X Not Just Another High School Love Story X
. Chapter IV .
*~X "Come on. Let's go...home." X~*
~Only Roxas' POV~
Last Time In Roxas' POV:
I can't believe this. I thought that switching schools with Xion would make her at least stop trying to avoid me so much! I even convinced Hayner, Pence, and Olette's parent's to let them come with me! But… she won't even give me the time of day. What am I supposed to do? This whole thing is just discouraging.
"Roxas, cheer up." Olette comes from behind me and smiles. "Things will work out in the end. You'll see."
Sighing, I pick up my bags up from where I left them earlier.
I... I hope you're right, Olette. I really do.
This whole idea was stupid.
Stupid, and ignorant, and dumb, and foolish—but most of all: stupid.
Xion was right. None of this was ever going to change anything: moving schools, homes, uprooting my whole life— none of this is worth it. All of it was pointless.
"Stupid, stupid, stupid..." I mutter self-insults under my breath and grab my carry-on luggage.
After going through security and getting the rest of our bags, Hayner, Pence, Olette and I step outside to wait for a bus to pick our group up.
"Isn't this place great?" Pence's eyes glisten with wonder as he gazes at this new territory.
"No," I whisper angrily under my breath in response. Having three hours to travel from the 2nd largest city in Kingdom Hearts to the 1st largest city; and replay memories, sulk, regret past decisions, then beat yourself up about said decisions doesn't exactly give you a very 'great' perspective of the world. Or anything.
I can tell by the view, and the way warmth is laced within the atmosphere, that the people here are not only rich in material possessions, but also rich in spirit. They're happy.
Too happy.
Everything is so sugar-coated with joy and glee and exquisiteness that it's disgusting.
How can anything be so happy when... everything is so wrong?
"And why is that?" Hayner asks and crosses his arms. He must've heard my quiet answer. "Last time I checked, it was you who was begging—"
"I was not begging."
"—practically groveling to our parents to let us come to this city and attend GLR. So why, now that we're miles away from home, aren't you being optimistic about this?"
"I mean...it's not like I don't want to be here. It's just..."
"Then why don't you think this place is great?" Pence asks.
I look at Hayner for a moment, then look to Pence, then Olette; not saying a word.
Hayner realizes that his question isn't going to be answered then sighs an impatient sigh. "Damn, Roxas. You know what you need to do? You really need to just-"
"Hayner, I don't...need to do anything, okay? I just don't think this place is anything to gawk at, is all. Now, what you need to do is just calm down, alright? I'm fine."
"But, Roxas, come on-"
"Hey," although Olette's voice is soft, she uses just enough clarity to grasp our attention when she stops us from our minor dispute, "why don't you guys wait up while Roxas and I... talk, for a second, yeah?"
"No Olette, it's okay. I'm fine." Psh, as if those words have actually been helping me. "I'll just keep my comments to myself, I guess."
"Great idea, Olette." Hayner decides to use his occasional so called 'selective hearing' and ignores what I just said. He then looks to Pence. "C'mon Pence, let's go."
"But, Hayner," Pence starts, "the bus hasn't even..."
Lo and behold, a bus embellished with GLR Academy Boarding School's purple and silver colors pulls up in the parkway right in front of us. Its air-brakes release a compressed, high-pitched squeak of air.
"...arrived yet," he finishes his pointless and false sentence. "Huh, I guess...nevermind then." He shrugs then goes off towards the bus, walking near Hayner.
I try to hurry towards the bus, but Olette quickly grabs my arm and pulls me to the side.
Trapping me inside the verdant cage of her eyes, she speaks to me, starting softly she says, "Roxas, tell me what's wrong."
"Olette," I say, slightly laughing, "I'm fine, see?" My lips twitch into mediocre smile.
"Roxas, if you're really fine like you say you are, then how come you were calling yourself 'stupid' when we were getting on the train?"
She heard me? "Oh, that? That was just... I was just…"
"(sigh) This is never going to get anywhere at this rate." Olette rubs her temples, sighing quietly. "Look," she begins, "I know how upset you were about what happened at the train station. And-"
"No, Olette," I say with dread. "I don't want to talk about that. You know I don't." I look down at my feet. I really don't want to make myself feel worse about this by talking to her...
