AN: This is the cleverly titled "FFVII: School Daze" series. The main POV will be a narrator (ahem, me) and I think, if enough people ask, I'll redo a chapter or two in character POV. I've been wanting to do this for the longest time, and now that it's summer, I'll finally have time. Be prepared for some intense randomness. This is mostly for entertainment purposes. I will also be posting my mood-setting-songs list for each chapter. Right below that disclaimer.

Warnings: There is definite AU, OOC, and a slight chance of character death.

Disclaimer: I won't own FFVII, not until I become Optimus Prime and show Tetsuya how hacking cool I am and he decides to let me keep Vincent and Cloud and Zack forever and ever. In which case I will have absolutely nothing to do with them because by that point I will have become a gigantic alien robot.

Mood-Setting-Songs:
Stay Where I Can See You - The Starting Line

Another thing to notice is that this part is extremely short. They will get longer, I PROMISE, but there's only so much you can write from the mind of a five-year-old, you know? Once I hit the higher grade the chapters will grow in length.


Chapter 1
Kindergarten


I was a terrified little five-year-old, walking into the Neibleheim West Elementary School. I had on a little pink dress that was tied in back with a bow, and my dark hair fell around my shoulder. My father held my left hand, and in my right I clutched my generic pink plastic lunch box.

It was my first day of school, ever, and I couldn't believe that my father was just leaving me here. I didn't know what I was going to do. He told me that he was taking me to school, and that he would come back for me at the end of the day. I would have to spend the whole entire day with people I didn't know, and a teacher I'd never met before.

The worst part was I had to leave my brand new puppy Abby home all alone.

The thought made my heart ache, and I just wanted to go home with my daddy and see my Abby and crawl into bed and never come out.

But I puckered my face defiantly and put my chin up, pretending that I wasn't afraid, and that I was happy to be here.

"Alright, Tifa. I'll be back this afternoon, and you can tell me all about your first day of kindergarten. Okay?" my dad had crouched down and put his hands on my shoulder. I nodded; if I couldn't be brave for my own good, I would do it for my dad's sake.

I knew at a very young age that my father had been broken beyond fixing when my mother died. I could see it in his eyes, in his face, in his tired and defeated posture, but mostly in his smile. It was a good smile, but it was the smile of a ruined man.

"Okay daddy," I smiled, and kissed him on his cheek before giving him a big hug.

"Have fun," he insisted with a small smile, before kissing my forehead and heading out the door.

I did have fun, to my immense surprise.

The first person I met, aside from Ms. Kibby, was a blond boy named Cloud Strife. He wore a pair of jeans, light up shoes, and a shirt with a dinosaur on it.

"How come you're eyes are all red?" his little 5-year-old voice demanded, and I looked up at him, standing there with his hands in his pockets, and felt like hitting him. He wasn't supposed to call me out like that, and I knew it. Even as a child, I knew Cloud's arrogance. He was a hit with everyone but me in that kindergarten class, and I knew it was mostly my fault for getting so excited over nothing, but I was still angry and appalled by him for years to come.

"It's none of your bees wax!" I cried, and he gave me a small smirk before turning and running back over to his friends that were playing with the blocks.

I rubbed my eyes fiercely, embarrassed that I was crying like a big baby on my first day of school. A small girl approached me wearing a white dress that had a flower design, little sandals, and her light brown hair tied up in two spiraling pigtails with a few stray curls falling around her face.

"Don't listen to him, he's just a stupid dummy boy," she insisted, and sat down next to me.

"My name is Aeris Gainsborough. What's yours?" she grinned, and I felt more comfortable already.

"Tifa Lockheart."

"It's very nice to meet you," she beamed at me, and I smiled back at her.

"Hey Tifa, we should make a club," she suggested, and I agreed enthusiastically, "and we won't allow any stupid smelly boys in, either."

So we got up and ran to the tables where the paper and crayons were located and made ourselves a sign; since it was our first day of school, neither of us could write correctly, but we sure as hell tried. I suspect that it turned out to be something like a bunch of scribbles and a few deformed people, but we knew what it meant, and we made sure that everyone else did too.

"Tifa," a deep, unmistakable voice said from the doorway after school. Just like he told me he would be, my father was standing there by the door, his suit slightly less pressed and neat than it was this morning. I rushed toward him and he crouched down, his arms open and waiting for me.

"DADDY, DADDY, I MADE A BEST FRIEND!" I squealed with joy when he picked me up and swung me in a circle.

"Did you now? What's their name?" he asked curiously, grabbing my lunchbox out of my cubby and waving to my teacher before he carried me on his hip down the hallway of the school.

"Her name is Aeris and we made up a club house and everything!"

I explained everything to him on the way home, and he smiled his first real smile for me since my mother died that night when he tucked me into bed.