A/N: Had some spare time, thought "why not?", and took it upon myself to bless y'alls with another chapter...plus the first one seemed really, er, short.
Happy readings, lovelies! And please review (non-harshly); they're like cookies to my soul.
Disclaimer: IT'S MINE. ALLLLL MINE...yeah, just kidding. I'm just your average, everyday Kingdom Hearts-obsessee, with no ownership rights whatsoever! *insert smiley-crying face here*
Welcome to Hell, Lucky Ladies!
An air of peace reigned over the looming architecture of the quiet Canary Rose Academy, with the children safely (or unfortunately, depending on the student's personal opinions) tucked away within the vastness of it's hallways. The wind blew gently, scattering the pink blossoms of the sakura trees into beautiful mini whirlwinds of petals, caressing the lowly insects it happened to pass by. A chime was heard overhead, signaling the start of the first day of school, and the opening ceremony that was soon to take place in the next few minutes or so.
All is well, thought the silent gatekeeper, observing the morn thus far, everything was going smoothly which would surely bring promises of a smoother afternoon. With that idea, and the jingle of keys, he began to close the gate of metal bars to conclude his job. Maybe he'd walk around the perimeter, continue his observation of the tranquil environment, probably catch some snoozes beneath a tree—
"Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaait! WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIT!"
The distant cries of someone resounded in his ears.
The gatekeeper's eyebrows rose high on his forehead as he squinted, peering into the far beyonds of the metal. What on Earth-
"DOOOOOON'T CLOOOOSE THE GAAAAAAATES!"
The figure—no, figures of two bodies were coming into view, and he could vaguely make out two dark-haired girls running frantically to reach the academy. The leading one was waving her hands wildly, her short, bobbed hair bouncing madly in the wind, and the one behind, a girl with sleek hair flipping in the breeze, seemed desperate to catch up, looking as though she was seconds from passing out.
A small frown wore the man's face—of course, there just had to be someone to ruin his peaceful morning. Why couldn't these kids just get to school on time? Now he'd have to go through the trouble of being hassled by tween-y squirts and their tardiness, being asked "Please, sir, let us in! We're sorry!", deal with the repetitive pleas of these youngsters...He was so sick and tired of children nowadays.
"PLEASE LET US IN! WE'RE SOOORRRRYYYY!"
So much for extrasensory perception.
As the two school girls finally caught up in what felt like forever in waiting, the bobbed-hair one was the first to speak through ragged breaths.
"We're so, soooo, sorry! Please let us in, mister! You see, the walk was longer than we thought-"
"Yeah, yeah I've heard 'em all." The gatekeeper cut in, unwilling to hear anymore of the shtick. "Tell me: why should I have to keep going through the trouble of opening and closing and re-opening and re-closing this heavy gate, just 'cause your too slow to get to school? Riddle me that!"
Whether or not it was his manner of speaking, but the girls had a dumbfounded look on their faces.
"P-please, mister, we won't do it again. We just had a little trouble this morning, that's all—" the sleek-haired—who, upon closer inspection, actually had red hair—finally chimed in.
"Oh, puh-lease, little girl, this is your first day of school! I know exactly why you're both late. Little girly problems, make-up issues, 'I don't know what to wear!', that phooey!" The man wasn't even aware that his speech became incoherent babbles abut "girly problems", making him sound like a ornery humbug more than anything.
"Then...since you know...can you let us go?" Bobbed-Brunette One asked coyly.
The gatekeeper grunted and met her eye-for-eye. "You know what? N-O."
The girls gasped. "Oh come on, mister, this is unfair!"
"Life is unfair!"
"Are you really gonna block children from an education!? Isn't there, like, a law against that!?" Bobbed-Brunette whined loudly.
"So is tardiness! Ever heard of truancy?"
"But we were going-"
"Not if I don't let you in!"
After a shock of stunned silence from the brunette's end, something in her snapped. "YOU LOOK HERE, MISTER!" she gesticulated wildly, raising her voice with each gesture."You have NO idea how bad a morning I've had! I had to deal with 'girly problems' and people problems and transportation problems and AIR QUALITY problems, so don't you come to me with your 'grumpy-grandpa' issues about whatever! Let us in the school, dangit! I did NOT suffer a stupid morning just for YOU to NOT let me in! STEP ASIDE, GRAMPS!"
