Oh be still my heart...I'M UPDATING! This has been the week from hell, that's for sure! I had a HUUUUUGE two part sight singing test, I have a choir concert on Saturday (which required three evening rehearsals this week!), my huge flute studio recital on Sunday, SAI initiation on Friday night...WHOOO! Yeah...I can't wait until Thanksgiving! (Inhales then exhales) Okay, so here is chapter XXXII (WOW), and it's all right I guess. I don't know, I've been slightly frustrated with this story lately...writer's block be damned! Okay, enough of my blabbing...read me!

32. Love Grows

"Good morning, Rikku!" Rikku whipped around to see Tidus standing behind her with a very large grin on his face.

"Yevon, Tidus, you are way too awake on a Tuesday morning," she groaned as he looked at his reflection in the mirror that hung inside of her locker. "How many times did you get laid this weekend?"

"Ha, wouldn't you like to know?" He smirked as he thought about the weekend that he had with Yuna. "Well, it's not just that anyway. I mean, yeah it is a rather large part of it, but the Abes are going to just dominate at the game tonight, so that's always a reason to be in a good mood. Anyway, I had a question for you."

"What would that be?" She asked as she dug through her purse to find her lipstick.

"Did you do the history homework that is due this morning?" Rikku rolled her eyes at him and he gave her an innocent smile. "I didn't have time to do it this weekend because I was—"

"Too busy fucking your girlfriend, I understand," she retorted sarcastically as she applied the lipstick. "Which brings up the fact that I still can't believe you have a girlfriend."

"Yeah, bizarre isn't it?" Without her permission, he reached above her head for her history binder. She didn't stop him, so he started to leaf through the papers looking for the latest assignment. "I'm still trying to get used to the concept of it myself."

"I still feel like you're going to fuck it up," she said honestly as she ripped the binder out of his hands. He protested, but she pulled out the current assignment. "I don't want you looking through my shit. Here's the latest assignment, so go copy it without Yuna catching you. You know she would throw you off the top of Mt. Gagazet if she caught you copying the homework."

"Rik, I'm scared," he admitted as a pessimistic look washed over his face.

"Oh, you'll have plenty of time to copy it without her noticing," she said with a gentle pat to his shoulder. "You have about ten minutes."

"No, not about the homework," he waved his arm as if to brush off the thought of anything to do with Spiran History. "Yesterday, Yuna called me up and said that she had great news. That news being that she was accepted into Lady Yocun University."

"Are you serious?" Rikku cried with a smile. "Oh my Yevon, that's incredible! That's the most amazing college in all of Spira! I never thought I would meet someone who would be smart enough to get into there!"

"Yeah, and it's in Bevelle, Rikku," he said as he ran his fingers through his hair and sighed. "Where am I going? Oh yeah, Southern Spira University, which is in all the way in Besaid."

"Ti, I think you're freaking out about nothing here." She shook her head at him then concentrated back on looking through her locker. "That's in almost a year from now. No offence, but you don't exactly have long track records with girls. Now that I think about it, you don't have a track record at all. With you, it's basically, like, if you hang around the same girl for more than a day than it's just multiple one night stands with the same girl. I'd be surprised if this lasts three weeks."

"Thanks for the support," Tidus said with a scoff. Some best friend I have...He thought as she remained silent. "Forget it." He started to walk off but she grabbed him by the arm.

"Come on, Tidus, lighten up," she said as she shook her head at him again. "Besides, you received a full ride blitz scholarship which is pretty damn exciting."

"Once again I reiterate, in Besaid." Tidus sighed and leaned up against the locker next to Rikku's as he looked down at the assignment in his hand. Rikku simply looked at him and shrugged. Tidus rolled his eyes and sighed. Yep, not getting any support from her right now...

"I'm gonna go find Gippal, see ya!" And with a small wave she left him alone with his jaw dropped.

"Good bye to you as well, Rikku," he shouted after her in disgust as he watched her walk away. He scoffed again as he walked to one of the study rooms in the school to copy down the homework. He opened up his book, grabbed out his homework and started to frantically copy Rikku's when he felt a tap on his shoulder. He looked up to see Yuna with a wide smile on her face. She grabbed the homework without looking gat it and put it on the table next to the couch he was sitting on, then seductively sat down on his lap.

"Good morning," she said coyly as she gently kissed him on the lips.

"Hey," he replied simply as he leaned back in his seat.

