Ok, here we go. The idea for this story has literally been haunting me for weeks. I've had dreams about writing this, people. It's time I just let it happen.

Have fun ;)

"Ready for another year?"

Demyx turned to see Sora calling to him from his dad's car. Demyx waited for him to catch up before answering. "Yeah, I guess. Nothing's changed though."

Sora grinned. "Well, it's high school, you can't expect too much."

They made their way to the office to get their locker assignments and new schedules, then went back outside to meet Riku. Demyx glanced around the courtyard, seeing cheerleaders already practicing for the upcoming game, football players standing nearby and watching, friends meeting and catching up on each other's breaks, and all around him people were making their way inside to get their new schedules and lockers. He sighed. Nothing really had changed.

"Hey, Sora!"

Sora and Demyx both turned to see who had called to him, and a cute blond girl was running up to them.

"Oh, hey, Namine," Sora said.

She smiled to them. "Hey, Demyx, almost didn't recognize you. Did you do something new with your hair?"

Demyx ran a hand nervously through his new style. "Yeah, got a haircut couple weeks back. Thought I would infuse this place with a little change at least."

Namine giggled. "Well, it looks nice. Have either of you seen Roxas?" They shook their heads and Namine frowned. "Ok, well if you do will you tell him I'm looking for him?"

"Yeah no problem," Sora agreed. "And hey, have you seen –"

"Kairi?" Namine smiled knowingly.

Sora grinned. "Uh, yeah…"

"Yeah she's running a little late, but she said she'll see you at lunch if she doesn't get here soon."

"If who doesn't get here soon?"

The three of them looked up to see Kairi and Riku smiling at them. Sora jumped up to hug his girlfriend while Namine giggled.

"I was just telling them you might be late."

"Yeah I was walking when Riku's mom drove by and asked if I wanted a ride."

"That was nice of her," Sora said, sitting back down and allowing Kairi to sit on his lap.

"We've been friends for years, there was no way my mom was going to let her walk and be late," Riku said.

They chatted for a bit before Namine announced she was going to go find Roxas. Sora and Kairi started kissing so Demyx took the opportunity to walk with Riku to the office so he could get his new schedule.

"So how was your summer, Dem?"

"Well, it wasn't a trip to Destiny Islands," Demyx joked. France was where Riku had gone to visit his dad for a month.

"The Islands weren't that great," Riku countered. "My dad has a new girlfriend, who I'm pretty sure is only with him for his money."

"Did you tell him?"

"Of course. He didn't believe me, obviously. But hey, it's his money. She's nice, attractive, and manipulative. We'll see how it goes."

They stopped at Riku's locker so he could dump his bag and books in it. Sora and Kairi came in and joined them. Riku filled them in on his break and Demyx looked around to see if he could spot any of his other friends, when he saw Roxas. Only it wasn't Roxas he was concerned with. Roxas was talking to his best friend, Axel, and as soon as Demyx thought his name his stomach did a flip.

"Demyx? You ok man?"

Demyx looked around at Sora quickly. "Yeah, why?"

"Your face just turned red…" Sora glanced over to see what Demyx had been looking at. "Oh hey! There's Roxas. Let's go tell him Namine's looking for him."

The four of them walked across the commons to Roxas and his friends. Roxas and Axel had been friends almost as long as Sora and Riku had been friends, which was their whole life. And Demyx had had a crush on Axel for almost two years and hadn't had the courage to say anything about to him. He felt himself getting uneasy the closer they got to them. What would he say? "How's your summer been" would be natural for anyone to ask, but to Demyx it felt used and childish.

"Hey, Roxas!" Sora called.

Roxas looked around and smiled when he saw them. "Hey guys! Have a good break?"

The four of them nodded and mumbled various yeses. "Namine was looking for you man, she asked me to tell you if I saw you."

"Oh right, thanks." He pulled out his cell phone and called her. "Hey, babe." Roxas walked away a few steps to talk to her.

Axel grinned at them. "So, Sora, can I get you to join Soccer this year?"

