray, picking up Squall's, then she laughed a little. She slowly walked over to the garbage can a few tables away, dumped her lunch in and walked back to the table. She looked over at Selphie as I was standing up, and then I saw her roll her eyes. "Well, we'd better go. Selphie looks like she's about to pee herself with excitement."

Again, every author loves feedback on their stories. Plus, they will always be rewarded with my own personal love. haha. Aaanyways, until chapter two, Loves!