A Wishful Thought: (A Note From The Author) Please. Don't. Hurt. Me. D:

So, I'm kind of upset at myself for updating this chapter late, (I was actually really proud of myself for updating constantly! But now that's down the drain. -_-;) and thus I must apologize. o_o BUT this chapter is planned to be super duper long (I'm shooting for documenting Roxie's FULL DAY AT SCHOOL! :D), so I hope it'll make up for it.

I'm also sorry for not responding to everyone's reviews. D: I've been really busy lately, so I wasn't able to thank some of you properly for taking the time to review my story. So nowwwww I'd like to thank:

Misfortune XIII, KeybladeMaster97, Ashcroitt, Sato Tadashi, CupcakeLerman, and Future No. 0

For reviewing! :D You guys are awesome. :')

I'd also like to point out a somewhat important edit that was made to the last chapter, concerning a certain part in Panera Bread. XP It's not entirely important though, and you'll understand what happens in this chapter without reading the edit. In fact, all I really did was add more details, so it's not too big of a deal. But if you're curious, just check it out. :]

Also, several Final Fantasy characters are to be mentioned in this chapter, and one is going to be an extremely important character in this story. XD You don't actually have to play the games though to understand the characters, all you really have to do is look up a picture of them on Google or something. XD

And since I didn't include all of the character's schedules (I only included Sora and Roxas's actually. XD), you're welcome to ask me for a copy of all their schedules if it makes the story easier for you to follow. Just say so in your review, or just PM me. :]

Oh, and I'd also like to say HAPPY EARLY BIRTHDAY MISFORTUNE XIII! I think you said your birthday was next week, but I don't know if I'll be able to update in time to say happy birthday. ^^;

Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts or Final Fantasy. But I'm sure you already knew that. ;D

Minor Edit as of August 28th, 2011

N 0 N 3 X 1 $ + E N +: The First Day Of School

Even though I've gone to Twilight Town Prep for three whole years of my life, I have to admit that seeing the classrooms on the first day of school always kinda gets me.

Like right now.

When I walked into AP Astrology at like, seven thirty-two in the morning, I felt like I was walking into a freaking football stadium. Except it was much smaller, it didn't reek of sweat, and there were no football players anywhere in sight.

But that's beside the point.

You see, the whole thing was kind of set up like a tiny section of a football stadium, or at least in my eyes. On the ground level of the floor, was where the teacher stood and taught his boring lessons. But then there was this elevated section of the room that kind of resembled a staircase, where us students got to sit and "learn." The stair things were wide, and placed on the stairs were partner-desks. If you didn't catch that, they're desks that you share with a partner.

Are we on the same page now? Great.

Of course, there was this huge window to the left of all the desks, with the most amazing view of the forest behind our school. Or at least, in this classroom. Windows have the views of some crazy things these days.

I'd prefer not to give an example.

"Ah! I can't believe it! We're actually all here together!" I turned my attention away from shuddering at the window, and towards Olette who was squealing loudly with Kairi.

I couldn't help but chuckle at their excitement as we all crowded around the ground level of the classroom. All one hundred of us. So, yeah. You can probably imagine how squished we all were, but nobody really cares since it's the first day of school, and everyone's just kind of in that mood.

Well, being packed together so tightly that everyone has to practically recycle each other's air supply always tends to break me out of that mood.

"Dude. Where's our damn teacher?"

"Hey! Who you callin' the goddamn teacher?"

I practically peed myself as I recognized the voice, fighting the instinct to turn my head and look at the man with the commanding voice. I actually think I would've won the battle against myself, and probably would've remained ignored by my new teacher if Tidus, Sora, and Hayner hadn't started snickering like mad men, making the teacher turn angrily in their direction, before laughing maniacally.

"Aw, why if it ain't Aerith's boy! And the other one, too!"

I nodded slowly, my face still burning, while Sora nodded eagerly before screaming, "AH, UNCLE CID!" My twin ran towards our apparent Astrology teacher, arms wide and expecting a hug. "We haven't seen you in forever!"

The older man rolled his eyes before holding out a hand to stop my older brother's advances. "Ah, I remember now. You're the one that's on crack." Sora pouted and crossed his arms immaturely, before opening his mouth to retort angrily. He was interrupted though when Cid ruffled his hair and laughed, a cigarette that I hadn't noticed before still protruding out of his mouth. "Ah, don't object kid. You know that that just ain't happening. And I'm not your uncle, remember? I'm your ma's friend. How many times have we gone over this?"

Sora opened his mouth to say something again, but Cid simply pushed him off to the side, and leaned in to look me straight in the face. I couldn't help it. My heart started pumping crazily, and I could feel myself pale. Don't worry, Roxas. He won't remember. Or he will remember, but he won't hold it against you. Remember, you were only four. He won't hurt you. He won't-

But his expression said otherwise. His eyes had narrowed slightly, and he puffed the smoke out of his mouth directly into my face. As I coughed and waved my hands frantically to get it away, he laughed wryly, his eyes twinkling mischievously. "I remember ya too, kid! Yer the one that asked if I could teach you how to swim. . ."

I couldn't help but gulp at the memory, which made him laugh harder, some members of the class laughing along awkwardly. He then pushed me backwards a bit, before running up to his desk and slamming one of the drawers on it, immediately gaining everyone's attention. "Alright, listen up all of yous. The name's Cid Highwind, your new Astrology teacher. My motto is, 'Screw up in my class, and you're probably fucked." He laughed again wildly, causing a majority of the class to cringe.

Ah, Uncle Cid must be high.

"Um. . . Is he allowed to behave like this?" I heard Olette whisper to everyone in general.

But apparently, Cid heard it too. "Hell yeah I am! They wouldn't dream of firing the great creator of the Highwind Gummi Ship!"

