-1Disclaimer: I only own Jamie and Gabriel. Square-Enix owns the rest.

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A knock could be heard on Jamie's dormitory door. "Who is it?" She asked.

"It's me, Irvine", came the reply, which sounded slightly muffled.

Jamie opened the door for him and instantly put on a 'happy face'. Being one of her closer friends, she already knew that Irvine would be able to look through her façade.

"You know, you don't have to act around me", Irvine said, concern evident in his eyes. "I just wanted to come here to talk to you".

Jamie's 'fake' smile instantly dropped from her face, and was replaced with one that looked slightly more sincere. "I'm fine Irvine. Really, I am", she comforted him.

Irvine smiled back at her. "Yeah, well….I could tell that there was something bothering you at the party. So I want you to spill", Irvine demanded, wanting to know what could have bothered Jamie so.

Jamie hesitated, then finally replied. "Well, if you must know, it was Seifer".

Irvine's eyes narrowed slightly and his eyebrows were more closer together. "What did he do to you?"

Jamie started. "Irvine, really, it was nothing. I guess it was just….that I saw him with Rinoa, and I dunno…..it just angered me".

Irvine stared at her, and pulled Jamie into a hug, without a warning or any other indication. Jamie, surprised at the gesture, for she had not started it this time, sank into Irvine's arms.

"Are you and him together?" His interested question heard by Jamie as a mumble, which made Jamie instantly shake her head.

"No way, Irvine. Me and him….we just don't go together….you know?" She said, but a hint of uncertainty hidden in her instant reply.

Jamie didn't see the smile appear on Irvine's face, but he felt slightly more relaxed now. "Well, that's good. I don't trust him".

Jamie responded after a moment. "….Nor do I".

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Squall felt really nervous and was finishing off some paperwork, but couldn't help be distracted. The reason of his nervousness was that he was planning to propose to Rinoa. He tried to do just that at the party that was yesterday but because he hadn't found her there, he thought that he'd propose today.

"Man, I can't even concentrate now", he muttered to himself, still thinking about the girl clad in blue that had metaphorically stolen his heart. His further thoughts were interrupted by a knock at the door. With hesitation, he called out "Come in".

Quistis entered his office. "Hey, I just thought that I'd give you my report", she said, wondering if she had come at a bad time.

Squall dismissed her expression with a wave of his hand, and hastily smiled at her. "Quistis, we're friends. I really don't need to see your reports and you should stop being so formal", he said.

Quistis had realised just how much he had changed from the presence of Rinoa. For once, he smiled a lot now, and he also talked much more openly than he used to. Quistis had also remembered when she used to have feelings for her ex-student, and felt pretty envious of Rinoa, but now she realised that that was a past that was long forgotten.

The blonde instructor bowed her head slightly. "Sorry Squall. But it's hard to let go of old habits, right?" She asked, but realised that Squall had let go of his 'old habits', but that was only because he had someone beside him, who cared for him, who loved him.

Squall shook his head. "No, it's okay. So….what do you want to talk about?" He asked.

Quistis frowned slightly, and replied. "Well, I thought that I could get a little time off Garden, and I wanted you to ask Cid for me".

Squall looked at her. "Where is he?"

Quistis shook her head. "That's the thing, I don't know. But judging from what he does most of the time, I'm guessing he's either making an important phone call or he's in a meeting".

Squall frowned slightly. "But why don't you want to ask him yourself?"

Quistis looked slightly nervous as she replied to his question. "Well … it's just that … since you're the commander … I thought he might listen to you, is all".

Squall decided to help her and simply nodded, but when she was about to walk out, he called her back. "Quistis … I-I need to ask you something".

Squall couldn't help but become uneasy about how he was going to voice his concern. "Quistis … I want to … pro-propose to Rinoa and … well …" but stopped talking when he saw Quistis smiling slightly. Puzzled by this, he began to frown slightly, which caused Quistis' smile to drop slowly.

She shook her head. "I'm sorry, Squall, but … I couldn't help it. You've just … changed so much".

Squall felt at a loss for words. Was it just him, or was Quistis acting a little strange? But before he had time to delve further into the issue, he heard Quistis call him. "Squall?"

"O-Oh, I guess I could find Cid and tell him for you", he quickly replied and nodded at her, getting back to his pile of paperwork.

Quistis, used to this sign, understood it to be one of finality and decided to dismiss herself out.

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Rinoa felt guilty. Really guilty. And the worst part was that she knew why she felt guilty. She had slept with her ex-boyfriend, in a futile hope of getting her current boyfriend, Squall, to notice her, after the whole party fiasco. What a stupid idea, right?

After sitting up on the bed, which felt very comfortable, Rinoa had realised that Seifer wasn't there. However, her plea was answered, when she saw him with nothing clad apart from black jogging bottoms. After he noticed her awake, he decided to say something, to break the awkward silence that was threatening to arise.

"You want some coffee?" However, that question unexpectedly caused something bile to arise in the angelic beauty.

"How can you - How can you talk about coffee at a time like this?" She half-exclaimed, furious at his calmness of the situation. But, then again, there was a big difference in his and her feelings. After all, Seifer was still single, which meant that he didn't feel as guilty as her.

But, Rinoa wondered whether he even felt guilty at all.

She noticed his eyes darken at the tone of her voice, and she partly regretted shouting at him. But, that part was soon extinguished as he retorted back to her.

"Well, what do you want me to talk about? Shall we talk about Squall? Squall; the guy whom every single darn girl seems to want to think about; to talk about?!" He furiously shouted, and Rinoa could feel tears welling up in her eyes.

Rinoa, don't let him see you cry. Please don't let him see you cry. The sorceress began to tell herself, and although she kept most of the tears at bay, she couldn't quite help but gape at him.

Seifer, seeing this, merely scoffed and made his way into the balcony near his room, drinking some of his coffee. After taking a sip, he turned his head back to her. "Rin … You've grown up". That was all he stated before Rinoa broke down and began to cry.

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Selphie felt slightly disheartened. Her party didn't quite go as she planned; Jamie had retired to her dorm an hour too early, and the others had begun to split up. And, the worst part of that was that she hadn't seen the Guests of Honour dance together. In fact, Selphie hadn't seen Squall and Rinoa together at all in the party. After taking a little walk in the Quad, Selphie sighed and made her way into the bench, where Zell was seated, looking as if he was thinking about something really hard.

The martial artist saw the look in Selphie's face when she sat down, and knew that something very serious was wrong, to make such a spunky teenager upset. With a slight smile, he addressed her.

"Hey, Selph. What's kept you so down?"

Selphie looked up at him, and returned a sad smile of her own. Why did she have to show her emotions so much? Her cheerful façade was dropping, that much she knew, but yet Selphie was never one to frown. Or cry.

"Oh, Zell. My party was such a failure. I mean, everyone there was too busy preoccupied with their problems, that they never realised that I was just trying to do my duty as a friend. I just wanted to help, Zell", she said, and unexpectedly put her head on his shoulder, willing the tears to not come out.

And, from that, Zell decided to comfort her. "That's not true, Selph. Everyone loved your party - Well, I loved your party", he said, then added. "And, I loved the fact that you actually had hotdogs in your party", and with that said, the two laughed. But, even after that moment of bliss, Zell had registered something.

Life had been nothing but rough on him and all of his friends.

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Author's Note: Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeee! Finally, an update! Sorry about that, reviewers and readers alike, but you must know what college does to us peeps!

Anywayz, review, amigos!

Ash XX