Chapter Three

"I'm fine! Everything's fine. Nothing to worry about." I said for what felt like the hundredth time.

"If you need anything…"

"I will let you know." I cradled the phone between my ear and neck and as I tried to rub some jam on my toast. Just then, my eyes slipped on the clock and the toast fell from my hand.

"Oh my God! I'm gonna be late for my class! I'll talk to you later."

Aunt Jane sighed from the other side of the line, "Alright honey. Take care of yourself!"

I hung up the phone and rushed toward the bathroom. After a cursory brush of my teeth, I ran to my room to change. I put on a pair of black pants, a white tank top and my black leather jacket. I wore my hair into a ponytail, grabbed my bag and keys, and took off.

My apartment, wasn't exactly in the campus, but wasn't that far from it. I jammed my hand frees in my ear as I walked to the college. It was a nice day, sunny with a soft breeze.

I tried to concentrate on the music, tuning out bothersome thoughts in my head, but they came anyway. In a way, I could understand why my family felt so reluctant when I wanted to move out, or why they were so concerned that I was living all by myself and refused to get help from them. My apartment was literally nothing compared to our house back in Midgar.

But I hadn't earned that. I hadn't earned any of that. All my life, I hadn't earned any single thing. And my family didn't get it! They didn't understand the importance of it. So what if my uncle ran one of the most powerful and prestigious companies in the world? I didn't have anything to do with it. I had to build my own future.

As expected, I was late for the class. When I arrived, the professor was already there, giving lecture. I tried to slip in, without attracting any attention and took a seat at one of the back rows beside a boy with deep red shirt and long jet black hair. As I sat, he turned toward me and stared at me with unreadable eyes for several long moments. I was about to snap when he turned around and gave his attention back to the professor. 'Wow! Don't know what I did to offend his majesty? What? Is he too cool to sit next to me?' I shook my head and tried to focus on the lecture.

Till the end of the class the jerk acted as if I didn't exist. I didn't care. The Professor had a foreign accent and I had a difficult time following what she was saying. When the class finished, I got my stuff and left the class without looking back.

I had a couple of free hours until my next class. So I decided to go to library and do some research. Was it too weird to use the university library to study about different alcoholic drinks and cocktails? Well, I didn't have much choice. Today was my first day at work, and I didn't want to mess it up.

After spending an hour and half at the library and trying not to fall asleep for the half of it, I came to conclusion that probably mixology was not something to be learnt through books, or at least not for me. So I just decided to go grab some lunch before my next class. As I was walking out of the library, a familiar golden head caught my eyes and I came to a halt.

Cloud Strife was also in the library, and by the looks of it, he wasn't making the most of his time either. He was sitting by one of the desks, with his head on the table, and his hand frees in his ears. His eyes were closed and he seemed deeply asleep.

Before I knew, I stepped closer and studied him more carefully. Although I had met him yesterday, the details of his face was starting to fade.

Long eyelashes casted shadow on his cheeks and golden threads of locks surrounded his face. His lips were slightly parted as he breathed in and out slowly. He looked so peaceful.

Honestly, I was very tempted to reach and touch those locks, to see if they were as soft as they looked. But I stopped myself at the last minute. Seriously, what was wrong with me? The guy would freak out if he saw me gawking at him like that. I shook my head, slightly amused by own antics. However seeing Cloud reminded me of our mutual project and the fact that I needed to make some time to think about that too. A good subject….that could meet the strict, old prof standards…

I bought myself a Cesar salad at the Cafeteria and found myself an empty table. I just had started eating that I was interrupted.

"Tifa, Right?"

I looked up. It was the same girl from yesterday, the one that bumped into me.

"Oh, hi…Yuffie, was it?"

"That's the one. Mind if I join you?" she casually took a seat next to me before I had a chance to respond. "How're you doing?" she asked with a huge grin on her face.

"I'm doing fine, how about you? Did you find your class yesterday?"

"Yeah… after twenty minutes!" she answered sulkily as she reach inside her bag and pulled out a sandwich, "And the old hag gave me a whole lecture about how we should be more responsible and respect others, blah, blah, blah ..."

I laughed and she laughed alongside with me, "Seriously! It's like we're still in high school!" she rolled her eyes.

"I know," I said with a knowing smile. I was starting to like this weird girl and all her antics.

"Oh my God!" Yuffie exclaimed suddenly.

"What's it?" I asked alarmed.

