Kingdom Hearts Fan Fiction ❯ PS15 ❯ Chapter 1 ( Chapter 1 )

Birds twittered a taunting tune from outside the window as an old man dressed in gray droned on about logic with such monotony the words blurred together and the speech began to form an irritating buzz. Sora could feel his brain melt and dribble out of his ears. Soon all sense of time and place was forgotten. Was it Tuesday or Wednesday? Fourth period or ninth? Was he still in school or walking home? He was too emotionally numb from the lecture to coordinate his thoughts.

Two seats ahead, a kid sat with a zoned out look on his face, slowly inserting an index finger up his right nostril. The bored child watched that with mild interest as all sorts of nasty things were deposited into the nose-picker's mouth.

It was also incredibly hot, as it was on most days on Destiny Islands. And there was obviously no air conditioning in the cheap public school Sora was accepted into after failing all of his tests to the private high schools. All of his middle school friends had ditched him for education that didn't make time go backwards.

Kairi and Riku were together at Norton Academy, the elite school. It had classes in a multitude of areas: philosophy, ballet, basketball, calculus, painting, you name it. Of course, due to it's high level courses, the test to get in was the most torturous, mind-blowing, soul-eating test out of all of the acceptance exams. Sora had given up after he once again forgot what his last name was and became too stressed out to continue.

Wakka and Tidus attended Blitzball High, which, just as the name alludes to it, had anything and everything to do with blitzball. They claimed all the classes would relate back to blitzball. Math, for how to calculate speeds and distances depending on certain angles. Social studies, for how the game originated and who were some legendary players. All in all, it was a pretty cool school. Plus, all the female teachers walked around in bikini tops and short shorts, which made Sora's failure at the entrance exam all the more devastating. He had given up before he even got the chance to walk to the field, scared off by one student who walked off covered in blood and tears. “This is pretty rare,” the teacher assisting him reasoned, attempting to comfort the anxious boy, but Sora was very squeamish and did not like the look of the blitzball-shaped bruises on the wounded student.

Even Selphie was accepted into North Coast. The school was originally named after some man who built some sort of bridge, but people had long since forgotten about him and no one at the school could tell you his name, if you had the motivation to ask around. Sora might have been able to get in to that school, but by the time the entrance exams rolled around, he was too heartbroken from his previous failures to walk right into another one.

PS15 was the school Sora had managed to fall into. It stood for Public School 15. Their school colors were no where to be found. Everything was gray. PS1 to PS14 were all elementary and middle schools. PS15 was the only high school in the PS series because usually everyone had graduated into successful schools. But not Sora.

The people here are so stupid, he would complain to himself, even though he scored no higher than the girl who brought her pillow to class, whining about how the hard desk disturbed her dreams. Because that was just how it was at PS15. Everyone who actually bothered showing up after homeroom eventually got into the habit of skipping lunch. That period turned into a competition of who could step on the most cockroaches, but Sora refused to participate, considering the prize was smooshed bug stuck on your shoe for the rest of the day. Because that was just how it was at PS15. No one smiled anymore either. Even in the positivity club after school everyone seemed pessimistic. The mural club painted the walls different shades of grays, waiting until they dried, and then painting them over with the first shade. Earth keepers littered, the members of the writing club were illiterate, and everyone played checkers in chess club. Because that was just how it was at PS15. Oh, memories.

The worst part was that Sora could never weasel himself inside his friends' busy schedules. And whenever his constant pestering rewarded him with a group trip to the beach, no one payed any attention to him. They all talked about their wonderful classes and teachers and new friends and new experiences until their tongues felt sore. Riku had some science teacher he really liked? Wakka liked some chick named Lucy? Selphie had managed to form a jump roping club? Then they'd all get some sea-salt ice cream, despite Sora's endeavor to get them to notice he preferred vanilla, sea-salt tasted like sand to him, and watch the sunset, hushing Sora when he spoke, desperate for a good conversation.

It was hard to make friends at PS15. No one looked particularly friendly. Sora mostly stuck to the older kids, and there were old kids. Mainly Cloud and Leon, who looked well into their thirties to the boy, although they insisted their years went no further than twenty. Aerith could be excused, seeing as she was the school nurse. She was Sora's favorite person at the school, kind, sweet, and gentle, reminding him of his kindergarten teacher. Yuffie was the only student Sora had taken too. She was energetic and fun, similar to his own personality, and they could have a blast together. She liked sports and board games and art and music and anything at all as long as she was doing something.

There were other kids as well, but none of them were as entertaining. There was always that girl with the pillow—shed declare she had designed the thing herself—and that guy with the long red hair who wasn't allowed near matches, and that emo kid who didn't have right haircut, but still looked mopey all the time and dressed in black.

Sora had only spent three months in the hellhole and he already felt like suicide was the best option. He, himself was forced to watch his spirit drain out of his body. Each day he looked in the mirror, his eyes were a little bit duller, his face a little bit more sullen, his shoulders slumped a little bit more forwards than the previous day. The school had, with little to no effort, ripped out his heart and happiness, while now all Sora had to do was wait until the day his body crumbled into dust. Maybe I'll become part of the sand, he would think to himself as he stared at the boy in the mirror, and then people other than my old friends will get the chance to walk all over me. The boy in the mirror stared back with a blank look, absolutely emotionless. He used to smile and giggle, Sora remembered, but that seemed like a really long time ago.

It was two weeks ago when he found out about the worst part. Riku and Kairi were going out. Tidus had the decency to call the boy once the information was revealed to everyone but Sora. Sora had a long-time crush on Kairi. He'd write love letters to her and stick them under his bed for the day he'd finally be able to give her one. They dated as far back as the first grade, where half the words were spelled incorrectly and the the other half were illegible. Sora really wasn't as stupid as his classmates in PS15 were though, and knew the day would come after watching the two dance around each other for years. Naturally, he was expecting his reaction to be a bit less emotional than what it might have been if he didn't face the truth. He ended up surprising himself with his lack of feelings.

“Oh,” he had replied to the supposedly astonishing attestation. And that was how he truly felt. It was at that point he realized how disconnected he was from his friends. It didn't even feel like his crush was being taken away from him by his best friend, it felt like he had been flipping channels on the TV and found a couple making out in some random movie. Something wasn't right with involving himself in those people's lives. It was as if his friends were the program and he was the observer.

His heart felt empty after that revelation, so he sulked around at the chess club that day. They had moved pass checkers, it turned out, and had decided Connect Four was more interesting. The boy ended up spacing off too much and lost four out of five games, that last of which he played against himself.

“Life sucks!” he snapped at emo-boy, who solemnly nodded in agreement.

That night he punched his mirror into a million glass shards, upset with the boy inside it. Why'd he have to stop laughing? If he had just been happier a bit longer, then maybe, maybe, life wouldn't be this bad.

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Hey guys. This is my first KH fic in a while. I know Sora's being emo, but give him some time and he'll get better. And if you do want him to get better you'll have to review. I want at least one. There will be SoraxRiku, but that obviously isn't possible right now, so you'll have to bear with them for the moment.