Seasons of Fortune
A/N: It's no longer winter (TT_TT) It's been a crazy month, both at work and at home - being the caretaker of a covid positive person isn't easy…
Disclaimer: The author does not own Pokémon, and fully respects the works and ingenuity of Satoshi Tajiri, Ken Sugimori and Junichi Masuda.
Chapter 4: Third Time's the Charm
Of course, Dawn was chewed out by her friends when she returned.
With the voices of her friends going in and out of her ears, she went through the motions of chewing the pepperoni pizza, cheese fries, honey-glazed drumettes, and mesclun salad. She tried to change the topic.
"Who knew a standard pepperoni pizza could taste so good?"
"I know, right?! Where did you– ah wait, we're not done yet. Do you know how worried we were…"
'Damn it. It didn't work.'
But if there's one thing Dawn's good at, it's being persistent. When Leaf started slowing down in her eating, Dawn tried again.
"Maybe I've bought too much…"
"You followed a guy's order for him and his friends. Perhaps his friends are all men. And Dawn, remember how our mothers shared their experience of getting lost in the back alleys…"
'I guess not.'
Eventually, as the girls polished off all of the food (May being the biggest contributor), Misty, May and Leaf eased up on their tough love. And with Dawn's ardent pleas and promises to 'never do it again', they stopped, opened up the box of strawberry shortcakes, and went to a new topic.
"It's nice of the guy to help you out." May said as she took a slice.
"If he's a decent person, he'll help a poor girl who's about to be robbed." Misty muttered, rolling her eyes, also helping herself to a slice.
"I mean, he could just walk away y'know." May replied.
"Mhm," Misty responded, poking her fork into her slice of strawberry shortcake. "If he just walks away, then he isn't a decent person."
Blinking a couple of times, May realized what Misty was getting at.
"Oh… right."
"Anyways, he's the same guy you saw in the train?" Leaf asked, directing her gaze at Dawn. Still in the midst of chewing, the blue-eyed girl replied with a vigorous nod.
May shifted her body slightly. Then she questioned, "The guy you messaged us about in the group chat?"
Nod, nod. Another affirmative nod.
"Oooh." Misty's tone was cheeky. "You mean, the guy who has purple hair? The same color as plum blossoms?" Then she burst into laughter.
"Are we going back to the fortune thing again?" Leaf groaned.
Misty laughed harder. In between her spurts of laughter, she said, "You shouldn't say that. By now, you should say, 'Here we go again.' Hahahaha!"
"No!" Dawn protested. "I wasn't thinking about the fortune when I took note of his hair color!" She took another bite of cake and nodded, as if to convince herself (and the rest). She puffed her cheeks slightly and added, "And actually, his hair is more like a plum color, it's not as bright nor pink as actually plum blossoms."
"Really?" Leaf was dubious; understandably so, given recent events.
"Honest!" Dawn insisted. 'What do they think of me as? Crazy?' But a second later, she reflected. 'I guess I was pretty bad that one week, but it's just one week!'
"Oh, how strange." May suddenly piped up, licking the last bit of fresh cream off her fork. "I thought with certainty that you'd claim it's a fateful encounter."
Dawn's eyes almost doubled in size. She spluttered, "What? W-Why?!" The same goes for Leaf and Misty, who also had matching expressions of absurdity. Unfazed by the looks of the trio, May drank some water and explained,
"'Cause, you sort of brushed past him once, and the next time you see him, he's saving you from some thugs. It's like, out of a movie, or a shoujo manga, or anime, or webtoon, or novel!"
"..."
"..."
"No? Isn't it like Gakuen Alice or Kodocha or Maid-sama? Hm?" The fork May dropped onto her empty plate made a light 'klunk!'
Leaf furrowed her brows slightly, then stated, "I've read them, heck, we all did, and I'm pretty sure those fall more into the 'rivals-to-lovers' category than 'love at first sight.'"
"Whatever it is, they're great mangas. But I don't think Dawn's listening." Misty shook her head, gesturing towards the motionless Dawn.
Still holding onto her half-eaten cake, Dawn seemed to be digesting what May said.
'It's sort of a fateful encounter…?'
'Isn't it more like a cliché?'
'But it's still kind of a fateful encounter, no?'
In her contemplation, the corners of her lips started to rise. It caught the Leaf's sharp green eyes, and she immediately went,
"Oh, no no no no no! May, you've gone and done it, you've planted more of this fortune nonsense into her head!"
