Wishful Thinking (FFXIII)

[Meg]

"Hope!" Nora called as she stormed into her son's room. She tripped over something or other and landed on her son's feet, who woke with a start.

"What the? Mom!" Hope yelled as he rolled over and put his head underneath his pillow. Nora stood and picked up the closet thing in reach, a sock, and started hitting Hope with it.

"Get up! You're going to be late."

"Five more minutes."

"No! The bus will be here any minute and you won't be late for your first day of high school!" She grabbed her son's legs and pulled him out of bed. His face landed on the carpet and he struggled to get up. "I made you breakfast and packed your lunch. Come on."

Hope gave a huge yawn as his reply. His mother rolled his eyes and left the room. He stumbled to the closet and got dressed before going downstairs. The smell of bacon hit him before he even had a chance to enter the kitchen. "There's eggs, bacon, and toast." she said happily. Hope grabbed a piece of toast and stuck it in his mouth before grabbing his book bag. "Oh come on, you need to eat more."

Right at that moment the bus pulled up. "Got to go!" Hope said as he ran out the door.

"Have fun!" his mother called after him.

Hope boarded the bus and saw that it was already full. He sighed and walked down the aisle trying to find a place to sit. Everyone stared at him. Being the new kid was the worst. Being a new kid and a freshman was even worse. He spotted a seat toward the back with only one person in it. She was older, a senior most likely, and sat with her legs and arms crossed staring at the ground. She had a scowl on her face. Hope wasn't surprised no one was sitting with her. He really didn't want to either, but he didn't have much of a choice. He went up to her and asked if he could sit with her. She looked up, her bangs covered one of her eyes. Her long light pink hair completely contradicted her athletic appearance. The senior stared at him for a moment then without a word moved over, making room for him. Hope smiled shyly, maybe she wasn't that bad after all. As he sat down he could feel the eyes of the other students watching him. He looked up at the girl; she was right back to her former position.

"Um…thanks." Hope said.

"Don't mention it." she answered flatly.

"Uh…I'm Hope by the way. Hope Estheim" he said nervously. He continued to look at her, waiting for a reply.

"Claire Farron," she finally said after several seconds of silence. "but most people call me Lightning."

Lightning? Hope thought. Why would anyone want a name that has to with sky? That's so cliché. Well, I guess its better than Cloud… He didn't dare say any of this out loud, though. He wasn't about to chase away someone he might be able to become friends with, or at least bus buddies. Ah, hell! She probably doesn't want to share her seat with me everyday…

The bus pulled up to the school and he stared at it out the window. He felt a light push on his arm and realized Claire, or Lightning, whatever, wanted to get out. He apologized and jumped up. He hopped off the bus and continued to stare at the huge building. It was so much bigger than his old school. He was going to get lost.

He was pushed into the building by the crowd and struggled to take out his schedule. It was mailed to him a couple of weeks ago along with a map of the school. His first class was in Room 101. British Literature. "Uh…"he tried to find the room on the map, but people kept knocking into him. He managed to fight his way over to the side of the hall with less people. He found the room on the map and traced the path with his finger. "Ok, so I go up here, right down there, up those steps, then a left, and wait what?"

"Do you need help?" someone said behind him. He turned and blushed.

"Uh…" he didn't want to seem to helpless. "No. I know where to go."

"No you don't." Lightning said and took his arm. He had a hard time keeping up with her fast pace. She lead him up a flight of stairs. There were much less people up there, giving Hope room to breathe. Lightning lead him down a few more hallways before stopping in front of a door. "Room 101 right?" she asked him.

"Uh…yeah." Hope answered after double checking his schedule. "Thanks."

Lightning rolled her eyes and opened the door. An ancient old man was sitting behind the desk up front. The room was extremely bland. No colorful posters with cheesy sayings or anything. Hope shuddered as he entered. The old crusty teacher watched him sit down at a desk and turned his attention back to Lightning. "Helping the helpless freshmen, Farron? How nice of you." She didn't answer. "Do you need a pass?"

Lightning shook her head. "I doubt Mr. Raines will care." she said before leaving. Hope wished she stayed. His teacher scared him. He felt a small poke in the back and turned around. The girl sitting behind him had the same light pink hair as Lightning. She was also wearing the same arm band on her right arm.

"Hi." She said happily. "I'm Serah, Claire's sister."

"Oh! Uhh…" Hope didn't know what to say.

"I don't think I've seen you before. Are you new?" she asked and Hope nodded. "What's your name?" He answered and she smiled. "If my sister's helping you out then you must be something!"

"What?" Hope didn't know what to say.

"How do I put this?" Serah started. "Claire's kind of a…"

"A bitch?" the girl sitting next to her finished for her.

"Vanille! Don't say that. She's not a bitch! She's…well ok yeah, she's a bitch."

"A crazy one, actually." the other girl laughed.

"She's nice to me…" Hope put in.

Serah looked back at him. "Well that's good! Oh, and by the way, this is my friend, Vanille." she motioned to the girl sitting next to her.

"Hi there! Nice to meet you." Her voice is very perky. To perky…Hope thought.

The bell rang to begin class. The teacher stood up and started speaking. "If you don't already know, I'm Mr. Dsyley. Take out a pencil for your test." The entire class groaned. "Shut up. You had plenty of time to complete your summer reading. Hope's heart skipped a beat. Summer reading? What summer reading?

 

[aka958]

Lulz... It seems really good!

I'll be waiting to see more.

One single note though, Dysley is spelled with the S after they first Y.

