Note: HAH! See? I've decided to be a little faster now! No more waiting for like a month! I am going to pursue for one week each chapter now! Yeay! But I better get more reviews! Come on what happened to those who reviewed my first chapter??? COME ON PEOPLE!!! o.O Oh yeah and things are just about to start heating up!
Chapter 13 - Showing Feelings
Slamming the door wasn't quite his plan to get his parents' attention, but he couldn't help himself. The anger flowed from his hand and it automatically slammed the door he was holding on to. Inside their two story building in which they called, 'home,' there was nothing but darkness and silence. As he stepped inside, the lights in the kitchen flickered on and Squall was nothing but startled by his mother's voice.
"Where have you been?" There was worry in his mother's voice, but Squall was too tired to hear it now, so he made no response and decided to head for upstairs. However, his mother's stern voice stopped him abruptly. "Answer me, YOUNG MAN! You just walk out of the house and not come home after ten hours and expect me to be NICE to you!? Look at me when I'm talking to you!"
Squall had no choice but to turn his head to look at his mother. He kept a straight face, careful not to be weakened by his mother's hard look. "I was just going for a walk, do I need to tell you where I go all the time?"
Raine sighed, keeping a hard look towards her son. "I know you're big enough to take care of your own but..." He had won...she had finally given up as she turned away, sighing for the second time. "What's bothering you?" She looked up to stare into his eyes and this time, there was general concern for how he was feeling now instead of where he had been this whole time.
The son of the Mayor took a long deep breath and shook his head. "Don't worry about it." He turned and went up the stairs without giving his mother another chance to talk. He was tired of these interrogations. He was tired of everything and everyone. His mother. His father. And Rinoa.
Rinoa...
His mind went back to Rinoa's beautiful face. How could someone so innocent be so vulnerable at the same time?
Squall closed the door slowly behind him and sat at the edge of his bed. He buried his face in his hands and sighed. Why was everything so bad happening to him? Did other people had problems like him? Did they have problems that they know that can never get out of? No... maybe not...
***************************
Monday morning came so quickly like it was a flash of lightning. Why couldn't weekends be much longer? Normally, she enjoyed Monday, but this week...she wasn't keen on the day.
Quistis looked at herself in the mirror. Purple coloring formed around her right eye and the same colour had formed around her left and right wrist. It was easy to cover the wrists, simply by wearing long sleeved shirts, but a black eye was a lot more tougher to deal with. She picked up her foundation and powdered over the swelling, carefully, because it still stung everytime she touched it. When she was finished, she looked at her face again and frowned. It was still showing and she knew she couldn't show up in school looking like something was wrong with her makeup. Then again her friends would start wondering why she looked pale, when it was just the white foundation that made her look like a ghost. The blond decided, that her best bet was...to leave her hair down so her bangs would cover the part of the bruise that she was unable to cover just by foundation, which was situated at the corner of her eye. She would have to be careful not to look up, but then again how was she going to answer if her teacher asked her a question? Sighing, Quistis glanced at the sunglasses on her dresser. It was rather too round for her to wear inside a classroom, but it was better than being looked at by her classmates, wondering what had happened to her. She picked it up and put it on. Indeed, it didn't suit her, but she didn't care. No one would look at her anyway.
By that same morning, Quistis quickly left for school, mumbling good byes to her Aunt and cousin as they ate breakfast. "Quistis? You don't want to eat breakfast?"
The blond stopped by the door, not turning to show her the glasses and shook her head. "No thanks Auntie. I'm not really that hungry." With that said, she continued to walk to school, careful not to bump into anyone she knew.
And luckily, she didn't as she arrived to school. By the time she made it there, Quistis avoided anyone as much as possible and when her first hour of class finally came, she dashed into her classroom before anyone else did so she would be first. It was much easier to be first than be last and have everyone stare at her. She also decided to sit at the very back of the room, hoping no one would notice her sitting quietly there.
However, she was unlucky when someone stepped into the room, just minutes before the actual bell. Quistis didn't care who it was, as long as her head was down so that person wouldn't be suspicious of her very round glasses, which was far too big for her face. The person had sat down beside her and was now looking at her, but Quistis STILL wouldn't look at him (although she thinks it's a guy sitting beside her). "What's with the large glasses, Trepe?" Indeed, with the deep voice, he was male. "Are you trying to impersonate someone?"
Surprised at the question, Quistis looked up, her glasses slipping off of her face and falling on the floor. Seifer watched as the glasses made less noise than a text book, then looked up at Quistis' face. The blond male examined her face for a while, staring at the half-covered bruise on her face. Without a word, he bent down and picked up the glasses, then handed them to her. Quistis took them from his hand and put the glasses back on her face. She mumbled a 'thank you,' to him, before opening her math text book and pretended to read. Seifer watched her from the corner of his eye, clenching and unclenching his fists. He was going to say something to her, when more students made their way inside the classroom.
