Teach Me to Dance

Chapter 23

At the Clock Tower

Namixas

“Huh?... Morning already?” Naminé mumbled out loud as she stumbled out of bed. The clock read 6:30 AM signaling that it was high time for Naminé to start the day. She brushed her crazy morning hair out of his eyes to see clearer. She wasn't in a real rush to get to school, so she took her time in getting ready for the day.

After she had already gotten dressed and fixed her hair, she went to the kitchen to eat. Her mom was in there, which surprised Naminé because she would usually be still asleep at this time because she had to work late the night before.

“Good morning mom.” Naminé greeted her as she entered the kitchen area. Her mom turned her eyes from her breakfast, which consisted of just a bowl of cereal to look at her daughter.

“Good morning dear. Do you want me to make you some breakfast?” Her mom asked in that sort of motherly way. Naminé loved that about her mother... no matter how she was feeling, her mother was always ready to do something for her. She hoped to be a mother someday and be just like her.

“No thanks... Cereal is just fine for me. I'm not all that hungry.” Naminé refused politely. She went to cabinet herself and got out a box of cereal and poured out a bowlful, then got out a jug of milk and poured into the bowl too. After putting up the items that she had previously retrieved, she took a spoon and sat down beside her mother.

Neither of the two talked, so it was silent except for the continuous crunching sound. Once they were finished eating, they talked and caught up about the latest happenings in both of their own worlds. Particularly, they talked about Naminé's impending graduation coming just in a few days, and while talking on the subject, Naminé brought up the fact that Roxas had come over just the previous night.

“You had him over last night?” Naminé's mother repeated just exactly what she had told her. Naminé began to fear that she was going to angry that she hadn't told her about it or asked for permission. Since it was Roxas, Naminé didn't think it would be a very big deal... But maybe she was wrong.

“Uh, yeah... He helped me with my graduation speech. It's actually already almost finished...” Naminé said cautiously, worrying about what her mother's response would be.

“And?...” Her mother responded, with a smirk on her face. Instantly, Naminé realized where her mother was going with this.

“Mom! Roxas and I aren't like that!” Naminé practically yelled her own mother, growing very red in the face. To think of it! That the reason Roxas came over would be for that reason!

“Sure, sure. Whatever you say dear.” Her mother replied offhandedly, but obviously she believed that there was more. Suddenly, the door bell chimed signaling that someone was at the door just waiting to get in. Naminé stuck out her tongue at her mother before getting up and getting the door.

To Naminé's surprise, the subject just her previous conversation was at her doorstep.

“It's Roxas!” Naminé shouted back to her mother in the kitchen, dreading what she was probably thinking now. She could swear that she immediately heard her mother giggle.

“What's that about?” Roxas asked curiously, to which Naminé immediately flared up in embarrassment.

“N-nothing!” Naminé replied back, a little too quickly. Roxas looked her in a confused manner, but just took her word for it.

“So, uh, why are you here?” Naminé asked after she had calmed down a little bit.

“I just wanted to see if you were ready to go to school yet.” Roxas explained himself. Naminé couldn't help but think it was sweet of him to come by so that they could go to school together. But first...

“Oh, I'm not ready yet. Give me one second!” Naminé said as she ran towards her bedroom. She needed her stuff for school most of all.

Once she had everything together, she went back to the doorway where she found Roxas and her own mother talking together. Naminé found it odd that Roxas was giving her an indescribable look once she was back. Naminé immediately looked towards to her mother with horror, hoping that she didn't say anything embarrassing about her.

“Well, let's go Roxas.” Naminé rushed over to Roxas's side, and pulled his arm with her to exit the building away from her mother. Roxas awkwardly went along with her, wondering what her rush was. As soon as they were out the door, Naminé quickly slammed the door.

“What's the rush?” Roxas asked, dumbfounded by Naminé's current attitude. He couldn't imagine what's gotten her into such a fix. They had plenty of time before school even started for the day, so he was surprised that Naminé was such in a rush.

“Oh I just want to get there early today, that's all.” She tried to cover up her reasons, but she knew that Roxas could see through her lying oh so easily. She just hoped he wouldn't ask anymore about it which he didn't. Instead he just tried to change the subject.

“Oh... Okay. So, are you up for doing anything after school today? I was thinking that the group should all hang out today.” Roxas suggested thoughtfully. Naminé thought it was a good idea. The more time with her friends she could have, the better.

“Yeah sure! I think that's a great idea.” Naminé agreed with him cheerfully, and so it was decided.

“So... who are we all waiting on?” Olette inquired once she arrived. It was after school, and the group was assembling outside on the steps waiting for everybody to arrive. It was only the people with the after school activities that were late at this point.

