Chapter 3

Things were happening way too quickly. First Serah had took Noel, by the hand, and lead him to her room for more privacy. Once they had gotten to her room, they sat down on the floor to discuss their project ideas, which was over greek mythology. The assignment was was to read a certain chapter of the Odyssey and write a report over it's important and the story. Serah began to read in her head, but suddenly felt that his eyes were watching her. She looked up and met his gaze; Serah gently sat the book down and crawled over to where he was sitting. She knew what he wanted, and she wanted it too. Taking a deep breath, she laced her hand with his. It was warm and made her feel comfort, like if all the pain that has happened suddenly disappeared. She moved his hand to her face, where she let it rest on the side of her cheek; she needed that love, it was something she couldn't get from her parents, or Lightning, or anyone else.

"Noel," she silently spoke, "this is going to sound crazy, but-"

Noel smiled, "I think I know what you're gonna say."

She sighed and smiled, " I-I just met you, but i feel like i've known my whole life."

"Maybe it's fate."

Serah giggled, "You believe in that stuff, huh?"

Her heart stopped at his next few words.

"If it means meeting you, then yes."

Serah couldn't help but just look at him; she just sighed and gave a shy smiled. Snow had never told Serah he loved her or anything to that caliber. Snow just liked kissing and making out, while Serah just did it to please him. Noel was different; words came before the physical content began. Serah felt her body become stiff and she didn't know what was going to happen, but she didn't care. So when Noel leaned in, only a few inches away from her face, she didn't stop him. She didn't want to. She noticed a small scar on his cheek. She wanted to know everything about the boy standing in front of her. And more than anything, she wanted to feel his lips on hers. His lips crashed down onto hers, and for a moment the kiss was long and slow. Gentle and delicate. They parted away a few seconds, heads leaning against each other, and Noel gave a small smirk. Serah smiled as she looked him deep in the eye; Noel cupped her face in his hands and pulled her in again. This time the kiss was hot and passionate, with both of the teens wanting more. Serah surprised herself as she kissed Noel hungrily, hands weaving themselves through his hair. His mouth was so warm, the caress of his lips softer than she could have imagined. He tasted tentatively with his tongue, and Serah opened her mouth with a low was soon straddling his hips while sitting in his lap. She wanted to feel his warm body on hers, so she began tugging on the top part of his shirt.

She broke the kiss, and breathlessly said, "This needs to come off. Like now."

Noel smirked, which almost made her pounce back onto his mouth, "Ladies first."

Serah, wait. This isn't you, a voice deep inside her called to her. Serah didn't care if it wasn't her at all, if this was how Noel wanting to play then fine.

Serah tore off her sweeper, and began unbuttoning her white dress shirt, which Noel helped her unbutton as well. She then let that fall to the floor, leaving her in her white laced bra.

"Like what you see now?" Serah smirked and laughed, while tugging on the top of Noel's shirt.

Noel smiled as she pulled it over his head, "Maybe."

"What do you mean maybe?" Serah laughed as she threw his shirt across the room. They both laughed, but then things grew intense again; here they were no shirts, in her bedroom, with her straddling him. Next thing she knew, she was kissing him again; quick little kisses around the mouth and down his neck.

"What happened to your face?" Noel asked as Serah broke off the kiss.

Tell him the voice urged, but Serah wasn't going to let her father ruin what was happening between her and Noel.

"Nothing," she said leaning her head against his, "got clipped by a bike and fell down."

Noel furrowed his brows, "You sure? It almost looks like someone punched you."

Lie, one of the voices shouted at the back of her head, say it was anyone besides your father.

"It was my Ex," Serah murmured against Noel's lips, "he and I got in a fight before we broke up and he got really upset. Just needed someone to take his anger out on and i was there."

Noel looked her dead in the eyes, "I would never do that to you."

And she was back to passionately kissing him, with her hands tangled in his brown hair. Nothing could stop them. Nothing.

Except for Serah's mom.

