Tidus almost jumped for joy when he heard the long bell of Besaid
High ring. Auron's long lecture on science had not amused him much, and he
was glad to get out of the stuffy classroom. He had hoped to find Yuna
again, asking her why they had both subdued back with Auron, but before he
knew it, she was out of the classroom.
'Funny, she was here just a few seconds ago,' Tidus thought to himself as he trudged himself out of the classroom. Walking in a straight line along with the other students, he had no idea of where he was heading to, but he didn't care, since none of the classes in Besaid High sounded that exciting except for lunch and gym.
The classes might've been all exciting if he had one friend in each class. He didn't care who it was. It just had to be a person who would team up with him during group projects, and a person who would just chat with him for a few seconds. But just as he expected and knew, there were far too many groups in Besaid High, none which he could fit in. Hell, he wasn't even on the Blitzball team!
Just as he was feeling sorry for himself for spending the last year of high school as a loner, he saw the azure haired boy he had met in the morning. The same lackeys he had seen in the morning also surrounded the boy, as if to protect him. The victim for today was a large, muscular boy with tangerine orange hair standing up in a peculiar hairdo. Although the boy was large, he had a gentle face, and Tidus wondered why he was in trouble with Seymour.
"Just because you're the guardians of my girl doesn't mean you have to follow her everywhere. Frankly, I find you very much of a nuisance. I mean, with you constantly hanging out with you, she never spends time with me. A person of that royal status must never hang out with people like you," Seymour said in a mocking tone. The lackeys behind him sneered, while the other boy had a face full of fear. He put his large hand over the raven- haired girl standing behind him, only to have his hand pushed away. The girl with crimson eyes glared at Seymour, an aura of black magic which Tidus instantly felt being emitted around him.
"We are her guardians. And we do not follow her everywhere." The girl's voice was low and emotionless, reminding Tidus of Auron. With her raven black hair, crimson eyes, and alabaster skin, she looked like a deadly person to mess around with. Tidus saw that the orange-haired boy was looking just as scared as he was, and felt bad for those two. Seymour was a big jerk, in his opinion.
"Oh dear. Poor little Wakka must have a girl to protect him, doesn't he?" Seymour mocked, laughing along with his group. Both Wakka and the girl turned a bright shade of red, Wakka from embarrassment and the girl from anger.
"Yo, stop laughing. We're her guardians, ya?" Wakka said somewhat quietly, looking down at the ground. He had a thick Besaidian accent mixed in with his English, which Tidus thought that was pretty cool. Apparently Seymour didn't think so, for he snickered at his actions, shaking his head as he turned back to Wakka.
"Well well Wakka, seems like you're more of a dunce than I expected, ya?" Seymour mocked Wakka once more, making Wakka's face beet red.
"Don't mess with my accent, man," Wakka retorted, somewhat quietly, thus making it lose its angry tone. Seymour put his head back, laughing loudly at Wakka's poor retort.
Tidus didn't want to see anymore of the fight. How dare Seymour mock the two who were desperately trying to protect their friend? It made Tidus' blood boil up, just like when he has his daily arguments with his father.
'That jerk!'
"Hey, you're the stupid one, not noticing that your girlfriend doesn't like you". Tidus walked up to Seymour, glaring at him with his cerulean eyes the best he could. He looked down at Seymour, him being a few centimeters shorter than Tidus. His eyes scared Tidus, but he hated people like Seymour, who were mockers. His father was a mocker, and probably the people Tidus hated more than anything were people who took enjoyment from mocking others.
"What...did you say?" Seymour's tone instantly turned threatened, glaring at Tidus. Tidus, in his fury, ignored the horrendous glares given out from Seymour's eyes. Picking up Seymour by his collar, Tidus was about to punch him in the face. His strong arms gradually pulled back, just like when he was about to thrust a blitzball. Seymour was just a blitzball, waiting to be hit hard. As it was just about to strike Seymour's ugly face, a gentle hand stopped his arm.
The same gentle hand that he had held a few minutes ago.
Just as he was about to turn his head, Seymour opened his mouth once again, only to fill the air with his sneering voice.
"My my Yuna, a pleasure to see you here."
"Seymour..." Yuna said somewhat quietly, not loosening her grip on Tidus' shoulders, but rather grasping it harder. The two kept on staring at each other for a while, as if to have a glaring contest, Yuna with her bi- colored eyes and Seymour with his pale ones. Tidus couldn't tell which of their eyes were scarier to look, for they both looked fierce. Although he couldn't see Yuna's eyes with her dark glasses, she seemed to be emitting a very fierce aura. Seymour was plain freaky.
A few seconds later, Seymour turned and waved a hand over to his lackeys, who started moving. Flashing a somewhat wicked smile at Yuna, he left along with them, parading in the corridors like kings. Yuna continued to stare at them until they were out of sight, and she let out a sigh of release as she turned her neck to smile over at Tidus, who had a puzzled expression on his face.
"Sorry, Seymour's a big jerk sometimes," Yuna apologized, although there was no reason for her to apologize. Tidus nodded, still uncertain of what to label Seymour as.
"Thank you, Wakka and Lulu," Yuna said gratefully, giving them a big smile. The two nodded over to her, and instantly, their facial expressions loosened from a strict face to a smile. Tidus felt his mouth curve into a smile as well. He found out that Yuna's presence was calming, and felt the boiling of his blood turn mild. The anger he felt disappeared somewhere, and he felt strangely calm.
