Kingdom Hearts: High School Chronicles
Year 1
Chapter 1:
Me and My New School
My name was Namine, Namine Lestraint. I was fourteen, a freshman in Destiny Islands Boarding School. I hadn't started but it was all the same. Well I'll just say it: I was not popular. My typical day was sitting in class, doodling, and as you could imagine, I was a C average student, I wasn't the prettiest, I always wore white (white dress, white shoes), I had blonde hair and baby blue eyes which made me look younger than I really was. At lunch, I sat alone on the rooftop with my sketchbook and filled it with more drawings I made. I hardly drew people, unless I liked them. I was bullied often. Nasty notes to spit balls to frogs in my locker. But worst of all, I was so quiet; I was mistaken as mute for awhile.
Home life, for me, differed from my school life. At home, Laurett, my step-mother, always wondered how my drawings were going. My dad, Hajiwara, tended to be at work. He was the president of a major airline company. As you could imagine, we had a fair amount of money. We lived in a million dollar mansion near a manmade lake.
Everyday, I went to the banks and drew the sunset, the water, the people, anything.
Laurett put my art on display before in the local art gallery in the museum a few blocks away.
No one at school knew I was rich.
Thank goodness they didn't.
I never liked being used.
Destiny Boarding Academy was a boarding school on Destiny Islands. After a bad experience at my middle school in Japan, my parents were sending me here: to a rich school. I probably wasn't the wealthiest. So I wouldn't be used.
I packed my sketchbook, clothes, notebooks, and other items in my white suitcase. I was in my white dress that reached about five inches above my knees.
My cerulean eyes took one last look around my room. It was referred to as the White Room because it was pure white. The walls, door, floor, dresser, all of it was white. White was my favorite color.
It was pure like me. That's what my mother used to say before the accident.
After tightly shutting my suitcase, I walked over to my dresser and opened the drawer, taking out a black, Chinese music box. I opened it gently and took a look at myself in the mirror of the box. All I saw was a shy girl, a ghost of what I was. My fingers fumbled with the silver key necklace inside. I looked at the dangling key and on front side was the beautiful rose quartz my mother loved so much.
The box hummed my favorite song.
Sanctuary
"Namine, it's time to go! Are you ready, honey?" Laurett called from downstairs.
"Yes, I'm coming!" I said.
Gently, I closed the music box and the melody ended, the voice ceased, as a tear slid down my cheek. I wiped the tear away and grabbed my suitcase and slid downstairs.
"Nami, let's go catch that plane," Laurett smiled.
"Yes." We walked out the door and drove to the airport.
Since my father was the president of the company, I got on for free.
"Goodbye, I'll see you in June," I waved as I boarded the plane.
Holding back the tears, Laurett waved back and then I found my seat and sat down.
The plane rumbled and shook as t took off and soon enough, we were flying.
Destiny Islands was beautiful. The lush palms of the spring, the rushing waves, the sun and how it shined on the ocean, it was s overwhelming.
The school I was escorted to bordered to ocean. It was a series of white and gray buildings with sidewalks. There were centered, curbed boxes with trees and grass planted inside all over the campus. A grassy hill led to the shores, a path I would likely use.
On each side of the campus were the boys' and girls' dormitories. Each dormitory was off limits to the other gender. Three people were to a room, six rooms to a floor, six floors. There were six of each dormitory, three girls' and three boys'. Bathrooms were across the hall of each floor, and in each dormitory was a lounge on the first floor.
Cell phones were restricted from class rooms, laptops were allowed. Gum was restricted. Skate boarding on campus was only allowed in designated areas. Did I mention the two pools, tennis courts, basketball courts, football field, and running track?
There was a dance club, football team, art club, volleyball, track and field, basketball, tennis, swimming, and many, many more.
I walked to the office with my father's butler and met with the principal.
The butler bowed and left for the limo.
"Hello, you must me Namine. I'm Ms. Futoni, I hope you like your stay at DIBA." Ms. Futoni smiled, her grey features lightening up. "You'll be staying in Dorm A, room 215, on the second floor. Here is your schedule and school starts tomorrow."
"Thank you," I smiled back, taking my bags out the door.
The sun shone brightly as I walked through the campus. School was just opened so people were still moving in. I saw many motor scooters and skateboards.
Grades sixth through twelfth went here and some classes were combined depending on your major and grades. Some sixth graders took ninth grade classes.
School started at eight and for middle scholars (sixth through eighth) ended at two while the high classman stayed until two thirty. Lunch for middle classman was at eleven while we had it at noon.
