Chapter 11
Bringing It On
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After a while of pointless boasting and sarcastic remarks, they were finally urged by Wakka to get the game started.
"Hey, why don't you all just shut up and start ya?"
Wakka smirked as soon as he noticed the four of them obediently followed his order, "Am I good or am I good?"
As soon as they got to the point where the water reached slightly above the guys' waistline, they automatically stopped, knowing that this height was most suitable. Without a word spoken to the opposition, Yuna and Rikku both started to get into position. They both hopped onto the two guys' shoulders with ease having the help of the water and steadied themselves. However, even though they managed to maintain most of their balance, Yuna and Rikku still wobbled slightly.
Knowing that Yuna was going to fall off if she was going to continue being this unsteady, Tidus grabbed both her hands to steady her for a little while before releasing her them and moving down to hold onto her shins and calves.
Once they were both ready, Rikku asked, "Ready to Lose?"
Yuna simply smiled wickedly before saying, "I'm ready, but losing is your job."
And with that, Tidus and Squall charged at each other, stopping when they felt Yuna and Rikku's arms coming into contact. Laughing and shrieking wildly, Yuna and Rikku both tried their hardest pushing each other off by gripping on each other's upper arm. Unfortunately for the two guys below, Rikku and Yuna's reflexes started to come in place. As the two girls above continued pushing, their legs also started to move or kick.
"Wow wow wow! Yuna stop moving so much! I'm starting to lose my grip on you!" Tidus cried as he kept moving around in the water to keep Yuna's body balanced.
"Rikku.. AHH Shit! Stop kicking! Oh crap! My fricken ribcage!" Squall yelled up to her in pain.
"Ha ha! At least my sweet partner ain't kicking m- AHH Holy Crap! Yuna you're kicking my.. Oh Goddamn!.. rib- Sweet mercy of God! –cage." Tidus screamed, interrupting himself by swearing every time she kicked him by reflex.
Squall laughed out loudly even though Rikku continued kicking him with her heels.
"Man, don't laugh! I'm in a ahhshitload of pain!" Tidus growled.
"Yeah well so am I! Ah!" Squall growled back.
Then they looked at each other grinning evilly while the girls up top still continued wrestling. Looking at each other, they slowly mouthed 'one' 'two' before yelling out, "THREE!"
And with that, they powerfully pushed both the wrestlers off their shoulders, making them jump before instantly landing in the water. Yuna and Rikku both surfaced sputtering and wiping their faces with squinted eyes.
"Wh-What was that for?" Yuna coughed.
"Yeah! What's the big deal?"
"It was his idea!" Tidus and Squall both cried in unison.
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"Stop pushing, I'm trying to open the door!" Lulu ordered as she struggled to insert the rusted key inside the keyhole.
As soon as they all entered, coincidentally Squall's cell phone started ringing. Grabbing his phone from his back pocket with ease he mumbled, "Hello."
"Hello Squall?" the voice answered.
"Yeah… who's this?" Squall asked, sounding completely uninterested.
"It's Miss Daniels, Squall."
"What? How the hell did you get my cell phone number?" Squall asked, confusion taking over his voice while at the same time he death glared Lulu.
A soft giggling was heard before she started explaining, "Well I got it off Lulu before you all went off to your camping trip," Miss Daniels started.
Squall remained silent waiting for her to continue her explanation.
"Well the reason why I called you is to ask you to inform your whole group that the two-week period has been cancelled, therefore everyone is expected to return by tomorrow afternoon," she finished.
"And why?" Squall asked
"This will be explained to everyone tomorrow. So I'll be seeing you all tomorrow afternoon," Miss Daniels said cheerfully before hanging up.
Squall hung up his cell phone as he turned towards the group.
"That was Miss Daniels. Said that the camp has been cancelled so we have to return by tomorrow afternoon." Squall announced to the group.
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"Okay please quiet down." Miss Daniels ordered after everyone had assembled in the hall and taken their seats.
Conversations gradually died down and the teachers gave their approving nod to the youngest teacher Miss Daniels to carry on. She cleared her throat and fidgeted slightly as the realization finally dawned on her that 250 students were waiting intently for her speech, or in other words, explanation. She scanned the hall silently when she suddenly heard an irritated grunt from behind. Without turning around, she already knew who had made that rude noise and realized that the Principal's patience was running thin. Therefore, not wanting to get on 'the almighty Principal's' nerves, she decided to start her speech.
