What's Expected

Part ONE

Kairi's a walking cliché.

Ask anyone from our high school, and they'll agree. She grew up as 'one of the boys,' played every sport she could, and never backed down from a dare. She thought being called 'girly' was the greatest insult anyone could give her (which, ironically, was how our friendship started). Her best friend was none other than her neighbor Sora, who was - you guessed it - a boy.

Then in middle school, she suddenly had a problem with being 'one of the guys.' And so she had the classic tomboy-to-girly-girl makeover, courtesy of moi, Naminé, her new best friend (#sorrynotsorry Sora). I taught her about skin care products, gave her a basic sense of fashion, and introduced her to the magic known as makeup. And don't look at me like that, like I'm some sort of anti-feminist with a secret agenda to disempower all women into becoming trophy wives. Kairi asked; I delivered. I never told her how to act (though I did suggest burping and farting in public was somewhat of a social taboo). Whatever advice I gave, she chose to take to heart. So don't point fingers at me - point'em at her.

And look at her now in high school, post braces and lanky limbs. We're not as close as before due to diverging interests, but I still see her around often. She struts through the halls of Destiny High like she owns the place (I guess in some ways she does). She can apply mascara in the five minutes between class with a compact mirror. Our grade's resident fashionistas are always begging for her to model for them. And most notably, a guy confesses to her like every other week. She has all the boys eating out of her hand, even some of the boys who used to see her as one of them.

Some of those boys, not all of them.

Like I said, Kairi's a walking cliché. Because after her entire makeover, she chooses to do the one thing every female teenage protagonist does:

She falls for her best friend.

And this time, I'm not talking about me.

I'm talking about Sora, one of the few boys who's seen her go from t-shirts to short skirts without even batting a lash.

Kairi comes running towards me, catching her breath after soccer or track or some sort of athletic practice - I can never keep up during the spring. "What's up?" I ask curiously. She's invading my personal space in the journalism-designated computer lab on the fourth floor. She's only ever come here to find me twice: once when I had a box of donuts, another when she found out her boyfriend cheated on her.

So what I mean is: it's serious business when she runs up 3 flights of stairs just to find me.

I'm a little confused and frazzled because I don't like people seeing my unfinished drafts, so I pull up my email on a window and try to redirect her attention to the other side of the room. I stand up and walk towards the door, pretending to grab something from my backpack but then realize there's nothing to grab. So I just haul my entire bag towards an empty desk we can sit at. She collapses into the wooden chair opposite of me.

"Is everything okay?" I ask worriedly.

She draws a deep breath to calm herself down. "Naminé. You have got to help me."

"Mhmm?" Despite the growing distance between us, I'm still Kairi's designated Fairy Godmother. Ever since my role in securing her makeover success in middle school, she's come to me with all sorts of problems expecting me to have a solution at hand every time. You can tell that's pretty stressful for me and not a realistic expectation for her to have. Though I generally try my best, and Kairi usually at least appreciates my effort if I so happen to fail.

"Okay, so this time...I swear, I'm not in trouble," she hurriedly says when she catches onto my genuinely concerned expression. Don't ask about the time I had to bribe our principal with a signed copy of my mom's newest book to get her out of trouble. "I just - today, during cheer practice, I had an epiphany. You know, those lightbulb-goes-off-on-top-of-your-head moments."

Yes, Kairi, I know what an epiphany is. I decide to not voice that comment and instead say, "And what was it?" I hope it's not obvious that I'm getting a little impatient.

"I - I kept staring at the soccer team practice. And you know, I guess it's normal cause they're some pretty hot guys, and social dynamics decree that I date one of them, and I guess I want to be popular and fit in - " Yeah, you'll notice she does that sometimes: spout something pretty shallow and follow with some pretty meaningful insight. " - but this is different," she concludes. "This is...this feels real."

"You have real feelings about something?" Active listening skills, kids: summarize and repeat what the speaker just said so he/she knows (or thinks) you're listening.

"Yeah, I - I mean, it's not just another guy. Cause this time...this time, it means something."

"All your relationships should mean something," I begin.

"I didn't mean everything in my past doesn't matter. Just...this time, my feelings are stronger."

Okay, I could roll with that. "So who is it?" I ask.

Kairi generally has no problem with the speak-your-mind-and-you'll-be-heard thing, but this boy's got her stuttering and spluttering and spitting out each syllable one by one.

"It - it's - um - it's - So - it's Sora."

