Chapter One: Zanarkand High
A city…like every typical city, there are several high school buildings standing within it. The three largest and most progressive of these schools are Luca University, Academy of Bevelle and of course, Zanarkand High. Now, our story pivots around Zanarkand High, found at the edge of this bustling metropolis, close to the seaside.
Inside Zanarkand High…hundreds of students are walking down the corridors carrying piles of books, term papers and shoulder bags. Among these students, there was a rather confused one---a young 17 year-old teenager with blonde hair and indigo eyes wearing a dark-blue jacket with a yellow shirt underneath it, shaded white cargo pants, his trademark yellow and black high-cut sneakers and an accessory hanging around his neck shaped like a "T" but more eye-catching and more artistically designed.
"Ummm, s'cuse me but, do you know how can I get to room 22?" he asked, tapping the shoulder of a male student standing by a locker but the he just walked away without even answering the lost guy.
"Ah, man! This is gonna be way tougher than I thought!" He said, sounding wound up. "Feels like this school itself is a maze. One minute, I'm inside it. The next minute, I'm totally lost!"
Room 22 is the Biology room, where he's supposed to attend his first classes on his first day at Zanarkand High. Promising himself that he would find it, he took a deep breath and started searching for the Biology room.
"Hey! You guys have heard about the new guy, ya?" Asked a youth of 18 to his gang of friends seated beside him, "Heard he's from out of town. Can't wait to see his face!" He added.
Now this student has crimson hair with the front part of it standing like anti-gravity. He was sporting a green shirt with three thin black stripes in the middle, light-brown cargo pants, dark leather shoes and a fish necklace hanging from his neck.
They were inside the Biology room ignoring the professor's lecture and secretly chatting from behind the chairs.
"Think he plays Blitzball, Wakka?" asked one of his friends.
"Let's hope he does, Datto. We really need extra members on our team." He replied with a hint of hope in his tone.
As they were chatting, Wakka felt something small hit his head.
"Wakka," Professor Reno said, "If you're not interested in meeting your new classmate then you're free to leave the classroom. But if you still insist, I would be happy to throw a chalk at you again." He sarcastically remarked.
"Finally! Found it!" the door to the Biology room is now right in front of him. On top of the door frame, there's a sign that say's "22". As he opened it…
"…Class, allow me to introduce your new classmate".
All the students stood on their feet, some even on tip-toe just to catch a glimpse of the newcomer's face.
"Whoa, so he's the new kid…" Wakka whispered to his seatmate, Botta. "Wonder if he's fit for Blitz?"
The new guy walked awkwardly beside the teacher's desk, feeling uneasy with all eyes on him.
"Uh…hi! …..Howdy!" he greeted his new classmates.
Almost all of them stared and a few smiled. Some of the girls were putting their mouths behind their hands whispering to one another.
"Class, take your seats." Professor Reno told the gawking group of students. "Okay now, introduce yourself." He told the newcomer.
"Okay." He cleared his throat and started to speak.
"Hi! My name's Tidus and I'm uhhh---from Okinawa! You see, I'm uhhh---new to this place so maybe I can say that getting lost is pretty easy to me. Well, I just did a while ago! Hehehe!" He added with a chuckle after seeing the puzzled looks on his classmates' faces.
Professor Reno sat back down on his desk. "Well Tidus, now that we have an idea of yourself, why don't you take you're seat? You may sit beside Wakka."
Tidus examined his classmates' faces with a raised eye brow. "Uhh, who's he?"
"The one with the standing hairdo." Professor said, sounding slightly irritated while pointing his finger to the empty chair beside Wakka.
"Oh! Ha-ha, guess he was easy to spot after al! Thanks anyway!"
He got his backpack and walked to his assigned seat. He took out a notebook and a pen as Professor started to jot down notes on the board. Strangely, Tidus found that he was enjoying himself, listening to all of Professor Reno's lectures.
"I guess Zanarkand High's not so bad after all…" His mind gladly said.
The bell signaling break time echoed through the hallways. Students went out of their classrooms to grab a snack at the cafeteria or do extra research in the library. As Tidus stepped out of the classroom, he stretched his arms and legs to free his body from the stiffness of note-taking and headed for his locker to get ready for his Math classes. As he was opening his locker, someone placed a hand on his shoulder. He turned around to see who tapped him only to see that it was…
"Hey man! Good to see you!" Wakka said with a warm smile. He spoke with an outmoded accent which sounded quite new to Tidus.
