Radiant Garden Prep Academy.
The words were in a beautiful cursive and arched above Roxas as he took in the massive school. There were about five two story buildings, not to mention a couple of small buildings that scattered the premises. His parents weren't kidding when they said they wanted him to get education from a proper school. He fixed his earphones and upped the volume of his music to calm down the butterflies in his stomach that were making him queasy and to still his hands from shaking with apprehension.
It's now or never, he thought as he sluggishly made he way into a building that had a sign above it reading 'administration office' in nice fancy letters. He searched for the door that had the plaque 'main office' so he could get his schedule and once he found it, he stood in front of it contemplating whether he should stay or go back home.
"Are you just going to stand there or are you going to go in?" A tall muscular silver haired male looked at the young boy who was just glaring at the door. "It's not going to spontaneously combust into flames the harder you stare at it. Trust me I tried." He chuckled lightheartedly in an attempt to get a response out of the teen. "Hey are you-"
"What's the hold up? Move Riku!" And with a rough shove Riku slammed Roxas's chin into the metal door.
"What the fuck man!" Roxas exclaimed after he recovered. He tore his headphones out and glared at the idiot who pushed him. "What the hell was that for?!" His eyes widened at the two men in front of him, realizing he should have thought before he opened his mouth but it was too late to back down now.
"Sorry kid, I didn't mean to-" Riku was once again interrupted.
"Whoa, listen here you little shit. We are your goddamn elders therefore you treat us with respect, so you better fucking get it memorized!" A fiery redhead glared down at the blonde who was currently giving him an incredulous look.
Slowly turning to the silver haired man who didn't seem fazed by the redhead's actions he asked, "You're shitting me right?"
"Hey what did I just tell you?!" Roxas yelped as the demented redhead pulled his ear. "That is your teacher so respect him or else I will shove my foot so far up your ass that-"
"Ahem." Three sets of eyes looked at a gentle woman who was dressed in pink and had a disapproving face on. "Should I even ask?"
"Oh Aerith! Save me!" Roxas pulled his ear free from the demon and fled to the safety of Aerith's arms. "This...buffoon," Riku snorted at the description while his counterpart twitch in irritation, "started to randomly terrorize me after his friend bumped into me. That's it. I've made up my mind, I don't wanna go to school here." He crossed his arms and glared at the idiot who made his day from eh to bad.
"Mrs. Gainsborough, that twerp instigated this whole mess. Let me just teach him a lesson."
"Axel, please stop while you're ahead." Riku held the bridge of his nose between his index and middle finger. It was too early to be dealing with this he hadn't even had his cup of coffee this morning.
"What really happened? And, I want to here from Riku." She looked at the two males who opened their mouth to make sure they understood.
"Just your average idiot being an idiot," Riku ran his hand through his hair in a nonchalant fashion while Axel started to sputter cuss words. "Now if you'll excuse me," he nodded to everyone before going through the door.
"Fuck this, I'm going back to my room and making the worst pop quiz ever." Axel turned and began to walk in the direction from where Roxas came from.
"I want to go home." Roxas said flatly.
"Oh don't be like that Roxas!" Aerith ruffled his hair before going into office. "You're here to experience your teenage years to the fullest. This school is one of the best in the world and that's not taking into account our wonderful teachers as well as our amazing athletic standings. Plus, your peers are understanding and open-minded. You'll meet new people who have the same interests as you do who'll eventually become your friends. You might even find yourself a nice girl here," nudging Roxas, who was tinted pink from her comment, before opening her office door. "Or a guy, whoever catches your eye first," she commented offhandedly.
"Oh god," Roxas dug the heels of his hands into his eyes to stop blushing from Aerith's comment. "First of all, I'm straight. Secondly, I'm already enrolled so you don't have to read off a brochure."
"Sorry, it's usually the parents that I have to sell on coming, I don't know why though." Aerith shrugged and turned on her computer.
"I wonder why... Oh it could be that your teachers are certifiably insane!"
