A Sign of Affection
Everyone hurried onto the coach, pushing and shoving, screaming and arguing, all attempting to get the best seats at the back. Olette rushed in also, only she was aiming for a seat near the front, protected from Seifer, she prayed, by the teachers. Roxas, Pence and Hayner were all absent. Pence had been sick for some time, and Roxas had complained about a stomach ache a few days before and Hayner…Hayner had confessed that he was going to fake an illness to miss the art trip. Olette sure wished she'd thought of that.
She fastened the seatbelt around her, clutching her schoolbag tightly on her lap, she glanced around wildly, in the hope that one of her friends should just happen to turn up at the last minute. Olette was heavily disappointed however, when her gaze was met by Seifer and his gang. She quickly turned away to face the window. As long as she didn't give him a reason to make any type of communication with her, if you could indeed call it that, she'd be fine and ignored.
"Oh, look." Seifer began to tease, approaching her. "Awww, all on your lonesome? Huh?" Olette gripped her bag tighter, and closed her eyes in desperation, wishing Seifer to vanish with just a thought. It failed, of course. Olette sat quietly, hoping that he'd get bored. He did, and also the teacher pressed him to sit down, so he moved away. Thankfully, to the opposite end of the bus.
As the coach doors closed, all the hope of having some company faded from sight. Olette knew that today was going to be a day to remember, for all the wrong reasons.
The day had been pretty much a blur. It was made up of being teased by Seifer, sketching, sitting alone, thinking, being teased, having lunch while sitting alone, followed by more teasing, and a bit more teasing.
"Ok, does anybody need to toilet before we leave?"
Olette nodded, rushing into the hollow-walled toilets. Little did she know that Seifer had a bet with his buddies to see if he could scare her when she came out of the toilets. He followed her in, and hid in the cubical next to hers, receiving several funny looks from strange women.
Olette locked the door, pushed down the lid, and seated herself down. She began to sob. That day had been a really bad day for her. It was bad enough that she was alone, without the fact that damn Seifer was teasing her constantly for no reason she could find.
Seifer, meanwhile, was listening intently. Transfixed by her crying. A sudden feeling washed over him, an emotion he rarely felt.
"Why? What have I done to deserve his constant teasing? Just leave me alone, Seifer!" She mumbled to herself. She reached for the paper, and dried her eyes.
She checked herself in the mirror before leaving. She didn't look any better than she did that morning when she woke up. Sighing, she headed out and rejoined the group of school children near the exit of the museum. Seifer followed silently.
"Did you do it?" Fuu said with as little emotion as possible, trying not to seem excited or anything.
"Nah. She saw me." Seifer lied through his teeth, following the group as they exited the museum holding all the gifts they gotten from the shops.
Rai grinned evilly at Fuu, and swung his arm out, in an attempt to knock the girl in front over. However, Seifer grasped his hand tight, preventing it.
"Just leave her alone."
Rai and Fuu rushed to the back of the coach along with the rest of the crowd, while Olette seated herself at the front again. Seifer stopped in his tracks to look at her. She was staring out of the window, with fresh tears already prickling behind her eyes. Seifer had hurt many kids in his time, whether it be name calling, stealing their money, punching them. It had never fazed him before. But he'd never seen one of his victims cry before. He kind of…felt sorry for her.
He sat himself down beside her, making her glance up in surprise. She swallowed hard, awaiting the disgusting things that came out of his mouth make contact with her ears.
"Hey." He smiled, hugging his bag in an imitation of her. It may have looked as though he was copying her to make her feel small, but he meant it with the only genuine bone in his body. He saw it as a way of reaching her level.
The tears escaped, and Olette turned her back to face out of the window again. Maybe if she ignored him, he'd go away like before. Seifer didn't move. Nor did he move when the coach began to make it's journey home.
Olette started to cry uncontrollably now. Seifer came aware, but didn't know what to do. He wasn't the most comforting person, he'd often thought of crying as a weakness. But now, he couldn't help but feel for her.
Seifer slid his hand over to her cheek that was the furthest away from him, and hooked her head round to face him. She was a state, her eyes all red, her cheeks tearstained as was her shirt. He smiled once more, gently wiping away her tears with his free hand. She stared at him completely puzzled, expecting him to take advantage of her or something, but he didn't.
"Get off me!" Olette squeeled, pushing him away.
"Oh, make up your mind!" Seifer grunted. "First you complain that I'm mean to you, then you moan when I'm nice! I just can't win!"
"Sorry, I didn't mean it like that." She placed her head on his shoulder, and closing her eyes, she smiled to herself. "I was just surprised."
Seifer placed an arm around her, and kissed her forehead. It seemed natural, even though he was surprised at himself afterwards. It was strangely comfortable sitting like that. Seifer enjoyed the closeness he was having, even though it was probably with his worst enemy. Though, Seifer began to wonder whether this would be the start of something. A friendship, maybe. He'd like that, he thought to himself.
Olette was asleep by the time they got home. Seifer could feel her tiny heartbeat thump through her chest as she dreamed sweetly. He was reluctant to wake her when they pulled into the school grounds, but he knew that the moment couldn't last forever.