n9neSTAR: Hi everybody! Niqsta has given me the honor to post her new chapter since she's a little busy today.

lol

isn't that awesome?

A gift passed from Niqsta to me, and now to you.

Hope you ENJOY XD

Message from Niqsta: I'm so sorry i'm not personally here to upload this week's chapter. It's a day of celebration for me, and i am enjoying it with my family, as you're reading this.
But i didnt want to leave you guys hanging, so i got my trusty friend to upload instead. Arent we nice? ^^

I know you all want the meeting to take place, but at this point i still felt that the rivalry between Rinoa and Squall had't solidified yet. Trust me, when the meeting does take place, you won't be dissapointed, and hopefully you won't be dissapointed with how i've executed it, either.

Thanks again for the lovely reviews, i love reading them.

Chapter 6 - Drag Race

Squall's POV

I walked into my Drama class and was surprised to see Heartilly already there. Since she hadn't been in school the remainder of last week I was actually starting to forget her. I sat down on my seat and looked at her, wondering if she'd say anything about the laxative incident. I had to admit, after talking, well after the reprimand from Zell, I did feel a little bit guilty; in case she was allergic to anything in the laxative.

"Hey," I found her saying as she turned to me, "here is the last part of the script. Seeing as I was ill all last week, I had the chance to stay home and work on it." She said giving me an accusing look.

"Cool." I stated and took the scripts off her and placed them inside my notepad. I was so happy it was finally done. Now all we had to do was memorise our lines, and the rehearsals, which I wasn't looking forward to.

Mr. Nooj came up to us and asked how the progression was going, so we handed him the final script which he promised to photocopy and hand round. He made an announcement to the class that we had completed the scripts and from now on were to meet in the hall for rehearsals.

During lunch I went looking for Cloud and Zack; they had both just purchased new motorbikes and a couple of us guys wanted to check it out. Zell and I headed over to the car park and were surprised that quite a few guys had gathered, in all it was probably around twenty of our friends and a whole crowd of other people. I pushed my way to the front and was shocked to find two identical motorbikes. I wasn't shocked that I saw two bikes, more shocked at who was sitting on one of them. Almasy. He was talking to Zack about the speed and some motorbike information. Quistis was with him repetitively patting his knee telling him to get up so she could have a turn. I only realised then, how less of Quistis I had seen since we started to attend this school. I gathered it was partly because I started to hang with Cloud and Zell a lot more but, come on, moving onto Almasy?

I walked up to Cloud, who was sitting on the other motorbike, as the rest of the guys realised my presence. I nodded to Cloud as he got up and started telling me the engine size and speed of the bike as if he were a salesman.

"Squall, why don't you take it for a spin?" Tifa suggested. I looked up at her only to notice Heartilly right next to her, looking a bit out of place.

"Nah." I shook my head, refusing Tifa's suggestion.

"Go on Squall, its fine." Cloud said chucking me the keys which I caught with my right hand. I twirled the keys in my hand contemplating whether I should.

Tifa looked at Heartilly then as she spoke about me, "Squall was the best drag racer in our school, he could beat anyone with his Dodge Tomahawk." She beamed at me to which Heartilly just modestly smiled and nodded not making eye contact with me. I didn't care, I thought the jealousy was probably eating away at her.

"Oh cool! Squall, Seifer why don't you both race?" Zack said eagerly, pumping his fists.

"Nah." I said again, shaking my head as Almasy did the same.

"Why not, c'mon you're both not chicken are you?" He replied grinning. "Come on, do it!"

"Zack," Cloud called out to him, "it wouldn't be wise for them to race in the car park." He blinked hard looking at the dark spiky haired boy, hoping to get across the fact that Almasy and I didn't get along.

"Ok, well not here. How about the dirt track behind the gas station? You know where those tourists rent cars?" He said excitedly. People started agreeing and I wasn't sure what to do. I didn't want to race Almasy, simply because I didn't want anything to do with him. But at the same time I didn't want him to think I was backing down because I was scared. Far from it.

"Sure." He replied coolly, getting off the bike. "If he's up for it." He said challenging me.

"Fine with me." I answered looking at him in the eyes. I could see Heartilly's look of worry, but she didn't say anything, she just stood next to Tifa.