"Honey, dinner's ready. Noel and you can come down."

Serah sighed and fell onto him, wrapping her arms around his neck and cuddling up to his neck. He felt warm, and it made her forget about all that was happening around her. with her mom and dad, with school, with Lightning, and with Snow.

"Do you want to stay for dinner?" Or forever?

Noel sighed and wrapped his hands around Serah's waist, "Sorry, I can't. I promised Yeul I'd take her out tonight while Caius is at his meetings."

"I-I don't want you to leave." Serah whispered against his skin.

"I don't want to either," Noel rested his head on top of Serah's, "but you'll see me tomorrow. And I can come home with you after school, if you want."

Serah nodded happily against him, and finally let go of her embrace. The two hurried to get dressed once again, and then Serah walked Noel down the stairs.

"Staying for dinner?" Thomas asked from his place on the bar stool.

Noel shook his head, "No sir, not tonight, but thanks anyway."

Charlotte smiled, "It's no problem hun, I'm just glad Serah made a friend."

"Me too." Serah said taking Noel's hand and pulling him towards the door. She opened the door and walked outside with him to his motorbike. He was about to put his helmet on when she pulled his arm; he turned to her with a questioning look on his face.

"What?" He simply asked with a small smile.

Serah took a deep breath, "Please don't leave me."

He took Serah's face in his hands and made her look him in the eye, "I promise, I will never leave you. I see you tomorrow, okay?"

"Okay." Serah sighed as he dropped his hands from her face. He then hopped onto his motorbike and slid his helmet over his head. Serah waved as she walked back up the lane to the door, and one last night looked at the boy before he left her. He waved as he pulled out of the driveway and took off on the road. She entered the house to hear her parents already arguing; like the mask they put on for Noel just disappeared completely.

"You're such a bitch!" Her father roared, causing Mog to run and hide.

"And you're an asshole!" Charlotte screamed back, causing Serah to flinch.

Thomas then stood up, and approached Charlotte, with an evil look on his face, "What was that?"

"You heard me." Charlotte was walking thin ice now, Serah knew she couldn't get in between them, or else.

Serah carefully made her way around the living room to where the stairs were, when she heard a slap. She turned to she her mother lying on the floor, hand clutched to her face, and her father standing tall over her. She knew she would only make things worse, but seeing her mother in pain brought a fire to Serah's eyes.

"Dad. Leave her alone."

Thomas turned to look at the small girl, " Your boyfriend isn't here to protect you anymore. You better shut your mouth."

Serah walked down the stairs, " He's not my boyfriend, and I don't need protection from you."

"Says the bruise on your face." He laughed, as Serah's mother slowly picked herself up from the ground.

"You're the one who did this to me! I'm tried of you abusing Mom and I! Were not your toys to take your anger out on." Serah said keeping a good amount of space between them.

"You better shut your damn mouth, or else i'll shut it for you-"

"You won't touch me anymore!" Serah shouted, interrupting her father.

Serah knew what was going to happen, so she took off; she ran quickly up the stairs, three at a time, with her father coming up behind her. The door was one a few feet away, she had to make it, and she did. She quickly shut the door behind her just in time, locking the door as well. Her father started screaming and banging his hands on the door; Serah just crawled to the farthest corner of her room, and pulled herself into a little ball. The screaming continued for hours. Sometimes she really thought he was going to get in, and who knows what would happen then. You should've kept your mouth shut and we wouldn't be in this situation, the voices rang throughout her head. She just longed for the feeling she felt with Noel; she wished she could go back in time and relive those moments forever. Over and over again for the rest of her life.

She awoke in the morning cold, mostly because she slept by the vent and the window, but besides that she slept well. Serah had managed to get to sleep once all the chaos had calmed down, and now she was ready to get back to school. She got up and got dressed, brushed her hair and did her makeup, and finally left her room. It was quiet this morning which was unusual for their household. Serah quickly climbed down the stairs and made it to her back pack; picking it up she quickly headed straight for the door, but was stopped by someone grabbing her arm. She yelped in pain as finger nails dug deep into her skin; turning she met face to face with Thomas, who looked like he hadn't had any sleep at all that night.

