Absolutely wrong.

Homeroom and first period went by without a problem since none of Axel's posse were in either. My real problems started in second period: science.

"So far so good." I scanned the area cautiously as I walked to the science room. Somewhere in the hallways was one of the guys, watching and snickering at me from a distance. Only other students were in my sight, but they were there and I knew it. I'd go so far to say that I could sense them. My pace sped up once the room up ahead was in my view. Just a few more feet. You're doing good, I kept myself motivated as the door came closer. The minute I stepped through the door I'd be home free.

Ten steps.

Five steps.

Three steps.

"Made it!" I panted, a tired smile on my face as I stood in the doorway. The accomplishment lowered my paranoia by several levels. Any chances of getting hurt on my way there were completely canceled out. There was no doubt they still wandering in the hallway in wait for their prey to return. That or they were skipping. Either one didn't matter to me so long as I was in the classroom. They could do as they pleased until it was time for me to move again.

"Hey, Roxas." My classmate, Sam, came up to me. "What's up?" I slapped on a normal smile after I regain my composure. "There something going on at your desk?" he thumbed my desk, the both of us turning to the seat in the middle of the room. Sitting and standing around it were other students, snickering and giggling at something. I couldn't tell right away since they were crowding our view. "I have no idea," I said confusedly as he led me over to my assigned seat. Seeing me approach, the others smiled knowingly my way and controlled their laughter as I walked through the path they made for me. Just what was so funny? It's a chair attached to a desk, haven't you guys seen something like that somewhere? I raised my eyebrow at all of them as I stepped up to the thing.

"Oh!" I gasped at what they were looking at. On my desk was a collage of colors. Green stems jutted out of the basket in various directions like frozen fireworks, blooms with dozens colors on the end. Around the stems were the leaves, three grouped together and circled around the plants. Lush, green vines poured out of the basket, long enough to almost reach the floor. I normally wouldn't say so, but it was an impressive flower display. Picking up one of the vines, I felt it with my fingers. Smooth with a wink of stickiness. "What is this?"

"Don't know. It was here when we came in," another classmate of mine, Faye, explained even though she was still giggling at the flowers. "So you guys don't know where it came from?" I turned to the guys sitting in the next row of seats. They shook their heads though still trying to contain their snickering. I rolled my eyes at them, Real mature guys. Instinctively I started to turn the basket around, my eyes scanning for what should obviously stick out when something like this is delivered.

"There's no card or note attached," I checked back to the students around me. The guys couldn't hold it anymore and burst out laughing. There non-stop chortling was getting on my nerves. "Did you guys do this?" I scanned over everybody in my sight. "Not us, but maybe there's a girl here who likes you," Jace contained himself long enough to tell me what he wanted to say before he rejoined the others. "Really?" I turned to the girls on the other side of me. Automatically they blushed, holding their cheeks but still giving me the obvious sign for "no." Aw, dammit, I pouted.

My attention drew back to the plant, eyebrow raised. Who could've done it? I peered at the plant as if that would make it tell me itself. A girl from another classroom? Maybe not. If she wanted to give me something like this then she could've given it to me in homeroom, I skimmed through the possibility. Any girl or guy who has a crush on somebody else would at least know their homeroom number.

Then I turned to the teacher's desk behind me. A shiver ran down my spine. A female teacher I would be okay with for doing something like that, but a male teacher? Especially Mr. Vexen? Now that was just gross! I know my new school is all cool along with most of my teachers being awesome, but Mr. Vexen was just plain creepy! He looked freaky, spoke creepy, and he has the most creepy-ass laugh I have ever heard.

"I'll just have to find out later." I picked the basket up, letting the vines fall onto my arms as I squatted down and placed the bouquet on the floor. Everybody around me dispersed back to their seats once they caught sight of Mr. Vexen entering the room, his briefcase filled with paper work. "Alright children, take your seats and pull out your note packets if you have them for the open-note test," he set the case on the desk and, with some quick finger work, opened it. Pulling up my backpack, I reached into it just as the bell rung. From the doorway came the locks of pink hair, the black jacket, and the wicked grin. Marluxia. Realization struck like a bolt of lightning once I remembered he was in my class. So my self-security wasn't complete after all.

"You're late again, Mr. Krysanthe," Vexen eyed him as he strutted to his seat.

"Why yes, I am. What the hell does it mean to you?" Marluxia stopped in front of Vexen's desk, hands in his pockets and shoulders relaxed to show that he wasn't concerned at all.

With The Order member blocking mine and everybody else's view in my row we couldn't see how Mr. Vexen was taking it, but by the sound of an annoyed sigh, it was pretty obvious. "Just take your seat Marluxia and take out your notes for the test." A bony arm raised in front of Marluxia, pointing to the empty seat at the back of the room.

We looked up to the student in front of us who casually shrugged before doing as he was told. Strolling down between my row and the next, his eyes gazed down in my direction with my eyes looking up in time to meet his. Cold blue. Nothing but cold blue was in there for me. Time slowed as he passed by me, signs of tension sparking between us. An enemy. He was an enemy. That was all he was to me and nobody could tell me otherwise. His eyes narrowed as he caught this in my expression, the words circling in my mind. The blue suddenly shifted to something below me. Puzzled, I shifted my eyes to see what he was staring at. My arms. I glanced back up to him just in time to see his eyes shift again to another area. Again I followed. The plant.

