Disclaimer: So very not mine.

A/N: Another attempt to work the rest of Sora, Kairi and Riku's friends into the fabric of their lives more than canon did.

You're a talented kind of boy, you are;
And that's just the kind of boy, you are;
Head up, hands up!

These are headstrong crazy days,
When your mind's made up
And the music plays.

-- From Headstrong by Ashley Tisdale

Headstrong Crazy Days

© Scribbler, August 2008.

"You can't swim out as far as me."

"Can so!"

"Your arms and legs are too skinny."

"They're so not! They're the same as yours!"

"As if. And you're shorter than I am."

"That doesn't mean anything!"

That was what started it. There had been more complicated challenges before, more fun, less fun, more difficult and easier. This one, however, was the one that popped up today, when the sky was clear and the water such a sparkling blue it was easy to think the Destiny Islands sat on top of a giant sapphire.

Sora was a strong swimmer. So was everyone in their little group. It came from living on a tropical island, where it was too hot to sit around watching TV all the time or just doing nothing. You couldn't help but bomb off the jetty into the cool sea, and most of his best memories were wet and full of white-capped waves.

Strong swimmer or not, when the tourists' speedboat with its thumping baseline passed too close, he tried to give it some room. They weren't nearly so accommodating. When their stupidly trailing line of empty beer cans smacked into his head, Sora went under and not one of them noticed.

His mouth and nose filled with water, and he flailed at the explosion of stars and sudden end-over-end spinning. Next thing he knew, he wasn't sure which way was up and his lungs were starting to burn. The line full of beer cans had come loose and caught on him, tangling his limbs and making him panic even more when he couldn't kick free.

Black was just starting to crowd his vision, like the last fading circle on an old cartoon, when someone grabbed him by his shoulders and yanked him upwards. His head broke the surface and he coughed, sucking down air so fast it made him cough even more, so that he was still spluttering when was dragged onto the beach.

"Hey, man, you okay?"

The thunder of footsteps, and a high-pitched voice squeaking, "Does he look okay? Give him some room!"

"Ouch! Quit shoving, Selph!"

"Sora?"

"Sora!"

"Sora, buddy?"

Sora cracked open his eyes to find out nobody had taken any notice of the 'give him some room' order. They fringed his vision like the black spots from before – silver and brown and auburn – but when he tried to raise his hands to push his own hair from his eyes he found them still restrained. He made a pained noise as the line dug into his arms and saltwater made the shallow cut sting.

"Screw this." Tidus popped the penknife he wasn't supposed to carry in his pocket and sliced him free. The beer cans clattered as they hit the sand, and again when Tidus kicked them aside.

"Idiots." Selphie screwed up her face and jumped to her feet, waving her fists at the speck of the speedboat in the distance. It hadn't even stopped to check what it'd hit. "Come back here, you idiots!"

"They can't hear you, Selph," Riku said solemnly, helping Sora to sit upright. Sora promptly brought up even more water over his friend, though Riku didn't seem to mind. "It's okay, get it all out. You'll feel better."

"Well I couldn't feel much worse," Sora coughed, wishing Kairi couldn't see him dribbling like a headcase, even if it was great feeling her hands help him sit up on his other side. He stood up when he could do so without falling over.

"Are … you okay, Sora?" asked the only member of their group who hadn't spoken yet.

Sora took a shaky breath. "This totally doesn't count as you winning, even if you did save my life."

Wakka, dripping wet but grinning, stuck out his hand and they clasped it in a promise to try again some other time.

Both Selphie and Kairi rolled their eyes. "Boys."

Fin.