Chapter One

The sound of the school bell filled the air, followed by the sounds of chairs scrapping against the wooden floor as classes ended for the day. Chatter filled the classroom as the students got to their feet and started making their way out of the room as the teacher rattled off what they had to complete by the next lesson.

Rinoa hastily continued writing down what was written on the whiteboard, her hand cramping up as the teacher reached for the eraser. The last thing she wanted to do was miss any of the notes the teacher had written during class.

She sighed in relief as she finished writing, dropping her pen on the table and shaking her hand a few times to try ease the pain from all the writing she had just done. She quickly gathered her books up and shoved them in her bag before getting up and making her way towards the door.

"Rinoa, can I have a quick word please," the teacher, Mr Mathison, said as he spotted her out of the corner of his eye.

'Oh crap, what now? All I want to do is go home,' Rinoa thought as she stopped in her tracks and turned to face the teacher.

"Yes sir?"

"I'm just curious as to how your group assignment is coming along? You know it's due in at the end of next week." Mr Mathison asked, folding his arms across his chest as he turned to face her.

Rinoa's face fell, She'd barely started it and thought she'd had a lot more time up her sleeve. Not that she was getting any help from the people that were in her group. They'd pretty much dumped all the work on her and told her to get it done. She'd tried getting them to help, but that hadn't ended well for her.

"Just as I suspected. Are you getting any help from the other members of your group?"

Rinoa didn't say anything as she looked at the floor, her silence telling the teacher everything he needed to know.

Mr Mathison sighed, "Rinoa, I've seen what goes on around here, and I know those girls are using you. You don't have to do this to yourself. Fiona Carter changed over to the other English class last week, I can put you in her old group. I'm sure they'd at least be willing to work with you, and I'm sure they'd appreciate the help."

'That won't work, the others would just come after me,' Rinoa thought to herself.

"No, I'll be okay, thanks for the offer anyway" Rinoa stated as she looked up at her teacher.

Mr Mathison opened his mouth to say something, but decided against it, "Okay, but the offer still stands. How about you have a think about it over the weekend and get back to me on Monday?"

"Yeah, okay," Rinoa replied with a nod.

"Okay, well have a good weekend and I'll see you next week," Mr Mathison said as he went back to whatever he had been doing.

Rinoa quickly exited the room and hurried down the hallway towards where her locker was located. Opening the door, she quickly grabbed the books she needed for the homework she had been assigned before slamming her locker shut and making her way down the hall towards the main doors, wanting to get out of there as quickly as she could.

A blast of warm air hit her as she exited the air conditioned building, sweat quickly forming on her forehead as she shielded her eyes from the blaring afternoon sun. Rinoa pushed her glasses back up her nose as she made her way down the path that lead to the road before turning left and heading for home.

As she made her way down the road she passed numerous students all standing around in their little groups, chatting loudly amongst themselves. From what Rinoa could make out a lot of them were happy that the school week was finally over and quite a few of the students were now discussing their plans for the weekend.

Rinoa let out a sigh as she made her way past, not daring to look anywhere but straight in front of her as she tried to block out as much of the chatter as she could. She didn't have anyone to hangout or spend time talking about boys or the latest fashion trends with, not at this school anyway. She'd left all of her friends behind when her Mum had decided to relocate from Deling's Eastern Suburbs twelve months ago.

The reason for the relocation was because of the death of Rinoa's father a couple of months prior. Her dad had been a high ranking officer in the Galbadian army and had been well liked and respected by everyone he'd served with.

He had been away on his annual fishing trip to Obel Lake in Timber with a few of his army buddies and they had been on their way home to Deling when they had been involved in a serious traffic accident. It had later been found out that a truck driver had fallen asleep behind the wheel, which in turn had resulted in his truck veering onto the wrong side of the road, hitting Rinoa's dad and his friends head on.

Rinoa had been absolutely devastated when she had found out about the accident and had been near inconsolable. Luckily she had a good group of friends who had been there for her, none more so than her boyfriend Matt and her two best friends Patricia and Daniel.

A few months after her dads funeral, Rinoa's mum, Julia, had made the decision to relocate to a cheaper part of the city. The main reason was because they couldn't afford to live where they were living and her mum was slowly falling behind with her bills and repayments. Her mum made a decent income being a lounge singer at the biggest hotel in Deling, but even that couldn't suffice in an area known to be the home of many of the countries government officials and the majority of the countries best lawyers, dentists and doctors.

Rinoa had hated the idea of moving away from all of her friends, but knew of the situation they were facing and why they had to move. Also it wasn't like she wouldn't be able to see her friends on the weekends, since she was only moving to the other side of the city.

She had found the idea of going to a new school a little daunting, but had also looked at it as an opportunity to meet new people and make some new friends. She had figured that she wouldn't have any trouble fitting in with the popular people at her new school. Boy had she been wrong.

