It took Aerith, Yuffie and Tifa the whole break to slip through the crowd forming in the cafeteria, as the incident with Cissnei and Genesis before spread mouth to mouth like wildfire. The brunette could hear whispers about the two everywhere, even after the bell has rung for the last class of the day. Judging from the way the school talks about her cousin and Genesis, it seems that everyone can practically see that he likes her despite already having Ada by his side. It's just that maybe this would be the first time he's been open about it. Aerith felt unsure inside whether this was a good thing or not; Cissnei has never shown any interest in Genesis, at least from what she has seen. Was Ada just a second choice that he settled on because of something that happened with Cissnei? And if so, what happened?
So many questions that Aerith had, yet still, she has a bad feeling that if she knew the whole story, she would regret it. There was a loophole in the whole issue, one that she can't really pinpoint, that's suffocating her. It's slowly stressing her out, and she had a feeling it would strangle and kill her once she knew the truth.
Maybe it's because she thinks Zack had a big role in it.
Then again, maybe it was just her. She was never one to trust on women's intuition anyway.
The brunette silently pondered about the issue as her body absent-mindedly followed Yuffie and Tifa to the sports hall – a big building behind the school that serves for sports competition purposes – and arrived at the locker room, where they change clothes to their P.E uniform. A few of the girls were already inside changing, while some put their bags inside a locker at random. Apparently, it didn't matter which locker you used, since a few students shared lockers as well, and it seemed to follow one rule: first come, first serve.
The changing plus locker room was around the size of a bathhouse, just big enough to fit a class. The boys' changing room was on the other side of the sports hall, judging from a similar-looking door across the changing room. There were a lot of posters plastered on the walls, a lot of them about joining sport clubs after school. Graffiti colored the walls as well, although Aerith is appalled as to why girls would like to decorate their changing room wall with spray paint. Lots of the graffiti would certainly fit in the walls in the slums; it's that random and inartistic.
As Aerith observed this new surrounding, Yuffie rushed through a group of girls who were halfway changing in front of their locker and grabbed the locker next to theirs, throwing her bag inside with a dull clang. "Mine!" she said gleefully, much to the disappointment of the people standing beside her.
Tifa shook her head at Yuffie's rash behavior, but quickly let it pass. She then proceeded to put her bag inside the locker as well, after taking out a white shirt and track shorts from inside it. She motioned Aerith to do the same, which she did; but then, the brunette realized suddenly that she doesn't have the P.E uniform.
"Um…" she started to say.
"What is it?" Tifa asked.
"… I don't have my P.E uniform," the brunette said dejectedly.
Tifa formed a circle with her mouth, realizing the problem. She gave a glance at Yuffie, who was already changing into her uniform at an amazing speed.
"To be honest, Aerith, I don't have a solution to that," she frowned, "I'm sorry."
"Oh no, don't be." Aerith became flustered. "It's not your fault… I'll just ask the teacher to let me be excused."
Tifa's face hardened. "Mr. Barrett's not that lenient, you know."
Yuffie jumped in the conversation. "Go ask Cissnei, then!"
Aerith raised an eyebrow. "Huh?"
Yuffie pointed behind Aerith. "She's right over there with Navi. Go ask her, she might have your uniform. Crazy prepared, sometimes, she is."
Aerith looked behind her, and sure enough, Cissnei was there with Navi, changing clothes. The brunette wondered how she could have missed her cousin when she first came in. Well, that doesn't matter now.
"Thanks, guys," Aerith said to Yuffie and Tifa, then dashed towards her cousin.
Cissnei had just finished putting on her shirt when Aerith tapped her shoulder. The redhead turned, and her face instantly lit up when she saw the brunette. "Aerith!" she cried out in joy. "Turns out we have the same P.E class as well. That's good. Although the whole year gathers for the same P.E. class anyway, now that I think about it."
Aerith couldn't help but smile. "Yeah, I'm glad too. I came in with Yuffie and Tifa."
"Oh really?" Cissnei said as she confirmed them by glancing past Aerith. "Hahah, I'm in the same P.E class as Yuffie again. What are the odds."
Aerith shook her head. "Never mind that. I need your help."
"With what?"
"I… have no P.E shirt."
Cissnei paused for a second before answering matter-of-factly. "Yes you do."
Aerith reconfirmed her statement with hand gestures. "I don't have it, meaning that I didn't bring it from home. We went to school separately earlier, so… yeah."
