Chapter Fourteen-Old Flame
Leaf was momentarily caught off guard as a girl, who looked almost the same age as her, ran up and pulled Gary into a hug. To say that he was surprised would be an understatement as he stood there, unsure of what to do, as the girl he was interested in watched in bewilderment.
Well, shit, he thought, Now Leaf will definitely think I'm just playing with her feelings.
"It's so good to see you again," the girl said happily as her grip on him tightened.
Gary's eyes widened as he heard her speak, recognizing who it was almost immediately. Within a second, he had pulled her away from her to confirm his answer.
"Courtney?!"
The visiting girl grinned up at him and was about to greet him before she was interrupted.
"Miss. Faye, would you like me to bring your bags up to your room while you catch up with Mr. Oak?" the campus escort asked politely.
She smiled and shook her head. "No thank you. Gary can help me bring it up after. Thank you for escorting me back here though."
Gary was about to object but before he was able to speak a word, the escort had left her bags with her and left. It was then that he turned his attention back to his brunette friend who looked uncomfortable as she tried to pay attention to anything else but them.
"Leaf," he called, catching her attention. "This is my old classmate, Courtney Faye. She used to be a student here but got an internship to do research with Professor Sycamore in the Kalos region." Then he turned back to Courtney. "Courtney, this is Leaf Green. She transferred here a while back."
The two girls smiled and shook hands at Gary's introduction. Though it was probably her imagination, Leaf felt that Courtney's smile seemed fake and cold.
"Wow, a researcher in the Kalos region? That seems so fun," the brunette said to fill up the silence between them.
The girl nodded, grinning in the process. "It's really interesting. If you want, I can show you some of the research we've done so far another time."
Leaf almost allowed her excitement to show as she had always been interested in the different types of species in the Kalos region. Not only that, but the region itself was a place she's always wanted to visit ever since she learned about it back in elementary school. The brunette was about to accept the offer when Gary spoke up.
"Wait, you're staying?"
Courtney had a smirk that could almost rival his as she crossed her arms. "Yes, for a week or two. So don't worry, we'll have plenty of time to catch up," she answered as she threw him a wink.
Leaf continued to watch their interaction. Though she had seen Gary's playful side with their friends, she noticed that he didn't have a playful tone as he spoke to Courtney. In fact, it seemed like he was being cautious as they spoke, which she had never witnessed before.
Maybe he likes her, the brunette thought.
"Well, then I'll just make my way back to my room now while you two catch up. See you in class tomorrow, Gary," Leaf piped, breaking the two out of their conversation.
"I'll walk with you," he offered hurriedly.
She shook her head as she rejected his offer, "I'll be fine. Besides, you two probably haven't seen each other in a while, so I'll just get out of your way."
And with that, the brunette quickly excused herself and made her way up to her room as the two were left alone. It wasn't until Leaf got into the elevator that Gary finally turned around and ditched the cautious tone he had earlier.
"What are you doing here?" he asked venomously. "Was using me two years ago not enough that you had to come back?"
Hurt flashed across her eyes as he spoke those words to her. Courtney had been afraid to face him specifically for this reason. She knew that if he was still mad he'd treat her like a stranger and want nothing to do with her much like how he was treating her right now.
Nonetheless, she replied calmly, "I was asked to bring some reports here for your grandfather and since I've been working so hard, Professor Sycamore allowed me to stay here for a while to relax."
Gary stared at her as he tried to figure out what her true intentions were. She may not have noticed, but he definitely noticed the fake smile she had given Leaf earlier and that gave him more of a reason to keep an eye out on her.
He crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes.
"Stay as long as you want. But stay away from me and my friends, especially Leaf," he warned as he turned towards the entrance of the dormitory. As he made his way through, he heard her voice fill in the silence between them.
"I don't see what's so special that girl."
Hearing this caught Gary's attention as he turned back around, glare on his face. However, the girl showed no sign of fear as she wore a glare that could compete with his, arms crossed. She hadn't planned to say it, but she couldn't help herself as she heard him tell her to stay away from her. She didn't see what this Leaf girl that she didn't.
"What did you just say?" he questioned darkly, his glare hardening every second.
