Welcome to another installation of my blithering! Glad you could join me! I'm going to blurt this out right now: this chapter seems kind of boring and very 'only there to get to explain some necessary crap'. Though it could just be boring to me because I re-wrote most of this like three times. Which is funny, because it's still a gigantic load of rubbish. (and I do mean gigantic, it's like twice as long as the first chapter.) Perhaps I will try writing the next bit from a first person POV, it seems like I might have better luck at keeping things interesting and 'developing characters' or some such. I don't know. If you have any opinion or advice on the matter, I'd love to hear your input, because I really haven't the foggiest idea about what to do. I'm also quite unsure of whether to write some romance-y bits. To ship, or not to ship? (and WHO to ship) That's really always the question isn't it? So yeah, review if you have any opinions/advice/give a flying rat's ass, I'd be thrilled to hear from you. And I'll shut up now so you can read some more stuff that is also written by me, but might be SLIGHTLY more interesting than me spewing complete nonsense.
Roxas hit the floor with a light thud, his eyes snapping open at the shock of the cold hardwood floor on his skin. He rubbed his eyes and yawned, slowly becoming aware of the fact that his alarm clock was going ballistic, and that his twin brother was looking down at him.
"Mmm, what time is it?" Roxas asked, stretching his arms and legs as far as they would go.
"It's seven thirty already. Your alarm has been going off for the past ten minutes, you know." Ventus glanced at Roxas and chuckled.
"Are you laughing at my bed head again? Geez, you do that every single morning," Roxas commented. He smiled and rolled his eyes at his twin's laughter.
"Seriously man, go look in a mirror," Ventus sputtered between laughs.
"Whatever." Roxas got to his feet and grabbed his uniform off of the chair in his room. He wandered out into the hall, and Ventus heard the sound of a door closing, followed a few minutes later by the sound of the shower starting.
The hot water helped to get Roxas thinking functionally, and his thoughts quickly drifted to the day ahead of him. He would have to meet his new classmates and teachers. He certainly hoped he'd be able to have a bit of fun. Being in a class of delinquents was the closest thing to a guarantee he could get for things not to be boring at least, however Roxas was still rather disappointed that Ventus was in a different class.
Roxas finally turned off the water and stepped out of the shower. He got dressed in the school uniform, throwing on the dark grey pants he'd been given and belting them. He put on the white collared shirt, leaving the top button undone and rolling the sleeves up to his elbows, and finally knotted his striped light and navy blue tie loosely around his neck. Roxas grabbed a bottle of hair gel off the counter and squeezed a dollop onto his hands. He ran his hands through his hair, setting his hair in the messy, spikey style he shared with Ventus. One last look in the mirror and he walked out into the hallway, a billow of steam left behind from the shower following him.
Once in the miniscule kitchen, Roxas poured himself a bowl of cereal, splashed in some milk, and sat down on a stool at the counter next to Ventus. As Roxas was munching away, Ventus pushed a piece of paper across the counter towards him, pointing to the bottom of the page.
"I just noticed this, but it says that that Xemnas guy wants to talk to you before classes this morning." Roxas picked up the piece of paper, which happened to be his schedule, and read the small bolded text at the bottom. It did indeed seem that the dorm supervisor wanted to see him.
"I hope he's not going to try to tell me not to break any rules. That would be a hassle." Roxas lifted another spoonful of cereal into his mouth.
"Plus he'd probably just be wasting his breath. It's pretty much inevitable," Ventus chipped in, grinning.
"You got that right," Roxas replied. He ate the rest of his cereal, and put his bowl in the sink. He grabbed his small, nearly empty bag and headed towards the door.
"How do I look? Ready for my first day?" Roxas joked as he neared the door. Ventus looked at him, tilting his head to the side and narrowing his eyes as if he was in deep thought.
"You've got the bad boy loose tie and undone top button down pat, and your messy 'just-rolled-out-of-bed' hair screams cool," Ventus replied, pretending to be serious. He couldn't hold back a grin, "but frankly, what really makes you so good looking is that you look like me." Roxas laughed.
