Chapter 4

"NANIIIIIIIII!?!?!?!?" Filia, Amelia and Aya exclaimed at the same time. The three shocked girls stood in front of Lina in the girl's bathroom, with no one else, except them. Filia spoke first,

"Y- you . . . have a crush . . . on . . . ZELGADIS!?!?" Lina slapped her hands over her blonde hair friend.

"Not so loud!!"

"Sorry," Filia tried to calm down and keep her voice low, "but Lina, I'm sorry to say this, but out of all the guys in our school, I can't see that mute rock-face with a loud and outgoing chick like you!" Aya giggled and shook her head,

"I've said it once and I'll say it again. Love is blind." Amelia still couldn't get out of her shock mode. Her best friend knew that she had a major crush on Zelgadis and now she was trying to take him away from her?!

"And you know what I'm gonna do?" Lina tittered excitedly while the three girls shook their heads and shrugged their shoulders, asking,

"What?" Lina pointed to the ceiling, her head held high with sunshine shining down on her. She reminded Filia and Aya of Amelia when she got in the subject of how important justice and love was.

"I, Lina Inverse, am going to bake homemade cookies for my crush!!" Blank faces appeared on Filia, Amelia and Aya's faces. They knew how bad Lina's cooking was and imagined Zelgadis ending up in the hospital after one bit of Lina's cookies. "So, what do you think?" Lina asked, waiting for a good reply. Instead, the three huddled together and whispered,

"Maybe we should warn Zelgadis before?" Filia suggested.

"We could try to convince Lina to give Zelgadis something else, like a card or a homemade craft." Aya spoke in a light voice. Amelia shook her head in disagreement.

"Anything Lina tries to make in homemade style ends up in a disaster. Remember the time she glue gunned herself to the wall? And the time she put vegetable oil on a super hot pan instead of wine?"

"Oh yeah!" Filia recalled. Aya held in her laugh, so Lina wouldn't hear. "The kitchen had to get renovated after that incident!"

"Why hello there, ladies!" The four friends spun their heads to the girl's washroom window, where the happy-go-lucky Xellos was, waving his hand. Aya was the only one who waved back.

"Hi Xellos! Wuzzup?"

"Oh not--"

"XELLOS!!!!" Filia yelled in rage. She marched to the window a couple feet above her with her fists clenched. "What the hell are you doing, checking out a girl's bathroom!? You pervert!!"

"Sore wa himitsudesu (That is a secret)." Xellos smiled.

"Yeah right! How much did you listen to our conversation?" Filia folded her arms.

"Sore wa---- (That is a----)"

"Himitsudesu (Secret)!! We know!" The four girls shouted like a choir.

"Chill out! All I heard was how much Lina sucks at cooking and how she got herself stuck to a wall with a glue gun and the way she burnt the kitchen down." Flames burned wildly in Lina's background as she held her tensed hand up, ready to pound on anything.

"I suck, heh?"

"RUN!!" Aya jumped on Filia's head and dove out the window, knocking Xellos down the ladder he was standing on. Amelia took the safe route, the door. Filia got out her heavy, spiked mace and jumped out the window, darting after Xellos while Lina chased Filia and Aya with a power punch awaiting them.

Amelia ran off with her backpack and a textbook filled with papers in her arms. She didn't know if Lina was still angry or not and she didn't want to find out.

'Maybe she'll feel better at practice later today.' Amelia jolted passed the school's cement fence and made a quick turn without glancing to see her long-term crush before her. She bumped into his back with great coerce. Both of them fell to the ground.

"Oh my gosh!!! I - I - I'm so sorry!! I - I - I - didn't mean to hit you!!" Amelia didn't know why, but her hands began to tremble nervously. Zelgadis was already picking up his and Amelia's papers and books from the sidewalk. The black haired teenager began to pick up her things as well. She was so busy trying not to stare at him that their hands made contact when going for the same piece of paper. Amelia and Zelgadis raised their faces and gazed at each other for the first time. She couldn't believe it. This was the first time she's ever been this close to the mysterious young man. His eyes were deep turquoise showing much more than just a different appearance. It was like he was asking for someone to be with him. To make his loneliness disappear forever. If only she could be the one to be with him, but the moment only lasted for a minute. His cheeks blushed pink, gently hand lifted and Amelia picked up the paper. Zelgadis handed Amelia her paper and said in a low, abrasive tone,

"Next time, watch where you're going. That's what your eyes are for." The blue skinned teenager walked on without looking back.

"Eh (Huh)?" The way he talked to her stung her heart. 'Do I bother him that much? Am I . . . that annoying?" Amelia stared at the ground, holding her book close. 'I hope he didn't really mean what he said.'

Aya rollerbladed her way through the downtown shops to check out one of her favourite music stores. She dropped by at 'HMV' and toured around the renovated part of the store. They've made a new section in the CD store for selling musical instruments and song books. When she entered the heavy-metal guitar section, she heard someone playing one of the guitars beautifully. Whoever was playing, was playing very well. Aya searched the aisles to discover who was the musician. She poked her turquoise eyes in the last row and saw Amelia's blue skinned crush handling the guitar like a professional. His fingers flowed up, down and slid across the strings in perfect timing and rhythm. Aya couldn't help but come out of the spying place and watch Zelgadis with the guitar. Once he finished the song, Aya clapped enthusiastically,

"That was awesome!! I didn't know you played the guitar Zelgadis!" The blue haired teenager was surprised to find someone listening to his playing and talking to him without a bad comment.

"Uh . . . yeah . . . " Zelgadis placed the guitar back on the hanger and picked up his backpack on his way out. Aya followed him outside the store. She was determined to start off a conversation with him and see who this quiet classmate really was.

"Are you going to buy a guitar or something?"

"No. . ."

"Why not?"

"I have no money." Aya skated in front of Zelgadis and rolerbladed backwards while still talking to him.

"He, he, did your parents tell you to get a part time job too?" Aya saw him staring at the floor, trying to hide something he didn't want to talk about.

"Aya . . . " Zelgadis said as he lifted his face.

"Yeah."

"You better turn to your left."

"Huh?" Aya bumped into a garbage can and fell backwards into the smelly tin cup. Her calves and blades were the only things visible.

"Ouuuuuuuch! Zelgadi~~~s can you help me out, pleaaaaaaaase?" She swayed her feet in the air. Her classmate carefully put the garbage can on its side so Aya could crawl out. Luckily there was nothing in it yet, but it still stunk. "Arigatou.(Thank you)" Aya got herself up and placed her hand on Graywords' shoulder, smiling. "You wanna go into 'Chapters'? They have 'Starbucks' inside, I can treat you for some cappuccino, if you'd like." Zelgadis stared at the girl and thought about it. No one from his school has ever been this nice to him before. No one has ever tried to make a decent conversation or offered a treat for him. That's why he was slightly alarmed by the action as well. What if she was just doing this to trick him, and she'll be there with all her friends making fun of him. Aya wasn't the type of person to do that though . . . that's what he thought. He doesn't know much about her either. "Soooooo . . . do you wanna go?" Aya asked. Zelgadis managed a soft smile. This was the first time the blue haired girl has ever seen him smile.