Well, here's chapter two and I'm still not getting any work on TLR. Heh! I think it's almost amusing. Oh, I changed a few things about the Caraway Mansion. And I couldn't remember, is Angelo a boy or a girl? I just guessed…

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Final Fantasy series, characters, places, and nada. I'm a Poo white kid.

Chapter Two

"Memories"

Rinoa sat up in her room searching through her closet for her old scrapbook. She wanted to see the pictures of the past she had tried so hard to forget. She went through box after box, looking for that one thing. She'd search the whole house upside-down if she had to, but that wasn't necessary. She finally found it in the very back of her closet and was surprised that it was still in rather good condition. Staring at its cover, she was almost afraid to open it.

The book was cream colored and large. On the cover was a picture of her old house in Deling City. It really wasn't a house. It was more of a mansion, appropriately named the Caraway Mansion. It was brick, three stories tall and surrounded by trees. It sat on just about 18 acres and was located just outside of the city. If one wanted to be technical, he or she could state that the house itself was situated within the Deling City limits but the land was outside of those limits. Rinoa had spent much of her time inside that great house, either inside the library or her room. Her "father" hardly ever allowed her do anything so she wasn't able to do much. Rinoa had to smile to herself as she remembered that old house. It had more secrets than she had found and the several that she had found usually left her with regret.

She ran two of her fingers down over the cover of the scrapbook. She was afraid to open it, but knew she was going to rather she actually had the desire to or not. She had already wasted too much time searching for this scrapbook, and she now felt it as part of her duty to look through it. After all, it couldn't be that bad, could it?

Rinoa stood and carefully carried the old book out of her closet and over to her bed. She sat down and leaned her back against the headboard and balanced the large book on her knees. She stared for a few more minutes at the front cover before finally opening it to se the contents within.

She sat there for just about an hour and a half, looking through the book, reliving the memories that she had kept buried for so long. She may just be seventeen, but she had lived through much more than people thought. She flipped through the thick pages, looking at some things more than others. She was actually looking for one thing in particular. She knew that it had to be in here somewhere, but she was having mixed feelings about getting to it.

She hadn't really meant to lie to her friends about knowing that guy. She had known him rather well a long time ago, but that was then and this is now. She had barely recognized him back at Joe's, so it was obvious that he had changed at least some. But she still wanted to find that picture. She just wanted to see into the past.

She eventually found what she had been searching for. It was still as she partially remembered. It had a page all to itself, decorated with little hearts and stars and messages like, "Whatever," and "Friends Forever." She had to mentally ask herself what she had been thinking. And after a few moments, she received a shrug from herself. She had no idea what she had been thinking back then and frankly, she honestly didn't care. What happened in the past, could stay in the past. It didn't matter to her, and she was determined to not let it bother her.

She closed the old book without even going through the rest of it. She returned it to the box she had found it in, allowing it to become forgotten once again, allowing it to die with the past. She had gotten what she had been searching for and no longer needed it. She actually didn't even want to see it anymore. It was a part of her that she wanted to die and never have anything to do with anymore. It wasn't as if all her memories were bad from her old home, but she did have enough of those bad memories to make her wish to forget and keep going like that part of her never happened. Yes, it may be an unhealthy way to do things, but if it stopped her from getting hurt again, then she was okay with it.

Rinoa returned to her bed and tried to push the painful thoughts from her mind. She really had no interest in reliving all those things, but she had brought it onto herself when she went searching for that old scrapbook. She had never thought that she would ever have to remember those old memories. It was strange.

"I need to stop dwelling in the past." Rinoa whispered to herself. A small noise caught her attention and she looked over at the door as a frown crept up to her face. Angelo pushed the door open with her nose and stuck the rest of her head in, grinning at Rinoa and showing a pink tongue.

"Hey, girl." Rinoa smiled and patted the bed in front of her, and Angelo ran over and up onto the bed, curling up in Rinoa's lap. Rinoa scratched the dog behind the ears lovingly, while she thought. Things were certainly going to change now. She was afraid that they weren't going to be good changes either. It was definitely going to be difficult to adapt to these new changes. These three guys were from Esthar. Esthar people were crazy, and one could expect their weekends to have a little more spice in them from now on. Maybe that was a good thing. It was starting to get pretty dang dull around this little town. There was only so much that one could do here without getting bored very quickly.

