A/N: In which Namine is subjected to her new high school celebrating V-Day. The horror! Because, honestly, do you guys like it when your school does cheesy stuff that time of year? I don't, because my school gets very, very cheap and lame. Here to make light of it (ish) is this chapter. XD

Disclaimer: I don't own anything, though part of this is vaguely, vaguely based on a true story.

Chapter 26: The Survey and other V-Day Torture Devices

Early February is usually one of the worst times to be at school, at least for me. Not only is there more homework anyway, but it is the time when I'm very, very aware that I'm single. It gets awkward and uncomfortable, especially with Valentine's Day coming up soon. In English, we started reading Romeo and Juliet, which made me mime shooting myself for Pence. I don't like overdramatic romance. I have spent most of last year avoiding being so dramatic. Then again, pretending to pop my head off isn't exactly normal but oh well. That's how I felt about it anyway. Not to mention student council was promoting Crush soda, flower, and chocolate bar sales. I knew I wouldn't get anything. Guys don't notice me. Still...I considered getting chocolate for Riku.

What would he think of that, though? Guys like chocolate, right? Now that was a stupid question. I worried he would think I would be a dork for doing something student council related for once. Sure, sure, we talked heck of a lot more lately, but it might not be enough. Stupid shyness, my one weakness. It didn't help that we had to take compatibility surveys in homeroom on a Tuesday. In my eyes, there was no one else but Riku. But, I had to be realistic. He may not like me back, so it would be useful to have a list of back-ups...or maybe not. I could not look desperate. Miss Lockhart passed out the survey questions and scantrons. We all simultaneously rolled our eyes.

Hayner even asked her, "Hey, Miss Lockhart, is this the school's sorry attempt to be eHarmony?"

Some kids laughed, others were still sulky about having to take these stupid things. I was somewhere in the middle. I mean, I giggled, but I was rather bummed out that I had to take a survey. The school trying to divinely intervene with our love lives was the most sadistic thing I had ever heard of. How can you do that to someone?

Miss Lockhart had the perfect reply. "Well, Hayner and the rest of you, I hated doing these things myself. And between you and me, the results are wrongly inaccurate. However, if you guys are curious, the results will be sold for 50¢ next Monday during lunch. Until then, I'm sorry, but you have to take these."

Olette, usually a bright, cheery person, was honestly the one most against taking this so-called compatibility survey. "These things always have stupid questions. It's not like you could have a conversation with someone of the opposite sex beyond that. I mean, come on, it's really stupid."

"Yeah," I agreed. "And pretty much everyone has standards, right? Even dudes. Personally, I think they should make teachers take them. I bet Spit Lady and Mr. Ansem would be paired up, though I doubt he would like her spitting on him."

Pence chuckled. "Good idea. Hm, first question: what food are you most like? A—chocolate, B—carrot, C—strawberry, or D—bread."

Hayner let out a laugh he tried so desperately to hold back. "Oh yeah, I'm definitely bread. I'm so boring. Is that what it's supposed to be, Namine?"

I shrugged at him. "I have no idea. I'd say you're a carrot. I mean, look at you! Your hair could easily pass for carrot leaves. Plus, I think you're hit and miss with people."

"Food psychology—that pwns," he said sarcastically but colored in B anyway.

I thought I was a strawberry, because I could be sweet and sour, depending on my mood. Nonetheless, the questions were really stupid. Even one that was promising to be rad turned stupid.

"Oooh, this one isn't so bad," I commented after getting through a "what's your favorite MTV show?" one.

My other three friends looked at me hopefully, as though I was going to make the survey less painful for everyone. Believe me, I would have tried if I could.

"What concert would you be seen at? That's—oh dear God. A—Lady Gaga, B—Jay-Z, C—Jonas Brothers, or D—oh no—D is Miley Cyrus. Kill me now. No real rock—you gotta be kidding me. Ugh!"

We all stared at each other for a while. "B, definitely."