 

[Meg]

Lightning walked down the hall toward her first period class. She was in no hurry. This is the forth year in a row she got Mr. Raines for science. Freshman year it was earth science, then biology, then chemistry, and now physics. She didn't even know it was possible to have a teaching license in so many subjects. She wouldn't mind so much if he wasn't such an incredibly boring teacher. Nothing he says is interesting at all and everything he says is in the most monotone voice she's every heard. Regardless of how bad he is he's a heck of a lot better than Mr. Dsyley.

Mr. Dsyley placed a packet in front of Hope. At the top it was labeled "Summer Reading Exam." Hope flipped through the packet. It was five pages long, double sided! Even worse the print was so small he could barely read it. His only hope was that he had read some of these books before. First question. "Who is the protagonist in A Tale of Two Cities?" Oh ****.

Hope stole a glance to the girls behind him. Serah was bent over her paper writing while Vanille stretched her arms and kicked her legs. The other kids in the class looked dead. The only thing he could do is guess. Thank God its multiple choice. He looked at the answers for the first question. "A-Sydney Carton, B-Roger Daltrey, C- George Washington, or D-Andrew Ryan. "Uhhh…" Hope sighed. He was pretty sure it wasn't George Washington, but who were the other three? He guessed Roger Daltrey. The name sounded familiar after all. After that the questions got even harder. They were all about symbolism and motifs. What the heck is a motif anyway?

Before he knew it the class was over. His teacher ripped the test from his hands. He looked at the two girls again. Vanille seemed confident despite not appearing to have done anything all period. She got up and skipped out the door. Serah gave her test a hard look before handing it in. She then smiled at Hope. "How'd you do?"

"What was the answer to the first one?" Hope asked nervously. The smile vanished from Serah's face.

"You…you didn't read it, did you?"

"No?"

"You put A for the first one I hope!"

" No? I picked C."

"ROGER DALTREY! He's the lead singer of The Who!"

Hope smacked his forehead and Serah patted him on the pack. "Its alright, you only failed one test." Hope stared at her. "What? Mr. Dsyley always does that. He makes the first question really easy and if you get that wrong he marks the whole test wrong."

"WHAT!" Hope took a few deep breaths.

"Don't worry. It'll be alright." Serah reassured him.

His next few classes went a lot better. He teachers were very friendly and helped him along. It wasn't until lunch that Hope realized he didn't have anyone to sit with. What was starting to turn into a good day just got a lot worse. He scanned the tables to see if he could spot anyone he knew. Someone came up behind him and touched his shoulder. He jumped and saw that it was Lightning. "You don't have anyone to sit with do you?" she asked him. Hope blushed and shock his head. "You can sit with me." she said and led him over to her table. There were already two senior boys sitting there. One had silver hair pulled back into a ponytail. He's probably gay…Hope thought. The other had messy long brown hair. They sat down at the round table and Lightning made introductions. "Guys, this is Hope. He's new this year."

"Howdy!" the brown haired one said happily. "I'm Rygdea. This here is Yaag Rosch, but everyone calls him Rosch." The silver haired boy smiled slightly. Hope felt really awkward sitting with all seniors. It wasn't his place. Rygdea and Rosch were talking about stuff Hope couldn't follow while Lightning sat there silently eating her lunch. Hope started to look around to see if he could spot anyone else. Right as he started doing this Lightning started talking to him.

"So, Hope, how'd English go? He has Dsyley." she said to her friends. Both of them started laughing.

"Oh, man. Poor kid!" Rygdea smiled. "You fail the summer reading test?"

"I didn't even know there was summer reading!" Hope cried. The three of them smiled. "What?"

"It doesn't count." Rosch said "He always does not. The first test doesn't count, it's just to freak everyone out."

Hope gave a huge sigh of relief. Suddenly a loud group of friends walked by and they all turned to look. At the head of the group was a kid with blonde hair wearing a large trench coat. He looks like a tool. Hope thought. They were all laughing and pushing each other around. He noticed Lightning was glaring at the group's leader. "Oh, gees." Rosch sighed and turned to Hope. "His name is Snow. Lightning here wants him dead."

"I don't want him dead." Lightning sighed as she turned back to her friends. "I just want him to stay away from Serah. She's to good for him."

"Oh please! You don't think anyone's good enough for your sis." Rygdea started. "You'd probably hate Hope if he was dating her."

Hope paled and shrank into his seat. "Not so." Lightning replied, oblivious to Hope's reaction. "Hope's not an arrogant blowhard like Snow." she then turned to Hope. "He struts around high fiving random people. He thinks everyone's his pal. What he needs is to get over himself."

"You just don't like him because he's dating Serah." Rygdea laughed.

"I didn't like him before that either."

"You didn't know him before that."

"I knew who he was." Lightning countered. "I'm so glad I'll be gone next year. I don't need to see how he'll act when he's a senior."

Hope watched Snow with his friends. A teacher came by and yelled at them to shut up.

 

[Ebony]

Very interesting, I like it.

What made you choose Hope as the main character?

^_^

 

[aka958]

XD
It's all great!

Hope thinks Yaag Rosch looks kinda gay? I thought he was cool. -.-

I'm not usually reading much fan fics but a few like this one who is funny and uses the same characters with no one else added but in a different enviroment and settings. They also got their before grudges and personalities intact, it's really wonderful.

 

[Meg]

Very interesting, I like it.

What made you choose Hope as the main character?

^_^

He just seemed like a fitting lead. Glad you guys like it!

 

[Ebony]

^_^ yeah he is.

 

[Meg]

Last period would have been more of a blessing if it wasn't gym class. Hope dragged himself to the locker room to change. The other boys in his class were all laughing at each other's jokes. Hope noticed that not only was he the only freshman, but he was also the smallest. Oh great…he thought. Some of the boys started cheering while others rolled their eyes. Hope got pushed out of the way as Snow came in and greeted his friends. Hope fell onto the bench and started changing as he glared at Snow.