"Not all of them," the headmaster giggled at the glare Roxas gave her and opened up a folder on her desktop. "You'll have to forgive Axel, he's one of the younger teachers here so he forgets that he has to actually act professional. And for Riku, he's a perfectly normal so you don't have to worry about him."
"Well-"
"How bout this, if you don't find any friends before lunch you can come here and we'll eat together." She gave him a motherly smile
"Thanks but no thanks. If that doesn't scream socially inept then I don't know what will." He sighed exasperatedly before rubbing his forehead, "But I was going to say I'll give this school a try. Can you give me my schedule so I can at least attend the last ten minutes of first period?"
Aerith nodded and printed out the necessary papers, she handed them over with a small smile. He stood and murmured thanks as he grabbed them and left the room. He searched the papers trying to find his class schedule and a school map, sighing he put in his earphones but didn't turn on the music.
"Remember Roxas, I'm here if there's anything you need." He gave his mother's best friend a lopsided smile before exiting her office.
"Hey kid!" Roxas turned to see the silver-haired male from earlier. "Oh so you aren't going to pretend to ignore me now?"
"What? Oh no! I'm sorry about earlier," Roxas rubbed the back of his neck. "I was just trying to gather the courage needed for the first day of school."
"Hate to break it to you but the first day of school was a week ago." Riku held in his snicker at Roxas's panicking look as he tried to explain why he didn't come to school last week. "I'm just teasing you. We get loads of people coming back to school late."
"Really? Why?" Roxas looked at the clock and saw that there was no way he'd make it in time for first period and decided to waste time until second period starts by talking to the silver haired male.
"You've seen this place, it obviously didn't fund itself." Riku saw Roxas nodding his head in understanding, "Students are out enjoying their last moments of summer freedom before coming here so more often than not they stretch it out into the first week of school which is why us teachers dish out loads of quizzes and homework which forces those over privileged brats to work harder and do extra credit and whatnot."
"Does that mean I'll have to work harder too?!" Roxas looked at Riku in horror. He knew he should have been here on the first day but nooo he wanted to rebel and now he was going to pay the price.
"Nah, I'm sure that they'll give you some leeway since you're new here." Riku walked toward the exit and beckoned Roxas to follow. "Let me see your schedule so I can give you tips on how to deal with your teachers."
Roxas handed over his class schedule and his phone began to play a snippet of his mom's favorite song from his favorite band.
A little flower told me that you didn't go to school last week. I'll give you 24 hours to come up with a good reason why I shouldn't come back and show you how important it is to go to school :)
XOXO,
Mom
"Hey is that from Oblivion's new album?" Riku handed back Roxas his schedule and the teen shook his head putting his phone back in his pocket.
"It's from an EP they released a couple years ago, but they remade it and put it in their new album. It's my mom's favorite song so I put it as her ringtone." Roxas folded his schedule and put it in his pocket. "So any tips for me?"
"Sorry but you're screwed," Riku laughed at Roxas's pout. "You're just like him."
"Who?"
"Oh no one. I'm actually surprised to see that you're a second year so sadly you won't have me until next year. Personally, the only one I'd watch out for is Larxene and maybe Axel when he gets in one of his moods."
"Oh Axel is the redhead right?" Roxas grimaced at the thought of being taught by an idiot.
"Haha, he's actually a really good teacher. How else would he be able to get a position at such an renowned school?" Riku smirked.
"For some reason I feel like you're tooting your own horn.." The teen laughed at Riku's cockiness.
The bell rang and the halls were filled with students chatting and laughing. Roxas felt a hint of claustrophobia and leaned closer to the wall to avoid getting bumped into by anyone when Riku grabbed his wrist and lead him down the hall.
"Uh, I have to get to class."
"So do I," Riku released his hand only to grab his shoulders and steer him up a staircase. "This is the literature building and my class is right next to yours."
Roxas felt the stares of students as they passed him. "Why do I feel like everyone is staring at me?" He tilted his head back to glance at Riku.
