Summary: Riku loves writing poetry, but despite his understanding of the world of words, he remains convinced that if his poetry is a public fact, his ladies' man reputation will be completely ruined. Enter Xion, his best friend and the only one who knows his secret hobby. Xion decides that Riku's poetry is a gift to mankind, and does her duty as a best friend - publishes it anonymously behind Riku's back. Meanwhile, the drama of senior year continues as their final year of high school wraps up...

Warnings: Language

AN: Well, here's chapter 2, all nice and rewritten. Honestly, it was chapter 1 that was in shambles. This one I didn't have to change too much. I suspect chapter 3 &4 are going to be a nightmare to edit nicely...well...I've got another few hours. Here we go!

Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts or any of its affiliates.

Chapter 2

in which Riku faces mental torture

"GOAL!"

Riku high-fived Sora, his right-field forward. Sora had given the ball a bit of a lift, putting it at the perfect spot for Riku to jump kick it past the surprised goalkeeper.

"We should work on that for a game," said Sora as they jogged back to their starting positions. He rubbed his hands together against the morning chill and gave a short, evil cackle. "Kairi's going to be so jealous."

Riku slowed to a stop as they approached the soccer ball waiting for the kickoff. A sharp whistle sounded off in the distance, and heads turned to the left were the girls' team where half of the team was running suicide laps and the rest were lining up for goal kicks. The boys' team had finished their season in fall, and no longer had to do the harder workouts. "Jealous, and tired and possibly grumpy from running so early in the morning. Good luck with your girlfriend."

"Thanks, I'll need it," said Sora. "Wait. Hold on." He thought back on his words. "Don't tell her I said that."

"Didn't plan on it," said Riku. He took his place as center forward, but the practice game was interrupted before it could begin by a shrill whistle, this one much closer.

"Time's up, gentlemen! Five laps, then we're done for today."

The normal groans and grumbles persisted through the admittedly easy laps to the chaotic locker room. Riku skillfully dodged a flying sock as he pulled his shirt over his head.

"Stupid freshman, thinking they're all that. The JV goalie thinks he's better than me, huh?" Roxas snatched the sock out of the air and threw it into the group of freshman boys a few feet over. "Whatever. I'll sic Axel on the little midget."

Riku slammed his locker closed. "Let me know how that works out for you."

Two arms came out of nowhere to snag Riku and Roxas around the neck. Sora's head popped in between, his usual smile present.

"Hey, Axel's around? Why didn't you tell me?"

Roxas shrugged off his brother's arm. "Get off me, man. I did tell you, and you said you had a date with Kairi."

"Oh yeah..." Sora stared dreamily off into the distance, not noticing the cockroach crawling on the locker in front of him. "What a date that was."

"I'm sure it was amazing," Riku said soothingly as he took moved Sora's hand to the locker in front of him.

"Argh!" Sora abruptly came to himself, shaking off the roach that was crawling on his wrist. "What did I do to you?"

Riku gave his trademark smirk, but any response he had was forgotten when he overheard:

"Hey, does bear rhyme with beer?"

Riku pinpointed the source to a group of juniors and seniors huddled around a bench doing last week's forgotten homework. One of his classmates was scrawling down lines of words on a slightly crumpled sheet of paper.

"Nevermind, don't answer that. It does." He scrawled another line. "There. Done. Stupid poetry."

Riku bristled at hearing his favorite hobby insulted, but remained silent.

"Dude, why are you complaining? Best unit this year, ya?" said another senior working on his own poem. It seemed Riku wasn't the only one to like poetry in the locker room.

"What, Wakka, you girly enough to like it? What's next, musicals?"

"No!" Wakka leapt to his feet, pencils and papers sliding to the floor as he waved his arms around. "I'm just sayin' that it's easy to do, five minutes and you're done, ya? Easy A."

There was a burst of laughter in the corner.

"Whatever you say, Wakka."

Idiots. Riku scowled. Apparently he was the only one in the locker room to like poetry.

"Hey, that reminds me. Did you do that assignment? It ended up taking ten minutes to complete, I kept getting distracted. The Gullwings announced they're starting work on their new album soon," said Roxas.

