Chapter Ten: Two Big No-No's
Sora
After dinner, I went to bed... But I didn't sleep for a long time. My thoughts were stuck on Riku... Maybe it's a guy thing to go after what you can't have, and Riku is just one of those things... But doesn't that usually just apply to girls? I don't know why I did it, but I got out of bed and snuck into the bathroom. I peeked through the gap of the door and heard nothing. I walked in, and he wasn't even there. It was eleven at night! Where was he?! Then I noticed his window was open. He snuck out, then... I heard a scraping at the wall outside, then some sort of sliding and a swear. Then I heard more scraping. I ran into the bathroom just in time to watch Riku come in through the window, his brown bag on his back. He threw it under the bed, whatever was inside clanking like aluminum cans. He unzipped his black hoodie, revealing his bare chest. He kicked off his sandals and climbed into bed. After a minute or two I heard him snoring softly. I crept back to my own bed. I lay there- what was he doing out? Why this late? I started to suspect he was out with someone.

"Sora! Get up and get ready for school! And set your alarm- your father and I will be away until Saturday," she said, coming in and opening my closet.
"Saturday?" I asked sleepily.
"Yes- he got the letter yesterday, and we are going to be going to his seventeenth anniversary high school reunion. We have to go all the way to Hollow Bastion," she explained. "And make sure that while we are gone you and Riku both control the house, so no fighing, got it?"
"Hollow Bastion? Mom, it hasn't been called 'Hollow Bastion' for eleven years- it's called Radiant Gardens, now."
"Radiant Gardens...? Oh! Right- sorry sweetheart," she said, throwing a uniform on the bed. "I'm going to go get Riku and tell him the same thing- you get dressed!" she said, hurrying to the next room. I got dressed and went into the bathroom for my routine- hair, teeth, pee, wash, go. When I was finished, Riku walks in as I'm walking out, him yawning and reaching for my hairbrush. Meh- let him use it. It just means I'm helping him keep his hair soft for me... If I ever get to touch it. I went downstairs and grabbed my lunch and breakfast- I never ate my breakfast yesterday, which was an egg sandwich, and this morning it was a breakfast burrito. I waited for Riku while he was doing whatever he was doing. About two minutes later, he came out with his breakfast and lunch. He peeled the foil off some of the burrito as we started walking.
"I'm in charge," he said before biting into the burrito.
"No you're not- Mom said share the responsibility!" I objected.
"I can easily beat you up if I wanted to- that makes me more capable." He took another bite.
"That's not fair!" I complained, opening my breakfast.
"Life's not fair, Sora," he replied. Eventually, we reached the trolley. Riku threw his foil away and got on, passing Axel's gang and sitting in the same seat he sat in the day before. Larxene, Xion, and Siefer's gang sat where they had yesterday, Tidus, Wakka and Selphie sat where they had sat yesterday afternoon, and Leon and Yuffie's families sat where they had yesterday. Except Kairi- she sat down next to me with a paper in her hand.
"Sora, this is a report I've been working on for months- just this morning I heard another incident!" Kairi said, sounding excited.
"What are you talking about?" I asked.
"For months the islands have had a gang who goes around spray painting and vandalizing spots all over downtown, and just in the past four or five days there's been two incidents right in our backyard!"
"Someone vandalized your yard?" I asked.
"No! The vandals has been striking in our part of town recently!" she said.
"Gimme a break, Kairi," I responded. "The only gangs around here are Axel and Siefer's gangs, and Siefer's running a group of bullies and Axel's group are just troublemakers. They wouldn't paint anything."
"Well, they had to have- someone did it," she said.
"What if it wasn't a gang? What if it was one person?" someone asked. Both of us looked at Riku, the one who had spoken.
"I would be surprised if it was one person- the vandalism is huge and colorful, or small and intricate. And there's a lot of it- either this person has done this so much they've accomplished much in a short time or there's more than one," Kairi noted.
"What makes you think it's one person?" I asked, interested in the conversation since Riku joined.
"I don't know... But you can never rule out the possibility without more evidence first, right?" he asked.
"Yeah... That's true... Huh," she said, getting up and sitting by Yuffie while looking over her paper. Sïax was sitting next to Marluxia today, I noticed. That's when Hayner, Pence, Olette, Roxas, and Naminé got on.
"Hey, Naminé!" Riku called and patted the seat next to him. She smiled shyly and waved. Roxas gave Riku the dirtiest look before going to his seat. Naminé was still walking up the isle, today wearing thigh-high socks. As she was passing Axel's seat, Demyx grabbed her arm and pulled her aside. He whispered something to her before letting her go. She looked at him sadly, and seemed torn to go to Riku. She eventually moved back towards us and sat next to Riku.
