"Fuck!"
Aerith looked at Zack condescendingly. "Its not that bad, definitely not bad enough to warrant such language, you sound like Highwind."
"I think he's got a point," Cloud remarked from his seat next to Aerith. The three of them set around a table trying to study for the math test on Thursday. "This shit is fucked up!"
Aerith shook her head. "If you had paid attention to him instead of laughing at the noises he possibly makes in bed maybe, just maybe this would make sense."
Zack sniggered. "Yeah, you're probably right, but you have to admit it was damn funny."
"Friggin hilarious!" Cloud agreed, as the two exchanged high fives.
Aerith rolled her eyes. She hated being the designated buzz-kill of their group, but seriously without her the two boys would be fucked.
"Well, yeah I guess it was, but when you two fail the test, I'm sure Highwind will be just as amused."
Zack slapped his face with his hand. "Dammit I got too much energy for this shit!"
"Well evidently you need the study time most, Zack," Aerith said peering at the work he had done thus far. "Your score on that practise test is 20% lower than Cloud's."
"Hey, I passed it!"
"Yeah, but seeing as you're doing it for the second time, it should be a lot higher. And you can't afford to fail."
"Aerith, did I ever tell you you'd make a great mom someday?" Zack asked her incredulously.
Cloud sniggered at the two, then started slightly as his phone vibrated in his pocket. Thinking it was probably his mom, he pulled it out in annoyance, ready to text her back. Sure enough, it was a big surprise when he saw the person BBM-ing him. TIFA!
'Hey, I'm here by the spot. Come on over!' It read. Cloud frowned, they had never spoken since that day, why did she want him there now? Shrugging, he figured 'what the hell?'
A hot girl wanted to hang with him, to turn that opportunity down would be down right stupid, not to mention gay. Unfortunately, he didn't really want Zack to be there, he loved the guy, but Zack had a bit of a dodgy reputation in Shinra and he was 100% sure Aerith would tear the spikes off his head if he told her who. He was pretty certain Aerith with her long pink dress would take an instant dislike to Tifa and her miniskirt and half top combo.
"Uhhh, guys I gotta go somewhere, to take a breather. All this math is driving me fucking insane," he said packing up his things.
"Great!" Zack shouted. "I'll come with you!"
"Like hell you will," Aerith snapped, catching him and yanking him back down. For her small and meek appearance Aerith was a lot stronger than she looked. "Cloud can afford to slack a little bit, you on the other hand are going to sit here until you get this right."
"But Aerith-"
"Fuck all your buts," she snapped.
Sniggering as Zack put on a hurt face, Cloud stood and left the library and began making his way to the canteen.
"Cloooooooud," Tifa said happily when he arrived. "Good to see you!"
"Hey, Tifa," Cloud replied as Tifa stood up and hugged him. "What's happening guys?"
The group smiled and waved with Jessie giving Tifa a minor scowl. He was about to sit when he noticed Tifa picking up her bag.
"Ready to go?" She asked.
"Uh what?" He said in confusion.
She giggled. "I was on my way out, I was hoping you'd come with me."
"Uhm ok," he said.
He began walking with her, noticing her attire. A red leather miniskirt and a white shirt, this time she accessorised with a pair of red suspenders.
"You look real nice today Tifa," he said.
She winked at him. "Thanks, I try to look my best. I like wearing things that other girls wouldn't usually wear, it helps stand out."
As if she needed to anyway, Cloud thought. Those boobs of hers were an eye-catcher even if she didn't wear a shirt that would fit a nine year old.
"So where are we going?" He asked, hoping there wasn't going to be any awkward silences.
"My favourite place at Shinra, Cloud," she replied mysteriously.
Now having a faint idea he followed. He was amazed at how easy it was to talk to her, no less easy than talking to either Zack and Aerith. They managed to make pleasant small talk as they walked.
Sure enough, he knew they were going to the fields, or "Stoner's Heaven" as Zack called it. He recognised the route.
"So how's my grandad doing?" She asked as she lit a cigarette.
"I don't know actually, to be honest I didn't even know he had a son, much less a daughter," Cloud said, slighly unnerved as she took a long puff.
Blowing out, she smiled. "Yeah, there's a shitload of family politics going on in my family, my dad and him are hardly on speaking terms."
"Oh, I'm sorry."
"Don't be," she said taking another puff. "You have nothing to be sorry about. I love my "Dada", that's what I call him," she continued with a laugh. "He actually knows I smoke, he used to buy me cigs, and we'd smoke together. The problem is I'm caught in the middle of it, I love them both but they are both such fucking idiots that can't ignore their testosterone."
Cloud laughed at that. "Well that's crap man. I suppose they don't realise you're the one suffering the most."
"Yeah, but hey, that's life right? Nothing I can do but just hope both of them grow the fuck up real soon."
