ATT: This is my first fanfic. Hope you like it, if you dont, maybe there will be something you will like in the future.

Disclaimer: Squareenix owns all characters, and all characters are fictional anyways.

Chapter 1 - Introductions and Invitations

The alarm clock sitting on the night-stand table next to the bed turned to 7:00am and within a millisecond an alarm could be heard. The bed with dishevelled bed sheets carried a very annoyed young man. The boy roughly threw the sheets away from his body and slammed down on the alarm forcing the ongoing tune to stop.
As he got up from bed he walked across the room and in the same manner threw open the curtains resulting in a flood of light spreading through the room eating away at the darkness that once was only a few seconds ago comforting him. He squinted into the sunlight and shortly grabbed some clean clothes and headed into the bathroom to get ready for school.

The alarm clock sitting on the night-stand table next to the bed turned to 7:00am and within a millisecond an alarm could be heard. The figure lying on the right side of the bed yawned and placed a hand on the alarm's 'stop' button forcing the tune to stop. The figure lying on the bed arched its back, spread its arms and legs, pulled at its muscles crying out slight cries of morning pleasure. Rolling over and facing the blonde sleeping on the left it could make out that she still had her eyes closed. A few streaks of hair were covering the blonde's face. The figure blew into the blonde's face trying to remove the hair. A grumble from the blonde's mouth at first could be heard. Laughing the figure attempted again to blow into the blonde's face. This time the blonde was more receptive.

"mmm… Squall." The blonde still had her eyes closed but faintly murmured. The figure laughed and blew again into the blonde's face getting the same reply. Finally after becoming bored of the same reply, the figure started tickling the blonde. At this the blonde shot open her eyes and burst into a series of laughter a second later.

"st… sto…. Stop… please… stop…" The blonde attempted through her laughter. The figure kept on tickling at the blonde's side all the while laughing.

"please… stop… STOP IT RINOA!" The blonde finally managed to break free still laughing and looked at the raven haired figure sitting on her bed.

"I knew that would wake you up" Rinoa said through giggles. She lay back down in bed and looked up at the plastered ceiling.

"Rinoa when I said to wake me up if I ignored my alarm, I didn't mean tickle me to death". Quistis said getting up slowly and opening her curtains. She turned to look at the girl accompanying her room only to find her staring straight at her. "What?" She asked curiously.

The girl smiled, her eyes flickering mischievously "Quisty, who is Squall?"

Running back into his room Squall quickly made his bed, he grabbed his school bag and headed straight downstairs and into the kitchen. His dad was already in the kitchen cooking the morning meal; eggs could be heard sizzling in the pan along side turkey sausages. Squall picked up a piece of buttered toast and walked over to the counter to get some coffee.

"Morning sunshine" Laguna excitedly cried.

"Whatever…" Squall mumbled. If any one knew better, it was Laguna, that Squall was not a morning person and didn't like to be disturbed. But if anyone knew any better and acted opposite to what was expected, it was Laguna.

"Ooh someone is a bit grouchy today. If I don't see a smile on that face I guess I'll just have to give you a frowny-side-down" Laguna attempted at a lame joke.

"Whatever, just move and I'll make my own breakfast" Squall said and moved to take the pan off Laguna's hand.

"No! A chef mus never allo a su chief to take away his kitchen! You want dis pan, you will have to fight! On guard!" Laguna mimicked in a poorly French accent and pulled out his spatula as a form of weapon.

Squall merely rolled his eyes and walked to the breakfast table. "You're a moron" he finally said sitting down and sipping on his coffee.

"Hey, I am your father and I take great offence. I'm definitely giving you a frowny now!" Laguna giggled and turned back to the stove.

"Squall getting another frowny what did he do this time?" Spoke a soft cheerful voice. Ellone walked into the kitchen smiling but her gaze focused on the watch she was trying to secure onto her wrist. She walked up to Laguna planted a kiss on his cheek and murmured good mornings.

"Oh he called me a moron, can you believe that?" Laguna said in a mock surprised look.

"Yes I can." Ellone joked and walked up to her brother to pat his back and placed her cheek to his letting a kiss sound out from her mouth.

"See he lets you kiss him, but he won't even let me touch him!" Laguna cried carrying a very over animated frown.

"That's because I don't want your germs" Squall replied in a monotone voice.

"Hey it was my germs that brought you into this world." Laguna retorted.

"Yuck don't remind me" Squall grimaced.

"I don't get any love in this house." Laguna cried again, faking a wiping of a tear.

