Chapter XI: Invisible

Cloud with his two friends, Zack and Kunsel, sat outside the principal's office.

Zack was holding an ice pack on his left cheek. It was swollen pretty bad, and there was dried blood around his nostrils and the corner of his lip. The three guys that started the fight were on their way to Midgar Police Department because of multiple offenses. It seems like it's not the first time they started a fight like this.

"Dude, if I get suspended, my dad's gonna kill me," Kunsel said nervously with his hands continuously rubbing his thighs, "I've never gotten suspended before."

"You guys aren't getting suspended," Zack said, "You guys were just defending yourselves, if anyone's getting in trouble, it's me."

"Cloud was the only one defending himself," Kunsel corrected, "I was the one that tackled the other guy, then his friend decided to get at Cloud."

"Was this your first fight, Zack?" Cloud asked.

Zack nodded, and let out a sigh of disappointment, "I couldn't control it, but nobody does that to Aerith!"

He lightly pounded his fist into his thigh, "and she is not a bitch."

"It's okay, Zack," Kunsel said softly, "I'm sure the principal will understand. What are your grades?"

"Like..." Zack thought for a while, "B average, but I don't see what good grades have to do with it."

Kunsel was about to say something then the door opened.

"Come in, boys," Principal Lazard said from his office.

The trio stood up and walked inside.

"Please, have a seat," He politely gestured at the three chairs in front of his desk. They sat.

"Zack, Kunsel, Cloud," Lazard began, "I know you guys are good students, so will you please tell me what happened out there? I would like to hear your side of the story."

They looked at each other to see who wanted to start, then Zack was the first to speak.

"My friend, Aerith, went to go get some-"

"Friend?" Lazard interrupted.

"Umm, girlfriend sir," Zack corrected himself then Lazard chuckled and nodded, Zack continued, "well she went to go get lunch from the cafeteria, then my friend Cassey said that someone was touching her and stuff, so I went there to see what was going on."

"And Kunsel and Cloud followed you?"

"Yes sir," Zack continued, "Then when I got there, I saw them and I told them to stop touching her, and they came up to me and intimidated me, and they called Aerith a bitch. Which I took offense at."

The principal nodded and looked at Kunsel and Cloud, "True so far?" He asked for confirmation. Cloud and Kunsel nodded.

"So," Zack coughed, "I tried my best to control my anger, but they kept making fun of me so I lost it and I was that one who threw the first punch."

"I admire your honesty," Lazard said, then he turned to Kunsel and Cloud, "Now, tell me how you guys got involved."

Kunsel sighed, and spoke first, "While Zack was fighting one of the guys, another one of them was cheering his friend on, and I got really angry, so I threw myself at him."

"Hm," The principal's eyes widened a bit, "and Cloud?"

"Umm," Cloud began trying to talk, "Well, I was-"

"Sir, Cloud didn't do anything," Zack spoke up.

"Mr. Fair, please," Lazard said and he looked at Cloud and gestured him to continue.

"After Kunsel went at one of the guys, the last one got angry at me, and he threw me down. I got him off of me but the supervisors came at the wrong time," Cloud finished.

"I see," Lazard said, "I trust what you're telling me is the truth."

"Really?" A surprised Zack said.

"Though, that does not mean, you're off the hook," The principal added with a 'sorry' look on his face.

Zack dropped his head and was staring at the floor. Lazard looked at Cloud.

"Mr. Strife, you are excused to your fifth period," He said.

Cloud thanked the principal and walked out of the room to go to biology.

"As for you two," Lazard continued, "Zack, you will have three days of after-school detention, and Kunsel, you will have two.

"That's it?" Zack asked surprised at the principal being so nice. Lazard nodded. "But... but why?"

The principal laughed a bit, "I was in a similar situation as you guys when I was your age."

"Mr. Deusericus," Kunsel said, "I don't know what to say."

He laughed again, "Just don't start anything like that again, or I will give you the full punishment... understand?"

They both nodded in sync.

"Well then," Lazard got up and grabbed two, already filled out, detention slips.

"Sir," Zack said, "you already filled them out before we told you our story?"

Lazard smiled, "Exactly."

Cloud opened the door to his class.

"Can someone tell me the formula for Glucose?" Mr. Hewley said while he walked in, "Do you have a pass, Cloud?"

"No," Cloud said still by the door, "Mr. Deusericus just told me to come here."

