Summary: How long can you deny that you're in love? Joy is going to find out at Twilight High Boarding School.

Genre: Romance/Humor/Drama

Pairings: RoxasOC RikuOC NamineOC SoraKairi HaynerOlette (Other pairings may be decided later)

WARNING: Characters may be OOC xP In this chapter, unexpected mentionings of Roxas and another OC

Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts II or any of its characters

Claimer: I own Joy, Amy, Cookie, Ms. Shao, and Jun

Thank you for the reviews: -sO-aSiAn-, haru-teri22, shadowoflight22, and strawberyla. :)

Chapter Four
Her Own Reasons

Joy Kane and Amy Vian are the new students at Twilight High Boarding School and in one day, has made a group of friends due to a little accident. Both are the age of 16 and in 11th grade. Before they had come to Destiny Islands, they both had a promise in which they promised to each other; Amy promised to not make rash decisions and to not judge people by first impressions, and Joy had promised to not fall for any guy that she sees, no matter what, she was not going to love another again. Will they be able to keep their promises? Can Joy really not fall in love, ever again? She is avoiding the pain of love, but how far will she go just to avoid the grief? What about Roxas; he seems to be attracted to this girl. Will that attraction turn into something more? Or will he not even take one look at the situation? He's been hurt before, is he going to risk feeling it again?

These are the questions that are burning deep down within themselves. But what do their friends plan to do about this? The answers lie ahead.

It took them awhile, but Roxas' group finally made it to the arcade on the third floor. They would've been their earlier if it weren't for Amy and Selphie looking at nearly every store that had caught their eye. Entering the arcade, they were greeted with flashing and colorful lights. It was like they were at a club, except it wasn't. The game machines and other things proved that they were indeed at an arcade.

"This is the arcade??" Amy flickered her eyes from game to machine.

"Wow, this place is ten times as better and bigger than the one we have at my hometown. And mine didn't have the flashing lights either," Joy said, pointing at the lights dancing around on the ceiling.

Roxas looked at Joy with an amused expression, "Seriously?"

Looking up at Roxas since she was shorter than him by like three inches, Joy nodded her head, "Yup."

"Come on, I want to play DDR," Olette said, starting to walk ahead.

"Dance Dance Revolution?" Joy asked, her eyes gleaming.

Turning around, Olette replied, "Yeah, what else?"

Joy and Amy grinned and caught up with Olette, following her to the DDR machine. Roxas and Selphie soon caught up with them. Finding the pads available, Olette and Selphie put down their shopping bags, hopped on the dancing pads and popped in some quarters. "I wonder if the others are here yet," Joy wonders, looking around a bit.

"Well, if they're here, they'll find us. We always play DDR," Roxas informed the violet-eyed girl.

The '321 Stars' song started playing and the two players were dancing - they were playing on standard. "I knew you guys would take forever." The teens that weren't playing turned their heads and found Hayner, Kairi, and Namine walking over to them.

"Hey guys," Roxas greeted. Kairi and Namine had a bag each; it seems they didn't do much shopping. They were soon joined in by Riku's group and from there, some went off to other games while the rest stayed and waited for their turns for DDR. Today, the arcade wasn't really busy. So, no other people came to play the dancing game.

Olette and Selphie both went and cleared the song. Selphie ended up winning due to her hyper-ness and it made her keep up with the steps. Next was Kairi and Namine; Kairi ended up winning. And that's how it continued for the time being. Finally, it was Amy's and Joy's turn.

Roxas and Sora just finished their turn and as Roxas stepped down for Joy to get on, he told her, "Hey, don't lean on the handle bar too much, it's really wobbly."

"Got it," Joy nodded her head as she stepped on the pad.

"Hey Joy, let's do that dance we made up," Amy suggested, looking at the songs on the screen.

"Ehhh? But that dance is so embarrassing," Joy whined, putting her hands on her hips for emphasis.

"You guys made up a dance? We want to see!" Selphie said eagerly. The others also nodded their heads, wanting to see the dance.

Joy kept refusing, "Come on, Joy. It'll be fun," Amy pleaded.

Finally, giving in, Amy shouted in happiness and choose the song for their dance. They were on the heavy setting. "Waka laka?" The group asked.

