- prologue -
She was soaking wet from the rain, and she knew she'd be sick tomorrow if she stayed outside for any longer.
She stood still.
"Arceus," she said, forcing the word out through gritted teeth. "Can't you just leave me alone?"
He was equally soaked, but he stood his ground, just like her. The deluge of rain was the only sound that she could hear.
"I won't," he replied. "I never will."
She sank to her knees, cradling her head in her hands. "Arceus," she said again, whispering this time. "You're making this so much harder than it has to be."
"I'm going out with Lucas tonight," said Dawn. She was seated at the little vanity she'd brought all the way from her mansion in Sinnoh. May watched idly as she expertly applied mascara – she used to ask her where'd she learned to do that, and Dawn would always reply that she learned it all from an online idol, Cynthia – "I swear to Arceus, May, the way that woman applies eyeshadow is practically pornographic."
"Don't you want to come?" Dawn asked, setting the brush down. She turned to May, briefly, before looking back at the mirror. "Drew might be there, you know."
"No," said May. "I need to finish my History essay. And why mention Drew in the first place?"
"Plenty of reasons," replied Dawn, moving onto eyeshadow (dusky layers, like Cynthia always did). "Mostly because we all know that Drew likes staring down your shirt whenever he can get the chance."
"Gross."
It was a Saturday night, and May was probably the only one staying in their dorm that night. She and Dawn were probably the only ones still in the dorm at all. But it was just as well. She'd probably complain all night if Dawn brought her anywhere inhabited by more than ten people ("I swear to Mew, Dawn, nothing in this whole Arceus-forsaken establishment is hygienic. Nothing.")
"Do you like Drew?" asked Dawn. She turned again in her seat to look at May. She was wearing a little white dress, navy blue tights, and black leather boots. The tights were actually May's, but she'd loaned them to Dawn for the night under pressure of… actually, she'd loaned them to Dawn because she didn't really care.
"Not particularly," said May, returning to her phone. She was texting Brendan, her friend from home. Unlike her, he hadn't chosen to attend the Rustboro Academy. He had chosen to attend the highly prestigious Mossdeep Institute instead.
"I see," said Dawn, turning back to the little vanity. "The rich bad boy type isn't for you, huh? I guess that you're more for the intellectual, I'm-going-to-do-so-much-with-my-life types."
"Brendan is just a friend," insisted May. For the second time that day. The eleventh time that week. Probably the hundredth or so time that month…
"Sure he is," giggled Dawn. May could see her smiling from her reflection in the mirror. "You know Lucas is my childhood friend too, right? That never meant that I'd write him off as a potential boyfriend."
"That's different," said May dismissively.
"How so?"
"Because… you and Lucas are you and Lucas, but me and Brendan are… me and Brendan." And that was the only way May could think to explain it.
"Mm-hmm," said Dawn, clearly unconvinced. "If that's the case, what's wrong with Drew, then? He may tend to look down your shirt a lot, but he's really a nice guy. He isn't the most eligible guy at Rustboro for nothing."
May rolled her eyes. Drew liked to call himself the George Clooney of Rustboro Academy. (You can wait all you want for an Amal, but you ain't getting her, May thought morbidly). "One, I'm pretty sure he doesn't really like me," she said, holding up her right hand to count on her fingers. "He looks down pretty much every girl's shirt whenever he can."
"Okay, I accept that," sighed Dawn, rolling her eyes. "I've caught him looking down mine, too."
"Double gross," said May. "Anyways. Where was I…? Oh, right. Two. Unlike you, Miss Everyone-Wants-To-Date-Me, I'm not really up to looking for a boyfriend. I'm pretty cool with being single right now."
"Wanting to focus on studies, not wanting the hassle of looking good for a guy, et cetera?" Dawn giggled. She finished with her make-up and stood up.
"Among other things…" Really, May had a whole list of them.
"Arceus, May, you're already a sophomore," Dawn sighed, straightening her dress in front of the mirror. "You're the only girl who didn't go out witih a guy on Valentine's Day last freshman year."
"Mm-hmm," said May. Truth be told, it wasn't because no one had asked her. Drew had asked her, first off, to go grab a coffee. And May would have gone, because she loved lattes, but knew if she went, Drew wouldn't stop pestering her afterwards to go out with him.
There was this boy, Wally, who May shared her History class with. She'd never even really spoken to him before that, but she'd felt really bad about turning him down because he seemed like a nice guy. He didn't seem that disappointed though, because he smiled and asked if maybe she'd want to study with him sometimes instead. May seriously considered it then, since Wally had been getting the highest marks in History, but decided to say no because she totally didn't want to feel like she was exploiting him.
Even Barry had asked her out. Barry was Dawn's other childhood friend. May didn't have any classes with him, but had hung out with him at times with Dawn and Lucas. To Barry's credit though, he didn't ask her out with the intention of dating her seriously. He clearly stated that he only asked her out because he was tired of being third wheel when he hung out with Dawn and Lucas (something May could relate to). He took it in stride when May politely turned him down.
