Bookworms and... Booya! (book 1)

face the consequences with a stiff upper lip. Well, I was going to do my best anyway.

  Whenever I was tempted to run back to my dorm room and hide under the bed, I just remembered the previous day's training session with Zell and what he'd said. ‘It's all in the focus and doing what you know your body can do. You've got a lot of muscle tone here because of working out. Now you just need to focus that.' I could do it. He'd said I could and then proved it.

  I'd proved it myself.

  I nodded and pushed up from the wall, forcing myself to straighten and walk without a wobble. Very nearly, anyway. A few students passed while sending me sidelong glances, whispering amongst themselves once I'd walked by. I probably looked a little yellow. Maybe everyone knew about how bad I did on the Fire Cavern? Maybe there was a pool going whether I'd fail miserably, or barely pass, or just barely fail. Who knew? Who cared. I was going to do my best. Then I would ask Zell out on a date.

  Really. I am.

  Swear.

  I released a deep breath, following the circular walkway around past the parking lot and the Training Center and the library, and then I headed down the main corridor to the outside gates and the beginning of my doom and destiny. Tough situations suck. Zell probably saw them as fun. I wonder how he does that? It would be nice to have his secret, so that I could do the same thing. I'd have to ask when we went out.

  I am going to ask.

  Promise.

  Selphie lifted her arm high in the air, giving a hop as she waved at me with a bright smile. She was dressed in her SeeD uniform, she'd always liked it better than anything else, while I had dressed in my normal SeeD candidate uniform. Well, almost normal anyway. I was wearing the slacks instead of the skirt, due to the fact that kicks and backflips were easier in the former rather than the latter.

  "Good morning, Sally," Selphie greeted. "Are you ready?"

  I nodded. "As ready as I'll ever be."

  Selphie motioned for us to head on out of the Garden. She sent me a sidelong glance. "You forget anything?"

  "Nope." I was junctioned to the hilt. Well, as good as a SeeD candidate could be with just one GF. But I really liked Shiva. Probably because she was the only girl GF that was ‘aggressive'.

  "What about your staff?"

  Zell hadn't told her. He'd probably wanted her to be shocked off her keister so that he could laugh at the story when I told it. Hey. I could tell him on our date. I was going to ask. "I don't use the staff anymore," I told her quietly, with a sidelong glance to her face just so that I could see her expression and tell Zell with as much detail as possible.

  She blinked and stopped, turning to face me with a look of amazement that bordered on shocked disbelief and suspicion. "I’m sorry, what?"

  I gnawed the inside of my lip a moment before facing her. I picked at a fingernail. "I don't use--"

  "I heard that. Why not?"

  I cleared my throat. "It wasn't right for me."

  "What are you talking about?"

  I peeked up at her. Disbelief and confusion battled in her face and eyes. I lowered my gaze to the ground. "Zell said--"

  "Oh you're kidding!" Selphie shook her head. "You can't change your proficiency in the middle of the term without talking to your Instructor."

  I cringed. I'd been so afraid of that. My throat tightened and my eyes teared up.

  "Come on. We better go talk to Squall."

  I fell into step a little behind. "I'm sorry, Selphie."

  "It's not your fault, Sally. Zell should've known better." She shook her head again. "I hope we don't have to postpone your test. I had high hopes for you this time."

  So did I.

  We made our way through the main gate and down the corridor and up the stairs to the elevator, taking it to the third floor. Squall stood by the secondary elevator talking to Zell.

  "She's a natural, Squall," Zell was saying, "so I totally spaced talking to Selphie--" He saw us come in and grinned. "Hey, Meg. Selph. ‘Sup?"

  Then he saw the irritated expression on Selphie's face and the droop to my own expression. His grin vanished.

  "Aw man," he said as he kicked at an imaginary rock. Zell lowered his head and shoulders. They immediately lifted as he took a step toward the approaching Selphie with outstretched hands that pleaded with her to understand. "I was gonna tell you, Selph," he insisted. "Swear. I just forgot."

  Selphie, fists on hips, stood toe-to-toe with the scrapper. "Well, it's a little late now, isn't it? I probably have to postpone her test until after the end of the term, and then she won't be able to graduate!"

  I sunk my head lower, not wanting to see the guilt on Zell's face. I didn't blame him at all. I blamed myself. I should have talked to Selphie after class. Walking around with my head in the clouds had put it right out of my mind.

