School hadn't even started yet and I was in quite a predicament by that point in my life. Then again, maybe it was just me overreacting to something so small and insignificant that it turned into something much bigger.

According to Kairi, I have a tendency to do that.

But why was I listening to Kairi? She was the one who got me into this mess in the first place.

After that phone call I spent the entire night thinking about what she said and arguing with myself on whether she was right or not. I mean, obviously she wasn't right, but maybe she was partially right. I had already decided that I didn't think Axel was cute or anything, but at the same time...no, never mind. He was just that annoying guy from the Noon Moon.

…wasn't he?

About three days after my first run-in with Axel, Kairi called to inform me and Sora that we had to go pick up our class schedules from school. It was easier for the three of us to go together, so we piled into Sora's car and made the short trip to our high school.

"Do you guys even remember what classes you signed up for?" Kairi skipped ahead of us just a bit, turning back to watch us as we followed her to the cafeteria.

"I pretty much know." Sora folded his hands behind his head and stretched his shoulders as we walked, and Kairi gave him a knowing look.

"Let me guess, anything and everything with Riku?"

My cousin grinned sheepishly all of a sudden. "About half? We've got the same Spanish class, and Creative Writing with you, Kairi. Plus we're all in the same law class aren't we?"

"Pretty sure! I think Roxas and I are in a few together without you guys, too, aren't we?" Unlike Sora, I…didn't exactly remember that far back. That was in May. May was way too long ago. Trying to remember what I might have signed up for and debating the merits of telling her I had no idea, I ended up stalling and running my tongue over my braces instead.

…right. I said it: braces. And why didn't I mention that I had braces before? Because, rock stars don't have braces, period. Besides, I wanted to sound cool.

…shut up. It's my story, not yours.

"Yeah, I guess. I can't really remember what we signed up for, but we'll find out." I shrugged and turned, walking into the cafeteria where a good majority of our high school was already standing around waiting to grab their papers and leave.

"…maybe we should have come earlier?" Sora scratched the back of his head, eyeballing everyone in front of us even as Kairi hummed in agreement.

"I bet they're all underclassmen." What she was saying really did make sense. The underclassmen always went to get their stuff early so that they could avoid the seniors.

After all, we did the same thing last year as juniors.

"Sooo...this is gonna take us forever." I sighed and leaned against the wall, facing Sora and Kairi. Sora opened his mouth to reply but was soon cut off by the sound of his name. The three of us looked to the left and spotted someone heading our way, occasionally bending and twisting enough to avoid freshmen half his size. Sora's eyes lit up and his smile grew wider as he tore away from us, practically pouncing on the kid.

"Riku! When did you get back?" Unlike most guys that would have been a little afraid of Sora's death grip, Riku took it like a champ and even returned the hug.

I'll never tell him to his face, but that's the thing I like about Riku. He's always taken care of Sora no matter what and even if it kills my ego to admit this, I do worry about my cousin. Sora's a smart kid, but he's still naïve as all hell and gullible beyond belief. He's so carefree about everything that I'm not even sure he would be able to handle himself if he got hurt. He's got Riku to protect him though and maybe that's all they needed. They've been best friends since before they were even born if you can believe that, and I'm not even sure they've ever been apart more than a few weeks.

Kairi and Selphie both think it's cute. Demyx likes to tease Sora about being the girl in the relationship.

I, on the other hand, was jealous. Monstrously, massively, green-with-envy off the charts jealous. I didn't want Riku for myself (man, no thanks), but at the same time...you know. It'd be nice to be wanted and liked as much as they want and like each other.

'Roxas, if you would just let people in-'

Save it. I don't need the lecture.

"We got back at about seven last night. I was gonna call you but it was late and I was pretty wiped. Vivi seemed happy though. I take it you took good care of him?" Riku rested his chin on Sora's shoulder. He'd had been gone for most of the month traveling abroad with his parents. He left Sora in charge of taking care of his dog, Vivi.

"Yeah! I took him home yesterday afternoon because I thought that you'd be back by then."

"We were supposed to be back by then, but our flight was delayed for some reason or other."

"Well, you're back at least." I didn't even need to look up to notice Sora popped up on his toes to kiss Riku's face instead.

Without missing a beat, Kairi suddenly chimed in as she giggled to herself. "Cute!" Sora pulled away, smiling shyly. Riku on the other hand shook his head and laughed.

"Never gets old, does it Kai?"

"No way!" It was almost seamless the way Riku released Sora and pulled Kairi toward him to hug her next. Maybe I shouldn't have thought it was hilarious to see him practically engulf her because she's so much shorter than he is, but luckily neither of them heard the snicker I didn't bother holding back.

"How've you been?" Riku didn't let her go immediately. He never did, really. The three of them have been friends since they were five and before Sora and Riku became Sora-and-Riku I'm pretty sure both of them crushed on Kairi. I've never seen a trio of friends really work the way they've managed to, but they've held on this long.

