Kingdom Hearts: Dream Team

Chapter 15: Neku's Confession 💜

Noah said he didn't want to be part of the Dream Team. Apparently, he would only join if I told our parents the truth. Since I wasn't ready to tell them, he wasn't ready to join the team. How I hate it when this sort of thing happens. Well, things can't always go my way I guess. Little did I realize that this school week would be much different for many different reasons.

Every two weeks, there is a rotation in sophomore prep class. There are four different classes, each one teaching a different subject featured on the OGT. On rotation days, students move to the next class they have been assigned to. Once again, I had to face the ordeal of guiding Neku to our first period class. Even worse, I had to endure another teacher pronouncing his name wrong.

We were placed next to each other, which bothered me greatly. Neku doesn't seem to like me very much. Most likely, he thinks that I'm a major disappointment. To be honest, I was expecting him to be in a different state of mind. After the events of Dream Drop Distance, Neku had actually started to show signs of changing his point of view. Now, I was afraid he was becoming his old self again. With everything on my mind, I decided to do something I don't usually do... talk during class.

I asked Neku, "Are you excited for homecoming?" He let out a sigh and turned his head. "I'm not going," he mumbled, bitterly. Confused, I asked him why. "I don't know. I just... think the whole thing is ridiculous." I was too stunned by that response to say anything else.

"Aislynn," the teacher called, "If you're going to talk instead of listen, maybe you should go to the principal's office." I could feel my face turning red. "I'm sorry. It won't happen again."

Another lunch period came around. Sitting down to exchange my things (I have a bottom locker), I knew what would probably happen, but I was kinda hoping it wouldn't. I looked around; Shayla was nowhere in sight. As I got up to leave, though, I felt a shove and my face grazed the hard plastic of a binder. "Afternoon, Freak!" It was Shayla and this time, she had brought a group of friends to watch her make me suffer.

Never before had she stooped so low as to physically assault me. I stroked my face; I was bleeding! "Yeah, I did that," Shayla sassed. "Whatcha gonna do about it, Freak?" Anger filled me. I wanted to throttle Shayla and all of her idiot friends, but I knew that would make me just as bad as her. "Leave her alone," a familiar voice called from the other side of the hallway. Neku had come to the rescue.

"Looky, looky," Shayla said, mock-happy. "It's Freaklynn's savior, Emo Boy!" Neku stood in front of me, as if he was guarding something precious. "Shayla, you've gone way too far this time!" He was right. This was the first time she had physically assaulted me... and I hated it. She had drawn blood for crying out loud! "This isn't over," she said addressing both of us. Once that was over and done, I went to the bathroom to assess the damage... and I almost screamed. There was a huge cut on my left cheek! That was it for me; I had to tell a teacher.

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"Calm down, Aislynn," the guidance counselor told me. "Who did this to you?" Between tears (yes, I was crying), I explained what had happened. "It was Shayla!" I sobbed. "She's always picked on me, but she's gone too far this time." I broke down in tears; I could hardly speak. "It's alright, Aislynn," he said to me. "The nurse will get you a band-aid for your cut and we'll make sure Shayla gets the appropriate punishment.

After the nurse patched me up, I sat down for lunch. Shiki shrieked when she saw me. "How did that happen?!" I told her what had happened and told the rest of them that I was fine. When lunch was over, two of Shayla's jerk friends took me aside. "You freak," the first angrily said. "Shayla got suspended because you started bleeding!" I stiffened, trying to make myself look tougher than I actually felt. "She brought this on herself," I snarled. She let go of me and took two steps back. "Okay," the other friend said, "You win. But when Shayla gets back, she'll make you freak-roadkill." They both took off before they heard me yell. "I'd like to see her try!"

I was glad the day was over quickly. In Dream Team HQ, Joshua was trying to comfort me after my horrific experience today. "Relax," he whispered in my ear. "It's over now. Shayla can't hurt you, anymore." Once I was calm, Joshua brought me into the main room, but I noticed something was off. I asked, "Where's Neku?" I scanned my friends' faces when Beat finally spoke up. "Phones is outside. He looked really depressed, yo." When I heard this, I ran outside.