"So I said to him....oh..." Brandy McFadden had entered with her two 'loyal' friends. She stopped her conversation in mid-sentence, suddenly distracted by the sunglasses Quistis was now wearing. She snickered, approaching her with a hand on her hip and looking down on Quistis with an attitude that annoyed Seifer the most. "What, we don't make fun of you enough already?"
Quistis said nothing.
Brandy made it worse, by sitting in front of her and continuing to taunt her with. "You know, I didn't know that Ray Charles was in town today! And blond too!" Her friends sat on both sides of her and were laughing at the comments she was giving Quistis. "Are you going to give us a little song and-!" Her teasing was interrupted when something hit her desk. Brandy glanced at the front of her desk, where a foot was attached to a leg, where a leg was attached to Seifer Almasy. "What's the big idea, loser brain? Is there something you'd like to say to me?"
"Yeah..." Seifer smirked. "Is that the best name calling you can do, McFadden?" He folded his arms across his chest and just sat there, staring at Brandy's look of astonishment. She turned back around, never bothering Quistis....for now. Seifer knew Brandy was scared of him, because she believed from the rumors, that he paraded around, threatening everybody in his path. After hearing that, Brandy would never dare talk back to him.
Quistis took a quick glance at Seifer, without turning her head and slowly smiled.
Now just two minutes before the bell, everyone had started filing in the classroom. Most of the students in class were present after Ms. Fisher did a role call. She tapped the end of the large ruler against her desk to get everyone's attention and cleared her throat. "Okay everyone, settle down! Settle down!"
All the students immediately quieted down and all their eyes were on their teacher.
"Okay, so who finished their math homework from yesterday?"
Brandy immediately put her hand up. Ms. Fisher was surprised that the snobbish girl in the school would finish her work on time. Usually, she would hand it in late. "Oh, you finished your work, Brandy? I'm impressed!"
The red haired girl ( I don't remember if she was a red head, so bare with me!) shook her head. "No, Ms. Fisher. I just want to ask you...Are we allowed to wear sunglasses in class?"
Surprised, Ms. Fisher shook her head. "Well...no, of course not. Why do you ask?"
Brandy smirked. "Because it's unfair when QUISTIS is wearing sunglasses, while inside the classroom!" She pointed a thumb behind her. "And to be honest, if she is to wear sunglasses in class, it has to be at least fashionable!" She put her hand back down and folded her arms across her chest, proudly looking at their teacher.
Ms. Fisher nodded blankly, glancing at the blond at the very back of the room. She was too caught up in the role call, to notice Quistis sitting at the very back of the room and to notice her wearing large, black sunglasses. "Quistis...why are you wearing sunglasses in class? Could you please take that off?" she asked, gently, smiling.
Quistis looked up. Everyone had seen what she was wearing now and now they were laughing, except for her two good friends, Selphie and Rinoa and even Seifer. "I...can't Ms. Fisher..."
"Why? There's no reason for you to wear sunglasses, Ray Charles!" Brandy spoke. Her two close friends snickered.
Ignoring Brandy, Ms. Fisher asked, "Why not, Quistis?"
"Because... because..." Great, Quistis had nothing to say now. What is she supposed to tell them? That her dad beats her up every night and... leaves for the bar after? Is she suppose to tell the truth? What's going to happen if she did? "Um...because..." Is there going to be a commotion? Will her dad have to be put in prison? She hated getting all the attention. Quistis gripped her hand around the hem of her skirt, tighter. "I uh... I-"
"She has allergies, Ms. Fisher," Seifer suddenly spoke up.
Quistis turned her head at Seifer, who was staring at Ms. Fisher. She was more surprised as everyone else was when he spoke up. He rarely spoke up, from what Rinoa and Selphie had told her and if he did, he would talk back to the teacher or to Brandy if needed, but never to defend ANYONE before. What changed? Seifer continuef to stare into Ms. Fisher's eyes, to show that he wasn't lying, eventhough he was.
After a few moments of silence, Ms. Fisher finally gathered her thoughts together and nodded. Seifer knew then that she believed what he said. "Allergies? What kind of allergies?"
"Do you really want to see for yourself if she takes off her sunglasses, Ms. Fisher? Believe me, it's not pretty..." Seifer replied calmly. Everyone started laughing because of what he said, but Seifer gave them all hard looks and they all stopped.
Quistis smiled, trying to hold back her laugh.
Ms. Fisher nodded. "Well, I guess it's okay for you to wear that Quistis. I mean you could have stayed home and rested a bit."
The blond had the courage to shake her head. "Um...well, I didn't want to miss any of my classes, Ms. Fisher."
The young teacher nodded again. "Okay, I guess that's understandable. We don't want you to fall behind in your classes now, would we?"
"I wish she would fall on her ass..." Brandy mumbled, disappointed.
Quistis glanced at Seifer again with the corner of her eyes, curiously. What on earth just happened? she thought to herself.
