Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy VIII or any of the characters. If I did, well, it would have had a sequel, and HD Remaster and a movie. Because Squall is amazing and the best Final Fantasy Protagonist in existence. The cover I am using for this story is NOT made by me, it is also not an official image. It was made by Kimika.
Beep beep
I could hear my alarm going off and I groaned, rolling over and feeling around for it. I managed to hit it and it fell onto the ground, looking over the edge of my bed I sighed. "Oops." I moved and slowly made my way out of bed. I opened my phone and started the music, listening as it came through the bluetooth speaker on the other side of my room. I gathered my clothing for the day, taking longer than normal. It was saturday, so it wasn't like I had school or anything. Finally I decided on a pair of jeans and a soft blue turtleneck. It was getting colder in Balamb, it would be snowing soon.
School had started back in September and I was happy to go back and finish my final year. I had a few classes with all of my friends. Personally, I found most of the classes boring, but at least there was people there that I know would make it more interesting. But I supposed I should stop talking about that and introduce myself.
My name is Rinoa Heartilly, I'm sixteen years old, turning seventeen this weekend and I was born and raised in Deling City. That was, up until six months ago when my mother, Julia Heartilly and my father, James Caraway got divorced. Then my mom wanted to move to Balamb, a small sea town and open a cafe. Which had always been her dream since she started singing. Since I am closer to my mother than my father, I decided live with her.
It hasn't been that hard. I made friends rather quickly, despite being the new girl. Quistis is probably one of my best friends. She's an amazing person and she's so pretty. Her boyfriend, Seifer is pretty cool too. He's a little bit of a hothead, but once you get use to that and his humor, then he's actually someone you could rely on. He and Quistis make a cute little blonde couple.
Then there is Zell, I think most of the students think that he is on drugs or something. He's hyper and never runs out of energy. I swear to god, he's secretly the energizer bunny or something. I keep trying to find the off switch, but I can't seem to find it!
Finally, there is Selphie and Irvine. They are a couple too, Irvine is a bit of a playboy. He's always flirting, which makes Selphie so mad. But he's never actually cheated on her, actually, I don't even think that he realizes that he is flirting most of the time. I think it's ingrained into his DNA or something. Selphie on the other hand, well she's a little bit like Zell in the sense that she has a lot of energy. She's always so happy and positive that it's impossible not to smile around her. There you have it! My life, pretty much in a nutshell.
As I stepped into my bathroom I could hear my mother walking by. She knew I was awake since the music was on. I never turned it up loudly. Just loud enough for me to hear it in the shower. It was really nice of my mom to give me the master bedroom when we moved. I think she felt bad because my room in Deling was huge and this one, although bigger than all the other rooms of the house, was significantly smaller. She even offered to have one of the walls knocked out to make it bigger! I knew secretly, that she couldn't afford it. She would have had to ask my father for the money. And I wasn't that spoiled. So I told her it wasn't a problem.
Even though, I'm a girl, my shower only took about twenty minutes. I'm not one to take too long. I got out and got dressed. It took another half hour to straighten my hair and put on my makeup. Once I was finished I checked myself out in the mirror before turning off the music and heading downstairs to the kitchen. I still hadn't quite woken up and my body was screaming for caffeine.
As I headed down the stairs and into the kitchen I could spot my mother, who was smiling at me. "Morning momma." I said happily as I went to the cupboard and grabbed my favorite coffee mug, pouring some of the hot liquid and fixing it to my liking, taking a sip. I could feel myself waking up already.
"You are awake early honey." My mother said to me, as if she was surprised. Which I guess I did wake up much earlier than I normally did on the weekends. It was only about nine in the morning. Usually on saturdays I wouldn't be awake before noon.
"I'm going shopping with Selphie and Quistis for the dance." She said. "I need to buy a dress." I told her.
"Oh, well, let me give you some money." She said as she went to her purse.
"Mom.." I stopped her. "Dad put some of my debit card. I have money to cover my dress. Don't worry about it." I felt like she was trying to make sure that I had the lifestyle I was use to. The one I had when she was married to my father. Probably in an attempt to make sure that I didn't take the divorce too hard.
