"No."
The word streamed through my mind as the scene flashed in front of me.
"No."
It just wasn't happening. There was no way it could be happening. Those lights, they weren't there. The two wrecked machines, they weren't broken. All those people, they weren't just standing there watching. A hand wasn't placed on my shoulder as I watched the stretcher slide into the truck, the person strapped to it motionless. But that's okay, isn't it? They're going to be okay, the hospital will take care of them. They're not dead and they're not going to die! But then I felt that chilling hand on my shoulder squeeze me tightly. My heart sped up immediately as whoever it was leaned down to me.
"I'm sorry Roxas."
"Roxas. Roxas. Roxas!"
My eyes shot open at the sound of somebody calling my name. A bright light streamed in front of my eyes and nearly blinded me. "Roxas!" the voice yelled again. I immediately sat up at the realization of where I was. Giggling and snickering were all around me as I looked to where Mr. Sansei stood in front of the chalkboard with a yard stick, which I must say looked pretty threatening when he smacked it into his hand. I must have fallen asleep in class again.
"Sleeping off into dreamland again, Mr. Koizumi?" he asked with the same angry-slash-sarcastic tone he always used with students who disrespected him.
"No. No sir!" I shook my head in embarrassment as the snickers tried to quiet themselves.
"Then you won't mind re-explaining what I just said." He stuck the yard stick to the ground and leaned forward from behind his desk, a smirk on the corners of his lips.
"Uh...um," I looked around in a panic for something to help me. Some notes, a friend, a book- Ah, my book! I thought, and looked down to find it opened up in front of me like a pass to freedom. But before I could even pick the thing up, I heard the smack of something light echo from the front of the room.
"This is why we go to bed early class. To avoid being like Mr. Koizumi who decides to make history class a sleep hall," he said as he paced around the back of his desk, his tone sprinkled with pride. And I must say I hated that. I hated that a lot. He always did that to humiliate us for his own, and probably some of the class', sadistic pleasure. What teacher does that to his own students? What teacher is that much of a jackass? Mr. Sansei, of course. Then again, how cool would it be in his position? Roxas Koizumi, here to piss off and toss annoying jerks like Mr. Sansei.
I'd be all, "Mr. Sansei, repeat what I just said five minutes ago," while waving around a baseball bat instead of a yard stick. Seriously, who would find a measuring stick very threatening? And he'd be all, "I'm sorry Mr. Koizumi, I wasn't really paying attention. Please don't embarrass me in front of the class!" while shivering in his desk just like the rest of us. "Yeah, I'll just let you get away with it. NOT! See, this is what you get," I would walk behind the desk while swinging my bat loosely in my hand, "when you're a jerk of a teacher like Mr. Sansei." I'd swing the bat his way. Then the class would snicker and giggle at his stupid act. He'd feel exactly how we would when we're in the hot seat. But acting like him wouldn't make me any better. And...
"See you all tomorrow class, and be sure to do your assignment," Mr. Sansei as the bell rung, still eying me with his annoying smirk.
Besides...
I got up and closed my book as I began packing away my class supplies into my backpack. Some people behind me and from across the room were still whispering about me falling asleep as they walked out the door. I sighed and hastily finished putting away my books. With my backpack full, I swung it over my shoulder and headed for the door. In the corner of my eye, I glared at Mr. Sansei on my way out the door.
He doesn't even know why I fall asleep like that in the first place.
I calmly walked down the hallway while making my way through the crowd of students, teachers, and other whoevers. All I could think about was getting to my locker, putting away my school crap, and getting the hell out of there.
"Hey Roxas." A voice called from behind me. I looked back, but kept walking as a brunette sprinted to catch up with me. "Hey Olette," I smiled as she came up to my side. She looked up at me with a smile that could light up a whole room. That's what I liked best about her; she cheers me up just by looking at her, and in the good way.
"I heard you fell asleep in history again." She adjusted her backpack as we stopped at a set of lockers, one in particular being mine. "Yeah, I did it again," I sighed as I swung my backpack down and began to enter the combination on the lock. I just knew what was coming next. She always gets persistent at that point if I do something stupid.
"So why'd you do it this time? Lack of sleep?" she asked as I got my locker opened and began putting away some of my school stuff. "Pretty much-" I began, but stopped as I turned to her and noticed her hands were on her hips, face all pouty, and her foot was tapping. Olette's Mom Mode had been activated.
