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A Day in the Life of Midgar High
by Lord Divestre Croft
Part Two
After the lunch period, Rufus ordered Scarlet to call Cloud's and Zack's families. She nodded her head begrudgingly and did just that. She first called on Zack's family, trying to contact each parent individually, but as she waited on the dial tone, no one answered, and she was forced to leave a message. What Scarlet didn't know, of course, was that Zack's father was at a literature conference in Junon, and his mother was busy sculpting away while blaring Coldplay over her stereo system.
She dialed Cloud's family next and attempted to contact Lucy. Unfortunately, for her, Lucy was in the middle of a hearing… and would not hear the message until later the next day. Scarlet irritably dialed the last resort: Sephiroth.
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Meanwhile, in a large attorney's office building in downtown Midgar, Sephiroth was pacing back and forth in his office and doing his best not to make a scene.
He had a dark glare on his face. He was annoyed. He was very, very annoyed.
His secretary, Genesis Rhapsodos, was filing important documents when the phone call rang on Sephiroth's cell phone. He scrambled to drop the papers to the side in a neat order.
"The coroner's office won't return my calls," he muttered, "the defendant is being completely uncooperative, that Detective Highwind never showed up for our meeting, the business cards I ordered arrived completely all wrong… and I couldn't make my lunch break. Why can't anything go right today?"
"Excuse me, sir," Genesis interrupted. "It's Midgar High School. A Miss Jones."
Sephiroth's head sank low. "Did Reno forget to do a report again?"
"No… it's about Cloud."
Sephiroth's expression softened a little, and he took the phone. Genesis went back to work.
"Hello?" he greeted curtly.
"Hello, sir," she said. "This is Miss Jones… vice-president of Midgar High?"
"Yes, how may I help you?"
"Are you aware that Cloud is participating in a citywide art contest? With the theme of 'The Circle of Friendship'? He created a caption for Zack Fair's painting… I believe it's called The Negligent Savior…"
Sephiroth's office phone started to ring, and Genesis answered hastily. He listened at the other end for a moment and then gave his employer a sharp signal with his hand.
"It's a very outstanding addition to our school's selection, but…"
"Could you please speed this up?" Sephiroth interrupted coldly. "My conference call just came in!"
On the other end, Scarlet blanched in her seat and took a deep breath.
"The painting is beautiful, but the caption that goes with it is not what we had in mind for our entries," she spoke quickly. "We were hoping that your brother would consider rewriting it."
"Alright, I understand," Sephiroth replied in a high-strung voice. "I'll talk to him. If this requires any further discussion, please feel free to call my wife!"
And he hung up abruptly. Scarlet lost her composure and sunk into her chair.
00000
That very night, Cloud's family managed to gather around the table for a proper dinner (mostly because Sephiroth left his office earlier than usual to cool his head). Lucy arrived at the table with a Wutainese style meatloaf, and they dug in. Cloud conservatively helped himself to the salad.
"I got a call from a Miss Jones," Sephiroth announced.
"I figured you did," Cloud replied nonchalantly. "So, are you going to make me change it?"
"Change what?" Lucy interjected.
"The caption for our contest entry," Cloud replied.
"The school didn't call you?" Sephiroth asked.
Lucy shrugged in confusion. "Must've left a message while I was busy. What's the caption about?"
Cloud took a deep breath and explained the concept of his and Zack's submission. Lucy coughed in response.
"Cloud," she began, "you really need to learn not to be so cynical."
"You're a coroner and you married a lawyer… and you're worried about cynicism?" Cloud rejoined.
"Cloooooud…."
"And it's not true," Reno replied in a silky smooth voice. "My buddies are reliable… they're always there for me!"
Cloud glared at him in disbelief. "You mean… like you friend, Tseng… who pushed you down the stairs of his house… two months ago… for flirting with his girlfriend, Elena? You slimy, little butthole…"
Reno scowled and hissed through his teeth. "You dirty…"
Sephiroth picked up his fork and brought it down on the table, as if he were trying to stab it. Cloud and Reno shut their mouths.
