Chapter 4: What it's Like
"God forbid you ever had to walk a mile in her shoes
'Cause then you really might know what it's like to sing the blues
Then you really might know what it's like"
-What It's Like: Everlast
Thank you to those who reviewed last chapter!
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Her eyes hurt to open, tears dry and crusted against her eyelashes. She felt tired, and her back felt sore from where she had fallen asleep on the floor. But she blinked and pushed herself up off the floor. The box was still on the floor beside her on its side and taunting her with its flaps slightly open. Swallowing the lump in her throat she pushed the box back right side up and opened the flaps.
The box was barely half full and the first thing she pulled out was a picture frame. It was a picture of herself from when she was twelve and she was wearing a white-collar pink dress that looked like something a princess would wear. A sash that read Hearthome City Princess Pageant was over her shoulder. It was when her mother had entered her in a beauty pageant.
She set the frame aside and pulled out a photo album that she had looked through many times. Pictures of herself, her mother, even her and Drew though the years were neatly kept in its pages. Dawn set it aside to look through it later.
Her hand touched something cold and square and when she pulled it out, tears came down her cheeks once again; her mother's contest ribbons. The box had been on display in their living room as long as she could remember, the contest ribbons from the year Johanna Berlitz had won become a top coordinator in the Sinnnoh region. Her mother's career and dream, all in one metal little box.
There was one last thing in the cardboard box. A bracelet with a black chain and two blue beads. Dawn touched it as if it could break at any moment, it was the bracelet that her mother had worn during her time as a coordinator; the one her father had given her mother as a teenage promise in high school.
Dawn went to her private bathroom leaving the things from the box scattered on the floor and set her mother's bracelet on the bathroom counter. Her throat hurt from crying earlier and tears continued to drain from her watering eyes.
She took off her school clothing and turned on the shower, letting the warm water hide her tears.
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"Dawn honey? Are you alright?" It was her step-mother's voice that followed the gentle knock on the bathroom door. Dawn looked up, her knees tucked into her chest and her arms around them. The door opened and Rose stepped in.
"Oh, Dawn." Rose took the towel-wrapped girl in her arms and her long hair wet the woman's clean shirt, but Rose didn't seem to mind as she gathered the 17 year-old in her arms.
"I saw the box honey, it's okay to cry." Rose whispered words into her ears. But Dawn pushed the woman away.
"You don't understand!" Dawn's voice croaked and the older woman stepped back, unsure of what to do.
"I'm sorry." Dawn's felt her voice catch in her throat at the guilt, but Rose gave her a maternal smile. Dawn felt guilty for pushing the woman who only wanted to help, but she didn't want another mother.
"It's okay honey, I came up here to invite you for dinner. But if you don't want to I'm sure everyone will understand." Rose told her as she helped the fragile-stated girl to her feet. Dawn clutched the towel around her tighter and looked at the bracelet on the bathroom counter as a reminder.
"I'll come down and get something to eat later." Dawn told her step-mother and the woman gathered her in another hug before leaving the blunette to herself. Dawn waited until her bedroom door closed before slipping on her mother's (now hers ) bracelet. The black chain was cold against the skin on her right wrist and the beads were the blue tone of water.
She went into her room and put on a pair of sweatpants and hooded sweatshirt. Dawn picked up her photo album from the floor and placed it so it leaned against the wall on her bedside table with her pokeballs in front of it. She put the picture of herself on the top shelf on her desk next to her mother's ribbon case.
Pulling her desk chair out and sitting in it Dawn began to start up her computer to respond to the emails she had gotten since yesterday. She found that she had gotten a few from her childhood friends, Leona and Zoey, and read them through before sending an email back.
She was reading through the papers that her teachers had given her from her first day; reading syllabuses and classroom expectations. A knock sounded on her door once before it opened and her brother entered with a glum look.
"Hey, mom told me what happened." He placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder and caught sight of the bracelet on her wrist.
"Is that the bracelet?" Drew asked as he sat on her pink comforter and she nodded in responsive. He pulled the photo album from her bedside table and opened it with a creak. She sat next to him and leaned into his side as he paged through it.
"We were so weird when we were little." He pointed to them in diapers, looking exactly the same expect for the color of their hair in tufts around their heads and their eyes. Dawn smiled against his shoulder. Drew continued to look through the photographs of his sister, his mother, and himself and Dawn felt herself nodding off.
"Tired?" His arm was around her shoulders.
"Yeah." She agreed.
"Want to come to my room and we'll do homework together?" She agreed and gathering her materials from her desk and followed her brother to his room.
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Her first week went by without a glitch, and Friday came before she knew it. She had her appeal for coordinating class to do today and she felt the nerves appearing already. She decided to wear jeans and a cute hooded sweatshirt today along with simple pink flip-flops. Dawn was already downstairs in the kitchen when her brother finally came into the kitchen. He was wearing his green and red football jersey tucked into his jeans.