My mother simply smiled at me, as she always did. "Okay honey, I'll be at the cafe all day, so why don't you and the girls come by after shopping and have some lunch?" She asked. Of course, that brought a smile to my face and I nodded. "Okay mom! We would love that!" I told her happily. Quistis and Selphie really did love my moms food. I took a sip of my coffee as my mother came to sit next to me. I looked over at her with a smile.
My mother and I had always been so close. She was my best friend, I know there is that saying that girls are always closer with their fathers. But because of my father's career, he never had time to spend with me. So, I had been closer with my mother because she was the one that spent time with me. Even through all of that thought, I didn't hate my father. I don't think I ever could.
"How are you liking Balamb, Rin?" My mother asked me and I was brought back to reality.
"It's really great!" I told her, sighing. "I mean, it's smaller than Deling City and not quite as fast paced, but I really do love it."
"At least you made friends, I was scared you wouldn't." That was my mother for you, a worrisome person. She was always concerned about little things like that. Then again, I hadn't thought I would make friends as quick as I did, but that is one thing about Selphie. When that woman decides that she want's to be your friend, there isn't a hell of a lot you can do about it. So, Selphie decided that she wanted to be friends with me, and I pretty much had no choice in the matter. But I loved her, she was such a happy person.
"So what time are you going to meet the girls?" She asked again, which once again brought me out of my thoughts. I looked down at my watch as I took a sip of my drink.
"Selphie isn't even up yet." I laughed. "Plus, I'm waiting on Seifer." I added.
"Seifer?" My mom asked. My mom had been pretty apprehensive of Seifer when they had first met a few years ago, mostly because of the scar across his face. It was funny, my mom actually thought Seifer was some kind of delinquent. Seifer explained that the scar had happened with his childhood best friend. The two were in a car with the boys parents and there was a car accident. My mom seemed to relax after that.
"Yeah, he need's a copy of my notes. He was out sick on Friday." I explained. "The boys are avoiding shopping like the plague, So, if I don't get them to him today then he's going to fail the test on monday. I told him I would make a copy." Which I had done on my printer as soon as I got home, I didn't want to forget.
"Well, he should be happy to have you." She said with a soft smile.
"Well, Quistis would have given him her notes, but he can't read her handwriting." I explained to her. "Quisitis writes in cursive, and since Seifer's first language is Estharian, he can't read it very well." I sipped my coffee.
There was a knock on the door and I smiled. "There he is." I stood up from my stool, as I walked out into the living room toward the front door I heard my mom shout at me and I yelled back an affirmative. I leaned forward and opened the door. Seifer was standing there. "Hey Seif." I said happily and gave him a hug.
"I stopped by on my way home from Quistis', You have those notes for me?" He asked as he returned my hug. I nodded and stood to the side so that he could come in.
"I take it you're feeling better." I said to him. "You sound better, when you called me on Friday you sounded like you were on death's door." I told him as I shut the door behind him.
"Yeah, it was a twenty four hour thing, but it was nasty." The blonde told me as I walked over to my books and stuff. I pulled out a few sheets of paper and handed them to him. He took them with a smile.
"I put a star next to the things you really need to study. It will be on the test monday." I told him.
"You are a lifesaver Rin."
"You're welcome!" I told him happily. "Come on! My mom said stay for breakfast." I took him by the hand, something I did quite often, and led him to the kitchen. Me and Seifer were closer than I was with everyone else. I had known him before I moved to Balamb. His father and mother were Cid and Edea Kramer: The couple had had dinner with my parents many times. So when I moved to Balamb, Seifer was the first one I saw at school and I was really happy to see him.
"Good morning Seifer!" My mother greeted happily as she put a plate of eggs in front of us both.
"Good morning, Ms. Heartilly." He said politely as my mother also placed a cup of juice and coffee in front of him.
