Scattered Memory.

- by CupcakeLerman

Chapter 10: Rejection of Fate - Part II

Another day, another chance.

I was looking forward to this new day of possibilities. After realizing that Naminé and I weren't even formally acquainted like I had wished, it seemed that taking a step and "inviting her to prom" would also help in the progress of our relationship—friend relationship, mind you.

I didn't want to choreograph a trendy dance or write lyrics for her. True, I would've done it, but it seemed too overplayed and I had seen it all over this school in the past week. I didn't want to tell others about this, but I had tried multiple times to draw or recreate a drawing of Naminé and I. Even in children's standards, it was horrible. Absolutely horrible—Scribbles, mushes, and our hair looked like shit. Why wasn't I good at this?

Halfway through the last week before prom, I'd taken the wrong step to try and ask others. Seeing as it's common to have creative prom-asking ways, I started with the seniors, but it was not fruitful at all.

Aqua, the girl from Naminé's art class: Give her flowers. Chicks dig flowers.

Ventus, the boy that looks a lot like I do: I don't know...hey, how about you and I do a duet to a song, like Baby or One Less Lonely Girl?

Aqua, again: Ven...that is so gay.

Ven, again: Yeah—it is.

I even tried asking a so-called mood less and black hole that targeted happiness in the senior class—his name was Vanitas, and, don't tell Sora I said this, but him and Sora have that thing like Ventus and I looking alike. I bet we're all related and we don't even know it.

But all he had to supply to me was:

Vanitas, black-hole targeting happiness:Prom's for pansies.

I took his advice, and went to go look elsewhere. Knowing there wasn't much knowledge in either Sora or Kairi, I resorted to my last hopes; people that I have regrettably haven't seen since September:

Hayner, abuser of video games: It's kind of like Christmas. Just give her anything, and once she tries it out, she'll love it! Preferably, video games. Dude, I got to give Olette a copy of Red Dead Redemption, and she is obsessed with it now! Score!

There wasn't much conversation here. I merely sat in my room, pressing my phone to my ear, just thinking of my options. I already knew what Hayner was going to do about Olette, but—

Olette, girl Hayner liked to talk about: VIDEO GAMES. This is the only thing required to live!

Hayner: That's my girl.

Why is everyone resolving their own problems and turning out prosperous? I'm stuck in this problem of how to deal with someone so…so…solution less. Maybe I should just ask her what she wanted. Maybe that would work out. But just by doing that, I would eliminate every element of surprise. Oh, what other options did I have?

I cleared my throat before talking to Naminé, who was lying next to me."Hey, Naminé," I said to her reluctantly. It was free period Tuesday, and we all had a chance to roam campus as we pleased. Most people took this opportunity to ask out their chosen picks for prom, since it was next Wednesday. We were still on high alert of any suspicious characters, because the stupid predator from the news had previously sent a letter to the school that he was targeting people in our area. I was reading one of the posted signs in the Commons area, and all I could conceive about this person was that he or she was twisted if they expected to succeed in kidnapping one of us.

Back during free period, my eyes traveled away from the sky I marveled at, with its wandering clouds in numerous directions, and I followed a path to some place shadier. I saw Naminé's trance-like expression piercing towards the sky, like a hawk waiting for its prey, or just a tender-loving nature observer. She had those sort of moments, where she'd momentarily blank out and seem to stare into space longer than normal. I added that to my list of strange characteristics of Naminé, but not once did I criticize her for it. She needed someone to be with, and I would be there for her.

It took her a while to respond, but when she did, she acted as if there weren't a three minute gap between my first call. "Yes, Roxas?" She smiled, looking over to my side. We had our arms wide, spanning across the grass, and our fingers were barely touching. It was serene to be with her, together, like this.

"Uh…do you want to…uhm, uh—"I stuttered, and the one thing that came to my rescue was remembering a store Naminé was particularly interested in. Maybe that would help in my search for something to give to her.

"Roxas?" Naminé said, sitting up to look at me, a concerned expression weaved on her face. "You okay?"

I sprung up, and took Naminé's hand in my mine. She looked a little more flustered, but she just looked on. "Let's go out," I courageously announced to her.

"Roxas, we're not allowed to leave campus. If someone finds out we're—"

"—It's okay, sweet cheeks," I playfully said, a strange foreign accent somehow sneaking into my speech. "I'll protect yah."

