Summary: Naminé Winters is pumped for her junior year at Twilight Town School of the Arts, and she is not the only one. Okay, maybe she is. On the other side of the spectrum, Roxas Hikari has just been expelled from TTSA's rival school, Radiant Garden Institute of the Arts, and is not so excited for his first year at TTSA. Throw these two into the same dorm for and what do you get? Take a Dance on Me! Enjoy!
". . . And don't forget to brush your teeth. Oh! And remember to call us every week."
I roll my eyes. Like that will happen. "Mom! Calm down. We've been here for three years. We're gonna be fine," I try to assure her. It won't calm her down, though. It hasn't any other year.
"I know." She sniffs. "But I don't think I'll ever get used to sending my daughters off like this."
"Don't worry! You'll be doing it for the last time in a couple of years!" My sister Kairi chimes.
My mom looks like she will begin to full on bawl her violet eyes out.
I narrow my eyes at my sister and nudge her with my elbow. "Not helping." Ugh, she can be so insensitive.
"My babies, my only daughters will leave soon!" Mom bursts into tears and wraps my sister and I in an inescapable embrace. You can easily see her inner drama major, or in her case, over-drama.
"Mom, can you let us go now?" Kairi asks. I feel her squirm uncomfortably next to me.
"Why, eager to see Sora so soon?" I smirk. "You two were practically joined at the hip the whole summer, anyways. You could wait a little. I know Sora can."
Finally, our mom releases us. She wipes a tear from her violet-blue eyes. "Ah, reminds me, Naminé. You're going to be in the coed dorm this year, aren't you?" She looks at me expectantly. She's obviously worried that I will be living down the hall from boys. I roll my eyes.
"Don't worry, Mom," Kairi says. "You can trust Naminé." I shoot her a grateful smile. "She's probably asexual, anyways."
What? I quickly smack her elbow with the back of my hand. "Kairi!" I swear. . .
"What? You didn't even want to hook up with Riku. Riku. Even though I have Sora, you have to admit he is hot!" Again, I roll my eyes.
"Just because he is attractive doesn't mean I'd be interested." I sigh before turning to Mom. "Relax, Mom. It's not like I'm rooming with a boy. Remember, they can't even go in our dorms, let alone live with us." I make eye contact with Kairi, who is smirking because she knows that no one follows that rule. Oh well, that's not going to be a problem for me. "Besides, I have a room all to myself this year."
"You do?" Kairi gives me look that says, You never told me this. "Not fair!" Her whining is the exact reason I didn't tell her.
"Oh, I'm gonna miss you girls." Mom looks at us lovingly.
Beep. Beep. Her phone goes off. Mom takes it out and looks at it. "Sorry, girls. It looks like I have to go." She hugs both of us before heading to the car.
"Tell Dad we love him!" I call to my mom. Our dad couldn't come to drop us off. He never can. He always has to work. It must be hard being the mayor. I nudge Kairi with my shoulder. "You wanna say hi to Uncle Ansem first, or do you want see Sora?" I don't need to ask this question. I know she really wants to see Sora, but we need to see our favorite, as in our only, uncle, the headmaster.
By the way, Kairi's not dating Sora. He's too oblivious to notice that she likes him. Of course, he likes her too. Who blames him? It's my twin sister. Anyone related to me is deserving of praise. . . Wow, that's conceited. Which is surprising, I haven't always been this confident.
You see, I wouldn't have gotten into dance unless Kairi dragged me to the local dance studio when we were ten. I only agreed because I didn't like being away from my sister. Even in eighth grade, when we first got to Twilight Town School of the Arts, I couldn't stand living in a separate room from her. It's fine now; I had awesome roommates, Xion and Olette, and had them in freshman and sophomore year too. But this year, I'm glad to have a room to myself.
"Don't you think we should knock?" I ask Kairi once we get to our uncle's office. Her hand went straight to the doorknob of one of the double doors. She looks at me like I'm crazy.
"Do we ever?" She immediately pushes through the door. Does she have manners? "Hi, Uncle!" She yells as she barges into the office.
I follow my sister into our uncle's expansive office. Uncle Ansem is sitting behind his grand oak desk at the far, very far, end of the room, in front of a giant window that covers the entire wall behind him. "Naminé, Kairi!" He stands up from his large, leather chair.
My sister and I run over to him and give him a hug. "Hi, Uncle."
"Hi, girls." I feel him wrap an arm around me.
