Academy of Lies and Love

Chapter Two

Roxas closed the heavy wood door behind him and glanced around what would be his living quarters for the next ten months. To anyone else, the room would have seemed plain, boring, standard. To Roxas it was a luxury suite with a fantastic view of the campus. This room was almost as big as the apartment he had lived in with his parents.

There was a desk on the far wall beneath the large window. From the window, Roxas had an excellent view of the lake, the running track, and the stables. What kind of school has stables? In the corner was a single bed with nothing special to boast. It was made up with plain white linens and fluffy white pillows embroidered with the school crest. Across from the bed was a large wardrobe; its open doors revealed that there was nothing inside but a few bare hangers dangling over the drawers which filled the bottom of the wardrobe. As Roxas wandered into the room, depositing his trunk in the center of the floor, he noticed another door next to the desk. He pushed it open to reveal a bathroom complete with shower, toilet, sink, and mirror. Can't expect rich kids to have to share washrooms, I guess, he mused as he closed the door again.

He wandered back to the main room and stood in the center in complete silence, taking in his surroundings. Every step he took into this strange new world made it seem less and less like reality. He was sure he was going to wake up in his small bed in Twilight Town any minute. His mom would be downstairs buttering toast for his father who would be rushing around trying to find his coveralls. He squeezed his eyes shut and focused on the image of his mother, her dark hair glistening in the morning sunlight, a sweet smile lighting up her tired face.

When he opened his eyes again, he found himself standing in the middle of an unfamiliar room completely and utterly alone. He felt his knees give out, and before he was really aware of what was happening, he was sitting on top of his trunk with stinging eyes. The first tear rolled down his cheek and landed on his knee before he realized his was crying. For the first time since his parents had died, he was crying.

He wasn't really sure how much time had passed. Crying had felt good. It felt liberating, as if he was letting go of all the emotions he had bottled up inside of him since his parents' deaths. Finally, he hauled himself off the trunk, and dragged himself into the bathroom where he started the shower. He let the water run hot, so that steam was filling up the small bathroom. He stepped under the hot spray and ignored the angry red blotches beginning to form on his skin. He let the water wash away his salty tears and his ragged breathing.

What would his mother say to all of his sobbing? She would laugh at him surely. With a twinkle in her eyes she would tell Roxas to get a hold of himself. "Roxas" he could almost hear her voice. "Stop being silly. Look at this beautiful life you've been given! Look at all the things you are going to learn! This is far beyond what your father and I could ever have given you! Now stop mopping and go live your life!" Roxas had to admit, his subconscious version of his mother was probably right. He'd been given a second chance. He had to go out and live. He had to make the most of what had been given to him. Not that he'd be happy about it.

No matter what, he was not going to let his mother down. He was going to prove that he belonged here, even if he knew deep down he didn't.

He rooted through his trunk and pulled out his uniform. Black slacks, a white collared shirt, red that would probably match Axel's hair tie, and a black blazer embroidered with the same logo as was on the pillow. He dressed himself and avoided looking in the mirror, knowing he'd never recognize the boy staring back at him. Shaking out his wild blonde hair, he deemed himself ready to take on the school.

If it wasn't one thing it was another. No matter what Roxas did or where he was he felt out of place. It was only the first day, he constantly reminded himself as he sat in the common room on the main floor with about 50 other boys. All of them were Freshmen, many of them seemed to know each other. Roxas wasn't very tall, so he blended in to the crowd of freshmen quite easily, it was more the general vibe that was coming off the other students, as if they knew he wasn't born and raised in their circle of society.

"Welcome," said a student at the front of the group. He was taller than the rest of the boys, probably a senior. He had large rippling muscles that he showed off by wearing a tight black tank top. From his figure, Roxas guessed he was probably on the swim team. Roxas figured he was the kind of guy you avoided getting into fights with, you'd probably lose. "My name is Riku, and today I'm going to be your guide. I'm here to show you around the campus, teach you how things work here, and get you ready for the weeks ahead."

