Chapter 2: Stupid Crimson Eyes, Quit Looking at Me

My first day of Junior year sucked as hell. I wanted to get the green sheets, called a syllabus, over with, but instead, we got homework for the first day. I kid you not. If the Seniors lied about having your stress mode shoot up on the middle of the year is hell, then they are fucking lying bastards that need to have a boot up their asses. Mrs. Helga was merciful on some point, and goddamn Mr. Valentine started our living hell on the first day of English class. Our first homework was reading a Greek mythology on the first chapters. When I mean first chapters, I mean three fucking long boring ass chapters that would be discussed tomorrow. Tifa wasn't kidding when she said her brother was an asshole; he had this nonchalant expression and had his own syllabus that was basically fucked up. There was the schedule on the back, but instead of having homework on some days, he basically had us do homework on the school days off. He was pretty much fucked up when he was a kid, was he? If this was the cause of having bitter sibling relationships, then I am gonna make sure my baby brother is going to have all the love from me. I am not fucking this relationship up.

"How was English class?" I groaned at Aerith's question and rolled my face on the grass. Aerith and I were done for the day, but Tifa had to teach the self-defense club. Everyone else was either hanging out somewhere or taking their sweet time to get to the shady trees. It was the early end school since it was the first day, but it feels like I am still living in a hellhole in Mrs. Helga's room. This time, Mr. Valentine has upped the ante, and this means that I'm gonna get fucked sideways.

"Please, don't ask. I had Mr-Freakin'-Valentine call out my full name. I think he's doing this to spite everyone, and he embarrassed almost three fourths of the class." I still remembered how he called out my full name.

Yuffie "Persephone" Kisaragi.

God, I hate my middle name, and what was worse is that he was delighted to call out my middle name every single fucking time. Fucking creepy to start off. I shivered at his penetrating stare and that smirk; I know he was up to no good. I think he knows about my previous pranks on Mrs. Helga, and I am beginning to believe that half of the staff in this school hates me. Gods, Tifa, when you hand that guy's ass to the other side, I will worship you forever and ever, and I will make a shrine out of you in my closet. Well, not in the closet, but I will serve you as your personal maid!

"I… don't think he's that bad." I snapped my attention up and gaped at my innocent looking friend. Sweet Aerith has to be joking. Of course, she does become optimistic and tries to look at the good sides of people. That is her, and that's why we all love her. Me? I have my own opinion.

"Aerith, you do not know how right Tifa is. It's like he has this innocent side that is so freakin' fake, and I know how these masks are. I mean, I wore them the whole freakin' time, and I should get paid for this!" I groaned and rolled my back onto the grass. It was nice to lie on the grass and just forget everything around you. Besides the point where my baby brother needs me, all the stress was getting to my head, and I better not find a damn white hair on my cranium. If that happens, then my dad sends me to see a therapist, who I basically scared her away that one time. It was funny.

"You might have seen his mask wrong. There might be a possibility that he's wearing them in a different way." I rolled my eyes, feeling drowsy for a bit.

"Yeah, but if he's not showing it, then he's very good in hiding." I yawned. Wow, first day of school does drain me a lot, and the breeze… feels… nice…

"I'm… gonna sleep… for a bit. Wake me… when Teefs gets here…" Those were my last words until I was completely knocked out.

Voices… I'm hearing… voices?

"How dare you try to come, brother! Do you not know what you have done to her?"

Wha-? What happened?

"She is my queen, and no other will be in place, sister. I will go back at nights to judge, but I will be damned if I lose her again!"

A deeper voice… not like the previous one.

"Brother, are you… do you still regret your actions that made her disappear?"

That voice… so familiar… so sad…

"… I do…"

Is.. How come I know this voice?

I… what is going on… I…

Another dream… but… why does my heart beat so bad?

I was now running through trees and not minding the small noises in my ears. They were so close, but it was tiny whispers. I tried to scream, cry, or yell out for help, but my voice was harsh and tired from all the running. I was scared about something, but I can't place where that fear is coming from. Shit. I'm the badass, fucking ninja! I shouldn't have run. I would face my enemies head on and die with pride as a warrior. This wasn't right. This wasn't right!

"Persephone…" A dark, rough whisper, different from the light and high voices, echoed throughout the forest, and my heart beat faster. That voice sent chills up my spine for no reason, and I ran faster than ever. Mom called me that name, and I don't mind it. However, to have anyone call me like that, I feel like I was going to get fucking killed. Mom, I really don't mind you calling that name anymore. In fact, I will hug you and say that I will accept my middle name, and no one else would say my name. A strange, cold wind blew behind me, and I was going to hyperventilate. Fuck, fuck, mothershitter, fuck! C' mon legs! Move faster!