Redheaded One stared at her friend in mute shock—complete with a dropped jaw and everything—before she shook Bobbed-Brunette's arms, mewling, "Selphie! How could you!? You can't just go around spazzing on elders because your mad! We're gonna be suspended now!"
"I don't care, Kairi! No one's gonna take their anger out on me!"
Amidst the petty argument over certain respects for elders from youngsters, and how one is supposed to "give a damn" and "walk away from the attitude", a weary sigh escaped from the gatekeeper as he ran a hand over his visor. Man, this generation was really going down hill, wasn't it?
"Alright, alright already!" he exclaimed, effectively shutting the bickering girls up. "Go on, get inside. Anything to shut Selphie's screeching up! This better not happen again."
"Hey! Y-you cant just go around saying my name like that—"
"Okay, thank you, mister, we really appreciate it!" Kairi clamped a hand over Selphie's mouth and dragged her away. "I promise this wont happen again—ever!"
As she settled for pulling a still-complaining Selphie away—who glanced back, giving him a final "Hmph!" and a turn of the nose—with one arm and waving goodbye sweetly with the other, the gatekeeper shook his head, looking at the petal-covered ground beneath him. Kids these days...gotta mouth all-mighty...
He looked up at the cloudless sky before saying to himself, "Don't worry, Ed. We're still gonna have a good day."
Of course, she just had to fall victim to the cliché example of a high school student.
Of course, she just had to start her freshman year by being late, clueless as to where she she had to be, pulling the arm of an irritating best friend and yanking it at times in order to shut her big mouth up.
The intricate hallways of Canary Rose were deserted, the only sign of life being the faint voice of an orator with a microphone guiding them to their fated destination—and Selphie, too. As far as Kairi could remember, every initial school day began with an opening ceremony, and if the increasing sound of the speaker meant anything, they were supposed to be in the auditorium, and were heading in the right direction.
...The auditorium.
Kairi sighed loudly at the mere thought of it; she and Selphie were going to be the spectacles of the season, walking into a significant event, in a prestigious academy nonetheless, looking like a couple of idiots. No—delinquents. Her day hadn't even began, and she could already feel the high hopes she attempted to build just slip away like sand in the wind. What a drag...
As the duo neared the imposing double doors of polished, cherry oak wood, the pit in both of the girl's stomachs began to churn.
"...And because of such policies, the superior dignity of our centuries-old academy has been able to prosper..."
"Centuries? Man, this school is one brick away from falling apart-"
"Quiet, Selph!"
"Oh, whatever!"
Ignoring the brunette's resignation to incoherent mumbles of complaints, Kairi gulped as she continued to stare at the barrier before her. She had two choices at hand: One, be a strong woman ready to face anything, and waltz through the doors with her head high; or two, turn tail like the wimp she really was and run back home, tripping on invisible objects like the klutz she also happened to be at times.
Seeing as how she got one over on the gatekeeper in order to get in, the redhead was left with no choice but to woman-up and grow a pair—as contradictory as that sounded.
"C'mon, Selph..." she began hesitantly, taking a deep breath of shaky confidence, "Can't wait out here forever, right?"
Selphie eyed the doors wearily. "I dunno...I mean, I'm no delinquent, but I sure don't mind skipping this to keep from embarrassing myself—"
"No, we can do this! We...are strong, independent women!"
"Who don't need no education!"
"...Um, what?"
"Oh, nothing! Don't listen to lil' ole me—"
And before Selphie knew it, Kairi pushed opened the doors with a brave face. Instantaneously, every inhabitant of the large room swiveled their heads to see who had the gall to come in at this time, some squinting to shield their pupils from the overbearing light that was pouring within. Actually, calling the room simply "large" was an understatement-the room was enormous, with a second tier, filled to brim with innumerable females, all with a monotonous air of prim and propers and goody two-shoes. Right in the center of the podium stood a short, elderly woman with the classic "crotchety headmistress" look, gazing with a scrutinizing stare written on her shrewd countenance. For some unknown reason, flashbacks of the movie, "Matilda" began to replay themselves within Kairi's mind..
