A/N: sorry for not uploading since forever :O exam's got me hard so I was on hitus for a bit. sorry about that XD

Hope this chapter is worth the wait =3

Disclaimer: Again, I don't own Final Fantasy VIII or the characters. If I did then I'd be a rich kid :P


~*Chapter 4*~

"Made it!" Rinoa let out a sigh of relief as she entered her Junction classroom. During her walk there, or should I say run, she was praying that Seifer won't come to torment her like he did in the hallways; she may not be so lucky the next time.

Rinoa stood there in her new classroom. It was quite noisy There was some students that Rinoa recognizes from homeroom, while there were completely new faces. To everyone else in this classroom, Rinoa was just a fish out of water.

However, she is quite relieved that Zell and Selphie will be joining her for this last period. Thinking of that now made that huge knot untie itself inside Rinoa's stomach.

"Rinny!!!" . It didn't take long for Rinoa to figure out where that hyper-active voice came from. She turned around and was overcome by a powerful bear hug!

"Selphie, I only went to get my things." Rinoa said returning the hug lightly.

"Can you let go now?" Rinoa slightly begged. Still, she was trapped in Selphie's grasp. Man, for a tiny person like Selphie, she sure can squeeze the living day lights out of you.

"Hey, where's Zell?" Rinoa questioned when she noticed there was no sign of him.

"Oh!" Selphie finally let go of Rinoa. "He went to go tag along with his friends for a bit."

"Well, he better hurry up cause the final bell is about to ring." Rinoa pointed out, glancing at the clock at the front of the room.

"Nah! Let him! It was kinda funny when he was late for class in homeroom." Selphie chuckled.

"What did he do?" Rinoa asked.

"He was trying to sneak in but when Instructor Keys saw him and shouted his name, he literally jumped in air and nearly fell." Selphie began laughing. "If only you were there to see the look on his face! It was too priceless!"

Rinoa giggled. She could only imagine a guy like Zell reacting like that. The two girls began laughing so hard, they landed in tears. They both wiped their tears away when it came to an end.

Rinoa didn't realized while she was cleaning her tears away, her gaze followed to the entrance and that caused her to witness Squall coming in. Rinoa could almost feel her stomach making an uncomfortable flip inside as soon she was for certain her eyes weren't playing tricks on her.

Selphie noticed that Rinoa frozed up for a moment, so she waved one hand in Rinoa's face but she didn't reacted to that.

"He's in my class," Rinoa thought, "This is definitely not going to be fun."

Her eye's locked on him. Rinoa was so distracted by his features, she barley noticed that Squall was slowing down his pace and shooting a glance towards her. Realizing she was now staring directly into his face, Rinoa cheeks went bright pink and she quickly turned towards Selphie.

"That was strange." Squall stared at Rinoa, until he finally strides over to his seat. He sat his books down on his desk and leaned back on his chair with a sigh.

"So...Rinoa is in my Junction class...I wonder how this is going to go..." He sat there with his hand resting against his cheek, using his elbow for support.

His eyes seem to have a mind of it's own today because they decided to trail for Rinoa. He could hear the two girls gossiping, mostly Selphie who kept on feeding Rinoa with so many questions about Squall.

"Now I'm their interesting damn topic...just great..." He thought bitterly.

Squall absolutely hates being the main subject of someone else's conversation. It seems every time he turns around, someone is chattering about him. Not wanting to here the girls anymore, he turned his head to face the front of the room.

"Does Rinny have hots on a certain guy? Like the one you stop to stare at?" Selphie teased Rinoa. This made Squall change his attention to the girls again, immediately.

"Selphie!" Rinoa shushed quickly. "Not so loud!"

"Tee-hee!" Selphie put on her innocent smile.

The final bell went off and the Junction teacher walked in with his books and stuff in his hands. He told everyone to take their seats as he marched over to his desk. Selphie and Rinoa on the other hand, strides over to the teacher and told him that they're both new students here. The teacher introduced himself as Instructor Chambers. The girls each handed their student information sheet they got in homeroom to him and waited while he goes over them. After that, he scanned the classroom to see if their were two available seats for the girls.

At the corner of Rinoa's eye, she saw Zell tip-toeing into the classroom very quietly. Obviously, he was hoping he wasn't going to get caught.

"Mr. Dincht!" Instructor Chambers said sternly.

"I'm not late!" Zell quickly defended. His face looks like he was a deer caught in the headlights. Some of the students began giggling at this, including Rinoa and Selphie.

All the teacher could do was shake his head sadly. "Go sit down."

Zell gave a casual, short salute and went to his seat which was at the front of the room.

Just then, Rinoa began to hear footsteps echoing down the hallways. Those footsteps sounded awfully too familiar.

"Please it's not him!" She pleaded.