*************************
She never really wanted to admit it, but Quistis was actually looking forward for after school. She wanted to thank Seifer before for defending her, or actually, lying for her about her sunglasses, but he had quickly left after math class ended and was never seen again. Quistis wonders where the blond male would go missing until their tutorial hour. She was looking for him all over, even missing lunch in the process, but to no avail. It was like he disappeared out of the face of the earth. What if he doesn't show up after school? She wouldn't have the courage to call him or to go to his house and thank him after all the trouble.... would she?
Quistis walked down the hall and made her way back to math class, just ten minutes after school ended. Ms. Fisher had left the door open and Quistis went inside without checking on who was there, before it was too late. "Oh!" she gasped, looking up. Seifer was already on the desk he usually used when they did their tutorials, reading a magazine, waiting for her. She took a quiet, deep breath and approached him. She set her books down on the desk in front of the young man and sat down. "I've been looking all over for you." She fixed her sunglasses on her nose. "I wanted to thank you for this morning in math class."
Seifer didn't look, instead, he reached into his pocket and handed her the cuecards she made for him. "I was reading this."
Quistis glanced at the cuecards in her hands. "Oh..." She looked up, then slid it back into his hands, shaking her head. "Well, this is yours, so you keep it."
The blond male shrugged, then stuffed the cuecards back in his pocket. "Whatever you say..."
"Why did you do that?" Quistis suddenly asked.
"Do what?" He rested his arms behind his head and propped his legs on the table.
The blond female gently shoved his legs off the table, forcing him to topple forward towards the desk, but he managed to stop his face from hitting the desk. Scowling, he glared at her, but she kept a straight face on. "Why did you defend me? Why did you lie for me?"
Seifer looked away, folding his arms across his chest. "Because you're very amusing."
Quistis' eyes widened and frowned. "So, I was just entertainment to you?"
"Yep," Seifer simply replied.
Her face was turning red in anger, but she took a deep breath to calm herself down. "Uggh! You're impossible!" Deep down, she was hurt he said that. She was hoping he was going to say something else, besides something insulting. "Let's just get this tutorial over with, all right?" She opened her math text book to the last page they went over and started to explain that particular page.
Seifer sighed and rolled his eyes. He leaned over suddenly and grabbed the glasses from her eyes. "HEY! Give that back!" she yelled, reaching over to grab it, but everytime she reached for it, he would move around to keep her from getting it. "Dammit, Seifer you are starting to piss me off!"
The blond male smirked. "Well, now I know how you REALLY feel..." He looked at her and almost felt his face turn red when he saw the marks on her face for the second time. "Great way to hide your bruises like that. How did that happen?
"Nothing, I just fell off my bed." She reached for it again, but she was forced on her feet, when he stood up.
"Yeah...tell that to a person who BELIEVES you..." Without thinking, he placed a hand under her chin and forced her to look up. "And I don't believe you." He looked into her eyes.. they were very mesmerizing... very beautiful, but he knew he was just kidding himself if he saw she was lying to him. "You fell off your bed on your face? Yeah, that's very common... And the sunglasses...they really ARE distracting you know."
Quistis forced herself not to cry and forced herself to keep a straight face. She wasn't going to be weak for him. She slapped his hand away. "Why do you care!? Why do you care all of a sudden about these bruises!? It's none of your business!" She picked up her book and stuffed them hastilly in her backpack. "I think we'll postpone this tutorial today. I'll see you tomorrow..." She turned to leave, but Seifer caught her arm before she could. The bruises on her wrist were painful and she had no choice but to wince as Seifer grabbed them.
Seifer noticed this and reached with his other hand to unravel her sleeve to reveal black and blue marks on BOTH her wrist. "And did you also fall on your wrist when you fell off?"
"It's none of your business!" She struggled from his vice grip, trying to set herself free, but he was holding her so tight, it was impossible to release herself.
"It may not be none of by business, but I can't stand it when a coward like your father, hits on his daughter!" he hissed in her ear.
The blond girl jerked her wrist from his grip and before she could stop herself, she swung with her free hand and slapped him across the face. Surprised, all she could do after doing that was stare at him and when she went back to reality, she turned to leave. She left Seifer speechless, but not broken. The blond male placed a hand on his red face and smiled. "You have guts, Quistis..."
****************************
The sound of the lunch bell broke him from his reverie. He turned off the engine and jumped out of the truck. His work mates were already stuffing themselves with the lunch their work manager prepared. Twelve hours they have worked and he was relieved when their employers decided to be generous and buy pizza, spaghetti and lasagna. His manager decided to make them work full time, since it was too nice of a day to neglect the hours they need to finish off building the mansion. Sean wiped his sweaty forehead with his dirty towel and stuffed it back in his pocket, before joining his friends at the lunch table to grab some food of his own.
"Yo, Trepe!" Sean looked up to see Mark approaching him.
"What?" The blond man replied, with his mouth full of lasagna.
"Some blond kid wants to see you!"
Sean furrowed his eyebrows curiously. "My daughter? Why would she come and see me?"
Mark shook his head. "No, it's not your daughter, Sean! He's some kind of kid about your daughter's age who wants to talk to you about somethin.' He's waitin' at the front gate for ya!"
