Chapter 1: Selphie
Chapter 1-Selphie
In a classroom on the second floor, Selphie sat there alone poking away at the keyboard. She currently was updating the Garden festival page with pictures uploaded from the camera, which contained last week's party celebrating the vanquishing of the sorceress Adel. It also mentioned the news of a meeting for all people interested in becoming a member of the garden festival committee for next year. The dark empty second level floor was slightly illuminated by the screen in front of her. Outside, on the other hand, portrayed a different story. It was warm and clear. Everyone was enjoying the beautiful weather on the outer decks. But lately she tried to keep herself busy because it was easier to bury herself in work then to think about her dear departed friends from Tribia. With her final touches uploaded, Selphie sat staring blankly at the screen. 'What date should the first garden festival committee meeting be? Not that many people would give up their Friday nights or weekends. The next day would be Monday the 15 of... July... my... birthday.' Selphie started to remember some of her past birthdays filled with friends and Tribia Garden. 'How will I get through my birthday without them? It is the first time there will be no Kim's burnt cake or Nula's attempt to sing or... Simone.' Selphie started to tear up at the thought of being without them, especially Simone. Simone was her first and only boyfriend and best friend after she left the orphanage. And now that he?s dead... When she was with her friends at Balamb she did not miss them as much. Keeping herself busy gave her no time to think of the pain. So she decided that it would be better to keep herself busy on her birthday so she typed in July 15 into the screen.
From a distance she heard someone skipping down the hall and heading towards the classroom she was in. She wiped away the tears just in case the person was coming in her direction. Soon a tall figure holding a box stood in the doorway and headed in her direction. She did not even have to look at him to know it was Irvine. He had been visiting her more and more often. Selphie knew he had feelings for her but she was not ready for a relationship yet. She hoped that if she could spurn his attempts to ask her that it would postpone it until she cold straiten out her own feelings. It would be wrong of her to enter a relationship when she could not get over another one. She knew that he would come and look over her shoulder so she decided to play a joke on him. She changed the current screen to a fake page entitled Garden's Gossip and Rumors. As she expected he quietly snuck up on her and was looking over her shoulder to figure out what she was working on. It was obvious that he saw the picture of him looking foolish and hitting on Quistis from the party because Selhie could see his reflection in the screen when his jaw dropped.
"You know a bug could fly right in there?" Selphie pointed out to the agape Irvine.
"How did you know I was here?... Wh.. what is this!?" Irvine asked Selphie as he pointed to the byline saying 'Reports and rumors gathered from
Galbadia Garden tell us that Irvine is a horrible drunk.'
"Keep reading" Selphie said with smile. Since she was the one to write this fake page she knew that it only got better from there. She could hear Irvine mumbling the words to himself and stammering along the way. His eyes would get wider and he started to turn pale. When he read the last lines which read "Got Ya Irvy Kinneas! Next times don?t rudely read over my shoulder. If you wanna read just ask." With a look of relief he pretended to laugh and said, "I..I knew it from the start that you were just pulling my leg."
"Sure you did" said Selphie trying to keep a strait face. With a few touches of the screen she deleted the fake page and brought up the real one. "Now what did you come here for?"
"I came to ask if you wanted to take a break from that computer to enjoy a picnic I had made up for us so we could enjoy the beautiful day." Irvine turned around and walked to the windows. He pulled the blinds to look outside at the beautiful weather.
"Is everyone else going?" Selphie asked in hopes she would not have to spend time alone with Irvine out of fear of leading him on.
"Everyone?"
"Yeah, Squall, Rinoa, Quistis and Zell?"
"Well,... You see, Selphie... Squall and Rinoa are having some problems, I saw Zell leave this morning to visit his mother, and Quistis... I couldn't find her so it's just you and me." he move back to Selphie and placed his hands on her shoulders. "Common, it's beautiful out there and it would be such a waste to sit inside all day." Irvine guided Selphie to the window to see the beautiful scenery.
"Well,... okay. Where are we going?"
"Why not here? Everywhere else is so crowded. We probably would not get a table even if we tried in the cafeteria."
'Alone, with Irvine?' Selphie wanted to be in the most populated place so nothing serious could happen."I thought you wanted to go 'enjoy the outdoors'? Plus it is against the rules to eat in the classrooms... I know what! Let's eat in the main hall. It is not crowded and the running water is peaceful. An if we run into one of our friends they will be able to join us. Get the basket and let's go!" Selphie left quickly so Irvine could not reject the idea.
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