"Rinoa, are you okay?" Selphie whispered when she noticed Rinoa's face looked a bit frighten.

"Huh? Oh yeah, I-I'm fine." she whispered back.

The footsteps became louder and louder, until finally, the sound became one hundred percent clear as another late student arrived. Rinoa's whole body went numb when she saw who waltzed into classroom.

Instructor Chambers looked up from what he was doing. "Mr. Almasy! This is the fifth time you've been late this week. Where were you?!" Again, his voice was very was stern; except allot more strict.

"Around." Seifer answered in a 'smart-ass' attitude kind of way.

"This is upsetting me Seifer!" Instructor Chambers said sternly, " Go sit down!"

Seifer chuckled as he sat down at the back of the room. There was an empty seat beside him. There was also an empty spot next to Squall and Zell. Rinoa absolutely wishes she could at least sit beside Zell.

"Selphie," she heard Instructor Chambers said, "I'm going to put you beside Zell." Rinoa felt really sick at that point. Of course, she strongly doesn't want to be stuck next to Seifer, neither does she want to be assigned next to Squall. Then again, the thought of sitting next to Squall wouldn't be all that bad. He wouldn't torment her, hurt her, or not even say one bloody word. But on the other hand, Rinoa could be stuck with a guy who thinks she's useless and can't fight for her life.

"And Rinoa," this caused Rinoa to come back down to earth, "I think I'm going to assign you next to..." Instructor Chambers scanned the room once more. He lifted his index finger to point towards the empty seat next to Seifer. Now Rinoa's whole body went absolutely numb. So numb, she couldn't tell if she was still standing.

"Wait no..." she heard the teacher murmured. "I'm gonna put you next to Squall." At that said, the numbness in Rinoa's body vanished; just like that. It was like Instructor Chambers had said a magic spell that cured Rinoa's unconformable numbness.

She collected her student info sheet and walked slowly towards her new spot. Squall didn't really bother looking up when Rinoa sat down and settle all her stuff in. She peered over to Squall which caused him to look at her. Rinoa felt her cheeks blush again and quickly turned her head to face the front of the class. Squall, on the other hand, had his eye's totally glued onto her.

"Alright everyone," Instructor Chambers said as he got up from his desk chair and walked towards this large board, "Log in to your computers now and open up your homepage. You'll be completing an assignment for me today." Some of the students groaned and moaned, especially Seifer who done a pretty damn good job on that.

Squall tried to command his hands to move towards the computer, but he discovered his body won't respond.

"Dammit Squall! Stop looking at her!" He angrily command himself.

"Squall?" he heard a voice from beside him. Rinoa's voice brought him back.

"Y-you ok?" she asked. She seemed a bit nervous.

Squall hesitated. Then he finally passed his attention towards his computer while he muttered something. Rinoa couldn't quite make it out what he said. She looked at him for a moment until she proceeded on what Instructor Chambers assigned everyone to do for class.

Through the rest of the period Rinoa felt quite uncomfortable. First, Seifer was always looking at her in a cold way that made Rinoa want to through a text book at him and knock him out to next week. Second, there was something about Squall that made her feel uneasy and she couldn't figure out why. She sigh shakily and returned to her assignment.

Squall peered at the corner of his eye when he heard the sound of Rinoa's unconfortable sigh. He thought she was crying but he didn't see any tears to prove it. He wondered if something was bugging the hell out of her.

"She looks bothered...," he thought, "I wonder if she's okay...Wait a second!" Realizing what he was thinking, he stopped immediately. "Why the hell do I care!? That girl is none of my business!!"

When the clock reached 3:00 and the bell had struck, the teacher told everyone to log off and pack up. He also wished them to have a great weekend, since today is Friday.

Rinoa took her time packing up her stuff, putting in her books nicely and neatly in her bag.

"Bye Rinny!" Selphie waved and Rinoa returned the friendly good-bye.

"See you on Monday." Zell said as she walked by Rinoa. He looks like he was in a hurry.

"Bye Zell." she called out.

Rinoa was about to get up and leave until she felt her upper arm beginning grabbed back. Rinoa panic. But then it clued into her that the grasp wasn't as painful and rough. She looked over her shoulder and saw Squall, looking down at her with those gorgeous blue eye's he's got. He was holding something in his hand and it was Rinoa's cellphone. He handed it to her and waited for Rinoa to take it. Instead, she just stared at it dumbfounded.

Squall looked at her confusenly. He was very sure it was Rinoa's cellphone. He could remember her pulling it out when she was searching for her pen.

"...Is this yours?" He asked.

Rinoa finally shook herself out and realized it was her phone.

"Yeah. Thanks." Rinoa thanked when she gently took her phone from Squall's hands. At that point Squall darted out without saying a word to Rinoa. She stared after him.

