By: K-c
A/N: I'M SO SORRY THAT TOOK FOREVER TO UPDATE! I WAS HAVING MAJOR WRITER'S BLOCK AND WAS DISTRACTED BY "WRITTEN IN BLOOD"! PLEASE FORGIVE ME! DON'T HATE ME! Well, here ya go!
Disclaimer: I STILL don't own any of the characters in this fic . . .just the places. Haha!
Ch. 14: A Night to Remember, A Night to ForgetKairi's POV:
"Well . . .I don't feel like teaching because I'm obviously just as eager as all of you to get the hell outta this place . . .so . . .do whatever you want . . ." Miss Lulu addressed the class from behind her desk sleepily, and put her head back down in her arms to sleep. A roar of noise erupted from the classroom as everybody stood from their seats and immediately moved around until they were all with their friends. A loud buzzing of chatter and excited squeals echoed around the room as we all stared anxiously at the clock, waiting for the last bell of the day to sound and we would get dismissed.
The anxiety in Saint Anne High always grew to an extreme on the day of the Spring Carnival. The day seems to drag on for forever and even though we keep staring at the clocks, we hope it goes by faster. The Spring Carnival is always held on the day we all get back from Spring Break and it's kind of a way of saying: "Welcome back to prison, but have a little fun to tire you out for learning tomorrow, okay?". During the Spring Carnival, all of the students here get dismissed early from their last class to march down to the huge open field around back where we're always greeted by a ferris wheel, games, other sorts of rides and a very tired-out Carnival Committee. So here we are, staring at the clock during 9th period, waiting for the bell.
Somebody tugged on the short-sleeve of my uniform (which is now changed to our summer uniforms) and I turned to see an overly excited Rikku leaning over me with a crazy grin on her face. I smiled meekly in return and opened my mouth to speak, but I was interrupted by a loud screech that issued from her mouth as she jumped into the air.
"PAAAARRRTTTAAAAYYYYY! WE'RE GONNA HAVE SO MUCH FUN AND EAT A LOT AND RIDE A LOT AND PLAY A LOT AND DANCE A LOT AND—"
"HEY! SHUDDAP OVER THERE! I'M TRYING TO SLEEP, GOD DAMMIT!" Miss Lulu hollered over from her desk at Rikku. Rikku stared at her half-awake self and then back at me. Miss Lulu put her head back down on her desk. Her bright green eyes were shining with excitement as he gazed at me. I laughed uneasily and tried to look understanding in a way.
"Yea, yea, Rikku. It's gonna be great . . .I bet—"
Ding Ding DingAnd I didn't see her for another second. The class began to shove their 30-body mass through the 3x6 door into the hallway as the rest of the school on all floors leaped to their feet and sprinted to the nearest exit. Miss Lulu jumped to her feet when she had heard the bell and started to climb over the mob of students to get out, cussing everyone off in the process. I timidly made my way to the door, but did not join in the mass, even though I was just as excited as anyone.
The next thing I knew, I was out of the chemistry room and being shoved by many people behind me down the stairs. I almost tripped and fell to the floor, but caught myself, still trying to somehow get out of this place. A breath of fresh air greeted my face but was quickly taken away from me as somebody behind me pushed me so hard, that I fell forwards into the back of someone. I looked up from the white cotton shirt and saw Sora turning around to face me. He smiled at my situation and steadied me to my feet. I blushed furiously from embarrassment and the remembrance of my hauntingly strange dream from two nights ago. Before we could have a moment or two somewhat alone, somebody else came crashing into me. When I opened my eyes, Selphie was sprawled out across me and I was lying on the ground. She looked quite unconscious.
"Un . . .sorry about that . . .lost my balance . . ." she muttered under her breath while slowly getting away from me. I stood to my feet and brushed off my shorter skirt and turned to face her. I gave her the evilest glare I could muster, waited for her reaction, then started to smile and laugh.
"C'mon! Let's go!" I called happily to both of them and started in a run to the fair ahead of us. I heard their laughs and footsteps following me as I ran to the ticket booth with the warm spring air whipping through my dark red hair.
Sora's POV:
"This line is taking forever . . ." I muttered under my breath impatiently, after waiting about 20 minutes to get on the ride. It was the line for the ferris wheel and, as ferris wheels are, it takes the longest time in the world for everybody to load on and get off. I gazed up at the contraption and watched as it slowly moved down. Kairi, who was standing beside me, smiled cheerfully up at it even though her annoyance and impatience was pretty obvious. She was really good at fooling people with that beautiful smile of her's.
"Next!" The attendant shouted over at me and reached out his hand to receive my ticket. I handed it to him and he snatched it from my hand, taking Kairi's too. He then pulled open the door to a cart and shoved us in. Someone's pissed . . .Before I knew it; we were flying up in the air as it moved to have someone else load on.
