Where's My Dolly?
New chappie here and it contains a wee bit of contestshipping in it. Hope you like it!
Chapter 7: He's Gonna Come Back
Leaf sat on at the desk in her room at the Oak household. She had her chemistry books open in front of her though; she paid little attention to them. The sheet of paper that she retrieved from the cup was what really captivated her attention. She looked at it, barely capable of remembering what the message on the sheet was but if she had to take a guess, it was probably an insult to Gary, but a fact to her.
Why was the sheet in her favourite cup anyway?
That's what really puzzled her. If Gary had the sheet of paper, should it not be in with his chemistry stuff? And even if it had fallen out, what person in the right mind would put the paper in a cup?
Leaf pondered over it. She held the sheet in her hands and read it over and over again.
"Maybe he was trying to tell me something…" Leaf said, uncertain as to whether her thought is right or not.
She continued to stare at the note as if it was talking to her.
"What'cha looking at there?" Daisy asked, leaning against the doorframe.
"Nothing." Leaf replied as she tried to subtly slide the sheet under her textbook.
However smoothly the note was hidden away, it still did not manage to evade Daisy's attention. The older girl lifted the textbook up slightly and glanced at the note. She laughed when she saw it.
"This note," Daisy started, "I remember seeing Gary with that last night." She said which caught Leaf's attention in no time. Daisy noticed Leaf's interest in the topic and continued. "When he finally realised that I was standing behind him he shoved the note somewhere. Where did you find that?"
"In my favourite cup." Leaf answered. So maybe her thought was wrong and he Gary did not have anything to say but it did make her night knowing that Gary was still puzzling over their game from a few days ago.
Xx-x-xX
It was Monday. Leaf hated Mondays. She was up and sitting round the breakfast at eight, maybe a couple of minutes past eight. The professor sat down for a while before quickly excusing himself from the table and disappearing off to his lab again. Daisy noticed that her gramps had been spending a great deal more time than usual in the lab. She announced it before she left for Cerulean city to see Bill, leaving Leaf at the table.
Leaf picked up the morning papers and read the headlines.
Identity of the dead hiker solved
The heading intrigued Leaf and she was flicking to the page with the full story before she knew it. She skimmed the text quickly. She gathered that the hiker was a professor who carried out research under Professor Oak and was killed with a deep incision across the neck which caused excessive bleeding. But it was the person who apparently supplied the police with the information was what sparked her interest. Gary Oak.
Well, the papers did not exactly say Gary Oak but it did say G. Oak said it and Leaf was positive that it was him.
Maybe Gary did know more than she thought…
Xx-x-xX
Leaf stood by her locker for a long time. She thought Gary might turn up to school but so far, it did not look like he was going to. She stood by her locker which was near Gary's right up until she was ushered off to class.
She went into homeroom and sat in the empty seat behind May and Dawn. They were shocked to see Leaf in school. They had heard about what happened over the past few days.
"Leaf!" They both greeted in unison when the brunette approached them.
"Hi." She greeted with a smile. "I don't suppose either of you guys have seen Gary?"
May and Dawn looked at each other. They both shook their heads and wondered if something had happened but neither of them asked about it, just in case it was something that causes Leaf's waterworks to spring a leak, though, they both thought that seems somewhat unlikely.
Instead, the girls sit in homeroom, discussing some gossip about different celebrities, trying to take Leaf's mind off anything that was concerning her and deep down, the girls knew there was.
They talked all the way through homeroom and out of it too when the bell went. They travelled off to their first period history class together.
Leaf sat in her seat that she always occupied thought the space next to her was empty today. Usually, it would be occupied by Gary but it was clear to her that something had happened. Even though he did not have the best behaviour and attitude in class and school in general, he never skipped school without a valid reason.
May took the seat in front of her. She turned round to continue their intriguing discussion on fashion faux pars while the teacher waited for more students to show up. Dawn on the other hand went to set up her things for her art project.
Drew strolled in a few minutes after them, flipping May's hair as he walked past to take his seat behind Leaf.
"How many times do I need to tell you to stop doing that!" May yelled as he continued to his seat.
"Shave it all off and you won't have that tic problem. Just be thankful that I'm helping you get rid of them." Drew said just before he sat in his seat with one arm hanging off the back of the chair.
May glared at him. "I don't have tics!"
Drew ignored her and looked at the empty seat in front of him. "Where's Oak?"
"No clue. I thought you might know." Leaf replied. "I haven't seen him since Saturday."
"I thought you live with him now?" May queried as she tried to mentally remember all of the conversation that was to come. Just so that she could regurgitate it all to Dawn.
"I am for now but he's not been at his house."
"I spoke to him yesterday morning." Drew said, "He didn't say much. Only something about someone called Ivy on the Sunday and come back by Monday afternoon or something like that. The phone connection wasn't too good."
"His auntie Ivy?" Leaf said, confused about where this was heading. "Why would he go see her. Gary's never like that woman."
Drew shrugged. "Why are all the people who have names that only contain three letters hated?"
"What's that supposed to mean?" May fumed.
