A/N: Hahahaha I didn't upload the same chapter twice, no not at all ...

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot line. Kudos to Satoshi Tajiri completely.

The cold light from the street lamps lit their way home, the yellow glow from their bulbs casting long, dark shadows behind them. Dawn could feel the lights' warmth on her crown every time they passed under one, and she counted each one to distract herself from her own thoughts. Seven, eight, nine, ten . . .

Silence hung over them like a suffocating blanket, his hand holding her wrist softly as they made their way home. He'd loosened his grip enough that blood and feeling had returned to her fingers, sending a tingle throughout her hand. She had the urge to flex her digits, but she resisted. She didn't want him thinking she was trying to run away again, and she really didn't even want to run anymore anyway; it was too much work and she was too tired, physically and emotionally.

When they came upon a busy intersection and had to wait for the light to change, she stared at her feet. Inside her boots, she curled her toes over and over as a way to pass the time. The sole of her boot made a small crunching sound against the sidewalk, which seemed to catch Paul's attention, but she kept her eyes glued to her feet and feigned ignoring him. He peered surreptitiously over his shoulder at her, watching her from the corner of his eye as she refused to raise her head. Her hair hung wild and curly around her face, obscuring his attempt to properly judge just how much she hated him at the moment. He knew messing with her earlier would probably annoy her, but he hadn't expected a backlash to this extent, especially since she wouldn't even look at him anymore.

Conversations floated around them, so many that it made it glaringly obvious that the two were avoiding speaking to one another. The light was taking forever, and standing around all these people was making Paul uncomfortable. He'd rather be back home watching TV, or something more productive than this. But for the moment he was stuck waiting with Dawn, the strangers around them seeming to be creeping . . . closer.

Behind them, Paul noticed a small group of males that couldn't have been more than a few years older than them. They were keeping their distance nearby, but he didn't like how they kept glancing at Dawn when they thought he wasn't looking. He knew where their eyes were wandering, especially since she was wearing a skirt; he managed to keep his own in a respectable area, but for some reason, the way these jerks were looking at her kinda . . . irked him. So much so that he adjusted his position beside her, stepping in the other guys' line of sight. He heard a few grunts of agitation and earned a few glares, which he returned tenfold. In one swift motion he ultimately cut off their view of her, stepping behind her. At this angle he had to let go of her wrist, releasing her so he didn't accidentally twist her arm in the process.

Thoroughly confused—and if she was being honest, feeling a little herded—Dawn peered at him over the collar of her stol—er, borrowed jacket. Her hoodie beneath it protected her from the wind as it blew a brisk, cold chill past them, insulating her almost completely. Maybe it was this that was keeping the shivers away. Whether they were from the cold or from nervousness, she wasn't sure, and she didn't really want to find out at the moment. She pushed the thought away for the time being as she started forward with the crowd when the walking man flashed.

Paul's presence was ever present as they crossed the road, but as soon as they reached the other side it vanished when someone bumped into her, knocking her away from the crowd. Stumbling forward, she managed to regain her balance before she ran into the side of a small shop. Rubbing at her shoulder she frantically searched for Paul in the crowd. There. She found his shaggy head a few feet away as he bobbed between people, but her line of sight was blocked when someone stepped in front of her. It was a guy she didn't know, probably college age by the letterman that he wore. Please don't be a meathead.

"Hey, cutie," he drawled. Arceus, it's never one of the good ones. "What're you doin' out on the town all by your lonesome?"

Dawn sighed. She was so done with boys today. Glancing at her Pokétch, she saw that she didn't have terribly much time to dawdle before she needed to be home. Her little stunt had cost them almost half an hour, and it would take them maybe another twenty minutes to reach their neighborhood. She needed to end this as fast as possible, find Paul, and run home. "Sorry, I'm with someone."

She tried glancing over his head, but a couple of buddies of his that she hadn't noticed before stepped up beside him. She groaned internally, setting her jaw in annoyance. She really didn't have time for this. Where was Paul?

