5th and 6th period had also passed without significant incident. It was finally time to return home after 7 hours of torturously boring, syllabus-reading, rule-learning, textbook-registering hell. Yay.

He walked out the doors in the back of school to avoid the huge rush of students in the front, but immediately stopped when he heard voices.

"-totally making googly eyes at him!"

Axel.

"I was not!"

Demyx?

What.

"Like, honestly, I'd totally believe Axel then your totally lame, like, protests." A new voice said.

Ok, no. Roxas wasn't one to eavesdrop.

'Maybe I can just sneak past them' he said, mostly to convince himself that he could then actually come up with ideas.

He took a tentative step and immediately froze, listening to see if anyone saw or heard him. He held his breath. They continued their conversation normally, so he took another step. Then a few more. Before long, he was in plain view of them. He moved a little further. A few more steps and he was-

"Roxy!"

Roxas froze, first out of panic of being spotted, then out of annoyance at the stupid nickname.

"No," he stated.

"Yes you are," Axel didn't get the hint. "C'mere." He motioned.

Roxas didn't move. This didn't seem to faze Axel, because he stalked over and grabbed him by the shoulders, moving him back towards his friends.

"Guys, this is Roxy. 'Member, I mentioned him earlier?" He pointed at Roxas, then moved to his friends. "Roxas, these are my friends." He stated proudly.

Roxas snorted. "How much do you have to pay them?" He muttered under his breath.

Axel either didn't hear or decided to ignore him, because he started to tell him their names.

"You already met Demyx," he said as Demyx waved. "Then that's Marluxia," he pointed to a guy with long bright pink hair, hanging further than his shoulders.

"Hey there," he said with a wink. Awkward.

Axel continued. "And here shortly there should be-"

"Sup bitches, sorry I'm late. I stopped to-" the new girl stopped. "Who's this pipsqueak?" She demanded.

Axel decided to ignore the fact that she cut him off without remorse and continued. "Larxene. This is she." He pointed to the new arrival of the final person.

"Like, Larxy!" Marluxia cheered.

"Shut it. I said, who's this?"

"There's like, no reason to get upset. He's like, Axel's new buddy." Marluxia informed her.

Scared for his life, Roxas refused to speak to the crazy woman. Nope. Not about to get murdered.

"Ah..." Axel murmured. "This is Roxas. We're in almost every class so obviously I had to-"

"Sleep with him, right? You whore. Whatever. I remembered the cigarettes this time," Larxene waved him off and began distributing said products.

Axel and Roxas' eyes both widened dramatically.

"What?!" Roxas cried, forgetting his vow of silence around Larxene.

"Like, she's always like this. I totally wouldn't, like, worry about it hun," Marluxia cooed.

Axel's face was bright red, regardless. So much for that badass attitude he'd had earlier. In a desperate attempt to change the subject, he said "So Roxas, you said you'd tell me your number later right?"

Roxas stayed frozen.

Marluxia leaned over. "You aren't really helping yourself, like, at all." He stage whispered in Axel's ear.

Roxas slowly thawed. "Ok then... So you're a creepy stalker-rapist. I got it. That's fine. I'll just...go now..." He babbled and stammered.

"Eh, wait!" Axel cried.

"Desperate!" Larxene fake-coughed.

Axel ignored her again. He seemed to be good at that. "I was gonna invite you to my house later this week."

Roxas choked on saliva.

Demyx giggled uncontrollably.

Axel turned even more red, nearing the shade of his own hair.

"I just meant I'm having a party there and you can come if you want."

"5 great first date ideas that can guarantee you get laid!" Larxene mocked Internet ads.

"It's on Friday so just think about it."

"But what if," Roxas spoke slowly, trying to control the blush on his own face, "I consider it to be part of your insidious plot to kidnap and rape me."

Finally! A chance to regain the badass-ness.

Axel shrugged as if it didn't matter. "Consider it whatever you want. Friday or not. Lemme know." He snatched paper from Demyx's notebook amidst the "hey wait that's mine" and scribbled his number on it. He flung it toward Roxas who grabbed it out of the air. Axel didn't let the surprise show on his face.

Roxas looked at the page briefly before stuffing it into a book. He turned around, ready to leave. "Whatever. I might." He walked a little further then called over his shoulder. "By the way, I was right. Your handwriting is hideous." He bolted away.

"L-O-L, Axel like, totally caught himself a feisty one." Marluxia nudged Axel's shoulder and winked several times.

Despite having just recently recovered from his fit of giggles, Demyx began laughing again.

Larxene hit Demyx over the head. "It's not that funny. And he's right, Axel, your handwriting is atrocious."

xXx

So Roxas' original plan to sneak behind the school hadn't worked out. It wasn't his fault. Probably. Was it?

He felt as though the paper stuffed inside his book was getting heavier. He took it out and put it in his pocket, after staring at it again.

Should he text the number?