"He must still thinks I'm too much of a waste of space." Rinoa sadly sighed. She grabbed her bags and walked down the crowed hallways.

"I'll show him," she thought angrily. "I'm going to the training center tonight and when he trains me, he'll realize how strong I am."

Rinoa's Dorm

It was night time and Rinoa was working on her Review Sheets for her exam. She lay flat on her stomach on top of her bed, just about done on the last question.

"At least I don't have to study for a whole slew for other exams." Thinking of that now made Rinoa realized that there won't be no more long nights of preparing for multiple two hours of exams.

By the time she was done, it was around 10:00pm. Looks like it's time for young Rinoa to head to the training center. She sat up straight from her bed and gather up all of her text books and review sheets and placed them all neatly on her desk. She shut down her laptop that was sitting next to her and placed it back on her desk as well.

Rinoa opened her closet and searched below for her Pin Wheel Case. She pulled the case out and opened it, revealing her weapon. She pulled out her weapon and study it to make sure there wasn't any damages done on it. She didn't get the chance to examine it when she first arrived here.

Feeling confident, Rinoa stood up, grabbed her card key from her night stand and headed out to the dangerous training center of Balamb Garden.

Training Center

"You must have someone accompanying with you before you enter the Training Center."

Rinoa had read the last thing that was on the list of rules that was attached on a wall.

"I'll be alright." That little rule wasn't going to stop Rinoa from entering alone. She wasn't going to fight monsters just to train for the Field Exam, she was doing this for herself and to prove Squall wrong.

Rinoa put her hand on the door handle and she took a deep breath "Here I go."

She thrust the door open and entered.

Inside

Rinoa stood in the middle of the training center and looked around at her surroundings. She felt like she was in a haunted jungle. Realizing she still has her Pin wheel in hand, she placed it on her left arm and strapped the straps in place. Now she was ready.

Rinoa entered the next layer of the center and two low level monsters came out, ready to rip the student in two. As if Rinoa was about to let that happen. She raised her Pin wheel and aimed at the first monster, then the second one. They all went down, letting out a scream of pain and then they disappeared.

"Wow, that was easier than I thought it would be."

She proceeded on to the next layer and three more monsters came into play. Rinoa did got hit once or twice but she managed to take all of them down with no sweat.

For the next forty-five or so minutes, Rinoa continued to kill more and more monsters that were in her path and soon, she was getting tired.

"Hmmm...what's next?" Rinoa looked around her to see what else she could attack. She let out a yawned. "I guess it's a sign for me to head back." With that, she turned around and walked slowly to the entrance, barley having enough energy to carry on. She was ready to drop on the ground and fall asleep; however, that wouldn't be a great idea, especially in a Training Center littered with monsters.

Suddenly, Rinoa heard a large branch from a tree snap in half, causing her to jump. The sound echoed through the air. She turned around quickly, aiming her Pin Wheel to one side and the other. She scanned the place from side to side and from behind, still keeping her Pin Wheel steady.

"Hello?!?!" she called out. But there was no answer. "I don't like this."

Silence filled the air. Anything or anyone could pop out of nowhere and scare Rinoa half to death right now.

Hearing and seeing nothing else, Rinoa lowered her Pin Wheel slowly, still keeping her wits about. Slowly, she turned around and walked to retreat to the entrance. Although Rinoa felt exhausted, she still kept a close eye around her surrounds; it never hurts to be too careful.

Thump...thump...thump...

Rinoa gasp out loud. Those giant footsteps wouldn't belong to a regular size monster of any sort.

"Don't tell me..." The footsteps got louder and louder until a huge T-Rexaur emerged from the woods, roaring in the air. Rinoa couldn't react. She just stood there frozen, looking up at the huge monster before her. The T-Rexaur looked down at her, hungry in it's eyes.

Rinoa began backing away very slowly. She didn't know if she should run for her life or call for help but she fears the most that if she does anything like that, she may trigger the T-Rexaur to come attack her to death.

The T-Rexaur raised it's head in the air and let out another roar. Then, it lunged forward at Rinoa. Her eye's widen with horror. She could feel her heart pulsing against her chest, threatening to burst out any second. Everything was happening so fast. All Rinoa could think of was to close her eyes shot, shield herself and get ready to be chomped into bits.

Instead of feeling sharp teeth being pressed into her flesh, Rinoa felt someone's strong arms securing around her body and then, she was pushed out of the way. Rinoa and her savour practically went flying, until they crashed to the ground, hard.

Rinoa gasped. She could recognized the scent of her savour's cologne. She looked up to meet a pair of those beautiful ice cold blue eyes and they belonged to Squall. Squall looked down at her, making sure she was okay before he got himself off of her and drew out his gunblade, ready for battle.

Rinoa could not believe what was going on. First she was about to be devoured by a T-Rexaur and second, she was saved by Squall. Squall Leonhart for hyne sake!!

