And so a new chapter begins.
Chapter Ten! The Double Digits! I'm so excited.
Day: Friday, day four of lunch time punishment
Period: second
Location: locker room
Status: Tired
Turns out Hayner got off with a week's detention. Nobody else has detention because Hayner took the blame for it all. He doesn't seem to mind though, since it appears that his party is still on for tonight. I'm not really surprised by this. Principal Smitton has this mindset that his son is a perfect little golden boy. Or at least that's what it seems like. Hayner gets let off the hook with everything he does. Everything. After he yells at Hayner, he gives him a small punishment and moves on.
When he ditched every class for three days to sleep in the auditorium, he got off easy.
When he took his father's car for a joyride, he got off easy.
When he openly insulted a teacher over the intercom, he got off easy.
When he a started a riot in the school's parking lot, he got off easy.
Hayner claims that he doesn't just perform random acts of defiance for laughs or fame or anything; he simply does what he believes should be done.
I personally think that he's just a rebellious young man by nature. There's just nothing his father can do about it. And that's that.
And I have to do physical education. That's that.
I find it unfair. That in most schools, when you reach the eleventh grade, you are free from P.E. for your junior senior years. I'm a junior. And I still have to participate in P.E. this year. And next year, actually. Stupid Twilight High and its fear of obesity.
I feel a tap on my shoulder.
"Hey Kairi," Olette says when I turn around.
"Hello," I greet her back, pulling my hideous P.E. shirt over my head.
"Hayner only got a week's detention, y'know," she tells me.
"So I've heard," I reply, "but I'm sure we all saw it coming."
"Yeah, I guess," she agrees as we make our way to the exit of the locker room.
We walk over to the bleachers where Cloud and that nameless friend of his are.
"Yo," Cloud says to me and nods at Olette. His friend mumbles a greeting before going back to whatever he and Cloud were discussing before we got here.
"Hey there," I mumble back.
But before anything else can be said, the shrill sound of a whistle is heard, followed by the loud, demanding voice of coach Coach shouting at us to get in our lines. And we all do.
"Alright," coach Coach bellows after taking row, "Today we're doing a free day, because it's Friday and I'm feeling good."
The crowd burst into delighted sounds.
"Quiet!" he yells in a way that's completely unnecessary, "Don't ruin my good mood! Now everybody can do what they want as long as nobody's sitting or standing around. Just walk around if there's nothing for you to do, got it?"
Everybody agrees and heads off and out of the gym to do whatever activity they have in mind.
I meet up with Cloud, his friend and Olette.
"What do you guys wanna do?" Olette asks as we walk around aimlessly.
"Let's play basketball," Cloud's friend suggests.
"Yeah," Cloud agrees looking at me. I frown is dismay.
If you remember, I am terribly atrocious in physical activity. You remember me mentioning this, right? Right?! Well good, because obviously my best friend doesn't remember that detail about me.
"Oh, c'mon, Kai," Cloud says, "it's not all that bad, just try."
"No thanks," I sigh, "but you guys go ahead and play."
I don't want to play, but that doesn't mean that Cloud and the others shouldn't.
"You sure?" Cloud asks, though he's already walking to the sport supplies closet.
"I'm fine," I assure him, "I'll be back."
I half expect Olette to come with me, but after giving me an apologetic glance, she jogs after the guys to play.
Not really sure what I'm going to do, I wander around alone, until I feel loser-ish for walking around alone. Then I decide to go to the other side of the field, where that big random shed is. There are less people over there, mostly un-athletic or other loser-ish people hang. Heh, I'll fit in perfectly.
I get a few nods/smiles from some of the kids as I walk. And I'm slightly surprised to see that no one is at the side of the shed. I mean seriously, anyone could come behind here if they didn't want to participate in free play. You could sit or stand around and totally get away with it.
So I decide to sit down. And stare at the scenery. Which isn't all that great; just two trees and some grass.
And as I'm sitting and thinking and pretending to enjoy the scenery, I here the sound of a sliding door.
I whip my head around in the direction of the front of the shed. I hear a low grunt and the sound of the door sliding shut.
