"I bought loads of blue stuff! Blue eyeliner, blue streamers, blue hats, blue zinc…"
"Do you like my new blue dress? I bought it just for today!"
"I have a blue swimsuit to wear!"
"Okay guys, let's get ready before the buses get here!"
Namine was in a daze of blue hues in the classroom. The smell of blue hairspray filled the air, reminding her strongly of her dance concerts, and the excitement welled up inside her. It was the third week into school, and the swimming sports carnival was today. Summer was clinging on for as long as it could, and the sun was gloriously warm today, perfect for swimming. 9 Yen Sid were gathered in their home room class, chatting loudly and clad in different coloured outfits; blue, yellow, red and green, the school house colours. As Namine and the others were all in the same class in year 7, they were all placed in the same house. Everyone was adorned in blue, but Kairi, Selphie and Sora were especially going over the top for their house sports team. Sora's normal brown spikes were a blinding blue shade, and he wore a blue tank top and shorts with blue stripes. Selphie had decked out in a blue crop top, a tulle aqua skirt, and a blue feather boa. Kairi was wearing a sequined blue hat, had her hair in small plaits with blue ribbons tied to each end, and blue lipstick 'army' stripes across her cheeks.
"Namine, I'll get you ready!" Kairi bounced over to Namine's side and grabbed her arm, using the same lipstick to write 'BLUE HOUSE RULES' down her arm. Then she proceeded to spray Namine's hair with blue glitter spray, and her pale blonde hair became a cerulean hue. Most of the glitter fell on Namine's already blue clothes. "Wait, I almost forgot the best part!" Kairi pulled from her bag a matching sparkly blue hat, and plopped it on Namine's head.
"You've outdone yourself this year, Kairi," Olette giggled, who had already been victim to Kairi's dress-ups and was very blue herself. Namine just giggled and lapped up the excitement. She loved these days where she could just relax with her school friends. But more importantly, these kind of days were always great for bonding with a certain boy...
The said boy was currently tormenting Hayner to wear Selphie's blue fairy wings, to which he grimaced and cringed and physically recoiled from something so girly. Sora was laughing with joy and Namine couldn't stop watching him.
"Roxas, you need blue war stripes too," Kairi announced as she stepped over to the once-blonde boy, who was also clad in blue clothes and dyed hair. Roxas snapped out of what appeared to be serious thought.
"Huh? Oh, thanks Kairi." He stayed still as Kairi drew carefully on his face. His thoughts were muddled and distracted, filled with ways he could deter Namine from wanting to spend time with Sora. He thought maybe a sabotage trick would work, but he didn't want to ruin their friendship altogether. What could he do...
He was so lost in thought he didn't realise Kairi was actually drawing cat whiskers and a nose, and the poor unsuspecting boy only noticed when Sora, Hayner and Pence burst out with laughter. "What? What's so funny!?"
"You're pretty, Roxas," Kairi teased, and Roxas snatched her compact mirror to look at himself. The boys laughter escalated as Roxas looked at his reflection in horror. "Shut up! Kairi!"
"The buses are here!"
Before Roxas could kill the russet haired girl, Miss Gainsborough, clad in yellow, ushered the group to the buses, where Mr Caelum was marking the roll, dressed in red.
"No swapping buses, okay? We're going in our home groups, so stick together." He warned, his hair now a flaming red. It made Namine snigger, knowing their friend Axel was also in red house and didn't actually need to change his hair colour. If she listened carefully, she could probably here him wooping at a nearby bus with Riku and Terra.
"Stick with the family!" Miss Gainsborough teased. Selphie commented on their teacher's yellow sundress and she beamed with pride. The group clambered onto the bus to try and claim the back seats, but Tidus and Wakka had beaten them, decked out in their yellow outfits. They had even made custom flags and had painted their blitzballs a bright blinding yellow, and were throwing them around in excitement. The gang ended up sitting with them, and the back of the bus was very noisy indeed.
Namine tried to secure a seat next to Sora, but Roxas had claimed that spot, so she was instead wedged next to Selphie, with Kairi and Olette in the seats in front. She leaned across eagerly so she could chat with Sora and see him, even though it made her a little car sick.
The ride to the swimming sport centre was short and loud, and everyone quickly clambered off the bus to score the prized area of the aquatic centre; the shady area between the relay pool and the waterslide. Prime real estate and always snatched up quickly. Sora and Roxas raced each other, and miraculously, there was nobody there. The year 12 bus must have been delayed, because the racous year 9's were the first to arrive at the pools. The sun was beaming hot and the boys helped to put up the tent Selphie had brought along. The tent was an unfortunate pink colour, but Selphie vouched it was a 'neutral' colour.
Soon everyone had laid out their towels around the tent, and Wakka and Tidus joined them, along with Riku and Axel, Terra and Aqua. Riku was telling everyone about how Mr. Strife almost threw up on their bus and Miss Lockhart had to tend to him.