"Being thrown into high school is so new," she mumbled.
"What did he say?" Riku asked- he sounded concerned, seeing that she was sad.
"Well... He told me to take care of myself. It was a little confusing- why would he be concerned with the likes of me? That was the only thing he has ever said to me before- I don't get it," she said. Internally I cheered- this means Riku might have a competitor for Naminé's attention. It looked like he figured it out, too- he had a mildly irritated look on his face.
"It's nothing, then- he probably just wanted to talk." When the trolley stopped, Roxas took Naminé's shoulders and steered her off the trolley, glaring at Riku. I threw my foil away, having eaten my breakfast on the trolley. I went through the day, all my classes full of everyone my age I knew. At lunch I sat at the big table- the spot Yuffie and Leon promised me, Riku with us. After lunch we went to history with Xigbar, and he went over the whole of Twilight Town, Destiny Islands, and Radiant Garden's geography. After that we had math with Mr. Luxord, who was both a teacher and a coach just like Xigbar. Immediately I knew something was up- I walked I to the classroom and he sat up in his seat, slamming a drawer on his desk.
"'Ello, closs," he said. "Take your seats and we shall begin, ay?" I sat down in the front row, second column, Riku sitting to my left, Roxas to my right, Naminé in the corner beside him, Fuu behind Naminé, Hayner next to Fuu, Pence to Hayner's left behind me, and Olette beside Pence behind Riku. Tidus sat behind Pence, Selphie sat behind Olette, and Kairi sat behind Hayner. Xion sat next to her behind Fuu. Now the room was full.
"Awright- we are gonna have a good long lesson in... What bloody closs is this?" Luxord asked, turning around and swaying slightly.
"This is math," Olette said.
"Right! What the little moose there said," Luxord said.
"Hey! You're drunk!" Hayner exclaimed.
"I'm not drunk- I'm teaching. Now what happens when this spins?" Luxord asked, spinning the globe.
"Umm... Day and night- duh," Xion said.
"Wrong- it's a globe! Bloody hell, woman don't you know dirt from sand? Globes have no day and night!" Luxord said, slurred slightly.
"Dirt and Sand are the same thing," Pence objected.
"Correct, mate! Ten points to Gryffindor!" Luxord said, making a jagged line on the chalkboard with some chalk. "Now, we are going to go over the journey of dragons. You see, those bloody pirates decided that they wanted to kill some shit, so they went over the ocean. Their captain, Xigbar, takes them down to a McDonald's in the middle of the city of Atlantis, and he got mad and vomited on my shoes, you see. Then, that bloody scum-dog decides he would go be a coach and so there he is across the hall with his goofy pirate eyepatch. He is my best friend, mate and I bloody hate 'im, but I love that stupid son-of-a-bitch. When you ask him where he got his eyepatch he'll tell ya he sold a snake in Italy... Alright, mate- homework is to... To... You know what? Start playing poker. Here, have some cards and some munny..." he ranted, then started passing out cards and munny. "Whoever wins keeps the bloody munny. You won't stand a chance- awright- my cards... Ha! I win!" he exclaimed, throwing his cards and scooping up the munny with his arms. Then he passed out on Riku's desk. Everyone exchanged confused glances.
"He's totally smooshed! I told you so!" Hayner said, breaking the silence. The room started buzzing with chatter.
"He isn't very qualified," Olette said with a huff.
"Say what you want- I think he's kick-ass!" Pence said. The bell rang and we all headed off for athletics. I got to the gym with my bag. The girls were going into the changing room, so were the boys under Xigbar's instruction. I went to the girl's visitor's locker room. I changed into my uniform, embarrassed- my bulge could be seen quite clearly. I untucked the shirt, seeing how it helped cover it up and headed out into the gym. The curtain was pulled and Luxord stumbled into the half the girls were in.
"Aww, mate- don't you look adorable," he asked, pinching my chin as he passed me. He went to grab a box in the corner. He carried it back.
"I've got your uniforms for cheerleading. Here you are," he said, slurred and passed out uniforms. He handed me mine.
"Um... Luxord? We have a problem," I said, looking at my cheerleading uniform.
"What is it, mate? Did I order the wrong size?" he asked.
"No," I replied.
"Then there's nothing wrong, then, mate!" he said.
"Um... This is a skirt, not pants," I said slowly.
"Don't be self-conscious, mate! You'll look cute as a button in it, mate! Now, girls- start doing laps... Run about twenty laps and come to me when you finish." The girls ran to put away their uniforms.
"I can't be a male cheerleader in a skirt," I said.
"Yes you can, love- no one will know the difference. Now put your dress away and do your laps like a man."
"I AM a man," I said.
