'White Lies'
Disclaimer: *swings numchuck threateningly* run now... i'll give you a ten seconds head start before i attack you for reminding me i did not invent kingdom hearts. *wicked grin*
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CHAPTER 2: The Victim
If one were ever in dire need of locating Roxas whilst he was at high school, and was forced to resort to questioning the multitude of other students to discern the blonde's whereabouts – most presumably they would find the scholars' answers less than helpful and overall quite disappointing. Few people knew of Roxas's existence, other than that handful or so of friends Roxas had accumulated, which merely consisted of his usual gang of Pence, Hayner, Wakka, Tidus and his brother Sora.
This was, all in all, a much welcomed lifestyle of Roxas's. Finding himself a generally nervous wreck when around new people, Roxas had decided at the beginning of high school that he would only build up a dependable group of friends, and then withdraw into the shadows and blend into the crowd so to speak.
Often people were quite surprised that Roxas was even linked to the ever so over-exuberant Sora, let alone brothers with him. Sora was one of those people born with that rare communicable quality that enabled him to make friends instantaneously. Not that he didn't deserve it, because Sora was indisputably nice. However, that didn't make it annoy Roxas any less whenever he occasionally overheard other kids talking about him as he wandered passed them to go to class...
"Who's that?"
"I dunno... think his name's Robert or something. His Sora's brother."
The next line would always be delivered with a hint of scepticism, "He's Sora's brother? How long's he even been at the school for?"
"As long as Sora I'm guessing."
"Really? I didn't even know he existed... I've never heard him talk before... being Sora's brother you'd expect him to, right? Maybe he's a mute..."
Such conversing used to incredibly irritate Roxas - sometimes to the extent of him ungraciously snapping at those gossiping about him. Though lately Roxas had been so content with everything that he honestly couldn't care less what was said about him in comparison to his brother Sora.
Firstly, Roxas had been putting more effort into his schoolwork, resulting in a vast improvement in all of his classes. His report card results were near level with Sora's, which prompted his parents to reward him with buying him a new skateboard. The bell curve of his grades had some minor beneficial effect on his self-esteem, causing him to more than previously (which was still very rarely) have the balls to chat to strangers in class. One such stranger in the year 12 maths class he was taking had developed into a close ally of Roxas's.
Back at the beginning of the year, Roxas had grudgingly sat at the only remaining seat in the maths class, having arrived late (due to Sora's false claims of knowing a shortcut to school). The mentioned spare seat was next to some lanky, tall rebellious punk looking guy with red hair. If Roxas hadn't already noted that they were in a high school class, he would've guessed the guy was possibly in his early 20s, however, being a yr 12 class, evidently he was actually around 18 years old. One afternoon, after receiving a fairly pleasing mark for one of his maths tests, Roxas's esteem took a temporary soaring upwards and the blonde decided to introduce himself to the red head. It was understandable, since they had habitually kept sitting in the seats they had since their first class, and it wouldn't hurt to try and make an acquaintance in a class of intimidating older kids.
Not one with a developed skill of subtlety, Roxas straightforwardly yet nervously blurted out, "Hey, I'm Roxas. How'd you go on the test?"
The redhead had pinned him with a strange look, as if inwardly wondering whether the year 11 blonde kid who had never spoken to him before was worth talking to. Roxas felt him cheeks start to burn from embarrassment. What if the guy didn't reply and snobbed him off? Roxas already had an overly fragile social health, and if this guy gave him the silent treatment in one of his rare accounts of talking, then his momentary blissful mood would be shattered immediately.
Finally, after what felt like hours, the redhead flatly replied, glancing down at his paper, "Full marks. Algebra's piss easy."
"F-full marks?"Roxas had stupidly repeated. He'd pinned the lanky redhead as a delinquent who barely scraped passing grades.
The redhead read the look on his face, correctly assuming what Roxas was thinking, "A little too judgemental, aren't you? If I wasn't made of steel I might even be insulted from you insinuating I'm stupid."
Roxas grinned sheepishly, deciding it best to not deny what the redhead clearly knew.
"Relax, shortie. I'm not going to have a go at you. You wouldn't be the first to underestimate me."
"Why doesn't that surprise me?" The words tumbled out of Roxas's mouth before he realised. It had been a simple thought, but now that Roxas had verbalised it, he was sure he was going to get killed by his redhead neighbour.
To his immense shock and relief however, the redhead laughed. "Pack a bit of a punch, don't you?"Then deciding Roxas's ability to make snide comment made him worthy of knowing the redhead, the lanky older teen introduced himself,"I'm Axel. Year 12. And seeing as we'll probably be maths buddies for the rest of the year, you might as well beware that I have slight pyromaniac tendencies..."
"Why would I need to know that?"
Axel rapped his knuckles smartly against the desk, a manic gleam in his eye, "Table's made of wood. Just warning you I might get tempted."
Another improvement to Roxas's life was that he had miraculously discovered that he had somehow managed to obtain himself a girlfriend later on in the year. Despite the fact that Kairi had moved away a month or so after her and Roxas had initially started going out, their long-distance relationship was thriving, with each of them calling the other at least once a week. It wasn't just the simple fact that Roxas was going out with someone he liked so much that made him so smug; it was also his friend's reactions to the news of his girlfriend being Kairi.
"Kairi?"Hayner had eloquently spat, when Roxas had first told him, "You mean Kairi as in Kairi the real ugo in our biology class, right? The one with the full-blown orthodontic head-gear, yeah?"
"No. I mean Kairi as in Kairi who's on your 'Top-10-hottest-girls-in-our-year-level' list."
"Sweet snag, man."Wakka had chipped in, smacking Roxas on the shoulder proudly.
"Maybe she's got some mental impairment we don't know about." Hayner said weakly, attempting to justify why Kairi was going out with Roxas, "I mean, why would she choose you when she could choose me?"
"Maybe because Roxas has a closer resemblance to a human being than an ape unlike you." Tidus had coolly remarked, without looking up from a magazine he was skimming through. This earned laughs from both Sora and Pence, however Hayner continued to grumble.
Though admittedly crude and idiotic, Roxas's friends were, as soppy and cringe worthy as it sounded, the third major factor that had contributed to his content attitude towards life over the past few months. They were the type of dependable friends Roxas had been banking on when he initially started high school, and always pulled him out of his pits of dullness. He was comfortable enough around them to say anything.
Roxas felt he had absolutely nothing to complain about. If all else failed he had his friends as a safety net, which would always be there for him. They were the ones who would definitely not screw him over, and Roxas took great comfort in that knowledge.
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A/N:
hi guys... what? You don't remember me? Or this story?
... oh. Right, yes... well considering i disappeared off the face of the planet for a large quantity of time then i suppose thats understandable.
so... im finally returning to this abandoned sample piece thing and actually am adding to it. I decided that i couldn't be bothered preceding the sample piece itself and so just decided to go on from there.
yeah, yeah, i know nothing actually happens in this chapter... its just filling in how roxas is feeling about everything during hayner and wakka's prank.
Oh, roxas you fool. He actually 'takes comfort' in his friends... who are about to completely screw him over with the worst prank in history. Epic LOLs... :D
reviews let me sleep at night,
Jordan xx