Keep It Real.

It was the same old dream, the same one I have been experiencing night after night. One where I was falling into an ocean, a spot about a mile away from the shore of an island that waves splashed onto. It felt familiar, like I had seen this place before. Deja Vu, as some would call it.

I would start falling backwards, like I lost my balance on a pole, right into the ocean. As I began to fall-

"SORA!"

I groaned and open up my blue eyes slowly, squinting against the bright light seeping through my blinds. When was I ever going to be able to finish this dream?

"Hurry up! Kairi and Riku are here!"

Not in this millennia, apparently.

My eyes shot up as I scrambled out of bed. Crap. I was late. Again. 'I shouldn't have stayed up so late!' I thought, as I ran around my room, slipping out of my clothes from yesterday into fresher clothes. A pair of dark red shorts and a black and white shirt. That'll work.

I grabbed a crown chain and matching necklace off of my desk, attaching the chain to my belt loops and dropping the necklace into my pocket, then grabbing my bag, and flinging its one strap awkwardly onto my shoulder. I grabbed a pair of heel socks, then shot out of my room and right into the angry face of Mom. Great.

"Sora! What have I told you about staying up so late on school nights?!" she fussed, her dark brown hair falling into her face. She had her hands on her hips, an apron donned over her work clothing. You could tell I got my hair from her.

"I know, Mom. I won't do it again." I apologized quickly, trying to shoot past her by jumping onto the banister of the stairs. She grabbed hold of the collar of my shirt and pulled me back in front of her.

"I'm getting worried about you.." she said quickly, ruffling my already messy brown hair. A saddened look filled her dark eyes. I remained silent, not knowing what to say. "Whelp, go to school!" she perked up and stepped aside to let me pass.

I nodded and ran down the stairs so fast that I thought I wasn't going to be able to stop. I skidded on the wooden floor, grabbing my brightly colored shoes and dashing out the kitchen door.

I stepped out, instantly falling to the doorstep and started pulling on my socks. I looked up, seeing Riku and Kairi standing out on the sidewalk. Kairi held a hand to her face, more than likely hiding a grin as Riku stood beside her, his arms crossed over his chest, his messenger bag sitting on the ground next the Kairi's.

"Come on, Sora." Riku commented, stooping down to pick up his bag, his silver hair falling into his face. "Miss. Sakura'll have a fit if we're late again." I shot him a playful glare, grinning. I pulled on my last shoe then stood, making sure I had everything before walking up to them.

"Oh Riku. You shouldn't be so hard on him." Kairi said quietly, a smile on her face. She grabbed her bag, pulling both straps onto her small shoulders.

"Don't worry Kairi, he isn't." I said as we started off. Lucky for us, school was only a good five to ten minute walk from my house. "And you know that Miss Sakura won't even notice if we are late. She'll be too busy yelling at Andrea again."

I could see Riku rolling his sea green eyes at the mention of Andrea. It wasn't that she was hated or anything, she was just constantly getting into trouble.

"And what makes you think that?" Kairi questioned, an almost serious look on her face. I gave a grin.

"Let's just say it's a hunch." I replied, folding my hands behind my head casually. We walked the rest of the way in silence, succumbed to our own thoughts.

I tapped my fingers lightly against the desk, staring out the window as the tardy bell for the first block class finished ringing. I turned my attention toward the front of the classroom, seeing Miss. Sakura bickering at Andrea. It was quite normal, considering they were siblings and all.

"Andrea, just sit. NOW." Miss Sakura growled, clutching a dry-erase marker as in to harm the girl.

"But Viera-whoops" Andrea covered her mouth quickly and started to fake cough loudly to cover up what she said. "I mean, But Miss Sakura! Is it true?" She pointed to a ring on Viera's hand, all sparkly and such. "Are you really engaged?"

"Andrea." Viera glared at the redheaded girl. "Just. Sit. Down."

Andrea gave the teacher a hurt look then went and took her sit, muttering to herself about getting her later.

"Sora?"

I looked up, seeing Kairi staring at me with her violet eyes, red bangs falling into her face. She sat in the desk in front of me, using the time that Miss Sakura was yelling at Andrea to do so.

"Hm?" I responded, tuning out Miss Sakura's threats to Andrea ("STOP ASKING OR I'M SENDING YOU OUT OF THE ROOM!")

"Is something wrong? You seem more quiet than usual." she looked down at her folded hands that rested in her lap quickly, hiding her face from view.