"Aww, I love you Dad" Ellone said playing along.

"I don't." Squall said refusing to play along.

Ellone laughed and slightly hit squall for being so insensitive. "Would you like a hug dad?" She tried to persuade him.

"Yes, but from Squall." Laguna shyly asked, circling his foot across one of the kitchen floor tiles.

"No bloody way." Squall answered quickly.

"Go on Squall, he made us breakfast, it's the least you could do" Ellone pipped in.

Laguna brought forward the two plates carrying the breakfast and set it down onto the table. "Its OK, I'll just wait for him to go to bed like I normally do, then he cuddles me." Laguna said cheerfully.

"Oh my God, are you serious?" Ellone laughed into her orange juice.

"He's lying!" Squall glared at his father.

"Am I? You know you mumble things in your sleep Squall, I think the night before last it was something like 'Seifer… I… Love…." before Laguna could finish the sentence Squall grabbed an apple off the fruit bowl in front of him and hurled it at the brown haired man.

"I'm joking!" Laguna yelled laughing. Ellone couldn't help laughing along at the expense Squall had to go through in the mornings. "Anyways kids, have fun at school, Ellone make sure you at least go to one of your lectures, Squall don't get into any trouble at school. Finally, they are some leftovers and microwaveable meals in the fridge, if not here is 50gil for pizza. Don't wait up for me tonight; I may be back very late."

Laguna walked over to Ellone once he had his coat and shoes on and planted a kiss on her head, patted squall on his back and made his way out the kitchen.

"I still can't believe we're related to that man." Squall spoke incredulously.

"Well, you are, I on the other hand have the benefits of being adopted!" Ellone said and poked her tongue out.

"Yeah well you may be adopted, but I think somewhere down the line you must be related to him somehow, you turned out just as crazy as he is." Squall retorted with a smirk. Ellone loved it when Squall smiled, something he rarely did after the death of their mother. She died a couple of years ago but even now Squall was still distant, always silent and speaking only when spoken to.

She caught him smirking again and heard a whisper of "Laguna" as he shook his head. Looking down at her plate she could make out two eggs for eyes, a triangular hash brown as a nose and a jumbo turkey sausage curved to form a smile. She compared hers to Squall's and at first couldn't see any difference, until she noticed the sausage curved downwards forming a frown.

"Gotta admit, he makes our lives full of laughter." she chuckled and dived in.

"So let me get this straight? You like someone that is basically a brick wall?" Rinoa said exasperated. For half an hour the two girls were sitting over breakfast in the kitchen talking about Quistis's crush.

"Rinoa he is not a brick wall. After his mum died he kinda just closed up. Seifer is the only one that he actually properly converses with." Quistis said concentrating on her dish washing ability.

"So I was right, he is a brick wall; he doesn't talk. Why would you like someone that doesn't talk? It'd be so boring going out to dinner when you are the only one constantly doing the talking. Better yet, might as well just go out on your own, that way you save money on the food. Haha." Rinoa laughed.

"Rinoa, it's natural to close up when some one passes away." Quistis shook her head feeling a bit sad at how the conversation was turning out.

"I know." Rinoa said rather seriously. At which Quistis immediately smiled sympathetically. Rinoa's mother had died when Rinoa was quite young. Her mother was a well know singer and died in a car crash while touring.

"Crap! Its 8'o'clock I got to get going, I'll see you when I get back, maybe we can grab some takeaway tonight?" Quistis said while gathering her belongs together and walking towards the front door of the house.

Rinoa followed after her "Yeah, but I'll be popping into your school about 11:30 so maybe I'll see you then as well?"

"Err, yeah if you stick around for longer than an hour, lunch break isn't until 12:30 so if you're still around just text me" Quistis said and walked into her car.

"Quisty?" Rinoa called her name. "If you really like this guy, I'll help you. My dad gave me some tickets to this new movie that's coming out, it think he was trying to make it easy for to make friends. Anyways here" Rinoa handed Quistis an envelope with the tickets "give them to him, ask him to the movies".

"What if he says no?" Quistis asked disappointed?

"Well, there is four in there, tell him it's a group thing, that way he wont worry so much and it will be more relaxed. If you can find someone for me, then ill come along with a bat and make him go out with you" she joked.

Rinoa waved from the front door and stepped back into the house closing the heavy oak door behind her. She ran up the stair and walked into guest room - her new room. She had arrived last night around 11:30pm and was so tired she couldn't be bothered to unpack. Although staying up until 2:30am talking to Quistis about how exciting her moving here, would have at least gotten her a bit settled in.

