Beauty in Walking Away

Fuck...

The harsh language came from not getting enough sleep and having to get up at six in the morning for dreaded school. The entire night consisted of her tossing and turning and waking up every hour or so. When she walked unto school property, her chocolate brown irises settled on the building. Shrugging her shoulder to readjust the sling of her messenger bag, her eyes followed a group of girls that walked right past her. Yuna led the way, and they seemed to have a glaring match for a few seconds before Rinoa ended by rolling her eyes and walking to the school's entrance.

By the time she reached the staircase the warning bell already sounded throughout the halls. 'Shit...' She thought to herself with irritation as she started up the stairs. Before she could get to the fourth step, she felt a hand grab her arm. In order to keep herself from falling, her hand shot out and grabbed the railing. Trying to rip her arm away, she turned to look at the person who interfered with her getting to class on time.

"I'm going to be late! And I don't feel like dealing with any of your shit."

"Whoa... Hey, calm down. I just wanted to say 'welcome back'. I didn't think you would come back."

Rinoa blinked at the silver-haired male and took in his appearance as she strained to remember who he was. The last thing she expected was a warm welcome considering all of the assholes she's encountered so far.

"It's Riku." He tried, seeing the confusion in her eyes. "Remember? Third grade? You kicked that soccer ball and it nailed me in the head?" His index finger stuck out to point at the back of his head. "I might still have a knot where you hit me. You hit me pretty damn hard." He laughed a little.

"Oh! Ha... Yeah. If I remember correctly, you were in the way of my shot."

A light blush colored her cheeks in embarrassment. How could she forget Riku? They used to be really good friends during third and fourth grade. Now she was wondering what happened during the first half of fifth grade?

"You should have seen me. So it was your horrible aim." He teased a little bit with a smirk. That made Rina grimace at him. All embarrassment vanished. That was always what happened when someone dissed her soccer-playing skills.

"You shouldn't have been in the middle of a soccer field talking to your buddies. Common sense. It's not that hard."

"Well, we were there first. First come, first serve, yes?"

"No." Rina retorted with a narrowed look, but there was a light playful glint in her eyes. She remembered when she had a crush on Riku way back in Elementary school. Instead of swooning over him and writing 'Mrs insert-name-here' she would be taking hits at him. Hits as in kicking soccer balls at his head or if he was in the hall way she would purposely shoulder him and say he was in her way. Yes, she was a bit of a brat and a tomboy back in Elementary school. But she also had her fair share of difficulties at home.

"You are still as mean as ever, you know that, right?" He pouted a little bit and looked at her with sea green irises. In elementary school it would have won her over... Or it would have gotten him a kick to the shin. Or maybe a punch in the face. That's what she did when she was coping with her shyness. But now they were teenagers, and she had time to mature and cope with things a little easier than back then.

"Put the lip away. You can't pull off the puppy look anymore, Riku." She shot down.

"Damn, you're cold." He laughed a little, scratching at the back of his neck while looking at her directly.

Rinoa was about to respond but then the tardy bell interrupted her train of thought. Honestly, Rinoa forgot that she was at school at that moment. She mentally cursed the bell, she wanted to talk to Riku a little more. It was probably one of the most interesting things that happened so far... Well, the previous night with Roxas could rival it. She could, honestly, say that she was never followed around by a kid with a cat-eared hoodie.

"Sorry for making you late." Riku apologized.

"No you're not." She threw him a playful look before she turned her back to him and headed up the staircase.

"Hey, my number is still the same if you remember it." He called out to her.

"That was Elementary school. I'm not a frickin' computer!" Rina shot back from the top of the stairs, staring down at the silver haired male.

Instead of waiting for a reply she hurried down the hallway that lead to Mrs. Gainsborough's Parenting class with a smile on her face. She hoped the blush in her cheeks disappeared by the time she entered the classroom. It was already weird enough with a bunch of classmates staring at her wondering what she was doing that made her late.

Sliding into her desk, she looked up at the chalkboard to see a list of more requirements for the project. 'Really? Couldn't she make up her frickin' mind?' Rina thought bitterly with an eye-roll as she unbuckled her messenger bag to pull out her spiral notebook. Opening it, she began to copy the requirements neatly on the first page. She felt something being thrown at her head, making her twitch with irritation. She tried to ignore it by continuing writing things down in her notebook. Then she felt another thing hit her head. She wasn't just going to let that one go.

Whipping around in her seat, her eyes met with familiar blue ones. "Hey!" She had caught Roxas in the process of making a third paper ball. Roxas' eyes widened at being caught and quickly threw the paper ball at the kid next to him.

"What's your problem?" Axel snarled, narrowing his piercing green irises at Roxas before Rina could even get anything else out. Instead of looking apologetic, Roxas looked over to Axel with a bored look before laughing a little to himself.

"Your face." He chuckled like it was funny to him. It actually was amusing to Rina but she could tell that Axel was pissed off.

"You want to be a smart-ass?" The red-head laughed sarcastically before shooting up from his desk and turned to Roxas.

"At least my ass is more intelligent than that pathetic excuse of a brain you have... If there's anything up there." He added that last part with a snicker. He found that thought so amusing. The comment earned him a short laugh from Axel. But he didn't pay much attention to see the hand come out and grab him by the collar of his hoodie. Axel had pulled him out of his seat without much effort.

"You're funny... How about I give you something hysterical to laugh about." He shoved the blonde into the wall behind his desk and threw a punch at his face. The classroom suddenly came to life at the sudden action. A few got up from their seats to get a better look. Some remained at their seat, afraid to get in the middle of the quarrel.

"Axel! Roxas! To the Principal's office! Now!"

Just as the teacher said that, Roxas had punched Axel in the face and lowered himself and tried to knock him over by charging at his stomach. It was almost successful, but someone had grabbed him by the hood and pulled him off. He didn't see the face of the person that pulled him away, but he assumed it was a security guard considering the muscled arms holding back his arms. Roxas kicked at the air, hitting a couple desks that were within kicking range.

"Let me go! I'm going to fucking kill you!" He tried to squirm out of the hold, but every attempt ended in failure. "Get back here!" He snarled out when he watched Axel walk right out of the classroom, either he was leaving the school premises or he was actually going to face the Principal. He guessed the first one. If that was the case, he wanted to be released so he could chase down the asshole and finish the fight Axel started. But unfortunately it wasn't going to work that way. The security guard had lugged Roxas from his first hour to the Principal's office. It wasn't a quiet trip: all the way there Roxas was growling out profanities and threats at the security guard and towards Axel.

The classroom burst into conversation immediately when the door was shut and Roxas and Axel were out of the room. Rinoa could hear people making bets on who would have won the fight, or talking about the past between Roxas and Axel that made them hate each other so much. She began to wonder how much these kids knew about those two students. Letting out a heavy sigh, she flicked a gaze towards the door with a concerned glint in her eyes. It was for Roxas.

Maybe she would run into him later?

"Alright, class! Go back to your seats and take out your notes from yesterday."

Rinoa tuned out the teacher and focused on her own thoughts as she let her eyes drift to the window that was next to her seat. She watched as Axel walked out of the school and towards the student parking lot.

Asshole...

Evelyn's Note: Sorry if this chapter sucked. XP But anyways, reviews are greatly appreciated ! Next chapter will be written by Panda-chan! See the pattern yet? XD See you then!