The teacher came into the locker room and hurried the students out into the gym. They filed out onto the gym floor and that's when Hope realized it was a co-ed class. Great, now I'm gonna look weak in front of girls to. He heard someone calling his name and turned. Serah ran up to him. "Hey! You're in our gym class to? That's great." she smiled.

"What do you mean 'ours'?" Hope asked.

"Oh! Claire's over there." Serah pointed to her sister who was on the other side of the gym. "Claire!" she waved and her sister came over.

Oh no oh no oh no! Hope thought as his face turned bright red. The last thing he needed was to look weak in front of Lightning. "Uh…hi, Li-" Hope stopped and looked at Serah. He wasn't sure want he should call the older sister. He was saved by the teacher's whistle. "Alright, get going. Two minute warm up." The class started jogging around the gym.

Hope's prayers for a silent warm up were crushed when Lightning/Claire/Whatever asked, "So how was English?" Hope assumed this was directed at her sister.

Serah sighed and said, "You were right. Dysley is a crazy old man. Do all of his multiple choice tests have over twenty options? I wish he just gave out fill in the blank tests! I knew all the answers it just took so long to find the right one."

"That test we took doesn't count, right Lightning?" Hope put it.

Serah stared at him. "Oh no! She's got you calling her that to?"

"Uh…." Hope didn't know what to say. Maybe I shouldn't have said anything.

"Why do you have people call you that What's wrong with Claire?" Serah asked her sister.

"What's wrong with Lightning?" the older sister asked.

"It's silly!" Serah exclaimed. Judging by the two sisters' tones it sounded like they have had this conversation before. "I'm not the only one that thinks that. Mom and Dad think its silly to." Serah added. Hope never thought about it before, but he realized how weird it would be if the two sisters got their hair color from their dad.

Originally Serah was in the middle, but suddenly Lightning was right by Hope's side. "You're running pretty fast." she smiled slightly. Hope looked behind him and realized Serah was yelling at him to slow down.

"Oh." Hope slowed down. "Sorry."

"Don't apologize." Lightning smiled fully this time. "If you like running you should join the school's cross country team."

Hope blushed again. Serah caught up with them, panting. "Gees, Hope! This is a warm up." All that did is cause his face to turn even more red. The teacher blew the whistle again and told them to line up in their squads. They are in alphabetical order by last name so of course he was right in front of Serah and Lightning. The teacher came over and smiled at Hope.

"I saw you sprinting out there. Good job, uh…" he looked at his clipboard.

"Hope, Sir." he responded.

"Sir! Fast and polite, Farron, I have a new favorite." he said to Lightning who only looked confused. The teacher then turned his attention to the entire class. "Alright, listen while you stretch. For those of you that never had me before, I'm Mr. Katzroy. Now I'm gonna assign squad leaders to lead in stretching and whatever else I don't feel like doing. Squad one- Applebottom. Squad two- Farron."

"Which one?" Serah asked confused.

"What?" Mr. Katzroy looked at her.

"This is my little sister." Lightning said.

"Oh yeah. Uh…Squad two-Claire Farron. Squard three-" he continued and walked away. After he was done assigning the roles he said, "Alright well we're running the mile today, so-" Almost everyone in the class groaned. "Oh be quiet. It's the principal that wants us to do it the first day of school. Better to get it out of the way anyway. Now come on, outside." The gym class marched to the track. Lightning went up to the starting line and swung her arms to loosen up. Hope lined up next to her and the rest of the class followed. Sazh blew the whistle and the class started running. Lightning took an early lead with Hope only a few feet behind. This is how I'll prove myself to her! He smiled.

Lagging behind was Snow and his friends. "Oh my God." Snow cried. "I'm not cut out for this! It's to hot."

"Shut up and run!" Sazh yelled. "Sorry, Farron beat you to it!" He and Snow both laughed.

Lightning pretended to not hear. She called back to Hope, "Try to keep up with me."Hope nodded and quickened his pace. He ran up next to her. His legs were starting to burn after holding that pace for the first two laps. "Half way." Lightning said reassuringly. Hope nodded, determination plain on his face. On the forth lap Hope couldn't take it anymore and slowed down. He watched Lightning continuing at the same pace without even looking back. She's not even tired…

Lightning was the first to finish with Hope only thirty seconds behind. Sazh pat him on the back. "Good job, kid." Hope stared at Lightning as she stretched. "We run the mile again in the spring. You'll get her next time." Sazh whispered to him. Hope looked up at his teacher.

"Uh…"

Snow crossed the line and fell over. "Whew! Glad that's over." he laughed. Several other students finished right behind him, including one of his friends. Serah finished a few minutes later and was about to go up to Snow, but she saw her sister glaring at her and went to her instead. Snow watched Serah walk up to her sister with her head down. So glad she's graduating this year. Snow thought. Maybe then me and Serah can see some action! He grinned and started to go over to the two sisters. Sazh, knowing how Lightning wanted Snow dead blew his whistle.

"Alright, back inside."

Hope stood up and plodded back into the school. By the time everyone was finished getting dressed the boy's locker room smelled like Axe. Hope coughed as he stumbled out. The girl's locker room wasn't any better. It smelled like ten didn't perfume scents. At least the days over! Hope thought happily, but then he realized there were still over a hundred days remaining. "Hey, Hope wait up!" Serah called. Hope stopped and smiled. "Wanna go get something to eat? Claire's going to get her car out of the shop, so she can pick us up."

