There's a little bit of cursing and violence, so beware... you might not even notice it (;
Maybe...
Enjoy!
Chapter 7: The Dice of Trouble
Monday: September 19
For some strange reason, Xion wasn't able to shake off the feeling that something bad was going to happen. She's had that premonition since she stepped on school ground. Too deep in thought, she wasn't paying attention to her surroundings.
"Xion?"
"Huh?" Xion looked beside her, unaware of the brunette sitting next to her.
"You look really worried. Did something happen?"
"No, everything's fine." She smiled and changed the subject. "How was your weekend?"
Olette began to twist her hands, a smile appearing in her face. "It was nice." Her smile got bigger as she saw spotted a familiar blond approaching them. "I have some good news."
Xion's worry was replaced by curiosity. She followed Olette's gaze and stared back and forth between them. She gasped in realization, her blue eyes widening.
"What is it Xion?" Kairi asked, her attention shifting to her twin's expression.
She leaned forward and squealed at the sight. Everyone turned their direction towards Kairi, surprised to see Hayner and Olette holding hands.
"About time," Riku uttered, breaking the silence.
Hayner glared at Riku, but couldn't suppress his smile. Xion and Kairi hugged Olette as Ventus and Terra ruffled Hayner's hair. Aqua congratulated both of them, pressuring Sora to do the same. Pence already knew so he continued eating his breakfast, happy for his best friends. Naminé kept her distance, pretending to look for her phone in her backpack.
"I want to know what happened," Kairi hinted.
Before Olette could respond, she looked at Hayner for approval. He nodded, fighting the blush that was threatening to appear.
"It's all thanks to Roxas." Naminé froze, finally turning her attention to the couple. Pretending not to notice, Olette continued. "His little stunt at the party made Hayner jealous. He grabbed me close and whispered that Hayner and I like each other. Hayner saw and asked me to dance. We spent most of the night dancing and he took me home. The next day, we went out to the beach and he asked me if there was something between me and Roxas. I told him no and… and he kissed me. After the kiss, he asked me if I wanted to be his girlfriend and I said yes."
"That's really sweet," Kairi awed, shifting closer to Sora.
"Yea. Who knew Hayner's jealousy will make him sweet," Riku added, crossing his arms intelligently. "First Mr. Valentine and then Roxas. We just need Axel to join the list and Hayner will be as romantic as Sora."
"Hey, I'm more romantic than you!" Sora exclaimed.
"Oh, yea? At least I'm aware when a girl is flirting with me, unlike you with-"
"Now that you mention it, where's Roxas?" Kairi interrupted Riku, sending him a threatening glare.
"I saw him in the morning… but I didn't have time to talk to him," Xion answered, becoming worried once more.
Everyone stood up and began to look around for Roxas, aware of the trouble he might face if he was alone. Ventus called his phone but Roxas didn't answer. The bell rang as they were about to split up into small pairs to find him.
"We have him next. I'll ask him where he was and text you what he says," Olette reassured Xion, hoping to calm her down.
Xion nodded and smiled, thanking her as she left for class. Naminé waited patiently for the new couple to say goodbye to one another, nervous to see Roxas. She felt awful for ignoring him all weekend, confused about why she felt angry and hurt towards him. 'Roxas didn't do anything wrong. He's been sweet to me all this time. I shouldn't have acted the way I did towards him,' Naminé thought as she walked to her classroom with Olette.
"I hope Roxas is in class already. I wonder why Xion was so worried."
"Yea," the blond answered. "I'm happy for you and Hayner. I don't know why I never noticed there was something between you two."
Olette giggled, blushing at her statement. "Well, at first it was just a crush, so I didn't think much about it. But my feelings grew stronger during my freshman year and I couldn't ignore it. I'm glad he feels the same way."
Naminé nodded in agreement and felt the weight she had in her heart lift a little. The girls talked about their weekend, happy that the awkward atmosphere between them was gone.
"Demyx, where's Roxas?"
"Can't say. He's in good hands though, so don't worry."
Olette nodded, satisfied with the answer. She sat down and took out her phone, quickly sending Xion a text message. Their lesson soon began, forcing Naminé to push any thoughts about Roxas out of her head.
