Lesson 19: Truth is hard to swallow
"No luck whatsoever." Cheren sighed snapping his laptop shut, secretly quite disappointed in the glorious invention called the internet.
Rubbing his temples the bespectacled teen scanned his surroundings over the rim of his glasses. A rather blurred looking Bianca seemed to be struggling with her Munna's bandages, the dream eater Pokémon sat eying her trainer, a thoughtful look on her face. The Pokémon couldn't decided whether the blonde was trying to redo the bandages or perform a mummification on herself.
"Maybe if we ask the people in Nacrene City? This Fennel person might've passed that city if she left her lab." I soothed noticing my friend's darkening mood.
"I thought of that too." Cheren offered thoughtfully, "But she might've used a flying type."
I raised a brow, "Quickest way of travelling." He added responding to my silent question.
"True, but despite what you seem to believe not everything has to go at the speed of light all the time." I ventured waving the cloth I had been using to polish my egg in his direction.
After telling my friends about my weird experience with Dream Mist, Cheren had made a point of getting (what he liked to call) a professional second opinion on the matter. Translated into normal human language my childhood friend was curious as hell, and wanted nothing more than to meet the scientist.
"You know you are really anxious to meet this scientist, I haven't seen you this excited since we got our last exam results. And that's like Bianca during Fashion Week or Christmas for me." I said, narrowing my eyes at a rather pink looking Cheren.
"Here she goes." He groaned burying his face in his hands, readying himself for the brunette's imagination to kick in. It wouldn't take very long before she'd come up with something, however this time the absolute ridiculousness took him by surprise.
"You have a thing for her!" I hollered loudly, lunging for his laptop and missing it by a hair.
"I do NOT!" Cheren bellowed holding the device high above his head.
"You probably have a naughty picture of her as your screensaver." I teased practically climbing his back.
"Oh yeah sure, a sane person posts those on the internet, that and you're not tempted to befriend that N guy."
All traces of chatter coming from the Pokémon suddenly ceased, furry ears twitched, evergreen scales glittered with sudden movement and every head turned to regard the raven haired teen with varying degrees of surprise.
"What? Why do you… What?" I asked taken aback, cheeks flaming, the carefree atmosphere tense all of a sudden.
"You heard me." He shot back huffing angrily at nothing in particular.
I blinked, unable to come up with a satisfying answer I decided to play dumb, "No I think I had a small short-circuit in my brain." I said in an attempt to ignore the big-ass glowing elephant in the room, weighing his words with caution and curiosity.
Noticing my sudden guarded stance and forced smile Cheren's teasing mood disappeared. She's serious. The guy is bad news, covered from head to toe in issues. She always gets herself into trouble, attracts it like magnetic rocks in the Chargestone Cave.
"You love a lost cause, do you not?" Cheren asked, heavy disapproval in his voice.
"Is that a trick question?" I tried not liking the tone in his voice nor the implication.
"It's a fact." Cheren stated frowning as he watched my face redden.
I opened my mouth to argue the so called fact but got interrupted by a rather rumpled looking Bianca, who had a bandage dangling from her ear.
"You did smuggle a wild Purrloin into your house once."
Cheshire who sat perched on a thick branch opened a single emerald eye at this, the little piece of news seemed to intrigue the feline to the point of skipping his afternoon nap, which was a big deal for his kind. "Remember the one that had its collar grown into his skin?" The blonde chimed doing more damage than she realized.
Said feline had shredded my mother's curtains to ribbons, not to mention what had happened to her favorite plant or me when she came home from work that day. "Oh and remember our first year as juniors?" Bianca who seemed to enjoy the game 'Crazy things Ashe does' started ticking of one finger at a time, "There's that delinquent guy she dated two years ago!"
I blanched, "He was misunderstood and we didn't date, we were friends!"
"Funny how you kept calling him misunderstood and every other teacher preferred the term mis-bred." Cheren added a scowl firmly in place.
He had loathed the guy. Keeping the bastard away from his two best friends had cost him his grades. His brothers had loved it, even went as far as duct-tapping his rapport card to the refrigerator. Scolding Ashe who got into trouble every other day had given him grey hair, not to mention how tiring it had been to witness Bianca blush like an idiot whenever the guy greeted her. No wonder his grades dropped from straight A's to mere B's.
"He was really hot though." The blonde sighed, doing some damage control and angering a friend simultaneously.
Cheren who didn't look all too pleased at the compliment coming out of her mouth started venturing some of his frustration on the clueless blonde, ignorant of the fact I was using the more than welcome diversion to get away from the scene and from conversations that made me look like a Cherubi with a sunburn.
"Just saying, no need to yell! You where the one picking a fight! You scared Ashe off, you big bully" the blonde remarked plucking the bandage from her head and throwing it in his direction.
"Great." Cheren growled eying the empty clearing, "She got away thanks to you." He frowned with a wave. "I didn't pick a fight. And I sure as hell didn't scare her, I couldn't even if I tried to."
Opening her mouth to interject Bianca's eyes seemed to focus on something situated behind his back. Soft green eyes widened for a split of a second and softened considerably, obviously touched by something.
"Oh." She muttered non committal staring at the laptop Marron held up high with a vine whip.
An old picture of the three of them smiled at her. Judging by his screensaver the snarky teenager had a nostalgic streak, which was on display for everyone to see. Cheren groaned, he would be hearing this from Bianca until one of them grew senile and forgot.
At this speed she might reach Nacrene City in record time. Cheshire shared calmly, his eyes following Marron who was being chased by a beet red Cheren.
Nobody dies from some good natured teasing. However truth is rather hard to swallow. The lizard replied holding the black haired teen's most treasured possession suspended in the air, just out of reach.
Emerald eyes came to rest on the already tiny dot Cheshire recognized as his trainer.
Indeed. Let's hope she doesn't choke on it. The feline murmured, eyes sparkling with merriment .