Yuna turned once again to Tidus, flashing him the same smile before letting go of his shoulder. She immediately noticed that where she had grasped on his t-shirt was lumpy, and began fretting.
"Oh my, I'm so sorry Tidus! Did it hurt? Are you okay?" she began flooding him with questions, bringing the grin out to his face. Looking deeply into her eyes, Tidus was amazed that her eyes were now full of concern. Not fake concern, but real concern, as if her grasp had really hurt him.
"I'm fine, Yuna, don't get so worried up!" Tidus replied, giving her a smile like the sun. He turned over to the other two, who were looking at him in a state of shock and amazement.
"Oh man, you were great out there, brudda! You gotta be on our team, the Besaid Aurochs! You were da greatest, ya?" Wakka said excitedly, grinning as he walked towards Tidus. "From this point on, you're a member of da Besaid Aurochs!"
"Wakka, aren't you going to ask him whether he knows how to play Blitzball?" The pale girl asked, once again in her low voice, although it was considerably friendly now. She turned over to Tidus and nodded slightly, putting her pale hand out.
"Lulu. And that's Wakka."
"The name's Tidus!"
"Anyway, Wakka...don't be too hasty..."
"Naw I'm not, Lu! Look at how he raised him arm! That's proof dat he's a true Blitz player!" Wakka replied proudly, slapping Tidus on the shoulder, causing him to stumble forward slightly. "Won't ya join our team, brudda? We seriously need good players like you. The Besaid Aurochs are gonna be the losing team again this year if ya don't join, ya? " Wakka said somewhat soberly as he walked over to Tidus.
"Sure, I'll join your team, brother! And we're going to kick some other- school-Blitzball-butt!" Tidus laughed, slapping Wakka on the shoulder. The two instantly got on their groove, talking loudly about Blitzball and comments on Seymour. Yuna and Lulu just shrugged, walking together towards their next class.
***
With his newfound friends, Tidus was much more comfortable. Although Seymour was the biggest jerk, he still had great friends to count on. Not to mention the hyper Al Bhed girl he just met.
"Ooh, NEW STUDENT!" Rikku squealed, running over to Tidus. She immediately put her hand out, and with her other hand she waved over to Yuna and Lulu.
"I'm Rikku, nice ta meetcha! Hey Yunie! Lulu! Ooh, there's Wakka too!" So many words were scrambled into Rikku's sentence, Tidus couldn't really understand what she was saying but he just shook her hand and smiled warmly over to her.
"We gotta a new teacher in English! YAY FOR NEW TEACHERS!" Rikku shouted, doing one flip on the cold floors of Besaid High. Several teachers opened their doors and yelled something over to Rikku, most of them putting a finger over their mouth. Rikku mimicked their act and giggled loudly, causing the teachers to either groan, shake their heads, or to close their doors shut. A big grin was spread across her face, obviously very pleased, and she proceeded to do a flip in front of them, which put the cheerleaders in shame, in Tidus' mind.
"HEY MISTA NEW-TEACHER, WE'VE GOT A NEW STUDENT!!!" Rikku cried happily, her long blonde hair being swung wildly. The new teacher, a rough-faced man with a mechanical arm and leg, looked just as wild as Auron. Tidus wasn't so enthusiastic about having him as an English teacher.
"I presume you five are in this class. Welcome to this classroom, and I'd like to add that you are seven minutes late. Seven minutes and," Nooj took a glance at his watch, "Thirty-three seconds, to be precise."
"Uhh...hey Mista Nooj! Remember me?" Wakka said cheerfully, hoping to ease the mood between them.
"Yes, I do, as a matter of fact, Wakka. Remember that I will not hesitate to give you detention for a month." Nooj replied smoothly, putting the book he held in his arm down onto his desk. Wakka's face turned a shade of pink as the five moved to the back of the classroom.
Nooj concentrated deeply in his maroon attendance book and kept on mumbling the students' names until he finally stopped at a particular name. "Yuna...can she be...?"
Nooj shook his head, his brown hair swaying slightly as he did so. Looking up from his maroon book, he proceeded to get out a long pointer from his desk.
"OKAY, CLASS!" he shouted, which caught the students' attentions in no time. Judging by his rough, husky voice, and scary eyes, Nooj was defiantely a man to be afraid of.
"This is English Class II, and in this class, we are going to be focusing more on Shakespeare and writing more than punctuation and writing skills. This year, I have prepared a series of plays for you to perform and reflect on." Nooj explained, pointing his pointer this way and that way.
"Hey, Shakespeare sucks!" a student yelled out, only to be drowned by Nooj's roar.
"YOUNG MAN, DETENTION!" Nooj roared, banging his pointer on the desk which reminded Tidus and Yuna of Auron. He pouted slightly, mumbling that Shakespeare was a great writer.
Tidus slouched back in his chair, trying to predict the future. His prediction came fairly quickly as he knew that this year was going to be boring AND hectic. But when he took a glance at Yuna, who seemed to be concentrating on Nooj's lessons, Tidus felt that there might be some hope in this year.
***
Wakka and Tidus chatted more about Blitzball before heading over to lunch. It was great, having fourth period lunch. Tidus felt that it was a nice schedule change, having sixth period lunch for almost two years.
"Brudda, the Luca Goers are the top team this year. We gotta beat 'em!" Wakka said determinately as put his books away in his very messy locker. Tidus nodded as he stuffed his books in his locker, B69. There was a slight scent of jasmine near his locker, which smelled faintly of Yuna.
