CHAPTER 7

Disclaimer: Blah blah not mine blah blah.

Author's note: I LOVE this chapter! Everyone gets introduced! It's hilarious! And you all get a happy cookie for reading. Trust me, you'll know the cookie when you see it. Er, read it. =3

Midnight

"Hey, Roxas! You've been sleeping nearly the whole morning!" Sora, sitting on the edge of his own bed, looked down on a Roxas, asleep on his own bed. Said blonde sat up slowly, blinking the sleep from his eyes. He looked at Sora, his back still wanting the comfort of the bed.

"Come on, sweethearts," Sora's mother peeked in. "You have to go to school, it's late." She disappeared again. Roxas stood up and dressed, sleep still pressing on his back and mind. Not to mention his cuts and bruises, ouch. He followed Sora out the door- who was already bouncing around, apparently awake- and into Riku's car, jamming a plain bagel into his mouth. Riku grinned.

"Happy birthday, squirt." Riku said, ruffling the zombie-like blonde's hair. Roxas looked up at the junior year boy uncomprehendingly. Riku laughed.

"Did you guys party all night?" Namine smiled. She looked kindly at Roxas, who was sitting in the back seat with her. Roxas shook his head lethargically, still asleep. His eyes drooped on their way to the school, Sora having to drag him up the stairs and down the halls. They were in first period when Roxas finally woke up.

"Test today!" the teacher called out happily. Roxas's eyes shot open, and he and Sora exchanged horrified glances.

"We studied for this, right?" Sora squeaked. The teacher looked down at him curiously.

"I sure hope you did," she said. "I'm sorry, Roxas, you can't get out of this one. It's too important of a test. You'll just have to hope for the best." Roxas hit his head against the table, unaware of a certain redhead's gaze on him. Not to mention the rest of the class (after all, he'd been MIA for a whole week), but they don't matter that much to Roxas (except his friends, but they don't count either).

"English, History…" Sora rattled off, using his fingers, attempting to recall what they studied. "OHMYGAWD WE DIDN'T STUDY FOR MATH!" He shouted, causing the students to snicker and Riku to grin. Sora and Roxas moaned in unison, and the class snickered. It wasn't that Roxas needed to study, so much that it made him feel better if he did. His head rested on the table, wondering of this test would prove too difficult for him to beat. Sora had the appearance of praying, but really he was just cursing in his head. Sora and tests- they don't mix. Put together, they're like a nuclear bomb. SOMEONE blows up.

"And if you don't pass the test, you can't go to six flags this weekend." Roxas heard Riku suddenly sit up higher. He lifted his head to look at Riku.

"Riku, you can't fail on purpose!" the blonde hissed.

"I can TRY," Riku said matter-of-factly. "I am NOT going to chaperone a bunch of freshmen girls at a theme park. And it counts for 30 percent of your grade." The teacher then hushed the class, saying for them to be quiet. She passed out the tests.

Roxas peered at the first question. Shit, he thought. The Quadratic Formula! I HATE that thing! When would he ever need that? Could anyone answer that question? It wasn't like he was going to be a friggin mathematician! Okay, Roxas continued to think to himself, "x" equals… No, positive or negative "b" is equal to the square root of "b" squared minus 4ac over 2. After writing that at the top of the paper, Roxas nodded happily and continued on with the test, 40 questions of pure evil. There was the Sin and coSin and those other ones he needed his stupid graphing calculator for (that thing broke down every time he used it- as a matter of fact, he was now pounding it against the side of the table for it to turn back on), and more Quadratic Formula. Stupid Formula of doom.

When Roxas handed the test in, he felt good about himself. He sat back down and awaited the end of class, his head drooping onto his desk. When the bell rang, Roxas shot up in the chair as though he'd been shot. He'd fallen asleep.

"Okay class," the teacher sighed, "I want to talk to some of you. Roxas, Sora, Riku, and Axel, please stay after." Roxas and Sora trudged unhappily up to the desk. Riku practically danced up. Axel just sauntered, as usual.

"Alright," the teacher said, not unkindly, "I graded your tests first. Roxas, stop beating yourself up, you got a perfect score." Roxas stopped pouting and smiled happily, doing a little jig. Sora looked like he was going to die. "Sora, you just barely scraped by." Sora fell onto his knees, thanking whatever God there was (or wasn't). Both he and Roxas were agnostic, despite Roxas's mother being catholic. "Axel, you're fine. For once." Axel grinned, ruffling Roxas's hair. Roxas jumped in surprise, making the redhead chuckle. "And Riku-" Here the teacher paused to look unhappily at her brightest student. "You got a zero."