“Now that you and Hayner are here, we just have to wait on Sora, Kairi, Riku, and Crystal.” Roxas informed here. So basically, half the group was waiting on the other half of the group to arrive. Thankfully, it didn't take long for some other members of the group to arrive.

“Hey guys!” Sora shouted as he and Kairi were walking towards the group with Riku and Crystal not very far from them.

“There you are! Now we can get going.” Roxas exclaimed and began to walk in a direction. Naminé gave me a quizzical look. She didn't realize that Roxas had already decided where they were going, and apparently neither did anyone else.

“Hey, um Roxas? Where are we going?” Hayner was the one who voiced what they were all probably thinking. But instead of explaining it to them group, Roxas just turned around with a smirk on his face.

“Secret! Oh, and we have to stop somewhere first, okay?” Roxas asked the group, and they didn't have any problem with that. Thus they went on their way. The stop was a store in town, but Roxas wouldn't let them see what he was buying and he kept in a cooler hidden from their eyes.

Once he was done, the group followed Roxas to the 'secret place' they were going to. In the distance, the group could hear the clock tower chime signaling a new hour.

“I think I know where this leads...” Riku muttered about halfway along the way to wherever Roxas was leading them. Sora nodded along side him, but it seemed like everyone else was pretty clueless about it all. It wasn't until they finally reached their destination that they realized where they were, on top of the clock tower.

“Wow! Look at all of Twilight Town! It's looks so small!” Crystal was the find person to react to the beautiful they were able to see from being so far up. The sunset looked beautiful in the orange sky.

“Yeah, look! There's my house!” Kairi pointed over to where her house resided, and with it being one of the bigger houses in Twilight Town, it was very easy to spot.

One by one, the entire group sat down along the ledge of the clock tower with their feet dangling in air. The breeze up there was nice and cool to make up for the warm temperature that's come in preparation for the impending summer.

Then it got even better.

“Here’s what I stopped for.” Roxas informed the group as he took out sea-salt ice creams bars out from the cooler he brought and handing the out to each person.

Everyone gasped with delight, because living in Twilight Town seemed to automatically make everything a fan of the best ice cream ever created.

Once everything had a bar of the ice cream, Roxas took a seat right besides Naminé and begin to eat his as well. They started to melt quickly because of the heat in the air, so everybody was busy eating their ice cream quickly instead of talking for a while.

Sora was the quickest eater, bar none and was the first person to talk.

“You know, I haven’t been up in ages. Once high school started, we were too busy to come up here anymore.” Sora stated nostalgically.

He, Riku, and Roxas all used to come up here a lot. Then when Sora and Riku became busy with sports and Roxas became closer friends Hayner, the group stopped coming up there to hang out.

“Yeah. I figured since, you know, this would probably be our last chance to hang out again before graduation, that we should come up here. I had kinda wanted to show this to everybody else too.” Roxas explained, and then licked his ice cream quickly to catch all the melted parts.

“This place really is amazing…” Naminé said in wonder and awe. Roxas looked over her in response to hearing her voice, and Naminé found herself embarrassed by Roxas’s gaze. The embarrassment made her turn her face away and look at Twilight Town once more.

Roxas’s eyebrows furrowed together at Naminé’s response, confused at to why she would react that way. Was something bothering her? He tried to shrug it off, thinking that she would just tell him about it later.

“You know, Kairi. I still can’t believe that you are leaving the day after graduation. It’s too soon… Everything’s happening all at once.” Olette commented sadly. She wanted everybody to always stay together, but the bitter truth of the matter was that there were going to be a lot of good byes going on soon.

“I know… I don’t even think I’m ready to leave yet. But I have to, I have to go back to my hometown. I’m just glad I’m not going alone…” Kairi said, gasping Sora’s hand in hers. More than anything, she just wanted to be together with Sora wherever they ended up at.

“And then, Riku, Naminé and I are all going to leave for Radiant Gardens when the summer ends. I just moved here, but it would have been nice to stay here longer…” Crystal commented as well. It seemed like everybody is in a nostalgic mood tonight.

“I wish… that they was a way that we could all come back someday and see each other again.” Naminé admitted out loud with a sigh, knowing that there really was no guarantee that it would happen.

“I know we’ll see each again. Someday. I just know it!” Roxas exclaimed suddenly. Everybody looked at him curiously, but somewhere in their hearts they all felt the same way.

“I’m sure that we will, as well.” Riku confirmed the same as Roxas, and everybody’s mood began to lighten. It was possibly for them to see each again for sure. There are vacations and breaks off of school, and Kairi and Sora could always come back and visit anyway.

Things aren’t so bad as they seem. That was what Naminé decided that night, as the sun finally set beyond the sea.