That morning, when I got up I found myself checking my phone for messages.

Hey! I will explain what I meant if you answer me this. How much did you hear from the other side of the door?

-Zack

I decided to leave the message alone for a bit and get dressed. I slipped my nightgown off and set it on the bed. My eyes drifted over to the computer…can he see me?

How silly! I giggled, pulling my skirt up. He can't see me! The computer is off! I put my shirt and began to put my hair up…

My eyes drifted right back to the computer. I reluctantly switched it on.

When everything was loaded, I began to type back:

You're in SOLDIER.

The reply came almost instantly:

So you heard everything.

I gasped. How would he be able to reply to me so fast?

Yes. So what were you going to ask me?

I clicked 'send' and watched the screen turn back to my E-mail.

"Aerith! Breakfast! We're having pancakes! Hurry up!"

There's Elmyra…I guess I can wait to read his reply. I looked back.

Morning went by so quickly that I didn't get to read what he said back until I was safely on the train above the plate. A little boy with a runny nose looked over my shoulder. I smiled at him. "Hello!" I giggled.

He smiled back at me and wiped his nose with his sleeve. "Name's Denzel. Who're you?"

"Aerith."

"Oh."

He fell quiet, looking at my phone. "You're talking to a boy?"

"…Yes." I looked at him. He had sandy-blonde hair and blue eyes. He reminded me a lot of Cloud. He was dressed really well in an elementary school uniform. He straightened his shirt and kicked at his shoes.

"Is he with ShinRa? My dad works for ShinRa! He's an executive! Is that boy your boyfriend? Oh. Well…that means he's in the academy. Or is he older than that? A graduate? Probably so…because you're old. Well…not too old. My mom is older than you are. He's probably either a Turk or a SOLDIER. Oh, did you know they're promoting boys into 3rd class today? Is he a new 3rd class?"

Talkative, isn't he? I wonder how he guessed.

"They're promoting?" I asked.

"Yep! A bunch of boys are getting the mako today."

It startled me. "H-how do they do it?" I shut my phone and gave my full attention to the little boy.

He cleared his throat and pointed to the phone. "Who is he?"

"Zack."

"Zack who?"

"Zack Fair."

I blurted his whole name out before I thought about it. I don't remember him telling me his last name…Oh! Mr. Dalca said it! He called him "Fair!" That's probably why I called him that. I don't know if that's his name…but I do know that name has got something to do with him.

"Oh?" He seemed amused. "Is he your boyfriend?"

"Yes, now tell me!"

I blushed. Ooooh…I am in deep trouble now. Why did I say that! We haven't even gone on a date yet!

He smiled, "I know Zack." I felt like kicking myself for saying what I said. He shrugged it off, "you two are a good match. Anyway, getting mako is a cinch. What they do is they knock you out first. Then while you're asleep, they read your vitals and all…judge how much you need. Then they inject you with all sorts of stuff and the mako too…then you wake up…" He sighed. "Then for the next day you feel all weird. You can't talk or anything—I heard this from a 2nd class—and your eyes feel all itchy and you can't move without pain…"

"Oh…it must be hard…" I sighed.

He nodded, seeing that I was a little too far into his little story than I should be. "It is hard!" He said, throwing his hands up. "The cool thing is though," He took a breath—first time he had done it during the entire conversation, "Watching yourself become a SOLDIER! You can tell—if you're not in too much pain. Then you wake up the next morning and they train you and BAM!!" He startled a young woman beside me, "Instant fighter! You can tolerate anything! Even bullets!"

He was even getting me excited—and I never cared for violence like he obviously did.

"So…mako makes you stronger…" I mumbled to myself. I wondered how much of his story was true. I looked out the window. "Oh, this is my stop. Goodbye, Denzel."

"See you, Aerith."

The day dragged on until the coveted gym class. Of course the group of boys—which was smaller, but louder—was still standing at the fence whistling and howling and making a ruckus.

I could name a few…There's Reno…and Sephiroth…no Cloud, and no Zack. I looked over at Tifa, who was stretching—or showing off her chest, I can't tell these days—she gave a slight sigh. She was obviously going to try to beat me today.

"Flexi-girl isn't going to stretch?" I heard someone shout.

I sighed. I probably should stretch—even if it meant giving them what they wanted. I pulled my leg up beside my hip, then the other…luckily; their attention was directed elsewhere…

"You guys wanna see flexible? I will show you flexible!"

"Yo, little girl!" Reno sputtered back, poking a finger through the fence, "nobody cares about what your body looks like!"

There came a whistle from the group.

