Chapter V

The filing cabinets in the records room were organized by grade level and then in alphabetical order according to students' last names. Larxene stood in front of the cabinet that held the S names of the sophomore class, her slim, manicured fingers rifling through the drawers as she searched for Roxas' file. When she found it, she noticed Sora's just behind it and decided, after a moment of thought, to take his as well. It couldn't hurt to know about the blond brat's stupid brother, too. Closing the drawer, she moved to the senior cabinet and fished Axel's file from its place, tucking it under her arm along with the Strife twins'.

It had taken a matter of minutes for her to get in, get what she came for and get out, locking the door behind her and strutting back to her classroom, a look of smug accomplishment on her face. Her heels clicked against the tiled floor, echoing her satisfaction back to her.

Once she was safely back in her classroom and seated at her desk, the blond teacher opened two of the three files she had stolen and looked through them for any tidbit of information she might be able to make use of. She found it interesting that while the blond kid had done well on his placement exams, his brother had scored significantly lower, following the trend of their grade patterns throughout their academic careers. It seemed Axel's new fixation was much more intelligent than his twin.

Besides his grades, she also looked over the notes and comments written by Roxas' previous teachers. They all seemed to say the same thing; he was quiet and shy but determined, a hard worker, he took his schoolwork seriously and rarely misbehaved, although his athletic accomplishments were few. His twin, Sora, on the other hand, was a completely different story. He had a track record of detentions, low grades and late assignments and his teachers appeared to see him as a slacker, although his previous coach had wonderful things to say about him.

It made Larxene wonder. Could Sora be just as intelligent as Roxas, but, because of the competition it might cause, he simply refused to put forth effort and let Roxas be the better student? Sora seemed to excel in sports more than academics whereas it was the other way around with Roxas…if there was hidden tension between the twins, she might be able to use that to her advantage. Trouble with his brother would keep Roxas away from Axel indefinitely, especially if she continued to fuel the fire.

Smiling cruelly, she tucked the files away in her desk where they wouldn't be found by mistake. She didn't bother looking through Axel's file—she already knew all there was to know about him, and now she had what she needed to ensure that Roxas kept his distance. Satisfied that she was in full control of the situation and well on her way to making sure that stupid blond kid kept his grimy paws off her Axel, she packed her things away into her briefcase and left the school to return to her quarters in the staff residence hall for an evening of relaxation and private gloating.

"Come on, Sora, we have to do our homework," Roxas chided his brother from his place at his desk. "Just get it done now so it's out of the way."

With a groan, the brunette boy forced himself to pause his game and set down the controller, stretching. Kairi and Namine had left over an hour ago and he hadn't moved from his spot in front of the TV since, so his legs were stiff and protested as he stood. Reluctantly he went and sat at his own desk, dragging his school bag across the floor and reaching in for his books. They thumped loudly when he dropped them on his desk and he spent several minutes staring at the pile, willing his homework to take care of itself so that he could go back to his game. When that didn't work, he sighed heavily and took the top book from the stack and resigned himself to giving the next few hours of his life over to his schoolwork.

Roxas was glad that he had used his study hall to get started on his calculus so that he didn't have the entire assignment to worry about. It wasn't going to be easy, but at least he only had twelve problems left. After calculus, the rest of his homework was going to be a walk in the park. Reaching into his bag for his notebook, Roxas felt a loose bit of paper move under his fingers and picked it out, curious. It was a folded piece of notebook paper and it definitely wasn't his. He unfolded it and instantly knew where it had come from.

"Hello again, Baby Blues. Who would have thought we'd have so many classes together? Chemistry, calculus and P.E., too. I'm starting to think you're following me, not that I mind. Classes are over by now so I doubt I'll see you again today, but there's always tomorrow. Tell your brother I said hi and that he did a nice job with soccer today—wish I could say the same for you, but I'm sure with a little practice you'll do fine. Besides, a kid as cute as you doesn't have to be good at soccer for people to like him, so I wouldn't worry about it. But if it means that much to you, I'd be happy to help with a little one-on-one practice. Make sure you get a good night's sleep; you're going to need it."

It wasn't signed, but it was obviously from the same person that had passed him the note in chemistry that morning. Now, though, he knew it wasn't a girl because girls and boys had separate P.E. classes. Still, he couldn't quite believe that some guy thought he was cute. He was curious about whom this mysterious student was but at the same time wished he hadn't drawn attention to himself, though for the life of him he didn't know what he had done in the first place.

