Quistis' POV:

Here we were in Balamb. The decision to move from Galbadia was made due to several different factors. First we had the controversy at school, surrounding my brother. Allegations were made against him that incriminated him of stealing off of one of the teachers. I have always believed the best in him and it wouldn't be the first time I'd be disappointed. In this instance however, I was assured of his innocence.

Secondly, rumours abounded, as well as questions regarding our sexual preferences. Straight out – I am a lesbian. I've known it for years. Mom and Dad were both fine with it, pity that most of the school we attended weren't. I got treated pretty poorly toward the end, though I'd rather be honest to myself. As for Seifer – I have no clue. I knew he'd been with quite a few people both male and female, though whether he had a specific preference out of the two was a topic I'd never wanted to raise with him. He seemed to count their numbers like trophies he'd won. And he certainly had quite a few.

Thirdly, Mom got a much better job in Balamb than she'd ever had in Galbadia. Dad was able to transfer to the Balamb Facility of his laboratory so he was glad. The company he worked for even bought the house we're living in on his behalf. So all in all, the change had been rather good for all of us and we all seemed much happier here.

I took to walking around the surrounding area during the weeks leading up to the new school year. I familiarised myself with our suburb fairly well and often I had Seifer as company. As far as twins go, we were especially close to each other. We learned where our school was, the way to the local shopping centre, the cinema's and even to the beach.

I counted down the days till we started a fresh school life down with obtuse trepidation. I found myself on more than one occasion preparing for the worst and when I confided my fears to my brother, I learned that he felt the same. As I said, our previous school had not been kind to either of us.

The day we were due to start dawned. I had slept poorly the night before due to nerves and at the breakfast table I noticed Seifer didn't look any better. After breakfast we took turns showering before packing our stuff and walking out the door to tread the (now familiar) path to school. It couldn't be plainer that we were both nervous in a way that we'd never been before.

We managed to get to school fairly early and as our mother had reminded us, we needed to report to the Administration block to discuss a few things with a guidance counsellor, mainly regarding our timetables. Sitting there in the overly sterile office did little to settle our nerves, and during the interview, we felt as if we were truly being interrogated.

Thankfully it only took about ten minutes for both of us. The counsellor then gave us a very brief tour of the school and showed us the way to all our classes. She even marked them on a little map so that we'd find them without too much difficulty. By this time the bell had just rung and we saw students piling into the halls. We continued on our tour before the lady stopped us short outside of a classroom.

She knocked once then walked in. However self-conscious we were before, it was nothing to this. Entering the room, we noticed that every single eye was on us. The teacher spoke to the class for a moment introducing us and pointed to our designated seats. For once I was grateful to be at the back of the class. Still, the walk to our desks seemed like a kilometre as opposed to only 10 meters.

The chairs directly in front of ours were taken by a rather charming blonde and a rather shy looking brunette who seemed hesitant to really look up. As we took our seats, the blonde turned his head to speak to us. He introduced himself and asked very politely where we were from. I could help but smile; he was so polite and seemed genuinely kind hearted. I told him were we'd come from and how long we'd been here.

I reached over to allow him to shake my hand which he did without a moment of hesitation and seeing this, Seifer also reached his out looking a fair bit calmer than he'd seemed all week. Something flittered across Cloud's face for the briefest moment. Was it possibly concern? Looking again, his face had resumed its perpetual smile.

He continued to smile while he offered to assist us if we needed it. We knew that the curriculum here would be different than the one we'd studied in Galbadia. However we didn't expect it to be this different. I was able to cope though Seifer definitely needed a little assistance. Cloud had turned already shifted his attention to the brunette on his right side. Shifting his chair closer to his neighbour's desk caught Seifer's and my attention again.

Cloud stared at something on his friend's notebook for a moment then tapped his shoulder and I heard the name "Squall". So that was his name, though he didn't seem to eager for his voice to be heard, he mumbled to Cloud who helped him rather easily. Once more Cloud was distracted by something on Squall's desk. I heard Squall mutter "if you want it, you can keep it" and I couldn't help staring.

Cloud must have noticed since he seemed to turn his attention back on us. He asked us what we needed help with and I graciously shook my head "I'll be able to manage for the time being" though Seifer was nodding fervently beside me. Cloud moved his chair backwards closer to Seifer's desk and was pouring over the notes that Seifer had written, occasionally crossing out and making corrections. He spoke quietly to Seifer who was absorbing every word.

I allowed myself a smile while watching it, before proceeding with my own "revision test" even though we weren't revising. In between some of the questions half way down, I noticed Cloud shifting back to his desk and Seifer giving him the thumbs up (which is something Seifer rarely did). I also noticed a folded piece of paper which wasn't there previously. Smiling to myself again, I continued on. Considering everything, I managed quite well and I actually finished it with five minutes to spare and when I asked how he was doing, Seifer smiled and said he only had another 3 or so questions to go.

The bell rang as Seifer finished his last question and we collected out stuff and left towards the Maths block. As we passed through the door, the teacher called out for Cloud to stay. Hoping he wasn't about to get lectured for assisting us, we continued on our way.