Flying With Broken Wings

Chapter 8 – Broken Smile

Rinoa woke up to a chirrupy morning. The sunlight poured through her window, illuminating her bedroom with a bright aura. This would have been a wonderful day if it hadn't been for the fact that it was the first day of school. She was dreading this day as soon as school ended the previous year, knowing what was waiting for her.

It's my final year of high school, perhaps things will be different, thought Rinoa.

She tried to remain optimistic, but somehow her mind managed to wonder back to the thought of Squall. She was worried about him. She hadn't seen him ever since she got out of the hospital a week ago. She was beginning to think that he was going against what he said – that he didn't want to be around her anymore. Was all he said just a lie? Was his promise of protecting her merely an empty promise?

I hope not, she thought. Maybe … he didn't have time to see me.

It didn't sound right, but Rinoa couldn't come up with any other excuse. She wanted to convince herself that Squall still did care about her, but if he did, then why would he avoid her? It didn't make sense.

Rinoa changed into her school uniform – a white, short-sleeved button-up blouse with a pleated navy blue skirt that came a little over halfway up her knees. Her knee-high white socks were pulled up and on her feet were leather black shoes with thick heels to make her look just a little bit taller. She put her royal-blue blazer on with the school crest to add a touch of class. She felt like a complete dork in the school uniform, but there was nothing she could do about it.

She left her room and went into the kitchen, only to find it empty. Caraway was off at work, and Rinoa didn't mind that much. She made herself breakfast – slightly burnt toast and a glass of full cream milk. She sat and ate in silence, and when she was done, she washed up. She packed her school bag and was off.

At least I'll see Squall at school, she thought. I'm sure there's a good reason as to why I haven't been seeing him…

As soon as Rinoa reached the gates of Timber High, she could feel the familiar atmosphere of school again. People were walking in, most of them not noticing her, and those who did stayed clear of her. She entered the school grounds, walking with her head down so as to make sure that nobody would take notice of her. She ignored the teenagers around her talking about their holiday, gossipping about something that happened during the vacation, picking random fights with each other, or simply flirting with each other.

"Hey, look, there's a new guy!" someone said as Rinoa entered the year twelve quad.

Rinoa looked up to see what all the commotion was about, however, she had a vague idea already. She watched as a large circle of students formed around one arriving person … Squall. He had his eyes averted from the hubbub around him, that same neutral expression on his face as always. It didn't appear that he was trying to fight the crowd gathering around him; instead, he was taking it as he went…

"Hey new guy, you got a name?"

"Where're you from?"

"Why were you crazy enough to choose a dump like Timber High?"

Squall was very used to this, seeing as how he transferred schools very often. He sighed outwardly, not wanting to answer so many questions in one go. Actually, he didn't want to answer any questions at all. He just wanted to get away from all these people and kill some time on his own…

"Squall!"

He looked up, hearing the familiar voice. He knew straight away who it was, because there was only one person who knew his name in this town.

Rinoa squeezed through the circle of students, and when she saw Squall, a grin spread across her face. Squall looked extremely flustered, and even more so when Rinoa dived for him, throwing an enormous bear hug at him.

"Get off me," said Squall, frustrated, through gritted teeth. He had the same look on his face that a seven-year-old boy would have had if his mother had just hugged him in public.

"Huh? You know this guy, Rinoa?" asked a girl in the grade.

Rinoa let go of Squall, a real look of glee in her face. "Yes, I do. Let the guy breathe, people!"

Suddenly, it was as if Squall wasn't even as remotely interesting as he was before, so people began to back away, murmuring things like 'Oh, he's a friend of hers' and 'She has friends now?' Everything seemed to return back to its usual state of being, the same post-holiday fever in the air, and it was as if Squall was just another insignificant feature of the school again.

"Thanks," murmured Squall, rubbing the back of his neck where Rinoa had grasped onto so tightly.

The dark-haired girl turned back to her companion with a cheerful smile. "No worries. I know how much you hate attention, and I figured the only way to get people not to care anymore is by associating yourself with me."