Her question was immediately answered when she saw him manage to remove himself from the crowd. From the look on his face, he wasn't very happy. His hair blew in the wind, but he ignored it as he marched over to them. Even as the guy kept trying to talk to her, her eyes were glued to Paul as he got closer. Unconsciously, she had been leaning to the side to keep him in her sights, but she was shocked back to awareness when Meathead touched her arm. An uncomfortable shock jolting through her, she slapped his hand away from her and took a step away. A shiver ran down her spine when she realized this seemed to egg him on as he tried to grab her.

"Why don't you come with us and we can—eyaugh!" Grunting loudly, the man was suddenly jolted forward. Jumping back in surprise, Dawn watched as he doubled over in pain. Standing behind him and to the right stood Paul. He was twisting the guy's arm behind his back at an angle that looked like it could break at any second. The boy was making it look so easy, even though the other guy had to have outweighed him by at least fifty pounds.

"She's not interested," Paul growled, pushing the creep away.

The guy's friends rallied around him like a flock of Mareep as meat for brains gripped his bruised shoulder. Glaring daggers, creep-o decided it was in his best interest to back off. The teens watched as the group stepped away, meathead spitting at the ground and grunting a "Whatever" before they sauntered off back into the throng of people.

A heavy silence hung over Dawn and Paul as they stood there, their eyes simultaneously scanning to check and make sure those guys were gone. Gooseflesh ran down Dawn's arms, even with two jackets. Maybe they were some wannabe thugs trying to start trouble, she thought as she shoved her hands under her arms. Nobody had ever really tried to pick her up before, so she wasn't exactly certain about how to deal with the situation.

Well, for the moment everything was fine. The guys were gone and Paul had found her again. He'd driven off those guys and saved her, again. She just couldn't wrap her head around the fact that she kept finding herself in positions where she needed a savior. It was an irritating thought, one that made her grit her teeth and furrow her brow. She shoved her face against the lining of her hoodie, burying her chin and nose in the front of the hood. It's starting to smell like him, she realized, her cheeks and ears flushing red. It was hard to ignore his curious glances, but she made do.

They started back for home again, silence hanging over them like a fog. Dawn walked with her hands shoved in her hoodie pocket, Paul in his jeans'. Neither of them seemed to want to say anything, so they just kept to themselves, clouds of frozen breath trailing behind them as they walked. It had suddenly dropped in temperature, dark clouds covering what had just been a perfect sky. Dawn shivered, wringing her hands to keep her fingers warm. There wasn't much insulation when it came to the hoodie pocket, just the one layer of fabric. She was willing to deal with it the rest of the way home, but she glanced up in surprise when she saw Paul pull his hand from the warmth of his own pocket. Was she seeing things, or was Paul Shinji actually offering her his hand?

"Wh-what?" She stammered on accident, nervousness making her tongue thick. She reddened even more, dropping her eyes to the ground.

"What does it look like?" It might have been the poor lighting, but were his ears turning red? "You can't feel your fingers, can you?"

Man, she probably looked like a tomato. Heat crawled up the back of her neck; how was she not steaming yet? "Um, yeah. I mean, no, I can't. Pocket can't really hold warmth very well." Oh Arceus, someone shut me up.

He wiggled his fingers, grunting in acknowledgement. Arceus, he was blushing!

Dawn gnawed at the inside of her cheek. Was he just messing with her again? He'd been doing it a lot lately, and she was still mad at him for earlier. But, her hands were freezing cold. Maybe for just a little while . . .

Slowly, she removed one hand from her hoodie pocket, reaching for Paul's. When her fingertips touched his palm, she twitched slightly, but she pressed on, wrapping her digits around his. It was awkward and new, but not bad. His hand was big and rough compared to her own, his tan a stark contrast to her milky white color. She was so busy studying the differences between their joined hands that she didn't expect him to take her hand and stuff it in his coat pocket. Borderline nuclear, Dawn stumbled slightly, her vision foggy as the heat of her face made her dizzy.