I don't even like rap, but I would rather go to a concert of Jay-Z's than the other three. Pop is even less my thing. Luckily, that question gave us hope, because it was the second to last one on that survey otherwise known to me as a V-Day torture device. I finished it, though, after I shaded in D—cat for the cliché "what animal are you most like?"

There was no way I could match up with Riku when it came to my responses. But, like I basically said, I rolled my eyes throughout the whole survey. Later that day, during lunch, Selphie and Xion told me about their responses.

"I put flying pig for animal I was most like," Xion told me in a relaxed way, almost like she was floating. "I would have put dove if it had been a choice, but at least the flying pig is a mythical creature."

I nodded like she was being completely normal. "Yeah, OK, I guess it is."

She then added, "I wonder if I get Zexion on my results list."

Peacefully, she gazed out one of the windows, watching it snow lightly.

Her crush on Zexion Fisher couldn't be more obvious. In fact, any more when she talked to him, Xion would start stuttering at random moments. She would blush, laugh too loud at his jokes, and the whole nine yards.

Anyway, Selphie rejected the idea of the survey. "So stupid, though, that survey. I mean, I am not going to talk about what a guy's inner animal is or the color of their aura or even their astrological sign."

"I would," Xion murmured in a sing-song way.

"Of course you would, Xion, you're the weird hippie chick."

I sighed, shaking my head at how my friends' personalities clashed. It was like they were an old married couple or something. I twiddled with my spork.

"Guys, I've been thinking about buying chocolate for Riku. I usually don't like the idea of school and V-Day together. It's like ketchup and mayonnaise."

Selph wrinkled her nose. "Ew. I know what you mean, though. I say go for it."

"You think I should?"

"It's a 'no, duh', Namine," Xion assured me.

I smiled slightly and picked at my salad. "All right, I'll send it anonymously."

Selphie looked really disappointed at that. "Really?"

"Really, because it's the only way I won't feel totally stupid," I said honestly.

Next Monday was here, and besides the selling of survey results, there was the selling of the other mushy-gushy V-Day crap. I sighed. The Thursday after this week would be the big, nauseating day. I would be rejected and all alone. Oh, forget it, I say enjoy being single while you can. Even if you can be a hypocrite about your own self-advice sometimes. Everyone has moments like that, I'm sure. It just makes you wish for the old days when there was V-Day parties with pink frosting cookies and little card exchanges that didn't really mean anything. In high school, in terms of the holiday, you just pray to God your crush doesn't think you're a loser. Because if he (or she) does, you want to either number one: hide or number two: hide better.

So, first, I bought my survey results without expecting much. When I said my last name, the student council people acted like it was Martian.

"Ta...Tasicki?" one of them asked while another laughed.

"No, idiot, it's Tasakei."

"I'm sorry you all have to exercise your tiny brains for this," I told them sarcastically, just wanting the stupid results already. "It's Namine Tasaki. It's frickin' Japanese. Got a problem with my race?"

Wanting to be as politically correct as possible, those trend sheep shook their heads.

I threw my two quarters at them without waiting for them to take out the metal box that was the school treasury. I know, I'm so nice and sweet and demure. But, I have no patience with the popular kids. I lost sympathy with them ages ago. Deciding to hang out with Axel and Roxas today (they stayed on campus for the same reason as me), I walked over to them while opening up my results.

"Hey, boys," I greeted. "Just finding out who I can get lucky with."

Axel burst out laughing as he took out an unopened envelope of his own.

"Those things are so lame. I'm sorry, I'm already spoken for." He put an arm around Roxas who then opened the redhead's results.

"You're matched up with Larxene, holy crap," the blond guy chuckled.

Axel did a double take with the list before snatching it up to see for himself. Sure enough, Larxene was his number one match, according to the school.

"She was my ex from middle school, dude. I mean, what is this? Schools don't acknowledge gays or bis—or at least gays. Man, this thing can go to hell."

He crumpled up the list, spat on it, and tossed it into the nearest trash can.

Roxas patted his arm. "Don't take it personally, Axe. For God's sakes, we go to a school practically run by the narrow-minded VP."