Squall frowned, and couldn't understand why Rinoa was saying something like that in such a joyful tone. "You shouldn't say that."

Rinoa shrugged. "I'm used to it. It's the way of life now. Why fight it? Anyway, why haven't I seen you since I got out of the hospital?"

Squall ran his fingers through his chestnut-brown hair uneasily. "Well … I was spending time with my moronic father, believe it or not."

Rinoa looked at him curiously. "Oh! That's great … I think?"

Squall smirked. "Yeah, I don't know if it's good or bad either. But he's not such a moron after you talk to him for a while…" He shrugged his shoulders,

Rinoa smiled. "I should try it sometime."

Squall tried his hardest to return the smile, but it was as if his cheekbones weren't used to such movement, so his expression remained neutral. He couldn't help but notice how different Rinoa looked in her school uniform. Endearing, in a way, like a typical schoolgirl with a big smile on her face. Squall tried to snap himself out of it, and instead dug his hands in his pockets.

"You don't look so badass in this uniform," said Rinoa cheekily, as if knowing what Squall was thinking.

"It pains me to hear you say that," said Squall sardonically.

Rinoa poked his chest with her index finger and laughed. "The way you wear it is … how do you say it … cute."

"…Whatever."

Rinoa laughed again. It was true – Squall looked adorable to a certain degree. She found it even funnier that he wore his uniform to comply as much as possible with 'badass-ism'. He wore his grey trousers in a baggy fashion and his white shirt was untucked and had its sleeves rolled up, the collar bent, and the top two buttons undone. The tie was scrappily trussed around his neck, and his hair was tousled and abnormally messy, as usual. He wore a black backpack of which the straps were lowered, so the bag was hanging way below his waistline. His enormous Griever pendant still hung around his neck, unscathed, and his silver earring didn't fail to glimmer.

"None of my old schools had dress codes," murmured Squall.

"Oh well, it won't kill you," said Rinoa. "Besides, it's just a year. You'll be fine."

At that moment, the first bell rang for homeroom. Everyone slowly began to make their way to class. Squall and Rinoa stayed where they were, the former looking slightly confused and the latter knowing exactly what was on his mind.

"Yes Squall, I'll help you look for your class," said Rinoa with a smile, as if reading Squall's mind.

Squall ran his fingers through his hair again, glad that he didn't need to ask for help. Running his fingers through his hair was like some strange motion he felt necessary to do when he didn't know what to say … and that was very often now. He somehow felt that saying 'Whatever' like he usually did was beginning to lose meaning all together…

"So, do you know what homeroom you're in?" asked Rinoa.

"Uh … well, no," mumbled Squall, shrugging.

Rinoa frowned. "That's not going to help. Maybe we should go to the office and ask…"

"No, no, I don't think there's any need for that," said Squall hastily. He hated having to ask for help, especially from people he didn't know. "Here, I got this letter a while ago." He reached into his bag and pulled out a white envelope, which was in crisp condition.

Rinoa took the letter from him, opened the envelope and began to scan through the paper. "Squall, did you even read this letter? Everything you need to know is here!" She read through it some more. "Homeroom 12-C … hey, that's my homeroom!"

"Oh joy," said Squall sarcastically, rolling his eyes.

Rinoa ignored him. "Hmm … advanced science, English and math? Gee Squall, not bad … I guess we're in competition now, eh?"

Squall shrugged. "I didn't ask to be smart."

Rinoa laughed and handed the envelope back to Squall. She then led Squall to their homeroom class, giving him a vague tour of the school as they went. She wasn't exactly enthusiastic about it, and neither was Squall. It appeared that neither of them was looking forward to the school year at all.

As Squall and Rinoa entered their designated classroom, the first thing Rinoa noticed at the back of the room was a sassy redhead, wearing the school blouse with four buttons undone, exposing her cleavage, and the pleated skirt at some extreme shortness. She was wearing her designer sunglasses that she lifted up, revealing her electric blue eyes that pierced the room. Behind her stood her group of cronies, looking like the unimportant extras in a movie.

Oh great, it's Ashleigh Ferris, thought Rinoa bitterly.