"Alright, race! Everyone, meet at the dirt track tonight at 8pm!" Tifa shouted, putting her hand up for Heartilly to high-five. The raven haired did as the girl suggested, albeit apprehensively. I gathered she was probably scared for her brother, well she should be. I wasn't going to be taken down easily.

Almasy took his bag from Quistis and looked over at me and then at her expectantly. I watched as Quistis looked at me guiltily, a shameful smile towards me before walking off with Almasy. As I watched her go, I couldn't but help think that she'd learn the hard way; that she'd realise he was a jerk and expect me to pick up the pieces.

Quistis was like a sister, and even though right now I was telling myself it was her problem and that she'd have to fix it once it went wrong, I couldn't shake off the feeling of responsibility. If anything did happen to Quistis, Almasy would pay the consequences.

I looked over at Heartilly who had also watched the scene and noticed she wore the same expression I had earlier. If anything, the idea of Quistis and Almasy as a couple, was one thing Heartilly and I had in common.

After school, Zell and I headed over to the Mall to get a new game that was being released. We walked into the store that was pretty much full. A lot of kids normally came over to the Mall after school to hang around and shop.

I checked the shelves looking for Zell's game but couldn't find it anywhere.

"You think they're out of stock?" Zell asked me, sounding very disheartened. Zell was an avid gamer, he spent most of his free time playing games, that was when he wasn't practising his martial arts, something which he also spent a lot of time doing.

"Maybe." I replied not very interested.

"Oh that game is so sick, I'd die if they sold out! I'd have to drive all the way to Stanmore Street if I want to get it, and even then, it'll be closed by the time we get there." He moaned.

"Well, why didn't you just pre-order before?" I asked, for an avid gamer he sure was lazy.

"I was going to but then I got busy with my Balamese Jiu-jitsu training." He excused himself.

"Well, lets just ask someone." I said, heading over to the brown pony-tailed guy working behind the counter. He had his back to us putting things up onto a glass showcase.

"Excuse me." Zell spoke and the guy turned around. It was one of Heartilly's friends, the cowboy, he looked different without his hat. "Oh, er we just wanted to know if you had Super Street Fighter IV?"

"No, we're all sold out." He smiled apologetically.

"Damn." Zell muttered.

"You a fan?" He asked smiling at us.

"Yeah. Erm, if it's already sold out, I doubt you're going to get any orders soon right?" Zell asked.

"Nope, not till another two weeks."

"It's alright." Zell said deflated and we started making our way to the exit. We had barely opened the door when we heard the cowboy call out to us.

"Dudes, er, come here." He waved us over. Apprehensively we went back to him. "Er, I can't say anything now, but meet me outside in 20 minutes. Trust me, I'll make it worth your while." He said, the last bit directed at my raised eyebrows.

"Er, dude, I'm flattered an all, but I'm not gay." Zell explained, taking steps back.

The cowboy laughed shaking his head, "Neither am I, that thing a couple of weeks ago was a joke. The brown haired girl with the green eyes," he said making hand gestures, "she's my girlfriend."

"Oh, safe dude." Zell said nodding, looking very relieved.

We waited around and exactly twenty minutes later the cowboy showed up. He took out a carrier bag and handed Zell a game case.

"No way!" Zell said excitedly. "I thought you were all sold out?" He asked in disbelief.

"We are, only the pre-ordered ones were left. See my girlfriend is an avid gamer, she loves these games, so I placed two orders; one for me and one for her so we could play together online." He explained.

"But you're giving me this because…?" Zell asked unsure where this was leading.

"Well, I could always share with her until there is more in stock, so its yours if you want it." He said modestly.

"Serious?" Zell asked excitedly while the cowboy nodded. I thought it was pretty decent of him to do that, seeing as he didn't know us and his friend was our enemy.

"Name's Irvine." He said smiling.

"Squall." I nodded approvingly.

"Booya! I'm Zell." Zell replied high fiving Irvine hard.

Nightfall had approached and we drove down to dirt track behind the old gas station. Quite a lot of people had gathered, a lot more than I had expected, it looked as if there were six times more than the amount of people that had gathered in the car park.

Amongst the crowd, the brown dirt lay slightly moist from the rain that had fallen during the weekend. The entire scene was only dimly lit by the street lamps on the main road and the yellowish light coming from the back rooms of the gas station. Evergreen trees surrounded the area leaving a dark wide expanse about the same size as two football fields. I could see that they had gone all out. Ramps had been put down, silver metal ramps with black and yellow diagonal stripes to its sides. This would be an interesting race.

