"What do you mean you couldn't do it?" Quistis looked at me, clearly angrily but almost pretending not to be angry in front of her other friends.

"Um…I just…couldn't," I looked at the floor.

"What's the point? If you can't do it, and you're my friend, then you're obviously not a very good friend, are you?" she struggled for something to say.

"I'm…sorry," I said awkwardly.

"Oh no. You think sorry works on me? Look, Rin. If you don't do this me and you will no longer be friends. And what good will that do you? You'll be back to your stupid princess self. No guy is ever going to like you. Ever,"

I thought to myself for a moment, as I was so often doing. She was right…all I wanted was for him to really notice me. If I had to be mean to him to make this happen…I guess I had to. It was going to be tough, but in the long run it would be worth it. And she was also right about the fact that if I stopped being friends with her, I would be back to my old self. Sure, my old self was more genuine, but was it helping me? No. It was making me depressed. I didn't want to feel that way, and I did want guys to like me. Especially Squall. Which wasn't going to happen if I didn't take advice from an expert!

"Ok, Quistis. I'll do it!"

She smiled in her sickly way. "That's better. Ok. Be nasty now."

"What should I say, though?" I said slightly uncertainly.

"Just…do whatever!" She said as if she really didn't care and just wanted to get rid of me.

Again, I stepped up to Squall's table, ducking a bit when I passed Selphie. She was too intent on eating to notice me, however.

I had no idea what to say! There he was, casually sitting there, and I was here to be nasty. I'm not a particularly nasty person though…how could I do this?

I decided I'd say the first thing that came into my head. Which was not necessarily a good idea, but oh well.

"What do you think you're doing?" I came out with, with a slight laugh in it, which was designed to be nasty but I'm not too sure if it just sounded like I was having a laughing fit.

He looked up. "Excuse me?" he said softly.

I felt my heart practically breaking. I liked him. He didn't deserve this.

"No guy is ever going to like you. Ever,"

I cringed as I heard Quistis's voice in my mind. I had to! I may regret it, but I've always been told, it's better to regret the things you do than the things you didn't do…

Which never completely made sense to me but I felt it was applying to me now!

"You heard what I said," I said spitefully, as much as it was killing me.

He looked up at me with his amazing eyes. I'd never noticed before, but they were beautiful!

"Yes. I did hear what you said," he simply said. "But that doesn't mean I understand it, or want to."

What was I supposed to say to that? I didn't understand it either.

"Whatever," I tried to say with as much hatred as possible.

Again he looked at me with those eyes and a completely blank expression, which quickly turned cold. He looked away and didn't look back.

I struggled to think of anything else to say. Was Quistis sure about this, that it would work? She'd told me that the fact that we were being mean would make guys want us even more…and true, it seemed to work for her. But I couldn't help feeling this wasn't working for me. Or was I just not trying hard enough?

So I gave a quick malicious laugh. He looked at me again, with a raised eyebrow as if he wasn't buying any of this. I sighed.

"Just…whatever!" I said angrily. But it really wasn't working.

"Forget it. It's stupid," I said aloud and wandered off. He didn't seem to take much notice…

So I reported back to Quistis.

"You are stupid. It always works. I guess you're just not good enough though," she stated and a couple of her friends laughed.

"What can I do?" I almost begged.

"Keep at it," she said as if it were obvious.

"How?" I sighed heavily, this was painful for me.

"Duh. Carry on just being mean. In every way. Turn people against him if you can. Then he'll feel like he's got no one, and then he can have you!"

This wasn't the most logical thing I'd ever heard, but I decided to go along with it all the same.

So, during the remainder of lunch, me, Quistis and others would occasionally 'make fun' of Squall when he was in earshot, 'accidentally' hit him as we walked past him, (I wasn't exactly keen on this idea, nor was I keen on any of her ideas, but it wasn't a good idea to disobey Quistis) and just in general…be mean.

It still didn't seem to be working but Quistis insisted I keep it up.

What was she doing? Was she sincerely trying to help me (yeah right) or was she…trying to make him hate me?

Right. I wasn't going to let this go on much longer.

I decided…first thing tomorrow at school, I'd ask him out.

If this was working, surely he'd say yes, right? And I'm gorgeous too, so he would have to. If it didn't work…then…I really didn't know what I'd do.

Of course I wasn't planning on telling Quistis this…she'd only try and stop me.

But I had to do it…right?

Argh, it's so painfully short and not exactly good, but it's been so long I've written. I'll try and make next chapter better. Sorry it took me so long to update but I've been on holiday etc, and just the fact that I couldn't really be bothered…! Oh well! R&R please. I'll update sooner this time…I think.