Sunset Shore is a small town on the very tip of Daylight's Peninsula. It is the last bit of land before the great Atlantic Ocean. The town is a small, close-knit community of mainly middle-class families. These are the suburbs after all; the typical kind of Suburbia where mothers drive their children to soccer practice in their minivans and then treat them to McDonald's afterwards.

Roxas had been here on countless occasions, but never to stay. At least not for good. He'd lived his whole life in another small town about an hour away called Twilight Town.

His older brother Cloud had decided just a few months previous to uproot the two of them from the home his parents once owned to a small house on the same quiet street that his Aunt Millie and cousin Sora lived on.

Roxas can remember countless family get-togethers, on the holidays and such, where Sunset Shore had seemed to be just as quiet and plain as his own home town. There were very few differences. Now, however, the place seemed large and formidable and…well, intimidating. He'd left his friends and neighbors to move to a new town, and start a new school where he knew nobody and nobody knew him.

Okay, so that was kind of a lie. He knew his cousin Sora who was now to be a senior at Sunset Shore East High School. Roxas also knew that his cousin had two best friends that he'd been close to since Kindergarten.

Even so, Roxas was entirely uncomfortable with the idea of starting in a new high school half-way through. He would be going into tenth grade, and while the idea had seemed exciting in June, it was now a nightmare in early September. In Twilight Town he'd had his friends. And although life was dull and uneventful sometimes, it was at least comfortable. Now he felt like a fish out of water.

Roxas sighed as he opened another cardboard box, pulling out little knick-knacks wrapped in newspaper. The first item he unwrapped was a frame with a picture he and his friends had taken just a couple of months ago. The four of them were smiling, arms slung around shoulders, crowding to fit into the picture. He sighed again, ran a hand through his tousled blond hair and set the frame on his empty desk.

He continued to unpack more of his belongings, and slowly but surely his rather empty room filled up. A few hours later, he plopped down on his un-made bed and admired this new room. It was bigger than his room in the old house was, and there was no puke-green carpet, nor Barney stickers from his toddler-hood. It was like a fresh, new sanctuary where he could feel completely home.

Roxas had just flicked on the lamp on his desk when Cloud opened his door and said, "Dinner's ready."

"Alright. Be there in a sec," Roxas said, taking one last glance around his finished room before following Cloud into the kitchen.

The house had nearly the same lay-out as Sora's and it was slightly odd to see the same house with different belongings in it. Roxas sat down at the table, careful to avoid the many boxes labeled 'fragile'. Cloud put a carton of Chinese take-out in front of him and mumbled something akin to "Eat up."

"Take-out? I thought you were gonna cook," Roxas said sarcastically and he piled lo mien onto his fork.

"Pfft, please," Cloud smiled. "So, I see you finished your room."

"Yeah. It feels good to have it done. Like I may actually be able to sleep in there tonight."

"That's good. I was worried that even a small transition like this would be too stressful. I mean, it's only been a few months since…" Cloud trailed off and his smile disappeared. He shoved some more chicken in his mouth when Roxas didn't answer.

"So, school starts tomorrow," Cloud offered, trying to get rid of the tense energy that had settled over the table.

"Yeah. I'm actually nervous," Roxas said, frowning into his lo mien.

"Well, it's a lot, Rox. I mean, this is our first night here, and you have school in the morning. That'd be stressful on anybody."

"It wouldn't be so bad if I had friends here."

"You do, though. There's Sora and Riku and…what's 'er name? Kairi? See? Three friends already."

Roxas scowled. "I don't get along with Riku and…Sora's just…Sora. He may be older but he's almost like an annoying younger brother."

"Yeah, like you," Cloud teased, earning a small smile from his younger brother.

The rest of the evening passed quickly, as Roxas helped Cloud put away all their dishes and mugs and pots and pans.

Roxas set his alarm clock, and crawled into his freshly made bed, sighing as he worried about tomorrow. He contented himself with the thought that at least he wasn't transferring in the middle of a semester. But it'd still be like being a freshman all over again. That was something he'd really rather not re-live.

He turned out the lamp on his desk, and snuggled into the covers. The room already felt like his, and maybe that was why he fell asleep so easily.

***

Roxas awoke to the shrill beep of his alarm clock which he promptly threw across the room where it broke against the wall. His morning routine was normal in every sense of the word, until the doorbell rang.

"That'll be Sora," Cloud said as he answered the door. Two minutes later, Roxas was glomped while eating a bowl of Lucky Charms.

"Get offa me, Sor!" Roxas yelled, trying to tear his hyper cousin off. "You're gonna spill my cereal!" Sora reluctantly pulled away, smiling from ear to ear.

"Roxy! It's the first day of school. Aren't you excited?!" Sora exclaimed bouncing in the spot he was standing in.

"Nope," Roxas frowned, carrying his now empty bowl to the sink.

"You're no fun," the brunette boy pouted, smile springing back into place as he said, "We're gonna be late if we don't leave now, so c'mon!"

Roxas ran a hand through his messy hair as if the movement would make it less messy. It didn't. He slung his backpack on one shoulder, and headed to the door, Sora bouncing behind.

The walk to the school was short, and the morning was slightly crisp but still warm. Sora continued to talk the whole way while Roxas happily tuned it out, instead choosing to enjoy the scenery. Even if leaving Twilight Town was a pain in the ass, it was still nice to experience something new once in a while. Sunset Shore had more trees, and they were already starting to turn colors, and the crisp in the air was nice.

The high school was like any other, students milling about, riding bikes and skateboards, talking in their little groups. Roxas asked himself what he was so nervous about the night before.

As they entered the school, Roxas turned to Sora and asked "Where's the main office? I need to pick up my schedule."

