Chapter 1
It's the first day of school, and one should never be late; especially if you just transferred to a new school. My eyes scan the lobby. When I had the tour the lobby seemed so large and spacious and now that it's fullof students, I feel like it shrunk, significantly.
Let see, if I remember correctly, I have to look for my name over… there! Just before entering the hallway, is the huge bulletin board where a swarm of people gathered around to see which section they belong in. The board is full of names that it's hard to see who's in what section, or maybe I'm just looking in the wrong spot. I feel the population of the lobby slowly decreasing as I struggle to find my name. Speaking of names, I haven't introduced myself yet. My name is Cloud Strife. I'm the son of Rufus Shinra, but this fact is not known by the world. I am simply Cloud Strife, the blonde spiky haired transfer student of… ah, Class 1-A, room 301.
I turn and slam into another student. I got a whiff of her… perfume, shampoo, or whatever, I am not sure myself, but my nose was filled with her heavenly aroma that I think I can die right here."Follow the smell of your favorite memory."dad's words echoes in my head. He's not dead, just to be clear. This person smelled like it.
Or maybe not… Either way, it made my heart race.
Is this the person I have to look for? If she is, then this was way too easy. But knowing life, it does not hand out lemons to you easily (I'm not talking about that "lemon"). I hold her by her shoulders and slowly push her away from me.
I tilt my head to take a look at face but her hair obscures my view. This made me furrow my brows. I try to part her hair face but she pushes me away and as I stagger backward and see her curl her fingers to a ball. I anticipate what she will do and grab her by the wrist just as she extends her hand to punch me. With her long raven hair gone from blocking her face, I grab the opportunity to take a good look at her, glancing at every feature before letting her go and walking towards the stairs. She has every feature of a girl I would classify as "pretty cute". I think describing will not make any justice to what she really looks like but I'll do my best effort. She has brownish-red eyes and a mouth that would probably have more effect than cupid's arrows and that's only when she's not smiling, her smile would probably be stronger than any love potion. I know I'm exaggerating too much but that's my opinion based from that very short glance. I might change my mind later; let's just stick to that for now…
I dash through the staircase, avoiding people as much as possible. If I'm late for class, it would be one heck of an exercise since my room is on the third floor. I reach my room... I'm lying, I'm not there yet, but I'm near it. I stop at the end of the stairs, grasping the railing, trying to catch my breath. I make a mental note not to be late, ever.
A man stands before the door to my class;he scratches his chin and checks his watch from time to time. I recover from my sprint, and walk towards the said man. "Cloud Strife? Hello. I'm your homeroom teacher, Reeve Tuetsi." He extends his hand and I shake it. I hear the door open and close behind me but he paid no attention to it. The sudden realization sank into me. They do introductions for transferees. This is probably the reason why he waited for me outside. It's not like I have a fear of talking to/in front of people, but I don't like to stand out. I want to be this student that you know exists but you don't absolutely don't pay attention to and introductions will ruin this for me.
Mr. -I forgot his name- opens the door and I follow. "Good Morning" he greets. "I see that we have a lot of familiar faces here. Since you all know each other well, please welcome the transferee, Cloud Strife. Be nice to him and he'll be nice to you." he turns to me, "Do you have anything to say?"
I step forwardand gulp. I feel my palms sweating and I wipe it on the side of my pants secretly. I take a deep breath and exhale through my mouth…
"Good Morning." I feel like patting myself at the back because I didn't stammer or bite my tongue when I said it. "I am honored to be here." I tilt my head a bit forward.
Mr. –I forgot his name- clears his throat and the attention shifted from me to him. "You can sit between the window and Tifa Lockhart. Miss Lockhart, please raise your hand"
I bit my lower lip to keep myself from smiling. Is it my lucky day? The girl earlier is my classmate but I must be careful for she might be the opposite of what I need.
"We will pick class representatives now." our teacher announces as I sit down. We have to pick two class representatives (or reps, for short) one for boys and one for the girls. Since I did not know anybody, I did not vote. Tifa Lockhart won as the female class rep while a guy with red hair named Reno is for the male.
