Reflection Essay

Chapter Two | Impetus


6:34PM
She is beauty, she is grace.
[see attachment]
Trepie Groupie #4
liked by 17 members

6:40PM
Damn. She's so hot.
Trepie Groupie #8

6:43PM
Ah the lovely Instructor Trepe. How am I ever gonna get close to her?
Trepie Groupie #1

6:50PM
Nice pic. Wish I was that fork.
Trepie Groupie #18

6:53PM
Is she still in the cafeteria?! I'm running there now.
Trepie Groupie #8

6:55PM
Is that an olive she's eating? I didn't pick her to like olives.
Trepie Groupie #6

7:05PM
Guys this is too much. She's just trying to eat dinner. It's disrespectful. You should take this down.
Trepie Groupie #25

7:11PM
Stop being a wet blanket Iguo.
Trepie Groupie #18

7:13PM
Man, why would you call me by my name, it defeats the purpose of using numbers…
Trepe Groupie #25

7:50PM
On the topic of pictures, check out this work of art!. By Trepie Groupie #21 - that girl's got real talent. Wish I could draw like that.
[see attachment]
Trepie Groupie #11
liked by 13 members

8:00PM
Wow. Nice. This should be framed somewhere.
Trepie Groupie #1

8:07PM
Lovely Quistis Trepe. The wind blowing through her hair is nicely done. Man, I wish I could go out with her and take her to the beach.
Trepie Groupie #4

8:30PM
That's my drawing! Why is it posted up here? It's not meant to be posted online!
A. Bailey

8:31PM
Thanks for the kind comments though. :)
A. Bailey

8:32PM
…A… You're still logged in. You're not anonymous.
Trepie Groupie #25

8:33PM
Oh no.
A. Bailey

8:37PM
Who cares.
A. Lee

8:38PM
You're still logged in too.
Trepie Groupie #25

8:39PM
I don't give a damn.
A. Lee

8:41PM
You probably should. The disciplinary committee police our boards pretty regularly. Should probably delete this thread before tomorrow.
Trepie Groupie #17

8:50PM
What the hell is this. You guys are sick. Cut this crap out.
S. Almasy.

8:52PM
Uh oh. Here they are. I'm dipping out.
Trepie Groupie #17

8:53PM
Here you are again, Almasy. Don't you have anything better to do?
A. Lee

8:55PM
Policing message boards to find degenerates like you is the highlight of my day.
Tell me who #4 is.
S. Almasy

8:56PM
Sure.

Not.
A. Lee

9:00PM
You guys really shouldn't be posting pictures like that.

But I also agree - the disciplinary committee are too nosy.
J. I.

9:04PM
Tell me who #4 is or I'm gonna come find you. I've got 3 names already.
S. Almasy

9:05PM
Why do you care? You're terrible to Instructor Trepe.
Trepie Groupie #11

9:06PM
It's a matter of principle. 5 minutes to tell or I'm heading your way next.
S. Almasy

9:08PM
I'm so scared. Sooo scared.
A. Lee

9:10PM
Leave me out of this! I was against this from the start!
Trepie Groupie #25

9:11PM
And me! I'm only here because my picture was posted (and it was never supposed to be!)
A. Bailey

9:15PM
Got both your names. And idiot Lee. See you guys tomorrow.
S. Almasy

9:22PM
Are you threatening them?
J. I.

9:30PM
What the actual hell. You guys are all idiots. I'm shutting this down. Almasy - for the love of Hyne, leave this to the staff. If I find out you've taken matters into your own hands…
X. Yang

[Xu Yang has removed this post.]


8:43AM
Where did last night's thread go?
Trepie Groupie #9

8:45AM
Must've been shut down already.
Trepie Groupie #11

9:02AM
Did you hear about the disciplinary committee and our study room?
Trepie Groupie #16

9:03AM
What happened?
Trepie Groupie #9

9:05AM
Room was raided. Asses were kicked.
Trepie Groupie #16

9:07AM
I heard he set some pictures on fire.
Trepie Groupie #11

9:08AM
Dang.
Trepie Groupie #9


Seifer tapped his pen to a leisurely rhythm against his piece of paper. Twenty-five minutes had elapsed and there wasn't a single mark on his page. Of course. All around him he head the scratching of pens against paper; the scrawny junior classman was hunched over in intense concentration while the good-looking girl with long dark hair was writing away diligently.

He saw that cocky Trepie throw him an annoyed look and Seifer's grin widened. He merely increased the rate and volume of his tapping.

The geeky cadet turned around in his chair, wearing an affronted expression.

