Hello everyone! It's been a while, huh? Guess what! My exams have been completed, and summer holidays have begun! Yay! I might still be busy (doing other stuff that fall into the category of 'enjoying summer') sometimes, but I'll try to start updating once a week again. And if I can get you guys an extra update, I will. So thanks for being patient, and here is the next chapter!

Today's chapter wasn't a suggestion, but one of my own ideas. I hope you enjoy!

WARNING: ONE BAD WORD IS SAID ONCE. Well, it's not a swear word or anything, and it was actually used in the Pokemon anime by, well, the same person who says it in here. And possibly some other people.

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

The Word

Kindergarten

May (5), Paul (6), Gary (5), Drew (5)

Paul was sitting in his usual spot at his usual table, waiting for all his friends to arrive at kindergarten. Gary was already there, but Drew and May had yet to come. Paul had picked up a new word last night, and he couldn't wait to use it, but he wanted all of his friends to hear him say it.

A group of his classmates gathered at the door, looking at something in awe. Paul knew that meant Drew was here now. He always came in a long, fancy car, which the other students loved to admire.

In stepped the green-haired boy, and he made his way to the table where his friends were sitting.

"Now can you tell me?" Gary turned to Paul without even greeting Drew.

"No. May's not here yet," Paul answered.

"Tell what?" Drew asked.

"Paul says he learned a new word, but he won't say it until May's here," Gary explained glumly.

"Oh. What's the word?" Drew was curious now as well.

"Not telling." Paul loved keeping his friends in suspense. They stayed silent for a while, before Drew asked again.

"Please?"

"No." Politeness was not going to change Paul's mind.

"I already asked a zillion billion times," Gary grumbled. "He keeps saying 'no'."

"Did you say 'please'?" Drew questioned, knowing Gary never used polite words like 'please' and 'thank you'.

"N-no," Gary admitted. "But he's still not gonna tell."

"Hi Drew! Hi Paul! Hi Gary!" May's cheerful, bright voice signaled her arrival, and she sat down at the table.

"Drew and May are both here now. Now tell me!" Gary demanded.

"What?" May was confused as to what he was talking about, so Drew quickly filled her in on the word mystery.

Paul looked around at his three friends, who were focused on him eagerly.

"It's a big-kid word that my brother uses sometimes." Paul gave them a little background information that they weren't interested in. No, they wanted to know what the word itself was. Paul looked at each of them dramatically, before breaking the suspenseful silence by saying the secret word loudly and clearly, so that all three of them could hear.

"Stupid."

Paul watched their reactions in delight, as May gasped, Gary's mouth fell open and his eyes widened, and Drew just tilted his head to the side in puzzlement.

"Y-you can't say that!" Gary stuttered.

"Why? It's a big-kid word, and I'm older than you, so I can say it," Paul reasoned proudly.

"No! It's a bad word! I'm not allowed to say it!"

"You're just not allowed because you're too little."

"Am not! Once, I heard someone say it on TV when Grandpa and Daisy were watching something. When I said it, they got angry and told me it was a bad word. I had to have a time-out."

"I'm not even allowed to hear it!" May added, horrified at what her friend had just said. "Once, Daddy hit his toe, and he said that word about the couch. Then Mommy said 'Ssh! Not in front of May!'."

Drew had never heard the word said in front of him before, because that kind of language wasn't spoken at his mansion. He had heard it once or twice, but he never knew what it really meant. But judging from May's and Gary's reactions, it was a very bad word.

"Don't say it again!" May pleaded. "If Ms. Kelly hears, you'll have to go in a time-out like Gary had to."

Paul was starting to feel a little cross that his friends weren't amazed at his ability to use a big-kid word. It couldn't be a really bad word if his brother used it sometimes, right? Gary, on the other hand, seemed to be considering what May had just said. He grinned as an idea popped into his head.

"Ms. Kelly!" he yelled out. "Paul said a bad word!" He had a mischievous look on his face.

Drew looked nervous, as if he were scared that he'd get in trouble as well. May was shocked that Gary would tattle on his friend, and Paul just glared at him.

Ms. Kelly appeared at the scene. "What is this I hear?" she asked sharply. "Paul said a bad word?" May and Drew kept their mouths closed, but Gary nodded enthusiastically.

"Yes, he said a really bad word!" Gary confirmed. Paul didn't break his glare.

"Well?" Ms. Kelly said quietly. "What word did he say?"

Gary hesitated. "I can't say it. It's a very bad word," he said finally.

Ms. Kelly turned to Paul, as if asking him to tell her himself. Paul wasn't one to crack under pressure, but, knowing that they weren't going to get anywhere if he stayed silent, he finally repeated the word.

Ms. Kelly gasped. "Paul, that is a very bad word! You are not allowed to say it, especially in this class! I'm afraid you are going to have to have a time-out."

The purple-haired boy's irritation at the situation turned to anger. This wasn't fair! He didn't say it because it was a bad word, but because he heard his brother say it. If Reggie could say it without getting into trouble, then why couldn't he? It didn't make any sense.

