Squall surfaced from his bed as his alarm read 7:00 AM. And that in itself was a bit of a shock horror. Early and Squall didn't go together. But, of course there was a decent reason behind it. Squall had been awake in bed through-out most the night. His thoughts spinning. Rinoa. Rinoa. Rinoa. And the pain in his face didn't help him either. So he waited up 'til morning, when he listened to Gray leave for work.

Time for breakfast. Squall thought with a growling stomach. He was ravenous, he hadn't eaten anything for hours. As soon as he got home yesterday, he went straight to his room to avoid any other encounters with his 'father.'

He dressed quickly into his uniform, and flattened his hair down with his hands before heading into the kitchen. Ellone was there. She didn't have work today. Squall smiled slightly at the sight of his sis, reading the newspaper and crunching away at her toast.

"Morning sis" he said. She looked up from the paper, well...kind of dropped it, and grinned at the sight of him. "Goodmorning, Squally."

He sat down beside her at the table, pouring himself a bowl of cereal. The sunshine filtering through the window highlighted his bruised jawline, to this, Ellone gasped. She reached out to him and brushed her hand over his swollen jaw. "Squall...did he hit you again?" she asked, knowingly. Squall nodded. There was little more to say on the matter, the damage had been done. Squall beared the proof. Squall finished up the rest of his breakfast before helping Ellone to clear up the table.

"Is mum home?" Squall asked whilst stuffing school books into his bag. "Yeah...she's still asleep, she had to work overtime again last night" Ellone nodded.

"That damn bar is gonna be the death of her...too much trash hanging around there.." Squall frowned. It displeased him greatly that his mother insisted on working so hard. She worked as a bar tender. And served alcohol to a bunch of bums five nights a week. Most nights she worked back until about 1 or 2 am. And whenever she was home, she was usually sleeping or out with Gray.

"Squall...she's struggling to make the rent money. That's why we need Gray" Ellone explained with lowered eyes. "It's not like she's in-love with that man."

"...Yeah...of course not, 'just leaves me wondering where my real father is..." Squall muttered. "...He'd be here if he could, you'know, one day, I think he'll show up" Ellone smiled brightly.

"Whatever.."

With that Squall was out the door, and in his car, speeding off toward school. Being early would just be an inconvenient start to the day.

_

It took Rinoa an extra 40 minutes to get herself organized this morning. She decided she was no longer going to wear the white school shirt, so she replaced it with one from her closet. And forget about the leather black shoes, she hid them under her bed and instead wore a pair of plain black converse lace up sneakers. She didn't want to look too try-hard and over-do it with the make-up, but she wore a small amount of black eye-liner. And to finish off the new-look, she wore her long raven hair in a half-up half-down style.

Squall. The name wouldn't leave her mind. The strange connection she'd felt with him yesterday had been playing on her mind for so long it was driving her insane. I can't wait to see him. She thought to herself as she left the bathroom and ran for the front door, not wanting her father to see her.

"Bye dad, gotta run, or I'll be late!" she exclaimed, rushing out the front door, and making a run for it down the end of the street. Phew.

_

Squall watched as the girls finally arrived. Together. And there she was. Hyne, what has she done...wow...that look is really hot on her. Squall was silently surprised at the fact she was even there. He still imagined she would ran back to her cheerleader pals, but the new look on her told him otherwise. Squall leaned back on the side of his car, Seifer, Irvine and Zell beside him. Wow..she looks good.

Quistis gushed over to Squall, wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling him into a quick embrace. Man...what is she doing...leave me alone Quistis! Squall choked on these thoughts as she released him. His icy blue eyes quickly darted over into Rinoa's, she was trying to disguise her jealousy...trying maybe just a little to hard.

"Wow! so you're the new chick eh? pleased ta meet'cha, I'm Zell!" A boy with giant spikes of bleach blonde hair said. Rinoa simply smiled to this and said hello to him.

"So..." Seifer grunted, his arms folded across his chest, he didn't look to be pleased about something. Squall had a fairly good idea too. Quistis. Squall was aware that his friend was secretly harbouring his feelings for her. But he was too damn proud to admit it or tell her. And it really cut Seifer up whenever Quistis would pay so much attention to Squall. I wish they'd just get together...so she'd leave me the heck alone.

"You wanna skip school today or what?" Irvine asked, as Selphie gave him another dozen kisses on the cheek. The cowboy obviously loved the attention.

"Yeah...actually...I kinda do, we could go down to the train station" Squall said.

"Squall, what happened to your face? did you get into a fight?" Quistis piped up acting all concerned. As per usual. "It's nothing. I'm fine. Guys, what are we doing?" Squall asked. He didn't want to talk about it. It was none of her damn business anyway. Oh great. Now she looks pissed off again...he thought to himself behind his frown.

