#long text post is long #this if the first half of the chapter. #read the second half through the link! :)
Indelibility
Chapter One, part one.
Enjoy the full chapter here
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I groaned when I saw my schedule.
Sora looked up from his own, a smile on his face. “What’s wrong with you?” he asked. “Don’t like your schedule?”
I fixed him with an irritated stare, but his cheerfulness didn’t falter. “No,” I replied, as blunt as I could be.
He rolled his eyes and took the paper from me. I laid my head in my hands and sighed. “All Advanced classes,” he commented. “Very nice, Rox.”
“This is going to be hell,” I groaned.
“The price of your brains,” he shrugged. “That’s why I’m a healthy amount of stupid.”
I looked back up at him, a grin attempting to sneak it’s way past my annoyed demeanor. “Sora, you aren’t stupid.”
Sora isn’t the brightest crayon in the box, but in no way is he stupid. Occasionally he is socially challenged, but I think that’s because he’s too nice. Which is not to say he isn’t liked. Everybody loves Sora. He draws people in. He isn’t like me, even if we are twins – we’re not identical. He tends to see the best in people, even if they can’t see it themselves, while I assume the worst. He rarely frowns, and I don’t think he can stay upset or sad for more than two hours – and that’s pushing it. I love my brother, I really do. He’s almost my best friend because he’s one of the only people on Earth that can stand my pessimism and eternal bad mood.
“I know,” he said, holding the vowel sound out longer than necessary. “That’s why I said, ‘healthy amount.’ So that way I don’t get stuck in the Advanced classes.”
“In other words, you don’t try.” I pointed out.
“Exactly,” he agreed, looking back down at my schedule, a smile breaking across his face. “Um, Roxas, why are you in the theatre class?”
That reminded me why I was so upset in the first place. “They stuck me in there!” I exclaimed, throwing my hands in the air. “I’m basically being punished for working so hard on my final project in Environmental Science that I didn’t remember to turn in the form for what electives I wanted. Why is that fair?”
Sora smirked. “I told you to turn it in,” he reminded me, pointing a finger in my direction.
“I didn’t remember!” I retorted.
“You didn’t even need to work that hard on it,” he told me. “It was just an Environmental project.”
“I wanted to get into Advanced, Sora,” I pointed my own finger at him.
The brunette just smiled at me and threw my schedule back at me. “Then stop complaining,” he replied. “You did get into Advanced. Besides,” he nudged me and grinned. “I’ll be in that class with you!”
“That doesn’t cheer me up for some reason,” I blinked, my lips turning down.
He stuck his tongue out at me. “You love it. And you’ll have a ton of classes with Kairi! She’s just like you with the, ‘I want to do well in school’ crap.” He made quotation signs with his fingers. “I’m going to be all alone in my normal people classes.” He huffed. “Why are all my friends smarter than me? You’re in Advanced, Kairi’sin Advanced, Riku’s in Advanced… but he’s a senior so that doesn’t count… But still.”
Riku is one of those guys in school that never, ever has to try. He is just naturally brilliant. All the teachers love him and his smarts but hate his work ethic. He constantly tries to tutor Sora and always helps Kairi if she asks. Sora never lets me tutor him because I have no patience and I usually end up hurting his feelings when he doesn’t understand something. Riku has this never-ending patience with his two best friends – and only with those two. However, people at school adore him. Girls fawn over him, though he takes no notice. Guys wish they could be him, which is completely understandable because I’ve never seen something that Riku can’t do. I think he only tolerates me because I am Sora’s brother and Kairi’s friend. Needless to say, Riku and I aren’t the best of friends, if we can even be considered friends at all. He even challenges my pessimism. I don’t think he likes me much, but the feeling is reciprocated. Luckily I’m not socially deprived enough to not have other friends.
And Kairi is just this naturally likable person, which is one of the reasons she and Sora are best friends, and she’s probably the only reason that Riku is still sane. She’s the balance between Sora and Riku. She isn’t as overly cheerful and optimistic as my twin, but isn’t even close to being as moody as Riku. I don’t know anyone that hates Kairi, unless they are utterly jealous of her – though I don’t think those people can say they hate her. Everyone loves Kairi, and she isn’t even a bitch about it. And when it comes to school, she’s top in our class – while I’m in second. She works hard, and has some natural smarts to back it up, though not like the natural genius Riku possesses.