"What?"
"What? What do you mean 'what?' I told you last time you fell asleep to start getting to bed earlier."
"And I told you last time that I do try that and it doesn't always work."
"Are you doing it every night?"
"Sometimes-"
"Sometimes isn't enough! You should be getting at least eight hours of sleep every night so you don't fall asleep in class."
"Hey, it's not everyday I fall asleep in class! It's some type of reoccurring insomnia or something. I get it every once in a while."
"Really now?" she crossed her arms, her foot still tapping. That's one thing that annoyed me about her; when she's persistent, she does not leave you alone until you give her the answer she's looking for. When she does, she counters back with some type of lecture. "You should probably get yourself checked out about that." She deactivated and gave a quick nod.
"I already did. My dad got me some medication for it," I said as I closed my locker and swung my backpack over my shoulders again, satisfyingly lighter this time. "Then don't forget to take it before you get to bed." She let another bit of Mom Mode out. Wasn't she going to be a good parent one day if her husband wasn't?
"I will, I will! So where are Pence and Hayner?" I asked as he walked to the stairs. They were my other two best friends. Hayner is a sports fanatic and I guess what one would call a "leader" when it came to planning things though I really wouldn't think about calling him that a whole lot. Not to mention Hayner's got several attitude problems which have earned him the title "Hayner the Hater" or just "Hater." Pence on the other hand was different than him. Just like Hayner, Pence was a fanatic about something. Mostly computers, video games, food, etc. Nerdy stuff like that.
"They're waiting outside the school. Gym class let out a little bit early," Olette answered as we stepped down the stairs, people taking up space all around us which only made it harder to walk. "Luckies. At least they don't get Mr. Jerksei who keeps us until the bell rings or even after the bell rings," I sniffed as we headed for the back doors. "He's just being a teacher. I mean, in several years, you won't even have to worry about him anymore. Just think about it; we'll be out of school and as far away from him as possible," she beamed with confidence all around her.
"Tch, please! I saw him at the grocery store last week. He's not going to go away, he's going to haunt us to the grave!" I shivered at the horrible image that crept into my mind. I was just at the back of the store at the freezers, looking for some ice cream and Mr. Sansei drives his cart not to far away from me. I thought for sure the guy wouldn't see me if I hid my face, but he did.
"Hello Mr. Koizumi," he said with absolutely no sense of welcoming, warmth, or enthusiasm in his voice. Just a dull call coming from a rock. "H-hi Mr. Sansei." I waved nervously, but I'm 99 percent sure the guy didn't even care what I said. "You shouldn't try to chug down so much ice cream Mr. Koizumi. That's probably the cause of why you doze off so much in class." He strolled past me without even giving me a second look. As he walked away, I stared at him with my eye twitching and my hands balled into fists. That guy needed to piss off. It wasn't school; he had no damn right.
"All I want to focus on now is getting to the place where he can't follow me and if he does, I would have the legal right to call the police." I closed my eyes as Olette opened the door.
"Yo!" Hayner smiled once he saw us walk out. He stood up straight after leaning on the wall to exchange high-fives. Pence came off the opposing wall, done tinkering with whatever electronic doohickey he had. Those things are going to be broken one day.
"Doesn't your history teacher let you guys out early at all?" Hayner asked as we started to walk across the courtyard. "I told you last time you asked he didn't. Never has, never will." I shook my head. "That guy must be rough." Pence stuck his hands in his pockets as he came up next to Olette. "Please, I'd rather be in your guys' history class than his. But enough about Mr. Lameass. What about the weekend?" I shook my head again, more fiercely this time to get that bastard out of my mind. Demon, BEGONE!
"I heard there was a new arcade that opened up down the street." Pence thumbed in the direction of the new game store. Typical.
"There are more productive ways to spend a life, Pence." Olette seemed to be straining on her words. She didn't really like his laziness.
"Then how about the batting cages down the street. That's exercise." Hayner pointed in the opposite way. Obvious.
I shook my head. "Eh, I think my bat is still broken and I don't really have the money to rent one from there." My best metal-league bat had been bent enough to look like the back leg of a dog from practicing my swings on the street corner and hitting a light post. It was gonna take some work to get that fixed.
"How about the movies then?" Pence suggested.
"Or the skate park?" Hayner asked.