"I've been great. I bet you have a lot to tell us about your trip. And all of the photos to share?" She poked him square in the chest. It's a sign she meant "serious business", but most of the time we just let her get away with it.

"Of course I do, but that can wait until later." He finally released her and turned back to me. "And how's our residential emo kid?"

Emo kid. Better than Blond Haired Kid which was another nickname Riku tried out for a while. I wouldn't say I'm actually an emo kid (not…exactly…maybe a little), but the nickname stuck and I found myself with no escape.

"Fine I guess." My answers weren't too exciting, but Riku and I have always had kind of a weird friendship anyway. Before either of us could say anything else, I heard a huff of a sound. Sora had his arms crossed and his eyes gazing up toward the ceiling, the perfect picture of nonchalance but the kind that said "pay attention to me." Riku snorted in response as he pulled Sora closer again.

"Relax, Sora. You'll have me all to yourself tonight. Promise."

I could have done without the self-satisfied look Sora gave him, but it's my curse to bear.

"Anyway! Aren't we here to get our schedules?" I interrupted them before they could do something gross like make out in line. (It's happened before. It was too early in the day for a repeat performance.)

"Impatient-much?" Kairi quirked an eyebrow at me and I shrugged in return.

"The lines are starting to die down. Maybe we can get in there and get out now." Without another word, I began making my way over toward my line. Sora and Riku shrugged and followed me to the K-T surname line. Kairi wandered off by herself into the line next to us and started talking to another girl that I don't even remember the name of. Guess it doesn't really matter.

"Hey, Rox," Sora broke the silence then as we shuffled closer to the table at the head of the line. "Riku and I are heading to the beach for one last day before vacation's over. Wanna come?"

"Only if you promise I don't have to witness sex on the beach." Riku smirked and pulled Sora forward again.

"I hadn't even considered it, but now…"

"Ugh, don't. Please don't ruin my last day of summer." We had a few more days, but dramatic effect ran in our friends group. "But sure I'll come with. What about Kairi and the others?"

"Haven't gotten around to asking them yet," Sora replied as he reached the table, placing his hands down on the surface. "Tanaka, Sora." He grabbed his schedule as soon as it was presented to him, moving off to the side as Riku grabbed his "Masaki, Riku" schedule. I walked up behind them and grabbed mine, following them as we ventured off to find Kairi.

"So are we gonna go now?" My question wasn't answered as I suddenly ran into somebody's chest thanks to my complete inability to pay attention to where I was going. I stopped dead in my tracks and I looked up (and up, and up…) and met green eyes and unnaturally red hair.

It was then I realized that God hated me and wanted to spite me, just because he could.

"Fancy meeting you here, Shortstack." Axel shot me his Cheshire-cat grin, stopping in his steps and placing a hand on a jutted-out hip.

Who the hell just strikes a pose like that?

"I have a name, you know."

"I should hope so. I just don't know what it is." Maybe it wouldn't have been so irritating if he wasn't staring down at me with that same stupid smirk on his face. "Enlighten me a little. What is it?"

"It's Roxas." Ignoring the weird looks I was getting from both Sora and Riku was easier than ignoring Axel, especially as he tilted his head to the side and gave me a once-over.

"Roxas, got it. Roxas what?"

"Mihara," I answered before I even comprehended that I opened my mouth.

"Hmm…Roxas Mihara…interesting."

"Listen, jackass. I don't know what your problem is, but you are seriously weird." He blinked once, blinked twice, and promptly snickered under his breath.

"I have a name, too, you know." The word choice was an obvious mockery. "Axel. Axel Tamashi. Got it memorized?" He stated rather than asked, poking me in the chest lightly.

Yeah, I had it memorized. Didn't mean I had to like it. Who was this dumbass? This kid was seriously starting to bug me and I was ready to pull my hair out in giant fistfuls when Sora suddenly yelled and practically blew out my eardrum.

"Demyx!" Axel and I both looked behind us and spotted the mohawked-wonder approaching us.

"Hey, guys!"

"Hey, Myx," I mumbled, returning my gaze to Axel who'd already returned to staring at me. (What!) Demyx looked at Axel and his grin grew wider.

"So I see you guys have already met."

"You know him?" The questioning tone and the blinks of surprise were simultaneous from both of us, and Demyx had the gall to beam happily.

"Yep. Axel, this is Roxas, my bandmate and one of my best buddies! And Roxas, this is Axel, my buddy from abroad! Oh, and Ax, the brunette's Sora and the other guy's Riku."

"I'm not that abroad," Axel interjected while Riku looked marginally offended he'd been demoted to "the other guy." Sora, on the other hand, wasted no time in peering at Axel curiously and shifting his focus toward him.

"So where are you from?"

Axel's eyes flickered to his shoes and he shrugged. "Doesn't really matter. Not something I want to discuss, ya feel me?" The casual brushoff was a little too suspicious and it just made me wonder what exactly he was hiding. It had to be something major if he bypassed the whole thing.

