Okay, so I've been trying to get an update typed up, but things got in the way. I was away at my cousins' for at least two weeks, then I had to get my transcripts and other documents ready to start applying to universities. Wish me luck guys :D And here's the update!


August 30th; Paul's residence; 5:59 am

It was a Saturday morning, the beginning of the weekend for most teens, which was filled with relaxation; but not for Paul. Paul worked a couple of jobs both on the weekends and the weekdays. It was stressful and tiresome.

On the weekends, Paul served as a waiter at one of the restaurants a couple blocks away from where he lived. He honestly despised the job. Customers were rude and disrespectful, always making loud noises that irritated Paul to no end. And there was always that one toddler that either was crying obnoxiously loud, or running around, without the parents giving any sort of damn. People barely tipped him, also. His manager recently told him to have a friendly smile, so that customers would feel more welcome, instead of no expression at all. Paul had snorted; like he was going to waste his time pretending to be happy serving disrespectful people. Nonetheless, he couldn't quit if he wanted food on his table, especially while Reggie was fighting for his life.

While Paul was getting ready, he heard something ringing. He raised an eyebrow before he realized that Dawn's phone was ringing; he almost forgot that she had left it with him accidentally. Why would someone call her at six in the morning? He had those thoughts in mind before he noticed the caller ID. Someone named May was calling her. He hesitated at first, but then picked up the phone and answered, only to hear screaming from the other end of the line.

"Dawn! Why aren't you answering your phone? Do you know how long I've been leaving texts and calling you?" she yelled. "It's totally fine that you didn't answer me yesterday, but I thought we agreed that you'd start packing-" At this point, Paul grew extremely annoyed and cut off the call. She didn't and probably wouldn't even let him speak at any point, and the fact that he was listening to her rant for only ten seconds about Dawn not answering her calls was just plain ridiculous. He didn't have time for this.

But the phone rang again. Paul only growled in annoyance, and didn't answer. The ringing stopped and he went into his small kitchen and grabbed his cup of coffee, drinking it to calm his nerves before he heard Dawn's phone ring yet again.

Fuck, he thought, as he went and picked up the phone. Instead of answering it, he grew angry and instead raised his arm, ready to throw the phone against the wall, annoyed of the stupid ringing, but stopped himself. What good would that do? Then he'd had to get a new phone for Dawn. He sighed intensely, before he answered.

"Why'd you cut off my call? You never do that, Dawn!" May exclaimed across the phone.

"People don't answer the phone for a lot of reasons," Paul spoke through gritted teeth. There was silence across the line, and he waited.

"Uh…w-who are you?"

"The name's Paul. I should have just shut off the phone instead of answering it. At least I wouldn't hear those annoying rings anymore. And for fuck's sakes, if somebody doesn't answer the phone, news flash; it means they're busy, it's early in the morning, or they don't wanna talk. And I thought Dawn was annoying."

"…I'm…I didn't know. Why is Dawn's phone with you?"

"She left it by accident during our tutoring session," he replied. "If we're done here, I have a lot of work to do." And the line went dead. Paul pressed his forehead with his thumb, escaping a long relieved sigh.


May placed the phone on her bedside table, pressing her lips in a thin line. She suddenly felt guilty for being so bothersome. She had considered herself stupid for bothering the guy, but no doubt that guy had a sour taste in his mouth. Sure, she had deserved it, but she was only wanting to help Dawn get her stuff packed. She had no idea that Dawn had to work with a sorry ass like him. Seeing that it was only ten minutes after six on a Saturday morning, she went back to sleep.

About three hours later, the brunette's eyes opened, and she stirred before she was fully awake, feeling better rested. She got down on the carpeted floor, letting a yawn escape as she stretched her arms. She spotted her brother, Max, still sound asleep, before she smiled as she went into the bathroom.

Fifteen minutes later, the bathroom was still occupied, and May heard some knocking across the bathroom. "May! Come on, what are you doing there, taking a dump? You've been in there for ages," Max complained.

"I'm almost done," May replied, and soon enough the bathroom door opened, and Max looked relieved.

"Finally!" The fourteen year old teen exclaimed as he ran past May, closing the door behind May. The brunette rolled her eyes before she walked downstairs.

"Morning, mom," May said happily to her mother, who was in the kitchen. Caroline greeted her daughter, and placed some warm eggs for her to dine on. "Thanks, mom!" she excitedly said, and grabbed a fork.

"I hope you choke," Max said, walking downstairs, and May's eyes widened in anger.

"Shut up you little brat," May retorted.

Caroline placed her hands on her hips. "Not again you two, I've had enough of this," she said sternly placing eggs for her son.

"She keeps hogging the bathroom!" Max exclaimed in distress. "Not only that, she takes extremely long showers! I'm surprised no fish died because of the amount of water you use."