"Maybe you just look like me. And you're the one that stole my hairstyle," Roxas retorted, sticking his tongue out. Their mother had always said that the only way to tell the boys apart was their smile, she claimed that Roxas had a more mischievous smile, while Ventus had the more innocent of the two, though on various occasions she had stated that Ventus was just as much of a trouble maker as Roxas was, regardless of his innocent smile.
"Oh suuuure I stole it. I had it first, if you'd care to recall." The boys laughed.
"Whatever man. Ah, I guess I should get going, I'm getting the distinct feeling that if I wait around any longer, Mr. Dorm Supervisor is going to shit a brick for keeping him waiting. See ya around." With that, Roxas slung his bag over his shoulder and exited the dorm, raising a hand in acknowledgement of Ventus's goodbye.
"You want me to what?" Roxas's blue eyes widened in disbelief.
"You heard me." Xemnas leaned back in his large black leather chair, red eyes trained on the boy across from him.
"I'm supposed to make sure none of the delinquents cause any major problems in the classes they have with regular students? Why would you want me, another student, doing that? Why not some sort of teaching aid or something?" Roxas questioned, drumming his fingers on the armrest of his chair.
"We've tried almost everything we can think of. The other authorities and I have decided to try to put a student in with them that they can relate to, has some sort of authority and won't be easily intimidated, but who is also a relatively good influence to try to change their behaviour. You're perfect for the job. You've gotten in many fights and failed a grade, all of them can relate to one of those things, however from what I have heard, you have martial arts training and have never lost a fight in school, I've also heard you're a 'good kid' from various different sources. As for failing a grade, you also skipped one, if I am correct, and the only reason for your previous failure was that you skipped as many classes as you attended so that you could work a part time job. Other than that, you would've had the marks to pass, yes?" Roxas nodded, and Xemnas continued, "Thus you won't have to worry that much about your schoolwork, in fact we can credit you a few courses to allow more spaces in your schedule to attend courses with the problem students to keep them in check."
Roxas smiled, a teacher was telling him not to worry about schoolwork? How much better could it get?
What Xemnas had really said slowly sunk into Roxas's mind, and Roxas realized why he and Ventus had been allowed to attend the school for virtually no cost.
"So I can basically exchange a few core courses for more options, right?" Roxas asked the first of the questions that had come to mind.
"Yes, provided you do well enough on an exam for the subject," Xemnas answered.
"And what means of keeping the other students in line would be acceptable?" Roxas asked the most important question. If he was going to get in trouble for every fight he got into, it would be pretty much impossible to keep a bunch of rowdy juvenile delinquents in any form of order without landing himself in more detentions and suspensions than he'd had in all of his previous school career.
"Anything from civil persuasion to distracting them into performing a deed of lesser consequence to encouraging and/or accompanying them in skipping class to fighting, if need be. I'll leave it to your judgement, however I would rather you taking the fighting somewhere other than the classroom if it comes to that. I will also be keeping my eyes and ears open and ensuring that you are not causing more problems than solving." Xemnas's last sentence was almost a threat.
"Understood," Roxas said, looking Xemnas right in the eyes. Roxas really couldn't do anything but agree to the dorm supervisor's wishes, as being uncooperative would mostly likely lead to a revoking of the 'scholarship' Roxas and Ventus were attending the school on. While Roxas would have liked to go home, his mother would not be very pleased. And besides, he had to admit that things were looking like they might turn out to be interesting.
"Very good. I shall check back with you in about a week or so, unless something unexpected happens. Good luck, and I believe you should be going off to your first class now. Your classroom is in the large red building to the south of this dorm." Xemnas waved his hand, excusing Roxas from his office. Roxas shuffled out of the office and into the hall as Xemnas turned his attention back to his paperwork, a slight smile gracing his face.
Roxas walked into the classroom just as the bell rang, face tinted pink with the frustration of trying to find his first class in the maze they called a school. His eyes skimmed over the room, taking in the whiteboard and large desk -that one had to be the teacher's- at the front of the room. He glanced over the rest of the desks, observing that the back three rows were almost all taken up by other students, very few of whom were sitting properly in their seat. It was a fairly common sight to Roxas, except for the number of people who had hair colours that couldn't be natural; pink, platinum blonde, a dark grayish blue, and what Roxas had thought might have been the brightest red he'd ever seen.