Smirking, he let out silent "heh" as he finally passed by me. "What was that about?" I mumbled to myself, opening my book for the test.

"Now then, here are your tests," Mr. Vexen came around his desk to pass out the tests, "If I see any wandering eyes, I'll be sure to give you a zero and send you down to the office for cheating, not that you really should be since it's open-note." The minute I was handed my test, I got right to it while he continued to pass out papers on the other side of me. That was when he made a sudden stop.

"Roxas? What is this?" he asked. I tore away from my test to see him staring down to the floor. The flowers of course. "I don't really know, sir. They were on my desk when I came in. I don't really know what to do with it," I shrugged, hoping to get back to my test. "Well Mr. Koizumi, I'd think it'd be best if you threw those away. They're a distraction to the class and could pose an allergy threat," he nodded of his head toward the trashcan.

"Yes, sir," I answered discouraged, getting up to do as I was told. I was still curious about who left them there for me. If they really were from a girl, then I would feel bad should she have found out their fate.

Snickering came to my ear as I gathered the plant in my arms. "Huh?" My head turned every which way to see who it was. By the sound of it, it was definitely from a guy but when I looked around all of them had their heads down and focused on the test. All except Marluxia , who was looking past his desk to his lap. A dim glow emitted from something in his hands as his fingers wildly moved around. Texting, of course. Axel? No doubt about that.

Shrugging it off, I made my way to the trashcan next to the door. "Bon voyage." It fell in flowers first, the edges of the leaves scratching my arms. With that taken care of, I eagerly went back to my desk to finish what I had started. Okay, number 5: Name the three types of rock, I read the question as I took my seat. My free hand flipped through the pages of the packet as I scratched my arm with the other, Metamorphic, igneous, sedimentary. I gave my arm another scratch as I moved on to the next question. Mirrors are sometimes used for optical illusions. What are mirrors made of? Again I flipped through the notes for an answer, this time with my opposite hand since my other arm started to itch. Once I was finished, I wrote down the answer. What is the orbital period of the moon?

I couldn't concentrate at all with the constant scratching going on. I set my pencil down, fiercely clawing at my arms to relieve the itch, but it felt like there was none coming up anytime soon. Every time it felt relieved the irritation came up again. Now I knew what it felt like to be a dog with a bad itch it couldn't reach despite the fact that I could reach mine. Every second it seemed to get worse and worse. Stinging would begin in one small spot, but would spread up my arms within the several scratched made around it. I hadn't experienced anything like it beforehand. What type of itch is this? I continued to tear at my arm. Shivering over took me along with my eyes shutting as I continued to scratch. I was becoming more hellbent on tearing all the skin off my arm. Somebody make it stop! I sealed my lips as much as I could to keep myself from crying out.

"Roxas, are you alright?" Mr. Vexen called from his desk. I peeked open my eyes to see almost everybody staring at me. At a time like that, I probably would've been blushing with embarrassment, but I was too preoccupied to even do that. "Not really sir," I tried to scratch both of my hands but I was failing miserably, "I think there might be something wrong with my skin or something." People started to give me nasty looks. Can't help it people! I'm itchy for no reason! I'm sure plenty of them had been the same at one point! I bad eyed everybody who was in my line of vision. At least the agonizing itch allowed me to do that.

"Well doing that certainly doesn't help," he rose from his seat and made his way over to my desk. I shuddered at the annoying itch. Oh gosh it was getting worse! I cringed. As if getting worse was possible. I was already dying in my seat.

He held his bony hand out for my arm, "Let me see." Giving it a couple more scratches, I gave up my left arm up to him. "Hmmm," he leaned closer, one emerald green eye narrowed with the other wide opened. Seeing his eyes do that made my eyes start to twitch. Come on! Finish looking at if already! I nEed tO...NGH! It was unbearable. Refusing him to examine it further, I drew back my arm and started to scratch at it fiercely.

"Were you like this before this class?" he hid his hands behind his back. I shook my head viciously, "No, I was fine before. I don't know why this is happening now!" He kept his cool the entire time while everybody else was gossiping about what might be wrong with me. I wished I had had the time to counter whatever they were saying. With a suspicious look in his eyes, he glanced over to the trashcan, "Would you happen to be allergic to those flowers?" Another shake of my head, "I'm not allergic to those." As far as I knew I wasn't allergic. Taking my word, he marched over to the trashcan and took a peek inside. Everybody else leaned forward in their seats to see what he was looking at while I started to tear into my skin. Tiny bubbles of blood began coming forth on my arms. Why didn't somebody just walk over and cut off my arms for crying out loud?

It wouldn't have mattered anyway. Things went downhill at that point.

Suddenly, my desk was flying away from me when I realized I was being dragged to my feet. "This way," Mr. V looked down to me worriedly, leading me to the corner of the room next to the door. His grasp on my arm did no help for me. Animal instincts set in along with the urge to gnaw my arm off. It BURNED! How I wished he had been more careful with me.

"Mrs. Harleen," he pressed a button and spoke into the speaker next to it.

