School was nothing more than a shit hole. People were back to square one with shoving me into lockers and pouring water on me from a distance, but of course. What was I expecting? People had only stopped messing with me because Axel was so hot-headed that people didn't dare get near his "things". I watched him walk the hallways from afar, watching his fingers tap away at his phone as he texted whoever. I didn't want to know anymore, not if he didn't want to know about me either. We had slowly moved farther and farther apart in class, many seats between us by the end of third quarter. I had fucked up, and there was no going back.

I kept up with school work and work-work, and it really wasn't that hard. Walking home after school, I felt someone tug on my arm. I turned to look and Demyx was there, signaling me to be quiet as he pulled me to the side of the school. Though I didn't really know him, I kept my mouth shut. I didn't know what he wanted. Once we were in the clear of people, he sighed and offered a too-happy smile. I just stared at him.

"Roxy, Roxy, how have you been?" he asked, leaning forward with his hands on his hips. He didn't really give me a chance to reply as he continued talking. "We've missed you at the parties. Where have you been?" he asked, standing back up as his face contorted to concern. I shrugged a shoulder and prayed. Did he believe me? He shook his head and made a face that made me talk to him about what happened.

"Axel and I-"

"Had a falling out, I know. But I thought you'd still want to hang around. Was it really that bad?" he interrupted. I scowled at him a bit before shrugging completely and looking away to the ground.

"Guess it was." It's not like I didn't want to see Axel- I did! But he didn't want to see me, at all. I'd left him voicemails and text messages and notes at school, but never got a reply. I took that as him not wanting to see me anymore, not even as friends. I could hear Demyx sigh. What a wreck I turned out to be. Couldn't even stand up for myself.

I watched as he stepped in closer to me, whispering softly about whatever was going on in his head. "Do you really think he doesn't want to talk to you anymore? Because I don't think that's true. From what I've seen, he's a wreck."

"Are you sure you're not talking about me?" Covering my mouth, I frantically shook my head. That wasn't supposed to be out loud! I was such an idiot! His mouth turned up into a small smile, his laughter shaking him. I watched him recover from his giggle fit, his mouth slowly shaping into just a smile. His hand was suddenly gripping my shoulder, and it took all my strength to not pull away in panic. He bent down to my eye level.

"Roxas, you really ought to look at the world around you. It's not just you, you know," he said softly before stepping back and starting to walk away. Wait, what? Of course it wasn't just me, but what did he mean? I was going to ask, but he was gone in someone's car. The laughter spilled out of the open windows, and I could only stare ahead at the wheels spinning against the pavement.

My walk home consisted of kicking pebbles off the sidewalk and into the street, watching them hop against the cement and onto the road. With a deep sigh, I attempted at texting Axel again, my eyes staring down at my phone. Even though I didn't want to seem desperate, I was. There was no way that I could stop myself from sending my text message. It was short and sweet, but it proved my point.

"I miss you."

Once I was home, I spent the day cleaning my house. I had actually managed to put everything where it belonged and out of the boxes. I had lived there for almost an entire year, but most of my things had remained in cardboard. There wasn't much else to do, and so I abandoned my cleaning mission and went to rest in my bedroom. Pulling my phone from my pocket, I saw a text… from Axel. I opened it as quickly as my thumbs would allow it.

The redhead hadn't contacted me in over a month, and my heart felt like it was going to drop into my stomach and burst through onto the floor. I felt like screaming, as if my mind wasn't speaking loud enough.

"We should talk." I felt more nervous than ever. Talk? That was always a lead into something bad. What was I supposed to say? Pressing my hair back from my face, I decided to say what I knew would work for him.

"In person?" As much as I wanted to snap and curse about his stupid "girlfriend', I couldn't bring myself to do it. I really wanted to be back in his life, wanted to be a vital and important part of his day-to-day life. He was my everything.

My legs crossed, I waited. I wasn't sure how long it was before he sent me another response. It was more than I could have ever wished for. He was finally talking to me- after all that time!

"Please." What else? He wanted to talk in person, but where? When? "Are you free now? We could meet up at the school." What strange timing. He must have known that I was going to ask. Or maybe he didn't. I swallowed down everything I thought I was going to say, threw away all the scripts I had in my head. I needed to go with my instinct, needed to be myself and show him what it really was that I felt. The real question… Could I really do that? Could I honestly show people the demons I held inside?