Chasing Perfection
CHAPTER T W O .
I roll over in my bed, my eyes blinking open groggily. I turn over to look at my clock. 5:43AM. I sigh and turn the other way, attempting to force myself asleep. I do this a lot for some reason -- I wake up in the middle night, feeling like I've gotten a whole night's sleep. It can be really disturbing sometimes. With no luck in falling asleep, I sit up in bed and rub my eyes sleepily.
I glance around my dimly lit room for something to do that won't wake any one up. My eyes stop on my big screen television sphere and I sigh aggravatedly. I stand up and shuffle over my soft carpet to my sofa, collapsing onto it and switiching on the television with my remote. I search through maybe about five hundred channels and not a single thing is on.
'Well, it is 6AM...' I think to myself stupidly when I hear a knock at my door and a groggy voice chirp my name.
"Yunie... Yunie is that you?" I mute the t.v. and turn my head toward the entrance of my bedroom to see my drowsy cousin in her pink polka dotted PJ's. She glances toward the t.v. and looks at me peculiarly. "What are you doing up so early?"
"I could ask you the same question," I tease playfully with a grin. Rikku sighs and approaches my couch, falling onto the arm of it. She yawns and stretches and stares at the glowing, muted sphere blankly.
"Um... Rikku?" I speak, my voice no higher than a whisper. "Are you alright?" I lean forward and look her in the face curiously.
"Oh, yeah, sorry." Her green eyes snap back to me and she looks like she just recovered from a daze. "Y'know, I really needed a little bit more sleep than six hours and a half hours. I have an important test today!"
"Oh, right," I say with a sympathetic wince, "Sorry." I hesitate before asking, "Do you think you can get me that application to your school today?"
"Hm, I dunno," she replies thoughtfully, "Y'see, we don't have a full day of school. The students go, they take the test, and then we're sent home. I'm not sure how seriously they're taking this test, but I guess I could pull a few strings at the office. I know a few monitors there."
"Yay!" I squeal, pulling her into a tight hug. "That school isn't scary, is it?"
"Of course not, Yunie!" she reasurres me confidently. "If it was, then I wouldn't be going there, now would I?"
I nod even though I still feel a bit skeptical about the whole idea. "So, you're gonna drop it off here after school, right? No side trips today?"
"Um, nope, but I'm not staying here long," Rikku says slowly, "I need to get my suntan lotion, sunglasses, towel, change into a bikini and then I'm outta here!"
I let out an aggravated sigh, regretting it slightly after I receive a hurt glance from Rikku. "Beach again, huh?" I hate it when Rikku goes to the beach because she always comes back to tell me a million stories about her social life and it only makes me yearn for one of my own even more.
"Yeah, I'm going with a couple of my friends because they couldn't go yesterday," Rikku explains carefully, "Y'know what, Yunie? You should come with us! It'd be so much fun! And maybe you'd meet a great guy."
"I'll think about it," I say, biting my lip. I have more lessons today and I can't garauntee anything to Rikku. Maybe I'll find a way to get out of violin practice this afternoon to accompany her.
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It's about nine o'clock when I run into Belgemine in the foyer. She greets me cheerfully as I continue to contemplate whether to go to the beach or not. I am pacing back and forth hurriedly, wringing my hands out nervously. I barely hear her and my lacking to return the greeting must trouble her for she stops and furrows her brow at my strange antics.
"Yuna, is something bothering you?" she asks me suspiciously. "Why are you walking back and forth like that?"
I look up, startled, and smile uncomfortably. "Well, this morning, Rikku invited me to go with her and her friends to the beach today, but I don't know whether I should skip the rest of my lessons and go. I don't think Father would be very pleased with me if I do."
Belgemine looks thoughtful for a moment before replying. "Well, I think you've worked acceptionally well this week and maybe it is a good idea for you to get out more. Also, it won't be hard to attract boys with the kind of body that we've cooked up together, huh?" She smiles playfully.
I return the smile, unsure of what to think of this new friendly side of Belgemine. To me, she's always been just an instructor and to her, I've just been a student. We rarely bump into each other in any other parts of the mansion, but when we do, all we offer is a friendly "Hi, how ya doing?" I never knew of this side to her, but I think it is much less strict then her gymnastics instructor personality.