"Enough of that, you two," he said. "Let's stay on the subject."
"So, are you going to make me change it?" Cloud asked, biting into his salad.
"You should," Lucy replied. "It's a good opportunity for you to look on the Brightside of things."
"Ah boy…" Sephiroth groaned.
"What?" she snapped. "He's supposed to create a painting reflecting 'The Circle of Friendship', and he comes up with the most negative message possible?"
"Well… to be quite honest," Cloud interjected, "it's more a 'wake-up call' message rather than a simply negative message."
Reno growled as he devoured his meatloaf, and he ignored the conversation.
"I think it's bogus to make him change it," Sephiroth declared.
"Seph!" Lucy shrilled.
"If they wanted cheerier submissions," he said, "then they should've specified it from the very start. That… and the subject matter makes it stand out amongst the entries… however…"
"However?" Cloud inquired.
"If you're going to spend your life doing controversial things, you might as well wear the stupid contacts. At least you'll look good while doing it."
"This is exactly why I tried to stay anonymous!"
Lucy grunted and slammed her fists on the table. The men shuddered in her wake as she stomped off towards the kitchen. Sephiroth sighed tiredly and excused himself from the table to go after her.
"She's been acting like that all week," Reno asked. "Is she pregnant or something?"
"Don't judge to quickly," Cloud replied. "It's probably just PMS."
00000
"And so I ended up spending my dinner," Cloud declared, "Listening to the symphony of Lucy yelling in the kitchen… with Sephiroth desperately trying to defend himself."
Zack listened with avid interest as they waited in the station for their train to arrive. From there, they would meet their girlfriends after the next two stops and ride all the way to the neighborhood of their school.
"I'm starting to think that this project's more trouble then it's worth," Zack reflected.
"What took you so long?" Cloud deadpanned.
"Well… at least we won't have to change the caption anymore."
Cloud buttoned his lip and fell silent.
"What?" Zack asked anxiously.
"After they fought for about thirty minutes…" Cloud went on, "Lucy apologized and blamed her mood on PMS. And by then, they had agreed on a truce. I promised to at least listen to Mr. Shinra's point of view… but I didn't promise anything more."
Zack facepalmed.
00000
After separating from Aerith and Tifa at the school entrance, the two boys trudged off with heavy hearts to visit Scarlet's office. She welcomed them with a rare smile and offered them wrapped chocolate bon bons before having one on her own.
"I didn't know she had a sweet tooth," Zack whispered in Cloud's ear. "Kind of sexy…"
"Let's get to the heart of the matter," Scarlet began, sitting on the edge of her desk. "I know you're concerned about maintaining the message of your submission. After some reflection, I've come to understand your feelings."
How refreshing! Cloud cheered.
"Nevertheless… Mr. Shinra is still… concerned… so, the only course of action is to make the caption a little more… palatable. May I suggest that I work on it myself?"
Cloud suppressed a yell.
"Now, before you refuse," she said, "let me make one thing clear. If you do not like what I come up with… we'll drop it and leave the caption exactly as you intended. Fair enough?"
Cloud and Zack briefly convened with each other through eye contact. They nodded in approval.
"We've got nothing to lose," Zack replied confidently.
00000
The famous last words.
On the following day, Cloud and Zack were called in during another lunch break to evaluate the new change. The results, predictably, were left terribly wanting.
"I trust the caption is little more uplifting," Scarlet hoped.
Cloud held the painting and read the new caption with distaste. Not only did Scarlet fail to capture the very essence of the subject, but the prose had also been butchered. She obviously didn't have a way with words.
"I see…" Cloud mused. "There's no more Bacardi… or Opiates… and especially no Vomiting. But I think I'm about to."
"Don't do that!" Zack sarcastically mocked. "That's not uplifting!"
