Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy 8...

Note: I know, I have been away from romances for awhile, but that's okay, right? Good...

Summary: A new student transfers to Garden and his personal life is kept a secret by Cid and is thus picked on by the kids...With Rinoa being her usual open self she tries to understand him (AU)(Not Corny, I sware)!!

IMPORTANT::: The whole gang is 15 years of age.... ^__^ It is a great age (For me at least)!! Also Some characters are OOC

~*Where Life Begins*~

~*Chapter 1: Difference*~

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"Shut up, Zell!" Selphie cried. As she leaned forward across the bus aisle. Zell was seated lazily, legs filling the entire brown seat. Selphie lightly smacked him in the shins with her fist. After the contact Zell howled in pain and began to rub his leg furiously.

"Ouch." Zell complained as he slowly pulled his hands away from his shins. "Rinoa, did you see what she did to me?" Zell asked as he looked back behind one seat, to the very back where Rinoa was seated. She was doodling with a pencil and paper, slightly turning her head to an angle she felt appropriate.

"Selphie, stop flirting." Rinoa commanded with no expression as she continued to draw. Selphie blushed and cowered back into her seat.

The bus lightly jumped as it ran over a small bump, forcing Rinoa's hand to slip and causing her pencil to destroy her new picture. Rinoa looked to her pencil angrily. But moved past it as she shoved the now ruined drawing into the very back of the bus and stuffed the pencil into her pocket. Now with her thoughts not concentrated on the drawing anymore, she looked up. Her eyes scanned across the empty seats. No one was ever on their bus. All the other children around their area went to schools where they taught algebra, history, grammar and other things. Their school was a different story, their school had classes about how to kill, how to upgrade weapons and how to protect yourself when assaulted. Those were all nice to know, but not important, or at least to any normal teenager their age. The people who went to this school were forced to use it once in their life {(That sentence has no 'A's!!)}. But not just use it, survive off it. Often when you exceed standards or pass all classes with a 'B' or higher you were forced into war, it didn't matter when, even if you had quit the school, you still had to fight.

Another bump in the road cause the bus to jump lightly off the ground.

"Did you hear?" Quistis began as she leaned close to Rinoa and the others.

"What?" Asked Irvine as he leaned in near Quistis's face like the rest of them.

"I heard a new student is coming today." She told them. Zell sighed in disapointment.

"That always happens!" Zell told her as laid back into his seat and leaned his against the window, causing him to look towards the top of the bus.

"But, it's not just that he is new. Cid actually forced him to come to Garden." Quistis told them, a small smirk on her lips.

"I didn't think he could do that." Selphie said as he placed a finger under her chin.

"He obviously can." Quistis said. There was silence for a few moments, except the heavy breathing of Zell. Rinoa sighed and rested her head to the cool glass window. Her eyes gracefully floated toward to the military school known as Garden. The building was an inviting light blue with beautiful gardens full of flowers surrounding it. She could see students walking up the long cement walk way that lead to the entrance.

The bus came to a jerking stop, waking all of them from their thoughts. The 5 of them stood up and began to walk down the aisle that lead to the buses exit. Selphie was the first to step off. She opened her mouth wide and let out a loud long yawn. Zell stepped off and cracked his neck and back. The rest jumped off and walked for Garden.

As they entered Garden the sound of voices penetrated their ears in a frantic assault.

"I hate this place." Irvine complained as he brushed past them and into the main hall that surrounded a fountain. Rinoa followed him and linked her arm with his. She placed her head to his shoulder and closed her eyes, letting her boyfriend guide her. Irvine smiled and looked down to her, resting his head atop hers, his eyes remaining open. But there comfort with each other was quickly broken as Rinoa stumbled back, dropping a small binder that she held onto the floor. The floor spilled with papers. Rinoa quickly unhooked her arm with his and bent down to pick her papers up while Irvine walked down the hall in the direction of which she stumbled. He found a brown haired boy, same age as her, stumbling lightly as well. Irvine grabbed his arm and pulled him back and snarled in his face. The boy showed no expression to his threats.

"Apologize to her." Irvine commanded harshly, "And help her clean up, new kid." Irvine demanded as he threw the boy to the floor. He bent down over the papers and gathered them up and handed them to Rinoa.

"Thank you." She said to the boy. Still no expression showed on his face.

"Apologize." Irvine demanded coming close to the boys ear.

"I'm not good at apologies." The boy told him.

"Don't wanna apologize? Then several fists are gonna meet your face." Irvine threatened almost in a scream.

"Irvine!" Scolded Rinoa as she held her binder close to her chest. Irvine pouted silently and crossed his arms in annoyance. "C'mon, were gonna be late for class." Rinoa told him, her cheery self entering her once more. Irvine leaned close to the kids ear.

"After school, in the quad." Irvine told him. And with that he began to walk off after Rinoa and the rest of the gang.

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The brown haired boy stood quietly in the cloud white room, awaiting orders to begin his training from the window that showed two people through it. One standing and talking to the one sitting at the computer below her.

"Well, how goes it?" A scratchy voice asked over the intercom from the room into the cloud white one.

"I think I have all the weapon names and their bullet sizes memorized." The brown haired boy told the voice.

"No, Squall, I mean how was your first day here?" The voice asked. Squall didn't answer. "That bad, huh?" The voice asked.

"Can we just get on with the training, Xu?" Squall pleaded to the older women.

"Fine," Xu began as she rolled her eyes. "Equip your head visor over your face." Xu began. Squall pushed a white triangle pointed object over his face. "Now ready the machine gun next to you." Xu commanded. Squall grasped his hands onto the gun and let it hang to his side. "Now, get ready for training mode 3: Trigger Command." Xu told him. One the inside of the visor screen, it read 3, 2, 1 and then the white room formed into a paved street. Suddenly a quite large spider appeared in the middle of the street as it began to slide back and forth. Squall raised his gun to eye level.

"Center," Said Xu, "Aim," Xu told him, "And fire!" Xu commanded. Squall began to fire. The bullets flew past the moving spider. "Focus!" Xu yelled. Feeling rage building up inside of him from that jackass in the hall he had bumped into, he pulled the trigger down completely, sending a barrage of fire straight through the spider's body. The Spider immediately fell down.

"His Mendula Oblongada seems to be affecting his hit ratio and attack pattern." The women at the computer told Xu. Xu sighed with annoyance.

"That's not the way to fight." Xu said quietly as she looked to the black floor beneath her.....

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A/N: Gosh, I hope this was good... A bit vague on things at the moment, but that's alright, right? Of course it is!! Don't worry, I have already started work on the next chapter, so well, this won't be uhhh.. not continued until most likely the end! ^__^

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