Chapter IV

The whole morning, first classes and random conversations with the others passed in blur and before I even thought about it much it was already a lunch break when I woke up from my mental come and found myself from Radiant Garden. I sat in the same table as yesterday with the Strifes and Hayner. Su and Selphie weren't there with us. I recalled it had something to do with some upper class guy. I hadn't really eaten anything, I wasn't hungry, and so I decided to look around instead. A couple eating a portion of ice cream together, a student with his nose stuck in a math book, few girls giggling two tables away from us. Nothing interesting.

Then, a group on the other side of the café got my attention. "Who are those people on that corner table?" I asked from Hayner. There were four, how would I put it, outstanding people. They were clearly different from the rest of the customers. No one sat close to them even if the café was almost booked-up. I stared at them to get a better picture. One of them was more tanned than the others, his skin was almost mocha colored. His hair was white and mostly spiked up and it made his otherwise plain appearance more interesting. Next to him was instead was very pale boy with long, blue hair. I looked at him very carefully, and I was sure I saw and X-shaped scar on his face. He didn't look like a rebel, though, but something about him made me thought I wouldn't like to hang out with him. Two others, the girl with slicked back blonde hair and a feral grin and the man with messy, rosy pink hair didn't seem to match the image. They laughed loudly and chatted as the guys I first looked at more likely observed the other customers. I twitched as the tanned boy's stare met mine. I turned my eyes quickly away. What was that? I was sure I sensed hostility.

"Don't look at them!" Hayner barked with a voice not louder than a whisper as he noticed who I was referring to. "They don't like it." Now even Roxas who had been reading 'Pride and Prejudice' seemed to be half awake.

"Are they seniors?" I asked, even though it couldn't explain Hayner's worried and clearly disrespectful tone. Hayner tilted his head.

"Kinda", he said. "Those guys are from our school. They call themselves "the Thirteenth Order"." Hayner spat the group's name out in repulse. "The tanned dude is Xehanort Evans. He's in our age but already a senior. His older brothers Xemnas and Ansem graduated last year, and I still hear upper class guys talking about them." He looked over his shoulder. "The blunette with him is Saïx Ivory. Nobody really knows anything about him. Expect that he's always glued to either Xemnas or Xehanort. You never see him without them in public."

I nodded and Hayner continued his rant. "The girl is called Larxene Beck. She was the biggest bitch the school had seen in its thirty decades", he told with a slight smirk. "Gladly she graduated last year as well. And that pink thing over there with her is Marluxia Evergreen. And he's a guy, in case if you didn't notice. They are the bad guys." He emphasized the word bad. "They have the whole Seattle in their hands, not just the school. They act like they are part of mafia or yakuza, and they follow their own rules very strictly."

"But in addition to Xehanort and Saïx there are no younger members", Sora told suddenly with a wide smile. "We're kinda lucky."

I smirked. The Thirteenth Order, eh? It didn't actually sound very threatening. "Do they kick puppy dogs?" I asked sarcasticly.

"That's gross, Zexy", Hayner exclaimed and didn't hold back his laughter. "Yet it kinda strikes straight to the point! They're just like that!"

Roxas snorted at his friend's comment which made Hayner immediately took aback. "Oh, sorry, Roxy", he said, sounding quite sorry. "I didn't remember." I glanced at Hayner and he got what I was after. "One of the members of the Order was Roxas' friend", he told.

The blonde closed the book and gave us a smile. "No problem. I don't care anymore", Roxas said. Yet his tone told me he cared quite a lot. Anybody else seemed to not notice it, though. He left with Hayner and Sora to buy us ice creams for dessert and everyone except me were like nothing happened. I looked back at the table where the members sat. I wondered if some of them were the friend Hayner mentioned. None of them really seemed to be a person who would get along with Roxas.

Xion, who had stayed with me, let out a sigh. "If you're looking for Rox's friend he's not with them", she said and smiled faintly. When the others came back we didn't discuss about the Order or about Roxas' friend. Should I even call that person his friend? Were they even friends anymore?

As the day's last class I had history. The lecturer, Mr. Merlin Potter, was probably the oldest teacher in the whole school, even older than the school itself. He had long, gray beard and moustache and deep wrinkles and he even smelled like a geriatric. I had liked my old history teacher, Mr. Jenkins, quite a lot but that Merlin was made from completely different wood. He was very eccentric and I barely understood anything he taught. Xion looked as confused as I while the teacher wobbled around the class and mumbled more to himself than to us. To put it short I was going to have a lot independent studying.

