Author's Note
I came across this story when I was fishing through my documents folder trying to find inspiration to finish my other story that I haven't updated in... a while. I wrote this about four years ago when I was still in high school, and I completely forgot about.
After reading the first couple chapters I've decided to edit and upload it. This shouldn't take too long to update, since I don't actually have to write anything, but I hope you enjoy it anyway. It's very different from what my current writing style developed into, and I had fun rereading it.
Well anyways, here it is in all its cavity-inducing goodness. No really, there are moments that are almost cringe worthy because it's so sweet.
Hope you enjoy :)
Demyx ran like his life depended on it. In a way it did. That bus wouldn't stay there forever, in fact it looked like it was about to leave any second, and as soon as it did Demyx would be late for class. He couldn't miss another one, or his teacher would fail him. The brake lights on the bus suddenly flashed off, and the tires started rolling. Demyx pushed himself to run faster, there was no way he would make it, but perhaps if he got closer and the bus driver saw him…
He didn't see him. The bus picked up speed and turned the corner out of sight. Demyx stopped, panting and cursing between each breath. If only he had a car! He was the only senior who didn't have one. Well, the only senior amongst his group of friends. Sure he had his license, but that didn't help much without an actual set of wheels to put to use. As his breathing became more even Demyx started to walk to campus. The next bus wouldn't come for another thirty minutes, and it was only a twenty minute walk. But he hated walking alone in the city. As if to emphasize his worries he noticed a missing person's poster stapled to a telephone pole nearby. It was different from the one that had been there just a few weeks ago.
Just as he shifted his bag to a slightly more comfortable position, a car pulled up beside him and stopped. He looked over and saw Axel, one of his classmates who lived nearby, waving from the driver's seat. Demyx closed his eyes in an effort not to roll them, and did his best not to look too upset about talking to him. After all, he needed a ride. As he walked up to the car Axel's friend in the passenger seat rolled down the window so they could talk.
"Hey, Demyx. Want a ride?"
Axel's eagerness was a clear sign he should say no. But, he needed a ride. "Yeah, I missed the bus. Do you mind?"
"Of course not, we're going to the same place." He looked pointedly at his friend, who clearly understood the message and clambered into the back seat. Demyx opened the door to the passenger side and got in. "Sorry about the mess," Axel said, a little nervously. There were empty potato chip bags and plastic Coke bottles littering the floor of the car.
"It's okay," Demyx lied. The car was disgusting. He found a small patch of the floor that had somewhat less garbage than the rest and put his feet there. His bag stayed on his lap.
The ride was incredibly awkward. No one really spoke, not even Axel and his friend. Demyx watched the road through the passenger window, praying his friends would already be inside the school. He didn't want them to see him getting out of Axel's car.
"Demyx?"
The sound of his name brought him back. He looked around and saw that Axel's friend was looking at him. He must have just asked Demyx a question.
"Sorry, what?" He said.
"I just asked why you didn't have a car." Xigbar glanced at the rearview mirror and Demyx saw that Axel was looking back at him warningly. "I mean," he continued, "you do have your license, don't you?" Axel threw a well-aimed punch to the back seat and hit his friend's leg.
Demyx tried to contain a smile. "Yes, Xigbar, I do have my license. The reason I don't have a car, though I don't see how it's any of your business, is because I can't afford the insurance."
"Then maybe you should get a job."
"He works at the mall, idiot," Axel said. Demyx looked over at him and saw his ears were bright red. He didn't know how Axel knew where he worked, but then again a ton of people their age went to the mall every day. He probably just saw him there.
"Yeah, I do," Demyx said, trying to break the tension that had suddenly sprung up in the car.
Axel glanced over at him then focused back on the road. Xigbar seemed to be done talking for now. Demyx looked back out of his window until they pulled up at the school. He scanned the parking lot and sidewalks carefully, and decided his friends must thankfully be inside. Looking over at Axel he muttered "Thanks" and quickly opened the door to escape. As he was rushing to get away he heard him call out:
"See ya in class."
He waved without turning around. Yes, they would see each other in class, but they wouldn't talk. They had never talked before now. The car ride was a fluke, it didn't count. That's what he kept telling himself as he walked towards his locker and threw his bag inside. Demyx walked to his class and sat down next to his friends.
"You're here! You didn't show up with the other people who ride the bus, so we thought you must not be coming. Did you get a ride with someone?" That was Larxene, a very pretty blond who had instantly wanted to be Demyx's friend since freshman year.
