Vincent Mentalis, not Valentine, sat and watched as Anne lay on her desk in her horse-riding gear, her riding crop clasped tightly in her hand. He grimaced when the bell rung loudly and saw all the stuff she had to carry back home. When everyone got up and left the room, she remained in the same spot, unaffected by the fact she had to get out of form. Vincent M stood up before Vincent V and reached Anne, silently telling their form tutor to leave. Vincent V got the message as he packed up his stuff and walked out. Vincent M gently placed a hand on Anne's shoulder.
"Do you need help carrying your stuff?" he asked as she looked up at him with tear stained eyes.
He twitched as Anne wiped her eyes and nodded.
"You don't have to help me," she mumbled and stood up.
Vincent tilted his head as he remembered her rough day from Sephiroth. He didn't have an easy day either, come to think of it.
Registration…
"Zack?"
"Yup!" Zack bounced up with a grin.
"Luka?"
"Hn," Luka nodded.
"Luna?"
"Yes, sir," Luna smiled widely.
"Damon?"
"Yes, sir," Damon said subconsciously as he read his book at the back of the class.
"Selena?"
Vincent V ducked when Selena lost her concentration and hit the hockey ball near his head.
"Sorry, sir, here, sir," she said whilst going to retrieve it.
Vincent M rolled his eyes as Vincent V went back to taking the register.
"Anne?"
… Both Vincents looked around and frowned in confusion when Anne hadn't arrived yet.
"Has anyone seen Anne?" Vincent V asked to his class.
Everyone shook their heads and Vincent V marked Anne as absent in his register. Then the door slammed open and Anne stormed in wearing just her tights, signature waistcoat and undergarments. She stormed up to Vincent V, snatched the pen and marked herself as present.
"Before you ask, get your son to return my clothes," she hissed at him before storming to her desk and sitting in her chair, hugging herself for warmth.
Both Vincents were a bit alarmed at Anne's state and had looked away when her bra slipped slightly, Vincent M blushing lightly.
Sephiroth: 11
Anne: 13
Period 1: Stunt Training for Vincent M…
Vincent M stayed well away from Dune as he did his exercises for stunt training. He ignored the winks and kisses that were blown in his direction, extending his leg and hooking his foot on his shoulder. He glared at the clock as he irritably noticed that Vincent V was late for the class.
"Right," Vincent M turned his head when Vincent V slammed the door opened and stormed in with Anne's missing blouse, skirt and shoes "I will be a bit late to start the lesson so start running through what we were doing on Friday."
"Father, you are boring," Sephiroth bluntly said as he followed Vincent V closely, trying to grab Anne's clothes back from him.
Vincent M gave him a glare from his position as Vincent V held the clothes out of reach, giving him a similar glare.
"You have no right to take what doesn't belong to you," Vincent V said as he put his bags down then began stalking out of the classroom.
Sephiroth sighed in disappointment and watched his father until he reached the doorway.
"Wait, you might want to give this back to her…"
Vincent M's eyes widened and a slight blush went across his face as he saw Sephiroth hold up a black laced bra for Vincent V to take and give back to Anne. Vincent V's eyes widened in a similar fashion, without the blush, as he strode back to Sephiroth and snatched the undergarment off him.
Sephiroth: 12
Anne: 13
"I will not ask how you managed to obtain this, considering I saw it on her fifteen minutes ago," he said as Vincent M looked away politely.
Sephiroth smirked as Vincent V placed the bra amongst the other pieces of clothing. Blood red eyes glared at him fiercely.
"Shouldn't you be going to Athletics?" he asked irritably.
Sephiroth's eyes lit up in delight.
"Yes, I should," he smirked widely "Anne's in my class."
Vincent V paused as Sephiroth waltzed past him with a gleeful hum. Vincent M would have facepalmed if he had not been in an awkward position.
Period 2: Karate for Vincent M…
Vincent M was directly behind Sephiroth as the class went through their kata. Sephiroth was talking to Seito and he could just hear the conversation was about Anne. Seito, who had similar features to Sephiroth, held a soft smirk as they discussed Sephiroth's intentions about the poor girl. Vincent M closed his eyes, having known the kata off by heart, and began to focus his senses solely on listening to the conversation.
"It sounds rather devious, Seph," Seito said "But she knows me quite well. Plus she's seen us together in Athletics."
Sephiroth chuckled softly.
"That's why I have green eye contacts for you," Sephiroth said "I'll help you put them in after Karate and we can trick her."
Seito hummed unsurely.
"I don't know, I know her well and she can even tell apart the most identical of twins."
"Relax," Sephiroth pushed Seito on "It'll be fun."
