From Afar
Author's Note: I have officially rediscovered my love for writing. After editing these next few chapter (cause believe me - they need it) I think I'll carry on with this. Awesommeee.
-o-x-Chapter Two-x-o-
"Sora, wait up!"
The brunette turned around to see a familiar face jogging towards him.
"Tidus, hey." He said, smiling quickly.
"Still not feeling great, huh?" The blonde asked, raising an eyebrow. "You gonna tell me what's up yet, or not?" Sora looked at his friend who now had a look of pure concern plastered across his face, though his eyes twinkled with curiosity and a hint of annoyance played around his lips. Sora merely shook his head, dismissing the question. Tidus would only tell him to forget it anyway and try as he might; he couldn't. Sora noticed the blonde roll his eyes, and sighed, "I'm sorry. I would tell you but... It just won't make any difference." The brunette's shoulders drooped.
"You don't know that! I mean, I know I'm not exactly great at the whole advice thing, but you don't have to go into your cave or whatever." Tidus stated. The blonde grinned, almost laughing at his own joke, but Sora just shook his head and sighed. There was nothing anyone could do.
"Forget it, Tidus. It'll blow over." Sora insisted. "I'll be fine."
Tidus shrugged, "If you say so," he said doubtfully, then proceeded down the corridor towards homeroom, whacking people that got in his way with his trusty stick. Sora almost laughed as he missed a terrified freshman's nose by millimetres. He winced in surprise as the bell rang, and then followed Tidus.
"You're not serious. Calculus? Oh please, no." Selphie made a face at her friend who laughed.
"I like maths. There's always only one answer." Kairi admitted. Selphie was staring at her with an eyebrow slightly raised, "It's true! I mean, when is there ever only one answer to anything else?"
The brunette shook her head in disbelief, "Right, okay. But why does that mean you have to take it?" She asked.
Kairi shrugged, gave her a little wave, and walked to her class. Although Kairi did like maths, she had also taken it because she knew that none of her close friends were. It was a class mainly full of people she didn't know very well, or at all, which meant that she would actually get some work done without insulting someone by not talking.
"Kairi! Come sit with us!" Kairi blinked in surprise as a group of girls waved over at her. She mentally groaned: this was exactly what she'd been hoping to get away from. Her violet eyes swept across the room. She saw two spare desks right at the back of the classroom. Looking back at the girls, she flashed them her best smile and walked to the free table right at the back. She was nearly there when a boy with unruly, brown hair sat there. He slipped his books out of his back and slouched down in his chair. It was only then that he noticed Kairi standing there. He looked up at her, a slight pink tinge forming on his cheeks.
"I-I'm really sorry! I didn't realise you were going to s-s-sit here." He said, his face turning slowly redder as he spoke.
He started to gather his books up but Kairi stopped him, "Hey, don't worry about it. I'll sit here." She told him, indicating the desk in front of him. He nodded, his face cherry-red now.
Kairi set her bag down, and bent down to get her books out, her glossy hair swinging forward gracefully as she did so. She straightened up and put her books on the table. Sitting down, she turned around in her seat so she could talk to the guy behind her. She'd seen him before; but wasn't one hundred percent certain who he was. "So, what's your name?"
He seemed a little taken aback at the fact that she was talking to him. "Sora," he said, smiling nervously, "You're Kairi, right?"
"Yep, that's me," she said, smiling back," So, you like maths?"
Sora shrugged, "Yeah, it's alright, though I kinda wasn't sure what else to take."
Kairi rolled her eyes. "I know exactly what you mean. My Mom knew exactly what I should take, but I didn't have a clue."
Sora nodded, smiling genuinely this time and letting out a small laugh. He seemed to be slightly less nervous now.
Just then their teacher swept into the room. "Students!" He started, "I believe I am here to teach you the advanced subject of maths."
'Well duh,' thought Kairi. Her brother had warned her about this teacher, but she hadn't taken him seriously, she was used to him coming out with a load of crap, but now she realised that he was right: this guy was completely bonkers.
He continued talking about how 'fascinating' mathsematics was; it appeared that algebra was his favourite form of the subject. Kairi rolled her eyes, wishing they could just skip the lecture and actually do some work. But, alas, it was another fifteen minutes before her wish was granted.