"Yes?" The nurse replied.

"Please be prepared for a TR case coming your way," he demanded into the speaker.

"Will do!" she called back.

"Come with me," he opened the door and led me out. Not even pulling was helping me now. I tried to follow up next to him, but the jitters in my leg and the stumbles in my step were holding me back. If he didn't let me go so I could claw at my arm, I was prepared to fight him for it which was something I really wanted to avoid. "Hurry," I whined aloud. "Don't worry. We're almost there," he looked back to me somewhat sincerely. Mrs. Harleen's office came closer and closer with each step.


"I love you Mrs. Harleen," I sung happily. Embarrassingly she giggled before continuing to rummage through her drawer for something. From another person's perspective I looked high, but from my perspective I was relieved. Stretching my backbone as much as it could, I allowed my arms to dip lower into the sink full of water. Oh, sweet relief, I sighed in content.

Mr. Vexen was able to get me to Mrs. Harleen's office before I was reduced to biting my arms off. Almost instantly an aveeno bath was drawn for me in the sink. After talking with Vexen, Mrs. Harleen made me aware that I had come into contact with poison ivy. Mr. V saw that the vines on the flowers were actually the toxin-carrying plant. I thought for sure those things only grew in forests, but showing up in a high school in a tropical location? What were the odds?

"This is totally unexpected. We don't usually get poison ivy cases like this in school," the nurse giggled to herself then stopped rifling through the drawer, "but I'm always prepared." She winked, holding up a tube of cream. "Thank you," I said with the tone of grateful, poor child. She had just saved me from going crazy. "Your welcome, Roxas," she grabbed the towel off a rack. I lifted my arms and was given the towel so I could dry off.

"I guess I have another cream for you to use," she held the tube up with her index fingers, "Speaking of cream, how's your wrist?" Before I had dunked my arms in the water, I had to remove the bandage around my arm. With my arms dried, I revealed my previous injury to her. The progress was going well; the blistering had been reduced and the swelling was gone. A couple more days of healing and it'd be good as new. Thankfully, that was the only part of my arm that wasn't affected by the ivy, all to the work of the bandage. If I had started to scrape at myself there, I would've died instantly. "Great!" she gave me the "ok" sign.

*~'~'*

"What happened again?" Kairi narrowed her eyes in confusion. I face palmed, Just told you what happened. The three of us met up with each other between passing for a sort of "status report" meeting. Boy, did I have something to tell them.

"I got poisoned by ivy and had to go to the nurse's office," I explained again, crossing my pink, healing arms. The two of them looked at each other like they couldn't believe what they just heard. "Yeesh," Sora winced, "How the hell does something like that happen in school?"

"Somebody left a stupid pot-basket of flowers on my desk that turned out to have poison ivy for leaves" I rubbed my arm, feeling the sticky cream that was on it. "So Mr. V took you to the nurse's office?" Kairi asked, trying to understand this. As if a whole lot needed to be understood. I nodded.

"The 'bath' part I can understand, but why did you lose all of your clothes?" Sora eyed my light blue polo shirt and sand colored shorts. "Mrs. Harleen said my clothes might be contaminated from being in contact with the vines so she gave me these to wear. She said she'll have my clothes washed by the end of the day," I fingered the buttons on the shirt. "OoOoh, did she watch you change?" the girl made a flirty face. A blush formed a little bit on my face, "No! Of course she didn't! I changed in the bathroom, duh!"

"Says you," she crossed her arms and looked at me slyly. My eyes narrowed; Mrs. Harleen was nice with students, but she wasn't like that I know for sure. She had the decency to not lose her job.

Sora was texting something into his phone. "And you said these were flowers?"

"Yeah."

"Send."

We waited for a few seconds before his phone started to vibrate.

The lid flipped open and he read the text, "Marluxia."

"Knew there was something up with that guy!" I glared to the side. "Oh yeah, that seems like it'd be typical of him," Kairi stuck her nose in the air. "Riku says that Marluxia has some type of fetish with plants when Axel's not with him. Stuff like that is to be expected," Sora scrolled through the text Riku sent him. "Like daisies and lilies?" I questioned in a mocking tone while I "fluttered" my hands. "That, and apparently poison ivy. Bet the guy grows drugs in his backyard," he answered with a cross of his arms. "That still doesn't tell us why he didn't get poisoned too. After all, he had to have touched the stuff to get it to school and put it on my desk," I thumbed behind me in the direction of the science room.

"He does wear gloves," Kairi shrugged, not completely sure with her answer even though she was right. "That and he probably knows a lot about plants so he knows how to handle them," Sora read another text sent by his friend. "That does make sense," I sighed, "and he probably has a class near the science room so he was able to set it up before I got there. Then he left and came back late so he didn't look too suspicious."

"We'll have to look out for tricks like that the next time he's around," Sora concluded. That was something all three of us could agree on.