I let go and step back. "How are you?"
"I'm fine. How about you girls?" He strokes his white-blond beard. I love it when he strokes his beard; it makes him look so wise. "Did you enjoy your summer?"
"Yes, we did." I look over at Kairi, knowing full well that she definitely enjoyed her summer. Our twin "telepathy" lets her know I am talking about her and Sora, and it takes everything in me to contain a giggle when she scowls at me.
"Well, I hope you two ready for the school year." He smiles his wise, relaxed smile that is almost impossible to say no to. Almost.
Our "twin powers" allow us to groan in unison.
"Ugh, school," Kairi complains in distaste. I don't voice my complaints out loud, but I agree. Sometimes, school can be "ugh."
"Don't say that, Kairi." Uncle chuckles good naturedly, but I can see the hurt in his eyes. "After all, it's your junior year. You will be thinking about college, won't you?"
"Yeah." I tuck a strand of my blonde hair behind my ear. I'm entirely sure of my choice. "I'm definitely considering Radiant Garden."
Uncle smiles at the mention of my dad and his hometown, even if Radiant Garden is the home of TTSA's rival school, Radiant Garden Institute of the Arts. A childish rivalry, though, won't stop me from attending my dream school.
Kairi, however, takes the rivalry a little more seriously than I do, and scoffs at my choice.
Uncle has a smile on his face when he shakes his head at her antics, fully understanding the attitude some students have towards Radiant Garden. "How about you, Kairi? Where have you been looking?"
Kairi deliberates for a little while. Unlike me, she hasn't completely made up her mind. "I was thinking of sticking close to home at Destiny Islands, or even going to Twilight Town. The city sounds nice too, maybe Traverse Town?"
Uncle chuckles at her indecisiveness. "I see, that you haven't decided yet." He glances at his gold watch. "You girls should go unpack now. Don't want to miss the opening assembly, now do we?"
"Yeah, we'll go. But I have one question." I had already turned to walk away when Kairi said this. What is she doing? I turn around, wanting to make sure she doesn't do anything stupid.
"Ask away." Uncle sits back down at his desk.
"Why is Naminé in the coed dorm? More importantly, why does she get her own room?" Argh, she's so whiny. My eyes narrow at her.
"Firstly, I trust Naminé more. Secondly, the number of female students doesn't even out to where we can place another student with her. A mere coincidence." He laughs. "Don't think I have anything against you."
"I know." Kairi avoids his eyes. "I was just curious. Um, we'll go now. Bye, Uncle!" She's waves and starts walking to the door to leave.
"Thank you, Uncle," I say before following Kairi out. "Wait for me, Kai!"
"Well I guess this is it," Kairi says with finality when we stop in front of my dorm house, Shimomura. "My baby sister's leaving!" The dramatic personality that she inherited from Mom shows as she quickly throws her arms around me. Oh yeah, I'm the younger twin by thirteen minutes, but times like this make it hard to believe that Kairi is actually older than me.
I slowly peel my sister off me. "Shut up, Kairi. Besides, we're only in different dorm houses, not different schools." Even though we have never been roommates, we've at least been in the same dorm house. It's funny, the positions would have been switched a few years ago. "I'll see you at assembly." I start walking to the dorm. "Freedom!" I cheer, making sure that Kairi can hear me.
"Hey!" I hear her complain behind me as I approach the dorm house. As I enter the Shimomura dorm, I take the time to enjoy laughing at my twin's expense.
After the fun experience of pulling my two-ton suitcase up two flights of stairs, I am home free. "Finally!" I leave my suitcase by the door before falling backwards onto my new bed, savoring the feeling of the soft, blue and white floral comforter. When I turn my head to the left, I notice a bare mattress across from mine. What's that doing here? I stand up from the bed and walk over to inspect the other bed. "I guess they just forgot to move it." My shoulders raise up in a shrug.
I go on to haphazardly set my stuff up in the modest bathroom and place a few sets of clothes in a drawer set on the side of the room closest to my bed. Before leaving for the assembly at one of TTSA's many auditoriums, I stand in the doorway and admire the beauty of my single bedroom. Unknowingly, my eyes focus on the extra bed. I don't know why, but its existence irks me. Hopefully I can get it moved after the assembly.
Third Person POV
Meanwhile, in the parking lot. . .
"Dad, I really don't want to go here," a blonde boy with unnaturally spiky hair whines.