"I got the snacks!" Olette pulled out an assortment of crisps, chocolates, doritos and dip, pretzels and cans of drink. "We even had enough munny for a watermelon!"
"Watch out!" Hayner emerged from the tent with the watermelon. Namine blinked. Exactly how had he smuggled that onto the bus? Riku and Axel hooted with vigour.
Mr. Fair, the sportiest teacher of all and the leader of the blue house, began to announce the race orders. First up with the year 7's, so everyone relaxed and started to snack and chat while watching the races.
"I remember the first swimming sports we had," Hayner smirked, "Roxas was so scrawny."
"H-Hey!" Roxas puffed in indignation, "I was not!"
"Was he wearing speedos?" Axel teased, and Roxas hit him hard in the side, but he only laughed it off. "And your mum promised you'd grow into them..."
Roxas pouted, but then lit up. "Do I need to tell everyone the story of that party you went to last year?"
Axel's face grew stiff with embarrassment. "Wait-"
"These guys dared him to shave his bu-"
"Roxas used to wet his bed!" Axel countered before Roxas could finish, and the two ended up in a playful tousle while they continued to spout out embarrassing childhood stories.
Kairi and Selphie were currently oggling at their phones, giggling and chatting about celebrities, and Olette was having a heated debate with Hayner and Pence about how best to cut up the watermelon ("how could you forget a knife, Hayner!?"), but Namine was quietly scooting closer to Sora, feigning her movement as reaching over for a dorito.
"Sora, you're racing today, right?" She piped up, and he tore his attention away from the boys.
"Yeah!" He held his arm outwards and grabbed his bicep. "I've been training and everything! I'm gonna beat Hayner this year!"
Namine giggled sweetly. "I'll be rooting for you, Sora!"
Roxas stopped wrestling with Axel long enough to hear this exchange, and in his moment of hesitation, Axel caught him in a headlock and began rubbing his spikes. "O-Ow! Hey!"
I've gotta stop them from talking...! Roxas thought desperately. He batted Axel away and admitted defeat, and the gang settled down for a moment. He had to think of something quick, but what...?
He hated to do this to Namine, but he decided to kill two birds with one stone.
"Hey, Kairi, you look kind of flustered," The blonde commented, taking advantage of her perch in the sunlight. She was probably just aiming to get a tan, but he knew she wouldn't pass this next offer up. "Maybe you should cool down with some ice cream. I think I saw they had sea-salt flavour at the vendors inside.
"Really? It's my favourite," She gushed, "Next to paopu flavour of course."
"Me too! Let's go get some!" Sora jumped up, and that was exactly what Roxas was hoping for. Sora was hopeless when it came to sweets. "You guys wait here and we'll grab some!"
"Okay!" Kairi hopped up and the two started to walk off before anyone could say otherwise, but Roxas managed to elbow Sora in the sides and mouth 'alone time!', to which Sora gave a lopsided smile and scampered off.
Roxas looked back and saw Namine looking disappointed and probably mid-sentence. He felt the prickle of guilt seep into him. Was he doing the right thing...?
x-x-x
But Namine wasn't going to give up. She may not have had much time with Sora at the tent, but it was time for the boys to race, and Namine was going to be the first person Sora saw when he got out of that pool. She was sure of it.
The girls were parked on the side of the pool. Roxas, Hayner and Sora were standing in a row, stretching and glaring and pulling offensive gestures at each other in friendly competition. Mr. Leonheart gave them a warning look and they all looked sheepish. Tidus, Wakka, Ventus and Neku were also a part of the race.
"Come on Sora!" Namine called out, jumping up with down with each word. "You can do it!"
"Why are you rooting just for Sora?" Selphie asked curiously, and Kairi had a slightly jealous look on her face, but Namine didn't notice.
"Well, Sora lost to them both last year," Namine quickly covered, realising her mistake. Absolutely nobody knew about her crush on Sora. At least, she didn't think so - she hadn't told a soul, not even her best friend. "He deserves to win this time!"
"Oh yeah! He lost so bad last year!" Selphie agreed, oblivious to Namine's crush, but Kairi looked a little more suspicious. Any frustrations however were forgotten when the race began. The boys launched themselves into the water, leaving great splashes in their wake, and the girls were standing so close they got wet too.
"Eek! My skirt!" Selphie flailed and Olette giggled. Kairi and Namine cheered loudly as they watched the boys. Roxas, Sora and Hayner were neck and neck. The girls walked alongside the pool, following their every move.
"Ooh, it's so close!" Kairi shrieked, biting her fingernails in anticipation. They began to lightly sprint to keep up with the boys, but Namine was a step ahead. She had this wonderful fantasy of reaching her hand out to Sora and him taking it in gratitude after the race. She could just imagine his wet hair slicking to his cheeks, his warm smile, his bare torso... The butterflies in her stomach grew. She just had to be there.
