Hi there! Here's a short chapter, nothing that interesting happening, I'm afraid. I was going to make it longer, because I have the next part in pretty clear sight, but decided to leave it for the next chapter! Hopefully, that means that I'll be able to update sooner rather than later, which I've been failing to do lately. You might notice a slight change of pace in the story, but please bear with me!

I'd like to wish you all happy holidays in advance! (in case the next chapter doesn't get written till New Year's)

Anyways, enjoy! (I don't own Pokémon!)

Chapter 13

"You got any sixes?"

"Go fish."

Gary sighed as he reached for the messy pile of cards on the floor. It was well after midnight and he was exhausted, but soon after they had gone to bed, Leaf had declared she couldn't sleep out of excitement. So, naturally, she made him keep her company and slapped him every time he started to nod off.

Like any good friend would do.

The brunet had kept her entertained for a few hours now, but while she seemed fresh, energetic and not at all tired, he could barely keep his eyes open. "Leaf, are you planning to sleep at all tonight?"

The brunette gave him an incredulous look, as if he had asked her if she was a goblin. "Do you not know me at all?"

"I wish." Gary muttered.

"I'll pretend I didn't just hear that. You see…" Leaf paused, contemplating how to explain it to him. "This is one of those nights I just can't sleep, like the night before a movie that I've been looking forward to for months comes out." She shrugged. "It's just too exciting for me to go to bed."

"So, basically, you can't sleep if there's something you're maniacally enthused about."

"Most of the time, yes, but not necessarily. There are lots of random things that have this effect on me. For example…" The brunette thought for a second. "Remember the night I found out that carrots used to be purple before the 17th century?"

Gary's eyes widened in horror at the memory. "Oh my Arceus, that was one of the most terrible nights I've had. You woke me up at 2 a.m. and said you needed sugar, so you made me come with you to a candy store all the way across the city. All of the other craziness aside, couldn't it have been the closest store? Or are you just intent on torturing me every second of the day?"

"Hm. No, while torturing you has become quite the entertaining hobby, that wasn't the reason. The store we went to had three floors and a slide between them! I mean, if we're going to go candy shopping, we must make it as fun as possible, right?"

Gary grunted. "Too bad we didn't end up having much fun."

Leaf rubbed her chin, oblivious to her friend's spiteful tone. "Yeah, it's a shame it was closed."

The auburn-haired boy cringed as he remembered how they had been waiting for a taxi to pass them by for nearly forty minutes and how, enraged by the lack of access to sugary snacks, Leaf hadn't stopped hitting him, as if it was all his fault the candy store hadn't been open in 3 o'clock in the morning.

Gary shook his head. If he wanted to keep his sanity and, more importantly, be alive by the time he graduated, he should probably stop hanging out with the hyper girl so much.

He shot her a glance through his yawn and felt the urge to smile. No, there wasn't such a possibility.

After all, what would his life be without her craziness?

Bzz. Bzz. Bzz.

Gary groaned and hit the alarm-clock with such resentment, it was sent flying across the room and crashed into the wall.

"GARY! Don't treat my belongings that way!"

Peaceful. That's what his life would be without her craziness.

The auburn-haired boy got up groggily, seeing that Leaf was sitting on the floor and arranging plush toys in what seemed to be military ranks. He gave her an incredulous look. "You didn't sleep at all?!"

"Nope." She said happily and got up with a bounce in her step. Gary would never understand how someone could be that energetic this early in the morning.

The stupid alarm-clock started buzzing again; apparently Gary hadn't managed to finish it off. He could respect Leaf's other belongings, like the blissfully quiet plush toys and her books, but he'd be damned if he let that bloody item ruin his peace ever again.

But while irritating him to no end, it had at least succeeded in notifying him that it was time to get ready for school. He went over to the bathroom, where Leaf had bounced into, and knocked twice.

"Leaf, can I retreat to my dorm yet? I need to get some clothes."

The door swung open and a murderous-looking brunette emerged from it, pointing her toothbrush at the boy threateningly. "You. Are not. Going. Anywhere."

"Whaa, but-"

"You'll survive a day without your hair-gel!"

"But-"

"No buts! I'm not letting you wake them up."

"Someone has to, classes start in forty minutes and the two of them don't even know their way around!"

Leaf contemplated his words for a second before a figurative light bulb lit up above her head. "I know! Set the alarm clock for, let's say, a half hour from now and put it in your dorm very quietly."

