Chapter 6: There's No Place Like Homecoming
Xion sat in her room on her bed, tears streaming down her face. It felt everything was falling apart and it was all because of X. Why was this person making her life miserable? Not only hers, but Kairi, Namine and Olette's too. Whoever this person was, had a serious mental issue. She turned around on her bed to see her bedroom door open. Her friends came in with bags of Chinese food.
"Hey, what are you doing here?" She asked.
"An intervention." Kairi said. "You're coming with us later to try on homecoming dresses."
"I don't think I'm going guys."
"You can't just not go. Cutting yourself off from your life isn't going to help your parents."
"Yeah, they could still work it out." Olette said.
"They're barely speaking to each other."
"People blow up and get angry. It doesn't mean it's over."
"Olette, they didn't blow up over her dad missing an anniversary. He slept with one of his students." Kairi looked at Xion who began to sob a little more. "I'm sorry."
"Some things just take time." Olette said.
"Yeah, maybe." Xion said.
"Okay, so you're coming with us." Kairi said.
"Namine, who are you bringing to homecoming?" Olette asked.
"Wakka, he's one of the employees at the country club. He's not gonna know anyone there so can you guys do your best to make him feel included?"
"Of course." Kairi said.
"Olette who are you bringing?" Namine asked.
"I think I'm gonna go alone."
"I am too." Xion said.
"It doesn't matter. Who cares who anyone goes to this thing with. It's just a dance. You should bring someone who you will have fun with." Kairi said, looking straight at Olette. She knew her secret and she wanted her to feel comfortable with it.
"I might want to go with someone. I just don't want people thinking it's more than what it means."
"Are you and Rai back together?"
"No, of course not."
"So who's the mystery dude?" Xion asked.
"Okay, I'm starving!" Kairi said, quickly changing the subject for Olette.
"Kai, wait a minute! If it doesn't matter who you take to the dance as long as you have fun, why don't you ask Sora?" Namine asked. Kairi immediately blushed. "Why-why on earth would I take Sora?"
"You said it yourself! Who else do you have more fun with other than us? Sora, obviously." Kairi was blushing furiously this time. "Do you have feelings for him?"
"No, of course not!"
"Your cheeks are redder than your hair." Olette giggled.
"Okay, end of conversation! Let's eat please!" Kairi whined. She snagged a fortune cookie and cracked it open. Kairi's face turned white.
"What? Bad fortune?" Namine joked.
"Yeah, Confucius says stop being a drama queen." Kairi said and handed her the fortune. Namine read the fortune aloud,
"Lions, tigers and bitches, oh my! There's no place like homecoming. See you there, X."
The next day in school, Olette was walking through the lunch room and wasn't paying attention to where she was headed. She bumped head on into Yuffie. "Oof! I'm sorry!" Olette yammered. She looked to see that it was Yuffie. "I'm sorry, Olette." She said.
"No, it was totally my fault." Olette said and Yuffie just shook her head and started to walk away but Olette stopped her. "Are you going to homecoming?" She asked.
"Um…I don't think so. Dance music isn't really my thing. I'm not gaga for GaGa."
"Oh, well maybe we should try to catch up sometime."
"Yeah, maybe we should. I have to go to class now." Yuffie said and then walked away. Olette sighed. She got the feeling Yuffie was trying to avoid her. Olette saw Kairi sitting at the lunch table and then Namine snuck up on her and sat down. Olette paced over to them and sat across from Kairi.
"Remember when you told us Larxene goes to therapy?" Namine asked Kairi.
"Yeah, so?"
"I was thinking since you're a patient at the dentist office there that you could sneak in and find her file tonight." Kairi almost spit juice all over the table at Namine's suggestion.
"Are you crazy? I don't even know how to get in there!"
"Pretend you're having a nervous breakdown."
"If I lose the crown to another girl, I won't need to pretend."
"Kairi, I'm serious. If there's a file in there on Larxene then it might be our only chance to find out what she knows about that night and if she and Roxas are planning revenge."
"Okay, okay. I'll figure something out. Why are you having a panic attack about it?"
