So I'm gonna put a little author's note here, I don't think I'll be doing this too often, unless people want me to (but why would they ha-ha-ha). Sorry I took my time updating, I'm going to try to get it on a more regular schedule, something like every two weeks, maybe every week if I'm feeling inspired. Who knows. But I just finished school and went away for a few weeks, so I've been busy. Also, I've been very uninspired as of late, and I think after getting through introductions and beginnings and such it'll get smoother. Basically, I wanted to apologize for my laziness, and I hope this chapter is alright, and I mean, review if you want, or don't, you know.
On a side note, I'm not entirely sure about the pairings yet, I mean Axel/Roxas is going to happen, duh, and Zemyx is something I like to have on the side, but not really as a main story line thing, but Sora/Riku is really what I'm debating on. I love SoRiku, but I'm not sure if I'm feeling it for this story. If I did put it in there, it'd have its own chapters and such, you know, I gotta flesh out that clichéed mess. ;)
So yeah, if you have an opinion on that, let me know!
Twilight Town High School. No one could think of a more creative name. There were no famous people from the area that they could name it after, so it simply became known as Twilight Town High. Roxas walked towards the gated entrance, glaring at his feet as he went.
You could say that Roxas hated school.
Sora was chattering busily about his new classes, his friends, and the possibility of new friends. Roxas was hardly paying attention, he was concentrating on the prospect of escaping school as soon as he could.
"Rox, isn't it great, we're juniors." Sora emphasized the last word like it was the end-all-be-all of titles. "We can bully all those little kids," Sora was the same size as most of those "little" kids. Though, so was Roxas, "and we can finally leave campus for lunch and free periods." Roxas was actually looking forward to that, getting off campus meant less time surrounded by people he couldn't stand.
"Yeah So, we're basically in the same position as we were last year. No one is going to believe that we're juniors." Roxas looked up at his brother.
"Stop being such a Negative Nathan, Rox!" Sora pouted at his brother, "I've grown, and I'm pretty sure you have too!"
"No we haven't Sora. Not enough for it to matter, anyways." He looked back down at the ground. Roxas hated eye contact.
Sora huffed at his brother, but decided to stay quiet for a moment.
They approached the front doors of their school, having walked through the front courtyard. Twilight Town High, also known as just TT, had three buildings. The front building had once been a mansion, donated by the owner's children after his death years before the town had turned it into a school. Once the town committee had deemed it worthy of a place of education, extensive renovations took place. Behind the mansion were two newer buildings, which had been built as the school grew. Most of the amenities were in the left hand building, known to students as the Left Wing. The gyms, art rooms, and science laboratories were in the Right Wing. The mansion was used solely for classes, most of which were English and History classes. Roxas had always hated the architecture of the two wings. Architects had tried to reproduce the unique style of the mansion, but also wanted to allow the buildings a modern edge. Most people thought it was a success, Roxas thought it was an eyesore.
"Rox, there are Riku and Kairi!" Sora broke his silence, "I'm gonna head off, 'kay? Have fun and don't get beat up or anything!" He smiled as he dashed off.
Roxas continued walking, sulking with every step. He walked towards his locker, which was in the Left Wing, like most people's, hoping to avoid confrontation.
He made it safely to his locker, without a sign of Seifer, his friends, or even any of the underclassmen who were bound to get lost on the first day. He put his backpack in the locker, grabbed a pencil, and looked at his schedule. He had English first, with someone named Gainsborough. He hadn't heard of that teacher before, and with a huff, he slammed his locker shut. He walked back out, his English class was in the mansion, room number M216 (M for mansion, 2 for second floor, 16 for room number; Roxas remembered that lesson from freshman orientation), and he hoped that he could get there early. Roxas wanted a seat in the back, preferably in a corner.
He had made it halfway across the field separating the buildings before recognizing someone. It was Namine, his adolescent crush, and a close friend of Olette's. He put his head down quickly, hoping she wouldn't notice him. Roxas couldn't deal with her special blend of awkward and sweet on the first day of school, he just wanted to be left alone.
