Military School is a guy's place, so how will the boys react when it suddenly becomes Co-ed. Will the gang cope with morning runs, assault courses, fire arms and … communal bathrooms?? Sqinoa
Chapter One – 'Feel the Silence'
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Day One
Irvine Kinneas, Zell Dincht and Seifer Almasy all flopped down on their own bed, their legs burning in pain. It was seven in the morning but the boys had been up since five, running since half past and dying on their feet since six.
"You would have thought I'd be used to this after a year," Zell sat up and stretched his legs making him wince in pain. "There was no way that was five miles."
"Maybe you're just getting weak Dincht."
Seifer had risen and was collecting a towel to go and have a shower. He walked past Zell with a smirk prompting retaliation.
"Or maybe I had to use extra effort today to push your ego out of my way Almasy."
Seifer gave a snort and walked out of the door, only to stop abruptly. He grinned more at the sight of a tired looking Squall Leonhart standing in front of him. Squall a young lad of seventeen looked up at the taller boy and his annoying smirk. "Don't worry Dincht, looks like Leonhart's even punier than you."
Rivalry was rife between the two boys, and had been since the day of enrolment. Seifer was good, and he knew it. Squall was just as good upstaging Seifer more than once in training, which was not something Seifer had appreciated. So he did what he could to make him self superior; be a complete git.
Seifer pushed past Squall knocking him with his shoulder. Squall merely shook his head, ran a hand through his damp hair and sat on his bed. Six more months, six more months and he wouldn't have to deal with that ego manic son of a b-
"As soon as I get a gun of my own, I'm going to shoot him!"
-itch anymore.
Squall and Irvine looked at Zell, Irvine raising an eyebrow at his friend's outburst.
"Stressed much Zell?"
"Am I that obvious?" Zell stretched his legs again, feeling them begin to stiffen.
"Nah, I'm just very intuitive."
"He's a jackass."
"True," Irvine stood up and grabbed his own towel.
"But let's see how confident a jackass he is without his towel."
Zell grinned as he twigged onto what Irvine intended to do and grabbing his own towel quickly headed out the door. Irvine hung back looking at the brown haired youth staring at the ceiling.
"Squall, you coming?"
Squall kept his eyes on the ceiling. "No you guys go."
"Alright man."
Irvine left, following Zell, psyched at the prospect of embarrassing Seifer. When they had left Squall sighed and closed his eyes. He didn't stay in that position long however and soon was on his feet, going for a walk outside. Somehow the idea of a naked Seifer walking in on him was not very appealing.
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"I must admit I'm reluctant about this."
Laguna sat at his desk frowning at the man in front of him. He was being pushed to make the school co-ed. It didn't seem like a bad idea in terms of any sort of military protocol. In fact Laguna thought it would do the school's reputation some good to show it wasn't discriminatory. But he wasn't sure how the boys would take it.
"You know there will be some resilience. The boys are protective of their … territory."
"You make them sound like animals Loire."
"You know that's not what I meant."
"I know but you can't deny the amount of girls' applications you have received. I, along with the other Governors agree it should be given a trial run. There are six months left, now would be a good time to give it a run. I know you want to Loire."
Laguna sighed and signed the document in front of him.
"A trial run. Do you have list for me to look at?"
"The students have already been picked and will be here tomorrow morning."
"How many?"
"Fifteen."
"Why not twenty?"
"We didn't want to overwhelm the lads. See you tomorrow Lieutenant. I'll leave it up to you to tell your boys."
Laguna watched the door close then spun round in his chair to look out of the window. It looked out across the large green training area and beyond that the school. The boys were heading to their classes and he smiled as he thought about the image of girls walking amongst them. He was walking on a knife edge and had no idea which way he was going to fall.
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Squall sat at the back of the class staring intently at his pen. English. The main subject that went straight over his head and into the bin. Especially now when they were studying poetry. What was the point in poetry when he was planning on joining the army? There was no logic at the institution sometimes. His eyes moved to the clock. Five minutes since he'd last looked. He suppressed a groan and looked back down at his notes.
The training ground was just beyond the classroom, he could see it out of the window. How he longed to be out there right now, fighting in some way, it didn't matter how, just to be able to exert his body. When physical exhaustion took him there was little time for other things to occupy his mind. That was the way he liked it.
Subconsciously he had begun to rub his forehead where a scar ran across the bridge of his nose. As was usual when he found himself touching the scar he looked over at the person who had given it to him. Seifer sat a few rows in front of him and Squall had a perfect view of the back of his head. On Squall's bad days it became a very tempting target for inanimate flying objects.
The bell rung and Squall, along with Irvine slammed his book shut and left the classroom.
"You heard about the news?"
Squall didn't respond so Irvine took that as a no and continued.