"Oh well, I guess I can't go to six flags and chaperone those freshmen girls, right?" Riku's face was clearly pleased, but he tried to make his voice sound a little sad. A very, very little.

"Oh, you're chaperoning?" the teacher said happily. Riku's grin slowly disappeared as he nodded, unsure if this was a good reaction. "How wonderful, Riku! I should have known you, of all people, would be so chivalrous!" She sighed. "You can go, perfect test or not." Riku, horrified, turned around and screamed silently to the ceiling. The teacher obviously took this as a victory dance, because she just smiled. Either that or she had it out for the silver haired teen. "Alright boys, go to class."

"The bell's going to ring," Roxas protested. The teacher looked up as the students were piling in.

"Then I suggest you start running if you want to be on time." All four boys felt their jaws drop in shock, even Axel. Axel looked ready to beat the lady, but Roxas stopped him, pulling his arm as they all turned to sprint out of the classroom.

"WHAT A BITCH!" Axel growled as they sprinted.

"I don't think she can do that," Sora whined. Riku looked crestfallen.

"Man, that plan failed." He sighed. "Think if I got Saturday school, they'd make me stay here?"

"RIKU!" Sora and Roxas yelled angrily. The junior grinned at them.

"Just wondering," he said, amused. They stopped at an intersection. Roxas looked at Riku and Sora, who didn't have the class with him. Axel did have it with him though. Sora smiled at Roxas's panic.

"So, uh, yeah, I'll see you guys later?" Roxas waved half-heartedly at the two. Sora gave him a warm smile, trying to make him feel better. Axel, of course, noticed nothing. They sprinted around the corner that led to their English class, with a teacher who had a PHD. They were silent as they ran, the clock ticking. They had about a minute to get to class.

"Hey Roxas," Axel said suddenly. Roxas looked up to see the redhead looking at him. He felt his blood run cold and his heart skip a beat. Damn it, why did this class have to be so far away? "What'll you do if you don't make it to class on time?" Roxas blinked. What a strange question.

"Nothing, I suppose," Roxas huffed. Axel grinned, and the look in his eyes was enough to scare a dragon. Roxas felt his eyes widen. "Why?" He asked hurriedly, to distract the redhead.

"No reason, I suppose," Axel grinned malevolently, the spark in his eyes growing. "I just wanted to wish you a happy Birthday." Roxas blinked. Leon telling him he'd told Axel about it suddenly popped into his head. Why did he not remember until now?

Suddenly Axel stopped running, only to pin Roxas to the wall. This area, unfortunately, was devoid of any classes and rarely had any teachers or students walking through to notice the smaller boy's plight. Roxas was so shocked that he didn't even try to stop the redhead. At least, that's what he told himself later. The fact was, when Axel leaned in, his breath brushing warmly against Roxas's neck and sending chills up his spine, Roxas was completely frozen. Roxas was beyond shock. He was being tortured, the slow way. He turned his head slightly and looked into the gorgeous green eyes, as Axel leaned closer-

And then the bell rang, and Axel was gone, standing a few feet in front of the nearly-dead blonde.

"Happy Birthday, Roxas," Axel smirked. "And don't scare me anymore." Unable to run anymore, they walked around a corner (Roxas putting a football field between them)- and there the class was. Roxas streaked in, throwing himself into his seat before the teacher could say anything. Axel walked in more slowly, a very satisfied look playing on his face. Roxas, obviously, did not pay any attention whatsoever the rest of the period.

-Lunch-

Roxas walked slowly into the lunchroom, the periods before having been… well, Roxas remembered absolutely nothing about them. Except for chemistry, where once again the teacher could not find his stuff. Roxas thought back to what Zexion had said (he'd only really said a couple of things).

"So Roxas," Zexion had said quietly when it was apparent it would be another free period. Once again, he had a look on his face that said he was annoyed, and Roxas had caught him looking back this time. He'd been shooting a certain redhead a very annoyed look. Again. "So, how was your English period?" Roxas looked at Zexion in confusion.

"I don't remember." Roxas said truthfully, a suspicious look on his face. Zexion's eyes sparkled.

