Sorry it took me so long to update! Honestly I just haven't felt up to it! Well, here's chapter nine, and sorry if it's not the best, 'cause I just wrote it in like a half an hour. By the way, I'm thinking that this story'll be really long, and I'm hoping for it to kind of go along with the year, but I'd better get going on it then, right? Anyway, I'm sorry if I don't update a lot, but things are a little hectic, and I have other stories that I decided not to work on over the summer that need to get done, and with tennis and school...Aw! Anyway, here's chapter 9! Enjoy!
Chapter 9: Rumors
Beep...Beep...Beep...Beep...
It didn't matter how many times it beeped. There was no way that alarm clock could ever wake Yuna up. Or at least, Yuna would have liked it if that had been the way. Groaning, and rolling over to her side to click off the annoying sound of her alarm clock, Yuna lie there in her bed, trying to focus on what was ahead of her, trying to remember not only the strange dream she'd had the night before, but also what had happened the night before. Of course, she remembered, and she rolled onto her back, staring at the ceiling thoughtfully. The night before Tidus had settled himself in one of the guest bedrooms, and had basically gone to bed without saying much more than a 'good night' to Yuna before going to bed.
Sighing, Yuna quickly put on a sweatshirt and some jeans, deciding she honestly didn't care for once how she looked. A glance in the mirror revealed dark lines under her eyes, and Yuna groaned again, not believing she'd only received about four hours of sleep instead of her usual nine to seven hours.
Quickly running a brush through her hair and putting on only enough makeup to cover the dark lines that had formed themselves underneath her eyes, Yuna made her way downstairs to the kitchen, where she quickly grabbed some toast, and ate quite rapidly ate it, and then brushed her teeth. An extremely quick glance at the clock revealed that it was only about a little over fifteen minutes until school started, and Yuna still hadn't finished the small amount of homework that had been assigned on the first day.
Not only that, but she had no idea how she was to even get to school; if she walked, she'd most definitely be late.
A little glance out the window showed that Tidus' car was still parked in the driveway, meaning he was obviously fast asleep, still. His Blitzball practice hadn't yet begun.
Tip-toeing, Yuna crept to his room, peaking in the doorway. Yep, sure enough, he was still fast asleep, snoring slightly.
Smiling to herself, and convincing herself that she would wake him up and beg him for a ride to school, Yuna crept on in, walking softly up to the still-sleeping Tidus.
She squatted down on the ground, resting her elbow on the bed next to Tidus, and leaning her head in her hands, watching him. He was facing her, and his breathing was so steady that Yuna figured he was in a deep sleep.
Without even really meaning to, she lifted her head up and directed some of Tidus' loose hairs out of his face, her mis-matched eyes studying his features, although not too many thoughts went through her head.
She continued to run her fingers through his hair, watching him with a thoughtful look on her face, although no thoughts were in her head.
His eyes slowly opened, which startled Yuna much more than her presence startled him.
"I'm sorry," Yuna said, immediately stepping back, "I didn't mean to wake you up...or...I did...but..."
"Whatever," Tidus just said with a small smile, as he then stretched his arms out with a yawn, "Just wake me up again when it's morning, 'kay?"
Yuna let out a little chuckle as he turned away from her, and she stood up, walking across the room to the window. With a quick tug on the string to the curtains, they flew open, allowing the bright sun to pour into the room.
"But it is morning," Yuna said with a somewhat suppressed giggle as she listened to Tidus groan. He pulled his pillow over his head, and Yuna could still hear muffled groans coming from him.
"It was your idea to stay up all night," Yuna said walking back over by him, "Now come on, get up! I need to be at school in less than ten minutes!"
"Who says I'm taking you?" Tidus moaned, pulling his head from the pillow.
"I do," Yuna said with a smile, and then turned her smile into a pout, "You will, right?"
"Yeah, yeah," Tidus just said, "Give me five minutes!"
"Okay, I'll be waiting!" Yuna said, leaving the room, hoping that he really would only take five minutes.
She went down into the entryway, watching her watch, waiting for him.
He came down then, his hair everywhere, and looking as if he had just gotten out of bed, which Yuna decided was more than likely fine, being that he had just gotten out of bed.
"Ready to go?" he asked, and although he looked tired in his appearance, something about the tone of his voice told Yuna he was wide awake.
"Yeah," Yuna said, as Tidus grabbed his keys off of the chair, and led the way out the door. Yuna lifted her heavy backpack onto her shoulder, and walked outside also, following Tidus.
She climbed into his car, and he went speeding out of her driveway, out of her neighborhood, toward her school.
