Hi, my wonderful readers! Happy holidays to all!

Sorry for being so infrequent with my updates. School's been keeping me busy, and especially in December. Although January is going to be even worse, since I have some finals and several very important exams then. Holidays have started for me, and I would love to say that I would be able to write more because of that, but I'm going on vacation, so I probably wouldn't be able to write that much even now. And after I come back, I'll have a lot of studying to do.

But moving on, I'm actually not done the chapter I was planning to post. I was wondering what to do when I suddenly came across this chapter that I had written long ago. I think it might have been one of the first chapters I wrote (it was labelled as chapter 13) before starting to focus more on suggestions, thus forgetting about this one. Or maybe I didn't post it because I wasn't satisfied with it. Whatever the reason, since you guys have been waiting so patiently, I think you deserve at least something!

Happy reading!

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon in any way, shape or size.

Returning Things

Grade Three

May (8), Drew (8), Gary (8), Paul (8), Ash (8), Misty (8), Dawn (8)

Recess had nearly ended, and May and her friends were making their way back to class. Among them was Dawn, a new girl that year, whom May had made sure to invite into her little group so she wouldn't feel left out.

"Oooooo! What's that?" Dawn pointed to something shiny and black on one of the benches they were passing by.

May looked in that direction. "They look like glasses."

Dawn hurried over to the spot and picked up the object. They were black, oval sunglasses.

"They're so cute!" Dawn gushed as she put them on.

"Umm, I don't think it's a good idea to just take those," May said nervously. "They might belong to someone."

"Aw, come on! If someone just left them here all alone, it was probably because they didn't want them, so no need to worry!" Dawn pushed the glasses up so that they rested on her head.

"You know, they look like the sunglasses that Zoey girl always wears. Maybe she forgot them here." Misty recognized the accessory, much to Dawn's dismay. That meant she would have to return them instead of keeping them.

"She's in the same class as us, so you could give them back to her during class," Drew suggested reasonably.

"Or, you could just keep them." Gary gave his opinion. "After all, it's finders keepers!"

"But that's not nice!" Ash protested. "She always wears those glasses! She probably misses them."

Dawn considered all of her friends' advice. It was true she wanted to keep them, but it would be best to give them back to Zoey. She, herself, wouldn't like it if someone took her stuff. She decided to do the right thing.

In class, everyone was seated, waiting for the teacher. Dawn glanced at the orange-haired girl named Zoey. She seemed pretty nice, which was a good sign. Dawn was holding the sunglasses in her desk, and was about to get up and go to her, when a thought made itself present in her mind.

What if Zoey thought she had stolen her sunglasses?

Dawn wasn't so sure about returning them now. Maybe she'll wait until later, and return them with her friends as back up. Yes, that sounded like a smart idea. She stayed seated.

Meanwhile, Misty and May were closely watching Dawn, expecting her to get up at any second. They saw her hesitate before she began facing the front again. They were surprised. Why wasn't she returning the sunglasses? Had she decided to keep them? They didn't get to ask her because the teacher walked in.

It was after class now, and Dawn was feeling even more nervous than before. The sunglasses in her possession were becoming a big burden. She quickly hid them behind her back as Misty and May came up to her.

"Aren't you going to give those sunglasses back?" Misty questioned.

Dawn felt her throat go dry. A moment ago, her plan was to return the glasses to Zoey with May and Misty for support. But she had only been friends with them for less than a month. She wasn't sure what they would think if she asked them to come with her. What if they made fun of her for being too scared?

"No need to worry! I'll return them!" Dawn answered, making her voice sound cheerful.

"Better hurry up, because Zoey is leaving." Misty pointed at the girl, who was now walking out the door.

"Oh, too bad, I missed her!" Dawn said quickly, feeling somewhat relieved that she now had more time to think of a solution for her dilemma.

Misty raised her eyebrow at Dawn's strange behaviour.

"It's okay. You can return them when she comes back," May suggested.

"Actually, maybe I should put them in the lost and found box in the office," Dawn decided.

"It'll be easier to just give them back yourself," Misty pointed out.

"Yeah, okay…" Dawn struggled to hide the reluctance in her voice.

The end of the day came by quickly, but, to Dawn, it felt like forever. She still hadn't returned the sunglasses, despite having chances to give them back to their owner multiple times. She also avoided Misty and May, because she knew they would no doubt be curious as to why she still had them with her.