I blink. "Sora?"

"Yup."

"As in...brown hair, blue eyes, your neighbor Sora?"

"Mhmm. That's him. Are there any other Soras in our school?"

"I guess not," I concede. "I'm just...making sure. Wow," I mumble, "Sora. Should've seen that one coming. Though you dated Riku - albeit very briefly - so I thought you had the childhood friend cliché covered..."

"Huh?"

"Or maybe he fit the older brother figure cliché better? He was older than us - just by a year though..."

"...you've lost me, Naminé."

"Oh!" I exclaim, turning my attention back towards Kairi. "Sorry, babbling writer alert. Anyways...Sora, right? So you need help seducing him?"

The word 'seduce' makes Kairi turn four interesting shades of red, cause deep down, I know she's the same clueless Kairi I taught flirting techniques in middle school. "N - no!" she splutters. "I just...need guidance on how to proceed." She looks at me expectantly. Pressure, anyone?

Even though I'm usually a pro at walking and breathing clichés like Kairi, I'm admittedly a little skeptical about my knowledge this time round. "Kairi...I don't know if I can help you," I begin, hoping to let her down easy.

"WHAT?!" Of course, this is Kairi we're talking about, and she's prone to extreme reactions. "Why not?" she says. "You always help me!"

Exactly! I want to point out but that's not the point I want to make. "Sora's always been the one guy we haven't been able to figure out. Remember summer before high school?"

Kairi giggles and I chuckle as we recall fond memories. We'd spent the entire summer trying to figure out Sora's ideal type. Outright asking only embarrassed the guy, so we snooped around, investigating the women in his life, interviewing family members, and - uh, poking around his bedroom (totally legit - we told him we'd be in his room). And our conclusion after two months had been inconclusive. We had no hints as to his preference in girls. Even his mother had little to offer.

"Sora's ideal type, you say?" she asks with a sly grin. His mother's always been the nosy type - with good intentions, of course. "Why do you ask? Is one of you interested in my son?"

I roll my eyes and Kairi throws her head back laughing. "Oh no, we're just curious!" Kairi says. "It's cause he's never even been on a date with a girl so we have no idea what's his type."

"Hmm. I'll be honest, I don't know my son that well, but I do know that he can never turn down accompanying me to the soup kitchen every month, citing my pithy wit as a source of excellent company."

"...what?"

Mind you, Kairi and I weren't even high schoolers, so we barely even understood the vocabulary Sora's mom had used, much less what she meant.

She giggles, a high-pitched feminine laugh that I know Kairi is jealous of. "It's a mystery, I suppose! That'll add to his charm!"

Sora's mom is a bit eccentric, I'll say.

The rest of our conversation with the older woman had derailed to speculating who out of the three of us (Kairi, Sora, and I) would get married first. I'm still bent on collecting $50 from everyone who thought it'd be me - cause I'm pretty sure Sora's secretly a hopeless romantic at heart and gonna marry his high school or college sweetheart.

Like they say, life is a competition. Might as well cash in on it while you can.

Anyways, back to the original topic regarding my reluctance to help Kairi. "I do want to help, Kairi, but I don't think I have anything practical to offer in this case. We can't figure Sora out, so how exactly am I supposed to help you?"

Kairi frowns, and I think she's got it for once, but she quickly comes up with a retort. "Then we just need to figure him out!"

I blink. "How though? We tried for 2 months and that was a bust."

"C'mon, Naminé, we were 14. We're almost legal now, and Sora's got loads more experience in the girl's department. Plus we've narrowed down the inquiry to: is Sora interested in me? I think we can write up a decent report."

Kairi's words jog a memory. "Wait a second, I remember coming across something the other day..." I quickly click on my bookmarks, scrolling through a bunch of sites with citation guidelines and a bunch of thoughtful articles I found online. I finally stop at one Destiny's Embrace quiz: "Is Your Guy Friend Interested in You?"

"Oh my god, that's perfect!" Kairi exclaims. "And...you have some strange bookmarks. What's this…'How to Get Away With Farting in - '"

"Research!" I chirp, quickly closing all my other windows except the relevant one. It's a short quiz with a few options in response to 5 questions. I hit print and wait for the paper copy to come out.

"So we just need to figure out the answers to these questions?" Kairi asks. She lives by Destiny's Embrace, so of course she'd put her relationship in its hands.

I nod. "We'll need to gather some intel for some of these." We smirk at each other. "Just like that summer."