Naminé doubled over in laughter, and it wasn't long until I did too. It wasn't long until I needed air from laughing so hard, and Naminé looked as if she would pass out.

"Come on, doll face," I said, continuing the charade. "I'll even sing to ya on the way there."

Naminé's laughter came to slight chuckles now. "Will you—really?" she said.

"Shure! Come, come!" I started pacing myself towards the end of the corridor where we could escape. My paces turned into sprinting, not caring that my shoes made really loud noises against the concrete. From behind me I could hear Naminé's sandals patting on the floor, and that's all it took for me to keep running at full speed. Pretty soon, we were at the front entrance, but I didn't stop there. First, I made sure that Naminé was still behind me, and then I checked to see if there was anyone watching us that could report us. After a full-scan of the area and Naminé had already caught up to me, she locked her hand with mine, and we took off running, our shoes making the loudest noises they could ever make.

"Where—" Naminé yelled to me, "—are we going?" She panted, but she didn't stop running, almost like she was chasing me.

"The art store! I wanna go buy something there—"I told her. We were now two blocks away from the school campus, but I didn't think we should stop there. Naminé was running alongside me, content with my idea of visiting her favorite store, not at all faltering in speed, and for about ten minutes, I felt so infinite; wind whipping through our hair, brushing along our skin, causing tears to slip down my cheeks—it was incredible.

We finally reached the same art store we went to during the week of the Festival. In front of the store, I finally felt that we were safe, about a mile away from the school. How we managed to run a mile in about fifteen minutes, I didn't even consider. Naminé tried catching her breath next to me, but she didn't waste any time walking to her heaven on earth. Once I walked into the store, I couldn't even locate her anymore—all I saw were aisles and aisles of crayons, stencils, colored pencils—

That's where Naminé was—staring at this fifteen-pack of colored pencils. Her eyes would light up whenever she'd pull out a pencil, whether it was a normal gray or a bright blue. I went to where she was, in the aisle surrounded with all different brands of pencils, and saw that she was taking out all the pencils in all the boxes, like a child experimenting with all the colors.

"Hey, Naminé, what're you doing?" I asked her, unsure if she could even hear me against all the thoughts in her head on pencils.

"Looking at colored pencils; I really need new ones. I've had my old ones since I was eight," she informed me, picking up another pencil and looking at it intently.

"Wow. Okay, well I'm going to the paint section all the way over there." I pointed to the farthest section over as far away from Naminé as possible. She briefly nodded to me, and also reminded me that "We should probably leave in five minutes."

"I'll see you then."

"Yeah…bye…"

I walked in the opposite direction and turned a corner into another aisle, and walked only a few feet when I turned on my heel, making sure there wasn't a squeak in my shoe, and looked back into the aisle. Naminé was still deeply transfixed on this one packet of colored pencils. She flipped the front cover around and the brand's name—The Third Day—was written in stylish lettering. There were only thirteen pencils, but Naminé seemed so affixed on this one package that she looked like she wanted to walk out of the store with it.

But she didn't, and I watched as she groaned and continued browsing down the aisle. From my base, I could still see the colored pencil pack she was looking at and saw that it was made of a stunningly beautiful white wood. It seemed appropriate that Naminé would stare at this pack interestingly; it looked like the same ones she had at home, except hers were made of brown wood, astoundingly different from this new and updated one.

Before I could realize it, Naminé was out of sight. I checked my watch to make sure five minutes hadn't passed, and I noticed only three did pass without me noticing. Checking behind and in front of me, I still didn't find her, so I hazardously strode into the aisle, still scanning the area for any sight of the blonde-haired girl.

A huge big object was obstructing my way, and before I even thought about yelling at this huge guy, he turns to me, and I see his face. Well, it wasn't his face…it was more of just a couple mummy-style bandages wrapped around his entire face, disclosing his identity. The only thing spared was his right eye, and that was enough to make my words stop coming out of my mouth. It was a startling orange-brown color that they probably didn't even sell contacts for, and it was staring right at me.

"May I help you, young boy?" he suddenly asks me, and I'm left to notice how deep his voice is. I jump back a little, away from him, but he doesn't notice. I plan to pretend that I'm a helpless little boy looking for his mom in the store, but that doesn't happen. Before I even speak, a hand grabs my left arm, and I almost fall head first. I closed my eyes, feeling my body being almost dragged away, but then I ask myself—Am I flying? The wind is once again breezing around me, but it isn't the same as when Naminé and I were running to the store. It was almost exactly like I was on a bicycle going down a hill, the wind nearly whipping my hair out from its roots. I hope that that amber-eyed man isn't trying to kidnap me, but if he does, he better fix my hair.

