Hey!

First, I was absolutely ecstatic at all the reviews I got! Thanks a bunch to:

Bubblegum Head, Cavechan, Riku-stalker, CountessKitsune, Gray-Rain Skies, ChaosHarbor, Ichixrenji-smexy love, Veritas4Eternity, TheFoxGirlKitsune, Celestial101

And special thanks to Zed-Azrael because she has agreed to be my beta. Although this chapter hasn't been beta'd yet – I just have absolutely no patience. I know I should wait but she hasn't been online all evening and now I just have to publish this chapter. I hope you can forgive me, I'll replace this chapter with an edited version in a few days.

Disclaimer: I'm writing fanfiction, so they could hardly belong to me, could they?

Anyway, have fun reading!

Shiruy

Mirage

A little rudeness and disrespect can elevate a meaningless interaction to a battle of wills and add drama to an otherwise dull day. - Bill Watterson

By the time I got home that day I was ready to scream. My classes themselves hadn't been that bad but the people… How did girls deal with that? I mean, at first I didn't notice the staring but after lunch it became pretty hard to ignore. I was the new girl, sure, but did that mean all the guys had to stare at me like I was some freaking self-serve buffet?

Enervated and tired I stumbled into my home and tried to kick off my boots (before I remembered that they were boots and that I had to unlace them), ready to fall into bed and sleep for one or two weeks. Maybe I could call in sick tomorrow…? Grumbling to myself I stalked up the stairs to my room, mentally already preparing to call Sora and complain about everything that happened today.

"Rox?"

I froze.

"Rox? Is that you?"

Cloud. What was Cloud doing home? He had a freaking job! He wasn't supposed to be home! I heard some rummaging in his room and then steps coming closer and panicked. I couldn't let him see me like this! Before he could turn the corner I dived into my room and slammed the door shut.

I meant to tell him all about the bet, really! I just… hadn't… yet. But I would! In a month or two…

"Roxas?" Oh god. He was on the other side of the door.

"Yes…?"

"Are you alright?"

"Sure." Yeah, sure. Just peachy. Now go away, please.

"Alright. Leon's here and he'll stay for dinner, okay?"

He would stay for dinner? And my stupid brother was telling me that in advance? Damn, Cloud, do you want me to mess up? How was I supposed to cook anything edible if I knew Leon was going to be there and eat it? I could already feel the nervousness creeping up on me like in a bad horror movie and I wasn't even in the kitchen! (And yes, before you wonder: I'm the resident cook here. Come on, I'm living alone with Sora and Cloud! It was either learn to cook or starve.)

"Okay." I heard him walk away and breathed a sigh of relief. Crisis averted.

It took me a full half an hour to… de-girl me and by then I was so sick of nail polish remover, struggling to get out of bras and my hair just not doing what I wanted it to that I didn't even bother to get rid of all the make up. Putting on my headphones and drowning out the world around me with Papa Roach I went downstairs and started on dinner.

About an hour later I was finished and had put everything on the table when Cloud and Leon walked in. I just sort of… stared. Why did my brother's boyfriend have to be so damn hot? And why did he have to wear these leather pants every time I saw him? Because let me tell you, that certainly didn't make getting rid of my crush any easier.

Forcing myself back into the here and now I slipped off my headphones and nodded at them with a quiet "Hi.", mentally congratulating me on my nondescript tone. (Because on the inside, I was a nervous mess. No, not a mess. It was nervous carnage.)

We ate in relative silence, Leon and Cloud were exchanging a few words and I was just eating as fast as I could, wanting to get away from the table. It's not that I don't like being with my brother and his boyfriend, it's just that whenever I'm forced to spend more than five minutes in Leon's presence I inevitably end up staring at him. And that's embarassing. (Not to mention potentially deadly. I don't want to know what Cloud would do to me if he found out that I'm lustig after his boyfriend.)

Normally clearing the table was Cloud's task but today I grabbed our plates and brought them into the kitchen before my brother could protest. The second I closed the door behind me I breathed a sigh of relief, happy to have gotten that over with without getting caught staring at Leon. And people claimed teenagers had no self control!