Curious, he thanked Mark and walked over to the front where the gate was opened. Sean noticed a young man, blond, about six foot two dressed in a grey trenchcoat and looking rather miffed. "Can I help you?"
The young man nodded. "My name is Seifer Almasy and I go to the same school as your daughter."
Sean lifted a single eyebrow at him. "Yeah? Are you Quistis' boyfriend?"
Seifer shook his head. "No sir, but I DO want to talk to you about her."
The older blond looked at him. "Listen, kid, I'm really hungry right now and I haven't eaten for twelve hours. So, could you hold that thought and I'll get back to you-" But before he could finish his sentence, something hard hit him across the face. Startled, Sean stumbled backward, but managed to stand to look at him. He grabbed his broken jaw and glared at him. "WHAT THE HELL!?"
At this point, to those who saw the hit, all his work mates gathered around Sean. "YOU SON OF A...YOU'LL PAY FOR THAT!!" Sean lunged at him, but was stopped by two of his friends holding him back. "Let go, you assholes! Let GO!"
Seifer shook the hand he used to hit the man. "Damn..." he hissed quietly. He looked up and noticed that Sean was ready to kill him and rip him bit by bit, but he stood there, unnerved by his threats. His friends all looked at him, curiously.
"Hey, kid what's the big idea hitting Sean like that!?" Mark yelled, his face reddening in anger. Sean tried to launch at the young man again, but Mark, much taller and buffer than Sean, held him tighter to keep him from reaching the young blond.
Seifer smirked. "You should be asking HIM that!" he yelled, pointing at Sean. Without another word, he turned and left, leaving a very flustered Sean and two tired men. They watched as the young man drove away, without even looking back.
Mark looked at Sean. "What was that about!?"
Sean shook his head. "I don't know. Probably some punk kid who wanted to pick a fight with me... I'm fine!" He pulled his arms from his two friends and fixed his jacket, before turning around. He headed back to the lunch table to finish his food. Mark and Sean's other work mate, Henry, followed after him, confused, but decided not to ask their friend about it again.
***********************
Once again, she was all alone. Lately, she hasn't seen her Aunt for almost two weeks now, or Travis for that matter. Quistis wondered if they both knew what was going on with her and her father, but chose not to think about it. She would have to focus on making dinner for everybody so her father didn't have to hit her again by not making any. She turned on the stove and the exhaust fan and left the sauce pan on the front stove, until it would boil. When it was hot enough, she put the chopped onions and tomatoes inside the pan and began to stir it. And as she stirred the two, Quistis' mind hovered back towards Seifer. She suddenly smiled, but her daydreaming was interrupted when the back door pulled open and slammed shut. Quistis jumped and looked up as her father entered, looking flustered as usual. She gasped when she saw a swelling around his left cheek.
"What-? What happened?" Quistis finally had the courage to ask him.
Sean did not look at her, instead, he walked over to the refrigerator and grabbed a bottle of beer. He opened it and took a couple of sips, before answering, "Some idiot kid picked a fight with me today. Do you know Seifer Almasy?"
Quistis' eyes widened. She turned away, not looking at her father. "Um...."
"Is he your boyfriend now? Are you telling him things about me?"
Her face reddened. "No, of course not. He's just a boy I tutor for math at school." She carefully turned off the stove and dared not look at her father, in case he was in a bad mood, but there was no anger in his voice when he started talking to her. He talked...normal...for once.
"All right..." He said nothing after that, instead, he went to the living room to watch television.
Confused, Quistis stopped what she was doing and listened to him turning on the t.v. She took a long deep breath and thought about Seifer again. She frowned. The nerve of him! He thought she wasn't going to be able to handle herself! "That jerk..." she hissed underneath her breath.
******************************
"The nerve of you!" she yelled into his face.
Seifer looked at her, unnerved once again. "What?" He was staring at his nails for no apparent reason, as if preoccupied by it.
Quistis felt her heart rate go up. "Uggh!" She started to pace around the room. It was after school, on a tuesday, back to their tutorial hours again. They were once again, alone, free to talk whatever they wanted to talk about. She stopped and looked at him again. "I told you it's none of your business and then you went to his work place and punched him! What part of 'it's none of your business' do you not understand!?"
The tall blond calmly folded his arms across his chest and smirked. "The part where it says, 'your business."
"What-?" She sighed deeply and rubbed the top of her nose irritably. "You know I could handle him myself! I don't need YOUR help!!!!"
Seifer looked up, now staring straight into her eyes, but Quistis would not dare break their eye contact. "Your doing a good job handling it on your own... do the bruises prove that you can?"
The blond girl frowned again. "You don't know who I am... You have no right to tell me how I feel! And I don't think I'm too comfortable with tutoring you anymore. I better go." She picked up her backpack and stormed off, without giving Seifer a chance to reply. Seifer stood there and smirked, even thoug, deep down inside, he wished he NEVER went to her father's work and make a scene.