"Yeah," Demyx muttered, pulling his notebook and pen out of his bag.
"Oh? Who?" Asked Zexion, seated on Larxene's left.
Demyx shook his head, unwilling to answer, but at that moment Axel and Xigbar walked in. Axel didn't even look his way, but Xigbar did. And he winked at Demyx.
That's all it took and Larxene exploded. "You got a ride with Axel?" She tried to ask it as quietly as she could, under the circumstances, but still people around them looked around at her.
"I had to," Demyx pleaded, "I missed the bus and I was going to be late. I can't miss another class or I'll fail."
"But…Axel?" Marluxia, his third friend, looked appalled. Zexion looked like he was in shock. "I mean, he's been in love with you since forever."
"He's not in love with me. He doesn't even know me."
"That certainly doesn't stop him from staring at you," Zexion said. And sure enough, when Demyx looked to where Axel had sat down he was blatantly staring at him. Their eyes met and Axel smiled at him but Demyx looked quickly away.
"Or offering you a ride," Marluxia added, pretending nothing had just happened.
"And you accepted!" Larxene suddenly burst out.
"Larx, I was gonna be late if I didn't. Calm down, I was pretty cold to him anyway." Which was true, but that's the way it had always been, so why did he suddenly feel a little bad about it?
"So he doesn't think you're like, friends, does he?" Larxene asked, her eyes pleading with Demyx.
"Definitely not," Demyx assured his friend. Larxene looked far from mollified, but she turned her attention to the front of class as the teacher stood up to take roll.
Demyx listened to the teacher talk about the girl who had gone missing and how students should try to be very careful when alone. When she was finished lecturing the high school seniors about maturity and being smart, because they clearly hadn't learned either of those, a huge smile spread across her face and Demyx groaned. This was going to be bad. Worse, it was going to be painful. This teacher refused to see reason on anything, and whatever gave her pleasure was not going to be fun for the class. It wasn't just Demyx who felt this way either, most of the people in the class had turned to their neighbor in order to exchange worried looks.
"We're going to try something new," she said.
Demyx knew it. This was going to be some kind of punishment the universe had decided to dole out because he accepted Axel's ride. Ms. Wandall was going to make them memorize and recite poetry in front of the class. Or worse: impromptu speeches. Or maybe…
"Sorry, Demyx, maybe next time."
Demyx looked around. Larxene had a somewhat apologetic look on her face, and Zexion and Marluxia were avoiding his gaze entirely.
"What did I miss just now?" Demyx asked, confused.
"Ms. Wandall wants us to get into groups of four for a project, and Zex, Marluxia, and I are grouping with Luxord, the new guy."
"Oh." Demyx had been wrong. This had nothing to do with the universe punishing him, Larxene was doing it all on her own.
"Sorry," Zexion offered, actually looking upset.
"No problem, I'll find someone to group with." And before Larxene could warn him about who he couldn't group with, Demyx stood up to find someone else without a group. Luckily there was another guy, who hadn't even bothered moving when the teacher had finished speaking. Demyx had never talked to him before, but knew his name was Roxas because when he was new last year Demyx had tried to convince Larxene to befriend him, but Larxene had refused. She thought there was something "weird" about Roxas. Demyx didn't like to judge people before he knew them, so he decided that now was a good time to get to know Roxas. It was also an excellent chance to get back at Larxene for forming a group without him.
"Hi," Demyx said brightly as he sat down at Roxas's table. Roxas looked up at him a little surprised, but smiled all the same. "Wanna be a group?"
"Sure," Roxas said, "but we'll need two more people."
Demyx looked around at the slowly forming groups around them, hoping to see a couple people who were either left out or just didn't want to join another group without a friend. Then he saw something that made him smile even more. Just a few tables away Axel and Xigbar sat talking to each other, and neither of them had bothered to get into a group either. The opportunity was too perfect! Larxene was going to wish she had included Demyx in the group after what he was about to do.
"Do you mind if Axel and Xigbar join us?" Demyx asked Roxas. Roxas shook his head and Demyx called out to them. "Hey, Axel!" Axel looked over at him, the shock on his face more obvious than anything. "Wanna join our group?" Roxas chuckled, and it was easy to see why. Xigbar's mouth dropped open and Axel looked as if someone had punched him in the face. It was pretty funny, and Demyx even laughed a little.
Axel must have sensed good intentions, though, because he and Xigbar came over to the table where Demyx was sitting with Roxas. "I'll only join if Xigbar can too."