"You should be thanking Miss Jones," Rufus replied forcefully. "She's worked very hard on preserving the premises of your work."
"She didn't preserve it," Cloud shot back. "She distorted the meaning of it and turned it into drivel."
Scarlet frowned in deep thought and scratched her chin. "Well, I did have my doubts… I did try."
"So, we'll simply do as we agreed," Zack waved his hand lazily.
Rufus raised an eyebrow. "Agreed?"
"Since Miss Jones couldn't alter the caption in a way we'd like it," Cloud replied, "we're going to keep the caption exactly as it is. Isn't that what Miss Jones told us?"
Rufus averted his eyes dismissively. "Miss Jones… you are in no position to make such deals with students."
Cloud, Zack, and Scarlet gaped at him in shock.
"Now… an acceptable change has been made to the poster as we have asked. The paintings will be displayed during the school board meeting tonight… and it will go forward into the contest. You should be happy. It'll make our school proud."
"B…but…" Scarlet stammered. "I promised them. I did promise them!"
"I didn't."
The boys watched as Scarlet's face turned to the color of her namesake. She lifted her hand and slapped Rufus across the face, causing both of them to cringe.
"You're never going to change!" she spat. "You… you bully!"
And with that, Scarlet burst out of his office in a huff, while Rufus called out her first name. The boys filed out of the office, ignoring him when he demanded them to stay.
00000
The sky was looking very gray.
"Can he actually do that?" Aerith asked, completely shell-shocked.
The posse traveled slower than usual to the train station. They were still mulling over whether or not to drown their sorrows in their favorite gelato café.
"No," Zack replied. "This is nightmare brought up from me eating caramel chocolate-chip fudge ice cream late last night."
"That'll do it to you," Tifa joked, trying to liven the mood.
"It's a power trip," Cloud declared quietly.
The group turned and stared at him in wonder.
"Power trip?" Aerith asked.
"He's just trying to control the situation for the sake of it," Cloud explained. "He wants the schools entries to be exactly the way he wants them to be. There are people like that, you know. I just realized it from Scarlet's reaction… that, and that we're definitely not his first victims."
"And no one's tried to stop him before," Tifa caught on.
The whole group sighed.
"I heard from an acquaintance in my science class," Tifa began, "that Scarlet dumped a fruit salad bowl over his head in the faculty room. Apparently, Scarlet and Rufus have been secretly dating."
"After slapping him and storming out like that," Cloud replied, "it's hardly a secret anymore."
"Don't you have any recourse?" Aerith asked. "What about your parents, Zack?"
"My dad's still in Junon…" Zack groaned. "And Mom's eye-ball deep in her new sculpture. We haven't seen each other for two days straight."
"What about your brother?" she asked Cloud. "He is a lawyer!"
"A lawyer whose wife wanted me to be more upbeat in the first place," Cloud grumbled.
The whole group sighed again.
"The system's failed us," Zack snarled.
"The system sucks!" Cloud decried. He stopped for a moment, and an idea hit him in yet another flash of genius. He grinned deviously and snickered.
"We'll just have to work outside the system then," he decided.
"Outside the system?" Tifa asked suspiciously.
"You don't mean…" Zack replied with a smirk.
Cloud nodded. "Oh yeah…let's go to that gelato café and 'chat'…"
00000
That very night, the night of the school board meeting, the four of them borrowed Mrs. Fair's car and drove through the rain storm to their school. Tifa and Aerith stayed behind inside the car, keeping the engine running for their boyfriends' return. Cloud and Zack ran up to the entrance under an umbrella, calmly walked through threshold, and made their way to the school board meeting, which was being held in the auditorium.
Since he wanted to lessen the risk of being recognized, Cloud reluctantly switched his glasses for a pair of contacts.
The adults and some students were swarming the auditorium floors… and were gathering around a table of hors d'oeuvres. Zack spotted the display of paintings on the other end and pointed it out to his fellow conspirator. They slowly made their way towards the paintings, while Zack jammed his hand in his pocket.
