"IT'S JUST another day. The same repetitive classes, the same faces, the same sounds..." A red-haired, blue-eyed boy thought to himself, dumping a few thick, hardcover textbooks into the bottom of his locker. He crouched, organizing the books that he had just carelessly tossed into his locker, with his dark-red messenger bag resting on the floor in front of him. He stood up after deciding that his textbooks were suitably organized and started shuffling through the multitude of different coloured sheets of paper that were all shoved into the cubby hole at the top of the locker. Upon finding the piece of paper he was looking for- a pale yellow one with information about a local concert he was going to attend- he folded it into quarters and slipped it into the back pocket of his ripped and worn blue jeans. He crouched again, double checking that he had everything he needed for his morning classes, and was suddenly blinded by darkness as a pair of cool hands covered his eyes, pressing every so slightly into his cheekbones.
       "Same morning routine carried out by my stupid friend." he thought to himself as a high-pitched voice, making a futile attempt to imitate that of a female, piped into his ear. "Royyyyyskieeeeees! Guess whooooooooo!"
       "Link, you do this EVERY morning."
       "Link? Who is this dashing-sounding young man you speak of?"
       "Oh, he's my dorky friend." The 'dashing young man' in question removed his hands from their place over Roy's eyes.
       "Am I really a dork, Royskies?" Link asked, his voice dripping with innocence as he pouted at his flame-haired friend.
       "Stop calling me that! ... and don't you give me that look.  You know it doesn't get you anywhere." Roy answered, glaring into Link's blue eyes.
       "But you don't mind when Lilina calls you that... and you can't resist when Lilina pouts at you..." Link said, smiling and batting his blonde eyelashes.
       "That's... that's different! She's my girlfriend! She gets... privileges!"
       "But I'm you best friend! You know, been there since grade six! Don't I get a share of these privileges? ... and there was that time last year during the spring break party when you were nuzzled against me on the couch..." The blonde's comment elicited a gasp from Roy, and he flushed slightly. He answered Link in a hushed tone, glancing around at the students walking past them, looking paranoid.
       "You said that you would never mention that again! And I was... MILDLY drunk! Therefore, it doesn't count! Plus, you shouldn't talk you drama queen; I distinctly recall a hot pink feather boa and LOTS of glittery blue eyeshadow you put on for that audition during the summer. And oh, why were you dressed like that? Because you were auditioning for the part of a GIRL."
       Link grinned at him, seemingly unfazed. "Bring that up again and I'll personally shave your hair off." He said through his grin.
       "If you do that, I'll return the favour by burning yours off." Roy retorted, matching Link's grin.
       The redhead slipped the strap of his bag over his head and onto his shoulder, standing up and kicking his locker door shut with such force that the mirror that clung to the door flung off into the depths of Roy's locker. He disregarded the echoing "clunk" that came from inside his now-locked locker and turned to walk to class with Link.
       "Royyyyy-skieeeeeees!" The redhead and the blonde both heard the shrill call from behind them before they could even walk two feet from Roy's locker. Both boys turned around, Link watching with a smirk as Roy was practically tackled by his blue-haired girlfriend. "G'Morning, Lilyyy..." Roy muttered, sliding one arm around Lilina's waist and using his free hand to stroke her hair. She detached herself from her boyfriend's torso and gave him a light kiss. "Morning!" She chirped, taking Roy's hand and falling into place between him and Link, as usual. "Morning, Lina," Link said absent-mindedly, trying to avoid colliding with the train of people heading the opposite direction. "Hi, Link! Oh, hey, did you finish the Philosophy homework from last night?"
       "Not all of it..." The blonde said, narrowly dodging a full-frontal crash with a boy with a slender build, who, upon further investigation, had short, blue hair as well. Link paid him no additional attention however, just a quiet mumble of "Excuse me," before continuing on.
       "Yeah, I skipped a few questions too," Lilina said, raising one hand to flip her hair behind her shoulder. "I had no idea what Teller was trying to explain yesterday anyway..."
       "I'm sure he'll explain it again during class today, so you don't need to worry about it that much."
       "Yeah, I guess you're right," Lilina glanced at her watch quickly. "There are still ten minutes before first bell; where should we go to kill some time?"
       "I have to go to the cafeteria," Roy answered. "Lance is waiting for me there; I have to give him this," He said, withdrawing the pale yellow paper from his back pocket and showing it to Lilina.
       "Alright then, we can just stay there for a bit until the first bell rings." Lilina now clung to Roy's arm as he seemed to find the easiest paths through the oncoming traffic of people; Link followed them closely so as not to lose them in the crowd.
