A Broken Love Story

Chapter 1

Kairi

Vanitas hated Xema. Xema hated Vanitas. Any form of love..even a simple friendship would be unthinkable between them. If love was a flower, it would be dead. It wouldn't even want to bloom.

Xema's POV

I hit the alarm clock. It still sang it's hideous song. BLEEP BLEEP it said, over and over again. I hit it once more. Nothing happened. Being too tired to getup, I pushed it onto the floor where it rolled under my bed. I could still hear it, but it was quieter. I blinked my eyes open, and stared at my cat,who looked surprised. I don't see why, though. This happened ever day.

Suddenly my cat jumped up and hid under my bed. I turned toward the door, where my dad stood silently. He looked as tired as I was- if not more. "Come on, Xema." He said. "You've gotta...(yawn) get ready for school." I stared blankly ahead as my distress grew even more. School was the last place I ever wanted to be. Not because the work was too hard. Not because I hated the teachers. My hatred toward the building I visited everyday is a result of one person.

Vanitas.

I hated him since the day we met in second grade. I was drawing a picture at lunch time. Vanitas spilled his grape juice on it...actually, switch the word 'spilled' with 'poured'. He didn't even try to make it look accidental. "Oops" He said, wearing an ugly smirk. Later on, when no one was looking, I threw a handful of dirt and pebbles at him. "Oops!" I said, exaggerating my voice to make it sound as annoying as possible. And so began our lifetime of hatred toward each other.

I sighed as my dad left. From my rawer, I pulled out a dark red shirt, matching it with jeans. I slipped on two socks- a striped one on the right, a dotted one on the left. For as long as I can remember, I have worn miss-matching socks. At this point, if ever I wore a matching pair, my dad would playfully tell me to change my socks. On 'crazy sock day' I wore matching socks. Other than that, miss-matched was my thing.

Once I had breakfast and combed my hair and all that other morning stuff, I went to board the bus, picking my seat near the front next to a window.

I thought back to my relationship with Vani. He hates when I call him that. Anyways, I guess I can thank my brothers for my school survival. After years of practice on them, I've decided that the best way to deal with this kind of stuff is to annoy the hell out of anyone who makes you mad. It's lots of fun, actually. You know, as long as you don't get in trouble. I love to see him glaring at me when I make rude comments or slap him or whatever. But it's so much more enjoyable to see his face after I've annoyed him to some degree. Let it be the result of calling him Vani, stealing his seat next to s friends at his table, or my favorite: practically stalking him whenever you can.

My friends don't really like what I do. Namine thinks it's rude, and Xion finds it more annoying that I spend more time bugging Vani than talking to her. I probably should be with my friends more, but the battle between me and Vani never stops. I guess it's partly my fault for being so stubborn. I refuse to let him have the last word, an it's the same with him. Our battle began 5 years ago. Nowhere we are in 7th grade and nowhere near the end.

The bus stopped to let Kairi on. She is one of my friends, but I don't hang out with her too much. That's because she's always staring at Sora. Sora is Vani's cousin, and he's kinda dumb. So I rarely talk to him. The only ones I like from Vani's family are Roxas and Ventus. Roxas being Sora's twin, yet somehow blessed with a brain, and Ventus being Vani's younger brother, yet cute and friendly. Oh, when I say 'cute' I mean like a puppy cute. Like...puppy's are cute but you don't want to marry them or anything. You know what I mean...

I stared out the window, ignoring the redhead girl next to me. Until, that is, she spoke; and action she rarely uses towards me anymore. "Give it up, Xem. It's obvious you like Vanitas."

"Okay, first: Mega blarf. (yes. I said blarf) Second: where the hell did that come from?"

"I know you well enough by now. You had that look in your eye, you only have it when you think about Vanitas. You've had that look a lot lately."

I stared at her, dumbfounded. "You're crazier than I thought. I like Riku. You know that."

She shrugged. "Whatever." and slipped on her headphones, closing her eyes; silently singing along to her music. I searched the bus for a red porcupine,signaling Kairi's older brother. From the seat behind me, A hand came up and poked my face.

"Must you do that, Axel?" I asked the porcupine.

