The day passed and on the following daylight, Lina felt strangely apprehensive. It didn't feel right--the atmosphere. Something was set to go unexpectedly wrong and she could feel it. It was that sixth sense you get when someone's watching you from afar--how you can just feel their eyes tracing your every moment. Lina could sense that same feeling, only magnified by the subtle morning sensitivity.
The students in class seemed more talkative than usual and Quistis seemed to be watching her more carefully than ever. "Alright, class, settle down. I know everyone wants to gossip, but you'll have the rest of your lives to do that, so let's focus here. We'll follow on through the next segment into material a little more difficult." Lina instructed. Seifer snorted.
"What are you gonna do? Give us another example? Throw me out the window again!?" Seifer yelled as loud as he could. The remnants of scattered conversations halted immediately as all turned to see how Lina might react to this kind of comment. It almost seemed as if they were expecting Lina to say "yes", although Ms. Heartilly looked like such a passive person. A few whispers circulated the room while Lina sighed and shook her head. Seifer just couldn't make things easier for her, huh?
"Mr. Almasy, I don't know what you're talking about," Lina wouldn't let him break her, she didn't want Quistis to see her hesitate to find a plausible answer.
"Heartilly, shut up! You saw yourself what you did to me! Lina Heartilly!? What bullshit! More like Sorceress Heartilly!" Seifer howled from his seat, then kicked his feet up onto his desk against Lina's previous orders and snorted again. What a great time he was having in this class--making Lina squirm under the critical eyes of both her students and her peer. Something knocked Seifer in the side of his face suddenly and he frowned, looking around. Lina saw Quistis throw Seifer a smug look. Lina had to admit she was confused herself about everything. What had actually happened that day? What had the students seen in the action that she had not?
"Now... where was I?" Lina muttered more to herself than anyone else. With Seifer's dispute put aside, she could finally focus on instructing her class--what she had been there to do in the first place. Suddenly, a loud ringing sounded. She looked around. That was the sound of a telephone for sure. "We don't have a class phone or anything in here, do we?" Zell suddenly scrambled through his pocket and pulled out a cell phone, hitting the reject button as quickly as possible to make the obtrusive ringing stop. Lina realized that Quistis was waiting for her to act. "Um... Zell? I'm afraid I'll have to confiscate your cellular phone. Please set it here on my desk."
Zell stood and walked very calmly to the front of the room, set the cell phone down next to Lina, then walked right back to his seat. It felt awkward--the entire situation, considering that Zell was a year older than Lina and she was telling him what to do. But nothing had felt right that day. Things were all jumbled together and nothing made sense anymore. Class proceeded monotonously. Seifer remained quiet for the rest of the lesson until the bell rang, where out the door he yelled, "List, Heartilly!"
After the students and Quistis had left, Lina packed up her things and went back to her room. She tossed her lesson plans onto her desk, then plopped down on her bed and sighed. What a day. What could she do now to relax and take everything off of her mind? She recalled ever so slightly that there was a pond in the Quad with a bench next to it that had always looked so welcoming. Hence, she formulated a plan for the rest of the day.
She changed into more casual clothing and headed for the Quad, empty handed and empty hearted. By the pond was a small old fashioned bench, but Lina ignored it and sat right by the pond, dangling her feet over the water's glassy surface. She could see her own reflection looking back at her, and for the next few moments, eyes fixed on the pond water's surface, she examined her expression.
Her eyes were bleak and emotion. Why was it she looked so torn? In her reflection, through her eyes should come almost see that there was so much more to her she couldn't embrace, couldn't find, or couldn't remember. Her lips looked thin--tired and weak from lack of laughter, but she'd grown somewhat accustomed to her natural frown-ish expression. She hadn't much to smile or frown upon.
She sighed and felt the cool breeze against her cheeks. Luckily the day is ending, she thought to herself. I don't know how much more I'll put up with. Lina shut her eyes and could almost feel the warm embrace of the sun, but why? Why did she feel like there was someone there for her--wrapping warmth and security around her? She opened her eyes and looked around--the feeling was gone. She almost let herself cry. She hated amnesia, everything about it, the feeling of never knowing and always last to discover.
Soon enough, the sun had set, and with it her sense of anxiety. Sitting by the small pond, looking as its serene ripples and gentle flow, she had recovered almost a sense of sanity that would keep her settled for the rest of the day. She stood up, getting ready to head back to the dorm, but suddenly felt something ram into her back. She lost her balance and made a splash as she fell right into the pond.
When she surface, she looked up and saw none other than Sadie standing over her, glowing with triumph. Lina sighed. Zell soon appeared next to her and looked down at Lina, obviously more concerned with her status. Lina shook her head, then shook her head, splattering water all over Sadie. She crawled out of the pond, water dripping from even her eyelashes and fingernails, but ignored it and finally sat down on the bench she'd ignored earlier to wring whatever water she could from her hair and clothes.
Sadie, disappointed that she couldn't upset Lina, dragged Zell off and away from the Quad. After they'd left, Lina kind of chuckled--people will do anything to have a futile, transitory sense triumph. She didn't really care so much about Sadie. She did however feel bad that an Alpha Team member would be stuck with someone like her. Yes, she felt bad for Zell. Blind as she was to romance situations, she could still tell Zell was not content with his general position by Sadie's side, or was it not her place to care?
After she was pretty much dry, she headed back for the Dormitory, but along the way, she could see Zell and Sadie standing in front of the door to Zell's room. Without, stopping, Lina sauntered past them towards her own room, completely ignoring the fact that she was still significantly wet and it was Sadie's doing.
She caught out of the corner of her eye Sadie leaning in for any sign of affection--a hug, a kiss, or maybe even a word of goodnight--but she received none. Instead, Zell turned around and went into his dorm. Just like that he shut the door in her face. Sadie, flustered, flounced off in the opposite direction.
Lina, meanwhile, entered her own room. What relief to be back where she was safe from Sadie or anyone else outside of those walls. She changed out of her clothes, tossed them in the bathtub in the bathroom, and changed right into her pajamas pants and a tank top. It was dark, maybe not dark enough to get any sleep, but she curled up into her sheets anyways. She pulled out a book from her book bag a novel and flipped through a few pages, hoping the words would pave a road for her escape.
Luckily they did, and as she traversed new streets from inside a book, the night wore on. Eventually, Lina fell asleep, the book still tucked under her arm with her.