Catcher of the Heart

Thank you for all the reviews on my other stories! Hope y'all like this one, it's pretty short, but only because I'm trying to work on the next chapter of Flame on Hold :)

Dawn had fallen many times in her life. Figuratively and literally, and seemingly always with the same result. All of the different boys she'd had crushes on formed a colorful rainbow of memories for the moonchild, some fond, others, not very.

First was Eric, the blonde, green-eyed boy that lived at the end of Dawn's street when she was eight. He was simply perfect in Dawn's young eyes, good at sports, the best speller in class... He ignored her for the most part, instead of picking on her like all the other kids. As the first crush, everything about him was idolized, even some of the things that shouldn't have been.

But the Moonchild grew out of that love when she discovered Eric killed spiders for the popular girls because he was sooo brave.

Then there was Tomas, her first pre-teen crush. He was a sk8r this time, black dyed hair and skateboard. She remembered vaguley she liked him because he used hemp prducts religiously and his skateboard was made from a tree that had died instead of cutting down a living one. They never spoke, but Dawn watched him religiously from afar.

The fantasy was shattered when she discovered he used hairspray out the wazoo. That was probably why there was a gapping hole in the ozone layer.

Afterwards was Kyle. He was the only hippie she ever liked, because he wasn't just a tree-hugger, but also an animal worshipper. For two years the two hung out, until Kyle deemed her unworthy of 'the cause' and said she probably loved the establishment more. That was the first time Dawn raised her voice in anger.

Adding insult to injury, Dawn saw him go to the only Burger hut in town that didn't have vegetartian meals. He stayed in there an awful long time, more time than necessary to protest them. She couldn't help but notice the big bag of trash he threw away too, instead of recycling.

And in highschool, Gregory. Amazing hipster Gregory, the darling of the art teachers and her first boyfriend. Five mostly-happy months, then two more of hell. Gregory was a little too fond of partying. And weed. And telling Dawn how worthless she was in comparison to him

And last, but not least, Scott. Pushy, angry, bitter Scott, who stroked her hair and beat the living shit out of anyone who dared to tell her she was worth anything but her weight in gold. the red-haired, frosty-eyed boy who cheated her out of Total Drama revenge of the Island, and loved her from the very start in secret.

She wondered how Scott was doing at his work. It was the first time in nearly two weeks that he hadn't pulled over-time. He would be home soon, and they would go into their two-story blue and white house, eat their dinner, maybe watch a movie and go to bed, only to do it all over again the next day and the day after that and so on...

They were lucky Scott managed to procure a job as a bartender, and for almost two weeks, at that. All the other jobs he'd gotten fired from over a disagreement of ethics, or he didn't like the boss, or one of the co-workers said something about Dawn behind his back. Either way, this was the first job he'd gotten in awhile that tolerated his big mouth. It may have been something problematic at times, but it was truely something Dawn admired about him. Yes, she had fallen many times. But this one was hands down the farthest than she'd ever fallen for someone, the depth of which could never be measured.

Sure, he didn't know how to talk to animals or read auras, or even let her read his aura. He never remembered to recycle unless she reminded him, he always bought the polyester socks instead of the hemp, and he snored like a bear when he slept. But then, he always bought her supplies to care for the many stray animals that found their way into their home. He would pick through every piece of garbage in the can to find the one recylcable piece. He always made the polyester last as long as he could so that he wouldn't have to buy more for a long time. And he never went to bed without first kissing her very sincerely.

Yes, Scott was anything but perfect, but... At least he was there to catch her when she leapt