Author's Note: I do not, nor will I ever, own the rights to these characters. Criticism and comments are welcome. Pairings are likely (or already established/implied) as the story progresses.

Updated: I changed the fact that Sora was originally a Freshman, to him being a Sophomore. His age at this point did not match up. Ignore this if you're new to reading.

Sora POV:

When my mom told me we were moving, I told her that I was excited.

Actually, I was sad; I just didn't want to tell her the truth because there was no possible way to persuade her to stay where we were. That's what happens when your mom gets a big promotion and has to transfer a hundred miles away.

It's okay, though. It wasn't like I had many friends at my old school. They all thought I was a dork and I was convinced they didn't really mind my leaving anyways. I didn't expect it to be much different at the new school. Could I just come up with a new persona? Nah, I'm not that good an actor, and they'd see right through me from the start. I'd be ruined, I'd be an outcast. Kind of like the Breakfast Club, except I hoped I wouldn't end up being the basket case. I know I am just overthinking this already, but knowing myself (and trust me, I know myself pretty well) that wouldn't stop any time soon.

At the new house, mom gave me the bigger bedroom. It was a two bedroom, two bath type of situation, but we also had two dens and a fully done basement – aka way more room than two people needed. She told me that she felt bad that she had to drag me along with her, so it was only fair that I got the bigger bedroom. At least until I moved out after I graduated. I had so much space, though, that I didn't have enough stuff to fill all the blank spaces. I only had like… three posters, one dresser and a rickety old shelf that housed all my games. I guess I could get some more shelves… hook up my game systems and convince mom to get me a tv.

It didn't help that I had a twin bed, either, which was fine… but I felt like one tiny person in one massive space.

First world problems, I guess.

My first day of school came, and mom took me. I was going to be the new student to arrive in the middle of the first semester. I'd have to go to the office and meet my counselor, figure out what bus to ride to get home, since there was no way that mom could pick me up every afternoon. I didn't like the idea of riding in a yellow tube on wheels with thirty other people… half of them middle schoolers. Another first world problem, but I was awkward enough without having to awkwardly squish myself into a ball on a bus. I'm only fifteen after all. In three months, a week after my birthday, I would be able to get my learner's permit.

I had twenty minutes to kill after mom left me in the middle of the school parking lot. Already, I could see the sea of other students hanging out in their groups, and I had the choice of getting talking to my counselor out of the way now, or going to get breakfast from the cafeteria. I didn't have much time to decide, nor did I make it much farther up the parking lot when I was stopped unexpectedly.

A guy came over to me, the weirdest look on his face, "Roxas, your hair is brown, what'd you do?"

What'd he just call me? Roxas? I didn't know any Roxas, and my hair had always been brown. This definitely wasn't how I expected I would meet someone, and the guy was still waiting for his response. I had nothing.

"What else did you change… and are those yellow shoes?"

I loved these shoes. I had them custom made and everything… many lemonade stands to earn the money. I didn't know how this guy couldn't get it in his head that I wasn't this Roxas person… or why he hated my shoes.

"I'm Sora… not Roxas." I said to him.

It took him another five seconds before I think he finally caught on. His eyes went wide and he stepped back, rubbing the back of his neck while he apologized for the mix up. In a normal scenario, it might have ended there, but it didn't. He still looked as confused as I think I did – not sure how he'd made the mistake.

"Axel."

"What?"

"My name. Axel Sinclair, got it memorized?"

He had a tag line. Of course he had a tag line… but I guess it wasn't unlike my saying 'get real' all the time. But… got it memorized?

"You must be new, then, because I'm pretty sure everyone would know about you if not." Axel said then, still staring at me, making me feel awkward and uncomfortable, "You're cute, and not just because you look exactly like Roxas. Oh, except for the hair… and the shoes." He scrunched up his nose this time.

One more comment about my shoes and I was going to take one off and throw it at him. Maybe not at his hair, a crazy bright red that looked like it could possibly set anything that touched it on fire. Maybe not really, but it looked like it.

"I'm gonna go now." I said, but much to my dismay, that just wasn't what Axel had planned.