"What did Xion say?" Naminé asked as she recopied her notes.
"She just said thanks with a smiley face. Glad she calmed down," Olette responded. "Why are you rewriting your notes?"
"Oh, well… uh…"
Olette turned around and saw Demyx with his head down on his desk. Shaking her head she asked, "Was he like this throughout the lesson?"
Naminé nodded and said, "I thought Roxas would need today's notes since he wasn't here. He could share them with Demyx too."
''That's nice of you Naminé," Olette replied, smiling too brightly. "How did you sleep Sleeping Beauty?"
"Not bad," Demyx yawned, stretching his arms in front of him so the teacher wouldn't see. "Bell's going to ring soon. If only class was longer…"
Both girls giggled and shook their heads, putting their materials away in their backpacks. As she walked to her next class, Naminé secretly wished that her classes were a little longer. She had classes with her friends and felt lucky to be able to sit next to them, a chance that many students didn't have. However, it was not always a blessing if your friend was not in a good mood.
"Kairi, it's ok. The book is short and you can finish it in an hour. I can help you," Naminé told her gently as they walked out of class.
"I'm just happy that class went fast," Kairi mumbled bitterly.
Once they reached the table, Kairi sat down and placed her head down. Sora debated where to sit, in the end deciding to sit in front of her so he would be out of arms reach if he said something wrong. Riku shook his head and sat between Xion and Kairi, eating his food as if there was nothing wrong.
"Kairi, what's wrong?" Olette asked, sensing an angry vibe from the red-head.
"Can you believe we were already assigned to write an essay?"
"It's an English class. What else do you expect?" Riku questioned.
"Not an essay in the second week!"
"She's got a point," Sora agreed. "I hate essays."
"So do I, but at least you don't have to write a report every day," Axel said as he approached the group.
Although they had a vague idea about what he was saying, they agreed that he had it worse. They knew how often Roxas and Axel had to help Demyx write an appropriate report. Even though they didn't know what they had to write about, it seemed that there was no room for mistakes. Kairi quickly took out her book and began reading, aware that Xion went through the same thing a few months ago and didn't complain once.
"Hey, Xion. Roxas isn't here?" Axel asked casually.
"I haven't seen him since this morning. I thought…" Xion turned to look at Olette.
"Demyx said he was in good hands," Olette said, receiving a nod from Naminé as support.
"He was," Axel responded. He then sighed, scratching his head in frustration. "Damn it."
"Axel, what's wrong?"
He looked at Xion, a grim expression on his face. "A pair of dice told me to look out for him."
Riku immediately took out his phone and called Roxas, placing his hand over Xion's shoulder to try to comfort her. He dialed once more, shaking his head at Olette, who began to look around the quad searching for spiky-blond hair. Everyone else was confused, waiting for an explanation from Axel.
"What's going on?" Olette asked out loud.
The group turned to where she was looking. They saw various students quickly walking towards the direction of the music building.
"Roxas," Axel mumbled.
He took off in the same direction, quickly followed by Xion. The group quickly threw away their lunch, grabbed their backpacks, and followed the duo. They arrived between the music and math building and saw a group of students formed in a circle. The majority of the students were standing on their toes to see what was going on. Kairi soon spotted Xion and Axel pushing their way through.
"Ok, we're going to separate and push our way through in pairs. Alright?" Not waiting for their respond, Kairi continued. "Olette, Pence, and Hayner. Naminé and Ventus. Terra and Aqua. Sora and Riku, you two are coming with me."
They separated and began to push through the crowd, holding on to one another tightly. As they got closer to the middle of the circle, they spotted Roxas and another teen with a black beanie in the center.
"Is that Seifer?" Naminé asked Ventus.
Ventus only nodded, pushing her forward. However, no one was able to reach Roxas. Seifer's gang was acting as a wall separating the students from Roxas and Seifer, shoving anyone who tried to get a closer look or those who tried to intervene. Naminé spotted Demyx being held back by a teen with steel-blue hair, who was observing the scene with a cool expression. Her attention was brought back to the scene in front of her when she heard Seifer talk.