Roxas sat in his corner secretly wishing he was back upstairs in his room. Why did he have to come to the stupid orientation anyways?

"Alright, kids!" Riku said enthusiastically clapping his hands together like he was trying to herd a room of six year olds. "First, open up your Orientation package that you picked up on your way in." Roxas did as he was bid and flipped open the package. The first page was a long letter from the head master welcoming the new students. It expressed deepest gratitude for choosing their fine institute of higher learning and a desire for the years to come to be full of rich education. Roxas rolled his eyes at the overly political formality and flipped to the second page which outlined an itinerary for the day.

1600-Welcome

1630-Campus Tour

1800-Dinner

Sounded riveting. With a sigh, he turned to the next page, which rather than being printed on typical white paper, was bright pink with large font to attract that immediately drew in the eye.

"The student council presents: Student Chat! An online peer communication media designed for students to help other students."

While the bright paper had caught Roxas' attention as it was designed to do, he couldn't say he was all that interested in signing up to a social media site for the rich and very rude students of KH Prep.

The next few pages had a sheet containing the student code of conduct, which was similar to pretty much every other school Roxas had attended. Students were to show respect to their professors, they were to adhere to any rules laid out in each class room, they were to adhere to the uniform standards. There were also campus hours that Riku ran through and explained that they were non-negotiable.

"Main campus closes at midnight. You are expected to be back in the dorm building by that time. The main campus reopens at 0600 the next morning. Breakfast is served in the dinning hall from 0600 until 0900, which is when the majority of classes begin. Classes run from 0900 until 1500, with an hour break between 1200 and 1300 for lunch. Dinner is served at 1800 every night. The gym facilities are open from 0500 until 2300. All students are welcome to use any of the gym facilities at any time during the day, when not in class and so long as they aren't interfering with the team practices."

Riku took a few questions, which to Roxas seemed silly. "What if I'm sick in the middle of the night?" and that sort of thing. Riku answered them all with a smile on his face.

Riku was just rounding up the students to begin the tour when he paused.

"Wait! I almost forgot about this!" He held up the bright pink paper which had been in the orientation package. "The student council is strongly recommending that all students participate in the Student Online Chat. Many older students have used it in the past, and continue to use it now. You can receive peer tutoring through the site, and some helpful hints from older students about which profs to avoid and what not.

I know I've used it. I've made some friends through the chat, as well as found some gym buddies, and gotten some help on my homework."

Most of the students rolled their eyes, deciding that it was a colossal waste of time to bother signing up. Roxas knew that as soon as they had split up again, more than half of the students would anonymously sign up for the chat.

From there they went on a tour of the campus. They started with the dorms, which Riku explained was a five-floor building. Each floor housed all the students from each year. Half the floor was dedicated to either the female students, or the male students. Each floor had two common rooms with couches, televisions, and homework tables. Some students used it as a study location, other used it as a place to relax.

From there, they made their way to the main building. As they came closer to the building, it dawned on Roxas how huge the castle like building truly was.

First they checked out the library. Roxas had never seen a library that huge in his entire life. It seemed to him that probably very book in existence was in that library. Two stories of book shelves crammed to the point of bursting ran from wall to wall, except where there were little study alcoves. He was sorely wished to ditch the tour and immerse himself in the thousands of books in the library. Two years would be enough to even make a dent in the pile of books before him.

However, before he could make the decision to escape from the group, Riku was already moving on.

They passed by a number of wings and hallways, each one dedicated to a particular field of study. Roxas tried to keep the all straight, but before he had even memorized the location of one wing, they were on to the next. He knew he wasn't the only one feeling totally overwhelmed by the sheer size of the school and trying to remember the location of each of his classrooms.

Roxas did, however, begin marking off on his map to location of the corridor where each of his classes were to be held, and started looking for landmarks to make it easier for himself.

