Chapter 6

The next day carried out fairly uneventful, Yuffie and I didn't speak at all, we were hardly ever caught in the same room. I'd carried out my studies in the library with Aerith occasionally checking up on me, and even bringing me tea from the staff room, that evening.

When Wednesday came around I stuffed my backpack with a notebook and a couple of pens. I was determined to leave the room before Yuffie woke up, deciding getting breakfast down in the cafeteria sounded like a good idea before my General studies tutorial. As I sat and ate my muffin and downed my latte, I wondered whether or not 'Spikey' would be in my tutorial as well for this topic. I began thinking, I wonder what he's studying? Perhaps dance or drama? Nah, to awkward in his demeanour. I considered visual art like Aerith, but I wasn't sold on that either, he didn't seem the type to sit and draw. That left music, but what instrument would he play? Interrupting my thoughts, I peered down at my watch to see that I should have probably made my way to the Musical Arts Building about 5 minutes ago.

Luckily I arrived just on time, and realised, 'Spikey' was in my tutorial class. These tutorial classes consisted of only 10-15 people from the lecture. Here, the professor would be able to talk to us one on one to ensure we were on track. It seemed my luck was beat again, as the only seat left empty in the entire room was situated right beside him. I guess I wasn't the only one who was scared of him either. Even though he had apologised to me already, I still felt nervous and I wasn't completely sure why. I gave a questionable glance to him then toward the seat. He gave a small shrug and shuffled to the right to make more room between us. I mouthed a thanks before taking my seat.

Professor Tseng started the class by handing out our first assignment paper, including the requirements and rubric that would be based on how we were graded. This Tseng guy was definitely a hard-ass. He droned on about the importance of proper English and writing skills that were essential for us to succeed in each of our degrees, let alone our careers. I could have fallen asleep, this was stuff I had left behind in high school, why did first year seem like revision? Glancing down at my empty page, which should have been full of notes, something caught my attention in the corner of my eye. A text book peeking out of 'Spikey's' bag read 'Percussion Theory'. Oh he's drummer, I thought. Wait! He's a drummer!

He suddenly moved his bag back under his seat with his foot, oops, I'd been caught staring. I brought my eyes back to the page, and begun to copy notes from professor Tseng's presentation slides like I was supposed to.

I wonder if he'd be interested in joining a band? Pft, I doubt it! I quickly dismissed the thoughts and tried to pay extra attention to what this boring ass professor had to say. As the lesson drew to a close, 'Spikey' quickly packed away his things and swiftly left, leaving me feel as if I'd pissed him off. Why was it that most of the people I met here seemed to dislike me so easily? What, did city kids have something against country kids, I mean for god sake I was just looking at his bag. I shook my head slightly in hope that the thoughts would be thrown out. Although it was amazing to finally be here at this academy, it sure was tough, but not in the sense of work load, like I'd imagined it would. It was just hard understanding some of these people.

Later that day before my music history lecture, I agreed to meet up with Aerith for a vanilla chai latte at café Andante, on the bottom floor of the building. We mostly talked about books as well as where we were from. It turned out that Aerith's family wasn't all that far from the city of Midgar. Her mother owned a small florist in Kalm which was only about 60kms away, while her father worked away from home on business. She told me about her mother's garden and how her mum would drink tea and coffee while she read in a hammock under one of her favourite trees. Aerith would spend countless days painting the flowers that grew around the house during summer, she promised it invite me over to see her collection of sketchbooks someday too. It was just before Aerith graduated from high school that she heard of Avalon Academy, and sent in her school results and portfolio. Aerith was above average in her class, which guaranteed her a spot in the academy and both her parents were thrilled. When she asked about my family, I left out the dad not knowing I'm here bit. She seemed impressed that we owned our own land and how we lived on a little dirt lane at the base of a mountain.

"I would have loved to live in the country, mum and I could have had 20 acers worth of flowers!" she said sipping her latte. "Oh and I can't begin to imagine painting the mountains!"

The day went on as per usual, as I attended the music history lecture run by a short bearded man by the name of Reeve Tuesti. It seemed I was probably the only one interested in what he had to say about classical musicians. At the end of the lesson I decided the head back to the dorm, put away my books and maybe grab something to eat before meeting Zack and Vincent at the so called 'band room'. As opened the door to the room, I prayed that Yuffie wasn't inside, god knows what she'd have to say today. Of course my prayer wasn't answered, and I received a welcoming glare from yours truly. However, I noticed she was on the phone. Ignoring her glare, I went about putting my books away.

"…listen dad," Yuffie muttered. "I don't care what you think…I'm doing what I want!"

With that, she threw her phone against the wall making a slight dent in it beside the door.

"I ain't paying to fix that," I said looking at the wall.

"Like it matters," Yuffie spat. I could have sworn I saw tears brimming in her eyes.

I considered giving her some space before I realised it was her dad she was talking to. Even though we perhaps clashed a little too much, I was suddenly determined to have one last go at starting again with this chick.

I sighed, and walked over to retrieve here phone. It had a slight crack in the corner, but nothing more, "trouble in paradise?"