"Will you stop that please?" he asked. "Some of us are trying to get this done properly."

"Stop what?" asked Seifer.

"The tapping!"

"Oh, this?" he said airily. "I have anxiety. It's how I cope."

Disbelief sat on the brow of the young cadet's face. "You have anxiety?"

"Do you think I'm lying? I'll consider that a micro-aggression."

"Seifer," Quistis' voice cut in. Her tone was crisp and authoritative but Seifer heard the underlying exasperation. "Please stop talking and please stop tapping your pen."

"But Instructor - "

"If you have anxiety I'll need to have you see the Garden psychologist for an evaluation."

Seifer clamped his mouth shut, biting back smartass words he'd been about to toss out. There was no way in hell he was about to do that. Time to ditch the little charade.

"Fine," he shrugged.

"Are you agreeing to the evaluation?" Quistis raised an eyebrow, tone still neutral and bold. "There's probably a few other things she could check you out for."

The arrogant asshole Lee snorted and the blonde girl muffled a giggle at this.

Seifer surveyed Quistis with interest, his lip curling into a sneer. It did scratch a weird sick itch of his when she showed some sass. Well. It's come to this, has it, Trepe?

She continued to look at him and he returned the stare brazenly, and at last she gave up and looked away.

"I will be checking in on each of you now," she announced to the room at large. "Addie Bailey, you're first."

"Coming, Instructor."

Seifer leaned back in his seat but made no movement to write. He watched with narrowed eyes as she spoke patiently and quietly with each student, taking her job so damn seriously.

But Hyne, she was a sight for sore eyes. Seifer had several classes with Quistis and therefore many opportunities to watch her. Sure as hell beat looking at middle-aged men with hair growing out of their nostrils. The SeeD uniform wasn't particularly flattering on women but somehow she made it look good with her shapely body and long legs.

Of course anyone with one eye knew Quistis Trepe was beautiful. Seifer wasn't alone in appreciating that about her. It was one of the main reasons for her weird obsessive fan club and - he realised with a rush of annoyance - the only reason why he was even here tonight.

But he knew Quistis better than any of her creepy, fetishising Trepies. He knew just the way to get under her skin, how to crack that perfect little mask of hers; he knew that under her professional, cool facade she was vulnerable, self-conscious, bossy and fiery. It was all there somewhere.

And Seifer Almasy dearly loved being the one to bring it out of her.

He played the game well. So well, she probably didn't even realise he was playing it with her. He got a kick out of matching tit-for-tat with her. The more blatant things: rude comments, loud interruptions in the middle of her lectures, a cocky grin in the face of her flared nostrils (a sign she was getting annoyed - he always delighted in the first fall of her facade). But also the more understated things - Seifer could be cool, calculating and smooth as well in his campaign to be difficult, pushing her buttons just so and teasing all her sore spots.

Somehow Quistis did manage to hit back - but she always delivered her lines in such a matter-of-fact, Instructor-ly way that was damn belittling and infuriating.

Probably because it drove him nuts that she just saw him as a student, a problem-child.

While he certainly did not see her as just an instructor.

Seifer wasn't exactly clear how far their history went, but he knew at least that she was always there in his past. A peer. An acquaintance. A friend? And he'd always noticed her. Everyone had noticed her.

The more she tried to be that understanding instructor, the more Seifer felt its patronising sting. And the more he defied her order.

But there was also an edge of protection when it concerned Quistis. Sure he acted up in all her classes and caused her grief, but there would be hell to pay for anyone else who tried to do the same thing.

Seifer looked up suddenly when her voice - that voice he knew so well, always biting and frosty when it came to him - called his name.

"Seifer Almasy. With your essay, please."

He took his time, standing from his seat and walking over to her desk in a languid fashion. Relishing in his leisurely pace. He saw the side of her face tighten as he moved just that tiny bit too slowly.

"Instructor," he said lightly when he finally reached her desk and placed his sheet in front of her. Seifer stood back, taking in her expression with amusement as she let out the tiniest, almost inaudible sigh.

Quistis snapped her eyes back up to him. "This is blank," she said bluntly.

"I know."

"Seifer…"

He looked at her with mild interest.

"You aren't leaving here until you've written your seven hundred words of reflection, just like everyone else."

"Guess we're in for a long night, eh, Instructor?"

A glint in her blue eyes. Seifer didn't miss this. It was rather gratifying.

And then Quistis did something he didn't expect; she leaned forward towards him, the action pulling her uniform top in tighter, attractive ways he certainly appreciated. His gaze dropped down for a second.

