Thanks so much for the reviews the last chapter. As a result of that, you guys have another chapter! So read on!
Paul's Residence; 8:55 p.m.
Regret immediately washed over his features.
Part of him wanted to go back outside and make sure she was alright and ease her confusion, but the other part told him she was deserving of this.
But then he questioned himself: Was she really? Reflecting back on the conversation Reggie had with the doctor, he had never explicitly stated that Dawn was in the vehicle. Could it just be a coincidence that she had blue hair as well? Then again, it's not as if he knew other people that possessed the similar hair color.
His phone buzzed repetitively.
9:01 Dawn: What was that about? Did I do something wrong?
9:02 Dawn: Talk to me, Paul. Don't shut me out, please.
9:04 Dawn: You know you can tell me anything right? Just call me pls! How will I know why you're angry if you don't say something?
9:07 Dawn: :(
He glared at the texts with sheer rage and disgust as he threw the phone violently on the sofa. He ran his hand through his purple locks as frustration caressed his face before sitting down. He heard his phone ring and he didn't need to look at it to know that Dawn was probably calling.
"You should probably get that," Reggie's voice was heard, allowing Paul to look up at his older brother. The phone continued to blast annoyingly, and Paul just chose to ignore it. The older looking male eyed Paul cryptically once he glanced at the caller ID. "Why are you ignoring Dawn?"
I don't know, he wanted to say. For some reason, he didn't feel content with what he knew so far. But he was afraid of pushing the boundaries and knowing more. "Who was that on the phone?" he asked instead, ignoring Reggie's question.
Reggie sat next to him as Paul noticed him contemplate some sort of inner battle in his mind. "Dr. Francis," he confessed, making Paul slightly surprised he would confess at all.
"Hn. What happened?"
Reggie cleared his throat. "Well, I've been having weird dreams lately," he started.
Paul realized he should finish for him, seeing where this was going. "About the accident," he continued and as expected, Reggie's eyes slightly widened as he looked upon his younger brother in shock.
"How did you…?"
Paul shrugged. "The walls are thin," he lied.
"So you heard everything?" Reggie asked, emphasising on 'everything', posing a careful yet dangerous question for Paul.
Paul assumed the conversation continued after Dawn had knocked. But what was he trying to imply? Was there a missing variable? "I heard enough," he replied smartly.
Reggie looked at Paul with a sympathetic look in his eye. "You don't think it's Dawn, do you?" Damn it, Paul thought. This was the very question he was attempting to avoid. If he had thought about this question a half hour ago, then he would have answered an undoubtful yes.
But after everything they had been through together these past few months, or rather what Dawn had been through…he didn't know anymore. After getting to know her for the past few months, maybe blaming her for the accident without any solid evidence was too much of a rash accusation.
Luckily Reggie continued. "Because I don't," he said. Paul looked at him, indicating for him to continue. "I never saw her face. I just saw blue hair. But you probably heard that already."
Reggie had been voicing his inner thoughts without Paul even knowing it. "Dawn was here," he said abruptly, wanting to cut off his tongue soon afterwards for confessing that. "While you were on the phone," he further explained.
He didn't need to know that something bad had happened when he looked at Paul. "What happened?"
Paul sighed, closing his eyes. "I…I slammed the door in her face."
"What?! Why?"
He opened his eyes. "I don't know. I was angry."
"So you do think it's her?" Reggie proposed.
Paul gulped. "…For a while, yeah."
"And now?"
There it is again, Paul thought. Reggie's gaze on him was intimidating and it was becoming excruciatingly hard to avert his gaze. "I don't know," was all he could manage.
Reggie kept his gaze on him as he spoke, "Look, Paul. You know Dawn, don't you? Then you of all people should be able to know whether or whether not she was capable of this. And even if she was…it was an accident," he reasoned.
Paul grew angry at his words. "I don't care if it was an accident," he retorted. "That person made our lives miserable for over six months."
Reggie looked at his younger brother carefully, but he analysed the choice of words Paul had used. "That person?" he repeated, making Paul's blood go cold. He finally averted his gaze, looking at the floor. "Paul," he said, keeping his hand on his shoulder in a comforting manner. "Why are you so afraid?" he asked. He didn't get a response.
"I'll tell you why," Reggie continued after witnessing his silence for most of his questions. "Because you trust Dawn."
Paul immediately stiffened in response. "The only person I trust is you," he quickly protested. But the look on Reggie's face was a clear indicator that what his little brother uttered was a white lie, even if Paul didn't realize it. Trust meant letting people in; that was something Paul never wanted. He could blame it on his introversions, but he had been this way for a long time, even before Reggie's accident. Sure, he didn't like the solitude, but he slowly got accustomed to it and realized he preferred it that way.
