Chapter Two: Unwritten Rainbows and Pizza
Shortly after Hayner leaves the boys' dorm, Sora shows Roxas to his room. Roxas gasps in horror as they step in. The walls are covered in rainbows, childish fantasy posters of knights, princesses and dragons, comic strips and random doodles. A heart shaped clock accompanied by a tissue box and a lava lamp are the only things that adorn the table. Everything else seems to be on the floor. Roxas would have thought that they had somehow taken a detour into the girls' dorm if it hadn't been for the array of boys clothing thrown into the mix on the floor.
"What the hell is this?" Roxas steps back, shielding his eyes as though the colors burn.
"This is our room!" Sora grins with his eyes shut tight.
"Our?" Roxas turns pale, "Wait… you're my roommate?"
"Yup!" Sora scratches the back of his head, "My last one graduated, so I was alone for a little bit. It's pretty cool that I have a new one!" he flips himself onto the bottom mattress of the bunk bead.
"We have a bunk, huh?" Roxas frowns as he considers whether or not it's safe to step into the room.
"Yesss," Sora says with an even larger grin, "My mom requested it for me when I came here. So I'm one of the few special people who gets one. You get to be top though, cuz I'm always hitting my head."
"Great." Roxas steps into the room and looks around, "Well… where can I put my stuff?" Sora points to a small closet and Roxas makes his way over to it, attempting to not trip over anything. Upon opening it, Roxas sees that Sora has made no attempt to use the closet, as every single shelf and cloths hangar remains bare. In fact, nothing is in the closet anywhere other than a stray card off in the corner. He picks up the card and examines the edges around the top. They bear a strong resemblance to the crown pendant Sora has on, "Pumpkin head?" he reads off the card.
"An attack card?" Sora sits up on the bed, "Is it an eight!?"
"Uh…" Roxas frowns, searching the card. Sora jumps up and snatches it from Roxas' hand.
"Oh, it is!" he gasps and cups his mouth with his free hand, "I lost this and I've been looking for it for soooooo long! It's weird too, cuz I'm usually pretty organized." Roxas simply stares at Sora, trying to understand the boy at least a little. Suddenly, Sora leaps forward and wraps his arms around his startled new roommate. Somehow Roxas manages to avoid the instinct of throwing him across the room.
"What are you doing?" he twitches, pushing Sora away from him.
"I like you already, Roxas!" he smiles. Roxas feels as if he's talking to a little kid. He jumps a little as he notices Hayner standing in the doorway with a stupid looking grin spread over his face.
"Why don't you drop your bag off in the closet and put this 'male bonding' on hold," he chuckles, "I've got a few more things I need to teach you before the day's done."
The two boys walk out of the dorm and down the cement path towards the school.
"Alright," Hayner speaks as though he's about to debrief Roxas on some top secret mission, "Now it's time that you learned the more important things about Sunset Hill, or S.H." Roxas doesn't understand why he is listening to this kid. Hayner can't be even a year older than him, yet he's letting the banana lead him all over school.
I guess I have nothing better to do, he thinks.
"I'm sure you've already been made aware of the prefects," Hayner points around to a few of the older kids surveying the area, "They generally make sure that the new kids know they're around." He points to the blonde kid and the two others who approached Roxas earlier. They appear to be scolding a young boy for spilling his milk, "That's Seifer," he begins, "he's one of the worst prefects here. His two goons are Raijin," he points to the tan skinned man, "and Fuijin." He points to the girl, "They're not actually prefects, but Seifer has adopted them into his 'Disciplinary Committee'. It kinda ticks me off. They're all stupid though, so they're kinda fun to mess with if you don't get caught. Same with the rest of the prefects."
"How is this important?" Roxas crosses his arms impatiently.
"I'm getting there." Hayner waves his hand in dismissal, "The important things are the rules…"
"What are you now? A prefect?"
"Not exactly…" he shakes his head, "The Headmaster's got a bias towards blondes with blue eyes. I got the hair, but not the eyes."
"Ah…" Roxas responds uninterestedly.
"Besides, this school has several sets of rules; the written rules that the staff and prefects deem important, and the unwritten rules to live by. It's the unwritten ones that are important."
"Uh huh…"
"Allow me to explain," he continues with a grin, "It's one of the first written rules of the school to never ever bring a weapon onto campus. It's the first unwritten rule to always carry a weapon or face the consequences. The second rule is to never get caught with one."
"Carry a weapon?" Roxas' interest is peaked, but he's also a little worried.
