Chapter 2: Chicks and Clicks
"Sir, the new student is a young girl named Rinoa Heartily." An older woman said in a nasal voice.
"Heartily eh? As in the singer?" Cid asked
"No sir… I think it may be her daughter. The vocalist has been dead for many years." She retorted. He can be such a ditz sometimes…
"I see…well, hold the students in the hall for now. I'm not finished with these boys." He stated coldly, turning around to look at the men who sat glaring at each other. The secretary stepped towards the exit, her pointy heels clicking on the ground, as she slammed the door behind her.
"Now boys," Cid said sadistically "On top of the lunch detention, you will be helping out the new student with their every query. If she is lost, you help her find her way. If she tells you to fetch something for her, you go and fetch. If she wants you to get down on your knees, then you bloody well be on the floor in a blink of an eye! And if I find you fighting again, I'll kick you both out! Do I make myself clear?!"
"But she's just a new student, it's not like she's famous!" Seifer said in a slightly whiney tone. That wasn't entirely the smartest thing to say.
Cid stood an inch from his face and whispered "You will do what I tell you, and you'll like it, cause if you don't, you're going to be scrubbing the entire garden with a toothbrush!"
"Yes sir!" The pair replied as they saluted him.
"Now go!" He yelled, and they both hurried out the door.
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She paced around slowly as the other students patiently stood against the wall. Suddenly a woman appeared from the elevator and with a swift movement of the hand ordered the students to follow her.
When they reached the office, everyone crowded to find a place where they could be seen. Maybe a position that made it easy to reach the headmaster.
In walked Cid, looking especially pleased, yet angry. He looked down at the paper he held and opened his mouth to speak.
"You all have done a wonderful job of presenting yourselves today. If we could accept all of you, we would. But the student who showed the most ambition and impressed the judges is a Miss. Rinoa Heartily. I would like to speak to you personally, the rest of you are dismissed."
Rinoa heard murmurs as the others walked by her. She was shouldered many times without apology. Were people always this petty? She dismissed the thought and slowly stepped up to the headmaster.
"Congratulations young lady! You have succeeded in being accepted to the Balamb Academy for the Arts. I will have my secretary print out your schedule and call two students to give you a tour around Garden." Cid smiled broadly, and picked up the phone.
"Hello Eunice. Please send Mr. Almasy and Mr. Leonhart in. Yes, and would your print up a class schedule for Miss Heartily? Thank you Eunice." Click.
Eunice walked in and spoke. "Mr. Kramer, the students you wanted are here." Cid motioned his hand and in came Squall and Seifer. They took a look at the girl who was facing Cid and almost gasped.
"Hello, um this is Miss. Heartily," Cid said, turning "These are the students who will be your guides. If you need anything at all, just call them."
Rinoa shook her head gently and looked towards Squall and Seifer. She smiled at them playfully, and they quickly looked at their shoes.
"Just go outside the door and ask my secretary for your schedule. Then, these two young men will give you a tour of the garden. You're all dismissed." Cid said, and they headed out the door.
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"And this is the cafeteria. All the weirdoes are out now, because it's so late." Seifer stated.
"I see…that wasn't a very nice thing to say." Rinoa answered back. Squall just rolled his eyes and gave a small laugh.
Seifer just glared at Squall and said, "I was just kidding…" Who knew he was so submissive when it came to pretty girls? As they started to leave the café, a small group of people came up to them.
"Well this is something you don't see everyday." A bouncy girl said to them "Squall and Seifer together. And with a girl!"
"Shut your mouth messenger girl. If you must know, we are showing the new student around. It was an assignment from the headmaster." Seifer stated.
"Oh my god! You're the new student?! Welcome! What's your name? I'm Selphie, that's Quistis, there's Zell and that's Noboru and Andy! Do you wanna join the garden festival committee?" She said as fast as she could talk.
"God Selphie! Can't you ever stop talking?" A tall blonde girl asked. Selphie quickly looked down.
Rinoa felt bad for the girl, but said nothing. "Um…Hello, I'm Rinoa. Nice to meet you all." She said in an unsure tone. Not once mentioning the Garden Festival Committee.
