September 3

Dear diary,

It's been such a crazy week. I have not had any time to write anything. I have been so busy! I'm almost getting used to being a senior at Shinra High. But it all feels so different now that Zack is gone. When your friend moves to another town, it's almost as if he died, you know?

Haha, of course you know. You're me, after all. You're future me! I really hope I'm not as pathetic in the future. I'm hoping that this last year of school is a great one and helps me figure out what I want to do with my life. Right now, I have no idea at all. But they always say that high school is a great time to figure oneself out, and I guess that's what I'll have to start doing. I hope I don't find out I'm destined to be a loser forever, cuz that would SUCK. V_V"

I have five classes this year. Environmental science is gonna be a lot of fun. Mr. Bugenhagen teaches it, and he's such a funny old guy. Really laid back. I've heard a lot of good about him from other students, and I got lucky with the seating arrangement. I'm next to a bunch of students from the Environmental Science Club! Score!

Just a bit about Barret, because I know I'll write more about him later—If he hadn't told me he was president of the club, I never would've guessed it. He seems like a really tough guy, but all he ever talks about is how much he loves the earth and plants. He's been trying this entire time to get me to join his club, and the others are doing the same thing. Biggs and Wedge are total cards. They're really fun to talk to, and they seem a lot more relaxed than Barret. The big dude is always on edge about something. Then there's Jesse—she's really cute. You can tell she grew up as kind of a tomboy, but hey, that just means she's tough enough to hang with the guys. Not one of those stupid sissy girls! The whole school seems to be filled with those preppy girls!

But it's not like all preppy girls are bad, and I really shouldn't lump them all together... Ah, I have to just say it! I SIT NEXT TO AERITH IN ECONOMICS! I wanted to lead up to that in this entry, but how can I do that? SHE'S SO PRETTY! And she even started conversation with me on the first day! SHE REMEMBERED MY NAME! I'm so, so happy! Ever since she started dating Zack in 9th grade, I've had this huge crush on her, but now that Zack's gone… I hope I don't sound like a huge jerk, but maybe my friend leaving is the best thing that's ever happened to me? Hahaha! :)))

Then again, gym is so different without Zack there to help me out. I got Coach Corneo this year, and wow, everything they say about him IS true. He hits on all the girls, and it's really creepy. He's like flippin 80 or something. He plays favorites so much. On the first day, he even singled me out after I finished last in running the mile, and he asked me, "What do you think I do to a kid who finishes last in the class:

A) Encourage him

B) Give him a B for the day

C) Pull him aside and give him advice to improve

D) Make him do 40 pushups?"

I guessed B, and then he yelled at me and told me I guessed wrong and told me to drop and give him forty. He's the WORST EVER.

He has it especially out for me because I didn't sign up for football this year. Everyone is giving me crap about that! And not just the jocks. Everyone just thinks I'm lazy for not joining any clubs. Even Barret has used that against me.

"Yo, spikey-head! When you gonna put those talents of yours to work? You could save the planet!" – Barret "wow look at me I have a prosthetic limb wow" Wallace

I tried to tell him that I don't have any talent and that I don't care about the planet, and then he just cursed me out. He swears a lot. Now I don't have a problem with swearing. But it makes me nervous. You never know when the TURKs might overhear… And it's so early in the semester that I just don't want any trouble…

Things have gotten so out of hand with the new TURKs leadership. The Tutoring Under-privileged and Risk-oriented Kids program is now led by Tseng, the foreign exchange student, and his friends. They were just some band geeks last year, sorta off the radar. But now they think they're hot stuff and want everyone to know it. Basically the TURKs are there to enforce the rules of the Shinra High Student Council, but they are getting out of hand. And the new student council president, Rufus, is encouraging it with his big speeches on intimidation tactics. I heard he and the TURKs have already made one kid drop out. Some emo kid named Vincent was in my economics class for the first few days and then just sorta disappeared? I know they were after him for shooting spitballs in class, but wow, I wonder what they did to make him just disappear like that…

So, anyway, I got a little off subject and my hand is starting to cramp up… I have environmental science, economics, gym, lunch, and then chemistry and history. But I don't think I want to write a ton about those other two right now, because there's a LOT I could say about chemistry… On the first day, Dr. Hojo (he thinks because he's a "Dr." he should get paid a lot more and he has already told us this) assigned us lab partners, and I got paired up with Sephiroth. And that's literally the last person I wanna be paired with… UGH. #whyme

First of all, the kid probably hates my guts for quitting the team. He's the star Shinra High SOLDIERs' quarterback. While I was the suckiest runt in the team, he used to try to encourage me and really thought he could make something out of me. He should've known that I'm useless. I mean, my name is Cloud. What kind of a sissy name is Cloud? At least call me Tornado or Earthquake. Clouds are like the gayest (but really I like homosexuals; they are okay) thing in nature. They just drop water. #THANKSMOM

Anyway my hand is starting to really cramp up and I don't even care about spelling or punctuation any more and when that happens I know just I need to stop

okay, I'll right more tomorrow when I'm not so tired.

Quote of the day: "Why you so worried about Sephiroth? Nothin' but a pretty momma's boy. Sure, the girls love him because he's got the looks, but y'know what girls really like? Men who care about the environment." – Barret "the inconvenient truth is that I'm the only one who notices you in this classroom" Wallace