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 TidusSelphie MarluxiaOC AxelLarxene DemyxOC(Other pairings may be decided later)

WARNING: Characters may be a bit OOC and I still think I'm rushing the ending, but you be the judge of that

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

Claimer: I own Joy, Amy, Cookie, Stacie, Kristina, Jun, Fernando, Cris, and Taffy.

Side Note: Did you guys knows that my name is Joy ? Hehe xP Also, I formally had an OC's name to Kit, but my friend that represented that name disliked that name, so I have changed it to 'Cris'.

Thank you for the reviews everyone! ;D

Chapter Seventeen
Misunderstandings

Biting into the chocolate chip cookie, Joy exclaimed while nodding her head in satisfactory, "This is really good!"

"See? I told ya!" Taffy said from next to her.

"You mean I told her," Cris corrected his cousin.

"You know, he's right," Joy said to Taffy.

Taffy made a face toward Joy and the three of them laughed together, well mostly Joy and Taffy.

The three of them were at Luminous Café, enjoying some cookies and hot cocoa with whipped cream.

Luminous Café is a small café and even though it was freezing outside, it was fiery warm inside. The whole café was decorated with many holiday decorations. It was a bit crowded, but they were able to find a booth.

"Are you guys really hungry?" Taffy asked the two people at the table.

Cris shrugged his shoulders as he knew where this conversation was going while Joy looked at her, a little bit confused as she replied, "I guess…"

"Then let's get that Cookie Cake!" Taffy said in glee, already bouncing in her seat as she started raising her hand for a server to come by.

Joy looked across from her to Cris, and asked, "What's the Cookie Cake?"

"It's a cake…" The raven haired boy started, trailing off a bit.

Joy stared at him, "Uh-huh…?"

"That's a cookie."

Joy rolled her eyes at the boy, "Wow, that's was sooo descriptive."

"I know."

Joy quickly muttered to herself, "Not."

Not quiet enough, Cris glared at the girl who merely laughed. Taffy finally finished ordering the cake to the server and turned back to the other table members. "Cris and I got the cake before, but we didn't finish it. We ended up with like half the cake last time."

Joy widened her eyes, "Is the cake really big or something?"

"No, it's because last time, we weren't as hungry and we thought," using hand gestures to continue explaining, "it was like the size of a regular cookie, so yeah."

"I see," Joy finally said after some silence. Changing the subject, she asked the cousins, "So, do you guys often come up here?"

"Yeah, we usually do," Taffy says. "We've been doing this since we were like twelve? I think…"

"How old are you guys now?" Joy asked out of curiosity.

"We're both sixteen."

"Seriously? Me too!" Joy shouted enthusiastically. 'Gosh, I'm such a dork.'

"Anyway, my brother owns the store next to the ski lift," Cris explained.

"Really? That's cool," Joy said in surprise.

"What about you?" Taffy asked the violet eyed girl.

"Oh, me and my friends are on our Annual Snow Trip," Joy started, but corrected herself, "Well technically, this is my first time up here on Mt. Radiant. I just moved here a few months ago."

"Oh, where do you live?" Taffy continued to ask, sipping more of her hot cocoa.

"Twilight Town," Joy answered, wondering if either of the two had heard of that town.

Taffy started bouncing in her seat, "I know where that is! That's the town next to ours!"

"Really?" Joy responded, astonished.

"Yeah, ever been to 'Hollow Bastion'?" Cris asked this time.

Joy shook her head, "I'm still getting settled in my town, so yeah." Joy stuck out her tongue in slight shame.

"It's okay; we rarely go to Twilight anyway. I think we just go for the ice cream," Taffy said in a playful tone.

Joy grinned, "I love their ice cream!"

"Me too!" Taffy agreed enthusiastically, causing Joy and herself to laugh hysterically.

Cris stared at the two before getting a menu and putting it in front of his face, in attempt to make people think he did not know them. That's when a server came by, a medium-sized cake looking like a cookie, "Your Cookie Cake." Setting the treat on the table, the server followed with an "enjoy" and left the teenagers to enjoy their dessert.

"Time to dig in!" Taffy exclaimed as she readied her fork.

"Hey, where's Joy?" Kristina asked to the others as everyone was sitting in the snow.