The screen displayed the steps and it flashed, 'GO!' and the music started playing. Amy and Joy were dancing instantly as the song started. Their steps and the dance movements were in sync with the music and their selves that it looked as if they were dancing on a dance floor. And throughout the song, Amy and Joy were singing with the music, mainly doing the girl vocals. Near the ending of the song, Amy jumped around, facing the group and did the steps without looking at the screen with some hand movements and ended with her arms folded on the handle bar. Joy did the same thing, except her hand movements were different. As she placed her folded arms on the handle bar, the song ended.

Everyone stood in shock. Their dance wasn't professional, but it was better than what they expected. The friends around them applauded in amazement. The two friends grinned. Joy blushed in embarrassment from doing that dance, but despite it, she laughed as her friends clapped and cheered. Her eyes swiveled around before falling on Roxas. He felt her gaze on him and he gave her the thumbs up. She laughed and blushed.

Suddenly, she felt the handle bar start to wobble so she quickly got off it. She turned around to look at the scores on the screen. Both her and Amy got the same exact scores and the same grade, 'AA'. Amy jumped up and down in glee as Joy laughed at her and leaned back against the handle bar. Big mistake.

Failing to remember the unstableness of the handle bar, the bar snapped and it fell backward, bringing the forgetful Joy with it. She heard the snap, but didn't regain balance fast enough. No one was behind her for the moment, so the handle bar fell on the ground. But Joy wasn't as quick to react, and soon enough, she found herself falling backwards.

She couldn't believe she forgot already. And this fall can cause this girl back problems.

Fortunately, she won't have any. As she was falling, she fell into a pair of outstretched arms. "I told you," a guy's voice said next to her. Looking to her right, Joy stared at the toothy grin of Roxas.

Joy blushed both from embarrassment and, Roxas. Amy and Selphie looked at each other, an all-knowing expression on their faces. Hayner nudged Sora and they both started smirking at the two. "My bad," Joy said innocently, "I have short term memory loss," although, that wasn't true. A flash and the two turned their heads; Pence had taken another picture, but it was targeted at them.

Roxas lifted Joy back up on the dance pad, safely standing up. "Maybe next time, you'll remember when I warn you about something like this." Joy faced him and stuck out her tongue at him playfully. Roxas simply laughed at her.

On the way back to the school, the group found themselves taking the long way back, and that was through the park. It was only six 'o clock. But the group had separate conversations on a variety of topics. For example -

"Hey Joy," Selphie started, "is that your natural hair color?"

A bit taken aback from the random question, Joy smiled in a laugh and touched her pony-tailed hair, "To be honest, it is natural."

"No way!" The other girls exclaimed, except for the exception of Amy.

"Yeah!" Joy assured them, "My mom has this hair color. It's a dominant trait in her family."

"That is so cool!"

"Does that go the same for your eyes? They're violet. That's an eye color I don't see much of." Namine asked from next to Joy.

"Yeah."

"You know, in a way, that's kind of weird." Joy faced forward and found Roxas in front of them, walking backwards.

"I know. That's why I like them," grinning, she continued, "because I'm special!"

"Yes, you are!"

"Thank - " Noticing his own grin, Joy realized what he meant. "Hey!" Roxas quickly ran off, grinning. Chasing after the blonde guy, the girls laughed at them while the guys up ahead watched in confusion.

"Looks like Roxas' is being chased around by a girl," Hayner joked.

A bit tired, Joy stopped for a second and shouted out to him, "Well you're hair makes it seem that you have to use a whole bottle of gel just to make into that hairstyle!" She was exaggerating a bit, but she didn't care.

"Hey! I don't even use gel! My hair is natural," Roxas objected.

Joy's eyes broadened, "Seriously? Now that's weird!"

At that moment, the group saw Roxas and Joy run pass them, but this time, Joy was being chased by Roxas. "Get back here, Joy!" They heard Roxas yell after her, trying to catch up to her.

"Seems the tables have turned. Roxas is the one chasing after the girl," Riku said in amusement. The group laughed at the couple.

Roxas had to admit, Joy was a pretty fast runner. But you could easily see that she was getting tired since she was starting to slow down. Smirking, Roxas picked up his pace and jumped, "Gotcha!" And they both tumbled to the ground next to each other. Joy's beret had fallen off her head as she and Roxas laughed their heads off.

Selphie, seeing the two first, said to the group in a voice that they only could hear, "hey, check it out! Roxas and Joy fell in love!" The group laughed silently as they watched the pair. (A/N: For those that have forgotten bold and italic is Roxas and Joy is only italic)

My laugh faded as I listened to Joy laugh. Her own unique laugh. I turned on my side to face her. Her laugh started to fade, but she still had a smile plastered on her face. I've noticed that she always smiles, like she never wants to see the negative side of things. Smiling 24/7. Nothing like Jun.

