A/N: This is my first story, so I want to apologize beforehand if it sucks. I don't claim ownership of Final Fantasy or its characters. I'm rating it M (just to be safe) for language, violence, and possible sexual situations (was never really good at writing that kind of stuff). I kind of have an idea of where I want this to go, so depending on how well I can stick with this and the reception it gets will determine if I end it one way or opt to for another way, giving it a sequel. Hope it's entertaining!
BANG! BANG! BANG!
"Serah! You've been in there for almost an hour! Hurry up or we're going to miss the bus! Again!"
"I'm coming! I'm coming!" a muffled yet unnervingly calm voice replied from behind the bathroom door.
Lightning let out a long, tired breath and walked away from the closed bathroom door that connected her room to her younger sister's. She made her way down the stairs of the big house and into the kitchen. The table had been set, just like it had been every other morning, for her and her bathroom-hog-of-a-sister to actually sit down and eat breakfast before sprinting outside just in time to miss the bus. This morning wouldn't be much different.
Lightning swiped two brown bags from the counter and started packaging some of the breakfast items into them. Even if they couldn't eat now, they could at least eat something on the walk to school. She had just finished rolling the top of one bag closed when she heard three loud raps against the house's front door. "What the hell…?" She snagged a glass of orange juice from the table on her way out of the kitchen to the door.
She swung the door open and didn't even attempt to hide the dismay that openly splayed across her face.
"Hiya, neighbor."
"I'm not your neighbor." With that, Lightning slammed the door closed in the face of the blonde giant standing on her doorstep.
She ignored the offended, "Heyyy!" that sounded from outside and flicked her eyes upward toward the ceiling.
"Serah!" she called. No answer. Two more ignored knocks on the door. "Serah, why is Snow Villiers knocking on our door?"
If Lightning had known she'd get this kind of reaction, she would've started using the buffoon's name a long time ago as an incentive to get her sister out of the bathroom. She heard a single loud thump from above, followed by the slamming of a door and the pattering of feet rushing down the stairs. "Snow's here?!" Her little sister, who was almost a splitting image of her, appeared at the bottom of the staircase. They both had crystal clear blue eyes, although Serah's was bit steelier color, and light pink hair.
"Good morning, Serah," Lightning said coolly.
"Good morning, Serah!" parroted an enthusiastic voice from the other side of the door. Too enthusiastic, Lightning thought to herself, shooting a fierce look behind her at the door with a low growl.
"Light! You didn't let him in?!" Serah gasped and rushed forward, callously pushed her sister out of the way in the process. The poor door was once again flung open. As if he had been preparing for this moment his whole life, when the door fully opened to reveal Snow, he was using his forearm to lean against the doorway, his head resting on a balled fist with an attempt at a debonair smile plastered on his face.
"Hi."
Lightning rolled her eyes and let a loud, "ugh…" She reached forward to grab Serah's wrist and pull her further back into the house. "Villiers. Why is he here?" she asked, ignoring the trench-coated oaf in the doorway who blocked most of the morning sun from streaming in.
"Welllllll," Serah eyes shifted from Lightning to Snow, "Yesterday we were talking and I mentioned how we can never manage to make it to the bus on time, so we always have to walk and end up being late for school. Then Snow offered to drive us since we ARE neighbors, after all, and I thought it was a great idea."
Lightning just glared at her sister, only once glancing away to give Snow an equal dosage of glare. "You two were talking yesterday?"
"CLAIRE!"
Lightning sighed and rubbed her hand over her face. She checked her wrist for the time. At this rate, they would be late again. It wasn't good for Serah to be this tardy all the time for her freshman year. She would get a bad reputation among the faculty. As a junior, even though she couldn't say that she was favored by any particular teacher, Lightning had already proven herself to be a good, dependable student.
Light slowly lifted her eyes back to Serah. Serah's face lit up immediately. "Yayy! I call shotgun." With that, she zipped past both Lightning and Snow and out the door.
Snow awkwardly swung back and forth from his heels to toes. He tried to give Lightning a modest, toothy smile, but it just ended up looking uncomfortable. Lightning responded by giving him a look that was icy enough to make a snowman shiver.
"Uhh… I'll just wait in the car while, uh, you lock up." Snow took a couple of backward steps away from the door before turning and breaking out into a brisk power walk to the red convertible that was parked on the curb.
After Lightning had scooped up their breakfasts, she made her way out the door toward Snow's car. They lived in a pretty white bread neighborhood. Lightning, Serah, and Snow were part of the families that lived in the twelve houses that circled a round dead end. It was a quiet, secluded area. All the houses were at least two stories made of brick with their own garages and yards. A thick wall of trees and bushes lined the back of all the yards, which further separated them from the outside neighborhoods. Lightning and Serah's house was located at the bottom end of the circular drive, which was about five houses away from Snow, who lived on the last house lining the round-about before hitting the road that led outwards. Because of the glamour of some of the houses and the income of those who owned them, the area had been nicknamed Candy Court. Lightning couldn't have thought up a more embarrassing name.
