The halls were filled with bubbling high-schoolers screaming, hugging and chatting as they all returned from the summer holidays. The heat had peaked and now was starting to cool, but that didn't stop the local girls from having too-short skirts.
Two boys stood in front of this monstrosity before them, the taller of the two, with a long red spiky mane and shinning green eyes with two upside down triangles underneath his eyes, stuck his tongue out as a group of girls walked passed him. 'Sluts,' was his only thought.
"Axel, read yet?" the second boy asked, peeping up at him with his aqua blue eyes from his long silver hair.
"Ready when you are, love," he smirked.
Wrinkles formed on the others forehead and nose. "I told you to stop calling me that, we're not going out anymore so you shouldn't!" He trudged off leaving the redhead to follow.
"Aw, c'mon Riku, it's just a bit of fun," he said as they reached the doors.
"Piss off, fag," Riku said as he opened the doors, only to find even more madness.
"This is gonna be a long term," sighed Axel.
"May as well get it over and done with," grumbled Riku.
The two friends parted ways to go to their lockers, Axel had never really gotten accustomed to school life, he had been home schooled right up until 3 years ago when his family moved house and his twin sisters begged their mum to let them have a 'normal life' and go to school. This wasn't Axel's choice, he would have loved to stay home everyday and sleep, but being out numbered 2 to 1, there was no chance.
Axel sighed again as he turned to head off to first period. As he turned he saw the two identical redheads that tortured his life.
"Hi Axel!" they yelled at the same time. Axel frowned at his annoying sisters Adria and Lacie.
"What do you want, squirts?" he huffed.
Both of them look up at him with innocent looks as they said in their cutest voice, "Mum forgot to sign our permission slips for the museum today," said Adria "So we were wondering if you could sign for us," said Lacie.
Axel sighed. "You need a parents signature, not you brother's"
"We know that," said Lacie "But we know you can do mum's signature," finished Adria hesitantly.
Axel didn't have time to argue as the first bell rang. He held out his hand and they both handed him their slips and a pen. He scrawled their mothers signature on both papers then shoved them back to his sisters as he ran to first period.
The late bell ran just seconds after he stepped into the room. His teacher gave him a warning look as he took his seat and pulled out his notepad. The lesson took it's time as every so often Axel jotted down a few notes. In the other time he drew random patterns on the back of his book. These drawings had no mean, no intention and no end. They always linked to something else, the pattern constantly changing just like his emotions. Axel took a minute to follow is drawing from the start, his hand lightly dragged over the flowing drawing, then he felt the dip, the day after his row with his family, he remembered how angry he was. Hesitantly he brought a hand up to his cheek where he remembered vividly of his mother slapping him.
"Axel!" someone shouted at him. He looked up to see Seifer, Rai and Fuu waiting at the door for him. The bell had rung and he didn't even notice.
"You coming or what?" Seifer shouted impatiently at him, Seifer was never nice to anyone, not even his friends. He was the bully of the school.
"Uh, y-yeah. Hold on a sec," said Axel as he quickly grabbed his things and chased after Seifer.
"Man there are some hot chicks in this school, mhmm. Oh, and their skirts just keep getting shorter and shorter." He stared at a girl, turning around as he walked to he could keep watching her as she passed. He caught a glimpse of Axel's face as the girl turned the corner.
"Why so glum?" he asked turning as putting an arm round his shoulder. Axel just grunted in response.
"Man, we need to get you some action. Your coming out tonight, were gonna get you a girl, then you can stop being so damn depressing!" he said triumphantly.
"Ah, no. It's alright, I don't need that." Axel argued.
"Corse you do. Who doesn't need sex!" he yelled loudly causing a few people to turn their heads.
Axel shrugged off his arm that was still around him as he reached his next class.
"I wont take no for an answer," Seifer called over his shoulder.
Axel sighed, again. He had sighed so much in the space of over an hour. He slumped into his desk that was next to Riku's. The class hadn't started yet and it still had a few minutes till it would, so everyone was chatting loudly and for some reason Axel suddenly couldn't take it. He placed his hands over his ears and jammed his eyes shut. This didn't help at all, his headache still throbbed. He groaned and released his clamped hands from his head. As he did so he could see three people walking down the corridor through his classroom door. It was the deputy principal and to young boys walking next to him. Both had extremely spiky hair and the colours weren't too far off from each other, though it was obvious that one was blonde. They looked nervous, their walk was very robotic and both of them clutched their bags tightly. Axel knew that look anywhere, they were new students. 'Poor things,' Axel thought 'Just their luck that they have to come to this hell hole.' But then suddenly the two boys turned around as they reached their classroom door, Axel's eyes were fixed on the blonde, his mouth popped open as he gazed at what he thought was 'perfection'.
But his sight was short lived as the three entered the room. Axel continued to stare at the spot where the boy had stood. He wanted him to come back, so that he could see him again.