"That's right," Hayner crosses his arms, "Mine's just a slingshot, but sometimes I barely get by with that. Sunset Hill isn't all smiles and hugs… although Sora would like to think so." Roxas pauses to think about this idea, and then quickly moves to catch up to Hayner who has walked ahead, "Another written rule," the talkative boy continues, "'Always respect the school's hierarchy'. The rule to live by: Never respect it. The higher up in the hierarchy, the lower the form of life. That makes the prefects dirt and the staff worse. Startin' to get it?" Roxas frowns at Hayner's tone.
"Yeah, I got it." he thinks that's generally how he treats them anyway. Sunset Hill… Roxas is stuck on the name. Every time he hears someone say it, it reminds him of something… like he's heard about it in the past… but where?
"I take it you don't have a weapon." Hayner judges and Roxas shakes his head.
"I don't need a weapon." He shrugs, "My fists have always worked fine for me."
"Fists?" Hayner laughs out loud for a long moment, "I'm sorry, buddy, but I know at least two, no… THREE girls who could beat you at fisticuffs."
"I don't plan on fighting girls…" Roxas tries to avoid the urge to prove him wrong.
"Hey, if you knew the girls, you wouldn't feel quite so bad," Hayner reassures him, "A lot of the girls are more dangerous than the guys here. My point is, we need to hook you up with a weapon, and fast." Roxas decides not to argue and follows Hayner back to the boys' dorm.
When the two boys walk back in, Sora and Pence have commenced another round of their card game and Olette has taken the watchers seat.
"Eight, Pumpkin head!" Sora says with a grin.
"I break your attack with a zero Oathkeeper," Pence says coolly, placing down a card, "And I'm set for a three hit combo with a six and a four… do you have any quick-plays?"
"I used them all last turn…" Sora despairs.
"Alright… that's eight plus five and five, for eighteen health points." Pence calculates. Sora lets out an over dramatic moan as Roxas and Hayner take seats in two chairs near the table. Looking up from the game, Pence offers Roxas a slice from a half-eaten pizza, and he turns it down with a shake of his head. Pence shrugs and takes a sip of his soda.
"Come on." Hayner crosses his arms, staring at Roxas, "You gotta eat something. You've just been thrown into the toughest school around and you've got classes first thing tomorrow."
"Don't bother worrying about me." Roxas says with a scowl, "I've been taking care of myself for years."
"Right." The brown eyed boy laughs, "I forgot. You're hardcore." He stands up and brushes himself off, "Well… I'm going to bed."
"I guess it is getting late…" Olette agrees.
"I hate it when the weekends are over." Pence says, beating Sora in the game. Or at least that's what it looked like from Sora's pained expression. Hayner strolls off to his room. Shortly afterward, once the two boys have picked up and safely stored their game away, Pence and Sora say goodnight and shuffle off in their separate directions. Partly in defiance, and partly because he feels like he can't sleep, Roxas stays up for a while watching TV, and much to his surprise, Olette sticks around to watch too. After a long while of staring at the TV with no conversation, Olette finally turns to look at Roxas.
"Well I have to get back to my dorm now." She smiles, "I'm already a ways past curfew." It is just now that it actually occurs to Roxas that it's odd that she's even here in the first place.
"Wait…" Roxas frowns and Olette stares at him, "Why are you in the boys' dorm?" Olette laughs and he knows that if he had asked anyone else the same question, they would have made some crack at him being slow and gotten punched in the face for it.
"I'm not supposed to be," She smiles, "but I sneak in here because most of my friends are guys. I have to sneak back without getting caught too, but it's worth it."
"Oh." Roxas says boringly, he's never been good at conversation.
"Anyway, I have to get back now." She waves, "Goodnight."
"Bye." Roxas waves his hand once.
Once Olette is gone, Roxas gives himself a moment to figure out exactly how tired he is, and then switches the TV off. He stands, stretches and makes his way to his room. Expecting Sora to be long asleep by now, Roxas quietly pushes the door open to see the boy sitting up on his bead reading some comic about a mouse, a dog and a duck.
"Hiya!" Sora waves, decked in a hideous red and green pajama set that is quite obviously an old Christmas gift gone wrong. Without responding, Roxas walks into the room, his feet searching for the spaces on the floor between Sora's things. He climbs the ladder of the bunk bed and slumps down on top of the covers. Why is the room so bright? He thinks. It had bothered him earlier, but now that he is tired, it gives him the same feeling as being rudely awoken way too early in the morning, having gotten very little sleep.
"So you said you were knocked down?" Sora inquires from below.
"Huh?" Roxas turns his head in his bed to listen.
"You were knocked down." Sora repeats, "And Axel picked up your stuff?"
"Yeah…" The blonde frowns and lays back.
"That's nice. The same thing happened to me when I was new."
"Really…" Roxas says uninterested.
"Yeah, but nobody picked them up. I think Axel's favor to me was not stepping on one of my pencils." He says, "But some jerk had already stepped on my favorite pen and broke it." Roxas just stares at the ceiling and a moment later Sora continues, "So what do you think?"
