Author's Notes: I was EXTREMELY pleased with the feedback on the first chapter! AND, you guys are lucky, I managed to type up the second one pretty quick-like. Hopefully you'll enjoy it. There's not a lot to say in this chapter, except that I hope you all like what I've done with a few of the characters.
Enjoy the minor twists!
Chapter 2
"The New Boy"
Sora frowned and curled up in the back seat between stacks of cardboard boxes. Most of them were his, marked respectively as CLOTHES, BOOKS, or GAMES. He looked at the bouquet of summertime flowers in his hands—they were wilting. It was to be expected; summer flowers didn't survive very well in the fall. He picked up the card that came with it, and read:
GOOD LUCK IN YOUR NEW HOME!
WE LOVE YOU, SORA!
-the Super Twins
He sighed. The "super twins" were Kairi and Naminé, who had been his two best friends at his old home. He could still remember riding around on the farm equipment with them when they went to visit his Gramma and Gramps...Naminé had dyed her hair blond right before he moved. He remembered how nice it had looked on her.
Mood worse. Sora sunk lower in his seat with a dejected moan.
His mother peered over the back of her seat, her long brown hair done up in bouncy curls that she'd done herself. You wouldn't have been able to tell that it wasn't the beauty salon.
"Oh, cheer up, Sora! You're not missing them that badly already, are you?"
"I liked them, Mom." Sora muttered, picking the petals off of a daisy in the bouquet.
"Oh, you'll meet lots of new girls. You're so cute and handsome! I'll bet when you go to your new school, the girls will be fighting just to get a piece of you!"
Sora looked up and gave a half-hearted smile, acknowledging his mother's attempts to cheer him up. And his cheeks turned a little red. At sixteen years old, Sora had his mother's dark hair and his father's blue eyes, the former of which was always styled in a nest of messy spikes. While his father didn't approve of it, he didn't complain, and his mother didn't care. He was sixteen, after all. He was old enough to make his own choices.
But the point was, it was true that Sora had the looks of potent cuteness. He'd dated Kairi once back home, but it didn't last very long.
Home.
Well, this was going to be his new home how.
"Sora doesn't want any girls!" piped Selphie, his kid sister, sitting behind one of the stacks of boxes in the back seat. She peeked around the tower of cardboard, grinning. "Sora wants Kaaaiirriii!"
"Shut up, Selphie!" Sora groaned, reaching around to thump the flowers on his perky little sister's head. He missed narrowly as she ducked out of the way, giggling her head off and saying,
"It's true!"
"Seeellllph!" Sora whined. Then he looked up front. "Moooom!"
His mother just chuckled. "Settle down, you two. We're ten minutes away from the new house."
"Selphie," interjected their father, glancing over his shoulder for a moment before he looked at the road again, "You help your brother get his stuff indoors, you hear?"
"Okeedokee!" Selphie said cheerily, swinging her legs and barely missing kicking the back of her mother's seat. Sora leaned back in his seat again, hugging the flowers to his chest. He sighed again, craning his neck up and looking over the boxes out the window on his side, his head leaning far over the back of the seat. He really did miss Kairi. Frowning, Sora looked over at his mother.
"Mom?"
"Yes?"
"Can I make a quick phone call?"
"You can wait until we've got the house phone working, hon."
Selphie giggled. "Sora misses his girrrllfrieeend!"
Sora hissed demonically at his sister and kicked at the boxes, which threatened to topple. Selphie squealed and held them up, saving herself.
"Sora, be nice to Selphie!" scolded his father.
"She started it," he grumbled. Selphie grinned triumphantly at him and stuck her tongue out. Sora glared at her with a miserable pout, his bottom lip protruding from under the top one slightly. Selphie giggled again.
"My big brother is so cute!" she cooed. Sora's face twisted in disgust.
"Ewww, Selphie, gross! Don't tell me you've got a crush on me?"
"Ewww, no!" Selphie made a disgusted face as well, sticking her tongue out with a wide-open mouth. "Blegh!" In the front seats, their parents exchanged glances and chuckled to themselves, amused by their children's antics. A few minutes later, their roomy, family-sized Sedan had driven up to their brand new house in a small-town cul-de-sac. Even if it wasn't the big city, it was still a lot more populated than way out in the country where they had been. Sora already felt crowded. He sighed mentally. I'll never get used to this.