But he had more important things to focus on than notes from a secret admirer, like his homework. So, refolding the note, he slipped it into his desk drawer and began to work on his calculus. It took him nearly half an hour to complete the twelve problems, although it might have gone faster had he been able to focus rather than think about the boy who was sending him these notes without dropping any hints as to his identity. Although, it had to be a senior if he was in chemistry and calculus and P.E. with him, since there were no juniors or freshmen in his P.E. class.

The thought brought him up short. A senior was sending him notes and calling him a silly name like Baby Blues? A senior thought he was cute and had taken an interest in him? He felt a blush heat his cheeks—he must look like a baby to whomever was sending these notes!

"What the heck?" he muttered, looking the note over once again. "Who is this guy?"

"Hm?" Turning in his chair, Sora looked over at his twin. "Did you say something?"

"No." Quickly, he folded the note and shoved it under his textbook so that the other boy wouldn't see. "Just talking to myself."

"Going insane already?" Sora teased, grinning. "Is the homework too much for you?"

Blushing, Roxas glared. "No!" He grabbed a pillow from his bunk and threw it at Sora as he laughed. "Shut up!"

Still laughing, Sora decided that he had worked long enough for now and snatched up the pillow that had just hit him square in the face. He chucked it back at his brother before grabbing his own pillow and engaging the blond boy in a pillow fight to the death. Not to be beaten without a fight, Roxas retaliated with gusto, leaping out of his chair and whacking Sora over the head with his pillow.

"Ow!"

"Not the face!"

"Oof! I'll get you for that one!"

"You'll never take me alive!"

The war raged on, their wild blows knocking books and knickknacks off their desks and dressers, scattering papers over the floor. Battle cries and declarations of revenge were shouted back and forth amid exclamations of pain and the thump of pillows coming into contact with bodies and other objects. It was not until one of their neighbors pounded on the wall and shouted through for them to keep it down that they took a moment to catch their breath and survey what used to be their dorm.

"I think we got a little carried away, bro," Sora commented, panting lightly as he noticed the mess they had made. Both chairs were knocked over and the floor was strewn with their belongings, not all of which were unbroken.

Roxas groaned and covered his eyes with a hand. "No kidding…this is going to take forever to clean up."

Heaving a sigh, the brunette tossed his pillow on his bed and began to pick up the papers, sorting through and separating his own from the other boy's and putting them in neat piles. "Well don't just stand there, Rox. Give me a hand with this." He continued to sort the papers as his brother set the chairs upright and gathered their assorted belongings along with the pieces of those that had been broken during their fight. Luckily, nothing of sentimental value or anything that would be overly difficult to fix had been damaged.

"Nothing a little glue can't take care of." Gently, he set their things back in their proper places before helping Sora to pick up the papers.

Several minutes of silence went by as they worked, and then Sora noticed a folded bit of paper. Not thinking anything of it, he picked it up and opened it to see if it was Roxas' or his, and couldn't help the grin that spread over his face as he read. Nonchalant, he refolded it and put it on his brother's pile then went back to work without saying anything. No doubt it wasn't something he was meant to see, so he decided to wait for the opportune moment to let his brother know that he had found the note. Although, it was very tempting to tease his twin about it mercilessly and hold it over his head indefinitely. But he resisted and kept quiet.

When at last the two boys finished cleaning up the mess, they went back to their desks to finish their homework in silence. Sora would have preferred to listen to music and so found himself tapping out rhythms with his pencil and fingers, but Roxas found music to be distracting so the brunette contented himself to go without. What he needed, he decided, was to get an Ipod so that they could both have what they wanted, but he couldn't afford one. Which meant he was either going to have to save up his allowance for the next few months or get a job, neither of which was something he was at all eager to do. But for an Ipod, he was willing to sacrifice some of his spare time, at least for a little while. After all, no one said he had to keep the job any longer than was absolutely necessary.

Roxas breezed through the homework he had left and packed his books away for tomorrow's classes before lounging on his bed. The sunset was visible through the window, turning the dorm room a mixture of reds, oranges and yellows. It was beautiful, to be honest, but again he found himself wondering about the note. Who was it from and why did he choose Roxas to, what was the word, contact? ] He didn't know what to call it, but regardless, he was sure he wasn't going to like it, whatever it was. It was likely one big joke, so there was little he could do except play it cool and pretend like he didn't care either way.

So, with a sigh, he turned onto his side and decided to do just that, promising himself that no matter what happened, he wouldn't to let some senior toy with him and give him the satisfaction of caring.