"Well, I understand that the burning question on everyone's mind is 'Why has the camp been cut short?' I'll answer that in a short while. So far how has the camping trip been guys?" Miss Daniels asked nervously, trying to break the tension.
Unfortunately for her, the hall remained silent, which only got her even more uneasy. She coughed nervously and was about to simply get to the point when she suddenly heard a familiar voice yell out.
"It was good!"
The group of teachers behind her was not impressed; nonetheless Miss Daniels was extremely grateful that Rikku had decided to save her from the embarrassment. The teachers, not being able to identify the person, simply dismissed it. Miss Daniels however, smiled sweetly at her even though she was seated all the way down the back.
"Well that's nice to hear. Firstly, on behalf of the teachers, I would like to apologize for the sudden shortage of your camping trip. If it weren't for an important phone call, your trip would've remained as a two week period."
There was a sudden burst of whispering after the announcement of the 'important phone call.' Surprisingly the whispers faded almost immediately, so Miss Daniels continued.
"We received a phone call from Luca high and they have asked our Blitzball team to verse theirs. The date is not yet confirmed as it has been changed many times. All the teachers knew about the challenge already long before now, however we were planning to announce it only when the time drew near, but it seems that the time is quite undecided therefore we chose to cut the camp's duration in half."
The hall no longer erupted with whispers; everyone simply spoke in excited tones, completely ignoring the presence of the teachers. Zanarkand High had the best Blitzball team; therefore everyone looked tremendously forward to it. Luckily for the teachers, the students had taken the news optimistically, saving them from anymore apologies and explanations.
"So Zanarkand Abes, prepare yourselves to the fullest and victory will be ours!"
The hall exploded with loud cheers and ear piercing whistles.
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The six teenagers walked together towards the parking lot as they themselves and many others around them were still optimistically talking about the Blitzball tournament. Rikku continuously jumped in front of the group, pestering them with questions while Yuna remained walking beside Tidus, who stayed unusually quiet.
Yuna was just about to ask Tidus what was wrong when suddenly someone came running towards him and pounced on him. The group instinctively backed away as soon as that person jumped into Tidus' unwilling arms.
"Whoa!" He stumbled a few steps backwards.
"Tidus," Myleena cried whilst holding onto Tidus, "I missed you so much!"
Yuna on the other hand felt a slight pang of jealousy watching the brunette embrace Tidus. She felt like grabbing Myleena by the hair and screaming in her face, 'back off my man!' but obviously that wasn't going to happen because firstly, Tidus wasn't her man and secondly, because he wasn't even close to being her man. So she merely stood there trying to mask her annoyance in front of Tidus.
"Uh hey Myleena," Tidus stammered, awkwardly peeling Myleena off of him, but was only met with Myleena linking her arm around his arm.
No matter how hard and how good Yuna was at masking her true emotions at that moment, Tidus was still able to detect the jealousy. He begged Yevon that Yuna wasn't going to get too fazed about it but knew his pleading went by unheard. If only it had been Yuna who had jumped into his arms, he found himself thinking.
"Hey Squall! Hey Wakka! Hey Lulu!" Myleena suddenly stopped when her eyes fell upon Rikku and Yuna. Giving Yuna a look full of contempt, she merely said, "Oh… hi." which in fact turned out like she was constipated.
Sensing that she was going to burst if she stayed any longer, Yuna figured that it would be wise for her to leave before anything else happened. She cleared her throat and said, "Uh I think I should go now. Bye guys!" and with that she started casually walking towards her car which was supervised by the teachers when they left for camp.
Quickly, without thinking, Tidus unlinked his arm from Myleena and ran after Yuna, grabbing her softly around the wrist. Yuna turned around swiftly and faced Tidus, a mixture of confusion and surprise evident on her delicate facial features.
"Um," Tidus didn't know what he wanted to say, he just knew he didn't want Yuna to leave. He started thinking rapidly, digging his mind to find something productive to say, "Bye Yuna." but he failed. He let his head drop slightly as he mumbled his biding.
Yuna felt her shoulders drop a little bit from the disappointment. She wasn't really expecting anything or much for that matter, but something in her pulled her hopes up. She smiled a fake smile, releasing her wrist gently from his grasp and said, "Bye Tidus."