"You," he growled, "that's strike one."

Serah tried prying his fingers off her arm, worried that people would notice the marks, " what do you mean 'strike one'?"

"It means that if you show your ass two more times, then it's bye bye school. Bye bye friends. Bye bye Noel. I saw how you looked at him," Her father smirked and laughed, "he'll never like a girl like you."

"You don't know anything about him." Serah said glaring straight into her father's eyes.

Thomas laughed, "And yet I do. So you should keep your mouth shut, and stay out of the fucking way."

The last words he growled right into her ears, making chills run up and down her spine. He finally let go, and Serah quickly made a beeline straight for the door; when she got outside she checked her arm, little scratches but nothing too bad. With that she hopped on her bike and peddled off to school, glad to be far away from her parents. But his words kept echoing inside her head, That's strike one. Bye bye school. Bye bye friends. Bye bye Noel.

She parked her bike outside the school entrance and took a deep breath. It was her first strike, wasn't like he was gonna deliberately go against her values and anger her dad even more. She was a smart girl, and could take a hint. So she decided to push back her worries and thought and just focus on today. Walking into the school made her feel new and refreshed, like it was time to move on with her life. She about had a heart attack when someone ran and grabbed her injured arm.

"Serah," Vanille said hugging onto her arm, "please tell me you have the Chemistry notes with you!"

Serah nodded slowly, "Yeah, in my locker."

Vanille sighed, "Thank Etro! Hope wouldn't let me borrow his-"

"Hope?"

"Yeah, Hope Esthiem," Vanille shook her head, "he's a friend, i'll have to introduce you!"

Serah laughed, "So he your boyfriend?"

"He wishes."

The two girls walked down to Serah's locker, where she happily gave Vanille her Chemistry notes. Vanille took them and slid down onto the floor by her locker to copy the notes. Serah looked down the hallway for Noel, but she didn't see him anywhere. Yeul was probably in math, so if Yeul was there Noel was bound to be there too.

"Hey Vanille," Serah said turning to the girl on the floor, "I'm going to drop my stuff off, just bring the notes to lunch."

"M'kay."

Serah then took off walking towards the math classroom; it was down the hallway, down the stairs, hallway to the right, last door on the left, right by the gym. Since there was no one even here yet, Serah easily made her way to her Calculus class. Inside sat a sad looking Yeul, and a concerned Noel; Yeul had a large bruise appearing on her temple, but she didn't try to conceal the mark like Serah had. Serah quickly walked across the room and took a seat next to Noel.

"Yeul," Serah asked, reaching for the young girl's hand, "what happened?"

Serah took her hand and held it; it was cold like ice but soft like a pillow.

She exchanged glances with Noel, "He hit me last night."

"Who?" She suddenly felt like sharing her innermost thoughts.

"Caius." Noel answered and finally looked at Serah. His face was the same as it had been yesterday, but this time his smile was gone.

"Whose Caius?" Serah asked as she turned to look at Yeul's bruise forming.

Noel sighed, "He's the friend we live with, the one that had those meetings yesterday. Him and I got in a fight, I left, he does this to Yeul, then leaves, I come back to pick up the pieces. Every other night."

"He didn't mean to Noel," Yeul sadly said as she tightened her grip on Serah's hand, "he was just angry."

"Yeah, but that doesn't give him the right to hit you because he's angry."

She turned to Serah, "You know what it's like don't you?"

Serah pulled away, completely shocked, "What! No I don't!"

And with that Serah quickly stood up and started walking away. She heard Noel call her name a few times, but she didn't turn around or say anything. She quickly walked to the gym, where she heard the familiar sound of basketball being dribbled. Lightning caught a rebound and head to the other side of the court, when she saw her sister. She passed the ball to Fang, who in turn shot the basket and made it, and ran over to where Serah was standing.

