Chapter Three
Namine was left with the bed beside the window, which was considered to be the worst spot. Namine didn't know why, she thought that the view was beautiful. She could see the tower from there and the school's courtyard. Namine had met Shiki, and then unpacked her stuff. She carefully opened up a package that the dean of the school had sent to her. The package contained the rule book and her schedule. The first class she had was Chemistry. Namine looked hopefully at her roommates, "Are any of you in chemistry?"
Fuu shook her head, "I wish. I'd rather play with chemicals than figure out complicated math stuff.."
"Same here." Selphie replied.
Namine looked at Shiki, who smiled. "You're in luck."
"Thank god! I didn't want to walk down there by myself! I'd probably get lost." Namine sighed with relief.
Shiki laughed shyly. "Just a warning, Vexen isn't the greatest teacher in the world. He likes to torture his students."
Namine sat in class next to Roxas, who she was assigned as her lab partner. Namine shrugged. This wasn't so bad, she was paired up with someone she already knew. The two pretended to be listening to what Vexen was saying, the whole time they were drawing stick fights on paper. It was way more fun than hearing Vexen's voice drone on and on about the importance of safety and what not.
"Sorry I'm late!" Demyx said handing Vexen a slip.
"This is the fifth time in a row that you've been late, pull it together! I don't want to keep you for detention again!" Vexen hissed.
"Won't happen again, V-man." Demyx winked and took the last seat in the back.
"I thought he was a senior?" Namine whispered to Roxas.
"He is. He just failed junior chemistry." Roxas replied. "He's in most of our classes, actually."
"That's nice to know. At least I'll have another friend in some of my classes." Namine smiled.
"You're the new kid. Everyone wants to be your friend." Roxas said.
"How do you know?" Namine asked.
"You seem to doubt me all the time, what's up with that?" Roxas grinned.
"Sorry. I guess I should listen to you more. It's kind of hard to trust someone you just met though." Namine said.
"Just trust me on this one. I was a new kid myself. Every kid here wanted to be my friend," Roxas replied. "Plus, the crowd from this morning still hasn't lessened. There are still a bunch of kids looking for you."
"Great, I'll have to find a fake mustache and wear a hat for the whole day until they forget about me." She joked.
"I tried that." Roxas smiled.
"No shit?" Namine's eyes widened.
"You're looking at the guy who's stupid enough to think that a camoflauge outfit really does make you invisible." He said, rather proudly.
"And here I thought that I was the only one." Namine giggled.
Eri watched gingerly as Namine "flirted" with Roxas. "Who does she think she is?" She hissed.
"Um...She's the new girl." Shiki replied.
"I know that. But why the hell does she think that she can get up on my man's business like that?" Eri said.
"I dont' think she's trying to do anything." Shiki said softly.
"Chyea right. She's trying to steal him away from me! the new girl doesn't know the rule around here, does she?" Eri whispered.
"Eri, please...."Shiki knew what was going to happen. It had happened too many times before.
"If she keeps hanging out with him, then I'll have to." Eri compromised.
"She's new. Give her a break." Shiki squeaked.
"Life doesn't come with breaks, Shiki." Eri hissed.
Meanwhile
Axel, Zexion, and Sho huffed while Tidus hadn't even broken a sweat. "Dude, I can run four laps around the school all day long and not even get tired." He stated.
"Easy for you," Zexion huffed. "You run all the time. The rest of us just sit around and get fat."
"That's your problem," Tidus grinned. "If you wanna get the ladies, you're gonna have to work for it."
"You're not exactly buff, ya know." Axel pointed out.
"At least I'm not tall and lanky." Tidus shot back.
Axel glared, but pushed it aside. He didn't feel like starting something right now. Not when he was sweaty and tired from running. They would be playing football today for gym, much to his dismay. He didn't care much for that sport.
"Okay people," Laxeaus boomed. He was the gym teacher and the coach of the blitzball team. Laxeaus stood at 6'7 and had the loudest voice on campus. It was loud all the time, even when he wasn't shouting. "Huddle up! Today were going to play Football. I'm sure everyone knows how to play, or at least knows the basics of the game so I'm not going to bother with practices. I need leaders, who wants to be one?"
Ten hands shot up. Laxeaus scanned the crowd. 'Hmm.....let's look for the two rivals.....' It was always fun seeing rival captains go head to head. "Axel and Cloud, pick teams."
Axel and Cloud stepped up to the center and glared at each other. The two had been enemies since kindergarten. The two had started out as friends until cookies came into the picture. There was only one cookie left and the two had fought for it. They raced each other, they played rock paper scissors, and other things. In the end, someone else had gotten the last cookie. However, Axel and Cloud's friendship could never be fixed.
"I choose Leon." Cloud called his best friend to the field.
"Typical," Axel muttered. "I pick Zexion."
