Next Chapter! I'm sorry for the wait guys! To get it up faster, I'm skipping the responses to reviews just this once. But I still want to say how awesome you guys are! Thank you!

Warnings: Same as always, BoyXBoy and a little bit of cursing.

Disclaimer: I, in all honesty, do not own the Kingdom Hearts series. And I think that is a very good thing.

This chapter will kind of be a filler. Sora will go to all his classes and talk to all his friends, and maybe the popular crowd will step in . . .

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o5: One lost step

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Sora walked into Math class just as the bell rang. He quickly took his seat beside Kairi and put his books on the desk. He took a quick glance beside him to see Kairi reading that little white book again. What is up with that book? He watched her as she examined the pages thoroughly, and when the teacher walked in, she closed it and shoved it under all her other books. She opened her math book and looked at Sora and gave a small smile as a hello. Sora smiled back wearily and took out his own text book and notes.

As class carried on and the teacher gave his lecture, Sora tried his best to concentrate and be a "good student". But . . . Kairi was making that very difficult. It wasn't like she meant to or anything, but she still worried Sora. She was once again reading the white book that was nestled on her lap, and she had a pencil on a blank sheet of paper, pretending to write everything down. That book was like gold to her, and Sora knew that she'd probably be a mess if anything happened to it.

Math class came to a close as the teacher wrapped his explanations up and took his position back at his desk. It was just three minutes till the next bell would ring, and Sora decided to take the opportunity to talk to Kairi, "Hey Kai," He said lightly and casually, collecting his things. Kairi looked up and closed her book, smiling wide. Sora could see her sneak the book behind her as she greeted back, "Morning Sora, Math is such a bore isn't it?"

"Er, yeah," Sora agreed half – heartedly. But then he added, "If you were actually listening."

Kairi's grin faltered immensely, "I was listening."

Sora raised an eyebrow and asked, "Oh really? What was in that book then?"

Kairi shifted in her seat and fidgeted. She looked very uncomfortable, and ready to dash out of the room the very second the bell rang. In all honesty, Sora's intention wasn't to scare her or make her uncomfortable – it was just to learn a little more about Kairi. He glanced at the clock to see he had one minute left, he had to make this quick.

"Listen Kai, I'm scared for you," Sora told her. "After what happened in Chemistry – and that white book . . . I just want to know a little more."

Kairi bit her lip, "Sora I –", the bell rang, and Kairi sighed and abruptly stood up, gathering her things. "I – I've got to go to Music!" Then she rushed out of there.

Stupid bell! I almost found out! Sora took a big breath and began to make his way to English class.

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"Oh my god! Sora! You're in two of my classes?!"

Sora smiled a bit, "Yeah, I guess so, Demyx."

When Sora came into English and took his seat, Demyx came trotting in and spotted Sora and, of course, hugged him. Sora couldn't quite decide if it was a good thing he wasn't alone in English or a bad thing because it was Demyx of all the people. Not that he didn't like Demyx; the blond was just a bit too much. Sora didn't know how many more hugs he could withstand.

As class started, Demyx made a scene because his desk was all the way across the room from Sora's. But he eventually gave in, and trudged reluctantly to his desk. Fortunately, unlike math, Sora was able to concentrate on his work and notes and Demyx didn't bother him at all. It was oddly the most relaxed he had felt over the couple days. He read and took notes efficiently throughout the hour, and quickly got out of the classroom to avoid Demyx – no offense to the blond, Sora just seriously needed some space. The next period was music which he and with Hayner. He arrived into the classroom earlier and was met with the grinning blond.

"So, are we seriously gonna come over?" He asked, excitement lacing his voice. "Roxas told me yesterday and if he's lying I'll –"

"Relax," Sora laughed and held up a hand. "Yeah it's true. There will be a sleep over at my house."

They walked over to the desks – and even though Sora's was across the room from Hayner's, he leaned against the wall besides the desk to talk before class started.

"Who's gonna be there anyway?" Hayner inquired, leaning back in his chair casually. Sora responded, "Uh, well, You, me, Roxas, Olette, Pence, Kairi, My brother and some of his friends, Roxas' brother, and Axel, Demyx, and Zexion."