"Because Roxas just bought two tickets to homecoming. He's never gone to any social event in his life."
"So I'm guessing the second ticket is for Larxene?"
"Well, X promised to see us there…"
"Wait, guys. We don't know what's actually going on. Maybe Roxas really does have a date." Olette said.
"Well, when Kairi gets that file then we'll know for sure." Namine said and looked above Olette to see Selphie walking over.
"So Namine, is it true you're taking the country club towel boy to homecoming?" She asked with an innocent smirk. Olette's mouth dropped and Kairi and Namine looked at her in disbelief.
"His name is Wakka and yes." Namine raised an eyebrow.
"Knock it off Selphie." Kairi said.
"What? I think it's cute she's bringing her 'Cinderfella' to the ball."
"Can you go get me a frozen yogurt with sprinkles?" Kairi snapped, trying to keep her from talking. Selphie just shrugged and walked away.
"Wow, that was exactly the kind of reaction I wanted to avoid."
"Don't pay any attention to her. She's just insecure." Kairi said.
"Why are you friends with her?" Olette asked.
"Once you get to know her, she's really funny and she's always there for me even if it's just to try on shoes. She's a good person. She just talks tough so people will forget what a geek she used to be."
"Whatever, I'm gonna head to class now." Olette said, getting up and walked away. Namine kicked Kairi under the table.
"Ow! Okay, you need to relax or I need to start carrying a gun!"
"No, look!" Namine pointed. Kairi looked to where she was pointing to see Roxas. He was stretching his arms over his head and Kairi saw a tattoo on his lower side.
"901, free at last? What the hell does that mean?"
Roxas then looked up passed Kairi and Namine to see Olette leaving the lunchroom. He began chasing after her. Kairi and Namine just exchanged disturbed glances but ignored him and went back to finishing their lunch. Once Roxas caught up to Olette, he tapped her shoulder. Olette turned around and smiled.
"Hi, Roxas."
"Hey, I've been meaning to ask you something."
"What's that?"
"I was wondering if you wanted to hang out tomorrow?"
"I would, but I'm going to homecoming with my friends."
"Actually, that's what I meant. I wanted to see if you'd go with me?" Olette was shocked that Roxas asked her. She felt no romantic feelings for him but like Kairi said, as long as you have fun with the person than who cares?
"Yeah, sure!" She said, smiling.
"Great, I'll pick you up at 7:30 pm."
"Okay, sounds good." Olette said and she started to think to herself, that Roxas really isn't as bad as everyone says. He's just misunderstood.
After school, Namine was painting signs for the homecoming dance in the school gym. Suddenly she felt somebody cover her eyes. She turned around to see Wakka.
"Hey, what are you doing here? You're a little early." Namine said.
"I'm about to buy a suit and I wanted to know what color your dress is so we can match."
"Oh! Don't worry about it. It doesn't have to match. Just wear whatever you have."
"I don't think I can show up in pants and a muscle shirt, ya?"
"Well, are you sure you want to?"
"Yes, I want to. Oh, before I forget." Wakka pulled out some munny from his pocket and handed it to Namine.
"What is that for?"
"The tickets."
"No, don't worry about it. This is my treat. I know how hard you work. I don't want you to spend your munny on some dance."
"Well, tough. I want to, ya?"
"Okay, well I'm wearing a silver strapless dress." She said.
"Can't wait to see you in it." He said and kissed her cheek. Namine faked a smile as he walked away. She felt so guilty. She only asked him to come because she felt bad at how her father got him in trouble at the club. If she knew he was just going to spend all his munny on her, she would've just saved him the trouble.
As Kairi was leaving school, she spotted Yuffie walking back into the school. She thought to herself that maybe she could help Olette.
"Hi!" Kairi said, approaching Yuffie.
"Hey, don't worry Kairi I'm voting for you." Yuffie said, smiling.
"Thanks, are you going to homecoming?" Kairi asked.
"I don't think so."
"Oh, well that's too bad. I think Olette really wanted you to come."
"Oh, well I guess I'll think about it."