Mr. Teacher –I'll call him that in the mean time- writes our schedule on the board before saying goodbye for he has matters to attend to. I pick a random notebook from my bag and write down what is on the board.
8:00-9:00-Homeroom -Mr. Tuetsi -
9:00-10:00-Algebra -Mr. Hollander -
10:00-10:30-Recess -
10:30-11:30-General Science -Ms. Crescent -
11:30-12:20-English -Mr. Tuetsi -
12:20-1:00- -Lunch -
1:00-2:00-History-Mr. Hewley -
2:00-3:00-Physical Education -Mr. Highwind -
3:00-4:00-Home Economics -Ms. Crescent -
I feel my eyelids get heavier at every blink and keeping my eyes from closing shut requires a lot of effort. I rub my eyes in an attempt to wake my self, but it's no use. A yawn excapes my lips and my seat mate shakes her head in disbelief.
Maybe I should have slept earlier last night. I check if the teacher is around and bury my head in my arms. I fall asleep soon after.
Being poked is annoying. Imagine someone waking you upby poking your cheek. I wake from my nap and glare at the person who woke me up. I grunt and see our Algebra teacher standing by the board.
"I'm still sleepy..." I think to myself as I sit upright and rub my eyes. We greet our teacher and he starts with his lesson. I rest my head on my palm and massage my temple. I feel the she-devil poking me again and I realize that I have been sleeping. I click my tongue.
"You, at the back with the blonde hair, answer this." Mr. Algebra, I mean, Hollander, says. He draws a Venn diagram on the board and writes the number 7 inside the intersection of the two circles. "A survey is conducted on a class. 17 students liked Math, 19 liked English, and 7 liked both subjects, how many students were in the class? Explain your answer afterwards."
"Good luck." Tifa says with a fake smile. The problem is not that hard. I write Math in one circle and English on the other. I then write 10 and 12 respectively. "To get the answer, just subtract the number in the middle to the other two subjects; 'cuz 7 of the students who liked math also liked English and vice versa."The school bell's ring cuts through the walls and into every classroom signaling the start of recess. The most of the students left the room leaving only a handful behind.
I place the whiteboard marker by the teachers table and feel someone approaching me. I turn and see our class rep grinning wildly. "Whoa, that's one smart brain you got there. How about trading it with me?"
I shake my head, "No thanks. I'd like to keep it intact."
He parts a stray red hair from his face, "Oh c'mon,you're too serious, loosen up. My name is Reno-"
"You're the class rep, right?"
"Yep. Did someone give you a tour before you enrolled?"
"Yeah, but I'm not familiar with everything yet."
"Want to go and grab something to eat?"
"Sure."
Reno's really cheerful and knows how to keep a conversation up and running. He caught me glancing on Tifa so he asks me,"Yo you got a crush on Tifa? I'm telling you man don't even try Genesis has his eye on her. Plus, you won't stand a chance even if you ask her out. Trust me I tried it before, she's the type who doesn't go on dates easily."
"I don't have feelings for her. I'm just a little interested on her character; she's different from what she seems." I didn't know she is a she-devil that pokes you when you want to sleep in class! I wanted to add that but decided not to.
"Yeah, right. Just remember if you need any info about anyone here in school feel free to ask 'kay?"
"Sure. Oh, you mentioned a guy named Genesis right?"
"Umhm… He's-" he got cut off by the sound of the bell."I'll tell you about him later. The five minute bell just rang."
We walk briskly to class and luckily made it in time.I don't know what's wrong but I always get drowsy whenever I'm in class. Well, maybe because it's really boring. I slept through General Science and English class and to my surprise, Tifa didn't bug me. I wake on the ring of the bell and stretch hopefully, I've paid my sleep debt and won't fall asleep on the remaining classes.
Reno and I buy our lunch and settle under an apple tree.
"About Genesis," Reno continues our conversation from recess "he's not the kind of guy you wanna mess with. He's the captain of the former martial arts club."
"Why isn't he the captain now? Who's the current captain?"
