Chapter 4
August 27th; 4:30pm…after school hours
The blunette sighed as she took a seat on one of the bleachers in the auditorium.
Working in the library had been a disaster. After she had outright embarrassed herself in front of hundreds of students, she had to stay back and organize everything. Gretchen wasn't too upset about it though (she wasn't really the type to get upset anyway). But Paul, on the other hand, given his expression, looked like he really didn't care. He worked alone for the rest of the time, not giving Dawn a single glance.
That was probably for the best, though. She really didn't need any kind of snarky comment that'd come from out Paul anyway, not after what had happened in the hospital elevator.
"Dawn?"
The blunette looked up at her brunette friend. "Yeah?"
May gave her a suspicious look. "What are you thinking about? I've been cleaning the auditorium for a good while, and you're just sitting there lost."
Dawn shrugged. "I've had a long day. Working in the library put a toll on me," she muttered irritably.
May giggled. "Yeah, same. But you know what makes it better? The fact that Ursula's cleaning the boys' locker room. Just think about it, I bet she's probably dying in there!" She exclaimed, causing the two girls to escape a laugh.
"She deserves it. No one messes with my friends," Dawn said.
May smiled. "You got that right." She then quickly gasped. "Shit, I better get back to cleaning and then we can go home. My mom can pick us up and drop you home," she said. Dawn nodded in agreement. She didn't really feel like walking home from school today.
Paul was in the parking lot, approaching his car when he heard someone call his name. He let out an irritated scoff. He was in really no mood to be talking to anyone right now, especially after a bad day.
"What?" Paul managed to let out, now facing Drew. It was after 4:30, so what was he still doing in school?
"Wanna hang out, man? It's been a while since we did," Drew said, not really caring about Paul's stoic expression.
"No," he immediately said and instead opened the car door, getting inside. Drew rolled his eyes and tapped on the glass. Paul had already started the vehicle. Couldn't he take a hint? Reluctantly, he rolled down the glass. "What?"
"It's fine if you don't wanna hang out today, but…why are you being colder than usual?"
"I had a bad day," he simply said. "I don't really want to talk about it."
"It's cool man. But hey if you ever wanna tell me about stuff, you can," he said.
That was the problem. He didn't want to share anything with anybody. He just didn't feel comfortable sharing his feelings, even to Drew who was somewhat of a friend. They did hang out together, but all they would really do is play video games, and Drew was the one who'd do all the talking. He felt a bit guilty for not opening up, but he couldn't really help it.
Despite himself, he said, "Okay." And Drew stepped back, allowing Paul to drive out of the parking lot.
"Thanks again for dropping me home, Miss Maple," Dawn smiled gratefully as she reached for the car door.
The older looking woman looked back at the blunette. "Of course, Dawn. It was no trouble at all," she smiled.
"Later, May," Dawn waved with a smile and her brunette friend waved back, and Dawn watched as the car then sped onto the road again. Dawn then sighed approaching her porch, and reached in her backpack to grab her keys. A few rattling noises were heard from the keys until she stepped into the quiet little place she'd grew accustomed with after a few weeks.
A small, very tiny part of her hoped that she'd see her mother waiting for her to get back, but she knew it was just wishful thinking. She didn't like this feeling of being alone. It gave her an uneasy feeling, as if things were never going to be the same again.
But Dawn quickly shook her thoughts away, and instead went into the kitchen to get a snack. Food was always something that would take her mind off of things. It gave her something to live for. And with that, she quickly pulled out a couple of ramen noodles before turning on the stove.
After about fifteen minutes, Dawn was in the sofa, flipping through random channels with a bowl of ramen in her hand, when she got a call from Leaf. She smiled, as she placed the phone in her ear.
"Sup?" Dawn spoke, and then placed her phone on speaker mode while placing it on the sofa.
"What are you doing?"
"Eating a bowl of ramen and just chilling. How about you?"
"Well, I told May about your mom. It was time for her to know anyway. I hope you aren't mad," Leaf said. Dawn furrowed her eyebrows. Why would she be mad? May was one of her best friends and in fact, what really puzzled her was the fact that they'd chose to tell her now instead of earlier.
"I'm not mad," she said, taking a spoonful of noodles in her mouth. "I'm kinda glad you told her. She's our best friend, she deserves to know."
"Okay, great. Well, May and I were thinking. You should probably move in with one of us," Leaf said.
Dawn paused. She quickly placed the bowl on the table situated in front of her and then got comfortable on the sofa. "Move in?" she enquired, intrigued of the idea.