Not surprisingly, he wasn't noticed. Roxas made it to his classroom in one piece, with just one ex-classmate asking him how his summer was, trying to make small talk. He had breezed through the conversation, using one word answers, and walking away as he responded. Roxas was often a little too rude.
He walked into the room, which only had three students in it, none of whom had chosen a back corner for a spot. Roxas made a beeline for his desired seat, in the back right corner of the room. He looked at the room. It was pretty standard, a few posters encouraging literature and proper grammar, though it was barer than most other teachers rooms. Gainsborough must be new.
Roxas waited for another ten minutes before the classroom was filled, though it seemed it was a small class. Only about fifteen of the twenty five available desks were filled, and no one had come in for a couple of minutes. Now they were only missing their mysterious teacher. Roxas rolled his eyes, this guy really must be new, he thought. Just as his eyes returned to focus, the door rattled, and a girl walked in. Roxas assumed she was a new student, or someone who'd been held back. She had long brown hair tied back into a braid and bright green eyes. She was probably taller than Roxas, but not as tall as some of the girls in the eleventh grade.
"Hello class, my name is Aerith Gainsborough, and I will be your English teacher." She smiled warmly at the half-asleep students. "Sorry that I was late, but I was trying to copy this," she picked up a stack of papers and began handing them out. "One is a syllabus, it will tell you what you need for this class, and the other is a survey, so I can get to know you a little bit!" She looked excited as she finished passing out the papers. "Now, let me take roll call."
Roxas spent the rest of the day wandering from class to class, hearing lectures on the "responsibilities" of upperclassmen, and avoiding people he didn't want to see. He had made it all the way to lunch without so much as a glimpse of Seifer, which was always a blessing, and he had made it through the afternoon with only a brief encounter with Olette, who had the same math class as he did. Precalculus, which was a bore, but math was something Roxas could do without much human interaction.
At the end of the day, the final bell chimed its peaceful tone, announcing the students' freedom. Roxas got up from his desk and left as quickly as he could, hoping to avoid any more interactions. He felt slightly guilty about avoiding his friends, but his mood had been so foul all day that he didn't want to ruin their days. Roxas could be considerate sometimes.
He began his walk home alone, assuming Sora was off galavanting with Riku and Kairi, only getting so far as the school gates.
"Hey chicken-wuss," Roxas kept walking, it was Seifer. "Yo, I just said hi, chicken-wuss," Seifer was walking alongside Roxas, trying to get the boy to react.
"Get a new insult, Seifer. You sound like a kid." Roxas mumbled while looking at the ground.
"What was that? If anyone sounds like a kid, it's you. What are you? Four feet tall?" Seifer taunted proudly.
"Shut up." Roxas tried to pick up his pace.
"Listen here kid, when I talk, you listen." Roxas looked up at him, and in a sudden fit of rage, punched the bigger boy. "What the fuck was that?" Seifer looked shocked. People didn't usually stand up to him, except Hayner. "Did you just hit me, chicken-wuss?" He was glaring, towering over Roxas.
"Yeah." Roxas had immediately regretted his actions, and knew that at that moment, he was screwed.
Seifer got as close as he could to the boy, and whispered, "you think you're a fuckin' big shot? Well chicken-wuss, I guess I'm gonna have to put you in your place." He grabbed Roxas' shirt, keeping him in place for a beating that was sure to come.
"Hey, get off him!" A strange voice called out. Roxas turned at the same time as Seifer, and he saw the boy that had been with the drunk redhead. He was filled with that rage once more.
"Let go of me, dickwad!" He pushed Seifer back, bringing the focus back to himself. Seifer glared again, readying his arm, and growled.
"Listen man, I'm not trying to cause a problem or nothin', I just think it'd be, uh, swell for you to get off that kid. He's like half your size." The boy nervously chuckled.
"Stay out of this." Roxas glared at the guy, he had the same mullet thing going on with his hair as he had the other night, but the dirty blond's reaction to Roxas surprised him. He looked hurt.