"Or how about we get to our HOMEWORK first before suggesting things to do for the weekend?" Olette flashed her backpack. Crap, Olette. Why?
"No way! They always said 'Leisure before work'." Hayner crossed his arms and looked away from the sack of evil. Who exactly said that again? Or was that just another saying he pulled out of his ass?
"Who said that again?" Olette eyed him suspiciously. I rest my case. "If we get our homework done tonight, then we'll have plenty of time for other things. What's wrong with that?" Pence groaned, "But I hate my history homework." Well, at least he didn't have Mr. Sansei for a teacher, otherwise he's be hating him too instead of his crush, Mrs. Haruna.
"The sooner we get it done, the better, right Roxas?" Olette turned to me. Now wait a minute! Don't drag me into this! I did a double-take when I noticed she was talking to me. "C'mon Roxas! You know you need to let loose before getting uptight right?" Hayner turned to me. Is he talking about getting high?
They both looked at me with somewhat "convincing" looks as they awaited my answer. I looked between the two of them nervously, not entirely sure whose side to take. Olette was right; we needed to get work done before other things. But then there's Hayner, who's all work and no play makes us robots. Uh...eh...
"Olette's got a point you know," I gestured towards her. "Yes!" she cheered like a cheerleader. Don't know why she wasn't on the team.
"WHAT?! Why'd you side with her?" Hayner shook his head in disbelief. "Srsly?" I narrowed my eyes and showed him my backpack, "Behold, the shitload of work I have to do over the weekend!"
"What a downplay." Pence sighed in defeat.
"Relax guys. I told you if we get the work done tonight, we'll have plenty of free time." Olette gave a comforting wink. "Erk. This time you're wrong. I have to work at the cafe this weekend." I put my pack back on. "Again? Can't you get a schedule change or take the day off?" Hayner looked like he was about to tear his hair out. Backing away slooooowly...
"I told you guys I needed the extra money."
"We know that, but you have barely anytime for fun!"
"That's going to be us when we get into the actual adult world you know?" Olette defended me. "Look, I'll try to see if I can get off early. If I can, I'll call you guys up. If I can't, just stop by the cafe. Got it?" I announced as we stopped at the corner.
"Fine," Hayner groaned. Get over yourself.
"See you tomorrow then, Roxas." Pence turned and waved.
"Catch you guys later." I did the same. I needed to get home so I could get started on my work. Get that crap out of the way and I'd be free.
"Pot on the stove. Temperature on high. Timer on," I checked to make sure everything was on to start dinner before stepping back to the table to work on my homework.
My dad and I lived in an apartment a few blocks down from my school, Sanction High. While I went to school, my dad worked at an office building when he isn't stationed anywhere by the military. For me, I work at a cafe on market street, Cafe du Sweet. I do it for the extra money since my dad can't always take care of things by himself and so that I have a little left over for myself. I have a mom–no. I had a mom, up until several years ago when she died. With me being an only child and my dad partner-less, we tried to manage as much as we could and split up the chores. I cooked, cleaned, and did the laundry; my dad took out the trash and paid the bills since he had to do more outside of the apartment than I did. That was life for us.
"22's the answer," I sighed as I worked on my algebra. Gosh, I hate homework. A vibrating noise made me jump a little, but it only turned out to be my cellphone. I flipped it opened for the text. I was in a mini chat with the others.
'Hw abowt teh sk8 prk?' Hayner, your grammar never ceases to amaze me.
'No! The mall sounds better.' Olette, no need to be perfect.
'Space museum!' Pence...You're a nerd.
'Hw about mall, prk, fun prk?' I text to end the suggestions otherwise we wouldn't be doing anything at all.
'Yes!'
'Nice idea!'
'Awsm!'
'But I still hve to wrk so dn't expect much.' I text with a sigh in my words.
'Nt fair!' Hayner complained. Life's not fair, and I would know.
Suddenly, I heard the front door open. Dad's home. I laid my elbows on the table as I held the phone in front of me and text a quick message that I had to go. Closing my phone, I tried to make it look like I was working.
"Hey, Champ" my dad walked into the kitchen. That was just one of my many nicknames.
"Hey Dad." I gave him a quick smile and turned back to my book.
Conan Koizumi. If nothing else, we looked pretty similar to each other like a father and son should. The only difference was that my hair was spiked up and his was short with a sort of fauxhawk deal going on with a slightly darker color.