PleasedontbeaTrunchbullPLEASEdontbeaTrunchbullPleasedontbea—
"And what might the reason be that has dared you young ladies to come this late?" The woman, undoubtedly the principal, enunciated sharply after shifting her librarian's glasses.
And just like that, any shred of "confidence" the two girls preserved had completely diminished.
Very nervous and jittery smiles made their way across their faces. What could they possibly say that wouldn't make them worsen their appearance of disrespectful adolescents? Surely they couldn't use the same line on the principal as they did with the gatekeeper—even he didn't believe their excuse. Selphie took a chance and peered around her, only to regret everything and snap her attention back to the critical gaze of the woman; she and Kairi were in a spotlight of shame.
"W-well...I—we got me—us lost...o-on the way h-here, Miss..."
The headmistress raised an eyebrow.
"W-we went in the wrong d-direction, a-and ended up o-on the other side of t-t-town..."
"A-and we tried to ask for help, b-but the people weren't very, um...smart."
The silence was becoming suffocating.
"I-if you'd allow us, M-Miss, we would l-love to sit and listen-"
"Miss Edna. Now, what are your names?" the one named Miss Edna cut in coolly.
"K-Kairi Kusanagi!"
"And Selphie Ukishiro!"
Another round of silence passed before Miss Edna regarded them with a final look and waved an elegant hand in the air. "You may be seated."
Kairi and Selphie released a breath they hadn't realized they'd been holding. As much as it mentally pained her, the redhead glanced at her surrounding in search of a seat or two, when her eyes came to a rest on—coincidentally—two free seats... near the wall...in the front...on the other side of the room.
Whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy meeeeeeeeeeeeeee...Both girls mentally groaned as they made their "deadman walking" way to the front of the auditorium. Kairi had said it before and she'd say it again: The morning couldn't have taken a more horrific turn for the worse. It was like she was being punished by the devil, and all because her stupid brain decided to stupidly forget her stupid promise to her stupid best friend—okay, maybe Selphie wasn't stupid (usually), but everything else was!
Nearing their destination, Kairi could vaguely make out a girl with blonde hair sitting rather informally in the chair facing the opening of the fourth aisle not too far from her—the nerve of that girl (as if Kairi herself had the right to say)-seemingly sizing them up with an indecipherable stare. Generally speaking, she looked...intimidating.
Blue met blue for an instant—and Kairi swore she saw a the girl's lips quirk on one side—before she snapped her eyes away, facing nothing in particular.
At least the worst is over, she thought randomly, once her and Selphie reached their seats, they could quietly sulk to themselves while appearing to have gotten over their shame and readily became picture-perfect students.
And the worst would've been over, if only she hadn't took an "America's Most Funniest Video"-type fall down the aisle, tripping over God knew what, making a front-roll tumble, and revealing to the world that she liked pink-cheetah print panties just as much as any other girl.
"Kairi!"
The sounds of chuckles and outright guffaws erupted around redhead, Selphie a little ways behind her with a hand clasped around her mouth. Kairi was on the verge on tears as she desperately scrambled to fix herself, but that didn't stop the snickers and the pointing and the "God, what a klutz" comments coming from north, south, east, and west. Her hair was disheveled, and a hot, embarrassed blush spread over her face. Even Miss Edna, the great, stoic Matriarch of the Manor, let slip an expression of genuine surprise.
"Miss Kusanagi, are you alright?"
"Y-yes..." Kairi inaudibly whimpered.
Selphie ran to help the ego-bruised girl to her feet.
"Alright...silence, ladies!"
And just like that, the auditorium fell back into it's death-like quietude—with the exception of a few challenging students.
In any case, it was official; today, the first day of school, was by far one of the worst days Kairi had ever experienced in her life. She waltzed through the doors of hell only to be roasted by the fires.
As she made a rush and finally sat in her seat, with Selphie's assuring hand on her leg, Kairi fought back the urge to make a beeline for the doors.