Chapter 9

Hey… It's me again… Oh well… Please review! And erm.. read of course. ^___^ Well, thanks everyone for your reviews! And I hope you will all support me in this story… J

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"Yawn…" It was another school day and Tifa was dead tired, thanks to yesterday's incident. She stood up to stretched, but only fell down again in exhaustion. The exercise I did yesterday was really tiring… She thought to herself.

Drowsily, she trudged towards the bathroom and brushed her teeth, washed her face, the usual. After the morning routine, she made her way downstairs to the kitchen for her breakfast. Her father was already there, drinking his black coffee and reading the morning news.

"Good morning, dear. Do you feel alright? You don't have to force yourself to go to school today… Especially since yesterday…" Her father asked, concerned. Tifa shook her head. Besides feeling tired, she was alright.

"No problem, dad… Besides, I'll call you from school if I don't feel well, ok?" She replied with a tired, but sincere smile. Her father shrugged his shoulders.

"Anything you say, honey. But if you DO feel a little unwell or anything, you must, must call me, ok? I'll come and get you straight away." He told her, patting her on the shoulder. Tifa nodded in agreement and fixed herself a great breakfast. She was a good cook, which was a trait she and her mother shared.

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"Hi Tifa!" Her friends greeted her as she entered Shinra High. She grinned back at them and said "Hi".

"So, how has school life been coming along?" Aeris asked Tifa as they walked to their classes. Tifa thought about it for a few seconds and replied cheerfully, "It's been great! I've made so many new friends, like you, Rufus, et cetera! I really like this school…"

Aeris smiled sweetly. "Hey, you don't mind that me and Cloud are together, do you Tif?"

"No, of course not! I was a little jealous at first… but now I'm not a bit jealous! Take care of him, ok?" Tifa gave her a I-trust-you-to-do-it look.

Aeris nodded in understanding. "Of course, Tifa! You can count on me! Oh, there's my class, see you!" She gave a quick wave and ran off to her classroom, leaving Tifa to walk all alone as the rest of the 'gang' had already left for their own classes. Tifa hummed a tune as she walked.

Where IS the room…? I've been walking for, what, 10 minutes? She sighed. She had to go to Room 1310, but could not locate it somehow. It's a good thing there's still about 20 minutes till the bell rings… She thought to herself.

"Hi Tifa," a familiar voice greeted her. She twirled around and smiled. "Hey, Rufus! How are you?"

"Fine, I guess. You lost or something?"

"Yeah… I can't find this room!! I'm about to go nuts…" She gave him the number. "You should know where it is, your dad made this school right?"

Rufus nodded. "It's over there, I'll bring you."

"So, where's your Turks? They're usually with you…" She asked curiously.

"Hmm…? Oh, them. I let them go off for awhile. They'll be back soon." He smiled as best as he could, but it came out as a smirk. Soon, they reached the room.

"Thanks! Heh… maybe I should hire you as my personal tour guide around Shinra High…" She said jokingly. Rufus smiled mysteriously and his eyes had a mischievous glint in them.

"Yes, maybe you should. You could pay me…" He offered with mock seriousness. Tifa pretended to frown and think about his offer.

"Well, I could pay you a dollar per hour?" She laughed, then turned 'serious' again.

"Hmm.. I'll consider it, Ms Lockhart," Rufus said solemnly. They both looked at each other and burst out laughing. Well, Tifa did, while Rufus just chuckled softly.

"Well, I should go in now, see you!" Tifa waved and walked into the room. It was near empty as most people hadn't come in yet and were lingering around the school, talking or just being around. She scanned the room for a familiar face.

"Tifa! Hi!" She looked around and spotted a girl with blond hair waving from the back of the class. Tifa walked towards the girl. "Elena, hey!" She replied back happily.

"We seem to be in a lot of classes together, you know?" Tifa mentioned as she sat down nest to the chatty 17 year old. Elena nodded. "Yeah… I wonder why…Well, that's great, right?"

Tifa smiled. "Uh huh. I hope the teacher will be a nice one this time round." She said, thinking about the teachers she met yesterday. Namely Sephiroth. Man, that guy is creepy.

"Don't worry! I heard that the History teacher, Ms Silveria, is really nice. She's only in her 20s and she's pretty cool." Elena assured Tifa.

"Really? That's so cool! I can't wait…" She smiled.

Ding-dong. The school bell rang and students started shuffling in. A few students from her other classes smiled at her and some even said hi. Tifa smiled back and greeted them likewise.

"Tif! Hey, girl!" Her super hyper friend, Yuffie slapped her on the back a little too heartily, causing Tifa to wince in pain.

"Oops…" the Japanese girl replied embarrassed. "Sorry, Tif…"

Tifa shook her head. "It's alright… It's not that painful anyway." She crossed her fingers under the table. Yuffie grinned. "Ok!"

She dumped herself onto the chair next to them and started chattering away with Elena. Tifa just grinned at the them as they conversed with each other.

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Vincent walked along the somewhat empty hallway. It was late but he didn't really care. After all, he only had a few hours sleep last night due to unforeseen circumstances. He yawned tiredly as he searched for Room 1310.

The number was intriguing as it was the date of his own birthday – the 13th of October. Coincidence? He didn't know and didn't really care either. He just wanted to sleep and sleep and sleep. He didn't really sleep last night as he had spent nearly the whole night thinking about Tifa's words.

He walked at a snails pace and finally reached the door of the room. He sighed and opened the door. The room was nearly full and he searched for a place to sit. Somewhere where he would not be out in the limelight, but also somewhere where he could sit in comfort and safety.

Suddenly he heard a familiar voice call his name. The same voice that had told him to 'get over his past'. He looked up. It was her all right.

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Ok.. fine.. I ran out of things to say.. Lol.. Um… This is 5 pages long! ^____^ So I'll end here.. please visit my website! .. Kind of crappy, I know.. but visit it anyway, ok? ^____^ Thanks!

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