"Roxas, just listen to me for a second. Please?" Without an answer from me, Olette grabs each of my shoulders, causing me to tilt my head back upward and look at her.
She really is being adamant about this, isn't she?
She takes in a large breath, as if she's going to give me some type of terribly bad news. "Roxas, I know you're upset. But, you know, getting all in your feelings, and being depressed about everything isn't going to help anything. You know very well what you did to that girl, on purpose."
She looks at me, almost as if she's waiting for a response, but then keeps talking.
"You really have to think about what she's been going through, and she has been having to deal with over the past few months because of that. And you know what? Truth moment right now: She has every right to be angry with you, Roxas. Xion has the right to scream at you, avoid you, and do all of the other things she's done."
I open my mouth, only to have Olette shut me down.
"But, that does not mean that she won't ever forgive you for the things you've done. Alright? These things just take time. It may not...—actually, it will not happen when you want it to, or the way you want it to, but you should never give up hope.
"You know...Roxas, I hate seeing you like this." Her hands still on my shoulders, she lowers her gaze down to her feet as if she's ashamed of her words, but quickly looks back up to me again, smiling a lighthearted smile. "So no matter what happens, keep your head up!" She puts one of her hands under my chin and tilts my head upwards until I'm not looking at her, but past her. The distant outline of skyscrapers against the sunset horizon comes into vision. "Will you do that for me? Can you promise me that?"
"But..."
"But nothing. Just trust me on this one, okay Roxas? Have I ever lied to you?"
The answer is an obvious: yes. But I don't say anything. What a mood killer that would be. Olette stays silent, allowing me to think for a little while. So I do.
Once my conscience makes a conclusion about her words, I decide that it's better off to just stay in a more positive state of mind for now. When I look back to Olette, I see her eyes are blinking and staring deep into mine. When she sees that I notice her gaze, she quickly flinches her head the other way.
The bus let's out a deep honk. It's about to leave.
"Come on. Let's go... home," she says and slowly removes her hand from my shoulder, but before she can completely drop it to her side, I catch it from falling. Olette's cheeks flush. "Roxas, what are you...?"
I take in a nervous breath and smile, realizing how awkward this may seem, considering that we are only friends; but I don't care. I give her a silent thanks for her encouragement under my breath, and gather my luggage and pull them along, our hands still bound together. A bewildered Olette struggles to quickly grab her stuff in time to follow me.
I've known for a while those slight "More-Than-Just-Friends" feelings Olette that has for me. She doesn't know that I know...but I know. It's actually quite noticeable sometimes. And...it honestly makes me feel sort of bad that I don't feel the same way for her as she does me. I mean, she's always been here for me ever since grade school. She's given me advice, support, discipline (believe it or not), and aid throughout all that's happened with me and Xion. Just her words alone have made a small, but noticeable impression in my life. And, now that I think of it, she really is something special in my life that I don't ever want to lose.
Together, we walk onto the bus.
When I go past the seat where Xion is sitting, calmly reading a book, I still tense up. I clench my hand tighter around my luggage, carefully pinpointing my feelings into its handle, but Olette squeezes my other hand tighter and smiles, assuring me that everything will be better. We keep going to the back where Pence and Hayner sit, not noticing our minor intimate gesture, then put our bags inside of the compartment above our seats.
Once we're settled, the bus rumbles and roars, ignites its engine, and takes off.
"Hello, welcome to Genesis Lux Rhapsodus Boarding School. New students report to the 7th floor for orientation… Hola, bienvenido a Genesis Lux Rhapsodus Internado…"
A computerized voice transmits from a speaker beside me and alerts our group that we have just arrived at GLR. I take in another deep breath, but this time it's filled with more anxiety than regret. I can thank Olette for that.
"You gonna be okay?" she asks as we walk off the bus and towards the Main Building.
"I think I can handle walking into a building, Mom. I'll be fine," I say in a playful manner, though the shakiness in my voice completely gives away my rouse.
But she just smiles, most-likely happy for the change from my previous attitude to this simultaneous mellow and anxious one.
Hayner suddenly comes behind me. "That's good. You look so scared, I was afraid you were going to pee your pants like you did on the first day of Freshman year." He laughs and starts walking to the clear revolving doors, along with my other two snickering friends.