"So like, how come you don't go to some nice boarding school or something?"
"All of the maesters' children go to this school," Yuna explained, "Or at least, they did, before Al Bheds were allowed to come. Now only Seymour and me are left, but that's just because we're both seniors, and I told my father I didn't mind being where I was."
"Hm...I see," Tidus said, "So you go to school with flits?"
"Tidus..." Yuna said softly, "You don't have anything against the Al Bhed, do you?"
Tidus seemed shocked at her answer.
"You kidding? They're fine. I'm best friends with a guy named Berrik, he plays for the psches. Really, it's the yevs that are the worst."
"Yevs...?" Yuna asked, trailing.
"Yeah, you know, heavy-duty Yevon followers."
Yuna sighed. "You know," she said softly, "You could probably consider me to be a 'yev'."
"I know," Tidus said, smiling over at Yuna, "And you're a flit too, aren't you."
"How'd you know that?" Yuna asked Tidus quickly.
Tidus shrugged, "Just figured if your cousin was a flit, then that must mean you are too."
Yuna stared out the window. "How come you think yevs are the worst?"
"'Cause they're the ones who punish the Al Bheds. They're the ones who made up the term 'flit'. They're the ones that tell people what they can and can't do."
"What are you?" Yuna asked Tidus, deciding to change the subject. She'd never heard the term 'yev' before, but she supposed she knew what it was. In fact, she was pretty sure she'd heard her cousin Brother say it once or twice.
"Me, I'm a Blitzer," Tidus said, "No religion here."
"You don't follow Yevon's teachings?" Yuna seemed amazed. Even the Al Bhed were kind of followers, being that they at least knew and understood Yevon, just didn't agree with it.
"Nope. I don't follow any of that fool stuff."
"How come?" Yuna asked.
"'Cause, a Blitzer can't be racist. You know, toward one group or the other. Like, when we play the Ronso Fangs, we can't be all like, 'Yo, you're ronsos. We hate you.' Or when we play the Guado Glories, we can't all go 'Long-Fingers!' Or 'Green-bods!' Know what I mean? It just wouldn't be right."
"I suppose," Yuna said, "But you know, if you don't follow Yevon, you could start another war."
"That's a bunch of crap," Tidus said, and seeing how taken aback Yuna was, he said, "What I mean is, I don't necessarily agree with Yevon's teachings, or the Al Bhed's way, but I don't disagree with it either. Look, people need Blitzball, admit it. So, like, Blitz is our religion. It's what keeps us going."
"I guess that makes sense," Yuna said slowly, as Tidus pulled into the parking lot to her school.
"Here ya are," Tidus said, smiling as he pulled up, feeling somewhat glad to be away from the whole religion topic.
"How long does your practice go?" Yuna asked, hoping not too long, for she desperately wanted to see him later, not to mention have a ride.
"Not too long," Tidus said, "I'll pick you up!"
"Want to do me another thing?" Yuna asked, putting on a cute little smile.
"What?" Tidus asked, smiling back at her, melting what was left of Yuna's heart.
Yuna gave a little giggle, and said, "I have ballet after school. Do you want to take me?"
"Ballet?" Tidus said, his smile fading, "You mean all that boring crap?"
"Hey, it's an art," Yuna said surely, "So, will you take me?"
"I guess," Tidus said slowly, smiling again, "I'll see you later."
"Thank you so much!" Yuna said, and the two sat there, staring at each other for a while, and then Yuna heard the bell ring, and said, "I've got to go. See you later!"
"Bye," Tidus said, as Yuna gathered up her stuff and rushed into the building, knowing she only had five minutes to gather her stuff and get to class.
Rushing through the hallways, Yuna didn't notice the looks she was receiving from numerous people, and when she did notice it, she chose to ignore it. She grabbed her books and rushed upstairs to her first class, just barely walking into the door as the final bell started.
She took her seat quickly, and heard a smirk little laugh coming from behind her. Knowing it was just Seymour, she chose to ignore it, but then heard more chuckles and such. She realized the teacher was not yet in the room, and pretty soon, she noticed the entire class, minus Paine, the girl in front of her, were laughing and whispering.
"So Yuna," Elma, a girl who sat next to Yuna said, leaning in closer to Yuna, "We've heard you got lucky last night."
"What are you talking about?" Yuna questioned her, as she heard even more snickering.
"Rumor's going around that there was some young man at your house all night last night," Elma simply said, "And I really thought you were above all that Yuna!"
"So who was it?" Elma's best friend Lucil asked from the other side of Yuna.
