Year 1
Chapter 2:
First Kiss and Project Partners
The alarm rang and I sleepily sat up.
6:40
School started at eight.
I got up with Kairi and noticed that Selphie was still asleep.
"Let her sleep, she's always late. What's one more tardy?" Kairi whispered.
I shrugged, I was still tired anyway.
Together, Kairi and I sauntered to the showers.
At seven thirty, I was in my uniform. The top was white with an open collar, a blue and white checkered tie reaching a little below my chest, reaching a little above my thigh. The skirt was about eight inches above my knees and it was the same color and pattern as my tie. My black socks climbed up my calves and my brown shoes were planted on my feet. I was combing my hair so that it laid on one shoulder.
I peered over at Kairi who was putting on a little eyeliner and mascara. She was so much prettier than me, I was like her…
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaah! Why didn't anyone wake me up!?" Selphie yelled as she scrambled out of bed. "Gotta change, no shower! Ugh, I'll get you for this, Kairi!" Selphie yelled as she ran out of the room.
Kairi and I looked at each other for a moment and burst into a roar of laughter.
"I-Is she going to be mad?" I asked, wiping away the tear from extreme laughter.
"No, she'll be over it by the end of today," Kairi assured breathlessly, recovering from laughter.
"I heard that!" Selphie bellowed from the bathroom…across the hall.
We laughed again.
Ready to go, I grabbed my white bag and with Kairi, left the room, locking it.
"What's your homeroom Namine?" Kairi asked me.
"Um…" I looked through my papers. "SP5," I answered.
"Really, then you're with me, Sora, and Selphie," Kairi said.
I smiled.
"SP5 is right over there, let's go!" Kairi began to run. I started to sprint to catch up.
We entered through the door and quite a few people were already sitting down. I recognized Tidus in the bunch.
Kairi took a seat in the third row, second to the window and I took the window seat.
I considered talking with Kairi but so many people were talking with her I was shied away.
The green trees were at full bloom, cherries littering the ground. SP5 was near the middle of the quad where most trees were planted.
I took this opportunity to take out my sketchbook and draw.
Suddenly the door slammed open.
"I made it!" Selphie cheered as she took the seat in front of me and sat backwards in her chair, peering into my sketchbook.
"Ooh, you draw," Selphie swooned, snatching my sketchbook.
"Hey…"
Selphie flipped through the pages and her eyes widened slightly at one page and after a minute, she closed it back to its salmon cover and handed it back to me.
"You like Riku," she eyed me.
She was referring to the picture I was drawing of him. I only sketched the outline though.
"I wanted to see if I could blend colors to match his eyes!" I defended myself.
"So you DO like him," she repeated, emphasizing the word "you."
"Well…I…" I stammered, twiddling my fingers and blushing. I liked his eyes. "You like Tidus."
Selphie blushed. "That's…that's…"
The bell rang loudly, startling us.
Ms. Hunter walked in and she was old but friendly looking.
"Selphie, please face forward," she instructed. Selphie did as she was told.
Sora burst through the door, panting heavily.
"Did…Did I m-make it?" Sora panted.
"No, Mr. Brasher, you were tardy," Ms. Hunter sighed. "Do it again and it detention."
The class snickered as Sora walked weakly to the other open seat next to Kairi.
"Hey," Sora smiled, turning red from a loss of words.
"Hey," Kairi blushed.
"Well, if you're done now Mr. Brasher and Miss Kalladay," Ms. Hunter glared.
They both blushed.
The bell rang and it was time for second period. As I filed out of the room, Selphie came up from behind.
"We have the same classes except for seventh but that's okay," Selphie smiled.
"Right," I smiled.
We walked to Mr. Stine's room, NP2, and I learned that in seventh grade, Selphie was the school's paper editor so she was a good writer.
Since we were early, we got dibs on the seats. I sat in the third row (away from the nerds and the idiots) next to the window with Selphie next to me.
Mr. Strife, a tall man, walked in and began the lecture on how to write a correct poem. I didn't take notes; instead, Selphie and I passed notes.