121 Twilight Terrace, Bastion County, Alexandria.
Their new home.
As they drove up into the driveway, and Selphie hopped out of the car, Sora looked up at their new "mini-mansion" as he called it (it was a normal-sized house, but their old one had been so much smaller!) and waved. "Hi, House."
"Hi, House!" echoed Selphie, waving more enthusiastically at their empty home.
"Selphie, sweetie! Help your big brother with his boxes, won't you?"
"Okeedokee!" Selphie skipped up to the car. "C'mon, Sora! Let's unpack!"
"Okay, okay." Sora chuckled and helped to haul out a box full of clothing. With a groan—"Hur-rraah!"—he hauled it up onto one shoulder and steadied it there after wobbling a little.
"Oooh, my big brother's so strooong!" Selphie gasped in awe. Sora grinned at her and motioned to the giant stack.
"There's a smaller box of clothes on the top, Selph. Think you can reach it?"
"Yup!" Selphie snatched it up into her arms, jumping up in the process, and turned to face him. It was barely small enough for her smaller arms to hold it, and she had her chin pressed against one side. "I got it!"
Sora and Selphie now both walked up the driveway, past the moving truck that was already there, and into their new house. Sora stepped inside and couldn't help but draw in a deep breath. The place was just so big compared to their old home! Quickly, Sora turned and saw the stairs, and scaled them with Selphie close in tow.
"This box his heavyyyy!" she whined, waddling up the carpeted stairs.
"You promised you would help," Sora said pointedly. "I'll tell you what...how about when we're done with my stuff, I'll help you with yours?"
"Yay! Thank you, Sora!"
Sora smiled and kicked open the door to his room that was down the left end of the hall, the second door on the left. "Here we are. This is my room."
"And mine's right across from it, right?" Selphie asked, a very unusual bounce in her tone. She was starting to get hyper. Sora just grinned and set down the box he'd carried up, next to the bed of his that was already in place thanks to the movers. Right by the window, just like he wanted it. The people here were so nice.
"Yep, that's right."
Selphie squealed, ungraciously dropping the box onto Sora's bare mattress. "Now I don't have to walk down the dark, scary hallways when I have a bad dream!"
Sora groaned. Often times, when Selphie had nightmares, she would crawl through the hallways and find her way to his room, and climb into bed in the middle of the night without him noticing. He slept like the dead and would wake up with his little sister starfishing across his body.
"Don't have one every single night," he sighed. "You're a big girl, Selph. You're eleven years old. Besides, don't you still have your old night-light?"
Selphie pouted. "It doesn't work anymore. The monsters are under my bed."
Sora rolled his eyes with a shake of his head. "Did you watch that scary movie from my shelf again?"
Selphie froze, for a moment. Then she locked her arms behind her back, swinging her body left and right. "Ummm...maybe..." she said quietly. Sora sighed and reached down, ruffling his little sister's flip-ended brown hair.
"No more taking my movies without asking, okay? We wouldn't want you to get scared of any more monsters."
His kid sister nodded in agreement. Sora grinned instantly and clapped his hands. "Good! Now let's get the rest of those boxes!"
Selphie pumped her fists in the air and jumped up and down. "Booyaka!" she cried. "We're moving in!"
They had arrived by around ten-o'clock in the morning, but by noontime they were almost finished getting all the boxes in, and besides that, it was time for a lunch break. Sora's mother was kind enough to pack them all a picnic, and she spread the blanket out for them on the driveway, and they ate right there—peanut-butter and jelly sandwiches, juice boxes and slices of apple. Of course, it didn't take very long for the neighbors to start noticing that there were new folks moving in, and that they were right there in front of the house. It wasn't long before Sora's mother was talking with one of the other mothers in the cul-de-sac; a thin, middle-aged woman with long black hair and eyes the strangest color of purple. Her apparel was mostly neutral grays and blacks, but Sora's mother was never deterred by appearances.