It felt worse when her mother came and picked her up. She felt really bad secretly taking them home. Normally, Dawn would tell her mother all about her problems, but she wasn't completely sure she should tell her that she practically stole something.

"You've been pretty quiet today, Dawn," her mother, Johanna, said to her at dinner. "Did you have a bad day at school?"

"Kind of…" Dawn answered distractedly.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Her mother was very concerned because, usually, Dawn would be going on and on about her day and new friends. Maybe she got into a fight with one of them?

"Not really. Everything's pretty much okay now, so there's no need to worry!" Dawn's voice became falsely cheery and bright. She didn't want to bother her mother about it. She just needed a bit more time to think things through herself.

"When you say 'no need to worry', that's when I worry the most," Johanna muttered to herself, smiling a little. She could see right through her daughter's act and wished she'd let her help. But she didn't press the case. She didn't want to pressure her into lying, and she knew Dawn probably needed some space right now.

"What to do? What to do?" Dawn asked herself frantically the next morning. She was sitting in her desk in class, and she still hadn't made up her mind. She was glad May and Misty weren't there yet.

"Hello, Dawn," Drew greeted her in a friendly manner as he walked in.

"Hi!" Dawn said in her bubbly way. Drew went to sit in his desk.

Dawn was feeling very stressed. She needed to talk to someone about this. Someone understanding, who would try to help her in any way possible. Unfortunately, she still didn't know many of the kids in her class personally. She looked around for her only options.

May and Misty weren't here yet, so even if she changed her mind about asking them for help, she couldn't.

Ash would be a pretty good choice. While he might not really get why she needed help to return something, he was always happy to lend a hand. Except he wasn't there yet.

Gary was a fun guy sometimes, but he definitely wouldn't help in this situation. He wasn't understanding or sympathetic, and wasn't he the one who suggested that she keep the glasses?

Paul... wait, what was she thinking? There was no way that guy would even bother himself with her problem, so she wasn't going to even consider asking him. Moving on...

Drew. In the short time she had known him, she had come to learn that he was a calm, cool and collected kind of guy. Sure, he teased May sometimes, but other than that, he acted pretty maturely. He wouldn't make fun of her… right? Dawn didn't have any better options at the moment, so she had to go with her only one.

"Um, Drew?" She caught his attention when she walked up to him.

"Yeah?" He went from relaxed to serious when he saw the worried look on her face.

"You know those sunglasses I picked up at recess yesterday? Well, I kinda maybe sorta still have them." She half mumbled the last bit, but Drew heard anyways. He raised an eyebrow at the news, but, thankfully, instead of saying anything, he continued listening.

"So, I, um, need to return them, and…" Dawn fidgeted with her fingers, as she wasn't exactly sure on what she wanted to say. Did she want Drew to return them for her? Or did she want him to give advice?

Drew seemed to understand, though. "If you want, I can return them with you," he offered.

Dawn blinked in surprise. That was easy. He didn't even ask her why she still had them.

She smiled in relief. "Thanks."

Later, when Zoey arrived, Dawn and Drew walked up to her. She seemed a bit confused as to why two people she never socialized with before were suddenly at her desk.

"Hello?" she said questioningly.

"Hi, Zoey," Drew greeted politely. "Dawn found something that might belong to you, so we wanted to give it back."

"Really?" Zoey's gaze turned to Dawn.

"Uh, yeah!" Dawn quickly pulled out the sunglasses.

"You found them! Thanks!" Zoey gladly took them back. "I was looking all over for them. I even checked the lost and found box. I guess I shouldn't leave them lying around again."

"Lying around?" Dawn suddenly realized that Zoey might have put them on the bench on purpose.

"Yeah. You see, I was playing on the Aipom-bars, but my sunglasses kept falling off my head. I put them aside on a bench for that time, but when I went back to get them, they were gone. I thought somebody might have stolen them, or made them fall on the ground," Zoey explained.

"So you put them on the bench? I thought you must have forgotten them there or something." Dawn blushed slightly at her mistake.

"Nah, but it's okay. I should have put them in a better spot. Of course it looked like I had left them behind. Thanks for returning them, though!"

Zoey wasn't really that bad, Dawn decided as she went back to her desk, a heavy burden removed from her shoulders. There really had been no need to worry.

So that's that! Hopefully, I'll get to write out the next chapter after I'm back from vacation.

Thanks for reading!

Bye bye for now! Have a great day, and smile all the way! And have a happy holiday! :)