The Lion and the Mouse-
Hello everyone. Thank you for reviewing. I really appreciate it. It makes me feel happy. I'm sorry in advance for the length of this chapter. It's probably not long enough for your liking, but they will be soon. Until then, enjoy this one...
Chapter 5: A miserable week-
Despite Sora's efforts to not be scared and be happy, Zell kept his promise. The next four days were a living hell for poor Sora. All he wanted to do was go to school and learn new things, but it seemed as though that was never going to happen. Even though Cloud vowed to keep Sora safe, he just never seemed to be there in time to help. It was all out of his control.
Riku was more than happy to help torture Sora when Zell asked. He never told Zell about the gang colors incident. He didn't know why. Maybe he wanted to deal with it himself . . . or maybe it was the fact that he still thought of Sora as cute and innocent. It was strange. A part of Riku wanted to beat Sora within an inch of his life, and the other half didn't. It was such a bad habit that Riku had never gotten rid of, and he didn't know if he could.
x x x x x x x x
Tuesday. Sora walked to school with Cloud, Tidus, Wakka, Selphie, and Kairi. Once again, Rikku wanted to be with her new friends. He listened to Tidus and Wakka chat on about Blitzball while he showed his silver crown necklace to Kairi. He hadn't forgotten it that morning. It was for good luck.
They arrived at the high school and walked into the building together. They were all talking and laughing until they came to Sora's locker. Everyone gasped in disbelief.
Sora clamped a hand over his mouth and his eyes went wide. " Oh . . . my . . . God. . .!"
Spray painted on his locker was the word : " Bitch".
Sora slowly stepped up to his locker and gazed at it with tears forming in his eyes.
" Who would someone do this?" Kairi asked softly as Tidus shooed away some snickering teens.
Sora turned his head to look down the hall where he saw Riku and Zell, grinning triumphantly.
Zell held up one finger. " One . . ." Sora saw him mouth.
Sora scowled at him before opening his locker and grabbing the books he needed. Then he slammed it shut, storming off for his first period class. Kairi fallowed close behind, trying to comfort him.
Cloud was grinding his teeth together angrily. He started to walk over to the two gang members, but Tidus stopped him.
" You can't," said Tidus. " It's too dangerous . . ."
" Bullshit!" Said Cloud loudly, " You expect for me to just stand here and let them do that to my little brother?"
Tidus backed off, looking down at his shoes. " I was only trying to help . . ."
Wakka came and stood by Tidus' side. " Look, Cloud. What would you wanna do then, huh? The more you try to come to Sora's rescue, the more they're going to pick on him. Just stay out of it, ya?"
Cloud just made a huffing noise and turned to walk around the corner.
Selphie fallowed saying, " Awww! Look who needs to lighten up. Let me tell you A joke! There once was a penguin . . ."
Tidus heard Cloud groan as they disappeared. He sighed and then looked up at Wakka. " What now?" he asked him.
Wakka shrugged. "We'll just have to do our best in watching out for Sora. Oblivion's pretty good at this."
" I feel so helpless. . ." Tidus admitted, letting his shoulders slump.
Wakka placed his arm around them in a comforting gesture. " Don't worry, ya? We'll think of something."
Tidus smiled at him before they parted to go to their separate classes.x x x x x x x x
Kairi sat next to Sora on her stool. " Don't worry Sora. I'll help you clean it off."
Sora looked at her in a bit of shook. " You would do that?"
She gave him a bright smile. " Yeah! That's what friends are for!"
Now, it was Sora's turn to smile. " Thanks Kairi."
x x x x x x x x
Wednesday. Sora was on his way to buy his lunch. He removed his wallet from his back pocket and searched it for his lunch money. He had just found a five dollar bill when suddenly, someone came up from behind and bumped into him violently, causing him to drop his wallet.
Sora stumbled forward, almost losing his balance. He caught himself after a slight struggle, and then looked to see who had bumped into him.
Guess Who?
Zell was holding Sora's wallet and looking through it with great interest. He took out some money and then passed it to Riku. He began looking through it as well.
Sora's mouth fell open. " H-hey! What do you think you're doing?!"
" Borrowing," Riku told him, looking up momentarily.
Sora swiped out a hand for the wallet, but Riku simply pulled it out of his reach. " Give it back!" Sora demanded.
"Take my offer," said Zell.
"No!"
