"The best way to keep one's word is not to give it."
-- Napoleon Bonaparte
"Come on, we're going to be late," Riku called to Sora, who was still fumbling with his locker. It was the first day of eigth grade, and though Riku wasn't worried in the least about being on time, he always liked to get a rise out of the spikey-haired brunette that was his best friend. A broad grin stretched across his face as he heard the effect these words had on Sora.
"Uh... hang on! I can't find my notebook!" Sora called to the back of Riku's head, digging drastically through his locker. Sora had no intention of being late on the first day, and started to panic a bit as the crowd behind them started to clear out to their classrooms. Jumping a bit, he was startled when the arm of Riku reached slowly over his head and in one swift move, pulled out a bright green notebook that bore the legend of "ENGLISH" in black sharpie and dropped it into the limp hands of Sora, who blinked stupidly. "Uh, thanks!" Standing up, he pushed his locker closed and scratched his head briefly, before turning to follow Riku who had already started towards their first class.
They made it to their classroom right before the bell rang. Sora looked hasseled and slightly irritated, while Riku looked calm and collected as they strolled into the classroom together.
"Chill out... See, we made it in time, didn't we?" Riku yawned.
"Well, we could have been late," Sora mumbled, following Riku to the back of the class and taking a seat next to him. He sat down and promptly began to take out the same green notebook he had been fretting over before, shooting a glance at Riku to see if he was following suit. Giving Sora a slight wink, he too bent down to open his bag respectively, pulling out the same supplies.
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Having always looked up to Riku, Sora tried to push himself to succeed and be the best at whatever it was he tried to do. However, the one thing Sora couldn't emulate was the apparent lack of effort Riku put into things. This was what started the conversation that day at lunch.
"You know, I just don't get it," Sora said dramatically as they walked over to their lunch table, setting his red plastic food tray down on the table with a little more force than he meant to use. "You get such good grades, it doesn't make sense. You hardly put any effort into anything..." he finished, words fading into a mumble as he sat down across from Riku, sulking a bit.
"Oh, it just comes naturally to me," Riku said nonchalantly, leaning forward and taking the apple from Sora's tray. "I hope you didn't want this?"
"No, it's alright, you can have it... I just don't get it, I work hard to get my grades you just... have them," Sora sighed, dejectedly.
Riku flipped his silver hair off of his shoulders before biting into the apple. "I just... understand it. I don't know. But I don't really see why I should worry about any of this crap. You can memorize numbers all you want, but it doesn't teach you anything about the real world." Another bite of apple was taken, and he paused to chew as Sora raised his eyes at him, a look of concern on his face. "The only thing I'm worried about, Sora, is getting to high school. I'm sick of being a fucking middle schooler."
Sora looked down at his food with a frown. "Well, it won't be fun being a freshman either, so you have a while to go." He poked his food around.
Riku opened his mouth to reply when the bell rang over their heads.
"Ugh, I have math next..." Sora said, gathering his things, appearing keen to cut the conversation short. "Have fun in science."
The two friends made their separate ways, with Sora heading for his math class upstairs and Riku heading nearby for Science. He made his way to an open desk in the back of the classroom and took his seat.
"SEIFER!" the teacher called suddenly, making quite a few kids jump and crane their necks in search of the commotion, "You know you're not allowed to wear head gear during class! I told you that countless times last year; now take that hat off and make sure I don't see it again." She watched him, and then turned back to the board.
The boy called Seifer took his black beanie off, pouting in a very sarcastic manner. Riku sighed, pulling out his notebook and turning to the front of the class, prepared to take notes. Suddenly, the girl sitting in front of him turned to face him and addressed him.
"You're Riku," she stated, rather than asked. Riku gave an nod in response, and blinked. "You hang around that Sora kid."
"Yeah, and your point?" Riku asked grumpily. He looked around at the three kids sitting around him in a corner-shape, and realized he recognized them. Seifer, the boy the teacher had apprehended earlier was the self-proclaimed 'leader' of the group. His cronies, Fuu and Rai, were hardly ever seen without him.
Fuu, the girl that sat infront of him and that had addressed him first, was quiet, yet sarcastic. She hardly ever gave answers or responses more than a few words long, and it was still up for debate why she hung out with Seifer. She had shoulder-length silver hair like Riku's but it was shorter and covered half of her face, shielding one of her reddish-violet eyes from view.
Rai, the dark-skinned boy that sat infront of Seifer, caddy-corner from Riku, seemed to be more dumb muscle than anything. Most of the time he seemed to speak without really understanding what he was saying, and could generally be seen depending on Seifer's directions, which he followed without a second thought.
"So why do you hang around with that Sora kid? You don't seem like a total pansy," Seifer said, crossing his arms and putting his feet up on the desk in front of him.
"Because I want to," Riku replied, agitated. It was quite clear by this point that they wouldn't leave him alone. "What do you want?"
"You don't have to be rude, y'know," the thuggish figure of Rai said. "We're just trying to be nice."
"Yeah, don't get all pissy, dude," Seifer said, smirking.
