Disclaimer - I do NOT own FF8

The Way She Is

Chapter Two - Life without Her

"So what was life without her like?" Selphie asked swinging her legs back and forth. It was a day after their meeting on the steps and Seifer and Selphie were sitting on a park bench in the middle of a conversation.

"To tell you the truth, I felt relieved. I mean, at first I was heartbroken but it wasn't that bad. She was whinny and possessive… When I found out Rinoa had feelings for Squall I wasn't mad. If it had to be someone, I would want it to be him. I respect him…but don't ever tell him that. Okay?

"He was the only one who could mark me." He pointed at his scar on his face then continued, "No, she had a huge impact on my life or would have if Ultimecia hadn't messed with me…" Seifer trailed off.

"Do you love her now?" Selphie asked after a moment of hesitation.

He looked at her, their eyes met. He sucked in his breath at her gorgeous emerald eyes. He let it out slowly before saying, "No."

His answer was simple and she found herself asking, "Why are you still with her then?"

"Messenger Girl, I thought you knew this! I'm stubborn. I want to love her… I really do. Anything Squall can do I can do better." His grinned returned but she noticed it was somewhat forced. "I mean, I'm thinking I should love her."

She nodded as if in understanding and smiled.

"Now let me ask you a question. Did you have a boyfriend back at garden? Chicken Wuss? Cowboy?"

She averted her eyes. It wasn't the unfair name calling but who he asked about. She knew it shouldn't bother her but why didn't he ask if Squall was her boyfriend. Didn't she say yesterday that she thought she loved him? What made it so bazaar to have her and Squall together? She answered, "No, I didn't"

Seifer furrowed his brow. What had he said to make her suddenly distant? He didn't want to see her sad. Maybe no one ever asked her out. Maybe that's why she's sad. He tried to have his smile return as he said, "I need to go but I'll call you tomorrow. Okay?"

"Okay!" Selphie smile grew and she jumped up ready to leave.

"Bye Tilmitt," Siefer said standing.

"Bye-bye Seify! Say hi to Rinny for me." She ran down the path towards her house. Only when she was out of the park did she slow and let her happy exterior fade. When Seifer asked if she had a boyfriend it made her realize how much she was homesick for garden. She had known all along it was there but didn't like to, or want to, pay attention to it.

Reyna Nation sat in an over stuffed chair across from the Headmaster of Balamb Garden. He looked up from his papers and stared her in the eye, "It's a little late for sign-up."

His name was Cid and Reyna couldn't blame the middle aged man for being suspicious. She wiped at a lose stand of strait blonde hair out of her face and said, "My father didn't want me to go till now." A lie, she was a good liar. It came easy to her.

"Ah. I see," he said, looking over the rim of his glasses. He didn't seem to believe her which scared her; no one had ever seen through her lies. "Well then I don't see any reason you can't join," He stared at her as if waiting for her to tell the truth. She held strong until he said, "You'll start classes tomorrow, and you're already behind. You'll have a lot of work to make up."

She thanked him and he smiled. He pressed a button to some sort of speaker, "Xu?"

"Yes sir?" A female's voice asked.

"Will you please make Ms. Nation a schedule for classes?"

"Yes sir."

He took his finger off the button and then asked, "Now, what weapon will you be studying?"

"Gun blade," She showed him the weapon at her side.

"Oh?" Cid raised his eyebrow. She'll sure make things interesting, he thought to himself. He smiled at her and continued, "Xu will show you the way to your dorm. You're dismissed."

Reyna stood and exited silently. She pushed the office door open and was met with a girl about her age standing before her. Xu. "I'm Xu." Obviously. "Here is your schedule." She handed Reyna a sheet of paper. "Come on. I'll show you to your dorm."

Reyna followed her to the elevator and down a long hall lined with doors on either side. Xu stopped before one and said, "Here it is." She handed Reyna the key then without another word, left.

She opened the door and found a plain room consisting of a bed, dresser, desk, chair, closet, and another door, which must have been a bathroom. She sighed. You have better get use to it, she thought dryly. Disturbing her silence were voices coming from the hall outside her room.

Two girls were loitering around. One with long black hair pulled back into a bun, dark skin, and dark eyes said, "So right when we were starting to talk that playboy Irvine came up and acted like he and Squall were great friends. They then left to talk about something."

"Don't you know?" asked her companion. She was a short girl with red hair that was a little below the ears. It was curly and cute. She had green eyes hidden beneath thick glasses. The red head looked around and Reyna pretended to shut her door but left it slightly open. Even though she didn't know who they were talking about, Reyna couldn't resist gossip.

