Chapter VII

Class had barely begun when the note appeared on his desk. He wasn't surprised, although he was beginning to wonder if he was ever going to get caught. He certainly hoped he wouldn't, although he knew it was bound to happen sooner or later. Still, he couldn't resist the temptation to read it now rather than put it in his bag for later, and so he picked it up and began to unfold it.

"Would you care to tell the class what's so interesting that you can't pay attention, Roxas?"

Apparently the day he would be caught was today.

His face flaming with embarrassment, Roxas looked up to see every pair of eyes in the room staring at him. With her hands on her hips, Miss Larxene stood before his desk, glaring at him.

"Stand up."

His chair scraped against the floor as he slowly stood, his eyes glued to his desk and the note still clutched in his hands. He hadn't even read it yet.

"Come." Twitching her finger, Miss Larxene led him to the front of the room and had him face the class. "Read it. Out loud."

Roxas' hands were shaking as he unfolded the note and gulped. His face couldn't have been redder. How could he have been so stupid as to allow this to happen!

"Baby Blues," he began, his voice quiet and unsteady. It was the only sound in the room. "I know by now you must be dying to know who I am, but I'm afraid you'll have to wait a little while to find out. Don't worry—it won't be long now. Homecoming is in three weeks after all, and I was rather hopping you would agree to accompany me. I suppose you'll think I'm strange for it but I find myself oddly interested in you. I'll see you in P.E., even if you don't realize who I am."

It was so quiet that Roxas could have heard a pin drop in the back of the room. He knew his face was red and growing redder by the second, and at that moment he hated himself and whoever had sent the note. It didn't matter who it was any more—he wanted nothing to do with him, whoever he happened to be.

"That's a detention, mister Strife," Miss Larxene stated calmly, "in my office immediately after classes today. Return to your seat."

Crumpling the note into a ball, Roxas made his way back to his desk with very deliberate steps. He wasn't so embarrassed about being called to the front of the room as he was angry at the note's sender. How could that idiot have thought even for a moment that passing notes in Larxene's calculus class was a good idea? Roxas hadn't even opened the damn thing yet—it wasn't his fault, yet he was the one to be punished. It just wasn't fair.

For the rest of the class period he sat slumped in his desk, moody and brooding. He was too upset to take notes on the remainder of the lesson, which he knew was going to be a problem when he tried to do the homework later, but at the moment he really didn't care. All he could think was that he was certainly not going to the Homecoming dance with the jerk who got him in trouble. However, he still wanted to know who it was just so he could give the guy a piece of his mind. He didn't care that it was a senior who could probably beat him up—no one got Roxas in trouble and dared to do it again.

The guilt was killing him. What had he been thinking? He should have known better than to pass notes in the whore's class, and now because of him she had the excuse to get Roxas on his own to do who knew what to him. She had sounded so calm while giving the blond boy the detention, but he knew better. He could see the vicious victory behind her cold, cruel eyes.

Axel could imagine what Miss Larxene might come up with as punishment for the sophomore, though he didn't much want to. He already knew what she was capable of and could only hope that she wouldn't do to Roxas what she had done to him. Not to his Roxas.

From his desk, he could see how angry the blond boy was, and how embarrassed. His face was as red as his hair! Why had she forced him to read it out loud? It could have been something extremely private and personal! He already knew Miss Larxene was a heartless, cold-blooded bitch, but he had never expected her to humiliate the boy like that. He had a sinking suspicion about why she had done what she did, and he really hoped he was wrong. It would only make matters worse for the red-haired senior if Larxene had targeted Roxas specifically because Axel liked him. He wouldn't put it past the bitch. He just hoped he was wrong.

Either way, Larxene had seriously disrupted the senior's plans. He wanted to ask Roxas to Homecoming but he doubted the blond freshman would ever agree to go with him. Not after today. And he certainly didn't plan on sending any more of his little notes, except to write an apology and then leave it where Roxas would find it. Perhaps in his school bag after P.E. although he wasn't entirely sure if the younger boy would read it. He was hopeful, nonetheless.

There was only one thing he could think to do that might encourage the younger boy to forgive him, and he went about it with a great deal of determination and enthusiasm. It was obvious that Roxas wasn't taking any notes on the day's lesson, and Axel knew he was going to need them for the homework, so he carefully copied down every example from the board, wrote down every word of the lecture in his best handwriting and wrote out definitions and rules from the text book. He hadn't worked so hard in Miss Larxene's class in a very long time, and the whole while he had a smile on his face. She might have thought she could interfere with his little game, but he had other ways of getting close to the blond, like giving him a copy of his almost-perfect notes from the day. He wouldn't give them to him directly, but stick them in his bag after P.E. class, along with the apology note. It wasn't much, but it was the least he could do after getting the blond in trouble.

Even when the bell rang and his fellow students rushed for the door, Axel took his time finishing the last of the notes, ignoring the sultry looks Miss Larxene was giving him, and then packed his notebook carefully away in his bag. There was no way he was going to risk damaging his notes, not when he needed them for something so much more important than a stupid math class. He was still smiling as he walked down the hall to his next class.

For the first time in his life, Sora didn't have the courage to ask his brother what was wrong. All through history class, lunch, English and even study hall his blond twin had been moody and introverted. He hadn't said more than a few words all day, not even when Sora asked how Home Ec. had gone with Namine. Usually his comments made the blond boy blush but all he had gotten today was a glare such as he had never seen on his brother's face before. It had been enough to silence him for the rest of the day. That is, until he got to P.E. class and remembered that he had something more important to focus on.

He had the next forty-five minutes to continue to prove himself and everyone else that he wasn't just some sophomore to be looked down upon.

