Lightning's Thoughts

On Men and Women

Claire dropped her salute as her instructor left the room. After a long day of training, she was more than ready to get home to Serah. The line of trainees dispersed and she jogged over to the locker rooms to grab a towel.

"Hey, Short-Stack!" She heard one of the guys call out to her. At fifteen, Claire was the youngest trainee going through Basic. The majority were seventeen and the boys enjoyed poking fun at her. She grabbed a towel from a stack outside the locker rooms and hung it around her neck, glaring at them. "C'mere."

"What do you want?" She knew that all they really wanted was to make a fool out of her. They were jealous that some kid, and a girl at that, did just as well as they did.

"Hey don't be like that!" Another guy from the same group started, "it's not like you have to be anywhere."

"I have to pick up my sister from school." Claire did not like this particular group of boys. There were five of them, three were seventeen and the other two were eighteen. They constantly made comments that were rude and ignorant. Not one of them knew a thing about hardship, they all had cozy lives waiting for them back at home. The only reason they joined the army was "for the experience" and then off to the universities it was.

The last thing she would ever admit was that she was incredibly jealous.

"The middle school doesn't let out until an hour from now, you've got time."

"Then quit wasting it." Claire brushed passed the boys to the locker rooms. There were other things that she had planned in that hour that she had to get done.

"Oooh,"

"Teacher's Pet has an attitude!"

She flicked them off over her shoulder.

Not taking the time to shower, Claire wiped the sweat from her face and neck. She didn't particularly like public showering anyway, especially when the other girls were older and more filled out. It was hard to not compare and anyway, she was pretty sure she wasn't supposed to have a piercing. Claire was already only allowed into Basic at her age by special permission, she wasn't about to stretch the Corps generosity by letting all the girls find out.

She glanced in the mirror for a moment. The difference between her and the other girls was obvious. Her grey t-shirt that read "Guardian Corps" in black bold lettering hung off her, almost hanging down low enough to completely cover her little black shorts which she had to pull the drawstring all the way just to keep them on. On the other girls, the shirt was tight and easily tucked into their shorts that extenuated their hips and muscular legs.

It wasn't like she really cared, but she noticed and when she did it bothered her.

Claire retied her tennis shoes and grabbed her bag from her locker, swinging it over her shoulder. As she stared out of the locker room she could here the boys still talking just outside.

"Well, that's the difference between men and women." Her eyes narrowed, assuming the comment was sexist or demeaning in some sort of way. Knowing that group, it probably was. "We never give up!" The speaker turned, noticing Claire coming out of the locker room.

Claire rolled her eyes. Never give up? Them? Ha! What had they even had to fight through, compared to her life?

"What's you're name again kid?" The guy asked. He wore a stupid look on his face, probably thinking he had something clever planned.

"It's Lightning."

A couple of the boys snickered. "Alright, Lightning," he put emphasis on the name as if it were a joke in itself, "So you don't agree with my statement?"

"The difference between men and women," Claire started, walking past them to the door to the outside, "is that we are smart enough to know which battles are worth fighting." She stepped out, not bothering to continue dealing with them.

While she was just trying to zing them, Claire did believe what she said. And, if she didn't know better, she would see most boys they way she saw those ones. She flashed her ID to the guard watching the front gates of the compound as she left.

Boys and men were filthy slime balls, mostly jerks and ignorant too. Those were the type she told her sister to watch out for, the guys with egos sky-high, the guys that thought only with their dicks, the guys that made snide remarks at everything, or the ones whose only trait was aggression. Claire glanced both ways before hurrying across the street and down a back alley path that only those who lived off the streets knew. She made quick work of a fire escape, leading out on top of a roof.

Claire grabbed a long wood plank, steadily inching it off the edge of the building so that it eventually rested along a ledge on a taller building. She balanced her way across and pushed the plank back to the other building. Inching across the ledge to the corner, she could climb up to a road that was on a higher level than the first. She waited until a stoplight turned red and the flow of traffic slowed to where she could climb up and over the fence and run across to a side walk on the other side. Claire started through another network of alleys.

But, she knew that wasn't all boys and men, it wasn't even most.

"Hey, Lighting!" Claire stopped in her tracks and turned her gaze up. The boy was without his companions, sitting on a low wall. "What brings you here?"