"She's just an ordinary girl. From what I can see, she doesn't exactly have anything feature that makes her outstanding to the other girls of this school, nor does it seem like she has a talent that's good enough to get into this school," Courtney listed. "Not like me who was smart enough to be your rival."
Gary felt his anger boil as she said all those things to Leaf. He knew for a fact that the brunette girl was a hundred times more beautiful than the girl in front of him right now but he knew better than to say that to her. It was far too immature, even for him. So instead, he took long strides to stand right in front of her.
"Listen here, Courtney," he spat. "I don't care what you say about me, but don't drag Leaf into this. I'll let you go this time, but if you ever say these things to her again, I'll never forgive you. She's innocent from all of this. And another thing, you may think that there's nothing special about her, but let me just tell you this: she's the kindest and honest person out there. And I'd pick her over you any day."
She simply smirked at his retrieving body as he made his way back into the dormitory.
"That's cute coming from you considering that we used to be a couple."
It took all of his will power to not kick her out of the school.
As Leaf made her way back to her room, she couldn't help but think back to the two teens she had left behind. As much as she wanted to brush it off, she couldn't get rid of the pang of hurt that she felt whenever she remembered how friendly the two were.
As she reached her door, May and Dawn had just opened it, exiting when they bumped into the brunette girl.
"Oh, Leaf! You're getting back pretty late," May pointed out.
Dawn smirked as she wrapped an arm around Leaf's shoulder. "Were you too busy with Gary to remember that we were supposed to hang out today?"
The brunette simply rolled her eyes playfully as the two girls led her back into her room where her roommate was finishing up her homework.
"Well, you guys can blame Gary for my being not able to hang out today. I planned to finish my homework by noon but he found me this morning and hasn't stopped pestering me until just now when he met up with an old friend," Leaf explained as she took a seat on her bed.
"Old friend?" Misty asked curiously as she peered up from her biology textbook. "What kind of old friend is this for him to let you come back on your own? I mean, he even walked to back to the door last night after your 'hang out.'"
The brunette shrugged. "Her name's Courtney Faye."
Upon hearing the name slip out of Leaf's mouth, the pen Misty had been using to jot down her notes stopped moving and she exchanged quick glances with May and Dawn, who were both looking at her as well. Though they had wanted to be discreet, it didn't go unnoticed by Leaf.
"Is something wrong?"
They each exchanged glances again but this time they were asking each other who was going to be telling Leaf. In the end, it was decided to be Misty, who sighed.
"We're in no position to be telling you this, Leaf, but I can tell you this: Courtney is Gary's ex-girlfriend."
As the brunette allowed those words to process through her head, she couldn't help but feel curious.
"Oh really?" she asked. "I didn't get that impression when she met up with us. It must've been a mutual understanding if they were able to get along so well."
Dawn bit her lip to prevent herself from telling the brunette anything else. As much as she wanted to tell her friend, she knew that she was in no position to tell her anything more than what Misty had just told her.
"But don't worry, Leafy," May piped as she noticed her friend's struggle in trying not to tell her anything. "Gary doesn't have feelings for her anymore, so you're fine," she said teasingly with a wink.
Upon hearing this, Leaf's face went red before shaking her head.
"What are you talking about?! No, you've got it all wrong, May. I don't like him that way."
Misty rolled her eyes playfully at her. "Oh come on, Leaf, as if yesterday's date wasn't an indication. I saw you coming back with a smile on your face," she retorted with a giggle.
Dawn noticed that the subject had changed and thanked May inwardly for doing so before joining in on the teasing.
"But, May, weren't you with Drew for practically the whole day? For someone who claims to hate him, you sure seem to be close," she teased slyly.
Her roommate did a dramatic gasp at that. "Oh, please, if anything he invited himself to my training session. As if I'd ever personally invite him."
"Ouch, May, that's cold," Misty commented.
When the brunette noticed that her three friends were not going to stop going on with Drew, she decided that she would have to change the focus.
"Well what about your day with Ash, Misty?" she retorted. "And Dawn, don't think I forgot about your little study session with Paul yesterday in the library!"
And from there, the girls spent most of the night interrogating each other about their day with the respective guys.