The guys nodded their heads, while the two girls waved.
"Were leaving now. Later." Squall said, as Rinoa followed. And if Rinoa followed, Seifer followed.
"Were those people you guys friends?" Rinoa asked curiously.
"No." Squall answered while at the same time Seifer's reply was "Yes."
"I see…" She answered confused.
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"I don't think I like her very much She seems like a skank. I mean, come on, did you see how tight that ballet leotard thingy was?" Quistis said in a stuck-up tone.
"Heh, yeah, it was really tight." Andy said hitting Noboru lightly on the arm. They continued the manly, yet stupid, gesture until Quistis spoke again.
"And I don't think pink is her color. I think it looks much better on me. Right Selphie?"
"Oh yeah, Of course!" Selphie said. Always being bossed around by Quistis, never standing up for the underdog, never for herself.
"That's fucked up Quistis…She was really nice. I think you're just jealous or whatever." Said Zell.
"I think she's hot." Andy laughed.
"Of course you would. You'd fuck anything with two legs and a heartbeat." Quistis shot back, taking out her frustration on the stupid male.
"Ouch that hurt. Can ya do us a favor and not skip your Midol next time you decide to come out?" He said, speaking with wit.
She just rolled her eyes and said, "Come on Selphie, let's go."
"Ok." Selphie answered obediently following, looking back only once.
"God that chick annoys me so much! You can so tell she's trying to flirt with all the guys she meets! It's so stupid." Quistis continued.
"Yeah…haha…." Selphie felt so bad for agreeing to the trash talk. She hardly knows the girl and is gossiping about her. I wonder what she says about me, then? Selphie thought. I can't say anything. She has too much power. If I betray her, she'll turn everyone against me-
"Selphie, are you listening to me?" Quistis asked.
"Oh yeah, I totally agree with you." Selphie answered quickly.
"So yeah anyway I….
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The sun did not shine through the window that morning, and it won't shine for a long time. The rain had transformed into soft white flakes over night, and was now covering the windowsill.
Squall pulled the covers of himself and shivered. He walked sluggishly into the bathroom and turned on the hot water. He stayed warm under the streaming blanket of hot water, but was shocked by the cold when he stepped on to the floor.
He put on his school uniform, and grabbed his notebooks. As he locked the door to his dorm he noticed Rinoa looking lost. She saw him standing there and came towards him.
"Hi Squall, sorry to bother you, but do you know where this class is?" She asked timidly.
"I have the same class, just come with me." He replied quietly.
"Oh thanks." They walked in silence until Rinoa asked, "So what kind of art class do you take?"
"Art. Like, painting and sketching." He responded.
"That's cool. Are you good?" she questioned, trying to get to know him better. But he was so stubborn. He just shrugged. Aright then…
They reached the classroom, and Squall headed to his seat. She saw several girls turn their heads and admire the boy as he walked passed them. Rinoa looked around for an empty seat. But saw nothing. A chubby woman, who looked about in her thirties, walked into the classroom. She gave Rinoa a strange look and was about to ask her a question when the headmaster came into the room. He exchanged a few words with the instructor, and turned to the class.
"Class, this is our new student, Rinoa Heartily, so please welcome her. Good day!" and he disappeared, just like that.
Rinoa turned away from the students, and handed her slip to the paper. They exchanged a few words and the teacher pointed to a seat in the back. So there was an empty space. Right next to Squall.
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The lunch bell rang, shattering the ears of nearby students. The class suddenly turned into a sea of bodies, rushing towards the door to escape the prison of the classroom. Rinoa stayed in the back of the stamped, and was the last person out the door.
After she had bought her lunch, Rinoa glance around the lunchroom looking for someone to sit with. She saw all the students divided into clicks. Where she was supposed to go? She saw Squall sit down next to a scrawny guy and a girl with beads in her hair. She decided she would attempt to further communicate with the introverted teen. She slowly walked over and when she reached their table, she asked, "Is anyone sitting here?"
"No, please, have a seat," said the strange boy, "I'm Nida. Nice to meet you!"