"Persephone…" The voice was close now, and the whole world froze. I couldn't move, and all my limbs feel like they just dropped to my side without any command from my head. My heart and breathing stopped when a hot breath blew passed my earlobe, making puffs of breath feel tingly and my breathing into pants. I turned my head a bit in fear, and I saw was eerie yellow eyes, a gray face, and a red crown. The man smiled and whispered through his ashen lips.

"I found you, my beloved queen."

"HOLY SHIT!" I screamed and shot up, slamming my head against something and cried out in pain. I think there was another cry, and that voice was familiar. I think I slammed my forehead against one of my friends.

"What the hell, girl? Goddammit! That hurt!"

"Reno?" I groaned and cupped my bruised forehead. I looked up to see Reno clutching his nose, and blood was trickling down between his fingers. Guilt hit me, and I was very concerned.

"Oh crap! Reno! Sorry!" I grabbed my bag and dug through it, throwing bags and pencils until I came across a packet of tissues. I ripped one away and held it to him, letting him take it and thanking me in mutters. I looked around to find anyone, besides Reno, around me. No one was around, and it made me think.

"Hey, where's Aerith?" I asked him, and the redhead just shrugged.

"Said she has a meeting. You think she's in the student council?" I frowned. She never told me about any meetings coming up. If there was, then they should have announced it through the speakers. Those members are a bunch of dirty, lazy…

"So… nightmare?" Reno uttered a few syllables since he was still suffering from my sudden wake up call. He snapped me out of my muse, and I winced. I… really do not want to remember that dream, and it was freaky. Just remembering those eyes sent shivers down my spine, and I wanted to get back home and hug my baby brother. He, of course, hugged me back because I am his favorite sister in the whole wide world. I was probably screaming at the time when Reno found me, and I did knocked my hard head against his nose when I woke up. Oh well. Time to suck it up.

"Yeah." I think his nose was healing, but he just lay against the grass to keep the blood from flowing out.

"Wanna talk about it?" Eerie yellow eyes would have been the first words out of my mouth, but I kept it shut.

"Too scary." I can mutter out those words. Of course it was scary. Who would call out my middle name in a cat and mouse chase and call me a queen? Ambassador's daughter, yes. Queen? Hell no.

"Like the revival of the doll dream whenever you try to kill it?" Reno grinned, and I just chucked my bag at his face. Screw you, Reno. He just took the bag out and pouted, but he was laughing in the eyes. One of these days Reno, pow! Right in the kisser!

"Oh yeah! I almost forgot. You gotta go to meet up Mr. Valentine today!" He exclaimed suddenly, and I felt all of my blood turn ice cold. Mr. Valentine wants to talk to me? Was it because of my big mouth comment on him? I gulped and looked at him.

"Do… you know why?" Reno had this stern expression for one second until his unsure, goofy one replaced it with a forced scratch on the head. I wondered what was up with everyone. Was Mr. Valentine that bad?

"Dunno. Hey, how about I go with you? I heard that there was a rapist around the area, and many of the girls are now pairing up in twos or threes in school. I don't wanna see you get hurt now you have a bruise on the forehead." I rolled my eyes and flicked his forehead with my finger. I am a freakin' ninja, and he has seen me do crazier things involving jumping off a three story building and landing ever gracefully. Well, it would have been graceful if Tifa hadn't yelled at me from across the schoolyard.

"When were you ever a stuck-up gentleman?" I gathered my belongings back into my bag, and Reno just stood up and mock bowed. Then, he had this fake butler accent just to piss me off.

"Forgive me, milady. Shall we depart?" I threw my bag again, and this time, my stuff is in there.

"Let's go, butler."

"It's Reno."

"Whatever!"

"We're here!" Reno is such a parrot that it wasn't even funny. You know why it isn't funny? It's like he just escorted me to the death chamber that had Mr. Valentine as the executioner. He's the priest, and I'm on death row. All we need is the bodyguard that is beside me. I think Rude could fit in there, but he was a big softie like the kitty in his house. Don't tell anyone that; he'd skin me and never talk to me again.

"You should be an actor in the future, Reno. You basically have the talent to be a stunt dummy." Reno full blasted his glare at my sarcasm, and I snickered with a grin. I know his future was deadest on being an actor; he's the star cast of the upcoming play since freshman year. Well, at first he was the sub cast of the characters, but he really showed the upper classmen. He does it so well that it is no wonder the drama teacher kept him locked in his room. I think our teacher is gay, but who cares. His dramatized actions rule over the school with Reno as his sidekick. Don't tell that I called Reno a sidekick; he blew up with so much cussing in freshman year that one teacher almost had a heart attack.

