Sunlight shone in through the window. It spilled across Tidus' face and a sharp pain assaulted his skull.
"Holy hell..." He moaned, rolling onto his stomach.
"Close. More like holy hangover." Shuyin replied with a grin.
"Ugh..." Tidus groaned in response.
"Sleep as late as possible. You gotta look lively in front of the parental unit."
Tidus just buried his face in his pillow and didn't answer. He felt like crap from the hangover but he also had a slight sniffle from being out in the rain. Shuyin grinned at his brother once more then got out of bed. He changed and made his way into the kitchen where Rin was already making breakfast.
"Let Tidus sleep in." He said. "He didn't get a very good sleep last night."
"But he went to bed so early..."
"Heard him tossing and turning all night. I didn't get a good sleep either because he kept wakin' me up."
"Poor Tidus." Rin frowned. "I hope he isn't coming down with something."
"I'm sure he'll be ok."
Shuyin snatched a hashbrown from Rin's frying pan then went down the hall to have a shower.
------------------------
Tidus hung between awake and asleep until Rin called him for breakfast. With another groan the blonde rolled out of bed. He very slowly changed into clean clothes. His mouth felt as dry as cotton and there was an awful taste on his tongue. On the upside his head didn't hurt as much as it did before. Tidus shuffled his way to the bathroom, washed his face, and brushed his teeth. He had subtle dark circles under his eyes but otherwise he looked ok. With a slight nod Tidus walked down the hall to the kitchen.
"How are you feeling, Tidus?" Rin asked. "Shuyin said you tossed and turned all night."
"I'm ok." Tidus replied. "Just kind of tired is all."
The blonde sat down and looked his breakfast over. He didn't really feel like eating. However he didn't want suspicion to arise so he ate bits and pieces of his meal.
"Well I'm off to the rat race." Auron said, taking his emptied plate to the sink. "See you, Rin. Bye Tidus, Shuyin."
Rin stood and kissed Auron good-bye. Tidus and Shuyin waved at their guardian and the man left. Rin took the empty dishes to the sink.
"I'm almost done unpacking everything." Rin said.
"You should wait for us to come home from school. We'd help if you asked y'know." Shuyin offered.
"No, it's ok. I really don't mind. It gives me something to do all day."
"Don't worry Rin. You'll find another job." Tidus replied quietly.
The blonde smiled at the two brothers. "I hope so. Being a full-time housewife is driving me insane."
They all shared a good laugh. Shuyin caught the time on the clock out the corner of his eye.
"Wow. We'd better get a move on, T."
The two blondes hugged Rin, gathered their things, and left for school.
"So do you remember any of last night?" Shuyin asked.
"I remember going to the party, jumping in the pool, and meeting new people. Things get kind of fuzzy after I went up to Gippal's room with him and his friends."
Shuyin and Tidus buckled up and Shuyin started his truck. He backed out of the driveway and headed for school.
"I remember having to vomit my guts up." Tidus continued. "And..."
Shuyin grinned as his brother's cheeks turned red.
"And what? What'd you do Tidus?"
"I remember stripping in the street."
The older blonde laughed. "Excellent."
Tidus moaned. "I hope I didn't do anything that caused me to lose Lulu's friendship."
"I'm sure you didn't, Tidus. You probably entertained her if anything."
"I hope so..."
"Don't sweat over it, T."
Shuyin turned into the school parking lot and parked in his assigned space. Lulu was sitting on one of the park benches in front of the school with Gippal and Baralai.
"Don't be afraid, bro. It wasn't the first time they've seen a drunk person I'm sure." Shuyin said, collecting his bag from the back seat and exiting his vehicle.
With a long sigh Tidus got out of the truck as well and walked over to Lulu.
"Look who it is." Gippal grinned. "How's your head, bud?"
"Don't ask." Tidus replied with a half-hearted grin.
Lulu chuckled. "You kept calling me 'nice lady'."
The blonde blushed. "I was afraid I did and said the worst."
"Naw. You're an ok drunk." The girl replied.