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A couple months had now passed since the beginning of school, and it was now the first Monday of October. Riku found that the deep monotony of the school day itself, however, hadn't changed at all, and at the end of his last class, he rushed to meet up with Sora in the foyer of the building to walk home together like always. Riku was particularly trying to see him a lot lately, because his friend was going to be going out of town to visit a relative unexpectedly. When they were about to leave, Riku heard his name being called from somewhere near one of the pillars.
He looked for the source of the voice, and dropped his face a bit when he saw the same black beanie and smug blue eyes from his last class. Seifer...
Despite the fact that Seifer and his gang had made a bad impression back on the first day of school, Riku found that he gradually got used to them. Sitting next to them everyday in science, Riku learned that maybe they weren't so bad when you only had to put up with small doses of them. Still, even though he'd gotten used to them in class, this was one of the few times he'd been acknowledged outside of class. Curious, he tapped Sora on the shoulder to stop his progress and turned to face the smug face of Seifer.
"Hey, we're having a party this weekend, you wanna come?" Seifer said casually, strolling away from his two cronies. He seemed to be asking Riku more than Sora, but it was Sora who replied.
"No, we have homework to do, and I'm going to be out of town anyway," Sora said, dragging Riku along. When Sora wasn't looking, Riku nodded his head at the three, who smirked in reply.
"Who would want to waste their time on silly parties?" Sora mused in a very irritated tone. He looked at Riku curiously when he didn't reply. "You're not thinking about going, are you?"
"What...? Oh, I don't know. You're going to be out of town and I won't have anything to do," Riku said, withdrawing under Sora's harsh glare. "Don't worry; I won't get into any trouble. It's a middle school party, what can possibly happen?" The brunette didn't look completely convinced, however, and gave only a half-hearted wave when he turned the block that lead to his house, leaving Riku to walk the extra two blocks alone.
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It was Friday, and an air of relief flooded the halls as yet another week of school drew to a close. Sora had been absent since Thursday, and wouldn't be returning until Tuesday. He'll love that, Riku thought to himself, missing almost a week of school... His thoughts were interrupted as Seifer stopped him on his way off of the campus.
"So, what do you say? Are you coming?" he asked, lighting a cigarette. "Or will your little friend get mad at you?" He took a drag.
"My 'little friend' can't tell me what to do," Riku scowled, turning to walk home. Suddenly, he stopped and turned to face Seifer, who hadn't moved and was wearing a triumphant grin. "Where and when is it?"
"It's tomorrow night, out in the field behind that old barn," he said importantly. "People will probably start arriving at five, so you can just come whenever."
Riku nodded his head and turned again without saying another word to the kid, starting home.
Finally, he reached his house, turning the doorknob and letting himself inside, kicking his shoes off and throwing his bag into the corner. He wandered into the kitchen, where his mom was sitting at the table, reading the paper and smoking a cigarette.
"Mom, I'm staying the night at Sora's tomorrow," Riku said, without saying hello.
"That's fine," she mumbled, her aquamarine eyes not looking up from her paper. She took another long drag off of her cigarette. Riku turned and scowled at the back of her head. He knew he told her yesterday that Sora was going out of town. However, he should have expected her to not pay attention. Rolling his eyes, he turned back to the fridge and grabbed a soda, then jogged upstairs to his room.
Sitting on the edge of his comfortable bed, he popped the Coke can open and took a drink, then set it on the wooden bedside table next to him. He felt a pang of guilt, thinking of what Sora would say if he found out that Riku planned to go to the party. Sora had Riku's best interests at heart, after all. But it's just a party with a bunch of stupid fourteen-year-olds, he reminded himself, so nothing would happen.
Suddenly, it was apparent that his father had just gotten home, when noise erupted from the lower level of the house. Today, he was mad about the house not being clean enough.
Riku rubbed his temples as he hoped the scene didn't make its way upstairs.
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The next day, he took off down the steps of their porch around four-thirty, wanting to leave before his dad got home. His mother sat on the couch watching television, her eyes glazed as the light from the screen flashed across her face, and didn't even notice as her son ran out the front door, yelling good-bye. He darted down the porch steps and started off down the street. He tucked his arms into his shirt, regretting greatly that he didn't bring a jacket because it was quite chilly today. Shaking his head, he continued walking in a determined manner, not wanting to have to go back home.
He turned the corner to the next block and made his way to the old barn. He stopped for a minute to check his surroundings, since he hadn't visited the decrepit building since he and Sora were younger and didn't fancy getting lost in this cold weather. Once he assured himself that he was going the right way, he pushed forward until he saw smoke coming from what appeared to be a bonfire. He saw the barn, sitting lonely in the distance.
"At least there's a fire..." he said, giving a small shiver and realizing how cold he was. "Still, seems silly, I can see it all the way over here. The stupid cops will probably notice." Shaking his head, he made his way to the group of people he could see silhouetted in the distance.
When he walked into the group, he was surprised at what he saw. He had expected a bunch of fourteen-year-old boys to be sitting around the empty field, drinking the alcohol that they managed to steal from their parents. However, upon approaching the group, he realized he could only see a few kids his age present. The rest appeared to be kids in the upper grades of high school, and some looked like adults. Broken bottles and cigarette butts already littered the ground surrounding the fire, and Riku could smell something he didn't recognize in the air.
