I'm so very sorry for the delay in this update. The past week has been SCORCHING HOT and the HUMIDITY doesn't help. Such weather isn't very good for thinking. Oh, and if you're wondering, I live in Canada. And yes it is that hot in Canada. Toronto to be more specific. It's like 36 degrees celsius/centrigrade. For you Americans, that's 96.8 degrees fahrenheit.
Okay, enough of my rambling about hot weather. This chapter is about double the length of what I would normally like to write, but I looked back at my earlier chapters and decided that they were not long enough so I made this one longer! So expect future chapters to be about this length.
On to chapter four!
Disclaimer: I do not own any characters used in this story nor do I own the franchises Kingdom Hearts and Final Fantasy
Chapter 4: Hope
Professor Merlin begins to write on the board. Psychology Guess Me
"For today's introduction activity, I'd like to have you gather in groups of three."
I look around the class to see if I know anyone else, but unfortunately it's just Riku and Xion. I guess I'll have to be with them. I walk over to where they're standing to ask them if I can join, but again Riku beat me to it.
"Are you going to join our group?"
"Yeah, I guess so. I mean there's really no one else that I know in the class right now."
I settle down with them and the volume of the classroom eventually dwindles down to a murmur.
"The activity today is called I settle down with them and the volume of the classroom eventually dwindles down to a murmur.
"The activity today is called Psychology Guess Me. You will take turns guessing traits of your group members. You have 20 minutes to complete this activity. You may start now."
Xion turns to me and says, "Well, who's going first?"
"Why are you asking me?" I honestly could care less about the activity so I reach into my bag and pull out my sketchbook.
"Well you just look like the initiative type," Xion said pointedly.
"Really? Because I think you're more of that type. If not at least eager." I frown at this. I'd rather keep to myself thank you very much.
"Me? Eager? No, I'm just happy." Looks like this girl's mood cannot be brought down. Or at least that's what it seems. "Well, I know that Riku here is the strong and silent type. The way that he hides behind his long hair. It absolutely screams 'brooding'. It's a good thing that I'm here. I bring out the best out of you, don't I?"
Riku chuckles at this. "Apparently you do. And for the record, I don't hide behind my hair. I let my hair fall in front of my face so that when I flip my hair, I look fabulous doing so." He dramatically flips his hair and winks at Xion.
We laugh at Riku's joking behaviour and soon he joins us. Wait. Is there something going on between these two?
"Xion, when you say you bring out the best in him, what do you mean?" I can't help but feel that these two are closer than they appear.
"You see, when Riku talks to other people, he's normally… what's the word? Elusive? I don't know, but you get what I mean, right?" I nod my head; I do understand where she's going with this, but Riku being like that? He hardly looks reserved never mind acting like it. "But Riku is actually just a big squishy teddy bear!" She hugs Riku and a slight pink hue appears on his face. He shrugs her off and gives her quick glare.
"I am not squishy! This is all muscle." He shows off proudly then looks at her. "Don't poke fun at my pride Xion. It's not cool."
"So, are you guys like together or something?"
Both of them give me an incredulous look.
They exclaim in unison, "What?! No. We're just best friends!"
"Sure. Sure, that's what they all say."
Riku puts up a hand in attempt to wave off the current topic. "Okay, enough about us. We haven't gotten to you yet!"
Before I let him begin, I stop him to ask one more thing, "One more thing Riku. How come I've never seen you or Xion around before?"
"That's because we transferred from the boarding school on the other side of the island."
"No wonder I haven't seen you guys before." Riku straightens up in his seat and clasps his hands together. "Ok, now it's my turn!"
He rubs his chin in thought while staring intently at me. His gaze was slightly uncomfortable like the scrutinizing looks that people would give to an animal at the zoo.
He stops rubbing his chin, but his gaze holds steady.
"You like Roxas, don't you?"
That caught me off guard completely.
"W-what makes you think that?" I stammer out a bit too quickly. Calm down Naminé. He doesn't know anything yet. Hell, I don't know anything yet!
Riku begins innocently, "Oh I don't know, the fact that you were staring at him when he offered you help when you fell into the fountain?"
"So that's why your hair is wet!" Xion concludes, snapping her fingers.
"Nice going Riku." I shoot him an icy glare.
"Anytime." He responds jokingly.
"No, but seriously, I think you like him." I could feel his eyes boring into my soul.
I try to shake it off, "Whatever."
"Aw Riku, don't grill her too hard. Besides, I believe what matters most is what you think." Xion chirps.
"Yeah. And what I think is that Roxas is a rude, good for nothing jerk," I huff, "Didn't even apologize the second time he crashed into me."
"Huh. That's doesn't sound like him at all. He's usually pretty nice, especially towards girls." Riku just blinks at my statement.
I snort at this. "Yeah right, not even close. I believe it when I see it."
I let myself dwell on the thought for a while. I'm not sure about Riku's doubts. Wait. Naminé, why do you even bother thinking about this? There are more important things to do and if not, you can always draw.
I spend the rest of the period drawing in my sketchbook, randomly doodling. The bell rings, signalling the end of class. I put my sketchbook into my bag and I exit the classroom. I look at my schedule for my next class. Economics and then lunch period. I make my way over to the business wing of the school. On my way there, I see Kairi and I call out to her.
