AN: Sorry for the delay again, but I suppose this chapter came up a lot faster than the last…cough…a year faster…anyways! I want to play with some of the other characters.

-Chapter Three-

Tap. Tap. Tap. Leafy branches rustled in the early autumn wind, tapping against the third floor of Destiny High. Sora stared out of the window, chin resting on one hand, the other hand lazily moving his pencil back and forth. The teacher droned on about the importance of following the syllabus. It amazed Sora that someone could talk about a piece of paper with a list of due dates on it for so long. He preferred more upbeat electric exciting things. He breathed heavily, thinking of the summer. It had been a fairly typical summer. Hours lost in chasing the waves of Destiny Island. Hours of promised summer sleep spent talking about the most random things with his friends. It started out being so normal, so predictable. One day, mid June, something changed. Something happened to Roxas; it was only a few days after Namine had left for Twilight Town. Something tweaked. And suddenly, Roxas was very unavailable. He became even more introverted, adopted new accessories, new wrist bands. His eyes once blue now seemed a cloudy gray blue. Sora noticed these aspects. Sora was something deeper than what people saw in him.

"And thirty five percent of your grade will be determined by…" Sora adjusted his position, eyes never leaving the window. He wanted to be out there living, not stuck in an arid beige classroom being talked at. He thought of Roxas. He thought of how the Roxas he knew was stuck inside a white room. Sitting. Waiting. What was he waiting for though?

Kairi paid attention. Close attention. Every word out of Professor Merlin's mouth, Kairi listened too. Yes it was boring, yes it was the same material given to her by almost every other teacher, but Kairi always had motivation to be the "good student."

"And that is pretty much what we are going to cover today, so welcome to British Literature." He glanced at the clock above the blackboard. Merlin was a funny man, wearing a sweater vest and nice pants on this somewhat warm day. His beard was a bright silver, and his eyes were aged and kind. "Ah, ten minutes left, anyone with a poem they'd like to share with the class? It was after all a requirement to write the poems during the summer." The class groaned. "Oh, now, don't give me that, surely one of you has something to read?" He scanned the class, his warm eyes meeting Kairi. "Ahh….Miss Utada is it ?"

"Yes, sir."

"You look as though you would be willing to share something you've written."

"Well it's not that good but-"

"Oh hodge podge come come!" He motioned for her to come to the head of the class.

Kairi rose from her seat, and quietly walked to the front of the class holding the poem she had written, clearing her throat. Sure, Kairi always received high makrs, and she was always attentive in class, but she did suffer, as most do, from stage fright.

"Sea Breeze, by uh me.

Salty ocean water churns,

Surely your heart yearns.

We can see it in your eyes,

We hear it in your sighs

What is there?

For your eyes look quite bare.

What is there?

Being blown by the sea breeze.

So gentle, clearly locked

We, you, need the keys.

Kairi bowed her head and was met with applause. "Thanks." She took her seat.

"Well, thank you, Kairi." Merlin nodded in approval. The bell then rang, and the students were off to their next class.

"Uh…hey, Demyx."

"Talk about a cool room!" Demyx's blue eyes wandered around the room. Odd sculptures attached to the cabinets glared at entering students. The ceiling was paneled in with fairly large wood blocks that had all been painted by individual students of prior classes. One was missing. Roxas had one. Still working on it. He had been working on it over the summer, before it happened. The room smelled of art, pencil shavings, paints, clay, earthy.

"Yeah, it's pretty nice in here." Roxas offered Demyx a warm smile."

"So, class, chill out, I'm not going to talk much, I'm sure you all have gotten enough of that today." The class let out a sigh of relief. No syllabi. "Instead, I just want you guys to show me what you got, for the last hour of the day, draw whatever you want." Leon turned behind him and wheeled out a shelf with plain white paper, simple HP drawing pencils, and white erasers. "Dig in."

Demyx eagerly went up to the shelf and grabbed his paper and pencil. Roxas, on the other hand, sat there thinking of what to do, watching the other students crowd the cart. Roxas slowly rose from his chair and walked towards the cart, after everyone had left, picking up his materials. Charcoal. No blacker black than pressed charcoal. Roxas pressed it hard against the paper, loosing himself in the texture and scratching sound the material made. He lost himself. Completely. Lost by his art. Going into it. He didn't even know what he was going to draw. It was a technique Leon had taught him last year. Let yourself go. Completely. It's just paper. Roxas poured himself into the markings he was making. Scratching and marking deeper and deeper. Losing himself. Roxas snapped out of it. He needed to come back to reality. Back to the world.

"Roxas, have a good day?" Demyx asked, he was making light marks on his paper with a 3h.

"Mmhmm, pretty boring I guess." Roxas responded, his voice shaky.

" Yeah! Tell me about it. If one more teacher were to explain the importance of attendance I would scream!" People turned away from their drawings to shush Demyx. "Sorry. I have such bad luck with that you know?"

Roxas didn't know what to say. "Hmm."

"Oh, okay." Demyx pulled his iPod out of his pocket and plugged himself in, listening to the acoustic guitar CD his friend, Axel, had bought him for his birthday. He too, becoming involved with his drawing.

They sat there in silence for the rest of the period, neither one of them looking up. Occasionally, Demyx would fiddle around with his music, picking a new artist or song. Demyx studied Roxas from the corner of his eye. Something was up with this kid. He knew of Roxas last year. He remembered seeing him smile. He remembered seeing a nice, genuine, cheerful smile. He was friends with a girl, a girl who no longer went to school here. Demyx wondered where that girl had went. He didn't know what happened that warm summer day. Demyx hadn't left his apartment much during the summer. Other than work, he mainly worked on his music, blisters would form on his fingers from guitar practice, and he would go days sleepless, composing new music and sounds. He was oblivious to what had happened to anyone during the summer.

Completely oblivious.