Nemona sat at the desk in her dorm room, slowly drumming her fingers with one hand and resting her head in the other.
She let out a heavy sigh, "What am I feeling right now…?"
She couldn't exactly figure it out, just the other day she felt like she was walking on the moon. Now she felt down in the dumps. She didn't have the robust, endless energy that she was known for. As she looked at a picture she had of her, Juliana, Arven, and Penny together; she realized that she might have a clue to what's troubling her.
She focused on Juliana with a feeling gnawing at her stomach, "What is this…? What's happening to me?"
Her Pawmot tapped her leg, she turned to see her Pokémon looking at her with a worried expression.
"Oh, it's gonna be okay." Nemona smiled somewhat, "Come on, back in your Poke ball." She recalled the electric fighter, then grabbed her bag and left her room. She walked down the hall at a steady pace, but with her eyes slightly tilted toward the ground.
As she entered the entrance hall, she heard the voice of her greatest treasure, "So what should we do today Arven?"
She looked up and saw Juliana speaking to Arven. He replied to her, "I was thinking we could go to the cafeteria; I'm starving!" He chuckled.
Instead of rushing up to them like she always would, Nemona found herself stopped in her tracks. She kept her eyes on the couple, mostly on Juliana. She couldn't articulate to herself why she was acting this way. But before she could contemplate any further, she noticed they were walking in her direction. Nemona felt her heart leap and she lunged behind a tall bookshelf. Once out of sight she peered at them secretly and eavesdropped.
"You didn't eat anything yet?" Juliana inquired.
"Nope!" Arven laughed, "It was the last thing on my mind when I heard about what happened with you and that guy from Team Star. I mean, I know you are more than capable of handling them yourself but… I just wanted to check on you anyway. I'm so mad I missed the action though!"
Nemona felt the same gnawing sensation in her stomach, except more intense…
Juliana smiled, "It's okay Arven, you'll see the next one! Let's get to the cafeteria!"
"I better see the next one!" Arven joked. Slowly their voices faded from earshot.
Nemona watched as the two walked away and disappeared from sight. The student council president leaned her back against the bookshelf and exhaled deeply, feeling her heart pound. Slowly she placed her hand on her chest, "What is her secret…?" She muttered.
"Uh… you okay there?"
"Ah!" Nemona yelped from fright, turning to the source of the voice. She felt relief upon seeing it was just Penny.
"Geez, you scared me Penny! What's up? It's good to see you again!"
Penny stared, "I uh… I guess I was just checking to see if you were okay."
Nemona tried to put on a smile, "Oh me? I'm okay! I'm great actually! Why wouldn't I be?"
Penny responded with a look, she knew better, but Nemona kept smiling; trying to convince her that it was all good. But the longer Penny stared, the more Nemona's smile faded.
"Okay… okay you got me." Nemona admitted, "I don't know what's wrong with me."
Penny observed, "You were looking at Juliana and Arven. I saw them, I was going to say 'hey' but then I saw you. Then I just… started watching you. You aren't acting your usual self."
Though this was completely unlike her, Nemona felt like she could start crying at any moment, "Could we… talk somewhere else…?"
Penny paused for a moment before answering, "Yes."
The girls found themselves a bench away from the academy where the foot traffic wasn't as vibrant and it was quieter. They sat in silence for a moment before Nemona sighed, "I've… only ever said this to Juliana before but… I just feel like there's this invisible wall between me and everyone else."
Penny's eyebrow raised as she continued to listen.
"She's been a friend to me ever since she became my neighbor. She's always so kind, and compassionate. The best part was she wasn't freaked out at all by my love for battling!"
Penny nodded, "Mm-hmm."
"She's always been there. Just rolling with the punches… she always accepted my challenges with bright eyes and a smile. No matter where we were or the time. I watched her grow stronger, she was always enthusiastic to hear how I was doing, or to tell me how she was doing. She even said we could be best rivals for life! She's a good person."
Penny slowly glanced at her.
Nemona looked down at her hands, "So why…? Why do I feel so… weird right now…?"
