A Wishful Thought: Holy CRAP, you guys. All the feedback I got from you guys was freaking AMAZING! :'D

And 38 reviews? That's the most I've ever gotten for one chapter! :D So special thanks to my reviewers:

Jarm957, ryu. Hikari, Witch of Tragedies, LightSky, sajere1, Oblivion Fantasy, CupcakeLerman, cuteangel545, Poopsickle. Stick, TheCrazyAnimeFan, KeybladeMaster97, Sato Tadashi, Agent. Kacheeky, Future X13, Sackboy023, overreactiveteenagemindsxo, Peachie-Pie, TwinToshiro, Sokai girl4ever, and luv. roxas.

Special props to Sackboy023 for being my 1ooth reviewer! 8D

And everyone. . . TAKE A FREE VIRTUAL BROWNIE! 8D

Oh! And sorry for updating kind of late. Instead of working on this like I should've, I decided to release a special oneshot for SoKai Day! Probably not my best work, but I hope it's enjoyable. Link is on my profile if you have time to give it a shot. (:

AND AT THE AUTHOR'S NOTE AT THE END OF THE CHAPTER, I HAVE TO SHARE SOME NEWS WITH YOU ALL.

Without further ado, I present the next chapter of Nonexistent!

N 0 N 3 X 1 $ + E N +: I Am So Awkward

Is it sad that I still haven't sorted out my Naminé issues?

Yeah. I know it is.

About two weeks have passed since my conversation with Sora, even the latest round of Battle of the Bands has gone by (we made it through! We have a decent fan base, I suppose, but it's obvious that Kairi's band is a huge favorite), and I still haven't figured things out. In fact, I think that by ignoring Naminé as I've tried to sort out my feelings for her just made everything worse.

Oh yeah. Hayner even told me that I was following in Sora's footsteps. And let me tell you: That was a low blow.

And I hate to say it, but I think it might even be true.

I know, I know. You think I'd automatically revert back to my normal, "I-Don't-Have-To-Worry-About-My-Feelings!" mode, but it's harder than you'd think it is. I'll tell myself, "Today, my worries shall vanish!" And then I see Naminé, and. . .

All of that just goes down the drain.

I guess it kind of makes it easier for me to understand what Sora meant though. I mean, he did say something about having the same problem, right?

What makes everything worse is the fact that after next week, we're leaving for the beach. And I still haven't invited Naminé to go.

And what makes that even worse is that I picked her name in Secret Santa.

I have no idea what I should be getting her.

So with all of these thoughts plaguing my mind bright and early on a Wednesday morning, I drove to school.

Well, not actually driving. Driving my skateboard. Does that count as driving, or is it more like commandeering?

No, no. Commandeering sounds like something a pirate would say. I'm sticking with driving.

Anyway, Sora was next to me on his skateboard too, and both of us were shaking in the bitter Winter air. It never snowed in Twilight Town, but let me tell you, it got cold. Like if it had to be at least 32°F to snow, then the current temperature was probably 32.0000000001°F.

I'm dead serious.

Mom had been more out of it than usual, especially when we reminded her that we were going to the beach, so Sora and I didn't want to hassle her to try and get a ride to school. I mean, the two of us were tough. We could totally handle the heat.

Er. . . I mean, the cold.

Even in the dark jeans and multiple layers of henleys, sweaters, and jackets we were wearing, the cold still swarmed our bodies. We even went as far as wearing our ski gloves and our oversized beanies! Sora actually tried to go out of the house with a freaking ski mask on, but after I convinced him that a teenager plus darkness plus ski mask probably wouldn't look too good to our neighbors, he agreed to tough it up without it.

A shiver racked my body, and I managed to gesture to Sora to speed up, to which he simply nodded. Immediately after I noticed this, I placed my hands back at their former position, under my pits. I know it sounds weird, but Mom always said that our pits were the warmest places on our body.

Well, other than our crotches. But if I put my hands by my crotch, people would give me some weird looks. Looks that were worse than Sora in his ski mask.

And I valued my dignity, thank you very much.

When we arrived to school in the morning after stashing our skateboards in our lockers, the two of us began our search to find our friends.

It was a bit strange: Even though we had a designated place where we would all meet in the morning, no one seemed to follow that rule when it was Winter time. For some strange reason, we'd all be scattered about until someone took the time to herd us all together. It seemed that for an entire season, we'd all forget that we owned cell phones that we could use to call each other and find out where to go.

But Sora and I were lucky this morning.

Like normal teenagers trying to survive the Winter, the two of us instantly made our way to the "Starbucks" Coffee Cart that made a profit selling bitter hot chocolate to the students. Because it tasted so shitty, it was obvious that the hot chocolate wasn't from Starbucks itself. Our school was probably using the name just so that they could feel more comfortable with charging us more money.

Yes, the drink itself sucked, but it doesn't matter as long as it's warm, right?

Anyway, our entire friend group had taken position directly next to the coffee cart as though it would somehow spread its warmth toward them. Each one of them had an identical hot chocolate cup in hand, and all of them were huddled closely together to share body warmth.

There was quiet chatter going on as Sora and I forced our way into the circle, nothing as loud as we usually are though. At first, I had associated it with the temperature: No one was really talking because they were all too cold and busy drinking their hot chocolate to try and stay warm.

Yeah, it probably had something to do with that, but it wasn't until a little later that I realized the true reason why it was so awkward: It was just awkward amongst all of us right now. In fact, the only people that were making constant conversation were Tidus, Selphie, and Pence. Everyone else was remaining eerily quiet.

