Not a Magical GIRL

Chapter Four

"Billy, do you even think entities are going to come any time soon?" Roxas asked as he sat at the desk in his room. He had papers scattered in front of him as he was trying to devise a plan to escape the clutches or Mr. and Miss. Perfect.

You aren't going to be able to escape being your magical alter ego, you know...

Roxas groaned and leaned back into the creaky chair. He sighed as he looked over to the laptop displaying the news site. "They're coming over, Billy, and I'm not sure of what to do..." He murmured. He wasn't used to having anyone over, he even got bothered when Billy talked to him when they're alone. Though Billy was a device, it didn't matter. Roxas was a solo player in real life. Never relenting. This stupid assignment was making things difficult.

Why didn't you just tell them you couldn't have them over?

"For one, mom is never home so I wouldn't have to deal with her badgering, and for two, they had good enough excuses for me to not come over there." He explained, eyes fixed on the digital clock.

I think it'll be a good thing for you to talk to people close to your age.

"That's what everyone tells me," Roxas retorted with a sarcastic tone, he heard it all before. Billy didn't get a chance to reply as Roxas stood up quickly. There had been a knock on the door.

The entire way to the door, Roxas cursed the universe mentally. He didn't need Duncan or Lucille to question his mumblings. He opened the door with a little too much force and nearly smacked Duncan in the face with it.

"Whoa! Trying to hit on me, eh?" Duncan asked teasingly, wiggling his eyebrows obnoxiously.

Roxas rolled his eyes in a very exaggerated manner. "Of course," he deadpanned, moving out of the way for the two to come inside.

Lucille smiled as she looked around the small town house. It was very neat and every thing inside had a particular place, never out of. "Your home is very cozy and clean!" She complimented, walking over to a wall where a picture of Roxas and his mom was hanging.

"Yeah yeah, my mom does this when she has time off," Roxas glanced to Duncan whom was also looking at a picture of him and his mom.

Duncan pointed to Roxas's mother in the frame and shot a toothy grin, "you look just like her." It was true, Roxas and his mother shared the same shade of brown eyes and dark hair.

The only thing they didn't share was their skin tones and nose shapes. Whilst Roxas had pale skin, his mother had tan, and whilst he had a button nose she had more of a 'bird beak'.

Roxas hummed, "not really, but whatever," he shut the door with a click and proceeded to the stairs, "come on."

"I like it when you push me around," Duncan sighed dreamily, his tone was still teasing.

"And I'll like it when I push you down the stairs," Roxas quipped, annoyance rising in his tiny body.

"Oh how I'm hurt, you couldn't possibly understand my love for you," Duncan smirked, "darling doll."

Lucille giggled at the two of them before Roxas could make a quick remark, "I didn't know you two were friends! Though I should've guessed since Duncan chose you." She laughed at her own stupidity.

Roxas could only stare dumbly at her before he opened his bedroom door, "don't touch anything. I'm looking at you Nash." He warned, eyes glinting with either anger or wariness.

Who knew?

Then Lucille and Duncan sat down on Roxas's deep purple bedspread. They admired the room of their introverted classmate.

White walls with black tapestries pinned on each one, white star lights hung from the bar holding the tapestries up. The floor was white tile with a black shag rug and there was a black cat shaped laundry basket in the corner beside his white desk and black chair with a purple cushion. It was very Roxas, but also surprising. The two felt like martians.

Lucille saw Roxas opening his laptop and pulling up the news article tab, but before he could begin the conversation she brought up something else, "why do you own so much black?"

Roxas blinked before looking around his room for a second, then shrugged, "I dunno. Black just comforts me, I guess? Bright colors make me nauseous," He gave as an explanation.    

"Okay, but like, would you dress in anything other than black?"

"White or dark purple."

Duncan laid back on the bed, much to the irritation of the owner, "I think we should all just chill out today. Work on the project more when there's a little information to work with."

Roxas scowled, "I did not agree to a playdate, I said we should work so that's what we'll do," he hissed, like a feral cat who had to get a bath.

Lucille pouted, "but we wanna hang out with you!"
Those words resonated in Roxas's mind and it did not make him feel good.

In fact, it made him hurt and angry. He stood up roughly from his chair, "YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW ME! SO DON'T EVEN TRY TO BE FRIENDLY!" He shouted, angry tears threatening to fall from his watery eyes. He saw their shocked expressions before gasping and ran out of the room, to the bathroom and locked himself inside.

Oh Roxas... are you all right?

Roxas hid his face in his knees, "I hate fake people... I hate people who say things just to be nice... I hate them all..." His grip around his legs tightened and he just wanted to be as small as possible so he could disappear.

Then there was a knock on the door.

"Roxas?"

He didn't answer.

"Roxas, I'm-" it was Lucille, "I'm so sorry... I didn't mean to make you upset, I really did just want to get to know you, that's why I wanted to spend time with you. I know school seems tough, and a lot of people are cruel to you when they shouldn't be, but Duncan and I see that, and we see you."

Roxas slowly looked up from his huddle and stared at the door, dread fueling his entire being, and yet there was something else.

"And I'm sorry too, I didn't mean for my jokes to really upset you if they did," Duncan apologized, "you just seemed so alone..."

"Don't pity me! I'm not some dumb person who can't make friends!" Roxas's voice broke, "I just choose not to."

Roxas heard Duncan let out a laugh, "Sorry, but we're not pitying you. What does make you pitiful is locking yourself away in a bathroom when it's really dirty in any bathroom."

The bathroom door slammed open and revealed Roxas's ticked face, "it is not dirty! I scrub the damn thing every day!" He defended, though he wasn't entirely sure why.

Duncan chuckled, "That's what you leave the bathroom for?" He questioned with a muse in his voice.

"Yes, because I actually work hard." Roxas replied shortly. He cast his eyes away from the two of them and heaved a sigh, "listen... it wasn't right of me to yell at you. I just don't know you and... I didn't plan on this stupid project."

Lucille gave a thumbs up along with a glimmering smile, "it's A-okay! Do you want to talk about it?" She offered, her eyes warm with friendliness.

Roxas immediately shook his head and leaned against the wall, "no, that is something I can't talk to you about," he bit his upper lip and looked to his feet, "though... we can hang out today. Just today though."

"Yay! We're gonna have so much fun!" Lucille cheered, and Duncan only nodded in twin agreement.

It caused a snort to come from Roxas, "yay... so what are we going to do?" He asked, curiosity rising. He didn't like the idea of friends, but he was going along with this hangout of theirs just to get it over with. Right?