"I forgot you had a game tonight." Dawn commented as he started to make his breakfast smoothie. Her toast popped out of the toaster and she spread butter over the bread.
"Yes, going to cheer me on?" He smirked over her and turned on the blender. He poured his drink into a cup to-go. She had already finished her toast and swallowed her last bite before answering.
"I'm your sister, I have to go silly." She rolled her eyes and followed him to where he had dumped his duffel bag and book bag at the bottom of the stairs near the garage door. She grabbed her own bag and entered the garage to Drew's car while he shuffled around in his duffel bag.
"Will you where my jersey to the game then?" He asked once they had arrived at school and got out of the car.
"I guess." She whined and he ruffled her fair affectionately at her answer.
"My hair!" She smoothed her straight hair back into place and her bangs until they sat perfectly once again. They separated to go to their own lockers and Dawn found her friend already at her own locker.
"Hey Dawn! Are you going to the game tonight?" May asked as the shorter girl grab her things from her locker.
"Yes, Drew told me I have to because I'm sister." She giggled and closed her locker so the two friends could head to class. Dawn had become familiar with the hallways and no longer needed a guide.
"Oh! You have your appeal for coordinating today don't you!" May suddenly spoke as they neared the history classroom and Dawn nodded in agreement.
"Yeah, I hope I do well." Dawn spoke.
Soon it was time for lunch . Her place at their usual lunch table, where Dawn had since the first day sat in the seat between her brother and Paul . Ash and Paul were also wearing their jerseys displaying their status on the varsity team. The blunette ate her lunch between the two football players.
"Are you coming to the game tonight Blue?" Dawn was surprised to find that it was Paul who had asked her the question, the two out of the conversation between Drew, Ash, and Gary about the upcoming game.
"I have to come." She glanced at Drew for a moment before glancing back at the purple-haired male. He looked down at his empty lunch tray and leaned his elbows on the table causing the fabric of his sleeves to bunch around his biceps. Dawn couldn't help but glance at them before taking a bite of her salad.
"You will be wearing his jersey then?" Paul asked her another question and peered at her underneath his bangs.
"Yup." She answered and Paul muttered a quiet 'see you in biology' before getting up to take his tray to the wash counter and leave the lunchroom. Her sapphire eyes followed his bowed head as long as she could see him.
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"Dawn, you may do your thing." Mrs. Fantasia called and Dawn stood up from her seat next to May from the bleachers in the indoor battlefield. The coordinators had the battlefield on Fridays, when the trainers didn't use it. The blunette stepped out onto one side of the field and took one of the two pokeballs from her pockets and held exhaled.
"Spotlight!" With a flash of white, her Prinplup showed himself with a proud stance. His shining coat showing the care of his trainer.
"Use whirlpool!" The penguin Pokémon formed a giant swirling whirlpool within seconds and tossed in into the middle of the field and began running towards it.
"Bubblebeam like we practiced." Dawn told her Pokémon what it already knew and the Prinplup held the control of the whirlpool while bubbles now bounced around inside of it, tossing colors around the room and off of the water.
"Spin and metal claw!" The penguin jumped high and its fins started to glow. It drove into the spinning vortex of bubbles and whirlpool with a high turn. In only a few moments the whirlpool broke from the inside and evaporated into a harmless yet sparkling mist inside the room.
"Beautiful!" Mrs. Fantasia immediately stood up and clapped excitedly along with the rest of the class, speechless.
"Very well done Miss Berlitz! Very well done!" Her teachers' praise causing Dawn to blush as she complimented her starter and returned him to his poke ball.
"Woo!" Drew cheered from the stands as his sister returned to her seat, happy with her performance. He gave her and a brotherly hug as their teacher dismissed their the class with a smile
Dawn's A.P. Biology class went long in lecture and she was grateful to have gym next after the blunette packed up her things and found May waiting for her by her locker. The girls walked with each other through the hallway and didn't speak until the noise quieted down.
"Hey I was thinking, do you want to hang out this weekend?" May asked as they entered the locker room and unlocked their lockers.
"Yeah, sure, I don't have too much homework." Dawn answered and prepared for an hour long class of running laps.
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"Dawn, we're going to get pizza." Drew told her when his sister packed her things at the end of the school day as Drew messaged someone on his phone.
"Okay." The twins started walking out to Drew's car.
"We always get pizza at this one place in town before games on Friday, Gary, Ash, Paul, and Me. They won't mind if you tag along, you're their friend anyways. Gary isn't on the team but he always comes." Drew told her once he started his car and began driving.
