07-10-10: The plan is to edit and rewrite the first nine chapters, then continue and finish the story. I'll be seeing you soon.

Tidus whistled as he walked in the door of his homeroom class at Besaid High. He dropped his bag on the floor by his desk and sat down in the empty classroom, breathing a sigh of relief. The fifteen minute walk to school had been just what he needed in order to unwind from such a hellish weekend. He had spent it at his beach house with his father, Jecht.

He hadn't minded the beach. Normally, he loved being out there, practicing blitzball plays with Jecht in the sand. It hadn't been any fun when he was younger; Jecht had spent half his time berating Tidus for poor plays and the other half telling his son how he would never be as good as his old man. Most sessions had ended with Tidus running to his mother in tears. Now that he was almost eighteen and quite proficient at the sport, Tidus enjoyed practicing with his father. Although Jecht was no longer in his prime, his blitzball skills were still a challenge to Tidus. He ignored his dad's bragging to keep practicing with him, because he knew the result of these practice sessions was his place on the varsity Besaid High Blitzball team.

No, Tidus loved the beach and the beach house. But, like the previous three weekends, it hadn't just been Jecht and Tidus, as it had been since his mother had died. Jecht had been inviting Utada, his best friend, and Yuna, her daughter and a classmate of Tidus' to the beach house, and for some reason, she kept consenting.

Tidus didn't mind Utada; she was actually quite nice to him and cooked better than Jecht did. If she wasn't around, the father and son would usually order take-out or pizza. It was Yuna who Tidus couldn't stand. She sulked around the house, wouldn't go out to the beach because she was afraid of sunburn, spent the weekend doing homework, and corrected his grammar frequently. When Yuna wouldn't go out on the weekends, Jecht wouldn't let Tidus go out, and this past weekend, he had missed his friend Squall's huge birthday party. Yuna had been invited, he was positive, and she had planned on going, but a few hours beforehand on Saturday, she had canceled because her boyfriend Seymour had wanted to come over and study.

It wasn't that she was thwarting Tidus' plans on purpose… she was just so selfish about everything. Because Yuna had changed her plans, Tidus had to spend the night playing Trivial Pursuit with Jecht and Utada and miss an epic party that would surely be discussed for the next month at Besaid High. Yuna hadn't always been that way; she used to go out all the time before she had started dating Seymour six months ago. Since then, she had become intolerable.

Tidus thought all this to himself as he waited for the arrival of his two best friends, Wakka and Squall, both of whom did not share his love of Mondays. He was rudely awakened from his reverie by their loud arrival.

"Hey, what's up? Dreaming of Yuna again, yeah?" Wakka, the red- headed native Besaidian teased Tidus. Squall and Wakka knew that Tidus was pissed at her about the party.

"Shut up, Wakka." Tidus was in no mood to discuss Yuna this morning. Turning to Squall, he changed the subject. "Sorry again about your party, man. I really wanted to go."

"It's alright," Squall replied.

"How was the party?"

"It was epic!" Wakka cut in enthusiastically. "Everyone was there! Except you and Yuna…"

"Rikku didn't show up either," Squall added quietly.

"Lulu was there though," Wakka continued.

Other people were starting to file into the classroom now, so the three guys carried on their conversation more quietly.

"Yeah, Rikku stopped by on Saturday to drop off some stuff for Yuna," Tidus told Squall. He knew his best friend had been interested in Yuna's cousin for a while and had hoped he could make something happen between them at his party. "I asked if she was going, but she said she had something else going on."

"Typical," Squall responded. "That girl always has something going on."

"Anything happen with Lulu, Wakka?" Tidus asked his other best friend.

"Nah, man. We chatted for a bit but that was it."

Tidus was secretly pleased at this news. If Squall and Wakka started things with Yuna's two best friends, he would have to spend even more time with her, and he didn't think he could handle that right now.

"What are you doing this weekend?" Squall asked Tidus. "We were thinking of getting together some people and taking a trip up to Bevelle to see this concert…"

"I don't know, but I hope it's not another beach weekend like this last one. If I have to miss anything else because of Yuna…"

Tidus was interrupted by their homeroom teacher, Kinoc. "Gentleman, would you please settle down? First period bell is about to ring!" As if on cue, the bell rang, and Tidus, Wakka, and Squall all split up for their three different first period classes.

Yuna glanced at her two best friends cautiously. She didn't think she should tell them about the problems she was having with her boyfriend Seymour, but as they filed into first period English, she thought that if she didn't tell them now then she never would.

"Hey Rikku, Lulu?" The two girls glanced back at Yuna. "Um, could I talk to you guys for a minute?"

"But Yunie, class is about to start!" Rikku moaned. "Last time we were late, Shelinda almost gave us detentions."

"I never thought Shelinda was capable of being so strict," Lulu said mildly.

Yuna lost her nerve. She wasn't ready to discuss this with anyone anyway, not even them. If Seymour heard… she didn't want to even think about what his reaction would be.

"Nevermind. It's not important, and not worth being late to English." The three girls walked to the back of the classroom and got out their stuff for class. They had to look like attentive students, even if they were going to pass notes and talk all period long. Shelinda was usually pretty lax and looked away when you misbehaved in her class. The one thing that irked her was tardiness.

"Alright class, take out your books. Today we'll be reading..."

Rikku, Lulu, and Yuna ignored Shelinda and began their weekly Monday catch-up session of all the parties and hook-ups that had happened over the weekend. When Shelinda's back was facing the students, Rikku leaned forward in her seat and threw a note to Yuna who was seated in front of her. Yuna, expecting this, caught the wad of paper with ease just as Shelinda turned back around. Yuna placed the note inside her desk and opened it while pretending to pay attention to the teacher who was talking about the Shakespeare classic, Romeo and Juliet.