Seito sighed in defeat.
"Alright," he said as they ended the kata "We'll see how it goes."
Vincent opened his golden eyes and glowered at the two friends.
Period 3: Spare Period for Vincent M…
Vincent M stalked Seito and Sephiroth to the common room after they had come out of the toilets, Seito now looking exactly like Sephiroth. Vincent didn't like the way they shared an identical smirk as well. He was sure that they must be related in some way. Maybe cousins? Though they looked too much alike to even be cousins. Surely they must be half-brothers? Wait, they look too alike to be half-brothers, oh never mind! Vincent watched as Sephiroth told Seito to wait outside and went into the common room. He approached Seito and grabbed him by the cheek harshly.
"A-Ah!" Seito's cheeks went slightly red as he spotted Vincent and he snatched his cheek back, rubbing it sorely.
"What?" he asked irritably.
"What are you planning to do to poor Anne?" Vincent asked with narrowed eyes.
Seito blinked then smirked widely as he spotted Vincent's determination.
"You like her, don't you?" he accused immediately.
Vincent's eyes widened and he shook his head immediately.
"No, I do not," he retorted "As a fellow classmate, I'm just looking out for her since she's got Asperger Syndrome, therefore she is socially awkward and I would like to keep an eye out for any bullying that might happen to her."
The more Vincent talked, the more Seito smirked and the more Seito smirked, the more Vincent began blushing without knowing it.
"You like her," he said with a wide grin.
"…If you go through with this, I'll tell Damon," Vincent M quickly said.
Seito raised an eyebrow. Seito was currently going out with Damon and Damon wouldn't think twice in holding back sex if Seito did anything that he wouldn't approve of. So far, nothing had gone wrong between the two of them. Seito sighed and leaned back on the wall behind him.
"Why would Damon care about Anne?" he sneered.
"Because we are all in the same form," Vincent said "So I suggest…"
"KYA!"
Sephiroth: 13
Anne: 13
"That's my cue~!" Seito opened the common room door and waltzed in.
"WAIT!"
Vincent followed him into the common room and froze when he saw Anne sitting on Sephiroth's lap with his hands up her shirt. Her eyes widened when she saw him and Seito and she flailed about.
"Vincent, HELP!"
Vincent blinked at her while Seito sighed.
"She doesn't even ask for my help," he said and advanced towards Anne nonetheless.
When Vincent saw him kneel down and place his hands on her thighs, he began running forward to tackle him down. When Seito was down on the floor, Anne managed to head-butt Sephiroth in the chin.
Sephiroth: 13
Anne: 14
"Ow, ow, ow," Sephiroth placed Anne on the floor and bent over, blinking.
Anne watched with a frown as Vincent pinned Seito to the floor as Sephiroth blinked out a green contact.
"Huh?" Anne tilted her head in confusion.
Vincent blinked then looked down at Seito to figure out that he was pinning down Sephiroth instead.
"Oh…" he said as Sephiroth smirked.
"Uh…uh…" Anne stuttered as she stared at Seito then looked at Sephiroth "Ah! My brain hurts! I'm telling Damon!"
She got up and ran outside the common room as Seito shouted for her to wait and began running after her, begging her not to tell Damon. Vincent blinked slowly as Sephiroth sat up and smirked at him.
"So, you like my little Anne then?" he smirked deviously and Vincent swallowed harshly "And you thought I was Seito too?"
"My apologies," Vincent muttered as he didn't bother getting up from Sephiroth's lap.
He hissed in pain as Sephiroth grabbed him by his silver hair and tilted his head up to meet his eyes.
"You shall not go near her," Sephiroth growled and Vincent's eyes widened when he realised that he was being serious "She is my target, my Anne and I will not show mercy to anyone who tries to take her away from me. Do I make myself clear?"
Vincent swallowed and managed a weak smirk.
"Anne can choose who she would like to be with," he said.
Sephiroth snarled and lifted his head when the door opened. Dune came in with his French textbooks and dropped them when he saw Vincent and Sephiroth on the floor. Vincent winced when he saw the look of clear hurt in Dune's blood red eyes.
"Vincent?" he whispered with a dry throat.
Vincent opened his mouth to explain but Sephiroth smirked and began talking before him.
"It's what it looks like," he said and Vincent shot him a glare "We're fighting for a girl."
"A-A girl?!" Dune looked even more hurt.
Vincent bit his lip, wishing that Sephiroth had said something other than that. Dune had been after his heart for years and Vincent had showed no signs of interest. Vincent admitted it, he was bisexual but he didn't dare show any hints to Dune who would probably pounce at the opportunity.