After a lot of stopping and going, we finally started to move at a steady pace, the scene of the fair disappearing and reappearing from our sight. The view from the top was gorgeous and I sighed as we passed by it over and over again. Kairi and I talked about nothing really important—just little things we saw below and our upcoming projects in school. Being right beside her and breathing the same air she was felt great. I couldn't take my eyes off of her and that smile! She would giggle at some things I would say to make me receive another glimpse of those sparkling pearls. The warm night air blew against my face and I started to get hot from sitting next to the girl of my dreams and the temperature. I looked away nervously every now and then, not finding the words to say, but she would always strike up another conversation almost immediately. She must really like me . . .
We were on the ride for about seven minutes or so when it suddenly came to a screeching halt. I was flung forwards into the bar and I held out my arm in front of Kairi so she wouldn't hurt herself like I did. Our chair rocked back and forth in the wind and ceased movement as I clung onto the sides. I peered over the edge and saw that other people were curiously looking down to see what had caused the stop. The attendant was looking at a pile of wires and shouting at the people who were complaining. We had to have been stopped at the worst possible place on the ride, too. We were right at the very top, swaying dangerously in the sweet breeze that smelled of funnel cakes. I heard a quiet laugh from beside me and turned to see Kairi giggling softly to herself. Her laughter steadily grew to a shriek of giggles and she clutched her sides, doubling over. I chuckled softly, wondering why the hell she was laughing like this.
"What's so funny?" I asked her in between my own laughs. She merely giggled some more and squeezed her eyes shut in all of her hilarity. As I looked around me, I saw that the other people were glancing over at Kairi, strange looks on their faces.
"It's just so funny! I mean, here we are—" she laughed some more. "stuck on a ferris wheel! It's the strangest thing! I never thought it would happen to me! And—and—I'm afraid of heights! This is the worst thing ever!" she doubled over in a fit of laughter again. After she had pointed this out to me, the whole ordeal seemed rather amusing as well. I started to laugh again, but this time with her, not at her. She was right—could it get any worse?
"We're gonna be stuck here for hours!"
"I know, I know!"
We laughed like crazy, both of us holding our sides. After quite a few minutes, our giggles died and I looked back at her to see her wipe a few tears from her eyes and a smile still on her face. My heart started to pound immediately at the thought of asking her the thing that was on my mind. I can't . . .it's so hard . . .but I have to . . .
"Hey . . .Kairi . . ." I started, leaning over to her like I did at the beach house during my birthday party. She didn't seem to back away from me, which was a very good sign and my confidence began to build as I inched closer and closer to her. She stared at me, and I thought I saw her eyes flicker shut, but I shut mine before I could see anymore. I was about three inches away from her face when I was suddenly pushed down into the seat. Kairi leaned over me, looking at something on my side on the ground, pushing me into the seat in between us.
"HEY! RIKU! HI, RIKU!" She screamed cheerfully towards the ground, waving her arm frantically. I sat up and peeked over the edge at what she was seeing and, believe it or not, there was Riku standing on the grass and staring up at us with huge eyes. So he's back . . .great timing . . .He started to shout things that we couldn't hear and began jumping up and down in sudden panic. It was quite amusing watching him . . .it was like a silent movie.
"WHAT? I CAN'T HEAR YOU!" Kairi giggled, still waving at the teen below. Just as she said that, the ride started to move again and we headed down to the ground with cheers of happiness issuing from the other passengers. I merely sighed and slumped in my seat—my plan ruined.
When we got off of the ride she ran over to Riku and hugged him tightly around the waist. Riku looked taken back by her actions, but gave a brief hug in return. I stood in the background, jealousy seething inside of me for everything. Nobody seemed to notice how I was wringing my hands with each pulse of fury and nobody seemed to notice how I glared at the two of them with pure hatred shining in my eyes. Nobody notices me . . .especially when ALL HOLY RIKU is here . . .I'm nothing in her eyes anymore when he's around.
"Look, Sora, Riku's back!" she called over to me happily, pointing to the tall guy behind her. I gave a strained smile and a quick little flick of my hand in a wave but then turned my direction over to Yuna and Tidus who were sitting on a bench eating cotton candy. Yuna giggled uncontrollably when a rather large piece of pink fluff got stuck on Tidus' nose when he tried to bite off some. I smiled softly over at them and they waved me over. I glanced quickly at Kairi and Riku to see if they were going to protest, but they were too immersed in a conversation so I jogged over to the two of them, happy to get away from those two.
"Oh, hey, Sora! What's up?" Yuna asked me cheerfully through her fits of giggles. I watched Tidus pull off some of the cotton candy that had somehow reached his hair and became even more of a sticky mess. I sighed and shoved my hands in my pockets, staring at the dirt underneath my feet. I kicked up some dust, which covered my shoe, and I frowned down at it.
