Monday
20.
It's a warm summer evening in ancient Greece… Wait, no. It is 6:45 in the morning, present day in Markham, Ontario and it is definitely not warm.
Roxas groaned, pulling his legs closer into his body. His feet were icicles at the bottom of the duvet. His room always managed to stay the most unpleasant part of the house; sweltering in the summer and frigid in the winter. The coldness slowly brought him into alertness and he opened his eyes.
Monday. Today was Monday. The day when people go back to work and… school. Roxas grumbled and buried his face into his pillow. He heard Leon come out of the bathroom and tap on Sora's bedroom door.
He let himself swim in and out of consciousness for a while, until it hurt. Unless he was truly exhausted and would no doubt fall asleep the minute his head hit the pillow, he wouldn't bother closing his eyes since he'd immediately get dizzy. If he didn't stop, it would then escalate to throbbing, then a full out migraine. That was like asking to throw up. So he poked his blond head out of the feather duvet and deeply inhaled the icy scent in the air. Huh, that felt kinda good.
Sometime later, Sora turned off the water in the bathroom. Roxas looked at the door of his room. Might as well. He reached over his head and pointed his toes to stretch. His body shivered as he yawned. Toes poked out of the bed and landed on a chilly spot on the red carpet.
Grabbing his towel, he grudgingly left the comfort of his room to take a scalding-hot shower. Three minutes later: OMFG, he used all the hot water! Roxas growled and practically and scratched the shampoo into his head.
After mechanically brushing his teeth, he lazily walked back into his room to dress up. Uniforms were stupid. Thankfully, they were his favourite colours: black and white, but that didn't stop him from masquerading non-uniform pants and shirts as the authentic thing. The only cool thing about it that he always wore was the jacket-like sweater. It had a collar, which if you don't snap it shut across your neck (like you're supposed to) looks pretty cool. It also had the golden roman numerals 'III' on it, signifying that he was in third year high school.
Combing his hair through so that it would stick up naturally (without knots) when dry, he slipped on his two rings and chequered wristband (all rebellious paraphernalia), grabbed his nearly empty bag, some lunch money and left his room, which he already missed.
Sora was eating breakfast when Roxas appeared in the kitchen. He nearly chocked at the sight of his brother (1) on his feet at 7:15AM, (2) in his uniform, and (3) freshly showered? Okay, that last was an overstatement. But really, 'sick Roxas' tends to cease showering every other day and only on special circumstances. (E.g,. last Saturday.)
"Dude!" Sora said wiping milk from his chin. "Is it Halloween?"
"No, dufus, I'm going to school." He lifted the milk pitcher to find it.. very, very light. (Plastic still weighs something.) He narrowed his already sleepy eyes at his brother then reached for two slices of bread.
"Really? And you're feeling better?" He was surprised. Usually at this time, Roxas would be shooing (shouting) at his father to leave him alone.
"I'm sleepy." Roxas said flatly as toast popped up. "And my stomach hurts a little, but that might just be because someone finished the milk."
Sora didn't even acknowledge the end of the sentence. "Aww, I have work today! You better still be feeling this good tomorrow. We missed you at lunch."
"If I'm still feeling this way tomorrow, I'm going to make you skip homeroom and buy the damn milk yourself." He replied flatly, the butter melting as he spread it over the golden slices.
Roxas hopped off the school bus at 7:55. Usually he'd be complaining about how this damn bus driver needs to learn how to slow down and then stop, but Roxas was so tired, he'd napped the whole ride there. He followed the line of students into the building and marched down the hall with half-lidded eyes. If anyone was whispering gossip about him, reprimanding his 'uniform' or just blankly eyeing him like everyone surprisingly does to each other… he didn't notice.
The halls were in their regular uproar; guys laughing obnoxiously to themselves about what was on TV, girls sitting on the floor with their slutty legs extended in front of them, making everyone hop over and 'notice' them, some chasing after teachers trying to get on their good side, and most screaming to their friends on the other end of the frikkin hallway. Roxas ignored everything as best he could and followed the usual path to his locker.
At 1313, he twirled his combination 0-1-3-0 and looked inside. Did he really … need anything? English class hadn't taken any notes in months, and he'd been carrying around the same notebook (essentially for doodling and such but made to look like he was actually writing something in class) since freshmen year. He slammed the door passively, kicking the bottom to be able to relock it. He checked his watch. Ten minutes 'til those annoying chimes, five minutes until the outdated music that's meant to lure students into homeroom, when in all actuality, it just pisses them the hell off.
He walked up the two flights of stairs (because they school was so cheap as to only have one and a half floors) to room 215. Plopping down on the cheap tiles, he hugged his backpack to his chest, fished out his 'illegal' personal electronic device, chose a playlist, buried his head in his popped collar and blocked out the world.
"Class, we have a new student in our school." The teacher announced from his desk as soon as the anthem, morning prayer and announcements were said. "Everyone welcome Ventus Masters." All heads, except one, looked to the rightmost seat in the first row, where a blond boy sat, haphazardly waving at everyone. "Ventus, won't you stand up and tell us a little bit about yourself?"
The boy, presenting a cleanly pressed uniform (except for the undone collar) stood next to the teacher's desk and addressed the whispering group of students. "Um, hi. People call me 'Ven.' I grew up in Hamilton…"
"Ah, Hamilton. Home of the Botanical Gardens!" The teacher cut in.
"Yeah, it's a radiant little city. So anyways…" he continued nervously. All the girls were tittering as they looked from each other to him (clearly making it known that their conversation was about him. Stupid girls), it made him uncomfortable. "Um." He scratched his left arm, adorned by a wristband. "I-" A group of guys in the back started to laugh. "Uh, I like cherries."