He grabbed my wrist so tightly and pulled me so quickly towards the courtyard that I was too overwhelmed to try and struggle free. Was this it? Was this how I was going to make friends, because I gotta tell ya, I wasn't sure if that's how it normally happened. Axel didn't take consideration of my will when he wrapped his arm around my shoulder, and got the attention of a cluster of other students. They all looked at me, and I wished somehow I had a turtle shell to sink my whole head in.

"Who's the kid?" One of them asked, her blonde hair slicked back, two strands dangling in front of her face. Her… resting bitch face.

"Axel are you kidnapping people again?" Another girl came into view, she had red hair too, except not quite as bright and obnoxious as Axel's. She walked up to us and pushed Axel's arm off of me – which Axel grunted in protest at.

"Whoa, he looks like Roxas!" This time it was a boy, and I was shocked to see he had a mullet. I don't know why it surprised me, to be honest, but there I was.

"That's what I said!" Axel agreed. Here we go again.

The girl that stood in front of us tilted her head to the side and I expected her to add another notch to their debate, but she touched my arm instead, "I'm Kairi Fira."

My voice cracked, "Sora Light."

Apparently I had first period with Kairi, and she promised to meet me outside my homeroom after the first bell. We had five minutes to get from the one building to another, and there were a lot of students in the halls. Kairi's homeroom was a floor under me, and it took her all of about a minute and a half just to get up to me. We speed walked as best as we could to our class – and Kairi took it upon herself to link our arms together so we wouldn't lose one another.

I didn't know much about girls, but it seemed like Kairi was one of those girls who easily developed weird crushes on boys she just met. I could just be reading girls all wrong. Like I said, what did I know? But when we sat down at our desks, she insisted that I sit next to her, and immediately began to babble on as quickly as she could about the topics they'd already went over before I arrived. Mostly the same things we learned at my old school – so I was at the same place I was when I left, I guess. She just kept touching my arm and trying to play with the ends of my hair.

This was weird. Two weird people invading my personal space all in less than forty minutes.

I was asked to walk up to the front of the class and introduce myself, which I dreaded, but it was probably going to be confusing for me to just be there and it not be mentioned. I stood next to the teacher, and tapped my thumbs with my middle fingers as I cleared my throat twice in a row. Everyone's eyes on me, especially Kairi, who was smiling and giving me a thumbs up – why?

I took a nervous glance at all the faces, "I'm Sora, and I come from Destiny Islands."

I sounded like a robot. I heard someone laugh in the back of the room and my cheeks warmed up because of it. Ugh, what a drag. I felt so pessimistic that it was 'out of character' as my mom might say. The teacher excused me back to my desk, and Kairi excitedly squealed at my expense. I think I might be right about her having those weird crushes. We were later paired up in a group project where we had to list the differences between one topic and the other, and what their similarities could be. I think it was mostly just something to blow the time away while the teacher cracked open a book and read silently.

Teachers weren't like that in my old school – they were strict and they didn't like wasting a moment without reminding us.

"So you lived in the Islands. What was that like?" Kairi asked me. We hadn't really gotten much done with our project at this point.

I shrugged my shoulders. Where could I begin? I was born in Destiny Islands, and for fifteen years of my life, lived there. I went to the beaches every weekend, and I saw the most bomb sunsets. I couldn't deny that I missed the smell of salt water in the air, and the warm breeze, but not too warm. I don't know what Kairi expected me to say, but all I could manage was short.

"It was cool."

She leaned in a little closer, her hands under her chin, "Cool."

I swallowed.

Second period was history, and I didn't have class with anyone I'd met in the group earlier that morning. Although, the teacher called out Roxas's name, but there was no answer. He was absent, and someone said that he would most likely be back mid-week, but being my first day, I didn't know who'd said it. I was interested to see what Roxas looked like if Axel and that other boy were so convinced that I looked exactly like him.

At lunch, Kairi met me in the hall and dragged me along with her to the cafeteria. There were four different, half-hour long lunch periods that were dispersed throughout the day from 10:50-1:30. Kairi and I had the second lunch, and it just so happened that Axel did too, but not the other two I'd met earlier (I wasn't told their names yet).

