"Yay! School's starting!" Selphie sang out, skipping across the street to join her friends on their weary trek to the Destiny High campus. "Aren't you guys excited?!!"
Riku groaned for the second time that morning. "Selphie, you and Sora should become caffeine buddies or something. How much coffee have you had?"
She blinked innocently. "Just one cup."
The silver-haired teenager raised a brow and glanced at Kairi for an explanation. She laughed. "Selphie's already so hyper that one cup of coffee to her is the equivalent of five to Sora."
"Ah. Well, that partially explains it," Riku said dryly. "Now all I want to know is why she's so hyper in the first place."
"You might as well give up now," came Tidus's very tired voice from behind them. The group paused and waited for the blonde blitzball player to catch up, which took a while since he was dragging his feet so much. "I've pondered that for years, and I'm no closer to finding an answer now than I was then." He smothered a yawn with his free hand, gripping his backpack in the other and holding a blitzball in the crook of his arm.
Kairi studied him for a moment. "Guys, I never thought I'd say this, but…" She paused for a moment. "I think my mom may have been right-" Her announcement was met with mock gasps.
"I'm shocked!" Sora exclaimed. "How can you betray us like this by admitting that a parent was right about something?"
Riku smirked. "What exactly is it that your mom is right about?" he inquired.
"She said no more partying the night before school." This was met with groans and a boo from Wakka, who had mysteriously appeared when no one was looking. The redheaded blitzball player was also toting his ball; he and Tidus grinned at each other when they noticed the balls they were both carrying.
"But, I thought being a teenager was about disobeying parents and staying up light the night before school!" Selphie said, pretending confusion. They all chuckled and Sora turned to the recent newcomer.
"What about you, Wakka? Aren't you beat?"
He flushed and grinned somewhat shamefacedly. "Well…yah, I guess, but not cuz' of the party. Lulu called me last night; she wanted to talk for once, y'know?" Lulu, his semi-gothic girlfriend, went to a different high school. So far the whole long-distance relationship thing seemed to be working out for the incredibly diverse couple.
Not that it really qualified as long-distance…
Destiny High.
Home to tanned, teenage islanders and the best blitzball team around. Wakka and Tidus never let go of an opportunity to boast about their positions on said team. Either because of that bragging, or in spite of it, the group always went and watched the games, cheering their friends on.
Kairi waved to Roxas and Namine, who were walking side by side towards the group. Namine waved back, smiling softly, and Roxas smirked, but the two of them were wearing a slight blush when they joined the group.
This elicited several knowing looks from Sora, Riku, Wakka, and Tidus, and a giggle from Selphie. Everyone knew that Roxas and Namine were a couple. At least, they would be a couple eventually, if they ever got around to admitting that it was inevitable.
"What's up, guys?" Roxas inquired, discreetly putting a few inches between Namine and himself. That way he wouldn't be brushing against her every time he shifted slightly. We can't have that, can we?
Kairi hid her own knowing smile. "Half of us are really tired from the party last night, and the other half are high on caffeine," she reported. To establish which group he was in, Sora gave a cheerful nod, setting his brown spikes to quivering energetically. Roxas took one look at his look-a-like cousin and rolled his eyes.
"Obviously we don't have to ask which side Sora's on," he said. Namine laughed quietly.
Selphie bounced on the tips of her toes. "Well, are you all ready for another school year?" she asked excitedly.
"NO," Roxas said firmly, giving her one of his trademark glares.
"He spent half of last night cursing the summer for ending," Namine interjected.
The rest of the group shared glances. Namine and Roxas blushed simultaneously, which made Sora laugh and Riku smirk. Selphie clapped her hands gleefully, a hopeless romantic.
The five minute bell rang and a collective groan was heard throughout the campus. "Boycott school!" a girl shouted, sporting short blonde hair and bangs that stood up like antennas. Her hairstyle earned her more attention than her call for rebellion did.
"See ya' at lunch!" Wakka called as he and Tidus headed off in the direction of the school's swim center. First period: blitzball practice. Kairi couldn't imagine having to play sports so early in the morning.
Riku, Sora, and Roxas had U.S. History first, and Kairi, Selphie, and Namine all had Art. The boys split off, Sora teasing Roxas about something, (probably Namine) and Riku observing with his trademark condescending expression. He had cause to be condescending, after all. He was a senior, while the rest of them were juniors.
Kairi and Selphie got a very shy and still blushing Namine to tell them all about her and Roxas. The majority vote was that the blonde couple should start going out, officially.
"I mean, really!" Selphie bubbled. "Everyone knows that you've liked each other for ages! Ever since Roxas moved here during freshman year, practically!"
Namine giggled nervously, looking to Kairi for assistance.
"Sorry, Namine," the redhead said. "Selphie's right, actually."
"I'm just scared," the blonde said with a sigh. "I wish I knew for sure that Roxas feels the same way I do."
"It's only written all over his face!" Selphie said indignantly. Kairi waved the hyper girl off.
"It'll work out, Namine," she said encouragingly. "Come on; we don't want to be late for Art."
The three girls continued on their way to the first class of the first day of school, talking and giggling to each other.
The art teacher, a brunette by the name of Tifa who looked more accustomed to kickboxing than teaching art, gave a frustrated sigh. "Look, people, I know school sucks and you'd rather be anywhere rather than here, but the least you can do is say 'here!'"
