I don't own anything!
Lots of Cloti, Zerith, and Yuffentine! (And gay CidxBarret...yeah. I just. Don't even ask.)
Midgar High
1
Cloud Strife breathed in the musky smelling air of the parking lot at Midgar High school, which stank of kerosene. The school was huge; three storeys of hectic kids and boring classes—unlike his previous school: Nibelheim Secondary. A small place, fit for a small town.
It was the first day of his last year, and he had to start it at a completely new school, in a totally new town—where people already had four years to strike up great friendships with one another. He didn't know anyone there, and much to his dismay, he had to wear a shoddy uniform. Navy blue blazer, white dress shirt, and black pants. Oh, and who could forget the ugly striped tie that was tight around his neck.
He knew the second his father had dropped him off at the front, that nearly everyone at that school was filthy, stinking, rich—even for a slummy area like Midgar. He even saw one student pull up on a Harley Davidson motorcycle. To Cloud's surprise, the person riding it was a girl.
A very pretty girl at that. Her black hair fell past her shoulders, her dark eyes wide and searching for someone.
She waltzed right by Cloud without taking notice of him staring at her. She waved to two other people standing by the big front doors: a tall, raven-haired guy standing beside a shorter brunette girl.
"Heya, Teef!" Cloud could hear the guy yell from across the parking lot. Together, the three of them entered the school. And, as more people arrived, Cloud thought it to be a good idea to follow them.
The outside of the school was absolutely nothing in comparison to the inside. It was huge. The hallways were twice the size of the ones at his old school, and the floors shone. Of course in just a few hours, they would be scuffed by the fancy shoes of the students and teachers, but it shocked Cloud to see such a fancy interior.
Right in front of him was the office, and to his right was a bench on which a boy sat reading.
There were people everywhere: leaning against the lockers further down the hallway, lining up outside of doors, sitting on the staircase a few feet away. And, from where Cloud stood, he could just see the cafeteria and how packed it was.
He could hardly even hear himself think over all of the chatter. Cloud tightened his grip on his backpack and headed to the window of the office, where a receptionist sat prudently. "Uh. Ma'am. I'm new here could you—"
"Sh!" She sharply said.
All of the sudden, the P.A. system beeped and a gruff voice came through the speaker overhead. "Hello students of Midgar high! This is your principal Hojo speaking, and I would like to advise you all to head to your homerooms. Now. Have a wonderful first day, and a fabulous year, students!"
Cloud was immediately bombarded by the rushing people, and shoved back outside of the doors in all of the craziness. He managed to make his way back inside, only to find the receptionist gone and the halls half empty. How the hell did they all get out of here so fast? Jesus.
He looked around, noticing a few people passing by. Crap. Where the hell do I go? He thought.
As the students began to file into their designated classrooms, and the population of the halls grow scarcer and scarcer, Cloud began to grow frantic. He walked up to random people asking: "Where do I go?" Of course they all looked at him as if he were a lunatic.
A deep voice came from behind him after he'd been shoved away by the fourth person. "What's your name?"
Cloud turned around, finding the tall, thin guy with long, black hair who had been reading on the bench a second ago speaking to him. "Strife."
"Grade?"
"Twelve."
"Come with me. We're going to the same place," he said and led him down the hallway.
They passed the two-level library along the way, turned a corner and passed about ten other classrooms. Then, the boy stopped in front of a blue door, with a small square window at face-level. The sign above read: Mathematics, Ms. Crescent.
Cloud followed him inside, seeing as there were about thirty other kids inside already.
The guy who'd taken him there immediately walked to the back corner of the classroom and took the desk farthest from the door. He pulled out his book, put his feet on the desktop, and began to read again.
"Vincent, how nice of you to finally join up," the teacher said. She was a sweet looking woman; there was something motherly about her, Cloud thought. "And, Mr.—"
"Strife."
"Oh, Strife. Take any seat available. We're handing out schedules now." The woman instructed.
He nodded and made his way to one of the front-row seats. He could feel the kids behind him staring; wondering who he was. It seemed to him that, no matter the size of the school, everybody still knew everybody.
