Roxas nervously pulled down his black shirt underneath his tan over jacket. He adjusted the rings on his fingers, and stared out the window of the car. His father, Xemnas, was driving him to his new school. Roxas had just transferred into the high school in Destiny Islands from Twilight Town Boarding. Apparently, the new school was a regular public high school unlike the boarding school he had come from. He was heading to Destiny High School. It was the first day of school, and last summer he had to say good-bye to his three closest friends: Hayner, Pence, and Olette. New school, new people, no uniforms, no dorms. It was going to be strange. He looked over at his dad. The tanner, silver haired man looked at his son. He smirked a little bit. Roxas had always looked like his mother. The only thing Roxas really got from Xemnas was the fact that his hair was all sticky-uppy. Then again, Roxas' slightly older sister, Larxene, also had blonde hair with a little bit of Xemnas' hair. Their dad pulled into the parking lot, and he looked at both of them. "It's your first day in a new school. Stick together, and everything will be fine." Roxas was a junior, and Larxene was a senior. She got out of the car—the only reason Xemnas had driven her is because he wanted to know where the school was—and walked away immediately. Roxas grasped his backpack, and looked at his dad.

"I'll see you after school." Xemnas nodded.

"Have a good day, Roxas." Roxas nodded, took a deep breath in, and got out of the car. The schoolyard was filled with groups of boys and girls, some strictly boys and some strictly girls. Yet most of them were mixed boys and girls. It was foreign to Roxas, who had previously gone to an all-boys school. A brunette boy with messy hair locked eyes with Roxas. He smiled, and waved. Nervously, Roxas waved back. He was surrounded in a big group including a boy with large red spiky hair, a boy with long silver hair, and a girl with dark red hair. Roxas smiled softly, waved, and walked into the gym. His first period was P.E.

Destiny High School had 'Odd' and 'Even' days. They were alternating, so one day would be 1, 3, and 5 periods. The next day would be 2, 4, and 6. The first day of school was odd, so Roxas had P.E, French 3, and Algebra 2. Tomorrow would be English 3, U.S. History, and Oceans. Instead of Chemistry, he opted for Oceans because animals somehow interested him more than elements. He stretched a little bit and waved at Larxene as she passed. She scoffed a little bit, and hooked arms with her best friend, Marluxia. Figured he went to this school. She had met him at a party and ever since they seemed inseparable. He flicked his pink locks over his shoulder and giggled.

"Lar lar! Your little brother is adorable."

"Please, Mar mar. He's cute, but not adorable." The conversation continued on into the distance. Roxas rolled his eyes a little bit, and rubbed his hand through his hair. He continued to the gym, knowing his way around campus because he had memorized the campus map.

Roxas listened to the coach drone on and on about choosing lockers and locker room rules. They chose lockers, and the brunette from earlier took the locker next to him. The red-head took the locker next to the brunette. He smiled a little bit, sizing Roxas up underneath emerald green eyes. The brunette chuckled and put his gym clothes in the locker. He turned to Roxas.

"I'm Sora. This is Axel. It's very nice to meet you." He thrust his hand out, and Roxas shook it. "You need people to eat lunch with, right? I don't think your sister would be very open to letting you join her." Roxas laughed.

"How did you know?"

"I just… know these things." Roxas laughed again. Axel had very strange tiny diamonds on each cheek and Roxas and him smiled at each other and shook hands. The coach quieted everybody down, and continued his speech about what they'd be doing each day, how they would stretch, etc. Roxas spaced out for half of it.

The three boys walked out of the locker room, walking down the open hall way to one of the main school buildings.

"What do you have next?" Sora asked Roxas.

"French 3." Axel smiled a little bit.

"I have it fourth period. Riku is in third period, so tell him that we sent you and make friends. Try to get a seat near him because Madam lets us choose our own seats half the time."

"What does he look like?"

"He has silver hair," Axel responded, looking around a little bit. "I think Namine is in that class as well. She has blonde hair over one shoulder and usually wears white dresses."

"Is she a virgin?" Sora shrugged.

"No one knows, but the stuff that she draws is pretty… graphic," he responded, shivering a little bit. "She draws a lot of fan service." Roxas nodded, and turned the corner, waving good-bye to his new found friends.

He was the fifth one in the classroom, and he looked over the five students quickly. There was a tall, handsome young man that looked so much older than only seventeen. He had silver hair that fell to the middle of his back with stunning green eyes. They seemed to glow in a way. Next to him was a small blonde girl who was leaning over a sketch book. She was penciling something in, and smiling in a satisfied way. Roxas stood there for a second before deciding to approach the two. He walked up slowly, and looked at them both.

