Today was Tuesday. Which happened to be cheeseburgers and chips at the cafeteria. It's an all-time favourite at Palampolum High. Well worth the 26 gil. Some people would even go for seconds.

Hope's History teacher, Sazh let the class out earlier because of a ''very important meeting'' in the teacher's lounge. In truth, the man knew how crazy the queues can get, so he did this not to wait. Sadly, the other teachers played the same card as well. When Sazh arrived to cafeteria, his smile turned to a frown when he saw long queue.

''Aw, man'' said Sazh, disappointingly. The baby chocobo popped out of the afro and he too had frowned when he saw the almost full cafeteria.

''Kweh.'' the chocobo said, sadly.

Hope was next to walk in. The smell of the patty's filled the entire cafeteria. It drew everyone in like a magnet. It seemed like an eternity for them but in reality it was only 5 minutes before they finally got served. They all went to their respective groups talking about the latest news which happened to be centred on the new girl.

Hope knew that feeling. It made him angry. Just because someone is different doesn't mean that they have the right to judge them. We as humans have our share of flaws. Hope's happened to be how short he is.

He grabbed his lunch tray and made his to the table, averting the judging eyes in the process. A table far in the corner was non-vacant because Hope sat there. No one wanted to even touch it with a ten foot poll because apparently the person who sat there had a disease of some sorts. Another lie spread by him.

Hope sat down and wasted no time eating. This was perhaps the closest he will ever get to home cooking again. The last time he remembered something his mom made was on his 9th birthday. That's about it. He lived on terrible TV dinners most of the time.

Hope took a look at the window. It was still raining cats and dogs. From the looks of it, it actually looked even worse now. The grey clouds were turning red. He was born here and never saw something like this before.

Lightning striked. Everyone were on their feet. At least this time the power did not go out.

The new girl made her entrance. She was hard to miss. There was no doubt that Hope's attention was solely on her. Everything else was irrelevant. As she stood in the queue, Hope focused on every detail; her pink glistening lips, her pearl white teeth, her smooth skin and his favourite was the pink hair.

"Take a picture Lamestheim. It'll last longer'' A little delinquent had to yell out.

The kid was praised with high fives in the group. His mission was accomplished and he even felt a little self-esteem boost. This did not stop Hope. Others would argue that he did not even hear that. Hope was still looking at the goddess from far away.

Maybe not so far away now because she was heading this way!

For Hope, It actually felt like the entire earth stood still as she made her way to his table. By now all the eyes in the cafeteria were on Lightning as they await her next action. The new girl stood by the table with her lunch tray.

"Is this seat taken?"

He sat there with a disbelieved look plastered on his face. She wanted to sit here. It's not because Lightning was forced to. There were a lot of other tables available. She chose to be here. You could have cut the tension with a knife. The entire school looking at them did not help to ease his anxiety one bit. The new girl waited for an answer but when no response came.

''I'll take that as a no then."

She sat down across him and took a bite of the burger. If you thought that the scandal mongering was bad before, now it's even worse, spreading like a wildfire. Not that it bothered them.

What Hope noticed was that student even went out of their way to welcome her here. They were too busy gossiping about her. Although, Hope was extremely introverted and shy, he did not want to come off as rude or as snobby as the rest of these kids. He finally mustered up the courage.

"Welcome to Palampolum.''

She nodded as response. The two ate in solitude. Could it be that he finally made a friend? It was highly unlikely but who knows? So far she did not belittle him or push him around. Not to mention that she sat at his table. There is something about her that tells him that she's different .Call it a strange but an aura she gave around her. Did he also mention that she is drop dead gorgeous?

No doubt that she was in a league of her own.

Hope would take a few quick glances at Lightning as she took a bite of the cheese burger. This did not go unnoticed. When their eyes met, Hope would immediately look away, slightly embarrassed.

''Hope right?'' the new girl asked.

He did not even hear her talk. Hope was too busy getting lost in her eyes.

She finished the meal and said, "Back at Arts and Craft, the teacher called you Hope. That's your name right?''

'What are waiting for? Say something'

''Yes, it's Hope. Ho-Hope Estheim.'' He mentally slapped himself for stuttering. There goes his first impression, down the drain.

Lightning did not mind though. She could actually relate to him because of that. Those fears he has were with her when she assigned to Guardian Corps Military School. Circumstances changed her. But that's a story for another day.

"Did he even hear us?" The delinquent asked the leader at the round table. The leader was huge for his age. The only thing bigger was his ego which was the size of Cocoon. Long oily black hair, two front golden teeth, strange L'Cie mark on his chest was concealed with the tank top he wore. His sharp nails dug in the wooden table when he saw the duo at the table.

His eyes went to Hope, who happened to be a victim of his bullying. Hope smiled. To see him happy sickened Waru to a massive degree.

"Oh, he did." The gaze Waru gave him was that of a thousand flaming arrows.
"The little bug eye think he's better than us, just cause he has a friend now.''

His friend inspected her, "Hm. boss….she's pretty hot."

"Yeah" Waru ate the chips with his mouth open. Clearly no one ever taught him some dining etiquette. "For a freak"

"Leave him…for now." He kept calm. The last thing he wanted to do was to give him away.

"On second thought." He stood up. A snap of his finger and they stood up as well. Waru was the puppeteer and they were his puppets.

''Let's go say hello to Hope and his new friend… hehehe.''

Author's Note= May I ask a question-more of an advice though. I'm 76 hours into Final Fantasy XIII. I completed the story, got 5 star ratings for almost all the stone mission (still need to do the last few of the Titan trails) I also have my party members health points up to 10 000. Then how does an Adamantoise still kick my ass? Seriously. It's driving me nuts! Any advice on how I can approach this and defeat an Adamantoise?

I hope you enjoyed this. Thank you for reading. Special thanks Deiru Tamashi, Guest, BicolourRaptor, Electronic –Star, dragonknightwalk, KiraMinami24 andHector for the reviews :3

Third chapter coming soon!

All my love,

The Officer and Gentleman.