"Hey, are you okay?"

By this time they'd almost reached the corner of their neighborhood. In the near distance Dawn could see the dead lamp post, sitting alone in the dark. As they neared it, Dawn swore that she saw a flicker of life in the bulb, but it was gone as soon as she'd noticed it. She was thankful when they walked under it, though, for it cast them in a dark shadow and helping to hide her embarrassment.

"Y-yeah. I'm cool. Icy fresh." She gave an awkward laugh at her lame attempt at a joke. Nerves were making her stupid, maybe she should just stay silent after all. "But, yeah, I am actually okay. Haven't been sleeping much lately, nothing unusual."

"Hn. You still worried about that worthle—that Charizard and Flygon of yours?"

Well, somebody was full of surprises today. First, he gallantly protects her, and now he's asking about her feelings? Granted, it would have been better if he hadn't had that little "slip" concerning her friends. She knew how Paul felt about Topaz, but she kept her mouth shut about the subject for the moment. "All the time," she said instead. Looking up, she scanned the dark sky above. Too much cloud coverage to find any stars, she realized.

He grunted again, hunching his shoulders against the cold wind that blew past them. It whipped Dawn's hair behind her, flying in her face. Turning away from it, her cheek accidentally brushed against his coat sleeve. It was made of a scratchy, rough material, kind of like the ones she'd see construction workers wear in the winter time.

ARE YOU KIDDING—

She shoved a cap on that thought before it could finish. If she started freaking out mentally, there's no telling what would come out of her mouth. The sound of blood pumping in her ears was almost deafening. A lump had seemed to form in her throat, which might explain why she was having such a hard time swallowing. She needed to say something before the situation became awkward—Oh Arceus, what was she thinking. Maybe he hadn't noticed . . .?

They had paused at the corner momentarily because of the wind, cast in a deep shadow as they stood beneath the dead lamp. Brushing her hair back with her free hand, she glanced up at Paul through her fringe. He wasn't looking at her, but down the street ahead of them. It didn't seem like his eyes were really focused on anything, just staring off into the distance. Everything seemed normal for the most part, even his ignoring her, except his ears were bright red. Maybe it was just from the brisk, chilly wind, but Dawn had begun to notice that this was a giveaway for when he was nervous or embarrassed, more so the latter.

Oh, dear. Dawn's heart started thumping painfully against her sternum. Taking a deep breath, she inhaled slowly to try and stay calm, exhaling silently through her nose. If she wasn't careful she could make herself pass out by taking breaths that were too quick or shallow. Doing so would have probably added negatively to their situation, and she really didn't need that.

Everything was silent, only a few cars passing them by as they continued to stand at the corner. Neither of them seemed to want to move, but Dawn's knees were starting to lock up, so she shuffled her feet slightly to try and keep her toes from falling asleep. The slight tug on his hand as she moved caught Paul's attention, and he glanced down at her. He idly watched as she touched her hair, tugging her fingers through her long tresses and muttering about how tangled it was getting in the wind. With how long it was, almost to the middle of her back, he wasn't exactly surprised that she had so much trouble dealing with it.

A flicker of light above them drew his eyes from Dawn, glancing at the street lamp that they stood under. It kept his attention long enough that he didn't notice when Dawn's phone started to buzz, that aggravating ring tone of hers starting to play.

Du du du-du-du! Du du du-du-du!

"Oh no oh no oh no." It was time for her hourly call to Johanna. She knew after their last call her mother expected her to be on time for this one, but it would take another twelve or so minutes to walk the rest of the way to Paul's house, maybe eight if they ran.

"Oh noo," Dawn groaned, pulling her phone from her back pocket where she'd stashed it before taking off. "Arceus, Mom is never going to trust me again if she finds out I left the house. Do you think we can run for it? My knee is hurting and I don't think I can run . . ." Blathering on, she kept on about how dead she was going to be if she didn't make the call on time. She held her phone in an iron grip, staring at the screen as the alarm continued to blare.