You could tell with one look at May's face that she realized it as well, just… belatedly. Misty rubbed her nose and said in a relaxed manner,
"It's okay. What's done is done. We'll just knock sense back into her later."
"Oh, no need to worry guys! I know this has nothing to do with the fortune, his hair color doesn't mean he's related to the fortune!"
Dawn cheerfully reassured them, her tone bright and crisp despite it being quite late at night.
Everyone was intrigued.
Leaf asked, "Hmm? Then what were you thinking about for so long?"
After swallowing the last bite of her cake, Dawn looked up and met the eyes of each of her friends, and said,
"Third time's the charm right? I think it'll really be a fateful encounter if I see him again!"
As if they had agreed on it beforehand, Misty, May, and Leaf stiffly nodded and smiled. And Dawn, who took no note of that, smiled back, and suggested, "It's been a long day, shall we pack up and go to bed? We're going to explore more of Lumiose tomorrow together aren't we?"
(While Dawn hummed merrily to herself and started washing the plates and utensils, the remaining three girls whispered things like, "If she meets him again, then isn't it just an average passing encounter?" and "It's okay, she'll get over it in a while.")
Contrary to Dawn's own hopes and her friends' worries, days passed without any sightings of 'that guy'.
While the girls visited Parfum Palace, received a grand tour of Sycamore Laboratory thanks to Leaf's connections as the president's niece, and frolicked the streets of Lumiose, varied shades of green began to appear and fought for a spot among the white landscape. The biting chill softened a little, and flower buds started to tremble and part slightly.
Winter is ending.
Still, before spring comes and the freshmen of Kalos University begin their next four years, there's orientation.
"Is this the right building…?"
Misty muttered, her aquamarine eyes shifting to scan the entirety of her surroundings.
Alpha Hall? Check. Lift A? Sighted.
'Lecture room, where's lecture room 14… ah, here.'
Misty pushed the heavy double doors open and entered.
This lecture room was mostly monochrome. All the furniture and equipment were either in varying shades of gray, or black or white. The people and their clothes stood out like a sore thumb.
'There's not a lot of people here. I guess I'm early?'
'...What am I supposed to do? Do I have to sign my attendance or…?'
At that moment, an energetic voice rang out.
"Hello! Are you a freshman? Here for the orientation of the exercise science course?"
The girl who spoke to her was dressed entirely in black, save for the sky-blue bomber jacket. When Misty looked a little further behind the girl, she noticed several other people who were dressed similarly, so she reckoned they're orientation facilitators or something.
"Hello to you too. Yes, I'm here for orientation. Exercise science."
"You're in the right place! Here, this for you." The girl handed Misty an A4-sized envelope. "It's just some basic information about our three-day orientation and your major itself. Please take a seat, you're…" After a swift tilt and glance at her watch, the girl continued, "...a little early. Just take a seat and maybe talk to the people around you! Who knows, they might be in your tutorials!"
"Thank you."
With that, the girl went off to assist another freshman.
Climbing up to a row that was a little above the 'middle', Misty sat down on one of the leftmost seats, placed her red drawstring bag in the next seat, and her phone and cup of coffee on the connected mini table. It was almost 8 in the morning, and she didn't quite feel like socializing and being in the center of conversations.
'There's plenty of time to make good friends, or, good classmates.'
She nodded to herself as she thought so, and brought her cup of coffee up to her lips, slowly taking small sips. Then she started flipping through the envelope of materials, carefully looking at each piece of paper.
After a while…
Flash–
The screen of her phone lit up, indicating there was a new message.
[The Fortune Hunters Squad!]
Underneath an 'excited panda' sticker was Dawn's message: How's orientation so far?! Leaf and I are having breakfast in Mega Hall's cafeteria, and it's just not the same without you guys… Why couldn't our orientation be on the same days as yours and May's?
There was another message below, it was from Leaf: Let's meet for dinner today, if possible.
Misty started typing: Can't be helped that yours is during the first week of the new semester. And yeah, sure, that's possible.
Then she added: The schedule I received said it will end at 4pm. _May, does yours end at 4pm too?
May replied almost immediately, but it was full of typos: I'll let yuo know latr. Why ish my oreitnation in a building on tiop of Delta Hill?!