"Great!" Kairi said as Yuffie walked passed her. She looked across the street to see Larxene and Roxas. Kairi just ignored them and walked off. She thought she probably should've tried to eavesdrop but she had way too much on her mind already. Roxas stood in front of Larxene who sat on a park bench.
"So, you asked her to homecoming?" Larxene asked.
"Olette? Yes I did." Roxas replied.
"Why are you doing this?"
"What are you talking about?" Roxas asked, confused.
"You're only fooling yourself. Once she finds out the truth about you, she'll hate you."
"Whatever." Roxas shrugged. Larxene then put her hand up to him. He rolled his eyes and took her hand to walk her home.
Later that night at the homecoming dance, Namine and Wakka waited outside of the gym for the rest of her friends. Namine saw Kairi and Xion running around the corner to her.
"There you guys are!" Namine yelled. "This is Wakka, by the way."
"Hi, nice to meet you." Xion said and Kairi smiled and waved.
"Before you have fun tonight, you have to work, Xion. You got first shift at the bean bag toss." Namine giggled. The four of them walked inside and Xion went straight to bean bag toss station. Namine spotted someone familiar across the room and realized it was her sister, Aerith.
"Ugh, will you excuse me for a moment?" Namine asked Wakka.
"Yeah, no problem." He said and Namine looked at Kairi telling her to entertain him with her facial expression. Kairi just rolled her eyes and waved off to Namine. Namine then walked down the stairs towards her sister.
"Hi, what are you doing here?" Namine asked as she turned Aerith toward her.
"Yeah, it's good to see you too."
"No, seriously, what are you doing here?"
"The former homecoming queen has to present the crown. Oh by the way, they posted the Golden Orchid essays online and I had a chance to read yours or should I say, mine?"
"I already told mom and dad and they think a retraction would be an embarrassment to us. It was a really stupid thing to do and I'm sorry."
"No, you're not." Aerith sniped. "You never are."
Namine shook her head and walked back to Kairi and Wakka. As Namine walked back to them, Kairi turned around to see Sora come inside. He saw her and waved and started to walk up to them. Namine spotted the blush forming on Kairi's face.
"Oh, Sora's here! Why don't you ask him to dance?" Namine said, nudging Kairi. Kairi glared at her and the blush turned deep red. "C'mon, will you just stop denying it to yourself?" Namine whispered as Sora got closer.
"Hey, Kai!" Sora said.
"Hey…" Kairi said, with a sheepish smile. Namine then pushed Kairi into him and she fell right into his chest. "Oops, clumsy me. Sorry about that guys." Namine said giggling.
"Heh…" Kairi stuttered, while looking up at Sora who was looking down at her. Both of their faces were as red as a rose. Selphie than pushed right in between them, which angered Sora and bothered Kairi a little bit.
"Hey, Kairi, Seifer has been looking for you all night. I think he wants to dance." She said.
"Seifer can look for a dance partner else where." Kairi said. Then someone ran up to the group with a camera. It was Pence Gottesman. He was in charge of the school yearbook, and not the school's most popular boy but he was nice. Kairi had spoken to him a couple times during classes. "Yearbook pictures!" Pence yelled.
"Nice bowtie!" Kairi said, smiling.
"Thanks, it was my grandpa's."
"Great, so can you and your ugly bowtie go over there?" Selphie asked, smirking. Pence looked down and his smile faded.
"I'll see you around, Kairi."
"Yeah, I guess so. Have fun!" Kairi then looked at Selphie and glared. "Rude much?" She asked. Selphie pulled Kairi to the side and whispered. "Am I in a parallel universe or did you just engage in conversation with Hermie…isn't that what Aqua called him?"
"He's not a hermaphrodite. He's a really nice guy. Saying hi to him is not a crime."
"It should be. You didn't bust your ass to become Twilight Town's 'it' girl just to make chit chat with losers. If we start slipping up, we're gonna be right back at the bottom again."
"Well, I'm starting to think I've lost a few things on the climb up."
"Well you can go kamikaze but I will cut your rip cord before I let you drag me down too." Selphie scowled and Kairi glared at her. She couldn't how insecure and pathetic she sounded.
