(*Author's note* I'd like to deeply thank my first two reviewers Erin Leonhart and AngelWings...this is my first fic and an author's first reviews will always be special to her. *Yunalesca sends hugs out to all her reviewers...even though they are complete strangers, she doesn't care*. Heheheh...I'm so happy now! It's been posted for like 5 minutes and I got happy reviews!!! Thanks for the encouragement so I'm now starting chapter 3. By the time it's posted I hope to have a few more reviews! Thanks guys from the bottom of my heart.

Umm I also wanted to warn Quistis lovers, that I make her kinda a bitch in this chapter. But don't take it personally!! This story is totally fictional and she's only bitchy now. Later on she be back to the normal `loving' Quistis. So no flames!! A lot of people have been telling me how I've changed the story and to them I say: "I know I've changed it. What's the point of spending so long on a fic if ur just gonna recite what everyone already knows?" So I repeat THIS IS FICTION!!!)

~*Chapter 3*~

Is He Worth It?

"Hard to think that you lost it all.

God knows even Angels fall..."

*This is for the best * Rinoa reminded herself as the elevator descended the 3 floors to the dormitories, trying with all her might to keep from crying. *If he won't commit to me, then I don't want to have anything to do with him. * She told herself encouragingly as she paced in the small elevator. *No man is worth all this. I'll give him till tomorrow night and if he doesn't then...then he can go to hell for all I care. * This of course was a complete lie but she wasn't going to admit that anytime soon.

Rinoa was stubborn.

Even more stubborn that Squall in some ways, but she believed in her heart that she was doing the right thing. She loved Squall, that she had no doubt of, but was love worth all this...hassle? Was love worth her time, her patience, and her very being? Contemplating the answer to these questions, Rinoa stepped onto the moss-like carpet of the student dorm hallway and began making her way to her room, all the time blinking excessively to keep at bay the dam of tears threatening to break free.

Once she started thinking, there was no stopping the flow of questions about her future. In order to support her decision, Rinoa began mentally making a list of pros and cons about their relationship.

1. She didn't want to be a SeeD, she didn't even want to have anything to do with the military...but she spent countless hours studying and training pointlessly just so that she could be near Squall.

2. She actually dreamed of being a nurse, or a doctor of some kind. Someone who helps people...but she threw that away because of Squall.

3. She wanted to have a family and a small house on the beach...but she settled for a cramped little dorm, all alone...yet again because of Squall.

And what did she get in return for sacrificing all her dreams?...absolutely nothing. She may as well start asking him to pay her to be his whore! That way at least she'd get money out of it.

With a sigh, Rinoa stopped by the vending machine at the corner to buy herself a snack before she had to rush off to yet another class of learning how to kill things. Her stomach churned with hunger as she purchased a small bag of chips and a coffee. A reminder that she'd much rather be sitting downstairs in the cafeteria with a couple of hotdogs, some fries and a large soda...but, as usual, she sacrificed a good meal for Squall. Yet another con, the list was getting pretty long by now.

So caught up in her thoughts, Rinoa kept her eyes on the ground, paying no attention to the growing traffic in the halls as students began rushing around in order to get back to their classes in time. It wasn't long before she bumped into someone roughly, spilling her hot coffee all over their dry-cleaned, freshly pressed, perfect SeeD uniform.

"Oh I'm so sorry!" apologized an embarrassed Rinoa, searching her pockets for a napkin of some kind but only came up with a few measly scraps of used Kleenex. "I was just..." she looked up into the face of the person she had hit, only to let her mouth hang open in shock. It was none other than Ms. Perfect herself, the girl whom she had `stolen' Squall from and the last person she wanted to see...Quistis.

The tall blonde girl sneered at Rinoa's offerings and pulled out one of her own hand-stitched handkerchiefs from her sleeve. "It's okay Heartilly," she said a little smugly, as though she were a peasant or something. It was no secret that the only reason Quistis didn't bitch at her was because of her respect for Squall and her desperate need to prove to him that she wasn't as boring and cold hearted as he thought.

"I'm so sorry Quistis, I didn't see you."

"I said it's okay. No use crying over spilt milk...or coffee in this case. Hot, staining coffee on the uniform I try so hard to keep clean." She gave Rinoa a forced smile behind an annoyed stare. "So," Quistis began, wiping the remaining droplets off her neck, making some of the passing male students drool. "How did it go with Squall?"

Rinoa immediately blushed, looking at her feet as she remembered her and Squall's (quote un-quote) "meeting".

Quistis smiled, analyzing her movements in a way that only a woman could understand. "That good huh?"

Rinoa only blushed more "Am I that obvious?"

"Well, to put it lightly you two have got to work on your stealth a little. Who knows what'll happen if you two get caught."

Looking up at the blonde instructor, Rinoa came up with a sudden idea. Maybe Quistis knew why she and Squall couldn't be seen together? Maybe she could end all the questioning here and now?

"What'll happen?"

Quistis' smile was replaced with a sarcastic look of confusion. "What ever do you mean my dear Rinoa?"

"What will happen if Squall and I are seen together?" she insisted, her hands placed firmly on her hips. "What is the point of all this secrecy?"

The blonde smiled, as if Rinoa were no more than a child who didn't know any better than to ask stupid questions. "Why didn't you hear?"

"Obviously I didn't if I'm asking." Rinoa was getting annoyed by now with the way she was prancing around the subject.

Quistis peered over her shoulder, as if to make sure no one `suspicious' was around to hear what she was going to say. Then she leaned forward to whisper into Rinoa's ear. Taking her precious time knowing that the suspense was killing her.

"Well," she paused again, drawing an exaggerated gulp of air "The reason Squall doesn't want to be seen around you..." she gestured Rinoa to come even closer till she could feel her breath on her cheek "is top secret."

She was teasing. That much was obvious, flaunting information that Rinoa desperately wanted to know, but refused to give. Sure she wasn't a high ranking SeeD like the rest of them, but she was still a human being, one who deserved to know why she had to put up with this crap.

"You're not going to tell me are you?" Rinoa backed away, fury in her eyes.

"My dear Rinoa," Quistis flipped her hair dramatically over her shoulder, making sure that the other students saw how it shone in the light. "I believe that you are but a student, and Squall (the commander) is my (the assistant headmistress') date to the anniversary ball tomorrow night and every night in the future. As far as Garden is concerned, I am his wife!" Her smile was instantly replaced with a stern gaze. "To think...the commander and a student! Why it would be a scandal!"

"And what does that have to do with..."

"The point is that these little `meetings' of yours had better come to an end."

Rinoa didn't like the way this conversation was going. Squall had already told her of the complications their relationship would produce within Garden's social ladder. But he said that that wasn't what was bothering him. He said that there was something else. Was that true? Or was it simply Quistis' jealousy he was worried about?

"Was that a threat instructor Trepe?" Rinoa asked, glowering.

Quistis only shrugged, her innocent act back in place. "Consider it a warning from a friend."

Resisting the urge to slap Quistis then and there, Rinoa darted past the smirking blonde and headed straight to her room. She should of known better to actually expect a straight answer. At this rate, with friends like instructor Trepe and boyfriends like Squall, she would never get the answers she was searching for.

Once in her dormitory, Rinoa fell down on her bed, hugging her pillow to her chest. Yet she refused to cry. She had cried enough over the past year to last her a lifetime. She hated her classes, she hated her so called `friends', she hated this room, she hated wasting her life on something she hated...to sum things up; she hated Garden and everything in it. Except Squall, but even he was starting to piss her off lately. For the first time in a year, Rinoa really began to ask herself `is he worth it'?

*