I felt his stare on me. Looking at him, I blushed in humiliation because I thought he was thinking I had a weird laugh. I never liked my laughs, they were too loud and it doesn't really blend in with other laughs if I'm laughing with friends and family. I turned to him when I noticed he was still staring at me. He had on an easy smile. That's when I noticed how close our faces were, just like in the hallway.

Suddenly, Roxas started leaning in closer. Joy didn't move as she saw him lean closer and closer, ever so slowly, almost hesitantly. Many thoughts were racing in the girl's head as her eyes expanded as Roxas got nearer.

I had that urge again and my hormones kicked in. I didn't know what I was doing. I was leaning forward -

Is he going to - ?

Roxas started getting really close to her face -

Joy still did not move an inch -

They were so close. So close that they could feel each other's breathing.

This is it -

…What am I doing?!

Joy quickly sat up and blushed. She saw the group in front of the two on the path. It seemed they had stopped walking and had been watching the whole time. Roxas heard her sit up and immediately stopped his actions. Avoiding their eyes, Joy got up and dusted herself off. Amy was staring at Joy, at her actions, observing the situation.

"Aww, right when it was about to get good!" Selphie complained.

"Huh?" Joy dumbly said. "Why did they have to see?"

"Don't play innocent, there was something clearly about to happen," Kairi said with a sly smile.

Joy, blushing harder, responded, "I don't know what you guys are thinking, we just fell."

Joy felt something being put upon her head. Putting her hand on top of her head, she felt the material of her beret, "Yeah. This girl is so slow that it was too easy to catch up with her."

"Hey!" Blue-green hair faced blonde, "I'm not that slow!"

Roxas grinned amused, "You wanna bet?"

"20 munny!" Joy exclaimed, "and begin!" And with that, she ran off toward the school building. (A/N: In the last chapter I used the word 'money' but I just recently remembered that in the game they called cash 'munny'. That's why the word changed)

"No fair! You got a head start!" He called out to her, running in the same direction.

'That's right. We're only friends. That's how it's going to stay. I made a promise, and I'm going to keep it,' Joy thought, her face still red as she ran to the dormitories.

"Did you see that?" Selphie asked the group as they walked at their own walking pace to the school campus. Roxas and Joy were too far out of ear-shot to hear the group.

"Yeah! Definitely something going on," Kairi said.

"Although, wasn't that basically rejection? She saw him coming toward her and that's when she sat up." Pence inquired.

"No, she wanted to kiss him, too. You could see it in her eyes," Sora said.

"Then, why'd she suddenly get up?" Kairi asked.

"Maybe she thought it was too early," Namine suggested. "It hasn't even been a full day that they've known each other."

"SO?!" Selphie cried out, "If people go on blind dates, they expect to get a kiss on that date! And note that they barely met."

"Yeah, but Roxas and Joy aren't on a blind date, remember that Selphie." Kairi told the shorter girl. The aforementioned girl just huffed in annoyance.

"She probably has her reasons for avoiding that kiss," Riku advised to the group, "We should see how this relationship unfolds. It's only been the first day."

He was catching up to her fast. 'Geez, he's fast,' she thought, trying to quicken her pace. They were almost at the building and she was in the lead. She was running, running more and more. Can she do it?

Five feet away…

Four…

Three…

Two…

'I'M GOING TO WIN!'

Roxas smirked and sped up his pace even more, running past her at the last moment, crossing the cracked line as a form of the end of the race. Joy widened her eyes at his speed and when she crossed the line as well, she nearly fell over in exhaustion. Putting her weight on her knees, she leaned over, "You're mean. Can you at least give me more of a warning when you're going to win instead of making me think I'm going to win?" Roxas laughed, as he panted a bit from the running.

After regaining his normal breathing pace, Roxas looked from Joy to the floor. 'What was I thinking before…?'

Joy looked up at the fast runner that had suddenly gone quiet. She saw his expression turn into that of a sad, in deep thought one. Her brain flashed back to the incident at the park. She blushed again and shook those thoughts out of her head. Pulling out 20 munny, she went up to Roxas, "Here." Jerking his head up, he saw the money in her hand. He looked up at her in confusion. "It's the money that you won."