"Now back to the Seifer situation, you know, the most popular guy in Twilight Town? Well, you're gonna have to dance with him when you're both voted homecoming king and queen." Selphie, following Kairi back to her friends.
"No, I don't. If I really don't want to, I don't have to."
"Besides she's already gotta dance partner." Sora said.
"Who?" Selphie asked.
"Sora!" Namine shouted.
"Huh!?" Sora and Kairi both said.
"You came here with Sora, right?" She asked, nudging Kairi's arm again.
"Heh, that's right." Kairi blushed. "Let's go dance, Sora." Kairi grabbed Sora's hand and ran. Sora looked back up at Namine and gave her a thank you look. Namine put a thumbs up to him and smiled. She knew Sora and Kairi both had feelings for each other since they were little, she just wished Sora would get the balls to admit it to her or Kairi at least admit it to herself.
Across the gym, Xion was working at bean bag toss with no one other than Riku. They hadn't said a word to each other since Xion got there. Finally, Xion couldn't take the silence anymore.
"I didn't tell anyone about us, okay!?" Xion yelled.
"Just drop it." Riku said.
"It wasn't a friend that sent that text!"
"So who's X then?"
"It's someone messing with me."
"Xion, why would anyone want to mess with you?"
"Because last summer…" Xion started but then stopped. She almost told Riku about the Larxene thing. "It's complicated and I don't know."
One of the teachers then walked up to Xion and Riku.
"If you've had enough I'd be happy to relieve you." She said.
"Oh, no thanks, Ms. Welch. I'm okay." Riku said.
"I was talking to her." She said, pointing to Xion.
"Oh, I've had enough." Xion said and quickly walked away from Riku.
Olette and Roxas walked to the doors of the homecoming dance. Roxas stopped in his tracks. Olette turned around to see what was wrong.
"You know, I've never been to one of these things before."
"What are you so nervous about?" Olette giggled. "Is it my friends?"
"They think I'm a freak."
"Not all of them." Olette said, referring to Kairi. "I mean, they'll get over it because they want me to be happy. It's just a party. We'll eat some chips, drink some punch and you don't have to dance if you don't want to."
"That makes me feel a little better." Roxas smiled. Olette linked arms with him and they wandered into the dance. Olette saw Namine, Xion and Kairi standing in a circle. They walked up to them and the girls just looked at Olette in shock.
"I'll go get us some drinks." Roxas said and walked away.
"You're here with Roxas?" Namine asked.
"Either you've got some genius plan of sleeping with the enemy or you've lost your mind!" Xion yelled.
"You don't even know him!" Olette yelled back.
"What is there to know? Who else could've helped Larxene? He has every reason to hate us." Namine said.
"Well, he doesn't."
"Olette, if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it's a freaking duck!" Kairi yelled.
"Wow, I thought at least you'd understand. Aren't you the one who told me to follow my feelings and not let others opinions stop me?"
"Yes, I did but that was when I thought you were taking Yuffie."
"Yuffie!? Why would I take Yuffie?" Olette asked. Roxas then walked up and handed Olette her drink.
"Hey, do you wanna go play some games?" He asked.
"Sure." Olette said, smiling but then turned to shake her head at her friends.
Wakka was standing by himself, drinking some punch and Aerith walked up to him.
"Did you buy a raffle ticket yet?" She asked.
"Aerith, right? Namine's sister?" He asked, smiling.
"Mm-hm. Where is Namine anyway?" Aerith asked. "Did she leave you all alone?"
"It's cool. I like to people watch."
"Oh, well I'm glad to hear that. I mean most guys would be uncomfortable being used like that, but if you're not then no one is getting hurt."
"What are you talking about?" Wakka asked confused.
"I'm talking about Namine, you know, dating you to piss off our dad."
"She's always trying something new to make him crazy." Aerith said. Wakka looked confused but then walked away to look for Namine. Aerith shrugged and smirked. Wakka walked up to Namine who was standing next to Kairi and Xion. Sora then walked up to the group with a drink for him and Kairi.