As he retrieves his son's bags from the trunk of their Toyota Highlander, his father sighs . "You're the one who wanted to continue studying at an arts school. This what we could afford. It's not that bad. Besides, your brother goes here. Some of your cousins are here, too. It won't be that bad." He turns around and hands the bags to his son, Roxas. "Are you sure you don't want me to bring your stuff up?"
"I'm fine, Dad," Roxas says as he slips his backpack over his shoulder and adjusts his suitcase beside him. "Well, I'm going now. I have that assembly thing to go to." He hugs his father using his free arm. "Love you, Dad. I'll see you in November."
"Yeah, about that. . ." His father laughs nervously and sheepishly rubs his neck. "You'll be with your mother this Thanksgiving, and Christmas, too."
"What? Why are you telling me this now?" Mortified, Roxas watches as his father quickly jumps into the SUV and start it up. "Dad!"
"Have fun at the assembly, son. Tell your brother I said hi," Roxas' dad rapidly says through the open car window before speeding away.
"Wait! Dad!" Roxas weakly attempts to chase his father's car, but quickly stops the useless pursuit. Grabbing his bags as he sighs, he approaches the campus of his new school. Just great. Not only do I have to go to this crap school, now I'm not going home until spring break. Not to mention that I haven't talked to Ven in years . . . And I don't know where I'm going.
Roxas notices a girl with braided brown hair walk out of a building labelled, "Hashimoto Library." Maybe she knows where my dorm is. Leaving his suitcase on the sidewalk, he runs up the stairs of the library and taps the girl on the shoulder. "Hey, I'm new here. Do you think you can tell me where the Shimomura . . . Olette?" Finally seeing the girls face, he recognizes the combination of brown hair and green eyes.
Olette's eyes grow to the size of basketballs when she sees the spiky-haired boy. "Roxas? Roxas Hikari? Roxas!" Without hesitation, she throws her arms around his shoulders, ecstatic to see an old friend. "What are you doing here now?" She asks as she pulls away. "Did you get held back?" She teases.
Roxas rolls his eyes. "Ha, ha. I'm transferring."
"Really? Where are you transferring from?" Olette asks.
Roxas starts to say the name of his previous school when he is pulled away from Olette. "Radiant-"
"Whoa there, buddy," a boy with disheveled blonde hair says. "Nobody hugs my girl and gets away with it. Not even you, Ven."
Roxas tries not to laugh at another old friend. "Hayner, what are you talking about? It's me, Roxas!" He grins and spreads out his arms, waiting for his friend to hug him, but Hayner just blankly stares at him."
"Very funny." Hayner keeps his mouth in a straight, unamused line. "Stop messing with me."
"But Hayner, it really is Roxas," Olette tries to convince her boyfriend as she tries to assure him by putting a hand on his arm.
Hayner seems like is about to give in as he stares at his girlfriend and her hand, but he doesn't. "Oh yeah? Do something only Roxas can do," he challenges.
Roxas scoffs. "At least give me something hard." He reaches out a fist and without thinking, Hayner bumps it back. Roxas pulls back his fingers in a peace sign with Hayner mirroring him. "Rock, scissors," he holds up his palm for a high five, "Paper, shoot." He points his hand like a gun and holds it to Hayner's chest. Hayner does the same.
Realizing what had just happened, Hayner widens his eyes. "Dude, our secret handshake from 5th grade? You are Roxas!" Sacrificing the manliness he treasures, Hayner wraps Roxas in a rather un-masculine hug. "Man, I hardly even remember that myself! It's been so long." He turns to Olette with an excited grin on his face. " 'Lette, we have to tell Pence."
Olette shakes her head. "No, Hayner, we have to go to the assembly. We're going to be late."
"Okay," Hayner says reluctantly as Olette grabs his hand, not wanting to argue with his girlfriend. "Roxas," he calls to his friend. "You don't know where the auditorium is, right? You can come with us."
"Nah, it's fine." I don't want to be a third wheel. "I can find it on my own. Besides, I need to bring my stuff to my dorm."
"Shut up, you just don't want to be the third wheel," Hayner snaps.
Crap, he read my mind. "No. . ."
"Just come with us, Roxas." Olette smiles reassuringly at him. "You don't want to be late before you even start classes, do you?" Her tone turns from pleasing to taunting. "Come on, Hayner. Let's go!" She says cheerfully.
Roxas panickedly grabs his bags and runs after the couple. "Wait! I change my mind! I don't know where anything is! Let me come with you!"