Actually talk to Axel?

Honestly, he should be worrying about this later. He didn't notice yet, but he was very late. He'd remember soon though. In 5...

4...

3...

2...

1...

"Crap!" He cried as he tore across the school's lawn. "Mom's gonna kill me!"

He was always on time. This was Axel's fault. All of it. Every single bit of it.

But he didn't have time to think about this right now. Every fiber of his being was being channeled into running down the sidewalk as fast as his legs could carry him. It wasn't very fast, but it got the job done.

Finally, he was standing in front of his front door. Or at least, he thought so. He hadn't lived here that long.

He pushed it open and tentatively called out.

"Mom?"

"In the kitchen, dear," came the reply.

He high tailed it into the kitchen.

"So what happened after school today?" His mother asked, turning away from the counter and the food she was preparing.

Roxas stared at the large kitchen knife she was holding, unsure of the answer that wouldn't get him stabbed.

"I...came home?"

Wrong answer. Luckily, she didn't stab him.

"School ended 45 minutes ago. Where have you been?"

Busted.

"Well," he began, "I tried to avoid the people in the front and went out the back, but I got stopped by kids in my class and we talked a bit."

His mother sighed. "Honestly, Roxas, I'd hoped you could've been with the good crowd. You know drugs are bad, dear." And I've taught you better than to smoke after school anyway."

Roxas stared.

"Mom! I wasn't smoking or doing drugs behind the school! And I've never been in 'the bad crowd'!

His mother just sighed again.

Roxas rolled his eyes at her. "I've got homework to do so I'll be back down later to eat." He walked out of this kitchen and upstairs.

Once he was safely in his room with the door closed, he started unloading his backpack onto his desk.

He had only had homework from one class: geometry. It was all easy stuff. He'd done some of it earlier in the day, since other teachers evidently didn't believe in any work on the first day. For that, he was thankful.

He cracked open his textbook and slid a fresh sheet of paper out of his binder, already writing on it.

It was only about 20 problems between all three pages Leon had written on the board, so Roxas finished in about 15 minutes. As if on cue, Roxas' door slammed open as his textbook slammed shut.

"Roxas! Whatcha doin'?" Sora called cheerfully, as usual.

"Nothing," Roxas lied. Telling Sora anything was an instant mistake, no matter how innocent the thing appeared to be when he said it.

"Aw, did you have homework the first day?" Sora cried, much louder than necessary.

There went Roxas' vow of silence. "Yeah. But it's all done now. What did you need?"

"Oh!" Sora exclaimed, probably having already forgotten why he came in. "You dropped this in the hall. I think it was you, anyway. I know it wasn't me, and mom wouldn't have had-"

"Alright give it," Roxas interrupted, holding out his hand.

Sora happily dropped a piece of paper onto Roxas' opened hand and scampered out again, once again not bothering to shut the door.

Roxas glared after him but gave up and looked to see what he may've dropped. He open the paper.

It was Axel's number, scrawled quickly and horribly across it, completely ignoring the lines. If he'd actually lost it and Sora hadn't found it, he wouldn't have been able to text Axel, and he may not have given it to him again if he thought he wasn't interested.

Not that he was interested.

He grabbed his phone from his pocket, opening his messages. He tentatively tapped 'New Message' and slowly typed in the digits Axel had given him, checking them several times to make sure he copied them in exactly right.

Now he was stuck. He didn't know what to say. He typed out a message but then erased it. He tried again but erased that as well. He thought a second.

You really can't go wrong with a simple 'hello', so he typed out a greeting and, before he had a chance to change his mind, pushed send.

A reply came remarkably fast.

[Yo who's this]

He didn't even use punctuation. Roxas shuddered, but typed a message back anyway.

[Roxas? You gave me your number like 20 minutes ago.]

[O ya. U coming to my house Friday?]

Roxas rolled his eyes. He hasn't decided yet. Or asked his mother for the necessary permission. He glanced over to the calendar to check what day it was. Wednesday. The first week of school was a 3-day week. Right.

[Uh, maybe. I'll think about it.]

He still had two days to ask to go. Everything would be fine.

[maybe usually means yes. C u there :3 ]

Roxas rolled his eyes again.

[Whatever.]

"Roxas! It's food time!" Sora called upstairs, signaling that it was time for dinner. Roxas slid his phone into his pocket as he got off of his bed, a practiced motion.

xXx

"So Roxas, tell me about your first day of school!" Sora begged as he stuffed another forkful of food into his mouth, nosy as usual.

Roxas ignored him, pretending to take a drink of his milk so he wouldn't have to answer.

"Roxas," his mother scolded, "he asked you a question."

"Bad. So Sora, tell me about your day," Roxas smiled innocently.

That did the trick. Sora loved to talk.