Myleena stood there as she felt the blood rush to her face. She trembled slightly in anger, watching Tidus hold onto the enemy's wrist. How could he? How could he suddenly change his feelings towards Yuna so rapidly and dramatically? It was the camp. She knew it; they must've gotten close during that short one week period. All her pranks simply went down the drain; all the goddamn time and money just freely blew out the window. For Yevon's sake, she was supposed to be the enemy!
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The once cloudless blue sky was now replaced by a blanket of stars as the soft wind blew through Zanarkand. Standing on the balcony of her apartment, Yuna was able to see a fraction of the center of the metropolitan. She remembered her father once told her that Zanarkand never slept, and now, she was able to see for herself. It was a Friday night and the town seemed even more packed with people as they moved around like ants from Yuna's point of view.
She leaned forward on her balcony, sighing. It seemed so much quieter now seeing that it was only just her and Rikku. She allowed the gentle cool breeze to subtly tickle her skin, wearing only a singlet and mini pajama shorts. It felt so boring now without the rest of the group.
Yuna laughed softly at herself for being so naive. The group.What group? It was only because of camp that forced them to stay as a posse. But since everything was back to normal and since the rest of Tidus' group was back in the picture, there was just no room for her or Rikku. Everything was going to be the same once again. Tidus being the cocky, popular jock, while she'll remain as almost like a nobody at school. The clock struck nine o'clock just as Rikku's voice interrupted her thoughts.
"Yunie, I'm going out now so I'm taking the car if that's alright with you."
"You're going out? What about me?"
Rikku giggled, "You silly head, I told you before I was going out and you said it was cool. And anyway, you could call up Tidus and ask him to go out with you if you really wanted to." She teased.
Yuna turned away from her as she felt her face heat up, "Okay okay, have fun then. And don't do anything too outrageous okay?"
Rikku simply nodded and bided her goodbye, once again leaving Yuna to her thoughts.
'Yevon, what am I going to do all alone at home.'
Sub-consciously, Yuna walked into her room, got changed into a knee length white skirt and a tight blue t-shirt, combed her hair neatly, applied soft make-up and left her apartment. She was going to venture the city alone.
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"It's a goddamn Friday night, I have a social life too you know!"
"I don't give; Blitzball should be your number one priority regardless!"
"You gotta be fucking joking. I'm not like you old man, so just go piss yourself with beer for all I care!" Tidus retorted as anger got the better of him.
"At least I'm a fucking Pro at Blitzball you amateur!"
Since Tidus had come back from camp, Jecht had not stopped lecturing him about Blitzball lessons, Blitzball techniques and so forth. In actual fact, Tidus did have a social life, a really big social life to be specific, but not tonight. He simply used that as an excuse for not training.
"I don't think being labeled the Blitz Ace is considered an amateur don't you think dad?" he countered back."Also, if you haven't noticed, it's nine at night. Isn't that a little, just a tad, late for Blitzball training?" sarcasm heavily detected with each word that came out of the blonde's mouth.
Tidus grabbed his car keys and put on a jacket before yelling out over his shoulder, "I'm going now!" as a maid opened one of the double doors for him.
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It didn't take long for Yuna to arrive at the central of the metropolitan. It was filled with people yet at the same time if felt so spacious to her. It was absolutely beautiful. She had only moved to Zanarkand for a few months but she never got the opportunity to explore it since she was busy with her new school and her old job as a waitress. She walked through the streets, looking at the colorful yet non-blinding lights as they shone brightly in almost every direction. Kids were coming out of ice cream parlors with winning smiles on their faces whilst parents chatted mindlessly to other adults.
Loving couples walked hand in hand out of the cinemas and Yuna couldn't help but deeply admire them. How long was it since she was one of the mindless, carefree girls with a caring boyfriend? Too long. She shook her head to rid herself from self pity and continued walking down the streets. Who needs boyfriends anyways?
Her head was raised as she looked up at the tall modern buildings. It looked so incredibly different to Besaid as her hometown was mostly covered in the largest variety of greens even seen. Her head did not lower for a while until she accidentally knocked into someone.
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He parked his still-scratched sports car on the 'outskirts' of the metropolitan, opting to walk instead of drive. It had been so long since he walked alone through Zanarkand, and he was grateful he had the chance to right now. He stuffed both his hands in his jeans pockets, looking around at the numerous people as he walked around aimlessly.