I heard the door behind me and assumed it was Cloud bringing in the rest of the dishes but when I turned around it was – surprise, surprise – my illustrious crush (bringing in the rest of the dishes. Now imagine a guy like Leon who looks like he just stepped out of a fashion magazine with dirty dishes in his hands. Yeah, it's plain wrong.). Surprised as I was I just blinked stupidly at him and then had to restrain myself from melting into a puddle of goo as he smiled at me. (Damn, he should do that more often.)

"Cloud's on the phone.", he offered as an explanation and I nodded and took the dishes from him, then started cleaning up the kitchen to look as busy as possible while he leaned against the counter and just sort of… looked at me. Sadly, after a few minutes there was nothing left to do and he was still looking at me.

I frowned. I mean, I like him looking at me because that could mean something but I don't like him looking at me because that could mean something and I don't want to make Cloud sad. (And besides, I'm fifteen, so why the heck should he bother with me?) And so I did one of the few things I'm good at – I snapped at him.

"What? Do I have something on my face?" I expected just about everything. He could get annoyed at me. He could grunt and walk off. He could roll his eyes and tell me not to be such a bitch. Instead… he chuckled. Once again I had to resist the urge to melt into a puddle of goo.

I blinked in surprise as he took a step forward and suddenly stood right in front of me, smirking down at me. (Oh how I wished for the boots right then.)

"You do have something on your face…" He lifted a hand and softly laid two fingers at the corner of my eye. I nearly had a heart attack. "And I have to say, blue suits you." He grinned again, then turned around and left. Just like that. Left me here to stand in frozen shock trying to understand what the fuck just happened. And what did he mean anyway? Blue? Why the hell should I have blue stuff on… my… Eyeshadow. Oh fuck. I hadn't gotten rid of all the make up! And he had noticed! Now would be the appropriate time to go hide out in a closet for the rest of my life.

The next day started… badly. (Actually, it was more like abysmally.) I overslept and only had ten minutes to get ready with the consequence that I had to do my make up twice because I messed up the first time. This in turn made me late and I had to skip breakfast and run to school, further aggravating my already foul mood.

I said 'Hi' to Zexion who was in most of my classes but other than that avoided talking to my classmates. I still didn't want any friends, they would only make everything even more complicated for me, but Zexion… He was one of these people you can be friends with without spending a lot of time with each other and that was alright. As long as I didn't start to meet up with him outside of school everything was fine.

It felt like the morning was crawling by extra slowly and upon hearing the lunch bell I gave a mental cheer. Finally, finally free. At least for an hour. I didn't wait for Zexion but walked out into the courtyard and settled at the same table like yesterday, headphones on. The sky was overcast and a rather chilly breeze made most of the students stay inside. Having nothing else to do I got out my sketch pad and started to work on a picture I had left unfinished a few days ago.

When Zexion sat down in front of me I just looked up briefly and nodded at him. He didn't ask what I was drawing or why I hadn't waited for him, and I was thankful. I suspected that if Zexion was here, his two friends would follow soon but as for now, we sat in peaceful silence. (Or, relative silence. Puddle of Mudd isn't exactly what I'd call quiet.)

Suddenly, out of nowhere, a hand snatched my pad out from under my pencil and I looked up sharply. The blond I ran into yesterday was smirking down at me, carelessly gripping my sketch pad in one hand and crinkling the open page. My surprised frown turned murderous.

Behind him stood the silver haired girl from my math class and a guy the size of a wardrobe, but I didn't bother to acknowledge them as I glared at the blond. Across the table, Zexion was frowning slightly at the three.

"Hi Princess. Learned anything since yesterday?" Princess? Did this bastard just call me a fucking princess? Oh, he was going down.

"Sure." I smiled mockingly and slowly stood up. "I should go to Zexion if I need help in physics or math, to Peter if I need help in geographie and to you if I want to get my brother a cheap hooker."

Seifer gaped at me for a moment, then he growled angrily and took a step forward.

"You seem to think you're untouchable, princess, but here's a news flash." He roughly grabbed my chin and forced me to look up at him. "I've got no problem making your time at this school a living hell, understood?"