Ok, sure." Hope couldn't believe how easy it was for him to make friends at this school. At his old school he didn't have any friends at all. He laughed as Serah pulled him along. They went to the conveyance store across the street.

"They have really good sandwiches here." Serah reassured Hope after seeing his expression. Serah spotted her boyfriend and ran up to him. "Snow!" she yelled and they hugged. Hope groaned. So much for that… He thought.

"That crazy sister of yours isn't around is she?" Snow asked Serah.

That did it. "She's not crazy." Hope yelled.

Snow looked at him. "Oh-ho! If it isn't the show off. What's up?"

"I'm not the one that's the show off." Hope countered.

Serah slapped her forward. No peace. Not ever. Snow walked up to Hope and gave him a hard look. He then laughed and panted him on the back. "Sorry. I didn't realize you two were friends. You are friends…right?" Snow looked at him confused.

"Uh…" Hope didn't know what to say. He hoped Lightning saw him as a friend, and not just some stupid kid that needed her help.

"I see." Snow laughed. "Don't sweat it, kid, Light doesn't tend to let people know if she likes them or not. Well…sort of. If she doesn't like you, you'll know." Snow then rubbed his cheek.

"You…" Hope started laughing. "You got beat up by a girl?"

"Hey! Wait a minute! No wait…well…" Snow didn't know what to say.

Serah went up to them. "Almost everyday!" She and Hope burst out laughing. Snow frowned for a moment at the two and then laughed himself. "Come on! I'm hungry." Serah took off into the store. Snow patted Hope on the back again and they followed her inside.

 

[Meg]

“Oh my God this is a good sandwich!” Hope exclaimed with a mouth full of food. He took such a huge bite he started gagging. He took a big gulp of water and sighed in relief.
“Easy.” Snow laughed. “Don’t die on us now!” He gave Hope a light pat on the back. He saw someone new come into the store and looked up only to hide behind his hand. Lightning spotted him and glared. She stomped over and sat down in the booth next to Hope, across from her sister and Snow. She sat there glaring at him. Snow decided to break the silence. “Hey, Light…what’s uh, what’s up?”
“My car’s fix, so you don’t have to worry about driving Serah to school anymore.”
“I don’t mind…” Snow put in even though he knew it was useless.
“Don’t worry about it.” Lightning said flatly.
Hope looked down at the floor. So much for having someone to sit with on the bus…He thought. The idea of having to try to find someone to sit with made him shudder. “Sooooo” Serah began in an effort to have a normal conversation for once.
“We should probably get going.” her sister cut her off. “Don’t you have homework?”
“Uh…no?” Serah sighed. She knew arguing was useless. She got up and stood with her head down.
Lightning turned to Hope. “Do you need a ride home?” she smiled. Snow’s eyes bugged out of his head at the sight of Lightning smiling. Serah was taken aback to. Hope smiled shyly and nodded his head. “I’ll take you home.” Lightning patted his shoulder. Snow’s mouth hit the floor. Who the heck is this kid? Snow thought. He must be a GOD or something for Light to give a **** about him. Snow got up and followed them outside. He tried to say goodbye to Serah, but her insane older sister pushed her into the car and closed the door for her. Serah waved sadly at him. Snow smiled reassuringly and waved. Lightning saw it and shot mental fire at him. He sighed and went to his own car.
Once the three one them were in the car they pulled out. Hope knew asking the question that was bothering him was a bad idea, but he had to know. “So…uh, Light?”
“Yeah?” She looked in the rear view mirror to see him.
“What uh…what do you have against Snow? He seems ok…” He knew it was a bad idea to ask, but he wasn’t expecting Lightning to react the way she did. She slammed on the brakes, the car behind her almost ran into her. She turned around a stared at Hope.
“You can walk home.” She almost yelled. Hope stared at her, heartbroken.
“But…” Hope started.
“Save it!” Lightning cut him. She pulled over and unlocked the doors. “Get out.” Hope stared at her in horror. He didn’t even know what to think let alone say. The only thing running through his mind was that he couldn’t believe how easily he just lost who he thought was his friend. He started shaking as he unbuckled.
Searh couldn’t take it anymore. She slapped her sister across her face. Everyone in the car froze. Serah took a deep breath and started yelling. “Why are you such a bitch?! You weren’t like this when we were younger. What the heck happened? Why are you so mean?! Hope’s so nice, why would you kick him out! Everyone hates you, Claire! Do you realize that? Its not just me and Snow, everyone HATES you!” she screamed before getting out of the car, leaving her sister dumbfounded. “Come on, Hope. My house isn’t far.” Hope did as he was told, leaving Lightning alone in the car, staring at where her sister was just sitting.
After the two were gone she was still staring blankly at the empty seat. “She…she hates me?” She whispered to her self. She put the car in drive and went back onto the road, heading nowhere in particular.

-----------------

They arrived at Serah’s house only about fifteen minutes later. Neither of them spoke the whole way. They went inside and Serah announced that she was home and had a friend over. A woman with dark pink hair came down the steps. She smiled at the two. “Hello, I’m Serah’s mom.” She shook Hope’s hand. “Nice to meet you.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Mrs. Farron. I’m Hope.” he forced a smile. He was still rattled about what happened with Lightning. I hope she’s okay… he thought.
As if reading his mind Mrs. Farron asked, “Where’s Claire? Wasn’t she supposed to pick you up?”
“Uhhh…” Serah didn’t know what to say.
“Oh no.” Mrs. Faroon rubbed her head. “What did she do now.”
“She got mad at Hope because he doesn’t disprove of Snow.” Serah said. “Annnd…I yelled at her and walked home.”
Her mom shook her head. “I’m going to have a talk with her when she comes home.” She then smiled at the two. “Well! I went shopping today, so there’s lots of snacks.” Serah thanked her mom and lead Hope into the kitchen. They passed a wall with pictures on it. One of them was of Serah and Lightning when they were younger playing at the beach. They were burying who Hope figured was their dad, a man with blonde hair, in sand. All three of them were laughing. Hope smiled at the picture. Serah saw Hope looking at it.
“That was about ten years ago I think.” she smiled sadly. “What a fun day.” Hope returned her smile with his own in hope to cheer her up. It didn’t work.