Why do you like Riku? –Selph
He seems cool and his eyes are so pretty. –Nami
Ooh la, la, little Nami has a crush. Can I tell? –Selph
No! Don't tell! –Nami
Alright, alright, I won't! –Selph
Selph! We're gonna get caught; let's wait till next period to continue. –Nami
The notes stopped and we started our class notes.
Eventually, third period history rolled around and we got the third row window seats again.
I'll arrange for you to sit with Riku, if you want. –Selph
No! It's okay, I'd just look like an idiot anyway. –Nami
No, you wouldn't, come on, give it a try. –Selph
No way! –Nami
Fine, fine, but I'm telling Kairi. –Selph
Fine with me. –Nami
We finished class without another note. Then it was lunch.
Selphie and I joined Kairi and Sora as we walked to the quad.
"Namine, wait until you meet the seniors. There's Cloud, my older brother, Aerith, his girlfriend, Yuffie, Selphie's good friend, and Leon, Cloud's best friend," Sora rambled.
Suddenly, I stopped. Not because the thought of meeting seniors scared me, because I forgot my lunch.
"Oops, I forgot my lunch," I said.
"You can just buy one," Kairi said.
"No, I don't have any money, I'll go get it," I said.
"Okay, we'll be sitting around the fountain," Kairi said as I ran off.
I ran to the dorm, not getting lost, amazingly. I fumbled in my bags and found my keys inside. I unlocked the door and sure enough, there was my bento box on my bed, neatly wrapped in a white cloth. I picked it up and proceeded out the door. After all, I had all of my bags.
I was in the quad and my blue eyes looked to the fountain. Sora was next to Kairi, laughing as Kairi fed him her lunch. There was Selphie and Tidus, talking, laughing, and eating. Wakka was showing some lower classman how to balance a blitz ball on one finger. Olette, Hayner, Pence, and Roxas were talking and sitting in a foursome, sharing a lunch.
One tall man with dark long hair sat with a spiky haired blonde, a pretty brunette wearing a braid, and a small, short black haired girl there as well. Next to Sora was…Riku.
My heart stopped beating. I couldn't go so I ran. Ran to the furthest place on the other side of the campus: the library.
Panting, I collapsed onto the steps and dropped my bags. That was the fastest I had ever ran and I was not a great runner.
After I caught my breath, my eyes focused on my bento box.
I might as well eat since I was there. Sighing, I took out a rice ball and took a bite.
That's when I noticed the surroundings. There was a pond, trees, green grass; it was segregated from the rest of the manmade campus. It was pure. I put my lunch aside and took out my sketchbook, opening to an open page. With my pencil I sketched with my eyes closed, my heart leading me.
After awhile of silence, except for the sound of Mother Nature, I was at ease until…
"Hey, kid, this is our spot, got it memorized," a voice rudely said.
My azure eyes flashed open to see three cloaked figures in front of me, arms crossed and angry.
They were kind of…scary…
"S-Sorry," I stuttered, clutching my sketchbook to my chest.
They were the people from before…Axel, Larxene, and Zexion.
"Hey, what's that?" Larxene snatched the sketchbook from my hands.
"That's..."
She flipped through the pages with a bored expression on her face.
"Boring," she said, throwing it aside. I got up and ran to get my sketchbook from the ground.
I stood up and backed away a few steps as Axel approached me. He was so…tall… Taller than Riku.
"We aren't gonna hurt you," he mocked, coming closer. Scared, I stepped back every time he stepped forward.
"Axel, that's enough," Zexion said, finally closing his, rather large, black book.
"Wow, Bookworm can talk," Axel said sarcastically.
Zexion sighed.
"You don't look tough, what are you, seventh grade?" Larxene scoffed.
"I'm fifteen," I grumbled, getting annoyed.
"Oh, I offended you," she said, cheaply pretending to be shocked.
"At least I don't have antennas for hair," I mocked. I quickly covered my mouth, amazed an insult actually escaped my lips.
