September 2009
"Don't slouch so much. Your hair is in your eyes. Why do you wear so much black? No, we're not listening to this again."
A hand flicked the car radio to the next station before returning to the wheel. The car jerked as the stop sign appeared almost instantly.
A soft curse hissed out of the driver's mouth as she slammed her foot on the brake, and the girl sitting shotgun slumped forward with the momentum of the car.
"I guess we're here," the driver said in monotonous fashion. "Don't dick around too much, I gotta get to class, too ya know."
The girl in the passenger seat seat slinked out of the car, shutting the door behind her and slinging her backpack over her shoulder.
The college-aged driver rolled down the passenger seat window to begrudgingly deliver her sister one last set of wise words for the beginning school year: "At least...try to be a little more social, okay? Find...find a boyfriend or something, okay? It's your senior year, and you're not gonna get a lot of time to just mess around without consequence. Just...branch out a little."
"What's wrong with Axel and Roxas?" The ex-passenger wondered, shifting her feet on the pavement.
The driver rolled her eyes behind her knockoff designer sunglasses. "A real boyfriend, Xion. I know your friends are gayer than a box of crayons, no one can hide that from me."
Xion sighed, admitting defeat and just quietly agreeing to her sister's promise. "See ya later, Yuffie."
"I'll pick you up as soon as school lets out; don't be late." Yuffie instructed, interjecting a finger at her sister for effect.
A car behind the stop sign honked, blaring its driver's impatience throughout the schoolyard.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm moving!" Yuffie shouted upward, before rolling the window up and speeding off with a screech.
She's gonna hit someone if she's not careful, Xion thought dully. She turned to the school, the prison she had attended for the last three years.
But now...just one more year of torture.
The familiar, comforting voice called her name from the student parking lot. She turned, facing the one boy whose presence alone had gotten her through the worst parts of high school: Roxas, the aforementioned "gayer than a box of crayons" Roxas.
Their matching attire had been one of the deciding factors of their friendship that began in freshman year: mostly all black, punk band t-shirts, ripped skinny jeans, and the finishing touches of the emo/punk vibe. The day they met, Roxas had donned the infamous Panic! At the Disco shirt that had drawn Xion like a moth to a flame. The second deciding factor, of course, had been music taste. Though they knew they weren't the only fans of these pop punk bands, they found solace in shutting the world out and pretending only they shared similar sufferings.
Roxas nodded his head to the doors, his hands gripped tight to his ratty backpack. "Come on, we're gonna be late for class."
She followed him, her hands in the same position. "Have you heard from Axel lately? He texted me last night 'good luck, one year left'."
Roxas agreed, "He texted me the same thing last night."
A sly grin slipped across Xion's features, and she asked teasingly. "Does your heart still pine for that 'redheaded daydream', as you used to call him sophomore year?"
The blond boy flushed the same red of Axel's hair (which, is to say, flame-red). "No!"
In obvious disbelief, Xion shook her head.
"Sure…"
"He's never gonna see me as anything more than just a friend," Roxas muttered, "besides, he and Saïx have been together for more than half a year now."
With a dramatic sigh, Roxas added, "It's such a tragedy that the only gay boys to ever walk this high school are best friends, and nothing more."
Xion knitted her brows, recounting his previous statement. "The only gay boys? What about Riku and Sora?"
Roxas made a sound like a sputtering stream of water. "Are Sora and Riku really gay? They're just dumb jocks who like to slap each others' asses for fun. Honestly, the day they get together is the day that I throw in the towel with Axel."
As if the stars had aligned and the heard Roxas's vow, the sound of a locker slamming shut with a squeak and a chorus of gasps rang out in the bustling hallway. The bustle had come to a halt as everyone stopped mid-step to witness the spectacle before their eyes: said jocks, Riku and Sora, pressed lip-to-lip, with Sora's back to Riku's locker. They remained in this position, tongue-to-tongue, until a faculty member pried them apart.
A bubble of shocked laughter rose from Xion's throat. "Wh-what the fuck?"
"Goddammit!" Roxas screamed, stamping his foot on the linoleum floor.
"Looks like you've got a promise to keep, Rox!" Xion shoved Roxas lightly, enough to instill him with her point.
Roxas muttered something under his breath - something along the lines of "Stupid gay ass jocks" - before skulking to his locker and barely glancing at the numbers
"You wanna know what Yuffie said to me this morning?" Xion mentioned, switching the subject just as the bustle started back up as if nothing had happened (if not a little slower as to process what the hell had just rocked the student body).
Roxas didn't meet eyes with Xion, but asked for her elaboration.