GoodGurl: See? A Seiftis...well, sort of! Quistis is soo stubborn ain't she? And hey Seifer went to Sean's work to punch him? Interesting...eh? *wink*
Chapter 13 - Showing Feelings
Slamming the door wasn't quite his plan to get his parents' attention, but he couldn't help himself. The anger flowed from his hand and it automatically slammed the door he was holding on to. Inside their two story building in which they called, 'home,' there was nothing but darkness and silence. As he stepped inside, the lights in the kitchen flickered on and Squall was nothing but startled by his mother's voice.
"Where have you been?" There was worry in his mother's voice, but Squall was too tired to hear it now, so he made no response and decided to head for upstairs. However, his mother's stern voice stopped him abruptly. "Answer me, YOUNG MAN! You just walk out of the house and not come home after ten hours and expect me to be NICE to you!? Look at me when I'm talking to you!"
Squall had no choice but to turn his head to look at his mother. He kept a straight face, careful not to be weakened by his mother's hard look. "I was just going for a walk, do I need to tell you where I go all the time?"
Raine sighed, keeping a hard look towards her son. "I know you're big enough to take care of your own but..." He had won...she had finally given up as she turned away, sighing for the second time. "What's bothering you?" She looked up to stare into his eyes and this time, there was general concern for how he was feeling now instead of where he had been this whole time.
The son of the Mayor took a long deep breath and shook his head. "Don't worry about it." He turned and went up the stairs without giving his mother another chance to talk. He was tired of these interrogations. He was tired of everything and everyone. His mother. His father. And Rinoa.
Rinoa...
His mind went back to Rinoa's beautiful face. How could someone so innocent be so vulnerable at the same time?
Squall closed the door slowly behind him and sat at the edge of his bed. He buried his face in his hands and sighed. Why was everything so bad happening to him? Did other people had problems like him? Did they have problems that they know that can never get out of? No... maybe not...
***************************
Monday morning came so quickly like it was a flash of lightning. Why couldn't weekends be much longer? Normally, she enjoyed Monday, but this week...she wasn't keen on the day.
Quistis looked at herself in the mirror. Purple coloring formed around her right eye and the same colour had formed around her left and right wrist. It was easy to cover the wrists, simply by wearing long sleeved shirts, but a black eye was a lot more tougher to deal with. She picked up her foundation and powdered over the swelling, carefully, because it still stung everytime she touched it. When she was finished, she looked at her face again and frowned. It was still showing and she knew she couldn't show up in school looking like something was wrong with her makeup. Then again her friends would start wondering why she looked pale, when it was just the white foundation that made her look like a ghost. The blond decided, that her best bet was...to leave her hair down so her bangs would cover the part of the bruise that she was unable to cover just by foundation, which was situated at the corner of her eye. She would have to be careful not to look up, but then again how was she going to answer if her teacher asked her a question? Sighing, Quistis glanced at the sunglasses on her dresser. It was rather too round for her to wear inside a classroom, but it was better than being looked at by her classmates, wondering what had happened to her. She picked it up and put it on. Indeed, it didn't suit her, but she didn't care. No one would look at her anyway.
By that same morning, Quistis quickly left for school, mumbling good byes to her Aunt and cousin as they ate breakfast. "Quistis? You don't want to eat breakfast?"
The blond stopped by the door, not turning to show her the glasses and shook her head. "No thanks Auntie. I'm not really that hungry." With that said, she continued to walk to school, careful not to bump into anyone she knew.
And luckily, she didn't as she arrived to school. By the time she made it there, Quistis avoided anyone as much as possible and when her first hour of class finally came, she dashed into her classroom before anyone else did so she would be first. It was much easier to be first than be last and have everyone stare at her. She also decided to sit at the very back of the room, hoping no one would notice her sitting quietly there.
However, she was unlucky when someone stepped into the room, just minutes before the actual bell. Quistis didn't care who it was, as long as her head was down so that person wouldn't be suspicious of her very round glasses, which was far too big for her face. The person had sat down beside her and was now looking at her, but Quistis STILL wouldn't look at him (although she thinks it's a guy sitting beside her). "What's with the large glasses, Trepe?" Indeed, with the deep voice, he was male. "Are you trying to impersonate someone?"
Surprised at the question, Quistis looked up, her glasses slipping off of her face and falling on the floor. Seifer watched as the glasses made less noise than a text book, then looked up at Quistis' face. The blond male examined her face for a while, staring at the half-covered bruise on her face. Without a word, he bent down and picked up the glasses, then handed them to her. Quistis took them from his hand and put the glasses back on her face. She mumbled a 'thank you,' to him, before opening her math text book and pretended to read. Seifer watched her from the corner of his eye, clenching and unclenching his fists. He was going to say something to her, when more students made their way inside the classroom.
"So I said to him....oh..." Brandy McFadden had entered with her two 'loyal' friends. She stopped her conversation in mid-sentence, suddenly distracted by the sunglasses Quistis was now wearing. She snickered, approaching her with a hand on her hip and looking down on Quistis with an attitude that annoyed Seifer the most. "What, we don't make fun of you enough already?"
