The scene starts with a red mustang, top down speeding along a desolate desert road dust spraying up in clouds behind. The sun is setting, casting long golden rays of sunlight across the car and driver, lengthy gorgeous blond locks whipping behind, and tanned skin radiating in the evening light. She wears large dark sunglasses. A smile crosses her lips as she shifts gear and speeds on into the sun set….

Not really, actually it was raining, cold drizzle, and a lovely young Ms Trepe looked thoroughly miserable. Hair caked to her face and pulled back in plaits, wet from the rain, and not having time to dry it properly after her morning shower – having woken late. There was no sun, the sky was grey, totally colourless, and there was no car, there was a crowded bus, 20 minute late. But that's how busses were sometimes. It wasn't going anywhere soon anyway, there had been an accident somewhere and the whole city had practically shut down.

Had she been asked days ago whether this would happen, she would have said of course, but the fact that she had expected everything to go wrong didn't make it any easier. The last six months had been a total disaster, and left her without a school to start at in the just passed September. So here she was travelling towards her snobbish inner-city private school, plucked from her leafy suburban upbringing she felt thoroughly out of place. She felt like an idiot in her gawky school uniform, it didn't help that people all gave her looks, and the pleated skirt and tights did little to keep her warm in the cool weather. The bus jerked forward a few meters before stopping again, she could walk. School was only two stops away, and it would probably be quicker, but she was wet enough as it was, with no umbrella, and the thought of having to push her way through these people to get to the exit repulsed her. She was not exactly used to public transport – let alone inner-city rush hour public transport.

The bell rang, and the boys took that as signal to go their separate ways, quickly collecting their books and nodding their goodbyes, two boys stepped into a nearby classroom. The remaining two a blond and brunette continued down the hall.

"Good weekend?" the shorter brunette started

"She was a real cutie" the brawny blond replied with a chuckle

"A bit of a bimbo, get any action?" the brunette frowned

"Course, why'd you think I took her out rather than going to Mikes houseparty? She was a sure thing, I just wanted to make sure someone else didn't get 'er first" he chuckled again "You get any action?"

"…what sort of question is that?" the short brunette looked down sighing

"Oh come on Squall! Don't give me that bullshit about you wanting someone special! You've taken innocent young ladies down with the best of us, don't start acting high and mighty on me now." They continued to pace down the now emptied hall, their shoes echoing off the stone floor and up the step walls. It was like a church, with high vaulted roofs and stone floor and dim lighting. In fact part of it had indeed been a monastery in its younger years. The aura of which remained, strong enough still that some students went out of their way to get from class to class only using newer halls. One boy, rumour had it, had dropped all the subjects he had that were taken in the old buildings, only turning up to lessons in the new buildings, the ones less than 200 years old. Well you got all sorts of oddballs at St Bernadette's School, it was what the school was famous for – apart from its ridiculous fees.

The second bell rang, signalling the start of lessons as the boys stepped into their classroom, they had worked their timekeeping down to a perfection, and without another word took their standard place at the back of the room. The brunette, Squall, looked grumpy after his friends outburst – he knew his friend was right about it but still his word annoyed him. He'd been out of the game for a good while now, and it wasn't as if he was no longer interested –

"Right. English Literature children" The teacher broke through his thoughts "You should know the drill by now, but for those of you who seem to conveniently forget – I want the work done by this time next week. Monday morning. That should mean that you should not be doing it Monday morning, you should not have left it until Sunday night to realise that you did not have the text and you should not have 'left it on the bus'. How many of you even use public transport? Right two, excellent. Very eco friendly. That also means my dears that you should have some work to hand into me now… you haven't done it? Explain to me at the end of class boy." And so it continued another Monday morning…

"… and so the theme's discussed in Act one scene three… anyone? Come on look alive!"

"Err… unrequited love sir?" a stocky dark haired boy spoke up

A neat pale girl continued "He knows that his love isn't returned but he likes being melancholic, he enjoys the 'pain' it gives him an excuse to not put up an act of happiness all the time, and sets him apart from his contemporaries but it also alienates him from any…." The tall blond, Seifer, looked over at his friend, mind wondering as usual during these open class debates. He was the first to admit academia was not a strength of his, despite being fiercely proud and determined he just felt no need to excel at it. He wasn't dim by any means, just lazy, cruising on as little as he could get away with, saving himself for an impressive spurt of dedication that came round annually at examination time. And if he happened to not quite get an A? Oh he had bought a grade or two in his time. Yes he had it all figured out - Captain of football and athletics, consistently getting 'top' grades and quite easily the most popular boy at the school. He had his hand tightly around just about everything at school, and his grandfather being a bursar at the school had little to do with it of course. Seifer enjoyed the high life - Squall his best friend was different though. He would swing between emotions, a bitter sarcastic little bitch with stunning - albeit somewhat feminine - good looks, the girls fell over themselves to get at one of them. And whilst Seifer got great pleasure counting numbers, being the best at his trade, getting a new girl every week – Squall got pleasure from his manipulation, he could get any girl into his bed, no matter what they claimed their beliefs were. That guy was a god dammed genius. But lately Squall hadn't been quite right; he seemed to have gone off girls and the rest completely and though Seifer wouldn't say it out loud, he worried about Squall. Depression happened to the best of them, he wasn't a 'depression' kinda guy himself, far too young and rich for that sort of suburban worry, but he knew Squall could easily slip down that moody sullen path and he just couldn't have it.