"Yeah, listen to the chicken-wuss." Seifer said, before turning back to Roxas, and finally landing his punch. Roxas stumbled back, fell over, and rubbed his wounded face. He looked at the dirty blonde, whom Roxas had just dubbed Mullet-Man, and Seifer. Mullet-Man was walking slowly towards his attacker, looking side to side, as if he wanted backup.
"You probably shouldn't do stuff like that anymore," the dirty blond tried to glare, but he looked almost comical in his attempt.
"Yeah? You gonna stop me?" Seifer egged him on, shaking out his fist.
"Uh, yeah, I guess." Mullet-Man looked around again, and Roxas had to roll his eyes. His rescuer was more helpless than he was.
Seifer backed up for a minute, before landing another punch, this time on the dirty blond. "You two stay out of my way. Especially you, chicken-wuss." He started walking away, laughing to himself. Roxas grunted, almost wanting to go after him.
The two of them stood there, watching him walk away, before Mullet-Man looked over at Roxas and cheerfully said, "hey, nice to meetcha! I'm Demyx." Deja vu. Roxas looked at the dirty blond, trying to hide his disbelief. The boy didn't remember him at all from that night with the redheaded asshole. Granted, Roxas hadn't remembered his name, but Demyx was not a traditional name. And Roxas was bad with names. Demyx still had his hand out, and Roxas slowly took it.
"Roxas." He said, intending fully to walk away as soon as introductions were over.
"Sorry I couldn't help more, I thought maybe I could scare him off. But I guess I'm just not that scary." Demyx laughed nervously again. "I'm, uh, actually waiting for someone. You know a guy, he's short, but maybe actually taller than you," Roxas scowled at that comment, "he's got like blue hair? Maybe it's gray? It's kind of long in the front, he's real quiet? I think he's a senior?"
"No idea who that is." Roxas broke the eye contact they'd been holding. "But I actually need to go home. I have to meet up with my brother."
"Oh. Well, it was nice to meet you Roxas! Maybe I'll see you 'round sometime!" Demyx smiled warmly at Roxas, who returned the smile with a stare.
"Maybe." He said as he turned around. Roxas wasn't cold. He was just kind of a dick.
Roxas' phone buzzed. He rolled over, it was seven o'clock, in the evening, and he couldn't imagine who was texting him. He opened the message only to see Hayner's name. Of course, he had been antisocial all day, Hayner had probably heard about his confrontation, maybe even from Seifer himself.
Bro. Where have you been? Hayner wasn't as excited as Roxas thought he would be.
Around. Roxas replied noncommittally.
A minute later, his phone buzzed again. Seriously. I heard about Seifer.
Oh. Yeah, that was nothing. Roxas was modest.
I heard you beat the crap out of him! News travelled fast in Twilight Town, and apparently not very accurately.
I don't know if that's what I'd call what happened.
What happened then?
I punched him, then he punched me and some guy who tried to stop him... Roxas didn't feel like explaining what had happened.
Who?
I dunno, some guy. I don't think he goes to TT. That wasn't a lie. Roxas wasn't sure how to spell the dirty blond's name, so he was gonna stick with the code name "some guy."
Well, that's pretty much the sickest thing I've heard all day bro. You down to hang?
No.
Rox don't be like that. I know you wannaaa, Hayner could be annoying when he wanted.
Roxas ignored the subsequent buzzing, knowing that his friend would get the message if he just avoided contact for a while. Roxas wanted time to think. School made him tired, and Cloud's new friend meant that he was never home alone. Roxas sighed and rolled over in his bed. He closed his eyes, falling gently to sleep, dreaming of sea salt ice cream and clouds. Real ones, not the shitty red ones that he saw everyday.
Axel growled at his phone. Demyx was late. The two of them had had celebratory Monday plans to get high and wait for the enigmatic blond (not that Demyx knew that part, that was purely in Axel's head.)
