A/N: Hey, guys, I'm back! I've been wanting to do this chapter sooo much because TONS of things happen during this chapter. More characters are introduced and their relationships with the others. I hope this chapter is fitted to your liking! R&R! :)
WITH RIKU
Riku was sitting in the back of his senior English classroom listening to Mrs. Yuna just talking about how they are going to overview what they remember from last year.
He was anxiously bent over a piece of paper and his pencil was moving furiously over it. It was the first day of school, first period, and it was extremely hot and the windows were open and the fan was going. Yet the kids were folding up pieces of paper and making paper fans out of them. Riku would've too but he was too busy writing his paper out.
His friends still tease him about how he's a school and work-a-holic. He never really stops either doing school work or doing work-work. He was the manager at one of the cities Burger King's. So, he knew pretty soon, people would start applying and that would mean less time for him to get his school work done. So, he had to get it done now or else he wouldn't have time later.
The paper was about what he did over the summer. It wasn't going to be very long because he didn't really do anything interesting. All he did was go to Leon's summer party and back-to-school party, hang out with Sora, Kairi, Namine, and Seifer, occasionally Cloud and Leon would join them, go to Xion's house sometimes and work. So, he sadly admitted he didn't really have that much of a life.
Eventually his paper was about three pages long, front-to-back, and when he passed it in just before class ended Mrs. Yuna gave him a warm smile and asked, "What's your name?"
"Riku, Miss." He said. He couldn't help the formality. He wasn't generally a rude person so that was the only way he could think of to address her.
Her smile grew wider. "Well, Riku, you can call me Mrs. Yuna. How do you like your first day?"
"It's...definitely new. Is there another assignment for today?" He asked. He wanted to make sure that he was all done for work for that class.
She shook her head. "Nope. Only this. Thank you for turning it in so quickly, Riku. Do you do this often, or is it just because it's the first day?"
He wasn't generally this talkative with teachers. He didn't like converse with them for very long, or people would start thinking he was a suck-up. He wasn't, he was just being nice. But, now he wished she would just leave him alone and let him get back to his seat.
"Your welcome. And no, I like to get my work done early so I don't have to worry about it later." He replied.
"Well, that's good. It's about time I got a student so dedicated to his work. You can go back to your seat now and wait for the bell."
He nodded and went back to his seat silently.
It was about five minutes of him putting his stuff into his blue backpack and then just sitting there, when the bell finally rang.
He walked calmly out the door and walked to the first set of stairs he could find. He went down them and found himself face to face with Xion talking a very sad-looking Namine and Roxas and Seifer waiting on the side-lines for them.
He went over to Seifer and Roxas and asked, "What's going on?"
Seifer shrugged and Roxas replied, "Xion said she wanted to talk to Namine alone. I don't know what it's about but Xion looked really upset."
Riku looked at Xion with concern and then glanced at Namine who just looked like she was robot, doing what she was programmed to do. Then he re-averted his attention to Xion.
She did look really upset, and it looked like she was pleading with Namine. That surprised Riku. Xion never begged for anything. She never even says please at all. So he can't imagine what made her change for Namine...
Riku stood there with Seifer and Roxas as they waited for the girls to get done talking. Well, for Xion to get done talking. Riku noticed that Namine still wasn't saying a word to anyone; she just either nodded or shook her head. She even smiled once, but it too brief for Riku to actually believe he'd seen it.
Eventually they saw Xion ask something and Namine nodded to and smiled again. Apparently it went well.
Riku watched as Xion left and wanted to follow her and ask her what she said to Namine but Namine approached the group and Seifer immediately started asking her what Xion wanted.
Riku didn't like the way that Seifer seemed to hate Xion. They barely spoke to each other, they certainly weren't friends but they didn't have a problem with each other the last time Riku had spoken to both of them. Now, apparently, Seifer hated Xion the same way he hated Axel.
He wondered why Seifer even bothered to ask Namine what they talked about. It wasn't like she was going to tell them anything. Yet, he tried again and again as they walked to the cafeteria for break what she and Xion talked about. The entire time Namine just smiled and shook her head, still not saying a word. It kind of bugged Riku but not enough to ask her about it.
As they approached the café they saw Axel and his friends at their usual table with Axel holding a paper towel to his nose. Apparently he had a nose bleed or something, because the paper towel was almost completely soaked with blood. Riku had to hold in a smirk.
To him, Axel deserved no less, perhaps more. He hated Axel. Axel was the one person who he could not tolerate. And it wasn't just because of what he did to Namine, although that was reason enough, but it more so about his overly cocky attitude and thinking he rules the world. That was the one time when he hoped someone got hurt, seriously hurt.