Riku then brought them to the recreation center, which he was far more enthusiastic about than any of the other stops on their tour. The rec center was a completely separate building from the rest of the school, much like the dorms were. It was two stories high, the upper floor being mostly a five lane running track that circled the perimeter of a triple gymnasium. The rest of the up stairs space was taken up by two of every weight machine Roxas could imagine. The lower floor had rows up rows of cardio equipment, and free weights. Tucked away in the corner behind the triple gym was an Olympic sized swimming pool complete with a high diving board. Even Roxas, who had never really found a reason to work out, found the facility impressive.

Finally 1800 rolled around, which meant dinner. Roxas hadn't realized that his stomach was growling loudly in hunger until they got closer to the dinning hall and the smell of food starting wafting towards him. He followed Riku and the rest of his orientation group to the hall and was once again struck by the sheer size of the room. Scattered around the hall was 30 or so large tables which seated each about 20 students. At the head of the hall was a long table which seemed to be dedicated to staff members. At the back of the hall there was a buffet system, about 5 spreads each with a line of students chatting idly about their summers with their classmates. Roxas got in one of the lines and waited as the line snailed forward.

"Hey! Roxy!" he heard a shout from behind. Roxas wanted to melt into the floor as he turned around slowly towards the voice. He hoped to god that the voice calling out over the crowd wasn't who he thought it was. No sooner had he turned around did he see the face he was praying he wouldn't see. A head over top of the sea of people, topped with wild flaming red hair grinned mischievously at Roxas. Axel pushed through the crowd towards him with two shorter guys in tow. Axel was wearing his uniform now, but he was definitely not up to standard with the top few buttons undone giving a peak at his toned chest muscles and sharp collar bones, his tie hung loosely around his neck. As he drew closer, Roxas realized that he was still wearing the heavy biker boots he'd been wearing in the elevator. He might have found the slack look attractive, if he were into guys.

"Hey," Roxas grumbled when Axle was close enough to hear him. Roxas turned beet red wishing harder and harder as Axel closed in that he really could pass through the floor at that moment. Curious faces were turning towards him. Who had caught the attention of the self-proclaimed bad boy?

The two guys behind Axel were almost as unforgettable as Axel himself. One was as tall as Axel with short spikey blonde hair that looked as if he had run his hand through it wet and it had just held it's shape. The other was smaller with a mop of blue hair hanging in his face.

"Mind if we join you?" Axel asked, throwing his arm around Roxas' shoulder as if he and Roas had been best friends their entire life. Secretly, Roxas wanted to shrug off Axel's arm, but decided not to slight the "bad-boy" in front of the rest of the school, who were now watching intently. Roxas figured that Axel was only here to butt in line, which had gotten significantly longer since Roxas had joined it. He made a mental note of being on time for meals from now on, knowing that the line would probably get long, and he would have to wait even longer for his meal. While he didn't really want the attention that having Axel standing near him seemed to invite and he longed to tell him to fuck off and get in line like the rest of the students, nor did he want to get on this guy's bad side, seeing as he seemed to command the attention of the entire room.

"Sure," Roxas muttered, moving aside to make room for the three strangers.

"Thanks, Roxy," Axel said with a smile, slapping him on the back with his huge hand. "How'd the orientation go?"

Roxas just shrugged, indicating that it was nothing special. Just stop talking to me, he silently begged.

"Mmmm! I know what you mean," Axel replied thoughtfully nodding seriously. "Oh!" he jumped as if he'd just remembered something, "This is Demyx and Zexion." He indicated first the guy with the blonde hair then the shorter one. They extended their hands in greeting. Roxas took each in turn and introduced himself.

"You're a junior, right?" Zexion asked

"Yup,"

"What classes you taking?"

"Uh. Bio. Chem. Calc. English. And PE." Keep your answers short and sweet. Eventually they'll lose interest.

"Ah, we are probably in the same Calc class," Zexion replied, "Although I can't rescue you from Ax in Bio or PE. Sorry." Great. Two classes with the too-friendly red head bad boy.

