1Hey! Yah, sorry, I couldn't do anything before homecoming. Seriously though, I don't' get why people get so worded up about that though, it's not that fun. Well, at least for me it wasn't. The guy I like didn't go because he didn't have a date. I went crazy when I found that out.

I don't own.

Namine wasn't taking any chances. At lunch on Wednesday, she sat down across from Yuffie and Riku, even though Tifa was on the other side of Yuffie. Tifa and Yuffie exchanged glances. Namine hadn't spoken to Tifa since the incident at the movies, but Tifa still seemed to think they'd make up soon. Yuffie wasn't sure where she'd gotten that idea, since Yuffie had never seen Namine forgive anyone, but Tifa kept cheerfully saying, "Oh, Namine will come around."

"Tifa's an optimist," Zack had said when Yuffie had told him about that. "She can't tell when people are genuinely evil because she's too nice to be evil herself. That exactly the kind of person the genuinely evil types like the best."

"What on Leviathan are you talking about?" Yuffie had asked.

"It's in plenty of movies," Zack said with a shrug, keeping his eyes on their video game. "Tifa's like Queen Amidala in Star Wars. She couldn't tell Anakin was evil until it was too late, because she was too good of a person herself."

"Queen Amildala?" Yuffie said. "Tifa has way better fashion sense than her."

But perhaps Zack was right about Tifa's people sense. When Namine sat down, Tifa said, "Hey, Namine, how's it going?" and held out her bag of Mini Oreos. "Want one?"

Namine ignored her.

"Where's Leon?" she asked Yuffie.

"I'm not sure," Yuffie said, glancing at Tifa.

"Oh," Namine said. "I thought you might now."

Why? Yuffie wondered. "Wakka probably kept him to help find the tennis ball he knocked into the bushes," she said. "He seemed kind of mad about that."

"Oh, Yuffie, dear," Namine said, all sugary and fake. "That reminds me. Don't forget to come by and borrow that book tonight." She winked in a really obvious way. "I should be home by six. So don't forget. It's very important."

"What book?" Riku asked. Yuffie could understand his confusion. For one, why would Namine be lending Yuffie a book? Would Namine even own a book?

"Um," she said. Namine narrowed her eyes and smiled and Yuffie, leaving her to flounder through a lame explanation. "Um," she said again. "It's- it's about volleyball, water volleyball, you know, for the tournament."

Tifa choked on her soda and got up quickly. Yuffie could see her shoulders shaking with laughter as she hurried off to the bathroom.

"They have books about pool volleyball?" Riku said skeptically.

"They do," Namine said. "And Yuffie is going to borrow mine."

"Okaaaaay," Riku said. "Anything to give us a competitive edge. We're going to win this thing, right, Yuffie?"

"Absolutely," she said, and he stole a carrot stick from her, grinning.

Yuffie glanced across the table as Namine, but the blonde girl was delicately crunching a piece of celery and didn't look like she was going anywhere. And really, the whole point of Yuffie's present for Riku was to prove her girlfriend status to Namine, so she might as well give it to him in front of him, no matter how awkward it made her feel.

"Here," she said, pulling a wrapped girft out of her shoulder bag and handing it to Riku. "Happy birthday!"

Riku looked surprised- "But!"

"I know we haven't been dating long," Yuffie said, trying to communicate, Shut up and open it, with her eyes. "But hopefully you'll like it."

They'd already had a mini-birthday breakfast that morning, at Yuffie's house. Her mom had made banana pancakes for her and Riku and Zack and they'd stuck a candle in one and all sung "Happy Birthday" completely off key. Riku had probably thought that was the extent of his birthday celebrations. Boy, was he going to be surprised.

"Wow, thanks," he said, pulling off the ribbon. "You didn't have to do this."

"Of course she did," Namine interjected. "She's your girlfriend, Riku."

"Yeah," Yuffie said. "Exactly."

'Oh," he said. "Ah." Then, as he ripped off the wrapping paper: "Wait, is this. . . Tupperware?"

"Cool, right?" Yuffie said. "You can put food inside it, and it'll stay fresh. Isn't that a great idea? And look, the container is purple."

Riku gave her a puzzled look and she shook her head, laughing. "No, I didn't give you Tupperware for your birthday. Open the container, doofus."

He peeled back the plastic lid, and his face lit up exactly the way Yuffie had been hoping it would.

Inside, nestled in rows across the bottom, were eighteen small chocolate cupcakes. On the top of each one, Yuffie had written a letter in white chocolate frosting, so they spelled out HAPPY BIRTHDAY RIKU!

"Oh my God," he said. "Yuffie, this is amazing. It's much too cool to eat."

"I hope not, because I'm planning to help you eat them," Yuffie said.

"What?" Namine said impatiently. "Let me see."

Riku tilted the container toward her so she could see the cupcake message. He had a cute triumphant-looking smile on his face. Yuffie guessed that she had played her part perfectly.