Roxas looked up from his arms at the randomness occurring in his English class. He was met by a boy who looked… exactly like him. The boy in the front seemed to have come to the similar conclusion and looked back at Roxas with the same amount of shock. That's when the girls who were tittering, all-out laughed.
"He's your doppelganger!" Looks like it. He thought. Cool. It's like my very own clone. He grinned. If we ever became friends, we could pull all kinds of weird shit. That'd be fun. "He even has your eyes!" Roxas' bulged comically.
"How much do you like red?"
"Almost as much as I love blue."
Oh. My. God. This was bad. What if Axel likes this guy more than Roxas? Or if it didn't work with them, Axel had a spare! A SPAAARE! Nooo… Roxas growled to himself and narrowed his eyes at his desk. GAH! This guy is gonna replace me!
Ven noted his freak out with puzzlement. He said nothing more to anyone, but took his seat and let class resume.
"See ya later, Ax." Xigbar threw his cigarette into the toilet and staggered out of the lavatories.
"Take it easy, Xig. Don't run into any sliding doors this time."
"Me? Never!" The senior's voice disappeared into the hall. First period was nearly done and the group in the bathrooms had dispersed. And of course, 'what better way to start off the week than to get stoned?' as the yellow-eyed teen had said, before pulling out freshly rolled joints. The exhausts in the boys' bathroom were twice more efficient than anywhere else in the building, (since guys will pee anywhere) so Marluxia, Axel, Luxord, Larxene, Xigbar and sometimes Riku, were free to light up any day.
Axel stuck to regular Viceroys, not sharing the special effects of weed with Xigbar, who astonishingly functioned better when high. Marluxia and Larxene had left earlier and Luxord and Riku had quizzes that morning, so Axel was left all alone. He decided to just wander around for the next 15 minutes before next period, so he walked into the stall and flushed his cigarette butt. Just as he was about to leave, Roxas walked in.
He was about to go up to the boy, when a familiar voice echoed through the bathroom. "Ven, hurry up!"
Ven? Who's that?
"You can't rush nature, Roxas." The answer came from the boy who just walked by. But Axel could've sworn that was the blond he'd known. He slowly closed the stall door and snuck a peek at the two boys. Lo and behold, the two looked exactly the same, and it was the second one speaking whom he'd dated last week. Axel was astonished. Were they related? He carefully perched himself on the porcelain of the toilet to hide his feet.
"I don't know why he made me come with you to the bathroom. You're a big boy. I don't need to hold your hand, do I?" That was most definitely Roxas. Talk about bitchy with a capital 'B.'
The other boy, Ven, just laughed. "I'm still new to the building. Plus I got you out of class 10 minutes early. All you gotta do is lead me to my next class after this." Axel considered a theory of Roxas' attitude to be a front used with new people. He'd clearly since this attitude before.
"Psh, I happen to like English, thank you very much."
"Oh." His voice seemed to drop. "It didn't seem like it earlier." Ven finished his business and walked over to the sinks, where Roxas was sitting on the counter.
"That's just because we were doing essays," he said tiredly. "Don't get me wrong, I don't mind essays as long as there's a suitable topic. But the guy insists on breaking it up into thesis, body one, two and three and conclusion. I don't do that. I'd rather just be given lots of time to write the whole damn thing."
"I see…" Ven washed his hands. "But I think this just makes it more organized. Let's you break everything down, so you know what's what and what goes where."
"I guess," Roxas said indifferently. "Usually we read Shakespeare. I'm not a trekkie or anything, but he asks people to read lines with him in front of the class so we get the 'mood' of the scene." Ven looked at him while drying his hands. "I'm a frequent volunteer." He added softly.
"That's cool." Ven smiled, nodding. He sniffed. "Do you smell smoke?" Axel tensed. Oh, crap. If he's discovered now, Roxas would never look at him the same way again. He'll be known as the pervert who listens to boys when they pee!
He heard Roxas scoff. "Axel and them must've just left…" The junior mumbled.
"Who's Axel?" An innocent question, followed by a long pause as Roxas looked at the boy square in the face.
"Ven, how open-minded are you?"
"Pretty open-minded…"
"Are you gay?" Way to be blunt, Roxas, though Axel found himself waiting for the answer as well.
"I've never thought about it." Ven replied simply. "It wouldn't bother me too much if I found out I was, but no I don't think so." He smirked at Roxas. "So you're gay for this Axel guy?"
"Well you don't have to put it like that!" He retorted sharply, but Ven couldn't help but laugh. Axel also couldn't help but smile. And that's what perplexed him; why does he care? He's gone out with a whole bunch of people in the past. They've gone farther in one date than he and Roxas had last Saturday, but he's never thought of them any differently after that. But hearing the Roxas liked him… it definitely made him feel different.
Axel almost fell into toilet when an elderly feminine voice flooded through the echo-y washroom. "Good morning, Kingdom Academy. Here are your morning announcements…" Axel tried to block out Ms. Maleficent's shrill voice and zero in on the two blonds' outside his stall, but it seemed like they were leaving for their next class. "…lastly, a reminder that Friday is a PA day. So if I find any students within the building on my day off, I will personally ensure that your detention is trimming my garden hedges into my favourite movie stars. …Those are all your announcements; have a 'magnificent Monday.'"
No school on Friday? Perfect.
Axel exited the lavatory with a broad smile, not noticing the people pointing to his shoe, where a trail of toilet paper was stalking him.
Everybody got a life this summer ;-;
And what do I get? FUNCTIONS =-=
Sorry, this chapter was un-beta-d :\
Hope you liked it anyways xD
First line belongs to WB
Uniform belongs to Papa to Kiss in the Dark (it was just so cool ^^)
and KH belongs to Squeenix.
Teehee, I love morning Roxas :]
Review if you want more ~!
Y-loving-HS
xDelfin