Sora kept his head down, refusing to meet anyone's eyes. Especially Kairi's. Sure, I had tried to talk to him about making everything between them "normal" again, but obviously that didn't work out. Like Sora, Kairi was also averting her gaze from everyone else's. Occasionally, she would murmur a curt response whenever Selphie would give her an expectant smile, but that was about it for her. However, I did manage to catch the two staring at each other. At first, it was kind of timid. It was like they were taking turns staring at each other when the other wasn't noticing.

But at one point, they looked at each other at the exact same time.

Sure, the exchange lasted for only a few measly seconds, but as I glanced between the two of them, it was like all of the emotions that they had kept buried inside were flowing out of their eyes.

Of course, it was broken off with an intense blush on both of their parts.

Now, Olette was never the most talkative out of all of us, but she was never this quiet. She had yet to say a word the entire morning. Her usually bright green eyes seemed dull and lifeless, and her stare seemed vacant, making it obvious that she really wasn't paying attention to anything that was happening around her. It was evident that something was up with her, and I felt a pang of guilt for not following through with my promise with Hayner. I had told him I would figure out what was up with her about two months ago, and I still had yet to even find out why she was so upset.

Speaking of my blonde haired friend, it wasn't too shocking to find that he kept glancing at her worriedly though he would occasionally mumble something in response to Pence.

Shockingly, Riku and Xion also seemed antsy about something. I wasn't too sure as to what it might be since I'm not as close to the two as I used to be, but I figured I'd find out what the deal was eventually.

Naminé was fidgeting uncomfortably in her position next to Olette and Hope. She was wearing a light pair of skinny jeans, and she had also layered several white sweaters along with what I could faintly recognize as one of Hope's jackets, which made my heart sink a little. There was a white crocheted beret on her head, a matching scarf around her neck, and she even had matching mittens covering her hands.

It was easy to say that the girl definitely liked white.

Her cheeks were painted a bright shade of pink because of the cold, but she refused to meet my gaze.

Or. . .I just refused to meet hers. I'm honestly not sure which one it is at this point.

Hope on the other hand wouldn't stop staring at me. And I could tell that it wasn't a normal kind of stare. No, no. This was one of Hope'sstares that just made you feel like you were a horrible person. He didn't even bother hiding the fact that he was staring at me with that look. It was kind of like his eyes were just glued to me or something.

And I'll admit it, it was making me extremely uncomfortable. The kid has the eyes of a snake!

Anyway, the small talk continued for a while, before Sora suddenly nudged me, hard, in the ribs. I glared at him angrily, clutching the affected rib, "Sora! What the hell was that for?"

My brother simply wiggled his eyebrows at me suggestively before shooting a side glance towards someone.

Oh. Naminé.

And through his eyes, I could practically feel what he was trying to say, "You still haven't invited her to the beach."

I felt my cheeks heat up, before huffing at him and immediately becoming distracted with the wisp of air that floated slightly in front of me from my exhale, watching it disappear.

What can I say? I get distracted easily.

Before I could see Sora's response (if he even made one), the bell rang. As though we were mindless zombies, we all silently stumbled towards the general direction of the AP Astrology room, still managing to walk close together in a group to maintain body warmth. Because of where I had stood in the circle, I ended up being near the back of the pack, which wasn't too big of a deal for me.

That is, until I felt a callused hand cover my mouth, and a muscular arm pulling me away from my friends.

Eyes wide, I scrambled to try and get away from my attacker, angrily flailing my arms and yelling muffled curse words into his hand. But I'm telling you, this guy was strong. No matter how much I struggled, I couldn't even manage to catch a glimpse of him. All I really knew was that his jacket was a beige-ish color.

I couldn't help but wonder why all of the teachers and students in the hallway decided to turn a blind-eye to what was happening to me.

Eventually, the guy pulled me into the deserted Guy's Locker Room. I closed my eyes, expecting to get pushed into one of the lockers, but that didn't happen. The person holding me simply let go of me, and lightly shoved me in the general direction of the lockers, but not so hard as to hurt me. When I realized that, "Hey! I'm actually perfectly fine!" I reopened my eyes, albeit I did it a bit skeptically, immediately scanning the area to see who dared to kidnap me and keep me with them in the Guy's Locker Room.

Part of me (okay, I'll be honest. A majority of me), was convinced that I would get raped. And that would screw up my entire brain, because I've never believed it when adults told me that guys could get raped.

And then I saw Hope.

Yes, Hope.

If you're anything like me, then you're already thinking, "WHAT THE HEEEEELLL! ?" I mean, who would think that Hope would ever rape someone! He just doesn't seem like the type of guy!

"Sorry 'bout that, Roxas. I just needed to talk to you."

Immediately all thoughts about Hope somehow managing to rape me left my mind as thoughts of how he was my attacker began to fill it. My considerably wide eyes seemed to widen even more as the thought began to settle into my brain. Automatically, my eyes tried to focus on his muscles, a thing that was difficult to do because of the numerous layers he was wearing. And so I resorted to racking my brain, but no matter how hard I remembered, it was impossible for me to see Hope with gigantic muscles.

And I mean, if he had managed to kidnap me with all of my humungous muscles, then his muscles would have to be freaking huge. That's just basic math.

Still, it just didn't make any sense to me. Sure, height-wise, Hope and I had it pretty even. But when it came to you know. . . horizontal sizes, I was pretty sure I had him beat. I mean, I 'm not fat or anything! Hope is just scary skinny.

. . .So how was he able to force me in here again?

"Roxas?"

I shook my head to get rid of all the thoughts that were swarming my mind. Well, sort of. My brain immediately began debating whether I should accuse Hope of getting ready to do horrible, horrible things to me, or yelling at him all macho-like for pulling me aside like this and freaking me out. Ultimately, I had decided to go with the latter, but unfortunately, my brain wasn't really communicating with my vocal chords right. "Y-Y-Yeah?"