"Roxas? Roxas! Are you alright?" a nervous voice talks to me. The wind has died down, the left side of my body is burning, and I notice that my eyes are still closed. Cautiously, I open my eyes to find the said blonde that I was just thinking about staring down at me with burning blue eyes that seemed on the brink of tears. "What just happened…" I muttered a little incoherently, my gaze still fascinated on those shining eyes.

"Oh my goodness, you're all right!" she says to me before she envelops me in her embrace. I smell strawberry shortcake and watermelons, and if it is indisputable, it smelled phenomenal. It's enough to take my attention away from where we were taken.

"Were we—abducted?" I ask very quietly, almost bringing my voice to a whisper, but not quite.

"No, we're at school…" Naminé says to me, reassuring me that I have nothing to worry about. I look around and notice that she is right—we were just in an empty and abandoned classroom, if there ever was an abandoned classroom.

"Oh." The school bell rings its familiar tone, and I know that I have to get out of this classroom fast. It would spread around pretty fast that Naminé and I had snuck out of campus and I had fainted in the process. I hastily sit up, and Naminé helps me up by the hand. We both adjust our rustled clothes and disheveled hair, mine being a bit harder than fixing normal hair.

Thankfully, no one sees us, and everyone doesn't pay attention to two teenagers leaving an unsupervised classroom and fixing their hair and clothes, which I found rather odd, Naminé was still adjusting her sandals on right, so I guessed it probably came loose when we were running quickly.

"Well, well, well…what do we have here…?" a mocking voice says from behind me. Ven approaches both of us questioningly, intrigued by our out-of-place looks. "I see you're quite the skank now, are you, Roxas?"

"Shut up, Ven. It's none of your business," I angrily replied, staring at Ven for making such a petty remark. Naminé smiled a little, but then recalled that she had to make it to class, what with her perfect attendance record.

"I'm sorry about today, Roxas! I'll see you after school, if you want!" she called to me while she brushed her hair while walking off in the other direction.

I was still trying to re-spike my hair, but it still didn't look as good as it did this morning. I looked up to where Naminé was and replied, "Oh sure, see you later." I watched as she sprinted off to the elective hall.

"So…what was this about?" Ven asks, helping me fix my hair to its alike quality to his. He pulls out some pocket gel, and I don't question it that much.

"Don't tell anyone, but we headed out. I was going to go shopping with her—"

"Ah, so you're shopping together now?"

"Not quite. We ran into a little trouble, so we headed back. And here you are, thinking I had an affair inside the school…" I accused him, rolling my eyes at Ven.

"Cool story, Rox. Hey, listen." Ven stopped styling my hair and looked at me. "I won't tell anyone, unless—"

"—unless I help you with something, right?"

Ven snickered proudly, leaning his arm around my shoulder. "You know me so well, twin."

—- - - -

That week, as I mentioned, I had acted like a wingman for more than one occasion. Since prom was coming up (and I still didn't have a proper date yet), I decided to help those that actually could excel in their prom wishes by becoming the background suede actor. More than once, I'd had to be the soulful singer, the additional dancer—or, in all the cases—the victim.

"Stand right there. Don't move. Got it? And remember the lines I've told you!" Ven said, finishing aligning me literally two inches in front of the door to the Visual Arts department. He quickly readjusted my already fixated tie, choking me in the process. It was three minutes until class let out, and Ventus made sure that Aqua, his blue-haired fair-maiden, would be the very first to come out, and I would be very well prepared for this situation.

"Ven...You know it's so fucking hot. Why am I wearing this monkey suit?" I whined, the sudden October heat making the unnecessary dress shirt and cardigan suffocate me. And the fact that the latter was black, and the sun was already killing me...I didn't think I could last in it.

Now, why wasn't Ventus doing this? Well, you see, Ven and I, as I have previously mentioned, are unrelated, yet we look extremely alike. Ven claims he would've done it himself, but it seems he suddenly came down with a cold, and didn't want to get Aqua "sick." So for this day, I was a kid named Ventus that ate truckloads of Pocky on weekends, and was now asking the artsy Aqua out to the senior prom.