…or maybe he just didn't want to talk about it. There are things I don't ever want to talk about ever again, such as the sandbox incident of '97.

…please don't ask.

"Oh well, that's okay. I think you'll really like it here either way. I mean, what's not to like? We've got the beach! And we have a really cool boardwalk and the shops are usually interesting 'cause a lot of them change merchandise daily and there's always the movie theater and the bowling alley and all kinds of stuff. If you want, you can hang out with us sometime to get a feel of everything." Sora rambled out rather quickly, obviously excited about the idea of having a new person on our island.

Then again, like I said, Sora was always the social butterfly of our family. I have no idea how Axel managed to understand any of it but he laughed slightly and nodded.

"Yeah sure, that'd be cool." He grinned and Sora's own grin stretched. I probably should have felt bad for what I was about to do, but all I could feel was my eye twitching and I grabbed Sora by the forearm.

"Can I talk to you? Thanks." I dragged him away from our group, pinning him against a wall.

"What's wrong?"

"Are you insane?!"

"Only on days that end with y." It was a joke, but he was still eyeing me carefully. "Why do you ask?" I sighed and shook my head, nodding back toward Axel who was busy talking to my friends.

"That guy's an asshole." Sora also glanced back toward Axel to give him another look.

"Really? He seems nice enough to me."

"Yeah, that's because you don't know him. He called me scrawny and he keeps teasing me."

"So? You are scrawny."

"Why does everyone keep saying that?"

"You're being a drama queen, dude. Axel seems harmless and maybe you guys just got off on the wrong foot."

"But-" I tried to protest but soon found a tanned hand slammed over my mouth.

"No. I don't care. You are going to be nice because I said so. Or I'll tell our new 'friend' about the sandbox incident."

"Mmph!"

"Then will you play nice?" I had no other option than to nod. Sora removed his hand and began walking again with me trailing after him.

"I hate you."

"Love ya too, Roxy!" He smiled cheekily and bounced up to Riku. Slow as I was moving, eventually I reached my group of friends and noticed two more people had joined us. Kairi had returned finally, but she brought along another friend of ours. Naminé's a little younger than us (a sophomore now) but she and Kairi became friends right away last year when Kairi was her junior mentor.

"Naminé, are you coming to the beach with us?" I heard Kairi ask by the time I arrived.

"I can't, I told Marluxia that I'd meet him for lunch as soon as I got my schedule. Sorry."

Did I mention that Naminé is also dating a cradlerobber? Maybe that's a little harsh since the age difference isn't that much, but Marluxia did graduate last year and started dating Naminé when she was a freshman. I've never really understood how that happened but as Kairi likes to remind me I don't have to understand it. They've been together for a year by now, but she deserves better. That's all I'm saying.

"Roxas, you're coming with us, aren't you?" Kairi shook me out of my thoughts.

"Yeah, I already told Sora I would."

"Awesome!" Sora suddenly appeared in front of me. "Oh, and Axel's coming with us too," he added, throwing another smirk at me. I blame Riku for that.

"Seriously? Why?"

"Because I said so. And like I told Axel, he can hang out with us a get a feel for the island. He's still new in town and he could use a few more friends."

"I'm all for him having friends but why does he have to be friends with us?" The words were barely out of my mouth before I felt a sharp slap upside the head. "Ow!" I whirled around and found myself facing Kairi's infamous glare.

"Roxas. Mihara," she ground out, eyes ablaze and rooting me in place. "How could you be so selfish? You should be ashamed of yourself for wanting to shun away somebody just because you're too sensitive to take a joke!"

"What? Too sensitive? Yeah right! Kairi, I just don't like how cocky this guy is." I tried to explain myself, but I was pretty sure it wasn't going anywhere. Kairi glanced over to our left where Riku and Axel were deep in conversation with Demyx adding his two cents in every now and then.

"That doesn't look cocky to me. I think you're just being rude."

"But-"

"Roxas, if you're going to act like a big brat over one comment, then you can go home. Understand?"

"…yes," I mumbled and looked at my feet, even though I still disagreed with her. But I guess my answer satisfied her because she smiled and gave me a one-armed hug.

I never claimed to understand girls. I just live with them.

"That's better."

"What did Axel say to him that was so awful?" Naminé's asked the question I'd been hoping no one else would ask.

"He just called him scrawny." Naminé's eyes flickered over me briefly before returning to Kairi.

"He is scrawny though…"

"Yeah, that's what I said," Sora cut in. He didn't say anything in my defense and instead he reached forward to ruffle my hair before walking off.

What. The. Hell. My friends were ganging up on me, Axel was worming his way into my circle, and to top that off, I was pretty sure that I had already lost my schedule because it was no longer in my pocket.

"Guyssss, let's go already! We're wasting time!" Demyx hollered from the cafeteria doors. Even though he drew the attention of literally everyone else in the room, our group didn't seem to mind and we left together. The chatter mingled together and eventually we decided to split up to regroup at our usual place. Watching Axel walk away with Demyx and Riku, I knew I didn't have much of a choice or any sort of freedom in the decisions for the rest of the day.

