Devotion & Desire
Chapter 3 – Cliques, Clashes, & Classes
Written by: Oneiromancy

Disclaimer: I don't own FFX-2; or its characters.

A/N: Wow, I've actually had this chapter uhm waaay back in July already written out. oo; I was meaning to post it a while ago but I got lazy; got addicted to another final fantasy couple; and then school just came around. So thank you to the people who did review. D; and sorry for the long wait.

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Gippal watches as Yuna runs to hug the tall blonde boy. He looks over at the crowd near the bulletin board and makes his way through it. Homeroom. He looks for his name. Isaaru, who ever that is. He memorizes the room number. He skims through the names again. Rikku's homeroom, 503, maybe she's there now. He makes his way out of the crowd and looks around playing with his tie, which was now fixed since Yuna tied it when they were in the parking lot. I wonder if this is how Rikku felt when she was new to this school. He leaned against the wall watching people walk past him.

His good eye followed two girls as they walk past him and giggle, putting their heads together; one snuck a glance back at him. He smiled at himself. Still got it. He spots a bobbing blonde head in the group where Yuna and the blonde guy were standing in, and slowly walks over. As he steps closer,They're all staring at me, even her. He watches as she jumps up saying something and quickly sprints away. She's most definitely avoiding me. He smiles and saunters over to the group of her friends who were staring at him. He nods to the group, "Hey."

Yuna smiles up at him, "Hi." She frowns, "You just missed Rikku, but these are our friends." She points to each person as she says their name. "This is Lenne and her boyfriend, Shuyin; my boyfriend, Tidus; and Paine. You, guys, this is Gippal."

Lenne waves and Shuyin nods to Gippal. Paine grunts and Tidus tilts his head and asks, "Hey, so what's the deal with you and Rikku because she's not telling us much."

Gippal laughs, "That's definitely the Rikku I remember. Smiling and laughing when needed but refusing to tell secrets. I don't know if I should be the one to tell you guys."

Lenne smiles, "Its okay, we'll hear out your story. We'll get the story out of her later."

"With force if we have to," Shuyin growls. Lenne pushes him and giggles.

"We've made quite the couple. I'm not quite sure what happened to us, long distance, I guess." Gippal's eye glances at each one of them reading their expressions.

Yuna smiles sweetly, "Awh, now I definitely want to know Rikku's story about what happened."

Paine muttered something that he didn't even hear and then she left.

Tidus grins, "HA! Knew it."

Lenne and Shuyin exchange knowing glances at each other.

Gippal laughs, "I'm kidding," well sort of. He smiles at them. "She was a close friend."

Shuyin wiggles his eyebrows, "close, eh?"

Gippal shakes his head smirking and runs his fingers through his hair. Tidus, out of nowhere, blurts, "What happened to your eye?"

Yuna elbowed Tidus, "OUCH! Hey!"

The young Al Bhed man laughs, "Nah, its okay. You know how you're told not to run with scissors, well let's just say. I'm living proof."

Tidus eyes widen, "Wow, really. That's so COOOOL."

Shuyin laughs, Lenne and Yuna look at Tidus giving the 'he's nuts' look. Gippal winks, "so, do you guys know where Rikku went?"

"She said something about going to homeroom early." Lenne answers.

Gippal grins, "Great, thanks."

He waves and walks away from them passing by different cliques and classrooms. 501, 502, 503. He stops in front of the classroom and peers in. Rikku sat at a desk turned around talking to a boy her age with spiky black hair. Her back faced the doorway There's Rikku. His eye looked her up and down. Looking good as usual. He shifts his gaze to the person behind her. Who is that guy and why is she blushing?

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Oh, God. No. Rikku watches as Gippal begins to approach the group of friends. "Going to homeroom, bye guys." She sprints away.

She reaches room 503 and looks around. Empty, good. She takes a seat in the far side of the room in the front. She lays her forehead on the desk. I can't keep running from him, nor can I face him. She closes her eyes and just rests her head on her arms still facedown.

"Pops, he's gonna come I swear. He promised." A 12 year old young Al Bhed whined.

"Rikku, they're already calling for us to board. We've got to go."

The young Rikku jumped up and down, "but Pops…" Rikku pouts.

A speaker echoes throughout the airport, "Last call for boarding for Flight 22."

Rikku looks around hoping to see his face. Why isn't he here? Cid grabs the girl's hand and practically drags her as he gives three tickets to the flight attendant. Rikku takes one final look back, her vision blurry with tears. But he promised…

Deep in thought, Rikku didn't even realize that she wasn't alone in the room. Someone taps her on her shoulder. Rikku jolts up looking up at the person. WHAT THE HELL, scare the crap out of me why don't cha. His blue eyes look down at her with concern, "Are you okay?"

Rikku blinks away tears that were forming in her eyes and puts on a smile, "Yah, tired." She fakes a yawn, and watches as he sits down in the desk behind her. "How was your summer?"

He smiles at her, "Hrm. Rikku tired, that's not a good sign. My summer was good, but not so good since I didn't get to see you."

Rikku blushes and smiles, "Well you could've always called. I'm always up for anything."

He raises his eyebrows, "Anything you say?"

Rikku rolls her eyes, "Not everything." She laughs. The warning bell rings and Rikku jumps by surprise. Ugh, why am I so jumpy? As if on cue, kids start coming into the room sitting near their friends, chatting away. The once silent room was not filled with loud chatter. She turns back to the boy and watches him for a moment as he eyes another girl up and down. She looks at who he was checking out. Ew, CLAIRE? Look at her hair, what's up with that thing, we may wear uniforms but we're not in a Britney Spears video. She rolls her eyes and runs her fingers along his arm, "So, Damian, do you think we'll have classes together?"

