My name is (Name) and my mother and I just moved here to Destiny Islands. We got a nice house along the beach, it wasn't the biggest thing around, but it was nice, clean, and cozy for a cheap house. Normally, I wouldn't complain about moving, especially since we moved from a shack in a city with polluted air, but my junior year was coming up. I would rather be with people that I'd known my whole life that last two years of school, you know? Starting all over was not easy but for my mom's sake, I had to suck it up.
I wasn't doing a very good job of acting like it didn't bother me.
I sighed, laying my head on the kitchen table. Wood wasn't too comfortable, but I was feeling pretty down the first day of our big move. My mom was walking around the beach house, boxes in her arms as she placed them in the correct areas. She shot me an annoyed look as she kept scurrying past me, I guess she expected some help from me, or at least for me to move out of the way.
"Go out on the beach." She ordered, pointing towards the door. I sighed again, hanging my head in defeat. "Your moping is getting depressing, and I still have a lot of work to do! Since you're just going to be a lump, sitting around all day, get out of my way!" My mother always worded things so kindly.
"Yeah, yeah..." She pushed me outside, locking the door behind me. Well, looks like I had no choice but to sit on the beach for a few hours and mope around. It was awkward looking around at this big beach...it was basically empty during the early evening, but there were still a few beach goers that hadn't packed up for the day. I wish my cousins were here, but I wasn't sure where on Destiny Islands they lived, or if it was even remotely close to where we lived now.
I took a deep breath, smiling as I caught a whiff of some delicious food. Boy, I wish I had some Munny. I walked down to the water's edge, enjoying the feeling of the sand sifting between my toes. I plopped down, then wishing I had brought a towel with me. Damn sand, getting into places where it didn't belong.
I sat in silence, listening to the waves lapping against the sand. It was relaxing. Maybe getting used to this wouldn't be so hard. It was the beginning of summer vacation and I should try to keep myself happy and entertained. It'd be nice to meet new people before the school year started though, just to go in with some friends. I'd seen the school; it was a pretty big place...
A sudden pain in the back of my head brought me from my worries and back to the real world. A volleyball rolled by me, stopping at my feet. Was I gonna have to kick some butt already?
"Yo cuz, didn't know you were moving down here so soon!" I grinned, turning to meet the spiky haired red head.
"Axel!" He brought me into a tight hug, swinging me around before placing me back in the sand. I hadn't noticed how muscular he was! Although he still had those girlish hips that even I was jealous of; it messed with his male mojo whenever they were pointed out though. "Where's your brother!"
"Reno's been a stick in the mud, he's been workin' late at his 'secret' job ever since he graduated...I don't see him around much, and even if he IS, we don't ever get time to hang at the beach anymore." Axel shrugged. "He's a busy guy, but I'm sure he'll make time for family." I could see the glint of hope in Axels eyes at his last statement.
"Ah, that's right, he graduated this year, and he's 19, right?" Axel nodded, crossing his arms.
"Almost 20, his birthdays in a month or so. I wonder if he'll have off that day..." Axel shrugged his shoulders again, as if to say he didn't care, but I knew it bothered him that Reno kept secrets. They weren't openly affectionate brothers, in fact they treated each other like annoyances in public, but the two were so much alike that they understood each other better than anyone ever could. This made it pretty easy for them to talk to each other. They really were like best friends, just not in front of everyone else.
"Hey Axel, come on, pack up the volleyball stuff, I gotta get to work soon-" One of Axels friends, or so I assumed, walked over, placing a hand on Axels shoulder to get his attention. He had a mullet like hairstyle, with a few strands hanging in his face, and the biggest blue-green eyes I've ever seen. He was pretty cute, sort of dorky looking though.
"Wow..." I looked him up and down. Tan, well toned, lookin' good in his blue bathing suit shorts with little sharks on them, if he didn't have such a goofy grin on his face I might've actually considered him a beach babe. Not that his grin wasn't cute, it just wasn't that sexy smirk that would send a girl squealing like Reno could.
"Hey, I'm Demyx!" He introduced himself cheerfully; now the smile he was flashing me was slightly more attractive than the goofy one that'd been on his face a few seconds ago. "I don't ever see girls as cute as you around here!" He winked, earning him an annoyed look from Axel. I giggled, covering my mouth with my hand to stop from laughing any louder. This poor guy screamed dork, but in a way I found it flattering. He didn't seem like a bad guy, at least.
