Chapter 2- Riku's POV

So I woke up in a bad mood.

Maybe it was due to my father's screaming, or my mother's door slamming, or even the neighbors yelling at each other about their car insurance payments, but whatever the case, it was two in the fucking morning. "Shut up!" I remember yelling as loud as I could. That earned me a nice slap across the face and another bruise on the side of my head. After taking aforementioned abuse, I wandered downstairs to the kitchen to see if there were any cigarettes left lying around. There was nothing.

I didn't sleep at all for the rest of the morning.

---

School is a real bitch, as I have learned from having to attend it for the past twelve years of my life. Actually, I don't go every day. Sometimes I cut classes with Axel instead. He usually has something much more interesting for us to do at his house, or wheverever we plan on going for the day. Usually we call some kids from that prissy private school Locania. Then they get kicked out of class for having their cellphones, and there's their reason to come hang with us. Most often, we call Roxas; Sometimes Zexion or Demyx.

Yesterday Zexion had been the target during his third hour english class. I guess when the teacher caught him, he said I was his agent, then hung up. I was going to kick his rockstar wannabe ass straight to the curb if he pulled that shit again today.

Right now I'm sitting oustide next to Axel. We decided together shapes are not all that important to us, and ditched geometry class.

"Gimme your cell," I mumbled, holding my hand out and waiting for Axel to place the object in previously mentioned hand.

"I don't have it with me. Olette borrowed it to call Seifer at his driving test." I was slightly annoyed. What was the fun of cutting classes when you couldn't ruin preppy kids' lives while you were doing it? I must admit, however, it was funny to think that when Olette called Seifer, he might be driving, and the distraction might cause him to swerve off the road and roll down a hill, killing himself and whoever was in the passenger seat.

No, I don't hate Seifer. There's nothing wrong with him. It's just that last year I failed my driver's test, and I was hoping he had the same guy. Then when Seifer crashed that car... Seifer can live though.

"I can't believe you'd lend it out."

---

The two of us sat around until the five minute bell that signaled everyone to their afternoon classes rang. I was contemplaiting going to class. I had english and we were discussing our poetry unit; something that for some reason actually seemed interesting to me. I stood up and headed for the double doors, fully prepared for Axel to ask me where in the hell I was going, but he didn't. In fact, I'm not sure what he did after I left.

I walked into english class seven minutes late. My teacher actually seemed happy to see me.

"Riku, could you come back here please?" He motioned me towards his desk with one finger, a sinister-looking gleam in his eyes. Queer ass bastard. I gave him a look like he was stupid but walked forward anyway.

"What did I do this time..."

"Oh, you're not in trouble. I'm just supposed to inform you that your first letter from your new penpal has arrived." Oh fuck. I didn't actually sign up for that shit did I? Didn't think so, at least. "The guidance councilor signed you up because she believes it will make you more sociable." What a bitch. He handed me an envelope, patted me on the shoulder, gave me a pencil and motioned for me to sit down. "Write back."

At least it wouldn't hurt to read it.

---

This kid was a fucking loser.

Yes, of course I'd heard of Sora, the smartest, richest, most honorable student at Locania, but no one had ever mentioned how absent-minded he was. As for Naminé, we were acquaintances. I suspected she'd written the letter for him because I recognized her cursive from her signature on one of the sketches she'd done for me on my last birthday present. This so-called 'best english student' sounded like a complete wreck.

I imediately grabbed a nice sheet of paper; I knew exactly what I wanted to say.

Dear Sora,
You sound like a great kid, real awesome at english. Great attempt at impressing
me. Yeah, I know Naminé. Has she told you how she watched me and Roxas give
each other blow jobs and all that good shit? Well she should have. You know I
would love to read some of your poetry? Here's something I wrote out, especially
for you. Think of it as a welcoming to be my friend.

Time to discover who you are
Make a cut; leave a scar
Lead yourself to a life of sin
Cherish the everlasting darkness within
When you're ready, grab a gun
Pull the trigger and shoot someone
Take an oath, take your knife
Slit your throat, end your life
Now don't fear; all is well
I assure you it never gets cold in hell

Write me something.
-Riku

---

After school, I left through the back doors and started heading for Locania. I needed to have a little chat with either Naminé or Roxas.

A few blocks away, I saw today's victim sitting on a bench with Zexion and Demyx. Demyx was tuning his guitar, Zexion was writing down would-be lyrics, and Roxas was staring at me. He waved. I made sure I was close enough to him before I said, "Tell Naminé to tell Sora not to write to me."

