Veilstone Diaries: Redux

[Secad MS]

Mmm. The battles were fine, well written, but I guess I wasn't in the mood today for some battle scenes. I liked reading about the legends and a character's connection to Giratina. It doesn't seem too Mary Sue-ish the way you have presented it, which is good.

 

[Pheonix]

Another fantastic chapter Carmi~

As much as you keep saying you suck at battles, that was very well done. I could really sense the frenetic pace and intensity of all the moves. I loved every bit of it.

As to any critiques of grammar or spelling mistakes, I still maintain I love them more in these diary entries as they give the feeling of non perfection that someone would have when writing their own diary. Keep them all in and don't change a thing~

 

[Linkachu]

I have to really be good and not read ahead because I've only JUST started reading this story, but already I'm hooked. I love the first person perspective and how you describe Veilstone High School. The characters sound really fun, and it's really nice discovering who these people you always talk about actually are! I'm grinning like a fool and yelling "I know this character!" each time a new one pops up. XD

I'm so sorry for taking so long to read this. I have a lot to catch up with, but it's going to be enjoyable doing so. ^^

Now, off-topic. As Carmen knows, I've converted her text file of Veilstone Diaries into an eBook in order to read it on my eReader. If anyone wants a copy of my file (and Carmen approves it) I can send it to you via Skype or email. If instead you'd like to create an eBook yourself, I use this website: http://www.2epub.com/

Having it on an eReader is a nice way to read such a long, but worthwhile, story like this. I can't wait to read more.

 

[Carmen Lopez]

OOC: Yay! I was able to put out two chapters during my break! Also, I apologize if I'm a bit slow to post after this. I'm about to start my final semester of college and things about to get real. That said, I'll do my best. Thanks for the replies! It really means a lot to me ♥

On another note, I forgot to mention this, but Diaries is split into two volumes and this kicks off Volume 2~

BIC

Volume Two: Spring Semester

Quinn

Crap....crap, crap, crap!

Dear Diary, was it really time to go back to school already? That break seemed like it only lasted a day. It went by so fast D:

I don’t think I’ve ever looked forward to going back to school less than I did now. It was so bad to the point that I had a heavy heart when I put back on my school uniform. My mom and my sister both laughed at me complaining all last night. Speaking of my sister, she was anxious to get back to school. I hoped it was because she was seven...err, eight (her birthday was over break) and not because she was already turning into a school obsessed drone.

I’d be lying if I said there weren’t any bright spots on the horizon. I go to wear my awesome new boots and coat for the day and they really helped out in the snow. I was also eager to see everyone again. That was always the most interesting thing to me: to see how people had changed over break. Sure it was only three weeks, but still. However the thing, or rather person, I most wanted to see was Alicio of course ♥

Everyone else liked the stuff I gave them too, but I don’t even think I need to tell you how happy I was that Alicio liked his gift. He even said it was going to be the best gift he got for Solstice...DO YOU KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS?! Ahem, sorry, I got excited. Of course, he could’ve just been nice, but hey, I’d take it. That night was so much fun...partly because I got to hear a story from Alicio’s past. I always loved learning things about him either through him telling us, Mateo embarrassing him, or me watching him. You know, I wonder what would happen if I wrote an entire entry only about Alicio...just kidding I wouldn’t actually do that, but I totally could.

When I finally got to school, I found the school parking lot a little more crowded. It looked like a lot of the students got cars for the Solstice. I immediately groaned. Of course the big subject for the day would be what gifts we got. I could definitely say that I had a good Solstice despite not having much money. But even I got pangs of jealousy when I saw all of my classmates show off their gifts. Heck, some people (like Miguela, Carina, Amaranth, and Hyacinth) were still making plans to shop. Good grief! How much more did they need? I saw Carina show off a $500 watch she said she got while she was at Resort Gorgeous. Spoiled brats.

I came across Alicio in one our usual hang-out lounge writing something in the notebook I gave him. He looked up and I received a slight shock. He was wearing black rimmed glasses with slightly thicker frames than mine, but they made him look absolutely adorable. He still hadn’t gotten a haircut so I assumed he was still growing his hair out. I would’ve died on the spot if he hadn’t said something.

Alicio: Oh, hey Quinn! I was wondering when I would get to see you!

Ohmygoodnessohmygoodnessohmygoodness!

Me: It’s good to see you too! Your glasses look really nice! I didn’t realize you had contacts before

Alicio: You think so? I thought they made me look bad. I’m stuck with them for a day because Mateo and Mimi are idiots...

Me: Why, what happened?

Alicio: Mateo found them while he was snooping around in my room and asked why I didn’t wear them. I told him they made me look like a dweeb. He said they’d give me character and had Mimi incinerate my contacts...what does he know about character anyway?

Me: You pull them off so well though!

Alicio: Not as well as you pull yours off!

We both immediately blushed and fell silent. What does this mean?! He openly complimented me... Before I had time to contemplate it any further, Alicio spoke up again.

Alicio: *Cough* I also brought your present as well.

Me: Oh wow, thanks!

I had almost forgotten that he said he had gotten me a present too, but this just makes it even better! He handed me a small flattish box that I probably opened just a little too quickly (hope he didn't mind <<). Inside was the smart pen like the one he had been using along with the dock to transfer stuff to a computer.. My jaw immediately hit the floor. How much did this thing cost? Suddenly my gift was nothing in comparison. Alicio saw the look on my face and panicked.

Alicio: If you don't like it, I can always get something else! I'm sorry, I should've picked something--

Me: No, no, it's fine! It's an awesome gift, but I worry that you spent too much on me -_-

Alicio: Well...if that's all. I, uh, didn't spend anything on it. My grandmother bought it for me even though I already had one and I told her so beforehand. I figured you could make the best use of it.

I felt better immediately.

Me: In that case, thanks a lot! But your gift is still way better than mine.

Alicio: No way. I'm actually surprised this journal didn't cost you a fortune.

Ah the power of thrifting! You never know what kind of stuff you could find. Plus it's almost guaranteed that the stuff is either one of a kind of at least very uncommon. It didn't take me long to figure out how to use the pen and I can already tell you that it's going to make life so much easier. It even recorded things! Hard to believe they could cram so much function into a slightly thicker than normal pen.

A little while later, Akira walked in looking a little tanner than he did before. He also didn’t seem too thrilled about being back at school. I can’t say I blame him because he had to leave his parents, his sister, and warm sunny Hoenn behind to come back to this cold ice box of a city. I was grateful that he didn’t give Alicio grief over his glasses; I didn’t want anyone to convince him to stop wearing them anytime soon.

Akira: Did everyone have a nice break? I know I did.

Me: Yep, I was finally able to kick back and watch all those old movies we mentioned in film class. I wish I had as much class as they did back then.

Alicio: It was definitely memorable. My mom had the baby two days after Solstice. She’s a girl~

Me: Awww, that’s so awesome! What does she look like?

He pulled out his tablet to show us a picture. She really was adorable ♥ She was wide awake for the picture. Unlike her brothers, she had their dad’s dark brown eyes and honey blonde hair (what little she had anyway).

Alicio: She already likes Mateo better than me and Frankie which drove Grandmother crazy.

Akira: I think I heard Mateo mention her...you guys don’t like her much, right?

Alicio: Nope

Me: She didn’t cause any problems, did she? (I remembered my humiliating encounter with Granny Phaedra and shuddered).

Alicio: A little. She got in a fight with my mom over what to name the baby. Mom wanted to name her Rosario so her name would have a hard o sound at the end like mine and my brothers’ names, but Grandmother wanted to name her Rosaura. Mom put her foot down and now Grandmother is sulking...old hag.

I was definitely sad they had drama because that always sucked. This year I was thrilled that we didn’t have any. We had a quiet Winter Solstice for the first time in years and it was amazing. You should’ve seen my family last year. Let’s just say that it involved a Miltank, a casserole, and someone throwing a chair (among other things). The year before that, we had to call the police because one of my aunts tried to hold my mom hostage in garage. Yep, no one can do it like my family. They were less mature than my eight year old sister. Idiots.

Miguela said she had fun break as well in Snowpoint City. Unlike Akira and me, she was glad to be back in school; she told us that she made sure to do plenty of studying...what is wrong with her? Winter break was supposed to be a time where you forgot all about school. But then again this was VHS. What did I expect? This brings us to that other big topic for the first day...grades! ⌐_⌐

Alicio, Akira, and Miguela all got awesome grades. Mine were a bit less that stellar. I did manage to get an A in Film, Current Affairs, and PE/Nutrition (a very low A in the case of the last one...stupid final) and I scraped a B in English, but those were the only bright spots. Mr. Bach must really be out to get me. I got a D in Pre-cal...with a 70.9. A tenth of a point would’ve given me a C. What a jerk! I guess I should’ve been grateful considering I started off with a thirty average, but still. I got Cs in my last two classes.

Oh yeah, and I did mention that aside from English, the classes that I did well in were weighted less? Because that’s exactly what happened. When I got my report card over break, this knowledge ruined my entire day. My mom and my sister tried to cheer me up as best they could. And as I listened to some of the chit chat going on in homeroom, I realized my grades actually could’ve been a lot worse. People were gossiping about how so and so failed a class and got in trouble with their parents. While I didn’t say anything out loud I was like OH MY GOSH someone in this school FAILED something? Say it ain’t so! Just then, Eva Morris walked up to my desk.

Eva: Wow, Quinn, you’re still here! You didn’t withdraw like everyone said you would.

Me: ...I don’t know if I want to dignify that with a response. (what is with people thinking they can get away with being tactless?)

Eva: Well, I have to say that’s an accomplishment considering people have already left Veilstone for bad grades. I guess you’re beating the odds.

My conversation with Esmeralda about the ‘undesirables’ came back to me. According to her, the break between the semesters is when the first wave of people left school and considering Eva’s words, this year was no exception. I looked around my homeroom and indeed, I didn’t see two or three familiar faces. I would’ve chalked it up to them being sick or something, but their names were no longer on the roll.

Eva: So how many classes did you fail?

Me: I didn’t fail any of my classes. (I shouldn’t have dignified that with a response, but I felt the need to vindicate myself. I even pulled out the report card to show her. Stupid jerk <<)

Eva: Wow, that’s amazing. You’ve really improved! Most people are like Sarah Dennis who start off really good and then crash and burn...but you’re going the other way...

I was caught off guard by the (sorta) compliment—especially coming from Eva who routinely made fun of people who got bad grades. I put the biggest most vapid smile on my face as I could for my next comment.

Me: Thanks Eva! Maybe you’re not as big a jerk as I thought you were!

