Note: I have to say that there are maybe at least a few more chapters left of this story so I'm quite excited about the ending!!! I know you guys are too! Oh yes, I've also decided to join the couples together in these last few chapters to see how they would cope together with their problems…
Chapter 21 – Confirmed
She couldn't sleep. This whole time, she laid in bed, thinking about what Seifer said to her. It's been echoing in her head ever since she came home that night, crying and thinking that same thought over and over in her head. Quistis glanced at the clock on her bedside table and noticed that it was already five past four in the morning. In about two or three hours, she would have to get up for school. The blond tossed and turned, trying her best to close her eyes, but no sleep would come. 'Damn that Seifer for making me think!' she thought.
Realizing that just closing her eyes wouldn't help, Quistis decided to get up and maybe drink a cup of warm milk to help with her lack of sleep. She walked down the stairs and made her way to the kitchen. When she reached the kitchen, she poured herself a cup of milk on her favorite cup and placed it inside the microwave to heat it up a little. As soon as she heard the microwave beep, she took out the cup of warm milk and thought of carrying it into the living room to watch a little bit of television. However, as soon as she turned, Quistis was startled when she noticed a dark figure sitting on the reclining chair in the living room. It took her a while to realize that the big, male sized feet was just her father who probably just came home from work.
"What are you doing up?" Sean spoke, glancing over his shoulder at Quistis. His eyes were red and in addition to show his fatigue, he had bags underneath his eyes. That's when Quistis knew that once again, Sean Trepe went out drinking.
Quistis lifted up her cup of warm milk to him. "I couldn't sleep so I decided to get something to drink."
Sean grunted, lifting himself up from the reclining chair. Quistis hadn't noticed that his right hand was gripped around a half empty bottle of beer. "Don't lie to me! You just want to check up on me to see that I didn't go to the bar again."
The blond shook her head. "I didn't even know you came home late. I was in my room this whole time…" Without another word, she turned and began her way back up the stairs, but her father had reached out and grabbed her arm forcefully that Quistis accidentally dropped her cup of milk.
"Don't lie to me! First you lied to me that you didn't know about this young man named Seifer and now you lie to me about checking up on me! I don't NEED to be checked up on! I am a grown man!" He gripped his hand tighter around her arm.
Quistis dared to look into his eyes. She knew she shouldn't have, but something in her gave her the confidence to look into the hateful eyes of her father. "Dad, I wasn't checking up on you… I couldn't sleep so I went to get a glass of warm milk."
Sean's eyes turned into thin slits. "Are you talking back to me!?"
"I wasn't talking back to you-!" Her words were interrupted when she felt the same stinging hand hit her left cheek. Quistis stumbled back, landing on her butt and immediately her hand went on top of her reddened cheeks. Sean hovered above her; glaring down on her with the same look of dissatisfaction…no… it wasn't that- 'hate' was the right word for it. It has always been hate. She noticed him lifting up his arm again to strike her and she Quistis could do nothing but sit there and prepared herself for the blow.
"What's that noise? Travis, go get the bat!" She could hear her Aunt's voice at the top of the stairs. The lights suddenly turned on, but before Sean decided to withdraw from his next assault, Charlotte had already seen him towering over his daughter. Travis appeared seconds later, holding a bat. "What-? Sean? What are you-?" Her eyes widened in horror when she noticed Quistis' swollen cheeks. Charlotte ran down the stairs and grabbed her, helping her up on her feet. She stepped in between the young girl and her father. "What do you think you're doing!?"
Travis joined his mother, holding the bat and glanced at his cousin. He frowned when he noticed the marks on Quistis' cheek. "I think I have a pretty good idea what's going on…" He turned to glare at his uncle. "You bastard! What have you been doing to Quistis!?"
Sean snorted, taking a gulp of his bottle of beer. "What are you planning to do with me when I tell you that I've been teaching her a lesson?"
Travis gritted his teeth. He lifted up his arms, getting ready to swing his bat, when his mother stopped him. "What-? Mother! Look what he did to Quistis!"
"Put it down Travis. I don't want anymore violence in this house!" She grabbed the bat from her son and glared at her brother-in-law. "You seem to be drunk Sean… And while you're drunk, you seem to be hurting Quistis! Stay away from her or I will call the police!" She glanced over her shoulder at her niece. "Are you all right, Quistis?"
