Fools in love
Fools in love, are there any creatures more pathetic?
Fools in love, never knowing when they've lost the game
-Joe Jackson

I had never thought much about girls. But I had never thought they could be this cruel. Especially to other girls they didn't even know. I had also never thought love could turn into hate so quickly. And actually, I wouldn't have given a damn about all this, if the cause of it would not have been Axel.

He actually had to hurry up and go home, but when he heard that single praise, he couldn't help but stop and stare.

"Pence, can't we wait for the bus somewhere else? There's a little slut standing here, trying to look sexy for her boyfriend; it's ruining my mood"

Olette's words could have been quite hurtful for the other girl, if only she would have been able to keep the jealousy out of them.
I knew I should just get back on my bike and ride away as fast as I could in order to not be hurt again, but I didn't. Curiosity killed the cat, but it looked like the poor animal wouldn't be the only victim.

"Ah, it's so nice to feel some sparks of hatred from you. Your fangirly love was almost making me throw up." The other girl had a good comeback, in my opinion, but Olette did not look impressed.
"And you think your 'love' is actually deep, and going to get you somewhere? With him? I'm sorry to break it to you, girl, but you're not living in a fairy tale."
The girl seemed to have some sort of clever answer ready, but I never found out what it was, because as that moment a "For God's sake, stop bitching kids, I'm getting a headache" was heard and everyone turned to face Larxene, Marluxia in her tow. Beside her stood Demyx and, of course, Axel.

The latter seemed to not have heard the conversation earlier, as he just strode over to the girl that was waiting at the bus stop – completely neglecting Olette, who now seemed to be radiating with jealousy – and sliding a lanky arm over her shoulder.

He whispered something in her ear, she laughed and Olette turned and stamped away. Then he looked around at the bystanders, as if only now he noticed they were not alone. I didn't have time to see if his burning eyes would linger anywhere, because as soon as our gazes crossed, I turned around and started cycling, not wanting to admit I had been staring. And not at the girl.

I noticed too late – again – that my actions could have quite the opposite effect of what I wanted them to have. Again. I also noticed too late that today was a Friday. Which meant tomorrow was Saturday. And I had drawing academy on Saturday mornings. Which meant I'd have to think of a good reason to stare by tomorrow. At 9 in the morning.

But when I came home, I discovered I was quite lucky. The rink opened tomorrow, and I had training until 10 o' clock. Add half an hour to cycle from the rink to the academy, which meant I had one hour and a half more to think. Not that it would matter much. It was just stay of execution.

I glanced at my watch. 8:07 it said. Only two hours of skating and 26 minutes of cycling away from my doom.
"Stop fidgeting Roxas," I whispered to myself while tying my skates, "You're over exaggerating."
I pushed myself away from the bench I was sitting on. 'Maybe he doesn't even ask anything. Maybe he just brushed it off as idiotic behavior from a stupid guy he happens to sit with 4 hours a week, on Saturday mornings, to keep himself busy.' But a small voice in the back of my head was saying: 'You know he's not the type to overlook something like that. He's the type to make fun out of everything, every time he finds an opportunity.' And I knew that last sentence was, unfortunately, right.

Warming up started and I was all too happy I had to concentrate to the fast rhythm of the music, trying to keep up and not skate over others at the same time.

The moment I walked into the drawing academy, six pairs of eyes looked op to meet mine directly. Only five of them had a welcoming glance in them though. I couldn't place the emotion in the other one. It was something along curiosity, but with a jest that made me uncomfortable. But above all, it looked like bad news.

I swallowed, shifting from one foot to the other before I started to walk up to our table, bracing myself for possible questions and remarks. Fortunately, there were none. However, as I sat down at my usual spot, Axel's lips formed into a smile. A bad, bad omen.

"So, you ditched us to practice uh?" Apparently, my absence had not gone unnoticed. Axel must have talked to my friends. 'I really, really hope Sora kept his mouth. At least enough to not say anything stupid.'

"Yes," I nodded, "Got to get as fast as I can. I've got to use every minute I can." I didn't look at him. I was a bad liar. Collecting searching my bag for pencils that had 'accidentally' fallen out of my pen case was a good excuse. I hoped he would leave it at that. Actually, I didn't know a thing about short track, expect for the fact that I had the wrong muscles to do it. I'd be screwed if he asked detail questions.

There was no reply. When I finally looked up – way too early if you asked me, but my excuse had run out – I met Axel's eyes again, this time staring at me intently, as if thinking about something. It made me suddenly very self-conscious.

I had thought for hours on what to wear. Usually, I took something out of my closet at random and searched other clothes that went well together. But today, it hadn't been so easy. I was lucky I had anticipated this yesterday; otherwise I probably would still be searching at home. Or I wouldn't have been able to sleep, worried as I would have been. But it looked like there was still some sense left in me, so I had picked my clothes yesterday evening, first thing after eating a little snack upon coming home.
The first thing I looked for was a pair of trousers. I wanted to wear my favorite pair, I knew they actually made me look a bit cool – if I could trust Sophie, the girl I practiced with usually, that is – but after searching the house for 20 minutes, asking my dad 12 times if he'd seen it, I found it with the laundry, stained with spaghetti sauce.
I had settled on another pair. They were black, and quite boyish, but I didn't really like them. They were just a bit too baggy for me.
I wore a plain black sweater with a wife beater underneath. Normally I wore our club's sweater to trainings, but for obvious reasons, I had 'forgotten' it at home.

