*sigh* I finally get the time to write and I can't think of anything for The Reality Show. Well, I have plans for this story, so enjoy! Sorry for not writing in so long! I promise I'm not dead ;-;

Writing this, I realized how rusty I was. I'm sorry if this is boring.

Chapter 3 – Teen Troubles

The school bell rung signaling the end of the first day of school. Everyone got up quickly from their seats, having already packed at the warning bell. The teacher's dismissing command was obscured by the sound of chairs being pushed in and footsteps hurrying toward the door.

Restless, May and Dawn were one of the first to rush to the door, sitting next to each other because of last name.

"Whew! I thought the day would never end!" Dawn raked her fingers through her hair. "My hair's already messed up."

"Don't worry, Dawn! It looks fine." May chuckled seeing the bluenette fret. The two followed the crowd streaming out the big double doors. "Despite being new, I had a lot of fun! You really know a lot of people."

"I'm glad you like my friends so far! I might introduce you to the boys tomorrow." She winked, but then rolled her eyes. "You've already met Gary." She emphasized the spiky-haired boy's name. May laughed and Dawn smiled. "Well I have to go! I'm meeting Cynthia at the subway station."

"Sure thing! I'll see you tomorrow then!" May waved and skipped down the steps in front of the school. At the bicycle locks, she rummaged through her backpack for the key to the lock when a shadow fell upon her. She looked up to see the scowling boy from the lunchroom. As she took out her key and unlocked her bike, she decided to introduce herself although he was intimidating. With a smile, May said, "Hi! I'm May Maple. Are you biking home too?"

"No really?" The purple-haired boy coolly unlocked his own bike and mounted it, riding off.

May huffed, but got on her bike. She pushed on the pedal in the same direction down the street. Surprisingly, every turn he turned, she also turned. After about three or four turns, the boy stopped. His hair cast shadows on his face, making his scowl more frightening.

"Are you following me?"

May gulped a bit and stopped also. Standing up, she waved her arms in front of her. "Not at all! My home is just this way!" She sweatdropped at his intense stare.

After a few seconds he 'hmphed' and continued on his way. May biked timidly after him, but they stopped again at the inevitable red light.

"So… what's your name?" May asked.

Paul rolled his eyes and mumbled, "Great, another troublesome." He seemingly gave up because he answered, "Paul."

May waited a few seconds for a second name but nothing came. The light changed and they were on their way again.

As they were biking, she continued. "So… what Pokémon do you have? I have my best friend Blaziken and-"

At this Paul turned and glared. "What does it matter to you?" After that, he turned abruptly at the street corner.

May rode straight and huffed. Riding into her house's vicinity, she left her bike in the front yard and went straight to her room. That guy was so frustrating! After another moment of restlessness, she took her Pokéballs out into the backyard. There were many sounds of Pokémon battling, like it has always been ever since she moved here. She'd grown accustomed to the sound although sometimes the Pokémon in pain didn't help her concentration.

As she was about to take out her Pokémon however, she heard a familiar voice calling out battle moves. She ran to the fence separating her yard from the people behind hers and saw Paul ordering a huge Torterra and Electivire around. Torterra was in pretty bad shape and collapsed.

"Why are you so weak? After all of our training, you still haven't gotten any better." He took out his Pokeball to call back Torterra.

May felt fired up just watching him say harsh things to his Pokémon. How could he treat his Pokémon that way? More than that though, she felt angrier at her past self, thinking back to when she couldn't care less about Pokémon. She wanted to journey just for the travel and had swatted more than a couple of Pokémon along the way. Even before that, she had always ignored the Pokémon she saw as a child except if it was cute. Now, she couldn't imagine life without her Pokémon always there for her. She shook her head. That was in the past. She was definitely different now. She refocused as much of her anger as she could back on Paul, but in the end couldn't do it. Whatever. Paul could do whatever he wants. She was about to turn away but something made her stop.

Paul put the Pokeball back in his pocket, but then paused for a moment. He closed his eyes and furrowed his eyebrows a bit. Electivire watched his master curiously.

"Electivire, return." He then took out Torterra's Pokeball again. He looked at the two shiny red Pokéballs, seemingly deep in thought. "Th- thank you for your hard work," he stuttered, as if the words were foreign to him. He turned his face away quickly, shoved the Pokéballs in his pocket, and speedwalked into his house.

May had her eyes widened. She had never expected Paul to do what he just did. He just didn't seem like the type. Homework can wait. She had to go to the park and think. She walked to the park and let her Pokémon out.

"Have I ever been mean to you guys?" she asked when they all came out. Her Pokémon looked confused and shook their heads. "Okay, go play." Her Pokémon looked a bit worried, but played on the slides and swings of the Pokémon Park. May looked up at the clouds. Even though she was already fifteen, she still had not grown used to her teenage mood swings. She worried about the most trivial things sometimes.

"Having a hard time?"

May sighed. "Yup. Just thinking about how I used to treat Pokémon." From the corner of her eye, she recognized the orange hair to be Misty's.

"Well, I don't know what happened, but I know how you feel. I used to be- and still am- really afraid of bug Pokemon. Ash, had a Caterpie that wanted to be friends, and me being a ten-year old idiot hurt it's feelings by calling it disgusting and stuff like that. I still regret it now because I haven't had a chance to apologize since Ash released it to mate. Sometimes I just think about it."

"Wow. I guess we all have regrets, huh?"

"Yeah, but we should just look past them and move on. Today's way too good of a day to be talking about something like this. How was your first day of school?"

Glad for a change of subject, May replied cheerfully, "It was really fun! I'm looking forward to making a lot of new friends." She giggled, "Dawn said she'll introduce me to the guys tomorrow."

Misty grinned. "I don't know if you really want to meet them. A lot of them are a pain in the ass. Ash, the guy I mentioned earlier, is a huge idiot. Drew, resident royalty, is so arrogant I just want to slap him sometimes. Gary could give Drew a run for his money, but is a massive player, and Paul is just antisocial."

May laughed at her short descriptions of the guys. "Must be fun."

"Yeah, well you'll know when you meet them. Speaking of which, Paul also lives in this neighborhood. As far as I know, he bikes home as well. Sometimes we bike together, but it's always awkward. Have you seen him?"

May sweatdropped. "Yeah. He's actually my neighbor."

"Wow really? Have you guys talked?"

"Yeah, because I bike too, but I wouldn't call it talking exactly." They both laughed.

"As much as I would love to chat, I really have to go home. I have a stupid first day of school English report to write." Misty rolled her eyes and stood up.

"Well, I'm glad I only have a short contest introduction to practice."

"Lucky! Well I have to go now. I'll see you in school tomorrow."

"See you! Maybe we can bike home together tomorrow after school?"

"Sure. Bye!" Misty waved and walked on a dirt path to the west.

The sun was still high in the sky and May was glad she had time to come up with a contest routine for tomorrow. Her worries forgotten, she called, "Beautifly, come on! Let's make a new routine!"

Woah. That's a wrap for now. I had a huge surge of inspiration and wrote this all in one day. I'm sorry there's no Contestshipping yet, but Drew will probably appear next chapter! Thank you for reading. Please review!

P.S. I was reading all the reviews I've gotten over the time I've spent here at fanfiction, and I just want to say if any of you old reviewers are still there, I really appreciated your kind reviews! Although I didn't save up the previous version of this story, I really hope you like this new one better! I like to think I've improved, but I could be wrong. Thanks again (for the other stories too)! Wow, it's been over a year.

NSU: Second Life
Chapter 1: Mentors (temporary chapter name)

~SNIIIIVYYY