He snapped awake when the car jolted against a rough patch in the road. He wasn't sure how long he had been asleep, and his disorientation was only furthered by the unfamiliar surroundings whizzing by outside the window. Attempting to blink the sleep away, Tidus blearily turned his still hazy gaze and tried to focus on the large building they were now passing by.
Even he was forced to admit that it was a pretty impressive complex. It was designed in that very trendy contemporary style that said no expense was spared in its construction. And it actually had trees—trees—and other foliage that some poor sap probably slaved away to keep punk teenagers from screwing it up every other day. There was also, he noted, a swimming pool—the biggest he'd ever seen—Olympic size, probably—and a soccer field, a baseball field, and of course there was also a stadium size blitzball dome, and he felt an irrational stab of envy on behalf of Zanarkand's less than stellar facilities. He had once heard from some upper-classmen that their team would've been on top if they could just afford to train with better equipment.
"Is that my school?" Tidus asked.
"So, you're awake," Auron observed. He hazarded a quick glance away from the road to where Tidus was looking. "It's nice, isn't it?"
"Yeah, I guess."
"A friend of mine recommended it. It ranked number one in high schools in all of Spira."
"Whoop-de-fuckin'-do," Tidus drawled, and narrowed his eyes as they passed the marquee bearing Bevelle High School in brass lettering.
"Watch your language," was the last thing Auron said before the car lapsed back into silence, and Tidus' future school faded into the horizon behind them.
-
The lockers, at least, were very much the same as Zanarkand's, and that was a certain amount of relief. But then again, there were only so many ways to make lockers. The ones that lined these hallways should be no different.
It kinda sucked that he had to crouch down every time he wanted to put a book away, he thought as he slammed it shut with a satisfying bang. But of course he was going to get the last of the litter, so to speak, and there were none in the middle row left. Bottom rungs it is, then.
The shrill bell signaling the start of first period reverberated through the halls. Quickly shouldering his bag onto one shoulder, he stood and made his way to the door he mentally placed earlier. This school was pretty easy to navigate, which spared him the embarrassment of having to ask for directions on his first day. That was just fine by him. The last thing he needed to do right now was stand out too much.
His first class of the day turned out to be mathematics, a subject he always did abysmally in. Frankly speaking, the only numbers he ever found interesting were the points he got for scoring a goal in blitzball and the occasional phone number from a cute girl. Linear equations, polynomials, and sequences just weren't his thing. He glared down at the paper and willed everything to fall into place on its own accord, and tried to ignore the tittering sound coming directly behind him, though it was hard to when the hairs on the back of his neck were rising. Math really wasn't a very good as a distraction.
As soon as the period was over, he shot up from his seat and was one of the first ones out the door. He wasn't sure what the consequences of sticking around would be, but he didn't think he was up to finding out today.
Science was the next period, and since it was just the first day introductions he didn't have much to do today. But when he heard the teacher announce the start of labs starting next week so please find a partner, he felt like slamming his head into the desk. Already, students in the desks around him started chattering excitedly, no doubt pairing up. Tidus felt a sharp stab in the pit of his stomach, and pressed his lips into a harsh line before standing up to leave, figuring it was best to cross that bridge when he got there. That uneasy feeling would be just something he'd have to put up with until he did.
Third period was Al Bhed, and it turned out that some of the curriculum overlapped with his previous year, so it wasn't too long before he got bored. Though he tried to fight the impulse, he soon found him self scanning his eyes around the classroom at the faces of his classmates. He couldn't get a good look at most of them, since they were bent over their books in either intense concentration or from doodling in the margins, but depending on where they were sitting from his vantage point, he could make out more in some than others.
He jumped a little in his seat when his roving eyes made direct contact with another pair. The blond girl he was currently staring at (or whom was staring at him?) looked like she had been waiting for this moment and gave him a knowing look. Then she broke into a bright grin which she topped off with a flirtatious wink. Flustered, Tidus quickly turned his gaze back to his books. But after a moment of not reading the page in front of him, he took another tentative look up again to see the her still smiling at him. Tidus blinked. What a strange girl.
Unsure about the whole thing, he nonetheless was surprised to find the corners of his lips curling up to return the smile. Well, it was no surprise after all. Her smile was kind of infectious, and, Tidus noted now that he got a good look at her face, she was pretty cute.
A sharp call from the teacher in front caused them to break their staring contest, as the girl scrambled to gather up her book and recite the indicated passage. Still, it was progress. And, he reflected as he turned back to his own book, he figured he probably wouldn't mind getting to know her a little better.
-
The cafeteria was surprisingly empty. Included in the tuition was lunch, but it looked like most students skipped off campus to get their sustenance. It wasn't very hard to figure out why. The stuff that the sour looking lady in the hairnet behind the counter dished out didn't look all that appetizing, but Tidus took his tray anyway. A growing boy needed all he could get.