"Where have you been?" Kairi asked.
"Um…I had to find some ice." Sora said. He actually was in the hall way trying to give himself a pep talk. He and Kairi danced to plenty of fast paced songs but no slow songs. When a slow song comes on he swore he'd ask her to dance. He lucked into having her as his date but he knew he wouldn't always be that lucky. Namine then pulled Xion and Kairi to the side a bit.
"I figured out what Roxas' tattoo means." She said. "901, free at last. It's the date Aqua went missing."
"Oh my god." Xion whispered.
"Kairi, you've gotta go get that file now."
"I thought I could wait until after the name homecoming queen?"
"No, you have to now. Olette could be walking right into a trap."
"Fine! Just keep an eye on Olette until I get back." Kairi said and marched off. Sora looked to see Kairi heading towards the exit.
"Where's she going?" Sora asked Namine and Xion.
"Oh, she had to deal with a crisis or something." Namine said. Xion whacked Namine and looked at her like she was an idiot. Namine threw her arms in the air and rolled her eyes.
"Hey, Namine, wanna go to the fortune teller?" Wakka asked. Namine heard Wakka but kept her eyes on the crowd, looking for Olette. She finally saw her and Roxas playing a game right next to the fortune teller booth.
"Um, yeah! Let's go!" Namine said and pulled Wakka along.
Kairi paced outside waiting for the cab to come. Pence then walked up beside her.
"The homecoming queen is leaving?" Pence asked, surprised.
"Nominee and yeah, sort of. Why are you leaving?"
"I took enough photos for the yearbook."
"You came just to take photos?"
"Yeah, and to cast my vote for you."
"Oh, thanks. Could you actually do me a favor? I left a check for the band at my aunt's office. Could you bring me there and back?" Kairi, lied.
"Sure, I've got nothing better to do."
"There's a lot of anxiety in these cards," the fortune teller said to Namine as she flipped the cards. "Are you a worrier?"
"I guess so." Namine said, but she wasn't looking at the fortune teller. She was watching Olette and Roxas. The fortune teller then pulled another card up. On the card was written something in permanent maker.
"What is this?" The fortune teller asked, shocked. Namine looked down at the card and read it.
Say goodbye to your B.F.F.
Namine looked up quickly and didn't see Olette anymore. Roxas was still standing by the food table though. At least Namine knew Olette wasn't alone with him. Olette had seen Yuffie standing alone in the corner. Olette approached Yuffie and she just starred at her.
"What did you tell Kairi about us?" Olette asked.
"What are you talking about?" Yuffie asked, confused.
"Why did she think you'd be my date?"
"I don't know. She came up to me." Yuffie was now very annoyed. "Shouldn't you be with your date?"
"Don't make a big deal out of this."
"I'm not, you are. I don't know why since you've clearly moved on."
"I told you I needed space."
"I know, and I'm giving you space. You need to come to grips with who you are and stop hiding things."
"I'm not hiding anything."
"Then look me in the eye and tell me you have no feelings for me and I'll leave you alone for good."
Olette was shocked. She tried to say it, but she couldn't because she knew deep down it wasn't true. She didn't want to hurt someone she truly cared about.
Xion saw Riku leave the gymnasium. She quickly followed him, knowing this was a good chance to talk to him.
"Riku, wait!" Xion yelled when she caught up to him. Riku stopped in his tracks. Xion stood behind him, almost breathless from how fast she ran.
"I don't want to argue. I know it's over, I know it is. But I just can't stand the idea of you walking around and hating me."
"Hate you?" Riku asked. He turned around to face her and walked closer to her. "The only person I hate right now is myself." Xion looked up at him, stunned.
"Seeing you out there tonight, out on the floor, having fun with guys your own age. You don't have to sneak around with them. I can't take you to the movies or a nice restaurant. By the way, I could never hate you." Riku said and waited for a response from her but she didn't have anything to say. She didn't know what to say. She turned around and started running back to the gym. Riku turned the other way and looked at the wall. He then swung his fist against the lockers, creating a large booming sound. He breathed heavily and walked off.