"Stop trying to be funny, Snow," she snapped, always quick with him, "I've come every day for the past month."

The long and lanky blonde boy dropped down from the wall. He was at least six feet already and still growing taller, by the time he filled out that boy would practically be a giant. "So, you're basically a member of NORA then, huh?"

"This is a temporary alliance and you know it. And NORA is stupid," Claire added, "I can do the same thing without breaking the law and with getting paid." She followed the boy down the alley and up a fire escape.

"It's all about the money with you, huh?" Snow muttered, hopping from on rooftop to the other.

"It has to be, for-"

"Your sister, I know." Snow cut her off, he had heard her excuse a million times before. "When do we get to meet this sister of your's anyway."

"Never," She paused to take in the view from up there. This high up she could see the sea. "I don't need her getting involved with idiots like you."

Snow stopped as well. "Lebreau met her."

"They're in the same class, dumbass. Of course she has." Snow shrugged, staring out at the water. Claire's eye scanned the shoreline. "I'm going to have a house on the shore," she pointed to the west side, "Right over there." She searched her bag quick for a notebook and flipped through the pages before handing it over to Snow. "See?"

Snow glanced down to see Claire's plan, how much money she would have at the end of each month, if she would be at the Academy or on duty, and by the time she was eighteen she would have enough money for a down payment on a home. It was color-coded and everything. "You really planned this out…"

"And NORA fits nowhere in the plan," Claire grabbed the notebook back and stuffed it into her bag. "In a couple of months if I see you, I'll be putting you in handcuffs."

"Oh, kinky Lightning!" Gadot laughed, climbing down to their rooftop. "What did you bring us today?"

"The same inedible crap I always do," Claire answered, digging through her bag again. She took out a bag of food she had snuck from the mess hall. The boys were quick to snatch it up and dig in. "How do you expect to survive as NORA if you can't even find enough to eat?"

"Didn't Snow tell you?" Gadot asked, his mouth full.

"Oh yeah, you know Lebreau's Uncle right? The one who owned all that land?" Claire nodded. "Well he died and left her a piece of it, we're working on building up a bar. We'll make enough funds through there to run our operations."

"And how are you getting the money to pay for building said bar?" She asked. Snow never had a plan that made any sense, one of the other reasons she would never join NORA.

Gadot shrugged, "we're figuring it out."

"Yeah," Snow nodded in agreement, "not everyone is so anal that they have to plan everything to the very last detail, Lightning."

Claire noticed a school bus pass on a street below. "Looks like school is about to get out," she muttered, then louder, "make sure you save some of that for Lebreau."

"Yeah, yeah," Gadot mumbled.

"See you later!" Snow cast her a thumbs-up.

"Maybe," Claire said in response before leaping down to the building's fire escape. She clambered down, hoping to get to the junior high before class let out. Those boys were the good ones, the real men. It was just the few bad making it worse for the rest. It was the same with girls.

There were the types with the worst personalities that everyone seemed to orbit. For guys it was those with egos, pride, and aggression. For girls it was the catty, whiny and devious. The world revolved around those people, but it was the majority on the outer rims that held the world up. Those were her people.

Claire came to the school, jogging up to the front gates. She rested her back against the wall and slid to the ground. The last bell rang and a flood of students rushed out. Resting her head back, she closed her eyes and tried to block out the sound of a thousand feet.

"Hey there, sleepy-head!" Claire blinked open her eyes at the sound of Serah's voice. She brought herself to her feet.

"How was class?"

"Good, but I didn't really understand what we did in science class today, but it was really cool!" Serah went on with excitement as the two set off, telling her sister all about the experiment they preformed in class. Claire smiled and nodded, explaining some of the things her sister didn't understand. "But then Shane kept talking to me, I think he likes me, but he's annoying and kind of a jerk."

"You have to stay away from those kind of boys," Claire reminded her, "you want to find a nice, honest boy, someone sensitive, but tough!" She added, "can't have some wimpy guy who can't take care of you!" Serah laughed. "A sense of humor is always good too."

"And handsome!" Serah added.

"Yes, and handsome."

Claire described the attributes of those boys from the rooftops, not realizing that she would regret it later.


A/N: What do you guys think? Thanks for reading and reviewing! :D