"You'd think a ritzy school like this would be able to afford to ship in better food," he muttered under his breath, looking down at his food and not so much in front of him. As a result, he nearly collided with someone on his way to the dining area.
"Whoa, sorry!" Tidus said, shifting his tray out of the way just in time. "Didn't see you there."
His hapless victim was predictably startled but recovered remarkably fast, so that Tidus, still stuttering apologies, looked up at that serene countenance towering over him and fell silent. "Indeed," was the only response to all of his apologies.
Unsure as to how he should respond, Tidus just cast his eyes downwards to avoid looking any longer at that piercing gaze. Eventually, the stranger cocked his head to the side and regarded Tidus intently. Tidus resisted the urge to squirm.
When the tall stranger spoke again, it was in the same collected tone he had used before, "I don't believe I've seen your face before."
Still a little unnerved, Tidus struggled to find his voice. "Yee—ah. I'm new here," he finally managed to get out, just as two other students strode up to the other's side.
"What's going on, Seymour?" one asked, clearly addressing the other student but staring at Tidus while asking it. Tidus took an involuntary step backwards.
"Are you all right, President?" the other—a small girl—asked. The gentleness of her voice and sincerity of her expression was enough to reassure Tidus at least a little and he relaxed a bit.
"Everything's fine," the one called Seymour assured his well-wisher with a polite smile. "Just a small accident, but no harm done, right?" he said, directing his attention back to Tidus, who was starting to feel remarkably foolish standing there with his tray of cooling gunk. "This is a new student at our school," Seymour informed his comrades with a nod of his head towards the topic of conversation.
Now three pairs of eyes looked towards the newcomer holding the lunch tray and waited expectantly. "Uh…I'm…Tidus."
"Ah," said the three, still waiting, no doubt for him to say something incredibly witty.
"I'm—I'm new here," he said, and then mentally face-faulted because they knew that already. "I transferred here from Zanarkand," he added quickly.
At that, Seymour's eyebrows shot up. "Indeed?" he said, with a lilt at the end of his voice that made Tidus feel defensive for some reason.
"Yes. Why?"
Seymour raised his hands in a placating gesture. "I didn't mean anything." There was an awkward pause. "Well," Seymour finally said, "I'm keeping you from your lunch, so I'll get out of the way. It was nice meeting you…Tidus." With a slight bow of the head to take his leave, Seymour brushed past him, closely followed by one of his friends.
It wasn't until he was sure that Seymour's presence was completely gone that Tidus let out the breath he hadn't known he was holding. Now, feeling adequately brave, he cast a look over his shoulder in the direction Seymour had gone. Sure enough, the coast was clear.
"It's kind of a lot to take in, isn't it?" Tidus returned his gaze forward. The girl that had addressed Seymour was still in front of him, her hands clasped in front of her and a shy smile on her face.
Tidus grinned sheepishly and ran a hand through his hair. "Yeah, kinda. That Seymour guy…he's kinda…"
"Oh, isn't he wonderful?" the girl gushed, cutting off the 'creepy' that had been on the tip of his tongue. "That's Seymour Guado, our student body president. He's also a straight A student and been on the honor roll for four years running, and he's also club president of the debate club and plays for the honor orchestra," the girl recited, ticking each of Seymour Guado's virtues off on her fingers with increasing enthusiasm.
The girl was absolutely batty, Tidus decided. "Yeah. Yeah, that's great," he said, trying to inch around her towards the nearest table. The girl seemed to notice.
"Oh! Oh, forgive me," she said with a hasty bow, "I've been keeping you from your lunch."
"Yeah, well, it was nice meeting you…"
But the girl didn't seem to take the hint and took a seat at his table across from him. "My name is Shelinda," she said, and held her hand out towards him with great intent. Sighing, Tidus set his fork down and shook it. "I'm on the student council myself as Secretary, so please feel free to ask me anything about this school that you don't understand."
Tidus bit down on a rude comment and instead smiled tiredly. "Thanks, Shelinda. I'll keep that in mind."
"It's no trouble at all," Shelinda chirped brightly. "I'm sure President Seymour would have offered his own services if he wasn't so busy himself. I know he takes personal responsibility for all outsiders to feel welcome.
Tidus gave her a quizzical look. "Outsiders?"
"New students," Shelinda explained. "President Seymour always says that because Bevelle is such a distinctive institution, not everyone will always understand our ways. So one of our personal missions as the student body is to make sure everyone feels right at home."
"That's…really something."
"It was the President's idea," Shelinda said modestly. "Now, then, if you'll excuse me, I have a student council meeting to attend to. Enjoy your lunch." She stood up and nearly tripped over her chair in her haste to start walking. Blushing from embarrassment, she giggled self-consciously and hurried on her way.
