Chapter One

"… That would be all for today."

With the last word the professor uttered, the class was filled with sudden commotion. The screech of chairs pulling back and the excited voices of the students who met each other after the summer vacation.

I sighed and shoved my stuff into my bag. Being the new student sucked. That was for sure. But still, I was glad that I was here. Away from the suffocating atmosphere of Midgar, away from snob and hypocritical Midgarian people. Away from the people who didn't like you and respect you for you really were.

I knew that wasn't entirely true, but not entirely wrong either. I couldn't help feeling cynical. My last boyfriend didn't even bother to take time and pretend that he actually was interested in me rather in my position and fortune.

Anyway, yeah, so I moved out. It wasn't an easy task let me tell you. I was attending University of Midgar at the time. But I managed to get transferred to Kalm College. And my family? Well that was probably the hardest part. It took a lot of reassuring and reasoning to convince them that I really needed to get some space and live on my own for a while. My uncle particularly didn't approve of my decision. But hey, that was my life and I wasn't a child anymore. I was twenty years old.

And so far, I didn't regret it. I knew it was soon to judge, but Kalm was exactly what I dreamed it to be. It lived up to its name. It was much smaller than Midgar, yes but twice more quite. For someone like me, who was born and raised in Midgar, it was a welcoming change. And most importantly, no one here knew who I was.

Slowly and leisurely, I walked in the hall way trying to find my next class, Advanced Sociology. Here, even with all the new and unfamiliar things that were awaiting for me, I felt more at peace than I ever felt in Midgar.

"Humph…"

As I was looking for the class, someone bumped into me hard and shoved me a few inches back. A hand reached out a caught me before I lost may balance.

"Sorry…Sorry….! I wasn't looking! Are you okay?"

I looked up at the hazel eyes staring at me, widening with concern.

"I'm fine, no big deal!" I said as I rearranged the strap of my bag on my shoulder and took a proper look at the girl in front of me who looked a little out of breath.

She was petite, but clearly strong since she had almost knocked me down. She had Short black hair and a white bandanna around her head. So from Wutai perhaps.

"Sorry, I was just trying to find my class. Stupid literature! Do you know where on Gaia the literature class is?" she exclaimed with frustration. I smiled slightly.

"Sorry, I don't. I'm new here too."

"Oh, so you're a freshman too?"

"No junior, just transferred here."

"Well, I'm Yuffie, nice to meet you!" she extended her hand toward me. I reached out and shook her hand.

"Tifa."

"See you around Tifa! Sorry again!"

"I guess," I waved my hand as she walked away and I went back to the quest of finding my own class.

I stopped in front of one of the classes, "Class 214, it must be this."

I entered the class and took a seat in the back of the class. It was a huge class with most of the seats taken. Probably a crowded class. A few minutes later, the teacher entered. The moment that I saw him I knew without being told that he was a strict teacher, one that liked things get done his way.

Yet sociology was one of my favorites. One of the reasons that I went through things like history and other craps. The teacher started the class with an introductory of the course and continued with the topics that he was going to cover through the semester.

"Pay attention please that in addition to your midterm and final exams, there's also a project that you have to do," The students started to mutter in complain but the Professor Zangan spoke louder, "and let me tell you that it's much more important for me than either of them. You're supposed to do it in the teams of two. And you don't get to choose your partner yourself…" once again his voice was faded among the students complaints.

"Yeah…Yeah, I know that you'd rather work with your BFF Mr. Biggs but that's not going to happen. This is sociology class and I want to know how you would get along with someone out of the loop of your friends. So I'm going to read the names of each team."

I shifted uncomfortably in my seat. Perfect! What was better than a team project for a new student? Seriously, what was the deal with the teachers and team works?

"Johnathan Wilks and Ashly Green."

"Sora Anderson and Takreru Yagami."

.

.

.

And so he proceeded with the names. I was almost falling asleep when I heard my own name.

"Cloud Strife and Tifa Lockhart."

Well, that was a weird name! I turned my head to side to see if I could locate this Cloud guy, but I couldn't see anyone answering my inquiring gaze.

