Hi guys it's me again and here is the next chapter :) things are heating up!
Chapter 3: First Day of School
"NOBODIES RULE!" Riku shouted, pumping a fist into the air.
My brother had climbed onto the statue that stood outside the Twilight High gymnasium, to the delight of his fans – cheerleaders, mostly, who all giggled up at him. The statue of an Organization member standing next to a heartless stood with its arms crossed in the courtyard in front of the gym. The Nobody wore an outfit like the paintings I'd seen in history books: a black cloak with silver accents. The color-guard uniform was less bulky and more like a dress than a cloak. The hoods always came off and messed up our hair. It wasn't as bad as when the school first started and there was feather's on the uniforms. Oh yeah, it wasn't embarrassing at all to be seen dressed like that.
Cloud didn't even glance at Riku as he said, "Get down before you break your neck."
Riku sat on the Nobody's shoulders. "You ruin all my fun," he complained.
"Don't fall," Selphie, a cheerleader, screeched, sounding as if she was terrified Riku would fall to his death from a height of four feet off the ground.
I sat nearby, on a bench along the brick path around the courtyard. All the most popular students hung out in the courtyard before classes each morning.
I was only allowed to sit in the vicinity because I was related to Riku and Cloud. If it weren't for the luck of birth, I would have been forced to the losers' circle – otherwise known as the front hall of the main building – with everyone else not worth enough for the courtyard.
On second thought, I probably wouldn't even be welcome in the losers' circle. The geniuses where too smart for me and the average kids thought I was too smart for them. The artists already didn't like me in art club or class for that matter.
So the only reason I sat in the courtyard was because everyone there pretty much ignored me and left me alone.
Well, everyone except Riku.
Riku had slid off the Nobody and survived – much to the delight of Selphie, I was sure. I didn't see him making his way toward me until he thumped the back of the sketch I pretended to draw.
"You always have your nose stuck in some drawing," Riku said.
"Some of us like to express ourselves," I told him.
Riku snatched the sketch away from me and read the title I had scribbled in the corner of the paper. It wasn't the title of the sketch but of the book I wanted to read. "Dueling with Desire," he said raising his eyebrows.
He said it in a loud enough voice that it caught the attention of several people sitting nearby. My face grew hot as they all looked our way.
"Give me that," I said snatching the sketch back and shoving it into my backpack.
"Do mom and dad know what kind of books you like to read?" Riku asked, giving me and his captive audience that stupid grin of his. "Aren't you a little young to be reading anything with the word 'desire' in the title?"
Laughter filled the air around us.
"Maybe she's trying to experience romance though a book," Selphie said. "Since she hasn't had any in real life."
I looked up at Riku, pleading silently with him to be my brother and stand up for my honor.
But I knew he wouldn't. That wasn't Riku's style. He favored his reputation over anything else.
"Lay off her," Cloud said in his deep, gruff voice. Immediately, the courtyard fell silent. The birds stopped chirping in the trees overhead, as if even they listened to anything Cloud Selene had to say.
"I'm just having a little fun," Riku said, shrugging. He turned away and headed back towaed Selphie and her friends.
I didn't look at anyone as I gathered up my things and walked away as fast as I could, my cheeks still burning with embarrassment.
Would it kill them to be nice to me? To let me be a part of their group? You would think maybe someone would want to be my friend just because of my brothers. But no, I couldn't even manage to get someone to use me to get closer to them.
The warning bell rang and I headed toward my first class, English.
"Namine!" a voice called when I walked into the room. Kairi Robbins sat near the back, waving at me as if we were the best of friends.
I looked behind me to make sure there wasn't another Namine standing nearby. Stupid thought, since it wasn't a very common name.
"Hi!" Kairi said when I forced myself to walk toward her. "You're in this class?"
I nodded. "Mr. Lea's English class, right?" I asked, to make sure I hadn't stumbled into a parallel dimension.
"Yep." Kairi gestured toward the seat in front of her. "Sit down."
I sat, feeling a little dazed.
"I'm so glad to see you!" she said. "I was afraid I wouldn't know anyone in any of my classes. But thankfully, you came in!" She smiled wide at me. "You don't know how relieved I am to see a friendly face."
Was she serious?
"I heart only about fifty Traverse kids got sent to Twilight," Kairi told me. "The rest of the redistricted kids got sent to Halloween High."
"Did any of your friends get transferred here?" I asked.