"Oh, Rinoa, how wonderful to see you here again," said Ashleigh in a sickeningly sweet tone as soon as she saw Rinoa enter the room.

"Yeah, wonderful," said Rinoa sarcastically. She really hated the way Ashleigh always unnecessarily put emphasis on words that didn't need emphasising...

Ashleigh stood up and walked over to the pair, her hips shaking from side to side gracefully. Her two plastic friends followed her like dogs.

"Why, hello there, cutie," said Ashleigh, flickering a seductive-like smile at Squall.

"He's got a name," said Rinoa.

Ashleigh completely ignored Rinoa and stayed absorbed in Squall. "I see you made it to the hospital then." She smiled an oh-so-sweet smile.

Squall remained emotionless. "Yeah."

"Well, if you ever feel lonely, I'm always here," purred Ashleigh.

"Uh, right," said Squall, rolling his eyes.

"Hey, what am I, invisible?" exclaimed Rinoa.

"Rinoa, he's finished saving you," said Ashleigh. "He can move on to bigger things now, no?" She grabbed her Squall's arm and was about to pull him over to her large group of friends.

"I prefer to stay here," said Squall firmly, pulling his arm away from Ashleigh.

"But … why?" asked Ashleigh, as if it were the most ridiculous thing in the world.

"Because I'm her friend," said Squall shortly, nodding towards Rinoa.

Rinoa, in turn, simply stared at Squall in awe. Did he just say that? she wondered.

Ashleigh laughed pettily, flipping her amber hair over her shoulder delicately. "Her friend, huh? And, uh … why would you want to be friends with that?" She pointed a dainty finger straight at Rinoa.

Ashleigh's friends began to laugh dumbly. Squall took a step closer to Ashleigh, his stance almost threatening. The redheaded girl appeared unintimidated; in fact, she looked just as laidback as she was before. "Hey, if you have something against Rinoa then you have something against me too," said Squall flatly.

What the hell is he doing? Rinoa stared at both Squall and Ashleigh, who were standing so close to each other that it looked more like they were in love than in hate, if it hadn't been for the cocky expressions they both had smothered across their faces. He's making enemies with one of the most powerful people in the grade. For me.

Ashleigh smiled a smile that said 'I'm not afraid of you'. "Well, it's obvious where your loyalties lie. But, I'm more than willing to welcome you if you ever change your mind." She paused."Erm … what was your name again?"

"I never told you," said Squall, taking a step back from Ashleigh, his confidence not faltering in the slightest way. "It's Leonhart. Squall Leonhart."

Ashleigh raised her eyebrows. "All right then." She began to turn around. "See you around … Squall," she sneered softly, and she walked to the back of the room to resume whatever it was she was doing before.

Rinoa stared, wide-eyed, as Ashleigh walked away with her friends tagging along behind. Then she looked at Squall, who was turning around and to face her. She grabbed him and dragged him to the other side of the classroom, keeping a stern look on her face as she did so.

"What?" said Squall, pulling away from Rinoa's grip.

"What do you mean 'what'?" hissed Rinoa. "What the heck was that?"

"I … was standing up for you, I think," said Squall, raising an eyebrow.

Rinoa tried to keep a straight face after that comment, but she definitely felt her heart soar. "You don't want to make enemies with her, Squall."

"You make it sound like she's some dangerous, scary assassin," said Squall. "It's not as if she can do anything to me…"

"Well—"

"Look, I meant it when I said I'd protect you," murmured Squall, feeling that it was only right that he should say it again, but it was still somewhat awkward to express his feelings so openly. "Besides, why would I want to be friends with that?"

Rinoa stared at him, speechless. Then she burst out laughing. "Oh, I love you Squall…" She said it so plainly, with a touch of sarcasm, as if it were nothing.

Squall didn't want to show the raging amount of shock on his face, and simply raised an eyebrow in response to her comment. He was very sure that it was a joke. Rinoa rolled her eyes with a laugh and left her companion there to find a seat in the room, because the teacher finally decided to arrive.