"So, you actually came," teased the drawling voice of Seifer, who had jumped from his seat on the hood of an old rusty pick-up truck to clap Riku on the back. "Pretty cool party, huh?"
"Everyone here looks older than us," Riku said, looking around the scene, taking in the different people.
"Seifer's brother is throwing the party, y'know?" Rai said, crossing his muscular arms.
"What were you expecting?" Fuu crooned, looking even more apathetic than Riku thought he himself could muster.
"I don't know, not this I guess," Riku shrugged, sounding a bit impartial.
"Come on, don't just stand there looking stupid," Seifer said, putting his arm around him in what was supposed to be a friendly gesture. He dragged Riku over to the other side of the fire where a group of kids sat on a circle of haystacks, a couple logs and one of two beat-up lawn chairs, passing around a sloppy cigarette. Seifer looked around at the group. "Okay, you guys wait here, I'll go get some."
Riku took a seat with Rai and Fuu on a haystack, watching Seifer's progress as he made his way across the field, approaching another group of kids. He walked pointedly up to one with flaming red hair that came back in spikes, and sat next to him. Riku watched closely as they interacted; the man was striking.
When Seifer first walked up, the boy seemed to be in a deep conversation with some of the kids around him, looking agitated at being interrupted. Riku couldn't really see his face, as it was dark and Seifer stood in the way most of the time, but after a brief conversation the red-head reached into his pockets, digging something out and handing it to Seifer, accepting some money. Turning away from the scene, he made his way back towards the area where he left Riku sitting.
"So," came the voice of Seifer once he reached the group again, "This is all I've got, so don't hog it."
"Whatever," said Fuu, moving as Seifer shooed her aside to claim her seat, which was right next to Riku. Riku watched as he dug into his pocket, extracting a dull red lighter and a cigarette that resembled the one the group next to them was passing around. Even Riku, who had never been around drugs much, could put two and two together. His eyes narrowed slightly in interest as he watched Seifer put the end to his mouth, glad that it was too dark for his expression to be noticed. He didn't want to look like and idiot in front of this group of older people. Already deciding what he was going to do, he leaned back casually and used his peripherals to closely watch what Seifer was doing so he didn't look stupid when the time came. A nervous jolt of consciousness sent his heart into his throat, but he swallowed hard and ignored it.
In one swift motion, Seifer brought the lighter up to the end of the joint and lit it, inhaling deeply then pulled it away from his mouth, holding his breath for a few seconds then letting out a deep cough that sent heavy clouds of smoke flying out. He nudged Fuu on the shoulder and passed the joint on, then turned to Riku.
"Strong stuff, man," he said once his coughing fit subdued a bit, though a cough or two had to be fought down as he tried to speak. "I wish I had my bong, makes it go down smoother." Clapping Riku on the shoulder, he laughed and craned around Fuu to talk to Rai. Riku forced a laugh himself as he leaned forward a bit, watching each person in turn smoke some of the joint.
Before he could really ponder the reason everyone in turn had gone into the same coughing fit as Seifer, Riku found both the joint and the lighter being handed to him. Taking them in each hand, he pinched it between his index finger and thumb, turning it a little bit to buy time. Seifer watched for a minute to see what he'd do, but Riku's reaction looked satisfactory so he turned back to Fuu and Rai, finishing their conversation. Riku was ready for it, he'd watched all the others and now understood how it was done. It didn't look that hard, why was everyone hacking up a lung? Lifting the joint up to his mouth, he lit the lighter. Even if he hadn't paid attention to what the others were doing, he'd seen his mother smoke cigarettes countless number of times before, so he knew you had to inhale while the end was in the flame. He was ready it seemed, knew what to expect. He looked like he knew what he was doing as he lit the end and took a big rip--
He would have been ready for the taste if he had taken into account the strong smell of it surrounding him, but by this point he had been sitting around the stuff for a good twenty minutes and had simply gotten used to it, driving it from his mind. As soon as he lit the end and took a deep inhale, the taste had caught him off guard and he went into a horrible coughing fit, sputtering and gasping. Bending forward, he put his free hand on his knee and made attempts to draw in breath, but his throat burned from the mixture of the pot and the fresh coughing fit and he succumbed to even more hacking. He felt a hand slapping him hard on the back, and the shock of it made him draw in a deep breath. He looked up into the face of Seifer, who had been the one slapping him and knew from the smirk on his face that he knew all too well this was Riku's first time.
"Told you it was rough, man," he said, laughing a bit. Riku was thankful he hadn't said it too loud, as the others didn't seem to take any notice of the episode. "Next time, start a bit smaller." Still laughing, Seifer grabbed the remaints of the joint and the lighter, then took a last drag off of it before stomping it out on the ground.
If there is a next time, Riku thought bitterly.
Author's Note: Finally got around to getting this up. My net died for two months so I've been working on it, and should have a Chapter Three coming very soon. The part with the party took the longest, as there were so many directions to take there... So I hope it works well for anyone who reads it, as I did put alot of thought into it.
Thanks for reading and remember, I don't own anything.
