Note: Sorry for making you guys wait…as usual! ^^; But anyways, here is the Seiftis chapter you've been waiting for! *thumbs up* Here is also…dum dum dum! Seifer's reaction to the news that Quistis is planning on going with that French Id….I mean *ahem* with Jacque….*grins* Oh yeah, I think this story will go to more than chapter 30…@_@
Chapter 30 – Out Of Reach
It took her a while to get it through her head about what Selphie just told her about her and Zell's little demise, until she remembered laughing that time. Quistis couldn't help but laugh again and see that same memory in her head, forcing Selphie to look up with a frown. "You know it wasn't THAT funny…"
The blond gave her an apologetic look and smiled, trying not to laugh again. "Come on, Selphie admit it! If it happened to someone you would've laughed too!" Quistis clasped at her aching stomach placed a hand over her mouth to keep from laughing too loudly.
Selphie thought about it for a moment and realized her friend was right, suddenly smiling at the idea of maybe Brandy and her boyfriend in the same predicament. "Hah! Hah! You are SO right!"
"Where did Zell go?" Quistis suddenly asked, now calmed from laughing so hard.
"He went home to get changed, but he'll be back during lunch time," Selphie replied, looking at everyone in the class who were whispering and wondering what had happened to Zell's pants when they saw him walking down the hall.
"All right, class! Settle down! Settle down!" Mr. Cutty, the Biology teacher came into the room a couple seconds later after the bell. With his loud voice, the class noise immediately died down. He took a quick scan in the room, making sure everyone was present and to his relief, NO ONE was absent. "I'm glad everyone is here…for once." He turned around to face the board. "Right now we're going to dissect a frog, please take out your Biology book for the instructions."
Everyone fished in their bags for their books, except Quistis, who had her hand raised. Mr. Cutty noticed this after he wrote out the pages on the blackboard. "Yes, Ms. Trepe?"
"I forgot my text book in my locker."
"Surprise, surprise," Brandy said out loud from the front seat of the class.
Mr. Cutty ignored the usual mocking tone in Brandy's voice. It was always the same with the girl and if he didn't ignore it, it would drive him insane. People like her were always the type to reach the top, despite being mean to the outcasts and it annoyed him the most. "You will share with Ms. Tilmitt," he said. He knew he shouldn't have said that, because he always saw Quistis with her own text book while taking out some yellow post it notes stuffed inside, already filled with notes from before.
"You know, I can't Mr. Cutty," Quistis said, looking at her teacher eagerly. She just couldn't work without a text book, probably one of the reasons why she was thought of as 'eccentric' but she didn't care. She didn't care that Brandy was pointing and laughing at her in disbelief and there were times that Quistis imagined her to be allergic to frogs and would have red eyes, nose and ears to prove that. If only she was some kind of witch to conjure up that evil idea.
Mr. Cutty nodded and waved his hand to dismiss her. "All right, all right, you can go get it."
Brandy's smile disappeared, replaced by a look of disgust as Quistis stood up and left for her locker. The blond felt satisfaction at that look on Brandy's face as she walked down the hall to head towards her locker. It was really quiet in the hallway, which was obvious because everyone was already in class, having their usual lectures with either math, biology, English and other academic courses. Outside, it was nice and sunny and Quistis figured the Physical Education classes were probably out in the field.
The blond girl approached her locker and began turning the dial of her lock to its right numbers, until at the corner of her eye, she noticed someone approaching. At first she ignored it, but when she noticed something familiar about the man's coat, she had no choice but to look up and see Seifer approaching her. "What do you want now, Seifer?" she asked, before he neared her.
Seifer said nothing; instead he leaned his back against one of the lockers to Quistis' left and stuffed his hands in his pockets. "I guess you decided to go with that jerk, after all," he said, spitefully.
Quistis pulled out her Biology text book and closed her locker. "Jacque is not a jerk. And yes I decided to go with him. I don't need your approval on who I should go to the dance with."
Without a word, he turned to face the locker and before he could stop himself, punched the locker as hard as he could, leaving a dent. Startled, Quistis jumped back, tightening her grip around her book and looked at Seifer curiously. Seifer looked up and stared intently into her eyes. "Then I guess I'm not in your way anymore…" With that said he turned, stuffed his hands in his pockets once more and left.
Quistis watched him leave. The way he looked at her left a curious expression on the blond girl's face. She never wished for him to move out of her way. She never wanted that. She didn't even want to hurt him…Not to someone she… The blond shook her head and pivoted around to head back to her Biology class.
*********************
Seifer didn't show up to Math class with Ms. Fisher and that put a suspicion in the blond girl that he wasn't going to show up after school for their tutorial. Selphie gave Quistis a curious glance and in an honest answer, just shrugged and shook her head for a response towards her friend. She was as curious as she was, but she suspected that his absence was all her fault. 'Of course it was!' a small voice said in her head. She couldn't deny that. It was all her fault anyway.
When lunch came, much to Selphie's relief, Zell came back wearing new pants. Quisits was too preoccupied to notice that Zell arrived carrying a tray full of his favorite food…hot dogs. The blond kept watching out for a sign that Seifer could still be in the building somewhere, but when she didn't, she breathed a sigh of disappointment. Guilt was staring at her in the face in which she couldn't get rid of.
"Ah! Quistis! Beautiful Quistis!" The blond girl rolled her eyes and looked over her shoulder to see Jacque approaching her holding a bouquet full of flowers. He sat down beside her and handed her the flowers. "Here are beautiful flowers for the beautiful lady."
