Sleeping on Buses with Boys.
"No, no, I'll be there soon," Roxas murmured into his cell phone as he stepped onto the bus. He deposited his fare then moved to the back of the bus, "okay, I'm on the bus now. Bye."
The blonde took a seat beside a window and swapped his phone for his mp3 player. After a few seconds some upbeat pop tune flowed through the headphones-he grimaced. Sora must've gotten into my computer again and put all this crap on. But he kept it playing anyway only because he couldn't be bothered to change it. After one last glance at his watch Roxas let his eyes shut. Two more hours until I get there.
People soon began crushing him into the window though he barely acknowledged it other than shifting slightly. With all the breathing going on the bus had gotten quite hot which only lulled him into sleep. Guess I should've…had some coffee…
Someone shaking him by the shoulder forced him out of a shallow slumber. Roxas sat up with a start, rubbing his eyes furiously to clear his vision. What's going on? A pair of bright green eyes glittered with something that could be amusement.
"Wake up sleepy head or you'll miss your stop."
The teen felt his face flush-and not from the heat either. Besides the eyes the person's vivid crimson hair stuck out against the crowd's brown hues.
"W-What?" Roxas shook his head and cleared his throat, "I mean, how do you know my stop?"
A jarring bark of laughter woke him up further, "Destiny Island's uniform is pretty easy to recognize."
"Oh. Crap!" he abruptly broke away from the conversation to scream for the driver to open the back door. Despite the almost disaster he managed to make it to the front entrance of the school without incident. Until he realized something-his cell phone was gone.
"Roxas? You look like someone fed you lemons," Olette leaned forward, her head cocked to one side.
"I lost my cell phone."
"That's all? Jeez, thought someone died!" Hayner commented with a grin that took up half his face.
"Yeah Roxas, you look pretty horrible," Pence agreed, laughing.
Out of all of them Hayner was the cockiest, Olette the kindest and Pence the most creative. Roxas ranked himself as somewhere in between all of them. At the moment they all wore their school uniforms but he knew before they headed out to hang at the mall they would make a dash to the change rooms.
"Yeah, well, all my numbers are on there…I don't want some creeper getting them," he muttered with a frown.
His friends laughed at him them began making their way inside the school. They merged with student traffic and followed the river of classmates to homeroom. Destiny Island High boasted, quite loudly in fact, the largest campus in the area and a prominent football team. Today just happened to be a game day. Why'd mom even make me go when I only have 3 hours of classes?
The group plopped down in the front row even though Hayner protested loudly.
"Oh Hayner just admit you need glasses already!" Olette swept her skirt underneath her before sitting down.
"I don't need them!" he snapped as their girl removed her own glasses from their case.
"It's not like they're the end of the world Hayner," Roxas said softly.
"Yeah, they might even make you look smarter!" Pence nudged Roxas in the ribs but the blonde refused to bite. No way am I laughing and getting beat up. The brown haired girl poorly concealed her giggles behind her hand.
"Some friends you guys are," the taller fair boy crossed his arms over his chest and proceeded to ignore them.
I wonder if someone stole it while I was sleeping…that guy! I bet he took it! Roxas narrowed his eyes at the chalkboard as if it could blamed for all his troubles.
"Hey, all of you quiet down," their teacher set down his bag on the wooden desk with a loud clunk. His light brown hair had been perfectly set in a style that drew attention away from the long scar running down his face. The classroom fell silent almost immediately.
"I hope you all completed your assignments-don't think because it's a half day you can get away with not doing any work."
A couple people groaned loudly but Mr. Leonheart ignored them in favour of beginning to write out an equation on the chalkboard, "So, tell me. How would you find the parabola of this line?"
Why did I even take this class? Roxas sighed-today was going to be one heck of a ride.
His next class-biology-had him dissecting a foetal pig with a squeamish girl who turned an alarming shade of green every time he made a cut. God, it's not that gross. The teen sliced a bit too forcefully and sent the pan rocketing across the table and to the floor where it scraped along the tiles so loudly everyone dropped their work to cover their ears. He let his bangs fall into his face.
"Sorry," he mumbled.
"Oh, poor little piggy, let's get him back on your table," Ms. Gainsborough smiled and handed him his pig, "careful Roxas."
"Yes ma'am."
"Oh no, I'm going to be-"his partner bolted from the classroom which was when he noticed the slice on his hand. Ow. Blood dripped from the wound and splattered on the white floor. Great. Just great.
"Can I go to the nurse?" Roxas held out his hand, ignoring the gasps from the other kids.
The pink clad woman's eyes widened but she didn't appear worried," everyone get back to work…NOW!"
