Just a few notes about this story. It's completely AU, and flames a couple of characters. Just a warning… Nobody's gay or anything, and it includes a couple of BBS characters, and completely screws Vanitas. He won't be in this story, or even exist. For sake of convenience, the worlds are all connected, be it by portals or whatever you want. The only time you're gonna see Disney characters in this fic is as minor characters, such as teachers or students in other classes. This story technically includes OCs, but it's because I make the characters act different then they usually would, and because there are some characters that aren't in the Kingdom Hearts universe.
High School Never Ends.
"Roxas, you're lucky. It looks like my summer vacation is… over."
Sora woke up to the sound of his radio at full blast.
Four years, you'd think for sure
That's all you've got to endure…
He lifted his right hand and flailed it around, attempting to find the snooze button.
He eventually found it and tried to go back to sleep. Moments later, his mother realized that he hadn't come downstairs yet. "SORA!" She yelled.
Sora tried to roll over, but ended up on the floor. He pushed himself up and balled his hands into fists. In one fist, his Keyblade appeared, and he felt tempted to slash at something. He let his rage go, and got rid of his Keyblade. "Coming Mom." Sora grabbed the towel from the back of his door and walked into the bathroom.
About fifteen minutes later, Sora came out of the bathroom, fully dressed and ready to go. He went back to his room, grabbed his messenger bag, and pulled an Mp3 player out. He put one earbud in, and clicked the play button. The same song that was on the radio was the song playing.
All the total dicks,
All the stuck-up chicks,
So superficial, so immature
Sora went downstairs to find something to eat. He looked in the pan that was left on the stove, and found a few strips of bacon and a heap of eggs and hashbrowns. He scarfed them down in a minute and headed for the door. He slipped on his shoes and grabbed some money for lunch. "Bye Mom!" He shouted as he opened the door and left.
Jeez Mom, I'm going to a boarding school for a year, and you can't bother to see me out the door?
Then when you graduate
You take a look around and you say
HEY WAIT!
This is the same as where I just came from
I thought it was over,
Aww, that's just great.
Sora was to busy air-drumming his way down the driveway to notice the girl walking down the driveway next to his. Both earbuds in, she was listening to Utada, lost in the music, but in a different way than Sora.
Both were completely oblivious to each other. Sora turned right at the foot of his driveway, heading for Riku's place. The girl turned left, over to her friend's house for a ride to school. Sora had his eyes closed, rocking out, while she was staring up at the sky.
The two crashed into each other, sending books flying everywhere. Sora had picked all of his own books up, and was repeating "I'm sorry!" over and over again. The girl was frantically picking her books up, until both of them picked up the girl's copy of some teen magazine. Some celebrity was on the cover, and the headline went something like "Five ways to tell if he likes you!" Sora let go of it, blushing a little. The girl took it and stuffed it into her bag.
"Thanks." The girl was zipping up her bag, hardly acknowledging Sora.
"Was it just me, or did we have the same books? What high school are you going to?" Sora had stood up, and extended his hand to the girl to help her up.
The girl took it, and stood up. "Oblivion Prep, first year. You?"
"The same. I'm Sora." Sora was thinking to himself. She looks really familiar, Is this her? The girl I saw last night?
"Nice to meet you, I'm Kairi."
"What electives are you taking?" Sora was scratching the back of his head.
"Art, Drama, and World History, with AP combat instead of regular combat."
"Really? You're taking AP combat? What kind of weapon do you use?" Sora had summoned his Keyblade.
"Same as you." Kairi summoned her Keyblade, Destiny Place. "So, what electives are you taking?"
"AP Magic, World History, and Metalworks, with AP combat." Sora got rid of his Keyblade, as did Kairi.
"Oh, I get it. You're taking magic to learn about the Keyblades, and you're taking metals to make keychains. Genius." Kairi's Mp3 Player switched to "Simple and Clean", her favourite love song. Weird. I don't remember putting this song on the playlist. Is this some kind of sign?
"Yes I am." Sora laughed.
"So, I guess I'll see you at school." Kairi began to walk away.
"Wait! I forgot something! What homeroom are you in?" Sora turned around.
Kairi stopped, and pulled out a piece of paper, most likely a timetable. "Mouse, room 358."
"Me too!" Sora smiled. "See you around." The two continued on their paths, both with pounding hearts. Sora's messenger bag began to emit a sound. He pulled his cellphone out and read the text from Roxas.
From: Roxas
Hey, man. Hope you enjoy that dump of a school. See you in a week!
Sent at 8:06 AM
Sora responded. "I…Think…I…Will…Met…A…Girl…Already." Sora muttered as he typed. He closed his phone and continued walking to Riku's house, 36 Havoc Bay.
He arrived at Riku's door, and knocked on it. Riku opened the door, carrying his bag. "Ready to go?" Sora's heart was still pumping, and Riku could hear it.
Riku laughed. "I'm guessing you just met Kairi." He stepped out the door and walked down the driveway with Sora.
"How would you know?" Sora blushed.
"I can hear your heart beating. I've also met her, and she's quite pretty." Riku laughed a little. He pushed his glasses, rims colored slate blue, up the bridge of his nose.
"Pretty? That's it? She's H-O-T hot!" Sora exclaimed.
"You know I never talk about girls that way. It's disrespectful." Riku checked his cellphone for the time. "C'mon, if we don't move faster, we're gonna be late. Let's get over to Cloud's already."
"Y'know, I think I danced with her last night, at the party." Sora put his hands behind his head.
"Oh, I'm sure you did. I saw you from the soundbooth. I felt tempted to change the song just then." Riku laughed. Sora hit him in the side and kept walking.
The two walked across the street, and down the next block, Etienne Avenue, to Cloud's house. Sora's heart had settled a little, and he had completely calmed down. Riku knocked on the door and Cloud let them in. "Hey, guys. Just wait in here for a minute. I've just gotta grab my bag." Cloud left, turning left down a hallway. He returned in a minute, and yelled "Bye Mom!" After receiving no response, he muttered "She's probably still asleep." They left the house, and Cloud opened the garage door.
Two cars were sitting in the garage. One was a terrible, ancient beater, everything rusted, everything broken. Cloud muttered "Thank god that one's not mine." As he turned to the other car, a 2010 Chevy Camaro, black as night. Two white stripes went down the hood, and over the top of the car. Cloud unlocked it, and opened his door. Sora and Riku stepped aside, as he pulled it out of the garage. Sora and Riku piled into the backseat. As Riku asked Cloud about something at Oblivion Prep (Cloud was a grade 11 student, how else could he drive?) Sora began daydreaming.
