Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy or Linkin Park
~Give up your heart left broken
And let that mistake pass on
'Cause the love that you lost
Wasn't worth what it cost
And in time you'll be glad it's gone~
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Lightning twirled the plastic fork through the tangle of spaghetti on her plate. She didn't feel like eating. One. It hardly looked edible. Two. The new kid was on her mind.
It wasn't that she found him oddly attractive. No, she wasn't that shallow. There was something about him though, was it familiarity? She couldn't quite put a finger on it. However, one thing was for sure, he was, in Serah's terms: Weird.
After he had written his name on the board, he turned around and waited patiently. Mr T just raised an eyebrow and she half expected him to make a comment but he didn't. After a few seconds of awkward silence he told this 'Noctis' to sit wherever he wanted. He made his way to the empty seats available at the back. It was as if everyone was in synch as they automatically turned their heads to watch him. The boys nudged each other with 'what the hell?' looks on their faces while the girls suddenly wished they could adjust their seating positions.
Lightning discreetly lifted her backpack off the floor and placed it on the seat beside her. She enjoyed her space thanks. He must have noticed this as his eyes met hers for the briefest of seconds before glancing away. He settled at a desk on the other side of the classroom.
She felt somewhat guilty but quickly pushed it back.
Guilty for what?
Throughout registration and Physics (both were with Mr T), he hadn't uttered a single word. Not a sound. Lightning watched him from the corner of her eye. He just sat there, blank expression, pen scribbling across an exam pad as he took down notes. He seemed to ignore everything and everyone else. So strange.
Scraping of chairs brought Lightning out of her thoughts. "I swear to you, after they adjusted it and the tape measure had a red reading, sales started to improve."
"It's just all superstition I rate."
Lightning looked up to see her two companions. A questioning look on her face.
"You don't want to know." Fang said, rolling her eyes.
"No, I'm serious Fang. I promise my soul!"
"It's all in the head sweetheart." Fang stated, flicking Vanille's forehead.
"Something to do with Feng Shui again?" Lightning asked in a bored tone.
Her bright orange haired friend gazed at her excitedly. "Yeah, so this guy at my dad's-"
"I don't want to know."
Vanille let out an indignant huff but composed herself. "You guys are seriously terrible, this stuff has been proven. " She settled herself down and checked her phone. "Another one? I've been getting these messages from Rikku all day and they're barely readable. Which reminds me I've been meaning to ask; I heard there's a new student in your class today."
"Hmm news travels fast and that wasn't a question."
"Oh you know what I mean. Of course news travels, Rikku's in your class remember? And it's practically a part of everyone's conversations. Right Fang?"
"Yeah no kidding, just on the way here we heard, "she put on a fake high pitched voice, "Oh my soul did you see him? He's so hot you could fry bacon on him. That was an actual quote, no jokes."
Lightning raised an eyebrow. "Right…"
"Don't give me that look, just repeating what I heard." She leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms. "So is it true?"
"What?"
"About the new guy silly." Vanille chirped, taking a sip of her apple juice. "We need to be clued up."
Lightning just shrugged. "Didn't notice." She didn't have much to say, let alone admit something so embarrassing.
"Well you're no help" chided Vanille. "I'm so curious now. Where is he? Is he sitting here somewhere?"
"Maybe he's hiding. Those girls in the hallway seemed pretty aggressive." Fang suggested.
"Haha probably poor guy." She shook her head. "On his first day too-oh."
Lightning was about to see what brought out the nervous 'oh' when a hand suddenly landed on her head and ruffled her hair. She had to suppress her instincts to grab it and fling the culprit over her shoulder.
"Sup guys?"
She honestly should have gone with her instincts.
"What the hell are you doing here?" She growled.
"What?" He looked at her innocently and seated himself at their table. "I came to see my friends that's all. Is that so wrong? Haven't spoken to guys in a while."
This guy had to be the biggest idiot in the world, didn't he realise how dangerous this was?
Vanille let out a nervous 'aaw that's sweet' in an attempt to soothe the situation but it didn't help. Lightning continued to glare daggers at him.
"Get lost Snow." Lightning threatened through clenched teeth, eyes darting around the room to see if the others were watching.