Hyacinth and Amaranth, who were sitting behind me, giggled. Eva tossed her hair back and actually smiled warmly.

Eva: Whatever...

Well that was different. I never would’ve expected Eva to come right out and say that. But then maybe the whole class was so shocked I hadn’t failed anything, they couldn’t even be mean to me. Who knows, maybe I would actually be getting B’s in my core classes next time around ^^

While our homerooms stayed the same, the rest of our schedules completely changed. I still took the minimum of seven, but I knew that Akira, Miguela, and Alicio would be taking more—only one extra in Akira and Miguela’s case and two in Alicio’s. Heh, more power to them. I was slightly surprised that Akira decided to take an extra class, but when I learned it was a government/politics class, I knew it was to help him improve his debating skills. My schedule was basically an upgraded version of my last one. English II, Biology II, Sinnoh History, Music History, Film II, SAT Prep and Pre-Calc II (what a way to end the day <<).

English II was really fun actually. We got our reading list for the class and I was already interested in several of the pieces we would be covering. My favorite part would definitely be the creative writing portion though and I couldn’t wait until we started that section. Biology II was like Biology I only worse because we start learning about the human body. That means we’ll be memorizing the all the muscles, all the bones...someone shoot me now. Sinnoh history would’ve been really interesting if the teacher weren’t so boring. After we discussed the syllabus, we plunged right into the first lesson...which unfortunately I couldn’t remember because I utterly zoned out about half way through. It would be memorizing dates, dates, and more dates -_-

I was relieved to get to lunch, but not for long because that’s when I found out that I didn’t have any classes with Akira and Alicio this time and I only had Esmeralda and Anastasio for film again.

Me: Ugh, no fair! At my old school, people tend to end up with the same people in their classes! Why does this school have to be so different?

Akira: It could be worse. At least you didn’t end up sharing a lab table with Carina in biology.

Anastasio: Ouch. I bet she wasn’t happy about that.

Akira: *Smiling* Nope, she wasn’t. But I think I can use it to my advantage.

Okay, so maybe I should be grateful I didn’t have any classes with Carina so far, but I was still jealous that Akira had biology with Alicio as well and the two of them had English with Miguela (without Carina). As an added troll, all of the people I was closest to had Pre-Cal together. Did I do something to collect some bad karma or something? I facepalmed and hoped I would have better luck in my after lunch classes. Gradually our conversation shifted back to Solstice gifts. Turns out Alicio and Akira were among the ones who got cars...and then we found out, to our surprise, Akira had already turned sixteen back at the end of September. He only shrugged and said he didn't care about birthdays and didn't celebrate them.

Me: Whaaat? How do you not care about your birthday? Especially your sixteenth birthday?!

Akira: I just don't. I was never raised to care. I wouldn't even care how old I was if society didn't care so much.

And just when I thought I was getting used to his strangeness... I chanced a glance over at Miguela, Carina, Hyacinth, and Amaranth and they all seemed to be deep in conversation about something. I noticed that Carina seemed to still be showing off that stupid watch. Was that what having money was all about? Spending it stuff that was utterly useless? Anyway I didn't even realize the twins would even be friends with Carina after what happened with that party. I hope they wouldn't start causing problems for me then <<

Lunch was over way too soon and then it was time for the next gauntlet. I hadn’t even been my music history class five minutes before I knew it was going to be a monumental suckfest. And no, it had nothing to do with the fact that none of my friends were in the class although that didn’t help matters. My teacher was one of those snobby music types that disparaged all over ‘today’s music’ while the rest of the class was made up of teenage versions of my teacher. What. The. Heck. Apparently we would be learning about the history of the music techniques which the rest of my classmates knew because they studied with world famous composers or something. I took piano lessons as a child, but no one ever told me I was talented. I recognized some of the terms, but still... I changed my mind. NOW you can shoot me.

Film II was much better in comparison and it was just as interesting as the first half thank goodness. SAT Prep was just as awful as it was last semester only this time I was more annoyed with the class because I had gotten a C in it. I blame all those stupid quizzes which were just as bad as those school-wide tests. I can proudly say that I didn’t run out of my first Pre-Calc II class and I understood more since the information was still relatively fresh. The worst part of the last two classes: I had Carina in both of them. Someone in the office must hate me or something. But at least I got to use the pen that Alicio gave me ♥

Well, enough about school. Let's talk some more about Alicio! Okay, we'll pretend I didn't say that. But anyway Akira needed a book for his government class so we all headed to the library. On the way there, we ran into some kids playing soccer. I'm not even going to wonder why they were outside doing this instead of in a gym like normal non-Veilstone people would do. Clearly I still haven't been here long enough to get used to this cold. More specifically, the goalie was being a show off and daring his friends to see if they could get the ball past him.

Goalie: Oh come on, Mike! You can do better than that! What, did your girlfriend make you go soft or something? Haha!

I guess that struck a nerve because Mike kicked the ball as hard as he could toward the Goalie's head. It was fast too, but the goalie reacted in time. He made it look easy. Honestly he was reminding me of how Mateo treated Alicio. Akira was starting to get impatient and wanted to leave, but Alicio had other ideas which took both Akira and me by surprise.

Alicio: Hey! Let me try!

Akira: Pfft! Alicio don't embarrass yourself. On second thought, go for it. I'd love a good laugh.

Alicio: Shut up, Akira!

He took off his coat, jacket, hat, and gloves and threw them at Akira who let them hit the ground. I was still stunned. Never in a million years did I think Alicio would be into sports. Veilstone High is the type of school that believed that sports and athletics were nothing compared to academics. We never did competitive sports in P.E. Part of me was grateful; you could add sports to the list of things I suck at doing. At some point I should tell you about that time I nearly concussed a person in gym least year. I can't tell you how much I had to explain that it was an accident! D: But anyway, back to the task at hand. Remember the first day when the kids at the mall teased me because of my uniform? That was kinda happening again. Of course Akira and I couldn't respond because we agreed with everything they said lol.

Goalie: A VH snob? This is gonna be good.

He threw the ball at Alicio he dropped it at his feet. Alicio took a few seconds to size up the goalie like how Mateo sized up his opponents.

Goalie: Well, what are you waiting for? Did you--

He didn't get a chance to get the last words out because Alicio kicked the ball to his left which he missed. Serves him right! That's what he gets for talking to much D:< Alicio smirked at the goalie. One, two, three, four, five more kicks followed and the goalie only managed to block the third kick. Everyone was impressed including me. Even the goalie had to eat some humble pie.

Mike: Ya know if you ever get tired of your lame school, you can always come to Stoney Vista next year.

Another person: Yeah, you managed to shut him up so you must be good.

Alicio: I'll keep that in mind.

I helped Alicio pick his stuff up off the ground and he put them back on before we started walking toward the library again. I couldn't help but notice that he looked really happy which made him look even cuter. I wish I had hidden talents like that...

Akira: You actually looked cool back there. Wow...you really aren't pathetic at all!

Alicio: You never quit, do you.

Me: But Alicio you really were good. I don't know why you didn't choose a school with a soccer team. (I was happy I managed to get the words out without stuttering)

Alicio: I grew up playing it and I still play during the summer and whenever I can. People said I was good, but I thought I cared about academics more. Now I don't know because I miss soccer more than I thought...

Akira: Wait...Are you saying what I think you're saying? You're seriously considering leaving Veilstone High?

Alicio: *Shrugs* Maybe. We'll see how things go.

Well that definitely pushed the fact that I didn't have hidden talents out of my mind for a bit. I didn't say anything, but for the first time the thought of changing schools occurred to me. I know I wanted to change schools the first week when I was in the endless pit of dispair, but this time it was serious. It's true that things have improved by leaps and bounds, but VHS could get far worse. Okay, scratch could. Things WOULD get far worse if the school website is any indication. I would literally be spending every waking moment doing schoolwork just to make sure I didn't flunk and even that wouldn't be guaranteed. Siiigh, maybe I had just made my decision. But! There was still a long time before the end of the semester so anything could happen.

We spent a couple of hours in the library to do work. Akira and Alicio only stayed for my benefit. As much as I liked the library, it would be far more convenient to have my own laptop. I've been saving up to get a decent one that was still affordable. Still, I'd probably get picked on at school for it, but anything was better than nothing, right? I mean, I do draw the line at stuff that's less than $100. Even I have my tech standards.

And speaking of technology, I got another surprise when I got home from the library. When I opened the door to the apartment, my mom and sister were both standing there in the living room smiling (yes, they were as creepy as you think).

Me: Uh...yeah, what are you doing?

Mom: Guess what!

Maria: Yeah, guess what!

Me: … You could just tell me.

Mom: Oh fine since you don't want to play along with us~

She revealed a small gift bag from behind her back and handed to me. I sifted through the tissue paper and pulled out one of those Pre-paid phones that was packed in the heavy duty plastic. It was a square pink flip phone that actually had a camera and a display on the front. I was stunned.

Mom: I know you said you could do without one for the sake of the bills, but I figured you really need one with you going all over the city and all.

Maria: I picked it out because it matches your hat!

Me: Wow, thanks! This is really awesome!

It really was too! I mean sure it wasn't one of those awesome smartphones that my friends had, but again, this was better than nothing. I could even send emails and access the internet on it. With the color display and the camera, it wasn't entirely primitive. Since I didn't have anyone's number memorized, I had to wait until I got to school to get everyone's contact info. Because while I -could- access the internet, it was extremely tedious. Not to mention it ate into my minutes faster. If I didn't have homework, this night would've been even better.

~ ~ ~​

The second day of the new semester was the start of the next phase. With the two big stories of the first day out of the way, it seemed like the entire school was focused on the major events of the semester: the school culture festival and the big dance or the prom (depending on what grade you were in). And honestly, they gimped us on the culture festival. If a school had a culture fest, it lasted a full week. Oh no, not Veilstone High. Our culture festival would only last three days. Honesty note #2: they made quite a big deal about this dance even though this dance was only for freshmen and sophomores. Then again, these poor sots probably didn't have anything else to look forward to when it came to school.

As much as I didn't want to, I had to care about the Culture Fest because that's when we would display the movies we worked on. Anastasio, Esmeralda, and I were still hoping that our movie would make the people at this school think at least. Actually when I learned more about the Culture Fest, I started to look forward to it a bit more. It would be focused on the artsy side of school: music, visual art, writing. Maybe that was why it was only three days <<. This was VHS after all and they couldn't spend too much time away from academics.

Predictably, Akira also didn't care about the dance either when we started talking about it before homeroom. I couldn't say I blamed him this time. It was basically going to be a big money show like everything else at this school, but it would still be fun. I'd just got thrifting for a dress. Anastasio had grand plans for the dance and I believed him big time. Unlike most everyone else, he was very open in who was taking to the dance: Hyacinthe. He had already asked her and everything. Heh, they would look awesome together.