I walked further into the crowd and started making out the front row of people. Everyone was there. Almasy stood talking to Zack while putting on his helmet. Heartilly was standing next to him looking worried and glancing around the crowd. Her eyes fell on me and she whispered something to Almasy who looked directly at me. Irvine and his brunette girlfriend were also there standing and talking to Tifa and her cousin. I noticed Quistis was talking with some of her girl friends and she also noticed me when I approached. Before I could even get to Cloud she had walked up to me and took me by the hand.

"Squall, can we talk?" She smiled at me.

"Not now." I replied as I tried to free myself from her grasp.

"Squall, this can't wait." Her face instantly changed as she looked over at Almasy.

"What?" I asked not moving from my place. If she wanted to talk, then she'd have to do it here.

"I talked to Seifer, he said it's just a friendly match. So I don't want you to think that if you lose, then you'd have to get him back-" I didn't even let her finish.

"If I lose?" I asked her with raised eyebrows. "You think I'm going to lose?"

"No I didn't mean it like that. All I'm saying is that don't feel you have to prove yourself." She tried to explain.

"Quistis, 'if I lose' do you really think I'd do something about it? Just how low do you think of me?" I asked at her absurd ideas.

"Squall." She said putting her hands on her hips. "Look, I just don't want you two to fight, he said it's a friendly match, I hope you know that too."

"Quistis, how long have you known this guy?" I asked her sincerely.

She rolled her eyes. "Not long, but you don't know him either. You only know what you saw in him-"

"You don't know him. So don't patronise me."

"I'm not! Squall, I just don't want you to start fighting again." She tried to explain. "Look, whatever you guys had in the past…" She looked uncomfortable. "You need to leave it in the past. He's not like how you described him."

"Whatever." I replied walking past her, leaving her looking after me. I walked towards Cloud who happened to be ready and waiting. I was even more determined to win this time.

I put my helmet on, strapping the belt on underneath and sat on the bike.

"You sure you want to do this?" Cloud asked, handing me the keys with seriousness in his eyes.

"Sure as ever." I replied back. I inserted the key into the ignition and revved the engine. It was powerful.

"You be careful with Fenrir now." Cloud warned smiling softly.

"Alright, Ladies and Gentlemen," Zack called out hushing down the crowd. He stood in the middle of the both bikes. "Are you ready?" He asked the crowd and was immediately met with a loud roar of shouts and whistling. "Drivers, are you ready?" He asked us. We replied with the revving of both our engines.

I looked over at Almasy sitting on the other identical bike, his lime green helmet standing out. He was wearing his off-white half jacket with black leather gloves. I had worn my black half jacket with the grey fur collar and my leather gloves. We were distinct in the crowd, easily noticeable should anything happen.

I looked over to my right and noticed Heartilly again, she had her hands clasped in front of her chest, her face looked grief-stricken. It was just like her, the coward. She looked like she was going to pee herself last week when she saw a spider, I wondered what this would do to her. For such a timid girl, she sure was in the wrong place.

"Ready," we revved once, "Set", another rev, "Go!". The screeching of both our tyres was the first thing that I heard as we skidded into action. It took some time for the friction to kick in but soon we were thrust into the dark night. I pushed myself forward on my bike giving myself momentum and turned my right hand has far as I could to make the bike go faster. I noticed a ramp coming up so slowed down on the acceleration, Almasy happened to pass by me then and leaped into action, as he went flying over the ramp and landed hard back on the ground. It was just like him, the show off.

I went up the ramp and landed softer than Almasy did, I accelerated more and soon was behind Almasy as another ramp came into view. We both leaped across the ramp, Almasy still ahead of me.

The night air was whizzing past me as we went further into the track. The light was a lot fainter and I tried my best to focus on the open road. I sped up but was too close to Almasy's rear so I tried going around him. He followed my moves and stayed in front. I tried moving to his left but he followed again. I retried taking the right side of him when another ramp came up, too late for me to prepare for it. I went up the ramp this time with a little bit more acceleration than intended and hit the floor hard; my body jumping from the seat and my right hand turning the accelerator more.