"Hey, it takes a while to look good!"

"And she kicks while sleeping! And snores so goddamn loud! Mom, I can't take it, I want my own room!" Max looked at Caroline.

"At least I don't fart in my sleep!" May retorted.

"That was one time!"

"Okay, enough!" Caroline yelled, effectively getting the two of them to stop arguing. "I understand your concern, Max. And I know how to settle this," Both kids raised their eyebrows in curiosity. "Max, you want your own room, right?"

"Yeah," he said.

"Well, good news. You're going to get your own room."

"Yes!" the two of them exclaimed in unison.

"May's friend, Dawn, is going to be living with us for a while, and May will share the room with her, while you, Max will go in the guest room," Caroline explained.

Max's jaw dropped at this. "What?! There's gonna be two girls in this house?"

"Yeah, but hey, you have your own room now," May reminded him.

"True," he nodded. "Who's Dawn again?" he asked before the doorbell rang. The three of them turned their attention towards the door, and May insisted she'd get the door.

The door opened, and May smiled to see the blunette. "Dawn!" she exclaimed happily, and Dawn giggled in response. Caroline smiled, and walked forward while the two shared a hug. "I am so excited that you're gonna live here now. It's gonna be great!"

"I know, I'm pretty excited as well," she said, and then looked at the older woman standing behind May. "Thank you so much for having me, Miss Maple," Dawn said.

Caroline smiled. "It's no trouble, Dawn. You can stay here as long as you want. You're facing a difficult time, and we'd love to help you out while your mother recovers."

Dawn smiled sadly. She didn't want to be a burden; she was really thankful towards May and her entire family. "Don't be sad," Caroline said. "Trust me, you'll feel at home here, and forget all about your worries."

"I'm sure I will," Dawn smiled.

"Let's get your bags in," Caroline said, as she walked outside. "Oh, good gracious me! That's a lot of bags, did you have any help?"

Dawn nodded. "Yes, miss Maple, your niece, Leaf helped me, and we borrowed her dad's truck to carry them."

"Wait, where's Leaf?" May asked.

Just on cue, Leaf appeared from behind them, looking exasperated. "Hey, sorry, my dad was parking in your driveway. He's getting the rest of your bags, Dawn," she said. "Ugh, how much clothes do you have?" she asked in astonishment, looking at the bags placed at the front door.

Dawn sweat dropped in response. The three girls let out a loose laugh, before they each secured a bag inside. "So, what's gonna happen to the house?" Leaf asked.

"I'm not sure yet, but it's gonna stay there for now. If my mom recovers fast enough, I can move back in," Dawn replied, pulling another suitcase. Soon enough, with Leaf's dad's help, all the suitcases were in. Now all Dawn had to do was unpack; that was going to be a problem, she was positive one closet couldn't do justice to all of these clothes.

"Finally done," May said with a relief. "I need to sit down," she said before taking a seat in the dining table. "Wow, it's already noon," she said, looking at the clock.

"Yeah, we should eat, I'm kinda hungry," Leaf admitted.

"Same," Dawn said, and then looked around for a bit. "May, where's that cute little brother of yours?"

"What cute little brother?" May deadpanned. "I only know A SOUR WUSS NAMED MAX MAPLE!" May yelled loudly across the house.

"I HEARD THAT!" Max yelled from upstairs.

"YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO!"

Dawn and Leaf laughed at the two siblings, while Caroline sighed in disapproval. Dawn was sure living here would be enjoyable.


1:30 pm; May's residence

"You'll be sharing May's room," Caroline said to Dawn, as she opened the door, finding Max playing video games. "Max, what are you doing? Go do your homework!"

"Yeah, just a sec, I just need to kill this guy-" Max said, but then his jaw dropped when Caroline pulled the cord out. "What the-" Caroline's eyes widened, and Max tried to rephrase his swearing. "What the heck?"

"You've been playing for an hour now, you need to get your homework done. You know what happens when you do it at the last minute." Caroline placed her hands on her hip, while Max grumbled something incoherently before he walked out of the room.

"Hey, don't worry. I'll help you get it done," Dawn said. Caroline was about to say something, but instead just smiled, and walked downstairs.

Max's eyes widened. "Really? May never helps me with my homework."

"No need to worry, we'll do it together."

He wasn't sure why she offered to help, but he smiled before adjusting his square-rimmed glasses. "Cool," he said. "I'm just happy I'm finally gonna get my own room, I'm really sick of sharing a room with my OBNOXIOUS SISTER!"

"I CAN HEAR YOU!" the brunette yelled from downstairs.

"GOOD!"

Dawn giggled. "Does this happen every day?"