"Lunch with a view." Axel winked at me, and I didn't know what to make of it. No one hit on me, especially not guys, and I had never dated anyone before. I was taken aback by it, at a loss for words, so I just stared at him with a dumbfounded expression. Kairi once again linked our arms together when we entered the line strictly for trays of pizza. I still hadn't talked to my counselor about what bus to ride home, either. I had forgotten all about it. Thankfully, though, I got my student ID number that would allow me to get lunch – free for the first week unless my mom signed a paper that allowed me to get either reduced or free for the rest of the year.

We three sat down at a table that might seat eight depending on who sat where and whatnot. Another person joined us, and Kairi introduced him as Riku Hewley. He seemed quiet, but when he spoke it was brief and directed at Kairi and Axel. Kairi decided to tell Riku that I was new and would be a part of their lunch posse from now on. I couldn't tell if he was pleased or annoyed, but he did look at me. I felt my chest tighten, because all I offered back was this goofy ass grin and awkward laugh that made Axel light up in delight. He continued on with telling me that I was cute.

"Roxas will be so thrilled to hear you say that to someone else." Riku said, and again I laughed awkwardly. Riku shook his head, but there was an evident grin there.

Axel dismissed Riku's comment, "Roxas doesn't own me."

I started to eat my pizza.

Riku spoke another time, this time to me, "I don't know how Axel got the two of you confused. You're clearly not a spoiled brat with a large ego to boot."

That must be a shot at Roxas, but I wasn't about to ask.

Gym class was combined with freshman and sophomore year students. Junior years and seniors didn't have gym anymore, but luckily, being a sophomore meant I wouldn't have this next year. Of course I had to sit out on my first day, though, so that was a plus – but I had to take a form to mom for her to sign and send money in for a gym uniform. Grey shirts, orange shorts, and a white block where everyone wrote their first or last names.

I had this class with Riku, since he was a sophomore too. We'd have Health class together too on the days where we didn't have to be in the gym, which was apparently Tuesdays and Thursdays. While I sat on the gym floor and watched Riku play on our team for what they called 'Struggle', I decided I would never be on his level. He was so fast, and he had skill at how he played the game, swung his 'weapon', and knocked into any freshman he came across. He was also one of the only sophomores with his sleeves rolled up past his shoulders, which apparently wasn't allowed, but the gym teachers never said anything to him about it.

I stood awkwardly in the locker room when gym was over and was given the lock to my own gym locker for when I was able to change into my uniform. I wrote the combination down on one of my notebooks, and went ahead and locked my tiny square locker. Riku came in, back in normal clothes, and did the same after shoving his suit in.

"Kairi won't shut up about you. She keeps texting me." He said to me, and I stared at him, confused.

"What's your next class?"

I shrugged, "Algebra." The way they did schedules at this school was different than what I was used to. I was used to having all my core classes in the same semester, rather than spread out between the two. I wouldn't have that here.

"Don't like math?" Riku asked.

I blinked, "What?"

"You made a face when you said Algebra. I just assumed you didn't like math."

"Oh, uh." Well, he wasn't wrong. Math related classes were not my stronghold, but I did as well as I could. Many C-minus grades, and close calls that had me doing extra credit and homework at the same time. "At least it's my last class of the day."

"Riding the bus?" I didn't know where he was getting this from.

I nodded though, and by the looks of it, I made the face again because Riku smirked, "I could see if my brother will give you a ride home."

That seemed a little weird coming from someone I didn't know, even though we met at lunch, it was hardly enough time knowing someone to offer them a ride home, but it'd definitely be better than riding in a bus, I guess. I shook my head despite the urge I had to take up the offer.

"It's fine, I'll take the bus… you don't have to do that."

Riku shook some of the hair out of his eyes, they were aqua… like, Turks and Caicos aqua, and don't ask me why that matters, "I know how shitty it is riding the bus, trust me. I figured I could help out, given that Kairi seems to like you so much already. Friend of hers is a friend of mine, but if not that's cool too."

I guess I just always thought people were going to peg me as a dork for the rest of eternity, that I didn't know how to react when people I barely knew were being kind of chill with me, offering me rides when we hadn't really spoken for more than five minutes and at lunch. I'd probably expect it from Kairi, because she latched onto me so fast.

"We just met. Not just you, I mean… Um… I…."

Riku pulled his bag onto his shoulder, "Let me know at the end of the day."

As he walked away, I forgot to ask him how I was supposed find him when that time came.