A/N: Chapter 3 finally up ! Sorry it's taken a while, school and stuff had left me little time to think, let alone write. Many thanks to all my reviewers, especially Zephyr-Wings, who's reviews inspired me to start this story back up again with a passion, and please R&R everyone, I appreciate any views you guys might have.
To recap, Squall's off to check out the rest of his classes, after reuniting with his old pals Zell and Seifer and meeting Laguna Loire, his laid-back homeroom teacher, and Rinoa Heartilly, a fellow student with intelligence to rival Squall's own. And now, Chapter 3
Squall walked down the corridor. He consulted his schedule. Room 239...he looked at the room he was walking past.
315...?
Where the hell was he?
A young blond girl was walking past him. Her hair flowed down past her shoulders, and she had bright-green eyes hidden by clear glasses. Maybe she would help him. He turned and tapped her on the shoulder.
"Excuse me, can you help me get to room 239?" he asked timidly. The girl turned around.
"Sure, it's over by..." she looked him in the eyes and gasped.
"Squall?!"
Squall nodded, a bit taken aback by this girl. How does she know my name...?
"Oh, Squall, it's so good to see you again!" she hugged him, to his surprise.
"Don't you remember me?" she asked, as though shocked. "It's me, Quistis!"
Squall's eyes widened. "Quistis?! Wow, it's great to see you again."
She smiled at him. "Same to you, Squall. We should catch up, I want to hear about what's happened since I left the orphanage."
Squall nodded. "Sure, but I have to find Room 239, can you help me?"
"Sure," replied Quistis, "It's down the stairs and to the left, I'll help you get there."
Squall smiled. "Thanks, Quistis," he said as he walked with her down the stairs, "You seem to know your way around the school pretty well."
"Well, I should," replied Quistis, "It's my second year here."
That's right, she's a year older than me and Zell...Squall smiled at her, "Oh yeah, I had forgotten..."
"Well, here it is," Quistis said, "I have to get to class, I'll see you soon!"
Squall nodded, and went into class.
Squall left Garden High after his first day of school fairly happy. He really liked the school; the teachers were alright, maybe a bit crazy, but nice. And he had seen so many old friends. He had Zell and Irvine for almost every class, and the trio became fast friends.
Squall, Irvine, and Zell walked home together, Zell talking animatedly about his classes and the new friends he had made. He had also mentioned, blushing, this girl he had met at the library.
"...so then I started talking to her, and I was surprised to hear she's always at the library. She even has a class there, where she's kind of like a librarian. Cool, huh? And, get this," Zell said, nudging Squall, "I think she likes me!"
"That's cool. So, what's her name?" Squall asked.
"Oh, that's easy, it's..." Zell's jaw dropped. "I forgot to ask what her name was!!"
"So, we should just call her Library Girl?" Irvine said, laughing insanely.
Squall sighed and walked on as Zell hung his head in shame, and Irvine continued laughing.
"So Squall," Irvine said, wiping a tear from his eye, "How are you doing with the ladies?"
Squall shrugged and said, "The girls here are nice. No one out of the ordinary."
"See anyone you like?" Zell chimed in.
"Hmm..." Squall thought for a second, and a vision of Rinoa entered his head, "I guess that Rinoa Heartilly girl. You know, the one we had for a few classes?"
"Rinoa Heartilly..." Irvine thought for a second, "Nice choice, Squall! Smart, pretty...Yeah, she's definitely a keeper."
"You talk to her much?" Zell asked.
Squall remembered talking to her while they were with Seifer, and later in the afternoon, she had dropped her books. He had run over to help her, and offered to carry them the rest of the way, since they had their next class together anyway. She had smiled and thanked him, but that was about it.
"No...not really..."
"So, Irvine, how about you? Do you like anyone right now?" Zell asked, sensing Squall didn't want to talk about Rinoa anymore.
Irvine looked shocked. "Don't you know who I am, Zell? I'm the Irvine, the Irresistible! There's not a single girl that doesn't like me, and if she's pretty enough, I might like her back enough to ask her out." He nudged Squall and said, "And I've got my eye on Selphie, if you know what I mean."
"No, I don't know what you mean," Squall asked, "What do you mean?"
"Well, uh...hmm...it's really very simple..." But Irvine found no answer, so he fell silent for the rest of the walk.
"Ma, I'm home!" Zell shouted, walking into the house, Squall and Irvine in tow.
Squall turned to look at his new friend. "Don't you have to, you know, go home?"
"Ouch," Irvine said, "You sure know how to be friendly. Anyway, don't worry about it. My mom doesn't get home till, like, 7. So I figure I'll hang here with you guys."
"That's cool," Zell said, looking in the kitchen, "MA!"
"Maybe she's at work..?" Squall asked, rolling his eyes.
"Nah, she gets back a few hours before we do...ah! There's a note here!" Zell said, clutching it in his hands, and holding it up to the light.
Zell, Squall, I went out for groceries. Try not to burn the house down. -Ma
"Well, there it is," Zell said, throwing the note away, "What do we do now?"
"We've got the house to ourselves. What CAN we do?" Squall asked.
Irvine smiled mischievously. "Well..."
"D'ya know something, I don't even want to know what you had in mind," Zell said, "This is MY place and I'm not taking the heat for whatever you want to do!"
"Letters…" Squall exclaimed, picking some up, "Bills….bills….Zell….Irvine? Why is your mail here?"
"Whoop!" Irvine yelled, grabbing the magazine out of Squall's hands, "That's just a little something I'd rather not have MY parents see, if you know what I mean."
"Hey! I could get in trouble for that!" Zell shouted.
"Relax, I always look through your mail before your mom gets to it."
"That's supposed to make me feel BETTER?" Zell said, clenching his fists, "I should-"
"SO, Squall, there's something here for ya. From the school!" Irvine interrupted, hiding behind the taciturn youth.
"Hmm? For me?" Squall took the envelope, ripped it open, and began reading the letter.
Squall Leonhart,
Congratulations! You have been accepted into Garden High.
"Well, not much use for that NOW," Zell said, reaching for the letter to throw it away.
"Hold on, there's more," Squall muttered.
You have been accepted due to your exceptional weapons skills. Thus, you should know that SeeD training begins after school, on the third day of school.
"Day after tomorrow," Zell said in awe, "Squall, you're going to be in SeeD?!"
You will be placed with the rest of the cadets. Keep in mind that SeeD is a magnet program, and failing to comply with SeeD curriculum could result in expulsion from the program and the school.
"So, you're only in Garden High as long as you're a SeeD as well? Harsh…" Irvine chimed in.
We hope that your experience in SeeD as well as in Garden will be a great one. Have a great school year! – SeeD Program Director and Vice Principal, Cid Kramer
"Damn. Squall, sounds like it won't be easy. What with SeeD training and practices, not to mention homework and studying…I've heard it's tough." Zell exclaimed.
Irvine looked at Zell. "Then there's only one thing we can do, isn't there?"
Zell and Squall looked at him, confused. Irvine looked shocked, and continued on, as though it were the most obvious thing in the world:
"We all gotta join SeeD together!"