She threw open the biggest suitcase and took out a thin black V-neck jumper, a blue sleeveless zipper and dark blue jeans. She headed towards the bathroom to take a shower. Once she got the temperature right she jumped in and started shampooing her hair. Rinoa's thoughts moved to her life in Balamb, she loved it in Deling City, it was a bright, loud and exuberant city that was similar to her own character. Balamb was quieter, calm and settled, but she was willing to give it a shot.
Finished with her shower she dressed herself and went to blow dry her hair.

Squall sat on a desk at the back of the class room. It was a Tuesday and his first lesson was English Literature, a subject which he was fairly good at last year. He preferred science and maths over to his literature classes but at least he got to find out about some good books.

The students started settling into their seats in silence when the teacher came in. He placed his briefcase onto the table and started to call their names out. He liked this teacher, he had him the previous year and noticed he was quiet like Squall and only spoke when something of benefit was to be said.

"Seifer… Seifer Almasy? That boy is always late!" Mr Valentine muttered while reaching over for his red pen.

Just as he got the lid off the door slammed open and a dishevelled blond broad-shouldered boy barged into the classroom. "Sorry I'm late." He smiled at the teacher.

"Mr Almasy, care to explain why you're late this time? Or have we run out of excuses this year?" Mr Valentine asked in a rather careless tone.

"Yeah some old woman in the car in front of mine died, so I got stuck in traffic" Seifer said making his way towards his seat next to Squall's.

"How sad, maybe next time you could leave home a bit earlier so you won't be disturbed by old women randomly dying in the front seat of their car." Mr Valentine rolled his eyes and continued to call out names from the registrar.

"Sup." Seifer asked Squall, rolling his hand into a fist and connecting it with Squall's.

The class went by quickly, it was a double so after the first 50 minutes when the bell rang indicating the next period the class remained continuing their session. Squall liked this year's choice of topics, at the moment they would be studying 'To Kill a Mocking Bird' a book Squall had read previously given to him by his mother. Although it was a sad book, he enjoyed how Scout and Jem grew up in a small town much like how he and Ellone grew up in Balamb.

He was just finishing off answering a question from the board when he heard Seifer call his name. "Dude, she is totally checking you out." Seifer laughed.

Squall didn't bother looking up, he knew it was Quistis, she had been subtly letting him know since the end of term last year that she had a keen interest in him. Unfortunately for Squall it was an interest he had much rather not have. At first he didn't mind, but after what he thought was his forward way of letting her know he wasn't interested she still hadn't taken the hint and still persisted. What made it worse was that deep down he knew Seifer really liked her. Seifer had liked Quistis when they were 5 and just started their first year at school, he would always run and ask Quistis to pair with him for any activities. Squall would normally go off with Zell or Irvine and let Seifer have his Quisty. Once they got to middle school, Quisty soon got tired of Squall and Seifer and started making friends with a lot more girls. Seifer and Squall both understood she needed female companionship and grew closer to their male friends.

Now however, he felt guilty, unwillingly he had taken Seifer's girl, he had Quistis's love and attention and worse, he rejected it. He dared to look at Seifer and could make out sadness in his smile. He looked over at Quistis who only smiled once he made eye contact.

"Squall, do me a favour and just ask her out." Seifer said unexpectedly.

"What?" Squall could only reply. They had this conversation many times before, at first it would end up in an argument, both accusing the other of jeopardising the friendship or worse pitying one another. Then it became a bit more bearable, where Squall would just remain silent to signify the ending of the subject and Seifer would just curse.

"Look, I know she likes you a lot, and she is a really good girl, she deserves a chance, you might like her you know." Seifer said enthusiastically.

"Dude no way, I don't like her like that, plus you got a thing for her anyways, totally off putting." Squall said shaking his head.

"I know but I was thinking this weekend, I can get any girl I want, so it's alright if she is seeing someone else, dude just give her a chance." Seifer pleaded.

"Alright" Squall replied. Squall looked at Seifer's face and noticed that millisecond of surprise in his face, but Seifer just smiled.

"Sweet." the blond replied and went on to finish his work.

Once class was over and Squall made his way to his next lesson, he spotted Quistis with her friends; they noticed Squall and started giggling. Quistis looked over to Squall and made her way.

"Hey Squall." She said sweetly.

"Hey." he replied barely audible.