My head turned. A small girl, maybe a year behind me, had bent backwards onto her hands…then flipped into a handstand, and finally gave a little bounce with her elbows to put herself back on her feet.

"See, boys? Now that is flexible."

"Shuddup Yuffie."

She stuck her tongue out and smoothed her short, jet-black hair with her hands. She dressed a lot more dangerously than Tifa ever would. Her shorts were way too short for my tastes, and her gym shirt…it was just a plain yellow mid-drift. She smiled at the boys—a far from innocent smile.

"Girl, you taken?" One shouted, whistling…the one that had been showing her attention the entire time.

"Now, now boys," she giggled, "there's only room in my heart for one! Right, Vinnie?"

She turned her head to look at a boy beyond the fence with short, dark, raven-colored hair. He was dressed abnormally well—and reading! I guessed he just tagged along with the others. He looked up from his book, his red eyes following her, and grunted turning back to his reading.

"Vinnie, you're such a stick in the mud!" She said hotly.

"Look, little miss," The same boy that had been paying her attention, shouted rudely, "250 gil. Now."

"Fine, fine…" She reached into her shorts and handed him some gil from a pouch. "Happy?"

He smiled at her through the fence, "As a clam, miss."

She sighed, skipped over to Tifa, and began to giggle something in her ear as if nothing had happened. They looked at me and beckoned me over.

"Y-yeah?"

I didn't know this Yuffie girl too well and…

"Aerith," She said, pointing at me, "I am going to help you impress guys."

I lifted an eyebrow and threw a look at Tifa. She smiled. "Cloud told me everything," she said softly, "he always does. I know that you don't know anything about dating or seducing…"

"Seducing?!" I sputtered. "I'm going to date him, not eat him!"

Yuffie leapt forward, her dark-as-midnight hair fell forward into her face, "So it is true. He's actually settled on a girl—and she's settled on him!"

"No, none of that is true!" I yelped, my eyes looking back at Tifa, to Yuffie and back again, "It's only because…because…"

"Whatever it is…" Yuffie interrupted, "don't you want to make an impression?"

"I guess, but—"

Tifa cut me off, "Look, Cloud asked you to distract Zack so he can study. If he doesn't study, he will fail and have the rest of his career stuck. Zack is loud and has nothing else to do. Please, just distract him!"

"Oh. I get it," I said. I sighed. I was so relieved! So Cloud wasn't playing matchmaker after all! He just needed to study! Zack was not saying goodbye either…he was…

I swallowed.

If Cloud just needed quiet…and Zack knew what was going on…

My heart dropped into my stomach. Zack didn't really like me, then, did he? I guess a girl would just get him out of the house…and he did like girls and I could tell he could charm them pretty well.

He had charmed me, I hate to admit. I know now.

I shook my head, getting angry with myself. "I'm going to run. If either of you want to race, I'm going to run the entire track. I want one of you to time me."

I will win this and I will never have to see him again. That's what I'll do. Then he can go about and…

"Go."

I ran. The wind whipped at my hair, my eyes…I was cold. I ran the entire length of the track, only paying attention to my feet and my thoughts. The air caught in my lungs, but I didn't let it bother me…I choked. I made my way to the end.

"How fast?"

"Fast. I didn't have enough time to get the timer out…" Tifa said quietly.

I blinked hard. My eyes burned.

"Aerith? Did you get something in your eye? It's all—"

I looked down, I didn't notice while I was running that warm streaks of tears were falling down my cheeks. I scratched them away. "I think I'm sick," I lied, "bathroom."

I ran into the outside bathroom, flipping on the lights…oh, it was so dirty! I leaned against the wall, and slid down. I never liked to cry because it worried people. In here, I was free to do it. I cried.

I cannot believe I fell for him! Why was I so dumb to let myself fall for IT? Why did I let myself be around THEM? They were nothing but trouble. That's what I got myself into.

"Aerith, did I say something wrong?" Tifa yelled through the door.

"No!" I said, forcing a cheerful tone into my voice.

"I have an idea about what you should do then, for impressing!" I heard Yuffie scream.

Oh! I know what to do too. I know exactly what I should do to get him where it hurts. I will do everything they tell me, and finally…I will let him know I know. I will impress him until he thinks he has me and then I'll…well, I'll run.

I stood up, proud of myself for thinking it. I can do this. I'm not going to let some playboy jerk use me to just entertain himself!

Ch. 4 is here! Wow...I can't believe where I'm taking this myself. You'll be surprised in the next few chapters, I assure you. So...Zack's just "playing," huh? Well, Aerith can "play" too. I own none of the main characters or else I'd have some interesting characters on my hands...