"Hey Wakka, you're Yuna's guardian?" asked Tidus, closing his locker. Wakka's mouth curved in a grin as he slapped his chest with his fist.
"Ya, I'm one of her guardians! Cool, huh?" Wakka said proudly, walking towards the cafeteria. Tidus understood how proud he must feel, being a guardian.
"Anyway, I'm protecting her because I couldn't protect my own little brother, Chappu. He died because of those filthy Al Bheds!" said Wakka bitterly, his hands forming a fist as he walked through the halls. Tidus simply nodded, not wishing to prod further into Wakka's mind. He understood Wakka's pain, for he knew the pain of not being able to protect someone.
"Come on, let's get to lunch before we get in any trouble with the principle," Tidus tried to brighten up the cold feeling between the two, and Wakka's face immediately brightened with the word "lunch".
"Ya, come on brudda! They're serving chocolate ice cream today!" Wakka shouted, tugging on Tidus' sleeve. Tidus, pulled by Wakka's strong hand, stumbled but managed to keep up with Wakka's mad dash for chocolate ice cream.
***
Rikku was busy arguing with the cafeteria lady for using Chocobo- meat for the spaghetti sauce.
"HOW CAN YOU USE THE MEAT OF AN INNOCENT CHOCOBO FOR SOME SPAGHETTI SAUCE?" Rikku yelled, pounding her fist on the table. The cafeteria lady looked scared to death with the young Al Bhed girl yelling her head off. True to the eye, Rikku did look like a wild girl with her blonde hair swaying violently.
"Rikku...please, lower your voice...everyone's looking at you..." Yuna desperately tried to pacify Rikku's anger with no avail. Her dark glasses kept on falling down her nose as she tugged on Rikku's arm, which was flinging everywhere. Blushing madly, she kept on tugging on Rikku's arm, trying to pull her away from the terrified cafeteria lady.
"I DON'T NEED TO LOWER MY VOICE, YUNIE! THIS CAFETERIA PERSON IS A MURDERER! SHE KILLED A CHOCOBO! WHERE'S YOUR HUMANITY, LADY?"
"Rikku!"
"Help, someone, help!"
"STOP USING CHOCOBO MEAT!!!" Rikku yelled with much anger, slamming her tray on the table. Yuna winced, the cafeteria lady cried, and the rest of the cafeteria watched, amused.
"What's up with Rikku?" Tidus asked, looking curiously at Rikku, who was ranting on about how precious Chocobos were. They had just bought their lunches, which were the hot lunch for today, spaghetti. They were just about to go to their table, but instantly, Tidus' eyes focused on Rikku, who was busy arguing. He was amazed how her voice echoed throughout the cafeteria.
"Oh, that's just her protecting da wildlife," Wakka told him, looking amused at Rikku, who was now jumping and making movements to prove her point.
Tidus nodded, and to his surprise, he saw Yuna, who was busy trying to get Rikku not to release the worst of her wrath onto the cafeteria lady. Even though she was stuggling hard to keep Rikku from attacking the lady, she still looked beautiful to Tidus and the most of the school's population of the school's eyes.
The cafeteria lady somehow managed to escape Rikku's wrath, although she looked very shaken. Yuna had managed to pull Rikku over to their table to be united with Tidus and Wakka.
"Hi Tidus, Wakka!" Yuna said breathlessly, although happily. Waving to them, she was pulled back with Rikku yelling something in Al Bhed to the cafeteria lady.
"Ayo'hi e Chocobo lohtihih!"
Yuna laughed weakly as she tugged Rikku over to the table. Rikku's vivid green eyes immediately changed into the eyes of fury when she saw the two boys with spaghetti in front of them. She gasped and pointed at the spaghetti as if they were something horrible, and turned to Tidus and Wakka with an expression of horror on her face.
"You...you..."
Tidus and Wakka laughed weakly as they carried their plates over to the garbage can and threw them in the bin. Rikku looked considerably happier to see them without the spaghetti.
"Are you working as an animal rights activist, Rikku?" asked Lulu, who was already sitting down at the table with a water bottle and a salad. Rikku nodded vigorously, putting her hand close to her heart.
"I am Rikku, who vowed to protect the life of others!" she said proudly, grinning like a child. Lulu nodded, although she didn't seem interested much in Rikku's speech.
Wakka kept on taking glances at Lulu, which he would look down whenever Lulu returned his glance.
"What, Wakka?" Lulu asked, looking at him curiously. Wakka blushed, and shook his head violently as if to deny something. Tidus, Yuna, and Rikku looked at him curiously while Wakka blushed like a tomato.
"Ooh..." Rikku marveled, clapping her hands. She seemed to forget about her anger with the cafeteria as she went over to Wakka and whispered something in his ear, causing him to blush even more.
"T-t-that's n-not true! Rikku, come back here!" he stuttered, running after Rikku who was speeding away. Unfortunately for Wakka and fortunately for Rikku, she was the fastest one of the two.
"I sometimes feel that I'm a couple of years older than them..." Lulu chuckled in her low voice, smiling. Tidus was surprised that she would smile, since she seemed so...gothic.
"That's because you're too serious Lulu! Come on, lighten up! Be happy! It's called positive thinking!" Rikku said happily, coming back from her run with Wakka. Tidus couldn't see Wakka anywhere, but after a few seconds of scanning, he found Wakka on his knees, panting.
