Demyx strummed on his guitar. "When are you going Axel?" he asked the red-head standing next to him.

"Not until one-twenty, how 'bout you, Riku?" Axel gestured to the silverette on the other side of Demyx.

"I already went." Riku said.

"How'd you do?" Demyx asked.

"I got a one." Riku shrugged.

"A one? Dude, that's like the best score!" Axel gasped.

"Eh." Riku shrugged again, obviously uncaring. "It was nothing, really."

"What'd you sing?" Demyx asked him.

"Iris, by the Goo Goo Dolls." Riku answered.

"Oh! That's a great song! 'And I don't want the world to see me, 'cuz I don't think that they'd understand. When everything's made to be broken, I just want you to know who I am.'" Demyx belted out the chorus while strumming on his guitar.

Riku smiled, "Yeah, it is."

~~~

"We should go say 'hi' to them!" Sora motioned to the red-head, the silverette and the blonde with the mullet.

"No, Sora, we should not." Zexion said, flipping his hair out of his face.

"For once, I agree with Zexion." Roxas said gloomily.

"Well, you know what? I'm going." Sora hopped up. "And if you don't come with...well, who knows what'll come outta my mouth." Sora's eyes gleamed evilly, then he ran off.

"We better go after him. Knowing Sora, he wasn't joking." Roxas glanced over at Zexion who nodded slightly. They both got up and ran after him.

~~~

"- my friends Zexion and Roxas." Sora was saying to Riku who was glancing at Axel like 'Who is this kid?' "Oh hey guys." Sora said without a backward glance, as the two boys ran up.

"So, I'm guessing Zexion is the cute emo one and Roxas is the cute anti-social one." Axel said teasingly.

"Yupp." Sora said cheerily. "Zex, Rox, this is Axel, Riku, and Demyx." gesturing to each boy in turn.

"So..." Demyx sighed.

Roxas looked at each boy, then blurted, "Why are you guys here? Well, I-I mean, like solo, or duet. Instrumental or vocal..." He blushed.

"Guitar solo." Demyx looked down at his instrument. "And Ax here is doin' a drum solo." Demyx gestured towards the red-head, who nodded.

"What about you, Riku?" Sora asked curiously.

"Vocal." Riku mumbled. "What about you?" He asked, waving a hand to encompass the three.

"Drums." Roxas said.

"Violin." Zexion said, blushing.

"Vocal, also. What range are you, Riku?" Sora said excitedly.

"Tenor. You?" Riku said.

"Soprano." Sora said proudly.

"Really?" Riku asked, eyebrows raised. "I've never met a guy who had a high enough voice to be a soprano."

Sora grinned cheekily. "Well. I'm glad to be your first."

The six boys laughed.

Have you preformed yet?' Axel asked.

When Sora shook his head, Demyx asked, "You mind if we sit in?"

"Of course not!" Sora said excitedly.

"When're you preforming?" Axel asked him.

Sora looked at the clock, then his eyes widened in horror. "Five minutes! I have to find Ms. Gainsborough! She has my originals!" Sora took off running. The other five boys looked at each other, then took off after him.

Roxas took the lead, saying "C'mon, we can meet him at his room." They jogged down the halls, taking one turn, then another. "Room one-eleven!" Roxas announced as they stopped.
"Which one of you is preforming?" The lady at the door asked.

"None of us, our friend Sora, is." Demyx said. "We're sitting in on him."

"Oh, is he preforming soon?" She asked

"Yupp." Roxas said.

"Well you could go in if you'd like." She motioned for them to enter.

"Thanks." Axel said, waving politely. She nodded and they entered the room and sat down. The room was so small they wound up filling most of the desks.

Moments later, Sora ran in with his accompanist and handed his originals to the judge. He took his place in the the middle of the room, assuming good choral alignment. He took a few deep breaths.

"Whenever you're ready." The judge said, gesturing to the brunette. Sora turned to the accompanist and nodded. She smiled and started to play.

"Grew up in a small town. And when the rain would fall down, I'd just stare out my window. Dreaming of what could be, and if I'd end up happy. I would pray, I could break away." Sora sang his heart out. The five boys smiled as he belted out the chorus. " I'll spread my wings and learn how to fly, I'll do what it takes, 'til I touch the sky. I'll make a wish, take a chance, make a change. And breakaway. Out of the darkness and into the sun, but I won't forget all the ones that I love. I'll take a risk, take a chance, make a change, and breakaway."

The judge nodded and smiled, obviously liking the song. The small gesture gave Sora more confidence and he used it to really rock the song. "Wanna feel the warm breeze, sleep under a palm tree, feel the rush of the ocean. Get on board a fast train, travel on a jet plane, far away, and breakaway."

Everyone in the room beamed as he broke into the chorus once more. He put feeling into each word, his face expressing how deep into the song he was. He sang the next verse with as much enthusiasm as he had the chorus. "Buildings with a hundred floors, swinging 'round revolving doors, maybe I don't know where they'll take me, but I gotta keep on movin' on, movin' on. Fly away, breakaway."

