Summer Blues
Chapter Three: Lucky Steps
I stared up at Kairi and Selphie, who were setting up the net, shading my eyes in the process. I fisted my hands in my dress and looked down, seeing that I was wearing inappropriate clothing for a volleyball match. I smiled to myself, turning cheerful again. They can't make me play in a skirt, I thought, a bit smug.
"Nami? Why are you smiling?"
I turned to Kairi, barely containing the movement of my facial muscles. "I'm wearing a skirt." Try as I might, I couldn't help but let a little relief and joy seep into my voice. "I can't play."
My friend snorted, obviously disbelieving. "What are you talking about, Nam? I had Sora get some of your clothes earlier. That's why he ran off, remember?"
I blinked, remembering just a few minutes ago, when Sora indeed ran off after having listening to whatever Kairi had whispered into his ear. I groaned out loud at this sobering memory, realizing that this was quite unfortunate. Frowning, I sat down on the sand, tugging at my hair.
"Nami, you can't seriously be upset over the fact that you're going to play, can you? I mean, I don't think you're as bad as you make yourself seem," Kairi told me, setting herself down beside my sitting place.
"I'm worse," I responded flatly.
Kairi frowned, just as Sora came running up to us, holding my carry-all in his hands. His breathing was just the tiniest bit labored, and I huffed. Great. Another fit person in my life to laugh when I fail. I snatched my bag from him and stalked off to get changed.
Once inside one of the shower stalls located near the beach, I rummaged in my bag to see if I had any decent clothes. Sighing, I pulled out a plain white shirt and blue shorts, thinking this will have to do… I took off my dress and pulled them on, stuffed my discarded clothing in the bag and got out of the stall, slipping off my sandals in the process. I wouldn't play with them on.
I plopped back down beside Kairi, who was watching the boys stretch.
"Sorry, Nam," she said as soon as I did. "You don't have to play if you don't want to." She sounded sincere, and with a pang, I realized that I'd made her feel guilty. Ugh. Way to go, Naminé.
I smiled at her, shrugging. "I'm supposed to be the one apologizing. I did say I was game for anything, right? So, like I said, don't worry about it."
She grinned back when I said that and sprang up, freshly rejuvenated. She held out a hand to me, which I took, and pulled me up to stand. She started to stretch and told me, "Come on, Nami! You'd better do this too, or your muscles will get strained."
Nodding, I followed her lead, and we got to finish stretching by the time the guys called us up to take out positions. As I took mine, I noticed everyone else' grins, smirks and smiles; they were already starting to get into this game, and it hadn't even started yet! Well, considering they were basically really fit people (they lived near a beach, for crying out loud!), I felt really small in comparison. Sighing, I vowed to stay away from the ball as much as possible.
But Lady Luck just loved to single me out.
First serve was Sora—he was pretty good, I might add—and the guy named Wakka spiked it back from the other side. I thought it was a good shot too, but the direction the ball was heading toward didn't make me raise my opinion at all. The ball was flying in my direction.
Sighing, I stepped forward to hit it with an underhand, when I stepped on something hard and cringed, letting the ball bounce harmlessly off my shoulder. Oh, well, kind of harmlessly.
"Nam, are you okay?" Kairi was the first at my side, with worry etched on her face.
I waved her off."I'm fine, fine, I just think I stepped on… something." I bent down to retrieve what I had stepped on, which was a curious shell, the shape of a teardrop, only with both edges sharpened.
Beside me, I heard Kairi take a sharp intake of breath. I turned to her with an eyebrow raised. "You found a thalassa shell, Nam! You must be lucky today!"
I could hear myself say the words, "Thalassa shell?"
"Oh, they're supposed to be really good luck—ward of danger and all that. I have a thalassa charm at home, but it's hard to find one on your own, especially a random chance like that. It's closely tied with the Paopu fruit, the native fruit in Destiny Islands," she told me, shrugging.
"Hey, are you done with your girl time? Because we still have a game!" Tidus called out.
"We'll be there in a sec!" Kairi replied, then turned to me again, and winked. "I'd keep that if I were you. I think you need it right now." I did my best to glare at her, but it came out as a meeting of my eyebrows—that's it. She laughed and pulled me back to the game, where I hoped the shell would actually bring me luck.
LINE BREAK
Miraculously, I managed to stay out of serious harm's way for most of the remaining game by backing out of the way when the ball was spinning in my direction. I stayed close to any of my teammates, hoping that they would save the ball for me whenever it sailed towards us, which they did, anyway.