A few girls noticed him as the blitz ace and ran up to him for a signature. He however, would hush them, quietly asking them not to cause him any attention, but would still happily sign whatever it was they wanted him to sign with the exception of specific body parts.
He strolled around peacefully until a particular person entered his mind. Everywhere he looked, he couldn't get her out of his head, but then again, he wasn't too sure if he wanted to get her out of his head. Just as he was passing the cinemas, he looked at a happy couple walking out together, hands intertwined. He couldn't help but think of how lucky they both were to have someone they truly loved. He unconsciously wondered how it would feel to have Yuna as his girl-
But before he could finish his thoughts, he accidentally bumped into a smaller frame than his. He immediately looked at the person he bumped into and nearly jumped when he realized who it was. Her eyes finally found his and time just seemed to stop. They only felt the existence of each other. His cerulean blue eyes stared dreamily in her bi-colored eyes.
Finally after they both managed to snap out of their trance-like state, Tidus was the first to speak. "Yuna, what are you doing here?"
They were never like this before. When they first met, they would snap at each other. Then when they were at camp, they threw sarcastic remarks at each other. But now, now they didn't know what to do in front of each other. Everything seemed so awkward.
"Oh, um, Rikku went out with a few of her friends, so I decided to come out alone."
Tidus nodded as an awkward silence pierced through the night air.
"Um, what are you doing out here?" Yuna asked quickly.
"My old man was being a pain in the ass, so I figured some fresh air would do me good." He replied politely.
Another silence.
Quickly, Tidus took this opportunity to stay close to her, "Um, you want me to give you a tour around? Free of charge and I'm going to throw in a bonus."
Yuna cocked her head to the side, "Bonus?"
He smiled, "The bonus is having an extremely sexy and handsome guy as your tour guide." He joked.
Yuna giggled softly, looking around, "Really? Where? I don't see any sexy, handsome guy around." She replied jokingly, yet in a nice, polite manner.
"Oh come on, you know you want me."
Yuna's eyes widened instantly. It was only a joke and she knew that, but it was the truth. She really did want him. Immediately she blushed crimson red and the blonde noticed. He himself, for some unknown reason also blushed. Yevon, he never acted this way with girls, he was normally very smooth, but now, now he was a nervous wreck and he couldn't understand why.
"Um, you ready to go?" he asked awkwardly.
She nodded.
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He took her around a few times until she was able to memorize the order of the shops. He hadn't meant to bore her, not that he did, but that was the only thing that allowed him to stay with her. There were a few long conversations mainly based on embarrassing moments for Tidus every time they passed a shop that reminded him of the scenario. But besides that, they walked around in silence, taking in the presence of each other.
As they strolled together outside the café for the fifth time that night, they both noticed a group of five girls pointing and giggling excitedly at Tidus.
"Oh shit." He mumbled.
Yuna glanced up at him and knew at once that he did not want to be recognized. The group of girls dressed in nothing but skimpy outfits walked seductively towards them as Tidus tried to act oblivious to them, hoping in vain that they would leave.
"Aren't you that sexy Blitzball player?" one of them asked.
"Tidus right?" another one questioned.
Tidus could do nothing but allow the girls to flirt like hell with him. He merely stood there, annoyed that they were taking up his precious time with Yuna. Suddenly he heard a voice different to all of theirs, it sounded more peaceful, more soothing.
"Um, actually, he's not." Tidus looked at Yuna in surprise at the words that just came out of her mouth.
The girls looked at her as if she were crazy, "What?"
Quickly, Yuna slid her hand in Tidus', "He's not a Blitzball player. I think you've all mistaken, he's my… my boyfriend." She said bravely.
Now the girls looked at her as if she was absurd yet at the same time disappointed, "Well, he probably isn't the blitz ace. I mean why would that stud go out with someone like her." One of them said to her other friends as she eyed her up and down.
Tidus would've bitch slapped her right then and there but he couldn't, he was frozen as soon as he felt the petite hand slip into his. He stood there dumbfounded as he stared down at their intertwined fingers. Holy crap did it feel good.
"Though you sure look exactly like him." Another of the slutty girls pointed out to Tidus.
"Well," Yuna shrugged, "I guess I'm just lucky hey?" and with that, the five girls left the two actors, well technically one.