"Yeah, why not? Besides, you're seventeen and not legally an adult yet and by law, need someone to look after you. And, it could be fun. Living with one of us."
Dawn analysed the option. Living with one of her best friends did sound like a good idea. She wouldn't feel so alone anymore and it would take her mind off of things. She'd spend more time with her friends and forget about her worries for a while.
"So, what? Are you in? Will you-"
"Hell, yeah I'm in!" Dawn quickly cut in and heard Leaf cheered in reply.
"Awesome! So, which who are you gonna move in with? Me or May?"
It wasn't really a difficult question. "May," she quickly said.
"Well, thanks for at least considering to move in with me," Leaf said. Dawn laughed at the heavy amount of sarcasm in her tone.
"Leaf, you know I love you. But it's been a while since I've seen May. You and I see each other all the time, but May and I haven't really talked since over three years," she explained.
"Yeah, true. Plus, May could use a girl around her age in that house, you know because of her annoyingly smart brother?" Leaf laughed.
Dawn shrugged, even though she couldn't see it. "Max is cute."
"He's fourteen. Three years younger than us!" She exclaimed.
"He can't be cute at fourteen?" Dawn asked.
"Yeah, no, we're not having this conversation right now."
August 28th; 8am; Math
"Alright, I checked ya'll's test papers last night. And if I had to be pretty honest, ya'll test scores are good enough to wipe own backside with," Ms Duff said, in her typical southern accent, which caused some of the students to laugh. Paul could only stare and tried everything in his willpower to not cringe. It wasn't the accent that annoyed him. It was the fact that sometimes she'd bluntly say something he wouldn't want to hear.
"But some 'a ya'll did pretty good too, so I give credit where it's rightfully deserved. I'll be giving them at the end of the class. Now," she stopped to grab a marker, "let's continue off from yesterday."
The rest of the class was uneventful, with Paul taking notes and ignoring the obnoxious chattering coming from behind him. He didn't know why, but he couldn't understand why someone would feel the need to constantly talk, for almost hours.
"And I'm gonna leave ya'll with this here assignment on the board," Miss Duff said, motioning to the board, and as expected the class groaned. "Ya'll should be happy you're in school, at least you don't have a job yet. I sometimes wish I was still in school," she said.
Paul groaned internally. He didn't need to hear her life story. All the teacher was required to do, was teach the material and move on. Why did she always share her experiences with a bunch of random teenagers?
Soon enough, the bell rang, and the students began piling out of the classroom before Miss Duff handed their test papers back. Paul was grabbing his backpack and walked to the teacher to receive his test paper.
"Paul," she said with a smile. "Keep it up." He looked at the paper now in his hand. As expected, he had gotten an A. No surprise there. He kept an emotionless expression as he headed towards the door. "Oh, wait there for a sec, Paul," she said, effectively stopping him.
He turned around. "Yes?"
"Mr. Johnson wants to see you. He wants to talk to you about something important," she said. Paul simply nodded before walking out of the classroom.
"Ah, Paul. Good to see you," Mr Johnson said, and stood up from his seat. "I needed to talk to you about something." Paul nodded, and briefly wondered how Mr Johnson even knew his name.
"So, I looked around your school records," he started, unknowingly answering his unspoken question, "and the records prove that you're one of, if not, the top students doing extremely well in Math." Again, Paul didn't seem surprised.
"I see," he said.
"And there's a requirement to be able to graduate. You'll have to complete around sixty hours of community service," he said. Paul scrunched up his eyebrows in confusion. He had been working in the school library for long enough, wasn't he? "Off campus," he continued. "You've already completed the fifteen on campus," he said.
"And I have can offer you something to be able to complete your sixty hours of community service? Do you know a girl named Dawn Berlitz?"
The name didn't seem familiar. "I don't know anybody," he said. Well except for Drew, but Mr Johnson didn't need to know that. He merely chuckled.
"Well, she's been having trouble with the subject and she could use someone like you to bring up her grades."
"So you want me to tutor her," he simplified.
"Only if you're up for it."
He shrugged. He didn't really care. He just wanted to get the community service over with. "Alright," he said.
"Good. I'll tell Dawn, and she'll meet you in the library after school. Is that okay?" he asked. Paul simply nodded in response before Mr Johnson smiled. "Good, thanks for meeting up with me,"
"Thank you," Paul said before leaving.
August 28th; 12:30pm; Math
Dawn looked at the test paper she had just received and immediately cringed. A big fat red F was circled at the right top corner. This was the second Math test she had failed, and it had only been two weeks since school had started. She really needed to bring up these grades, if she wanted to graduate.