"Oh, really? Why would you want to be in a group with him?" Demyx asked teasingly.
"Very funny, Blondie," Xigbar said, sitting down at the table across from Roxas and looking at Demyx with intense distrust. Axel took the seat across from Demyx and smiled nervously at him. Demyx smiled warmly back at him, reveling in his perfect little scheme.
Once the class had settled into groups, Ms. Wandall stood in front of the room again. What she said wiped the smile from Demyx's face completely. Apparently each group was to choose a scene from one of Shakespeare's plays, memorize it, and act it out in front of the class before the end of the year. Ms. Wandall was going to assign each group the play they would read, and as a group the students would choose a scene to perform. Demyx tried hard not to panic, he wouldn't be in front of the class for almost two months yet, but he hated going in front of the class for anything. Even if it was Shakespeare, which he happened to love. He looked at the others in his group. Axel and Xigbar both looked indifferent, but Roxas looked almost as panicked as Demyx himself felt. Ms. Wandall began moving around the class and assigning plays to the groups and the class started talking amongst themselves.
"Well, this should be fun, eh?" Xigbar said, with just a trace of sarcasm.
"We'll certainly be spending a lot of time together over the next couple months," Axel looked nervously across the table at Demyx as he said this, but Demyx didn't respond because he was still panicking. Axel's nervous look turned into one of concern. "Demyx? Are you all right?"
"I hate getting up in front of the class!" Demyx burst out suddenly, then hid his face in his hands. He heard Xigbar start to chuckle, but it was cut short as Axel kicked him hard under the table. A small hand started stroking Demyx's right shoulder in a comforting way, and a rather larger one took his hands from his face. Demyx didn't want to look at Axel while he was in such a vulnerable state, so instead he turned to Roxas.
"It'll be okay," Roxas said. "I hate it too, but at least we'll be with friends, which is better than doing it alone, right?"
Friends. Right. Demyx's friends had cast him aside like a pet they didn't want anymore. "Right," he said nonetheless. He suddenly realized his hand was still in Axel's and pulled it away quickly. Thankfully, Ms. Wandall came up to them before anything could get really awkward.
"Well, isn't this an odd group." She said. It wasn't a question but she said it like it was, perhaps daring one of them to confront her. No one was taking the bait though. "Well, since you have an even mix of genders," she said sarcastically, "let's go with…Romeo and Juliet. Have any of you read it before?" All four of them raised their hands. "Wonderful!" Ms. Wandall exclaimed. "I'll leave the four of you to discuss which scene you'll do." And with that she moved on to the next group.
"So, what scene do you guys wanna do?" Xigbar asked.
Everyone was silent, not wanting to say their opinion first. Then Roxas spoke up. "Well, the balcony scene is always good. Or the death scene."
"Yeah, but the problem with the balcony scene is not enough characters," Axel interjected. "It's almost entirely Romeo and Juliet."
"The death scene definitely has enough characters, but it's a lot more than we need," Xigbar added.
"I have an idea for the balcony scene," Demyx said.
"What's that?" Axel asked.
"Well, like you said, it's almost entirely Romeo and Juliet. Couldn't we just share a character and split their lines in half, so we're all still participating?"
The other three sat there thinking about it, Xigbar even had a small smile. "It might be kinda fun. Especially if we don't do it exactly in half. You know, maybe switch it up a bit?"
"I got one better," Axel said. "We'll split Juliet's lines into fourths, with the two of you," he gestured towards Demyx and Roxas, "alternating between fourths. Then the two of us," he then gestured toward Xigbar and himself, "will do the same with Romeo's lines. We'll work it out so that Xigbar and I play Romeo to both of you, and the two of you play Juliet to both of us. Do you get it? Does that sound good?" He asked, a little nervously.
"Definitely," Demyx said with enthusiasm. "I think it would be fun."
Xigbar and Roxas agreed and Axel relaxed noticeably. The bell rang to end class and everyone began heading out. Demyx went to his next class alone. He didn't have any of his friends in it, but normally he would walk with them to the class and they would continue to their own. Today he just didn't feel like walking with them, not after they decided not to include him in the group. His next few classes passed without anything eventful happening, and then Demyx was waiting at his locker for his friends to show up so they could leave for lunch. He was about to shut the locker door, however, when they were suddenly right behind him, all three of them with their arms folded.
"You let Axel in your group?" Larxene thundered.
"And why would you group with that weirdo kid?" Marluxia asked.