The bell began ringing, signaling Ven to go hide behind a pillar or something of that sort. Though I was only a few couple inches taller than little Ven, he was a senior, and maybe, just maybe, Aqua would notice the difference. In that case, I would drag Ventus out against his wishes and have him formally propose— the way a true man should do, thank you very much.

Right on time, the door to the classroom opened, sending a brush of a cool draft escaping through the new opening. Hastily taking my cues, I already pulled the bouquet of flowers from behind my back, expecting to deliver them to Ven's date, but instead, presenting them to—

"Roxas? W-What is this?" the first person to leave the room said, rather confused at the situation she was in. Immediately her cheeks turned rosy, and she reached up in an attempt to cover them.

"N-Naminé! I'm sorry; it's for V-Ven!" I stuttered, completely astounded she would be the first to leave and the first I would see. I thought Ventus had this all planned out!

"V-Ven? I don't think he would love those coming from you, unless—"

"N-No! Not that! Can you please step a-away?" I looked behind for support from Ven, who just mouthed a half-apologetic "Sorry," and continued to push me on for Aqua from behind a rotund pillar.

"So...I'm not getting a bouquet from you...?" Naminé muttered, seeming a little disappointed. Some people retained their positions behind Naminé, while some slithered past, but still lingered to watch what was going on.

"No! No, of course not, I'd love to give you a bouquet, but these are for Aqua..." I explained, while the said girl walked up behind Naminé.

"What are for me?" she asked, her bluer-than-blue eyes traveling to the bouquet. They simultaneously lit up, but I still wasn't sure if she knew who I was. Naminé acknowledged Aqua, and moved aside to let her step out. However, she still looked quite disappointed that I was offering flowers to Aqua, to whom I have no relations with whatsoever.

"Ven! I mean, Roxas? Ven? Who are you?" Aqua asked, seemingly confused at our alike complexion. I'd have to explain my way into this.

"Uh, I'm Ven," I lied, handing her the bouquet. "These are for you. Aqua...I, Ventus, would ask that you accompany me to senior prom this year," I announced, rather proudly for that fact, and confident in my rather amateur acting skills, which did admittedly improve over the week. Aqua's eyes began glowing, radiating her tell-tale expression of glee. But there was a short falter, a glimpse of hesitation flickering through her ceramic eyes. I quickly took notice of it, and already knew how this was to end.

"Oh, Ven..." Aqua said, trailing a little farther than normal with her words. Behind her, a crowd was still beginning to form, and people, Naminé included, were already whipping out their sketchpads to sketch two models that seemed to be posing for their newest sketch.

I now had hesitations on saying my pre-coaches role play lines. But for Ven's sake, I pushed forward on the words still waiting to be spoken. "It's just..." I started, fulfilling the lines Ven prepared earlier,

"I've never seen anyone so beautiful." Actually...to tell Ven the truth...there was competition for Aqua in my book. No offense to Aqua, though. Her hair's...very blue.

"You're so sweet," Aqua said, hooking her arms around my neck while I was still holding the flowers. I didn't necessarily feel comfortable, since I barely knew Aqua and she seemed a lot taller than I remembered, but if Ven were in my place—which he should've been—then maybe he would've blushed a little as well; or a lot.

Aqua pulled away, and a crowd of feminine giggles and praises followed shortly after. I figured I had it directly in the bag, and I was certainly going to get rewarded heavily for this. All my previous musings about my failure and Aqua's rejection seemed unseeingly now. The Arts students all took out erasers to edit their scene to update on our current complexions. Everything was going fine, until Aqua muttered her last words of wisdom.

"I can't," Aqua flat out told me, her expression sinking a little.

"What?" an astounded voice leaps from beyond the bush, and I quickly try to hush it up. Aqua doesn't notice; she is too busy trying to consolidate "Ven's" deep dark sadness and the rejection he had just witnessed. She is also trying to silence the disapproving swears and comments thrown at her disappointed classmates.

"H-How come, Aqua? Y-You're my bestest bestest f-friend!" I sniffled, faking the fakest sob story I've ever pulled from thin air. Ven would've been proud of me.

"There's...someone else," she blatantly announced. I could see the visible guilt in her eyes, the one she wanted to try so hard to conceal; but underneath her presented exterior, I could tell she had genuine sympathy for me—I mean, Ven. Never mind.