"Oh probably because you wore your uniform. Everyone knows that the first month is casual wear day." Roxas mumbled oh and was pulled to a stop in front of a class. "This is your stop. See ya later Roxas." Riku passed Roxas and waved.
"Thanks Mr. ...uhhhhmm," Roxas but his lip in concentration but couldn't remember his name.
"Its just Riku, calling me by my last name makes me feel old." He laughed and flicked his hair, "Also the other teachers go by their first names too."
Roxas sighed as he watched Riku wave and say hello to students passing by before entering a classroom.
"Sexy right? Man what I wouldn't give to have him do me all night long!" Roxas jumped at the sound of a feminine voice and saw a light brown haired girl with the tips of her hair turned upward. "But sadly that property of Sora so I think I'll just ogle over other teachers if I was you."
"Whhaa? Selphie don't say that!" Roxas turned his attention to a red-faced brunet. "Don't listen to her! She's crazy!" The teen proceeded to try to shut the older girl up who was now cackling at the embarrassment that she caused Sora.
"Heh, don't mind Selphie and Sora, they probably had too much sugar this morning. I'm Kairi Hikari, nice to meet you," the auburn teen held out her hand for Roxas to shake.
"I'm Roxas Strife." After shaking hands he scratched the back of his neck and thought of something else to say.
"Strife?! Dude! Your daddy one hot piece of-"
"Ms. Tilmitt, if I'm not mistaken you have a class to attain." A short man with steel-blue hair emerged from the classroom.
"Yup! I get to gawk at Riku for 45 minutes! How lucky am I Zexion?!" She laughed at her old literature teacher's blank face and skipped down the hall into Riku's classroom.
"Enough dawdling. Get inside you three." Kairi immediately followed the teacher into the room while Sora stayed outside.
"Hey! My name is Sora. Do you want to sit next to me?" Sora gave Roxas a genuine smile and continue, "I mean usually Kairi does but since we don't have a seating chart we can sit wherever and I'm sure she won't mind sitting somewhere else since you're new and all but if you don't want to sit next to me I understand seeing how you don't really know me but you can get to know me if you do sit next to me and-"
"Well if you don't mind then yeah I'll sit with you," Roxas chuckled at Sora who gave him a mega-watt smile and dragged him inside.
"Okay sit here next to the window and I'll sit right here next to you!" Sora pointed at the chair where Roxas should sit at and Kairi turned around in her chair.
"I can't believe that you replaced me with someone you just met! Me! Your best friend of 16 years!"
"Don't be so dramatic, it's actually 10 years since we really didn't connect until we were six," Sora laughed at Kairi's pout and leaned forward to ruffle her hair. "I'm joking Kai, I won't replace you with Roxas...yet."
The two of them laughed and Roxas watched with slight amusement. If this is friendship then Roxas decided that it would hurt to try it out.
"Right Roxas?" Roxas squinted in confusion at Kairi's question but agreed anyways, "Ah, cute, quiet, and easily agrees with me. The perfect man." She faked swooned as Sora sputtered out examples how he's quiet, cute, and sometimes agrees with her.
"Settle down students, you too Sora. I think Kairi wants to make it through second period without you hitting on her," the class laughed at Zexion's jab and Sora slumped into his seat the make himself smaller. "Now take out your books and turn to page 44. We're going to..."
Sora pushed his book closer to Roxas after noticing that he didn't have his book with him. Roxas mumbled thanks and pretended to read along.
"Man, was it me or did Zexion seem super boring today?" Sora asked after they exited the classroom.
"I'm sure it was just you Sora. Anyways I gotta hurry up and try to get to Larxene's class before she gives me extra homework again!" Kairi complained then leaned forward to give Sora a kiss on the cheek, "I'll see you two at lunch!"
"Are you two..." Roxas left the question unfinished but Sora knew what he was asking.
"Oh! No! We're just really friendly like that and stuff. Haha..it doesn't mean anything." Sora explained while blushing slightly.