The two went on until there were only two people left; Sho and Tidus. It was Axel's turn to pick and he wasn't sure who he should choose. Tidus had done a lot for him. He hooked him up with Aerith, which ended shortly but it had been the happiest week of his life. Tidus had also gotten him a job when he badly needed one. So why not pick Tidus? Well that was easy, Tidus sucked at sports. Yeah, he could run really fast but he couldn't catch a ball for his life. Sho was great with his hands. He was an animal in the field, but no one wanted him in their team cause he was obnoxious and annoying. Axel wanted to pick him, but Tidus had the lowest self esteem when it came to sports. He knew Sho would rub it in Tidus' face when he got picked instead of him.
"C'mon Ax, hurry it up!" Laxaeus yelled.
"Yeah, come on! Just pick me so I can rub it in Sho's face when he doesn't get picked!" Tidus shouted.
"And you're so sure that you'll get picked?" Sho snickered. "You can't catch a single ball."
"Can too!" Tidus shot back immaturely.
"Catching with your face doesn't count, butterfingers." Sho retorted.
Axel gulped. He didn't know that it was going to be this hard. 'Tidus or Sho? If I pick Tidus, we'll lose. If I pick Sho, we'll destroy Cloud. Shit, Tidus does everything for me and Sho.....he got me a spot on the basketball team.....but as a waterboy.' Axel frowned. "I choose....."
Meanwhile
"Seifer Almasy?" Luxord called. He was taking attendance for sixth period class.
"Here." Seifer said.
"Selphie Tilmitt?" He called.
"Present!" Selphie smiled.
"Pence Yakamura?" Luxord looked around the room when no one answered.
"Is he still taking a crap?" Seifer whispered to Selphie.
"I hope so. I don't want to have to sit next to him all of period." Selphie replied.
"Pence?" Luxord called his name again.
"Uh..he's not here." Seifer replied.
"Well where is he?" Luxord demanded.
"In the bathroom." Seifer answered.
"For this long? Someone go get him!" Luxord said.
"I think it's best not to." Selphie replied.
"He can't skip class!" Luxord exclaimed.
"Anyone who steps inside the bathroom will suffocate," Selphie explained. "He ate beans for lunch."
"Damn. I thought I told the lunch lady to stop serving beans!" Luxord mumrmered to himself. "Fine. Once he gets out of there, tell him to report here immediantly."
"He probably won't be out of there for another hour." Seifer replied.
Luxord glared at him, causing Seifer to hold his hands up. "I'm just saying. Trust me, I'm his roommate."
Meanwhile
Tidus glared at the graffiti written on his desk. How could Axel choose Sho over him? Sho hadn't done anything for Axel! Tidus had hooked Axel up many times, which meant that Axel owed him! Axel sat next to him, much to his dismay. Tidus was in no mood to talk to him or Sho.
"I'm sorry man, I had to!" Axel whispered.
"Hmph." Tidus waved him off.
"I know I owe you and stuff, but you should have seen the way he was looking at me. I needed to wipe that stupid grin from his face." Axel explained.
"So why didn't you pick me first?" Tidus asked. "Why'd you pick Zexion, he's not that good."
"He's not as fast as you are, or a great catcher but he does know how to come up with good strategies." Axel pointed out.
"What has Sho ever done for you?" Tidus quipped.
"He got me a spot on the basketball team." Axel said sheepishly.
"As the waterboy." Tidus added. "You owe me how much?"
Axel hesitated before answering, "About forty times. Well, thirty nine now. We beat Cloud."
"But you left me to suffer in his team. Back to forty." Tidus replied.
"I'll make it up to you, somehow." Axel promised.
"Good, cause until you do I'm not doing you anymore favors." Tidus murmered.
"Aww...don't be like that." Axel whined. Tidus looked away from him and held up his palm to show that he wasn't speaking to him.
Saix, who had been watching the two the whole time grimaced at Axel and whispered, "Cold"
Axel glared, and whispered back "aren't you supposed to be grading papers, teach?" He hated it when people stuck their noses where it didn't belong. Saix was the world lit teacher, but everyone knew he was a gossip king...er..queen. Everyone had growing suspicions that he was gay, including some faculty members.
There was a loud thud and Axel and Tidus whiped their heads around to see what, or who it was. It was Sho, tapping on the windows. Tidus frowned. He was just as mad at him as he was with Axel. "What do you want?" He hissed.
Sho could barely be heard through the thick glass panels. "I wanna get high and get laid by some hot chick, that's what I want. But that's not why I came here. I came here to tell you something."
Tidus rolled his eyes, "Yeah, what?"
"I came her to say that Tidus is a loser and that you suck at sports." Sho grinned.
"You ditched class to tell me that?" Tidus frowned.
"Yeah, pretty much." Sho replied.
"At least I'm not some annoying, obnoxious, asshole!" Tidus tried his best not to scream, but it was hard not to when Sho was getting on his last nerve.
"What was that?" Sho grinned. He knew exactly what he said.
Axel rolled his eyes. "Cut it out, Sho."
"Make me." Sho retorted.
"You want me to make you?" Axel snapped.
"Go ahead, see if your lanky body can take me down." Sho taunted.
"Well you're no Hercules either." Axel retaliated.
"Who knows, maybe I'm like popeye? Maybe I just need a booster to look like hercules." Sho grinned.
