Chapter 2
"Soooooo...I'll take you to class in a minute Roxas. I gotta talk to the principal." Axel said as he headed into the office.
Riku just turned around and started to walk off, not even waiting to see if Sora was following.
"Hey bitch! You better wait for my brother!" Roxas shouted after him. Riku froze in place. He was gonna beat the shit out of that kid. But he wasn't stupid enough to do it in front of the principals office.
Roxas turned to his brother and held his hand for a minute before he sent Sora toward Riku with the whispered words, "Play mean."
Sora smiled at the words. They were always shared when one of them grew nervous. They always made him feel safe, knowing that his brothers believed he had the strength. He did have the ability to defend himself, but ever since he accidentally broke a boys nose when he was twelve he never raised his hand to anybody.
He walked up to Riku and gave him the biggest smile the boy had ever seen. "Well, let's get going to Math. Got things to do, people to meet." He merrily skipped behind Riku and looked back at his brother briefly to wink.
With Roxas
He stared after Sora and Riku until they disappeared around the corner. He'd kill Riku if he hurt Sora. He turned toward the office door to hear someone yelling and things smashing when it suddenly went silent. A few tense minutes later Axel stepped out of the office smiling at Roxas.
"Alright let's head to class. What'cha got?" Axel asked as he looked over Roxas' shoulder trying to peek at his schedule.
Roxas slid his gaze to Axel, "Art." Axel grinned at him saying that was where he was heading. On their way there Axel chattered on about his friend, Demyx, who was in the same class and what had happened this morning.
When they walked into class everyone stopped what they were doing to stare at the pair. Whispers broke out about Axel walking with him, what had happened this morning, and who the new kid was.
The teacher cleared his throat and shushed the class. "Now class, this is our new student, Roxas Strife. Be sure to make him feel comfortable here." The teacher motioned for Roxas to find a seat, but Axel just grabbed his arm tugging him over toward his small group of friends in the back.
"Hey Axel. How much trouble did you get in this time?" A preppy looking blonde girl asked snidely. She sure was a sight to see with her strange antenna like styled hair, ridiculously short skirt and low cut top...not to mention all the pink. It looked like someone poured Pepto Bismal all over her!
Axel didn't even glance at her as he walked past while giving her the finger. He sat down at the back next to a blonde guy with a mullet-mohawk and blue eyes. He had headphones around his neck and was texting. His clothes consisted of a bright blue shirt and black jeans that were a little baggy.
Next to that guy was a steel blue haired boy reading a book that was definitely not his textbook. His hair covered one eye, but as far as Roxas could tell his eyes were a beautiful shade of purple. He wore all black, the only other color he had was on the necklace he wore which was a blue and purple chain. He noticed the blonde had the same.
"Hey Demyx! This is Roxas." Demyx looked so happy to see his friend. He nudged the other boy to bring him out of his own world.
"Thanks for the help earlier dude. That guy was such a jerk!" Demyx then turned to Roxas and smiled. "Hey, I'm Demyx and this is my boyfriend, Zexion. If you're a gay basher go away now." The smile never left his face.
Roxas stared at him for a moment then sat down beside him. Demyx, Axel, and Zexion all looked surprised. They were at least expecting him to comment on Demyx' little monolog. Roxas, noticing their staring, turned to face them. "What?" he asked.
"Uhm...you're not going to leave? Or say anything?" Demyx asked, a little unsure of how to word what he was thinking without offending the potential friend next to him.
"No. Would you like me to?" Roxas stared at them waiting for a response. He sighed when they continued to stare, shocked. "Look, I'm not a gay basher. I have no reason to be. I'm gay as are my brothers. So, really, do you want me to leave?"
As Roxas was getting up to leave he felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked over at Demyx to see a giant smile on his face. "Well, when you put it like that, I totally understand where you're coming from. Sorry, it's just that there have been some people who try to pretend to be our friends just so they can find out what makes us tick, to use against us. There are a lot of gay bashers here."
