"Sora, you're being paranoid," Roxas grumbled at me as he prodded his school lunch with a fork, a look of distaste on his face.

"No, I'm not," I argued with my brother, feeling irritated at him even though he was always so uncaring like this. "It happened yesterday and now all day today."

What I'm trying to tell my brother is that someone has been following me everywhere at school. And I think its students too.

"I can hear them whispering about me, Roxas," I tried to explain to my blond haired twin as we sat outside on one of the lunch tables behind the cafeteria. "When I turn around, the same guys are standing there, whispering about me."

Roxas made a sigh, blinking slowly and I knew he was trying to keep his patience with me. He didn't like it but he always did try to listen to my problems. I just wished my brother would do the same to me.

"Maybe they're not talking about you and you see them out of coincidence. This is a small school after all," he replied in his bored tone as he pushed away the lunch tray, not finding it worth his interest any longer.

"Maybe, but still…I think something's up," I murmured, mostly to myself as I looked down at the table, lost in thought.

Bzzz-bzzz-bzzz

That was my cell!

I reached into my pocket and pulled out the vibrating phone, Riku's name flashing on the small screen on the front and wow I was excited.

"Hey, Riku!" I exclaimed with a lot of joy after I flipped my cell phone open, pressing it eagerly to my ear.

"Hey there, Sora," Riku greeted in his usual upbeat tone, "How are you? I miss you."

"I miss you too…" I murmured rather softly, feeling a stab of sadness in my chest. "Everything sucks here without you." But then I remembered something Riku told me last night. "I can't wait for you to visit after school!"

The line went silent for a moment and I almost though we got cut off until he finally spoke.

"I don't think I can make it," said Riku, sounding a bit disappointed with himself.

Now that hurt…a lot. Once again Riku had something else to do that kept him from seeing me. It wasn't fair!

"But Riku, you promised!" I whined at him, being sure Riku could hear how upset I was about this.

"I know, Sora, I'm sorry," replied Riku, his tone full of guilt that I couldn't be mad at. "Next time, ok? I promise I'll come visit you."

"Yeah sure, until something else comes up and you ditch me again," I snapped at him, my voice making it obvious that I started crying.

Why did I have to be constantly reminded of Riku leaving me?

Before I could let Riku say anymore to me, I snapped the phone shut, hanging up on him. Then I felt arms wrap around me as I cried. It was Roxas. It's been years since the last time he willingly hugged me. At least it made me feel a little better, but I still cried on his shoulder until the bell rang for our next class.

I didn't want to leave my brother's hug since it may be the only one I will ever get after this day. But I had to so I collected my books, wiped my tears and said goodbye to Roxas before heading to class.

As I walked down the hall, someone bumped into my shoulder and I almost dropped my books, but luckily I held onto them.

"My bad," he simply said and slowed his pace a bit.

I made the mistake of looking up at him, my eyes meeting intense green ones. The boy's face was so close to mine. He was looking right down at me, his face only a few inches from mine. I felt my heart stop for a second before I looked away and walked off in a hurry, hearing talk and laughs behind me.

The rest of the day, it was pretty much the same thing over and over again. Everywhere I looked, there he would be, looking at me and saying something to his gang of friends. They had been doing the same thing this morning. Too bad Roxas didn't believe me.

I went to my locker, opened it and exchanged my books and closed the metal door and behind it was the red head leaning against the locker a few feet down from me, looking at me. He had this…grin that made me uneasy, like he knew something I didn't. Every time I crossed the grassy yard, I saw him leaning against the tall chain link fence grinning and staring at me.

It was freaking me out! When the bell rang, I hurried out of my class and made my way to the parking lot since I had to cut through there to get to the street my house was on.

"Hey!" called a voice I remembered hearing from earlier.

I lifted my gaze and saw the weird guy looking at me as he leaned against his fancy red sports car, arms crossed as if he owned it all.

"You're Sora, right?" he asked me with an interested sort of look as he pushed himself off the car and walked over to me. I even took a few steps away from him and that made him laugh.

"I've seen you around." Really? I wouldn't have guessed! "Sorry about the hallway thing, I never was one for paying attention."

"Its fine," I muttered back, looking down at the ground since I was starting to feel panicked from the attention.

"What I'm trying to say is; I noticed you looking pretty upset today," he explained with a slight sigh as he put his hands in his pockets.

He noticed that? Well, he was staring at me all day and since Riku bailed on me. That's right…he did ditch me. He was supposed to meet me after school but now I have to walk home all on my own.

"I was wondering if you'd like to come to a party tonight, it'll cheer you up," said Axel with a bright grin, trying to reassure me. "I'm thinking you could use some fun with me as your date."

"I don't think I can…" I murmured so softly I would be surprised if the guy heard me.

A party? Yeah right. I can't even talk to this guy let alone be in a whole room of people.

"That's too bad but I guess you have made plans with someone else, never mind then," he said with a shrug and turned away from me.

"Wait," I said, the word just jumping out of my mouth and it was too late for me to stop.

I would have other plans but now I don't. I was sick of waiting for Riku. Maybe I should go…I wouldn't be alone…right?

"Ok, I'll go," I stammered, feeling my stomach do several flips and I gripped my binder so hard my fingers were numb.

The red head turned around and gave a bright smile, looking glad to hear my agreement.

"That's great!" he said, more like exclaimed and I couldn't help but smile at his enthusiasm. "I'll pick you up at seven and we can hang out. I'm Axel by the way."

I said OK and gave him my number and address, feeling almost excited about this. I didn't need Riku. I could have fun on my own. That'll show him for ditching me!