Suddenly he felt a hard slap on his cheek.
"Whatcha staring at, idiot," teased Riku.
Axel slowly turned his head towards Riku, not wanting to drop is eyes from where the boy stood. When he did reach Riku's face he could see a deep curiosity in his eyes, that wasn't in his voice.
"Huh?" Axel said.
"Your staring at a door," Riku pointed out.
Riku obviously hadn't seen them, and Axel was slightly reluctant to tell him what he saw, just in case he made fun of him.
Axel brought a hand up to the spikes on the back of his head and smiled "Oh, y'know. Just daydreaming. About nothing in particular." He laughed as he stared at his notebook.
Riku opened his mouth to speak, but at that moment the bell rang and the teacher started the lesson.
Axel trudged off to the cafeteria, where Riku was waiting for him after third period. They both waited in line silently, Axel's thoughts fix on the blonde boy. He quickly scoped the room to see if he was there, but quickly dropped his eyes before anyone saw his anxiety. He didn't see him in his glance, which made his heart sink slightly. If he could just see him again he might be lifted a bit, so once he and Riku had sat at their usual table he looked again. This time he made it look as he had nothing better to do, randomly looking into the faces of the people in the over-crowded room. Still no luck. Axel dropped his head and stuffed a handful of chips into his mouth.
"What's up?" Riku asked.
"Hmm, what do you mean?" Axel tried to keep his voice level with little success. This caused Riku to lift an eyebrow.
"You've been acting strange since you said you were daydreaming in English."
"Really? Well, it's probably just cause this place is so damn boring." He tried to say with a smirk.
Riku shook his head. "Nope, you look different when you're bored. You were thinking about something"
"So you do stare at me. I knew you couldn't let me go." Axel straightened up and smiled menacingly.
"Would you shut up about that!" Riku said just a little to loud.
"You're getting overly defensive all of a sudden." Axel teased.
"How did this conversation change onto me? We were talking about how your not yourself." Riku grumbled.
"Che, yeah I know. I'm just good at changing the subject."
"Yeah, well you're doing it again. C'mon, what's with you today, you're acting really strange." Riku insisted.
"It's nothing alright, just leave it." Axel looked down, as he did he saw to young boys walk late into the cafeteria. Axel lifted his head as he saw the same blonde headed boy that he saw earlier.
He finally got to have a good look at him. He wore his uniform neatly, the uniform was mandatory but how you chose to wear it was your choice, he kept his bag tidy, no badges or key chains or graffiti, unlike Axel's bag which chimed with every step. He kept close to what Axel guessed was his brother, maybe twin. Axel groaned internally at the thought as he pictured his two annoying brat, twin sisters. He had bright blue eyes which Axel though made him even more perfect, blonde hair blued and completely innocent.
Axel had been staring at him for too long now. Riku turned in his seat to see what Axel was so fixated on. Axel broke out of his trace at Riku's movements and suddenly tried to grab Riku so that he wouldn't look. Axel could feel his face burn up, he was blushing madly.
"Riku!" he hissed under his breath. Riku pushed him off as he turned fully around and saw the two boys. Then to Axel's surprise Riku's jaw dropped, just the same as his did when he first saw them. Axel felt confused. He expected Riku to turn around and belt him with insults about how gay he is. But when he turned all he could see was him smirking. He looked up to Axel's face, his eyes full of understanding.
"So that's what it was, Axel has a crush!" he squeaked. Axel fought to cover Riku's mouth, which didn't work.
"SUSH! I don't anyone to know, especially not-" Axel was cut off at the sound of Seifer and his mates sitting down. Axel froze, his hands locked into place holding Riku's shirt.
"Are we interrupting anything?" he snickered. Axel yanked his arms back and Riku straightened his shirt.
"Nope," Riku said cheerfully "We were just talking about-" Axel sent Riku a death glare, warning him to not go any further. "a-about how hot Axel's sisters are."
Axel's glare strengthened at Riku's words. When Axel first came here, he beat up to kids for trying to grope his sisters, subsequently he was suspended for a week, that was how he met Seifer.
"Oh, yeah they are. I woul-" Seifer didn't get to finish his sentence as Axel stood and grabbed his shirt, releasing all the anger he had towards Riku at the moment.
"You got something to say about my sisters!" Axel yelled at the top of his voice. Every head in the cafeteria turned to the two boys, including the new kids.
"Go on say it!" Axel yelled again with a clenched fist ready to punch. Seifer threw up his arms defensively.
"Hey, man. I never said anything." he cried trying to calm Axel down.
"You were about to!" Axel's voice was still echoing around the large room.
"Axel!" two girls voices screamed in the silence. Axel looked away from Seifer to see his two sisters running towards him.
"Are you fighting over us again?" asked Lacie.
"Let him go Axel, he didn't do anything wrong." said Adria cautiously.
