-CHAPTER 1: First Wake Up-

It most likely is impossible to deny that just about everyone is nervous on the first day of school. Whether or not the pit at the bottom of your stomach is caused from thinking about what teachers you'll get is a different story. The truth of matter is that most of our worries and fears have nothing to do whatsoever with our studies. No, what students REALLY worry about is how many relationships they're going to get into for the year, and how long they'll be able to keep those relationships alive. When we're in highschool, most of our time is spent inside the school walls. Since it's the only independent life we've really been given, every student has their own share of wishes to make everything in their lives a-okay, picture perfect.

As for any student who hasn't been blessed with a mental wake-up call, it's not hard to believe that all students agree on one thing: the alarm clock is the worst sound ever created in the history of mankind. Just as you're deep in dream land about that wonderful trip around the world, that wonderful music video award you received, or that wonderful doughnut you were planning on eating, the alarm clock rips you away from slumber only to throw you into the torture we know as "highschool".

In the wonderful land of Sora, Sora and Kairi had been frolicking in a field of flowers, which was surprisingly inside of a shopping mall. It appeared that the two had entered a skipping contest and Sora intended to win. Up ahead was Riku, who stood their greeting them with a soft smirk. Sora ran over to him and shook his hand. "Hey, Riku!" Sora greeted.

"Hey." Riku nodded. "You can't have Kairi, you know."

"I...I know that..." Sora stuttered. "Why would you think..." he started to cry hysterically, sobbing loudly. Sora reached for his eyes and rubbed the tears out of them. Riku had his back towards him, as if he refused to look at his friend. Confused, Sora tapped Riku on the shoulder. Riku turned around and frowned down at Sora.

"Rootbeer is good." He growled. Sora smiled and nodded. All of the sudden, a humongous whale seemingly came out of nowhere, and swallowed all the malls inhabitants, leaving Sora to fall in an endless void.

OOOOO

The alarm clock went off and Sora awoke from his awkward dream with a sudden urge to down a glass of Rootbeer. He rubbed his sweaty brow and reached over for the alarm clock, turning it off with haste. Sora let out a groan that was barely audible; today was the first day of school. As he stood up, Sora began to stretch his muscles. He then opened his blinds. It was a beautiful sunny day...yet it was the first day of school. Completely and utterly unbearable.

Sora hit the showers, only to find that the house was running dangerously low on hot water. This was expected, of course, considering it was the first day of school and Sora's life of lately was crap. After retreating from the arctic winds of his shower, Sora slipped on his school uniform and quickly smeared some hair gel through his thick hair. He took his black leather wallet off his dresser and stuffed it in his back pocket. He then collected all his notebooks and made his way out the front door.

The walk. Walking to school on the first day is like walking on your death roll. You know you're entering a time of misery and frustration, but you also know that if you don't go you could meet severe circumstances. Such as getting video games confiscated from mom. Or perhaps getting some phone time with that special someone cut off. Due to Sora's secret infatuation with Kairi, he was often well behaved. He couldn't bare to think of how he would deal with not being able to see Kairi for one day JUST because he was grounded. Anyways, all Sora knew is that he hadn't skipped a day of school yet and he didn't plan to. As much as he hated school, he had to admit that he had a knack for doing the right thing.

The only good thing about school was that Sora could see Kairi nearly every day. Even so, the first day of school would always be stressful as there was always the chance that he would be put in a different class then her. Sora remembered the previous year when his math AND history classes were separate from Kairi's. Still, it didn't matter much. Nobody ever talked during class, they only passed notes. But with Kairi's grace and good natured heart, she refused to partake in anything that broke the class rules. Regardless, Sora was able to gaze upon her form each day he could.

Suddenly, the death roll didn't seem as bad as Sora made it out to be.

OOOOO

For some people, the beautiful sunny morning was able to overcome any feelings of remorse over starting a new school year. While some students would moan and groan on the first day, other students felt nothing but excitement as their radios would blast loud but catchy pop tunes which began immediately after an awakening. These students would be the lucky ones. These were the teens that could arrive at any obstacle in life and find a bright side to it, no matter how boring or pointless.

While many students found terror in starting off the school year, Naminé felt nothing but excitement and affection towards the occasion. She wasn't nerdy, nor was she an A+ student. Naminé had many reasons for loving the school she attended. After all, for her whole life Naminé had been home schooled. Kingdom Hearts Highschool had been one of the only large scale social interactions she experienced. Naminé had only just started going to the school as of mid-January, the previous year. Considering she had never been to a school before in her life, Naminé felt joy in many of her experiences. She experienced the kind of joy that most teenagers her age should not choose to overlook.