He fixates on his mash potatoes, "You see, there's no more martial arts club becauseGenesis and his friends beat up the kid who was rumored to be the crush of his crush. Are you still following me?"
"Yeah."
"So the student council president ordered the club to be abolished."
"When did it happen?"
"I'm not sure, we were still at elementary school when it happened. It could've happened last year, 'cause he's a sophomore."
"Oh, okay. I'll steer clear if I see him."
"Good. Any questions?"
"When did you ask Tifa out?"
"Sometime last year, and it didn't turn out so well."
"Why? What happened?"
"I asked her during the school anniversary and she got so pissed that she didn't talk to me for a month."
"You must've been really close before then; you ruined your friendship by confessing your feelings. Am I right?"
"Yep."
"We better head upstairs we can't be late for History class, gives out a very mean punishment." Reno says to avoid further more questions about his confession to Tifa or maybe he's serious about Mr. Hewley's strictness.
History class isn't as boring as Algebra but unfortunately, I feel like the sandman gave me an extra dose of his sleep powder last night. I open a notebook, uncap my pen, and rest my jaw on my palm; this has to make me look like I'm ready to take down notes. I don't want my seatmate to wake me up by poking me.
"Cloud, Cloud, Wake up. It's time for Physical Ed."Tifa's voice is soft like marshmallows or so I think. She did not poke me with her pitch fork this time, but insteadshe shakes my armgently.I go to the boys locker room with Renoand change into my PE uniform. We then go back to her classroom and see our teacher already standing in the front of the class. Mr CID Highwind ourteacher, has blonde hair pulled back by goggles. He has toothpickbetween his teeth and a whistle hanging from his neck. His bicepswould make you feel either fat or too skinny.
"Men sana in corpore sano," he laughs "Okay, is everyone here?" we do ahead count and Reno gives Mr. Highwind the thumbs up.
"On the next meetings, I want you to meet me here. I won't fetch ye in yer room." He points Reno, "You, red haired kid, need the warm up exercises."
He discusses the basics of football, history, rules and regulations, and etc., before letting us practice dribbling the ball.
"Good afternoon."Ms. Crescent greets.
She is a lot different from her science teacher self. She's scary in science class while she looks a lot nicer in Home Ec.
Have you ever heard of the sound of freedom? I heard it. It sounds like a metal clashing against another metal making an echoing ring across the hall and through the walls.
"That would be all for today, class is dismissed. Have a safe trip home."Ms. Crescent leaves us and Reno walks towards me as I prepare my things for my departure.
"Yo. Can you wait for me? I got a short meeting but I'll be out soon enough. I gotta show ya something." Reno says leaving me in the dust before I got the chance to decline.
"I'll wait for him until 4:30." I note to myself as I bury my head in my arms. Hmm... Instead if sleeping, maybe I should do my homework…
Reno didn't come as soon he said he would. Tifa comes in the room and our eyes meet for a few seconds then she looks away. There's really something about her that I can't put my finger on it.
"Ummm….." I'm trying to think of away to start a conversation but she starts it instead.
"If you're looking for Reno, he had to do something he said he'd be there for a while." she says as she puts the paper she's holding inside herbag.
"Oh. Umm... Did I do something wrong? You seem angry about something."
"Oh sorry, I didn't mean to but I'd like to ask was there something wrong with my face?"
"What do you mean?"
"You we're trying to remove something from my face before right? I mean, when you tried to touch my face. I was shocked so I tried to punch you."
"Uhhhh…. There was nothing on your face. I… just thought you were someone I knew so I tried to take a better look." I lie.
"Yo! Did I take a long time?"Reno says as he walks in, smiling like he always does.
"I should be going now. You guys stay away from trouble 'kay?"Tifa says as she walks away, leaving us alone in the room.
"Sowhatdid you want to tell me?"
"Nothing," he grins "I just set you up to stay late for you to talk with Tifa. No need to thank me."
"I'd like to repay you someday." I sarcastically reply.
"Haha! C'mon, let's go home."
AN: Thank you for reading. Hope you like the changes. Review = ^_^