Silently praising whichever god it was that had just saved her from further boredom, she opened her text book. Crap. What was this? Limits. What the hell were limits? The red-head mentally slapped herself. Why did she have to end up with a teacher whose voice made you completely switch off? She feverishly looked at the beginning of the chapter for any clues about what limits were.
Upon finding nothing but a whole load of useless crap; she chanced a quick glance behind her. She mentally groaned; Sora obviously understood what limits were; he was quite happily doing the exercise. She thought about asking him for help, but a tight knot in her stomach made her recoil from the idea. She didn't want him to think her stupid. He glanced up; his deep blue eyes met her violet ones. She stared, simply lost, for a moment; upon realising what she was doing she broke eye contact.
"Sorry, but, I, um, I don't understand what we've got to... do." She admitted, biting her lip slightly in embarrassment.
Sora smiled, still blushing slightly, "His voice made you switch off, huh? It's alright, here..."
As Sora walked out of his class, he felt a new spring in his step. He felt much happier than he had when he had entered that classroom, and mathss never actually made him happy, so he knew what the reason for it must be: he'd actually managed to talk to Kairi without making too much of a fool of himself. And what's more she was genuinely nice to him. Not that he'd thought that she wasn't a nice person, but... oh never mind, he didn't care what it was that was making him so happy, just the fact that he was. 'But maybe,' he thought, 'we could become friends.'
Sora was jerked out of his thoughts as an arm fastened around his neck and pulled his head down, rubbing a fist in Sora's already unruly hair. Sora grinned and ducked out from under the arms that he knew belonged to Tidus. "Hey Tidus!"
The blonde boy blinked in surprise: Sora sounded happy...almost too happy. "Okay, what happened?" He asked suspiciously, his eyebrows pulled together.
"Errm, you just gave me a noogie?" Sora replied, confused.
"I don't mean that, something else. You're like, really happy. Oh my god, are you high or something?" Tidus exclaimed, pointing at Sora in an accusing manner.
Sora rolled his eyes and said, his tone dripping with sarcasm, "Oh yeah, Doctor Ansem just gave me some mind-expanding drugs in Calculus."
"Really?"
"No."
"Oh."
"Yeah." Sora said, shaking his head at how gullible Tidus was. "Besides, what's wrong with being happy? I'm allowed to be happy if I want to be happy. Do you have something against happy people? 'Cause, y'know, that'd be pretty hypocritical of you."
Tidus looked momentarily confused. "Um, right," he said, and then paused. "So, are you gonna tell me what happened?" he asked hopefully.
Sora rolled his eyes, "Sure, sure." He proceeded to tell the grand tale of the twelfth grade calculus class, with Tidus gasping and cheering like a kindergartener. "So, um, yeah." He finished lamely.
Tidus frowned at him, "So, basically, you've liked her for a while now, and that's what was wrong with you, but she didn't even know you existed, right?"
Sora almost winced at the harsh perspective Tidus had but on the beginning of his story. "I guess."
"And you didn't tell me?" Tidus pouted, crossing his arms. "That is so unfair; I'd tell you if I was you! Because friends tell each other things like this. You don't want to be my friend, that's it, isn't it? I can't believe you didn't tell me! I-" His rant was cut off by Sora grabbing him by the arm and dragging him to the canteen.
.o.O.o.
"Did you have fun in mathss?" Selphie asked. "Not that I need to ask. mathss is never fun. It's so boring, I really don't know why you're bothering, Kai."
Kairi laughed, "It was alright, actually. I kinda drifted off when the teacher was giving the whole 'your senior year is the most important of your life so far, and to excel in the future - blah, blah' lecture so I completely missed him explaining what we were doing that lesson. But it was okay because the guy who sits behind me helped me."
"Was he hot?" Selphie grinned cheekily as her friend rolled her eyes. "For me, of course. For nothing could tear apart the great couple that is: Riku and Kairi!" she giggled.
"Shut up." Kairi whined, smacking the back of Selphie's head jokingly, "you bully me too much."
"I know, you shouldn't be such an easy target." Selphie grinned. "Anyway, hot or not?"
