Riley.

That Night.

"Hey, Riley?"

I grunted. "Yes, Flint?"

"What're you reading? Looks like a diary."

I started reading Lee's first journel around eight that night, starting with the first entry from when he was thirteen years old, and didn't stop until almost eleven.

Volkner, sitting on his bed, snorted. "A diary?" He echoed. "I thought only girls keep diaries."

"But you don't read a diary, you write in it," Flint pointed out.

I sighed, struggling to read the old, faded, squiggly cursive. "First, I don't have a diary. Second, guys can keep diaries, you chauvanistic asshole. Three, this is Lee's. And four, shut up."

Volkner whistled loudly. "Oh, woooow. Riley can count to four, Flint, aren't you scared?"

They wouldn't shut up. I had told Lee that I wanted to learn to protect my friends, but in that moment, I wouldn't have minded if an Onix smashed through and gave Volkner a concussion.

Lee's journal was actually pretty interesting; he'd written about things he heard, read, learned, and even a couple things he did. By the time that he'd been consciously training for six months, he'd learned to project his aura out to see things up to a mile away. I found that really cool.

But, he also mentioned other things. Like how fast something like that could make him. Lee'd only been able to hold it for a few seconds before tiring out. That shit sounded scary, but I guessed it must have been some kind of endurance thing.

Flint sat on his bed. "No, but, seriously. What's with you getting so chummy with that Lee guy?" He asked. "I mean, no offense, but he's pretty creepy, always pulling you away to talk privately. That's how nasty rumors get started."

I shrugged. "We have...something in common. And gross, dude, Lee has a fiancée. I'm not gay."

"But what do you have in common?" Volkner demanded. "You're hiding something, Riley."

I furrowed my brow, and finally closed the journal. "I'm not hiding anything. It's just none of your concern."

Volkner and Flint were both watching me, Volkner's back against his backboard with his arms crossed, looking angry.

Flint looked more concerned than angry. "Is it something bad?" He asked. "'Cause, y'know...if you're in something real bad, we could-"

"It's nothing!" I snapped. "I'm not in any trouble! I just have something that I don't want to tell you."

To be honest, I felt a little bad about snapping at Flint. He'd been trying to be nice to me, to make up for his little hissy fit over Cynthia. But, he was still being annoying.

Volkner groaned, rolling his eyes. "It's no use, Flint, looks like miss priss is in a mood. Let's just go to bed."

We turned off the lights, and went to bed.

Still mad, I decided to try what Lee described in his journal. I closed my eyes, laying on the bed facing the wall, and tried to project my aura behind me to see Flint and Volkner. I concentrated really hard, and after a minute, I could see.

Volkner had a blue outline, and laid on his back, looking up at the ceiling in the dark. Flint's red outline was on his stomach, breathing slowly, like he was already asleep.

I felt really accomplished, just being able to do that.

Amber.

In the Girls' Room.

"So, Tess, tomorrow, you're going with the boys to go challenge the gym leader?"

Tess nodded. "Yeah...none of us know what kinda pokemon they use, though," She answered. "Gonna be fun, though."

Dee pouted. "I wish you could watch me and Amber in our contest. Maybe I can kick her ass like last time!"

We were staying up late that night, like we used to back home. I was on Tess' bed, teaching Dee how to braid hair by braiding her sister's. Astro was, naturally, bored to tears.

Astro lifted his paw to speak. "Now, wait a damn second," He protested. "You did NOT beat me that bad. If my Force Palm hadn't have backfired-"

"Don't gimme no lip! You shouldn"t have charged it so long, you idiot!"

"Don't call me an idiot! I'll kick your ass right here and now, Thompson!"

Tess laughed. "Knock it off, you guys," She gently chided them.

"Dee, d'ya see how I'm doing Tess' hair?" I asked, changing the subject. "One section over the other. You see it?"

Dee nodded. "Yeah. I don't know why I suck at it so much."

It was a shame Dee never wanted to look girly. She was really pretty, when she didn't act like a guy. Like right then; her hair was out of its usual ponytail and hung straight down her back, her bangs curling around her face. Dee and Tess both had great hair.

Tess straightened her back a little, cracking her spine. I accidentally pulled her hair, and she yelped.

"Amber!"

I let go of her hair. "Sorry!" It started to unravel. I frowned. "Tessie...look, you messed it up."

Tess laughed. "How am I supposed to look at my own hair?" She asked.

I fumbled around, trying to fix it, but I couldn't. Astro sighed heavily, getting up off of the floor and climbing into my lap.

"Move." He pushed my hands away, and started to rebraid Tess' hair. He actually did it faster and better than I did. "I swear, you humans are useless."

This was the first time Astro ever showed any interest in braiding. I glance at Dee.

"A Riolu is better than either of us at hair," I told her. "Do you feel bad? Because I certainly do."

Astro french braided Tess' hair all the way down, nearly halfway down her back. When he finished, she stood up to see it in the mirror.

Tess laughed. "It looks great, Astro! How'd you learn to braid?"

He shrugged, sitting back against my stomach. "From watching Amber do it a billion times," He answered simply. "Can we go to bed now? I'm ready for bed."

The Next Morning.

"Hey, Azzy? Would you mind braiding my hair like you did Tess'? I really liked how it looked."

Astro groaned. "And what, d'ya also wanna put me in a dress for the appeals round?" He complained. "Yeesh. Girls are useless."

Despite his complaints, Astro still braided my hair. Dee just hers up in a ponytail, not even wanting to bother. She was looking in the mirror, trying to put on makeup herself. We'd practiced that last night, too.

Tess snickered. "It's really cute watching you struggle, sis."

"Shut it, pipsqueak." Dee began applying mascara. Or, trying to.

I watched her reflection. "You're putting it on too thick," I warned her.

"What difference does it make?" She continued on the same set of eyelashes, rolling her eyes.

"The point of makeup is to make it look like you don't have any," Tess explained. She tried taking the mascara. "Here, let me fix it..."

"Screw off! I've got this!" They struggled for a second, before Dee accidentally pokedherself in the eye. "Crap! Thanks, Tess. That hurt like hell!"

"Then let me help you!" Tess insisted.

Astro groaned. "Ladies, please," He interrupted, still braiding. "Astro is creating."

Dee let Tess finish her other eye, and did pretty well with blush(by which I mean didn't make herself look like a Slugma). But, Tess did Dee's eyeliner for her, because we all knew Dee would blind herself on her own.

Ten minutes later, around 8:30, there was a knock at the door. "Girls? You dressed?"

"C'mon in, Riley," I invited him.

Riley, Flint, and Volkner all piled in the room, dressed and ready to go to the pokemon gym. Riley had his baseball cap in his hand.

"Hey, you girls wanna go out for breakfa-?" Flint stopped when he saw Tess, still in her pajamas. "Oh, God. You're not gonna go to the gym in that, right, Tessie?"

Tess looked down at herself, blushed. She was wearing a dark pink tank top and white booty-shorts. She'd been so busy helping her sister, she'd forgetton to get dressed.

"No!" She answered. "Get out so I can change."

Riley and Volkner laughed. "Got it." You couldn't tell that they'd had an argument the night before.

While Tess changed, Astro finished my hair. By the time he finished it with a ponytail holder, Tess was wearing a red t-shirt and baggy blue jeans.

"Come back in!" She called to the boys.

They reentered, Volkner leading this time. "Take two," He muttered. "You guys wanna go out for breakfast before the contest starts? I'm paying. Of course."

We hesitated to answer, but Astro rolled out from behind me on the bed and jumped to the floor.

"I could go for some food. Maybe even a milkshake?"