"Lieutenant Loire has called an assembly about some important change to the school. Zell's convinced it's a ten mile run in the morning instead of five."
"That should keep him happy."
Squall and Irvine entered the cafeteria and sat down with their food.
"Yeah he knows he loves it, but that's not it."
Irvine smiled knowingly and waited for Squall to ask him what it was really about. Squall would have much preferred it if Irvine had just told him, he wasn't a big fan of 'guess what' or 'guess who' or any sort of guessing game. Giving in he asked.
"It's girls."
Irvine's smile grew into a grin and he began eating. Squall was prevented from questioning further by the arrival of Zell and other lads who began complaining about the use of poetry. Irvine kept to his own lunch, not divulging his information to the other cadets. The looks on the guys' faces tomorrow would be too priceless to spoil the surprise.
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Day Two
The coach ran over a bump in the road jarring one of its occupants awake. Rinoa blinked and rubbed her eyes, remembering where she was. In a stuffy, smelly coach with a numb butt. Brilliant. She yawned and sat up stretching her arms above her head.
"Hey sleepyhead."
Selphie sat next to Rinoa. She wore a pair of jeans and white shirt with a bright red necktie and she was holding a packet of sweets. She held out the packet to Rinoa.
"Want one?"
"You're having sweets for breakfast?"
"Well it's not like they're going to be bringing round a gourmet breakfast trolley any time soon."
She slouched down in her seat and put another sweet in her mouth, still holding the packet out to Rinoa until she took one. Rinoa and Selphie along with six other girls had been travelling for four hours, leaving at four Am to get to Balamb Military Training Academy for eight. One or two others were still asleep.
Another ditch in the road and Rinoa bumped her head on the window. Groaning she placed her arms over her head. She didn't need to be injured before she got to the Academy. Selphie watched her friend and patted her on the shoulder quietly popping another sweet in her mouth.
"Oh we're here!"
A girl behind Rinoa yelled out and soon the girls who were asleep were perched on the edges of their seats. Rinoa felt her stomach tighten in apprehension. She wanted to go to Military school, she knew that. Regular school felt to loose and without purpose, here she would find it. But that didn't mean she couldn't be nervous. No matter what the title it was a new place and she was the new girl. That was always intimidating.
Selphie didn't seem to share any of her reservations. The girl was leaning against the chair in front looking eagerly at her new home.
"Oh my god, there's the training ground, and look at that assault course! Those guys won't know what hit them when I get a spin on that."
Rinoa smiled and swallowed the lump in her throat.
The coach pulled to a stop and the girls piled off. Rinoa adjusted her hoodie and picked up her bag throwing it over one shoulder. With the others she followed the driver.
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"Lieutenant, you can't be serious. These are just rumours right?"
Zell walked beside Laguna following him across the grounds. It had seemed that Irvine wasn't the only one who had connections and soon the talk of girls joining the Academy had spread. Though Zell was the only one speaking at the moment, there had been plenty of outrage the previous night.
Squall and Irvine, along with Seifer stood with a congregation of guys. Lieutenant Loire had stopped walking and appeared to be waiting for something. Zell however hadn't noticed and with as much respect as he could, whined for an answer.
"Right, sir?"
Laguna looked over at the group of lads. Not all of them were there, most had other obligations but there was about thirty. Thirty lads eagerly waiting to see if it was true. Unable to contain his amusement at their faces Laguna turned to Zell.
"Yes Dincht they're just rumours."
With perfect timing Rinoa and the other girls appeared round the corner. A stony silence filed the yard and Rinoa felt thirty pairs of eyes staring at her. Squall's face was expressionless as usual but his lack of expression was made up by the rest of the cadets. Some of the lads' mouths were hanging open in shock, while others glared. Irvine however was biting his cheek to keep from grinning. Glancing at Zell Squall didn't think he had ever seen the guy look more dumbfounded.
Skipping over Zell Squall's attention focused on Seifer. Squall hadn't heard anything about the towel and shower incident since yesterday but he had a feeling it wasn't just swept aside. It would be coming back to bite someone in the ass.
He had his characterised smirk plastered to his face and when Squall followed his gaze it landed on one of the girls. The girl who stood at the front of the group in a baggy hoodie and jeans. She was looking defiantly back at the guys though her eyes weren't focusing on any of them. At Laguna's voice Squall returned his attention to the Lieutenant, missing by a second the moment Rinoa's gaze fell on him.
"Gentlemen, meet the rumours."
"Oh, hell no."
Okay, I'm gonna admit this now. If the characters are OOC I do apologise and also I've never played FF - any of them. But I love them all the same, and the stories etc. So any glaringly bad OOC, let me know and I'll try and fix that. And review! Like any writer, I love them, so yeah review!!
Cheers.
Chapter Two - 'Welcome to the Jungle'