"Am I your friend brother?" She gazed at him and felt her phone vibrate in her pocket with a text message. She opened it up to see a new text message from May. Dawn smiled at the text, she had only left the girl a few minutes ago
Hey what's up girlie?
-May
. "We're best friends little sister." Drew smirked as he pulled into a parking space in the already packed pizza pub. Dawn placed only her phone in the large pocket of her hooded sweater and followed Drew to a large round table where Gary and Paul were waiting.
"Hey Drew! Hey Drew's hot sister!" Gary greeted them with his usual greeting, yet the twins gave him their own glare before shuffling in the round booth.
"Where's Ashy-boy?" Gary's question was answered when he spotted their raven-haired friend making his way through the crowded table in the center of the restaurant and slid into the booth beside the blunette. Dawn smiled in greeting and pulled her phone out of her pocket to response to May's text.
I'm out for pizza with the boys. How about you?
-Dawn
"Who are you texting?" Drew was peering over her shoulder and his eyes scanned the screen on her phone.
"May." She placed her mobile phone back into her pocket.
"Okay, No boys that I don't approve of." Drew nodded to himself as though he was proud of his protective nature over his little sister. Dawn stuck her tongue out in response to his attitude.
When the pizza came, she couldn't eat much because she was too busy laughing at Ash's gluttony. The stocky boy nearly swallowed the slices whole and consumed a large pepperoni pizza almost entirely on his own.
"That is probably why you don't have a girlfriend Ash." Drew commented as the boy continued to eat.
"You really think so?" Ash stopped eating for a moment to think and the rest of the group rolled their eyes. Dawn felt her phone vibrate once again and cleaned her hands on her napkin so her screen wouldn't get dirty
At least you have something to look at ;)
-May
Dawn almost blushed at the text and peaked out to see if any of the boys noticed anything, Paul's gaze found her and he watched her with a twinkle in his eyes as his lips turned halfway up into a smirk. She quickly typed a response to her friend to avoid his eyes.
One is my brother. Gary is a pervert and Ash is too nice.
-Dawn
Her phone buzzed once again after she took a drink.
So that leaves Paul…. Lol!
-May
"What are you talking about?" Ash's voice came from her left and Dawn shoved it back in her pocket hoping he didn't see Paul's name in the text from May. Paul would be creeped out if he knew that May and herself were talking about him.
"Nothing." She responded quickly and Ash looked at her with chocolate brown eyes.
"Fine, don't tell me." Ash shrugged and joined into the conservation that Gary and Paul were in. Dawn decided to wait until later to talk to May, just to be safe.
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Drew took her home after the pizza, handing her his spare jersey before leaving, and she went to her room to place her school bag and books on her desk to worry about later that weekend. Looking at her clock she saw that it was only five o'clock and the game didn't start until seven. The blunette wondered if both her father and Rose would be coming and ventured back downstairs to see if either of them was in the living room. She found her father just walking in from the garage door at the bottom of the stairwell.
"Daddy!" Dawn smiled and wrapped her arms childishly around her tall father when he noticed her. The green-haired man chuckled and set down his briefcase to remove his shoes.
"How's my princess?" He asked, and she rolled her eyes at the nickname.
"I'm good, are you and Rose both coming to the game?" She asked as he picked up his shoes to take them to his closet.
"Of course, we attend as many games as we can." He smiled and she followed him down the hallway towards the master bedroom.
"Okay, when are leaving?" Her father opened the bedroom door.
" Six o'clock. See you soon honey." Dawn went back down the hallway and up the stairs to her room. Opening her door she heard the beep of her phone going off in an alert.
I'm bringing a blanket for us to sit on.
-May
Dawn smiled and texted her a quick reply and sat down in her desk chair to browse on her computer to pass the time.
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Dawn set down her book on the seat of the car when her father pulled into the parking lot outside of La Rousse High School. She wore her brother's other jersey and noticed that many girls also wore spare jerseys of some member of the team. She followed her father and step-mother into the fenced area of the football field, past the food stands, and by the bleachers.
"I'm going to go find May." Dawn told the parents as they headed to the bleachers on the right to join the other parents.
"Alright honey, be careful. And Drew will take you home tonight." Rose called and went to follow the twins' father up the metal bleachers. Dawn turned around and started walking. Many girls eyed the sight of her in the football jersey over her grey hoodie and glared at the short girl.
"Dawn!" The blunette turned and waved to a smiling May who was walking towards her with a shorter boy with glasses and blue-green shaggy hair.
"This is my brat of a brother Max, Max this is Dawn." Dawn waved to the shorter boy who looked as though to be 10 years old. Max adjusted his glasses and looked her up and down.
"You have a boyfriend?" The boy gestured to the jersey that was tucked into her jeans.
"No, this is my brother's." Dawn replied and the younger boy smirked and moved his glasses once again up his nose.