"Seifer. Help me understand you," she said, voice pensive and, for once, free of exasperation. "What's going on in that head of yours?"

That caught him off guard. "What?" he said, slightly abrasively, and regretted it at once when a spark of satisfaction flashed in her eyes. Damn Trepe.

"Your mind," she repeated. "You don't want to write at this moment, so talk to me."

Seifer shifted. "What exactly do you want to hear, Instructor?"

She shrugged, "Anything. Why don't you care about your studies? Why are you on the disciplinary committee? What did you do to be here on detention tonight? What are your hopes and dreams?"

Seifer raised an eyebrow at this barrage of questions and partly because he hadn't seen this side of her before. It almost felt like they were on equal footing. At least for now.

"That's a lot of questions."

"Are you going to answer any?"

She was gazing at him intently with those stunning sea foam eyes and for a second he could almost convince himself that she cared. And not in that insulting and demeaning "instructors caring about their problem student" way.

It was a little unnerving. Seifer gained his bearings hastily and hitched on a grin. "Sure, anything for you. One," he held up a finger as if ticking off a list, and inwardly chuckled at the slightly exasperated look that flickered across her face as if he was behaving exactly as she'd expected.

"I don't need to learn any of this crap they all teach us. Even your class, Instructor, as much as it pains me to admit it. Two: Garden needs a formidable group to enforce its rules. What would we do with fascinating bugs unreported all over the place?" Her mouth twitched and he could've sworn she was about to smile at that.

"Did you make up that rule for Raijin?" she asked.

Seifer shrugged. "One of the perks."

"Ah." Quistis leant back, folding her arms across her chest. She seemed satisfied with that answer and he didn't like the look on her face, as if she had an edge over him. "That actually answers my true question. So you're on the committee to acquire certain advantages for yourself. Seems rather self-serving."

"Are you calling me selfish?"

"Some might call you a bully," she returned lightly.

Seifer snorted. "They can call me whatever they want. Is that what you think of me?"

Quistis appraised him for a moment, her gaze making him more nervous than he'd care to admit. "No," she finally said, and her voice was thoughtful and soft. "No, Seifer, I don't think you're a bully."

Once again her reply caught him off guard, and Seifer hastened to bring the conversation back to a plane he was much more comfortable with.

"Well, you might change your mind after hearing my next answer. Three: what I did to be here tonight? I raided a 'study room'." He drew quotations marks in the air around the term.

"A study room? You raided it?" she frowned. "Why?"

Seifer stared at her then glanced behind him at the other detention attendees. Did she really have no idea? Perhaps they had given her answers just as cryptic as his, not wanting to admit their weird obsession with her.

"The nature of their study wasn't really Garden curriculum," he settled for.

It seemed Quistis wasn't too interested in this. Slowly, she said, "When you say 'raided', you mean…"

"I burnt their papers." The fact that there were even papers to burn was still disturbing to Seifer. "Might've scared some of the younger ones. Might've kicked the ass of another who tried to challenge me." He's sitting right behind us, the dolt.

Quistis' face fell and she folded her arms with a little sigh. "Oh, Seifer…" There it was again. That disappointment and exasperation. Would she ever say his name in any other way?

His lip curled. "Now you think I'm a bully?"

"No, I still don't."

"Then what?"

"I think… you need a better outlet for your desire to maintain the rules. No - not the rules. Is it to serve? To control?" she wondered.

"You're the one pyschoanalysing me, Instructor," he said with another shrug.

She looked at him appraisingly again, then pressed on, "And number four?"

"What, my hopes and dreams?" Seifer considered her for a moment. There was a dream. A big one. One he'd had for the longest time. He wasn't shy or embarrassed about it, but at the same time, he didn't know where she fit into any of it. There were certainly other dreams, other half-formed fantasies that Quistis Trepe fit into…

"Sure I have a dream," he said dismissively. "Maybe I'll tell you one day, Instructor."

"Not now?"

"Nah, don't feel like it now."

"Perhaps you can write it down. I do think I understand you a little better, but if you wrote down what you hope for in the future, that'd give me a fuller picture."

"Honestly, Instructor, I'd rather eat dirt," he replied blandly.

She made a face at that but he saw the side of her face twitch. Spurred by this, Seifer leaned forward to her ever-so-slightly, and noticed with pleasure that she didn't pull back.

"Maybe you should write me an essay," he said quietly.

"What?"

"Help me understand your head a little better."

Quistis mouth pulled down at the corner as she said resignedly, "I have the feeling you read everyone perfectly fine, Seifer. It's an uncanny ability of yours."

He smirked as if this was exactly what he wanted to hear. "Does it make you uncomfortable?"

