cycathewise: Thank you for reviewing, even before I'd remembered to put line-breaks in! You must have been mighty confused! Haha. Thanks again!

drunken squirrel ninja: Thank you! One does what one can.

Phoenix Noir: -LOVES J00- Thanks a bunch for your lovely reviews! I'm so glad you enjoy the story, and like Kairi's character (I based her off myself, hoho). I never did write what Cloud was worried about vis a vis his bellybutton did I? I'm such a Forgetful Fred. Anyway, he thought it was turning from an innie to an outie and was going to ask Sora before Cid interfered. & milk would certainly be the way to go to bed Leon (in my world at least!) haha. There was actually a dirty joke behind that, but let's keep this bitch T rated.

lunarkitty14: I'm really happy you enjoyed the chappie! OMG I rhymed. I had loads of fun writing it. I'm sorry this one took so long to get up!

Kaia Neko: Aw, thank you for your words of wisdom, and I'll most certainly keep writing as long as lovely people like yourself want me to.

NocturnalWriter: Wee, I like Cloud too! His lines kind of just fall out of my head. It was great writing Leon and Sora drunk too. Thanks for reviewing, and I hope you enjoy this chapter!

Anyway...

-straddles computer chair-

LET'S DO THIS THANG.

"… and be very careful about adding the ethanoic acid as esters, as we should all know by now, are extremely volatile. I want you working in pairs, as thanks to Mr. Strife and his extraordinary record of 'accidentally' maltreating equipment, there isn't enough to go around," Mrs. Watters announced to our Chemistry class, the whole of which turned and glared at Cloud, who lifted his head and gave a small wave. She was very right though, Cloud is a disaster in tight pants when it comes to chemicals of any sort.

When we were told to begin, said disaster wasted no time in bounding up and proclaiming himself my lab partner, safety goggled and raring to go. Ah well, I didn't know what exactly we were supposed to be doing anyway. Something to do with 'ethels' was it? I forget.

"Alright, go grab whatever anyone else is grabbing and bring it back to our table."

He did so with alarming enthusiasm, even elbowing an startled Axel out of the way to get the last Bunsen burner before returning, carefully placing everything on the table and turning to smile at me. I knew he was trying to convince me that nothing was going to go wrong this lesson, but he is just too much of a calamity for that to ever happen.

After carefully eyeballing what Tifa and Yuffie were doing at the next table, I set up our equipment and tried to make it look like I knew what I was doing, measuring stuff out and fannying about with a calculator.

"You don't know what you're doing, do you?" Cloud asked airily, which I thought was a bit rich.

"I don't have to. As long as she thinks we're doing something she's not going to come over. In fact she wouldn't come over anyway, as you are here, and she strikes me as the type to hold her health and safety in high esteem."

"Such words of meanness. So you're just pretending?"

"Yup, you just make the faces and so on."

"I see, like faking an orgasm."

Well, that just cried out for a new and shamelessly outrageous game to be made; Cloud and I made orgasm faces as we worked, soon accompanied by rather rude noises which gradually grew louder until eventually we were getting stared at by the rest of the class, who had stopped mid-ethelmaking. Upon seeing this, Mrs. Watters seemed to decide that she couldn't ignore us anymore. She got up from her seat groaning, before walking over to our table and folding her arms in an angry fashion.

"Gentlemen, neither I nor the rest of the class are amused by your inappropriate noises. What do you have to say for yourselves?"

"We just… really enjoy Chemistry," Cloud muttered amidst poorly controlled giggles. I had to chew on the side of my cheek to remain po-faced.

"…very well," Mrs. Watters sighed, before turning to address the whole class, "time to pack away everybody, I want everything back where you got it from."

I picked up the Bunsen burner and a set of scales and walked the length of the class to put them back in the storage rack. It is a walk that only takes about ten seconds, yet that is all it took for Cloud to turn what had been quite an enjoyable lesson into utter madness.

"MR. STRIFE! WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING! EVERYBODY OUT OF THE CLASSROOM, QUICKLY PLEASE!"

I was promptly swept up in the sea of people hurrying to the door, wondering what atrocity he could have cooked up in such a short space of time. Mrs. Watters and Cloud soon followed, and Cloud was told to go and face the corridor wall in complete silence until she dismissed the rest of the class. I was walking off myself when she shouted me back.

"Not you Mr. Conolly, you get back here," she hissed. What had I done! I was a mere bystander in all of this nonsense. I went back anyway, she sounded too pissed off to be messed with.