The blond girl nodded. "I'm fine, Auntie…really! You don't need to call the police! Like what you said, my dad's just drunk and he has no idea what he's doing!"
"Stop defending him Quistis! He's being a bastard!" Travis hissed, clenching his fists at his sides.
"Leave the house Sean or I will be forced to call the police!" Charlotte threatened, gripping her hand around the bat.
Sean snorted again and with an angry glare towards Quistis, he threw the half empty bottle against the window where it smashed glass against glass. Without another word, he turned and left, slamming the door behind him. Travis wanted to go after him with the bat, but Charlotte shook her head. "I want you to bring me ice for Quistis," she told her son. She placed an arm around Quistis' shoulders and led her to the living room. "Sit down," she commanded.
Quistis obeyed and sat down on the large sofa sitting in front of the fireplace. Quietly, she watched as Charlotte sat on the couch beside her. Travis arrived seconds later, carrying an ice pack. He handed the ice pack to his mother and sat down on the chair on the opposite side. Charlotte gently placed the ice pack on the corner of Quistis' mouth where it had taken damage the most from her father's hit.
They were silent for a while, until Charlotte said, "How long has this been going on, Quistis?" She dabbed the ice a couple of times, making Quistis wince.
"A… a few weeks," she replied.
"What!? A few weeks and you never told us!?" Travis yelled, suddenly standing up angrily.
"Hush up, Travis!" Charlotte said, glaring at her son. The fifteen year old boy sighed and sat back down. She turned her attention back towards Quistis. "You're really good at hiding this. It's been happening for a few weeks and we never found out that he was doing this to you…"
Quistis looked down on the ground in shame, halting Charlotte's process to clean the blood from her lip. "I didn't want you guys to worry. I didn't want this to be a burden on your shoulders…"
"That's nonsense!" Charlotte said, continuing to clean her wounds. "It's never a burden when my niece is having problems! If you told us then none of this would have happened! I would never let your father come near you again!"
"Mom, I think you should call the police and have him arrested!" Travis said, grinding his teeth together every time he thought about his Uncle.
Quistis looked at her Aunt. "No, please don't do that!" she pleaded. "You can call the police, but don't let him be arrested!"
"Why are you defending him, Quistis!?" Travis was getting annoyed by his cousin's behavior.
The blond girl looked up at her cousin. "Because he's my dad! He and I are the only ones for each other! I know he can change if you just give him time! How about a restraining order? Can I just have that happen? Just a restraining order?"
Charlotte sighed. "All right, I won't have him arrested."
"What!? But mom…"
"It's her choice, Travis," Charlotte replied.
Quistis breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank you, Auntie," she said.
"But I am curious, Quistis…" Charlotte looked into Quistis' eyes. "Why don't you want him to be arrested? This has been going on for too long, yet you STILL refuse to put him in jail?"
"I promised mother that I would take care of him…" Quistis replied.
"Well, you better get to bed. We can talk more about this tomorrow," Charlotte said.
Quistis stood up. "Thank you again, Auntie," she said, heading for the stairs. "I should sleep if I want to get up in two hours for school."
"You're still going to school after what happened?" Travis asked in disbelief. He joined her near the stairs.
"I don't want to miss any of my classes. Besides, I have exams coming up so I can't miss any of the questions my teachers go over."
Charlotte said nothing as she watched Travis and Quistis head back to their bedrooms. "Just like you, Flora… strong willed and stubborn."
************
How long has she been in this state? Too long; if she kept this up, she wouldn't know how to get out of it. Patti watched Rinoa cuddle her baby as if nothing else in the world mattered. Mothers, she knew, grow attached to their children, despite how old or how young the mother was. It was morning now and Rinoa was ready to get back to school after being absent for three weeks from the drama that unfolded between her, Ian, Squall and Diana. She was getting ready for school, all dressed up and proper to show to everyone else that she was normal again. Patti didn't know what made Rinoa change her mind about going back to school, but she figured it could be Squall. Maybe he promised to help her out after all, though she hasn't heard from him for a week.
"You better get going or you'll be late for school," Patti said softly from where she sat. Rinoa looked up and nodded, putting her baby back down in the crib. She grabbed her backpack in the other room, but stopped just beside Diana's crib, afraid that if she were to leave again, something might happen. "Don't worry, she'll be fine. The social worker didn't come back so I think they decided to let you keep your baby."
Rinoa looked up hopefully. "You really think so?"
