Science Class

~CHAPTER 1~

Back to School Sales Drive Me Crazy

Disclaimer: None of the Final Fantasy characters who reside within the boundaries of this story belong to me... Nix, Citra and Mrs. Barker, however, are original characters.

Note: Just in case you didn't notice, this is the sequel my story The English Teacher. Sorry. I don't think it's completely necessary to read that one before reading this, but it's recommended... So, on with the story.

From top of the school, to bottom of the school. I held, once again, a small, square piece of paper with the names of teachers on it.

"I've got English, with Mrs. Randal." Everyone in the vicinity gave me a look of pity.

I smiled, recalling the first day of school last year. This year was going to be just a bit different. The school was completely new and my Final Fantasy friends and I were all what is called in the biz, "Fresh Meat".

I was wandering the second floor, trying to get my bearings when I saw what amounted to a commotion ahead of me.

"I wonder if I can still fly…" Sephiroth muttered, staring hungrily out the window that was really more like a large rectangular hole that the building's architects had decided to blow in the cement wall in a fit of destruction.

"Don't try it," Lucrecia suggested harshly, grabbing his arm.

Sephiroth looked down at her. "Awww, but Mom…" he whined in a tone burdened with an undue amount of sarcasm.

Several students in the crowded, jostling vicinity looked around, saw who was speaking, and either assumed it was an inside joke, or began pondering things that really ought not to be pondered.

I, on the other hand, tore past the confused groups of people to get to my old friends. "OMIGOD! Hi!" I hugged Sephiroth overenthusiastically in greeting.

"Uh… hello, Nix." He said and gave me an odd look once I let go of him.

"OMIGOD! Vincent got a haircut!" Instead of being nearly waist-length, it was chopped to his jaw line and shorter in back, like it had been during his work with the Turks.

"I hate it," Vincent said at the same time that Lucrecia said, "It's cute!"

Vincent looked at her as if his confidence in her sanity had just slipped a few notches.

"We can see your face now." She explained, brushing a chunk of his dark bangs out from between his eyes. It fell right back into the same place.

"It's pointless, you know," he informed her, "It won't do anything. Seriously."

"Hair gel," I mouthed at Sephiroth, miming spiking my hair. I had to dodge behind Lucrecia to stop Vincent from hitting me.

Once this little escapade had been smoothed over I handed Lucrecia a copy of my schedule and asked her what classes they all had.

She scanned the list. "Science for one…" She looked up. "Vincent and Sephiroth are in our class too."

"Sweet."

"So's Aerith," Sephiroth said with an oddly omniscient smirk.

"I'm in your English class…" Lucrecia told me.

The bell rang. "I'll see you then, I guess!" I grabbed my schedule back and waved, heading to wherever I was heading for my first class.

"Heya, Lucca!!" I said, sitting next to Lucrecia happily in the grammatically decorated English classroom an hour or so later.

"English together again?"

"Looks like it."

"Hopefully we'll have a better teach—" Her mouth dropped open when she saw the teacher. The woman was dressed in all black and her face was covered in piercings. Several tattoos were also visible on her arms and the upper part of her chest.

"Oh, yah…" I said, smiling and looking at Lucrecia. "We're gonna have a hell of a time this year…"

Several boring periods later, I was headed to science. I had actually stared blankly at the campus map long enough for the fact that the rooms are numbered chronologically from east to west to sink in. I was able to find my science room with surprisingly little trouble. Ahead of me another student was reading each room label carefully and cross-referencing this information with his class schedule.

"Hey, Citra!"

One of my old friends, his black hair sticking up in all sorts of odd ways, startled and turned to face me with an expression with far too much guilt for my liking.

"Uh… Hi, Nix…" he said extremely sheepishly.

"Lost?" I asked him, teasing.

"I'm not lost! I'm… directionally compromised!"

I laughed. "Where're you headed?"

"Science, Barker. You?"

"Same! Follow." I said making an ethereal motion for him to follow me. He hesitated, but followed me.

I was almost appalled at the small size of the science classroom and the dingy appearance it had. I was distracted, however, by what looked like a black chocobo's backside sticking up in the middle of the room.

"Omigod! It's Zack!" I shouted, running up and hugging him quickly.

"Woa, hello!" He said holding his hands up with a scared look on his face.

Sephiroth came up behind me, laughing. "Hello, Zack. This is Nix. Ignore her, she's always like this."

"Not always…" I argued. I suddenly felt very short between the two of them, so I turned to leave the conversation and look for anyone else I knew. However, when I finally found someone my own height, I got dragged back to the same two exceedingly tall SOLDIERs.

"You know each other?" Zack asked, looking at Aerith and Sephiroth in turn.

"Yeah..." Sephiroth said, looking at her warily, "we're on... speaking terms..."

Aerith and I both laughed, remembering how viciously Aerith had gotten on his case on several occasions the previous year, not to mention the summer.

"HEYA!!" Yuffie had appeared out of nowhere and hugged me, then left to greet other class members.

"Hi, Yuffie...?"Aerith said, looking at the place where the ninja girl had been a moment before.

"Yuffie..." Zack scratched the back of his head awkwardly. "Hey, is that..." Zack asked, looking around furiously, "That little punk!"

I looked at Aerith, who seemed concerned, then at Sephiroth who seemed amused. "Uh... different Yuffie, Zack."

"You sure?" Zack asked, but Aerith dragged the conversation in another direction before poor Zack could start thinking too hard.

I turned to see who else was in the classroom and noticed someone in front of me who, considering who it was, was way too close for comfort.

When I saw him I did a complete double-take. "Holy Shi—!" I leapt backwards so forcefully that I toppled a chair and myself with it. "...va." Sephiroth had graciously stepped aside to allow me to hit the hard, tiled floor instead of him.

I looked up at Sephiroth, who was glaring down at Hojo. Sephiroth looked like he was about to say something and Hojo looked oddly intimidated and extremely out-of-context.

The teacher walked in at this point and seemed to be staring at us, weather that was due to the completely eccentric hair on several of the people standing around me or the fact that I was on the ground tangled in a chair with Hojo standing over me was a mystery.

As I got up hurriedly, rubbing the back of my head, she called the class to order. "Everyone, sit down. Anywhere, I don't care."

There was a bit of a scramble to find desirable seats, like the music had just stopped in a game of musical chairs. I looked around for somewhere to sit.

Sephiroth was sitting at the furthest corner of the room with a comfortable bubble of emptiness around him, punctuated only by scared looks from a few of the more timid students.

I made eye contact with him and he shrugged, so I sat down carefully in the seat in front of him. "Where's…?"

Sephiroth jerked his head at the door. "Out there. She refused to come in... Now I know why."

"More observant than the rest of us, i'n' she?"

He nodded. Then, in response to my concerned look, shrugged. I stood up and headed for the door turning back for a moment to say, "Cover for me, 'kay?"

He nodded. "Tell her I'll kill him if she wants me to," he said flatly.

I left the room, pondering whether this signified a generous offer, or a relapse back into Sephiroth's more violent nature.

Author Note: Yeah, looks like I'm going to write this. Ah, well. But, hey! I think this first chapter kicks ass on English Teacher's first chapter! As I always say, practice facilitates an asymptotic approach towards perfect.