"I'll be keeping up with appearances so as to maintain that variable of the equation," Kairi says as she stands up. "Make us proud, soldier."

"Yessir."

We look at each other and can't hold back our laughter. It's been such a long time since we've just had this much fun together. Kairi's always swamped with her multiple sports commitments and I'd decided to take on a full-AP course load junior year. Now done with college apps and looking down the last half of senior year, I'm more concerned about how high school's gonna be over soon. And I'm starting to get senioritis pretty bad, too.

Our full-blown laughter probably isn't the best of ideas, because the janitor appears and asks why we're still here. Kairi gives me a look and I shrug - I'd maybe forgotten to mention that technically, this room's supposed to be locked. I just have my last class here everyday so I promise I'll lock up "in 5 minutes, you can go first, Mrs. Miller."

"What are you two doing here? Open lab hours are over," the janitor declares.

I look sheepishly towards Kairi, who can usually charm her way out of any situation. But her face is still red from laughing, and she can't stop the occasional giggle escaping her lips, so we're just two giggly idiots trying to grab our stuff and skedaddle before the janitor has more to say.

"Wait a second," he speaks just as we're leaving, "did you use the printer? You need permission to print after school hours. What're your names? I should tell your student affairs director - hey, wait, stop!"

Question 1. Who initiates hangouts?
a. you
b. him
c. it's about equal

"So it's generally you asking to grab food or watch a movie, huh," I comment as I scroll through Kairi's texts. She says she's got no secrets and gives me full access to anything on her precious mobile device. She's got a few funny selfies that I send to myself for posterity. And yearbook.

"Yeah. Is that bad? Should I play hard-to-get? But you know I hate playing games," Kairi says while she's owning the tetris app on my phone. She'd better not beat my high score.

"Honesty's good," I say, "but it sorta says something about any relationship when only one party's reaching out. When's the last time he suggested hanging out?"

"Um," she thinks while chomping on the school fries - has she not seen the fryer they use? "I think last month? We went laser tagging."

"Just you two?"

"No, with some other people from elementary school. Tidus, Wakka, Selphie...just them."

"It doesn't really count if it's a group outing," I point out. Kairi goes quiet, and all I hear are the sounds my tetris app makes when you clear a row. I make a mental note to tone down the cynicism a little, cause even perpetually peppy Kairi can lose confidence. "But it definitely counts as something," I say. "Lemme talk to him and see what I can find out. He might just be...shy or something." Pft, both of us know I'm just BS-ing now. Sora, shy? He's the poster child of friendliness.

"Alright," she says without even looking up from my phone. "He usually sits with his soccer teammates during lunch now cause the season's about to begin."

"I know. But will it be weird if I crash?" I wonder.

"Nah, they're super chill. I sit with them sometimes," she says. "YES!" she suddenly exclaims, jumping to her feet while her eyes remain trained on my phone screen. "Almost thought I was gonna die! Thank god for that 4-block long piece."

You'd never think this is a girl agonizing over the possibility that her feelings for her best friend are unrequited.

"Okay, I'll be back in 10 minutes," I say. "If not, call me to create an opportunity for me to leave."

"Can you just keep my phone and I'll keep playing this game on yours? I think I'm on a roll..."

"Okay, okay." I decide to indulge in Kairi's whims because...she's Kairi. Everyone just sorta goes along with what she wants.

I head towards the table near the entrance of the cafeteria where I know Sora and the soccer team sits. It's kinda hard to miss a bunch of rowdy boys the moment you enter the place. Sora's not hard to spot either, with his loud voice, dramatic hand gestures, and penchant for a bright red color. I tap his shoulder as one of his teammates is telling a story. He whirls around with a big smile.

"Naminé!" he chirps, engulfing me in a hug. Did I mention he's a very touchy-feely person? Well, now you know. I wrap my arms around his body and give him a quick squeeze before hurriedly retreating out of his embrace. He smells like sweat and grass.

"What's up, Sora?" I ask casually. Though we don't talk often, I've known him for as long as I've known Kairi so we're friends. We might not be close but we're pretty comfortable with each other. I saw him through his 2 years of braces (poor kid - paid off though, he's now got shiny pearly whites like no other), he's seen me through my parents' divorce. We text and Snapchat and comment on each other's Facebook posts.

"Not much," he says, scooting over to make room for me on the edge of the bench. Half my butt's dangling in air, but I don't let Sora know. Some of the guys at the table greet me, but I don't really know more than half the team. "Our first game's coming up next week so we're getting pumped for that," Sora says.

