"Mmm…strawberries…"
Sora tossed in his sleep, licking his lips as the mouth-watering image of strawberries draped in milky chocolate encircles his mind from yet another random dream.
"…Candy apples…"
"Sora?"
The sound of another
voice caused Sora's brow to ruffle as he rolls onto his back, his
eyes still closed as he remains in his everlasting slumber.
"Sora
isn't a sweet…" he mumbles, twitching his nose slightly at the
idea of a 'Sora Sweet.' The tall teen stood besides Sora's bed
rolls his eyes and sighs with slight aggravation.
"Sora!"
The sudden yell causing the spiky-haired, 15 year old to shoot up,
his eyelids springing open as he gazes around dazedly to see his best
friend, Riku, stood grinning with his arms folded.
"…Huh?" Sora rubs his eyes, yawning and wincing slightly as Riku draws open his curtains, the summer sun drowning the room in light.
"Come
on Sora! First day back at school! And at this rate we're going to
be late!"
Sora moans, flopping his head back down on his
pillow and waving his hand slightly at his silver-haired friend.
"Give me 5 more minutes…"
A pillow is thrown roughly at Sora's head, bouncing off and landing on the floor, his brown hair somehow remaining its spiked form. A muffled laugh comes from him as he pushes himself up, sitting up slowly and returning the pillow to Riku in a lazy throw.
Stretching out his arms and catching it with ease, Riku grins and hands Sora his crumpled school uniform, unwashed from last year. He turns and heads for the door, carrying his blazer over his shoulder in his gloved hand.
"Come on Sora, it's not like you to be lazy for anything," he smiles slightly, flicking his head to the side as his hair falls out of his eyes to improve his vision of Sora and his extremely untidy bedroom.
"That doesn't include school though…" Sora smirks, snatching up his clothes and trying to figure which way his trousers go on, failing in the end.
Riku smiles slightly watching his friend struggle with one of the simplest tasks of which a baby could probably handle. Turning, he heads for the door, picking up his bag and slinging it over his shoulder.
"Kairi and Namine are waiting downstairs, be quick!"
As soon as the name 'Kairi' escapes Riku's mouth, a smile plays around Sora's lips. Kairi, his and Riku's other childhood friend, a calm and caring girl who could befriend the most threatening of beasts.
Changing quickly before running downstairs, Sora snatches up the waffle left from his mother before leaping out the door, returning five seconds later to retrieve his school bag before exiting once more.
"Sora! Hey!" Kairi calls from across the road, bouncing slightly on the spot as she waves at her dear friend.
"Kairi!" Without even glancing across the road he leaps towards her, a hand shoots out, yanking him back as a car speeds past, the driver yelling murmured abuse at the clumsy teen.
"Whoops…" Sora grins nervously, glancing behind him to see a tall blonde, hair spiked almost identical to his own, clutching onto Sora's bag handle.
Cloud shakes his head, his lips curved into a slight smile as he releases his grip from Sora's school bag.
"Stop…look…" He begins, before being interrupted by his little brother.
"…listen…yeah, yeah I know!" Grins in a rather innocent manor and pauses before gallivanting across the road to join his fellow companions on their journey to school.
"Be careful; try not to get into any serious accidents this term why don't you!" Yells Cloud, lifting up onto his tip-toes to look above the car that pulled up outside his house to watch Sora walk off with his friends, seeing him wave his hand slightly to signal he heard, not necessarily meaning he took notice.
"You're rather overprotective of him y'know…" Comes a voice from below Cloud. His deep blue eyes flicker down onto the boy in the car as he shrugs in response and opens the door, sitting inside with him.
"…He's my brother, what else am I supposed to do?" Smirks slightly as he throws his bag onto the back seat, glancing at Zack sat besides him before they drive off.
Driving round the corner they pause, coming to a small cottage by the beach, flowers perched outside in decorative pots as a girl steps out of the house, a similar age to Cloud and Zack.
She smiles sweetly, her hair curly brown hair bouncing on her shoulders as she approaches the car, blushing slightly as Zack grins at her.
"Morning," Aerith's lips flicker into a girly smile as she bends down slightly, kissing Zack gently on the lips and taking a seat in the back. She leans forward and smiles warmly at Cloud.
