Hatred to Love
A/N: Hey there again! Thank you for your reviews for chapter six! You don't know this, but you're the people that actually inspire me to write more! I know that this fic is mainly centered on Rinoa and Squall and the others in the gang (Quistis, Selphie, Zell and Irvine) don't really have a large role in this fic, but I have thought up possible storylines for them. Enjoy this chapter!
Chapter 7 – Always and Forever
"Julia! You're due for an interview with People Magazine in half an hour!" A man called out.
A beautiful young woman stepped out from her bedroom in the hotel that she was staying in at Timber. She smiled charmingly at the people that were waiting patiently for her.
"Roger, I know that already. I know that I have about a billion interviews, performances, photo shoots and appearances, but I want to get back to Balamb already!" Julia pointed out with a pained smile.
"We all know that Julia, but we've had this scheduled for months! Everyone is expecting you to appear at all your interviews, performances, photo shoots and public appearances. This is our last tour before we head back to Balamb and then you can be with your daughter once again. Please Julia; please don't do anything that will stop you from attending any of these events," A woman pleaded.
Julia smiled cheekily at this. She placed her hand over her forehead dramatically and fell back down onto one of the many leather sofas in the room.
All of her entourage dropped everything they were holding and quickly rushed over to Julia.
"Julia! Julia, what did you eat for lunch?"
"Julia, are you alright?"
"What do you need Julia? Your daughter? Medicine? A Doctor? An ice-pack? Tell us what you need or want and we'll do it!"
"Julia, are you feeling weak after everything we've done while we've been here in Timber?"
"She must be really stressed out from her concert,"
Julia smiled halfheartedly. "I…I…I need…"
They all leaned in closely to listen to Julia Heartilly.
"I…I need to get some rest, maybe a two hour break?" She croaked.
Everyone flinched. "Don't even think about it Julia!"
She grabbed her assistant's hand and looked pleadingly into his eyes. "Please? We don't have to cancel the interview with People, just postpone it,"
He looked at all the other people that were standing around him. They all nodded solemnly. He sighed.
"Just for two hours, no more, alright Julia?" He finally said.
Julia wanted to jump up and shout with joy, but if she did, they'd know that she was faking it just to get out from her events for the day.
"Y-Yes…David," She said weakly.
"We'll go now, just call us if you need anything," Roger said as he and the others left the hotel room.
Julia nodded.
She stood up and looked around her hotel room contentedly. She fell back down onto the sofa and sighed heavily with relief.
Finally! Finally I'm on my own! No more work for two hours!
She closed her eyes, but at that very moment, her mobile rang.
Julia sat up and looked at who the caller was. She grumbled. The caller was Richard Caraway. Her ex-husband.
What does he want now? Did that slut of his break up with him already?
"Hello!" She practically shouted into her mobile.
"Hello Julia, how have you been? It's Richard," He said calmly.
"How do you think I've been? I'm on tour right now! So I'm stressed out and tired! And I know it's you, you old cow, I have caller ID," She snapped.
He chuckled softly. "You haven't changed at all Julia. Still feisty, I see,"
"I don't have that much time left, I'm supposed to be at a magazine interview in half an hour," She quickly lied.
"Don't worry Julia, this will only take around five minutes of your precious time,"
"I'm listening Richard. If you take any longer to start talking, you'll have died of old age already,"
"I want to know, how would you feel if Rinoa lived with me for about 3 months and attended Deling Academy, the most prestigious private school in Deling City?"
Julia had to bite onto her bottom lip to keep her from laughing out loud. Deling Academy was the least prestigious private school in Deling City!
Why Deling Academy? That's where all the rich, stupid snobs go to get their so called education. And Rinoa might be rich, but she's not a stupid snob. Is it any wonder why their tuition fees are so high and the students are so…so dim-witted? Well, Richard attended that school when he was a teenager and look what good its done for him.
"But 3 months! But I'm the one with full custody of Rinoa!"