Du du du-du-du! Du du du-du—

Wordlessly, Paul reached over with his free hand and snatched the phone from her, swiping his thumb across the screen to shut off the alarm. Blinking in surprise, she watched as he unlocked her phone with swift fingers, pulling up the phone app. "How do you know my—" she started, but his glare silenced her, leaving her to look on as he went through her call log until he found Johanna's number. He gave a slightly amused smirk when he saw that she'd nicknamed her mother "Madam Birthgiver" in her contacts, but he didn't voice any questions he might have had, even when Dawn's cheeks flushed slightly at his grin.

"What are you doing?" she tried again, this time managing to finish her question. He gave no answer, just tapped on Johanna's number to begin a call. Eyes widening in shock, she stared open-mouthed at him as he calmly pressed the speaker button, the dial tone ringing loudly. "Don't—!"

"Hi, sweetie! You're on time this time."

Too late. The phone had only rang a few times, but Johanna must have been on break for her to have answered so quickly. Sputtering to answer, Dawn floundered for words as she began to panic. Paul had totally blindsided her, she wasn't prepared!

"Dawn?"

"Y-yeah, sorry. Reggie asked me, um, about my homework while I was waiting for the call to go through." It wasn't the perfect excuse, but Dawn wasn't very good at lying on the spot. Hopefully Johanna wouldn't hear the waver in her daughter's voice, or her small stumble as she attempted to lie through her teeth to her mother.

"Oh, good. How's that going? Are you getting along with Paul? I hear he's being a handful."

Johanna gave a good natured laugh, unknowingly alerting said boy that they were talking about him behind his back. Slightly withering under the glare that Paul was giving her, she turned away from him so she didn't have to see the look on his face. She debated taking the phone off speaker, but decided that it was probably in her best interest to keep it on as she answered her mother's prattling and questions.

Everything was going well when she was caught off-guard when Johanna asked to speak to Reggie. Becoming frantic, she turned back to Paul, a look of fear marring her features. "What do we do?" she stage-whispered to him, holding the phone's microphone away from her face so Johanna couldn't hear her. She'd told her one second, she'd hand it to him when he came back into the room. In a moment of panic she'd told her mother that he'd gotten up and gone to the kitchen for something to drink, and thank Arceus, she'd bought it.

Saying nothing, he held his hand out for the phone. Taken slightly aback, she eyed him suspiciously as she hesitated. Wait, was he planning to impersonate Reggie? It was true that their voices were a similar pitch, but, being a full-grown adult, Reggie's voice was slightly deeper than Paul's. Anxiety raged through her as she begrudgingly handed the phone over, biting at her free hand's nails once the device was in his possession. She watched as he took a deep breath before raising the phone to his face.

"Hi, Johanna. How's work?"

Saying that she was surprised didn't even begin to explain how Dawn felt at that moment. Her eyes wide and jaw dropped in utter shock, she could do nothing but stare at her companion as he spoke to her mother in a voice that sounded so much like Reggie's that if she saw him from behind, she might have mistaken him for the real thing. If he'd been a little taller and wore his hair back more, she probably wouldn't have been able to discern between the two. Even more shocking—if that was even possible at this point—he was actually smiling as he talked to her. Not his usual smirks or half grins, but a full-on I'm actually in a good mood and willing to have a meaningful conversation with you kind of smile. It was . . . almost breathtaking.

"H-how . . . did you—?"

Once he'd ended the call and re-locked her phone for her, he handed it back to her immediately without looking at her. She didn't notice his slight flush when their fingers brushed against each other, her brain was lagging as she tried to comprehend what had just happened. Her phone sat limply in her hand, and she almost dropped it as she shoved it hurriedly back into her pocket. She started barraging him with unrelenting questions, stepping in front of him to try and make him look at her since he kept avoiding his gaze.