The melodies of 'Hung Up' echoed throughout Naminé's room. Her walls and furniture were drenched in a beautiful egg shell-white shade. Naminé guided her pearly white brush through her long, golden thread like hair as she hummed along to the music which played on her small low-quality, but handy, radio. Her eyes were pools of pure blue and contained a glimmer of determination on this special morning. Today was the day. She would let it all out on the first day of the first double digit grade: Grade 10.

You see, ever since Naminé had started school at the start of the second semester of grade 9, she had developed a deep but cleverly hidden infatuation with Sora. Everything about her, every last detail (no matter how small) made her feel like squealing loudly, butterflies zooming around in her stomach. Sometimes she marveled at his hair, which had the seemingly perfect shade for a brunette, standing up in all its gravity-defying glory. His eyes were a treat too; pools of a blue shade quite similar to her irises. Perhaps they were made for each other.

For the longest time, Naminé had a great deal of fear when thinking about confessing her feelings to the boy. She had never met him properly...more like she had never met him at all. Sora just seemed like such a nice boy, and it sometimes is hard to not be attracted to a persons looks at first. At least, that was her excuse. The truth was, Naminé often felt guilty about not really knowing Sora but still crushing on him. Still, the heart can't be stopped once it's made up its mind and Naminé's heart told her that she liked Sora very much.

"Today will be the day, though." She muttered suddenly as she began to apply a barely noticeable gloss to her lips. Her movements stopped and her eyebrows rose into that of a concerned expression. "What his reaction will be...That's what I'm worried of." She whimpered.

Naminé's eyes drifted to the clock and widened. "No!" she yelped as she grabbed the white alarm clock. "This can't be right! 7:00...I gotta get going!" she mentally scolded herself for taking so much time to get ready when she KNEW that it was a long walk to the Highschool. Naminé finished up her gloss and grabbed her book bag. She ran down the stairs as quickly but carefully as she could, and ran out the door and down Oblivion Avenue.

OOOOO

In Axel's home, in his dark room, pop was nonexistent. There were only dark walls, nearly ripped posters and Linkin Park which could still be heard on Agrabah Road, regardless of his home on Oblivion Avenue (in fact, he was a close neighbour of Naminé's...how she was born with the ability to ignore his music and listen only to her pop was beyond him). Axel had fiery red hair which displayed his temper, and cat-like green eyes which exposed his sly nature.

Not many people appreciated Axel's choice of music. Sometimes the eighteen year old wondered exactly why he listened to what he did. Perhaps he listened because he could relate to nearly every single song sung by the band. Feelings of intense despair invaded his head every day, and he knew full well the source of them.

Roxas.

Axel could not find any reason that could explain why he was in love with Roxas. He just was. Even if you asked him what his favourite thing about Roxas was, Axel couldn't tell you. He simply knew that he loved Roxas, that he would die for Roxas in a heartbeat. Every day he longed for Roxas and in the night he dreamt about the boy.

Axel slowly but surely had started to notice more and more things about Roxas. The pattern of his laughs, how he sneezed not once but twice, how he seemed more likely to smirk instead of painting on a full smile. He noticed every syllable in his words, every strand of hair on his head, everything that made Roxas perfect. But what he noticed the most, the most apparent thing about Roxas, was the sad truth...that Roxas would never ever return his feelings.

Still, being a friend of Roxas and keeping his feelings bottled up inside was better then telling Roxas how he felt and not even being able to speak to him. After all, Axel spent nearly ALL his time with Roxas. Of course, he gave Roxas his space. Axel, too, needed some privacy (which unfortunately was filled with thoughts of spending time with Roxas). And Roxas loved hanging out with Axel, as well.

It wasn't enough. The man needed more.

But he wouldn't force Roxas. Axel wasn't like that...He loved Roxas too much to force him. And as he continued to touch up his fiery hair with strong-hold hair gel, his heart filled with excitement knowing that he'd be seeing him soon.

Roxas.

OOOOO

"AXEL!" Roxas yelled, pounding on the door in frustration. Finally, Roxas gave a swift kick to the wooden door. Although the door looked weak, it hurt like hell. How in the world was it possible to make doors like that, Roxas wondered. As he gritted his teeth and clutched onto his throbbing foot, he could not hear the soft voice from behind him. The music from Axel's room was way too loud.

"AXEL!" Roxas called out again, completely oblivious to the girl behind him. Finally, the blonde bombshell tapped Roxas gently on the shoulder. And although the tap was so soft, Roxas jumped out of his skin completely startled. He pivoted on his feet, only to see Naminé standing behind him, smiling and giving a small wave.