"Stop pushing Dawn away, Paul. It's time to start letting her in, don't you think?" Reggie said, breaking his thoughts away. Truth was that he had already let her in a little, but Paul was confused whether it was a mistake or not. "Why are you doing it anyway?"
"…Because people always leave," Paul muttered. Reggie had a perplexed look plastered on his features. He continued, after hesitating a bit. "Our parents died when we were young. Then you left for college, and soon afterwards you had the accident. Aunt Vivian was supposed to look after me…she never came either."
Reggie looked at him in awe. He had never witnessed Paul in this state of vulnerability before. He would have never imagined he had been feeling this way. "I didn't know you felt that way, bro."
It was safe to say Paul didn't realize this fact either. But it was a solid fact that he could no longer ignore. "…I guess I didn't either," he mused.
"Still," Reggie pushed, "Don't you think that you should give some people a chance?"
He didn't want to take the risk. It was why he was such a terrible friend to Drew and why he barely spoke to the others. With Dawn, it was a different case. He was forced to make a connection with her and without realizing it, he became closer towards her.
He sighed. "I think I'm going to bed," he decided abruptly.
Reggie was about to speak, almost telling him to answer his question, but he realized he might need more time to process all of this information. "Alright. You can sleep on it. Night, Paul."
Paul nodded, but he knew he was barely going to get little to no sleep at all tonight.
Monday; November 1st; Lumoise High; 8:07 a.m.
"I can't believe that asshat would do that to you!" May yelled to Dawn while walking across the hallways, getting the attention of a few students. She would've guessed everything would have been peaches and cream after giving Dawn that encouraging talk. "It's all my fault," May sighed to herself, slapping herself on her forehead as the two approached their locker.
Dawn eyed her sadly. "Don't be too hard on yourself. You didn't know Paul would react the way he did," she reasoned.
May sighed, taking out her books from her locker. "Still. If I hadn't pushed you to confess, none of this would have happened."
Dawn frowned. Undoubtedly, she had several questions that were just lurking and swimming throughout her mind. But she knew Paul; it would probably take a while to obtain those answers. And she had a mere suspicion that his reaction that night had something to do with her; his reaction after looking at her gave it away. And after countless failed attempts to figure out what exactly she did wrong, she decided she'd get answers one way or another. "Don't worry, I'm going to talk to him in the library and demand some answers."
"Demand some answers from who?" The two heard Leaf's voice and they turned around to see her with a curious look on her face.
May decided to fill in the details for Dawn. "Dawn likes Paul and when she tried to confess on Saturday, do you know what he did? He fucking pushed her, and she ended up hurting herself. Look!" She grabbed Dawn's arm and pointed to the part where it had been scraped.
Leaf gasped at the dried blood and nasty scabs. "Paul did that?" she asked, in slight shock.
"He probably didn't mean it," Dawn defended as she retracted her arm from May's grasp. "He was just really angry."
"But Dawn, that doesn't mean he does something as awful as hurting you," Leaf reasoned.
Dawn realized that her best friends didn't know Paul the way she did. "I'm telling you, he didn't mean it!" she yelled abruptly, clenching her eyes shut after realizing her voice had risen. "Sorry," she muttered.
May and Leaf were rendered speechless as the bell rang. Dawn managed to speak up. "I'll see you guys later," she said, skipping past the girls.
Leaf spoke before May could leave to go to her class. "I don't know May, maybe Dawn's right."
She looked at her cousin as if she had grown two heads. "What? How can you say that?"
"What right do we have to judge Paul?" Leaf questioned. May was about to speak when she cut in, "Sure, what Paul did may have been awful, but what do we know? If Dawn knows him well enough to know that he didn't mean to hurt her, then it's just that." May looked at her, unable to say anything. Sighing, Leaf continued. "Look, I'm tired of judging people without getting to know them first. I did that with Gary and I regret it. So I suggest you do the same with Paul," she said.
"Paul has always been an ass to Dawn-"
"Why don't you notice the nice things about him? Like the fact that he was there for her when her mom died?"
Of course she noticed. That was why she was encouraging Dawn Saturday night. "I just don't like when anyone hurts her," she confessed. "We both know she doesn't deserve it."
Leaf frowned. "Yeah."
"Anyways," May said. "I have a class. See you later," she said before walking away.
10:18 a.m.