In only five minutes, the buzzer rang, meaning it was time to head towards first period classes, where the students would get their lockers. And, according to Cloud's timetable, he didn't have to go anywhere. His first class was, in fact, Mathematics 12 with Ms. Crescent.
Most of the students left the classroom, but he noticed that the guy—Vincent, she'd called him—didn't move an inch. He remained, unmoving, in his seat.
A bunch of new people fled in, happy smiles on their faces, knowing that they were with their friends. Cloud straightened his posture when he saw the Harley Davidson girl walk in (unfortunately with her two friends, and a newbie—a talkative girl, with short black hair).
They sat themselves around Vincent, and the newest member of the "group" sprung onto Vincent. She pulled him into a hug, to his noticeable reluctance.
The bell rang again, and Ms. Crescent shut the door of the classroom. The slam silenced the students. She wrote her name on the chalkboard and faced them with a smile. "Well, class. I recognize almost all of you here. But, since some of you aren't such familiar faces, I think—"
No, Gaia, no. Cloud winced. Not one of these classes.
"We should all introduce ourselves, and talk about one thing that interests us. I'm Ms. Crescent, as you can see on the board. Now, let's start in the corner. Mr. Valentine."
"I can't see the point if you already know who I am."
"Vinnie, c'mon!" The girl who had hugged him whispered.
He sighed, swung his legs around, and stood up. "I'm Vincent Valentine. Not Vinnie, or anything other than Vincent—"
"Yeah, but it's fine when your girlfriend calls you Vinnce, huh?" One of the guys said. Vincent glared, but Cloud couldn't see the person he was looking at.
"I like the quiet, and to be alone," he finished, sitting back down quickly.
The person in front of him stood up enthusiastically. Cloud recognized him to be the hot girl's friend from earlier. "Zack Fair. I'm sure you all know that already, though—right? I like sports, food, and—huh—I guess that's just about it."
"And girls." Someone called.
Áh, that's right. Can't forget the ladies."
Ms. Crescent waved him down, signalling for him to stop. "I think that's enough, Mr. Fair.
"Aerith Gainsborough," the next girl began quietly, but Cloud couldn't hear after that. He was waiting for the motorcycle girl's turn—nothing else.
And then, she stood, receiving a few whoops from the other boys in the class—including that Zack Fair guy. "Tifa Lockhart. Aside from school, I like to spend time with my friends, or practicing martial arts."
Cloud turned around in his seat, heart pounding, and blood rushing to his head. Tifa. Her name rang like a bell inside of his mind.
For a few minutes, he tried to calm himself down and keep his cool. By doing so, Cloud wasn't aware that it was his turn to speak.
"Mr. Strife?" Ms. Crescent asked.
He shook his head, stopping his train of thought. "Uh," he got up and spun around to see everyone's eyes were fixated on him alone. "I'm Cloud Strife. I just moved here from Nibelheim."
There were a few audible laughs.
Cautiously, Cloud continued. "I guess I like football and, uh…motorcycles. That's about it."
The rest of the class was spent on receiving textbooks, and assigning lockers, which were given alphabetically. Cloud was given one near another classroom door, parallel to a window looking out at the courtyard, and beside Vincent Valentine.
"If I arrive at school, and your locker door is blocking mine, I will hit you with a textbook," he said calmly. Most people would have been joking, but Cloud knew that Vincent was dead-serious. "Other than that, I don't care what you do."
He nodded. "Duly noted."
Vincent turned to the inside of his locker, stuffed his pack inside, and slammed it shut. After snapping a lock on it, he walked over to his four friends he'd been sitting with in class.
There was only one more period before lunch, thankfully. Cloud checked his schedule once more, and found that he had gym. Mr. Hewley. East Gym. "Two gyms? Holy crap. They should at least give new kids a damn map."
Cloud dropped his math textbook into his locker, not taking his eyes away from the white piece of paper.
"Where are you going?" He heard Vincent ask him from behind, just like before. When Cloud turned to see him, he was surprised to see his hand interlaced with that of—
"You should really stop sneaking up on people, Vinnie. I think it scares them."