Last night, the last night of freedom for the next ten months, everyone went out to the island. Cloud and Sora had been out all day, collecting firewood for a giant bonfire. Roxas had been put on food duty, and he had gone to the grocery store to collect items for the night. The list that Sora had given him consisted of:
30 Packages Hot Dogs
1 Package Veggie Dogs (For Selphie ._.)
32 packages pure chocolate bars
40 Boxes Graham Crackers
lots of Ketchup
lots of Mustard
24 Bags Hot Dog Buns
Chips (All kinds, as many bags as possible.)
Tons of cans of soda
As many bags of marshmallows as you can get :D
Whatever else you can afford with the leftover money.
Roxas smiled as he looked down the list, and collected the items with ease. He knew Sora would eat most of the marshmallows himself. Sora had left him 5000 munny to get everything he needed to.
Tidus and Wakka were put on collecting twigs to use for roasting the marshmallows. They had collected enough sticks for the entire main island.
Riku was put on music duty, and was cooped up in his room for half of the day, formulating playlists of popular songs. He loaded his laptop up with thousands of songs, and downloaded a program for taking requests. He wouldn't leave his station unmanned, but if he had to, he would, and that program would keep going without him.
Sora put Selphie in charge of spreading the word. She took her cellphone out and mass-texted every person in her contacts about the party. After about ten minutes, she was done.
"Great, Selph. Thanks." Sora checked the list of things to do. "Would you mind doing decorations?" Sora handed her a pouch of munny and she nodded.
Riku left his room, and began carrying equipment. The speakers on his computer would not be strong enough to cover the island, and he was planning to make it so people back on the main islands could hear. He grabbed his phone and called Cloud.
"Hello."
"Hey, Cloud. I'm ready for your help now. Be sure to bring the speedboat."
"Got it. I'm on my way." Cloud began walking to the dock, and waved at Sora to signify his absence.
Cloud arrived quickly, and by the time he was there, Riku had brought about half of the equipment and wires down to the docks on the main island.
"You sure you actually need all of this?" Cloud followed Riku back to his house for the rest of the equipment.
"Absolutely. We're gonna blow the roof off of the island. Figuratively speaking, of course."
Cloud laughed at Riku's attention for detail. There was not much equipment left, and it took two or three trips to get all of it to the speedboat. They loaded everything in quickly, and skipped the main dock at the island. They headed straight for the side with the paopu tree. Sora saw them coming, and ceased to carry firewood, which they had collected far more than enough of. They began to take the equipment up to the deck that connected one of the smaller islands to the bigger one. Riku set up a table for his laptop and soundboard, and began pointing out places to hang speakers. He pulled out some small chips with antennae on them, and attached them to speakers before Cloud or Sora took them away. He flipped a switch on one of the boxes he brought along, and just as Sora hung the last speaker, double-clicked on one of his favourite songs, "Animal I Have Become" by Three Days Grace. He skipped to the chorus, and cranked the volume.
SO WHAT IF YOU CAN SEE,
THE DARKEST SIDE OF ME
NOONE WILL EVER CHANGE THIS ANIMAL I HAVE BECOME
HELP ME BELIEVE
IT'S NOT THE REAL ME
SOMEBODY HELP ME TAME
THIS ANIMAL
Riku turned the song off, and smiled in approval. He looked down to see Sora and Cloud, both looking quite dazed. Sora gave him a thumbs up while cloud pulled out his currently ringing cellphone. He hit the "answer" button, and yelled "HELLO?" into the microphone.
Roxas was on the other end of the line. "No need to shout, man."
Cloud's ears re-normalized, and he said (in a normal volume) "Sorry, Riku just tested the sound. How's the shopping?"
"I'm all done. Can you come and get me? I've got all this crap at the docks. I had to get a forklift from the store to help me get all this stuff here."
"I'll be over with the speedboat in a second." Cloud jumped into the boat, and made sure that he splashed Sora as he went by. As he left, Tidus and Wakka arrived with a boatload of sticks.
Roxas was waiting at the docks, and he wasn't kidding about the forklift. Cloud opened up the cargo bay on the boat, and the forklift dumped everything into the boat, and then pulled away. Roxas jumped in and they went back to the island. Everyone approached the speedboat, and began unloading stuff and taking it to the shack. A drenched Sora gave cloud a dirty look, to which he replied with a smile.
Selphie arrived, with her boat full of bags of decorations, with a second boat behind her, which appeared to be full of tiki torches.
"Woah, Selph. What do you have in there?"
"Roman candles, party poppers, leis, glowsticks, lanterns, the like." Selphie began pulling bags out, which Riku came over to take from her. He stored everything in the shack, while Roxas arranged the piles of torches, and spread them out in a way that would evenly distribute the light emanating from them. Sora grabbed the lanterns, which were made out of some kind of oriental paper.
It was nearing sunset, and Sora began to light the torches and lanterns with Fire magic. It took both Roxas and Riku using Fire magic to light the bonfire, which was blazing high. The rest of the wood, which there was an extreme excess of (Sora estimated that there would be enough to feed the fire until morning.).
Sora went over to the little island, which had been left completely undecorated. He overlooked the whole island, and admired their work. Riku was over at the sound booth, plugging some wires in and doing a final soundcheck. He pulled out a turntable and put a large, vinyl record under the needle. He began to scratch it along with "Tik Tok" By Ke$ha. Sora gave him a thumbs up.
Roxas was over at the pool, casting Blizzard magic to make ice cubes. He ended up making one massive cube, which he broke up with one of his Keyblades, Oblivion. He began to load the massive pile of ice into the pool. Sora ran over to help with the drinks. They ended up making multiple trips between the shack and the pool, because Roxas had bought way too many drinks. In the end, the entire pool was full of ice and soda, and was almost overflowing.
Riku was talking to Wakka. "So, what do you do when somebody gets here?" Sora had asked Riku to tell Wakka to take "Door" duty.
Wakka replied with his thick accent. "Put a lei around their neck and welcome them to the party. Right, brudda?" Riku nodded. Wakka ran off to the other side of the island.
Sora was over talking to Selphie about the invitations. "So, how many people do you think you invited?"