I blinked for a split second, then gave an internal sigh. There was, all involving the dream I had, and the familiarity I had with it. "Nah, nothing's wrong." I lied.

"He's just being his usual spacey self, that's all" Riku added into the conversation, twirling a pen around with his fingers absentmindly.

Kairi looked up and giggled at Riku's statement as I snapped back with the usual in return "What's that suppose to mean?"

"Exactly what it sounds like." Riku replied coolly, turning his attention to the front of the classroom. I just glared at him for a few seconds, then turned my attention back to Kairi.

She grinned at me, then took leave from the desk and took her original seat on the other side of Riku. I leaned back in my seat, folding my hands casually behind my head. First Block was about over, seeing that Miss. Sakura was staring up at the clock longingly and most of everybody else was getting ready to leave.

I counted down the seconds. 'Two....One.' The bell chimed right on time. I grinned, standing up and grabbing my bag, rushing to the door (as everyone else was). I waved goodbye to Riku, knowing that he was in no hurry today-he had Miss Sakura for his second block class.

"OUT OF MY CLASSROOM, ANDREA!" Miss Sakura pointed to the traffic of her classroom door, and I just shook my head, looking down at my feet. I squeezed through the busy door. I stumbled into the hallway, once again wondering why the hallway was so small.

I settled my bag onto my shoulder awkwardly, and slowly started down the busy hallway toward my next class. After a couple of minutes, I felt someone grab my arm tightly.

"What-Oh Hey Kairi!" I said quickly, blinking. She let go of my arm as she caught up in stride with me. We walked a couple of minutes in silence, turning to go down the same hallway-we both had the next class together. Lucky us.

"And I suppose you're not ready for next block's presentations, are you Sora?" she said as we approached closer to our destination. I gave a loud sigh, knowing perfectly well that our teacher was crazy. Well, as crazy as a Keyboarding Teacher could get.

"Not really." I replied, stuffing my hands into my pockets. I gripped something smooth. My necklace. 'Oh yeah!' I thought, pulling it out and putting it on. I knew I was forgetting to put something on this morning.

I pulled it around my neck quickly, the soft jingling of the crown charm stopping as soon as I clasped it onto my neck. I heard a sigh from Kairi just as something bright flashed out of the corner of my eye as I went to look at her.

She started to say something as I stopped, looking in the direction that the flash had went. Back the way we just came. I wanted to chase after it, to see if something had caused it, but something else told me to stay.

"Sora?"

I looked back at Kairi, her hands placed behind her back as she looked at me curiously a couple of feet ahead of me. "What are you looking at?" she asked, trying to see past my shoulder.

I gave the area one more quick glance, then walked toward her. "Nothing" I shrugged it off, beginning to taking it as just a trick of the light.

"Did you hear anything I said, Sora?" Kairi questioned me further.

"Uhhhh.." I looked down at the ground.

She giggled. "You're never paying attention, are you?" She looked up at me as we entered the classroom, taking our seats in front of the computers on the far side of the classroom. I looked up at the screen, seeing a sign on it. 'DO NOT TURN ON!', it basically screamed in red ink.

I gave the sign a blank look. "Not really." I looked over at Kairi's screen, seeing the same sign.

"I suppose we have a sub today?" she asked, turning around in her seat. I did the same, seeing the answer to her question: Yup.

"Read the signs, Please" an annoyed voice said over the chatter of the class, I peeked over one of the computers, seeing a young man with shoulder length light blue hair standing at the door way, arms crossed.

"If you can not follow that simple direction, I advise you get out. Now." He walked up to the dry-erase board in the front of the class, then turned around to face us. "Any questions?"

Silence.

"Good." he said quite cheerfully. I turned around in my seat, facing the screen once more, knowing exactly what was going to happen. The sub was going to pop in a movie, and we were going to watch it silently. Like always.

"Alright, I'm going to put in this movie that makes no sense at all, but it's all your teacher left for me to give you all to do." the sub said, walking over to the television set and fiddling with the DVD player.

I moved the keyboard over and leaned against the desk, folding my arms and settling my head in them. Nap time.

I felt someone tap me hard in the shoulder. I groaned quietly and opened my blue eyes to see Kairi smiling at me.

"Time to wake up you." she said, standing up and pulling her bag onto her shoulder. "Time to go to Geometry for you."

I squinted my eyes against the bright lightning of the room, and stood, grabbing my bag and following Kairi out of the classroom. "I didn't even hear the bell." I said, shaking my head, trying to wake up.