"Hey Kai!" She turns around and I wave. She waves back and walks over to me.
"So you took a dive into the fountain earlier, right?"
"Ha ha, very funny," I pout, "Plus it wasn't my fault. It was that Roxas kid."
"I guess. But the way that you looked at him. I bet you like him don't you?" She nudges my arm. Not you too sis. Why did that fountain incident have to occur?
I turn away so I don't have to face her, "No I do not! Why does everyone assume that?!"
"It was written all across your face Nam. Don't deny that you didn't make that face."
I say nothing at that. My lips are sealed.
"Fine, whatever. One day, you'll come to your senses. Right now I have economics so see ya later!" She runs off before I could reply.
I have economics too, thank you for asking…
I run off in her direction, but I don't catch up to her. By the time I reach the classroom, she's already seated at a desk, talking to Sora and another boy. Kairi catches me looking at her and waves me over. I walk over to where she's sitting and plop down in the seat beside her.
"I didn't know you had economics." She gives me a puzzled look.
"Well you would have found out if you decided to ask me what class I had next. But nope, you instead sped off to class." I said pointedly.
"I did run off, didn't I?" She twirled her hair sheepishly.
"Yeah Kai, you did." I turn to the boys, feeling bad for neglecting them. "Sorry for that, my name's Naminé. And you're Sora, right?" He brunet grins at this.
"Hey," he replies, "I'm sorry about my brother this morning."
"It's okay I guess. It's not like I missed anything important in class."
"I don't think you've met Hope yet, have you?" He gestures to the silvered haired boy next to him.
"As a matter of fact, I haven't seen him, Sora." I turn to Hope to say hi. He smiles, "Hi Naminé."
Hope was a boy with swept, silver hair and aqua-grey eyes. He wore a short-sleeved orange and yellow jacket, a detailed green neckerchief over a black shirt, green cargo pants and matching boots.
I try to strike up some conversation to avoid awkward silence, "So Hope, what you have this semester?"
"I have Physics, Math, Economics and Music."
"You play an instrument?" I hope he's not one of those people who play obnoxiously loud instruments…
"Yeah. I play violin. I find it to be a beautiful instrument."
"I bet you sound fantastic playing it." He blushes at my compliment and looks down at his feet.
"Oh I don't think I sound that good."
"You're just being modest," I wave his attempt at hiding his talent aside. "Plus, I'll be the judge of your skills."
"So what you're trying to say is that, you want to hear me play?" He tilts his head up slightly so I just see his aqua –grey eyes.
"Why not?" I smile at him. He should feel more confident about his own abilities. I'm sure this will help him. He takes a moment to contemplate on what I just said. He finally looks up from the floor.
"Okay, sure." He smiles back. I have a feeling we're going to be friends, no doubt. He turns to where Sora was supposedly seated. "Huh? Where's Sora?" I look around the room, spotting him with Kairi, deeply engrossed in his conversation with her.
"I think he's a bit preoccupied with my sister." I laugh sheepishly at that.
Hope laughs as well, "You know what? I think he'll be just fine over there."
"So, how do you know Sora?" I ask. That just came into my mind and I guess I might as well ask that.
He turns around, "My mom is a close co-worker with his parents and they got a new job placement here at Destiny Islands. They got transferred to the Shinra DI-Division Headquarters here."
"Isn't that a large pharmaceutical company?" Shinra was an internationally known company responsible for developing high-end medical products.
"Yeah. My mom works hard at the laboratory, doing research and development work for long hours. Sometimes she doesn't even come home so I tend to crash at Sora's often." He tilts his head back and sighs.
"Well it's good to know that she works hard, right? And she probably does it for you too!" I reassure him. I know that my mom and dad work hard for me. Well my dad anyways. My mom being a lawyer believes more in justice and putting the criminals behind bars. My dad on the other hand, runs a gym. He's sometimes just sits around in his office, but when he's not, he's serious about training others.
Hope snapped me out of my thoughts. "Well how about you Naminé? What do your parents do?"
"Oh. Well, my mom is a-," I began, but someone ran into the classroom. He halted right at the desk and dropping everything on it.
"Sorry for my late entrance class," I look up at the clock. The professor was late by 10 minutes! Nice first impression.
"My name is Professor Eraqus. I'll be your Economics instructor for this semester."
Hope nudges my elbow. I turn around slightly and I peek out of the corner of my eye. He whispers, "The professor looks kinda old, don't you think?"
"I guess. Now be quiet Hope. I don't want to get caught talking on the first day," I shush him quickly. He slinks back in his seat, clearly bored of the professor going over class expectations and the course outline. I just have to sit through this period patiently and then it will be lunch! Maybe I can draw a bit without the professor seeing…
I pull out my sketchbook and I think of something worthwhile to draw. I look around, sneaking glances about when the professor isn't looking and I settle with drawing Hope's bored figure, slumped across the table. I giggle inwardly and I start sketching for the next sixty-five minutes.
So what did you guys think of me including Hope in the story? I know I like it! If you would like to see a certain character appear in this story, leave your suggestions in the form of a PM or a review!
Until next time~
-Icey