Wait. I thought... How did he...?
"Olette, you promised you wouldn't tell anyone! Hey!" I yell to them, panting as I run while rolling my bags along.
After a few moments filled with laughter, embarrassment, me being verbally harassed by my own friends, then more laughter; we go inside of an elevator that takes us to the seventh floor where we are supposedly receiving an orientation. But when we go down a hallway to room 715 A, all I see are these machine-type things labeled in alphabetical order, dispensing folders, books, and sheets of paper.
"Is this how they conduct an orientation?" Pence asks. "Because if that's the case…" He smiles, probably thinking about how much he's going to enjoy this school, being the so-called, "tech geek," he is, when really, he doesn't know anymore about computers than any other teenager in this technology era. I mean, he may be a little bit more interested in the newest technological advances than some, but not enough to call him a geek. But we all still let Pence have his fun. He is our best friend, after all.
"No," says Olette, "we have to go the first letters of our last names, and get our information, then go to orientation in 715 B."
"Which means Roxas and I have to go to 'V', Olette to 'C', and you to 'F'," Hayner adds.
"Okay," Pence responds, "I'll see you at orientation then!" he says, walking away from us. Olette does the same, leaving me alone with Hayner.
Or not.
He has already begun walking towards the 'V' machine. I follow him to the short line, ending up two people behind him. When he gets to the front of the line he does something on the machine that I cannot see. After a few moments, he exits the line with a small leather book and a couple of folders in hand. The next thing I know, my train of thought is disrupted by someone telling me that the line has moved. I hurry and fill the gap between me and the person in front of me and wait for them to finish whatever they're doing. While waiting, I look to Pence and Olette's lines and see that both of them are at least ten people from being at the front of the line. Huh, who knew that so many people could have a name starting with an C or an F?
The person in front of me leaves the line, and I walk up towards the machine.
"Hello. Please select your last name," it says.
Names flash onto the screen, all beginning with the letter V. I scroll down to my last name and press it.
"Villanueva, Roxas E. Is this correct?"
'Yes' is what I choose.
"Hello, Roxas. Welcome to GLR Academy Boarding School. Where we Excel Ever Upward! Report to orientation in room 715 B after I give you your information. Take the rulebook down below on your left."
A slot opens up at the bottom of the machine and it dispenses a leather book. I take it.
"Right now, I am also handing you a folder with the information you will need for the rest of your school year."
The machine "hands" me a white folder with the symbol of the school on it.
"Lastly, here is your room and board information."
One purple folder dispensing later, I gather my things and look at Pence and Olette's lines again and see that both of them are still quite a few people from being at the front of the line. I look around the large room to see that Hayner is leaning against a wall, running his hands wildly through his hair. He always does that when something upsets him.
I go over to ask what's wrong with him, but before I can say anything, Hayner shoves a paper in front of my face. I stagger backwards for a second, confused. Eventually, I grab the paper.
"Read it," he commands.
"Uh...why?" I ask.
"Just do it." He sounds embarrassed. I wonder why...
I look at the paper and begin reading it inside of my mind.
Room & Board for: Vaughn, Hayner J.
Room Number: VC-260
Building: 3
Group: DDITG#4
Roommate: Court, Olette G.
WHAT?
"How...how is this even possible?!" Hayner groans.
"I...I dunno," I reply, then look at Olette. She's now at the front of her line.
"Roxas, do you understand how awkward this is gonna be?" he asks.
"No-" I suddenly remember that I may still fall victim to getting a roommate who is a girl. What if I have to suffer from this awkwardness? Frantically, I get the purple folder to look what's inside.
Room & Board for: Villanueva, Roxas E.
Room Number: TV-178
Building: 2
Group: SMSD#307
Roommate: Taylor, Axel W.
Axel, that's a guy's name! YES.
I smile at the thought of having a non-awkward rooming situation. Hayner notices my happiness and I see that it makes him feel even worse.
Great, now I have to cheer him up. "Look on the bright side, Hayner!" I smile wider. "At least you're rooming with someone you actually know and not some random person who may want to touch you at night when you don't know about it." Did I mention that I may not be the best at saying the right things all the time?
He gives me a look with the same sharpness of Xion's a few hours earlier. Heh...Xion...
