CHAPTER IV: UH-OH

Sora's POV: Giving the News

Her "" always makes me smile. Not today. Not again. How am I supposed to tell her I can't be her friend anymore, much less a boyfriend? "That doesn't mean I won't kiss her still. But what kinda person would that make me? Fickle. Wait. I already am. I mean, what else am I doing here? Well I've finally made up my mind. I'm sorry, Kairi…" After school, I find her outside where we decided to meet. I take a deep breath before she sees me. I walk up to her. "Hey, Kairi."

She smiles. "Hey. Feeling better?"

"Huh?" I almost forgot. "Oh, yeah. Thanks."

"That's good…" She's making small talk. That's not like her. "So what'd you want to talk to me about?" Now that's Kairi. She looks so pretty, standing like she always does. She looks so optimistic, happy, naïve (in a good way). I don't want to spoil that.

I depress. As if I wasn't already. "Kairi… I'm really sorry about what happened in fourth period, and I'm sorry I couldn't be there at lunch. I am so, so sorry. For everything." I choke back tears. Tell me she doesn't notice. She does, of course.

"Sora…" she's worried now… She takes a step forward, and I take one back.

"No, Kairi. I don't want to sound like a kid, but I can't be your friend."

"What?" she's really surprised.

I look away. "What I almost did in Health… It was stupid." I look up to see tears in her eyes. "I can't say I don't have any feelings for you. …I have plenty of them." I swallow, pushing back the fragments of the leftover dreams. "I really like you, in fact. But I don't want to be anything more than your friend. …My feelings won't let that happen. I don't want to lose you. But… either way I will. I mean, we won't last as a couple!" I'm trying to convince myself now… "Then it'll be too harsh to be friends again. Don't you see? And I can't be your friend with these kinda thoughts. Friends shouldn't think of other friends that way. What I really want to say… I'm sorry." I grab a hold of her shoulders and look down. I cry a little. "…Is something I don't even want to face… I just can't regret what we have now. Kairi… I'm not sure this is the way it's supposed to go… I love you. I love you so much more than that."

Kairi's POV: The Breakdown

All I can do is stand here, stunned. There's something he's not saying, but he's clutching my sleeves. He's crying… He's not looking at me… What am I supposed to do? I want to kiss it all away, but he just dismissed all that. "He dismissed more than that. Sora… I want to still be your friend. I don't want to lose you either." I tear up some more myself. "If I lose you…. Sora, you're my only best friend left. I've told you everything. Pretty much. Except one thing, because I'm really not supposed to. And I even came really close to telling you then." He clutches me tighter. "Don't give up on our friendship. Please, Sora. I love you, too. You know what I mean by that. You're my best friend and I love you. You said that you loved me. So don't give up on this. Please." I grasp his shirt at his waist and look down myself. If anyone's watching this, then do they have a sight to see. He looks up at me, longingly. I drop to my knees in front of him in tears.

"Kairi…" is all he says.

I plead with him more. "You can't! Please. You can't…" He lifts me up and wraps his arms around me, comforting me. I just cry more. I feel like a friend just died. Like I'll never get them back… I begin to tremble and he holds tighter.

Sora's POV: Impulse

I don't care. I don't care if I can't be her friend after this. I'm being her for her now. I can't see her like this. And knowing that I did it… "I can't stand myself!" I clutch onto her tighter for no apparent reason. Her head's on my shoulder, like a child needing support from a stranger that just scared them. I don't know who the stranger is either, and I'm him. There's only one thing I can do. All I know what to do after this. I lean my head on hers, eyes closed. I open them and she looks up at me, backing her head back a little. I already have a good hold on her. I hold tighter and this time with motive. Her mouth hangs slightly open and I take the plunge. I kiss her achingly. I notice how much my whole body's ached to kiss her. I don't pull away. I don't want to.

I hear a voice behind me. "C'mon, little brother! We've got to go! We already missed the bus!" I ignore her. Kairi doesn't. After she pulls away I hang my head.

"You better go…" she says in a whisper.

I whisper back. "What if I don't want to?"

Tears fill her eyes again. "Just go" she pleads.

"Does she want me to stay? Does she want me to go? What?"I pull away slowly. I really don't want to go. I let go of her and want to say something like "I'll call you later. I promise." But I can't… After my backs turned to her I close my eyes. "What did I just do?" I return slowly to my sister, Yuna. She smiles at me.

"What was that all about?"

I sniff. My nose is runny from crying. I'm not worried about that, though. I'm not the kinda guy who thinks it's stupid to cry. Kairi knows that. But Yuna's really getting on my nerves. "Nothing" I say, indicating that I'm upset and don't want to talk about it.

"You make us miss the bus, to go kiss it up with some girl? Kairi?" I turn and glare at her. "What?"

"What happened? Why aren't we taking the bus?" My little sister comes up, confused. Her name's Aerith. She's 10. Aerith's in the 5th grade. Yuna's 16 and a junior. She's had a small thing for Riku pretty much her whole life. They're in the same grade and are the same age. These two are my only siblings. I have no brothers. I hate that… No wonder I cry a lot. No dad and no brothers. Only girls. My best friend was a girl.

"Kairi… Don't worry about it, Aerith. It's not important."

"It looked pretty important to me." Yuna says. She's just trying to figure out what's wrong. I can't blame her.