Sora's voice went to piano as he sang the last chorus. "I'll spread my wings and I'll learn how to fly, though it's not easy to tell you good-bye, I gotta take a risk, take a chance, make a change. And breakaway. Out of the darkness and into the sun, but I won't forget the place I come from. I gotta take a risk, take a chance, make a change. And breakaway, breakaway, breakaway."

Sora's voice was pianissimo as he finished the song. Riku could see he had tears in his eyes, as did most of the room. Only Riku and Axel were unaffected. But even they looked moved to a point.

The judge wiped her eyes and said "Great job Mr. Locke. I am truly touched by your powerful performance."

"Thank you." Sora blushed, but looked like he was about to cry.

Demyx got up and hugged the boy, followed by Zexion, Roxas, and Axel. The five boys group hugged while Riku waited. As the other boys broke apart, Riku walked up and squeezed him tightly. "That was beautiful Sora. He whispered.

Sora tucked his head into Riku's shoulder and started to quietly sob. "Th-thanks." The brunette choked out.

Riku petted his head soothingly until eventually, he pulled away. He still had tears running down his cheeks when he scratched the back of his head and smiled sheepishly, "Sorry about that." He hiccuped, "I guess I just really got into it." He laughed.

"Aww! Sora! That was beautiful!" Demyx glomped the chocolate-haired boy. "And don't worry! I cried too!" He said, nuzzling the boy.

"Dem." Riku growled, glaring at the hyper-active blonde. "He looks uncomfortable, maybe you should let him go." Everyone but Sora heard the threat in Riku's voice. Demyx immediately released the boy and backed away a good five feet from him.

"Oh, no Riku! I wasn't uncomfortable! it's okay Dem!" Sora frowned, "You can hug me if you want."

Demyx waved his hands in front of him, as if to ward off the brunette. "Oh, no! That's okay Sora!"

"Oh, hey, I have to go get ready for my drum solo. See ya guys there." Axel said, then took off to get his music.

They had about ten minutes before they had to go to Axel's performance, so they stopped at the bathroom, then had some of Zexion's cracker. Then they made their way down to Axel's room.

Axel rocked his drum solo and they all congratulated him.

"Well, everyone from our school has performed, so we're gonna have to get going..." Sora said.

"Aw! That sucks!" Demyx whined.

"We definitely all have to get together and have a jam session." Axel said.

"For sure." Riku agreed.

Axel took out a permanent maker and grabbed Zexion's forearm, writing his number down on it. "Call me. We can have a PRIVATE jam session." Axel winked and Zexion turned bright red and hid behind his hair.

Demyx went and ruffled Roxas's hair, all the while slipping a piece of neatly folded paper into the smaller one's jeans pocket. "Text me, Cutie." Demyx smiled.

Riku approached Sora and kissed him on the lips, reaching into the brunette's back pocket, where he'd seen him put his phone earlier. He took it and pulled away grinning devilishly. While Sora blushed and put his fingertips to his lips, Riku quickly entered his number into the phone.

He handed the phone back and pecked the boy on the cheek, still grinning like a fool. "See ya around, Sora." Riku said seductively, then walked away with a wave, Demyx and Axel following him.

Later, on the bus ride home, Sora was still in shock. Zexion was staring at his arm in disbelief. "One, eight one five, four two nine, eight seven eight three?" The bluenette quoted. "You know what the spells out when you look at the letters?" He asked.

Roxas rolled his eyes and asked "What?"

"One, eight one five, 'H' 'A' 'W', 'T' 'S' 'TU' 'FF'. One, eight one five, HAW-TSTUFF" Zexion said in disbelief. "Do you think it's really his phone number?"

Roxas chuckled. "He seems vain enough for it."

"True" Zexion said, pulling out his phone and entering the number. Roxas pulled the slip of paper out of his pocket, studied it and burst out laughing. "What is it?" Zexion asked.

"Demyx's number is one, eight one five, seven six two, five three seven one." Roxas giggled.

"So?" Zexion grumbled.

"'R' 'O' 'C', 'K' 'E' 'R' one. Rocker-one" Roxas snickered.

Zexion joined his laughter. Roxas pulled out is phone and entered it.

"Riku's is one, eight one five, 'I' 'apostrophe' 'M', 'S' 'E' 'M' 'E'. At least, I'm guessing it's an apostrophe because zero is the symbol key. So his number is 'I'm Seme'." Sora said in a dead-pan. Zexion and Roxas looked at him. Sora showed them his phone. "One, eight one five, four zero six, seven three six three." Zexion read while Roxas's eyes jumped from key to key, spelling out the words.

"I'm seme." Roxas quoted. Both boys burst out laughing and continued to giggle occasionally on the way home.

Sora smiled to himself. He decided he wouldn't mind being uke to Riku.