"Oh. Oh...okay. I'll...just...go then," I awkwardly said, trying my best not to appear to cry. Before I turned to "sob" in a bush, I handed her the flowers. "Here. These...were for you. Notice they're special 'aquamarine' colored flowers, called 'hyacinths,' you know, because you're 'Aqua,' which does mean, 'Blue.' Just so you know."

"Ven..." Aqua calls. I leave her to think about her actions, wishing that maybe she'd change her mind and go with Ven. Honestly; he's the best person I'd have a girl go to for a prom date. The guy's honest, personable, smart, and good-looking—he's got it all. Me, I'm just a dried up, less humorous, still handsome version. But, I guess that's all I've got to handle with.

When I checked Ven's hiding spot, I noticed his empty presence. I scanned the area, thinking he might've assimilated into the crowd or tried to woo Aqua's heart back, but I look to no avail. I want to call his name, but that'd be considered stupid, since I was Ven, and he was Roxas at the moment.

I passed a corridor to find few scattered teenagers and teachers and an open door just inviting me inside. It's dark, but it's eerily welcoming, like there is something hiding inside. From all I could hear, there are only hushed whispers, but they're loud enough to be heard with effort. I don't usually enjoy eavesdropping, but I made one exception, for the sake of the return of Ventus.

"I guess I don't have a prom date," a voice says. The voice is similar to mine, and I automatically assume that it's Ven. He's probably moping to himself, trying to consolidate his weary heart that was directly from watching a scene that could've been avoided altogether if someone had just stuck up for their own rights.

"Yeah, but that whole getup was pretty funny, with you having Roxas parade around as you…" This other voice chuckles and her femine laugh is almost contagious. I happened to smile at that point just by listening.

I can't help but feel sorry for him, but also angry at his petty behavior. He was a senior, gosh darn it, and he needed to learn that for some things in the world, he needed to stand up for his own justice. He couldn't just take "no" for an answer, and "yes" to appease others. For someone a bit older and wiser than me, he needed to get taught old school from Roxas-sensei.

I inch closer, planning on going in to tell Ven that's it's okay to not to go to prom, but then, I hear this other hearty whisper reply to Ven's sullen voice. "If you want, I could go with you." She seems hopeful, almost willing to help out Ven through a hardship.

"You'd do that for me?" Ven says slowly, and I can't differentiate his fake pity voice from his real sorrow voice, even when I sound almost the same as him.

"Of course! You're one of my friends, Ven. I'd be happy to go. I'm sure Roxas will be happy that I'm helping you out," the person says. Vainly, I was already beginning to identify this person, as surprising as it may have been. At that moment, I knew that next time, I needed to get my point across a lot faster, because time was a pain in the ass. I shouldn't have taken things so lightly; I could've avoided the impending ache I felt in my stomach that wasn't supposed to be there.

"Thanks, Naminé," Ven replies, and to my dismay, I hear hushed breathing, so quiet—his arms around her shoulders, her arms around his shoulders. My spirits sunk, my temper high, and now, I felt just about ready to go to my next class and out of the heat.

—- - - -

"Did you get your corsage yet?" Sora asks Kairi while I follow them down the hall to go to lunch. They are vaguely aware of my presence, but it didn't bother me as much.

Kairi shakes her head, looking down onto the purple notebook she's carrying. "No...I should've though, I know you would get light blue, right?"

"Dark blue," Sora tells her, looking sort of surprised Kairi didn't know something he knew.

"Oh, yeah," Kairi retorts, crossing her arms.

"Hey, guys," I short handedly interrupted, walking on Kairi's left. She notices my getup, and looks ready to ask, but I quickly say, "Don't. What happens in the event that you cannot go because you're not allowed to?"

Sora perks up a bit. "It's held in the school gym, Roxas," he says. "How can you not sneak into a school gym?"

"Sora, junior and senior proms are being held at Destinium this year. President promised it, since we were the best class he's ever had at this school...remember?" I remind him. He finally realized this, looking so frustrated at me.

"D-Damn you, and your horde of geniuses!" Sora exclaims. "Why that stupid priceless dining hall? I totally can't afford that place!"

Kairi looks to me. "Hey...isn't that place where they host graduations, and teenage sweet sixteen's?"

I nod, informing Kairi: "It costs, about forty-nine thousand just to rent it to the junior class this year, and still a lot for one table. You know, they price for waterfront views."