There were gasps of surprise that sounded throughout the room, but out of all of them, it was Olette that seemed to be the most shocked. "N-No way! You're the famous Cid Highwind! ?"

He rolled his eyes and plopped down into his chair, before carelessly throwing his feet onto the top of his desk and leaning back. "The one and only."

For the next five minutes or so, he let us kind of just mingle in the classroom, not attempting to get us seated or anything like that. But as soon as his cigarette burned out, he was suddenly all business. "Alright, kiddos. Time for class to begin. Cid Highwind's the name, teaching all your kiddies is my game. . .the one that I'm forced to play, mind you."

Someone on the other side of the room mumbled something that was incomprehensible to my ears, but it seemed like Cid heard it perfectly fine, because he turned and growled at the kid. "Hey! Shut the hell up! This is my turf, and if you don't wanna fail my class, I say you respect that. Besides, didn't you hear 'bout the new rule?" He cleared his throat dramatically and picked up one of the papers on his desk, "'First Period teachers are to assign seating arrangements for the entire first semester that are to be used in every core class by the student. If there are any complaints. . .' Well, yeah, yeah, yeah. You guys get the point. Screw with me, and I'll sit you with someone lame."

He smirked at some of the frightened expressions of some of the kids before chuckling. "Alright, well. . . Since I didn't take the time to figure this out during my vacation, I'll just make this up as I go along. . . Hey, you. Yeah, you. No, not you, you. You guys are sitting there. No, not in the first row. How about the fourth one back?"

And thus, Mister Highwind commenced randomly placing everyone with each other.

Sora sat with Tidus.

Hayner sat with Riku.

Kairi sat with Selphie.

Namine sat with Olette.

Xion sat with Pence.

Shocking enough, when it was only two minutes until first period was over, I still hadn't been placed. In fact, all of my friends had ended up sitting with each other, and I couldn't help but pout knowing that I would be the odd one out for a whole semester.

"Aw, look at poor Roxie, the last one left. Looks like you might be sitting alone for an entire semester." I couldn't help but deepen my frown at the nickname and even more so at his words, but I remained silent. "Oh, wait! There's one more kid left on my roster. . . Alright, Roxas, you're sitting with a Mister Hope Aden Estheim."

I blinked and looked around the room. Okay, what the hell? The only people that were still standing on the ground level were Cid and I. There was absolutely no Hope in sight. Or rather, no hope in sight.

Ha! See what I did there? Hope, hope? Like, Hope as in the kid, and hope as in the-

You know what? I don't feel like explaining that clever play on words. My English teacher would be proud.

I turned towards Mister Highwind, opening my mouth to ask him if I would seriously be sitting alone for the entire semester, but before I could get the words out of my mouth, the bell rang. And with a smirk, he waved me out of his room.

"Aw, is poor wittle Roxie wearing his pouty face?" I shot a glare at my brother, and merely growled in response. "Wow. Feisty one. What seems to be the matter, brother dearest?"

I rolled my eyes. "Am I seriously going to have to sit alone for an entire semester?"

Sora shrugged, "Who knows? On the bright side, at least you'll have more space."

"Whatever. I just hope that that Hope kid shows up."

Sora simply shot me a smile before pushing the doors to the music hall open. "Gosh, where is everyone? I thought that almost all of us had music classes second period."

"Who knows? They probably just took the long way around or something."

Sora nodded, continuing his advance down the halls. "There! The guitar room!" He exclaimed, before forcing the door open and opening his arms wide, "OH, GUITAR ROOM, HOW I MISSED YOU SO!"

Geez, someone overdid it with the Cinnamon Rolls.

"Why, if it isn't my favorite students!" The familiar chuckle and voice forced both me and my brother to turn.

"Mister Fair! I thought that you and Mister Strife were switching positions!"

"What did I tell you guys? Your mom's one of my best friends! You guys call me Zack and not Mister Fair. I'm sure that Cloud's thinking the exact same thing."

The two of us turned to follow his gaze, our eyes immediately meeting the bright blue of the blonde teacher. "Mister Strife!"

"Dammit, Sora! I just told you to call him Cloud!"

Sora simply ignored him, and raced towards our blonde instructor, who didn't see the random hug coming, and stumbled backwards slightly. I laughed at this too, "Well, you know Sora. He never really learned how to follow directions."

Zack nodded, still chuckling. He made his way over to me, and ruffled my hair playfully. "That's right, you were always the better twin, right Roxas?"

I smirked in affirmative, and as if on instinct, we both turned towards Sora, waiting for his inevitable comeback. But my twin was still attached to Cloud, and the older man tried half-heartedly to push him off, but to no avail. With a sigh, Cloud seemed to give up, only making me and Zack laugh harder.

It took a while for the two of us to successfully detach Sora from my mother's longtime friend.

As we took our random seats on the floor, I couldn't help but notice the mass amount of people that had accumulated in the room. Dang, a lot of people must be suddenly interested in Guitar this year.

"Welcome, ladies and gentlemen to Guitar, or in some cases, Piano!"

I blinked. What the hell was Zack talking about? There were no pianos in sight. Heck, no one had brought their guitars today either, so there weren't even any instruments in sight.

"Now, I'm guessing that some of you might be a little confused, so I think we owe you an explanation." I merely rose an eyebrow at the statement, believing it to be kind of obvious that an explanation was necessary. "I'm sure that you're all aware that last year, I had been in charge of the Guitar classes, while Cloud here," he gestured to Cloud, who waved his hand to acknowledge the fact that he was Cloud, "taught all the piano classes." Everyone in the room just nodded, and some kids had already begun dozing off, not that Zack had noticed. "And so, you all probably knew that we were supposed to be switching positions, too." Now there were even less nods than before, most people not really embracing the fact that Zack was telling a story.