"What was that!?" she shouted.
"So this girl DOES have a backbone, hmm, what's your name girl?" Axel asked.
"Namine," I answered shyly.
"Namine, hmm, never heard of you, what are you new?" Axel asked. I nodded timidly.
"You hang around Selphie and Kairi, ugh, the preps," Larxene sneered.
"What's a girl like you doing around a dark place like this?" Axel asked.
"Sketching…"
"That's it?" he asked.
I nodded.
"That's…simple…"
Zexion took a seat on the steps and began reading again.
"Reading again, Zexy?" Larxene smirked.
Zexion looked up from his book and glared daggers at the blonde.
"Hmph," he muttered darkly.
"Um…" I mumbled, twiddling my thumbs.
"Oh right, you're still here….what should we do with you…?" Axel put tapped his chin with his pointer finger, looking to the sky, pretending to think.
"I think a suitable punishment is needed," Larxene said with an evil smile.
"Just leave her alone," Zexion said, looking up from his book.
"Why?" Larxene asked with a suspicious look.
"Bookworm has a point, she doesn't even know us so she has to be new," Axel added.
"Fine," Larxene sighed. She turned to me and glowered. "Get lost!"
I stepped back a bit and raced to the steps and grabbed my bags and bolted through the trees.
Tears swelled in my eyes as I ran. I found myself in a mess of students in the quad.
"Namine, there you are, we've been looking all over for you! Where have you been!? Lunch is almost over!" Selphie ran over to me. "Why are you crying? What happened!?"
"N-Nothing," I choked.
"Namine…" she said softly.
"Selphie did you find her?" Kairi called with a worried Sora by her side.
We were on the edge of campus by Dorm B (the second girls' dorm.)
"Namine, what's wrong?" Kairi and Sora rushed to my side.
"I-It's n-nothing," I whimpered.
"It's not "nothing", it's enough to make you cry," Selphie countered.
I shook my head profusely, no, no… No!
It was nothing…
Nothing!
That was my problem, I always over reacted. I'd burst into tears for no reason! There were pills to help but one day last year, I forgot to take the pill and burst into tears in the middle of English. It was so bad that I choked, cutting off my oxygen supply long enough to make me faint. That whole year, every week, everyday, all the time, I was laughed at. For the last month of the year, I locked myself in my room, the White Room.
It was painted white when my mother died when I was seven.
I had asked to paint it white…
…After the light I saw when Mother was in the collision off 180. I was with her. A tow truck driver lost control and swerved on the icy rode. It hit a truck carrying logs and my mother tried to dodge the truck itself, not noticing the logs. One log lodged through the windshield and pierced the driver's side, my mother. The van went off the rode and did a flip onto the side of the rode. Cars collided, blew up, flipped, and much more. The day I referred to as the Red Day. The day I saw the white light…
My legs failed me. I found myself on my knees on the ground.
"Namine!" a series of voices yelled in concern.
Their faces become blurs and started to spin.
The spinning stopped on one.
Aquamarine eyes…silver hair…
…Riku…
"Get a hold of yourself, Lestraint!" he shouted, using my last name. He bent down and put his large hands on my shoulders. They took up most of my shoulder.
I continued to breathe heavily, my breaths getting longer but more time spanned between each. I was suffocating.
I stopped breathing…
Somehow, I could see all of the people around me but they couldn't help me. I was going to die.
Then it happened…
His lips crashed onto my own. Pure bliss…that's what it felt like. My first kiss, my first crush, all in one. Except I wasn't in a white sundress lying in the field of barley by my home. It wasn't by the sunset. This wasn't true.
No, I was in my uniform, on the ground, embarrassed by the number of worried people swarmed around me.
My lungs began pumping oxygen again as I remained stunned as Riku's perfect lips lifted from my own. His aqua eyes pouring into mine, full of relief as my chest heaved and my fingers twitched.
I sat up wearily to the crowd of relieved faces (and angry fan girls.)