The following morning, Gary was walking with Leaf to their first class of the day after finishing up their shifts at the host club. On the way to class, the brunette let out a yawn, catching Gary's attention.
"Didn't get much sleep?" he inquired, eyebrows raised.
The girl shook her head as she suppressed another yawn that threatened to come out.
"May and Dawn came over when I got back and we just had some girl talk until late," she answered, deciding to leave out the little piece of information Misty had told her the night before.
Before the teen next to her was able to comment or ask anything else, they were interrupted by a figure that had squeezed herself in between the two, much to Gary's annoyance when he realized who it was.
"Good morning, Courtney," Leaf greeted politely as she tried not to let what she did get to her.
The new guest simply smiled at the brunette and nodded in acknowledgement before turning her attention to Gary to ask, "So where are we heading to this morning?"
"History with Rowan," the spiky-headed teen answered nonchalantly before he returned his attention back to Leaf. "Speaking of that, hey Leaf how'd you do on the quiz the other day?"
The brunette smirked. "A perfect, of course," she answered. "How'd you do?"
However, before he was able to respond himself, he was once again interrupted by the girl who was still walking in between the two. "Let me guess, a perfect? Gary Oak doesn't accept anything less, if I remember correctly."
Gary had so badly wanted to ignore her, but he knew Leaf well enough to know that she'd include her back into the conversation, so even though he didn't want to, he responded anyway.
"Well of course, what else would you expect from me? Anyway, Leaf, did-"
"I heard Rowan was a tough professor," Courtney piped, cutting Gary off. "I remember so many of his students complaining how hard his tests were and how much work he gave out. I'm surprised you're even taking his class considering how much you hate doing work."
Once again, the boy had wanted to ignore her because he knew that she was purposely trying to exclude Leaf from the conversation, but he knew that if he got rid of her then he'd have to tell his brunette friend about his past with Courtney and he definitely was not up for bringing up that time. So, although he didn't want to, he continued the conversation but with short replies.
"Well, people change," he answered in an almost bitter tone.
He hadn't intended to use that tone, especially not in front of Leaf because the girl was sharp and would've suspected something, but he couldn't help himself. He had a brief thought about the past and before he knew it, he had already said it. And he knew that the two girls had caught it because tension started to build between the three.
They were almost to their class, much to Gary's pleasure, and before they entered, Virgil called out to Leaf, catching her attention.
"You can go in first, Gary," the brunette said before heading to the blond to see what he had needed.
Though Gary wanted to talk to the brunette, even for a couple of minutes, he listened to her and headed inside the class first, followed by Courtney.
"I don't know if you know this, but you have to actually be in this class to come in," he informed curtly. This time, he made sure she noticed his tone when he spoke.
However, the girl didn't had no reaction as she took a seat next to him, much to Gary's dismay as it was Leaf's seat.
"I'm sure Professor Rowan wouldn't mind me intruding just for today. I was his assistant once when I was here, after all."
Gary knew that she had a good point and she knew that as well, which irritated him because if she was there, then that meant he would have no time to talk to Leaf.
I need to tell Leaf everything or she'll misunderstand, he thought to himself when he realized that he could potentially lose this brunette crush.
By then, Leaf had finished her conversation and had just arrived to the class. Upon getting to her seat, she was taken aback that Courtney had occupied her seat. The latter girl noticed and feigned innocence as she turned her attention to the brunette.
"Ah, I'm so sorry, Leaf," she apologized. "You see, I was Professor Rowan's assistant before I took the internship in Kalos and I was just interested in seeing how he would teach this class since I never got the chance to take this class."
Gary was willing for the brunette to not buy the half-assed excuse and say something, but when he saw an understanding smile appear on her face, he inwardly groaned.
"Oh, that's fine. I'll just sit somewhere else for the day. I'm sure Rowan would understand."
And with that, she went off for another open seat, leaving Gary with no time to talk to her. Grumbling to himself and shooting Courtney, who wore a victorious smirk on her face, a glare, he decided to send Leaf a text, asking her to meet with him for lunch. He sure as hell wasn't going to let some past ghost waltz in and ruin all his efforts with the brunette.
