Tidus had just finished the dishes when the phone rang. The blonde got the cordless off its hanger on the wall and answered it.
"Hello?"
"Hi...Tidus?"
The blonde blinked, surprised. "Lulu? How did you get my number?"
"Looked it up in the school directory." Lulu replied.
"I didn't know there was one."
"Login to the school's website." She replied. "Your ID and password are in the binder they gave you...probably tucked some where in the back."
"Guess I have to unpack the computer..."
Lulu laughed softly. "Anyway, the reason I called is do you want to go to a party?"
"Yours?"
"No. One of Chappu's dumbass friends. I just thought this would be a good opportunity to introduce you around."
"Uh...I don't know..." Tidus replied.
"Come on. We won't stay that long."
The blonde thought it over and sighed. "Where do I meet you?"
"What street do you live on?"
"Papaya Dr."
"Ah cool. I'm only a block away from you. Go west and turn left when you leave your street. Walk down to Bay St. and wait there. Party starts at ten so meet me at the corner around nine."
"Okay. See you then."
"Bye."
Tidus and Lulu hung up. The blonde sighed heavily. He knew Rin and Auron wouldn't let him go. He'd have to sneak out...and bribe Shuyin to stay quiet. Tidus sighed again and walked down the hall to the bedroom he shared with his brother. Shuyin was sitting cross-legged on his bed with his homework sitting in his lap. Tidus walked up and sat beside his brother.
"Hey Shuyin." Tidus said.
"Hey." Shuyin replied with a smile. "Something I can do for you?"
"That was Lulu on the phone. She wants me to go to a party with her."
The older blonde grinned. "What time do you have to meet her at?"
"Nine."
"Good. That's enough time for you to do my homework for me in exchange for my silence and covering for you if the parental unit finds out."
Tidus rolled his eyes but held his arms out to receive Shuyin's binder and text book. He did his brother's math homework while the storm outside intensified. Shuyin watched some lightning spider across the sky and whistled.
"Some storm. Better be careful walking to and from the party." Shuyin said. "Visibility for drivers has to be shitty."
"I will." Tidus replied.
It didn't take Tidus long to finish Shuyin's homework. Soon they were lying on their respective beds, Shuyin listening to his discman and Tidus reading a surfing magazine.
It was about 8:30 when Auron poked his head in.
"Goodnight boys."
"Night dad." They replied.
You could tell when Auron had a bad day at work when he went to bed at any time before eleven in the evening.
"8:30... he must've had a really crappy day." Tidus said.
"Yeah..."
"Well I better go. I have to meet Lulu."
"Have fun little bro. I'll prop the window open after Rin goes to bed."
"Thanks Shu."
Tidus kissed his brother on the cheek, put a black raincoat on, and slipped out the window. Shuyin walked over to his brother's bed and arranged it so it looked like the blonde was fast asleep under the sheets. He put his CDs and discman away then proceeded to unpack his things.
The bathroom window was frosted glass so it was impossible to see in or out of. Nevertheless Tidus hoped Auron hadn't noticed a shadow quickly pass by the window. The blonde followed Lulu's instructions and walked down to Bay St. He stood under the awning of a store as he waited for Lulu to show.
It was 9:10 P.M. when a dark purple car drove up and eased to a stop in front of Tidus. The blonde's mouth fell open slightly.
"No way..." He murmured.
The passenger window rolled down.
"Hey little boy. Want some candy?" A familiar voice inside the car teased.
"Lulu! Nice car!" Tidus exclaimed.
"Oh it's not mine. It's Jaime's car. He lets me borrow it whenever I want though. C'mon, get in."
The blonde nodded and got into the car. Lulu looked him over and shook her head.
"You've never been to a High School party have you?"
"Is it that obvious?" Tidus blushed.
Lulu nodded. "You didn't change."