My voice came out shaky, and it actually cracked.

So much for masculine! Dammit, that was just wimpy!

Hope didn't seem all to affected by my lame attempt of being macho, and he actually acted like it was completely ordinary. With a sigh, his bag plopped to the floor, and he leaned against the locker-room wall, arms crossed and eyes closed as though he was thinking.

Maybe it was because the new Hope with all of his incredible invisible muscles scared me or something, but I suddenly found that I couldn't speak.

Damn, Hope could be scary!

Eventually though, his blue-ish green eyes opened, and he bluntly stated, "This is about Naminé."

And immediately I felt my heart sink. Crap. He was going to yell at me, and then he was going to tell me to stay away from her because he's secretly been harboring a humongous crush on her ever since they were babies and that I'm not good for her, or something of the sort.

But since I was still trying to act like I was keeping my cool, I merely muttered, "Yeah?"

He nodded his head as if the simple word was his signal to keep talking. "I don't understand why you're ignoring her like this. It doesn't make any sense, and it's really hurting Naminé's feelings. And I care about Naminé a lot. I don't want to see her get hurt." I said nothing, since I had no idea what I should say. Seeing that I had remained silent for a while, Hope merely rolled his eyes and added, "Alright, give me one good reason as to why you're not talking to Naminé anymore."

I remained silent, letting the awkward tension settle into the air. "I-I don't know. . ."

Alright, that was a lie. Well, partially. I mean, I sorta knew. That is, if I was deciding to believe what Sora had told me.

So maybe I wasn't lying.

Hope agitatedly let out a huff, before shifting his body a bit, "Seriously, Roxas? Just man up and admit it to me."

Oh dear Lord. This feels like talking to Sora all over again. "A-Admit what?"

The boy's eyes narrowed, and at that point, he really did look like a snake. "You know what I mean."

I opened my mouth to say that, no, I didn't really know what he meant (even though that was a total lie), but quickly shut it when my eyes involuntarily met his. The emotion in them was something that you just can't describe. But I could tell that he wasn't doing this to me just so he could tease me, or spread a rumor, or anything stupid of the sort.

It just looked like he was genuinely concerned about Naminé and her feelings.

That shouldn't have been too much of a shocker for me, but for some reason, I cracked, "Fine. It's because. . . because I. . .l-li—" I choked on the last word, trying to cover it up with a cough, but it seemed like Hope still understood what I meant.

His expression didn't change, and with a monotone voice, he stated, "You like her."

I couldn't stop myself from cringing at his words. Not because they stung or anything, but because I still had yet to completely accept this fact. But still, I managed to slowly nod.

For a while, neither of us said anything. And honestly, the silence was suffocating. Then, Hope continued, "It's a weird reason to ignore someone, don't you think?" I simply turned my gaze towards the ground. Hope's tone wasn't scolding or anything like that, but rather, it just made me feel guilty. He correctly guessed that I wouldn't be saying anything anytime soon, because he decided to continue after taking a short pause, "When you like someone. . . The last thing you want them to do is get hurt, right?"

Like the little boy that was ashamed of stealing the last cookie in the cookie jar, I could do nothing but dejectedly nod my head.

"Well, you ignoring Naminé has been hurting her a lot." At this, I couldn't help but flinch at his bluntness. I could tell that he saw the slight movement, but he still continued, "I know that this whole 'liking' thing is a whole new world to you, Axel told me," mentally, I cursed Axel's existence, "but you don't have to be afraid of it. Your friends can you help through it. I'll help you through it if you want my help. The one thing that you don't want to do though is take out your confusion on the person you care about so much. You're only making them hurt, and why would you want to do that?"

I still remained silent, as I absorbed his words.

Hope was right. I was being a total douchebag.

The feeling of being a complete idiot washed over me, and somehow, amidst it all, I felt myself smile at him. "Thank you."

For a moment, he said nothing. But then, his lip twitched upward, and the twitch turned into a smile. "It's no problem. But let's get going. At this rate, we're definitely going to get detentions."

I nodded, hastily picking up my bag, and following Hope as he lead the way out of the room. I stopped him before he could open the door though. And without realizing what I was doing, I felt the words tumble out of my mouth, "Do you love her? Naminé?"

The awkwardness that had just left the room, quickly rushed back into it.

Hope slowly turned to face me, a mixed expression of shock and surprise written all over it. "W-What did you say?"

Both his face and my face were stained a bright shade of red. I cleared my throat awkwardly, before repeating myself. "D-Do you love Naminé?"

Even though I was the one to bring up the topic, I found that I was still scared to hear his answer.

And so, the few minutes during which I had to wait felt like hell for me.

Eventually though, he slowly responded, "Yes."

I felt the color drain from my face, as I took in his answer. Sure, I had been completely horrified by my feelings up to this point, but now that I had finally accepted them, it was like I had lost all hope. Because of Hope. I mean, him and Naminé have known each other probably since birth. There's no way I have a chance against that!

"But," I felt my heart stop as he intercepted my pessimistic thoughts, "I'm not sure how I love her. Sure, I know the emotion is there. But I don't know if it's the kind of love I have for her as my best friend, or the kind of love that you're thinking of."

I let out the breath that I hadn't even realized I'd been holding, a feeling of small relief spreading over me. It meant that my chances had increased a little, right?

He smirked at me before adding, "Just know that if you do anything to hurt her again, I'll cut off your dick, and stick it so far up your ass that it'll come out of your mouth."

I gulped, staring after him in fear as he casually walked out of the door.

When we walked into class, there was only ten minutes left.

So, yes. Uncle Cid was pissed.