The girls had reached the end of the pool now and the splashes were getting larger. They were almost at the finish line...!
Namine was sure she knew which boy was Sora, but each boy had dyed their hair blue and were looking terribly similar under the water. Still, she had her eyes locked on Sora the entire time. She waited at the end of his lane. He was going to win!
She held out her hand, ready for her fantasy to come true -
The winner slapped their hand to the end of the lane and emerged from the water, shaking the water from his hair. He smiled brightly when he saw Namine, but the girl faltered.
Roxas!?
How had she mixed them up!? She was sure she had her eyes on Sora the whole time. As Roxas took her hand, she looked over and saw Kairi greeting Sora at the finish, patting him on the back. He gave her the warmest smile ever. Namine was so jealous. Kairi didn't even like Sora in that way and she got the amazing experience!?
She didn't realise she was still holding hands with Roxas and quickly retreated, a little flustered. "S-Sorry. Well done, Roxas!"
"Thanks," He smiled, his cheeks aflame from holding her hand. The moment was dulled by the looked in her eyes when she looked at Sora, though. Roxas knew it would take a lot more than avoidance for Namine to get over her crush.
x-x-x
"I can't wait!" Selphie gushed as she climbed the steps eagerly. Everyone had decided it was time to ride on the waterslide, but the line had been extremely long, and the sun was bearing down on them. The girls had stripped off to their bathing suits, while the guys hadn't changed since their race, and everyone was hot and ready for the cool, gushing water.
Namine was especially hot, and the sheer height of the thing wasn't boding well with her. She thought it might be a perfect opportunity for Sora to care for her, but he seemed preoccupied. She huffed and heaved audibly, but but didn't blink an eye as he chatted with Hayner and jostled with Kairi.
"Are you okay?" Olette asked the blonde, patting her shoulder, "You look a little sunburned."
"I'm okay," She shook her head, but made sure her tone suggested anything but. They were getting closer to the top of the slide now. They heard the hooting of Axel as he went down the slippery turns.
"Don't worry, the water will cool you down," Roxas assured, patting her on the back. She smiled up at him, but quickly turned her attention back to Sora.
"We're next!"
The group formed a line, and Namine tactfully wedged herself between Roxas and Sora, finally achieving some closeness with the brunette. She leaned close to him, looking a little sorry for herself, and Sora finally noticed.
"Are you sure you should ride, Nam? You look a little pale..."
"Oh!" She perked up visibly, "I-I'm okay, but I think I need someone to watch over me."
"Huh... what you need is a slide buddy!"
Namine's eyes widened and the butterflies reemerged. "S-Slide buddy?"
"Yeah! Someone to go down the slide with to make sure you're okay! And I know just the guy!"
Namine thought this was a dream come true. Sora was going to go down the slide with her! Would he sit behind her? Hold her? Dear gods, it was finally happening!"
"Roxas! Protect Namine!"
Roxas!?
Sora gave the blonde a lewd wink, and reassured Namine that Roxas would take care of her before launching himself down the slide after Kairi. Namine stood, dumbstruck. The pool employee ushered her along and Roxas gently tapped her shoulder.
"Er, are you sure you're okay? I can go down with you..."
She smiled solemnly, but she did appreciate the offer, because she was feeling a little heat stroke. "Thanks, Roxas. I'll be okay."
x-x-x
The day was slowly coming to an end. The year 12's had launched themselves into the pool as a tribute to their final swimming sports, and red house was announced as the winner, which was mostly thanks to Axel entering - and winning - almost every event he could. While downtrodden that blue house had lost, the gang were basking in the joy of their great day together, and were finishing off the last of the watermelon that Hayner had cracked open with a rock (much to Olette's dismay). Once finished, they packed up the tent and went to get changed before heading back onto the buses.
In the boys' locker room, Roxas was bragging about his win and Hayner was complaining of a stomachache from too much watermelon. While Pence told Hayner off, Sora elbowed Roxas lightly and whispered, "Thanks for that excuse to be with Kairi earlier, Rox. I still don't know how to tell her, but I just love spending time with her." Roxas smiled, assured Sora he would try and think of something, and again felt the guilt creeping up inside him. Stalling Sora and keeping Namine away from him was proving exhausting.
The bus ride home was much quieter, with everyone exhausted from swimming. Tidus and Wakka had fallen fast asleep in the backseat, and Roxas and Sora were putting various items from their items into their pants as a joke. Namine watched in amusement, but was feeling a little deflated from her poor attempts at getting closer with Sora. They were already great friends, there was no doubting that - but Namine was ready for the moments that really sparked the tingles and the spark of romance.
At dance that evening, with her and Selphie still wearing their blue-covered lipstick designs on their arms, Namine thought about how she could change the rift between friendship and romance without explicitly telling Sora. Just the thought of doing so made her queasy. Maybe, she should finally tell somebody else about her crush, and get some help... but who should she ask?