Author's Note: Here's chapter 24! If you've been to my website lately, ignore what Anais05 said about me being a lazy bum! School's been getting in the way, plus I just got my 1st quarter report card, so I've been pretty skiddish about it! Anyway, chapter 24!

Chapter 24: Just Hanging Out

I struggled in frustration as I tried to get good at walking with crutches. It turned out I just sprained my ankle, but I couldn't walk on it until it was healed. My bruises and scratches were healed after being in the hospital for a day. It was actually quite comforting. Sora and my other friends just hung out with me the whole time. Even though it seemed boring it really wasn't. Sora brought his Nintendo GameCube from his house so we could play it. Selphie brought Monopoly and Nickelodeon "Scene it?" But now, I was being released. I hated these crutches so badly. I couldn't seem to walk with them.

" Hey, how're the crutches working?" Namine asked as she and Selphie walked in.

" Terrible. I don't know how to walk with them at all!" I whined.

" Hey, remember that one time I sprained my ankle in 8th grade and I had to use crutches?" Selphie asked.

" Yeah, Namine and I had to carry your stuff because of it. Why?"

" Because, I know how to walk on crutches. Here, I'll show you." I sat at the edge of my bed while Selphie showed me how to use crutches. For once, Selphie knew something that I didn't know. " See? You're basically hopping on one foot while using these to move and keep your balance."

" Oh, I see. Like this?" I started moving around.

" Perfect." Selphie answered. Someone knocked on my door.

" Come in, the door's open."

" Kairi Mimura, your ride's here." The nurse said holding a clipboard.

" Okay, thank you."

I put my backpack on my back and hopped my way out of the hospital and to where my mom's car was. She asked me how I was feeling and I was feeling a lot better. I just hope I don't ever end up in another street fight again. The only time I ever want to be in a street fight is when I'm playing a video game. I hopped into the front seat while Mom put my crutches into the trunk. Namine and Selphie hopped in the back and we drove off home. Man, I was so hungry. I've eaten nothing but hospital food in the past 36 hours and it doesn't satisfy you that much. It's kind of like having leftovers at school. We pulled into the driveway. Mom got my crutches and I hopped into my house. It was so nice to be back at home. The most difficult part was trying to hop up the stairs to my bedroom, but I got used to it. I went into my room and sat onto my bed.

" So, Kairi did you want something to eat?" My mom asked me.

" Yes! Please! I don't care what, just please fix me anything but hospital food!" I begged. " So, aren't you guys going to go to the mall like you planned to?" I asked as I reached for the TV remote.

" No, we decided not to because of your ankle. Besides we were just basically going there to pick prom dresses." Namine said sitting next to me.

" Prom dresses!" I freaked out and accidentally stood on the foot that hurt. " AH!"

" Sit down and take it easy." Selphie made me sit again. " Besides, the doctor told me your ankle will be better before the prom."

" Good! Because I WILL NOT miss the prom. Not in a million years!" I turned the channel to Drake and Josh. I'll admit it; I watch a lot of Nickelodeon. I heard the doorbell ringing thinking it was just some person selling stuff, but fortunately, I was wrong.

" Kairi! Sora's here!" My mom called me.

" Sora!" I cried out happily as I accidentally stood on my hurt foot. " AH!"

" Sit!" Namine ordered me to sit. I felt like Buddy right now. Speaking of which, Buddy came running and jumping all over me because he was so happy.

" Hi Buddy." I rubbed his back and let him lick my face. I looked up and saw Sora walk in and sit next to me.

" Hey, how're you feeling?" Sora hugged me.

" A lot better, but my ankle hurts." I leaned my head on his shoulder.

" Will it be better soon?" Sora asked with concern. I nodded.

" Okay, enough mushy stuff, let's get karaoke going!" Namine suggested.

" Okay, we can use my I-pod. What should we sing first?"

" Oh! Oh! You, Namine, and I should sing, 'Hit Me Baby One More Time.'" Selphie suggested. (A/N: I HATE Britney Spears, I just like that song.)

" Okay. Turn on the music, Sora." Sora walked over to my I-pod, hooked it up to my stereo, and turned on the song. We began to sing.