"Rikku, you run too fast!" he complained, continuing to pant as he sat down next to Lulu. A devilish smile immediately sprang upon Rikku's face as she looked at Lulu and Wakka.
"How sweet..." she snickered, causing Wakka to glare at her. He chucked an empty paper cup at her, which she swiftly dodged, instead hitting Tidus in the face.
"Ow..." Tidus mumbled, rubbing his face. Yuna smiled next to him, shaking her head slightly.
Tidus marveled how pretty she looked when she smiled. She looked so serene, and it made him forget the troubles he had right now. If only he could look at her face for a long time...
***
"Alright kiddies, we're going to learn a lot of things in Home Economics this year to prepare you all when you get married. I don't want to go through all the 'crap' with you all choosing partners so your partner for this year will be the person next to you," the Home Economics teachers, Mrs. Petrovoski, a fat lady in her mid-50's explained to the class. She looked like a rat, with very large front teeth and beady eyes. Her hot pink t-shirt and fuchsia skirt didn't match, and her huge turquoise necklace did not match with any article of her clothing. Tidus was amazed with her purple hair; he didn't know that anyone wouldn't notice how awful their fashion taste was.
His heart leaped with joy when he saw that the person next to him was Yuna. So far, Yuna was in every one of his classes, from Science to Lunch. He didn't mind at all, in fact, he wished she were in every one of his classes. Yuna noticed that Tidus was in every one of her classes so far, and she too was happy. It was nice having a familiar face in her classes, especially Tidus.
"I guess me and you are partners," Tidus said happily. Smiling, Yuna nodded as they walked over to their station. Each station was the same; it had a sink, oven, and refrigerator. The sink was dirty with a lot of watermarks, the refrigerator close to empty, and the oven being half burnt.
"Alright class! We're going to be making cookies today, and you can make any kind of cookie you want, so don't come to me saying 'crap', kay? You have an hour so use your time wisely!" Mrs. Petrovoski yelled, then proceeded to recline in her huge sofa.
Tidus and Yuna smiled at each other as they got the necessary ingredients for making the cookies. Tidus felt that it was going to be a breeze making cookies with Yuna. Perhaps more than a breeze.
"So first we have to put some flour into this bowl," Tidus said, putting several cups of flour in a silver bowl. Yuna nodded, cracking and putting two eggs into the bowl. Whilst putting the flour in the bowl, Tidus coughed, thus creating a big floury smoke. Yuna and Tidus both coughed, Tidus ending up with flour on his hair and a floury face, Yuna with a little flour on her face.
"Ehh, sorry," Tidus apologized, fearing that Yuna would be angry. The girls he knew usually got very angry if some part of them got dirty, but he felt relieved when he heard Yuna's crystalline laughter.
"Tidus, you look so silly!" she laughed, pointing at Tidus' hair. He laughed as well, trying to brush the flour out of his hair. The flour- incident soon escalated into a flour-throwing contest, which ended up with no winner nor loser.
Yuna grabbed a handful of flour from the bin and sprinkled it onto Tidus' hair, making him look like he had white hair. "Tidus, you look like an old man!" Yuna squealed happily, laughing. Tidus countered back by grabbing a handful of flour and sprinkling it on Yuna's hair. Yuna ducked at the last minute, so she didn't have all the flour on her hair, but her chestnut hair was now a mixture of tawny hair strands to snow white hair.
"Now you look older, Yuna!" Tidus laughed, holding his sides. Yuna made an angry face, only to burst out laughing.
The two laughed as they threw flour at each other until they were cut off by a very annoyed teacher.
"I told you not to do this 'crap'! Just hurry up and make the cookies!" Mrs. Petrovoski screeched, thus giving Tidus and Yuna no choice but to make their cookies. Both of them looked like a mess, with flour in their hair and on their clothes.
"I look horrible, don't I?" Yuna asked, giggling. Tidus shook his head, putting his arm on her shoulder. Her dark glasses slid down nose, revealing her exotic eyes. The right one green, the other blue. Tidus couldn't help but stare into her eyes, which transfixed him from the second he laid eyes on them. The green eye was so green, so green that it almost put the emeralds in shame. The blue eye made his own ones seem boring.
"Tidus...? Tidus?"
Tidus shook his head, coming back to reality. Yuna had a soft, gentle smile on her face, the smile Tidus liked the most. It seemed so gentle, so serene, and it was a smile he'd never seen on a person before. Rikku had a big smile, like a child's. Lulu had a refrained smile. Wakka had a happy smile. Seymour didn't have a smile, and if he did have one, it was an ugly one. Auron's smiles were rare, and his father's smile, Tidus preferred not to think about it.
"Let's make the cookies, Yuna!" Tidus took the bowl and started whisking it with a spoon. Yuna smiled once again as proceeded onto heating the oven.
***
"Mmm, these cookies are good, Yuna!" Tidus exclaimed happily, munching on one. Yuna nodded as she took a bite out of one.
"I know...you'll be a good dad when you grow up, Tidus," she replied, smiling. Tidus felt his eyes pop out at Yuna's remark.
"W-what d-do you mean?"
Yuna laughed as she tugged at Tidus' arm, heading over to gym. She felt happy, very happy in a very long time.
***
Sorry for such a long delay! I couldn't think of how to continue the story, which I hope is a good explanation for the long delay. Anyway, wait up for the next chapter of this story! Oh, and please review!