"Why the hell're you so late! ?"

I knew that I should've probably been trying to think of a way to get the two of us out of this mess, but none of the thoughts were coming. In fact, all I could really do was scan the classroom until my eyes met the certain cerulean blue eyes of a concerned girl.

Luckily, Hope was still perfectly sane and managed to come up with a simple excuse, "Our textbooks were in Roxas' locker, but the stupid thing wouldn't open."

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Sora raise an eyebrow at this claim. He was with me when I opened my locker this morning, and it had opened easily.

Uncle Cid said nothing for a moment before muttering, "You know, it's against school policy to share lockers. . ."

I felt myself (and the rest of first period) look at him curiously. Was it really against the rules? Because pretty much everyone shared their lockers with each other.

I opened my mouth to contradict what Hope said, not wanting to have to get him in trouble. I mean, the real reason as to why he got in trouble was because he was trying to help me out, right?

But before I could say anything, Hope spoke up, "I know. But it's not Roxas' fault. I insisted that I put my things in his locker since his locker had a more convenient location."

Cid said nothing for a moment, before waving the thought away, "I suppose I can—"

"—Send me off to the Principal's Office?" Hope finished for him. Cid stared at him, somewhat surprised. It has seemed like he was planning on just letting Hope off with a warning (not that the guy needed it. I'm not even sure why he picked that excuse!).

Eyebrows furrowed, Cid continued to look at him curiously, "The Principal's Office?"

Hope seemed to hesitate for a moment, and his eyes flickered towards the same girl that I was sneaking looks at.

Naminé.

I couldn't exactly understand what they were saying with just their eyes, but Naminé seemed to be trying to convince Hope not to go through with whatever he was trying to do.

But it seemed like she didn't do too good of a job. "Yes, the Principal's Office. Mister Highwind, I don't want you to get in trouble for this whole fiasco if somebody finds out. It's my fault, and so I should be the one getting all the blame."

His words caused whispers to immediately leave the lips of a majority of the members of the classroom. Even I couldn't stop myself from raising an eyebrow at him. Uncle Cid was going to let him get off the hook without any punishment, so why was he insisting that he be punished?

Uncle Cid was looking at Hope curiously as well, but in the end, decided not to over-think it. "Alright, then. Go on down to the Principal's place."

My silver-haired boy nodded, before promptly walking out of the classroom.

Cid nodded at me, and slowly, I made my way to my seat, letting my chin rest on my hand.

Why did Hope smirk before he left?

After first period, my sole mission for the day was to get Naminé to go to the beach with us.

I spent the entire second and third period thinking about how I should do it. Which, while a little sad, provided me with enough time to calm my nerves and think about the best way to ask her.

I mean, the last thing I wanted to do was come off as pathetic.

After third period, we had AP Calculus together, and so before that, I was going to make my move.

Without informing Sora as to where I was going (at that time, it hadn't registered to me as weird that Hope still hadn't come back from the Principal's Office), I dashed towards the AP Latin room, scanning the hallway for where Naminé might be. Luckily for me, she was already at her locker, taking out the things she needed for AP Calculus.

For a second, I actually felt nervous. But I quickly shook the thought away, forcing myself to gain at least some level of confidence. I hid behind her locker door, leaning against the neighboring locker, and doing my best to look cool and sexy.

And since I'm me, it wasn't too difficult.

When she finally closed her locker door, I immediately activated my sexy voice. "Hey."

My eyes (which had formerly been closed to somehow increase the sexy effect) quickly opened once I heard the weird giggling that sounded both feminine and masculine. And as soon as I took the sight in before me, I felt my left eye beginning to twitch.

"Axel! What the hell are you doing here! ?"

The pyromaniac's eyes widened, and he hurriedly shushed me.

My so-called "friend" had dressed up like a girl for some reason. He had fake boobs, a long, blonde wig, and I even spotted the make-up on his face. Now that I was up close, I realized that his outfit was more off-white compared to Naminé's, and that his bag was a darker gray than hers.

I felt like shooting myself for getting him confused with Naminé.

"I'm doing recon for the Organization. If you blow my cover, I'll set your other arm on fire."

Even though it was obvious that he was trying his hardest to seem tough and menacing, the fact that he was wearing girl's clothes and make-up made it so that I couldn't take him seriously. So, yeah. I burst out laughing.

As all people do when they start cracking up while they're trying to walk, I stumbled backwards, and without meaning to, I stepped on someone's foot. A high-pitched shriek echoed throughout the hallway. Immediately snapped out of my laughing fit, I turned to face whoever I stepped on to apologize. But before I had the chance to, the girl I stepped on, slammed her locker door shut.

Unfortunately for me, I hadn't moved my fingers from when I was leaning against the locker.

My scream (that I'm pretty sure sounded manly and not girly, no matter what Axel says) echoed throughout the halls.

I clutched my throbbing hand while I screamed, painfully holding it up in the air, and backing up even more from the scene of the crime. But because I just have horrible luck, I walked into somebody else, causing them to fall.

A loud crashing of books and papers sounded throughout the hallway (I'm surprised that none of the teachers came out of the classroom to see what was happening), and since I'm not exactly the un-clumsiest person out there, I fell on top of whoever I bumped into.

I didn't actually register what had happened until I heard a loud squeak, followed by a whimper and a quiet, "R-Roxas. . . That kinda hurt. . ."

Eyes wide, I jumped off of whoever it was. I could feel a sense of horror flooding my insides as recognition settled into my brain.

That voice. . .

I whirled around to face my victim, my expression full of horror, "Oh my God! Naminé, I'm so sorry!"

