Well, with all the stress of the night behind them, now we move on to what shall surely be more relaxing… dealing with the interpersonal relationship drama that's resulted from this crazy evening's shenanigans. Remember to review!
As for the Best Girl nominations, still going strong. Anyone else left to add?
Currently Nominated: Sango, Cynthia, Elaina, Kate, Dakota, Ayame, Marion, Kitty, Serefina, Madison
KedharS: Yes, it did.
Pokemonking0924: Sometimes tough love is necessary.
PikachuKetchup12: So many that I can't estimate it.
JoshGamerV: That's a word to give.
JUSTSOMEP3RSON: Yes. Yes it did.
Hellraiserphoenix: Yeah, no way the fact that those two weren't informed of this will come back in any way…
Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings
Chapter 215
Blake was trapped in a room with six girls who had chosen what was quite possibly the most humiliating and inefficient method of interrupting the engagement meeting.
"What the heck was up with that plan of yours?" Blake asked, turning to Cynthia. Cynthia let go of his arm and stepped back, holding her hands up to indicate her innocence.
"Don't worry, don't worry, it was a great plan!" Cynthia chuckled, sensing the displeasure emanating from her friend. "Come on, Blake! It was the most effective way to do it. How do you stop a wedding? Well, have it seem like one of the parties of the wedding is already with someone else!"
Blake walked over to her and put on a fake smile that radiated hostility.
"Still, one fake girlfriend would have been enough, don't you agree?" Blake asked.
"…Maybe," Cynthia sheepishly replied, glancing aside guiltily. She turned to the other girls, desperately searching for some help from her friends. Everyone looked away. Cynthia had made her bed, and now she was going to lie in it.
"Hey, wait!" Cynthia suddenly realized. "I only talked about my idea with the girls! Kate's just a plain old opportunist, but what about little miss tomboy, huh?! You came here in a dress like that?! Aren't you forgetting your character a little?"
"Wha-?!" Ayame gasped. "I… I can wear whatever I want! Just because I'm a tomboy you think I'm always supposed to be wearing tight jeans and ratty shirts?!"
"No, because you're a tomboy I think you should always be wearing a shirt and bloomers," Cynthia explained. Ayame scowled at her in response, Cynthia returning the scowl with a smirk of her own. "You came here all on your own and declared yourself Blake's girlfriend, didn't you, little miss tomboy?"
"So what if I did?" Ayame asked, stepping up towards Cynthia. With her height (and her heels!) she towered over the redhead. But Cynthia didn't back down, her eyes flashing and her smile widening.
"This, plus your dates… wait, are you two… for real?" Cynthia gasped in realization. She looked back and forth between Blake and Ayame. "You are! You're totally doing it!"
"NO we are NOT!" Ayame and Blake shouted as one, Cynthia stepping back.
"They aren't Cynthia, I promise," Sango said. But her expression showed she wasn't as sure as she sounded. She looked worriedly at Blake and Ayame.
Kitty and Julia glanced at each other, mutually agreeing to quietly sneak out of the room and leave this… whatever bizarre love polyhedron this was. They turned and abandoned Blake to the mercy of the other four girls.
"I-I also refuse to believe that you and Blake are dating!" Kate screeched. "I mean, it's just, well… Blake would never go for a girl like you!"
"…Oh?" Ayame narrowed her eyes. Blake swallowed. Idiot that she was, Kate had just stabbed a very fresh wound of Ayame's, and twisted the knife for good measure.
Ayame stepped up to Kate, Kate looking up to meet her glare and gulped.
"Err, um… I-I didn't mean anything by it!" Kate exclaimed. "I-I just meant, well, you know… Blake has her highness Alcea! Why would he-"
"Blake doesn't like Alcea that way, though," Ayame snapped. "He doesn't like me, either. We're just friends."
The venom with which she said that didn't go unnoticed by Cynthia, or Sango for that matter. Cynthia looked at Blake and Ayame again, and noticed something else, as well. Something that made her eyes go wide and her mouth fall open in shock.
"Then explain that!" Cynthia said, pointing at the iris in Blake's pocket. She pointed at the iris tucked behind Ayame's ear, as well.
Ayame and Blake's eyes shot toward the other and their faces went pale. This was practically a couples' symbol.
"Uh…"
"Um…"
"See? You can't defend yourselves at all!" Cynthia said. "You're totally banging!"
Sango looked desperately at Ayame. Tears were welling up in her eyes as she looked at what seemed to be conclusive proof that Blake and Ayame were a couple. Blake had said he was planning to end things conclusively with Ayame. But it looked like the opposite had happened. Rather than turning her down, it seemed that Blake had changed his mind, and gotten together with her instead. That flower… Ayame had been wearing it in her hair last night, at Blake's birthday party… and now, it was in Blake's pocket. Clearly…
Sango shook her head.
