Read After the Fact (Bookworms and Booya #2) Page 13

  ~*~

  ...BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP--

  I groaned and smacked off the alarm. Too early. Stretching, I rubbed my eyes with the backs of my hands.

  Knock-knock

  “Who is it?” I yawned, lowering my hands from my face.

  “It's Selphie, Sally. Open up.”

  I pushed off the blanket--I don't remember pulling that on--and swung my legs over the bed to push myself to a wobbly stand. Then I made my way to the door and opened it, blinking into the bright hallway.

  “Hello,” I yawned.

  Selphie giggled. “Zell was right. You were wiped out from the exam yesterday.”

  Wide-awake. “Zell?”

  “Yeah. He came to get you for the announcement of the results for the field exam. He said you were sleeping and that we should go on without you.”

  I looked down. Sure enough, I still wore my SeeD candidate uniform from the previous day. “Oh. Oops.”

  Selphie giggled again. “Don't worry about it. I just came over to say--” I raised my eyes “--You passed! You're going to graduate!”

  My mouth dropped open. Selphie wrapped me in a hug. “I passed?”

  Selphie pulled back. “Of course you passed, Sally. You guys did great!”

  “I passed.” My voice sounded dumbfounded.

  “OK, OK.” Selphie gestured back inside my room. “You're excused from work today, so get showered and changed and have a blast on your day off. I'll let you know when those of you who passed this field exam get your diplomas from Squall. See you later.” Selphie closed the door behind her.

  I stood in the middle of the room in distracted muddlement before going through the motions of showering and changing. Once dressed in sweatpants and a t-shirt, I blinked and--“Zell!”

  Grabbing his Ergheiz gloves, I dove for the door, barely taking the time to close it behind me before jogging down the halls and heading for the Training Center. When I got there, he wasn't in the main lobby. I entered the right door and searched, moving with hurried steps.

  “Zell?” I called.

  Zell wasn't in the first section, so I moved onto the next. No one. I made my way to the 'forbidden area' where couples usually stayed after hours. Zell leaned against the wall, arms crossed against the top of it as he stared out at Garden and its backdrop of a purple and pink sunrise.

  I hesitated a moment before stepping up beside him.

  Zell looked over at me and smiled. “Hey.”

  “Hi,” I greeted softly as I examined his expression. “I'm sorry I'm late.”

  Turning to lean his back against the wall, Zell crossed his arms as he stared down at the ground. “No prob.” He adjusted his arms. “I heard you kicked butt.”

  I flushed. “I did all right,” I whispered. Then I looked down at his gloves in my hand.

  “I knew you could do it, Sally.”

  I smoothed the knuckles of the gloves. “Believe it or not, so did I. I was scared, sure, but I knew I could get it done.”

  “That's my girl,” he said in a quiet voice.

  I smiled--warm fuzzies attack!--and then looked up as I held the gloves out to him. “It was like having you coaching me.”

  Zell took in a deep breath and released it fast, finally looking over at me. To my surprise, he stepped forward and enfolded me in a tight embrace. Then Zell pulled back, his hands on my upper arms as he met my gaze. “I couldn't believe I was stressing! I mean, I'd trained you. I knew you could do it without a problem, but I stressed anyway. And it felt as if someone kicked me in the gut.”

  I looked up into his very serious blue expression and smiled. “I don't think I want to be known as the girl that stressed out Zell Dincht,” I said quietly.

  The seriousness melted to a smile. “Hey, I stress. I just don't make it a habit.”

  “Oh,” I responded, and my lips twitched upward.

  Zell continued to smile down at me. Then he gave me a slow, gentle kiss and drew me tight against him. “I'm glad you're safe, Sally.”

  Squeezing my eyes shut, I brought my arms up to hold him close. “So am I, Zell,” I whispered. “So am I.”