My Tourniquet

|~*~|~*~|~*~|~*~|~*~|~*~|~*~|~*~| CHAPTER 3 |~*~|~*~|~*~|~*~|~*~|~*~|~*~|~*~|

Orb Capital, Fall CE 70

So far, Cagalli was proving to more than just a handful than they could ever imagine. Sure, granted, she was smart and fun to be around like Kira was, but her mean streak was too much at times. Somewhere in the beginning of the semester, among all their conversations, it slipped out that Flay and Kira were once an item and it ended badly. That was all that the fierce blonde needed to wreck havoc on the red-head.

And so began the longest, craziest string of pranks in the history of Orb Prep Academy.

"Cagalli, let's go already!" Lacus called impatiently, still patting her hair dry with a fluffy pink towel. The two were still in the shower room with Lacus waiting at the entrance for Cagalli. She claimed to have left something in her locker, but Lacus seriously beginning to doubt that. Cagalli was forgetful, true; however, it shouldn't take her six minutes to retrieve a forgotten thing.

Finally the girl hurried out of the showers, zipping her pack shut. And there was that indisputably coy grin on her face.

"Cagalli, what did you do this time?" Lacus asked nervously.

Her friend waved a dismissive hand. "Nothing, Lacus. Don't be so paranoid. Now let's hurry or we'll be late!"

"It's just a Student Government meeting," Lacus reminded her. "Not class. Or are Yzak and Dearka that cute?"

Amber eyes narrowed. "Ew, Lacus. No way. Athrun was sitting in and he had the book for my next class."

Again, Cagalli's blonde moments at work. She left her law textbook behind in a class and Athrun happened to pick it up for her. Athrun was right: Cagalli was more high maintenance than her twin ever was. Lacus's mind slipped back to Kira as they walked towards the Student Government room. It had been some time since they heard from him. Flay had already made it apparent she hadn't heard from him since last year either in the form of one of her fits.

The brat had stormed up to their table at lunch, demanding to see Kira. It took most of lunch to convince her that Kira hadn't enrolled at the school or anywhere else they knew. No one could see why she cared, considering she spent much of her time hanging off DeAnderick's arm. It was a new running joke that his association with Flay Allster led to his failure to win the seat of Student Government President. In fact, he failed miserably against Yzak and the older candidates.

Suddenly, a couple of screams echoed down the hall, forcing Lacus to jump out of her daze. She, along with all the students in the hallway, turned and glanced down the hall where the showers were. Lacus whirled around and gawked at a shaking Cagalli. And she was trying so hard not to laugh.

"What did you do?" Lacus whispered anxiously.

"That depends," was all she got before Cagalli pulled her down the hallway quickly.

Dye. In the shampoo. Lacus couldn't believe, and yet did, that Cagalli would pull some stunt like that off. Meer's pink locks were now horribly streaked with blue while a sulking Flay's red hair was now tinged with an awful green. Most of the students found the prank hysterical. For a majority of the class, the students kept casting glances back at the poor brats before lapsing into a fit of giggles. About 25 minutes into the lecture of African history, Meer stood up screaming yet again in a frenzy of brushing herself off. Flay soon joined her.

"What is going on?" Mrs. Aisha Waltfeld demanded. A couple other girls shrieked and jumped up. A moment later Lacus and Miriallia saw why. A couple of little white feeder mice were scurrying away. Lacus knelt down and scooped up the poor critters before they were stepped on and sighed. Cagalli was definitely in over her head this time.

Miriallia leaned over and whispered, "Where does she get these crazy ideas?"

Lacus giggled, "I have no clue."

The brunette giggled, too. After a few minutes of chaos, the class was finally settled down. Lacus announced she had the mice and Mrs. Waltfeld dismissed her so the mice could be returned to the science lab.

After a mouse-disturbed class, the girls weaved their way through the crowds to the cafeteria where the guys all waited. Athrun was busy finishing an assignment while Tolle and Dearka were messing around as teen-male culture dictated they do. Shiho fell into the seat next to Cagalli soon after.

"I hate philosophy," she grumbled. "People over think too much. Guys, watch it." Tolle and Dearka paused when she nodded towards the corner of the cafeteria. A couple teachers who played lunch time monitors. One did not attend Orb Prep Academy just to fool around, even on break times. The two boys sighed and settled for drawing awful doodles on their homework.

Athrun finally shoved his books into his bag. "So what did you do this time, Cagalli? Rumors are flying."

The blonde grinned. "Why would you assume I did anything? Flay's just nuts."

He only rolled his eyes. So help him, her wild personality was just one of many things he adored about Cagalli. A moment later, his amused expression turned into a laughing one. "I can't believe you did that!"

"Flay never looked better," Dearka agreed. Shiho turned around and swiftly looked away, snickering as well.

6 Months Later:

"I really miss the colorful hair do," Cagalli giggled, referring to round two of the hair coloring which took place only last week, this time, by another's hand. "Maybe I should use permanent dye next time?"

Athrun chuckled. "Cagalli!"

"I hope they both trip and fall into their lunch," Cagalli seethed, glaring at the red and pink haired harpies strutting through the cafeteria.

"Now, now, Cagalli, there's only so far your pranks can go," Lacus said softly.

"Come on, Lacus," her blonde friend whined, "they deserve everything they get. Mice or messed up hair. Besides, that's the main entertainment for the class!"

Lacus didn't say anything more. There was just no convincing Cagalli otherwise. Instead, she switched topics. "Is everyone attending the charity ball?"

Cagalli immediately grimaced at the mention of 'ball'. Then suddenly that sour look morphed into delight. "Wait, I just remembered something about that. It's been cancelled!"

"Cancelled? The Annual Charity Ball?" Lacus exclaimed.

"My father said something about an international leaders meeting taking place here in Orb. I guess a couple of countries are trying to pick a fight and Orb's trying to help prevent that from erupting. But anyhow, it overlapped the silly ball so they just cancelled it." Cagalli grinned at her good fortune. Being the Head Representative's daughter often required her to attend some awfully boring and tedious events.

"I heard about that from my father," Athrun replied. "I'm not quite sure why they're cancelling it. It must be bad if they couldn't reschedule it. It's kind of disappointing."

Yzak grimaced. Formal balls meant tight stuffy clothes and old people chattering and girls swooning. "I think they just couldn't get the people needed to work on it on time plus the budget was messed up. So they said next year."

Half the table sighed. "That's a little lame," Miriallia criticized. "It's such an important event for the petitioning organization. I thought the ball was for the Children's Medical Fund this year? It's horrible to throw that aside like that."

Lacus nodded, "I agree. That's a lot of funding they're not going to be getting that they need."

"Another weekend free for other things, on the brighter side," Yzak said. "Anyone have their summer plans yet?"

"No idea," was the universal reply. For a minute each mulled over the wide selection of summer fun. Miriallia offered her grandmother's summer cabin on an eastern island where they had a few horses and a hot spring. Cagalli recommended checking out the big country side fair mid-summer. Apparently, some friends from her last school were part of a rock band and where playing there. Nicol looked interested in checking out the band before then. Lacus thought some girls' only night overs would be a definite blast. The boys came up with yacht trips and beach fun. Of course, it was Shiho who brought up the National Celebration Ball that would be the event of the year hands down. Orb would be celebrating its 250th anniversary as an independent nation.

Nicol tucked the list away as the lunch bell rang, signaling their next final. Summer was almost there.