She quickly grabbed a stack of paper towels and pressed them to his hand while pulling him along the hall.
"How did this happen? Are you alright Roxas? Don't worry, you'll be fine."
He shrugged, "I was just careless I guess…I've been tired lately so I probably…"
With a single nod the woman swept them into the nurse's office, "oh Dr. Kadowaki!"
An older lady stuck her head out from behind a curtain surrounding a bed, "oh, Aerith. You have business for me?
"He cut his hand open with a scalpel. We were dissecting pigs."
Who's she? I've never seen her around school. "It'll be a clean cut anyway. Just like when Squall-I mean Leon- sliced his face open hm?"
"That was ages ago and you still remember it?!"
Dr. Kadowaki shrugged, "with him bleeding all over the place it's hard to forget. Anyway let's get to the present. Remove the paper towels please."
The paper clung stubbornly to his flesh for a second then slowly peeled itself off like shedded skin. His stomach lurched. Gross. He stared out the window while the nurse worked-maybe I should call the bus company. At least I would if someone hadn't stolen it! I didn't even get the guy's name!
"Here you go. You have to fill out an accident report."
He stared at the paper with a frown but lifted his hand to start filling it out. Until realized it had been his dominant hand that had been injured. Oh for god sakes…he slapped his forehead.
"Let me guess, you cut your good hand."
"Yeah."
"Great."
"Yeah."
After a good hour in the infirmary Roxas finally finished the paperwork just in time to meet his friends in front of the 2nd floor bathrooms. He went to his own locker to dig out his change of clothes. Hayner slung his arm around the shorter blonde's shoulders.
"Hey Roxas, what's with the hand?"
He shrugged off the embrace so they could walk, "cut myself in science."
"I always knew you were emo!"
"Yeah whatever four eyes," Roxas joked.
"Aw shut up!" the other guy punched him in the arm as they entered the bathroom.
"Hey, can I borrow your phone for a sec?"
Hayner held out his huge cell-his parents had refused to buy him a new one since his brand new one had gotten broken during a fight with Seifer. While Hayner changed Roxas stood watch over their backpacks and phoned the bus line.
"I was wondering if you found a cell phone on the 18 bus line today."
After a short wait they told him that someone had turned one in and to come down to the terminal to claim it. He groaned but at least he knew where his phone was. The two blondes switched roles then went out to meet their other friends.
"Hey Roxas, do you mind holding my purse for me while I looked at this stuff?"
He nodded and held out his hand-she had her hands full after all. Hayner snorted and muttered something like 'whipped' but kept quiet when Olette turned to look at him. Pence just laughed. Yeah, go ahead and make fun of me while you both stand there. Then complain when Olette says she likes me better than you guys.
"Hey, you!" a voice yelled from across the store.
A second later he got tackled to the ground. The air whooshed from his lungs. Somewhere in the distance he heard his friends calling to him but he just lay there even after the weight shifted off his torso.
"You useless idiot! That's not him!"
"Oh. Oops. Sorry dude," the security guard helped him sit up and brushed some invisible dust from the teen's shoulder.
"Wha-what's your problem?!"
The man scratched at his streaked steel coloured hair, "sorry. Thought you were a criminal man."
Immediately after the man cleared out Hayner, Pence and Olette crowded around him.
"You got a battle scar there Roxas," the fair haired teen commented.
"What?"
The only girl amongst them held up a mirror she'd plucked from the shelves. I have rug burn. On my face. Today just wasn't his day.
His mom ha bandaged his face when he'd gotten home but still kind of stung. A lot. Roxas jumped in the bath though he had to hold his hands out to the side. Maybe if he got lucky tomorrow would be better.
"Roxas, your aunt is on the phone!"
Or maybe not.
"I'm in the bath!"
"Get out then!"
The teen glared at a spot on the wall before wrapping a towel around himself .He took the phone barely managing to bite back a sigh.
"Hello?"
"Oh, Roxas how nice to talk to you again! I was just talking to your uncle about you-I was so!-what a loud…Anyway; I just wanted to let you know about my nieces. Not blood related of course! They'll be transferring to your school this week!"
He frowned, "oh."
"Kairi and Namine. I took special care to make sure they were in your homeroom class!"
Great. In a totally not great way. "Uh huh."
"Put your mom back on the phone, we have adult things to discuss!"
Without hesitation Roxas pressed the thing into his mom's hands then returned to his bath. He sunk into the water-like he really wanted new girls moving in on his friends, eating lunch with him and wanting to talk to him. Tomorrow he would go pick up his cell phone thus returning his life to its normal and not at all unlucky state. Yeah, that's exactly how it'll happen.
