Tidus stared at Baralai and his mouth dropped open slightly.

"W-what?"

"You're gay aren't you? Or bisexual at least?" Baralai smirked.

"Well…" Tidus' cheeks turned dark red. "Yeah…I'm…"

"Then…my question is valid." Baralai replied.

"I don't know…" The blonde murmured.

"Look, I don't want to start a relationship or anything. I just want to make out so I don't die of boredom."

Tidus swivelled his foot around the ground and looked out at the dance floor. "I'm sorry. I don't think so…"

"Do you mind if I go off to find someone else then?" Baralai asked. "If you don't want to be alone I can stay. We can sit and listen to the music."

"No, go ahead. I'll just dance…" Tidus replied.

Baralai nodded and patted Tidus on the shoulder. "Sorry if I scared you. I won't ask again."

The blonde watched Baralai melt into the crowd and sighed. He wrung his fingers and looked around. Gippal was sitting at the bar playing tonsil hockey with a busty redhead. With a sigh Tidus left the club.

"Uhm…Nicholai…?" He asked the bouncer outside.

"Yes kid?"

"Are…uhm…teenagers allowed downstairs in the parent's club?"

Nicholai nodded and dug a pass out of his pocket. "Put this around your neck and no one down there will hassle you."

Tidus put the pass around his neck then read it. The blue plastic card simply said "Guest of the Ibanez Family".

"Do the Ibanez's own this club?" He asked.

"What don't they own?" Nicholai replied.

With a small smile Tidus made his way downstairs. He was amazed that he couldn't even hear the music from the teen's club down here. Everything must've been sound-proofed. The blonde looked around the dance floor and watched the couples dance. Big change from the scene upstairs. As he was looking around Tidus spotted a girl about his age sitting at the bar. She rested her chin in her hand while she sipped on a Shirley Temple. The teen walked over and sat beside her. The bartender saw the "Guest of the Ibanez Family" card and practically started worshipping Tidus.

"What can I get you sir? Anything! Just name it!"

The girl looked over and Tidus and blinked in surprise at the bartender's actions. Tidus blushed and quietly replied that he'd like a soda water with lemon. The bartender made the drink so fast he almost slopped it all over. When Tidus tried to pay for the drink the man wouldn't accept his money.

"The Ibanez's insist they take care of their friends' drinks." He replied, hurrying away to attend to someone else.

"I wish I got that kind of reaction out of him." The girl beside Tidus smiled. "How do you know the Ibanez's?"

"I go to school with Gippal." Tidus replied. "My name is Tidus by the way."

"Shelinda." The girl said, extending her hand to the blonde.

Tidus shook the girl's hand and nodded.

"So why aren't you upstairs with Gippal?" Shelinda asked, taking another sip of her drink.

"I was kind of…uncomfortable upstairs so I came down here to gather my wits." The teen replied.

Shelinda nodded. "I hate it when my parents make me come here. Neither scene is really for me so I just sit here and try to get Greg's attention."

"Greg?" Tidus questioned.

Shelinda motioned towards the busy bartender. "I think he thinks I'm too young for him. He's 19."

"Do you go to Coastview High School?" Tidus asked.

The girl shook her head. "My parents wouldn't hear of it. I go to Sunset Hills Private All Girls School."

"Sounds…." Tidus trailed off.

"Snooty?" Shelinda chuckled. "It is. Believe me. I hate it there."

"You should be like Gippal and flunk out of every private school until your parents are forced to put you in public school."

Shelinda chuckled again. "I would except I really don't want blotches like that on my records. I'll just have to grin and bare it. I only have two more years after all."

"So…do you know the Ibanez family?" Tidus asked.

"Kind of…not really. My parents probably know them better. My mother is one of Mrs. Ibanez's top models and my father owns the country club in the hills."

"Wow…" Tidus murmured.

"If I didn't have the club I would probably go insane." Shelinda said. "I'm not really into the rich scene...which is quite odd because it's all I've ever known practically…"

The blonde nodded, "So what's at the club that's sanity saving? Another cute bartender?"

Shelinda laughed, "No, nothing like that. They have riding there. Riding is my life."

"I've never ridden a horse before." Tidus replied. "It looks fun though so I understand why it's so sanity preserving."

Shelinda smiled. "You'll have to come with me up to the club one weekend. I'll teach you how to ride."

Tidus blushed. "I'm not rich though…"

The teen snorted softly. "Doesn't matter. You can come as my guest. Guests don't have to purchase a membership."

"Thank-you." Tidus said softly. "Everyone in this town is so nice. Usually it's so hard for me to make friends."

Shelinda smiled warmly at him, "Just moved here, huh?"

"Yes." Tidus nodded.

"Well…not everyone is nice but most people are." The girl said.

"Like everywhere else." Tidus smiled.

Shelinda chuckled softly and nodded. The girl finished her drink off and looked over at the dance floor.

"Want to dance?" She asked.

Tidus took another sip of his water and nodded. "Sure."

Tidus and Shelinda danced and drank soda water until Gippal and Baralai finally came downstairs. Gippal stumbled along, obviously quite drunk. Baralai looked sober but Tidus could tell he was buzzed.

"I should go before one of them gets behind the wheel." He said to Shelinda.

"You better." The girl agreed, watching them go by.

"Really. We should make another entrance for the teen's club…" A woman said in a snooty tone.

Both Tidus and Shelinda laughed softly. The blonde waved to his new friend as he left the club, following his two friends.

"If you were bored you should've come and found me." Baralai said. "You didn't have to go downstairs into dull land."

"It's all right. I had a fun time with Shelinda." Tidus replied.