Ayo'hi e [Chocobo] lohtihih!: You're a [Chocobo] murderer!
'Funny, she was here just a few seconds ago,' Tidus thought to himself as he trudged himself out of the classroom. Walking in a straight line along with the other students, he had no idea of where he was heading to, but he didn't care, since none of the classes in Besaid High sounded that exciting except for lunch and gym.
The classes might've been all exciting if he had one friend in each class. He didn't care who it was. It just had to be a person who would team up with him during group projects, and a person who would just chat with him for a few seconds. But just as he expected and knew, there were far too many groups in Besaid High, none which he could fit in. Hell, he wasn't even on the Blitzball team!
Just as he was feeling sorry for himself for spending the last year of high school as a loner, he saw the azure haired boy he had met in the morning. The same lackeys he had seen in the morning also surrounded the boy, as if to protect him. The victim for today was a large, muscular boy with tangerine orange hair standing up in a peculiar hairdo. Although the boy was large, he had a gentle face, and Tidus wondered why he was in trouble with Seymour.
"Just because you're the guardians of my girl doesn't mean you have to follow her everywhere. Frankly, I find you very much of a nuisance. I mean, with you constantly hanging out with you, she never spends time with me. A person of that royal status must never hang out with people like you," Seymour said in a mocking tone. The lackeys behind him sneered, while the other boy had a face full of fear. He put his large hand over the raven- haired girl standing behind him, only to have his hand pushed away. The girl with crimson eyes glared at Seymour, an aura of black magic which Tidus instantly felt being emitted around him.
"We are her guardians. And we do not follow her everywhere." The girl's voice was low and emotionless, reminding Tidus of Auron. With her raven black hair, crimson eyes, and alabaster skin, she looked like a deadly person to mess around with. Tidus saw that the orange-haired boy was looking just as scared as he was, and felt bad for those two. Seymour was a big jerk, in his opinion.
"Oh dear. Poor little Wakka must have a girl to protect him, doesn't he?" Seymour mocked, laughing along with his group. Both Wakka and the girl turned a bright shade of red, Wakka from embarrassment and the girl from anger.
"Yo, stop laughing. We're her guardians, ya?" Wakka said somewhat quietly, looking down at the ground. He had a thick Besaidian accent mixed in with his English, which Tidus thought that was pretty cool. Apparently Seymour didn't think so, for he snickered at his actions, shaking his head as he turned back to Wakka.
"Well well Wakka, seems like you're more of a dunce than I expected, ya?" Seymour mocked Wakka once more, making Wakka's face beet red.
"Don't mess with my accent, man," Wakka retorted, somewhat quietly, thus making it lose its angry tone. Seymour put his head back, laughing loudly at Wakka's poor retort.
Tidus didn't want to see anymore of the fight. How dare Seymour mock the two who were desperately trying to protect their friend? It made Tidus' blood boil up, just like when he has his daily arguments with his father.
'That jerk!'
"Hey, you're the stupid one, not noticing that your girlfriend doesn't like you". Tidus walked up to Seymour, glaring at him with his cerulean eyes the best he could. He looked down at Seymour, him being a few centimeters shorter than Tidus. His eyes scared Tidus, but he hated people like Seymour, who were mockers. His father was a mocker, and probably the people Tidus hated more than anything were people who took enjoyment from mocking others.
"What...did you say?" Seymour's tone instantly turned threatened, glaring at Tidus. Tidus, in his fury, ignored the horrendous glares given out from Seymour's eyes. Picking up Seymour by his collar, Tidus was about to punch him in the face. His strong arms gradually pulled back, just like when he was about to thrust a blitzball. Seymour was just a blitzball, waiting to be hit hard. As it was just about to strike Seymour's ugly face, a gentle hand stopped his arm.
The same gentle hand that he had held a few minutes ago.
Just as he was about to turn his head, Seymour opened his mouth once again, only to fill the air with his sneering voice.
"My my Yuna, a pleasure to see you here."
"Seymour..." Yuna said somewhat quietly, not loosening her grip on Tidus' shoulders, but rather grasping it harder. The two kept on staring at each other for a while, as if to have a glaring contest, Yuna with her bi- colored eyes and Seymour with his pale ones. Tidus couldn't tell which of their eyes were scarier to look, for they both looked fierce. Although he couldn't see Yuna's eyes with her dark glasses, she seemed to be emitting a very fierce aura. Seymour was plain freaky.
A few seconds later, Seymour turned and waved a hand over to his lackeys, who started moving. Flashing a somewhat wicked smile at Yuna, he left along with them, parading in the corridors like kings. Yuna continued to stare at them until they were out of sight, and she let out a sigh of release as she turned her neck to smile over at Tidus, who had a puzzled expression on his face.
"Sorry, Seymour's a big jerk sometimes," Yuna apologized, although there was no reason for her to apologize. Tidus nodded, still uncertain of what to label Seymour as.
"Thank you, Wakka and Lulu," Yuna said gratefully, giving them a big smile. The two nodded over to her, and instantly, their facial expressions loosened from a strict face to a smile. Tidus felt his mouth curve into a smile as well. He found out that Yuna's presence was calming, and felt the boiling of his blood turn mild. The anger he felt disappeared somewhere, and he felt strangely calm.
Yuna turned once again to Tidus, flashing him the same smile before letting go of his shoulder. She immediately noticed that where she had grasped on his t-shirt was lumpy, and began fretting.