"She's at some café," Amy informed her friend.

"Alone?" Namine inquired with a worried look.

Kairi raised an eyebrow, "How did she even know there's a café near here?"

"She made some new friends," Amy said calmly, as if it was nothing.

Roxas spoke in an emotionless tone, barely covering the bitterness hidden under, "So, she just left us." Remembering the guy that was talking to Joy earlier, he scowled for a second before returning to his emotionless expression. Jun was sitting next to him, feeling a bit bitter herself from the fact that her attempts are failing.

"Roxas," Olette started in a scolding tone, "you should know Joy doesn't do that. Even if she did, she wouldn't even know she did it."

"Besides, Joy doesn't like to say 'no' to an invitation, so they probably just invited her to go with them," Stacie said, defending her friend that was absent.

Roxas scoffed at their explanations and leaned back onto his hands, his eyes turned to the white fluffy blanket under him known as snow. He did not like the fact that Joy went off with some guy without at least telling the others where she was going, that she didn't tell him, her roommate, where she was going. The fact that that guy had somehow convinced the girl to go with him to a café.

Luminous Café was known very well by the people who regularly came up to the mountains; it was the café where all the love happened in the winter on Mt. Radiant. Knowing this detail very vividly in his head, it angered him that Joy was there without him.

"If you're so worried about Joy, Roxas," Selphie noticed Roxas' facial expression, broke the silence that had fallen over the group, concluding, "let's go into Luminous Café and see how she is." Standing up, she started heading toward the rental store to give back the skis she had been using.

"Wait, Selphie," Jun called out to the small girl, "let's stay out here and ski and snowboard a little more," she continued, hoping the others would reconsider and just stay outside instead of going to the café where Joy was at.

"I'm too tired of skiing," Stacie said, getting up as well, her skis in hand.

"Me too," Kristina agreed with Stacie and the both of them caught up with still-walking-away Selphie.

"Come on Fernando," Namine told her boyfriend, "I'm tired, too."

Also feeling a bit worn-out, Fernando permitted Namine to help him off as he said, "Let's catch up with them." Namine nodded her head at him and they both caught up with the three girls. Jun inwardly growled as everyone stood up and headed toward the rental store to return their skis and snowboards.

Pushing open the doors of the notorious Luminous Café, Amy hopped in and started her search. "Where is Joy?" She asked no one in particular, as she used her hand as a small telescope, searching every table in the restaurant for sea foam colored hair.

"Let's just get some booths and then we'll find Joy," Zexion declared, walking over to some empty booths, "it's not that hard to find someone with her color hair."

"He's right, you know?" Demyx stated, following after the blue haired senior.

Everyone followed the two and split up into little groups, each claiming one booth next to one another. They failed to notice the girl that they were searching for was bent down, reaching under her table to retrieve her dropped fork.

"Cris," Joy grunted a bit as she straightened her posture, "the fork's right under you."

Cris gave her an annoyed gaze (which she just grinned sheepishly back at), mumbling that Joy should have noticed as she was about to bend down and get it, before reaching down to the floor and grabbing the used utensil. "Here," he muttered, handing her the fork.

"Thank you," she said and waited for a server to come by to ask for another fork, the Cookie Cake still three quarters left.

"Ask for milk, too," Taffy told Joy, who nodded back at her and continued to seek for an available server.

Back with the Twilight High group, each person got their little menus - including Jun - and the majority of the group already knew what they wanted, setting their menus aside. Fernando had placed his menu back onto the table and was about to join the conversation between Kristina and Stacie when he noticed blue green at the corner of his eye. Turning his head to the familiar color, he saw Joy with two other people, Asians to be exact.

Fernando widened his eyes a bit and he started tapping Stacie's shoulder repeatedly, still facing Joy's booth. "Ow - ow! What?!" Stacie snapped, annoyed with being poked.

Fernando ended his tapping and said, "I found Joy."

"Where?" Amy quickly turned her head in the direction where her friend was looking and spotted Joy's hair; she stuck out like a sore thumb! Amy, at that moment, wonders why she couldn't see her before…

"Over there," Fernando pointed toward Joy, showing where she was to Stacie and Kristina.