Such a strange girl…

"…And that's Yuki and her group of friends over there," continued Rinoa, pointing to a group of girls sitting at a nearby table. "Yuki's usually in the library, but today is an exception, I guess."

Squall nodded for the umpteenth time that lunchtime. Rinoa was showing him all the people in the grade, with some comment that was either snide or impartial. He didn't really care for any of these people and what they were like, because he knew he'd end up forgetting their name or something. It wasn't as if anybody cared that Squall was here. He was actually quite good at being unnoticed, despite the fact that he was a newcomer.

Rinoa drew her attention away from the girl with pigtails called Yuki and company. "And that's Zell over there with his group of idiots. They're always acting obnoxious in some way or other. Zell's okay because he leaves me alone, but his friends get really annoying sometimes."

At that moment, the bell rang, declaring that lunch was over. Rinoa sighed and looked at her timetable. "Damn … a double period of Phys Ed. Just great." She sulked and gathered her things.

"Oh, you mean like gym class," said Squall, as the two of them began walking to the next class.

"Yeah, whatever you want to call it," said Rinoa. "I just can't believe they made it mandatory…"

"I don't have any problems with that," said Squall, shrugging his shoulders.

"But that's because you're Squall," said Rinoa. "I hate it. You know, I can't even swim twenty-five metres without stopping."

Squall couldn't help but laugh. "You're joking, right?"

Rinoa frowned. I love it when he laughs, but I hate it when he laughs at me! "No, I'm not joking."

Squall was unable to suppress another laugh, but stopped when Rinoa gave him a dark look. "All right. Uh … I'm sure you'll do fine?"

"At least that's mildly comforting," said Rinoa with a smile. "Anyway, here's our class. You should get changed. I'll meet you in the gym, okay?"

Rinoa sat on the wooden floorboards of the gym with her knees huddled up to her chest. She couldn't help but think she looked absolutely ridiculous in the sport uniform. She was wearing navy blue shorts with the white polo shirt draped over her body and tied her dark hair up in a high ponytail. The uniform made her feel anorexic – she looked very scrawny and small in it. But that was just to her. She probably felt that way because of her biased resentment against the subject altogether.

She looked around at the students entering the gym, dressed in their uniform. Soon enough, Squall came in, and Rinoa couldn't resist smiling. He was wearing navy tracksuit pants and the white polo shirt with the school emblem stuck on it. Somehow, the PE uniform made him look more muscular than he looked in the normal uniform. Unlike Rinoa, he actually looked good in the uniform. Maybe gym clothes looked better on people who actually liked gym.

He sat down nearby Rinoa without a word. He was too far away from her for her liking, so she slid closer to him. She was about to open her mouth to speak, but shut it again when the instructor came in. It was a new instructor, someone Rinoa had never seen before. But new or old teacher, all gym instructors scared the living daylight out of her.

The new gym instructor stood in front of the class, her icy blue eyes gazing intently on the students. The teacher looked not even a day older than eighteen years old, and Rinoa wondered if she was in fact a new student or a teacher. She had long blonde hair that was tied up, and she wore sporty black pants with a white stripe down the side and a white singlet top that showed her belly. She was incredibly slender, yet athletic and strong looking. She folded her arms in a stern stance, and the class quietened down for her.

"I'm Instructor Quistis Trepe," said the teacher coolly, her cold eyes scanning the room.

"You're our teacher?" exclaimed a student in the class.

"I'm a student-teacher," said Quistis firmly. "I will be taking this class for half the year. But just because I am a student-teacher does not mean I will tolerate any repugnant behaviour."

Everyone began chattering quietly, obviously thinking that the fact that someone just about their age was giving them orders was ludicrous. Squall felt quite the same way – this teacher was going to be such a pushover. But something about her eyes and the way she spoke gave him the slightest impression otherwise.

"Silence!" Quistis' voice echoed through the room thunderously.

The class fell silent almost at once.

Quistis' expression eased a little bit. "Now. I'm not going to waste any time. All of you, stand up and we'll start our warm-up session."