"GO DESTINY HIGH!" one of the guys I don't recognize hollers. Startled, I lean backwards a little. His outcry gets a few students at nearby tables to cheer.

"Are you gonna be there?" the blond I recognize as Tidus asks.

"You should totally come!" Sora exclaims. "Kairi's gonna be there too!"

He brings her up with his friends? One point for Kairi.

I smile. "I'll try."

The other boys derail into their own conversation, but Sora gives me his undivided attention. "What're you doing here? We're not exactly lunch buddies, if you know what I mean," he says with an earnest grin. "And I don't see your mom's PB&Js anywhere."

I laugh. "You still remember those?" That was back in middle school, when Sora was addicted to peanut butter. He still is, for that matter.

"Of course! Your mom's PB&Js were killer!" he exclaims.

"I'm pretty sure you traded with me just to get rid of your mom's killer tofurky sandwiches. Literally killer."

Sora laughs, and it's infectious so I laugh along. "You can't blame me. I still can't believe you're a vegetarian," he says.

"Tired of my meatless Snaps?"

"I can't believe you're not tired of them."

"You just can't believe a lot of things, can you?"

Sora shrugs. "So I'm a skeptic. Sue me."

"Can't. I'd be a hypocrite."

Sora snorts. "So what are you doing here?"

I'm a little surprised by his persistence. "Well, I can sense I'm unwanted."

"You know I didn't mean it like that, Nam," Sora almost laments. "If you wanted to hang out, you should've said so."

I see a way to roll with this. "Fine, you caught me. I don't think we've hung out in awhile and I just wanted to come say hi and spend some quality time. You're so busy now, Sora."

"I'm sorry," he apologizes immediately. He's always been so easy to guilt-trip. "It's soccer season. It takes up a lot of time."

"Even Kairi says she has to forcibly drag you to hang out sometimes." I casually drop Kairi's name, observing his response.

He's silent for a moment, and his face is passive. It bothers me that I can't get a read of him. "Yeah, I guess I haven't been being a good friend," he finally says. "We should all hang out. Like this weekend or next Friday."

No, I want him to just hang out with Kairi! "Well, actually, I don't have time this weekend but you could spend some time with Kairi." Am I being too direct?

Sora looks like he's got an immediate response but holds his tongue. I'm surprised at his self-restraint; like Kairi, he's got the mind-to-mouth no-filter way of speaking. "Maybe..." he trails off. And I figure I can't push it further without being too obvious so I let it go.

On cue, my (or rather, Kairi's) phone rings and I pick up. "10 minutes," Kairi says on the other end.

"Oh, I see," I say aloud. "Thanks for telling me. I'll be right there." Swiftly, I hang up and slip my phone back in my pocket.

"Who was that?" Tidus asks, and somehow I'm the center of attention.

"Oh, it was my classmate in world history. The teacher passed on my graded paper to her and I wanna check out my grade." Smooth as a fish. I notice Sora cocks a brow at me, but I smile sweetly and he doesn't question me. I jump to my feet. "Well, it was nice chatting with you all. Good luck at your game!"

"You're not gonna come?" a wayward voice asks.

I smile. "I think I will, since Kairi's going. But I'll wish you good luck now."

"Yeah!" Tidus cheers. I spy Sora grinning. These boys are so easy to please.

"Bye-bye!" I exclaim, walking back towards where Kairi's sitting. She's set my phone aside and extends a hand expectantly when I approach. I return her phone and reach for my own.

"So?" she asks. "Did you find out anything?"

"He said he's busy with soccer season. Maybe that's why he hasn't been hanging out with you?" I report. "I suggested spending time with you this weekend to make up for it, but I don't know if it got through that thick skull of his."

Kairi snorts, looking up at me. "He's always been so dense."

"I know, right?" I instinctively check my phone for a time but pause when the screen doesn't light up. No way -

"My phone actually ran out of battery!" I exclaim accusingly. "How long did you play that tetris game for?"

"Till you got back. B-T-W, I screwed up the naming on the high score board so AKIRI at first place is me."

Seriously, does she need to beat me in everything, including tetris on my own phone?

Question 2. What does he call you?
a. bro, bud, or some variant thereof
b. a nickname or pet name only he uses
c. your name

"Let's not go by text this time," I say as Kairi and I reconvene one week later at a café after school. She has a track meet tomorrow so she got out of practice early. I had a lot of tests last week so we couldn't meet up till now.