So Yunie, you've survived another weekend with Tidus. Are things still pretty rocky with him? I mean, you could always stay with Brother, Cid, and me. What's so bad about living with him anyway? Is he, like, a big meanie, or just a jerk?

Yuna scribbled a note back to Rikku and tossed it at her while faking a giant yawn, something you could only pull off on Mondays. She told Rikku that her mom would be 'disappointed' if she didn't spend the weekend at the beach house. "Something about spending quality family time together," Yuna had written. "As for Tidus, well, I think I'm just around him too much. He can be suffocatingly annoying and overbearing." While Rikku read this, a wadded up piece of paper came flying in from Yuna's left side. She glanced over and saw a twitch of a smile on Lulu's serene face.

How are things with Seymour? You haven't talked about him much lately. In fact, you haven't talked much at all lately. What's up? Is everything okay?

Yuna paused to think how to answer Lulu before writing anything. How could she answer a question like that without giving anything away? Carefully and slowly, she wrote, "Seymour's been really stressed lately. I've been trying to avoid him because he's tense. I'll deal. What's up with you? You seem, well, happier than usual." There. She had diverted Lulu's attention to herself rather than Yuna's love life. What she wrote had been true anyway. Lulu did seem happier. Flicking the note back at Lulu, she rummaged around in her book bag on the back of her chair, looking expectantly at Rikku. The blonde Al Bhed girl dropped the note on the ground to be picked up by her half-Al Bhed cousin. Yuna's bi-colored eyes flitted across the scrap of paper.

Just try to avoid Tidus as much as possible during the school week, even if he is your lab partner. Maybe then you won't be sick of him by the weekend. He's kind of cute, actually. Get that. ;) Did you end up going to Squall's party, by the way? I heard that Bartello and Dona hooked up. Gross.

Yuna wrinkled her nose and tried to stifle a giggle. Even though Rikku had been busy doing some work for Cid all Friday and Saturday, she still knew the break-down of what relationships had begun or been destroyed over the weekend.

Lulu was looking at the piece of paper in her hand with concern. There was definitely something going on with Yuna and Seymour. Lulu had never liked Seymour. He may be rich and well-dressed, but something about him rubbed Lulu the wrong way, and her instincts about people were usually correct. In her opinion, Yuna should have never gotten involved with him, but Lulu was never one to tell other people how to run their lives. She had enough problems of her own. Still, she worried about her friend. Yuna had changed in the past few months, but Lulu couldn't seem to put her finger on how.

Before Lulu had time to find another scrap piece of paper and write Yuna back, the bell rang.

Walking through the hallways, Tidus and Squall made their way to Auron's chemistry class. Wakka had advanced calculus second period with Kimahri the ronso, but spent most of his time in math studying Lulu.

"So I was thinking about your issues with Yuna. You've mentioned that she's been different the past few months. You guys used to be friends, correct? Perhaps something happened that made her change."

"We used to be friends in like fifth grade. We had always been on good terms, though, up until about six months ago, around when she started dating Seymour. It's like having a boyfriend sucked all of the fun out of her. All she does now is stay at home."

"Maybe Seymour's the problem. He isn't exactly the most understanding, caring individual I've ever met."

Tidus shrugged. "Whatever, I'm not getting involved in any problems she may or may not be having with her boyfriend."

Squall sighed. "Well, if you don't figure out what wrong with her, you'll keep missing parties and continue having miserable weekends. You should talk to her."

It was too late to discuss the matter further, as they were at the door of Auron's classroom. Auron did not tolerate any talking in his class unless he was doing it or you had to ask a relevant question to either him or your lab partner. Whenever Auron reminded students of this, he always stressed the word relevant. Tidus entered the classroom silently and took his seat reluctantly next to Yuna. Auron had given them permanent lab partners at the beginning of the year; Yuna happened to be his. Squall was much happier with the situation than Tidus was: his lab partner was Rikku.

Auron walked calmly in the room carrying Friday's exams. Taking a sip from his coffee mug (it was rumored he sometimes kept sake in there instead of coffee) he nodded at the class and began passing back exams. He started right in on his lecture about the scores on the test.

"Most grades were very good. Some of the class performed at a mediocre level, and a select few of you did so poorly, I was shocked at your lack of ability" Auron said this as he placed a test face down on Tidus's desk.

Excellent, thought Tidus sarcastically. I failed. He slowly turned the paper over and looked at his grade. In the top right hand corner was his grade with a circle around it, a C-.

Tidus stared at the paper for a minute, confused. He thought Auron had been insinuating that he had done much worse.

"Now, the grade you see on your paper is not the grade I've put in the gradebook. Since you were supposed to study with your lab partners, if you average both your grades together, the grade I've counted as toward your total percentage of exams."

Tidus inwardly groaned. He didn't want to show Yuna his grade. She must have aced the exam, with the way she spent every hour of the weekend before this past one studying. He didn't need any added resentment toward him from her on top of whatever Squall supposed that she was going through. He glanced over at his friend, who was leaning toward Rikku, showing her his test and grinning as she giggled loudly.

Auron interrupted their exchange, frowning. "However, I do not think we need to waste class time discussing your grades. You may do so during your free time after class or whenever you see fit. Now, let's move on to Chapter Six in our book…"

Tidus glanced over at Yuna. She looked ill. She must have got an A and she must have known Tidus didn't do well. Sighing inwardly, Tidus knew that he would have to apologize and study hard for the next test to make up for the B Yuna was getting in the gradebook instead of the A she deserved.

As the bell rang, Yuna left too quickly for Tidus to catch her and say what he had planned, but as he was leaving he bumped right into her outside of the chem classroom. He would have talked to her then, but she was otherwise engaged with her boyfriend, Seymour.