No Matter What

Author's Note: This fic is NOT a copy of Untouchable Love by TiDuS FoReVeR in case any of you think it is. There is no attempted murder, threats, or bashing of any kind. And also, no rivalry between Squall and Seifer, they're really good friends. This is an idea I came up with.

Summary: Au Squinoa. Squall's the best SeeD in Balamb Garden. Rinoa's the most popular SeeD there. A perfect match. But they're best friends and don't see themselves like that. But deep down they both wish they were. So what happens when after a wild party at Zell's, she comes to him with a problem? And it's his? What will he do? Will they stay friends, or become something more?

Last Chapter

"Well anyway," announced Jack happily. "Shall we celebrate your son's rescue mission with dinner and a show tonight? Julia and I won't take no for an answer!"

"Splendid idea Jack! Shall we meet outside Esthar's finest, The Shoopuf, around six then? I'll book us tickets for the Blitzball match at nine if you book the table." Laguna agreed.

"Brilliant! Although, won't it be embarrassing for the kids? Treble-dating with their parents?" Raine laughed. Julia joined in.

"Of course. We shall have to get them a separate table so we won't embarrass them."

Everyone started talking at once as they were leaving the police station. Squall and Rinoa however, were silent. Things just couldn't get any worse!

Chapter Three

September 5th

Beep! Beep! Beep!

"Ugh… five more minutes." Rinoa groaned. It was Friday morning and Zell's party was that night. She rolled over in her bed and looked at her alarm clock.

6:46am

"Too early. Need sleep." She muttered.

She shot up and remembered she was going to Selphie's to drop off her party outfit. Then they were going to walk to Garden from there. Selphie lives two blocks away from Zell's.

"Shit! I'm gonna be late!" she cursed.

"Rinoa! What have I told you about swearing?" her father shouted form across the hall.

"Uh, not to swear unless absolutely necessary?"

"Hyne! Kids nowadays! No manners." her father grunted as he closed the door on the master bedroom.

Rinoa jumped from her bed and threw her pyjamas onto the floor. She searched for her bathrobe and put it on. She quickly sprinted towards the bathroom and closed the door to have a shower.


25 minutes later

Rinoa had just finished packing her bag for school and started to pack her over-night bag with makeup and clothes for Zell's party.

She threw seven tops into the bag, followed by two mini skirts, a pair of black trousers with bell-bottoms, two pairs of tight jeans, a slinky black dress that comes up to her knees, three pairs of shoes: Black knee high boots with pointy toes, a pair of 6 inch black strappy stilettos, some plain black ankle boots to go home in, and some fresh underwear. Hey, she needed some sort of selection! She was going to Selphie's after Garden closed so she could get ready there instead of going home, then travelling back.

She grabbed her purse from her desk and checked how much money she had in it before going downstairs. She jumped down the stairs two at a time, like she always did and rushed into the kitchen to collect a quick breakfast.

Breakfast to Rinoa, normally consisted of an apple and some black coffee. Today she made a bacon and mushroom sandwich with HP sauce, white coffee with two sugars and grabbed a breakfast bar from the pantry cupboard.

She sat down in the dining-room for a few minutes and gorged on her first meal of the day. Her mother came into the dining-room with the daily newspaper and a cup of coffee. She smiled at Julia and continued with her breakfast.

"Are you going out tonight Rinoa?" asked her mother, not looking up from her paper.

"Yeah, Selphie and I are going to Zell's party tonight. I'm staying over at hers. Her mom said it was ok."

"Aren't Zell's parents going away today for their anniversary?" the paper moved away from Julia's face and she looked at her daughter for an answer.

"I think so." Rinoa lied, looking at her mother straight in the eye.

"Do they know about the party their son's having?"

"They said that it was cool, just as long as we didn't break anything or disturb the neighbours." Rinoa hated lying to her mother but she really wanted to go to the party.

"Oh, well. That's fine. Just as long as they know about it then there's no problem with me letting you go. Your father and I are going out with Laguna and Raine again tonight. We'll be in Esthar until Sunday afternoon. I trust you'll be alright by yourself until we come back?"