"Who?"

"That girl I was with. Now…where are Gippal's keys?"

"I've got them." A man said, walking up behind Tidus.

"Who are you?" Tidus asked.

Baralai laughed softly. "This is obviously your first time here, Tidus. This club has its own designated drivers."

"Oh…"

Baralai put Gippal in the passenger seat and buckled him in before climbing into the backseat. Smiling nervously at the designated driver Tidus climbed in the backseat as well.

"Okay…who lives the closest?" The man asked, getting behind the wheel.

"Baralai, Tidus, then me…" Gippal replied.

The driver nodded and started the car. Tidus barely had his seatbelt done up when the man threw the car in reverse and sped out of the parking lot.

Gippal laughed. "This is why I always ask for Javier. He drives like I do…"

Tidus just held onto the seat for dear life and restrained himself from screaming like a little girl. Javier drove much wilder than Gippal did. Even though he had nothing to drink Tidus felt a little queasy by the time they dropped Baralai off.

"See you two at school tomorrow." He said, closing the door and walking up his front walk.

Tidus clung harder to the seat as Javier sped off again.

"Uhm…you have to drive quietly around my house. My parents don't know I'm out…" Tidus said.

Javier nodded and slowed down considerably. Tidus resisted the urge to sigh with relief. He nearly kissed the ground when he got out of the car at his house.

"See you tomorrow, Gippal."

"Goodnight." The teen replied, smiling drunkenly.

Tidus backed away from the car and watched it speed off. He winced at all the noise, hoping that Auron and Rin hadn't been awakened. The porch light remained off and Tidus snuck into his bedroom. Shuyin was fast asleep, nearly falling out of bed. Tidus moved his brother to a more stable position then changed into some pajamas. With a tired sigh the blonde jumped into bed and fell asleep almost instantly.

--------------------------------------

"I heard Baralai propositioned you." Lulu chided as they made their way to class the following morning.

Tidus blushed and shook his head. "Yeah…"

"And I hear you turned him down." The girl's grin widened.

"Yes…"

"All the girls would think you're insane for doing so." Paine reported. "Most of them would give their left eyeball to kiss Baralai."

"But he's never really been interested in girls." Lulu smirked.

Paine snorted. "We all know who he really wants…"

Tidus just looked from girl to girl, his eyes growing wider with every new tidbit of information.

"Who…does he want?" The blonde finally asked.

"Isn't it obvious?" Paine answered. "He wants Gippal."

"But Gippal is either an oblivious straight or an oblivious bisexual." Lulu added. "He's always chasing skirt and popping cherries."

"Total cherry hound…" The other girl nodded.

"Why are we even friends with him?" Lulu asked. "I should kick his ass for breaking freshman hearts…"

"We should…" Paine agreed.

As if on cue Gippal strolled by with Rikku on his arm, Baralai walking behind them looking wry as usual.

"Somehow…I have trouble believing that one is a virgin…" Paine commented, looking Rikku's short pink sundress over.

Lulu snorted softly, "Now Paine, don't judge a book by its cover. It's the in thing to look like a prosti-tot. I bet she's a shy by willing virgin like the rest of the girls Gippal dates."

"Prosti-tot…that's good…" The silver-haired girl smirked.

Tidus just listened to his friend's gossip and nodded once in a while. He figured it wasn't a good idea to put in his two cents right now. The final bell rang and the trio hurried to class.

"So what are you doing this weekend?" Lulu asked while the teacher dictated notes.

"Going surfing with my brother, his friend, and CJ." Tidus replied.

"CJ?"

"Clasko Jr. Shuyin and I met him after school started. He's in the tenth grade."

"Well aren't you Mr. Popular." The girl smirked.

Tidus blushed. "Not really. The people in this town are just nice."

"I'm not nice." Lulu teased.

"You bought lunch for me on the first day…nah…you're not nice." Tidus teased back.

The two shared a chuckle and the teacher gave them a dirty look. They laughed softly again and continued to write their notes. As he was writing a thought suddenly occurred to Tidus. He stopped writing and stared at his paper. Lulu knew that Baralai had asked him to make out. Does that mean she now knew he was gay?

"What's wrong?" Lulu whispered in his ear.

Tidus blinked and pulled himself out of his thoughts. He chewed on his lower lip nervously as he wrote a note to Lulu on a divider in her binder:

Since you know about…the thing with Baralai…does that mean you know I'm…

Lulu smiled kindly and wrote back on Tidus' divider:

No shit I know, Tidus. But I don't care. Yah love who you love.

The blonde smiled, clearly relieved, and went back to writing his notes. He didn't even notice that Lulu had written him another note until the class was over:

I don't care, but others might. They also may care more because you hang out with Gippal and I. Even though Gip is popular it's only because he throws wicked parties and sells them weed. They don't actually respect him.

"What about you?" Tidus asked once they were out in the hallway.

"What about me?" Lulu replied.

"In your note you said 'Gippal and I'. What's wrong with you?"

"They don't like Lulu because she's a cynical goth." Paine answered for her friend. "If you're not rich and preppy you're not human in their eyes."

"They're not all like that though." Lulu amended. "Wakka, Lenne, and Yuna are actually nice."

"True." Paine nodded.

Tidus nodded too. Having friends was sort of complicated. He honestly had no idea that high school was like this. That people didn't like you just because of how you dressed or who your friends were. It was…well…crazy.

"I suppose befriending a freshman and a private school girl isn't a good move either." The blonde grinned.

Lulu laughed and ruffled her friend's hair. "No probably not, but that's ok. We don't care."

Poor naïve Tidus… XD;; R&R Please .