"Quiet, Yuffie." Vincent harshly whispered. "Where are you going?"
"East gym." Cloud said, keeping his tone level with Vincent's.
"Head towards the cafeteria. Keep going straight, turn right, and you'll see two doors. Take the one farthest away from you. East gym."
Cloud tried to thank him, but Vincent turned the other way and replied with a quick "Whatever".
The gym was like any other: big, cold, bleachers, and basketball marking painted on the floor.
It wasn't a co-ed class, and Cloud suspected that the girls were in the other gym at that very moment.
This time, the class had only twenty students, all of whom were seated on the green bleachers waiting for the bell to ring. When it did, a very tall black-haired man emerged from the storage room.
No one was wearing their gym strip—not even the teacher—though he did instruct them to bring it for next day. "We don't have anything to do this class. And it would be pretty cruel to make you all do laps in your uniforms, huh? So, I guess you can just do whatever you want 'till lunch."
Great, maybe I can leave.
"Hey, you're the new guy from Nibelheim, right?"
Damn. Maybe not.
When Cloud looked at the speaker, he saw it to be the fresh-faced Zack Fair from his math class. "Remember me?"
"What do you want, Zack?" Cloud asked monotonously.
"Jeez, you sound like Vince. Just thought that you looked lonely all by yourself over here. I mean, you're not talking to anyone."
Cloud smiled for the first time that day. "And you don't have any of your friends here, either—so you resort to me."
Zack held up his hands defensively. "Just trying to be nice and you go accusing me of using you for company! How rude." He laughed. His black bangs that framed his face fell into his piercing blue eyes, and with a huff he blew them back into place. "You know, you should come have lunch with us. Y'know—meet the rest of the group. I could maybe show you around, if Vince hasn't already. Saw you two talking earlier. I'm sure that everyone would be glad to see you."
He accepted Zack's generous offer, grateful of having someone to talk to now. "Was that everyone you eat with back in Ms. Crescent's class?"
"Mostly, yeah. There are a few others, but they're not super tight like the rest of us. But, hey! That reminds me, you should try out for the football team. You said you liked it, right? We could really use a few new guys."
"Never said I was any good," Cloud grinned.
Zack looked around at his classmates. "Pry better than half of the wimps here." I'm the school's wide receiver. Do you have any special position?"
"Quarterback most of the time."
"Oh, jeez." The smile faded from Zack's face.
Cloud furrowed his brow. "Why? Is that a problem?"
"Uh—we had all of this drama last year with our quarterback. He was a real primadonna. Always wanted to make the plays himself, and he told Coach Angeal what to do." Zack explained. "Of course he and his brothers wouldn't get into any trouble, since their dad's the freaking Vice Principal. Disgusting. It's the only reason they're not banned from tryouts. There are three of them…the brothers, I mean: Loz—he's the other wide receiver; Yazoo—just a waterboy, but never drink it. Once he drugged it so the other guy who was going out for QB had to be taken to the hospital; and Kadaj. The quarterback. He'll do anything to get that position. He's great, too, unfortunately. But if you're better, Cloud, then you'll get to play on the team and that loser'll be gone. Problem solved." Zack patted him on the back. "Please be good."
Still shaken by what Zack had told him, Cloud warily stood up when the bell rang. He followed Zack all through the hallways and to the cafeteria. Along the way, Zack didn't stop talking about how all of his friends were: "gonna love you", or "football tryouts are on Tuesday—don't forget!"
He grabbed a tray, just half listening to Zack's incoherent ramble. Just after they made it out of the lineup for food did Cloud notice the enormous amount of food Zack had on his tray. Enough for two people, almost.
Zack led the way to a table away from most of the madness in the cafeteria, where everybody else was seated. "Hiya, guys! I brought Cloud with me. From math, remember? Thought it'd be nice if he joined us. He dropped his tray down beside Aerith's at the end of the table and claimed his seat. Cloud instinctively sat down beside Yuffie.
"Oh, hi!" She exclaimed. "Didjya make it to your class? Hm?"
