With everyone having a rough time today, we're going to take a slow breather and work through some issues. This chapter is all about building on bonds and trying the best that you can! Will everyone who's having a tough time be able to recover from their dejected moods? Remember to review!

Also, thank you to everyone who read my story "The Heir to the Dragon". I would appreciate if you continue to read and support it in the future! You can get there through my profile! The story is finally completed! Thank you for reading!

The Pokemon Academy Best Girl 2 Finals are up and running! Who do you think is deserving of the title of Best Girl in the second year of the contest? Cast your votes! We've only gotten a few votes so far, and I know that a lot of people are reading, so come on guys! The poll's in the profile, who do you think deserves to take the crown?

Finalists: Sylvia, Marion, Sango

Hellraiserphoenix: Yep, this is definitely a tough time for everyone.

Just a Bad Writer for Fun: We'll just have to hope that Julia can recover from her condition with the help from Kitty!

KedharS: Good, I'm glad.

Jjjdunk1: Hopefully it's not because you share his life experiences.

Thunder Fire: Don't worry, we won't go into anything just yet.

Rowlets and Oshawotts: It's okay that you still hate Julia, hopefully you'll come to change your mind when you see how she's dealing with things and what her issues are.

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 703

"Are you sure you're ready?" Kitty asked quietly. She was holding Julia's hand as the two girls were standing in the doorway of the dormitory. Nikita was watching hopefully behind the two of them, a wary smile on her face.

Julia swallowed, and Kitty could feel her hand trembling. She could tell that Julia was still worried and scared.

"It's okay," Kitty assured her, smiling up at her friend. "You can take your time, it's okay."

"Yeah, thanks," Julia said, forcing a shaky smile to her face. "Let's go, Kitty, I'm going to be okay."

Nikita walked around the two of them and propped the door open, a blast of cold air hitting them in the face. Julia took a deep breath and stepped forward, she and Kitty walking out into the winter air and the outside world.

It wasn't that big of a deal. Julia had been making more out of it than it actually was. There wasn't some triumphant swell of music or refreshing gust that assured her she had made the right decision, no, all that happened was that the two girls walked outside.

But Julia felt a little more relieved. She let out a sigh.

"…It's colder than I remember," she muttered under her breath. Kitty perked up. Was that a joke? Julia was joking?!

That was a really good sign.

"Want to go see the others?" Kitty asked.

Julia shook her head, which surprised her.

"No, I… I'd rather the two of us just hang out together for a little longer, if you're okay with that?" Julia asked, looking hopefully at Kitty. She squeezed her friend's hand.

Kitty knew that she probably shouldn't have felt a twinge of romantic impulse at that. Julia was her friend, and she was nervous and alone, and needed someone to rely on. She wasn't ready to be around everyone right now, so she was relying on her best friend to be there for her.

Kitty knew her job was to be a friend, but she couldn't help it when her heart skipped a beat! It was just something that happens!

Kitty quickly nodded her head, flashing a toothy grin at Julia. "We can hang out together as long as you want," she assured her. The two girls headed down the walk.

Julia's heart felt a little lighter now with Kitty's support. She was really nervous and scared; this last month had been really rough on her, and brought out memories that she hadn't wanted to relive. And she had been afraid to let them out.

But right now, she was feeling happy. Because she had her friend with her, and Kitty wasn't looking at her with caution. She didn't mind how Julia was feeling worried. She was just being a good friend, and right now, that's what Julia really needed from her.

Kitty still didn't know what was bothering her friend, or what Julia was having trouble with. But she knew that her friend needed her support, and until Julia was ready to open up to her, she would just be the best friend she could be. That was enough for her right now.

On the topic of being a good friend, though, there was certainly someone that she had inadvertently slighted.

Nikita pushed her glasses up her nose as she stared out the doorway at Kitty heading off into the snow, letting out a sigh.

"Great," she muttered, shaking her head as she watched her only way out of the building walking off into the horizon. She trudged over to one of the couches and threw herself down onto it, unable to leave the dorm without someone else to escort her back to her own room. Nikita was going to have to take some time to get comfortable.

Meanwhile, another girl was also trying to be a slightly better friend, doing something that she wasn't exactly that happy about.

Sango followed Cynthia to the Pikachu Dorms, keeping a healthy distance from her as Silver floated behind her head.