Sora, Riku, and Kairi are the dream team at school. They’ve been best friends since Sora and I moved to Twilight Town when we were four. The three of them just work. They work better than any of the other friend groups in Twilight Town. It’s as if their friendship is God’s masterpiece. I seriously wonder if He created those three solely so they could be best friends.
“Sora,” I stated, earning his attention. “You could be in Advanced if you wanted to be. So you stop complaining.”
He made a face. “Well still.”
“Have you heard from Kairi or Riku about their schedules?” I asked.
Sora shook his head. “No, but we’re probably going to dinner – oh!” He interrupted himself. “Do you want to come?”
“No,” I declined. “I think Hayner said something about going out with Pence and Olette tonight.”
Hayner, Pence, and Olette were three of my good friends. We hung out from time to time, though the three of them are probably better friends but I am included, and happily call them my friends in return. They went to a different elementary school than Sora and I went to, so we didn’t meet until freshmen year. The three had been friends for a long time before I came into the picture – almost as long as Sora, Riku, and Kairi. They never exclude me or ever give me the impression they like me any less, I just don’t feel as connected to them as they seem connected to each other.
“Speaking of,” Sora said, his voice dropping to a whisper. “What’s going on with Hayner and Olette?”
I looked at him blankly. “Why are you whispering?”
One thing about Sora? He’s a rabid gossip.
He huffed in frustration. “What’s going on with Hayner and Olette?” He said at his normal volume.
I shrugged. “I didn’t know there was anything going on to begin with.”
“That’s a lie,” He accused, pointing a finger at me dramatically. “You, Hayner, Pence, and Olette are like… best friends!”
I rolled my eyes. “Sora, what is supposedly going on? You know I don’t keep up with that stuff.”
“Their your friends, though. Why don’t you keep up with your friends’ love lives?” He paused. “Do you keep up with my love life?”
“No,” I answered shortly.
Sora stuck his lips out in a pout. “Well thanks.” He crossed his arms and muttered, “I keep up with Riku and Kairi’s love business, and I’d keep up with yours if you had any…”
“Jesus, Sora! Would you just tell me?” I threw my hands up.
“Okay!” He leaned forward and grasped my arm. “The word is that Hayner and Olette are secretly dating!”
I lifted my eyebrows, waiting for him to continue. “And…?”
“And that’s it!” He leaned back, beaming. “So is it true?”
“If I knew, then it wouldn’t be a secret, Sora.”
“Is that a yes?”
“That’s a ‘I don’t know.’” I said pointedly.
“You’re no help.” He pouted again.
I stood up and shook my head, making my way to the kitchen. “You’re impossible.”
Sora hesitated and then stood to follow. “Have you talked to Naminé about her schedule yet?”
Naminé is my best friend. She is like the Riku and Kairi to my life. She keeps me balanced. We have been best friends for as long as my brother has been best friends with Riku and Kairi. She doesn’t balance me out like Sora – she isn’t hyper enough. Naminé is calm and collected, not headache-inducing like my lovable twin. She keeps me sane and will listen to me when the world decides it wants to hate me, unlike Sora, who just reminds me the world “doesn’t hate me because it has no feelings.”
Anyway, my brother is completely in love with her. And I know it, even though he won’t tell me outright. I always thought that he would end up with Kairi… or Riku for that matter… or both, because that’s just how close those three are. Which is probably why he thinks I’ll end up with Naminé because we’re just as close as the three of them. But I see Naminé the same way he sees Kairi. She’s my best friend – basically my sister.
This is not to say I’m keeping up with my twin’s love life. I don’t obsess over other people and their feelings like Sora does. It’s just pure observation.
I sent him a knowing smirk, which he didn’t see. “Not yet,” I told him. “I’ll probably invite her to hang out with me, Hayner, Pence, and Olette though. I’ll ask her.”
“She’s not in Advanced too, is she?” he asked abruptly. “Because then that would really be all of my friends.”
“I don’t know, Sora.” I replied, looking in the food pantry. “I haven’t talked to her yet. But she’s probably taking some. She doesn’t care much about the Advanced courses though. You know her and her art.”
