Author's Notes – Whoa...this is creepy, Chapter XXIII made Reinventing Me exactly one thousand words less than my longest fic in my profile (Breaking Free). I'm thoroughly spooked. I knew it was going to be close but...wow. Oh well, with this new chapter, Reinventing Me is now my longest. And I thought that day would never come. Tsk. Tsk.

Holy crap! I just passed 10,000 hits for this thing! ...I'm speechless.

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Chapter XXIV – Role Reversal

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The truth hurts so bad,
Wouldn't you say?
So why tell it?
If ignorance is bliss,
Then I'm in heaven now.

-Queens of the Stone Age, 3's & 7's

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Friday, January 7th –

I have the feeling I'm going to be writing a lot of journal entries in the next couple of days. I'm not really allowed to get up unless if I absolutely have to. Needless to say, I'm going crazy and I think I'm getting bed sores. Okay, I'm exaggerating a little, but...it's really annoying to be stuck in bed all day. When Squall gets here, the first thing I'm going to tell him is that I can empathize with the crippling boredom he must have suffered a couple of days ago. I'm almost tempted to clean my room. Almost.

Oh yeah, I got ahead of myself here. Like he predicted yesterday, now he's going to be the one coming over to bring my homework. It was decided on the basis that he was the only one who actually knew why I wasn't at school, the one who lived closest, the least likely to get sick and now he's also reputed to be my, ahem, 'lover'. Of course, I was told this via e-mail and a lot of the sarcasm was lost in translation so I nearly died laughing. Literally. I was gasping for air because the laughing triggered a huge coughing fit. It was the kind of chain coughing that steals your breath.

On another note, the medicine I was prescribed this afternoon is doing a good job at controlling the nausea so I was able to devote enough brainpower to know that the irony's not lost on me. I suppose he was right about the sarcasm thing after all too. But in any case, the reason why I said it isn't lost on me is because we're basically reversing roles, only I seemed to have caught a more severe version of his flu because of a weaker immune system. Which explains why Squall got over his so quickly and I came down with it faster. I just pray that he doesn't dress or do anything similar to what happened in the dream when he's over here or else I might curl into a little ball and start crying.

Not to mention the fact that he was right about people at school is sad, really. But at least I made the right decision regardless if people thought this because of the rumour or because of me being sick combined with the rumour. I'll have him as a safeguard and I know that the friends who accept me for me will back me up. Or I hope. At least Squall's going to be a little nicer to me at school so it won't be completely unbearable. And I won't have to deal with any other failed relationships at the moment, which is a bonus. I really warmed up to the idea of faking a good relationship though. Who knows, maybe it'll be good practice if I ever decide to pursue one after I'm twenty, possibly twenty-five.

Going on a little tangent, Squall didn't seem too happy about Seifer's reaction whatsoever. To quote the message, Seifer 'didn't know it was possible to hit puberty at eighteen.' In spite of myself, I have to admit that it was funny. I can't help but wonder what he'll say to me though - or what anyone will say to me for that matter. Or how I'll have to act in terms of closeness with Squall, like what kinds of gestures, words– okay, I'd better stop now before my brain implodes. I'll have to leave this up to natural chemistry (or lack there of). Hm. Come to think of it, with the act he pulled with his mom the other day, I wonder if those acting skills can convince people at school? Oh well, I'll just have to see when the time comes.

Hyne, even though I'm bored, I'm also so zapped right now. I think I'm going to sleep during most of the weekend. Squall won't come until Sunday anyway so that plan could potentially work out. He gave me the options to start on Saturday or Sunday and I chose Sunday. I'm a lot sicker than he was so I wanted to give myself more time to get better first.

I'd say that my bed is calling me but I'm already in it. Night!

