Own Final Fantasy? Yah, I wish.
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I was sitting at my assigned desk at the front right of the room waiting for the other members of the class to come in. I heard the door open and looked around. A girl had entered. She had short hair, a headband and shorts and a shirt that blatantly violated the dress code by about five inches. "Hiya, Cloud!" Cloud nodded to her, she smiled then turned her attention to me. "Who are you?"
"My name is Nicole," I replied slightly warily.
"Hi, Nicole, nice to meet you. My name is Yuffie!"
"Hi, Yuffie." She ignored my response and sauntered over to the seating chart, then to her desk one row behind me and one desk to the left. She turned to see other people enter the classroom. "Hi, Aerith, Cid, Vincent! There's a seating chart." She pointed.
Yuffie received varied responses from the entering people. Cid seemed to be in a particularly bad mood and snarled in response to the cheery greeting.
Vincent was deliberately hanging to the back of the crowd. Instead of sitting where he was assigned, he walked back to the door to meet one of the people now entering the room. He spoke quietly to Lucrecia and pointed out her assigned seat to her, just to my left. She smiled at him, nodded and went to sit where she was assigned.
I watched as more distinctly recognizable people entered the classroom; Barrett, Tifa, and Reeve, who, I noticed, was the only one carrying a backpack.
The door closed, a pause, then the door opened again, and a figure dressed entirely in black leather with silver hair past his waist Strode in. He scanned the classroom with an air of what could be classified as disapproval, and then stalked to the only open desk in the room.
As I watched him I realized that something was wrong, not only with Sephiroth, but with everyone else too. I looked across the room and saw Vincent. He's young… I understood what had been bugging me then; They are all so young, all about my age… the only one who isn't different is Yuffie.
I turned around in my chair to look at Cid. "I know you guys."
"Know us? What do you mean 'know us'?" He glared at me.
"I… I don't really know… I mean, you're Cid Highwind." I felt dazed, unsure what I should say. I had the feeling I get when I think I'm about to die.
"How the hell do you know my name?" Cid looked around furiously.
"I know you. You're all from the game… Final Fantasy Seven."
"Sit down." The order came from the door to the teacher's office. I jumped slightly then froze. I hadn't realized that I was standing. I turned to face Mrs. Randal. "That will be enough. Sit down."
I sat and looked up at the teacher. She was tall, stick thin and seemed very old. She looked intimidating with white skin, black and white hair, black clothes and red painted nails. Her eyes were also a deep red.
"As you all know," the teacher paused dramatically, "I am here to teach you the advanced conventions of the English language." She folded her arms, "For those of you who are…" There was a silence in the room in which you could have heard a feather drop on carpeting. "Predisposed… I can teach you the greatest achievement of mankind and the reason for the phrase 'the pen is mightier than the sword'" There was another blood chilling pause. "But some of you who may feel that your abilities are so great…" She walked slowly down the side of the classroom, like some old alley cat sniffing out a young mouse. "That it justifies…" Her voice had softened to nearly a hiss. She was coming around the back of the room, eyes locked on Sephiroth, who wasn't looking at her. His head was resting in one hand, silver hair trailing down one side of the desk. He looked like he was asleep. "A lack of ATTENTION!" Mrs. Randal slammed her open palm onto Sephiroth's desk. He jumped away from the noise, nearly falling out of his chair in shock.
"Your name?" she snarled at him.
Sephiroth was leaning away from her as far as possible without falling to the floor, his chest heaving in shock. "S-Se-Sephiroth…"
Mrs. Randal's dry-blood-colored eyes narrowed. "The one with no last name."
"Yes, actually, is that a problem?"
Mrs. Randal glowered and the lights in the room seemed to dim, like a candle flame in a biting cold breeze. "Do not," her voice was as venomously soft as a hissing Zolom egg, "ever talk back to me." Mrs. Randal walked away from Sephiroth and picked up the clipboard to which the seating chart was attached. She stood once more in the front of the room and looked at the chart. "Brent."
I jumped, wondering what she had called my name for, and then I realized that she was taking role. I raised my hand. "That's me." I received a scowl for my individuality.
"Crescent."
"Here." Lucrecia raised a hand to about the level of her head in a timid way.
"Gainsburough."
"Here." Aerith seemed to have slightly more confidence.
"Highwind."
"Here!" Cid shoved a fist into the air and glared a challenge at the teacher, which she ignored.
"Kisaragi."
"Yuffie Kisaragi of Wuti, here!" Yuffie waved a hand through the air.
"Lockhart."
"Here." Tifa raised a hand, the contempt in her eyes not showing in her voice.
"Strife."
"I'm here." He raised a hand, staring at the surface of his desk to avoid making eye-contact with the teacher.
"Tuesti."
"Here." Reeve raised a hand and nodded at the same time.
"Valentine."
"I am present." Vincent raised his left hand, then lowered it and hid the brass claws once again beneath the folds of his scarlet cape.
"Wallace."
"Here!" Barrett raised his hand, and slammed his fist on the table.
"Sephiroth."
"Right here." He raised a hand in acknowledgement.
Mrs. Randal put the role sheet on her desk, and then turned back to the class. "As to the basic rules of this classroom, they will most likely be familiar to you. They are rules created to preserve order in this class. Any exceptions will be specifically outlined." Mrs. Randal had a habit of not moving at all when she spoke, and making eye contact with every single student. It was unnerving. "Firstly, you are not to communicate verbally or otherwise with any other student while I am talking. Secondly, you are only to speak when you have been given express permission. Thirdly, you are to abide strictly by all school-wide rules, including but not limited to; the gum chewing ban, the restriction of use of electronic devices, and dress codes." Mrs. Randal had moved forward and was now standing by Yuffie's desk. "Miss Kisaragi, you are aware of your blatant violation of that last rule?"
Yuffie sighed, "Yep. I know! I'm not to wear shorts that come higher than my fingertips, I'm not to wear shirts that show my midriff, and headbands are classified as 'possible gang paraphernalia'." Yuffie smiled at the teacher. "But these are the only clothes I have at school, I've already gotten ten detention points for dressing like this and I've promised that I'll abide by the dress code tomorrow." Yuffie smiled as angelically as a flamboyant ninja can manage.
Mrs. Randal scowled. "I suppose I will have to be satisfied with that. However I will ask you to remove the headband."
Yuffie looked disappointed, but reached up and untied the headband she always wore.
Mrs. Randal turned to Tifa. "Lockhart?"
"I know," The fist fighter hung her head, "I'm convict of the same crimes. And I make the same promises. I'll abide by the dress code tomorrow."
Mrs. Randal was apparently on a roll and would probably continue to pick at the dress code issue until she had virtually put us in uniforms. "Mr. Valentine, please remove the headband the left glove and the… cape."
Vincent rested his chin on the back of his left hand, looked directly into the teacher's dull red eyes with his bright ones and made what was probably the boldest remark Mrs. Randal had heard in a long time:
"No."
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Notes: Ooohh, cliffhanger! Thanks to Severus Snape for Mrs. Randal's speech at the beginning of class. I don't want to get in trouble with deadlines, so I will make no promises as to new chapters.