Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy VII or it's compilations.

Okay, so I was going to cancel this fic because I felt it was boring for people, even for me. BUT! All because of one person, you know who you are ;). I decided I'll continue this fic just for you! If more people start to like it, then I guess it can make it my main project!

Chapter VI: Saved By the Bell

Friday, February 9

Cloud walked up to the school in time to see Yuffie walk in as well. He noticed her look at him, and she smiled.

"Hey, Cloud," She said walking up to him and giving him a hug, "I didn't expect to see you here."

"We go to the same school," Cloud stated walking up to Zack.

"Well I meant to see you here early," Yuffie replied, "Well I'll see you later then."

Then she walked away towards her own group of friends. Cloud knew she liked him, but why would she not stay with him longer, like Tifa?

"Yuffie digs you man!" Zack said to Cloud while ruffling his hair, "you should ask her out."

Cloud noticed Vincent's sad expression when he heard Zack say that.

"No," Cloud refused, "I'm not that interested in her."

Cloud guessed that Vincent has some feelings for Yuffie, so he didn't want to ruin anything.

"Oh I see," Zack said scratching his chin showing that he noticed something, "you're all up on Tifa, aren't you?"

Cloud's face burned up. How did he find out? Though Cloud knew that whenever he liked someone, everyone around him would know through his actions. But Cloud denied anyway.

"No," Cloud said looking away trying to hide his flushed face from Zack.

Zack laughed then started talking about the songs that the band were gonna do.

"So did you get 'This War Is Ours' down?" Cloud knew that question was going to come up, but he had not learned the song yet. Cloud shook his head.

"It's got sweep picking in it," Cloud said as Zack's expression was saying 'the gig is tomorrow!', "It'll take a while for me to get it down, but I'm sure I can find a way."

Zack looked at him in an angry expression, then he smiled as he realized he shouldn't be mad.

"We're just glad you came in time before our performance."

Cloud nodded, he had been a great help for the band.

"So tell me what's up with you and Tifa," Zack started again laughing.

"C'mon man," Cloud replied trying to make a regular face, but failed completely, "nothing's going on."

Cloud noticed Zack look over his shoulder and he smirked. That can't be good.

"Hey, Tifa!" Zack said calling out to the girl behind Cloud, "I think Cloud wants to ask you something!"

Cloud did not dare turn around to look, but he sensed the girl walking in his direction.

"I'll leave you two love birds alone," Zack said laughing as he walked away.

"Dude, wait!" Cloud said trying not to get himself into the situation, but it was too late. He turned around to see that beautiful black-haired girl smiling at him.

"Hey, Cloud," That voice of her's melted Cloud's heart, "You wanted to ask me something."

Tifa was excited that it may finally be the day when Cloud asks her out on a date. Cloud blushed and looked away trying not to show that his face is red.

"Why is your face red?" The question he did not want to hear, "Did you walk to school in this heat?"

Cloud had to get out of this pickle, so he tried to buy some time.

"Yeah," Cloud said answering Tifa's question, "In fact I ran."

Hopefully that would've made her forget about the question that he supposedly had to ask her. Tifa nodded.

"So what were you going to ask me?" There's the other question he did not want to hear.

Cloud finally looked at her. He noticed her smiling. He also noticed her hair in front of her face. But then with a swift movement of her head, the hair moved away out of her face. Cloud stared at that beauty as if it were in slow motion. He felt that if he blinked, he would miss out on some of the great features this girl had. He knew he liked her, and he knew that he had to do something before it's too late. Before someone else tries to get at her.

"Yeah," Cloud started trying to force the question out, "I was wondering if-"

That's when the bell rang.

'Dammit' Tifa thought, she was hoping he would ask her before the bell rang. But maybe he could ask her before or during first period.

Cloud hesitated. The bell rang, but should he ask the question? Or would it be awkward?

'C'mon Cloud,' Tifa thought, hoping he would have the guts to ask her.

"We should get to the gym," Cloud said ashamed for not asking her, "We don't wanna be late."

Then Cloud walked away towards the gym, leaving Tifa behind. He was afraid to look back or even ask her if she was coming. But he built up the courage to turn around.

"Come on Tifa," Cloud said turning around to see that she was still there looking at him with a sad expression, "Will you walk with me?"

Tifa sighed then she smiled brightly, and nodded. She ran up to him but passed him by, then she grabbed Cloud's hands.

Cloud immediately blushed. Tifa noticed him blushing and she giggled.

"Come on," She said starting to run which made her drag Cloud, "Let's not be late."

Cloud noticed that other students and upperclassmen were staring at them. Who knew that the new kid could be having some relationship with Tifa?

"Okay children!" Mr. Wallace's voice boomed across the whole field, "I want four laps around this track! And don't think you can try to cheat, Reno, or I'll just give you another zero, and report you to Lazard."

The class laughed at the red haired boy who stood there and smirked.

"That goes for all of you as well," Mr. Wallace said, then he blew the whistle, then the class took off.

Cloud was in the front with the more faster runners which included Zack and Yuffie, and a couple other people. He managed to stay in the front for the first two laps before Kunsel and others passed him. He then noticed at the corner of his eye, that Tifa wasn't running. Instead she was sitting on the bench with Mr. Wallace.