"How is your dear mother?" She asked him. I just observed the conversation as I ate. My mother and Seifer's were really close, Since before I was even born. Seifer had been adopted as a toddler because Edea couldn't have children of her own.
"She's doing great. I told her you had moved to Balamb. I think she wants to get together." He said as he ate.
"Oh! Please, make sure to leave your home number so I can give her a call!" I was happy to hear my mother say that. She needed to make some friends here in Balamb. I hated that my mother always seemed so lonely and unhappy.
"Will do, Thank you for the breakfast Ms. Heartilly." He said as he took a sip of his juice. "Hey Rin, Quis told me the girls are going shopping today. For homecoming dresses?" He asked.
I nodded. "Yeah."
"Try to push Quist toward something red, she looks phenomenal in red." He said, winking at me and I smiled, laughing a little.
"I'll see what I can do." I told him.
He finished his food and drinks and brought the dishes to the sink. Where my mother took them from him with a soft thank you. Seifer came over next to me and gave me a hug and a peck on the cheek. "I gotta go." He said. "An old friend is back in town and I said I would stop by and see him." He explained to me, I nodded. "Thanks again for the notes Rin! With your help, I'll ace the test." He picked up his papers and left the room. A Few seconds after, I heard the front door close. I quickly finished my breakfast and brought the plates to my mom. We took a small bit of time together to do the dishes. We always did them together, since I was little. She washed and I dried. My dad use to be the one to put away, but when he became the general of Galbadia, that stopped. And now it was just me and mom, so I put the dishes away too.
I heard my phone chirp and I turned, drying my hands and grabbing it off the counter. It was a text from Selphie, letting me know that she had just woken up. We wanted to get to the stores early today before the pickings were slim.
"Mom, Selphie just woke up. So I'm gonna head over to her place and meet her." I said as I tossed my phone in my bag after I had returned my friends text.
"Okay honey, Have fun and drive safe." She told me, the same thing she always told me. I walked over and grabbed my keys from the keyrack and stopped to kiss her cheek.
"I will, promise!" I said, and I headed out the door to my car. It wasn't anything over the top. Even though my father could afford over the top. It was a dark blue Honda Civic. I didn't want anything crazy.
I started the car and headed over to my friends.
After what felt like forever and a day of shopping, we headed down the street toward my mother's cafe.
"You should have got the purple one Quisty! It looked so pretty on you!" Selphie said, still upset at the dress that Quistis had chosen.
"Seifer told Rin this morning to persuade me to get a red dress, although I have no idea why he couldn't just tell me that!" Quistis said.
"I think because he had to make it look like he didn't care what kind of dress you wore." I told her with a laugh, holding my dress in my arms.
"I like the one you chose Rin, very pretty." Selphie told me.
The dress I chose wasn't overly sexy, but it wasn't underly sexy either. It fit my frame, it was sky blue and white.
"Do you have a date?" Quistis asked me and I shook my head.
"Nope, me and Zell are going stag." I said. "A few of the boys asked me, but… none of them are my type." I said.
"What is your type? You told us like nothing about what you like in a guy." Selphie said to me and I shook my head.
"It's a secret." I told her.
As we walked into the cafe, I glanced around at all the people that were sitting and talking to one another. I felt a moment of happiness for mother. Selphie and Quisits had smiles on their faces too. I could recognize a lot of people from my school, I kind of wondered about that, I had to admit but I decided to push it aside for now. Since I was just happy because there was people.
"At least our regular table isn't taken!" Selphie said excitedly as she walked over to it and sat down. Me and Quistis smiled and sat down with her. I looked around for my mom and didn't see her, she might have been in her office.
"I'll be right back. Get me a tea when the server comes by. I'm gonna go show my mom my dress." I said. They nodded and I stood up, walking around to the door leading to the back room. I typed in the code, which of course I knew since it was my birthday and I heard a click and I opened the door. Letting it shut behind me as I made my way toward my mother's office.
"Mom!" I said, knocking on the door.
"Come in honey!" She said through the door and I opened it. She was sitting behind her desk, smiling at me.
