Wow, there were so many doors up here. Cloud nodded his head to Roxas and wished him an almost inaudible 'Good luck'. Shortly after this, he spotted the door labelled 'Cross country' and silently headed inside.

Inside there room there weren't that many people. Two seemed to catch his attention, arguing. One with flame red hair, the other with brown. The one with flame red hair had the brightest emerald eyes and strange black markings under each eye. The brunette had eyes the colour of sapphires and a scar.

The arguing soon stopped, however, as they both noticed Cloud.

"Heeey! We have a newbie in our midst." The red head beamed and headed over to 'greet' Cloud. This greeting consisted of an arm around his neck and a hair ruffle. "Come to sign up, hm?"

"Uh.. yeah.." Cloud tried to swat the hands away though seemed to have very little luck.

"Axel, let him go. We don't want to scare him off." The brunette spoke, arms now folded across his chest as he observed the two.

"Hey, I'm just saying hello!" Axel protested, though let go of the blonde and moved to stand beside Leon, copying his stance.

"Hn." Was Leons responce to this.

"Soooo!" Axel started, soon leaving his stance to find the papers that needed to be signed. "Sign these and.. thats it."

Cloud nodded and silently did as he was told. He signed his name whilst Axel seemed to continue talking.

"The names Axel. A-X-E-L. Got it memorized? And the grouch over there is Leon. Were the captains of the team."

After signing the papers, Cloud took a few steps back and looked upto Axel. The guy was still talking? And why had he spelt his name out? Cloud wasn't stupid.

"We meet Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays, though you'll probably find one or both of us out for a jog on the other nights too. The sessions last as long as it takes you to complete a course. So.. anywhere from half an hour to.. well, depends how fit you are." Axel was still talking and now seemed to have drifted off into thought, remembering his first run and how long it had taken him to complete it.

Leon rolled his eyes and looked to Cloud. "Just.. wear something suitable and meet in the courtyard at six. Thats everything covered I believe."

"Hm. Okay. Guess I'll see you soon then." Cloud gave a slight bow of his head to the two and made a quick exit before Axel could open his mouth again.

Roxas groaned. The Portguese club had been closed because all the members had graduated and nobody was interested in picking it up, the French club was full... Out of the stuff that interested him, only swiming was accepting people, and that was hardly his favourite choice. Sure, he liked swiming, but he was hardly competition material. He sighed and entered the team's room. A red haired girl greeted him.

"Hi there! I'm Ariel!So, you're interested in joining us?"

"Uh... Yeah. Are you the captain?" Roxas asked, finding it odd that she was the only one there.

"Of the female team, yes. The captain of the male team, Demyx, seems to have gone missing on us today. Probably out there playing with his sitar. Anyway, fill out these, we meet every Mondays, Wednesdays, and Sundays."

"Ok then. Please tell me I don't have to walk across campus to get to the pool..." Roxas said, as took out the map to look for the soccer field and pool, and noticed how separete things where.

"Sorry, you do. You get used to it after a while... It is a drag to get back to the dorm after training, I'll tell you that. Anyway, see you next Wednesday." He said, waving at Roxas groaned in frustration.

"See you." Roxas said as he walked out.

Clouds second and last stop was the athletics club. There didn't seem to be too many people in here either.

"Hey!" Came a voice from behind him, causing him to jump and quickly wheel around.

"Your hair! It looks like a chocobo!" A girl stepped from behind the door wearing a headband of some sorts. "Oooh! You must be Cloud! Aeriths told me all about you! I'm Yuffie! And I guess your here to sign up, huh?"

Cloud blinked. Yuffie? He didn't remember Aerith telling him about a Yuffie. Oh well.

"Yeah, I'm here to sign up." He replied and was ushered over to the desk and made to sign several pieces of paper.

"Well we meet.. um, let me see.. mondays, wednesdays and saturdays outside on the track." She said and proceeded to inform him on everything else he'd need to know.

Eventually, Cloud and Yuffie said goodbye to one another and went their own seperate ways. Yuffie returned to standing behind the door in the hopes of scaring whoever would step through the door next. Cloud headed out into the hall and decided to head back to his dorm room.

As soon as he was done with joining the swiming club Roxas left the building and went outside. Cloud didn't seem to be anywhere near, so Roxas went ahead to the dorm room.

As he walked down the courtyard, a few people looked at him with interest, as if he was something out of the ordinary. Well, he was a student there on a scholarship, and since most of them seemed to be rich kids that had their parents pay them into the school, so he was somewhat different. However, he seriously doubted that they could have known ir was him just by looking at him... Could they?

