Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy VI, VII, VIII and X.
Author's Note: I swear I tried to make this as interesting as possible and I just hope that you guys will like this chapter. Rinoa finally attended her Psychology class, and guess who took it with her... :D
REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW PLEASE! thanks! :3
That afternoon after lunch break, Paine's story piqued Rinoa's interest about the two rivals, especially after taking a short glance at Cloud. He didn't wear his shades this time, and Rinoa could see his sky blue eyes, reflecting on the light emitted by the window beside him. He didn't seem to be very attentive on the lesson their teacher was discussing so lively, to think it's a hard subject too; Calculus. Rinoa, who was more focused on the lecture, couldn't take her mind off of Cloud and his mysterious nature. She can only honestly think that he interests her, particulary those eyes of his. They don't seem to be mad, unlike those of his rival's, Squall. She shuddered at the memory of that cold stare, like ice that pierced back at her. But Cloud's eyes somehow felt... different. She feels lighter about them, so is her impression of him, from being intimidating, slowly changing to approachable. That's how much his eyes can tell Rinoa.
Dismissal finally came, and Rinoa realized that he was the first one to leave the room. She looked around and found him nowhere, despite the large crowd left.
After parting ways with Yuna and Rikku, Rinoa was fetched by the same limousine that brought her home when she arrived at Deling.
"Is there anywhere else you would like to go to, Miss Caraway?" her driver asked.
"Please, call me Rinoa. And nowhere, just home. Thank you." she replied.
She arrived home, fifteen minutes later, and she's back to the boring part of her day. Her dad's not home yet, and he's been missing for five days already. Though Rinoa has always been used to his absence, which she finds sad, she still does look forward to meeting him everyday. Living at a large house feels empty for Rinoa, and she doesn't find it any different from living alone back at her hometown, Winhill. "I'm not used to living alone, after all." She sighed to herself. She still feels lonely for not having a family spend time with her, and it has been going on for a while now ever since her mother died. Often, she would find herself talking to the maids, though they hardly construct a good and long conversation because they never stopped working at her house. Her lunchbreak with Yuna, Rikku and Paine was the only time she had a real conversation with some people for quite a long, long while.
Maybe she should've told her driver to bring her to Yuna's house when he asked her if there's still any place she wished to go to. But she doesn't even know where Yuna lives, except that she came from Besaid Island. Then again, she could've just called her and-
Rinoa's little light bulb-of-idea suddenly popped out. "... call Yuna..."
She grabbed her phone and searched for Yuna's number, wishing that she doesn't mind her calling. That's what high school friends do, right? Call each other up and talk about school, friends, other people, anything... Praying that Yuna won't get mad at her, she pressed the green button and listened as the other line rings. Her heart skipped when she heard Yuna's soft voice answered "Hey Rinoa!"
"Hey!" Rinoa giggled back and felt her heart relaxed almost immediately after realizing that Yuna's actually happy that she called. Then, either from loneliness or happiness, tears began trinkling down her cheeks.
"Hey, Rinoa, are you crying?" Yuna's voice changed from happy to worried. Rinoa realized that she began sobbing.
"No, I'm doing fine, ha ha." Rinoa forced a laugh so Yuna wouldn't get too anxious for her.
"Rinoa... is everything alright? You don't sound so fine." Yuna, with growing concern in her voice, said on the other line.
"Yes, everything's alright. It's just that, I'm happy I can finally talk to someone right now."
"Oh... your dad's not home yet?"
"No..."
"Do you want me to come over?"
"Uhm..." Before replying, Rinoa took a look a her window and saw raindrops starting to pour down. She didn't want to bother Yuna anymore to run through the rain and come visit her just because she's extremely lonely. "No, no need. I'm fine."
"You know Rinoa, Rikku just got her Machina Convertible from her dad and she REALLY loves to try it right now. We can stop by and visit you there." Yuna's voice suddenly shifted to being excited. That's not a bad idea, Rinoa thought. She would really love some good company right now. But...
"That sounds really great! I would love that! But, there's something else I have to deal with. Can you hang on for just a sec?"
"Sure! Take your time!"
Rinoa went out of her room and looked for the nearest maid roaming around. She found one about to enter the room next to hers and ran to her. She's the same maid who welcomed her when she arrived, and she's distinguishable with her gentle smile she always wears.
"Excuse me, uhm..." Rinoa began to think how she would put her words such as it won't sound too troublesome. After all, this isn't exactly her home yet. "I was wondering if I can invite my friends over?"
The maid gave her a wider smile. "Yes! Why of course Ma'am! You can do anything you wish here! Inviting your friends over will be wonderful!" The maid assured her. This greatly delighted Rinoa.
"Great! Thank you so much!" She gratefully held the maid's hand and ran back to her room.
"Yuna! I'll wait for you, call me once you arrived."
"Yay! Okay! I'll see you in a minute!"
"Wait, wait! Do you know how to get here?"
"Yep! Everyone here knows where General Caraway's house is. I'm not too far, we'll be there soon!"