"Three laps for warm up! Go!" Coach Xaldin barked, and it was like a starting gun being fired. Sora took off around the field, arms and legs pumping as he easily overtook his classmates and left them behind. All save for one.

Riku was neck-and-neck with him, matching him stride for stride and not giving him an inch. They raced, the two of them, neither willing to allow the other to win without a fight.

"I'll beat you," Sora panted, grinning at the other boy as they ran. "One of these days, I'll beat you."

"Not a chance," Riku replied without so much as turning to look at him. These past two weeks had seen a change in the pace of the sophomore-senior P.E. class, at least for Riku. It had been a long time since anyone had presented him with a challenge and he was rather enjoying it. Even if he refused to let the kid running beside him know it. Ever since their early morning encounter in the courtyard, the younger student had taken every one of Riku's accomplishments and records personally and was putting everything he had into beating them. Riku was almost flattered, in a way, but that didn't mean he was going to go easy on the kid.

They were halfway through the third lap before the silver-haired boy began to pull ahead. It was slow, and he was only about two feet ahead of Sora when they reached where Coach Xaldin stood waiting for them.

"Darn," Sora panted, resisting the urge to bend over with his hands on his knees. Instead, he laced his fingers behind his head and focused on slowing his breathing. Riku was doing the same thing, a small, slightly smug smirk on his face.

"I almost had you," the brunette said, grinning. "I'm getting closer."

"Keep dreaming." The silver-haired teen didn't even bother looking at him.

Coach Xaldin observed the exchange in silence as the rest of the class slowly finished the three laps and gathered around him.

"All right, ladies! These next three days will be scrimmages—how well you play determines what grade you will receive for this section of the class! Think about it like a chapter test, if that makes more sense to you bookworms. I will be the referee. Keep it clean and play by the rules or I'll lower your grades. Who wants to be a team captain?"

Sora's hand shot up less than a millisecond after Riku's did and he grinned at the other boy. Two other boys, John Smith and John Ralf, both seniors, raised their hands as well, so the four of them were given the honor of being team captains. Riku chose first.

"Axel."

Grinning, the redhead went to stand by his captain. Then it was Sora's turn. He wanted to pick Roxas, but he wasn't sure if the other students would see it as favoritism or not. Then again, he knew what he and his twin were capable of when they worked together and besides, Roxas' anger usually improved his athletic abilities.

"Roxas," he said with a smile, and his twin joined him. Then John Smith chose, followed by John Ralf, and the pattern began again.

"Erick." A black-haired sophomore.

"Shang." A dark haired, dark eyed senior with an intimidating stare.

"Zexion." A slim, blue-haired senior who didn't look at all happy to be there.

"Phillip." Brunette senior with a permanent grin.

"Jim." Moody brunette sophomore.

And it went on, until the class was split evenly into four teams, dubbed Team Hisshou for Riku's team and Team Ketsudan for Sora's team, who certainly felt like underdogs. Sora thought that he had chosen his team name perfectly; he was more determined to defeat Riku's team than he had ever been about anything before. He also thought it was rather conceited of Riku to choose his team name as "certain victory." Regardless, Sora looked forward to playing against him. Soccer was one of his favorite sports.

The four teams took their places on the fields while Coach Xaldin supervised, his violet eyes intent upon the movements of his students. "On my whistle!" he called, then took a deep breath and blasted one long, shrill note. At the sound, the ball dropped to the earth and Sora lunged for it, battle with Riku for control.

"This is my game!" he declared, stealing the ball right out from under Riku's sneaker and racing off down the field with it as the silver-haired boy chased after him. He was grinning slightly.

Riku couldn't believe it. It wasn't possible; this sort of thing never happened to him. He was still stunned, even as his team stood around him in shocked disappointment and the other team cheered for their heroes. The match had been close, ending with only a two-point difference, yet he felt as if it had been much more than that. Still, he couldn't find even the smallest hint of anger or jealousy.

As the shock at his defeat faded, he instead felt a strange sense of pride. Team Ketsudan had hoisted their captain and his blond twin onto their shoulders, and Riku couldn't take his eyes off him. The way the younger boy had played, running tirelessly up and down the field, shouting instructions and encouragement; he had proven that this was his game. He had won and Riku had lost—not even he could stand up to the teamwork of Sora and his twin. They worked together flawlessly, and though the blond was not as skilled as his brother, he more than made up for it with sheer determination.

"Perhaps there is more to you than I thought," he muttered, still looking up at the laughing face of the boy who had beaten him. And with that, he turned, walked back up the hill and went into the boys' locker room, solitary as always.

Sora saw him go and felt an urge to chase after him, to congratulate him on a game well-played, but his teammates showed no signs of setting him back on his own feet any time soon. It was the first time anyone had managed to beat Riku's team at any sort of athletic competition, so Sora and Roxas were the heroes of the hour. Sora was proud, of course, and glad that once again he and Roxas had managed to pull off another brilliant bit of twin magic. They could almost communicate even without speaking and in the end it was that ability which won the game for Team Ketsudan, not his skills at soccer. He knew it as well as anyone else, and he was glad to have won the match. Yet he was far more interested in discussing the match and the plays with Riku than in being cheered for by his teammates.

But the silver-haired boy was already long gone, and Sora knew that even if he ran as fast as he could he wouldn't get to the locker room in time to speak to him. Besides, he got the feeling Riku would only have ignored him, despite his having done his best to be friendly the past two weeks. Nothing he did or said seemed to impress the older sophomore, much to Sora's frustration, and he was beginning to think that Riku might genuinely be a cold-hearted, narcissistic ass.

"I refuse to believe that!" he shouted in the direction of the locker room, hardly able to hear himself over the cheering. "You hear me, Riku? I know you're not as stuck up as you seem!" And he meant to prove it.