"Relax Light, they're not here today. Most of them partied a little too hard last night after completing a mission."
She tried to ignore how aggravating that nickname sounded coming out his mouth. "And you?"
"Me? I'm a good boy. No partying on weekdays." Snow stretched and rested his hands at the back of his head. He never seemed to be affected by Lightning's aggressive attitude, which is probably why she was even more hostile towards him. "Besides, my mama taught me better than that."
"Your mom is dead."
"Ouch, I know that but I learnt a few things before her passing. I keep them locked away in here. "He placed a large hand over his muscular chest.
"I thought you said you couldn't remember your mom, Snow" Vanille interjected, feeling a tad calmer after hearing the others weren't here.
"I don't really…" he stated " but sometimes I have dreams of her, what she was like and everything. That's got to count right?"
"Definitely. Dreams are our subconscious thoughts. They're probably memories you can only access then." Vanille stated knowingly.
"How wonderful." Lightning commented sarcastically. "Now that we've had an in depth discussion of your dead mother, do us a favour and leave."
"Lightning! That's rude."
"You make it sound like I'm not welcome here." Snow said in mock despair.
"You're not."
"You know what's funny? I almost miss all your insults. This." He gestured towards her and himself. "This brings back memories huh?"
He didn't get an answer as Lightning stood up without a word, hands clenching her tray tightly. She dumped the remains of her almost untouched food into the bin before leaving the cafeteria.
"Uh…" Snow trailed nervously.
Fang threw a piece of carrot at him. "Nice going idiot."
He scratched the back of his head and mumbled apologies while Vanille looked worriedly at her friend's retreating back.
Lightning took deep breaths while clenching and unclenching her fists. Snow just had to bring back old memories. What an idiot. Unwanted images of that night flashed in her mind. She tried to control her breathing and think of something else as she hurried her pace towards her biology classroom.
Miss Trepe was normally in it or she left it unlocked during breaks. As she got there she saw her teacher sitting at her desk marking papers, she opened the door and walked in. Miss Trepe lifted her head and smiled at Lightning, unsurprised at her entry. Finding it hard to smile back, Lightning just nodded her head and walked straight to the back. Whenever she felt like having some time to herself, she would come here. Miss Trepe never asked any questions and didn't seem to mind. She wouldn't have been able to do this last year since she had Professor Hojo. She got the creeps from being in close proximity with him. He would most likely hover around and interrogate her like the mad scientist he was.
She sat down at her table and immediately pulled out her phone and earphones. Her fingers were already scrolling down her music list as she plugged the earphones in with her other hand. Once she found the song she was looking for she pressed play and let out a sigh. Music was her distraction.
Not too long afterwards, she felt considerably relaxed. She stared out the window into the school gardens, since the Biology department was on the uppermost floor, it had the best view of the school grounds. She mostly focused on the fountain that was built as a miniature replica Cocoon. She watched, seemingly mesmerized as the water trickled down.
She heard a voice and slowly looked up to see if Miss Trepe was talking to her. However she was caught off guard to see him standing there and quickly removed her earphones to listen.
"You're the new student Noctis right?"
He nodded.
"Welcome to Grade 12 Biology. It's a pleasure to have you here. How are you settling in at Palumpolum High?"
He shrugged.
Miss Trepe smiled understandingly. Lightning didn't get it. Didn't she feel the silence as being rude?
"Well class doesn't start until another five minutes so feel free to take a seat. Um, we normally place two at a table. So there's an available seat at the back. You don't have sight problems do you?"
He shook his head.
"Alright, you're lucky today, your partner is also here early. Lightning?" The pink haired girl suppressed a groan as she reluctantly answered her teacher.
"Yes?" She knew what was coming next.
"I finally found you a partner." She gestured to him. "He's new and hopefully won't be too much trouble." She winked at him and he gave a weak smile.
Lightning tried to avoid eye contact as he walked towards her. Somehow she felt that Miss Trepe betrayed her. Was this punishment for her earlier actions? The chair beside her got pulled out and he seated himself. Unable to control herself, she took a glance at him. He looked even better from up close. Damn you brain and your opinions. Just shut up.