"Hi. I'm Roxas. I just met Sora and Axel, and they told me to come up to you two and make friends." Riku laughed.

"Just like both of them. I'm Riku." Roxas and him shook hands.

"I'm Namine." Her hand seemed fragile in a way as it slid across his palm. He took a seat next to them, and set his backpack down on the floor.

The French teacher seemed very energetic and she was very funny. Roxas couldn't stop chuckling and laughing when in her class. Riku and Namine became quick friends. The two hours flew by. The bell rang and all three of them stood up.

"We'll take you to our lunch spot." Riku gestured to the door. "Come on." Roxas followed him to a shaded spot where quite a few people were gathered. Sora hopped up, hugging Roxas. He hugged back, and was introduced to everybody.

Demyx was lying in Axel's lap, moaning about something bad that had happened in his first class. Something along the lines of having to do harder work than usual. He quieted down, though, when Roxas was introduced. He smiled happily.

"My name is Demyx! Let's be friends." Roxas laughed.

"Yeah." Namine's sister, Kairi, was introduced as well. She smiled and flipped her hair back, giggling. There were a couple of people other than that, but Roxas didn't retain the information that well, so he just stuck around Sora and clung to him a little bit like a small child learning about the world around him. Lunch passed with Roxas officially part of the group. They were misfits that had found each other. The one thing that was defined heavily was that Sora and Riku were together. Both of them were constantly holding hands and hugging. Every once and a while, they kissed gently. Every one but Roxas were completely fine and used to it by now, but the blonde was a little unsettled by it. He would've thought that the brown haired boy was single and open. Roxas was sitting between Axel and Sora, Demyx had walked over to Zexion to bug him and possibly stop him from reading Twilight. Roxas stretched, looking around at his new friends. There was Zexion, Lexeaus, Demyx, Axel, Riku, among others. He looked down at his schedule. It was his last period of the day. Algebra 2 taught by Turner. Axel looked over Roxas' shoulder. He pointed to Algebra 2.

"I've heard that teacher is kind of creepy. I have him too, which is pretty cool. But apparently he has an eye patch that was caused by a student a long, long time ago. He used to teach science before he taught math. Oceans is taught by Ice, and he's a little out of his mind. His first name is Vexen and Turner's is Xigbar. They have really strange names, I know." Axel smiled gently at the blonde haired boy. Roxas nodded.

"Okay, then, are you and Demyx together?" Roxas asked, lowering his voice.

"No, why? You think I'm hot?" Roxas rolled his eyes as Axel nudged him in the ribs.

"No."

"Well, if you do remember that I'm single and open." Roxas laughed a little bit.

"Alright, fine." The red head smiled widely.

"Cool." Roxas leaned back on his hands, looking up at the sky. Suddenly, Demyx leaped up, pointing dramatically. Everyone's attention was immediately on the blonde with strange and amazing hair. He smiled at all of them.

"I think we should go to the beach after school today. It is the first day, after all, and I think we need to kick off the school year in a great way!" Cheers sounded.

"Can I borrow somebody's phone?" Roxas asked. Axel handed him his.

"I don't have to call anybody, so just use mine."

"Thanks." Roxas dialed his father's number, and hoped he'd pick it up. "Hey, dad? Can I go to the beach after school with a bunch of new friends?" There was a deep breath over the phone from Xemnas. It usually meant that he was sort of angry, but he loved his children anyways, and would probably let Roxas go.

"Fine," Roxas' dad's voice drifted over the phone. "How will you get to the house without a car?" Roxas thought about it for a second.

"I'll give you a ride."

"One of my friends will give me a ride. Everything is fine." There was quite a bit of silence. Roxas bit his lip in nervousness.

"Fine, yeah. You can go. I'll use this number. How late will you be staying?" Roxas paused, and looked around for help. Axel shrugged.

"How late can I stay?"

"Come back home at nine." Roxas made a little bit of a victory dance.

"Thanks dad. I'll see you then. I love you." He hung up after listening to his dad's good byes and gave the phone back to Axel. "Thanks for the phone and ride."

"You're welcome."