  "Aw come on, Selph. You don't have to do that," Zell complained. "Squall, tell her. It's my fault, not Sally's. She shouldn't get in trouble for me not telling you."

  "Calm down, guys," Squall said as he stretched out his hands in a calming motion. "You're not helping anything." He moved his focus to Selphie. "Do you have any other scheduled classes or exams today? Any other students needing to test in the Fire Cavern?"

  "That's not the point," Selphie argued.

  "Selphie," Squall said, "just answer the question."

  She sighed. Some of the irritation deflated. "Sally's the only test in the Fire Cavern, and I don't have written exams until this afternoon."

  Squall nodded before looking over at Zell and motioning to Selphie. "Okay then, Zell. Tell her why you're changing Sally's weapon." Then Squall stepped forward, gesturing for me to follow him from the office. "Let's go wait downstairs, Sally."

  I gave a slight nod, peeking over at Zell as he rubbed the back of his neck while trying to figure out where to start the explanation. Then I gave a sigh and followed after Commander Squall.

  The elevator door closed, and he pushed the button for the first floor. He looked over at me. "You'll take the Fire Cavern test today, Sally. Selphie just doesn't like it when Zell does things like this without telling her."

  I nodded morosely. "It's fine if I don't. It was my fault. I should have told her yesterday during class."

  Cmdr. Squall waved it aside. "It doesn't matter whose fault it is. Garden is about the students and not the rules. You should get every chance possible to make it to graduation. And you should get every chance to be at your best. That's all Zell wanted, more than likely. He saw something wrong and fixed it." Cmdr. Squall chuckled and very slightly smiled. "Now if he could just remember to tell everyone else."

  I sent the Commander a sidelong glance. "He's not in trouble, is he?"

  Cmdr. Squall's slight smile remained as he looked over at me. The elevator dinged, letting us off at the ground floor. "No, he's not in trouble. He came to tell me about the switch as soon as he remembered that's what he had to do."

  I changed my gaze back to the floor as we descended the steps and came to stand by the Garden Directory. "Good."

  "Don't worry about Selphie, either. She stays angry shorter than Zell does. They'll probably come down the elevator laughing about Quis or me and something stupid we did as kids. Who knows?" The elevator shot back up. Cmdr. Squall looked over at it. "See? I bet that's them now."

  I raised my eyes, waiting with clenched hands for the elevator to come down and show Zell's laughing face rather than his gloomy one. I didn't like to see him gloomy.

  "Good luck today," Cmdr. Squall said. Then he moved away toward the Infirmary.

  I absently nodded as I continued to stare at the elevator shaft, still empty–-It zoomed down and opened to reveal Selphie and Zell talking intently amongst themselves. Then the door opened and they stepped out, Zell saying one thing more before looking up to give me a salute and a slight tip of the head. Then he moved down the stairs to the Infirmary the same as Squall. Selphie descended the stairs with a quirky smile. Then she motioned for me to follow after her.

  "Come on. Let's go have
some fun and beat this Fire Cavern. OK?"

  I nodded with a hesitant smile as we left the Garden.

  ❛ ❤ ❜

  "You beat Squall's record!" Selphie exclaimed as we jogged out of the Fire Cavern.

  I stopped, resting my hands on my knees as I bent over and tried to calm my heart rate. "What?" I asked absently.

  "Your time, your time!" she repeated with several quick hops. "You beat Squall's time!" She clapped her hands and gave a delighted giggle.

  I stared up at her in shock, my mouth wide. "You're kidding."

  She shook her head with a bright smile. "I'm serious."

  I straightened and covered my mouth with my hands as my wide eyes stared at her. I beat--no way. I lowered my hands and gave a high jump with a loud "yes!"

  "Wait until Zell and Squall hear about this!" Selphie said with another giggle.

  We ran back toward the Garden, and I couldn't resist another pinch. It hurt and I grinned. "I can't believe this is happening."

  "Believe it. I have the time written down to prove it." She looked over at me with a smile. "Zell was right. You are a natural."

  I flushed. "It's just because he's a good--"

  "No. It's because you're good, Sally. Accept it."

  I'm good. I smiled. I'm good. It was nice to finally be out from under the looming doom of the Fire Cavern and have the expectancy of the field exam and graduation. Graduation. Finally. My throat tightened, and I sniffed.

  Selphie slowed me to a walk, wrapping an arm around my shoulders. "Congrats, Sally. You passed. I knew you could do it."

  I nodded and sniffed again. "So did Zell. I was the only one that needed to