Axel felt his pocket vibrate, and with another soft growl, he pulled out his phone
I dunno if I can make it today.. Zexy's actually talking to me now. Demyx was bailing for his new high school crush, again.
Get over that kid. Axel really wanted to smoke. And to see that kid. But mostly to smoke.
Ax you don't get it, he's perfect. And I think I'm getting somewhere. Demyx had practically been stalking the poor boy, not that Axel was any better, sitting at the same bench almost every evening since their second encounter. But it was different, he wanted to punch the blond, or take him on the spot, whichever came first.
By waiting for him at school? And following him home? Oh, the hypocrisy. Axel didn't care. Demyx didn't know about his blond dilema, and Axel knew everything about the high school kid.
Yeah. What about it? At least I have a goal. Axel let out yet another growl, he didn't appreciate Demyx's sense of humor.
Harsh. He closed his phone, put it away, and pulled out his cigarettes. He wasn't getting high today.
He took the first drag, holding his breath, meditating on the smoke filling his lungs. If he was going to get cancer, he might as well enjoy the process to its fullest extent. He let the air out slowly, watch the smoke dissipate into the atmosphere. The sun was turning purple, but it was still mostly red. Axel loved the red sky, he always had. As a child his mom had told him stories about fairies that made the sky so beautiful, but now Axel knew the truth. The cold, hard, scientific truth about atmospheric anomalies and water vapor and reflections. His four (technically five) years at Twilight Town High had done him some good.
Axel turned his attention towards the trees in front of him. They didn't reflect the sunlight quite as nicely as the buildings, in fact, when the red light fell onto the shinier leaves, especially midsummer, they turned an ugly brown color, sometimes almost khaki. But as Axel loved nature in its entirety, he loved that ugly brown color as well.
Another drag of his cigarette, another moment of mediation. Axel's mind wandered quickly, straying from the environment to the people within the environment. He remembered his little blond fixation, and quickly let the smoke out with a grunt. He couldn't get the kid out of his head. Axel was funny, he was attractive, hell, he'd go so far as to deem himself charming, and yet the boy just couldn't stop glaring at him. Axel wasn't good at taking no for an answer, nor could he handle criticism. The blond's anger counted as both, especially when it was so unfounded. He must be biased against redheads, Axel chuckled to himself. He could try dying his hair blue, or purple, or even green, just to see if that would make the blond lighten up. Laughing to himself, he gathered his things to leave.
"Ri-ku." The voice sounded familier. Axel looked up, and saw some kids approaching. One of them was tall and lean, but muscular, with the whitest hair Axel had seen in a while, and the girl with them was a sort of natural redhead. Finally, he found the source of the voice, and his eyes widened. It was the blond, with brown hair. He was sure of it. He'd found his mystery man. "Ri-ku, listen to me!" He said again, and Axel was sure of it. The kid sounded a lot happier, but it was the same voice.
"Blondie!" He called out, stomping on his cigarette before he stood up. He gave his most charming Axel-smile, and turned towards the trio. "Long time no see, feeling less moody, are we?"
His blondie wrinkled his nose, and looked at the silver-haired boy next to him, "who're you calling blondie?"
Axel blinked a few times, looked at the kid again, and reaffirmed his suspicions. It was the same boy. "You, don't you remember? We met on that lovely evening, what, a few days ago?"
"No idea mister," Blond-turned-brunette boy looked long and hard at Axel, as if trying to place where he knew him from. "Yeah, I'm not blond, and I don't think I ever have been, so I don't think you- oh." He stopped mid-sentence, turned to the silver-haired boy, and whispered something in his ear. The boy turned and nodded, and the brunette continued, "I mean, I don't know you, but maybe you know my brother!" He smiled up, as if he had just solved a mystery, "Roxas? That ring any bells? He looked just like me, we're twins you know, but he's blond. So that would explain it!"
"Yeah. Roxas, that's right. Sorry for the mix-up, kid." Axel smiled down, he liked this brunette a lot more than his brother. But he'd make a note of that name, Roxas.