Okay, so compaired with my letter, my last sentence sounded just a bit contradictory. To be honest, I would have loved to hear something Sora wrote, but I'm not sure he would waste his time on a jackass like myself.

"O...Kay," Roxas replied, shrugging and staring ahead of himself for some reason. I turned around and saw Naminé waving and walking over to join us. "Naminé, I think Riku has something to say to you."

"Hmm?" I took the letter out of my pocket. "So you've already seen it?"

"Uh, yeah. What the hell was he talking about? I thought this kid was supposed to be a genius or something, with a killer I.Q? Sorry, but I just don't get that impression."

"Well, he didn't know what to say. What did you write back to him?"

"A poem."

"What poem?"

"One I made myself."

"Oh Riku, not another 'you should just kill yourself' one."

"You'll see." Roxas was staring at the two us like we were lunatics. Naminé looked frustraited.

"Riku, who else in your school has signed up for this penpal thing? I have more friends than just Sora who volunteered to do this."

"Well, I made Axel sign up because he lost a bet, but other than that I have no idea."

"Riku." Zexion had set his notebook and pen aside, looking up at me, eyes practically pleading for some help. I knew exactly what he was going to ask. "Please, please, please write us some lyrics. I will personally pay you for your help, and you'll get credit when the CD comes out."

"Wouldn't you not seem like you're as successful of a bad if you needed someone to write your lyrics for you?" I loved making people beg. It was just so entertaining to see what they'd offer me and how badly they wanted something.

"No. If you're not going to accept that offer then at least help me think of something. I'll pay you!" I smirked.

"So what do you want the song to be about, anyway? Suicide, homicide, genocide..."

"Riku, stop with the killing and violence act," Naminé said, glaring at me angrily. "Write a poem about something nice for a change. Write something for them like you did for me on Christmas." I'll admit right now that I did write a few nice things over the course of my life, and I did take pride in them. I just didn't think people wanted to hear a happy, upbeat song from a heavy metal band. It seemed too antithesis.

"Nah, I seem to hear from somebody..." I paused and my eyes averted their gaze to the direction Naminé was standing in. "...That Sora is an excellent writer. Maybe you should go ask him for help instead?" I honestly thought Naminé would have been the first with a reply to my statement, but she wasn't.

"Sora is pretty good in english class. Maybe we wouldn't have to pay to get him to write something." Roxas' suggestion was making Zexion seem like he would be very considerate of the idea if I wasn't standing there.

"I'll write something, but you need to tell me what you want it to be about."

"How about something pertaining to the fact that we need a lead singer, and not a single one of us has even a halfway-decent voice?" Zexion said.

"Hey, I can sing just fine," Demyx declared. "You guys just won't let me."

"Your voice sucks."

"Why don't you just go to the winter concert rehearsals this Saturday? I'm sure you could find someone with a nice voice there," Naminé said, giving me a look that seemed to say, 'please agree with me.' I nodded along for her comfort.

"Yeah, I guess that sounds like a good idea. Thanks Naminé." That was when everyone finally realized it was four-thirty, and half of us needed to be at work.

---

Later that night, after beginning yet another endless dispute with my parents, I recieved a call on my cellphone, and the caller ID suggested that it was Axel. I picked up. "Yeah?"

"I got a letter from some broad in english class today."

"Is that all?"

"No. Do you know a Kairi?"

"Yeah." Kairi, my good friend from my part-time job at the gas station. I probably should have suggested her to Zexion. Her voice was one of the absolute best I'd ever heard, and I must say I was hoping she would be trying out for the winter concert. Maybe they'd discover her without my help. One time she'd even attempted singing one of my poems. The only reason I say attempted is because I don't think any words I could write will ever be good enough to match the tones of her voice. Enough about Kairi. Now more on my conversation with Axel.

"She wrote to me about how boring she thinks school is and about how much she can't wait to get to her junior year. She wants to take psychology class." I guess I kind of ignored his statement.

"Write back to her and say your friend Riku thinks she should be a popstar. Tell her I know a band that wil be perfectly willing to play her background music and that she should consult me the next day we are working together on the same shift. "I heard him laugh and smirked to myself. "Don't forget."

"Well, she is kinda hot, so I can see her going into some occupation that depends on looks. Maybe she should be a model."

"I agree one hundred percent." I was usually out for the guys, but Kairi was enough to tint me bisexual.

"What else is she interested in?"

"She likes animals, wants to travel the world, and she's an awesome cook."

"So I should talk about lean cuisine and fluffly kittens."

"But isn't it worth it?"

"Definately."

"Great. Maybe I'll hook you up."

"That would be nice."

"See you tomorrow."

