Summary: Roxas is your rich guy with a big ego. Olette's your shy, nerdy brunette...with a black belt! And when Olette saves Roxas from a thug, can Roxas overcome his egoistic side to thank her? Will something else blossom between the unlikely pair? Roxette!
The author wishes to appeal for more, and more reviews. She has gotten her servant (coughKISHON!cough) to make a gazillion cookies so that reviewers can take it. She has also personally hired a mean puppy to advertise reviewing. DO NOT DENY THE PUPPEH. ^.^ Thank youuuu!
Roxas Strife, son of Mr Strife, heir to the Strife Holdings (Roxas never could remember what exactly Strife Holdings DOES, but when money's involved, you can count on him to in the very least try), and king of the cohort, was saved by a nerd, the one that didn't stand out.
And she was a girl.
He was utterly and completely disgusted and ashamed of himself. He felt his entire ego crushed and stabbed and (almost; he had reserves somehow) eradicated entirely.
But somehow, he was compelled to apologise to Olette for teasing her, and to thank her.
After he ended his phone conference with Axel and Demyx that day, Roxas threw himself onto his bed, and started throwing a violent tantrum involving his pillow, alot of punches and loud swearing.
He was infuriated. Absolutely, positively ANGRY at himself.
The thoughts rang loudly in his head. He remembered how the gangster was so bruised up, he almost helped the poor guy up if only if he didn't try and rob him. He recalled how Olette ended the tyranny of that guy by simply flinging him above her shoulders, sending him right into the brick wall.
She didn't have a single bruise; heck, not even a cut by doing that.
And Roxas? He had a bleeding nose, and his wrists were red; wait, almost blue, from the guy's tight grasp. It was simply unbearable; that man was too tough.
His train of thoughts came to a screeching halt when he heard a distinct knock on the door.
"Roxas? You okay there? How's the wound?" a concerned female voice asked. Roxas rolled his eyes. It was his mother, Aerith.
"I'm fine, mum." he replied, hastily sitting up as she entered his room.
Aerith smiled softly. "Well, thank goodness Axel and Demyx were there to stop that kid. If they weren't, then-"
"I would've kicked ass anyway." Roxas answered triumphantly. He was initially surprised that his entire family; Aerith Strife, Cloud Strife and Sora Strife, his annoying big brother; actually believed his story.
Roxas came home, panting loudly. As he burst through the door, he quickly assumed the face of an angelic boy.
He predicted that his entire family would be impatiently waiting for him on the sofa...and Aerith would be on the phone, apologising profusely to his tuition teacher, while Cloud would look on, fuming.
"I-I'm home." he announced, looking up and smiling softly to reveal his bloodied nose. He brought his hand up to brush down his blonde hair, shwoing his bruise.
Aerith was so shocked, she almost dropped the phone. Cloud simply continued glaring at Roxas, while Sora jumped up from his seat, yelling, "WOAAAAH, lil' bro, whatever happened to your-!"
"Some kid at school picked a fight with me spontaneously. Axel and Demyx stopped him before we did anything bad to each other. Though...he DID punch me," I gestured to my nose, "and squeezed my wrists."
Sora frowned. "Awww, if only..."
What a sadist.
Aerith swooped into her really-concerned-mother mode. "I'll get some tissue! Sora, get me my first-aid kit! And Cloud-!"
Roxas' father stood up, indifferent about his son's welfare, "I'm eating."
Aerith smiled. "So, you're alright, hm?"
"Yep. I'm fi-"
"ARGHHHHH I CAN'T TAKE IT!" Sora; that idiotic bastard, ran into Roxas' room, placing his hands on his hips. Puffing up his cheeks, he winked at his younger brother, who shrivelled back onto his bed, and gushed, "You were SAVED by a GIRL! Teehee!"
"W-WHAT?!" Roxas yelped.
His mother giggled (or sniggered, his mother was so weird sometimes) and said, "The two of us sort of...eavesdropped on ya."
Sora burst out laughing. "Yep, mum! High-fiveeeee!"
They both high-fived each other, and now Roxas started to wonder if Sora was straight or...gay.
"And now...I'm supposed to THANK HER?!" the blonde-haired boy almost screamed in agony. He could see it; the horror of talking to a not-so hot girl, the shame and guilt towards his egoistic side, ...everything.
His mother nodded her head gleefully. "I know it's hard for you, but...just try, okay? Maybe...get to talk to her in private or something?"