"What do you think is going to happen, girl?" Rinoa asked the dog that was resting on her lap and bed. The dog didn't answer her but just licked her hand affectionately. It would have been a lot easier if her canine companion could talk. Maybe then, life wouldn't be so hard. Rinoa smiled at this thought as she scratched Angelo's belly. Even though the dog couldn't speak, she still enjoyed her company. Rinoa had had Angelo for as long as she could remember and didn't know what she would do without the energetic, loving dog.

Rinoa saw her cell phone begin to vibrate over on her desk and knew that it had to be her friends. She had left Joe's very quickly, and they were probably all curious as to why she had behaved so strangely. Well, as far as she was concerned, they could stay curious, because her lips were sealed.

She sighed and reached over for it. Quistis and Selphie both wouldn't let her by without an explanation. Yes, her friends were like that. Just as her hand was about to grab the phone, she stopped. They could wait. She needed some time to herself for a while. She needed to clear her thoughts.

The phone continued to vibrate, but Rinoa never answered it.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

"Well, she's not picking up," Selphie dropped her cell phone onto the counter. Most of the gang was still at Joe's. Everyone had been introduced to Squall, Drag, and Zion, and then the guys left with Seifer. The past twenty minutes had been pretty boring, and Selphie was seriously considering leaving.

"Just leave her alone, my gosh." Zell stated. "If she knows him, then she knows him. It's really none of our business."

"It may not be your business, but it's soon going to be mine. A hot guy like that? And she knows him! I want to know this juicy story. Come on, you know it's going to be good!" Quistis rubbed her hands together and an evil smile was produced.

"Quistis! What if Rinny doesn't want us to know? She won't tell us if she doesn't want us to know." Selphie exclaimed.

"But, Selphie, we don't have to talk to Rinoa. We have the other member of this flame here now, so all we have to do it work our feminine charm on him, you know bat our eyes, and we'll have the whole story. It's simple."

"And what makes you think that he's going to talk to us anyway?" Zell demanded, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Oh, please. He's from Esthar. All guys from Esthar are conceited, and if they've been with a hot girl, they're bound to tell all." Quistis pointed out, but then drew back a little. "No, that's not right." She looked over at Irvine flirting with a bunch of cheerleaders and smirked. "All guys are pretty much like that."

"Oh, I beg to differ!" Zell yelled. No one paid too much attention to him, and he began to pout. "And don't you remember? He said he couldn't remember back that far."

Quistis rolled her eyes and had a sudden urge to smack Zell on the side of the head. Sometimes he was just so stupid. "Zell, are you honestly that blind? He was clearly lying! I'm willing to bet that he remembers. Oh, yes. He remembers."

"Quistis, I really don't think this is such a good idea. If Rinny really wanted us to know, then she would have said something by now. And she hasn't. I think we should just drop it." Selphie insisted, drumming her fingers on the countertop.

"That's because we never asked. It's simple!" Quistis slipped off the stool and fixed her skirt. She flashed them an evil smile and stalked off.

"Besides, have you ever known Quistis to just drop something? He just keeps on and on and on until you give in. She's not going to let this on go." Zell crushed the can left by Quistis and tossed it into the recycling bin that sat a few feet away.

"I'm just afraid that Quistis is going to dig up something that Rinny really doesn't want dug up, you know?" Selphie sighed. Rinoa was her best friend, and she didn't want to see her get hurt.

"I'm sure if Quistis went too far, she'd pull back. I don't think she's that cruel. Rinoa's her friend too. I don't think she'd intentionally hurt her." Zell tried to reassure her.

"I hope not. Rinny's my best friend." The brown-haired girl sighed.

"I think it should be okay. Don't worry." Zell patted her shoulder gently.

"Thanks, Zell." She reached around and hugged him. "You really know how to cheer a person up!"

Zell laughed and hugged her back before she let go. "I'm glad I can help." He started to walk towards the exit but turned around and looked at her. "Do you need a ride home?"

Selphie grinned. "Yeah, my car's almost fixed." She grinned and grabbed her coat and other stuff before running over to join him.

"Well, that's a relief." Zell laughed as the two headed out the door.

It felt like such a strange Friday. No one was at Joe's. The place was pretty much deserted, and it wasn't even 9 o'clock yet. Things were definitely strange to change, and they were either going to be good changes or bad changes. It would take time before they knew the outcome of those changes.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Squall sat in Seifer's living room with Drag and Zion. He'd seen Seifer's parents again and they were so happy to see him, they said. He'd known Seifer and his family since he was really young. The guy was his best friend, and when he left Esthar two years ago, things got boring. There's only just so much you can do without your best friend.