"Well, I tried to wake you up before the bell rang, but you didn't budge." she answered, looking over her shoulder at me as we stood in the busy hallway. "I thought I was going to have to try to shove you out of your chair to get you up!" She giggled, then gave me a goodbye and a slight wave as she began to head to her next class.

I gave a wave then headed back the way I came before. I got to the classroom pretty quickly, hearing Miss. Sakura's shouts before I even entered the room.

"Will you just drop it, Andrea!?" she yelled, standing behind her desk. Many would think that she was just standing where all teachers stood, but actually, she was keeping a distance from herself and her sister.

"Nope, can't. I'm caught up in knowing, ya know." Andrea replied, winking and backing up a bit as Miss Sakura took a swipe at the girl

"Just sit and get ready for class, will ya?!" she growled angrily, turning her back to the red head and toward the board.

I just shook my head, and took my seat in the back, pulling out my thick Geometry book and my pencil. The tardy bell rang and Miss Sakura started taking her roll, taking revenge on Andrea by skipping her name on the attendance sheet and making it seem she marked the girl down for skipping.

I pulled out some paper, not just for the notes I knew we would have to take, but also for writing a note to Riku.

"Alright! Today we'll be going over Side-Side-Side, Angle-Side-Angle, and Side-Angle-Side." Miss. Sakura started off, opening her teacher book and turning to the board. "I'd better be seeing a certain red head taking notes and not planning on how to get under my skin about the ring I'm wearing."(Andrea quickly dived under her desk and grabbed her bag, pulling out paper and tried looking innocent about her intentions). She wrote three abbreviations on the board: S.S.S, A.S.A, and S.A.S.

Andrea's hand shot up wildly. "Miss Sakura!" she said excitedly. "Question!"

"What Andrea?"

"What about Angle Side Side?" she asked, pulling paper out. I shook my head, and went back to my note. All I had written so far was ‘Hey.’ I scowled, then shoved the paper into my folder, not remembering what I wanted to write to him about. I turned my attention to the board, then to the clock. Almost five minutes until lunch. I cheered silently in my head.

“Well, Andrea.” Miss Sakura turned around and set her marker on her desk. “Angle Side Side has been proved to be not work, and it also spells out a vulgar word that I better not see you write on your paper or I will send you to the main office.”

She picked up the marker from before and turned back to her board, telling us to write down the information she was placing on the board.

The bell rang, and everything she said was lost in the mass confusion to get to lunch.

I sighed, and held my stomach. Why, oh why was it the days I forgot to eat breakfast was the days I had no money to purchase lunch?! I placed my head on the cool table, closing my eyes and tuning out the chatter of the noisy cafeteria.

My thoughts wandered to my dream. Somewhere deep down inside, I was eager to see what happened next in it. Almost like a movie, but it was weird. I felt like I was watching it and had played a part in it before..

“SORA!” A voice whined out my name.

I snapped my head up, coming face to face with Andrea. She gave me a grin. “Hungry?” she asked, pushing her tray of food toward me from across the table.

I blinked at her. “You’re not eating?” I asked, looking down at the tray filled with fries and a slice of pizza. It was a rarity when she wouldn’t eat; She loved food almost as much as she loved to bug her sister.

“Nyah, I’ve got other cookies to burn.” She gave me thumbs up. “And plus, you looked kinda hungry there.” She flaunted off toward the teachers’ table, not giving me a chance to reply with a thanks. I shook my head, and looked out toward one of the huge windows.

It was amazing; this whole area of the school was basically made with glass. I was surprised that it was still in good condition considering all the terrible weather we happened to get.

A yell of annoyance sounded throughout the large room; I snapped my attention toward the sound. My lips twitched into an amused smile. Miss Sakura was standing up, clutching her purse and attempting to climb up onto to the table after Andrea. Several teachers held her back, looks of fright on their faces of her wrath.

"STOP ASKING!" She yelled, shaking off one of the teachers and placing a foot on the table. "I'M NOT GOING TO TELL YOU WHO I'M ENGAGED TOO!"

"aHA!" Andrea exclaimed, jumping back from the swipe of the purse and pointing at Miss Sakura. The teacher stuck her hand into her “weapon” and pulled out a pack of tic-tacs then threw them at the redhead. Andrea clumsily dodged it. "I knew you were engaged! Thanks for answering my question!" She bounded back toward the table I sat at.