Cissnei nodded. "I know that. Has anyone ever told you that your beloved cousin is always prepared?" she grinned.
Aerith sighed. "Crazy prepared," she said, repeating Yuffie's words.
Cissnei nodded. "That's right," she said as she put her hands on her hips. "Wait a minute, I'll go get my bag."
As Cissnei dashed past her and rushed to her locker, Aerith noticed Navi who finished wearing her P.E attire. She actually looked a lot friendlier outside of her school uniform, although she still retained a bit of distance in the way her face conveyed her emotions. Her black, bristled hair now had a white headband nudged in the middle of it, and it made her look a lot childish than she was supposed to; a lot different than her twin brother, who looks a lot more mature.
Navi acknowledged Aerith by nodding slightly in her direction. Aerith did the same. There was a moment of awkward silence before Navi proceeded to sit down on the bench behind her and motioned Aerith to do the same. The brunette proceeded to sit in the vacant seat beside her.
Navi was the one to start the conversation. "So, how are you finding the school?" she asked her.
"O-oh, I'm quite enjoying myself," Aerith answered. She fiddled with her fingers to try and ease the tension in her head.
Navi smiled. "That's good. Cissnei's been doing a lot of preparations just to get you up and ready when you start school. She's been working her butt off during the last few weeks of summer just so that you can fit in relatively at ease here, without worries."
Aerith sighed. "I know that. And I'm really thankful."
"That, and she had pre-school student council duties," she continued, "which we had a workload of. I guess what you said was right; Cissnei's really crazy-prepared. Nice definition of her, how come I hadn't thought of that?"
Aerith just chuckled in response. She really didn't expect Navi to blabber a lot all the while able to maintain an extremely polite tone. The first impression she ever had of her was just polite; now, turns out she's talkative and gracious.
Navi dragged out the conversation more. "So, are you good at sports? Any kind at all?"
Aerith had to think for a second before answering her. "I honestly don't know," she shrugged.
Navi smiled. "Don't worry, I'm sure you'll find a suitable sport for your build and capacity."
The brunette nodded. The conversation ended then and there after the two realized that Cissnei has returned with a P.E. bag in hand, no doubt containing Aerith's clothes.
"Here you go," the redhead said as she thrust the bag into her cousin's lap. "I double-checked it before I packed; it's your size. Which, really, isn't that hard to guess." Cissnei started eyeing Aerith's body, top to bottom. "How can someone be that small? Seriously."
Aerith pouted. "It's not like I chose to be this way."
Cissnei laughed. "God forbid you have muscles, my dear cousin." Navi chuckled politely in the background.
Aerith snorted. "I may not have the brains and brawns like you, but I survived over there for so long, if you know what I mean." She lowered into a whisper, but not so low that Navi could still hear. Naturally, Navi gave an appropriate confused look.
Cissnei just shrugged off the statement. "Go and change, you've got 2 minutes." Aerith nodded and dashed away towards Yuffie and Tifa, up and ready to change.
Aerith was one of the last to come out of the changing room, since it took a while for her to even try on her P.E. clothes. They were quite simple – a white sweatshirt with short pants – but it was taking off her school uniform that took most of the time. Yuffie was, obviously, the first to go out; Tifa was polite enough to wait for Aerith. Thankfully, they weren't the last to come out, as three other girls were still fiddling with their hair the moment they got out the changing room. Aerith heard them murmur some stuff about 'looking good in front of the guys' – to which Tifa deadpanned by whispering to Aerith that their hair won't do them any justice.
When they both started walking towards the field, a crowd had already gathered in front of a tall, muscular black man with arms so ripped they could as well break bones. He had his hands crossed, a stern look on his face and a whistle around his neck. He was wearing a plain white t-shirt and gym shorts. His muscles were so obvious that one would be dumb to even cross him. One would be even dumber to not realize that this was their P.E. teacher, which was what Aerith instantly recognized.
The man glared at their way before Tifa caught the message and started to pull Aerith to walk faster. "Come on! He hates it when students are tardy." Her voice was urgent, so Aerith picked up the pace. Before she knew it, she was already standing within the crowd, taking slow, steady breaths, while Tifa followed soon behind, panting away. She looked at Aerith incredulously.
"What's wrong?" Aerith asked her.
"You… has anyone ever told you you're really light on your feet?" Tifa said in amazement.