When I got back to the apartment no one was there. I was getting used to it, though. In the fridge were the leftovers from yesterday. Not much was left anyway; Xal and Lux had probably taken some with them to work for lunch. With a sigh I took myself a plate from the cupboard and scooped rice and meat pieces onto it. I closed the micro's door and burring of it filled the kitchen as it started to warm up the portion. With a simple movement I took my phone from my left pocket and dialed a number I knew by heart. I waited few moments.

"Hello?" a bright female voice answered to my call.

"Hi, mom." I smiled as I heard mom gasp on the other end of the line. She probably didn't think I would call her. "How are things going on in San Francisco?"

"Oh, we're just fine here", my mom replied. "I really love San Francisco but I miss you so much. Phil works a lot but he bought for the three of us a beautiful house. We have a room for you, Zexion. I moved everything from your old room here so if you change your mind you'll always be welcome here." She silenced for a moment. "How's your school? Do you eat enough? I know you don't like school food but you can't get any thinner than you already are."

"It's… okay", I told. "I've got a few friends. And I won't skip lunches, don't worry."

"That's good! Very good!" mom exclaimed. "I knew you'll adapt well! What about Xal? Is it okay to live with him?"

I sighed. "Xaldin is nice, like always", I said. "And Luxord…"

"…Who?" mom noted, interrupting my sentence.

"Our roommate."

"Xaldin didn't mention he was living with someone", mom said, sounding very thoughtful. "What kind of person is he? Does he pay his part of bills? I'm not quite sure about Xaldin's ability to pick up the most reliable friends. He looks a bit like he… moves around in a bad company." Okay, so mom didn't trust Xal as much as I thought.

"Don't worry, mom", I said before she had a chance to start asking further questions. "He's a good guy. " The microwave made a loud beep, interrupting my phone call for few seconds. I moved my plate to the table and cursed loudly.

"Zex, what just happened?" mom asked, sounding a bit worried.

"Nothing", I snorted and turned the faucet on. "I just burned my hand."

I heard my mom chuckling. "You need to be more careful, honey." I rolled my eyes but of course she couldn't see it. I held my hand under the cold water and the burning feeling eased slowly. "You've always been a little clumsy when it comes to housework", she continued. "I should have taught you…"

"Hey, mom?" I interrupted her speech.

"Yes, dear?"

I was silent for a moment. I knew exactly what I needed to say and I had to say it to her now but the words got stuck to my throat. I took a deep breath and stopped the water from running. "Mom, I… I love you." I got it said and I felt myself so relieved that I did it. I smiled. "Don't ever change."

"Aww, honey, I love you, too", mom told, sounding now she was going to cry. I'd never been good with emotions. Maybe I was more like my father when it comes to it. Mom instead was very emotional. She laughed, she cried. Maybe she was even a bit irresponsible because she thought with her heart when she should have used her brains instead. I heard her swallowing her tears.

"I have to go now", I said as I didn't want to hear her crying. "I'll call you again. Bye, mom."

"Bye dear", mom told through her tears. "…Love you." I hung up and placed my phone on the kitchen table. My food waited for me on the table and I still had a slight burning feeling teasing my left hand. I felt lucky, and it was everything that matters.

I was for once sitting on the living room's couch when I heard the door opening. I had been reading my history book since I hadn't fully understood a single bit of Merlin's teaching. For once it was Xaldin who came back from work before the six o'clock news. I had already got used to that he wasn't here a lot.

Xal glanced first at the clock, then at me. "Shouldn't you be at school?"

"Short day", I replied. Yup, my timetable in this course was going to be pretty easy. Monday was short, and so was Tuesday. Wednesday and Thursday long, and Friday short again. Not forgetting I had only math, history, art, English literature, and biology. "Why are you here so early?" I asked.

"We finished a pipe repair on the Fifth Avenue in advance", Xaldin told and yawned loudly.

"Sleep debt much?" I asked with a grin.

"You don't say", Xal snarled. "Last night came home later than I intended so I got only couple hours of sleep before leaving to the site." He yawned again. "So if you don't mind…?"

I moved off the couch. "No problem. I'll be reading in my room."

I locked the door behind myself, knowing it wouldn't matter much was it locked or not. I dropped the history book to my bed. I actually didn't feel like studying, and I didn't even have history on Wednesdays so I decided to procrastinate it for awhile. I hadn't emptied all of my carton boxes so now it would have been a high time to finally do it. I sighed, looking at the box where I had kept some of my CDs and other easily breaking stuff. There wasn't a place to put them anyway I thought, glancing around so I just pushed the box back under the bed. I had filled all three drawers of my new desk with school supplies and moved my clothes to the small dresser in the corner. I hadn't paid any attention on it when I had moved here. It looked quite old and expensive, almost antediluvian. Well, it didn't stop me using it as my own. I had never been very fond friend of antique.