Twenty minutes later, Yuna finally arrived with Rikku and Paine (who tagged along, to Rinoa's surprise) and Rinoa brought them to her room.
"WOOOOW...." Rikku examined Rinoa's huge room with wide and amazed eyes.
"You're room is so beautiful!" Rinoa figured that Yuna would like her room, since she seems the girly type.
Paine, though didn't say anything, looked around Rinoa's room as well and anyone can say that she's just as impressed as her friends are.
For hours, they talked as they slowly find out about each other. Rinoa discovered that Rikku is an Al Bhed who took refuge to Deling City when her hometown was attacked. Her dad established an airship company, which has been doing pretty well. When Yuna arrived at Deling, her Uncle took her under his care. She also found out that she has a brother who practically turned into pirate, searching for lost treasures and archeological items all around the world, using his own airship.
"Strange thing is, he still lives with us! Such a loser..." Rikku commented which made all of them laugh.
Rinoa also found out that Yuna's in fact an orphan, for she lost her dad as well in an attempt to find justice to her mother's death. "Many hated the Al Bhed, that's why Rikku's home was ambushed. My dad believed someone sabotaged the plane my mom was riding on out of discrimination against the Al Bhed, since it was full of them. He tracked down possible people responsible for the crash until one day, he never came home." Yuna cheerlessly narrated. "Then, a friend of his, Auron, tried to search for him, and came home with my father's dead body." Rinoa can see how Yuna's eyes are getting wet, yet she still tried to smile it off. Rinoa was a bit shocked about the horrible death of her parents and she suddenly reflected on her father's whereabouts. He hasn't been home for a long time now, does it mean he's in trouble too? She shook the thought out and tried to think of something else to talk about to lead them off from the tragic subject.
There was a long pause, and it felt uncomfortably awkward to Rinoa. Until Rikku fortunately found a way to break it.
"Hey Yunie! How are you and that jock Tidus doing?"
Rinoa noticed how Yuna's cheeks suddenly turned really pink. "Oh... well, nothing..." She said sheepishly.
"C'mon Yunie! Everyone knows you two like each other! Everyone, except you two!" Rikku gave Yuna a light punch on her arm.
"Oh, stop it! Not everyone's too sure about that. Besides, he has not even asked me out yet..." Rinoa honestly thinks Yuna's cheeks turned even more red.
"That's because he's too shy to make the move." Paine gave a small smirk.
"Who's Tidus?" Rinoa pumped in.
"Yunie's boyfriend!" Rikku taunted.
"No!" Yuna protested.
"Not yet." Paine butted in.
Rikku explained to Rinoa that Tidus is their school's star blitzball player, the reason why Deling High always wins interschool competitions of that sport. He is also the son of the famous sports star Jecht, and that he likes Yuna.
"Oooh, now I know why Paine said 'Not yet.'" Rinoa winked at Paine, who gave her a wider smirk.
After hours of hanging out in Rinoa's room, they finally decided to call it a day. Though her day went as simple as that, it made Rinoa happy enough to consider this new life of hers far more interesting than how she saw it for the past few days. And it's just gonna get even more interesting...
"You know, the more you keep him from me, the more I'll think something's going on between you two." Rinoa has been pestering Yuna to show him what Tidus looks like since morning. And with that different look on Yuna's face, she knows Tidus is around the cafeteria. But all she got was shaking of Yuna's head.
"Well, I'd tell you alright, but Yunie might get really annoyed at me when we get home." Rikku said after looking around the place.
"He's the dirty blonde, with shirt partially opened, two tables from your left side."
"Paine!" Yuna finally looked up at Paine with bashfulness written all over her face.
Rinoa looked on her left and spotted the dirty blonde. His white shirt was indeed partially opened, revealing more of his tanned skin. The ends of his partially messy hair are pointed at all directions, which style perfectly goes with his noticeably cheerful disposition. He laughed cordially with his equally warm friends.
"He looks fine, Yuna. There's nothing to be shy about." Rinoa raised her thumb encouragingly to Yuna.
"Yes, I find him... really cute. It just feels awkward for me to talk about him." Yuna shyly replied.
Rinoa secretly mouthed a "Thank you" to Paine.
That day was also the scheduled day for their elective classes, which Rinoa has prepared herself for, but still wasn't ready without Yuna by her side.
I was able to survive first day, Rinoa thought. I should be able to get by with this one. Who knows, I might even make more friends.
As she entered the room for the elective class, she was surprised to see that there was quite a number of students attending it. She approached the teacher and presented her registration form. Their professor, a balding, middle-aged man wearing thick round glasses scanned the room and turned to Rinoa.
"There's your seat right over there by Mr. Strife." He smiled.
Strife? Rinoa's heart jumped for a second and returned her teacher's smile. She turned around and indeed, the only seat left for her was the chair beside Cloud Strife, and she could tell why. With his reputation in this whole school, he must've intimidated quite alot of people, hence, trying to avoid him as much as they can.
