A/N-Hey guys! Wow, thanks for the reviews once more! Sorry I haven't been updating. I haven't replayed the game recently therefore my muses have been away on vacation for the past few months. I'm hoping no one has given up on this because I really want to finish this project. I'm still not sure about the plot; it may change depending on how I'm feeling. I'm back, though I'm not sure when I'll be updating…I don't want my chapters to be just plain crap so I won't update unless I'm satisfied…

Blue stars

Chapter Four: Hello

Rinoa sighed as she watched the retreating figure turn the corner and disappear. "That was real smooth, Rin," she muttered to herself. Collecting herself, she pushed the red double doors to the cafeteria and looked around. The cafeteria was huge. There were at least twenty cart lines to choose from, each with their own enticing smell. The walls had a strictly military design, with the SeeD emblem as a mural on one side. Laughter, shouting, and many other loud noises echoed throughout the spacious area, and Rinoa awkwardly looked around for a familiar face.

"Ms. Heartilly." Cool, calm, and collected. Rinoa quietly observed her first period teacher up close. She was an astonishingly beautiful woman. The way she held herself with dignified grace without even looking like she was trying, the way her light blue eyes were misty and cold, and then way her honey blonde hair was styled made her look more mature than her eighteen years. It was almost hard to believe this woman was just a year above her. Rinoa snapped out of her thoughts as Quistis seemed to be waiting for a reply.

"Oh, hi Ms. Trepe." Rinoa offered a smile. "I hear you're good friends with Selphie…I had no idea you were so young!" Rinoa blurted out, earning a mildly surprised expression from her instructor.

"Yes…I've known Selphie for…a long time," Quistis spoke slowly, cupping her chin thoughtfully with a gloved hand. "But anyway, how are you enjoying your first day here?"

"Oh, it's alright I guess. I just wish my father hadn't sent me to a military school…no offense or anything, Ms. Trepe." At this the blonde woman merely sent her a faint smile, lowering her arm.

"It's quite alright. Call me Quistis. Hearing people call me Ms. Trepe makes me feel like an old hag," Quistis joked, sharing a laugh with Rinoa. Rinoa started to feel relaxed around Quistis, already admiring and taking a liking to her.

"Would you like to eat lunch with us? It's just going to be Zell and I, though. Squall left early because…" Quistis stopped herself short, shaking her head. "Never mind about that."

"Squall? Oh you mean the guy in the leather jacket? Yeah I saw him on my way in. I kinda fell and he caught me. I'm such a klutz!" Quistis observed Rinoa thoughtfully, a small quirk of her pink lips appearing. They made their way to a round red table near the Balamb Garden mural where a tattooed teenager was inhaling hotdogs. Quistis didn't seem to be in the least bit shocked at his behavior. She merely sat across from him and motioned for Rinoa to sit next to her.

"Does he eat like this everyday?" She whispered, never taking her brown eyes off of the martial artist. Quistis acknowledged her question with an incline of her head, starting on her lunch. The subject of Rinoa's question lifted his head from the plates on the table, a wide grin appearing on his face.

"Hey! It's you! Rinoa right? Remember me? I'm Zell! Zell Dincht!" Zell offered energetically between mouthfuls, reaching over to quickly shake her hand before continuing on his nth hotdog. After gulping it down he continued his speech, stuffing another into his mouth, "And don't worry about ol' Quistis over here. She may be boring and all but it's not her fault!" His grin continued to widen as Quistis glared quietly at him. Rinoa expected her to whack him over the head, but instead her instructor opted to say, "Don't talk with your mouth full, Zell. It's gross."

Zell replied by laughing out loud, and Rinoa had to cover her mouth so Quistis wouldn't notice that she was trying not to smile. His chuckling soon dissolved into fits of choking and he frantically started to bang the table. Quistis rolled her eyes and stood up, walking over to his side and jamming her elbow into his back, and in the next instant the remnants of the hotdog flew from his mouth back onto the plate. Rinoa guessed it must have taken Quistis months if not years of practice for one single hit to release the hotdog from Zell's throat.