"Its right down that hallway," Sora pointed. "I'll see you at lunch, Roxas!" Sora then proceeded to bounce away down the main lobby.

The main office was just like any other. He stood at the desk, waiting for one of the secretaries to print out his schedule. And that's when he noticed the one thing that made the office interesting; or the one person.

The first thing that Roxas noticed was the boy's hair, which was a shock of flaming red. He couldn't see the boy's face, because he was facing what appeared to be the principal yelling at him.

"It's the first day of school! The bell hasn't even rung yet, and you're here!" The principal bellowed red in the face. The boy just stood there, hands in his pockets, appearing for all the world that he wasn't getting yelled at so brutally. The principal sighed, his face draining some color. "Axel, if this year is anything like last, you won't be graduating. I don't care how many tests you ace, you can't act like this and get away with it!" By the end of his breath, the principal was yelling at the top of his lungs again.

"Roxas?" He turned around to one of the secretaries, holding out his schedule. He hadn't realized he'd been staring.

"Uh, thanks," Roxas replied, giving a rushed smile as he turned to exit the office.

***

The school was easy enough to navigate. It was really just a big square. Hallways were dedicated to subjects like the Math hallway or the Arts hallway. His first few classes were up on the third floor, where the English and History halls were. For fourth period he was on the first floor again, for Advanced Chemistry.

The lab was small, smaller than most science classrooms, but Roxas suspected that there weren't many kids taking Advanced Chem anyway. He was proven right, as the few desks filled up with students who seemed to be much older. They were much larger than him at any rate.

The first day of school, teachers don't usually teach, instead choosing to hand out syllabi and other such papers for the entirety of the period. However, Mr. Gallagher had decided to indeed start teaching today, as soon as he'd passed out the workbooks.

"So you see, Carbon attaches to Hydrogen because…"

Roxas sighed and ran a hand through his hair. He started to copy down what was written on the blackboard when a boy with flaming red hair walked into the classroom.

"Mr. Flynn, how nice of you to join us," Mr. Gallagher chided. The boy only smirked, shoving his hands in his jean pockets.

"Nice to see you again, Mr. G," the boy replied, choosing a seat in the last row.

"Yes, I'm glad you had to repeat the course," said the teacher.

"You know I can't stay away from a chem lab, G." The boy grinned at the teacher, leaning back in his seat lazily.

The teacher only continued his lesson, while Roxas found himself distracted from taking notes. The boy with the red hair didn't have a pen or even a notebook. Now that he could see the boy's face, he found himself sneaking glances out of the corner of his eye whenever he got the chance.

Roxas found it odd that although the boy appeared to have no interest in school, he answered all of Mr. Gallagher's questions correctly.

Lunch took place directly after Advanced Chem and Roxas was eager to get to his peanut butter and jelly sandwich. He felt a little lame carrying a brown bag into the cafeteria, but shoved it down when he saw Sora already seated with his own paper bag.

"Hi Sora," Roxas said as he took his own seat at the table.

"Roxy! I was worried you'd gotten lost or something," Sora exclaimed, smiling as he took a bite of what appeared to be a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

"Pfft, please. This school is tiny," Roxas replied, unwrapping his lunch. "Oh and don't call me that."

"What? But I always call you Roxy-"

"Not anymore," Roxas interrupted. He then smiled at the other people sitting at the table. Riku was sitting on Sora's other side, followed by Kairi and some small, pale, blonde girl he'd never seen before.

"Oh! Riku, Kairi, you know Roxas," Sora supplied, smiling. "And this is Namine, Roxas. Roxas, Namine."

Both blondes smiled at each other and they lapsed into idle chit chat as Riku and Namine asked him typical, mundane questions.

"Why did you move?" Namine asked, as she brushed her pale hair behind her ear.

Roxas turned his eyes down to the table, and frowned. Shit…he felt like crying, even just thinking about it. "Because this is closer to my brother's job." He found that he didn't like the little confused pout from both Namine and Sora. Or the bad taste the lie left in his mouth.

Near the end of lunch, Roxas had found himself taking a liking to small Namine. She was soft spoken and shy, and apparently, a great artist. Sora had insisted that she show him her sketchbook. She blushed and reluctantly agreed. Her drawings really were just as good as everyone said. She blushed again when he told her so. She was also really pretty, he mused as he brought his trash to the garbage can by the windows and vending machines.

As he neared the windows, he noticed a flash of red hair, and paused as he watched the boy from Chem class smoking a cigarette just outside. He was stood with a boy with hair like a strange mullet, and a tall girl with long black hair. The red head turned and caught Roxas' eyes.

Roxas felt his face heat up as he finally dumped his empty bag and foil into the garbage. He'd been staring again. What was it that made the red head so interesting, anyway? He looked away, only to look up again and catch the boy winking at him, grinning as he breathed smoke against the glass. Roxas quickly walked away and met up with Sora and his friends just as the bell rang.

His last class of the day was Open Studio, an art class. Namine had already been there, working on a painting.

"That's really amazing," he said as he walked up to her, putting his backpack on the table.

"Roxas! I didn't know you had this class," she said, taking up some more paint on her brush.

"Yeah. So, it's the first day of school and you already have a finished painting?" he asked.

"It was a summer project. I'm just finishing it up now. It's for my portfolio."

"Are you a senior too?"

"Yep," she smiled. "How are you in this class?"

"Nearly all my classes are advanced," Roxas said. He felt himself blushing. Shit.

Namine giggled. "You're really smart, huh?"

Before Roxas could reply, "Attention, everyone!" said a small woman with a bush of curly brown hair. "I'm Mrs. Ganes and this is advanced Open Studio…"