"And I'm Xu." The girl sitting next to him said while shaking Rinoa's hand.
"Hi, I'm Rinoa. Hi Squall." She answered.
"Hey." He said not looking up from his textbook.
"A salad and water? Are you a nutritionist or something?" Nida asked looking at Rinoa's tray.
"Oh, haha, no. We have to weight down and stuff in ballet, so we have to eat very healthy." She answered.
"At least she's not eating meat. Do you eat meat, Rinoa? Have you seen how they slaughter them?" Xu asked seriously.
"Well, I eat seafood. I don't really eat any other animals then that. And I don't think I've seen a slaughter…"
"You should be a vegetarian, like me. Some vegetarians still eat seafood. It's good for you because a vegetarian lifestyle is natural." She continued.
"Ok Xu, that makes sense I guess...So, Rinoa, how do you like Balamb Garden so far?" Nida continued.
"It's…like every other school. There are a few people who already don't like me. They don't even know me." She laughed.
"Tell me about it. See, over there is the 'nerd' table. They sit and talk about mathematic equations and Sci-Fi movies all day, the actual scholars in this academy. Then that table is the 'gangster' crew-" Nida told her.
"It's actually a bunch of rich kids who listen to rap and act ghetto because they dress like snoop dog." Xu interrupted "The table next to them is the Jocks. They think they're so freaking special cause they can go to an academy for the arts and still play sports. Pigs."
"And you can't forget the cool table." Nida said looking towards the front of the café.
"The cool table?" Rinoa asked sounding confused. Nida and Xu looked at each other and Squall looked at Rinoa. "What?" she asked.
"The cool kids. Quistis Trepe is the ringleader of their twisted group of circus freaks. The only reason they got into Garden was because their daddy's paid off the school! God, I hate them so much…" Xu said.
"Yeah, and Seifer and the other guys have Quistis and Selphie shop for them because they don't know how to dress. They don't have a natural sense of style like I do." He said proudly.
"And they're not gay like you." Xu said.
"I don't know, I'm kind of iffy about Zell Dincht." He said taking a sip of his Tab "But anyways, then there is Selphie Tilmitt. Quistis is a total bitch to her, but she's still her best friend because she knows the damage she can do. You want to know something really funny? Quistis used to lik-"
"I don't think Rinoa really wants to hear this much about Quistis." Squall said coldly.
"Don't forget the Trepe Groupies." Xu said rolling her eyes.
"Who're they?" Rinoa asked innocently.
"The Trepe groupies are the devoted followers who worship Quisits. All the girls want to be just like her, and all the guys want to date her, but the problem is that none of them are cool enough for her, so she doesn't even know they are alive." Xu explained.
"That's really sad." Rinoa said taking a gulp of her water, as Xu and Nida just looked at the cool table with a certain hate in their eyes.
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After her second elective class, Rinoa headed back to her dorm. It had been a long day and she was ready for a warm shower to wash away the stress she had endured.. As she dropped her book bag by the door, the phone rang and she ran to pick it up.
"Hello?" She answered.
"Rinoa!" her aunt yelled, "How was your first day?"
Even though her aunt was young, and close to her own age, she couldn't possibly understand the stress one endures in this school. "It was fine."
"Oh, that's good." She replied blissfully. Was she always this happy?
"Well, I need to take a shower now. I'll talk to you later, goodbye!" Rinoa said.
"Goodbye!" and she hung up. She grabbed her towel and headed to the shower when she heard a knock at the door.
AN: Oh, thank you reviewers! And to answer some questions…
Miss Amethyst Kinneas-Tribal: Well, the reason she said it was like Galbadian Idol was for comic relief, I suppose. Like American idol? But I didn't know the word one would use for Balamb. Balambian? I guess the statement confused you. Sorry! They go to Balamb garden. And Irvine won't show up cause…well, I just don't like him.
QueenAdreena: Review or die? Yes, or P. Diddy will shoot you. By the by I love Queen Adreena and Daisy Chainsaw.
Lendmemoni: I do remember you!
So please review, or you know what's going to happen to you.