Roxas dragged his feet along the floor to the bathroom. He went to the toilet, brushed his teeth then gelled him hair. The sandy locked boy pulled on his uniform and trudged downstairs. He pushed away the bowl of porridge his mom offered in favour of a glass of orange juice which would ideally wake him up but in the end only burned his tongue. His mouth opened wide in a yawn as he slipped through the front door.
Outside the weather made a mockery of the rainy conditions of yesterday. He could see the sun poking out from the horizon and made his way to the bus terminal. A blonde man with a goatee sat behind the counter of the lost and found.
"How can I help you Roxas?"
"WH-what?"
"I said how can I help you?"
He shook his head-must've imagined it, "uh, I lost a cell phone yesterday on the bus."
"Huh. 12 to one odds that it's here. Care to wager on it?"
Roxas stared, "…no. Give me my phone. I called last night."
The man sighed, "Boring. But alright. Here you go, Black Nokia."
He could've cried. I never expected to get it back. At least no one will get my phone numbers. He shoved the phone back in his pocket and moved to the adjoined station to catch his bus.
This early only a couple of other people sat on the benches waiting for the public transportation in the form of a long haired brunette wearing a cowboy hat, a woman with big breasts and long black hair. When they boarded Roxas again went to the back to sleep. In order to remedy the problem of his face hitting against the window pane he tried putting his backpack where his head landed. Except then he just got knapsack burn so he finally resorted to leaning back against the back wall of the bus.
He jumped awake later when he dreamt about cell phones being stolen from his pocket.
"Good morning Roxas."
The blonde's eyes widened at the other guy, "you!"
"Yeah, me."
"How do you know my name?! You stole my cell phone!" he snapped making everyone turn to gawk at him.
"Now now. I didn't steal it. You dropped it after you ran for the door yesterday."
"L-Liar!"
The red head rolled his eyes, "whatever you say Roxas."
"Fine."
"I think I liked you better when you were sleeping."
Roxas crossed his arms and turned his head to look out the window. Buildings had become sparse now but they would reappear again soon, before they drove onto the ferry. To his visible surprise the annoying cell phone thief got off the bus at the next stop without even acknowledging the blonde's presence. Fine. Bye you phone stealer.
He didn't notice the new entry into his phone until home room. Demyx. Who's that? Did that weirdo put his number into my phone?! Before he could call it though Mr. Leonheart stepped into the room with two girls in tow.
Both stood at the same height but one had red hair and the other blonde. Their faces looked somehow similar, almost like they could be twins, but at the same time had features unique to each of them. So they're not twins. But look really similar. Kind of like me and Sora.
"Alright. Today we have two new students-Kairi and Namine from Hollow Bastion. Make them feel welcome. Please take a seat you two; we'll get to introductions at the end of class."
The pair moved to the only free seats at the back of the room-beside Seifer and his so called disciplinary squad. Olette watched them both with a faint smile. She must want some girl friends. Hayner followed them with his eyes too but for an entirely different reason. What a horn dog.
"Did you see those new girls? You can tell they're from HB huh?" Hayner said at lunch, pieces of his sandwich flying from his mouth.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Olette raised her eyebrows then dissolved into laughter.
The blonde stuck out his bottom lip, "nothing. They're just pretty okay?!"
"He's right, they are pretty. But not as much as…never mind," Pence's face went red and he smiled sheepishly.
"Pence likes Oleeeette!" the tallest boy started a chant. Sure, take the heat off of you Roxas shook his head.
"Sh-shut up Hayner!"
Their increasingly loud shouting was interrupted by the appearance of the new girls. One had already gained a hanger on in a brown haired girl Roxas remembered was named Selphie.
"Hi, Roxas?" they approached the table at the same time.
"Yeah."
"Our aunt mentioned you. Is it alright if we sit here?"
"Of course!" Olette nearly jumped out of her seat.
Everyone shoved over before the new additions to the table pilfered chairs from the surrounding area. The blonde one sat next to Roxas and the red head beside Olette.
"So which one of you is which again?" Hayner asked-his tendency to talk with his mouth full had all but disappeared.
"I'm Kairi," the one next to Olette stuck her hand half way up.
"And I'm Namine."
"You said you and Roxas are related?"
Don't worry, you can have them Hayner.
"Not by blood. We're only second cousins," Namine spoke first.
The blonde boy ignored how she looked at him when she spoke.
"So why did you transfer to DIH?" Olette packed up the rest of her lunch.
"The climate mostly. Our father is quite sickly…"Kairi trailed off but quickly smiled, "he's already feeling better."
"That's great," the other brunette Selphie nodded, "it's really warm here huh?"