Rain had started falling; the backyard was really wet when I got outside. Neku was sitting on the ground and I almost didn't recognize him. His clothes were soaked all the way through, his headphones were missing and his hair lay limp. The eyeliner he had been wearing was dripping like he had been crying, but I knew it was the rain. "What's wrong," I asked him. Neku looked up at me for a moment, then back at the main house. "Come back inside," I pleaded, "You can tell me in there."

It took some effort, but I managed to lead Neku into his room, where he crashed on the bed. Poor guy; he really was out of it. To kill time, I looked around the room. The walls were mostly blue, but they had pops of color in certain places. I thought it was beautiful; like a professional artist had painted it. On one was a plaque that had several pins inside it. I guess Neku must've selected his favorite pins and placed them in that plaque. The bed looked comfy; the sheets were black with a symbol painted on in a darker shade of black. The symbol looked very similar to the ones on the player pins.

Before I could take in the rest of the room, Neku sat up, his hair and clothes completely dry, and walked over to a mirror on the opposite wall. He took a tube of what I assumed was hair gel and started spiking his hair until it looked the way it normally looks. Taking a makeup remover towelette, he wiped of his dripping eyeliner, then got his headphones and sat back down of the bed. I repeated my question from earlier, "What's wrong?" To my surprise, he actually responded this time.

"Everything's bothering me," he said, moping. "I don't understand," I responded. "Does this have anything to do with what Shayla called you today, Emo boy?" Neku shook his head and looked at me. "No, Aislynn. Shayla has got nothing to do with it." He made a gesture as if he wanted me to sit down next to him, but he immediately changed his mind. "That was just a label," I said, matter-of-factly. "Shayla just called you that because she doesn't know anything about you." What he said next surprised me. "Funny, I don't know anything about myself, either."

"When the Reaper's Game started, I didn't know myself. The only thing I could remember was my name. Then, Sora helped us get back to Shibuya and now, I can't remember anything that happened there. It's like the same thing is happening again... and I just hate it." All of this was going fast through my head; it was a car and my mind is an interstate highway. Neku was upset because of he's suffering from amnesia, not because of Shayla. I didn't know what I could say to him to make him feel better, but I tried my best.

"Neku," I started. "I don't have any easy answers, but admitting what the problem is the first step to recovery." Neku laughed. "You're starting to sound like a psychiatrist." Really, I thought, I hadn't realized. I kept talking. "If you can't remember the person you used to be, then be the person you want to be. Prove to everyone that there's more to you than what's on the outside. It's kinda like your pins!"

When I said that, he took several pins out of his pockets. "They may look normal on the outside, but there's a lot of power within. You're the same way." I tried to give him a reassuring touch, but he pulled away.

"I'm like the pins?"

"Yes. Just be yourself - Your real self - and don't let anyone else tell you otherwise."

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The next day after school, Neku called a meeting at Dream Team HQ. All of us were really confused; no Heartless attacks had occurred, so we didn't know what it was. Then came Neku's big news. "I'll be DJing at the Homecoming dance," he announced. The rest of us were shocked. "How did you..." Shiki stammered.

"This girl who I believe was a member of the student council was really upset because the old DJ canceled for unknown reasons. So, I asked if I could DJ and she said yes." Concern filled me in absolution. "Do you even know how to DJ a dance?"

"No, but they gave me a list of songs to play. I'm trying to take your advice, Aislynn. I'm doing something I want to do." With that logic, I couldn't make any arguments against it. So I said, "That's great! Go for it!"

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A/N: Hello, my dreamers. I have officially reached the halfway point with this story. I told myself I would finish this story by the end of the summer and now I'm really close to accomplishing that goal. Yay for me! Until next time, thank you for reading.