I know I don't have to tell you who I wanted to go to the dance with. After all, I had about a snowball's chance in Stark Mountain of getting asked by anyone else but Alicio...or so I thought. (Dun dun duuuuun). On my way to homeroom, I got stopped by this blonde-haired boy who looked about twelve who I had never spoken to in my life.

Boy: Right, so my name is Jorge and you're going to the dance with me.

Beat

Me: Um...no I'm not.

Jorge: Well fine then! I was only doing you a favor seeing as no one else will ever ask you.

Me: You little twit. Why on earth would I, or any other sane girl, want to go anywhere with you. Any girl who would go for you is obviously desparate.

I turned and stomped the rest of the way to homeroom. Nope, no crying for me. That stupid idiot definitely wasn't worth that. However my face was very red by the time I got to my classroom. Hyacinth, Amaranth, and Eva looked shocked.

Amaranth: Whoa, what happened to you?

Me: I just got asked to the dance by this idiot named Jorge. Who does he think he is? Jerk!

Hyacinth: Yeah we heard about him. That little runt is such a loser.

Eva: Yeah, and with his grades he has no right to be that arrogant. I predict he'll be gone by the end of the month. He's just taking it out on you.

And now Eva was...sympathizing with me? What on earth is this world coming to? Heh, I'll take that over her being a jerk any day. They were all talking about the dance before I came in. That's when I got some interesting information: Carina wouldn't be going to our dance. She had a fancy debutante ball she was going to with a handsome son of one of her father's associates. After seeing her father at open house, I can't help but think of some kind of mafia associate. Apparently Eva thought something was fishy too.

Eva: Actually, I'm still trying to figure out just what her father does for a living. You two are her friends; has she ever mentioned it to you?

Amaranth: Haha, you think we're friends. That's hilarious. But no, she's never mentioned it to us.

Hyacinth: I'm just as mystified as you are. Looks like we have a mystery to investigate.

Amaranth: We'll tell you the results...

Pfft, they were so dramatic. But I'm not going to be holier than thou because I'm just as interested <.< They definitely followed up on their promise of investigating because during lunch we heard Carina say loudly I really don't think that's any of your business! People in the vicinity stared. I told my crew the whole story and they were interested to...especially Esmeralda which surprised me. Unlike the rest of us, she's usually above stuff like that. The rest of the day wasn't all that bad considering. Yes, people still picked on my cell phone because it really was nothing compared to theirs, but I knew that was coming. They couldn't pick on my pen though, and most importantly, neither could Mr. Bach in my pre-calculus class and the end of the day. Pretty solid if I do say so myself.

After school, I decided go to look at Stoney Vista's school website. Yes, I was still seriously considering changing schools at the end of the semester so I wanted to see what Stoney Vista was like. I would ask Miguela's sister Miranda about it whenever I was at work again to get a first hand account. The school certainly -looked- friendlier than Veilstone High, but that really wasn't saying much at all. I was liking what I was seeing though. It seems like people had a focus other than academics and yet this school still seemed really good. Sure, I didn't totally hate VHS today, but the more I thought about, the more I realized it was in my long term best interest to quit while I was ahead. Finally I was firmly set on my decision.

My mom was thrilled when I told her I decided to switch schools once the year was up. She told me I had her full support behind that decision. Maria was less than thrilled.

Maria: But Mr. Bach is so nice! You should stay D:

Me: *Strained smile* Here, Maria, take a cookie.

So ends this entry. I wonder if VHS will throw me something that'll make me want to stay...

Author's note: I don't know anything about soccer...why on earth did Alicio decide to be a soccer player?

 

[Luckii]

QUINN IS LEAVING?! YOU CAN'T DO THAT! D:

I did like this chapter, but I dunno, I feel as if you rushed this a bit. You should take time on things like this!

 

[Psycho Monkey]

Looks like Diaries will only cover one year if Quinn plans on transferring at the end. Second semester sounds like it will be a blast with all the fun activities planned. I look forward to all that's to come! ^_^

 

[Secad MS]

Well, the way her grades are going, perhaps going to a less high-strung school would be good for her. I would freak out if I ever got a D (or even a C) in any class.

 

[Shiny Motley]

Secad, I would freak out if I got an A- in a class.

I believe this is a good school. [/sarcasm]

 

[Cycloneblaze]

Maria: But Mr. Bach is so nice! You should stay D:

I lol'd.
I did not expect a new chapter so soon, even though I think it's been here for a while. But Quinn changing schools? I dunno... I really must re-read this anyway before I say anything D=

 

[Linkachu]

I'm on "chapter six" now!

Going by replies to this latest addition, gotta say... Unless something drastically changes between the point I'm at and volume 2, I can't blame Quinn for wanting the hell out of that school. It's a frelling nightmare, and anywhere away from the likes of Carina is a better place. xD

 

[Carmen Lopez]

Pffft, the replies this round are kinda funny. Just to make it clear, this fic will only cover a year regardless of whether Quinn switches schools or not. I could do a sequel (which is a strong possibility at this point); if Quinn is still the main character the new school will be the setting ^^

And could you really blame her for leaving if she did?

 

[Carmen Lopez]

OOC: Wow I took way too long...also Luckii you got your wish because this sucker is sixteen pages long in MS Word and it's only part one. Miguela can has drama. Enjoy~

Miguela

It was absolutely gorgeous when I woke up this morning. There was not a cloud in the sky so even though it was definitely freezing, you could still enjoy the sun. The only thing that marred this morning was my headache. I'm sure I overdid it with all the studying last night; all of my dreams involved math problems, vocabulary, and scientific diagrams. It was only the second week of school, but the first school-wide test would be coming tomorrow so Carina and I wanted to be prepared. I was a little concerned when she drew up our study schedules—it was just so much! But she knew best so who was I to complain?

Lucas was still fast asleep in his bed as I got ready for school. It was unusual because he should've been the one getting -me- up and it made me feel slightly guilty. I stayed up late last night and he stayed awake as well to make sure I had company. Poor thing. I should've forced him to go to bed, but oh well. I'll repay him by letting him sleep until it was time for us to go.

When I came in for breakfast, I was surprised to see a) my parents weren't there (I remember them saying they were going to check out something in the store) and b) that my sister had beat me there. Yet another unusual occurrence because she was supposed to be the one dragging in despite getting plenty of sleep the night before. But here she was and she seemed to be in a really good mood as she looked at something on her tablet. I quickly pointed it out to her.

“Wow Miranda,” I told her. “Did something happen? I've never seen you in such an effervescent mood!”

Her smile faded and she looked annoyed. “What's with your tone and your stupid SAT word?”

I shrugged. “I was only asking because I was surprised to see you here before me.”

She deliberated for a second before she spoke. “All right, all right. I'll give you that one. I had to get up early because of a group project in my health class.” Miranda rolled her eyes. “Ugh, that just killed my good mood.”

“Group projects are always fine for me,” I said. No one at Veilstone High School wanted to be the slacker and risk attracting the ire from the rest of their group. If anything, our problem was with people wanting to do too much rather than too little. I was definitely guilty of doing that, but who can blame me. Even in a group project it's every girl for herself.

“Well I guess being a bunch of overachievers has to pay off somewhere,” my sister said dismissively. “Health is one of the classes where advanced and honors students are mixed in with the general ed kids. Translation: It means we have the people who care about school and the ones that don't all mixed together. Guess what kind of kids I have in my group...” A look of utter disgust crossed her face.

“Don't you think that's a bit hypocritical of you?” I said after I swallowed the bit of bagel I was eating. “You always said that at your school you didn't divide yourselves depending on what track you were on.”

“And we don't,” Miranda said. “But it's hard to deny that general ed is mostly made up of kids who...well, don't care. And unlike at your school, the advanced and honors students can care about school and -still- have a life. The general ed kids are just a different breed. But even then there are some good people in it.”

I finished off my bagel and stood up. “Fair enough,” I said. “Hope your project turns out all right.”

“You and me both,” she said. “By the way, are you doing anything after school? I want you to come try on some dresses with me. That's what I was looking at earlier.”

“Yeah, I can't,” I told her bluntly. “I have to stu--

“Study with Carina,” she finished my sentence. “Typical.”

“Glad you're so understanding,” I said. I quickly went through the kitchen to get breakfast for Lucas before I could get too annoyed with my sister. When I got back to my room and found Lucas still sleeping, I felt guilty all over again, about waking him up...until I reached to shake him awake. I was alarmed at how hot his body felt. Sure, his body was always warmer than most humans—Akira had said that was normal when I asked him about it. But this was different; it felt like I could fry an egg on his stomach. My heart sank; within one second I dropped everything I was holding and within the next, I was on the phone.

I was expecting Yume Yamakage to answer or some other employee, but to my surprise, I was hearing Akira's voice on the other end.

“It's an emergency!” I said without thinking.

“Miguela?” Akira asked. “What's the matter?”

“I think Lucas has a fever and I don't know what to do!”

“Well, first off, calm down,” he said in a more gentle voice. My panic was rising and I guess it was showing in my voice. “Second off, have your checked his temperature?”

I immediately felt stupid. That should've been the first thing I did! I quickly ran into the bathroom and grabbed the thermometer out of the cabinet. The fact that Lucas was burning hot was the only indication something was even wrong. He still looked deep asleep with his chest rising and falling. I slid the thermometer in his mouth and it registered 105.6 degrees.

“Yep, he has a fever,” I said, resigned. As I looked at him, I saw that he wasn't as peaceful as I thought he was. His high body temperature was definitely making him uncomfortable and I felt terrible for him. “So what do I do?” I hoped whatever it was wouldn't be too complicated.

“Do you have any Lum Berries?” he asked me. “I know it's a long shot...”

“Actually we do,” I sad. “My mom bought them yesterday thinking Lucas could use them.” I made a mental note to thank my mom when she came back upstairs.

“Good!” said Akira. “You can crush those up and feed them to him. Lum Berries are awesome like that—they're good for a lot of different things. You should give him a cool bath and makes sure he has plenty of water. Oh, and a cool wash cloth across his forehead or belly wouldn't hurt either. His fever should break in an hour or two and he should be fully recovered by the time school ends. If he doesn't or gets worse, call back.”

I was silent as those words sunk in... “Akira, that means I'll have to miss school! I can't do that.”

I regretted those words immediately.

“...Are you serious right now?” The disgust in Akira's voice made me cringe. “It's only a simple fever. Sacrificing one of your precious school days won't kill you.”

“But...” I started.