But it seemed that Zack had finally noticed the lack of attention, and he rolled his eyes, the previous animation and his excitement disappearing slightly from his face. "Long story short, I'm the Piano Teacher now, and Cloud's the Guitar Teacher, but since the classrooms are right down the hall from each other, we decided that we'd combine our classes every once and a while."

Cloud cleared his throat before speaking up, "Actually Zack, you decided that."

Laughter sounded throughout the room, before Zack crossed his arms and pouted childishly. So childishly in fact, that his immature pout could rival Sora's.

Yeah, that says a lot.

"Whatever. So basically, you'll be getting to spend a lot of time with students from the other class." A few people cheered, but to me, the news didn't make much of a difference. No one in our friend group had taken up Piano, so it wasn't like I'd have a sort of extra period with them.

Zack smiled triumphantly before turning his attention to Cloud. "See? I knew it was a good idea."

Cloud merely rolled his eyes, but a smile still graced his features, showing that he was still in a good mood. "Don't get too cocky, Zack. You still forget that we have to keep this whole thing a secret from Principal Ansem. You know that he probably won't react too well to the fact that we're meshing our classes together."

Zack's brows furrowed a bit, and he opened his mouth as though to retort Cloud's statement, but suddenly his eyes seemed to widen like he had forgotten something, and he turned to face us. "That reminds me! Make sure that Principal Ansem doesn't find out. If he does. . ." He mimed having his head cut off, complete with a sickening sound effect.

Cloud scoffed. "Zack, you continue to forget that his full title is Ansem the Wise. I think that he's going to find out eventually."

Zack guffawed at him, before pointing an accusing finger at him. "'Oh, ye of little faith. Why did you doubt?' Ha! I get extra points! Genesis would be totally proud of me right now!"

His blonde companion actually chuckled. "Right. You continuously forget that Genesis quotes the poem, 'Loveless' and not the Bible."

Zack continued to glare at him, and I could practically see the gears turning in his head, desperately trying to come up with a comeback.

But apparently, none came. "Well. . . Well. . . We have to take attendance!"

Cloud smirked smugly, knowing that he had won although Zack would never admit it.

I'm pretty sure that I wasn't the only student that was completely entertained by their bickering. It was obvious by the light laughter and grins that were consuming the room.

"Well, you'll have to hurry, Mister Fair," Zack's glare seemed to intensify at Cloud's sudden mock politeness, "because we only have about three minutes of class left."

Zack's expression of playful anger was immediately wiped off his face and replaced with a look of shock and worry. "What the heck! ? W-W-Where did all the time go?" I had to agree with him, it felt like we had just gotten in here!

One of the girls in the class, whom I associated with the name Rikku, raised her hand, and didn't bother for either one of the teachers to call on her before she started talking. "Erm, Mister Fair? For a majority of the class period, you and Roxas were trying to pry Sora off of Mister Strife."

Zack's face took the shape of a round "o," while Sora turned red, Cloud's eyes narrowed at the memory, and I commenced cackling.

That's right, cackling. Don't judge.

Instantly, Zack's expression transformed into a determined one. He grabbed a clipboard off of a nearby table, and pulled a pen out of its place behind his ear. "Alright! We have to get through this, fast! Okay, let's see. . . Do I have a Paine Abernathy?"

And thus, Zack commenced screaming out names of piano students, each one quickly screaming "Here!" to keep up with his tempo. Cloud merely chuckled at his friend's antics, before standing up and saying (loud enough for us all to hear him, but not loud enough to snap Zack out of his reverie), "I hope my Guitar Class doesn't mind that I'm marking you all as present."

The Guitar Class, and even a few members of the Piano Class, laughed lightly at Cloud's statement, which seemed to be a whole lot easier than Zack's rushed roll-call.

"Hope Aden Estheim!"

I blinked. The name sounded so familiar. . . wasn't that the name of my desk partner?

"Uh. . . Hope Estheim?" Zack's brows were now furrowed in slight confusion, seeing as this was the first person that hadn't responded to his call. He quickly glanced at the clock, and realizing that there was a little less than a minute left, his eyes widened, and in an exasperated voice he screamed, "Last call for Hope Estheim!"

At that very moment, the door to the Guitar Class was forced open. All attention was immediately placed on the door, the outburst sudden and random. Panting heavily was a boy our age, with long, disheveled hair, that was practically silver in color. But not like Riku's hair. It was kind of just tinted silver or something. I think. It was kind of cool, but at the same time it seemed eerily familiar. I couldn't really see his face since he was bent over, still breathless, his right hand clutching the bright pink tardy slip holding the door open. His clothes looked kind of disheveled too, like he had changed on the way here or something.

Still hunched over, he made his way forward into the classroom, waving the tardy slip in the air like a flag. "I'm. . . Hope. . . Estheim. . ."

Ah. So that was my desk partner.

I couldn't stop the grin from appearing on my face. I wouldn't be sitting alone after all! Sure I've never seen this kid before in my life, but I'm sure we could get to know each other. . .

Oh shit.

Hope had finally straightened up, and after he took in the classroom and his surroundings, his eyes instantly bored into mine.

And at the exact same moment, our eyes widened pretty considerably.

Hope. . . He was the Panera Bread worker that I had accidentally knocked out. Well. . . that explains why his hair seemed so familiar. . .

He opened his mouth to say something, but before he could get any words out, the bell rang, and a swarm of rushing teenagers stampeded out of the door, making me lose sight of the boy.

"Roxas, was that –"

I nodded slowly, my eyes still wide from the initial shock. "Yeah. That was the guy from Panera Bread."

For some strange reason, part of me expected my brother to take pity on me and give me some advice as to how to handle my situation. But I guess that that part of me forgot that I was dealing with Sora. And Sora simply laughed maniacally. "DUDE! Your life sucks."

Thank you, Sora.

I simply groaned in response, throwing my arms in the air in an exasperated fashion. "What do I do? I have to sit next to him for four of my seven classes for an entire semester!"