"Okay, but I don't have any records of our calls." She takes a sip of her iced mocha.

"Don't you know off the top of your head?" I ask.

"I mean, he calls me Kai. Does that count as b.?"

"Everyone calls you Kai," I point out before recalling my determination to not always quash Kairi's hopes. "Um, is there something only he calls you?"

"I don't...well, ha, he called me 'Squirrel' once. Kinda as a joke about how I'm a flyer and I look like a flying squirrel when I'm in air."

I snort cause it's such a Sora nickname. "Let's see if he'll call you it again," I suggest. I point at her phone and she unlocks it easily - no password. "Call him."

"What?"

"Just call him and make small talk. We'll see if 'Squirrel' pops up."

"Okay..." Kairi's starting to sound skeptical, so I make a mental note to sound more like I know what I'm doing. I don't fail to notice he's speed-dial number 4 on her phone, right after what I'm presuming are home and dad, or some variation thereof. Kairi puts him on speaker and sets her phone on the middle of the table.

He picks up after three beeps. "Hey Kai. What's up?"

Kairi gives me a look. Okay, he calls you 'Kai,' duly noted. "Nothing much," she says. "You?"

"We just got out of soccer practice early, cause a lot of us have an exam to study for tomorrow. You took Mr. Harrison's class, right?"

"Oh, god, you're taking AP bio? Good luck," Kairi groans. "I liked the plants section though."

"I liked learning about the human body. Seemed most relevant."

"Mhmm." Kairi looks around, as if seeking inspiration for something to talk about. She gives me a look and I think about it quickly.

"Ask him," I mouth, "about soccer."

"How's soccer going?" she asks.

"Pretty good! We won our game last week - thanks for coming to cheer, by the way."

"Of course. That's what we do," Kairi says with a grin. "Remember how Naminé would sometimes be completely unplugged some days in a row to work on her writing? I locked myself in the entire weekend and came up with a new routine."

Sora chuckles. "Speaking of Naminé, did she come to the game? I wanted to say hi to her. Her friend Hayner kept asking for her too."

Kairi gives me a look and I shrug. "Oh, uh...I don't know?" Kairi says. It's so obvious that she's lying, or concealing the truth, that I wonder why we even bother.

"Hmm," Sora grunts. "I mean, I talked to her last week and one of the guys invited her to come. Does she not like watching soccer or something?" He sighs, and an anxious Sora worries me more than anything.

Kairi shoots me another boggle-eyed look, and I don't have a response either. What on earth is this boy thinking about in his spare time? I clear my throat and gesture at Kairi that I'll answer.

"Hey Kairi," I say casually, winking at her. "Who're you talking to?"

"Am I on speaker?" Sora asks.

"Oh. Is that...Sora?" I make a face pretending I'm thinking hard. Kairi almost bursts into laughter.

"Yeah! You guys hanging out now?"

"Yeah, we're at a café. I just went to the bathroom," I say smoothly. Watch the queen of deception work. "What're you guys talking about?"

"Why you were absent at the game. Sora thinks you don't like soccer," Kairi tosses in.

I giggle. "What in the world are you talking about, Sora? I just got busy. I didn't realize you were sensitive about things like that."

"Maybe you just don't know me well enough," he returns easily. "Anyways, Kai, I gotta study for the test. Did you need anything?"

"Oh, no!" she exclaims. What about the nickname though? I convey that question in a stern look. "Just, um, good luck tomorrow!"

"Yeah, thanks. Bye! Nice chatting with you Naminé." He then abruptly hangs up. We both sigh.

"So he didn't call me that again. I was trying to work in the new part of our routine where we had three flyers and try to get him to call me 'Squirrel' - "

"It didn't come up; that doesn't mean he doesn't use it," I point out. "You said he has before, so that counts."

"To be honest, he's called me 'buddy' sometimes before. And he also uses my name. So it's really all of the above," she ponders, staring at the printout.

Of course, Kairi's so special that she has to cross all categories.

"Let's just skip this one. It's pretty superficial anyways," I decide. "By the way, in my opinion, your face looks like a pufferfish when you're in the air."

"…it does not!"

Question 3. Does he talk about other girls with you?
a. yes
b. no

Kairi and I don't have time till almost a month later to meet up again. During that time, some college responses come out, so students are either ecstatic about getting in somewhere or miserable about rejections. I, unfortunately, belong in the latter category. My dream school, Hollow Bastion University, turned me down so I'm currently considering the prospects of community college.