"Anyone else want to contribute? Yes, yes, no I want someone new to add something to this, not just the same people, anyone? Seifer, do you think that Romeos feelings are really as clear cut as the text suggests?"

Shit. Put on the spot….

"Romeo appears perfectly aware that his love is unrequited, He does seem to being the experience of pain, but for someone from one the most powerful families in Verona maybe it is a novelty to not get exactly what he wants." A quiet but clear voice spoke out from the left of Seifer, he could hardly hide his shock, for someone barely passing any of his classes, a voluntary outburst like that from Squall was practically unheard of. I mean, the new chemistry labs had been financed almost completely by the Leonheart family, just to keep their boy from being expelled. It just didn't happen.

"Very interesting Mr Leonheart, but I was asking Almasty over there…"

The bell rang clear through the room, and the teacher declared class over and promptly left the class room leaving students to leave at their own accord.

"That was unusual Squall boy" Seifer nudged at him playfully "If I didn't know better I think you'd be vying for my spot as class president"

"I think I'd have to buy a whole new school to get that" Squall snorted softly "Besides I don't think any of my relatives are going to be on the school board any time soon, I've got nothing on you"

"Never give up hope Squall, everyone's got a fair chance at it" Seifer chuckled "you got a lesson now?"

"Yeah, art. You?"

"P'n'E" Squall snorted at this, Philosophy and Ethics was a little to thought based for even the all-great Mr Almasty to cruise through.

They stepped out through heavy wooden doors into the bright light of the school gardens, littered with simple topiary trees and bedded flowers the quiet morning air always felt odd when considering they were still in the city. Something Squall was never totally at home with.

"Yeah, have fun with that…" he said turning towards the art block.

"lunch?" Seifer called after him

"twelve forty five" he replied without so much as looking back.

Seifer watched him walk away, he worried about that boy. He had a very destructive nature, but honestly Siefer would hate to see anything happen to him, not that he'd tell anyone that.

"Uh, hello, I'm err, Quistis Trepe, I'm new today." She stuttered, she knew she looked terrible, and wouldn't be that surprised if they didn't let her in, her last school wouldn't have let people in her state even enter the grounds.

"oh, of course dear" the secretary prattled away "you know you are a little late though, I believe school officially stats at 8:30, with lessons at 9:00, but then maybe you didn't know that. Where have you transferred from? This is a terribly curious time for you to be joining, the ead normally only accepts students at the beginning of the academic year. Are you on a scholarship or have you just moved here from abroad?"

"Uh…." Quistis started but was cut off again

"Well here you are dear, I believe this is all you'll need, rules, dress code and all the rest. You sit down there and have a read through that whilst I call up your guide. She should be up here in a minute."

Quistis sat quietly on the over fluffed sofa in the secretaries lounge, welcoming the rest as she had been standing for quite awhile now, and felt somewhat overwhelmed with the speed at which the secretary spoke.

The rules of course were like he ones at every other school she had been to, like they probably where at every prestigious private school in the country, maybe even the world , she supposed. As she flipped to the third page, outlining the procedure of courting within school grounds when a girl entered. Pale, with glossy brown hair in a cautious bob, she was pretty in a plain, unassuming way. She probably woke up ad strolled to school without even needing to look at herself. Quistis grumbled silently, it wasn't like her to be quite so judgemental, in fact it was totally unlike her in every way. City life was already starting to affect herm but that was still no excuse for her thoughts. So almost as soon as she had thought it, she felt ashamed.

The girl spoke quickly to the secretary and then turned to Quistis;

"Hey there, I'm Xu," she said smiling, and then added with a cheeky grin;

"and I'll be your tour guide for today, taking you round the sights, the sounds, the experience of St Bernadette's" Quistis smiled appreciatively, it was a poor joke, but it had broken any ice that might have lain between them.