"It's alright, it doesn't happen very often, I guess because he's so, uh, Roxas-y, and I'm not. I'm Sora though, nice to meet you!" The brunette stuck out his hand, offering it Axel.
They shook hands, and Axel bid them a good evening. He promised Sora that they'd talk again eventually, after the boy asked almost tearily if they would, and walked away.
Roxas, Axel thought, I'll get you yet. He smirked as he lit up another cigarette. His game of cat and mouse had just gotten more interesting.
Roxas woke up on Tuesday morning with a headache. The headache was worsened by the orange glow shining in through his curtains. He had overslept. He groaned, rolled over, and stretched out. He could hear Sora and Cloud talking in the kitchen, eating breakfast. Roxas wouldn't have time for food, and that just served to make him more upset.
Finally, he mustered up the courage to roll out of bed, landing on the floor. He heard Cloud call out, "Rox? You okay? You've gotta get up." Roxas glared in the direction of his door, and rolled once more, freeing himself from the tangle of blankets that had fallen with him.
Roxas stood up, walked towards the bathroom, and cursed his life.
Taking the quickest shower he could, he finished getting ready for school, ignoring the wet mop of hair that was promising to dry even worse than usual. Roxas shook his head, hoping to cause some physical reaction on his head, but he knew his efforts would forever be fruitless.
He walked down the stairs, hoping he would slip and fall and avoid school for the day. But Roxas was too coordinated for his own good, and too frightened to make it happen himself. He made it to the door safely, Sora waiting for him impatiently.
"C'mon Roxas! We're gonna be late!" Sora huffed a little, opening the door and walking out. Roxas followed, not answering his brother.
Axel rolled over, his phone vibrated in his ear, "aw shit!" He opened his eyes, groaned, and looked at the caller. It was Demyx. He ignored the call, threw his phone across the room, and closed his eyes again. Axel wasn't waking up before noon. He could hear the phone vibrating again, and figuring it might be important, or that it might be an offer Axel wanted to take him up on, he climbed out of bed, wrapped in his sheets, and hobbled over to his phone. It was again Demyx, and Axel answered with a grunt.
"Dude, he's not here. He's not here. I got stood up." Demyx sounded panicked.
"Who?" Axel didn't care.
"Zexy! He told me he'd meet me at this cafe so that we could get breakfast together before he has to go to class because he has his first period off and now I-"
"What? Why are you calling me about this?" Axel could not believe his ears. Demyx called him at 7:15 in the morning, to complain about his jailbait crush.
"Because, I never wake up this early, and I don't know what to do now! I'm lonely!" Demyx was whining. Axel was not going to take it at 7 o'clock in the morning.
"Goodbye Demyx. Don't call me again." Axel growled. Axel liked sleeping, a lot.
He meandered back over to his bed, putting his phone next to his pillow, back in its rightful spot, and drifted off back to sleep.
Roxas was at lunch, having survived a morning of lectures and notes. His teachers weren't slacking off at all, no one was taking it easy for the first week of school. He was sitting with Pence and Olette, none of them knew where Hayner was. Pence was bashfully trying to explain some computer program to Olette, who had recently bought a new laptop, and had trusted Pence to properly install useful and easy programs. Pence's definition of "easy" was apparently different from Olette's. Roxas was listening to their chatter, looking around at the other students in the cafeteria. Most upperclassmen had left campus, especially the juniors, who were just getting a taste of the freedom that came with being one of the high school top dogs, but Roxas' friends had opted to stay in the school, because none of them had felt like dishing out extra money for food, and Pence was not keen on long walks.
Roxas let his eyes wander a little, and he saw Namine from across the room, sitting with her Kairi, who was her cousin. The two of them looked remarkably similar from a distance, other than their hair color. Namine was a very pretty girl, and she always looked so innocent. Kairi, on the other hand, had a flair for exotic styles, and always looked a little rough around the edges. Kairi was a social butterfly, she knew anyone and everyone, and was almost always nice to them. Namine was shy, she hardly ever talked to strangers. She and Roxas had met completely by accident, and because of her shyness, and his angry demeanor, it had taken them a while to actually talk.