Cloud didn't turned his eyes from the window beside him as Rinoa took the chair next to him. It felt different for Rinoa compared to how she saw Cloud the day before. This time, not only she felt the usual awkwardness, but the fact that she was the only one who seemed to care about another person's presence, he felt extremely stiff and intimidating to her. She could've turned to the other side to make friends with another person, but she realized that, strangely enough, they have occupied the only two seats at the farthest back part of the room.
Then again, they belong to the same section. And as far as Rinoa knows, they were the only people from 3-B who took Psychology, since she has not seen another familiar face besides Cloud's. Also, Rinoa belongs to his pack, and she felt like she should at least get to know her 'Alpha', as they call him, and there's no other moment like now.
Cloud was lost in his thoughts when a female voice called "Hello." He almost jumped but controlled himself from losing his composure and turned to his right. There sat that new girl from his class, with her torso bent down, as if trying to get a good look at him, smiling back at him. He was quite surprised that someone was actually sitting beside him. Then, he thought, how long has she been sitting there?
"Hey." He nodded back at the girl. And as soon as he did, their teacher started discussing their lecture about the brain, at which they responded by opening their notebooks and jotting down notes.
"You're that new girl. Rinoa, right?" Cloud, after copying a few words from the board, turned to Rinoa.
She turned to him, and she could feel her cheeks getting hot as she got a closer look at his sky blue eyes. There's something unique about them, as Rinoa would see it. They're not angry at all, despite the closeness of his eyebrows to each other. They seem hard, yet vulnerable, fierce, yet kind...
And they were staring right back at her.
At that moment, Rinoa wished she wasn't born with pale skin. "Uh- yeah. Cloud... right?" she tried her best to reply without stuttering.
Cloud nodded again and turned back to the lecture. Rinoa did too, but she couldn't help herself from glancing at Cloud once in a while. With the light coming out from the window beside him, his features were given even more emphasis. He has pale skin that looks even more pallid under his white shirt, his blonde hair is spiky, which reminded Rinoa of chocobos. He has a thin figure, but he's got quite a muscular built, and she noticed how he seems a bit shorter than his rival. An Alpha, she thought. Our Alpha could've passed up as an angel, she giggled to herself.
Cloud heard her laugh and looked at her, with his eyebrows raised.
"What?"
"You know, you can pass up an angel." Rinoa, who didn't stop giggling, smiled at Cloud.
Cloud gave out a low chuckle as he looked back to his notes. It wasn't the first time someone remarked something like that to him, he remembered how a childhood friend of his told him the same thing back when they were kids. Yet, hearing it from someone who just met him, someone who he perceived to be shy like Rinoa, made him smile. She's one, outspoken girl, he acknowledged silently.
Two hours of Psychology was no way fun to anyone, and Rinoa was getting close to regretting ever taking this elective. Often, she would find herself blanking out while trying to take in every word their teacher was saying, forgetting that someone sits next to her. Cloud, who noticed that Rinoa stopped taking notes, took a glance at her and saw an unexpected expression from someone who looks as ladylike as Rinoa. Her mouth was partially opened accompanied with a frown as if trying to say 'What the heck are you talking about?'. She has confusion written all over her face.
"If you don't understand anything, you can just always ask me." Cloud plainly offered.
Rinoa took off from her previous expression and turned to Cloud. "Well, it's not that I didn't get anything. I'm almost there. I just need to...." Rinoa pointed her ballpen towards the board and put the tip in her mouth, concentrating.
"Okay."
Cloud turned to her again. Usually, girls would initially say "No... it's fine..." while tucking their hair behind their ears. And as soon as he replied "Okay.", they would quickly take back what they said and claim that they need his help to teach them. But this girl was being a stubborn one.
After a while, he noticed that she hasn't taken down any notes yet, while still focusing on the board in front of them. Cloud sighed to himself.
"Our brain cells die down when they're not used." Cloud explained without taking a glance at Rinoa. "He explained about an experiment done to a newborn baby whose parents blindfolded him. When he became a toddler, he lost his sense of sight completely, though x-rays showed that nothing's wrong with his brain, nor his eyes. Just that, the sight department of his brain stopped functioning because he did not use it for a long time." He carried on. "But it doesn't mean that once our brain cells die, they're gone for good. If we use them again by reading, learning and thinking, they build up and we gain them back."
Rinoa was finally enlightened by Cloud's explanation, and she couldn't believe it was just as simple as that. He can undoubtedly make a better teacher than that person in front. She quickly jotted down everything Cloud explained to her and thanked him for the help.
"You're welcome." He nodded.
He's not a scary person at all, Rinoa thought. He's alot nicer than what everyone thinks, or how I thought he was.
The bell rang, indicating their dismissal. Both Cloud and Rinoa stood up almost immediately, so did the rest of the class. Cloud was about to head out of the door when he heard Rinoa's "Uhm..."
Cloud stopped and turned to her. "Thank you. Really, you've been a great help." She smiled at him.
Cloud nodded at her as he swung his bag to his back. "Glad I could help."
Author's Note: What? No Squall yet? Don't worry, just hang on there and he'll appear pretty soon. :3