"Just get out. Saix is gonna kill you when he see's you skipping class." Axel sighed.
"You guys are no fun. You know, Axel, after you dated what's-her-face you've never been the same guy after that." Sho said.
Axel cocked his head, "What do you mean?"
"What happened to the i-don't-give-a-shit-about-anything Axel? now you're just like Tidus, mr. play it safe." Sho knew how to push just about everyone's buttons. Especially Tidus'.
"I'm not Mr. Play it safe," Tidus snapped. "Come on, I'll ditch and we'll do whatever the fuck you wanna do."
"We?" Axel asked.
"Sho's right. You are...different." Tidus admitted. "What happened to the old you? We liked him much better. Not that there's anything wrong with you now." He quickly added.
Axel gave up, "Fine. I guess It couldn't hurt to play hookie once in awhile."
Sho flashed a huge grin. He knew he could lure them in. He could get just about anyone to do his whim, with a few exceptions...
Meanwhile
Namine planted her feet onto the newly waxed floors of the gymnasium. They were doing stretches and warm ups. Namine sat next to an aurburn haired girl, named Eri. She seemed nice, she had a sweet smile but there was something off about her. Maybe it was the malicious glint in her eyes when she first saw her. It was the kind of look a tiger would give to it's prey.
"So Namine, is it?" Eri began. "I see you've been getting close to Roxas." She added, not giving Namine a chance to respond.
"Oh, he was sort of the first person I met on campus. Well, besides the crowd I mean." Namine replied.
"What do you think of him?" Eri questioned.
"He's nice." Namine said vaguely.
Eri frowned, "You don't have eyes on him?"
"No!" Namine's eyes widened. "Everyone thinks that! Well a couple, but I do not like him like him."
"That's good to hear."Eri smiled. 'Yeah right, bitch' She added mentally.
"Huh?" Namine asked.
"Don't you know that you're not supposed to like a guy better looking than you." Eri said it as if every girl should know that.
"Oh." Namine looked to the floor. She knew she wasn't the prettiest and she didn't need someone to remind her that.
"On the bright side, there's tons of other guys out here who are just about equal to your looks. Take Hayner or Pence for example." Eri grinned.
"O-okay." Namine didn't know whether to take that as a good thing or not.
Eri smiled to herself. So far, her plan to break her down was working. She was already feeling self conscious, at least from what she could tell. Next step was to make her trust her. "I really like you. I've never met a girl like you." She plastered a fake smile.
"I like you too." Namine beamed.
"After school, me and some friends are heading downtown to shop, you wanna come?" Eri asked.
"I don't know. I kinda wanted to spend some time with my roommates..." Namine itched at her arm.
"You see them all the time, what about me?" She pouted. "I only get to see you in some classes."
Good point, Namine thought. "I guess I could spend the day with you."
"Meet me at ten by the bleachers." Eri smiled at her. 'Poor Namine. Poor Naive Namine, this is what you get for flirting with my guy.'
Fuu watched from behind and frowned. She knew Eri was bad news, but Namine didn't. She had to tell her. "Namine!" She called.
Eri shot a look at her, and flashed an irritated smile at her. "Oh hey Fuu. What's up?" She asked in a sickingly-sweet voice.
"Could I borrow her for a second?" Fuu said in an equally sickingly-sweet tone. She took Namine to the side, where Eri couldn't hear the two talk.
"Yeah?" Namine said.
"Word of advice: don't speak to the devil." Fuu explained.
"She's not the devil," Namine replied. "She looks friendly."
"And so do guppies, but they still eat their young." Fuu added. "Trust me, Eri will stab you in the back."
As much as she wanted to believe her own roommate, she couldn't. "I don't know...she did say that you don't like her and that you tend to get jealous.." Namine stopped herself from saying more.
Fuu glared at her, "Fine. Trust her and see what happens. She's out to get you, I say." With that, Fuu stormed off leaving Namine confused.
Namine returned to Eri, who smiled at her. "So what was that about?" Eri asked.
"Nothing." Namine smiled.
"See you then!" Eri replied. The Annihalation of Namine was about to begin, she thought to herself. That's what she gets for trying to win over her guy. It was true that the two were only a couple for five months but in those five months she felt the ice around her heart begin to melt. She never knew what love was before Roxas, and Namine was going to take him away from her if she kept hanging around Roxas so much. The way Roxas looked at Namine made Eri want to tear her into pieces. Roxas had never looked at her that way when they were going out. His eyes didn't laugh like they did when he was with Namine. He never sat up straighter when she was around him either, it was as if he'd known and loved her all his life.
Meanwhile
"He's so sweet!" Rikku oozed. "And sensitive, and cute, and funny."
"And dumb as rocks." Yuffie added. Rikku shoved her playfully. They were talking about Demyx, the boy Rikku had been crushing on since the third grade. She didn't know what it was about him that made her grow crazy everytime she saw him, maybe it was those endless blue eyes, or that mischievous smile, but there was something special about him. Demyx was always nice to her and at the same time oblivious to her feelings. But then again, maybe it was better off that way.