The brunette raised an eyebrow. "Really now?"
Tifa nodded, before giving a warning signal to zip it and face the teacher's way.
The teacher was looking in their direction now, his face not amused. His hands were still crossed, and Aerith realized that one of them was an artificial hand made out of metal. She gapped at it before he started to talk.
"Is there any more, Tifa?" His gruff, deep voice boomed at Aerith's friend.
"Y-Yes, Mr. Barrett," Tifa answered. "Three."
He grunted, apparently very impatient. "How about the guys?" Reno?" he asked as he turned towards the male students.
Aerith glanced over to see that Reno has just joined the crowd as well, along with a bald guy with sunglasses that seemed a bit older than the rest of the year. "Nope, not that I know of," Reno answered him swiftly.
"Not that you know of, huh… WELL THEN!" His voice suddenly boomed, which made Aerith jump in fright. "We'll start without those… gah." He spat on the ground. Aerith had a feeling he was about to utter something else entirely. "We're going to start on the track field today, as you can see," Mr. Barrett announced. Students groaned here and there. "SHUT UP!" He boomed again. "I don't want any wimps today. Right, let's see if I got a record of your 100-metre dashes from last year…"
He started towards the clipboard that he was actually holding with his metal hand, which Aerith didn't notice at first. He gave a smirk after giving it a few glances. "Well, girls' record is still held by Yuffie and Cissnei, naturally," he grunted. "As for the guys… no surprise there, there's around five of you, and all from the countryside. Backwater experts," he murmured, "go figure." Aerith noticed that some of the guys exchanged punches. At the same moment, she noticed Zack, standing in almost the middle of the crowd, giving a high-five to a guy she didn't know.
"Right, let's start. We'll start with the girls. Any new students here?" He grunted aloud.
Before Aerith could react, Yuffie already pointed her out for her, being in the front. "Yeah, we've got one," she said, while grabbing Aerith's hand suddenly and raised it up in the air. "Her," Yuffie beamed.
"Eh, ah… uh?" Aerith involuntarily let out; she hasn't caught grasp of the situation yet.
"PERFECT!" Mr. Barrett boomed again, and once again, Aerith was so startled that she forcefully let Yuffie's hands go. "Come here," he motioned, and Aerith almost robot-walked towards his way. She felt really embarrassed, being pointed out that she's the new one.
After she stood by his side, she realized just how small she was; she barely hit his shoulder in height. He nodded towards her, and she wasn't sure whether it was a reassurance or just an approval. "Right. How about the guys?"
Around two of them walked towards Mr. Barrett. Aerith was quite surprised that she wasn't the only new kid, despite being the only girl. Knowing that made her heart calm down just a little.
"Okay then," he clicked his pen. "Name?" he asked all three of them.
"Kain," one answered.
"Nero."
"Aerith."
"Come again?" Mr. Barrett asked the brunette. Aerith almost forgot that her name was not that easy to write.
"Aerith," she repeated. "A-E-R-I-T-H. Aerith."
"Right," he said as he finished writing her name. "What an uncommon name. Last name?" He didn't notice Aerith's flush of embarrassment as he said that.
"Highwind," Kain said.
"the Sable," Nero answered.
Both Aerith and Mr. Barrett did a double-take. "the Sable."
"Yeah," Nero said matter-of-factly. "What?"
Mr. Barrett paused before saying anything. Aerith could even hear his head whirring.
"Forreal?" Mr. Barrett asked him again.
Silence ensued as Nero the Sable crossed his hands in disapproval.
"Right, never mind." Mr. Barrett finished writing his name quickly. "And yours?" he turned to Aerith.
"Gainsborough," she answered. "Um, before you say anything, can I just write it?"
"Yes please," Mr. Barrett said, confusion written all over his face. As he handed the clipboard for Aerith to write, he continued on with the class. "Right, the rest of you, go to your usual places. Girls, you better get ready, because you're on first." He pointed to two people. "Yuffie, Cissnei, if you could."
As the rest of the group moved towards the start of the track field on the far-left side, Aerith heard Nero mutter curses under his breath. Kain moved towards Aerith as she finished off. "Can I see that?" he pointed at the clipboard.
"Oh, yeah, sure," the brunette said as she handed it over. Kain took a quick glance at it, and turned to Nero.
"Dude, you do realize that your name means Black the Black?" Kain said to him with a complete straight face. Nero's face wasn't pleased as the three of them walked towards the rest of the group. Aerith had to try hard and not laugh at Kain's comment.
