2. First Impressions

The rest of the hour was torture for Tidus. He tried to concentrate on the test but could only look at the beautiful girl who walked in. Unfortunately, she was walking around the room with Mr. Rin getting her book and all the supplies that she would need for the class so he had a hard time randomly picking A, B, C, or D and looking over her at the same time. Rikku even noticed it a couple of times, and kicked him hard in his shin to get his eyes away from Yuna. As soon as the bell rang, he practically hopped out of his seat to think of a suave way to talk to her.

"Yep, that's the girl that I saw this morning in case you couldn't figure that out," Rikku informed Tidus when she noticed where his eyes were fixated. She then grabbed the pen out of his hand. "This is mine, by the way. I believe you stole it from me yesterday."

"Oh, okay," Tidus replied, unfazed by the pen. He quickly threw his hand through his hair and smiled at Rikku. "Here I go, wish me luck. Not like I need it or anything."

"Ugh, just go already," she groaned in disgust with a frown. "Just walk up to her and do whatever it is you always do." With another roll of her eyes, she walked out of the classroom.

Tidus tapped his fingers against his leg and realized that Rikku was right. I'll just be myself and make the girl swoon…With a toss of his hair, he walked over to Yuna.

"Hey, babe," he said confidently as she was putting her things into her binder. "How are you doin'?"

Without responding, she looked up from what she was doing, completely disgusted with what he just said to her. She recognized him from the pictures that were posted all over the walls to vote for him for Homecoming King, but she didn't think she knew him from anywhere else. "Do I know you?"

"Unfortunately not yet, so I think we should change that."

She slightly groaned with his cocky attitude. She had never been more insulted in her life and the look on her face proved that. "Why?"

"I think the more appropriate question here would be 'why not?'" He rested his hands against her desk and, once again, she didn't respond. She simply looked at him and raised her eyebrow. He was trying to find the right words to say to impress her, so saying his name never came to mind. "I'm the star player of the Zanarkand Abes."

"That's nice." She nodded her head at him and waited for him to continue, but instead he just flashed her his trademark egotistic smile. She tried not to be sarcastic at him because it wasn't in her nature, but she wasn't appreciating the way that Tidus was acting toward her. "Is there a name that goes along with that title?"

"Tidus," he said quickly as he ran his fingers through his hair. He started to lose his focus and began to grow slightly nervous. "M-my name is...Tidus."

"I'm Yuna." She contemplated not introducing herself, but she figured she was forced into doing so. A silence fell between them and she tried to think of a reason to leave. However, before she thought of anything, he continued to speak.

"So, you, uh, ya new here?" He was making a valid effort to keep the conversation going, even though he obviously knew the answer to that question already.

"Yeah." She was a little embarrassed at herself for blushing in front of a guy, and she tried to hide her face my brushing a tendril of hair behind her ear. However, going to an all girl Yevon school, it was kind of odd for her to be in the same school with guys in general. There was an awkward silence between them for a minute, so Yuna pointed to the door and said, "Well, I have to go to my next class, but it was nice meeting you. I think."

"Yeah, you nice to meet, I mean..." Yuna had to smile at him in amusement and he put his hand to his forehead. Way to be articulate, dumbass...He thought to himself as he realized that this was the perfect time to bail before he said something else stupid. "Okay, I think I gotta go as well. So I'll, um, see you around? Maybe at...school?"

"That sounds plausible knowing that we both go here," Yuna replied with an amused giggle as she put her purse on her shoulder. "Well, see ya around."

"Yeah," Tidus said breathily as he watched her walk out of the room, his eyes gazing at her rear end as she walked. Well, that went well…He thought to himself sarcastically with a rather disappointed sigh. He then snapped out of it when he heard his name called out.

"Tidus, come here." Tidus realized it was the voice of Mr. Rin and grimaced. Oh shit, he's gonna nail me for the test. He does not sound too happy with me…Tidus thought as he walked over to Mr. Rin's desk.

"What can I do for you, boss?" Tidus said as he rested his hands against Mr. Rin's desk. Mr. Rin obviously wasn't in the mood for Tidus' smart ass attitude, so he gave Tidus a disapproving look.

"I need to talk to you about your grade on this test." Mr. Rin took out the test and handed it to Tidus. Tidus grimaced at the array of red slashes on the page. Almost every single question was marked wrong, and his grade of 47 percent was underlined multiple times. "Actually, I think we need to talk about your last couple of tests and we might as well throw homework assignments, that you haven't turned in, while we're at it."

"Mr. Rin, I had a game last night, and afterward we all went to celebrate so I didn't have the time to study," Tidus explained as sincerely as he could. Hey, it is the truth…Tidus thought to himself.

"I'm aware that you had a game, and you played very well. I was there." Tidus' face lit up at the compliment. Unfortunately, the look on Mr. Rin's face remained and continued. "However, if you don't maintain agrade point averageof a 2.0, you can no longer be on the team, and I think that you know that."

