Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts. Duh.

"Kairi!"

I turned around at the sound of Demyx's voice. "Hey!" It was the end of the day and classes had just gotten out. The hallway was overcrowded with students but Demyx was easy to spot. No one in the whole entire school besides him had a mullet. I paused and let him catch up to me.

We walked towards my locker so I could get a few books. School would be out in a few weeks, but teachers were still giving us plenty of homework. Personally, I didn't mind. It gave me a chance to see him.

I pushed my way through to my locker and, sure enough, he was there.

Sora Hikari. Without a doubt the most hottest guy in school. At least in my eyes, anyway. He has this cute spiky brown hair that stuck up in every direction and the bluest eyes I've ever seen. Not to mention that he's in excellent shape from playing sports. And of course, every time I saw him I either turned into a babbling idiot, or was so tongue tied I could hardly speak.

"Hey Kairi," he said, reaching into his locker and grabbing his math book. "Lots of homework tonight."

"Yeah," I smiled. "Lots."

He shoved the book in his backpack and closed his locker. "Later, Kairi."

"La-later Sora." I continued to stare after him as he walked away until Demyx slapped my arm. "Snap out of it!"

"Huh?"

"Come on." He dragged me down the hall. "You act like such a girl sometimes Kairi. Just ask him out."

"What? NO! I mean," I said more calmly, "He probably doesn't like me."

We made our way outside the building and headed across the street to the high school. School for them had let out about a half hour earlier than us, but we knew our other friends would be there.

"I can't believe we're finally gonna go here next year," I said, trying to change the subject.

"Yeah, finally!"

"You would have gone here this year if you hadn't flunked the eighth grade," I pointed out.

"Hey it wasn't my fault!!"

"You never studied!"

"I studied….when I felt like it-besides," he glared at me, "It was the end of the year project that did me in."

"You set the science room on fire!"

"I deserved an 'A'."

I rolled my eyes. "What you deserved was a swift kick in the butt."

"Which I got. Repeatedly. From my dad and my mom." We entered the high school and headed towards the gym. "But I learned something from it."

"Oh really? What was that?"

"Never listen to Axel."

I laughed and walked into the gym. It was pretty much empty so it was easy to spot my other friend Riku playing basketball with Axel. "Hey Riku," I called, tossing my bag on the floor near the bleachers.

"Hey Kai," he called, "You guys wanna join? We can do two on two."

"Sure," I agreed before Demyx could protest. He didn't really like sports. He would much rather play music on his guitar than play basketball with us.

"You and me vs. Axel and Dem?"

"Sure."

After playing for a little while, (Riku and I won) we sat down on the bleachers while we waited for Riku to grab a few books from his locker.

"So how's middle school Demmy?" Axel teased.

"Shut up Axel," he glared at him. "I still can't believe you passed. We were partners. You flunked that project too."

"Yea, but I got As the whole year," he pointed out. "Besides. aren't you and Kairi partners this year? There's no way you can fail."

"'Kay guys, lets go," Riku called out.

Everyday after school Demyx and I headed over to the high school where Riku would give us all a ride home. All four of us lived on the same street in Destiny islands. I was glad when Riku got his license last year. I hated the bus. Absolutely hated it.

Riku dropped Demyx and me off at my house so we could put the finishing touches on our project. Everything was going great (Partially because I didn't let Demyx anywhere near our project) when we decided to take a little break. Our basement was set up into a little rec room: a pool table in one corner, TV in the center with a few stuffed armchairs and blue couch scattered around it, and a bar on the other side of the room.

Ah yes. The bar. With its shelves full of various liquor. What can I say? My dad likes to entertain. And since his friends include Riku, Demyx and Axel's dads who all love to drink….well…let's just say that the four of us learned some interesting words from our fathers when we were young.

Anyway, we used to have a dart board set up on the back of the basement door, but my dad made us move it since we were hitting the walls around it too much. So, it was officially moved onto the back of the pantry door which was in our tiny laundry room. Demyx wanted to play, so I agreed. We ended up playing a two games, with each of us winning one, and had just started a third when it happened.

"I bet I can hit the bull's eye with my eyes closed," he said. "Backwards."

"No way, Dem. Impossible."

"Wanna bet?"

"Dem-"

"If I can't I won't tease you about your beloved Sora for two weeks...If I can…then…you owe me twenty bucks."

"Fine. You're on. But here," I reached over and grabbed a pairof knee highs out of the laundry basket. "Tie this around your head. No peaking!"

'"Yeah, yeah. Okay," he said, and turned towards me "Get ready to be amazed!"

He whipped the dart over his head…

And completely missed the dartboard. In fact, the dart never even made it halfway there. I heard a Wheeeesh and then a crack followed by the sound of a pipe hitting the floor and water cascading everywhere.

"Uh oh," he winced. "That didn't sound good." He took off the blindfold and glanced around at the waterlogged room. "Umm…I take it I wasn't close?"

"I'm going to kill you."