Disclaimer: I have taken over the world and I now own SQUARESOFT along with Final Fantasy VIII! Muwahahahaha! *Suddenly gets overthrown by protesting civilians* Drat… Well… I no longer own SQUARESOFT or Final Fantasy VIII for that matter.
Point Of View: Squall Chapter III
I yawned and stretched, feeling my hands dangling slightly from the double bed. Looking around, I noticed I was still in the Caraway household and that the nightmare had just begun. Great… I thought. Just great… Only a day had gone by. The sarcastic thoughts in my head grew even bitterer as I strode to the window, opened the blinds and peeked outside.
The town of Deling had experienced the first snowfall of the winter season. I hate winter… The snow, the stalling cars, the ice… Everything! I glared at my horizon. The streets looked icy; Joan was outside with the two boys shoveling snow off the walk, and the coating of snow was atop everything: neighboring roofs, street lamps and trees. I hate snow.
I groaned and shut the blinds once more. I looked at the time… 11:30 A.M. Great… Now the whole household will think I'm a lazy ass.
I walked drunkenly in the halls, trying to remember where the bathroom was. I slowly began to remember my surroundings and I finally found the bathroom. Not thinking, I opened the closed- might I add, unlocked- door and allowed myself in.
Standing close to the mirror was a fully dressed Rinoa, applying mascara. She looked from her work to me with a look that plainly stated 'Who the hell are you and what are you doing here?'
Although, instead of stating those exact words she examined me head to toe and that's when I realized I was wearing boxers and t-shit. The heat rose up to my cheeks and I cleared my throat nervously.
"Oh right…" She greeted, "You live here now."
I cleared my throat once more as a response and couldn't help staring at her intently. I felt like such a moron and a loser at that moment but I couldn't just take my eyes off of her.
She tilted her body towards me, "Do you need the bathroom?" She articulated the words like I was some stupid bastard.
"Uh… Yes." I had to think before answering, making me seem like an even bigger retard. Well, I could tell that this conversation was going marvelously by the look she had on her face: the one that simply stated that I was a dumb shithead.
"Ok then." She replied, gathered her crap… Ok, what the vast population identifies as 'make-up' and pushed past me out of the room. I stood there, looking dumbfounded for a few seconds until I finally decided to shut the door and lock it.
I pulled off my t-shirt, opened the water, took off my boxers and succumbed to the warm shower water.
***
I pulled on a hooded, navy sweater and black baggy jeans- completely ignoring my wet, messy hair. Like hell anyone should or would care. I headed out of the room, down the spiraling staircase and into the kitchen. Not bad… I semi-knew my way around the house already.
Julia was hovering over lunch and Rinoa was sitting at a table flipping through her prized textbook.
"Hey!" I greeted.
Rinoa looked up at me and did a double take. At this point I didn't really know why but I assumed she was a slow learner and needed some time to really understand the fact that I would be living here for a year.
Julia looked up from her culinary activity, smiled at me and asked, "Had a good night's rest?"
"Yeah, thank you." I replied smiling; I was in a pretty good mood today.
Rinoa just kept looking at me curiously until I finally asked her, "What?"
She cleared her throat, looked back down at her book and replied, "No, nothing."
I looked around the room once more. I guessed that the two kids and Joan were still cleaning the walk but I couldn't figure out where Caraway could be.
Guessing my thoughts, Julia responded to my non-existent question, "James always has work to do… He's only home in the evening and in the early morning."
"Oh ok…" I replied comprehensively.
Suddenly, Stu barged into the room and yelled out, "Squall! You're awake, finally! Let's go play hockey in the back yard! Joan helped us scrape snow till we found ice! We made a hockey rink!!"
I nodded, "Yeah, sounds like fun." I smirked, "But… I have no skates."
"You can borrow Daddy's skates; can he mom? Huh? Can he?" Stu asked excitedly.
"Sure." Julia replied, her concentration back on the meal she was preparing.
***
I hadn't been on a pair of skates in so long… but I seemed to be doing fine. At least, I was doing fine until she decided to join us men.
Tight jeans, sweater and windbreaker she announced a two on two. So I thought, 'No problem, she's a chick. What's the worst she can do?' Boy, was I a dumbass.