"Why?" Paul tried to be polite when he turned to his teacher. "Why can't I say it?"

"Because it is a very bad word. In kindergarten, and everywhere else, we use nice words."

"But it's not a bad word; it's big-kid word. My brother says it, and no one tells him not to." He was not going down (or in this case, to the time-out corner) without a fight.

"Well, your brother it much older than you. Sometimes, older kids use words like that, but it's not always a good thing. You are definitely not allowed to say it."

"But why? Why can big kids say a word, but other kids can't?" Ms. Kelly could see they were not going to get anywhere with this.

"I'm sorry, Paul, but it's just the way some things are. I want you to go to the time-out corner," she ordered tiredly.

Paul reluctantly began getting up, but made one last attempt to avoid this seemingly unfair punishment.

"Ms. Kelly," he said thoughtfully, "in time-out, we have to think about what we did wrong. But I don't know what I did wrong. I just said a word my brother says, and I don't think it's a bad word. Why does he use it if it's a bad word?"

This last attempt ended in success, because Ms. Kelly let out a defeated sigh. He was right; there was no point in giving him a time-out if he didn't even understand what he did wrong. He hadn't meant to be bad; he was just repeating something he'd heard. Ms. Kelly realized that no matter how much she would try to explain it, he wouldn't understand how him saying a word is wrong when his brother, who probably influenced him in many ways, said it. In the end, she decided it was best to have Reggie himself explain it to him.

"Alright, you don't have to have a time-out this time. But now you know that this is a bad word, so if you say it again, you will have to go into the corner," Ms. Kelly warned. "Okay?"

Paul nodded as he sat down. May looked relieved that her friend didn't have to go sit alone in the corner, while Drew seemed impressed on how he had talked himself out of trouble. Gary just appeared to be a little disappointed.

The rest of the day went on without as much drama as in the morning, and soon, parents were coming to pick up their kids.

May's mother came and picked her up first, and Drew left soon after when his butler arrived with his limousine. Eventually, Reggie came to pick his little brother too.

As Paul made his way to him, he saw his teacher quietly tell Reggie something, which led Reggie to put on a surprised face, which turned serious as he approached.

"Paul," he said sternly. "Did you say a bad word today?" Paul thought for a second.

"Ms. Kelly says it's a bad word, but I don't think it is," he stated.

"Paul, if Ms. Kelly says it's a bad word, then it is," Reggie said in a final sort of way. But Paul wasn't done.

"I don't think you think it's a bad word either."

Reggie shook his head. "No, I do think it is. Your teacher told me what you said, and you aren't allowed to say it again."

"But if it's a bad word, then why do you say it?" Paul argued. "Like, yesterday, when you were talking to Maylene on the phone, you said homework and teachers were—"

"Yes, yes, I get it!" Reggie quickly shushed his little brother, casting a glance at Ms. Kelly, who was watching with a raised eyebrow, as if daring him to let Paul complete the sentence. "The thing is, well..."

Reggie stopped to think for a moment, trying to figure out the best way to handle this. It came to him suddenly.

"The thing is, little bro..." Reggie bent down, so he could be at eye-level with his little brother. "...that sometimes, as we grow, we start to forget things we learned long ago. So sometimes, older kids, like me, forget some things that they learned in kindergarten, like we shouldn't use bad words. So, we sometimes accidentally say them. It's your job, Paul, to remind me that I shouldn't say them. Okay?"

Reggie was pretty proud of his explanation. He was very experienced at these sorts of things. But Ms. Kelly was even more experienced, and she saw the mistake he had made. That last part, of giving Paul that task, was something Reggie was going to regret, because that meant Paul was probably going to pop up every single time he said a bad word to tell him not to. Nevertheless, it meant the kindergartener would no longer use any foul language. At least, not while he was in the lower grades.

"Okey-dokey! Now that we've dealt with that, we gotta get going! My lunch break's gonna end soon, so we need to get you to your supervision!" Reggie straightened up. 'Supervision' was actually a daycare center that was across the street, and it was where Paul stayed until school classes ended for Reggie. Then, they both took the bus home. Reggie was always careful to call 'daycare' 'supervision', because he knew Paul thought 'daycare' sounded like it was for babies.

Epilogue

Like Ms. Kelly had predicted, Reggie came to really regret putting his little brother in charge of reminding him not to say bad words. He kept popping up unexpectedly, even at times Reggie didn't even know he was listening. He would often appear at inconvenient times as well, like if Reggie was on the phone, or when he was extremely frustrated about something (Paul's constant reminders made things worse when Reggie was already frustrated).

Poor Reggie. Looked like Paul wasn't the only one who learned a valuable lesson that day. Reggie learned to be careful about what kind of job he gave his little brother. One wrong move, and he might end up regretting it for a very long time.

Ah, poor Reggie. Well, Paul's going to start 'forgetting' too, once he's older, so Reggie will be off the hook then.

Please review, and thanks for reading!

Bye bye for now! Have wondiferous (this should be a word) day, and smile the entire way! :)