Rinoa watched the whole scene play out in front of her, and decided that her life was going to get much more interesting from here on out.

…..

Third and fourth period passed by quickly enough. Rinoa was glad that Zell was in her third period, which happened to be Combat III: Defense and Offense. He was the comical relief in the class, entertaining everyone and leaving the students and even the instructor in high spirits, smiles on their faces. Although he acted the part of an idiot sometimes, he proved to be quite a character as Rinoa soon realized when the teacher passed back the test grades and commended Zell for making the highest mark in class yet again. He was also an exceptional fighter. When class was halfway through, they made their way to the Training Area and paired up in partners. When the two encountered a high-level monster, he disposed of it quickly with his gloves, which he called Ehrgeiz.

"That was amazing, Zell!" Rinoa exclaimed as he delivered a single blow to the creature and it crumpled to the floor, leaving a Hi-Potion behind. Zell grinned and picked up the item, tossing it over to her.

"Nah, that was nothing!" The brunette laughed, catching the potion and pocketing it and followed him deeper into the brush, where they encountered another high-level monster, this time a Marlboro. "Oh, we better be careful with this one. Watch out for its Bad Breath. You should fight this time; I'll back you up if you need help." Rinoa nodded and got into a fighting stance, readying her blaster edge, the Shooting Star. The weapon was beautifully made, yellow pinwheel intricately designed. It covered her whole forearm and gleamed dangerously, sharp points shining warningly.

"Wow, that's a nice weapon you have. It looks custom-made!" Zell's voice came from behind her, whistling. Rinoa laughed and nodded, running full speed toward the Marlboro.

"It is. My friend, Zone, taught me how to fight when I was seven and I made it myself with Watts' help. It took a long time, but it was worth it" As she was speaking, she released the pinwheel with a grunt. It spun in the air and boomeranged towards its chosen target, ripping into the green monster savagely. She swiftly dodged as a tentacle came flying at her, casting Firaga and using the distraction to send another attack at the Marlboro. In a matter of seconds the monster collapsed, withering away and leaving behind some Steel Pipes. It never had a chance to attack her with Bad Breath. It hadn't stood a chance.

Rinoa walked over and calmly picked them up, not a scratch on her body, and turned around to face a surprised Zell.

"WHOA! That…that was…WHOA!" the martial artist stuttered, speechless. Rinoa offered a giggle, standing in front of him.

"Not too shabby I hope?" She grinned as his eyes widened. After that the easy grin was back on his face.

"You're a regular! You know, I'd like to battle you for fun someday! Oh man, it'd be awesome!" As the blonde man continued to rave, Rinoa smiled cheerfully, glad that he accepted her fighting skills. They continued on and fought side by side until their instructor called them back to the front, where class was dismissed. Seeing that Zell had a different fourth period than her, they said goodbye and parted ways, promising to be partners next time they were scheduled for the Training Area.

…..

As Rinoa walked over the threshold into fourth period, she didn't recognize a single face. She stopped at the door, feeling disappointed.

"Are you going to move or what?" A familiar male voice. Rinoa whirled around, chocolate eyes widening as she recognized that face that she already forgot the name of. She was never good at remembering names away. The boy smirked upon seeing her reaction, reading her like a book.

"It's Seifer."

"O-Oh, I'm Rinoa…I'm sorry I forgot your name," Rinoa replied, feeling more and more stupid as the words flowed from her mouth. Seifer chuckled and shook his head and Rinoa's stomach did flips. She noticed the scar slashed across his eyes and she frowned internally. Where had she seen that scar before?

"You're a strange girl." He gently moved her aside with a black gloved hand and sauntered over to his desk at the back of the room. Rinoa noticed the looks students were giving him, some of them angry, most of them fearful. She didn't understand it. Seifer Almasy didn't seem like that bad of a guy.