The T-Rexaur roared and Squall leaped up in the air, rising his gunblade above him and he then pierced the blade into the T-Rexaur's head. The giant creature roared out in pain.

Squall swiftly pulled out his gunblade from the T-Rexaur's head, causing some blood to leak out. He jumped down and ran towards Rinoa, before the large beast crashed to the ground.

Rinoa didn't know what to say when Squall met up with her. She looked at the T-Rexaur and back at Squall's weapon which had blood streaming down his blade. It seemed that her voice came back to her.

"Thanks Squall...for saving me." Rinoa thanked, looking down at her feet.

"What the hell are you doing out here alone?!" Squall barked at her.

Rinoa was taken back from Squall. He stared down at her, obviously waiting for her to answer. She felt like child being scold by a parent. Then it suddenly dawned on her that Squall was alone as well.

"I can probably ask you the same thing!"

"I wasn't even here to begin with." he argued back.

"Than why are you here?!"

"I've happened to see you about to get attack by that T-Rexaur!"

"Look, I had everything under control!"

"Not from what I've seen."

Rinoa was about to push into this argument more further until she saw the T-Rexaur rising up from the ground. Blood was still streaming down it's face.

Squall saw Rinoa's eye's widen at whatever was behind him. He turn around to see the T-Rexaur trying yo get back up. He raised his gunblade into battle position.

"Wait!" Rinoa stepped up beside Squall, placing a hand on his arm to stop him. He looked down at her.

"I remember what to do." Squall didn't had the chance to stop her because Rinoa was already in front of the T-Rexaur. She raised a hand in the air as if instructing the T-Rexaur to stop.

"Sleep!" she shouted and this spell came out from her finger tips. The spell shot at the T-Rexaur, bringing it down as the large beast tried to fight it. It roared out loud and Rinoa began backing away very slowly.

Squall stared at the scene before him. This was something he wasn't expecting from Rinoa. It wasn't that Squall thinks Rinoa isn't a great fighter, he just can't see her taking down a T-Rexaur all by herself.

The T-Rexaur went down and Rinoa finished it off by shooting it on it's previous wound that Squall had gave earlier. The wheel swung back to it's normal spot and the T-Rexaur just lay there, not moving or not breathing. Both Squall and Rinoa knows now that the T-Rexaur was well dead.

Rinoa turned around and marched over to a speechless Squall.

"See?! I can fight!" Rinoa shouted.

"What?" Squall raised one eyebrow. "I knew you can to begin with."

"What do you mean you knew to begin with?! You've been ignoring me since Instructor Trepe have assigned us to be training partners!" she shouted again. "And if you think I'm that much of a waste of space, then I can get another training partner if it makes you happy!"

Squall didn't know what to say. Did she really felt that way? Was Squall really making things difficult for her? When he thought about it more, he kinda felt bad.

"Rinoa, It's not that I think your not strong. It's just that...well." He held his breath and released it when he couldn't press on. "I gotta go." He turned around and began walking away from her.

"Squall, wait!" Rinoa called out for him. She wasn't going to let him off that easily. She began jogging up to him and was successful on catching up to him.

"What were you going to say? You can tell me anything." Rinoa was almost begging him.

"Sorry Rinoa. I have to go." Squall picked up his speed and darted out of the Training Center.

"Why won't he just tell me what he was going to say?" Rinoa was desperate on finding out. It finally had come to her that Squall really does keep to himself.

Squall's Dorm

Squall forcefully opened the door to his dorm and he slammed it behind him with frustration. He walked into his bedroom and slammed himself down on his bed. He hid his face in his pillow and let out a loud sigh.

"Rinoa. It's not that I don't think your fighting skills are poor." Squall rolled over to his back, exhaled loudly and ran his fingers through his hair. He stared at the ceiling before him.

"It's just that...I'm scared...I'm scared that something bad will happen to you and...I will end up revealing my...true feelings towards you."


A/N: OMG!!!! SQUALL LIKES RINOA!!!!!!!!!! =D It may seem a bit too soon but the way my plot is going, it may come around the corner fast. Ain't gonna to tell ya when and what chapter will they fall in love officially :P Your gonna have to find out for your selves. MUAHAHAAA!! and NO, THERE WON'T BE NO LEMON!!!! D: the answer is a bit fat NO!!

Special thanks goes towards:

Nagia Heartilly: Thanks for reviewing twice so far =3 Keep them coming!! =3

XxMoonxLightxShadowxX: Well it was about time!! LOL XD Thanks for reviewing buddy and QUIT DRINKING THE KOOLAID!!!! XD

And huge thanks goes to the other people who had read and reviewed so far!! Again, keep those reviews coming!!

I'll see if I can try to upload Chapter 5 soon, but I'm not making any promises here.

-Ms. Croft