A reluctant murmur ran through the class. Tifa gave a partially satisfied nod and resumed calling students' names.
Kairi slumped slightly in her seat and leaned her elbow on her desk, propping her chin in her hand. She surveyed her class idly, noting who was in it. Mostly a bunch of senior who just needed an extra elective for their last year of high school. Probably only a handful of them actually cared about art. The quiet kid in the corner whose slate-colored hair always colored one eye (she thought his name was Zexion) had been in her art class last year; his creations were decent, though most of them usually happened to be of a dark and angsty nature.
Namine was the real genius of the class, of course. She was a master of all mediums, pretty much, able to draw anything and everything and have it all look like a masterpiece. Kairi herself was better at inanimate objects, landscapes…stuff that didn't move while she was trying to capture its image.
One time last year she had tried to sketch Sora when she was over at his house with Riku.
…It didn't work. The boy couldn't sit still for more than a minute at a time. Kairi promptly gave up on sketching people.
"Larxene?" Miss Tifa called, scanning the class.
"Here," came the surly voice. Kairi glanced behind her and to the side a few rows. It was the blonde girl with the strange bangs. Apparently her inability to organize a boycotting of school had put her in a sour mood.
"…Axel…? Axel Archades?" The teacher did another scan, but this time she didn't come up with any results. "Has anyone seen Mr. Axel this morning?"
Larxene snickered but didn't respond. Tifa shrugged and made a little note on her roll sheet.
Namine handed Kairi a piece of paper when the teacher wasn't looking.
"How can anyone be late to their first class on the first day of school?"Kairi smirked and scribbled a reply. "Probably some punk who doesn't care about his grades."
The classroom door swung open and the entire class pivoted in their seats, or at least turned their heads in that direction, eyeing the intruder hopefully.
Save us from this torture, we beg you!And it's only the first day of school…
Unfortunately for the poor art students, the newcomer was a student. Even if he weren't, well…he didn't really look like the savior type. He was wearing black jeans, black tennis shoes, and a black jacket. The only thing he was wearing that wasn't black was his emerald green t-shirt with the words BURN! emblazoned on the front in bright yellow, outlined in orange and red.
Yeesh. Talk about your fashion statement.
Oh yeah, and he was tall, too. Tall and slender. By slender I mean bordering on positively skinny. Not exactly the kind of person you want to rescue you from art class.
But, trust me, no one probably looked twice at his clothes or his stature or whatever. I guarantee that as soon as he walked in the room, all eyes fastened on his hair. It was cut in long, wild-looking spikes that stood up on his head and fanned out at his neck.
And it was bright red.
It wasn't liked Kairi's which was more of a dark auburn now, or Wakka's, which was more like orange.
It was mostly definitely red.
There was a moment of awkward silence in the classroom.
Tifa found her voice first. "Uh…you must be Axel," she said finally.
He smirked at her. "Yeah. Got it memorized?"
Tifa's lips twitched in amusement. "Trust me," she said dryly. "I don't think it's possible to forget." Several people snickered, one of them being Larxene again. The self-proclaimed Axel looked away from the teacher and fixed his gaze on whoever it was that had been snickering; Kairi was in the wrong position to see who they were.
The snickers died down very fast.
And then, for some reason, the redhead's gaze drifted, his eyes roaming over the class until they landed on…Kairi…? And stayed there, looking at her.
She blinked and quickly focused on the pencil she was twirling between her fingers. She could feel blood rushing to her face with embarrassment. Why was he looking at her? At the same time, Kairi could feel Namine and Selphie's gazes drilling her. Great. They'd noticed, and they'd want an explanation as to why this crazy-looking guy was eyeing her.
Well, Kairi certainly didn't have an explanation for them, and it annoyed her.
Somehow, she got the feeling that Axel Archades was not going to make art class very enjoyable for her. Kairi could only hope that she wouldn't have any other classes with him. He was a senior, wasn't he? He had to be; he looked too old to be a junior.
Please, please, please let him be a senior, and please, please, please let this be my only class with him.
"Take a seat over there, Axel," Tifa instructed. Kairi was most relieved to find that the seat her teacher assigned said Axel was not anywhere close by. In fact, it was in the back of the class.
She risked looking up. Axel was making his way to the back of the classroom, pausing briefly to smack several people on the head as he passed: probably the ones who snickered.
Kairi was just about to turn her attention back to the teacher when he looked at her again. And she stared back. Apparently there was no middle ground for this guy in terms of appearance, whether he could help it or not. His eyes were the brightest, richest shade of green she had ever seen, almost hypnotic in their jewel-tone quality.
He smirked at her.
"Alright, class, let's get started," Tifa said from the front, and the moment was broken. Thank God. Kairi twisted in her seat and vowed that she was not going to be distracted by the fact that she could almost feel Axel Archades' eyes resting on the back of her head.
This day has just began, and already it's off to a lousy start, she thought irritably. Stupid punk seniors… Maybe he'll get senior-itus early in the year and stop coming to school altogether…
A/N- Yay! We met Axel! Already he and Kairi are off to a marvelous start, and they haven't even said a word to each other yet. Hope it was good! -C.A.