"Then there's no reason why you shouldn't be doin' your laps!" he said loudly and stumbled into his office. I leaned away from him. Then I walked towards the locker rooms while girls started emerging. I put away my uniform and walked out of the locker room, joining the other girls while they did their laps.

I got on the trolley after school when Riku sat next to me.
"Okay, so Luxord gets a game planned for the football team tomorrow night! It's only the second day of school! Was he drunk or something?"
"Yes!" I shouted. "Are you blind?! You saw him! He passed out on YOUR desk!"
"I was asking figuratively," he said. "This means I'm just going to have to take Naminé and delay the date- I have to try and memorize the playbook tonight. That's not very fun- I'll be playing and she'll be cheering tomorrow, and we won't go out tonight at all."
"So then, when you're sitting out maybe you should just talk to her."
"She won't have time..."
"Then take her out after the game," I said.
"No... I'll reschedule- Friday night." That's when Naminé got on and Riku stopped her. "Naminé, we have to go out Friday night- I have a game and we'll both be too busy to have much fun these next two days," he told her.
"Okay... I understand," she said. Then she sat in her usual spot. For dinner Riku made some sandwiches for us, we watched tv, then got ready for bed. The next day crawled by, in athletics we learned some cheers and chants, and that night we stayed after school. We sat around a few hours in the back stairwell of the school, watching for people coming into the school or leaving.
"I'm excited for the game, anyway. What about you?" he asked suddenly.
"No," I said bluntly.
"Why?" he asked.
"You'll see, and then you'll laugh at me. Just you wait," I said. Xigbar came out, then.
"Riku- come on. We need you to start getting ready," Xigbar said. "I look forward to seeing your squad's routine. Yuffie's a tough captain, isn't she?"
"Not really," I answered. He patted my shoulder, smiling, then left with Riku. That's when Larxene, Xion, and Selphie came down the stairs towards the field in their cheer uniforms.
"Better hurry," Larxene said. I grabbed my bag and ran into the boy's restroom. I changed into my cheer uniform and went downstairs after the girls. They threw their bags down on the bench for the cheerleaders. Then they all sat down. Naminé ran up to us then in her uniform, which was blue and gold, identical to the rest, but seemingly shorter.
"Did you bring it?" Larxene asked her eagerly. Naminé stopped to catch her breath and pull her skirt down nervously.
"Yes," Naminé said, pulling out some kind of glitter kit.
"Then get started," Xion ordered. Naminé pulled out a little piece of paper with a pattern of different sized stars. Naminé pressed it to Larxene's right cheek and painted on some liquid. She peeled it off and made the stars blue and gold. Then she made the exact same design on Xion's cheek, then Selphie's, then Yuffie's. Then she did my cheek, then her own perfectly. Then she put blue glitter eyeshadow on all the girls, myself and herself, then the bright yellow eyeliner. She went over her lips in blue lipstick, along with Yuffie's, Larxene's, and Selphie's. Then she did Xion's and mine in gold lipstick. I was embarrassed- she was making me up like one of the girls.
"Alright! Let's practice our routine!" Yuffie said. We started one of the cheers that had a dance. I actually started having fun with it. At the part where you throw your hip out and your hand up I heard someone clear their throat behind me. I turned my head while Yuffie clapped for us to take a break.
"Sora?" he asked. I grinned nervously... Or I tried to smile. It was Riku.
"H-hey, Riku... What's up?" I asked.
"I was going to ask you the same thing- what's all this," he asked, laughing and waving to my outfit.
"There was a mix up in the orders or something and... Yeah... I TOLD YOU YOU'D LAUGH!" He just started cracking up, his shoulder pads on and his football pants and shoes and whatnot.
"What? It's funny! You dance fluidly like a girl- when did that happen?"
"When I accidentally signed up for girl's dance class... They're going to make me wear a tutu for Swan Lake this December... Why are you out here?" I asked, changing the subject when he laughed.
"I was told to come ask Yuffie to come into the locker room for a pep talk- the other team showed up about ten minutes ago, and the game'll start in five minutes," Riku said, gesturing to the stands. They were filling up fast.
"Pep talk? Let's go, girls... And Sora," Yuffie sniggered and led us to the locker room in a sprint. Naminé took Riku's arm and pulled him along. Yuffie got us to join her pep talk and we sprinted out onto the field. The boys following us to the benches, they sat down and we started our routine. Afterwards the game went through. At halfime, I noticed Demyx was missing, and Naminé hadn't returned from her restroom break. I snuck off to look for her. I saw her standing under the bleachers, Demyx restraining her wrists.
"Naminé, please- I... I... It's so hard to admit... I really like you... There! I said it. I, Demyx, one of the most popular guys in school likes Naminé, and I'm not ashamed of it. I even wrote a song for you... I could never sing it because I'm too damn shy, but I made it just for you... Please, give me a chance," he begged.