Gary rubbed the back of his head, finding more than one flaw in her plan. "Why half an hour from now? They wouldn't manage to get to their classes in time. Why not wake them up now?"

"No, no, no! That's the whole point of it! They'd hurry to get to their class so much, it wouldn't be as awkward, and as a bonus, they'd have to work together to find their way around!"The brunette clapped her hands happily. "Yes! I'm a genius!"

The auburn-haired boy decided it was better not to argue with his crazy friend; he was too sleepy and it was way too early for him to oppose a wicked person's evil plans for meddling in other people's lives. He'd have to do that later and in the meantime, he had classes to get ready for. So, he begrudgingly picked up the loathed alarm-clock and, under Leaf's instructions, tip-toed to the hallway.

He took a deep breath and pressed the handle to his dorm as quietly as possible, praying that he wouldn't wake up the people inside, concerned for his well-being more than anything else.

But as the door opened fully, he discovered that there wasn't anyone for him to worry about waking up. The dorm was empty.

He gaped at the floor, where Dawn and Paul had been sitting the previous night, and panic filled him as he thought with horror what Leaf'd do to him when she found out. But seeing as he was in his dorm, with no one to carefully sneak around, he decided to at least get changed before facing the dragon's wrath.

Two minutes later, he returned to Leaf's dorm to find the brunette staring at him expectantly. "Well?"

"They're not there."

"WHAT?!"

"I said, they're not there."

"What do you mean 'they're not there'?! Where are they?!"

"Jeez, woman, lower your decibel! Many people are still sleeping."

"So is your brain, apparently! I'm asking again, where are they?"

"How should I know?!"

Leaf caught Gary by the shoulders and started shaking him in a fit of fury. "DO YOU REALIZE I CAN'T CONTROL THEIR LIVES IF I DON'T KNOW WHERE THEY ARE, HUH?"

He regretted not having barricaded himself inside his dorm where she couldn't get him. He closed his eyes in fear, waiting for it to be over.

"YOU'RE SO USELESS, OAK!"

Those bastards should be getting yelled at for disappearing, not me!

"YOU HEAR ME?! USELESS!"

Sigh.

Life is so unfair.

A little over an hour earlier

Dawn snuggled closer to her pillow, inhaling its scent happily. Mmm, smells like coffee.

She hugged it tightly. I like coffee.

Wait…

Why did her pillow smell so unlike her pillow?

Dawn opened her eyes and saw that what she was hugging so tightly wasn't a pillow at all.

She gaped at the sleeping boy next to her for a few seconds before letting out a shriek so loud it could have woken up everyone within a mile.

Paul jumped up in alert at the sound, looking frantically around. His eyes fell on the shocked bluenette and he rubbed them sleepily, his memories from the previous night flooding back into his mind.

"Y-you… what… I-I… what?!" Dawn stuttered in bewilderment, unable to comprehend what was happening.

Paul just stared blankly, waiting for her to formulate an actual sentence. He knew he shouldn't be enjoying this, but her shocked state was quite amusing.

"You… here?!" The blue-haired girl asked unbelievingly. He nodded, waiting for her reaction. She just shook her head and looked at the ground in confusion. "So it wasn't a dream?"

"No." He'd felt the need to say something. "Sorry." Wow, he sounded so lame, no wonder she couldn't believe it.

Dawn as at a loss for words. Her mind was sluggish and still unable to grasp the situation. She saw her phone lying on the floor next to her and absentmindedly took it in her hands. The screen lit up, only to cause the girl to shriek once again. Her first class was to start in a few minutes and she didn't even know where it was held!

She jumped up with remarkable speed and hastily combed her hair with her fingers. Then she started digging through Gary's desk, grabbing a few books and a notebook and headed for the door hastily.

She stopped and turned around, finding Paul staring at her as if she had grown a second head. "There's no time to ask you what you're doing here, class starts in ten minutes. And if you're in this school now, I suggest you get moving."

She went out in the hallway, leaving Paul wide-eyed. He snapped out of his shock a second later and hurried after her.

They ran out of the dorm building and looked around, both of them unsure where to proceed to. "Where's the English class?"

Paul tried to remember the schedule he had been given the day before and the map it had. "I think it's in the Main Building."

"And where's that?"

"Next to the administration?"

"No, that's the Research Lab."

"Where do you suggest we go then?" Paul snapped.

Dawn shot him an annoyed look. "Let's just go there and ask somebody."