But that wasn't what was stuck on his mind. When he saw Rinoa, he didn't quite recognize her at first. She had changed a lot since he last saw her in Deling City, but damn, did she look good! When Seifer had started to introduce her, he knew it had to be her. It may have been awhile since he saw her, but he still remembered her. In fact, he remembered all of their adventures, everything that happened back then. And he was slightly disturbed that she said she didn't remember him. Granted, he had been expecting her to run and jump into his arms, but still. Why had she done that? They used to be such good friends. What happened? True, they hadn't seen each other in almost sic years, but would you forget a person you spent so much time growing up with? It bothered him. It really bothered him.

"Dude? Are you alright?" Seifer plopped down on the couch.

"Yeah, I'm just tired. I guess that eight hour drive has finally gotten to me." Squall yawned. He doubted if he could sleep even if he tried. There was too much on his mind.

"hey, Squall? Are we actually going to move into the house tomorrow?" Zion asked.

"That's the plan. Mom said she'll be here in the morning. I don't know the exact time, but knowing her, it'll be right at the crack of dawn." Squall answered. He had to stifle another yawn and felt his eyes water.

"Oh, yay! We get to see Auntie Raine's bright and smiling face before the sun comes up. It's going to be a long day, I can already feel it." Drag sighed. He let his hair hand loose out of the ponytail, and it hung past his shoulders, curling at the ends.

"have you guys even seen your new house yet?" Seifer asked, staring at the large TV in front of him that Zion was seemingly changing the channels on, trying to find something good to watch.

"We've seen pictures. That's just about it. We haven't actually seen the house in the flesh or whatever. We've got the address, though." Drag replied, hitting Zion with a pillow, trying to get him to pick a channel and stick with it.

"Where is it?"

"On the other side of this neighborhood. I think the street's called Avenue Q or something like that." Zion shrugged, rubbing his head where his brother hit him with the pillow. It actually hurt.

"Oh, so you're moving into Selphie, Quistis, and Rinoa's section of the neighborhood." Seifer evaluated for them, considering he knew the neighborhood better.

Squall's eyebrows shot up when he heard Rinoa's name. So he was going to live near Rinoa? How interesting. He'd have to find a good excuse to "pester" her.

"This neighborhood is pretty big, isn't it?" Zion took his attention away from the TV and looked back at Seifer. Drag found that a wonderful opportunity to steal the remote and hide it. He whipped it right out of his hand and it took the other guy a few minutes to realize what had happened.

Seifer laughed at the two of them as they began to fight for the remote. Actually, it wasn't much of a fight. Drag just had a hand on Zion's forehead, keeping him from moving while he put the TV on a channel that was tolerate and the stuck the remote in the pocket of his baggy pants, out of Zion's reach. Zion muttered, "Oh, Man!" And plopped himself back down where he had been previously seated.

"Yeah, it's pretty big, but only because the houses are huge. If you ever see Quistis or Rinoa's houses, you'd understand. They both live in, huge, mansion-like houses!" Seifer exclaimed. Squall wanted to say something, but thought against it. "But anyway, from the pictures you've seen, do you like it?"

"It seems okay. I can live with it." Drag smiled when a Bud Light commercial came on. A funny memory popped into his head about the time the four of them had gone to a party with four other hot girls. That had been a real fun night.

"What's with the grin, Drag?" Zion asked his brother, smacking his knee. Drag gave him a dirty look, which was returned by a sheepish grin.

"Nothing. I'm just thinking of something."

"What?" Seifer, Zion, and Squall all asked in unison.

"I just remembered the time when we all went to that huge party Nikki threw with those for girls that we didn't even know." They all nodded, but knew where his memory was going. They all remembered that particular memory. Good times.

"Oh, very nice." Zion closed his eyes and produced a goofy grin.

Out of the blue, Seifer, Squall, and Drag started laughing at the other guy. He was so pathetic, but hey, boys will be boys.

A/N: Well, there's chapter two? What do you think so far? I like it. It's way more relaxed than my other (how many was it again?) million stories. I guess that's why I've written a whole lot more for this one in the past month and a half. Once again, I've gotten the first ten chapters in a notebook that I'm typing up and posting as I get there. I'm still trying to work on my other stories, too, but something is telling me to finish this one first. I'm sorry. I just have to do the difficult things, don't I? Anyway, I'm going to finish my math homework. Later Days! (You thought I had forgotten, didn't you?) R&R

And as for that "something" you'll just have to wait until chapter 9, Kitsu!