*Author's Note: Revised chapter and story-line. Not only did I have typos, I really didn't like what my mind on four hours sleep managed to produce. So I revamped it a bit. I like it more now. Review and let me know if you do too :D Emi3*
Chapter 2: Well isn't that just Peachy Keen!
My summer had flown by in a mixture of work and the Usual Spot, and it seemed like no time had passed until the last day of summer was on us. I had spent the majority of it working to save up for my car, spending time with my friends and family, and absolutely no time on maintaining the cleanliness of my room. So now I was stuck spending the last day before school , cleaning. So I was mad. I was mad, not at my mom, who was making me stay home to clean it, but at myself. My last day with the gang had been stolen because of my own laziness. But, as it was, you couldn't even see my floor, let alone find all my school supplies so that I would be ready for the next day.
And so, here I was, forcing as much laundry as I could into the washer before pouring WAY too much laundry detergent into it and almost forcing the lid closed. I grumbled the whole time and trumped up the stairs with my basket of clean laundry, almost tripping over the clothes that were hanging down the side.
"For Fuck sakes." I slammed down the basket in the kitchen where the door to the laundry room in the basement opened up.
"Having some trouble, Kiddo?" I glanced up to see Cloud sitting at the table, Coffee in one hand and a book in the other. He was raising an eyebrow at me questioningly, wondering what the explosive outburst had been about, probably.
"I Dunno, I geuss I'm just bummed that I had to skip out on a day at the beach with the gang so I could get my room clean. Besides that I seem to be extra clumsy today." He shook his head and laughed at me.
"You're just clumsy because you're grumpy. Have you had any coffee yet today?" I looked up at him sheepishly. Anybody who knew me knew that I was a Coffee addict. Hence the fact that I worked in a Coffee shop/ Bookstore instead of at the Wal-Mart like the rest of the gang. Anybody who knew me also knew that I had no patience for the world if I hadn't had my morning cup of Coffee.
"When I got up nobody had made a pot yet. I wasn't in the mood to go through the trouble of making one. So I just didn't. And so no, even though my head is killing me from caffeine deprivation, I haven't had any coffee yet." He laughed at me and motioned to the half full pot of Coffee. I grabbed a cup quickly, added an ungodly amount of sugar, and joined him at the table.
"Is that all that's bugging you? Cause I'm sure if you get your stuff done fast enough mom will let you go out with the gang. She was probably just worried that you wouldn't be ready for school tomorrow. Remember last year? It was your first day back and you woke up at noon, and then you didn't have any clothing to wear and didn't know where any of your school stuff was because you and the other three runts had spent the day before at the beach instead of getting your stuff together. You can see why mom might have been worried about a repeat performance." He gave me a small smile before rising from his seat and patting me on the back. "Although I have to say that the fact that the other three managed to keep their rooms clean while screwing around all summer really sucks. It might not have been so bad being stuck inside if you didn't have to think about the fact that the other three were out having fun with their friends while you're stuck here." He looked at me sympathetically, placing a hand on my shoulder. "Look on the bright side; at least we're going to a new school tomorrow. Fresh start, right?" I nodded and he smiled at me softly, ruffling my already mussed hair, before depositing his mug in the sink. "See you later kiddo, I'm gonna go see if I can find a new book at the library. I won't have a chance to go tomorrow." I smiled softly at his retreating back. Yeah a new school, but that was part of the problem. I didn't want a fresh start. The school I had been going to since I started Kindergarten had gone "sketchy", as my mom termed it. It was a small school, so it encompassed all the grades in one building. But there had been random acts of vandalism and an increase in bullying, so she was sending us to the big flashy High School Across town, Radiant High, which also happened to be where none of my other friends were going. So I was all alone, except for my family. I buried my face in my cup of coffee, trying to drown my anxiety within the caffeinated beverage. I guess that's why the fact that I couldn't go to the beach with the gang had pissed me off so much. I didn't know how often I was going to be able to see them after this, and I was scared. Scared of us growing apart. Scared of the gang being able to be whole without me. Scared of being left out.
I downed the rest of my coffee and grabbed the laundry basket from the floor. It was going to be a long day. I wish there was such a thing as a remote control for your mind. It would be nice to mute my thoughts for the day so I wouldn't have to deal with them.
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We had to take the city bus over to the school, since the new school didn't provide school buses. We had never been on a city bus before. It was a very... interesting experience. It was like the smelly people of the city got together and decided to take the bus all at the same time. And take up more than one seat by putting their bags on the seat next to them.
It was extremely annoying.. but it was quite. Demy and Nami where talking with each other, with Kairi and Sora playing on their DS beside each other. Cloud was reading (again). But nobody bothered me. They all knew how bummed I was about the transfer. Most of them had friends at Radiant, so it wasn't as big a deal for them. Sora had Riku, Demyx had Zexion, Kairi and Namine had each other and Selphie (they spent all their time together anyways) and Cloud was a solitary kind of person who kept to himself and read all the time. They each had offered to open up their little friendships, or for Cloud, try to be more social for my sake, but all those ideas had been shot down. Who wanted to be known as the annoying sibling who couldn't make his own friends so he had to hang out with his family, not that there was anything wrong with family, I just needed some time without them . And at school was one place where I didn't want to be spending all my time with them.