"I'm Quistis" she replied,

"err…. I hope it's worth it" ok, so her joke had been even worse… but she had to try.

"oh don't worry it won't be, I got out of three lessons to do this, so I can really show you what this place is all about. But what brought you to our humble education centre at such an odd time. Not many people join in October"

Quistis looked down sheepishly,

"long story, I was meant to be going out to live with my father in Esthar, but last minute plans changed that, and left me without a school to go to."

"oh," Xu looked a little lost for what to say, "well I don't think you've missed much anyway" she added a little more cheerfully...

"So this is the old block, the original school, some find it kinda creepy, but I really like it, plus it's a lot quieter, hm? That's the library through there… it's pretty big if you want to go have a look, and down the end there is the classical studies, and English is up those stairs… right should we go out to the quad? Oh, over there is the cafeteria, the food is edible, but most of the kids here prefer their 'chic' cafes, and there are some pretty nice ones just down the road and everything…. I personally am quite partial to the Italian… oh what's it's name?..."

They continued there tour Quistis soaking up the surroundings and making a map mentally of the layout of the school. It was a much more relaxed school to the ones she was used to. But then her last school, a boarding school had been particularly strict.

"… well that's about it, not anything else to show you I don't think" Xu stated, they were back in the Quad, sitting on one of the benches, watching people move between classes,

"anything else I should tell you…. Anything else you want to know?" Xu was really lovely, and Quistis enjoyed her company, she could easily see them becoming friends, she smiled glad she'd already got a friend. Things weren't all bad.

"Errr… oh, what are the people like, y'know, the students, are they all nice, anyone I should watch out for?"

"No, everyone is fairly friendly, as long as you are polite and the rest, someone like you shouldn't have any trouble, I don't know why anyone wouldn't like you…"Quistis blushed slightly never good at taking compliments

"Oh, but just watch out for two guys. Squall and Seifer. You'll probably come to know who they are pretty soon. I mean they're nice guys and everything, and Seifer's such a gentleman… but they just have a little bit of a reputation."

"What have they done?" Quistis imagined two bulky bullies getting in fights and taking peoples money and all the other clichéd ideas

"Oh, nothing too bad, but a more apt question would probably be who have they done? But then it's only rumour, really. But like I said, just watch out."

"Oh" Quistis didn't really know what to say, bullies she might be scared of. Men she could ignore.

"Well I'd better be off, I've got class now, but do you want to meet up for lunch? Might as well go to the cafeteria Twelve thirty alright with you?"

"Sure." Quistis replied, but Xu was already dashing off.

"Hallo my dear, good day?" A lithe man sat himself next to Seifer as they settled in for a bit of philosophy.

"Just peachy Irv, and yourself?" Seifer sighed, he didn't have a problem with Irvine outright. They were just far too similar and had far too much past to ever have a normal relationship.

"mmm…. Very good, very good. Hey you don't happen to have seen that little brunette girl have you?" he idly drawled

"Give me a name, I've probably done more than just seen her." Seifer looked up daringly.

"Selphie. A real cutie. Much too good for the likes of you… of course" he smiled lazily, Seifer amused him, and would always rise to the bait laid, he just wasn't patient enough for this type of game.

"But of course not too good for the likes of you, but wait! You didn't seem to be too good yours truly; in fact you seemed quite overwhelmed, if I do remember correctly." He smiled devilishly.

"Oh yes, of course." Irvine yawned noisily. "Well anyway, this little number is totally original, untouched goods apparently. Quite a spunky little miss too, I like her, more – possibly – than even you Seifer."

"Ah excellent, untouched. Just think, you'll be the very first to disease her. But what happened to our little Rinoa?" Seifer glanced up, the teacher was talking now at the front of the class, he doubted Irvine would stop talking or even lower his voice, he had no manners in that sense.

"Ah, Rinny, I'm over her. Unfortunately. Sad actually, you know she cried when I called it off? Anyway, I needed to have a clear schedule to bag this little Selphie. Is Squall over Rin? Maybe they could get back together or work something out." He chuckled.

"Son of a…"Seifer muttered darkly, Irvine liked to throw punches below the belt, just to keep you guessing. No only in their mind games but in the real world – biggest gossip of the year, Squall, the Squall had been left by his latest fling, not just that, but he had left him for Irvine. Smug git. Seifer could never be like that. Yes he slept around, a lot. But he tried to keep a little honour in his trade.

"I bet. Have you got over me yet?" Seifer threw back at him. Maybe a little too loudly, the teacher spun round to glare at them and they fell silent immediately. But Siefer had no urge to speak to Irvine further anyway. He instead he stared intently toward the front of class in mock concentration – despite being miles away, already a plan was starting to form in his mind.