"Weird?" Penny questioned, "Like, how?"
"This feeling… it feels like some crawling bug is eating at my insides… and there's nothing I can do to stop it. It feels like it's right under my skin and I can't reach it!"
"Um…?"
Nemona shook her head, "I'm not making any sense at all, am I? I'm sorry Penny."
Penny met Nemona's forlorn gaze, "No, I think I know what you're getting at."
"Huh?"
The tech genius adjusted her glasses, "I'm not an expert at human emotions or anything. But there's this anime I'm watching where this girl has a best friend, and her best friend is having good luck. With… just about everything and it's all going right for her."
Nemona replied, "Um… okay? What do you get from that?"
"So, the girl is happy for her best friend, but at the same time she feels… uh… she feels…"
"Feels what? Tell me?' Nemona insisted, grabbing Penny by the arms and lightly shaking her.
Penny jerked out of Nemona's grip, "Okay, chill out! What I'm saying is, the girl feels envious of her."
"Envy…?" Nemona spoke slowly. She looked down at her hands resting on her lap, "No… no! There's no way… I can't feel that way, she's my best friend! My greatest treasure! How is that possible!?"
Penny shook her head, "That doesn't make you immune to feeling envy."
Nemona sat there silently for a few moments before bursting into tears, she stumbled off the bench and onto her knees. Penny gasped lightly in flustered shock before looking around awkwardly to make sure no one was around. As bad luck would have it, there was a mother with two young kids passing by. They stopped abruptly hearing Nemona's sobbing and stared.
Penny flinched and was about to cover her reddening face, but she stopped to reach out to Nemona.
"Come on, let's go." Penny quietly pleaded with her. She awkwardly put a dismissive hand up at the family, "Sorry…" she mumbled to them, "I'll get her somewhere else…"
She leaned closer to Nemona, "Come on Nemona, we've got to go."
Thankfully, Nemona got to her feet and managed to choke out, "Okay…"
Penny ushered the sniffling girl away quickly with her arm around her.
Once the girls got to Nemona's dorm room, Nemona flung her bag to the ground and sat roughly on her bed while letting out a heavy sigh. Streams of tears were dried out on her face.
"Sorry about that…" Nemona whispered while wiping her face.
Penny sighed, "Don't worry about it."
From there, the two sat in silence. Each of them not sure of what to say to the other. For Nemona this was particularly distressing, she always had something to say. How could she be like this now? Envy? Envious of Juliana? This couldn't be!
Finally, Penny found some words, "So… about what I said. I think you might be… envious of her…"
"But how!?" Nemona retorted, "I'm so happy for her! We're both champions! We both battled for two hours straight that one time! Why…?"
Penny gave her a look of disbelief, "Two… hours…?" She thought to herself.
Nemona slouched in defeat, "I … I wish I could connect with others as smoothly as she does… most people don't even want to talk to me. Much less, hang out or battle with me. She even has a boyfriend now… Why can't I be more like… like her…? How does she do it?"
Penny fumbled with her hands while took a deep breath, "Well…" her mind was racing for anything to say that would be comforting in this situation. This was a problem she never imagined herself facing and she sure as heck had no idea what to do, she felt as if her brain was paused. Then she thought of one of her favorite animes, and began to paraphrase from that, "Don't… try to do everything by yourself Nemona."
Nemona slowly turned her gaze to Penny.
"You're strong, and… you have much more power." Penny gulped a little, "You seemed to have lost sight of something extremely important. You must remember that… Juliana didn't start out as the way she is now. You walked by her on her journey, you watched her grow as a trainer. She is… herself. You are… yourself."
Penny began to sweat a little, "You helped her get where you are. Don't forget about that. You… have your own strengths too. What I'm saying is, don't… allow those envious feelings to fester… because… you'll become someone… you don't like."
The extremely faint sounds of city noise outside were the only thing that could be heard as the girls stared at one another for a minute. Nemona slowly stood up, "You… are… wow. I never thought you could… be so impactful."