"Oh, you're Wakka, right? Nice to meetcha too. Name's Tidus!" He replied, extending his right hand.
Wakka shook it. "Yeah, I already know that. So, how do you find Zanarkand and what do you think of it?"
"Weeelll," Tidus said, looking for the right words, "I gotta admit, I'm starting to like it here!"
"Surely you'll like everything here! 'Cept of course, you won't wanna mess with the new Math teacher. Heard he can get pretty nasty when you light his fuse. Sounds scary to me, ya?" Wakka warned Tidus.
The two boys began to chat and got along pretty well. As they were chewing the fat, Wakka asked Tidus a very interesting question…
"Hey. You play Blitzball, ya?" Wakka asked, hoping for a nice answer. To his kick, Tidus answered:
"Of course I do!!! Heck, I was even the star player back in Okinawa!!!" He declared, gleaming with pride.
Wakka stepped back, hit with surprise. "Get ooouuut! Then, JOIN OUR TEAM!!! You be the midfielder!
"Alright! You can count me in!!!"
After that, he and Wakka did high-fives.
"Okay then, see you after school. I'll introduce you to our team." He said, giving Tidus a hard pat on the back and left.
Tidus took out his schedule. "Let's see, so I'm having Math next in Room 56……Aw, man! I should've asked Wakka for directions! Looking for that room's not gonna be a stroll in the park, that's for sure."
He turned to the direction headed towards the Laboratory and walked on, searching for Room 56. While he was strolling, something gold and shiny caught his eyes. He picked it up and examined it.
"Huh? A bracelet. Pure gold too. Wonder who could've dropped it?" He put the bracelet in his pocket and walked on. "That was one expensive-looking piece of accessory back their." He said to himself, "Well, looking for the Math classroom's more important than looking for this bracelet's rightful owner."
As he was walking searching both sides of the hall for room 56, someone tapped him on his shoulder. He turned around and saw a girl, around 16, with blonde hair held in a ponytail and the lower part of her hair tied in braids. She was wearing an orange, sleeveless turtleneck, green cargo shorts and white sneakers, with a white jacket tied around her waist. She also has a pair of goggles hanging around her neck and a digital wristwatch around her right wrist, but the first thing that Tidus noticed about her are her green eyes.
"Sorry but, have you seen a bracelet lying around here somewhere?" She said in a light voice, "I was just wearing it then the next thing I know, it disappeared like poof!" She added, sounding troubled.
"You mean this?" He answered, taking out the gold bracelet out of his pocket.
"Yeah! That's it!!!" She cried, jumping up and down with cheerfulness, "Where did you find it!? I almost walked the whole school just looking for this!"
She seized the bracelet and locked it around her wrist.
"Thanks!" She giggled. "Hey, what's your name?"
Tidus, who had quite a hard time interrupting the cheerful girl, answered. "Name's Tidus. How 'bout you?"
"I'm Rikku! Pleased to meetcha!" She replied.
Tidus thought that Rikku was probably the most carefree person in Zanarkand High. No matter what happens, she always dons a happy smile.
"So Rikku, where is this Room 56? I'm having Math next, you know? He asked her.
"I'm having Math next too! Why don't we go there together? I can show you the way!"
"Okay, why not?" Tidus replied. He was getting quite used to Rikku's happy-go-lucky personality.
Rikku shot her fist up in the air and skipped ahead of Tidus. He lightly shook his head and followed her.
As they were walking, Rikku asked Tidus something.
"Hey, I haven't seen you before. You new to this place?"
"Yeah, I'm from Okinawa. Just moved here a week ago. Anyway, I like this place!"
"Right, if it only wasn't for that new Math teacher! Can you believe it? He gives us three assignments a week! And his lessons are mega-hard as well!"
Rikku said. She was almost shouting that she caught almost everyone's attention in the corridor.
"Here we are! Room 56!" Rikku announced.
Tidus was wondering why Wakka and Rikku were sort of terrified with the new Math teacher. He opened the door to the classroom curious to see who the Math professor is. His curiosity was fed when he found out that the new Math teacher is---
"AURON!!!!! WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE!!!?" Tidus screamed while running to the teacher's desk, smacking his hands on the surface. "You're not supposed to be here, Auron! I mean, you're supposed to be back in Okinawa-----Lemme guess! Dad sent you here, didn't he!?"