Then he heard a conversation between two other boys.

"Yeah, my father told me that kid got in through a scholarship. Apparently, he got nearly perfect scores on the test. Probably some nerdy kid." Roxas looked at the direction the voice came from. A tall, black haired boy, a bit older than Roxas was talking to a just as tall, brown haired boy, looking at Roxas a bit maliciously. Roxas glared at the boy, who returned the glare, standing up and heading towards Roxas. The people around them stopped what they were doing, and looked at them. Suddenly, a loud voice was heard.

"Roxas? Is that you?"

Roxas turned to where the sound came from. A familiar girl stood in front of him, already wearing the school's uniform, and smiling.

"Naminé?" He said, as he recognised the girl. Naminé had been a childhood friend as well as some sort of second degree cousin. At least, she was the daughter of one of her father's cousins, anyway.

"It IS you! Oh, I missed you! Come on, we have to go and catch up!" She said, grabbing his arm and dragging away. Roxas found this odd. While it was true that he hadn't seen Naminé in a few years, she had never been the type to do this.

"Naminé, what's going on?" He asked, as she dragged him to a more secluded place, and everyone went back to what they had been doing.

"Shut up and play along for now." She said in a low voice tone, untill they reached a quiet place near a three, with very few people around. "What were you and the Superintendent's son doing?" She asked, letting go of his arm.

"That was the Superintendent's son?" Roxas asked, looking back on the boy's direction. "Wow... Well, he was basically just badmouthing me, because I came here through a scholarship."

"I see... Anyway, I'm glad to see you. How long has it been, three yeard?" Naminé said, smiling.

"Yeah... So, I take it you've been doing well?" Roxas answered, smiling back.

"Yes, I have. So, what have you been up to?" She asked, sitting down under the three, and motioning Roxas to join her.

"Well, after you and your family moved away, I stayed at that school, and as luck would have it, Rai and Fuu moved away not long after that, so things got quieter around the school. Nothing really changed beyond that. And just as I was about to finish the year, my parents pratically forced me to try and get a scholarship to this school, and... Here I am. How about you?" Roxas said, as he too sat and absently mindely cured some grass blades.

"Well, I went to a new school, and let's say I didn't quite fit in. So, last year, mom and dad saved enough to send me here, and this is where I've been here ever since. I kinda like it here. A bit tiring, but much better than the school I went to when I moved away, believe me." Naminé said, gliggling a bit.

They kept talking for a while, until Naminé had to go to take over her duties at the Art club. She wrote her e-mail address and other contacts on a piece of a paper and ran off. Roxas got up and headed towards the dorm.

As soon as he arrived at his room he closed it's door and sighed, not even caring to see if Cloud was there or not. He went to his desk and turned on his laptop, intending to do nothing but send his parents a "thankful" e-mail, add Naminé to his IM programs, and then... He had no idea what he'd do after that.

Cloud headed into the boys dorms though didn't get very far as a pair of hands soon covered his face. A soft voice shortly followed.

"Guess who, Cloud."

This voice he recognised almost instantly and a rare smile found its way onto the males lips.

"Aerith, I was wondering when I'd see you." The girls hands lowered and instead she wrapped her arms around his neck and seemed to rest her chin against his shoulder.

"I was looking for you. I heard from Cid a little while ago, he wanted me to make sure you'd found your room and were starting to settle in." Her voice remained soft.

"I'm fine. I know where my room is, I've met my room mate, unpacked and signed up with a couple of clubs." He paused and turned his head to look at the brown haired girl. "I met Yuffie."

"You met Yuffie?" Aerith smiled and lifted her head from Clouds shoulder and at the same time moved her arms, freeing her friend from her grasp. "She's got quite the personality, hasn't she?"

"You could say that." Cloud replied, rubbing the back of his head and turned to face her.

The two talked for a while. Aerith gave him a little tour, showed him where her room was and other important places.

A little while after Roxas had entered the room, Cloud entered. Seeing him at his laptop, the blonde mumbled an almost inaudible greeting before flopping down on his bed, head buried in his pillows.

When Roxas heard Cloud come in, he looked behind him. When he saw the other blond flop down on his bed, and bury his head on his pillow, Roxas couldn't help but wonder what had happened. After pondering for a momment wether or not to say something, he decided to approach it subtly.

"So... Didn't have much of a good day too?"

It took a moment for Cloud to reply to Roxas' words, though he did prop himself up with a hand so he was able to look at the other.