"Is that what you're trying to do? Why you talk back in class and never listen to anything I say?"

"I listen to everything you say, Instructor."

"Hm."

"Would you rather I sung your praises like those kids over there?" He tossed his head back towards the class.

Quistis glanced over. "Aston is hardly a kid," she mused. "He's just a bit younger than us." Maybe it was sick, but Seifer felt a little thrill at the 'us'.

"Ah. Got a thing for younger guys, Instructor?"

Her eyes clapped on him sharply. "Excuse me?"

"You heard me. Or is it another younger guy who takes your interest?"

"What are you talking about?"

He felt a savage kind of pleasure at the panic she couldn't quite keep out of her voice. With a twisted smile Seifer leaned down even further and lowered his voice, "I'm talking about Leonhart, Instructor, and how you clearly want to jump his - "

Quistis leaned back in her seat, alarmed and incensed, and Seifer felt a stab of pride and irritation at the same time. He could see her anger in the stiff line of her jaw. There. Knew that would get her going.

"This is completely inappropriate," she said coldly, and the mask was back up, the composed instructor was on display again. Seifer straightened up as well with a little smirk.

"Everything about me is inappropriate, Instructor."

Quistis exhaled forcefully and snatched up his blank piece of paper, handing it back to him. "We are done here, Seifer," she snapped. "Seven hundred words. And you are to move into the centre of the room for better concentration."

"But that seat at the back is mine - "

"Centre of the room. Dismissed."

His jaw flexed as he took back his page. "Certainly, Instructor."

And so Seifer found himself sitting in the middle of the classroom, surrounded on all four sides by the others. His page still blank. His mood not improved. His mind circling back to how pointless this was.

Blergh.

Maybe he should practise his paper ball throwing. The back of that scrawny Trepie kid seemed like a good target.

No extra paper. Damn.

Seifer glanced around him. That little blonde girl was staring down at her page in thought. There was a large black notebook on her table. Perfect. She'd have plenty to spare, and there was no way she'd refuse him. All the junior classmen lived in fear of him.

For good reason.

Feeling his gaze on her, the girl looked over at him. Apprehension flickered in her eyes but she returned his look bravely and widened her eyes as if to say, "What?"

Seifer dropped his eyes to her book with a significant tilt of his head.

"Seifer, what's going on?" Quistis broke the silence, voice clipped and unimpressed. "Why are you bothering Addie?"

Damn. How does she notice so fast? And why does she have such a big stick lodged up her -

"I'm just asking her for paper, Instructor."

"More paper? Yours is still blank. And you come and ask me if you need more, not her. Don't bother the other students."

"Well, then, Instructor, can I have more paper - ?"

"Keep writing, Seifer."

She was so pissed at him. Her mouth thin, her jaw set, her body language stiff and tense.

Because of that comment he'd made about her precious Leonhart. He scowled at the thought.

"Aston Lee," called Quistis then, and Seifer continued to watch, his paper as blank as ever, as the cocky Trepie he'd had the pleasure of punching mere days ago got up and made his way over to her desk. He'd only gotten a few paces when the phone rang and Quistis motioned for him to sit back down.

Quistis picked up the phone and pressed the button. "Quistis Trepe."

"Instructor Trepe," came a voice she vaguely recognised as one of the rank A SeeDs. "Your assistance is requested at the garage in ten minutes."

"I'm watching over a detention right now," she replied.

"That is understood. You will only be required for fifteen minutes. The students will be fine for that amount of time, and an eye will be kept on them on the CCTV anyway."

"What's happening?"

"We need an extra pair of eyes and hands to oversee the unloading of the new shipment of monsters. We are - uh - a little understaffed this evening, or we wouldn't be calling for you."

We're understaffed because the senior staff and instructors are too lazy to come out this late at night. Quistis pushed away the begrudging thought and replied, "I'm on my way."

With a little sigh, Quistis put down the phone and stood up. All five heads looked up at her in response.

"I will be back soon. Continue to write your essays. I will check yours, Cadet Lee, when I return."

"Yes, Instructor."

Seifer grimaced as he watched the only interesting thing of that detention walk out of the classroom in that prim, poised and professional stride of hers. He knew he wasn't the only one watching the way her hips swayed in that skirt.


Notes: My research for this fic stretched to starting a new game of FF8 and running around Balamb Garden talking to anyone and everyone. And delving into the study panel. I had no idea Instructor Aki was a real character. The things you learn.

Thank you for the reviews. :) Always super happy to know people can enjoy the silly little plot bunnies that hop around my mind.