May sat in her respective seat in her drama class, sighing to herself, placing a palm on her face and let her elbow rest on the desk. Her thoughts were circling around Leaf's words. Maybe she had been judging Paul and not give him enough credit. But he hurt her! Her mind teased.
Her blue eyes caught sight of Drew when he entered the classroom and soon enough, he made eye contact with her, escaping a small smile. Without warning, she smiled back.
Maybe she should stop judging guys based on her past as well.
"Hey," he said once he sat next to her. "How was your weekend? I'm sorry we couldn't hang out that day."
May looked at him unbelievably. Why would he apologize for something as small as that? "You don't have to apologize. Something important came up," she said, recalling Drew's reaction that day after receiving that phone call. "How's she doing now?"
Drew scrunched his eyebrows in confusion. "Who? My mom?" she nodded in response. "She's a bit better, I guess. I'm not exactly great at comforting people, I think. But what I do hope is that person suffers a very painful death after doing that to her," he said, shaking his head in disappointment.
May chuckled. "Maybe you should kill him, like poison him or something," she teased, punching him very lightly on his shoulder. Drew's eyes widened once he realized what she did and he stared at her in awe. "What?" she asked, once he gave her that look.
"You just touched me, June."
"So what, cabbage head?" she feigned innocence.
He eyed her cryptically, while ignoring the nickname. "Don't act as if it was nothing. That was the first time you ever did. Plus, whenever I try to touch you, you always flinch."
"Not always," she protested, but she knew it was a lie. She had a feeling that if Drew tried to touch her right now, it'd be anything but weird. And she was tired of always judging Drew based on Brendan. He wasn't an awful guy; he was everything Brendan wasn't. "I'll prove it. Here, hold my hand."
Drew cocked his head on confusion. "Are you sure?"
May hesitated, but only for a while. She slowly nodded, suddenly becoming shy but anxious to know what his touch would feel like. Drew brought up a genuine smile of his own as he carefully made contact with her hand. He felt her stiffen in response, but she didn't retract her hand away. May kept her gaze on the floor, trying to look anywhere else but Drew as he slowly interlocked his fingers with hers. Such a simple touch wouldn't have mattered to anyone else, but the way he did it so carefully made her feel special. Electricity coursed through her veins and her breath hitched. Drew watched her carefully, wondering if she was feeling what he was.
Before anyone could speak, Ms. Cindy opened the door classroom and spoke, and their hands disconnected. "Good day class! Today, I have some sign up sheets for you guys to play some characters from Romeo and Juliet," she said, holding up a stack of papers. "Now first up, who wants to be Juliet?" she asked.
May excitedly raised her hand in the air, grinning in the process. Ms. Cindy smiled in response, jotting down her name before noticing no one else raised their hand. "Well, I guess you're going to be Juliet since no one else wants to," she said dryly.
"That's 'cuz maybe no one else wants to play a role where they die in the end," One of the students commented. "The whole concept of Romeo and Juliet is so stupid," the student continued to say. "I should fine Shakespere for coming up with something as idiotic as this!" He exclaimed, flailing his arms in the air.
Ms. Cindy sheepishly smiled. "I guess we all have our own opinions. Personally, I think it's a really enjoyable love story. Maybe your opinion will change, Barry."
"I seriously doubt that," he said.
Ms. Cindy just chose to ignore him as she continued, "Anyways, who wants to be Romeo?"
With a slight smirk, Drew raised his hand while May looked at him in slight awe. She hopelessly looked around to see if any other students wanted to participate, but he was the only one willing to. "Okay, Drew, looks like you're going to be Romeo," Ms. Cindy said satisfactorily.
May would have been annoyed. She was aware that he was just doing this to get closer to her. But if she had to be honest, she was excited to be performing this drama with him.
Fifteen minutes had passed once Ms. Cindy had written down all the students who wanted to participate in the drama. "Okay class, everyone except May and Drew will be auditioning for their parts today this evening at around four. The results will be posted sometime next week. In the meantime, for Drew and May, you guys can begin to practice your lines," she told them while the two nodded. "Great!"
The bell rung and the students began to pack their belongings. "So where should we practice?" Drew asked, once he placed his backpack around his shoulder.
"Umm...my place is good, I guess," May said.
Drew was surprised. May wasn't so fond of the idea of him at her place the last time around. "Really?" he asked in disbelief.
May nodded. "Yeah," and then she added, "Maybe you can talk to Dawn too."
"About what?"
May sighed. "She doesn't know why Paul pushed her away after she was trying to confess her feelings. She ended up getting hurt and scraped her elbow. There was some dried up blood," she explained. "Since you and him are friends, maybe you know something?"
