Fifteen feet of pure white snow
Chapter 2: Devils and dust
Tifa let her gaze sweep across the schoolyard. Most of the people there looked boring. Girls in knee-length skirts and pink t-shirts. Boys in jeans and blue sweaters. Why was everyone in the school so normal? There were no people in strange clothes, no girls without make-up, no boys with make-up, in short, nothing out of the ordinary. She didn't like ordinary. Not ordinary people, not ordinary clothes, not ordinary food. She didn't even like the word "ordinary".
A big clang announced that someone had just slammed shut the big, ugly wrought-iron gate. She looked up to see who had arrived, not really expecting anyone interesting. The girl her eyes fell upon was anything but ordinary, though. She had short black hair and a black headband. Her dark-green t-shirt was so short it left half her stomach bare. Over her t-shirt, she wore a black leather jacket. Several metal chains decorated her short denim shorts. She was also wearing black combat boots, and long black stockings. Tifa had never seen her before, but then again, it was a big school.
"You coming, Tifa?" her friend, Zexion, asked, "PE starts in…" he checked his watch "…exactly 17 minutes."
Tifa groaned. She hated PE. The teacher was bloody sadistic.
"You know what I think?" she asked Zexion.
"No…?"
"I think there must be some kind of rule that says that all gym-teachers, and coaches for that matter, must be evil sadists!" with that she stalked off towards the girl's locker room.
-
After PE, Tifa sat in the locker rooms wondering what the other girls in her class had instead of brains. Their talking and giggling reminded her of why she avoided socializing with them as much as possible. How could somebody have an hour-long conversation exclusively about clothes, hair and make-up?
She walked out of the room, inhaling the chilly air deeply. It was the middle of November, and she shivered a bit, wishing she hadn't left her jacket at home. She didn't really mind the cold, though. In fact, she quite liked it. Maybe the first snow would come soon?
She felt a wave of sadness when she remembered that she wouldn't have anyone to share that snowfall with. She and Larxene, her ex, had broken up about a month earlier. She still missed her former girlfriend sometimes, but she knew she was better off without her. Larxene had cheated on her for months, not even making an effort to hide it. From time to time, Tifa wondered why she had stayed in the relationship for so long. All her friends, not that she had that many, all basically meant Zexion and Seifer, had told her over and over that she deserved someone better, but she had refused to listen. At first they had just been a bit worried about her, but soon they grew more and more angry with her. She understood their anger, of course. After all, she hadn't exactly been a good friend. When they told her she shouldn't put up with Larxene being unfaithful, she had thought they were trying to break them up because they didn't like her girlfriend. Sometimes she had simply refused to talk to them. Other times she would start yelling at them before they could even open their mouths to say "Hi". How could she have been so blind? She had refused to see that her friends were only worried about her. They had tried to keep her from getting hurt, yet she had ignored them and ended up hurting herself as well as them.
They had been there for her after the break-up, too. How they could welcome her back, just like that, not even asking for an apology, was beyond her. When she had tried to apologize, Zexion had laughed and told her not to be silly, and Seifer had simply given her a hug. When she cried, he held her and stroked her hair, while Zexion told her over and over again that she had done the right thing, and that every thing would be okay, she just needed some time. They had spent hours just listening to her, not once loosing patience and telling her to quit complaining.
She didn't deserve to have friends like Seifer and Zexion, yet they were always there for her. Without them she would never have worked up the courage to confront Larxene, and eventually break up with her. She had realized that her friends were more important than anything when she read a book about this girl who refused to end an abusive relationship, which only resulted in her loosing all her friends, and when the guy kicked her out she found herself alone, with no one to turn to, and nowhere to go.
-
Leon had been avoiding the coffee shop for almost a week. Normally he would go there almost every day to drink coffee and do his homework, but now he didn't go near the place. He would never admit it, but the reason was that he was afraid of meeting Cloud. He didn't know how the boy would react, and a part of him was scared that he would be rejected. If he only knew why Cloud had left in such a hurry.
Yuffie was worried about him, but he refused to tell her about his troubles. She had more than enough on her plate as it was. He wasn't the only one hiding his problems. She thought he didn't know, but he did. He could always tell how she felt, even when she tried to hide it behind her anger, and she could always tell how he felt. Sometimes he thought they knew each other better than they knew themselves.
He looked at his friend walking silently beside him. She was looking at the ground with a thoughtful expression. She hadn't been in a fight for two whole days, and she was barely talking. He knew something had happened. He knew when it had happened. He just didn't know what it was. It had happened three days earlier. The day had started like any other, with Yuffie being angry, and yelling at some kid for saying that The Cure sucked. Leon finished half an hour earlier than her, but he waited for her at the gates. As soon as he spotted her in the crowd filing out of the doors, he knew something was wrong. She didn't look angry, she didn't run, she didn't even react when a boy almost pushed her of her feet in his hurry to get out of the crowd. A normal Yuffie would have attacked the poor guy.
"Yuffie…" he started. She looked at him with sad eyes.
"Are you gonna tell me what happened on Monday?"
"Not now. I don't feel like talking. But I promise, I'll tell you later."
"Please, Yuffie?"
"No. Not now. It's a long, complicated story. This is not the right time or place to tell it."
"Okay. How about you come over to my place later?"
"Or how about I just go to your place now. I'd rather not go home, really. Mom's been in a bad mood lately."
They walked on in silence. Leon wondered if her mother was the reason why Yuffie was acting so strange. He didn't think so. It seemed like whatever it was had happened at school. Plus, Yuffie and her mom always had issues. Even if they had a really big fight, that wouldn't be enough to put her in such a weird mood for several days.
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Second chapter done. Title is from a Bruce Springsteen song.
Next chapter will be mostly about Yuffie and Tifa. You'll find out some things about both their backgrounds, and their families and stuff like that. And you'll find out what's bugging Yuffie (basically what happened on Monday, plus some other minor stuff)… I just realized it's kind of hard to understand when the events take place and stuff, so here's the deal: chapter 1 was all on a Friday, Tifa's part of this chapter is set to the Monday after the Friday in chapter 1, and Leon and Yuffie's part of this chapter is set to Thursday. I'll try to be more clear about weekdays and stuff, it's just I'm not used to writing stories that "last" for several days… I do glimpses of lives that last maybe a few hours, a day if we're lucky, sometimes they only last half an hour or so…
People who know me IRL will notice that both Yuffie and Tifa have bits of me in them, but also things that are different from me… They will both share my taste in music, at least partially, I think violence is fun, but unlike Yuffie I prefer to watch, not take part, like Tifa, I like things that are out of the ordinary, and I do not understand the hair, clothes make-up conversations… Sure I think make-up is okay, I love clothes and I'm obsessed with my hair, but I don't get the part about talking about it for hours… There will be other similarities between them and me but I'm not bothering listing them all… Silli and Marie, you'll understand I guess…
I really, really hope you like this… I'm quite proud of it, really. It's so different from what I normally write, and it's a huge challenge, but it's fun, too… Cupcakes for reviewers… Haha, that's me being like Tifa, trying to avoid anything ordinary… So no cookies this time :p