Author's Note: Here you have it guys! A completely new story from me. It's a high school based one, but it's not going to be cliche—I promise. I just wanted to revive the CS fandom a little bit with a brand new story. Hope you guys will like it!)


When . it . Rains

(c) SuzieQuakes, 2012


"You made yourself a bed at the bottom of the blackest hole. And you'll sleep till May and you'll say that you don't wanna see the sun anymore."


one.


There are some things that people never expect to happen in their lives. As the saying goes, "Expect the unexpected". To everybody around me, the words 'normal', 'average' and 'nothing out of the ordinary' would come to their minds when asked to describe me. And that was exactly what I was. I was a normal girl with normal friends. I grew up in a small town, I went to my local high school and I wasn't the most popular girl nor was I a loner. I was placed amongst the latter half of the social hierarchy and I frankly didn't care.

I went to school, I had fun with my friends, I got average grades and I tried to get by through each and every passing day without running into any trouble. All in all, I was your average girl-next-door.

I had grown up reading fairytales. My mother came into my room every night when I was little, the thick pink book grasped in her hands and told me tales about princesses in towers, frogs that turned into the most handsome princes, roaring dragons that roamed the thick nights, and the most beautiful palaces and castles that the gold-hearted princesses would end up in. I listened to the stories repeatedly with shining eyes and I believed in them.

I believed in the fairytale endings and I held the thought that no matter how hard life chose to afflict a person, no matter the hardships—if their heart is pure, they would get what the wanted in the end. And of course, with the fairytales came the image of "Prince Charming" embedded in my mind. I had spent summer days, sprawled on my front porch, imagining how he would look like. He would have dazzling eyes and an amazing smile. He would protect me and be there for me and most importantly—he would love me.

And I vowed that until that sort of person came into my life, I wouldn't go out with just anybody.

Of course, I never had even dreamed about falling in love with him. He was somebody that I would have never gave a second thought to if I passed him on the street. He was the prime example of a guy that didn't really fit into any of my criterions. If somebody had told me that I would have gone through so much for somebody like him and fall so hard, I would have laughed in their faces and labeled them insane. How was that even possible, right?

But I did fall.

And I fell hard.


"So, class!" Mrs. Hartford spun on her black stumpy heels to face us, her AP English class. It was sort of like her 'catchphrase' if it could be called one. She would exclaim the words and spin on those heels of hers almost every five minutes, even if she didn't have much to say. However, this time she did have an announcement for us. Her auburn bangs fell into her light green eyes as she glanced over each one of her students. "This is a project that will be adding forty percent to your average grades! And since all of you are in your Junior year, I am sure you are well aware that your grades count very much towards your college transcripts!"

I sighed to myself and buried my head beneath the arms of my black, long-sleeved shirt. I had heard that coming from teachers only about a billion times this past couple of weeks. It had only been two weeks since school had started and teachers were crazy on our backs, demanding for assignments, homework and projects with that constant threat that it counted towards our college transcripts. Honestly, how much more pressure could we take? I sighed again and played with the eraser tip of my pencil, very much uninterested.

"This is an author project! It goes without saying that authors are the voices of the books they write, they represent and symbolize their works and ideas in many ways!" She paused long enough to look at us again. I peeked my eye out through my sleeves to glance around at my class. Sure enough, there were people gazing out the window, doodling in their notebooks, staring blankly into the air, tapping their pencils against the metal tables—all totally bored.

"Each one of you will be working in pairs . . ." There was a little bit of life stirred back into us, as the students raised their heads a little at the sound of 'pairs'. I tilted my chin up out of my sleeves just a little bit, thinking of which friend I should work with, before Mrs. Hartford dropped the bomb. "That I have chosen for you . . ." She stressed the 'I' long enough so that the life that had just stirred up in all of us died down with a few mumbles and groans. "The pairs will be working on designing a poster that will cover everything about the given author and their relationship to their works."

I raised my head out of my arms and sighed for a third time. I really wished that I wouldn't get paired up with somebody that I didn't know. My class was filled with people that I wouldn't like to work with because I didn't have a clue about their personalities.