"Hello Cloud, excited about a new school year?" She holds her school books to her chest as if she cherishes them dearly.
Cloud opens his mouth to react but just ends up shrugging, smiling slightly and resting his elbow on the window, glancing into the car mirror and seeing a familiar face running up behind them.
"Zack!! You said you'd wait!" Yells Tifa, panting as she strops up to the car, placing one hand on her hip, clutching her school belongings in the other.
Zack grins rubbing his forehead rather guiltily, glancing at Cloud who shakes his head grinning.
"Sorry
Tifa…I forgot…"
"You always forget!" Rolls her eyes
and takes a seat besides Aerith in the back, the two of them greeting
and discussing the upcoming day before they drive off towards Hollow
Bastion High.
--
The tall orange-bricked buildings stand as they were the previous year. The school flag fluttering in the slight breeze with pride, the windows shimmering in the gleaming sunlight as numerous students sit out in the fields surrounding the cheery school buildings.
To the north half of the school are the English and Maths blocks, the southern end of the school holds the notorious Science rooms with various experimental lab rooms and Technology classes. To the east holds the Geography and History areas, and in the West are the Music and Art rooms.
The four buildings surround a large field area, currently swarmed with crowds of students, chatting and swapping stories of the summer. In the centre of all the commotion stands a very large water fountain, a stone model of the Head Teacher, and a plaque beneath reading: Ansem the Wise.
However, the glory of having such a statue is ruined from the fact of the drawn on beard, party hat and other such violations on the stone statue. The three words on the plaque stand clear but with the extra addition of the words '...Ass Old Man' scribbled on in permanent pen.
--
Sora slumps down on the benches surrounding the statue, dropping his bag to the floor and leaning back on the bench, soaking up the rays.
"Ah! Don't you just love this weather?"
Kairi giggles, sitting down besides his feet and nudging them slightly so Namine can sit besides her.
"Yeah…I'm so glad to be back…" She smiles, tucking her hair behind her ear as Namine nods, leaning forward slightly to see Sora, her delicate blonde locks swaying slightly in the breeze.
"I bet you're glad to be back Sora!"
Sora shrugs, watching the wisps of clouds in the light blue sky roll past.
"Actually…I kinda am..."
Glancing at Kairi, Namine smiles holding her sketchpad in her hand.
"I
can't wait for the art lessons! They'll be so good this year!"
Riku smiles, his soft silver hair whipping around his neck as he
watches so many students enter the school, some new…some old, some
clueless and some already clutching their stomachs in laughter.
"Yeah…it's good to be back," he nods, seeing a certain friend of theirs walking over, his sandy coloured hair spiked up oddly as usual, as if he just rolled out of bed with no extra effort needed. Sora sits up, seeing his cousin walk over and moves his hand in a gesture of a greeting, Roxas nods in return.
"Hey guys, have a nice summer?" His deep blue eyes mimic in Sora's as Riku, Kairi and Namine nod, no need for Sora to reply as they spent most of their summer together at family gatherings.
Roxas grins, his friends Hayner, Pence and Olette stood and chatting with each other. Pence cautiously steps towards Kairi, his cheeks flushing red as the red sweatband around his hand dampens and his hands begin to sweat slightly as he fiddles with his fingers.
"Um…eheh…hello...K-Kairi," he smiles nervously as she beams up to him, as natural as ever.
"Hey
Pence! How was your summer?"
Pence just giggles, turning
bright red and hiding behind Hayner, who rolls his eyes, folding his
arms and kicking a rock as him and Roxas exchange glances, heading
over to the cafeteria area.
"Neeeever gona happen dude…" Hayner pats Pence sympathetically on his shoulder, Roxas nodding and placing his hands in his pockets.
"Roxas!!"
The poor teen couldn't react quickly enough as a fiery red-headed Year 12 student leaps on him, snatching him up in a head lock, Roxas receiving a rather forceful nugie. However, his hair doesn't seem to have changed from the playful act.
Roxas grins, throwing his friend off and pulling himself to his feet, dusting himself down.
"Hey Axel, haven't seen you in a while," Scratches the back of his head as a spark of guilt flutters around in his mind.
"No worries!" Slings his arm round Roxas' shoulder, his free hand flicking his trusty flame-marked lighter on and off as usual. "How you finding life in Year 7?" He laughs teasingly, not realising he's placing too much weight on Roxas' shoulder as he begins to give way.