"Fine with me."

The two started running again, arriving in front of the Administration Building two minutes later. Beside it was another slightly larger building, which had carvings of many different Pokémon decorating its walls and huge black letters that read 'Research Lab'.

Dawn gave Paul a smug look which he ignored and went up the stairs to the entrance of the administration. He tried opening the massive door, but it didn't budge. "It's closed." He narrowed his eyes at the timetable glued to it. "It says working hours start at 8 o'clock, half an hour before classes start."

Dawn frowned and took a look at her phone. "But it's 8:25 right now."

"Looks like we'll have to find the Main Building on our own then. Come on."

The bluenette nodded and the two continued running on the nicely paved path, which had other buildings on both sides of it.

Absentmindedly, Dawn noted how ridiculous the predicament she currently found herself into was. She was running across the campus of her new school, about to be late on the first day of her senior year in high school, with none other than the boy she had thought she'd never see again, who was doing Arceus knows what in the Academy.

Now wasn't the time to review on the abstraction of the situation though. According to her phone, there were only a few minutes left and she didn't even know where they were supposed to go. She saw that Paul had gotten ahead of her and gritted her teeth in frustration, forcing herself to speed up.

They passed by a music studio, a science hall, a theatre and a gallery before finally spotting a huge burgundy-colored building at the end of the huge path. It seemed the most fitting for the title of the Main Building, so they sped up and were soon running up the stairs towards the entrance.

They flew inside and hastily looked over a map, which told them the classroom where their class was held was on the second floor. Surprisingly enough, the halls were deserted; Dawn guessed the other students were already in class. She and Paul finally reached the classroom and barged inside, panting heavily.

Only to find it completely empty.

"What the…" Dawn went outside in the hallway once again to check the room's number. "This is the right room, why isn't there anybody?"

"Maybe that's why." She turned to Paul and saw him pointing at a clock on the wall. A clock, according to which the time was 7:33.

Dawn stared at it in confusion, then fished out her phone. "But… it says here that it's 8:33."

Paul sat down on one of the desks and ran a hand through his hair. "Judging by our surroundings, which one would you say is more punctual? This clock or your phone?"

Dawn crossed her arms angrily. "I don't think you have any right to be sarcastic right now, mister! Seeing as we have some time, why don't you tell me just what are you doing here?"

He shrugged, stony face showing nothing but boredom. "I enrolled in the Academy. Does that answer your question?"

"But… when? Why?"

"Sometime in May. Because there's a very good Pokémon training program."

Dawn narrowed her eyes. "That's it?"

Paul didn't move a muscle. "That's it."

"Then why did Ursula say you moved because of me?"

"The pink pigtails? I have no idea what she's told you, but it's not true."

The bluenette pursed her lips and sat down on a desk sharply. "Fine then."

Paul raised an eyebrow. "Is interrogation hour over?"

Dawn merely gave him a look out of the corner of her eyes, but didn't deign to answer.

Her mind was a whirling mess. She couldn't believe he was really standing in the classroom with her, but he was. It wasn't a dream, it wasn't a hallucination; he was real. And a bigger jerk than ever.

She was conflicted. How should she act? Hurt, as she'd felt all those months ago? Haunted, like just the night before? Nonchalant, as if she couldn't care less if he was there or at the moon?

I don't know! Argh!

"By the way… I accept your proposal from yesterday." Dawn turned to her left and saw Paul smirking with a devilish glint in his eyes. It was so weird seeing him like this that she almost did a double take.

"What?" She asked, panicking at the thought that she'd possibly proposed to him in her illusive state of exhaustion. Her face reddened before she remembered what had actually happened. "Oh! Oh, that! Oh, yes, I, err… I'm glad you agree!"

She whipped her head back towards the front of the classroom in embarrassment. How lame was that, Blue! You can do better, damn it!

She banged her head on her desk angrily. He SO doesn't deserve me being embarrassed! STOP YELLING IN YOUR OWN HEAD!

"You alright?"

"Shut up!"

Paul sniggered in satisfaction. His conscious was sound asleep when it was that easy to get her frustrated. He knew he was a bastard for it, but he couldn't help it.

Now that his gnawing guilt had been slightly relieved, he could just sit back and enjoy his senior year in this elite academy. He arrogantly thought to himself that the occasional entertainment the bluenette provided with her antics wouldn't hurt to have around, either.