"Hmm…" Stacie murmured, "Those two look familiar…"

"Who? The people Joy's with?" Amy asked.

"Yeah… Don't they look like Cris and Taffy from middle school?" Kristina questioned her friends.

"I think that is Cris and Taffy!" Fernando confirmed.

Amy started bouncing in her seat, also remembering the two cousins, "Let's go say hi to them!"

The four teenagers left their booth and hurried toward Joy and her new friends.

"Where are they going?" Pence asked. The others looked confused as they watched them - and heard them - as they greeted Joy's group.

"Cris! Taffy!" Stacie yelled in excitement.

The two cousins turned their heads, and Joy, to the source of the yell and found Stacie, Amy, Kristina, and Fernando running to them. Taffy was the first to react and quickly stood up before being bombarded with a bone-crushing hug. "Kristina - can't - breathe!"

"No, I refuse to let go!" Kristina joked, continuing to hug the poor girl.

"Kristina!" Amy tried to get her friend's attention while prying her off Taffy.

Kristina turned to grin at Amy when she spotted Cris and quickly exclaimed, "Cris! Give me a hug!" Cris widened his eyes in alarm before scooting farther away into his seat, causing Kristina to be more persistent. "No Cris! Come here!" Kristina plopped herself on the seat next to him and wrapped her arms around the boy, including his arms, bringing him into a huge 'loving' bear hug.

As the teenagers greeted each other, Joy was just sitting there with a confused expression on her face. "You guys know each other?"

"Yeah. We all met each other at middle school," Fernando explained to the bemused girl.

Joy nodded her head in understanding, "Oh, well that makes sense. I didn't meet any of you until the ninth grade," looking at Taffy and Cris, "besides you two."

Amy nodded to her before turning to Taffy and Cris, "How come you didn't tell us you guys were moving to Destiny Islands?!"

Taffy responded with a timid tone, "We didn't know we were moving here…"

Cris also said, "Remember? We told you guys that our parents just said that we were moving."

Realizing this, Amy replied, "Oh yeah!" Everyone laughed at the raven-haired girl's seemingly short-term memory loss. (A/N: She doesn't really have it.)

Amy, Fernando, Kristina, and Stacie stayed with Joy and the cousins, catching up with them, before retreating back to their other group. The trio had a quarter of a cake still to go before they decided to leave.

"How long are you guys staying here?" Joy inquired as she took another bite out of the cake.

"We're leaving in a month," Cris answered also taking another bite.

"Really?" Joy asked astonished, "That's a long time."

"Well, that's what you get when you have a family member that owns a store here," Taffy told the girl, "Gotta wait until business dies down."

"Oh, well, where are you guys going after this?" Joy asked, hoping they didn't have to go anywhere after they finished eating at the café.

"No where really, we hav'ta wait for Cris' brother and then we're going back to our own cabin," Taffy continued to explain.

"Why don't you guys come back to our cabin and we'll have a blast," Joy suggested, she knew Kairi and Namine wouldn't mind too much. Joy looked over at her other group of friends, arguing and playing around with each other. She tried to look at their table without seeing Roxas, but subconsciously, she found herself looking for the blonde boy. When her eyes finally landed on him, he was staring back at her, an emotionless expression written on his face. She quickly waved to him shyly before turning back to Cris and Taffy, "I'm sure my friends won't mind. Besides, I bet Amy and them would love to catch up with you two."

We're on the fourth day of the Annual Snow trip, and so far, I haven't enjoyed it one bit.

I still haven't told Joy anything yet; she's always with that Cris guy. The gang is becoming angry with me because I'm not patching things up with Joy. Is it my fault really, that she wants to spend all her god damn time with him?! I can never get her to be alone.

Three days until Christmas and that's when Joy makes her decision, whatever decision that is.

This really pisses me off. Joy needs to make some kind of decision that she's not even telling me about, and I thought she told me everything; but I find out she's bottling a lot of things within her! Does she really not trust me? Does she not care about how I feel? Does she even know how I feel?

Just because I didn't tell her anything about Jun or about my past with her, does that really count for anything? That was my past for Christ's sake! That was the part of me that I wanted to leave behind.

So, then why'd I give her the necklace?

