Chapter 2

Hope grabbed his lunch from his backpack and walked out the door of the classroom. History had been the same as always, covering the material that had been assigned the night before and debates began to take place. During the debates, Hope noticed that Vanille had not taken part of it and instead she just stared out the window. Language was the same, there had been a debate over the chapters that had been assigned the night before on the fiction book about the fal'cie and she once again just stared out the window. He wasn't exactly sure why she didn't want to take part of the debates but he knew it was none of his business.

Carlton waved to Hope and he waved back as he made his way over to the empty table that his friend occupied. This was a very familiar sight, just the two of them sitting together and discussing current events and usually farfetched ideas like Time Travel. Hope sat down, placing his lunch on the table in front of him and gave Carlton a smile.

"How is class?" asked Hope as he pulled his sandwich out and began to eat it. Carlton just shrugged.

"Same as always, tons of debates and we really get nowhere. Same with you?" Hope gave a nod as he took another bite of his sandwich.

"Who is she?" Hope looked up and noticed Vanille walking into the room with a tray in her hands. She looked lost though she kept a smile on her face. Her eyes danced from table to table, trying to figure out where she wanted to sit. It seemed like she was standing there a tad too long when an upperclassmen bumped into her shoulder and making her drop her tray to the ground. She looked down at the tray but didn't say a thing.

Vanille sighed softly as she looked at her tray on the ground. It was just her luck that she would get bumped into on her first day at the school. She wasn't entirely fitting in but she felt that it would take a little while for her to warm up to anybody. She was usually a bubbly girl but being in a new environment was throwing her for a loop and having to adapt to a new lifestyle was becoming very difficult. She bit her lip as she knelt down to pick up the items off the ground.

"Do you need help?" Vanille looked up and noticed a silver hair boy, the boy she sat next to during class. She gave him a cheerful smile and shook her head.

"I think I have it, thank you though." She chirped and went to grab her milk but was a little slow as the young man was handing her the milk. The gesture was very kind, something she had not experienced that day. She felt a little flutter in her stomach as she grabbed the milk and placed it on her tray. After everything was picked up Vanille stood up and smiled at the boy.

"Thank you for helping, you really didn't need to." The boy gave a shrug.

"It's okay. If you want somewhere to sit you can sit with my friend and I." he offered, pointing to another young man sitting at an almost empty table. The young man with glasses smiled and waved in their direction. Vanille smiled and nodded.

"Sure, that sounds great."

Hope could tell that this was another person than the one he had noticed earlier. This Vanille was very chipper and seemed full of energy. Hope sat next to Carlton and Vanille sat to his left. Carlton couldn't stop smiling as he looked at the new addition to the table, something that Hope wasn't used to.

"Hi, I'm Carlton and your name is?"

"Vanille, Vanille Dia. I just moved here from Bodhum." She said, shaking Carlton's hand.

"Bodhum, huh? You like the water? They have some of the best fireworks around," Carlton stated, his eyes not leaving Vanille's. Hope noticed Vanille's eye shake for a split second before she delievered her answer.

"The water is really nice and it is really calm. The fireworks are amazing as well, I wish on them every year," Vanille cooed as she opened her milk and took a drink of it. Hope noticed that the only thing she could eat was her milk since everything else on her plate had hit the ground. He tore a part of his sandwich off and handed it to her. She looked at Hope surprised.

"Here, I'm almost full so if you want some of my sandwich you can since everything you had fell on the floor." Vanille took the piece of sandwich happily and ate it.

"Thanks!" she chirped as the chimes went off that signified the end of lunch and that the students should return to class. "I'll see you in class!" and with that Vanille grabbed her tray and skipped off. Hope had a small smile and shook his head at the complete 180 that Vanille had taken with her personality.

"She is something else," said Carlton as he stood up. Hope gave a laugh.

"Yeah, she is quite interesting."

"She is pretty too; you should get her to sit with us from now one." Hope glanced at Carlton with a questionable look. He didn't know that Carlton could be swayed by a girl so easily.


After lunch Vanille had become a different person. The subject with math and instead of staring out the window, Vanille had moved her desk closer to Hope so she could look off his homework paper and write down the notes she had missed from the day before and she also chimed in with the discussion about the equations and how to solve the problems. Hope couldn't believe the transformation and all because he had talked to her. As she leaned in close to look at his notes, Hope's chest fluttered a bit and he had to look away. She was kind of pretty, but her eyes were amazing. Hope didn't understand why he was drawn to her eyes but he felt that there was something there that she was holding back and he wasn't sure if she was aware of it herself yet or not.

As their last subject of the day was physical activity, Hope packed everything up and stood up.

"Are we moving?" Vanille asked from a seated position. Hope turned around and nodded.

"Yeah, we are moving to the gym." Vanille gave a nod and grabbed her stuff. Hope began to walk and heard a shout,

"Hey! Wait for me!" Hope turned around and gave a small grin.

"Well then, hurry up!" he said as Vanille fumbled with her books and clumsily left her seat and caught up with him.

The two of them walked together in silence as they walked toward the gym. Vanille was looking around and taking in as much of the school as possible. She had never been in such an amazing place before. She was used to a smaller school with fewer students, a place where everyone knew each other.

No, that isn't right.

Vanille stopped and looked around.

"What isn't right?" she asked, trying to find the voice who had spoken to her. Hope turned around when he heard Vanille speak and tilted his head.

