"Sora, would you like to share your opinion with the class?"

"Huh?" Sora blinked three times, turning his head from the window back to the teacher who stood over him with her hands on her hips. He had been caught daydreaming. Again.

"Your opinion. On the topic we were just discussing?" Mrs. Akiyama tapped her foot impatiently.

"Uhh..." Sora could hear his classmates snickering all around him, including Kairi, whose desk was to his left. He looked up at the blackboard and scanned the heading scrawled across the top. Shakespeare, right. Romeo and Juliet. For a moment he had forgotten what class he was even in. "Um...I'd like to hear some more of their opinions before I form mine...?" he ventured.

Pursing her lips, the teacher raised an eyebrow, but apparently decided to let him get away with it this time. She moved on to Kairi, who proceeded to give an eloquent explanation that Sora only half-understood. Whew. Somehow he had managed to avoid that one, but there was a chance she would be back after a few minutes. He had better actually listen now and figure out what he was supposed to be forming an opinion on.

To his relief, after a couple more students had given their input, the bell rang, signaling the end of class. Slamming his book shut, Sora felt a foot nudging his and turned to see Kairi smiling at him.

"So, where were you this time?" she asked, giggling.

Sora grinned sheepishly. "Wonderland," he answered.

Kairi tapped her chin thoughtfully. "Hmm...shrinking potions and mysterious disappearing cats, right?"

"Yep, that's the one," Sora nodded. "Man, that place was confusing." A shadow crossed his desk and he looked up with a jerk. He gulped when he saw Mrs. Akiyama staring down at him again. Maybe he hadn't been so lucky, after all.

"Here's your make up work for this week, Sora," she said, holding out a thin folder. Taking it, Sora nodded and mumbled a thank you.

"Tomorrow we'll be continuing our discussion on Romeo and Juliet falling in love at a young age, and whether it contributed to their untimely demise," Mrs. Akiyama added, "And I'll expect you to be the first to share your thoughts."

Nodding again, Sora quickly gathered his belongings and stood. Kairi was already waiting for him by the door. "Ready for lunch?" she asked.

"I'm starving," Sora agreed. As they headed down the crowded hallway towards their lockers, Sora glanced inside the folder Mrs. Akiyama had given him. "Ugh, when will the make up work end?"

"Well, you were gone for a pretty long time," Kairi reminded him. "You missed a lot of school."

"Yeah, I know. But Shakespeare is the worst," Sora grumbled.

"What, you mean you don't have an opinion about Romeo and Juliet, and whether or not they were old enough for true love?"

Sora shrugged. "Why shouldn't they be old enough? I don't think you have to be an adult to know who you want to be with." He looked at Kairi out of the corner of his eye, watching as she tucked a strand of auburn hair behind her ear. His heart skipped a beat. "I think you can find love no matter what age you are," he finished decisively.

"Are you speaking from personal experience?" Kairi smiled at him, a mischievous twinkle in her blue eyes.

"What?" Sora could feel his face grow warm. "No! Um...I mean...I..." Yes, he was. But he didn't want her to know that. On the other hand, if she felt the same way about him, he didn't want her to think that he didn't mean that.

"You're walking right past your locker, silly," Kairi interrupted his swirling thoughts.

"Oh. Right." Fumbling with the dial, Sora managed to get the locker open and shoved his books inside, mentally ordering his face to cool back down and look normal.

"Anyway," Kairi said from behind her locker door. "You don't have to be embarrassed. I had basically the same answer in class, remember?" She pulled out her lunch and shut the door. "Or were you back in Wonderland again by then?" she teased.

"N-no, I was listening," Sora stammered. He was sort of listening, anyway. Now that she mentioned it, he did remember her saying something about young people knowing their hearts well.

"Tomorrow in class you should tell Mrs. Akiyama what you just told me," Kairi commented. "It's a good answer."

"Oh, okay. Yeah." Grabbing his own lunch, he slammed the locker closed and changed the subject. "Bet Riku's already waiting for us."

"Probably. Let's go!"

When they reached the cafeteria, they quickly spotted Riku sitting at their usual table. Sora plopped down in the seat across from him, with Kairi sliding in to Sora's right. Riku was pushing the food on his tray around with a fork, not seeming to have actually eaten much so far.

"That looks gross," Sora observed, nodding at Riku's food. Kairi kicked his leg under the table and he looked at her in surprise. She raised her eyebrows at him. Oh, right. They weren't supposed to draw attention to Riku's cafeteria lunches.

"Yeah, it kinda is," Riku replied glumly. Dropping the fork, he shoved the tray back. "Oh well, I wasn't that hungry, anyway."

Sora felt bad for the guy. His mom was always so busy working to provide for the two of them, she rarely had time to cook or make lunches herself. Riku had stepped up and actually gotten pretty good at doing the cooking himself, but some weeks when money was low or time was tight, they started to run out of groceries and he ended up with cafeteria food.

"Hey, I've got a really big sandwich in here today," Sora said, opening up his lunch tin. "You want half of it?"

Riku shook his head. "Nope. I'm fine. You eat it."

"No, seriously." Sora unwrapped the sandwich and held half of it out to his friend. "This thing is huge, I'm not gonna eat all of it. It'll just go to waste if you don't eat it."

Sighing, Riku studied the proffered sandwich for a moment before finally reaching out and taking it. "Okay. Just because I know you won't give up until I do." His words sounded grumpy, but Sora could see the gratitude in his eyes.

"Take some apple slices, too," Kairi offered, pushing a napkin full of them across the table. "I've got way too many." Sora glanced inside her box and saw that only two slices were left.

Riku smiled slightly. "Thanks, guys." Taking a bite of the sandwich, he chewed thoughtfully. "You have Mr. Mori next, right?"

"Yeah, why?" Sora answered. "Don't tell me he's giving pop quizzes today," he sighed.

"No." Riku picked up a thick folder from the seat next to him and tossed it onto the table with a thud. "Just thought I'd warn you that he's feeling generous with the make up work this week."

Groaning, Sora dropped his head down onto the table. "We're going to be doing make up work for the rest of our lives!"

Kairi giggled. "Well, maybe next time you go off to save the world you should do it over summer vacation."

Lifting his head, Sora glared at her playfully. "Yeah, I'll be sure to tell Xehanort that whenever I see him." Riku and Kairi laughed, and Sora joined in.

"At least this is just math," Kairi continued. "You like math!"

"It's alright," Sora admitted. "It's a whole lot better than Shakespeare, that's for sure."

"Oh, I don't know," said Kairi, resting her chin in her hand. "Shakespeare isn't all that bad. It can get a bit dry sometimes, sure, but it can also be awfully romantic."

Sora watched the dreamy smile spread across her face and couldn't help but smile himself. She was so cute when she got lost in thought like that. She probably wouldn't even get in trouble if she got caught daydreaming in class. Those eyes and that smile were too adorable to resist.

Riku cleared his throat, and Sora jerked back to the present. The older boy was watching the two of them with one raised eyebrow, obviously amused. "Anyway," he said. "If you want to come over tonight, we can work on it together. Obviously I can't do it until after training, though."

"Or you could both come over to my house," Kairi suggested. "We could all do our homework together that way."

Sitting up straight, Sora gave her a big grin. "Do you think your mom will make cookies?" he asked excitedly.

Kairi laughed. "I'll let her know you're coming, and I'm sure she will."

"Yes!" Sora cheered, pounding his fist on the table. "Your mom makes the best cookies ever."

"Then it's a deal," said Riku, standing up as the bell rang once more. "I'll see you guys after school."