At the mention of Axel's name, Hayner jolted forward in his chair, eyes wide and laughing, "You invited Axel?! Ha, Roxas is gonna get a kick out of that!"

Sora smiled slightly, and scratched the back of his head, "I hope he won't be mad . . ."

"Nah," Hayner said, regaining is casual position. "He'll just be . . . surprised. And maybe deathly scared," He looked at Sora. "Are you going to tell him at lunch?"

"I was planning too . . ."

"Man, I can't wait to see the look on his face!" Hayner laughed once again. The bell rang and Sora quickly made his way to his desk, getting out his stuff. Then he wondered if Hayner knew that Kairi disliked Axel and his friends – considering he only seemed to be interested in how Roxas would act. Speaking of Roxas, Sora kind of hoped this would bring him his chance. He hadn't actually asked Roxas himself about the crush – but he figured that when the time came it'd be obvious enough. Sora then pushed all those thoughts to the back of his mind as class began. He didn't really need to concentrate, since all they did was listen and sing along to various music pieces, but concentrating was better than having his mind fogged with worry and confusion. Anything was better than that.

As soon as class ended, Hayner followed Sora back to his locker again, wanting to not miss a second of Roxas' reaction when told of the 'added' members to the sleep over. Sora really hoped that this was Hayner over – exaggerating again, he didn't want to completely and utterly destroy his and Roxas' friendship because of that. As they walked to the cafeteria, Hayner kept on talking all hyped up, and Sora tried his very best not to pull his hair out. They stood in line again, and collected their food, then went over to their table. Hayner practically ran there, while Sora was hesitant in every step. When they reached the table, everyone except Kairi was already there.

Hayner slammed is tray down in over exaggeration right next to Roxas, "Sora's got something to tell you!"

Sora, who had placed himself on the opposite end of the table beside Olette, rapidly shook his head, "No, no I don't!"

Hayner scoffed, "Fine, if you won't tell, I will!" He grinned, taking a hesitant pause. He then turned to Roxas and said, "Sora invited Axel, Demyx, and Zexion to the sleep over!"

Roxas' eyes widened and he sprayed the water in his mouth out, Sora cringed. That cannot be good. Then After Roxas sputtered for a slight moment, he whisper – yelled, "Why would you do that?!"

Sora smiled sheepishly and said, "He came up and asked me."

At that, Roxas groaned and banged his head on the table. After a moment of silence Sora asked, "He's mad isn't he?"

"No," Hayner rolled his eyes. "He's really slap – happy on the inside." At the comment, Roxas made a sign of movement by elbowing the blond next to him hard. Hayner winced and scooted away slightly. Sora just looked at Roxas hopelessly, then at Hayner angrily, "You told me he wouldn't get mad!"

"He isn't mad," Hayner reasoned. "He's just in a state of shock."

Sora glared at Hayner, and then Kairi came over to sit besides Roxas, she looked at him with a raised eyebrow, "What happened to him?"

"Sora invited Axel and his friends to the slumber party," Hayner said simply, and everyone shot him a glare. Sora watched hesitantly at Kairi reaction – it was calm. Shouldn't she be . . . mad? She did tell me they aren't exactly friends . . .

Kairi just sat down and looked at Roxas, "Do you think he'll even come now?"

"Then he'd be missing the chance to get to know Axel," Hayner said. "I think that was whole point of inviting him - To help Roxas."

Sora sighed, "I think he hates me now."

"Nooooooo, he doesn't hate you . . . per say," Hayner told him – trying to be comforting but failing hopelessly. "He's . . . just shocked!"

"You said that already!" Sora retorted. "And I personally don't think its shock!"

"Eh," Hayner shrugged and continued eating. "It was worth a try."

After a couple minutes of silent eating, Hayner looked up and got the usual goofy grin on his face again, "Well look who's coming – Axel, Demyx, and Zexion."

"Ha ha," Roxas muttered. "I'm not falling for it this time."

But Hayner was actually right; the said three were actually coming towards their table. Sora decided to help the blond obtain some dignity, "No, really, their coming right now."