As soon as they all disappeared into the distance, Yuna quickly slid her hand out of his grasp, much to his disappointment, and apologized. "Sorry, but I sorta felt that you didn't want them to recognize you so I-,"
"It's okay, you're right, I didn't want them to know who I really was, so… thanks." Throughout the whole sentence, he kept his eyes firmly locked on hers even though she was trying desperately to dodge them.
There was a moment of silence as Tidus drowned in her innocent beauty. Who were those girls to judge Yuna? He thought to himself. They could never compare to her. But then again, all his previous girlfriends had been like one of those girls before.
"Um, I'm assuming you didn't drive, so do you want me to take you home?" he was really disappointed that the night had already come to its end but walking around continuously also wasn't a great idea.
She felt the disappointment hit her hard in the face, but masked it straight away, "Okay."
He mentally patted his back for parking so far away from the center of the metropolitan as they began walking towards the direction he was walking. It was already midnight but the place only seemed to get more crowded. They were forced to walk closer to each other but neither one complained. His hand brushed against Yuna's hand ever so softly and instantly they both felt a surge of energy run hastily up and down their arms. He suddenly had the urge to hold onto her hand once again but wasn't sure he was brave enough for it.
'Yevon Tidus, what the hell is up with you? You never acted like this with other girls.'
Tidus took a deep breath, mentally summoning all the courage he had. He looked the other direction as he bravely found her left hand with his right and quickly intertwined his fingers with hers, grasping her hand firmly and securely. Again he felt the pleasurable jolt of energy.
Suddenly feeling a hand holding onto hers, she quickly looked down to see that it was Tidus' tanned masculine hand. Her heart had suddenly increased its normal speed a zillion times as she glanced up at him only to see him looking in another direction. His crimson cheeks however, did not go by unseen. Yuna started to feel the heat gradually rise up to her face knowing that if he looked, the blush would be extremely obvious. She turned the other way, as she tightened the grip on his hand and smiled shyly to herself.
Tidus felt the pressure from her petite hand therefore averted his attention back on her. His knees nearly buckled when he saw her smiling like that and unbeknown to himself, a rare genuine smile appeared on his face. Yevon she was beautiful in Tidus' eyes.
Both smiling, they continued walking through the crowd towards their destination in silence. Disappointment hit him as his car came into view. It ended all too soon for the both of them. He walked her over to the passenger side and opened the door for her. Finally the dreaded arrived, he let her hand slide from his grasp. It suddenly felt so empty, so wrong. Dismissing the thought, he quickly walked over to the driver's seat and started the car. Not long later, they were on their way to Yuna's apartment.
Throughout the entire ride the car was filled with nothing but silence, only this time, it didn't seem so awkward. Tidus concentrated on the road, trying in vain not to get distracted by the presence of Yuna while Yuna herself diverted her attention to the blur outside the side window. Countless questions continuously popped up in Tidus' head but he found no answers to them.
"You can drop me off here." She pointed to the side of the street as they approached her apartment building.
To her surprise, as soon as he stopped, he also turned off his engine and looked at her. "Um, I'll walk you up."
All she did was smile and nod.
They both got out and Yuna simply stood there as she waited for Tidus to walk alongside her. He jogged around his car and paused momentarily before he took hold of Yuna's hand once again. She smiled up at him before they began making their way into the building.
Yevon was Tidus getting tired of everything ending so soon for him. Oblivious to both of them, they had already arrived outside of Yuna's apartment. She unlocked her door, opening it slightly before turning around to face Tidus.
"Thank-you for the tour, I really enjoyed it, although I was disappointed to not find my 'bonus'." She joked, "but you were the next best thing." She added quietly.
He chuckled a bit whilst rubbing the back of his neck, "Well I'm glad you enjoyed it."
She smiled, as Tidus had named it, her angelic smile. "Goodnight Tidus."
He was about to reply but was interrupted when he felt his heart suddenly stop and his breath caught in his throat. Yuna gently placed her hands on both sides of his neck and jaw line, went on her tippy toes and softly and briefly kissed him just on the left corner of his lips. Shyly and quickly, she turned around without even looking at him and walked into her apartment, closing the door behind her and locking it.
For the umpteenth time that night, Tidus the chick magnet, the hot jock, the blitz ace stood there dumbfounded.
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