More than a Dream
chapter four
"So I joined the blitz team," Tidus said.
No response.
He let the silence sit for a bit, then tried again. "I made a friend today."
There was only more silence.
Tidus frowned. "I ditched school to get high and then spent the day turning tricks to support my drug habit."
Auron merely raised an eyebrow.
Tidus let out a frustrated sigh. "Okay, maybe not that last bit. But the first two things are true! Geeze Auron, you could at least be happy for me, since you were the one that made me do this stupid transfer in the first place."
"I'm happy for you," Auron said, deadpan.
Tidus glared at him. "What is with you?" he huffed. "I swear, I'll never understand how you were my old man's best friend..." He probably did what he did just to get away from you, he thought, but then immediately felt guilty. He did like Auron, even if his guardian frustrated him to no end most of the time. And he had been a good friend to his old man.
Sighing, he grabbed an apple off the table nearby and then picked up his broken backpack, preparing to head upstairs and start tackling his evil homework. His first day at his new school had in one night brought what would have been a week's worth in his old school. He wasn't looking forward to it.
x x x
The next few weeks passed... surprisingly pleasantly, all things considered. He still seemed to have a "loser" stigma attached to him that made a lot of kids torment him just for kicks, but word was quickly spreading around school about his "phenomenal blitz skills" and how "Captain Wakka personally invited him to the team" and so some of them were slowly easing up a bit.
He also seemed to have truly made a friend in Rikku, who still insisted on yelling at him from halfway across the lunchroom, and sought him out between classes whenever possible. He also ended up being assigned the locker next to hers, which gave her a great excuse to pester him constantly. Not that he minded too much.
To his great delight, Yuna was also friendly to him at lunch and in their shared classes, and she walked with him every day to math class. The only downside was that she wasn't making an effort outside of those times to see him, which made him constantly worry that she was only being nice to him because he was Rikku's adopted stray, as Lulu had taken to saying.
Still, these things took time, and he was determined to do whatever it took to be her friend. Maybe even more, if she ever dumped that boyfriend that Rikku was always ranting about. Baralai something, the guy was always glaring at him during science class, and he knew it would only get worse when they had their first lab in a few days.
"Mr. Aurion!"
Tidus jerked, startled out of his thoughts, and looked up to find the glaring stern face of Mr. Warren, his Zanarkand history teacher, frowning disapprovingly at him. "Yes?" he asked meekly, already knowing he was in trouble.
"The answer, Mr. Aurion. What is the answer to the question I just asked?"
Dammit, he thought. What was the question?! He racked his brains hard, trying to remember what he'd been lecturing on when he zoned out. The last thing he could remember hearing was something about Bevelle's secret weapon in the war. "Err... what was the question?" he asked at last, wincing when he heard some of his classmates snickering.
Mr. Warren's frown grew even more, if such a thing were possible. "Detention, then, for not paying attention in class. Report here at the end of the day tomorrow."
He sighed inwardly. "Yes sir..." Well, he supposed some things had to be the same as his old school.
Mr. Warren went back to the front of the class, focusing his attention on someone else. Tidus looked around the room, already bored and tuning him out again. He caught Yuna giving him a sympathetic smile a few seats over, and felt his stomach give a little nervous stutter. She was so beautiful when she smiled, and it was really great when that smile was directed at him...
The bell rang then, finally, mercifully saving him from further torture. He shot up out of his seat like it was on fire, glad to finally have that class over. Man, he hated history.
Yuna caught up with him just outside the door. They always walked the first part of the way together before parting to go to their separate classes. Him another torturous hour of history and her gym.
"Hey, so what question did he ask?" Tidus asked her, knowing she'd more than likely been paying attention.
"Actually, he asked if you were paying attention..." Yuna giggled at the look on Tidus' face.
"What! He tricked me! That jerk..." He fumed. Yuna dissolved into hopeless laughter. "Hey! Yuna! It's not funny!" he cried. Well, he had to admit... it was a little funny. After the fact at least. And he could certainly put up with it if it meant hearing Yuna laugh.
"I'm sorry Tidus," Yuna said, still smiling. "But the look on your face..."
"Yeah, yeah," he grumbled good-naturedly, now smiling with her. They reached the stairwell where they'd part--he'd head upstairs and she outside. "Look, I'll see you in Science, okay?"
"Okay. Try not to fall asleep in your next class or you might get tricked again!" she teased.
He scoffed. "I never sleep in class."
She merely smiled and waved as she headed out. And half an hour later, another detention slip in hand, he found himself wondering if the world had made him fall asleep just to purposely spite him.
end chapter four
yeah, I know, it's incredibly short and not much happens. I just wanted to post so you guys knew what happened and that I was still alive. Hopefully the next chapter will be better, and also sooner in coming :) Please consider leaving a review if you liked, thank you!
-asch