Sora grinned. "Haha, it took five minutes for me! Too bad, Roxy."

"It wasn't a competition," grumbled Roxas. In a synchronized movement that Roxas would deny and that Sora would treasure, both twins turned to Riku with identical expressions on their faces waiting to hear how long it had taken their friend to write his own poem.

"...I didn't do it," said Riku after a moment's hesitation. Sora clapped a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

"You have LA 5th hour, you'll get it done by then. If it took me five minutes, you'll be finished in two. Jerk." He smiled to ease the insult.

"Right," said Riku. He slung his black bag pack over his shoulder, and, with a quick goodbye to the twins, left the locker room. On the way to his first class, he thought back to the two page sonnet on his desk at home, a homework assignment that had taken him one thoughtful hour to complete, and shoved his empty hands into his pockets.

Riku's first few classes flew by in a haze. To his surprise, somehow his notes had written themselves; he certainly didn't remember doing it. He was so lost in thought he didn't notice the wink from a voluptuous brunette, nevertheless return it when he walked to 5th hour class.

"Riku!"

A hand caught his arm, and Xion doubled over panting, using him for support. They stood directly next to the door of the Language Arts class, and the stream of students present slipped around the two.

"What's up?"

Riku blinked down at her.

"Nothing," he said.

Xion huffed. "Wrong answer, try again."

Riku did his best to dodge the question in a clever manner that would get Xion to leave him alone. It would have to be sophisticated, a worthy piece of absolute bull that politicians would dream of being able to spin on the spot.

"Nothing."

Damn. Where was his creativity when he needed it?

Xion shoved him impatiently. "Don't lie to me. Remember who took those notes for you when you were too busy staring off into space."

Riku examined his science notes again. They were written in a bright green ink, and the handwriting was a little messier than his. Well, that solved the mystery of how his notes had written themself. "Thanks."

"Anytime. So, is there something wrong?"

"I forgot my homework."

Xion gaped. "You, Riku Jenova, forgot your homework? What has the world come to…"

"Hey, it happens." Riku ignored the spike of annoyance as Xion began gloating, but Xion picked it up nevertheless and patted his arm condescendingly.

"Don't worry, Riku, just because you forgot your homework for the first time since kindergarten, you won't be expelled." With that, the bell rang, and she led the way into the Literature classroom.

They stopped short at the door. The desks were pushed against the pale blue walls, and in the center of the clearing lay bright, off-shade rusty orange rug that looked like it belonged in the 60s. Their classmates sat lining the circle, backpacks and binders strewn behind them.

"Go on, you two, have a seat," Ms. Gainsborough said. Xion and Riku gingerly sat down next to each other, completing the circle. Xion nudged Riku and subtly pointed to a dubious shade of red on the rug next to him.

Gross, she mouthed. Riku shifted a shade closer to Xion and away from the red spot. Better safe than sorry, after all.

"Okay, then, now that everyone's settled, let's get started." Oh no. Ms. Gainsborough was beaming at her students. "After school last Friday, I heard that some of us were upset about the lecture I gave. To help you through this tough time, I've created a support group in the class. This class will now be having a sharing circle to make sure everyone is participating, is that understood?"

"Understood," the class chanted back dutifully.

Yes, Riku understood…that Ms. Gainsboroug's kind exterior, complete with pink dresses and hair ribbons, was a facade. It took a devious mind to force a bunch of proud teenagers to sit through kindergarten-style classes.

"Good! Let's start with last week's homework. Pass it forward, and I'll be calling you up to read your poetry to the rest of us."

There was the general shuffling of papers, and Xion gave Riku an encouraging smile when he shook his head to say he didn't have the assignment. Riku pushed her lightly in retaliation.

Ms. Gainsborough flipped through the papers, evidentially satisfied. "Riku, you're first."

There was no way she called him up on accident. She must have heard Riku saying he didn't have his homework at the door. Riku clenched his jaw before taking a deep breath and visibly relaxing. "I'm sorry, I left it at home." It wasn't a lie. He simply neglected the fact that he left it home on purpose.

"Bring it in tomorrow for a late grade. Desmond, you've got the floor."

"My poem is about the truth about the the taboos of life." He cleared his throat.