Just as we were about to finish our meeting, something occurred to me, "Wait. Just before I started itching like crazy, I saw Marluxia texting on his phone. He could've been talking to Axel or the others." The two of them looked to me semi-wide eyed. That could mean something. "If he was texting the other three..." Kairi cupped her chin. "Then that might mean we could still be in trouble," Sora finished for her. Realization struck us once more; we weren't out of the woods yet. "How...are Demyx, Marluxia, and Zexion when Axel isn't around?" I asked nervously. Demyx I could probably understand in not attacking us since I still hadn't really "spent" my I.O.U. Marluxia and Zexion were another story. They looked at each other in concern, then back to me. "We...don't really know. We've only seen them with Axel," Kairi answered. My head felt light. That wasn't good.

"Riku says to just keep away from them. Don't talk to them. Don't listen to them. Don't even look their way," Sora read another text on his phone. Even though this was coming from Riku, it didn't put us at ease right away. "Just go on with our day," Kairi locked her hands uncomfortably. "Riiiight," I mumbled. Like that was going to be easy knowing that there were possibly four guys coming after us.

*~'~'*

Sora declared that we'd try to meet up with Kairi again after third period and if not then, before lunch. "English huh?" My cousin looked to me blankly. "Zexion," I groaned, making more steps down the hallway. "From what Riku told me, Zexion doesn't really do a lot if Axel's not with him," he glanced back down at the phone in his pocket. "Oh really?" I asked sarcastically with a raise of my eyebrow. I already saw what the guy does when he is with Axel. What wouldn't he do without him? "Says he doesn't like to get his hands 'dirty,'" he shrugged, still grasping the books in his hands.

I huffed and kept walking until something crept into my mind. What it was had something to with what Axel had said last week. I wasn't sure if Sora knew anything about it, but it couldn't hurt to ask.

"Hey Sora," I started.

"Hm?"

"Do you ever wonder how or why Riku knows all this stuff about the Thirteenth Order?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean like all this information about them. How they are? What they're like? What Axel's hangout is?"

He stayed silent for a moment in which I guessed he was questioning this too. "Well, most people here know stuff about them, but Riku knows more than anybody. It's probably cause he has more experience with them than anybody else," he looked to me, palms up in a questioning manner.

"And by 'experience' you mean...?"

"He's dealt with them a lot. I can't really say I'm the only one he defends. He's helps anybody who's being bothered by them." I didn't know what it was at the time, but there was something weird about his tone when he answered. A sort of secretive sense was in it as if he was "forgetting" something on purpose. However, I couldn't quite figure it out. As much as I wanted to believe his answer, I wasn't able to trust it all the way.

Suspiciously I narrowed my eyes, "Right."

The English room was steps away. Sora could tell I was being wary of our surroundings by the way I held my books tightly to my chest. Zexion was around, he had to be. Keep an eye out for anything suspicious once we get into the room, I kept telling myself. There was no way I was going to let what happened in science happen again, though I doubted the guy would pull the same thing as his partner.

We rounded the corner of the room when suddenly, "Hey!" Our books dropped to the floor, hitting our feet on the way down. I know books don't compare to the weight of an anvil, but these books were thick and they hurt.

"Book checked."

"What was up with that Zexion?" Sora got down to the floor to pick up his books. "Something I'd like to call Phase 1 and hello to you too, Strife," the dark-haired boy looked down to him with crossed arms. "Whatever Emo Boy," I got down to pick of my books as well. He didn't need to sound so high and mighty.

"I'm not emo!" he balled his fists. "Says the guy with the dark hair, tight pants, and wearing almost all black," I sniffed, still picking up my books when he suddenly stomped on my hand. Dropping my books, I quickly got to my feet with fists balled and ready to fight. Before me, he stood fearless. Our heights may have been even, but that didn't get rid of the smirk on his lips. The memory from days ago came back to me in a flash and I automatically grabbed the collar of his jacket, making sure his dark eyes were right in front of mine so he could see my rage.

"Roxas," Sora looked up to me from the floor, but my thoughts were focused on the guy in front of me. His eyes were blank, emotionless. Yet he kept his wicked smile. My eyes narrowed, "Don't think that I haven't forgotten about last week when you held my arm behind me." His smile grew wider, as if proud of what he had done. I shook him angrily, "I'm not through with you yet!"

"Oh please," he brushed his hands on mine to make me let go, "coming from the guy who can't take a small flint to his wrist." At that, he turned and headed for his seat next to the windows. I growled some more but quickly regained myself when I saw some of the others in the room staring at me like I was crazy. "Whatever," I dropped back down to the floor so I could pick up the rest of my books. I doubt he would be able to handle the pain if a flame was put up to his wrist.

"Glad to see you all today," the English teacher, Ms. Gainsborough, strutted in with her signature can of soda in her hand. The rest of us darted for our seats and sat quietly, waiting for what she'd do next. Behind her desk, she set down her can and opened a drawer. "Who's ready to read some more of our novel?" she smiled sweetly, holding up . Practically everybody in the room made uneasy sounds along with gestures that included shrugs and looks out the window. Nobody wanted to read. "Exciting huh?" she opened the book in her hand, prompting us to take the book out of our backpacks.

"But before we begin, how about we test our memorization. Who thinks they've memorized the first passage?" she asked. Several of us raised our hands, including me in the second to the front row. Sure, I may have had other problems to deal with, but not all of them interfered with my school work. Her eyes scanned over all of us, trying to decide who to pick from the people who weren't raising our hands. "Mmm, Roxas. How about you recite the passage?" she chose me with a spark of happiness in her tone. Guess she must've given up. "Sure," I nodded, and stood up from my seat while she looked into her book to follow along.