"So class!" She spun on her heels once more towards her desk to grab a sheet of paper. "You will be paired up with people that you don't normally work with, as another point of the project is to improve your socializing skills."

I groaned a little. So there was the answers to my prayers. Great. I straightened myself up and blew on my chocolate brown side-fringe that fell over the side of my forehead. Looking around the room (so I could prepare myself for the worse), I was greeted by a smiling pair of eyes. I could feel myself groan again. Gary Oak. I had grown up with him, unfortunately. He used to live across the street and was a nice ki until he grew five inches taller and got himself a six-pack. After that, he was known throughout Petalburg High as the player. He wanted to get into the pants of anything in a skirt—unfortunately I was not excluded from that list.

Everybody also told me that he had a huge crush on m but that was probably only because he knew I was never going to fall for his charms and tricks and he could very well kiss his hopes of sleeping with every girl in school goodbye. I tried not to change our years long worth of friendship, I really did. But he was far too irritating and I couldn't help that he ruined it. I could tell that he was hoping to be paired up with me.

I sure didn't.

"So class!" Mrs. Hartford clapped her hands. "I think that's enough info on this project. Here are the pairs." She held that piece of paper in her hands and read off of it. "Gary Oak and Jennifer Reeds will be working on Ian McEwan." So that was something I didn't have to worry about anymore. I just wished that I would get someone goo Someone nice . . .

"Danielle Harlow and Marina Stevens will be working on Charles Dickens, Dustin Vashel and Brianna Lopez will be working on George Orwell . . ." Mrs. Hartford continued reading off the names without pausing. "Natalie Dane and Veronica Gates will be working on Jane Austen, May Maple and Drew Hayden will be working on Lurlene McDaniel . . ."

I quirked a brow. Drew Hayden? All right, so there goes my hopes of working with somebody that I knew. I had heard the name around in school, but I didn't have the chance to actually know him. I didn't think anybody really did, except for his 'clique'.

I looked around to find him, only to gasp at a pair of deep emerald eyes staring through me. He had matching chartreuse hair that fell over his right eye. Oh. So that was Drew Hayden. I knew who he was by face. He was a "skater" and part of that clique that idolized skating and nothing but. I was a little bit surprise to see him in the AP English class, with the image that he and his friends gave out like they were far too superior to care about classes and grades.

Looking at him, I started to remember more about him. Of course. He was the top skater at Petalburg High and was known for his 'bad-boy-hotness' or so that appeals to some girls. Apparently, he had turned down every single girl that got too close to him. So this was the guy that I was going to spend two weeks with, working on Lurlene McDaniel—the romance novelist.

Just great.

Just after Mrs. Hartford had finished announcing the pairs and the author that they were going to work on, the bell rang. Everyone scrambled up, grabbing their books and rushing out of class. Some pairs, I saw, were already discussing about when they would meet up to work on this. I decided that since I desperately needed a good grade in English—I would have to work hard on this project, no matter what. Even if that meant chasing up my partner who probably wanted nothing to do with this.

I grabbed my books in a hurry, ran a finger through my straight dark hair that fell to my chest and then jogged to my partner, clad in a black spotted hoodie and jeans, as he started to walk towards the door. He was obviously playing with his phone, his fingers rapidly going across the buttons and I was just about to get to him when somebody got in my way.

"Aw! It was a shame that I couldn't work with you, May!"

I sighed and gritted my teeth as I kept my eyes on the retreating figure. God, I was going to lose him and I knew it. "Yeah, Gary." I said impatiently. Just my luck that Gary would harass me at this moment. "But I'm sure Jenny would be just fine to work with."

He grinned as he revealed his pearly white teeth. His spiky brunette-ash hair bobbed a little. "I'd have rather prefer you."

"Yeah, well, things don't work out the way we want them to." I told him and pushed him out of the way. If I didn't handle things my own way, I would never have the chance to catch up with Drew Hayden and at least talk to him about working together on our project. I definitely wanted a good grade and I wasn't too keen on doing all the work myself either. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go and catch up with my partner."