Olette walked up to Roxas after her conversation with Yuffie. She just walked away from Yuffie, saying nothing. She couldn't say anything. Olette looked at Roxas and noticed he had an upset look upon his face. Then he turned to look at Olette.
"What was that about?" He asked.
"Oh, nothing." Olette said.
"Olette can I ask you something? Be honest too."
"Okay."
"Did you come to homecoming with the wrong person?"
"Maybe."
"I understand." Roxas said and shook his head.
"Why do you like me?" Olette asked. "Why are you so nice to me when you know what my friends and I did?"
"I guess because I've also done a lot of things that I'm not proud of. We've all got secrets, Olette." Roxas said and looked down, with a guilty expression.
"You okay?" She asked.
"Why don't we just walk around and talk about it? I need to tell you something about that night." He said. Olette then looked intently at him and nodded. As they walked out the gym, she saw Namine frantically looking for something or someone. Namine saw Aerith and approached her. "Have you seen Wakka?" Namine asked.
"He left." Aerith said, smirking.
"What do you mean?"
"He left. Do I need to spell it out for you?"
"What did you say to him?" Namine asked, gritting her teeth.
"I didn't have much to say. You screwed this one up all on your own. Now I have to go announce the homecoming king and queen." Aerith said and walked off. Namine was furious with her sister. She totally forgot though once she saw Kairi and Pence come back into the dance. Namine ran over to her and Xion met her in the middle of dance floor. They both ran quickly to her. Kairi looked at Pence and hugged him. "Thank you!" She said. Seifer was looking up at Kairi and saw her hug him. He glared at them and mumbled under his breath. "Tramp."
Namine, Kairi and Xion went into one of the hallways to look at the file Kairi got.
"I got Roxas' file, not Larxene's. The therapist had her come in for one session to see how she felt about Roxas. The dates also prove that he wasn't away when Aqua went missing. He was still here in Twilight Town. As Namine read the file, she flash backed to the night of the Larxene thing.
"Think I didn't see what was going on in there?" Aqua asked Roxas.
"It's not what it looked like." Roxas said.
"Maybe not to you."
"What the hell did I ever do to you?"
"You've been peeping in my window for years."
"I never looked in your window!"
"Well, I've looked in yours and we're not taking the blame for this!"
"Oh yes you are!"
"No, not unless you want the entire school to know how close you are with your stepsister. You talk and I'll make sure everybody knows you've been doing it with her!" Aqua yelled.
Namine remembered that Aqua had something on him that made him take the blame for what happened to Larxene. This was it. Roxas was sleeping with Larxene, his stepsister.
"So that's what Aqua had on Roxas." Xion said.
"That's enough to want her and us dead." Namine said. Kairi pulled out her phone to call Olette. Her cell phone went straight the voicemail.
"We need to go find her, now." Kairi said and they ran off.
Olette and Roxas were walking around, looking for a quiet spot to talk. Roxas then turned to Olette.
"I have to go to the bathroom quick, I'll be right back." He said and Olette nodded. He walked away leaving Olette alone in the school hall way. Olette heard someone walking around behind her. She turned around and saw no one there. "Roxas?" She called. No answer. She shrugged her shoulders and continued to wait. Then she heard footsteps again, but closer this time. She jumped at the sound. "Who's there!?" She yelled. She heard a locker slam down the hall in front of then. Olette jumped and screamed. She turned and ran as fast as she could, screaming.
"Get away! Somebody help me!" Olette was running so fast that she lost her footing and fell to the ground. Seconds later, Roxas walked back to where Olette was waiting but she wasn't there anymore.
"Olette? Olette, where are you?" He started walking down the hall way. He peered around the corner and saw a girl lying on the ground in an orange dress. "Olette!" He yelled. He ran to her body and knelt down to check her pulse. She was still breathing but she had a gash across her forehead and was bleeding. "Oh no!" He picked her up bridal style and ran outside to his car. He laid her down in the back seat and hoped in the driver's seat and drove to the Twilight Town Hospital. All he could wonder was what happened and who was she running from. Whoever it was, really scared her or may have possibly tried to kill her.