"Welcome to the neighborhood," the woman said with a smile, walking up to their picnic. Sora's mother, always the socializer, smiled and stood up.
"Thank you! I think we're going to like it here!"
"You'll love it. The store is only a short walk away!" Both ladies giggled at the joke and the black-haired mother extended her hand.
"My name is Edea."
"I'm Lisa Tilmitt!" replied Sora's mother, shaking Edea's hand firmly. "This is my husband, John, and my two children. Selphie is my cute little girl," she smirked, "And Sora is my handsome, smart, adorable little boy!"
"Aww, Moooom," Sora groaned, thumbing his nose and shrinking back with a modest blush on his cheeks. "Cut it out!" He looked at Edea with a matter-of-fact expression. "I'm sixteen years old," he thumbed at Lisa, "She still treats me like I'm six."
Lisa dropped to the picnic blanket and bear-hugged Sora, who yelped in the middle of eating his sandwich. "It's just because I love you sooo much!" Edea chuckled at the sight, her hands folded neatly in front of her dark gray dress.
"Mooooooom!" Sora whined, receiving a noogie on the head from his father, who cut in:
"You got your good looks from your ol' dad here!"
"Daaad!" Both of his parents and Selphie laughing, he wriggled out of Lisa's grip and pouted. "Cut it out!"
"I have a son about your age," Edea mentioned with a tranquil smile. "I think that he would love to meet you sometime. He's out playing with the boys right now at the pool. They're having a little Blitzball game."
Sora and his mother both perked up. "Blitzball?" they asked. Edea nodded her head, as Selphie listened while chewing a slice of apple.
"Yes, it's a very popular game around here. In fact, it's become an official sport. The school has its own indoor pool for playing Blitzball, in fact."
"Cool! The school's got a pool, mom!" Sora cried. Edea chuckled.
"It's an underwater sport. From what I understand, it's like a cross between soccer and football, but don't rely on me. You'll have to ask my son."
"Are there any other sports that the kids play around here?" wondered Lisa. "We just moved in from the country, you see...we're total bumpkins!"
Sora scoffed. "Mom, we're not bumpkins." he groaned.
"Then in that case, we're hicks!" Selphie blurted. All of the adults laughed, and Edea commented on how cute Selphie was. Sora just covered his face and shook his head with a disgruntled sigh. Like every teenager, he was embarrassed by his family's dysfunctional antics, and he predicted he would be spending more time playing games and making friends than socializing with the neighborhood folks. He knew it probably wouldn't take long for him to make friends, anyway. People always seemed to draw towards him like moths to a flame.
Their entire picnic blanket was surrounded by various couples and had already been stocked with some complimentary tupperware boxes of trail mix and leftover home-baked truffles by one-o'clock that day. Selphie didn't mind sticking around with her parents and listening to the adults talk, but Sora wanted nothing more than to find where all the boys were and see if there was something he could do. He looked around the cul-de-sac, trying to look for something to do, and he happened to spot an overturned skateboard, just lying out in the relative middle of the street. Sora tilted his head, curious. Did that belong to someone? And if so, who had left it lying there?
He excused himself politely and told his mom he was going off to "check out the scenery," then Sora carefully approached the skateboard, like someone would suddenly come by and snatch it up and scold him. He looked around for a moment, then he slyly slipped his foot underneath the slightly curved board, examining the design on the bottom. There was a white, half-heart, half-club-like insignia on it with various kinds of stickers haphazardly stuck on all around it. He kicked his foot up and flipped the board perfectly right-side up. Sora had a skateboard himself—it was one of his pasttimes at their old town—but it was still packed, and he couldn't resist borrowing this one. It looked pretty sleek, too. He wondered how expensive it was.
Still curious, Sora put one foot on the board, and then he got some momentum, and began to cruise down the street. On the way down a hill to the dead-end of the cul-de-sac, he managed to do a kick-flip and a couple of ollies, which made him feel pretty proud of himself. Sora could still shred the pavement! Or that was as good as he'd gotten out in the country, anyhow. But, he was happy with that. Sora did this for a little while before he had to stop, hearing a voice call out to him over the chatter of the adults in the distance.
