Hello everybody. So here's the first chapter. I'm not real proud of it, I'll admit. I have so many ideas buzzing in my head for later chapters that my first couple seem to rush out. I've been making adjusments and rewriting the first chapter for a while now trying to make it a little better. Here's what I ended up with. This is only my first story though and I hope my writing improves as the story progresses. That's my goal, at least.

Anyway I decided every chapter title will be the name of a song I like and the first few words of each chapter will probably be some of the lyrics. Fun stuff, I know. The songs will range everywhere from heavy metal to broadway soundtracks. I like a little of everything.

So right now, the story is told from neither Roxas or Axel's voint of view. They won't come in to the story for a little bit yet, but I promise in the end it will be a Roxas/Axel fic. I was just trying to come up with a creative way of leading up to their romance.

Anyway, R&R if you wanna.

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Not the characters, the setting, the chapter titles, nothing.

Warning: Swearing and boy/boy love.

Chapter 1

Look at Me

You must start anew,

Don't know what you must do,

Hold your head high,

Take a deep breath and sigh

"You're in my spot, girl."

Ugh.

"You can't sit there either."

Seriously.

"Sorry hun, seat's taken."

That's it!

Setting my hands on my hips, I gave my best glare. In response, they only raised an eyebrow and my cheeks flushed with embarrassment.

"Come on, you can sit over here." I turned to see a silver-haired boy gesturing to the seat behind him. I cautiously made my way over as everyone watched us.

"Jesus, would you all look away already? I see that she's pretty and I know I'm devilishly good looking, but seriously, this is too much." They all rolled their eyes muttering and chuckling.

My cheeks flushed even redder and I sat down in my new desk, "Uh... thanks."

He brushed his silver locks out of his face and sighed, "Must be tough having classes with upperclassmen, huh?"

"It's not so bad. I only have a couple all year." Did I just squeak? I was not a girl who 'squeaked!"

He didn't seem to notice and continued smiling at me, "Wow, I still remember freshman year… crazy times."

His face twisted for a moment, "You remind me of someone."

At that moment our teacher flew through the door and set her bag on her desk, "Students! Liste-" Her attention focused on a loud sophomore up front, "Selphie?"

"Yup?"

"Could you like… shut up?"

Selphie dropped her head, muttering an apology, "Sorry Yuffie."

"Well today I was thinki-" She stopped her speech again. Her eyes settled on me.

"What's this? Do we have a freshman in our class? Since when did they add freshmen to the list?" Yuffie scratched her head, "Oh well! The more the merrier! Welcome to World Lit., the stupidest class ever added to the system! But I try my best to keep you guys interested." She ruffled up some senior's hair in front of her and he scowled back.

"Oh cheer up, Cloudie! I see summer did nothing to improve your ever so antisocial self. Of course, if I had an older brunette like that locked up inside my apartment, I'd be content as well." The boy rolled his eyes and sighed.

"Anyway, I suppose we should probably start class before the principal checks in, huh? Don't want any repeats of last year!" She clapped her hands together and practically giggled, "So on to Shakespeare! I know… exciting, right?"

Despite my extremely... interesting teacher, I still managed to lose focus. I stared out the window and my mind wandered to the weather. It was perfect out, as usual. For some reason it hardly rained in Twilight Town. Hell, it hardly did anything but bask in sunlight. Yet over in Destiny Islands, a small village only two or so miles away, across a small bridge, and over the shallow beaches of the ocean, it rained regularly once a week. My house is on the edge of town and sometimes, If I sit by my window, I can see the storm clouds gathering over the small islands, gaining strength for the long night of showers and lightning ahead.

"Kid? Kiiid?"

I snapped to attention and the silver-haired boy chuckled, "You alive?"

"Yeah, sorry… what are we doing anyway?"

"Absolutely nothing. Just like every other day. Yuffie had to take a phone call in the office, so we're waiting for her to get back."

"Oh. She almost lookes like she could be you're age." I pointed out.

"She's only twenty three. She's good friends with Cloud and his roommate and some other people around town too. Last year was her first year teaching here and the only reason she sticks around is to keep an eye out for her younger friends. Once they all graduate, she's gone."

"Oh."

"Yeah, so what were you thinking so hard about a second ago?"

"Oh that? Nothing, just how much it'd suck to live on the islands."

"Why would that suck?"

I shrugged, "It gets rain a lot."

He shrugged as well, "Nah, you get used to it, and it usually happens at night anyway."

"You live on the islands?" My eyes widened. When I moved here, just last year, for the start of eighth grade, I was told one very important thing. I was told to remember, when I became a freshman, that only a couple kids from the Twilight Public High School lived on Destiny Islands. Not only were they all best friends, but they were also the most popular kids in school. Everyone wanted to be a part of them.

"Yup." He smiled, "Love it too. The air seems fresher over there. We only have one track running through, so you can't hear trains all night."

The bell rang as Yuffie walked in the door and we all rushed to leave.

Cloud lingered by Yuffie's desk and I heard her mutter, "I'll see you and Squall later, mkay?"

The blond senior nodded and left. I quickly gathered my books and was surprised to see two people waiting for me. The silver-haired boy and the sophomore named Selphie stood in the doorway, nodding to Cloud as he left.

"What do you have next?" He asked me with a curious tone.

"P.E." I frowned.

"Me too!" Selphie squealed, "Let's go together!"