“Alicio and I will make sure to take good notes for you,” he said sardonically.

“But the test is tomorrow and I was studying with...” I was about to mention Carina's name but thought better of it. I was not in the mood to hear Akira trash my best friend.

There was silence on the other end for what felt like ages. Only background noise told me that Akira was still on the line.

When he finally spoke, his voice was like acid that could've eaten through steel. “Miguela you've come a long way from being a spoiled little brat so don't relapse now. Get your priorities straight.”

“My priorities are fine! I just realize how important it is to be at school...” I said as I found myself losing my defiance as quickly as it rose up. “And I'm not a spoiled...” My voice trailed off and I couldn't continue. I could feel my throat get tighter.

“I honestly can't believe your right now,” he said. “You're so selfish and self-centered! How can you even think about school when Lucas is sick?”

I couldn't even answer him. To say I was speechless wouldn't have done this feeling any justice. It was like I lost the ability to speak completely.

“So you don't have anything to say? Fine,” Akira said after that momentary silence. “I thought having Lucas around would truly change you. Clearly I was wrong. Just don't let your attitude rub off on Lucas. He doesn't need any more negative energy in his body.”

“Akira, no, I--” I heard the simple boop that told me he had hung up on me.

I took one look at my phone and then threw it on my bed. I felt hot because my mix of emotions: Sadness that Lucas was sick, anxious that I was missing school, guilt that I was even thinking about school now, and now hatred because of Akira's words. He was right of course—except about that part where he said Lucas hadn't changed me. I was being horridly selfish right now. So I didn't have any reason to be so angry with Akira, right? But I was mad at him and I couldn't help it. My eyes began to sting because of the effort of holding back my tears.

My sister stuck her head in my room which startled me. I had completely forgotten that she hadn't left yet. “Hey, is everything all right? Why haven't you left yet?” she asked.

My eyes were burning worse than ever. “Lucas has a fever so I'm staying here to take care of him,” I said quietly to keep my voice from breaking.

Miranda gasped and rushed over to Lucas. She put her hand to his stomach. “Wow, he really is burning up. Poor thing! Did you call Akira yet?”

The mere mention of his name made me want to cry even more. His words kept echoing in my mind. “Yes, I called...”

“Hey, don't cry!” Miranda said gently. “I'm sure—no, I know Lucas will be fine.”

I didn't dare tell her the real reason why I was upset. Her words would be just as harsh, if not harsher. “Yeah, I know. He should be all better by the time you get home today.”

“Aww, I almost want to stay and help you take care of him,” Miranda said. “I would definitely love to stay out of school—especially for a good cause.”

I managed to choke out a laugh. “Thanks for the offer but you need to go to school. The rest of your group is waiting for you.”

“Don't remind me.”

Another forced laugh. “Hey, could you tell Mom what happened on your way out? I want to go ahead and crush these Lum Berries for Lucas now.”

“Oh, definitely,” Miranda said. It was nice that I could get her to do what I wanted if Lucas was involved.

Almost as soon as I heard the front door shut, Lucas let out a pitiful whimper. I knelt down beside his little bed. He opened his eyes and smiled slightly when he saw my face. My heart melted once again. It also made me feel even more guilty about thinking about school when he was in this condition.

“I can't believe you're just now waking up,” I said in a small voice. I put my hand on his paw. “I'm sorry you have a fever, Lucas. I'm going to go crush some Lum Berries to help you feel better.”

At the word berries, he made to get up but I stopped him.

“No, no you stay in bed,” I told him. “You need your rest, Lucas.

For once he didn't protest and he laid back down. Before I could leave the room, I saw my phone glow. Immediately my heart sank to my stomach. It was Carina calling—I didn't even have to look to know. I wanted so badly to be able to ignore her phone call but I couldn't. Not that it would do any good anyway. I may as well face the music now.

“H-hello,” I said shakily.

“Uh, where are you?” Carina asked bluntly.

My nervousness took over and I started talking too fast. “I won't be able to come to school today.”

“What did you just say?” said Carina in a voice colder than Veilstone's weather.

I swallowed hard. “I said I won't be able to come to school today...because Lucas is sick.”

“That Pokemon?” said Carina. “You're missing school for that thing? I knew that thing was nothing but a distraction! We have a test tomorrow and you're blowing off school. I thought you were better than Alicio, but clearly I was wrong.”

But I missed the rest of what she said because I was feeling something I've never quite felt before. I know she didn't just call Lucas a thing. My sweet Riolu was sick and she called him a thing. Yes, Carina is my best friend, but that crosses the line. I felt the tears in my eyes, but this time they weren't tears of anguish...She's the only thing who's a distraction. She was distracting me from taking care of Lucas. I stomped into the kitchen to get those Lum Berries, but I wasn't done with this conversation.

“No, wait Carina,” I interrupted her. “Lucas is most certainly not a thing. I adore him and I've been doing just as well in school as I did before. Actually I'm doing better. If you recall, I tied with you on the last test and beat you on another—and I had Lucas both times.”

“Once again, both of those times were flukes,” Carina said dismissively.

“I'm getting a little tired of hearing that,” I told her as I took the Lum Berries out of fridge and slammed it shut. “Those were not flukes, Carina. But let's get back to the subject, shall we? Don't you dare ever call Lucas a thing again!” I ripped open the dishwasher and took out a mixing bowl and slammed it on top of the island in the middle of the kitchen.

“You know what? I don't have to take this” Carina said. “Just don't come crawling back when you do badly on this test tomorrow.”

“Oh believe me, I won't!” I said. “First off, I'm going to do fine tomorrow. No scratch fine. I'm going to be amazing. Second off, I crawl to no one.”

A short pause. “So does that mean our friendship is over?” Carina said.

On any other day, that question would've made me pull up short, but not this time. “Only if you let it be over, Carina. But I won't tolerate you disrespecting Lucas anymore. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a sick friend to take care of.”

Before she could say another word, I hung up. I dropped my phone on the counter and didn't take a second look. I was still furious, but I liked the feeling. All of the emotions I felt over what Akira said had been replaced by anger over Carina's words. I could've use an appliance to crush the berries, but I needed some way to release my anger. As I mashed those Lum Berries to a pulp with meat tenderizer, I made a vow to myself then and there. I was going to beat Carina on the test tomorrow. I was going to show her.

When I was done with the berries, I got a spoon and took the bowl back to my room. Lucas was looking a little tired still, but he still looked concerned.

“Riolu?” he asked me. I knew he was worried about that phone conversation...

“No, no, don't worry about me,” I said gently. “I'm the one taking care of you. I'm sorry I took so long.” I scooped up a spoonful of the crushed berries. “Now open wide!”

He eagerly (for a sick Pokemon anyway) did so. Apparently the Lum Berries were good because he certainly had a big appetite for them. I was afraid he was going to swallow the spoon. For that I was grateful. I would've had a much harder time trying to force feed him.

“I'm glad you're eating well,” I said as I grinned. “You know, Lucas...I'm sorry for all those times I didn't stand up for you in front of Carina. I won't make that mistake again.”

“Rio!” Lucas said with as much cheer as he could muster.

And with that I thought about all those times Riolu felt uncomfortable around Carina. At first I was afraid she would find out about him and what she would think of me. I remember the close call at the store that one time she and her mother dropped by without warning. I was hoping against hope that Lucas wouldn't come out. And the night she did find out about him, I was terrified. All those times I just thought Carina was making him uncomfortable, but now I realized I played a part. Instead of being myself around him, I was always so scared of Carina's disapproval. Lucas had to notice that. In effect, I had put Carina's feelings above his...

“Lucas, I don't deserve you,” I told him as I fed him another spoonful of crushed berries.

He tilted his head as though he had no clue to what I was talking about.

“No really. I was constantly concerned about what Carina and everyone at school would think about me having you,” I confessed. “I was so stupid. At first I even thought you were a distraction, but I was wrong. You've made my life so much better. I couldn't imagine you not being here. I only hope I can do that much for you.”

Lucas looked slightly confused through most of the conversation but then he smiled. If he weren't sick he would've jumped up and given me a hug. I could see it in his eyes that he wanted to, but his body just wouldn't let him. Instead he raised his arms feebly for a hug.

“Aww, thanks!” I said as I leaned down to hug him. I couldn't help smiling “You really do know how to cheer me up...”

After that I fed him more berries. I glanced at the clock on my desk; was it really only 9:30am? The morning already felt extremely long. Waking up for school seemed like it was hours and hours ago. I guess I did just go through a lot considering I went from looking forward to hanging out with Carina to being extremely angry at her. As for Akira? All I could say is that I was glad for the wake-up call...that didn't mean I liked it though. Just then, I heard the door open and then close.

“Miguela?” My mom called.

“I'm in my room feeding Lucas!” I said back.

She stepped into my room wearing an anxious expression. “How is everything?” she asked.

I put my hand on Lucas's chest. He was still pretty warm, but he looked a lot better. “He's fine for now. I'm just waiting for the Lum Berries to take effect.”

My mom looked impressed. “It certainly looks like you're handling this situation pretty well.”

“It feels like I've been through a hurricane though,” I admitted.

“Caring for a sick loved one is always rough,” Mom said as she took a seat on my bed. “It reminds me of when you got sick for the first time. Level-headed I was not.”

“It wasn't Lucas who made this morning an absolute roller coaster though...” I began. I broke down and told her about the two conversations I had with Akira and Carina. Normally I wouldn't have dared mention Carina to my mom voluntarily like this, but I was still upset with her. I didn't really care what my mom had to say about her, but I did want to vent a little. “And that's how crazy my morning has been so far.”

“Well, I'm glad to see you didn't give in to Carina,” she said proudly. “She must get her tendency to overstep her bounds from her mother. Honestly, maybe if she cared for anyone other than herself she'd understand. But going back to Akira...wow, he's really blunt.”

“That he is,” I sighed as my mind replayed the conversation.

“Just be sure you don't let him walk all over you either,” Mom said. “He reminds me of this one friend I had when I was in high school. Sure she had good stuff to say, but she had such a bad attitude about it that everyone just stopped listening. No one likes a patronizing person after all.”

Lucas gave a small burp which made me smile. “Thanks, Mom. I'll keep that in mind,” I said.

Mom stood up and stretched. “Well, I have to get back down to the store. But if you need anything, let me know.”

“I will,” I promised her.

After my mom left, I decided to give Lucas a cool bath as Akira suggested. Bath time was usually fun, but Lucas just wasn't into it today. Although he certainly looked better than he did when I woke up, Lucas still had very little energy. It was the fastest I've ever gotten him bathed but it made me sad. At least the water was soothing to him though.