"Did you find a dress?" She asked as she took her glasses off. I nodded and unzipped the garment bag that protected the dress.
My mom got up from her desk and came around, looking over the dress. "This is really pretty Rin." She told me with a smile. "I was a teensy bit worried you would get something revealing." She said.
"MOM!" I couldn't help but look at her shocked before I started laughing.
"Well, I know Selphie likes to push people." She said, laughing herself.
"I won't tell her you said that." I put my finger to my lips as if it was a secret. But in reality, it was the truth. Selphie loved putting people outside of their boundaries. That was just the way that she was and sometimes it was annoying, but sometimes, she was spot on. She was my best friend too, so it wasn't like I couldn't tell her no if I wanted to.
"Can I leave this in here until the dance, I don't want to risk it getting ruined." I asked her.
"Sure honey, just put it over there. Tell Selphie and Quistis if they want to leave theirs here too, they are more than welcome."
I nodded and hung my dress up where she had indicated.
"Mom…" I said as I came to sit in the chair. "My birthday is this weekend…" I said to her.
"Yes, I am well aware." She said with a smile. "Did you decide what you wanted to do?" She asked me and I nodded.
"I want a party, a small one. Well, a sleepover." I told her. "Just Quistis, Selphie….." I hesitated. "Zell, Irvine and Seifer?" I was hesitant to ask if the boys could stay.
"Fine." She said simply with a smile on her face.
"Really? Thanks mom! You're the best!" I went around to her side and hugged her. I walked to the open door to go back to my friends when her voice stopped me.
"The boys can sleep in the guest room." She said. I turned to her and nodded, It was better than her saying no to them staying. Like any other mother she wouldn't allow me to have boys spend the night. So I would take what I could get.
I headed back out to my table where Quistis and Selphie were. I sat down and took a sip of my drink. "My mom said yes. The boys can stay over too, but they have to sleep in the guest room." I said, making sure to add in my mother's condition.
"I'm sure they will be fine with that." Selphie said and Quistis made a face.
"I'm sure Seifer will end up on the sofa." Quistis said. "Irvine snores and Zell talks in his sleep. Seifer will end up killing them before morning comes."
"Oh, yeah, I forgot about that." I said. "Well! Then the couch is Seifer's! I'm sure my mom doesn't care where they drop as long as it isn't in my room." I said with a smile.
"Hey, did you know she hired a new server?" Selphie asked me, I took another sip of my tea and nodded.
"Yeah, like a week ago or something. Biggs and Wedge quit at the same time. She needed someone. I hear he's really good." I said as I finished off the glass. "Have we ordered yet?" I asked.
I could hear footsteps walk by us and another glass was set before the footsteps continued onto another table. I smiled and switched the glasses. So the server could pick it up as they were walking by.
"No, we were waiting on you." Quistis said as I picked up a menu. I knew the menu by heart, but I usually looked at it anyways because there were times that I just didn't know what I wanted.
It only took a minute to decide to go with my usual and I set the menu down.
"You guys ready?"
I glanced over and it was right then I caught sight of the new server my mom had hired. He was tall, about five feet ten inches, chocolate brown hair and icy blue eyes. There was a scar across his face and it seemed so familiar. But more than that, I noticed… he was freaking gorgeous.
"Uh-yeah." I managed to choke out. "Club sandwich no pickles, fries and a side of mayo." I told him, the male looked down and scrawled something down and took my friends orders before walking away.
As soon as he was out of earshot. I smiled. "That is my type." I said with a soft chuckle.
A Note from Ayu - Well, there you have it! The first chapter of my new story! No worries all! I will still be working on All that Glitters, this is just something else for my fans to read and enjoy! Please Please PLEASE read and review. It's really hard to find the want to update when a story is not getting any reviews. I know people are busy, but when there isn't any reviews it makes us authors feel like no one is enjoying what we wrote! But, I hope you all enjoyed this opening chapter! I'm almost done with Chapter Ten of All that Glitters, so expect that up sometime in the next day or two!
