A/N: LATE UPDATE? WHOOPS. I WAS SICK FOR THE WHOLE ENTIRE WEEK BUT LOOK I'M ALIVE WOOHOOOOOO
lack of metaphors, lack of sleep, lack of health. Second semester was suppose to be good to be and it backfired. :(
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QuartzClaw: Thank you so much! :) Hope this chapter meets your expectations.
Guest: i know it killed me to write this about drew ugh my more rose bby
Gogoat: Ahhhh i was super nervous about not including Paul in this chapter, and thank you! I'm trying to make this realistic and relatable as possible, so things will go slowwwwww. oh god my heart is breaking THIS CANT BE REAL watch them cancel the episode and be like "LOL JK ITS A FAKE IM A TROLL"
Sakura Touko: Thanks for your amazing reviews, and always reviewing every chapter!
PolarDawn: HELLO FRIEND! :) Thanks for such a detailed review! I don't think I meant to show Leaf as a nerd. She is by no means shy, or hesitant (will be revealed later on in the fanfic), she just doesn't feel the need to meddle in things unnecessary, or waste her time in things that don't have much meaning to her. Glasses stem from the fact that she loves reading, and over time needs to get glasses due to the fact that she reads 24/7. And DREW! Think about it this way: his mother has been gone for the past month, with no sign of were she was going or why she left. For all Drew knows, she could be dead! Imagine if your mother just dropped off the face of the planet, imagine how panicked you'd be, how worried you'd be and how mad you would be that no one has successfully done anything to bring her back. Hearing Leaf tell him that, he's relieved and angry. His mother is alive and doing well! Why would Leaf put him through that hell? And oh arecus i did i can't believe no one pointed that out earlier.
InkPress (2): Thank you! And yes, Drew's issue to seem to take up the entirety of this fanfic, but I'm trying to make it realistic as possible. Yes, Paul is our main focus but things in life tend to knock us off. Dawn is issue free (FOR NOW OF COURSE) reflecting her whole "princess-y, life is perfect woohoo" vibe, which will be completely and utterly destroyed (slowly of course). I'm glad you mentioned how the next few chapters are important for setting the direction of the story, because I completely agree and the next few chapters definitely will do that! And yes, melo=swag.
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Hope you guys enjoy this chapter!
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saudade
[sao-dutch-ay]
noun (Pourtogese/Brazilian word)
1.
a feeling of longing, melancholy, or nostalgia
2.
A somewhat melancholic feeling of incompleteness. It is related to thinking back on situations of privation due to the absence of someone or something, to move away from a place or thing, or to the absence of a set of particular and desirable experiences and pleasures once lived
3.
intimate feeling and mood caused by the longing for something absent that is being missed
4.
sadness felt about those who departed on journeys to unknown seas and disappeared in shipwrecks, died in battle, or simply never returned
The true meaning of this word cannot be fully comprehended, due to the fact that there is no direct translation for the feelings exhibited with his word.
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Chapter 7: Saudade
People refer to the towns as "the countryside", "the forest", or even "slums".
I don't think Twinleaf Town was a slum at all. Some of the people there were poor, but not all of us. In fact, I don't think anyone was truly poor. We lived together as a community, interacted with one another, grew food together, cooked together, laughed together. I didn't understand rich and poor like I do today. Rich simply meant having a lot, poor meant having little. No one had little because we viewed our wealth together as a town. We had a lot of happiness, a lot of food, a lot of love and interaction. That was our wealth.
In Twinleaf I had two friends, Barry and Lucas. Barry was an idiot, a complete idiot. He would always drag us on journeys, little adventures, or make up a random mission for us to do. Everyday was something different; his imagination was endless. Lucas was shy and timid. He spent a lot of his time with his dad who was a Professor Rowan's assistant. He would do everything that me or Barry asked, and would still engage in our activities even though he was uncomfortable with. But like Barry, he was an idiot too. He wanted to help his dad with research so he would try to catch pokemon with his bare hands! And of course Barry was idiotic enough to go along with him. I was an idiot too, because I went along with their crazy antics and enjoyed every minute of it. But those boys always put me first, protected me as if they were aware at a young age the consequences their actions had.
