Roxas stood on the platform of the freezing cold train station. His mum was working the morning shift and had dropped him off fairly early, but it was just as well, because the blonde had yet to buy his train ticket. As he did, he saw Mr. Caelum already at the end of the platform, ready to sign off names. City Centre was going to be big.
There were a few other early students, so he stood with them and waited for his friends to arrive. This brought with it a pang of worry; he and Kairi had made absolutely no progress with Namine, and if Sora went through with his plan, she would have her heart broken. Roxas was running out of options.
"Hey," a voice from beside him brought his world to focus. Sora, his hair unruly, his face paler than usual, and wrapped tight in a warm scarf.
Roxas furrowed his brow in concern. "What's wrong, Sora?"
Sora quickly looked back at the entrance of the train station, making some no one else could hear him. "I dunno if I should ask Kairi out this week."
"What? Why?"
He looked down at the damp tracks, concern in his eyes. "I dunno, she's been a bit distant this week... maybe she doesn't like me after all. She didn't want to practice our lines outside of class, and she's been... avoiding me a bit."
Roxas' heart jolted. He suddenly had a gleaming, shining way to postpone Namine's heart getting crushed. He could agree, tell Sora to wait, and let Namine's feelings simper away as Sora clearly wasn't reciprocating.
... But would she ever notice? Or was she so infatuated with him that she'd pursue him for years before he finally had to say 'in case you didn't notice, I don't like you!'?
A flush of shame suddenly rushed through the blonde's veins. How could he even consider messing this up for Sora? It wasn't his fault that Namine liked him. It wasn't his decision to make. And even Namine's feelings... they weren't his to manipulate either. Even if he he knew better...
The frustration boiled to an uneasy height, and Roxas had to push down his thoughts before they erupted.
"I wouldn't worry about it." He said, meeting Sora's eyes with earnest. Sora returned the gaze, looking for reassurance. "Girls are just weird sometimes. I'm sure her feelings haven't changed. Besides, you won't know unless you try, right?"
Sora smiled, the passion returning to his eyes, and he nodded. "You're right. I've already made up my mind. I can't back down now."
Roxas nodded in agreement, and from the corner of his eye saw that Namine, Kairi and Selphie were entering the entrance of the station. He noticed Namine's excited expression, and Kairi's slightly worried one - he smiled sadly. Kairi had no idea how lucky she would be by the end of the week, even though she thought her love life was falling apart. Was there really anything he could do?
x-x-x
The train ride into the city was long, and regular passengers were beginning to scrunch their noses at the boisterous lot of year 9 students. Tidus and Wakka were chatting especially loudly with their group. Poor Olette continuously glanced behind her, where Hayner's group was sitting, giving him a pleading expression. Roxas and Sora were talking about the interview they had organised with the Twilight City constable, and Kairi was gently watching over Namine, who grew paler by the second - her travel sickness was getting the better of her.
When they arrived at Twilight Central, the city's main train station, Miss Gainsborough and Mr. Caelum ushered them out, having to keep an especially close eye on the boys. They went up the escalators and passed several fashion shops, at which Kairi and Selphie cooed and begged Miss Gainsborough for a quick look. Luckily, Selphie quickly became distracted by the architecture of the plaza and was gushing and taking photos for her portfolio. Zidane and Blank almost went down the wrong escalator and got lost, and Namine was slow to walk with her nausea. Eventually, the two teachers were able to guide their forty-strong class to a corridor between the shops, which led to a large room filled with chairs and a projector screen. The room had been hired for the event as their 'home base', where students would gather for meet-ups and research.
After a long-winded introduction by Mr. Caelum (with a terrible powerpoint presentation, Pence quipped), the class were finally let loose on their first assignment - gathering results for their public survey. They were to meet back at the meeting point by midday, at which time Miss Gainsborough suggested they should have 25 surveys filled.