Sora simply laughed. "Sorry Roxie, I'm no good with this kind of thing. Try asking Olette? She's good when it comes to advice."

"I don't see her until fourth period!" I whined, "And I won't have time to ask her! She's practically on the other side of the classroom!"

Sora rolled his eyes. "It's called 'Passing Notes,' genius."

Oh, right.

I decided not to respond to that, and figured that I could use this elective to brainstorm what to say to Hope. Besides, my next teacher was Miss Tifa Lockhart, another one of my mom's close friends. She'd probably cut me some slack if I'm not paying too much attention in her class.

In a daze, I hadn't even realized when I had plopped down in a random chair next to Sora until Tifa started talking. "Bonjour! Bienvenue à la troisième période français."

I blinked, shocked at the sudden overload of French that came my way. It wasn't until I remembered that this was another AP class that I realized that I couldn't just breeze through this like I had in previous years.

"Bonjour, Miss." I guess we all had the same sort of idea, because we had all said that in unison, like a bunch of mindless zombies.

Tifa smiled. "Good morning class! Welcome to your new third period. I know that most of you probably didn't even think about French over your Summer vacation, so before we do anything else, I want you to find someone that you don't know very well, and have a conversation with them in French!" She clasped her hands together, as if proud of her idea.

With a groan, we all got out of our chairs, and before I knew it, Sora had left my side to find a partner, and I found Hope next to me, eyeing me suspiciously.

Oh, great.

"Bonjour. . . "

I gulped, before responding. "Bonjour. . . Hope."

"J'ai besoin de vous parler de quelque chose." I need to talk to you about something.

My mind raced with thoughts and possible meanings. Whatever he was going to say, it couldn't be that bad, right? "Bien sûr, à quel sujet?" Sure, about what?

He bit his lip, before twiddling his thumbs. "A propos de ce matin, de retour à la boulangerie." About this morning, back at the bakery. I had to admit: Although this kid may possibly be holding a grudge against me (which is totally understandable), he had kickass French. "Je pense, il me semble, je crois bien que –" I think. . .

I decided to interrupt him before he could say anything, almost kind of scared as to what he had to say to me. I mean, I really didn't mean to hit him! "Oui. . . À ce sujet. . ." Yeah. . . About that. . .

He looked at me, as though expecting me to continue. But honestly, I had no idea what to say. Was I just supposed to flat out tell him that I was sorry for knocking him out, and then running out of the restaurant with stolen goods? Or was that too frank? I mean, I couldn't really think of any other way to say it, and he must be a really nice kid if he hadn't cursed me out or threatened to beat me up yet. . .

I opened my mouth to just flat out apologize, but then I saw the huge bruise on the side of his head, and the guilt came flooding back. Did I seriously hit him that hard! ?

He looked at me curiously, I guess I had stayed quiet for so long. "Vous disiez. . .?" You were saying. . .?

I scrambled for words, but French wasn't coming to me. Heck, not even English was coming to me. Thankfully, Tifa saved my sorry ass.

"C'est fini! Bien fait classe! Veuillez vous asseoir à la baisse." Alright! Well done class! Please sit back down.

Hope shot one last look at me, with an expression that I couldn't read, before turning on his heel and heading back towards his seat. I did the same, not knowing what else to do. As I sat back down in my chair, I couldn't help but bury my face in my arms. It's the easiest way for me to think.

"Oooh, quelqu'un cherche bouleversés. Ce que vous avez deux parler?" Oooh, someone looks upset. What did you two talk about?

I didn't even have to look up to know who was trying to talk to me. "Shut up, Sora."

"Roxas?" I didn't even turn in acknowledgement of my name. "Uh, you're not seriously angry at me, right?"

I blinked in confusion. Wait, what? I turned to look at my twin, who was the same height as me, my eyebrows furrowed slightly in bewilderment. "Why would you think I'm angry at you?"

Sora looked confused himself. "Well, you were just ignoring me our entire third period. I figured you were angry."

Ohhh, that was why he thought I was upset with him. I quickly debated whether or not I should admit to him that his voice was annoying me and so I had decided to tune him out, but decided that I might come off as rude. Might. "Oh, uh. . . No, I was just thinking."

Sora nodded slowly before the grin became evident on his face once more. "Oh," he laughed as if he didn't know what else to do. "Uh. . . thinking sounds pretty cool!"

"Yeah, well, you should try it sometime, Sora."

I fought the urge to laugh as Sora whirled around to face the offender. Of course, it was none other than our longtime, silver-haired friend. "SHUT UP, RIKU!"

He merely chuckled and opened his mouth to respond, but he was cut off by a feminine giggle. "I don't think Riku's capable of doing that."

Riku's surprised expression only made the auburn-haired girl laugh harder. But Sora simply cheered, "Yeah! I knew that Kairi would be on my side!"

"I never said which side I was on," she said with a smirk, pointing her nose upwards as though pretending that she was better than him.

Sora simply guffawed, "But Kairi, you're always on my side!"

Kairi playfully scoffed. "What made you think that?"

Sora looked down, scrambling for words before blurting out the first thing that came to mind, "Because you love me!"

Kairi's eyes widened in shock (probably at the random claim of the statement), and Sora himself seemed to be shocked that he had said the words too. But when Kairi opened her mouth to respond. . .

"Ah, but Sora? Love is quite the conditional thing."

Olette seemed to have come out of nowhere, but there she was, walking in front of me, Naminé at her side. When she had gotten there, I have no clue. Sora's brows furrowed, "Well, I. . . Umm. . ."

"He probably doesn't even know what 'conditional' means."

"TIDUS! YOU PROBABLY DON'T EITHER!"

"Yeah, well. . . WHATEVER!"

"Don't you 'whatever' me!"

"Who are you, my mom?"

"WILL THE TWO OF YOU SHUT UP, OR ARE YOU JUST INCAPABLE OF THAT? !"