"No. It was okay. Just.. a little tired now, thats all."

Didn't have much of a good day too?

"You have a bad day?"

Roxas shrugged.

"Could be worse I guess. Altough, being sent to a school where I didn't really want to go and finding out that the superintendent's son may be up to no good when it comes to me, doesn't really fits in my definition of a good day. All the walking this school will force me to do, along with the practice of the teams I'm in, are just icing on the cake." He said, going back to his laptop, and continuing to type his e-mail.

Cloud rested his chin in the palm of his hand and watched Roxas as he spoke. "The superintendants son?" Well now that could prove troublesome for the male. There was alot of walking to do but it wasn't going to kill him. And besides, he'd joined a few teams hadn't he? The extra exercise would be useful. "I guess this place isn't as nice as your previous school but.. all the students here get high marks and fancy jobs when they leave so.. I guess its not all bad."

Roxas turned his chair so he'd face Cloud, and leaning back on it, sighed. "I suppose so. But I personally would have prefered to come here because I wanted to, not because I was forced to, you know? But, I'm here now, so I may as well make the most of it." He said, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Anyway, what time is it?" He said, looking at his watch. Almost seven PM. according to the leaflet dinner would be served soon. "I guess I'll go to the cafeteria and wait for dinner time. You coming too?"

"I guess I can understand that." Cloud replied, watching Roxas for a moment before pushing himself up into a sitting position. "But I'm sure after you've settled and made some more friends things will calm down and everything will be alright."

Dinner? Oh, dinner sounded good. He hadn't eaten anything since that morning and was rather hungry now. "Yeah, I'll come." Cloud stood himself up and stretched.

Roxas got up and exited room, with Cloud following. As they walked down the halls and into the courtyard, Roxas noticed that even more people had changed into their uniforms already. Roxas did find this rather odd. Not even the first day of school, and they were already wearing them? Maybe it was just the habit.

As they approached the cafeteria, it became painfully obvious that they would have to wait in the line for a while. He groaned in frustration.

"Guess some things never change no matter what school you go to." Roxas said as they entered the cafeteria and went to the end of the line. He tried to look for Naminé among the students that were ahead of them, with no success.

Cloud stood and followed Roxas from the room and into the courtyard. Yeah, seemed more people were wearing the uniform. Though he wasn't going to be putting his own uniform on until they had lessons. Stuffing his hands into his pockets, he continued on towards the cafeteria.

And it looks like they would have to stand and wait in the queue. Though it wouldn't be too bad and they'd get the chance to see other members of the school.

"Guess not." The blonde said, folding his arms across his chest and moving to stand in the line. It wasn't that long but it was still pretty long.

((Sorry it took me so long >_< Been dealing with a nasty flu. DX))

Roxas groaned in frustration. He'd rather be doing something, rather than just stand and walk a few steps when the line advanced, which was a rather slow occurance. "Next time, I'll bring a freaking book." He murmured.

He then turned to Cloud, hoping to be able to at least get some conversation out him, to help the time pass. "So, where're you from?"

((Don't worry about it and I hope you feel better ^.^ ))

The queues would move quickly soon enough, or so he hoped. Standing around like this didn't really bother him. And sure enough, little by little, the line did start to move.

"Radiant Garden." Cloud replied. Radiant Garden was a little town a few hours away from here. "How about you?"

((Thanks.))

"Huh, we didn't live that far from eachother. I'm from Twilight Town. Ah, finally, won't be long now." Roxas said, as the line to move closer to the tray containers. Wouldn't take much longer to get to the food now. "I wonder where Naminé is..." Roxas thought, rather louder than he wanted to.

Twilight Town? No, they didn't live that far away. Cloud had often gone to that town in order to pick up spare parts or to fix the trams with Cid. Looking back to the line, he sighed softly and finally reached the tray container. Two were picked up and one was handed to Roxas. "Namine?"

"Thanks." Roxas said when Cloud gave him the tray.

"Naminé is, huh... My second cousin I guess... She's the daughter of one of my father's cousins. I found her when the super intendents son seemed to be about to start something. Well, more like she found me. I'm kinda worried... She said she was going to the art club, and if I still know her as well as I used to, she may lose track of time if she's drawing." Roxas looked back on the line, and sighed in relief. "Speak of the devil." Naminé had just walked into the cafeteria, accompanied by a red haired girl that Roxas didn't know.

Roxas focused back on the line, that had now moved foward enough that he could see some of the dishes available. "Grilled meat, grilled fish, backed potatoes..."