"Right, er… Aerith!" Mr. Barrett called out as they approached. "Girl's side, please." He pointed to his left, to which Aerith moved towards to stand between Cissnei and Yuffie.
"Have you ever heard of him? That Nero dude, I mean," Yuffie whispered to both Cissnei and Aerith after she joined them. The brunette just shrugged, while Cissnei gave her a funny look.
"Being in the student council lets you in on things," Cissnei whispered back.
Aerith glanced at her opposite side, where most of the male students were taking a breather. She couldn't help but notice Zack stretching his legs and arms to prepare himself, flexing his toned muscles. Moments later, their eyes met – before, this would have made her look away, but now she's gotten used to it – and they shared a small smile. Her heart did a back-flip at the sight of his.
What took her out of that brief dreamland was Mr. Barrett's bark. "OKAY THEN!" He examined his clipboard once more. "I'll go by alphabetical order, guys- I mean, girls." He ran a finger through the sheet of paper with his metal hand. "The following six names I call out are gonna race the 100-metre dash. Got it?" There were nods and murmurs. "Rude over there's gonna time you guys." He pointed at the end of the track, where the same bald guy that was with Reno earlier was holding a stopwatch.
"Alright then. We'll start from…"
Yuffie pouted. "Damn, that means I won't be able to race you!" she pointed at Cissnei.
Cissnei laughed. "Give it a rest, Yuffie. We can always do it next time."
Aerith could still hear Mr. Barrett's voice over their banter. "…-lia, Bonnie, Cissnei…"
Her ears perked. "Oh wait, he called your name," Aerith said to Cissnei.
"Yeah, I know," her cousin responded. "Everyone by now should know the alphabetical order." She turned back to continue her conversation with Yuffie, while Aerith listened in more.
"…Dira, Claire, and… oh. Aerith too." Mr. Barrett finished. "Right, go, six of you. On the starting line."
Aerith stared at her teacher in disbelief.
"Wow, going off the bat already." Yuffie voiced out her thoughts exactly.
Aerith's stomach churned. She felt like her insides were flipping out. This was her first P.E. lesson (in her whole life, mind) and she already has to go against her cousin. She looked at Cissnei for support, but she just gave her an apologetic smile from the starting line.
"Aerith! Go, go! I haven't got all day!" Mr. Barrett ordered. At that point she realized that she was the only one not ready behind the starting line yet. Sighing dejectedly, she took her place beside her cousin, who was stretching her arms and legs.
Okay, so how does this go again? We used to have races all the time for fun. I remember that little kid teaching me how to start, he learned it from his father… okay, um, so I crouch down? Yeah, that's right. Left foot forward, right foot balance, right knee beside left foot. Two hands steady in front… then what? As Aerith was recalling her experience in running etiquettes, Cissnei was doing the exact same pose beside her a meter to her right. Her face was looking straight forward, dead serious. Aerith mimicked her pose.
"READY…" Mr. Barrett boomed, giving the signal. "SET…" all six raised their lower body.
"GO!"
Aerith no longer remembers what happened after that. All she did was mad-dash towards the finish line at the word 'go', not caring about anything else. She felt the wind breeze through her body and resistance trying to pull her back, and her ears pounding with the sound of her heart beating.
Before she knew it, she was at the finish line, breathing and panting, her lungs pleading for oxygen. Blood was drumming in her ears. Despite all that, however, she felt really exhilarated. She turned around to see the other contestants and her cousin, seeing how it turned out. They were all panting and heaving too, but she could see two of the girls staring at her in amazement.
She glanced at Rude, who was holding the stopwatch, and he was staring at her too. His jaw was dropped, presumably at her. She gave him a questioning look.
She felt two hands grab her, and Aerith saw that it was Cissnei. "YOU… were incredible!" she said at her, joy overflowing in her voice.
"Huh?" Aerith asked her, confused. Both of their faces were red and sweaty, and they were both heaving. Blood was drumming so loudly in her ears that she questioned what she just heard.
"How did you do that? Wow, that was incredible. In mere seconds you were already 2 meters ahead of me. I actually had difficulties catching up." Cissnei beamed.
Aerith twitched. "Come again?"
Cissnei shook her. "The dash! Who knew!" she started laughing and hugged her cousin. "My cousin, Aerith Gainsborough, is the fastest girl in our year." She slapped her hand on the back of a stunned Aerith. The brunette was stoned.