Yuna rolled her eyes. She loved how Rikku found a guy that could make her feel good about herself, Rikku had little self esteem when it came to talent or beauty, but Yuna always thought that Love was for the blind. Sure you feel as though you were floating through an endless sea of bliss, but that feeling only lasted a few months. After that, welcome to heartbreak city. If there was one girl who'd gotten her heart broken one too many times, it was Yuna. She practically dated every guy in school and all of them didn't seem to think that she was special enough for them.
"Everytime I see him, I feel like I'm going to melt or something." Rikku said.
"And here he comes." Yuna pointed to him with her eyes. He was just down the hall, getting a drink from the vending machine.
"Aww...."Rikku gushed. "He looks so adorable!"
"Yeah, and he can't figure out that he's sliding the bill in the wrong way." Yuna grinned.
"Go ahead, help butthead over there figure it out!" Yuffie pushed her friend forward.
Rikku made her way towards him shyly. "Hi." She said softly.
Demyx smiled his goofy, lopsided smile, "Hey Rikku, what's up?"
"Nothing much. I just had soccer practice," Rikku replied. "What about you?"
"I can't get this thing to work." Demyx said pounding on the vending machine.
Rikku chuckled, "That's because you're sliding the dollar in the WRONG way."
"Oh." Demyx blushed slightly. "At least I have a friend like you to tell me that. Axel and the guys would have just let me think that this thing was broken." He grinned.
Rikku frowned at the word 'friends'. She clearly wanted to be more than that, and it killed her that that was all he thought of her as.
"Well see ya, I gotta head to detention." Demyx waved.
"Again?" Rikku raised her eyebrow.
"Vexen wanted some company from his favorite student." Demyx replied.
Rikku rolled her eyes. Vexen detested Demyx, and the funny thing was that Demyx didn't know that.
Yuffie and Yuna watched as Demyx strode away. "Why won't he catch on?" Yuffie whispered to Yuna.
"Cause he's only focused on one thing: getting discovered." Yuna replied.
Fuu stormed down the halls looking as if she was ready to go on a killing spree. Yuffie stopped her to ask what was wrong. Fuu mumered something unintelligible and then said, "Eri's back to her old antics."
"Who's her victim this time?" Yuffie asked.
"Who else? Namine." Fuu replied.
Yuna shook her head, "Did you tell warn her about Eri?"
"I told her that she was trouble, but she trusts Eri more than me." Fuu said sourly.
"We have to do something. We can't let another student get burned by her." Yuna said.
Fuu nodded, but looked reluctant. She was still hurt by the fact that Namine trusted Eri more than her. It was true that the two had only met today, but they were roommates and she was one of the first people to actually meet her.
Yuffie pulled Rikku over and explained what was going on while Yuna and Fuu went to find the rest of their friends. Kairi and Selphie were found by the fountain, reading a magazine while Ollette was at the library tutoring Hayner.
"I hope this is important!" Ollette hissed when Yuna interuppted her study date with Hayner. "Cause you just butted in on my alone time with him."
"Trust me, it is," Yuna replied. "Eri's out to get Namine."
"Does Namine know?" Ollette asked.
"No. She actually fell for Eri's sweet girl act." Yuna had seen Eri turn on the charm to get people on her side many times before.
"We have to tell the rest." Ollette said.
"We're already on it." Yuna replied.
Kairi and Selphie were just as surprised. "That cold hearted bitch!" Selphie cried out. "How dare she pick on my new bff!"
"We have to get Namine to see Eri for what she really is." Fuu said.
"How? Eri could get anyone to side with her. She'll probably make Namine think that were just jealous because she's spending more time with her than we are." Kairi pointed out.
"Maybe if we get Eri to act like a bitch in front of her, Namine would see her true colors?" Ollette suggested.
"Great, but how do we do that?" Fuu asked.
"With a little help from the most annoying person on campus, it's possible." Ollette replied.
Sho leaned against the chain fence and listened to what the girls had to say. Axel and Tidus were beside him and listening as well. "So Eri's trying to break Namine down?" Sho said after they were done talking.
"Yes, now are you going to help us or not?" Yuna asked.
"Depends. What's in it for me?" Sho countered.
Yuna let out a small, aggravated scream. "You're so selfish! Forget it. We don't need your help."
"Wait," Tidus said as she turned to leave. "I'll help."
"See," Selphie whispered to Fuu. "He's cute and sweet."
"I mean, I might get my name on the school paper for helping the new girl out. Think of how all the girls would react, they'd see me as a hero." Tidus added.
"And he's shallow," Fuu whispered back to Selphie. "Cute, sweet, and shallow. What a good combination." She smirked.
"So he's not perfect. At least he's not a brute like Seifer!" She hissed.
Fuu reddened. She didn't like it when people talked about Seifer like that. "At least he's not a pig." She pointed to Tidus, who was now eyeing a girl wearing a short skirt.
Selphie turned her head to look at the girl Tidus was gawking at. She was Rinoa. Selphie cringed, she didn't get why people liked her. In her opinion, she was way better looking than Rinoa. "Tidus!" Selphie called.