Lunch passed quickly afterwards, and Roxas was excited for the beach with friends. When he lived in Twilight Town, he could only go to the beach every summer, and that was only one or two times. Now that he lived in Destiny Islands, he assumed that he would be feeling sand underneath his bare toes. Roxas stretched again and shouldered his back pack. Axel, Demyx and him walked to Algebra 2 together. Demyx's room was directly across the hall from Axel and Roxas'. They walked inside and both of them halted for half a second before continuing on to their seats that were marked with a place card. Ironically, they were seated right next to each other. Roxas plopped down in his seat, putting his backpack on the floor. Mr. Turner had an eye patch and grey/black hair with white streaks. It was pulled into a pony tail. On each of their desks, a short interview was there along with a syllabus. It was the second one that day. He put the syllabus at the corner of the desk, and looked at the interview.

"Now, I want you all to fill this out and then we'll go over the syllabus." Mr. Turner had a typical surfer guy accent. Roxas tuned everything out for the rest of the class, going through it mechanically. Axel and him walked out after the two hours, Demyx meeting them in the hall. The boy bounced up and down with a strange amount of energy. Roxas was just excited for the beach. The three headed down to a black Jeep that was parked across the street from the school. Demyx jumped in the passenger seat, and Roxas hopped in the back. Axel looked behind him at the blonde. He gave him a smile.

"Just direct me to where I'm going. I'll go to Demy's house second."

"Go straight until the stop light and take a left. Get on the main road…."

A couple of minutes, Axel pulled into Roxas' driveway. A large tree was in the front yard, a branch near the window. It looked very climbable. As long as the window is open, that is. Roxas opened the door, followed by Axel and Demyx. The living room still had boxes everywhere. Roxas leaped up stairs.

"If you want something to drink, there are cans of soda in the fridge. So just grab one." Axel and Demyx headed into the kitchen. Roxas walked into his new room, and opened one of the three boxes full of his clothes. He reached for his swim trunks, taking off his clothes. The door opened as soon as he had one foot in. Demyx barged right in, a can of coke in his hands.

"Roxas," he said at first, immediately turning around and heading back into the hallway. "Sorry!" A large blush was on Roxas' cheeks, and he put the swim suit on quickly. He grabbed a towel, sunscreen, and a couple of other things from another box and put them into a bag. He pushed his feet into black and white checkered flip-flops. He pulled a plain black shirt over his head, and took off his bracelets and rings, putting them away. He ran down the stairs, and found Demyx not meeting his eyes and pushing his face into Axel's shoulder.

"What happened?"

"He accidentally walked in while I was changing. It's fine though." Demyx sniffled a little bit, and turned around.

"It was okay for me to accidentally do that? You forgive me?"

"Yeah," Roxas said, smiling. He was wrapped in two long arms and squeezed tightly.

"Thank you!" They all walked back out to the Jeep.

They drove a little bit more, loud music drifting to their ears. Axel pulled into another driveway after a bit and stopped his car. They walked into the house, and a blonde woman immediately wrapped her son in her arms.

"Dem dem! How was your day at school today?"

"Fine, mommy!" He was grinning widely, letting his mom go. "I'll have to go tomorrow as well to tell you about my teachers. We're going to the beach today, is that okay?"

"Of course, dear. Axel, how are you?" Axel and her hugged.

"I'm fine as well, Mrs. " She smiled, and her eyes placed themselves on Roxas.

"Hello! Who are you?" The blonde smiled.

"My name is Roxas." He was pulled into a hug. Demyx escaped to his room to change and grab a couple of things. The woman smiled.

"I'm going to extend the same sentiment that I do each time I meet one of Dem dem's friends." Her smiled widened to a grin. "If you ever have any problems with anything and need a place to stay, just come on over here." Roxas nodded, and fiddled with his black and white checkered swim trunks.

"Thank you." He smiled at her. Demyx ran down the stairs, a pair of light blue swim trunks replaced his jeans and he was wearing a plain white tee-shirt.

"Did you remember sunscreen?" Demyx nodded, and laughed. "Because you burn so easily." He rolled his eyes a little bit, and kissed his mom again, and the three left.

No one was at Axel's house, so he promptly left them to change. A pure snow colored dog sprinted at the two, jumping on Demyx. She was huge for a dog, probably bigger than a wolf. According to Demyx, she was a Great Pyrenees, and her name was Light. She lived in the large backyard, but she preferred the inside of the house because it was much cooler than outside, which was still in the middle of summer. Axel soon joined them, a pair of fiery swim trunks on and a bright red T-shirt. Demyx rolled his eyes, and they ran outside.