"Forty-nine thousand munny? When did I miss the budget meeting?" Sora yells, clutching his head like he was going into a panic attack.

"Since you're a sophomore, and you didn't need to pay as a junior..." I explain. Some people begin staring at us, but that's only because they don't even understand our very complicated relationship.

"Gosh, Kairi! Do you know how many heartless I'll have to defeat at the arcade to win that much munny? Do you?" Kairi shakes her head nervously, sensing Sora's tension. He frantically returned his frustration to me. His face is red with pretend anger I know he boiled up to shove in front of my face.

"How about you, Roxas?" Sora screams at me, grabbing hold of my shoulders and shaking me back and forth.

"Sora, get a real job," I shrug. "Besides, you're going next year, and you don't need to pay—"

"Yeah, but..." Sora says, letting go of my shoulders. "But...it won't be the same...You wouldn't be there." Sora stopped in the middle of the hallway, turning his subdued frustration to glare at the floor. Did...his voice just crack?

I remembered my best friend's truest fear: the midnight, the twilight...the dark. He consoled to me that it made him feel weak and under pressure. This kid, he had too much light that he had to protect it. And he knew he couldn't do that when all around you is an eternal and lurking darkness ready to seep into every crack and crevice, including the ones hidden deep inside other people.

Kairi gave me a look, telling me that I had to fix things. Hastily, I tried convincing her there wasn't anything I could do, but she finally hissed at me to resolve this situation. I wearily agreed.

"Sora...Sooo-raaaaaa," I cooed to the little moping head of spikes. He didn't lift his head, but he did say to me: "You know, I did that whole Festival thing...just for you..."

My heart reminisced a little when I remembered his act of forgiveness, but obviously the most touched was Kairi. Teary-eyed and sniffly, she tugged on Sora's shirt sleeve and eventually coaxed him into a side hallway, away from the path we had escaped of ravaging scavengers ravenous for food. I tried looking him in the face, but he just turned away a little, suggesting that maybe, his feelings were a little broken. Kairi took her pink shoulder bag and stepped out of the hallway, leaving me and Sora alone. Before she left, I saw she was tearing quickly, and I felt incredibly guilt for being the reason why her little Sora was brought down.

"...You're like an older brother to me. I'm sorry I'm still such a pansy, but..." Sora said, his dark blue eyes usually so full of wonder and amusement now degraded to a much less amused tone.

"I understand, Sora, I do." I really did understand what he was feeling. I had known all along that he was my little brother, but sometimes, I needed to be reminded. That little cute face I'd use to play with, pinching his little cute cheeks—that was all somewhere, but I just had to dig them up a bit, let them touch the surface for a while.

"Listen, Sora. Next year, I promise...I'll ditch senior prom, and...I'll infiltrate your junior prom. That way, I get to see you legally slow-dancing with Kairi like you've always dreamed about."

Sora quickly lifted his once-sorrowful gaze to look at me in surprise. "Y-You'd do that?" Sora whispered, obviously more stunned at my offer to realize he'd just admitted he had always wanted to dance with Kairi.

"Of course. Just...don't come to junior prom this year. It'll be a downer, anyways."

"But...what'll you do?" Sora said, concerned now on me.

I didn't try to think of what happened earlier with Ven and Naminé. "Sora, I'll be fine. It's only five hours or so; I can do this. But Sora, you have to promise me you have to be courageous. Don't hesitate to stand up and look intimidation in the eye."

He laid his hand on my shoulder. "Don't worry, I'll be more considerate, and I'll…I'll…I'll grow a set of balls! I'll be a man by junior year!" He fist-pumped the air, and I felt Kairi peeking from around the corner and smiling contentedly.

I stood up and surveyed Sora right then. Maybe he will become more knowledgeable sooner or later. But I knew this boy was mysteriously wonderful. He was probably going to be instrumental in the advancement of both of our lives in ways I wasn't sure of yet. But this was the same baby brother Sora I knew and grew up with. And I hoped that would never change.

—- - - -

After a more lively lunch than normal with the discussion of next year's prom with everyone at our lunch table, I made my way to Literature, our last class. Through this whole division with Mr. Leonhart and my mother, he hasn't been taking it well. Just thinking about it, he would have a minute to himself during class where he'd stop and stare into the distance, stuck replaying things in his head. No doubt, he was jealous of Mr. Head President, enough to probably murder him, but hey, I'm not calling the shots.