The petite girl was still sitting on the floor in disarray, all of her things scattered around her. Her face was flushed, and she was gingerly rubbing her right arm. Tears were leaking out of her eyes as she did so, and she looked absolutely frightened.

I felt like an idiot.

Hastily, I offered her my hand to help her up from her position. Hesitantly she reached out with her left hand, taking mine.

But because I'm the idiot I am, I offered her the hand that had the locker door slammed into it.

So of course, I shrieked, and without thinking, let go of her. She was already partially up, so she fell back onto the hallway floor again.

After I realized what I had just done, I freaked. Especially since Naminé was now crying.

No, it wasn't the full on sobbing, with snot leaking out of her nose and all that, but the point still stands.

It was then that I realized that she had landed back onto the arm that she had been rubbing previously. "N-Naminé! I-I-I didn't mean to drop—"

"Naminé! What happened! ?" I looked up from my apology to see Hope coming out of nowhere. Inwardly, I had to facepalm myself.

When Hope found out what happened, he was going to kill me.

Actually, he was just going to cut off my dick and. . . well, stick it up my ass. Which is pretty much killing me.

Dear God, my life sucks.

As you may have figured, Hope took Naminé to the nurse. And even after fourth period was over and we were eating lunch, the two still hadn't returned. To make the whole overall feeling worse, we were still in "rebellion-mode" against the school. Meaning, we were still sitting outside.

Usually I wouldn't mind, but at this rate, my balls were going to freeze off before Hope could cut them off himself.

Hayner and Sora were sitting next to me, and everyone else that was outside with us was close by, seeing as we were trying to share body warmth. Since we were so close together though, I could hear Rikku asking Vanille if it was true that I had purposely pushed Naminé down because I was angry at her for rejecting my offer to go with her to the Winter Formal because she had decided to go with Hope instead, which did not help my mood at all.

I mean, I wasn't even going to the Winter Formal!

Sora poked my shoulder gently, and I turned my gaze towards him. "Hey, don't get upset about any of it, Roxie. You know that that's not the truth, and that's all that counts, right?" He offered up a hopeful smile, as though he was hoping that it would somehow increase the chance that I was going to believe his words.

Still, he was at least trying, so I gave him a curt nod.

It seemed as though Hayner realized that I wasn't entirely buying it though, because he gently prodded me with his elbow. "Aw, cheer up, Rox. As long as your friends, the people you should really care about, don't believe it, then you're all good. And I'm almost positive that none of us believe that stupid rumor."

As if on cue, Selphie, who had just come back from buying lunch at the cafeteria, stomped over to me, expression absolutely furious. "Roxas! What's your problem? Poor, Naminé!" She took in a deep breath, and it seemed to calm her down a bit. As she exhaled, the anger left her eyes, and she looked almost sympathetic. "I know it's your first crush and all, but it's alright. Remember: There are other fish in the sea."

Hayner and Sora facepalmed themselves simultaneously, making Selphie shoot them curious looks. I just stared at her incredulously. I mean, come on. She may not be my best friend, but she knows that our entire friend group never actually goes to Winter Formal. We always ditch it to go to the beach.

And she should now. She was the one who came up with the whole idea.

She cocked her head slightly, her eyes moving from Hayner, to me, to Sora repeatedly. In a confused, innocent voice, she asked, "Was it something I said?"

After lunch, Hope miraculously came out of nowhere once more, and pulled me to the side. I was expecting him to show up with a giant butcher knife in hand while laughing maniacally, but the guy only seemed exasperated. Without any formalities, he bluntly stated, "Naminé fractured her arm."

I winced, knowing it was my fault.

At this, he merely said, "Don't worry about it, she'll be fine. The nurse is going to bandage her up, and she'll be coming back in the middle of sixth period. You're lucky that you didn't hurt her left hand, or she would probably hate you for a couple of hours."

"Naminé's left-handed?"

"Yup."

It was silent for a moment, before Hope let out an exasperated sigh, "Axel—I mean, Axette," he paused for a moment as he shuddered in disgust, "Told me what happened. Roxas, what exactly were you trying to do?"

I grimaced, and immediately, the little voice inside of me told me not to tell Hope the truth. But it was like Hope could read minds or something, because he rose an eyebrow at me, as if saying, "Lying to me is a stupid idea."

I sighed, "Alright, well you see. . ."

| N 0 N 3 X 1 $ + E N + |

When I finished my story, Hope actually laughed.

I couldn't help but frown at him. I mean, was it really that funny?

When he caught his breath, he simply smiled at me, "You're trying too hard. Just ask her."

I looked at him incredulously, ". . .That's all?"

He simply nodded, still smiling to himself as though he found the entire situation just that humorous. "Naminé's a simple girl. You don't have to try to be something you're not to try and convince her to go to the beach with you."

Quietly, I absorbed his words before smiling to myself. "You're right!" But my smile disappeared as soon as I realized something in his words. "Wait a second, something I'm not? But I was trying to be cool and sexy!"

Hope kept his smirk on, "Exactly."

I guffawed at him, "B-But I am cool and sexy!"

Hope chuckled, before turning away and beginning to walk towards the English room. "Whatever makes you feel better about yourself, Roxas."

I ran after him, "N-No! I AM cool and sexy!"

| N 0 N 3 X 1 $ + E N + |

Hope refuses to acknowledge my cool sexiness.

I was on edge the entire sixth period. It was going to work out for me this time. I was going to do this!

I had a huge, creepy smile on my face as soon as I waited for Naminé to walk into the room. I was brimming with so much confidence, that I was probably radiating the aura of a douchebag, but that didn't matter at this point! I was going to do this!

Except she didn't show up.

Even when the warning bell rang, signaling that we only had a minute left to get to our seventh period class, there was still no sight of the girl.