Rinoa's first day at West Deling High was one she wished she could forget. It had gone okay for the first hour or so until one of the girls in her class had recognised who she was, or rather who her parents were, and after that everything had turned to shit. She'd copped a lot of abuse from the majority of the student body, both verbally and physically. She had been called every name under the sun, especially by the more popular students, who had gone out of their way to make her their main target. She had eventually found out that the people living in the western suburbs had a strong hatred for people living in wealthier east. Rinoa had never never dared ask why this was the case, although it didn't take much to figure out why.

The western side of Deling, unlike the more affluent eastern side which was full of tree lined boulevards with two story brick houses down every street, was one of the poorer areas of the city. A lot of the suburbs suffered from a heavy drug problem, that combined with the higher crime rates made most of these suburbs undesirable places to live. It was well known by people that didn't reside in these areas as places to avoid at all cost unless you had a reason to go there, especially at night. Rinoa hated living in the area but knew that her and her mum had no other choice.

Rinoa was brought out of her thoughts by some rather annoying high pitched chatter coming from behind her. She couldn't quite make out who was behind her but it sounded like the person talking was screeching, which was a trait of the majority of preppy girls when they got excited.

'Oh great, just what I needed on my way home.'

Rinoa turned her head slightly to the side, glancing out of the corner of her eye to try and see who was walking behind her. She immediately snapped her head back to the front, wishing her curiosity hadn't gotten the better of her.

Walking a couple of meters behind her was the head cheerleader, Molly Jenkins, along with three other members of the cheer squad, Rebecca Smith, Natasha Dunn and Felicity Bradshaw. These Four were a handful of the small number of students that were lucky enough to come from a somewhat more well off family but were unlucky enough to be in the zone for the crappy school they went to. They were also extremely popular and quite often went out of their way to make Rinoa's life a living hell.

Rinoa reached up and clutched her dads wedding ring, which hung from a thin necklace around her neck, hoping against hope that they hadn't seen her look at them. She already had a feeling they had since they had stopped talking and she braced herself for any kind of abuse that was about to come her way.

"The fuck do you want?" One of the girls, Molly to be exact, demanded as she kicked a stone on the footpath in Rinoa's direction, hitting her in the back of her leg.

Rinoa bit her lip but refused to take the bait, she'd learnt the hard way not to confront them. She clutched her dads ring tighter as she quickened her pace slightly in an attempt to put some distance between her and the girls.

"Look at her running scared. Tell you what Heartilly, that assignment better be coming along nicely, my parents are expecting high marks for it. You know what's going to happen if you don't get it finished," Natasha threatened as Rinoa ducked into the small laneway just ahead of her.

Rinoa rolled her eyes at being called by her last name. she hated it when people did that, it reminded her too much of the military, and her dad.

She waited until she was about halfway down the laneway before slowing slightly and looking over her shoulder to see if she had been followed, which thankfully she hadn't.

"Thank god for that," Rinoa thought as she let out a sigh of relief before turning back around and continuing down the laneway.

She turned right once she reached the end and made her way down the street, stopping two blocks down in front of a small two bedroom brick home that her and her mum had lived in since moving into the area. It wasn't very big but it was enough for the two of them.

Rinoa let out a groan as she saw her mums car parked in the driveway, not really wanting to have to deal with her at the moment. Rinoa and her mum got along great and she loved her dearly, but she had a habit of fawning over her, which Rinoa found quite annoying an embarrassing.

Rinoa's mum, Julia, was a near identical image of her daughter. They both had black hair and brown eyes, the only difference being being the caramel highlights in her daughters hair. Even though Julia had just turned forty she barely looked older then twenty-five, even without make-up on, which had the effect of people sometimes mistaking her for being Rinoa's older sister. It was something that annoyed the younger girl immensely, especially when her mum would go along with it.

Letting her bag drop from her shoulder, Rinoa made her way down the small stone path to the front door before pushing it open and entering the house.

"I'm home, she called out as she pulled the door closed behind her.

"Hey sweetie, can you come into the kitchen please," her mum called back.

"Great, now what?" Rinoa muttered to herself as she slowly made her way down the hall towards the kitchen, not really wanting to have to sit through one of her mums talks right now.

She entered the kitchen to see her mum sitting at the bench in the middle of the room, reading a book over a cup of coffee. Rinoa dropped her bag by the doorway, the noise getting her mums attention.

"Hey honey, can you sit down please."

'Uh-oh, this can't be good,' Rinoa thought. The last time she had heard those words was when her dad had died.

Without a word she sat at the bench next to her mum, watching as the older woman closed the book and drained her coffee mug before turning to face her.

"So, What's up?" Rinoa asked nervously.

She watched as her mum looked down at the floor, took a deep breath and looked back up at her, worry written all over her face.

"Mum, what's wrong?"

