Midgar High School

He hadn't bothered to take a shower. Tossing his gym bag into the shiny, black, Mako Three Sixty convertible, Sephiroth took off from the parking lot of Midgar High in a shower of dirt and gravel.

Yeah, it'd been a bad day, but he had a letter in his center council that may make up for even the greatest slip up of his life, kissing Reno.

He really did that…

… yeah, his stomach was still burned to hell. He deserved it. He cranked the radio and skidded around a corner, deep in thought. When he'd first met the red head, he thought that feeling in his stomach had been jealousy. Reno said whatever he wanted, no one, and that meant no one, told him what to do. No body was trying to live Reno's life for him, no one made him feel like he was sick for wanting something.

And then there was Sephiroth, whose entire life was something of a lie and a whole lot of a cowardly farce. But even from the age of three his father had engrained that his son WOULD be the biggest, strongest, meanest MAN in the world. Dio's son would play football, he would go to a big three college, he would marry the prettiest woman he could find, and he would never, EVER, EVER do something like be a writer.

Only Faggots were writers.

Of course, the more he thought about it, the more Sephiroth was perpetrating THAT image along with the asshole football jock. He was just more vocal at the latter. In fact, Sephiroth went out of his way to be the macho, asshole. Because heaven forbid that he actually make friends with someone like Reno. Heaven forbid he allow himself to treat them like people because then the little crush from afar could turn into exactly what Sephiroth really wanted.

But in his center council was something that he'd had mailed to the English Teacher, Ms Scarlet.

If he had to say he had a friend, it would be her. She was pretty, far too pretty to be a teacher. And that made her safe. Sephiroth could spend three hours after school with her and everyone would just think he was sleeping with her. Men had sex with the hot teachers.

They didn't talk about Borges and Kafka and Lowell Barron like Sephiroth did with Ms Scarlet. She'd been the first person to single him out for something that didn't involve hurting someone else. She said his poem brought tears to her eyes, that he moved her. Then Sephiroth showed her more of the things he'd written, she helped him work his way from the tripping verses of teenage freeverse to something more alive.

She helped him get his scholarship for college that his parents didn't know about yet. And she'd talked him into writing that essay comparing the open sarcasm of Borges with the hidden defiance of Barron. It was twenty five pages, and if it was up to standards, he'd have a full ride to the Junon Academy of Arts. A school with no sports teams at all. Maybe that would make him feel better about Reno.

The "Hey Ma" was ignored; Jenova had headphones on and was busy miming some new exercise tape in. Sephiroth didn't bother to repeat himself. He snagged a pre-made sandwich off the kitchen counter and locked himself in his room, sitting against the door and ripping his letter open so quickly it snagged the seal of the school off.

He skimmed the letter, yadda yadda, Dear Mr. Sephiroth Dio, blah blah blah. We are pleased to inform you that your essay was received and it has passed the board's expectations for our students. We are further pleased to add that you have been selected for the advanced placement awards program for students without financial backing. You will have to contact us within the end of the week to claim your dorm room, this, along with your meals will be free of charge…

The rest of the letter was lost. Sephiroth leaped from the floor and read the acceptance letter again. One more year of being a football jock. One more year, and then, then he could kiss Midgar goodbye. No more football, no more of his father's expectations. Taking a bite of his sandwich he shrugged. Maybe his parents would come around. His mother had a way of making his father do things.

It didn't matter, he had one more school year and then he'd be free.

Digging under his bed, Sephiroth pulled a box out. Hidden inside were books, poems and some odd essays. He placed the letter inside and dug out his notebook. What he'd intend to be something upbeat quickly took a downturn to moonlit dirty puddles and broken streetlights.

He turned the page to start over, and it was just as depressed and longing. He let his head hit his pillow. Reno. Gods damnit, Reno. Maybe he could just say he was sorry? No, walking into the library and saying "Oh, by the way, Reno? I was just beating up you and your buddy for the past three years because I have a crush on you. No hard feelings?"

Everything he could think of sounded pathetic because it was an excuse for something inexcusable. For once, words weren't going to be Sephiroth's outlet… he'd have to think of something better, something that would make an impact.

Eying the gym bag, Sephiroth suddenly smiled. Homecoming was tonight, against their arch rival school, Wutai. Since he'd been quarter back, they'd NEVER lost a game. Loosing this one? That would be perfect.

Sephiroth scrawled out a quick poem before hopping off his bed and taking a shower.

"Seph, honey, are you going to have time to eat? What were you doing up there?"

"Jenny, don't coddle the boy, you wanna make him a damned skirt hugger?"

Silence.

"Of course, no no, no, Jenny, I didn't mean it like that… I'm sorry Jenny."

It was going to be an interesting night, Seph thought, turning off the shower. Tonight he was going to make a formal apology, and no one would know it but him.

~fin