"Hello, Roxas," a cheery voice sneaks up from behind me and latches onto my shoulders with her hands. This time, all I smell are watermelons. "Oh, and about prom—" I don't hear the rest of her sentence because I furiously stuff noise-cancelling isolation music ear buds into my ears and let my shuffled iPod talk to me instead. I roughly take my seat opposite of the person I was ignoring, and she seems a bit stunned, but sits down anyways, in a seat in the middle of the classroom. Even from where I was sitting, it was apparent to see that her crystalline blue eyes no longer held a nearly stain-glass complexion anymore.

"Good afternoon, everyone," Mr. Leonhart introduces. I have to pull out the earplugs when I hear his sentence. He never welcomes the class. Never. Has the breakup really affected Leonhart that bad?

"Good...afternoon?" The handful of those that respond are also in as much shock as I, and I don't know what else could possibly be changed.

There were more changes to this class. Leonhart let me doze off in class while we were reading one of those classics we were reading this period. I didn't know whether it was because he didn't notice, or maybe because whenever he looked at me, he saw Tifa in me (which was kind of weird), but he still didn't notice when a precisely folded piece of paper landed on the floor next to me, addressed to a "Roxas."

I didn't look at the sender, but instead picked up the paper and unfolded it under my desk. On the precisely neat blue lines of the notebook paper, several words were huddled on the paper. "I just wanted to talk about prom again. Ven asked me already, is that alright?"

There were a thousand words I could've written on that paper, ranging from letter A to Z, but I had absolutely no right to say any of them. It was my fault for not acting quickly enough, being such a pushover, and for coming up with such a lame idea. Writing "Will you go to prom with me?" on the engraving of new colored pencils was a stupid idea.

In the end, I only had time to write "Sure. I'm fine with it." A lie. A consciously fabricated line that could only describe every antilogy of what I actually thought. No, I wasn't okay with it. Yes, Ven is such a woman-stealer. But it's my entire fault anyways.

I first made sure Mr. Leonhart wasn't paying much attention to me, and luckily, he wasn't. He was too busy scratching down onto the board selected lines from the piece of literature we were reading. I passed that folded letter over to Naminé, throwing it over two other desks, making sure it landed on the exact middle desk Naminé took notes on every day. She looked at it doubtfully, hesitating on opening the note. I kept watching, observing why she was troubled and how come she wasn't doing anything. Why wasn't she doing anything?

Hastily, Naminé snatched the piece of paper and shoved it in her pocket. She still hadn't done anything about reading it, and I was a hundred-percent sure she could not see through paper. Why didn't she open it? I was beginning to overreact. This wasn't like her at all, and it wasn't like me to begin to panic so soon.

I couldn't wrestle my attention towards the board or even bother taking notes. Other people were beginning to notice my nearly jittery body almost jumping out of my seat, but I just waved as if to sadistically say, "I'm fine, I'm fine," liked I'd lied before. When was class over, when was class over...

The bell rang just before I was about to spring out of my seat. I firmly approached Naminé, but it seemed like she was coming towards me as well.

"What do you want to ask me, Roxas?" I couldn't tell if she was mad or sincerely asking, but I faced it head on.

"Why didn't you open my letter?" I asked, my tone resembling that of a paranoid father. She didn't expect me to ask a question like that, because judging by her troubled expression, she seemed a little on edge again.

Her expression didn't falter though. She seemed a little more confident when she looked me in the eye and said, "I already knew what you'd say…that you would lie to me. You're not okay with it."

"W-What?" I responded. How'd she know once again? It was another mind-reading session that didn't exactly unnerve me as much as it intrigued me. No, her "powers" probably weren't other-worldly, but much more as unexplainable.

"Tell me, Roxas." She leaned closer towards me, a little closer than I had expected, and I despite my instincts, I stayed glued to the floor, leaning onto the desk behind me as she leaned in a little closer. "You have something to say about it."

I looked at her solid expression and I knew she wasn't going to move until she got an answer out of me. I tried to give her a look that spelled that I had nothing to say, but I didn't expect her clutch to be so hard on me. "Speak up," she cooed, and I knew that she could ultimately read my mind, or at least read my expressions.

Before I could sputter out any words, a familiar head popped up at the door. I didn't think I would be this happy to see someone that I hated on a daily basis.