"Hey, Dawn, what grade did you get?" Leaf asked, and instead of waiting for a reply, looked at the paper in Dawn's hand. "Oh, damn. Isn't that two F's now?"
"Yes!" Dawn exclaimed worriedly. "I really don't know why I failed; I studied these almost all day," she sighed. "What'd you get?"
"I got a B," Leaf shrugged indifferently. "I'm okay with Math, not too great though."
"It's still better than an F isn't it?" Dawn pointed out.
"Maybe you just need more practi-"
"Leaf, Dawn," Both girls looked towards Mr Johnson, who was currently glaring at them a little. "Please pay attention," he said. Both girls nodded and just decided to talk about her grades later. Speaking of which, Dawn had hoped that Mr Johnson had at least found a tutor who would be able to help her.
After another twenty minutes, the bell rang, signalling for lunch. Leaf looked at Dawn as she grabbed her backpack. "So, when are you moving in with May?"
Dawn shrugged. "I still need to go home and pack everything," she said.
"Yeah." Leaf nodded.
"Dawn, may I speak to you for a minute?" Mr Johnson interrupted, and Dawn nodded. Leaf told Dawn to meet up with her and May at the cafeteria and left the class.
"You're not performing well on your Math tests," he started. "Which is why, I found one of the best Math students in this school, and got a tutor for you."
Dawn was delighted to hear this. "Thank you so much, Mr Johnson, I really appreciate it."
"Yes, you'll be doing a session with him at the library after school," he said, and Dawn nodded.
"Got it, thanks Mr Johnson!" she exclaimed happily, as she hurriedly ran out of the classroom, beginning to speed-walk to the cafeteria. She laughed to herself; she couldn't believe she was excited over a tutor. She was such a nerd sometimes.
"Hey Paul, wanna join me in the cafeteria?" Drew asked his plum haired friend, who was currently making his way over to the library.
Paul's tone was a bit gruff. "Thanks, I'm good."
Drew frowned. "You can't live your life in the library all the time y'know," he said. Paul only shrugged in response.
"I've never had a problem with it, so why would I now?" Paul commented as he continued walking. To him, that was a signal for Drew to leave. However, Paul grew a bit irritated when he realized Drew following him.
"What do you in the library anyway?" the chartreuse headed male asked.
"Work."
"What kinda work?"
"Organizing the books. School work."
"Doesn't that get boring?"
Paul only shrugged in response. "Not really," he said, and then stopped walking. "I'd like to be alone."
Drew chuckled in response. "Right, okay. Well, seeya later," he said, and to Paul's relief, he was finally out of sight.
Drew roamed around the halls for a bit, suddenly feeling a bit guilty for pressing on the matter too much. It was very difficult to get Paul to open up to him, and all Drew intended to do was be friends with the guy.
But then again, maybe Paul didn't want any friends. He was a loner, after all.
Drew suddenly made notice when a brunette walked over to her locker, taking out some books. He noticed she was a couple of inches shorter than him. She closed her locker, and placed the books in her bag, and Drew made notice of her radiant smile. She suddenly looked familiar.
May looked up, and her eyes met the chartreuse male, who suddenly grew a bit flushed before he turned the other direction and walked away. May raised an eyebrow. He looked a bit familiar, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it. The brunette just shrugged, and went back to meet up with the girls.
August 28th, 3pm; after school hours
"Hey, Dawn where are you going?" May asked.
"The library. I have to meet up with my tutor."
"Oh okay, should I wait for you?"
Dawn smiled. "No, you go ahead. I'll head home by myself and pack everything, no need to worry!"
May sweat dropped. "Everyone worries the most when you say that," she said. Dawn rolled her eyes but still manages to pull out a small smile. "And Dawn, just remember, I'll always be here for you. You can come to me and tell me anything."
Dawn raised an eyebrow. "Okay, why the mushy talk all of a sudden?"
"Because I know how you feel, remember? Yes, I'm not totally alone, but I did feel alone for a while. I don't want you to go through what I did," she said. "You don't deserve it."
Dawn sighed. "Why do bad things happen to good people?" May shrugged in response. "Well anyway, I'll see ya later."
Dawn entered the library and glanced at the clock. She noticed it was five after three when she decided to pull out a seat and sit down. For a while, she spent some time getting her books ready for when her tutor would come. A sudden thought came into her mind.
She didn't even know who her tutor was.