It looked like my summer vacation…was over.

So about thirty minutes, two stops, one exploding closet, and one boat trip later, we finally made it to our usual beach spot; our play island. Yeah, the same play island where I met everybody almost ten years ago. We still go to the island sometimes just to get away from everything. It's perfect. Nobody can bother us and we can't bother them. Sora, Kairi, and I hightailed it down to the paopu island. We were running late and everyone was already waiting for us, plus a stray the others seemed to have picked up.

"Guys!" Selphie bounced up from her spot on the sand and tackled Kairi onto the ground first. I wish I could say I didn't let myself watch the two girls in bikinis wrestle in the sand for a few moments, but that would be a lie. Oops.

"Hey, Selph," Sora and I greeted her while Kairi laughed and pushed the other girl off. Neither of them moved from the sand though as Kairi swept her hair out of her eyes.

"I didn't know you were going to be here!" They hadn't spent a lot of time together this summer outside of work. It wasn't hard to see they were excited to see each other and have the chance to catch up.

"Surprise!" Selphie exclaimed cheerfully before grabbing Kairi's hands, pulling her up and bouncing back onto her feet. "The boys are already in the water and we're not. What's up with that? Let's go!" And with that, Selphie dragged my best friend into the ocean with Riku and Demyx.

"Wait up!" Sora blew past me as he ran past the center of the smaller island and skipped the ladder to jump straight into the water (and onto Riku's back. I was almost impressed.)

So what did I do? I followed at my own pace, climbing up onto the well-worn paopu tree and leaning back to watch from above. I wasn't really a big fan of swimming and I could always work on my tan. I stretched out and closed my eyes slightly, keeping watch over my friends down in the water and doing a quick head count. Sora, Riku, Kairi, Selphie, Demyx...wait. Wait, someone was missing.

What happened to Axel?

"Sooooo." An unfortunately familiar drawl filled my ears. "What's your excuse for not being in the water?"

I was almost sorry I asked, but I didn't open my eyes any more than I had to and refused to look at him.

"I just don't feel like swimming." The answer was short, and when he didn't move or respond I lazily lifted a hand to shoo him away. "Do you mind? You're kind of in my sunlight." I heard shuffling and then felt extra weight added to the tree. Peering over the tops of my sunglasses I noticed that he'd joined me instead. He was lanky and awkward and maybe a little imbalanced but he sat by my feet and stared out at the water. I didn't know what to do about that, really. What are you supposed to do with someone who won't take the hint and bug off when you're clearly ignoring them?

…sometimes…I wish I wasn't curious about things like that.

"Okay," I finally said. "I'll bite. What's your excuse?"

A languid shrug followed my question. "I'm not much of a swimmer. Demyx tried teaching me a few times…but yeah, I wasn't very good at it and eventually he got bored trying to teach me." Axel laughed a little and even without really focusing on him I knew he was watching Demyx the way I was watching Kairi. They're people who don't need to be worried after, but you look after them anyway.

His explanation didn't surprise me much; Demyx was, like, born for the water. He's the star of our school's swim team, and I kind of got the sense he and Axel were closer than either of them were really saying. I didn't respond even with the explanation. He remained silent for a few moments before sighing. Loudly.

"So. Why do you hate me?"

"Because you're a douchebag," I replied without opening my eyes.

"Oh come on! You don't really think that, do you?"

"Yep."

"…oh. I see," he said quietly, almost like he was a bit hurt. If I didn't already know the kind of person he was, I might have believed it. But there's no way someone like Axel was hurt by something like that. The tree shook a bit as he slid down from his perch. He wasn't even going to try to defend himself. …he was leaving? He was climbing down the ladder to head into the water. Wait a second!

"What are you doing?" I sat upright and lifted my sunglasses from my face, watching as he started to disappear from my sight.

"Well, since I'm a douchebag, I'm going to join the people that can tolerate me." He threw a quick wink my way and jumped the rest of the way off of the ladder, swimming away to join my friends who were a little further out from the shore. I stared at him in disbelief. I couldn't believe that he brushed me off that easily, just like the word douchebag meant nothing.

Then again, he'd probably been called one plenty of times before.

Fact of the matter was, the guy had some nerve and he wasn't going to budge on his own. I had to think of a way to chase him off or get him to leave on his own. I knew there was a way, but I just wasn't sure how yet. Slipping my sunglasses back on and closing my eyes, I pondered all of my options which were, well, not many to tell you the truth. Normally I could have easily devised a plan to get rid of somebody, but for some reason I was having trouble coming up with a set-up for Axel. Maybe it was because the guy was too damn smart and could blow me off again. Maybe it was because I was too preoccupied with the idea of school starting in a few days to focus.

Or maybe it was because part of me didn't want to drive him away.