"Why Mrs. Watters?"

"Just sit down. You too, you silly article," she spat, addressing Cloud, who promptly walked over and sat next to me on the window-ledge looking very much like the puppy dog who had been caught pooing behind the couch. "Did you perhaps not hear me at the beginning of the lesson saying that esters are EXTREMELY volatile? Do you think I say these things for fun? Are my instructions beneath you Mr. Strife?"

"No Mrs. Watters. I'm sorry Mrs. Watters," mumbled Cloud.

"The room will have to be left over the weekend to air out due to your reckless behaviour! Do you think that is funny?"

"No Mrs. Watters. I'm not laughing Mrs. Watters."

"Too right you're not, or I'd have you straight down to the headmaster's office this minute! You will serve detention tonight alongside Mr. Conolly."

"What! Why do I get detention!" The injustice! The discrimination!

"For not supervising Mr. Strife at all times, you should know by now what a hazard he is in this lesson. And I would ask you not to question my authority."

My mouth dropped open. So I was supposed to babysit Cloud now was I? I stormed off in immense rage as Mrs. Watters walked off in the opposite direction, and was soon followed by Cloud's shoes slapping on the floor as he followed, probably to try and justify his actions with some ridiculous reasoning.

"Sora! I'm so sorry! I didn't know that putting that white stuff into that red stuff would make it all explode, I was just trying to make it turn pink!"

Yup, there it was.

"Bugger off Cloud, I'm not in the mood."

Unperturbed, he trotted alongside me and kept up an almost constant stream of apologies and proclamations of our everlasting friendship all the way to the lunch hall, where Kairi was chatting animatedly to Leon, who looked quite confused as to what in the name of arse she was talking about. At the sight of the milkmonster, Cloud made a rather strange noise, not unlike a parrot getting trodden on, before promptly turning bright red and leaving the hall through the door we'd just came.

"…and so I said 'I wouldn't mess with a guy that keeps beefburgers in his hat', you know what I mean? And he said… oh hey Sora!"

"Hey Kai. What are you two talking about?" I asked, peering at Leon, at which a worried expression appeared on his face.

"Well, we were… were just… I have no idea," he trailed off, glancing warily at Kairi; she was quite un-bothered however, being quite used to people not being on the 'same wavelength' as her. Or anywhere near it for that matter. Leon soon scooted off having already finished his dinner, so me and Kai got ours and found a table by a window. I wasted no time in launching into a review of the catastrophe that was our Chemistry lesson, accidentally spraying everywhere with cheese pastie and making Vimto come out of her nose when I told her what Cloud did.

"It was not funny, the stupid manbitch has got me in detention tonight for leaving him unsupervised."

"Manbitch or no manbitch, you'll be talking to him again before it's time to do it," she replied, flicking a rebel piece of pastie from her cheek and doing nothing to improve my mood. I fell into a grumpy silence and ate my cookie with what I imagined to be quite a sinister look on my face, to let Kairi know I was peeved. I could tell she was watching me from the corner of her eye.

"Sora you're looking rather murderous there. What's the matter?" she finally asked.

"Did you not hear me? I've got detention tonight and I didn't even do anything."

"Nah, you've had a ton of detentions and you've never saw your arse about them, there's something else," she said. Now that she mentioned it I did feel like I was significantly more wrathful this week, ever since Monday, but I couldn't quite put my finger on why. I wasn't sleeping very well either.

"I don't know, to be honest."

"Well you better work it out before Friday! It's the DANCE!" she half-shouted, getting unnecessarily excited, "and you've gotta look your best 'cause you're taking me."

"…and when was this decided?"

"Well I was th--" she began, but broke off staring across the room, "back in a sec!"

I watched her dart across the dinner hall, rather meanly leaving me on my billy-tod into a crowd of people, most likely to chase something shiny. So now I had a detention for nothing, and was taking a lesbian to the college dance. The woe was so overwhelming I leant forward and put my head in my arms, waiting for the bell to go so I could skedaddle to last lesson. It wasn't long however, before I heard two pairs of footsteps coming towards me.

"OI! Get up, I want you to meet my new friend," came Kairi's voice painfully down my ear. I vaguely wondered what fool she had roped in as I lifted my head, and was startled to see Vincent standing next to her, staring at the floor as though it had a picture of boobies on it.

"Hey, I'm Sora," I said, smiling at him for some reason. He lifted his head.