"Weren't tryouts last month?"

"Yeah but some of our players are, well, lacking." He ran his hand through his hair.

Sora laughed. "I see. Well, sorry, no can do. I'm working again and Mr. Cohen has me there until closing. I barely have anytime for my homework."

Axel sighed. "Well how about you two?" He glanced at Riku and Demyx, then threw his arm around Demyx's shoulders. Demyx felt his stomach do a familiar flip. "It's a lot of fun you know, we get pizza after every game."

Riku shook his head. "I'm not really a sports guy."

Axel shook Demyx. "And you?"

"No I'm uh… not really into sports either."

Axel clicked his tongue in annoyance and removed his arm. Demyx almost sighed at the loss of contact. "So how's the music business, Dem? Band doing ok?"

"Uh, well no, we don't really do shows anymore." Demyx shifted uncomfortably on his feet, feeling Axel's gaze not leaving his face.

"What? Why not?"

"Well Craig was a senior last year, so he's off in some college. Jason and I just… don't really talk anymore."

Axel frowned. "Well that really sucks. You guys were good." Axel rolled his eyes. "Well, actually you guys were better when Craig let you sing, but he liked to hog the mic."

Demyx felt his face grow red and mumbled an almost incoherent "thanks" before Roxas returned.

"I swear, if she could come through the phone she would have hit me. Just for being a little late!" He threw a book carelessly into his locker and slammed the door shut. "And then, when I call her to let her know I'm here, she's too busy to come see me!"

"What's she busy doing?" Kairi asked.

"Showing some new girl around. The office asked her to when she showed up to get her schedule." He looked pointedly at Axel. "She said she was cute."

"Oh yeah?" Axel asked, putting his own stuff in his locker. Demyx felt a pang of jealousy.

"And over here is where some of the semi-cool kids have their lockers."

Demyx looked over to see Namine leading a girl with short, black hair over to them. She was kind of cute, Demyx thought. Immediately he glanced over to see Axel's reaction, but Axel had barely looked over his shoulder before putting the rest of his stuff in his locker and closing the door.

"Ouch, Nams, semi-cool kids?" Sora joked.

Namine smiled. "Everyone, this is Xion. She just moved here from Radiant Garden. Xion these are my friends: the spiky-haired blond is my boyfriend Roxas, the cute blond -"

"Hey!" Roxas said indignantly.

"- is Demyx, the tall one with red hair is Axel, this is Sora, and Riku, and this," she gave Kairi a hug, "is my best friend Kairi."

Kairi giggled. "It's lovely to meet you, Xion."

"Thanks, it's great to meet all of you," Xion said warmly.

"What's your first class?" Roxas asked.

Xion took out her schedule. "It's uh… history."

"Ouch! A boring class right out of the gate," Axel said sarcastically.

Riku smiled. "History isn't that bad. At least not the way Professor Xaldin teaches it." He smiled when he noticed Xion still looked worried. "Don't worry, I've got history too first thing."

"So do I," Kairi said. "So you'll have two friends in there with you."

Xion smiled at that. "Suddenly history doesn't sound so bad." The three of them left early to show Xion the way, Kairi giving Sora a quick kiss before leaving.

Roxas sighed and pulled a book out of his locker. "Come on, Nams, we better head to science. You know Professor Vexen hates it when people are late."

"Right behind you, Roxy."

Axel, Demyx, and Sora snickered at the nickname while Roxas cringed. They left just as the warning bell rang.

"Well, I'm off to English," Sora announced. "See you guys later."

Demyx watched him walk off and turned to face Axel, nervously aware that they were alone. "What class do you have?"

"Math," Axel answered, grabbing his book from his locker. "You?"

Demyx glanced down at his schedule for the first time. He was both happy and terrified at what it said. "Uh, same." He looked back up at Axel.

Axel grinned. "Great! Ol' Xiggy won't be so bad to listen to if I can joke about him with you."

Demyx smiled back at Axel and they walked to the math room.