"What happened to your arm?" Lightning grabbed her sister's injured arm and examined it. She shook her head in disgust. "It's getting worse. Much worse."

"I know, but I don't know what to do!" Serah said panicing, her heart was beating clear out of her chest. "You tried to get the authority figures to do something, and he just covered it up! Like it always happens!"

"You need to leave."

"What? I can't leave Mom like you did. What do you think will happen to her?" Serah gasped and wrenched her arm away from Lightning's grasp.

"Serah, listen to me. Mom will be fine, you can come and live with me, Fang, and Vanille. It will be safe and you won't have to hide anymore."

"Lightning," Serah sighed, "I can't just get up and leave Mom."

With that she turned and left her sister standing there. Serah couldn't deal with this right now; with everything becoming a huge stack of problems she had to deal with. She just couldn't do it. Serah made her way to the main hall, and was about to open the door to leave the building, when someone grabbed her hand. Someone hand she felt before. Noel spun her around and grabbed onto her forearms. A look a worry across his face.

"Serah, I'm sorry about what Yeul said. I told her about your Ex hitting you too, to try and make her feel like she's not alone. I shouldn't have told her without your permission."

Serah sighed, and tried to get away from his grasp, something she usually finds herself doing "I don't care that you told Yeul, Noel. Just let go."

Noel's brows furrowed, "Why? Where are you going?"

"I'm just leaving. This is too much for me to handle right now."

"What's too much for you to handle right now?"

Serah was on the verge of tears, "It's nothing-"

"Nothing huh? Is it us? A relationship? Me?"

Serah turned and looked him straight in the eye, tears forming in her tear ducts, "No. It's nothing to do with you, if anything you're the only thing that's right in my life!"

Noel kept quiet for a minute, and then he pulled Serah closer, until she was wrapped in his embrace. Serah didn't resist or push away, she just left him hold her; she even wrapped her arms around him too. There they stood, in the middle of the hallway, but it felt like they were somewhere different. Somewhere where her problems didn't exist, and a place where his fears never came true. Serah could feel the tears slipping down her cheeks, but she didn't care. Everything was alright for the moment. And then that moment ended.

Noel pulled back and grabbed onto her shoulders, then he leaned in and kissed her tears away. He stood back again, and wiped a small dash of mascara off her eye; then he smiled, which made all her fears go away. All she needed was his smile.

"Then I better stick around, right?" he said as he grabbed both of her hands.

Serah gave a small smile, "I guess so."

Soon it was time for lunch, and Serah couldn't be happier. Besides trying to avoid Lightning all day, being ushered every by Noel, and almost forgetting her Chemistry notes from Vanille. When she finally made it to the Cafeteria, she gazed around the room looking for the coral haired girl. She spotted her sitting at a table with Fang, Maqui, and a silver haired boy. Vanille saw her and started waving frantically. Serah made her way over to the table, Vanille meeting her halfway and pulling her the rest. She pulled her over to where the silver haired boy sat; he looked up from his Calculus book, and his green eyes flashed towards her.

"Serah, this is my friend Hope!" Vanille said gesturing towards the boy.

"Hey."

"Hiya."

Vanille ran over and hugged Hope around the shoulders, "We've been friends since like first grade!"

Hope just sighed and laid his head down on his math book. Fang gave a husky chuckle and propped her feet onto the table.

"What's so funny?" Serah asked the dark haired woman.

Fang smiled, "Those two make me laugh, and hey Lightning said you might be moving in with us. Guess i should be calling you rommie."

"Really!" Vanille gasp and let go of Hope, running back over to Serah and grabbing her hands, "That would be so fun."

Serah faked a smile, "Yeah maybe. I'm still deciding."

"Better decide quick," Fang laughed, "Hope may be moving in."

"What? I'm not Fang."

"You say that right now."

"Fang! Stop pestering Hope." Vanille placed her hands on her hips.

