Hiya! I hope an early updates sounds good, 'cause what do you know? You're in for one! That's 'cause I really have to get this story wrapped up in..Checks calendar...About 20some days now! Crazy, huh? That's 'cause I decided it would give me more time to write the final chapter then! Anyway, here it is, chapter 8! (Oh, and just so you know, I'll make sure YOU know when it's the end! 'Kay!) Enjoy!
Chapter 8: Failure
"So, didya invite Tidus to the prom?" Rikku cooed as the two bounded down the stairs of their school, huddling their books to their chests.
"Huh?" Yuna said, somewhat taken aback.
"You know, Tidus...Your boyfriend?" Rikku said, nudging Yuna, "Usually you would ask your boyfriend to the prom?"
"B-But...What?" Yuna just said, and then realized that she had never exactly told Rikku that Tidus was old news. Not that she'd ever felt like explaining the whole deal to Rikku anyway.
"Tidus...Prom? Anything in that head of yours Yunie?"
"Tidus...Um...He and I broke up..." Yuna said slowly.
"What? Just yesterday?" came Rikku's shocked reply.
"No...A while ago," Yuna said softly, "Actually...quite a while ago..."
"Don't lie to me, Yunie!" Rikku said, facing her cousin, "Come on now, why didn't you invite him to the prom? Is it your dad? Is it Tidus' Blitz game? What is it?"
"We broke up!" Yuna said, "I never asked him to the prom. I never...had the chance to."
"WHAT?" Rikku said, as they reached their lockers, "Tidus just called me last night and–."
"What?" it was Yuna's turn to act surprised, "Tidus...called you?"
"Well yeah! He's called me a lot lately. He says your phone line is always busy!"
"Um...I never talk to anybody," Yuna said, taking her cell phone out of her pocket, "Did he call me on my cellphone?"
Rikku shrugged, "I don't know."
"Well, what did he say?" Yuna asked, her eyes opened wide. What did Tidus want?
"He said that he thought maybe something was up and that you might be hurt or something," Rikku said with a shrug, "He always asks me stupid questions, like, "How's Yuna? Is she doing okay?" Stupid stuff like that. Nothing juicy. I'm always like, "Ooh, are you going to invite her to–." and then I put in some random thing and he always replies, "Um...Yeah," and then asks me another question like, "How's she doing?" I'm always like, "Call her yourself." He's always like, "I've tried."'
"Wait a minute...He...Acts like we're still together?"
"As far as I can see."
"But...why? Why does he call you? Rikku, remember when we went to Luca? That's when we...stopped seeing each other."
"Really? I gave him a ride home and he didn't say anything!"
"Seriously?"
"Yeah, and he's called me like every night since then! Oh...How sweet Yunie!"
"What's sweet?"
"He calls to see how you're doing! OH!" at that Rikku gave a little squeal and gave Yuna another nudge and said, "You should go tell him that you still like him! You do, don't you?"
"It's not a matter of whether I like him or not!" Yuna said, "We...Aren't meant to be together, and that's that."
At that, Yuna swung her backpack over her shoulder, and Rikku and she made their way toward the parking lot.
"Why not?" Rikku questioned after a little while of silence.
"Why what not?" Yuna said.
"Why aren't you two meant to be? I think it makes perfect sense...The hottest guy in all of Bevelle dating the Maester's daughter..." at that Rikku sighed, "It's like totally meant to be..."
Rikku's eyes went into a sort of loving dreariness, and then she exclaimed, "If he calls again, I'm going to tell him you still love him!"
"No. Don't you dare do that," Yuna said, her voice suddenly turning very cold.
"Whoa...Do you really hate him?" Rikku asked, her voice suddenly of higher frequency, as she sounded somewhat frightened by Yuna's tone of voice.
"Yes," Yuna finally lied, and it was actually an easy lie to tell. Deep down, though, Yuna was so frightened for Tidus' well being that she supposed lying really was an easy task.
"Oh," Rikku said, sounding very disappointed, "That stinks..."
The two climbed into Rikku's car, and, trying to change the subject away from Tidus and herself, Yuna asked, "Are you going to prom Rikku?"
"No...Gippal went away for that rebellion thing and never returned...I haven't even heard from him!"
Yuna swallowed. "Well, he's going to be back soon, I think...," she said, even though she had no idea if Gippal would ever be back.
"I hope so," Rikku said slowly, "But no prom plans for me, otherwise! I might have Calli hook me up with someone, but I think she's going with that nerd Clasko..."
"Hey, don't be mean to Clasko!" Yuna said, "He was your science partner, remember? Without him, I don't think you would have gotten that A!"