Now, this was news to Drew. "I had no idea that happened." He figured he'd have to talk to him and maybe figure out why he reacted that way. It wasn't going to be easy, of course. That didn't mean he still wouldn't try. "I'll talk to him. I'll also tell him off for being a douche," he said jokingly as May rolled her eyes in response.
11:18 a.m.
Misty stared at the blank canvas with boredom, blocking the art teacher out. He had instructed the students to paint something, though she had no idea what. She glanced at Paul beside him. He seemed to be painting what looked like a fruit bowl.
She sighed to herself. He was so perfect in her eyes. Even the fruit bowl he had been painting displayed his perfectionist mannerisms. She glanced at herself. Today she wore nothing but a track pants and a tank top and she had kept her hair in a messy ponytail just like always.
She was far from perfect. Maybe that's why he rejected her. Maybe that's why he was closer with Dawn, who in her eyes, was a beautiful goddess. She even had blue, luscious and flowing hair.
She suddenly didn't like herself. Bringing out her phone, she typed a message to one of her sisters.
11:25 Misty: Hey Vi, do you think I need to change my appearance?
11: 28 Vi: Omg yes! But why do you ask? :o
11:30 Misty: I feel like I need to. What do you think?
11: 31 Vi: Yeah I think its a good idea :) Like maybe you could change the way you dress. I mean wearing the same old pants everyday must be such a bore. Idk how you do it, little sis! And plus ur trashy hair needs a change too. You could curl it or straighten or maybe just come up with a different hairstyle, yanno?
Misty felt insulted with the words she had chosen. But, she figured she was right. After all, that was the reason she felt as if she wasn't perfect.
11: 33 Misty: Anything else?
11: 35 Vi: Yes. Instead of maybe taking swimming lessons, mayb you could take some fashion classes or something :D
Now Misty was furious. She wanted to change her appearance, not change her personality.
11: 37 Misty: Don't push it -_-
11: 38 Vi: alright, alright. Geez. Well go get a makeover after school :D see ya then!
11: 38 Misty: Bye
She didn't know why, but after that conversation, she just felt worse. She was slightly hoping that her sister would tell her that she didn't need to change her appearance or that she was perfect just the way she was. But at the same time, she was the one wanting a change, so she assumed she should feel excited for this change.
"Hey."
She glanced up to look at Paul, surprised he'd talk to her. She assumed she wouldn't after what had happened at Daisy's party. "Hey," she said, smiling. She looked at him in confusion when he unzipped his backpack and the confusion faltered away when she realized it was the shirt. He handed it to her as disappointment washed over her. "Thanks," she muttered. He nodded in response and resumed painting.
Of course, why else would he talk to me? She thought. She knew that Paul having feelings for someone like her was hopeless and he had already established that.
Maybe she should move on.
The bell rang, signalling the end of class and Misty sighed as she packed up. She ended up handing in a blank canvas for the first time. She walked out of the classroom, not surprised to see Ash waiting for her just as always. "Hi."
"Hey," he said, escaping a grin. "How was art class?"
"Terrible," she confessed. "I ended up turning a blank canvas. I'll fail the assignment for sure."
"Maybe the teacher will think it's a piece of art and give you some credit?" he offered desperately.
She shot him a daggered look. "Can you be stupid somewhere else?" she spat.
He grinned. "Sorry, my stupidness is here to stay."
Surprisingly, her scowl slowly turned into a small smile, and soon enough, she burst into a fit of giggles. This conversation, although silly and immature, made her feel better. "That's the first time I've smiled all day."
Ash watched her, perplexed. "How come?"
Misty waved him a hand. "Nothing to worry about. Anyways, uh, what are you going after school?"
Ash wasn't sure where this was going. "I have basketball practice. Why?"
"Can you drive me to a salon?" she blurted.
Ash was surprised. Was she going to get a makeover? "Something special going on?" he asked and then added dreadidly, "Oh no! Is it your birthday today? I must have forgotten!"
Misty rolled her eyes. "No, you idiot." Ash sighed a breath of relief. "I would have castrated you if did forget," she admitted, but then she realized something. "Wait a minute, you did forget!" she yelled before placing another scowl on her face as she started to punch him across his shoulders.
"OW! That hurts, stop!" Ash whined before she did, luckily, much to his relief. "Geez," he said, attemtping to massage his shoulder. "What do you eat? Rocks?" he asked sarcastically.
Misty rolled her eyes. "That was nothing."
Ash had a thought in mind. "Hmmm...do you play sports, Mist?"