"Uh, no Julia. We both have joint custody, but you're the one who acts like you have full custody of our daughter. Besides, you're the one who keeps on jetting off and touring the whole world, is it any wonder why Rinoa took an interest in that Loire-Leonhart guy?"
Julia's beautiful sparkling eyes popped open. Rinoa's with Squall again? Phew, what a relief. Those two are meant to be together always, but I hope he hasn't told her the truth yet…He better be keeping her safe and happy like it was before the accident.
"Rinoa can take an interest in any guy she wants to. And it's called a career Richard. At least I'm making money with my career, while all you do is sit in an office, answer the phone every couple of seconds and curse at your unfortunate employees and colleagues," Julia remarked in a cold manner.
"And you're implying that I don't have a career! I'll have you know that my career…"
"Come on Richard. I know that you don't give a damn about Rinoa. Why would you want her to live with you for three months? Hell, you got pissed off when you only spent three minutes with her when she was a little girl," Julia interrupted.
"I want her to live with me, because I want to spend some time to get to actually know my daughter and I want her to get to know her soon to be stepmother and stepsister,"
"As in you're marrying Amber! That…that…that selfish pig who's only after all your money? She is NOT going to be Rinoa's stepmother! Rinoa is perfectly fine with me as her mother and she doesn't need a stepmother or a stepsister, thank you very much Richard! I might not be there for her when she needs me, but we have a very close bond,"
Richard snorted.
"I am marrying Amber and Rinoa will come live with me next week then! Is it a problem that I want to get to know my only daughter?"
"Yes it's a problem. Because half the time, it doesn't seem like you even have a daughter! She'll never agree to it anyway, because she has my stubborn personality and she hates associating with the snobby children of your colleagues,"
"Actually Julia, she called me this afternoon, she's agreeing with it, but only if she has your consent," Richard said smoothly.
Julia sighed in defeat. There was no point in fighting a losing fight anyway. Especially a losing fight with Richard Caraway.
"Fine then! I'll let her go to Deling Academy, but you have to let her visit me whenever she wants to! And don't you dare let Amber bribe Rinoa with presents to try to buy her love and respect!" Julia hissed.
"Thank you for your consent Julia dear. It was nice chatting to you. We should talk more often," Richard said with a smile.
Then he hung up.
Julia stared at her mobile with disgust. I HATE that man! How dare he call me after not talking to me for how many years and announce that he's making poor Rinoa live with him in that hellhole of his and attend that stupid private school! This is all my fault. I shouldn't have decided to tour Timber at the last moment. Otherwise, I'd be home having a good laugh with Rinoa.
Julia felt wet tears sliding down her cheeks. I'm sorry…darling.
Zell was laughing so loud and hard that any of the students or the staff at Balamb High could hear it from far away.
"Please Zell, can you stop laughing already?" Quistis begged.
The six of them, were sitting outside on the benches during their lunch break. Everything was calm and peaceful, like it usually was. Until Rinoa told them what had happened on Friday night with her and Squall.
Squall had his eyes closed and was leaning on the tree behind the benches and was also trying hard not to blush. But how could he blame Rinoa? She had done what almost every girl crazily in love would do. Spill all the intimate details about what had happened when they were 'alone'.
"Hey Rinny, you lied to us!" Irvine exclaimed.
Selphie who was excited for Rinoa suddenly realised it too. "Yeah Rinny, you told us you were baby-sitting, not spending the night with Squall…"
Rinoa smiled sweetly at them both. "I know that and I'm really, really sorry. But if I told you what our plans were going to be, it'd be all over the school right now, wouldn't it?"
"Well, maybe," Irvine admitted.
"Yeah, but who knew that our Squall could be such so romantic and such a big softie?" Zell asked with a sheepish smile.
"Oh shut up Zell. I happen to know what you'd do with that Library Girl if you were alone with her. You told me so yourself so you can't lie yourself out of it," Squall shot back.