Roxas finally looked up wearily and turned around, his eyes widened and mouth agape, "Oh god!"

Then the blond did something Sora would of never had expected – Roxas darted underneath the table and completely out of sight. Didn't expect that. Sora hesitantly looked underneath the table to see Roxas curled up in a ball, clinging to the pole that held the whole table up. Sora looked back at the others to see them just as amused and surprised. But Hayner was mostly amused, as he was holding back upcoming laughter. Kairi then scooted over and elbowed him in the gut, and he wiped the smile right off his face.

Demyx came first, bouncing as he ran over to the table, then Axel, who walked casually behind him. Then there was Zexion who looked like he'd rather die than be there. "Sora! I missed you!" Demyx cried out as he flung himself at the brunet, who only smiled sheepishly and hesitantly hugged back. "Er . . . I missed you too?"

Demyx apparently didn't catch the questioning and unsure tone in Sora's voice, seeing as he simply grinned and then swung his legs over the bench, making himself comfortable. Zexion sat besides the blond, staid and still. Then Axel sat on the other side of Sora, which was oddly next to Kairi too. Sora was confused – there was nothing in either of their expressions that seemed to indicate any sort of disliking. Did Kairi lie? He shrugged it off eventually and finally asked, "What are you doing here?"

"Oh," Demyx grinned as he draped an arm around Sora's shoulders – thank god it didn't escalate into another hug. "Just coming to say hi to our favorite, freshmen, spiky haired, brunet, haunted house living, kid." He grinned at the others at the table. "And these must be his friends!"

Olette and Pence smiled a little bit, Kairi rolled her eyes slightly, and Hayner actually backed away, eyebrows raised and eyes wide. There was a moment of silence – awkward silence at that – then Kairi heaved a sigh, "Hey Demyx, this is Olette, Pence, and Hayner."

There came the official Demyx introductions – Hugs and squealing included - and then the blond sat himself back down, and believe or not, he was quiet and frowning, " . . . wasn't there someone else at this table?"

Oh my god! I forgot all about Roxas! Sora didn't dare to look back under the table to see how Roxas was doing. He looked at the other four wide eyed, they were all silent, still caught up on Roxas, that they didn't answer Demyx's question. The blond pouted and poked Sora on the shoulder repeatedly, "Hello? Anyone there?"

They all cut out of the trance and Hayner quickly – and stupidly – put in, "There's noone at this table! Noone at all! You're wrong!"

Demyx furrowed his eyebrows, still frowning from confusion. Everyone else raised an eyebrow at the blond. Sora heaved a breath and put in, "Ignore him. There's just Roxas, he's, um, not here." He finished lamely.

"Oh," Demyx smiled again. "Okay. Well I've got to meet him! I have to meet all your friends!"

"I'd tell Roxas to hide," Axel muttered, standing up. "Anyway, see you Sora."

With that he walked around the table, and grabbed Demyx by the collar, and pulling him up and forcing him away from the table. Zexion stood and followed them silently. All the way back, Demyx was fighting back, hollering over to Sora, "Sora! I'll miss you!"

After the three were away, Sora looked under the table at Roxas, and said, "It's clear."

The blond slowly crawled back up to his seat, frazzled. He looked across the table at Sora with wide eyes, "Is this gonna happen, like, every day?!"

"Well I think I'm helping you," Sora reasoned. "This could be your chance with Axel!"

"Who told you that?" Roxas cried out, seeming to be almost at his break.

"Well, Hayner but-"

Roxas interrupted, eyes narrowed in the direction of Hayner, "You told him? Why would tell him!?"

Hayner was calm and casual as usual, and swallowed the food in his mouth and retorted, "Well with that act, anyone could've guessed."

At that, Roxas stood. Before Sora could intervene, the blond ran off and out of the lunch room.

"Nice Hayner," Kairi murmured. "Real nice."

"Do you have any consideration, whatsoever?" Olette asked, lips curled into a frown.

"That was pretty harsh," Pence agreed.

Sora's was a bit more worried on the situation, "What is wrong with you?! Are you like the most inconsiderate to ever live?! Huh?"