"I don't know. I just texted every freshman student going to Oblivion Prep this year."
"That might be a little crowded, but sounds good." Sora ran off to check on everything else.
The sun was continuing to fade into the horizon, painting the waters a pale gold, which got deeper as time passed. Everything visible had a slight tint of orange in its color. On the other side of the island, the moon was beginning to make its appearance, and the golden skies began to fade to black. Boats were filing in at an insane amount, and Wakka was having a hard time keeping track of all the people. Tidus had gone over to help with handing out leis. The entire coastline was covered in boats.
Back on the other side, people were filing in and checking the place out. Riku had a pair of headphones around his neck and was scratching along to some techno song. Roxas and Cloud had just finished filling the barrels with chips, graham crackers, marshmallows, and chocolate bars. Sora was stacking the sticks for roasting marshmallows and hot dogs in a neat pile, just far enough from the fire so they wouldn't get burned. Somebody had stacked the hot dogs and buns in pyramids on a table that was set aside. Seeing that everything was in order, he made his way over to the secret place to begin working on his secret project. He pulled the vines aside and slipped in.
Next to a small pile of firewood he had set aside for next week was a massive pile of fireworks. He had to find a way to get these up to the treehouse without being seen. Sora remembered the small hole in the top of the cave. He cast Gravigra to levitate them through the hole, and the rest was guesswork. Miraculously, Sora blindly piloted them straight into the treehouse. He arranged the pile of wood into a small fire, not nearly as big as the other one outside. He went through the tunnel to go outside, half expecting the party to be in carnage by now. He breathed a sigh of relief when he went out to see that everything was under control, and people appeared to be enjoying the party. He slipped on a small earpiece, and talked into it. "Wakka, how're we doing out front?" a small blur of static later, he heard "People are still flowing in. How many did Selph invite?"
"She told me she invited the entire freshman class at Oblivion Prep."
"Our school must be huuuuge then."
"How're the 'odds' looking?"
"Amazing, man. These girls are fiiiine."
"Good. Riku, how's the situation up there?"
"Under control. Requests are already pouring in."
"Awesome. Cloud, what are you doing?"
"Kicking back on the Paopu tree. Nothing much to do."
"Care to check if anyone's got anything they shouldn't?"
"Hm?-Oh, I get your drift." Sora could see Cloud pull out a pair of binoculars. "Nothing visible right now, but I'll keep an eye out all night."
"Why do you still have your buster sword?"
"Intimidation." Cloud said as Sora laughed.
"Great. Selphie, how are we for food?" Sora listened intently, but all he could hear was a muffled-moan? "Selphie? Selph? SEEEEEEELLLLLPH!" ' What if she's getting killed? I gotta go find her.' He went over to the shack to check in there. He peered inside to see her making out with a guy. He closed the door and shook his head, trying to get his mind on something else. 'Jeez, I overreact.' He thought to himself. He put his finger on the headset's switch, turned it off and took it out.
He turned around and felt like he was hit with a two-ton bus. Inside Sora's head, the rest of the crowd seemed to darken, and a spotlight was put on the girl. She was wearing a pink dress, with zippers down the side, and a white blouse underneath, which contrasted her auburn hair. She turned around, revealing the black hood at the back of her dress. He didn't know it then, but that was Kairi. Sora snapped out of his trance as the music stopped. He looked up to the soundbooth, looking for an explanation.
"Okay everyone. We're gonna slow things down a bit for this next song." Riku typed a few words in on his computer and clicked the trackpad. 'Simple and Clean' began to play.
When you walk away
You don't hear me say
Please, oh baby, don't go
Simple and clean is the way that you're making me feel tonight,
It's hard to let it go
Sora began looking around for the girl. He looked around, but couldn't see her anywhere. He felt a tap on his shoulder, and turned around to see the girl. "Looking for me?" She asked as she held out her hand.
You're giving me
Too many things, lately
You're all I need
He smiled at me, and said
"Y-yeah. Y-y-you wanna dance?" Sora's voice was shaking. He felt his heart begin to race and his face flush.
"Of course." The girl took his hand and pulled him out onto the beach, which was acting as a dance floor. They stood, facing each other, She laughed at Sora, who was still as a statue, frozen in shock. She guided his hands to her hips, and Sora kept them there. The girl put her hands on his shoulders, and they began to sway back and forth. Sora stepped on her foot once or twice, but she didn't seem to mind.
Hold me,
Whatever lies beyond this morning
Is a little later on
Regardless of warnings
The future doesn't scare me at all,
Nothing's like before
Riku looked down from the soundbooth, saw Sora dancing with the girl, and smiled. He tapped the 'speak' button on his headset and said "All eyes on the dance floor, people. Sora's found someone."
Cloud put his binoculars up to his face and looked to the beach. "Good for him." He mumbled. Selphie opened the door to the shack and immediately saw Sora. "Awwww…" Selphie was pulled back into the shack by a hand. Tidus and Wakka poked their heads in through the door that separated the sides of the island, and laughed. Roxas grunted from the top of the shack.
The song soon ended, but Sora and the girl remained together. Riku noticed, and picked out a loud techno song to snap Sora out of his trance, cranking the volume.
HA-TA-LA-HA-TA-LA-HA-TA-LA-HEY
PLAY MY SITAR EVERY DAY
HA-TA-LA-HA-TA-LA-HA-TA-LA-HO
WHY STOP PLAYING, NO NO NO
The girl finally noticed that the song had ended, and she blushed, seeing that they were still holding each other. She let go, which 'woke' Sora up. "Sorry." He muttered.
"It's okay." The girl began to walk away. "See you around."
"Wait! What's your name?" He called after her. But it was too late. He sulked and stuck his earpiece back in and turned it on.
Cloud looked up to see a guy with a guitar playing along with the song on the deck. "Crazy guy at 10 o'clock. Should I take care of him?"
Riku looked up from his computer to check out the 'crazy guy'. "Nah, it's okay. It's just Demyx." He went back to his computer, formulating a playlist out of requests.
Cloud responded after pondering what a sitar was. "Okay, that's fine. Let me know if there's any trouble."
"Got it."
Sora checked his cell for the time. '11:37. Not too long to go until the fireworks.'
Static came over Sora's earpiece. "What?" he whispered into the mic.
"The barrels are running on empty." Roxas said from the other side.
