Lessons of Love

End of the Beginning

Author: Kittycat_2312

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters from Kingdom Heart.

Rating: T

A/N: Yes, this once was part of Fools In Love, but for some reason the author is making me put this under my own name, do not ask why. It was her birthday though, so I was TRYING to make her happy, I think I succeeded.

Please read Fools In Love!!! This is only a side story for it!!

A.N: ~HELLO EVERYONE!!!! ~ Answering to the reviewers:

SecretAgent99

Yo! Hello XD I know it's a plot twister =.= I hate them so bad myself XD He is 12, young… they are 16.

Mimi-

I updated fast! See? XD I updated those three so fast o.o and get to FIL mims! Follow my example! For your 'superior' –coughs- example!

AswaxSora

I sent it to you! And thank you thank you thank you for the load of corrections o.o I really am terrible at this XD If I sound cynical at the beginning of this comment, ignore it! Love you loads and thank you~ I didn't add a few things, because for one the green squiggly line beneath it wouldn't vanish, and some words needed to be seen, a bit.

Laugh-out-loud94

I love their nicknames to! And thank you XD Final chapter (officially) the rest is under Fools In Love though. When it comes out again.

In the Previous Chapter:

"I don't need you to feel sorry for me. You have no reason to feel sorry for me."

He pauses behind me, and I just stare at his empty seat. Stupid Larsa, making me grow feelings for him, then acting like a knight in shining armor feeling sorry for the damsel in distress.

"I am sorry."

I choke back a sarcastic laugh as I continue to have my back on him.

He gently puts a hand on my shoulder, and I slightly stiffen at his touch. I felt a surge of relief that this was happening in private, I knew what Penelo would do if she ever found out. I hate myself, since if I was reading all the signs correctly; I was in the entrance of hell.

I am falling for Larsa. And Larsa is falling for me too.

"Go out with him!"

"Penelo, I already said no."

"Olette, go out with him!"

"Larsa and I are strictly friends." I take a sip of my hot chocolate from star bucks.

"You basically told me that you like him!"

"But he might not like me."

"Might."

"There is a very high chance that he doesn't."

"What reason would he have not to?" Penelo fires at me.

"He still likes you."

Silence.

"You're not going to finish your Decaf Caramel?" I ask her, staring at her drink, which she has yet to touch.

"Not thirsty."

"If you say so."

Silence.

"I still say you go out with him." Penelo relentlessly pushes, crossing her arms together.

I sigh in annoyance, "I will not go out with Larsa. Aren't you the least bit angry that he moved from you so fast?"

"No!" She snapped, contradicting herself, "Anyway, give me one good reason why you won't! Aside from: he 'might' not like you?"

"I have a boyfriend." I remind her, before adding, "And if you're jealous, you should at least remind him that you're alive. I'm sure that's what's running through your head."

"So? Tell him your trying something new." She answers the beginning, completely ignoring the end.

"How is this new? And don't ignore what I am saying! You might not be jealous, but you're definitely annoyed, am I wrong?"

She scowls at my answer, throwing me death glares across our small table, "Have you been on an official date with your boyfriend?"

It is my turn to be silent. Darn her.

"Exactly! So tell him your practicing on Larsa!"

"I'd feel like I'm using him though…"

"And?"

"That's wrong, Penelo." I sigh, taking another sip of my already nearly empty drink.

"But if he does ask you out, are you seriously going to turn him down?"

"I don't have a reason not to turn him down."

"If you turn him down, do you realize how crushed he would be? He's still recovering from me turning him down, but how much more crushed will he be if you turn him down to? In the same week, even less than two days apart?"

"Then you say you've changed your mind. Problem solved."

"But I haven't!"

"So why should I? Honestly Penelo tell me this: you want me to use him, correct?"

"Yes."

"You want me to go on a date with him, correct?"

"Obviously."

"You want me to lie to myself and betray Hayner, my boyfriend, correct?"

"Yes."

"And your best argument against me is that if I turn him down he will be crushed from us both turning him down?"

"Exactly!" Penelo exclaims, believing I just got the point.

"But!" I interrupt her happiness.

She pouts but remains silent.

"But you are saying, that you won't go out with him, right?"

"Yes."

"Do you have a boyfriend?"

"…. No."

"You wouldn't feel like your betraying someone, aside from yourself maybe, if you went out with him?

"…. I guess not."

"And he asked you out, correct?"

"That was yesterday!"

"He asked you out, correct?" I curtly question her.

"Yes…" she grumbles to herself.