"Yeah, but what about Father?" I say worriedly. "If he finds out that went out in a revealing item of clothing like a bikini to a beach inhabited by tons of teenage boys, then he'd probably murder me!"
"Look, I'll talk to Lord Braska about it," Belgemine leans in and whispers to me, "You just go out and have fun for once in your life! I know you don't like staying cooped up here training a million things a day. You deserve better, Yuna!" She offers me one last smile before heading in the direction of the gym, leaving me quite dazed and mostly overconfident.
I smile brightly before turning on my heel and heading toward my spare room. It feels like a great weight has been lifted off my shoulders as I rummage through my closet, looking for the perfect bathing suit.
Finally, I select a black bikini with a red heart on the back of the bottom piece. It's plain, I've never worn it, but out of all my swim suits, it's my favorite. I search for my suntan lotion and pick out a pair of big, brown sunglasses. I snatch a blue towel from the bathroom and place everything on my night table next to my lamp. Now, to find a good outfit that screams, 'it's summer'!
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As soon as I hear the front door close, I rush out of my room, down the stairs and practically bulldoze Rikku over. "Rik, I've decided I'm going to the beach with you guys!" I squeal excitedly, hugging her. Then I notice the papers in her hands. "Oh, you got my application! Thank you, I love you! C'mon, follow me!"
I lead her back up to my room and place the school application in my bottom drawer of my dresser. My eyes divert over to my bathing suit and outfit I've chosen and turn around to show Rikku.
"You're not gonna fill it out?" she asks me, worry dripping from her tone. Her eyes are glued to the bottom drawer of my dresser.
"Oh, yeah, I'll do it when we get home!" I say, waving the topic away dismissively. "Look what I'm gonna wear!" I hold up my bikini and outfit, smiling widely at her.
"Tysh, I never knew you had flashy clothes like those!" Rikku exclaims, looking from my bathing suit to my outfit. I recognize the Al Bhed she sprinkles in the statement. "Okay, I want you to get ready and I will meet you out in the foyer, alright?" She leaves my room and I immediately start getting dressed.
I slip out of my room, dressed in short denim shorts, a low cut white tank top with a diamond sequence around the edges, and white flip flops. I feel great with the straps of my black swim suit tied around my neck showing above my shirt and sling my handbag containing my suntan lotion, money, and other extra stuff or anything else I might need. My sunglasses are positioned at the top of my head and my towel is slung over my shoulder. I make my way to the foyer where Rikku is waiting for me, dressed in an outrageously short skirt and low cut belly t-shirt. I can see her yellow bikini through her outfit.
Rikku had always been somewhat of a revealing dresser. She compliments me and we continue outside where a red convertible sits out front before the silver gates of the mansion with three girls already sitting in it.
"Those are your friends?" I ask as we approach the car. I eye them suspiciously. Two of them look quite the intimidating. From what I can see, the one in the passenger seat has long black, beaded hair and is wearing dark make up and a black top. The one in the back has short silver hair and is wearing a black, baggy t-shirt. The driver looks much different from the other two and has a soft, pale face and really long brown hair. She's wearing a blue tank top and waves to Rikku.
"Yup," Rikku answers cheerily, lifting her hand in a wave to the brunette. When we get into the car, Rikku seated in the middle, next to me, she introduces me to everyone.
"Everyone, this is the new member of our group," she says loudly. She uses a very odd choice of words, I think. "This is my cousin, Yuna -- the one I've been telling you guys about ever practically day one. Yuna, this is Lenne, our lovely little singer."
She gestures toward the long haired brunette who smiles at me. I return the smile and Rikku continues on to the black haired girl who is sitting in front of me.
"This is Lulu, our wild, insane black magic researcher. And this is Paine, the quiet, shy tomboy of the group. Lulu and Paine are sisters, by the way."
I immediately recognize the similarity between their faces -- especially their identical scarlet colored eyes.
"And, we're off!" Lenne announces, starting her car and driving toward away from the house.
