Huh...I don't know what my deal is, but suddenly I'm just totally not into my story! I don't have writer's block necessarily, but I can't stay focused on my story! That's why this chapter's kind of BLAH! Well, just the same, hope you enjoy!

Chapter 21: Greater Disappointments

"Okay, so tell me everything! From the minute you and Tidus were on your way to Luca, to last night when you got home!" Rikku squeaked, as Yuna and she walked through the halls of their school.

Yuna's eyes just remained downcast, and she realized she really didn't want to discuss any of her week at all. At the present moment, all she could think of was the weekend, when Tidus would return home. There was just so much she had to ask him about. Not only that, but she, well, just couldn't wait to see him again.

Paine joined the two, her usual self emotionless as she said, "Hi Yuna. I see you're back. Would you please clear up that you weren't in Luca with your boyfriend like Rikku blabbed to everybody?"

"But she was!" Rikku said, "Weren't you Yunie! In fact, Yuna's just about to tell me

everything that happened! Right Yunie?"

"Oh, right," Yuna just said sadly.

"Is that true?" Paine just asked.

"Yeah, it is," Yuna said slowly.

Paine shook her head disappointedly in Yuna, but wore a small smile of amusement just the same.

"So, tell us about it!" Rikku pushed on.

"Nothing really happened," Yuna finally just said with a shrug.

"Aw, come on Yunie! I'll tell you when I lose my virginity!"

Yuna found herself shoot a piercing look at her cousin, before saying angrily, "Actually Rikku, I didn't lose my virginity."

"You didn't!" Rikku nearly yelled, "But you were like at a hotel with him and everything! Didn't you sleep with him?"

"Maybe," Yuna said, "But that doesn't mean we did anything else."

Paine just continued to shake her head, her amused smile growing ever wider.

"So, what did you do then?" Paine just asked simply.

"Not you too, Paine!" Yuna said, and now it was Yuna who was shaking her head disappointedly, "And to answer your question, I didn't do anything with him, not like that, anyway."

"That's so boring, Yunie," Rikku said, rolling her eyes just as the bell rang, "Oh, gotta go! If I'm late to first hour one more time, I think I'll be kicked out of the class!"

Yuna let out a sigh, and just looked at Paine, and said, "So, what have I missed?"

"Not much," Paine answered shortly, as she led the way to their first hour class, "Just Seymour being an ass, you know, that kind of stuff."

"Ugh, I totally forgot about Seymour," Yuna said, rolling her eyes as they walked into the class.

Seymour was chatting with his usual posse, and turned as soon as Yuna and Paine entered and took their seats.

"Back so soon, Yuna?" Seymour asked, "I thought the Blitz tournament didn't end until the end of this week! I heard your dad had to come and get you. Did he have you tested for STD's too, while he was at it?"

"Shut-up Asshole," Paine said, causing Yuna to cringe, as she always found herself doing when someone talked so harshly. Still, she'd never had anybody really stand up for her before, and she could only smile meekly at Paine as Seymour immediately slouched down and left Yuna alone.

Their teacher walked in then, holding a large pile of papers.

"As you all know," he said, passing the papers out, not saying anything about Yuna's return, much to Yuna's delight, "The first quarter has passed, and we've moved on to second quarter. Here are your grades and class ranks!"

Naturally Yuna sat straight up in her seat. She knew who was number one in the class, and that was of course...her! The teacher put her grade slip face down on her desk, and, feeling somewhat cocky, Yuna picked it up to look at her grades and rank only to have her face drop, and any remaining cocky feelings disappear.

Her grades were all fairly okay, being that they were all A's, except there were two A-'s. That wasn't the worst part though. Her class rank had fallen from one to–five?

Shaking, Yuna put the paper back on her desk, hearing laughter from behind you.

"What did I tell you, Yuna!" Seymour said, pointing to the shy boy next to him who was staying with Seymour, "Baralai beat you, no problem! He's number one, and I'm number two...that makes you—what?—number three?"

"No, I'm number three!" a voice came from the other side of the room.

Seymour laughed again, "I mean, number four?" Seymour and his group laughed, and Baralai gave Yuna an almost apologetic look, and then returned to working on something.

Yuna didn't know why, but tears were forming in her eyes, because she knew deep down inside that really, she barely deserved being ranked number five. She didn't even think she deserved the A-'s that she'd received. And this was all because of one person...Tidus...

The class went by in just a blur, for Yuna's mind was on so much more as the class went by. The bell finally rang, and Yuna walked out, her head still in a cloud.

"Hey Yuna!" Paine called, rushing up to her, "I'm sorry for what happened back in class."

"Don't be, it's not your fault," Yuna said, somewhat bitterly.

"Well, actually," Paine showed Yuna her grade slip, "I'm number four. If I weren't here, that would be you."

"That's a foolish way to think," Yuna just said, and gave Paine a smile, "But I really appreciate you standing up for me back there when you told Seymour off."