Yuna looked behind her at Seymour, who just smiled at Yuna.
"You jerk!" Yuna cried at Seymour, "You spread this, didn't you?"
"Maybe," Seymour said, "But it's true, is it not?"
"For all of your information," Yuna said, trying to think of something quickly, "That was my cousin from out of town. Shame on you for thinking such things!"
Then, Yuna faced straight forward, hoping that her excuse satisfied everybody.
It seemed to work for a while, being that everybody gave disappointed little moans here and there, but then Seymour just gave a little chuckle.
"Then what were you doing at that party downtown? I heard you were seen with two different people."
"Where'd you hear that?" Yuna questioned, hoping she didn't seem too eager for an answer.
"Do you not read the newspaper?" Seymour just asked, rolling his eyes, all while keeping his little smirk on his face. The class all brightened up, wondering what it was that was in the newspaper.
"Why would something like that be in the newspaper?" Yuna just asked, this time being her that rolled her eyes.
"Hey, I saw it!" a shier boy by the name of Clasko said.
"Me too!"
"Yeah, me too!"
"It said," Seymour continued, "'Lord Braska's Daughter at Party!"
Yuna felt like she was going to die. Were they telling the truth? What if her father saw it?
"In the newspaper article, which was pretty short, sadly, it said you were seen with that guy your flit cousin liked, and then some guy from Luca. Is that true?"
"They must have gotten me mixed up with someone else," Yuna just said, turning away from all of the snickers that she was now receiving. The teacher walked in then, just before Seymour could taunt her any longer.
The class went by slowly, all while Yuna swore the class was still snickering behind her back.
"If it matters any," the girl named Paine said, turning around right before the end of the class, "I can't see you doing any of that stuff."
If only she knew...
"Thanks..." Yuna said softly, "That makes one person."
Paine gave her a little nod just as the bell rang, and they all stood up to leave, all while Seymour and his friends made little kissing motions as Yuna walked past them.
"Just ignore them," Paine said as the two walked down the hall together.
"Yeah..." Yuna said, feeling teary. She just wanted the day to be over. Then again...If her father knew...
"YUNIE!" Yuna turned around to see her cousin running up to her, "I so heard the news! Why didn't you invite me?"
"Because—!" Yuna didn't know if she'd be able to lie to her cousin, "Because I..."
"Because she didn't go," Paine said, looking at the Al Bhed with a look of annoyance in her eyes.
"Oh yes she did," Rikku said, "My brother was there, and he said he saw Yunie there! And you were with that guy, Tidus, too! But you seemed mad at him, or so Brother said. I thought you said you two weren't going out."
"We aren't!" Yuna said, now receiving strange looks from Paine, as well as the people who passed them.
"Come on Yunie, tell the truth!" Rikku bubbled, "'Cause if you are, that's okay with me. Since I stole Gippal from you and all..."
"You stole Gippal from her?" Paine asked, her annoyed look turning into an interested one.
"Maybe...About that, Yunie, I'm sorry..."
"Look, I've got to get to class," Yuna just said hurriedly. Whatever was she going to do?
Yuna started off, only to hear, "Hey Yunie! My pops told me that your pops has been trying to get a hold of you. Seems like he knows about you and you-know-who!"
Yuna stopped, and turned around.
"Okay," Yuna said, deciding she needed to discuss this problem with someone, and right now would be the perfect time to do it, "I was at the party. And Tidus did spend the night at my house, but we didn't do anything, I swear! But now my father knows and I'm going to be so dead, and the entire school knows and..."
"Whoa, calm down Yunie!" Rikku said, smiling, "You are so bad, and I didn't even know it!"
Paine rolled her crimson eyes, and said, "It sounds to me like you've got a pretty big problem there, Yuna. Does your father know that this certain someone spent the night at your house?"
"I don't know," Yuna said, shrugging, "Not unless Seymour told him."
"Did Seymour tell his dad?" Rikku asked, "'Cause if he did, you can basically bet that his dad told your dad, and..."
"And that could spell disaster," Paine said, "But if that's not the case, just tell your father that there must have been some mix-up. I'm sure he'll believe you."
"And we'll back you up!" Rikku chirped.
The bell rang then, indicating that the girls would be late to their class.
"Dang!" Rikku yelled, "Second day of school, and I'm already tardy! I'll talk to you at lunch! Bye!"
Yuna sighed, and said goodbye to Paine, and walked toward her class, now just anxious for the entire day to be over.
Not only that, but she really couldn't wait to see Tidus again...