Chapter 9

Rinoa's Visitor

The rest of the day was strange. Rinoa felt as if she had no energy to do anything. Her dream she had had that night still got to her. It scared her to think about it. When she saw Squall, there was an awkward silence between them. Neither one knew what to say to the other.

Rinoa was walking past the front desk, when something caught her eye. There was a tall man with black hair, and a long trench coat. He stood tall like a military man. "That guy looks familiar." She stood there a bit longer. The next minute she groaned. "Oh my gosh! I can't believe it!" She walked to the front desk and waited for the man to turn around, facing her way.

"Rinoa!"

"Dad! What are you doing here?"

"I wanted to come and see how you are doing. Have you made any friends?"

"Yeah, but…"

"Great! Let me meet them!" Her dad began to walk off. "So, where to first?"

Rinoa sighed. "Well, it's lunch time so they'll all be in the cafeteria…"

"Great! I'm starving!" Once again her dad walked off, this time towards the lunch room. Rinoa walked farther behind, shuffling her feet. "Come on honey!" Rinoa hoped nobody had heard that.

When they reached the cafeteria, Rinoa spotted her friends. She ran over to them as fast as she could to warn them about her father. Too late!

"Are these your new friends Cupcake?" He asked with a smile on his face. Rinoa dropped her head in embarrassment.

"Yeah…"

Zell looked up from his plate. "Hey there…I'm Zell. Is this your dad Cupcake?" He started laughing. Rinoa gave him a death glare. He immediately stopped.

"Everyone…meet my dad." Rinoa's Dad waved at them all.

"I'm pleased to make your acquaintance."

"Were you in the army?" Zell asked, noticing the badges on his large overcoat.

"Why yes!" He sat down next to Zell and began telling him stories.

"Great…here he goes. He loves to tell people his heroic battles." Rinoa, hoping her dad wouldn't notice, snuck out of the cafeteria.

She was walking down the second floor hallway when she saw the glimpse of a black jacket and silver sword, go around the corner. She ran around the corner. It was Squall. She ran up next to him.

"Hey Squall…I wanted to say…" Her words were cut short by the most embarrassing thing she could ever have imagined.

"Gummy Bear…why did you run off?" Rinoa's face turned red.

"Dad! Hey…sorry about that! He he!" Rinoa looked over at Squall. He seemed a little shocked. "I can't believe he said that out loud! Squall is standing here, too!" She thought miserably to herself.

"Who is this? Is he another friend of yours or your boyfriend?" At those last words his voice seemed to get sterner.

"Oh, him…no…of course not…don't be silly. He's just a friend." Rinoa did an innocent little laugh. Squall looked really nervous. He seemed to have twitched a little at the "boyfriend" comment.

"I have to uh…go to…you know…weapons training. See you later." He quickly walked off into the classroom nearby.

"He seems like a very nice young man to me." Her father stood there with a smile on his face.

"Dad! We're not…never mind." Rinoa blushed. "I wouldn't mind it if we were like that though." Out of the corner of her eye she thought she saw a face behind a corner of the wall. As she and her father walked back down to the first floor, she looked around. No one was anywhere to be seen.

"So, this is your room? It is a very decent size for my little Princess!" Rinoa's dad walked around her room examining each piece of furniture. He was into elegant designs. He always wanted the best for her. As he walked to her desk he stopped and picked something up. "What's this?" He asked.

"What?" Rinoa asked turning around. She opened her mouth. In his hand was Squall's room key. "Oh that? It goes to the uh…closet!"

"The closet?" He asked suspiciously.

"Yeah! Never want my clothes to be stolen! He he!" Rinoa closed her eyes. "That was a really lame excuse Rinoa! You should come up with something better than that!" She thought to herself.

"Rinoa…your closet doesn't have a lock."

"Oh, yeah…right." Rinoa panicked.

"Are you telling me the truth young lady?"

Rinoa closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Okay." She said. "It goes to that room across the hall." Her father walked out and to the other door. He turned the lock and walked inside. Rinoa waited with baited breath. "This looks like a boy's room!"

Rinoa gulped. "Well, you see, when I came here I got interested in other stuff…so I asked for an extra room to use…" Rinoa waited for an answer. Her father gave her a stern look, as if deciding he was going to believe her or not.

"That's my girl!" He said with a smile. As if anything couldn't have been worse, Squall walked in his room. He stood there not knowing what to do, looking confused. "What are you doing here?" Her father asked him.

"He's here to work on our project for History class…isn't that right Squall?" Squall just looked at Rinoa confused.

"That's great. You two work hard now. You help my little Princess get the good grade she so very well deserves!"

"Dad!" Rinoa said.

"Okay, okay…I get it!" He walked over to Squall and whispered, "You be sure to take care of my little girl." Then he smiled. "Goodbye Rinoa. I love you sweetie. I'll stop by again sometime." They hugged each other and then her father left.

"Squall…what did my Dad say to you?"

"Nothing…"

"Please tell me!"

"Fine…" He really didn't feel much like getting into an argument with her at the moment. "He said to take care of his little girl…"

"Yup…that's Dad!" She smiled.

Squall looked down at her. "By the way…what were you doing in my room with your Dad?" He gave her a curious expression.

Rinoa laughed nervously. "Oh that, that was nothing. My dad saw your key in my room and I had to come up with an explanation for it or he would have started yelling at me. When he took the key to unlock this room he said that it looked like a guy's bedroom. I just told him that when I came here I got interested in other things and didn't have enough room in my other room to put them in." She laughed again in her innocent way.

"What's wrong with telling him the truth?" He asked her, a small smile creeping up his lips.

"Squall! I can't believe you're asking me that! You know exactly why! My dad would have freaked if he found out I had a boy's bedroom key! He would sit me down and have 'The Talk' and go on for hours about it!" She said all of this very quickly as her cheeks began to turn red a little bit.

"Really…that's interesting…" Squall said walking over towards his desk.

"How is that interesting? It's horribly humiliating!"

"Yeah…for you." Squall replied.

"Hey! That's not very nice! Squall!" She could see his shoulders moving up and down trying to hold back his laughter at her.

"Whatever!" Then she walked off.