"Then refill them! Just go into the shack and grab more stuff."
"But… Selphie's in there…"
"Still? You've gotta be kidding me. Ok, go see Cloud. He's got an airhorn. Then come to me after, and I've got some duct tape up in the treehouse. I'll give you further instructions when you get here."
"Got it." Sora could see Roxas running over to Cloud. Cloud pulled the airhorn out from his jacket, and Roxas came running over to him. Sora went into the treehouse, and pulled a roll of duct tape out of it.
"Okay, let's go to the upper entrance." Sora and Roxas made their way over to the second entrance to the shack. Sora stepped in, certain that Selphie wouldn't hear him. He taped the button down on the horn and threw it down the stairs. He ran out to a laughing Roxas. The two of them heard a scream come from inside the shack and saw Selphie and a guy with blond hair run out the lower entrance. "Problem solved." The two walked in and retrieved a copious amount of chips, crackers, marshmallows, and chocolate. They re-stocked the barrels and checked the pool to see how many drinks were left.
"We bought way to many drinks, but we need more ice." Roxas summoned Oblivion, made a giant ice cube with Blizzard, and broke it up into smaller cubes. "There we go." He said as he pushed the pile of ice into the pool. "Forgetting something?" Roxas pointed at the shack, which still contained the airhorn, full volume.
Sora walked in, took the strip of tape off, and the airhorn stopped. He checked his cellphone for the time again. '11:50. Better get up there.' "Roxas, I need your help. I've got some fireworks to set up for a finale at midnight. Can I count on your help?"
Roxas nodded. "They're in the treehouse. Let's go." Sora climbed the ladder and made a gesture to Riku at the soundbooth, and Riku nodded. Sora pulled the curtain away from the doorway of the treehouse and went in to grab some fireworks. He handed Roxas a large pile, and told him to put them everywhere. Sora grabbed a pile himself. He used Gravigra to send them in different directions, evenly spreading them around the island. Roxas did the same. Sora checked his watch for the last time and put it away. "Midnight. It's time." Riku turned the music down and Sora said to Roxas, "When I finish talking, light all of the fireworks."
"Got it."
Sora jumped down to the soundbooth and grabbed the mic from Riku. "Okay, everybody, thanks for coming out tonight. We put a lot of work into this party, and we hope you all enjoyed it. I hope to see you all tomorrow at Oblivion Prep!"
Roxas cast a huge Firaga and sent fire everywhere as Riku cranked the volume for the last song of the night. "One more thing everyone: high school never ends!" Sora pumped the mic into the air.
Four years, you'd think for sure,
That's all you've got to endure
All the total dicks
All the stuck up chicks
So superficial, so immature
Fireworks went flying everywhere, and exploded in hundreds of different colors. Everybody looked up into the sky and started jumping up and down.
Then when you graduate,
You take a look around and you say
HEY WAIT!
This is the same as where I just came from
I thought it was over,
Aww, that's just great.
Cloud, Selphie, Roxas, Tidus and Wakka made their way over to the soundbooth. "One more surprise." Riku said as he pulled a guitar out and handed it to Sora. Sora put it on over his shoulder and began to play along with the song.
The whole damn world is just as obsessed
With who's the best dressed and who's having sex
Who's got the money, who gets the honeys
Who's kinda cute, and who's just a mess
And you still don't have the right look
And you don't have the right friends
Nothing changes but the faces, the names, and the trends
High school never ends!
The crowd began to chant along with the song.
Oh, oh, oh oh oh oh, oh oh oh oh, oh oh oh oh
HEY!
Oh oh, oh oh oh oh, oh oh oh oh, oh oh oh oh
HEY!
Check out the popular kids,
You'll never guess what Jessica did
And how did Mary-Kate lose all that weight
And Katie had a baby so I guess Tom's straight
And the only thing that matters
Is climbin' up that social ladder
Still care about your hair and the car you drive
Doesn't matter if you're sixteen or thirty-five
Reese Witherspoon, she's the prom queen,
Bill Gates, captain of the chess team
Jack Black, the clown
Brad Pitt, the quarterback
Seen it all before, I want my money back!
By then, the entirety of the main island was awake, and pretty annoyed.
The whole damn world is just as obsessed,
With who's the best dressed and who's having sex
Who's in the club and who's on the drugs,
who's throwin up before they digest
And you still don't have the right look,
And you don't have the right friends
And you still listen to the same crap you did back then
High school never ends!
Oh, oh, oh oh oh oh, oh oh oh oh, oh oh oh oh
HEY!
Oh oh, oh oh oh oh, oh oh oh oh, oh oh oh oh
High school never ends!
Sora went into a full-out guitar solo, on his knees, waving his guitar all around, and still managed to hit every note with perfection.
The whole damn world is just as obsessed
With who's the best dressed, and who's having sex
Who's got the money, who gets the honeys
Who's kinda cute, and who's just a mess
And I still don't have the right look,
And I still have the same three friends,
And I'm pretty much the same as I was back then,
High school never ends!
Oh, oh, oh oh oh oh, oh oh oh oh, oh oh oh oh
HEY!
Oh oh, oh oh oh oh, oh oh oh oh, oh oh oh oh
HEY!
Oh, oh, oh oh oh oh, oh oh oh oh, oh oh oh oh
HEY!
Oh oh, oh oh oh oh, oh oh oh oh, oh oh oh oh
HEY!
The whole crowd gave a massive roar. Sora bowed, and then everyone began to leave. Tidus and Wakka left to go help everyone find their boats, and Selphie left with the guy she was making out with before. The tiki torches had gone out, and the fireworks were all gone. Sora checked the food supply. "We're almost out of everything. Wanna finish it off?" Roxas, Cloud and Riku nodded.
Sora rolled the barrels over, and carried some sticks over. "So, when are we gonna clean all of this up?"
Riku shrugged. "Is there any reason why we can't leave the stuff? I'll just take my laptop and stuff, but I think it's safe to leave the rest."
Roxas, Riku and Cloud grabbed everything they needed, and sat down on a log. The fire had shrunk down to a normal size. They roasted marshmallows and talked forever. Tidus and Wakka returned, and they talked until the sun began to peek over the horizon. They all left the island, and attempted to get an hour of sleep before their parents woke them up.
In another flashback (Roxas')
When he was back in bed, something Sora had said to Roxas struck him as profound, and downright familiar.