Now the game was almost over, drawing it out to a match point, as both teams were tied with the same score. This last bit was had the deciding part, and everyone was tense. Even me, and I hadn't contributed to the game much; but especially Sora, who had made a bet with Riku that whoever won would treat the loser.
It was Xion's serve on the other side; it was a strong hit, and Hayner (who was beside me) had to sprint to the other side of the court to catch it before it fell on the sand. I caught a smirk aimed at me from Riku, who was the one who spiked it from across the net. Towards me.
I stared at the ball, horrified, as it seemed to come at me in slow motion, and realized that I should've seen this coming. They planned this all along. Ugh.
"Nami!" I heard Kairi say. I brought my hands up to try to shield my face before the inevitable moment when the ball would hit it. So much for no accidents this summer.
I felt the ball bounce off my arms this time, and—miraculously—went back up, leaving it airborne enough for someone to spike it back (which Kairi did) to the other side of the net. The other team was too surprised to counter-attack, and the ball hit the sand with a resounding thunk!, marking our victory.
There was a moment of silence before Sora whooped loudly and rushed off, probably to claim his prize from Riku.
"Go Naminé!" Olette, who sitting on the sand in the sidelines, called. I spun to smile at her, and then noticed the boy who was sitting right beside her. He lifted a lazy hand, and waved almost halfheartedly, smirking.
Hesitating slightly, I waved back, and his smirk widened just so.
"Roxas!" Sora shouted, seeming to finally notice his brother. "You're here!" The overenthusiastic brunette ran up to Roxas and hugged him hard, clearly showing that the brothers were quite close, as much as I could see.
The other patted Sora's head, chuckling. "I said I'd be here, didn't I, Sora?"
"Yeah, well… Took you long enough to get here," Sora replied, pulling back and smacking Roxas none too gently upside on the head. Roxas rubbed the side of his head, and rolled his eyes.
"Because someone wasn't at the airport when I arrived, to pick me up," he replied.
I laughed at the light banter and the attention of the brothers—I guess they were twins, they looked so much alike—turned to me, and Sora jumped up, pulling Roxas with him. "Almost forgot," he said, grinning. "Roxas, this Naminé, Kairi's friend from… Where again, Kai?"
"Oblivion Castle," Kairi prompted, looking amused.
"Right. Oblivion. Anyway, Naminé, this is my brother Roxas."
Roxas scratched the back of his head, looking highly amused, his expression very much like Kairi's that it seemed comical. "We've met," he informed everyone.
"Where?" That was Kairi's question.
"At the airport. She couldn't get her bags from the overhead compartment." Roxas laughed like it was a fond memory, while I puffed my cheek out in indignation.
"I was getting around to it," I defended.
"You just keep telling yourself that," he replied, an easy grin on his face. Despite the teasing, I laughed. He wasn't very offending, really. I shrugged at myself and made a mental note to ask Kairi about him later. Right now, though, the sun was setting, and my stomach growled in protest. My last meal had been on the plane, and that wasn't very filling. I was just about to suggest dinner when Kairi beat me to the punch.
"How about dinner, guys?" she asked, catching my eye and laughing, indicating she had heard my stomach. I smiled back sheepishly, slightly embarrassed.
Fortunately, the others agreed with her thoughts—they must be hungry after the volleyball game, anyway—and we agreed to go and change before we went out for the last meal of the day. Kairi led me back to her house, which was already starting to feel like home, and made me change into something "more presentable".
The result was a dark blue tank top and white skinny jeans, plus my comfortable slip-ons. Kairi grinned at me when we met at the foyer, twirling to show off her own outfit—a hoodie, miniskirt, and flats.
"All set?" she asked. I nodded and smiled back at her as we left to meet up with the others.
A/N: Okay, did you know I'd no idea what a foyer exactly was until I went to look it up in Wikipedia? Haha, share. I'm not very keen on this chapter—the original document was accidentally lost by my brother. =_=" Guh. So this was a remake, but the original was better. Still, I like how it turned out anyway.
Anyway, keep your eyes peeled for the next chapter; I think I'll be putting it up before the weekend ends. Oh, and, belatedly, sorry for having this chapter posted a week after, but I can only do weekends, boohoo. I still have school. :'( I hope you'll bear with me, though.
Lastly, I just want to mention; I'm planning a SoKai fanfic as of now. I'm asking Duchess of Daydreams' help, but so far, I'm working to find an idea to make it pretty original. Heh, share, again. Anyway, thanks so much to everyone who's faved, watched, and reviewed; I love you all so much for that! Wish me luck for the rest of this! 8D Over and out.
-Hikari