"Thanks," Quistis mumbled, taking the flowers. These were flowers were a mixed of roses and lilies, her favorite. How on earth did he know lilies were her favorite? "You got me….lilies….How-?" She looked at him curiously.
Jacque grinned. "I had my sources." He stood up again. "Well, I better get going. I will see you soon my little flower!" He gave the back of her hand another soft kiss before leaving the cafeteria.
"ZELL! How many times do I have to tell you to stop eating your hot dogs so fast!? GEEZ!" The blond looked up to see Selphie patting Zell's back, who was coughing out debris of the food towards Quistis' way.
"Hey! Watch where you're coughing!" Quistis said, blocking her face with a napkin. When he finally stopped after a few more coughs, Zell put down his hot dog and looked at Quistis curiously.
"Aren't you a bit curious?" the blond man asked.
"About what?" Quistis said, picking up the ham sandwich from her plate. She took a small bite out of it and glanced at Zell. "About how he knew that lilies were my favorite?" Zell and Selphie both nodded, where at this time, Quistis shrugged. "I don't need to be suspicious of him. He's just a nice guy, that's all."
"Yeah, a nice guy, who stalks you…" Zell mumbled, taking a slow bite this time on his half eaten hot dog. He almost dropped it from his fingers when Selphie elbowed him.
Quistis took a deep breath. She was getting really frustrated now. First it was Seifer, now her own friends! "Look, I am only going to the dance with him, not dating him. Jacque is just being sweet to me so if you can't take that, then I guess I'll just go with him to a separate car!" She stood up, grabbed her tray and left.
"Why did you have to open your big mouth, Zell?" Selphie said, glaring at her boyfriend.
Zell said nothing as he continued to finish his hot dog.
*****************
Walking was a nice way to calm him. In the past week, ever since his mother passed away, all he could ever do after finishing his homework was go for a little walk in the park or just around the corner and come back again. Sometimes he thought about what he should do now, or whether he should really stay with his new family. His father came at least three times last week, asking him what he was having for breakfast or dinner, when in reality, those questions were directed whether he was staying with them or not. Every time he called the house, Seifer would just reject the offer by saying, "I'll think about it."
During his walks he sometimes thought about Quistis, wondering what she was doing now, whether she was mad for not showing up at their tutorial after school. He thought about whether… Seifer clenched his fists. He couldn't understand why she, of all people, the smartest girl he knew would go to the dance with a low-life French guy, whose intentions were simply to humiliate her in front of the whole school because of Brandy. He wondered WHAT Brandy would do then.
Seifer absent-mindedly walked down the sidewalk of his main street. Up ahead, he could see the playground where he made a debut in crying like a woman in front of a woman. But…somehow, he didn't feel humiliated. "…Even if you don't have good memories, Seifer, you can still HAVE one." He stuck his hands in his jacket pocket, frowning. Those words stuck in Seifer's mind as he turned the corner at the very end of the street, when he suddenly stopped to find a pair of feet stopping right in front of him. The blond looked up and was startled to see Quistis standing right in front of him.
The girl stared back, unable to utter even a hello to the man whom she has grown to care about. They stared at each other for who knows how long, until Seifer cleared his throat. "Hey," he said simply. The blond man turned away, unable to look at the blond girl anymore, his eyes searching for something to look at.
Quistis gripped the book around her chest tightly with her arms and looked away as well, finding a small spider crawling on the ground to watch. "Hello," was her reply.
"I didn't know you were still at school," Seifer said.
"I didn't come from the school," Quistis said.
At that comment, Seifer was forced to look at her. She was keeping her eyes on the ground as if ashamed to look at him. "I see…" So, she was at HIS place. The blond man clenched his fists underneath the pockets of his coat and nodded. "Well, I was just going for a walk, see you later." He walked passed her, but stopped when he felt a hand on his arm. Seifer looked over his shoulder at Quistis.
"When is…." She bit her bottom lip. Seifer turned completely around to look at her curiously. After taking a deep breath, Quistis finally had the courage to look into his eyes. "When is your mother's funeral?"
Seifer shrugged, turning away. "I don't know yet. We haven't really arranged a day, but when we have one, I'll make sure to let you know."
Quistis nodded. "Thank you."
"You don't need to be there," Seifer suddenly said, after Quistis removed her hand from his arm. "It's not like you knew her that much."
The blond girl forced a smile on her lips. "Well…" She looked down, her eyes concealed by her long blond bangs framing her face. "I guess you're right. Although I wish to be there…with you… so you don't have to be ashamed to cry." With that said, she turned and walked away.
Seifer watched her leave, her words etched in his mind. He felt his fists clenching tighter and tighter underneath his coat, but even then, he knew that those were the words he was looking for from her lips, so why… Why did he not stop her? "Because I don't need this! I don't need her!" he said, answering his own question. "I…I don't…" 'Ah shit!' he thought. 'I DO friggin need her! I friggin LOVE her!' The blond stopped, turned and walked to the direction of Quistis' house.
**********************
"I'm home!" she yelled to no one in particular. She didn't really need to yell it, even though she knew that her Aunt wouldn't be home, because she had to do some planning with a client of hers about a house that needs designing. Travis, as usual, a party-goer type of guy, was going to be home late because of a birthday party his girlfriend was having. So, Quistis, with her stomach growling, decided to head to the kitchen to make something for dinner. She went to the freezer and took out at least two T.V. dinners, followed the directions and heated both of them up in the microwave. She grabbed a mug from the cupboard to prepare herself hot chocolate. It took the blond a moment to realize that the back door was opened. Her Aunt must have forgotten to close it when she left quickly that afternoon, however, something caught here eye that made her heart skip a bit. Near the door, there was a pair of very familiar looking boots.
