Chapter 2

The class was quietly taking the Algebra test when everyone heard Cid say, "Cloud! What's the answer to number four?"

Reeve looked up, rolled his eyes, then went back to reading his book. Cait Sith did the same andwent back to reading over Reeve's shoulder.

Zack finished his test and turned his paper over. He then looked over to Aerith who was also finished. "Hi." he whispered.

"Hey."she whispered back while blushing.

Cloud looked up and examined her. She was very beautiful and who knows, maybe Cloud could fall for a girl like her. Yeah, he could. But then he saw that Zack was talking to her. He quickly finished his test and eavesdropped on their conversation.

"So, you doing okay? You still nervous?" Zack asked her.

"I'm fine now." Aerith said.

Meanwhile, at the front of the class, the three Turks had finished their tests as well and were discussing Aerith. "So," Rufus said, "You think she could?"

"Yes." Tseng grinned. "I believe she would be a fine member to our cause, Rufus."

"But why her, Tseng?" Rude asked. "It's not cause you like her, is it?"

"Why hell no." Tseng growled. He then cleared his throat and said calmly, "What I mean is, I have known that girl in the past. Her name is Aerith Gainsborough."

"Uh huh." Rude nodded.

"I see." Rufus said. "But, why Tseng, will she help our causes?"

"Because, sir," Tseng grinned. "I understand you love to see nothing more than Cloud and his friends in pain and misery."

"Yes, yes." Rufus nodded casually. "Ah wait. I see. Strife likes her, doesn't he?" he looked back to Cloud who was indeed looking at her. "And so does Zack."

"Hmm." Rude pondered.

"Gentlemen," Rufus said. "I have an idea. Except, we don't need to do much at all. I'm sure Cloud and Zack will fight over her eventually. We take Cloud in and he becomes one of us. And he turns on those worthless friends of his."

Zack contined to talk to Aerith. "So, you want to sit with us at lunch today?" Zack asked her.

"Uh . . . sure." Aerith replied nervously.

Second and third periods, which were gym and english classes, went by pretty fast with little trouble from Rufus, and Cloud was happy to find out that he had both classes with Aerith, but she didn't sit by him in either class. Then came fourth period, the most dreaded class for every student because of its teacher. The class was science and the teacher was Mr. Hojo. He was pretty much a mad man. Rumors were that many years ago, he kidnapped a few students and did experiements on them, killing them.All of Cloud's friends were in that class with him, as were the Turks and Vincent.

Cloud sat calmly in his desk awaiting his friends as Cid came in. "What's up, Cloud?" Cid pulled out a cigarette and lit up.

Then, Aerith walked in. She saw Cloud and Cid and smiled as she nervously walked over. "Uh, h-hi. Can I sit with you?"

"Sure, why not?" Cid shrugged.

"Yeah, yeah." Cloud nodded as Aerith took the seat in front of Cloud. "I noticed you had second and third with me too."

"Yes." Aerith nodded. "That gym coach is a little . . ."

"Hard-headed? Yeah." Cloud laughed, making Aerith smile, making Cloud's heart jump for joy.

The rest of the group soon came, as did Vincent and the Turks, and then, Mr. Hojo came in. He looked at everyone closely and grinned seeing Aerith. "A new student." he motioned for her to the gront of the class. "Come, come."

Aerith nervously got up and walked in front of everyone. "H-Hi."

Hojo then looked her over, examining her very carefully. He began to nod, not realizing that everyone was staring at him oddly. "Oh?" he saw it. "Um, what is your name, student?"

"Aerith." she replied.

"Uh huh." Hojo nodded. "Uh, yes yes, take a seat." he gave her a push sending her back to her friends. "Um, I'll be right back, class." Hojo left the room.

Cloud was about to start talking to Aerith but then saw that Zack had beat him to it. He rolled his eyes as Tifa said, "Cloud, you coming to my house tonight to study for the science test tomorrow?"

"Why does Zack keep talking to her?" Cloud whispered.

"Cloud." Tifa rolled her eyes.

"I mean, come on, Zack," Cloud rolled his eyes. "You're comin' on a little strong, ain't ya?"

"Cloud, are you coming or not?" Tifa glared at him.

"Oh, yeah, yeah, of course I am, Tifa." Cloud nodded smiling at her.

"Hmm, hmm."

Cloud looked up to see Rufus standing over him. "Rufus Shinra. What could you ever want?"

"Just saying hi to her." Rufus turned to Aerith. "Hello my dear."

"H-Hi."

"Now, if you ever get any trouble from anyone at all, be it Zack or Barret or Tifa, you just give me a call." Rufus smiled. "I'll have 'em outta here in no time. In fact, would you like to come sit with us?"

"Why don't you just scram?" Barret crossed his arms.

"Scram?" Cid looked over to Barret. "That's the best you could think of?"

"Shut it, Cid!" Barret growled. "Beat it, Shinra."

"Fine, fine." Rufus threw his hands up in defense. "Give me a call, Aerith. If ya need help." and with that, he walked away.

About an hour later, at lunch, Cloud reached for a plate at the same time Aerith did. "Oh, sorry." he took his hand away, blushing.

"Oh, no problem." Aerith smiled grabbing two plates and handing one to Cloud. "Um, I don't think I ever caught your name."

"Oh, I Cloud." he smiled back at her.

"Aerith." she bowed. "I come from-uh, nevermind."

Cloud looked at her oddly then shrugged and said, "Been talking to Zack a lot lately, huh?" he sighed.

"Yeah. He's nice." Aerith nodded. "So, why don't you tell me what's up with that Shinra fellow?"

"Rufus?" Cloud laughed at his name. "He's a big moron, is all he is. Real full of himself. His father owns practically all of Midgar and named the school Shin-Ra School."