"Do you like her?" Sure Kairi was pretty but Roxas knew he wouldn't want to date or kiss her.
"I, uhm, no comment!" Sora was full on blushing and tried to change the subject. "So what class do you have now? I'll walk you there since I have a free-ish period."
Roxas handed the brunet his schedule and checked his phone in an attempt to try to look busy.
"Woohoo! We have the same schedule! How lucky is that?! Alright let's go to Riku's room first since we really don't have to be anywhere." Sora grabbed Roxas's hand and dragged him down the hall. The door was opened but no one was in the room. "He probably went to go get some copies, just sit wherever."
Roxas sat in front of the teacher's desk and watched Sora close the door and turn off the lights.
"What are you doing?" Roxas felt slightly anxious. Oh god what if this dude is a sociopath and wanted to kill him?
"Shh, just wait."
Roxas was curious about what Sora was doing so he patiently until the door handle was being jiggled and the door itself was being opened. "BOO!"
"Sora, how many times do I have to tell you that I don't get scared?" Riku huffed and turned on his lights to see Sora with a pout.
"Can't you pretend you got scared?"
"Not really. Oh hey Roxas. How's school so far?" Riku put down the papers he got from the copy room on his desk and faced Roxas.
"Silly Riku! We only had one class so I doubt anything had changed from when you last saw him." Sora made a 'duh' face before talking to him about some homework assignment he didn't understand.
Roxas stared at the interactions between the two and couldn't help but remember what Selphie said about Riku belonging to Sora. Sora would pout at Riku's disinterest and would push him when he'd say something mean but the way the teacher would smile gently at Sora and how he would laugh loudly at the exaggerated motions the teen did nothing to dissuade Roxas from believing there was something going on there.
A knock at the door shook Roxas out of his thoughts and he waited to see if either Riku or Sora were going to get it. The two being caught up in their own world didn't hear the door not noticed Roxas getting up to open it. A blonde not much taller than Roxas stood at the door, his voice caught in his throat by her ethereal beauty.
"Hello, I see you're new here," she scanned his clothes and stared into his eyes. "My name is Namine, nice to meet you."
"I'm Roxas, uhm, come in?" He moved to let her in and she walked passed him to Riku.
"Hey you, I found this at my house. I think you left it yesterday." She handed Riku a folder and giggled when Riku began thanking her.
Before Roxas could react, he was being yanked out of the classroom by Sora who had an angry grimace on his face.
"Uh Sora?" They were going down the stairs and went out the building. "Seriously man, you're kinda freaking me out."
"Sorry, just.." Sora let go of his wrist and ran his hand through he locks. "I can't stand to see them together, even though they're not together. Does that make sense?" He tilted his head and Roxas slowly shook his head. "Namine graduated two years ago and a year ago she and Riku dated but they broke up now they just..."
"They fuck?" Roxas lifted his eyebrow. "Wait, do you like Riku? As in like like? As in you want to fuck him?"
Sora stared wide-eyed at Roxas and started to laugh. He leaned against the building for support and after he got all the giggles out he smiled gently at Roxas.
"Nah, I'm just a possessive kid. Riku is my best friend and he told me this weekend he was busy when in reality he spent it with Namine, like why lie?" Roxas nodded in agreement but caught the hint that Sora didn't want to talk about this anymore.
"So what next?" Roxas looked around and saw the courtyard empty with the exception of a few students walking in and out of buildings.
"We're gonna go to my next favorite teacher!" Sora got off the wall and began to make his way toward the next destination.
"And who's that?" Roxas followed the hyper brunet through an entrance that had the words 'Science Building' above it.
"Axel of course!"
A/N: This was actually supposed to be my first fanfic but it was really hard to plot out so after months of contemplating and figuring out the storyline here's chapter 1! I want to try to make it as realistic as possible so I'm not going to have the characters jump into the bed all willy-nilly so it might be slow-paced at the beginning. Anyhoo, hope you enjoyed the first chapter!
Tell me what you think about it in that little box below!
xoxo