"Hey Trepie, you wanna come back to my place after school and give me a private warm-up session?" called one of the obnoxious guys in the class.

Quistis turned around sharply, and suddenly a loud crack was heard. She had pulled out a whip and cracked it viciously against the floor, her face filled with the utmost threat. The guy who had made the vulgar comment wiped the smirk off his face at once. Everyone in the class flinched, wondering if she was going to whip any students who were out of line.

Quistis smiled a small, triumphant smile. "We'll be studying the art of self-defence this semester, which involves a number of weaponry skills."

The class seemed slightly relieved. Rinoa was still very terrified of Quistis. She tried to fall into the back of the class behind everyone else while the students did their warm ups so Quistis wouldn't be able to see her and pick on her, like many of the other PE teachers before.

"All right, sit down and wait while I get the equipment," said Quistis after twenty minutes of warm ups, as she went into the storage room.

"Hyne, she scares the heck outta me," Rinoa whispered to Squall as she sat down on the floor.

"She's all right," murmured Squall.

"You're only saying that because she's young and hot," hissed Rinoa, narrowing her eyes down at him.

"No," argued Squall, rolling his eyes. "I know she won't be a pushover."

Quistis came back with a couple of bags full of equipment. "All right. Now, I'm sure many of you, if not all of you, are beginners in this aspect, so I will be lenient."

"Instructor, this self defence stuff isn't in the curriculum," said a girl in the class, putting her hand up and speaking straight away.

"I'm the Instructor and I choose what we do," said Quistis flatly.

Rinoa had the guts to put her hand up. "This won't be in our final exams, will it?"

"No, it won't," replied Quistis. "I'm teaching you this because you'll probably need it one day in the future. And that's what school is about, isn't it?" She picked up one of the caskets in the bag and opened it up. She pulled out the object inside it, which was a huge, shining gunblade. She held it up for the class. "This is a K15-Revolver Gunblade. Pretty basic. It's a school standard weapon. The lining is blunt so it won't hurt you. The bullets are perfectly harmless."

Rinoa could see in the corner of her eye that Squall looked slightly interested in the subject all of a sudden. She pouted, and never even knew that the school had a supply of gunblades. She wondered what else was in those mystery bags of Quistis'.

"Now, I'd like two volunteers," said Quistis.

Everyone in the class looked slightly discomforted. All the guys were pretty much itching to volunteer, but they were just a little bit anxious and unsure of what was going to happen. After all, nobody wanted to get clobbered by Quistis at this point.

"Anybody? No?" Quistis glowered at the class. "Come on, don't make me pick on someone."

Rinoa moved a little bit closer to Squall in apprehension. Squall rolled his eyes. He had a feeling Rinoa was going to volunteer him soon, but perhaps she forgot that he was first rank in gunblade skills. He didn't want to volunteer himself though because he didn't want any attention drawn to him.

As if mocking Squall's expectations, Quistis' gaze fell right on Squall. "You," she said, pointing at him. "You look good. Come up here."

There were sneers around the class about the subtext of Quistis' phrase 'you look good'.

Squall groaned. "I don't want to."

"Come on," said Quistis shortly.

Squall shook his head.

"Don't make me fail you," said Quistis.

"Go for it, Squall!" whispered Rinoa.

"Yeah, go for it!" everyone began cheering.

Squall sighed, knowing that there was no way out of this. "All right."

As Squall stood up to go to the front of the class, there was a great applause from the student body. He tried to ignore it and took the gunblade from the instructor's hands. It wasn't his Lionheart, but it would have to do.

Suddenly, the door burst open and Ashleigh came walking into the gym. She was all dolled up in the sport uniform, highlighting her lean figure. She still wore those trademark designer sunglasses as if they were surgically attached to her face no matter what. Surprisingly, she was alone, and it was then that Rinoa noticed that her plastic friends were already in class.

"Sorry I'm late," she said, with the least remorse in her voice. "I was held up."

"Do you have a pass?" asked Quistis.

Ashleigh lifted up her glasses, as if she didn't believe her eyes. She gave Quistis a smug look. "Um, no…"

"All right, no punishment, but next time, I won't be so lenient," said Quistis. "What's your name?"