"Who would want you? You're a fucken loser and a wimp," Seifer taunted Roxas. "You're worthless. Why do you even bother to get up in the morning?"
Seifer's gang laughed, repeating his statements. Unable to hold back his anger, Roxas ran towards Seifer and punched him on the face. Seifer's smirk turned into sneer as he punched Roxas back. Roxas quickly turned his head but Seifer's fist collided with his left ear. They tackled one another, each trying to throw the other to the ground with continuous blows.
"Roxas!" Xion yelled, pushing the girl in front of her to get through.
The girl turned around and asked, "Does his girlfriend want to join the fight?"
"Move Fuu. I'm sure you don't want to see your boss over there get fucked up," Axel replied cruelly.
Xion looked around to find a hole in the group, surprised to see Vanitas standing in the front of the crowd.
"Vanitas, aren't you going to do anything?"
The raven-haired teen turned around and saw Terra and Aqua approaching him.
"Fuck off," Vanitas responded.
"Do you think this is amusing?" Terra asked angrily.
"Terra, this is not the time. We need to find a way around his group," Aqua told him urgently, holding his hand to try to calm him down. They turned their direction to the fight, hoping to find a way to stop them without starting a brawl with Seifer's gang.
Roxas managed to hit Seifer on the stomach as Seifer punched him on his temple. Although he was uncoordinated from the last blow, Roxas managed to knock him to the ground and punched him on the face once more.
"Oh no, Seifer!" Rai yelled, running to help his friend.
He grabbed Roxas from the collar of his shirt and threw him to the ground. The impact was too hard for Roxas, who couldn't stand up from the pain on his back and the blow to his head. Axel pushed his way through to stop Rai, hoping to help his friend in time. However, it was Vanitas that reached him first. Without trouble, Vanitas grabbed Rai's arm and flipped him around, his face crashing on the ground. He stepped on his back, a smirk over his face as he grabbed Rai's arm.
Twisted his arm as he brought it close to his chest, Vanitas looked down at Rai and said, "It's a one-to-one fight. If you want to join, fight someone else." He lifted his gaze, ignoring Rai's whimpering. "Same goes to the other lap dogs watching."
He glared at everyone, daring them to come forward. When no one approached them, Vanitas released Rai's arm and walked towards Roxas. He grabbed his arm and lifted him up, walking away without a word once Roxas balanced himself. Seifer's gang quickly ran to Seifer and Rai, sending Roxas spiteful glares as they left.
"Roxas, are you alright?" Axel asked once he was by his side. "Come on, we'll get you cleaned up in the restroom. We don't want to get caught if a teacher comes."
Roxas only nodded, allowing Axel to lead him inside the math building. Ventus and Sora soon followed them, leaving everyone else to make sure Seifer's gang didn't come back. They quietly talked to one another, sending someone inside the building every couple of minutes to make sure no adult went into the restroom.
"Where's Roxas? How is he?" Xion asked as Ventus and Sora approached them.
"Don't worry, he's fine. Axel wanted to talk to him alone," Ventus replied. "The bell's going to ring in a couple of minutes, so I suggest we just head to class. We need to get out of here. We look too suspicious just standing here."
Everyone agreed and walked their separate ways. Hayner decided to walk Olette to class, leaving Naminé to walk alone. As she walked to her class, she hoped that time would pass fast so she could see Roxas and make sure that he was alright. Her history class felt longer than usual but she felt relieved when she was already dressed for P.E. However, she felt a little sad that Roxas wasn't waiting outside her class as usual and hoped, along with Xion, that he was outside their locker room.
"Riku?"
"They called him up to the office," Riku answered, sensing Xion's question. "Some idiot was telling the whole class about the fight and a teacher overheard as he passed by."
"I hope he doesn't get into too much trouble."
Riku shook his head as he crossed his arms. "Not as much as Seifer. The whole school knows his reputation and he likely started it all. The idiot who opened his mouth should be the one worried. Seifer and his gang will hunt him down for getting him into trouble."