"Hey! We have English together too!" Axel interjected, "and he wont need rescuing from me, thank you very much!"

"Right," Demyx answered sarcastically. Finally they reached the front of the line and Roxas turned away from the conversation to load his plate with salad and chicken. He tried not to laugh at the stack of meat and buns Axel had loaded onto his own plate.

"Come sit with us, Roxy," Axel cooed, motioning towards a table. Roxas, not really having anywhere else to sit, found himself stuck between a rock and a hard place once more, so he followed the other boys to a table in the far corner. Already a few students were seated around the table at the far end. Sitting across from Axel, Roxas immediately started shoving food in his face in order to avoid any further questions.

"Oi, Axel! Harasing the new kid already?" a voice called from the other end of the table. Roxas looked up to a girl with mahogany hair and a round grinning face.

"Ah, whatever, Kairi! He's here by his own will, right Roxy?" Roxas wanted to shake his head no, but thought better of it. Instead he just forced a smile to his face and tried to keep the pain out of his eyes. The girl, Kairi sat back down with a smile and continued her conversation with the boy sitting across from her, Riku.

After all the students had finished eating their meal, a man at the head table stood up and made his way to the podium. He looked young; early forties at the very most. He hand long flowing silver hair which framed his narrow face with strong cheek bones and a strong jaw. His skin was tanned, as if he had spent every waking moment of the summer break lazing in the sun. Even from the distance at which Roxas sat, he could make out the man's golden eyes as they swept the hall for signs of misbehavior.

"Welcome," his low voice commanded the attention of the entire hall. It carried to the far corners. "Welcome to another year at Kingdom Hearts Preparatory School. We are please to welcome our new students, and hope their time with us fruitful. To our old students, welcome back. As always, I expect you all to study hard and make the most of the year ahead of you. There are many great things in store for you all." He sat back down in his chair at the head table. For a moment, the hall remained completely silent, and then all at once, every student started up their conversations and pushed away from their tables.

"Who was that?" Roxas asked under his breath to Axel as they filed out of the hall.

"Professor Xemnas, the Headmaster. He's a bit of a hard ass."

Roxas flipped open his laptop and waited for it to boot up. He wasn't really sure what had possessed him to pull out his lap top, it wasn't like he'd kept in contact with anyone from his old life, so there was no point in checking his facebook. He'd already texted his Aunt and Uncle letting them know he'd moved in safe and sound and that everything was great.

The thought of catching up on any other social media, like tumblr, seemed daunting since it had been almost 3 months since he had logged on.

It wasn't even like he had any homework he needed to get started on

For a long time he just stared at the desktop screen disinterestedly. He was just about close the lid of the laptop again when a bright pink sheet on his desk caught his eye.

Student Chat. What a waste of time. What a joke. And yet. The longer he stared at the flyer, the more interested he became in the idea. He found himself opening the web browser on his computer and typing the URL into the bar at the top.

A log in screen popped up on the black web page emblazoned with the school logo. He clicked the Sign Up link at the bottom of the page and filled out the form.

Name: Roxas Strife

Student ID: 201494813

User ID: RXIII

Before he really had time to consider what he was getting himself into, he clicked the submit button and was redirected to a profile page.

He filled out some of the information, such as his name, his birthday, and his class schedule so that he might get in contact with some of his class mates.

When he looked up, he realized that it was well passed 2300 and he figured he should probably get some rest before his first day of classes. He closed the laptop and stripped off his uniform. After his nightly routine of washing his face and brushing his teeth, he crawled into the bed in the corner, trying not to notice how comfortable it was. He set his alarm for 0700, and turned off the lamp, letting himself be lulled into sleep by the sound of the rain hitting the window. He ignored the dark corners of his mind until finally sleep took hold of him and he was drifting in a cloud of memories.

A/N: hey all! Again, sorry for the slow chapter. I guess things will probably start piking up in the next chapter 3 Love you all! Hope you are enjoying so far! Please review if you have the chance!

Nobody-RXIII