Riku wasn't with Kairi and Namine, and Roxas assumed the senior was off somewhere with Sora, indulging his childish desires. Roxas glowered a little, realizing the closeness of his twin's friendship, and then realizing his friendships, although close, were nothing like Sora's. Roxas really did have an inferiority complex.
"Roxas! You agree with me right? Roxas!" Pence was calling to him, and in his musings, he hadn't been listening.
"Oh? Huh? Sorry, what was that?" Roxas turned his attention to his friends, who were still arguing over computer applications.
"This program, it's the best free word processor available, and it's probably even better than a lot of the paid applications available, right?" He looked expectantly at Roxas.
Before Roxas could answer, Olette chimed in, "but it's probably full of viruses, and it looks so old!"
Pence was apparently explaining to Olette that "free" did not mean "cheap" online. "I mean, Pence has a point, you don't wanna spend like 100 munny on some word processor you only want for school, right?"
Olette glared at Roxas, but did not answer. She turned around, to face Pence again, and the two of them began squabbling once more.
"Hey guys!" Roxas heard Hayner call to them, he turned around, and walking towards them was Hayner, with a big, black eye. "Couldn't let you have all the fun, ey Roxy boy?"
Roxas glared, but didn't answer. He took a bite of the sandwich he had been neglecting, and looked at Hayner, waiting for the story he knew was coming.
"Why don't you have one of these," Hayner gestured at his face, "didn't Seifer hit you too?"
"I don't bruise easily or something." Roxas looked down at his sandwich. He also hadn't been hit square in the eye, which probably helped in terms of bruising.
"Well, I thought that you needed a little avenging, so I took it upon myself to find Seifer and show him who's boss." Hayner smiled proudly.
"Well it kind of looks like he showed you who's boss." Olette giggled, having turned her attention away from the laptop.
"Shut up Lettey." Hayner smiled at the girl as he said it, "I gave him twice the punch he gave me!"
"I'm sure you did, Hayner." Olette's smile faded, "but don't call me that."
"But Lettey, it's so cute!" Hayner gushed, ruffling Olette's hair. "And Pencey boy, what are we doing right now?"
"Working on Olette's laptop." Came the reply, Pence didn't even look up. He was busily typing on the keyboard, and Roxas wasn't sure why. He wasn't a computer genius, but downloading software didn't involve extensive typing.
"But don't you guys want to hear more of my story? It was ep-ic!" Hayner sat down next to Roxas and puffed his chest out. "I swear it's the best thing you'll hear all day!"
"Sure, Hay, tell us about your fight." Olette was looking over Pence's shoulder as he typed, not looking at Hayner, and the blush forming on Pence's round cheeks was noticeable.
"So, I was walking into school, I got here late, and I saw Fuu. She whispered somethin' like 'pussy' under her breath, and I mean, I hardly heard it, but I saw the look she was giving me. I don't hit girls or anything though, so I was all 'back off,' and she was all 'no.' So I was like, 'alright, Lettey's gonna give it to you later,' 'cause you could kick her ass, Lette" Olette rolled her eyes, and Hayner paused to laugh, "but then she was like 'Seifer,' and I turned around, and there he was, walking towards the school. You know that Fuu's a weird chick. It's hard to talk to her, she doesn't talk enough. Can't she speak English? But anyways, Seifer was walking towards me and Fuu, cracking his knuckles, and I was like 'hey Seifer, heard about what happened yesterday, you got beat up or somethin' right?' Seifer wasn't too happy about that, and he just kept walking at me. Eventually, he got real close to me, told me to get off school property, so we could fight or somethin'. So I did that, 'cause I didn't want to get suspended or anything." Roxas was getting distracted again, Hayner's story was dragging on, but he cleared his throat and continued, "so Seifer threw a punch, I dodged it, like a boss, and then hit him back. It must've hurt or somethin', 'cause he came back in a rage, and hit me square in the eye. I punched back a few more times, but then a teacher started yelling, and took us to the principal's office. I got off with just a warning, probably because my eye turned black real fast, but Seifer's still there. He's in deep shit man."