Gary raised his brow before scoffing like I was some sort of an idiot. "That dude? Oh May, are you that dense? He's a skater, you'd be lucky if this project is even the last thing on his mind at the moment. He doesn't care about some silly project. You'll have to do the whole thing by yourself." Then he grinned, as if this was some sort of good news. "Of course, I'll be there to help you."

I sighed and tried my hardest not to gag. "Sure, Gary. Whatever. I'll catch up with you later. See ya."

Before he could say another word, I stepped passed him and rushed out of the classroom. I really had to catch up with my partner. My eyes scanned the busy hallway, desperately looking for that sight of the black hoodie. Oh come o where'd you disappear off to?

"Hey May!"

I shook my head slowly as I turned away. He was nowhere to be seen. Awesome. My best friend, Dawn Berlitz met my gaze. She looked curiously at me with her big, cerulean blue eyes and bobbed her equally blue head. "What are you doing?"

"Huh?" escaped my dry mouth. "Oh, were you the one that called out to me?"

Dawn gave me a look as she nodded. I must've looked like a total idiot, I realized. I was so caught up in finding Drew that I didn't even hear Dawn's cry. "Yeah, that was me. What's wrong? Who are you looking for?"

"Oh, uh, I was just looking for Dre Drew Hayden."

"Drew Hayden?" Dawn repeated as she arched her brow further. "Why in the world are you looking for him?"

"I was paired up with him to work on an English project." I explained to her as we both started to walk towards our next classes. I wasn't surprised that she was shocked at me looking for Drew. He and I didn't really have a chance of crossing paths, ever.

"Oh, you unlucky duck." Dawn said sympathetically before patting my hand. "You just had to be paired up with a person so heartless."

"What?" I questioned as I looked at her with a curious expression on my face. I really didn't know what she was talking about because I had never really known Drew at all. "Heartless?"

Dawn nodded, her side ponytail swinging up and down. "You don't know this?" She asked, as if I were the most outdated person in the universe. "He's known for rejecting every girl that ever tries to get close to him. The entire school knows that he's very complicated. His life is, actually. His dad walked out on the family, his sister, Angie—she used to go to our school—got really depressed about it and killed herself and his mom is actually on drug At least that's what I hear."

I blinked as I tried to take in what Dawn just told me. That was possibly one of the most dramatic and saddest life stories that I had ever heard. If that was actually true, he was actually such a deep person who had gone through so much and is still probably going through a lot. "How do you know these things?" I murmured and Dawn smiled.

"The whole school knows, May." She told me. "I don't know where you've been all along. Anyway, all I have to say is good luck. I guess being paired up with Gary would be even better."

I looked down at my feet as we walked into the Biology classroom. I wondered what would happen . . .


Once school had ended, I made the decision to look for him again. I knew that he would probably be at the local skatepark with his friends so the moment the bell rang, I said my byes to my friends and rushed down the front steps of PHS. The skatepark was only a few blocks away from school anyway and I didn't have my car with me that day because Dawn had picked me up in the morning. I had told her to go on home without me so I would probably have to take a bus home. It was okay.

I didn't really know why I wanted to find him that much, I guess I was interested in him actually. I didn't know what I was going to say once I got there or anything, but I just felt drawn to get to him.

I soon arrived at the skatepark in a few minutes and folding my arms across my chest, made my way inside as the wind played with my hair. It wasn't long before I spotted Drew. He was on a skateboard, whizzing across the slopes. He was shirtless, his green hair was flying across his face and I saw his crystal green eyes flash across. I couldn't stop looking as he flipped and whizzed and did his thing. This guy was seriously an amazing skater.

There was bunch of guys and a girl that were clutching their own skateboards and they hooted and laughed as he walked back towards them. They were his friends—part of his clique. He smirked at them as he inserted the tips of his left fingers into the pocket of his jeans. His other hand was clad with a black fingerless glove and his black Converse pinned the skateboard to the ground.

I guess I had finally found him and I couldn't just hide behind a tree. I took a deep breath as I started to walk towards him.