Oh. It seems like Selphie was still suffering from her terrible hangover headache. Sora and Tidus both turned to look at her with her oversized designer sunglasses covering her eyes and her messy hair. Then they looked at each other with an expression that resembled fear before childishly pointing at the other and yelling, "He started it!"

Selphie growled, making them both instantly shut up, but making the rest of us laugh.

We pushed the doors open to the Calculus room, before throwing out bags into our seats and resuming our conversations around different parts of the room. We have ten minutes to get from class to class, and it seems like we had gotten here early.

It wasn't until Hope entered the classroom about four minutes before the late bell rang that I was reminded that I needed to ask Olette for advice about how to apologize to him. Even though she was laughing it up with Hayner and Pence who had entered the room not too long ago, I pulled insistently at her arm. "Olette, I need to ask you something."

She smiled, "Sure, no problem, Roxas."

Hayner's skeptical gaze followed me as I led her away, but I chose to ignore it. I'd tell him about my situation later too. "So, I sort of have this problem. . ."

Her expression instantly changed to one of worry. "What?"

I turned to point out Hope to her so that she'd be able to associate a name with a face, but when I did, he seemed to be advancing towards Naminé who seemed to be sketching something in an isolated part of the room. Olette followed my gaze before raising her eyebrow curiously, completely forgetting that I had to ask her something. "Is he. . .?"

I had no idea what she was going to say next, but I guess it didn't really matter. I gave her a look, one that said, "Let's casually walk closer over there so that we can see what happens," and she gave a slight nod before following me towards the desk.

Trying my best to remain inconspicuous, I asked, "Oh, so you don't mind me reading your new story, right?"

Olette seemed to catch my drift, and she nodded slowly. "Yeah, just let me get it out of my bag. . ."

We instantly stopped talking since we had gotten into a close enough range to hear what they were saying. I felt a sudden pang of guilt, realizing that I was technically invading on their privacy, but what can I say? Olette and I were curious.

And nothing stops curious teenagers.

"N-N-Naminé? Is that you?"

The girl in question looked up in surprise, before her eyes widened considerably and her jaw practically dropped. "Hope?"

He smiled sheepishly before nodding. She quickly got out of her seat and threw her arms around his neck.

Olette and I turned to look at each other. Wait, they knew each other?

When Naminé pulled away from him, there was this huge smile on her face, and there was one just as big on Hope's.

"You know, I thought I saw you today. . ."

"This morning, right? Panera's? I wasn't sure if it was you or not, and I didn't want to say anything if it wasn't you, and –"

"I knew it! I was going to say something too, but. . ."

Well. That explains the strange looks they were giving each other this morning. But before we could hear anything else, the bell rang, and a tall man with brown hair stalked into the room.

"Welcome to AP Calculus. I'm your teacher. You can call me Mister Squall."

"Free at last, free at last! Thank God Almighty, I'm free at last!"

"Sheesh. A little overdramatic there, Tidus?"

Tidus simply rolled his eyes. "Whatever. I'm just starving. We can finally have Lunch!"

Tidus was right. I mean, what kid in their right mind wouldn't look forward to our thirty minute lunch break?

"I want to go home. Screw lunch!"

Okay, well other than Selphie. She's not in her right mind anyway.

"Well, where are we sitting today?"

"Never mind that, what are we eating today?" Several eyes widened at Pence's innocent question, mine included.

You see, we started this tradition back in our Freshman year. On the first day of school, we'd all bring some food (like two or three people would bring different giant bags of chips or something), and we'd all share it instead of settling for the crappy school lunch. I mean, the first day of school is always sort of important. And important things deserve good lunches.

But looking at everyone's guilty faces, we had all forgotten. Well, except. . .

"I can't believe you guys forgot!"

Olette.

"Well, 'Lette. . . You know, Selphie's party and all. . . It was really late. . ." I scrambled with my words as I attempted to make a good excuse.

Then again, this was Olette.

"Well, that's your problem you guys. Did any of you even bring money?"

There was an embarrassed murmur that sounded throughout our mini-mob of friends.

Figuring the obvious, Olette facepalmed herself.

"Aw, c'mon 'Lette. . . You can't really blame us. . ."

Olette shot daggers at Hayner, before pulling her backpack off of her shoulder, and smacking Tidus with it. "Ow! What was that for! ?"

Olette simply rolled her eyes. "Oh come on, Tidus. I'm not stupid. You were practically tearing my backpack apart trying to find my food!"

Tidus groaned, "I hadn't even opened it yet!"

"Olette probably just reads minds."

She opened her mouth to retort, but was interrupted by the simultaneous growling of practically all of our stomachs. Instead, she sighed in an exasperated fashion before plopping down onto the cafeteria's floor and pouting childishly.

"Olette, c'mon. Get up."

She shook her head wildly. "No."

Kairi bent over slightly so that she could see Olette more eye to eye. "Well, why the hell not?"

Olette simply shrugged. "Cuz I don't feel like it."

The auburn-haired girl merely narrowed her eyes. "You do understand that since you don't feel like it, you're not going to be able to chase Sora and Tidus who picked up your backpack and ran, right?"

Olette's eyes widened, and they quickly darted to where her bag had previously been abandoned on the floor. Sure enough, it was gone. Olette jumped up, her eyes darting around the cafeteria murderously. "They. Took . My. Food."

My eyes widened as Olette dashed off after my brother and Tidus who were still skipping away with her bright, white backpack, belting out what seemed to be a battle cry as she ran.

"Should we help her?"

I turned to look at Riku incredulously. "She's planning to murder my brother and Tidus. Shouldn't we be helping them?"

Hayner, who had been standing next to me, spoke up. "Well, since we all know that Tidus and Sora are idiots that are bound to run into a wall or something and be caught by Olette, I think that we should just help speed up the process. Besides, if we help Olette, then she might be happy with us and share her food. . ."