Zell felt his face burn up.
"Can I have your attention now, please?" Rinoa asked quietly.
All eyes turned to her. Even Squall opened his eyes to see what was going to happen.
The afternoon breeze blew softly against their hair. Everything had turned back to how it was before. Quiet and full of tranquility again. Rinoa looked around at her friends and her boyfriend, but their peaceful and care-free looking faces couldn't melt the pain in her aching heart.
Rinoa smiled halfheartedly at them, before she let all the crystal tears flow from her beautiful dark brown eyes.
Squall immediately comforted Rinoa by wrapping his arms around her shoulders and Selphie retrieved a packet of tissues from her school bag, while the others had shocked looks on their faces.
"Rinny, what's wrong?" Irvine, Zell and Quistis asked in unison with concern.
Rinoa dried some of her tears with a tissue that Selphie had given her.
Then she continued to bury her face deeper into Squall's chest.
"There, there Rinoa, don't cry," Zell said gently.
Between her sobs, she somehow managed to mumble some words.
"How can I not cry? This…This is the last time I'll be at Balamb High!" She choked.
It took a while for of Rinoa's words to sink in. But the most shocked out of all of them was Squall.
No! Rinoa can't be leaving for Deling City! She told me that she probably wouldn't…But why? Why would she crawl back to Caraway after what he did to her and her mother…? Squall thought.
"Rinoa, don't play around with us. What Mandy said to you last week was probably another one of her lies," Irvine said uneasily.
She looked up at all of them with more tears forming in her eyes.
"I'm…I'm not lying. My father asked me to live with him for three months and attend a private school in Deling. I wish that I was just playing around with you…" Rinoa replied while tears dropped from her eyes and stained her white blouse.
"But you don't have to go along with it, do you? Rinny, you're our rebelling princess. Rebel against your father somehow," Zell said with a thin smile on his normally joyful face.
Rinoa managed a smile through all this. "I didn't want to tell you sooner, because I knew that it would hurt all of you. I didn't expect this to happen either, but I want to get to know my father. Besides, just because we won't see each other at school, doesn't mean that we won't ever see each other again,"
"You're right though Rinoa. But we'll miss you lots," Quistis said miserably.
Squall took his arms off Rinoa and began to stroke her silky black hair.
"Rinoa, does your father want something off you?" Irvine asked curiously.
Rinoa turned to look at Irvine. "I thought that he wanted something off me or to take me away from my mother, but he just wants to get to know me better. And he wants me to get to know my soon to be stepmother and stepsister,"
Then all of them became so quiet, that you could hear the trees rustling in rhythm with the breeze and some papers flying.
"Rinoa, do you really want to leave Balamb High?" Selphie asked while throwing her arms around her friend.
Rinoa smiled gently at her. "No, I don't want to. But I really want to get to know my father and who knows, maybe an education at a private school would be better for me,"
"How would it be! Most private school students are rich, arrogant snobs! To tell you the truth, Balamb High would always be better than a private school!" Zell shouted.
"Zell, calm down already," Quistis said haughtily.
"I will not calm down! How can you act like that when one of our friends are going to leave for another school? Selphie's right, you're not our mother!" Zell yelled and stormed off.
"What's wrong with him? Did he get a bad test result or something?" Irvine asked while raising an eyebrow.
"Don't be so selfish Irvine!" Selphie snapped and she ran after Zell.
"What's up with them two? They're not secretly dating behind my back are they?" Irvine asked seriously.
"I wish they would, maybe that would finally put you in your place," Squall muttered.
"Irvine, since when do you care who Selphie dates behind your back? I thought that you were the one who was secretly dating someone behind Selphie's back," Quistis said shaking her head still stunned after being yelled at by Zell.
"Ok. I'll admit it used to date one girl and sneak around with two other girls behind her back. But when I started to date Selphie, I changed. There's something about her that made me want to give up my wild child ways," Irvine confessed.