"My name is Ashleigh … erm, instructor," answered the redhead.

"It's Instructor Trepe," said Quistis. "Now, Ashleigh, since you've walked in late, you've just volunteered yourself for the class demonstration." She lifted up another gunblade for Ashleigh to accept.

"Oh!" said Ashleigh in surprise, "A gunblade … how lovely." The redhead lowered her sunglasses again, walked up to Quistis and took the weapon from her. She glanced at Squall, but the expression she wore was unreadable because her glasses were hiding her eyes.

"Now, this is how you hold—"

Before Quistis could finish her instruction, both Squall and Ashleigh were in combat stance, gunblade in hands.

"My, you do catch on quickly, don't you?" said Quistis distantly. "Now, when I say 'go', Squall here will rush up to Ashleigh over there and deliver a feign swing. Now, that's a blow that makes your opponent think that you're about to hit but you really aren't…"

Wait a second … I never told her my name, thought Squall. How does she know it? But he didn't want to linger on the thought, and made up the excuse that she probably had some records of him or something, because Quistis had finished explaining what a feign swing was.

"…All right, go!" shouted Quistis.

This is amateur stuff, thought Squall, as he rushed over towards Ashleigh and delivered the swing.

"Excellent, that was easy," said Quistis. "Now we'll be defensive. Squall will rush towards Ashleigh and strike to her left upper body, and she will hold her blade up like this to block his attack…" She demonstrated to the class with her own gunblade.

Hyne, can this drag on any more?

"…Go!"

Squall ran towards Ashleigh and did what he was told, in which Ashleigh blocked the attack with her sword.

"Let's heat things up a little, shall we?" whispered Ashleigh, a sly smirk appearing on her lips.

"What?" said Squall, but before he knew it, Ashleigh flung her gunblade to the right and made an attempt to attack Squall. Luckily, with his quick reflexes, Squall was able to block the blow.

"Wow, you're fast," purred Ashleigh.

"You're getting a little ahead of yourself here," said Quistis warningly.

"Hey, what're you—"

Ashleigh dodged to Squall's side and bent down, making an attack for his knees with her blade. Squall sensed her movement with his peripheral vision and jumped back gracefully, landing on both feet. Ashleigh stood up, the sly grin growing slyer.

"I don't want to hurt you—"

Ashleigh dragged the gunblade against the floor to build up some friction and sliced through the air in an upward motion, aiming straight for Squall's abdomen. Squall whirled his gunblade over his shoulder, once again successfully blocking Ashleigh's attempt to attack him from the side.

"I suggest you stop right now or you will get seriously injured," called Quistis.

Everyone in the class was up on their feet, trying to get a good glimpse of the action. Rinoa was one of them – she watched eagerly with a puzzled look on her face, looking straight at Squall's face that was extremely close to Ashleigh's….

Ashleigh staggered, trying to penetrate through Squall's defence but he was too strong. She looked up, sneering, her arms trembling while struggling to push Squall's gunblade back. "Why won't you fight back?" she asked quietly.

"I don't want to," mumbled Squall.

Ashleigh withdrew her blade from under Squall's. "Too chicken, huh?"

Somehow, she struck a nerve in Squall's body when she called him 'chicken'. He lifted his sword up in anticipation. An egotistic but charming smirk appeared on his mouth as he said, "Bring it on."

In an instant, the continuous sound of metal clashing against metal was ringing through the walls of the gym. The students of the class were watching the fight with keen excitement. Quistis, at this point, gave up trying to control the battle and stood back with her arms folded, also watching with interest. The two gunblade-artists were indeed extremely fast to keep up with, but it didn't stop the students from making a ruckus.

"Yeah, beat him to a pulp, Ashleigh!"

"C'mon, new guy!"

Squall ducked Ashleigh's horizontal blow and rolled to the side, where he struck her diagonally. The girl winced, but didn't bleed because the edge of the sword was blunt. Ashleigh whirled around and made a quick swing for Squall's shoulder, who managed to parry the attack by a split second. Squall and Ashleigh lunged for each other again, and began walloping their gunblades at one another at an immense speed. Their blows seemed somewhat predictable though, as both parties managed to block or evade each attack.