Axel was fuming at this point. He didn't let go he just stared at his twin sisters as they reminded him of something else. He didn't look, he didn't want to see their faces, especially not his. He couldn't live with himself if he saw that beautiful face scared.
"Axel…" Adria whispered as she stepped forward and touched the hand that was holding Seifer's shirt. "Let him go." At these words Axel's had dropped and Seifer fell onto the bench. Axel continued to look down, as he breathed heavily. He felt something form around his hand. He looked at it, it was Adria holding his hand tightly. He followed her arm and met her eyes. They were scared, but happy that he hadn't hurt anyone. Adria was always close to Axel, not like Lacie was. She really looked up to her brother and felt betrayed when he did something bad.
He reached up to touch her saddened face. Then she hugged him tightly. The chatter started again as the show had finished.
"I'm sorry," Axel whispered into her hair. It was true and he and Adria had a special connection, he deeply cared about her. Not that he didn't care about Lacie, it was just that she didn't do hugs and happy. Lacie was more of a tomboy, but all the same Axel looked up to her and offered her a hug as well. She simply stuck out her tongue and said "No thanks."
Axel smiled and let go of Adria, who had a few tears in her eyes. Axel wiped them away as she smiled and turned back to walk off with Lacie.
Axel huffed and turned to sit back down. Throughout the entire time Riku was grinning away. Axel glared at him as he sat down and noticed Seifer had run off.
"Not so tough is he," Axel said trying to get whatever was in Riku's mind, out.
Riku just half hummed, half laughed. It seemed that he couldn't speak.
Axel just ignored him and finished his lunch. Riku did the same, but at odd times he would snicker just a little at his thoughts. Axel shook his head at him as he went to dump his tray. As he turned around he bumped into someone, someone small.
"Oh, sorry mate." Axel said as he looked down to see the brown haired twin. He looked up at Axel and half smiled.
"It's alright, partly my fault." he said as he got rid of two trays and walked off. Axel stared at him for a second, rubbed the back of his head and walked out the door. Heading towards to art block to his next class. He slumped against the wall and looked at the sky. It was clear blue, no clouds or anything to get in the way.
"This place is too perfect," he mumbled to himself. He let his head fall and as he did something caught his eye. It was bright, it stood out against the grey buildings around him. It was the beautiful blonde that his mind had been on all day. Their eyes met and without realising it the blonde started to walk towards him. Confused, Axel stood up. He watched him walk slowly towards him.
A shrilling sound smashed against Axel's eardrum. He cringed and looked up, he was right under where the bell was situated, which had just chimed to alert students about fourth period. Axel quickly looked down too see the blonde rushing off to his next class. 'So close,' he thought.
Axel gathered his supplies and headed into his class. The rest of the day flew by, with Axel contemplating over why the boy had wanted to see him, he should have just gone to his next class, but instead he followed Axel.
Axel was still thinking about the blonde as he walked towards his car. On the way he saw Seifer, who seemed to be over the experience at lunch. He ran over to Axel. He knew he was not going to apologise so he kept walking.
"Axel," Seifer called. Axel sighed and turned around. Seifer caught up to him and threw an arm around his tall shoulder.
"You're still coming out tonight, Ax. I don't care what you say, you need it," he grinned.
"Uh, yo-" Axel started.
"Nah!" Seifer said dropping his arm and walking off. "I'm not gonna take no." and with that he vanished.
'But I'm gay,' Axel thought as he left.
Axel waited by his car for his sister to arrive. He played with his car keys as he waited. Getting bored of that he looked around as he did he saw, once again the twins walking together. They were obviously going to get picked up as they headed towards the middle of the parking lot and not the exit. As they walked the blonde glanced up, feeling someone's gaze. He met Axel's eyes, and for once instead of just staring like a dummy, Axel smiled.
The blonde look flustered as he half smiled back. He quickly dropped his gaze as he reached his mothers car. Axel turned around to watch the car drive off. Just before the car turned the corner the blonde turned around in the back seat and raised his hand goodbye. Axel didn't have time to react as the car drove off and his sisters arrived at the same time.
"What took you guys so long?" Axel demanded as he got in the car.
"Oh, you know just hanging out with our boyfriends." Lacie said casually.
"WHAT?" Axel screamed.
Lacie laughed at Axel's reaction.
"You're so mean, Lacie." murmured Adria. "Don't worry Axel, we don't have boyfriends." she assured him.
"Well maybe you don't…" hinted Lacie.
"Uh, I really can't believe you Lacie." groaned Axel as he pulled onto the main road. "I don't know where you get your attitude."
"It's kinda similar to yours, Mr. Over-react-and-shout-a-lot." she teased putting her arms around Axel from behind the seat.
"Hey, don't distract the driver, just stop messing around till we get home. OK?"
Lacie retracted her arms and pouted the rest of the way home.
'Well first day back is over,' Axel thought to himself 'But it looks like the term has only just begun' he grinned as he followed the winding road through trees to his large family home on the only hill on the island.