He stretched lazily and put his arms behind his head, glancing in the direction of Dawn, who had resumed banging her head on the desk.

Paul smirked.

So far, the school year was promising to be fun.

"Stupid, stupid…" He overheard the bluenette muttering to herself and the smug smirk on his face grew even wider.

With her around, his stay at the Academy was guaranteed to be interesting.

"Wow, she really has a thing for falling asleep in weird places."

Dawn cracked an eye open and the first thing she registered was the awful pain that had formed in her shoulders. She unglued her face from the smooth surface of the desk and looked up in confusion, waiting for her eyes to adjust to the light and focus in on the people above her. Leaf and Gary were standing next to her in the classroom, which had started filling with other students.

She stretched her arms above her head with a yawn and greeted sleepily. "Good morning, guys. Did you sleep well?"

Gary looked really tired and his hair was sticking up in an even more unruly manner than usual, as if he had already suffered from Leaf's rage that morning. And as for the brunette, she was practically fuming as she gaped at Dawn unbelievingly.

"Where the hell were you?!"

Dawn scratched the back of her head with a sheepish smile. "Well… I sort of fell asleep in Gary's dorm and-"

Leaf waved her hand hastily. "Yeah, yeah, we know about that – you ended up cuddling with Grumpy Pants over there-" Dawn blushed crimson with embarrassment. "-but I'm asking about this morning. Where did you two run off to?"

"Oh… well, we thought we were going to be late, so we dashed out of the dorm, but it turned out that my phone was just one hour ahead, so… yeah, that's pretty much it." The bluenette sweat-dropped. "I'm pretty sure my phone was alright last night, but it must have bugged overnight or something."

Gary's brain was just starting to wake up. He blinked a few times and something seemed to suddenly dawn on him. "Wait…" He pointedly turned towards Leaf, who had suddenly found the laces of her dark green sneakers remarkably interesting. "I think I know what went wrong with it."

Dawn looked at her with curiosity as well, not understanding what Gary meant.

"I, uhh… I completely forgot about that." Leaf muttered as she stepped from one foot to the other.

"Forgot what, Leafy?" Gary pressed with a smug expression on his face at the brunette's embarrassment. After the bashing she had put him through that morning she deserved it.

"I… err… while you were sleeping in Gary's dorm, I may have… well, taken your phone and meddled with the settings a bit…" She face-palmed. "I can't believe I forgot this morning. Stupid, stupid!" She shook her head disapprovingly at her own stupidity, oblivious to the victorious smirk on Gary's face and the confused look on Dawn's.

"But why would you reset the time? I don't get it."

At this point, Gary was no longer unable to stifle his laughter and burst out, earning a smack on the head and a "shut up, at least my plan worked!" from Leaf, who stalked to a seat in the other end of the classroom gloomily.

He followed after her, taunting her about how even she wouldn't be left unaffected by spending a whole night without sleep, while Dawn just blinked at the two in confusion. They were her friends after all – they were bound to be weird.

The bluenette sighed and decided to move to a desk in the back of the class before all seats were taken. A glance towards the clock above the board informed her that there were ten more minutes until the class started. With a shrug, she decided to take another nap while she still could and laid her head on her desk.

Before she had the chance to doze off completely, a young woman with rectangular glasses and short brown hair entered the classroom and, after carefully placing a handful of books on the large desk at the front, turned towards the students with a smile. "Okay, let's get started, people!"

Dawn rubbed her eyes and lifted her head off the desk, blinking dumbly. The teacher seemed energetic and friendly and the bluenette decided she liked her. Steady, Dawn. Give teachers time to show their demon side.

The young woman wrote her name on the board. Ms Doyle. In the haze of her still sleepy mind, Dawn briefly wondered if the author of her favorite detective stories was an ancestor of hers.

Because that's the kind of sensible theories and questions that flow through the sluggish conscious of every senior.

Focus!

"So, for those of you who are new here, I'll give you a brief description of how this class is going to work. Each and every one of you has a different program, depending on what you've chosen to focus on, and this English class doesn't take up much importance in your schedules; all we're going to do is keep up with literature you're supposed to be acquainted with, so that you don't fall behind on material which your peers from other schools are studying. Another-"

"Sorry I'm late, Ms Doyle."

The teacher looked up from a notepad where she had outlined the essentials of what she had to inform the students to see a tall girl with long dark hair standing in the doorway with an apologetic expression. However, there had been no emotion of remorse in her voice.

