Author's Note: So I officially need apologize for dropping off the face of the planet. Work was getting really crazy, and I just didn't have the time to keep updating. I know a lot of you are waiting for updates on certain stories, and I am working on it, I promise! But I did have an idea for a new story that I just couldn't wait to start, and I hope you guys will like it.

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Chapter One

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"Whoo! Go Terra!" Aqua yelled over the roar of the crowd filling the stadium. He looked up from the football field, waving to her as they finished their warmups. "C'mon, Ven! Let's try to get good seats!"

The short blond stumbled after her, clutching a large fountain drink to his chest along with a tray of nachos and a chili cheese dog. "Aqua, wait! Your legs are longer than mine!"

She barely slowed down, hopping the metal steps up into the bleachers and sitting at the very top. "Ooh, there's Demyx! Hi!" she yelled, nearly knocking over Ventus as she sprung to her feet to catch the musician's attention.

Demyx smiled at them from the section where the marching band was sitting, giving her a small wave.

"Aww, he always looks so cute in his little uniform!" she giggled, turning back to face Ventus and almost pushing him over again. "It's so exciting… the first game of the season! I can't believe your brother is going to miss this!"

"Yeah, I don't think Roxas is too into sports… Besides, he'd just suck the fun out of everything!" Ven finally situated all of his food into the seat next to him, taking a sip of his drink.

Aqua eyed him carefully, "Ven… is that Mountain Dew?"

"…No…?"

"Ventus! I told you to stop drinking that stuff! You can't handle the caffeine!" she scolded him, remembering the last time he'd had that much sugar. It was… it was not good…

He whined as she took his soda away, "Well… can't I at least have something?"

She handed him hers, "Here… I got Sprite. No caffeine."

"Right, 'cause that's fun…" he grumbled, turning back towards the field. "Sooo what is it that Terra does again?"

"He's the quarterback, Ven! That's like… the most important position! …I don't know what he actually does… but I know it's important!" she told him. Neither of them were really into football, but they promised Terra they'd come to all of his games.

"Hey losers! I didn't think I'd see you two here!"

Aqua jumped and looked up, a huge grin spreading across her face, "Sora! Hey! Come here to leer at the cheerleaders again?"

His goofy grin turned into a sneer as he sat down in the seat below her, "Ha ha, very funny Aqua…"

"Yeah, you know he only wants to leer at Kairi," Ven added, poking Sora in the side.

The brunette hissed up at him, "Shut up! People might hear you!"

"Not to worry, Sora, I think the entire universe knows you're in love with her," a low voice sounded from behind him.

"Riku, shut the hell up! You're not funny!" Sora whined as his best friend took the seat next to him.

Aqua blushed softly and smiled at Riku, "H…hey… I didn't think we'd be seeing you here…"

"What, I'm not allowed to like sports?" the white-haired teen glanced up at her with an eyebrow raised.

"Well… I… I just didn't think that you were into any of this…"

The two best friends burst out laughing. "Oi, Aqua, he's fucking with you… He's here to creep on Xion," Sora told her, motioning to the raven-haired cheerleader down on the track.

"Oh! Right…" Because I'm just one of the guys… she thought to herself, sighing softly.

"Aqua? You okay…?" Ventus waved his nacho cheese-covered hand in front of her face.

She swatted at him, "Ew! Yes, I'm fine!"

"Ooh, Ven… you know who'd be perfect for you? That little blonde one, Namine!" Sora pointed out another one of the cheerleaders as they formed a pyramid.

As the men continued to ogle the cheerleaders, Aqua just huffed and crossed her arms over her chest, "Maybe I should try out to be a damned pom-pom zombie…"

That really got the guys laughing, "Holy shit, Aqua, I couldn't even picture that! That'd be fucking hilarious!"

"Shit… her in a cheerleader's uniform? That'd be sooo weird!"

"Oh God, and with the pom-poms?"

"All right!" Aqua shouted, startling the three of them into silence, "I mean… I get it… that's enough…"

Ven shrugged, "Fine, jeez… you don't have to get all pissy about it. It's not like you actually wanna be a cheerleader."

"Is it really that awful an idea?" she wondered, lifting an eyebrow.

"…Yeah."

"Kinda."

"Pretty much."

"Ugh… I'm gonna go get a soft pretzel," Aqua grumbled, pulling herself to her feet. "Have fun staring at those ditzes."

The three of them grunted their responses, their eyes already locked back on the trio of cute girls.

"Freakin' morons…" she mumbled as she hopped down the steps of the bleachers, each step eliciting that familiar metallic clang.

The line at the concession stand was ungodly long, but she wasn't sure if she could handle being around the guys when they were like this. Her eyes scanned the crowd for anybody familiar, but she quickly realized that she really didn't have any other friends. With Terra on the field and Demyx in the marching band, she had nobody else to hang out with.

"What the…?" she trailed off as her eyes settled on a hole in the chainlink fence that blocked off the area behind the bleachers. She didn't remember seeing that when they first showed up… so who was back there?

For some reason she found herself wandering towards the fence, studying it for a moment, and then squeezing through it to the other side. She really wasn't sure what she was about to stumble upon, but she couldn't stop herself from satiating her curiousity.

"Remind me why the fuck we came here again?"

Aqua ducked behind a pillar as she heard voices, peeking out to find a couple of teenagers smoking cigarettes and talking.

"I dunno… I wanted to check out the other students before we have to actually go through the awkward new kid phase, see what we're up against."

"This is bullshit… I hate football, and I don't give a shit about the other students. I just want to get through this year so I can graduate and move out."