" 'Scuse me! I believe that's mine!"
Sora came to a gradual stop until he was staring straight into the face of a blue-eyed, blond-haired young boy, perhaps a couple years younger than him with his hands on his hips. He was shirtless and was only in a pair of swim trunks, and there were several other boys behind him...and a couple of girls in their bathing suits, too, with towels wrapped around their waists. They obviously just got back from the pool, and the sunny-haired blond who'd just talked and the sandy-haired blond right next to him seemed to lead the group.
"Oh, um, sorry." Sora kicked the board up to stand and handed it to him with an apologetic smile. "It was just kind of lying out there in the middle of the street, and I figured I would test it..."
"Aaah, no prob!" the boy said with a grin, taking it back. "Hey, you know, you weren't bad. We all saw you doing a couple of flips from back here. Where'd you learn your tricks?"
Sora's smile turned sheepish and he scratched his cheek. "Heh. They're nothing special, just a few things I picked up back home in the country..."
"You're pretty slick for a country kid, ya?" chuckled a red-headed and very tan boy in the group. He had a ball tucked under his arm that was white with a blue stripe across the center. Sora eyed it, and then looked at the group of players, and gasped.
"Hey! You guys must play Blitzball!" he cried in amazement. The two blonds at the front exchanged glances, and then broke into snickers.
"Gee, you're pretty slow on the uptake, aren't ya?" teased the tanner, sandier-haired blond.
"He's a cute one!" murmured one of the girls in the back.
"Hey, let's not mob him!" joked the sandy blond. "You're obviously new around here. What's your name, man?"
Sora felt a little better now. These seemed like some pretty nice kids. "Um, Sora. Sora Tilmitt."
"Sora, huh?" The tan blond smirked and clapped a hand on his shoulder. "Nice to meetcha! I'm Tidus." Sora waved to him with a smile.
"Hi, Tidus."
"This is Roxas," continued Tidus, wavering to the sunnier-haired blond next to him, who grinned and tucked his skateboard under one arm. "Roxas likes shredding concrete more than he likes shredding water. I think he found a new best friend in you when he saw you using his board."
"This is my lucky board!" interjected Roxas. "Usually, it only does tricks for me!"
The red-headed boy laughed. "You're silly, ya."
"The funny-sounding one is Wakka, our Blitzball Captain." Tidus said with a smirk. Wakka glared at him.
" 'Ey, 'ey, 'ey! I don't sound funny! Quit makin' fun of me, ya!"
Sora laughed and nodded his head. "Nice to meet you, Wakka." Tidus thumbed to the mob of kids behind them.
"And these are the members of our Blitzball team. The blond is Alice, the redhead is Anne..." Tidus introduced everyone on the team, and Sora said hello to them all accordingly. He was a little relieved, actually, that they took the first steps to talk. He was pretty social, but sometimes around new kids he tended to get a little shy and wouldn't speak up first. This made him feel a lot more comfortable. The group broke up almost immediately after seeing Sora—which didn't surprise him; after all, they had homes to go to—until it was just him, Tidus and Roxas.
"You know, you should come play a game with us," Tidus offered. "Wakka and I could show you the ropes. We're gonna play again around eleven tomorrow, before it gets too hot. Summer weather still lingering around here a little bit."
"I noticed," answered Sora, looking about. It had been a little warm since noontime, but luckily there was a nice crossbreeze. He looked at Tidus, smiling. "And I'd love to learn how to play! Blitzball sounds really fun!"
Tidus grinned. "It is! You'll love it!"
"Just don't forget that you can skate with me, too!" Roxas cut in, nudging Sora with his elbow. "Hey, you got your own board?"
"Sure do," Sora said with a nod, "But it's still packed up at the moment."
"Cool! When you've got it unpacked, can I see it? There's a skate park about ten minutes from here. We could go rip up some concrete!"
Sora got quiet all of a sudden and shrank back a little, a sheepish grin on his face again. "Gawd, I feel all homey and shit." he mumbled. "You guys are way too nice! Are you sure you're not bullies in disguise or something?"
