More than a Dream
Chapter One
The alarm clock went off, the shrill bleating breaking the sudden silence. After a few minutes Tidus groaned, reaching out his hand to shut the offending noise off. Then he buried his head deeper into his pillow, not wanting to get up.
Today would be his first day at a new school. Zanarkand High. The largest public high school in all of A-East. Previously he'd gone to the smaller, more local high school in his area, but after getting beat up several times throughout last school year, his guardian Auron decided it would be a good time for a change.
He didn't want to go. Everyone would hate him. They would tease him, or worse, they'd completely ignore him.
"Tidus? Are you awake?" Auron called through the door, knocking on it lightly.
Tidus sighed. "I'm awake," he called back.
"Get up. You'll be late for school."
"Alright, alright, I'm getting up..."
x x x
Tidus managed to make it to school on time, Auron giving him a ride in because it was his first day. He was dropped off in the parking lot, where Auron would also meet him after school to take him home. As if he was some stupid little freshman instead of a seventeen year old in his last year of high school.
He followed the path towards the front entrance of the school, keeping his head down and hoping nobody noticed him. Unfortunately, he had no such luck. Just as he neared the front, he bumped into a group of guys standing around like they were guarding the pathway.
The guy he'd bumped into turned around and stared at him for a moment before shouting, "NEW GUY!"
Tidus' eyes widened, and he looked around for a means of escape. The group of guys circled around him menacingly, blocking him in.
"Uh, guys, I didn't mean it..." he started to say. "Look, I'm sorry..."
The first blow landed, hard and fast in his stomach. Tidus gasped and fell to his knees, the breath knocked out of him. Somebody else kicked his shin, and he cried out. He wished he knew what it was that made people always want to hurt him. He didn't do anything to them! Why did they all hate him so much?
After what seemed like forever the guys finally stopped and left him alone, presumably to wonder off and go bother some other poor soul. Tidus didn't bother getting up, just lay there on the ground trying to get his breath back. He heard the first bell for homeroom ring, which meant that he had ten minutes to get up and try to go find his classroom.
A face popped into view above his. Tidus blinked, staring up into swirly green eyes.
"Are you okay?" the face said. "You don't look so good."
Tidus blinked again, and wondered if he was hallucinating. No one ever bothered to talk to him. "Uh..." he said, having momentarily forgotten what he was doing. "I'm fine..." Then he remembered that he was lying on the ground all beat up. "I tripped."
A hand came into view along with the face, and after a hesitant moment Tidus took it and allowed himself to be pulled up. The face and hand turned out to belong to a short blonde-haired girl of about fifteen or sixteen.
"I'm Rikku!" the girl said, smiling brightly.
"Tidus," Tidus offered, still unsure why this girl was talking to him. "I'm new here."
"So you tripped right into Seymour's gang, huh?"
"Uh..." Tidus rubbed the back of his neck anxiously. "Yeah, I guess," he said, though he didn't know who Seymour was.
Rikku laughed. "Don't worry about it! Seymour's a jerk, he does that to all the new guys here. He'll leave you alone from now on, as long as you stay out of his way."
"Right," Tidus said. He glanced down at his watch and then swore. 8:27. "Oh no!"
"What is it?" Rikku asked curiously.
"It's only three minutes til homeroom and I don't know where mine is! I'm gonna be late!" Tidus wailed.
Rikku grinned. "Just say you got lost. The teacher will forgive you, no problem!"
"It's not the teacher I'm worried about," Tidus mumbled, not loud enough for Rikku to understand him.
"Here, look, what's your room number? I'll show you where it is!"
"Um." Tidus looked down at his hands, only just then realizing he'd dropped it when that guy had hit him. He looked around at the ground, spotting a tattered and dirty piece of paper a few feet away. He walked over to it and picked it up, sighing. It was ripped in half, and the part that held the room numbers and teachers names wasn't there.
"I need a new schedule," he said. He groaned, knowing that if he managed to make it to homeroom today, he'd be very, very late.
end chapter one
Sorry, I know it's pretty short. I guess I need to get back into the hang of writing :) I promise the next chapter will be longer, and hopefully it will be up soon. There will be plenty more in store for Tidus, and Yuna too! Consider leaving a review if you enjoyed, thanks!
-asch