"Don't worry about it." I know I sound depressed. I just ruined every chance I had at being close with her. "It doesn't matter anymore…"

"What's wrong, big bubby?" Aerith says. She says it because it always makes me smile. I smirk with effort. She cocks her head at me and hugs me. I hug her back. I needed that, however stupid it sounds. Although, I can't show her how upset I really am. I get home, go straight to my room without saying anything and close and lock my door. I lie on my bed and sulk.

Kairi's POV: An Old Friend

After Sora leaves with his older sister, Yuna, I stand there in shock. "Did that just really happen?"No way. "I must've been dreaming."No way. I sit politely on the ground and think… "How awesome that felt… Now he's gone."I hug myself. "I miss him already… He's the only one who can make me feel better by holding me… Well, except for mom." I sit there, trying to figure things out. "I'll email Kaiyo again and see what he says."I stand up. "Wait… Sora said he was sick earlier. What if I get it?"Somehow, I have a feeling it's not contagious. "How long was he planning on this?He's been avoiding me all day until 7th period. …Did he get sick because of me?"I shake my head. No way. "No. Sora's not that type."At least that's what I'm trying to convince myself. I get up and head toward home. As I'm walking I hear a friendly voice behind me.

"Penny for your thoughts?" I turn around, surprised and smile. It's a friend of mine, Osamu. I give him a hug excitedly.

"What's going on? I haven't seen you in a while!"

"Nothing much. I'm gonna transfer to your school here pretty soon."

"Really?!" I squeal. Osamu's a friend I made last year at a Christmas party one of my friends was throwing. One of her friends was friends with him. While there, we started talking. He's the only one who knows that I have any feelings for Sora. "When?!"

"Uh… I don't know if it's tomorrow or Wednesday. The school's giving us some crap about it."

In fact, he kinda reminds me of Sora. I think that's why I told him. He doesn't even look like Sora. Osamu has black hair, blue eyes, paler skin and a completely different hairstyle. But their personalities are really close. But Sora… just has something. Kinda like a glow to him. Osamu does too, just not as bright. "Why are you transferring anyway?"

He shrugs. "I didn't get in trouble or anything. Just got bored. Well… kind of. My girlfriend made a really big deal of our breakup. And it was her idea. Somehow, I'm the jerk."

I smile. "Ohh…"

"So what's up with you?" He's smiling at me the same way he did then. When he was single. After he got a girlfriend, he didn't smile like that at me anymore. I know he likes me. I automatically remember without thinking what just happened. And that was my first kiss. It was amazing. I depress and close my mouth. He notices something's really wrong. "I thought something was wrong. What's up?" He really cares.

Tears fill my eyes again. "Bad day."

"No kidding. What happened?"

"I told you about Sora."

"Yeah, you said you liked him."

"Yeah. Apparently he likes me too. He almost kissed my in Health today. We were practicing CPR. But he almost really kissed me, you know?"

He looks down. This is not good news to him either. "Oh." He looks up confused. "Then what's wrong?"

"He didn't. And he avoided me all day. Some guy was hitting me in lunch and he said he was 'sick.' Seventh period I got a txt from him asking me to meet him after school."

"And?"

I look down and play with the dirt with my shoe. "I met him. He said that because of his feelings, he couldn't be my friend anymore. And he wouldn't date me because he doesn't want things to be bad between us. He also said that what almost happened in Health was a mistake."

"He didn't."

I nod slowly. "…Then he hugged me. Tried to comfort me. He was really upset too. I could tell it wasn't easy for him."

He seems to read my mind. "He kissed you for real, huh?" He looks away a little.

"Yeah."

He smirks, trying to cheer himself up. "Your first, right?"

I can't help but smile. "Yeah."

"Any good?"

I freeze. "I guess. It was kind of a pity kiss."

"I bet it was not!"

"Why else would he have kissed me after he just broke every hope of having him around? I told you how much I care about him. Even if it is strictly friends."

He leans close to me and says softly. "Maybe because he likes you."

Osamu's POV: Game Plan

I got the idea as soon as she indicated Sora kissed her. It's the perfect opportunity. It may not be a good idea, but it's the only way I can think of.

She shakes her head. "It doesn't matter if he does. It's over." She hugs herself. "I miss him already, you know? He was my last really good friend."

"What about Riku?"

She shrugs. "We don't talk much. Not that it matters anymore. I'm kinda glad we don't talk now. Sora will tell him eventually. If not he can ask me."

"Right…"

She attempts to smile. "There are other guys, right?" She didn't sound too optimistic.

Now's my chance. "Well, you can always make him jealous. Get a boyfriend."

She scoffs. "I don't want to play anyone. And no guy will just accept that."

I shrug, indicating that I'm willing to be that guy. "You never know." She takes the hint.

"What? You want to make him jealous?" She eyes me suspiciously. My reason may be a secret, but I know she knows I like her.

"What could it hurt?"

"Why?"

I shrug again. "Stop asking these questions! Oh, I don't know… Maybe you'll give me a real chance, once you really get to know me. I care about you too."

Author's Note: So… I added a few more characters, a new POV, and a little more to the plot. I hope you enjoy it, and please review! I don't know how I'm doing if you don't! Besides, I need to start coming back at my competition:-( Please! I thank you for reading, but we need some more feedback. Hope you really enjoy it, though, even if you don't review. Talk to you again soon to lecture some more. !