Patti smiled reassuringly. "I'm not positive but worrying about her too much CAN put a strain on your baby."
The dark haired girl frowned. "That's not funny."
"Well, funny or not, you should go to school."
Sighing, Rinoa nodded and left, after hesitating a few more times. She needed to talk to someone. ANYONE, but she knew she couldn't talk to Selphie and Zell about it, since they were both suspended. Squall wasn't there, though Rinoa was starting to get worried and the only person she could think of that she knew would listen was…
Rinoa nodded. "I'm going to tell her," she said to herself. She needed to get everything off her chest. Telling someone might make her feel better.
*************
"Really? Oh…" She sat there dumbly, trying to figure out the right words to say. She never knew this kind of thing actually happened to her friends; never imagined that Rinoa, of all the people she thought knew, could have a baby at her age. It was actually the first time the young dark haired girl opened up to her. With Selphie suspended along with Zell, Quistis was the only person left for her to confide to.
"I wanted you to know, Quistis," Rinoa whispered. She placed a hand over hers and smiled. "I just need to talk to someone about this."
Quistis gave the back of her hand a soft pat before saying, "You can talk to me about anything, Rinoa. But what I want to know is… Where's Squall now?"
Rinoa shook her head. "I don't know. I haven't seen him for weeks. The social worker came again about a few days ago, inspecting some more of Diana's living conditions. Oh Quistis…" She laid her head down on the table and quietly began to weep. "I'm scared that I would lose her forever! I love my daughter!"
The blond placed a hand on her shoulder and sighed. "Rinoa, you don't need to worry about this. I thought you said you had faith in Squall? He said he was going to help you and he will!"
Rinoa sniffed, looking up. "I do have faith in him! But…sometimes I have my doubts…"
"Then what kind of faith is that if you have doubts?
Quistis asked, blue eyes meeting chocolate brown ones. To be honest, she wasn't sure what she was saying. Much like Rinoa, she doubted the fact that Squall would have the power to help her keep her baby. Indeed, he was the Mayor's son, but that was all. Squall Leonhart was just a high school boy, hoping to be a Senator one day from what Rinoa told her. He wasn't the Mayor… his father was. It should also be considered that Squall and his father wasn't on speaking terms at the moment, so it makes the situation a lot more complicated to handle. However, there was no point in making Rinoa lose all her hopes on Squall. It was just downright mean to do and insensitive.
"Look at me, telling all of my problems, when you probably have problems of your own…" Rinoa said, wiping the tears from her eyes. That gesture received attention from some of the students walking by their spot in the cafeteria.
Quistis was surprised. Did she know about her problems? "Oh…no I don't, I'm fine…" She wasn't ready to tell anyone yet. Then again, she was pretty obvious with it, since she had a bandage over top of her cut lip.
Rinoa frowned. "Don't lie to me. I mean I know we haven't hung out at all or talked at all, but for some reason this day seems different. This is the perfect time to share each other's problems."
The blond turned away. She didn't really want to share any of her problems towards the girl whom she barely knew. Selphie doesn't even know about her problems and the only person who knew about it was Seifer. However, Quistis feels quite guilty for ignoring Rinoa with her problems all this time. For some reason though, she felt more content talking about her problems with Seifer than anyone else. "I really don't feel like talking about it right now."
The dark haired girl looked disappointed, but she shrugged and decided that she couldn't force Quistis to share all her problems to her. She couldn't blame her. They weren't that close anyway. Rinoa decided to change the subject to let go of the awkwardness that was beginning to surround the two. "Hey that reminds me, are you going to the Snowflake Dance coming up in two weeks? I'm going!"
Quistis was taken aback my Rinoa's strange, sudden question. "Um…well… I don't know."
"Come on! Go! It'll be fun! Having a good time relieves stress you know!"
"Who said that?"
Rinoa shrugged. "Dunno, but I know it's going to be fun! We can go shopping for dresses this coming weekend! How about it?"
The blond rubbed the back of her neck nervously. "Well, I'm not sure because… I don't have a date."
"That's easy! Just say yes to the first guy who asks you to the dance!"
"What? That's not easy!" She blushed at the thought of a cute guy asking her to the dance. "No guy would ever ask me!"
Rinoa laughed. "Are you blind? Haven't you seen the guys in math class who look at you every time you enter the room?"