"How was your summer?" She asked trying to get more out of their conversation.

"Yeah ok, just visited family."

"Cool. Yeah we went to visit my cousin; she's starting here this term while her dad's on a research trip in Centra." She said happily. "Erm, anyways, I was wondering if you were free this weekend? I got four tickets to that new film The Lost City of Zanarkand and was thinking of taking my cousin since she's new here an all."

"Sure." Squall replied without much expression.

Quistis's face went through a series of shock, surprise and excitement. "Seriously? Cool, erm, well here take two you could bring Seifer along, I think those two may get along." She said cheerfully, but Squall knew the hint. She wanted it to be a double date; he guessed maybe he should give her a chance. A chance for him to get Seifer to come along with them and let Seifer work his charm on her.

"Yeah, maybe you might even get along with someone too." Squall commented, and walked into his class.

It was only after he settled into his seat and rewound the scene in his head, he realised that his words had an alternate suggestion. Shaking the scene from his head and concentrating on the teacher's lecture Squall endured through the next 50 minutes.

Rinoa pulled up to a four storey red bricked building covered with white framed glass windows. The school was relatively big for a small town but she guessed that since most people would have attended Balamb High due to its big facility and location. Balamb had only a handful of high schools that were scattered around its small town. Balamb High although had only a main building with four stories, it was a long building and had other smaller buildings scattered around its campus.

Once in the building, Rinoa walked up to the front desk and informed the receptionist of her presence. After handing in the necessary legal forms, she was an enrolled student and was given her new timetable for the year complete with the additional subjects she chose.

"Ok Miss Heartilly, you can tour the school building once a representative gets here, you will start your lessons tomorrow though once all subject material books are catered for you." The receptionist informed her while picking up the phone. "Hi, its Xu, we have a new student here could you send a school rep? Oh it doesn't matter which one, any will do."

Rinoa looked around the outside of the reception office, she could make out a staircase leading to an upper floor, lockers were lined against the wall and doors were placed in between some of them. She didn't realise but she had taken a couple of steps outside the office and was standing in the foyer.

It was at that moment she felt someone smack into her. Nearly falling over until a hand grabbed her she looked into the person who had nearly knocked her down.

"Sorry" he said. He was blond, his eyes were green and he was wearing a really mischievous smile.

"It's ok." She said trying to sound polite. She was new here and was a bit surprised by his apology. Back in Deling City, anyone that bumped into you would normally shout at you to watch where you were going, forgetting the simple fact that they bumped into you.

"I'm Seifer, Seifer Almasy, you new here?" He asked curiously.

"Yeah, Oh sorry, I'm Rinoa Heartilly" She managed to speak out.

Squall threw his backpack strap onto his shoulder and made his way down the stairs following Nida, sent to collect him for what he stupidly signed up for last year. He was a school representative, which meant he did all the dirty work for the school, like attending school functions, quizzes, sports championships and what he detested the most, showing new students around.

As he made his way down the last few steps he noticed Seifer talking to someone, he wanted to stop and tell his friend about the new deal with Quistis and his idea to get the two together, but he thought better of it and followed Nida.

"Oh hello Squall, the new student is just outside in the foyer, I think she is talking to Seifer, just give her a general tour and show her where her locker is." Xu said handing him a locker key.

"Ok." Squall mumbled and made his way towards Seifer and the new student. He thought about maybe asking Seifer to do the tour for him since he kind of owed him for the set up with Quistis.

"Ahh here is your tour guide, my man Squall." Seifer said cheerfully pointing towards Squall.

Squall merely smirked and looked down at the new student. His breath stopped short for a few seconds as he took in her beauty. She had raven black hair with front dark brown highlights emphasising the fairness of her face. Her eyes were the shape of almonds the colour of her irises chocolate brown surrounded in long curved eyelashes.

"Squall huh?" She asked playfully.

"Ah… erm…" Squall could only nod, which made the girl laugh. He realised then he would've liked to hear that sound a lot. Something about this girl's laughter was pleasing and warm. Her smile was accepting and innocent and made Squall want to smile as wide as she was doing. He was all of a sudden very happy he signed up to be a representative, giving this girl a tour of the school was something he could secretly enjoy.

"I'm Rinoa, I think you know my cousin, Quistis?" Rinoa quickly informed him.

Crap! Thought Squall.

This chapter is dedicated to n9neSTAR because she is cool and everyone should read her story, it rocks!
Review this since i went over it and fixed those silly mistakes.