A few people were observing the paintings, so they stood close by and waited until no one was there. As soon as everything seemed clear, they inched closer towards their endangered work of art, and Zack slowly pulled something out of his pocket…
A shoulder clamped down on Zack's shoulder, and he jumped. Scarlet held a light grip on him, and there was a blank expression on her face. The boys stared fearfully at her.
Scarlet retracted her hand, reached into the clutch purse in her other hand, and held out a tube of lipstick. Cloud and Zack looked at her in disbelief. She smiled.
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A few minutes later, the boys ran out through the school entrance under their umbrella and scrambled towards the car. They leapt into the back seat, slammed the door behind them, and Tifa stepped on the gas. They were far away from the school driveway by the time the chaos erupted.
Meanwhile, inside the school, Rufus was fuming. The once pristine painting that he had been proud to be a part of the school entries was now marred. All over the painting, there was message written in burgundy lipstick:
UP YOURS
XOXO
00000
The following day, Cloud and Zack were called one final time into Principle Shinra's office, but this time, it was only after first period. The boys were coldly ushered into the office, and Rufus gruffly ordered them to sit.
"You already know why you were called here," he said menacingly. "Don't try to deny it. Did you honestly think you could get away with this?"
Zack turned to Cloud and said, "It would be pretty stupid to say 'yes' now."
"Agreed," Cloud nodded briefly.
"Don't try to be smart!" Rufus bellowed. "Vandalizing school property is a serious offense. Your families are going to hear of this right now!"
He opened a school directory sitting on his desk, searched out Zack's numbers, and called Fair family up on his phone.
No one answered of course, for Mrs. Fair, at that very moment, was still working on her sculpture… with "Loose Control" by Evanescence blowing through her stereo. And his father was still in Junon.
Rufus hung up the phone and muttered a curse under his breath. Cloud and Zack exchanged a smile.
Undaunted, Rufus found Cloud's numbers and dialed them. He tried Lucy's number first, but at that current moment, she was preparing for her next hearing and had her cell phone on vibrate. Visibly annoyed, Rufus then tried the last option: Sephiroth.
00000
Inside his office, Sephiroth was about to have yet another meltdown, with only Genesis to bare witness.
"That idiot detective is late for another meeting!" Sephiroth growled. "If it weren't for him being a key component to this case, I'd be kicking his…"
Sephiroth's cell phone went off and Genesis answered it. "Yes?"
"Why am I surrounded by incompetent morons?" Sephiroth asked the air.
"Seph… you have a call from Midgar High. It's the principle."
Sephiroth's mood changed from anger to surprise. "Mr. Shinra?"
He quietly took the phone and greeted Rufus on the other end. "Hello. How may I help you?"
"Hello, sir," Rufus replied. "This is Principle Rufus Shinra from Midgar High. I'm afraid I have some very bad news."
"Eh?" Sephiroth asked.
"It appears that your younger brother, Cloud, has been involved in an act of vandalism."
"V-vandalism?"
Rufus paused purposefully for effect.
"You are aware of the art contest our school is a part of?" he asked.
"Yes?"
"Well, your brother collaborated with his friend, Zack, in a submission for one of our school entries. We found some of the content to be… unacceptable… so we had it altered. Well, last night, someone defaced the painting during our school board meeting. And since Cloud and Zack had previously objected to the changes made to the entry, I must assume that they are responsible. Therefore, I am going to have to punish them…"
On the other end, Sephiroth bit his lip. "Wait just a moment, Mr. Shinra. They objected to the changes made to their work, but they allowed it to be entered… with the changes?"
"It was entered that way for them, sir."
"I was under the impression that this contest was strictly voluntary…"
"It is… but because of the situation, it was mandatory…"
Sephiroth's anger rose anew. He gritted his teeth and nearly crushed the cell phone in his hand.