Tidus and Roxas both burst into laughter. "The only bully you need to worry about is holed up in his house most of the time, and he says almost nothing at school." Tidus giggled, wiping the tears out of his eyes—Sora was pouting from being laughed at, a little embarrassed. "Don't worry, we're the good guys!"
"Um, but what's the name of this person I should be worried about?" Sora wondered. Roxas pointed to a house that was a few numbers down from Sora's, at the dead-end of the cul-de-sac.
"See that house with the shabby-looking curtains in the windows? That's Mr. Atercor's house. Riku lives there."
"Riku?" Sora echoed curiously. "He's the bully?"
"More like a social recluse." Tidus said. "But, he's not so bad once you get to know him, really. He's just a little misunderstood."
Roxas jabbed Tidus with his elbow, snickering. "Tidus here's got a 'brotherhood bond' with Riku."
Sora frowned, seeing Tidus leer at Roxas from the corners of his eyes. "Um, what do you mean by that?" he asked, hoping it wasn't too intrusive of him.
Roxas replied, without hesitating, "They're both fostered."
Sora stopped. He blinked, looking at Tidus, then at Roxas, and he stuffed his hands in his pockets.
"Oh...I see..."
Tidus grinned jokingly. "Don't worry, I promise I didn't do anything!" he snickered. Sora turned bright red, and held up his hands defensively.
"Oh, God, no! Geez...am I that obvious?" he winced, both mentally and visibly. Roxas gave him a look with one eyebrow quirked, that probably meant to say, "Yeah. Kinda." And Sora laughed nervously at him.
"It's okay, a lot of people react like that." Tidus said with a shrug. "I'm used to it, it doesn't bother me. My mom's Edea Highwind."
"Ohhh, the plain black-haired lady," Sora sighed, remembering her from earlier with his own mother. He smiled. "I like her! She's nice!"
"She's the best Mom I've had so far," Tidus agreed, his voice a little distant. "She's kept me the longest..."
Sora thought he sensed a little bit of loneliness, maybe even rejection, in that tone. Suddenly, he felt kind of sorry for Tidus. It must be tough to move from house to house like he must have done. And he thought moving into one new home was difficult! Well, he hoped that Tidus would stay in this neighborhood. He was really nice. And so was his mom.
"Sora!" Lisa called. "Sora, have you made some new friends already? See—I told you it wouldn't be that bad!"
"Yeah, I guess you're right, Mom!" Sora shot back at her, sticking his tongue out. "I got bunches of them already, and they want me to play Blitzball tomorrow!"
Tidus and Roxas both waved to her. "Hi, Mrs. Tilmitt!" Tidus called. "How d'ya like the folks?"
"Are you Edea's son?" asked Lisa as the three boys walked over. "Oh, you're so adorable! She's told me all about you!"
Tidus turned a little red. "Aw shucks, Mom, have you been bragging about me again?"
"And since when have I not?" teased Edea, a smirk on her face.
"We should all have a picnic together sometime!" Lisa suggested. "A neighborhood cookout!"
"My goodness, it's been a while since we've had one of those," said Roxas' mother, a cheerful woman with the same hair and eyes as her son. "That's a good idea!"
"Mom," Sora piped, tugging on his mother's sleeve to get her attention before she got swept up, "Can I play Blitzball with Tidus tomorrow?"
"Of course, honey! What time do you want to go?"
"The game's at eleven," Tidus informed her. "I live right next door to you. We could meet up and walk there. The pool's not too far off."
"Sounds great!" Sora said.
"Ah ah ah," Sora's father cut in, "You need to unpack."
"Oh, let him play, John!" Lisa groaned.
Sora found himself smiling again, for the umpteenth time that day. Yeah...he was feeling really comfortable here. He was already off to a great start.
Author's Notes: Yes I often do dismiss Selphie as Sora's sister in my fanfics. I've always just seen them that way. Also, Ansem's last name is credit to the writer of Fire Eyes, my good friend DetectiveRaana. I hope she doesn't mind that I borrowed it. She has a knack for making up last names for the characters, and Atercor just sounds so cool!
Keep up the reviews, folks. Again...I was VERY pleased with the feedback!