Hello there! QuartzClaw here!
I just felt like writing, so I sat down and did just that, and here is the end result. Completely random, unplanned, and written off the top of my head, like my previous random one-shots. I have no idea how this turned out. (Don't worry, though. I checked it over for grammar mistakes.)
Anyways, happy reading!
Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon in any way, shape or size! I don't own Pepsi either.
Tests, Texts, and the Chair
"Ohhhh, my head hurts!" May complained as she rubbed her temples with her fingers. It was Saturday morning, and she, along with her three other friends, was sitting at a table in the school library.
"That makes the two of us." Dawn agreed. "But we have to study. That biology exam in two days has a lot of stuff we need to cover."
"Can't we just convince Principal Cynthia to move this midterm exam to some other day? I don't think I can handle the pressure of it being so soon!" May slammed her face onto the table in front of her. She realized she shouldn't have done that when her nose began to sting. "Owww..."
"There, there." Dawn patted her back in a soothing way.
"Normally, I'd call you a procrastinator, May, but this time I'm gonna have to agree with you." Misty said, putting down the textbook she was holding. "There is way too much stuff, and I'm not even done reviewing it all. We need more time to prepare."
"There isn't anything we can do about it, so just continue studying." Leaf muttered, not looking up from her book. "Besides, all the other days have exams, so it's not like we can just move it to some other day."
"But... what if we can get it switched with some other test?" Dawn suggested thoughtfully.
"Yeah, like the history one! I mean it's boring and all, but it has way less stuff than biology!" Misty chimed in.
"But we're going to have to get the whole class to agree with this." Leaf said seriously. "That means we're going to have to track everyone down and get them to sign a petition or something."
"No problem!" Dawn proudly stood up. "I know my way around, and trust me, I can find out where everyone is in a jiffy!"
"And if someone disagrees, they're gonna have me to answer to!" Misty cracked her knuckles.
"Works for me!" May cheered.
"Okay, girls!" Leaf stood up, as did May and Misty. "If we wanna make this work, we gotta start now!"
"YEAH!" All four cheered together in determination, only to get a very angry "Ssh!" from an irritated librarian.
A few hours later, the girls met again at the library, finally having managed to get everyone's signature as agreement to their plan. Some classmates had been easy to find, like Paul, Drew, Gary and Ash (they just texted them to find out where they were), and there were some classmates studying in the library. Some had been much harder to track down, but Dawn managed to find them by asking others and using her own knowledge about them (she was very social, and knew a lot about nearly everyone). All that hard work paid off!
"So what do we do now?" May asked. "Do we just hand this over to Miss Cynthia?"
"That seems too easy..." Misty pointed out thoughtfully.
"Because it is." Leaf confirmed. "We are going to have to convince her verbally as well. Not only that, we are going to have to convince her well, and get her to agree with us on the first try. We only have one shot at this!"
"But how? Which one of us has a good chance to get her to agree with us?" Dawn asked worriedly. "We already wasted so much time getting everyone's signature, so we don't have as much time to study for biology. Which means this has to work. If not..."
"Then we're doomed." May finished her sentence miserably.
"So, who is the best person we can get to speak to Miss Cynthia who will guarantee success?" Misty's questioned hung in the silent air while everyone thought.
Suddenly, Leaf started snickering.
"I have a good idea who!" She grinned mysteriously as she pulled out her cell phone. The other three leaned over to get a good look at the screen as she started texting.
Paul, Drew, Gary and Ash were all gathered in Paul and Drew's dorm. The four of them were quietly studying, reading through their notes and textbooks. Well, it was mostly quiet, anyways. Ash kept noisily sipping his Pepsi drink while moaning and complaining about how he didn't get it, Gary was close to losing his temper as he kept telling Ash to be quiet, and Drew, who usually handled pressure very well, looked like he was about to lose it any second.
Paul, on the other hand, had somehow managed to block out all outside noise and distractions, and was completely absorbed in his textbook. He didn't look like he was stressed or under pressure. In fact, he appeared to be oddly relaxed. That crease that appeared by his eyebrow when he was stressed and in deep concentration was absent. Of course, there was a reason for his calm demeanour, and that was the armchair he was sitting on.