"Since it's my last day here, can we all be happy like we usually are?" Rinoa asked softly.
The three of them plastered forced smiles onto their faces for Rinoa's sake. But they knew that they couldn't really smile for real knowing that one of their best friends would be leaving them.
"Zell, Zell wait up!" Selphie called while running after him.
Zell was still running but his pace was gradually slowing down.
When Selphie finally caught up with Zell, he didn't look down at her or anything. He was gazing up at the bright blue sky. It was like he was mesmerized.
"Do you still have that bruise on your cheek?" He asked with hints of concern.
Selphie placed a hand on her cheek and smiled sadly. "You still...remember?"
He faced her with a grim look on his face. "How could I not remember it? I was the one who witnessed it anyway. Why did you let her do that to you? Why didn't you stop it?"
Selphie whimpered. The once bubbly, cheerful and bright girl had been replaced with a scared, fragile and scarred (internally) girl. A shadow of who she was.
Zell leaned down to stroke her bruised cheek gently in a caring way.
Flashback
"Zell, Zell. Could you take me back home? Please?" Selphie whispered in a rush while shaking Zell in an attempt to try to wake him up.
"Oh EW. He snores and drools," Selphie murmured to herself with horror.
"What…what?" said Zell who was still sleeping.
That really pissed Selphie off.
She slapped his arm. "Wake up! I need a ride home now!"
Zell immediately sat up from the sofa-bed that he was sleeping on. "But…where's my prize? My hotdog…You liar! You promised me a hotdog when I entered this martial arts tournament!"
"Please Zell, snap out of it! Or Catherine will kill me!" Selphie pleaded.
Hearing his friend's voice probably did snap him out of his dream.
"Selphie, its half past two in the morning. What could Catherine possibly want at half past two in the morning?" Zell said while rubbing his eyes.
Selphie's mouth dropped open. "Zell…"
Zell looked at her. "What Selphie?"
"Put on a shirt!" She yelped and pointed at his bare chest.
He looked down at his chest and smiled. "Aren't my muscles big enough?" He teased.
Selphie closed her eyes. "Seriously! Put a shirt on and meet me in Irvine's car,"
Ten minutes later…
"Where's your house again?" Zell asked while driving and scanning the road.
"Nearby," Selphie whispered.
"Why does she want you back home now?" Zell asked.
"Probably to look after Nicole," She replied referring to her adorable half-sister.
"Can't she look after that baby on her own?" asked Zell with a puzzled look on his face.
Selphie made a face. "No shit she can't,"
The car was awfully silent after that.
"Uh oh. Trouble standing right at my front door," Selphie muttered.
Zell looked. She was right. There was Catherine, Selphie's stepmother standing at the front door with a very annoyed look on her face.
Both Selphie and Zell stepped out of the car and walked up slowly and fearfully to the front door.
"Where the hell have you been Selphie Angelina Tilmitt? I thought I told you that you weren't allowed to stay at your little friends' house! It's a Friday and you're meant to be baby-sitting Nicole," Catherine spat with a look of pure venom on her face.
"You told me yourself last night that I could do whatever I please this Friday. I'm not Nicole's mother. You're her mother. I'm only her half-sister," Selphie snapped.
"Oh please Selphie sweetheart, I didn't say that. You know that I'm busy with my job and I can't look after little Nicole,"
Zell watched them both argue. He felt like he shouldn't have been watching this, but he felt like he ought to stay until Selphie was safe in her home.
"Oh what job? Being a stripper? Prostitute? What the hell do you do for a living? Besides relying on my father, your husband for cash? I know that you have time to look after Nicole," Selphie replied frostily.
Catherine looked at Selphie with a look that would've easily killed Selphie if looks could kill.
And at that very moment, a little baby girl crawled out to the door and looked up at Selphie with a tear stricken face.
Selphie looked down at the baby and picked her up and carried her in her arms. "Oh Nicole, what happened sweetie?" She whispered.