"That's right, Tidus. Jecht sent me here to---"
"---keep a closer eye on me, I KNOW!!!" Tidus cut short.
"Tidus," Rikku whispered. "Will you please calm down? You're embarrassing yourself!"
Tidus was stunned. He forgot that several other students were watching him flare-up. His other classmates were looking at him with eyes wide open and jaws dropped. Some others at the back were secretly laughing.
Auron stood up from his desk and went to the front of the classroom. "Alright, now that you know who you're new Math teacher is, why don't you two take you're seats?" Auron ordered his two other students.
Rikku walked to an empty seat near the window and took out a pen and a piece of paper. Tidus sat beside Rikku and also took out a pen and a notebook. Auron stood by the board and started writing down complicated formulas and solutions. Everyone in the classroom was copying down what's on the board but Tidus had his mind on something else.
"Damn my old man. I'm not a kid anymore! Why does he have to make Auron my babysitter!?" He knocked his desk with his fist. Of course, having Auron live with him in one of the apartments outside the school was an okay thing but him being a teacher in Zanarkand High??? Well, that's waaay beyond imagination!
"Tidus." Someone called him.
"Go away!" He replied.
"Tidus!"
"I said go away!"
"Tidus!!"
"Leave me alone!"
"TIDUS!!!"
"WHAT!!!?"
Something stuck unexpectedly appeared in his throat. He was so deep in thought that he forgot it was his Math teacher, Auron, who was calling him.
"What do you want?" Tidus darkly asked, looking at the floor, trying to avoid everyone's eyes.
"Okay Tidus, now that I have your attention, I want you to do problem number 12 on the board."
Tidus sighed in frustration. He took the chalk from Auron's hand and headed to the board. He stared at the board for seconds, thinking of what to write about. He felt stupid just standing there like an old dummy. Finally, Tidus agreed just to jot down anything depending on his luck. He raised his chalk and scribbled on the board, licking his lips.
"Sir Auron!" Rikku stood up with her hand raised.
"Yes, Rikku?" Auron said, strictly looking at her.
"Ummm…Let me do problem 12 for him!"
"And can you give me a very good reason for that, Rikku?" Auron asked, which kind of made Rikku stiff.
"……Well, you see…" Rikku nervously answered "he's new to this place so ummm…uhhh…."
"Please Rikku, speak as you normally would." Auron said, with a hint of impatience in his voice.
"Okay! You see…He----He has no idea about all this so let me do it for him! I know this question like all the winning techniques in Blitzball!!!" She boldly answered, sweat sliding down her face. "Please?"
"Alright Rikku. Tidus, go back to your seat. I'll let you go on your first day but tomorrow, don't expect me to be tolerant with you." Auron told Tidus, making the whole class shudder.
After classes, Tidus and Rikku walked out of the room and back to their lockers.
"Hey Rikku." Tidus called her.
"Yeah?" she said, in her usual cheerful self.
"Thanks…for putting me out of that mess back in Math class. Thought I was gonna look stupid for the whole one hour."
"Hey, no problem! We're pals, right?" she happily smiled.
Now that was the first really funny thing he heard from Rikku's mouth. They just met an hour ago and now she's already declaring that they are now friends. But it's not that bad. After all, he's already made two friends---Wakka and her.
"But why did Sir Auron have to be so strict on you? I mean, we all know he can get scary but why did he have to be so…so mean to you!?" She asked him.
Tidus took a deep breath but didn't speak at once. It took him quite a while to look for the right words to use then finally, he started to tell Rikku a part of his life story.
"You see, Auron is my dad's best friend." He began, speaking like he seriously does.
"Uh-huh," Rikku broke off "So, who's your dad?"
He paused for a while but still carried on.
"…..My dad.....His name is Jecht. He was once a hardcore Blitzball player whom everyone looked up on." He continued, his voice which now sounded angry, and yet, cheerless. "I never actually got any praise from him……not once. Always keeps telling me to just give up, saying that I'm out of my league."
Rikku now had a look of sympathy on her face. She didn't know that Tidus had such a harsh past.
He went on…"But my dad, he does nothing anyway but get drunk. You know, load up on booze at night then you find him rambling about pointless words next thing in the morning. He slowly lost popularity and now he can't even feed himself. That's why Auron's sort of like my father figure."
"What about your mom then?" Rikku asked, hoping for a better answer.
"My mom……." He tried to talk but he couldn't. He couldn't get the words out of his mouth. "She…"
"Go on. There's no rush." Rikku secured him.