Both girls agreed, Xion hoping that Roxas would have control over his anger throughout his meeting. Riku and Xion soon left to their section and Naminé walked towards her assigned number. Luckily for her, both of their classes were being combined into two groups and she was in the same team with Xion. They headed to the football field and began to play capture the flag. Riku was in the red team while Xion and Naminé were in the yellow team.
"I'm not losing to you this time Riku!" Xion yelled as she chased the silver-haired boy.
He turned around and smirked, picking up his speed as he got close to the yellow team's flag. Naminé tried to stop Riku but she knew he was too fast for her. Each team kept going back and forth to retrieve their flag, the red team counting on Riku to win.
"I knew I shouldn't have made that bet," Xion whispered to herself. Naminé slowly closed her locker and turned to look at her curiously. "If Roxas was here, we would've been a threat."
"Yea," Naminé replied. "But… he never came back to class."
"I doubt they sent him home. It's pointless since it's almost time for school to be over. If they're sending anyone home, it's Seifer."
Walking slowly upstairs, Naminé wondered if Roxas was going to be in class. 'If what Xion said was true, he might still be here.' She walked inside the building but didn't walk into the classroom. Something was holding her back from opening the door, forgetting the fact that the door could hit her on the face if someone opened it from inside.
"Excuse me."
Naminé slowly turned around, recognizing the voice behind her.
"Naminé," Roxas breathed out, surprised by her unexpected hug.
She held him tighter, pressing her head close to his chest. Roxas relaxed and hugged her back, trying to hold back the groans that were threatening to escape. Taking control of her emotions, Naminé gently released Roxas once she realized he was having trouble breathing.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you."
"No, it's ok. My back still hurts from Rai's throw," Roxas replied, gently massaging his back. "Let's go in, we don't want to be late."
Roxas opened the door and allowed Naminé to go in first. Both of them headed to their table quickly, avoiding the students glances. Their art teacher made the same announcement as Friday and then started the roll call. Once done, the students began to take out their material and talked within themselves as they worked. Roxas walked to the back room and brought out his finished project. He sat down across Naminé and gently placed his figurine in front of him. He admired his project, a pink-tinged white Aster with a butterfly and a lilac-blue Morning Glory with a bee, before turning his attention to Naminé.
"Are you alright?" Roxas asked, seeing Naminé blankly stare at her canvas.
"I should be the one asking you that."
"I'm fine. Better than Seifer."
"Did you get into a lot trouble?"
"No. I just got detention for two weeks and Seifer was suspended for a week. I won't be surprised if there's another fight after he comes back."
"Because of that guy in Riku's class, right?"
"Yea."
"You're done Roxas?" Miss Yuna asked.
"Uh, yea. I was going to ask you what I should do next," Roxas lied.
"You can help out Naminé or the other students."
"Alright."
Miss Yuna walked away and approached the glaze room, shaking her head as she went inside.
"Do you need any help?"
"Don't you want to come closer?"
"Well, you don't want me to look at your painting until you're done, right?"
Although Naminé knew that he didn't mean to sound rude, there was a little harshness in his voice. She couldn't blame him, he tried to help her multiple times and he never pressured her to show him her art. She also ignored him all weekend, making it seem as if she was adding insult to injury.
"Actually, I'm almost done. But before I finish, I want to know what you think about it," Naminé responded. She smiled gently when she saw his shocked expression. "I mean it Roxas."
"Oh, alright."
Roxas awkwardly walked towards Naminé, unsure of what to say. He was rendered speechless when he saw her painting. It was a field of Aster and Morning Glories in red, pink, blue, purple, and white colors. Some of the flowers looked as if they were gently swaying with an invisible breeze.
"Um, Roxas?" Naminé nervously stared up at him, waiting for his response.
"Y-you aren't done?"
She shyly shook her head and said, "I just need to draw the sun and the sky."
"It looks amazing Naminé," he said sincerely.
"Thanks Roxas. Yours looks amazing too. It looks realistic."
"Thanks and so does yours… Well, I'll let you finish. I want to make the base smooth before class is over."