I stand up and walk over to the front.
And there's Flare. Well, the back of him, since he's facing toward the shed and locking the door. So I wait.
He finishes the job and spins on his heal around towards me. He flinches a little when he sees me there. I guess he didn't notice me approaching.
"Uh, hi," I mumble, probably a little too quietly.
He stares me down as he stuffs the small ring of keys in his right pocket. His hard gaze makes me more than a little uncomfortable. But I force myself to keep my eyes on his for the most part.
"Hi," I repeat a bit louder than the first time.
"I heard you the first time," he replies.
"Oh, I guess I would've expected you to say it back," I tell him, though for some reason I kind of regret saying that.
He grunts, but doesn't say anything to that.
"You're, uh," he scratches the back of his head in a tired way, "Wait, who are you again?"
I open my mouth and close it again. Is this guy serious? We've met more than once. More than twice, actually. In fact, I talked to this guy for a whole lunch period. You remember this, don't you? Because obviously he doesn't.
"I'm Kairi," I remind him. But he doesn't look reminded, so I continue, "I helped with the boxes. And we talked in the library. And you walked with me from the grocery store with the blonde man; I'm bad with names." That last part was to myself.
He raises his eyebrows.
"Right," he says "Hello."
We stand in an awkward silence.
"So," I speak up, "What are you doing?"
"Work," he responds simply.
He yawns in an obnoxiously adorable way before taking a seat on the ground with his back against the shed. He pulls one knee to his chest and leaves his other leg flat. He looks sleepy.
I feel a little giddy that he has decided to sit down. It must mean that he's planning to stay for a while.
"So," this seems to be the way to start out lots of conversations, "how are you?"
I feel so lame asking this. But whatever.
"Decent," he replies shrugging slightly.
There are so many things I want to ask him. So many mysteries about this guy. I'm not even entirely sure why I want to know. I just do.
"You didn't have to take us to where you stay," he mumbles, and I almost wonder if it's me he's talking to. Almost. But then I remember that I'm the only one here.
"Huh?" is my lame reply.
He looks up at me and shifts uncomfortably.
"Ooh," he 'oohs', "you are the girl from the grocery store, yes?"
I nod, because in realty I just said that….and did this guy just ooh?
"Oh, uh, yeah," I say when I realize he's referring to me reluctantly letting the Luxord guy (and him) follow me home. "It wasn't really a big deal."
"Yes it was." He says this confidently. Like he's reading my mind or something. So I decide not to respond. Instead I just shift over to lean more on my right foot and chew on my nails.
He takes his eyes away from my face and let them wander down. I can't tell if he's staring at my stomach or somewhere past me altogether. It's making me feel a little weird.
"You can sit if you want," he says, still staring at whatever he's staring at, "I'm not gonna bite you."
I half expect him to finish that statement with 'unless you want me to.' I'm not sure why. But he just stares ahead, narrowing his eyes a bit in what looks like concentration.
I don't want to look stupid or anything so I decide to sit down as nonchalantly as possible. I take a seat next to him. Well, about two and half feet away from the guy.
So much for nonchalance.
We sit silently for awhile. Laughter, bouncing balls and running footsteps are heard from the activities of P.E. a ways away. And I'm grateful for the noise.
Finally thinking of a topic to talk about, I glance over at his still form.
"So how did you manage to clean that cafeteria?" I ask him.
He stays quiet for a bit, staring straight ahead. I'm not exactly sure if he has heard me. So I clear my throat to start again.
"So how did you-"
"I had help," he interrupts me casually, as if I weren't asking. Again.
"Other janitors," I assume out loud.
"Friends," he corrects me. I give him a look.
"Didn't they have class?"
"Friends from the outside."
Right. It's totally possible for him to have friends from outside of Twilight High. In fact, I doubt he has any friends here. He generally seems to be overall annoyed with the majority of the school's population. I'm not sure if that includes me yet. I'm kinda getting mixed signals here.
