Chapter 2

Reflections

Sora arrived at school in higher spirits than usual. He immediately went to his home room to sit and think until the bell. It was great. He would not be able to concentrate on anything now. He was going to tell Riku he liked him.

"Morning Sora," Yuna said. Not exactly one of his friends, but a friendly acquaintance.

"Good morning," Sora said cheerfully. She eyed him carefully. Even she picked up on his change in mood.

"Someone found his happy place," she said. He smiled, thinking of his 'happy place'.

"Not quite yet," he said. She laughed.

"Are we crushing on someone?" she interrogated. It slightly worried him that she knew what was going on.

"Well-"

"Ohhh. Who is the cute girl?" Yuna blurted out. Sora felt his stomach twist at the question. Already it was becoming awkward. No one would be able to think of him with another guy.

"Umm...it is...well...never mind," he said.

"Humph. Fine. Keep your wonderful little goddess girlfriend to yourself," she mocked. He sighed.

"Come on class, please sit," the teacher instructed as the bell rang. He was trying to shut the door, but people continued to file in, amongst them was Riku. Sora stared at him lovingly. His eyes wandered down his body to a small bulge from his jeans that was barely noticeable, but still nice to look at.

"Hey Sora," Riku greeted him as he snapped out of his day dream.

"Hi...Riku," Sora said back.

"Okay, today we will discuss the books you all have been reading," he said. Sora's eyes widened. He forgot to even find a book to read. He did not have time to read some book while trying to figure out how he was going to tell his friend he liked him. Why did this man ask for so much. "Would anyone like to volunteer to share about their book before I volunteer you against your will?"

"I would," a girl in the front asked. Her name was Rikku. Similar to Riku's name, but definitely not alike.

"Thank you Rikku," he said as he sat in his chair to listen attentively.

"This here book was fantastic. There were extremely crazy women that began to kill their husbands with arsenic and then-" Rikku said excitedly.

"Okay Rikku, that is fine," he told her.

"But I wasn't finished," she said.

"No one wants you too," a snobby girl in the back said.

"Hey! Shut your mouth!" Riku yelled.

"Put a shirt on!" the girl yelled back, insulting her more than revealing outfit.

"Enough girls. Now, to be honest, I am interested in hearing what you have read, Riku," the instructor said as he stared at him. "Since you claim you read and do not do your homework, let us find out."

"All right," he said confidently. "My book was about two boys who were best friends. They face this dramatic war and ended up wanting more from their friend," Riku stated plainly, causing everyone to cock their eyebrows.

"More?" the teacher asked.

"Yep. They became close. They started having feelings for each other and they dated and stuff," Riku told him honestly gaining a "Ewwww" from the class.

"And then," the teacher implied for him to continue, intrigued that he read such a controversial story.

"I guess they have sex-"

"Okay, stop. As soon as I start feeling proud of you, you always blow it," he said. Sora was amazed. Riku read a story about two guys that ended up liking each other. Is that a coincidence? Maybe he liked it. Maybe Sora did have a chance. Sora heard him smirking and giggling about the topic with some of his other friends. Then again, maybe not.

When the bell rang, Sora hurried out of the room to wait for Riku. He hoped he could catch him without his friends. He was lucky.

"Hey, Riku," Sora called.

"Hey. Tidus invited you to my party, right?" Riku asked, seeming a bit distracted by waving and saying hi to people passing by.

"Ya, I can't wait. It will be awesome."

"Uh-huh."

"So that story you read. You liked it?" Sora asked, hoping it did not sound to creepy.

"Hey, I'll see you later," Riku said as he joined a group of people.

"Damn," Sora exclaimed quietly. He did not like Riku like this. When ever he was not around his friends, he was perfect. Sora wished he would be alone with Riku most of tonight, otherwise, it would be impossible to tell him.

Sora went to his second, third, fourth, fifth, lunch, and sixth hour. When the bell rang for seventh, he jumped up happily. He would see Riku again. It was gym class. A really small class too, meaning, Riku would be normal. Sora changed and went into the gym to sit and wait for the instructions for today.

"Okay kiddos," the gym teacher said. " Every one outside in the field. You can run, walk, play football, but you better be moving."

"Yes!" the class yelled. Riku just came out of the locker room. Sora walked out to the field with him.

"So, what do you want to do?" Sora asked.

"I don't know. To be honest, I would rather just sit," Riku stated. Sora thought it was a bit odd. Riku was usually active.

"Well, we have to do something," Sora told him.

"Really?" Riku asked with a mischievous look in his eyes.

"What?" Sora asked.

"Come on. Follow me before he gets out here," Riku whispered. They charged down the field and careful ran down the hill at the end. They quickly ran to the path the school put in for the cross-country team to run on and stopped.