Quistis said nothing.
Brandy made it worse, by sitting in front of her and continuing to taunt her with. "You know, I didn't know that Ray Charles was in town today! And blond too!" Her friends sat on both sides of her and were laughing at the comments she was giving Quistis. "Are you going to give us a little song and-!" Her teasing was interrupted when something hit her desk. Brandy glanced at the front of her desk, where a foot was attached to a leg, where a leg was attached to Seifer Almasy. "What's the big idea, loser brain? Is there something you'd like to say to me?"
"Yeah..." Seifer smirked. "Is that the best name calling you can do, McFadden?" He folded his arms across his chest and just sat there, staring at Brandy's look of astonishment. She turned back around, never bothering Quistis....for now. Seifer knew Brandy was scared of him, because she believed from the rumors, that he paraded around, threatening everybody in his path. After hearing that, Brandy would never dare talk back to him.
Quistis took a quick glance at Seifer, without turning her head and slowly smiled.
Now just two minutes before the bell, everyone had started filing in the classroom. Most of the students in class were present after Ms. Fisher did a role call. She tapped the end of the large ruler against her desk to get everyone's attention and cleared her throat. "Okay everyone, settle down! Settle down!"
All the students immediately quieted down and all their eyes were on their teacher.
"Okay, so who finished their math homework from yesterday?"
Brandy immediately put her hand up. Ms. Fisher was surprised that the snobbish girl in the school would finish her work on time. Usually, she would hand it in late. "Oh, you finished your work, Brandy? I'm impressed!"
The red haired girl ( I don't remember if she was a red head, so bare with me!) shook her head. "No, Ms. Fisher. I just want to ask you...Are we allowed to wear sunglasses in class?"
Surprised, Ms. Fisher shook her head. "Well...no, of course not. Why do you ask?"
Brandy smirked. "Because it's unfair when QUISTIS is wearing sunglasses, while inside the classroom!" She pointed a thumb behind her. "And to be honest, if she is to wear sunglasses in class, it has to be at least fashionable!" She put her hand back down and folded her arms across her chest, proudly looking at their teacher.
Ms. Fisher nodded blankly, glancing at the blond at the very back of the room. She was too caught up in the role call, to notice Quistis sitting at the very back of the room and to notice her wearing large, black sunglasses. "Quistis...why are you wearing sunglasses in class? Could you please take that off?" she asked, gently, smiling.
Quistis looked up. Everyone had seen what she was wearing now and now they were laughing, except for her two good friends, Selphie and Rinoa and even Seifer. "I...can't Ms. Fisher..."
"Why? There's no reason for you to wear sunglasses, Ray Charles!" Brandy spoke. Her two close friends snickered.
Ignoring Brandy, Ms. Fisher asked, "Why not, Quistis?"
"Because... because..." Great, Quistis had nothing to say now. What is she supposed to tell them? That her dad beats her up every night and... leaves for the bar after? Is she suppose to tell the truth? What's going to happen if she did? "Um...because..." Is there going to be a commotion? Will her dad have to be put in prison? She hated getting all the attention. Quistis gripped her hand around the hem of her skirt, tighter. "I uh... I-"
"She has allergies, Ms. Fisher," Seifer suddenly spoke up.
Quistis turned her head at Seifer, who was staring at Ms. Fisher. She was more surprised as everyone else was when he spoke up. He rarely spoke up, from what Rinoa and Selphie had told her and if he did, he would talk back to the teacher or to Brandy if needed, but never to defend ANYONE before. What changed? Seifer continuef to stare into Ms. Fisher's eyes, to show that he wasn't lying, eventhough he was.
After a few moments of silence, Ms. Fisher finally gathered her thoughts together and nodded. Seifer knew then that she believed what he said. "Allergies? What kind of allergies?"
"Do you really want to see for yourself if she takes off her sunglasses, Ms. Fisher? Believe me, it's not pretty..." Seifer replied calmly. Everyone started laughing because of what he said, but Seifer gave them all hard looks and they all stopped.
Quistis smiled, trying to hold back her laugh.
Ms. Fisher nodded. "Well, I guess it's okay for you to wear that Quistis. I mean you could have stayed home and rested a bit."
The blond had the courage to shake her head. "Um...well, I didn't want to miss any of my classes, Ms. Fisher."
The young teacher nodded again. "Okay, I guess that's understandable. We don't want you to fall behind in your classes now, would we?"
"I wish she would fall on her ass..." Brandy mumbled, disappointed.
Quistis glanced at Seifer again with the corner of her eyes, curiously. What on earth just happened? she thought to herself.
*************************
She never really wanted to admit it, but Quistis was actually looking forward for after school. She wanted to thank Seifer before for defending her, or actually, lying for her about her sunglasses, but he had quickly left after math class ended and was never seen again. Quistis wonders where the blond male would go missing until their tutorial hour. She was looking for him all over, even missing lunch in the process, but to no avail. It was like he disappeared out of the face of the earth. What if he doesn't show up after school? She wouldn't have the courage to call him or to go to his house and thank him after all the trouble.... would she?