"Roxas, you're lucky. It looks like my summer vacation is… over."
Roxas rolled over and, in hindsight, realized it was pretty stupid for the football team's running back to be up until 5 AM the night before an out-of-town away streak. He decided he would catch up on sleep on the bus and closed his eyes for a few minutes.
*End of Flashbacks*
Sora felt someone punch him in the arm. "Sora! Wake up." Riku was staring at him.
"Sorry, spaced out. I was remembering the party last night." Sora thought back to Kairi and sighed.
The radio DJ just finished up an interview with a celebrity and was reading out a weather report. "Allright, Islanders, it's gonna be a beautiful day today! 35 degrees Celsius and sunny. It would be terrible to have to be at school today."
Sora sighed when he heard the radio. Cloud heard him. "Don't worry, the first day is orientation. You find your rooms, listen to a few speeches, and then the day is yours. I think I'm your tour guide."
Riku pulled out a piece of paper and read something. "It says that all of the groups get two tour guides. Who's the second one?"
Cloud pulled into a parking spot, and a pink-haired girl approached the car. Cloud opened the door, took the girl into his arms, and kissed her. They separated, and cloud responded. "This is your second tour guide, and my beautiful girlfriend, Lightning."
Lightning frowned a bit. "Cloud, you know I prefer Claire." She turned to Sora and Riku. "It's nice to meet you. Welcome to Oblivion Prep."
"I'm Sora." Sora looked down at the sword at Claire's hip. "Is that a Gunblade?"
"Yeah. It's called Blazefire Sabre. Do you have one?" Claire pulled it out and showed it to him.
"Nah, I just used to know a guy who did. I've got this." Sora summoned his Kingdom Key.
"I've got one too." Riku summoned Way to the Dawn. "I'm Riku, by the way."
"Two Keyblade masters in one grade? The last time that happened was almost fifty years ago." Claire stared in awe at their Keyblades.
"It's not only two. I know for certain that there are two other Keyblade masters. Their names are Roxas and Kairi." Riku stared at Sora when 'Kairi' came out of his mouth.
"Really? Kairi too?" Riku stared at his Keyblade, and Sora nodded.
Claire's jaw dropped. "Four? You've gotta be kidding me. You two, Kairi, and Roxas? That's insane!"
Cloud checked his watch. "Woah, we'd better get to Ultima Hall. The assembly is starting soon. Cloud took Claire's hand and led Sora and Riku to Ultima Hall, which was a massive multi-purpose room, with a split floor (meaning it has two heights, not that the floor is broken.).
The four took seats closer to the back of the hall, and waited for the principal to come out. His name was Mr. Eraqus, and he seemed to be kind. He gave a short speech, which they didn't really pay attention to, and then left so that the Student Council President could give her speech. Her name was Aqua, and she seemed extremely intelligent, and obviously knew what she was doing. She said some stuff about the school, some rules to follow, and something about academics. She then beckoned for her vice president to come up. It was - Roxas?
"Isn't that Roxas?" Sora whispered to Cloud.
"Nah, that's Ven. He's in my grade. They sure do look alike, though." Cloud whispered back.
The speech was over soon enough, and Cloud and Claire stood up, Claire carrying a sign that said 'Mouse, 1-4'. Four other signs went up, and students began to flock to them. About thirty went to each. Each group left, going to their classrooms. On the way to the room, Cloud and Claire introduced themselves to the rest of the group. Their homeroom was down the main hall, and the second door on the right. Once again, the four of them took seats at the back, and waited for the teacher to come in. Nobody actually saw him come in, in fact nobody saw him until he stood up on a stool.
"Everybody, quiet down!" The class silenced in an instant. "Thank you. My name is Mr. Mouse, but just call me Mickey. I'll be your homeroom teacher, and I'll also be your English teacher. There's not really much else to say, but I'm just going to take attendance and then we can formally introduce ourselves. I prefer first names over last, so I'm calling you out by the name your parents gave you."
"Lexaeus?"
"He's gone for football."
"Aerith?"
"Here."
"Xigbar?"
"Here."
"Demyx?"
"Here."
"Fuu?"
A girl raised her hand.
"Hayner?"
"Here."
"Ienzo?"
"Here."
"Saix?"
"Here sir."
"Kairi?"
"Here." Sora looked over at the source of the response. Kairi smiled at him, and he smiled back.
"Axel?"
"Here."
"Luxord?"
"Here."
"Namine?"
"Yeah?" The girl looked up from her nails and nail file. "Oh, here."
"Olette?"
"Here."
"Paine?"
"Here."
"Pence?"
"Here."
"Quistis?"
"Here."
"Larxene?"
"Here."
"Rikku?"
"Here."
"Riku?"
"Here."
"Rinoa?"
"Here."
"Roxas?"
"Gone for football." Sora answered.
"Selphie?"
"Here."
"Sora?"
"Here."
"Tidus?"
"Here."
"Tifa?"
"Here."
"Wakka?"
"Here, brudda."
"Xion?"
"Here."
"Yuffie?"
"Here."
"And, Yuna."
"Here."
"Okay, just let me send this in." Mickey hit a key on his computer. "Okay, let's get down to business. Do you two want to join us?" He said to Claire and Cloud.
"Why not." Cloud replied.
"Okay, let's get started. Stand up, give us your name, and two things about yourself. We'll go up the attendance list."
"My name is Yuna Triplus, my favourite sport is Blitzball, (Tidus and Wakka cheered) and I like to sing." Yuna sat back down.
Yuffie stood up. "I'm Yuffie KSaixragi! I'm a ninja, and I used to live in Radiant Garden." She sat back down.
The next girl stood up. "I'm Xion Triste. I like reading, and I have a Keyblade."
"Hold it right there." Mickey stopped Wakka from getting up. "How many of you have Keyblades?"
Sora, Riku, Xion, and Kairi shot their hands up, and summoned their Keyblades. "Roxas has one too, but he's not here." Sora said.
Mickey's jaw dropped. "Anyway, let's continue."
"I'm Wakka Blits, and my favourite sport is blitzball, and all day I dream about blitzball."
The names continued, and everyone introduced themselves. The buzzer rang, which was a telltale sign that it was time to move onto the next class. Cloud and Claire led the group past the library to the next class. Sora caught up with Cloud. "Where are we going now?" He asked.
"We're going to Mr. Eis's class. Science." Cloud shuddered.