Leaf arrived to their meet up spot at lunch, by the school garden. Sitting at one of benches in a secluded area was Gary.
"So, what's so important that we have to speak in such a deserted area?" she inquired playfully as she took a seat next to him.
When he didn't give a witty remark, as she had expected him to do, the brunette peered curiously at him, only to be met with a serious look.
"Is everything okay?" she asked.
The spiky-headed teen sighed as he when their eyes met. "Did you hear anything about me and Courtney today?"
Leaf then remembered that during her conversation with Virgil outside the class that morning that there were whispers flowing around the students. Many were pointing at Courtney and Gary and although the brunette couldn't hear them, she had a feeling that it had to do with their past relationship.
She had initially wanted to hide what Misty had told her the night before but when she saw the solemn look on his face when he asked, she couldn't get herself to do it.
"Just a little," Leaf confessed. "I heard from Misty last night that you two are exes and that's about it. She said it wasn't her story to tell."
Gary couldn't help but feel relieved when he heard that. Sure, it would've been nice if it came from him, but if he had to be honest, he was nervous about telling the brunette. But, since her roommate had told her, it made everything else easier to tell her.
"Good," he said, releasing a sigh of relief, catching the brunette's attention. He noticed her curious gaze and continued on. "Then, I think you should also know that I am in no way interested in getting back with her."
Leaf looked at him, confused. "Why?"
"What do you mean why? Because I don't like her that way anymore," he explained. "Actually, no, I don't like her at all."
"I don't think she gets it then because she was practically glued to you this whole morning," the brunette pointed out.
Despite the fact that she was ignoring them, she couldn't help but watch how comfortable the two seemed to be from the distance as they chatted this morning. However, little did she know that it was far from a friendly chat that the two had.
Hearing that, Gary smirked, completely forgetting that they were having a serious conversation for a second and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "Don't tell me that you were jealous this morning."
Leaf merely rolled her eyes though and playfully shoved him away from her.
"Yeah, in your dreams, Oak," she retorted. "Anyway, why don't you like her? She seems like a nice person and she's pretty."
Gary sighed again as he leaned back and looked up the sky. "It's a long story."
"And I've got time."
When she saw the hesitant look on his face, Leaf smiled gently and placed a reassuring hand on top of his, catching his attention.
"I won't make you tell me everything if you don't want to. Just tell me what you want to tell me."
Gary smiled. "Guess I've got no choice then." He looked straight ahead of him.
"Courtney wasn't always the talk of the school. In fact, when I first met her, she was standoffish rather than the social butterfly she is now. Regardless of her personality though, she was one of the top students of the school and everyone knew that.
"So I may have been interested in her because her test scores were always close to mine. When I first approached her, she completely ignored me and that caught my attention because every girl was interested in me-"
"Ahem," Leaf interrupted.
"You know what I mean," Gary defended before getting back to his story. "I ended up trying to get her attention and somewhere along the road, I guess I ended up liking her. Maybe it was because I was afraid of what she'll say, but I didn't tell her immediately since it could potentially ruin our friendship, so I just treated her as I usually did. By then, everyone knew who she was since I was always around her.
"Then, one day there was an announcement that there was internship open at Kalos with Professor Sycamore. Those who saw this as an opportunity to become great researchers signed up. I was surprised when I didn't see her application when I went through it with Gramps so I asked her about it. She told me that she was afraid to sign up for it since there were so many competitions and she didn't feel confident. That was surprising too since she was always so confident in herself.
"Of course, I ended up encouraging her to do it and maybe my feelings started to show because she ended up confessing to me." Gary smiled sadly at that memory. "I don't think I could've been any happier. Everyone saw how happy I was. I remember I was always talking to Gramps about her and maybe it was because of my rambling that he ended up choosing her for the internship.
"I was so excited about it that I wanted to be the one to tell her so I went looking for her. And when I found her…"
"How are so sure that you're going to get the internship?" a friend asked Courtney.
The girl smirked as she looked at her newly polished nails. "Because according to Professor Oak, Gary's always talking about me," she explained. "I'm sure he's heard of me enough to know that I'm the best choice for the internship."
Her friend giggled. "Don't tell me you're just using Gary for an internship."