"Let's go then" Zell almost shouted, he was in one of his moods. Hype.

"Umm..." Rinoa piped up, looking down at her shoes. "I'm gonna stay...here" she finished.

"Rinny...Don't worry! We do this ALL the time and NEVER get into trouble...it's like no one even cares!" Selphie exclaimed.

"I'm staying here. We have Literature classes for the fist two periods...and then it's like...study hall, I don't wanna skip today" Rinoa said firmly.

Squall's eyes met with Rinoa's again for a brief moment before he turned to the group. "I guess she's right...let's stay" Squall said.

No more was said. The group headed off to class.

"Grow up you moron!" Quistis growled at Seifer.

"I'm serious, You can see a rabbit in the moon if you look hard enough!" he shouted. She rolled her eyes. Seifer looked disappointed. She was never interested in anything he had to say. With that, the group took their seats. was already waiting, he walked around the room and handed out a text book to everyone. Selphie screamed when she saw what was in her hands.

Romeo & Juliet.

"SIR! ARE WE DOING A PLAYYYY?" she asked. Her mind had already concluded to the obvious. Irvine would play Romeo and she would be Juliet.

The teacher nodded before sitting back down behind his desk. "Yes, we will be performing a short play this semester."

Squall nearly fainted. no! No! NO! This isn't happening? why the hell did I come to school today? Damn you Rinoa...damn your hot new look. He quickly stole another glance at her from the corner of his eye, she was looking at her text book intently. Hrm...I like the way she did her hair today he thought to himself before realizing she'd caught him looking at her. DAMN! as if this can't get any worse...I look like and idiot...He could feel his face turning red. He turned his head with lightning speed away from her and opened his book in front of his face in shame.

"No way!" Seifer beagn to detest, "There's no fucking way!"

"Irvine! IRVINE! just imagine how cute you'll look in one of those olden day costumes!" Selphie beamed. To that, Irvine winked. The cowboy would be ready and willing to play the lead role. Rinoa sat silent, trying not to giggle at Squall's cuteness. Seifer started tossing insults all around the room. Quistis began to read the text. Zell chewed his nails. And Squall was now clearly half way. The teacher began to write the notes up on the board, today's lesson would be to simply begin reading the chapters and thinking about auditioning for a character.

Not participating wasn't an option.

Squall took a quick look at the clock. Time would stretch on forever until recess..Until the end of the day for that matter.

Actually, the end came quickly, and before Squall knew it they were all in the parking lot. Ready to go home. Quistis and Seifer were fuming again. This time over their ringtones. Seifer was complaining that his one sounded better and that hers was just annoying.

Squall rolled his eyes, Seifer will argue over ANYTHING just to get her attention. damn fool.

"Are they always like that?" Squall heard Rinoa laugh, she was standing beside him. Looking kind of brain dead. It had been a long day. The sun was scorching down on them. A tiny smile came over his face, everyone was distracted, and he felt as though he finally had a private moment with her. "Yeah..." he mumbled. Feeling awkward again. She laughed again, this time not at Quistis and Seifer, but at him. Damn I look like a fool...Hyne, she's cute!

"Hey! LEONHART!" A voice yelled from across the parking lot. Squall and Rinoa turned, it was a group of jocks, and they were fast approaching.

"What do you bitches want?" Zell asked, getting up infront of them, Seifer and Irvine close beside him.

They all laughed. "We just wanted to know who finally kicked Squall's ass? the little fuck deserved it" they laughed. They'd obviously noticed Squall's bruised up face and got the wrong idea. Stupid idiots. Squall was ready to lunge forward. But a pair of tiny hands grabbed his arm and held him back. "Don't" Rinoa said. "Please don't."

The girl, Gwen, and the other cheerleaders were also standing around. "Hey Rinoa!" they called, she turned her back and ignored them. Her hands still holding tightly onto Squall.

"Let's go, you can give me a ride home" she said. Squall had never backed away from a fight in his entire life. It wasn't in him to walk away or run. But he gave into the pleading look in her eyes right away. He nodded and they both jumped quickly into his car and sped away, his music blasting, which he quickly turned down. It registered again. He was alone with her. She was beside him. How perfect...Yet so damn awkward.

"Nice music" she said.

"Yeah..This is probably my favorite band" he replied.

In a matter of moments they had already drove past her house.

"Umm...Squall?" she squeeked, as his car pulled up outside a different house. "This isn't my house...Sorry, I thought you knew where I lived" she said.

He swallowed. Summoning all the courage he had in him, he looked at her. "I know..." he began. Nervous..so damn nervous.

"I K-know where you live.." he went on. She tilted her head to the side and smiled. "So then...where are we?"

"Well...er...this is my house...and if you want...you can come in..." he smiled. She looked deep into his scared blue eyes and smiled back.

"I'd love to."