"Watch it dude, she's my cousin." The other boy laughed, sheepishly rubbing the back of his head.
"S-sorry..." He stuttered an apology towards Axel. "You're (Name), right?" I nodded. "Well, welcome to Destiny Islands! I'm captain of the swim team, so when school starts, you should sign up! Oh, and you should sign up for Music Theory, too!" Axel rolled his eyes.
"No one's going to pay attention in that class or take it seriously Dem-" Axel's jaw dropped as he pushed Demyx aside and proceeded to stare at a pretty girl walking on the beach in a short black skirt and a white tank top. Axel was smitten with the beach beauty, a thin line of drool falling from his mouth. "Damn, look at Tifa today!"
She was a beautiful girl. She had a soft face, long brown hair, big brown eyes, and a nice pair of assets on her chest. The girl most girls wished to look like. She was walking with a guy with a bald head and glasses; he glanced at me for a second which sent a chill down my spine. Well, he certainly didn't seem to be friendly. Axel didn't pay any mind to the cold looking bald man; his eyes remained on Tifa. I was used to my cousins extreme love for woman, to put it lightly.
"Demyx, keep your hands to yourself while I handle the situation..." Axel slunk off like a lion on the prowl, and left us alone. Insert awkward silence here. My hand tapped my leg nervously as I waited for him to say something first. It was usually up to the guy to say something, right?
"Well..." Demyx started awkwardly. "If you ever want to visit me, I work down at the music store in town. Axel knows where it is; maybe you could visit me some night!" He smiled again as the awkwardness began again. He had really white teeth…
"So…" I started mumbling, I thought I might as well make a conversation. I started off by stating the obvious and building it up from there. "You're interested in music, right?" He nodded.
"I play the Sitar, it's an instrument that's only made on this island, it's sorta like the guitar but it hasn't different tones and sounds. And it's a lot more difficult to learn. I normally play it at bonfires, so come to one and I'll play you a song or two!" Demyx sure seemed excited, sort of like a little kid in a candy shop...
"Oh, I love music, I can't wait to hear you play!" This made him blush, which I also found adorable. "My house is right up there-" I pointed in the general direction of said house-"Just come up and tell me, it'll be fun to do something during the summer!" He was still flushed from my first comment, in fact it looked like he was daydreaming and not paying attention to the conversation we were having.
"Hello? You there…?" I waved a hand in front of his face, gaining his attention again as his eyes went wide.
"N-Not completely..." He coughed into his hands. "I gotta get goin', I have to get to work and if I'm late again I might get fired..." He rubbed the back of his head with a sheepish grin. Oh, a slacker? Looks like I'd be getting along with him better than I thought I would.
"Okay, well, see you around!" He smiled, giving me a cute little wave before running towards the parking lot. He may be a good swimmer, but he certainly ran rather well. Maybe he was on the track team, too. My attention went back to Axel, who had yet to return with the Volleyball equipment. It looks like Demyx was leaving now, too, and I didn't have a chance to call out and bring him back…
Axel was standing with his hands on his hips, next to the girl who seemed to be keeping her patience well. She must not have been in a hurry if she was humoring Axel. I jogged over, pushing the red head to let him know of my presence. The girl looked at me, then Axel, and smiled.
"This is my cousin I was tellin' you about." He pointed over his shoulder at me. "She's nothin' special." Well excuse me for looking somewhat average. No one can compare to this girl when they're standing next to her, there wasn't a fair chance! The girl pushed Axel out of the way, nearly sending him tumbling into the sand, and stood in front of me.
"I'm Tifa! I'm head of the Community Center in the middle of town!" The brown haired girl gave me a bright smile and held out her hand for me to shake. "I work there with a couple of my friends. I'm in charge of assigning activities, helping our community really looks good on a college resume-" she winked, "If you wanna sign up, drop by tomorrow! I'll give you a flyer with all the jobs! Summer jobs are a lot more fun than any other season, so I suggest you sign up for them ASAP or else you'll be pretty mad!"
Axel rolled his eyes. Obviously he wasn't too fond of Community Service.
"Last year Demyx signed me up to be a lifeguard with him..." Axel shivered. "Worst experience of my life." Tifa laughed.