Quistis blushed even more. "That's because of what I look like…"
"Exactly! You're an attractive girl Quistis and ALL the guys wish they could be with you! I've heard them whisper to their friends that one of them might ask you out on a date!"
"Me? Date?" Honestly, she hasn't been on a date and if this guy whom Rinoa mentioned were to ask her out, she wouldn't know to respond. "I don't think so…"
"But I think they're scared to do it because they see you hang out with Seifer a lot." Rinoa looked up and grinned. "Say…are you and Seifer dating? 'Cause if you are, it would save a whole lot of trouble asking every guy to take you to the dance!"
Quistis' eyes widened in shock. She turned away nervously, trying to avoid anymore eye contact with Rinoa. "No, we're not dating! Where did you get an idea like that?"
Rinoa shrugged. "Well, because you seem to hang out with Seifer a lot, so I assumed-"
"Don't assume things that you don't know the truth of!" Quistis interrupted, startling the dark haired girl. She stood up and closed her eyes in frustration. "I think I'm gonna go. I have to study…" Without giving Rinoa a chance to reply, she turned and left. Yes, Rinoa was pretty, but she had a loose screw in her head. Angrily, she stomped down the hall for her locker. She was getting even more frustrated when some girls stared at her and giggled. She could hear them whisper Seifer's name, along with her name and every time they did, they would start to giggle. Quistis frowned, shaking the images of the girls away from her head. Why would they think such a thing? Of course they weren't dating! Besides, they had NOTHING in common! Seifer prided himself in getting into trouble, while Quistis studied and followed the rules of the school. He was too arrogant, too stubborn- too high strung too… All of a sudden, her thoughts were now on Seifer Almasy. "Stupid!" she mumbled, shaking off the thoughts of him.
"Who is stupid?" a voice spoke.
Startled Quistis swiftly turned to look at the source of the voice and was shocked to find Seifer standing there. "Seifer! What are you doing here?"
The blond smirked. "Did you forget already? You told me to come meet you at your locker at this time so we can go over the test questions for math…"
"Oh…right…"
"You don't look happy to see me," Seifer said, folding his arms across his chest. He leaned against the locker next to Quistis. "Oh yes, I know why… Because people think we're dating is that it?"
"How…?" She turned away, opening her locker again to put all her books inside. "How did you know?"
"I'm not deaf… Everyone here seems to want attention so they make their conversations loud enough to make the rumors come true!" he spoke louder as a bunch of girls walked pass them.
Quistis sighed. "You're right… I mean, why worry? We're not dating!" It was pointless to get mad over something that was just a rumor. Besides, only Seifer and herself knew that it wasn't true, so why should she let herself worry about this?
The male blond nodded, unfolding his arms. "And we have nothing in common either! You're too much of a goodie goodie girl anyway!"
"And you're too much of an arrogant jerk!" Quistis replied back.
They stared at each other for a while, until Quistis cleared her throat. She closed her locker and turned around to face him. "Well, like I said, I have a free block today so I can help you study for the exam."
Seifer rolled his eyes. "Yippee…" he said sarcastically, pretending to twirl his finger in the air. What just happened there? Did they just click? What the hell? Ah, crap! He was blushing! Damn! He turned around and frowned, rubbing his hand against his cheek to get rid of the blush. "Anyway, let's get going! I wanna get this over with!"
Quistis sighed. Her cheeks suddenly began to redden. What on earth? Why was she blushing? Her heart was suddenly pounding. No way! She clutched her books tighter against her chest and shook her head. No, it's probably the heater in the hall… It was TOO hot! But then again…the heater wasn't on. So what happened the other day wasn't just a fluke that she felt 'something' towards Seifer. She really DID feel something for him.
"HEY!" Quistis looked up. Seifer was already waiting by the door impatiently, his arms as usual, folded across his chest. "Can you walk any slower because I think the snail is beating you!"
"Ah! Coming!" She picked up her feet and joined him. "Sorry, I was just thinking."
Seifer lifted up a single eyebrow and looked at her. He noticed the band aid over the corner of her mouth, but chose not to say anything. "Thinking eh? Well, I'm not surprised. You think far too much!" He turned and stepped inside the room.
Quistis sighed and followed him inside, closing the door behind her. "Well it doesn't hurt to do that!"