As I include myself in the constant, lively chatter of this new group of girls, I am smiling inwardly. This is my first step toward a healthy social life, and I must admit that I am having quite a good start, comparing myself to other people I've known.
No more will I be thought of as the little, shy, 'daddy's girl' everyone thinks I am.
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Not surprisingly, of course, Rikku had suggested that we don't use the filthy bathrooms to change into our bikinis and that we should just take off our clothes in the car and leave them there. I was very unpleased with the idea, but I did what everyone else had decided to do.
After I got through the billions of compliments from all of the other girls about my chiseled body -- which I didn't exactly hate -- we started out of the parking lot.
Now we are standing on the rather hot sand, looking for a nice spot to, uh, well, camp in, I guess. I've never been to the beach, so I really don't know any good terms yet.
"Ooh, right there looks good," Lenne says, pointing all the way on the other side of the beach. Sure enough, there is an empty space right near the shoreline. It looks pretty good, but I'm not so sure about the teenage girls and boys surrounding the area, a lot of them looking like they're acting much older than they are.
"Alright, let's go!" Rikku squeals after a minute, rushing toward the spot as she dodges all of the other tanners and families. We follow quickly behind her, but I can't help but think she's up to something. It took her awhile before she finally agreed to go to the spot and she made sure she ran over there like lightning.
As I approach my hyperactive cousin, I glance around for anything that might have lured her over here. And, just like I've predicted, there's a group of high school jocks, hitting on some really skimpy looking girls. But in that crowd is a very familiar looking blonde haired, tanned, muscular guy. The only thing that makes him stand out, is the black eye patch that's fastened around his head and covering his right eye.
I watch as Rikku positions herself perfectly in their eyesight and I note how she bends down a lot, pretending to fix her towel. I roll my eyes and call out to her, "Uh, Rikku, I think your towel is good to go." I give her a look that warns her that I know exactly what shes doing and she laughs nervously, attempting to blow off her charade and sits down, gesturing for us to sit with her.
Now, about Rikku's friends, I think I've gotten along pretty well with them thus far. Lenne is really my favorite out of the three, if there was one. She's a lot like me, even if she is a tad bit more outgoing. Okay, maybe a lot more, but I haven't had the chance to get out, anyway, so it doesn't count. Lulu, on the other hand, I've realized, is the much more experienced of the group and it looks like they turn to her for advice a lot. She seems very motherly to them, but not to the point of overdoing it, which I happen to admire. Paine seems a bit like her sister when it comes to morals and intelligence, but she is the very quiet and shy type of the group. She doesn't say much, but I know something must be going on in that mysterious head of hers.
After throwing down my own towel on the sand and sitting down next to Rikku, I watch the other, um... beachers? Well, anyway, I turn around and ask Rikku, "Okay, what do we do now?"
"Uh," Rikku drones, glancing around as well, "Well, usually we just go swimming or flirt with the guys... Or just tan or maybe go get some ice cream or hot dogs." She smiled sheepishly at me.
"Well, I guess out of all of those options, I'd wanna go swimming," I say, trying not to sound too harsh. Then again, they are the cool experts, not me. The topic isn't up for me to judge -- just to obey, which I do find a slight bit upsetting, but I stand up anyway and head toward the shoreline. I can't help but glance in the direction of the blonde guys again, noticing that they have a desirable look at me, as well, before turning quickly and facing the ocean.
"C'mon, let's go!" Lenne urges, pulling Rikku to her feet. "We all know you wanna get nice and wet to look all sleek and sexy for that Al Bhed boy anyway, Rik." She laughs, as do I, when Rikku's eyes widen in surprise.
"Let's go!" I shout, turning around and walking backwards toward the water. Something inside me swerves my eyes over to the group of guys again, hoping that they don't catch me staring again. I break my gaze when I trip over something. I let out a startled scream and my eyes meet my tripper. I feel a sharp pain shoot up my leg from my foot and I wince.
My friends dash up to me to see what happened. I am holding an extremely sharp shell delicately in my hands and examining it uncertainly. I can feel a liquid on the bottom of my foot and I immediately know that it's blood.