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Saturday, January 8th –

I must have been more zapped than I thought because I went to bed at about nine last night and I didn't wake up until two this afternoon. I don't think I've ever slept fifteen hours straight before. In any case, I feel a little better...which kinda makes the bored factor even worse because I'm not tired enough to take long naps to kill the time and not well enough to get a head start on the homework. Wait- come to think of it, Squall would be at school so he wouldn't need the pages at his house for himself so he could just give them to me instead. Wow, this is weird. It's probably a good thing that he eliminated the possibility of blackmail then-

Oh. My. God. Did he see that coming too?

If he did, I am impressed. I should ask him. Maybe after telling him about the being bored thing. Oh, if only he were here today and not tomorrow. Hyne, I must be bored (or delusional, I'm not sure), I just wished I had my homework a day earlier. Eek.

Maybe I should check the computer to pass the time. I'm sure that I filled up the 'sleep/rest' quota for the day anyways. Plus I don't want to creep myself out anymore than I already have.

...I just reread this last paragraph and now I realize that I'm a huge hypocrite. I think I owe an apology to Squall for nagging him when he was sick.

Great, now that's three things I have to tell him. He's going to think I'm a chatterbox. Wonderful.

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After she slowly peeled back the covers, Rinoa drifted her legs towards the edge of the bed and onto the carpeted floor below. It wasn't long before she got off of the bed itself and quietly walked over to the idle computer. She sat down and logged on. The telltale new message pop-up told her that she had a new e-mail from Squall and it had been sent at noon.It was four in the afternoon now.

Rinoa fought back a cough. Hopefully it wasn't a message telling her that he was going to cancel for tomorrow. It couldn't have been asking for the directions to her house or the time he was supposed to come, they'd already gone through those details in a prior e-mail last night.

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There's been a change of plans at my house. I have to bring Ellone to the train station Sunday afternoon so we'll have to reschedule the time I'm supposed to be at your house. I can come in the morning or after supper on Sunday or even tonight if those times aren't good for you. I'll be checking my e-mail periodically so I'll be able to answer within the hour of your reply.

-Squall

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Rinoa couldn't help but smirk a little. 'Well, I was half right.'

She immediately started typing up a response.

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I'm feeling better than I thought I was going to be so I suppose tonight would be fine. Whenever you can come over is fine with me, I'll just let my mom know (my dad's out of town for awhile). I forgot to tell you this but we'll be doing the work in my dining room table just to reassure her. She knows it's just for school and that you're not going to do anything to me, but I think that if we were to do things that way, it'll show her that you're a serious school-minded person (well, you obviously are, but she doesn't know that) and give her a good impression. I'm just doing this as a precaution in case if we have to fake the relationship in front of our parents too. Probably not, but, you never know, right?

Anyways, I'll be on the computer for a little while, so I'll be able to answer back quickly. Oh and before I forget, I apologize for being kinda mean to you when you cleaned up your room that day instead of resting. Let's just say I now empathize with the ultra-bored feeling. I almost wanted to clean my own room.

-Rinoa

P.S – By the way, when you pulled that stunt in front of your mom, did you do it knowing that I'd need the pages later or was it a lucky coincidence? Just curious.

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After wasting about a good twenty minutes finding out that, among other things, her full name, middle included, could spell out On rainiest rich. Aha! Watery, lyricaland Ivy's, Adrienne's, Ryan's, Seifer's and Squall's first and last names could respectfully spell out, 'Wry, sick vomiter', 'Strained lane', 'Rants lay', 'Fair as seemly' and Rinoa's personal favourite, 'Hell! Snarl quota' on an anagram site, she received another message.

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I'll be over at seven tonight then. We probably won't have to extend the act to your mom or dad but if what happened at school is any indicator, maintaining a good impression will help things if I have to come over to your house on occasion to plan certain things or for the help in Lit. I already know that you gave both of my parents a good impression so you won't have to do the same thing if you have to come over to my house for whatever reason.