"Nothing, I guess . . ." I replied, still looking at the ground. I knew that my answer wasn't very convincing of meaning 'nothing' and that Yuna would start to act all "motherly" and the wave of questions would soon drown me. I held baited breath in preparation for this, but it didn't come because the next thing I knew, I heard my name being called. I spun around to see Kairi waving me over, Riku not beside her anymore. Now seeing that she was alone, I took the opportunity and ran over to her, disregarding Tidus and Yuna for the moment. Kairi gave me another one of her gorgeous smiles and I felt my heart flip inside of my chest. I couldn't help but to grin back at her . . .even if I did look like an idiot.
"I'm gonna go now . . .so . . .thanks for the fun time! You were really great. Well . . .see ya!" she called to me as she turned around and started to head in the direction of the path towards her house. Seeing her leave like this made me suddenly panic. I reached out my hand to grab her shoulder, but she was already out of my reach.
"Wait, Kairi!"
She turned around, a cute smile on her face. Now that her eyes were on me, I lost all of my words that I was going to say and I was left in the void of emptiness. I could start to feel my face burn bright red from being on the spot like this, and the collar on my shirt suddenly felt too tight. I managed to look her in the eyes and smile weakly.
"Can I walk you home?"
Riku's POV:
Knocking wasn't a necessity for entering my house. I pushed open the front door to the dark entrance hall and stepped inside, throwing my coat onto the bench near the door carelessly. I didn't hear a sound as I marched right up the stairs, not bothering to tell anybody in this house that I was back from the fair. Nobody cared and that didn't phase me at all. The whole house was completely dark and made you feel like nobody had lived here for years, but somebody was here—the two people I hate the most in my life.
I shoved open my bedroom door and walked over to my bed, not taking the time to take off my shoes or anything and flopped down on my bed. I didn't turn on the lights, because it would feel too out of place in this silent, dark house. I stared up at the ceiling, trying to memorize every single line and crack that my eyes fell upon.
Before I knew it, my eyes were closed and I had finally grasped a few hours of sleep. I don't have any dreams . . .just whirls of colours that satisfied my longing of sleep. Everytime that I tried to focus on one object, it just melted into another and the continuous pattern never ended. A couple of times, I had to open my eyes to remind myself that I was really back at my house and sleeping in my own bed without any incident occurring.
"I'M SO SICK OF YOU!""THEN LEAVE!"
I sat up in my bed, hearing the all-too-familiar sounds of my parents' voices echoing in the house below me. It wasn't unusual for me to hear these sorts of things . . .I was starting to get used to it. Soon, glass will start to break . . .
Crash!
"I'M GONNA LEAVE YOU!
"WHO'S STOPPING YOU? GO! GET OUTTA HERE!"
"DON'T TOUCH ME!"Smack!
"YOU'RE THE STUPID WHORE WHO GOES OUT EVERY NIGHT TO HAVE HER MEN, SO DON'T BLAME THIS ON ME!"
"I'M OUTTA HERE! I CAN'T TAKE THIS ANYMORE!"
"FINE! GO THEN! I WON'T MISS YOU, BITCH!"
"YOU FUCKIN BASTARD!"
The front door slammed so hard that I could feel the vibrations up through the walls and into my bedroom where I sat on my bed, listening to the war downstairs. I knew their arguments all too well and this wasn't a new one that they have had. This is what caused me to leave from my spring break . . .these fags ruin everything. I can't have a full night's sleep without them constantly waking me up with their screaming in the early morning. I'm surprised the neighbors haven't moved away by now. So many times my mother threatened to leave us, but she hasn't yet. I know that one of these days, though, she will stick to her word and pack her bags. I'll have no regrets. I would be better off without either of them if I had the choice. If I was old enough, I would leave this house in a heartbeat and live on my own like so many other High School dropouts I've met on the streets, but I haven't packed a single thing whenever these thoughts invaded.
It's nothing new at all . . .
Sora's POV:
The tension that ran in between Kairi and I was so high, I could almost feel the invisible electricity prickle my skin and cause the hairs on the back of my neck stand straight up. Kairi didn't seem to notice as she walked happily beside me, a bounce of happiness in her step and a smile on her face. The bright blush that was still lingering on my face wasn't quite noticeable in the darkness and I started blessing the black around me for hiding it from her eyes. The air was thick in heat from the scorching summer day and I kept tugging at the collar of my shirt constantly, both from nerves and the heat radiating from the still warm dirt underneath our feet. We trekked up the path that led to her house high up on the cliff without saying a single word to each other, causing the awkwardness of the situation to intensify. Say something!