"Rikku's not coming to school today. Man she was wasted..." Gippal said.
Baralai shook his head. "I don't know what you see in the vapid valley girls that you pick up."
"And here I thought you were a genius, Baralai." Lulu replied. "Vapid and easy. That's what he sees in 'em."
Gippal scowled at his friends while Baralai and Lulu chuckled evilly. Tidus just stood there and smiled. His head hurt.
"Want some aspirin?" Baralai asked. "I have some."
"Sure. Thanks."
Baralai handed the aspirin to Tidus and Lulu gave him her bottled water. The blonde swallowed the pills with a mouthful of water and thanked his friends. The bell rang loudly, jarring Tidus' head. He moaned. Gippal winced too.
"The ringing in my head says it's time to get to class." Gippal smirked, walking off.
"Ugh." Tidus moaned again.
Lulu chuckled and linked her arm through his, leading him into the school. Baralai followed behind them.
"What class do you two have first?" The brunette asked.
"Math." Tidus replied.
"Biology."
"And I have band. See you later, boys."
Tidus bid good-bye to Baralai and went into his math class. His head was still throbbing slightly. The blonde sat in his assigned seat and folded his arms on his desk, resting his head on them. The teacher didn't even seem to notice and started prattling on about this and that.
"Hey. You..." Someone whispered.
Tidus looked up to see that girl Lulu had called Yuna was talking to him. He hadn't even noticed that she was at the desk next to him. She smiled kindly at him.
"I saw you at the party last night. Rough morning, huh?"
"Yeah." He replied, smiling slightly.
"Did you take any aspirin or anything like that?"
"Yeah. Baralai gave me some. It's sort of working."
"They need to make alcohol that doesn't hurt your brain or aspirin that works faster." Yuna giggled quietly.
Tidus smiled and chuckled. Yuna was spacy all right. Oh well. Like Lulu had said Yuna was nice.
"They only invite me because of Lenne. If she wasn't my half-sister they probably wouldn't even talk to me. I assume someone told you 'bout me and Lenne."
"Yes." Tidus nodded.
"It's like so messed up but Lenne and I don't care. Well...I kinda care. I wish my mother didn't hate my father."
Tidus didn't really know what to say. "Maybe she'll come to accept him eventually."
The blonde's eyes widened as Yuna nearly laughed out loud. "I highly doubt that."
"Mr. Spardas, Ms. Solei. I trust your whispered conversation is more important than learning?" The teacher asked.
"No sir." Tidus replied quietly.
"Sorry Mr. Fuller." Yuna smiled.
Mr. Fuller nodded and went back to talking. Tidus lay his head on his arms again and didn't lift it up until the noise of students changing classes started in the hallway.
"Pages 164-165 questions 1,2,3,4,and 5: A through P. Due tomorrow. Quiz on Thursday."
The entire class groaned. Tidus dumped his stuff into his backpack and stood up.
"What class do you have now?" Yuna asked as she bounced to her feet.
"Enligsh. You?"
"Art. I really like art. It's loads of fun."
Tidus tried not to laughed. "That's great."
"Yup! Well...see you later, Tidus!"
Yuna smiled widely at him and literally bounded off. The blonde chuckled and shook his head before heading to his English class. There was no assigned seating in this class so Tidus sat right in the back by the window. The sun shining down on his head instead of directly into his face made him feel a bit better. All he wanted to do was sleep.
"Hey Tidus." Chappu said, sitting in front of Tidus. "Is Lulu mad at me?"
"I don't know." The blonde replied. "If she mentioned so after the party I don't remember and she didn't say anything this morning."
The redhead sighed deeply and thunked his head on his desk before turning back to Tidus.
"Are you mad at me?"
"No. You didn't get me drunk. I got myself drunk."
"Tell that to Lulu."
"If you want me to I will."
"Nah. It wouldn't make a difference anyway."
Fortunately Mrs. Kazama, the English teacher, was pregnant and didn't feel so good herself. Therefore she didn't feel like teaching her class. The entire class lit up when she waddled in pushing a cart with a TV perched atop it. Since they were studying the works of Oscar Wilde she thought it relevant enough to pick up the movie about his life. Mrs. Kazama plugged the TV in and opened the tape case.