The bike tilted forward on its front wheel and sped up, I was slipping down from my seat and pushed my lower body forcefully trying to stable the bike to its original position. Almasy was looking over at me before he turned and accelerated further into the track. I lifted my hands up pulling the handle along with me as the bike's rear end fell down but the front came up. I smiled to myself as I revved the engine harder, accelerating only on the bike's rear wheel and sped up closer to Almasy.

He was in front of me now as I placed the front wheel down and started to make my next move. Another ramp came up, but instead of jumping over it straight, I went diagonally; cutting across Almasy as we hit the ground again. He slowed in fear of crashing into me but soon sped up again, only centimetres behind me.

We went up large, taller hill forcing the bikes to go faster, I sped up and zoomed into the air, falling back onto the dirt track with a thud. Almasy went up the hill and sped up, his tyres screeching as he lifted them up and did a 360 loop before falling back onto the track.

We were coming on to a darker patch of dirt, the lighting here was really bad, the only source of lighting coming from our front headlights. But I knew this area well, I had driven around here with my Tomahawk so I knew it curved.

As we approached the bend I went straight for it and immediately felt my bike going up hill, I turned the handle full locked to the left as I sped around the slope horizontally. I could feel the pull on the left side of my body. I briefly looked back and noticed Almasy had followed my moves.

He sped up then and passed by me, I honked at him to indicate to slow down. Another couple of yards and he'd go into a barbed wired fence. I honked consecutively again and turned my handle to the left getting off the slope and back onto the dirt track as the bend ended. Almasy turned around then and noticed my course in action. I'm not sure why, but for some reason he trusted me and followed my call, getting off the bend and back onto the dirt track.

It was neck and neck now as we were approaching the crowd. I slowed my pace a little letting Almasy get in front, I pushed myself forward and turned the acceleration full way causing my bike to thrust further, past Almasy and further towards the crowd, past the finishing line as I hit the breaks harshly and skidded the bike to its side and stopped.

The crowd was on ecstasy; screaming and cheering. My body was being pushed from all the 'well done' pats my back was receiving. Zack was going mental as he cheered and high fived both of us.

I took off my helmet passing it back to Cloud and smoothing my hair down. I looked over to Almasy as he got off the bike and handed the helmet to Zack. I didn't know what to say to him, and he looked as if he didn't know what to say either.

He held out his fist to me, "Good race." He said briefly. I didn't know exactly what it entailed, I didn't exactly want to become the best of buddies with him. But something in me just connected my fist to his as I nodded back to him.

"Great race boys!" Zack complimented us, jumping up in excitement. We both modestly smiled at his enthusiasm.

"Yeah, very interesting." Cloud commented, looking at both of us, though I could swear I caught him lingering at me a little longer. Cloud had eyes like a hawk. I wouldn't put it past him not to notice what I had done for Almasy back there.

"Cloud, come on, you and me now, how about?" Zack eagerly asked.

Cloud only rolled his eyes, taking his helmet and rolling his bike towards the large steel fence. "Not interested."

"Oh Cloud, come on…"

I was scanning the crowed and caught sight of Heartilly as she gazed at me curiously. She looked as if she was relieved, though I wasn't sure whether it was because of what she had just witnessed, or whether it was because I had won.

Quistis walked up to me and patted my back. "Well done, Squall." She said smiling.

"Thanks." I replied. I wondered if she had given Almasy the same pep talk she had given me before the race.

"Aww, well done." She said to Almasy taking him into a hug. He wrapped his arms around her waist with a smile and looked at me. He was probably wondering what I was thinking. I didn't show any emotions, I still stood to my beliefs. Race or no race, Almasy was still Almasy. There had to be some hidden agenda behind his interest in her.

"Shall we go?" She asked him, although the look in her eyes was more of an order.

"Yeah." He replied back softly.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Squall." She said smiling and brushing the stray strands of hair out of her face.

I nodded in reply not bothered, I started taking out my own keys and walked up to Zell and Irvine. Even though I had won the race, a part of me felt like I lost. Maybe it was because I couldn't shake the feeling of losing one of my closest friends to Almasy. It bothered me that she trusted him; she didn't know him. She didn't know what he was like, nor what he was capable of.

"Squall, Irvine's saying to come over to his place for an after party." Zell informed me.