He tried imagining himself; pulling Olette away from HIS crowd, telling her a 'sorry', and how the whole SCHOOL would shun him. Oh, the horror, the horror...!
Roxas heard Sora snigger, and when he looked at his brother, the brunette simply gave him the oh-you're-so-dead-when-you-do-this face. And he looked at hs mother, her eyes sparkling with innocence. Dammit, he couldn't hurt her...
"I'll...try." he replied, as remorsefully as he could ever, EVER manage, "I mean, I owe my thanks to her...and I've been a little mean and all...so..."
"Aw, Roxieeeeee!" Aerith whispered, pulling Roxas into her tight mother-ly embrace, "I knew you'd do it...!"
And as Sora was (painfully) escorted by Aerith, the blonde put on his most sincere look ever...
...until they were both gone.
"Pfth. No way am I doing that." Roxas muttered, as he switched off all the lights for bedtime.
Olette smiled innocently, as if nothing had ever happened, as she offered her two brothers, Tidus and Wakka (A/N: I KNOW, I KNOW! I MESSED UP HER BROTHERS!! T.T FORGIVE MEEE!) the cupcakes that Namine's mother baked.
Wakka, the older one, wheeled himself into the room with much effort. The crippled 19-year-old was rejected from many potential jobs due to his state, and he could only mope around the whole house wondering why wasn't he out there, running with his two own legs.
Tidus, young and playful, was rather mature for his age. His child-like demeanor was taken away following his father's disappearance, Wakka's accident and his mother's tuberculosis. The 10-year-old quickly got up to help his brother get across to Olette. He took one cupcake for Wakka, before he took one and slowly savoured the tastes as his own cupcake entered his mouth.
Wakka looked at the other cupcakes forlornly, "Is Selphie comin' home today?"
Olette flinched at her elder sister's name. Selphie, who was sixteen, could not tolerate her severely crippled family, choosing to abandon them from time to time. At first she lied to her mother that she had project work with her friends and she needed to stay over, but soon, she didn't bother to even inform her family about her whereabouts. She attended a different school than Olette, so Olette was never able to track her down.
"I...don't know." she whispered softly. She looked at her family, her mother hacking away, fighting TB weakly; young Tidus who had grown up so fast; Wakka who had his dreams of earning money for his mother to enter a hospital completely crushed, the framed photo of her deceased father she had never known and Selphie, with her scarf hanging limply from the chair.
And she almost cried.
Wakka forced a small smile, "T-Then we'll have more cupcakes for us..!" Despite his cheery remark, he could not escape from the fact that their family was incomplete; no one was ever in the mood for anything; not even extra cupcakes.
Never.
"Roxas. HEY. Get up, kid." Cloud nudged his younger son awake. He was already clad in his expensive suit, and he had his briefcase in one hand. There was an important meeting today; alot of money was involved, and the man would not tolerate any lack of punctuality.
Even if it meant that Roxas and Sora had to go early to school.
"Ngggh," the boy stirred. Cloud stoically drew the curtains, and soon, glaring sunlight entered his room. It was a perfect view; the house was situated in the safest zones of Destiny Islands, and they were facing the sea. Furthermore, the sun could be seen rising from the window; it was absolutely breathtaking.
If only if they ever had the time to look at it.
"Kid, I'm NOT going to be late, so you'll have to run for the bus if you don't get up THIS INSTANT." his father boomed, resisting the urge to hit Roxas with his briefcase.
"Yeah, YEAH, I'm UP ALREADY." Roxas hissed, groggily getting up. It was 7am, and school started in 30 minutes.
After the usual routine of rinsing his face, packing his meal of milk ("For the bones!" Aerith chirped happily, and to Roxas' horror, she chugged one entire packet, and dumped two more into Roxas' arms) and some international cuisine: hainanese chicken rice, well-seasoned and aromatic ("Energy!" she chirped once again, and she slipped the packet of rice into the blonde's arms)
Soon, they were off, in their dad's spacious limousine. Cloud was dropped off first by their chaffeur, followed by Sora ("I'm watching ya. You'd better thank her!" was his goodbye but he earned a dismissive wave) and then Roxas.
By then, all three males had finished their breakfast, and were all alert, bright and well-fed for their activities.
