MY LIONHEART – CHAPTER 1

A New Beginning

"Good morning, class." Quistis called out. The whole class fell silent suddenly while a few students walked back to their places. Quistis cleared her throat and put on her spectacles. She held a white piece of paper, moved her glasses a little, looked up from the paper and smiled to the class. "It seems we have a new student here today from Timber. Ah, but I don't see her here."

Quistis scanned the classroom and nodded her head. "She's new and she's late already. Figures. She probably got lost, eh?" She chuckled to herself but the whole class sat quietly; their sleepy eyes staring at her. She dropped her cheery voice and coughed again. Suddenly a girl's voice rang out from the door.

"I'm sorry!" A girl in blue and black stumbled across the door. She skipped towards Quistis and bowed low, apologizing again in a small voice.

"It's alright." Quistis said. "Class, she is our new student. Her name is Rinoa Heartilly. Now be good to her, class. Take out your textbooks and read page 137. Rinoa, you may take an empty seat anywhere you like."

"Thank you." Rinoa bowed politely again and she scanned the classroom, looking for a seat.

There's only one seat left, I think, she thought. She eyed an empty seat and next to it sat a brown-haired guy who was staring blankly at the pages, flipping it and he lowered his head onto the table.

Rinoa walked up to him. He didn't notice her presence.

"Excuse me." Rinoa said in a small voice, trying to get his attention. He looked up at her with a neutral expression and Rinoa smiled at him. Before she could say anything else, someone called out her name behind her.

"Rinoa!" A girl with brown hair called out to her. She had a weird hairstyle – the ends of her hair were curled upwards, but it gave her a super cute look. "Rinoa! I've got an empty seat here. Come on!"

Rinoa stood blank for a moment and turned around to the stranger who was already sitting upright in his seat. She smiled at him again and said "Erm. Sorry, it's okay. I'll take her seat, then."

The dark-haired stranger nodded with the same expression and laid his head down onto the table again.

"Hiya!" The girl said. "My name's Selphie Tilmitt. You're General Caraway's daughter, right?"

"Right." Rinoa said and she nodded. "Is it okay if you show me around? I got lost for about an hour before I came to class… Heh heh." She laughed nervously.

Selphie winked at her. "Sure, Rin. We'll have lunch first then I'll show you around, okay?"

"Rin?" Rinoa repeated.

"Yeah! And you can call me Selph! Is that okay?"

"Er… Alright then." Rinoa smiled.

Wow. She's definitely a people person. I think I'll be able to fit here just fine, Rinoa thought.

After the bell rang, Selphie and Rinoa was about to pack up when Quistis called out. "Rinoa, I want to see you after class."

Rinoa nodded, grabbed her bag and immediately walked up to Quistis. Selphie took her stuff and trailed her from behind.

"Rinoa, I've been assigned to brief you about this school. Also I need to give you your Student ID card and your room key but… I'm afraid I'm very hungry right now." Quistis smiled while holding her stomach and laughed heartily.

"I can show her around, Quisty!" Selphie said cheerfully, holding Rinoa's arm.

"Oh, hello Selphie! I see you made a new friend. Want to go for lunch?"

"Sure!" Selphie cheered.

The two waited for Quistis to pack her books and left the classroom.

"Miss Quistis?" Rinoa asked.

"Yes? Oh, and please, call me Quistis when we're out of class. I'm not used to being a lecturer again."

"Oh?" Rinoa said.

"My lecturer's license was revoked about a year ago. But now I've managed to get my license again."

"And what were you doing for that one year?"

"Like you, I was a student." Quistis said happily. "So don't be so formal around me outside of class. It makes me feel old. I'm still 18 for god's sake!" She laughed. "Besides, I was Selphie's classmate. We're going to meet the rest of my old classmates soon."

Rinoa laughed and felt at ease. Not long after that, they reached the cafeteria.

"Hey!" A young man wearing a cowboy hat waved from a table for six. He had his legs on the table with a rifle by his side.

"The lady-killer of the school." Quistis whispered into Rinoa's ear and she smiled, trying hard not to laugh. The three approached him and Irvine smiled at the sight of Selphie.

Selphie smiled and plopped herself next to Irvine and he held his arm around her.

"Going out for two months and still going strong." Quistis added.

"Hello. And who is this young lady?" Irvine said; a smirk spread across his face. Rinoa bowed, introducing herself.

"Hello, I'm Rinoa Heartilly. And you are…?"

"Irvine. Irvine Kinneas." Irvine smiled and started to kiss Selphie's forehead. She giggled and poked him playfully.

After a few moments, they came back to the table with food. Rinoa saw a blond boy with spiky hair and a tattoo on the left-side of his face. He smiled widely when he saw them.

"New kid?" He smiled. "The name's Zell Dincht. You must be Rinoa, right? Nice to meet you! Now let's chow down!"

Before Rinoa could say anything, Zell had already halfway finished his meal which was brought to the table by Quistis. Everyone sweat-dropped.

The rest ate their meal and Irvine and Zell bickered over whose weapon was the coolest. Their stupid remarks and kiddish attitude made the whole table roar with laughter and the two made up by slapping each other high-fives.

After meeting her new friends, Rinoa felt sleepy and wanted to go to her room. Quistis sensed it and she politely asked for her leave. Then she, Rinoa and Selphie left the cafeteria and showed her around the school.

"Oh." Rinoa said, blushing. "I thought this school was really big."

"It feels small once you know your way around." Quistis said. "Ah, this is the way to the dorms. Come on, I'm sure you're tired!"

Rinoa nodded and followed the other two up the hallway and they reached a room. Quistis took out a key card, swiped it and the doors slid open.

"Wow… It's nice." Rinoa said. Quistis gave her a wink and said "It is, isn't it? Oh well, I got to get going. A lot of paper work to do. Take care and enjoy yourself alright?"

"Alright. Thanks." Rinoa said, not noticing that Selphie was bouncing on her bed.

"Oh, and don't forget to do your homework!" Quistis called out before she left for the door. Rinoa waved towards Quistis who was walking down the hallway and she saw the same dark-haired stranger come up her way. He walked to the room next to her and swiped his key card.

"Hello." Rinoa said, smiling towards him. He looked at her in an unfazed way and entered his room and his door slid shut.

How rude, she thought as the doors slid shut. He could at least smile.

After getting bombarded with info about Balamb Garden and its students, Selphie left with a lot of energy to spare and Rinoa fell onto her bed, feeling exhausted. Not long after that, she fell into a deep sleep.

Hikari Reika: Yeah. I know. Pretty boring for the first chapter. I haven't written a FF8 fanfic for three years now and I'm afraid I've gotten a bit rusty. But apparently by reading other fanfics, I became even more hooked on writing fics nowdays.

Anyway, I've uploaded chapter 2 and 3 as well because… Well… You know, the first chapter is boring and I want you guys to keep coming back ya. Thanks