"He's a little… crazy. Don't mess around in his class or mention Mr. Florum." Claire rolled her eyes.
"Okay… one more thing. What's the rule on cellphones?" Sora patted his pocket.
"No see, no hear. Leave your phone on vibrate if you plan on texting in class. With Florum, leave it silent. He claims he can hear the vibrations. Nobody knows if he can, but it's better to leave it on silent. It's a detention if you get caught, but most of the teachers are oblivious to it, and some, such as Mr. Highwind, and Goofy." Claire rested her hand on the hilt of Blazefire Sabre.
"And the teachers just let everyone walk around with their weapons at their sides?" Sora summoned his Keyblade and played with the keychain.
"That is a privilege you have to earn. As soon as you impress the combat teacher, you're cleared to carry your weapon. Otherwise, it gets stored in the combat room. Keyblades are an exception for the storage, because you can summon them on demand." Cloud scratched the back of his head. "It's near impossible to get the approval of Mr. Akuma, especially in freshman year. I'd say in your case, Sora, you'll get the privilege around December probably."
"Aww." Sora frowned.
"Okay, we're here." Claire addressed the class. "Word to the wise, Mr. Eis is C-R-A-Z-Y. Don't mess around with him."
The class filed in and took seats at the lab tables. Sora sat down at a table with Riku at the left, and nobody on his right. Kairi filled in the empty spot. "Welcome, students." Mr. Eis said. "I am Mr. Eis, your science teacher. I am passing around a syllabus for the course this year at the moment. Keep it, and refer to it when needed." Mr. Eis passed around papers.
A blond-haired boy at the back didn't like the size of the sheet. "This thing is like, five pages long! You've gotta be kidding me."
Mr. Eis turned around. "What is your name, young man?"
The boy looked up. "Seifer. Seifer Almasy." He said with a cocky grin.
"Well, Seifer Almasy, that is a detention. Go to Room 124 for 3:30 after school."
Mr. Eis filled out a slip of paper and brought it back to him.
"And what if I don't?" Seifer said.
"Then you will get another one, and another, and another, until you have enough to get kicked out." Mr. Eis flashed a creepy grin. Seifer shut up. "Okay, time for attendance."
Mr. Eis went through attendance rather quickly, and then proceeded to explain how his course will be run. "This year will be split into three. Physics, Biology, and Chemistry. We will start with Chemistry, with the elements and the makeup of an atom, and then move onto Biology, around December. We will begin biology by looking at the cell and the nucleus, and then look at genetics, and finish that third of the year with sexual and asexual reproduction (A couple of students giggled.) Please, class, be mature. We will round off the year with physics, studying electricity and circuits. I will not go in-depth on the subjects at this moment, but we will begin our classes tomorrow. Classes are shortened tod-"
The bell rang at that moment, and the class exploded out the door. They split into two groups, and took different routes. Cloud took one half, and Claire took the other. They kissed before taking their groups. Sora got put in Claire's group, along with Riku, Kairi, Xion Triste, Saix Ookami, Axel Honoo, and Tifa Lockhart.
"Where to now, Claire?" Sora walked along with Claire.
"Combat. In your group's case, A.P. combat. I'm surprised at the size of the group. Usually it's bigger. I guess all of the good fighters are in other classes." Claire explained.
Claire was wrong. The entire class was from 1-4. The teacher, a silver haired man with a single black angelic wing, walked into the room carrying a masamune. "I am Mr. Akuma, or Sephiroth. However, to call me by my first name, you must earn my respect. I assume you are here for A.P. Combat. This looks… unpromising. This is the smallest class I have ever seen. I might as well take attendance. When I call your names, summon your weapon as well."
"Hato!"
"Here." Kairi summoned her Keyblade.
"Hikari!"
"Here." Sora summoned his Keyblade.
"Honoo!"
"Here." Axel summoned two chakrams in a blaze of flame.
"Jiku!"
"Football." Sora said.
"Lockhart!"
"Here." When Mr. Akuma called no other name, she said, "I don't use a weapon."
"Ookami!"
"Here." Saix summoned a claymore.
"Shigi!"
"Here." Xigbar summoned two arrowguns.
"Supia!"
"Football." Xigbar said.
"Triste!"
"Here." Xion summoned her Keyblade.
"Yami!"
"Here." Riku summoned his Keyblade.
"And Yugure."
"Football." Sora responded.
"We've got ten minutes. Might as well get started teaching. How many of you have had intensive training before this class?" Everyone raised their hand. "Good. Lightning, would you mind going around to help?" Claire nodded. "The regular combat class will be practicing with struggle bats. This is AP combat. We go straight to weapons.
" Get into a line. Battle stances!" Mr. Akuma yelled.
Everybody got into their battle stances. Kairi bent her knees, held her Keyblade out front with the teeth facing ahead and widened her stance slightly past her shoulders. Sora slightly bent over, widened his stance, and held his Keyblade facing the side,, pointed ahead slightly. Axel bent his knees a bit and began to swing his chakrams at his side a little. Tifa got her fists up and widened her slightly. Saix held his Claymore behind his back in an inverted grip, with no real change in stance. Xigbar combined his arrowguns into a sniper rifle and crouched down, crosshair at his eye. Xion took a stance similar to Sora's, holding her keyblade towards one side with two hands. Riku raised his Keyblade into the air, above his head and held his left arm out front.
"Let's see what you've got." Mr. Akuma put his hand out and summoned 8 Heartless. He summoned three Neoshadows, which went after Saix, Kairi and Xion, two Wight Knights, which went after Axel and Tifa, A Crimson Jazz, which went after Xigbar, A Stalwart Blade, which attacked Riku, and an Invisible, which went straight for Sora.
"Screw it." Sora muttered to himself. Nobody else even got a chance to attack. He went into final form and dispatched all of the Heartless in the room. He reverted to see a very angry Mr. Akuma.
"HIKARI! What are you doing? That was completely unnecessary and over-the-top. And you know what?" Mr. Akuma yelled at him. "I'm impressed." Mr. Akuma returned to his regular tone. "I'm giving you your weapons pass. Enjoy it. And call me Sephiroth now. You may be good enough to fight me by the end of the year."
"Thanks, Sephiroth." Sora smiled.
"Lightning, would you take care of Sora? I'm going to work with the rest of these miscreants." Sephiroth summoned seven more Heartless and set the others to work. Claire nodded. She led Sora over to the other side of the room.