Miss. Sakura gave a shocked expression then sat down in her chair and glared at Andrea from a distance. I grinned. Those two were the only interesting thing about the lunch period I had. I didn't have it with Riku or Kairi, which was kind of sad for me. It was weird at first since I was so used of always having lunch with them every year of school.

I pulled Andrea's tray of food closer to me and was just about to eat as the bell rang for the end of lunch. Damn. I sighed as I stood as Andrea bounded by, grabbing the tray with a grin.

Time to go back to class, I suppose.

I walked in my last class of the day, and taking my seat in the back of the classroom. The teacher, Miss. Akimoriko, stood facing her board, fists resting on her hips. She was muttering to herself, cursing at what was written sloppily on her board. Plastered across in blue marker was 'SOUHTERN SLANG RULES!'. Right below that said 'Lurv ya!, Andrea', with a little red marker heart beside her name.

The tardy bell rang and Miss Akimoriko turned toward us, hands still at her hips and an annoyed expression on her face. "Alright everybody let's get started with the rest of the book project presentations, shall we?" She grabbed an easer off of her desk and started to take the words off her board.

I laid my head down on my desk, glad I did mine the day before. Yet another nap!

I shut my eyes and began to doze off, listening to the current presenters' monotone presentations. I slipped into a state of where I was halfway asleep and halfway awake. I still heard everything that was going on but I really wasn't taking it in.

I stayed in this state for majority of the class period, not even being noticed once.

Closer to the end, I heard everybody packing up slightly, but I didn't move. I was personally in no hurry; I stayed after school anyway.

A bright light flashed suddenly, lighting up the inside of my eyelids. I shot my head up quickly, my eyes snapping open. I went to grab the desk, my hands missing it entirely. The chair tipped over and my head banged against the bookshelf that was placed behind me.

"Sora!" Miss Akimoriko called out, rushing toward my desk. Her concerned face appeared in my view. "Are you alright?"

My head pounded slightly as I sat up, my right hand going to where my head met the bookshelf. "I'm okay, I think." I pulled my hand away to move some of the books off of my lap, but instead of seeing a clean hand, I saw a hand with blood. 'Just great..' I thought, blinking. I pulled myself up with one arm, Miss Akimoriko instantly pulling out a pass to the nurse.

"I'm alright, honestly." I said quickly. "It's just a little cut that'll heal quickly."

Miss Akimoriko gave me a look of doubt. "Just go to be positive on that." She handed me the pass.

I sighed and took it, then trudged out of her room.

I didn't go to the nurse’s office, instead I went to the nearest restroom. Why waste the nurse’s time when I could fix it up myself? I suspected today the nurse was off duty, so one of the teachers who had their planning period was filling in.

I stared at my reflection in the mirror, my messy brown hair sticky oddly in the back. I sighed, turning on the water faucet, looking down at the rushing water. I looked back up at the mirror, something catching my eyes: A shadowy figure in the far right corner, around my height with bright, glowing yellow eyes. It raised its arm at me, pointing a finger at my reflection..

"I thought I'd never see the day Sora skipped class." Someone laughed behind me. I jumped and tore my gaze from the reflective glass, coming face to face with Riku. I let out a sigh, turning back around and looking at the spot again. Nothing there. I turned back to Riku

"Huh?" I blinked questionably. "What do you mean 'skipping class'?! I am not." Riku leaned up against a sink nearby, propping his hands up beside him.

"Sure Sora."

"I'm really not!" I protested, turning back to the sink and splashing water onto my face. I grabbed a paper towel from a stack, and wiped off my face. "And what about you?" I asked.

I could feel Riku's gaze on my back as he gave a sigh. "I had to get out of class. That teacher is driving me crazy." he said after a moment. I nodded then dampened a towel and started cleaning my hair.

"Why are you out of class?" he asked.

"Hm? Oh, I fell out of my chair and banged my head on the back of Miss Akimoriko's bookshelf. She told me to go to the nurse-"

"Don't go to the nurse. Trust me, you don't want to." Riku interrupted, a grin on his face.

"I'm not planning on it." I told him, finally getting all of the blood out of my hair. I ran a dry towel through my hair, then turned off the faucet. I leaned against the sink like Riku.

We sat in silence until Riku spoke. "This town we're in doesn't feel real, you know." I looked at him questionably. He turned to look at me, his sea green eyes giving away that he was serious. "I know you feel it too. An eerie feeling that we're..." he trailed off for a second. "Not supposed to be here."

