The first thing on Squall's plan to hook Ms. Rinoa Heartilly is to get Quistis off his back. He had to be careful so he wont offend Quistis. She also had the power to push Rinoa from Squall's grasp. To start the process of getting Quistis out of the picture, Squall rejected her advances. She didn't seem to get it right away, which made him frustrated. During his second hour class, he was tapped on the back and handed a note. 'If you go out with Quistis, I'll kill you,' was written on the paper. 'She doesn't even like you anyway'. At the bottom of the note the initials "S.T." were written. He didn't know what "S.T." stood for or why this person was threatening him. It didn't really make a difference anyway.

Quistis caught up to Squall at his locker. "So, what're you doing tonight?" she asked as she leaned against a locker to his right. "Are you going to be busy?"

He said, "Uh, actually, no. I'm not doing anything but there's something we need to talk about."

"Save it for tonight."

"You don't understand. We need to talk NOW. It's important. I'm willing to be your friend but that's all. I'm really ... not all that interested in you. I'm sorry but I'm not."

She was unfazed. "That's okay. We can go as friends then. I've already got things arranged. We'll pick you up at seven."

"But-" She walked off before he could get out a protest. This was not how he had pictured it. Where was she planning on taking him anyway? She had failed to clarify that part. He decided to see if Zell had heard anything about it.

Zell said, "She invited you too, huh?"

"What? What do you mean?"

"It's like a double date."

"Who are YOU going with?" Squall asked.

"I don't know. She said she'd introduce me to the girl when they pick me up."

"Aren't we a little young to double date? I mean, we don't have our own money and we can't drive. Don't those things kind of make a difference?"

Zell said, "I see your point but what do you want me to do? Why don't you bring it up with her? She planned it."

"Okay. I guess I just want to know how she plans to do this." Zell nodded but didn't say anything.

Squall managed to talk to Quistis about it in class... sort of. Once she realized what he was asking about, she interrupted him, "Squall, don't worry about it. I have everything under control. Just don't forget we're picking you up at seven tonight."

"So Zell is going too? Who is he going with?"

"You'll just have to wait and see. Be a good boy and be patient." Squall raised an eyebrow and turned away. He kept spacing out during the teacher's lesson. For some reason, he just couldn't pay attention. Rinoa Heartilly's beautiful face had entered his mind. He wouldn't mind going on a date with her. What was he thinking? He barely knew her and he was already having unusual thoughts. They were weird to him anyway. Never before had he daydreamed about being with a girl. This was a new feeling to him that failed to panic him. Thinking about her made him feel calm and content. Being in her company was even better. When he saw her in the hall, he invited her to sit at his table for lunch. She smiled as she told him she would.

They stood at the end of the lunch line together, chatting away about whatever popped into their minds. She was able to get him to laugh, not many people could do that. She didn't know how surprised he was. "I don't know anyone who can do that," he said with a smile.

She said, "Well, now you do. So why do you want me to sit at your table? Trying to make Quistis jealous or something?"

He laughed a little, "No. Just wanted to talk, I guess. You don't have to, you know. I'm not trying to make you sit by me."

"You make it sound like it's a punishment."

"Might be to some people."

"Well, it's not to me. I don't mind sitting by you. It's not a big deal." They filled their trays with some, at least halfway decent, food before taking a seat. Zell looked up at Rinoa with a surprised expression.

"What's she doing here?" Zell asked in a tone of pure amazement.

Squall said, "I invited her. Is that okay with you?" Zell just shrugged and went back to eating. Squall told Rinoa stories about Zell doing stupid things. She laughed at each one as Zell made up some excuses for why each thing had happened. A smile spread across Squall's face when he saw her reaction to the hilarious tales. She had a flawless smile that was hard to ignore. He looked away when her eyes met his. The three of them stayed at the table talking and laughing until the bell rang. Zell raced Rinoa to her locker since their lockers were close together. Squall watched them take off. He was able to talk to her again the last hour of the school day. Quistis surprised him by not showing a hint of jealousy. The expectation he'd been holding was her starting an all-out war with Rinoa. He was glad that didn't happen.