Roxas suddenly remembered the bet and immediately shook his head, "Keep it. I just wanted to prove to you that you were slow."

Joy was annoyed by his response and took his hand, putting the munny on it, "You won, you keep it. Just think of it as payback for the ice cream earlier."

After a few more attempts of trying to give the munny back, Roxas sighed at her stubbornness and pocketed the cash. Recalling how this bet started, he looked toward the ground again, in deep thought. 'Why did I do that? She probably felt uncomfortable about it. I should apologize,' Roxas concluded. Lifting up his head, he found that Joy had been staring at him.

Joy noticing that he had seen her staring at him, she looked the other way, toward the park. Roxas slowly took in a breath, "Joy?"

"Yeah?" Joy quickly looked over at him. She found herself avoiding his eyes.

"About earlier… I'm sorry that I - "

"It's ok!" Joy interrupted him.

Roxas gave her a puzzled look, "It is?"

"Yeah! I know you didn't mean to make me fall. I'm fine anyway! So don't worry about me," She replied.

"Wait, that's not - "

"I said 'don't worry'!" Joy insisted, and quickly turning around she saw the group that the two left behind closer to them.

"But, Joy - " Roxas attempted to say, but Joy had ignored him.

"Finally! You guys take forever!"

"Well, we were walking, unlike you two that ran here," Amy yelled back to her. The group finally reached the two.

"Hey Joy, Amy, why don't you come in our room? We can talk about the school more and look over your schedules," Kairi suggested. She shared a dorm with Namine.

"Mm'kay, why not?"

All the girls in the group went into Kairi and Namine's dorm to discuss the school rules and what not. Their dorm was the same set up as any other dorm. Joy and Amy sat on Namine's bed, leaning against the wall. Kairi and Olette were sitting on Kairi's bed as Namine used her desk to sketch something in her sketch book. Selphie stood up, explaining everything about the school and teachers to Joy and Amy, and she kept talking and talking that the two thought she would never stop. On the walls, there were beautiful drawings, all signed by Namine. However, here and there were photos of the gang, which Joy was looking at, at the moment.

Amy had Cookie, the unique kitten, in her lap. The gang was all excited about the kitten and wondered how the two best friends were able to keep it as there was a rule that pets weren't allowed. Joy had explained that they didn't know that they had a kitten. But in any case, they were able to teach the cat to act as a stuffed animal if ever was about to be caught.

" - Ms. Shao is okay, but she's really strict. You never want to get on her bad side. If you do, the next time you get in trouble, she'll do everything she can to try and get you expelled. Yeah, I know, she's crazy like that."

"Hey, let me see your guys' schedules," Kairi requested, stopping Selphie from going on with her ever-so fascinating explanation. Joy and Amy got out their schedules which Kairi looked over, examining each class they had. "Well, you two have the same classes except for your elective at third period. Joy, you have band class with Selphie, Roxas, Sora, and Riku. Amy has art class with Namine, Olette and myself."

"What about our other classes? Do we have them with you guys too?"

"Basically. Hey, Joy, would you look at that?" Kairi gave Joy a devious smile as Olette leaned in to look at their classes.

"What?" Joy titled her head.

"Oh my gosh, you have all your classes with Roxas! Even his English class!" Olette exclaimed.

Her eyes widened, "Seriously??"

"Yeah!"

'Ugh! I thought I would be able to avoid him more in school, but we have the same freaking classes!' Joy sighed deeply. After what happened earlier in the park and in the hall, she wanted to avoid him as much as she can. 'This is not going to help if I'm also sharing a dorm with him!!'

" - first period Math you have all of us. Second period is chemistry with Roxas, Riku, and Namine. Third is band for Joy and art for Amy. Then it's lunch, fourth is history and you have that with Roxas, Riku, and Sora. Fifth is gym with all of us, too. And English is with Roxas."

"Are there any sports tryouts coming up soon?" Joy asked.

"Um, is there any?" Kairi asked Olette. Olette shrugged and they both turned to Selphie.

Selphie thought about it for a moment before saying, "I think Tennis is coming up."

"Oh yeah!" Kairi just realized. "We should try out for that!"

All the girls agreed. "When is tryouts?" Amy questioned them.

"I think it's in November," Kairi pondered the subject for a moment.

"Three weeks from now, isn't it?" Namine asked. Selphie nodded at her question.

"Hey, isn't the Halloween dance coming up, too?"

