*Xion*
School just seemed so . . . empty today. Everything that happened seemed practiced. There were the empty, non-caring hellos, the faked waves and hugs. Yet, it all looked so real.
I was afraid that everyone would be empty and phony today, until I saw him. Everything about him was spontaneous and real. He let off a light that seemed to draw people to him. But guess what? So did the popular, pretty girl standing next to him.
The boy's blond hair was spiky, and he had bright blue eyes – just like me! I knew who the girl was, though. Everyone did. Everyone knew Kairi. Pretty, popular and sweet, who couldn't love her? Every girl jealous of her. Which included me.
I liked the boy –he seemed interesting. However, he was already friends with Kairi, meaning he must be popular material.
Me? I was definitely not popular. The only people that knew I existed at school were the teachers. That was only because the lowest score I'd ever gotten on a test was 95%. They loved me.
Sure, I'd tried to fit in. I'd talked to Sora once, but he just said hi and left to go hang out with Kairi and Riku. Occasionally, I'd talked to Axel, who just laughed at anything and everything. We had something close to a friendship, though.
I couldn't wait to get home.
"Yo, Xion," someone called my name.
I turned around. "Axel!" I said, surprised.
"That's me," he said. "Feel up to ice cream?" He didn't wait for me to answer, but walked off. I laughed and ran after him.
"What kind?" I asked after I caught up with him.
"Sea salt," he responded. Then smirking, he said, "Got it memorized?"
I nodded, laughing again. Axel and I always had ice cream together afterschool, but lately, something had seemed missing. We always climbed a certain tree on the beach to eat ours. We had done this for several years now, though no one knew but us. Recently, though, it had seemed empty. Almost like we were missing someone, but that couldn't be it.
I bit into the salty-sweet ice cream.
"What's wrong?" Axel asked. I looked up, confused. "You've been different today. What's wrong?" He bit into the ice cream himself, looking at me.
"Oh." It came out, barely a whisper.
"C'mon, you can tell me. What's bothering you?"
"It's nothing. It's stupid."
"Well, it's important enough to bother you," Axel pointed out.
"Today, something seems weird. Like we're missing something," I said.
Axel threw back his head and laughed. "So you noticed?" he asked.
"What?" I was confused.
"That Roxas kid, he's interesting."
"What? What do you mean?" Apparently, Axel knew something I didn't.
"He's new around here, right?" I nodded. "And yet, he's already friends with Kairi. Isn't that something?"
"That's exactly what I thought!" I exclaimed. So his name is Roxas. "Anyways, since when do you care what Kairi does?"
Axel scoffed. "I don't." I silently took a bite of my ice cream. I didn't question Axel. He was two years older than me, but only in the eleventh grade. He failed a grade, though he won't admit which one.
"Axel?" I asked.
"Hmm?" he replied, his mouth full of ice cream.
"After you graduate, will you still meet up with me for ice cream?" I asked.
"That's two whole years away, Xion. I don't wanna think about my future!"
"I just realized that after you graduate, I'll be all alone."
Axel went silent. He knew it was the truth, too. Unless a miracle occurred, I would be all alone. For an entire year.
Axel sighed. "You want me to fail another year for you? We could even have some classes together."
"No," I said. "You should try to pass classes this year, not just scrape by like you usually do."
I could hear the smirk in his voice as he said, "Fat chance."
I hung my book bag up on its hook, and dropped myself onto my bed. Today was exhausting. Hopefully tomorrow's better.
I could hear laughter from my roommate's room. She was probably on her phone, as she often was.
We didn't have to worry about bills until we were both sixteen, and could get jobs. Her parents were rich, and sent us enough money for bills and food.
I looked through the handouts I had been given in class and sighed. Advanced classes were such hard work.
Wait, isn't Roxas in two of my classes?
I got an idea. I quickly got a pen and a sticky note to write it down as a wide smile spread across my face.