Squall's Diary - Chapter Two
Rinoa cleared her throat. "It's 7:30am. I don't wanna get up. It's too early. But..Bette's gonna be there. I really wanna see her. I hope they don't work us too hard. I mean, we're only 13!".
Squall changed out of street clothes - which were also his pyjamas - and into his new Garden uniform. It was royal blue with golden lining. He buttoned the last button feeling important, full of pride. He then ran out of his dorm, past the cafeteria, quad and infirmary, to the lobby. This time, Cid was not there. A young woman wearing a black uniform was there, in his place. But the same three students were there: Bette, Xu and Nida.
"Squall!", Bette yelled, waving her arms wildly."Hey, Squall" Nida smiled.
"You missed out on some fun last night at the library", Nida remarked sarcastically.
"Hey! It was fun!" Bette tapped him on the shoulder, "Right, Xu?"
"Uh...Yes?"
Bette sighed. "You guys just don't know fun!"
"Alright, children. Listen up!", the woman said as she stepped forward, "I'm instructor Noli. Today we'll take a tour of Balamb Garden and then, begin to train. First, on our tour, the library!"
Nida and Xu groaned as Bette squealed with delight.
The students followed the instructor to the entrance to the library. The tour was very short and uninformational. Instructor Noli stood outside of each of the Garden's sections and gave a brief description of it, leaving the students wondering. The final place that was visited was the Training Room.
"Okay! The final stop on our tour is...the training room!", Instructor Noli said.
"Yay?", Squall remarked, dryly.
The other students snickered.
Noli, ignoring the remark, continued, "This is where we will train for one hour everyday. Sometimes you will be in the classroom on the second floor for written tests and such".
"When do we get to start battling?", Nida asked.
"In a few weeks, but it depends on how quickly you learn to use your weapon".
"W-weapons" Bette stepped backwards.
"Yes. Don't be afraid. You'll learn quickly and you won't get hurt".
"So...do we choose our own weapons?", Squall asked.
"Yes" She then kneeled on the ground and started to search for something.
The students looked at each other, sharing the same skeptical look.
"Aha! Found it!", Instructor Noli pulled a small, barely noticeable lever in the ground. A compartment opened up, revealing weapons, of all shapes and sizes. "Alright, take your pick! Make sure to hold the handles!"
The children gathered around the weapons and reached inside the hole. Nida grabbed and pair of Nunchakus and Xu took some small boxing gloves.
"Ah...I don't know what to choose" Better stared into the compartment, half confused, half excited.
"Just take whatver looks good to you", Squall suggested just as a young blonde man walked by.
Bette smiled at the young man and then, looked at Squall. "That looks good to me", she said.
Squall's mouth hung open.
Bette watched the unknown boy closely as he walked away and finally pulled a sharp, boomerang-like weapon out of the hole.
Squall managed to close his mouth. He reached into the hole, pulling out a gun...a gun with a sword on the end, like a bayonette."Take a partner", Instructor Noli called.
Bette grabbed Squall by the arm. "You're my partner, okay?" She smiled.
Squall smiled as well, still trying to believe that she was actually touching him.
Nida took Xu as his partner.
"Now, stand a few feet away from your partner".
The two pairs stood across from each other. As Bette left his side, a feeling of lonliness took over.
"Squall, Nida hold your weapons in front of you, hands on both ends, so that it's guarding your chest area.
They did as they were told.
"Xu and Bette, attack them!"
Before Nida and Squall could move, Xu ran to Nida and punched him in the face with the silver-knuckled boxing gloves and Bette threw her boomerang in a random direction, having it hit no one.
"Where'd it go?", Squall inquired, looking at the ceiling.
"I dunno..." Bette looked around.
"Maybe it--", Squall said, turning to face Bette, only to be confronted by a metal boomerang. It struck his' forehead and knocked him to the ground.
***
Squall sat up, facing new surroundings. He was in a small glass room with an open door.
"Oh my god!!!", Bette squealed, from the stool beside his bed. "You're awake! I'm so sorry!".
"It's...okay.", Squall said, still dazed.
She smiled. "You know, you don't have to go to classes this week. You get to sit in your room and read magazines!...You might get a little homework, but that's all!"
"A-alright"
"I'll let you rest for a while. I'm gonna come and visit you all this week, okay?"
Squall tried to hide his smile as Bette left the room.
Rinoa read the diary, her eyes glued to the page, "I was hit with Bette's boomerang during practice today!"
"That's a metaphor if I ever heard one", Irvine said, smiling.
Rinoa narrowed her eyes at him. "Anyways," she started to read again, "I just got out of the infirmary. I get to stay in my dorm all week! No classes at all! That best part is...Bette's going to come and visit me...everyday!". She then closed the diary.
"Whhhyyyyy?", Selphie whined, "Keep reading!".
Rinoa opened the diary once more and quickly read through the next few pages in her head. She closed it once more. "It's just some magazine clippings and rantings about Bette's visits to him.
"That's alright!", Selphie cried.
"You know, that diary's pretty thick", Quistis said, "Maybe you should just read the parts that are significant".
"Yeah..." Rinoa pondered and opened the book once more. She flipped through the pages until something caught her eye. She started to read. "It's been almost three months since I last wrote in this diary. Oh well...Nothing interesting happened anyway. In training, we used some Guarding Force things. They're pretty cool...but, I feel like I'm missing something. Oh! I found out that blonde guy's name! His name is Zell. He seems so familiar, it's like I know him from somewhere...And, I'm gonna ask Bette out today!".
Squall paced back and forth in the library after his training session finished. He browsed through a few books: 'Mechanics of the Garden', 'The History of Gunblades' and 'Run, Pupurin, Run'. Nothing peaked his interest as he was too restless. He tried hard to not too move to keep his hair in place. He wanted to look his best for Bette.
Minute years passed as he awaited Bette's arrival. Finally she appeared beneath the library's door frame. The angel, adorned in blue and gold clothing with ribbons in her hair, waved her arms at Squall and everybody disappeared. Only Bette and Squall remained in the library and the lights went dim. She glided towards him on Cloud 9.
"W-will you go out with me, Bette?", Squall asked, shaking in fear of rejection.
"Uhm..." She spoke like angel as well; so articulate.
"We can go to Balamb after class one day!" His eyes lit up.
"Squall" She took his hand "I can't. I just...can't".
And with those words, she let his hand fall to his side, running from the room. The lighting was bright and left Squall in a daze. His cloud was pulled from beneath him and everybody was there to see him fall.
"Bette..."
"She turned me down" Rinoa tried to hide her smirk, but failed. "I can't believe it. I thought she really liked me. It's...not fair. I guess I should stop getting my hopes up. But...I think, I...loved her".
"Awwwwwwwwwwwwww", Selphie whined, "That's so sad!!"
"I had no idea..." Quistis said, "He really liked Bette, didn't he?"
"He...loved her" Rinoa stared into the small coffee table.
"But, he married you!", Zell said.
"He would have married her if she hadn't turned him down".
"Don't think like that!", Selphie cried.
"He loved you and only you" Quistis said, trying to comfort her friend.
"Yeah..."
"But, do you think this is what made him so..." Irvine searched for the word "...cynical?"
"Maybe", Quistis said.
Irvine nodded.
"So," Zell piped up "Let's look in the diary some more. This is gettin' good'!
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Chapter 3's coming soon! ^.^ Things are gonna get interesting! Ou! And, thanks soooooo much for the great reviews! ^^