"Thanks for this," Cynthia called over her shoulder, smiling brightly. "It really means a lot!"

"No worries," Sango shrugged. "I'll go hang out with Maddi while you take care of your business, sound good?"

Cynthia nodded. The two of them headed into the dorm, walking upstairs. Sango went over to Maddi's room to check up on her, while Cynthia turned her attention to someone else, heading down the hall towards Caelia's room.

Maddi cracked the door open. "…Hey, Sango, what's up?" She muttered. Her eyes were bleary and she had a tired look on her face, which caused Sango to worry. She hadn't talked with Maddi in a while, due to… several events.

"Um… hey, Maddi, it's been a while," Sango said, giving her an awkward wave. "Are you doing okay? It's been a while."

"You said that twice," Maddi noted, swinging the door open a little wider. "Anyway, yeah, I'm doing fine. What are you doing here? I thought you couldn't come without an escort?"

Maddi felt a little bad about Dakota's attack, but that didn't mean she had to feel guilty about feeling happy about getting some privacy to herself. Most of the students at the Pikachu House were basically confined to quarters without a roommate to chaperone them.

Sango sighed and pointed her finger down the hall. Maddi peeked her head out and looked at Cynthia, standing outside Caelia's door.

"Ah."

"Sorry I haven't been around recently," Sango apologized. "I've been really busy recently, and I was just thinking… well…"

She wasn't really sure how to explain to her friend that she hadn't been hanging out because she was depressed about Blake, and that had been followed by feelings of apprehension and guilt about Dakota's attack.

Luckily, she didn't have to. Maddi raised her hand and waved it dismissively, shaking her head. "Don't worry about it," she said. "It's fine. I don't need to hang out with you all the time, you know. We all need personal space."

Sango sighed in relief.

"…So… how have you been?" Maddi asked. It was a surprising question, coming from her. Sango was so amazed that she didn't think to answer it for a second. She blinked, staring at Maddi in shock, not expecting to have her inquire about Sango's time.

Sango paused before clearing her throat. "So, well, actually, things have been a little wild, she admitted. Did you hear about what happened with Blake?"

Maddi shook her head. Well, that was a good place to start.

"…Wow," Maddi said, her tone of voice not doing a very good job of portraying how amazed she felt. But Sango didn't really notice.

"Yeah, it's… been quite a rush," Sango said.

"…Didn't expect you to just break that guy's heart so brutally like that, yikes," Maddi followed up. Sango's face turned bright red. THAT was her take-away from this?!

"What are you talking about?!" Sango sputtered in surprise. "Was that really what you chose to focus on?!"

"Well, I mean, Cynthia let me know a little bit about the Blake thing," Maddi informed her. "I was just being polite earlier. Compared to that, the fact that you rejected that guy is a little more surprising. But don't worry about that."

She shrugged her shoulders. "I don't feel like it's something you need to worry about, though. Look at me, I don't give romance that much thought myself."

Sango blushed in embarrassment. She wasn't used to thinking about romance either, and she certainly didn't want to talk about it right now!

"Look, I… I don't want to talk about this," she scowled. "There are more important things to think about than romance, you know!"

"Don't tell me," Maddi shrugged. "You're the one who brought it up in the first place."

Sango opened her mouth. That… that had just been… well…

"That was because I wanted to tell you the full story," she huffed, turning away from Maddi. "It's not like I wanted to focus on it! What's important here is what happened to Dakota! It's definitely not my love life!"

"…So you haven't actually talked to this Aidan guy since then?" Maddi clarified. She was talking in a neutral tone, but Sango could see that there was a spark of enjoyment in her eyes. She was certainly having fun messing with Sango, much to Sango's chagrin.

She sighed, hanging her head in disappointment. Was this really what they should be talking about right now? "I can't believe you of all people want to talk about my relationship status," she griped. Maddi was one of the least romantic people she knew.

"Oh, I don't," Maddi said, shaking her head, much to Sango's disbelief.

"What?! Then why-?"

"Because I'm amused by messing with you," Maddi dryly replied. "I may be enjoying my privacy and my mini-vacation, but I'm still bored out of my skull sometimes."

Sango scowled. "It's not okay to treat this as a vacation, Maddi, someone got attacked."