GoodGurl: Wow, so it's FINALLY confirmed on this chapter that Quistis DOES have feelings for Seifer, even after what happened the other day! Does Seifer feel the same way for her? I think so! How long will these two confess their feelings for each other? Hm…. o.O And where's Squall? Stay tuned! ;)
Chapter 21 – Confirmed
She couldn't sleep. This whole time, she laid in bed, thinking about what Seifer said to her. It's been echoing in her head ever since she came home that night, crying and thinking that same thought over and over in her head. Quistis glanced at the clock on her bedside table and noticed that it was already five past four in the morning. In about two or three hours, she would have to get up for school. The blond tossed and turned, trying her best to close her eyes, but no sleep would come. 'Damn that Seifer for making me think!' she thought.
Realizing that just closing her eyes wouldn't help, Quistis decided to get up and maybe drink a cup of warm milk to help with her lack of sleep. She walked down the stairs and made her way to the kitchen. When she reached the kitchen, she poured herself a cup of milk on her favorite cup and placed it inside the microwave to heat it up a little. As soon as she heard the microwave beep, she took out the cup of warm milk and thought of carrying it into the living room to watch a little bit of television. However, as soon as she turned, Quistis was startled when she noticed a dark figure sitting on the reclining chair in the living room. It took her a while to realize that the big, male sized feet was just her father who probably just came home from work.
"What are you doing up?" Sean spoke, glancing over his shoulder at Quistis. His eyes were red and in addition to show his fatigue, he had bags underneath his eyes. That's when Quistis knew that once again, Sean Trepe went out drinking.
Quistis lifted up her cup of warm milk to him. "I couldn't sleep so I decided to get something to drink."
Sean grunted, lifting himself up from the reclining chair. Quistis hadn't noticed that his right hand was gripped around a half empty bottle of beer. "Don't lie to me! You just want to check up on me to see that I didn't go to the bar again."
The blond shook her head. "I didn't even know you came home late. I was in my room this whole time…" Without another word, she turned and began her way back up the stairs, but her father had reached out and grabbed her arm forcefully that Quistis accidentally dropped her cup of milk.
"Don't lie to me! First you lied to me that you didn't know about this young man named Seifer and now you lie to me about checking up on me! I don't NEED to be checked up on! I am a grown man!" He gripped his hand tighter around her arm.
Quistis dared to look into his eyes. She knew she shouldn't have, but something in her gave her the confidence to look into the hateful eyes of her father. "Dad, I wasn't checking up on you… I couldn't sleep so I went to get a glass of warm milk."
Sean's eyes turned into thin slits. "Are you talking back to me!?"
"I wasn't talking back to you-!" Her words were interrupted when she felt the same stinging hand hit her left cheek. Quistis stumbled back, landing on her butt and immediately her hand went on top of her reddened cheeks. Sean hovered above her; glaring down on her with the same look of dissatisfaction…no… it wasn't that- 'hate' was the right word for it. It has always been hate. She noticed him lifting up his arm again to strike her and she Quistis could do nothing but sit there and prepared herself for the blow.
"What's that noise? Travis, go get the bat!" She could hear her Aunt's voice at the top of the stairs. The lights suddenly turned on, but before Sean decided to withdraw from his next assault, Charlotte had already seen him towering over his daughter. Travis appeared seconds later, holding a bat. "What-? Sean? What are you-?" Her eyes widened in horror when she noticed Quistis' swollen cheeks. Charlotte ran down the stairs and grabbed her, helping her up on her feet. She stepped in between the young girl and her father. "What do you think you're doing!?"
Travis joined his mother, holding the bat and glanced at his cousin. He frowned when he noticed the marks on Quistis' cheek. "I think I have a pretty good idea what's going on…" He turned to glare at his uncle. "You bastard! What have you been doing to Quistis!?"
Sean snorted, taking a gulp of his bottle of beer. "What are you planning to do with me when I tell you that I've been teaching her a lesson?"
Travis gritted his teeth. He lifted up his arms, getting ready to swing his bat, when his mother stopped him. "What-? Mother! Look what he did to Quistis!"
"Put it down Travis. I don't want anymore violence in this house!" She grabbed the bat from her son and glared at her brother-in-law. "You seem to be drunk Sean… And while you're drunk, you seem to be hurting Quistis! Stay away from her or I will call the police!" She glanced over her shoulder at her niece. "Are you all right, Quistis?"
The blond girl nodded. "I'm fine, Auntie…really! You don't need to call the police! Like what you said, my dad's just drunk and he has no idea what he's doing!"