My favorite days were rainy days. We'd jump in puddles, sending water everywhere and once we were soaked to the bone we'd go to Lucas' house. His mother would cook us raisin bread and we'd watch the pale dough expand and turn golden like the hidden sun.
In comparison to Veilstone and Hearthome, the days and nights in Twinleaf were endless. I would wake up, run to my friends house and we would chase the sun; we'd watch him beat up all the clouds, empower us with his everlasting rays, and slowly say goodbye and dip below the horizon. The moon would come out with her stars but I was always afraid of the dark and ran home crying. In the mornings me and my friends would roll around in the dirt, jump off the ledges, hide in the tall grass, and dip our toes in the lakes. At night we'd run the the safety of our homes, whisper and giggle to each other and fall asleep to our laughter. Those were simple times.
But things in the city are not simple. It's bright, like the sun but the brightness is fake. Those artificial lights give no warmth or power., they drain days and nights are all timed, all fit into a schedule. Here, people would be chased, people would be beat up, and goodbyes never implied hello again. The moon would prompt people to come out and run aimlessly into the night with guns, violence, and alcohol. Concrete is slabbed over the dirt, ledges and grass do not exist, cholrohom filled pools make me dizzy. Whispers and rumors buzz round, and now I am simply lulled to sleep to my own tiredness and overexhastion.
The three of us go here now, but we don't hang out anymore. Distance shoved us away from each other, Palkia created space that we can't avoid.
The towns, the countryside, was a breath of fresh air. Here I choke on poison.
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"Hey Leaf, let's walk together to the cafeteria!" I slam open the door and wait for her. She stands up to fetch her backpack.
"Just because I'm Drew's cousin doesn't mean you have to treat me any differently." I shrug my shoulders.
"Maybe I just want to do something different, to change things up a bit." Leaf rolls her eyes and puts on her glasses.
"Pass." She turns her back on me, and I leave. There was no point of me trying to push Leaf, she was sturdy and stubborn. I walk down the hallway towards the elevator. Loud stomps are heard and I turn around, surprised.
"P-"
Paul dashes towards and puts a hand on my mouth. "Don't speak." He says to me, glaring. His blazer is missing, tie undid, and button up shirt was not buttoned up all the way. Hair was messy and cheeks rosy, as if he was doing some physical activity. I made my eyes even wider. Was Paul seeing a girl?!
Paul whips his head around, checking the hallways to make sure no one is there and his hair slaps me in the face. I grunt in annoyance but he ignores it. Silence fills the hallways, and Paul sighs in relief. I push him away and give him an annoyed look.
"PAUL WHAT TH-" He glares me down so I shut up, but glare back at him. He attacks me and then glares at me? Oh no, I am not having that this morning.
"Answers." I demand, hands on my hip. He rolls his eyes and gets back into the elevator. I run into the elevator with him, right before the doors close.
We stand on opposite ends, me glaring at him and him looking at the floor, uninterested. I tap my foot impatiently, waiting for him to spit something out.
The doors ding open to the first floor and he quickly dashes out, not making eye contact with anyone or even stopping when I yell for him to slow down. Regardless of the obvious fact that he doesn't want me to catch up to him, I still do anyways. I grab onto his shirt and breathe heavily.
"Are you going to tell me yet?"
Paul looks down on me, glaring. "Like I said, I don't owe you any explanations." He drops a water bottle at my feet and walks away, fixing his shirt and his tie. I grab the bottle and sit on a white marble bench, wiping the sweat from my forehead.
What the heck just happened?
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I walk with Drew to homeroom, chatting away idly about what happened this morning. I can tell Drew is trying his hardest not to smirk at me, but it breaks through and he starts laughing. I slap his arm aggressively, but my face and emotions soften. The sun is shining bright as it always is, and it lights up Drew's eyes. They look like dazzling emeralds.
"Still rude of you to laugh at me, you know. I was just curious!" Drew wipes away an imaginary tear.
"You're so persistent sometimes."
"I just wanted answers."
I spot May at her locker and wave at her. She makes eye contact with me and smiles. I grab Drew's hand. "C'mon, let's go see her!" Drew's ears turn red.
"Maybe I'll just go that way..." He says, spinning on his heel and turning around. I grab him again and spin him in May's direction.