"Anyways, let's go!" When he touched the doorknob, he froze on the spot and paled. I wonder, what's gotten into him?

"Reno? You okay, dude?" He was shaking like a leaf, or a branch, and took his hand off of the knob.

"Actually, I remembered that my mom told me to get my rear-end into the car after class. I don't want to have her scream my name out in the school, so… BYE!" He just dashed away from me, leaving me to gape and swear a thousand words from my mouth.

Reno, you retard! Why did you have to abandon me alone in the freakin' wolf's den? I am gonna haunt you and your house if I die. Do you hear me? You are going to fucking die! I am going to come to your house and booby-trap every corner of your room that you cannot sleep in it anymore! If I become a ghost, I am gonna levitate the bed, shake you on it, and record your girly scream for the whole high school to see! Revenge will be mine!

After swearing up a storm and panting on the aftermath, I turned to the door and gulped. This is hell; this was going to be hell. I had my hand on the knob, not knowing if I should open the door or not.

Open the door.

I jumped and yelped when that voice echoed in my head. I turned around to see anyone in the hallway, but there was no one. Not even a sound or voices echoing through the hall. Usually, there should be some students or teacher faculty around, but this was very creepy. There were some shadows in the corners moving around, and-

Okay! This was beyond creep-vile, and I think the companionship with Mr. Valentine is much better than standing in front of his door. Like pressing the fast-forward button, I opened the door and literally jumped through, slamming the door behind me with my heart beating hysterically.

"Ah… Miss Kisaragi. Just in time for teacher-student conference. One-on-one." Red crimson eyes were glaring at me from the teacher's desk, and I already missed the old hag now. Fuck. What is wrong with me?

"I… um… I was just-"

"Save your excuses later. Sit." He commanded, and a few seconds later, I ran to grab the chair nearby and slam it down in front of his desk. I sat immediately and looked down. This was very embarrassing, and I know I always do not make a good impression at the first try. Well, there was one time I was very boastful when I was a kid, and every kid didn't enjoy my loudness. I was lonely at one time until Tifa and Aerith came over and made friends with me. That was long ago, and I still enjoyed our first friendship. I wondered if his attention was away from me.

I looked up for a bit before immediately looking down. Crap, he's still looking at me. His eyes were not leaving me, and it was sending chills up my spine. Mrs. Helga, as much as I hate you so much right now, I wish that you come back and not retire.

"Now," he started; I gulped. "I have heard from the previous faculty members that you are the trouble making student, despite the above grade averages in other subject. However…" He continued staring at me and had his mouth covering behind the entwined fingers like one of those main villains in those movies.

"… it seems that English is not your strong subject since the beginning of your freshman year. Tell me. Why is it that you met the expectations of the other subjects and not English?" Hm… let's see… Mrs. Helga hates me, research papers are a pain in the ass, essay writing makes my hands cramp, and trying to make my answers make sense has teachers confused as hell. Oh well. I'll just summarize everything up for him.

"Well… I guess I had a hard time in English because both my parents are from Wutai. My first language is Wutainese, and I was having trouble understanding a second language." I can see one of his eyebrows was raised, and he sounded curious… or he tries to sound like he's interested.

"Oh? You are from Wutai? Then, how come your middle name is not Wutainese?" Oh man. He just had to bring that subject up. My lips had a thin line, and I had to bit the inside of my cheek to not snap at him.

"My mother is from the South, and the South was heavily influenced by the outside when she was a kid. She told me that when Wutai was discovered, the South took interest of the culture. Therefore, many generations from the South have different middle names." He seemed interested, but his voice had this no non-sense attitude.

"That doesn't explain why you are not excelling English, Miss Kisaragi." Okay. He was pissing me off from this point on, and I glared.

"I tutor kids in the summer and winter and help them speak and write Wutainese, and I do have to babysit my baby brother, Mr. Valentine. When I always come back to school, I tend to… forget that it is English class and mix up… a whole lot of stuff between Wutainese and English." His crimson eyes had this… unexpected glint, and he sighed.

"Have you gotten a tutor through this year?" I sighed and sulked on the chair.

"To tell you the truth, everyone said I was a lost cause, even the smartest of the students were having a hard time on me. I tried, but every time I try, it is always around the average grade." I didn't see him move, but I do hear him say something differently.

"I think you aren't trying hard enough…" I would shot him a glare until he raised his hand up.

"… but I am getting the feeling that you are either missing something or you are misunderstanding things." Now that is a surprise. Mr. Valentine is being helpful and getting points that I do not understand. I gave him a confused expression, giving out my full attention to him.