She observed the rest of the girls. All of them were heaving and one of them, whose name she forgot, gave her a smile and a thumbs-up. Rude, who moved back to Mr. Barrett to report the timings, was having a deep conversation with the teacher. She looked over to the crowd of students, and Yuffie and Tifa were staring at her in disbelief. She could see the twins, Navi and Tristan, moving over behind Reno, who was peeking at the scores. Judging from his face, Aerith must have done something unbelievable.
Scanning the crowd again, she met eyes with Zack once more. His face was absolutely priceless; he looked completely appalled, complete with jaw drop. Aerith bit her lip so that she wouldn't have to blush fiercely at his reaction. Despite that, her stomach had butterflies. She wasn't sure whether she should be happy with his attention, or embarrassed by it.
"HAHAHA!" Mr. Barrett suddenly guffawed. "BRILLIANT!" He ran towards Aerith and Cissnei, and grabbed the former's shoulders. "You beat Cissnei's AND Yuffie's record by a mile! Just. Effing. Brilliant." Aerith's jaw dropped at the language, and Cissnei even had to point it out to him by saying "SIR!" in a warning tone.
"I won't forget you, kiddo," he said as he ruffled her hair with his metal arm. Aerith had to admit, she expected it to be painful, but turns out it felt the same like a normal hand.
After a second, the realization finally sunk in as Cissnei smiled her way. She finally found something she excelled in alone, and that something she gained while surviving down in the slums. Down there, sometimes you gotta be fast in avoiding unwanted people or suspicious, persistent vendors. Here, she can run freely without worries, not caring who she's chasing or what she's running from. She couldn't help but smile as she thought about it; she can finally feel like she fits in.
The next morning, Aerith was greeted by a stern Zack as they met with each other again in the infirmary before homeroom. She gave him a look. "You okay?"
He crossed his arms. "You never told me that you were good at running." Zack was tilting his head, as if he was trying to figure out something.
She shook her head. "I didn't, either," she responded. "I just found out yesterday as well." She couldn't help but smile.
"How can you not know your own talents?" Zack asked.
Aerith shrugged. "I'm not very good with finding that out."
Zack laughed, which, once again, was music to her ears. Her heart did a somersault.
"It's as if I find more things to know about you every day." Zack jumped off the bed he was laying down in earlier. Aerith took her place beside the window, where the plant that grabbed her attention yesterday sat squarely taking in every air it could.
She hasn't forgotten about the incident yesterday with Genesis and Cissnei, and it has been occupying her mind ever since she got home with Cissnei yesterday. So many questions she wanted to ask her cousin, but she thought that it would be rude to just barge in her business when it might be something that she doesn't want to talk about. Since Zack said (or mouthed) to her that he would explain, she waited until this moment to have all her suspicions confirmed.
"So, er…" she started. "about yesterday…"
Zack turned to her. "Yesterday?"
She nodded. "Genesis? I was too afraid to ask Cissnei, and you said you would explain, so…"
"Oh, right. That." Zack sat back down on the bed and took a deep breath. "You should take a seat."
Aerith started looking around for a stool or a chair to grab and sit in, but Zack patted the empty space in the bed beside him. "I meant here, Aerith," he chuckled.
Her face reddened. She didn't say a word and proceeded to sit on the bed beside him.
Zack looked at her for a second before he continued. "Is your face… red?" he smirked.
Aerith thought it wasn't possible for her face to get even redder. "Just tell me already!" she snapped.
He threw his hands up in the air. "Fine, fine! But it's a long story. And don't take my word for it; this was what happened from my point of view." He sat facing her. "Ready?"
She took in a deep breath and nodded.
"In exchange," Zack said, "I want you to tell me more about you. That mad dash yesterday was incredible." He gave her a thumbs up.
"Deal," Aerith nodded swiftly, not forgetting to smile.
A/N: IT'S FINALLY HERE! I know that it's pretty late, but here it is. apparently this was the fastest I could manage. I don't think you guys should expect an update before 2011, but I hope I can at least do one more before the New Years. Hope you enjoyed the chapter! oh and, since Dissidia Duodecim is coming out soon (okay fine, maybe not so soon, but) I guess I could give a cameo to Kain Highwind. really just shameless promoting of the game from my part, haha.
well, see you soon!