I really didn't know what was going on, but I did know I didn't like it. I mean honestly, I wasn't supposed to be curious about some asshole who thought he could waltz into our lives and be easily accepted. But then again, that's what was happening and there wasn't much I could do about it other than accept that. My friends were convinced that he was a good guy and that I was just a basket case, but I was still determined to show them that he wasn't what he seemed. I just didn't know how.

"Roxas, wake up!" I jolted suddenly and fell off of the tree. Kairi was standing above me and the others were down on the beach packing up and getting ready to head out. "Having a nice nap?"

I didn't even remember falling asleep, but my sunglasses were askew, the sun was beginning to set, and there were definitely paopu branch imprints on my cheek. I didn't reply to her immediately as I tried to piece together what happened to my afternoon, or why Kairi was grinning at me the way she was. There's nothing wrong with Kairi smiling. I love when she does. It's one of her cutest features…except for when it's a knowing, teasing smile that says she's got one over on you.

Which…was the smile she had now. Great.

"Um, are we ready to go?" I changed the subject, standing up and walking toward Kairi. She nodded and giggled slightly. "What?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, nothing. I just forgot that sometimes you say very interesting things in your sleep."

"Wait, what? What'd I say?" She laughed again as she ignored the question, reaching forward to pat me on the cheek before grabbing my hand to pull me off of the island. "Kairi!"

"Nothing too bad…but I probably wouldn't call Axel a hot red douche canoe to his face."

Perfect. It'd been a day and Axel was already invading my dreams. Judging by the fact that she was still fixing me with that knowing look, that wasn't all I said but I wasn't sure I wanted to know.

Scratch that. I definitely didn't want to know.

"…whatever you heard it's not true." It was a stupid defense, but I had to try. She squeezed my hand as we arrived on the main part of the beach, catching up with our friends and heading for our rowboat to head home.

"Okay. If you say so." And just like that she dropped it. I had a feeling it wouldn't be the last time she mentioned it, but around our friends she was going to play dumb and spare my feelings.

Sometimes I forget just how awesome she can be. But I guess she's my best friend for a reason.

So imagine lying in your bed, surrounded in the peaceful silence of the evening and enjoying your well-deserved sleep.

Now imagine that silence being pierced by a loud, vibrating sound and Sean Paul's "Temperature" blasting right next to your ear. For the second time that day I jolted right out of my dreams and fell. From my place on the floor by my bed, I ended up groping around in the dark for my phone while making a mental note to kill Sora later for setting my tone in the first place. Finally wrapping my fingers around it, I flipped the phone open and answered without looking at the caller ID.

"Hello?"

"So are we going to talk about you dreaming about Axel or are we ignoring that?"

In that moment, I severely regretted knowing Kairi.

"What?"

"At the play island, you were dreaming about Axel, weren't you?" she repeated, sounding wide awake. I almost had to give her credit for waiting a few days to confront me on it, but as I pulled the phone away and squinted at the display, I noticed it was just past two in the morning and I regretted everything all over again.

"…what the fuck, Kai. Couldn't you have asked me about this tomorrow or something? It's two o'clock in the morning and I don't know about you, but I was actually asleep." I finally got off the floor to crawl back into bed.

"Yeah, but you tend to be more truthful when you're groggy."

"…Kairi! I want to sleep, go away!"

"Just answer my question!"

"Okay fine, yes I was dreaming about Axel, so what? Doesn't mean anything."

"It means you find him attractive," she countered before I even finished my sentence.

"No, it means I was suffering from heat stroke."

"Roxas, you can't deny it forever."

"Watch me," I replied, growing more agitated as the conversation went on.

"I am watching and the fact of the matter is, you think he's sex-"

Yeah, I hung up on her. If you haven't noticed by now, we hang up on each other a lot. It's just that I didn't want to have to deal with Kairi's crazy theories that early in the morning and I was pretty sure I wouldn't be able to go back to sleep. As usual, I was right. I ended up lying there staring at the ceiling for about four hours, convincing myself that Kairi was still wrong and that maybe she had spent too much time in the sun, too.

Being burrowed in my covers didn't do much to stop the morning from coming and the next thing I knew, I suddenly felt an extra weight throw itself on top of my chest and an ungodly loud voice yelled "first day of school!" in my ear.

"Sora, get off of me!" It wasn't hard wrestling him off and shoving him to the floor. It also wasn't hard for Sora to immediately pop back up.

"Roxas! First day of school!"

"Okay, Nemo, chill. I know it's the first day, big deal." I rolled my eyes and pushed him off of the bed again. But he jumped right back up and bounced on my mattress. How anyone had this much energy in the morning I seriously had no idea.

"Roxas, it's senior year! You're still not excited?"

"No, not really." His face deflated and he finally got off of my bed.

"How lame."

"Excuse me? I'm lame? I'm not the one wearing Buzz Lightyear boxers!"

"You're just jealous that they glow in the dark!" He left my room then to head back to the hallway and to his own room. I couldn't let him have the last word though.

"Dude, you're such a loser!"

"So're you!"

