Lost Memories of my Love

Chapter 4 - Silent Grudges

Quistis got out of the elevator and looked around at the new arrivals. She smiled to see the excited faces of the new students. She could already pick out the people who were going to do well and who were going to slack off. There was a common saying … "Never judge a book by its cover". But Quistis had a talent to look at a person and see deep within their soul … just like she had with Squall. Or tried to.

There was a common murmur going around Garden all the time. Is Quistis still in love with Squall? Ever since Rinoa came to Garden, the rumour and gossip rate had only risen. No, Quistis was not still in love with Squall. She once was … but people fall in and out of love. No, that was never true love. You could never fall out of love … if you did, then it wasn't really love.

Squall never returned her love. It took two to tango … if only one was loved, then it still wasn't really love. Quistis learned from this. She moved on … Quistis Trepe was not the type of person to dwell on the past, only care about the present and look forward to the future. She was no more than Squall's big sister, as well as Rinoa's.

Yes, Rinoa and Quistis got along fine. They never had once fought. Quistis would lecture Rinoa sometimes, and Rinoa would indeed get frustrated with Quistis's guilt-stirring, but in the end, Rinoa always knew that the instructor was right.

Quistis headed into the classroom and was surprised to see Rinoa sitting at a desk with her head on her hands, looking bored.

"Rinoa?" said Quistis, lifting her glasses.

Rinoa looked up at Quistis. "Oh, hey Quistis."

"I thought you were going home?" said Quistis, confused.

"I was," said Rinoa gloomily, "I wanted to head up here to visit you guys. But it ends up that I gotta baby-sit my little 'sister'..."

"You have a sister?" said Quistis, raising an eyebrow.

"It's a long story," sighed Rinoa.

"In that case, you can tell me another time," replied Quistis, "But it's orientation day today. You don't need to be here."

"Looking after my little sister," answered Rinoa dully.

"Really? She's new here?"

Rinoa pointed to the group of teenaged girls standing at the doorway of the classroom. In front of them all was Ashleigh standing tall, arousing excitement by showing off to them all that her mother used to be an actress.

"Ah, I see," said Quistis. "That's quite nice of you to stay with her."

"Yeah, maybe," said Rinoa dully, "But I'd rather be hanging out there with the others…"

"True," said Quistis, nodding. "But, hey, so would I."

Rinoa smiled weakly. "Yeah, I guess. I'll keep you company then. It mustn't be fun having to look after a bunch of newbies every year."

Quistis laughed. "It's not that bad once you get used to it." She glanced at the clock on the wall. "Hmm, it's time to start. You mind calling them all in?"

"Yeah, sure," said Rinoa. "I may as well make myself useful."

"That's the spirit," said Quistis brightly.

Rinoa hopped off the seat and went out into the hallway, pushing past Ashleigh and her posse. There were about two dozen students there, ranging from children aged from five years old to adults in their mid-twenties.

"Okay, guys, the orientation's starting," said Rinoa loudly over the loud chatter. "Just come into this classroom and we'll start."

"Hey, who're you to tell us what to do?" said a voice from behind.

Rinoa spun around, and ironically, it was Ashleigh who spoke.

"Um, I happen to be the instructor's ... umm ... assistant," said Rinoa. "For ... umm ... today."

"Wow, some instructor's assistant you are," said Ashleigh, rolling her eyes.

Ashleigh's group behind her giggled.

Rinoa bit her bottom lip to avoid saying anything nasty. Why was this girl so two-faced? She would be so nice to her and call her 'big sister' in front of her father and her friends, but she sure had a bad attitude everywhere else.

She's probably trying to make her look cool or superior, or some crazy teenaged thing that I don't even want to begin to understand, thought Rinoa. I'll just keep being nice to her ... maybe it's some stress or something that's making her like this...

"I suggest you get into the classroom before you get a detention on the first day." Quistis stood at the doorway, leaning against the wall with her arms folded.

Ashleigh turned around to find Quistis, and obediently headed into classroom. She snickered and muttered something that sounded like 'Teacher's pet' to the rest of her friends.

All the other new students headed into the classroom also.

Rinoa sighed. "Sorry, Quisty."

"No problem, kids are a real hand-full," said Quistis, "And that sister of yours seems..."

"Two real hand-fulls," said Rinoa.

"Right," said Quistis, laughing.

Rinoa smiled weakly, and headed into the classroom. She sat at the very back of the classroom, behind Ashleigh and three other girls that looked about her age. Two desks away from her to her right sat Seifer, looking bored.

"Good morning, everyone," said Quistis at her desk. "Welcome to Balamb Garden. I am Instructor Trepe, I'll be leading the orientation today, and I might be teaching some of you next year."

"She's an instructor?" whispered Ashleigh. "She doesn't look any older than us..."

"I am in fact, nineteen years old," said Quistis brightly. "I joined Garden at the age of ten, officially became a SeeD at fifteen and got my instructor's license at eighteen."

"Show off," muttered Ashleigh.

"Anyway," said Quistis, clearing her throat, "The purpose of today is to direct you around our Garden and teach you about our Garden. I'll explain to you the rules; put you in classes, that kinda stuff. And like every other Garden, we've got uniforms, with uniform regulations, so there will be no inappropriate dressage."

Everyone immediately looked at Ashleigh.

And to think those clothes are mine, thought Rinoa.

"Anyway, let us begin..."

The day went by slowly. Rinoa stayed well away from the new people, but would help those cute little kids when they asked her a question. Most of the time she would hang around Quistis and converse with her at every possible chance, to keep her sanity.

The orientation day came to a close. Rinoa sighed with relief and got up when Quistis excused them all. She never thought the day would end.