It was just then that Tidus noticed Lulu wasn't wearing her school clothes. She'd changed into a pair of black leather pants and a sparkly purple halter top that had "Queen Bitch" written on it in red nail polish. Her outfit was topped off with a pair of strappy, black platform sandals that had purple feathers glued to them. The blonde's blush intensified. And here he was in a T-shirt, jeans, rain slicker, and wet sneakers.
Lulu chuckled softly. "Don't be hard on yourself, Tidus. Just relax. Jaime is an actor. He carries a wardrobe around in the trunk. He's way bigger than you but his skin-tight stuff should fit you just fine."
"Oh I couldn't. I..."
"He won't mind." The girl said, popping the trunk.
The brunette stepped out of the car and rummaged around in the trunk. She closed the trunk and returned with some black cargo pants and a dark blue T-shirt.
"Do you know who 'Razor' is?" Lulu asked, showing him the shirt.
Tidus nodded. "They're one of my favorite bands."
"Cool." She tossed the clothes into Tidus' lap then got back in the car.
After ten minutes of struggling Tidus managed to change. Lulu told him to buckle up and drove off the moment he complied.
"So...what's the name of Chappu's friend who's having the party?" Tidus asked.
"Gippal Ibanez." Lulu replied. "Total pothead."
"Oh..."
The girl looked at Tidus briefly. "I don't expect you to drink or get high. Don't think otherwise."
"Shuyin and I got high...once."
"Oh?"
"Yeah. Rin found out..."
"Lulu chuckled softly. "Uh oh."
"Exactly. We were grounded for a month and a half."
"Ouch."
"Never anger Rin. That's a very bad thing." Tidus laughed.
"I'll remember that." The brunette grinned and turned the windshield wipers on.
Lulu stopped for a red light. Thunder rumbled.
"Is it true that it rains at night a lot here?"
She shook her head. "No. However it is true that we get more thunderstorms than just regular rainstorms."
The light turned green and Lulu continued on.
"Do you have your license?" She asked.
"Yeah, but I don't have a vehicle. Shuyin does all the driving."
"You two look so much alike. You could be twins."
Tidus chuckled. "Yeah...we know..."
The blonde noticed that they were heading for the hills. The ones with the secluded mansions on them.
"The Ibanez family is filthy rich." Lulu explained as if she'd read Tidus' mind. "Gippal's mom owns and runs a successful modeling agency and his dad is in the diamond business."
"And he goes to public school?"
"Gippal hated the private schools his parents sent him to. He purposely flunked out of all of them so they'd have no choice but to send him to public school."
Tidus nodded. He understood that. After a long forty minute drive Lulu finally turned and headed up an immensely long driveway towards a mansion in the distance. Tons of cars were already parked outside. Paper lanterns and chili pepper lights were strung from tree to tree. Lulu parked on the grass between a truck and a motorcycle and got out. Tidus followed suit. They could hear the music already blasting away. The blonde swallowed the nervous lump in his throat.
"No one bites except me. You have nothing to worry about." Lulu teased, taking a hold of Tidus' hand.
Tidus chuckled nervously and let Lulu lead him inside. The house was packed with kids. Most of which he saw packed into the gymnasium that very morning.
"Ah good. I see a lot of the 'people of interest' are already here." Lulu pointed at a blonde. "That's Gippal and the guy beside him is Baralai. Baralai is and isn't a genius at the same time. He is a genius because he gets 100 on almost every test he takes. They wanted him to skip ahead four grades when he was in junior high but he decided not to. At the same time he isn't a genius because he chooses to be Gippal's best friend."
Tidus laughed softly and Lulu grinned.
"Now over there is Dona and her boyfriend, Barthello. I'd stay away from them. Dona is a bitch and Barthello is easily manipulated. Let's see now...over there is Lenne. She's the head cheerleader and really very nice amazingly enough. Oh, over there is Yuna. She can be kind of spacey but she's nice too. Want to hear some drama?"