"No, just me. Everyone else got to star at Traverse. Lucky brats." Kairi sighed, a soft floaty sound. Even her sighs where beautiful. Mine came out sounding like a congested old man. "I wish I was back at Traverse now. I can't believe I have to spend the rest of high school here. Think I could convince my parents to move to the Traverse district?"
"Uh…I don't know," I said.
At the front of the room, a tall skinny, red headed man called the class to order. His hair seemed to defy gravity in the way it was spiked. "Welcome to the new school year," he said. "I'm Mr. Lea. That's L-E-A. Got it memorized? And this is sophomore literature. As I call your name, please come forward to take one of these textbooks." He gestured toward a stack of thick books on the corner of his desk.
"As you all know, the school district lines were redrawn this summer and some former Traverse students were reassigned to Twilight. We have one of those students in this class, Kairi Robbins," Mr. Lea continued.
Everyone turned to look at her and a few boys whistled. I would have sunk down in my seat if I had been singled out, but Kairi just smiled back, dazzling everyone with her pearly whites and sparkling cobalt blue eyes.
"Let's make Kairi and the other former Traverse students fell welcome here at Twilight," Mr. Lea said. "I'm sure changing schools like this must be tough, and we should do everything we can to make this easier for them. Kairi, welcome to Twilight."
When the bell rang forty-five minutes later, Kairi groaned loudly. "Can you believe Mr. Lea pointed me out like that?" she asked me as she stuffed her English book into her baby-pink backpack.
"Yeah," I said. "I'm sure everyone will be your best friend now that Mr. Lea told them to."
Kairi laughed. "Exactly. That'll be so great for my reputation."
My stomach twisted just a little at her words. Kairi needed to be concerned about more than Mr. Lea's pointing her out in class if she worried about her reputation. Talking to me wasn't the best plan.
"What class do you have next?" she asked as we walked into the hall.
I checked my schedule. "Art. You?"
"History," Kairi made a face. "Oh, well, I guess maybe we'll see each other again later. I hope so, I need someone to talk to here or I'll go crazy."
I smiled. Life would go back to normal very soon, I knew. Once Kairi got in with the In crowd at Twilight, she'd forget all about me and I would go back to being ignored.
Only, I thought as I headed toward art, it had been really nice having someone to talk to before and after class. And having someone to roll my eyes with when Mr. Lea started talking about how this school year would help prepare us for the rest of our lives.
I enjoyed the thought of having a friend at Twilight High. But she would dump me for the cool kids soon enough.
Later that day, I considered skipping lunch so I wouldn't have to be seen eating alone on the first day of school, but my stomach growled with hunger. I felt like I could eat about four bowls of watery school spaghetti, so after dropping my books off at my locker I made my way toward the cafeteria.
"Namine, hey!" Kairi appeared at my side as I walked through the double doors into the cafeteria. The Twilight High cafeteria was actually really nice. Murals painted on the walls showed Nobodies doing battle against Keyblade wielders, Kingdom hearts watching from the sky.
"Hey," I greeted her. "Are you getting lunch?"
Kairi nodded, "I'm starving."
"Me too." We joined the hot lunch line and waited for our turn at the counter.
"Wow," Kairi said surveying the food. "It looks like the same old disgusting lunch they serve at Traverse. Do all the schools get their recipes from the same place?"
"Maybe they train their lunch ladies to cook the same way at every school in the country," I said, glancing at the lunch lady behind the counter, who spooned soupy mashed potatoes into Styrofoam bowls. "Like there's this team of teachers who go around the country showing them how to make Mystery Meat."
Kairi laughed as she took a ham-and-cheese sandwich. "You're probably right."
I took the spaghetti and a bowl of peaches and a bowl of Jell-O and moved down the line toward the cash register. After Kairi and I had gotten drinks and paid for our lunches, we turned to survey the cafeteria. Most of the tables where already taken, so I started to walk toward the door to the courtyard, where I usually ate alone.
"Come on, Namine," Kairi said. "I have a table for us already."
How had she gotten a table ahead of time? Could girls like Kairi actually reserve tables in the school cafeteria?
I followed Kairi as she wound though the tables toward the back of the room. In front of the mural, showing a boy with silver hair giving a heart to Kingdom Hearts, sat a table occupied by two cheerleaders, Selphie and Olette.
The girls turned to smile at Kairi as she made her way toward them. When they spotted me, they exchanged confused glances. Kairi didn't seem to notice.
"Hi Kairi," Selphie said.
"Hey," Kairi sat her tray down and gestured toward me. "Do you guys know Namine?"