If there was one thing to be known about Roxas, it was that he had been crushing on Naminé ever since he first saw her eyes. Something about Naminé just made him feel...safe. Something about her made him feel comforted, like no matter how hard times could be, in the end everything would be okay...so long as she was there.

It wasn't like it was a huge love thing, but Roxas did have a fairly large crush on the girl. The two were pretty good friends, although not BEST friends. That was Axel's position. Still, they knew each other well enough for Roxas to know about her crush on someone by the name of Sora, whom he hadn't met before. He never knew he could feel so pissed off at a guy he hadn't even met before.

"How are you?" Naminé asked over the loud music.

"WHAT!" Roxas asked, cupping a hand around one of his ears. The music had been TOO loud. How was it that Axel had never been arrested for disturbing the peace?

"I ASKED HOW YOU WERE!" Naminé yelled.

"BEER?"

"NO!" Naminé cupped her hands around her mouth. "HOW! ARE! YOU!"

"OH!" Roxas nodded. "I'M FINE!

Just in the nick of time, the music came to an abrupt stop. "How are you?" Roxas asked, his voice slightly strained now.

"I'm fine." Naminé giggled, giving a smile. The door opened with a creek, and out walked Axel who was so tall he loomed over both the second years. Axel gave a smile to Roxas, as if he were surprised to see him waiting for him. Axel's eyes lit up whenever he saw Roxas, and his heart felt especially happy when he hadn't been expecting Roxas' arrival.

Axel flashed a grin towards Naminé, although not with the same feeling. It hadn't been noticeable, but he wasn't especially too happy to see Naminé there. He was quite aware of the feelings Roxas bore towards the girl. As much as Axel enjoyed Naminé's company, he still couldn't help but see her simply as competition for Roxas' attention. And he wasn't too ecstatic that he wouldn't be walking to school with Roxas alone, either.

"Hey, kids." Axel stepped out of the doorway and closed the door while locking it tight. "Ready to go to hell?"

"No." Roxas joked. "But who is? Let's go anyway." On that note, Roxas inserted his headphones and listened to the blessed vocals of Ayumi Hamasaki. Roxas had always been a JPop fan, for as long as he could remember. Axel scowled; there was no way Roxas would hear his voice over the music.

"So, Axel?" Naminé began to speak. Axel supposed talking to Naminé wasn't necessarily a bad thing, she just didn't happen to be his favourite person. "Got a girlfriend?"

"No." Axel's words were short and blunt, but he couldn't hide the red tinge that slowly covered his cheeks. Very slyly, Axel watched, through the corner of his eye, Roxas mouth the lyrics to the music pounding on his ear dreams.

OOOOO

Kairi couldn't think of any other place she'd rather be. Her arms would cling around Riku's strong arm, and the two of them walked down the street to Kingdom Hearts High. Kairi felt perfectly comfortable walking side-by-side with Riku, and Riku had to agree. Riku cared for Kairi very, very much and just to be around her filled him with intense emotions.

It was as if life had transformed into a fairy tale—Kairi was the princess who finally got her prince! And she couldn't have asked for a better knight in shining armour. He respected her. He respected that she wasn't some wild girl who would go club hopping at the tender age of 15. And he changed, too.

Riku used to be messed up. He could've been classified as an alcoholic. He smoked, and he did drugs. His virginity was in question as well, as Riku was quite the ladies man. Although Riku had been all over the place, he still was a close friend of Sora and Kairi's. And one day, he just put a stop to it all. Cold turkey. Ever since, being clean seemed to do Riku a lot better rather then being...dirty?

Kairi and Riku were definitely a happy couple, the kind many couples at school would be envious of. That fact went passed their minds, as all they cared about was having each other for as long as they could hold on. Riku was so good to Kairi, and such a romantic. "Riku?" Kairi looked up at the young man.

"Hm?"

"Why'd you do all that stuff?" she asked.

"What stuff?" Riku's voice was gentle and cool.

"You know...the stuff you used to do." Kairi's voice got quieter and quieter with each word. Was this the right question to ask? Yes, of course it was. The two were a couple, and loved each other. They should be able to talk about anything, right?

"To be honest, I wanted to look tough." Riku shrugged his shoulders.

"Tough?" Kairi's eyebrows raised up high. Riku WAS tough. "What do you mean? Why?"

"I wanted to impress you." Riku's voice was a half-chuckle. Kairi was filled with surprise. "I wanted you to think I was tough. That I could protect you."