"I'll see you guys later." Serah sang as Fang and Vanille soon got into and argument.

Serah was walking straight towards Noel, when she felt someone grab her arm. It was Lightning; her faced showed no emotions. Serah pulled out of her grasp but Lightning was persistent.

"What do you want?" Serah coldly asked her sister.

Lightning sighed , "Look Serah, I didn't mean to push you this morning. It should be your decision whether to move out or not. It will be your consequences."

"Thank you lightning, seriously. You know me best and you know what's best for me. I'll think about it."

Lightning gave a small smile, "Thanks, that's all i can ask of you."

Serah gave her sister and quick hug, which she didn't respond to, and then headed over to where Yeul and Noel sat. Noel watched Yeul as she colored a picture of what looked like to be a flower. Serah pulled up a chair next to Noel.

"What are you drawing Yeul?" She asked as she and Noel intertwined hands underneath the table. His hand was warm, like always.

She looked up from her coloring, the bruise on her temple appearing for purple now, "It's a daisy; it's my favorite type of flower. I used to live by a field of them when i was younger, and i would always go pick some for the my foster parents."

Serah smiled, "That's so sweet, I wish i had a field of flowers behind my house. But then again we have the ocean behind our house, so it's okay."

"Yeul's never been to the ocean." Noel said giving her hand a squeeze.

"Really?"

Yeul shook her head, "No. Noel promised he'd take me on my birthday though. Which is only like two weeks away! You should come with us Serah."

"I'd love to, just give me a date and I'll be there."

"It's May ninth. Two weeks from tomorrow." Yeul said as she began coloring again.

"I'll remember!"

The bell had just rang a few seconds ago, and Serah was walking back to her locker to get her stuff to leave. She was debating whether to ask Noel to come home with her or not; one because of her dad, and two she didn't want to make out the whole time like last time. Hopefully her dad had found a reasonable job and was already out of the house. When she got to her locker she saw Vanille and Hope talking by her locker.

"He's a totally douchebag Vanille! How could you like a guy like that?"

"Excuse me Mother," Vanille said turning to the silver haired boy, "when did I care about your opinion."

Hope flushed and brushed his hair back, "I'm not your mother! I'm your best friend, and you cared last week when i told you, you had a pimple on your chin."

"don't bring my pimples into this," Vanille turned back to her locker, and noticed Serah approaching, "Oh Serah, you've met Maqui right?"

"Um yeah sure."

Vanile gestured to Hope, "Well Hope over here thinks he's, I'm quoting, 'douchebag', when he's obviously not. Right?"

"He doesn't seem like a douchebag. But I've only met him once." Serah said laughing as Hope jumped in between the two girls.

"Hah! So her opinion doesn't count."

"Yes it does!"

"No it doesn't Vanille!"

"Whatever Hopiekins."

"What did you just call me?"
"You heard me."

"Ugh, I'm done with you."

and with that Hope took off in the other direction heading towards the stairs. Vanille laughed and shut her locker, turning to the rose haired girl.

"So, you and Noel official yet?"

Serah laughed, "I don't know what to exactly call 're not exactly dating but we're definitely not just friends, so it's kinda confusing."

Vanille smiled, looking past Serah, "Well, why don't we just ask the man himself. Here he comes with Yeul."

Sure enough, down the hallway walked Noel with Yeul. Her bruise still looked purplish but it seemed to be getting better somewhat. Noel immediately smiled when he saw Serah looking his way; soon the two of them approached the girls.

"Hey Serah, Vanille." Yeul said adjusting her backpack straps.

Vanille waved, "Hiya! Say Noel, you and Serah a thing now?"

"It's complicated."

"See," Serah said to Vanille, who just was trying not to laugh, "I said the exact same thing."

"So Serah," Noel asked interrupting Vanile, who was about to say something, your place or mine?"

"Um," Serah shifted her weight, "how about your place?"

Noel nodded, "You need a ride?"

"Sure."