"We're finally free!" Selphie stretched as the group left Twilight Central and emerged on the bustling streets of the city. The sun was shining, but the winds brought with them an awful chill. People were walking in every which direction - business people rushing to work and talking on their phone, young hipsters with a coffee in hand, glamorous shopaholics clacking their high heels on the pavement, joggers clad in the latest exercise gear... Namine sucked in a breath and enjoyed the ambiance of the high-rise buildings reflecting the sunlight, and the bright green trees that decorated the streets.
"Alright gang, let's head to McDonald's!" Tidus announced, ushering Wakka, Selphie, Olette and Pence over. "We'll meet up with you guys later!"
"Don't eat too much," Hayner teased. The five teenagers headed off, Tidus taking the lead. Hayner turned back to his team. "Do you think they'll actually get any surveys done?"
"I don't think we'll get any surveys done," Roxas sighed. "What a boring assignment."
"Come on you guys, don't you want a good score?" Namine scolded, but the boys seemed adamant to avoid the work.
"Couldn't we just fudge the results, and explore the city instead?" Hayner offered, which sparked the attention of everyone in the group, even Namine. At first the guilt prickled; it was the wrong thing to do, but the excitement of spending free time with Sora outweighed this worry.
"Well... let's get at least 10 real ones, okay?" The blonde girl warned, and Hayner waved his hand in indignation.
"Sure, sure. Hey, let's go check out the arcade!"
x-x-x
Namine had to admit that they'd had a rather memorable morning. After the boys had a heated car-race battle at the arcade, they won enough tickets to shout everyone some treats, and the gang gleefully munched as they explored the area. The arcade was next to an array of shops, cafe's and entertainment areas. No wonder the city was so busy - add in a class of year 9 students, and it became simply chaotic.
The troupe had wandered off to a grassed area where they filled out their own surveys, giggling and quipping as they pretended to be members of the public. "Yup, I'm a 45 year old woman, and I think crime in this city is dreadful..." Sora trundled in a fake girl voice. After they were done, they saw a giant playground nearby and decided to take some photos on it, doing silly poses and hanging upside down. Sora had gotten so excited he ran his shin into one of the bars, which had Hayner doubling over with laughter, but Namine was quick to make sure he was okay, fussing over him and asking if it hurt. Kairi pursed her lips at this and quickly changed the subject.
They started to head back to Twilight Central, and along the way saw many other of their classmates. They noticed Zidane trailing Garnet especially close with a flirtatious grin, and Denzel was helping to carry Marlene's bag, to which the strap had broken. Namine smiled; love seemed to be on everyone's mind this year, as everyone was getting older and thinking about it more. She wondered if maybe it was because everyone was outside the school grounds, and out in the real world - maybe this sparked the want to hook up with their crushes. Namine glanced at Sora and smiled, wondering if this would be their time too. It certainly was exciting, exploring the city together... she wondered if she could wrangle a moment alone with him.
Back in the meeting place, Miss Gainsborough lead the class to the Twilight Central food court for lunch. With this many students, the poor customers had nowhere to sit; it was a sea of Destiny High school uniforms.
"I'm starvin'!" Wakka announced as he hoed into his hamburger. Hayner raised his eyebrows.
"Didn't you guys eat fast food all day?"
"We managed to control them... somehow," Selphie sighed. "So did you guys get all your surveys done? Talking to strangers is so stressful!"
Sora's group glanced at each other with wry smiles, at which Olette gave a quizzical look. "You guys didn't do it?"
"Oh, we did..." Hayner smirked, "But we fudged them all."
"What!?" Tidus piped up, dropping his fries. "Why didn't we think of that!? We are so faking the rest of our surveys."
"Wait, you guys just goofed off while we worked like a bunch of chumps?" Pence questioned, pointing an accusing fry at the group.
"That's right!" Sora laughed, happily eating his own burger. "We had the best time. We went to the arcade, and the playground..."
"That is sooo unfair!" Selphie wailed. "Next time we have to do surveys, we're coming with you guys! I knew I shouldn't have gotten stuck with these losers!"