It seems like Kairi, Xion, and Pence had heard, because we all shot each other a mere glance before screaming our own battle cry, and charging after Olette.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

After heroically rolling on the floor, jumping over tables, dashing around spilt food and drinks, and ignoring the bewildered looks of the lunch ladies we ran past, all while screaming at the top of our lungs, we finally were able to catch up to Olette who had managed to jump both Sora and Tidus. She was now sitting on their two bodies, a brown paper bag in her hand, and her white backpack at her feet.

We had skidded to a stop a few inches away from her, and had pushed Hayner in front of us, hoping that he'd be able to negotiate for some food. Olette was still sitting on top of Sora and Tidus (the two looked absolutely defeated) as though it was the most casual thing in the world, yet she looked menacing, almost like that fat queen lady from Alice in Wonderland.

Don't tell her that though, or she might think that I indirectly called her fat. And we all know how girls can freak out when they think that someone called them fat. . .

Hayner still had yet to say anything, and I swear I saw him shaking. Olette simply giggled and said, "So? Who wants lunch?"

The six of us cheered, and Tidus and Sora attempted to too, but Olette merely plopped herself harder on their bodies. "Except you two. You stole my food. You don't count."

I think that I saw them both beginning to tear up.

"B-B-But. . . "

"FOOOOOD!"

Olette merely shook her head, and based on her facial expression, she seemed to be holding back her own laughter. But she stood up and walked over to one of the empty lunch tables. The picnic bench ones that could seat like. . . up to twelve people or something. I don't know, I never really counted.

Anyway, we all crowded into the lunch table. All of us. Meaning Riku, Kairi, Olette, Pence, Hayner, Xion, and I. Sora and Tidus were rubbing their sore muscles gingerly, and I think that if I squinted enough, I could make out Selphie's hunched form outside of the glass doors puking into a bush.

That poor plant.

Olette was back to her normal, non-food crazed self, and after a couple of seconds whimpering from both Sora and Tidus, she gave in, and agreed to share her food with them.

Of course, we had yet to know what Olette had even brought for lunch.

Slowly, almost dramatically, she opened the brown paper bag. All of us were practically drooling with anticipation. She reached into it, and began to pull something out.

I swear I could feel my heart beating like crazy, which was only somewhat ridiculous.

"That. . . That's it! ?"

Olette smirked, yet even that looked almost skeptical. In her right hand was a single homemade sandwich, covered in Saran Wrap. "Well, yeah. . . I mean. . . Tidus said he would be bringing a whole box of pizza, so I figured that my sandwiches weren't really important. . ."

I think that all of us all just died in that one moment.

"Hey you guys, Hope doesn't have anywhere to sit, so. . ."

We all looked up simultaneously at the quiet voice that belonged to none other than Naminé. Next to her was Hope, who looked kind of nervous but was carrying a whole lunch tray of food.

Without even thinking, a majority of us stood up and screamed, "HELL YES!"

The two newcomers smiled skeptically, before sitting down.

"Food at last, food at last! Thank God Almighty, I have food at last!"

Hope blinked, and opened his mouth, probably to question Tidus' current mental health, but before he could say anything, Kairi pointed in some direction and screamed, "Look over there!"

And while he wasn't looking and as Kairi continued to distract him, we all picked slyly at his food, gathering as much as we could take without being too conspicuous while Naminé looked on in amused shock.

"Hope? It's official. You're officially my new favorite person in the whole world."

Hope simply smiled, but is was still kind of a skeptical smile, almost as if he wasn't sure whether or not he should be smiling. "Um. . . Thanks. Are you sure that stealing my food was absolutely necessary?"

Riku simply nodded and patted him on the back. "Yup, completely necessary. But it's official. You're now part of the gang."

". . . Should I feel honored?"

"Extremely."

I nodded in agreement, not sure what else to do, and still preoccupied with my thoughts. I mean, I still had no idea how to apologize to him, and no idea whatsoever seemed to be coming.

Soon enough, we all got into our fifth period of the day, English Language. Unfortunately, Pence had accidentally knocked over a lunch lady during our epic chase after Sora, Tidus, and Olette, and thus we were forced to clean up the food she had dropped. It wasn't so bad though. I mean, twelve people cleaning a single serving of macaroni and cheese? Puh-lease. We cleaned that up in like. . . three seconds.

I think. I don't know, I didn't actually count.

But whatever, it's not like we were late or anything. In fact, right when we all shuffled into the classroom, the bell rang. So yeah, not late.

"Welcome class. I am Genesis Rhapsodos, your new English teacher. I enjo –"

I automatically tuned out his voice, knowing that most likely he was going to give us some long, agonizing speech about himself. And frankly? I didn't really care.

"Hey. . . Roxas?"

I blinked, and turned to my left, where Hope sat next to me. "Yeah?"

"Um. . . About this morning. . ." Hope's voice was barely a whisper, a slight moving of his lips. He was still facing the front of the classroom where our teacher continued to drone, but whenever he or I spoke, his eyes would flicker towards me as though to prove that he was actually listening to me.

I gulped, knowing that the moment had finally come. "Yeah. . . About that. I'm really sorry, dude. For everything." His eyes flickered to me again, but this time they lingered longer, as though he was trying to read through me or something. He had yet to say something, and so I continued. "You know, for knocking you out, and stealing all that food. . ."

To my surprise, Hope actually smirked. "Don't worry. There were these two lookalikes of you and your brother in the store, and I just put all the blame on them."

I blinked in surprise. Whaaaat? "Why?"

The smirk was still dancing on his face as he answered me, "Because, it took me a while, but I finally recognized Naminé. And when I realized that you guys didn't have enough money, I was going to offer to pay the rest, but you sort of just. . . well you know. Smacked me." He simply shrugged before continuing, "But if you're friends with Naminé, then there's no way I'd let you be punished. Anyone who's Naminé's friend is mine too."

