Title: The Game of Love

Summary: She hated him. He loved her. She was quiet and studious. He was loud and cocky. They were polar opposites, it could never work. She always had and always would hate him. But, as the saying goes, there's always a fine line between love and hate…

Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts but I do own this story.

Author's Note: Hello readers! This is my first Kingdom Hearts story so take it easy on me. Kairi and Sora are both seventeen in this story and are in the beginning of their junior year. Read and Review. Enjoy!

Chapter One: The Jock

"But you…we… I thought everything was going great…" Tears welled up in her eyes, and began to cascade down her face, sapphire blue eyes shimmering with liquid.

"Yeah… Well…" He shrugged nonchalantly. "It was great… for a while but you know…I've just, changed, that's all." The girl's face became more blotchy as she cried, the sorrow more prominent than before until he put up hands his. "It's not you though… You were amazing, really…" That same old charming smile that could get any girl to melt into a puddle appeared on his face. "And you're beautiful… It's me. Because, I just… Well, we aren't meant for each other… It's time to move on." He offered a sympathetic smile before he turned to let the girl sob alone.

"Sora Daniels! You said… you loved me." No one would know what she said though as she blubbered incoherently and burst into a fresh set of tears.

The redhead watched the one known as Sora walk away in disgust. The hottest jock… But also the school player. That was Daniels… She figured girls should really learn. Every girl in the school knew what he was like and what he eventually did but they always lined up to date him and always came back for more. "Kairi!"

She turned to see her best friends, Selphie and Roxas coming towards her.

"Hey guys." Kairi said, turning to her locker to grab her books.

"Hey," Roxas replied, eyeing the still sobbing girl down the hall. "Daniels?" Roxas asked, gesturing his head towards the girl.

"Of course." Kairi said rolling her eyes, "Who else?" She pulled out a folder, searching through the papers inside.

"So he's back on the market again?" Selphie asked, excitement lit in her eyes.

"Oh god Selphie not you too!" Kairi groaned. "You can't seriously like that jerk."

"I don't. Well at least not really. I'd never date him but… you have to admit he's really cute." She gushed.

"No he's not." Kairi said, "He's an arrogant, rude, narcissist, player." She paused before adding, "And annoying too."

"Gee Kairi, tell us how you really feel about the guy." Roxas said jokingly, shaking his head slightly.

"You so like him Kairi." Selphie said, ignoring Roxas, a sly grin forming on her face. "And he so likes you too. He flirts with you all the time."

"Please," Kairi said, slamming her locker shut. "I'd never go out with him. In fact, I'd shoot myself before ever dating a guy like Sora Daniels. It would only lead to heartache. And besides, I'm nothing but a game to him. A challenge. I'm probably the first girl who's ever rejected him."

"Well," Selphie said, "I think you guys would make the perfect couple."

Shaking her head and muttering something under her breath, she looked up to see Olette Philips walk past her.

"Olette!" She exclaimed, walking a few feet towards her. "Here are the notes you wanted for math." She handed the girl a notebook, "Just make sure to get them back to me by the end of the day."

"Oh thanks Kairi." She said, relief on her face, "Not having those notes would have been hell. I'll get them back to you in a few hours. Thanks again."

"No problem." Kairi said smiling before turning towards her friends. As Olette walked away, Kairi and Selphie saw Roxas watch after her, a small goofy smile on his face.

Selphie grinned and opened her mouth to know doubt tease Roxas but Kairi quickly cleared her throat, trying to save Roxas from the embarrassment. As her friends turned towards her the bell ran.

"Ready to go?" She asked.

Nodding, they followed Kairi down the hall to their science class, Kairi pausing midway to help someone pick up a few books they had scattered all over the floor. Selphie talked nonstop about Kairi and Sora the whole way their.

"Okay enough Selphie." Kairi said irritated, as Selphie ranted on about how cute their kids would look.

"Okay." Selphie said, "I'll speak of it no more."

"Thank you." Kairi said gratefully, sinking down into a seat on the far right side of the room before taking out her notebook and pen, ready to work at a moments notice. Roxas took the seat behind her while Selphie occupied the chair next to her. Kairi was a straight A student, that's how she had gotten into the school. Destiny Islands had a few normal high schools but only one prep school, St. Caspian's, which was extremely hard to get into. She had worked her butt off for three years and had finally received a scholarship.

It was her second year attending the prep school and she loved it. She had first came to the school when she was a sophomore a little over a year ago. She was now a junior. Kairi was different from most of the students who went to the school though. A lot (but not all) were stuck up, rich students who only stayed with their own cliques. Even with all of the bad grades they got, they still managed to stay at the school because of Mommy and Daddy's money. Thankfully she had found Selphie and Roxas, who had also received scholarships to the school and immediately clicked with them. Outside of a few people in the school other than her two best friends, she wasn't the most social person around. She was the quiet one. The smart one. And the nice one. So thankfully, she got along with almost all of her peers and was left alone.