"Stop defending him Quistis! He's being a bastard!" Travis hissed, clenching his fists at his sides.
"Leave the house Sean or I will be forced to call the police!" Charlotte threatened, gripping her hand around the bat.
Sean snorted again and with an angry glare towards Quistis, he threw the half empty bottle against the window where it smashed glass against glass. Without another word, he turned and left, slamming the door behind him. Travis wanted to go after him with the bat, but Charlotte shook her head. "I want you to bring me ice for Quistis," she told her son. She placed an arm around Quistis' shoulders and led her to the living room. "Sit down," she commanded.
Quistis obeyed and sat down on the large sofa sitting in front of the fireplace. Quietly, she watched as Charlotte sat on the couch beside her. Travis arrived seconds later, carrying an ice pack. He handed the ice pack to his mother and sat down on the chair on the opposite side. Charlotte gently placed the ice pack on the corner of Quistis' mouth where it had taken damage the most from her father's hit.
They were silent for a while, until Charlotte said, "How long has this been going on, Quistis?" She dabbed the ice a couple of times, making Quistis wince.
"A… a few weeks," she replied.
"What!? A few weeks and you never told us!?" Travis yelled, suddenly standing up angrily.
"Hush up, Travis!" Charlotte said, glaring at her son. The fifteen year old boy sighed and sat back down. She turned her attention back towards Quistis. "You're really good at hiding this. It's been happening for a few weeks and we never found out that he was doing this to you…"
Quistis looked down on the ground in shame, halting Charlotte's process to clean the blood from her lip. "I didn't want you guys to worry. I didn't want this to be a burden on your shoulders…"
"That's nonsense!" Charlotte said, continuing to clean her wounds. "It's never a burden when my niece is having problems! If you told us then none of this would have happened! I would never let your father come near you again!"
"Mom, I think you should call the police and have him arrested!" Travis said, grinding his teeth together every time he thought about his Uncle.
Quistis looked at her Aunt. "No, please don't do that!" she pleaded. "You can call the police, but don't let him be arrested!"
"Why are you defending him, Quistis!?" Travis was getting annoyed by his cousin's behavior.
The blond girl looked up at her cousin. "Because he's my dad! He and I are the only ones for each other! I know he can change if you just give him time! How about a restraining order? Can I just have that happen? Just a restraining order?"
Charlotte sighed. "All right, I won't have him arrested."
"What!? But mom…"
"It's her choice, Travis," Charlotte replied.
Quistis breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank you, Auntie," she said.
"But I am curious, Quistis…" Charlotte looked into Quistis' eyes. "Why don't you want him to be arrested? This has been going on for too long, yet you STILL refuse to put him in jail?"
"I promised mother that I would take care of him…" Quistis replied.
"Well, you better get to bed. We can talk more about this tomorrow," Charlotte said.
Quistis stood up. "Thank you again, Auntie," she said, heading for the stairs. "I should sleep if I want to get up in two hours for school."
"You're still going to school after what happened?" Travis asked in disbelief. He joined her near the stairs.
"I don't want to miss any of my classes. Besides, I have exams coming up so I can't miss any of the questions my teachers go over."
Charlotte said nothing as she watched Travis and Quistis head back to their bedrooms. "Just like you, Flora… strong willed and stubborn."
************
How long has she been in this state? Too long; if she kept this up, she wouldn't know how to get out of it. Patti watched Rinoa cuddle her baby as if nothing else in the world mattered. Mothers, she knew, grow attached to their children, despite how old or how young the mother was. It was morning now and Rinoa was ready to get back to school after being absent for three weeks from the drama that unfolded between her, Ian, Squall and Diana. She was getting ready for school, all dressed up and proper to show to everyone else that she was normal again. Patti didn't know what made Rinoa change her mind about going back to school, but she figured it could be Squall. Maybe he promised to help her out after all, though she hasn't heard from him for a week.
"You better get going or you'll be late for school," Patti said softly from where she sat. Rinoa looked up and nodded, putting her baby back down in the crib. She grabbed her backpack in the other room, but stopped just beside Diana's crib, afraid that if she were to leave again, something might happen. "Don't worry, she'll be fine. The social worker didn't come back so I think they decided to let you keep your baby."
Rinoa looked up hopefully. "You really think so?"
Patti smiled reassuringly. "I'm not positive but worrying about her too much CAN put a strain on your baby."