However, seeing as we're going to be in your dining room and not anywhere remotely secluded, we'll need to discuss the details for your return at school via e-mail. There will be a fair amount of people who will believe the rumour that we fooled around together is true and a larger amount of people who'll wait and see our interactions to make the decision to believe it or not. What I think we should do have our interactions subtle enough to suggest some kind of relationship so your reputation is salvaged in the eyes of those who are convinced it's true and for the ones who are waiting on our interactions, they'll probably question the rumour because of the subtleness and maybe infer that we're together but we haven't slept together.

This is all purely hypothetical so I could be wrong. But I think our best bet is to stay somewhat neutral or vague enough so this can be interpreted in a number of different ways. I know I said that I'd act marginally nicer to you but I honestly have no idea of how to convey this other than you sticking around me without me getting annoyed by it. It wouldn't be a good idea to have too much planned in advance like I've said before but we might need a couple of guidelines to follow in case if the lack of natural chemistry is enough to make things difficult. If you have any idea of what to do, it'll probably help us.

And to answer your PS, that was only a coincidence.

-Squall

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'Oh well, at least that's one question answered.' she mused. 'Hm. What could I say, what could I say...what could I-Oh!'

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Hey, I was thinking about something. You know how those girls got that initial impression that there was something between us because they overheard us talking? Well, what if we were to exchange questions randomly? Nothing personal, just related to work, school stuff and things of that nature. You don't have to ask any because it's not likely that you'll have them but, if I were to come up to you and ask the odd question and you answer it normally with no protests, it could be subtle yet to those people who seem to look into things too much, it'll prove something to them and not to the others. Not to mention it'll kinda reinforce the whole 'you tolerating me' thing. Does that make any sense? If it's stupid idea feel free to tell me that.

-Rinoa

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Drumming her fingers idly on the computer desk, Rinoa was surprised when another message came in about a minute flat.

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It'll work. I'm not usually one for answering questions so it'll raise suspicion to the ones who are looking into this. The only things I ask are that if you can help it, ask genuine questions and do this sparingly. Otherwise, you'll look like a clueless, co-dependent idiot. I might ask you the occasional question in Kolp's class as long as we're not on opposite sides in the classroom. That way it won't seem that lopsided here.

I'm not going to be on my laptop for the rest of the night so I won't read any reply you send until tomorrow.

-Squall

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After her eyes had finished reading the letter, Rinoa closed all of the windows and logged off of the computer, genuinely surprised. She'd been expecting a flat-out 'that was a stupid idea' from him. Then again, a lot of things were catching her off-guard as of late. But in any case, Rinoa got up from her chair; she had to throw on something half-decent to wear and tell her mom that they'd be having a visitor after supper. She doubted Squall would want to see her in a pair of worn-out light blue pyjamas.

Following a quick nap and supper, Rinoa sat herself on her living room couch, periodically glancing at her watch. It was a couple of minutes before seven and she was expecting him at the door any second now. She already had all of her textbooks, notebooks and pens carefully laid out on the dining room table so she was only waiting on him at the moment.

A few more minutes had passed and Rinoa started to wonder even though it was rare for anyone to be exactly on time. She stifled a few errant coughs and dug out her cell from one of her pockets. Her screen indicated that she hadn't missed any messages after pressing the corresponding sequence of buttons to check.

Seven o'clock came and went without so much as a peep, as did seven-ten, seven-twenty and seven-thirty. Now Rinoa was genuinely worried. After covering a few more coughs, she decided to call his cell. Following a few intermittent beeps, she got the automated voice-mail. Hm, she thought, maybe he was on his way and the weather was making it hard for him to walk over here?

With that thought, Rinoa got up and walked over to the window. Even from the inside, she could still feel a chill as she saw the massive flurry of snowflakes drift downwards and highlight the dark indigo sky.

Rinoa put a palm against one of the panes of glass. 'I hope he's alright.'