So, I had no choice but to dash to the boys' locker room to change into my gym clothes before rushing into the gym. The rest of the gang was waiting there, calmly discussing whatever they were talking about in the dead-center of the gym. I huffed, slightly out of breath from my run, before jogging towards them.

"I told you before, I hadn't remembered the whole beach thing!"

Hayner was rolling his eyes, arms crossed, "Seriously, Selphie? It was your idea."

The brunette puffed up her cheeks in annoyance, "It was a mistake, kay? You know me, I'm a gossip machine! I guess I got so caught up in it, that I forgot to think about whether or not it was actually true. . ."

"It's alright, Hayner. I forgave her already," I said, trying to stop them from arguing.

"You did! ?" Selphie turned to beam with me, eyes wide with gratitude, "That's awesome!"

I returned her grin, rubbing the back of my head sheepishly, "Yeah, no hard feelings, right? It'd be kinda stupid to actually be angry at you for something stupid like that. Plus, Hope's not going to cut off my—"

"I'm not going to do what?"

I blinked, not realizing that Hope was behind me. "Uh, nothing, Sir! I-I mean, Hope!"

The rest of the group shot the two of us a curious stare, and seeing this, Hope couldn't stop himself from laughing. Before long, I jumped in, and the others, though it was obvious that they weren't sure what was happening, joined in as well.

"Heeeeey! Come on you guys! Boys on one side, girls on the other!"

We all turned to face our ninja-crazed gym coach, before complying to her wishes. For some reason, Coach Yuffie was always too lazy to actually divide us into actual teams, so we always ended up playing boys versus girls.

My guy friends chatted for a bit, though I wasn't really paying attention to what they were saying. I was still wondering where Naminé was. . .

After Coach did a headcount, she frowned. "Someone's absent. I need a tough guy to man up and go on the girl's team!"

I heard muttered whispers around me, as all of the guys in the gym debated who we should sacrifice to the girls. All of a sudden, I saw a trace of white quietly walk into the gym.

Naminé.

"I-I volunteer myself!"

"Roxas! No! You're actually good at kickball!"

Yes. We were high schoolers that still played kickball. Don't judge us.

Coach Yuffie waved away Hayner's concern. "I'm sure you guys still have a few good members. Roxas, thank you for volunteering."

I nodded at her, and forced a smile, before walking to the girls' side of the gym. Immediately, I was swarmed by people of the opposite sex.

"Alright, now that that's settled, we can start the game!" Coach Yuffie said. But before she could start talking about the actual rules, she was interrupted by the walking in of an administrator. The said administrator hurriedly gestured for her to come over. With a roll of her eyes, our Coach halfheartedly said, "I'll be back. You can talk amongst yourselves for now."

Great! This is my chance!

Gulping, I pushed my way through the crowd of females to where all of my girl friends were fawning over Naminé's injuries.

"Really. . . I'm fine, you guys."

"That stupid Roxas! He can be such an idiot!"

I felt a vein in my forehead twitch, before I roughly shoved Selphie out of the circle. "Really, Selphie? After I just forgave you?"

She looked at me, surprise on her face, before laughing nervously, "Ah, don't take that seriously, Rox! I was just joking with you, ya know?"

I simply rose an eyebrow at this claim, before turning my attention away from her. "Naminé, I'm really sorry about what happened. I-I didn't mean to hurt you, it was just. . . on accident."

She stared at me curiously for a moment (I'm not entirely sure why), making me squirm a little out of discomfort. It seemed that Xion seemed to notice this, because she nudged me lightly, a large smirk on her face. I pouted at her, hoping that Naminé wouldn't notice.

Luckily for me, it didn't seem like it. She simply smiled, before saying, "I-It's alright. I'll be fine in no time!"

I felt the smile take over my face. But before I could respond, the administrator, which I grimly realized was Miss Quistis, called, "Miss Hart, will you come here please?"

Olette blinked, in shock for being requested by an administrator. I mean, it was understandable. The administrators usually only requested for the students that had done something bad. And what could Olette have done that was so bad that the administrators would need her?

With a frown, the brunette nodded, before hesitantly beginning her walk towards Miss Quistis and Coach Yuffie. The two adults had grim expressions on their faces, and I immediately felt curious as to why. It seemed as though the rest of the circle was a bit worried for Olette's sake too. "I wonder why they need to talk to Olette. . ."

"Olette's never gotten in trouble before. The girl has a clean slate!"

"I know. . . I'm sure she'll be fine though! Maybe they just want to give her an award for her smartacularness or something!" Selphie exclaimed cheerfully, trying to brighten the mood. But it was obvious that none of us believed her. Hell, she didn't even look as though she believed herself.

"They wouldn't be looking so. . . ominous if they were going to congratulate her," Xion muttered.

It was quiet for a few seconds, but all of a sudden, normal conversation started again. In fact, it was like the entire Olette thing had been forgotten!

Now's my chance. . . I glanced towards Naminé, taking a gulp. It wasn't that I was nervous. Psh, of course not! But my curiosity for Olette was skewing me from my true mission of the day. Still, I wasn't going to give up. Of course not! "Hey, Naminé. Can I ask you something?"

She looked up to me, and as though she was purposely trying to make me feel bad for the whole fiasco, she was cradling her damaged arm gently. "Yeah, of course, Roxas. What is it?"

I fidgeted with my hands nervously. It was finally the moment of truth. "I was wondering if you maybe wanted to—"

Before I could finish, I was interrupted by Olette running past us hurriedly. I blinked in surprise, as did the rest of the group. Hesitantly, I looked down at my right arm.

Sure enough, there was a single teardrop on it.