The class slowly filled and five minutes later the final bell rang signaling class had begun.

"Hello everyone." The science teacher, Mr. Hobart said, coming out of his office from the back of the room. Mr. Hobart was an older man in his late fifties. He had white hair covering most of his slightly balding head and a white beard to match. He was slightly chubby and had more of a beer gut than anything. He was a nice teacher but completely oblivious to anything that went on in the class when he wasn't looking. He didn't have the greatest hearing either.

There were a few muttered hellos in return, scattered throughout the classroom as he made his way to the front.

"Ah yes let's see," Mr. Hobart said, picking up the list of first hour students. "Let's take attendance shall we?" He spoke to himself in a cheerful voice, reading down the list of names, marking his paper here and there at a missing student.

"Well class, today we'll be continuing the video on the…" He paused, looking at the student who had just entered the room. The teen had spiky brown hair that stuck up in all different directions. His eyes were a deep blue, like the ocean on a stormy day. He wore the standard school uniform for the boys: a crisp white, button up t-shirt with a black tie, dark blue slacks and a matching blazer. His tie was loose as if it had been pulled at, while his blazer looked as though it had been hazardously thrown on. There was no doubt in anyone's mind where he had been…

"Mr. Daniels." Mr. Hobart said in a rarely used stern and disapproving voice, "Late again."

"Ah Mr. Hobart," Sora said, leaning against the doorway, crossing his arms. "What are you talking about? Me? Late? Never happens." He scoffed, looking at the teacher. "I arrived precisely when I meant to."

Heaving a sigh he merely pointed towards the class, "Take a seat."

"Gladly." He said, giving Mr. Hobart his most charming smile before taking an empty seat in the back of the room.

"As I was saying…" Mr. Hobart continued before Kairi felt a tap on her shoulder. Turning in her seat slightly, she looked back at Roxas.

"Yeah?" She whispered.

"Where do you think he's been?" Roxas asked jokingly.

Kairi quickly glanced at Sora, seeing him joke around with his friends in the back. She scanned his wrinkled attire quickly before looking back at Roxas.

"Ugh, I don't want to think about it."

Roxas chuckled slightly, knowing how much Kairi disliked Sora and anything having to do with the jock.

"Who do you think…"

"Mr. Fenton." Mr. Hobart said, looking towards the two of them.

Roxas whipped his head up at hearing his name while Kairi immediately faced the front of the class.

"Are you quite finished?"

"Err… Sorry Sir."

"Yes, well," Mr. Hobart said, looking around the classroom. "Please change seats with Mr. Daniels. Maybe if you're separated from your friends you'll pay attention."

Kairi slumped in her chair, looking up at Roxas to see his apologetic expression. She quickly looked back at Sora to see him already making his way towards her, throwing her his attractive grin.

"Hi love." Sora said, slipping into the seat behind her.

Kairi merely glared at him and turned back around in her seat, resting her chin in her hands and sighing. It was going to be a long forty five minutes.

--

Kairi pulled at her locker, hitting it occasionally. The stupid thing wouldn't open. The day had worn on and on and after eight hours of school Kairi was ready to go home. Just as she jiggled the lock up a hard pound against the locker next to her caused the lock to slip back down.

Aggravated, she looked up to see ocean blue eyes staring back at her, a spark in them that, if she took the time to notice, only lit up around her.

"What do you want?" She said grumpily, turning back to her locker.

"Nothing love." He said, grinning at her. He was leaning his body towards the lockers, his right hand extended, propping him up, while he crossed one foot over the other in a casual sort of way.

"Ugh, don't start Sora. I'm really not in the mood." She said, once again working on her locker.

"Me? Start anything? I only wanted to talk."

"Well I don't, so go away."

"Ah, you hurt me Kairi." Sora said, putting his hand over his heart in mock pain, "Why don't you like me?"

"Because you never leave me alone." Kairi said, tugging harder at her locker before feeling a sharp pain. Quickly pulling her finger out of the lock, she massaged it.

"Need help?" He asked, giving her a teasing look.

"No." She said. Sighing she turned to him, "What do you want Sora?"

"You." He said, running a hand through his hair in what she supposed he thought was irresistible to all girls.

Rolling her eyes she turned back to her locker, finally managing to open it.

"Really Kairi, I want you. I want you and me to go out tonight, what do you say?"

"No. Same answer as last time, and the time before that, and the time before that."

He stood up straight and moved a bit closer to her. "It's only a matter of time before you give in to your desires, so why don't you just stop resisting me and accept it now? It would make things a whole lot more fun for the both of us."

Pulling her full bag out of her locker she slammed it shut with a loud bang!