Olette quickly flipped the final sunny-side up, and she gingerly picked up a plate to catch the egg in action. She quickly flung the plastic plate, and with great accuracy, it landed right on the table before Tidus, who clapped politely at her skills. "Great job, sis, seems that someone's been practicing!"
"Thanks, Tidus." Olette grinned. She noticed Selphie suddenly entering their house, and she offered a small smile to her elder sister, who simply ignored them, choosing to strut off into her room. The brunette sighed; she'll have to sacrifice her breakfast since Selphie, when at home, never failed to eat something before heading off anywhere.
Wakka gave an apologetic look to his sister, and he pushed his plate over to Olette. "Here, sis, I don't need it."
Olette shook her head gratefully. "That's okay. You'll need all the energy for searching the classified section for a job! Besides, I can settle for yesterday's cupcakes."
As she spoke, Olette turned to the fridge, and she took out the box of cupcakes. Taking one out, she waved it at Wakka, who sighed, before she proceeded to eat it.
"Hey, sis," Sephie asked wearily, in a tank top and a short skirt, "this egg mine?" She hustled down into her seat, next to Tidus, swallowed her sunny-side up and walked out of the house hastily.
Olette shook her head, as she prepared the final sunny-side up for her mother. "Tidus, mind if you help me with the dishes?"
Tidus slipped out of his seat, collected all the plates and started rinsing them with water. "Do you need me to drop by the groceries store to get more food, sis?" he asked, looking at the fridge. It was almost empty, save for their mother's medicine, and even that wasn't much.
"Ah, just some eggs will do. We don't have much allowance left..." she muttered. Sweeping up a plate with one hand, she scooped the egg up and placed it onto the plate, ready to be served.
Wakka took the plate from her, "I'll deliver it today." Placing it on his lap, he wheeled himself to their mother's room. Tidus smiled, and once he finished wiping the dishes clean, he skipped off for a quick rinse.
Olette peeled off the worn-out apron, and she scooted back to her room, where she hurriedly dumped her school materials into her bag. The brunette then tidied up her table and made her bed, before exiting her room. She entered her mother's room, plastering a smile on her face. "Mum, Tidus and I are going!" Wakka gestured for the girl to come closer.
She saw her mother, Haruka, weakly grin, her pearly teeth gleaming. Olette smiled back in return, and she carefully planted a peck on her mother's forehead, as her routine. "Get well soon."
Tidus came in, and repeated the same thing, before Wakka sent them off to school.
And it was 7am when they left.
Olette shuffled down the corridors nervously to her locker, right next to where Namine was. The blonde-haired girl waved at the brunette, "Olette!"
"Hey, Nami. Thanks for the cupcakes." Olette offered, as she opened up her locker.
"No problem, though...you WERE later than usual..." Namine pondered, as she brought her sketchbook closer to her. Smiling, she asked, "What happened on the way to my place?"
Olette gave a casual shrug, though she knew fully what took her so long. "My clock's not working." With that, she yanked open her locker, causing a few scraps of papers to fly out. She instantly caught all of them in mid-air with her quick reflexes. Shuffling through all of them, she looked at a stunned Namine, and grinned. "Haven't seen any moves from me for a long time, er?"
"Y-Yeah..." Namine laughed.
"H-okay, then." Olette said, and when she reached the final scrap of paper, her eyes widened.
"Sorry and thanks."
The brunette fumed at the meagre scrap of paper, and she ripped it into shreds, much to Namine's shock. She let the remains scatter on the floor, before shoving everything back into her locker. "What a JERK!" she screamed, and she slammed the locker door, which refused to lock itself.
Growling, she jabbed the door hard, causing a huge dent to appear, though the locker was locked up tight.
She glanced up at the clock, and she jumped. "Nami, I er, got to run, see you for lunch!" Olette blurted out, before running off for class, leaving Namine to shiver involuntarily at the dented metal door of the locker.
Roxas finished his final carton of milk, before chucking it on Axel's head. The minute remains of milk splattered on his neon-red hair, and it caused Roxas to snort in laughter.
Demyx giggled, trying to brush away the milk from the teen's hair, but was met with much resistance from Axel's frantic hands, "MY HAIR! ROXAS STRIFE, you are DEAD, I tell you, DE-!"
He was brutally shoved away by a pair of small, shaking hands. Olette glared at Demyx, her eyes flaring up in anger. The mullet-haired teen cowered back into his seat, chortling nervously.