"Sure." I hung up. That certainly had been an interesting conversation. I could just see it now; Axel and Kairi together. What was the world coming to?

---

Sora's POV

Alright, so I'm taking my test in trig, and I can't remember the quadratic formula.

I think it might be because I'm supposed to write a poem for Riku, who is probably one of the strangest yet most interesting people I will ever have the pleasure of discussing literature with. He's an awsome poet compaired to me, but doesn't he ever write anything nice?

It sounds like he's pretty close with Roxas, too. Lucky.

So this formula must have something to do with the number four, because 'quad' is one of the prefixes. But now I also remember the teacher saying something about it being the number two instead. The world is weird sometimes. All I can say is this:

Negative B to the plus or minus square root of B squared minus four times A times C over two times A.

Yay.

---

I got through trig. The test wasn't so difficult once I figured out what the quadratic formula was, and I knew everything else.

Now it was time for me to sit in study hall and work on some sort of poem for Riku. I couldn't believe I was actually going to write to him without any help, but it was happening and I couldn't wait to show him up. He will be jealous of my poetry skills.

---

Riku's POV

I couldn't believe it; simply couldn't believe it. The little bastard had written in response to my poem and it was actually pretty good.

Riku,

So you're someone who likes to write
About the darkness overcoming the light
And hint at thoughts of suicide
Saying you were absolutely sure you tried
Hard enough to seperate yourself
From all of those who were going to hell
I see you're a cynicle person who doesn't care
And snears at the people who'd stop to stare
Even though you knew they had the right
You grabbed a knife and impaired their sight
Then you killed them; something's wrong
Something you can quite place a finger on

Write me a nice poem next time. This morbid stuff really depresses me.
-Sora

That was all he wrote. Damn.

By this time I was sitting outside the school, looking at the cloudy sky for an inspiration to write something 'nice.' But maybe that was my problem; I always noticed the sad things instead of the happy ones. And maybe that has something to do with the fact that I've been fucking up my entire life and discovering that I have the ability to write poetry of any sort is the only thing that's ever happened. There was nothing else.

Currently I was a sophomore, and I would be eighteen in two months. I had failed eighth grade right along with Axel just to piss my parents off and prove how much I really didn't care. Both of us planned to quit school the exact day I became of age.

My family hates me. I'm an only child and they don't accept my being bisexual, plus they're always fighting because of the shortage of money and there's nothing anyone can do about it.

I will never have an occupation in writing because I'm really not that good at it. My poetry is way too depressing; Sora had definately proven that as a point. It's most likely that I'll end up working in the gas station my whole life and never get married, have kids, have relationships of any sort, or anything like that.

The cloudy sky made me want to drink a gallon of bleach so I'd choke on it and die. If I survived, and people questioned my motives, I'd just say, "Whoops," and suggest that, "I thought this was milk."

Not a very creative lie. I hate milk and practically everyone knows it.

And in case someone may be wondering, I'm not suicidal. Holding a gun to your head never solves a single problem, so why take care of things that way? I don't know.

Yet for some reason it was all I ever enjoyed writing about. Call me a hypocrite and hand me the bleach. Pronto.

---

Sora's POV

Today when I sat down in english and opened Riku's letter, I was a bit suprised at the contents.

Sora,
Sorry there's no poem. I can't ever think of anything happy on cloudy days, or
any day for that matter. Why don't you write me something nice? Your poetic
ability is very inspiring and you are good with terms and responses.
Can I ask you a favor? You know Kairi, and I know you do because I work
with her downtown and she talks about you a lot. My friend Axel and her are
penpals and I'm trying to hook them up. I need you to tell her that you know
Axel, that he's a nice guy and she should seriously consider going out with him.
Also, please inform her that after school today Demyx, Zexion and Roxas will
be stopping her in the hall to listen to her lovely singing voice.

-Riku

P.S- Maybe we should get together sometime and see what kind of poems we
can come up with. Ask Naminé for my number and call my cell when you get
the chance.

Alright then...

I guess I really wouldn't have had a problem with meeting Riku if I hadn't seen Naminé talking to him a couple days ago. My God was he hot...

How did it happen that Riku knew all of my friends, and all of my friends knew Riku, and somehow the word had never gotten around to me? Maybe I was just too busy with my schoolwork to notice when anyone talked about him.

Well I'll be sure to notice him next time.

A/N- Soo happy you guys reviewed! Thank you much! If you have any questions reguarding this story, feel free to email me.

Chapter 3 Preview- (Yes I added this because I know you'll love it.) Riku visits Sora's house (!) and a sad tale of Sora's childhood experiences. : (