"This is why I don't like you!" She said angrily, shooting daggers at him, "You're the most arrogant and annoying person I know. You're rude, a complete and total jerk and you aren't even nice. I can count on one hand the number of times you've actually been nice to me, and we've known each other for almost two years! You just won't leave me alone. Can't you take a hint or brutally honesty? I don't want to date you, I never will date you, so just give it up already and leave me alone!" She nearly yelled the last part before slinging her bag over her shoulder, storming off towards the front doors of the school. She hadn't looked back to see the hurt expression on his face before he quickly hid it and stood up. He glanced around at the surrounding students, who had been looking on in interest.

"She wants me."

--

"Mom, I'm home." Kairi yelled into the small home.

Their house was small but very cozy. They had an entry way that led to the left and the right with a staircase in between that lead to the second floor where her mother's room and another bathroom was. To the left was the living room where they had a couch and a T.V. with dozens of little knickknacks all over the place. To the right was the downstairs bathroom, her room and the kitchen.

They lived on a vastly different island other than the mainland where Kairi went to school. It was really the only other inhabited island of Destiny Islands. Most of the other islands were bought by resorts or run by fishing companies. The mainland is were most of the rich people lived. It was fast paced and very populated. It had the fancy restaurants the good shopping malls, the flashing lights… anything you wanted to do for fun, you could find there. The island they lived on was by far less populated and was mostly inhabited by the working class. It was a very friendly place where nearly everyone knew one another. It had a local restaurant, bar, bowling alley, grocery store, ice cream shop and a few other knickknacks stores. It also had the best beaches out of all of the islands in the area. Kairi sometimes wished she lived on the mainland but the thought always vanished the second she stepped foot on this island. She wouldn't trade it for the world.

"Kairi? I'm in the kitchen hon."

Kairi lugged her heavy book bag into the kitchen, resting it on her doorway.

"How was your day?" Kairi's mother, Jayna asked. She was sitting at the kitchen table cutting out coupons from a newspaper.

Jayna was extremely beautiful, it was obvious Kairi got her looks from her. She too had flowing red hair that reached just past her shoulder blades. She had chocolate brown eyes that held warmth and excitement. Her mother was never one to be bored. She had a pretty simple life but she made it exciting.

Jayna was younger than most mothers Kairi's friends had, she was thirty four. She had gotten pregnant with Kairi when she was seventeen and raised her all by herself. Her dad, Reks, was never really a big part of her life. He had proposed to Jayna when she had told him she was pregnant but she had refused… she wouldn't marry someone just because it was the "right thing" to do. She wanted to be with someone she loved and even though she had cared about Reks, Jayna knew she didn't love him and had taken Kairi and moved to Destiny Islands to raise her by herself. It was hard but the bond that had been formed between Kairi and Jayna because only the two of them lived together was unbreakable. Jayna was Kairi's best friend and vise versa.

As for Kairi's relationship with her father… She had always hoped that one day he'd actually come around instead of just calling on holidays, sending presents and seeing her only a few times a year. But, that would never happen now. Kairi's dad had gone into a coma a few years ago and the doctor's figured he'd most likely never wake up. She regretted never having that close relationship with her father but she didn't really like to think about it much. She had her mom. That's all she ever really had and as much as she loved her dad, her mom was all she needed.

"Awful."

"Aw why's that?" Jayna asked, putting down the scissors and looking at her daughter questioningly.

"Sora."

"Ah." Her mother said knowingly. She had been told all about Sora Daniels, the boy who just wouldn't stop annoying her daughter. "What'd he do now?"

"Nothing specific." Kairi said, grabbing a drink from the fridge before sitting again, "Just being him. He won't stop asking me out."

"Honey, have you ever thought that this boy might actually like you?"

"Trust me mom, he doesn't." She took a long swig from the glass before melting into the chair, all of the stress from today slowly seeping out of her. "I'm just a game to him. A joke with his buddies. We're too different for him to really like me. He's rich, popular, a jock, arrogant, not the nicest to people and dates girls who are easy, not the brightest, or preppy. Ones that fall at his feet. And me? I'm well, more quiet… and shy. We don't drive fancy cars, I couldn't play a sport for the life of me and well, I know I'm way nicer than he is that's for sure. I love studying and reading, he likes messing around. We're polar opposites."

"Well you know what they say, opposites attract."

"Mom…" Kairi whined, letting her head fall to the table with a loud thump.

"Okay okay." Jayna said, getting up from her chair. She pulled at her daughter's arm, forcing her to get up. "I know what'll make you feel tons better."

"What's that?" She asked, yawning loudly and stretching, hearing a few bones crack.

Her mother winced at the noise. "Let's go to Topher's."

Kairi quickly turned to her mother and gave her a wide grin.

"Let's go."

--

Author's Note: Like it? Hate it? Tell me what you think. Hope you enjoyed the chapter, I'll update again soon! Remember to review!