"Mm hm. So Roxas, what kind of bands do you like?" Namine tucked a lock of hair behind her ear.
He stared for a second before answering, "uh…Oath keeper and Bond of Flame mostly…"
"All the emo bands," Hayner smirked.
She nodded with a smile that looked slightly fake, "my favourite kind."
Liar.
"I've never heard of those two though. Could you send me some music sometime?"
"Uh…sure…"
"I think she likes you you'd make such a cute couple!" Olette exclaimed on the ride home-she practically had hearts in her eyes.
"No it wouldn't. It'd be creepy because they're related!" Hayner chimed in. Jealous.
"Not by blood, remember?"
The bigger straw haired kid glared, "I stand by my decision. Besides, they both have blonde hair and blue eyes; they look like brother and sister."
That's true.
"Almost everyone here has blue eyes Hayner. And you're the same," she nodded gesturing at all of them. He had to admit, there was an unhealthy amount of people with the same eye colour.
"Yeah but-never mind! You can have Namine and I'll take Kairi."
Olette shook her head, "you make them sound like shoes or something. Anyway, what was it that you were saying Roxas?"
"…That guy who stole my cell phone left his number in the registry."
"Ew, gay creeper!"
"That is kind of weird," Pence agreed, "maybe he's on the run from the law and needs someone's help or he's been kidnapped and the only way to escape is to have someone call the police for him."
"Or maybe he's just a weird guy who's hitting on you."
"Should I just delete it?" he thought out loud. Hitting on me? No one hits on me.
"Heck yeah you should!"
The bus came to a screeching halt and they all piled onto the sidewalk which was when someone's very red hair caught his eye. Without bothering to say anything he jumped forward to grab him only to get the door slammed on his hand-the uninjured one of course. Immediately the doors sprang open releasing him but before he could yell for the driver to stop the bus drove away. As one last act of vengeance it coughed smoke into his face.
"What the heck was that Roxas?!" Hayner pulled him back by the shoulder.
He hacked up a lung then rubbed his eyes, "that was the guy. Demyx."
"That freak with the hair? I guess he does look a bit strange."
"Hey losers!"
Great. Seifer. Both he and Hayner turned at the same time. The other boy and his lackeys stood in front of Twilight Station-they'd apparently been waiting for them to return. A Struggle bat hung loosely from Seifer's fingers and he wore a smirk along with his customary black toque.
"Let's fight! That preppy school probably made you weak so you're really not worth my time though."
So in other words you're bored and no one else will hang out with you. Roxas groaned-to say he wasn't in the mood to Struggle would be a massive understatement.
"Yeah right! You're the one who's gonna lose!" Hayner yelled loud enough for people to whisper disapprovingly as he bounded down the station steps.
"I'm…not really up to it…" he followed the other guy down the stairs but didn't assume a battle stance.
The tall blonde blinked at him, "huh? But you always want to Struggle."
"Maybe the Master should take this one."
Having appealed to Hayner's ego the teen's chest puffed out and he grinned, "Yeah, Seifer is easy enough on my own!"
Yeah, sure. As long as you leave me out of this. Roxas looked at both his hands with an inward sigh-bad luck seemed to be following him now. Great. Just. Great.
He stared at the foreign name on his phone-Demyx. Just what was this guy's problem anyway? His finger hovered over the send button. If I call him it could lead to something. But I don't know what. If I delete if…why is this even a hard decision? At the same time that he dismissed the idea he felt the pull of adventure. What if he didn't call and ended up regretting it later?
"Roxas!"
"Yeah mom?!"
"Dinner!"
He let his phone fall onto his bed then jogged downstairs. His mom and dad sat at the dinner table, their hands resting near their plates. He took a seat and started eating then stopped when he noticed their expressions. His dad had taken his mom's hand.
"Roxas…I don't know how to ask you this…" she murmured and cleared her throat.
"Now now honey…"
"What is it mom?" Roxas stopped his fork mid way to his mouth. He had a feeling what this was about. His parents had been hinting at it for a long time.
"Roxas, are you on drugs?"
…Or not. "D-Drugs?! What!?" he slammed his hands down on the table tp.
"You have been acting strangely lately son."
"Strangely?! I cut my hand open, some weirdo stole my cell phone, I got tackled by some security guard because he thought I was a criminal and I got my other hand slammed in a bus door! So, yeah! Maybe I am acting a bit weird!" the blonde took a few breaths after his tirade, "sorry."
They whispered behind their hands then sent him to his room while they talked. He picked up his phone almost immediately once upstairs-they want strange? The teen selected Demyx's number and pressed the send button roughly before holding his phone up to his ear. I'll give them strange.