Riku continued to search Sora's wallet while the two argued. He found Sora's ID card and removed it. ' Cute picture. . .' he thought. He smirked and slipped the ID into his pocket.
"So you're still not taking it?!" Zell was saying to Sora. " Fine! Riku . . ."
Riku removed all of Sora's money from his wallet, and when it was empty, threw it coldly back to the brunette.
Sora caught it with clumsiness and stared at them in shock. " B-but . . . I-I need to by lunch . . ."
Zell shrugged. " Oh well. Let's go Ri." He walked away with Riku at his side.
Sora could feel his eyes stinging with tears. " I will not cry . . . I will not cry . . ." he repeated over and over. Head hung, he turned and started for the lunch room. Maybe Cloud or Tidus would share their lunch with him.
x x x x x x x x
After gym, Sora returned to the locker room to find that his backpack had been soaked with water.
He unzipped it and saw that most of his homework and notebooks were saturated with water.
He groaned and lightly banged his forehead against the lockers. " This can't be happening . . ."
Suddenly, his eyes widened and he began to search frantically through the smaller zipper compartment of his backpack. He pulled out his cell phone and tried to turn it on to see if it was still working.
It wasn't. Just his luck.
He slung his soggy backpack over his shoulder and sighed as he left the locker room.
Riku watched him go as he dried his hair from the quick shower he had just taken. For some reason, he had this nagging feeling in the pit of his stomach. Was it guilt?
x x x x x x x x
Thursday. Sora had always hated gym, but this was the worst gym experience he had ever had. Not only was Riku in his class, but another Oblivion gang member had been transferred into his class as well. It was Axel, and together, he and Riku made Sora's 6th period a nightmare.
After stretching, the coach made the whole class run their daily lap around the stadium.
Sora ran at his own pace, trying to build up his stamina. He looked back behind him, checking to see how far he had gone. He chocked on his breath when he saw Axel and Riku gaining up on him. Sora ran faster, only looking down at his sneakers.
" Hey girly-boy!" Axel called. " Don't run! Come back!"
Sora ran even faster.
Riku left Axel's side and started to chase after Sora.
Sora looked back again. " Leave me alone!"
Riku eventually caught up to Sora and slammed into him.
Sora completely lost his balance and fell. He rolled down the slope of the stadium for awhile until he came to a stop at the end. He slowly pushed himself up and examined his elbow and knee, which were stinging with pain.
" Owwww . . ." he muttered. He stood up, only to be pushed down again by Riku.
Sora looked up at him. " Go away. . ." he whispered, his voice wavering.
Riku bent over to gaze at the younger boy. " Aww . . . Is the little bitch hurt?"
"I said leave me alone!" Sora shouted, standing up to run away.
x x x x x x x x
The sport of the day was basketball. Sora did his best to play, but it was too hard with Axel and Riku knocking into him every five seconds. Occasionally, Sora would get knocked down so hard that he would slide across the court.
Sora slid across the floor again and stopped when he hit the back wall. He winced and looked up when he saw two shadows looming over him.
Riku and Axel grinned down at him, and then gave each other a high-five. The two boys ran back into the game and left Sora on the floor.
x x x x x x x x
After school. Sora was glad that this first week was coming to an end and that there was only one day of the week left. So Zell wasn't bluffing and he was making Sora's life miserable. Sora wondered what Zell had in mind for him tomorrow.
That day, Sora had to walk home by himself. Once again, Rikku was out with her new friends talking about guys, and Tidus was off with Wakka doing who knows what. Probably something concerning Blitzball. Cloud was usually with Sora, but he had to stay after school to check out an individual reading book for his English class.
After Sora went to his locker and packed all of his necessary books into his backpack, he left through the front entrance of the school.
Just as he was going past the fountain, someone pushed him from behind into the clear water.
The water splashed as Sora plunged into it. He could hear some kids were passing by laughing at him.
Sora peered through his drenched bangs and saw a blurry Zell smiling at him. Sora wiped back his bangs and made a whining noise when he tried to stand. Zell pushed him back in.
Riku was there too, as always. He was just smirking his usual smirk.
Zell had a bottle of soda in his hands. He removed the lid and poured the rest of his drink over Sora's head. The kids who were still watching began roaring with laughter.
"Oops. Silly me," said Zell innocently. " Did I just dump my soda on the poor bitch's head?"
Sora wanted to cry again. He wiped away a tear and leapt from the fountain. He ran as fast as he could to get away from the ridiculing laughter. He just had to get away from them.