The dark haired girl frowned. "That's not funny."
"Well, funny or not, you should go to school."
Sighing, Rinoa nodded and left, after hesitating a few more times. She needed to talk to someone. ANYONE, but she knew she couldn't talk to Selphie and Zell about it, since they were both suspended. Squall wasn't there, though Rinoa was starting to get worried and the only person she could think of that she knew would listen was…
Rinoa nodded. "I'm going to tell her," she said to herself. She needed to get everything off her chest. Telling someone might make her feel better.
*************
"Really? Oh…" She sat there dumbly, trying to figure out the right words to say. She never knew this kind of thing actually happened to her friends; never imagined that Rinoa, of all the people she thought knew, could have a baby at her age. It was actually the first time the young dark haired girl opened up to her. With Selphie suspended along with Zell, Quistis was the only person left for her to confide to.
"I wanted you to know, Quistis," Rinoa whispered. She placed a hand over hers and smiled. "I just need to talk to someone about this."
Quistis gave the back of her hand a soft pat before saying, "You can talk to me about anything, Rinoa. But what I want to know is… Where's Squall now?"
Rinoa shook her head. "I don't know. I haven't seen him for weeks. The social worker came again about a few days ago, inspecting some more of Diana's living conditions. Oh Quistis…" She laid her head down on the table and quietly began to weep. "I'm scared that I would lose her forever! I love my daughter!"
The blond placed a hand on her shoulder and sighed. "Rinoa, you don't need to worry about this. I thought you said you had faith in Squall? He said he was going to help you and he will!"
Rinoa sniffed, looking up. "I do have faith in him! But…sometimes I have my doubts…"
"Then what kind of faith is that if you have doubts?
Quistis asked, blue eyes meeting chocolate brown ones. To be honest, she wasn't sure what she was saying. Much like Rinoa, she doubted the fact that Squall would have the power to help her keep her baby. Indeed, he was the Mayor's son, but that was all. Squall Leonhart was just a high school boy, hoping to be a Senator one day from what Rinoa told her. He wasn't the Mayor… his father was. It should also be considered that Squall and his father wasn't on speaking terms at the moment, so it makes the situation a lot more complicated to handle. However, there was no point in making Rinoa lose all her hopes on Squall. It was just downright mean to do and insensitive.
"Look at me, telling all of my problems, when you probably have problems of your own…" Rinoa said, wiping the tears from her eyes. That gesture received attention from some of the students walking by their spot in the cafeteria.
Quistis was surprised. Did she know about her problems? "Oh…no I don't, I'm fine…" She wasn't ready to tell anyone yet. Then again, she was pretty obvious with it, since she had a bandage over top of her cut lip.
Rinoa frowned. "Don't lie to me. I mean I know we haven't hung out at all or talked at all, but for some reason this day seems different. This is the perfect time to share each other's problems."
The blond turned away. She didn't really want to share any of her problems towards the girl whom she barely knew. Selphie doesn't even know about her problems and the only person who knew about it was Seifer. However, Quistis feels quite guilty for ignoring Rinoa with her problems all this time. For some reason though, she felt more content talking about her problems with Seifer than anyone else. "I really don't feel like talking about it right now."
The dark haired girl looked disappointed, but she shrugged and decided that she couldn't force Quistis to share all her problems to her. She couldn't blame her. They weren't that close anyway. Rinoa decided to change the subject to let go of the awkwardness that was beginning to surround the two. "Hey that reminds me, are you going to the Snowflake Dance coming up in two weeks? I'm going!"
Quistis was taken aback my Rinoa's strange, sudden question. "Um…well… I don't know."
"Come on! Go! It'll be fun! Having a good time relieves stress you know!"
"Who said that?"
Rinoa shrugged. "Dunno, but I know it's going to be fun! We can go shopping for dresses this coming weekend! How about it?"
The blond rubbed the back of her neck nervously. "Well, I'm not sure because… I don't have a date."
"That's easy! Just say yes to the first guy who asks you to the dance!"
"What? That's not easy!" She blushed at the thought of a cute guy asking her to the dance. "No guy would ever ask me!"
Rinoa laughed. "Are you blind? Haven't you seen the guys in math class who look at you every time you enter the room?"
Quistis blushed even more. "That's because of what I look like…"
"Exactly! You're an attractive girl Quistis and ALL the guys wish they could be with you! I've heard them whisper to their friends that one of them might ask you out on a date!"
