Sowwy for the late arrival, guys. :( I've been real busy. And I felt to include a new character in this chapter, so read on. This chapter's a little boring. Sorry.

Disclaimer: Same as usual. I don't own JACK!

Warnings: Nothin' at all in this chapter. :)

Chapter Five: Exits

Sora's POV

That was only the half of it.

I didn't tell Riku the whole story.

I didn't even tell him a quarter of it. That part's only the beginning of it. But, Riku did invite me to hang out with his friends from now on. Riku's really something. Letting me feel like I'm a normal teenager. I really like being around him. I'm not some abomination to him. It's kind of nice.

He left my house that day, me feeling reasonably happier than I had in a while. Lulu thought I had gotten into Tifa's Prozac again. I might have. I don't remember.

So now I'm back in school. Long-sleeved shirts are my salvation today. I'm not letting Riku see my gruesome cutting-- yet.

"Sora!"

I glance up, and find myself looking to a grinning Riku waving to me across the small field. He's surrounded by disgruntled friends, who don't look to happy to see me. I can only smirk. I want to ruin their days. Cool.

I stalk over to the small group, consisting of people known as Tidus, Selphie, Yuffie and I think the last one is in our home-room. "Hello," I greet simply. The unknown boy grunts in reply. His blue hair is cool. But he's one hell of a lot taller than the rest of us. Probably some dumb jock that Riku hangs out with.

"Hey, Sora," says Riku, the smile still plastered stupidly on his angelic face. "This is Tidus, Selphie, Yuffie and this is Kimarhi." The blue-haired teen crosses his arms, glaring down at me like I'm some sort of enemy or something.

"There you are!" says another unfamiliar voice. I simply turn my head towards the voice. A short, thin girl wearing high-heels, a miniskirt and a see-through blouse stands near us, a silly little smirk playing with her lips. "Riku!" She hops over to him, a small group of giggling girls following in step. The auburn haired girl clings to Riku's arm. All at once jealousy, hatred and annoyance towards the silver-haired god and the immature ferret-girl now sporing from his arm. She glances over at me, her smile turning to a sneer.

"Oh, you must be Homo-Goth boy," she says, with a certain snide ness in her voice. "Solar, right?"

"Sora," I correct, crossing my arms over my chest.

"Whatever. I'm Kairi," she says, turning her attention back to Riku and jabbering on about her stupid activities in 'the popular' life. I shrug my jealousy still raging inside of me.

"Look, Riku," I say, hiking my black shoulder bag up further, "I'm going to go put my shit in my locker. Catch you all later." I don't even wait for a reply before I trudge off, but not missing a 'You lose' smile from Kairi.

I cross the hall, not particularly looking for anyone or planning to do anything. Class starts in a few minutes, but I'm near enough to the room. As I pointlessly look around, bored of my surroundings, several people look at me like I just killed their kittens. Maybe I did... oh ho hoh.

Then she walks by.

Her.

This girl... looks somewhat like me. Not her clothing, but her just real vibe that she gives off. It could scare Riku even more than I have been doing.

This girl is hunched over; her glazed, beady, emerald eyes are always peeking over the book she seems so absorbed in. She looks suspicious that something is going to hurt her. Her stringy black hair is scattered about everywhere, and her face is ghastly white.

I wander over to her, seemingly going nowhere. She sits, fidgeting, in front of, presumably, her locker with her tattered old backpack sitting beside her. I slump down beside her, noticing her fearful glance towards me.

"Um... hello," she says in a surprisingly deep voice, clapping her book shut. I read the title. The Collections of Shakespeare. She has good taste.

"Hey," I mumble, crossing my legs Indian-style getting a better look at her. Her nose is long and almost elegant looking, but is just a little too big for her thin face. She's not gorgeous, that's for sure, but I'm sure I could get to like her.

"Are you going to make fun of me, because I want you to get it over with," says the girl, her tone almost afraid. I shake my head.

"Why make fun of you when I'm probably more rejected than you are?" I say. She smiles a bit at that, and puts her book down onto the hallway floor. A few misplaced kids pass us cackling, and spitting on the girl. I frown at them, and manage to trip one with my boot. Score one for the rejects, my good man. One of his buddies catches the guy, and the three of them walk by us grumbling.

"Thank-you," says the girl, her face nearly going pink. I manage to smile a little before she finally turns her head towards me. "I'm Maleficent."

"I'm Sora," I reply, not losing eye contact with her.

"Sora means sky... right?" says Maleficent, hugging her baggy sweater closer to her chest. Her long black skirt is slightly wrinkled, I notice, but that just might be the way she's sitting.

"Yeah," I reply. "Your name has no meaning, right?" She shakes her head, and it almost looks like she's one of those bobble head figurines.

"No meaning at all."

Home. It's nothing to me. It's empty; Tifa barely pays attention to me, Lulu seems to worry about my sanity by not my feelings... I'm always alone. I spent the rest of the day with Maleficent, and we got to know each other pretty well. Maleficent lives with her mother, she doesn't know her father. But her mother is almost always drunk, and she has to take care of the one-room apartment they habitat by herself. I don't have things so bad... she's got about the equivalent, or somewhat near it. I have a feeling that I'll be getting used to this Maleficent person pretty quickly.

I'm near the driveway, and my rickety house looks like it's swaying in the wind and might fall apart at the soonest gust. There's a car, a silver one, in the drive way. Only could be one person's.

I approach the door, almost nervous to get myself in. He's probably there. There to convince me to come to his home in England with him, and pull myself out of this rut I'm currently stuck in. I don't want that. I never will want that.

I take a deep breath and grip the silver door-handle. It's almost ice cold. But the door flies open before I can turn it, and I'm met with the familiar uptight-looking face that I've come to recognize.

My stepfather.

"Sora," he says, a wry smile on his face. I return the grin.

"Ansem."

Cliffy! :D Have fun, kiddoes. Feed the button with your happy reviews/critism.

P.S. And Maleficent. I love the character. She's really just misunderstood. She didn't get invited to the party, and she casted a spell. So what. She's really not that bad.