"Yeah, I know," Maddi shrugged. "But I don't think that's something to worry the rest of us about."

"They never caught the guy, Maddi!" Sango said. "We can't just relax!"

"I know, I know," Maddi sighed. "I guess I've just been cooped up in here a little too long without any social interaction."

Not that that was anything new, but Maddi chose not to say that part. She had been learning that she needed to be more considerate of her friends, so she wasn't going to mess with Sango anymore. Instead, she turned her attention somewhere else.

"…So what's she doing?" Maddi asked, glancing down the hall at Cynthia, who was still standing in front of Caelia's door, waiting for the girl to answer.

Sango sighed, and shook her head. "That's why we came here," she explained to Maddi. "See, Cynthia sort of… well, let's just say that Dakota's attack wasn't the only incident that happened on Valentine's Day."

"OH, yeah, I heard about that," Maddi remembered. It had been overshadowed a little in light of the library incident, but it had certainly been talked about for a good few hours. Maddi cracked a smile. "Way to go, hero."

Sango made a sour expression.

"Basically, she feels really bad about it, like it was her fault. I think she's feeling worse about that than what happened to Dakota. She said she wanted to go check up on Caelia and see how she's doing but…" Sango glanced back at her. Still nothing.

"That girl clearly isn't the social type," Maddi said. "Not that I'm one to talk."

"I feel bad that she cares so much about her," Sango whispered, "since Caelia doesn't seem to reciprocate very much."

Sango wasn't Caelia's biggest fan, but she knew how much the other girl meant to Cynthia, and hoped that she was okay.

While Sango and Maddi were gossiping about Caelia, Cynthia was waiting patiently outside of her door, hoping to get the chance to see her again.

Cynthia wanted to help her friend. Times were certainly tough, but she wasn't going to let what happened to Dakota overshadow her attempts to reach out to Caelia.

…Okay, well, it had been a week since she remembered the girl, but could you blame her? That was a really serious, intense event! A lapse in memory could be excused, right?!

Cynthia thought so, anyway. She knocked on the door again a little more insistently, hoping that Caelia would respond.

"Caelia!" Cynthia called. "It's me, Cynthia, I wanted to come talk to you!"

Cynthia didn't mention it to Sango, but there had also been rumors going around that Caelia was the one who had attacked Dakota. The girl had built up a reputation around campus, and a lot of people were wary of her.

But Cynthia knew that she wasn't the kind of girl to do that. In no small part because she knew for a fact that Caelia had been badly injured that day herself, and wasn't able to attack Dakota because she had been in the infirmary herself, recovering from her drowning incident.

There was a third girl who people were suspicious of, besides Marion and Caelia. And Cynthia hated to admit it because it made her feel like a bad person, but that third party was the one that she was suspicious of herself. She glanced back towards Maddi's room, at the door neighboring hers, at Elaina Bishop's room.

Marion's suspicions had the most traction on campus, but the second-most prolific rumor was that Elaina Bishop had attacked Dakota. And just the thought of standing in the same dorm as her sent a shiver down Cynthia's spine. She shook her head and turned her attention back to Caelia, knocking even harder.

"Caelia? Caelia, are you-"

The door creaked open, Caelia pulling it back just a crack so she could stare out coldly through it at Cynthia.

"H-Hey," Cynthia said, waving at her with an awkward smile. "How… um, how are you doing? Are you feeling okay?"

Caelia didn't answer her.

"What?" She asked quietly. Cynthia gulped.

"Oh, um… yeah, I just, um… I wanted to check up on you," Cynthia said. "Are you… are you doing okay?" She tried again.

"Fine. Leave." Well, Caelia pretty clearly wasn't very happy to see her. Cynthia couldn't really blame her, she supposed, considering what had happened. But she wasn't going to let that stop her. She cared about Caelia, even if the other girl didn't care about herself.

"You don't look like you're doing fine," Cynthia insisted. She knew that she wasn't supposed to be this forceful and aggressive, that it was putting unfair pressure on Caelia, and that she probably wouldn't be comfortable with it.

She was stuck in a situation where she had to choose between being polite, and showing concern for her friend.

"I care about you," Cynthia said. "Look, I know that things are tough. And I know that I can't possibly understand what you're going through, with your body like this. You can't really… no, I'm sorry, that isn't fair."