"Wasn't Oscar Wilde a total fag? I don't want to watch an entire movie of him and his boyfriend having butt sex." A guy on the other side of the classroom said.
Mrs. Kazama straightened up and waddled her way over to him.
"I will not tolerant that kind of foul language and derogatory slurs in my classroom, Mr. Rogan. Second of all this movie contains no sexual scenes of any kind. Now go see the principal."
Tidus watched as "Mr. Rogan" gathered his stuff and left the classroom muttering to himself. Mrs. Kazama made her way back to the TV and put the movie in the VCR. She turned it up way too loud like most teachers did then went to sit at her desk and sleep with her eyes open. Chappu opened his binder and started to doodle, only half-listening to the movie. Tidus was just happy that he could sleep and he set his head down on his desk.
"Chappu, wake me up if the bell doesn't." Tidus murmured.
"Okay." Chappu whispered back.
With the sun shining down on him Tidus dozed off into a warm and comfortable sleep.
The blonde was awakened it seemed like seconds later by Chappu and the sound of the bell tapering off.
"Come on, Tidus. It's time for morning break. We'll get you some coffee and the most sugar covered doughnut they have."
Tidus nodded stiffly and stood up. His head and neck were aching and he felt like crap.
"What'd I miss?" He asked.
"Just a boring movie. We're finishing it next class and Kazama didn't assign any homework."
Tidus nodded and followed the redhead to the cafeteria. They only had to stand in line for a few minutes. Tidus bought himself a coffee with sugar and a chocolate-glazed doughnut. He saw Lulu and Paine sitting at a table drinking their coffee and went to sit with them. Chappu showed up a minute later with two doughnuts hanging out of his mouth and one in each hand.
"How in the hell can you consume that much sugar in the morning?" Paine asked. "That'd make me barf."
"I need it to keep going, darlin'." Chappu mumbled around his mouthful of junk food.
The redhead sat next to Paine and carefully stacked his doughnuts on a napkin. Tidus chuckled softly and sipped his coffee.
"I heard you got totally hammered last night." Paine grinned at him. "How are you feeling?"
"Immensely crappy." Tidus replied with a small smile.
"He kept calling me 'nice lady'." Lulu snickered, taking a sip of her coffee.
Paine laughed. "How cute."
"You know that Yuna is in my math class?"
"Really?" The brunette raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah and you're right...she is kinda spacy."
Lulu chuckled and finished her coffee off. "That she is. Good thing she's nice."
"Yeah." Paine agreed.
Lulu looked at the wall clock. "I'd better get going. My French class is on the third floor. If I want to get there on time I'd better go."
"I'll go with you. I've got History class on the second floor." Paine replied. "See you later, boys."
"See you at lunch, Tidus." Lulu said, standing up.
The two girls left the cafeteria and Chappu sighed. He licked the icing of his last doughnut then picked at it.
"She is mad at me. She didn't talk to me at all."
Tidus gave the redhead a sympathetic look. "I'll talk to her."
"No, it's ok. I got her mad at me so I should be the one to get her unmad."
The blonde laughed softly. "Unmad?"
"Yes. I have a poetic license. Don't bug me." Chappu grinned.
The two boys laughed.
"So what class do you have now?" Chappu wanted to know.
Tidus replied, "Chemistry."
"That's a class you definitely can't sleep through."
"Tell me about it. What class do you have?"
"Computers."
"I'll trade you classes. I think I need more sleep." Tidus teased.
The redhead laughed. "If I could I would."
The blonde was just finishing off his coffee and doughnut when the bell sounded. Tidus stood up, bid goodbye to Chappu, and headed to class. The aspirin he'd taken was starting to wear off and his head was beginning to throb.
If I survive this day I will never, ever drink again... The blonde thought as he rubbed his sore head and walked to class.
Poor Tidus. He's really feelin' those drinks now ;; R&R Please .