"Hello, Quistis," someone said from behind.
The blond girl dropped her mug, making a loud, smashing sound on the ground. She quickly turned around and looked up. In the darkness of the living room, a large, figure stepped into the light of the kitchen. It's been almost a month since he disappeared, never heard from, but this sudden appearance, made her feel uncomfortable. The way he looked at her, screamed 'bloody murder' and he looked even more dangerous than the last time he set foot in this house. "Dad…daddy…What are you doing here? How did you get in?"
Sean took another step, his fists clenched at his sides. "Don't call me daddy, you bitch! You turned me in!!! You betrayed your own father!" He lifted up a hand to strike her and took two more steps until he was close enough. Quistis took her own steps back, reaching behind her for something to protect her from, but there was none.
"You're not supposed to come near me. Aunt Charlotte signed a restraining order on you," Quistis said.
The tall, blond, middle aged man let out a very hoarse laugh. "Your stupid Aunt couldn't keep me away from you. The police knew I was an 'innocent' man so they let me see you for a while."
"What? They can't do that-!" She was interrupted when Sean's booming voice echoed around the kitchen. "SHUT UP!" he yelled, slapping her before Quistis could defend herself. The blond girl reeled back from the impact, landing on her butt on the ground. She placed a hand on her now bruised cheek and looked up, tears filling her eyes. "You have no right to talk to your father that way!" He lifted up his hand once more to make another hit, but as Quistis closed her and prepared for the second blow…it never came.
"What the-!? It's YOU!" The blond girl didn't know what her father was talking about as she opened her eyes again to notice something grey and tall hovering right above her and standing in between her and her father.
"And you have no right to treat your daughter that WAY!" With the last word, the figure punched Sean square in the face. The older man was stunned at the power the young man had as he fell backwards on his butt.
Quistis watched as the figure turned and kneeled down beside her. That was when she realized it was Seifer who was staring back at her with a worried look on his face. "Seifer? What are you doing here?" she wondered, her hand still placed on her broken cheek.
"I came here to see you, but then I heard a noise so I had to check out what it was and-!" But before Seifer could finish his sentence, Sean had tackled him from behind. Quistis quickly stood up to get away from the fight and just watched as the two men struggled with the other on the ground. Sean had Seifer on a tight grip, but Seifer managed to kick the man in the stomach, forcing Sean to reel back in surprise. Quistis gasped in shock when Sean took another leap towards Seifer into a tackle. Both men landed hard on the ground. Glasses and utensils on the counter fell to the side, but no one took notice of that. Seifer made another attempt to kick the man off of him and the second time, it succeeded. Sean reeled back harder this time, his back hitting the back door. Seifer charged at him and both men flew into the air and landed outside in the backyard. "STOP! Please no more!!!" Quistis was yelling, but Seifer didn't listen as he tightened his legs around Sean's torso and began hitting him with his fists over and over again. "SEIFER! STOP!" Quistis' pleas made Seifer stop as he looked up to see the blond girl with her eyes filled with tears.
Sean took this opportunity to hit the younger man across the face while he was preoccupied with watching his daughter. "Don't take your eyes off of your opponent!" Sean yelled. Seifer didn't have time to turn and defend himself, when he felt something hard hit his face. The young blond fell backwards, wiping the blood off of the corner of his mouth. Sean stood up and decided to hover over the fallen Seifer, while cracking his knuckles as if to finish him off. Despite Quistis' pleas, Sean proceeded to grab Seifer by the neck and lift him up to he could hit him straight in the face.
"NO!!!! DADDY STOP!" Quistis ran as fast as she could and wrapped her arms around her father's waist to stop him from doing anymore damage.
"GET OFF ME YOU BITCH!" Sean howled, pushing her away from him.
Quistis fell on the ground with a loud 'thud!'
Seifer's eyes turned into thin slits as he watched Quistis clutching at what seemed like a broken arm from when she fell the first time inside the house. "I am really going to enjoy this!" Sean whispered. He lifted up his single clenched fist in the air and made to hit him, when something stopped him just in time. Sean paused and looked up. The sound of sirens could be heard around the neighborhood.
"Please STOP!" Sean looked up at Quistis, then back down at Seifer to find himself hit hard in the face. Blood spilled from his nose when once again the two men were caught up in their fight to really notice that the cars had stopped at the garage. Two policemen ran out of their cars and dashed to the backyard where they found a young blond woman on her knees, begging for two fighting men to stop. One of the policemen, who was slightly shorter than the other had long dark hair, slicked back into a ponytail ran to where the two men were fighting and pulled the youngest off of the older man. The second policeman, a large and very muscular, dark skinned man with moustache, took less effort to help the older blond man up on his feet and restraining him from attacking the other blond man.
"What's going on here!?" the shorter, dark haired man asked. For some unknown reason, there was a small, dot in the middle of his forehead. From the tone of his voice, he seemed to be the one in charge out of the two of them. He had Seifer's arms pulled behind his back.
Seifer gritted his teeth. "YOU SHOULD ASK HIM!"
"Why you son of a bitch! You were the one who hit me first!"
"All right, all right, there's no need to have name callin' ya fools!" the large man spoke.
"You two were disturbing the peace in this neighborhood that's why we came here to find out what was going on!" The dark haired man glanced to the blond woman who was now standing up on her feet. "Miss? Would you like to explain what happened here? These two don't seem to want to say anything."