"Where do you live?" I asked, looking over to Irvine.

"Off Madison Gardens." He replied. "You can follow us, a whole bunch of us going to drive back."

Rinoa's POV

I was sitting in Irvine's kitchen with Yuffie, Tifa and Aerith. We were still talking about the race and how unfair it was that the boys didn't give us a turn on their bikes.

"I knew Squall would win." Tifa said, putting a chip into her mouth.

"How?" I asked instantly. I actually thought Seifer would win given he was always into fast cars and whatnot.

"Because he's Squall." She smiled back at me, as if that was the answer to everything. I hated it that they didn't see past his arrogance. I mean, they spent three whole years with him, surely they should have seen his true side.

"I felt so sorry for Quistis." Aerith said with a look of concern. "It must be hard having your boyfriend and your friend at war with each other."

"Seifer's not her boyfriend." I stated frowning. "They're just friends."

Tifa let out a snort. "Well the last time I checked, you didn't make out with your friend in the back seat of his car."

"What?" I asked in disbelief, it couldn't be true. Seifer wouldn't go out with that street tramp. Yeah he whistled at her, and he looked at her quite a lot. But I mean, he's a guy, he'd think a jar of jam in a bikini was hot.

"Yeah, me and Yuffie were leaving school last week Friday and were getting into her car when I noticed Quistis's bobbing head." She laughed at Yuffie, both remembering the incident.

"It was so funny when you honked at them!" Yuffie cried in hysterics. "And she flipped you off and-" The girl fell off her stool from laugher causing her speech to abruptly stop.

I wasn't laughing, I couldn't believe Seifer would date that Preppy and not even tell me about it. And here he was, giving me a hard time about leaving Leonhart alone when he was smooching with his friend. It was so unfair.

Selphie ran into the room at that moment and grabbed me by my wrist pulling me off my stool. "Rinoa, come quick." She hissed at me and pulled me into the foyer and dragged me upstairs.

She stopped outside Irvine's parents' bedroom and put her ear to the door.

"What-" I tried to speak but she put her hand over my mouth. She released her hand and placed her index finger to her lips in indication to speak silently.

"What is it?" I whispered.

"Squall's in there sleeping. He was feeling tired so Irvine said he could use the bedroom upstairs if he wanted to lie down for a bit." She smiled wickedly at me.

"Jigglypuff time?" I asked.

"Jigglypuff time." She nodded.

She turned the knob of the door and we silently crept in trying not to make any noise. I looked to both sides of the hallway before I slowly and silently shut the door.

Squall's POV

I opened my eyes and looked to the digital clock next to the bedside lamp. It was 11:30pm, I had been sleeping for a solid two hours. I hadn't realised how tired I was. The noise downstairs was still fairly loud as music and teenagers excessively talking were moulded together into a blur of sounds.

I pushed myself up to a sitting position and waited for my eyes to focus. I got up off the bed and made my way to the door opening it and instantly meeting with the noise from downstairs.

I wanted to go home now, so I hoped Zell was done with wooing the Library girl he had a crush on, the only reason why I had taken solace upstairs.

I walked down the stairs and looked around the room, a couple of kids spotted me and pointed. Here we go again, I thought they were going to come and congratulate me for my win. But they started to snigger. I ignored them and made my way to the kitchen getting a lot more bizarre looks and laughs as well as weird comments.

"Oooh baby." One idiot happened to shout out to me as I walked passed him. I assumed he was moron, no normal person would make funny comments to someone they hardly knew.

I walked into the kitchen and found the usual crowd of people, Cloud, Tifa and her friends, Zell and the Library Girl who happened to be looking at him adoringly, Irvine and his girlfriend and Heartilly who beamed at me when I walked in.

Tifa looked up at me and burst into laughter. "Squall, what's going on?"

"What?" I asked dumfounded.

"With the whole look." She said, drawing circles around her face. The other girls were all laughing along with Cloud, Irvine and Zell who just looked at me like I was crazy.

"What look?" I asked still confused.

She sighed and dug through her handbag retrieving a compact mirror and handing it over to me open. "This look." She said matter-of-factly.

I grabbed the mirror off of her and looked at myself. I had what looked like talcum powder all over my face, black panda circles around my eyes, red Geisha lips and a streak of blue tears.

I looked across the table at Heartilly who was hysterically laughing.