"My mom was the only person in the world who really loved me….who really cared for me" He said, his voice faint. "She was the one who would comfort me if I was yelled by my old man, but now she…she's gone."
Tidus finished. He looked away, trying not to let the tears that gathered in his eyes flow out.
"Tidus, I…..I-I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked. I……" Rikku stopped. She felt like crying too.
"It's alright, Rikku." He said, his voice warm and his face smiling again. It was the first time he saw Rikku not in her cheery self "I just wanted to let it out to somebody. Anyway, let's go meet Wakka at the cafeteria."
They both grabbed their backpacks and walked to the cafeteria, with Rikku usually prancing ahead.
Rikku was humming a tune which sounded like "Suteki Da Ne" but Tidus had his thoughts on something else…
Here on his day---his fisrt day in Zanarkand High---all the unexpected things happened. Getting lost for the first time while finding the Biology room, making friends with Wakka, joining the Blitzball team, finding Rikku's bracelet then making another friend, realizing that Auron's the new Math teacher and telling Rikku about his painful past. He shook his head. He couldn't believe that everything, all this, happened in just one day…
Rikku quickly entered the cafeteria. She searched the faces of the other students, looking for Wakka.
"Hey Tidus!" She called him. "So who is this Wakka guy?" She asked, looking around the cafeteria trying to locate Wakka.
"Don't worry Rikku, he's easy to find. Just look for a guy sporting an anti-gravity hairstyle!" Tidus answered Rikku with a laugh.
She ran through the tables to the stand near the windows, where the morning sunlight is pouring in. Wakka, as well as Jassu and some people were sitting there, chatting to one another.
Rikku also saw that her brother was conversing with Wakka.
"Oh, sorry I forgot to mention to you, Tidus! My brother's part of the team! He plays as one of the defensives!" Rikku contentedly proclaimed! "This is gonna be mega-great! My brother and my new pal on the same team!"
"Hey man! Come sit with us!" Wakka gestured Tidus, pointing at the empty chair beside him.
Tidus placed his backpack beside the chair. Rikku sat beside her brother and took out her Math assignment, and a calculator.
"Hey Rikku!" Brother scolded his younger sister. "You're not supposed to use calculators in Math! That's cheating!"
But Rikku ignored Brother and went on swindling. "Aw, don't worry about it, brother! I only do this once in a while! Besides, devoting one's life to Math is not human!"
Brother sighed and gave up arguing with Rikku. Wakka then introduced his team to Tidus.
"Okay, that there's Jassu." He said pointing to a light-brown-haired man. He slightly raised his hand. "Hey man, nice to meet you!"
"Well, blondie over there is Linna. She plays a pretty good defensive." Linna glared at Wakka for calling her "blondie".
"Our goalkeeper's not here right now so I'm going to introduce the next member. We just call him Brother for no good reason, really." Wakka laughed, patting Brother on his shoulder.
Tidus smiled at his new teammates. "Wakka, I never knew there's a girl in your team." He said, referring to Linna. "I usually play with only boys. Anyway, I also wanna know how it feels like to have a girl in the team! So, who's the team captain?"
"You're lookin' at him!" Wakka proudly told Tidus.
"Whoa! So you're the team captain! Why didn't you tell me earlier?"
"Well, that's just part of our introduction." Wakka then cleared his throat. "Alright boys,"
"Are you forgetting about me?" Linna interrupted in an insulted tone.
"And uh, girl!" Wakka nervously added. "Meet Tidus! He's from Okinawa and the team's newest member!"
"And midfielder!" Rikku put in. "He told me a while ago before Math class!"
"Yes……!" Tidus said under his breath. He finally has his own bunch of buddies. He now has his own gang of Blitzers that he can train and share winning techniques with. Most of all, he now feels accepted.
"You guy's wait for me for a minute. I'll just get us something to munch on!"
Rikku speedily stood up. "I'll go with you!"
Tidus and Rikku went to the counter and grabbed some trays. Tidus got himself a bowl of noodles and a carton box of orange juice while Rikku asked for cheesecake and apple juice. After taking their picks, they headed back to where his teammates are seated. "So, what's the name of the team" Tidus asked before slurping a mouthful of noodles.
"Still haven't got one." Wakka answered. "You decide, ya?"
"Okay then," he clears his throat. "We're gonna be called the ZANARKAND ABES!!!"