I resisted the urge to raise an eyebrow, or scoff, or tease him or anything like that since after all, he did get me out of trouble. Instead, I simply asked, "So. . . Who were those guys that you blamed?"

Hope simply shrugged again, "These two college kids. I think their names were Ventus and Vanitas. . ."

By sixth period, I was honestly wondering why the first day of school was such a big deal. When I stepped into AP History with some guy named "Reno Turk" as our teacher, all I wanted to do was pray that we could go home soon. Or better yet, we could just skip the whole learning part of school, and automatically go on to Prom and Graduation.

But God already sent me food (through Hope of course), and so I doubted that he'd take enough pity on me to give me a time machine too.

There was a nudge from my left, and as I turned, I realized that Hope was holding something in his hand and trying to give it to me.

Oh. It was a note.

ONLY FOR THE EYES OF KAIRI, SELPHIE, XION, NAMINE, OLETTE, SORA, ROXAS, HAYNER, PENCE, RIKU, TIDUS AND HOPE.

I smirked. Ah, Kairi was quite the creative one. Quietly, I unfolded the note and peered inside. In pretty, girly handwriting were the words:

Okay, I think that it's safe to say that I'm not the only one who's about to die of disinterest. And so, I've decided that I shall start the first ever 12 person note! :D

And in a messier scrawl that I could only guess was written by Hope were the words:

You've got that right. But how are we going to know who says what?

Oooh. This was an easy one.

Roxas: Duhh. All you have to do is write your name before you write your message, and we'll know who's who. Simple enough.

I smirked, and carefully passed the note on to my right towards Hayner and Riku. Then, I patiently waited for the note to make its way back to me. But it took forever. And I mean ages. It takes a while for someone to think of a response to a note, and then they have to write it out all secret like so the teacher doesn't see, and then we have to pass it all secret like.

And so, I was practically on the edge of my seat with excitement when I got the note back.

Hayner: Yeah, sounds cool to me.

Riku: same.

Pence: Yah. Did we have homework in any of our classes?

Xion: No, it's the first day of school Pence.

Tidus: What class are we in again?

Sora: I just realized how feminine my name sounds with the 'a' at the end.

Olette: I'm not sure how to respond to either of you.

Namine: ^Same.

Selphie: My head hurts.

Kairi: Erm. . . We're in History. And Sora. . . I worry for you. Selph, that's your fault.

Hope: . . .

My jaw dropped at the pathetic conversation that was currently taking place within the note. I had waited forever just so I could read that?

Roxas: You guys are boring. I'm texting Axel.

I passed the note to Hayner, knowing that by the time it got back to me (if the note got back to me) the class would already be over. I pulled out my phone, and quickly typed out a message to Axel.

To: Axel
From: Roxie

Text me. I'm bored.

I expected having to wait a few minutes for a response, but almost instantly Axel texted back.

To: Roxie
From: Axel

How interesting. Now, Im debating whether I shud pretend 2 b a responsible adult n tell u 2 pay attention in school, or b da good best friend n keep u company. Im also wondering if I cud get away wit pretendin 2 have a huge hangover so I can go bak 2 making out wit Larx.

But I decided Id just annoy u wit text speak.

To: Axel
From: Roxie

. . . I'm honestly not sure how to respond to that.

To: Roxie
From: Axel

Den theres da possibility dat sora is rubbing off on u. Or dat ur so bored u dont kno how 2 react 2 my awesomeness.

To: Axel
From: Roxie

. . . If I text you afterschool, will you just stop with the textspeak? I think that it's starting to destroy my brain cells.

To: Roxie
From: Axel

I make no promises.

To: Axel
From: Roxas

Whatever.

To: Roxas
From: Axel

;D
Now if you don't mind, I'm going to continue making out with my girlfriend. Don't die from lack of brain cells, I don't think you can get those back. But maybe that smart fact that I just stated will make a difference if you open your mind to the enlightment.

I rolled my eyes. Yeah. I felt pretty enlightened.

"Hmph. I'm not boring."

"Yeah, well, Sora? You're kind of stupid. In a way they're the same thing."

"Actually, Roxas, stupid people are usually more entertaining compared to smart people. Just saying."

"Yeah. Coming from a stupid person."

Olette pouted. "Aw, c'mon you guys. Stop the bickering."

I simply shrugged and we continued onward to the final period of the day: Gym. The end was so near, and yet so far. But still, I'm sure that Gym wouldn't be so bad. Especially since we had a pretty crazy teacher. . .

"Yuffie Kisargi, at your service!"

I think that she thinks she's a ninja.

We all piled into the Gym, and sat down on the numerous bleachers. Since it was the first day of school, we didn't really do much other than buy our gym clothes if we didn't have our own, get assigned our lockers (separate from the ones we use occasionally in the hallway), and pretty much just talk. Coach Yuffie didn't really care. I honestly think that she's in her own little world half of the time.

"Hey, listen up!"

We all turned to look at our short teacher. Honestly, she could probably pass for a high school kid. She was that tiny.

"I'm supposed to give you some big speech!"

I blinked. She was supposed to be giving those out every year on the first day of school. It always said so in the pamphlets she handed out. But it seemed like this year was the first year that she had actually read the obligatory pamphlet herself.

She cleared her throat before pulling out a folded piece of paper from her pocket and reading it out loud. "Welcome to the Twilight Town Academy Gym. I'm your teacher, Yuffie Kisaragi!" We all nodded slowly. We were Seniors. All of this was kind of obvious. "In this class, you will do many different sports, and you will all have the opportunity to try out for all kinds of different sports like Blitzball, Soccer, Basketball, or even Football. We encourage you to try out for these sports. . ."

As she spoke, all of the energy in the room kind of died out. She just seemed to drone on and on, and honestly? It was making me extremely tired.