"I would have rather been with Gippal and gotten an F," Rikku said, scrunching her nose, "But whatever...Clasko is pretty good in science."
Both girls were silent then, until Rikku finally squeaked and said, "Oh Yunie! I totally forgot! Brother finally fixed your car! How exciting?"
Yuna forced a smile, "It took him long enough, didn't it?"
"Well, that jerk that ran into you totally ruined the entire side and..." suddenly Rikku stopped, "Wait a minute...Who was that jerk again?"
"Seriously Rikku," Yuna said, annoyed, "You have the worst memory. It was...Actually, I don't recall who it was anymore."
"Really? I swore it was someone we knew...Or something like that. 'Cause didn't I say I'd kick his butt? Wait! Was it Clasko! I'll bet it was!"
"No...It was nobody," Yuna said, leaning back in her chair, "I mean, it was somebody, but I don't know who..."
"Hey Yunie!" Rikku suddenly bellowed, almost slamming on the brakes, "I know who you could ask to prom!"
"Who?" Yuna asked, although she wasn't at all interested.
"Barthello! That ballet guy! He's got like a baby face!"
Yuna gave a disgusted noise, and said, "He relocated himself to Kilika to be next to Dona, don't you recall?"
"Oh yeah...Hey Yunie, aren't you getting your license soon?"
"Yeah...I'm actually taking my test..." Yuna paused, "Tomorrow..."
"You don't sound too thrilled about it," Rikku said, "What took you so long to resign up to take it?"
"I guess...I guess I'm not used to...failing," Yuna said slowly, and suddenly, something hit her. It hit her so hard that she almost let out a yelp. She suddenly felt like she needed air, and she began to frantically roll down the window.
"Yunie? Is something wrong?" Rikku asked, watching her cousin out of the corner of her eye.
"No...It's just that..." tears began to flow out of Yuna's eyes.
"Yunie? Really, what's wrong?" Rikku asked, swerving from side to side as she concentrated more on her cousin than on the road.
"Nothing Rikku!" Yuna lied, trying to wipe her eyes, "It's just that...I realized that I needed to get home. That's all."
"We're on our way!" Rikku said, and started driving faster.
Yuna looked away from her cousin, and to the road. Failure. She had never failed in her life until that day...Long ago...Taking her driver's test. Never had she failed. Until then...Until she crashed into Tidus. Ever since that very moment, when she had first failed, she had feared failing so much that she never did anything unless she was one-hundred-ten percent sure that she was right. That was why she never tried out for a leading role in her ballet. She was always afraid of failing. That was why she never went against her father's word. She was always afraid of failing to him. That was why she never did anything but study. She was always afraid of failing. Always. She spent her whole life worrying about failing. Until...
"Rikku," Yuna said through her tears, "I really need to get home. Right now."
"We're here, Yunie," Rikku said in a worried tone, as she pulled into Yuna's driveway, "Don't worry! If there's anything–." Rikku didn't get to finish, for Yuna literally jumped out of the car and ran into her house, leaving a very confused Rikku to sit there and watch her.
Yuna burst into her bedroom and threw herself on her bed, sobbing into her pillow. She had never taken chances. Not until she met Tidus. It had taken her so long, but that was why she loved Tidus. That was why she needed Tidus. When she was around him, failing didn't matter anymore. She was able to do what she wanted to do when she wanted to do it. He gave her...everything. Without him...
Yuna continued to sob. There was more to it than love even. If she went back to the way she used to be before Tidus and she met, she'd never do anything with her life. This she knew. The problem was, she also knew she didn't have the courage to do anything about it. It was her life now.
"Tidus," she said softly to herself, her tear-stained face lifting itself from her pillow, "I know we can't be together...But if there's one thing I could tell you...It's that you've changed me. And...For the better. I don't know anymore what my feelings toward you are–I really don't. But I do know one thing...Out of all the people I've ever met, you're the one that meant the most to me!"
At that, Yuna buried her head in her pillow again and let her tears consume her.
"You're doing very well," the driving instructor said, smiling, "Only about a block or so to go, and you will have your license!"
Yuna smiled to herself, and took a turn where the instructor told her to, knowing that all she needed was that license. She needed to prove to herself that she wouldn't fail again...And that even without Tidus, she could succeed. She supposed it was just something she needed.
After she got her license, she could finally get on with her life. Her life that would forever be without Tidus.
She stopped at a light then, and found herself turning to her right. There, stood the Blitzball arena, looking pretty much dead, except for the few cars that were parked around it. She noticed one of Tidus' cars sitting there, and she smiled to herself as she waited for the light to turn green.