Xx-x-xX
"Hmm… Maybe this should go here instead and… Hmmm… Yeah, I think this looks good!" Dawn beamed as she rearranged the dolls and the china around so that the doll picnic display was perfect. There was only a matter of weeks left before she had to finish her portfolio and submit it to Celadon school of art.
She turned round and pulled out her camera. Making sure that the lense was dust free and fitted properly before she removed the lense can and switched it on. She held the camera up and was about to snap when she swore she saw some part of her display move. She thought it may have been a spider or something crawling so dismissed it as nothing important. She readjusted the doll's position and held her camera back up.
"Hmm. Lighting here is not perfect." Dawn said to herself. She went into the teacher's cupboard and looked rummaged about for something that would help her.
After lots of rummaging, she managed to find a light. "I hope you work." She said to the lamp. "If not my job is going to be so-" Dawn gasped at what she saw.
Then everything went black.
Xx-x-xX
The teacher handed out the peer review sheets for the students. After concluding that Gary was not going to show up to history class Mat had shuffled to the set behind where she usually sat. Though she wished she hadn't. She sat through the bulk of the lesson so far with Drew's annoying chair kicking. She turned round several times, telling him to stop.
Leaf sat and did her work. Her mind was at ease now, knowing that Gary was okay and that he would be back, probably with some story. But in the meantime, she focused on the task at hand: marking May's work which was covered in farrago of colours caused by food and her scribbly writing, probably because she worked at it during dinner to "save time".
Leaf marked May's work and wrote some feedback on the bottom before handing it back to May.
May read it aloud. "Well-structured arguments but please avoiding doing your homework at the dinner table. During dinnertime."
"Typical of someone like you to do something so unlady like." Drew commented as he flicked his hair.
"Well that was only because I had a busy schedule!" May retaliated, she banged her fist off of Drew's desk before his paper caught her attention. She grabbed it and read his feedback. "Let's see what's been said about Drew now." May announced to Leaf before she started to read. "Shows good understanding, I think but there's too many big words so I don't really know if they're all right or not."
May, Drew and Leaf all looked at Ash, who sat next to Drew and was the one who marked it. "What?" he asked, oblivious to everything around him.
Xx-x-xX
May slammed her tray on the lunch table. She was obviously annoyed at something else. Misty was sitting down with a cheese sandwich. Leaf on the other hand had nothing in front of her. She had her eyes on the door, hoping that Gary was going to walk through them at any moment. So far, that moment had not passed.
"What's wrong with you now." Misty asked May.
May sat down, still fuming. "That Drew Hayden again!"
Misty looked at May's tray and noticed nothing but salad. "I thought you said you hate salad. Why are you eating that."
"Drew Hayden."
" And the food on your shirt?"
"Drew Hayden." May replied again. "I hate that guy so much. He skipped me in the lunch line then bought the second last portion of pasta!"
"If he was in front of you then how does that affect you?" Leaf asked, taking her gaze off the door. She was starting to get bored of waiting.
"I did. But then he made me spill it." May finished, pointing to her shirt which was covered in a Bolognese sauce. "The lunch lady gave me salad to compensate."
"Don't blame your clumsiness on other people," Drew said, appearing behind May with his pasta. "That's also very unlady-like."
"It was very ungentlemanly of you to just cut in line like that." May retorted. She picked up a fork and stabbed the lettuce aggressively.
"I'm hurt that you'd say that about me." Drew said putting on a fake hurt voice.
Misty looked at them and decided to divert their attention before May loses her temper and starts a fight or, in Misty's opinion, worse, a food fight. "Where's Dawn?"
"She's spending the day in art to trying to finish her art portfolio." May replied before standing up with her tray in hand. "Now if you will excuse me, Mr Hayden, I'm going to empty out my tray instead of DUMPING IT ON OTHER PEOPLE." And with that, May left the people at the table behind.
Xx-x-xX
The walk home was lonely and quiet. The way to her house and Gary's house is in the opposite direction of all her friends (The Green and Oak households, along with a few others are in a more secluded area of the town). Usually, she would have Gary to walk home with or, as of recently, Gary could drive her home.
When she made it her temporary home, she realised quite quickly that no one was in. She was alone. The professor and Daisy had left notes on the board.
Daisy's note said she was going to stay in Cerulean City with Bill for a few more days before she comes back.
The Professor's note states that he is going to be away for the night to visit Professor Ivy.
The professor's note reminded her of what Drew had said today. Gary should have been back by now but judging by the looks of his room, he had not. Or maybe he had.
Leaf noticed a few subtle changes to the room. The textbook that has been opened for the past few days was not sitting on the same page. The page had shifted from being about chiral carbons to spectroscopy, a section that they had not covered in class yet, which confused Leaf.
She lifted the textbook up and beneath it was another textbook. A biology textbook. It was weird. Why was the biology textbook in amongst his chemistry books and notes? Leaf looked at the page it was open at. Physiology of the Brain. Yet another section that they had not covered.
Leaf looked at the chemistry book she was holding. Resting on the pages it was open at was a piece of paper with the title of another book.
Leaf took the sheet of paper and pocketed it before she left the room and retreated to her own.
Xx-x-xX
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