Gripping her hand that he still held in his pocket, he told her to drop it and started forward around her. Sputtering and demanding for an answer, she stumbled behind him as she attempted to keep pace with him. She was not going to let this one go.

"Have a nice walk?"

As soon as they walked into the front hall, they were greeted by Reggie as he exited the kitchen. A mug of tea was gripped between his hands, steam coiling in front of his face as he took a sip. A meaningful eyebrow raised as he noticed their interlocked hands still stuffed in the coat Paul wore. Both teenagers' faces burned bright red and quickly removed their hands, Paul's going back into his jean pockets and Dawn's into her hoodie's.

"Yeah, well," Dawn started, chewing at the inside of her cheek. "It was—"

"Uneventful," Paul interrupted. Removing the coat and kicking off his shoes, he more or less stomped past Reggie to go sit on the couch.

Standing dumbfounded, the blunette stared blankly after him. It was cold in the entryway, so she removed her own boots, placing them next to Paul's as she hurried further into the house. Reggie said nothing as she went and joined Paul on the couch and began to talk in hushed tones.

"Tell me!" she kept demanding, all the while Paul just ignored her as he stared blankly at the wall. He was trying his best to ignore her, but he couldn't completely since she grabbed his arm and was shaking him.

Reggie watched idly as he leaned against the kitchen door jamb, sipping his tea again. Amused, he thought about how much Paul had changed over the last few weeks. If Dawn—or anyone at all, really—had attempted to put her hands on him before they'd moved back to town, he would have probably flung her hand away with disdain and thrown an insult her way. But he just sat there taking it, sighing heavily as he let her rock him back and forth as if he were a ragdoll. It was an interesting sight for the eldest Shinji.

Shaking his head, Reggie pushed away from the doorway and walked over to the couch. "All right, you two." Setting a hand on the back of the couch, he leaned forward so they could see him clearly. "It's nice to have fun and games, but I'm pretty sure neither one of you have finished your homework. Back to the kitchen."

Dawn whined audibly as she gripped Paul's arm. She'd unknowingly managed to snake her own arms around his, thoroughly attaching herself to him as she'd been shaking him. He was looking away as if he was still being a grump, but Reggie was at such an angle that he could see his brother's bright red face. This just keeps getting interesting. "Here." Reggie handed his mug to Dawn, successfully making her disentangle from Paul, who Reggie noticed snatched his arm away as soon as he was given the chance. "Why don't you have some of this and I can help you with anything you have questions on."

"That would be wonderful! All those questions are making me see circles," Dawn sighed, taking a sip from the mug. "Oh, this is nice."

"Are you taking geometry?" Reggie asked as Dawn stood from the couch and followed him into the kitchen, leaving Paul to sulk on the couch by himself.

"No, algebra."

On Monday the following week, the halls were buzzing with conversation. From what May had been able to pick up, there was going to be some new students transferring into two of the sophomore classes, one of them apparently including Dawn's. Everybody was excited, wondering the same thing: Why were they transferring in almost two months into the school year? Did any of them get kicked out or expelled from their previous schools?

The whole time that Dawn was walking to class, she idly thought about it. Why were three people transferring in? Usually, whenever someone new joined their school, it happened so close to the beginning of the year that nobody really noticed. So this was something unique in their everyday lives.

As the blunette sat in first period math, she doodled in her notebook until Mr. Gropius called the class to attention. When he did, a hush fell over everybody. Dawn glanced up from her squiggles and shut her notebook.

At the front of the room stood two people, a girl and a boy. If not for their different hairstyles, they would have looked exactly alike. They stood at the same height, but the girl's ponytail sat higher than the boy's head by a couple inches. Only the boy looked comfortable being scrutinized by their new peers; the girl stood close to him, her hands clasped behind her back as she toed at the floor with her boot.