"So, let me get this straight," Sephiroth replied, his voice like ice. "You took my brother's submission from him… altered it's content… displayed it against his will… and now, you have the BALLS to say you're going to punish him for defacing his own property… which you have just admitted to stealing?"
Rufus choked on his own spit. "Th-that is not what I said…"
"Are you familiar with the meaning of 'violation of civil liberties', Mr. Rufus Shinra?"
"B-b-but I…"
"And how about the meaning of 'you're going up the river, pal'?"
Cloud watched from his seat as Rufus shrunk pitifully in his chair. Whatever Sephiroth was saying, he thought, it obviously wasn't good for the principle's complexion.
I'll never underestimate my brother again, he promised. Never.
"Now give me my brother right now, you miserable rat in a suit!" Sephiroth barked into the phone.
"Y-yes, sir," Rufus replied. "Of course, sir."
Rufus swallowed unstably and handed Cloud the receiver. The innocent looking blond took it graciously and put it to his ear.
"Yes, Seph?" Cloud said.
"You know Mr. Hewley, right?" Sephiroth replied. "I'm going to call him up right now… and we're going to gut this pompous metrosexual like it's going out of style! Is that alright with you?"
"Do your duty."
"You bet I will. Love you, kid."
"Yeah… me too."
Sephiroth hung up without so much as a goodbye. Rufus' head drooped. Cloud allowed himself a subtle, very smug grin.
00000
Suddenly, it was another Friday afternoon. The group of four escaped from Midgar High, and this time, they were smiling for different reasons.
They caught the train and headed into downtown Midgar, where a new burger shop had recently opened up. The menu was very promising.
"So," Aerith mused. "It's safe to say… that in order to save your work, you had to destroy it?"
"Catchy…" Cloud replied. "But we didn't do any damage… really."
"I cleaned off the lipstick with a chemical," Zack revealed. "And we fixed the caption right up. Cloud even typed it out in Blackmoor LET font on his computer instead of handwriting this time. It's still in the contest. Everything's right as rain now."
"Wait," Tifa replied. "What about the lawsuit Mr. Hewley's handling? Don't you need proof and stuff?"
"Uncle Angeal?" Zack asked. "Oh… he came by my house and took a million photographs before we cleaned it up."
Aerith laughed out loud and closed her menu.
"I can't believe that Sephiroth was able to be so scary!"
"That's because all lawyers are ruthless," Cloud replied. "All the effectual ones, that is. Trust me. I've been neck deep in lawyers the moment he set foot in Midgar Law."
The whole group sighed in relief.
"What an adventure," Tifa replied. "Cloud, what are you ordering?"
"I'm shooting for the Golden Saucer Burger," he replied. "You?"
"Turkey pizza burger," she responded.
"I'm having one with blue cheese and mushrooms," Aerith said.
"Sausage burger with dried tomatoes and avocado for me," Zack declared happily.
The waitress came by and cheerfully took their orders. Everyone was content. All was right with the world… at least, until the whole problem was officially resolved.
Zack sat back in the booth they occupied and sipped his root beer.
"You know…" he thought aloud. "This whole fiasco's given me an idea for a new painting."
"Hmmm?" Cloud replied. "What's it going to be about?"
Zack rolled his eyes and allowed himself a naughty smirk. "Oh… you'll see."
00000
Several weeks later, there were two paintings inside of Zack's bedroom. The first one was the infamous piece, The Negligent Savior, which was currently hanging on his wall with the "first place" ribbon attached to it. The second painting, a much larger canvas, was sitting on an easel, and some finishing touches were needed.
Inside the painting, there were two knights clad in shining armor who were fighting a dragon on a desolate mountain, with the background of a blood red sky. Curiously, one knight was brandishing a paintbrush with black ink on its bristles, while the other was skillfully wielding a fountain pen. Comically, the dragon's face was identical to Rufus Shinra's.
On the back of the canvas, the title of the artwork was written in blue ink:
The Circle of Friendship
The end...
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