The red head seemed satisfied and continued, "Irvine and Squall were really close but Squall started hanging out with Selphie, she was Irvine's best friend. Irvine got jealous and they haven't really been seen together since."

"So they were both in love with her?" The black haired girl asked.

"I guess. I don't know the details. That group kept to themselves."

"Group?"

"Um…Squall, Irvine, Instructor Trepe…Zell…"

"You mean that really hyper guy?"

"Yeah. Then Rinoa Heartilly and Selphie Tilmitt."

"Why just them? They seem to have nothing in common," The black haired girl asked.

"They saved the world from sorceress Ultamecia together," The red head paused then said, "C'mon" She lead the way and soon the sound of footsteps disappeared. Reyna didn't know why she listened. Why should I care? She asked herself before she shut her dorm room door completely.

The raven-haired girl opened the apartment door, Seifer's. All she saw was the dark emptiness of the room. As her eyes adjusted and she could make out a lone figure sitting on the couch staring strait at her. The figure startled her until she recognized him as Seifer, her boyfriend.

"Seifer?" She asked slowly.

"Rinoa…" His voice wavered. Damn. Get it out man, He said to himself. "You can turn on the lights if you want." Rinoa reached for the switch and flipped it. He flinched at the bright light.

"What's wrong?" Rinoa asked as she floated over to him and kneeled down beside him placing a hand on his knee.

He stood up quickly, his words hit her hard, and suddenly, "I don't think we should see each other anymore." As he said this, he turned and looked her strait in the eyes.

"Is it Selphie?" She asked accusingly.

"No… She just made me realize that you and me would never really work."

"How come? We barely even tried! What about that summer?"

"What about that summer? If we were meant to be together don't you think it would have worked out then?"

"Meant to be together! Since when did you care!" She stood up and was now yelling.

Seifer's ever-cool voice was calm as he said, "Stop yelling. You know I'm right. Go back to Squall. He still loves you."

Rinoa calmed down a little and sat back down. Staring at her feet she asked in a small voice, "So… It's over?"

Seifer walked to the door, grabbed his trench coat and swung it over his shoulder. As he walked out the door he answered quietly, "Yeah." So when he walked out that door he never saw the raven haired girl again but her voice was always with him asking, So… It's over? Mocking him forever, reminding him of what he did, what he had done.

The door rang, coming from the front entry hall. Selphie sprang from her bed where she had been reading a romance novel and sped out her bedroom door. She had been in much happier and hyperactive mood after she had started talking to Seifer.

The brunette skipped down the stairs and practically flew to the door. Not taking any time to see who was outside she threw the door open and shouted, "Hi!" The two men standing before her were speechless. Selphie recognized them at once and turned various shades of red.

Irvine was the first to come out of his moment of shock and said, "Uh, hey…"

Marie came into the hall and took in the scene. Her daughter standing paralyzed at the door while two rather good-looking men stood waiting for someone to do something. The older woman walked up from behind Selphie and said politely, "Well hello. Do come in. You are?"

They stepped gratefully into the hall as Selphie stepped out of the way. The one with long brown hair tied back into a ponytail answered, "Thanks. I'm Irvine Kinneas and he's Squall Leonheart. We're old friends of Selphie from the orphanage and Garden."

Marie led the way to the kitchen and asked, "Can I get you anything?" They shook their heads, 'no'. Right when they sat down the doorbell rang again. Selphie, who wanted to get away, went to see who it was.

"Hey!" A breathless Seifer said when she opened the door.

"Uh, hi. What are you doing here?"

"Come on. I'll tell you out side. I have some things to tell you," he said while grabbing her hand.

"Seifer, I can't. Squall and Irvine are over," She said in a slight whisper. He let her had slide from his and only replied, "Oh."

"I didn't know they were coming!" said a flustered Selphie, "I didn't."

"Well why should I care? I just came here to tell you that I broke up with Rinoa. That's all."

"So…it's over?" Rinoa had said the same thing. "Was there anything else? You said some 'things'." Selphie questioned. She wanted him to stay. What was she going to say to Irvine and Squall? Why were they here? How was she going to explain this to her mom?

"No, nothing… I'll see you around," Seifer said coolly. He turned and walked away. There had been something more. Selphie could tell. She walked slowly back to the kitchen dragging her feet. Why did they have to come now? When she reached the kitchen, Irvine and Squall were talking about Balamb. Marie looked up and asked, "Who was it?"

"No one," Selphie lied. She looked around at their guests and caught Irvy's eye. She blushed. The look told her he knew everything about her. He could still tell when she was lying.

The ever-observant Marie excused herself. She had seen these two young men's expressions. Selphie had never been popular with boys. It wasn't because she was ugly, sure, she wasn't the most glamorous girl but she was pretty. It was because she was just too hyper.