Misty nodded. "I used to play volleyball but now I really enjoy swimming in my spare time."
"Have you ever played basketball?" Ash questioned. Misty shook her head. "Then how about a little one-on-one this afternoon, yeah?"
A smile tugged at her lips. "Sure."
12:35 p.m.
Drew managed to spot Paul as he was walking to his class. He called his name, effectively managing him to stop walking and turn around, with a questioning look in his eye. Drew walked forward to him. "What's up?"
Paul shrugged in response, but he figured he stopped him for a legitimate reason. "What do you want?"
"We need to talk, man," he said vaguely. "Do you have time right now?" Paul nodded, seeing he still had about fifteen minutes left to spare. The two sat down on some spare seats that was placed conveniently in the hallways. "What's going on with you and Dawn?"
Paul looked at him bizarrely, not expecting a question like that. What did he even mean by that? "...What?"
"I mean, what did you do to hurt her? And why?" he clarified.
How Drew even knew about this whole thing, Paul didn't know. Word gets around fast, he assumed. "I don't know," he replied, looking at his wrist watch. "Are we done?"
"No, we're not," Drew retorted. "Dawn is the one person you care about and you literally hurt her. She even scraped her elbow," he said. Paul wasn't aware that he had hurt her like that. His anger had taken over him; he didn't even mean to push her violently, let alone at all. "What's going on?"
Again, he didn't reply, not feeling like sharing what he was feeling with him. If anything, he was just feeling worse for what he did to Dawn. "You don't need to know," he finally said, deliberately ignoring him and turning the other cheek.
Drew grew annoyed at the lack of responses. Sure, he was used to it, but this was getting ridiculous. "Come on, for Arceus's sake, Paul. I didn't want to have to say this, but you're such a douche," he said, remembering how he was going to say it in a joking manner, but he had actually meant it. He had tried countless attempts to grow close to Paul, but he kept shutting not only him, but other people as well.
Paul figured he deserved those words, which was why he kept quiet. Drew continued when he didn't react. "I know you don't like talking to that many people, but what did Dawn ever do to you?"
It's not what she did to me that's the problem, Paul thought. It was the fact that Paul trusted her, he realized. And trust was a very fragile thing. He wanted to save himself for the inevitable agony he'd feel later on. "I don't want to talk about it," he said.
Drew frowned. "You can't ignore it forever. You can't ignore Dawn forever. You guys still have your tutoring sessions don't you?"
Paul blinked in response. He stood up from his seat, clearing his throat awkwardly before muttering, "I'm late for class," he said, walking away from Drew and ignoring him when he called out to him several times.
4:06 p.m.
Dawn walked in the interior of the library, immediately noticing the library was packed. It was the middle of her first semester so she figured some important exams were going on currently, which explained why this many students were studying here. She looked around, eyeing for Paul but he was nowhere to be seen.
"Hey Dawn," a voice spoke and the blunette turned around to see Gretchen with her usual bright smile on her face. "Looking for Paul, I assume?"
Dawn nodded. "Yeah, have you seen him?"
Gretchen shook her head. "No, it's a bit weird. He's usually here first to tutor you, but he hasn't shown up."
Dawn sighed. She hoped he would eventually show up. This was the only way she could demand some answers from him, since he had been ignoring her texts and calls. "I hope he does," she said.
Gretchen noticed her elbow had a few scabs. "What happened?" she asked, pointing to said elbow.
Dawn sighed. "Paul got angry at me on Saturday and pushed me."
Gretchen rolled her eyes. "That guy is always angry at you for something. What was it this time?"
"I don't know!" She exclaimed in frustration and then sighed in response. "He won't tell me."
Gretchen smiled sadly. "Well, maybe you should give him some time. You know Paul better than anyone else, right?"
Dawn would like to assume so, but she figured there was still a lot about Paul she didn't know. She felt as if there were a few variables missing. And she was hoping those could be filled eventually. "I guess. I like him, so I wanna know more," she confessed.
Gretchen's eyes were filled with excitement and she squealed in response. "Yes! I always knew it!" she exclaimed in sheer joy. Dawn groaned in embarrassment. "I'm happy for you. Can I be invited to your wedding?"
"Gretchen!" Dawn exclaimed in embarrassment.
She smirked in response. "Sorry," she said unapolagetically. She saw her sigh sadly and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Look, if you like him, then you should give him some time. Don't expect him to just, I don't know, tell you immediately."
Dawn nodded, agreeing with her. She knew Paul enough to know that whenever he was angry, there was a legitimate reason behind it, even if it made no sense to her. "I know. Thanks, Gretchen," she said, before Gretchen smiled in response.