"Well, duh," Courtney responded. "He's hot and smart, but that's about it. Sometimes when I'm with him and his friends I just want to explode. They're all so annoying."
"Wow, Court," her friend said, shocked at her statement. "You've really put on a great show. I couldn't even tell that you were pretending the whole time."
The girl flipped her hair. "Then that's great. I'll just keep up with the act for a little longer and once I get the notice, I'll break up with that idiot with some lame excuse."
"Hey, introduce me to him! I'll take care of him when you break up with him."
Leaf noticed that Gary's voice was shaky as he tried to recall the rest of the story. Before he was able to continue though, she had stood up and wrapped her arms around him, cradling his head in her arms
Gary, feeling the brunette's warm embrace, wrapped his arms around her waist and hugged her back.
"You don't have to go on," Leaf said softly as she ran her hand through his spikes. "I shouldn't have asked you to tell me."
She felt the boy in her arms shake his head and let him go, looking down at him.
"I wanted to tell you, Leaf," he explained. "I thought that if I hadn't told you, you'd get the wrong idea and I don't want you to."
The brunette smiled. "And why don't you want me to get the wrong idea?"
He noticed the playful tone she had in her voice and couldn't help but play along as he stood up and swung and arm around her shoulders.
"Because I've worked way too hard to capture your heart," he answered, back to his usual self, much to the pleasure of the brunette. She hated seeing him sad.
Leaf gave him a dry laugh as she removed his arm from her and made her way back to the campus.
"You haven't captured my heart just yet, Oak. You might want to try a little harder," she advised before running off, giggling.
Gary grinned as he ran to catch up with her. "Hey, wait for me!"
And as the two figures started to disappear, another person stepped out from the shadows.
"Hey, where are Leaf and Gary?" May inquired as she finished up packing up her music sheets.
While the two were in the garden, the rest of the gang had lunch in the host club as they found it to be the most peaceful. In addition, it allowed May to play the piano without interruptions and Dawn to bake for the gang.
"Oak texted me earlier," Drew answered as he finished up the reading for his next class. "Apparently he decided to tell her about Courtney."
"Oh Arceus, did you guys know that she basically took Leaf's seat this morning in Rowan's class?" Dawn said as she took a seat at one of the open chairs. "I heard it from some girls in that class that she was practically glued to Gary this morning."
Ash frowned as he took a bite out of one of Dawn's cookies, catching Misty's attention.
"What's up, Ash? You hardly ever frown when you eat."
He shook his head. "It's just, I don't get why she's stuck to him like that after what she did him two years ago. You guys saw how he was. He looked terrible."
The girls casted their eyes downwards at the mention of that time. It was true; he was a wreck despite the grin that he always had on face. He always pretended to be fine, but they knew him better than that.
Before any of them were able to say anything though, the doors to the club flew open, catching the girls off guard for a second before they saw who it was.
"There are the two lovebirds," May teased, trying to lift the tension from the room. "So how'd lunch go for you two?"
Leaf blushed slightly at the comment, but quickly shook it by before anyone was able to notice it.
"It was fantastic, thank you very much," she retorted sarcastically as she grabbed one of Dawn's baked goods. "So, what'd I miss?"
"Nothing important," Paul replied as he finished up the club's income from that morning.
After, a silence filled the room as they tried to find something to say. Dawn and May had wanted to ask about Courtney, though they didn't know how to go around it. After all, it was a personal matter and it didn't involve them.
"So I heard you told Leaf about her," Misty blurted, ignoring the shocked looks the two girls gave her. She merely shrugged at them. "Well someone was going to bring it up eventually, right?"
"I don't even know what to say about that," Leaf admitted. "She didn't seem like the type of person to do that."
"Well, looks are deceiving," Dawn piped. "And don't worry; we were all fooled by her innocent look."
Leaf thought over what her friend had said before she remembered something that had been bothering her.
"Wait, does Professor Oak even know about all this?"
They all shook their heads at her question.
"I didn't want him to do pull her out of the internship because of that reasoning because finding someone else last minute would've been a pain to do," Gary answered. "Besides, if anything, I wanted her out of this school as soon as possible so I wouldn't have to face her ever again."