"Cupcakes?" Namine said. "How. . . sweet. What a clever way to save money, Yuffie. I'm sure Riku appreciates your . . . thriftiness."

"It's the best present I've ever gotten," Riku said, seeing Yuffie start to deflate. He took the first mini cupcake out, peeled away the cup, and bit off half of it. Then he held out the other half to Yuffie.

"Thanks," she said, turning pink. He betted her hand away and made her open her mouth so he could pop it in.

Zack and Tifa had helped her bake them, with her mom supervising. Yuffie suspected more chocolate had gone into Zack and Tifa than into the cupcakes, but at least they'd ended up with eighteen good enough to give to Riku.

"So what else did you get him?" Namine asked. "Anything . . . lasting?" her expression seemed to be saying, Or is your relationship going to be as short-lived as these cupcakes?

"I hope you didn't get me anything else," Riku said. "This is perfect enough for me."

The truth was Yuffie did have another present for him in her pocket. But she was less sure about that one. She'd bought it a while before because it had made her think of him when she'd seen it, but she'd never found the opportunity to give it to him. But then, the day before, she'd shown it to Tifa, who was convinced that he would love it. If he didn't, there was no way for Yuffie to get it back. And she kind of liked hiding it in her shoe box, next to the origami whale.

"I- I thought I'd give it to him later," Yuffie said.

"Oh, in private?" Namine said snidely.

Yuffie nodded.

"Uh-huh," Namine said. "I'm sure." She clearly didn't believe that Yuffie had anything else, but Yuffie didn't want to prove it badly enough to give Riku this present in front of her.

"Well," Namine said, collecting he lunch remains, "you can tell me what it is later, Riku. See you at six, Yuffie, dear- oh, and try to be punctual, will you?"

She swept off, evidently feeling that she'd seen enough. Yuffie felt sick just thinking about the evening. Who would Namine have invited? How would Riku react? He didn't love big gatherings of people any more than she did, although he was better at navigating through them. She wished there were a way to get out of it, but she hated the idea of a bunch of people standing around Namine's house wondering where they were blaming Yuffie for ruining the party.

"You don't have to give me anything else," Riku said seriously, taking her hand. "I really love the cupcakes."

"And Namine was convinced, don't you think?" Yuffie said. "That was girlfriendly of me, wasn't it?"

Riku looked down at their hands. "Yeah, it was," he said. "Good job. You, uh, nearly had me fooled too."

"I do have something else," Yuffie said. "But it might be kind of stupid. I don't know if you'll want it. If you don't want it, just give it back to me."

Riku grinned. "I'm sure if you picked it, it's awesome."

Hesitantly, she pulled a small cloth bag out of her shorts pocket and placed it in his hand. He untied the strings and poured out the contents onto the lunch table. A leather cord slithered out, and the small with wale strung on it made a clicking noise against the wood.

Riku touched the little whale, his smile growing. Yuffie thought it was made of whalebone of shell; anyway, it felt smooth and was polished to a shine. Its little tail was lifted in a happy way, and tiny flippers were carved in the side.

"It's a necklace," Yuffie said. "but it's supposed to be a guy necklace. That's what the salesperson told me. But you don't have to wear it; I know it's weird to get a guy jewelry. I thought Namine might make fun of me if I have it to you in front of her. But it made me think of you, because of the origami whales, but if you don't like it I can totally take it back-"

"Yuffie, I love it," he said, interrupting her babbling. "Will you put it on me?"

She blinded at him as he lifted the leather cord around his neck. "Really?"

"Yeah, of course," he said. "I want to show off my girlfriend's awesome taste."

He scooted around with his back to her, so he didn't see her face as she took the ends of the cord. She felt so strange, finally giving this to him. What if he thought it was just a pretend present? What if he had no idea that it actually meant something to her? How could he know? She had always imagined giving this to him and telling him at the same time that she'd liked him for ages, that she'd been saving the necklace all that time. But she obviously couldn't tell him that now. He thought they were only pretending.

She tied the ends of the cord in a knot, carefully keeping a finger between the knot and his skin so she wouldn't catch any of the soft goulden brown hairs on the back of his neck.

It looked perfect on him. The whale hung just below the hollow of his throat, and it didn't look girly at all, which Yuffie had worried about. Riku just looked even more handsome, like he'd walked straight out of some CW beach show.

"Thanks, Yuffie," he said, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her n for a hug. She rested her head on his shoulder and felt the muscles of his back below her palms. "This is the greatest birthday," Riku said.

I hope you still think so after tonight, Yuffie said.

Oh Jeebus, it's short again. I promise that the next chapter will be longer! Maybe I'll have it up today, or tomorrow, because I have a long weekend! Thank you Oprah for Columbus day. XD

Fall Out Boy Concert Tickets to:

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