"Are you attending college?" I ask him, really wanting to know how old he is. He looks like a high school student. I can't see him being any older than me, but maybe he is. Cloud looks older than this guy. Hey, and so does Riku. And maybe Demyx.
Once again he stares straight ahead, as if I hadn't said anything at all just now. But this time I decide not to repeat myself right away. So I just look at him out of the corner of my eye as he looks at whatever he's been looking at since I sat down.
When he goes a little over a minute without answering, I can't tell if he has chosen not to answer me or if he simply did not hear me. Although I highly doubt he hadn't heard me. So I clear my throat and ask another question.
"Did you ever go to Twilight High?"
I've attended this high school since the ninth grade. And I went to Twilight Junior High School before that. Maybe he's been here to. Maybe I'd just never seen him.
This one he does decide to answer: "No," he murmurs with a soft shake of his head.
"You went to another high school in Twilight Town?" I try another one.
Silence.
"Did you just move here?"
Silence.
"Are you planning on staying?"
He slowly turns around to face me, first just his head, keeping his eyes glued to whatever ahead. Then his frozen waters switch over to my face.
He stares at me for a while.
"You ask a lot of questions," he states.
"Sorry," I look down at my folded hands in my lap self-consciously, "you can ask some too, if you like. Or not answer the ones I ask. Or we can talk about something else. That doesn't involve lots of questions, of course."
I stop talking, since I'm beginning to ramble like Yuffie would (does). And I'm usually not really a rambler.
He glances at me, then back at whatever has had his attention this entire time, and then stands to his feet. I look up at him.
"The bell for your next class is about to ring," he tells me, nodding his head in the direction of the school building. As if on cue, I hear the distant sound of the bell ring.
"Oh," I get up to and dust of my shorts.
We stand there awkwardly for a moment.
He stretches his arms above his head and yawns that darn cute yawn again before walking off. Just like that.
I watch him saunter his way back toward the building, avoiding walking close to other students.
Then I start walking, though at a slightly faster pace since I've wasted enough time standing here watching him.
-------------XIII-------------
Scieeeeeenccceee……Anatomy. Then Literature (or English). And good old Art.
-------------XIII-------------
"Hayner's party's gonna kick ass, " Demyx comments for the third time in the first ten minutes of this lunch period.
"Okay, Demyx," Cloud rolls his eyes, shoving the last of his yummy-looking sandwich into his mouth. Cloud eats everything so fast. I swear, it's like he takes three bites and he's done.
"I'm sure it's not gonna kick anymore ass than intended if you keep saying it," Sora jokes, earning a punch in the shoulder from his best friend.
"And you're going to get us in trouble if you keep talking so loud," Riku warns in a low voice.
We have to do homework for these lunch periods for punishment. It's like a study hall in here. I definitely prefer that over standards though. Standards are pointless. I don't believe that writing the same sentence over and over again is going to make a person any better. Just annoyed.
"S'not like we're the only ones talking," Demyx says.
Everybody here is doing homework at this our table except for Demyx, who's eating extra slow so he won't have to. Well Cloud is attempting to do homework, but with all this distraction--like Demyx, text messages from Tifa, and food crumbs--he isn't getting much done. Methinks Riku has progressed the most.
I glance around and see other students playing around; throwing pens, tossing notes back and forth, and sneaking to other tables to chat. Though I must say that I am impressed at the level we've managed to keep the volume.
The little lunch ladies are coversing in low voices behind the counter. I'm sure they're loving this--not having to worry about loud, messy, icky teenagers for the duration of our punishment.
I watch Cloud finish up his latest text to Tifa under the table. He snaps it shut and stuffs it in his pocket. He grabs his pencil and looks at his paper. Then as expected, he drops it again and looks around. His bright blue eyes find mine.
"Kai, Where'd you go during PE?" he asks, "Olette came to play with us."
"Just walked around a bit," I reply. I don't know why I don't want to mention Flare. And thinking about Flare gives me the urge to go to the library to see if he's there. I would too--because me just up and going to the library isn't unusual--but leaving to go anywhere else besides the bathroom is not allowed at the present time.