"Oh Hayner! You shouldn't do stuff like that!" Olette's look of anger had melted into one of concern about halfway through the story, and now she was up, out of her seat, examining his eye.
"It's all good, I can handle a black eye." Hayner smiled at his friends, and said, "well, I should probably get some lunch before it ends, don't wanna go to class hungry." He stood up, and walked towards the cafeteria's kitchen.
"Roxas, did Hayner say you got hit by Seifer too?" Olette had turned her attention to Roxas.
He blinked once, not sure if he should answer honestly, and finally decided, "yeah, but it was my own fault."
"Roxas! I thought you knew better, I mean, I expect this from Hayner, sometimes, but you?" Olette looked disappointed, almost motherly, and Roxas shook his head.
"It won't happen again, I was mad and he made it worse."
"Well, at least you don't look like Hay does right now. What an eye!" Pence piped up, "I just hope this doesn't mean my turn is next." He laughed nervously, and turned his attentions back to the computer.
Roxas chuckled a little in agreement, and went back to thinking.
He couldn't get his encounter with Seifer out of his head, the boy had been more aggressive than usual. Normally, the rule to follow was don't bother him, and he'll leave you alone, but something had been wrong. Roxas also was hardly ever the true target of Seifer's anger, normally Hayner gladly took that bullet.
And then there was the mysterious-drunk-friend-turned-rescuer, he had remembered nothing of their first meeting, which was probably good. Roxas didn't want the redhead finding out about it. With a name like Roxas, he wouldn't be hard to find.
By the end of the day, Roxas was wiped out, and ready for a nap. Roxas liked naps. The sky was finally blue, which cheered him up a little, but not enough to deter him from his nap.
As he was leaving the courtyard, he heard a small voice call out behind him, "Roxas, wait up!" He didn't need to turn around to recognize the voice, it was Namine. He stopped, turned his head, and waited for her to catch up. "How've you been? I haven't seen you around much," she blushed, even though they'd known each other for years, she was still too shy to start a conversation. "I missed you this summer."
"Yeah, sorry, I've been busy," Roxas avoided eye contact. He had been busy, but not too busy to see his friends. "Things have been okay. Cloud's back now, which is cool," Roxas tried to keep things casual. His heart still wasn't ready to look her in the eye and have a conversation.
Namine had been Roxas' first crush, and his first heartbreak. He met her in his freshman year, and by sophomore year, he thought she was the one. She had never rejected him, but somehow she had made it clear that they would never be together, and he had taken that as a sign to leave her be, and to get over everything. He had missed her too, but he couldn't admit it. The unspoken agreement between the two still hurt him.
"Anyways, Kairi's throwing this party this weekend, and I thought maybe you'd want to come, just for a while. I think Sora's going, so he can show you where to go." Namine rushed through her words, and the blush on her face deepened. When Roxas was honest with himself, this attitude made him angry. She always acted so in love with him, but she wasn't. Roxas didn't know a whole lot about girls, but he knew that shy, sweet behavior was supposed to mean something.
"I dunno," Roxas hated parties, and wasn't about to get himself roped into going to one, "I've got stuff to do this weekend."
"Oh, alright," Namine looked down at her feet.
Roxas looked at her, glared at his own feet, and said, "maybe I'll come. I dunno, I might have some free time."
Namine looked up, smiled brightly at her friend, and changed the subject quickly.
Roxas sighed, and continued to talk to the blonde girl. He hadn't wanted to give in, but she looked so sad when he said no, and Roxas didn't want to make her sad.
Roxas really was a sap sometimes.
Roxas's week was fairly uneventful from Wednesday on, he spent most of his time avoiding Seifer, who seemed to be even more irritable after his run in with Hayner, and Roxas' group hadn't been doing much. Olette and Pence were both honors students, and as such, they had to spend more time doing their homework than Roxas or Hayner, so they were often busy. Hayner was sulking for most of the week, as he had been grounded when he parents saw his black eye.