"Van, you can't fuck up here like you did at our last school… I don't think they'll be able to move us together again, and if we get split up…"

"I know, I know… I don't want to get split up either. You're the only family I've got anymore…"

As they spoke, the cigarette smoke was wafting right into Aqua's face, which sent her into an intense coughing fit that immediately gave up her hiding place.

"What the hell? Who's there?"

Aqua stumbled out from behind the pillar, looking up at the two tall men, "Uhm… hi?"

The taller of the two raised an eyebrow, "Were you listening to us…?"

"I… I really didn't mean to…" she choked out as she hacked up a lung, trying to get her breathing back in control.

"Great… that's fantastic… how much did you hear?" the shorter one sneered at her, taking another drag from his cigarette.

She shrugged, finally able to stop coughing, "I don't know, just some stuff about you moving schools? Are you guys new here?"

"Yeah, we start on Monday. I'm Axel, and this is Vanitas," the taller one extended a hand to her, which she shook carefully.

"Nice to meet you… I'm Aqua. Are you guys seniors?"

Axel nodded, "Yeah… You too?"

"Finally," she chuckled, "I can't believe I'm almost done with all this shit."

Vanitas actually cracked a bit of a smile through his obvious crankiness, "Huh… maybe you aren't so bad after all."

"…Thanks?"

"Believe me, from him it's a compliment…" Axel rolled his eyes, obviously done with Van's attitude.

Aqua leaned against the pillar casually, curious to know more about them. "So… are you two brothers?"

"Foster brothers… We've been together since we were kids," Axel explained, flicking his cigarette butt behind him, "It feels like we're family, though."

Vanitas laughed, "That's only because you have to put up with all my bullshit. I'm the obnoxious younger brother you never wanted."

As the two of them laughed, Aqua studied them carefully. They were both pretty tall, though Axel was just a couple inches taller. Vanitas had jet black hair that could have very well been blue in the right light and his eyes… they were a mesmerizing golden yellow color that she'd never seen before. He was handsome… they both were, actually, but in very different ways.

Vanitas had that typical bad-boy look going on, and he had a very muscular, yet lithe build to him. He was wearing a leather jacket and dark jeans with a black t-shirt and red Converse, and Aqua could just barely see a tattoo that came up on the side of his neck. So they must be 18 already… she figured, taking into account the fact that they were both smoking as well. The thought never crossed her mind that they probably just had fake IDs, and that they'd been doing all of this for a couple years now.

Axel was more of a tall, lanky build, though Aqua could tell that he was pretty strong as well. He was dressed similarly to Vanitas, except that he wore black skinny jeans, black Converse and a grey rock band t-shirt. His hair… Aqua had never seen anything like it. It was bright cherry red, and it was long… but somehow still spikey. It was as if his hair managed to defy all gravity. His eyes glowed a pretty emerald green in the cover of night, and she could just manage to make out two small diamond tattoos under each of his eyes.

"…Aqua? Are you okay?"

She snapped out of her daze and blushed deeply, "Uh… sorry, what?"

"You've been standing there staring at us for like… three minutes," Vanitas shifted on his feet, mildly creeped out.

"O…oh… I'm sorry, I think I spaced out," she apologized, pushing her hair behind her ears and locking her eyes on the ground, "Uhm… well, I should probably go back to my friends…"

"You were with that little blond guy, right?" Axel wondered, "I'm not being creepy, I swear… I saw you two in line at the concession stand earlier when we got here. The blue hair is kind of a giveaway that it was you…"

She giggled softly, "Yeah, that was Ventus. He's a sophomore, but he's one of my best friends. Actually, I'm pretty sure that without Terra and I, he'd have taken a long walk off a short pier by now. He's… he's not exactly full of common sense…"

"Terra? You mean the quarterback?" Vanitas gave her an odd look.

"Yeah! Terra and I have been best friends since we were toddlers."

Van just smirked, "Wow… I would not have guessed that you were friends with that guy…"

"…Why? What's wrong with him?"

"I mean, isn't he kind of a meathead jock? You just don't seem like the type to hang out with guys like him…"

She shrugged, "He's never seemed that way to me. Anyways, I'll see you guys at school Monday, I guess."

…

As he watched Aqua walk away, Vanitas mentally kicked himself for being such an asshole.

"…Van? You okay?"

"She… she might be the most perfect woman I've ever seen, Axel."

Axel just chuckled, "Yeah, I had a feeling… So why were you such a dick?"

"I don't know! I panicked! I didn't think we were going to run into a hot girl back here!"

"…Glad we came?" Axel teased, grinning like a cat.

Vanitas just grumbled, "Shut up… Let's go, I'm bored."

"We could always go sit with Aquaaa…" he sang, poking his brother in the side.

"No! Shut up! Don't ever mention that again! …She'd never like me…"

Axel couldn't help but laugh a little, "Wow… you sound like a typical angsty teenager."

"Oh, go to hell…" he growled as they snuck back out of the fence and left the stadium. He didn't know what was happening to him… Every time he thought about Aqua, his heart would start to race and his palms would sweat. He'd never felt like that about a girl before… None of them had ever seemed worth it. But she was different… in the best way.

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Author's Note: I'm so happy with how this first chapter came out! I hadn't seen a lot of stories that kind of put this spin on the BBS group. Terra, a football star? I mean, if you think about it, it sort of fits… And poor Aqua. She's totally crushing on Riku, but they all see her as one of the guys! Seems like there's only one guy who sees her as more~ :3 Anywayssss… many twists and turns to come! Don't get too used to the soft pairings I've hinted at, because shit is going to get crazy messed up here soon.

Don't forget to review and let me know what you think! Again, sorry I disappeared, but I hope you like my comeback!

Simply Rexene