Quistis walked down the hall and made her way back to math class, just ten minutes after school ended. Ms. Fisher had left the door open and Quistis went inside without checking on who was there, before it was too late. "Oh!" she gasped, looking up. Seifer was already on the desk he usually used when they did their tutorials, reading a magazine, waiting for her. She took a quiet, deep breath and approached him. She set her books down on the desk in front of the young man and sat down. "I've been looking all over for you." She fixed her sunglasses on her nose. "I wanted to thank you for this morning in math class."
Seifer didn't look, instead, he reached into his pocket and handed her the cuecards she made for him. "I was reading this."
Quistis glanced at the cuecards in her hands. "Oh..." She looked up, then slid it back into his hands, shaking her head. "Well, this is yours, so you keep it."
The blond male shrugged, then stuffed the cuecards back in his pocket. "Whatever you say..."
"Why did you do that?" Quistis suddenly asked.
"Do what?" He rested his arms behind his head and propped his legs on the table.
The blond female gently shoved his legs off the table, forcing him to topple forward towards the desk, but he managed to stop his face from hitting the desk. Scowling, he glared at her, but she kept a straight face on. "Why did you defend me? Why did you lie for me?"
Seifer looked away, folding his arms across his chest. "Because you're very amusing."
Quistis' eyes widened and frowned. "So, I was just entertainment to you?"
"Yep," Seifer simply replied.
Her face was turning red in anger, but she took a deep breath to calm herself down. "Uggh! You're impossible!" Deep down, she was hurt he said that. She was hoping he was going to say something else, besides something insulting. "Let's just get this tutorial over with, all right?" She opened her math text book to the last page they went over and started to explain that particular page.
Seifer sighed and rolled his eyes. He leaned over suddenly and grabbed the glasses from her eyes. "HEY! Give that back!" she yelled, reaching over to grab it, but everytime she reached for it, he would move around to keep her from getting it. "Dammit, Seifer you are starting to piss me off!"
The blond male smirked. "Well, now I know how you REALLY feel..." He looked at her and almost felt his face turn red when he saw the marks on her face for the second time. "Great way to hide your bruises like that. How did that happen?
"Nothing, I just fell off my bed." She reached for it again, but she was forced on her feet, when he stood up.
"Yeah...tell that to a person who BELIEVES you..." Without thinking, he placed a hand under her chin and forced her to look up. "And I don't believe you." He looked into her eyes.. they were very mesmerizing... very beautiful, but he knew he was just kidding himself if he saw she was lying to him. "You fell off your bed on your face? Yeah, that's very common... And the sunglasses...they really ARE distracting you know."
Quistis forced herself not to cry and forced herself to keep a straight face. She wasn't going to be weak for him. She slapped his hand away. "Why do you care!? Why do you care all of a sudden about these bruises!? It's none of your business!" She picked up her book and stuffed them hastilly in her backpack. "I think we'll postpone this tutorial today. I'll see you tomorrow..." She turned to leave, but Seifer caught her arm before she could. The bruises on her wrist were painful and she had no choice but to wince as Seifer grabbed them.
Seifer noticed this and reached with his other hand to unravel her sleeve to reveal black and blue marks on BOTH her wrist. "And did you also fall on your wrist when you fell off?"
"It's none of your business!" She struggled from his vice grip, trying to set herself free, but he was holding her so tight, it was impossible to release herself.
"It may not be none of by business, but I can't stand it when a coward like your father, hits on his daughter!" he hissed in her ear.
The blond girl jerked her wrist from his grip and before she could stop herself, she swung with her free hand and slapped him across the face. Surprised, all she could do after doing that was stare at him and when she went back to reality, she turned to leave. She left Seifer speechless, but not broken. The blond male placed a hand on his red face and smiled. "You have guts, Quistis..."
****************************
The sound of the lunch bell broke him from his reverie. He turned off the engine and jumped out of the truck. His work mates were already stuffing themselves with the lunch their work manager prepared. Twelve hours they have worked and he was relieved when their employers decided to be generous and buy pizza, spaghetti and lasagna. His manager decided to make them work full time, since it was too nice of a day to neglect the hours they need to finish off building the mansion. Sean wiped his sweaty forehead with his dirty towel and stuffed it back in his pocket, before joining his friends at the lunch table to grab some food of his own.
"Yo, Trepe!" Sean looked up to see Mark approaching him.
"What?" The blond man replied, with his mouth full of lasagna.
"Some blond kid wants to see you!"
Sean furrowed his eyebrows curiously. "My daughter? Why would she come and see me?"
Mark shook his head. "No, it's not your daughter, Sean! He's some kind of kid about your daughter's age who wants to talk to you about somethin.' He's waitin' at the front gate for ya!"
Curious, he thanked Mark and walked over to the front where the gate was opened. Sean noticed a young man, blond, about six foot two dressed in a grey trenchcoat and looking rather miffed. "Can I help you?"