Naminé is a wonderful artist. I swear, she’s going to win awards and shit one day.
Sora nodded. “True,” he acknowledged. “And I’ll always have Hayner and Pence to keep me company. Because Olette is in Advanced too… probably.”
I smiled lightly and went to open a cabinet. “Probably.” Olette was a stickler about school. She was third in our class. It gave me great satisfaction to be beating her because she was even more uptight about schoolwork than I was. It drove her crazy, and it was always entertaining to watch Hayner and Pence tease her about it.
“At least two of my friends are stupid with me!” he said cheerfully.
I abandoned the cabinet opened the refrigerator. “You’ve got Tidus, Wakka, and Selphie too.” Another trio at school, though hardly an unbreakable one. They are best friends, but Selphie is friendly with everyone and enjoys interjecting herself into others’ circles, Wakka is the quarterback and spends lots of time with the jocks, and Tidus is similar to this, though he doesn’t play the big sports like football; he mostly plays Blitz ball and a few others. I don’t really keep up with sports.
I don’t know what it was about threes in my town, but it is full of them.
“And don’t forget about Seifer and his posse,” I reminded him.
Sora made a face. I think the only people in the world Sora hates are Seifer, Fuu, and Rai. It goes without saying that those three are awful, and yet somehow they almost own the school. “Yeah… that doesn’t help, Roxas.” He replied sourly, though instantly cheered up and saw the bright side. “But Tidus, Wakka, Selphie, and I will have loads of fun!”
I shook my head and then realized I was still standing with my head in the fridge. I closed it and sighed. “Why don’t we have any good food?” I asked.
“Story of my life,” Sora laid his upper body on the island counter dramatically. “Any time I’m hungry, there’s never anything I want. Why is the world so cruel to me?”
This is when Sora’s phone went off in the living room. He made a noise resembling a squeak and dashed into the other room to retrieve his phone. “Kairi sent me her schedule!” he called to me.
I trudged back into the room to join him. “And?”
“All Advanced of course,” he replied, his eyes glued to the screen. “AND SHE’S IN THEATRE WITH US!”
I flopped onto the couch as he jumped up and down in excitement, holding the phone to his ear. “Kairi!” he cried happily into the phone. “We’ve got theatre together!”
I picked up my phone from the coffee table. There was a message from Naminé about her schedule. We only had Advanced English III together. I sent her a message back telling her this and asked if she wanted to join Hayner, Pence, Olette, and I.
“…with Riku?” Sora was asking Kairi. He paused for her response. “I’m coming right now—” She cut him off and he waited for her. “Oh okay! I’ll see you in a few minutes then!”
My phone buzzed twice. Hayner texted me and told me to meet him at his house. Naminé replied, accepting my invite. I told her to meet at Hayner’s house and stood up to go get my shoes. “I’m headed out,” I told Sora.
He nodded. “Riku and Kairi are headed over right now,” he said. “And Riku doesn’t have any classes with me or Kairi.” He pouted and then made a face. “But he did get stuck with the same theatre teacher as us because he’s taking the film class. Why is Riku taking a film class?”
“Why are you taking a theatre class?” I countered, slipping my shoes on.
“Because I like it!” he retorted.
“Well Riku probably likes film!” I said, fixing him with a look while I threw my jacket and scarf on.
“You’re taking a theatre class and you don’t like theatre!” Sora pointed out.
I shrugged, wrapping the scarf around my neck. “Think about it though,” I replied. “Film kind of suits him.”
Sora made a face. “I dunno… I guess… maybe,” he allowed.
“Okay,” I let my arms drop to my sides. “I’m off.” I headed for the door, grabbing my skateboard from the closest under the stairs.
“Bye!” Sora called after me, settling himself on the couch and snatching the remote. “Leave the door unlocked for Riku and Kairi, I don’t want to get up!”
I waved in compliance, though he couldn’t see me. I dropped the skateboard behind me as I turned to close the door, leaving it unlocked like Sora asked. I stepped on the board and hopped off the porch to head in the direction of Hayner’s house. Riku and Kairi were driving down the street in Riku’s car about to turn into my driveway. I waved politely and Kairi waved back with a smile, and Riku gave me a half-nod.
I continued down the sidewalk, prepared to enjoy the remaining week of my winter break.