"I'm sorry, Demyx... I can't- Riku asked first."
"The only reason I didn't ask was because I'm scared of your brother... I know it's stupid but he broke Hayner's arm once, and I know what he's capable of if he's mad. You know... When Roxas would drag you to my house to keep an eye on you while he played with Hayner I was doing the same thing... Keeping an eye on you, I mean. I've always liked you- that's why I never dated anyone. I was just waiting for when it would be appropriate for me to ask..."
"I wish I could help you, but I can't. I'm so sorry," she said, pity in her voice. Demyx released her and nodded slowly.
"Yeah... Me, too," he said. Then he grabbed her face quickly and gently before kissing her and pulling her waist to him. Her eyes shot wide and he released her.
"I gotta get back to my game... Just know if things don't work out with you and Riku, I'm open... And if you care about him so much, I'll help him out if something threats him... But just for your sake," he said. Then he pulled on his helmet and started my way. I ran back to the cheer squad and sat down next to them on their bench. Demyx sat down on the player's bench right next to Riku. Naminé arrived to the cheerleader's bench seconds later. I walked over to Riku and pulled him aside.
"Riku, I just saw Demyx kiss Naminé," I hissed.
"What?" he asked.
"Yeah- he was talking to her then he just kissed her. She didn't even try to stop him!" I whispered. He shrugged.
"I'll just kiss Larxene behind her back, then. I mean, we aren't official yet- I could easily pull out of a date just like she could. She's cute, but she's just a girl. Also, she's my cousin in a way... I have so many excuses I could use... Also, I started thinking this was a bad idea... It got a lot worse when I found out about the Demyx thing- that's why he keeps looking at me like he'll rip my head off."
"Really? So that's it, then?" I asked. For real? I was happy, but then Naminé's reaction came to mind. She'll be crushed- she thought someone finally liked her... But now she knows Demyx does, too.
"Yeah. I don't want to fight for someone who is sort of off-limits. Her brother would throw a fit if I came to take her out, anyway. Too much conflict with her. But thanks for telling me- you're a good brother for doing that."
"Thanks," I said as he patted my shoulder and returned to the bench. Seriously? This is dreamlike... And it's exactly what I'd wanted. Later when the game was over and the Heartless had won, the cheer squad and the football team huddled up in a cheery group, and Riku grabbed Larxene and kissed her. Naminé, luckily, didn't see. Then we got on the trolley and went home.
"You look cute in your uniform, Sora," Riku teased. Honestly what he said was making my stomach flutter, but I pretended I was angry.
"Stop picking on me- my coach is a drunk."
"That is why my coach is cooler."
"No- your coach is like a cross between a pirate, a surfer, and a ninja."
"Well, surfers and ninjas are awesome, so my coach is two-thirds of awesome."
"Whatever," I said, walking into the house. I bathed and went to bed. Thursday was uneventful. I did my homework and went to bed. The next day crawled by slowly, and I didn't pay attention to anything since it was Friday and everything was boring on Fridays. Riku and I went home and he got all ready for his date and took the car- ever since he got his license, dad let him have the car so he could use the sportscar.
"I'm going to meet her at the theatre... Her dad is going to drop her off," Riku said, grabbing the keys. "See ya later," he said, walking out the door.
As soon as he was gone I stalked to his room. I sat on his bed and lay down. I woke up some time later and sat up. I put my feet off the side of the bed and my foot nudged his brown bag. I reached down and pulled it up by the strap, not knowing the top was open. The contents of the bags fell out, and one rolled out onto the floor... A can of... Spray paint? Then it made sense... Why he had brought up the one-man vandal in this story Kairi wrote at the beginning of the week. I heard the door open and close downstairs. I quickly shoved the bag under the bed as someone stumbled up the stairs. I got up to run for it when Riku's door flew open, Riku with a black eye, tattered clothes, and bleeding from his nose and mouth.
"Sora?" he asked, shocked I was in his room before swaying and falling over. Luckily I ran to him and caught him on my shoulder.
"Riku! What happened to you?!" I asked, extremely concerned. I helped him walk to his bed and he lay down. He coughed painfully once and sat up, leaning on his elbows.
"It hurts to lay down," he said, pulling up his shirt to reveal a large bruise on his ribs. "Roxas didn't like me dating his sister, and apparently Sïax is with Larxene... He didn't like me kissing her. Roxas hauled his sister home when Sïax showed up... He got me really bad... I came home and here I am..."
"Geez!" I exclaimed.
"Yeah... He didn't get away with out a good fight, though... I guess that was a no-no on my part... You know, kissing Larxene. I'm pretty bad," he said, his eyes closed. I couldn't hold back any longer. I had to let him know.