Quistis nodded. "I uh…" She glanced at Seifer, who just nodded, giving her a reassuring look. He looked really battered and bruised, but then again, so was her father. "It's all right, officer, there's nothing to worry about. There was just some misunderstanding." She looked away from Seifer, who was left with his mouth wide open in shock.
"Hey Tseng, we don't need to interrogate the lady," the dark skinned man said.
"Well, whatever the story was, we need to take these two in. Disturbing the piece usually means domestic disturbance. Young lady?" The man called Tseng nodded to Quistis. "Would it be all right if we ask you to come with us?"
The blond girl nodded quietly and followed the two policemen out of the backyard and to the police cars. Tseng shoved Seifer at the back, who was wincing in pain from the fight and locked the door. He walked over to the passenger side, unlocked that door and allowed Quistis inside, then went over to his side. "Hey Barrett," he called to the dark skinned man as Quistis stepped inside the car.
Barrett looked up. "Yeah?"
"Make sure you don't get lost on the way back again eh?" Tseng teased, winking.
The dark skinned man felt his face go red. "HEY! I wasn't the one who got lost! You were the one who wouldn't listen to me!!! I KNOW this area pretty well, you know!"
Tseng waved him away. "Yeah, yeah," he said as he stepped into his side of the car. As both cars drove off the driveway and towards the police station which was only fifteen minutes away, Quistis sat silently in the passenger seat, while Tseng and Barrett conversed with each other about the new Krispy Kreme store that opened near their area.
Seifer sat, annoyed by this, his right eye bruising and his face going red in frustration. He couldn't believe these idiots were cops! "HEY! Why don't you stop talking about Krispy Kreme so I won't have to cream you?"
Tseng's eyes narrowed, jerking his head back at him. "What did you say, punk!?"
The blond turned away, but Quistis frowned, giving him a worried look.
"That's right, don't say anymore! You're lucky I'm not here to arrest you for a whole year! Since this was only a minor thing and no killing was involved, you'll only stay the night so you can be with your pretty girlfriend here!" He grinned at Quistis, who blushed in return and said nothing.
"For your information, she's not my girlfriend!" Seifer hissed, looking away embarrassed. "She's…she's just someone I know…" DAMMIT!
Quistis glanced at him through the rearview mirror and noticed the blush on his face growing deeper.
Tseng shrugged. "Whatever you say, punk…"
Seifer said nothing after that.
****************
"Oh geez….so THIS is where you were!" Seifer looked up at the sound of a very familiar voice. It was Charlotte, with Quistis standing beside her worriedly and Travis who seemed to be excited that he was inside a jail cell, apparently for the first time. She was standing right there with her arms folded across her chest and her face wearing that odd looking expression he has never seen on the woman whom he considers part of his family.
Seifer felt his shoulders sag for a moment. He was expecting his father to come, but then again, he lives so far away so why would the short, old man come all the way just to let him out? But why should he care? He has a new family to worry about now! He was Bryan Almasy, a man with a new wife and a new daughter he can always cherish. Why would he want a son, who fought with someone every time he had a temper tantrum? And a son who was now in jail because of that reason?
"Be glad that I came home just in time to find you two in a police car! I was so shocked that I had to turn and follow you guys all the way to the station…" She unfolded her arms and proceeded to plant her fists on her hips. When she did, Charlotte reminded him of the way his mother used to do it whenever she was upset about something.
Quistis stood there, still shocked by what happened. She wanted nothing more than to run into Seifer's arms and kiss him all over for being there. That thought made her blush.
"Hey!" The blond girl was interrupted by the sound of Travis voice, who was also nudging him in the arm. She looked at her younger cousin, giving him a curious look. "Shouldn't you be thanking Seifer for kicking that bastard's ass?"
"TRAVIS! WATCH YOUR MOUTH!" Charlotte screamed, almost the top of her lungs. That forced a mumbled apology from Travis' mouth and he had no choice but to back off either.
Quistis blushed and looked up at Seifer, who was watching her all this time. "Um…I guess…thank you…"
Seifer turned away and smirked. "What you're not going to scold me for beating the crap out of your dad?" 'STUPID IDIOT! Stop acting so high and mighty now!' he thought. 'You're going to make her mad again!'
But to his surprise, Quistis just smiled and shook her head. "Why would I? You saved my life. I was….I was so scared."
"Oh good!" A voice startled everyone out of their conversation. All heads turned to the same dark haired policeman that arrested Seifer earlier. He was playing the cell keys in his hands, dangling them from one finger to the other. Tseng glanced down at Seifer sitting on his bed. "Well, you're lucky to have a family like this, kid," he said, patting Travis on the back. "If it weren't for them, you'd be stuck here for the whole night or maybe more for assault and battery towards someone on private property." He unlocked Seifer's cell door. "You're free to go."
Seifer stood up. "Thanks," he mumbled. He was about to walk pass the family, when someone's soft hand touched him on the shoulder. The blond stopped and looked down at Quistis. He was startled to see her with her face buried in her hands. Charlotte, Travis and even Tseng were startled by this, but Seifer wordlessly approached her and wrapped his arms around her. "I thought you stronger than that?" he whispered in her ear.
Quistis shook her head. "No…I'm not," she whimpered. "I was so scared, Seifer. I thought he was going to do something else to me…"
Seifer closed his eyes, wanting so much to finish off killing Sean, but thought against it. He knew that Quistis would never want him to be a murderer anyway. "I won't let anything happen to you. I promise that…" 'If only if it were true in Jacque's part!' he thought, his teeth grinding together.
