Eyes on Cloud
By
Aeris_15Chapter 7
"Tifa!"
Tifa turned to see Vincent running up to her. She smiled but she continued to walk.
"Tifa, where are you going? Don't you have class?" Vincent asked her as he walked beside her.
"Can't you see that I'm skipping? Leave me alone, Vince!" Tifa cried as she ran towards the dormitory area. She really didn't feel like talking to anybody right now since Cloud had ditched her.
Vincent looked confused. "Hey, wait! Tifa!"
She ignored him and continued running, but Vincent was a fast-runner and quickly caught Tifa. Tifa panted and stopped running.
"Why are you following me?" Tifa gasped.
"I'm worried about you," Vincent answered. It was the truth. It was a simple answer, but that was the way he feels.
Tifa looked at him for a long moment, and smiled a little. "At least you care... unlike... unlike... him."
"You mean Cloud?"
Tifa hesitated, staring upon Vincent's dark eyes. Then she quickly turned away, blushing. "N-no! That wasn't what I meant to say... I meant to say that... Ugh! Never mind!"
She turned to leave, but Vincent grabbed hold of her arm. "Wait! Don't you wanna talk about this?"
"J-just let go of my arm! You're hurting me!" Tifa cried.
Vincent quickly let go. "I-I'm sorry..."
Tifa looked away from him. "Why do you wanna know anyway?"
"Like I said before, I'm worried," he replied.
Tifa giggled. "Thanks for your concern... I feel a lot better now."
Vincent smiled sheepishly. "I-I'm glad you're okay..."
The two then started to walk. At first there was a long moment of silence. The two walked down the aisle quietly. Not a word to be spoken. Tifa did feel a little better though. She felt that at least somebody cared for her feelings. She still didn't know how she could put up with her jerky childhood friend. Vincent was here anyway. She didn't know what else she could say so she didn't say a word. Finally, Vincent decided to break the silence.
"So, what's up with the school festival?" Vincent asked.
"It's going great! We already got nine members that signed up," Tifa replied. "I'm really excited about it."
"Did you come up with any ideas?"
Tifa nodded her head. "We're thinking about having a ballroom dance next week."
"Ballroom dancing? That's great! Do you dance?" Vincent asked her. There was a hint of excitement in his voice.
She giggled. "Yeah, a little..."
"That sure sounds like fun," he stated silently.
"It was actually Yuffie's idea," Tifa told him.
Before Vincent could say something more, the bell rang. They both watched as the elevator filed up with a bunch of students.
"Thank goodness it's after school..." Tifa whispered under her breath.
She and Vincent watched the students walking down the aisle as well. They both stood in the corner, watching the people go by. As Tifa saw the students, she caught Elena's eyes on the other side of the hallway. Tifa gave her a long scowl.
"Tifa? Something wrong?" Vincent asked, noticing her expression.
Tifa made a fist. "Ugh! I'm gonna kill someone!"
Once again, Elena was there to spread her 'dumb' rumors about her and Vincent.
"What's wrong?" Vincent asked again. He then looked at Tifa's direction to where she was looking at. Elena caught Vincent's eyes and she quickly disappeared into the huge crowd.
"That BITCH!" Tifa exclaimed.
"What's up with Elena?"
Tifa looked away from Vincent. "She's just... ugh! I hate her so much!" she looked back at him, and Vincent noticed that her face was all red from blushing. "I gotta go!"
She ran away, and this time Vincent didn't bother to catch her.
"Yo Cloud!"
Cloud put the bucket of water down and looked up. He found Elena Highwind running up to him. He had just finished his errands with the windows. But then he didn't even finish half of his job.
"Well, this is a surprise. What do you want now, Elena? You got any new gossips?" Cloud asked sarcastically.
Elena giggled. "Didn't you know that the whole school knows what happened?"
Cloud shrugged. "Do you think I care?"
Elena said nothing, but smiled at him.
Cloud looked disgusted. He then took the bucket. "Get out of my way, Elena."
Elena winked at Cloud and moved out of his way. "Bye Cloud!"
That dumb girl...
"Cloud!" Elena called again.
Here she goes again!
"Cloud! Wait!"
Can't she leave me alone?
"Cloud!"
He turned back around, once again placing the bucket on the ground. "What do you want? I told you to leave me alone!"
Then he stopped when he saw who it was. The girl standing there wasn't Elena after all. She looked a bit stunned by his reaction.
"Aeris?" Cloud said in surprised. His jaw dropped as he saw her wearing the school uniform. She looked good with short skirts...
"Were you expecting someone else?" Aeris asked him. She didn't look mad at what he said.
"Sorry..." Cloud replied, scratching his head. "I thought you were someone else."
Aeris smiled. "That's okay. I understand..." she paused for a moment as she eyed the bucket on the ground then continued, "So what are you doing with that?"
Cloud blushed in embarrassment. "Oh these? Uh... well... I... uh..." he stammered.
"Go on,"
Damn it! Why am I fumbling for words? Fuck, this is not fair! This has never happened to me in front of a girl before! What's wrong with me?
"Well, um... I," Cloud lowered his gaze timidly. Should I tell her?
"Oh no! Look at the time!" Aeris looked at her watch and turned back at him. "I'm so sorry, Cloud. I have a meeting to attend."
"Meeting?"
"Yes, I joined the school festival. There's supposed to be a meeting five minutes ago for the members. I gotta go!" Aeris told him giving him an apologetic smile.
So Aeris joined that dumb group? Hey, Tifa's there too.
"Cloud?" Aeris looked at him. "What are you thinking?"
"N-nothing..."
"Oh," Aeris looked rather disappointed. "I'll see you later then!"