"And, honestly, out of us both, who do you think he likes more?"

"…"

"Exactly." I finish my hot chocolate with a final sip.

"Still." She starts, "In time, he will like you more! It's just the start… he will see that he likes you more than he can ever like me."

I walk up to the counter and hand the cup to the boy behind it. He smiles appreciatively at me. Penelo continues to stare at my now empty chair.

"Olette… if you think about it he obviously likes you more than he ever liked me!"

"How so?"

"See how quickly he is falling for you?"

"Nothing is confirmed."

"But you see how quickly?"

"I admit it's reasonably fast…"

"Not reasonably fast. Just fast." She says as if it's a point that could describe the future of the world.

"I'm not going to say yes."

"Olette!"

"I love someone else. I'd be hurting three people here, Larsa, Hayner and myself."

"But still!"

"'But still' what? Are you going to use the 'I turned him down and you're going to now to?' excuse on me? It won't work, I will only hurt him more if I say yes."

"Dump Hayner then!"

"I love Hayner, more than I can ever care for Larsa. So the answer is no."

"Olette! Think of what you're throwing away here!" she tries to coax me.

"If I said yes, I'd throw away my self respect."

"But -"

"Since when did you command people to do as you bid?"

Looking behind Penelo's now white face, I give a small greeting with an acknowledging nod of my head.

"Good Afternoon Ashe-senpai, Rasler-senpai."

"Olette, it is good to see you well." Ashe replies calmly. Rasler just smiles warmly from behind her.

"You to, Ashe-senpai." I politely smile and venture.

"Now Penelo, what is this about forcing Olette into a love life you want her to lead?"

"Ashe, Larsa is in love with Olette! And she's not giving him a chance!"

"I should say the same for you." I bite back, "You broke his heart when he confessed he loves you, and just because I told you I think I am falling for him, you immediately assume that the likes me to?"

"Olette is winning." Rasler calls out from behind.

"Shut up!" Penelo calls back, frustration building under her outer exterior.

"Drink your drink."

"I'm not thirsty."

"I said drink your drink, Penelo." Ashe scolds her, taking a seat as Rasler sat opposite her.

Obediently, Penelo forces the straw into her mouth and starts to drink her drink with a bitter face.

"Rasler have you heard that the principle is planning to close the school for a month?"

"Why?" He asks curiously.

"One of his spontaneous decisions again."

"That's the third this year isn't it?"

"I believe so."

"When will this break be?" Rasler questions.

"I believe it starts next week… if he gets the whole council to agree that is."

"Do you think they'd turn him down?" He says with a grin.

"Like anyone can."

"Too true." He smiles.

"There's no school next week?" Penelo demands, spluttering her drink around in a rush.

Her only response was a cold glare from Ashe.

Pursing her lips, Penelo gets a tissue and starts to wipe the table from her splattered drink.

"That is correct." Ashe says coldly.

"Yes! We can go to Destiny Island together Olette!"

"I'm leaving this Saturday…"

"And I shall follow you! I heard from Naminé that she is going there too with all her other friends!"

"There was some talk of that…" I recall an email from Pence and Hayner a few days back.

"Think how fun that will be!" She exclaims happily, "It would be better if Larsa went! He can have a showdown with your boyfriend and compete over you!" Her head was already in a different continent at this point.

"I know the winner hands down." I murmur, resting my head on my wrist.

"At brains?" She challenges.

"At sports." I counter her.

"He isn't smart?" Penelo triumphantly smiles.

"He's higher than average, when he wants to be. He enjoys sports more. If you add those together, does that not beat him?" I ask.

She pouts once more and slurps her drink; finishing it, "Remind me never to order this again." She tells me.

"I did, but you ignored me and bought it anyway." I smile at the memory.

She grins back enthusiastically, while Ashe and Rasler just bite their lips and look away.

"This is your last week in school, Olette?" Ashe asks me.

"Yes, my parents believe it was a mistake to send me here in the first place." I casually reply.

"Your credentials won't look as good as they are suppose to then." She warns me.

"I know, but my dad and mom have their minds made up."

"It will look like you were expelled."

"I know." I sweetly smile, but they didn't know the whole story, so it was fine.

"Remember the day we first met Ashe? We were discussing the art of school and the art of transferring back and forth between schools." Rasler says.

"Your parents cannot stay still."

"I know they can't." He whispers, they both smile at their own memories.

"Are you two dating?" I blurt out, my curiosity getting the better of me.

They both stare at me.

"What makes you say that?" They ask with their eyebrows raised, at the same time.

