Rufus froze. Someone was coming...
Before he could stop, a tall figure was framed by light in the doorway.
Inwardly, Rufus groaned. Sephiroth. That freak, of all people. He should have known better than to duck into this particular alcove...
"....Hi." Sephiroth seemed equally suprised to find Rufus there.
"G'way." Rufus said, pouting.
"...What's wrong?" Sephiroth asked, gently. He shut the door behind him, making sure that no one noticed him.
"Waddaya care?" Rufus asked, harshly. He wiped his eyes and stood up. "I'll just be going..."
Sephiroth sighed. "Hey...Rufus...right?"
Rufus turned. Most kinds reffered to him as "That Shinra kid..." "....Yeah..."
"...If you wanna talk about it..."
"I don't." But inside, Rufus felt...warm. "...But....thanks."
Sephiroth smiled. "You can find me here..." His face screwed up. "Or maybe not. But I'm sure I'm fairly easy to find....if you wanna talk. Ever."
Rufus was nearly overjoyed. He had a friend...or something similar to that. "...Thanks. I might take you up on that."
And, making sure that no one could tell he'd been crying, he turned towards the outside world, Rufus the Cold once again.

Reno grinned. He always grinned.
That was because everything seemed funny.
Everything seems funny when you're high off your ass.
He weaved his way through the crowd of students, giggling hysterically with his two buddies, Lauren and Josh.
He didn't know how Lauren and Josh got through ROTC the way they did, but they did.
And he wanted to know how Josh had gotten the killer bud he'd gotten this morning! Everything was soooooo fucking cool!
Oh yeah...it's all coming together now...
That's what he thought, anyways. Until he came face-to-face with Sergeant Major Baker.
Lauren giggled. "He~ey, Sergeant Major. Wazzup?"
Josh giggled along with her. Reno snorted, which caused the other two to giggle even harder.
Sergeant Major Baker, the ANSI for the ROTC unit, raised an eyebrow.
Whooo boy, he looks pissed....
And Reno realized that he was in deep shit.

Tasha grinned at Yuffie, who was extactic over her recent vicory over a teacher. Regarding a B on her report card. She'd managed to sweet-talk her way up to an A.
Ahh, the joys of cheerleading.
They stepped outside, to go towards the Tech Center, where the two of them had Web Design first period. They noticed some police cars, which wasn't all that unusual, but unusual enough to draw a crowd.
She glimpsed Cid, her blond-haired, blue-eyed boyfriend, heading her way. She grinned. He never had managed to sneak up on her. She had Cid-radar. "Cid-ar," she called it.
"Hey, babe." Cid said, grimacing. "Reno got it today." He gestured to the police cars. "He, Lauren, and Josh got busted...."
"Oh no!" Tasha said, eyes wide.
"...And by Sergeant Major Baker, no less."
Tasha bit back on a laugh. "No shit?"
"Nope." He grinned. "Rather funny to watch, really. The three of them giggling their asses off while the cops read them their Miranda rights."
"I'll bet." Tasha replied, wryly. She noticed Yuffie standing on her toes, looking at the squadcar. "Trying to see something, Yuff?"
Yuffie shot down from her position, blushing. "Nope. Not a thing. Let's go."
Tasha grinned at Cid, waved goodbye, and followed Yuffie into the gaping maw that is known as the entrance to High School.

Vincent Valentine yawned. He couldn't help it. Sociology was so boring.
He pushed a lock of black hair out of his eyes and attempted to stay on task.
He failed. He fell asleep in about two seconds.
His snoring woke him up. No one else had noticed it, of course.
No one ever noticed him. He was a freak.
His girlfriend, Lucrecia, always told him he was handsome, but deep within himself, he knew the truth.
Not a freak of nature. No, he wasn't born with one hand. The other one had been torn off in an accident with his father.
His father. His lips curled, menicingly. His father. If he could find that man...
his father, the drunk. His alcoholism had cost Vincent so much...
His dreams of enlisting in the Army, to become a sharpshooter, his music, his writing...all gone. All because Stan Valentine had had to have that drink.
Bitterly, he thought of the things he would do to his father if he ever found him. Of course, it was unlikely, because as soon as Stan found out what he'd done to his only son, he'd split.
He was brought back to reality with a question from Cloud Strife, a football player with an IQ to match. "Mr. Harrison, what's the second social classing again?"
Vincent rolled his eyes. Five more minutes of this.
Blessidly, the bell rang. "Dee, doo dee doo....doo dee dee doo!"
Why can't we just have a normal bell...?
Lucrecia had A1 classes off, so she was at his door to greet him. "Hey." She said, planting a small kiss on his cheek. He smiled in return, and threw his good arm around her shoulder.
"How was sleeping in?"
"Bliss." She replied, grinning. He still had quite a few credits to make up from his months in the hospital, so he didn't have a free period.
"Shaddup." He replied, smiling. She knew exactly how do deal with him.
They meandered to the upstairs cafeteria, where a group of people who were familiar with each other hung out every day. Nutrition break varied from Lunch, but there were people you could always find there.
Vincent and Lucrecia were two of those people. They rarely ventured out of the area.
To his suprise, Sephiroth was there. He was never around. You could only see him in the hallways, walking to wherever it was that he hung out, or if you had a class with him. He was talking to Tasha, and suddenly she raised her eyes heavenward and shrugged, then gestured for Sephiroth to come to the Table.
The Table was where Vincent and Lucrecia hung out, with a great deal of other people. Tasha was letting...Sephiroth...hang out there?
Vincent shook his head to clear it. He shouldn't think that way. He got it enough from the rest of the school. The least he could do was be nice to a fellow freak.
And he did. Carefully hiding the last vestiges of suprise away, he smiled brightly at Sephiroth, who returned the smile, timidly.
Lucrecia smiled at Vincent, snuggling up to him, knowing exactly what had just taken place. Sephiroth was a boy who needed friends. Vincent was a good start.