"Okay, you can't say I'm the worse . . ." The blond grinned cockily and that merely fueled the others anger.

"Hayner!" They all scolded. Hayner sighed irritably, and said, "Okay, sure, take it all out on me because someone's over reacting to a joke. A joke!"

The bell rang and everyone started moving around and out of the lunch room. Olette grabbed both hers and Roxas' left over tray, and sighed, "Well I'll see if I can talk to Roxas in my next period." She walked off, and Pence did too.

Sora and Kairi walked out together, with Hayner desperately tailing them from behind, "Oh c'mon! I'm sorry! Okay, I am sorry!"

"Why don't you tell that to Roxas?" Kairi recommended bitterly. "He's the one who needs to hear it."

"You really need to learn some manners," Sora commented. "It can help you a lot in life."

"You know what . . . you guys are the mean ones! Yeah, you are!"

They just kept walking, ignoring Hayner as he rattled on and on. They weren't really mad at him, just irritated – even Sora, who had so quickly become close to his newfound friends that he could get mad at them too. They both grabbed their possessions from their lockers, and met up again to walk to science.

I have to ask Kairi about that book, Sora thought. But . . . how?

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After Roxas ran out of the cafeteria, he ran into the closest bathroom. He wasn't crying, but he was pretty close. He leaned against the side wall, sliding down near the ground – he felt completely and utterly hopeless. He wasn't mad at Hayner, he was mad at himself. He was angry and upset that he was so pathetic.

I am such a loser, he thought miserably. How can Axel ever like me?

The thing was, it wasn't the fact that he liked a boy that was bothering. It was the fact on which boy it was. Guys liking guys was common in twilight town, there really wasn't such a thing as homophobia. He supposed he should be lucky, but he felt anything but.

Someone was coming into the bathroom, but Roxas could honestly care less at the moment. He didn't even try to retrieve his composure – he just sat there, head down. Whoever it was, he didn't care.

"Hey . . . are you okay?"

But there was one exception – one that Roxas hadn't thought of. He didn't even have to look up to know who it was. Roxas knew by heart that it was Axel Kasai, the whole reason he was in the bathroom in the first place.

"Not really," He admitted. He couldn't believe he was actually talking to Axel. In a school bathroom. But somehow, he felt calm and uncaring at the moment.

He was even more surprised when Axel actually slid sown next to him and carried on the conversation, "Well, what's wrong?"

"Why would you care?" Roxas muttered, not believing that he was saying this. He was actually pushing Axel away . . . but, why?

"I don't know . . . why shouldn't I?"

The blond brought his head up, sighing, "It's just, a friend being a jerk."

"I know what you mean," Axel said. "By the way I'm –"

"Axel Kasai," Roxas cut in. "I know . . . everyone knows."

"Oh come on, I can't be that popular."

"Yeah," Roxas told him honestly. "Yeah you are."

Axel laughed a little, "Okay, okay. Who are you then?"

Roxas bit his lip and hesitated. Then he finally answered, "I'm Roxas Strife."

"So you know Sora?"

"Kind of," Roxas sighed, remembering how he had given Sora the impression that he had hated him. He knew he had to patch things up . . . somehow.

"Are you going to the party?" Axel asked, and Roxas shook his head and shrugged, "I don't know."

In the distance, the bell rang and two stood up.

"Well for the record, I hope you go," Axel started to walk out, and then turned around one last time and said, "I liked meeting you Roxas."

Roxas finally let a smile show, "I liked meeting you too."

Axel grinned and gave a small wave before exited the bathroom.

Roxas' smile turned into a grin as he thought, I actually talked to him!

Then he rushed out of the bathroom, and to his fifth period class.

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Well, there it is! Finally!

A/N: I originally wasn't gonna put the Axel and Roxas scene in . . . but I felt bad for taking so long, so here it is! It wasn't much, but still.

I'm not purposely making Hayner mean or anything . . . he's just not the most . . . sensitive person XD. He really doesn't know any better.

Once again, you reviewers rock so hard, it's amazing! I never thought that my first story would get any attention at all!

Chapter six should be up soon I hope. I'll try to get it up as soon as possible!