Penny exhaled with relief, she felt brain pain from the impromptu speech, "Geez… that was the lamest thing I've ever said… I made no sense at all!"
"I get what you're saying though!" Nemona declared, "You're telling me that I have my own quirks! And that I should embrace them and not try to be someone I'm not! That's perfect!"
"Uh…" Penny uttered. She had no time to comprehend because she was suddenly shocked by being tightly embraced by the student council president.
"Thank you so much Penny! You are awesome! Really!" Nemona swung the shy girl around like a rag doll.
"Gah! Hey! I can't breathe! You're just as bad as Koraidon! Aaarrrggghhh!"
"No way, you're kidding!" Juliana sputtered out in the midst of laughter.
"I'm not!" Arven responded in kind, "She added so much lemon juice to it, that everyone's faces sunk into their heads!"
The pair laughed together at the story Arven told about his mother trying to create a dish in a Home Economics class back when she was a student, and how it ended in hilarity.
"Maybe I should be glad she didn't try to cook for me." Arven guffawed, "When Director Clavell told me that story, I laughed so hard I thought I was going to bust a gut!"
"That's so funny, I would have loved to see that!" Juliana enthused, "I hope you don't try to do that to me as a prank or something." She winked.
"Oh, you're giving me ideas now! You're in trouble!" Arven teased.
"Don't!" Juliana laughed, then abruptly stopped, "Huh?"
She saw Penny stumbling into the cafeteria, fixing her crooked glasses with her hair messed up.
"Penny?" She called out, she stood and quickly walked over to her. Arven turned around curiously.
"Are you okay? What happened to you?" Juliana asked, concerned.
"Ugh…" Penny groaned, "Nemona gave me one of her hugs…"
Arven, having followed behind Juliana, snorted, "Huh, that figures."
Juliana uneasily chuckled, "Well, I'm glad you two are… okay…? Where is she?"
"I don't know… I got away fast… Sheesh, I think I would rather have Koraidon slobbering all over me."
Her eyes glanced where on Juliana's hip where Koraidon's Poke ball was kept, her heart jumped when the ball began to rattle lightly.
"Don't get any ideas in there!" Penny shouted to the Poke Ball, "Ugh, this is too much! I gotta get outta here!" Penny yelled and took off running before Juliana could answer.
Juliana watched her leave before turning to Arven and smiling awkwardly.
"Good to know some things won't change." Arven stated.
Juliana mused, "I wonder what happened between them?"
Arven shrugged, "Who knows, but if they want us to know. They'll tell us. I trust it was something innocent though. You know how Nemona just gets over-excited about everything."
"That's true she does. You may be right; I hope it was something wholesome! Now let's go hang out!"
The couple walked to the cafeteria together, and just before they entered the hallway, they decided to join hands. In the hallway, there were three students conversing. Two girls, and a boy. As they passed, Juliana noticed the students had stopped talking and had their eyes locked on them. She could hear them whispering and could barely make out what they were saying.
"Hey look, it's them. And they're holding hands!"
"Whoa, are the rumors true? Are they together now?"
"They look so cute together!"
Juliana felt herself blushing, but she didn't care. She was used to being a celebrity of sorts at school by this point. First for being the pretty new girl who waltzed in with the student council president, then for being the newest champion-ranked trainer, now for dating Arven.
The same happened once they reached the Entrance Hall, a few more students they passed by stared while whispering. Surely the rumor mill was alive and well. Juliana felt refreshed like a spring daisy once they got outside.
"So, what were we going to do?" Arven asked.
Juliana pondered for a bit, then decided, "Let's go meet my mom."
"Ah… okay!" Arven answered, suddenly feeling a bit of a stomachache…
Author's Note: So things are still hectic personally... I'm hoping writing will help me take my mind off of all the crumbling madness around me. Ugh!
C'est La Vie I suppose...
WELP I hope you all enjoyed this chapter nonetheless. I know I will enjoy what I have planned for the future! Hope you guys will too!
Bye for now!