"May I borrow Roxas for a second, Sir Leonhart?" Mr. Strife said, his head peeking through the doorway, still unaware that the person being called for was being held against his whim. Naminé immediately turned around, and released me from her sudden hold. I released a held-in breath that couldn't escape my mouth only because I was nervous that Naminé would notice me hesitate. I was actually intimidated that she knew something that I hadn't even tried to reveal. Even in the short time I spent with her, she was able to read me like a book.

"Here he is, Mr. Strife," Naminé said, motioning for me to come closer and act as if nothing happened, which I could pretend. I gave a slight wave, and he gave a fleeting smile in return.

"Thank you, Naminé," he answered to her, and she took this as cue to leave the room out the second door. That left just me, Cloud, and—

"I'll be leaving now," a stuttering voice said from the front of the room. Mr. Leonhart continued to gather his belongings, as this was the last class, and stiffly walked past Cloud on his right. They did not make any eye contact, but I could tell that Mr. Leonhart really felt undermined by his head President now. Remember that cheery disposition he had when he walked in and greeted the entire class? Every feeling of that was now dissipated once Mr. Strife walked into the room, ready to cause conflict to Mr. Leonhart just by standing there.

Once the room was empty and I could finally breathe regularly, Mr. Strife walked towards me, his regular suit-and-tie attire making ruffling noises as he walked towards me. I made no notion to approach him or even formally acknowledge him any further, until he was face to face with me.

I glanced towards the clock hanging over the classroom entrance, and noticed that class had let out for nearly eight minutes. Ignoring Cloud standing over me for a second, I grabbed my bag and slung it over my shoulder. Cloud took this opportunity to make…"small talk."

"So, how's the studying going?" he asked. I had to stop walking out of the classroom to hold in my laugh and him. He picked this occasion to talk to me? Now? After nearly seventeen years?

"Uhm—fine, I guess. Nice school you have…" I replied, almost unsure of what I was going to do now.

"Yeah, I know," he agreed, nodding as if this school brought back fond memories. I rolled my eyes and continued out the door.

When I was walking down the corridor that led straight outside, a probing voice interrupted my steady flow of walking. "You know most of the teachers and staff here are my good friends and colleagues. In fact, your engineering teacher Mr. Fair—"

"—Was your best friend and SOLDIER co-worker. I know," I said, my irritation apparent in my tone.

"We weren't 'co-workers,' we were 'colleagues.' Zack was the one that helped me become first-class." Mr. Strife was feeling so caught up in the moment, he didn't even notice that he had rested his arm around my shoulder, like we were buddies or something.

"Yeah, I'll have to ask Mr. Fair about that," I muttered, and Cloud finally heard my words loud and clear. He removed his arm from its place from around my shoulder and looked at me—dare I say it—the way a father looks at his son.

"You don't have to—son," Mr. Strife said calmly and normally said. His arm somehow found its way back to rest on my shoulder.

"Why are you talking to me?" I asked, more annoyed and vexed at him then I've ever been in my life. The irony was that I have been begging for this kind of attention since I was a little kid, and now that I have grown into a young adult, it no longer seems necessary. Or at least, that's what I thought.

Cloud looked a little flustered; his eyebrows were tightly knit in confusion to find the answer to my question like it needed assessment. "Actually, I wanted to ask if you needed a ride to my house. This weekend. For dinner. Tifa told you, right?" He looked concerned now, but it didn't get past the fact that he forgot that we're neighbors.

I pretended to think hard and long, even pointing a finger to my lips. "No, thanks, Cloud," I finally said, removing his arm from my shoulder. "I'll be happy to walk."

—- - - -

A/N: After an overdue update, I want to say sorry again. I've been caught up in a lot and I finally got around to staying up to post this. At 2 AM, I have a couple things to ask:

How are the chapter lengths? Longer, right? Yeah. I'm pretty proud of that. Oh, and if you have trouble reading the paragraphs here on fanfiction, I can help out if you check my profile, the link is there and it changes the width and such O:

Have any of you watched AnoHana? I just finished it, and I really really loved it. Top 10 Animes of mine now…well anyways the two pieces of theme music were a really big inspiration, and the whole anime is totally sweet. So is Sora's voice actor as the main character.

The updates won't be as spacey anymore; I'm really working on the eleventh chapter. I hope I'll get it up before I go to Vegas (;

Thanks for reading! ~ Please Review if you may!