"Why is that?" the usually quiet teen asked, his face revealing an intense curiosity. Roxas's eyebrows rose.

"I was… My mind was just not on the topic, that's all." Roxas said, trying to deflect any more questions. Zexion wasn't fooled.

"What was it thinking about, then?" he asked.

"I can't… say." Roxas said, shrugging, making it sound as though he couldn't remember. Who was he fooling though- Zexion knew and Roxas knew what he'd been thinking about, and it sure as heck didn't have anything to do with a bad memory.

Roxas was shaken out of his thoughts when Sora slapped him on the back.

"Dude, are you all right?" Sora asked worriedly. An arm suddenly appeared on Roxas's shoulder, and a very annoying voice (at least, to Roxas it was) spoke up.

"Nah, the punk's just waiting for his beating." Roxas looked up, angrily, into Seifer's eyes. The taller blonde stared down at the smaller blonde, which only made him madder.

"Get off," Roxas growled, shrugging him off. Seifer laughed, knowing what was causing Roxas to be so mad.

"What's wrong, pipsqueak?" Seifer asked mockingly. "You should be used to people looking down on you." Roxas bristled angrily.

"Shut up, Seifer," he threatened quietly. Seifer smirked.

"Whatcha going to do about it, squirt?" Seifer asked, poking Roxas in the head. "If you'd just join my gang, already, and leave these losers, you'd be insured against beatings." This was in reference to Seifer having asked Roxas to join his gang over and over, back in Junior High. When Roxas had repeatedly answered no, this feud had resulted. Hayner especially hated him. And all because Roxas was stronger than the bigger blonde, especially when it came to Struggle battles. The tryouts of which were coming up soon.

Roxas was about to open his mouth to say he'd rather be beaten than join, when a certain someone appeared behind Seifer. Who of course, did not notice. He only noticed Roxas's jaw drop.

"Dude," a very tall teen said, bored, "he can't join your gang." Seifer turned around to hit someone- and immediately stopped. "He's already part of another gang. In a way." Seifer stared up at Xigbar, one of Axel's friends. Xigbar, the toughest- and one of the meanest- guys in school, NEVER stood up for anyone. Roxas thought his jaw might break off, it was hanging so low.

"Oh yeah?" Seifer tried to retaliate. Fuu and Rai came to stand next to him protectively, though both were visibly terrified of the older teen. "Which gang might that be?" Seifer retorted, attempting to appear tough (in front of THAT daunting figure? He looked about as mouse as Roxas did!). Xigbar laughed at Seifer, his voice alone intimidating.

"Mine, of course." Xigbar chuckled. Seifer whirled around to look incredulously at Roxas, who returned the look. The same thing was going through their minds: HUH?(a/n: exclamation point, question mark, one one one)(LOL)

"Since when did you join their gang?" Seifer hissed to the smaller, shocked blonde. Roxas shook his head, not understanding either.

"Since Axel took an interest in him, of course." Xigbar sighed dramatically. "Any friend of Axel's is a friend of ours." Roxas felt as though he were missing a large portion of his memory. Axel appeared next to Xigbar, a doughnut in his mouth.

"Heysha Rocshash!" The redhead said, waving at the smaller blonde. Seifer, seeing this was no joke or lie, immediately turned and walked away.

"Whatever, dude," Seifer waved to Roxas. Roxas looked up at Xigbar, who had his black and white hair pulled back in a ponytail. An eye patch covered his left eye, and a very large scar stretched across his face. A smile appeared as Roxas's jaw dropped even further (if that was even possible).

"See ya later, Roxas," Xigbar chuckled, walking away. Roxas watched him walk, his eyes bulging. Axel walked over and ruffled the blonde's hair with his one free (and clean) hand. Roxas looked up at him, and Axel smirked, walking away.

"Whoa…" a small voice whispered next to him. Roxas turned to see Sora staring at him. Along with everyone else in the lunch shelter. To appease them Roxas shrugged. They all turned back to their meals, their faces still incredulous. "What… just… happened?" Sora managed to get out.

"Nice, Roxas," Riku said, appearing next to the blonde. He slapped Roxas's shoulder companionably. "You've just gained immortality the hard way at this school." Roxas, no longer hungry, sat down at the table, putting his head down slowly. Sora did the same. Hayner, Pence, Olette, and Kairi were all staring at him in shock and awe. This is just too much, Roxas thought desperately, feeling a headache bloom in his skull, as Namine came to sit beside him, looking smug. He continued to massage his temples for the rest of lunch, Sora mimicking his movements unknowingly.

