AN. Good lord, I'm writing ANOTHER Final Fantasy X-2 high school fic!! The difference being that this one will not suck half so badly as the others, lol D

Pairings: Paine/Baralai, Rikku/Gippal (one-sided; temporary), Rikku/Auron, Yuna/Tidus, Lulu/Wakka

Prologue: The Three Amigos

Diary a la Rikku!!

Guess what Gippal gave me for a Christmas present! Why, it's you, my beautiful little diary! You! Covered with black denim with little hearts around the edges!! Oh, you are just so cute!! I've always wanted to keep a diary! Paine has one and she makes it seem so cool and mysterious! She says that mine looks like it belongs to some middle-school kid, but I think the little white-paint flowers I drew on it look cute! Hers is black too, but it's just plain- it doesn't have half as much -uhh...?- character as mine does!!

Anyway, back to Gippy! How sweet of him was it to get me such an adorable gift?! He kind of ruined it by saying that he was only giving it to me so he could steal it back and read it later, but I'm gonna let that one slide!

Ooh! You know, we watched the fireworks together on New Years Eve? I was absolutely sure that he was gonna kiss me… but, no- I guess it wasn't meant to be… Maybe next year, huh?

Anyway, I gotta go- Yunie is calling and I think she wants me to get up… Time to catch some Z's then!!

Hugs and kisses!

L'il Ree

PRIVATE!! Please return to Yuna T. Roll class: 11M-LK

I've been sitting here calling Rikku for 20 minutes already but I don't think she can hear me- Either that or she's choosing to ignore me and I'll have to go up and drag her out of bed myself. I'm still calling between sentences.

"Rikku. Rikku. Rikku."

No answer… I'll try one more time. Rikku is so lazy sometimes- doesn't she remember that it's the first day back to school today?

"Rikku."

Okay, okay. I'm going up.

Rikku and I live together alone for most of the year. My parents died a long time ago so we live with her dad- my uncle, since we're cousins- but he goes away a lot on business.

There's also Brother, but God knows where he disappears to half the time. Rikku thinks he's always off smoking pot somewhere, but I think he's just down at the local library. His first language is Al Bhed, so he needs to study a lot more if he wants to fit in at our school- he just transferred, along with his friend, Buddy, who he was staying with before in the Al Bhed Home…

"RIKKU!!"

Sighing, I opened her door, shoving the last of my yummy cinnamon toast in my mouth as I did so. She was still in bed so I walked over to the curtains, watching her face for the telltale squint of her half-closed eyes as I yanked them open.

"Rikku, get up right now, or I'll swipe your diary and show it to Gippal," I threatened loudly.

It did the trick; she immediately jumped out of bed and clasped her diary to her chest in horror. It was just lying there on her bedside table, so I assumed that she'd been writing in it just before I came in.

"You have managed to remember that we start school again today, haven't you?" I asked, and I saw, from the look of absolute horror on her face, that she hadn't. "If you get up now, we can still make it in time."

Within the space of half a second, she had dropped her diary and bolted for the bathroom door. I looked down at it- tempted to pick it up and read whatever she didn't want Gippal to see, but resisting with all of my might.

We both got the idea of starting a journal from Paine. She had one first, then Rikku and me started talking and Gippal got her a notebook for Christmas, so, rather than be left behind, I got myself one too. You- Blue with little clouds and a kitty with a crown in one corner that I bribed Brother to draw for me.

Despite his many, many, many flaws, Brother is actually a fantastic artist and he knows it. He wants to drop school and start himself a tattoo parlour in town but Uncle Cid is adamant that he finishes school and goes to college first. I don't know why him and Buddy came here, but I have a feeling that they would have been MUCH better off back wherever they came from- Cid's pretty strict with his charges; mostly just Brother and Rikku, though, oddly enough.

"Yunie, fix your hair! We're leaving!" cried Rikku as the bathroom door shot open and she dived under the bed for her favourite red pumps.

"I was ready hours ago, Rikku," I reminded her sternly. "And what's wrong with my hair, huh? I have actually brushed it this morning!"

Rikku ignored me and was out the door again in a flash, leaving me to meekly oblige to her orders and get ready for my very first day back at that hell-hole they call Besaid High.

My only comfort was that somewhere out there in the grey and murky fog that just had to be out on the first day of school, Paine was having just a crummy morning as we were.

Private Property of Paine K. Keep the Hell out.

Toast. Shower. Motorcycle. School.

Yuna and Rikku were already out in the schoolyard as I arrived. They waved frantically as I parked my bike in the usual spot and I started walking over slowly, taking my time to readjust to the dreary school atmosphere- so different from the one I had just left back home.

"Hi, Paine!"

I turned around, registering Rikku's disappointed expression out of the corner of my eye as I did so. "Baralai," I said simply, raising my hand in a vague gesture of greeting.

"How was your summer?" he asked, ruffling his fluffy white hair a little, and grinning at me.

Somehow, I found myself entranced by the movement, eyes glued on his hand, which was slightly browner than when I saw it last, but thankfully I managed to answer fluidly. "Fine." …Well, with as just as much fluidity as you can pour into one word, anyway…

"That's good to hear."

"Hey, Baralai! You coming or not?!"

Baralai let out a small nervous chuckle and glanced in the other direction. "Uh, I'd better go. See you, Paine!"

I waved again as he left and resumed walking towards Rikku and Yuna.

"You were talking to Baralai?" said Rikku, grinning widely as I joined them.

"Yes," I said, completely ignoring the suggestive lilt her voice had taken on.

"That's nice." Still irritably suggestive.

"Oh be nice, Rikku," said Yuna, grinning a little in embarrassment for her cousin.

Rikku pouted annoyingly and looked like she was about to retort just as the first bell rang. A collective groan spread around the schoolyard and everyone began to trudge toward to heavy wooden doors that were to hold us prisoner for the next excruciating 6 periods.

"This is it, girls," I said and the others nodded solemnly.

"As much as it sucks," Rikku agreed.

"Ready to face the assembly?"

Stupid question- we were never ready for Monday's 2-hour assemblies and today was no exception. Still… it was time to face the music.

Talk to you later,

Paine