"Okay," Julia said, taking in another deep breath before continuing, "I know this may be bad timing and I'm not sure how you're going to react so please don't get angry with me."

"Okay."

"We have to leave Deling."

"What?" Rinoa asked, unsure of whether she had heard her mum correctly

"I got offered a job overseas, which means we have to leave Deling," Julia stated.

"Oh my god! Good on you mum!" Rinoa exclaimed as she wrapped her arms around her mum, hugging her tightly.

Four years ago Julia had decided that she wanted to do something different with her life after nearly two decades of being a lounge singer, and had enrolled to study nursing at Deling University. The death of her husband had caused her to put her last couple of units on hold for a while but she had finally been able to complete it six months ago. Since then she had bee applying for positions all over the world, hoping to get a response back from at least one of them.

"Okay, not exactly the reaction I was expecting," Julia chuckled as she returned the hug.

"Sorry, I'm just really happy for you. You worked your butt off to get your degree."

"But what about you sweetie? What about all of the new friends you've made?"

"Oh Crap!' Rinoa thought as the smile disappeared from her face. She had never been honest about how bad school really was. She'd pretended that things were fine to keep her mum happy, and to stop her from feeling guilty about the situation.

'Well, no time like the present.' Rinoa thought as she took in a deep breath.

"Mum, to be completely honest with you, I didn't make any new friends. No matter how hard I tried to get along with people no one wanted to know me."

"But sweetie, what about all of the times you told me you were going out with the girls?" Julia asked, shocked at what she was hearing.

"I lied...I lied to you so you wouldn't feel guilty about it and start blaming yourself for something that was out of your control."

"Oh baby," Julia uttered as she pulled Rinoa into a tight hug, "You should've said something, maybe I could've done something."

"I know, and I'm sorry for not telling you about it sooner. But, look on the bright side! I don't have to worry about it anymore" Rinoa stated, earning her a small chuckle from her mum.

"So, where are we moving to?" Rinoa asked as she pulled away from her mum.

"Well, out of all the jobs that I applied for, the only offers I've received back were for two positions in Balamb."

"Yes! Rinoa exclaimed happily. She had always dreamt of going to Balamb and had plans to one day visit the island nation, but never in her wildest dreams did she think that she would have the opportunity to live there.

"Whereabouts in Balamb are we moving to?" Rinoa asked, barely able to contain her excitement.

"The capital. I did get offered another position in one of the small towns but I figured you'd rather the city over a country town," Julia replied before adding, "So I take it you're happy about the move?"

"Hell yes! I'm gonna go pack," Rinoa announced as she turned to make her way out of the kitchen.

"Okay, and just so you know we're leaving tomorrow night and you can only take one suitcase and a small bag on the train. So, just pack what you need and the removalists will take everything else with them when they come to pick up our stuff tomorrow," Julia yelled after her.

"Okay mum," Rinoa called back as she grabbed her bag and made her way down the hallway.

Rinoa entered her room and dropped her bag on the floor, nearly hitting her dog, Angelo, as she got to her feet to greet her owner.

"Oh, sorry girl," Rinoa uttered as she sat on her bed and ruffled the fur around Angelo's neck, "Did you hear what mum just told me Angelo? We're finally getting out of this dump."

Rinoa fell back onto her bed, staring at the ceiling for a few seconds as she let the words that had just left her mouth sink in. She was finally getting away from all the bullying and abuse she had put up with over the last year. No more Molly Jenkins and her bitch squad gunning for her everyday. No more being partnered with preps for assignments and being made to do all the work. She was finally free.

She smiled at the thought of Natasha and the other girl having to do the assignment themselves, it wasn't her problem anymore and she was more then happy to be getting out of being used again.

'Haha, suck shit bitches,' Rinoa thought to herself as she rolled off her bed and made her way over to her built-in wardrobe.

Rinoa slid open the door and gazed over the shelves for a few seconds before spotting what she was looking for, her big black suitcase. She grabbed a hold of one end and was about to pull it out when she suddenly stopped, clapping a hand over her mouth as a feeling of realisation came over her.

In all of the excitement she had forgotten all about her friends at her old school...well what friends she had left anyway. She had been a very popular person at her old school and had heaps of friends, but that had slowly changed after she moved out of the area. All of the people that had promised to keep in touch with her had slowly stopped talking to her and moved on, eventually leaving her with just Patricia, Daniel and Matt for company.

She couldn't help but worry about what their reactions would be, none of them had been happy about the first time she'd moved away and she doubted that they were going to be jumping for joy about this one. Deep down she knew that they wouldn't call quits on their friendships with her, but it still worried her.

Rinoa didn't know how to break the news to them. Her first thought was to either call them or leave a message on social media, but decided against it. This wasn't really something you told someone over the phone or through a message on a social media site.