"Good." He replied and crossed his arms.
"Go find your nerd friends and get lost Max." May pushed her brother off and fixed the blanket in her arms. "Let's go find a place a sit ?!
The girls found a grassy spot right outside the ropes that act as a barrier to the football field from the public. It was outside of the sidelines that the home team would use and had a clear view of the field. The two made themselves comfortable on the thick fleece blanket May had brought and leaned back on their hands to watch as the kickoff started.
"I'm so glad you came, usually I only have my brother for company at games." May told the girl as the opposing team was stopped in their tracks.
"I'm glad too!" Dawn smiled at her friend and the two leaned back to watch the game.
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"We won!" Dawn cheered and jumped up and down in her place as the team started to huddle in the middle of the field for a quick meeting.
"We have won every game this year." May informed her as she folded up her blanket and the two waited until the other students bent under the rope to congratulate the winning team. Dawn followed May out onto the field, but handed the brunette girl her phone from her pocket.
"Take a picture for me?" May nodded as the two got closer, struggling to find the green-haired male in the crowd. They found him talking to Paul and Ash in the middle.
"Drew!" Dawn jumped into her brother's arm and he caught her, squeezing her before setting her down once again.
"Picture!" May ordered and the twin's posed with Drew's arm around her shoulders and Dawn's arm around his waist. The brunette snapped a few pictures to make sure she got a good one.
"Paul?" The purple-haired male turned away from looking at the rest of the field , and the scoreboard.
"What?" He answered and looked over the twins.
"Take a picture with me?" Dawn asked sweetly and Paul grumbled something under his breath but walked over and shifted his helmet to his opposite hand.
"Ready?" May asked and the blunette felt Paul's arm wrapped around her waist, the bottom of his shoulder pad next to her ears. His arm was warm and heavy; feeling different from her brother's arm that was around her shoulders.
"Thank you May." Dawn said and took her phone back once May had finished and Ash walked up to the group.
"Hey May." Ash bumped her with his shoulder pad and knocked her into Drew.
"Ash!" May scolded and the raven-haired male rubbed the back on his head.
"Sorry." He apologized and the boys started to walk towards the sidelines and head back to the locker room to change. As they walked through the area by the bleachers they blended into the other students and parents leaving.
"May!" The brunette turned to find her brother with some of his friends following as he ran towards them.
"Hey girlfriend." Max called and Dawn turned to see that he was looking right out at her.
"Girlfriend?" Drew turned around and the other members of their little group had also stopped to watch the scene.
"Yup!" The 10 year old bragged to his friends and Dawn raised an eyebrow at his actions. May smacked her younger brother on the back of his head.
"Wow Dawn, that was fast." The green-haired twin had ruffled her hair and she glared at him. They started walking once again towards the school ditching Max's friends along the way and the Maple siblings waited with Dawn as the boys entered the school to change.
"Here Max, go start the car." May handed her ring of keys to the young boy who took off towards the student parking lot and leaving the two girls alone. Dawn tapped her phone a few times and a beep sounded. May pulled out her phone.
"What are you sending me?" May asked as she waited for the picture to download and Dawn smiled to herself.
"Eck! You took a picture of this?!" May shoved the picture in the shorter girl's face. It showed the scene that happened only a few minutes ago, when Ash knocked May into Drew's arms.
Dawn giggled as May glared at the girl, the doors opened from the locker room. Drew, Paul, and Ash came out wearing street clothes with their bags over their shoulders.
"Why is your face all red?" Ash asked and the others turned their action to the blushing brunette.
"No reason!" May stomped off in the same direction her little brother had earlier. Dawn called out a goodbye and walked beside her brother as the four headed to the parking lot.
"See you later guys!" Drew called out as he unlocked the Audi and threw his bag into the trunk. Dawn waved to the boys, Paul giving her a slight wave in return as he walked towards the end of the parking lot until she couldn't see him any longer.
"Did you get a good picture of us?" Drew asked once they were on the road. Dawn pulled her phone out and started to scroll through the pictures that May had taken. She looked at the best picture of her and her brother and showed it to him while when he had stopped at a stoplight.
"Send it to me?" He asked and she sent the picture to his phone. Dawn went back to the pictures and looked at the picture of her, Drew and Paul.
She stood between the two tall seniors, Paul towering inches above her brother. She looked rather short between the two of them, but she didn't mind. Drew showed white teeth in a large smile and leaned into his sister. Paul, his hair ragged and damp from his helmet, didn't smile and kept his face emotionless. She looked at his arm around her waist in the picture, his palm sitting against her opposite hip. Dawn blushed at the memory of his warm hands.
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Done! Finally! And of course a thank you to my beta, Light, amazing job as always!
Please Review! I only got a few last chapter and it made me sad…
Thanks for reading!