"They'll get over it soon enough, blood is blood," Cloud said.
"You think so?" Tifa said, casting him a look. "Well, let's hope so."
They didn't say much the rest of the way, but it was a comfortable silence, not the awkward one Cloud had envisioned. Soon they reached the fields and a smile returned to Tifa's face.
"I just can't be unhappy here," she gushed. "This place just makes me feel so chilled out and content. Its like a place I can just forget all my issues and be myself, no worries, no stress. Nothing! You know what I mean?"
"Yeah," Cloud said uncertainly, then smiled as he realised what she meant. "Yeah, I do. No fucking problem exists any more!"
"Exactly! Barret!" Tifa yelled as the large black man came into sight.
"Tifa!" Barret boomed in delight. "Good to see ya girl! And you brought Spike-head with ya this time!" He said with a laugh.
"Howsit goin' Barret," Cloud said with a smile as Tifa gave Barret a hug.
"Aww, don't be such a stranger Spikey, show a brutha some love," Barret said slapping Cloud on the back, nearly knocking him over.
"What you got for me today Barret?" Tifa said.
"I got some new Hydro, good shit even if I do say so m'self," Barret said pulling out a joint.
"Hydro is good, but I need that Purple Haze you had that time," Tifa said sniffing at it.
"You know that stuffs fuckin' hard to get Teef," Barret answered. "But Hydro's jes as good!"
"Yeah it is, and one for Cloud too," she said snatching another from him.
"Oh, right," Barret said as the two sat down. "Nah, put that away Spike, you got me in a good mood today," he burst out as Cloud took out his wallet.
"You sure?" Cloud said putting it away. "Alright, free kush is always welcome!"
"Spoken like a true stoner," Tifa said lighting hers. "Here lemme get that for you," she said lighting Cloud's up as well.
"Thanks," Cloud said sheepishly, a little embarassed that Tifa had to light it for him.
"No problem," she said pulling deeply, and exhaling a long column of smoke.
Cloud took one more hesitant glance at his smoking joint, then pulled, wanting to impress Tifa, he pulled a lot longer than he normally would.
This turned out to be a big mistake, he ended up trying to fight a nasty cough down, to no avail.
"Easy there Spike," Barret said. "You don't wanna do that, 'specially if you a lightweight."
"I'm not a fucking light weight!" Cloud snarled, flushing as Tifa giggled.
"Don't worry about it Cloud, we all went there once, 'cept Barret of course, but he was born smoking weed!" Tifa laughed.
"Now Tifa, I take offence!" Barret laughed.
Cloud smiled, already beginning to feel the buzz. "Seriously?"
Barret guffawed. "Not really, but my town Corel was built on weed trade!"
"Wait, a weed-growing town, that sounds fucking awesome," Cloud said.
"Yeah, until it got banned globally," Barret said, suddenly turning sad. "Corel's a dump now, only famous as an entryway into the Golden Saucer theme park."
"Aww Barret buddy, I never knew you to be so sentimental," Tifa said good naturedly.
Barret sniffed in response. "Y'know before the Fucking Shinra banned it, we was a gold mine! Greatest city ever!"
"Amen to that," she said solemly taking a puff, almost toasting with her joint.
"Barret, I need to find a boyfriend! Like desperately," Tifa continued.
"Really? Why?" Cloud said taking another puff.
"I don't know, I just want someone to love right now!" Tifa said with a small laugh. Usually when girls talk about things like that, they end up sounding very fickle and silly, but Tifa spoke the way she always did, calmly and seriously. "I'm tired of being alone all the time. Its obvious I don't get on with girls so well!"
"Yeah Tifa you're like one of tha guys," Barret said.
"See that's the problem! And if I meet usual guys they end up hitting on me, and I'm not that type of girl to just make out with random people, I want a steady long-term one. So please find a nice guy for me Cloud."
"I'll keep my eyes open," Cloud said. He puffed again, feeling slightly sick in his stomach, a feeling that had nothing to do with weed.
"Yeah, but he must be fair, and tall coz I live in heels, and if a guy is shorter than me, that's gonna be a big problem!"
Cloud felt slightly put out at that, at 1.75m, he was average in height not tall.
"And dark hair, I just love tall dark guys!"
Now even more put-off, he slouched in his seat and took another drag. It was obvious he wasn't the type of guy Tifa was attracted to. Now that he thought about it, a girl like Tifa was so far out of his league it didn't even make sense that he thought he ACTUALLY stood a chance. He was almost delighted when his phone vibrated with a message from Aerith telling him his break was long over, despite the amount of fun he had been having.
"I gotta go," he said shortly.
"So soon?" Tifa asked. "Sit down we just started having fun."
"I got a test soon, I don't want to fail," he repeated in the same short tone.