"Me? Date?" Honestly, she hasn't been on a date and if this guy whom Rinoa mentioned were to ask her out, she wouldn't know to respond. "I don't think so…"
"But I think they're scared to do it because they see you hang out with Seifer a lot." Rinoa looked up and grinned. "Say…are you and Seifer dating? 'Cause if you are, it would save a whole lot of trouble asking every guy to take you to the dance!"
Quistis' eyes widened in shock. She turned away nervously, trying to avoid anymore eye contact with Rinoa. "No, we're not dating! Where did you get an idea like that?"
Rinoa shrugged. "Well, because you seem to hang out with Seifer a lot, so I assumed-"
"Don't assume things that you don't know the truth of!" Quistis interrupted, startling the dark haired girl. She stood up and closed her eyes in frustration. "I think I'm gonna go. I have to study…" Without giving Rinoa a chance to reply, she turned and left. Yes, Rinoa was pretty, but she had a loose screw in her head. Angrily, she stomped down the hall for her locker. She was getting even more frustrated when some girls stared at her and giggled. She could hear them whisper Seifer's name, along with her name and every time they did, they would start to giggle. Quistis frowned, shaking the images of the girls away from her head. Why would they think such a thing? Of course they weren't dating! Besides, they had NOTHING in common! Seifer prided himself in getting into trouble, while Quistis studied and followed the rules of the school. He was too arrogant, too stubborn- too high strung too… All of a sudden, her thoughts were now on Seifer Almasy. "Stupid!" she mumbled, shaking off the thoughts of him.
"Who is stupid?" a voice spoke.
Startled Quistis swiftly turned to look at the source of the voice and was shocked to find Seifer standing there. "Seifer! What are you doing here?"
The blond smirked. "Did you forget already? You told me to come meet you at your locker at this time so we can go over the test questions for math…"
"Oh…right…"
"You don't look happy to see me," Seifer said, folding his arms across his chest. He leaned against the locker next to Quistis. "Oh yes, I know why… Because people think we're dating is that it?"
"How…?" She turned away, opening her locker again to put all her books inside. "How did you know?"
"I'm not deaf… Everyone here seems to want attention so they make their conversations loud enough to make the rumors come true!" he spoke louder as a bunch of girls walked pass them.
Quistis sighed. "You're right… I mean, why worry? We're not dating!" It was pointless to get mad over something that was just a rumor. Besides, only Seifer and herself knew that it wasn't true, so why should she let herself worry about this?
The male blond nodded, unfolding his arms. "And we have nothing in common either! You're too much of a goodie goodie girl anyway!"
"And you're too much of an arrogant jerk!" Quistis replied back.
They stared at each other for a while, until Quistis cleared her throat. She closed her locker and turned around to face him. "Well, like I said, I have a free block today so I can help you study for the exam."
Seifer rolled his eyes. "Yippee…" he said sarcastically, pretending to twirl his finger in the air. What just happened there? Did they just click? What the hell? Ah, crap! He was blushing! Damn! He turned around and frowned, rubbing his hand against his cheek to get rid of the blush. "Anyway, let's get going! I wanna get this over with!"
Quistis sighed. Her cheeks suddenly began to redden. What on earth? Why was she blushing? Her heart was suddenly pounding. No way! She clutched her books tighter against her chest and shook her head. No, it's probably the heater in the hall… It was TOO hot! But then again…the heater wasn't on. So what happened the other day wasn't just a fluke that she felt 'something' towards Seifer. She really DID feel something for him.
"HEY!" Quistis looked up. Seifer was already waiting by the door impatiently, his arms as usual, folded across his chest. "Can you walk any slower because I think the snail is beating you!"
"Ah! Coming!" She picked up her feet and joined him. "Sorry, I was just thinking."
Seifer lifted up a single eyebrow and looked at her. He noticed the band aid over the corner of her mouth, but chose not to say anything. "Thinking eh? Well, I'm not surprised. You think far too much!" He turned and stepped inside the room.
Quistis sighed and followed him inside, closing the door behind her. "Well it doesn't hurt to do that!"
GoodGurl: Wow, so it's FINALLY confirmed on this chapter that Quistis DOES have feelings for Seifer, even after what happened the other day! Does Seifer feel the same way for her? I think so! How long will these two confess their feelings for each other? Hm…. o.O And where's Squall? Stay tuned! ;)