She had come home some days crying but she would never let anyone see. Peace, love, and happiness were Selphie's life. Marie noticed she had not said it as much lately. When her daughter came home from garden, she had become more subdued. At first she thought was because Selphie missed her father but soon it became apparent there was more to it.

Squall stared at her. She had hardly changed except her smile wasn't quite as bright when she smiled at them. She was still absolutely beautiful to him but with the time that past something seemed different, the way he saw her in his mind was different.

The three of them sat in silence, not a comfortable silence that they would have shared a year and a half ago but a cold awkward one. Squall was the first one to break the silence, which was very unlike him, but now it was the second time he did in two days. "Why did you leave?" He asked abruptly staring hard at Selphie.

"My dad was dieing…" She trailed off as if thinking then added, "And we were getting awkward…"

"We?" Irvine asked.

"You. You two couldn't be around each other and I couldn't be around either of you without the other getting mad. I hated what I was doing. I couldn't live with myself…"

Another silence followed. This one with everyone thinking about what she had said. This time Selphie spoke first by asking, "How is everyone at garden?"

"Good. Quistis is dating Nida and Zell is still with Library Girl," Irvine answered.

Selphie laughed, "That's good. What's the library girl's name again?"

"Umm, I think it's…Stella!" Irvine and Selphie started giggling while Squall looked between them. He really didn't get them or their inside jokes.

The giggling stopped and another silence followed until Irvine said, "Anything new with you?"

"No…" Selphie didn't know what to say. The next thing that came out of her mouth was just blurted out, "Rinoa lives close by here!"

Quistis Trepe stepped into her classroom and looked around. Everyone was there, good. "Good morning class. I trust everyone studied for our test," Looking around she could tell who had studied and who hadn't. She smiled. Suddenly a blonde haired girl burst in and looked around. Quistis looked her up and down, tall, blue eyes, and strait hair. She had never seen this girl before. "Can I help you?"

"Uh, sorry I'm late! I'm new and I got lost."

"Right. Reyna Nation?" She didn't wait for an answer, "I'm Instructor Trepe. Welcome to my classroom. Take a seat." She did and Quistis continued, "We are taking a test today. You will take it too but it won't count on your grade."

Reyna stared at Instructor Trepe. She just got here and already there was a test! This was crazy! The test had reached her and she took one from the top before passing it to the person behind her. She studied each question in turn. She had no idea what the answers to any of them were.

Quistis studied the new girl as she looked at the test. She could tell when someone was going to fail. She sat back down at her desk, opened her book, and began reading. Soon the first test was facedown on her desk. She shut the book and took the paper. She looked it over. Lena did very well. Quistis put it back on the now growing pile. The bell rang and she called to her class, "All tests on my desk! Even if you're not done. I want all tests on my desk or you'll fail."

The new girl was the last one at her desk, "How did you think you did?"

"Terrible. I didn't know anything on it."

"You'll learn," Quistis said taking her test.

"Um, I heard you were one who saved the world from Ultamecia."

Quistis looked up, "Yes… You better go; you'll be late for your next class." She watched Reyna go. How had she known about that? Hadn't she only been here less then twenty-four hours?

Quistis stifled a yawn. All she wanted to do was sleep but she knew she wouldn't be able to take a nap. Her next class started in fifteen minutes. She started for the door; at least she could get some coffee.

Suddenly Zell came running into her classroom yelling, "Did you hear!"

Wow, he was annoying, " No. I haven't and I don't want to either. Whatever it is—"

"Irvine and Squall went to visit Selphie! They left yesterday!" Zell looked excited. He was jumping from foot to foot.

"What! You're joking!" Quistis stared daggers into the blond boy and he stopped jumping and slowly put his foot down asking, "What?" He looked rather pathetic to Quistis.

Quistis sighed. It had been Irvine idea. Squall would never have thought of it or would have just never gone through with it. They've all thought of it before, she knew she had. "I need some coffee," She walked gracefully out of the room leaving Zell staring stupidly after.

Zell came to himself. Quistis was strange. He had always thought so. Why had she liked Squall? He wasn't that great. Zell sighed and started to walk towards his dorm. Why didn't the guys ask him to go with them. He loved Selphie too. Although probably not in the same way…

He reached his dorm, walked in, and saw Stella sitting on his bed. He grinned huge, "Hey!"

"Where were you? I've been waiting forever!" Her curly black haired head bobbed up and down as she came over to him. Stella put her arms around his thin waist.

"Oh, I was talking to Quisty," Zell said while putting his arms around her waist. She made a clucking sound. He knew she didn't like Quistis because Zell used to have a small crush on her…kind of still did…

End of Chapter Two