The girls smiled politely at me as I sat down at one of the empty seats.
"Hi," I said.
"Hey," Olette said. I could see the laughter she was holding back as the gossip over camp went through her mind.
I smiled, trying not to look as panicked as I felt. How had she done it? Kairi had been at Twilight for exactly half a day and already she'd made friends. Not just friends, but Twilight equivalents of herself. I'd been going to school with these kids since kindergarten and they'd never let me into their group.
I was doomed. Once Kairi realized I would never be like her or Olette or Selphie, I'd be friendless at Twilight once again.
I decided my best plan was to keep my mouth full so I couldn't talk and say something stupid in front of them. I began shoveling spaghetti into my mouth. I nearly gagged at the terrible taste, but I forced it down and kept chewing.
"Selphie, Olette, and I met last week at cheerleader orientation," Kairi told me.
"So, how do you like Twilight?" Olette asked Kairi, her eyes moving from Kairi to me. She made a face before looking away.
"It's been good so far," Kairi said. "Everyone is staring at me like I'm some kind of freak, but it's not too bad."
"You are a freak," Selphie said laughing, "A Keyblade freak. But once the stench of Traverse wears off, you'll fit right in here."
"So how do you know Namine?" Olette asked.
My hands started to shake a little as I waited for Kairi to tell them that we were just casual acquaintances, not real friends, and she'd only latched onto me that morning because she didn't want to be a friendless loser.
"Namine and I have been best friends for years," Kairi said. "Isn't that right Nami?"
I stared at her, my hands frozen over my tray. Best friends? Years? Before today, I didn't think Kairi even knew who I was other than her boyfriend's brother's friend.
"Uh," I said, trying to wrap my mind around the idea of being Kairi Robbins's best friend. "Yeah, best friends…forever..."
Kairi flashed me a wide smile and then bit into her sandwich.
The two girls looked from me to Kairi and back again for a moment. Then they looked at each other, shrugged slightly, and resumed eating.
"Hello, ladies," said a drawing voice behind me. "How are the most beautiful girls at Twilight High today?"
I knew without turning around who the voice belonged to.
Selphie giggled. "Hi, Riku," she said.
"And who is this?" Riku asked, his eyes locked on Elena.
I saw Olette's eyebrows go up in surprise. "Haven't you already met your sister's best friend?" she asked.
Oh, nice. My voyage into popularity lasted all of, what? Five seconds?
But Kairi seemed to be a quick thinker. "Namine and I usually hang out at my house," she said. "Since I'm an only child and I have more privacy." She smiled at Riku and extended one hand. "Kairi Robbins. I use to go to Traverse."
"If I knew Keyblade girls were this gorgeous, I'd have changed schools a long time ago. I'm Riku Selene. I can't believe you've never introduced us before, dear little sister," he said, wrapping one arm around my neck in a hug and early strangling me. I slapped his arm away.
One glance at Kairi told me she was just as smitten as Riku. Her cheeks had turned a faint pink color making her look even prettier, which I didn't think could be possible. She glanced up at Riku, then looked away quickly, giggling.
I wanted to say something about Sora, to remind Kairi that she already had a boyfriend. But I also didn't want to lose the one possible friend at Twilight I had.
"What grade are you in?" Riku asked Kairi.
"I'm a sophomore," she told him.
"Oh, a young'un," Riku said grinning. "I'm a junior."
I rolled my eyes. He talked as if he were a decade older than us. "You're just about ready for the retirement home, aren't you?" I asked.
No one seemed to hear my sarcasm. Or they ignored it if they did.
Riku glanced at his watch and then ran a hand through his hair. "I need to go. I've got some things to do before my next class. But it was great to meet you, Kairi. I'll definitely be seeing you around. If you ever need anything, find me."
Riku smiled one last time at Kairi before he left.
Selphie and Olette leaned forward, squealing in unison.
"Riku is so crazy over you!" Olette told Kairi. "He is the hottest guy in school. Well, he and his brother, Cloud, who's a senior, are tied for hottest. But Riku is the hottest junior. And he'll definitely be asking you out sometime soon."
"Wait, wait," Selphie said, waving her hands. "No one has asked Kairi if she already has a boyfriend."
The two girls looked at her expectantly. I waited for Kairi to tell them all about Sora and how they'd been together off and on for years.
But Kairi shook her head and said, "No, I don't have a boyfriend. No one at all."
Oh my goodness! Kairi why! :) Looks like things are getting interesting. Please review and let me know what you think! 3