---------------

Later that day Hope got a ride home from Mrs. Farron. He thanked her and got out. He went into his house and his mom and dad were waiting for him.
“Where were you?” Nora asked him.
“I was with my friends.” Hope replied happily. Friends. That sounded so nice to him. Both of his parents stared at each other.
“You made friends?!” Nora yelled and hugged her son. “Oh, thank God. What are their names?”
“Uh…Serah. She’s in a couple of my classes. She’s really nice.”
“Do you like her?” Nora asked hopefully.
“Mom! She has a boyfriend. Snow, he’s alright. And Li-Claire. She’s…well.” Hope really didn’t know how he felt about her anymore.
“Does she have a boyfriend?” Nora asked.
“I uh…no.”
“Is she pretty?”
Hope’s face grew bright red.
“You like her don’t you?”
“What! Mom, she’s a senior.” His parents smiled at each other as their son’s face grew more and more red.
“I uh….um…GAH!” Hope threw his hands up in the air and went to his room. His parents were still smiling at him.
“Our little Hope’s in love!” Nora said to her husband. “Remember how he used to never like girls? He would always cling to me.”
“I remember.” her husband smiled. “But, she’s a lot older than him. She probably just thinks he’s some cute kid. I don’t want him to get his heartbroken.”
“Oh leave him alone! Its his first crush.”

-----------------

Serah wasn’t in school the next day. Hope sensed something was wrong. He asked Vanille first period, but she said that she tried getting in touch with her, but she wasn’t answering her phone. As the day went on Hope realized that neither Snow nor Lightning was in school either. Lightning’s friends let him sit with them again. Al they did was talk about how none of them could get a hold of them. After school him and Vanille went to the Farron house. No one was home. Vanille tried calling Serah’s cell phone again, but still no one picked up. She tried calling Snow instead and on the second attempt he picked up.
“Hello?” he sounded really worried.
“Hey, Snow.” Vanille said in a tone that was too happy for the situation. “We were wondering if Serah’s with you. We haven’t been able to get in touch with her allll day!”
There was a pause before Snow answered. When he did he sounded distraught. “It’s Light.” Both Hope and Vanille stiffened and looked at each other. Vanille held the phone between her and Hope so he could hear to. Snow took a deep breath and said, “Light she’s…she got in a car accident. She’s in a coma.”

 

[Nicodemus Zamoran]

I say...Keep up the good work. You are a great writer. You really know how to convey the fealings of the characters.

 

[Marisa]

Awesome story

 

[Meg]

Snow picked up Hope and Vanille and took them to the hospital. They rushed in and saw Serah and her mother staring at the ground. The three sat down and Serah leaned on Snow’s shoulder. He rocked her gently and whispered reassuring words. The doctor came over and cleared his throat. They all look up at him hopefully. “We rate comas on a scale from one to ten. The lower the number the less of a chance they’re going to make it. She’s uh…a five.”
A waterfall of tears fell from Mrs. Farron’s eyes. “So…so…” she tried to force out. “Its…its only a fifty-fifty chance she’ll make it?” The doctor’s eyes was all the answer she needed. Mrs. Farron screamed in agony and collapsed into her arms. Everyone sat there quietly as the mother cried. There was nothing they could say to help her.
The doctor looked at the others. “Witnesses say that she had appeared to be crying right before the wreck. They think that’s how it happened in the first place. Did she ever have a disorder like depression? Was she suicidal?”
Serah shook her head and began to cry. Snow hugged her closely. The doctor walked away and Serah said to herself. “Its my fault…”
Snow looked at her seriously. “Don’t say that.”
“I said I hated her…Its my fault.” she cried.
“No.” Hope said. “It’s…it’s mine” His voice started to break. “If I hadn’t asked that stupid question she wouldn’t of gotten mad and-“
“Stop it.” Snow yelled. “Now look, no one wanted this to happen! No one meant for this to happen. It was an accident, alright?” Serah nodded her head before burying her face into her boyfriend’s side.
“Everything will work out. Just wait and see!” Vanille smiled. No one else shared her positivity.