"Ashleigh," murmured Rinoa from the crowd. She felt so distant from Squall all of a sudden. She'd never felt so far away from him before. Even when she was in a coma, she didn't feel far away from him. But now that she saw him so passionate about something with someone else, she felt like someone standing on the sidelines.

Ashleigh aimed for the hilt of Squall's gunblade and struck it hard. The blade fell out of Squall's hands, and within a microsecond, Ashleigh thrust her foot into Squall's abdomen and kicked him with intense force. Squall fell on his back and looked around until he spotted his gunblade lying close by. However, as he looked up, he spotted Ashleigh jumping high into the air and coming down right at him with her gunblade ready to attack.

Squall quickly rolled over and grabbed his sword. He stood up and watched Ashleigh hit the ground, landing on both feet. Squall sniggered and got into attacking position again. Ashleigh turned around and hurtled towards her opponent, gunblade extended out in front of her. Squall stood there, ready for her, and waited for her to get close enough. Once she was within a metre from him, he leapt onto her extended blade and vaulted into the air.

Ashleigh, very confused, looked up into the air, and saw Squall heading down with his gunblade pointed right at her. Before she could think of anything to avoid being attacked, Squall shot a series of 'bullets' right at her. Ashleigh managed to parry all but one shot, which struck her right between the eyes, knocking off her sunglasses and shattering the glass as it hit the floor.

Squall landed on the floor again, while Ashleigh clutched at her prized face. She opened her eyes and glared at him, that laid-back smile still as radiant as ever. She darted right for him and thrust her gunblade right at Squall.

For a second, it looked like the sword had pierced straight through Squall's body with the tip of the blade protruding from Squall's back. Everyone gasped, wondering how a blunt sword could stab through someone's body. Then it was clear that the sword didn't really go through Squall. Ashleigh was aiming for his shoulder, but missed and went under Squall's armpit.

Squall took this opportunity while everyone was shocked and slithered away from Ashleigh quickly. He jabbed his gunblade at Ashleigh's shins, causing her to shriek in pain and fall to the floor on her knees. Squall pointed the end of his gunblade at Ashleigh's neck, declaring victory upon himself.

The students went crazy and began whooping and shouting and cheering and clapping. Ashleigh looked up at Squall, a weak smile on her face.

"You held back," she said.

"What rank are you?" asked Squall, ignoring her.

"Third rank," answered Ashleigh. "Why did you hold back…?"

"Pretty good for third rank," said Squall with a smirk.

"All right, all right," said Quistis, trying her best to hush the class. "That's enough. That was a fine display of swordsmanship. You two go to the nurse's office to make sure nothing's broken."

"I'm fine," murmured Squall.

"No, it's protocol, Squall," said Quistis. "Both of you go. Now."

Squall was about to object, but he suddenly felt a stubbing pain at his chest where Ashleigh had kicked him. Hyne, she sure can kick for a girl. "Uh … which way to the nurse?"

"I'll show you," said Ashleigh with an enticing smile.

Rinoa watched with resentment as Ashleigh grabbed Squall by the arm and went to the nurse's office. Yeah, whatever … she'll probably try to push him into a closet and seduce him or something, she thought bitterly.

"All right, back to the lesson," said Quistis, clapping her hands to try and get the chattering students to pay attention.

Rinoa turned back to the instructor, but couldn't help but hate Ashleigh for being such a gunblade-artist. Of all the things she could be good at, why did it have to be something Squall was good at too?

The final bell of the day rang to declare the end of school. Everyone was changed back into their proper uniform and retreated from the gym, willingly waiting to get away from school.

Quistis leaned against the glass doors of the gym with her arms folded, watching the chatty students leave school. Suddenly, her cell phone rung in her bag.

"Quistis Trepe speaking," she said promptly.

"Hey, Ice Queen," said a sly male voice on the other line.

"Yeah, what is it?" asked Quistis.