Clearly he treasures it. I guess that really is-
"Ayame and I are just friends!" Blake exclaimed. "Stop it, Cynthia. Just cut it out! That's it, we're just friends, okay?"
Cynthia was taken aback, more than a little startled at Blake's outburst. She'd just been jostling him around, but she hadn't expected him to react like… that. She swallowed.
"Yeah, it's just like fucking he said," Ayame replied. The pain in her voice was obvious. "Blake and I are just friends. That's all we're going to be."
"…" Cynthia glanced at Blake, then at Ayame. She wanted to say something, but it wasn't her place. "I guess I misunderstood. Sorry for giving you guys a hard time."
"Don't worry about it," Ayame muttered. She turned away from the other girls, her face filled with pain. "Whatever. I've spent way too much time here as it is. Looks like the boss was right, and we've managed to postpone the fucking wedding. Ain't a lot more to be fucking done."
Ayame didn't look back as she headed out the door. Blake bit his lip. He wasn't going to just let things end there, was he? No… absolutely not. Ayame was his friend. And that was something that mattered to him. He wasn't going to just let her disappear over the crap he'd said earlier that day. Cynthia had beat some sense into him, and now he needed to pay that forward and let Ayame know how he really felt.
"Ayame!" Blake ran out into the hall, calling after her. Ayame flinched, pausing in place and turning to him.
"What?" Ayame asked, looking back towards him with wet eyes.
"I'm sorry," Blake said, walking slowly towards her. "About the stuff I said in your room today."
Cynthia, Sango, and Kate were peeking out of the doorway at the duo.
"In her room today?!" Cynthia whispered, her eyes wide as she grabbed Sango by the collar and shook her excitedly. "What were they doing there?!"
While Kate's imagination was working overtime, Sango was trying very, very hard to not think about what Blake might or might not have been doing with Ayame in her room that day.
So that's what his special meet-up today was… Sango bitterly recalled.
"When you say you're sorry…" Ayame reached up and stroked a lock of her hair in her fingers, her face flushing. "Wh-what do you mean?"
"You were telling me not to give up," Blake replied. "Back then, I was completely drained of everything, and ready to give up and just go along with what my foster father wanted."
"I know," Ayame said, nodding. She walked up to him, a little uneasy. Blake felt a little dwarfed, since her heels put her even taller than she normally. "But I… said some harsh things as well. I-I shouldn't have yelled at you like that… It wasn't right. I'm sorry."
"No, don't apologize," Blake said, shaking his head. "I'm the one that needs to apologize, after the stupid crap I did. You were just trying to help me, and I was ready to give up. But thanks to you and Cynthia… I think I'm ready to confront Richard Harker now."
Ayame's eyes widened and a big smile spread across her face.
"Really?" Ayame asked. "Really, really?"
"Yeah. Even if there's nothing I can do… I can't just stand back and watch you guys all try your hardest to keep me here. So… thanks."
"I'm glad," Ayame sighed in relief. "As long as you're smiling about the choices you make, then that's enough. We can't do anything if it comes down to it… but don't give up. Fight as hard as you can, got it? And I'll be cheering right alongside you."
Ayame punched Blake lightly in the shoulder, grinning at him.
"Thanks, Ayame," Blake said, nodding.
"Gotta head back now," Ayame said. "Dunno if we'll be able to hang before you head out, but good luck training that spoiled little princess. It's been fun, Blake. Even if we are just friends."
"Yeah," Blake agreed, nodding. "It was real nice getting to know you, too, Ayame."
"Oop, almost forgot," Ayame smiled. She leaned in and tilted Blake's head up, pressing her lips against his. She kissed him for almost a minute, ignoring everything else around her. It didn't matter that the other girls were watching. This… would probably be the last kiss she'd ever share with him. So she focused only on him, to make this final kiss of hers count. She resisted the urge to cry. She pulled back, taking a deep breath.
"…Bye, Blake," Ayame said, giving him a sad smile.
"…Bye," Blake murmured. Ayame chuckled, turned, and walked down the hall, flipping him off over her shoulder as she did.
Cynthia, Kate, and especially Sango were in shock. None of them had seen Blake and Ayame kiss before, their kisses had always been in private. None of them had seen Blake kiss anyone at all, for that matter. The fact Blake was not the initiator was promptly ignored, the three were far more concerned with the act itself.
Surprisingly, Kate was the one to make the first move.
"What do you think you're doing you lech?!" Kate screamed, jumping out and pointing an accusing finger at Blake. Blake turned and looked back at her, raising an eyebrow.
