I may have to put one of the stories on hiatus to prevent updates from slowing to a crawl.
On the other hand, I could just rotate updates—Lost and Found one week, Jump the second, The Wanderer the third…
Yeah, I think the second option's better. But who knows, maybe I'll find a better option.
DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN ANYTHING MENTIONED IN THIS STORY.
Just this story. Enjoy!
Xxx XXX xxX
"I've got English first, Shop class second, Algebra 2 third, and Art last," Namine read, looking at the tiny slip of paper clenched in her hand. "What've you two got?"
Sora studied his schedule. "Algebra 1 first, Shop class second like you, Biology third, and English last."
"Algebra 2 first, English second, Chemistry third, and…and…what's this last?" Xion asked, holding her paper out for Namine to see. "I don't think my eyes are working right."
"Choir?" the blonde said. "Yeah, Choir's not really for you…"
Namine had had the misfortune of acquiring first-hand experience of Xion's singing last night. Mutes could sing better than the brunette girl by dint of not being able to say anything at all.
"Why, God? WHY?" Sora shouted, drawing strange looks from passersby.
"What's wrong?" Namine asked.
"He has no intellectual classes with either of us," Xion sneered.
Sora glared at his sister. "And what's wrong with helping out a classmate in need, huh?" he challenged.
"Oh, I don't know, like getting your notes copied every single FRICKIN' day?" Xion replied airily. "Seriously, Sora—pay attention! It might help your grades a bit!"
The boy pouted, but before he could respond the bell rang.
"Gotta go!" Xion called back at the blonde, who may as well have been standing still. "See ya, Namine!"
Namine stared at Xion, who was already far away, for a second, before sighing in resignation and beginning the long trek to B Building, the languages center.
The English 11 classroom, on the fifth floor, was neat, organized, and spartanly decorated. Blue-grey wallpaper was left unmarred by the normal smattering of pinned-up essays. Those were arranged along the back wall in a small box marked out by red yarn.
Namine took a fourth-aisle seat by the window as Ms. Lockhart did roll call.
"Merrill, Lucy!"
"Present."
"Miyamoto, Namine!"
"Present."
"Perry, Jacques!"
"Present."
As the teacher completed roll call and the lecture began, Namine rested her chin on her desk.
She'd fallen asleep at twelve, been shocked awake by the ear-shattering wake-up alarm at six thirty, and she really, really, really wanted to go to sleep.
"Maybe Ms. Lockhart won't mind if I take a quick catnap," she muttered. "Yeah, she looks like a nice person…"
She was babbling now, her sleep-deprived mind slowly shutting down her body, the warm autumn breeze rather soothing across her neck and face…
"Hey, Sleeping Beauty."
"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Namine screamed, falling off of her chair. She got back up, brushing stray bangs out of her eyes, to see—
"ROXAS!" The shriek from every girl in the class made Namine jump again.
"So nice of you to pop in, Mr. Takahashi," Ms. Lockhart said dryly. "Especially considering the stories I've heard about you."
"Well, I'm not one to pass up being in a class with so many cute girls," Roxas grinned, climbing down from the sill.
"Also a lady's man," Ms. Lockhart muttered, pantomiming writing on a clipboard like a shrink. "Miss Miyamoto, you can sit down now."
Namine realized she was still standing up and immediately took her seat. Roxas sat down behind her.
Encouraged by the protests and invitations of the other girls, Namine made a shooing motion at him. When he didn't move she shot him a death glare that could've seen off a fleet of Posleen battle globes.
His reaction was…oh, please God, no…
"Must—resist—puppy eyes—" Namine grunted, trying to look away. Her little brother Ventus frequently pulled the same trick on her and it almost always worked.
"Please?" Roxas begged, clasping his hands. "Pweeeease? Pretty please with cherry on top?"
His voice had entered the really annoying decibel range, but at the same time Namine wanted to giggle at his (she had to admit it)…cute… groveling.
She slapped a hand over her eyes, just knowing this was going to come back and bite her in the ass later. "Fine," she grumbled. "You can sit here."
Roxas gave a decidedly immature yelp of glee before plopping down on the seat behind her. Namine leaned forward, away from him, attempting to get as far from him as was physically possible. He responded by bending towards her.
The artist sprung her trap, slamming her head backwards. She was sure he had gotten too close to disengage, too close to back away before the back of her head connected with his face…
So Namine was quite surprised, to say the least, when she felt the tip of his nose lightly pressing into the base of her skull.
He inhaled the scent of her hair, sighing in obvious pleasure. Namine jerked away and glared at him a second time.
"Creep," she muttered.
He just smirked in reply. "I do my best," he said.
Xxx XXX xxX
Trigonometry was on the sixth floor of E Building, the sciences building. Namine took two steps into the classroom and immediately turned around, hoping that the teacher hadn't seen her.