"'Utter silence.
A fragmented tale.
A world without you.
The eyes shall close.
Something so natural.
The memory beyo-ngh!'"

I stopped as a bright light flashed in the side of my face. Trying to keep out the light, I blinked a couple of times. "Something wrong?" she asked, tearing away from her book to look at me. Seconds before her eyes even reached me, the light was gone. "Ngh, no. Sorry, can I start over?" I asked, smiling sheepishly in hopes I would get another chance. "Why not?" she smiled, bringing her eyes back to her book. "Okay," I prepared to start again.

"'Utter silence
A fragmented tale
A world without you
The eyes shall close
Something so natural
The memory beyond
Something so simple
Where's-ugh!"

The light came back into my eyes. I turned my head down and started to rub at my eye to make it go away. Where was it coming from? I glanced around the room as fast as I could. I didn't find any probable source of it. "Having problems Roxas?" Ms. Gainsborough looked up to me again, a frown on her lips when my eyes met hers. "I'm sorry Ms. G, but there's some type of bright light that's distracting me," I finally stopped rubbing it. Searching for the answer, she scanned the room for wherever the origin was, but I could tell by how quick she was that she couldn't find where it was coming from either. "I don't see it. How about you turn to the side and do it that way?" she giggled a little. A light chuckled came from me and I turned my back to the windows. This would be much better, I felt the confidence return to me as I picked up my book again.

"Utter silen-ah!"

It returned. I immediately turned around to the window area only to see an even brighter light flashing in my eyes from the corner of the room. "Zexion stop!" Sora demanded from his seat. "Zexion? Zexion!" Ms. G finally saw what Zexion was doing. I had a hunch that he may have had something to do with it. Instantly, the said boy set the mirror down into his lap, glaring at Sora. Although he put his "tool" away, our English teacher was on her way to his seat and when she reached him, held her hand out in demand for the looking glass. Reluctantly, he placed the reflector into her hand which she shoved in her pocket.

"Distracting your peers is a foolish offense Mr. Zexion, especially if it's to make them fail. You should be ashamed," she huffed all the way back to her desk. Taking the mirror out of her pocket, she placed it in another one of her desk drawers. Shaking her head to fix her hair, she picked up her book again and found her place. "Sorry about that, Roxas. Would you mind starting again?" she pleaded.

"Not at all," I beamed.

*~'~'*

Sora and I passed through the rest of English without much of a problem from Zexion. Seemed like book checking and mirrors were his only tricks, but that still didn't give me the impression he was done for. No doubt he had other things up his sleeves. We didn't get a chance to meet up with Kairi after third period, but it wasn't too big of a deal. Fourth period Geometry slid by without any problems so we met up again on our way to lunch.

"So he flashed a light into your eyes?" Kairi looked at me like I was crazy. I rolled my eyes but nodded anyways, "That guy is weird." Sora flipped open his phone after it vibrated in his pants. "What'd Riku say this time?" I turned to him questioningly, expecting more advice. "He says that Zexion's main area is scheming to make other people fail. He was trying to bring you down by flashing the light into your eyes," my cousin summarized the text. "Even I could figure that out," I chuckled sarcastically. "He says to be careful anyway cause he can do some other nasty tricks," Sora concluded when he flipped his phone closed. "Right," I couldn't help but not take him totally serious. I really should have.

"Uh oh," Kairi stopped.

My cousin and I took a few more steps before stopping, seeing why she had stopped. Jacket over uniform, black pants, head in locker....Had to be one of them. "Turn around and walk away," Sora leaned toward me, whispering through his lips. I had no objections to that but, for a minute, it felt as if there weren't a threat around. His name automatically popped into my head when I saw him.

The shoulders of the person relaxed as he drew his head out of the locker and turned in our direction.

Demyx.

Like an automatic reflex, he slammed his back to the wall of lockers. "Don't do that!" he panted like his heart was about to explode. If life was anime, the three of us would've been sweatdropping. And he called himself a member of Axel's gang? Pathetic, I laughed in my mind. I still didn't get why Axel even bothered to have him around. "Oh, it's just you guys," the dirty blond stood back up and tried to fix his hair, as if there was much to fix. "And it's just the wimpy guy who got into the Thirteenth Order," Sora looked at him like he was an idiot.

"You shouldn't judge anybody by appearances," Axel's posse regained himself, waving his index finger like a teacher would. "Yeah right. So, what do you have for us?" I went straight to the point. In truth, I doubted he had anything for us, but I had to be sure. He tilted his head and raised an eyebrow, "What?"

"Don't you have some mean trick to play on us?" Sora asked, not taking his stupid act.

"What do you mean?"

"Dump a drink on us? Frame us for something? Try to get us in trouble?" Kairi listed some possibilities.

He still gave a dumb look, but shook his head. "Nope, I've got nothing," he shrugged. "Thought so," I spoke up, the other two looking to me in disbelief, "It's cause of my I.O.U. isn't it?" Demyx appeared taken aback for a moment, but he obviously knew what I was talking about. "Maybe," he brushed his hair back with his hands, "plus, I don't really know what's going on."