"And you bring a boyfriend back too. What did you do to get him home with you? Paid him?" Catherine remarked while looking at Zell.
"Shut up Catherine! Shut up! You've done nothing good to me or Nicholas ever since you married Daddy! Go stuff your face into a toilet bowl, because that's where it belongs Catherine!" Selphie screeched.
Nicole looked at Zell who's face was as white as a sheet, to her half-sister's angry and frustrated face and finally to her mother's face which was full of hatred and poison.
"You…You ungrateful little brat," Catherine finally said.
Without a sound, she slapped Selphie's cheek. Really hard as well. Blood spluttered out of Selphie's nose and her face was now crimson red.
Selphie sank to her knees with Nicole still in her arms. Tears welled up in both Nicole and Selphie's brilliant emerald green eyes.
Zell looked at Catherine with sheer horror. He couldn't believe what he had witnessed.
Catherine was pretty shocked herself, as she turned around and stepped back inside her house.
Zell helped Selphie up. "Come on Selph, I'll take you back to Irvine's and we can put Nicole to bed and clean you up,"
Selphie merely nodded.
End Flashback
"Wow, this term ended fast," Irvine said cheerfully.
The six of them were walking out of the grounds of Balamb High and were ready to walk back home and sigh with relief because school had ended.
"Why are you two still so quiet?" Quistis asked.
Selphie and Zell looked at each other and smiled at Quistis.
Rinoa who was clinging onto Squall let go of his arm.
She hugged all of her friends. "This is the last time we'll see each other for a while," She said sadly.
"You should've told us sooner. Maybe then we could've planned a party," Selphie said.
"Rinoa, thanks for making Squall normal again, I'll miss you a lot," Zell whispered as she hugged him.
"You are one total lady. Oh and at your new school, if there are any pretty girls, tell them to ring my number," Irvine said with a wink.
"Irvine!" Rinoa exclaimed.
"I'm joking. But I'm not joking when I say I'll miss you," Irvine replied.
"We love you lots Rinoa! Don't forget us! And remember to get a guy to call Quistis for us!" Selphie called.
"Selphie! I don't need a guy to complete my life!" Quistis snapped.
The four of them walked home leaving Rinoa with just Squall.
"You've barely said anything all day. What's on your mind?" Rinoa asked while looking into his intense electric blue eyes.
"You leaving. How could you?" Squall said with a look of pain on his face.
"It might be better for me to get to know my father…It might seem like I'm betraying you, but I'm not. I'll always be yours," She said shyly.
He pulled her towards him and embraced her.
"Oh Squall, I'm sorry!" Rinoa said with tears spilling onto his shirt.
Squall looked down at her and smiled. "I…I guess it's alright Rinoa. If you're happy with…with your decision, then I'll support you on it…"
Rinoa kissed his cheek. "You sure?"
Flashback
"What if I can't find you Squall?" Asked Rinoa with a look of worry on her face.
Squall sighed. "What about we make a promise then? I'll be waiting here. If you come here, you'll find me. I promise,"
Rinoa looked at him with a tender smile. "That sounds so poetic Squall,"
He took her hand into his. "It's our promise. Remember it Rinoa,"
"Always," Rinoa replied with a smile.
End Flashback
"What about we make a promise then? I'll be waiting here, so if you come here, you'll find me…I promise," Squall said affectionately.
"How cute, Squally actually making promises," Rinoa said with a giggle.
"Rinoa," He said in a stern voice.
"Alright. I'll always remember it. I'll be waiting here, so if you come here, you'll find me…I promise," Rinoa repeated.
"Promise me?" Squall asked.
"Always. But I'll promise you," Rinoa said.
They kissed affectionately before finally parting. It'll always be goodbye, but never farewell.
As their hands parted, so did most of their shared memories. Even if they weren't going to spend that much time together, their love will always remain strong. Always and Forever…