Ms Doyle cleared her throat. "Take a seat, Jade."

The dark-haired beauty smiled winningly at the teacher and let her piercing green eyes sweep over the students in the classroom. She spotted Dawn and locked eyes with her for a second. The bluenette suppressed the urge to shudder under the unwavering gaze of the other girl, who managed to make her feel small and insignificant with nothing more than a look. Jade's eyes moved away and stopped on Paul, who was sitting in a seat next to the window in the front of the class.

A little smirk formed on her lips as she graciously moved towards him and took the seat next to him.

Dawn felt chills go up her spine at the aura this girl had brought in with herself. She turned to her right towards Leaf with raised eyebrows. In response the brunette mouthed "that's the Slytherin princess" and the blue-haired girl nodded in understanding.

So that was Leaf's ex-roommate, eh? Dawn now noted that her friend hadn't been exaggerating in her description the previous day – Jade really seemed like someone who wasn't exactly easy to get along with.

Ms Doyle cast her notes a glance and resumed her speech. "For those of you who have literature as your main subject, your main classes will be with mister Walsh and this class will be just a additional help and a place to do the reading you're assigned by both me and him. Anyways, I'll now hand out the book we're working on this term and you can get started with the first chapter. After you've read it, I want you to write down your impression of the beginning of the story and the problems you think will be displayed and analyzed throughout the book."

Dawn smiled up at the teacher as she passed by her desk and handed her a copy of the book. Ms Doyle smiled back before continuing over to the next row, where Gary was complaining to Leaf about the work they had to do their very first class of the year.

Dawn shook her head with a chuckle as she heard the brunette scold him and turned towards her book. She opened it and happily shoved her nose inside, inhaling its scent deeply, while closing her eyes in contentment.

A snigger interrupted her moment of bliss and she looked towards the front of the class, searching for the source of the annoyance.

She couldn't exactly say she was surprised to see Paul with an obnoxious smirk painted across his face as he stared back at her mockingly. She huffed indignantly and mouthed a "shut up". Paul raised an eyebrow in amusement and muttered something under his nose, which suspiciously sounded like "Troublesome".

The girl on his right turned towards him quizzically and then followed his gaze towards Dawn, who chose that exact moment to childishly stick her tongue out at him. Jade kept her eyes on the bluenette for a few moments, narrowing them slightly in obvious distaste, before turning her head back towards the board in disinterest.

Dawn felt a bit intimidated, but rolled her eyes nevertheless. She had spent years being on the receiving end of the taunts of her previous school's drama queen and she really didn't feel like spending her last year in high school stuck in the same predicament.

Thankfully though, Jade didn't seem all that interested in her, so she might be able to focus on her school work in peace.

Having Paul there was enough of a distraction already.

Dawn found herself gawking at her surroundings once she arrived in the large hall where her art lesson was about to be held.

Her jaw almost hit the floor in astonishment as she walked through the rows of countless drawing boards and tables, surrounded by showcases of all kinds of art materials, ones she couldn't have imagined to find in the mediocre art supply store.

She decided to follow the other students' example and wait by the door for the teacher to show up, rather than plop her stuff on a drawing board without being told what to do beforehand. She didn't want to give off a bad first impression after all.

If she had to be honest with herself, she had half-expected this Academy to be filled with snobby rich kids, with the exception of Leaf and Gary, who had with ease become a part of her best friends crew. But so far, none of the people she'd met in her classes seemed to fill this description, except Jade and her snotty friends/followers, whom Dawn hadn't had the honor (or desires) of meeting yet.

She smiled as two friendly looking girls approached her and introduced themselves to her, asking about the kind of art she liked to do and her other interests.

As she stroke up a conversation with them, she mused to herself how this place was quickly growing on her and what unbelievable luck she must have had bumping into Leaf in that bookstore all those months ago.

"I must say, I'm quite impressed with your battle technique, young man."

Mister Wake, who had quite persistently insisted on being called Crasher, laughed loudly and slapped his massive hand on Paul's back in his mirth.

"Keep up the good work!" He waved merrily and moved on to another part of the gym to check up on other students.

Paul rolled his eyes. While the man was undoubtedly a teacher he could learn a lot from, his energetic and loud-mouthed demeanor was a tad too much for the purple-haired teenager.

"He sure is a handful sometimes."

Paul looked to his side to see Jade standing next to him with confidence visible in her stance. She chuckled and shook her head. "I can't say his praise was groundless though. Your skill is outstanding."