Few hours passed and I was sure Xaldin was still sleeping. I could hear him snoring through the door. Silently I left my room. Since I had made sure the keys were in my pocket I opened the apartment's door and walked down the stairs. On the third floor were two black leather suitcases. Was someone moving in? Or perhaps out? In the door was a name plate with two names, Silver and Hawkins, on it. I tilted my head towards the slightly opened door. The arguing emanated to the stairway.

"You know I can't stay here anymore!"

"Don't be a fool, Jimbo!"

"I'm serious! They won't let me get over with this!" The door opened. "I have to go now!"

The guy who rushed out the apartment wasn't much taller than me and not a lot older either. Probably in his early twenties, if even that that. In his old brownish jacket he looked a bit like a homeless guy and he had quite greasy, short brown hair. Well, not really that short, only shorter than mine, and tied on a small ponytail. He looked quite scared when he glanced around the staircase. Our gazes met for a split second and I looked like he was getting a heart attack. Seriously, he went all white. The guy just grabbed both of the leather cases and began to run down the stairs. I was shocked by his reaction. He had glanced at me like I had done something bad. I hadn't, right? I was just in wrong place in wrong time.

"Where was he going in such a hurry?" Luxord huffed, climbing up the stairs. I just shrugged. Luxord seemed quite irritated. Perhaps his workday didn't go well. "Youngsters in these days", the blonde continued, rolling his eyes. "Always going somewhere. And about that… Where were you going?"

"Just… somewhere", I told. "Xaldin's sleeping. I didn't want to wake him up by making noise."

Luxord's vexed expression vanished before he chuckled. "You can't wake that man up with noise. Or if you do you would need a cannon or something as loud."

We walked up the stairs back to the fifth floor.

"So… How was your day?" I asked, closing the door behind us. Luxord didn't look very happy when I asked it.

"It went fine", he murmured. "Some customers just were… Never mind." He tossed his boots to the shoe rack. "I'll wake Xaldin up."

Instead of following Lux to the living room where Xal was snoring peacefully I went to the kitchen and I took a tea pot and filled it with water. Yes, I was going to make some tea. In the morning I had heard from Xion that berry flavored tea wasn't so bad. She had bought me few tea bags from Radiant. It had been of the conversations which I had already almost forgotten. Only the reddish tea bag reminded me of that conversation. Maybe I should start paying more attention on my friends.

I awakened from my mental slumber. I heard Luxord talking to Xaldin, yet I wasn't sure Xal actually awake. He wasn't snoring anymore so I guess he had woken up. I looked from the door to the living room, being sneaky so that they didn't notice me.

"Good morning, Sleeping Beauty", I heard Luxord say. He was sitting on the couch, next to Xaldin. "Slept well?"

I saw Xaldin grimacing as he slowly sat up and stretched. "Not really."

"Hungry?" Lux asked a bit too sweetly in my opinion. I was kinda happy I couldn't see their faces well.

"I am", I heard Xal reply.

"I'll get you something from the kitchen", Lux told and stood up. I shuddered in slight disgust when he pecked a kiss on Xaldin's lips. "Wait here", I heard him say, and I quickly made myself to look I hadn't seen or heard anything. Seriously, what's wrong with these people? They knew I was here too and they still did things like that. I found it somehow disgusting.

Luxord blinked suspiciously when he arrived to the kitchen only seconds later. "Oh, you're making tea?" It wasn't actually a question. "I thought you didn't like it."

I collected the remains of my calmness. You just kissed my cousin in front of my eyes, I thought, trying to remember I had said to Xaldin that I was okay with the fact they were gay. And yes, I knew they were together in some point, even though Xal had denied it earlier. "I decided to give it another chance", I said.

Luxord smiled widely. "Good decision." He had taken the rest of the leftovers from the fridge and emptied them to a plate. "Have you eaten already?" he asked, looking at me. I just nodded as a response, filling three cups with the boiling hot water. We were silent until the micro beeped.

Xaldin had walked silently to the kitchen. He was standing at the door, leaning to the doorframe his arms crossed when I and Lux noticed him.

"I said you don't need to come here", Luxord snorted, holding the plate he had just taken out from the micro.

Xaldin grinned. "Since when I had eaten in the living room alone?"

The way they looked one another made me feel nauseous. It reminded me of mom and Phil.

"And before I forget", Xal hummed. He went back to the living room before Lux had asked what he was talking about. Soon he walked holding a black gadget. An old cassette radio from 80's or early 90's I guessed. I wondered would it even work. Xal put it to the side table, smiling proudly.

It worked, and the music filled the apartment. I was sure I had heard it sometime ago but I didn't really remember.

No woman, no cry
No woman, no cry
Oh my Little sister, don't she'd no tears
No woman, no cry…