Disclaimer: I know the drill.... "I do not own the Final Fantasy series or any of Squaresofts characters. Don't sue me, yada, yada, yada."
I'll never amount to anything. I am just a thorn in everyone's side. Nobody even likes me. Not even Squall. Not even myself.
Quisits Trepe sat on her soft leather seat at her desk. Five years after the sorceress war and she was still an instructor. Above everyone else in rank. A highly respected individual among her peers. An adored role-model.
But there has to be more in life than all this. I have no friends. I have no family. I have no life.
Quistis stood up and looked out the large window that exposed the beautiful landscape. She could see young teenagers walking around the Garden happily and briskly without a care in the world. They all looked alive and glowing. "I want that," Quistis murmured. She leaned against the frame and stared longingly at them. Then she saw Irvine and Selphie. They both rested against a large tree in each other's arms. She envied them both.
"Quistis?" A voice asked.
She spun around to face Squall. He stood there with Rinoa in his arms.
"Yes?" She asked. Her British intonation echoed through the hollow classroom. "What can I help you with?" Quistis walked away from the window, embarrassed, and sat back down at her long maple colored desk.
"Nothing, really," Rinoa said. She walked towards Quistis. "We just wanted to know if you wanted to come to lunch with us." She smiled at her.....sympathetically almost.
Quistis looked at them blankly. "No thanks. I have a class next period and I need to get some things done." She stared down at her desk.
Rinoa didn't hesitate. "All right then. We'll see you later then. Bye." She skipped along side Squall and they both walked to the cafeteria.
You don't have to ask me to go to lunch with you just because you feel sorry for me,
Quistis thought. I hate it when people feel pity for me because I am always alone. I hate it. But even I feel pity for myself. I am pathetic."Maybe I am a little hungry," Quistis said. She stood up and stretched out her aching shoulders. "But I'm not going to stay here. I think I'll go to town or something." Quistis grabbed her leather suitcase and headed out the door.
"What can I get you, Miss?"
"I'll have a grilled cheeseburger with cheese and bacon on it, please," Quistis said, looking at the menu. "And can I have a refill of lemonade?"
The waitress nodded and she took the menu from Quistis. "Sure. Your order will be out shortly."
"Thank you," Quistis said politely. She twirled her straw in the empty glass that she had in front of her.
"Quistis?" a voice assumed.
Quistis turned around in her booth. She saw a tall man with a large build and faintly recognizable features. "Um," she said. She pushed up her glasses a bit to aid her straining eyes. "Seifer?" she asked. Quistis stood up. No one had seen Seifer in a long time. Since five years ago.
He nodded. "Yeah, it's me." That's all he said. Nothing else.
There was an awkward silence between the both of them. Quistis fidgeted with her glasses. "So, well, how have you been?"
Seifer didn't say anything. He just stared at her.
"What?" Quistis asked. She looked around confused.
He leaned against the booth. "Isn't the polite Miss. Instructor Trepe going to ask me if I want to have a seat?" He looked at her not smiling.
Quistis blushed. "I'm sorry," she apologized. "Have a seat."
Seifer didn't budge. "No thank you. I'm fine just standing." He grinned sharkishly.
Quistis just stared at him. "Well, if you don't want to sit down, then what do you want?" She looked at him defiantly.
"Well," Seifer said. "I just wanted to see how you were doing. Can't a guy ask someone how they were doing?"
"Yes," Quistis said, "but if you disappear for five years after you turned against your colleagues and then shown up all of a sudden, how do you expect me to react? With open arms? Do you want me to be all happy and forgiving?" She didn't know why she was retorting at him. She just had so much bottled up anger inside of her that didn't go away.
Seifer looked at her stunned, but quickly regained his composure. "Do you all continue to blame me for what I did five years ago?" He waited for an answer, but there was none. "Listen, sorry to burst your bubble, but I didn't say 'hi' to you because I wanted a pity-party. I jus wanted to know what was going on. How you were doing. Now you can just forget it." Seifer stood up and walked out of the small diner.
Quistis also stood up and chased after him. "Then what did you want?" she asked. She kept in step with him. "Did you want to go back to the Garden? To be apart of the group again?"
Seifer stopped. "I didn't say anything like that. I just asked how you were doing and you bit my head off." He pulled out a pack of cigarettes and lit one. "Has it really been that long?" He continued. "Five years and you go through a sudden identity change. You always used to be so forgiving, and now you're just like the rest of them."
Quistis stood in silence, then exploded in anger. "I am not like the rest of them. It's just that you show up after all this time and you talk to me like the way you used to before. Cold. Egotistical. Cross. Why should you be the only one allowed to be angry? Just because I am polite most of the time does not mean that I can't show my emotions sometimes."
Seifer scoffed. "Since when have you become so loud spoken, Quistis? Geez, you really have changed. The one person that I thought I can speak to about my problems is snubbing me. Ain't that a shame?" Seifer inhaled his cigarette and blew the smoke in her face.
Quistis coughed and fanned the smoke away, her eyes firing. "You think you're the only one that has problems? You think that the world revolves around you?" Quistis took a choking breath. "I've had plenty of problems since you've been gone and who have I got to talk to? No one. Not a single person. Seifer, I have been alone in life too. Can't you see that? You're not the only person alone in this world. So get your head out of your ass so you can see that too." Quistis quieted, timid of his reaction. He just stood with his back to her, not saying anything.