"Hi."

I suddenly felt everyone's eyes on me and Drew Hayden turned around slowly. His ice-cold eyes pierced through my blue ones. He looked me over and arched a brow, the same smirk playing on his lips.

"Um, I'm May Maple." I stuttered as I introduced myself. I didn't think I had ever felt any stupider than I did then, standing in front of people I didn't even know and introducing myself. My heart started to beat loudly in its cage and my lips ran dry. "I don't know if you remember or not, But I'm paired up with you to work on an English project."

The group sniggered a little and I felt even more stupid. I glanced at them with a blush gradually making its way towards my cheeks. His clique consisted of three guys and a skinny girl. The guys were all pretty good-looking. One had blond hair with black highlights that fell across his face, another was black-haired and the third one was a brunette with green highlights. The girl was red-haired. She was quite pretty, skinny and also had a skateboard.

I looked back at Drew. "Oh yeah?" He asked in a gruff voice as he got out a pack of cigarettes and lighted one up, clutching the little white stick between his pearly teeth. He inhaled deeply and then let out a puff of smoke, before smirking at me again. "And what can I do for ya?"

I coughed a little. I was a little bit allergic to cigarette smoke, but I didn't tell him that. Instead, I tried my best to clear my watery eyes and speak clearly. "Since I want to get a good grade for this . . ." I trailed off and took a deep breath. "I wanted to know when we can work on this together."

Drew snickered before taking another breath of his cigarette as if he was dying for the fumes that it released. "All right, I think we should get this clear, Mary He took another puff of cigarette. "I don't really give a crap about any English project."

"It's May." I began before shaking my head and knowing it was better not to correct him anyway. "Look, it's okay—you don't have to do much."

He finished his cigarette and threw it to the ground, crushing it with his converse. "I don't have time for this." He shook his head and rolled his eyes. "If it's gonna get you out of here, then fine. We can possibly work on this at my place, tomorrow after school."

"Really?" I asked, hopefully and he shot me a look. It was better not to ask twice. "Thanks!"

Thunder grumbled and the whole group groaned. The sky began to darken as clouds made their way to block the sun. A few drops of rain started to drizzle down. This wasn't really anything new in Petalburg. It rained so spontaneously all the time. Drew glanced up at the clouds and stomped his foot on his skateboard. "Damn it!" He exclaimed and looked angrily at me. "Thanks a lot."

"Why? What's wrong?" I asked, completely unaware of what was happening.

"It's going to rain and we can't skate when it rains." The girl spoke up and her sea-green eyes flashed. "You just wasted ten minutes of our time to skate."

"Oh, well, I'm sorry . . ." I murmured and adjusted my bag on my shoulder. I guess they already hated me anyway and I just had to make things better for myself by 'wasting' their time. "I better get going. I have to catch a bus."

Drew practically shooed me off and I bit my lip as I turned around and made my way out of the park. By the time I reached outside, it was pouring. Thunder cackled and lightning flashed across the sky. It was a regular old storm, all right. I was soaked through and through, but I sighed and continued walking up the hill. The nearest bus-stop was a block away. Just my luck.

I trudged along the sidewalk, pausing every now and then to play with the puddles. My red Converses were getting soaked and muddy and my entire outfit clung to my body in a wet heap. I heard a car honk and I turned around to face the same electric green eyes that I was talking to, a few minutes ago. He was inside a clunky white car and looked me over. I stepped out of my way to move before he could drive by and splash all that mud onto me, but he was too quick for that. He drove by in whir, making all the mud fly up and splatter onto my face, my clothes, my hair . . .

"Hey! That was so not cool!"

The car stopped for a moment. I could feel the hesitance before it whirled and came back in reverse towards me. I looked at it, angrily as I tried to get the chunks of dirt off of my face and my outfit. I was literally a mess with mud everywhere. The rain falling from the sky helped a little to wash the mud off me but I still felt the stickiness clinging to me. Drew's car stopped beside me again and he rolled his eyes as he pushed the window down.

"Get in."