"I know, I know. It wasn't funny..." I say with fear of him lashing out on me.
Hayner buries his face into the papers in his hands, then slides down the wall he's leaning on until he's sitting down on the floor.
"Hey you guys. What's wrong?" Olette, who's now finished with getting her pre-orientation thingy, comes up to us and asks Hayner.
"Uh...well..." How do I explain this to her? "...just...j-just look at your Room & Board information."
She looks at me for a moment, then pulls out her purple folder slowly like she's about to defuse a bomb. She takes out that fateful sheet of paper with her and Hayner's information on it. Her eyes widen as they scan the paper, but the rest of her face doesn't even change expression.
"But...I thought they...hm..." she mumbles, placing a finger on her chin.
"Hey, what's going on?" Pence, who is also now finished with the thingy (I really don't know what to call it), asks.
"We need to go to orientation, that's what." Olette dismisses everything that just happened and starts walking away.
"B-but, but what about-?" Hayner stammers.
"-Just come on! We'll figure it out soon enough!" Her voice echoes from the outside of the room.
Haynet lets out an exasperated groan then stands up and starts to walk away, dragging his luggage and his feet along the ground.
"Genesis Lux Rhapsodos. Such a dedicated man, he was. He was so...passionate in whatever he did. Especially in finding the lost pages of LOVELESS: the magnificently written, yet underrated, incomplete book of poems written during the Chanson period. Now, you students who don't know much about it will learn more about that for your Junior year curriculum, if you already haven't. But, anyways, where was I? ...Ah yes, Genesis was a dedicated man..."
When we walk into room 715 B, we are slightly taken aback by what is inside:
It's a theatre. Or an auditorium, whatever you want to call it.
The room...looked so much smaller from the outside. I mean, I guess this isn't the biggest theatre in the world, but still, I wasn't expecting a theatre when I walked in here.
We go down an isle to find four seats. On stage, we see a man dressed in a fancy black suit, giving what I'm guessing is an introduction speech.
"Hey, Hayner, wasn't that suit in your mom's fall edition?" I ask, eyeing the man with silver hair, as we sit down.
"Tch, yeah probably." Hayner shakes his head.
He doesn't exactly enjoy the fact that his mother not only owns the famous fashion Vaughn Magazine, but also makes him read and analyze every new piece featured inside a new issue. But, though he hates to admit it, Hayner does have a good fashion sense because of it...And gives good fashion tips...
"Who is that guy, anyways?" he asks.
"He's Sephiroth," Pence whispers, "our school principle, brother of the head dean, Xemnas."
"How do you know all of this?" Hayner asks.
"Olette and I did loads of research on this school," he replies. "You didn't think we'd just let Roxas drag us across Kingdom Hearts without knowing about where we were going, did you?"
"Oh," Hayner and I say at the same time and sit back in our seats and listen to the principle again.
"...When I was just a young man, an ignorant, wannabe SOLDIER, it was Genesis who taught me everything there is to know about the Goddess and LOVELESS, and how each of us are connected somehow. We're all unique in our own special way. And even though GLR doesn't have the most diversity in economical backgrounds, we are trying to integrate all kinds of different people inside of our wonderful academy. Which is why we are beginning a few new scholarship programs this year: the Angeal Hewley Fund Sports Scholarships, the Relm Arrowny Fund for the Arts Scholarships..."
What. Is. He. Talking. About?
This is getting boring.
I look around the room to find something that may just pique my attention...
And I found it.
A girl is drawing a picture next to me. Only with her petite hands and a mechanical pencil, she creates something I can barely see. I guess she can feel my eyes on her because her hair whips past my face as she quickly turns her head towards me. A pair of deep blue eyes covered with blonde strands of hair blink at me.
"Could you not look at me while I work, please? Thank you."
"Uh. I'm...sorry?"
She scoffs and crosses her legs, one over the other, then turns her body around slightly so I can only see her arm move angrily across the sketchpad, which I cannot see.
Geez, is it "Every girl, with the exception of Olette, be cold to Roxas" day, or what?
I sigh an annoyed sigh, then turn my attention back towards our principal, Sephiroth.