Cynthia wasn't going to presume to speak for the other girl. She just wanted to let her know that she cared. Cynthia let out a long sigh. Why was this so hard?

Cynthia… Cynthia honestly wasn't sure what she wanted out of this. And that thought was a frightening one.

Was she just giving out platitudes again to make herself feel better, rather than working hard to understand what Caelia was actually going through? That was the last thing that she wanted to do. She winced and averted her eyes.

Caelia took Cynthia shutting up and being silent as a cue to end the conversation. She moved to shut the door.

"Hey, excuse me a minute."

The door was stopped by an interceding foot, but it wasn't Cynthia's foot.

Startled, Cynthia turned to see who it was. Today was a day for surprises. It was Maddi? Maddi, of all people, had come to join in the conversation out of her own volition?

"Maddi? What are you doing?" Cynthia asked in disbelief. Caelia glanced at Maddi momentarily, but she wasn't really taking an interest in the other girl.

"You were being annoying, talking in front of my room," Maddi griped. "Some of us are trying to relax, you know."

"O-Oh," Cynthia said, averting her eyes. "S-Sorry, Maddi, I didn't mean… I just…"

Cynthia realized that she hadn't been a very good friend to Maddi, either. The whole mess with Blake followed by Valentine's Day and the incident with Dakota had completely occupied her thoughts and hadn't given her the time to work on her relationships.

She looked down. Maddi was probably not that pleased with her, which made her feel even worse. Why did she have to be such a-

"Save it, I'm not talking to you," Maddi said, turning to Caelia. That… that was a surprise. Cynthia wasn't sure how she was supposed to feel about that.

"Huh? But Maddi, I was the one who-"

"The issue isn't with you talking, it's the fact that this girl isn't," Maddi said, giving Caelia a cold look. "What's the big deal? Cynthia's making a gesture coming to talk to you, the least you could do is let her inside so I can get some peace and quiet."

Caelia didn't reply. She didn't even look at Maddi, her eye was staring off into the distance. Maddi scowled. She didn't like rude people. Cynthia was one thing, but this girl was even more of an irritant, even though she wasn't saying a word.

"Don't care," Caelia muttered. "Leave me alone."

Maddi's eye twitched. So that was how it was gonna be.

"H-Hey, Maddi, I appreciate it, really, but come on, it's not that big of a deal," Cynthia said, stepping between the two girls to play mediator. "Look, it's like you always say, I can be really rude and annoying sometimes, and I need to be more considerate of what other people are feeling, right?"

Cynthia forced a smile onto her face. "Caelia doesn't like talking, she likes minding her own business. You know what that's like, right? So, like… how would you feel, if I came bugging you with stuff when you were trying to have some private time? Not very good, right?"

Maddi frowned. She didn't see it as the same thing at all. "You're just checking up on her, it's not like you're forcing her to do something she doesn't want to do."

Cynthia flinched. Good thing she didn't tell Maddi about the fishing incident. "W-Well, that's certainly right, yup…" She laughed awkwardly. "Um… but it's really okay, I don't mind. I just wanted to make sure she was okay, because she's my friend."

"…Fine then," Maddi nodded. "So keep it down, okay?"

"Y-Yeah, will do," Cynthia nodded. Maddi trudged off with a grumble of irritation. Cynthia let out a sigh of relief and turned back to Caelia.

But the door was already closed.

Cynthia hung her head in defeat. Making Caelia feel better was way out of her league. She wanted to be a better friend, but it was going to be a long road getting there, she understood.

"Sorry, Caelia," she apologized, letting out another sigh.

"Hey."

Cynthia perked up, turning down the hall to see Maddi and Sango standing at Maddi's door. Maddi wore a strange look on her face. It was like… she actually felt sorry for Cynthia, or something? That didn't sound like her at all.

"If you're not busy, like… want to hang out or something?" Maddi asked, trying pretty damn hard to sound casual.

It was an unbelievable offer from the girl. Cynthia's eyes widened in disbelief, and her face lit up with joy. "Yeah! Totally!" She said, running over to her friends, completely shocked that Maddi had offered to hang out of her own free will.

Aww, what a sweet gesture on Maddi's part! Hopefully, they can have a fun time together as friends! Cynthia needs some positive support in her life!