"My second cousin is extremely pretty;
To want her is an atrocity.
My brother has a gun;
Playing with it is a lot of fun
My dad is a righteous man;
He won't let me do what I can.
So I do it anyway. The end."

There was a heavy silence as the student sat back down.

Ms. Gainsborough coughed nervously. "That was very nice, Desmond. I bet the principle would love to hear it. Wakka, why don't you go next?"

"Mine is about the sky!" Wakka scrambled to his feet and stood up proudly, accepting his paper from the teacher.

"White and blue, white and blue
White and blue, I love you."

There was a smattering of snickers.

"Hey, shaddup, this stuff wasn't easy, ya? Okay, let's see - I love you.
Yes it's true, I love you.
Clouds are white in the sky
I can see them with my eye.
Unless the sun is in my eye,
This is not a lie.
Because I really like the sky."

Ms. Gainsborough began to clap. "Why, that was wonderful!"

Riku resisted the urge to bury his face in his hands and scream. Next to him, Xion had a sudden fit of coughing that sounded suspiciously like laughter. Compared to Desmond's creepy poem, any piece of trash would sound good. Riku could only hope that Wakka was an exception and that the rest of the class had put forth some effort.

He was disappointed. After the seventh girl had written a love poem about Riku, Xion's coughing fit became chronic and she left the room to "get a drink of water," which meant that his best friend had abandoned him to go laugh hysterically in the girl's bathroom. Riku scooted over and sat his bag next to him so that when Xion returned, she would have to sit on the red splotch.

There had been one or two decent poems, one by a girl about spring and another by a guy about drinking songs, but Riku could tell they were written by an amateur. However, the most were, to put it simply, jokes, an insult to poets worldwide. He checked the clock desperately. The minute hand was moving far too slowly today.

"I had a dream with a man
And he was wearing red
He had an awesome scar
I asked who cut his head

I beat up monsters
And he beat up me
I won money from monsters
And ran into a tree

I hitched a ride on Big Bird
And drank a lot of beer
I ate some weird food
And wrestled with a bear."

That was it. Riku had officially lost faith in all of humanity.

Please don't give him an A, please don't give him an A, I wrote better crap when I was five!

"That was very good, Tidus!"

You're kidding me. The teacher was practically beaming. She was going to give that horrible excuse for a poem an A, he knew it.

"Next up, let's hear Tim's poem about his pet rock! But first, a round of applause for Tidus."

The class's clapping covered the sound of Riku grinding his teeth in a way that made dentists everywhere cringe. He checked the clock. Fifteen more minutes of torture to go.

"Oh man, that's hilarious," said Sora. He wiped away a few tears and took a deep breath. "Okay. I'm good now. I'm good. I swear." Riku crossed his arms and waited for Sora to calm down. School had just ended, and the two of them had walked down to one of the more private beach areas that wasn't popular with tourists. They sat at the small wooden docks, feet dangling over the water. The sun was starting its descent on the opposite side of the island, and the coconut trees covered the beach in shade.

Sora managed to keep a straight face for all of ten seconds before he burst out laughing again. Riku knew it had been a mistake to recite some of the poems the fangirls read in his class.

"Silver hair like the moonlight? Haha! Oh Riku!" Sora twisted around and batted his eyes at his friend. "You don't need to be my knight in shining armor, you only need to be my amor. Haha!"

Sora lost it, and Riku grudgingly joined in. It was kind of funny if ignored the fact that it was about him.

"That was wrong on so many levels, Sora."

Sora gave his trademark grin. "So what's up? How's Axel?"

"He's good. He's on spring break but has this project due for his pre-law class that he's busy with, but he'll be around for two weeks."

Sora whistled. "That's a long spring break."

"It's college."

"True. Wish we had that instead of only one week."

"Aren't you going with Kairi to visit her family on vacation?" Riku was invited as well, but politely declined. The athletic teams often went to the mainland to play against other schools, and Twilight Town didn't hold anything new or interesting for him.

Sora folded his arms under his head and lay on his back, legs still swinging over the ocean. "Yeah. We're staying at her cool aunt's house – you know, Naminé's mom – for six days, so it's not like I'll be getting a lot of alone time with Kairi. She's going to want to spend time with her cousin. But you know, it'll make her happy, and that's all I care about."