He looked around the restroom for a moment, then hopped off the sink. "Whelp, I better get back to class. I've wasted too much time in here anyways."

He stopped by me while he was on his way out. "Stay away from bookshelves, will ya? Anymore bumps on that head of yours and we might not have the same Sora anymore." He grinned then walked out as I shot him a glare, grinning.

I hopped off the sink and decided also that I had spent too much time in here too, even for faking that I went to the nurse. I threw away the towels and went back to class.

I plopped down beside Kairi on a bench outside of school, setting down my bag. My face held a ridiculously huge grin; I had the honors of listening in on the principal yelling at Miss Sakura about not staying on nurse’s duty, to put it simply. So she was the one who was on duty.

"And why are you grinning for?" Kairi asked, smiling at me.

"Er, nothing." I answered quickly, keeping what I heard to myself for the time being. I watched the school's marching band set up for today's practice, the instrument sections practicing their marching and music.

I turned toward Kairi. "So, why are we waiting for Riku again?" I asked. It was normal for us to sit on this very bench everyday,(unless it was raining) waiting for each other. If we didn't have to wait, we sat here and just talked before heading home.

"He said something about studying or something" She waved her hand in the air. "But.." she started off, looking at me. "I think he's gotten detention again." She grinned then gave a giggle at my expression.

"It seems possible." I laughed with her, then sighed. Today must have been one of those drowsy days, we didn't talk much on those days, just sat around and appreciated in being in each other’s presence.

I leaned back, holding my bottle of soda between my hands loosely and watched the marching band. Miss Sakura's shouts at another member reached our area; it sounded like she was yelling at Andrea. Sure enough, there was the red-haired girl, cowering in the fearful wrath of her sister.

I had completely forgotten that Miss Sakura helped the marching band after school; they were short of someone being able to teach the Flutes, so she filled in for the time being. Their band teacher started to count them off, and they started off at the beginning of their show music.

I leaned my head back and closed my eyes, beginning to doze and waiting for them to stop before they got very far. They stopped after something happened with someone, then started again..

The sound of a heartbeat filled my ears, I whirled around, taking in this place of darkness. I spotted a small part of sand somewhere a little ways off, and I started to run toward it. As I got closer, I saw Kairi standing there, looking lost.

"Kairi!" I shouted and sprinted towards her. Her face lit up, and she smiled. I reached her, almost toppling over the edge, my hand shooting out toward her. She grabbed hold and steadied my balance. I looked up at her, my heart happy to know she was alright.

"I promise to come back, Kairi." I said in a hurried voice, the distance between us growing larger. "I promise to come back to you with Riku. I promise."

She smiled. "Oh Sora, I know you will.." I gripped her hand tighter, not waiting her warm smile to leave me. The platform I was on rocked, and our fingers slipped out of each other. I stretched my hand toward her, feeling something wrapped around my body. I glanced down quickly, seeing black vines gripping my body tighter and pulling me back.

"I promise!" I cupped my hands around my mouth and shouted, hoping Kairi heard me as I was pulled into darkness, feeling the breath inside of me leave. I couldn't see, hear or speak. I tried to breathe but I ended up in a fit of coughing, not succeeding in getting any air into my lungs. It was as though the darkness was trying to choke me of life.

I jolted awake, toppling off the bench and onto the ground. I looked up, seeing Riku and Kairi standing with their bags, staring down at me with concerned expressions.

"Are you alright, Sora?" Kairi asked, sitting down beside me. I nodded weakly and stood up, trying to shake off the dream. My skin crawled as a breeze came by. "Let's go." I said, grabbing my bag and standing up. We started walking toward my house in silence, my place being the first stop today, getting there pretty quickly even though we were walking at a slow pace. I waved goodbye to Riku and Kairi as they made their way toward Kairi's house down the street.

I walked into my house, hearing complete silence. "Mom must not be home yet.." I said to myself quietly, climbing up the stairs to my room and dropping my bag on the floor. I flung myself onto my bed, my face down in the pillow.

My mind ran over what Riku had said to me earlier in the day, about the town we lived in not being real. I flipped over onto my back, staring at my ceiling.

"This town we're in doesn't feel real, you know."

What the hell was he talking about? I knew if I called him to ask him about it, he would just play stupid and tell me he has no idea what I was talking about. I sighed, then rolled off my bed and trotted down the stairs to start dinner for Mom.

E.N.D.