"Cause you weren't here this morning," I added in for him.

He avoided my eyes in confirmation, "I woke up late this morning."

"That seems like enough reason not to come after us," I grinned happily. That was a good thing. Not just the fact that he wouldn't be able to do much even if he was part of Axel's plan, he didn't want to come after us at all. He'd be our break from them if only for a short time.

"Yo!"

It was him. From the stairway around the corner, Axel jumped off the top of the stairs and landed gracefully on the soles of his boots. My heart nearly exploded seeing him do that, not just by him appearing so suddenly, but just the fact that he was there. He quickly got up to face us, smirks and all. "How's your day going, Roxy?" he asked with obvious pleasure. Just the tone in his voice said that he was eager my account of what his goons did to me. Riku's advice instantly entered our minds once we sunk in that he was there. The three of us took a step back, preparing to run. Unfortunately for us, he was too alert to make a swift escape. When he saw what we were about to do he shook his head in disapproval, "I wouldn't do that if I were you."

"Watch us!" Sora spat as we took another step. That would be as far as we'd go. Without warning, Kairi's arm was clutched my a gloved and she was swung away from me. Zexion had Sora by the limb as well though struggling to keep hold of him. "Told ya!" the redhead called. Marluxia pushed me back while still holding onto Kairi, causing me stumble backwards. "Howdy!" Axel caught me with one arm before I could hit the ground. There was another churning sensation in my stomach just by being in the position we were in. Him above me while I was under. It was just gas was resettling in me the same way it had earlier. Sooner or later I was going to feel sick again while he was having his "fun" with me, one bad combination. Make it stop...I gasped for breath.

"Demyx, come have some fun with us." The redhead looked back to his companion who was still over by the lockers. "Uh....no?" the dirty blond hesitantly replied. At the sound of his answer, there was a shift in Axel's expression: disbelief.

"Excuse me?"

"Um, I can't help you out today."

"And why not?"

"Cause."

"Cause why?"

"Cause I can't."

"Why can't you?"

"Cause I have to piss really badly!"

"Right now?"

"Yes, right now! I've been holding it in for two periods straight! I can't take it anymore!"

"Demyx, why?"

"Sorry Axel! Maybe another time!"

At that, he darted around the corner and within a few more seconds, we heard the door to the boys' bathroom close. If it wasn't for the position we were in, I'm pretty sure all of us would be looking his way in nothing but confusion. Just what the heck happened? I twitched my eyebrow.

"Kill joy." Axel turned his attention back to me. My body suddenly flipped back up to a standing position, but my feet rocked and left me to fall backwards to the ground. "Ouch," I held the back of my head, groaning in pain. He walked around my body and stood over me, gazing down to my pinned state. Groans continued from me even as he grabbed around the collar of my shirt and lifted me off the ground to his eye level.

"I didn't get my answer. Are you enjoying your day so far Rock Ass?" he asked again, getting over what had just happened with his partner. Having him so close to me, I could feel the heat of his breath against my skin. An answer wouldn't come right away since my head was still reeling from the fall, but I recovered enough to let out a small, "No."

"Leave him alone Axel!" Kairi screamed, trying to break from Marluxia's grasp. His response was only a quick glance back at her and then back to me, "Oh too bad Roxy, cause your week is going to get worse with each day you know?" That question held no comfort for me at all. What could be worse than getting PI'd, book checked, and tried to be "put down?" Like I had to question it.

"You're really gonna get it from Xemnas," Sora growled from Zexion's grasp. "Oh please, that guy's got nothing on me. He can punish me all he likes, I don't give a damn!" Axel laughed, only taking his eyes off me to peek at Sora real quick.

"Then I'm going to," I coughed, getting his full attention back to me, "you're not going to give up my anklet...are you?" I knew what the answer was going to be, but I wanted to stall him for a little bit. He tilted his head in amusement and gave a quick shake, "You know what I told Mori for you to do if you want it back."

"Grow a pair, right?" I nudged my head in a sort of nod.

"He obviously doesn't have any since he didn't try and fight me in class," Zexion added his input to the conversation. "Oh really?" Axel looked back to him real quick, still delighted with the new information. "Grabbed my collar, but didn't do anything," the other boy shook his head. "That's cause everybody knows you're just huge pansy ass!" Sora spat, only to receive a kick in the shin. He was trying to stall too. "And Mr. Hippie has nothing but flowers and drugs to live off of," Kairi sniffed, trying to spite him. The said member retaliated with a quick slap of his hand against her cheek.

Seeing that made something strike up in my mind. All three of us were stalling and for a good reason. Now all I had to do was deliver what was coming up next. "You say for me to man up," I coughed again, getting Axel's attention once more, "well, why haven't you?" Without hesitation, he brought me closer to him, my feet dangling off the ground and our faces almost touching. "Excuse me? What was that Roxas?" he bared his teeth, not losing the confidence in his voice. "Well, how man are you to this?" I stopped. His gaze never tore away from me, confused but still prideful. He was just waiting to see what I'd do next.

"Fire."

"What?"