Kairi thought for a moment, and then shrugged, acknowledging some passers-by that had just waved at her. "I guess so. He was really nice, I can tell you that."
"Well that's great. Who is he, anyway? Do I know him? That wouldn't be so great if I did, I'm thinking someone new is what I need right know" Selphie declared.
Kairi didn't know why Selphie was bothering to ask her if she knew him, of course she knew him. Selphie knew everyone. "I'm sure I've seen him around, so I doubt he's new. He's called Sora."
Selphie's eyes widened, "Are you kidding? Kai, he is hot and seems pretty funny and nice to boot. I've never understood why he doesn't hang around with us. If he wanted he could totally knock some of the jerkoids that have climbed the supposed 'popular ladder'." She told her friend. "He's friends with Tidus, right?" Selphie asked after thinking for a moment.
Kairi nodded. "I'm pretty sure he mentioned something about him. Why?" Shooting her a curious look.
"No reason. He's in my Psychology class, that's all." The brunette replied innocently.
Kairi snorted. "Yeah, right. He plays Blizball, doesn't he?" Selphie blushed slightly. "That means yes. Why do you have a thing about Blizball players, anyway?"
"I don't. Just because I've dated two guys off the Blizball team does not mean I have a thing for Blizball players!" Selphie whined.
"Did someone say they had a thing for Blizball players, ya?" A strangely orange-haired boy asked.
"Um, Wakka, no. Just no." Selphie muttered to him, glaring at her friend and pulling her away. "Let's go get lunch, I'm hungry."
What was the point in having an unsupervised study hall? Did the school honestly think that a group of Seniors where going to use it to work? If they did, they must be deluded to the extreme. There was a total of three people who appeared to be working, though if you took a closer look you'd notice the headphones plugged into their ears and their vacant expressions. Riku's bored aquamarine eyes swept over the classroom. Three girls were playing with the skeleton they had fondly named Jack at the back of the lab, a group of boys were seeing who could hold their hand in the Bunsen burner's yellow flame for the longest (this particular activity wasn't as interesting as it could have been - none of them had got past two seconds so far) and then there was Roxas trying to get Namine to let him see her sketchbook.
Riku's head shot up as he heard the door of the lab squeak as it opened. Kairi smiled and waved when she spotted him. She came over and sat on the desk next to him, giving him a quick peck on the cheek. "How was chemistry?" She asked, grinning slightly; she knew he hated the subject.
He shrugged. "Boring. That weird redhead kept trying to set fire to the new fireproof cover they put on his textbook." Riku frowned, that guy was weird. He'd spent the whole of last year setting fire to his notes and various objects from his pencil case, only really coming alive whenever they did the odd practical involving combustion of some sort, Riku was correct in fearing that this year would be no different.
"Well, sounds worse than Calculus. My brother was right, Dr. Ansem is crazy." Kairi giggled slightly, remembering her first impression of him.
Riku pulled a face, he didn't like maths. It was boring, enough said. Damn numbers.
Kairi laughed at his expression, "C'mon Riku, let's go. I feel like having a smoothie."
Riku's face brightened immediately as Kairi stood up and started walking towards the door. He jumped of the desk and slipped an arm around her skinny frame. Kairi smiled up at him. Riku turned around and saw Roxas wink at him. Unsupervised study hall was a great idea.
Sora grinned as he walked home that day, he felt as though he had just had the best day of his life, although he hoped that it was really just the best day of his life so far. Not even the prospect of going home to an empty house could put a damper on his high spirits. He almost skipped down the road and up the stairs to his apartment
Just as he was unlocking the door, the old man that lived in the apartment next to him, opened his door. "Hello Sora." The old man grinned toothlessly.
Sora grinned back, his pearly-whites shinning, "Hi, Mr G. How's your wife?"
The old man frowned, "Still dead," he replied, looking rather confused.
Sora mentally slapped his forehead. Honestly, you forget one tiny little detail and you end up looking like a total idiot. He shuffled his feet awkwardly, "Sorry, I, um, 'm really sorry." He mumbled, quickly shooting inside his own apartment, slamming the door behind him and leaning against it. 'Well done, Sora. I bet your neighbours just love you.' He thought to himself before chucking his bag onto the sofa and switching on the kettle.