GoodGurl: HEE HEE! FINALLY! THE END OF SEAN! GO SEIFER GO! What's going to happen for these two now that it's been confirmed already that they have feeling for each other? OH! Stay tuned! THE DANCE!!! XD
Chapter 30 – Out Of Reach
It took her a while to get it through her head about what Selphie just told her about her and Zell's little demise, until she remembered laughing that time. Quistis couldn't help but laugh again and see that same memory in her head, forcing Selphie to look up with a frown. "You know it wasn't THAT funny…"
The blond gave her an apologetic look and smiled, trying not to laugh again. "Come on, Selphie admit it! If it happened to someone you would've laughed too!" Quistis clasped at her aching stomach placed a hand over her mouth to keep from laughing too loudly.
Selphie thought about it for a moment and realized her friend was right, suddenly smiling at the idea of maybe Brandy and her boyfriend in the same predicament. "Hah! Hah! You are SO right!"
"Where did Zell go?" Quistis suddenly asked, now calmed from laughing so hard.
"He went home to get changed, but he'll be back during lunch time," Selphie replied, looking at everyone in the class who were whispering and wondering what had happened to Zell's pants when they saw him walking down the hall.
"All right, class! Settle down! Settle down!" Mr. Cutty, the Biology teacher came into the room a couple seconds later after the bell. With his loud voice, the class noise immediately died down. He took a quick scan in the room, making sure everyone was present and to his relief, NO ONE was absent. "I'm glad everyone is here…for once." He turned around to face the board. "Right now we're going to dissect a frog, please take out your Biology book for the instructions."
Everyone fished in their bags for their books, except Quistis, who had her hand raised. Mr. Cutty noticed this after he wrote out the pages on the blackboard. "Yes, Ms. Trepe?"
"I forgot my text book in my locker."
"Surprise, surprise," Brandy said out loud from the front seat of the class.
Mr. Cutty ignored the usual mocking tone in Brandy's voice. It was always the same with the girl and if he didn't ignore it, it would drive him insane. People like her were always the type to reach the top, despite being mean to the outcasts and it annoyed him the most. "You will share with Ms. Tilmitt," he said. He knew he shouldn't have said that, because he always saw Quistis with her own text book while taking out some yellow post it notes stuffed inside, already filled with notes from before.
"You know, I can't Mr. Cutty," Quistis said, looking at her teacher eagerly. She just couldn't work without a text book, probably one of the reasons why she was thought of as 'eccentric' but she didn't care. She didn't care that Brandy was pointing and laughing at her in disbelief and there were times that Quistis imagined her to be allergic to frogs and would have red eyes, nose and ears to prove that. If only she was some kind of witch to conjure up that evil idea.
Mr. Cutty nodded and waved his hand to dismiss her. "All right, all right, you can go get it."
Brandy's smile disappeared, replaced by a look of disgust as Quistis stood up and left for her locker. The blond felt satisfaction at that look on Brandy's face as she walked down the hall to head towards her locker. It was really quiet in the hallway, which was obvious because everyone was already in class, having their usual lectures with either math, biology, English and other academic courses. Outside, it was nice and sunny and Quistis figured the Physical Education classes were probably out in the field.
The blond girl approached her locker and began turning the dial of her lock to its right numbers, until at the corner of her eye, she noticed someone approaching. At first she ignored it, but when she noticed something familiar about the man's coat, she had no choice but to look up and see Seifer approaching her. "What do you want now, Seifer?" she asked, before he neared her.
Seifer said nothing; instead he leaned his back against one of the lockers to Quistis' left and stuffed his hands in his pockets. "I guess you decided to go with that jerk, after all," he said, spitefully.
Quistis pulled out her Biology text book and closed her locker. "Jacque is not a jerk. And yes I decided to go with him. I don't need your approval on who I should go to the dance with."
Without a word, he turned to face the locker and before he could stop himself, punched the locker as hard as he could, leaving a dent. Startled, Quistis jumped back, tightening her grip around her book and looked at Seifer curiously. Seifer looked up and stared intently into her eyes. "Then I guess I'm not in your way anymore…" With that said he turned, stuffed his hands in his pockets once more and left.
Quistis watched him leave. The way he looked at her left a curious expression on the blond girl's face. She never wished for him to move out of her way. She never wanted that. She didn't even want to hurt him…Not to someone she… The blond shook her head and pivoted around to head back to her Biology class.
*********************
Seifer didn't show up to Math class with Ms. Fisher and that put a suspicion in the blond girl that he wasn't going to show up after school for their tutorial. Selphie gave Quistis a curious glance and in an honest answer, just shrugged and shook her head for a response towards her friend. She was as curious as she was, but she suspected that his absence was all her fault. 'Of course it was!' a small voice said in her head. She couldn't deny that. It was all her fault anyway.
When lunch came, much to Selphie's relief, Zell came back wearing new pants. Quisits was too preoccupied to notice that Zell arrived carrying a tray full of his favorite food…hot dogs. The blond kept watching out for a sign that Seifer could still be in the building somewhere, but when she didn't, she breathed a sigh of disappointment. Guilt was staring at her in the face in which she couldn't get rid of.
"Ah! Quistis! Beautiful Quistis!" The blond girl rolled her eyes and looked over her shoulder to see Jacque approaching her holding a bouquet full of flowers. He sat down beside her and handed her the flowers. "Here are beautiful flowers for the beautiful lady."
"Thanks," Quistis mumbled, taking the flowers. These were flowers were a mixed of roses and lilies, her favorite. How on earth did he know lilies were her favorite? "You got me….lilies….How-?" She looked at him curiously.