"You look like you sat through 5 hours of detention." I hear Sora's perky voice before he takes a seat next to me on the floor. We're by the lockers, a popular hangout spot in our high school cause it's a central hubbub for foot traffic. "What're you doing right now?"

I sigh and put my head in my hands. "I'm not going to college, Sora."

"Whoa, what?" he exclaims. "Didn't you always want to go to HBU? You applied, right, Nam?"

Him mentioning it just makes me feel worse. "Ugh, Sora, I got rejected."

"Oh." That quiets him down. "Well, you applied to target and safety schools, right? It's not the end of the world."

"Feels like it." I can't even bother to hold a conversation with him at this moment.

And Kairi picks the perfect time to make an entrance.

"Hey Sora, hey Naminé," Kairi greets, sitting down next to Sora. "Uh, you guys alright?"

I'm staring at the darkness that is my hands now, so I only hear some shuffling on my side as Sora and Kairi interact. I can only imagine Sora's mouthing the situation to Kairi and they're egging each other to say something comforting. I realize I'm being a little melodramatic so I raise my head and turn towards them. They hastily put their hands in their laps and look at me innocently.

Cute.

"I'll get over it. Just the sting of rejection."

"You don't wanna go to HBU anyways," Kairi says. "It's such a party school and they're in the middle of nowhere."

"I know." I appreciate her smash-talk. I draw a breath and sigh. I'm done talking about myself. Let's move on to something a little more cheery. "What about you guys? Any prospective offers?"

"Well, I got in RGA," Kairi mentions nonchalantly.

I widen my eyes. Freaking RGA? They're just a few ranks below HBU! Suddenly, all the inner peace I'd attained dissipates, just like that. It's funny, cause I was the one who wanted to talk about something more cheery. And Kairi's acceptance surely is a celebratory cause. But I just feel so insecure comparing my rejection to Kairi's guaranteed future in a prestigious university that I don't have it in me to even congratulate her. Instead, while Sora pats her back and Kairi modestly brushes it off, I sulk in place and glare at her. I consider my not mentioning anything spiteful as an accomplishment already.

Of course Kairi gets everything.

"I, uh, didn't get in Twilight Tech," Sora then admits. I'm a little ashamed that I perk up when I hear Sora got rejected too. I'm such a bad person.

I'm alerted of a text on my phone and wonder why Kairi's texting me. I check discretely and I see Question 3. I sigh. Do we have to do this now while I'm still bitter about my rejection? But Kairi ploughs on, and since it's Kairi, we follow along.

"So, let's talk about something a little more cheerful," she says. "Prom plans, anyone? Sora, who're you going with?" Over Sora's shoulder, Kairi shoots me a stern look, trying to get me to say something. And I just oblige because I don't wanna contradict her now.

"Yeah, Sora, all the good girls get snatched up real early. You should ask someone soon."

Sora chuckles nervously. "I - uh, don't really know yet."

"What about Rikku?" Kairi tosses the name in 'nonchalantly' (or so she thinks - but I notice her nose twitch and her eyes narrow a little).

"Rikku?" Sora whirls around to face Kairi and grins. "Heh, yeah, maybe. She's worse than Selphie with the touching. Always trying to put a hand on my shoulder or pat my back during chem lab."

Kairi snorts. "Such a player, Sora."

"Don't hate the player; hate the game."

Kairi shoots me another look, and I wonder if she misses my exasperated roll of eyes. "Sounds like you're set," I voice.

Sora turns back around and blinks. "Oh - uh, nah, I still don't know."

"Well, I'm single and ready to mingle! Though it's early on so I'm still holding out on someone." Kairi's laying it a little thick. Maybe cause high school's rapidly drawing to a close and she's feeling the pressure.

"Who is it?" Sora asks.

Kairi grins. "It's a secret~!" she sings, and Sora decides to let it go. "Anyways, Naminé?"

I blink. Why is she turning the tables on me? Sora's the target in question. In face of her effervescence, I'm just trying to not sound depressed.

"You don't have to tell us," Sora quickly says. "We respect your privacy."

"No we don't," Kairi declares and looks at me intently. "Spill! We all have."

Kairi really doesn't know any boundaries. Again, I decide to go with the flow. I don't really care at this point. "There's nothing to spill. No one's asked me. I might just go solo."