A few weeks ago, there had been a draw at the mall. There were five prizes, the first-place prize being a car, and the last-place one being a blanket. The guys had all registered their names for that draw, but Paul had been reluctant to. He had no interest in receiving something he didn't really need. Besides, the chances of any one of them getting a prize was one in a thousand. Drew, not wanting him to miss out, managed to persuade him to register his name anyways, and, out of the many other names that were also registered, Paul got third place.
His prize was an armchair, but it was not just any armchair. It's seat, back, and armrests were covered in a soft, comfy material. The shape, the size, everything about the chair guaranteed total satisfaction.
And Paul was satisfied. He accepted his prize, and even though he didn't say it, he thought it was perfect. It was very comfortable and relaxing, and when Paul showed that he, even in the smallest way, liked something, you knew it was something special.
It was an unspoken yet understood rule that the others were not allowed to sit in his chair. Paul hated it when others touched his stuff, and his friends didn't want to risk finding out what happened when they did. Gary was sour about the whole thing, though. It didn't seem fair to him that Paul, who didn't even want to enter that draw, ended up being the one to win something and then changed his mind about not wanting it.
And so, Paul, sitting comfortably in his stress-removing throne, was studying, when suddenly his cell phone signaled to him that he received a text.
He pulled it out and turned it on to see who was contacting him. It turned out to be Leaf. He was a bit confused as to why she wanted to talk to him when he had already signed her little petition.
From: Empress Randomness
hiya Paulie ol' buddy friend of mine! how are you? whatcha doing? if i had to guess, i'd say you were studying. AND sitting on that amazing chair of yours like the total BOSS you are! ;)
Paul rolled his eyes. The only reason she would be talking to him like this was if she had some kind of favour to ask of him. He began typing in a response.
From: Paul
What do you want?
From: Empress Randomness
i have this huge ginormous favour to ask of you
From: Paul
Oh, really? Never would have guessed (I'm being sarcastic, by the way). What do you want? I already signed your little thingy.
From: Empress Randomness
well, we still need someone to persuade Cynthia to agree with us, and you seem like the perfect candidate!
From: Paul
So, basically you want me to use the fact that she favours me for some strange, unknown reason to my advantage? Thanks but no thanks. I have better things to do than act like a teacher's pet.
From: Empress Randomness
like studying? (smirk) ;D
From: Paul
Bye
From: Empress Randomness
no, wait! pretty pwease? with a cherry on top? (cute lillipup eyes) pweeeeaaaaasssse?
PS. May and Dawn say they like your hair more than Drew's
From: Paul
Is that supposed to flatter me into giving in? Cuz it's not.
The next message was from May.
From: Red Bandana
i did NOT say that!
From: Empress Randomness
so are you saying you like Drew's hair better? (smirk)
From: Red Bandana
NO! i just never made any comment about anyone's hair!
Before anyone could respond, someone else joined their conversation.
From: Oak Tree
Hello everyone! not studying, huh? tsk tsk, Leafy. whatcha talking about?
Paul looked up to see that Gary had abandoned his notes for his cell phone. Drew was looking over his shoulder to see what the conversation was about. Meanwhile, Ash had not yet noticed what everyone else was doing, and was still struggling with his work.
From: Paul
May's opinion on my hair.
From: Oak Tree
oh ya! didn't she use to love your hair back in kindergarten?
From: Empress Randomness
huh, what? i only said that dawn and may said that b/c i was trying to show that everyone here wants to flatter paul into saying yes but may actually DID like paul's hair?!
From: Red Bandana
i was 5! you guys still remember that? D:
From: Empress Randomness
Haha! May looks so embarrassed!
From: Oak Tree
Leafy, you should know by now that flattery doesn't work on paul. May, how can i forget that? it was hilarious! drew used to get all jealous!
Paul briefly glanced up to catch sight of Drew immediately whipping out his cell phone and beginning to type.
From: Grasshead
i did NOT!
From: Oak Tree
oh ya u did! green with envy! (lol)
From: Sir Dense-a-lot
what's everyone talking about?
It seemed Ash had finally given up on his studying.
From: Oak Tree
drew's jealousy of paul's hair
From: Sir Dense-a-lot
drew's jealous of paul's hair? O_O i don't get it...
From: Grasshead
NO, I'm NOT jealous of anyone's hair.
A text from Misty suddenly popped up.