..I already know the answer…

Because I entrusted her with it. I expected her to trust me as much as I trusted her, for her to understand how I felt. I expected her to treasure that necklace, unlike Jun had done. Jun had just put it on for a day and left it in her dorm after that, saying it was kept there for safe keeping. But Joy, since I gave it to her, she had always been wearing it, every second, of every minute, of every hour, of every day since I gave it to her. But, these last two days, I did not see any sparkle of gold hanging from her neck, and saw no long glittery chain wrapped around her neck, I did not see the locket hanging right there on her collarbone. That crushed me like you wouldn't believe.

Where was it now? Why isn't she wearing it?

I didn't understand. But I knew I had to talk to her before it was too late.

Joy is spending time with that Cris guy way too much for my liking, and if I don't do something about it soon, I swear I'm going to explode and kill someone. (A/N: I think we all know who he wants to kill cough cough Cris cough cough xD)

"Hayner," Roxas called out to the dirty blonde lounging around on the couch, "Where's Joy?"

Hayner stood up from his laid down position in alert, "You're going to finally talk to her?!"

Roxas slightly glared at Hayner before turning his head, "Yes Hayner, I am."

"She's in her room."

"Anyone else?" Roxas asked, turning around to the girls' hallway while stuffing his hands in his pockets.

"That I am not aware of," Hayner started, but hearing the annoyed groan from Roxas, he continued, "but Taffy and Cris aren't here yet, so that should give you some time."

Roxas acknowledged Hayner and asked one more question, but this time in a lower voice, "Do you know where Jun is?"

"Can't answer that one either," Hayner replied, lying back down.

"Jun's on the other side of the house," Olette said to him, from the kitchen window, sipping some hot chocolate. There was another steaming cup next to her on the ledge which Hayner stood up and took. "She's with Stacie and them in the computer room; you have roughly five minutes to explain everything. You better hurry or she'll coming barging in when she finds out you're in there."

"Thanks," Roxas said as he nodded at the two and sauntered toward the girls' hallway.

Olette and Hayner watched as Roxas walked off to Joy's room. "I hope Amy isn't in there," Olette said as Roxas disappeared from sight.

"She probably isn't. She's most likely in Riku's room, playing video games with him or something," Hayner responded, taking another gulp of his chocolatey drink.

Olette stayed silent for a moment, staring into the depths of her hot chocolate, deeply in thought. Hayner noticed Olette's silence and waited for her to tell him what was on her mind like she usually did. "Do you think Roxas knows what he's going to say?"

"Nope," Hayner replied bluntly.

"I thought so," Olette voiced, rubbing her thumb across her cup in thought.

The dirty blonde noticed the brunette's gesture and set down his cup of hot cocoa. Leaving the window and walking into the kitchen, he wrapped his arms around Olette's waist and pulled her toward him, "Hey, they're both strong. They'll get through this."

Olette leaned against the boy as she said, "I hope so." Leaning against the boy, she felt content. This was a side of Hayner that she and only she knew about, the caring side of Hayner Haruha. She felt Hayner rest his head on her shoulder, kissing her cheek. Olette smiled at the gesture, "You know the gang is going to find out about us if we keep risking doing stuff like this."

"Like me?" Pence asked, appearing out of nowhere with a camera in his hand. He was grinning from ear to ear.

Pence had known about Hayner and Olette's secret relationship since the day before they left for the mountains. He had found them with their heads close together in the park, their arms wrapped around each other.

"Yes, like you, Pence," Hayner said, a bit aggravated as he let go of his secret girlfriend.

"Of all people to be walking in the park at that time, it had to be you, Pence," Olette said as Pence approached the couple, still grinning.

"Well, you know, I'm always there when you least expect it."

"Hey Cookie, get off that shirt," Joy commanded to the kitten, pulling the shirt out from under the feline. Cookie 'meow'-ed at her master as she jumped off to her own bed.

"Hey, what time is Cris and Taffy coming?" Amy asked to Joy.

"I don't know. I'm not even sure if they're coming today; remember they said that they might have to help out at the store?" Joy replied, putting another folded shirt of Amy's into a drawer.

"Ah, I see." Amy said, returning back to stacking up her clothes on her bed.