But it doesn't matter. Coach Yuffie was practically deaf.

Kairi, Olette, Xion and even Selphie were talking about who knows what. It was probably girl stuff or something.

Sora, Hayner, Riku, Tidus and Pence had dragged Hope into their conversation, but the boy kept glancing at Naminé, who had gone back to sketching something in her book. It was obvious that he wanted to talk to her, but didn't want to come off as rude.

Since Naminé was the only one that wasn't in conversation with someone, and since I was kind of just curious about her in general, I stealthily made my way towards her on the bleachers, the Coach still blabbering on.

When I was close enough to her, I gently tapped her shoulder to get her attention. Surprisingly, she cringed at the touch, flipped her book closed, and turned towards me, eyes wide and almost frightened. But I guess that she soon realized that it was just me, because she seemed to relax a little.

"Uh, are you alright Naminé?"

She nodded slowly, suddenly becoming the ghost girl again, clutching her sketchbook to her chest and biting her lip. The previous color on her cheeks seemed to instantly disappear.

I'm not sure what possessed me to say what I said next, but I said it anyway. "Do you just, not like me or something? You never seem to be happy when I'm around."

Her eyes widened slightly in shock at my claim, and she quickly responded, her tone laced with hurt. "Of course not! This is just how I am. It's not your fault. Trust me, it's not."

I looked at her skeptically. "Alright. . ." An awkward silence formed, Naminé had begun playing with the spiral of her sketchbook, and I had resorted to reluctantly turning towards the Coach as she continued to blabber on. It didn't take long for me to become bored again though, and I turned back to Naminé, not knowing what else to do. "So. . . You know Hope?"

She simply nodded. "Yeah, we used to live in the same place together. He's a childhood friend."

"Oh, cool. . . ." I let my voice trail off, since I honestly had no idea what to say. But whatever possessed me before seemed to possess me again. "Naminé, why are you so quiet?"

She blinked before looking at me, a frown tugging at the edge of her lips. "P-Pardon?"

I bit my lip, realizing what I had said and that I had probably come off as rude. I searched for some words that would explain myself, but none of them came. And so, I decided to improvise. "I mean, I know I haven't known you for long. I just met you last night. But compared to all of us, you seem so quiet, so. . . alone. Well, maybe not alone, but. . ."

Naminé was looking away from me now, and down at her lap. "I-I'm sorry. . ."

I blinked. Huh? "Why are you sorry. . .?" I could practically feel the dangers of the water that I was beginning to tread on, but I knew that I'd just have to tough it up.

She sighed, her shoulders slumping. "I should just forget, right? Just forget it all?"

I was seriously becoming more confused by the minute. "Forget what?"

But she shook her head, and I felt a pang of hurt as I realized that she was trying to tune me out. I guess I had struck a chord in her, and it was making her go through a revelation of some sorts? I honestly wasn't very sure myself. All I was really sure of was the fact that I felt like I was invading her personal space. I mean, I always hate when people bother me when I'm thinking, so. . .

I got up to leave her to her thoughts, but she grabbed my wrist, gently pulling me down. "Wait. . . don't go."

Not knowing what else to do, I sat back down. Her slim fingers were still grasping my wrist tightly to the point that it was starting to ache, and it seemed that she had set her sketchbook down. She was still staring downward, but if I angled myself properly, I was able to see her expression. And she looked. . . extremely focused about something.

What seemed like hours later, she finally looked up at me, and there was a light smile on her lips as she finally let go of my arm. "You're right." I didn't know what to say, so I settled for not saying anything at all. "I promise. . . I promise that I'll be happy now. That I'll forget. Is that better?"

I honestly didn't know what to do. What was she talking about? I stumbled over the words in my head, and when I finally managed to get some words out, they didn't even come out the way they were meant to. "W-Wait. Forget? Don't, you don't have to. Uh, any of that. You don't need to forget, or. . . or. . ."

But all of a sudden, the bell rang, and she picked up her things and left. No waiting for Kairi or Hope, no words of goodbye, she just left.

And soon, I realized that a majority of the Gym had cleared out, and that most of my friends had already said their farewells to me. I felt a poke on my left shoulder, and turned to face my brother.

"Hey Rox, you okay?"

I nodded slowly. "Yeah. I'm fine."

A Wishful Thought: (A Note From The Author) I think that this chapter came out kind of dragging, so I'm sorry for that. And I think I might've rushed the relationship with Hope, too. And Nami's sudden change of heart! D: I hope it was interesting though!

And did you guys see that? I threw in Hope. Yes, he's going to become kind of important, but don't worry about it too much. All you really have to do is look up a picture of Hope Estheim so that you're able to connect a face and a name. But don't worry, I think he's the only FF character that's going to be extremely important. I think.

Since I don't speak French, I ended up using an online translator to get all of the French spoken during French class. XD I'm not sure how accurate it is, so it would be awesome if someone could correct me! Haha, I think I need a beta. Anyone interested?

I'm sorry for the lateness of the chapter, and the mass overload of words it takes up. Almost 10,000 words you guys. I think I've outdone myself. XD

Next chapter, Aerith comes home, and Roxas remembers that he forgot about his shoe (again). And a somewhat long text message conversation, or a phone call. I haven't decided yet. XP

PLEASE REVIEW! :D

"And everywhere I go I see her face! Even in Facebook or my notes and texts! And everytime I see her, my heart just..." I smirked and held up my drawing. Roxas smacked my head, "Sora, don't be stupid! Loves doesn't exist!" Yeah, you keep believing that Roxas.

"I just can't get her out of my head. On Facebook, or texting, or passing notes, she's always there. And when she's there, my heart just-" I smirked and held up my drawing. Roxas smacked me, "Sora! Don't be stupid! Love doesn't exist." Yeah, keep believing that Rox.