Sora stood in the hallway, his bag loosely hanging off his shoulder. His eyes scanned the room; it seemingly got smaller and smaller with each breath he took. How was he going to do this? Just last month he was on the Gummi Ship, returning from the final battle. Now his biggest issue: getting to class.

Kairi said she'd see him in homeroom, since she has it with him. But how the hell was he going to find 67-N, when the school had only even numbers. Sora sighed and urged on. Riku was already there, and had been for the last two weeks. He had grown restless within the first hours of being back. Riku needed something to do, and he beaten Tidus at least ten times the day after. Riku wanted to go.

Sora wanted nothing to do with it.

He walked down the blue and white hallway, each tile the opposite color. The lockers followed a similar pattern, one was blue, the other white. Sora hated his uniform, black pants and blazer; the shirt was a light blue. It was so dull. Why couldn't the kids design the uniform every four years? More students would definitely be in dress code, Sora thought.

Ten minutes later, Sora stood dumbfounded. He stood in the courtyard, which was smack dab in the middle of the high school. His hair looked almost blonde in morning light. Each spike on his head had a different core temperature. A drop of sweat collected next to his temple. "Where the hell is this stupid room?" He shouted.

No one heard. Of course not. No one cared about the new student here. They were just wallflowers. What now? Sora had no idea where he was going. Maybe the office would help. They didn't earlier though, when he first got his schedule. Kairi should have helped. But Sora did tell her that if he could handle Nobodies, finding a room would be a piece of cake.

So now what? No one to help, no one to guide him. Sora concluded that he'll apologize as soon as he saw Kairi again. Until then, he decided to wander behind the cafeteria. This class was an elective, something about making boats. Sora didn't care; he was 16 and had to make up two years of school. Riku did too, so Sora wasn't that alone.

Lo and behold, the room was in a bungalow behind the cafeteria! Sora moseyed in, trying to sit down when the teacher had her back to the class, since the door was in the back of the class. It didn't work, though. She spun around and grinned. Her hair was a messy bunch of light curls. She had dark green eyes, and her skin was tan.

"Well, well, well!" She said in a sing-song tone. "The new student," the teacher walked to the front student desk and removed the pile of papers from it, and set them on her desk. She continued, "I'm Jen. Don't you dare call me 'Ms. Doyle.'" Jen paused. Her face scrunched into a panicked look, "Unless the boss is here. Got it?"

"Yeah," Sora was shocked. A teacher wanted to be called 'Jen'. And she wasn't too bad looking… This will be a good first period. He smiled awkwardly, and sat where Jen was pointing at (the front desk she had just cleared). Jen then placed one of the packets of paper to him.

"It's only the third week of school, so you aren't too behind. Wanna tell us about you?"

Sora paused. How do you break it to your classmates about the darkness and light, and that just two years ago this whole place vanished? No, no, no… You don't tell someone that when you're giving a first impression. Sora knew better. He sighed, and nodded slowly as he set his bag down to walk to the front of the class.

"I grew up on the island," Sora started. Jen had a fan on a stool, hitting right where Jen was standing, where Sora stood now. He looked around the class. Tidus was in here with him. He felt a little more secure now. "Two years ago I went on a journey off the island. My friend came with me, too. We were curious about other places."

Tidus perked up, "You two disappeared after that huge storm!"

Sora analyzed the statement for a brief second. They remember the storm? Gotta work off of that, then… Sora decided.

"We wanted to protect our raft and supplies. They were just hanging off of the dock, and made of branches from the north side of the island." Sora laughed nervously. "We, er, kinda got swept off of our feet."

"But—" Tidus was cut off.

"Enough!" Jen interjected. "I do have a class to run, boys. Sit down… What's your name again?"

"Sora," he said, happy to be sitting again. He pulled out a notebook and a pencil, so he could jot down notes as the teacher, Jen, talked about boats. Soon, though, Sora found himself doodling over the page. He doodled Heartless, the Queen of Hearts, and then out of nowhere, he drew Terk and Tantor.

The morning went uneventful. Lunch was freedom. He apologized to Kairi for how he treated her, she didn't care. They ate lunch together behind the English wing. It was secluded. Peaceful, nothing to worry about…

"Do you ever consider dating someone?"

Sora was agape. Did Kairi just say that? He looked at her, and she was looking at him innocently. She seemed red in the face almost, but Sora couldn't be sure. It was late summer, and noon. Heat could be getting to her… Yeah, that's it… Sora told himself.

"Dating? Why?"

"Why else?" Kairi asked. Her hair was pulled back into a ponytail, and her bangs were being pulled back with a white hair pin with a small blue flower on it. Sora looked away, in horror of what his mind and heart were screaming. She was interested with him? Were they really feeling the same feelings?

"Uh," he fought himself not to stutter, "why?"

"Really? Really, Sora?" Kairi giggled. It was a magical sound to Sora. He couldn't help but chuckle along with her.

"Yeah," he smiled, "really."

Sora watched and waited eagerly for Kairi to say it. She was definitely red, but blushing wasn't easy to determine. She was moving her head from side to side, like weighing the options with her hands. But her hands were busy holding her sandwich.

"A friend of mine is interested," Kairi simply stated. She smiled at him in a curious look. Sora's world suddenly stopped, crashed… Collapsed. Whatever you wanted to call it, that's how it felt to Sora.

What could he say to something like that? 'Yay!'? That wasn't something you said in a situation like this. Before any other suggestion came to him, his mouth said it.

"Oh."