From: Water-Obsessed
hey, Leaf, if u were trying 2 show that we all wanted paul to say yes, why didn't u say that i apparently liked his hair 2? (just curious)
From: Empress Randomness
cuz u wouldn't talk about hair for the life of u. so he'd know i'm making it up
From: Water-Obsessed
makes sense
From: Paul
I already knew you were making it up. Besides, I know Dawn would never compliment my hair for the life of her.
The final friend joined the chat.
From: Troublesome
huh? why?
From: Paul
Grade 3. (cough- Sneezy-DeeDee -cough)
From: Troublesome
why u! how do u still even remember that?!
From: Empress Randomness
what happened in grade 3?
From: Troublesome
u don't have to know...
From: Paul
I still have the picture. (smirk)
From: Troublesome
be quiet! D:
From: Sir Dense-a-lot
so r u guys just talking to each other about hair?
From: Empress Randomness
no, we were actually asking paul a favour.
From: Oak Tree
u know, Leafy, i feel so hurt that i wasn't first on ur list for someone to ask for help.
From: Empress Randomness
well, u won't be of any help here, cuz ur not exactly in cynthia's good books
From: Oak Tree
so i take it that this favour requires paul acting like a teacher's pet?
From: Paul
Watch who you're making fun of. We're in the same room right now.
From: Oak Tree
O_O sorry, i forgot. point taken
From: Empress Randomness
we need paul to help us convince cynthia to move the bio exam. the petition won't be enough
From: Sir Dense-a-lot
YES paul, PLEASE! if we don't get that test moved, i'm dead!
From: Paul
Good. I'll have one less idiot to deal with.
From: Water-Obsessed
ouch. that's pretty harsh
From: Grasshead
No, but seriously, man. we NEED you to get this test moved.
From: Oak Tree
yah, i take back what i said about teacher's pet. this is for a good cause (saving my sanity)
From: Paul
I didn't know you were sane to begin with.
From: Oak Tree
dude, i'm serious!
From: Paul
You guys aren't going to leave me alone until I say yes, aren't you?
From: Empress Randomness
Yep, we'll keep bothering u all night if we have to!
From: Oak Tree
seconded
From: Grasshead
Uh huh
From: Paul
Fine.
Paul switched off his cell phone with a sigh and got up.
"Good luck!" Ash called after him as he walked out the door. The second the door closed behind him, Gary made a mad dive for the chair Paul had been sitting on.
"Now THIS is an armchair!" he commented as he sunk into its comfortableness. Ash looked horrified at Gary's daring, while Drew went pale.
"Dude, get off that thing! If Paul finds out you've been touching his stuff, you're dead! And I'm pretty sure you don't want a repeat of his revenge after that prank we pulled on him earlier." Drew reasoned.
"Like you said, if Paul finds out. Don't worry, he's not gonna know!" Gary assured him. "Besides, I know you want to, too. You're just too much of a coward to try it when he's not around. I mean, you're staying in the same dorm! You could easily sit on here at night when he's asleep. Man, I feel sleepy myself!"
"Still..." Drew trailed off. It was true he wanted to try out that chair since he first saw it, but this was a bad idea. He had already gotten on Paul's bad side once earlier in the year, when he pulled that prank on him with Gary and Ash. He was afraid he might get murdered if he did anything this time. But then again, he probably wasn't going to be back for a while. If he could just quickly...
"Move." he demanded, as he grabbed Gary to pull him off. Under normal circumstances, he would have failed to throw his friend off, but Gary was so tranquilized by the armchair's comfort at this point, that he didn't even attempt to fight back.
Drew fell onto the throne, and he immediately understood what Gary was talking about.
"This is even better than those expensive couches I have back home..." Drew commented, sounding like he was about to doze off.
"Okay, fine! My turn!" Despite being reluctant at first, Ash wanted a try too, so he, along with his Pepsi, made his way to Paul's chair. Drew got off to let Ash have a quick try.
Ash flopped down, and had the same reaction as the other two. But he made one mistake. As his arm relaxed, his grip on the bottle he was holding loosened, and its contents poured all over the side of the armchair, leaving a large, visible stain on it.
"ASH! What did you do?!" Gary shouted. Ash suddenly saw the damage he had done, and jumped up. He really got himself into trouble this time. Paul was going to be furious!
