Summer
Chapter 2: Detention
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Punishment came in a form of detention.
Not really surprising to the two boys, though, for they were the ones that had started it. They deserved it. It was just plain luck that they only had detention to serve. Had they wounded each other, punishment would have been tripled. And a hundred times harder.
The summer rays were hitting the windows of the classroom, making shadows of the window grills on the white tiled floor, hinting that the afternoon would be soon over. But not for the two boys as the sun shone upon in the isolated classroom. It was quite heating up the room, but neither cared about the increasingly stuffy room they were in. Rather, both were slightly squirmy with Quistis, their student mentor in the classroom. Seifer stole glances at her half the time, and Squall tried not to notice her feminine presence by bowing down to his keyboard on his station. Quistis tried to stifle her laugh watching the two's boyish manners, her control over her giggles thinning by the moment.
The clock in the classroom chimed, reading four o'clock, and meaning they still had two more hours to grind. The boys were not speaking to each other, as they sat at their tables, facing the screens in front of them. They were supposed to finish up the chapter of "Important Facts of Junctioning" before dismissal, and Seifer was itching to get out of the stupid classroom. No weapons were allowed in the classroom, and that worsened Seifer's temper. No freedom. No Hyperion. He was bursting from the eerie silence, and the thought that he had to do homework to get out. He looked at Squall.
"Hey, Leonie, what's up with that studious look?" His hands rested on the monitor in front of Squall, and his voice broke the monotonous stillness. Squall registered nothing, self-absorbed into his work. Stupid stoic face he had, Seifer mocked, but grudgingly he had felt a sense of admiration for the indifference his rival displayed. For one, he would have never let that person get away with it, let alone being able to totally ignore another's attack on him.
Quistis glanced up at him from her table in front, and raised her brows at the blond boy. He surrendered and backed off from Squall, his thoughts of teasing the little boy made naught by the one look from his two-month-older mentor. He muttered beneath his breath, his ego deflated by the restrain she put on him just because she was only a little older than him.
His restlessness made the blond impatiently paced about at his table, thinking of a way to escape from hell. Trickles of perspiration traced the fourteen-year-old's face, and he frowned in thought. He had never succumbed to punishment, or detention. Why had he now?
Had he grown older? No, he was just five months older than he was on his birthday. Turning fifteen would be another long wait until December. He could not have been more tolerant. Or less problematic. But why had he chosen to stay here when he could have left a long time ago? Fuujin and Raijin were waiting for him, with plans to head for Balamb Town for dinner, before visiting the local junk shop to check on their weapons. But he chose to stay back.
I must be getting mad, he furiously thought, passing up such a fabulous time with my posse to be trapped in this hellhole. Why had I been just nonchalant when Quistis gave me punishment? Why hadn't I fought back? Or at least pushed it off?
Seifer was just confirming that he had gotten some kind of virus from that well-behaved Squall, when he heard the loud bang of the classroom door. Quistis jumped a little, her focus distracted by the little stunt Seifer had just played on Squall, and by the sudden noise at the entrance. Squall act as if nothing had happened.
"SEIFER!!" Fuujin's voice rang like a siren.
"Hey, buddy, ya thought we'd never get ya out? Came ta rescue ya, ya know?" The door swung open, and the two buddies faced Quistis, glancing at Seifer, who looked relieved yet... somehow embarrassed, and... reluctant to go.
His student mentor was unrelenting. "Seifer can't go with you, he's got detention," Quistis' voice was stern with authority. "Please leave. Come back for him at six."
"SEIFER? DETENTION? NEVER." Fuujin was unconvinced, having known Seifer for so long, she knew he would never bow down to authority for detention. Punishment? Quistis must be out of her mind!
Raijin voiced out Fuujin's thoughts. "Ya got detention? Ya must have been mad, buddy. Gwahahaha... Ouch! That hurts..." Raijin's laughter was smothered by Fuujin's kick in his shin.
"Say whatever you want. Seifer stays, he has detention to serve. Leave."
"NEVER."
Tension mounted between Fuujin and Quistis, neither wanting to step back. Something had to be done amidst the awkward silence.
It was Seifer who finally spoke. "Hey you two, get off my back, you guys. Can't see I am not free? Come back later if you want, but don't disturb me now, you hear?"
Suddenly the room was silent again, this time everyone was stunned.
Squall, who had been delightfully ignoring the scene the posse made, glanced up to see what had made Seifer say something totally out of his character.
Fuujin was silent. Raijin had a puzzled expression on his face, not knowing what to do next and watched Fuujin, who remain still. He stood still too.
Quistis let her shocked expression linger on her face, her jaw dropping, before politely sealing her lips.
"Yeah, you heard me right, now get out before I kick your asses." Seifer was mumbling, his heart pounding, and his mind telling him off for letting such an opportunity escape. His posse was in a daze to walk out, so he pushed them out of the room, and slammed close the door. Facing Quistis.
"Don't ask me why I did that." He shrugged as he passed Quistis and returned to his seat, with the answer to that question also eluding him.
Had no one been guarding him, Seifer would have pounced on the chance of freedom. He knew it for sure. Had it been someone else giving him detention, he would not even have bothered at all. Had it not been Quistis, he would not have stayed. Quistis, or was it really that he just wanted to be compliant to authority lately?
He could not decide, nor did he know what he'd just experienced.
It was easier to just read "Important Facts of Junctioning".
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A/N: Ok, I added a bit of things not in game, like student mentoring and things like that. Thought that Quistis needed the sense of authority she had in the game, but she wasn't an instructor until she was seventeen, so the idea of mentoring was more appropriate.