"Yunie, are you alright!?" Rikku asks urgently, kneeling down at my side. "What happened!?"
"You're bleeding!" Lenne gasps at me.
Honestly, the cut doesn't feel that bad, but Lulu reaches over and tears off a piece of her bikini -- there's a velvet see-through cloth hanging from the top piece of her swim suit -- and wraps it around my foot tightly to stop the bleeding.
I finally open my mouth to say something. "Rikku, what the hell is this?" I hold up the shell in front of Rikku's face. Upon closer inspection, I see that it has spikes in numerous places.
"Oh, that's a spiked conch," Rikku says as I drop the shell. She bites her lip. "I guess I should've warned you about them. They're usually not so common on this beach, but people get cut on them every once in a while."
"Yeah, just be happy you didn't get it stuck in your foot like that girl on the news," Lenne adds, smiling crookedly. "C'mon, you can't swim in salt water with that right now. We have to wait a little while."
We head back to our towels and I notice that a lot of people are watching me sympathetically, which I really do hate, since I am not used to eyes on me yet. The group of boys are also watching us, I notice, and I see them talking to each other and pointing over here.
I sigh, bowing my head toward the ground, hopefully not looking too embarrassed. It's hard to concentrate on my own thoughts above everyone else's loud shouts and laughter. I roll my eyes at my own attempts to think and look up only to see a pair of legs right in front of my face. I gasp in surprise and fall backwards onto my back.
I hear a small chuckle above me and I shield my eyes from the sun, looking up at the owner of the laugh. I can't see anything around him, for he's bending down toward me, his hand extended.
I take his hand slowly, allowing him to pull me up, but I almost collapse onto him because of the cut on my foot. He catches me and helps me regain my composure. By now my cheeks must look as red as a tomato's. I bite my lip, my voice completely lost.
"Sorry about that," he says in a very smooth voice, "I usually have that kind of affect on the ladies." He winks at me and grins widely. "What's your name anyway?"
"Y-Yuna," I mumble so softly, that I'm actually hoping he heard me so I won't have to repeat myself.
"The pleasure's all mine, Miss Yuna," he says in an odd accent, taking my hand and kissing it, "I'm Tidus, by the way."
It's only then that I realize that the group of guys I was staring at before are all here, sweet talking Lenne and Rikku as well. I feel kind of bad for Lulu and Paine, though, because no one seems to be paying any attention to them, but hopefully they're desires in men are the same as their own personalities, because then I wouldn't blame them for not being interested in any tanned, blonde beach boy jocks anyway.
Tidus falls into a sitting position next to me and I see his eyes glance over to my foot. "That was a nasty spill there," he says, wincing, "I hate those spiked conches. They're really dangerous. I heard a guy murdered someone else with one once."
I'm not sure whether that last statement was a joke or not, so I just keep my mouth shut and avoid his gaze. My stomach is doing somersaults, probably because of the fact that he is extremely good looking, but I keep my gaze out on the ocean.
"What's the matter?" he asks. His voice couldn't be more luring... "Oh, how rude of me. I haven't introduced you to my brother, Shuyin, and my best friend, Gippal."
I smile shyly at them as they offer me tiny greetings and continue to hit on my friends. "Um... is it a natural thing for you guys to just interrupt a group of friend trying to have a nice time out and just start flirting with us?" I'm shocked at my tone and sarcasm in my voice, but Tidus just laughs. He's obviously used to sassy comments... even if they're unexpected, even by the speaker.
"Believe me, Yuna, we're not interrupting you," he replies, "I can think of ten girls who would love to be your position right now." He's still grinning at me and I look at him disgustedly.
"Excuse me?" I say angrily, raising my eyebrows. If I've ever met a more cocky person than this kid, then it would been a miracle.
"Aw, Yuna, relax," he says, reaching over to me. He's still wearing that stupid grin, which I must admit does look kinda cute, but I know better than to be lured in by him.
"Don't touch me," I snap, shoving his hand away from my shoulder, "I have no interest in you whatsoever." I scowl and turn away from him. I would've much preferred to be speaking to him if he was still the same guy he was when he first approached me.