"Working on homework?" he walked over and looked over my shoulder as he stood behind me. A little space. "Yeah: algebra, history, all that junk." I shrugged. "Man, your teachers must be tough to be giving you work almost every weekend." He walked over to the stove to make sure the chicken soup wasn't on fire. "You're telling me! Sansei hammers this crap down like there's no friggin tomorrow!" I explained with a laugh of hate in my tone. I heard him sigh and knew he was shaking his head.
"That is school, after all." There was something strange in his tone at that one.
"Yeah, can't wait to be out of it."
"Or away from it. Sansei has some issues. I could actually feel them the last time we had a talk."
"That'd be paradise." I gave a small chuckle.
"He didn't give you any trouble again today, did he?" he asked. He knew that Sansei always bothered me since the guy always mentioned it whenever we had "talks."
"You know the answer to that. He always does." I heard him sigh again at that remark. I didn't get why he hadn't complained to the principle already about it. Complain, rant, harass, just get that guy fired for Pete's sake!
"How about that Seifer kid?"
"Seifer? Not today. I think he might've skipped again." I typed an equation into my calculator.
Seifer was a guy about my age who always tried to pick fights with me and the others. Usually his posses Rai and Fuu would be with him. Occasionally though, this little boy named Vivi would be with him too. I doubt "Vivi" is the kid's real name, but I'm pretty sure he had something to do with Seifer. He's more likely a little or adopted brother or cousin; Seifer isn't good with kids so letting Vivi run around with them wasn't right.
"I don't understand that boy. I thought you and him used to be friends," he took a seat next to me. That was kinda true. Seifer and I used to be friends once upon a time. Our fights used to be only for fun with no competitions in between. But the summer before we went into high school, he turned competitor against me for no reason and the rest is history. Only a bit of friendship squeezes out of the guy.
"People change. That's all I can think of." I wrote the answer down on my paper.
"But with old friends come new ones too, right?" he gave me a warm smile. In my mind, I raised an eyebrow. Why was he asking me this? In fact, why was he so talkative tonight? He usually asked me how my day was, tells me about his day, and we'd sorta go our separate ways for the rest of the evening. What was this all about?
"Yeah, sometimes." I answered with a hint of suspicion in my tone.
"And usually new friends come from different and new places too," he pursued as he got up and walked over to the cabinet.
"Most do." I narrowed my eyes as I watched him take out a bowl and walk over to the stove.
"And most of the time, you easily become friends with them." He got a ladle out of the drawer.
"Where are you going with this dad?" I finally asked him. This wasn't making a whole lot of sense, meaning something bad was coming. He always rambles on a topic when something is going to happen until he finally spits out the real news. And the real news isn't always good.
Another sigh escaped from him and I saw his shoulders droop to the side. Something bad was coming.
"I've been thinking, Roxas," calling me by my first name wasn't always a sign of good things to come either, "about what's been going on in your life."
What about my life? What's wrong with it?
"It seems like a lot of things are going on and some adjustments need to be made."
Well I knew that, but what kind of adjustments?
"That probably should've started a long time ago-"
"What is it dad?!" I finally shot up from my seat, knocking my calculator and cellphone to the floor. He stood there motionless for a while with a silent stature. I was just waiting for whatever he was going to throw at me. Instead of answering, he turned around and gave probably one of the weakest smiles I've ever saw.
"You know what, son? Lets talk about this some other time." He finished pouring some of the soup into the bowl. And with that, he turned and walked past me without saying another word.
So I stood there in confusion and fear, not entirely sure anymore of what was going to happen. Sighing, I walked over to the cabinet and grabbed a bowl. I poured some soup and got back to my chair. I attempted to figure out the rest of my homework, but I didn't get too far since I kept stirring my soup and staring out the window.
A/N: Beh, I don't personally like this chapter a whole lot. It's not the part I wanted to start on. Not action-y enough! I had more plans for further chapters, but not really this one. I couldn't even come up with good names for Roxas's dad or his teacher. For anybody who has read the manga Pita-Ten, the whole splitting of chores deal and living in an apartment should seem a little familiar. ALSO points for anybody who caught the Paranoia Agent and Sailor Moon mentioning. Gratitude goes to BlackCatHikari for beta reading this chapter as I really needed her help! Thanks for reading and please review!