A call blasted from Dawn's pocket and she politely excused herself and walked away a bit further. She glanced at the unknown number in curiosity and accepted the call. "Hello?"
"Hello, is this Dawn Berlitz?" A gruff voice was heard across the phone, and it sounded as if he was reading her name off of a paper of some sort.
"Yep, this is her," was her reply.
"This is Rowan, the owner of Chancey Fancy. I noticed and read over your application letter you submitted. We'd like to call you in for an interview at the premises. Is this weekend at nine in the morning an appropriate time?"
Dawn was so shocked, she couldn't form a single word at all. She stood there, blinking stupidly. "Miss Berlitz, are you there?" His voice spoke again and Dawn flinched.
"Yes, yes, that time works perfectly. Thank you so much!" She exclaimed in excitement.
"Very well. See you on Saturday at nine. Don't be late," he said, his gruff voice deepening even more, if that was possible.
"No need to worry!" She exclaimed before the call ended. A grin was now plastered on her face. Sure, she wasn't hired, but this was the first time any of the places she applied to called her back for an interview.
Dawn turned around, her smile slowly faltering once she saw Gretchen speaking to the person she had bumped into on Saturday afternoon; Conway. She saw her slightly pointing towards her and he followed to where she was pointing, as he made eye contact with her. Dawn didn't like where this was going. As expected, he walked up to her, adjusting his glasses that magically shined even in the library.
"Hi Dawn," he said. Dawn stood there, unable to fathom that this was happening. "You're probably wondering what I'm doing here," he said. Actually, she had a vague idea, but she was hoping she was wrong. A lopsided smile tugged at his lips. "I'm going to be your new tutor," he said, much to Dawn's disappointment.
Dawn frowned. Why would he stop being my tutor? A sigh escaped from her lips. "Alright. Let's get to work," she said reluctantly as the two walked over to a vacant table.
"A derivative measures the sensitivity to change of the function value with respect to a change in its argument. For example, the derivative of the position of a moving object with respect to time is the object's velocity: this measures how quickly the position of the object changes when time advances. And also, the derivative of a function of a single variable at a chosen input value, when it exists, is the slope of the tangent line."
It hadn't been over ten minutes and Dawn felt was already feeling overwhelmed, especially with the way Conway spoke. It was as if he spoke in a completely different language. "Huh?" She blinked repetitively in a stupid manner.
Conway chuckled at her and pulled out a few graph papers. "Maybe graphs would help," he said as he began to draw a graph upon the sheet. "Let's say a function equals x. Usually, a graph of a function is a set of points." He then began to draw a graph that was completely the opposite of the original. "This would be the derivative," he explained.
But Dawn hadn't been paying attention. Her thoughts were still lingering around Paul and the millions of questions she had. Why did you react that way? What did I do? Can I fix it? Are we still friends? Why are you not answering my texts? Why are you ignoring me? Why won't you tell me?
"Dawn," Conway said, shaking her away from her thoughts. "You're not paying attention. This is important information," he said, frowning in the process.
She sighed. "Yeah, sorry. I guess I'm just not in the mood right now."
He looked at her and nodded in understanding. "You did seem a little down in English class today," he confessed. Dawn raised an eyebrow. "I predict something tragic must have happened?"
She wasn't sure if 'tragic' was the right word. "Sort of," she said, letting out a small smile. "I'm just so confused about Paul," she confessed.
He assmued she was talking about the guy she was going to see a movie with on Saturday. "What's wrong?"
"Well, he stopped being my tutor," she said, frowning. "And he's angry at me, but he won't tell why."
Conway rubbed his chin in thought. "Now why anyone be mad at such a nice and lovely girl such as yourself? That's something I would have never predicted," he said.
Dawn eyes him suspiciously, wondering if he was flirting with her. "It's a usual thing with him."
"Perhaps he's battling something internally," Conway reasoned. Dawn sighed, thinking he was probably doing just that. She just had to remember Gretchen's words and give him more time. He'd let her know eventually...right? "Anyway, let's get back to studying, yeah?"
Dawn nodded. "Would you mind insulting me and grunting while you tutor me?" she asked jokingly, only to add confusion to Conway's features. She giggled.
Conway shook his head in amusement. "I can't do that to someone, especially you."
5:08 p.m.
Leaf dried her hair with a towel and then began to put some deodorant on while she glanced at herself in the mirror. While she was searching through her drawers for her hair dryer, her dad popped in her room. "Knock, knock," he said, escaping a grin.