"You would if I wasn't such a flirtatious jerk," he says cunningly. Even though I have my back turned to him, I know he's smiling.
My eyes dart from side to side frantically, "Well, that may be the case, but you are a jerk. So just leave me alone."
"Well, I can change my personality if you'd like," he says and I hear him shuffling around. "You see, I can be a total jerk because some girls like that... Or I can be a total nice guy, which other girls, such as yourself, might like."
"Sorry, I don't like people who are fake," I say, still shocked at what I'm saying. It's just coming to me and my mouth refuses to close itself.
"Oh, it's not being fake," Tidus says and I can feel him coming closer. "I just have more than one personality and I use that to my advantage... So I'm gonna switch to nice guy mode for you."
I scoff in disbelief and turn around to state my next witty comment, but when I turn his face is dangerously close to mine. I try not to faulter and keep my balance with my face only centimeters away from his, but I've lost my voice again. I've never been this close to anyone, especially not a guy.
"Your face is flawless," he whispers to me, not able to keep his eyes glued to my own. His voice is completely different and almost gentle... It's as if the boy that had just been speaking to me is gone completely. "Is it naturally that beautiful?"
I curl my lip under my front teeth uncomfortably and move back a bit, only to have him move even forward. Even though he hasn't lost his flirtatious touch, he does seem much nicer. But I know better and say, "I know what kind of guy you are, Tidus. And I'm going to stay away from you, like I have with most guys like you." I know spitting absolute lies, but I can't think of anything else. Besides, I would die if anyone found out how inexperienced I am.
"Oh, really?" he says, raising an eyebrow, but he says nothing more.
"Yeah, well, if this is your 'nice mode', then I would be terrified to hear what your jerk side would say," I tell him, backing away from him. I roll my eyes and look away.
"Oh, my jerk side?" he asks, his voice switching back to its original state, "Well my jerk side would probably say, 'Hey, babe, how the hell does someone who looks as gorgeous as you maintain a smokin' body like that?'"
He says his last sentence in a full-on flirty voice and it sounds so... (even if I do totally hate this word) hot, that I can barely keep the strength in my arms to hold myself up. My stomach does flip flops and I hold back a dreamy sigh. Even though I am greatly urged to, I tell myself not to shiver, despite the chills running up and down my spine.
I curse at myself inwardly as he approaches me, obviously seeing my tiny shiver, "Oh, I'm sorry, did that voice maybe appeal to you?" He smiles at me, using the same voice he just used before, and I look away, fighting off another shiver.
"Nothing about you appeals to me," I sneer, pretending to be disgusted with him.
He scoffs, but keeps his smile. "Don't lie to me, babe. I know -- "
"Yo, Ti, let's go!" We both turn our heads, finally paying attention to the people around us. The other bloonde one, who Tidus introduced as Shuyin, looks quite frustrated and is gesturing with his hand toward the parking lot. "We gotta get our asses home before dad kills us."
"Damn you, Jecht," I hear him mutter under his breath and his expression darkens so much that I'm almost frightened by it. His face soon softens as he looks back at me and smiles. "Nice meeting you, Yuna." He stands up and leaves my friends and I, hurrying after his own.
I stare back at him, grateful that my friends are also silent, and can't help but let a tiny smile cross my face.
Even though he was pretty much a jerk, he was a great looking guy, and he hit on me. And maybe it's because I've never really been hit on before or maybe it's because I may actually like him.
Whatever it is, I know it makes me feel great about myself. And I know I haven't felt this way in a long time and it's awesome to feel like this again.
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Well, this was a frightfully long chapter, I aplogize. If, once again, that's a bad thing. xD I enjoyed writing this chapter a lot especially that conversation with Tidus. Anyway, I hoped you all enjoyed reading and feel free to review! ...Actually, you should do it anyway. REVIEW!
And please excuse any mistakes I might've made in writing this because I used an old document on fanfiction account to complete it because my computer's hard drive is messed up and I can't write it on Microsoft Word. \ I hope you enjoyed it nonetheless, though!
xoxo Fuchsia Skies .