Jacque grinned. "I had my sources." He stood up again. "Well, I better get going. I will see you soon my little flower!" He gave the back of her hand another soft kiss before leaving the cafeteria.
"ZELL! How many times do I have to tell you to stop eating your hot dogs so fast!? GEEZ!" The blond looked up to see Selphie patting Zell's back, who was coughing out debris of the food towards Quistis' way.
"Hey! Watch where you're coughing!" Quistis said, blocking her face with a napkin. When he finally stopped after a few more coughs, Zell put down his hot dog and looked at Quistis curiously.
"Aren't you a bit curious?" the blond man asked.
"About what?" Quistis said, picking up the ham sandwich from her plate. She took a small bite out of it and glanced at Zell. "About how he knew that lilies were my favorite?" Zell and Selphie both nodded, where at this time, Quistis shrugged. "I don't need to be suspicious of him. He's just a nice guy, that's all."
"Yeah, a nice guy, who stalks you…" Zell mumbled, taking a slow bite this time on his half eaten hot dog. He almost dropped it from his fingers when Selphie elbowed him.
Quistis took a deep breath. She was getting really frustrated now. First it was Seifer, now her own friends! "Look, I am only going to the dance with him, not dating him. Jacque is just being sweet to me so if you can't take that, then I guess I'll just go with him to a separate car!" She stood up, grabbed her tray and left.
"Why did you have to open your big mouth, Zell?" Selphie said, glaring at her boyfriend.
Zell said nothing as he continued to finish his hot dog.
*****************
Walking was a nice way to calm him. In the past week, ever since his mother passed away, all he could ever do after finishing his homework was go for a little walk in the park or just around the corner and come back again. Sometimes he thought about what he should do now, or whether he should really stay with his new family. His father came at least three times last week, asking him what he was having for breakfast or dinner, when in reality, those questions were directed whether he was staying with them or not. Every time he called the house, Seifer would just reject the offer by saying, "I'll think about it."
During his walks he sometimes thought about Quistis, wondering what she was doing now, whether she was mad for not showing up at their tutorial after school. He thought about whether… Seifer clenched his fists. He couldn't understand why she, of all people, the smartest girl he knew would go to the dance with a low-life French guy, whose intentions were simply to humiliate her in front of the whole school because of Brandy. He wondered WHAT Brandy would do then.
Seifer absent-mindedly walked down the sidewalk of his main street. Up ahead, he could see the playground where he made a debut in crying like a woman in front of a woman. But…somehow, he didn't feel humiliated. "…Even if you don't have good memories, Seifer, you can still HAVE one." He stuck his hands in his jacket pocket, frowning. Those words stuck in Seifer's mind as he turned the corner at the very end of the street, when he suddenly stopped to find a pair of feet stopping right in front of him. The blond looked up and was startled to see Quistis standing right in front of him.
The girl stared back, unable to utter even a hello to the man whom she has grown to care about. They stared at each other for who knows how long, until Seifer cleared his throat. "Hey," he said simply. The blond man turned away, unable to look at the blond girl anymore, his eyes searching for something to look at.
Quistis gripped the book around her chest tightly with her arms and looked away as well, finding a small spider crawling on the ground to watch. "Hello," was her reply.
"I didn't know you were still at school," Seifer said.
"I didn't come from the school," Quistis said.
At that comment, Seifer was forced to look at her. She was keeping her eyes on the ground as if ashamed to look at him. "I see…" So, she was at HIS place. The blond man clenched his fists underneath the pockets of his coat and nodded. "Well, I was just going for a walk, see you later." He walked passed her, but stopped when he felt a hand on his arm. Seifer looked over his shoulder at Quistis.
"When is…." She bit her bottom lip. Seifer turned completely around to look at her curiously. After taking a deep breath, Quistis finally had the courage to look into his eyes. "When is your mother's funeral?"
Seifer shrugged, turning away. "I don't know yet. We haven't really arranged a day, but when we have one, I'll make sure to let you know."
Quistis nodded. "Thank you."
"You don't need to be there," Seifer suddenly said, after Quistis removed her hand from his arm. "It's not like you knew her that much."
The blond girl forced a smile on her lips. "Well…" She looked down, her eyes concealed by her long blond bangs framing her face. "I guess you're right. Although I wish to be there…with you… so you don't have to be ashamed to cry." With that said, she turned and walked away.
Seifer watched her leave, her words etched in his mind. He felt his fists clenching tighter and tighter underneath his coat, but even then, he knew that those were the words he was looking for from her lips, so why… Why did he not stop her? "Because I don't need this! I don't need her!" he said, answering his own question. "I…I don't…" 'Ah shit!' he thought. 'I DO friggin need her! I friggin LOVE her!' The blond stopped, turned and walked to the direction of Quistis' house.
**********************
"I'm home!" she yelled to no one in particular. She didn't really need to yell it, even though she knew that her Aunt wouldn't be home, because she had to do some planning with a client of hers about a house that needs designing. Travis, as usual, a party-goer type of guy, was going to be home late because of a birthday party his girlfriend was having. So, Quistis, with her stomach growling, decided to head to the kitchen to make something for dinner. She went to the freezer and took out at least two T.V. dinners, followed the directions and heated both of them up in the microwave. She grabbed a mug from the cupboard to prepare herself hot chocolate. It took the blond a moment to realize that the back door was opened. Her Aunt must have forgotten to close it when she left quickly that afternoon, however, something caught here eye that made her heart skip a bit. Near the door, there was a pair of very familiar looking boots.
"Hello, Quistis," someone said from behind.