"How was your first day of work?"

"Exhausting," said Quistis with a sigh.

"Did you get those records of Loire's son?"

"Yeah, easy," answered Quistis.

"And your observations on him went well?"

"Indeed," replied Quistis.

A wry smile appeared on the face of the man on the other end. "Excellent. Report your findings to me at 1800 hours."

"Roger that," said Quistis.

Squall was released from the nurse's office, after being checked over about a hundred times already. During that time, Ashleigh made many feeble attempts to start conversation with Squall, but he would end up brushing her away. He was honestly not in the mood to put up with that annoying voice of hers. However, he still held a certain amount of respect for her because of her sword skills…

"Bye, Squall!" called Ashleigh, waving to him as she left one way to get home.

Squall said nothing and simply waved back, as he turned the other way to get back to his place. As he walked out the school gates, he saw Rinoa ahead of him somewhere and wondered if he should've approached her or not. He didn't want to look desperate, but then again he wanted to show that he hadn't forgotten about her…

He found himself running after Rinoa. As soon as he was close enough to her, he slowed down a little bit and stuck his hands in his pockets casually to make it look like he wasn't running after her.

"Hey," he murmured.

Rinoa turned around, but instead of that happy face she usually gave him when she saw him, she had a look that said something very obvious: 'I'm fricking pissed.'

"Oh, hello Squall," she said in a somewhat mocking tone. "Did you have fun at the nurse's office … if that is where you went?"

Squall raised an eyebrow. "Uh … what are you talking about? I did go to the nurse…"

"Yes, of course," said Rinoa, nodding in a strangely serious way. "Well, I'm sure you and Ashleigh had one hell of a time licking each other's wounds…"

Squall simply stared at her. "Are you okay?"

"Yup, just dandy!" cried Rinoa sarcastically.

"What's gotten into you?" said Squall.

"What do you mean 'what's gotten into me'?" exclaimed Rinoa. "More like, what's gotten into you? What the hell was that?"

"…What the hell was what?"

"That display in gym," answered Rinoa angrily.

"Well, I was just exercising my skills," mumbled Squall.

"Yeah, but you didn't have to be such a show-off about it," glowered Rinoa, folding her arms.

"Show-off?" repeated Squall. "I told you before, I'm first rank in gunblade expertise."

"Yeah … well, you didn't have to get all touchy with Ashleigh," said Rinoa stubbornly.

"Touchy?" said Squall in disbelief. "It was a fight, Rinoa. Not a make-out session."

Rinoa pouted. "Whatever." She turned around and began walking away from Squall.

"Why are you so angry?" Squall shouted after her. When he got no reply, he turned around with a groan and began walking home. I thought I was doing her a favour. I did it twice today and all she did was throw it back in my face. Why do I even bother

Rinoa kept on walking with her arms folded. She didn't know exactly why she was so angry. Squall was just being himself, and Ashleigh just happened to be there when he was doing so. But why did she have to be there? Why did she have to be there at all? Was she jealous that Squall was associating with her in a positive way? Was she jealous that Ashleigh had something Squall liked that she didn't?

Jealous? Why should I be jealous? It's not as if Squall's my boyfriend or anything. I'm just … scared that I'll lose him as a friend to her. But why should I be scared? Squall is allowed to be friends with whomever he wants, right? Why should I get angry at him for being friends with someone else as well…?

As much as she tried reasoning with herself, she couldn't get rid of that awful feeling stuck in the pit of her stomach. But in the end, she felt guilty for her actions ... but she honestly did not want to feel guilty.

A/N: I hope the little battle scene wasn't too draggy ... it's definitely something different, but I must say I did enjoy writing it.Somehow sticking Squall and Rinoa in uniforms is a really strange image tome, but I just thought it would befun to do it :D Anyway, thank you for your reviews ... don't worry, this whole fic won't be revolving around the school life (I'm actually finding it quite difficult to think of scenarios in the school o.o;) and will be advancingout of school in a couple of chapters' time. Ah, sorry, I'm just rambling on now xD Thank you for your support :)