Roxas gave Olette his trademark grin, hoping to ease off the pressure. "Heeeey, Olette, so, you're here to er, thank me, right? Ehehehh."
Olette folded her arms, obviously undaunted by the smile that made girls go ballistic over him. "You could've in the very least apologised or thanked me PERSONALLY! And what sort of CRAP was that, huh?! Can't afford to get DECENT paper?! You're a JERK, A FREAKING JE-!"
The class hushed their tones, as their teacher came in. She looked at the scene; Roxas and Olette standing up, in the midst of overturned tables and chairs, in an act of defiance. Olette had her fist curled up menacingly, and Roxas had his one sleeve folded back, exposing his lean arm, ready to pick a fight.
The two of them looked back at the teacher, dumbstruck. "Mrs Wakerman, I can explain-!"
"Olette, I am terribly disappointed in you. You should be ashamed." the teacher simply stated, and then she raised her voice at Roxas, "And as for you, Roxas Strife, I..."
"I know, speechless, huh?" the blonde joked, grinning. Some of the students sniggered.
"Yeah, right, she was speechless," Olette muttered under her breath, glaring at Roxas, "so she decided that detention would say everything! What were you THINKING, Roxas?!"
"HEY, who wanted to pick a fight first, huh?!" Roxas retorted angrily, as the two exited the classroom. They were flanked by Roxas' two friends, Axel and Demyx, both keeping a distance away from the female brunette, so as to not provoke her.
Olette growled, and she stamped on his foot abruptly, causing him to howl in pain. Not stopping to listen to Roxas screaming, "GET BACK HERE, OLETTE!", she ran off to the balcony nearby.
Roxas followed her with rage. His foot was throbbing madly, so he had to limp (or drag; it was rather painful) his way and walk briskly at the same time, which was quite the comical spectacle, if it wasn't for his dead serious face.
He saw the brunette leaning out, facing away from him, her body leaning against the railing of the balcony. "Peeeeerfect." he whispered evilly.
Roxas steathily slid to Olette. In an attempt to probably scare her, he grabbed her shoulder quickly, but before he was able to yank her to face him...
...she jabbed his face with her elbow hard. She flipped around, adopting her fighting stance instantly. And almost immediately, Axel and Demyx backed off; they were far more concerned about their faces than Roxas.
Roxas groaned, and he let go off the inflicted area, revealing a black eye. The girl gasped, "Oh, my GOODNESS! I am SO sorry!"
She quickly got on her knees, crawled over to the boy, and she instinctively lifted his chin for a closer look. The brunette looked straight at Roxas' eyes, her face twisted into that of worry.
"W-What the HECK are you DOING?!" Roxas screamed, swatting her hand away. He then winced in pain, clutching his swollen eye.
"Just let me see it, okay?" the brunette whispered softly, biting her lip as she inched closer to him. The blonde blushed furiously and he tried to avoid her steady gaze. Olette sighed. "C'mon, I can help. Trust me."
Roxas had no choice but to oblige, awkwardly turning his head to face her. Liek a mother tending to her child, Olette examined the wound, eyebrows furrowed, and her emerald eyes gleaming with worry.
The blonde tried hard to avert his attention to something else, but he could only look straight into Olette's bright eyes. His face tinted pink, Roxas could only think of one thing.
Her eyes; they're so...beautiful.
"Oh. CRAP." he muttered softly but audibly. Olette rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah, a girl tending to your wounds, alright. Snap out of it." the brunette lamented. She smiled cautiously at the boy.
"You're gonna be fine. It'll be painful, but-" she was instantly cut off when Axel shoved Roxas into Olette. Their lips clashed, and the push caused Roxas to fall over Olette, his entire body pinning hers down in an awkward hug.
"OH, MAN, Demyx, you're one heckuva GENIUS!" Axel cheered, as the blonde got off the girl hastily."You even got them a KISS!"
The mullet-haired boy chortled. "Yupyup!" he cried out happily, before Olette smacked the back of his head angrily.
"You absolute JERK!" she yelled, and she promptly launched into a tirade of smacks and screaming. Roxas sat there, absolutely dazed.
Shit. What was that funny feeling I had when I kissed her?
I'm evil! YAY!
Please review! This chapter gets "Best Kiss" award, and "Hottest character - Roxas!", and it's the...3rd longest chapter I've ever written!
For the next chapter...detention for Olette and Roxas!