Before I knew it, we were standing on the front step to her house that was dark from her mother not being home from work yet. We stood facing each other and averting our eyes from gazing into each other's. Ever since the ferris wheel incident, I've been wanting to lay my lips right on hers, but she always seemed to be looking the other way or searching for somebody in the crowd of kids. It was almost like she was afraid somebody would see us together. Her awkwardness towards me only led me to feel defeated towards her as well. It was like an endless cycle.
Her clear blue eyes finally found mine at the exact same time I happened to looking into her face and our eyes locked. The electrical current between us grew once more as we stared at each other. She seemed embarrassed and looked away almost immediately, her eyes focusing on her shoes that she scuffed nervously on the cement stoop.
"Well . . ." she started uncertainly, not finding the right words to say. I cleared my throat nervously, trying to somehow break the silence that lay in between us. I grinned briefly at her and hoped that that would settle our nerves, but it only seemed to increase them.
"I guess this is goodnight, right?" I asked stupidly. Well of course it is! I'm such an idiot! Kairi nodded her head slightly and rested her hand on the metal doorknob to her front door as if telling me it was my time to leave. I took that as a sign and started to turn to leave when she quickly grabbed my shoulder, preventing me from turning away. I turned back slowly, trying to not look as eager and happy as I felt on the inside. Her eyes once again fell to the ground our eyes locked for the briefest of seconds and a small blush formed on her cheeks.
"Umm . . .I had a really great time tonight . . .thanks for hanging with me . . ." she said softly, her voice barely above a whisper. My face lit up again with another blush as she said these words. I smiled lightly to myself and congratulated myself on the inside.
"Yea . . .I had an awesome time, too. We should hang out again sometime . . ." I offered gently, trying to hide the excitement in my voice. I took a deep breath as I waited for her response to my suggestion for a possible second "date". Kairi didn't seem to acknowledge my casual offer and slowly let her hand that had still been resting on my shoulder the entire time, drop to her side.
"I . . .don't know if that's such a great idea . . ." she whispered now, the sadness sagging in her little voice. I felt my heart drop from my chest and the smile immediately vanished from my face at her words. All of the hope in my mind was taken away in a matter of seconds and I was left hopeless and feeling very stupid. What . . .did I do wrong?
She glanced back up into my eyes and I saw tears shining in them before she blinked them away. I knew she could see the defeated look in my own eyes and I tried with all my might to cover it up by all means, but it was useless. I was sad as hell. Desperately wanting to win her back somehow, I thought of another excuse to make her stay and it spilled out of me before I could hold my tongue.
"But can we go to the Spring Fling together at least?" I blurted out, the desperation very noticeable in my voice pitched with panic. The Spring Fling was a dance that only third and fourth year students were allowed to go to. The guys had to ask the girls and so far, almost everyone I knew had a date except for me and Riku. The event was being held in three days and I've been trying to ask Kairi for two weeks now and this was my last chance to get her.
She looked back up at me and I could tell by her eyes that her answer was a resolute "no". I didn't want to accept it and I was willing to try anything to make her go with me. Why is she acting like this? Was it something I said? Is she seeing someone else? Questions popped into my mind as I stood on her front step, refusing to back down and walk away without a trace of hope and happiness in my heart. I looked reluctantly to the cement step and clenched my fists in sudden fury.
"I'm sorry, Sora . . .but I just want to be friends with you. Don't take it the—"
"BUT WHY CAN'T WE GO JUST AS FRIENDS!" I shouted suddenly, letting all of my sorrow and fury to come flying out of me. Kairi gasped out quietly in surprise to my reaction, but I didn't want to look her in the eyes. I didn't want to see the hurt shining in her light blue eyes.
"Because I don't like you like that!" she yelled in response, taking me completely off guard. I had expected her reaction to be sorrow, but in return, she seemed to be just as furious as I was. Her words hit me like knives that stabbed into me a million and one times, piercing my already wounded heart.
"I don't care. I love you . . .I won't lose you!" I didn't want to hear her anymore. I took four steps backwards and spun around in a run from her house, not daring to look back. When I was far up the path and out of her sight, I stopped and turned to face her house. I saw her standing on her stoop, staring at her hands silently. Then, she turned and entered her house.
I continued at a slow walk to my house, wringing my hands into fists, trying to get rid of some of the anger I held inside of me. My heart felt like it was ripped apart and I just wanted to kill something and anything. I had almost walked right by my house in all of my anger, but turned and walked up to the door. I yanked open the door forcefully and slammed it behind me.
Yea . . .I guess that's the way it is . . .
QUICK A/N: Ok, that chappie really really wasn't that wonderful, I know! That's because that was a filler for what's coming up next! YOU WON'T BELIEVE WHAT HAPPENS NEXT! STAY TUNED!
K-c