"Kate, what-"
"K-k-kissing like that?! You're just… just a dirty boy!" Kate wailed. "I knew it! First you were putting the moves on her highness, and then you were making out with that senior! Do you have any shame?! It doesn't even matter who it is, does it?! You'll make a move on anyone, as long as they're female! Next, you'll probably try to make out with me!"
"…No, I won't," Blake replied. Kate huffed in indignation.
Sango, in the meantime, felt the remains of her heart get shredded to ribbons. Logically, she knew that Blake hadn't kissed Ayame, Ayame had kissed Blake. She knew that Ayame was in love with Blake, and trying her best to be with Blake. She hadn't seen Blake's face when Ayame kissed him, do that position, so for all she knew, he didn't even LIKE the fact that he kissed him. All of these things were valid reasons to not think that the kiss was such a big deal.
But that was not the way the thoughts of a teenage girl would ever really go. It didn't matter that it wasn't rational. Seeing Blake and Ayame kiss was devastating to her. But she wouldn't cry. At this point… she wasn't even sure if she could cry. She'd cried so much today, and moreso last night. She felt cried out.
But the real one taken aback by this was Cynthia. Cynthia had not been expecting THAT. She'd kidded around earlier about Blake and Ayame dating, but this… wow. It was a surprise, to be certain, but… what was the ping in her chest? That slight feeling of irritation? It didn't make sense… why did she care about who Blake would kiss?
Stupid Blake. I'm the one who came up with the super-good idea to have us all pretend to be his girlfriends, and he's just paying all the attention to that senior, Ayame! I mean yeah, that dress makes her ass look fine, but he could at least have extended a small bit of courtesy to the rest of us… is a little bit of appreciation too much to ask, huh?!
Cynthia scowled, crossing her arms in frustration. Yeah, that made sense, no wonder she was so irritated at Blake! For ignoring her and chewing her out, when he had nothing but praise and gratitude for Ayame, even when she was just doing the exact same thing! It just wasn't fair, and it was pissing Cynthia off!
That was the only explanation she could come up with for the irritation in her chest, so she went with it.
"Well, I think we can see who Blake really wanted to pretend to be his girlfriend," Cynthia snottily commented, trying as hard as she could to keep anger or disgust out of her voice. She wasn't really mad, she was just a weensy little bit annoyed. She made the comment in jest, but it sounded a lot more harsh than she'd meant it to.
"I already told you," Blake said, shaking his head. "Ayame is just a friend."
"Well, we're your friends too," Cynthia said, skipping up to him and brushing her messy bangs off of her forehead with a casual sweep, batting her eyelashes at him. "Where's my kiss, huh?"
"I didn't think you'd want one," Blake smirked, raising his eyebrows at Cynthia in challenging.
"W-well, I certainly don't want one!" Kate huffed, turning her nose up at the idea of kissing Blake. Of course, what she wanted didn't matter. Blake would just take what he wanted regardless! He'd push her against the wall and force his lips against hers, maybe feel her up a lot, and there was nothing she could do! He'd force her to like it, and-
"No one asked you," Cynthia replied. Kate glared at her.
"What?! Are you saying that Blake wouldn't want to kiss me?!" She demanded.
"Do you want to get kissed by him?" Cynthia asked plainly. Kate baulked.
"N-no, of course not!" Kate exclaimed. "I… I just… you know, just saying, if we were talking about fairness, then Blake hasn't kissed me yet, either."
"If Blake kisses you he's going to get some sort of disease, little miss poison," Cynthia laughed. God, why was she being so catty all of sudden? Well, Kate was a bitch anyway, so she didn't really feel bad about what she was saying.
"H-he would not!" Kate exclaimed. "Poison pokemon are toxic or infectious! It's just another type! Don't hold my favorite types against me, I LOVE poison types, but I'm not… you know! I'm not!"
She turned to Blake, her face filled with desperation.
"I-I'm not! Honest! I'm perfectly clean! I-I would never-"
"Just gonna bring it up, Ayame kissed me," Blake replied. "I didn't kiss anyone. And don't worry, Kate, I don't think you're diseased or anything like that."
Kate sighed with relief. Still, though, Blake didn't say he was interested in kissing her. Not that she would ever want him to do something like that, of course! She wasn't interested in kissing him in the slightest, it was more just that… well, of course she wanted to be desirable! Absolutely! That was what was pissing her off, that's why she wanted to clear up the misunderstanding!
"So you won't mind if I kiss you?" Cynthia asked. Blake shrugged.
"W-wait, Cynthia, let's not get hasty about this," Sango said, stepping between the two of them. She was trying to diffuse the situation as best as she could. Or, to be specific, she really, really didn't want to see Blake kissing Cynthia, on the heels of Blake kissing Ayame. She didn't know if Cynthia was being serious, or if she was just joking around like she always was, but she still didn't want to actually SEE the two make out if there was a chance it might happen. "Come on, it's been a long night, why don't we all just head back, huh?"