Moments later, she whipped her head to the entranceway on her left and backed away from the window. There was some knocking at the door. Rinoa briskly walked to the entranceway door and opened it and was greeted with the sight of a snow-covered, disgruntled and presumably half-frozen Squall. It was so bad that the melting snow in his hair made him look like a drowned rat and his nose and cheeks were red.

Regardless of how he looked, she quickly ushered him in and closed the door, preventing the harsh winter elements from entering the house anymore. After he took off his snow-laden backpack, Rinoa helped him out of his coat.

"You could have cancelled if the weather was going to cause this much trouble for-" Cough. "-you. I would have understood."

He flicked out the lingering snow hidden in the collar of his loose navy sweater. "...A little cold weather never killed anyone."

"Actually, it can." she casually argued, hoarse voice and all. "It's called hypothermia."

"Whatever." He bent over to untie each individual lace of his boots. "...I apologize for being late."

While Squall was still untying his laces, Rinoa arched an eyebrow. 'He's still apologizing for being late even when I said I would have understood if he had to cancel because of this weather? I don't get it.'

When he finally had his boots off, Rinoa took his coat and turned around to hang it on the entranceway's coat rack behind her. She turned back around to see him still standing in the same spot with his knapsack in hand, probably standing in a wet spot for all she knew.

"I've got everything set up at the dining room table," she informed him, "-you might see my mom at one point or another while you're here but other than that, we'll be mostly by ourselves. You can follow me."

He wordlessly followed her into the L-shaped living room and around the right bend into the adjoined dining room. Once they were near the oval table, Rinoa pulled out the closest chair on the end for him and pulled out the one on the left side for herself. When he set down his bag and sat at his designated seat, Rinoa offered to make something hot to drink if he needed to warm up. Although she wasn't surprised to hear him decline the offer, it was a surprise to hear some heavy panting.

Not from Squall of course, but from her faithful furry canine companion, Angelo. The furry companion in question seemed to have come from her normal stomping grounds in the basement, up the stairs, past the kitchen and made her way in the dining room. Rinoa bit her lip. Although she was a good dog, Angelo was very protective and wasn't keen on male strangers hanging around her. For some reason, she always thought they were out to harm her. In any case, the teenager knew that she had a limited amount of time before Squall was going to get barked at and possibly bit.

By the time she circled around Squall's chair, it was already too late. The dog was...sniffing around his feet? Rinoa stood there, somewhat bemused, even more so when Squall tentatively patted Angelo on the head and she seemed to be enjoying it. Rinoa almost wanted to shake her head to make sure she wasn't hallucinating this and Squall wasn't getting mauled in reality.

Nope. Her eyes weren't fooling her today. This was really happening.

After a while, Angelo went over to her and once she gave her a few choice scratches behind her ear, the dog scurried off upstairs. When Rinoa went back around his seat to hers and sat down, both teenagers exchanged looks, only she had the more confused expression out of the two of them.

"...That was weird. Angelo never likes it when there are unfamiliar guys at the house. Normally she would have barked-" Cough. "- and possibly bit you."

He shrugged. "Maybe your dog thought I was a woman."

Rinoa blinked hard. '...Did he just say what I thought he said?'

"I'm not going to comment on that one." she said. "With our history of ridiculous arguments, we're liable to have an argument about how you couldn't possibly look like a woman and someone will overhear and it'll be very-"Cough. "-awkward."

"...So you are learning after all."

"What?" She did a double-take between two minor coughing fits. "-That was a test?"

"No, I'm simply surprised that you caught yourself." he clarified. "...I wasn't thinking when I said that first comment so I was anticipating a stupid follow-up discussion later."

"Um...are you okay Squall?" she asked, "-You just said that you weren't thinking."

He rolled his eyes. "If this is your idea of a joke, I'm not laughing."

She gave him a reproachful look. "That comment was a test and you failed."

Squall blinked. "...What in Hyne's name are you talking about?"

"Well," she started to explain, "-I figured that we should practice subtle mini-interactions while you're here, and you just bombed that one."