Pfft. Misty almost laughed out loud. 'This girl, she should've just focused on running. Replying to us can wait.' It seemed like her other two friends thought the same, as one sent a 'sighing panda' sticker while the other went with a 'frantically running ball of fire' sticker.
After sending a 'laughing yet crying blob' sticker, the redhead locked her phone, leaned back, and reached out towards her coffee. As the intense, deep coffee notes of the americano slipped by her tongue, her gaze roamed the lecture room.
'It's about time.'
'The hall is almost filled. But there's no one in my row. Do I look too aloof or scary?'
Misty gave herself a once-over. Thick white sweater, light-washed denim pants, warm quilted white winter boots. White puffy jacket hung on the chair next to her, where she had placed her bag. Shoulder-length hair tied in a casual side pony; and a discreet sniff of her wrist confirmed that the wood sage and sea salt cologne she applied earlier smelled fine. Overall…
'Don't I just look as normal and approachable as everybody?'
She was kind of concerned, but yet at the same time, not that bothered enough to do something about it. The moment she began wondering when would orientation actually start–
"Hey, mind if we sit next to you?"
A light, happy voice sounded from above her head.
"Yeah, go ahead." As she responded, she removed her items from the seat. Then she took a proper look at the newcomer.
Or more like, the newcomers.
'They look like complete opposites.'
The impression she had of one of them was literally 'strong' - he just seemed so sturdy and tough with his all-black outfit, healthy tanned complexion, and stoic expression.
Though… Misty had to bite her lower lip to prevent herself from bursting into laughter. Why? It was all because of his hair color!
'Dawn's gotten into my head. To think I'd want to laugh the moment I see a guy with plum-colored hair.'
'It's not a common hair color, what are the odds we'll both meet a person like this.'
Anyways, as for the other person, who was dressed in reds and blues and seemed much 'brighter' and 'softer' as compared to his friend…
"Ah, you're… you're Ash right?"
Ash, the 'other person', grinned, saying, "Yup! I told you we share the same major the other day, didn't I? When Gary and I met you?"
The girl made an 'o' with her mouth as she recalled and nodded to acknowledge. "Ah right! We met in the student's office, didn't we? You mentioned that you're here on the athletic scholarship for swimming?"
His grin widened. "Aww, you remember! I'm honored to be remembered by the Mermaid of Cerulean High herself."
Misty could feel a blush rising. 'That nickname from when I was in high school…' She soon mirrored his smile and formed a light reply. "I am planning on joining the school's competitive swim team, so I should at least remember a future teammate."
"I'm sure the team will accept you! By the way, this is my friend." The raven-haired boy pointed to his side. "Paul, this is Misty. Misty, this is Paul."
"Hey Paul." Misty directed her smile at him. "I'm Misty Waterflower, nice to meet you!"
The guy who had been quiet thus far gave her a nod in response, and said, "Paul Shinji. So, you guys went to the same high school?"
"No, we don't." Ash explained. "She's from Cerulean High. Gary and I are from Viridian Oak Academy. We just recognize her from swim meets. Cerulean is the best in Kanto, and Misty placed well in every meet."
Paul raised his eyebrows, commenting, "Hn. That explains the nickname."
"Ah, both of you, stop! You're making me blush!" The 'mermaid' cupped her cheeks, which were rosy, with her hands. Then she said, "But Ash, you must be pretty good yourself to get a swimming scholarship here."
"...Not good enough since you don't recognize him…" Paul muttered, giving his dark-haired friend a smirk and a scoff. It was met with an indignant reply of "You don't have to say that!"
Then Ash touched the back of his neck and said bashfully, "Well, it's understandable that you don't recognize me. I only placed in the last meet, but thought I should try for it since my grades meet the requirements, and well, guess I was lucky enough!"
"Then how about you, Paul?" Misty inquired. "Where are you from?"
"Sinnoh." The man answered simply.
"Oh, nice. One of my close friends is from Sinnoh too. How do you guys know each other then? Are y'all roommates?"
Before Paul could open his mouth, Ash cut in. "Close, he's actually one of my next-door dorm neighbors. Gary, Paul, his roommate and I met a couple of weeks ago and just got along!"
"Oh, that's really nice!" Misty replied with that, although Paul's slight change in expression gave her the impression that he either didn't quite agree with Ash, or had something he wanted to say. Well, there was no need to think or prod too much into this.
And before one of the trio brought up another question…
Clap, clap, clap!