"No. but it's fun." I glared at him, and he laughed in return. "Oh, calm down. The bus needs humor." I listened to a conversation going on nearby. I heard several laughs.

"There's plenty of humor going on without you poking my face." He frowned at me, and I turned around.

Before long, we had arrived at school, an I prepared myself for the long day ahead. We had about half an hour before classes began, so I ran out back to meet my friends. Namine was doodling again, and Xion was watching her, waiting for me. I approached the duo and wrapped my arm around Xion's shoulders. She laughed quietly and Namine didn't seem to notice my arrival. I saw that Kairi had already abandoned us for Sora. Some friend she is, I thought to myself.

"Hey, Xema." Xion said, and Namine looked up to smile at me. "Kairi texted me last night. Do you really have a crush on Vanitas?"

Damn it. Knowing Kairi, this'll be all over the school by lunch! "Blarf. No way. I told you guys, I like Riku..." With that, I glance over in Kairi's direction Next to Sora stood Riku, looking as sexy as ever. I smiled to myself. Xion saw where I was looking, and laughed again. "Okay..but Kairi's a gossip queen. You'd better tell her to forget that."

"Already did. She said 'whatever' and listened to her music." I sighed. "Lie or not, if Vanitas hears about this, I'm dead."

"Come on, you can beat him."

"It would be more than verbal, Xion. I cannot do physical violence." She wore a worried look for awhile, then gave me a hug. "It'll be okay."

"I hope so." I glanced at Namine's drawing. It was yet another for her gallery of 'Namine x Roxas' pictures; which at this point probably contained...7 billion drawings? Somewhere around there. I smiled to myself. I placed my head on Xion's shoulder then said to Namine: "You two make a cute couple." She replied with a soft giggle. "Thanks."

"I'm surprised you two aren't dating yet."

Her smile instantly faded away. "He's always surrounded with his friends. I can never talk to him."

"You need more guts, Namine."

"Oh, like you'd go over there right now and talk to Riku." Xion remarked

"Watch." I smirked, then made my way over to the boys group. Sadly, Vanitaswassitting there. I hadn't seen him earlier, since he was hidden behind Hayner. "Sup, Master Dorkicus." I said. I used that nickname for anyone I disliked. He nodded at me, scowling. I slipped my hand around Riku's shoulders. Thankfully, he seemed to think that I was just being me.

"Hey, Xema." Riku said

"Hi, Riku." I smiled at him. Kairi stared at me blankly from her place on Sora's lap.

"Aww. That's not interesting." She said; I knew what she was talking about.

"Kairi, I swear if you say anything..."

"About what?" Vanitas asked, clearly interested. I merely stuck my tongue out at him, and he smirked.

"About her crush on you...Oops! I wasn't supposed to say anything!" I scowled at Kairi.

"W-what?" Vanitas asked, between laughs. He wiped a tear from his eye "Oh my GOD, Xema! You're such an idiot!"

"Sorry, Xema." Kairi murmured.

"Xema?" Riku asked. I looked at him; he looked...sad. I hugged him tighter.

"I swear, Riku. It's not true.

Hayner was laughing like crazy "Oh, Deny it all you want Xema. We all can tell by the way you're blushing." Was I blushing? But...I don't like Vanitas. I hate him. Tears started forming in my eyes, but I was to shocked to notice. I only felt more embarrassed when I felt the hot tears on my face. Their laughs rang in my ears. I glanced at Riku. He was the only one who wasn't laughing. He looked at me sadly.

"I'm sorry, Riku." I whispered. Did I say it right? It sounded more like I actually liked Vanitas. It was too embarrassing to think, so I slipped away from Riku and hid under the stairs. The ell rang, but I didn't care. I would stay there all day if I wanted to. I've done it before. Maybe...If I felt better by lunch...I could come out and talk to Riku. Explain this whole misunderstanding.

But for now, all I could do was cry. I heard people walking away as they went to their classes, talking and laughing like always. Oblivious to the mess of a girl hiding away from it all. I could still hear their laughs. I could still see Riku's face. I cried even more, hoping it would wash away the awful memories. Maybe it did, maybe it didn't. I'm not sure. Soon after, everything went dark, and I gave into the sweet surrender of sleep The perfect escape from this horrid world.