That night, Zack plopped down on his bed and stared at the ceiling like he always did when he was in deep thought. For what seemed like hours to him, he reached over to his chair and grabbed the small diary from his pocket and held it in his hands. For a few minutes he just stared at it, thinking whether or not to open it and read whatever was written. He bit on his lower lip and opened the lock with a small pin and opened the whole book. He flipped through the pages for awhile and his eye caught the penmanship. It all started out as a messy handwriting with few grammatical and spelling errors and the more pages he turned, the better the writing. Printing to cursive and to very fancy lettering. He flipped back to the first page and read what it said:
5-17
Dear Diary,
Today, I think my older sister Aewy finded 5 boys who
were vewy attractive...or at least I heard her say that. She took
me out earlier this afternoon and she say that I would meet the
nice, looking boys. Since she is 4 years old she say that she's old
enough to go out on a date...but my question is...what's a date?
She told me it wasn't the dates on my calender but a different
kind of date...what is it? I'm still cuwious. Evwytime she meets
the boys, she say she gets butterflys in her stomach. But...how
do you get butterflys in your stomach? I wonder if she ate them
but I really hope she didn't. Well, she then introduced me to the
boys. I'm only 3 years old but I think they were vewy cute. I kept
that to myself because I knowed that if I told her, she'd be vewy
angwy at me. Oh well. Two of them kind of looked alike because
they both had spiky hair except one had black and the other had
a very chocobo like color: blonde. Another one had black hair,
another had red hair, and the last one had silver hair. Hee hee...
at first I thought it was gway but Aewy told me it wasn't vewy
pwoper to say that he had gway hair because he wasn't old...yet.
They were vewy nice and I gots to play with them too. Two of them
payed vewy close attention to me...um...I think there name's were
Vincent and Sephiroth...yup...the one with the gway hair. They said
to me secretly that I was their favowite because I was like their lil
sister. I'm so happy! But to tell you the truth, I like Aewy better
because she was there when I was born, when I needed her, and
when mom got the diseese and I was cwying. Um...the red-head was
named Reno...he played with me too and he hangs out with me a lot.
The blonde one has a crush on Aewy because he told me so..and the
black haired one...well...he's just a vewy happy boy. Anyway, I
got to get going. It's time for dinner!
-:-Tifa Gainsborough-:-
Zack smirked as he finished the first entry. It was cute. To think she had kept all these entries was a mystery to him, but he didn't mind. At least he was getting to know her a bit more. But the way she described the boys she had befriended with her sister, it was like she knew him so well. And somewhere deep inside him, a feeling he had was beginning to arise and he was starting to think that he, too, knew her.
5-18
Dear Diary,
We had so much fun! We played in the beach and I saw
Cloud blush when Aewy came out with her pink bathing suit. I was
wearing a baby blue one. I love baby blue...it's a vewy pwetty color.
Me and my sister have different tastes...that's what Mommy said when
we visited her at the hospital. I got my traits from her sister.
She said her sister was very outgoing, hated skirts and dresses,
liked to play sports, and that I'd become just like her sister.
And Aewy was going to turn out like Mommy herself. A "pink" girl
meaning she was going to turn out vewy womanly.
I still don't know what that means but she also said that Aewy would
be the type of girl who would turn out to be some kind of cheerleader,
and wear skirts and evwything related to that...um...yup. So we're
opposites...now um....what's traits? And what does she mean by
different tastes? Does that mean I taste stuff differently with my tongue
and Aewy tastes stuff differently? And I really don't know what traits is.
I'm thinking that traits is another word for saying treats! Yummy! Daddy
said we get to make cookies and bwing it to Mommy. He even said that
I get to give it to her! Much happiness from me! Oh! I have to go! Zack
and the rest are waiting for me! Bye bye!
-:-Tifa Gainsborough-:-
Zack skipped several pages and something caught his eye. From the last entry he read she hadn't written anything for awhile but she still continued right on the next page. The left side page contained pictures of Reno, Vincent, Sephiroth, Cloud, and himself when they were kids! The page right next to it held another entry:
7-28
Dear Diary,
I'm going to miss them. I..don't think Aewy will be happy for
awhile. She said she didn't want to see them leave so she didn't say bye.
I felt that I needed to because they were the only people who don't think
we're weird. Yes, lots of girls here think we're weird because Aerith has
um....something called 'Holy'. They said it was some kind of orb...I'm not
sure. And that she could also hear voices. Me, on the other hand, they just
think I'm odd because....well...I take pills. Mommy said they are medicine.