"I'm Vincent."

"And I'm Kairi."

"You… told me that before."

"I know. I just like to feel involved."

"…"

"Er… anyway," I cut in before it got too nonsensical. They both sat down, Vincent a little hesitant before Kairi almost shoved him into a seat. He looked like he'd rather be anywhere but sitting opposite me, which I could have been rather offended but his hair was just too goddamn shiny to think about anything else. Ooh, I just wanted to stroke it.

"What shampoo do you use?" I asked without thinking. What the hell was that? I must have that thing where stuff pops out of your mouth accidentally; except instead of swear words it's random questions about personal hygiene. He looked up at me with a startled expression, most probably pondering my sanity.

"I… I'm not sure," he answered, "whatever's in the house."

If it wouldn't raise further suspicion to my mental health, I would have whacked my head on the table right there and then. Vincent turned and looked out of the window, putting his chin in his hand; the sun shining through the glass making his eyes shine an eerie ruby colour. Kairi was staring at me with a very peculiar expression indeed, like my face was doing something highly amusing; to my knowledge however, it was being quite normal and face-like, so I decided to attempt another conversation.

"So, do you two have a lesson together or something?"

"Yup, we're Biology buddies aren't we Vince?" Kai answered brightly.

"Yeah," he answered shortly, looking a little embarrassed. I couldn't for the life of me think of a more unlikely pairing than those two, much less Vincent agreeing to be Kai's 'Biology buddy'. Life is indeed full of many mysteries. Several minutes of awkwardness ensued before the bell went, and I quickly fled the scene to get to DT from that train crash of a conversation. The sad thing was, I would have liked to get to know Vincent.

"Once more to detention, dear friend, once more!"

"You're being awfully optimistic about this."

"Is it wrong to be optimistic about quality time with one's friend?"

"It's not 'quality time' you fool, she's going to have us doing something dastardly for ruining her classroom."

Yes, I was talking to Cloud again. All it had took was a poorly crafted wooden heart that he'd painted red and written 'Cloud loves Sora' on to melt my icy exterior. I'm cheap and I like it. We rounded a corner into the next corridor where the teacher's staffroom was to meet Mrs. Watters, where we discovered we weren't the only ones on detention that evening. Sitting casually on the windowsill, one leg dangling absently over the edge swinging back and forth, was the silver-haired boy of English lesson and erotic dream fame.

Palm trees… sand… giant clams… it was all coming flooding back in a thoroughly unwanted fashion; I took drastic action, grabbing Cloud by the t-shirt and swinging him back round the corner most unceremoniously before letting go, sending him twirling off halfway down the corridor.

"Watch who you're manhandling! You nearly ripped my shirt right off," he exclaimed when he'd regained his balance.

"Shhh!"

"What? What is it?" he asked, walking up to me looking crafty, all previous anger replaced by general nosiness.

"It's… nothing," I replied. He would have an absolute field day if he knew what I was getting worked up about, and that was most certainly not needed, today of all days.

"Well if it's nothing, let's go round and wait for Mrs. Watters!"

"Nooo!"

I grabbed onto his belt to try and stop him walking back round the corner, but he impatiently slapped my hand away and carried on. All I could do was watch as he stopped and looked at where the boy was sitting. He turned his head back towards me slowly, a grin gradually curving his lips and his eyebrows rising to dangerous heights. It was scarily like Kairi's Puppetmaster face, which by now I could only associate with impending doom.

I was blushing so much I was positively purple-faced. I shook my head violently, eyes popping, and mouthed 'nooo!' at him. Perhaps he was overcome with compassion, or he merely felt sorry for the poor little boy on the verge of dropping to his knees and begging, but Cloud resignedly came walking back over to me, though he did nothing to dispose of the disturbing look on his face.

"Hey Sora. I know who that is."

"…"

"It's your fancy man, isn't it Sora?"

"…"

"You want to see him in his--"

"Shut the fuck up!" I hissed, thinking that I'd just die on the spot if he happened to hear us talking. Cloud expression was beyond smarmy, in fact he looked like he was sucking on some sort of citrus fruit. I comtemplated running like the wind back to my house to escape, but I knew I couldn't trust Cloud on his own with that boy. I was going to have to stick this bitch out.

"Relax Sora, he's not even paying attention. He's reading a book."

"Really?" Phew, that was a relief. Reading for pleasure? That must mean he's really clever or something. I wonder what he's reading? Why is he on detention? But perhaps most importantly, why the hell do I care? Damn this infernal curiosity, giving me a headache and what-not.