"Oh my, I'm so sorry Tidus! Did it hurt? Are you okay?" she began flooding him with questions, bringing the grin out to his face. Looking deeply into her eyes, Tidus was amazed that her eyes were now full of concern. Not fake concern, but real concern, as if her grasp had really hurt him.
"I'm fine, Yuna, don't get so worried up!" Tidus replied, giving her a smile like the sun. He turned over to the other two, who were looking at him in a state of shock and amazement.
"Oh man, you were great out there, brudda! You gotta be on our team, the Besaid Aurochs! You were da greatest, ya?" Wakka said excitedly, grinning as he walked towards Tidus. "From this point on, you're a member of da Besaid Aurochs!"
"Wakka, aren't you going to ask him whether he knows how to play Blitzball?" The pale girl asked, once again in her low voice, although it was considerably friendly now. She turned over to Tidus and nodded slightly, putting her pale hand out.
"Lulu. And that's Wakka."
"The name's Tidus!"
"Anyway, Wakka...don't be too hasty..."
"Naw I'm not, Lu! Look at how he raised him arm! That's proof dat he's a true Blitz player!" Wakka replied proudly, slapping Tidus on the shoulder, causing him to stumble forward slightly. "Won't ya join our team, brudda? We seriously need good players like you. The Besaid Aurochs are gonna be the losing team again this year if ya don't join, ya? " Wakka said somewhat soberly as he walked over to Tidus.
"Sure, I'll join your team, brother! And we're going to kick some other- school-Blitzball-butt!" Tidus laughed, slapping Wakka on the shoulder. The two instantly got on their groove, talking loudly about Blitzball and comments on Seymour. Yuna and Lulu just shrugged, walking together towards their next class.
***
With his newfound friends, Tidus was much more comfortable. Although Seymour was the biggest jerk, he still had great friends to count on. Not to mention the hyper Al Bhed girl he just met.
"Ooh, NEW STUDENT!" Rikku squealed, running over to Tidus. She immediately put her hand out, and with her other hand she waved over to Yuna and Lulu.
"I'm Rikku, nice ta meetcha! Hey Yunie! Lulu! Ooh, there's Wakka too!" So many words were scrambled into Rikku's sentence, Tidus couldn't really understand what she was saying but he just shook her hand and smiled warmly over to her.
"We gotta a new teacher in English! YAY FOR NEW TEACHERS!" Rikku shouted, doing one flip on the cold floors of Besaid High. Several teachers opened their doors and yelled something over to Rikku, most of them putting a finger over their mouth. Rikku mimicked their act and giggled loudly, causing the teachers to either groan, shake their heads, or to close their doors shut. A big grin was spread across her face, obviously very pleased, and she proceeded to do a flip in front of them, which put the cheerleaders in shame, in Tidus' mind.
"HEY MISTA NEW-TEACHER, WE'VE GOT A NEW STUDENT!!!" Rikku cried happily, her long blonde hair being swung wildly. The new teacher, a rough-faced man with a mechanical arm and leg, looked just as wild as Auron. Tidus wasn't so enthusiastic about having him as an English teacher.
"I presume you five are in this class. Welcome to this classroom, and I'd like to add that you are seven minutes late. Seven minutes and," Nooj took a glance at his watch, "Thirty-three seconds, to be precise."
"Uhh...hey Mista Nooj! Remember me?" Wakka said cheerfully, hoping to ease the mood between them.
"Yes, I do, as a matter of fact, Wakka. Remember that I will not hesitate to give you detention for a month." Nooj replied smoothly, putting the book he held in his arm down onto his desk. Wakka's face turned a shade of pink as the five moved to the back of the classroom.
Nooj concentrated deeply in his maroon attendance book and kept on mumbling the students' names until he finally stopped at a particular name. "Yuna...can she be...?"
Nooj shook his head, his brown hair swaying slightly as he did so. Looking up from his maroon book, he proceeded to get out a long pointer from his desk.
"OKAY, CLASS!" he shouted, which caught the students' attentions in no time. Judging by his rough, husky voice, and scary eyes, Nooj was defiantely a man to be afraid of.
"This is English Class II, and in this class, we are going to be focusing more on Shakespeare and writing more than punctuation and writing skills. This year, I have prepared a series of plays for you to perform and reflect on." Nooj explained, pointing his pointer this way and that way.
"Hey, Shakespeare sucks!" a student yelled out, only to be drowned by Nooj's roar.
"YOUNG MAN, DETENTION!" Nooj roared, banging his pointer on the desk which reminded Tidus and Yuna of Auron. He pouted slightly, mumbling that Shakespeare was a great writer.
Tidus slouched back in his chair, trying to predict the future. His prediction came fairly quickly as he knew that this year was going to be boring AND hectic. But when he took a glance at Yuna, who seemed to be concentrating on Nooj's lessons, Tidus felt that there might be some hope in this year.
***
Wakka and Tidus chatted more about Blitzball before heading over to lunch. It was great, having fourth period lunch. Tidus felt that it was a nice schedule change, having sixth period lunch for almost two years.
"Brudda, the Luca Goers are the top team this year. We gotta beat 'em!" Wakka said determinately as put his books away in his very messy locker. Tidus nodded as he stuffed his books in his locker, B69. There was a slight scent of jasmine near his locker, which smelled faintly of Yuna.