"More like every hour."

They both heard some footsteps on the staircase, and they turned behind to see May. Leaf just left, she needed to help her dad with something. Anyways, I'll help you unpack, Dawn."

"Oh, shit, I forgot about unpacking," she said. May raised an eyebrow. "I was going to help Max with his homework."

May rolled her eyes. "He's fourteen, if he can fix the TV, help his dad with work, and put a rubric cube in less than two minutes without any help, he can do his own homework."

Dawn sweat-dropped. "Well, geez, May, that's not nice." May shrugged.

"Yeah, you've never helped me with my homework anyway. If Dawn is offering, then you shouldn't interrupt." Max retorted, and Dawn raised her eyebrows.

"Whatever. Well, if you're gonna help him with his homework, then I'm gonna start unpacking for you, Dawn. Then maybe after you're done, we can finish together," May suggested.

"Alright, sounds good." Dawn nodded.


The blunette and the fourteen year old teen were working together for at least an hour in his new room, and Dawn realized something. The reason why the others didn't help him with his school work was probably because Max was extremely smart. All Dawn did was watch him work every problem with little to no hesitation. Great, even a fourteen year old is better than me at math.

"What's wrong?" Max asked.

"Hm? Oh, nothing. You're really smart, Max."

"I know," he said smugly as he adjusted his glasses. "It's one of my many talented gifts," he added. Dawn raised an eyebrow. He was pretty egoistical for a small age.

"You didn't even need my help," Dawn pointed out.

"No…but it was nice having someone around," Max said; his tone sounded as if he was disappointed. Dawn cocked her head slightly, in curiosity.

"Why do you and May fight all the time? I mean, maybe I don't know, because I'm an only child and this is probably normal, but it seems a bit much," she said. Max stared at her for a while at the question brought up. "I could be wrong though," she added.

Max shook his head. "No, it's fine. I really don't know. Before we argued because it's riveting, and I love seeing May pissed." Dawn escaped a laugh. "But yeah, now it's different, we argue over really stupid reasons and it seems she's always angry at me for something."

"I'm sure she loves you though," Dawn offered.

Max shrugged. Dawn sighed, seeing the conversation leading nowhere. "Well, anyways, I have to go unpack. Wouldn't be fair for May to do all the work."

"Okay, seeya later," Max said before Dawn left the room.


"Four bags of clothes and two bags of shoes? Really?" May asked in disbelief.

Dawn laughed. "Maybe I should have toned it down a little," she said sheepishly.

"You think?!" May replied. "But these tops are super cute, so you're lucky I'm not raging right now," she added with a small laugh, as she folded the tops.

Dawn smiled. "Yeah, we can just leave the rest in the suitcase, since they're just shoes," she suggested before looking at the time. "Shit, we better hurry, it's after three, I need to study. I definitely want to pass that test on Thursday and don't wanna deal with Paul's grumpiness."

May stopped folding, as she realized something. "Oh yeah, I forgot," she said, and the blunette looked at her curiously. "Why does Paul have your phone?"

Dawn blinked in confusion. She completely forgot about it; she was so busy packing. "Paul has my-" she stopped when she realized she had forgotten to retrieve her phone back. "Oh…I must have left it there by accident," she lied. "How'd you know he has my phone?"

"Because I called, and he answered. And hell, he sure is grumpy. Sounded like something crawled in his ass and died," May said, and Dawn crossed her arms, waiting for more. "What?" the brunette asked innocently. Dawn gave her a 'really' look and May rolled her eyes. "Okay fine, I called at six in the morning…and kinda rung a lot…" she finally admitted.

"May, you've got to stop doing that," she shook her head in disbelief.

"Hey, I was only calling to see if you wanted help packing!" she defended. "Besides, I didn't know that he had your phone."

"Neither did I," Dawn said.

"Your phone's password protected?"

"Of course."

May looked relieved. "Oh good, then he won't see the texts that we sent each other," she said, recalling the texts about Paul.

"Yeah, thank Arceus!" Dawn laughed. "Oh, but I need my phone, I took some pictures of notes."

"Oh…" May said, "Then we gotta call and see if Paul answers." She took out her phone and handed it to her. "I'm not ever speaking to him again," she said before Dawn laughed and dialled her number.

After a few rings, Paul's voice was heard. "Hello? Look, you've picked a wrong time, I'm busy, so make it quick." His tone was rough, but Dawn ignored it.

"Paul, it's me," she spoke.

"Oh," he said. "What do you want?"

She ignored the sour tone in his voice. "I want my phone."

"You'll get it Monday," he said.

She shook her head. "No, I need it right now. I have some notes in there."

"Well, I'm working right now, so you're going to have to wait," Paul replied.

"Where do you work? I can come get it, I need those notes to study."