As Axel's grin became broader, I knew he was going to make some incredibly idiotic comment, making sure I would spend the rest of the day blushing. Whatever it was, I would probably never find out, because he was interrupted by a loud: "hey Roxas, not frozen to dead yet?", as Ralph appeared, seemingly out of nowhere, to explain that I had to reproduce some old advertisement and change something about it, and by the time he was gone, Axel had gone back to doing whatever he had been doing before I had entered, comment probably already forgotten.

Peace returned when I, too, began to draw. As time passed, an older version of the man on the advertisement began to form on my paper. I gave him a wig I knew people had been wearing in whatever era in the past and stopped when I had to clothe him. I had no idea what he should wear.

Before I could begin to brood, I was distracted by Sora.
"Hey, Roxas, you free next Friday?"
I answered yes without thinking. I was always free on Fridays and it didn't occur to me Sora should know this.

A second later, Axel's voice was in my ear, way to close, his breath caressing the hairs on my neck.
"That's settled then."

I looked up, eyes big with confinement. I could feel my brows knit together. My head was way too occupied with thoughts of what the hell was happening to blush. Which I was quite thankful for afterwards. I looked at Sora for an explanation.

"He gave me a cookie."

What. The. Hell.

"You'll come, right?" Axel said. The sentence was formed as a question, but his tone made clear 'no' was not the right answer.

"Where to?" I asked cautiously.

"The rink in Wilrijk. You know where it is. As a matter of fact, you where there about two hours ago," he smirked.

"Why?" My face was stern, making clear I didn't want to go.

"You know about the 'friends' action, right?"

I nodded. It was an action where you could buy entry tickets online in a small group, giving you the amazing reduction of 75 eurocents.

"Well, we bought four entry tickets for next Friday, but Larx has to work that day."

My face was still the same, which meant: 'There's no way in hell I'm going."

"C'mon Roxas, you need every minute of practice you can get." He said the last part with a sing-song like voice, repeating the excuse I had given when I came in. And it was actually true. I did need practice, and even though this whole thing smelled like a trap, I nodded, though not very enthusiastically. I had no way to get out of it without sounding like a stupid asocial bitch anyway.

This should be the end of a very bad memory from a very bad day I planned to lock up somewhere tight in the back of my mind, but fate decided she hated me.

That evening, Sora called. By the tone of his voice, I immediately knew he was going to say something I wouldn't like.

"Hey, Roxas, I don't really know how to say this, but… this morning, Riku, Kairi and I were talking about you," he stopped a moment, as if he was unsure about how to continue.

"Go on," I urged.

"Axel had gone to hear about his task for the morning, but he came back earlier than expected, and, well… he might have heard something… and it might… cause him to draw some… conclusions…" I swore my heard stood still for a few beats.

"Roxas, are you alright?"

"Ugh, yeah."

There was a short pause.

"Sora, why did you ask about Friday? Now he might know I have a crush on him," Sora chuckled a bit, as if he was saying 'You know most people would call this something more than a crush', which annoyed me even more as I continued, "Did you think it was such a good idea? Just for some cookies?"

"Relax, Roxas. Breathe," he laughed, but he turned serious when he heard I wasn't. "You know, he asked me to as you about Friday at the beginning of the morning, before he overheard us. If I suddenly cancelled the deal, wouldn't it be suspicious? Wouldn't those few words he heard suddenly get a whole new meaning? It would be even easier for him to draw conclusions."

I sighed. Sora was right. But it also meant I was wrong, and I was too stubborn to admit that just yet.

"Come on, Roxas. Something good might actually happen on Friday. You never know."

"Sora, you're way too optimistic." He laughed.

"Yeah, but you're Mr. Super Pessimist, so we're even."

With that, the conversation was brought to a close.

It was Friday night, 6 o' clock sharp. The rink opened at 7 and it took about 30 minutes to get there. Meaning I had 30 minutes left to clothe myself. My clothes were easy to pick. My mother had washed my favorite trousers. On top, I wore a grey wife beater and a black, slim fitting jumper.

The problem was the skates. If I wore my own – my figure skates – the secret I tried so hard to hide would be exposed in a matter of seconds. Would Axel know what short track skates looked like? Would he notice if I took my mother's hockey skates? They fit, but would he notice they were woman's wear? He would probably see I couldn't really skate in them. At least not enough for someone who had been skating before he could walk. Did Axel know how long I had been skating? Should I tell him my skates were dull? That sounded like such a weak excuse.

I wished I could just slam my head against a wall and erase all the thoughts. It was so annoying, like hyperventilating almost, but then with thoughts. Hyperthoughtilating? Hyperthinking? No, that sounded like some weird super power.

I dropped my head in my hands, noticing the ends were still damp. I had just showered. I knew it was futile. I'd have to shower again after skating, but, oh well, who cares?

Lifting my head back up, I took a look at my alarm clock. 6: 27. How come time always goes by so quickly when you don't want it too? There was no time for useless thoughts anymore. With a sigh, I stood up and ran a brush through my hair, even though it was as futile as the shower. My hair was never in a mood to obey.

I grabbed my skating bag and threw some snacks in it before jumping on my bike and with only a "I'm going out" to my parents, I rode straight towards hell.

A/N: Wooh, chapter 2 is up.

Please review! I don't know when chapter 3 will be there, as I'm only halfway in writing it, and I promise I'll work faster if I get reviews.

Random fact of the day:
There is an ant in Brazil that has a gland which causes the ant to explode like a bomb, spraying a sticky toxic goo on everybody nearby. Now that's some hard core biology!