"And what are the Turks?" Aerith laughed.

"His gang." Cloud nodded while smiling.

Meanwhile, Yuffie had gotten her plate of food and was walking around, looking for an empty table. As she walked, she turned around and began walking backwards then as she turned back forward, she bumped into Vincent, spilling her food all over him. He turned to her and glared as the whole lunch room got silent.

"Oops. S-Sorry." Yuffie looked at him nervously.

Vincent closed his eyes then reopened them as they glowed red, fury burning in them. He clenched a fist then with his golden claw, he twiddled the fingers. He opened his mouth to speak but before anything could be said, Rude and Tseng stepped in front of him.

Reno then hit him hard in the back of the head with his metallic rod and Elena ran to Yuffie's side. "Are you alright?" she asked.

"Uh, yeah." Yuffie nodded.

"Quit bothering this girl." Reno glared at Vincent who stood back up. Vincent only stared Reno in the eyes then in a swift movement, grabbed him by the collar with his claw and slung him across the lunch room into a table. Vincent took anther look at Yuffie then casually walked out of the lunch room.

"Are you alright, Miss Yuffie?" Rufus appeared with his hands behind his back.

"Yes." Yuffie looked at him oddly.

"Alright, I'm just trying to make sure there is as little pain and trouble going through my school as possible." Rufus adjusted his jacket. "Plus . . ."

"You owe us money." Tseng grinned.

"Oh that?" Yuffie rubbed the back of her head with a big, nervous smile on her face. "Well, you see, Rufus, I'll be getting that to you soon."

"I like giving money to the poor, Yuffie," Rufus said.

"Poor?" Yuffie clenched a fist and glared at him.

"But you foolish, little . . . girls from Wutai can't be trusted with too much. Isn't your family full of thieves?" Rufus smiled evilly. "I want my money by tomorrow. I'm giving you an extra day."

Rufus crossed his arms then led the Turks away, even Reno who was now recovered, as Yuffie pouted and walked back into the lunch line for another plate as Cloud and Aerith found a table and sat down.

Aerith looked over at another table and saw a tall guy with long silver hair talking to a bunch of girls. "Who's that?" Aerith asked.

"Him?" Cloud pointed to him. "That's Sephiroth. He's a senior, here. He's like the most popular guy in school. A tri-star athelete. Smartest person in school. Had more girlfriends than anyone else. He's like the perfect human, or student at least."

"Wow." Aerith nodded. "That amazing, huh?"

"Wanna meet him?" Cloud asked. "Me and Sephiroth go way back. Hey Sephiroth!"

Sephiroth looked up and smiled seeing Cloud. He gently pushed a couple of girls out of his way and walked over to Cloud's table and sat down next to him. "Cloud, haven't talked to you lately." he saw Aerith. "My my, who is this?"

"I'm Aerith." she introduced herself.

"A pleasure." Sephiroth smiled then looked over to a clock. "Well, I'd better be going. Good seeing you Cloud and meeting you Miss Aerith. Good bye." Sephiroth bowed to them then left the lunch room.

"Hey!" Cid ran over to the table. "You mean you guys were over here talking to the most popular guy in school and didn't let me converse . . . for once?"

"Sorry," Cloud rolled his eyes, "But you can ask him out next time." he chuckled.

Cid mocked him then sat down next to Cloud as Yuffie came and sat next to Aerith. "Something wrong?" Aerith asked her.

"Rufus Shinra." Yuffie sighed resting her cheek on her fist and her elbow on the table. "That jackass is demanding the money I owe him."

"You borrowed money from Rufus?" Cloud asked.

"It was for . . . something." Yuffie said. "I was broke at the time and needed it. He gave me the amount and said I could pay it back when I found it convenient. I guess I find it convenient now."

"What up fools?" Barret sat down witha plate of food adn immediately began scarfing it down. "Yo Yuffie. What was with the Vincent encounter?"

"I spilled my food on him." Yuffie almost seemed proud. "Then . . . Reno hit him in the back of the head. Then, Vincent threw Reno across the lunch room. Uh, yeah."

"I see." Barret looked at her oddly, then shrugged and went back to eating. Tifa and Zack sooned joined them.

Tifa rolled her eyes seeing that Cloud was next to Aerith, and Zack grew angry seeing that Aerith was next to Cloud. But, Zack tried to make it less obvious by saying, "Uh, Yuffie, Rufus talked to ya, huh?"

"She owes him money." Cid rolled his eyes. "Seriously, Yufe, you could have come to us."

"I'm sorry, it's just I needed it then." Yuffie crossed her arms. "But it's fine, I have the money."

"Do you really?" Cloud sighed.

"No, can I borrow it?" Yuffie put a big smile on her face.

"I'm broke." Cid shrugged.

"Nothing." Zack shook his head.

"Look at this." Barret pointed to all the food on his plate. "You really think I got any money left?"

"Well, I guess it won't be so hard. I have until tomorrow." Yuffie shrugged.

"Yes, sir." Hojo nodded to President, and Principal, Shinra.

"You really believe it so?" Shinra asked.

"Sir. She is of the Cetra. We can make the perfect-"

"Shh." Shinra hushed him as a student walked by. "Anyhow, you really believe that if you . . ." Shinra took a deep breath, ". . . mate, the Cetra with . . . that thing, that we can have the perfect-"

"Oh yes!" Hojo nodded. "Right there with Sephiroth."

"I see." Shinra scratched his chin. "Now tell me, Hojo, Sephiroth will be graduating this year. What do we plan to do about that?"

"Nothing other than fail him so he is forced to remain at this school." Hojo grinned. "He is my creation. And he will stay here." Hojo rubbed his hands together. Shinra laughed then walked off as Hojo put his hands behind his back and walked into his classroom.