"You didn't have to do that." Kairi shook her head, looking into the distance. "I knew you could protect me always. Even when we were little."

Riku shrugged once more and Kairi sighed. She somehow managed to change the subject. "Are you joining Drama this year?"

"I dunno, Kairi..." Riku hesitated. "I'd like to, but the Astrology club might take up too much of my time." He explained. Kairi sighed once more. For as long as she could remember, Riku had been interested in Astrology and had always been involved in something astrology-related. Kairi had always been in Drama. Not so much for the acting, but it was a very releasing experience for her. She longed for Riku to get involved with her. She wanted to spend all the time she could with him.

OOOOO

Kingdom Hearts High was HUGE. It would easily take a new student about two days to cover the entire school, due to its massive size. And just when you thought you had every corridor figured out, you found an entirely new section of the school right in front of your eyes. The school, however, was also quite wild due to the amount of students in different "cliques". As for the teachers, for the most part they were decent and friendly. There was the odd teacher who seemed as if he or she just loved inflicting misery upon the student body.

The first day usually made the student body seem larger then it usually was. Considering nobody knew where their classes were, the hallways were constantly crowded until their classes would be listed. Sora, who had arrived alone, could only push his way through the crowds in search for his two friends Riku and Kairi. As much as he hated seeing the two together, he couldn't help but feel like he fit in when around them.

What with Kairi's bright reddish hair paired up with Riku's noticeably silver hair, one would think that the couple wouldn't be too hard to find. Wrong. There were many, many students and many new students as well. And as Sora made his way throughout the cafeteria, he couldn't help but start to panic frantically while in the absence of his two friends.

Little did he know, Naminé had been watching Sora, sighing heavily over every movement Sora would make. Roxas sat behind her in silent anger, completely flabbergasted over Sora's appearance. Sora could easily be related to Roxas. The two of them looked like twins. How could Naminé crush on Sora without really knowing his personality, and NOT crush on Roxas while knowing HIS personality and looking exactly like Sora? It didn't make sense, Roxas thought.

Axel took note of Naminé's stares and a plan developed in his mind. Sitting beside Naminé on the edge of the table, he whispered in her ear, "Didn't you say you were gonna catch him today?" in a voice so silent that there was no way Roxas could overhear the two. Naminé licked her lips nervously and gave a nod before standing up and making her way after the brown haired boy.

Axel looked over his shoulder at the seemingly disappointed Roxas. "Sorry, man." Axel shrugged. "I guess you can't force her or anything..." Roxas said nothing.

Naminé pushed her way through the crowd of students in an identical fashion to that of Sora's. She began to make her way closer and closer to the man of her dreams, and then in an instant, someone would block her path causing her to get farther and farther away from him. Frustrated, Naminé rushed through the large crowed (NOT gently, I might add) and towards Sora. She ran smack dab into his chest.

Sora looked down at the blonde in surprise and put his hands on her shoulders. "Are you okay?" he asked.

"Sora!" Naminé chirped happily. "I...I-I just...Well, I..." Her words were very quiet. She figured her cheeks must've been a dark crimson red by now.

"Listen, I'm really sorry about bumping into you." Sora apologized. He set Naminé to the side. "But I have to find my friends now. Be seeing you!" He gave her a friendly wave and turned around to continue his search.

"Don't you remember me?" She asked in a slightly louder voice. Sora stopped in his tracks. WHAT had she done? What had possessed her to say something so stupid? Sora had never met her in his life, and here she was asking if he remembered her. Sora cocked an eyebrow in confusion and scratched his neck.

"Um..Yes?" he stuttered. "I mean, no. I mean...well, should I? Sorry..."

How was she supposed to get out of this situation now? Too late, the words just came out by themselves. "I should think so." She gave a light laugh. "It's me, Naminé. Don't you remember?"

Sora hesitated, and thought long and hard. Finally, he shook his head with an apologetic look on his face. "I'm sorry... Naminé was it? Why don't we sit down and you can tell me what you mean, cause I'm lost..."

Naminé blushed wildly. She was going to sit down with SORA. She had dreamed about this moment for so long. But she also lied...But how could she pass up this opportunity? She felt lonely as of late... "Sure!" she smiled. Sora led Naminé over to a vacant wall. Naminé's eyes lit up when he flashed her a short grin as he sat down on the recently washed floor beneath their feet. She followed suite, and the two of them sat side by side against the monochrome wall.