Snow slowed the car as they entered the crowded school parking lot.
"Wow," Serah said in mock awe, observing all the students that were just hanging about. "Looks a lot different when you actually arrive on time, doesn't it Light?"
"And whose fault is that?" Lightning replied without missing a beat.
Serah ignored her sister and immediately turned her attention to Snow. "Thank you so much for the ride! If it wouldn't be too much trouble… we should do this every morning."
Snow had just pulled into a parking spot. He opened his mouth to reply but Lightning beat him to the punch. "It'd be too much trouble."
Serah whipped her head to the back seat to shoot Lightning a dirty look while Snow uncomfortably rubbed the back of his bandana-covered head. "Uh… we'll see how things go."
"Things better not go far," Lightning mumbled, climbing out of the car. She waited for the other two to follow suit, not wanting to leave them alone with so much time to kill before the first bell rang. Thankfully, or even more so annoyingly, Serah was called over by a group of excited friends who seemed to be going ape shit crazy over the fact that she arrived to school in Snow's passenger seat. Lightning silently wondered if anyone was as impressed about her being driven in the back Ms. Daisy-style as she quickly strode across the lot.
"Y'know, Lightning," Snow jogged up to his peer's side, "I know you don't have a high opinion of me and all after the whole cootie scandal of third grade—"
Lightning's eyes turned on Snow, sharp as daggers. She didn't want or expect having to interact with him this long. Snow gulped and rubbed his gloved hands together, unsure of whether he should go on or just cut his losses. "But, I, uh… I've really matured a lot since we were nine, you know."
"SNOW! About time your big blonde ass showed up! I was just telling these lovely ladies here about last week when we tried to throw that pool party at the MacFaddens' place, but we didn't know the MacFaddens were still in town!"
The comment was followed by a bunch of laughter. Snow quickly turned to the group of kids gathered around a car not too far away and made quick hand signals for them to stop.
Lightning shook her head in disbelief. "Matured, huh? If you're so mature, why are you even talking to a freshman in the first place?" Snow was notorious around school for throwing the best ragers and there were always girls clambering to hang out with him, hoping to get special invites or privileges.
Once again, before Snow could answer, he was cut off. "Wait, is that Farron? Did you two ride here together? Dude, you must've really gotten in good with the sister!"
Lightning barely heard Snow apologizing before her feet led her to stand toe to toe with the offender, a muscled, brute of a boy named Gadot. He easily towered over her, and looked down on her with an easy smile. In order to accentuate the size difference, he tightly crossed his arms against his chest. It was as if the boy was allergic to sleeves because even in winter, none of his shirts seemed to have them. This particular shirt was loud orange, which coincidentally matched the brightly colored Mohawk on his head. "Wowww." He dragged the word out. "I've been waiting for you to finally make a move toward me. What finally lit a fire under your ass?" The smile never left his face.
Lightning raised a single brow and made a show of flicking her eyes up to his hair and back down again. "I don't know. Probably the same bad decision making that lit that fire on your head." She could feel herself inching herself up, to no avail, to be on a more even level with the boy. His smile somewhat faltered, losing a bit of it's smugness, but he still let it play on his lips as to not show any sign of being offended.
"HA!" A harsh laugh burst from beside them. Lightning never broke eye contact with Gadot. "Hahaha…" the laughter continued, now accompanied by light clapping. "Whew. She's gotta point there, mate. That was some literal hell-fire decision-makin'. As in ya kinda look like hell cuz of it. Hahaha."
Gadot was the first to break eye contact, now facing the new, somewhat exotic voice. "Ladies love the hawk."
"Yuj and yer mum don't count."
A bit of light laughter sounded among the group.
Now Lightning turned to face the voice. She found herself staring dead into a pair of deep emerald eyes. Eyes that were locked on her own as if they were learning all the world's secrets by staring into them. She was so caught off-guard by the intensity of the stare that she was stunned for a moment, until she felt a heavy hand land on her shoulder. "He didn't mean anything by that," Snow mumbled in a low voice.
"He better not have," she replied, roughly shrugging his hand from her shoulder and turning to leave.