Ding, ding ding–
One of the sky-blue bomber jacket clad guys clapped and rang a bell, effectively gathering everyone else's attention.
"Welcome freshmen!"
As he began introducing himself and his fellow facilitators, Misty thought,
'I wonder if May made it to her orientation venue yet.'
Current time: 7.57am.
In her haste, May almost tripped over her own feet as she flung the double doors of lecture hall 33 open. Thankfully, a few not-so-glamorous 'flaps' of her arms saved her from face-planting onto the floor.
"Are you okay?"
'Breathe in, and out, in and out.' While trying to regulate her breathing, May turned her head and came face to face with a blue-haired girl. That girl gave her a warm smile before saying,
"It's great that you found your balance! You're just in time. Here's your orientation packet. Please take a seat as we'll be starting in a couple of minutes."
"T-Thank you!" May accepted the envelope; she was absolutely positive her face was as red as a tomato, the warmth she felt on her cheeks and the back of her neck couldn't be wrong.
'Oh my goodness! Did everyone see that?' She raised her eyes to the seats in panic. Okay, there were a few people who were looking at her with their hands over their mouths and bodies slightly trembling (presumably with laughter), but generally, most were engrossed in their own matters. 'I should just quickly settle down.'
May headed to the closest empty seat - a seat by the aisle in the second row of the middle column. While settling her yellow daypack on her lap, the person sitting next to her spoke.
"I'm glad you didn't fall earlier." It was a girl with reddish brown hair and teal-green eyes. "My name is Brianna, it's nice to meet you."
May shyly laughed, and replied, "I'm May. And I'm glad too… imagine falling in front of everyone! I'd want to dig a hole for myself…!"
Brianna lightly chuckled. "I know what you mean! Having that be most of your coursemates' first impression of you… ah!" The girl pursed her lips and brought a hand to her forehead, perhaps imagining the scene. Then she tilted her head slightly, staring at the brunette's face.
"...?" May asked, "Is there something on my face?"
"N-No!" Brianna hurriedly waved her hands. "I just thought you look kinda familiar–"
Clap, clap clap–
Ding, ding ding!
The blue-haired girl who spoke to May earlier signaled the start of orientation.
"Welcome everyone, to this year's mass communications orientation! My name is Abby, I am a junior and currently serve as the main anchor of our university's broadcasting club…"
As Abby continued the introduction in a clear, crisp and rhythmic tone, May began to relax. The adrenaline from the run here seeped away, and tiredness settled; her eyelids felt heavier and heavier and heavier…
'...'
'...'
"Psst!"
'What… What is that I hear?'
"Psst–! Psst, May!"
Poke– Poke–
'...Who, who is jabbing my ribs?'
'Dawn doesn't… wake me up so gently…'
"May! Wake up! Please!"
Brianna was anxious, she kept hissing and prodding the girl next to her.
After Abby introduced herself and the other facilitators and gave a brief overview of the 3-day orientation program, she split them into groups. Despite Brianna shaking May up and dragging her to their new seats, the latter still drifted back into her unconsciousness. The more group members arrived, the more worried and nervous the reddish-brown haired girl was. Brianna might not know May very well yet, but she had a feeling she would be so, so, soooo embarrassed to be caught sleeping - heck, if she herself was in that situation, she totally would be.
Moreover, it seemed a few people had noticed, for they were looking in their direction and stifling their laughter. Perhaps she was hyper-sensitive, but regardless, the distressed Brianna ceased the gentle shaking and shoved the brunette hard with her elbow.
Shove–
"...W-What, WHAT!?"
…To Brianna's shock and horror, May did not slowly open her bleary eyes and gradually regained her senses.
With her sapphire eyes wide open, the once-asleep girl yelled.
"...W-WHAT did I miss?"
Really loudly, if Brianna may add. Flabbergasted and tired, she could only sigh inwardly, thinking, '...Poor May.'
"Pfft– ahahaha!"
"Hahahaha!"
"Lol, that girl's funny."
It didn't take too long for May to realize what's going on. Once she did, her face burned - her earlier blush occupied her cheeks and the back of her neck, and now it has expanded its territory, claiming her entire face and even the tips of her ears.
"M-My apologies…" The red-faced brunette stammered out.
Then the eyes of some people gently curved as they smiled, forming crescent moons. One by one, they reassured her.
"Don't worry. Abby's voice does that to so many of us."
"8am is a little too early for orientation isn't it?"