"Fine!" I got up and slammed the door shut.

"Double-fine!" I heard him slam his door shut, too.

"Boys, knock it off!" Aunt Seiya yelled from downstairs. Now really, I love my aunt, but sometimes, she's scary. It was then I figured I should stop yelling at Sora and start getting ready. School started in 45 minutes and I was still kind of a disaster. For all that I didn't care about senior year, I also knew I had to make a somewhat good impression.

"Sora! Where's my girlfriend shirt?" I pushed myself away from the closet and ran across the hall, barging into Sora's room. Lucky for me he at least had clean boxers on.

"Your what?" The question was muffled as he slipped a t-shirt over his head.

"My girlfriend shirt!"

"Check the laundry?" he suggested and grabbed a pair of jeans off of the floor before giving them a tentative sniff. "Do these smell clean?" He thrust them under my nose.

"Man, stop that!" I swatted the jeans away and walked out, heading downstairs to hunt for my shirt. To get to the laundry room in our house you had to go through the kitchen, which meant passing by my aunt who was cooking at the stove.

"Morning, Rox. Breakfast?" Aunt Seiya turned to me and nodded toward the plate of eggs she had waiting for Sora.

"Just some toast will be okay, thanks." It was a half-assed reply but I've never claimed to be a morning person either. I was hyperfocused on finishing my intensive task of actually dressing myself without being a hot mess and headed into the laundry room, yanking open the dryer. I probably could have helped out by hanging up some of the stuff that was in there, but I was working on a time crunch here. It didn't matter if it was wrinkled still. As soon as I found what I was looking for I rescued my shirt from the pile of cloth and slammed the dryer shut again. The shirt itself was a gag gift from someone because of Kairi, but it fit and it looked good so I couldn't care that much, even if it said "Define "Girlfriend"" on it.

Sometimes? I wish somebody would do just that.

I ran back upstairs and threw on a pair of jeans before speeding through the morning routine. You know, brushing the teeth, brushing the hair, trying to look like maybe I could take care of myself. I barely had enough time to shove some toast in my mouth and grab my car keys before jamming my feet in my sneakers and heading for the door. Sora had already left and it still remains a mystery how he managed to beat me but that didn't matter. All that mattered was that I was running way behind and I still had to pick up Kairi.

Of course, because my best friend is awesome, she never fails to surprise me. I think I surprised her though when I opened the door and practically knocked her over.

"What are you doing here?"

"I figured you'd be running late so I thought I'd just walk over." She started heading to the car. I'm not sure if she noticed that I didn't immediately follow, but she also didn't need to know I might have been checking her out. Sometimes it was hard not to.

"Nice skirt."

"Oh screw you."

"I'd love to, darling, honestly." Casual banter was probably our favorite game because we both knew we didn't mean anything by it. Maybe the rest of the world didn't get it, but it was never about the rest of the world. It was about her, it was about me, and it was about us. Driving to school together was our tradition and gave us time to be together without the rest of our friends.

"No, you're rather screw Axel." She let herself into the passenger's seat as I groaned in response.

"Not this again."

"Roxas, if you would just stop being stubborn and see what I see..." she trailed off as I buckled up and started the car, backing out of the driveway.

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"Look, it's the whole love at first sight thing."

"No, Kairi."

"No?"

"No," I repeated firmly.

"But-"

"No."

She fell silent after that, eyeing me uncertainly as we made the quick drive to school. I felt kind of bad, but I still wasn't in the mood for that conversation. I didn't say anything to her until we parked in front of the school and even as I killed the engine I didn't get out immediately.

"Does anybody else know I'm bi?" I finally asked her, and she blinked in surprise.

"What? No, of course not, but-"

"Then we're going to pretend that I'm not." And with that I got out of the car and began making my way inside.

"Roxas!" she yelled after me, fumbling to not only get out of the car but also lock it up for me before she could lose track of where I was going.

"I'll see you later, Kairi!" I waved and smiled to myself, convinced that I was home free.

"We have the same first period, dork!"

She…had a good point. I froze in my spot and it gave her enough time to catch up, linking her elbow with mine before dragging me along to our yearbook staff office.

It sort of maybe felt like I was walking to my doom, but at least the road to hell had some good company.

By the time sixth period rolled around, I was more than ready to go home. Kairi, who was in my first period yearbook staff class, my third period Government & Law class and my fifth period Pre-Calc class, kept bothering me about the Axel issue all day and I was also more than ready to tell her to get her own ride home. I knew that she was only doing it because she cared about me and stuff, but there's only so much nagging a guy can take.

Riku and I had the same fourth period art class (photography for him, graphic design for me) and Sora was in my second period Chemistry class, along with Demyx. All three of them were in the same Government class Kairi and I shared, too. But sixth period I was pretty much on my own for AP English. I had heard a few horror stories about Mr. Teitzel already, but to be facing everything by myself?

I knew I was pretty far in.