"Class, this is Hilda and Hilbert White, they'll be your new classmates starting today. Treat them well." Mr. Gropius gestured in the pair's general direction. "Go ahead and introduce yourselves," he suggested.

As the boy stood taller in preparation, Dawn could see the girl start chewing at the inside of her cheek. Hilbert repeated his name proudly and confidently, his voice louder than what she'd expected it to be. With a glance to his sister, Hilda readjusted her position, intertwining her hands in front of her now. She introduced herself in a calmer, more quiet voice than Hilbert did, but with a slight stutter. Glancing at Hilbert, she straightened her back when he smiled in encouragement.

"It's nice to meet you all," she finished, bowing.

It was mostly quiet for the rest of the class. Gropius had seated the siblings at two desks that were near each other, but not directly next to. One of them was the seat in front of her, which Hilbert had been given. She'd more or less seen this coming since nobody had sat in that desk since the beginning of the semester, and because it was near the front, no one really wanted it anyway.

Although the class was relatively quiet, the sound of hushed whispers around Dawn was very distracting. She wasn't exactly paying attention, but voices kept dragging her attention away from her squiggling. It wasn't like she was trying to draw a masterpiece, nor did she really want to—it was a way for her to relax.

The only other person that was silent during Gropius's lecture was Hilbert. Even though they didn't have their textbooks yet, he was dutifully writing down what looked like everything their teacher was both writing on the board and speaking aloud to the class. How diligent, Dawn noticed as she peered over his shoulder, watching his hand scribbling across the page. When she saw his handwriting, though, she had to stifle a laugh. He wrote horribly. Like, a doctor's signature on a prescription bad. She bit at her lip so she'd stay silent as she leaned back in her seat, settling in for the rest of class.

.

.

.

It wasn't until lunch time that she saw the new kids again. Dawn had just sat down with her lunch from home, her back facing the line of hungry students waiting to pay for what the school called food. The noise level in the cafeteria was still only a hum as barely half the room was even filled. She'd rushed to their table because she couldn't wait to hear about what the girls had heard about her new classmates. Leaf was more connected to the gossip grapevine than any of them, so she was usually the one who got them any information she could find. Slowly the room began to fill, students trickling in from their third period classes.

May had just joined Dawn and taken her seat across from the blunette when movement at the cafeteria entrance caught her eye. Sandwich stopped midway from being torn apart, Dawn blinked when she saw the White siblings standing in the double doorway. They looked nervous, even Hilbert who'd been so confident before in the classroom. Nobody was really paying them any attention, so they just continued to stand there, scanning the room.

Arceus, I can't just leave them there, Dawn sighed internally. "Hold on," she muttered to May as she stood. Her friend stared after her as she proceeded to shove her food in her face, eyes following Dawn as she jogged over to the doors.

"Hi!" she said once she'd reached the siblings. Both visibly jumped slightly, startled by her sudden, cheery voice. Maybe she should tone it down a bit. "I'm Dawn Hikari, I was in Mr. Gropius's math class this morning with you."

A spark of recognition shown in Hilbert's eyes. "Yeah," he said. "I remember you. I sat in front of you, didn't I?"

Smiling brightly, the blunette nodded. "That's me."

There was a moment of awkward silence as they stood there. Hilbert seemed less uncomfortable, but not so much Hilda. She still stood as if she were on the defense, her shoulders hunched and hands threaded behind her back again.

Clearing her throat, Dawn tried to get rid of the intensity in the air. "Do you guys have any place to sit?" A brief glance around the room told them all no. "If you want, you can come sit with me and my friends until you find a table of your own," she offered. "There's only four of us and the table sits eight, so we have plenty of room."

Hilbert frowned at the thought of being surrounded solely by females, but Hilda's eyes lit up at the prospect of possible girlfriends. In the end they agreed, following Dawn through the now-crowded aisles between tables. The blunette could hear some of the more troubled kids making jeers at her, most of them aimed at her inability as a trainer. Even though she'd shown that she was able to catch a dragon, some of her peers still felt it was necessary to tease her. She tried her best to ignore it, but a frown betrayed her.