"Hm? Yeah, Selphie?" He said not taking his eyes off Rinoa, which irked Selphie even more.
Axel rolled his eyes. He didn't want to see Namine get humiliated by the whole school, but it was too much work trying to prevent that from happening. He didn't know whether he wanted to kick back with Sho, or help the new girl. This was supposed to be his relaxation time, the only time he can try to get his old self back and Eri was going to ruin it by trying to get back at Namine, who probably didn't even do anything to her. "I guess I'm in too."
Sho's eyes widened. "Dude, are you serious?"
"Yeah." Was all Axel said before he left Sho to himself.
Sho just pulled his cap down and shoved his hands in his pockets. He started toward the junk yard, where he, Tidus, and Axel were originally heading to. Whatever, he thought. He didn't need them to have fun. Besides, he was always left alone, he was used to being shoved to the side.
Meanwhile
Roxas was lounging in his bed, looking at the ceiling while Riku and Sora were playing video games. He just had another "vision" as he called it. He saw the girl again.
A girl who looked about seven years old huddled by the alley's. She was obviously lost, and crying. A seven year old Roxas came rushing up to her, like he knew who she was. "There you are!" He called.
The girl turned around and smiled her sad smile. She hugged him and bagan sobbing hysterically. Roxas hugged her back and said, "It's okay, you're safe now."
The girl looked up with her big blue eyes and asked, "Are my parents mad?"
"No, they're worried." Roxas said. "They want you back home."
"No they don't." The girl insisted. "If they did, they would have looked for me sooner."
Roxas just bit his lip. Her parent's hadn't even noticed that she was gone until recently. Roxas was the first to know that she ran off and was the only one who actually seemed to care. "I found you know, that's all that matters." The girl didn't say anything back, she just follwed him back home, hand in hand.
"Roxas? Yo, Roxas!" Riku called.
"What?" Roxas snapped from his vision.
"Did you get another one of those?" Riku asked. He looked concerned about him.
Roxas nodded.
Riku sighed, "You shouldn't believe everything you see. Maybe they aren't real. You know what the doctor said."
"I know. But they feel real." Roxas looked away. His doctor had told him that his amnesia could have distorted his memories a bit, and that he couldn't believe everything.
Sora put down the console and looked at his cousin, "Hey man, I know you want them to be real, but you're living in the present. You have new memories now."
As if that was supposed to help him. All Roxas wanted was to remember what his life was before all this. "I know." Roxas mumbled.
Riku looked at his friend and smiled, "So what's with you and the new girl?"
Roxas groaned, Riku had been bothering him all day about it. "There's nothing going on between us! I'm just being friendly, that's all!"
"A little too friendly," Riku grinned.
Roxas threw a pen at him. "Why do you think I like her?"
"Oh, I don't know. Maybe it's the way your eyes look when she steps into the room. Or how you seem to grow two inches taller when she's around." Riku replied. Sora gave him a look. "Oh what? A guy can't notice these things?"
"I thought only girls noticed those things. Are you trying to tell us something?" Sora teased.
Riku punched him in the arm. Hard. "I can still kick your ass, you know that?" He grinned.
Sora rubbed his arm and cringed, "Thanks a lot. It's going to leave a mark."
"No problemo." Riku smiled.
Meanwhile
"You know what to do right?" Yuffie asked Axel.
"Yeah yeah yeah," He responded. "Ask Eri out and and act like a complete utter, useless, hung up love sick puppy. I got it."
"You sure? You're not going to lose your temper on her are you?" Yuffie asked.
"Can't promise you that." Axel smiled as he made his way to Eri.
He sat smack in front of her, and made sure he got her attention away from the magazine she was reading by shaking the table back and forth. "What do you want?!" She snapped.
"I want you." Axel smiled.
"Everyone does." Eri said, returning to her magazine. Being beautiful was a curse, she told herself.
"No. I mean I want you to go out on a date with me." Axel said persistantly.
"Eww..Why would I go with you?" Eri quipped.
"Cause if you don't, I'll kill myself." Axel threatened.
"You're joking right?" Eri asked.
Kairi led Namine to their table, which was across from Axel and Eri, and acted casual. "So how do you like TA so far?" She asked.
"The people here are really nice. I think I'll like it here." Namine replied.
"That's what everyone thinks until they meet Eri." Kairi mumbled.
"What?" Namine cocked her head.
"Nothing, nothing." Kairi sang. She sat next to Fuu, leaving Namine to sit next to Tidus.
"Hey Namine, What's up?" There was something fishy about his grin, but Namine ignored it.
"Nothing. I just got back from 'The Bean'. There was a long line." The Bean was the only cafe on campus that served decent food and drinks.
"That's good. So what do you think of Eri?" He asked.
"Eri? oh, she's nice." Namine replied.
"Really? I heard that she was a total bitch." Tidus smiled.
"People don't like her, she says. But I don't see why." Namine said.
"I'm begging you!" Axel cried. "Please, please go out with me!" He was on his knees, pleading.