I walked into class and sat down, waiting for everybody else to file in. I was pretty content minding my own business (rockin' out with my iPod and maybe playing my air guitar very discreetly), but no; somebody had to interrupt me.

"Mind if I sit here?"

Too bad it had to be that somebody.

"Uh, kinda?" I answered truthfully and looked up at Axel, giving him what I hoped was a skeptical look. The kid was in a few of my classes already but I was at least able to avoid him for the entire day. But no, now I was stuck by myself, alone, defenseless, and staring at the face of true jerkishness. (That's a word, shut up.)

"Yeah, well, I feel reeeeeally awkward standing here and this desk is the only one left available." He gestured around the room. I looked up and realized that yes, the desk right next to me was the only one left. Fantastic.

"…fine, whatever. Sit." The final bell rang as Axel made himself comfortable, leaning back in his seat. Mr. Teitzel walked into the room just then and the class went silent.

Now, you have to realize, Teitzel's an old guy and to top that off, he was always really strict on his classes. After the customary roll call, he paused for a moment and stared us down. Nobody dared to even breathe wrong until he made the next move.

"I expect that you all have completed your summer homework. I will be collecting that now," he drawled out and stood in front of the room as all 15 of us passed our packets forward. The guy made us read a novel and answer a billion questions over the summer. Can you believe that? I couldn't. Teitzel looked through the packets and raised his eyebrows, counting them again before looking at us. Or, more specifically, looking at Axel.

"Mr. Tamashi, your packet seems to be missing."

"Here's the thing, Mr. T. My dog's pregnant. You know how pregnant women are, right? All of the mood swings and the crazy food urges. She just loves Charles Dickens, so she ate my packet. I'd have to be a monster to deny her. You have to think about her unborn puppies, sir. They need nourishment." He said all of this so calmly as he shrugged in slow motion. I couldn't help but laugh under my breath. It was so stupid it was funny.

"Do you think you're funny, Mr. Tamashi?" Teitzel asked, peering at Axel over the top of his glasses.

"No, I think I'm hilarious. But I'll take funny if that's what we can agree on." Axel was seriously pushing his luck and the worst part was that he he was making me laugh despite my best efforts not to. Teitzel didn't seem to think Axel was amusing though.

"Detention after school, Tamashi," he said flatly, turning back around to set the papers on his desk. Axel sulked as he slumped down in his seat and this time the laughter was maybe a little mean because he kind of deserved the punishment. It almost felt like a personal victory.

I probably got ahead of myself.

"Mr. Mihara, you'll be staying after school as well."

"What?! What did I do?"

"You're encouraging him, that's what."

"But-"

"No excuses, Mr. Mihara. You and Mr. Tamashi will be staying here after school, 30 minutes." He didn't even give me a chance to argue before he turned around and began leading a discussion about the book Great Expectations. Kind of a lame book, by the way, not one I'd recommend. This time it was my turn to sulk and slump down in my seat. Folding my arms over my chest and glaring at the desktop, all I could do was pray that the day would just end already. Axel didn't seem as distraught as I was. In fact, the moron turned to me and smiled slightly.

"So…guess we'll be seeing each other again, huh?"

"Oh fuck you."

"Mihara! Tamashi! Your 30 minutes have turned into one hour and will continue rising if you continue to be disruptive!" Teitzel warned us and turned around again, scrawling out notes on the blackboard. With a small groan I allowed my head to fall on my desk with an ungraceful thud, ignoring the fact that Axel was snickering at me under his breath.

So much for making a good impression.

The final bell rang and everybody left the classroom except for me, Axel, and Mr. Teitzel.

"I have a meeting to attend to, but I will be back. No talking, no moving, no leaving. Am I clear?" Teitzel asked us, giving both of us a stern glare.

"Crystal," Axel answered for both of us and Teitzel nodded, shutting the door firmly behind him. I was perfectly content with the idea of no talking, no moving and no leaving; after all, I just wanted to get the hell out of there. After quickly texting Kairi and telling her to get a ride home with Sora, I put my earbuds back in and turned on my iPod, randomly doodling in my binder.

"Whacha listenin' to?" I heard Axel ask me.

"From First To Last." The answer was quick and clipped in the hopes that he'd leave me alone.

I should have learned by now that didn't work on him.

"Awesome…what CD?" He even went as far as to turn around in his seat to face me.

"Didn't Teitzel say that we weren't supposed to talk?" It was the best I could do on such short notice. He snorted in disgust and rolled his eyes.

"Rox, look around. Do you see Teitzel in here?" He gestured to the empty classroom. "I think not." I huffed a bit and finally turned to face him.

"First of all, it's Roxas. Rox-as."

"Rox-ass huh?"

"No! Roxas! Just…never mind," I sighed in defeat and looked at my beat-up sneakers. He shrugged in return and drew his knee to his chest, resting his chin on it and watching me silently. It was kind of weird, having a new kid stare at you, but I managed to ignore him for the most part. What surprised me was the fact that he didn't continue talking. He didn't seem like the type to shut up so easily. So far my attempts to shut him up myself hadn't worked either.