"But it doesn't make sense why she's acting like this," Leaf pointed out. "I mean, if she really is that mean of a person, wouldn't she be acting more like Veronica?"
"Most of the students here knew her as a nice and innocent girl who was able to break my heart," Gary reasoned casually. "No one would believe that she'd be the type to use people to her advantage. If she came back and acted like that, it'll completely ruin her image."
The brunette had more questions, but when she tried to ask another one, the bell rang, indicating that lunch was now over and that they had to get to their next class, much to her disappointed. Although she had told herself not to get too involved, she was just curious.
"Save all your questions for later," Gary said as he pat her head, noticing her disappointed look. "I'll answer all of them after club activities."
When he saw her mood lighten up, he couldn't help but let out a chuckle.
As Leaf was leaving her last class, she bumped into the person she had least wanted to see after hearing Gary's story. Though she wanted to avoid her, she couldn't as the girl started to walk next to her.
"Hey there, Leaf," Courtney greeted politely.
"Nice to see you again," the brunette responded nicely. "How was your tour around the school?"
She kept the smile plastered on her face. "It was nice. I've realized that it hasn't changed from the last time I was here. Anyway, are you heading somewhere right now?"
Leaf looked at her, trying to figure out what she had wanted. She was sure that the girl knew about the host club, so she would just find her there if she tried to get away.
"Is there something you need?" she asked.
"Just a quick chat," Courtney said, this time dropping the kind tone she had earlier. "It's about Gary."
Maybe the brunette had been spacing out, but the girl's tone had sounded almost sad when she said the last part. Now aware, Leaf turned her attention to the girl next to her, who had a distant look in her eyes. Immediately, she agreed to talk with her, sending her friends a quick text saying that she was going to be late.
Following Courtney, they ended up at the school café.
"I'm sure Gary already told you all about me," she started off. "How I used him to get the internship and everything I said about him."
Leaf nodded in response and she continued.
"I wish I had the courage to tell him then, but I guess I was just afraid," Courtney said sadly, looking down at her cup of tea. "You see, when I was dating him seriously, a lot of his fans were angry because they lost his attention and started to bully me. I didn't want to worry him so I never told him about it. The day he heard me say all those things, I was saying all that to a fan of his. She wanted to battle me and had me give up on him if I lost.
"I had no confidence in my battling skills and I'm sure I would've lost if I had battled her. So in order to get her to back off, I had to say those terrible things about Gary. Do you have any idea how much it hurt to say that about someone who cared so much about me?"
By then, tears had started to roll down her face and Leaf handed her a napkin, which she accepted.
"I know I hurt him badly and I know he hates me now, but I can't stand it. He was the first person who tried to befriend me and I really did like him. I only want him to look at me like how he did back then."
Leaf felt bad for her. The gang had said that she was good at faking innocence, but seeing her cry like that didn't seem like fake to her. It looked as if she was really sincere and that's when the brunette started to wonder if it was all a misunderstanding.
"I know it's going to sound like I'm asking for too much," Courtney finally said when she calmed down. "But can you please help me out, Leaf? I think if you say something he might want to listen to me. The way he's feeling now, he definitely doesn't want anything to do with me."
The brunette saw how apologetic she was and it was what got her. Although Gary may not have wanted her to meddle, she knew that he had to hear her explanation.
"Of course I'll help you out."
OK so I know it's been like almost a year BUT IT'S BEEN A TOUGH SCHOOL YEAR. BUT YA GIRL FINISHED OFF SPRING SEMESTER WITH A 3.4 GPA AND AN A IN CALC 2 SOOOO ALL THOSE SLEEPLESS NIGHTS WEREN'T IN VAIN LMAO.
Anyway, yaaah, I'll def try to update more this time around so keep on the lookout!
SO IS COURTNEY REALLY SORRY? OR IS SHE FAKING IT WITH A MOTIVE? WHO KNOWSSS. MISTAKES ARE DEFINITELY IN THIS CHAPTER SO YAH FEEL FREE TO POINT THEM OUT FOR ME.
PLS REVIEW BC IT'LL MAKE ME HAPPY. HEARTS FOR YOU.