"Not again," Cloud looked over to see Yuffie, who lagged behind so she could run with him.

"What do you mean again?" Could asked, "What happened?"

"Whenever we run this much, Tifa always gets to run less," Yuffie said in an irritated tone, "Mr. Wallace always favorites her and cuts her some slack."

Cloud looked over at Tifa on the other side of the track to see her sitting on the bench with her head down. Cloud wondered why she would be favored.

He looked back over to ask Yuffie why she was favored, but she had ran ahead towards the front.

Saturday, February 10

Cloud was at home. He looked at the clock, it read 8:34 AM, the gig isn't until 6:00 PM. He went over to his laptop and went on Facebook. When he opened up the page he saw a status by Zack which read: "Concert tonight at 6 at the Guitar Center! Who's going?"

Cloud saw that the status was "liked" by 25 people, it was going to be a pretty big crowd tonight. He clicked the "like" button.

He then noticed the chat window pop up in front of the screen, it was Tifa, and she asked for Cloud's phone number. He typed it in and sent it. She said thank you, then she went offline.

Cloud thought about what had happened the day before when he tried to ask her out. Was she expecting him to ask her out? He sighed, why had he chickened out? He put those thoughts away and picked up his guitar to practice the songs for tonight.

"'The Anthem' everybody!" Zack yelled into the microphone with great energy.

Below the stage were a moderately small crowd of people, hopefully it would get bigger when they start playing. Cloud recognized some familiar faces from the school, like Aerith, Tifa, and Kunsel. The rest he didn't know.

"This first song is for you 'Bullet' fans out there," Zack started, then looked back to see Vincent whispering in his ear, Zack nodded after a few seconds and went back to the mic, "Actually, we're starting off with a song for you 'ETF' fans called 'This War Is Ours'!"

Cloud's heart stopped. Why now? The only song that Cloud hadn't perfected is going first. Cloud went over to the guitar rack to get the Ibanez that's in Drop C tuning. Cloud said a quick prayer then got back on stage.

He looked down at the crowd which got slightly larger. He noticed Tifa smiling at him. Cloud blushed, then looked at Zack, he nodded to him, telling him to start the solo. Cloud took a deep breath, then started the sweep picking solo.

He started it slow, but then caught up to the tempo. It immediately got easy and all his nervousness faded. He saw more people come to watch at the corner of his eye, and was almost done with the solo. Then he heard the pounding sound of the drums behind him made by Sephiroth. Then he heard the rhythm guitar part by Zack and the fluid bass line from Vincent. Cloud looked up from his guitar to see a larger crowd moving to the music. He smiled and looked over at his bandmates. Vincent smiled at him and gave him a 'Good job' expression.

Zack started to scream the intro, with Vincent screaming back up. Throughout the song, Cloud was perfect, even with the second solo. More songs go by, then the finale being one of their own original songs started.

At this point Cloud was sweating and his heart would not stop pounding. It had been the greatest night of his life. Soon it was halfway through the song and Cloud was at the front of the stage with Zack, sharing the spotlight. Cloud looked down at the very big crowd that has grown a lot since the start of the first song. Then when the bridge came, he went back to his place and the whole band started headbanging all together. It was the routine they practiced a lot for the last song. The spikes on Zack and Cloud's hair were bouncing up about down, and Sephiroth and Vincent's hair looked really awesome because their hair was long, and long hair plus headbanging equals awesome. At least it was awesome to Metal fans.

Then all of a sudden, Cloud couldn't feel one of the strings. He stopped headbanging and looked down at the neck of his guitar, he had broken a string, and the guitar solo is right up. He quickly went behind Zack and said in his ear,

"Let's trade guitars," Zack turned his head with a confused face, "I broke a string, just give me your guitar."

Zack paused, then nodded. He made a whirling signal with his finger toward Vincent and Sephiroth, they both nodded at him. Then Zack took his guitar strap off his shoulder, Cloud did the same. At the same time, Vincent and Sephiroth were buying time by doing a breakdown.

When they had finally traded guitars, they continued the song where they left off. Then at the solo, Cloud nailed it, and they survived throughout the rest of the song.

The loud cheers from the crowd made Cloud's heart race, and he couldn't help but smile. He looked down to see Tifa clapping her hands then raising them in the air and yelling out.

"Thanks for coming out tonight!" Zack said in the microphone as Vincent was giving him one of those manly hugs.

"Not bad," Cloud looked behind him to see Sephiroth off his drum set, "I would've never thought about trading guitars. Plus you stayed calm and let the show go on."

"Thanks Sephiroth," Cloud said as the two grabbed hands.

"No no no," Sephiroth said chuckling, "Seph or Sephy is fine."

The tall teenager ruffled Cloud's hair and went off stage. Cloud followed suit. There they saw a man with a suit case.

"You guys did a great show out there," He said in a manly deep voice, "Especially you."

The man pointed at Cloud, which made him smile.

"You guys did a great performance," He continued, "You have potential."

"Why are you here?" Zack asked annoyed by that man being in their private area.

"I'm from Shinra Records," He said which excited the whole band, "I'm here to offer you a record deal."