"Yes, this is goodbye, Tidus," Yuna said, staring at the car.
"Um...The light is green...," the instructor said, causing Yuna to jump.
"Oh my, I'm sorry," Yuna said, blushing, and slowly started on the gas. Suddenly though, something hit her.
"You can't sit here in the middle of the intersection!" her instructor said.
"I know," Yuna said, and quickly turned on her turning signal.
"What are you doing?" the instructor cried out, "I didn't tell you to turn!'
"I know," Yuna just replied calmly, and quickly made a turn.
"You're going to cause an accident! Do you want to fail?" the instructor cried.
Yuna could only smile, as she drove quickly into the parking lot she turned into. Then, eying the gorgeous yellow sports car in front of her, she stepped on the gas.
"What are you doing!" the instructor screamed, only as Yuna smashed into the car.
A security guard then came running toward them, and Yuna stepped out of the car, followed by the bewildered driving instructor.
"What do you think you're doing!" the security guard cried.
"Yes, what?" Yuna's instructor cried, ripping of f a sheet of paper, "Do you realize that you by far failed this test?"
Yuna just smiled and said sweetly to the security guard, "Could you do me a favor and tell Tidus that I crashed into his car?"
A second security guard came running up then, and the first one shook his head and said, "You'd better go get Tidus..."
As for the driving instructor, he angrily thrust the ripped sheet of paper into Yuna's hands and staggered off, as the second security guard ran in to get Tidus.
The first security guard looked back at Yuna, again as if she was crazy, and said, "I'm probably going to have to arrest you, do you realize that?"
"Just wait 'till Tidus comes out!" Yuna said, smiling an odd smile.
It wasn't long before a swearing, angry sounding Tidus could be heard, and soon the door thrust open, and a soaking-wet, and very angry Tidus came marching through the door.
"You said some–." Tidus stopped and stared at Yuna, his mouth slowly dropping open.
"Hi Tidus!" Yuna just said, and smiled.
A/N: Okay...Stupid place to end it, I know...But hey! You can't ask for everything! I think I will take this oppurtunity to say that although this story is almost finished, I do have ideas for two more that I will be coming out with this summer! Neither of them will be as long as this one, (Thank goodness!) but they will probably be at least 20 or so chapters. I would give you a little summary of each one, but to tell you the truth...I'm not really sure if I want to! Hm...I'll give you a little summary of one maybe...(By the way, you don't have to read this if you don't want to!)
It's going to be modeled after the Puritan society of the 17th Century. Yuna is going to be (Oh yeah, one more thing. I've been thinking on this subject a lot: You see, I really never cared all that much for Yuna. But I LOVED Tidus' character. (Not necessarily Tidus, but his character!) So, I found myself starting to write Yuna X Tidus stories, because to me, they're the only ones that go together! I can't really picture Rikku with anybody and I never really felt like writing about any other couples! So that's why I only write Yuna and Tidus stories! It gets old sometimes, but I guess I like to write their characters the best!) Sorry...Back onto the summary! Okay, so Yuna is going to be your basic Yevon-worshipping girl. (Kind of like Wakka in FFX!) She completely and totally does what the religion tells her to do. She moves to (Well, I'm not sure where yet!) I think Besaid or something, out of Bevelle. The first thing she notices about Besaid is that it's...well, rather odd. The first person she meets is Wakka, who lives in the village, and like her, is a huge worshipper of Yevon. She meets Wakka while walking through the village at night. Wakka tells her that it is dangerous to be wandering around at night, because there is a beast of Besaid. Yuna is kind of like, "Whatever", but allows Wakka to walk her home just the same. Anyway...That was kind of pointless to mention...Um...Yeah. Anyway, one night, she doesn't listen to Wakka, and is walking home when all of a sudden she comes across a dead body! The body has marks in its neck and blood is everywhere. Scared, Yuna tries to run away, only to run straight into Tidus! (Bet you didn't see that one coming!) She shows Tidus the body, and the two call for help. The police force comes (Or you know, the small police force) and they say that it's definitely the monster or beast, or whatever. Tidus walks Yuna home then, and Yuna asks him about the monster and whatnot. Then, later, Tidus and Yuna become friends and...Well, then they become more than friends and...Goodness...I don't really know what else! It's basically about Yuna having to choose between the religion of Yevon (which is basically the same religion of a Puritan) and Tidus. Really, it doesn't have much to do with the 'monster', exactly...Anyway, that's all I'm going to say! I haven't chosen a title yet though...