"Wait. Farron." Green Eyes' voice called out to her. Lightning slightly turned to semi-face the girl. It was then that she noticed the actual girl. She had been too caught up in the surprise stare-down to notice much else than her eyes before. Now that she thought about it, it was actually hard to not notice the girl's… physique. She was lying, arms folded, across the hood of an old, beat up, multicolored car. At once the vehicle may have been red, but it now looked an orangey salmon, with a green passenger door and a faded sky-blue bumper. The girl wore baggy black pants and a black, bra-like top that exposed her naturally tanned midriff under a loose, unbuttoned jean shirt. Lightning's eyes traveled from her tennis to the top of her head, which was covered in a messy mop of raven hair with scarlet tips that actually suited the girl quite well. Dangling from her neck and ears were different types of jewelry made from multicolored beads, shells, and crystals. It looked… she was… Pulsian?
Lightning's eyes drifted the short distance back down to capture the eyes that had caught her attention so effectively before. However, those eyes weren't giving her that same intense stare. That is, not to her face. Lightning could see the girl's eyes slowly roving her body as well. "Ahem!" Lightning loudly cleared her throat.
The girl coolly returned her focus to Lightning's face, her lips slightly tilted in one-sided smile and her face wearing an expression as if she had not been caught doing anything wrong. "So," the word smoothly rolled off the girl's tongue, the faint smile on her face slowly starting to widen, "what would I have to do to light a fire under your ass?" Her eyes dropped down to the body part in question.
Lightning's eyes widened and she felt her face grow hot. The surrounding group broke out into loud laughter and the smile that the Pulsian had been previously holding back now covered her whole face as she dapped off her peers. Lightning couldn't think of a comeback this time. She just felt humiliated. She spun on her heel and marched towards the school.
"Aye! Don't be like that! It was just a joke!" the accented voice called after her.
"Lightning! Fang, what the hell?!" She could clearly hear Snow even as she moved further and further away.
"Hey, don't worry. Me an' that girl, we've got history."
Lightning sat at her desk with her face buried in her hands. She and 'Fang' literally had history class together. She actually couldn't believe it. How could she not notice that she had a class with a Pulsian? If the girl's looks didn't stick out like a sore thumb, then her accent surely should have.
When she first entered the room and took her usual seat in the middle of the class, she heard light shuffling followed by the slam of books on the desk behind her. "Hello, Heatwave."
"Lightning."
"Lightbug."
Instead of answering, Lightning turned in her chair to glare at the girl now seated behind her.
"Lightning," the girl corrected herself with a wide, amused smile. Lightning noticed that she was now wearing a black t-shirt and ripped jeans. She wasn't bearing as much skin as she had been before outside but the t-shirt revealed enough of her arm for Lightning to quickly peep part of a large tattoo on her upper left arm.
Lightning let out an exasperated puff and turned back to face the front. She heard the creak of the desk as the girl behind her scooted forward. "About this mornin', that was nothin' personal right?"
Lightning grunted.
The girl must've interpreted that as a sign to continue. "Because I thought it was all outta fun. And Snow really wants me to apologize and I usually don't hang out with them that much so my behavior shouldn't have any—"
"Can you shut up? Class is starting," Lightning hissed.
There was a shocked silence from behind her as the teacher started pacing the front of the room and talking about some type of field trip. Lightning felt her shoulders relax. Maybe the girl would leave her alone now. "Well," the girl whispered in dramatic disbelief, proving Lightning totally wrong and making her grind her teeth. "Lighting a fire under your ass doesn't seem to be as big a problem as pullin' those knotted up knickers out of it."
"HEY!" Lightning exploded, immediately slamming her chair back into the girl's desk before turning and slapping her palms down on its surface.
"Ms. Farron!" the teacher barked from the front of the class. Lightning tried to calm herself down, forcing herself to take slower, more even breaths. It was hard with Pulsian staring back at her, that slight smirk returned to her face and her eyes giving Lightning a look that asked, "What are you gonna do?"
Lightning slowly turned around and scooted her chair back up to her desk, keeping her eyes downcast. The teacher eyed her incredulously. "Well, Ms. Farron, since the subject moves you to such excitement, I will be putting you down for Saturday's field trip to the Vestige."
"Wait… what?" Lightning lifted her head to give the teacher a questioning look.
"Oh, were you not paying attention? Was your conversation with Fang too important?" Lightning didn't reply but continued to gaze at her teacher in confusion. "Before I was so rudely interrupted," he began without waiting for an answer, "I was briefing the class on the details of an optional field trip to the Vestige on Saturday. A field trip that has now become mandatory for you."
Lightning groaned and slid into her seat. "Unless, that is, you want mandatory Saturday detentions instead. For a month."
"No, sir," Lightning replied glumly. "But what about… Fang?" She glanced behind her and received a confirmatory nod from the Pulsian.
"Fang did not disrupt my class," the teacher said matter-of-factly, pushing his glasses up higher on his nose. "Besides, Fang already signed up to go on this trip a week ago."