"Sure." Tidus nodded.
"Lenne and Yuna are half sisters. Same mother. June, that's their mother, divorced her first husband when she was pregnant with Lenne. She met Braska, Yuna's dad, a few months after Lenne was born. They married and a year later Yuna was born. Then about... two years after that Braska came out of the closet. June divorced him and moved out, taking Lenne and Yuna with her. Later on she married a guy named Masato. He had a daughter from a previous marriage as well. Her name is Sandy. Anyway when Yuna was fourteen she decided to go live with her dad. Braska adopted Yuna while June and Masato adopted Lenne."
"Wow. Messed up." Tidus replied.
Lulu nodded. "That's the biggest drama our school has. Lenne and Yuna don't care who knows. They get along great even though their mother is very bitter towards Braska."
"Not even my family life is that messed up. Poor girls."
The brunette smiled and ruffled Tidus' hair. "Trust me. They're fine."
"If you say so." Tidus replied with a grin.
"Hey! Lulu!" Gippal called.
Lulu sighed and motioned for Tidus to come with her. They made their way through the crowd of teenagers to Gippal.
"Who invited you?" Gippal asked.
"Chappu. Who else? Why? Want us to leave?"
"No, no. It's cool." The blonde put a joint between his lips and lit it. "Chappu is around here somewhere. Wakka is too. The rest of the Aurochs didn't come though."
"Who?" Tidus asked.
Gippal looked up at Tidus and passed the joint to Baralai. "Who's this?"
"New kid. His name is Tidus." Lulu turned to Tidus. "The Aurochs are our school's blitz team."
"I'm sorry...what?"
"Blitz. It's this sport that Wakka invented last year. It's kinda like playing rugby underwater."
"Oh..."
"Wakka got it all copyrighted and shit." Baralai put in, passing the joint back to Gippal. "When it catches on to the other schools Wakka's goin' to be a millionaire."
"But never richer than the Ibanez family." Gippal smirked. "Want a hit?"
Tidus shook his head but Lulu took the joint and had a puff. She made a face.
"Man...for such a rich kid you certainly buy shitty weed." She said, not even bothering to hold the smoke in.
"Hardy har har!" Gippal snatched the joint back and took another hit.
Lulu chuckled and motioned for Tidus to follow her. He did and she led him into the kitchen.
"Want a beer?" She asked, opening the fridge.
"I guess one won't hurt."
Lulu tossed him a beer then grabbed a soda for herself. She saw Tidus looking at her questioningly and smiled.
"I'm driving." She said.
Tidus was impressed by her maturity and smiled. "You only took a hit of that joint so you could sass Gippal didn't you?"
Lulu thumbed the cap off her soda and laughed. "One day and you already know me so well..."
"I'm observant but it takes a while for it to sink in." Tidus chuckled.
The brunette laughed again and held up her soda bottle. Tidus opened his beer and clinked it against Lulu's drink.
"Cheers." They said in unison, taking sips of their drinks.
"Hey Lu, what's new?"
In response Lulu spit a little stream of pop at Chappu. The redhead laughed and opened the fridge door, blocking Lulu's attack.
"I knew you were going to do that." He said, getting a beer out of the fridge.
"Where's Wakka?" Lulu asked after she swallowed.
"He's staying here for the night so he's probably somewhere getting shitfaced."
Lulu nodded and turned to Tidus. "Ready to meet some more people?"
"Sure."
The brunette smiled and Tidus followed her out of the kitchen. They were walking by the front door when a blonde teenage girl flounced in.
"Gippal!" She called, almost knocking Lulu over.
"Babyyyyy..." Gippal grinned, hugging and kissing the girl.
"Who's that?" Tidus asked.
"I don't know. She must be Gippal newest freshman conquest."
"You look hot Rikku-baby." The boy smirked.
Lulu and Baralai rolled their eyes as Rikku giggled.
"Let's go before I yarf." Lulu said.