"Hey Wakka, you're Yuna's guardian?" asked Tidus, closing his locker. Wakka's mouth curved in a grin as he slapped his chest with his fist.
"Ya, I'm one of her guardians! Cool, huh?" Wakka said proudly, walking towards the cafeteria. Tidus understood how proud he must feel, being a guardian.
"Anyway, I'm protecting her because I couldn't protect my own little brother, Chappu. He died because of those filthy Al Bheds!" said Wakka bitterly, his hands forming a fist as he walked through the halls. Tidus simply nodded, not wishing to prod further into Wakka's mind. He understood Wakka's pain, for he knew the pain of not being able to protect someone.
"Come on, let's get to lunch before we get in any trouble with the principle," Tidus tried to brighten up the cold feeling between the two, and Wakka's face immediately brightened with the word "lunch".
"Ya, come on brudda! They're serving chocolate ice cream today!" Wakka shouted, tugging on Tidus' sleeve. Tidus, pulled by Wakka's strong hand, stumbled but managed to keep up with Wakka's mad dash for chocolate ice cream.
***
Rikku was busy arguing with the cafeteria lady for using Chocobo- meat for the spaghetti sauce.
"HOW CAN YOU USE THE MEAT OF AN INNOCENT CHOCOBO FOR SOME SPAGHETTI SAUCE?" Rikku yelled, pounding her fist on the table. The cafeteria lady looked scared to death with the young Al Bhed girl yelling her head off. True to the eye, Rikku did look like a wild girl with her blonde hair swaying violently.
"Rikku...please, lower your voice...everyone's looking at you..." Yuna desperately tried to pacify Rikku's anger with no avail. Her dark glasses kept on falling down her nose as she tugged on Rikku's arm, which was flinging everywhere. Blushing madly, she kept on tugging on Rikku's arm, trying to pull her away from the terrified cafeteria lady.
"I DON'T NEED TO LOWER MY VOICE, YUNIE! THIS CAFETERIA PERSON IS A MURDERER! SHE KILLED A CHOCOBO! WHERE'S YOUR HUMANITY, LADY?"
"Rikku!"
"Help, someone, help!"
"STOP USING CHOCOBO MEAT!!!" Rikku yelled with much anger, slamming her tray on the table. Yuna winced, the cafeteria lady cried, and the rest of the cafeteria watched, amused.
"What's up with Rikku?" Tidus asked, looking curiously at Rikku, who was ranting on about how precious Chocobos were. They had just bought their lunches, which were the hot lunch for today, spaghetti. They were just about to go to their table, but instantly, Tidus' eyes focused on Rikku, who was busy arguing. He was amazed how her voice echoed throughout the cafeteria.
"Oh, that's just her protecting da wildlife," Wakka told him, looking amused at Rikku, who was now jumping and making movements to prove her point.
Tidus nodded, and to his surprise, he saw Yuna, who was busy trying to get Rikku not to release the worst of her wrath onto the cafeteria lady. Even though she was stuggling hard to keep Rikku from attacking the lady, she still looked beautiful to Tidus and the most of the school's population of the school's eyes.
The cafeteria lady somehow managed to escape Rikku's wrath, although she looked very shaken. Yuna had managed to pull Rikku over to their table to be united with Tidus and Wakka.
"Hi Tidus, Wakka!" Yuna said breathlessly, although happily. Waving to them, she was pulled back with Rikku yelling something in Al Bhed to the cafeteria lady.
"Ayo'hi e Chocobo lohtihih!"
Yuna laughed weakly as she tugged Rikku over to the table. Rikku's vivid green eyes immediately changed into the eyes of fury when she saw the two boys with spaghetti in front of them. She gasped and pointed at the spaghetti as if they were something horrible, and turned to Tidus and Wakka with an expression of horror on her face.
"You...you..."
Tidus and Wakka laughed weakly as they carried their plates over to the garbage can and threw them in the bin. Rikku looked considerably happier to see them without the spaghetti.
"Are you working as an animal rights activist, Rikku?" asked Lulu, who was already sitting down at the table with a water bottle and a salad. Rikku nodded vigorously, putting her hand close to her heart.
"I am Rikku, who vowed to protect the life of others!" she said proudly, grinning like a child. Lulu nodded, although she didn't seem interested much in Rikku's speech.
Wakka kept on taking glances at Lulu, which he would look down whenever Lulu returned his glance.
"What, Wakka?" Lulu asked, looking at him curiously. Wakka blushed, and shook his head violently as if to deny something. Tidus, Yuna, and Rikku looked at him curiously while Wakka blushed like a tomato.
"Ooh..." Rikku marveled, clapping her hands. She seemed to forget about her anger with the cafeteria as she went over to Wakka and whispered something in his ear, causing him to blush even more.
"T-t-that's n-not true! Rikku, come back here!" he stuttered, running after Rikku who was speeding away. Unfortunately for Wakka and fortunately for Rikku, she was the fastest one of the two.
"I sometimes feel that I'm a couple of years older than them..." Lulu chuckled in her low voice, smiling. Tidus was surprised that she would smile, since she seemed so...gothic.
"That's because you're too serious Lulu! Come on, lighten up! Be happy! It's called positive thinking!" Rikku said happily, coming back from her run with Wakka. Tidus couldn't see Wakka anywhere, but after a few seconds of scanning, he found Wakka on his knees, panting.