"What's wrong with you!?" Eri snapped. She had never seen Axel act this way around her. She thought that he hated her.
"I love you." Axel nearly choked on those words. He hated Eri, he thought that she was a stuck up, spoiled brat.
"You what!?" Eri screamed. She was about to tell him to Fuck Off and that he didn't stand a chance with a girl like her, but she saw Axel look to the side where Kairi and her friends were sitting. Eri caught on, they were trying to set her up.
Namine had heard Eri scream and turned to the side. Axel was on his knees, and Eri looked angry for a moment but then her face molded into a softer expression.
"That's so sweet." She cooed.
"What did you say?" Axel raised an eyebrow.
"I'd love to go out with a guy like you." Eri said loudly enough for everyone to hear. She shot him a "i know what's going on" look.
Axel glared at her and stood up. "Leave Namine alone." He muttered.
Eri pouted. "But why? I'm just being a friend to her."
"No, you want to humiliate her like every other girl who makes contact with Roxas." He hissed.
"Why would I do that?" Eri said innocently.
This was starting to irritate Axel. "Cause you're a cold hearted bitch that's why. You can't stand it that Roxas moved on and you haven't." He said a little too loudly.
Eri looked at her feet and then back up. Tears were filling up her eyes. "Axel...why would you say something like that!?" She said just loud enough for Namine and the rest to hear.
Namine turned to Kairi and the group. "Aren't you going to stop him? He's harrassing her!" Her eyes drifted to Tidus, who was looking guilty. "You set this up didn't you? you were trying to get me to think that Eri was a bitch, weren't you?" Namine asked.
"Urm....It was all Ollette's idea!" Tidus pointed to the brunette.
"We don't want you to get hurt, that's all." Ollette explained.
"Well I'm hurt now. I can't believe my roommates and my "so called- friends" did this to me." Namine snapped. She walked up to Eri and Axel before they could say anything back.
"Knock it off, Axel." Namine hissed.
Axel looked at her and opened his mouth to speak but she cut him off. "I know the plan. You're trying to make me see how much of a "bitch" Eri is. Well it's not working. All it proves is that you guys are a bunch of jerks!" Namine yelled. Eri smiled to herself. The plan was going better than expected.
Axel felt heat rush up to his head. He was getting angry with her. How dare she call him out like that? "You're making a big mistake." He said, and then stormed off.
Namine watched them leave. Her stomach lurched a bit, but she didn't know why. She turned to Eri to ask if she was okay, but Eri was looking better than ever and just smiled at her. "I want to introduce you to some of my friends." She said.
Namine followed Eri to a group of older boys and girls and shiki. They were all at the parking lot smoking, everyone except for Shiki. "Hey guys!" Eri greeted them. They all just nodded back.
"That's Tifa, Leon, Cloud, Aerith, and you already know Shiki." Eri said.
"Hi." Namine said shyly.
They nodded once more. Tifa lifted the cigarrette from her mouth to ask, "So she's the new kid?"
Eri nodded. "She's going to hang with us later." The two smiled at each other as if they shared a secret. Namine wasn't sure if she liked it or not.
Just then, a loud screetching sound erupted into the air and the group found themselves running from a beat down, old, rusty car. Namine was knocked to the ground and was covered in scratches. She hoisted herself up to yell at the driver. He nearly killed her and her new friends, for god's sake.
"Hey what gives!?" She yelled.
The door opened, and Sho popped up. Namine narrowed her eyes at him. Seifer was right, he was obnoxious. "Aren't you gonna say sorry for your little accident?"
"Who said that it was an accident?" Sho replied.
Namine frowned. "You nearly killed us."
"That's right, Nearly. Now let's go." Sho grabbed her by the upper arm and began dragging her away.
Namine tried to free herself from his iron grip but couldn't. "Let go of me!" She shouted.
"You heard her." Leon said stepping in front of Sho. The two stood at the same height, but Leon was bigger than Sho. However, Sho didn't seem to realize that.
"Fuck off." Sho said, pushing past him. Leon grabbed him from the back of his shirt, and pulled him back.
"She said let go." Leon growled.
"And I told you to fuck off." Sho chided.
Namine felt scared for a second. It looked like the two were ready to kill each other. "Stop it." She said softly. Neither of them seemed to hear her.
"Listen, Sho," Leon said his name with distaste, "Nobody wants you around here, nobody in this fucking TOWN want's you here. so do us a favor and get your obnoxious ass out of this place." He thrusted a finger to Sho's chest and pushed him back slightly.
Sho swiped Leon's finger away from him and shoved him hard. His eyes were blazing with anger and he was ready to fight Leon. Leon regained his balance and rolled his shoulders. He was ready for a fight too. Namine looked back and forth. She couldn't let this happen. "I said stop it!" She screamed louder.
Sho whipped his head to face her. "Stay out of it. I'm trying to help you out."
"You're trying to help me? you're not doing anything! you're just scaring my friends away!" Namine cried.
"Your friends? chh, they're not your friends." He scoffed.