Out of the corner of my eye I noticed Zexion standing up, but didn't have the time to mentally thank him for his loyality. Instead I used Seifer's closeness to my advantage and kicked his shin as hard as I could. (Take that, asshole! Feel the fury of the Boots of Doom!)

He yelped and let go of me, stumbling back from the force of the blow and I gave him an additional push that forced his male lackey to catch him or let his boss fall to the floor. Not a second later he was back in front of me and reaching back to deliver a blow that would most likely leave my head ringing for days.

I didn't wait for him to complete his motion and stepped out of his range, hastily planning my next move. This bully was taller, heavier and most likely stronger than me; that meant I had to either catch him by surprise or hit a weak spot. The skirt restricted my range of movement but it was enough for me to brace myself against the table behind me and deliver a solid kick to the other blond's chest. He gasped, not having expected me to seriously try to attack him and when he looked back up at me he definitely wasn't underestimating me anymore.

A short scream distracted me and I blinked in surprise as I saw that Zexion had twisted the arms of the huge guy who followed Seifer around behind his back, bringing him to his knees and keeping him from interfering in our little fight. The girl stood off to the side, apparently not planning on getting involved.

Suddenly, I was roughly shoved against the table, and although I tried to break away the tall blond in front of me grabbed my wrists and forcibly restrained them behind my back. I cursed at his smirking face, but like I said before – he had the advantage of weight and height, and he was easily able to trap me against the table and render me immobile.

The whole thing had happened in less than a minute and I glared up at him, straining against his hold but unable to break free. He chuckled and leaned even closer, and to an outsider it must have looked as if we were standing in an embrace. It was making me sick

"Not so insolent anymore, hm?"

As answer I tried to kick him where it really hurts, but he anticipated my move and forced my legs apart so that he was standing in between them, our bodies flush against each other. His grin widened.

"You know, now that I think about it, you are pretty cute. Don't you want to leave your looser friend-" Here, he nodded at Zexion. "…and hang out with me from now on?"

My glower turned even darker and I was seriously tempted to spit in his face, but that's just gross and so instead, I settled for insulting him.

"Ever heard of personal space, numbskull? It's that thing nobody wants to share with you."

He didn't get angry, only smirked at me and changed his grip on my wrists so that he was holding both in his right hand, freeing his left. Once again, he gripped my chin and forced me to look straight up at him.

"I like girls who are playing hard to get. And, you know, you still owe me an apology…" He leaned closer, and closer, and oh my god! He was not going to fucking kiss me! I squirmed and leaned further back, trying everything to get away from him. Why was he so freaking strong?

"Let me go, you creep!"

One second he was just a few inches away from me, the next he was practically ripped off of me and thrown to the floor.

"Hey! She asked you to leave her alone, okay?"

I stumbled and almost lost my footing, but someone caught my arm and helped me staying upright. Surprised I looked up at Axel, who was busy glaring at Seifer. Why was he helping me? I had been pretty mean to him yesterday…

"Yeah! And don't you dare lay another grubby hand on her, understood?" I blinked and looked over at Demyx, who was standing next to the silver haired girl and holding her back with a hand on her shoulder. When had those two gotten here?

With an angry growl the blond got off the floor, glowering as he realized that the tide had turned.

"Fuu, Rai, let's go. We'll deal with her later."

Both lackeys nodded and Zexion and Demyx let them go. They went to stand behind their leader and for a moment all three glared at us, then they turned around as one and walked off. Good riddance.

"Hey, you alright?"

I glanced back up at Axel and nodded silently, noticing that he still had a firm grip on my arm.

"What a bastard! Why did he bother you?"

Demyx and Zexion came over to us and I winced a bit at the blond's question. It was kind of my fault, because I ran into him and was so rude… but then again, he was an arrogant bastard, so my behaviour was justified.

"I bumped into him yesterday." The three looked at me with raised eyebrows.

"On your first day? Fortune's really smiling on you, huh?" I shrugged at Axel's teasing smile and sat back down, rubbing my wrists. Damn, but that bastard had a firm grip.