Alone at last, Tidus finally dug into his lunch.
It was cold.
-
Tidus could fully appreciate the sunshine by the time he stepped out for the period he had been waiting for all day. After an hour of listening to the dry history of Spira and then spending another one reading some unfathomable crap he didn't understand they called poetry, he was feeling restless and couldn't wait to get into the water and blitz. The rest of the team was already standing on the deck of the practice pool warming up. It wasn't too long before someone carrying a blitzball came up to the edge of the pool and addressed everyone: "All right, listen up everyone. For those who don't already know me, the name's Datto, and I'm the captain for this here team. Just do what I tell you and I'll make you all winners. Everyone got that?" There were murmurs of affirmation. "All right, everyone into the pool."
No words were more welcome. Tidus didn't waste any time and dove right in, taking advantage of the momentum to swim straight to the other side of the pool before surfacing. Closing his eyes underwater, he just let his muscles do the work and listened as the sounds of thick currents rushed past his ears. He threw his head back and relished the heaviness of the water in his hair, tangible as it flung droplets everywhere.
He was surprised, when he turned around, to see that he was the only one this far out. Most everyone was still on the other end of the pool. Some had not even fully submerged yet, dipping their toes in like…well, he couldn't even fathom why anyone would be so timid when it came to the water.
"Hey, you!" Datto—the captain, Tidus reminded him self—appeared to have noticed him floating out alone by himself. "Get back over here!" He made it back to the side in a few powerful strokes. Datto blinked. For a moment, he seemed really confused, but the look passed, and the captain cleared his throat and said, "All right, everyone. Let's start off with some basics."
"Basics?" The incredulous outburst left his mouth before he could even think about toning down the outrage in his voice. He was met with stares varying in degrees of annoyance and resentment.
He saw Datto roll his eyes in a way that said 'oh, no, not another one of these.' "Yes, basics," Datto said, with the tone of forced patience one has when dealing with young children. "Blitz isn't all fancy tricks and stuff you see on vidscreens, yannoe? Most people think that they play for the Luca Goers just by watching, an' never held a ball in their life. That's not how things are going to work on this team, aight? We're going to start from the basics and make sure we really know how to blitz."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Wait a minute here. What kind of team doesn't know how to blitz?"
One of the players at Datto's side glared at him. "Oh, and I suppose you're an expert already?"
"Well, I don't wanna brag, but there's not much an expert could teach me," Tidus retorted.
"Yeah? Prove it."
Tidus gave him a hard stare before swimming to the edge of the pool and hoisting himself out of the water. He walked over to a ball sitting on the deck and picked it up. After making sure his audience was still watching, Tidus threw it up into the air and launched himself up after it, somersaulting in midair until his foot made contact with ball with a solid bang!
A perfect sphere shot.
The ball flew over the pool and ricocheted off the opposite wall before skidding across the surface of the water and finally coming to a rest with a big splash.
Tidus was satisfied to note that everyone was staring at the ball bobbing serenely in the middle of pool with open mouths and allowed himself to preen.
-
Moments later, Tidus was tossing a ball in boredom against the wall of the narrow hallway where he was told to wait. Datto hadn't said much after his little stunt at the pool. He had just looked really thoughtful and said, "Come with me" before leaving him here to go into the locker room.
Eventually, the door opened and Datto reappeared with someone else. The newcomer took one look at Tidus and stopped dead in his tracks, eyes impossibly wide and the color draining from his face.
The stranger wet his lips. " 'ey, Datto?"
"Cap'n?" So, this guy was a captain, too.
"This the guy you been tellin' me about?"
"Cap'n!"
The other captain didn't say anything and continued to stare at Tidus' face, which he met unflinchingly. Finally, the stranger let out a shuddering breath and ran a hand down his face. "Great Almighty…"
"Hey!" Tidus said, finally fed up. "That thing by the pool…I didn't do anything wrong, all right? So why don't you just back off?"
"Don't talk to Cap'n Wakka that way!" Datto thundered, but fell silent when the taller captain gestured for him to back down.
After his friend calmed down, the one called Wakka turned back to Tidus. "Sorry 'bout that. No hard feelings, ya?" Tidus, slightly mollified, grudgingly nodded. "So, you the one who wants in on my team, eh?"
"That depends on the team," Tidus said warily.
Wakka guffawed good-naturedly in response. "Well, you don't got much choice unless you wanna stay on the frosh team."
Tidus looked at Datto. "Frosh?" Datto shrugged. Well, that explained the use of a regular pool for practice. Tidus eyed Wakka critically. "You JV?"
"Varsity," came the surprising reply. Tidus gaped, and Wakka gave him a wide grin. "Welcome to the big leagues, brudda."