"You're arguing…. Like a couple…." I inform them.

"We argue like friends." Ashe says.

"Friends with benefits." I add.

"Friends more than romantic interest."

"Rasler has two girlfriends every 3 months." Ashe tells me. My eyes widen unintentionally, "He's dated at least half of the female population in school I should think."

"I am not a playboy." He mutters.

"I never said you were."

"You implied."

"You read my implications wrong."

"I never read you wrong!"

"You clearly proved that wrong."

"Ashe, are you jealous?" He teases raising an eyebrow at her.

"Why would I be jealous?" She snorts, "You are a male juvenile who knows nothing better to do with his life than to date his way through school."

"Olette, does that not sound like she's accusing me as a playboy?"

They both stare at me, demanding I join their side.

"Umm, it can be interpreted in either sense." I stay neutral.

"But wouldn't you say she was leaning towards calling me a playboy?"

"I was merely stating that you have a wide variety of interest in girls. That has nothing to do with me accusing you to be a 'playboy'."

"She said it!"

"Only because there is no other word for playboy aside from the words beginning with either S or W." she leans back into her seat, daring him to challenge her.

"Those words are?" He takes the bait.

"Both terms that are in a sense… used mainly for girls I should think. Unless you still want me to say it." Ashe states confidently with a small smirk.

"I rest my case." I say as I stand up and pack my stuff, Penelo following my suit.

"Are you accusing me of sleeping with those girls?" Rasler demands.

"You see why I chose playboy? It makes the term sound nicer."

"Let's go." Penelo grabs my hand before we need to hear more of their argument.

When we were out the door, I turn to Penelo, "Are they always like this?"

"Sometimes they're worse."

"How can it get worse than that?"

She raises an eyebrow, "Do you really want to know?"

"…."

"Thought so."

XxXxXxXxXxX

Wednesday

"You haven't seen him yet?" Penelo hisses at me.

"Good morning Penelo, it feels like years since I last saw you." I mutter as I sit down in my seat.

"You haven't seen him yet?" She repeats.

"And to think, we only saw each other yesterday, it feels like days." I mock her.

"Olette! You haven't seen him yet?"

Sighing, I look at her: "No." I get back to getting my stuff out.

"How could you not have seen him yet?"

"Easy. He lives no where near me, and he's always one of the last to arrive in the classroom."

She glares at my simple reply.

"Do you have something you want to say?" I ask her as I close my bag.

"Here he comes!"

"Why are you so excited?" I ask her.

"Because… Nothing."

I raise an eyebrow but don't press her for information.

"Good Morning Penelo, Olette." He gives us a nod of acknowledgment. Penelo is practically preening with joy. You'd think she fell in love with him from that brief attention on his side.

"Good Morning." I reply. Penelo is still bursting with happiness. Her mood swings were… strange.

"Is something the matter with Penelo?" He whispers into my ear, causing Penelo's grin to stretch to an all time high.

So that's what she was planning.

"As far as I know, she's at the happiest as she can be." I mutter, my disapproval clear for her ears and his.

He tightens his eyebrows together, but walks away. Penelo just throws me a gleeful look.

"I know what you're planning." I hiss at her, leaning forward against my desk.

"I don't know what you're talking about." She angelically smiles at me.

I glare at her knowingly, but like I always do now, I say nothing.

"Larsa! What are you doing next week?"

I throw her a withering glance.

"Destiny Island I believe." he raises an eyebrow asking 'why-do-you-want-to-know?'

"Is that so…" Penelo's grin turns devious and untrustworthy, like the Chester cat in Alice in Wonderland.

"May I inquire why you seek to know this?"

"Oh… nothing… Hey, did you know Olette was going there next week to?" She throws a suggestive look at me, making sure he can't see it.

I stare at her in utter horror.

"You are, Lady Perfectionist?" He teasingly asks me, a small glittering trace of amusement deep in his eyes.

Penelo looks at us both, trying to understand why he said the last part, her smile completely gone, as she doesn't know what we are talking about. She tries to get me to tell her with occasional glances, like I am going to give her the benefit of feeling at ease again.

"Yes, I am." I politely reply, trying to show indifference. Still making Penelo suffer.

" 'Lady Perfectionists?' " She asks for herself, not bothering to ask for my help anymore.

"Yes. For it is what she is." He curtly replies to her. I feel like I am the only one that can see how much effort he puts into being able to talk to here again, "And where do you plan to go next week?"

Her grin breaks out again as she knows what we are talking about, and the chance to tell him, "I will see you both at the airport I should think!"