-------------

Serah was in school the next day, but she was still extremely upset. Vanille kept trying to cheer her up, but all it did was make her feel worse. Word about what happened had spread like wildfire. Hope couldn’t believe all the negative comments. He heard several people mutter “Serves her right.” He had come close to punching so many people. The next time someone says something they’re gonna get it! Hope thought. Not only were the comments disrespectful, but they hurt Serah when what she needed was comfort. She was still convinced it was her fault despite whatever Snow said to convince her otherwise. Hope was really starting to regret not liking Snow in the beginning because of what he heard. While he was kind of arrogant he was showing such dedication to Serah and her family that Hope couldn’t help but admire him for that.
Even Mr. Dysley pitied Serah and gave her an extension in the ten page paper that was due in a week. Hope didn’t get an extension. To make matters worse he couldn’t even pick the topic. It had to be on existentialism. He didn’t even know what that meant and when he asked the teacher just slapped him and told him to go to hell.
At lunch one of the teachers announced that they set up a table for people to sign a giant get well card. Only a few people signed it, Serah, Snow, Rosch, Rygdea, Vanille, a few teachers, and Hope. He felt the eyes of the others students watching him as he signed the card. How could these people be so hateful? Hope thought. After school that day Hope boarded the bus to go home. He sat by himself with his book bag next to him. “Hey kid.” He heard behind him and turned. Two boys sitting behind him were snickering. “Where’s your girl friend?” He both broke out laughing. Hope glared at them and turned back around. One of them poked him on the shoulder. Hope turned back around and the two idiots started laughing again. “We have a bet you see.” One of them stared. “My friend here thinks she’ll be dead in a week, but I say it’ll only be two days.”
“SHUT UP!” Hope screamed. Everyone on the bus stared at them and the two boys just started laughing again. Hope turned back around and sunk into his seat. Fortunately his stop was the first one. He hopped off and headed home. As he walked he heard laughter behind him. He looked and saw those same to kids. “Go away!” he yelled.
“Hey hey hey!” One of them said as they caught up to him. They started pushing Hope around. “What are you gonna do? Huh?”
Hope stumbled and fell over. He got up and tried to leave, but they cut him off. “Come on!” One of them said. Hope couldn’t take it anymore. He punched one of them square in jaw. He fell over and got back up. “Is that so?” The kid yelled. It was at that moment Hope realized his mistake.

------------------

“Hope!” Nora ran to her son when he stumbled into the door. His face was covered in blood. “What happened?” Hope swayed and fell over.
He woke up in a hospital bed with his mom next to him. His dad must not have gotten out of work yet. He saw a doctor run past the door followed by Serah. He called after her. She came back and stopped at the door. “Hope? What happened? Never mind that. It’s Claire! She spoke.”
Hope leaped out of bed and ran out the door with Serah as his nurse chased him. Mrs. Farron was already in the room by the time Serah and Hope got there. She was holding Lightning’s hand in hers as she stroked her daughter’s hair gently. “What happened?” Hope panted as he came in. His nurse tried to take him back, but he shook her off. The doctor nodded to the nurse that it was ok. The nurse sighed and left the room.
They all circled around Lightning’s bed. Mrs. Farron spoke to her quietly. “Sweety. If you can hear me… Come home. Please. We’re all waiting for you.” she started to cry. Lightning’s eyeballs appeared to be moving under the lids. Everyone got closer. Slowly her eyes opened and she stared at the ceiling for a moment. No one in the room breathed. Lightning redirected her gaze to her mom and sister. “Serah…” she said quietly. “Do you…do you really hate me?”
“No.” Serah cried and hugged her sister. “I love you, Claire!” Lightning slowly picked her hand up and put in on her sister’s back to return the hug. “I love you so much.” Serah said again as she continued to cry. After a few minutes the two sisters separated and Lightning turned her attention to they other people in the room.
“Hope, what happened? You look like hell.” she asked him.
“I’m not the only one.” he smiled. Lightning rolled her eyes and shook her head, smiling.
“Right well,” the doctor started. “Hope you better go back to your room before Nurse Jen goes insane with worry.”
Hope sighed and left the room. It wasn’t his place anyway.

-------------------

Lightning was released from the hospital a week later. Serah was a loud to stay home from school for the homecoming. That Friday Hope collected the two sisters’ work and brought it over to their house. Serah answered the door and pulled him in. “Aw, Hope! You got our stuff. That’s so nice!” She hugged him. “Claire!” she called and led Hope into the living room. Lightning was sitting on the couch with a bowl of ice cream on his lap. Serah took the work from Hope and put it somewhere.
Hope looked at Lightning nervously. I wonder if she still hates me… Hope thought. Lightning smiled when she saw him. She slowly got up and went to him. She paused in front of him for a moment before throwing herself around him. Hope’s face grew bright red as he returned the hug. “Hope, I’m sorry.” she said sadly.
“It’s…it’s okay.” Hope replied.
“I’m going to make it up to you.”
“You don’t ha-“
“I want to.” She said seriously.
“Oh uh…” Hope smiled to himself. “Can I have some icecream?”
Lightning smiled. “Of course. Serah can you get that?”
“Sure.” Serah laughed and went into the kitchen. Lightning sat back down on the couch and crossed her legs. She motioned for Hope to sit to. He sat next to her and the two looked at one another happily for a few moments.
“How’s school?” Lightning asked to break the silence.
“Uh…okay I guess. I have a ten page paper due soon on existentialism.”
“For Dysley?”
“Yeah.”
Lightning scoffed. “What a bastard. That man wanted to died before he was even born. I wish he would just leave other people alone.” she ate a spoonful of ice cream before continuing. “I can help you if you want.”
“Uh.” Hope didn’t know what to say. “You sure?”
Lightning shrugged. “It’s not like I have anything else to do.”
Serah came back in with the ice cream snd handed it to Hope. “Thanks.” he smiled.
“Your welcome. Now move over.” Serah nudged Hope. He moved over and found that he was closer to Lightning. His face grew bright red.
“What?” she asked him and smiled. Hope just continued to blush. Serah realized what was happening. Awww! How cute. She thought.
Lightning had a feeling she knew what was happening to. “Hey Hope why don’t you sleep over?”
Neither sister new it was possible for someone to get as red as Hope didn’t. “Uh…ok sure.” he replied in way that made it sound like he wasn’t that interested while on the inside his heart skipped a beat when he was asked that. I have friends! He thought. True friends….I wonder if she likes me? Hope looked over at Lightning who was busy eating her ice cream.