By the time they reached the table, her dark mood had passed. Misty and Leaf had finally joined May in their seats, and all three of them watched her closely as she introduced the two sophomores. The older girls kept silent as Dawn introduced the pair.

"Guys, this is Hilda and Hilbert White," she said as she said down, allowing them to sit side-by-side next to her. They seemed stuck at the hip, but it was probably because they were in a brand new environment. Having something or someone familiar around seemed to be helping ease them out of their shell.

Hilbert sat closest to her, probably because he'd been the first one to engage with Dawn. He openly engaged with the girls, seeming to have shed any weird feelings about being the only boy amongst them. Hilda, on the other hand, was keeping to herself more than ever. She kept her hands tucked in her lap, staring down at the table where her lunch sat untouched. Dawn wasn't participating as much in the conversation that she usually would have because she'd been keeping an eye on the girl. Maybe she wasn't good at meeting new people?

"Hey, I have an idea," said Misty suddenly. She pulled out her phone and unlocked it, thumbs tapping furiously across the screen as she wrote up a quick message. In seconds she was done, leaving the others at the table wondering just who she'd just texted. They got their answer when they heard someone calling Misty's name, the voice growing slowly closer. Looking up, they saw it was Ash, weaving between tables as he made his way over.

"Heard you guys were having a party," he said once he'd reached them.

He was wearing some sort of graphic tee with a Poke Ball design on it, but the girls dismissed it when Misty answered, "Yeah, we've got some new members to add to the circus."

Hilda seemed alarmed for a moment until Dawn managed to convince her that Misty was just kidding. "This is Hilda and Hilbert White," the blunette added quickly. "Today's their first day."

"Ah, new blood." The older boy rubbed his hands together mischievously. He laughed at their faces. "Don't worry, you're gonna love it here." Glancing down at Misty he added, "Misty here told me it might be a good idea to introduce you to some guy friends so you wouldn't be surrounded by girls all the time."

"You wrote a message saying that that fast?" May asked. Considering she'd had the bloom of her crush stomped on almost immediately a few weeks ago, May seemed to be handling the whole interaction better than Dawn could have expected.

The blunette sat back and sipped at the soda she'd pulled from her lunch bag as she watched Ash finally introduce himself and ask Hilbert if he wanted to go meet the guys. The older boy pointed across the cafeteria to a table somewhere against the wall. Dawn's eyes followed his arm, searching until she'd found what she'd been looking for: Paul's shaggy head as he dozed with his forehead resting on his arms on the tabletop. What she hadn't been expecting was to see that Drew boy sitting on one side of Paul, poking and prodding at his arm in what seemed to be an attempt at waking him up. She wondered when they'd become such good friends (sarcasm), but dropped the thought when she noticed Hilbert rising from his seat.

"I guess it wouldn't hurt to make some other friends," he said as he pushed his chair under the table, "even though these are some of the loveliest ladies I've ever been given the chance to have a conversation with." Finishing his statement with a wink, the boy grinned as the girls responded by either blushing or laughing. At least he has a sense of humor, Dawn grinned inwardly.

Everybody seemed to be getting along well already. Except for Hilda. She continued to sit quietly in her seat, her eyes glued to the table. The only thing that managed to rouse her from her semi-hypnotic state was Hilbert setting a hand on her shoulder, leaning down to whisper words of what sounded like encouragement to her. He ruffled her hair and kissed the top of her head before he left their table, following behind Ash to his. He waved over his shoulder at the girls, blowing a kiss to them as the duo walked away.

When they were gone, the older girls burst into laughter.

"Wow, he is a card!" exclaimed Leaf, wiping tears from her watery eyes with the heel of her hand.

May was tittering beside her as she rested her chin in her palm as she propped her elbow on the tabletop. "No kidding," she added. "But that's good, that means he's acclimating."