"You're blocking the way." Not again! The brunette sighed, and turned around to apologize again when she froze, mouth parted slightly. Cold grey eyes, tousled chestnut hair, and a slight downward turn of the lips.

"Squall…" she breathed. Again he regarded her with a raise of the brow, and again she felt like an idiot. He didn't even know her! Why was she acting like that? Of course he was looking at her like that! He thought she was a moron. "Hello! I mean uh, hi, I'm Rinoa Heartilly." No reply. "Heh, sorry, that sounded dumb, didn't it?"

"….."

"You just want to get to your seat, don't you?"

A stare. A pause. A nod.

"Sorry for being in the way," she replied, moving aside. He shrugged carelessly and walked into the class, taking a seat in the back like Seifer had, five seats away from the blonde man. It was then that she noticed their resemblance. Both had similar scowls on their faces-they obviously didn't want to be here-and both had the dangerous aura reverberating around them, and they both had…

"Scars," she whispered to herself, eyeing the mark between their eyes. The bell rang, signaling the beginning of class and Rinoa was the only one not in her seat. Everyone was looking at her like she was crazy. Fighting down an embarrassed blush she hurried to an empty seat, which was the only empty seat, which was situated in the back, which was right next to Squall. She didn't take the chance to glance at him as she slipped into her seat, feeling her face cool down. What class was this anyway? She hadn't taken the time to check.

"Welcome to Statistics Honors, I'm Mr. Freeman, but you can just call me Vincent." Rinoa's eyes bulged. What was she doing in an honors college course class! Rinoa hated math with a passion. Now she hated her father with an equal if not even stronger passion as she realized he had placed her in this Hyne-foresaken class. The teacher was pretty young compared to the rest of the instructors at Balamb High. He looked no more than twenty-six. His jet black hair was groomed neatly and stereotypically he had wire-rim glasses, a white collared shirt under a knitted vest, and beige slacks on. He seemed nice enough though as his green eyes surveyed the classroom amiably.

"I trust you're all here today so let's begin! I'm sorry to say you'll be having homework tonight on the first day back, but hey, that's why you're in an honors class right?" he chirped up. Silence. Vincent sighed inwardly and turned around to face the chalkboard, keeping the cheerful mask on.

As the class began writing down notes, Rinoa took out a pencil and paper and jotted down whatever the teacher was writing, having no clue what was going on. Her best bet was that she'd have to ask Quistis for help, seeing how the eighteen year old was a prodigy. Thumping the pencil against the notebook paper, she started to zone out, hoping class would end soon so she'd see Selphie next period.

"Ms. Heartilly?" Rinoa looked at the front of the class, seeing Vincent staring up at her patiently. How long had she been daydreaming anyway? "Ms. Heartilly, I asked you a question."

Oh no! Her mind screamed. She hadn't been paying attention, and now here she was, facing the consequences as everyone stared at her as she slowly sank into her seat.

"XY to the sixth power over two times the square root of a hundred plus seventy-nine." Rinoa looked to her left to the source of the voice, surprised to see Squall whispering the answer to her. She shakily replied the answer, to which Mr. Freeman grinned and clapped, writing her answer down on the board.

"Excellent, Ms. Heartilly! You kids will be needing to ask her for tutoring if you want!" he happily spoke. Rinoa wanted to laugh out loud and sarcastically but decided against it. She glanced over at Squall who had his chin resting in the palm of his right hand. Without moving he stared back at her. She could swear she saw a glint of amusement in his eyes before the emotionless façade clamped back on.

"Thanks," she whispered, smiling. He inclined his head and she took it as an "You're welcome."

A/N-YAY! UPDATE! YAY YAY YAY! Ok well I was slightly inspired, heh! I hope this was ok! Please review! I need to make sure you guys are still here and not standing somewhere with pitchforks and steak knives…Hehe!

Moshi Moshi Mai