I glanced at my phone for what seemed like the hundredth time that day.

2:00. Fifteen minutes to go till my so-called "date". Ugh.

Since my run-in with Mr. Pyrrhus the night before, I had been a wreck. If he showed the ID to the principal, I could be suspended, or worse; expelled. And if my mom saw it…

Well, let's just say I'd be a dead man.

I decided to kill time by cleaning out my locker (which needed it desperately). As I gathered the numerous crumpled papers, I thought about Mr. Pyrrhus.

Seeing him at the club like that, completely letting himself go, was…different. The man that I had always admired, that I had always looked up to, had transformed into someone that I didn't even recognize. And I wasn't sure if I liked this new person or not.

"Roxas?"

I jumped at the sound of my name, slamming my head against the top of the locker. I stumbled back, blinking back tears from the collision. I turned to see Sora freaking out. "Ohmygosh! Are you okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. What do you want, Sora?"

The brunette stopped for a moment and just stared. "I heard you and mom argue last night. And you came home so late, I didn't see you… So I was just making sure everything was okay…"

I shrugged. "I'm okay. You shouldn't worry about me and mom. She hates me, I hate her. It's a mutual relationship."

"She doesn't hate you! She just wants what's best for you." Sora took my hand. "Let's go home, and you can apologize to her. Maybe you two can talk and sort things out–"

I tore my hand away. "Like I'd apologize to her! Besides, I have somewhere to go this afternoon. I'm meeting someone."

"Meeting someone? Who?"

"…Just a friend."

A curious look, but no further questions came from him. "Well, you should still talk to mom. I think it'd really help you two."

"Yeah, yeah." The sound of the locker door swinging shut reverberated through the empty hall. "So where you off to?"

He smiled. "Me and Riku are going to the library to work on homework. He's gonna help me with English and I'm gonna help him out with science."

"Don't you mean 'Riku and I'?"

"…And that's exactly why he's helping me with English."

Laughing, I started off down the hall. "Well don't let me keep you from your little 'date', Sora. Just don't let mom know, kay?"

"It's not a date!" He protested, his voice quickly being covered by the sound of the bell clanging through the hall.

Standing in front of Mr. Pyrrhus's room, two thoughts occurred to me.

One: I wasn't sure what he wanted of me.

Two: There was no guarantee that he still had my ID, or that he had any real intention of giving it back.

The second thought was the one that worried me the most.

Sighing, I knocked on the door. Upon hearing a muffled "come in", I entered. The teacher was sitting at his desk, gathering papers and folders and putting them into a messenger bag. He looked up and smiled. "Ah, Roxas. Ready to leave?"

"Let's just get this over with," I mumbled.

He laughed, picking up his bag and crossing the room. "Now now, you make it sound like a punishment."

"It might as well be."

"Just be glad I'm not doing anything worse." Passing by, he ruffled my hair. "Let's get going."

The café Axel had talked about was a small coffee shop on the corner of Main Street. It was a light tan building with a simple sign outside the door: MELODY CAFÉ.

"You ever been here before?" the teacher asked.

"No, but I think I've heard of it."

"They got some pretty good stuff. A friend of mine works here, and I like to support him when I can."

He held the door for me—"Was always taught to be a gentleman," he had said with a smile—as we walked in. It was plain, yet not so plain that it was unattractive. We took a table near the door, looking out on the street.

A perky blonde came to the table, a smile adorning his features. "Hiya, Axel! It's great to see you here today!"

"How you doing, Dem?" Mr. Pyrrhus smiled at the young man.

"Pretty good. Business has been holding up, as usual. But it's still so boring working here, especially now that Zexy took that job at the school where you work."

"Ah, sorry about that." Glancing my way, the redhead continued, "Demyx, I would like you to meet one of my students, Roxas."

The waiter turned his attention to me and smiled. "The name's Demyx Amane."

"Roxas Strife. Nice to meet you."