"I've never seen someone so afraid of water!" Axel twitched, a scowl finding its way to his face as he crossed his arms.
"Who could possibly like ice cold water? I prefer the heat of the sun, got it memorized?"
"Yeah, yeah." Tifa waved a dismissive hand towards him. "Demyx was a grade 'A' lifeguard though!" Axel scoffed again.
"But a grade 'F' man..."
"Axel!" I smacked his arm. "Don't make fun of him! He's YOUR friend isn't he?" Axel rolled his eyes.
"Yeah, yeah, calm down, I'm just kidding." I sighed. Don't get me wrong, I love my cousin and hanging out with him, but sometimes his attitude made me want to punch him in the face. I'm just being honest, it's how I am. Not that my attitude didn't annoy him sometimes, with how sarcastic and rude I could be, I've gotten him into quite a few messes, but we're family, and family always sticks together.
"Come on; walk me home Axel, Mom wants to see you!" Tifa said goodbye and hurried off into the city, muttering about how she had completely forgotten she was looking for…Cloud? She's looking for Cloud? Well if she looks up into the sky, there's a bunch of clouds for her to see!
Axel and I started off along the beach to my house, and we took that time to catch up. We hadn't been in touch since my 6th birthday. We had moved from Hollow Bastion to Destiny Islands, but as soon as we decided to move back, Reno left with Axel and moved here! It was a confusing dilemma. Maybe I should explain why they moved here.
They were treated fine, their parents are kind people, which is probably why Reno and Axel are so spoiled and have such haughty attitudes. No one had ever said no to them. Reno started to sober up to life a bit, he could take things seriously when he wanted to, and he wanted to move out.
Axel wasn't part of his plan until him and his father got into a fight. Reno doesn't baby Axel like their parents had done, he felt Axel needed a good dose of reality, and why not learn it together? Their parents, of course, said yes. They were still in touch. There were no fights. No drama, no unresolved problems, just two kids trying to see what it was like in the world without someone hovering over them.
Axel could go back at any time, and my mother has said on more than one occasion that Axel was ready to crack under the pressure of having to provide for himself, but he was stubborn. He wouldn't go running back unless you were chasing him with a chainsaw. It just shows Axel has a serious side, too, although it's not seen much.
He told me about all these girls he wanted, all these guys he wanted to punch, and the drama going on in Golden Hearts High. Although I had to take in account this was from his point of view…
This really cute girl Olette was going out with his best friend, Roxas, but there was some suspected cheating on hand. Roxas believed Olette cheated on him with this trouble-making kid Hayner, and so he broke up with Olette. Apparently Olette was so heart-broken she ran right into Hayner's arms and now they're going out. Apparently things between the three of them aren't the best, but Roxas still hangs with one of their friends, Pence, at the ice cream shop on occasion. Axel commented that Pence wasn't that memorable a person and that he had no idea why Roxas would sometimes choose to be with Pence instead of him, but he continued with his interesting stories.
The one I found most interesting, was the story of this prodigy and pretty boy, Riku. Axel said he was the school heart throb and every girl wanted a piece of him. The best on the track team, baseball, and soccer team, he was at the top of school, in sports and grades.
Well apparently, him and this girl Kairi, who Axel said wasn't as hot as people thought she was, are really good friends and her friend Selphie ,the most annoying person in the school, has some sort of obsession with him. Selphie saw Kairi and Riku walking out of school and claimed they were holding hands and since she couldn't keep her mouth shut some rumors spread around about Kairi two-timing some Sora kid, and that caused all three of them to get into a fight! But it turns out, Sora was walking with Kairi and Riku and Selphie had just decided to leave that tidbit out, and since there were no other times Kairi was with Riku, the three friends made up as they realized that Selphie was just full of it.
Kairi and Sora had broken up for good that day though; Axel says he thinks Kairi's after Roxas or Riku now. She certainly moved on quickly…
I couldn't wait to go to school now, drama was my thing. I loved hearing the latest gossip, I wouldn't spread it of course, but hearing it was always interesting. I'm just one of those people who enjoy hearing stories, you know? I'm a writer and I need inspiration from something! Maybe I should work at the school newspaper; I'm pretty good at stretching nothing at all into a few pages.
The point was, I certainly couldn't wait to go, but I never realized that I would be sucked into drama the first day I had moved to Destiny Islands.