"I don't care…" said May, and she really didn't. She could see the appeal of having a boyfriend (vaguely, blurry), but didn't really want or need any of those benefits.
"So you say," sang Dawn. "But someone'll knock you off your high horse some time."
"When they come, you'll be there to say 'I told you so.'"
"That I definitely will," giggled Dawn. She twirled around, her skirt flying up around her. "Do I look okay?"
"Do you need to ask me every time you go out? You know Lucas won't think you're anything less than gorgeous."
"You're supposed to say that I look pretty in my dress, and that you're glad you loaned me your tights," said Dawn, placing her hands on her hips. "But I guess that works, too."
"Off with you," said May, turning back to her phone. Brendan had sent her a selfie. It showed him in a really scientific looking lab, with three other guys behind him, smiling. Brendan was the only one without glasses. Meet my crew, read the accompanying caption.
"'Kay," said Dawn, looking one last time in the mirror. "Shall I bring you back a souvenir? Maybe a nice guy who'swilling to put up with your solitary needs? Or a Drew, perhaps?"
"Oh, shut up."
Dawn giggled. "Bye-bye, Atalanta!"
"I bet you don't even really get that reference, do you?" called May.
"Doesn't matter!" Dawn answered back, and she left, giggling.
May sighed. Just then, her phone beeped. It was a message from… Drew, of all people.
Hey u shud come over to archens! all ur sorority sisters r here
May stared at the screen.
She didn't know if Drew was just drunk out of his mind, or if this was a missend. She wasn't part of any sorority (Dawn was, but May could never really remember which one it was… the Lake… the Lake something). And she'd never been to Archen's (a bar which never checked for your ID).
Her thoughts were confirmed when Drew sent a follow-up text.
whoops wrong number. Meant to send that 2 maylene sorry bae
May decided to reply. Just to spite him.
This is May. Where exactly do you get off calling me bae?
She sent it, then waited.
After a few minutes, May assumed that Drew had drunk himself into a drunken stupor and was probably not replying. So, she got off the bed, and started fixing up the closet she shared with Dawn. Dawn had totally messed the whole thing up, looking for clothes to borrow from May (which May didn't get, because Dawn was the only daughter of Frederick Berlitz, a distant descendant of a Sinnoh royal family, and probably had a way better wardrobe that May). May hated things messy – like Drew's neon green hair or Brendan's room.
Once she was done with that, she ended up with nothing to do. She'd lied to Dawn – she was done with her History essay, had done it on the day it was assigned. Partly because she really had a system of trying to do homework as soon as it was given, and partly because Wally had helped her on it (which was totally only because she asked him offhandedly and not because she planned to exploit him or anything).
Bored out of her mind, she lay down on her bed and looked up at the ceiling. It had originally been painted white, but she and Dawn had put up dark blue papering (non-permanent) and had put glow-in-the-dark stars up on it, to mimic a night sky. Since they'd put up so many stars, and they were so small, sometimes it really felt like they were sleeping under the stars. May knew that they'd put up two hundred and thirty-nine stars in all, because she knew how many stars there were in each pack and had counted how many were left, but she liked to stare and count the stars whenever she couldn't sleep.
Her thought process was interrupted when her phone beeped. She checked and found a new message from Drew.
i just assumed we're dating already bae
May rolled her eyes. She regretted not being able to delete her number from Drew's registry. She hadn't even given him her number. Dawn had.
Well, we're not.
Her phone beeped immediately, but May thought that the time that had elapsed wasn't enough for Drew to have typed a coherent response. She was right. It was from Barry.
Whyyyy didn't you come with Dawn, it's just the three of us here. I thought we made a pact 2 be third wheel together
May laughed out loud. She typed a quick reply.
I have a History essay to finish.
His reply made her laugh even harder.
No you don't. Wally told me that he helped you with it and that you're done. You just don't want to be third wheel with me don't you
Before she could answer, a message came from Drew.
Yes we are
Author's Note: I'm starting a series. Arceus help me. (also, fuck my retarded ending)
History:
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published July 26, 2015
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edited July 26, 2015
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This is supposed to be Steven/May (not a spoiler, I mean, Arceus, look, they're the two people in the tags and this thing is fucking tagged as Romance), but when I was writing the part where Drew and Wally and finally Barry asked May out, I started to ship Barry/May. GAIS
SHIP
HAS
SAILED
Hahaha no seriously I don't even know but I ship them I probably won't let them get together in this story but I probably might write one for the two of them even though Steven/May is my OFTP (One Fucking True Pairing) and Barry/Dawn is one of my fave pairings hahaha what is wrong with me I'm dong this to myself.
Oh, look. A story that's not about fairy tail. I can finally type a different disclaimer.
Disclaimer: pokemon is not mine. not until I save up all my allowance for like a thousand more years.