Misty laughed. "Sounds like someone's ready for the SATs."

Left to talk amongst themselves once more, Dawn looked at Hilda. The poor girl was such a pale color, or maybe that was just her skintone. It was hard to tell under such terrible fluorescent lighting, even she looked like paper. Hilda looked so alone that she just had to ask, "You doing okay?"

Silently, the girl looked up at her. Since her bangs were pulled back into her ponytail, Dawn could clearly see her eyes. They shone a deep blue even in the poor lighting. Surprised at how bright and clear her gaze was even when she appeared to be uncomfortable, the blunette blinked. Hilda finally speaking broke the silence that hung heavily between them. Her voice was soft, but Dawn was able to hear her even over the ruckus of the lunch room. "I'm fine," was all she said.

Blinking again, Dawn chewed lightly on the inside of her cheek. "Really? You don't seem to be having fun. Would you rather I'd left you and Hilbert alone?"

Her mouth puckering slightly into a frown, Hilda shook her head. "No, that's okay. It's nice that you offered to let us sit with you and your friends."

"Don't mention it." Dawn gave the girl a half smile as she leaned back in her chair, glancing briefly at her friends. Silently, she reached over to the chair that Hilbert had vacated, sliding out of her own and dropping into it. Now she was sitting directly next to Hilda. Without that space she was able to speak directly to her without feeling like she was yelling across a field. "Do you guys like it here so far?" she asked as she sipped her soda.

The brunette seemed to contemplate this for a moment, her head tilting to the side in thought. "It's been an okay start," she said slowly, as if trying to think of a good explanation. "Everybody has been nice so far. The only ones who haven't seemed to be those boys making rude remarks to you earlier."

"Ugh, them. Don't worry about them, they're not worth your time."

Hilda smiled. "Duly noted."

For the rest of lunch they talked mostly between the two of them. Dawn told Hilda about her family life and how she'd just caught a dragon a few weeks prior, which the girl congratulated her on. The blunette pointedly left out how belated this catch was, which she thought felt like she was lying to the other girl. But the feeling passed when Hilda told Dawn of her own life.

She told her about her brother and her mom, how they'd just moved into one of the more recently built residential areas. "It's maybe twenty minutes from here, so we usually ride Hilbert's bike," she explained.

Dawn swallowed the bite of sandwich she'd just taken. "Who usually pedals?"

"He does," she chuckled. "I don't have the leg strength he does. He's able to get us here in ten minutes because he's so fast, but it's so terrifying because he's fast. I almost fell off the back of the bike this morning, I was holding on for dear life."

"I'm so sorry, but that's too funny," Dawn laughed, almost choking on the sip of soda she'd just taken.

She was conversing with Hilda easily, as if they hadn't known each other for only a few hours. She was a very pleasant person when she was willing to communicate. Slowly, but surely, she was starting to open up to Dawn, which pleased the blunette. She liked Hilda—she was quiet, but not entirely soft spoken, and she had a spark in her that Dawn liked.

Maybe we can be good friends, Dawn thought as she got ready to go to her next class with May. The bell hadn't rung yet, but May didn't want to have to worry about the crowd that would fill the hall when it did. Especially since it took longer to get to the gym than any of the school's main classrooms. They said their good-byes to Misty and Leaf, the seniors waving as they were walking away, but seeing Hilda's sad smile, Dawn hurried back to the table.

Quickly unzipping her bag, she ripped a piece of paper from a notebook and hurriedly scribbled her phone number and email address on it. She handed this to Hilda, saying, "Call me if you ever need me, or if you ever just want to talk." Shooting a smile over her shoulder she ran to catch back up to May, re-zipping her bag as she went.

"She's seems nice, doesn't she?" May asked once she caught up.

"She does," Dawn agreed, smiling to herself. She really does.

A/N: What was that? Saturate this story with multiple main game and anime characters?

I'm way ahead of ya.