Crimson Rivers
Summary: Roxas is a normal high school student, besides the fact that his parents abandoned him and his brother, or that he can't help but manage to get into all sorts of trouble. Why can't he ever have a normal life?
Chapter One: Why?!
The first bell rang, signaling the start of the school day. The first day. Scratch that. The first day of his freshman year. Monday. The worst day of the week.
Roxas scurried along to his first period class – theater. He needed the extra credit for the year, which was the only reason he took this class. He was most certainly not a drama geek.
Okay, maybe a little.
By the time Roxas was able to locate and enter his first period class, class had already begun. He apologized for being late, and learned that he wasn't the only freshman with difficulty finding his way around, and not to worry. Roxas took a quick scan of the theater, trying to see if his friends were there, but they weren't. He noticed a group of kids sitting further back than the other students, and the first two rows of the theater were filled with students. Roxas resigned that he wouldn't have any of his friends in this class, and sat in the third row.
Roxas found that he had a hard time listening in the class, mostly because of the sophomores in the back, chatting away. He turned around, planning to scold the talking boys, but stopped. Spotting a blonde-haired kid with a Mohawk/mullet type thing, talking animatedly with a redhead with hair that seemed to defy gravity, Roxas forgot to breathe. That hair was fascinating. Was it dyed? That can't be a natural red!
There were three more sophomores in their group, but they were actually paying attention to the teacher. One had pink hair – an odd color for a male, Roxas added mentally. Another had a blue-gray color hair that was styled so as not to show half of his face. The other sophomore had blue hair and a scar in the shape of an 'X' across his face. That's pretty intimidating Roxas noted.
"Okay class, I'm assigning partners for your first assignment! If all goes well, you may pick next time!" The teacher bellowed. The class booed. Why do teachers always do that? At least Roxas was relieved. He wouldn't have to be the last awkward kid with no partner.
Roxas hated it when he was that kid. It happened way too often to him. "Okay! When you hear your name called, please come onto the stage!" The teacher began. "Lauren and Geoff, you are group one. Samantha and Jackson, group two." And so on and so forth. Roxas began to zone out and started daydreaming, imagining sea- salt ice cream and hanging out with his friends on the station tower after school.
"Roxas and Axel, you are group fifteen. Any questions? Good. Now your assignment is to act out a scene based off the word falling. This can be anything you want. You may use other members from other groups when they are finished." Roxas stood up and went to the stage. He and the redhead that he noticed before were both heading up to the stage. He assumed that was Axel.
Axel approached him, while the other groups got started. "The name's Axel. A-X-E-L. Got it memorized?" He pointed to his head to signify 'memorized.'
"Uh, sure. I'm Roxas by the way." Axel was tall and intimidating, yet attractive at the same time. Wait… ATTRACTIVE?! Roxas did not just think that! Bad thoughts… BAD THOUGHTS! Roxas smacked the heel of his hand into his forehead, leaving a highly pronounced red mark behind.
"Roxy, you okay? Jeez, you act like you just got partnered up with the floor. Sheesh."
"Sorry. I just… never mind. And no, it wasn't about you. Well, as long as you can act better than a floor." Roxas joked. Amusement twinkled in Axel's eyes. At least the kid had a sense of humor. Now to see if he'd pick up on his new nickname.
"So, Roxy, what do you want to do this scene on?" Axel inquired, waiting to see if Roxas would notice the nickname. It wouldn't be any fun if he didn't.
"Uh… let's see. It's 'falling,' right? Wait a second… did you just call me Roxy?" Roxas asked, anger flashing across his oceanic blue eyes.
"What, you don't like that nickname? I could always call you Roxanne, Roxalicious, Roxy-poo-"
"Just stop. I'm Roxas. Not Roxanne, Roxy-poo, or Rox-man." Roxas chided.
"Ooh! I didn't even think of Rox-man. I almost like that better than Roxy!" Axel cried in amusement. Roxas, once again, hit his forehead with the heel of his hand, but for a different reason this time.
"Can we just get to work?" Roxas asked, defeated.
"Sure, Roxy." Axel jested. "Hmm… if the word is 'falling' why don't we do some sort of scene where a character is running, but falls, and the other character is there to catch them just in time. Or something like that."
"Axel."
"Yes?"
"That was terrible." Roxas stated with a blank, unreadable face, while his eyes were lit up in silent laughter.
"Aww." Axel jokingly pouted. "I thought it was good."
"Not at all." Roxas concluded, while the bell signaling the end of first period rang. "Dang, we didn't get anything done! Great. Now we have to work twice as hard tomorrow!"
"It's not a big deal, Roxy. Hey, when do you have lunch?" Axel asked.
"Fourth. Why?"
"Same. We can work on the project then, okay?"
"Sure! Thanks, Axy." Roxas joked, trying out a new nickname.
"Axy isn't quite the same as Roxy. Nice try though."