But Zell wasn't finished with the boy yet. He still had one more thing he needed to do before the day ended. He motioned for Riku to fallow him as he ran after Sora.
Sora wasn't as swift as them and the two Oblivion members soon caught up.
Riku grabbed Sora's arm and pulled it behind his back.
" Let go of me!" Sora screamed, frantically trying to pull away from Riku.
Zell grinned mischievously and waled over to the struggling Sora. He came so close that Sora could feel his breath on his face.
" This is your last chance, you cute, little bitch . . ." Zell whispered, and Sora instantly figured out that his new nickname was bitch. " Do you accept my offer?"
Sora twisted his face in anger, then, he spit in Zell's face.
Zell wiped his face with his sleeve. " Why you little . . .!"
"Zell," called Riku, still holding Sora's arm.
"What?" Zell asked, wiping fiercely his face.
Riku smiled, then he held up Sora's silver crown necklace.
Sora gasped with alarm as he heard the soft jingling noise of his necklace. He had been so preoccupied with Zell, that he hadn't realized when Riku slipped the necklace off of him.
Zell's eyes instantly lit up. " Ohh! Check out the ice!"
Riku shoved Sora away from him and held up the necklace, inspecting it.
" Yo, is it real?" Zell asked as he walked over to Riku.
Riku nodded, grinning. " Oh yeah. It's real." He blinked when he saw something written on the back. ' To Sora, love Mom'. Riku gulped.
" Please, give it back! My mom gave it to me!" Sora cried.
" Riku! Throw it here!" Zell demanded, laughing.
Riku laughed as well and playfully threw it over.
Zell waited purposely to catch the necklace just before it was about to hit the ground. All Sora could do was watch in horror.
" Give it back!" Sora wailed, stomping his foot.
Zell threw it back to Riku and laughed when Sora jumped for it. Soon, they were playing a game of monkey-in-the-middle, throwing Sora's necklace back and forth, and taking pleasure in watching Sora jump for it.
Zell threw it back to Riku one more time.
Sora was still pleading for him to give it back. " Please! It's all I have left from her!"
Riku figured Sora was talking about his mom.
Zell pointed at the ground. " Get down on your knees and beg . . ."
Sora didn't care anymore. He had to get his necklace back. Quickly, Sora dropped to his knees and clutched his hand together as if praying to a God. "Please . . ."
Zell laughed and then said, "Crush it."
Sora's eyes went wide. "Crush it?!"
Riku dropped the necklace onto the ground and placed his foot over it.
Tears spilled onto Sora's face and rolled down his cheeks. He couldn't believe that he was going to lose his necklace that his mother had made especially for him.
Riku's face softened as he stared into Sora's sparkling, blue eyes. He just couldn't do it. He sighed and bent over to pick the necklace up.
Zell made a confused face. "What are you doing, Ri?" he asked.
Riku gulped and looked away from Sora's eyes. " I-I've decided to keep it. Ya know . . . see how much it's worth at the jewelry store . . ."
Zell grinned and playfully punched Riku in the arm. "Great idea. I love the way you think Ri. Lets go." He waved to Sora as they walked off. " Check ya later, bitch!"
Riku held the necklace in his hand. He wanted to give it back to Sora, but Zell was there, and he would look like a traitor. He would just have to give it back to Sora when they were alone- if they were ever alone.
Sora just watched them leave with dull eyes, then , he slowly rose to his feet and walked home with his head hung.
x x x x x x x x
Aerith was waiting for Sora at the door. Again, she had a plate of Cinnamon cookies.
When Sora walked right past her without acknowledging the cookies, she knew something was wrong. "Sora?" she called.
Sora looked back at her from the stairs. " I'm alright . . . I'm just tired. . . really."
Aerith watched with concern as Sora walked up the stairs and disappeared down the hall.
Sora went into his room and closed the door behind him. He grabbed a picture of his mom off of his night stand and fell onto his bed, clutching it to his heart.
" Oh, mom . . ."
x x x x x x x x
tbc
Hmm. That wasn't as short as I thought it would be. Anyways, sorry if it wasn't that good. I've been feeling a little depressed lately. You see, I was very excited about having 51 reviews, but my friend said that wasn't that good . . . then he compared my story to another that had over 1000, he said. It made me feel a little sad. I think he sometimes forgets how sensitive I am. Oh well . . .
Anyways, please review. See you again in chapter 6: New Friends.
Ja ne!