I shot a glance towards Naminé, before my eyes trailed back towards Olette. "I. . . Uhh. . ." I felt the weight of a stare on me, so I turned my head to look over my shoulder.

Hayner had this worried expression on his face, and was obviously trying to send me a pointed message.

My eyes made their way back to Naminé's face. She didn't seem to be reading too much into what was happening to Olette, probably because she hadn't realized that Olette was actually crying. There was a faint smile lingering on her lips, and her eyes were wide and inviting, calmly waiting for me to say what I needed to.

I hesitated for a moment, before saying, "I-I'll. . . be right back," and dashing after Olette.

"Olette! Olette, where are you! ? It's me, Roxas!"

I looked around me, seeing no sign of the green-eyed girl. I had lost sight of her, but I knew that she was somewhere in the garden. Or at least, that's where I think she went. It remained silent for a moment, before the quiet sound of a muffled sob echoed out through the courtyard.

Slowly, I made my way towards the sound, finding Olette sitting against a tree, trying to stay quiet. She was full-on sobbing, and even though her eyes were closed, tears were still leaking out. Heavy, labored breaths and shudders were racking her body, and I wasn't sure if it was because of the cold, or just because of whatever was making her cry.

"'Lette?" Her eyes darted open at the sound of her name, and the vivid green seemed blurred and shaded by the puffy red of her eyes. Seeing it was me, she stopped choking back her sobs, and simply sat there while they racked her body.

Honestly, I had no idea as to what I should do.

Cautiously, I took a seat next to her. "'Lette. . . What's wrong?"

She said nothing, but just continued to cry and shiver. I felt the frown on my lips, "'Lette, c'mon. . . It's cold. Let's go inside where it's—"

"I-I don't want to go back."

It grew awkward, as I stared at her blankly. I know, I know. It sounds horrible, right? But I never have any idea as to what I should do in these situations. Whenever someone needed comforting, I wasn't the person they'd go to.

Yet, here I was.

Hesitantly, I spoke, "'Lette. . . You're going to get sick. You have to at least go inside. . ."

She shook her head desperately, and her breathing became more labored as she tried to speak, "N-No. . . T-T-They'll take me away. . ."

Immediately, my eyes widened, and I moved my body so I could stare at her better, concern making my eyes widen. "Take you away?" Her tears began to leak faster, and her body began to shake even more. Not knowing what else to do, I engulfed her in a hug. She choked back another sob, before pulling me closer so that she could cry into my chest. "'Lette. . . C'mon, you know you can talk to me. . ."

"R-Roxas. . . You don't understand. . ."

"Give me a shot."

I felt her take a deep breath against me, before she managed, "She's dead." Her voice cracked on the last word, and she was suddenly in hysterics again.

I opened my mouth to ask who was dead, but then it clicked.

Her grandmother.

Her guardian.

Her only blood relative that was still alive.

She was dead.

I felt my insides drop. I couldn't possibly begin to understand the pain she was going through, and that just made me feel even worse. If her grandmother had died. . . Then who would be taking care of Olette?

Before realizing what I was doing, the words tumbled out of my mouth, "H-How did she die?"

It was obvious that Olette was trying her best to stop the tears from coming, but it just wasn't working. After a while, she whispered, "She's been in the hospital since early September. . ."

My eyes widened even more. For two whole months she had been dealing with all that stress by herself! ? No wonder she had seemed so out of it. . . "W-What! ? Why didn't you tell anyone?"

She looked up at me, the tears still in her eyes, and immediately I felt bad for prying too much into her personal life. It seemed that she didn't mind letting it all out to me though, for she answered me, "I-I was going to tell Hayner, b-but. . . He's been acting so weird around me, and I think he's starting to hate me or something!"

I stared at her incredulously. Hayner? Hating Olette?

No way was that ever going to happen.

"What makes you think that?"

She sniffled, and it was then that I realized that her grip had loosened on me, for she was now back to hugging her knees as she sat against the tree. "I dunno. . . It just feels so awkward between us now. Every time I turn to look at him, he looks away, like he doesn't want to look at me. And whenever we talk, it always feels like he's holding something back from me. Like a secret or something." Her tears had begun to let up as well, but there was still a frown on her lips. "I think I did something, but I don't know what. . ."

Okay, wait a second.

So Olette, my genius friend, couldn't put all that together and realize that Hayner was obviously crushing on her?

Dear God.

I know it sounds horrible, especially since she had just had an emotional breakdown, but I had to try extremely hard not to smile. "Hm. . . I'm pretty sure that he's not angry at you, Olette. In actuality, he's been worried sick about you."

Her downcast eyes immediately flickered towards me, "Really?"

I nodded fervently, "Hell yeah. I was talking to him a while back, and he was worried because he thought that you were angry at him. He said something about how he felt like you were holding something back from him, and he was wishing that you'd tell him, because all he wanted to do was help."

Her face that had been flushed from the cold air seemed to redden even more. "Oh."

It was quiet for a moment, before Olette started crying again.

I felt the dread settle in again. And I had thought that I had actually managed to cheer her up. . . Alright, I didn't actually do anything, but I was still hoping.

"R-Roxas, what am I-I going to do? W-When I go back in there. . . T-They might take me away. . . I-I don't have anywhere else to go, and I. . ." Her voice broke off again, and I felt absolutely horrible.

I drew her into another tight hug, "Don't worry, it'll all work out. . . Maybe you can stay at my house for a bit. . ."

She bit her lip, before staring up at me. She looked hopeful for a second, but it was quickly wiped away. "N-No, I can't do that. . . Your mom isn't listed as one of my legal guardians. . . I-I think they're going to bring me to the L-Land of Departure. . ."

The Orphanage.

Wait, they couldn't send Olette to an orphanage! If those places are anything like the movies, then they were serious shitholes!