"She said she wanted me to find a real boyfriend, because apparently a gay friend isn't enough of a man to be around." Xion mustered a laugh, but inside the words stung. Since the day she started to notice boys, not one that she had seen returned her gaze.
Except...
Roxas rolled his eyes, slamming his locker shut.
"Yeah, the day I find another boy to like me is the day I die." Xion vowed.
In that moment, the stars seemed to align again. Her world slowed to molasses as someone approached Roxas, someone she had never seen before: blonde hair, crisp preppy clothes, and a wrinkled schedule held in nervously-fidgeting hands.
"Roxas, can you help me with my schedule? I don't know where anything is," the stranger admitted with a slight laugh.
Roxas spread the schedule out for a better analysis, agreeing to help the stranger.
"Sure, Naminé."
Xion found herself speechless, not a single word able to form on her lips. This suffocating paralysis felt all so familiar, and yet unlike any feeling she had experienced before. Her impulses begged for Xion to find any way to spend longer than a second with this stranger as Roxas pointed her in the right direction.
"Okay, thanks Roxas." The girl shot a warming smile at them, like the light of an angel's halo.
"Who's this?" Somehow, Xion's voice sounded too gruff and almost brash. Dammit, already being an embarrassment.
Roxas seemed to remember Xion's existence, and turned to introduce the girl. "Xion, this is my cousin Naminé. Naminé, this is my best friend Xion."
Naminé offered her warm smile again, and Xion's knees felt weak. "It's nice to meet you, Xion."
Xion could only mumble (she had never been very good at meeting new people). "Yeah…"
"Well, I'll see you around." Naminé turned, her blonde hair swishing behind her.
The encounter had all felt like a dream, as Xion's mind struggled to piece together the vision of an angel on Earth.
Roxas faced his stricken friend, and the same sly smile she had thrown him appeared. "Looks like someone's got a crush…"
Xion crashed back into reality. "A crush? On a girl? Me? No, I'm not...I'm not a lesbian."
"Your ears are turning pink." Roxas pointed to the culprits, and Xion covered them with her hair.
The bell sounded its warning: one minute until class began. The bustle of the hallway moved like a VHS on fast-forward.
"Dammit, I don't have time to go to my locker," Xion muttered. Thanks to that girl…
"Luckily we have the same homeroom, so we'll be late buddies together," Roxas offered to alleviate her stress. "Come on, we don't want Ms. Danowitz mad at us. Does she still hit kids with rulers, or did they finally catch up with that?"
It was a quintessential part of student life at Hartford High School, a rivalry to outmatch even the Civil War: the centuries-long feud between the cheer squad and the pom team.
Long before the current head cheerleader and the pom captain had stepped into power, this feud had existed for reasons people only knew in rumors:
"You don't know? The head cheerleader was caught with the pom captain's boyfriend."
"The pom team put laxatives in the cheer squads' water bottles. I think they shit themselves on the field."
"The cheer squad set the pom team up! They were caught with cigarettes the cheer squad bought!"
Though these rumors flew past like clouds, no one knew the true origins of the feud, but only knew that both teams treated each other horribly throughout the school year. Although neither team had been pushed to the point of physical violence, somehow that possibility always felt imminent.
And let's face it: Hartford High hadn't seen a good girlfight in several years.
But Kairi wasn't about to let this feud soil the cheer squad's reputation further, not with her senior year at stake. Such a bright future shone before Kairi: winning homecoming queen, winning snow princess at the Snowbound Dance, winning prom queen, and eventually restoring old glory to the cheer squad.
There was just...one obstacle. One she met in the empty locker rooms at every available moment. And her name was Olette, the pom captain.
How many times had they nearly been caught, not even acting the way they wished they could, but interacting at all? Kairi's desperation grew with every passing practice, but the eyes were everywhere.
In these rare moments, everything was rushed: every stolen kiss, every forbidden touch.
"We can't," Kairi always said, pushing the hope away. "They might see us."
And every time, Olette complied. Her soft hands fell away, her lips retreated.
But this time, Olette asked. She never asked. "Are we ever gonna be open about this? It's been, what, almost a year?"
Kairi bit her lip, shaking her head. Her gaze broke from Olette's, dropping to the floor in defeat. "I don't think so. Even with this dumb cheerleader vs. pom girl thing, we just...can't."
And...Olette complied. Hands away, lips back. "They're waiting for me. Act like I beat the shit out of you, okay?"
Kairi met Olette with a devil's grin. "Sure, but make it look like I put up a fight too, got it?"
Olette cocked her head, glancing over her shoulder coyly. "No promises, you cheer squad slut."
Kairi couldn't help watching her sway with a teasing walk as she left the locker room, leaving Kairi in her desperate solitude for just a second more.