Chapter 8

The Dream

Rinoa rummaged through her closet. "What outfit should I wear. Wait! It doesn't matter because Squall told me the ones he liked so I'll just wear one of them. She ran to her bathroom and got dressed quickly.

As she walked down the hallway, she thought back to last night. Jason, her friend from her last school had been in town. It had been so obvious that he still liked her after all of this time. She had tried to escape by finding Squall, but he had stayed with them.

It was eight thirty. Rinoa sat down in her history class. Squall was there, too. This was her only class with him. "Today we will begin a new project. You will have partners for this assignment. You will be making a chart with pictures and diagrams of the history of a town of your choice. Yes, the pictures must be made or hand drawn. I will choose your partners." Her teacher went on and on about the new project.

"Great…" Rinoa thought. "I hate it when they choose our partners. It's always someone you don't want to be paired up with." She sighed.

"Let me see. Michelle will be with Tina…Mark with Donna…James with Greg…" She went on and on until at last she reached Rinoa's name. "Rinoa will be with…no, he just moved so it will be…Squall Leonhart." Rinoa couldn't believe it. She looked over at Squall and waved. He managed a small grin.

"Good enough." Rinoa thought.

That afternoon, Rinoa found Squall in the lunch room. She walked over to his table and sat down. "Hey Squall. I was thinking about our project and I thought we could do it on Galbadia. They have such a long history it would make it easy. What do you think?"

"That's fine…" Rinoa smiled and then walked back to her classroom to get a poster board. She ran back down the hallway to Squall's dorm and knocked on his door.

"Oh Squall! Lunch ended ten minutes ago so I know you're in there!" His door opened. He stared at her and then the poster. "I know…I don't really want to do this either, but it's half of our grade. I don't know about you, but I want that half to be passing!" She ran over to his desk and laid the poster across it.

"Hey, do you have any markers?" Squall looked at her in amusement. "Right…sorry. Guys don't usually have markers now do they. Well then, can you go into my room and look in the top drawer of my desk. I have like, a whole pack."

"Okay." Squall turned around but then stopped. "I'll uh, need you room key."

"Oh yeah, right. Sorry." She tossed him the key and he went across the hall. He unlocked her door and walked over to her desk. He opened the top drawer and saw the markers. He grabbed them and walked back across the hall. "Here." He said when he had reentered his room.

"Thanks." Rinoa took the markers from his hand and began coloring.

"Here's your key." Squall held it up for her to take.

"Uh…why don't you just keep it for now. You know…that way when you're not in classes you can get any supplies you need out of my desk. You know…for the project." Rinoa said this all fast. She didn't want him getting the wrong idea.

"Right…" Squall stood there for a moment in silence and then pulled a different key out of his jacket pocket. "I guess you should take my spare…for the project supplies, too." He stood pretty stiffly.

"Poor Squall." Rinoa thought. "I didn't mean to make him feel uncomfortable." Rinoa took the key from his hand. "Thanks." For the next hour Squall drew the pictures while Rinoa colored them in. By around nine at night, they decided to put it on hold. Half of it was already through. "That looks good enough for now. It looks pretty good if I do say so myself."

"Yeah…" They sat in silence for a few minutes and looked at their work.

"Well, I'm gonna head to bed now. I'm beat. Goodnight." Rinoa walked back into her room and changed into her tank top and blue shorts pajamas. "Ah…time for relaxation. She closed her eyes and fell asleep fifteen minutes later.

It was two fifty in the morning. Rinoa was tossing and turning in her sleep. "No!" She cried out. She shook her head and flipped from side to side. She sat up quickly, breathing hard. "No!" She yelled again. She looked around. "It can't be real!" She jumped out of her bed and grabbed the key off her desk. Then she opened her door and ran across the hall to the door opposite. She stuck the key in the lock and turned the handle. The door opened.

The room was dark except for the moonlight shining in through the curtain. Rinoa closed the door and tried to see through the darkness. At last she found who she was looking for. Squall who had been sleeping opened his eyes and sat up in his bed. He had on his usual black pants, but had taken his shirt off to sleep. "Rinoa?" He asked, trying to make out the figure by his door.

"Squall!" Rinoa ran over to the side of his bed and sat down. She wrapped her arms around his neck. Squall was speechless. He didn't know what to do. "Don't go away!" She said to him, burying her face in his shoulder.

Squall had finally found his voice. "What are you talking about? I'm right here!" He said.

"You…you…" Rinoa lifted her face away from him. Squall could see tears running down her face. "A woman…she…she…" She burst into tears again. "She came and took you away. She said that I would never see you again…that you were…were…DEAD!" More tears sprang from her eyes.

Squall lifted her chin, to look into her eyes. "I haven't gone anywhere. I'm right here…with you." Rinoa looked away and then leaned her face on his chest. Squall, without knowing what he was doing, wrapped his arms around her. "It's okay…I'm here." He whispered in her ear.

Rinoa looked up into his face. "Promise me…" She said. "Promise me that you won't ever disappear." Squall stared into her face. He had never seen her look so serious or upset.

"I promise." Rinoa smiled a little when she heard this. She wiped some tears from her face, only to be replaced by more.

"I was so scared…" Rinoa said in a shaky voice. "I thought…I thought I had lost you. It felt so real."

"It wasn't…It was just a nightmare." He picked her up and placed her gently on his bed. "You'll be okay. Here." He grabbed a glass of water off his nightstand and brought it up to her lips. She drank a little bit.

"Thank you Squall…" Squall placed the glass back on the stand next to his bed. He smiled. He lifted his bed sheets and placed them on her. Within ten minutes, Rinoa had fallen asleep. Squall stood there and watched her for a few minutes. She looked so peaceful and calm. He never thought he would see her so upset. He walked over to his desk chair and sat down. A few minutes later, he was sound asleep.

Rinoa opened her eyes. She looked around the room she was in. "Where am I?" She thought to herself. Then she remembered last night's events. Looking over at Squall's desk she saw him fast asleep in his chair. "I don't believe it! He stayed here all night by my side." Squall began to move a bit. He opened his eyes slowly and sat up.

"Rinoa? Are you okay?" He sounded tired.

"Yeah…I'm fine now." She smiled at him. "Thank you."

"It was nothing…" Squall seemed a little nervous.

"No, it was something. It takes someone a lot of courage to take care of someone they don't know that well. You did. I thank you for that. I always knew you were different then how everyone said you were."

Squall blushed. "Your, ah…your welcome." He was silent. "Hey, you probably want to get ready for the day. Do you need anything else?"

Rinoa got off his bed and walked towards him. "No, I'll be fine on my own." She looked him in the eyes and then reached out her arms wrapped them around his back in a hug. Squall wrapped his around hers. They stood there for a moment and then released. Then Rinoa left without another word. Squall watched her walk off, deep in thought.