They sat themselves down and Riku noticed how Namine situated herself as far away from Axel as the table would let her. So she was still taking it hard was she? He couldn't blame her but he assumed that she would be over it by now, he never imagined Namine as the over dramatic type.
Roxas got up from the table saying that he was going to get something from the vending machine and He started to hear what the 'Organization' was saying.
"I'm gonna kill her! Look at me!" Axel protested which made Riku snort from trying to keep the laughter from being heard. "She ruined my face! Just you wait, I'll get her back." He told them, his voice distorted a bit from holding the paper towel tight against his nose.
"Well," Saix started, "I think that was her getting back at you."
Now, Riku was extremely confused. The only person that Riku could think of that would want to get back at Axel would be Namine. He also thought that Namine wasn't in any shape to go around punching people so he started wondering who punched Axel.
"Yeah, well, little miss Xion is gonna get a piece of my mind if I see her face again." Axel growled.
Riku's body visible froze; his eyes grew wide as he clenched his fists.
Xion did that? Xion punched Axel? Riku didn't believe it, but that way Axel and Saix were talking, it was true.
Riku knew Xion wasn't really one to talk things out, she liked to yell and scream and even throw things at people if she was pissed enough, but he'd never seen or heard of her actually hitting someone, let alone Axel.
He must have done something to her. Something very, very bad. Riku had to find out what.
But how he was going to get it out of Xion was a mystery to him. She wasn't exactly the share-and-care type. But he had a few tricks up his sleeve, and he planned on using them as soon as he could.
WITH SEIFER
As Seifer watched Axel complain about his bloody nose he couldn't help but smirk at him. Serves him right. He knew that Namine hadn't been the one who hit him but he would have to thank the one who did.
He would've loved to punch the red-head himself but he didn't want to get his hands dirty and he knew Namine wouldn't be pleased with him.
He sighed as he leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes.
Namine had changed him so much the past two years. He used to beat anyone and everyone until they cried and were bleeding if they so much as glanced at him. He never stopped to ask questions, he let his fists (and sometimes his shoe) do the talking. But when Seifer and Namine were put together for a science project in his sophomore year he tended to be a little less violent.
He couldn't help but chuckle a bit, remembering the last time he had actually hit someone in a long time.
It was a couple of days after he had beat the kid and he thought Namine would never find out about it, when Namine showed up at his apartment looking meaner than she ever had before. She didn't even wait for him to invite her in, she just stormed in and when he closed the door, started in on him about beating that kid who made fun of her drawings.
Seifer had told her about why he did it, she didn't care though. She kept going on about how it was wrong and he shouldn't have done it. He couldn't help but laugh at her when she said that if he did it again he would be sorry. But when Namine gave him a look that he could've sworn shrunk him about two inches, Seifer had gulped a bit and nodded, saying he wouldn't do it again.
And so, he kept his promise to her, he didn't even touch Axel when he had heard about what he did to Namine. Seifer wanted to so bad, but he remembered how upset she was last year and decided against it. But it wasn't like Axel got away with anything.
He heard about what Leon did to Axel after he heard about the whole ordeal. Seifer was more than pleased when Leon told him exactly what he did to the bastard. He wouldn't tell Namine that he would've done worse to Axel himself, which he would keep to himself.
He wished he had, though.
He opened his eyes and glanced at Namine.
She still wore that blank face she had been for two months. It sickened him. He wanted to beat the pulp out of the person responsible so that maybe Namine would yell at him again.
He would give anything for her to yell at him again. Even just a 'stop' would be nice, or even a smile. He didn't think she's smiled since she stopped talking either. It was starting to worry him.
He leaned forward towards Roxas who was picking apart a bagel he had in his foam tray.
"So, who do you think gave Axel the bloody nose?" Seifer asked.
Roxas shrugged, still tearing apart the plain bagel piece by piece. Seifer shook his head at him. The kid could be so emo sometimes.
"Are you seriously worried about Axel?" Seifer asked incredulously, "Because you know he deserved it, right? He did."
Roxas nodded. "Yeah, I know. But still..." His sentence drifted as he threw Axel an anxious look who was oblivious to it.
"Roxas! You can't honestly feel bad for him!" Seifer said, side-glancing Namine to see if she heard any of this. She didn't show any signs of having heard anything but that didn't mean she didn't.
Roxas looked at him with an I-can't-help-it look. Seifer sighed and glanced at Axel again.
He was still complaining about it. Seifer couldn't hear what he, Saix, Marluxia, and Demyx were saying, but he wished he could. He really wanted to know who punched him.
He heard the bell ring overhead, signaling to everyone that their break was over and 2nd period would start in a couple minutes.