"Fire. Fire! FIRE!" I started screaming at the top of my lungs. "What the hell is wrong with you you idiot?" he started to shake me. Relentlessly, I kept raising my voice every time I said the word. Behind him, Kairi screamed at the highest pitch I had ever heard. The cry was loud and piercing. It was actually starting to hurt my ears, but I kept yelling anyways. Sora joined in right after her, yelling "fire" almost as loud as I could. Hidden in his shouts was the previous high-pitched voice from when were were kids.

"Stop it you idiot!" Axel threw me to the floor like a piece of trast. Temporarily I stopped, but Sora filled in for me by yelling louder. Down the hall, the sounds of doors opening with voices of confusion echoing down the hall. Marluxia and Zexion pushed the other two out of their grasps only to see the puzzled people when they turned around. "Dammit! Now what?" Marluxia turned back to the redhead. "We split up. You two go down stairs, I'll go up." Their leader directed with some gestures of his hands. Without a second to spare, the three split up just as they said he should. Axel went back up the stairs while Marluxia and Zexion hightailed it down the hall. Once they were out of our sight, the three of us stopped our screaming to help each other up. Taken care of.

Mrs. Heartily was the first to come running our way, "What's going on here?" Thankfully, she was more concerned than angry about what was happening. "It was Axel and his gang. They were bothering us again," Kairi dusted her skirt off. "We started screaming so that we could get some attention and scare them off," Sora finished the rest of the explanation.

"I'm sure everybody heard that, but who gave you the idea to start screaming? There could've been a real fire!" she set her hands on her hips, disappointment coming to her tone. "Well people yell 'fire' when they're about to be kidnapped," Sora made a good point. "Hm, that is true...But what gave you the idea that you could start yelling and screaming it while some classes are still in session?" she questioned again.

"Riku did," I peeped. Barely hearing my words, the others looked my way. "He said to use it as a defense mechanism," I stopped, filling my eyes with "tears" I eyed my math teacher. "Please, don't punish him. We did it, so you can punish us instead!" On the sides of me, the other two looked up to her the same way I did in hopes of a light, if any, punishment.

She sighed, cupping her chin as she examined us, wondering just what to do. Keeping our wills strong, we strengthened our puppy-dog eyes in order to cleanse any doubt she may have had. After enduring our faces long enough, she came up with an answer, "Riku is a smart boy. He's one of the brightest students I've ever taught so I can understand why he would have you three do something like this," she tilted her head and looked to the ceiling as she thought of him, "Alright, no penalty." All three of us let out a sigh of relief. He would have to thank us later. "However, I'd like it better if you guys use another word instead of 'fire.' It might panic some people so something else might work," she suggested.

"Like what?" Kairi asked, a smile starting on her lips.

"How about....water?"

"'Water'?" Sora and I said aloud in unison. Why water? I tried not to show my puzzlement. Water didn't do anything.

"Yep! Cause you need water to put out a fire. It may get you just enough attention cause people will be confused."

"Really?" I raised an eyebrow. I know I'd be confused if I heard something like that.

"Yep. People are just that gullible!"


"Send," Sora pressed a button on his cellphone. Another status report to Riku.

We made it through the rest of the day with no problems at all. Neither Marluxia, Zexion, or Axel had showed up at lunch as expected. Demyx did, but he didn't do much except sit alone at their regular table. We dubbed Monday as a survival day.

"Got through," I text into my phone and hit the send button so Olette would know my status. I figured it'd be best to let her know our situation and be her status reporter just as Sora was to Riku. Maybe she'd help us out with some advice even though she wasn't as on top of the situation as Riku was.

"Do we have to work today?" Kairi filled in the spot of walking with us to the residential district in place of Riku. "Riku says no, but be prepared for it tomorrow," he answered curtly with a cross of his arms as we crossed the courtyard.

"Good, cause I could use the money," I turned to him, "I saw these new pa-OOF!"

My body came to a sudden stop when I bumped into something semi-soft and hard. A person. "Sorry, about that," I stepped back, eyes closed as I scratched the back of my head in embarrassment. I usually don't run into people like that, but every time I did, it was embarrassing. To my left, I heard Kairi make a sharp gasp and Sora made a disquieted sound to my right. Something was off. Instincts took over and I stopped what I was doing so I could see just who did I bump into.

"Eh!" I spread my legs apart along with my arms, resulting in a cross between a fighting stance and a preparation to run. The person I had run into was the driver I had seen the week before. Axel's chauffeur, Xigbar.

Never before had I seen him that up close. He was even more frightening when he was right in front of me. He towered over the three of us like a building. He must've been six or seven foot something! I wouldn't be surprised if he made King Kong apologize! Which brought me next point being his abs. Abs! Under his tight, black short-sleeved shirt, they looked like they would've been made out of metal. Nothing but pure metal actually. And on the sides of his waist, his six pack I might add, were his muscular arms. Freaky. They weren't like body builder arms but, as skinny as they were, they were brawny. His veins were visible like crazy, snaking down into his gloves that held the equally as frightening hands. Signs of strength continued well into his waist and right into his legs. They weren't thunder thighs, but they could've drawn lightning out of the sky by the way they bulged. It extended into his knees, past the calves and finished in his heavy looking boots.