"No, you should go with someone! C'mon, who would you go with if you had to ask someone?"

"Again, privacy," Sora interrupts hastily. "You're making her uncomfortable," he accuses Kairi.

"I'm just curious!" Kairi exclaims.

"I wouldn't ask cause I don't wanna get rejected." Again, I almost want to add, but that's probably too obvious of a reference to my recent college rejection. I'll admit I'm letting it get to me way too much.

Kairi doesn't think much about my somber tone though. "Who'd you go with last year? Roxas, right? Why don't you just go with him?"

Thinking about prom last year makes me smile involuntarily. It's a nice memory to hold on to. "Yeah...Roxas. It was fun, but I don't wanna go with him just cause I went with him last year."

"You shouldn't just push Roxas onto her," Sora points out. "He's kind of a player anyways."

"What, Roxas?" Kairi exclaims. "I thought he's the one true love type of guy?"

"He's always hanging out with that sophomore with dark hair - forgot her name - and I see him with Olette a lot too. I wouldn't trust him."

"Just cause he has female friends doesn't make him a player." Kairi pauses and grins. "Aw, Sora, are you jealous that he's more popular with the ladies than you are?"

"What?" Sora exclaims. "I have female friends too! Why would I be jealous?"

"Exactly," Kairi says. "You have me, and Naminé, and even Selphie. Don't worry, we got your male ego's back."

"I knew I could count on you."

"We're also here to make sure your ego doesn't over-inflate," Kairi finishes with a grin.

After awhile, Tidus comes over and hauls Sora away. Kairi and I sit together in silence, and I wonder what we have to talk about now. I'm ready to go home.

"He did talk about Rikku with me," Kairi begins slowly. "That's not a good sign, is it?"

Oh, right, we're still on the quiz thing. It's getting a little annoying, spending all my time with Kairi over a boy and a silly quiz for teenagers. I guess I'm just bitter cause looking at Kairi and I, the contrast is so distinct. She has the time to worry about stuff like crushes and prom dates with her secured acceptance to RGA. Me? I'm still freaking out about my future cause I have no idea where I'm gonna end up (unemployed at this rate, that's for sure). And in every memory I have of Kairi, it's always been of her getting what she wants: the grades, the guys, whatever. It's hard not to complain about how unfair the universe is. Like if it's trying to tell me that Kairi's awesome, then okay, I get it, I don't need more convincing.

Kairi sighs. "Was I too obvious just now?"

She keeps talking even though I don't have a response. Does she even notice that I'm keeping silent on the matter or is she way too self-absorbed to even notice?

"What do you think, Naminé?"

My goodness. "I don't think it matters," I point out flatly. "This whole entire - this quiz thing, I don't even know why I brought it up. It's stupid. We all know you're gonna get Sora in the end - all the stories have it written out for you: the girl gets with her guy best friend. I just wonder why you didn't ask him to prom just now." I snort, a bitter sound escaping my lips. "This entire thing is just a waste of my time. I don't think it's necessary to bother with it anymore."

Somehow, I manage to bite my tongue and stop the deluge of hurtful words. I can feel a familiar burning sensation in my eyes, which means I'm about to tear up any moment. And I really cannot let Kairi see me crying now.

Soon enough, the guilt and sense of dread catches up to me. "I'm sorry," I rush out in one breath. "I'm just - stressed, and, and I - I gotta go, Kairi." I don't, but my mind's doing the fight-or-flight thing and my number one priority is getting out of here. "I'll...see you, I guess."

Kairi is speechless. Maybe she's shocked. Maybe her silence belies a fiery rant she's about to give. Maybe it was too late for my apology and niceties. She looks at me like she doesn't recognize me anymore.

Maybe she doesn't.

Maybe she never has.

A/N: This is my first attempt at a two-shot! Or at least that's the plan. I don't have much experience with shorter stories, so hopefully you liked this! I certainly enjoyed writing Naminé's character - she isn't quiet and socially awkward like I and people generally portray her; instead, she's sorta secretly judgey and thinks she's all that but still loves and feels deeply. Does that make sense? I just thought that in the games, she's got a pretty amazing power but is oppressed by the Organization. If she were to grow up in a healthy environment, maybe she'd be a little more proud of herself. I don't know - if you think I'm just BS-ing (I kinda am), let me know what you didn't like about her, or the story.

Anyways, I'm still crafting the ending, so stay tuned for part two!