She wished in vain.
"Miss Miyamoto, may I ask why you're leaving so soon?"
With a frustrated sigh the blonde headed for the only seat left. As she had expected Roxas was sitting behind it.
"Do you have a fetish for girls' backs?" Namine asked him as she sat down.
"Only yours!" he declared with a lopsided grin.
Namine ignored the near-instant hurricane of protests (towards Roxas) and insults (towards her) and zeroed in on the whiteboard, where the lecture was already starting.
As she wrote down a note about secants being the upside-down variant of cosines, something poked her in the side.
Namine bucked but did not turn around to see who had done it. There was no doubt as to who had jabbed her.
Barely two minutes later, another poke, this one on the back of her neck, made her whip around.
"Stop it!" she hissed at Roxas.
"Stop what?" he smirked.
"Stop poking me!"
"I'm not poking you!"
"ARRGGGHHHH…"
Namine racked her mind for a deterrent. Finding no nonphysical ones, she decided to simply poke him back.
"Ow! What was THAT FOR?" Roxas whined, rubbing his throat.
"You know what," Namine snarled.
"What?"
She was getting more than a little fed up with his evasive answers, but managed to calm herself and turn back around.
Then a finger dug into her shoulder.
"Stop doing that!"
"But I didn't—"
Namine exploded.
"STOP POKING ME, DAMMIT! IF YOU DON'T STOP POKING I SWEAR I'LL—"
Nobody found out what Namine intended to do to Roxas if he didn't stop poking her, as everybody was too busy staring at her in shock.
Namine looked around at her wide-eyed classmates and timidly shrunk back down into her seat. "Never mind," she mumbled weakly.
Xxx XXX xxX
Namine couldn't run away from the classroom fast enough—mostly because Roxas kept up with her with an easy lope.
"I notice we aren't heading for the mess hall," he observed.
"No kidding," she retorted without even looking at him.
"Why?"
"None of your business."
"Why?"
"None of your business!"
"Why?"
"Go away!"
"Why?"
She simply could not believe how easily he could drive her to near-insanity with just that one word.
"Alright I'll tell you! But first, you have to close your eyes and count to twenty—no, thirty. Make that sixty. And turn around in circles while you're at it."
As Roxas turned around in circles and counted, Namine rushed to find a hiding spot.
The trees? She was no climber.
The corner? Too easy.
Then where?
"Gotta hide, gotta hide," she mumbled nervously. "Wait, I've got it!"
Namine dashed away for the gigantic front lawn. It was so huge he shouldn't be able to find her.
When she had found a suitable area, she spent several minutes checking around her to make sure nobody was around.
When he didn't show up after a good ten minutes, Namine relaxed and sat down.
She'd brought her sketchbook and pencils along; now all she wanted to do was draw something, anything, to soothe herself.
A giant arc marked the gentle perspective curve of the vista in front of her. Quickly drawn tufts of grass completed the lawn, and she began on individual people.
The brown-haired girl was impossible to draw because of her animated waving of her arms, so Namine decided to sketch the raven-haired boy quietly reading a book against a tree.
But as she began with the tree's thick foliage…
"Nice drawing there."
For the second time that day, Namine screamed in terror. She clutched her pounding chest and glared at the chuckling Roxas.
"I thought you said something about that a girl's no really does mean no," she growled. The adrenaline had only just ebbed away.
"For you and Seifer, yes. For you and me…well, I can see that you really do want me here," Roxas remarked. He gave her that lopsided grin again.
"Dream on," she said, before returning to her drawing.
"Oh? What about yesterday, when you snuggled up to me?" he inquired, lying down on the grass.
Namine glanced at him, startled. "WHAT? I don't remember doing that!" she shouted angrily.
"You did anyways," he replied. "I had to carry you back to your dorm."
Now she did recall being…she turned pink at the memory.
"I deny that that ever happened," she muttered.
"Are you blushing?" Roxas asked half-teasingly.
She turned away.
"Come on, let me see it…"
Namine rotated herself every time Roxas moved in an attempt to catch a glimpse of her ever-reddening face. But she couldn't prevent that from happening forever.
"You know you're really cute when you blush, right?"
The artist's eyes widened at the unexpected compliment.
"I don't think I've ever quite seen a lovelier shade of ruby. Reminds me of a certain—"
Roxas easily, but still only barely, managed to dodge the sideways swipe of Namine's pencil.
Xxx XXX xxX
No, Namine will not hate on Roxas like in "Masks". He just annoys her a bit, and (although she herself doesn't realize it) charms her.
Will I do a love triangle? Perhaps, but in this one Sora's not much of a competitor for Roxas. Riku, maybe? Or perhaps I could fit in a RikuXKairiXSora triangle…
Yeah, maybe…
By the way, guess who the brunette boy is. He's coming up later.