He must have felt her gaze on him as he turned to look at her. Her breath hitched. His eyes were a calming blue like the sky peaking through the clouds. His expression was blank at first but then it turned questioning as he tilted his head slightly. She felt a bit embarrassed from getting caught but couldn't bring herself to look away. Might as well make it look like she was meant to. She noticed the faint dark circles below his eyes and wondered how hers compared. She hadn't had a decent night's sleep in forever. They both analysed each other cautiously as boxers did before a fight. The closer she looked at him though the more she realised how much she looked like him.
Holy shit.
She couldn't believe it. How could she not have noticed before? Now that she had thought about it, the resemblance seemed even more prominent. Is that why she couldn't stop looking? Images of him flashed through her mind and she began to clench her fingers again. Noctis's face twisted in confusion as he noticed her panicked expression. She looked away quickly shutting her eyes trying to erase the memories.
She plugged in her earphones again and buried her head in her arms, trying extremely hard to ignore him. She could feel his confused gaze on her but she refused to look up. It became even more difficult when the lesson started and she had to put her phone away.
Throughout the whole lesson she felt extremely fidgety. She couldn't concentrate on her work and it frustrated her how her attention would always move towards the person on her right.
Get a grip, Lightning. He's not him. He's not here anymore. You'll be fine. She repeated those words in her head but they did little to calm her down.
She almost shouted in relief when the bell rang and the lesson was over. True to her name, she grabbed her bags and left the classroom in a flash.
"You okay Light?" Fang asked as she sat herself down next to her. They were in English class now which the three of them shared.
"Yeah, you look like you've seen a ghost." Vanille said shifting her seat around to face them.
"I'm fine." Lightning answered quietly focusing her gaze on her hands.
Fang raised an eyebrow at Vanille who returned a worried expression.
"Um well hey, I talked to Paine in History. You know her right? The girl with short, silver hair that's always around Rikku? Well I asked her about the new guy and she said he was 'okay'. So now I'm confused. Is this guy hot or not? Because I mean, not that I care much for looks but now that everyone's talking about him, you sort of build high expectations and-"
"Vanille"
"it will just be disappointing-what?"
Fang tilted her head towards the front. Vanille followed and froze. Lightning just sunk further in her seat cursing the world.
"Paine is such a liar!" Vanille whispered furiously to them. "He is not just 'okay'. He's-he's."
"So hot you could fry bacon on him?" Fang suggested amusedly.
"Uh huh. Pinch me because I think I'm dreamin-OW!" She exclaimed and looked at Fang accusingly. "I said pinch not gouge my skin out!"
"My bad."
Vanille rubbed her arm and turned to look at him as he stood talking to the teacher. Well, more like stand there while the teacher talked to him. "I can definitely say he was not disappointing. English should be fun. I wonder if we'll share any more lessons with him?"
She didn't receive a response and looked back at her friends. "Guys?"
Lightning just stared intently at her hands ignoring her. How typical. Fang, however sat with her arms crossed and resting her chin on her fist. Her brows were furrowed in a scrutinizing expression as she faced forwards. It was as if she was trying to figure something out.
"What's wrong Fang?"
"Mm? Oh right. I don't know about you guys, but have you noticed he kind of looks like-"
"Yeah" Lightning cut in. "I've noticed."
It was going to be a long day.
~Weep not for roads untraveled
Weep not for sights unseen
May your love never end
And if you need a friend
There's a seat here alongside me~
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Big Thanks to: crazyinwonderland, marchenne, , Raikiri80, eclair rouge , G, SniperInTheHouse, myuu
Hugs for all of you.
Ha, I updated within the week, don't get too used to it though. Anyways, this took longer to write than I expected, mostly due to distractions ( a friend made me download wechat on my phone)
Don't really have much to say except that I'm sooo tired.
Oh the whole Feng Shui thing was that my parents are really into that stuff and they have this special tape measure with readings to tell you if something is good or bad. You should've seen when we were buying new furniture. The sales people were like : WTH?. =_=
Lyrics are from 'Roads Untraveled' -Linkin Park
I'm looking for a beta reader but I'm too shy to pm one. Anyone willing to be mine?
Peace out