The blond girl dropped her mug, making a loud, smashing sound on the ground. She quickly turned around and looked up. In the darkness of the living room, a large, figure stepped into the light of the kitchen. It's been almost a month since he disappeared, never heard from, but this sudden appearance, made her feel uncomfortable. The way he looked at her, screamed 'bloody murder' and he looked even more dangerous than the last time he set foot in this house. "Dad…daddy…What are you doing here? How did you get in?"
Sean took another step, his fists clenched at his sides. "Don't call me daddy, you bitch! You turned me in!!! You betrayed your own father!" He lifted up a hand to strike her and took two more steps until he was close enough. Quistis took her own steps back, reaching behind her for something to protect her from, but there was none.
"You're not supposed to come near me. Aunt Charlotte signed a restraining order on you," Quistis said.
The tall, blond, middle aged man let out a very hoarse laugh. "Your stupid Aunt couldn't keep me away from you. The police knew I was an 'innocent' man so they let me see you for a while."
"What? They can't do that-!" She was interrupted when Sean's booming voice echoed around the kitchen. "SHUT UP!" he yelled, slapping her before Quistis could defend herself. The blond girl reeled back from the impact, landing on her butt on the ground. She placed a hand on her now bruised cheek and looked up, tears filling her eyes. "You have no right to talk to your father that way!" He lifted up his hand once more to make another hit, but as Quistis closed her and prepared for the second blow…it never came.
"What the-!? It's YOU!" The blond girl didn't know what her father was talking about as she opened her eyes again to notice something grey and tall hovering right above her and standing in between her and her father.
"And you have no right to treat your daughter that WAY!" With the last word, the figure punched Sean square in the face. The older man was stunned at the power the young man had as he fell backwards on his butt.
Quistis watched as the figure turned and kneeled down beside her. That was when she realized it was Seifer who was staring back at her with a worried look on his face. "Seifer? What are you doing here?" she wondered, her hand still placed on her broken cheek.
"I came here to see you, but then I heard a noise so I had to check out what it was and-!" But before Seifer could finish his sentence, Sean had tackled him from behind. Quistis quickly stood up to get away from the fight and just watched as the two men struggled with the other on the ground. Sean had Seifer on a tight grip, but Seifer managed to kick the man in the stomach, forcing Sean to reel back in surprise. Quistis gasped in shock when Sean took another leap towards Seifer into a tackle. Both men landed hard on the ground. Glasses and utensils on the counter fell to the side, but no one took notice of that. Seifer made another attempt to kick the man off of him and the second time, it succeeded. Sean reeled back harder this time, his back hitting the back door. Seifer charged at him and both men flew into the air and landed outside in the backyard. "STOP! Please no more!!!" Quistis was yelling, but Seifer didn't listen as he tightened his legs around Sean's torso and began hitting him with his fists over and over again. "SEIFER! STOP!" Quistis' pleas made Seifer stop as he looked up to see the blond girl with her eyes filled with tears.
Sean took this opportunity to hit the younger man across the face while he was preoccupied with watching his daughter. "Don't take your eyes off of your opponent!" Sean yelled. Seifer didn't have time to turn and defend himself, when he felt something hard hit his face. The young blond fell backwards, wiping the blood off of the corner of his mouth. Sean stood up and decided to hover over the fallen Seifer, while cracking his knuckles as if to finish him off. Despite Quistis' pleas, Sean proceeded to grab Seifer by the neck and lift him up to he could hit him straight in the face.
"NO!!!! DADDY STOP!" Quistis ran as fast as she could and wrapped her arms around her father's waist to stop him from doing anymore damage.
"GET OFF ME YOU BITCH!" Sean howled, pushing her away from him.
Quistis fell on the ground with a loud 'thud!'
Seifer's eyes turned into thin slits as he watched Quistis clutching at what seemed like a broken arm from when she fell the first time inside the house. "I am really going to enjoy this!" Sean whispered. He lifted up his single clenched fist in the air and made to hit him, when something stopped him just in time. Sean paused and looked up. The sound of sirens could be heard around the neighborhood.
"Please STOP!" Sean looked up at Quistis, then back down at Seifer to find himself hit hard in the face. Blood spilled from his nose when once again the two men were caught up in their fight to really notice that the cars had stopped at the garage. Two policemen ran out of their cars and dashed to the backyard where they found a young blond woman on her knees, begging for two fighting men to stop. One of the policemen, who was slightly shorter than the other had long dark hair, slicked back into a ponytail ran to where the two men were fighting and pulled the youngest off of the older man. The second policeman, a large and very muscular, dark skinned man with moustache, took less effort to help the older blond man up on his feet and restraining him from attacking the other blond man.
"What's going on here!?" the shorter, dark haired man asked. For some unknown reason, there was a small, dot in the middle of his forehead. From the tone of his voice, he seemed to be the one in charge out of the two of them. He had Seifer's arms pulled behind his back.
Seifer gritted his teeth. "YOU SHOULD ASK HIM!"
"Why you son of a bitch! You were the one who hit me first!"
"All right, all right, there's no need to have name callin' ya fools!" the large man spoke.
"You two were disturbing the peace in this neighborhood that's why we came here to find out what was going on!" The dark haired man glanced to the blond woman who was now standing up on her feet. "Miss? Would you like to explain what happened here? These two don't seem to want to say anything."
Quistis nodded. "I uh…" She glanced at Seifer, who just nodded, giving her a reassuring look. He looked really battered and bruised, but then again, so was her father. "It's all right, officer, there's nothing to worry about. There was just some misunderstanding." She looked away from Seifer, who was left with his mouth wide open in shock.