"...You didn't give me any forewarning there." he said pointedly.

"Yeah, I know but there'll probably be times where we'll unexpectedly have to start acting on the fly so I'd like our transitions to be seamless just in case. Besides," She leaned over to whisper in his left ear. "-no one's going to believe I let you do me if you can't even take a small joke like that."

When Rinoa went back to sitting normally again, she noticed that his face was a little more pink than normal; even considering the red weather-related splotches he had earlier. Then he somehow regained a bit of composure, he narrowed his eyes at her.

"...You're having fun with this, aren't you?"

"No, I was being-" Cough. Cough. "-serious, actually. But what you said right there would have been a good answer to my joke. Hey, I just-" Cough. "-thought of something."

He rubbed his eyes tiredly with his thumb and forefinger. "...What?"

"I don't think you would have admitted that you weren't thinking a couple of days earlier or even said the whole 'Angelo thinking you were a woman' thing in the first place. You're saying more to me."

Right after the she finished speaking, he immediately stopped rubbing his eyes and dipped his upper body to the side to fiddle with his backpack's zipper, pluck out a few pages and put them on the table with the other things on it with a loud 'thunk' noise. Rinoa got the hint.

"Um..." There was a long and awkward pause on her behalf. "-so I guess we'll be working on History and I'll just keep the Lit pages?"

He nodded.

Sorting through the pages laid in front of her, she separated the ones for Lit from the History pages and made two neat piles, eventually pushing the Lit pile away from them. She looked at him attentively, waiting for him to start. He never did.

Just like the time in the library, they were interrupted before he got a chance to say anything. Even though she couldn't see her, she could hear the distinct sound of her mom descending the upper level stairs, presumably coming down to see what kind of boy was tutoring her daughter and was responsible for getting her sick in the first place. Rinoa cast a furtive look at Squall. She was thankful his hair had dried enough so he didn't look like a drowned rat anymore. Not to mention they looked like they were genuinely set up for the tutoring session and her mom probably didn't hear what was said a couple of minutes ago. Or at least she hoped not.

And sure enough the older woman walked right by the dining room table where they were sitting, stopped and took a good long look at Squall.

"-Did the weather give you any trouble?"

"A little." he tersely answered.

"Hm, I see. I'm Rinoa's mother, Mrs. Heartilly. It's very considerate of you to help Rinoa stay caught up in school. I heard that there weren't too many people to volunteer since she had the Estharian flu."

Unless if it was her imagination fooling around with her sight, Rinoa could have sworn that she saw a flicker of hurt in his eyes.

'That kiss isn't going to stop haunting his mind alone any time soon, is it?' she pondered while sporting a slightly pained look of her own during his somewhat short and generic reply.

"Rinoa, if you could spare a moment, could I talk to you upstairs?"

In the midst of wondering where this request came from or what Squall had even said for that matter, Rinoa hazily nodded and both mother and daughter went upstairs, leaving Squall to sit by himself for the moment. The teenager was led into her own room where her mom shut the door. Alarm bells started ringing in Rinoa's head; something didn't seem right.

"Rinoa, is there something you haven't been telling me?"

Uh oh, this couldn't be good. This seemed like a carbon-copy version of Raine and Squall's talk on Thursday outside of the bathroom door.

"I...don't know what you're talking about Mom."

"I was doing some research on the Estharian flu on the internet and it turns out that you can only spread it from personal items and body fluids, even after most of the symptoms have disappeared. Did something happen between you two during the days you were over there?"

She coughed. "No."

"Rinoa, please don't lie to me." she implored. "I'm not going to get mad; I just want to know."

Rinoa averted her eyes. 'What should I do? I probably reacted too harshly to get away with saying he sneezed on me or something like that. Not to mention if I denied everything she'd probably think we did more.'

'Hyne...I wish I didn't have to lie to her so much, she doesn't deserve it. She never knew about Tristan, the baby, Tyler or anything. All she knew that I was an off-and-on emotional wreck in the last couple of months for no reason. And for all she knows, I'm probably still 'innocent'.'