I peered down at my schedule. First period in SP5 with Ms. Hunter, tenth grade English with Mr. Stine in NP2, then ninth grade history with Miss Mel in SP3, then lunch in the middle quad or dorms, I would be running around. Fifth period was PE on the track, sixth period was ninth grade biology with Mr. Libertone in UP8, seventh was elected classes, in which I would go to the art lab that I chose before I came, and lastly was ninth grade math with Ms. Hunter again.
I was a writer by heart, stunk at math, and I'd die in PE unless it was swimming. I was never a runner.
Each class had an eight minute transition so being tardy wouldn't be an issue for me.
All I had to do was find my dorm room. My eyes flickered up from the papers. I had no clue where I was.
I heard a THUMP from behind and behind me, I saw a girl about my age struggling to pick up her papers.
Her hair was a dark shade of orange and stuck out and up, above her shoulders. She was wearing a yellow sundress and yellow flat heeled sandals.
I bent down to the ground and started to help her gather lost pages and notebooks.
We both stood back up.
"Here," I said shyly, handing her some of her lost papers.
"Thanks," she grinned as she stuffed her papers sloppily into her orange handbag.
I returned her smile.
"Hey, you're new here, huh?" she asked.
"Yeah, my name is Namine, and how did you know?" I asked.
"Oh, I know everyone here. I'm Selphie!" she grinned, shaking my hand.
"Oh, um do you know where room 215 is?"
"Yup, is that your room?" she asked cheerfully.
I nodded.
"Awesome! That means we're roommates!" Selphie shrieked, jumping with joy.
"What're you laughing about now Selphie?" a voice asked.
"Oh, Tidus," Selphie blushed at the islander behind her. He was tall, well built, with spiky, caramel hair. His white shirt was open, revealing his abs. One side of his jeans rolled up. He wore brown sandals.
"And who's this?" he asked.
"This is Namine," Selphie introduced with a grin.
"Nice to meet you, the name's Tidus," he said, shaking his hand.
I smiled.
"Well, Wakka and I have some unpacking to do here, see you later Selph," Tidus said as he ran to meet his taller friend by the fountain in the middle of campus.
"Bye!" Selphie waved. She turned to me. "Now let's go to our room!"
Selphie led me to a white building that read Dorm A.
"That's the upperclassman dorm," Selphie giggled with excitement. "We're on the second floor and the higher the grade, the higher the room."
"I see," I said, gazing up at the windows and the building itself.
"Well let's go!" Selphie pulled me inside and we went up one flight of stairs.
She stopped at a door with the number 215 on it.
"We'll decorate the door soon enough," Selphie stated.
She opened the door and inside was another girl. Unlike Selphie, she was tall, not a giant but tall, wearing a short pink dress and a black belt. Under it, only seen from the front, was a white undershirt.
I liked her outfit.
"Hey Kairi, we have a new roommate," Selphie giggled. "This is Namine." Kairi's red hair swished as her blue eyes focused on me.
"Hi there Namine, I'm Kairi," she smiled, holding out her hand.
I took her hand and shook it. "I'm Namine."
"Well, Namine, you can have that bed over there. Kairi and I will sleep on the bunk bed. I call top!" Selphie shouted as she bounced to the bunk bed.
"Hey, I already put my stuff there!" Kairi countered.
"But I called it!" Selphie whined.
"We'll settle this with rock-paper-scissors," Kairi said, her eyes narrowing. Selphie narrowed her eyes as they went to the middle of the room.
"Rock!" Kairi shouted, her hand in a vertical fist going down on the first count.
"Paper!" Selphie bellowed, her hand in a vertical fist as well.
"Scissors!" both girls cried as their hands made a shape. Selphie's hand was flat while Kairi's hand had not changed.
"Paper beats rock!" Selphie shouted with excitement as her hand covered Kairi's fist.
Squealing, Selphie bounded up to the top bunk with her stuff, throwing Kairi's things to the floor.
Kairi grumbled as she took her things to the bottom bunk.
I chuckled silently as I took my white bags to my single bed in the corner.
"Hey, Namine, I'll show you around," Kairi called as she took out her clothes and put them in the top drawer. Selphie put her clothes in the secondhand drawer below. "Oh, and the third drawer is where you put your clothes."
I nodded and took out my clothes and emptied them in the large, bottom drawer.
"Your dresses can go in the closet," Selphie stated as she proceeded to put hers away through the sliding closet door.
I did that too. My books went in my white backpack by my bed like Kairi and Selphie did.
"The stereo is over there on the desk by the door," Kairi pointed out. "And you can put your empty bags under your bed."
Eventually, everything was put away and in place, my sketchbook in my backpack.
"Ready to go Namine?" Kairi smiled.
"Yes," I answered happily.
"Hey, I'm gonna go get us some ice cream from the vendor out in the quad. Any recommendations?"
"I'll have a strawberry crepe," Kairi answered.
"You?" Selphie asked, looking at me.