Fujin picked up Zell and Squall just like always after school. Once he was home, Squall decided to walk around town a little instead of shutting himself up in his room. For some odd reason, he actually DIDN'T want to be closed off in the house. He told Mrs. Dincht of his plan before taking off. Shoving his hands in his pockets he trudged down the sidewalk. It was nice outside; the sun was bearing down on Squall's back. The trees were looking healthy but within a few months their leaves would be changing colors and lying on the ground. Anyone walking would hear the crunching sound of dried up leaves being mercilessly stepped on and children would make a pile of the crumpled pieces to jump into. Squall remembered doing that as a young child a few times. Those were the days he'd still been living with his real parents. Thinking about it made him wonder what they were doing now. Had his father quit drinking? Was his mother over the problem the social worker had said needed to be overcome? Being as the social worker hadn't contacted him in years, probably not. Squall wandered around, letting various thoughts ease into his head until the sun turned orange. It would be setting soon which meant he needed to head home.

He saw that it was about six-thirty when he got home. Quistis would be coming by soon to pick him and Zell up. Squall showered then hid out in his room until Quistis arrived. An older guy from school was driving them. "Hop in the back," Quistis yelled from the passenger seat. Zell and Squall crawled in the back. "We have one more person to pick up then we can get moving." The car pulled up to the biggest house in town. Rinoa Heartilly opened the door and sat next to Squall.

"Hey," she said, kind of breathless. Her spaghetti-strap, cream-colored dress stopped a few inches above her knees and hugged her skin. "So, where are we going?" Only when she said that did it hit Squall that Rinoa was to be Zell's date. How could Zell wind up with someone as wonderful as Rinoa and Squall wind up with Quistis? He wanted to switch dates with Zell. He could just focus on Rinoa instead of Quistis. The four of them were dropped off at some restraunt Squall had never heard of. Inside they were escorted to a booth table. Squall made sure to sit in-between Quistis and Rinoa. The waitress flashed a smile as she handed out menus and told them what the "special" was for today. After she had been told what they wanted for drinks, she left. Quistis began chatting away about something that Squall didn't catch until she was halfway through the sentence.

"... So we could all talk all talk more often," she finished.

"Fine with me," Zell said, Rinoa nodded in agreement and Squall asked Quistis to repeat what the first part.

"I said, 'It'd be cool if you and Zell sat at our table at lunch so we could talk more often'. Do you mind giving it a try for a while? We could do it next week."

Squall answered, "No, that's fine. We can do that."

"If you don't like it, you can move back."

"Depending on if our seats get filled up. If that happens we wont have much of a choice, really."

Rinoa said, "Hey, did you guys finish your math homework?"

"No," Zell groaned. "I totally forgot about it. I'll have to finish it when I get home, I guess."

"It's hard... Then again, I'm terrible at math. One things for sure, I'll never be a math teacher."

Squall smiled and asked, "What DO you want to do?"

"Mmm... I don't know. Maybe like a writer or something."

"You write, huh?"

Yeah. Actually, I just took it up a few years ago. I like to write short stories in my spare time. Of course, I do it during class sometimes. Then I get in trouble for not paying attention." Rinoa chuckled a little as she added that last part. "What about you, Squall?"

"Uh, I haven't given it much thought. We've got a lot of time before we graduate so I'm not worried about it."

"I want to design a video game," Zell threw in. "Or maybe make something everyone will like. I don't know what yet though..."

Quistis said, "The medical field interests me. That's as narrowed down as I got it right now."

"That's cool," Rinoa said. "You seem to have given it a lot of thought than I have." Quistis just shrugged. When their food came they ate in silence. Like the rest of them, Squall couldn't think of anything to say. Quistis insisted on paying the bill before anyone could begin to argue. Squall didn't realize how rich she was until now. She wouldn't have any trouble getting into med school that was for sure. A different person than before picked them up.

As they sat in the car, Squall thought, 'Was that a double date?' It certainly wasn't how he pictured it'd be. He wasn't sure what he expected but that definitely wasn't it. That seemed more like a group of friends getting together. Rinoa was the only one who dressed up for the occasion. 'Rinoa...' From the corner of his eye, Squall stole a quick glance at the dark haired beauty next to him. She was something else.

The car stopped in front of Rinoa's house not long later. She said goodbye to everyone as she climbed out and waved as they took off again. Squall stared out the back window until her figure could no longer be seen. His dream would be blessed with her image that night.