"Okay."
Tidus and Lulu walked into the living room and Lulu introduced Tidus around. Afterwards they made their way to the Ibanez's indoor pool. People were stripping to their underwear and jumping in the water.
"Ah. There's Wakka."
Lulu pointed to a redhead in black boxers standing on the diving board and shaking his rear at his friends in the pool.
"I was about to say he was more mature than Chappu but I take that back."
Tidus laughed. They watched as Wakka did a backflip into the pool. Once the redhead surfaced he spotted Lulu and swam over. The brunette smiled and crouched by the side of the pool.
"Hi Lulu." Wakka smiled then looked up Tidus. "Who's this?"
"I'm Tidus." Tidus replied, crouching beside Lulu. "I moved here a couple of days before school started.
Wakka nodded and started swimming backwards. "You two should come in. It's fun."
"Can you swim?" Lulu asked.
Tidus chuckled. "Yeah. I've been swimming since I was five."
"Want to go in then?"
"Sure."
"Let's go then."
Lulu and Tidus stripped to their underwear, left their clothes and shoes in a lawn chair, and jumped in the pool. Wakka splashed them as they surfaced.
"Wakka! You nerd!" Lulu laughed, splashing back.
Tidus watched the splash fight with a smile on his face. He turned to see Chappu come running into the pool area. The redhead slipped on the wet brick and landed on his ass. Tidus winced and swam to the edge of the pool.
"Are you ok, Chappu?" He asked.
"Yeah. I heard Lulu was in the pool so I came as fast as I could."
Tidus smiled. "You really like her, huh?"
Chappu smiled sheepishly and stood up, rubbing his sore bum. "You noticed, huh?"
Tidus looked over his shoulder. Lulu and Wakka were still having a splash fight.
"Yeah I noticed."
"Too bad Lulu doesn't feel the same way." Chappu sighed.
The redhead rubbed his bum once more before stripping down and jumping in the pool.
"Wanna race Tidus?" He asked once he surfaced.
"Sure."
The two swam to a empty part of the pool and started to race. They raced four times...Tidus won every time.
"Wow." Chappu said, breathing hard. "You're a really good swimmer."
"Been swimmin' and surfin' since I was five." Tidus replied.
"I saw that." Wakka said as he and Lulu swam up. "You kicked Chappu's ass."
"Ha ha..." Chappu dunked his older brother under the water.
Lulu rolled her eyes and Tidus and smirked. Tidus chuckled. The brunette spotted someone over Tidus' shoulder and she smiled.
"Paine! Over here!"
Tidus turned to see a girl with short silver hair walking up to the edge of the pool.
"Come on. I'll introduce you."
Tidus nodded and swam alongside Lulu. The girl Lulu had called Paine sat cross-legged on the edge of the pool.
"Hey Lulu. I made it." Paine smiled.
"That you did. Paine this is Tidus. Tidus, Paine."
"Hi Paine." Tidus said.
"Hey." Paine nodded.
Lulu looked at Tidus. "I'm getting out. Do you want to come with?"
Chappu swam up and wrapped his arms around Tidus' neck. "He'll be ok with me, Lulu."
"Are you sure?" Lulu eyed Tidus.
Tidus looked kind of frightened but he nodded. "I guess..."
Lulu laughed softly and climbed out of the pool. "I'll find you in an hour."
"Okay."
The brunette got one of the towels that Gippal had laid out and dried off as best she could. She got dressed and walked off with Paine.
"Is Paine like...her girlfriend or something?" Chappu asked his brother.
Wakka shook his head. "Nah. Lulu writes lyrics for Paine's band. They have a big gig coming up soon so they've been working overtime on some songs."
"Ah..."
One of Wakka's friends called his name and the redhead swam off. Chappu looked Tidus over and smiled.
"Let's go find Gippal."
Fingers hurt. Couldn't continue typing ;;; R&R Please .