"No way! I'll tell my mom, and she'll like. . . Bring the case to court!"

She managed a forced giggle at my idea. Before she could say anything though, the school bell rang, signaling the end of the day.

Holy crap, were we talking for that long! ?

And I still haven't asked Naminé!

It seemed as though Olette could read my mind or something, because she lightly pushed me away, and tried to contort her face into an encouraging smile. "I-I'll be alright. . . Go talk to her, Roxas."

I felt my face heat up, "W-What? How did you—"

She sighed, but still managed to giggle, "Roxas, you're really obvious."

Right. So she could tell that I had a crush on Naminé, but she couldn't tell that Hayner had a crush on her?

I decided to say nothing, but I shot her a grateful smile as I ran back towards the gym.

By the time I got there, it was practically cleared. I grimaced, realizing that that meant that Naminé was probably on her way home. There was no way that I was going to miss her!

I dashed towards the Guys' Locker Room, grabbing my things, and not even bothering to change out of my gym clothes. With a gulp of air for encouragement, I ran as fast as I could towards the front of the school.

No sight of Naminé.

My frown deepened. That meant she had already started walking home with Kairi and Selphie, and her house was in the opposite direction from mine. I shot a longing look towards the direction of home, knowing that Sora was probably waiting for me somewhere along the way, but still raced the other way.

I mean, Sora could wait, right?

It felt like it took forever, but eventually I caught up with Naminé, Kairi, and Selphie. Albeit, my hair was askew, I was out of breath, and even though it was freezing outside, I had managed to sweat like there was no tomorrow.

"Roxas? What are you doing here?"

I opened my mouth to respond to Selphie, but I felt my gaze move itself to stare at Naminé.

Instantly, all of my resolve went down the drain.

What was I going to do! ? What was I going to do! ?

"Roxas? Roxas? Are you okay?"

"Y-Yeah. . . I'm okay. . ."

Selphie rose an eyebrow at me, while Naminé was looking at me worriedly. Kairi of course, was staring blankly at her shoes. "Roxas, isn't your house the other way? Why'd you come here?"

There was so many things I could've said that would've made sense. But unfortunately, my brain was a mess. Desperately, I scrambled for some kind of excuse to explain myself, and without thinking about it, the words tumbled out of my mouth, "I-I just had to tell Naminé that her shoes were untied!"

It was silent for a moment, as the trio (yes, even Kairi) looked at me peculiarly. Slowly, they each looked down to take a look at Naminé's shoes.

"Um, Roxas? My boots don't have laces."

Shit.

I felt my face flush as Selphie burst out into laughter. Hell, even Kairi was trying to keep a straight face. Naminé on the other hand had the cutest smile on her face as she giggled, her pearly whites practically blinding me.

Without any formalities, I grabbed her wrist, leading her away from Kairi and Selphie saying, "I-I have to talk to you. . ."

When we were a good distance away so that Selphie wouldn't be able to eavesdrop (I was hoping that depressed Kairi wasn't going to try to do anything like that), I stopped. There was still a grin on Naminé's face as she asked, "What do you need to talk to me about, Roxas?"

This was it.

The moment of truth.

I WAS GOING TO DO THIS!

Before I could start freaking about how exactly I was going to word this, I purposely blurted the words out, "D-DO YOU WANT TO GO TO THE BEACH WITH US OVER WINTER BREAK! ?"

She stared at me blankly for a second, before bursting out into laughter.

Immediately, I felt my heart sink.

Crap. So I only succeeded in coming off as an idiot. Great.

However, when she had finally calmed down a bit, she took my hand gently, still smiling up at me, "I'd love to go, Roxas."

YES. WHO'S THE IDIOT NOW, SUCKER! ?

"Buuuuuuut, you're a little late. Selphie told Yuna, who told Rikku, who told Vanille, who told Hope, who already invited me last week."

W-Wait, whaaaat! ? Hope beat me to it! ? But earlier today, he was encouraging me to ask her and. . .

Wow. I guess I am the idiot.

A Wishful Thought: XD LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL. Alright, I'm not even sure what I did here. XD I just really wanted to get this chapter out, sooo. . . . ;D

POINTS FOR ROXAS SUDDENLY BEING OBSESSED WITH NAMINE, FINALLY GETTING TO WHAT WAS UP WITH OLETTE, AND MAJORRRRR FORESHADOWING! XD

Haha, I was going to end the chapter with the depressingness of Olette's situation, but then I realized, "Wait! The whole point of the chapter is Roxas asking Namine to the beach!" So I took the opportunity to end the chapter with a brighter note instead. X3

I can't say that I'm completely happy with the chapter, but I hope that you all still found it enjoyable! :D

There's a new poll on my profile. :) Check it out!

I really want to get this out before the night is over, so this is going to be published unedited. ^^;; Please point out any mistakes that you may see to me in your review!

As for the news I was talking about in the first Wishful Thought of the chapter, I have to say that Nonexistent won't be updated as frequently. Alright, I know that you're all thinking that I haven't been updating frequently at all, but they're going to be a bit less frequent now. :'( Schoolwork is getting super heavy (CURSE YOU AP BIOOOO!), and I'm the douchebag that stopped updating one of my other stories to update this one more. XP I had released that story long before Nonexistent ever even came to mind, and I feel really bad since it's just as popular (if not even more popular) as Nonexistent. So I've decided that I'm going to be alternating from updating Nonexistent, and my Fairy Tail (BEST MANGA EVERRRRR!) story, Never Let Me Go.
It might take a while, but I hope it doesn't put anyone off that much. :( I'm hoping to still be able to update at least once a month though!

PLEASE REVIEW!