       Eventually, all three of them pushed through the doors and headed into the cafeteria, which was slightly less crowded than the numerous hallways they were just forced to pass through. Roy immediately spotted Lance, whose green hair was easy to find as it stood out against the sea of brown and black surrounding him. Still holding Lilina's hand, and Link trailing along beside him, he weaved his way through the long tables and randomly placed chairs and finally took a seat next to Lance. Lilina sat beside Roy, and Link sat across from them, immediately engaging in a conversation with his friend Sheik. "Laaaaance," Roy said, tapping the green-haired boy on the shoulder and causing him to look up from his sketchbook. "Oh, hey Roy, didn't notice you..."
       "No problem. Oh- here's the info about the concert." Roy handed him the paper after unfolding it quickly.
       "Thanks," Lance said, quickly skimming over it. "You going for sure?"
       "Yeah, my dad's fine with it as long as I'm with at least two other people."
       "I'm guessing Link is coming too, then?"
       "Yeah, and Lily if her dad let's her."
       "I'm still getting a maybe right now," Lilina said, entering the conversation suddenly. Lance gave her a quick nod and continued talking to Roy, discussing the bands on the roster. Lilina quietly reviewed her English notes, leaning on Roy's shoulder. Link and Sheik had engaged themselves in a quick game of blackjack. "Whoever gets best out of nine gets the other to do all their homework tonight." Sheik said, dealing out four cards; two to Link and two to himself. "Deal," Link agreed, taking a peek at the underside of his cards.
       "Hit me," Link decided, and Sheik slid another card over to him. Link peeked at his new card in the same manner, smiling inwardly to himself.
       "I'll stay," Sheik said quietly, looking pensive.
       "So will I," As Link said that, he turned over his cards, revealing a score of nineteen. Sheik mirrored his movement and uncovered his score of a perfect twenty-one. "Ugh, I have a bad feeling about this now..." Link said, sliding his trio of cards back over to Sheik, who shuffled the deck again. "Eight more rounds to go," Sheik grinned at him and dealt the next hand. The next eight rounds were pretty much the same routine, with Sheik on a winning streak and Link on the opposite. After the ninth round, Sheik had won eight times and Link had won once. Link looked up at his friend with defeat. "... please tell me you don't have any hard subjects this semester."
       "Does advanced chemistry count?" Sheik looked up at Link to see him wince, and couldn't help smiling slyly at him. "And I have photography as well, but I'll let you off the hook with that one; those pictures need to be taken by me, anyway," Sheik's smile turned into a grin. "Did I mention that my model is Zelda?"
       "WHAT?!" Link shouted in surprise, leaping out of his seat. "SHEIK COME ON LET ME TAKE THE PICTURES! PLEASEPLEASEPLEASE!?"
       Sheik just laughed at Link, flipping the bangs that covered his right eye out of the way, only to have them slip back into his line of vision again. "You don't know what the requirements for the assignments are, anyway!"
       "SO? YOU COULD TELL ME OR GIVE ME AND OUTLINE OR SOMETHING! PLEASE SHEIK PLEASE!!" Link over at Sheik, his eyes desperately pleading that his answer granted his wish. Sheik continued laughing, now noticing all the people who were staring at him like he was insane. "Okay, okay," Sheik said through his fit of laughter. "I'll tell you what. You can come along to the shoot and ogle Zelda all you like. But you still have to do my homework." He said, his laughter finally dying down. "DEAL!" Link shouted happily, hugging Sheik, who was struggling to get out of his hold. "THANK YOU SHEIK!!" He shouted again, letting go of his thin friend and beaming like he just won the lottery. "Yeah, yeah..." The blonde boy on the receiving end of Link’s gratitude massaged his neck absentmindedly; the painful feeling of Link's strangling hug still remained.
       The low ringing of first bell resounded against the orange cafeteria walls as well as through the hallways, signalling that all students had a mere seven minutes before first period began. Immediately, students began filing out of the cafeteria and joining the two-way queue in the halls. Lilina recollected her English notes, standing up and letting Roy's arm slip around her shoulder. "Shall I treat you to lunch today, Lily?" Roy asked, looking down at the girl walking beside him.
       "Only if you want to, Royskies."
       Roy leaned down, kissing Lilina on her cheek. “Then I will.” He flashed a smile- the smile that always made the blue-haired girl blush deeply; this time was no exception. Lily smiled back weakly. The couple neared the cafeteria doors and split apart from each other. “I’ll see you at lunch, right?” Lilina said, filing out with the line of people heading down the east corridor. “As always, Lily.” Roy said as he winked at his girlfriend before they both turned to attend class.