"What are you getting at?" He was sighing, yet again, and opened the cabinet from his desk. Strange, what is he getting- what is that?

"This is your previous work from the two years you began the school year." He opened the file and pulled out one of my work. I grimaced at the many red marks in my test; this was called every student's worst nightmare. I have seen Rude come out with a pale face after reread his past work, and I think we all shivered of that thought one time. I think everyone has to face this problem, or I think the old hag has considered this revenge. He placed the paper and a copy from the previous test in front of me.

"I'll simply explain this. You seem to misunderstand this question. When you are to describe how the Civil War began, you just described the Civil War from beginning to end. The key word is 'how' as in what started the war and why." Now… that… actually made sense! How come I missed that part? My tutors never told me about this, and they just pointed out the mistakes on how they were confused. I stood up from my chair and looked closely at the question. Later, I glanced at my paper and squinted at the marked circles and lines. They were questioning how my sentences were relating to the problem, and I understood that I wasn't explaining it in a clear sense to how.

"I… think I got it. Wait… so there were key words in the essay?" Mr. Valentine was looking at me in surprise and muttered so softly.

"You… didn't know?" Before I could answer him, he suddenly shifted on his chair and opened the desk cabinet. I just sat there and watched him pull out a paper and slid it in front of me.

"Here's another paper of a previous essay. Read first, and then circle or underline the key words." He gave me his pen, and I just stared at it. I took the pen from him, but when I did, my pinky brushed his finger, making me freeze. For a moment, I thought Mr. Valentine turned into something else. It was either that he had a dark shadow, a very big dark shadow, behind him, or I was hallucinating. Mr. Valentine seemed surprised and withdrew his hand. I swore that his hand was shaking a bit, and I blinked. What is going on? Huh?

"Miss… Kisaragi?"

"Huh? Oh! Sorry, I spaced out." I spaced out because I thought there were yellow eyes other than red eyes. I focused back to the paper and frowned. Great. Another essay question, but I'm going to have to show him what I know. I circled a few that were supposed to be the main parts, and I looked at it. I… think I got them all. I looked at Mr. Valentine, and he seemed to watch me out of curiosity. Um… creepy.

"I… I think I'm done." I held out the paper to him, and he quickly took it away from my hand. That motion was fast, and I think I had a paper cut on my palm at that speed. I didn't want to say anything to make him freak out, but holy hell! Did that hurt! I watched him scan my attempted work and raised one eyebrow.

"Interesting…" He muttered, as he looked at my point of view.

"Hold on. What is the hell is going on?" He just stared at me and sighed.

"I… thought that all of the students learn this technique since the beginning of their freshmen year. They seem to know what is going on, but… I am guessing that you weren't taught correctly." He held out the paper to me and underlined the two questioning words that I circled.

"These are correct," He started and later underlined the other two that were somehow not important.

"However, you were incorrect on the first two. It is not 'Loveless' or 'goddess', but 'address' and 'brought' are the main words you need to find." I dropped my jaw and just groaned at the parts. He wasn't talking about the main key words that I was thinking; this guy actually pointed out the verbs that I'm trying to figure out how does it relate to the stuff.

"If you were wondering how, it is actually parts of the verbs that are the main links to the question." He read my mind. Oh joy…

"So… does that mean I have to rewrite everything from past and future papers?" I know I was going through the drama phase again, but come on! Why does simple things have to become the most difficult part of the season? Mr. Valentine smiled and shook his head.

"Not quite." I looked at him, and he leaned back.

"I am planning to teach an afterschool class that involves English writing involving college exams and presenting tips on writing. I think it may benefit you on your writing in both school and future exams since you seem to grasp the tinier threads of English. However, you need written permission from your parents in order to take this afterschool class." I raised my eyebrow and stared at him. How come he hasn't told me about this during class time? Better yet, why is he telling me this now? He seemed to know what I was thinking and explained.

"I have been seeing other students' progression in English, and I can say that I'm not happy with the results. Many of you are going to fail the essay, especially those who are in the advance class. Therefore, I was planning to open a class for those who need the… extracurricular credit… to pass my class." I stared at him in amazement and am starting to like this teacher. He's not a bad teach after all. He grinned, and I was freaking out. His red eyes, no matter how… unique they are, are staring at me with a lot of pride.

"Why, thank you, Miss Kisaragi. I appreciate the comment from you speaking out loud."

I have got to stop talking to myself or saying stuff out loud.

"Oh, and please remember to finish the three chapters by tomorrow."

I take back what I said. You will now be named "Buttface" and will be going down until you reach "Fucktard" at the seventh level of my hell. There is no going up.