"Can you tell me the formula for Glucose?" He asked Cloud.

"C6 H12 O6," Cloud said confidently.

"Have a seat then," Mr. Hewley said while the class laughed.

While Cloud was going to his seat he saw Yuffie mouth something. After he sat down he looked at her and mouthed "What?"

She told Cloud that she'll tell him after class.

"So what was it that you wanted to tell me?" Cloud said after fifth period.

Yuffie slapped Cloud across the face which made his whole head snap to one direction.

"Oww!" Cloud said surprised, "What was that for?"

"What does Tifa have that I don't?" Yuffie demanded, "was it the boobs? Hmm? !"

"What are you talking about, Yuffie?" Cloud asked.

"Ugh!" Yuffie grunted while holding her hand up for another slap to Cloud's face, "Is that all guys want these days? ! Boobs?"

"Hey, wait, don't slap me please!" Cloud pleaded putting his hands up in defense, " and what are you talking about? Boobs? That's not the only thing I want."

"Liar!" Yuffie slapped Cloud again, "Aerith told me you asked her out last night, is that true?"

"Yeah, I did," Cloud had his hand on his cheek, "Oww! And believe me, I'm not lying."

"I hope it hurt, Strife," She said disgustingly while walking away briskly, "I hope it hurt."

"Yeah, it really did, thanks!" He said in louder volume so she could hear.

Cloud sighed then he went over to his sixth period. He still wanted to be Yuffie's friend, but he didn't see why it was necessary to slap him like that. Cloud started to feel his cheek burn up and swell a little. It seemed like she wasn't holding anything back.

"Hey, Cloud," Cloud turned around to see Vincent.

"Hey, what's up man?"

"Why is your face red?" He asked pointing at Cloud's cheek.

"It's a funny story-" Cloud began but was interrupted.

"I feel like I'm invisible, Cloud," Vincent said ignoring Cloud's answer to his question.

"What do you mean?"

Vincent looked down, "around her."

"Who?"

"Yuffie, man," Vincent clarified, "ever since you came to this school, you were all she would talk about."

"Vincent," Cloud said, "I don't understand. How could Yuffie like me? And what does this have to do with you?"

"I really like her man," Vincent said with a slight yell, "but I guess I was never her type. I tried to get her to like me for so many years."

Cloud looked at Vincent understandingly, "I'm sorry, Vincent."

Vincent shook his head, "Don't be sorry, Cloud. It's all right."

The bell rang again indicating two minutes left for class to start. Vincent started walking away.

"Hey, wait," Cloud said to Vincent. He turned around, "Maybe... If you want, I can help you with her."

Vincent showed a smile on his face, "I'll think about it," he called then started walking away.

Cloud smiled and continued on to his sixth period.

Cloud walked through the door in Tifa's hospital room. He saw his beautiful girlfriend wide awake watching Spongebob SquarePants on the television. She looked up at Cloud when she saw him walk in.

"Cloud!" Tifa said shutting off the TV with the remote, "I missed you!"

"I missed you too," Cloud said walking up to Tifa and giving her a hug.

"Hey," Tifa said looking at Cloud's face, "Why is your cheek red?"

"Oh, well it's a funny story actually-"

"How was school?" Tifa ironically interrupted, "anything interesting happen today?"

"Yeah, very interesting actually," Cloud grabbed a chair and put it next to Tifa's bed, "Zack got in a fight."

"Oh you're kidding," Tifa said surprised, "with who?"

Cloud shrugged, "but I kind of got involved, but I didn't get punished at all."

"Good," Tifa said firmly, "I don't want my boyfriend getting suspended from school."

Cloud laughed. Cloud felt good when she called him her boyfriend. It was the first time in a long time that it felt like someone cared that much about him.

Tifa looked at the ceiling, and her eyes turned dark.

"Cloud..." She said in a small voice.

"Yes, Tifa?" He said smiling at her.

She didn't answer. Then her body began to shake.

"Cloud!" She yelled, "This one is hurting even more!"

"Tifa?" Cloud said getting up from his seat, "Please answer me."

Then she started to scream again, which reminded Cloud of what happened a couple days ago.

Cloud ran outside the room, "We need a doctor! Nurse! Anyone!"

Shorter one. Please review. Oh, and Happy New Year!

One of my New Years resolutions is to write more, so I'll be doing my best to update periodically. Thanks for reading!