"Sap."

"Heh, it's Kairi," he said as if that explained everything. "Will you and Xion be working on the Secret Island?"

"We plan on it."

"Good," said Sora. His closed his eyes. "It could use the work."

They sat there in silence, listening to the ocean and the seagulls.

"So, what's up?"

"You already asked that, moron."

"No, I mean seriously, what's up? What happened in the locker room today? You walked out looking like your dog died or something."

Riku shrugged, starting to feel a little uncomfortable. Trust Sora to be the most perceptive out of all of them. "Not much, we've got those exams at the end of the week."

Sora groaned. "Why did you have to remind me? I was perfectly happy not remembering and procrastinating studying. I've got calculus this semester. At least I won't have to worry too much about LA, go poetry unit."

"Yeah," said Riku. "Pretty awesome."

"Hey, no problem, Riku. You're smart, it'll be easy for you. Me? I'll have to bribe Roxas to help me study. Speaking of procrastination, wanna go work on that soccer move? "

"Nah," said Riku. "I've got to get home. Tomorrow we'll stay after practice and work on it."

Sora brightened. "Good idea, we can get Roxas to be goalie. Whelp, in that case, let's go."

Riku arrived at this house to find Xion sitting at his kitchen table with a glass of juice, hair wet from a recent shower. She probably showered at his house too, which was very concerning for Riku.

"Did you put away your stuff?"

Xion rolled her eyes. "Yeah, it's back in the drawer. Your dad isn't home for another three hours, he called the house and said he was working overtime. Pizza's in the oven."

Good. Riku's house was closer to the school than Xion's by a five-ten minute walk, and since the girls' locker room didn't have showers, Xion commonly used Riku's guest bathroom shower when she finished soccer practice. However, sometimes Riku used the guest bathroom to shower, and was not pleased when he found himself smelling like cherries and almonds after accidentally using some of Xion's shampoo.

He dumped his bag on the counter and got some water.

"The Gullwings are starting on a new album," said Xion. "It's all Roxas wants to talk about."

"Yeah, he was saying something about that this morning." Riku leaned against the counter. The Gullwings was an extremely popular band that had taken a hiatus six months ago to work on a new album. In their friend group, Roxas and Kairi were big fans, and kept everyone else informed of what the Gullwings were up to whether they wanted to know or not.

"They're going to drive us all insane by the time it comes out," said Xion.

"I don't like the poetry unit at school," Riku said suddenly. It had nothing to do with the topic at hand, but it had been one of the longest and most trying days of school Riku had ever experienced.

Xion propped her elbow up on the table, resting her chin in her hand. "Go on," she said.

"I don't know how to write stupid poems," said Riku. "But I can't turn in one of my better compositions."

"Why not?"

Riku raised an eyebrow. Xion got the hint.

"Fine fine, I noticed you didn't bring your fangirl poetry to the lunch table today."

"Too suspicious. Everyone knows now that all my fangirls write about is me. Bringing it in would raise too many questions."

Xion cracked a smile. "True. How about this: I'll write your poems for you to turn in, but in exchange, you made me official editor of your poems."

"I thought you already were." Xion was, after all, the only person Riku let read his poems.

"This means I get to read all of your poems. Are you done with your digital compilation? Can you send it to me?"

"Yes," said Riku. It was a little strange of Xion to ask for something so little in return for doing his homework for him, but Riku dismissed the thought. He was too relieved about not having to worry about his poet side being revealed to insensitive classmates.

"Cool," said Xion. "You may call me Editor Valentine, or High Empress of all Editting Valentine for short."

Riku snorted. "That's not shorter. Count the words. I can see why you're failing math."

"Hey! A C isn't failing, it means I'm average."

"Ha. No, a C- means you almost have a D, which means you're close to being grounded."

"Yes, but still not getting a D yet. There's a 'not' in there."

"Yet."

Riku allowed himself to relax and forget about poetry as he and Xion began their usual banter. There was no need to worry. He had Xion on his side, and that meant his secret was going nowhere fast.

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