Everyone seemed to like the name. Wakka face brightened, Rikku did high-fives with Brother, Jassu shot his hand in the air and Linna just held a fist.
"Hey, Zanarkand Abes! Sounds pretty good to me! Hmmm…Zanarkand Abes…Zanarkand Abes…"
"Yeah! Zanarkand Abes rock!" Rikku spoke out. She seemed to be greatly affected by the name.
Wakka stood up in front of the Abes. "Well then, it's decided! We're now the Zanarkand Abes!!!"
"YEAH!!!" They all got to their feet and shouted together putting their hands on top of each other's. Even Rikku joined in the fun.
After all was decided, they all sat back down and talked about when practice will be.
"Alright boys, practice will be tomorrow afternoon at the stadium behind the school! Be there at five o'clock. I'll be telling you all about the new technique. Dismissed!" Wakka told his teammates. After they all left, he turned to Tidus and put his arm around his shoulders.
"Let's see the winning technique that Rikku said you can pull off!"
Tidus blissfully nodded.
"So, what's your next class? Mine's Geography!" Rikku exclaimed as she and Tidus walked out of the cafeteria.
He took out his schedule. His next subject would be…
"English." He answered in confidence.
Rikku was glad Tidus was his normal self again, not the sad side. It's already in her nature that she doesn't want to see her close pals sad or gloomy. She'll do anything to cheer them up. She would give anything just for his past to be erased.
"Well, I'm glad you've cheered yourself up now. You were really depressed when you were telling me about your dad---"
Rikku was cut short.
"Shut up about it." Tidus warned her. He wasn't shouting but Rikku could sense he was angered.
Rikku froze. She unconsciously made him mad while she's supposed to be cheering him up.
"I-I'm sorry…I-I shouldn't have---"
"Never mind that, let's go." Tidus walked on, pulling her arm. He didn't want to talk about it right now. It's too painful. He also didn't want to to shout hurtful words at Rikku but he was unable to control himself. He just tried to forget about it and moved on.
"Go on ahead to Geography." Tidus told her. He released her arm.
Rikku stopped. "But what if you get lost again?" she asked him, pretending to be cheerful. But no matter how hard she tried, she still sounded hurt and offended.
Tidus turned to look at her. "It's okay. Wakka told me the directions earlier, and….I'm sorry I said those to you…"
Without a word, he turned and ran down the hallway leaving Rikku shouting "Wait! Come back!"
He ran on, not looking at where he's going. He just wanted to find the classroom and get on with it. He didn't keep his eyes on the road that he unintentionally bumped into someone, knocking her off her feet and making her books scatter around.
"I'm sorry! It was my fault! I wasn't watching where I was going! I-----"
He suddenly stopped. He actually bumped into a girl---a girl, about his age, with short, brown hair with a blue left eye and the right one, green. She was wearing a white, sleeveless shirt with a pink sweater over it, long denim skirt with slits, black boots that are above the ankle, and a necklace with a pearl hanging from it. What's noticeable about her is her long, blue earring which made a tinkling sound with every move. She bent down and picked her books up.
"No, let me do it." He told her. "It was my fault."
He helped her gather her books and assignments from near the lockers to the foot of the door to the laboratory. There was only one book left.
They both reached out for it. As they laid a hand on the book, they unconsciously touched each other's finger. Tidus immediately withdrew his hand and felt himself blush. The brown-haired girl did the same.
"I'm sorry." He said as he picked the book up and handed it to her. He tried not to stare at her face.
"Ah, man! She's pretty. And cute too." His mind said to himself. He just stood there as his feet were rooted on the spot.
The girl stood up and wrapped the books around her arms and tidied her hair up.
"Um…thank you." She said, looking at his eyes in a soft, small voice. "I-I must be going now…I'm almost late for Geography." She then ran off to the other direction. Tidus tried to call her but somehow, he couldn't get the words out of his mouth.
"Rats! I didn't even get her name!"
Tidus made his way to the English classroom. As he strolled, he kept thinking about the brown-haired girl with mismatched eyes.
"Well, she did mention something about being late for Geography. Maybe I can ask Rikku about her after classes. Speaking of lateness…"
He looked at his watch….
"DAMMIT!!! I'M LATE!!!"
He zoomed like a bullet through the corridor. He hurriedly glanced at the room numbers, looking for the English classroom. He dashed faster until he finally spotted it ten feet away. He braked in front of the door and opened it.