She groaned. "Dad, I thought you were leaving for work," she said after managing to find the hair dryer before she plugged it in.
"No can do, especially after tonight. I can't trust you two alone," he said.
Gary was planning to come over to Leaf's place to do some studying for the chemistry bowl that was going to take place a month later. She figured it was a good idea to help each other out. "Dad, we're only studying. That's it," she protested before turning on the hair dryer. The hair dryer blocked out what her dad was saying and she turned it off. "Sorry, what'd you say?"
"I said I'm staying for the night just in case you guys...do stuff," he said, slightly shuddering.
Leaf rolled her eyes. "I don't know what you're implying but none of that will happen," she said, just before the doorbell rang. "That must be Gary!" She exclaimed in excitement before she eyed her dad. "Dad, please just stay in your room." She walked past him and out her bedroom before walking to the front door.
"No promises!" He grinned as he yelled from across the hallway.
She rolled her eyes again before she opened the door. Gary stood there with a genuine smile on his face. "Hey Leafy."
"How many times have I told you stop calling me that?" She scowled.
Gary shrugged as he walked in. "I lost count," he said before noticing Leaf's father in the room standing there with a firm look in his eye. "Hello, Leaf's dad." Leaf face-palmed. She figured he was going to give him 'the talk'.
He walked forward and Gary was slightly intimidated by his intense gaze. "Now listen here, lad. I know we've met before and I can tell you're a good kid. But I want nothing and I mean nothing to go on here except studying. Is that clear?"
Gary nodded. "Crystal."
"Daaad!" Leaf exclaimed in embarrassment.
"What? I'm just trying to establish some ground rules here-"
"And they've been established, so now you can leave," she said, before grabbing his arm and dragging him with her across the hallways. Gary couldn't help but to laugh when the two continued to argue before he finally heard a room door shut.
Soon enough, she walked out with an apologetic grin on her face. "Sorry about my dad, he can be really..."
"Protective?" Gary finished for her. Leaf nodded. "Yeah, I noticed," he said, escaping a slight chuckle. "Anyway, ready to hit the books?"
"Yup," she said, pointing to the chemistry books she had laid on the living room table a few hours earlier. "Let's get started," she said before he nodded as the two sat across from each other, each of them opening the respective books.
"Where do we even start from?" Gary asked as he flipped through some pages.
Leaf set the book down. "The first chapter is what Ms. Ana told me we should start from. And we can skip a few chapters, but some of them are really important," she said. Gary nodded in understanding before the two buried themselves in the books.
After about forty five minutes, the two constantly quizzed each other on different topics and each of them got almost every question right. Leaf could understand perfectly why he was at the top of his game; he was extremely smart and was going to be tough competition. "Wanna take a break?" she asked.
Gary nodded. "Yeah, I'm hungry."
Leaf giggled. "Okay, I'll see what I have in the fridge," she said, before walking into the kitchen and opening her fridge. "Do you want some H20 while I'm here?" she asked from across the kitchen.
"Nah I'm good, Leafy." His voice was heard much closer than she had expected, causing her to slightly gasp and hit her head against the fridge door. He chuckled as she tried to soothe the pain. "You okay, Leafy?"
"Just peachy," she commented sarcastically before she pulled out two sodas. "And I told you to stop calling me that."
"Hey I can't help it that you're made out of copper and tellerium that makes you so cute whenever I call you that," he said, a smirk threatening to form on his lips.
Leaf eyed him cryptically, not getting the flirtatious comment, when she suddenly clicked. She giggled. "That was impressive."
He rolled his eyes. "No, it was lame. I can't believe you would even like that."
"I bet I can come up with something lamer," she challenged.
Amusement was seen in his eyes. "This should be interesting," he said, crossing his arms.
"Do you have eleven protons? Cause you're sodium fine!" Leaf exclaimed. A grin slowly etched upon his features.
"Are you made of Fluorine, Iodine and Neon? Cause you are FINE," Gary said, the grin never faltering.
Leaf smirked. "Hey Gary, guess what? I've got my ion you," she said, winking.
Gary chuckled before saying, "You must be a compound of barium and beryllium because you're a total babe."
Leaf couldn't help but to blush once he walked closer towards her. She was trying to think of another pick up line. But he clouded her ability to think. "You feel that? There's an attraction between us and it's not just our universal gravitation," he said and his voice was somewhat husky now. Leaf would have laughed if Gary wasn't so close to her and if her heart wasn't beating out of her chest.