Roxas reached over the table and grabbed his art. He quickly smiled at Naminé, walked to the front desk to grab a sanding belt, and left the classroom. Naminé spent the rest of the period finishing her painting, occasionally glancing at the door. The bell rang as Roxas walked back into the classroom with a satisfied look. He quickly placed his figurine in the back room and walked to the door where Naminé was waiting for him with his backpack. He thanked her and they made small talk as they headed to entrance of the school.
"Are your parents going to be mad?"
"I doubt he'll care," Roxas responded indifferently. "A fight won't worry him."
"You had Xion and Axel really worried," Naminé said quietly. "You had all of us worried."
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to worry anyone," Roxas replied quickly. "I'm fine though."
He grinned to show that he was fine. Naminé smiled in return and took off her backpack, causing Roxas to slow down and watch their surroundings so no one will bump into her. He chuckled as he saw Naminé struggle to open the large pouch, so he stopped and held on to her backpack.
"Thanks."
"No problem."
She quickly took out her notes and zipped her backpack. They continued walking, Roxas curiously eyeing the pieces of paper she was protectively holding.
"I'm sorry."
"For what?" Roxas asked confusedly, wondering what she might be apologizing for.
"This weekend. I shouldn't have left the party without telling anyone, especially you. I'm sorry for ignoring your text messages. I don't know what I was thinking. I didn't mean to be rude."
"Naminé-"
"Oh, here. I copied the math notes for you. You can share them with Demyx too. He fell asleep during class."
"Naminé-"
"I hope that you understand them. If you don't, then you can just ask Olette for her notes. You can also text me if you need help. I promise that I'll text back. I'm-"
"Naminé," Roxas interrupted, grabbing the young blond by the shoulders. "Thank you. I really appreciate it. This is the first time someone has done this for me."
"Really?"
"Yea. I usually have to ask someone for their notes. Thanks again Naminé," he said sincerely, gently grabbing the notes. "And you don't have to apologize. If I did something wrong, you can tell me. I don't want to leave any misunderstanding between us."
"You didn't do anything wrong. I… I don't even know how to explain it," Naminé finished quietly, placing her head down so she could avoid any eye contact with Roxas.
"It's ok. Whenever you figure it out, you can talk to me," he replied, kindly placing his hand over her head. "Alright?"
Naminé smiled and nodded, glad that Roxas didn't hold anything against her. He removed his hand and they began to walk again. They were close to the entrance of the school when they heard someone's name being called out.
"Roxas!"
Both blondes turned around and saw Axel running towards them, a frustrated look on his face.
"What the hell are you doing? You're going to be late!"
"Late for what?" Naminé asked.
"I have detention after school," Roxas replied. He turned to address Axel with a confused look. "But I start tomorrow. Right?"
"Did that blow to your head create short-term memory?" Axel asked. "You have detention starting today. Got it memorized?"
Roxas rolled his eyes at his friend's trademark. "Yea, now I do."
Naminé gently smiled and said, "You should go Roxas. I don't want you to be late."
"Right. Thanks for the notes Naminé, I really appreciate them."
"You're welcome. I'll see you tomorrow. Bye Axel."
"See ya."
Roxas watched her walk away before turning to the direction of the locker room. He walked in a quick pace, followed closely by Axel. Before he could speak his mind, Axel made sure that there was no one around as they walked through the quad.
"You're a horrible liar."
"Cause you know me so well," Roxas replied sarcastically.
"As a matter of fact, I do," Axel stated cheekily. "If I remember correctly, you're the one who told me you had detention today ten minutes ago. How could you forget something like that in such a short amount of time?"
"That blow to my head created short-term memory," Roxas repeated casually before running away to his destination.
"Maybe she's the one doing that!" Axel yelled.
However, Roxas didn't respond back. He was either too far away to have heard or was ignoring Axel. 'Probably ignoring me,' he thought.
"But maybe you already knew that," he said softly, smiling as he headed to the library to wait for his friend.
This has to be the longest chapter I ever written! Hope you enjoyed.
Next chapter: Roxas thanks Naminé for her notes in a way that shocks one of the girls.
P.S.: I noticed I didn't mention the two flowers they chose in the previous chapters so I'm sorry. Aster and Morning Glory are September birth flowers and they have a meaning... which might be thrown in next chapter as well!