Before he could say anything more he watched as Roxas quickly got up and practically ran to Axel who looked a little more than smug at Roxas' obvious concern.
"It doesn't matter how much you try to drill into him that Axel isn't a good friend to him, he's just going to keep following him like a lost puppy." Riku told him.
"Yeah, I know. I just can't help it, he's my best friend," Seifer started as he, Riku, and Namine got up to go to their next class. "Well, they both used to be my best friends but Axel turned into a royal ass and – Bye, Namine!" Seifer waved at Namine as she headed to a set of stairs and started running up them. She stopped as she approached the top set and leaned over the bar and gave them a small wave and sprinted back up the stairs.
"Wow, she actually waved that time." Riku said, sounding shocked but pleased at the same time. "I'm glad she did, though. It was driving Kairi insane."
Seifer nodded, but didn't say anything else. He wondered why Namine waved to them, finally. Did it have something to do with what Xion said to her earlier after Government?
"But anyway, you were saying?" Riku said as they rounded the corner, headed to Photography.
"I was saying that Axel and I used to be best friends but he turned 'asshole' and now he's got Roxas wrapped around his little finger." He fumed at Riku. "It really pisses me off."
"I wonder how Sora feels about all of this..." Riku contemplated.
They arrived at their class and the chairs were all taken so they decided to head to the left side of the classroom and lean against the wall to wait for the teacher to get there.
Seifer shrugged in response. "I dunno. He's never said to a word to me. You?"
Riku nodded. "Once. He just said that Roxas is on the phone or hanging out with him at Axel and Demyx's apartment. Apparently Namine was pretty pissed about it. He wouldn't say why though."
Seifer knew why though. Roxas was like Namine's brother, almost as close as Leon was with her. Namine was a quiet girl. Until she thought someone she cared about was in trouble, then she went on rampages all around. He could've sworn that she was either bipolar or had a personality disorder when she was a freshman.
Eventually the teacher came in and barked at them to quiet down and listen up. As Seifer did as he was told he couldn't help it when his thoughts drifted to Namine again. Man, he was beginning be a sap.
WITH DEMYX
He was in his 2nd period class, Physics, his only AP class. He was thinking about a couple of things.
One; Axel's bloody nose. Axel was his best friend and his roommate, but he had to agree with Saix at the moment. He sort of deserved the punch. But then again, Demyx supported Axel, too. He was really torn.
Two; Zexion. He had last class with him and they had talked for a bit. Demyx's heart was still racing afterwards as he silently thanked his new teacher for setting them both up for an English project. They had to recite a scene from 'Hamlet'. He about jumped in the air from joy when the teacher announced it. The only problem was why in the world was a 14 (almost 15) boy in a senior English classroom? Demyx could only conclude that Zexion had to be mega-smart to be able to do that. Maybe he skipped a couple grades.
He just kept running it over and over in his head their conversation in the class.
How Zexion loved Shakespeare and could recite almost every line to every play already. How he was a Scorpio but acted nothing like one. His favorite color was deep blue and his favorite time of day was dusk.
They didn't really talk about Demyx a whole lot. Mostly about Zexion, what his liked and dis-likes were. He seemed like the perfect person to him. Demyx could practically hear himself falling for him. He couldn't help when he stared and noticed how Zexion wore his hair in his face but you could still the steel-blue eyes underneath all of those bangs.
"Demyx!" Someone yelled at him from across the room.
Demyx jumped, not expecting such a loud noise in the once quiet science room.
"I would be ecstatic if you would just once try to pay attention in my classroom." The teacher scolded.
Demyx's face turned beet-red. "Sorry, Mr. Vexen."
"You should be. Now...who wants to see if this water bottle will stay on this wooden platform while I spin it?" Mr. Vexen said, his face growing into a wide smile that made his already creepy face even creepier.
Demyx barely heard the class groan in unison before commencing his daydreaming once again.
WITH LEON AND CLOUD
"Hey," Cloud asked Leon. "Why does it seem to me that you're not enjoying senior year as much as you should?"
They were in the café' for 'study hall' but the sub didn't really make them do anything so half the class was absent, roaming the halls, while the ones who remained just did whatever they wanted.
Leon shrugged. "I don't know. I guess it just feels the same to me, I guess."
"Uh-huh." Said Cloud, not buying it for a second. "Right."
"This wouldn't have anything to do with Yuffie, now would it?" Cloud asked slyly.
Leon visibly blushed and looked away. "N-No."
Cloud smirked, knowing he found out what was bugging Leon. "Sure, it doesn't," He began, "Did sometimes happen between you two at the party?"