When we finished bathing him, I put Lucas back into his bed where he fell asleep. Per Akira's words, I put a cool washcloth on his head. Then I changed out of my uniform and into sweats since it was unlikely that I was leaving the house anyway. After that there wasn't much left for me to do except check on Lucas periodically. Looks like today wouldn't be a total academic loss after all; I pulled out my laptop and started studying for the test tomorrow. Teachers at Veilstone High always posted lesson plans and homework on the website. I'd leave the homework until after Akira and Alicio brought me notes for the day.

You know what? I was pleasantly surprised at how peaceful the day was. Sure I had my weekends off, but there was something about leisurely studying that was so relaxing. Or maybe it was because I stood up to Carina. It could even be the fact that I didn't realize how much I was pushing myself. Whatever the reason, I was certainly calmer than I was this morning. To cap it off, Lucas's temperature returned to normal even sooner than I expected. When he woke again, he was back to his old cheerful self. It was a massive relief—he was downright pitiful when he was sick. Of course I was elated. I decided to take a study break to play with him for a bit when I heard the front door open—my sister was back. Lucas bolted downstairs to greet her and when I followed him, I was surprised to find Akira there as well.

“Wow, Lucas!” Akira said. “You look great! Good job nursing him back to health, Miguela.”

“I couldn't have done it without you,” I said. There was no denying that fact. “In more ways than one...”

“Yeah, about that,” said Akira sheepishly. “I'm sorry if I was harsh earlier. Quinn and Alicio told me I could've been a bit more gentle in this case.”

“I did need to hear it though,” I said with a small laugh. “Even if it did upset me at first.”

Akira smiled but he didn't say anything. My sister looked between us curiously likely because she wanted to know the context of the conversation. I wasn't throwing her a bone though; I acknowledged that Akira's words were like bitter medicine that makes you feel better but that didn't mean I wanted to relive the experience. To my surprise, Akira didn't humor my sister either; usually he would seize an opportunity like that. Though just in case he changed his mind, I kept talking.

“So did I miss anything at school?” I asked him.

“Not a lot,” he told me. “At least it's nothing you can't handle.” He hesitated for a second. “But there is something else: Carina.”

In the excitement of Lucas getting better, I had forgotten about Carina. It all came back to me though. Akira didn't have to say anything else because I already knew what happened. “So the whole school knows I took a day off to take care of Lucas and Carina made it look like I played hooky?”

“Exactly right,” Akira said. “I kindly told her that you had your priorities straight, but she just gave me the usual 'Veilstone Standards' speech. I swear that's all she can say...”

Miranda rolled her eyes. “Ugh, why don't you dump that hateful witch once and for all?”

“After the fight this morning, I doubt we're friends,” I said. Any other time those words would've freaked me out, but not now. She had already turned on me, so I really couldn't care less because it was pointless.“She called Lucas a thing,” I began as I relayed everything that went down between Carina and me. Miranda and Akira looked nothing short of impressed.

“Looks like Carina needs to stop calling people and Pokemon things,” Akira joked. “First Quinn and now you!”

“Hey, that's right!” I said. “I don't know how but I completely forgot about that.” Maybe it was the blind fury I felt at the time or something. Either way it was cool to see that we both used the situation to shut Carina down. The only real difference was I have a lot more to lose and Quinn had everything to gain. And with that I began to feel doubtful for the first time. While I certainly didn't regret what I said, the gravity of my situation finally dawned on me...

“At any rate, I'm glad you stood up for Lucas,” Miranda said.

“Yeah me too,” Akira agreed. “But honestly I don't think your conscious would've let you excuse Carina. You love Lucas too much for that.”

At those words, Lucas gave me another hug. It didn't make my new-found uneasiness go away, but it still felt good. I wasn't deluding myself though.

“I'm going to need that vote of confidence over the next few days,” I told them. “Because Carina isn't done with me yet...and it won't be pretty.” I added in a more subdued voice.

But Akira just laughed. “Didn't we go through this before? I mean, come on, what's the worst that she can do?”

So even after watching what Quinn went through, he still doesn't realize what we high school girls are capable of doing to each other? “Oh trust me,” I said. “I'm on shaky ground right now. In fact. I'm going to check the Black Hole later because it may have already started.”

“Hmph, some friend she's being right now,” my sister muttered.

“She just--” I began but I stopped when I realized I was about to defend her yet again. Not this time. “Yeah, she's just being horrible.” I hoped neither of them noticed the hesitation.

“Finally you agree with us,” Akira said as he stretched. “And with that, I need to get back to the daycare. Here's the homework and the notes we took.”

I started my work as soon as he left. Akira and Alicio had even managed to get notes for the classes they didn't have with me. That was great of them I must say. Overall, there really wasn't all that much tonight—presumably so we'd have more time to study for our tests tomorrow. While I'd got a good bit of studying done earlier, it wasn't as much as I would've done at school so I'd be up late yet again. But I can't complain much. Lucas was all better now, so how could I be mad? I took a break only to eat dinner with my family.

No, I hadn't forgotten to check the Black Hole, but I did get a friendly reminder from Amaranth. I got her text at about quarter to eleven telling me to look. My heart started beating much faster and my breathing got shallower. The sensation was somewhere between drinking too much coffee and being cornered in a dangerous situation. I felt numb as I logged in...and when I saw the front page it felt as though a brick had slid down into my stomach.

There was a large picture of me with a caption that said “Where's Miguela???” And under it people were allowed to speculate on why I wasn't at school. I think only one person gave me the benefit of the doubt and wondered if I was sick or that something had happened with my family. Everyone else immediately accused me of ditching school in order to get more time to study for the test.

People at other schools wouldn't get it. This is one of the reasons we care so much about attendance. Ditching school the day before a test was a massive offense at Veilstone High. You had to be seen with near perfect attendance while being able to keep up with everything. You shouldn't need to take a day off to catch up or get more time. This morning I wouldn't have believed I would be the target of this because of my reputation for being one of the best. Well, Carina put the brakes on that one big time. The next few days were going to be awful if I had this to look forward to. How was I going to be able to answer to anyone?

~ ~ ~​

For the first time since that occasion in kindergarten when all the boys accused me of having cooties, I didn't look forward to going to school. The brick from the night before was still there. In fact, it felt even heavier than before. Lucas was up before I was (I was pleased to see that) and was gazing out of the window—mesmerized by the snow yet again. I wonder if he'll ever grow tired of seeing it. He rushed over once he heard I was awake and jumped on my bed.

“I'm glad you're feeling better,” I said as I smiled in spite of myself. “Although honestly I wouldn't complain about staying here an extra day.”

At the words 'staying here,' Lucas looked hopeful and gave me his usual puppy dog eyes.

I frowned slightly “Not a chance. There's a test coming up and I have to go. Besides, I'll only make things worse for myself if I'm absent again. Can you imagine what everyone would say?”

Lucas looked at me with a puzzled look on his face as though he couldn't imagine what everyone would say. I patted him on the head and got up to get dressed. Throughout my morning routine I was debating whether I should check the Black Hole again or not. I was almost certain that people had posted more stuff and the thought of it made me feel sick and even more uneasy than I already did. I held my laptop in my hands for a few seconds before I finally decided not to check. I put my laptop in my bag. I would find out soon enough once I got to school.

Considering the state of my stomach, it was needless to say that I wasn't hungry. Fortunately for me, Lucas had already left my room and my sister fed him breakfast. That worked out very well because I didn't want to have to stand around awkwardly while I waited for him. However there was no avoiding my parents' inquisition.

“Miguela, you have to eat something,” said my mother. “Don't you have a test today?”

“Yes, but I take the test after lunch, so it's fine,” I said listlessly.

My dad frowned. “You don't look well. Are you sure you're all right?”

“Yes, yes,” I repeated with a trace of irritation this time.

They weren't buying it an instant, but they backed off anyway. I would have to face them at some point though; they weren't going to let me off the hook when they knew something was wrong. Luckily my sister also kept silent so I didn't look even more suspicious than I already did. I said a hasty good-bye—I couldn't get out of my house fast enough. I hated being anxious because it was making me so jumpy. Lucas somehow sensed it and didn't wander around too much. Instead he stayed by my side as his way of showing some solidarity. I certainly appreciated the gesture.

On the way to the Yamakage's I was hoping with every fiber of my being that Akira was there. I needed someone aside from Lucas and my sister who was on my side in this. Also, I couldn't bear the idea of walking into school alone. I would get my wish. As soon as I walked in, I spotted Akira who was already dressed for the cold weather in his hat, scarf, and heavy woolen coat. He raised his eyebrow in surprise at seeing me.

“You're here early,” he said.

“Yeah...I wasn't hungry so I skipped breakfast,” I blurted out. My eyes were downcast as soon as I went silent again. Before I did anything else, I checked Lucas in as normal, knelt down to hug him, and sent him away with Yume. He was looking back at me the entire time with his eyes full of concern until they finally where out of sight. I closed my eyes and I felt my resolve slip away. To my surprise, Akira didn't say anything. And it wasn't a silence of compassion either. I was shocked when I looked into his eyes; was it my imagination or was he actually annoyed with me?

He held the front door open for me, and we stepped outside into the chilly air. We had reached the intersection before he finally spoke again. “So I'm guessing they did make fun of you last night.”

“Yes, they did,” I said. “Akira, this is terrible and I feel like things are about to get much worse. It feels like someone has twisted my stomach into knots.” I was hoping that by telling him how horrible I felt, he would take me seriously. But I was wrong about that. I was right about him being annoyed with me though....

At my words he finally lost what little patience he had. “Oh for goodness sakes,” Akira said. It was like he was working hard to keep himself from rolling his eyes. “So Carina made one of those moronic websites about you. People talk for a while, and they stop. Yeah I bet it sucks but I don't see the big deal. It's certainly a stupid thing to make yourself sick over!”

“Akira...you just don't get it!” I protested. “This is more than just a slam web page! You didn't actually see what those people wrote. My reputation is on the line here!”

But Akira only laughed at me. A horribly mocking, cruel laugh. “You. Are. Hilarious. Miguela. Somehow I doubt one day out of school somehow affected the cosmic balance of your life. Please, can you get over yourself for a moment?”

At this point I regretted even hoping I'd run into Akira. His utter dismissiveness hurt just as much as my classmates' jeers in the Black Hole. And to my dismay, while I was definitely angry at Akira now and wanted to chew him out too, it only felt like I was going to cry. In that moment I wanted to get as far away from his as possible. He must have known it to because he grabbed my arm to keep from running.

“Miguela, are you seriously upset right now?” he said in an incredulous tone.