 

[Meg]

Chapter 6



Hope woke the next morning to find that he had slumped over and that his head was resting on Lightning’s side. He felt that her arm was hanging limply around his shoulder. He was worried what she would think when she woke up, but decided he didn’t care and snuggled up closer to her. He smiled and closed his eyes. “What are you smiling about?” he heard someone ask, laughing. He jerked away when he saw Lightning was looking at him. His face turned a bright red as he tried to find something to say.
“Feeling better?” she asked him, concerned.
“Uhh….what?”
“You were really scared last night.”
Realization of what happened last night dawned on him. They had watched a scary movie last night. He had jumped into Lightning’s arms and hid his face in her side because he was scared. His face grew an even brighter red in embarrassment.
Serah came into the room with a box of cereal in one hand and three bowls and spoons in the other. “Good morning, kids. Sleep well?” She smiled slyly. She was obviously trying not to laugh. Hope glared at her and the two sister’s exchanged smiles.
“I better be getting home.” Hope said flatly in an effort to change the subject. He got up and started to leave. “Uh…could-could someone take me home, please?”
“I will.” Lightning smiled. “Let me eat first.” Her and Serah were trying not to laugh. They were getting a kick out of this. Hope frowned and sat back down on the couch, this time as far away from Lightning as he could get.
“Move over.” Serah laughed and gave him a slight push. She sat down and Hope found himself on top of Lightning again.
“Uhh…” he didn’t know what to say.
After they ate Lightning got up and went to go get changed. She was still in pajamas. After she was gone Serah lightly punched Hope on the shoulder. “You totally love her.”
“What?” Hope laughed in order to cover up how much he was blushing. “I do not.”
“No you do.” Serah smiled. “Don’t lie. I can tell.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Hope jumped when suddenly Lightning hugged him from behind. His face turned its reddest yet.
“Were you two talking about me?” Lightning smiled. She heard the whole thing. Hope suddenly felt sick. She thinks I’m some stupid kid! I knew it! He thought. He broke free of Lightning’s embrace and got up.
“Let’s just go.” he walked out the door with Lightning in tow. They pulled up to Hope’s house and his mother ran out the door and grabbed Hope before he could even fully exit the car. “Mom!” Hope yelled. He couldn’t believe this was happening. In front of Lightning!
“Hope! Where were you? I was so worried I called the police, but they said I had to wait forty eight hours first, and you forgot your cell phone and- Who’s this?” Nora cut off and stared at Lightning. She smiled at the senior and said. “You’re Claire aren’t you?” Lightning nodded. “Well!” Nora looked at her son before continuing. “Hope here has told us about you.”
“Has he?” Lightning glanced at Hope.
“Oh yes! Thank you for driving him home.”
“Of course. Anything for a friend.”
At hearing those words Hope fainted.

______________

Hope woke with an ice pack on his forehead with his mother hovering over him. “Feeling better, Sweety?” Nora asked quiety.
Hope took the ice pack off his head and sat up. “Why’d you have to embarrass me in front of Lightning like that?!”
“Light….ning?” Nora asked confused.
“My nickname.” Lightning said as she came into the room. Hope’s mouth dropped and he rounded on his mother.
“She’s still here!” he hissed.
“I wanted to make sure you were alright.” Lightning smiled. Hope didn’t know what to say. “I should probably get going.” Lightning said and started to leave. A part of Hope wanted nothing more than for her to leave, but another part wanted nothing more than for her to stay. He watched her leave and his eyes stayed on the door until his mother brought him back.
“She’s pretty.”
“Mom!”
“What? She is and I can tell you think so to.”
“Mom!”
“She’s nice to.”
“Mom!!!”
“We started talking while you were sleeping.”
“Mom- Wait what? What did she say?”
“Oh, not much. I talked more than she did. She doesn’t seem like much of a talker.”
Hope felt like he was kicked in the stomach. “Mom. What did you say?”
“That she doesn’t seem like a talker?”
“No. To Lightning. What did you say to Lightning?”
“Oh! Just that you’re a good boy-“
“MOM!”
“-and that you had problems making friends at your old school.”
“MOM!!!!!”
“And how grateful I am that she’s your friend.”
“MOM!!!!”
“What?” Nora laughed. “It’s true.”
“What did she say?”
“Oh, not much.”
“Did she say anything?”
“Oh that she agrees. She’s happy to be your friend.”
“R-Really?” Hope blushed.
“Now Hope.” Nora said much more seriously. “Do you honestly love her?”
“No!”
“Hope.”
“Yes…” Hope hugged his knees. “She’s the most amazing person I ever met. She’s just so-“
“Hope…” Nora cut him off. She looked at him sadly.
“What?”
“I hate to break your heart, but…she has a boyfriend.”

 

[Meg]

Chapter 7

“I’d like to inform you all on how disappointed I am.” Mr. Dysley started the class by saying. “All of you, but one, wrote terrible papers. I practically handed you all A’s by giving you easy guidelines and yet you still couldn’t produce anything halfway decent. Shameful.” he then handed back the ten page papers the class had barely anytime to work on. Everyone was dumbfounded to see that Vanille was the only one in the class that didn’t bomb.
“Since when do you do homework?” Serah asked, amazed.
“Ooooh I don’t know! One day I just thought I might as well, so I sat down and I did it.” Vanille laughed.
Hope winced at the sight of his grade.