'Yeah hi guys, um, guess what? I'm moving...again. Yay!'

No, she knew she'd have to tell them face to face, which would involve having to make a trip over to the east side, which she wasn't even sure she'd be able to do considering the tight time frame her and her mum had tomorrow.

Exiting her room, Rinoa headed back towards the kitchen, finding her mum in nearly the exact same spot she'd been in when she'd left.

"Hey mum, is it okay if I can go see Matt, Patricia and Daniel before we leave tomorrow?"

"I guess so, just make sure you're fully packed tonight, okay."

"Thanks mum, also am I able to borrow you're car tomorrow?"

"Yeah I guess, I just need you back by about three, I've got someone coming to look at it just before four, okay. "

"Thanks mum," Rinoa said as she quickly planted a kiss on her mum's cheek before making her way back to her room.

Bursting into her room, she pulled the suitcase out of her wardrobe and placed it on her bed.

She then emptied every one of her drawers onto her bed before grabbing all of the stuff that had been hung up and throwing them on the bed as well.

'Okay, blue denim jeans...keep. Old worn out t-shirt...definitely dump,' she thought to herself as she started going through her clothing, creating two separate piles on the floor.

About an hour later the two piles had turned into three as Rinoa made sure to pack enough clothing to last her until the rest of their stuff arrived in Balamb. Closing her suitcase she sat on top of it in an attempt to squash its contents down a bit so she could zip it up.

After successfully doing it up she dragged it off the bed and placed it next to the door. Next she grabbed her school bag and emptied it before packing all of her toiletries and makeup into it, along with a few personal belongings like photos and a couple of her favourite books before doing it up and putting it next to her suitcase.

She then piled the rest of her clothing into two separate garbage bags, one for the stuff she wasn't keeping and the other for the stuff she didn't have room for.

Tying both bags up she placed the one for her extra clothes next to her bags while throwing the other one over her shoulder and heading down the hallway to the laundry, placing it with clothing her mum was donating to charity.

Rinoa thought over what she had done so far, deciding that she was all done before heading down the hall to the lounge room.

She flopped onto the couch and started flipping through the channels, looking for anything that would spark her interest. When she couldn't find anything she settled on a show about Estharian technology, deciding it would do for now.

She watched this for about ten minutes before her mum entered the room and sat in the recliner next to the couch.

"All packed sweetie?" Julia asked as she grabbed the remote and started flipping through the channels, settling on a soap opera that had just started, one that Rinoa didn't actually mind watching every now and then.

"Yep," Rinoa replied as she stifled a yawn.

"Good, and just so you know the removalists will be here first thing in the morning so don't be surprised to find the house empty when you get back. Also we'll have to be at the train station by six tomorrow night so I hope you've got something to pass time with?"

"I've packed a few books no doubt I'll just read."

"Good girl," Julia replied as they both settled in to watch the show.

Rinoa clicked the mouse pad on her laptop again, bringing up another image of the place that was soon to be her home. Every picture she looked at made her more excited for tomorrow, and with each image more and more thoughts started circling in her head about her new home.

What was it like? What were the kids like? Would she finally be able to fit in with people again or would she remain the loner she was now?

She blinked a few times, shaking her head slightly as she looked down at Angelo who was laying on the floor beside her, "Don't want to think like that do we girl! It's a new start after all," Rinoa stated as she reached down and scratched her behind the ear.

Stifling a yawn as she sat back up, Rinoa spied the remaining four pieces of pizza sitting on the plate beside her laptop and nearly gagged at the thought of trying to eat them. Closing her laptop down she grabbed the plate and made her way out of the room before walking into the kitchen and putting the plate in the fridge.

She glanced up at the clock, seeing it was just after eight. Even though it was still quite early she actually felt quite tired and figured an early night would be good.

"I'm off to bed mum," Rinoa said as she poked her head into the lounge room.

"Okay sweetie, good night."

"Night mum," Rinoa said before turning and making her way to her room.

She entered her, grabbing her pyjamas from under her pillow, which consisted of a pair of light blue satin boxer shorts and a plain white t-shirt.

Exiting the room, she made her way across the hall to the bathroom, quickly changing and brushing her teeth before making her way back to her bedroom.

Hopping into bed, Rinoa patted the mattress, indicating to Angelo it was okay to hop onto the bed. She pulled the covers up around her chin as her canine companion did a few circles around her feet before laying down.

Rinoa took in a deep breath, letting it out slowly. she suddenly felt extremely wired about tomorrow. She couldn't believe how much her luck had changed since school had ended that afternoon.

'No more bullying. No more Molly Jenkins and her friends giving me a hard time," Rinoa thought to herself, a smile spreading across her face.

Closing her eyes, she rolled onto her side and snuggled into her pillow. Despite having all the thoughts of tomorrow going through her head, Rinoa found herself drifting off to sleep in a matter of minutes.