"What?" Over the rain and thunder, I wasn't sure that I heard him well.

"I said, get in!" Drew raised his voice as he opened the passenger side door with a kick of his feet. I didn't know what to do. Deciding that it was better than walking an extra block just to get home, I got inside and slammed the door shut. Once inside, it was just me and him. I was dripping and soaked and I was sure that I was making a mess on his car cushions. He deserved it anyway, I told myself. He was the one that practically splattered me with mud. I brushed my wet hair from my face and turned to look at him. His hair was matted down a little and he had on his black hoodie again.

"Well you certainly look like a train wreck." Drew commented with a snicker and I rolled my eyes, not saying anything back to him. To be honest, I didn't have the energy to reply back. He ignored my silence. "Where do you live?"

"You're taking me home?" I didn't even know why this question came out of my mouth. Of course, he was taking me home. Why else would I be in his car?

Drew, of course, made sure that I knew the question I asked was a dumb one. He smirked and flicked his hair away from his face. "Duh? I wouldn't be asking some girl where she lived otherwise."

"Why are you being such a jerk?" I couldn't take it anymore. I turned to look towards him in a huff. "I did nothing to you!"

"You wasted ten minutes of my skating time."

"Then why are you taking me home, anyway?" I demanded, turning back towards the window. I knew that I should probably be thankful at the fact that he was, seeing as how it was raining cats and dogs out there. I was sure to have caught pneumonia or something before I reached the bus stop. "I can go home with the bus, thanks."

"God, May—is everything that freaking hard with you?" Drew asked back with the same kind of anger in his voice. "I am taking you home—do you even know how long it's been that I even took a random girl home like that? Just tell me where you live!"

I felt some of my anger drain away. Dawn's words came back into my head as I remembered that he was probably telling the truth about not having taken any girl home in a while now. Reluctantly I twisted my wet hair in my fingers and gave him my address. "One forty one, Cherry Avenue."

I heard Drew scoff from beside me as he turned his engine on with a roar. "I'm not surprised." He said before murmuring something afterwards. It sounded a little like he said, "The richies." I really wasn't sure if he said that or why he would even say that.

"What did you say?" I asked and he shook his head as he started the car and drove up the hill.

"I just know someone who lives there, that's all."

I nodded and thought no more of the subject. I looked outside the window as the sidewalk passed by in a shadowy blur. The rain was getting harder by the minute. It was so much faster to be in a car, driving along the streets of Petalburg, Hoenn. It sure beat walking, that was for sure, despite how old his car was and how there were various sounds coming from the engine. Before I knew it, we were in front of my house.

"Thanks a lot, Drew." I turned towards him and smiled softly, saying his name to him for the first time. It sounded foreign against my lips. I guess even though he was a jerk, he still drove me home and I should be thankful for that. And I was. "I would've been soaked to the bone if it weren't for you."

He shrugged his shoulders, so eager to seem all nonchalant and 'whatever'. "I don't think anyone deserves to walk so far in the rain like this." He brushed back his green hair to the side with a smirk. "Even somebody like you." I was about to retort back when he continued speaking. "And. . . Well, there's another reason but that's just stupid."

I arched a brow. Another reason? "What is it?"

Drew bit his lower lip as he glanced out of the window. For the first time, he looked uncertain and unsure of himself. He looked like he was ripped away of his exterior haughty self. "You reminded me of my sister."

He said it so softly that I had to strain to catch his words over the rain. When I heard it, I couldn't help but feel so sorry for him. His sister—the one that Dawn had said had suicided. It really wasn't in my position to ask anything or say anything and so I just opened the car door softly. I swung my bag over my shoulder and stepped out into the rain. "Well bye . . ." I stepped onto the sidewalk and used my bag to cover my head although it was pointless. "And see you tomorrow?"

He nodded and started up the ignition to his car. He waited until I walked to the front porch of my house before starting to drive off the curb. I waved slightly as his car disappeared through the shadowy rain. I shivered a little as I walked up the porch steps and to the door of my house.

Things were starting to get interesting.


Author's Note: Review please!

-Suzie x