"No...Maybe...Kinda...Yeah." Leon said.
"Thought so. Sooo? What happened? Are you guys dating?" Cloud asked Leon.
Leon looked at Cloud with his eyebrows pulled down in confusion. "Do you even realize how much of a girl you sound like right now?"
Cloud brushed it off. "It's Aerith. She's rubbing off on me."
Leon chuckled a bit. "I see. Well, maybe she'll get you to wear pink now, and trade in your motorcycle for nice pink hybrid."
He laughed even more when Cloud shot him a death glare. "Ha, ha. But you still didn't answer my question. Are you dating Yuffie or not?"
Leon's laugh quickly faded and his face became a look of guilt. He could see how confused Cloud was to his sudden change of mood. But he would know why soon enough.
"Might as well be." He muttered.
"Why?" Cloud asked in a knowing tone of voice. "Don't tell me you..."
"Yeah."
"Leon!" Cloud started but Leon cut him off.
"I know, I know! It shouldn't have happened, but it just did. It's not like I planned it or anything. We were talking and we both a bit too much to drink and the next thing I know, Aerith was waking us up, saying Yuffie's parents were there and looking for her."
"Aerith knew about this? Why didn't she tell me?"
Leon shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe Yuffie asked her not to." He suggested.
"Maybe..." Cloud murmured to himself.
"But, on a happy note. Axel got himself another bloody nose today." Leon said as he took a swig of his two liter bottle of Pepsi in one hand.
"Why did you hit him this time?" The blond groaned.
Leon feigned shock. "Why do you always assume it's me who hits people?"
"Because it usually is you." Cloud told him.
Leon raised his two liter at him, as if it was a toast. "True."
"So? What did he do this time?"
"I don't know. I wasn't the one who hit him." Leon said simply as he chugged down more of his Pepsi.
Cloud look at him in surprise. "Really? You didn't touch him at all?"
"Nope." Leon made a 'pop' on the p.
"Huh...So who did?"
"Xion."
Cloud again looked at Leon in shock. "Xion? I thought they were going out."
Leon shrugged. "Not now, I guess. Apparently he must've pissed her off pretty well; she's in with the 'VP' right now."
Cloud scoffed. "She'll get off. Everyone's been wanting to hit Axel lately. Even the teachers. You would think he would stop being an idiot and get some morals already so maybe he can live through high school."
"You would think." Leon growled.
The bell rang again directly over Leon's head and Cloud laughed as Leon jumped and almost fell out of his chair.
"Not funny, Cloud. Shut up." Leon said menacingly.
"Sure, it wasn't." Cloud said, still slightly chuckling.
"Y'know? I'm getting real tired of you contradicting me all the time." Leon complained as he moved across the room and sat down at his homeroom table.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Well, I gotta go because my homeroom is across the school and Ms. Paine doesn't appreciate late passes. I'll see you later." Cloud said as he went out of the cafeteria and almost ran in the direction of the Social Studies hallway.
Leon took another quick drink from his bottle before realizing it was all gone. He groaned and got up threw it in the trash. He wasn't one to recycle.
He sat back down at his table and said hi to Riku who joined him. They didn't really talk much but they mostly said random things about not enjoying the first day. But eventually they fell into a very long silence because neither guy was a talker. They mostly liked to observe and say something when they felt the need. They were alike in most ways except the fact that Leon liked to solve his problems with violence and Riku obviously did not.
Leon knew Riku hated violence. He once told him he thought it was a waste of time and effort and he would rather solve things like an adult, since they were almost in the real world now. Leon just ignored that and continued with his own way of solving things, threatening people and when that didn't work do what he threatened to do.
But this time he wasn't the one who was throwing punches and it was a relief to know he wasn't the one sitting in the vice principals office getting another lecture of how violence was wrong and there are other ways to solve your problems. He wanted to find out what Axel did to Xion that made her so mad. He knew Riku would want to know seen as how he was obviously smitten with the girl.
He would find out why she punched Axel and maybe in the process help Riku tell her how he felt.
He inwardly groaned because he reminded himself of Aerith and Yuffie when they wanted to get Sora and Kairi together (which they did). He thought Cloud was bad...he's just as bad.
A/N: Hey! Third chapter is FINALLY done! Yay! I wanted to shine some light on the other characters I have in this story and I hope you liked it! I know Cloud and Leon may seem a lot OOC but it's purely because they hang out with Aerith and Yuffie too much, as they mentioned. (I'll have to speak to them about that) But anyway, I hope you liked this new chapter and are pleased with where I'm going with the story.
READ (which you have done.) AND REVIEW! (Which I hope you plan on doing right now.)
~DarkAngelGrl22567