"Glad to see you're back, Lestraint," Riku Aida smiled coolly.
"Tha-Thanks," I said breathlessly.
I smiled at him and he smiled back as he offered his hand to me. Shyly, I took it as he pulled me up. I stumbled a bit but his strong arms caught me.
"Careful there."
I smiled and regained my balance.
"Nothing to see here, folks," Tidus said, trying to lessen the crowd.
"You okay, you had us going there for a minute," Selphie said, amazingly not yelling as if her energy had been sapped away.
"Yeah, I can make it through the rest of today," I reassured.
"Well, alright but if you get any paler, you're going to the nurse," Kairi warned.
"Okay…"
The bell rang.
Sora, Kairi, Selphie, Tidus, and I went to gym. Riku, Olette, and Roxas had gym as well so they walked to the locker rooms with us.
(Ninth and tenth graders have PE together but with different teachers, as do the juniors and seniors, and seventh and eighth. Sixth is the only segregated one but they all go together. There are a lot of PE teachers.)
Wakka, Pence, Hayner, Leon, Yuffie, Aerith, and Cloud went to their classes.
"Can you make it?" Sora asked me.
"Uh-huh," I smiled.
"Alright, just don't push yourself," he said.
"I won't."
"Oh and Nami?" Selphie started, with my new nickname.
"Yeah?"
"You, Kairi, and I have PE together, just follow me. You have your locker assigned, right?"
"Yeah, it's…locker 302."
"Cool, your next to Kairi since her last name is Kalladay!" Selphie shouted. "I hate my last name, Tilmitt."
"Hey, your name's cool," Tidus said.
Selphie turned a bright shade of bubblegum. "T-Thanks," she stuttered nervously.
We were in a mass of other students as we approached the track field. I stayed as far away from Riku as I could. That kiss was overwhelming. He didn't just pump air into me. As soon as he felt me breathe, his tongue caressed mine for the longest time. His kiss was soft and passionate. It was like he wanted to kiss me.
But there was a positive side:
a) I didn't have the same teacher as Riku.
b) Axel, Zexion, and Larxene were nowhere to be seen.
c) Selphie knew I liked Riku so she might help with the embarrassment.
The PE uniforms were embarrassing. The girls wore a long white T-shirt and blue shorts that were short enough to be called underwear.
The boys wore white T-shirts with long, blue sweat pants.
I stepped into the locker room and it was filled with girls changing. Selphie was on the other side of the third row while Kairi and I were closer to the door.
Inputting the numbers 14, 12, 34, my red lock snapped open. It was small, yes, barely big enough to fit my clothes.
I set my PE bag in my locker as I slipped off my school shoes. I slipped off my shirt and neatly folded it in my locker as I prepped to put on my PE shirt.
"Wow Fumi, that's a Victoria's Secret bra! That's only sold in America!" a girl next to me exclaimed.
A girl with long flowing black hair stood on the bench for all to see. Her bra was pink and lacey and besides, I had Victoria's Secret perfume. She was shaped like an hourglass, her chest not too big but not too small. Her skin was like fine porcelain.
The girls awed as I peered down at my own chest. I was as flat as a board, underweight.
"Don't worry, it'll come soon enough," Kairi smiled.
I looked at her reassuring face.
How could she say that. She had a normal chest, normal hips, skinny legs, and she was skinny. She was popular, fun to be around… I was like her shadow, dragging her down.
My azure eyes focused on my feet.
"Nami, Riku doesn't like a girl for looks but for what's in here." Kairi put her hand over my chest, where my heart was…
"Arigatou, Kairi."
"It was no problem at all."
The air was warm but not scorching hot. The sea breeze came in for us after all.
Mr. Dean was a strict teacher apparently, always yelling.
He told us to run four laps, a mile, for the war up. We had ten minutes. Not enough time for someone as clumsy as I.
I ran with Selphie and Kairi. Sora was not the best runner but he was faster than us since he was a boy.
"Ugh, stupid mile, this isn't a warm-up, it's Fitness Day allover again!" Selphie groaned.