"Who is she?" Dune asked with a miserable pout.
Sephiroth grinned wider and Vincent suddenly remembered the friendship that Dune had with Anne.
"Anne Lockhart," Sephiroth said and Vincent punched his face too late.
The door slammed closed and Vincent cursed under his breath, jumping to his feet and running after Dune, picking up his French books on the way.
"Dune, wait!" he shouted as he chased Dune outside.
"Leave me alone!" Dune wailed as he turned the corner to go to the football fields.
Vincent followed him closely until he spotted Dune with Flint outside the tennis courts, crying into his hair despairingly. Flint, in his tennis clothes, put an arm around Dune and hugged him tightly.
"Hey, hey," he comforted Dune who began hiccupping with his sobs "It's alright, Dune. It was bound to happen sometime."
"But I wasn't ready for it!" Dune cried "And why did it have to be Anne?! She is such a bitch, attracting everyone's attention towards her!"
"Hey, hey…" Flint hugged Dune tighter and draped his hair around Dune like a warm blanket "I'm sure Anne doesn't feel the same way for him."
Dune glared at Flint who winced slightly. Vincent listened from his hiding place as Dune began crying again.
"It's not fair," he sobbed "She could have any guy in the school and Vincent falls into her trap. Why can't she just stay with Sephiroth and then…"
"You know he might go for another girl," Flint sighed and Dune punched him in the gut to shut him up.
"Any girl that isn't my friend," he growled softly "I just…"
Vincent suddenly caught Flint's eye and froze. Flint raised an unimpressed eyebrow then made a motion for Vincent to leave. Vincent placed Dune's French books down and walked away.
Period 4: Kendo for Vincent M…
Vincent and Luka were having a match during Kendo. Vincent found that he couldn't concentrate as well as he wanted because the guilt of upsetting Dune was in his mind. When Luka struck the winning point, he didn't feel upset for losing like he normally did and sat down on the sidelines, waiting for the next person to challenge Luka go up. Asa scooted next to him and poked his shoulder.
"I heard what happened last period," he whispered and Vincent glared at him.
"How much did you see?" he asked.
"Well I was going back to Magician Training and nearly got run over by Anne and Seito," Asa shrugged "Then I saw Dune go into the common room then run out crying, you following him. So I followed you guys out of curiosity and heard everything."
Vincent scowled and turned away.
"Look, I don't feel that much for Anne," he tried to call his bluff but Asa chuckled softly.
"Who hasn't had a crush on Anne?" Asa nudged him playfully "I had a crush once but we don't spend too much time together so I got over that."
Vincent stared at him long and hard then sighed.
"I just want to keep an eye on her because Sephiroth is targeting her," he said and Asa nodded knowingly.
"We're setting up the Keep-An-Eye-Out-For-Our-Anne group if you want to join," Asa smirked as Vincent cocked an eyebrow in disbelief.
"I work alone," he said and Asa snorted.
"Yeah, whatever. I'm just saying…"
Asa leaned in towards Vincent.
"If you need to talk, I can always keep an extra ear out for you."
Vincent nodded stiffly as Sephiroth rose to challenge Luka.
Period 5: Boxing for Vincent M…
Vincent punched as hard as he could into the pad that Angeal held up before him. He ignored the looks that Dune directed towards him and only punched harder whenever he caught Dune's eye, still guilty about upsetting him. It was all Sephiroth's fault anyway! Vincent imagined the punching pad to be Sephiroth and continued punching hard.
"Vincent?"
Vincent ignored Angeal as he began kicking the pad as well as punching.
"Vincent."
Vincent paused as Angeal placed a hand on his head.
"What's got you so worked up?" Angeal asked with a concerned frown.
Vincent let his arms drop and he sighed, leaning against Angeal's hand.
"Sephiroth," he growled.
"Hm…take a small break. You've been punching the pad for about twenty-five minutes and your arms must be tired."
"Yes, sir," Vincent murmured as he slunk off to one of the benches.
He grabbed a towel and draped it over his shoulders with a sigh. He closed his eyes and went into a meditative state, just forgetting everything that had happened during the day.
Period 6: Cross Country for Vincent M…
When Vincent did his warm-up exercises before going running on the Cross Country course, he spotted Anne reading a book by the football pitches. He glanced at Mr Velox, the cross country teacher, before sneaking off to check if she was alright. He then saw that she was writing something in her diary, where she normally wrote her stories in. Approaching her from behind, he peered over her shoulder. It was just some character profiles. He coughed and Anne screamed, dropping her journal and looking over her shoulder.
"Oh," she sighed in relief "It's just you."
