Author's Note: Sorry for taking so long to update!!! I had so much stuff to do at school and stuff. Plus, this chapter turned out extra long so I've had to edit it a little and split it into 2 parts. Well enjoy anyway.

Actress In The Mirror

Chapter Seven - The Ball (Part One)

The hall had been brightly decorated for the ball with lots of banners and the floor had been polished to perfection. A couple of the waitresses were placing more drinks onto their trays as people started to enter.

Fujin was waiting for Seifer by the door. She had not made too much of an effort with her outfit as she did not see much point of her doing so. After all, Seifer was not going to notice either way. She did not fit in with the people there, not with her short greyish hair and her eye patch. This was definitely not her scene.

Everyone there looked so happy. There were loads of smiles and laughter and the band had begun to play lively music which lightened everyone's spirits but Fujin's. Why did she say she would go in the first place? Just because Seifer wanted to get under Squall's skin did not mean that she had to have a part in it.

"Hey Fujin, didn't know you were coming."

Zell smiled at her and she nodded slowly. Quistis was not too far behind him and the pair linked arms and walked out onto the dance floor. Fujin was quite surprised to see that those two had gone together but did not bother thinking about it too much.

More and more couples kept on entering but still there was no sign of Seifer. Maybe he was running late or he had changed his mind on coming. Still, she was not about to leave just yet and decided to wait about ten more minutes.

***

In the corner, Selphie sat with her arms folded as Irvine just sighed to himself. The music blaring at them, Selphie's eyes were full of anger whenever they were fixed on her 'so called' boyfriend. He had pretended not notice as he did not want to make a scene.

"So," Irvine started, "want to dance?"

"Not with you," she snapped.

She looked away from him, she could not bare to see his face any longer. Sooner or later she would have to ask him but it was just too hard.

"Look, just tell me what the problem is. Is it me? Have I done something wrong?" Irvine looked honestly concerned with his girlfriend's behaviour but she saw it as just a trick, to make her think that he had done nothing.

"Do I have to tell you?!" she yelled at him, her eyes like flames. "You must think I'm stupid!"

***

It appeared as if Rinoa was dragging Squall onto the dance floor. He truly did not want to dance. She smiled at him as they took the positions which they once had on that fateful night a couple of years ago. As they slowly began to dance, Rinoa stopped. Squall turned to see what she was staring at and wished that he could just leave but his feet were rooted to the spot.

"Oh my God!" Rinoa laughed. "Don't those two look like a perfect couple? I never noticed that before. Hey, shall we interrupt them and say hi? I haven't seen Quistis for ages!"

Rinoa lifted her heels and happily walked towards Zell and Quistis but Squall grabbed her arm in panic. Her eyes showed him that pain was felt so he loosened his grip a little.

"Sorry," he apologised solemnly. "Just leave them a while. Like you said they," he paused, not wanting to say the next few words. "They look good together so just let them have their first dance with no interruptions."

To his surprise Rinoa nodded and took hold of his hand. They began dancing again and Squall felt relieved. He was having a little trouble remembering the moves again as he had not done this for a long time and Rinoa was trying to help him.

Just as Squall felt that he was getting the hang of things he felt his back bash into another dancer. Rinoa let out a little giggle and as Squall turned round he gulped and tried to say sorry but the words just would not come out.

"Sorry," Quistis smiled nervously. "That was my fault, I should have looked where I was going."

"Don't be silly," Rinoa said cheerfully. "Squall was having a little trouble with his moves. It was totally our fault."

"Yeah, I wondered what he was trying to do," Zell laughed.

"SHUT UP!"

Squall tore himself from Rinoa's grip and walked away from the three. Both Zell and Rinoa looked shocked but Quistis knew what the problem was. He just could not put the past behind him. She watched as Rinoa ran after him, that was definitely not what he wanted. Surely now the truth was going to come out.

"What do you think all that was about?" Zell asked.

"I…I don't know," she lied. "Let's just hope that it was nothing important, eh?"