Ashleigh and her new friends rushed out the door.

"So where're you going now?" asked one of the girls.

"Home," one of them answered.

"Me too," the other said.

"I'm gonna be hanging with these cool guys I met today," said Ashleigh. "They're all from SeeD!"

"Wicked!" said one of the girls.

They headed to the front gate.

"You're so lucky to be hanging with SeeDs on the first day," said one of the girls dreamily.

"Yeah," said Ashleigh, nodding.

"Oh man, it's raining!" cried one of the girls.

"I didn't bring an umbrella!" shrieked the other.

"Neither did I!" shrieked the other.

"I didn't either," said Ashleigh, worried. "And I blow-dried my hair this morning!"

"Oh, gosh..."

A nice car pulled over on the front of the Garden, into the VIP parking space. All four girls gazed at the car, wondering whom it could've belonged to. The door swung open, and a really hot guy stepped out. He didn't look really happy, but he didn't look angry either. He pulled out an umbrella and held it over his head. He went up the steps of the Garden and stood nearby Ashleigh and her friends, as if he were waiting for something.

Ashleigh and her friends were staring at him profoundly.

The guy looked around, glanced at Ashleigh and her friends, then looked away.

"He ... is so ... ooooooh..."

Ashleigh grinned sheepishly. She walked up to the guy and started twirling a lock of her hair around her index finger. She was sure she could impress him with her charm.

"Hi, I'm new," said Ashleigh in what meant to be a cute voice.

The guy didn't even look at her.

Ashleigh cleared her throat.

The guy turned around and looked at her. "Oh, you're talking to me."

Ashleigh's sheepish grinned widened. "Yeah ... so what's your name?"

The guy wasn't really listening to her; he was kind of looking into the Garden.

"My name's Ashleigh," said Ashleigh sweetly.

"Oh ... I'm..." The guy was still looking into the Garden. He all of a sudden bolted off into the Garden.

Ashleigh raised an eyebrow, not knowing what went wrong, and followed him. He was running towards a gloomy-looking Rinoa.

"Rinoa!" called the hot guy.

Rinoa looked up and grinned. "Squall!" She ran towards him and gave him a huge hug.

Ashleigh eyed her jealously, and stepped back to where her friends were.

"What happened?" asked one of the girls.

Ashleigh ignored her and watched as Squall and Rinoa headed out of the Garden together, chattering away. She eyed them both, as they walked straight past her, not even noticing she was there.

Squall covered Rinoa with his umbrella and opened the front door of his car for her. She hopped in, and he hopped in into the other side.

Ashleigh just glared as the car drove away.

"I didn't think you'd come," said Rinoa.

"You really think I'd forget about you?" asked Squall, looking offended. "I promised, after all."

Rinoa giggled. "Of course. Anyway, where were you today?"

"I was doing something for the headmaster," said Squall.

"Oh, interesting," said Rinoa, nodding.

The two of them hung out at Timber, after Rinoa insisting that they did. They had coffee and walked around, and just talked.

It was almost seven o'clock, and Squall drove Rinoa home. The storm had cleared up, but it was still really grey, if not dark.

Squall dropped her off at her house. As Rinoa said goodbye and was about to run into the house, Squall called after her.

Rinoa turned around. "What's wrong?"

Squall got out of the car and ran towards, her carrying a flat box, wrapped with ribbon.

"Wow, for me?" said Rinoa, clasping her hands over her mouth.

Squall nodded with a small smile.

Rinoa lifted the lid to find a pretty, white dress folded in it.

"Oh my gosh, thanks, Squall!" cried Rinoa. She closed the box and threw her arms around him.

"Wear it to the opening dance when we go back to Garden," said Squall, "I have a surprise for you."

"I promise I'll wear it then," said Rinoa, crossing her heart.

Squall smiled. They said their good-byes and Rinoa walked into the house as Squall drove away.

Ashleigh was watching from the upstairs room out the window at what Squall and Rinoa. She watched as Rinoa entered the house. She quickly bolted out of the room, and headed to Seifer's room and hid, which was okay because Seifer wasn't there.

Ashleigh could hear Rinoa's footsteps head into her room and the door closing. Rinoa's footsteps were heard walking down the stairs again.

Ashleigh darted out of Seifer's room and into Rinoa's room again. She saw a box in pink wrapping paper with a red bow tied around it. A card was attached to it. Ashleigh picked up the card and read it.

I hope you like my present. I'm no good at this stuff; I bought it in Esthar a while ago but wasn't sure when to give it you. Wear it to the start-of-the-year dance. You'll look more of an angel than you really are. I have a surprise for you then. –Squall

Ashleigh closed the card and slid it back under the ribbon carefully. She took off the lid and pulled out the dress and held it up. It was about knee-length and it was white, with thin white straps. On the side was a white lace rose.

It's so pretty, thought Ashleigh.

"What're you doing?"

Ashleigh jumped. Rinoa was standing at the door, looking annoyed. She headed towards Ashleigh, snatched the dress off her, folded it up and placed it gently back in the box.

"I was just looking at it," said Ashleigh earnestly.

"Okay, you've seen it... so I'm going to put it away now," said Rinoa. She slid it under her bed.

Ashleigh shifted her eyes, not wanting her eyes to meet Rinoa's. Rinoa just sat on her bed, watching Ashleigh.

Ashleigh groaned and just got out of the room.

A/N: Okay, another dull chapter ... I'm trying to keep Squall in-character as much as possible, but it's kinda hard 'cause I'm trying to make him a Romeo at the same time! I mean, he doesn't usually smile, if not at all ... ugh, this is very hard. Well, don't lose hope yet, there's still more to come! Oh, and please review! I appreciate it!