"Tidus, you're ten minutes late. And why do you look so exhausted?"
"I…..I….I got lost…" Tidus answered in-between breaths.
"Okay, now that you're here, please take your seat. My name is Ms. Elena and I will be your teacher in English this year. You may take your seat there near the bulletin board. I'll be away for a while to get more chalk so class…"
All the students turned their heads to look at her.
"…Please behave yourselves." She added before leaving the classroom.
Ms. Elena is a teacher who had a solemn face and semi-long blonde hair.
Just a few seconds after Ms. Elena left, the class still remained quiet although Tidus expected them burst into loud conversations any moment now. He just went on and headed for his seat. Just when he was almost there---
"Whoa!!!"
---someone stick his leg out and deliberately tripped him, making him land on his chest with much force. His backpack flew and hit the wall, making his books and pens spread out. The whole class started laughing at him. Some were even calling him names like "loser" and "jackass". All were laughing except one.
A boy with long, deformed bluish hair sticking out at odd angles stood up and grabbed Tidus's collar, lifting him until his eyes were at the same level as his. Tidus was already standing on tip-toe for the malicious boy was a few inches taller than him.
"So, you're the new kid." He nastily said, eyeing Tidus from his spiky blonde hair to his yellow and black sneakers.
"So you're that idiot who tripped me…" He angrily countered, his fists closed. "What about it then…!?"
The blue-haired boy's grip around Tidus's collar tightened. "One of my lackeys found you with my girlfriend."
Tidus was taken aback. "Wh-Who are you talking about!? I didn't go out with some girl!"
The boy then dragged Tidus near the wall and forcefully thrust him to it.
"Argh!"
"One more time I see you with my girl, I'll personally make sure that you'll pay full price." His voice was faint but murderous. He let go of Tidus's collar and angrily strode back to his seat.
Tidus rubbed his back then bent down to gather his scattered books and pens. The whole class continued laughing at him. He just lowered his head down and tried not to listen to his classmates' cruel insults.
"Damn that guy…" He furiously said to himself. "Who does he think he is…!?
He went on fixing his things until a girl, who seemed to be a few months younger than Wakka approached him and helped him pick his things up. She had long, black, braided hair and red eyes. She was dressed in a brown, long-sleeved top with a gray poncho over it and a long, black skirt. She was also wearing boots but this time, they are brown.
"Here, let me help you." She kindly told him. "Just ignore that conceited jerk." She helped Tidus clean up the mess. After they were all back in his backpack, they walked to two vacant chairs and sat down.
"Thanks" was all Tidus could mutter as he laid his head on his desk.
"Don't mind it. Seymour's like that all the time," She told him while she was pulling out a thick book out of her bag.
Tidus got up. "You mean, that idiot's name is Seymour!? Why does he have to act like that? As if he owns the place!?" he grumbled while trying to repair his pen that leaked.
"That's because he's the school heartthrob." She informed him.
"What!? That stuck-up jackass!? I can't see why he fits that description in the first place. I just hope she's not one of those lovesick girls who are crazy about him."
"Who?" she wonderingly asked.
"Oh, I mean, Rikku, my friend. She's in Geography right now." But Tidus was really referring to the brown-haired girl. "Oh yeah, didn't catch your name. Mine's Tidus. What's yours?"
She stretched out her hand. "Lulu." and Tidus shook it.
Lulu somehow helped Tidus get his mind off Seymour for a moment now. Tidus also learned that she was also a good friend of Rikku's. That was some nice coincidence. Right now, he couldn't decide whether this day was turning good or the other way around. He already made three friends-Wakka, Rikku and Lulu-and an arch enemy---Seymour. And he was still clueless about who that girlfriend Seymour was talking about.
The door opened and Ms. Elena entered the classroom holding a bundle of chalk in her hand.
"Okay class, let us begin…"
English was an okay subject. At least, it was no sweat compared to Auron's grueling board activities.
"Again, don't let Seymour get to you. Just ignore him when he's around." Lulu advised him as they were walking to their lockers to get ready for their next class.
"Hey! Tidus! Lulu! Over here!!!"
Tidus and Lulu both turned to where that familiar voice came from. It was Rikku. She was running to them with Wakka closely behind her. She reached them and waved at Lulu. Wakka had his hands on his knees and panted.
"Rikku, can't you ever slow down?" Wakka desperately asked Rikku. "You run too fast."
She hopped on the same spot excited to tell them about the good news.