Tidus gripped his chest, feigning a hurt expression. "I thought you loved me, Selphie!"
x-x-x
After lunch, the first whole-class activity was the fitness class. The boys didn't feel much like exercising after their heavy lunch, but luckily it was free-reign session of the gym equipment. The ten teenagers decided to take advantage of the yoga mats, and did easy stretches. They would have just sat around and chatted, but Mr. Caelum was on-guard and making sure everyone was actually doing the activity.
"Hey, you guys should show us your dance!" Olette suggested, noticing everyone running out of ideas. "Get a bit of practice in!"
"Great idea, Olette!" Selphie ushered Namine and Roxas up. Roxas stayed put, so the brunette tugged on his arm. "Come ooon!"
"We wanna see your dancing, Roxas!" Sora winked at the blonde, "Especially your partner work!" He gave Roxas a suggestive look, nodding his head towards Namine. Roxas shook his head at Sora's poor attempt at matchmaking.
"Even better! I'll bring Ventus over here!" Selphie bounded off to find the blonde. "VEN!"
"I can't wait to see Roxas dance," Hayner put his hands behind his head lazily, "If only we had some popcorn."
Roxas narrowed his eyes at his friend. "You're dead meat at the next struggle tournament."
Still, seeing as there was no actual dance class this week, Roxas felt complied to join in. After Selphie dragged Ven over, they went through their routine, Namine uttering a 'one, two, three, four...' to compensate for no music. The rest of the gang actually looked quite impressed, and even Tidus and Wakka were clapping hard by the end.
"Geez, Roxas, you got good!" Tidus exclaimed. "You're gonna have all the ladies begging for you now!"
"I dunno..." Roxas scratched his head sheepishly, but Selphie and Namine did a mock swoon to prove his point. He blushed ferociously as Namine leaned on him in fake-admiration. "Stop it, you guys!"
"Seriously though, you guys are amazing!" Kairi stood from her perch next to Sora. "Show me that move at the start!"
With Kairi wanting to learn, soon everyone was trying to learn the routine, though most of them weren't serious. Tidus and Wakka stuffed the moves up so badly they looked like they were drunk, and Olette was very modestly leaning on Hayner for support, who wasn't dancing at all. Sora even tried to do a rather difficult move, but tumbled and bumped into Namine. The collision wasn't actually enough to push her over, but Namine was in such a daze of dancing with Sora that she feigned falling and allowed him to prop on top of her, and they were laughing with each other on top of the mats. She blushed madly at the physical contact and reveled in the moment. It was at this moment Roxas glanced at Kairi, who wad glancing right back at him with wide eyes. It was also at this moment when Mr. Caelum came striding over to yell at the troupe.
x-x-x
"Today was so much fun!" Namine smiled as she and Roxas walked home from the station. It was late afternoon and very chilly, but the walk wasn't very long. "I can't wait for Kairi to send me the photos from today. And oh my gosh, did you see the guys trying to do our dance? Sora was so funny!"
Roxas smiled hard, hoping his expression didn't look fake. He had also had a fun day, but seeing Namine so infatuated by Sora had proven that he couldn't change Namine's feelings. On Friday, Sora would ask Kairi out. Namine would be distraught. He had only one option left.
After he dropped Namine at her house, he sent Kairi a quick text message.
I think we should tell Namine the truth. That way everything gets out in the open. It's not the way I wanted to confess to her, but... she has to know.
Roxas tapped on send and his heart thumped hard in his chest. He felt so scared of the possible outcome. He would spare Namine the embarrassment of confessing to Sora, and he would allow Sora to ask Kairi out... but would he ruin his friendship with Namine altogether?
When he got home, his phone buzzed in his pocket and he read the reply.
Are you sure? It would be the best option, but I'm scared she'll hate me for lying. And what if she doesn't feel the same way about you?
Roxas quickly replied.
Don't worry about telling her you like Sora. I'll just confess and see what happens. Maybe she'll think about it and stop liking Sora. And if not... then at least I'll know how she feels.
Roxas flopped onto his bed, dreading to confess to Namine. Another buzz.
Thanks Roxas. I'm with you every step of the way. I really hope she'll like you back...
x-x-x