"Simply dozing off is nothing. Why, I heard from my friend in another major that someone nodded off, started snoring really really loudly, and when he awoke, he knocked his cup of coffee onto the poor dude seated in front of him!"
"That's great," Brianna, relieved, said to May in a whisper. "No one minded."
May muttered back apologetically, "Thank you Brianna, for trying to help me."
"It's nothing." Brianna smiled, giving her newfound friend's arm a slight squeeze.
"It's okay," Abby gave May a wink. "It's not bad to have a soothing voice, and besides, no real harm was done. So don't worry about it." Then she looked at the group. "Six… Eight, Ten… okay I think everyone's here. This will be your small group for the rest of the orientation. Robert here," she paused and pointed to the guy with blond hair next to her and continued, "and I will be with your group. Feel free to ask us anything at any time during these three days."
"Yes, precisely what Abby said." Robert said with an elegant wave of his right hand. "Let's start with self-introduction. Five things. Your name, where you're from, which tutorial class you'll be in, why you chose mass communications as your major, and what's one of your goals for your four years here." One of his fingers turned, pointing to the green-haired guy seated next to him. "How about we start with you."
The green-haired guy, who has equally bright green eyes, parted his mouth. "Very well. I am…"
'Oh, my goodness. I can't believe myself. I really can't believe myself!'
May's mind floated away from the group; her mental state was still in tatters. She truly wanted to brush it off like what others had said, but it's hard. Well, she probably wouldn't recall this a month later, but for now… yes, this was bothering her.
"Hello everyone, my name is Brianna, and I'm from Chrysanthemum Island in the Kanto region…"
'...It's my turn soon, I should get my head straight.'
'Focus, May! Achieving your goals starts from here!'
Brianna soon finished her introduction, "...as for my goal, umm, to be honest, I'm still trying to find it. I'm interested in mass communications, but I don't really know what I want to do beyond learning about it."
"Thanks for sharing Brianna," Abby said in her characteristic, soothing tone. "It's perfectly fine to not know what you want to do yet, I hope you'll find it during your four years here." Then her gaze shifted to May. "Next!"
"Ahem, yes!" After taking a deep breath, her lips formed a friendly grin, showing her pearly whites, and she said,
"It's nice to meet everyone, I'm May Maple, and I'm from Hoenn. I'll be in tutorial class 4. I really enjoy traveling, meeting people, and listening to their stories, and hope to be either a news reporter or anchor in the future, which is why I chose mass communications as my major. So with that in mind, I'm hoping to join the broadcasting club and maybe even become the main anchor!"
"Ah, so you're coming after my position." Abby commented with a teasing smile.
Flustered, May spluttered, "N-No! Uhh, well, I'd appreciate it if you could show me the ropes!"
"Haha, relax, I'm just joking." Abby's voice eased into a gentle tone. "The competition to be accepted into the club is tough, but all the best in making it in!"
With a little shyness, May replied, "Thank you."
"I'll be expecting both of your club applications in spring." Robert nodded at May and the green-haired guy alternately. "Now, let's get moving, we have a lot of grounds to cover today."
As May picked up her bag and stood up, she wondered, 'Both? Is it that green-haired guy? Perhaps we can get along—'
"Big words for someone who was almost late to orientation, and even nodded off in it."
An unknown voice came from behind her. Her brow twitched at the sarcastic tone.
'I did do that, but must he put it in that way?!'
"Oh, wait, my mistake. You didn't nod off, you slept through it."
'Ugh. Really, sarcasm is dripping off his every word.'
Aggravated, May spun around and indignantly spat out the following words,
"Hey! And who might you be—"
Blazing sapphire eyes met cool emerald ones.
'Oh… He's… really good looking. Wait, no, this isn't the time to be charmed!'
"The name's Drew." The guy flicked his bangs. With one corner of his lips pulled into a smirk, he continued speaking smugly, "Remember it. As I'll be the main anchor of our year."
Then he flicked his bangs once more, and walked past her, giving a back-wave with one of his hands.
'That little–! Think he's so great!'
While May and Misty were having orientation, Dawn and Leaf were at the library searching for some of the textbooks they might need.
Around lunchtime, a message came from Misty in their group chat: Hey, the new friends I made during orientation suggested having dinner together. What do you guys think?
May's reply contained a question: Is it okay that we're crashing your major's dinner?
Almost instantly, Misty responded: Oh no, it's just me and these two guys I met. They're probably going to invite their roommates too.