KNOCK KNOCK

"Go get the door," Joy ordered to her best friend playfully, as she pointed dramatically at their door.

Amy bowed like a servant and said in an obedient tone, "Yes mistress." They both laughed as Amy jumped over Joy's bed and walked toward the door, opening it, "Hello, Roxas."

Joy stopped in the middle of her folding at the mention of his name. She hadn't really spoken to the boy lately, hanging out with the others and also being a bit afraid to talk to the blonde because of Jun. Violet eyes swerved to the nightstand between the two beds and saw the golden locket sitting there.

In a low voice, Roxas whispered to Amy, "I need to talk to Joy."

Amy caught the hint and opened the door wider, "Better make it worth her time." Letting the boy in, she noticed how Joy stared down at the clothes and continued to fold and stack as Roxas stood there, waiting for the raven-haired girl to leave the room. "Hey Joy, I'll be right back. I'm going to Riku's room." And before Joy could protest, Amy had already left, closing the door behind her.

There was an awkward silence that followed as the door shut.

Cricket-cricket-cricket.

"So, what's up?" Joy asked, trying to strike up a conversation. "What brings you here to the girls' hallway?"

She heard Roxas sigh and looked up at him. He was staring at the golden locket sitting on the nightstand before staring hard at it. "We need to talk."

"About what?"

"About what happened near the library that day."

Joy stiffened as she remembered what happened that day. The day where Roxas stabbed her heart. "What's there to talk about?"

"Joy…" Roxas started, moving closer toward the girl, "What I said that day…"

"Tch. Like I would really end up with her."

"I didn't mean that I would never--"

"It's okay, Roxas," Joy said, looking up at him, "I understand."

Before he could stop himself, he found himself raising his voice at the girl, "No you don't!" Roxas couldn't control the words that were coming out of his mouth, "You don't understand, Joy."

"Yes, I do!" Joy told him, raising her voice, "There was only one meaning to what you said, Roxas. And that was that you would never choose a girl like me. It's alright, I can understand that. Jun is a great girl, and you were with her before, so why wouldn't you like to get back together with her again?" Joy, in all her life of knowing him, had never yelled at Roxas as she was doing to him now. She couldn't help it though, the built up anger and sorrow within her just wanted to be freed, "It's not like I ever mattered, huh? It's all about Jun. It always was."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Roxas shouted back at her, enraged, "What I meant back then was that you would never choose a guy like me. I never even said anything about Jun!"

"But you were always hanging out with her! It was obvious that there was something still between you two! How can I not think what I think?!" Joy yelled back, feeling tears come to sadden violet eyes.

"This has nothing to even do with Jun! This is between you and me, and what happened that day. I know you can choose from any guy you want, so it never made sense to me for you to choose someone like me." Roxas shook his head in exasperation, "I'm sorry if my words hurt you, but you know what, I guess I was right; you would never choose a guy like me." Turning around, back turned to Joy as she just stood there in surprise as he continued, "You have guys like Cris or Zexion to choose from."

Joy stared at the boy across from her, her breathing ragged, "Roxas…" Taking in a breath to calm her breathing, "That's not true..."

"How can I not think that?" Roxas mocked back. Barely turning to face her, voice still raised in frustration, fists clenched tightly in anger, "You and Zexion were freakin' flirting with each other on the bus, and now you're hanging out with Cris! For all I know, you could be flirting with that Asian prick, too!" Roxas stared intently at Joy with a look of pain, "You don't even talk to me anymore." (A/N: I am not insulting Asians, 'cause I myself am one. Sorry to any Asians out there that felt offended at that comment.)

"Can you really blame me?!" Joy was now yelling, screaming at the boy, her face flushed in rage, "You were always with Jun every single second of the day!"

"What does that have to do with anything? You can still talk to me! It's not like Jun owns me," Roxas retorted bitterly from the mention of Jun.

Joy shook her own head at Roxas' clueless expression; she wasn't suppose to talk about the 'meetings' between her and Jun, and no doubt, Jun wouldn't say anything either. "You're probably deciding to be with Jun for the rest of your life."

"Who the hell gave you that idea?!" Roxas demanded. At this point, he knew that both their voices would reach the ears beyond this room.