Lots of girls would have scooted closer to Sora and brushed against his side. Naminé, however, still was in total shock of what she had done and among other things, incredibly shy around the boy. There was an awkward silence between the two, and all that was heard was the muffled voices of the crowd of students. Finally, Sora brought up the first words.

"So...we know each other?" he asked. Naminé gulped and nodded slowly. She did not dare look him in the eye. "But how is that possible?"

"What do you mean?" she asked him.

"Well...I can't remember you at all." Sora sighed. Naminé looked down at her sandals and hugged her knees. Sora searched for the right words to say. "How well did we know each other?"

"Really well." Naminé smiled. She began to fidget with her fingers. Licking her lips, she began to think of a situation in which the two could have experienced together in their childhood. Her thoughts came so slow now that she had been desperately calling upon them. While she averted her eyes from the spiky haired boy, she could not see him look expectantly at her, awaiting her to finish her story.

"Oh?" he finally said in a dry voice. Naminé shook her head violently, as if to say she had zoned out for a moment. She smiled apologetically.

"Well, we were quite young.." she smirked up at him, "I don't blame you for not remembering. It WAS a long time ago."

"How long?" he asked, curiously.

Naminé thought quickly. "We were 6." She began to mentally pat herself on the back for quick thinking. "It's cause...our...mothers knew each other."

"They did?" he cocked an eyebrow and Naminé could tell he was trying hard to remember. Suddenly, she realized the error of her statement. Sora would just run home and ask his mom if she knew Naminé's mom, which she obviously did not. Naminé began to shake her head while brushing her hair slightly out of her eyes.

"Sorry, I was thinking of another friend!" she laughed a somewhat forceful laugh. "We knew each other because we lived in the same neighbourhood." She smiled to herself. There was no way that story could be twisted around against her. Sora once again had that same thoughtful look that caused Naminé to swoon. She loved it when he looked serious.

"I'm really sorry, Naminé." He apologized. A shiver went up the blonde's spine. All her highschool life, she had yearned to hear Sora at least utter her name. At least once. The only time he had done so was once before in one of their classes as they read classmates names out loud, and even then he pronounced it wrong. "But I can't remember."

"That's okay." Naminé shrugged. She didn't want to continue the lies any longer. She had already done enough damage to the boy's mental condition. "But I'm here now!"

"Good, maybe we can catch up sometime then." Sora smiled sympathetically. He really did feel bad about not knowing who exactly Naminé was. Her eyes lit up brightly and she bit her bottom lip for a moment.

"I'd really like that." Her voice slightly cracked. "But I have to go now...nice talking to you, Sora. Bye!" she waved to him and walked away, half happy and half disgusted with herself. Sora waved after her and continued to wonder about his supposed "past events" he experienced with the girl.

No time to continue thinking. He already had wasted enough time not trying to find Riku and Kairi in the colossal crowd of students. Sure enough, after much searching, he spotted Riku and Kairi (hand in hand, to his dismay) standing at the table which was handing out student schedules. Although he felt left out and unwanted, as they hadn't tried to find him, he could understand that time to get the schedules was running out and finding Sora in this crowd would have been like trying to find a needle in a haystack, despite his gravity defying hair.

"Kairi! Riku!" he greeted happily. The two pivoted and shot Sora a grin.

"Hey Sora!" Kairi greeted cheerfully. Riku nodded to him, smiling through his eyes. Riku and Kairi shoved over to give Sora room in front of the table. Sora stated his name to the teacher sitting behind the table, and awaited his schedule. Meanwhile, Kairi and Riku began comparing each others schedules for term 1. Through the corner of his eye, Sora witnessed two very sad faces.

"NO classes together, huh?" Riku sighed.

"That's unfair." Kairi frowned. "What are the chances? I thought the three of us would be in class together."

"Yeah, but I guess it's bound to happen sooner or later." Riku shrugged sadly. Sora grabbed his schedule and compared it with Riku and Kairi's.

"But I'm in almost every class with Kairi." Sora smiled calmly. In his mind, he was jumping like mad. "And I'm in one of Riku's classes."

"Well, at least I know I'll have someone I know in my classes." Kairi chirped.

"We always have break time and lunch." Riku reminded Kairi. The two of them smiled at each other and embraced in a short kiss. Sora tried not to watch. If only they knew how much it pained him to see them together. "Well, I gotta get to class, I suppose." Riku groaned. "To think it would be all the way in the west wing. Later." He waved to his two friends and walked off.

Kairi turned to Sora and the two smiled at each other. "Ready to face the music?" he asked. Kairi let out a giggle. The giggle that haunted Sora's mind every minute of the day.

"Yeah." She nodded. "Let's go."