Oh baby, baby
How was I supposed to know
That something wasn't right here
Oh baby, baby
I shouldn't have let you go
And now you're out of sight, yeah
Show me how want it to be
Tell me baby 'cause I need to know now, oh because
My loneliness is killing me
I must confess I still believe
When I'm not with you I lose my mind
Give me a sign
Hit me baby one more time

Oh baby, baby
The reason I breathe is you
Boy you got me blinded
Oh pretty baby
There's nothing that I wouldn't do
It's not the way I planned it
Show me how you want it to be
Tell me baby 'cause I need to know now, oh because
My loneliness is killing me
I must confess I still believe
When I'm not with you I lose my mind
Give me a sign
Hit me baby one more time

Oh baby, baby how was I supposed to know
Oh pretty baby, I shouldn't have let you go
I must confess, that my loneliness is killing me now
Don't you know I still believe
That you will be here
And give me a sign
Hit me baby one more time
My loneliness is killing me
I must confess I still believe
When I'm not with you I lose my mind
Give me a sign
Hit me baby one more time

Sora cheered and whistled as soon as we finished the song. Unfortunately, I had to sit while we sang. Now, Sora decided to sing. He wanted to sing "Burn Baby Burn." I grabbed my I-pod and selected the song. Sora began to do a weird dance while he sung. It was one of those random dances you do when you don't know what you're doing.

You're all I have in this teenage twilight
Your gold hair and pale blue eyes
But through all the days and sleepless nights
we have never been satisfied
Tumble like the leaves
Yeah, we must fly on the autumn breeze
almost to the point of no return
everything will burn baby burn

Look into my tired eyes
see someone you don't recognize
Bonds that can't be untied
oh this is slow suicide
Feelings that I can't disguise
and never will be reconciled
Oh something inside has died

You walk like you're in a daze
unresponsive eyes in a distant gaze
like all the good times we've thrown away
and the memory leaves a bitter taste
tumble like the leaves
yeah we must fly on the autumn breeze
Destructive love is all we have
destructive love is all I am

Look into my tired eyes
see someone you don't recognize
Bonds that can't be untied
oh this is slow suicide
Feelings that I can't disguise
and never will be reconciled
Oh something inside has died

Vicious bitter words
become more and more uncool
But you always take it back
and let me lick your wounds
Tumble like the leaves
we must fly like on autumn breeze
almost to the point of no return
everything will burn baby burn

Look into my tired eyes
see someone you don't recognize
Bonds that can't be untied
oh this is slow suicide.
Feelings that I can't disguise
and never will be reconciled
Oh something inside has died

The three of us cheered as soon as the song was finished. Namine suggested that Sora and I sing, "I'm a Believer" by Smash Mouth. I LOVED that song and so did Sora, so we agreed. Besides the song is from Shrek and I love that movie too. Namine selected the song and turned the volume on loud so because we all really like that song. The song began with that laser guitar opening that always lets us know that it's that song.

I thought love was only true in fairy tales
Meant for someone else but not for me
Love was out to get me
That's the way it seemed
Disappointment haunted all my dreams
And then I saw her face
Now I'm a believer
Not a trace of doubt in my mind
I'm in love
I'm a believer
I couldn't leave her if I tried

I thought love was more or less a givin' thing
The more I gave, the less I got, oh yeah
What's the use in tryin'
All you get is pain
When I wanted sunshine, I got rain

And then I saw her face
Now I'm a believer
Not a trace of doubt in my mind
I'm in love
I'm a believer
I couldn't leave her if I tried

What's the use in tryin'
All you get is pain
When I wanted sunshine, I got rain

And then I saw her face
Now I'm a believer
Not a trace of doubt in my mind
I'm in love
I'm a believer
I couldn't leave her if I tried

Then I saw her face
Now I'm a believer
Not a trace of doubt in my mind
Now I'm a believer
ya ya ya ya ya ya
I'm a believer
I'm a believer

The song finally ended and I took a deep breath since my voice was getting tired. Selphie and Namine still really wanted to keep singing so we did. I selected "Complicated" by Avril Lavigne. The song began and they sang.

Uh huh, life's like this
Uh huh, uh huh, that's the way it is
Cause life's like this
Uh huh, uh huh that's the way it is

Chill out whatcha yelling' for?
Laid back it's all been done before
And if you could only let it be
you will see
I like you the way you are
When we're drivin' in your car
and you're talking to me one on one but you've become

Somebody else round everyone else
You're watching your back like you can't relax
You're tryin' to be cool you look like a fool to me
Tell me

Why do you have to go and make things so complicated?
I see the way you're acting like you're somebody else gets me frustrated
Life's like this you
And you fall and you crawl and you break
and you take what you get and you turn it into honesty
and promise me I'm never gonna find you fake it
no no no

You come over unannounced
dressed up like you're somethin' else
where you are ain't where it's at you see
you're making me
laugh out when you strike your pose
take off all your preppy clothes
you know you're not fooling anyone
when you've become

Somebody else round everyone else
Watching your back, like you can't relax
Trying to be cool you look like a fool to me
Tell me

Why do you have to go and make things so complicated?
I see the way you're acting like you're somebody else gets me frustrated
Life's like this you
and You fall and you crawl and you break
and you take what you get and you turn it into
honesty
promise me I'm never gonna find you fake it
no no no