"Well first I walked around the neighborhood to make new friends. There's a nice guy down the street a little bit named Riku. I think he's our age Roxas, you should talk to him too. He talked to me for a while then he had to go to school cuz he couldn't skip a lot at once cuz he said there would be too much that he would miss, and he thinks our education system is failing us as a society and that's why he skips sometimes."

Their mother gasped.

"After Riku left, I came back and started reading a very educational book. It was horrible but I liked it. After I finished learning, I played video games until you got home. I got to level-"

Roxas interrupted him, mostly for the sake of his own sanity. "Oh mom, someone invited me to a party on Friday-"

"You can't go."

"And I told them I was going so I'll have to-"

"Nope, can't go."

"Ask him when it starts so I'm not late."

"You aren't allowed."

"Also I'm bringing the chips."

"Roxas! Those are the life of the party! You can't skip out on bringing those, they're depending on you! You are the backbone of that organization! You have to go!"

Roxas really knew how to change his mom's mind on such things. He stood up and picked up his dishes, ready to leave. He had important things to discuss with a certain redhead.

He went back up to his room and got his phone from his pocket.

'New Text Message' it announced.

It was from Axel. Roxas opened it up and read it.

[Wats up]

Roxas sighed at the lack of correct spelling and punctuation and typed out a reply.

[Did Leonhart's homework and just ate dinner. Why?]

His phone signaled a new message very quickly. Did Axel live on his phone?

[Im trying to make conversation roxy, don't be like that]

Then another one came through.

[You actually do your hw? Why?]

Roxas laughed.

[Because I'm a good person that's why. Anyway, what kind of chips do you like?]

[BBQ! Y I thought u weren't coming 2 it]

[I'm not, I'm just trying to make conversation.]

It was an obvious lie. Axel didn't respond after that so Roxas figured he was pouting. He shrugged and tossed his phone onto his bed, deciding to prod for more details later. Now he simply had to find something to do until it was time for bed in-

He glanced at the clock

-approximately 1 ½ hours.

"Sora!" he called, "I'm bored!"

"Roxas don't yell in the house!" his mother yelled from downstairs. Hypocritical much?

Roxas scoffed and walked idly to Sora's room and opened the door, not really sure he should be expecting.

It wasn't this.

Sora was in there, that he expected. The other boy present was a surprise. He had silver hair and was sitting in the windowsill of the open window.

"Oh...Roxas! Um, this is Riku." Sora said jumped when he heard Roxas enter.

Riku waved.

Roxas glared at him suspicious, saying the first thing that came to mind. "We're on the second floor," he stated, motioning to Riku. "How?"

"The tree," Riku answered, as if it were nothing. He shrugged and resumed talking to Sora.

"So anyway, Kairi was like 'Riku you should get out more, you lazy-butt.'"

Sora giggled. "She called you a lazy-butt?"

"She did!"

Roxas stayed put, unsure of how to handle the information presented in front of him.

"So does mom know he's here?" he asked, mentally hitting himself for sounding nosy.

Sora shrugged. "Maybe. He's not hurting anything so I'm sure it's fine."

Right.

"How long is he, uh, staying?" Roxas continued.

Sora looked at Riku.

Riku shrugged this time. "A while. Maybe till tomorrow. Sora, did you know your house is closer to school? I could live here and get up at the same time and I'd never be as late."

Sora beamed. "Whoa yeah! A giant sleepover! Forever!" He pumped his fist into the air.

"Uhh.." Roxas said.

"Oh yeah," Sora continued," You could use Roxas' bed and he can sleep on the couch, since you're the guest."

"No, you take the couch! He's your guest." Roxas argued.

"We could both use the bed. I don't mind." Riku suggested.

Sora nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah since he's my guest, he should use my bed."

"Boys, I'm going to work now! Be good!" their mom yelled up the steps. Again. So much for not yelling inside the house.

"Bye mom!" Sora yelled back.

"Later!" Roxas called.

"Have fun!" Riku chimed in.

There was a pause, then their mother called up again.

"Alright very funny. However one of you changed your voice sounded like I had a third son. Anyway I'm leaving now!"

Sora started laughing and Riku cracked a smile. Roxas rolled his eyes.

"Whatever, I'm going to bed now. Mom should definitely be home before 4 in the morning so try to be gone by then," he told Riku, and walked back out of Sora's room.

He couldn't go to bed yet, mostly because going to bed at 8:30 was lame. There was only one thing he could do at this point.

Cat videos.

He went to his room and flopped onto his bed, careful to avoid smashing his phone. He picked up said phone and checked the screen. Nothing new. He opened YouTube and typed in cat videos, scrolling until he found a particularly funny looking one. He pressed play.

xXx

Several hours later, Roxas realized he should have gone to sleep a while ago, but had instead immersed himself in "Try not to Laugh or Smile!" challenges. After numerous "one more can't hurt"s, he finally gained the self control necessary to put his phone down and go to bed. As soon as he layed back down, he realized he was now exhausted and he fell asleep with no trouble.