Author's Note: This was my first attempt at FFVIII, and likely to be the last; I wouldn't want to damage it any further, after all. It's at last being continued after so much time, and though I'm going through what was written for minor changes, it'll mostly stay the same; this is one piece of writing that I am surprisingly happy with. As always, feedback is appreciated.

Disclaimer: Default Standard Disclaimers Apply. You know the drill.

Cram Session

The world had, but a few short weeks before, been narrowly saved from disaster by a group of SeeDs. And now, a number of those same SeeDs may prove to be the destruction of the world they fought to save.

The cause?

A missed test. The semester Final, to be exact.

While Squall and the others were fighting to save humanity, lessons at Garden had gone on, for the most part, as usual. For obvious reasons, Squall and company couldn't very well take the test while doing so, much less study for it. So when the news of the make-up test was recieved, it was met with varying reactions.

Rinoa and Irvine had nothing to do with it, as neither of them were SeeDs to begin with.

Quistis had been given back her teaching liscense, and thus was the one giving the test and not taking it.

Selphie was more clever than most give her credit for, and had seen the make-up date posted early. She studied off-and-on for several days, and since she could easily pass the test, she spent her spare time in the Quad, with Irvine, or planning what to do over the upcoming break (starting Tuesday).

Rajin and Fujin weren't SeeDs yet either, so they didn't have to take the test.

Squall, Zell, and Seifer, (who had recently been readmitted, also with varying reactions) however, were out of luck.

The test was Monday, 8:00 AM. Zell found the information posted at 10:05 AM, Sunday morning. Reaction was swift.

"SQUALLLLLLLL!"

Zell beat his fists franticly on the door to Squall's dorm room. It was locked, of course- Squall tried to sleep in when he could afford it, and Sunday was one of those times. "Squall! Open up, man!" He was about to begin another barrage on the helpless door when it unexpectedly opened. As a result, Zell fell forward and onto the floor at Squall's feet.

"Did you want something?" Zell scrambled to his feet to face his dripping host. Apparently, Squall had just taken a shower. This was evidenced by his wet hair, quickly-becoming-wet shirt, and lack of his jacket. All of this was lost on Zell, who, in his hysteria, grabbed Squall's arms in a painful grip.

"TEST!"

Squall merely looked at him in faint confusion. "I assume there's more, unless you've suddenly become Fujin. What test?" Zell started to shake Squall back and forth, as if to shake the knowlege into him. "THE Test! The Make-Up Test! The FINAL Test!"

"...what?"

Taking a deep breath, Zell tried to speak slower. "The Make-Up Final. It's Monday."

"WHAT!"

Now Squall grabbed Zell's arms, while Zell still clutched his own. Zell was surprised at the reaction. Squall didn't shout, or be surprised, and he certainly never grabbed onto you. "I take it you didn't study either?" Whatever Squall might have answered was cut off by an amused chuckle, coming from the direction of the doorway.

"Did I...interrupt anything?"

Zell and Squall suddenly realized what they must look like, and jumped away from each other with a guilty start. Zell started stammering out some kind of explanation. "W-well, it's not what-" Seifer didn't care for the explanation. He chuckled again, saying, "Well, well. Chicken-wuss and Puberty Boy. I never would've guessed you two would get togeth-"

"The Make-Up Final is on Monday."

In the ensuing shocked silence, argument, and emergency strategy meeting, they arrived at one solution: they would study. They would study non-stop until Monday morning. Roughly twenty hours of cramming. This was going to be brutal.

"Ok..." Seifer sighed, "so, where are we gonna hold this? The Library closes after Lights Out, and I have no intention of being in Squall's dorm with you two after dark." Zell bristled at the implied insult, but calmed after realizing Seifer was in the same boat they were, and thus the insult was less than half-hearted. Squall, being used to ignoring Seifer's comments, was doing most of the planning. "Then the only other place would be the Training Center. I suppose the Secret Area would do."

There was a moment of silent contemplation. Surprisingly, Seifer was the one to break it.

"We're going to need a lot of coffee."

Eventually, they decided they were going to need more than just coffee, and missions were assigned as needed. Seifer was to raid the Cafeteria for snacks, Squall would locate and appropriate lamps, paper, pencils, and the caffeine. Zell was dispatched to the Library to get the books. With the help of the cute pigtailed Librarian, of course.

At 10:45, Zell dashed into the Library, managing to not only startle the library's occupants, but also to narrowly miss colliding into a few of them. A hurried, if vague, explanation later, and the librarian helped Zell locate and check out a veritable mountain of books. There was a check-out limit, but this was solved when Zell handed over not only his card, but also Squall's and Seifer's. Said cute girl with a pigtail was skeptical.

"Oh, c'mon! Do you really think they would hand over their cards to me if it wasn't important?"

This was very true, and Zell ended up with eighteen textbooks to carry all the way to the Training Center. Alone.

The other cadets could only wonder at why a SeeD, carrying two stacks of books that surely blocked his sight, would be trudging down through the hallways of Balamb Garden on a Sunday morning. They decided it was better not to ask.

At 10:50, while Zell was speaking to the girl with the pigtail, Seifer strolled into the Cafeteria.

Sauntering up to the serve bar, Seifer flashed a charming grin at one of the cooks. "Hi." The cook, whose name was Stacy Newbank from Balamb (not that it mattered to Seifer), merely blinked, unaffected by the charming grin. "Yes? Is there something you want?"

Seifer's smile never wavered. "Yeah. You see..." His mind raced, thinking of a plausable lie that would keep his dignity intact. "I was going to take my girl out today- picnic in the park, walks along the beach, and all that. She needs a break."

The cook's gaze softened. It was so nice to see that some young men still treated their girlfriends right! Emboldedned by his sucess, Seifer continued blithely, "...and I thought we could get together with some of her friends, too. She hasn't seen them in so long, and I figured she'd like to spend some time with them." She smiled, and Seifer smiled with her. "So, I was wondering if you could do me a little favor..."

Five minutes later, Seifer marched proudly through the halls of Garden, carrying a supply of food nigh fit to feed an army. Blissfully ignoring the odd stares and double takes, Seifer held his head up high, thinking, I am so brilliant.

Despite Zell's hard labor, and Seifer's cunning lying, Squall perhaps had the hardest task of all.

Caffeine.

And he knew just where to get it.

Balamb Garden has the happy family-fun type millitary institution public face, but beneath that is the dark underbelly. Instuctors, students, even the Headmaster- all had one thing in common, and all of them tried to keep it secret from everybody else.

Students at Balamb Garden have a habit of staying up as late as possible on weekends and vacations, and nearly everyone needs a jump-start on mornings. The cafeteria provides six different flavors of cappichinio for just this reason. Headmaster Cid, in his day, would dissappear for days every holiday, and return sleep deprived and twitchy. But even worse than the students, worse than the Headmaster, were the Instructors.

Every single one of them had caffeine addictions, and every one of them would not only stay up late grading papers, but every free chance they would go wild. Party rumors were every Treppie's dream, and there were even some mention of bar crawlings. Nida, as pilot, had recently been invited into the nightlife of Balamb Garden, most likely sworn to secrecy.

Every medical trainee who wanted to serve Garden was firstly trained how to recognise and treat caffeine overdoses.

In short, Balamb Garden was the caffeine capitol of the world.

More specifiaclly, the teacher's lounge was the caffeine capitol of the world.

The Teacher's Lounge was a legend among students, and not only because some of the rumored parties were said to take place there. It was an impregnable fortress in its own right. Few students had dared try and breach it. All were caught, and none had ever suceeded. The Lounge had a perfect winning record.

Now, Squall was going to break that record.