"If you guys don't remember, you chose to outcast me, it wasn't exactly my decision. Roxas was sitting alone, so I thought I would group with him. As for Axel and Xigbar, Roxas and I needed two more people. I thought it would be a good way to thank him for giving me a ride."
"By spending the next two months with him?" Zexion asked.
"Well, when we grouped up we didn't know what the group was for, remember? I thought it would just be a one-class thing." Demyx fidgeted a little. What he had said was true, they hadn't known what the group was for, but he still would have asked him to join even if he had known because the reason he did it in the first place was to get back at Larxene.
Larxene seemed a little suspicious, and she narrowed her eyes as she talked. "Well, I don't see how this is going to work."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean this friendship! Seriously, Demyx, how do you think it looks for you to be hanging out with those three? If Ms. Wandall had put us into groups it would be entirely different, but you asked to be with Roxas and then you asked Axel to join you!"
"Only after you guys decided to be a group without me!" Demyx shouted in his defense.
"Well excuse us for wanting to get to know a new student," Marluxia said, acid lacing every word.
"You could have gotten to know him outside of English, you didn't have to do it this way," Demyx spat back at him.
"I think," Zexion cut in, "that we should go to lunch and just figure things out from there."
"Fine with me," Larxene said, but as Demyx slammed his locker door shut Larxene added, "but you're staying here. The three of us need to talk about some things."
Demyx couldn't believe the injustice of this, but before he could say anything his friends turned around and walked away. It took all the willpower Demyx had not to sink down to the floor and just sit there with his arms wrapped around his legs and wait for lunch to be over. He still hadn't moved from his spot, though, as he had no idea what to do or where to go. Then he felt someone's delicate hand on his arm and he looked to his left.
It was Roxas, with a slightly hesitant smile on his face. "Want to go to lunch with me?" He asked.
Demyx nodded without thinking, just wanting to get away from in front of his locker. From the school itself. He followed Roxas silently out to his car and got into the passenger seat.
Once Roxas had pulled out of the parking lot he finally spoke up. "Okay, so…I'm not going to pretend I didn't notice what just happened. They were so rude to you! Why are you even friends with them?"
Demyx now felt guilty amongst everything else. Roxas had heard Demyx say that the only reason he grouped with him was because Roxas had been by himself, and Roxas didn't even seem to care! He was just concerned that Demyx's so-called friends had been rude to Demyx. "They're popular," Demyx finally said. He realized how shallow that sounded and felt the need to explain himself a little bit more. "I always wanted to be one of the popular kids when I was in Junior High, but at the school I went to everyone was pretty much friends with everyone else back then, so popularity didn't really seem to matter. Then when I was about to start High School my family moved across town, so I had to change school districts. When I came here, it was pretty clear popularity did matter. The first day of freshman year I spent completely alone, because I'm not really the best at making new friends, but during lunch the next day Larxene came up and sat with me. She was alone then, but it was obvious to everyone that with her looks and personality that she was destined for popularity. She seemed to want to be friends with me, and I clung on to that, as desperate as I was for friends and status. Eventually we added Zexion and Marluxia, and the four of us became…well…"
"The most popular kids in school," Roxas finished for him.
"Yeah, I guess," Demyx shifted uncomfortably.
"Don't feel too ashamed, I know you're popular. Everyone does. That's why I was so surprised when you asked me to be in your group."
"I wanted to be friends with you ever since you first moved here," Demyx blurted, wanting to at least show Roxas a part of himself that wasn't as shallow and callous as he was sounding in his own ears.
"Really?" Roxas asked, genuinely surprised. "Well, thanks, but it wouldn't have worked anyway. I can't stand your friends."
"If they're even my friends anymore."
"Don't let them make that decision. Make it for yourself. Decide not to be their friend."
"I can't do that, I don't know anyone else."
"You know me. And Axel and Xigbar."
Demyx sat in silence for a long time. What Roxas was saying made sense. Demyx's friends were nice to him because he was one of them, but they were cruel to everyone they thought was below them. That had always bothered Demyx a little, but he was able to put it in the back of his mind since he wasn't actually the one being cruel.
"Thanks, Roxas," he finally said as they pulled into the school parking lot. Axel and Xigbar were getting out of Axel's car, and when Demyx met Axel's gaze he actually waved a little. Axel raised his hand in a tentative salute, then he and Xigbar began walking up to the school. "I think I may take you up on that offer."
"It'd be nice to get to know the real you," Roxas said with a sincere grin on his face.