"Who are you talking to?" Vanille looked at Hope and Hope noticed that she seemed scared. "Are you okay?" Vanille's heart had begun to race and she had no idea why.

"Um, yeah, I thought someone was talking to me," she stuttered and jogged to Hope. "Are we almost there?"

Hope looked at Vanille and gave a small nod. "Yeah, I go in this door and you go in that one over there. Talk to your teacher so you can get your gym attire."

"Why do I need to change?" she asked. Hope grinned a little.

"Who runs in a skirt?"


"So, is she different since lunch?" asked Carlton as he stretched, glancing over the field to where Vanille was stretching with the other girls. Hope couldn't understand Carlton's infatuation with her, not at all. He could admit that she was pretty but that was all.

"She talks more; she was sitting right next to me the entire second half of the day like she was more interested in the topics and copying my notes."

"Really? She sat right next to you? That is awesome,"

"I don't see what the big deal is," Hope really didn't understand his friend at all. Carlton stopped stretching and just looked at Hope.

"Haven't you ever had a crush on someone?" A crush? Hope looked at his friend and gave him a questionable look. A crush? He had never thought about girls like that, never really even tried to get to know a girl outside of working with her for a group project. Hope didn't have too many friends and if he had a friend it was a male and not a female. Hope rarely interacted with girls.

"No, I haven't… But how can you have a crush with barely getting to know her?" Hope asked curiously.

"I just… Do. She is so pretty and mysterious… She isn't like the other girls here, all into themselves. You need to bring her around more so we can get to know her better." With that comment, Hope felt a little uneasy.

"I think if you want to get to know her, you should try to talk to her. Why should I be the middle man?" Carlton looked at Hope with a helpless expression.

"You already have access to speak to her! I don't have a class with her! How can I talk to her without seeming like a creeper coming and stalking her out in her class?" Hope shook his head and Carlton tried to plead with him.

"It is all up to her if she wants to sit with us or not at lunch. Come on, we are about ready to run the mile."

Both the boy and girl class merged for the activity for the day which was to run the mile. Hope stood in a shuffle of both boys and girls and felt like cattle. He always hated with the classes merged to do an activity like this, there always seemed to be too many people. He didn't know how he had been separated from Carlton, but he found that it helped him clear his head. His friend was starting to annoy him with his infatuation with Vanille.

"On your mark, get set, go!" shouted one of the teachers and the entire class began to move. Hope decided he needed to keep a steady pace and end up middle of the pack instead of trying to go all out and try to get in the top percentage. As he jogged, he felt people pass him left and right and it didn't bother him.

"Why are you going so slow?" piped a voice from behind him. Hope glanced behind him and saw Vanille easily keeping up with him.

"I'm not, I'm pacing myself. Why should I over exert myself?" he asked as Vanille jogged next to him.

"Aren't you suppose to push yourself so you can get better?" she asked.

"Yeah, but I don't see a reason to with physical activity when I feel I'm rather healthy," he stated. He hated running and he kept himself in relatively good shape. He didn't find it necessary to stretch himself in the activity.

"What would you do if a monster was chasing you? Would you be able to out run him?" asked Vanille as she passed Hope and turned around and began to run backwards.

"Why would that ever happen? There are no monsters on Cocoon; they are all down on Pulse. Your theory is invalid," he stated, getting a little annoyed.

"You never know, we could have monsters here that we would have to get away from one day." Vanille grinned at Hope.

"I think you are crazy."

"I think you are afraid that you can't beat me," piped Vanille, her eyes dancing with excitement.

"What? How do you come up with that conclusion?" asked Hope.

"I'm smart and why would a boy want to lose to a girl?" and with that statement, Vanille turned around and began to run with amazing grace and agility. Hope watched her for a second and didn't understand that he had been challenged.

She was right; he couldn't lose to a girl.

Vanille ran as fast as her legs could carry her and it was a very quick speed. She loved running and feeling the wind in her hair and against her skin. She felt that she could run for days if she had to and she would be completely fine. She turned and looked over her should and noticed that Hope was catching up to her. She smiled at him. She knew he was fast than he made himself out to be, she just wanted him to realize it.

"You have to do better than that!" she called and began to push her body ever harder.

Why am I here?

Vanille faltered a bit in her step as she heard the voice in her head again but she kept going, knowing that whatever she had heard in her head wasn't real, it couldn't be real.

This isn't home… Why am I here?

A pain began to build up in Vanille's back, a pain that brought tears to her eyes.

Not here, no.

The pains moved from her back into her head, causing the world around her begin to blur.

I can't come out here, no.

Hope noticed Vanille falter with her step and regain herself. He was catching up to her; he was almost there when he watched as Vanille dropped to the ground suddenly and did not move. Hope felt his heart stop and he felt his legs carry him quicker than he had ever moved before. He threw himself to the ground next to Vanille and rolled her over onto her back.

"Vanille!" he called as he touched her head. Her head felt like it was on fire but he couldn't tell if it was because of her running or different reasons. Her breath was shallow and her body was covered in sweat. He shook her gently. "Vanille, wake up!" There was no answer. He noticed as her breath began to slow down and he took her pulse. Her heart wasn't beating quickly like you would think it would be after running. It was actually slowing down. Hope put his arms under her and picked her up.

"Vanille hang on, don't die on me!" and he began to run to the nurse.