"And finally, Taro Satoh and Megan Agdal. Now please pay attention that you've got two weeks to decide on your project subject and they should meet with my approval. Class dismissed."

I didn't immediately leave the class. I killed a few minutes gathering my stuff, hoping this Cloud guy to show up. But when the classroom was almost empty, I gave up and exited the building, where most of the students were gathering in groups.

"Wouldn't kill you to come and introduce yourself since I'm new here, would it?" I muttered bitterly under my breath. I went to one of the guys who was talking and laughing with his friends and poked him shyly in the back to get his attention. He turned around to face me, looking a little surprised.

"Um…hi," I said awkwardly.

"Hi,"

"Excuse me, do you know Cloud Strife?"

"Strife? Sure!" he looked around for a second then pointed his chin at somewhere, "See the guy standing alone over there? Blond hair? That's strife."

I followed his gaze and my eyes fell on a boy leaning against a wall, looking at his surrounding with a look of disinterest on his face. He was wearing black cargo pants along with a black T-shirt. His black outfit was completed with a pair of black sunglasses. Yet, his most noticeable feature, was his hair. Locks of light blond hair was standing in every direction as they wished, defying gravity. It was strangely beautiful.

"Thanks," I said to the boy.

"Sure. Hey you're new here? Don't think I've seen you before."

"Yeah, I'm transferred from Midgar U," I explained.

"Wow, and would you leave Midgar U for here?" he asked genuinely amazed.

I got that reaction a lot. Midgar University was the first ranked college on… well, the planet. No one on their right mind would miss the chance of studying there. But I had my own reasons.

"I'm Tifa, by the way." I dodged his question with a smile.

"Biggs," he introduced himself.

I thanked Biggs again and went off to meet my project partner who hadn't moved as if waiting for someone. 'Sure, I should be the one to find him,' the nagging voice in my head commented again. As I got closer, I noticed how handsome he really was. Although, the sunglasses covered some part of his face, but it was obvious that he was a good looking man. I groaned inwardly. Great! Exactly what I needed: Another good looking, arrogant guy; a player whose most glorious achievement would be the number of girls he had dumped. I had seen enough of them in my life, and unfortunately, had always been attracted to them. Seriously, it was like I had kind of an internal magnet that pulled all these jerks toward me.

But not anymore. I hadn't moved miles away from my home to be at the same point that I had started. I had moved to start over. To spend some time alone with myself. To get to know Tifa better. To understand what she really wanted. To understand her hopes and dreams.

Now I was standing right in front of him, and he had his head turned to the other side. Didn't he noticed me? Or was he just trying to play cool?

"Um…Hello."

He tilted his head slightly toward me but other than that didn't show any reaction. It was starting to unnerve me.

"Hello! Hey are you Cloud Strife?"

Finally, I managed to get his attention. He was now looking straight at me, or so I thought so. His dark sunglasses made it difficult to know where exactly he was looking.

"You must be Tifa."

I was stunned for a moment before recovering and shook the hand extended toward me.

"Um, yeah, nice to meet you."

I couldn't help but think that he held my hand a little longer, but before I could say anything he released it.

"Okay…So what should we do about this project? I mean he said we have two weeks to find a subject."

I rolled my eyes as I spoke, hoping to lighten up the conversation, you know, making fun of the professor and his rules.

He looked at me blankly, not even cracking up a tiniest bit. I probably was teamed up with one of the most handsome and weirdest guys on the whole Gaia.

"Yeah, I guess we should set a time to talk about it," he said somewhat reluctantly.

"Sure. Look, I'm just in a bit of hurry now, so how about I give you a call later and we arrange something?"

"Sure."

I took out my phone and punched his number then dialed it. when I heard his ringtone, I hung up.

"And that's my number, just in case."

"Okay, thanks."

"Okay so I catch up with you later, Cloud."

"Bye Tifa."

I smiled to myself as I walked back to my apartment. I didn't know why, but it was kind of nice to hear my own name from him.

'You're crazy!' here was the nagging voice again. I shook my head as I unlocked the door.

I looked at the clock, four thirty. Good! I had half an hour to get ready and head off to my first job interview.

A/N: Thanks for reading. I really appreciate your reviews.