Not only could she skate, she could skate fast and well. Then my 'manly hormones' started acting up and I could barely concentrate on the hockey puck… First thing I knew I had control, the next moment she had out maneuvered Mikey (who was the goal keeper).
"They picked this thing to be the commander of a Garden?" Her sneering voice muttered loud enough for me to hear.
"Squall, come on! She's killing me!" Mikey said from the net.
"Aw, the poor baby…" Rinoa skated to the middle of the ice, "So now what's the score? 13 to 2?"
"Why don't you-" I was cut off abruptly by a voice from the other side of the yard.
"Hey Rinoa!" My head jerked in that direction. That was when I saw… Him. Now girls would describe him as 'the sexy man with a tight ass, great hairdo and those very masculine shoulders, those strong arms and big strong hands.'
I would preferably describe him as a fucking playboy with a small dick and minimal intelligence.
"Oh hey." Rinoa grinned and called back.
"Hey, spaz!" He called to Mikey, "Hey pipsqueak!" he nodded to Stu.
Mikey's face reddened, his jaw clenched and I could see he was boiling to retort something but he kept his eyes down and didn't say a word.
Rinoa gave me a satisfied smirk, "This is Jake… My boyfriend."
I nearly died there. She had a boyfriend? Of course she had a boyfriend… I mean, look at her! Of course she had a boyfriend… Hey wait, since when did I start caring? Sure, she was hot but that didn't mean I had feelings for her. I mean, to hell! Like I had feelings for anyone before!
He walked over to me and shook my hand, "Hey, Jake Asselin. You got to be that commander guy." He had obviously heard about me.
Asselin? ASS-elin? Righty then! "Yeah, I'm the… Commander guy." I grinned, "Are you the pool boy?"
I received a well-earned glare from Rinoa's part and Jake's smile faded slightly, "No."
"Well, love to stay and chat, Jack, but I've got things to do."
"It's Jake." He corrected me.
I smiled, "Who said it wasn't? Hey, Mikey, Stu, you guys up for a race against me in Grand Tourismo 3?"
Mikey looked up surprised, "Sure. Let's go Stu."
Needless to say… From the moment I saw Jack… Or Jake… Whatever his name was, I never did like him. And I could tell I wasn't the only one.
***
"Do they always suck face like that?" I asked Mikey as I stared into the backyard through the upstairs window. "I mean… Look at that… Your sister won't have any face when he's done."
Mikey simply shrugged, "When dad's not around, yeah."
"And when he is around?" I was fairly curious to know.
"Then Jake is really polite and shit." He snorted, "I hate him."
"Yeah, me too!" Agreed Stu, "He always calls me pipsqueak and says I'm small."
"Seems like the bullying-type." I observed and at my comment, Mikey seemed to shrivel up into his own world of solitude.
"He is!" Stu informed promptly, "All Rinoa's boyfriends are like that… Big, tough guys."
I shrugged, "Whatever. He seems really stuck-up." I concluded. It finally hit me at how much I was really opening up to these kids. Usually, I had few friends and those few friends never really did get to know my thoughts and opinions. But here I was, talking openly with two kids I met just a day ago.
"Squall?" Mikey spoke up meekly, "Can I ask you a favor?"
"Yeah, shoot." I replied and sat on the couch next to him.
"Could you… Call me Mike?" The kid asked, "It makes me sound… Tougher… Not so weak."
The kid… He reminded me so much of me in a way. So secluded, so weak… I punched him lightly on the shoulder, "Sure thing…"
"You can call me Stu, I don't mind!" The other piped up, "You want to play Sly Cooper: The Theivious Raccounous?"
Now I didn't know it then… But I was soon to find out that this raccoon, Sly Cooper, was going to be one of my best friends for the next few weeks.
Sammy-Chan: Yes, Squall will eventually become a videogame junkie from a certain perspective. Yes, Rinoa is going steady with Jake. Yes, Mikey does get bullied and YES, ok, YES!!! Maaahaaa … more updates to come. Now please note: If you want to know when this fic is updated please tell me so in your review and I'll send you news through e-mail. I hoped you enjoyed; review please!
Beta's Note: So you're turning Squall into yourself, huh? Heh heh heh. Anyways, Asselin… That sounds a lot like asinine… You know… Stupid. Anyways, Great visuals. I know I liked the bathroom scene. Anyways… Over and Out.
