TOUKO

Pebbles flew as I kicked them along the dirt road towards the beach. I had caved in. Dawn kept spamming my new xtransceiver. She must've gotten my number from mom even though I told her not to give it out.

It's not that I didn't want to see Dawn. She was probably the only friend I had while I attended Liberty. I still remember how she walked up to me and just kicked the girl who held me down as others tried to cut my hair. Well, it's shaggy now, Dawn graduated last year.

She's just so… nosy. And somehow, she always pushes the right buttons to make me blurt it all out.

The road to her family beach house turns from dirt to concrete in a minute. I've never even seen any of them transport themselves with anything less than teleportation, but of course they can't have a dirt road outside. Would be a disgrace to the family name.

The wind blew my hair around. It carried the smell of salty sea together with the flora from the forest. I loved the smell of Nuvema. I wished I could stay here forever.

Moments passed as I walked under the baking sun. I could feel it warm my skin and how sweat formed on my back. I was glad I had decided to wear a light white summer dress today but regretted leaving my cap behind at home. My eyes would be tired by the time I closed them tonight.

In front of me rose a huge building. Crisp white walls covered the whole thing and pillar after pillar could be seen supporting the floors. It was always an impressive watch as the building loomed over me. The gate opened before I even got to press the communication device.

Along the path to the main entrance grass was planted in rectangle shapes framed by tiles. A large star shaped fountain stood in the middle of the driveway, resembling the family crest. I walked up the stairs having pillars on both sides and pulled the doors open.

A gallade wearing a bowtie greeted me with a bow. The young miss is waiting by the pool.

I raised an eyebrow. "Where's Sebastian?" I asked, tilting my head a little bit. Usually, I was greeted by the older butler, not a pokemon. I sensed a tingle of annoyance; I had asked something that was none of my business. The gallade just gazed at me before turning around and silently walked towards the pool, expecting me to follow.

The gallade was happy I was here, Dawn must've tortured him with her endless boredom, no wonder the gates opened so fast. It was amused, I could feel a little laugh hiding inside it. I smiled and walked together through the main hall towards the lounge area to access the terrasse. We passed several paintings and big bouquets arranged from fresh flowers. The two usual statues of armor stood on each side of the huge door leading to the lounge. The doors opened before we reached them. A huge round sofa filled the middle of the room with a connected round bookcase in the middle. There was a bar in one end and straight across through the windows that reached from floor to ceiling, I could see Dawn yawning as a fan was hovering over her. No doubt she had tricked the gallade into doing her bidding. She was lying on her stomach on a tanning bed under the shade of a big unbrella next to the pool, sipping on a cold pink beverage while kicking her feet.

The pool was a standard square with a waterfall dripping down from the ceiling leaning over it and into a smaller square raised at a higher ground level to the left. Pillars surrounded the pool on both sides. White tanning beds were placed close to the pool, with a sofa, some chairs and a table closer to the entrance.

"Touko! My bestie!" She exclaimed as I walked out the glass door. She threw the magazine she had in her hands away and pushed herself up from the tanning bed and ran over to me.

"Hi Dawn," I smiled at the bright face of my friend coming closer. We kissed each other on the cheeks. "When did you arrive in Nuvema?"

She took my hand and pulled me over to the sofa. The umbrella opened and covered us in shade as we sat down next to each other. Two new drinks appeared on the wooden table in front of us. I looked sheepishly at the gallade and nodded while thinking a thank you. I offended him with my pity, I could feel the anger rise in him. Even though the duties of a maid were beneath him, she was still the daughter of his master. That much I could gather.

"Urgh, Touko, I missed you sooo much in Sinnoh. Do you know how boring the people are there? They only care about appearances on social media, to go partying, and what kinda pokemon you got." She scoffed and took a sip of her drink. "And pa made me go take on the gyms."

I giggled a little, she pouted. "I gathered that much from your texts. How were the gyms then?"

She leaned closer to me and jabbed a finger in my chest. "You changed your number without telling me. Do you know how awful I felt having to call your mom and have her break a promise?" She exaggerated her voice and acted like she wiped a tear away. When I gave no reaction, her voice went back to normal. "The gyms were fine, I paid most of them for their badge. Those refusing I couldn't beat. I barely met anyone who wanted to take me up on a challenge since pa had assigned bodyguards to me, so I barely got any real experience." She took a sip from her drink and gazed at me out the corner of her eyes. "With that said, Toukooo, would you please train with-"

"Absolutely not. I'm doing good just with us and the gallade."

A content smile appeared on her face. She stretched her arms up and leaned back in the sofa. "Ahhh, perfect, then we can just sip and go party later." She rolled over and hugged my arm. "Also, we're not alone, Paka and Uji are here too somewhere. And the gallade is Seba. I promised pa I would ask you to train with me but no do if you don't wanna."

I heard her giggle. It was such a sweet sound. "You're devious. Your poor father will cry the day he finds out how much his daughter schemes."

She freed my arm and pushed herself up on her knees to sit face to face. "Talking about schemes… haven't you done something devious yourself lately?"

The drink looked extra delicious right now. My throat was so dry, I picked it up and emptied it with a few gulps. A new one appeared, and I repeated the process. Third it was yellow, not pink. I put it back down on the table. "I'm not sure what you're talking about."

She twirled one of her black strands of hair around a finger while forcing me to once again keep eye contact. "How you tricked your brother into getting full marks on his last exam. There's no way he could've won over you fair and square."

A sigh escaped me. "Dawn, I didn't trick him. I forfeited the match right as the bell had rung. I know how much of a difference that sponsorship can do for us normal poor people, and they don't give it to the next best choice if the first rejects. There's only three of them each year, and you only get it if you excel."

She laughed. She fucking started laughing. My eyes bulged as I stared at her shaking a little to keep it low. "Oh my god, you have no idea, do you? He thinks you did it to mock him. To kinda say 'you can never beat me, so here, have your win'… Ahhh, poor Touya, maybe I should've been a bit nicer to him."

I stared down at my hands. He wouldn't possibly think that, would he? I mean, he holds grudges for a long time and acts like he hates me, but he doesn't really hate me, no he doesn't, does he? I slowly closed my eyes and opened them again. "What did you do?"

Her arms pulled me closer to her and she embraced me in a soft hug before patting my head, running her hands carefully through my curls. "Since when did you start to like the wolf cut, bestie?"

My body softened against my own will to her touch. It's all just a game to her anyway. "Since you graduated, bestie. Now tell me, what did you do to Touya?" I turned my head a little and looked up at her face. She was looking down at me with eyes playful like a purrloin.

She leaned forward and placed a small peck on my forehead. I felt blood rise to my cheeks. Her hair smelled like vanilla as it brushed against my face, tickling me. "I just asked for your number."

I closed my eyes. He would've absolutely hated getting a text only inquiring about me from her. "Mhmm, so you didn't ask my mom?" Her hand stopped moving and I felt a sting to my forehead. I opened my eyes and gazed into her now squinting face.

She flicked me again. "I was lying. I told him to tell you to answer me and he said you had changed your number, and uh, to never text him again if it's about you." She flicked me once again, and I pushed her hand away. "You did tell your mom not to give me your number!"

I rolled my eyes at her. "I would never do that." My tone was sarcastic, and I watched as her nostrils flared before her face returned to have a glint in her eyes. Whenever she wore the smile as she did now, I always knew she was up to something. I watched as a drop of drool slowly started falling towards me. She can't be serious right? Just before it would've made contact with my nose, she sucked it back up. I pushed myself away from her.

"You're disgusting."

She just fell on her back and laughed again. Kicking her feet a little back and forth.