"I see." So Roxas had some family at this place. Well atleast he'd have someone to turn to if he was ever in trouble. "I'm sure she'll be fine." So he was an artist of sorts? Eyes wondered to the girls Roxas was looking towards. One of those had to be Namine but.. which one? Well it really wasn't any of his business, was it?

The line seemed to be moving a little faster now. "Quite a bit of choice.." He murmered. When they reached the dishes Cloud almost immediatly picked up the pasta dish.

Roxas took a grilled meat and green salad dish, an apple and a glass of water. As they left the line, he looked around, looking for empty seats. After about a minute of looking, he spotted a couple of them, next to Ariel and a guy with the reddest and spikiest hair he had ever seen. "That can't be a natural hair colour..." He thought to himself. He shaked his head, trying to stop staring at the guy's head. Instead he turned to Cloud.

"We can sit over there." Roxas said, pointing at the seats he had just spotted.

After grabbing a bottle of water, Cloud turned and started to look over all the tables in the room. Most of the people he'd never seen before, however he did see the guy that had shown him to his room and Leon sat over with Aerith and Yuffie.

"Hm?" Oh, and there was Axel to, from the looks of things. "Alright then." With his tray in hand, Cloud started over towards the table Roxas had pointed out and he sat himself down in one of the seats.

Roxas sat next to Ariel, distracting her from the blonde guy she was talking to.

"Oh, hi Roxas! Good timing." As Ariel said that, she leaned back on her chair, and pointed at the boy next to her. "This is Demyx, the captain of the male swiming team."

"Hey! Roxas right? Nice to meet you." Demyx extended his hand as he said that.

"Hey." Roxas greeted Demyx as he shook his hand.

"So, I presume I don't have to tell you that our school has been on a tight spot when it comes to victories?" Ariel stated, breaking any chance of conversation between Demyx and Roxas.

"You mean, the whole not winning anything for seven years?" Roxas asked, looking at Ariel.

"Correct. I must say, last year we didn't win by a more matter of luck-" As she said that, Demyx's snort interrupted her.

"I'm sorry, luck? Please, you and the other girls weren't much of match for the others." He said between chuckles.

Ariel frowned and looked at Demyx in the eyes. "Well, same thing could be said about your team. Seriously, a few of them looked like that was the first time they even entered a pool!"

Demyx calmed his chuckles and got his face and voice back to a serious tone. "True. However, you won't see me saying it was just bad luck. So, I presume that it won't be a surprise if I say you can't expect much of a chance of slacking off during practice, right Roxas?"

Roxas nodded in agreement. "Sure. I didn't expect anything less, truth to be told."

Demyx smiled and clapped his hands. "Good. Now let's eat."

Cloud set his tray down on the table and unscrewed the lid to his water so he was able to take a drink. He was listning to what was being said, though as this wasn't anything to do with him and he had very little interest or luck with swimming, he seemed to give his food most of his attention.

Well, that was until a face appeared inches before his own that caused the blonde to almost jump out of his skin. The face was soft and smiling with eyes of a bright green.

"Aerith, geez." Cloud sat back and rubbed the back of his head, murmering something about her giving him a heart attack. All Aerith seemed to do was smile even more at this.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." She spoke, moving to place her hand on his shoulder. "I just came to tell you something."

Cloud ran a hand through his hair and looked upto the female. "Tell me what?"

"Cid wants you to e-mail him. And start answering your cell phone." She began, head tilting. "Though he then went on about how you should have actually taken your cell phone with you as he found it on your bed." She continued, trying to avoid using Cids 'language' as best she could. "Anyway, he's home now and wants you to e-mail him to let him know your alright."

Cloud raised a brow at this. They'd only been seperated for a few hours and already Cid was worrying and wanting to check up on him? Or was it just a case of the old pilot being lonely? Yeah, that was probably it. Perhaps he should have brought him a cat to keep him company. Or a dog? No.. he'd only lose his patience with a pet. "Okay, I'll go e-mail him later." He said and got a nodd from Aerith before she moved to go sit with her own friends.

((Sorry it took me so long to reply, holliday preparation got in the way DX))

Roxas chuckled at the scene taking place next to him. He continued to eat before deciding to actually speak. "So... I take it Cid is your father?" he asked, looking at Cloud.

((Don't worry about it. I have a job now so I don't get on much during the week.))

"Hm?" Cid was his father? Adoptive father, yes. "Yeah, he's my old man." The blonde rubbed the back of his head. "He's a pain in the ass but.. his hearts in the right place."