"I'm in Year 10…" His expression portrays his feelings of playful agitation at Axel's comments. Axel blinks, shrugs and nudges him playfully, relieving his weight off the younger one's shoulder.
"Anyway…see you around!" Turns and heads off to rejoin his friends sat on a rounded bench in the shade, he glances over his shoulder at Roxas smirking, his dabs of eye-make just barely visible on his cheeks after he received numerous complaints from various teachers throughout the past few years in the school. "Have fun in Year 7!"
"Year 10!" Roxas grins slightly, turning and ordering some breakfast with his friends, Pence still in a day-dream from his short but sweet interactions with his crush: Kairi.
Axel jogs back over to his Year 12 companions sat in the shadowy area of the centre field.
Demyx, sat leaning back against the wall rather lethargically, with his guitar over his knee, tuning it with the utmost of concentration. He glances up at Axel, his brown-sandy hair stood up on end with surprisingly little gel holding it together, a few strands of rebellious hair dangling before his eyes.
"Hey Axel, was that Roxas you were talking to?" Comes a rather deep voice from the other side of the bench, where Marluxia is sat, slowly plucking the petals off a freshly picked rose.
"Yeah, he's growing quickly…I remember when we used to play as stupid little kids, now we're like…adults, well…almost." Takes a seat besides Larxene, who is busy scribbling obscene words on the newly bought bench.
"I don't wana be an adult…they're all…old and stupid…"
"Says the girl who just wrote 'I hate my stupid eglish teacher'…" Adds Axel, flicking his lighter on and off in a rather annoying fashion.
"Well I don't know how it's spelled do I! And I don't even care for that matter…" Scribbles on the desk to add an 'n' to the word 'eglish.'
"If you don't care…then why did you correct it?" Smirks Axel, flicking his lighter on once more. Larxene rolls her eyes and snatches it from his hands; a look of sheer desperation appears on his face as he begs for it back, extremely scared of the consequences of something so dangerous in her hands, as she has such a strong reputation of being a very brutal girl.
Marluxia glances around the new students, his gaze fixing upon two scrambling up the back of the Ansem statue.
"Axel,
what exactly is your brother doing?"
"Huh?" Leaning
forward he sees his older brother tying a bright pink bow tie around
the stone statue of their Head Teacher. He rolls his eyes and shakes
his head, not so surprised.
"Don't know, don't care, got it memorized?"
Marluxia smirks slightly, Axel's catch phrase never far from conversation as he watches the two Year 13 students vandalise the statue for the 7th time.
"Rude! Hold still!" Reno called out, struggling to remain balanced on his friend's shoulders as he strapped the luminous pink bow tie around the stone statue.
In response, Rude rolled his eyes and gripped the red-head's ankles in an effort to keep him steady, as collapsing down would result in both of them receiving a wet welcome from the water fountain below.
"Almost…almost!" His fingers repeatedly tied knots in the material, providing a better chance of the fancy-dress item to remain on the stone Head Teacher.
"Reno!" Rude yelled from below, his legs shaking under the pressure as the rebellious Reno leans further forward enabling him to attach clip-on plastic earrings to his artistic masterpiece.
"Done - WAH!" He flails his arms about in the air as they both crash down into the shallow pool below.
From the opposite side of the field, Axel rolls his eyes and groans from embarrassment as his older brother yet again makes a fool out of himself.
Marluxia chuckles to himself and lets another rose petal flutter out of his grasp due to the summer breeze, tilting his head in Axel's direction.
"You take after him y'know…" His comment is met by a fiery glare from the younger of the two red-headed brothers. Marluxia's lips curve into a grin as he silences himself as a sign to Axel that he doesn't want to become burnt on the first day back to school.
Sora barely even noticed the two Year 13's fighting in the pool behind him. That was until Reno accidentally whipped him with his long pony-tail. The young brunette glanced over his shoulders, narrowing his eyes slightly but laughing as he saw the 'new and improved' Ansem statue.
All the students' conversations are halted as the school bell echoes throughout the buildings and fields, everyone picking up their school equipment and heading off the to their first lesson of the day. Many younger children walk around rather scared as the older ones tease them of the evil teacher that lurk within. Frankly, they had no idea.