"Who the hell are you to tell me who I can and can't hang out with?" She questioned.
Sho just looked at her. "Namine, you don't have a fucking clue do you? You think I help out just anyone? I'm doing this cause it's for your own fucking good. I'm tired of seeing Eri burn new, naive, clueless girls like you." He snapped.
Namine felt her blood rush up. "I don't expect you to help out anyone. You're selfish, cold, obnoxious, and alone. Nobody wants you around here, the whole fucking place is better with one less of you jerks!" She screamed.
Now it looked as if Sho wanted to kill her. He just stood there with his blazing gold eyes, letting the silence fill in. Finally, he lowered his cap down and put his hands in his pockets, and walked away. Namine didn't even feel bad for him after giving her so much shit.
Eri aplauded her, "Nice one, Namine."
Namine smiled weakly. It didn't seem right being with them.
"Hey is everything alright?" Roxas asked. He had heard the swerve of the car and just got here. "I heard-"
Eri ran up to hug him. "Roxas!" She shrieked.
"Eh...hi." Roxas replied. He noticed that Namine was there too and stepped to the side to talk to her, but Eri gripped him hard.
Namine pretended not to notice the two hugging and looked away. Roxas looked at Eri, who was smiling at him. "Is everything okay?" He asked again.
"Yes, now that you're here." Eri replied.
Roxas removed her arms away from his neck, as politely as he could and asked, "Where did the noise come from?"
"From who else?" Cloud quipped. "You're stupid obnxious friend, Sho."
Roxas glared at him. Sho was obnxoius, but he was his friend. "Sho's a genius, so don't call him stupid."
"Yeah he's a genius alright. A genius at screwing things up." Cloud snickered.
Roxas couldn't stand that group. They acted as though they ruled the school, which they didn't. Even Aerith had changed when she started hanging out with that group. She used to be so sweet and kind, and he was afraid that Namine would be just like her if he didn't get her away from Eri. He held out his hand for Namine to take, "Let's get out of here."
Namine tried to smile but she couldn't. "No."
"What?" Roxas was confused.
"I said No, I'm staying with them." Namine replied.
Roxas took one hard look at her, and then left.
It was ten o clock, and as promised the group met Namine at the bleachers. Eri put her hands on her clad in black hips and smiled, "You ready?"
Namine nodded. Leon drove his car to the corner to meet them. Loud music played and it was hard to understand what everyone was talking about. Namine noticed that Shiki wasn't with them and asked, "Where's Shiki?"
"What?" Eri couldn't hear from the music playing.
"I SAID WHERE'S SHIKI?" Namine shouted.
"She decided to sit this one out. She's hitting the beds early." Eri smiled.
Tifa turned around and leaned over the backseat. She had a clear complexion, brown eyes, and jet black hair. Tifa smiled at her and offered her a cigarrette.
"No thanks. I don't smoke." Namine said politely.
Tifa seemed to think that was funny, "Come on kid, everyone around here smokes."
Namine shook her head. "I don't want cancer."
Tifa shrugged and sat back down. She whispered something to Leon, who looked at her through the mirror. Namine pretended not to notice and focused on the wind rushing past her. Leon drove a nice convertable. It was sleek and shiny, like her dream car.
They stopped by a shop called 'Rave'. Namine wasn't sure what they were doing here, it was closed. She opened her mouth to speak but Eri shushed her. Aerith and the others stood out of her way as Eri picked the lock.
Namine didn't feel right about this. She didn't think that this was the right thing to do, but of course she didn't want to be the odd one out so she followed them in. Namine had no idea what they were doing in here so she opened her mouth to ask. "Eri, what are we doing here exactly?"
Eri grinned, "A little shopping."
"But it's closed." Namine pointed out.
"We can see that." Tifa rolled her eyes.
"Then what are we doing here?" Namine hissed.
"I told you. We're going to shop." Namine didn't like the look in Eri's eyes.
Aerith and Cloud were in the corner making out, while Leon and Tifa rolled their eyes. Leon liked Aerith, but she was with Cloud. Tifa had loved Cloud forever, and it burned her that he chose some good-girl-gone bad whore over her. Tifa believed that she was the one for Cloud. She knew everything there was to him. She knew his hopes, dreams, and fears. In a word, they had been friends for a long time. Leon on the other hand was just dying to be in Cloud's shoes right now. He couldn't see what Aerith saw in Cloud. Sure he was his best friend, and shouldn't be hitting on his girl friend like that, but Leon couldn't help himself. He wasn't even sure if he could stand to watch the two snuggle and kiss any longer. Leon felt as though he would break down if he kept watching them, so he turned around to see what Eri was up to.
"So what's the plan exactly?"Leon whispered to Eri, who was eyeing a black halter top.
"You'll see." She said playfully. Eri turned to Namine, who had been sitting in the corner shyly. "Hey Namine, come here."
Namine made her way to Eri slowly, "Yeah?"
"I want you to try this outfit on." Eri showed her the black halter top and tight jeans.
Namine looked at it and frowned, "I don't know. It's not really my style."
"But it would look so good on you!" She gushed. "Right, Leon?"