But I snatched my arm away. “Don't touch me!” I snarled. And before he could stop me again. I was off and running. Any tears that fell were warm for a second and then froze dry on my face. Instead of just running directly to school, I decided to take a detour to clear my head (and to lose Akira). I finally stopped running and contemplated everything that was happening. My reputation was still damaged, Carina had completely turned against me, and then Akira decided to be a jerk instead of a friend. And here I was believing he would sympathize and say that it was stupid for everyone to crucify me over this. So much for that...

Eventually I had to face the music, so I got off my detour and went to school. My tears were long dry by that point but I wiped my face anyway to remove all evidence. Yes, I feared for my reputation but there was no way I was giving anyone the satisfaction of seeing me upset. I was going to go full Migeula mode and be as cool and put together as I possibly could. Today and possibly the rest of the week and beyond were going to be terrible and I had to put up my walls. No one else would see me crack.

And sure enough when I started seeing groups of VHS students, people none too subtly turned to their friends and whispered stuff as I walked by. It was designed to unnerve me and I have to admit, that for a brief second, I considered checking The Black Hole again to see exactly what was said, but I decided against that in an instant. Again, no sense in making that brick that's still in my stomach heavier, right? Not to mention that from the snide remarks I could already guess what was said. Here's a sample:

“Hey, Miguela! I hope you enjoyed your day off yesterday...I didn't think someone of your caliber would need one.”

“Looks like our ambassador can't handle the pressure after all.”

“Even if she does do well today it doesn't matter because she had extra time to study that the rest of us didn't.”

Don't respond Migeula, don't respond. I said to myself over and over again. I've seen this sort of thing happen before. It didn't matter what you actually said because it would be used against you. There was this one incident last year in which this girl had been suspected of cheating. While she was ultimately innocent, every time she defended herself everyone took it as a joke or believed she was lying. I know I did. It didn't even matter that she didn't do it because the stigma of her even being suspected was so damaging. I guess I was getting my comeuppance for that.

More than anything, I now wanted to see Alicio and Quinn, but I couldn't because Akira would be there. And honestly Alicio would probably be on Akira's side on this one and that was more than I could take. I just walked to the library and resolved to be alone. I pulled out my laptop and tried my best to focus on reviewing my work. Every so often I would have to swallow to dislodge the lump in my throat to keep from crying. I honestly don't know how I was going to face the rest of the day...and that's when the text messages started.

My phone vibrated three times in a row before I could even pick it up. Whoever it was had sent me a novel via text. My heart dropped. I knew it was Carina before I could even look at the message. And like a train wreck I couldn't stop watching, I couldn't not read this:

So you're hiding from me now. Fine, fine. I always knew you were a spineless coward and now the whole school knows it too. You can keep using the excuse that your Pokemon was sick all you want, but I know what you're up to. The times you beat me or tied with me really were flukes and this proves it without a doubt. You're nothing but a fraud and a weak little girl and you certainly can't hold a candle to me. I don't take kindly to little girls crossing me and saying what you said to me yesterday. And I don't take kindly to people like you who make a mockery about what this school is all about. I promise you I will destroy both you and Akira. Oh...and by the way you can kiss your ambassadorship role good-bye. I should have more than enough signatures to get you removed. It's bad enough we have Akira representing us, but at the very least we can get rid of you. I can speak for myself and others that we don't want someone like you representing us.

My ambassadorship...that's what this would cost me. I couldn't believe this was happening right now. This time I was right and Akira was wrong. Missing one day did affect me greatly because it cost me the respect of everyone who believed I had it together. And before I could put my phone back in my bag, it started vibrating again and again and again and again. I read the first message which was from a number I didn't know and it said “How could you betray our reputation like this?” It was then that I realized that Carina had posted my phone number in The Black Hole as well; I was going to get flooded with text messages...I turned my phone off.

I closed my eyes and bit my bottom lip but that didn't stop my eyes from burning something fierce. Just be strong Miguela, you still have that test. But my thoughts were just racing. I could focus on this test but what did it matter? People are still going to think I cheated and skipped school to study so who cares how I do? No! It doesn't matter what they think! I can't sabotage myself like that...

The floor of the library was carpeted and the walls weren't hard enough either so I took my phone to the bathroom. I checked to make sure it was empty which it was. I threw my phone as hard as I could toward the wall and watched the screen and the back shatter. Pieces of it littered the floor. Now I would never see those horrible messages. I cleaned up the mess and took what was left of my ruined phone in my coat pocket. Honestly I was surprised I didn't find a nasty note written on a post-it when I got back to my stuff. I spent my remaining minutes in the library trying to study until the bell finally rung.

My paranoia was running wild because I kept imagining people sneaking peeks and laughing at me. It was all in my head of course; since I was still in full Miguela-mode, I held my head high to prove that no one was getting to me. Everyone around me was going about their daily business without taking so much as a backward glance at me. I regained some measure of comfort from that, but it all faded when I stepped into homeroom. Everyone who was in the room turned to look at me with accusatory expressions—all except Carina, Akira, and Alicio. Carina gave me her famous death glare and Akira shook his head as he smirked. Only Alicio looked concerned...I avoided his gaze because it might cause me to crack. I don't think I said a word the entire time; I just focused entirely on studying.

Quite frankly it was the longest school day I've ever had. Nothing I had experienced up to this point could really compare. Throughout all of my classes I had to endure the same sort of stuff from earlier this morning: people saying I wasn't as good a representative of the school as they thought I was and that they were so disappointed in me. Several times I just wanted to cry but I willed myself not to.

This must've been what Quinn went through. I felt really bad then, but I thought back to all those other times when I didn't feel bad. Up until Quinn's situation, I'd laugh and say some really mean things to unlucky people who were Black Hole fodder...the girl whose father lost his job, the boy who found himself struggling at the end of last year and burst into tears during a final, the girl with the shabby clothes and uneducated parents, and so many others. I ripped them to shreds in school and online all for the sake of my image and upholding the Veilstone High standard.

The way I was feeling now was how they felt. So in the middle of my fourth period Pre-Cal class, I bit my lip hard to keep from breaking down. In addition to feeling awful about what I was going through, I also felt complete and utter disgust for my past actions. Honestly it was a miracle I remembered anything about the lesson. With SAT prep as my last class of the day, the chances of me doing well were very grim.

Only Alicio tried to help. I had two classes with him; Pre-Cal and English. Since it was a test day, I ended up skipping lunch and I opted to be alone so we didn't get to see each other then. Even so, in both classes we had together, he asked me if I was all right. Both times I lied and Alicio knew it. He looked torn between wanting to pry and just leaving me be, so he compromised.

“Hey,” he said after our English class dismissed. “Do you mind meeting after school near the greenhouses? I just...”

Alicio didn't need to give me a reason. I didn't need one because just the prospect of having an ally in this situation made me feel better. “Sure! Sounds good.” I even managed to give a small smile.

Meanwhile Akira (who I also had those same two classes with) brushed passed us without saying a word. I caught a brief glance at his face—he probably thought we were all stupid: the rest of the student body for being so high-strung and me for still feeling bad. Alicio glared at Akira's back before turning back to me.

“Well, we need to get to our next classes,” he said with a slight hint of reluctance. “So I'll see you later...”

I really didn't want to leave him, but nevertheless, we went our separate ways. I should count my blessings that I didn't have classes with Carina this semester. It was ironic now considering I was bummed about it when we first got our schedules. Biology passed by in a blur although I remembered that we discussed the circulatory system—specifically the different veins and arteries. Before I knew it, it was time for SAT Prep and the big test.

Before I started the test, I took a deep breath to help empty my mind of distraction and fill it up with math formulas, vocabulary and whatever else I'd need. The tense testing atmosphere helped big time and soon found myself able to focus as though my life weren't ruined. Despite having less time to study overall, I didn't have any trouble answering questions although I was slow on some of the math problems. I finished with a respectable amount of time left, but not as much as usual. I took another deep breath.

But my day wasn't over yet. As I was about to leave class, the teacher pulled me to the side and told me the principal wanted to see me. Uh oh doesn't even begin to describe my feeling just then. Could this situation possibly get any worse?

Yes, yes it could.

The heavy feeling in my stomach returned in force as I made my way to the principal's office. What on earth did she want with me? After checking in at the receptionist's desk, I found myself in the doorway of Dr. Olivia Cromwell's office. The look on her face was so stern it was shocking. I swallowed hard.

“Please sit down, Ms. Cruz,” she said curtly.

I obliged and lowered myself into one of the handsome leather chairs. Besides I wasn't sure how long my knees with support me anyway; my knees had turned to jello.

“I trust you know why I called you here.”

The statement only had the effect of making me feel silly because I truthfully didn't know. “With all due respect, I don't know why I'm here, Dr. Cromwell.” I said stiffly.

Dr. Cromwell was an interesting paradox. Although she was beautiful with her dark red hair and brown eyes and had a soft, welcoming face, her demeanor and aura let you know she was no one to cross. Her expression hardened at my words. “I'm not sure if I should hold that against you or not in light of your present circumstances but I know you are not this oblivious Ms. Cruz.”

I remained silent and tried to make myself look as innocent as I could while at the same time looking sharp and intelligent. However I was pretty sure I was failing and I could feel Dr. Cromwell lose confidence in me by the second. She sighed,

“Very well, Ms. Cruz, I'll get right to the point,” she said. “I wanted to discuss your dedication toward your position as the sophomore ambassador for this school.”

I restrained the shock and horror at her words before it could fully register on my face. Even so I was speechless—not that Dr. Cromwell was going to give me time to defend myself anyway.

“I hope you are aware of the seriousness of an unexcused absence. As an ambassador who is a representative of this school, we expect you to adhere to a higher standard. If you are having doubts as to whether you are capable, you should speak up now and we can replace you with someone who is dedicated. The students of this school deserve to have someone who they can respect represent them.”

At those words I was deeply wounded. But beneath the hurt came a different feeling: how dare you? How dare she question something that I did take seriously? And then I calmed myself down and thought about her words...looks like Carina had made good on her threat. “I see the petition reached you, Dr. Cromwell.”

“Yes it did and I was surprised at the intensity of the students' feelings on the issue,” she said.

“But I want to say something in my defense,” I said. While the rest of the school won't listen to what I have to say, Dr. Cromwell would. Besides, she may have rattled me from the shadows (I hadn't seen Carina all day), but she wasn't about to win now. “I've never once given anyone cause for concern. My grades have been consistently good and I've never made less than an A in my entire life. Even when I'm unable to attend school due to illness, I make sure that my work is still top-notch. Do you think I would really be absent from school without a care? Even if the school considers it an unexcused absence, I had a reason.”