Dawn groaned internally. How could she have been so stupid and not ask Mr Johnson who her tutor was? How was she supposed to identify him if he came? Did he know who he was tutoring?
"Hey, Dawn."
Dawn looked up to see a familiar face. "Hey, Gretchen," she said, a warm smile on her face.
"Math, huh?" Gretchen glanced at the textbooks. "The subject of pure evil," she laughed.
Dawn groaned. "I've been failing the tests. I'm waiting for my Math tutor, but I just realized I don't even know who he is. Ugh, I'm really stupid."
"Does your tutor know that you're at the library?"
"Well, that's what Mr Johnson told me."
"Well, nobody's in the library except for you and me. If someone shows up, I'll ask if they're looking for you."
Dawn sighed in relief. "That'd be great. Thanks, Gretchen," she smiled gratefully as Gretchen easily returned it before going back to her work station.
Minutes passed, as Dawn flipped through her notes, attempting to do a few problems. She had another test next week, and she couldn't afford to fail this one. She glanced at the clock and noticed fifteen minutes had already passed. Her tutor was a no-show. Dawn grumbled incoherently to herself. If he didn't want to show up, why didn't he explicitly say so to Mr Johnson? At least she wouldn't have been wasting her time in the library.
Fed up, she bid goodbye to Gretchen and walked out the library with a scowl on her face.
About to exit the school building, she slightly jumped when she noticed lightning. The transparent door allowed her to see the grey skies, creating a somewhat gloomy atmosphere. Rain was pouring, and Dawn had no mode of transport to get home. Sighing, she quickly pulled out her cell phone to call May.
"Hello?" the brunette answered on the second ring.
"May!" the blunette exclaimed. "It's raining, and I-"
"Dawn? Where are you? Did you come back from school yet?"
"No, that's what I've been trying to-"
"Hello?"
Dawn eyed her phone, noticing the service bar was pretty low. She placed her phone next to her ear. "May, could you please come pick me up? It's raining and I can't get home!" She waited for a response, but all she heard was repetitive beeping. "Ughh!" Dawn groaned, and just to add to her bad luck, her cell phone had died.
Great. Dawn thought as she eyed for anybody who would still be outside, but that would be ridiculous. Much to her pleasant surprise, she had spotted a head of familiar looking hair. Dawn hurriedly pushed the door open, and tried to ignore the piercing cold winds on her delicate skin and heavy raindrops. Paul was underneath an umbrella, about to start his car.
"Paul!" she exclaimed, trying not to freeze in this intense weather. He looked back at her in surprise. "What are you still doing here? Well, anyways, that's not my business. Could you please do me a favour? I really want to go home, would you drop me home?"
Almost instinctively, Paul said, "Why the hell would I do that?" He noticed her lip shivering and her blue locks drenched. It was like looking at a wet Barbie doll. Paul would have chuckled at the thought, but Dawn continued.
"W-would you r-rather leave me alone here, in the c-cold rain?"
He rolled his eyes. "You've got legs. Wait for the rain to stop, and then go home. I have to go deal with something. I really don't have time for this," he spat. Then he quickly opened his car door and sat inside. Dawn's jaw dropped. He was actually leaving her there.
Paul was about to drive off, but then took a glance at the rear-view mirror. She was shivering and clenching her teeth. Paul scoffed silently. Wouldn't the logical thing to do was to find shelter, or at least wait in the school building? She just stood there, as if she was almost expecting him to give in. He wouldn't give in to her stupidity. She really annoyed him, from the very first day he ever saw her in the hospital elevator, and he didn't even know her name.
Dawn looked surprised when she saw him out of the vehicle. His purple locks were starting to get a little wet, and he looked at her, unfazed. It was then that Dawn noticed him to be quite taller than her; he was almost towering over her. She smiled.
However, Paul just handed her the umbrella he had in his hand, and walked back to his vehicle. Dawn's eyes widened and her jaw dropped once again. She watched unbelievably as the car exited the parking lot. She eyed the umbrella with hatred, and clenched her teeth in anger of how much she had come to really loathe Paul, in just a matter of a few weeks.
Chapter 4 is released! Thank you for reading!
Yeah, Paul isn't nice. Well, I guess he was nice enough to give her his umbrella, but it's actually more like pity. Haha.
What'd you think of this chapter? Anything I can improve on? Let me know in a review! It only takes a few minutes, and it won't kill ya!
Edit: Seems as if there's a glitch with letting the readers know when a fic is updated. Hopefully its resolved now, because I've updated this chapter twice now.
Next update will be around June or July. See you guys next time!