"Ah, sorry," muttered Roxas as someone entering the room ran into him.
"Well hello there, cutie. What're you doing in a place like this?" It was a girl's voice, and the person who'd bumped into him. He eyed the girl, taking in her lemon yellow hair and 'modified' uniform. Her skirt was rolled up to make it shorter, the top button or two of her shirt was undone, and her tie was nonexistent.
"I'm in this class," Roxas replied. The corner of the girl's mouth curved up in a smile.
"Really? You must be the new kid, I guess."
"Yeah." Roxas wondered why this girl was in a class with a bunch of delinquents. She seemed a bit...promiscuous, but then again, lots of girls were.
"Not much of a talker, huh? Let's go sit down, you can sit next to me!" The girl gave Roxas a wink. Roxas was a little unsure what to think.
"Oh come on Larx, you can't try and keep the cute little new kid all to yourself. Sit with us, man!" Roxas was steered to a seat at the back of the room in between the redhead with the spiky hair and a guy with light brown hair that had his hair all pushed to one side, with the other side shaved. The blond girl rolled her eyes and sat down in the desk in front of Roxas.
As soon as Roxas had sat down, the teacher walked in. Even the teachers for this class are a bit odd, thought Roxas as he eyed the man's long dark blue hair and the scar on his face. The teacher's presence silenced the talking, cutting off the chance for Roxas to ask who the redhead and brunette were. The teacher took attendance, handed out the textbooks, and introduced the day's assignment in as short a time and with as little speaking as he could. Roxas smiled to himself, math was easy; he could get the assigned questions finished and still have time for a half hour nap on his desk. Roxas zoned out as the teacher continued writing on the board and explaining some aspect of algebra to a room full of kids that mostly didn't care.
"Demyx. Phone on my desk." Roxas was snapped out of his stupor. The teacher was no longer facing the board, he was now staring at the kid with the light brown hair sitting beside Roxas, who groaned and stood up. He slowly walked to the front of the room. He dropped his beat up cell onto the teacher's desk and walked back to the desk on Roxas's right. A few minutes of relative silence passed before Roxas heard more snickering. He looked over to see the brunette, Demyx, texting again. That phone looked very similar to Roxas's. Roxas felt his pocket. It was Roxas's phone. How the hell had he gotten that? Roxas glanced up to see the teacher facing the board, and turned back to look at the boy sitting to his right. Roxas leaned out of his chair and grabbed for his phone. Demyx pulled it out of Roxas's reach. Roxas punched the boy in the stomach, just hard enough to wind him, causing him to drop Roxas's phone. Roxas grabbed it, and leaned back into his desk.
Roxas slid his phone back into his pocket, this time the left one, and returned his attention to the blue haired teacher, who again turned around upon hearing coughing and laughter.
"Demyx. Is there a problem?" He addressed the brown haired boy.
"No sir. Just had to cough," Demyx replied, a smirk on his face as he glanced out of the corner of his eyes at Roxas.
"And Axel," the teacher continued, turning his attention to the back of the room, "Is there something you find funny about polynomials?"
"No sir. Demyx just looks awfully funny when he coughs." People snickered as the redhead, Roxas figured that must be Axel, grinned. Roxas noted the odd tear shaped markings on Axel's cheeks and wondered if they were real tattoos. Again the teacher returned to his lesson.
Miraculously, the teacher got to finish the rest of his lesson in mild peace. The volume level in the room rose as the students took out paper and writing utensils, and got to 'work'.
Roxas caught the smiles on Axel and Demyx's faces as they both looked up to see the teacher at his desk, occupied with a stack of paper. Roxas wondered what they could be planning to do. With smiles like those that simply screamed mischief, it certainly wasn't going to be doing their math. They slowly and silently lifted their desks just barely off the floor and inched them a few centimeters in towards Roxas's desk. What fresh hell was this?
Demyx and Axel again looked up to see if the teacher was looking, and when assuring he wasn't, they again moved their desks towards Roxas. Roxas kept his head down and worked on the assigned questions, ignoring the two other boys' antics.