As soon as I said it, I regretted it. I prepared myself for one of the deadliest glares and a bite back, but instead, she smiled, tears glinting in her eyes.

"Yeah you could say," she sniffled. "My dad thinks I'm wasting this opportunity."

"Ah," I said handing her phone back to her. "I know how you feel."

She glanced up at me, "you do?"

"Yeah, my dad actually doesn't know I'm here, he's never believed in my dream," I said sitting on the bed next to her. "He wasn't going to let me come here, so my mum actually snuck me out. Now he thinks I'm working for my Aunt in Costa De Sol."

"Families suck," she laughed.

I nodded, laughing with her. "Hey, I'm actually going to go grab a bite to eat and meet up with some friends after, did you want to join?"

"Sure," she agreed. "It'll probably take my mind off of things."

We decided to grab a pizza to share and two cans of coke at the main cafeteria. It was normally packed at this time, and we had just managed to snag a small table on the edge of the room.

"So what actually is your dream, Tifa?" Yuffie asked, stuffing her face full of pepperoni pizza.

"Well my dream was actually just to get here," I said sheepishly. "All I know is that I want to work in the music industry, perhaps become a famous pianist or something."

Swallowing Yuffie nodded, "I get it, I felt the same before coming here, I've always done ballet since I was a little girl because of my dad, but now I want to do something amazing. I want to change how people view ballet."

"Wait," I said astonished. "You're telling me that you're a ballerina?"

Yuffie rolled her eyes, sighing, "yes, I'm a ballerina, so what?"

"But you're… so grunge looking," I replied.

"I know I get that a lot," she said taking a sip from her coke. "But that's the thing, people always judge people by what they look like and expect them be exactly how they perceive them. There is always more to a book than just their cover."

I bit into another slice of pizza, "Fair enough, but what do you mean by you want change the way we see ballet?"

"Well," she began finding her words. "During year 8 in high school I joined the break dance club there, and from there on in, I loved it just as much as ballet. When my audition was accepted here, I knew I wanted to combine them. But dad disagreed with it, saying it was a waste of time, that no one would take me seriously. But I'm determined to do something amazing, to be noticed."

I fell silent, Yuffie wasn't half bad, she was definitely strongminded, I gave her that. I had respect for her, and it was then that perhaps I knew what my next dream was, not to become a pianist, but to also do something different, and to prove my dad wrong too. I vowed to myself that I'd take Zack up on his offer, who knows perhaps this could have been that chance to make something amazing, to be different.

Once we had finished the pizza, I led Yuffie to the top floor and proceeded to the abandoned corridor.

"Oh I get it, we're not actually meeting up with your 'friends', you're actually just going to murder me, hey?" she joked.

"I know it looks creepy as all hell," I said. "But my friend decided it would be a good place to have a band rehearsal room."

"You're in a band?" She said bewildered.

"Don't judge a book, Yuffie," I retorted.

"Touché."

As we entered the room, we found Zack and Vincent lounging on an old beaten couch in the corner eating Chinese take-out.

Finishing his mouthful of noodles, Zack smiled, "hey, I was starting to think you stood us up."

"Well, I thought about it," I said with a cocky smile. "But then I wouldn't be able to join your band."

Zack jumped with an excited shout, knocking some of his noodles into Vincent's lap who was seated next to him. Vincent seemed like a fairly quiet guy, a typical bass guitarist. Instead of rejoicing with Zack he continued to pick at his noodles and avoid eye contact.

"That's what I'm talking about!" Zack said giving me a huge bear hug that I was totally unprepared for.

As he released me and found my feet again, I gestured to Yuffie who stood awkwardly beside me, "this is Yuffie by the way, my roommate."

Zack smiled as he shook Yuffie's hand, "are you a drummer by any chance?"

Yuffie shook her head, "just a dancer."

"Well I'll let you know when this band needs a backup dancer," Zack laughed. "This Vincent by the way, an old friend of mine, the most amazing bass guitarist you'll ever know."

Vincent gave a small wave as he twisted noodles round his chop sticks.

"A man of very few words too," Zack added. "Don't worry you get used to it."

Yuffie and I sat on old wooden crates as the two boys ate.

"So what do you even call yourselves?" Yuffie asked.

"Good question," Zack said, "We haven't got that far yet, however I was thinking along the lines of 'No man's Land' or something bad ass like that."

"No," was all Vincent said.

"I agree," Yuffie nodded. "That totally sucks."

"Fine, what about something shorter?" Zack thought for a moment. "What about…'SOLDIER'?"

"You're terrible at this," I interjected. "We need something catchy but has a lot of meaning to us."

"Yeah like something that's going get people's attention," Yuffie added. "Something that ambushes people."

"Ambushes?" Zack questioned.

"Yeah that takes people by surprise," Yuffie clarified.

We all thought for a moment, something short and catchy that would ambush people. I began to think about the mountains back Nibelheim. They were renowned for being some of the most unpredictable mountains in the world. There were avalanches reported almost every fortnight on Mt. Nibelheim during each Winter, and apparently 8 people had died on the mountain. That's when it came to me.

"Avalanche," I stated.