"Chansey Fancy."

"You work there?" Dawn asked in surprise.

"Why?"

"That's my favorite restaurant, I eat there almost all the time!" Dawn squealed.

"Surprising," he added sarcastically.

She wasn't sure what that was supposed to mean. She rolled her eyes. "I'm coming over there in ten," she said before the line was cut off. She handed the phone back to May. "Okay, I'm gonna head over to Chansey Fancy."

"I'm coming with."

Dawn raised an eyebrow. "Why? I thought you never wanted to speak to Paul."

"I'm giving you company, not talking to that jerk."

"It was your fault, y'know," Dawn reminded her.

"Whatever, let's just go."


3:30pm; Chansey Fancy

Paul's day had not been the best. There had been a swarm of customers in the early morning, and he had accidentally mixed up people's orders. They'd complain about the lack of satisfactory customer service, and no one tipped Paul. To add to that, while he was cleaning up, he had broken two plates. He was told that a chunk would be out of his salary. He was pissed at himself and he had to stop messing up.

A bell chimed, and the two girls looked around for Paul. (Well, May was looking at the decor) Soon enough, she spotted him cleaning the tables. "Paul!" she exclaimed and he turned around. He nodded before he went behind the counter, as Dawn waited patiently.

Soon enough, he was out with her phone in his hand and handed it back to her. "Thanks," she said, and Paul only nodded.

"Why don't we get something to drink while we're here?" May suggested.

"I don't think we really need to-"

"It's hot, Dawn," May interrupted. "Besides, this is your favorite restaurant."

Dawn wondered why May was being so adamant, but she'd never dare to argue with May. She shrugged. "I guess a drink couldn't hurt."

"What do you guys want?" Paul asked with a bored expression.

"Is that how you greet your customers?" Dawn asked in slight disbelief. Paul groaned in annoyance. "Okay, geez. I'll have the strawberry shake and May will get the chocolate shake."

Paul nodded, but then stopped as the name registered in his brain. He looked at the brunette slightly, who was slightly smiling, before he walked away muttering something inaudible under his breath. Of course, he thought, and instructed the order to the cook. When the milkshakes were done, he placed them on a silver platter and walked carefully to the girls' table.

"Thanks, Paul," Dawn said when he placed them on their table. He didn't respond and turned around.

"Hey Paul," May stood up and faced him. Dawn was a bit surprised she took the initiative to talk to him. Was she going to apologize? Paul waited for her to say something, and then, without any warning, May took the chocolate shake and practically dumped it on his head. Dawn stood up, her jaw dropping in utter shock while Paul stood there in anger, the brown liquid dripping from his purple locks.

May smirked. "That's what you get for being a sour ass."

That's it. Paul was done. He had to deal with annoying customers, listen to his inconsiderate boss's ridiculous demands, and avoid making too much mistakes, but this just ticked him off completely. "Get out."

That sounded like a warning, but May didn't falter while Dawn had nearly flinched. "Get the fuck out!" That was when May gulped a little before the two ran out of the restaurant.

"May! What the-Why'd you do that?!" Dawn exclaimed once they had been far enough from the restaurant. "Are you insane?!"

"Hey! He deserves it! That guy's a total prick!"

"Arceus, May, was it really necessary?"

May rolled her eyes. "Relax, it's not that big of a deal. Why are you defending him in the first place? He's been nothing but rude to you ever since you met him, I'm doing you a favour. You should be thankful."

Dawn frowned. "Sure, he's rude. But that doesn't mean I'm going to start being rude too. And besides, it was your fault, regardless of the way he spoke to you."

May shrugged in response, and Dawn groaned exasperatingly. Honestly, May acted pretty immature at times. Dawn shook her head in disbelief, and then widened her eyes as she saw Paul crossing the street. "Paul!" she exclaimed before she ran up to him.

He turned his back once she approached him. "Paul, wait," she said, effectively making him stop. "I know May probably won't apologize, but I'm gonna apologize on her behalf. I'm really sorry. May's a bit immature, but I swear she means good at heart. She was just upset over the way you spoke to her on the phone."

He didn't move for a few seconds, and he turned around. "Well congratulate your friend, because I just got fired."

Dawn's eyes widened. "I..I'm so sorry..." she offered. "Maybe you can-"

"Just leave me alone," Paul said, and Dawn stopped. This wasn't her fault, in fact she was apologizing for what May did.

He spoke again. "Just. Leave."

Dawn figured he was too pissed to think straight. Without any hesitation, the blunette turned against her heel and walked away.


Well, that was quite the chapter, don't you think guys? I liked writing this chap for some reason, it was really fun. Anyways, as usual let me know your thoughts of whether you hated or loved it.

See you next time :D