"So, Roxas," Hayner started, entering the dorm, "how'd you feel when you almost kissed your future girl?"

Roxas didn't answer. He just walked into the room, and collapsed on his bed, face smashed into his pillow. "Hey, you still bummed out because she sat up right before you kissed her," Sora asked his cousin.

"It's not that," Roxas exasperated turning his head so they could hear him clearly, "it's the fact that she's starting to avoid me."

"How can you tell? It's only been five minutes since the incident," Pence inquired.

"Before, we would joke and stuff, but now she's avoiding what I say and she's avoiding looking at me," Roxas glumly answered.

"Roxas, it's only the first day. What were you thinking earlier?" Everyone looked at the boy that had suddenly said that. Riku just stood there, leaning against the wall, his hair in front of his face.

"I don't know. It just…happened," Roxas quietly said.

"Don't be so bummed out, Roxas. It is the first day, she probably just felt it was too soon or something," Hayner assumed.

Roxas didn't say anything and kept the same expression. "You really like her, don't you, Roxas?" The blonde's cousin asked him.

"Love at first sight," Hayner said, putting on a dreamy face.

Roxas threw a pillow at Hayner, right in the face. "Stop calling it 'love'," Roxas told the boy.

"Well, it's true!" Hayner exclaimed back at Roxas.

"It's not love," Roxas said in a defiant tone.

"Whatever Roxas. But I say, you should totally ask her out! You might as well anyway, you're going to be living with her for the next months of being here. It's going to be pretty awkward as it is."

"Did you not see her totally reject me not too long ago?" Roxas questioned the boy. Laying his head on the pillow, he said, "She wouldn't even let me apologize about it."

"Okay then, there you go! She was okay with you kissing her!"

"No, its not like that," his mind flashed back to his attempt of apologizing her, "it was like she wanted to avoid what happened. She didn't want to even say anything about it."

"If it's like that," Riku said, everyone's attention turned to him, "she probably has her reasons of doing what she did."

It was silent. Everyone pondered over this.

Silence.

Suddenly, Pence announced, "Well, there's one thing I know." Everyone looked at the camera boy, "She is nothing like Jun."

"You got that right!" Hayner agreed.

"Is that suppose to be a good thing?" Roxas asked, looking over at him.

"No offense, Roxas," Sora started, "But she was kind of creepy."

It was quiet. "She kind of was, wasn't she?" Roxas finally asked, a tiny smile on his face. The guys laughed around him. 'I guess he is over her,' the guys thought.

"I still can't figure out what you saw in her," Hayner said to his best friend.

Roxas swung his legs over the bed, feet touching the ground. He looked down at his hands, clenching and unclenching, "To tell you guys the truth…I don't know either."

Hayner laughed at his friend and took seat a next to him, "That's Roxas for you." The guys joined in the laugh as Hayner punched Roxas' arm playfully, "You are such a bonehead, Roxas."

"Oh, thanks!" Roxas' sarcasm made the room fill with laughter. He was starting to feel a little better, thanks to his friends. After a minute of laughter, it started to fade as they heard a resounding click from the door. Turning their attention to the door, it swung open and in came Joy with her little kitten.

"Uhh, hi?" Joy walked in the room, closing the door behind her with her foot and walked over to her bed. Placing her kitten in its little basket, she asked, "No one was on my bed, right?"

"No, we barely took one look at it," Pence assured her.

"We didn't even go on that side," Sora said, scratching the back of his head.

"Oh, I see. Well, don't mind me, I'll just be sitting here," and with that, Joy sat on her bed, about to feed her little pet.

"Oh yeah, that reminds me, who's classes are you in?" Sora asked her.

"Basically, I have all my classes with Roxas'," Joy bluntly said, continuing her feeding for Cookie.

"Seriously?!" Hayner exclaimed.

"Yes."

Hayner started elbowing Roxas. "That also means that you have some classes with the rest of us."

"Yeah."

Seeing the conversation not moving forward, the guys decided to leave. "See you two at dinner!"

The door closed and Roxas turned around to Joy. Joy had waved the guys off and when Roxas turned to face her, she quickly looked away and returned her attention on her little kitten. Joy was avoiding looking at him, and he noticed it. There was an awkward silence.

'The story is going downhill.'

Hope you liked it:) Sorry I didn't get this out yesterday. I got a bit of writers block xP

You know the drill! Review please!

Critism and comments are appreciated! ;D