They weren't the first ones at the beach. Riku, Sora, Kairi, and Namine were there already, and the three boys got their stuff out of the car, and joined them. There was a cooler sitting over to the side with an abundance of chips and junk food on the top of it, and probably a variety of sodas inside. Namine was sitting on a bright white towel, a sketch book in her lap and pencils next to her. Roxas glanced at what she was drawing, and shuddered gently. He took off his shirt, and tossed his flip flops off, setting them beside his towel. He looked to the ocean, smiling softly. It seemed to go on forever. Sora was lying on top of Riku, pouting a little bit.

"What's wrong, Sora?" Axel asked, kicking off his flip flops.

"Riku won't let me go swimming until everyone else arrives." Roxas sat on his towel, smiling. "And I really want to go swimming."

"I say we should wait and go as a group." Demyx shed his shirt and shoes and sat down next to Roxas.

"I kind of agree on that." Sora grumbled, and pressed his face into Riku's chest lightly.

Everybody else soon arrived, and Zexion had promptly spread a large umbrella over his towel, and plopped down, opening a good book. Sora leaped up, looking at Riku. He stood and ruffled the brunette's hair. Demyx and Sora immediately took off for the water, white sand flying everywhere from their feet kicking it up. Axel, Roxas, Riku, Kairi, and then Namine slowly walked there, talking about random things. They reached the water, followed by at least fifteen others. The water was delightfully warm, and they slowly walked into it. Nearly no rocks or shells were waiting to trap their feet in pain. Waves were low here—only ankle height—but Demyx and Sora were already waist deep, jumping up and being pushed back by the bigger waves. The others slowly walked towards the two hyper boys, their walking slowed by water and stopping for waves. Finally, they reached the other two, who were peddling themselves around apparently acting like dogs. Sora looked at Axel.

"You should've brought Light!" Sora complained. Axel rolled his eyes. Sometimes he thought people preferred his dog over him.

"You should go get her!" Demyx said happily. 'It's still early in the day." Axel grumbled a little bit before turning around. Namine went with him to keep him company. Plus, she loved Light as much as everyone else did. Everyone saw them drive away, and a couple of people went and stood in Axel's parking spot so that he wouldn't lose it.

They returned a couple of minutes later with the dog barking happily and sticking her head out of the non-existent roof of the Jeep. Everyone evacuated the parking spot with the arrival of Axel, and Light leaped out of the truck. She barked happily and danced a little bit, looking up at her owner as he slowly got out. Namine took a black leather collar and put it around her snow white fur. She immediately took off, and ran into the water.

Demyx immediately wrapped his arms around Light's neck gently. She barked and treaded water. The blond giggled happily. Roxas dove under a wave, his hair immediately deflated. He brushed it out of his eyes. Axel laughed a little bit, his own spikes falling down to his shoulders in normal hair.

They all tired soon, so they got out of the water. They trekked up to the bundle of food, sodas, towels, and people. Roxas grabbed his black and white checkered towel. Sora smiled a little bit, and laughed while Riku dried off his boyfriend's hair.

"You really like checkers, don't you?" Sora asked, eyeing Roxas' swim trunks and flip-slops. Roxas shrugged.

"I guess I do." He laid the towel on the sand once more.

"We should have a bon-fire," Axel said. "When it gets dark, anyways. We still have all that wood left over from last summer." He gave a look to Lexeaus, and the man grunted.

"I didn't know we'd need so little." The man looked like a lumberjack with broad shoulders and chiseled face. He grunted once more, taking a sip of his Sprite. The can seemed miniscule in his large hands. Lexeaus was the school's star Linebacker, and his helmet was absolutely covered with bright yellow stars.

"What time would we have the bonfire?" Roxas asked, wondering if Xemnas would let him stay past his deadline.

"We'd start at 8:00 and stop at about 10:00. We also have hot dogs and stuff to cook over it and we have smores," Axel explained.

"Can I use your phone again?" Axel nodded, and handed Roxas the slide phone. He entered the number on the keypad, and put the phone up to his ear.

Xemnas answered almost immediately. It was one of his short break times during the day when he wasn't overseeing his team of scientists or mechanics. Xemnas was CEO of the largest robotics company in all of the worlds, and his gummi ships delivered all the way to the Pride Lands, not that they had any use for it… still, he delivered to there. Xemnas listened to his son's voice over the phone. Roxas staying out late, when Larxene wasn't? Marluxia was staying late that night, and Roxas was 17….

"Fine. Just… come home at 10:30." He closed the cellular device, giving it a sour look.