"Is that Vincent Valentine?" she asked, her eyes wide with disbelief and her mouth hanging open.

I looked at where she was staring. And guess what? It was the same guy from my class, earlier. His long hair was now pulled into a loose ponytail and his eyes were hidden behind his long fringe. But it was him for sure. He was just passing by, looking at no one in particular.

I turned away, not interested. "No Idea."

"It must be him! God, I can't believe it!"

"Who's Vincent Valentine anyway?" I asked as I continued to eat.

"You don't know him?" she looked pretty shocked.

"Should I?"

"He's the coolest guy on the planet! Haven't you heard his singing? And when he plays his guitar, it's just awesome!" Yuffie trailed off with a dreamy look on her face.

"So he's like a what? A rock star?"

"One of the best. And he's a student here! I was so looking forward to see him."

Okay, that explained it. I was really dumb when it came to rock music. Vincent Valentine! You'd think that's a name that would stick in your mind, but I had no idea. However, I didn't think he was as well-known as Yuffie made it sound. She was probably just a big fan. And judging by the way she followed him with her eyes, I knew I was right.

But as I looked around, I noticed that Yuffie wasn't the only one who was staring at him with interest. I had to admit that he was a good looking guy and being a musician just added to his charm. But in my book, he still remained a jackass, albeit a famous one.

Yuffie and I chatted for the rest of the lunch. It turned out that I had guessed right the other day and she was from Wutai. She was the eldest child of the family and had two younger brothers back at home. I told her I was just sick of Midgar University so I transferred here and that my family was still in Midgar. I was glad that she didn't ask for more details. I wasn't ready to share my story yet. I wanted people to know me by who I was rather than by my family background. All of these aside, Yuffie was from Wutai. People from Wutai were known to have some extreme opinions about some issues. I had learnt long ago that you should be careful about what you say around them.

After lunch I headed for my next class. Theories of Personality. It was excruciating! If you ever had a class right after lunch before, you'd probably understand what I'm talking about. I couldn't keep my eyes open for more than two minutes straight. My eyes kept drooping, and certainly, I was going to have some problems reading the notes that I took then. After the class I wisely decided to go home and get some rest. I was going to work till almost midnight and I had to save some energy.

I pushed open the door and entered the bar. Like last time, the strong scent of liquor welcomed me. Instead of the guy I met yesterday, there was a young girl now behind the counter serving drinks. As I approached her I couldn't help but feel a little out of place. I had a difficult time deciding what to wear for work. Barret hadn't talked about a certain dress code. And I knew something too fancy was not an option for a place like Seventh Heaven. I had ended up wearing a black knee-length skirt and a white blouse. The girl however was dressed as casually as possible: a loose T-shirt whit and a jean. Her red hair was held up with a hair clip.

"Hey," I called as I reached her, "My name is Tifa, I…"

"Oh yeah, Barret told me about you," she said with a bright smile. "Come over here, Tifa" She motioned with her hand for me to join her in the other side of the counter.

"Glad to have you here Tifa, I'm Jessie by the way."

"Nice to meet you Jessie," I said with a smile.

"Okay, first things first, let me show you some basics. Here is where we keep the glasses…Um, here are some of handy drinks, let see …here we have beers, ales, wine, sake, vodka and the rest. We keep scotch and champagne over there. What else? Oh yeah, here are fruit juices, we're out of apple juice today…"

I tried my best to keep up with her explanation as she pointed here and there, giving me some insights. She paused in the middle of her sentence and looked at me. "Well, I think that's enough for now. Let's just start and if you have a question just ask me."

"I will, Thanks Jessie."

I took a look at my surroundings. It was getting busier by the minute. I folded my sleeves and took a deep breath.

'Okay Teaf, let's get the show on the road!"

A/N: Alright, here was another short chapter. I would have made it longer, but I thought it was better to write the rest in another chapter.

I know that many things are still vague, but they will make more sense in the next chapters. And hey, I gave you a hint about Tifa's family. Did you get that?

Also, gradually we're gonna come across other characters too. And, get ready for a huge surprise in the next chapter.

And here are responses to your reviews.

sunflowerspot: I'm so glad that you liked it so far. I know there wasn't much dynamic between Cloud and Tifa in this chapter. But keep an eye for the next chapter. I think you'll like it.

guest: Sorry, this chapter was short too. But we're gonna see more of Cloud in the next chapter. I hope that will make up for it. ;)

Thank you guys for reading! I really appreciate your reviews.