Larsa hides his shock well and masterly; there was only a bit of it showing, and for less than a second, "Is that so."

"It is."

XxXxXxXxXxX

Thursday

"Stop it!"

"Stop what?"

"I said stop it! Okay?"

"Olette, what are you talking about?"

"Stop trying to push Larsa and I together!" I hiss at her.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Don't act innocent with me Penelo!"

"Why are you so angry that I am trying to push you two together?" She asks me, stopping in her tracks in the middle of the hallway.

"Because I'm confused now!" I whine, wanting to lash out at her.

"Because you love Larsa?"

"I love Hayner too!" I moan, I love them both, and I don't know what to do.

"Choose."

"What?" I hiss at her, clutching my head.

"Chose: Hayner or Larsa."

"Hayner." I mechanically say, like a robot doing as programmed to do.

"Then I don't see the problem." Penelo smiles and walks down the hall once more, leaving me alone there.

"But Penelo…" I whisper to no one, my heart surging in my chest, threatening to slice in half.

So this is how Bella felt when Edward and Jacob fought. When she said the two sides of her refused to go together. Edwards Bella, and Jacobs Bella. Hayner's Olette and Larsa's Olette. I couldn't push the two of them back together anymore.

Not unless I want to hurt everyone I love.

XxXxXxXxXxX

Friday

It didn't get better.

Every day I spent with him.

Every hour.

Every minute.

Every second.

Every moment.

There was always something more to like in Larsa.

He is smart.

He is funny.

He has an ironic sense of humor.

He knows how to make me laugh.

He is natural and doesn't act like something he's not.

He challenges me mentally.

And it is becoming increasingly difficult to find a fault in him! If you go past his cold exterior, he is actually really nice and kind. Warm almost. He grows on me like a mold grows on a rock. A really disgusting comparison sure, but it was true. It was a slow process that happens over time and takes patience to remove, if you want to remove it.

I was falling in love with him. Slowly, but surely, I am. And the guilt is unbearable.

Whenever I see Larsa and smile, I get an image of Hayner flashing through my mind and my body freezes, to the point where I'm going without oxygen and into the anaerobic zone. That cost me later.

Penelo didn't help; she did everything to make it worse though. Throwing us together every chance she got. If Ashe-senpai was there, she might have been able to help, but the last thing I want to do is to bother her is with my problems. Especially when I don't know her so well. I thought to ask Rasler for help, but then I figure he would tell Ashe and she'd be angry with me for not telling her directly.

I thought of emailing someone back in Twilight High for advice, using a 'friend' as me. But they weren't stupid. They'd know that it is I, and tell Hayner, who would be hurt.

I had no one to turn to for this, no one but myself. This is how Bella felt, like with her two heart pieces of Edward's Bella and Jacob's Bella.

Strange. Till now, I waited for my romantic drama to come, hoping and praying for it every night. Imagining it to be like Twilight or Jane Austen or something. When it didn't come that day, I would pray harder. Yet….

Yet now that it's here, I only want it to go away. I want a normal life. I don't want the drama. I want to be Olette. Olette with no drama, with one boy, with one romance, no one gets hurt, no dramatic nothing.

I should have heeded what everyone said: Be careful what you wish for.

I just never realized it could come true.

XxXxXxXxXxX

Finally! Finally I could see him again! It's been two months since I've seen nothing but a photo of him, and now I will see him in person again!

Hayner, Pence, Naminé, and Sora. All people I consider in some sense my friend! Although Naminé and Sora aren't as close as the first two, they are friends nonetheless.

And when I see Hayner and Larsa next to each other once more, I will know whose right for me and will never have this stupid argument in my head! I can be with Hayner forever without guilt. Larsa will see I am taken and move on to love someone who will love him back. The world is coming to my side. Thank god for that.

Penelo is leaving tomorrow, much to her dismay and my relief. And thanks to some sort of source, though I on the other hand am furious at it, Larsa is leaving the day after her.

A day free of Penelo and her suggestive remarks and analytical gaze. And two days away from my confusion over whether I love Hayner or Larsa more. Although I am positive that it is Hayner.

I'm on my way to the airport, already saying my 'tearful' goodbye to my parents, with my uncle. He is humming to himself some tune I don't know. But I don't even notice it. All I notice is the fact that in a few days I will be reunited with Hayner. It is a complete surprise, since he has absolutely no idea I'm going there.

My day is a lot better.

It can only get better.

Soon, everything will be as it should be.

Hayner and I can have our happily ever after.