I swear, I just have to. Just send this guy to military; he's his own army. You got a war? Send him in with a giant bazooka and problem solved. Or just drop him from an airplane for Pete sake. Be sure to give him over a million dollars when he comes back.

"Hmph," he peered down at me with his bright, yellow eye. Oh gosh the bomb's about to go off! I trembled.

"S-s-s-s-s-sor-r-r-y." The words came out of me in small boats. A black eyebrow raised and a tilt of his head was the answer. Oh damn. Don't tell me he's one of those guys who're all brawn and no brains? That was even worse! He'd probably go all "SMASH! SMASH! SMASH!" on us, I felt myself becoming nauseated. If I hadn't gone earlier, I would've pissed myself by then.

"Right," he huffed, brushing past us and continuing his way to the entrance of the school. Feeling his threatening image fading from me dropped my soul back from heaven and into my body. Oh hell, what just happened? That was the first thought I could form after I recovered from the shock.

"Man he's scary," Kairi whispered to me, back of the hand on the side of her lips. "You don't have to tell me twice," I whispered, shaking my head still in disbelief of what I saw. "Lets go before he has a sudden 'hit' on us" Sora nodded nervously. Oh yes, lets go already! If we weren't gone in five seconds, I was about to push them along.

"Hey."

A black-gloved hand grabbed my shoulder. "OH SHIT!" I screamed and my head lulled to the side. By the way my heart was speeding up and veins were pumping to explode, I thought for sure I was dead. That's it. Game over. Bury me where I stand. My life was good, I groaned my "dying" words in my head as if the Sora and Kairi would telepathically hear me.

"Do you kno-"

"HUH?" My body automatically turned around. Undoubtedly, I would've gotten whiplash in every part in my body from doing that if Dad hadn't taught me how to be flexible. "Yeesh, kids these days. So jumpy." The man removed his hand from my shoulder and set it on his hip, giving me a playful grin. I was wondering if I should take that as a good thing.

I gulped, feeling my stomach about to twist, "Y-you were asking?" What more does he want from me? I couldn't keep my wincing under control. "I was wondering if you knew where Axel was. Thought you'd know," he finished."M-me?" I stuttered. A short moment passed as I tried to comprehend what he just said. He wanted to know if I knew where Axel was. The answer was no. All I had to do was get that through.

"N-n-"

"He's on the second to the top floor in room 215, Xigbar," another voice answered for me. All of us turned around to see Demyx leaning against one of the columns in front of the door.

"Oh, 'kay. Thanks Demyx," the man nodded to him, then turned back to us. Sora, Kairi, and I stiffened when he caught us in his sight again, particularly me. "See ya," he gave a quick wave of his hand before heading for the entrance of the school. Our eyes wouldn't stop following him until he was all the way in the school: door closed, down the hall and all. Restfulness returned once we knew for sure that he was gone. Still alive, I beamed like a happy drunkard, Who knows what that guy could've done to us?

Demyx removed himself from the column and, with his work done, started making his way in the direction of the gate. Same as us. While Kairi and Sora gossiped about how we just survived an encounter with Xigbar, my eyes were now fixed on the mullet head. He seemed so confident as he walked by us, as if not showing fear made up for earlier. Nope. Our eyes locked when he caught me staring at him. Reflected in his eyes were mine, showing no fear of him cause he knew damn well why. In his eyes, I couldn't tell. A cross between fake despise and doubt appeared to be in his green orbs. What was he thinking? My lips came close to mouthing my thoughts.

Feet away from us, he stopped and turned back around with a pace in my direction. Fists balled in preparation, my body went into a another defense mode. He was about to do something, but what? I didn't know. Sora and Kairi halted their conversation at the sight of him standing toe-to-toe with me.

"What?" I looked up to him.

"Don't think that because I gave you an I.O.U. that it changes anything between us," he poked me in the chest with each word, his tone threatening and dark. No real hesitation, no playfulness, just...something else. I hadn't heard anything like that from him before. It was almost like he had a split personality.

"I don't want to," I pushed away his hand, "doesn't matter if you gave me one or even how weak you are, you're just another one of Axel's gang to me. Just another foe." That's was really all I thought of him. Weak or not. I.O.U. or "I'll get you." All of it didn't matter to me. He was just part of another obstacle getting in the way of my enjoyment there.

"Good!" he beamed, his voice still dark but I could tell his playful side was peeking through. Proud of the statement he had let on me, he turned on his heels and continued his "Strut of Confidence" down the courtyard.

What an odd guy...


A/N: What shifty and odd chapter....Sloppy huh? -sweatdrops- The whole poison ivy part was a little awkward. I've never touched PI, so I don't know if the itchy effects start taking over that fast. Oh, and the TR thing, that's the scientific name for the plant. That'd be Vexen for you. Just remember kids, if it has three leaves, let it be! And Zexion with a mirror? Seriously? Nobody does that...However, I was trying to make what they did correspond with their in-game elements. "Smoke and mirrors" and plants. If you read carefully at Roxas' test questions, you might see a bit of a connection in there too...HAH! The "passage" Roxas has to read should look familar too...Hmmm. Xigbar's description was...fun. Without his jacket, I made him a little buff I guess. Beh? Thanks for reading and please review!