“And what is your reason?” Dr. Cromwell.

“I had a sick friend, a Pokemon, who I had to nurse back to health,” I said boldly. “And even so, I made sure to study and do all of my homework.”

I expected her to rebuke me then and there, but to my surprise, she looked impressed. “Very well, Ms. Cruz. I examined your past record once I received the petition and I agree it would be hardly fair to suspend you after one infraction. Academics are not the only part of being an ambassador—knowing how to handle personal and public crises is another positive attribute to have. Trust me, the skill will come in very handy...”

And with that she gave me a slight head nod. Part of me was spectacularly relieved that I wasn't losing my ambassadorship, but there was another part of me that was a bit miffed that Dr. Cromwell had put me to the test like that. I realized that I was holding my breath and I exhaled. “Thank you, Dr. Cromwell.” Before I could leave her office, she spoke again.

“And congratulations on placing first with Mr. Yamakage,” she said with a small and rare smile.

I said thank you again and left her office. In better times, I would've been over the moon at getting first place. First place! But with all the stuff that happened today from everyone's meanness to Dr. Cromwell's test, I was too mentally exhausted to be happy. Not to mention the victory still felt hollow. Everyone believed I had did what was tantamount to cheating to pull it off... My eyes started to sting again. In my sadness, I had almost forgotten that I was meeting Alicio. I rushed over to the greenhouses which were on the south side of the school.

When I arrived, I found Alicio at the entrance and to my surprise he wasn't alone. Quinn and the twins named Anastasio and Esmeralda Morales were with him. They all looked up and smiled when I approached—the only friendly faces I'd seen all day. But immediately they became anxious at the look on my face.

“Miguela?” Alicio said as he walked over to me.

And with that, the facade I had kept up all day cracked and slid away. I burst into tears and buried my face in Alicio's shoulder. Yes, my troubles were nothing on the cosmic scale and yes, worst things happened to people all the time, but that still didn't make this hurt any less. The guilt I felt over my past behavior had also come back. It felt like everyone in the school hated me, and yet here were four people who at least were glad to see me. Alicio led me over to one of the benches to sit down. I don't know how long I cried, and no one said anything the entire time. They just wanted me to let it all out...

When I did stop crying it wasn't because I wanted to, it just felt like I had run out of tears. I'm sure my face was ugly and splotchy but no one laughed at me when I looked up at them.

“Sounds like you had a long day,” Quinn said as she grabbed my hand.

“You aren't kidding,” I said through a stuffy nose. Esmeralda kindly handed me a handkerchief and I tried not to sound like a Mamoswine as I blew my nose.

“We've been worried all day,” Alicio said. “We waited for you at lunch, but--

“You wasted your study time worrying about me?” I said in shock.

“I wouldn't call it wasting,” Anastasio said. I think it was the first time we'd ever really spoken. “I was shocked by the stuff on The Black Hole so we all figured you needed the support.”

The others murmured agreements and I almost started crying again. People were willing to sacrifice for me...

“And Alicio and I tried texting you, but you never responded,” Quinn said. “It didn't dawn on us until later that you were probably getting harassing messages so you turned off your phone...”

“Well, I turned it off and then some.” I opened my bag and showed them the pieces to my ruined phone. “W-when I was in the library this morning Carina sent me a text saying that I was a coward and that she would destroy me. She also started the petition to get me removed as ambassador a-and then my phone started vibrating non-stop and I broke it so I would n-never see...”

Apparently my ducts had regenerated enough tears because I started crying again. Like last time, no one stopped me, but I pulled myself together. And before I knew it I started talking again and the story of my entire day, from Akira's coldness up to now, came spilling out. Quinn's and Anastasio's eyes were wide when I finished, but Esmeralda looked pensive and Alicio looked especially annoyed.

“I don't know who I'm more pissed at right now,” Alicio said. It's rare to hear that much venom in his words. “Akira for being a douche, Carina for being Carina, or this entire school for falling for Carina's manipulation. Actually I think I'm more upset with Akira. Especially since we told him he shouldn't be so harsh yesterday.”

I'm not going to lie, but it felt good to hear Alicio bad mouth Akira like that. I was almost guilty about it...almost. I was honestly glad to have people on my side.

“It's so ridiculous though,” Esmeralda said. “You're one of the best students in our entire year and yet they do this to you for one little thing.”

“But I've always known that one little thing could cost you a lot,” I said. “Even though I placed first, it doesn't even feel like it means anything.”

“Now wait just a second, Miguela,” Alicio said. “This is Carina's favorite tactic again. You remember what she did when you were picked as ambassador over her, right?”

“She was just jealous and said it wasn't worth much,” I said, bitterly. I was annoyed with Carina all over again now that Alicio brought that up. And I realized she had done it again. I knew what I went through to get first place so why was I letting Carina empty my victory of its meaning? I smiled just a little which Alicio returned.

“Miguela, why do you think Akira gets away with defying everyone's standards and expectations, blatantly insulting Veilstone High every chance he gets, and yet still gets to represent the school?” Esmeralda asked.

I pulled up short at that question. Through my misery, I never thought of that. Akira does way more crazy stuff than I do and yet the entire school has never turned against him like this. I was about to dismiss it as a double standard until I thought about it. “Akira is very good at what he does and he knows it and flaunts it really. In comparison I'm an easy target.”

Exactly,” Esmeralda said. “Akira's confidence along with his intelligence allows him to get away with his boldness.”

“And no one has ever signed a petition against him. Why? Because they know it won't rattle him at all,” Anastasio said. “And don't forget, you're very good at what you do too, so there's no reason you can't be confident. You don't have to be an easy target.”

“Heck, I'm not exactly good at what I do, but confidence does go along way,” Quinn said with a huge grin. “Carina doesn't pick on me anymore. I mean, you stood up to her yesterday and you stood up to Dr. Cromwell. No reason you can't do it again.”

“They're right, Miguela,” Alicio said. “It's time for you to fight back...and I know you can do it.”

Starting with Akira, I thought to myself. My friends certainly had faith in me and it did make me stronger. “Thanks guys,” I said to them. “Things are going to be a little different tomorrow.

“I can't wait to see it,” said Anastasio as he stood up. “But we need to get to the library or we won't have time to watch the movies or look at the books for film class.

“Look at you being the responsible one,” Esmeralda said. “I'm honestly surprised.”

“Why? You can't be the only reliable one Miss Overly Serious,” he teased her and she promptly hit him in the back.

“We'll see you tomorrow,” said Quinn. She waved and walked away with the twins.

“I guess we should be going too,” Alicio said.

As we were walking, I decided to say what's been eating at me for the entire hour. “Can I ask you something?”

“Sure,” he said.

“Do you ever feel guilty about teasing people on the Black Hole?” I asked quickly.

He raised his eyebrows in surprise. “Yeah, why?” And then realization dawned on his face. “Ooooh, so you felt that today as well.”

I just nodded.

“I understand.” he said. “When I started liking Quinn I got my first twinges of guilt. I mostly brushed them off at first but seeing her get hurt over it made me feel disgusted by everything I ever posted on it. I haven't been on it since.”

“I experienced firsthand what I did to people,” I said. “And having gone through it, I can't believe victims of it would turn right around and do it to someone else.”

“Twisted, isn't it?” said Alicio.

We continued to talk as we left school. Needless to say, I felt far better than I did this morning. Even so I had a rough day ahead tomorrow, but I looked forward to it. I made two vows to myself: the first was never to let Carina do this to me again, and the second was never going to the Black Hole ever again. Even the thought of those two things made my heart lighter as I headed toward to the Yamakage's daycare to pick up Lucas.

 

[Psycho Monkey]

Yay! I'm so glad Miguela finally stood up for herself! I'm so proud of her :'D

I didn't expect to see Akira act like such a jerk though. I know you've said before that her can be a jerk, it just wasn't so apparent until now. I can't wait until Part 2!

 

[Cycloneblaze]

Ditto, Psycho Monkey.
You wrote Miguela so sad :'(
On the upside, another one up on Carina, yay. Carmen, you are quite good at creating horrible characters.

 

[Secad MS]

Errr...me being the ever academic diehard, I would have gone to school and left Lucas in someone else's care. It may not be the nicest (especially when it concerns an animal or animal-like being), but as long as the creature in question is cared for, it should be good. Few illnesses are ever an excuse for skipping school in my opinion. If you are falling asleep or vomiting in class, one should stay home if simply to improve the quality of education for others and because one isn't getting much out of that day with that illness anyway.

As for the chapter itself, bravo! Character development! It does make sense that Lum Berries are used, as they are the catch-all of all status-curing berries.

 

[Luckii]

...EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE CARMEN RESPONDED TO ME

This is why I love you. One of the best yet!

Yeeeessh, another one-up on Carina! She is one of the few original characters in fanfiction that I REALLY hate. (In a "you've written her so well" way)

Did I mention that I love you?

 

[Pheonix]

You already got my feedback with the 'edits' but I'll say it here again: Yay for long chapters~

Keep up the great work!

 

[Carmen Lopez]

Unfortunately not a new entry, but an explanation.

First off, I definitely haven't forgotten about this, but I've been hit with the worst writer's block ever and it's affecting my ability to write anything...fanfics, RPs, graduate school application essays. It's like nothing I write has any soul and it's making me crazy (and a sad). I promise to return as soon as my inspiration gets back~

Thanks to everyone that read my random brainchild that is this fic. It means a lot.

 

[Carmen Lopez]

OOC: I'm baaaaaaaaack! Recap: When we last left Diaries, Miguela took a day off from school to care for her sick Pokemon. In true Veilstone High fashion, the students turned against her. To her disappointment, Akira also turns against her for letting the students get to her. With the support of her other friends, she is able to recover enough to face the next day.

Akira​

Well, I’m facing an uncertain day at school.

I really should’ve run after Miguela when she took off yesterday, but it’s not like she didn’t need to hear it. After all we’ve been through this year she was still letting Carina get to her like this. Seriously? And when I let her know how ridiculous she was being, she overreacts…Right now I’m angry at myself for letting Miguela get to me like this. I don’t think I’ve ever been this annoyed by anyone over something like this in my life. I debated whether or not to wait for Miguela at the daycare this morning. In spite of everything, I knew she’d still drop Lucas off here because she wouldn’t let anything interfere with caring for him. If nothing else, I knew Miguela had learned her lesson there.

I looked up the forecast today and saw that it was going to be nasty, overcast and freezing as usual. Luckily I discovered an undershirt made of a wonderful fabric designed to trap more of my body heat in. That means no more wearing three sweaters and having trouble moving as a result. I finished getting dressed and was taking Ryoma and Izumi to where the rest of the Pokémon were when I made my final decision. I was going to go on to school and hang out by the greenhouses. Miguela would probably still be upset from yesterday and I knew Quinn and Alicio would be on her side. I remembered how they reacted to me calling her selfish when she was thinking about abandoning Lucas to go to school. I hate to see what they’d be like now.

