Hello everyone, and here is the next chapter as promised! Thanks for being so patient, and also thanks for all the reviews, follows, and favs.

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon in any way, shape or size!


Noodling Around

(Just finished) Grade Four

May (10), Paul (10), Drew (10), Gary (10), Leaf (10), Ash (10), Misty (10), Dawn (9)

Grade four had finally ended, and summer vacation had started. May thought it would only be fitting for her and her friends to celebrate the finish of their toughest year yet. So, in mid-June, she arranged a small get-together at her house. Naturally, she invited her seven best friends: Ash, Dawn, Drew, Gary, Leaf, Misty, and Paul.

They spent the day hanging out, relaxing, recalling the highlights of the year, and playing some games. Eventually, it was time to eat.

"We ordered something really special for lunch." May promised. "And lots of it. I know everyone's gonna love it!"

"Cake?" Ash guessed hopefully.

"No, Paul doesn't like cake." Gary pointed out.

"It's not cake, but it's just as good!" May led them to the dining room where her mother was setting down the last plate. There were eight seats, four on each side of the table. In the middle of the table, there was a large bowl of...

"NOODLES!" May revealed excitedly. "Isn't that the best, or what!"

The others didn't react the same way she did. They knew noodles were May's favourite food, so it was no surprise.

"If you say so." Misty mumbled.

"Come on, everybody! Let's eat some noodles!" May quickly took her seat. The others followed her example, with the boys sitting on one side of the table and the girls on the other. May's mother filled everyone's bowl.

"You can have as much as you like." she told them. "I'll be in my room if you need me!" She left the eight kids by themselves as they began eating their meal with their chopsticks.

"What are you guys doing?!" May yelled out all of a sudden. Everyone looked at her confusedly.

"Umm, eating noodles?" Ash answered, sounding unsure of how he was expected to respond.

"That's not how you eat noodles!" May sounded irritated. "We aren't at some fancy restaurant eating a fancy meal with rich, fancy people judging our manners. We are at my house, celebrating the start of summer by eating noodles! You have to enjoy the noodles! You have to unwind like the noodles! You have to be the noodles!" She concluded her speech by stuffing her mouth with a large amount of her lunch.

Ash rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah, but my mom told me to eat politely, so..."

"Well, by not enjoying yourself, you, mister, are not being very polite!" May managed to say through her half-full mouth. "I feel very offended! At this party, we were supposed to have fun, not practise manners!"

"If you say so!" Ash didn't give a second thought as he began eating in the same way as May.

"Come on, you guys!" May tried to encourage the rest of her friends. "It tastes better when you stuff your mouth completely!"

"Wouldn't your risk of choking increase?" Drew reasoned with a raised eyebrow.

"Choke? On noodles? Never!" May declared, just as Ash began coughing.

"Yeah, right..." Drew and the others were unconvinced.

After another moment of observing the two, Leaf shrugged. "Oh, whatever!" She began shoveling heaps into her mouth. "Yeah, you're right! It does taste better like this!" She was really enjoying herself now.

Gary grinned. "I'll take your word for it." He didn't hesitate after that.

"Come on Misty!" Ash's muffled voice said. "Eating noodles never hurt anyone!"

"It might, if you don't swallow before speaking." Misty retorted as she eyed her bowl. She was very strict on her eating habits, as she liked staying fit and healthy so she could do all her favourite sports (especially swimming) with ease. But it wouldn't hurt to let loose once in a while, right? Especially when it looked so tempting... Before she knew it, she was slurping noodles in amounts she had never slurped before.

Drew raised his eyebrow at his friends' behaviour. At his mansion, he always had to do everything with the best of manners. He felt no urge to copy the others around him.

Dawn wrinkled her nose. Everyone was eating in such a sloppy fashion. She could not see how it was enjoyable in any way.

Paul just looked bored as he continued his meal in the way he always did. He felt everyone around him was just being immature. Just then, a noodle came flying and landed on his face. He looked to his left to see noodles flying out of Ash's bowl as he ate.

"Sorry Paul!" Ash apologized with a full mouth.

"Ewww! Gross!" Dawn squealed, making a face.

"Ash, you're disgusting." Paul stated monotonously as he wiped off the noodle with a napkin.

"Gary, catch!" Leaf had found the flying noodle funny and had now flicked two towards her friend. He didn't react fast enough and ended up getting hit on the face.

"Oh, it is on!" Gary tossed a few noodles at her. He missed, and hit Misty instead.

"Why you...!" Misty grabbed a handful from her bowl.

A minute later, May, Ash, Leaf, Gary, and Misty were standing up, and there were noodles being thrown everywhere.

Dawn was ducking, trying to avoid getting her hair messed up, Drew was watching the scene with a mixture of disgust and amusement, and Paul was sitting as still as a statue with his hands folded across his chest and stray noodles dangling from his hair and clothes. He had lost his appetite after some thrown noodles had landed in his bowl.

Ash threw a handful of his lunch at Misty, but missed and ended up hitting Dawn's hair.

"My hair!" she shrieked.

"Sorry, Dawn!" Ash apologized, trying to hold back his laughter.

Dawn stood up, her horrified expression replaced with an evil grin. "No need to worry, Ash." she assured him in a sweet voice. "Because I'm gonna get my revenge!" Ash discovered Dawn could aim really well.

Drew observed everyone around him. May cheered victoriously as she got Gary in the face.

"Gee, December. You're so childish!" he commented, smirking.

This resulted in Drew getting a couple of strands of noodles thrown at his hair. He looked at May, who was responsible, and saw her grinning at him.

"Wow, Drew! Now your head looks like pasta salad!" she laughed.

After a few seconds of surprise, he grinned too, and stood up, flipping his hair (and a noodle in the process).

"Is that the best you got, April?" he taunted, his manners forgotten, as he used his chopsticks to fling noodles at the bandana-wearer.

"I'm surrounded by crazy people." Paul muttered. "Am I the only sane one here?"

SPLAT! A clump of noodles came flying out of nowhere and hit the right side of his face. Gary, who was sitting at his right, howled in laughter.

"That's a really good look for you, Paul! You look ridiculous! It's like you have half a beard!"

Paul slowly turned to face him. "Oh, you're asking for it now!" He stood up, grabbing a fistful from his bowl, and slammed it down hard on Gary's head, the noodles squishing into his hair.

"Aww man, Paul!" Gary whined. "How am I gonna clean this up!"

"Well, you should have thought about that before you laughed at me." Paul replied calmly as he wiped his hands on a napkin in a professional way.

"MAY!" Everyone froze and turned to the left. May's little brother, Max, was standing there, staring at the chaos with wide eyes and his mouth hanging open. It was then that they realized what they had done.

"I'm gonna tell Mom!" Max quickly scurried away to fulfill his role as a tattletale.

The eight friends looked at one another. They were definitely going to get in trouble now. Oh well. At least it had been fun while it lasted...


This one was dedicated to May's love for noodles. Anyone feeling hungry?

Please review, and thanks for reading! See you Thursday!

Bye bye for now! And have a smiling day! :)