"Yeah, I agree," Kairi said.
"You guys don't have to wait for me, I'm a slow runner," I informed.
Selphie and Kairi turned around with amused looks on their faces.
"Nami, you're funny!" Selphie chuckled.
"We aren't talented runners either," Kairi said, stifling a laugh.
I caught up with them and we ran as a threesome, in the back of the class.
"Hi girls," a masculine voice greeted from behind.
"Riku!?" Kairi said.
"You're running too, I see," Selphie observed.
"Why else would I be here? Where's Sora?"
"He's a little up ahead, competing again?" Kairi asked.
"Yep, well, I have another race to win, see you later." With that, Riku sprinted and easily caught up with Sora.
"I hope Sora doesn't have to go to the nurse again," Kairi worried.
"Huh?"
"Sora and Riku are rivals and Riku's faster than Sora. Last time, Sora pushed himself so far he ended up in the nurses' office," Selphie stated.
"Oh."
As Kairi, Selphie, and I rounded our second lap, a voice called to us.
"Hey!"
We turned to see Olette and Roxas.
"Hey you guys," Kairi greeted.
"Running laps I see," Olette giggled. "The same as us."
"Roxas, I thought you were fast," Selphie said childishly.
"I am fast, Olette's the best girl runner in our class," Roxas grumbled.
"Really?" I asked.
Smiling broadly, she nodded.
"Then why're sticking around us, slowpokes, get going," Kairi said.
"Well, we'd better get going if we want to watch Riku and Sora race, bye." Olette and Roxas sprinted off.
Selphie, Kairi, and I finished our four laps. These were the times.
Me- 9:41
Selphie- 9:39
Kairi- 9:40
Sora- 7:25
Riku- 5:59
Olette- 7:13
Roxas- 7:12
And that was it. I didn't see Tidus but I assumed he was a good runner since he was on the baseball team.
Our class was doing track and field for the next three weeks. The class groaned (except the track team members) and we were told to run another lap. There were more groans.
All I knew about biology was that there was a group project. What on? I didn't know. No one did. So Selphie and I didn't pass notes. This period, Selphie, Kairi, Sora, and Tidus were in my class.
"For the next two weeks, we will be working in groups of four on researching an endangered animal and presenting an essay to the class the day it is due," Mr. Libertone, the biology teacher, explained.
The class groaned.
"That's enough! I have the groups selected and we will be working with Miss Heart's tenth grade biology class. Some groups will have one of her students, most will have two, since her class is smaller than ours. Her students will help direct you guys for the project but you're expected to give the presentation, not them. Actually, her class will be watching us when we present."
More groans.
"Here are the groups and the project will start tomorrow."
Selphie was in the same group as Tidus so I wasn't in her group.
I waited until my name was called.
"Namine Lestraint, Kairi Kalladay, Sora Brasher, and Riku Aida," Mr. Libertone finished.
Wait, Riku!
This was not happening!
No!
"Isn't this great, we're all together," Sora grinned, turning to me and Kairi.
"Yeah," I said, trying to smile.
"That's an easy A since Riku's an honor student," Sora stated, still beaming.
"Sora," Kairi groaned.
"Mr. Brasher, face forward!"
"Yes, sir," Sora said, turning around.
Dear Journal,
Today was the worst day ever. I ran into Axel, Zexion, and Larxene and got threatened. Then I almost suffocated, then Riku kissed me, and now I'm in the same group as him for the science project.
Life couldn't get any worse.
Friends:
Selphie- the loud one.
Kairi- the truthful one.
Olette- the kind one.
Sora- the uh…goofy one…
Acquaintances:
Tidus- Selphie's crush.
Wakka- the guy with the accent.
Roxas- the quiet one.
Hayner- the bossy one.
Pence- the plump one.
The Scary People:
Zexion- Bookworm.
Axel- loudmouth.
Larxene- the jerk.
My Crush:
Riku- the good kisser.
End of Chapter 2