The Bus ride passed surprisingly quickly, thanks to my music, and in no time at all, the whole bus had filled up along the way with Radiant High students, and emptied out of all other passengers. By the time we got to the school bus stop, everyone got off at the same time. And boy were there a lot of people. The sheer number of them crowded in areas made them all faceless to me. I sighed and followed after the rest of my family, who were on their way to the registration office to pick up their time-tables, wherever that was. I would just stick to my studies this year, and try to survive without the group of friends I had learnt to rely on so much over the years.
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I made my way to first period art class, feeling apprehensive. In my old school art hadn't been my best subject, but at least it hadn't been my worst. My problem with Art class was that I'd always compare my work to Namine's, our resident Van Gogh, and then feel so horrible in comparison that I just wouldn't hand my work in. That's why when Namine told me that she was taking advanced art with the aspiring artists, instead of the rookies who just wanted a pass, me for example, I'm ashamed to admit that I sighed in relief. I might actually feel confident enough to pass this year. The others seemed to be in completely different electives as well, which kind of sucked since it meant that I would really be alone.
The Art room looked like a piece of Art in itself. The walls were covered in a collage of artwork collected over the years, and where the wall peeked through in between the artwork, you could see random splotches of paint from enthusiastic painting. The whole room was filled with little easels; each had its own little stool and a small filing cabinet to keep the supplies in. It was very professional looking, and I felt intimidated. There was a big desk at the front where a teacher sat reading her book, the only other person in the room. I read the title curiously, and realised with a jolt that the teacher was reading a trashy romance novel at School!! She looked up from her book at the sound of the door clicking shut.
"Hi, I don't recognise you, are you one of many transfer students this year?" I nodded. "I'm Miss Rose. I teach art, as you probably figured." She frowned "Well, what's your name?"
"I'm Roxas Strife. I'm from the Hollow Bastion public school on the other side of town."
"Yeah. I know the one, used to go there myself. Spent my Whole school life there, until I went to university. Nice place, quaint. Apparently it's been having some problems though, which is probably why you transferred here. So you said Strife right?" She said this all in one breath, it was... shocking. I nodded. She frowned and looked at me with squinted eyes, calculating. "Are you a shy type or something?" A so I was right, nodding did not qualify as an answer for this teacher.
"No, I'm just not very talkative"
"Well I can see that." She smiled sarcastically and shook her head. "As you've probably noticed, I am, so you should either become talkative towards me fast, or I will tease you mercilessly for the rest of the year." Her sweet smile didn't match her sharp words. "Don't worry I won't bite, unless you push me." I stared at her. She just smiled and put her book away as other students started shuffling into the room. "Just sit wherever. It's not assigned seating" I quickly made my way to the back of the room, as far away from the teacher as possible. This woman was crazy. She looked completely sane on the outside, but when she opens her mouth.. and her choice of book... isn't that against school policy? I blushed lightly at the cover art when it flashed in my mind's eye. I didn't think it was possible for somebody to bend that way. I hid my blush by staring at the floor. I hope she doesn't make good on that promise, cause no way was I going to be warming up to her. I shuddered, hoping that my choice of easel would be an aid in staying away from the crazy teacher rather than more of a reason for her to bug me.
The room was filling up, students occupying most of the easels in the room. They chatted amongst themselves and didn't even seem to notice me. They all looked like normal, overly happy teenagers, boring and following the mould, except for two people. Their oddities seemed almost to be a joke because they were so out of the blue. And out of the blue is exactly how I'd describe one of these guys, because he had bright blue hair. Blue! I mean who wouldn't look right? And maybe it was also the fact that he was openly holding the hand of another man, and that that man had Silver hair. These three things were cause enough to stare. But not only were all these things true, but most shockingly, nobody seemed to care. They had pulled two of the easels together, and sat in their stools waiting for the class to start. And nobody was saying anything. It was... unsettling. Where were the stares and the conversations behind hands? Everyone treated it like it was normal. It made me feel, unsettled, but happy, unsettled because this school seemed to be my own, personal twilight zone, and happy because maybe Demyx and Sora could really be happy here. And maybe I could find a new place for myself at this school. It seemed to be just weird enough to be able to handle the Strifes. I smiled softly to myself and began drawing the thing that expressed my "inner soul" as Miss Rose instructed. In the end it just ended up looking like splattered sky blue paint in 'expressive' swirls with a random yellow line. It reminded me of sea-salt ice-cream. I licked my lips. Boy could I go for some ice-cream now. I chuckled at the silver-haired guy's version of his 'Inner soul'. It looked like a huge collage of hearts. He was adding small touches here and there and I watched his progress from behind him in my quite little loner corner. At least mine wasn't covered in hearts, that was one point on its side.
*Author's Note: Please review, I want feedback, so I can find out what to improve. This is my first fanfiction after-all, I'm hoping to use it as a learning process*