"Well, yeah, I do know that," Tidus said reluctantly as he put the test back on the desk and switched the conversation to another gear. "So you really come to the game last night? That's so awesome, Mr. Rin."

"Of course I went, but you're trying to get off the topic." Mr. Rin stood up, picked up the test, and motioned with it as he spoke. "Tidus, I'm going to find you a tutor."

"A tutor?" Tidus groaned as his shoulders fell. "Aw man, that means that..." He trailed off from having to say the words, 'I'm actually going to have to study.'

"Yep. I'll find one for you because if your grade doesn't improve by homecoming, you could be kicked off of court, kicked off of the blitzball team, put on probation...am I making myself clear here?" Mr. Rin said as Tidus sighed.

"Crystal clear, sir," Tidus respondedashe swallowed. Mr. Rin smiled at him and Tidus weakly smiled back. "Have a good day, sir." Tidus inhaled as he walked out of the classroom to find Rikku again. This is just great…He couldn't help thinking of what having a tutor would do to his reputation, not to mention his social status, and to Tidus, his popularity was everything.

"Hey, babe," Rikku heard as she felt arms wrap around her waist. She knew it was her boyfriend, Gippal, so she didn't even bother turning around. She giggled as he kissed her gently on the neck.

"Hello, you," she seductively cooed,facing him so she could kiss him. "So, Rin's test is killer just to let you know."

"Yeah, so I've heard," he said as he held open her locker for her. He looked around as he tapped his fingers against the metal. "Where's Tidus?"

"Oh, Yevon, don't even get me started with that boy right now." Just the thought of it made Rikku scoff and roll her eyes. "There's this new girl, ya know? So she shows up in our history class, and Tidus instantly turns into Salivating Spiran boy. It made me sick, really. He tried to play it cool, but I could see the swooning look in his eyes."

"Ah, yes. I heard about her," Gippal said as he leaned against her locker. "A bunch of guys in my trig class were talking about how she's hot and all that kind of stuff. From what I've heard about her, she's too much of a prude. Especially for Tidus."

"Yeah, she came from like the best all girl school in all of Spira," Rikku confirmed as she closed her locker and Gippal put his arm around her waist. "However, it's not like Tidus to be all doe-eyed and speechless when it comes to a girl. Both you and I know that Tidus is too much of a cocky bastard to let a girl get to him like that."

"Yeah, I think he's had more one night stands than goals he's scored in a season." Gippal quipped as Rikku nodded. "I think she'll be able to see through that façade. Not to mention that so many people talk about his reputation that she's bound to hear about it pretty quickly."

"It's just that," Rikku started as she sighed. "He's been my best friend for so long, and seeing himwith that look in his eyes when it doesn't deal with him recievinga brandnew blitzballjust...just...frightens me."

"What frightens you?" Rikku jumped perhaps a foot when she heard Tidus' voice from behind her. She smacked him hard on the chest for scaring her and Tidus only laughed. "Oh Rikku, you're always good for a laugh."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," she said as she fixed her hair. "So, how did your conversation with Miss Perfect go?"

"She wants me," he said with an arrogant smile. "I can tell."

"Oh really?" Gippal asked as he gently hit Tidus on the back. "You can tell from a three second conversation? How did she tell you that she wants you?"

"Ya know, she was quiet, blushed, batted her eyes a little bit. Besides, it is me we're talking about," Tidus explained as Rikku rolled her eyes again. "What's the matter, Rikku? You got something in your eyes today? You keep rolling them at me."

"No, you're just ridiculous, that's all." She stopped in front of the doorway to her next class. "You didn't like, stutter and say something really brainless did you? Because I know you, and you tend to do that when you're nervous."

"Me? Be nervous around a girl? Please," he scoffed as he lied through his teeth. "I was calm, cool, and collected. Give me a week and I will have conquered."

"You will never be able to 'conquer' a girl like that," Rikku said as she used her fingers as invisible quotation marks. "The more and more I think about it, and the more and more I hear about her, the more and more I realize she's way out of your league."

"But, Rikku, if I remember clearly, you were the one who said she was my type to begin with."

"Well yeah, but being your type and being in your league are two totally different things," she clarified as she kissed Gippal passionately in front of Tidus. This time it was Tidus' turn to scoff and roll his eyes.

"Would you not do that in front of me? I've talked to you both about this," he said as he crossed his arms. "Anyway, I still think I have a chance."

"Yeah, okay," Rikku said with a slight laugh. "Good luck with that one."

"No, I'm serious," Tidus continued. "Just give me a week."

"Once again, I say, 'yeah, okay,'" Tidus glared at Rikku for mocking him. "Anyway, I'll see ya later, both of you."

"Yeah, I'll give you a call after practice or something," Tidus said as she nodded. He then said goodbye to Gippal and walked to his next class.