It was around about noon the next day when the problem of finding a girlfriend was brought up again. Except this time it wasn't going to be dropt. Why? Because it just so happened that they ran into Cloud's long time crush and friend Aerith at the arcade that day which was completely unexpected for him. She was a pretty little thing too with long brown hair that she kept up in a twisted ponytail and bright blue eyes that always seemed to twinkle. She liked to laugh and make people happy, which she did with ease. She was the type of girl who always helped the needy and asked nothing in return. She even volunteered her free time to help at the elderly homes. Today however, she had the day off.

It was during their two hours together of talking and game playing that it slowly began to dawn on them that this was the girl that had caught Cloud's interest. No wonder he was so shy and single. Aerith was an amazing person really. A grade A student and a miracle achiever with a heart of gold. Cloud's attraction was understandable but with Aerith's kind of schedule, it would be hard to be in a real relationship with her. Cloud, they realized, probably already new that. 'Well' Shuyin thought, ' this is where we come in.'

Later, after saying their goodbyes to Aerith, they headed down town to their favorite hangout- the pizza parlor. After placing their order with the waitress, Shu decided to address the situation.

" Oh yeah, hey Cloud?"

Cloud looked over at him casually, twirling his straw around in his cup of coca-cola lazily.

" Yeah?"

" Well, I couldn't help but notice that you seem to have a little crush on our fair princess, Aerith."

Cloud looked like he was going to die. Die right there and then on the floor of the pizza parlor. At least that's what he felt like doing. Everyone was looking at him now and he could feel the flames in his cheeks which he knew could only be a furious blush of red. Of course, leave it to Shuyin to spread his dearly kept secret of three years. He gulped and tried to think of a way to get himself out of his current predicament.

" So…." Was all that came out and it sounded small and quiet.

" Ah! So its true." Cloud suddenly felt irritated with the interrogation.

" Yeah, and?" He asked, a little miffed. The others could see that Cloud was getting peeved and so Vincent decided to take the conversation down a different road.

" Well, she's a good choice; for many different reasons, really. You should talk to her more often."

" Yeah Cloud, she really seems to like you."

Cloud couldn't help but blush more at Tidus's words. Aerith like him? No way. Absolutely not. It was impossible.

" Actually, I thought I noticed something of the nature in the way you two are when you are around one another. I've wondered for a long time, but never went deeper then that."

He looked up at Vincent a little surprised. Vincent had known? Well that wasn't really shocking sense Vincent was a very observing person and there was little the tall brunet missed. Cloud sighed and nodded, approving that he had indeed quite a nice little crush on his classmate.

" Hmmm. Just as I thought. Well, if you want to ask her out, you could always take her to the summer dance before summer vacation starts."

Cloud looked at him incredulously.

" What? Ask Aerith out? Like on a date? I can't do that! What will she think? Me of all people asking out the kindest, most popular girl at school? She'd turn me down flat!"

Shuyin and Tidus laughed at their spiky haired friend in amusement. He was so shy and too modest to admit that he did have his own attractiveness to him. The girls found Cloud very appealing but the blond was so naïve and inexperienced that he couldn't tell if a girl was hitting on him even if she came and kicked him in the shin.

" Oh please. Give yourself more credit Cloud! You're just as kind and gentle as she is. Hell you're practically a male equivalent of her." Shuyin said.

" Yeah, and she really seems to like you. A lot. So just give it a try."

" Tidus is right Cloud. You'll never know unless you give it a try."

Cloud found himself looking at his friends dejectedly, knowing that they were right. How embarrassing! Love advice from boys younger than he was! Well, at least Vincent was older, so that was ok. And of course, Squall had remained quiet the entire time, nibbling away at his slice of pepperoni pizza. Wait-

" Hey when did you get that?"

Squall chewed casually, a bored look on his face and cast Tidus a sidelong glance.

" The waitress came by while you guys were busy immerging your selves in Cloud's love life." He said flatly.

Shu snickered.

" Love life? What love life? That's the issue that we're trying to address, no thanks to you."

" Its not my place to poke my nose in other peoples business, smart ass."

" Well, as Cloud's friends, we should help him when he's down, should we not?"

Squall cast him a sidelong glance and regarded him grudgingly.

" Fine but no funny business. And if you end up embarrassing the hell out of Cloud, don't come running to me when he kicks your sorry ass."

Shuyin faked a hurt look and placed a hand to his chest in mock shock at Squall's "hurtful" words. Everyone else shook their heads disapprovingly but settled into their food instead of kicking up another argument and cause a scene in public. There was always another time and place for that. Namely, Cloud's house.

It was ten thirty and the boys were still up trying to come up with a plan to get Cloud the girl of his dreams. It was fortunate that he wasn't amongst them at that moment for he was in the shower as his friends discussed numerous tactics about how to go about the situation. Some of the ideas were far better then others but they never seemed to be very realistic. That was their current problem and they racked their brains for the solution that seemed to evade them over and over again. It was a little frustrating but after awhile, Tidus came up with an answer to their dilemma. That night as they all fell asleep with out a repeat of the night before, they all thought about how they were going to put their plan into motion.