"Mom, it's me we're talking about. I'll be fine by myself." Rinoa finished her sandwich and prepared to leave the dining-room.

"Wait a second honey. I forgot to ask you one more question."

"Yes mom?"

"Is there going to be any sort of drugs or alcohol present at this party you're going to?"

"I'm not sure about the drugs, but there may be some beer and fruit punch there. It's a 'Bring Your Own' party." Rinoa answered as honestly as she could.

"Well, if you need to take anything with you, you can take one bottle from the cabinet. But that's all. Nothing more, alright? I don't want you getting hung-over. I won't tell your father. Have fun ok?"

(A/N: Julia's pretty laid back isn't she? No wonder she and Laguna should've been together. But her father is still the same.)

"Thanks mom, I'll see you on Sunday. Bye!"

Rinoa ran quickly from the house and went to the garage to collect her new car. Her parents didn't want her walking to the station anymore so they'd bought her a new car yesterday as a present for her senior year. Galbaldia had recently finished constructing a bridge that lead to Balamb for motorists. There were plenty of people who worked in Balamb that were from Galbaldia so this made their jobs easier. Especially for those who worked on Balamb Harbour.

She climbed into her blue Subaru 2.0 Turbo and revved the engine. It sounded like a cat purring. Lovely! She sped off towards the Balamb Bridge.


She arrived at Selphie's and unloaded her over-night bag. She dragged it over to Selphie's front door and rang the bell. The door opened quickly and she stood facing a small girl with long auburn hair and piercing blue eyes.

"Rinny!" she cried out and hugged her tightly. This was Sophie, Selphie's 9 year old sister.

"Hi Sophie, is Selphie in?" Rinoa asked sweetly.

"Hang on a sec. SEFFIE! Rinny's here! Get your butt down here!" the little girl roared up the staircase. Selphie appeared at the top and shouted back:

"Hyne Sophie, chill! I'm here!" she looked at the front door and saw Rinoa holding a large bag.

"Jeez Rinny! Do you really need that much for tonight? It's only Zell's party!" she laughed.

"Can I come in? There's some of your stuff from before summer started in here! It's not all mine!" Rinoa laughed back at her small companion who was now running down the stairs towards her. Sophie had wandered into the living-room to watch television.

"We'll chuck the stuff in my room for now. We'll sort it out later. I wanna see your car!"

Rinoa showed Selphie her new car and pushed her into the passenger seat and drove off. Selphie had her backpack o her already so they didn't cause any delays.

"This car is so cool! Your parents must really love you!" Selphie shouted over the stereo playing in the car. Rinoa nodded. No-one but Squall knew what had happened earlier in the week. So Rinoa kept it to herself. Squall hadn't been in Garden yesterday. He was on some trip with his father. Being the president's son has its advantages. He said he would be home in time for the party later on.


3pm

The time in Garden flew by and pretty soon, everyone was chatting and smiling again. Quistis had spoken to Zell and now, she and Seifer were included on the party list. They were Garden's star couple.

"C'mon Quisty," Seifer moaned at her. "Tell me again WHY we're going to Chicken-wuss' party when we can have one at home?"

"Because Zell is our FRIEND and we were invited. We're going and that's final!" Quistis had told him firmly. Seifer had grunted but said nothing more about it.


Rinoa had driven back to Selphie's. They went up to Selphie's bedroom and began trying on outfits for the party. After two hours of mucking around, dancing and singing to music, they finally had some clothes on.

Rinoa was wearing a pair of jeans with a clingy white top and her stilettos. Selphie shook her head.

"Too smart."

Selphie was wearing her yellow mini-dress and a pair of brown boots. Rinoa shook her head.

"Too… uh… I can't think of anything. But it's not right. Let's try on something else."

Five minutes later they came out with another outfit on. Rinoa was wearing a denim mini-skirt, a hot-pink halter top and her knee-highs. Selphie was wearing white pedal-pushers, a green vest-top and some platform wedges. Rinoa nodded approvingly.