"Well, I have to head off to class. You promise we'll work during fourth period?"
"Pinky promise." Axel concluded as they walked out the theater doors, parting in opposite directions.
Roxas barely made it to Geometry, with seconds to spare. Almost all of the seats were taken, except for one next to the blonde sophomore from theater with the Mohawk/Mullet thing. Roxas sat down next to him, and placing his bag on the floor, he analyzed the classroom. It had windows on one side, and the other three walls were covered in math posters, like the digits of pi and such. Roxas took out a pencil and paper, in case they had to take notes of some sort, but he doubted that they would.
Roxas practically jumped out of his seat when the sophomore next to him started talking to him.
"What's your name? I'm Demyx!" He flashed Roxas an over-confident, friendly smile. Roxas was still a bit taken back.
"Roxas. I'm Roxas." Roxas replied, assuring himself that he didn't make a total fool of himself in front of the other boy.
"So, Roxas, are you always late to class? I mean, you were late to the theater class – that was you, wasn't it?" Demyx waited for Roxas to nod in approval before continuing, "And now you're late here! Is this something I should expect from you? Or are you just having a bad day? Or are you one of those bad boys who will try to arrive 'fashionably late'? Well no, you couldn't be. It looked almost as if you ran here." Roxas began to zone out as Demyx rambled on. The teacher walked towards the front of the room, introducing the class. Roxas was glad they had a short day on the first day, so that the students could get accustomed to the school year. It was nice of the school to do, considering they didn't have to.
Roxas hated math, but at least he only had 10 minute classes today. The teacher wrote her name on the board, and droned on about expectations of what they are to do in her class, and what they are 'most certainly not allowed under any circumstances,' do. Eventually, but not quite quick enough, the class ended. Before Roxas could leave, Demyx pulled him aside to continue talking.
"So, what classes do you have next?" Demyx inquired. Roxas figured he was just a friendly person, because no sophomore was ever this nice to a freshman. Isn't being friends with freshman supposed to down your reputation or something?
"I have Biology and then Lunch." Roxas replied, still unsure of what the blonde-haired sophomore wanted from him.
"Ooooohhhh!" Demyx cried. "Who's your biology teacher?"
"Mr. Vexen? I think?" Roxas replied, still remaining wary, but letting his guard drop.
"Yaaay!" Demyx cried again. "We're in the same Biology class! And we both have lunch after! We're going to be like, BFFs! But not really. I kind of already gave that position away. Sorry, Roxas! Just a few years too late! But we can still be friends!" Roxas began to wonder if Demyx ever shut up. They were headed towards Biology, when Roxas very abruptly ran into someone.
He looked up, seeing a boy with blonde hair and a beanie on, staring down quite angrily at him. Roxas looked to Demyx for help, but Demyx hadn't noticed and continued talking while he headed towards Biology. Dang, Roxas thought, that boy is seriously unobservant!
Looking back up to the boy, the boy began to scowl, and said, "Yo, jackass. Watch where you're walking, moron. Next time, I'll pummel your face in. You're lucky I'm in a good mood today." And with that he stormed off.
Roxas was confused. What the actual fuck? It was an accident! That dude had some serious issues if that was his good mood. Roxas noticed that Demyx was at the classroom, and had only then noticed that Roxas was gone. Roxas quickly ran to the next class, and once again, sat down next to Demyx.
"Sorry about that, I ran into some blonde jerk in a beanie and he started flipping the shit on me."
"Oh, Seifer. Yeah, he's a total ass. Try to stay away from him." Demyx responded. Roxas silently wondered if Sora was having as rotten a day as he was. If he wasn't late to class, he was getting into almost-fights, neither of which was a better option, because he got a bad reputation for both. His life could just never be normal, could it?
Mr. Vexen walked into the class, and wrote his name on the board. He began to discuss how this class would not be easy like last year, and how they'd all have to man up and work hard in his class. Roxas nearly fell asleep in the few moments they were there, but barely managed not to. He just wasn't a biology person. In fact, he hated science overall! Kind of like math. He was more of an art type of person. He didn't have to try to be good at that. He just was.
At the end of the class, he and Demyx gathered their belongings and began to head to the cafeteria. Demyx seemed to have calmed down a little bit until they entered the cafeteria. As soon as they did, Demyx stopped, his whole entire expression brightening a bit more.
"BFF!" Demyx cried while he ran towards who knows where.
A/N: Hey everyone! This is my first ever fanfiction! I hope you like it thus far. I plan to attempt to have at least one chapter every two weeks or so! (Probably more often at the beginning!) I'm really optimistic about my first chapter of my first story, while I sit here, listening to the Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days soundtrack (Ah, the memories!), in my fluffy sweatshirt, and drinking Coca-Cola. I hope this does well so far, and any and all comments/ revisions/ whatevers are welcome! And don't worry, there is more to come!
-Princess