He looks back at her and smiles, "I hope so."

She winks at him, and then turns herself around to face the front of the room as she watches Leblanc walk in carrying a stack of papers. Rikku waves to her. Leblanc flashes a toothpaste commercial smile and walks over to her. "How was your summer, Love?"

Rikku smiles, "Good, How's Noojie-Woojie?"

"Perfect as usual." The bell rings for a second time. "Let me hand out schedules and I'll tell you about our summer." Leblanc starts calling out names handing out schedules as the room gets louder as each person starts comparing their schedule with their friends. Leblanc hands Rikku her schedule without shouting her name. Rikku grins and looks down at it.

Rikku

Grade: 11

1st Period – Jr. English

2nd Period – Study Hall

3rd Period – Advanced Al Bhed

4th Period – Jr. Math

Lunch

5th Period – Jr. Spira History

6th Period – Jr./Sr. Gym

7th Period – Advanced Alchemy

8th Period – Machina Education

Not bad. Definitely have Alchemy and Al Bhed with everyone. Study Hall, maybe. Hopefully they'll be in my gym class or else that'd be a drag. Rikku smiles content with her schedule turning around to compare schedules with Damian.

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Gippal opens his locker tossing the books he received in his previous classes in there. He pulls out a piece of paper out of his pocket. He looks it over, a sticky substance accumulated at the corners. I should've just changed pants. He sighs and opens it.

Gippal

Grade: 12

1st Period – Sr. Spira History

2nd Period – Sr. Math

3rd Period – Advanced Al Bhed

4th Period – Study Hall

Lunch

5th Period – Sr. English

6th Period – Jr./Sr. Gym

7th Period – Advanced Alchemy

8th Period – Machina Education

I've got Cid's class next. His locker slams shut, he looks up to see a girl with blonde hair put up in pigtails with pink pompoms standing before him leaning against his locker. "Hey, I noticed you're new." She smiles up at him.

"Yah, I am. I'm Gippal." He says holding out his hand.

She shakes his hand, not letting go. "I'm Claire," still continuing to smile at him.

He rubs the back of his neck. "I need my hand back to take notes later." She giggles and let's go.

"Hey, Gippal," a familiar voice calls. He turns to look at the person who said it. Tidus and Yuna stand not far away holding hands.

Gippal nods at them, and then turns to Claire, "Nice meeting you, I'll see you later."

Claire smiles, leans in and kisses his cheek, "Hopefully, sooner than later." She waves as she turns and walks away towards her group of friends. First day here and already I got a girl chasing me. He laughs to himself, walking over to Tidus and Yuna.

"She's a slut, y'know?" Tidus informs him.

Gippal shows off a cocky grin, "Oh, I know," wiggling his eyebrows.

Tidus scoffs, "I'm serious, total shark, always looking for new guys to prey on." Gippal still continues to grin.

Yuna shakes her head, ignoring their little guy talk, "So how's your classes been?"

"Good, I should be heading to Cid's Advanced Al Bhed class."

Yuna smiles pleasantly, "Oh, us too, we'll walk there together."

The walk to class didn't last that long since Gippal's locker was right across the hall of Cid's classroom. The three of them enter the room; Gippal looks around at the students who were already there. He spotted Paine, Shuyin, and Lenne sitting in the back. He follows Yuna and Tidus as they take seats in front of them.

Shuyin bangs his head on the desk, "We've only been to two classes and I have a project due next week and there are already plans for a paper."

Lenne looks at him concerned and rubs his back. Gippal puts in, "and I doubt Cid's gonna let up on the workload."

Shuyin groans, and Paine glares at him, "suck it up."

Gippal turns around in time to see Rikku walk through the threshold with a white haired boy. She sure gets around. Who am I kidding, its Rikku, she's friends with everybody. His eye follows Rikku watching as she skips towards them as the boy trails behind her. "Hi, Guys! I'm so EXCIIIITED to have a class with you all!" She looks over at the boy, "Baralai is too but he's good at not showing it." She winks at the boy, who blushes and takes a seat next to Paine. She takes a seat next to Gippal, not even acknowledging his presence.

Gippal turns towards her, "Hey, Cid's girl, I think you've been avoiding me today."

She turns to him acting surprise, "Oh, I didn't see you; I don't think we've met." She turns her attention to her bookbag as she takes out a notebook.

Ouch. "Whatever you say, Cid's girl, but I can tell your friends stories of our childhood." He watches her face as she frowns and looks at him.

"What do you want? Why'd you even want to possibly come here?"

He could feel the six pairs of eyes staring at him. They too wait for the answers. He shows off his cocky grin, "Well we have Advanced Al Bhed together, of course."

Mecdah ib, Drec ec Advanced Al Bhed, drana femm pa hu English eh drec lmycc. Ajano xiacdeuh eh lmycc sicd pa cbugah eh Al Bhed. Ev oui lyh'd taym fedr dryd tnub dra lmycc. ( Listen up, This is Advanced Al Bhed, there will be no English in this class. Every question in class must be spoken in Al Bhed. If you can't deal with that drop the class. ) Rikku and Gippal both turn from each to watch Cid standing in the front of the room.

As Cid starts writing Al Bhed words on the board, Gippal sneaks a sideway glance at Rikku. She was busying herself with copying the notes on the board. He looks back down at his own notebook. This is going to be a long day.

A note drops on to his desk. Glancing at Rikku, he opens it and his eye widens.

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A/N: Whoosh. I'm super lazy, I was meaning to add more to this chapter but I'm not quite sure what it was, sooooo I'll just post it. x)) WHOO! Yah ohkay. REVIEW, you know the drill. xD Man, I suck at being descriptive. Believe me, the worst critic is yourself.