"We need to clean this up!" Drew said in a panicky voice. " If Paul comes back to find this..."
"Ashy-boy, that bio exam might not be the thing to cause your demise after all." Gary went after Drew to get paper towels. Ash was too afraid he might mess up even more if he tried to help, so he didn't follow their example.
Drew and Gary began rubbing the stain with wet paper towels. It was Drew who realized this was a mistake.
"Um, Gary?" he said nervously. "Is this chair supposed to lose colour?" Gary stopped what he was doing and looked horrified at the increased damage.
The stain was still mostly there, but now there were also large, faded patches joining it. Not only that, but tiny bits of paper towel were sticking to the material as well. Gary's eyes widened.
"We have to fix this! Drew, help me move this to the washroom! We need to get this cleaned up; paper towels aren't gonna work!" Gary ordered frantically.
"But trying to wash it is going to make it lose even more colour!" Drew argued. But Gary wasn't listening, so he just sighed and obeyed.
"Come on, Ashy-boy! Help us out!" Gary barked, and Ash cautiously grabbed hold of the armchair as well.
It was heavy! So heavy that while they were carrying it, Drew lost his grip and the armchair fell on its side with a loud thud.
"Uh oh..." Drew looked even more terrified when he heard something crack.
The boys looked at one another before quickly straightening the armchair. Now, its left side was covered in a large stain and faded patches, while its right side's armrest was clearly bent.
"We're doomed."
"Yup."
"Nice knowing you two."
"You know, since we're already pretty much dead, it can't hurt if I sit on it a while longer, right?" Ash reasoned, rubbing the back of his head.
"No way, Ashy-boy! You were the one who caused all this. If anyone gets to sit on it for the last few minutes of their life, it's me."
"And why not me?" Drew was indignant. "Ash was the one who made the stain, but you, Gary, were the one who suggested we sit on here in the first place!"
The three began fighting over who deserved to sit on it, and all three ended up jumping onto it at the same time. A loud crack was heard, and the already-bent armrest became even more bent, and clearly looked broken. It was at the moment that Paul decided to enter the dorm.
He froze when he saw the odd scene in front of him: his three friends were standing there guiltily, while his armchair...
"What... what did you guys do?!" Paul asked bewildered.
"Heh heh, funny story actually." Gary started nervously. "You see, it all started when-"
"I don't care!" Paul interrupted, clearly exasperated. "How did you guys even manage to do that?! I only left for, what,..." He looked at his watch. "... fifteen minutes, and...wait, why did I leave you guys alone with my chair for fifteen minutes?"
"To get Cynthia to switch the bio exam date." Ash reminded him. "So, how did it go?"
"Eh, she's too easy to manipulate." Paul shrugged. "Anyways, we're having our history exam on Monday instead now, which means I have to study, and that means I'll continue this later. Trust me, don't think you guys are getting off easy, because you won't like later."
Without another word, Paul grabbed his textbook, sat down onto a couch, and resumed his studying. The others just stared at him.
"Soooo... that was so worth it!" Dawn commented, stretching out her arms.
"See? I told you Paul would be the perfect person for the job!" Leaf was proud of her decision.
"He did it too easily, though." Misty grumbled. "She was practically agreeing with him before he even started!"
"I don't see how that's a bad thing." May pointed out.
"Well, we had to do so much work to get everyone's signature, but we could have just asked Paul in the first place and gotten her to say yes without doing all that!"
"Actually, we would have needed to show that it's not just our opinion he's stating, but everyone's." Leaf reasoned.
"Guys, don't we have to study?" Dawn got their attention. "I mean, we still have the history exam..."
"Yep-a-doodle-daisies; you're right! To the library!" Leaf cheered, and she along with her less-enthusiastic friends, went to their destination, to spend the next hours of their life studying.
Done! Just randomly written. So what did you think?
Normally, I would prefer my one-shots to be stand-alone stories. This one sort of is, but I just felt like putting some references in from my previous fanfics. You don't need to read them to know what's going on in this one-shot, but in case you're curious, the prank the guys mentioned is the one from my one-shot Pranking Paul, while the hair thing and 'Sneezy-DeeDee' are from When We Were Young. Just if you're curious.
Please review, and thanks for reading!
Bye bye! And have a smiling day! :)