"After I found out who that locket really belongs to," Joy countered back as she stalked toward her nightstand and grabbing the necklace. Facing back to Roxas, she held out the necklace to his face, "I think you should give this to its rightful owner."

Roxas stared at Joy before pushing her hand holding the necklace toward her, "I already did."

Joy glared at him as he stood there, misunderstanding what she had just said, "Doesn't this belong to Jun?"

"It did. But now it belongs to you." Roxas said as he pointed at her.

Joy was baffled at this. Was it really for her? Or was he just doing this so he can win her over and try to replace Jun with her? This thought enraged Joy even more, if that were even possible. Joy was not a replacement, she was her own person. A person that should be treated like one of a kind. Never before had she been through any of this, and now she wasn't going to just stand around and accept everything. She can accept many things, but to forget something this harsh? That's something a normal person cannot do.

Joy intently glared at Roxas which gave him an uncomfortable feeling, he had never seen her with that stare, "I don't want it."

Roxas stared at her in surprise, "What?"

Joy roughly grabbed his hand and slammed the golden locket onto his palm, "I. Don't. Want. It."

Roxas winced at the sudden pain in his hand, but that wasn't the only ache he felt. Once she had said that, it felt like his whole heart just gave out. Pure shock was etched onto his face and all he could do was stand there flabbergasted at the girl in front of him, "What--"

"That necklace is like a symbol to me, representing that I just replace Jun in your heart. I am not a replacement, I am me." Joy voiced to him. Poking him hard in the chest, she added, "Don't compare me to someone like Jun. So take the necklace, rip out the pictures and burn it for all I care!" Joy yelled at him, feeling the tears now starting to well up in her eyes.

Roxas continued to stand there as she yelled at him. What she had said, was basically true. He had always been comparing her to Jun, but he didn't think of it that way. Roxas growled inwardly in irritation. Why was this girl so difficult?! "I'm not using you as a replacement."

Joy scoffed at him, the glare still plastered on her face, "Don't lie."

"I'm not lying!" Roxas said to her in a final tone, "Sure, I compared you to her, but it was never meant for you to replace her."

"So you did compare me to her." Joy said to herself as she crossed her arms at him.

"Damn it, Joy!" Roxas cursed as he ran agitated hands through his blond hair, "Why don't you understand?!"

"I don't understand?! It's you that doesn't understand!" She yelled back at him, pointing at him for emphasis, "These past three months, I had always been there for you, always been with you, and yet those moments of our time together meant nothing to you?! Why can't you understand that I love you!?"

I love you

Those three words left her mouth before she even knew what she was saying. But she didn't take it back. It was like her conscience was intent on letting out the truth, and she didn't deny it. She wasn't going to lie to herself about her feelings anymore. His blue eyes fixed onto her violet ones as he stood there stunned at her outburst. "…What did…you just say?"

Joy looked away, her cheeks reddening from embarrassment, "I'm not repeating it."

Never put a period after 'I Love You' because it means the love has ended.

Before Roxas could muse more on this quote, he heard Joy say acrimoniously, "Those words don't even mean anything to you, do they?" Roxas opened his mouth to deny it, but Joy still went on, "Jun's the only one for you, right? That's the reason why you gave her that locket in the first place. I bet you told her it represented 'love' or something while you told me it represented our friendship. I knew you only thought of us as friends, every guy does," Joy finishes sullenly. A tear slid down her face, past her left cheek that was flushed from anger and embarrassment. "You don't love me back, right--"

Joy was cut off from saying whatever she was saying when she felt something grab both of her arms, and before she could even understand what was happening, she felt pressure on her lips as they were captured by another pair and she was staring in shock into Roxas' now tightly closed eyes.

I think I rushed the ending, dont'cha think? ;D Hehe, left you all hanging! Hehehehehehe... Didn't expect the two to get into a fight, huh? You know, I had a reallllyyyyy hard time writing the fight scene, so bear with it if it's a bit rough. Also, I know I rushed the whole chapter, skipping from day to day so fast, and I sincerely apologize for that. Trying to please you guys with the timing as well as myself in writing, so once again, sincerely apologize if it sounds kind of rushed. Happy New Year's everyone and hope you do well on your resolutions! xD

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