"Okay, let's just spar. No drive forms, no magic. My Gunblade versus your Keyblade." Sora saw a hint of a smile from Claire.
"You're on." Sora and Claire sparred for the rest of the class, with Claire eventually tiring out.
The bell rang, and they met the Combat class outside of the room. Sora attached his Keyblade to the chain on his shorts. He went to talk to Tidus."So what did you guys do in Combat?"
"We fought with struggle bats. That's it."
"Sounds fun. I got my weapons pass already."
Cloud overheard, and came over to him. "You're kidding. Prove it."
Sora pulled it out. "Is it December already?" He said mockingly.
"What did you do? That's never happened before." Cloud's face was turning red.
"Went into final form and killed all the Heartless myself."
"Of course you did. Typical Sora." Cloud pulled his pass out. " I got mine in October!"
"Don't be jealous, Cloud. You've got me, and he doesn't." Claire wrapped her arm around his shoulder and put her head on his shoulder.
Kairi looked at Cloud and Claire and imagined that it was she and Sora. She sighed. Was he the boy I danced with last night? It was definitely him. But did that even mean anything?
Cloud and Claire took them to the rest of their classes, which didn't take much time. They were done around noon, and they were shown to their rooms. Sora got put into room 358, and was sharing it with two other guys. The dorms were all one building, split down a hallway, gender-wise. Sora was on that hallway. One of his roommates walked in. "Riku!"
"Nice! We're sharing a room." Riku looked around. There was a main area with a TV, couches and tables, three bedrooms, two bathrooms a kitchen, and a rec room. "It's a good thing our parents are rich. And all of our luggage is here. Wait, who's got the pink luggage?
"Not me." There was a knock on the door. Sora opened it. "Hey, you must be our third room- Kairi?"
Kairi was surprised as well. "Room 358?"
"Room 358."
"Well, this could be a little awkward. It's a good thing we got the biggest room in the dorm." Riku approached the door. "Why don't you come in? We'll give you first pick of the rooms.
"Okay." Kairi picked her stuff up and went to look at the bedrooms. She picked one of the smaller ones, as she would feel uncomfortable in a bigger room. Also, the room she picked had a built-in lock. She dumped her stuff off and came back out. "I've chosen. Go ahead, boys."
Within minutes, Riku and Sora were fighting over the biggest room in the dorm.
"I went in first! That means it's mine!"
"Does not!"
"Does too!"
"Does not!"
"Does too times ten!" Sora went for his Keyblade.
"Calm down, you two!" Kairi took a quarter from her purse in her room. "Riku, call it in the air." Kairi flipped the coin.
"Heads."
The coin fell. It spun around and around, and finally landed on tails. Sora dumped his stuff in the room and began to organize it. Riku and Kairi stood at the door to his room.
"How long is he going to take?" Kairi whispered to Riku.
"Give him half an hour." Riku whispered back. "Wanna go grab lunch?"
"I'd love to." The two snuck out and went to the school cafeteria.
The cafeteria was back in the main school, and it was big enough to fit the whole school in at once. There was a slightly raised stage, about two feet above the rest of the floor, and three vending machines to the right. The entire west wall was windows, looking out on the amphitheatre. Ten rows of tables were lined up, and chairs stacked in piles of five on top. The North wall had the canteen in it. Riku pulled a stack down and laid them out. He pulled a chair out for Kairi, and she sat down.
"What would you like?" Riku asked her.
"I'm starving. A cheeseburger, fries, and a can of Kingdom Cola." She replied.
"Sure." She's gonna get along with Sora just fine. Riku walked up to the canteen and ordered. "Two cheeseburgers, two orders of fries, a can of Kingdom Cola, and a bottle of water."
The student working at the canteen brought the food out. "Ten dollars." Riku gave him a ten.
"Thanks." Riku grabbed a tray and put all of the food on it. He walked back to Kairi and gave her the food.
"Thank you. How much was it?" Kairi reached for her purse.
"Forget about it. It's on me." Riku said.
"Thanks."
The two ate in silence, and then talked a little.
"So, where did you go to school last year?" Riku asked Kairi.
"Radiant middle school." Kairi replied. "You?"
"Me and Sora went to Destiny Junior High." Riku sighed. "The teachers were atrocious."
"Same at my school. And the drama program was terrible!" Kairi slammed her soda can on the table.
"Yeah. I heard the one here was really good. You gonna audition?" Riku took a sip of water.
"Yeah, of course. What about you?" Kairi asked.
"Nah, I'm more of a behind-the-scenes guy. I'll be on the stage crew." Riku got up and checked his watch. "He should be done by now. If we get in quietly, we may even get a surprise."
Kairi got up and followed Riku back to the room. "He's done." Riku put his ear to the door. "Looks like you'll get to hear him play and sing."
They opened the door and crept in. Now that the door was no longer between them and the room, they could hear Sora playing guitar.
It was a simple pattern of four or five chords, but it was still beautiful. Kairi recognized the song and began to sing along.
You're giving me
To many things lately
You're all I need
He smiled at me and said
Kairi moved into Sora's room and sat next to him on his bed. Sora was surprised to see Kairi, but kept on playing. Their two voices mixed, Sora singing in a lower key and Kairi in a higher one.
Don't get me wrong I love you,
But does that mean I have to meet your father
When we are older you'll understand
What I meant when I said no
I don't think life is quite that simple
Kairi and Sora continued their duet for the rest of the song. "Wow… I didn't know you could play so well."
Sora looked at her with a puzzled look. "Weren't you at the party last night? I played there."
"I had to leave after we danced." Kairi explained.
"So it was you! I wasn't sure." Sora exclaimed.
"What other songs can you play?" Kairi admired the acoustic guitar in Sora's hands.
"That depends. What are you thinking of?" Sora asked.
"Other songs by Utada?" Kairi guessed.
Sora picked his guitar up and began to strum. He stopped for a second. "Hey, Riku? Do you have the keyboard?"
"Yeah. Do you need it?" Riku yelled back.
"Yeah."
Riku brought the keyboard in and set it up. He plugged the keyboard and asked, "What song?"
"Sanctuary." Sora turned to Kairi. "You wanna sing?" Kairi nodded.
Riku began to hit keys on the keyboard and play the opening bars to "Sanctuary."
Sora began to strum along.