The purple-haired boy's only response was a grunt. That girl again. What did she want with him?

"We must battle sometime." Jade added with a smile, turning to pet her Cacturne. "But I'm not sure I'm quite ready to face your witty strategies before preparing a few of my own."

Paul nodded and approached his Torterra, giving it a pat on the head.

He had received many compliments and praise from annoying fangirls and fanboys before and over the time it'd become pretty much noise in his ears. But this girl didn't seem to be fawning over his skills; apparently she just knew her battles and insisted on acknowledging talent when she saw it, but was smart enough not to throw herself in a thoughtless duel with him without having a strategy prepared.

That was something he could respect. He smirked as he remembered one of Dawn's loud-mouthed friends, who always challenged him in a fit of temper rise, but sure enough, always got beaten up flat on his face by Paul's precisely calculated moves and countermoves. Ash certainly had skill, but most of the time he acted on spontaneous assessment which nearly always cost him the victory.

Still, battling him had been pretty interesting and had certainly had an impact on Paul's style and various strategies. But this academy was going to be the ultimate factor in the development of his battling techniques.

"Alright, you guys! Great progress! I'll see you all on Wednesday, class dismissed!" Mister Wake's voice rang out, effectively cutting the boy's string of thought.

Paul called back his Torterra and, after making sure he had collected all of his other Pokéballs as well, started walking towards the exit of the huge gym. He had forgotten about Jade, but it was made clear to him she didn't want to be left behind when she caught up with him.

He could deal with her being there though; she wasn't the annoying type and actually seemed quite intelligent. Although, she seemed to have taken a liking to striking up conversations with him, but it was comparatively fine to him since she didn't talk about nonsense.

"I was thinking, since we have the same History class…" Jade spoke up in her confident manner. "Remember when Mr. Murray mentioned those projects we could do for extra credit?"

Paul nodded. He had chosen History as one of his secondary obligatory subjects and had had his first class that afternoon. As it had turned out, Jade was in that class too.

"I think it might be a good idea if you and I did such a project," she continued.

Paul raised his eyebrows in unmasked surprise, not having expected such a suggestion. He liked to keep his grades to the max, but wasn't keen on wasting time on a subject, which didn't matter that much to him, when he could be spending the time on training.

He didn't say anything though, waiting for Jade to clarify her idea.

"I know you don't care about History and neither do I, but I do need a good grade. I think doing this project would be the easiest way for us to secure an excellent diploma without putting that much effort into it throughout the year. It's clear we both have better things to focus on." She shrugged graciously. "We might as well get a head start now, so we don't have to push ourselves that hard later."

Paul contemplated her words and concluded that her idea was indeed a good one. She was a strategist when it came to everything, it seemed, but there was one thing he couldn't understand. Namely, his role in the whole ordeal.

He scrunched his eyebrows as he struggled to remember the class he had had several hours ago.

"I don't remember Mr. Murray saying anything about the projects requiring teamwork. We could do it on our own, right?"

When the words left his mouth he realized it sounded kind of rude, but Jade didn't seem to have taken any offence. In fact, she was smirking at him, her eyes shining with mirth as if she had been expecting his question.

"Of course. I just figured that by cooperating and splitting the work in half we'll be done a lot faster and we'll both get our share of the prize." She gave him a playful look. "Don't you agree?"

He had to admit, this plan of hers wasn't half bad. Seeing his clear benefit from the deal she was proposing, he figured that it wouldn't hurt to get ahead with his school work.

Jade was carefully inspecting his face as he thought her idea over. "So what do you say?"

"Fine. Let's do it."

A huge smile made its way onto her face. "Perfect."

The two of them had made their way out of the training building and were now heading towards the dorms, since they had no more classes for the day.

"Shall we start this weekend then?" Jade inquired as they stopped in the lobby of the building.

Paul nodded and with that they parted ways to their respective dorms.

He thought to himself that it was a good arrangement and that it would serve him well with his grade with a minimal effort on his side.

Meanwhile, Jade was contemplating about the beneficial factors of the deal as well, although hers were of an entirely different nature.

It's a short chapter, nothing that gasp worthy, just showing a little bit more of Jade, as she'll be one of the main characters in a few of the next chapters. Thankfully, I have the story pretty much outlined already! I'd love to hear your theories as to where this is going!

Have a great day, you awesome readers! And thanks for sticking with me throughout this story! :)