Tifa looked slightly hurt, Cloud felt some sick satisfaction in seeing her usually flawless features contort.
"Ok, I'll meet you tomorrow!" She said smiling, trying to cover her momentary lapse.
"Yeah," Cloud said with a smile as he finished his joint. "We'll see," he decided to say vaguely as he crushed the stub with his foot and slung his backpack over his shoulder.
"Ok Cloud."
He walked off, despite the promising startt of the day and the happy effects of the weed in his system, Cloud felt a pain in his stomach that hurt so much, even the weed couldn't push it away.
XXXX
"Hey," Cloud said reclaiming his seat next to Aerith in the library. The two students didn't seem to have moved an inch since he left.
"Hey, where were you?" Aerith said brightly, she had succeeded in teaching Zack, and this had put Aerith in a cheery mood indeed.
"Nowhere, just said hello to a few people and chilled a while."
"Well you've been gone a long time, and you seem pretty tired. What's up?" Aerith asked in concern as Zack's eyes narrowed from across the table.
"Nothing, stress just getting to me, I guess," he said. He knew he probably looked like a terrible mess at the moment.
"Yeah, I'm sure. But just hang in there Cloud!" Aerith said, patting him gently.
Zack wasn't so believing though. "So who were you with?"
Cloud shifted a littled uncomfortably. "Just a few friends."
"Like who?" Zack said sceptically. "I know most of the people around here, I want names."
Aerith looked like she was going to interupt and tell Zack to lay off, but the unusually serious look in the happy-go-lucky man's eye made her rethink it.
"What's with the all the questions?" Cloud snapped. "Seriously? Last I checked, I was an adult."
"Just a concerned friend is all," Zack said, though his tone was anything but friendly.
"This girl, Tifa, if you really have to know!" Cloud said in anger. He couldn't believe his friend was treating him like some kind of naughty kid.
"Tifa? As in Tifa Lockheart?" Aerith cut in, sounding agitated.
"Well how many other Tifas are on this campus?" Cloud said.
"Cloud, that's girl's bad news," Zack said seriously. "I'm not even proud to say I know that girl."
"Didn't seem that way when we saw her down at the fields-" Cloud cut off in mid-sentence, as he noticed Zack's eyes widen in shock.
"You were at the 'fields'?" Aerith said in shock. "Both of you?" She shouted accusingly.
"Its nothing Aerith," Zack said a little too quickly. "We'll deal with that later," he cut Aerith off. "Right now, we need to warn Cloud."
"Cloud, Tifa Lockheart has one of the worst reputations in Shinra. She's notorious for finding intelligent and well innocent guys and wrecking their lives. She's as slutty as they come, when it comes to boys, she isn't very choosy. I know a good few guys that had their way with her. She even fell pregnant at one stage. And not to mention her many drug fancies."
Aerith looked at Cloud in worry. The blonde man had a look of deep confusion on his face. The conversation at the fields told a different story of Tifa. Was she just lying, pretending to be such a down to earth girl, when in reality she was a slut? Had she really chosen him as her next victim? It was all so confusing. The nauseating feeling in the pit of his stomach worsened.
"You guys can't be serious!" He said.
"Cloud, I don't gossip," Aerith said. "I'm worried.
"I barely know the girl, you guys are acting as if I'm plannin our honeymoon or something!" Cloud burst out.
"We're worried 'bout you buddy!" Zack said his tone changing to concern. "We just don't want you to throw your life away!"
"Well, as long as we establish that its 'MY' life, I know what I'm doing, I'm not getting involved with that girl anyway, so I don't see why you two are making such a big fuss over this."
Aerith blinked, then sighed. "We're obviously not gonna get anymore work done today, let's go grab something to eat!"
"Yeah, I'm starved," Cloud said. He felt a little guilty for shouting at them, they were his friends afterall, and they did care. "I'm sorry for over-reacting."
"It's cool man," Zack said dismissively. "I know how you feel, it gets a bit much after a while, we all need to let off some steam now and then."
"Yeah, but I shouldn't have yelled like that," Cloud insisted.
"Cloud, Forget It," Aerith said firmly. "Let's just get some lunch.
As they entered the canteen, Aerith looked uncertainly at the Wutainese special they were having.
"You guys want that?" She asked.
"Yeah go get us some seats," Zack said.
Cloud meant to follow Aerith as she weaved through the crowd, but Zack caught his shoulder.
"I did you a favour back there by not telling Aerith how fucked up stoned you are Cloud!" Zack said, he spoke calmly. He was Cloud's friend, not his policeman. "She'd have flipped if she recognised the signs. Cloud don't go down there without me anymore okay? That place is cool and enjoyable, but in moderation. Don't make the same mistakes I did!"
With that he gave his friend a reassuring smile and slung his arm around Cloud's shoulder and they entered the eatery together.