-PE-

"Okay, Class," the teacher said happily, bouncing around and handing a large volleyball to the seniors. "Today we're going to play a fun game called Prisoner." Roxas groaned, and Sora looked at him uncomprehendingly. Roxas motioned for him to keep on listening. "It's like volleyball, only when you serve you call out a person's name. And instead of punting it back, you have to catch it. The person whose name was called does not have to be the one to catch the ball, but if someone does not catch it, the person whose name was called is out. They go off to the side, and if anyone wants to call them back in, they throw the ball and call out 'Prisoner', or 'Prison Break' if there is more than one person out. But, if that ball is caught, the person who called it is out." The teacher took a breath after this long-winded explanation. Roxas groaned, and Sora's eyes widened happily. "And… start!"

The senior who had the ball, a tall teen with pinkish hair, smiled evilly. Roxas recognized him a moment too late, Sora's smile vanishing completely.

"Roxas." Marluxia, a friend of Axel's, called out. Roxas could see Axel snickering on the back. A sense of annoyance flew through his body, and Roxas lunged forward and caught the ball as it was about to land between two teens trying to catch it. His team stared in shock. Roxas was actually trying?

"Axel!" Roxas shouted, and tossed the ball over. He actually pulled a marvelous stunt-, which, of course, had students wondering where the real Roxas was. The real Roxas had no sense of athletics in him at all. The ball fell over the side, making a sharp dip over the net, and smacked the ground in front of two seniors on the floor. They'd fallen trying to catch the ball. Axel, an amused look on his face, walked slowly over to the side.

This little display made Roxas feel good, but it also made him a target. Now that it was apparent that he did have skills, the seniors tried desperately to get him out. At least now Roxas's teammates tried to keep him IN the game, and not OUT.

And so the period went on like this, a few of Axel's friends apparent in the team- they kept trying to get Axel back in, and one succeeded. By then, most of them were out, which meant they called prison break. The sophomores were actually doing well, and when the period was over, they had won.

"All right, Roxas!" One of Roxas's team members walked over and slapped him on the back. Roxas grinned tiredly, his limbs aching from all the lunging and dodging. Not to mention his poor wounds- it felt as though they were about to open back up! He was definitely going to be feeling this in the morning. Many more of his teammates congratulated him.

"Good job, squirt, didn't know you had it in you!" Demyx said happily, patting the small blonde on his head. Roxas grinned, still tired.

"I guess so." He trudged alongside the mohawked teen. Demyx looked like he wanted to say something, but just as he was about to, Zexion appeared, grabbing Demyx's arm.

"Come on, Demyx," Zexion said, "I already asked." A look of relief appeared on Demyx's face, and Roxas was too tired to notice anything. He barely noticed when Zexion dragged Demyx away, Demyx looking strangely pleased.

"Whatever," Roxas yawned. He dressed quietly, Sora also a zombie next to him. They were still exhausted when they walked outside to wait for the bell, and when it finally rang they marched in complete silence to Riku's car. Riku grinned slightly in amusement as the two boys sat down.

"Did you hear?" Riku said finally, to break the silence during the drive. Roxas and Sora lifted their heads to look at him. "The trip to Six Flags has been postponed for another month."

"Say what?" Sora whined, Roxas sitting up in shock. Riku laughed, and Namine giggled.

"Why?" Roxas added to Sora's statement.

"We don't have enough people going." Riku sighed. "Maybe we can convince the gang to come."

"You remember what they said." Roxas sighed.

"You forget, on the other hand, who you're talking to." Riku said triumphantly. Roxas and Sora peered at him, while Namine went back to drawing. The rest of the ride home, Riku did not elaborate, no matter how much the two asked. There were just some things Roxas would never understand, the blonde decided as they walked inside.

Author's note: I love prisoner. I once tattled on a student I hated and got him suspended (MUAHAHAHAHAHA), and started this huge war between me and my second period. Little did I know that all of the students in my second period were in my PE period, too. When we played prisoner, it was like "War on Kit" day. And it was the only day I was actually good. Same as Roxas, only it was cuz they hated me, not cuz they liked me.