"Hey Leaf," Dawn playfully but gently tugged at the end of her friend's french braid to get her attention. "Check this out."
"Hm?" Leaf read the contents of the group chat.
"So? Shall we?" Dawn asked.
"Yeah, why not?" Leaf casually rescued her hair from the blunette's grasp and gave her a cute 'scolding', if it could even be called scolding. "If you like playing with braids, you should braid your own hair."
"Ah, but mine isn't long enough," Dawn cheekily replied, "So I'll have to settle for the next best option!" And she swiped the tail of Leaf's braid again.
"I'll just be the bigger person and let you win." Leaf muttered, figuring it wouldn't be good to get into a squabble in the library, no matter how harmless it was. "Should I reply for the both of us?"
"Mhm, thanks!"
"Okay…" Leaf opened the group chat on her phone and sent a message: Dawn and I are fine with it. Are we meeting at the dinner place or…?
Pop! Another message appeared. Pop, pop, pop! …Plus a few more.
Dawn peered over Leaf's shoulder, reading the messages and commented, "Oh, Café Rocket… sounds familiar."
"Same. But I don't think we've visited it before." Leaf mused. "Anyways, it seems like the café is tricky to get to. So we'll be meeting up with everyone at the front gates to catch the shuttle together. At 4.30pm."
"That's like, four hours from now." Dawn pursed her lips slightly before saying, "Before we meet them, we should dump all the books in our room."
"Totally," Leaf agreed. "But that is if we can find the books."
"We can do this!" Pumped up, Dawn narrowed her blue eyes in concentration and examined each shelf even more thoroughly. In a moment, there was a self-satisfied smile on her face. "Aha!" She pulled a book out and held it up triumphantly.
"Nice going, Dawn." Leaf laughed at the girl's slightly exaggerated behavior, and rolled her eyes. "Now repeat this three more times."
"I got this!"
Before resuming her search, Dawn uttered out her thoughts, "Hmm… I wonder what May meant in the message."
"Oh, the one that went along the lines of 'I must tell you guys about that arrogant grasshead bastard later'?" Leaf chuckled slightly, finding the expression funny.
"Yeah, that."
"Most probably someone she met during orientation."
"Makes sense." Dawn scrunched her nose slightly and went back to her search.
.
.
Time passes pretty fast when you're occupied with something. It was almost 4.30pm, almost time to meet Misty, May, and some potential new friends.
"Who knew checking out the books would take such a long time!" Dawn complained as she started brisk walking, on the verge of jogging
Next to her, Leaf grumbled, "I… huff… I don't think it's the books! If you didn't spend that extra ten minutes looking at yourself in the mirror!"
"Aww, ten minutes isn't much! I gotta look good all the time, gotta make a good first impression on whoever we're meeting!"
"Okay, fine, but don't you think this rush would mess up your hair and make-up anyways?!"
"Fair point…" Dawn sighed a little. "Hopefully the winter coolness will assist me with this…"
With every step they took, the front gate, along with the plum blossom trees, increased in size.
"Seems like plum blossoms will bloom at any time." Dawn squinted slightly at them and said so.
"Yes, it's about time. We're in the last few days of February. Spring will come soon. Once it does, we'll finally be able to start using our bicycles to get around this place." Leaf replied as she let out a particularly long breath.
"Hey! I see them!"
Gazing ahead, Leaf could see four figures, and among them, she spotted a familiar redhead. She quickly glanced at the screen of her phone.
4.29pm. Awesome.
As she and Dawn approached the group, two more people did the same, albeit from opposite directions.
"Hey, Drew, you're here, just in time!" A raven-haired boy said cheerfully with a smile stretched across his face. "Oh, hello, are you guys Misty's friends?"
Leaf was about to say a greeting in response, but her words died in her throat.
For three voices rang out at the same time,
"YOU?!"
And Leaf could've sworn that after that shout, she heard one particular friend of hers whispering softly, very very softly, the words of,
"Third time's really the charm…"
Endnotes: And, that's a wrap for this chapter. Next chapter, we'll get a peek into Paul's mind + the guys' side of things!
I am so sorry that this story is moving kinda slowly right now. Sobs, the whole gang hasn't even exactly gathered yet. Like I said before, this story was a one-shot/short fic that morphed into this multiple pairing fic. So I ended up adding more scenes in between to make things flow better and set up future arcs…