Maybe that's what my problem was. Maybe I was spending too much time focusing on stereotyping him instead of getting to know him. Maybe I should give him a chance.

…or not. That would just be inviting him to converse with me and I really didn't think I wanted that. I mean, the kid was weird, what could I say?

"Dear Diary, My Teen Angst Has A Bodycount." There, that's what I could say. Axel blinked and looked up at me through his bangs.

"What?"

"That's…that's the CD I'm listening to," I said, unsure of why I was even offering him that information. As soon as his face lit up and his mouth started moving, I knew that I had just opened Pandora's Box.

"Yeah, that CD's pretty cool, I guess. Not my favorite, but it's decent. What other kind of music are you into?"

One of the things people quickly learn about me is that when somebody gets me talking about music, I find it hard to stop. I'm very opinionated about what sounds good, who sucks, who shouldn't have died from drug overdose, what types of genres are overrated, all that jazz. Axel had figured out my weakness and he was using it against me.

Dick.

"Well…I like a lot of rock…metal…alternative…punk, you know, whatever. Not a huge fan of country or rap, I'm starting to get into EDM. Oh and classical can be okay depending on the instruments, and I have to say I like jazz or Sora might kill me." It was probably the most I'd ever said to him in one sitting that wasn't an outright insult. I expected him to maybe be shocked or something, but he just kept talking.

"Demyx told me that you're in a band." Casual. Real subtle. Not.

"Yep."

"…how long?"

"The last three years? Me, Demyx, and my cousin Sora. You know, the brunette that dragged you along with the rest of us."

"That's your cousin?"

"Yeah. Weird, right?"

"Yeah…you guys are like polar opposites."

"Tell me something I don't know." He paused then, giving me a cursory glance even while I wasn't making eye contact.

"I think you're more interesting?" he offered and I looked up from my shoes.

"What?"

He shrugged. "You seem more fascinating. Blonds usually have more of a story to tell anyway."

"How do you figure?" It was hard to keep the skepticism out of my voice, but I figured maybe I had a right to be skeptical. What was he even talking about?

"Just do."

"Okay, so what's your story?" I challenged him, waiting for him to come back with another cocky comment.

"Don't feel like sharing."

"Yeah, well, neither do I," I concurred and shuffled through the playlist on my iPod. Axel stayed quiet for another moment, obviously trying to wrap his teeny-tiny brain around some intelligent conversation.

"So…what do you think about Good Charlotte?"

I think that was around the time I choked on my own spit.

"God, I hate those guys," was all I could say and not fast enough, shuddering at the memory of listening to them for the first time.

"I know, tell me about it. One of my friends from back home loves them though. It disgusts me." Axel shuddered as well.

"I don't really blame you."

"Okay, what about Simple Plan?"

"They're okay, but overrated ya know?"

And that's how it started. Axel and I talked about music for the rest of our hour, debating about who sucked, who was better, and who just needed to quit while they were ahead. It didn't occur to me that most of the bands he quizzed me on were bands that played on the radio or were in the weekly top forty, but it was still a better conversation than I expected. Maybe it was just because it was something I felt like I could actually control. That was why I was surprised when Axel looked up at the clock and announced that it was time for us to go.

"So, did you notice that Teitzel never came back?" he commented on our way to the parking lot.

"Yeah. Wonder where he went." I wasn't wondering too much to be honest and I fished around in my pocket for my keys. I might have been a little distracted because I didn't even realize where Axel was going until he walked up to a red 1969 Mustang Convertible. I'm not really a car guy, but even I couldn't help but start to drool a little. Over the car. Not over Axel. Just so we are perfectly clear here.

"You…are full of surprises," I finally managed to say once I realized Axel was unlocking the car. He didn't look up but the grin was fairly obvious.

"Yeah, you might want to get used to that."

"Maybe I don't want to get used to it."

"That's fine. You can't avoid destiny, Roxas." He started the car, rolling the top down and looking over at me with another thoughtful kind of look.

"Destiny?" I repeated dumbly.

"Yeah, you know. Destiny."

"…you really think being locked in a room together for an hour was destiny?"

"Could be. We're on Destiny Islands, aren't we? Who knows what could happen?" He revved the engine a bit, clearly satisfied with himself before fixing his gaze on me again. "And even if it wasn't? I can't complain about it." He shot me another grin before putting the car in reverse, slowly backing away from me. "I'll see you tomorrow, Shortstuff." And with that he drove off, leaving me standing in the parking lot alone. As I headed back to my own car, I couldn't help but think about what Axel had just said.

Destiny. I slid into the driver's seat, staring out the windshield and at the sunset ahead of me and let the word rotate around in my head for a while. What a stupid idea.

"Destiny or not, he's still a douche." I could assure myself all I wanted, but even as I tried it was just a little too hard to ignore the slight smile on my face as I headed for home.

Notes: hello x2, I'm steadily replacing everything. What else is new?