"No problem," Paine said, "I've been wanting to tell him off now since the first day of school!"

Yuna laughed and said, "He deserved everything you said to him, don't you think?"

"And it was especially funny how much he ducked when I said those words," Paine just agreed, shaking her head, a small smile upon her lips.

At that, Paine and Yuna separated, and it wasn't long before the day was over. Yuna couldn't help but realize how normal things were without Tidus around. Rikku offered to drive Yuna to ballet, as long as she promised to fill Rikku in on the 'juicy bits' that didn't exist.

"Hello there, Yuna," Dona greeted Yuna, as they walked through the large hall of the dance conservatory.

"Hello, Dona," Yuna replied, wondering what was up, being that Dona had this certain look on her face that was indescribable.

"So, where have you been in the last few days?" Dona asked, "I hear you were away in Luca with a certain somebody...?"

"Yes, I was," Yuna said, smiling casually at her friend.

"Oh?" Dona said, shaking her head and wearing a strange smile, "My, my, my...has my little Yuna grown up?"

Yuna rolled her eyes, and said, "I assure you I'm the same exact Yuna that you've ever known!"

"Sure you are," Dona said in a weird tone, and then suddenly stopped Yuna right outside the door to their classroom and said, rather harshly, "So, Yuna? When did you try out for the main part in this year's Yevonistmas performance?"

"What do you mean?" Yuna asked, somewhat frightened by the look Dona was giving her.

"Don't play stupid!" Dona nearly yelled, "So, what did you pay the instructor? Five hundred gil? One thousand gil? Or did your daddy just promise something?"

"Dona, I really don't know what you're talking about!" Yuna said, trying to push past her friend.

Dona just snubbed Yuna, sticking her nose straight in the air and walked into the classroom, with Yuna trailing behind her, wondering what Dona's behavior was about. Yuna was about to find out though, right as she walked in the classroom.

"Yuna!" all of the girls squealed, running up to her, "Congratulations!"

"Congratulations on what?" Yuna just asked, wondering what she'd done.

"You got the part! You know, the lead!" some girl chirped away excitedly, as if Yuna getting the lead was the best thing that had ever happened to her.

"I did?" Yuna asked, her face brightening. She couldn't believe it!

"Yeah, yeah, but we all know she did it through bribery," Dona just said, rolling her eyes.

"That's not true!" Yuna said, wondering how Dona could possibly say such things.

"It is and you know it!" Dona said, crossing her arms across her chest, "Everybody knows I'm the right one for the part!"

Yuna narrowed her eyebrows at her friend, feeling incredibly angered. What was with everybody? Seymour nagged on her nonstop, Rikku didn't believe she was still a virgin, and now Dona was accusing her of bribing their ballet instructor into letting her have the part. Really, the only person who had been nice to her all day was Paine, who was usually in a rather crabby kind of mood.

Yuna just bit her lip, and walked away from Dona and the rest of the girls, wanting desperately to cry. At the moment, everything just seemed so hard.

"I wish Tidus was here," she found herself thinking, which only caused her to grow angrier as she remembered what her father had said before about Tidus betraying her. What if it was true?

The class had now began warmups, but Yuna didn't care. She made her way to where she had put down her bag and took her cell phone out, dialing Tidus' number.

The entire class watched her, and her instructor didn't look too happy that she'd be making a call right there in the middle of class, but Yuna didn't care. She had to talk to Tidus, and she had to talk to him right that instant.

"Hello?" a groggy voice that Yuna immediately recognized as Tidus' came over the phone.

"Tidus!" Yuna said, smiling, although she had meant for the conversation to be completely and totally serious. Still, just hearing his voice was enough to make any doubts go away.

"Yuna?" Tidus said, "Uh...What do you want?"

"I wanted to talk to you," Yuna said, noticing that the girls in the room was giggling at her, as they all sat there listening to every word she said, all while her teacher just looked as if she couldn't decide to stop Yuna, or to just keep listening to what she was saying.

"Um, about what?" Tidus seemed nervous, and Yuna wondered if he knew what it was she was going to ask him about.

"Tidus, I have to know something," Yuna said, "Is it true that you'd...betray me?"

"Look, Yuna, I'm on my way home right now, okay? Let's just say that...I kind of messed up, my team lost because of me, and in conclusion, I really wanna see you about something, 'kay? We can talk then. Just come over to my place later tonight. Okay? I gotta go, so, see ya then."

"But Tidus—," Yuna heard the click of the phone, and she bit her lip, as she turned her own phone off and placed it in her bag, blushing as she noticed that the entire class was staring at her.

"I'm sorry, I had to make a call," Yuna said, blushing an even deeper red.

Dona gave a little snort, and continued on with her excersises and the teacher just shook her head disapprovingly, and that was that.

Finally, still red, Yuna went to her normal place and started her warmups, but she couldn't help but allow her mind to continually wander to Tidus...