"…What, you want to make out with him a little, too?" Cynthia smirked.
"No, I absolutely do not!" Sango cried, glancing at Blake and then back at Cynthia. She tried to keep from sounding frantic or desperate about it.
"Well, I don't mind," Cynthia shrugged. "What about you, Blake? You in?"
"Nah, I'm a little kissed out right now," Blake yawned, similarly not sure what Cynthia was trying, almost certain she was trolling the three of them right now, and currently he was focused on denying her the chance to do so.
"Ah, what a pity," Cynthia grinned, winking at Sango. "Don't you think so, Sango?"
"Not really," Sango said, crossing her arms to put up a wall between her and Cynthia. "I honestly don't care that much WHO Blake kisses!"
It was a lie, but she said it with enough irritation that Cynthia didn't notice, and thought that Sango was just being pissy about Cynthia's shenanigans as usual. If she had been a little more perceptive, she would have noticed how flushed Sango's cheeks were, the frantic tone of her voice, and how shifty her eyes were being.
But to Sango's good fortune, Cynthia completely failed to notice the very real crush that Sango had. It was practically miraculous.
"Come on guys, the night is young, we don't need to stay here and just talk about stuff like this," Blake said. "If anything I want to put this annoying night behind me and do something else, since I only have so much time here, you know. Sango's right, why don't we just head back to the dorms and hang out a little? Take it easy."
"Sure!" Cynthia chirped, wrapping her arm around Blake's. "Let's get a move on! Back to the Bulbasaur Dorm!"
"Um…"
Blake glanced over his shoulder to see Kate standing a little ways off from them, her cheeks red and her brow furrowed. Rather than her usual scowl, her expression was tentative, almost nervous. She twirled a lock of her short hair, already beginning to fray at the edges as the gel that had pinned it down had worn off over the course of the evening. Clearly she'd be back to pinecone hair by the end of the night.
"What's up?" Blake asked.
"O-oh, um, uh…" Kate averted her eyes from him, nervously scratching her toe against the floor of the hallway. "I-I was just wondering, um… s-since I'm not really doing anything tonight, once I'm done locking up here I'll be returning back to my dorm, so… I mean, if you guys are hanging out, I suppose I wouldn't be opposed to… well, you know, killing time with you guys? I-I mean, since none of us are doing anything anyway, it's not that big a deal, right?"
Cynthia blinked.
"What, you want to hang out with us?"
"N-no!" Kate exclaimed, frantically shaking her head, more strands of hair coming loose. "I-I don't! Not one bit!"
"Cool, bye," Cynthia said, turning away.
"W-wait!" Kate called again. Cynthia rolled her eyes. She girl was really starting to get annoying with her wishy-washy attitude.
"Change your mind?" Cynthia asked, smirking, turning back to look at Kate, watching her squirm a little. Cynthia was totally fine if Kate wanted to come hang with them, even if Kate was one of a very short list of people who she only tolerated, instead of honestly liking. Still, she was always up to make the effort of getting along if someone wanted to try. Problem was, Kate never really tried to be friendly with people in general, let alone try to be their friends.
Sango felt a little bad for the poor girl. She clearly did want to hang out with them, but was too uncomfortable to say it. Which made sense, considering that Kate couldn't really be considered one of their friends in the first place. Her abrasive personality and haughty attitude probably wasn't making it any easier, either.
"U-um… please…" Kate's face was bright red and she couldn't look any of them in the eye, but she was still trying to spit out the words she needed to say. Or more specifically, the words she really, really wanted to say, but tried to convince herself she didn't.
"Please, can I hang out with you guys tonight?" Kate asked, her body deflating now that she'd finally managed to unload onto the others. The girls looked to Blake, and then to each other. Kate stared tentatively at them.
"Sure thing!" Cynthia smiled. "Just finish locking up, and then we'll all head back to our dorm, sound good?"
"R-really?!" Kate gasped, her face lighting up with joy. It was kind of off-putting seeing her that happy, she looked like a completely different person without her sneers and glares. "Really, I can come?!"
"…Yeah, geez, don't make a big deal out of it," Cynthia shrugged. "We're just going to watch movies or something, it's not gonna be like a big party or something. You don't have to come if you don't-"
"I'll go with you! Totally!" Kate nodded eagerly. She rushed back into the clubroom and frantically began cleaning up. When was the last time she'd watched movies with friends? Gosh, that would have been years ago! Excitement was bubbling up in her chest, she couldn't wait!
Aww, nice to see Kate get a small win for once, with how much the universe loves shitting on her. Maybe this will be the first step towards a change in her attitude, leading to a more positive demeanor around others!
…It won't be.
