"So, Roxas will we be seeing you tonight?" Olette asked, the both of them packing up their lockers for the weekend.
"Why wouldn't you?" He asked, confused.
"I mean, Axel isn't coming tonight," she replied easily, "so we weren't sure if you would or not."
He frowned. "What? What do you mean Axel isn't going?" He'd said he was at lunchtime. He'd been excited about Strip-Twister!
"That's just what he said," she replied. "After History. When he came out of the classroom he said he wasn't going to make it tonight."
He clenched his jaw. Had she said something to make him feel unwelcome? Hayner and Axel never got along particularly well.
"I don't know," he answered the first question. "I'll go over and see what's up with Axel first. Depends how that goes."
It was Friday so Axel had probably played hooky for his last class of the afternoon - a study period anyway - and gone home. He hurried to catch up with Sorikai so he could get a lift home with them. He headed home long enough to ditch his books and change out of his uniform. Then he grabbed the tram and hung on until he got to Axel's neighbourhood.
The door wasn't locked, and he let himself in. He could hear Axel's uncle in the other bedroom, angrily speaking on the phone so he kept quiet as he slipped into Axel's bedroom.
The air hit him like a wall, the flavour flooding through his nose and mouth. He darted his tongue out, tasting the air. Sandalwood and vanilla? That was Axel's stress blend, and judging by the saturation of the room, he'd been stress-smoking the hell out of them.
"You okay Axe?" He asked, as he went over to throw open the windows and get some oxygen in the room.
He only got a grunt in acknowledgement as Axel stubbed out another smoke butt. "Fucking peachy." He was at his desk, surrounded with history books and class notes.
"What's up?" He asked. Axel was studying. Axel didn't study.
He only got an annoyed sigh in response, the redhead turning the page he was reading.
"I mean, the apocalypse is coming - Axel studying rather than coming to a party, that's like the four horsemen," he joked.
"Roxas," Axel interrupted him shortly. "I don't care if you stay, but I need to concentrate. I need to know every stupid detail about The Battle For Quay Blaid by Monday."
Roxas frowned, standing by the window. "I thought your test was on Wednesday."
"It was," he grumbled. "I bombed it completely. Dr Sid is letting me resit it."
"You never care about failing," Roxas said, giving him a confused frown.
He sighed tersely, and lit up another smoke. "I need to," he replied icily. "If I don't pass this test, I fail the class. And if I fail, I don't get to graduate." He inhaled and spoke again, smoke spilling from his mouth and nostrils like a dragon. "So I don't care if you stay, but I have to study."
Roxas looked at his best friend a long moment. He knew Axel didn't care about school work, but he hadn't realised it had gotten this bad. All the meetings with the principal, no wonder he was agitated.
Roxas sat on the bed. "Pass me the textbook. My quiz is on Tuesday."