The young man nodded. "My name is Seifer Almasy and I go to the same school as your daughter."
Sean lifted a single eyebrow at him. "Yeah? Are you Quistis' boyfriend?"
Seifer shook his head. "No sir, but I DO want to talk to you about her."
The older blond looked at him. "Listen, kid, I'm really hungry right now and I haven't eaten for twelve hours. So, could you hold that thought and I'll get back to you-" But before he could finish his sentence, something hard hit him across the face. Startled, Sean stumbled backward, but managed to stand to look at him. He grabbed his broken jaw and glared at him. "WHAT THE HELL!?"
At this point, to those who saw the hit, all his work mates gathered around Sean. "YOU SON OF A...YOU'LL PAY FOR THAT!!" Sean lunged at him, but was stopped by two of his friends holding him back. "Let go, you assholes! Let GO!"
Seifer shook the hand he used to hit the man. "Damn..." he hissed quietly. He looked up and noticed that Sean was ready to kill him and rip him bit by bit, but he stood there, unnerved by his threats. His friends all looked at him, curiously.
"Hey, kid what's the big idea hitting Sean like that!?" Mark yelled, his face reddening in anger. Sean tried to launch at the young man again, but Mark, much taller and buffer than Sean, held him tighter to keep him from reaching the young blond.
Seifer smirked. "You should be asking HIM that!" he yelled, pointing at Sean. Without another word, he turned and left, leaving a very flustered Sean and two tired men. They watched as the young man drove away, without even looking back.
Mark looked at Sean. "What was that about!?"
Sean shook his head. "I don't know. Probably some punk kid who wanted to pick a fight with me... I'm fine!" He pulled his arms from his two friends and fixed his jacket, before turning around. He headed back to the lunch table to finish his food. Mark and Sean's other work mate, Henry, followed after him, confused, but decided not to ask their friend about it again.
***********************
Once again, she was all alone. Lately, she hasn't seen her Aunt for almost two weeks now, or Travis for that matter. Quistis wondered if they both knew what was going on with her and her father, but chose not to think about it. She would have to focus on making dinner for everybody so her father didn't have to hit her again by not making any. She turned on the stove and the exhaust fan and left the sauce pan on the front stove, until it would boil. When it was hot enough, she put the chopped onions and tomatoes inside the pan and began to stir it. And as she stirred the two, Quistis' mind hovered back towards Seifer. She suddenly smiled, but her daydreaming was interrupted when the back door pulled open and slammed shut. Quistis jumped and looked up as her father entered, looking flustered as usual. She gasped when she saw a swelling around his left cheek.
"What-? What happened?" Quistis finally had the courage to ask him.
Sean did not look at her, instead, he walked over to the refrigerator and grabbed a bottle of beer. He opened it and took a couple of sips, before answering, "Some idiot kid picked a fight with me today. Do you know Seifer Almasy?"
Quistis' eyes widened. She turned away, not looking at her father. "Um...."
"Is he your boyfriend now? Are you telling him things about me?"
Her face reddened. "No, of course not. He's just a boy I tutor for math at school." She carefully turned off the stove and dared not look at her father, in case he was in a bad mood, but there was no anger in his voice when he started talking to her. He talked...normal...for once.
"All right..." He said nothing after that, instead, he went to the living room to watch television.
Confused, Quistis stopped what she was doing and listened to him turning on the t.v. She took a long deep breath and thought about Seifer again. She frowned. The nerve of him! He thought she wasn't going to be able to handle herself! "That jerk..." she hissed underneath her breath.
******************************
"The nerve of you!" she yelled into his face.
Seifer looked at her, unnerved once again. "What?" He was staring at his nails for no apparent reason, as if preoccupied by it.
Quistis felt her heart rate go up. "Uggh!" She started to pace around the room. It was after school, on a tuesday, back to their tutorial hours again. They were once again, alone, free to talk whatever they wanted to talk about. She stopped and looked at him again. "I told you it's none of your business and then you went to his work place and punched him! What part of 'it's none of your business' do you not understand!?"
The tall blond calmly folded his arms across his chest and smirked. "The part where it says, 'your business."
"What-?" She sighed deeply and rubbed the top of her nose irritably. "You know I could handle him myself! I don't need YOUR help!!!!"
Seifer looked up, now staring straight into her eyes, but Quistis would not dare break their eye contact. "Your doing a good job handling it on your own... do the bruises prove that you can?"
The blond girl frowned again. "You don't know who I am... You have no right to tell me how I feel! And I don't think I'm too comfortable with tutoring you anymore. I better go." She picked up her backpack and stormed off, without giving Seifer a chance to reply. Seifer stood there and smirked, even thoug, deep down inside, he wished he NEVER went to her father's work and make a scene.
GoodGurl: See? A Seiftis...well, sort of! Quistis is soo stubborn ain't she? And hey Seifer went to Sean's work to punch him? Interesting...eh? *wink*