"Our homeroom is this way, Hayden! C'mon now, don't be shy..." I say, pushing his buttons. He rolls his eyes.
"I'm not shy!"
"Hey May!"
"Hiya Dawn! Grass head."
"Nice to see you as radiant as a pile of garbage, June." I widen my eyes, and May fumbles around with her backpack, slightly enraged.
"Garbage doesn't shine, idiot." May says, proud of her retort.
"That's the point, April." I look between the two of them, watching them bicker like an old married couple and sigh. Drew and May were perfect for each other, so why couldn't they just realize it? They were like the Earth and the Sun. The Earth needs the Sun's warm rays, no matter how annoyingly bright and obnoxious they were, while the Sun just wanted someone that will appreciate it's glory.
My blissful thoughts and May and Drews argument on shining pieces of waste was cut short by one person being shoved against the lockers with a loud bang. May jumped, and Drew stepped forward, arms out, protecting us.
Or maybe just May.
Paul's back was on the lockers, the locks digging into his lower back. Lucas, one of the football players was glaring at him, holding Paul's tie in his hand along with the collar of his shirt. Lucas was breathing heavy, anger sketched onto his face. Paul remained stoic, as if this was something at happened so often that he was used to it and didn't need to worry.
"Who do you think you are man?" Lucas asks Paul with anger. Paul doesn't answer. "I SAID, WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?!" Lucas yells again, slamming Paul into the lockers. People begin to murmur and whisper.
Paul remains silent, and Lucas punches him in the face.
Once.
Twice.
"Mr. Diamond, what do you th-"
Three times.
"Mr. DIAMOND!"
Four.
I make eye contact with Lucas and he just stares at me, stares at Paul and back at me. His mouth opens widely, but he shuts it closed. I don't break eye contact with him until he's out the building. Everyone then begins to act like nothing happened, walking over Paul. Paul is now on the ground, clutching his stomach and wiping his face were blood seems to appear.
"Paul!" I push past Drew and run up to him and crouch down with him. I wipe away his purple hair, take off my tie and apply pressure to the wound.
"What was that all about? I didn't think you'd get yourself involved with Lucas."
Paul looks at me, and forcefully pushes me aside. He picks up his bag and looks at me.
"This was about you." He walks away and I sit on the floor, stunned.
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"1...2...3!"
Ursula and the rest of the girls at the bottom lift me up and I pull my leg next to my head, other arm extended. They bring me back down and throw me this time, my body going into fetal position as I spin through the air. Then they bring me down and we clap along with the rest of the girls.
Harley doesn't look impressed, but he isn't yelling, which is a good sign.
"Worthington, will win today, green and white will lead the way!" We give a cheer and a couple of waves and look to Harley, waiting for something.
"That... was absolutely HORRID!" He screeches, fist clenched and his face red. He points to one of the freshman "YOU NEED TO SMILE MORE!"
"YOU, BE MORE FLEXIBLE. IF YOU CAN'T DO THE SPILTS, GET OUT."
"YOU TWO, YELL."
"YOU!" Harley stops in front of Ursula, who's sitting on the ground drinking water. "FIX YOUR HAIR OR SOMETHING!" Ursula plays with her curls and Harley bickers on and on.
"HOW THE HELL ARE WE SUPPOSE TO KEEP A 16 YEAR WINNING STREAK IF YOU SLACKERS KEEP LOOKING LIKE TRASH! DO IT AGAIN!" We run to out positions, and Harley slams his finger on the boombox.
A flip, twirl and pose. Splits on the ground, in the air, if possible Harley would have us do splits for our whole routine.
"Up you go fatty." Ursula whispers to me, I roll my eyes and they toss me up. We do the same thing that we did before.
"Worthington, will win today, green and white will lead the way!" Harley claps.
"Better. Do it again!"
We all let out a big sigh.
"WHO LET OUT A SIGH?! DOES SOMEONE WANT TO RUN?!"
"Cheerleaders don't run!" A girl shouts, Harley turns and points a finger at her.
"DON'T PUSH ME, YOU TWIG!"
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After cheer practice I glide towards Ursula, with a grin on my face. "So, homecoming is next Friday, how is our progress with Paul?" She rolls her eyes.
"Don't worry about it DeeDee." She grabs her duffel bag and I follow her.