Cloud nodded. "Yeah, thanks again."
"Anytime!" Yuffie grinned.
Then his eyes fell on Tifa, who was beside Aerith on the other side of the table. She was staring right back at him. Though before much else could happen, a seemingly annoying redhead threw his tray next to Zack's, making him move down on the bench. "Hey, yo! Miss me?"
A very calm and collected black guy took his place beside Cloud, not saying a word.
"Tifa! Lookin' good today, yo!" The redhead winked.
Tifa rolled her eyes, yet still had a smile on her face. "Shut up, Reno."
He brushed off the insult and turned to Aerith. "Hey there."
The clatter of Zack's fork hitting the tabletop broke everyone's attention. "Uh—" He became somewhat flustered for a moment, and then recollected himself. "Reno, Rude—meet Cloud. He's new."
The three of them exchanged awkward glances.
"Cloud, this is Rude, and that is his brother, Reno," Tifa gestured crudely towards the loud-mouthed redhead. When she saw Cloud's questioning look, she laughed. "Step brothers."
"Way to be nice about it, yo."
"Rude's dad, Barret, and Reno's dad, Cid got married and, here we are." Tifa frowned at Reno once more before turning back to her sandwich.
Aerith smiled at Cloud. "It's nice to meet you. Being the new kid in Ms. Crescent's class must have been pretty rough. She really likes to get to know her students."
"It's embarrassing." Vincent muttered.
"I think that it's nice." Aerith sighed. "I mean, it's how we all found each other, isn't it?"
"No way. You hung out with Teef, and we all wanted to get into her pants, so we hung out with you, too." Reno said.
"Boys." Tifa groaned.
"Zack! Is that true?" Aerith looked at him with sad eyes.
He casually laughed it off. "Maybe for Reno. But, come on, Tifa's like my sister. She's one of the guys." Zack threw Cloud a look of relief when Aerith was smiling again.
The rest of the day flew by, seeing as Cloud had at least some of his new friends in his last two classes. Aerith and Vincent were both in his Chemistry class, and Tifa and Rude were in History with him.
When the final bell rang, Tifa and he walked back to their lockers together (Rude's was on the top floor with Reno, near the Accounting class).
"So, do you want to hang out sometime? With the others? Get to know everything about us, and even become one of us weirdoes? We're gladly accepting new members." Tifa said as they neared their blue lockers. "Oh, look. Aerith's flirting with Zack again. He's totally oblivious, you know. I can't believe he hasn't made a move. We've all known each other since sophomore year. I just hate it when guys don't tell girls what they really feel."
Cloud stopped at this locker, open-mouthed. Vincent tried to stifle a laugh. "What?"
"Nothing." He slammed his locker shut.
"Hey, Cloud! Vinnie!" Yuffie squealed, giving him a kiss on the cheek. Vincent sighed and put his arm around her shoulder. "Are you coming over the Aerith's house? It'd be fun! Come on!"
"Don't smother him," Vincent said. "Maybe he doesn't want to engage himself in our strange antics."
Zack, who had overheard the short conversation, thumped Cloud on the back. "Yeah! You should come with us. I mean, unless you have something else to do. Or, maybe you just don't want to…"
"No way. I'll go with you guys." Cloud happily said.
Together, the six of them walked out to the school's parking lot. "It's just a short walk away," Aerith told him. "But Tifa takes her bike anyways."
"To impress the guys," Zack added. "She really likes to show off."
Just before they left school grounds, Cloud saw a group of three motorcycles all parked side by side. "Whoa."
"Yeah. Those are the guys I told you about's bikes. Remember? Loz, Yazoo, and Kadaj."
As Zack spoke, three silver-haired guys mounted the bikes and, without helmets, they tore off down the road. They obviously weren't going the speed limit, but it wasn't like there were any police officers who cared.
"Don't get on their bad side," Vincent murmured. "They have quite a bit of power at our school…"
I still have more characters to introduce (Tseng, Cissenei, Seph, and Genesis! Coming soon!)
R&R please, you guys! Thanks!