"You." I said looking straight at her.

"No need to thank me." She replied putting a hand to her chest in mock sincerity.

I walked over to the sink basin and ran the water splashing it on my face. There wasn't any face wash so I used some washing up liquid thinking it'd do the trick. After washing my face and drying it, I turned around but was met with more laughter. I walked to the counter and took the mirror again looking at the difference. Only the talcum powder had come off.

I looked at her in confusion wondering why the make up wouldn't come off.

"Well," She started to explain once she read my concern, "we didn't have any make up so we settled with the next best thing." She smiled at me.

"What was the next best thing?" I asked worriedly.

"Permanent markers." She answered with a shrug and the group burst into laughter. I just stared at her with venom . She got me back good this time, it seemed I underestimated her capabilities.

I threw the mirror down on the counter and walked out ignoring the stares and comments. I'd get her for this, but this time I'd make sure keep her down once and for all.

Rinoa's POV

I got home about midnight as the drive to my house from Irvine's wasn't far. I was walking to my room, laughing to myself while thinking about what I had done to Leonhart, when I heard Seifer's voice talking to someone. I walked up to his door and knocked on it.

"Come in." I heard him call out.

"Who you talking to?" I asked as I entered his room and saw him on his phone.

"Hun, I'll call you back." He replied to the caller and hung up.

"Who was that?" I asked curiously.

"Just a friend." He replied putting his phone away. He was already in bed lying down in his navy blue bed covers looking all cosy in his black pyjamas.

"Huh." I nodded. "Do you call all your friends 'hun'?" I asked, staring at him straight in the eye.

He sighed. "It was Quistis." He replied honestly this time.

"Seifer, you are such a hypocrite!" I yelled at him.

"How?" He asked incredulously getting up to a sitting position.

"You go on about me leaving Leonhart alone and here you are sleeping with the enemy." I explained dramatically.

"Leonhart and Quistis are two separate people. Quistis isn't violent like her friend." He tried correcting me.

"Like that's anything of a difference. Quistis, need I remind you, was the one who called me and Selphie a rat. You're seriously dating a girl who thinks so lowly of your sister?" I countered back.

"She said that out of ignorance, she knows you guys aren't like that." He defended her.

"Whatever Seifer, do what you want with her, I can't believe you kept that from me." I said, hurt at what I was actually upset about. All I thought about was how I was unwell during those three days when he was probably with her.

"Kept from you? I didn't keep anything from you, its not like we told the whole world about our relationship."

"Well, you certainly didn't tell me." I replied.

"What, like you didn't tell me about Leonhart putting that fish into your bag? Or how you weren't actually ill, but that Leonhart had put laxatives into your drink?" He asked rhetorically.

"How?" I asked him.

"Yeah, well Miss Preppy Tramp as you like to call her was the one who told me. She actually advised me to get you to leave Leonhart alone instead of using my fists." He replied back, clarifying my confusion. "So maybe you might want to hold back on your opinions of her."

I was still stubborn, I didn't want to give in to Leonhart or his friend. Zell was alright, but those two, there had to be some hidden agenda behind her actions. "I don't care, I'll not have anything to do with her. She's your girlfriend, don't think I'll change my feelings towards her." I said.

"Well, I'm sorry to hear that. But if you wont give her a chance then don't expect me to give your friends a chance." He threatened. "I won't come with you to meet Renz if you won't give Quistis a chance."

"Whatever, I don't need you. I'll see Renz by myself." I said, turning to walk away.

"Oh yeah, Dad will really love that, won't he?" He shouted, continuing to dare me.

I didn't bother replying I just stormed out of his room and walked into my own. I didn't care anymore, he could do what he pleased. As far as I was concerned, after the ordeal they put me through, Quistis and Leonhart were two people I would never break bread with.

Niqsta: Again i apologise for the delay in the meeting, but believe me, it will be worth it in the end :)

I hope I've clearly shown my reasons for having Seifer as Rinoa's step-brother in the chapter. You know from previous chapters in the chatlogs between Renz and Angel, that Seifer is protective of her and acts like a real biological brother. So, i hope you can see the limitations Rinoa has wanting to meet Renz, compared to the lack of authority Squall has over Quistis - who is already seeing Seifer.

Hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and hope the drag race was descriptive enough.

Please review.