"Yup. 'Catcher in the Rye'."

Ooh, that sounded intelligent.

"Mr. Strife? Mr. Conolly?" came the unmistakable voice of Mrs. Watters winging round the corner, cutting off my train of thought. We both jumped, and rounded the corner for the second time to find her standing next to the caretaker, known around the college as 'Barret'.

"Awright foo's, we gonna be takin' tables from the dinin' hall to the gym fo' the dance this Friday!" he informed us in his big, booming voice. There was a unified glare in Mrs. Watters direction. Manual labour! Eeew. Cloud looked like he'd just been bitchslapped twice on each cheek. I had a shifty at the silver-haired boy for a second, who looked totally not-bothered at the news; not that he had anything to be bothered about, for he was not completely lacking in the muscle department like Cloud and I. Kairi would be more suited to this than either of us.

"Have fun, boys," Mrs. Watters smirked as we were led off towards the lunch hall. Cloud was looking alarmingly ashen-faced, even more so when we reached the stacks of tables and took in their atrocious enormity. And we were meant to carry THOSE! Someone up there must hate me.

"We're gon' carry them one between two. You two go together an' I'll go with this guy here," Barret rumbled, gesturing towards the silver haired boy.

"My name's Riku," he spoke, catching me totally off-guard. Ooh, his voice! It was all deep and… smooth and… I am so not interested. I clawed my attention away from him and over to Cloud, who was already standing next to a table and staring down at it morosely, most probably thinking 'Ohh, how could I have gotten Sora into such a mess? How can I repay him for accepting his fate with such nobility?'

"What if I chip a nail while I'm carrying it?"

Or maybe not. I sighed and walked to the other end of the table, putting my hands underneath and finding a metal bar I could hold as we carried it. Cloud huffed dejectedly and did the same.

"Okay, on three. One… two… THREE!"

We both heaved upwards, managing to lift the table a few inches from the floor, and began tottering with it towards the door. It was so immensely heavy, Cloud already had a vein going in his temple. Barret and Riku strolled past us carrying a table in between them as though it were made of cardboard, Barret guffawing and even taking a hand away to point at us, and Riku smiling slightly; the latter of which actions made me almost drop our table. Cloud glared at me for the unexpected wobbling; he has no business glaring however, this is all his fault.

We managed to stumble all the way to the gym, during which time Barret and Riku passed us three times with another three tables, halting for a moment every time so Barret could berate our kitten-like strength. Cloud looked ready to go Incredible Hulk on their asses, so I suggested a sit down when we'd finally dropped off our table. Cloud was sprawled on the floor before I'd even finished my sentence, dripping with sweat and panting his head off. After a couple of minutes of getting our breath back, I stood up and looked down at him.

"Sora… I can't… go on…" he stuttered. For fuck's sake, he's such a drama queen.

"Get up. Barret will be here in--"

"What's this! Sleepin' on the job huh!"

"Uhh, we were just having a break," I explained, expecting no mercy, and receiving none.

"Break! You've carried one goddamn table! An' you get yo' ass up!" he yelled, turning to where Cloud was still collapsed in a heap.

"Eeeeerghhh…" was all he got by means of a reply. Barret stormed over to him, grabbed him by both arms and pulled him forcefully up. Cloud squealed and stumbled backwards.

"OW."

"Don' you 'ow' me son! What's the meanin' of this! You two are useless!"

"Manual labour does not bode well with me," Cloud grunted.

"I'll say it don't! The pair of you get out, yeh ain't worth the effort!"

Cloud wasted no time in flouncing dramatically out of the hall, and I tagged after him, not before stealing a look at Riku who was looking politely bemused. If it were just us Cloud and I, I would have felt relieved, but I couldn't help feeling embarrassed as I walked out.

Cloud wasted little breath on saying his goodbyes for once, probably wanting to get home as fast as he could and rest after that beyond-tedious detention. I didn't feel tired though, which baffled me; I decided on a walk across the beach before I crashed out in the shade of a palm tree, watching the ocean.

I felt… weird.

And there you have it. Not my best chap, but I hope it can keep you entertained until the next one, which is the one I've wanted to write for ages! THE DANCE!

Sorry this one took sooo long to get up, but it's been insanely hot where I live, and it's been making me really ill. -pout-

Anyway, please review! I LURBEH TEH REVIEWZ! XD

Lots of love, Starlyte x