"So this means I win right?" She gives me a smug grin.
"Actually this morning I forced myself onto Paul." She gave me a wink, and I connected the dots together.
"What do you mean forced!?" I look at her with wide eyes.
"I forced my body onto his, do you understand?" She says slowly, as if I don't understand English.
"Did you...?!" My hands go to my red and embarrassed face. Paul Shinji and Ursula Urara had sex?!
Ursula laughs at me. "I'm just kidding Dawn. Geez, you're gullible." I glare at her and scrunch up my nose.
"I can't believe you."
"I'm not like Gary, I won't throw myself at everything that breathes." We stand at a crossroad. "Do you want to go get pizza with me and some football guys." Instantly I thought of Lucas.
"No thanks, I'm going to hang with Drew." Drew and Leaf actually, but I left the Leaf bit out. I didn't want Ursula to know what was going on, she had a tendency to tell everybody everything.
She shrugged her shoulders. "Later."
"Bye."
I turn around, and see Lucas in front of me.
"Lucas."
"Dawn."
An awkward silence comes between us.
"What was your deal this morning? Why did you do that to Paul?" Lucas scoffs and rolls his eyes.
"No hello, or how's it going?" He comes close to me, arms out for a hug and I push him away.
"Don't start that shit with me! What's you're problem?"
"My problem? My problem is I need to look out for you! It's you!"
"Me? How am I your problem? We don't even talk anymore! I don't even know who you are anymore!" Lucas sighs and puts his hand through his hair.
"Just stay away from Paul Shinji."
The distance between us grew again, and just looked at his retreating figure. Distance was something we had learned to accept. Like the puddles that we broke apart, sending droplets of water farther away from each other, or even the dough that expanded the golden raisin bread so no two raisins were next to each other; this distance that nature was imprisoned by was something that I had unconsciously gotten used too.
The universe was expanding, planets were growing father away from each other, and so were we.
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ISN'T THAT TITLE INTERESTING?! SUCH A COOL WORD!
In my econ class, we watched a video called the "Economics of Happiness". There was a segment about a town somewhere in Asian. No one was homeless, no one was unemployed, no violence or crime.
But in that town, the houses were small, there was no electricity or running water; the town was basically stuck in the 1700s. Agriculture was their way of living. To outsiders, we would see them as poor, underprivileged, and underdeveloped. The people in the town didn't see themselves like that. One man said, "We are rich. There is no one hungry here, there is no economic flaw. Our people are happy, and that's what it means to be rich."
When products from the USA were introduced, and globalization began to kick it, the townspeople saw themselves how we would see them. The same man who was interviewed was later begging in the streets, saying "We are poor, give us money." I based Twinleaf town off of that, simply to make the world of pokemon seem less utopian like (excluding those villainous groups of course) and more realistic. Plus, the country adds more to Dawn's "good girl, princess vibe". It gives more reason to why she is so naive to love, and relies heavily on the media's portrayal of what love is.
So we finally get to meet Lucas, who is a stereotypical jerk face football player. If you can't connect the dots as to why Lucas is like this, he is easily swayed and the type of person who subjects to peer pressure. Like mentioned in the beginning, he felt obligated to hang out with Dawn and Barry simply because he was easily influenced. In a high school environment, Lucas is a people pleaser, and strives to become someone people would like and want to be with. In addition to his "easily swayed by peers" attitude, he becomes a cocky, stereotypical football player. Of course, this will all be revealed to Dawn later.
Lucas will act as Dawn's knight in "not so shining armor", a hero who is flawed, a character who doesn't strive to be a villain but just ends up looking like one. Lucas is a somewhat of a villain (misunderstood would probably be a better way to put it), in comparison to Gary, the boy that she really does admire (I guess you could say, her knight) or Drew (her safe haven, her protection) and even to Paul (a mysterious boy who perks her attention), the only thing Lucas really has going for him with Dawn is his past. However, the conflict arises between past vs. future.
GG URSULA YOU TRIED YOUR BEST ITS OKAY NEXT TIME YOU'LL GET HIM (no, you won't)
AND HARLEY IS HANDS DOWN MY FAV. HE IS THE GORDON RAMSEY OF CHEERLEADING.
Review! Please, feedback is NECESSARY.