Roxas just nodded his head, understanding. "So what do you guys do in this class anyway?" he asked as he looked around. There were people everywhere, some drawing or painting, some just plain goofing off. The teacher sat at his desk with his feet up, tinkering with an alarm clock that looked like it had seen better days. "Uh what's he doing with that alarm clock?"
"Oh, he's trying to make one of those bombs like you see in the movies. You know, the one with the clock with sticks of dynamite taped to it." Axel answered like it was the most natural thing in the world. Roxas turned and stared at Axel like he was crazy.
"How can you be calm about that? He's making a freaking bomb! That can't be normal!" Roxas exclaimed.
"Well, he's not going to set it off in class. He does that at home. He has this huge field where he plays with guns, grenades, and land mines. It's actually pretty common for him to do this in class. Trust me, when we first got here, we were a little freaked out too." Axel just leaned back and stared hard at the paper in front of him, thinking.
Roxas just nodded at he turned to face his own paper. He carefully started to draw. He sketched the shapes on the paper then slowly started molding them into a new form. They soon took on the appearance of faces. He worked hard for an hour, not stopping once or letting anyone see the work of art. When he finally finished he sat back and looked at the masterpiece he had created. There stood two men and a woman, all smiling. The first man had blonde, spiky hair and blue eyes, a little lighter than his own. He wore the biggest smile out of the three. His outfit was a black T-shirt with blue jeans and he was holding the man and woman's hands. The woman had a sweet smile on her face, her eyes a soft brown and her light brown hair in a braid with a large bow. She had on a light pink sun dress, bringing more of her cheerfulness to attention. The last man stood with a small smile, enhancing the scar on his face. His black hair shined in the light and his brown tank top fit him perfectly. His dark blue jeans loose on his thin body.
Roxas smiled as he looked toward their feet where three small toddlers grinned like they were caught with their hands in the cookie jar. The small boys were all wearing muddy T-shirts and shorts. They were carefully holding up a huge mud pie toward the adults. This picture was one of his memories. The woman was Aerith, who had given birth to him and his brothers. She wasn't really their mother, but she was as good as one. She was the surrogate for Cloud and Leon, his fathers. Most people wouldn't believe that he, Sora, and Ventus were triplets. He and Ventus looked like carbon copies of Cloud while Sora looked more like Leon with his brunette hair and darker complexion.
Roxas smiled at his drawing in a trance. He immediately broke out of it when he noticed three heads peering over his shoulder with awe on their faces.
"That is the best drawing I've ever seen in my entire life! It looks just like a professional photo!" Demyx exclaimed. Zexion nodded, completely agreeing with his love.
"No question about it. This is beautiful. May I ask the story behind it?" This was the first time Zexion had spoken. His voice was so kind and filled with curiosity that Roxas had to smile. He told them about his family. They all smiled while he told them, seeing the complete peace he was in as he explained.
Just then the bell rang. They walked out together still talking and sharing smiles.
"Hey, Roxas what do you have next?" Roxas studied his schedule carefully as he answered Axel.
"Uhhh...science. Shit! I hate science, it's the bane of my existence!" Roxas mourned over the loss of his good mood. He looked over at the others when they started laughing. "What's so funny?!"
"Roxas, we all have science next and the teacher doesn't even care what we do." Demyx grinned as big as he could. Roxas relaxed a little when he heard this. At least he wouldn't have to do anything in there. He wasn't exaggerating when he said he hated science. When he was at his old school some kid thought it would be funny to burn him with the Bunsen burner while the rest of the class laughed. The teacher had been out of the room and when he returned he thought Roxas had accidentally burned himself. He wouldn't listen to Roxas when he tried to tell him what really happened.
Roxas shuddered as the memory swept through his mind. He would never let that happen again. He slowly headed to science like a death row inmate heading for his punishment.