"Basketball season starts soon," Demyx states out of the blue, resting his head in his palm lazily. He casually begins lightly blowing at the loose strands of blonde hair hanging in front of his forehead. "Cloud, you game?"
"Maybe, I'm not sure yet," Cloud answers with a shrug of his shoulders.
Demyx turns toward Cloud. "You have to play."
Cloud just shrugs again.
"If you don't, I gotta spend a season with those haters," he continues, "Sora's into baseball and Riku's a pansy boy."
Riku looks up from his book at Demyx. "Pansy boy?" he sounds annoyed, "Why's that? Because I don't play your sports?"
"Damn, Riku, chill," Demyx rolls his eyes, "I was kidding."
I absent-mindedly wonder why Riku said your sports. Like he plays his own. Then my mind heads over to Sora. I didn't know he played baseball. That's somehow so adorably fitting. I feel as if I could get into baseball. Maybe I'll force Cloud to take me to one of Sora's games. I don't want to go alone. It'll feel weird.
-------------XIII-------------
And then there was history class. Which is always a blur. A big boring blur.
-------------XIII-------------
And school's finally over for the day. As Yuffie and I exit the school building, I hear the excited sounds of teenagers ready for the weekend. Most of the chatter is revolving around Hayner's party, which starts at around 8:00 tonight. Hayner never gives out the time that the party is suppose to end anymore because it always varies. Some of Hayner's friends even crash over there at times. I'm surprised Principal Smitton allows this to happen.
"Man," I hear Demyx from somewhere behind me, "Hayner's party is gonna kick some serious ass!" And then there's the sound of Sora's beautiful laughter.
I feel a tingle of excitement. I'll get to see my Sora at the party tonight. I have seen him at every one I've been to, but tonight will be different. I can feel it. I actually know him now. He's talked to me. I smile to myself.
"I cannot wait until tonight!" Yuffie squeals, grabbing my arm as she falls into step with me, "Tonight, I make my move." She eyes the back of Demyx confidently, who has made it in front of us with Sora and a group of guys I don't know. Riku isn't with them.
"Well good luck, then," I tell her, looping my arm through hers.
I glance across the street.
"Yuffie, is that Leon's truck?" I ask her, pointing to the dark blue car. Yuffie follows my gaze and her face lights up.
"What's he doing here?"
She unhooks her arm from mine and jogs in that direction. I follow suit, watching for cars as I cross the street. I swear, one day Yuffie's going to get hit if she doesn't watch where she's going.
"Hey," she says, leaning into the front window that he had let down after spotting us, "what are you doing here?"
"Sup," he replies with a nod. He turns off the car and opens the door, which pushes Yuffie out of the way. He slams the door shut and walks past Yuffie and I, giving me a nod on the way.
Yuffie looks t me in annoyance at her brother, before following him. I follow too.
"What are you doing?"She asks.
"Going to see Hayner," he says. Yuffie looks back at me. I shrug.
"Why?" she asks him, struggling to keep up with his fast strides. I have to jog to catch up with them.
"For the party," he tells her matter-of-factly, like it was obvious.
"You're going?"
"That would be why I'm going to see Hayner about the party."
Yuffie hates it when he gets sarcastic.
"Why? You graduated from here already."
"So?" he shrugs his shoulders. And he jogs on ahead of us, towards Hayner, who's with a group of shouting kids. I spot Olette a little outside of the crowd, standing behind some tall guy. Poor Olette. That always happens to her; she's walking with Hayner and soon a crowd forms around Hayner and she's shoved out of it. Well, I picture her shoved. She just somehow always ends up on the outside of it. And Hayner's always somewhere in the middle of it.
I watch Leon run up to the crowd, tap a few shoulders, and receive lots of loud greetings and beatings (actually, not beatings, just rough hugs and punches to the upper arms). And just like that, the crowd parts for him, like the freakin' red sea.
Yuffie and I stand outside of the crowd that Leon has been swallowed up in, though I'm not entirely sure why.
"Ready to go?" I ask her, starting to turn around.
"No," she replies, standing on her tippy toes in attempt to see Leon over all these heads, "I'm hoping to get a ride."