"Um, I'll have vanilla," I answered shyly.
Both girls laughed.
"You're so shy Namine," Selphie chuckled. "That's cute." She then bounced out the door and down the hall, out of sight.
"Oh, I almost forgot," Kairi said, shuffling through her belongings. "Here," she finally said, tossing me something. "It's the room key incase you need to get in and no one's here. Don't lose it though like Selphie always does."
"Thanks, I won't," I said as I placed the key in my wallet on my bed.
I followed Kairi out the door and around the building. She showed me where everything was so I wouldn't get lost.
We were out on the tennis courts when we spotted Selphie running towards us.
"Hey!" she called to us, holding our ice cream.
We turned and stopped as she came over to us. "Vanilla for Namine," she said, handing me mine. "And strawberry for Kairi," she said, giving Kairi hers. "And chocolate for me!" she said, licking hers.
I laughed as did Kairi.
"Say, Namine, where do you live?" Selphie inquired.
I stopped licking my crepe. "In the states."
"Really, what was it like!?" Selphie said a tad too loud.
"It was quiet where I lived. I lived by a lake."
"Wow, I lived here my whole life so I've been going to this school since sixth grade. Just like Tidus and Wakka. Kairi, Sora, ad Riku live here on the islands too."
"People who live on the islands, which isn't many, can come to this school for less but not by much."
"I didn't know that," I said.
"Not many people do," Kairi stated.
"Kairi!" a male voice shouted.
"Sora, Riku, over here!" Kairi waved.
A boy just a little taller than Kairi with brown spiked hair wearing black, multi-colored clothes ran to our group. He had blue eyes, the same shade as mine. A tall boy, older looking, with long, white hair reaching passed his shoulders followed the younger one. He wore baggy jeans, a black belt, a zipped black, undershirt, and a yellow and white vest over that. On his left arm was a short white arm warmer. The older one had intriguing, aquamarine eyes. I would be lucky to ever blend my colors to match his eyes.
"Kairi, what classes do you have?" Sora asked suddenly, panicking.
"Relax, we'll still see each other, whether or not we have the same classes or not," Kairi laughed. She studied Sora's schedule. "Once again, we have every class except math and elective together."
"Phew, you had me going there for a second," the boy, Sora, sighed, reclaiming his schedule.
"Sora and Kairi are an item," Selphie whispered in my ear, making me chuckle as the two blushed profusely.
"Hey, I've never seen you before, are you new?" Sora asked me.
"Yeah, she is! This is Namine, she came from the states! And that's Sora and Riku," Selphie introduced.
"Sora's in the same year as us and Riku's a sophomore," Kairi stated.
"America, that's cool," Sora beamed.
"T-Thanks," I said.
"Olette!" Selphie shouted suddenly.
A girl with brown hair that folded over her shoulders and stuck up on the sides looked our way and waved. She wore an orange floral shirt and cream colored khakis.
A blonde haired guy, his hair sticking up (literally) in a green vest and black undershirt with camouflage pants next to her.
There was another boy, a plumper one. He had brown hair, messily sticking up due to the black and yellow headband he wore. He wore a white, short sleeve undershirt, a black bandana on his neck, and a red jersey with some message I didn't bother to read. He too wore baggy jeans.
The last boy looked just like Sora but his eyes were lighter and his hair wasn't as outrageous. He wore a zipped undershirt with a high collar, a white sleeved vest with black stitches and a red collar, and gray, baggy pants. There was a black-and-white checkered bracelet on his left wrist.
The four ran over to us.
"Hey, who're you?" the blonde boy in army pants asked cockily.
"This is Namine," Kairi introduced, "Our new roommate."
"Hey, I'm Hayner," the cocky one said with a cocky grin.
"I'm Olette," the girl smiled. She seemed shy, like me.
"And I'm Pence," the plump one said.
"The name's Roxas, I'm Sora's cousin," the Sora look-a-like said coldly.
"He's always like that," Olette whispered to me.
I noticed that everyone, excluding Selphie was tall. Kairi was just an inch or two shorter than Sora. Olette was as tall as Sora. Riku towered above the rest of us.
Then again, Selphie was the size of a pixie.
"Olette, Roxas and Pence and I still have to unpack. We'll see you in class on Monday," Hayner said as he, Pence, and Roxas left.
"We have to go to, it was nice meeting you Namine," Sora said as he and Riku left for the boys' dormitory like Hayner, Pence, and Roxas.
"That's boys for you, always waiting until the last minute," Selphie retorted.
"Namine, right." I nodded. "Let's take a walk, all of us," Olette smiled.
"Sure," I smiled back.
The air was crisp as we walked around campus.