In you and I
There's a new land
Angels in flight
My sanctuary, my sanctuary, yeah
Where fears and lies
Melt away
Music inside
What's left of me, what's left of me now
I watch you
Fast asleep
All I fear,
Means nothing
In you and I
There's a new land
Angels in flight
My sanctuary, my sanctuary, yeah
Where fears and lies
Melt away
Music inside
What's left of me, what's left of me now
The song continued, and Sora eventually joined singing.
My fears, and my lies
Melt away
"Where did you two learn to play like that?" Kairi asked.
"Unlike the teachers and the sports at our old school, we had amazing music program. Everyone from our old school plays like a pro." Riku said. "Oh, you guys should come out here. I set the TV and computer up."
Riku showed them the setup, with surround sound and a 46 inch plasma screen TV. There was a computer tower mounted in the wall next to a DVD player and a cable box. There was a mouse on the table for operation the computer. "Woah! How did you do this?"
"This is nothing for him." Sora said. "I'm going to go check the room listings."
Sora left out the front door.
Kairi sighed as Sora walked out. "Predictable. You're crushing on him." Riku said rather flatly, like it happened all the time.
"Hm? No, of course not!" Kairi said, face turning red. "I have a boyfriend, I'll have you know."
"And just who would that be?" Riku asked, cocking his head to the side.
"A boy from my old school. You wouldn't know him. He doesn't come to this school." Kairi flipped her hair. Nice save.
"Still, it doesn't matter. Every single girl that Sora meets falls in love with him. First they see him, which is when they like him, then they talk to him, and just acting like himself makes them like them even more, and once they hear him play his acoustic guitar, they're in love with him. It's easy to see, especially if you're his best friend. Unfortunately for you, he could get any girl he wants, and he's completely oblivious to it. Which, in many cases, makes girls fall deeper in love with him. So, if you want anything deeper between you and him, dump your "boyfriend" and tell him how you feel instead of waiting for him to tell you." Riku said. He walked out to go to his room. Kairi left for her room as well.
Sora returned with a sheet of paper. "Guys! I got a copy of the room listings! You'll never guess who's next door!"
Riku and Kairi came out of their rooms. "Who?" They both said in unison.
"According to the map, Claire and Cloud are in room 357!"
Kairi took the map and checked room 359. "And my friends Olette, Xion and Rinoa are next door! I'm gonna go over and say hi!" Kairi left.
Sora looked over at the door in the wall, next to Riku's bedroom. "Hey, what's this door here for?" Sora opened it. "Another door. With no handle…" He knocked on it.
On the other side, Claire and Cloud were just finishing setting everything up. They heard a knocking on the door and both unsheathed their weapons. Cloud grabbed the handle, and swung the door open. Claire jumped forward and pointed Blazefire Sabre at the person on the other side.
"Woah! Woah, woah, woah, woah. Woah!" Sora cried.
Claire dropped her weapon. "Sorry, Sora. Thought you were a heartless or something."
Cloud came out from behind the door. "So it's a double door. Our rooms are connected. It's like a hotel."
Riku popped up from behind Sora. "Actually, it is a hotel. According to the history and layout of the building, it was obviously a hotel at one point. For example, the cafeteria in the basement was once a conference room, and it's the reason there's a pool. Thanks to our obscenely rich parents, apparently we got the suites."
"Who else are you two sharing with?" Claire picked up her Gunblade and re-sheathed it.
"Kairi." Sora answered. "How did you two get the room to yourself?"
"Easy. We got a two-room suite, you got a three." Cloud answered.
"So who do you have on the other side of your room?" Riku asked.
"Two guys, Ienzo and Pence. Ienzo looks like he should be in fifth grade, but he's a genius." Cloud muttered something inaudible under his breath.
"Riku, don't you know those g-" Sora turned around and Riku was gone. "Hm. Whatever. Kairi's friends are on the other side of us."
"Good for her." Claire smiled. "So, what are you up to now?"
"Nothing really, just about to get some food." Sora could smell the aroma of warm, toasted sandwiches and some sort of soup waft in from the kitchen in the adjacent suite.
"Oh, I just finished making some food. We've got enough for three. Wanna join us?" Claire beckoned for him to come in. Sora bolted through the door. "I'll take that as a yes." Claire laughed.
Sora and Cloud sat down at the table, round and wooden with four chairs surrounding it. Claire set down cutlery and a glass of water for Sora. She proceeded to bring out bowls of piping-hot soup, and some sort of turkey club sandwiches.
"Wow, this looks great!" Sora said, with a hunger in his eyes. He reached for a half of the sandwich, and a memory of something his mother said struck him
ALWAYS WAIT FOR EVERYONE TO BE SEATED BEFORE YOU START STUFFING YOUR FACE!
Sora mentally slapped his hand, and it retracted to his side. Claire sat down, and Sora suddenly dug in. After a few bites, he came up to breathe. "This is great, Claire! How do you make food this good?"
"Actually, I didn't make this all by myself. Cloud helped me with a lot of it." Claire looked over at Cloud, who had a satisfied look on his face.
The three of them slowly worked away at their food. "Sora, have you met my little sister? She's in your grade." Claire looked up from her food.
"No, I don't think I have. What's her name?" Sora had just finished off his food.
"Serah. Riku and her would become fast friends." Claire smiled a little.
"Why would that be?" Sora was poking at his plate with a fork.
"She's a straight-A student. A typical genius." Claire laughed. "She might give him a run for his money."
"Not to mention she's almost as beautiful as Claire." Cloud pushed a noodle around the bottom of his soup bowl.
"Oh, stop." Claire blushed, and punched Cloud in the arm. "Only problem is, she's going out with this jerk football player Snow. He'd beat up any boy within a five-foot radius of her."
"Riku doesn't stand a chance." Sora had gotten up to clear his plates.
"I'm pretty sure she's on the main floor, room 157. So, right below us." Claire's pocket vibrated. She pulled out a cellphone, the same pale-pink as her hair, and read a text message. "And apparently, she's going to the library to check it out right now."
Sora's pocket vibrated too, and he pulled his cellphone out.. "Same with Riku. It's a good thing the football team's on an away streak." Sora cleared the rest of the plates and checked the time. "Not to dine and dash, but I've gotta go. Signups for drama start in a few. Bye!" Sora left through the double door and exited his own door, grabbing a key on the way.