The bubbly waiter quickly took our orders and left us alone. I leaned my head against my hand, staring at Mr. Pyrrhus.

This was it. If I didn't leave here today with that ID, I wouldn't be able to escape the hell I called home.

"So, Roxas," the teacher started, his eyes sparkling with amusement, "would you so kindly explain to me what the hell you were doing at that perverse establishment last night?"

"I'd like to ask you the same thing," I retorted.

He wagged his finger at me. "Now now, today is about you. We have plenty of time to talk about me later." Later? Does he think we're going to go out again? Yeah right. "Right now I want to know about you, the dark mysterious student with whom I am not acquainted with."

"Why do you want to know about this so much? What does it have to do with you?"

His eyes narrowed until they were just jade slits. "Because I don't want to see you end up like me." Sighing, he added, "Is that so wrong? To care for my students?"

"Well…." I averted his gaze. "I guess not."

Just then Demyx came over with our orders. "Okay," he beamed, "I have here one coffee and one cup of nice hot tea. Anything else I can get you?"

"I think we're good, Dem, thanks."

Once the waiter was out of earshot, I began to speak. "So where would you like me to begin?"

"How about we start with why you go to clubs in the first place?"

"All right." Sitting back in my chair, I turned my gaze to the ceiling. "Do you know Naminé Violette?"

"Ah, yeah. She's a student in my Advanced English class. What about her?"

"She used to be a really close friend of mine." It stung to say those words—used to be—but I kept on. "We've know each other since we were little. She had a delicate family situation growing up, so I always watched over her. In a way, she was like a little sister to me. But as we got older, I noticed that she looked at me differently—shyly, as if she were hiding something. When we entered high school she finally admitted that she liked me. I thought I liked her back, so I asked her out. I mean, that's the logical thing to do, right?

"We went out for about two years. But around the end of our junior year, she sent me a letter saying that she thought we should break up. It was so sudden… I mean, I thought we were getting along fine. True, I didn't exactly know if I loved her as much as she loved me, but I did care for her. It just…screwed with me, you know?"

Axel rested his head on his hands and scrutinized me. "So you decided that partying was the best way to deal with it?"

"I don't know. It seemed like the best option at the time. When I join all those people dancing, just melt into the crowd… I become a part of something. I'm able to just forget everything, just let myself go and focus on nothing but the lights and the beat."

"Then take a dance class. You don't need to go to places like that."

I glared at him. "You don't get it. How could you ever understand?"

Now it was his turn to glare. "Trust me, I understand perfectly. Which is why I know that what you're doing isn't best for you."

"Well what else can I do? I can't go to my family—my mom practically hates me, and my brother's too much of an idiot to notice anything." I stared at the table, clenching my hands into fists to stop them from shaking. "I have no one."

"Roxas…" I felt the teacher's hand take mine, giving it a gentle squeeze. "You have me. I know I may seem like just a teacher, but I do care for you. If you ever need someone to talk to, you're welcome to come to me. I promise I'll always have time for you. Okay?" He smiled that same dazzling smile, the one that always seemed to make everything seem brighter.

I squeezed his hand back. "Okay…thanks."

"Now, about that ID—"

Crap. I had completely forgotten about that. "Uh, yeah, could I maybe get that back?"

Axel pulled out the plastic card, looking it over. "Well, you did come here as promised..." As quick as he had taken it out, he stashed the card away in his coat pocket. "But I think I'm gonna hold to this just a little longer, just to be safe."

"Now wait a minute—"

"Oh? You really want to object?" His eyes flickered with devious intent, all the while smiling that little smile.

"…No. I guess not…"

"Good boy." He sat back in his seat, laughing. I couldn't help but watch him.

True, I was a little upset that I didn't manage to get my ID back, but I wasn't mad at Axel. The thing was, I couldn't be mad; not at him.

Something stirred in my chest, something like I'd never felt before. What is this feeling…?