I learned that Olette was a sophomore as was Hayner, Pence, and Roxas. They had been going here since seventh grade. She secretly liked Roxas. I learned that Roxas was quite shy around new people but more talkative when it was just him, Pence, Olette, and Hayner. Roxas played the guitar and practiced with the other musical people of the school, the emo people.
Pence liked to use his video camera on anything and was one of those 'video game freaks.' Believe it or not, there was a Video Gamer Club and Pence was the captain.
Hayner was always bossy, the leader of his little group of Pence, Olette, Roxas, and himself. He was into track.
Olette was more of a tomboy, hanging out with boys and all. She was active, the captain of the ninth grade girls' volleyball team.
Sora and Kairi had been dating since last year and Riku had many fan clubs to his dismay.
Sora was childish at times but brave, according to Kairi. He always flunked though, the class clown. He had to take after class remedial classes.
Riku was a cool, calm, and collected jock. He never really opened up except to Sora, his best friend. Otherwise, he was an honor student and a member of the basketball team.
Kairi was a B student and was a part of the tennis team. Many girls looked up to her, she was popular, rivaling Riku on the "list."
Selphie liked Tidus. Tidus liked her. They just couldn't admit it or so Kairi says.
Selphie played soccer, Tidus played baseball. Wakka was the Blitzball team captain and Tidus and Selphie's best friend.
The groups were as following:
-Olette, Roxas, Pence, and Hayner
-Sora, Riku, and Kairi
-Selphie, Tidus, and Wakka
Then there was me:
-Namine
I had nothing in common with any of these people.
Just like last time…
"Hey, Namine, those people are Roxas' other friends, the emo ones," Selphie pointed out. "They're all seniors."
My eyes gazed at the cloaked figures by the stairs of the school library.
They all wore black cloaks. One was on a step, reading a book, the girl was leaning on the rail next to him, and the red haired guy was sitting on the opposing rail.
"The blonde girl is Larxene, she's snippy so don't mess with her. The guy with the purple hair is Zexion. He's the most anti-social guy out there, he always has his nose in a book. He won't even look at you if you talk to him. The guy with the crazy red hair is Axel. He's the only "normal" one and he has a sense of humor but he takes things too far. He's Roxas' other best friend," Selphie stated.
"They talk about suicide and cut themselves according to Roxas," Olette stated softly.
"They're misunderstood," I stated in a whisper.
"Yeah…" Kairi agreed as the wind blew.
I saw Zexion's azure eye flicker from his book to me.
Darkness… Sadness… Loneliness…
His eyes were like an open book.
I closed my eyes out of fear. Fear of my secret being revealed to him.
"Namine, what's wrong?" Olette asked, putting a comforting hand on my back.
"N-Nothing," I said, my eyes snapping open.
"Maybe we should go back," Kairi suggested.
"Yeah," Selphie agreed, for once, without shouting. "Look, they're looking straight at us," Selphie pointed out.
"Huh?" I mumbled, looking back over towards the library.
I looked at the library entrance and saw three pairs of cold eyes staring directly at me. Something I did caught their attention. Zexion stood up and Selphie freaked out and rushed us away. I looked back and Larxene, Axel, and Zexion were gone.
"What the?" Selphie stopped as Kairi, Olette, and I scanned the area.
They were nowhere in sight.
"I'm getting freaked out, let's go," Selphie said.
"Yeah," we all agreed, sprinting back to the girls' dorm.
Olette had gone back to her room while Kairi, Selphie, and I took a shower in the bathroom across the hall.
I was now in my white nightgown, Kairi in her pink and black silk shirt and shorts, and Selphie in her orange button-up shirt and slip-on pants.
Kairi was reading 'Pride and Prejudice' on her bed while Selphie was making beaded bracelets on the top bunk.
Using the light, I was writing in my journal, the pure white one I recorded new experiences in.
Dear Journal,
I was just came to my new school today. It was bright like a shimmering star in the night sky. I met some new friends as well.
Selphie- the loud one (but she's fun.)
Kairi- the popular one (she's very down-to-earth.)
Sora- twin #1 (he looks like his cousin.)
Riku- the jock (the one with the beautiful eyes.)
Tidus- Selphie's crush.
Wakka- the guy with the funny accent.
Olette- the kind one and bashful too (she's very nice.)
Hayner- the bossy one.
Pence- the plump one.
Roxas- the rather shy boy and twin #2 (Olette's crush.)
I also met some suspicious people.
Zexion: AKA Bookworm (He seems lonely, something about him…his eyes…)
Larxene: the cruel one (according to Selphie)
Axel: the talker (Makes mean jokes but most approachable of the three, according to Selphie.)
Zexion knows my secret! He read me like a book. I need to see him and make him promise to secrecy. If not, my life is over and I'll have to leave again.
I don't want to be alone again…
Not there…
Anywhere but there…
End of Chapter 1