Vincent let her see one of his rare smiles and sat down next to her.
"Are you alright?" he asked.
Anne sighed and leaned back.
"Well, during last period, singing, Sephiroth put ice down my back which made me scream during our warm-up."
Sephiroth: 14
Anne: 14
Vincent winced sympathetically as she smiled up at him warmly.
"But I haven't seen him since," she said while picking up her journal.
"What have you got left?"
Anne sighed as she closed her eyes.
"First period was Athletics, then it was Drama, then it was the spare period…"
She blushed at the memory and shook her head.
"Period four was trampoline, period five was singing and now I have a free. Afterwards I have, Archery, Creative Writing, Dance, Ice-Skating, Japanese and Horse-Riding."
Vincent looked up when the whistle blew.
"I need to leave," he said and stood up "See you later."
"Bye!"
Vincent smiled again as he jogged over to his class.
Lunchtime…
"I'M GOING TO KILL YOU, SEPHIROTH!" a drenched Anne yelled as she ran across the playground with a bottle of water ready to pour over Sephiroth.
Vincent watched as she chased Sephiroth around, not really catching up and sighed.
Sephiroth: 15
Anne: 14
Period 7: English for Vincent M…
Vincent sat in between Erik and Zero, focusing on his work with narrowed eyes. A note was passed to him from Erik and he raised an eyebrow at him. Erik shrugged as he opened the note.
"It'd probably be best to apologize to Dune."
Vincent crumpled up the note and tossed it in the bin before focusing on his work.
Period 8: Gym for Vincent M…
Vincent ignored the glares that he was getting from Flint on the other side of the room as he did his stretches alone. He sent a glare at Flint when it got too annoying and Flint gave him the finger. Vincent narrowed his eyes. This was getting out of hand, he hadn't been planning to apologize to Dune, it was Sephiroth who should be apologizing. And Dune overreacted anyway, it wasn't any of his business if Vincent happened to have a small crush on one of his friends. Vincent nodded to himself firmly as he continued ignoring Flint's off-putting stares.
Period 9: Rowing for Vincent M…
Vincent caught Seito's eye as he changed into his rowing gear. Seito grimaced and walked over to him.
"Hey, I heard what happened with Dune," he started.
"Has Damon withheld sex from you yet?" Vincent asked bluntly.
"Uh, no, Anne didn't tell him in the end…"
"Then I don't want you to talk about Dune, get Sephiroth to apologize to him," Vincent retorted and stormed off.
Period 10: Fencing for Vincent M…
Vincent twitched as he was up against Flint in fencing.
"Flint," he nodded.
"Jerk," Flint nodded.
Vincent's brow twitched as he put his mask on and began the match.
Period 11: Spare Period for Vincent M…
Vincent finally spotted Dune studying in the corner of the common room and marched over to him.
"Come on," he snarled, grabbing Dune by the wrist and marching off with him dragging behind.
Dune stumbled and tried to tug his wrist out of Vincent's grip. Vincent dragged him over to the tennis courts and turned to him with folded arms.
"I'm sorry," he said to the tearful sculptor "Even though it should be Sephiroth saying it, I'm sorry. Just don't send your friend after me."
Dune sniffed and blinked in confusion. Vincent rolled his eyes and pulled up his shirt to reveal the large bruises that Flint had given him during Fencing.
"Just don't," he said with a menacing glower as Dune covered his mouth in shock "Having someone targeting my friend is enough work for me if she's socially awkward and mentally unstable."
Dune lowered his hand and nodded with a pout.
"Good, now tell Flint to get off my back," Vincent pulled his shirt down and stalked off.
Well, at least that problem was sorted out.
Period 12: Painting for Vincent M…
Finally. Peace and quiet at last. Vincent felt at ease as he painted on his easel with his choice of paints. He had his headphones plugged into his ears and calming music was playing through them. He closed his eyes and began to paint that way too, glad that Sephiroth was far, far away, at least Vincent hoped that he was far, far away anyway.
Present…
Vincent placed a hand on Anne's shoulder who wiped her tears.
"Sephiroth hit my butt with my riding crop," she muttered.
Sephiroth: 16
Anne: 14
Vincent twitched then hugged Anne tightly.
"Just forget about him," he muttered as Anne tensed "Go to the spa or something, relax and just forget about him."
Anne hugged him back and buried her face into his chest.
"I don't want to go home, Sephiroth knows my address," she murmured.
"Then come round mine," Vincent offered and picked up some of her bags "Come on, I take the train."
Anne nodded and followed him out of the classroom. Vincent smiled at her. What could life possibly be like without her?