Leon nodded, but Namine still wasn't sure.
"Just try it out and see if you like it." Eri gave her a soft smile.
Namine smiled back and took the clothes. Namine went into the dressing room and began to undress.
Eri handed Leon her camera and waved him over. She tiptoed quickly and quietly until she was just outside Namine's dressing room. She counted to three and then ripped the curtains open, revealing a half naked Namine. Leon started snapping pictures of her.
Namine took the curtains and wrapped them around herself. Eri was laughing like a manic and pulled her to the side. "Hey guys, look at our beauty queen over here!"
Cloud, Tifa, and Aerith began to snicker at her. Leon picked up Namine's clothes and stuffed it in his jacket, while she wasn't looking. Namine was in shock and felt herself blushing. She was so embarrassed.
"We're just kidding, We're not going to post those pics on the web." Eri lied. "Now go get dressed. We'll be waiting for you here."
Namine wasn't so sure about how she felt about Eri anymore. All of a sudden, the things her real friends had been telling her seemed to be right. Eri was a backstabber. She was a bitch. Worse of all, she was a good actress. Namine couldn't believe that she fell for her act, how could she have been so stupid and naive? She entered the dressing room only to find hangers and not much more. Her clothes were missing and by the time she realized that they took her clothes, they were speeding away in Leon's convertible. Namine Ran for the door, much to her dismay it was locked.
Namine burst into tears. She slumped against the wall and wished that she could go back in time. Now she had no friends. Her real friends probably hate her now and don't even want to be her friend anymore. She blew them off, she said nasty things to them and that was the worst of it. She heard the door swing open. Namine jumped back and hoped that it wasn't the cops.
It was Sho. What was he doing here? she wondered. She thought that he hated her now. She did say mean things to him, after all. Namine wiped her eyes and looked up at him. "What're you doing here?" She asked.
"I came to your rescue." Sho looked away, when he noticed that all she was wearing was a bra and a panty.
"I thought you hate me after what I said." She said looking away.
"Nah, what do you take me for? Some sissy? It takes a lot more than that to drive me away." Sho replied.
"How'd you find me?" Namine asked.
"Instinct. No, Zexion did his geek thing and found a way to track you through Leon's cell." Sho said. "Come on, let's get going." He held his hand out for her to take.
"I can't go out like this." Namine said.
Sho took his sweater off and handed it to her. The sweater was very large on her, it stopped at her knees which was perfect. Sho led her into his beat up old car and drove off.
"I can't believe I fell for her act." Namine told him.
"We warned you." Sho replied, keeping his eyes on the road.
"I know. I should have listened." She lowered her head.
"Don't feel bad...." Sho said akwardly. He wasn't so good at this comforting thing. "At least you learned your lesson."
Namine frowned, "Yeah, but I learned it the hard way."
"Better than never learning it at all." Sho replied.
Namine shrugged. "Do you guys hate me?"
"Nah, they were worried shit about you. Especially Selphie. She thought she lost her best friend to the dark side. And Roxas was going crazy too." He added.
"Really?" Namine thought that it was odd. How could they forgive her? She knew that if she was in one of their shoes, she wouldn't forgive them so easily.
"Yeah, really. Oh, and we got Eri back for what she did to you." Sho grinned.
"Huh?"
At the boys bathroom
"You can't leave me here!" Eri cried.
"Sure we can!" Seifer said through a gas mask.
"You can't get away with this!" Eri protested.
"Yeah, we know," Hayner said. "But this'll teach you a lesson not to mess with one of us." He grinned.
Tidus muffled Eri's cries with a bandana and stepped away. "Okay Pence, Let 'er rip!"
Eri began to cry as the foul stench wafted across the boys bathroom.
At the room
Namine had quickly changed into her pajamas and handed Sho back his sweatshirt. She stepped out the bathroom and looked at her feet. "I'm sorry guys."
Fuu smiled, "Don't be. Put this in the past."
She wished it were that easy. "Leon took photos of me and I bet they're on the internet now."
"At least you have a great body." Selphie tried to comfort her.
"Don't think that they're getting away with it either," Axel smiled.
"What did you do?" Namine asked suddenly worried.
"Relax, I did't kill them or anything. I found an embarassing picture of Cloud when he was still fat and posted it on the school billboard. And for Aerith and Tifa, I spilled their secret." Axel replied.
"How'd you find out their secret?" Zexion asked.
"Aerith told me about some when we were still a couple." Axel answered.
"And tell them about what we did to Leon!" Demyx bounced up and down.
"Demyx and I trashed his stupid car. But not before we took it for a spin." Axel grinned.
Namine smiled at all of them. "You'd do that all for me?"
"Yeah, what are friends for?" Roxas grinned.
The group pulled in for a group hug, even Sho. Namine couldn't remember ever feeling this happy. She wouldn't trade anything in the world for this moment. Well, except for maybe reviving him. To think that she had actually forgotten everything about him made her sad, but maybe it was for the best. Or not.
That's it for chapter three. rnr please so i'll know how i'm doing!