“A thirty six?” Rygdea yelled as Hope’s paper was passed around the table at lunch. “**** and I thought I did bad in that class.”
“Uh oh.” Rosch sighed. “Here comes Princess.”
Lightning came over and sat down, and patted Hope on the shoulder. “Hey. Is that your research paper? How’d you do?”
“He got a thirty six.” Rygdea said bluntly. Lightning was taking a sip of water when he said that and almost spit it back out. She grabbed the paper and stared at it angrily.
“That bastard…” she whispered. “We stayed up all night for the past three days working on this! What does he mean Waiting for Godot isn’t a prominent existentialist work? Its one of the most important ones. And how is The Stranger not an existentialist piece? That IS the main one. This man doesn’t know ****.” she said as she threw the paper down in disgust.
“Nah, he knows ****. He just doesn’t want to admit that other people know ****.” Rygdea sighed.
“Maybe I should talk to someone about it. Like the guidance counselor.” Hope said.
“NO!” the three seniors yelled loud enough that several heads turned. “Don’t do it.” Rosch said. Last time a kid protested the grades Dysley gave him he didn’t graduate.”
“That doesn’t mean it was Mr. Dysley.” Hope protested.
“Yes it does.” the three countered.
“He was a straight A student. Had perfect attendance and never once got into trouble.” Lightning explained.
“Oh…” Hope sighed.
“Still, you should be happy with the grade you got. I failed the class. Hell, I got held back.”
“You couldn’t just go to summer school?” Hope asked.
“Well…its not like that was the only class I failed.”
“I failed to.” Lightning admitted. “I went to summer school. Fortunately the teachers that run it know how tough Dysley is. We just sat around and talked the whole time.”
“Don’t feel bad, Hope.” Rygdea put in. “Everyone fails that class.”
“Did anyone do well?” Rosch asked.
“Yeah. Vanille did really well.”
“What?” the three seniors all yelled. “She doesn’t even come to school half the time!” Rygdea exclaimed.
“I want to know what she wrote.” Lightning mumbled.
“How’d she do that? She’s NEVER here.” Rosch sighed. “Apparently she’s always with her dog Fang.”
“Fang’s a person.” Lightning smiled. “I’ve met her.”
“Wait. It’s a girl? Is she hot?” Rosch asked.
“I’d do her.” Rygdea said bluntly.
Lightning almost choked on her food. “Ry! Not in front of Hope.”
“Hey he’s a man. We can talk about sex in front of him if we want.” Rygdea laughed. “How do we know he hasn’t done anyone already?”
“Uh…” Hope blushed and looked at Lightning out of the corner of his eye and laughed uneasily.
“EXCUSE ME!” One of the teachers yelled into the microphone to silence the lunchroom. “Now as you all know Homecoming is next week. The dance will be on that Thursday, so if you have any outstanding obligations be sure to turn them in as soon as possible, or you won’t be able to get a ticket. Also, voting for Homecoming King and Queen will be today during last period.”

---------------------

“Alright now I’m passing out a piece of paper to write down who you want to nominate for king and queen.” Hope teacher said as she passed out the slips.
He stared at it for a few moments. He only knows a few seniors. He looked around the room and saw that everyone in the class was faced with the same problem. He shrugged and wrote down the first two names that popped into his head. King- Yaag Rosch, Queen- Claire Farron.
Serah poked him in the back and he turned around. “Who’d you vote for?” she asked.
“Lightning and Rosch.”
Serah laughed. “Me too! I hope they don’t hate us.”
“Yeah.” Hope laughed. “Hey uh…you’re going to the dance right?”
“Yeah. Me and Snow are going. Why are you? We could give you a ride.”
“Oh uh…I don’t know. Who else is going?”
“Well Vanille. And Rosch and Rgydea- you’re friends with them right?”
“Kinda.”
“I think Claire’s going.”
Hope got excited. “Is she going with anyone?”
“Just her friends I guess.”
“What about her boyfriend?”
“What?” Serah laughed. “She doesn’t have a boyfriend!”
“Oh!” Hope didn’t know what to say. “I uh…heard that she did. Must have been a different Claire.”
“Probably.” Serah smiled despite being confused.
Hope turned back around in his seat. She lied…Hope thought. Or…maybe Mom lied? Maybe she doesn’t want me to date an older girl? I know! I’ll ask Lightning to the dance. Hope smiled.
He was able to find her after school. She was at her locker put books she didn’t need away. He nervously went up to her. “Hi.” he forced out.
She looked at him and smiled. “Hi.”
“Um…soooo….”
“What’s up?”
“The dance is next week.”
“Yeah it is.” Oh no. Lightning thought.
“Are you going?”
“I’m planning on it.”
“Do you…want to go with…with me?” Hope looked down at the ground.
“Well,” she started. Well ****. She thought. How do I put this? “You mean you want me to give you a ride? I can do that.”
“No.” Hope almost yelled. He felt like he was ready to cry. “I mean…you know…like a date.”
****. Lightning thought. “Um…Hope that’s sweet of you to ask but-“
“But?” Hope looked up at her teary eyed. “You really do have a boyfriend? Serah said you didn’t so I thought…”
Lightning sighed. “No I don’t have a boyfriend.”
“Then why’d you say you did?” Hope cried.
“Because I didn’t want to hurt your feelings, but that was wrong. I should have been honest with you. You deserve it.” She sighed and looked away for a moment. “I like you Hope, but…I see you more as my little brother. Sorry.”
Hope backed away. “Yeah. I…get it.” tears started to roll down his cheek.
“I’m so sorry Hope. I just-“
“Save it.” Hope turned and walked away. Lightning called after him and started to follow. He just started running, ignoring her desperate cries to come back. Tears flowing freely.

 

[DreadnoughtDT]

Why doesn't anyone say how good this is? Seriously? I love it!

 

[Meg]

Why doesn't anyone say how good this is? Seriously? I love it!

Thanks DT! That made my day. :$

 

[DreadnoughtDT]

Thanks DT! That made my day. :$

^_^ You're quite welcome, Meg.