Chill out whatcha yelling for?
Lay back, it's all been done before
And if you could only let it be
You will see

Somebody else round everyone else
You're watching your back, like you can't relax
You're trying to be cool, you look like a fool to me
Tell me

Why do you have to go and make things so complicated?
I see the way you're acting like you're somebody else gets me frustrated
Life's like this you
and you fall and you crawl and you break
and you take what you get and you turn it into
honesty
promise me I'm never gonna find you fake it
no no no

Why do you have to go and make things so complicated?
I see the way you're acting like your somebody else gets me frustrated
Life's like this you
You fall and you crawl and you break
and you take what you get and you turn it into honesty
promise me I'm never gonna find you fake it
no no no

After the song, I selected on my I-pod one last song because Sora wanted to play Super Smash Bros. He brought his GameCube again, so after this we were going to play the game. I had Selphie hand over my I-pod so that I could select the one song that I really like a lot. The song I picked was "My Hero is You" by Hayden Panettiere. (A/N: What a coincidence, huh?)

You know I try to be,
All that I can.
But there's a part of me,
I still don't understand.
Why do I always want,
What I don't have.
When in reality,
It's really not that bad.

Your faith has shown me that.

When my world goes crazy,
You won't let go.
When the ground gets shaky,
You kept me hope.
When I try to push you away,
You never move.

Now when I start doubtin',
You help me see.
You believe there ain't nothing I can't do.
My hero is you.
Yeah
My hero is you.

" So, are we ready to play Super Smash Bros.?" Sora asked after I finished singing.

" Yep, I know I am." I said as I grabbed a controller and Sora turned on the system. We had to share since this was only a two-player game. There was a knock on my door. " Come in." I said.

" Here guys, I didn't feel like cooking so I ordered pizza for you guys." My mom gave us a pizza.

" Thanks." We all said.

We each took a slice and began playing the game. Sora chose Link and I chose Pikachu as my fighter. (A/N: I'm always either Pikachu, Link, or Yoshi in Super Smash Bros.) We decided to do our fight at the Pokemon Stadium because of Pikachu. It actually looked kind of funny watching Pikachu and Link battle in a Pokemon Stadium. I remember watching Pokemon when it first came out and this brought back memories. Jeez, Sora kicks ass on this game! I kept on trying to Pikachu's electric moves, but Sora would always interrupt them with Link's Hookshot thingy.

Eventually, Namine and Selphie decided to leave. Namine was meeting Roxas at the movies and Selphie had to baby-sit because her younger cousin was staying at her house that night. I decided try and hop on my crutches outside because of school. I hopped back and forth around the backyard while Sora just sat on our swing watching me. I ended up getting sick of hopping, so I sat next to him. Buddy came and jumped onto my lap with us.

" So, when's the Blitzball championship game?" I asked out of nowhere.

" Two weeks." He answered while rubbing Buddy's back.

" I really hope you win this year. You lost the other three years you played."

" Don't remind me." Sora laughed. " Hey, you know what I used to do when I was younger?"

" Huh?"

" I used to try and find a picture in the stars and then make up a story about it. Doesn't that sound weird?"

" No, not at all." I sighed and looked at the stars. " On clear nights like this, whenever I look at the stars, I can see my dad in them. He says, your family, friends, and anyone else close to you will watch over from the stars when they die. He was right." I laughed a bit. " I see him all the time in the stars."

" Do you think my mother is up there?" Sora asked quietly.

" Your mother? What do you mean?" I asked while placing one of my hands on his shoulder.

" I got a phone call from my mom's neighbor saying that she was a car accident. She and my mom were driving in through the mountains when they were coming back from their Spring Vacation. Unfortunately, it was snowing, and she turned on the window cleaners to get the falling snow off as she was driving, but they broke, and she had no idea where she was going and they ended crashing. My mom's neighbor was injured, but my mom, well…she never…" I watched as a tear rolled down Sora's cheek.

" I'm so sorry. Does your dad know about this?" I asked with concern.

" No, I didn't tell him. He doesn't care about my mom one bit. That's why they split. But, the pint is that I wish I could've seen her one more time. I know I saw her during Christmas, but that was months ago. Now, I'll never see her again."

" You'll see her. My dad said that if you truly believe in the theory of seeing your ancestors in the stars, you'll see her again. I know you'll believe in the theory because I believe in you." I placed a hand on his cheek.

" Thanks, Kairi. I don't know what I'd do without you." Sora pulled me into a hug. " Well, I better go now. But, I'll see you tomorrow."

" Bye." I said as I got up on my crutches and went back in. I took one last look at the stars before I went in. " Good-night, Dad."

Author's Note: Phew! Long chapter! Hope you liked it! I think the Blitzball championship game will be next chapter, but I'm not sure, so review if you want the next chapter!