"Guess what!?" she exclaimed eagerly, "Blitzball meeting's this afternoon at the coffee shop! Not only that, we're gonna have a match with the Goers from Luca University three months from now so practice is gonna be thrice a week from this day forward!" she finished her sentence. She was so thrilled that she won't stop skipping around. "Say Tidus! I had no idea you already met Lulu! Then, you should know that she's soooo smart!" She spoke fast, just like what she usually does when she talks. "Heck, she was the only one in the whole school who got a 99% in the Math finals last year!"
Tidus whistled in surprise. Lulu bent her head down and slowly shook it, her hand on her forehead. Wakka gave her a strong pat on the back which slightly pushed her forward. "Way to go, Lu!"
But that wasn't the end of Rikku's story yet…
"We were already enjoying a happy ending until that Seymour meanie stormed in and declared that he got a 100%!!!"
"WHAT!!!? THAT JERK!!!?" Tidus roared. He was so furious from only hearing his name. He became even more furious knowing that of all people who can get a 100% and in Math, of all subjects, it had to be Seymour.
Wakka put his arm around Tidus's shoulders, trying to cool him down. Lulu simply remained silent and kept a stern face.
There was now an upset look on Rikku's face as she looked up the ceiling. "That Seymour's got everything a girl wants---handsome, gets straight A's, rich, loaded with lots of moolah, everything! That's why I don't hang around with many girls except Lulu. We both dis that guy!"
Tidus was pleased to hear that. Even Rikku despises Seymour but, does that brown-haired girl do too?
"But look at the brighter side, Tidus! At least you can do something that Seymour can't do." She added but this time, with a grin.
Tidus looked puzzled. "And, exactly, what's that...?"
"BLITZBALL!!! You're a star Blitzball player!!!" she happily exclaimed. "We all have a weak spot and if Seymour has at least one, then that'll be Blitzball!!!
Tidus paused then slowly…he grinned. "Yeah…you're right! That jerk can't even play Blitzball!"
That moment he was happy until…he didn't find himself grinning anymore. He suddenly remembered Seymour's "girlfriend"…
Rikku leaned forward to Tidus and looked at his eyes in sort of a sweet way. "Hey, is something wrong?" she asked thoughtfully. "If there is then, you can tell us! We've told you before, we're pals, right?"
Right, they were his pals…his friends but, why is something deep down inside him telling him not to let anything out? Well, since he was their pal, they tried to brighten up his mood.
Wakka stepped forward and gave him a light punch on the shoulder. Lulu advanced and put a hand on the other.
"If you can't say it right now then we'll give you time to think about it." She assured him. She knew that Tidus wasn't the type who easily lets his emotions out and sometimes, she even envies Rikku's aggressive personality---not caring even if she gets yelled at in return.
"Well…" Rikku finally said, "Whatever's troubling you, just forget about it! Just meet us and the Abes at The Flowing Moon! You know, that coffee shop just across the school gates! We'll have our very first official meeting there!"
"That's right, ya?" Wakka said as he strongly pat Tidus's back. "Wait 'til you try their chocolate muffins! They're Rikku's all-time favorite, you know? Once, she even gave up going with her diet just for a bite of it!" He jokingly shared this story, which made Rikku give him a playful blow on the head.
"Hey! And where did you get that load of crap??? We just met at the cafeteria and now you go making up stories that are not even true!"
Rikku was pissed and pouted on the spot…
"…But at least it's not easy to get on her nerves." Tidus happily thought. Being with them seemed to relax him a little. At least he has friends…friends whom he can share stories with…
Students were once again walking down the corridors carrying books and other things. Tidus, Rikku, Wakka and Lulu all just stood there talking and laughing about anything over the ground. Their conversation was mostly about Blitzball. They all enjoy Blitz! Well, maybe they all do except Lulu because when the topic was changed to Blitzball, she just let out a breath and just kept quiet while her three other friends rambled on "Sphere Shot" and "Grip Gloves" which all sounded like "kid's stuff" to her. Though Rikku still hasn't kicked like Blitz, not even get inside the Sphere Pool even if she can survive underwater for long periods of time, she's the team's energizer who always provides them with pep talks and brings the snacks.
They finished chatting…
"See ya after school then! Tidus bid them another goodbye before they disappeared into the crowd…just a few more classes and next stop is The FlowingMoon…then three months from now on, it's time to Blitz with the Luca Goers!!!