Ah.
"But he could be here forever," I state, but she just ignores me and continues the standing on the toes.
After standing on the outskirts of the group that's slowly getting louder for about ten minutes, I grow tired of waiting. Yuffie seems to have occupied herself with Olette. I tap my best friend on the shoulder.
"You know what? Just call me when you guys are finished here," I tell her. She nods, but continues her conversation.
So I take this opportunity to go to the library. Leon was like royalty when he went to school here. So about ninety-five percent of Twilight High's population knows him. So there's no telling how long he'll be here. And seeing him at the party will definitely cause a stir Leon will be proud of. Leon was the Hayner of baseball. That's what I call him. Since Hayner has always been popular here, comparing Leon to Hayner seems to fit. Leon has been playing baseball for as long as I've known him (or longer, I presume), so joining the frosh team when he first came was naturally expected. Yuffie and I would hear all about his amazing baseball stories and attend lots of his games together at age eleven (Leon being fourteen then). When Yuffie and I entered high school, Leon was already a senior and a school legend. Yuffe was proud at her slowly-growing rep (her being the little sister of the Hayner of baseball), even though Leon barely spoke to Yuffie at school. She did a little here and there to make sure everybody knew they were related, since you can't tell by looking at them that they are siblings. And she would strut down the halls with such high confidence levels as if Leon being great at baseball meant she was just destined for greatness.
Yuffie and I continued to go to the varsity baseball games, Cloud eventually joining us. I went to support Leon, and to see the genius at work. Yuffie went to be seen, which she denied, but we all knew it was true. Cloud went just because. After Leon graduated, we stopped going to the games. Well, Yuffie and I did; Cloud had made quite a few friends by sophomore year.
Thinking about Leon and baseball has got me thinking about Sora. Sora's going to play baseball. And that means I have to go to the games. I'm inwardly drooling at seeing him in that cute baseball uniform, his cap pulled down low like Leon use to wear his (though I'm not sure how Sora wears his baseball caps).
Looks like I'll be a bit more involved in school, since I'll be going to Sora's baseball games and Cloud's basketball games. I won't hear the end of it from Cloud if I don't show up at a few of his games. Plus there's the extra hassle of having to join a club. Not being in any sort of club/sport in the eleventh grade is rare around here. Neither Yuffie nor I are in one. Time for a change.
My feet have carried me into the library, though my head has been immersed in thoughts about the past and what's soon to come.
I wave to the librarian and head to the usual spot, my beanbag looking so very inviting at this moment. I collapse onto it and place my bag at the side.
"Hey," the sudden greeting makes me nearly jump off the bag. I turn around and there's Riku, sitting in the same armchair as before, that thick novel he'd been reading laying open in his lap.
How I hadn't noticed him? I have no idea. That's scary. Either he's a really good sneak, or I just suck at observing my surroundings. Or maybe a little bit of both.
"Sorry, didn't mean to scare you," he says, focusing his attention back on the book in his lap.
"Yeah, it's okay," I take out my book, "how are you?"
"Fine, thanks for asking," he says, his eyes glued to the pages, "and you?"
"Good. Are you going to the party tonight?"
He's quiet for a bit, and I assume he's thinking.
"I don't know," he answers after a few moments. And now I'm curious.
"Why not?" I ask, trying not to sound nosy.
"I have to work." He tells me. "I'm suppose to start today, and it'll look bad if I fail to show up because of a party."
I nod. Riku is so responsible.
"What are you gonna do?" I ask him, suddenly uninterested in this book. Kind of like last time.
"My uncle's a mechanic," he say, closing his book as well, "he owns a shop in town and since I'm pretty decent when it comes to cars, I thought I'd help out."
"So nice of you to help," I comment.
"And I need the little extra money," he adds with a small grin. Hmm. A grin. Rare for Riku. I like it.
And so do I!
Wow, it has been MONTHS since I've updated. Feel free to throw big chunks of raw meat at me. But in the process, could you maybe…review? Just a bit? The next chapter will be up so much faster, I promise!