This was about to get a little too serious. "I'll see who I got on mine."

Pence was my number one match, followed by dorks like Wakka (blech), but no Riku.

"No Riku." I felt myself making the pouting face, stuck-out bottom lip and all. "No freaking Riku. That's discouraging. Axel's right, these things suck. And Pence is just a friend!"

Selphie and Xion walked up to the three of us then, the hippie girl smiling extra wide. "Zexion was my number two match. Karma has been kind."

"You and five other people who believe in that bullcrap," Axel shot back sulkily. "Ah, well, they shouldn't have tried to pair off taken people. How lame can you get?"

I nodded agreeably. "True. I'm just glad they didn't pair me with my brother."

"Good thing the school doesn't believe in incest either. Congrats, Nam."

Laughing at Axel's very cynical joke, I then glanced over at the area where two other student council members took chocolate bar orders. It cost a dollar to buy one. For some reason, my hands were shaking.

"You OK, Namine?" Selphie asked, wearing an expression of mom-ish concern.

I groaned. "No. What the heck will Riku think if I get chocolate for him?"

Soon, I heard four voices goading me into taking an order for him.

Irritated, I gave up. "OK, OK, yeesh, I'll do it."

I walked up to the table where they were selling the chocolate, said, "One please," and hurriedly signed anonymous and even more hurriedly wrote Riku's name down.

Practically running back to my friends, I let out my held-in breath while they cheered for me and patted me on the back. For, yes, doing something like this is a huge accomplishment for a shy girl like me. I don't know why I did it for Riku when I had never done anything like it for any other crush. Maybe my instincts had something to do with it. I still worried that he might feel weirded out over getting anything for V-Day, especially since I knew already I wouldn't get anything. I was so selfless for once. At the very least, I wanted to make him feel special.

"I can't believe I just did that," I told my friends breathlessly. "Damn, I wonder if I'll live to regret it."

"You will not," Roxas said, trying to be reassuring. "He might get embarrassed though."

Wrong thing to say, Rox. I moaned and started pounding my head against the wall. I mean, what if he thought the secret admirer was a dude for instance? And I know he's straight. Oh God, what was I thinking? Or, even worse, he might think this was all one big prank set aside for him. The horror!

Axel punched Roxas in the arm. "Yeah, that's comforting! What he's trying to say, Namine, is that Riku isn't used to girls doing big gestures for him. But, he'll appreciate the chocolate anyway, though he'll be embarrassed at first. Roxas, you give crappy advice."

"I know. Sometimes, I wonder why I try," Roxas admitted.

My other friends and I laughed before we told the two guys goodbye for now. As we walked away, Selphie told me, "I'm proud of you, Namine. And the fact that you're talking to him is even better. He'll totally know you're interested now."

"Yeah, if it's not too late to redeem myself."

"It's never too late for stuff like that," Xion said wisely, longingly glancing over at the Crush soda ordering table. "In fact, what you did makes me want to do the same thing."

As she separated herself from us to order a Crush soda for presumably Zexion, Selphie whispered in my ear, "She's been liking Zexion for two years now. That's why she's never dated anyone except Roxas. But, back then, she just didn't want to hurt Roxas' feelings. Anyway, with her and Zexion... It's so cute! It's like she's holding out a candle for him."

Xion's situation was probably less hopeless than mine, actually. At least Zexion seemed to like her back.

With Riku, I had no idea if he still liked me. Not a clue.

A/N: So, yeah, I had to take a V-Day survey my freshman year, and it had questions like these only stupider. In fact, I'm afraid I overused the word stupid just a tad. XP Sorry, didn't really want to cuss in this chapter. But, anyway, I was matched up with all the smart guys. All the misogynist smart guys who'd rather have bromances than romances. Lame. It's like they stereotype you. Love is not about stereotypes, am I right, people?

Anyway, please review. I'm kind of wondering if you guys agree with me on this: schools should not interfere with people's love lives. True or false? XD