"Rikku, you run too fast!" he complained, continuing to pant as he sat down next to Lulu. A devilish smile immediately sprang upon Rikku's face as she looked at Lulu and Wakka.
"How sweet..." she snickered, causing Wakka to glare at her. He chucked an empty paper cup at her, which she swiftly dodged, instead hitting Tidus in the face.
"Ow..." Tidus mumbled, rubbing his face. Yuna smiled next to him, shaking her head slightly.
Tidus marveled how pretty she looked when she smiled. She looked so serene, and it made him forget the troubles he had right now. If only he could look at her face for a long time...
***
"Alright kiddies, we're going to learn a lot of things in Home Economics this year to prepare you all when you get married. I don't want to go through all the 'crap' with you all choosing partners so your partner for this year will be the person next to you," the Home Economics teachers, Mrs. Petrovoski, a fat lady in her mid-50's explained to the class. She looked like a rat, with very large front teeth and beady eyes. Her hot pink t-shirt and fuchsia skirt didn't match, and her huge turquoise necklace did not match with any article of her clothing. Tidus was amazed with her purple hair; he didn't know that anyone wouldn't notice how awful their fashion taste was.
His heart leaped with joy when he saw that the person next to him was Yuna. So far, Yuna was in every one of his classes, from Science to Lunch. He didn't mind at all, in fact, he wished she were in every one of his classes. Yuna noticed that Tidus was in every one of her classes so far, and she too was happy. It was nice having a familiar face in her classes, especially Tidus.
"I guess me and you are partners," Tidus said happily. Smiling, Yuna nodded as they walked over to their station. Each station was the same; it had a sink, oven, and refrigerator. The sink was dirty with a lot of watermarks, the refrigerator close to empty, and the oven being half burnt.
"Alright class! We're going to be making cookies today, and you can make any kind of cookie you want, so don't come to me saying 'crap', kay? You have an hour so use your time wisely!" Mrs. Petrovoski yelled, then proceeded to recline in her huge sofa.
Tidus and Yuna smiled at each other as they got the necessary ingredients for making the cookies. Tidus felt that it was going to be a breeze making cookies with Yuna. Perhaps more than a breeze.
"So first we have to put some flour into this bowl," Tidus said, putting several cups of flour in a silver bowl. Yuna nodded, cracking and putting two eggs into the bowl. Whilst putting the flour in the bowl, Tidus coughed, thus creating a big floury smoke. Yuna and Tidus both coughed, Tidus ending up with flour on his hair and a floury face, Yuna with a little flour on her face.
"Ehh, sorry," Tidus apologized, fearing that Yuna would be angry. The girls he knew usually got very angry if some part of them got dirty, but he felt relieved when he heard Yuna's crystalline laughter.
"Tidus, you look so silly!" she laughed, pointing at Tidus' hair. He laughed as well, trying to brush the flour out of his hair. The flour- incident soon escalated into a flour-throwing contest, which ended up with no winner nor loser.
Yuna grabbed a handful of flour from the bin and sprinkled it onto Tidus' hair, making him look like he had white hair. "Tidus, you look like an old man!" Yuna squealed happily, laughing. Tidus countered back by grabbing a handful of flour and sprinkling it on Yuna's hair. Yuna ducked at the last minute, so she didn't have all the flour on her hair, but her chestnut hair was now a mixture of tawny hair strands to snow white hair.
"Now you look older, Yuna!" Tidus laughed, holding his sides. Yuna made an angry face, only to burst out laughing.
The two laughed as they threw flour at each other until they were cut off by a very annoyed teacher.
"I told you not to do this 'crap'! Just hurry up and make the cookies!" Mrs. Petrovoski screeched, thus giving Tidus and Yuna no choice but to make their cookies. Both of them looked like a mess, with flour in their hair and on their clothes.
"I look horrible, don't I?" Yuna asked, giggling. Tidus shook his head, putting his arm on her shoulder. Her dark glasses slid down nose, revealing her exotic eyes. The right one green, the other blue. Tidus couldn't help but stare into her eyes, which transfixed him from the second he laid eyes on them. The green eye was so green, so green that it almost put the emeralds in shame. The blue eye made his own ones seem boring.
"Tidus...? Tidus?"
Tidus shook his head, coming back to reality. Yuna had a soft, gentle smile on her face, the smile Tidus liked the most. It seemed so gentle, so serene, and it was a smile he'd never seen on a person before. Rikku had a big smile, like a child's. Lulu had a refrained smile. Wakka had a happy smile. Seymour didn't have a smile, and if he did have one, it was an ugly one. Auron's smiles were rare, and his father's smile, Tidus preferred not to think about it.
"Let's make the cookies, Yuna!" Tidus took the bowl and started whisking it with a spoon. Yuna smiled once again as proceeded onto heating the oven.
***
"Mmm, these cookies are good, Yuna!" Tidus exclaimed happily, munching on one. Yuna nodded as she took a bite out of one.
"I know...you'll be a good dad when you grow up, Tidus," she replied, smiling. Tidus felt his eyes pop out at Yuna's remark.
"W-what d-do you mean?"
Yuna laughed as she tugged at Tidus' arm, heading over to gym. She felt happy, very happy in a very long time.
***
Sorry for such a long delay! I couldn't think of how to continue the story, which I hope is a good explanation for the long delay. Anyway, wait up for the next chapter of this story! Oh, and please review!
Ayo'hi e [Chocobo] lohtihih!: You're a [Chocobo] murderer!