"Whew," Riku panted.

"You are crazy. He is going to know we left," Sora said.

"Maybe." They walked down the path and Riku suddenly took a turn off of the path.

"Where are you going?"

"I found something a couple days ago, just follow."

"Hey, Riku. Out of curiosity, why did you invite me to your party if you could only have five friends? Certainly you know more popular kids than me?"

"Sora? How shallow do you think I am? I invited you because we don't see much of each other any more. Just thought it would be nice. And actually, only you and Tidus are going to be there."

"Huh? Why?" Sora questioned.

"The others did not want to come after I told them what it was for," Riku told him. Sora suddenly caught the vibe that Riku did not want to tell him.

"And what would that be?"

"I'll tell you when we there," Riku said avoiding the question. They walked a couple minutes more and came to a clearing in the woods. In the center was a large lake with petals floating on top of it. It reflected the perfect blue sky like a mirror. Sora could not believe something this beautiful had been here for so long and no one had found it.

"Cool," Sora said.

"It is usually were I come to think or rest, sometimes even sleep." Sora felt a sudden urge of happiness. Riku was always different away from his other friends. Sora joined him in sitting on a large rock formation overlooking the water. Riku stared at himself in the lake.

"This is an amazing place," Sora said, admiring it's beauty again.

"Yes. Every time I look at the water, I feel like maybe something is hiding in it, in my reflection. Sometimes I wonder if I can find my true self in the water and ask it what I really want." Riku said.

"What do you mean?" Sora asked.

"Don't you ever feel like you don't know yourself. Don't you sometimes feel like there is something there, deep within you, wanting to come out, but it can't because you don't know what is, or maybe you know what it is, but don't want it to come out in fear of what people might think?" Riku spoke gently with a tone of confusion.

"Actually, yes Riku," Sora said. What Riku had said was exactly what Sora had been thinking the last couple days.

"It seems like sometimes your reflection has the answer," Riku said.

"Reflection? Why?" Sora asked.

"Well, it is like taking another you and putting it in front of you. You are staring at the only person you can be completely honest with."

"Yes, I guess you are right, but you can be honest with me, Riku," Sora told him as he joined in his reflection. Riku smiled.

"Maybe so." Sora tried to say it. He tried to say what he felt with Riku. He tried, and failed.

"Riku, what is that party about anyway?" Sora asked. He did not want to ask that. He wanted to say he loved Riku and wanted to spend eternity with him.

"Oh yeah. Well, my father may get a promotion tonight," Riku said.

"That's great," Sora stated.

"If he gets it, we might have to move," Riku said.

"What? No, you can't move!" Sora yelled accidentally.

"I don't want to, but my dad really wants this."

"But Riku, your whole life is here!"

"I know that! Don't you think I have thought about it! You are just like everyone else! No one tries to comfort me, they just blame me and tell me I can't go. Well I can't do a damn thing about it!" Riku yelled as he stood up.

"Riku, I'm-" Sora started, feeling guilty about how he acted.

"Forget it! Don't bother coming if you are going to act like every other friend I have. Me and Tidus will enjoy each others company and when the day comes, I guess he will be the only one on my side!" Riku screamed walking away. Sora felt a tear trail down his face. He felt a bit of jealousy about Tidus, but pushed it away, feeling selfish for being more concerned with that then how he just hurt his friend.

Riku was out of sight now and Sora rubbed his eyes. He did not mean for it to sound like that. He simply meant that he could not leave because if he did, Sora would be alone. He would love someone that would never know for the rest of his life. Sora had ruined everything. Could he even show up at the party. Riku probably would not want him there now.

Sora returned to the field at the final minutes of class. Riku was not there. The teacher had not noticed they were gone which was a relief. They went back into the gym to change and Riku was no where in sight. Sora wondered if he simply went home.

After the bell rang, Sora walked out of the school and waited for his mom to pick him up. She was later than usual.

"Sorry, honey, I was talking with Riku's mother," she said, causing guilt to swell up inside him.

"She tells me you were invited to Riku's party," she said, trying to cheer him up still from the morning. "That will be fun."

"Umm... Yeah, I can't wait," Sora lied. He could not bring himself to tell her about what had happened, and not just because it involved skipping class.

"Well, let's go to the store and bring a gift for his father and pick up some snacks for the party," she told him as they left the school. Now he was going to have to get all this stuff for nothing, causing more guilt to consume him. He hoped she would not figure out. He would have to grab the stuff, pretend to walk over, then ditch the stuff and find something to do. "Don't worry honey, I told her I would drop you off so you didn't have to carry everything."

"Great," Sora said sarcastically. She did not notice. This day was growing worse by the second.