She say that ever since she was in the hospital I was um...what was the
word? Oh right...depressed...is that how you spell it? Hm..nevermind. But
that's what she said and all the girls in town think it's weird because I'm
too young to be taking such medicine. I don't see why though...I know they
take it when they're sick. But nevermind them...I'm really sad that my friends are leaving. I hugged each and every one of them before they left....we were a...um..family I guess. Um...I'm not sure why but Reno
gave me a pwetty necklice....it's the other half of a heart and he has
the other half...nothing's written on it but it was a pretty gold one
and it has small diamonds. He said it was a heart because I'd be in his heart forever and it was gold because our
paths were bright ahead of us and no one could tear us apart. The diamonds,
he said, stood for our friendship and love (I do think he meant the family type of love where he loves me like his own sister...I really didn't know what he was talking about...I know..very embawassing....). It was diamond because he said a diamond is a strong type of rock...you can't break
it. You can only break it with another stone just like it and he said if anyone was to hurt me, it'd be him because he had a chance to apologize
...no one else. To him, it meant infinite so I guess our friendship and
love are infinite. I thanked him for it and he said he was sorry to go.
He gave me a small piggy back ride before he left town. The other guys
gave me white roses and they all told me to stay innocent...whatever that means. Then Cloud came up to me and handed me a bouquet of flowers and
told me to give it to Aewy...he really does love her...I just noticed
it. I gave it to Aewy later on today and she was happy. She stopped cwying and I was happy. But she was never able to say good bye. I said bye
for her though. Oh well...it's late and I'm very sleepy. Bye for now.
-:-Tifa Gainsborough-:-
Zack choked on the cookie he was eating while reading. That's how they left. Zack then wondered why Reno would ask what Icicle Village was like if he was there when he was child. Maybe he lost his memories about it..? He flipped to a few more pages until he thought it was the present days where Tifa would write about something.
3-15
Dear Diary,
Earlier today we had just signed in to Cherry Hill High
School. I heard that this school was claimed by the Mayor
Matsukaze and I learned that he had a daughter name Scarlet
Matsukaze. A boy who showed me around school for the first time
said that Scarlet was given the nickname Cherry because her
father founded the school. He also said I was to watch out for her
because she was a real bitch. She's the leader of the cheerleading
squad and she would kill anyone who touched her man. I'm wasn't
quite sure who this 'man' of hers was so really, I tried to stay out of
a boy's path. I learned that she only befriended girls who were
very womanly. Instantly, I figured that Aerith would be one to make
friends with her easily. Considering that I'm the total opposite of
Aerith I figured it'd be best if I ignored Scarlet, or Cherry, throughout
my junior year and my senior year. When we were introduced to the
school I looked at my sister who was very happy. I only noticed
what she was happy about when I followed her gaze to a young man
with chocobo-like hair. And my my! Who could it be but our childhood
friend, Cloud. He's much more cuter than when he was younger, though
I'm not really interested in him. Aerith is best for him...not me. But if
he tries to hurt my sister....well I know she can take care of herself
and that I shouldn't try to intrude on anything because I'm younger
but still...I have a right.
Then, later, I saw Zack coming towards us. Yes, another childhood
friend. I don't know...he's changed and I sensed it. Sure he was
a lot more mature and handsome but I really don't give a damn about
him. His ploy to use me is unbelievably senseless. Who's stupid
enough to fall for that!? I know that I'm babbling but I heard that
he uses girls younger than him to get to their sisters, if they had one.
That's when I knew I should ignore him...but he's nice...I would
hope. I met all of them again...and gosh...I know this must seem
weird but I think that Sephiroth and Vincent still know me...and
Reno...he still has that grin of his. I think I like him...but I'm
not quite sure. Love is a pretty unpredictable thing...and I'm surely
not gonna ruin it by falling for the wrong person so I'll save myself
for now.
-:-Tifa Gainsborough-:-
Zack felt like his heart was being ripped out. He had no idea Tifa felt that way about him...maybe he was being to idiotic..? Well, it seemed like she liked Reno. But now, after he had read some of her
entries, his view on her completely changed. And if he had to prevent Tifa from falling for Reno, then he'd do something about it. For now, though, he'd treat Tifa better and Reno....well he'd wait.
*
Later, he quietly entered Tifa's window from the tree next to her room. He had climbed it and to his luck, the window was left open slightly. He slipped in and placed her diary where it was last seen. Then he left the room and drove away, a lot of things on his mind.
*
Aerith came into her room that night, smiling. She and Cloud were finally becoming closer. They went out for dinner and they had kissed...for the first time! She felt like she was in heaven. But...what about Tifa..?
*
"Ugh! That sly hornball! Trying to slip his hands up my shirt! And- hm?" She knelt down and picked up her diary. She hugged it her chest and slid down slowly to the floor. She was drifting off to sleep when the she could smell a scent. Her eyes widened and she looked at her diary. It reeked of cologne. She could tell one of the boys had taken it...but who? They all smelled nice so obviously they all wore cologne. She shrugged. She'd just have to wait.