"We're...going out." Rinoa mumbled. "I...um, was going to wait until Dad came home to tell you guys at the same time, but then this happened."

Julia furrowed her eyebrows. "So what made you get sick Rinoa? His parents were there when you were tutoring, right?"

"No, they were there and we didn't-" Cough. "-do anything like that, I just gave him a quick peck. I guess I didn't realize I'd get myself sick because he wasn't coughing and seemed pretty healthy at the time. That's-" Cough. "-all."

Her mother looked more at ease. "You don't know how relieved I am Rinoa. I was worried about you for a while there."

"I'm sorry I made you worry Mom. I didn't mean to look like I was hiding something; I just wanted to wait until Dad was home to tell you both."

"You don't have to wait for approval Rinoa, I respect any decision you make in your personal life as long as it makes you happy and you protect yourself when the time comes much later on."

"Thanks Mom." She paused for a moment before deciding on taking the initiative on something. "Um, just out of curiosity, what do you think of him so far?"

"He seems like a very polite boy when I talked to him for that short little while, very reserved though."

"Yeah, he gives that impression to everyone but once you start to know him, he's a very interesting person."

"Okay, but just remember, he's here to help you with school today, not for anything else." she light-heartedly chided.

She smirked. "I know."

As she walked out of her room, Rinoa couldn't help but beam. 'Wow, I'm a really good actress. And I didn't even have to lie for that last part.'

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"...What was that about?" he asked when she finally came downstairs.

Rinoa calmly sat down. "She knows."

He arched an eyebrow. "Knows about what exactly?"

"Us." she coolly responded. "She did some extra research on the Estharian flu and confronted me about it because she found out about the ways it could be passed." Cough. Cough. "So I told her we were together and that I gave you a quick peck at one point so she wouldn't draw any other kind of conclusion."

He rolled his eyes. "Great. Now we're two-for-two here."

She sputtered a little. "...Your parents thought the same thing?"

"No, just my mother. My father doesn't know enough to have an opinion." He sighed. "I don't know if I should feel relieved that the act will be easier since she likes you enough to approve of this ...relationship or annoyed that I had to suffer the embarrassment of telling her about this relationship and an edited version of what happened to avoid having her draw the same conclusion your mother did after you left the other day."

Rinoa bit her lip. "Your mother thought you'd-"

He gave her a look. "I'm an eighteen-year old boy; of course she's going to assume the worst in any faintly suspicious scenario involving the opposite sex."

She frowned. "That's sad." Then something clicked. "-Well, we should start working."

He nodded and proceeded to go over the random History pages. Meanwhile, Rinoa's brain was utterly preoccupied with a new revelation.

"Squall, I don't think either of us can handle what happened in August again. If there's something, tell me now.

"Don't ever bring that up. Just because I said was that I didn't know why she got sick, it doesn't automatically mean I'm hiding something like that.

'Hyne, I don't believe it. I can't believe it. After all this time, Nat's rumour... it might actually be true. He might have fathered a child after all.'

Stealing a glance in his direction, she looked into those meticulously-complex azure eyes gazing over each and every section as he was explaining certain facts and concepts. Time seemingly slowed when his gaze made his way to hers for one long second.

'There's got to be another explanation for this. And hopefully it's that I misinterpreted that entire conversation I overheard or looked far too much into what he said just now. No, that's definitely got to be what happened here. It has to be.'

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End of Chapter Comments - Dun, dun, dunnnnn! I'm confusing the hell outta you guys, huh? Don't kill me just yet, you'll have all of your answers in due time. And may I point out that Rinoa isn't one-hundred percent sure on this, so don't rule out the possibility of it still being false. I've only blurred the lines here people.

-Emerald-Latias

Random Tidbit - Rinoa's house is actually based off of the structuring of a house I used to live in.