"...Along with our new scholarships, we also have other new additions to the school this year as well. Like our new dorm group. Now, if you look inside of your Room & Board folder, you'll see a sheet of paper showing your room number, building, group, and roommate." He slows down his talking to emphasize the last two words.
I let out a silent gasp. "Hayner!" I whisper loudly.
"I know, I know," he says, frantically pulling out his sheet of paper. "Just...be quiet, alright!?"
I look at Olette and see that she's silently looking at Mr. Sephiroth, her expression still unchanged.
"Most of you students will have a group called either the SMSD or the SFSD, followed by an asterisk and a number. SMSD and SFSD stands for: Standard (Male or Female) Student Dorm, the asterisk followed by a number that should be between 1 and 1000, is what pair of students you and your roommate are.
"Now, some of you may NOT have SMSD or SFSD as your group, you may have DDITG followed by an asterisk and a number between 1 and 5. Well, you lucky few have been selected to take part in our new Double Dorm Introduction Test Group. You see, the district school board has decided that we should try something...different. At first we didn't see eye-to-eye on the subject, but after a few years and..." he starts to mumble something barely audible about threatens or something, "'we' made the decision to have double dorms with one boy and one girl in each! We 'randomly' selected 10 students to participate in this new program. And, before you start calling your lawyers and legal advisors: Yes. This is perfectly legal. So long as we do our 'best' to keep you 'monitored'."
Why he keeps putting finger quotations on crucial words? Maybe I'll never know.
But what I do know is that life for this school year is going to be...interesting. I can just feel it.
"Okay, time for the tour!" Sephiroth claps his hands. "And this year, our new-student tour this year will be conducted by Marluxia Juneax."
The from falls into a thick silence as a girl with hair pink as—...well, I don't know how to describe to how pink it is—does a sort of strut across the stage and up to the microphone.
Wait a sec, that's not a girl, it's a boy.
...the fu-
"-YEAH! GO, MARLY! SHOW THESE BITCHES WHO'S BOSS!"
"Sit down, Ms. Selphie Tilmitt*," Sephiroth commands from onstage to some screaming girl in the front row. He sounds as if this isn't the first time he has had to tell her this.
Yup. It's going to be a pretty...interesting year, indeed. And here I thought I was only going to have to deal with getting forgiveness from Xion all year.
Ah, and here comes the guilt again. Wonderful.
Told ya'~ *points to title of story*. Hehe.
Hey~ look at me, finally back on the face of the planet! How long has it been since I left? Just over a month? Awesome.
And don't think that the very ending was just random and pointless, 'cuz it wasn't. ^^ Everything in this story happens for a reason.
I'm sorry if this chapter bored the hell out of you. I was really just trying to get the information in and I probably gave you too much of it all at once.
Oh yeah, and I lied when I said that each of the single-person POVs were going to be shorter in length ^^". Hehe...whoops.
OmegaStarShooter14: Yup, that's her name! And you were watching the VMA's? Cool! I always miss those award shows for some reason. Like the Grammy's, my friend told me about some weird performance that I guess Nick Minaj did, and I was like, "The Grammy's were on yesterday?!" Yeah, I'm kind of an ahead when it comes to when and what time TV shows come on (youknowexceptforSpongeBob XD).
DemonicRin: Thanks! And yes, this high school is very awesome, isn't it?
Omega01x: Honestly, I've never even been close to a boarding school before. But, you know, I think my imagination fills the gap of what I actually don't about them and what I do. :)
Q-A the Authoress: Thank you!
Starlol9: Yeah Ms. Farron is VERY crazy. Thank you!
Jomatto: Well, you already know how grateful I am for your review, lol. I really did scream and tears did, indeed, shed from my eyes. Again, thanks for taking the time to help me edit my first chapter!
musicbox: Ah! Nothing's gonna be too dirty. (Maybe.) Hehehe...
(*Edit: I just remembered that Selphie actually DOES have an official last name [Tilmitt]. So, I changed her last name back to the original from what I had before [Mayers].)
Thank you zombiekilla123, StarySkies, and magic bounce for the alert! And thank you Namixas-Forever, Starlol9, and magic bounce for the favorite!
And remember, be truthful when you review please! It'll really, really help the story. ^^
xxxHikari-Kuraixxx (xxxLight-Darkxxx)