Sora, Kairi, and Riku had been running all over town, and though Roxas had been invited on multiple occasions, he resisted their promises of sea salt ice cream and stayed home.
Cloud had been showing his friend Leon around town, not that there was much to see, and hadn't been home as much as Roxas though the would be, but that was fine with him. He had the house to himself, and was able to sit around on the couch and watch whatever bad TV show was on, without being interrupted.
By the time Friday rolled around, Roxas had gotten used to minimal social contact, and groaned when he was reminded of the party.
Namine had texted him, don't forget, Kairi will come get you and Sora at 7!
Roxas had forgotten all about his unwanted invitation, but feeling obligated to make good on his promise, he responded by saying alright.
Axel woke up Friday morning, and looked out his window. The sky was sunny and blue, meaning he had slept in again. He smiled, summer was a great season. He stood up, getting out of bed quickly, and stretched. He walked towards his closet, wearing nothing but boxers from the previous day. Everything was dirty, or at least shoved onto the floor of the closet. Axel was going to have to do some laundry, and he wasn't too excited.
Deciding that he could wait to begin his chores, he walked back to his bed, sat down, and picked up his phone. There were three missed calls from Demyx. Axel remembered Demyx's last emergency, and smiled. The kid was having trouble wooing his would-be boyfriend again, probably.
Axel was about to put his phone down again, when it started ringing. Sure enough, it was Demyx. Axel was in good spirits, and decided a little whine would do Demyx good, and wouldn't hurt him.
"Axel. Finally, I've been calling you for hours! I have a question for you!" The mohawked teenager didn't sound desperate, or really upset at all.
"Yeah? Shoot." Axel said, while fishing around the drawer in his nightstand for a cigarette.
"So, I was talking to Larx yesterday," Demyx's cousin was named Larxene. She was a huge bitch, frankly, but Axel had fun with her volatile nature and her outbursts. Demyx was a little scared of her, but they'd grown up together, and it was a well known fact that Larxene had a soft spot for her goofy cousin. "She told me that there was this high school party going on this weekend, you know how she's so close with Marluxia and stuff, and Vexen told him who told her about it," Marluxia and Vexen were two more members of the group Axel had grown up around, "and she told me that Zexion was probably going, 'cause Vexen heard about the party during a chemistry class, and Zexy was there, and he was listening to the people talk about it, and apparently he even has friends going, so I mean, we have to go!"
"And you want me to come with you? What about Larx? Or even Marly?"
"I want you there Ax! Parties are always more fun with you! And what if, what if he has a friend, who needs distracting." Demyx didn't normally scheme, but he really wanted the high schooler, and he was not making any progress on his own.
"When is it?" Axel asked simply, taking a drag from his now-lit cigarette.
"Tomorrow! C'mon, I'll trade you all the weed I have right now, please?" Demyx wouldn't have offered that if it was a lot of marijuana, but Axel wasn't about to reject free drugs. Axel laughed at himself, he sounded like a high school aged pot head who thought they were cool for smoking. Axel had been that kid once, but no longer.
"You know what? Fine. I'll do you this favor. But you owe me. You have no idea what plans I had for Saturday. Maybe I had a hot date that I'm going to cancel, for you, my dear friend." Axel had no plans, he just wanted to make Demyx feel bad, for waking him up earlier in the week.
"What? Why didn't you tell me! Ax, you don't have to come!" Axel could hear Demyx's eyes widen.
"Nah, I was kidding man. I didn't have any plans. Text me details later or something, I'm gonna go shower or something." Axel hung up the phone before he could even hear a reply, and stood up again.
He put out his cigarette, and walked back to his closet. Picking out some clothes that didn't look too dirty, he put them on, and began sorting out what he was going to wash.
He remembered Blondie's brother, who didn't seem like he was out of high school yet. Maybe they'd run into one another, and Axel would be able to get even closer to his to-be-determined goal.
Saturday was going to be decidedly interesting.