"You're oddly quiet this morning," she said as she tried to get him to smile. He only looked up at her with a morose look on his face, and she frowned as well. "What is it?"

"Nothing, I'm fine," he lied as he reached for the homework again. I don't even care if she sees me copying...He thought as she continued to look at him.

"Did I...do something wrong?" She asked as she removed her arms that were around his neck. He shook his head as he started to copy down the homework. "Are you sure? Because you're not looking at me and...you're copying the homework that's due today!" She swiped Rikku's paper away from him and frowned. "This isn't how you've been doing well in history, is it?"

"No, I've seriously been doing all the homework and everything, it's just that I've been too busy with you to do this assignment." He grabbed the paper out of her hands, not realizing how much he just insulted her. She let out a scoff and climbed out of his lap. He looked up at her and realized that the look on her face was enough to kill. "What?"

"I'm sorry if I'm such a distraction," she snapped, still hurt.

"Yuna, you know that I'm not complaining," he stood up and wrapped her in his arms. He smiled at her and kissed her slightly pouting lips. "Aww, come on, sweetie. I actually know all the answers to the questions anyway, but it's easier just to copy off of Rikku so I don't have to consult the book."

"Tidus, you're not upset that I was accepted to LYU, are you?" She asked as she twisted his thin white shirt between her fingers. He blinked at her a couple of times, and remained silent as his smile faded. "You are."

"Come on, why do you say that?" He asked as he forced a smile again.

"You just...blinked." She pointed out as he kissed her on the cheek in amusement.

"I moistened my eyeballs. That in no way screams that I'm upset," he said as she let out a giggle. "I'm very happy for you, you know that."

"You sure? Because when I mentioned it to you last night on the phone, there was a nice lengthy pause before you said anything to me. I thought you hung up your phone on accident or something," she gently kissed him on the lips and he wrapped her into a hug.

"How could I not be proud of you?" She slightly blushed and smiled. "There's the beautiful smile that I love."

"You're going to Southern Spira, right?" She asked as he nodded. "That's something where I'm proud of you too."

"Well, it's a blitz scholarship," he said with a shrug. "I barely made the GPA cutoff, ya know."

"That's why you have me." She gave him an exaggerated smile and continued. "I'm here to help ya out with that kind of stuff. I can't help you in the blitzball category, but if you need academics, I'm your girl."

"You already are my girl though," he said as he kissed her again. "I'm not letting you go, I hope you are completely aware of that."

"Besaid isn't that far away from Bevelle if that's what you're worried about." She knew that it was a very long drive from Besaid from Bevelle, but she tried to lighten up the situation as much as possible. They both sat down on the couch again so Tidus could quickly copy Rikku's homework. They only had a few minutes before the bell rang, and people were already starting to disperse to their classes.

"Yeah, I won't have you watching over my shoulder though to make sure that I'm doing my homework," he said without looking up from his copying. "That's why you can't leave me anytime soon."

"That was the second comment about us breaking up in about a minute and a half," she said as she wrinkled her forehead. "This isn't a hint or anything, is it?"

"It's a hint of me saying that I have never been this crazy over a girl in my entire life and I like this feeling." He looked up at her and smiled.

Wow...Yuna thought as she moved a strand of hair out of her face. I never knew a statement like that could come out of his mouth...

"Awesome, I'm done," Tidus exclaimed as he put both papers into his history book, then stood up and stretched. He reached his hand out to Yuna to help her stand up as well. "Well, are you ready to go to history?"

Yuna grabbed his hand and he pulled her to her feet, but didn't let her hand go. Instead, he entwined his fingers with hers as they walked to history. "So, did you really mean that?" Yuna asked, prying slightly.

"That I'm done with the homework?" He asked as she giggled.

"No, the other thing."

"That I'm going to SSU?"

"Tidus," Yuna said, playfully rolling her eyes.

"Of course I meant it," he replied, lifting her hand to his lips. Yuna's cheeks flushed slightly as they continued walking to history, hand in hand.

ARG! I don't like the ending, I'm sorry! But I finally updated...so let's call that a blessing...lol. OH! So i wrote a fic based on FFVI. It's a one shot called A Treasure Hunter's Lament. I'm pretty proud of that one...and it's done...so I can't mess it up now!

Also...I READ THE MOST AMAZING FIC LAST NIGHT! It's called Cave Of Mystery, written by Steel Balrog. It's AMAZING! I HIGHLY HIGHLY HIGHLY recommend that you read it! Okay...hopefully I'll update soon...