"What?" Roxas sighs, "About what?"
"About the school!" Sora says as though it were obvious.
"It's just a school." Roxas shrugs, "I've never liked schools."
"But it's kinda different." Sora goes on, "Maybe since you don't like the other ones, you'll like this one."
"I doubt it…"
"Well…" Sora thinks, "You gotta give it a chance. You can't hate something before you know about it." There is a long silence as Roxas recalls memories about previous schools that he'd rather forget. The entire conversation is beginning to get to him, and right now he's just too tired of dealing with words and these colorful walls.
"Can we just go to bed?" Roxas turns his head to look off the side and squints at the light next to Sora's bed.
"Sure." Sora nods, "I'll get the light! Nighty night, Roxas!" Roxas lies straight down on the bed without a word, staring at the ceiling. When the light clicks off, Roxas is met with the illumination of dozens of glow in the dark stars, pasted above him.
"Ughhhh…" he complains, pushing a pillow into his face. Shortly afterward he's met with Sora's snoring.
The next morning, a loud ringing noise blares from the heart-shaped clock on Sora's table. Startled out of sleep, Roxas sits straight up on his bed, slamming his head into the ceiling.
"Fuck!" He exclaims, holding his head and biting his lip with one eye still shut.
"Oh… Sorry." Sora yawns from underneath, shutting the alarm off, "I have to have that go off every day or else I'll sleep and miss class." Sora hops out of bed and Roxas slumps back with a groan. "Aren't you gonna get dressed?" Sora says, shedding his PJs and salvaging yesterday's outfit from the floor.
"…I'm already dressed." Roxas says after a moment, climbing out of bed fully clothed.
"You slept in that?" Sora asks with a smile, "You're silly. Those chains can't be too comfortable." Roxas looks down at the single chain hanging from his pants and compares it to the one Sora has on his. The difference isn't extreme, and he wonders if the boy has forgotten that he has one too.
"When do classes start?" Roxas asks, wading through the room towards his bags of belongings.
"In an hour." Sora grins.
"Alright…" Roxas frowns and unzips one of his bags, "I'm gonna unpack some of my stuff and get it ready for class."
"I'll be out here." Sora decides, gesturing out the door to the main room, "Don't be late!"
After a little while of unpacking, there is very little Roxas can do but clear a small corner of the room and pile his things there. This is a problem, he thinks, which he will have to address later. He walks out of the dorm room and into the main room where Sora and Pence usually play their game. The three friends, including Olette, where once again in the room, now accompanied by a few tired and unfamiliar faces trudging about. Hayner turns to look at Roxas and puts a big smile on his face.
"Hey, buddy." The brown-eyed boy waves a hand, "How was your first night in prison?"
"Roxas slept here, silly." Sora points out. Roxas ignores the question and takes a look around the room.
"What do you do before classes?" he finally asks.
"You hang out." Pence smiles.
"You can eat something, read a book, break a few rules…" Hayner starts, "You're pretty much passing the time." Roxas sighs, as he's not much for 'hanging out'.
"I guess I'll go locate my class room…" he says and turns to leave.
"Hold up just a sec." Hayner raises a finger and Roxas turns back around. "I've been talkin' with the guys and we've decided…" he takes a break and walks up to Roxas, who's looking at him suspiciously, and places a hand on his shoulder, "We've decided that we'd like to take you in as an honorary member of the Nerd faction. Not really for your smarts or anything, but we decided we kinda like you."
"Woah, woah…" Roxas brushes Hayner's hand off of his shoulder, "I didn't ask for this. You are the one who's been pulling me around school."
"Well," Pence smiles, "It's kinda cool to be a part of something, and there's safety in numbers, so…"
"I doubt it will be an investment in my safety to join up with the Nerds…" Roxas takes a step back and frowns, "No offense guys, but I've had a lot of experience with schools, and I don't want to seal away my fate by linking myself to the unpopular group most targeted by the pranks of just about everyone."
"Yeah…" Hayner scoffs sarcastically, "No offense at all."
"Thanks for the offer and all," Roxas turns away, "But I'd rather do things on my own." He then turns and walks out of the building, towards the school.
"Pfft…" Hayner shrugs, "Hardhead…"
"It coulda been worse," Pence points out, "At least he didn't humiliate us, insult us or make an attempt to crush our hopes and dreams."
"Really?" Hayner questions him, "And what do you call what he DID do?"
"Oh," Pence smiles, "That was just fact. There's a difference. We ARE the losers of the school, and we can't hold it against him for having second thoughts."
"You're serious, aren't you?" Olette frowns.
"He's promising!" Pence nods, and Hayner just continues to stare at the door.