"Sure." I shrugged.

"We'll catch you later Riku! Get back to me about coming into town this weekend, 'kay?" Selphie waved my new friend off, "I'll see you on the walk home."

"You live on the islands too?" I asked.

"Sure do!" She smiled, "Most beautiful place ever. My front yard is literally the beach."

"Must be nice." I sighed.

"Oh, it's amazing! Well, do you wanna meet in front of the locker rooms?" She smiled at me. I nodded and we parted for our separate hallways.

First day of high school and all ready two of the most popular kids in the school were hanging around me. I admit, I never really cared for popularity back in middle school, and I still don't today… but something felt right about these guys. They were genuinely nice. Not fake like popular kids on T.V. shows and stuff. They wanted to be my friend.

"Hey girl." A warm breath curled over my ear and I grinned as Hayner hugged me from behind, "How was first period?"

I turned in his arms and poked his nose, "Good, I suppose. I made two new friends."

"Really? Who?" He kissed my cheek and released me slowly.

"Some sophomore named Selphie and a senior named Riku." I think Riku was his name.

"Seriously? Riku is one of the most popular kids in the school!" I must have given him a certain look, because he crossed his arms and leaned against the locker next to mine, "Should I be jealous?"

"Yeah." I opened my locker, "He totally hit on me and later we're going back to his place for hot steamy sex."

He rolled his eyes, "One: Nobody from the islands invites outsiders over, except for a few exceptions. Two: Riku is gay."

I stopped and looked at him, "One: What? Two: How do you know?"

Hayner shrugged, "You have to be pretty damn special for one of them to offer you an invitation to come home with them. And everyone knows Riku's gay, Olette."

"Well, I didn't." I frowned and shut my locker.

"Jeez, Olette. It's your first day of high school, I wouldn't expect you to know much."

"Yeah." I agreed and he walked me to the gym. Selphie was waiting, like she said she would, and her eyes locked on Hayner.

They both smiled at each other, "Wow, Selphie... you've changed over the summer." Hayner complicated her and the brunette giggled, "You too."

They sat there flirting (right in front of me!) until the bell rang and I pushed Hayner off towards his class. We entered the locker rooms and chose our lockers for the semester.

"I hope we're not doing anything too strenuous today. I hate sweating before lunch." Selphie groaned and opened her gym bag, emptying the contents in to her new locker.

I nodded and started changing.

"Not much of a talker, huh?" Selphie asked as she stepped in front of the mirror, running a hand through her hair.

I shrugged, "Never really have much to say."

Selphie set her hands on her hips, "You know... you remind me of someone. This girl I once knew."

"You once knew?" I asked over my shoulder, "You guys not friends anymore?"

Selphie's eyes widened and she clamped her mouth shut.

"Something wrong?" I stood up straight.

She shook her head, "No... no... I probably shouldn't have said anything. If I would have slipped in front of... man, he would have gone off... forget I said anything." She turned away and dressed quickly.

I stared at her in confusion before I realized I'd be late if I didn't finish changing. We entered the gym in awkward silence and Selphie waved over a boy.

"Hey, Selph! How was first period?" The boy was short and tan with brown hair sticking up everywhere and blue eyes that focused between Selphie and me.

"Fine, fine! Hey, this is..." Selphie turned to me and I cleared my throat, "I'm Olette."

"Sora." He smiled, "You remind me of someone."

Selphie gave an awkward cough and Sora quieted.

What was wrong with these Destiny Island kids?

"So how did a senior manage to get in to a Sophomore/Freshman gym class?" The other girl quickly changed the subject.

"It's the only way they could get my schedule to work."

"You're a senior?" I asked before I could stop myself.

His cheeks reddened with embarrassment and he shuffled his feet, "Yes! Just because I'm small and weak looking doesn't mean-..."

"Oh no no no!" I waved my hands, "You're anything but weak looking... you're just a little... short. I didn't mean anything by it."

He rolled his eyes, "Does everyone have to remind me of my height? Doesn't help that I saw Roxas the other night and he seemed to have shot up a good foot."

"You saw Roxas?" Selphie's face went serious, "How is he? Is he coming back to school? I haven't seen him all summer!"

Sora sighed, "He looks the same as he has for the past year. Cloud said him and Aerith left for the summer or something, that's why no one's seen him. He also told me this morning that Rox will be back to school in his usual three months though."

Selphie frowned, "I worry about him. Him and Cloud. They both just left the island... why would they want to?"

"Selphie, not everyone enjoys living on that prison."

The rest of gym class went by in a blur and I managed not to sweat before lunch. Sora was probably the nicest kid I've ever met and I think Selphie just likes to flirt with EVERYONE.

"So which lunch do you have?" Sora asked me as we waited for the bell to ring. He had just showered yet his hair looked like it hadn't moved an inch.

"Uh... first." There were too many kids in the high school so there were three separate lunches. Your lunch time depended on your third period class and who taught it.

"Maybe you could sit with me and my friends today? Unless you have somewhere else to be?" He smiled.

My heart skipped a beat. Those words were probably the best I'd heard all day. Both Hayner and Pence had third lunch today and I probably would have had to eat by myself.

"Sure!" I smiled back.

The bell rang and he ushered me down the hall, "You have to get to lunch right away, or everything good is taken."

"I see." I laughed and jogged to keep up with him.

-Jaspen