He kissed her slowly, taking his time to explore her lips as he slightly tilted his head to the right while placing his hand on her hip. Leaf returned the kiss, twining her fingers through his hair. Suddenly, there was a swift change in intensity as the kiss became more passionate, sending Leaf wild tremors along her nerves. Without warning, his hands skimmed lightly over her butt and towards her thighs once he gripped them tightly and picked her up, allowing her to enclose her legs around his waist.
Leaf broke the kiss and gasped. "What are you-" he kissed her again, effectively cutting her off as he placed her on the kitchen counter. Leaf groaned once their lips parted and his tongue slightly made its way in, evoking from her sensations she had never known she was capable of feeling. He broke the kiss, absolutely breathless, but the separation only lasted for a split second before he latched his mouth on hers again. This girl was a drug to him and he needed more.
He began kissing the corner of her lips and soon his lips found her jaw and then he sent a trail of kisses down to her neck. Leaf threw her head back. "Gary," she said breathlessly.
He hummed in response, nibbling the delicate skin he found in her neck. Leaf groaned again before she heard a door open. Her eyes widened and she pushed Gary away and got down from the counter. Gary eyed her, raising an eyebrow. Footsteps could be heard. "Dad's coming!"
"But I'm right here," he said, smirking while Leaf just punched him on the shoulder.
The two quickly made their way over to the living room table and opened their books to a random page. "Ah yeah, now that makes sense," Gary said, nodding to himself before he looked at Leaf's dad. "Oh hello sir, didn't see ya there!"
Her dad narrowed his eyes supiciously. "There wasn't anything going on, was there?"
Leaf grinned sheepishly. "Of course not!" she sputtered, "Just studying, that's it," she said, hoping that he'd leave soon.
To their pleasant surprise, her dad just nodded satisfactorily as he turned against his heel, beginning to walk. Both of them sighed breaths of relief, that is until, he suddenly stopped and turned around, keeping his gaze on his daughter. Leaf's eyes widened.
"Is that a hickey?"
Gary face-palmed as he groaned to himself while Leaf tried hopelessly to hide it, blushing in the process.
5:53 p.m.
Dawn had unintentionally caught him as he was making his way to the library, probably to start his shift. Even though Gretchen had given her some wise advise, she still couldn't help her curiosity. She wasn't going to demand answers; she just wanted to know if their relationship wasn't on the verge of breaking. The two had really come a long way after meeting in the elevator.
"Paul!"
He recognized the voice instantly and he stopped for just a split second before he started walking again. She knew he had heard her and made a run for it, so she was right in front of him. Forcing to make eye contact with her, he just grunted while averting his eyes to her elbow and slightly cringed at the unappteizing scabs. "It's okay if you don't want to tell me anything. I can wait, so take your time," she said. "But...are we still friends?" she asked, with a hopeful glint in her eye.
Paul watched her carefully and he knew his next choice of words would probably pierce her heart. "Do I know you?" He saw her eyes widen with shock and confusion fill her features.
Dawn then let out a few forced giggles. "You're messing with me, right? There's that sense of humour..." she stopped herself when she saw no sign of amusement in his eyes. There was no smirk or smile. He just had a nonchalant expression. "Was what I did really that bad that you want to ignore me?"
Her voice had already sounded broken and fragile. Paul hated himself for doing something like this. But it had to be done. "Please. Don't flatter yourself. You're not important enough to trigger me. Now get out of my way," he spat as he tried to get past her.
Dawn grabbed his wrist, effectively managing for him to stop. "How can you say that? After everything I've been through?" she asked incredulously, tears threatening to form in her eyes.
Paul saw the tears welling in her eyes. "You're pathetic."
"You don't mean that...you told me yourself!" Dawn exclaimed, a tear finally falling to her cheek. If anything, Paul just wanted to wipe it away and punch himself for hurting her even more.
He smirked. "You actually believed me?" Dawn stared at him, appalled. She couldn't believe that this was him talking to her right now. He was being colder than usual. "If you're done wasting my time, please let go of my arm."
With a heavy sigh, Dawn reluctantly let go of his wrist and she wiped her tears away. He said nothing and walked past her to the library, leaving her alone with a deep hole in her heart.
Okay so most of you guys think that Dawn's mom caused the accident. Nice theory, but I'm going to have to disprove your theory. Both Reggie's accident and Johanna's accident took place on different days. So they have nothing to do with each other. Reggie was already in a coma as established from early chapters.
Anyways, I just wanted to clear that up. Hopefully you guys liked this chapter. I start back college on Monday so that's going to be a drag. I'll update if I get the time to do so. Leave some reviews and let me know what you think.