"That's perfect Selphie. What about me?"

"Nah, it doesn't suit you. Pink's not your colour Rin."

Rinoa tried on something else.

"Rinny, that's perfect!" Selphie exclaimed.

Rinoa looked down at what she was wearing: her slinky little black dress with her stiletto heels. She frowned.

"Are you sure it's not too dressy? It's only Zell's party."

"It's the best one to choose from! Besides, you need the jeans and other stuff for tomorrow. Let's get something to eat. I'm starving!"

They changed out of their party outfits and into something comfortable. Sophie had decided to make a mess in the kitchen. She was trying to make some sandwiches. Unfortunately for the two teenagers, they had to tidy up the mess. Peanut butter on the walls, jelly smeared onto the cooker, crisps were strewn all over the floor and Selphie's cat had used the floor for its bathroom since no-one had let it outside.

"Tinkerbelle!" Selphie moaned as she was reduced to picking up the cat's wastes. The cat yawned from her resting spot on the windowsill and curled up into a ball.

Rinoa was having a tough time removing the jelly from the cooker. Apparently Sophie had turned on the hob and had burned it into the metalwork on the top.

"I'm glad I'm an only child," she said to Selphie, who was still picking up cat crap from the floor.

"Yeah, lucky you," Selphie said sourly and pulled a face. Tinkerbelle had decided to use the fresh laundry on the table for her toilet aswel. Selphie picked up the basket and picked out the faeces from the clothes and threw it all back into the washing machine and switched it on.

"Let me guess. She's burned jelly on the hob?" Selphie asked her friend. Rinoa nodded and continued to scrub at the mess with a metal scourer and bleach.

"Here, let me help." Selphie brought out a bottle from the cupboard and poured it onto a cloth. It absolutely stank!

"What IS that!" Rinoa covered her nose. "Fish oil?"

"No. It's called mentholated spirit. It gets out stains and stuff." Selphie explained, her face screwed up from the smell.

"Yeah, but that doesn't change the fact that it stinks the hell out of the kitchen!" Rinoa said as she opened the window where Tinkerbelle was lying. The cat jumped abruptly and fell from the windowsill and onto the floor.

"Meow." She said and sauntered off out of the kitchen.

Rinoa and Selphie finished clearing the kitchen and aired it out by keeping the window open.

"Phew! Now I'm really hungry now!" Selphie announced. Rinoa nodded in agreement. It had taken them an hour to tidy up and transfer the clothes into the dryer.

Selphie pulled out some lamb grill steaks and garlic rice and showed them to Rinoa for her approval. Rinoa nodded and helped her cook them. They sat down at the now clean kitchen table and ate their food.

"Have you got any alcohol for tonight?" Rinoa enquired. Selphie nodded.

"Yeah, Ruby got me two bottles of Smirnoff and a six pack of Carling. What'd you get?"

Selphie also had another sister, Ruby, who was twenty. She was in Esthar University but the new semester didn't begin for another week. She was going to baby-sit Sophie whilst they were at the party. She was a real bookworm; she had too much work to do than to go to parties.

"A bottle of Archers Peach and four cans of Stella Artois. I had to use my fake ID to get them. Mom said I could have something from the cabinet but I forgot so I got some in Balamb at lunchtime."

"That's cool. My mom wouldn't let me get any so I asked Ruby if she would mind. She didn't."

"Alright, it's six o'clock now so we have about two hours before the party. I need a shower. Can I use yours? I'll help you with your makeup if you like."

"Sure, no problem. I'll go and fetch you a towel. Do you need to wash your hair too? I'll get you another towel if you need one."

"Yeah, I may as well wash my hair. Thanks Selphie. You're the best."

"Aren't I just?" Selphie said, grinning her head off. "Let's get ready to PAH-TAY!"


Author's Note: End of chapter three! Next Chapter- PARTY NIGHT. Hope you enjoyed it. Review!

Rinny Leonheart