The other's followed my example and settled down around the table, Zexion next to me, the two juniors across from us. For a moment we sat in silence, then, all of a sudden, I remembered my sketch pad which was still lying on the floor where Seifer had dropped it. (God! How could I be so stupid and forget my sketch pad?)

I hastily stood back up and picked it up. A few pages were rather crinkled, especially the first one and I frowned. Damn, I should have kicked that bastard harder.

"Hey, what do you have there?"

I briefly held the pad up to show it to Axel, then sat back down and tried to smooth the first page out. Zexion leaned closer and looked over my shoulder.

"You're pretty good. Who is that?"

I glanced at him and shrugged, unwilling to answer. I had drawn a little blonde girl sitting on a swing in a blooming garden. She was smiling softly and seemed happy, dressed in a lofty white sun-dress.

I packed my stuff away while the others talked about what had happened, inventing new and creative nicknames for Seifer (I especially liked 'rotten boil-brained scut').

"Roxanne?" (I mentally cringed. God, how could you, Sora?)

I set my backpack down and looked up at the redhead who had addressed me. "Hm?"

"Are you sure you're alright?"

He was worried? Okay, that was sort of cute. (But I still didn't like it.)

"Yeah, sure." I waved my hand a bit as if to say 'It's not a big deal'. "It's not the first time I dealt with an idiot."

What I didn't expect was for him to snatch my hand out of the air and inspect my wrist, then snort angrily.

"You should go see the nurse, get ice packs for your wrists." I blinked in surprise and looked at them myself. It wasn't as bad as the redhead made it sound, but my skin really had blue fingerprints on it. Seifer had had an even stronger grip than I had thought.

"Nah, it's not that bad. But… thanks for helping me out."

I looked at all three of them and Zexion nodded solemny, Axel smiled and Demyx grinned exuberantly.

"No problem, Roxy! We're your knights in shining armour!"

Demyx jumped up and posed, making me smile slightly. He was like a little kid. The redhead poked him in the side and stood up to pose, too.

"You mean I am her knight in shining armour! You did nothing but stand there and watch!"

I snickered as the two started bickering about who my true saviour was. It was all pretty stupid, because in my opinion, I hadn't needed a knight in shining armour in the first place, but whatever. I turned to Zexion, ignoring the two making fools out of themselves.

"Thanks for helping me even before those two showed up. I appreciate it."

He smiled slightly and nodded.

"No problem. I always help my friends."

Friends? I blinked in surprise. When did that happen?

Axel chased Demyx around the table a few times, but soon gave up and plopped down on the other side of me. He propped his elbows up on the table and leaned closer to me.

"So, now that we've established that in fact, I'm your knight in shining armour, what do I get?"

I shot him a skeptical look and shrugged. "I already thanked you."

"Yeah, but how about… a date? You know, to make you forget about the trauma of the whole experience."

I snorted. He may be nice, heroic and sort of handsome, but damn was he an idiot. And besides, dating was a big no-no for me right now. I was pretty sure that whoever I went out with would have an issue with my cross-dressing.

"Forget it. I don't date."

He looked scandalized.

"What?! Why not? Dating is fun! And it makes people happy! You should give it a try."

I rolled my eyes at his antics. I was only fifteen, there were lots of people who didn't date at my age. And besides, I never said I hadn't dated before.

"I just don't, okay?" I stood up as the bell rang and made my way back into the building, Axel hot on my heels.

"No, that's not okay! Why don't you do it?"

"Because."

"That's no answer!"

"Yes, it is."

"No, it's not."

"Is."

"Is not!"

"Is."

"Not!"

This was turning out to be a very long day.

Thanks to the people who offered to be my beta, it's really appreciated!

Roxas was a bit damsel in distress-y in this chapter, but he got saved, so everything's alright. The thing with Leon was to show that Roxas really has a crush on him, but Leon's in love with Cloud and sees Roxas more like a younger brother.

Next chapter: I'm not sure. Really. I have no idea. xD Maybe I'll bring Sora into the story, maybe I'll skip a few days, maybe the school will explode. Who knows?

But anyways, thanks for reading!

Shiruy