"Making friends, are we boys?" The teacher had indeed noticed that Axel and Demyx now had their desks pushed right against Roxas's.
"Yes sir, Mr. Isamine," Axel replied in a tone of mock politeness, grin still on his face, "we're going to be the best of friends."
"Well perhaps your new 'friend' might teach you how to actually do your schoolwork. How about you start by opening your books?" the teacher retorted in a dry voice, turning back to whatever he was working on. The boys obeyed, Demyx making sure to bump Roxas's elbow as he flipped through his textbook, causing Roxas to draw a line through all of his work. Roxas swung around to look at Demyx.
"Sorry little man, my hand must've slipped." Demyx raised an eyebrow and smirked at Roxas. This was obviously his way of getting Roxas back for punching him. Roxas erased the line and flipped his eraser between his first two fingers, waiting until Demyx was pre-occupied with doodling to flick the eraser with his thumb, sending it flying. Right into the side of Demyx's face.
"Sorry, must have slipped," Roxas said, not looking up from his paper as Demyx glared at him. Axel chuckled. Roxas smiled to himself as Demyx scowled.
"Demyx, I hope you're not distracting someone when they're trying to work." Mr. Isamine called out without even looking up from his desk. Demyx rolled his eyes and didn't reply. Roxas and Demyx's little war continued. Demyx dropped a textbook on Roxas's hand. Roxas punched Demyx in the leg. Neither of them were particularly malicious, they were both still participating now because they found it funny and wanted the last laugh. Nothing happened for a while, convincing Roxas that it was alright to go back to his math. He started on question six when he felt a hand push his head down, causing his face to make contact with the desk. Roxas sat up, and tried to refrain from laughing when he realized what had happened. He had to admit it was pretty funny. Axel and Demyx, on the other hand, didn't even try not to laugh.
"Boys. What are you finding funny about your math?" Of course Mr. Isamine heard Axel and Demyx laughing.
"Nothing sir, Demyx just accidentally hit me in the face with his textbook. Can I go to the washroom? I think my nose is bleeding." Roxas lied about what had happened, but it was true his nose was bleeding. Mr. Isamine sighed.
"Yes, Roxas. Demyx and Axel, the only reason I'm taking your shit is because I don't feel like having to supervise your detention on the first day of school."
"Um, Sir, can I also ask where the bathroom is?" Roxas had enough trouble finding his first class, he could be wandering for hours unless he got some directions.
"I can show him," offered Demyx, Axel, and the yellow haired girl all at the same time.
"You all just want to get out of class. Hold up your papers then, whoever has done the most work can accompany him." The three students groaned and held up their papers. Mr. Isamine looked at the papers, and then took a closer look at the blond girl's, seeing as how it was the only one with actual writing on it.
"You've answered three questions, and gotten the answers more or less right. You can go, Larxene," the teacher nodded to the girl and walked back to his desk.
"Come on!" the girl, Larxene, urged Roxas. She grabbed the hand he didn't have held up to his face to try to stop the blood getting on the floor and dragged him out of the room.
"Stupid Larx. We were having fun," Demyx complained to Axel.
"Yeah, he's hilarious. Wonder what he did to end up here."
"Hmm, I have no idea. I wonder if he'll be alright out there. Larxene's kind of...agressive," Demyx replied, wrinkling his nose in distaste at the thought of Larxene.
"She hits on anything that moves, doesn't she?" Axel and Demyx looked at each other in silence for a moment, both of them recalling various rather unpleasant memories involving the blonde girl. They shuddered.
Yeah. I decided to give Demyx a bit of a change in the hairstyle department. :D Also, it was pretty fun making Larxene kind of OOC. Tee hee hee, she's kind of fun to write. All in all, I've learned from this chapter that I need to find a direction for this story, because so far it is running itself into the ground face first, full speed ahead. Just reminding you all in case you forgot (and because apparently I'm shameless) that I'd love some input. Wink wink, nudge nudge. Look at the nice button down there.
And I STILL don't own KH. Just thought I'd keep you posted. Anyways, have a FANTABULOUS day! (or night)