"You know what, Quistis?" he asked. He turned to face her, his eyes a cold hard blue. "I've got better things to do than listen to your pathetic little sob-story, alright?" He took another drag of his cigarette and blew it into her face once again. "So get over yourself."
Quistis' eyes filled with tears until her vision was blurred. "You should listen to your own advice," Quistis said and walked away angrily.
Quistis sat at her maple desk once again. She stared blankly around the class room at the group of teenagers. They all seemed carefree and happy when they entered the class. I never had that when I was a teenager, Quisits thought. She leaned back into her desk. Why did I always strive on being the best? Why couldn't I just settle for something less than what everyone expected from me?
"Uh, Instructor Trepe?" a voice asked.
Quistis snapped out of her daze and addressed the young lady who stood in front of her.
"Oh. Yes, Amy?" Quistis asked. "Is everything fine?"
Amy fidgeted with her notebook. "Oh, well, I was hoping that you could tell me that. You seem a little.....stressed. We've been in class for more than fifteen minutes now and you have just been sitting there."
Quistis looked at her silver watch. "Oh, dear," she commented. "I'm sorry, class. I am just having a bad day." She sighed and pulled out her briefcase as Amy returned to her seat. "Well, today, we will be studying the....." Quistis went into another daze. "We will be studying....." Quistis stopped and rubbed her temples with her fingers. "Class, you all are dismissed. Go out and do sometihng, anything. Just go and have fun during your teenage years." She waited for the class to leave, but not a single person budged.
"Dismissed," Quistis said a little more loudly. The class reluctantly stood up and left.
Quistis sat down in her leather chair once more. "If only I can melt into this," she thought. "I wish I can stay here forever." She closed her eyes and began to daydream. Of how boring her life was and how she could fix it.
"Quistis!" a stern voice interrupted her thoughts.
Quistis jumped up from her seat to face Headmaster Cid. "Y-yes?" She smoothed her hair down to make herself more presentable.
"Where is your class?" Cid steeped into her empty room.
Quistis began to stutter." Well-I-I dismissed them."
Cid crossed his arms. "And why would you do a thing like that?"
"Well, because..."
"Well?" Cid pressed.
Quistis' mind spun.
"Well?" Cid urged impatiently.
"I-I haven't been feeling to well the past few days," Quistis said. She looked at the ground. "I didn't feel that I could-"
"That is no excuse, Miss. Trepe." Cid scolded. "You have to report off if you are not feeling well. What if something happens to those kids? What if they get hurt? Then that'll be my behind in the papers, not yours. They'll say that.."
"Cid," Quistis said loudly. "I really haven't been feeling well, and if you'll excuse me now." She turned on her heel and walked towards the front gate.
"Quistis!" Cid called after her. She didn't turn around, but she could still hear his voice echoing across the halls. "You are suspended until further notice!"
Quistis kept walking.
"I'll have a lemonade," Quistis ordered. "That's all."
The waitress nodded and walked behind the counter to bring her drink to her. "Here you go."
Quistis nodded. "Thanks." She took a long sip from her glass and let the cold juice trickle down her throat.
"Are you alright?" the waitress asked her. Quistis looked up at her.
"Yeah," Quistis lied.
"'Cause you're looking real stressed right about now." The waitress leaned against the counter.
Quistis scoffed. "Thanks." She got up and left the money to pay for the drink.
She turned to leave the diner and she saw a glimpse of gray and black. "Seifer," Quistis whispered. She walked quickly out of the diner to follow him.
"Seifer!" Quistis shouted down the street. She could see Seifer turn around to see who was calling her, then turn back. "Seifer!" Quistis repeated. She chased after him.
"Wait!" She grabbed his shoulder and turned him around. "Please, I need to talk to someone."
Seifer shrugged her off of him. "Then go somewhere else. They have specialists for that." He continued to walk down the street.
"But Seifer!" Quistis pleaded. She walked with him. "I really, really need to talk to someone now." She stood in front of him to block his way.
Seifer looked at her and did a double take. She really looked like crap. Her eyes were red as if she were crying recently and her face was splotchy, but he really didn't care. "Quistis, get away from me. You're becoming an annoying baby like Rinoa now. I don't want you around. Just because I wanted to say 'hi' to you yesterday doesn't mean that I want to associate myself with you." He brushed past her and continued to walk down the path.
Quistis just stared at his back. "Fine," she said. "I guess that I have to do this myself." She turned and shuffled her feet the other way. She trudged towards the tall deck near the water and she stared into the calming blue ocean. It seemed to call her name. To urge her to become one with the water.
Here I am,
Quistis thought. She took a step closer to the deep blue liqiud. She could almost see her death. She could almost smell it."Quistis!!" Seifer screamed out. He had broken out into a run after he saw her step towards the ocean.
Startled, Quistis turned around sharply and lost her babalce on the wood. She could see Seifer running towards her, then she could see the light blue sky. Then she felt something crack on her head, then she saw nothing.
A. N.: Tell me if you want me to continue this story. I would really appreciate it. Thanks.