"Hey Tseng, we don't need to interrogate the lady," the dark skinned man said.
"Well, whatever the story was, we need to take these two in. Disturbing the piece usually means domestic disturbance. Young lady?" The man called Tseng nodded to Quistis. "Would it be all right if we ask you to come with us?"
The blond girl nodded quietly and followed the two policemen out of the backyard and to the police cars. Tseng shoved Seifer at the back, who was wincing in pain from the fight and locked the door. He walked over to the passenger side, unlocked that door and allowed Quistis inside, then went over to his side. "Hey Barrett," he called to the dark skinned man as Quistis stepped inside the car.
Barrett looked up. "Yeah?"
"Make sure you don't get lost on the way back again eh?" Tseng teased, winking.
The dark skinned man felt his face go red. "HEY! I wasn't the one who got lost! You were the one who wouldn't listen to me!!! I KNOW this area pretty well, you know!"
Tseng waved him away. "Yeah, yeah," he said as he stepped into his side of the car. As both cars drove off the driveway and towards the police station which was only fifteen minutes away, Quistis sat silently in the passenger seat, while Tseng and Barrett conversed with each other about the new Krispy Kreme store that opened near their area.
Seifer sat, annoyed by this, his right eye bruising and his face going red in frustration. He couldn't believe these idiots were cops! "HEY! Why don't you stop talking about Krispy Kreme so I won't have to cream you?"
Tseng's eyes narrowed, jerking his head back at him. "What did you say, punk!?"
The blond turned away, but Quistis frowned, giving him a worried look.
"That's right, don't say anymore! You're lucky I'm not here to arrest you for a whole year! Since this was only a minor thing and no killing was involved, you'll only stay the night so you can be with your pretty girlfriend here!" He grinned at Quistis, who blushed in return and said nothing.
"For your information, she's not my girlfriend!" Seifer hissed, looking away embarrassed. "She's…she's just someone I know…" DAMMIT!
Quistis glanced at him through the rearview mirror and noticed the blush on his face growing deeper.
Tseng shrugged. "Whatever you say, punk…"
Seifer said nothing after that.
****************
"Oh geez….so THIS is where you were!" Seifer looked up at the sound of a very familiar voice. It was Charlotte, with Quistis standing beside her worriedly and Travis who seemed to be excited that he was inside a jail cell, apparently for the first time. She was standing right there with her arms folded across her chest and her face wearing that odd looking expression he has never seen on the woman whom he considers part of his family.
Seifer felt his shoulders sag for a moment. He was expecting his father to come, but then again, he lives so far away so why would the short, old man come all the way just to let him out? But why should he care? He has a new family to worry about now! He was Bryan Almasy, a man with a new wife and a new daughter he can always cherish. Why would he want a son, who fought with someone every time he had a temper tantrum? And a son who was now in jail because of that reason?
"Be glad that I came home just in time to find you two in a police car! I was so shocked that I had to turn and follow you guys all the way to the station…" She unfolded her arms and proceeded to plant her fists on her hips. When she did, Charlotte reminded him of the way his mother used to do it whenever she was upset about something.
Quistis stood there, still shocked by what happened. She wanted nothing more than to run into Seifer's arms and kiss him all over for being there. That thought made her blush.
"Hey!" The blond girl was interrupted by the sound of Travis voice, who was also nudging him in the arm. She looked at her younger cousin, giving him a curious look. "Shouldn't you be thanking Seifer for kicking that bastard's ass?"
"TRAVIS! WATCH YOUR MOUTH!" Charlotte screamed, almost the top of her lungs. That forced a mumbled apology from Travis' mouth and he had no choice but to back off either.
Quistis blushed and looked up at Seifer, who was watching her all this time. "Um…I guess…thank you…"
Seifer turned away and smirked. "What you're not going to scold me for beating the crap out of your dad?" 'STUPID IDIOT! Stop acting so high and mighty now!' he thought. 'You're going to make her mad again!'
But to his surprise, Quistis just smiled and shook her head. "Why would I? You saved my life. I was….I was so scared."
"Oh good!" A voice startled everyone out of their conversation. All heads turned to the same dark haired policeman that arrested Seifer earlier. He was playing the cell keys in his hands, dangling them from one finger to the other. Tseng glanced down at Seifer sitting on his bed. "Well, you're lucky to have a family like this, kid," he said, patting Travis on the back. "If it weren't for them, you'd be stuck here for the whole night or maybe more for assault and battery towards someone on private property." He unlocked Seifer's cell door. "You're free to go."
Seifer stood up. "Thanks," he mumbled. He was about to walk pass the family, when someone's soft hand touched him on the shoulder. The blond stopped and looked down at Quistis. He was startled to see her with her face buried in her hands. Charlotte, Travis and even Tseng were startled by this, but Seifer wordlessly approached her and wrapped his arms around her. "I thought you stronger than that?" he whispered in her ear.
Quistis shook her head. "No…I'm not," she whimpered. "I was so scared, Seifer. I thought he was going to do something else to me…"
Seifer closed his eyes, wanting so much to finish off killing Sean, but thought against it. He knew that Quistis would never want him to be a murderer anyway. "I won't let anything happen to you. I promise that…" 'If only if it were true in Jacque's part!' he thought, his teeth grinding together.
GoodGurl: HEE HEE! FINALLY! THE END OF SEAN! GO SEIFER GO! What's going to happen for these two now that it's been confirmed already that they have feeling for each other? OH! Stay tuned! THE DANCE!!! XD