After saying good-bye to my aunt and uncle, I left the daycare and walked to school. Yeah, I could’ve driven myself, but that was just lazy when it only took me about fifteen minutes to walk. My hatred of the cold still wouldn’t let me drive unnecessarily either. Plus it gave me plenty of time to think over stuff. Like how I was going to be bored out of my mind like I was yesterday on top of being annoyed with Miguela. Not that I cared much, but I was very well aware of the fact that Miguela, Quinn, Alicio, Anastasio, and Esmeralda were my only friends at school and that none of them would be speaking to me today. It was a shame too; after finding out that Miguela and I both tied for first place, I would’ve loved for us to troll Carina together since they weren’t friends anymore. But alas, I would simply have to troll Carina by myself!

I would get my chance on my way shortly after I walked into the building. On my way to the greenhouses, I saw her walk out of a classroom—the last of a small group of students. It was probably one of the many clubs she was in. Carina froze as soon as she saw me. She was wearing a long orange coat which I had to admit livened up the dreary day. Her gray eyes went even colder than usual.

“Look who it is,” she said, “the dirty hippie who continues to make a mockery of our school and being proud of it.”

I smiled at her which only annoyed her. “You got that right. Are you going to turn the whole school against me as well?”

“Like you need my help to do that,” she scoffed. “You’re a loser and I promise you one day everyone will see it. They’ll see you don’t meet our standards.”

Standards, standards. A sudden moment of clarity hit me out of the blue. She was about to walk away in her “I’m way too good for this” way when I stopped her.

“Wait, Carina…let’s talk for a second,” I said. To my surprise she actually did stop and turn back to me although she still looked extremely haughty. “All year I’ve heard you parrot off the same thing all the time. You sound like a broken record. I think I’ve pointed out how stupid this school and your standards are so many times, -I- sound like a broken record!”

She bristled at the word ‘stupid’ but she didn’t respond to that directly. “I say it because it’s what matters,” she said condescendingly. “And apparently no matter how many times people tell you, you still don’t seem to get it.”

I gave her the smile that drove her nuts. “Oh I get it just fine. But I think the real reason you say the same thing over and over is because you don’t have anything else to talk about.

“I don’t think I follow you,” Carina said in a menacing voice.

“I’ve been thinking about what my mom said about how this school only hammers academic excellence…but even then people can and should have something they enjoy outside of that. I thought Miguela only cared about school, but I was wrong. But you…you never seem to talk about anything outside of school, shopping, or gossip involving one of those two things. What else do you like?” I was well aware that my smile was in the smirk category.

“Look, I’m in plenty of different clubs and I—” she began furiously but I held up my hand to stop her.

“Yeah, whatever. We both know that’s only to look good on a resume or application. You don’t care about that. Isn’t there anything else? Writing, sports, sky diving, anything? Are you really so dull that you only care about school?”

I pissed her off pretty good this time. She was growing more irate by the second to the point where her face was turning red in her anger. I wouldn’t be surprised in the slightest if she slapped me again.

“I am not dull! Like I said, all of that stuff is only a distraction. And where do you get off judging me anyway?” she screamed at me.

“I’m just calling it like I see it,” I said methodically. “The truth is that you can’t talk about anything else even if you wanted to. You’re dead on the inside.”

With those words she stormed off in a towering rage. I watched her nearly bowl over two freshmen and then scream at them for getting in her way.

“Hee hee, it looks like I touched a nerve,” I said to myself. She hates it when I challenged her way of thinking. I was smiling so hard my cheeks were hurting. Trolling Carina was always fun, but I knew everything I said was the truth. Mateo and Alicio had similar conversations with her, but I took it one step further. She lived a pathetic existence and I’m pretty sure most of the student body lived the exact same way. What will it take for it to sink into Carina’s thick skull? Unbelievable…

I continued on to the greenhouses and felt a sigh of a relief when I went through the doors. Ever since I found this place during the first week of school, I made a point of coming here as much as I could. It was my little peaceful place. The Horticulture Club and the different science clubs did a great job of taking care of it, but there was so much more they could do with it. I thought of some of the experiments my dad did with plants back home and imagined doing something like that here. I once told Miguela about proposing this idea to the science clubs, but they wouldn’t care. They would probably only be interested in doing their same old experiments and just go through the motions—not truly interested in helping the environment at all. I took a deep breath and tried not to let myself get annoyed over the people here again. After all, the plants were beautiful even in winter and there was enough humidity for my liking. I decided to settle down on a bench and relax.

“So you finally get here,” said a voice out of nowhere which startled me. I turned around to see Miguela walking towards me from behind one of the little greenhouses. She had taken off her coat and uniform jacket because of the heat but still looked uncomfortably warm as she did the night she came to the daycare with a newly hatched Lucas. So she doesn’t like heat that much. Normally I would’ve found a little Miguela fact like that cute, but I was still mad with her.

“Huh, I see my morning is just getting more and more interesting,” I said. “Did you come all this way to talk to me?”

“Yes,” she said simply, but then she faltered as though she lost her nerve.

I smiled at her in response. “Well?”

Instead of finishing what she was going to say, she took a deep breath and looked intently as though she were sizing me up. That was something I’d never seen her do before. I’ve seen her put up her cold, aloof façade, but when her guard was down, she always seemed just a little unsure of herself. Not this time; she looked as though she were seeing me clearly for the first time. My smile wavered under her gaze.

“Akira…how could you?” How did she manage to make those words sound so…confrontational?

I wasn’t backing down though. “What? Tell you the truth?”

“No, be as big a jerk as Carina yesterday,” she corrected me.

I couldn’t help it. I rolled my eyes in complete frustration. “Miguela, you’re being ridiculous yet again. I used the same tone of voice when I called you out for being a selfish twit when Lucas got sick—

“And you apologized for being harsh when Quinn and Alicio called you out on it—

“And I noticed you didn’t get upset with me then,” I said heatedly. “I regret apologizing for that. I’m not making the same mistake this time.”

We glared at each other for several seconds. Neither one of us was about to yield this time. I took the initiative to go first.

“One day you’ll see how stupid it is to give in to these people,” I spat. “One day you and this entire school will see I’m right!”

There, I finally said it. I thought back to the first week of school when Alicio asked me why I came to this school. Yes, I picked it because it was good for academics, but it was more than that. This school was toxic and destructive and I wanted to make an impact. Meanwhile, a look of great clarity crossed Miguela’s face…was she seeing my point now?

“So that’s it. You don’t care about anything except to prove yourself right in the most arrogant way possible. I was so stupid to think you actually cared,” she added

“I—what? Don’t change the subject! This isn’t about me!”

“And for your information I do see how stupid it was for letting those people get to me,” she continued. “Quinn, Alicio, Anastasio, and Esmeralda helped me see that by being good friends which is more than I can say for you.”

“So you want me to sugarcoat things for you?” I said to her.

Miguela started to say something but then thought better of it. She just shook her head. “You know what? I’m done. I don’t know why you’re acting like this, but it’s not my problem…”

She gathered up her things and walked right past me out of the greenhouse. Well...that didn’t go according to plan. I just stood there for a solid three minutes in a daze before the bell for homeroom brought be back to reality.

As my anger ebbed away, I just felt very confused. I was so stupid to think you actually cared. She really believed that? If I didn’t care I wouldn’t bother pushing her and Quinn to be more confident in their abilities…but even as I thought those words doubt crept in but I wasn’t sure exactly why. I shook the uncertainty off. After all, if Miguela knew some of the stuff I was up to, she certainly wouldn’t think I didn’t care. I trudged my way to homeroom because I definitely didn’t want detention for tardiness. I had better things to do with my time.

Neither Miguela nor Alicio even looked my way in homeroom as expected. Carina was typing away on her laptop which was an improvement over her glaring at me I suppose. I wondered if she was still getting that poor girl to do her pre-calc work; the video was still saved on my phone and I entertained the idea of using it to get her into trouble like Quinn wanted to. But alas, I was still as mystified by the girl’s secret as I was back then. I thought that her family could be involved and since then I’ve become even surer of that. Aside from Karyme I tutored a few other people (in secret unfortunately), and they let slip some interesting stuff that would put some reality shows to shame. I probably could find out more stuff from the Black Hole but no... That place is a cesspool for repressed students.

I did have something to look forward to after school though. Getting to talk to real teenagers for a change was pretty awesome especially at this point. The thought of it kept me going because school was even more tedious than usual. Oh, and during third period I found out what Carina was doing on her laptop. She was writing an open letter chastising students about letting distractions get in the way of school work. Of course. To spice it up, she didn’t just take a subtle dig at Miguela and me, oh no. She mentions us by name as being bad examples for the student body…oh for crying out LOUD. This stupidity is killing me.

I got a slight reprieve at lunch time when, to my surprise, Quinn decided to join me. I caught Alicio glaring at me for a split second and I smirked. It’s not my fault he still hasn’t asked her to the dance. Seriously how long has it been now? I don’t know what he’s worried about anyway; we’re definitely not interested in each other.

“You mean they won’t disown you for joining me?” I asked Quinn wryly.

“Miguela said her issues with you had nothing to do with us. Plus she figured you’d get bored and lonely by yourself,” she told me.

Normally I would’ve made a comment about not needing anyone’s pity, but I was ever so slightly impressed with Miguela. She proved that she wasn’t a petty person at least.

“Wow,” I said. “Okay, I know Alicio is still pissed off at me, but what about Anastasio and Esmeralda?”

Quinn shrugged. “Well, they aren’t as mad.”

I gave a short laugh, but I felt another stab of doubt. Esmeralda was a sensible person, so her being even a little upset made me second guess myself. Regardless of my shameful need for validation, I kept the conversation with Quinn light. I made no mention of what happened yesterday because that would’ve just made her feel awkward. I was too appreciative of her company to rock the boat. As lunch ended, I asked her if she would like to come with me after school, but she said she was spending time with her family.

I had biology after lunch and it wasn’t as action packed as you’d think considering I shared a lab table with Carina. It was slightly curious though. We were learning about the nervous system and while we were taking notes, I saw Carina start a really good sketch of the human brain with the grooves and everything. Lesser mortals probably wouldn’t have been able to pay attention to the class while doing such a detailed drawing, so I had to admire her ability to multitask. After the lecture when we broke to finish a worksheet in pairs, I brought it to her attention.

“Huh, so you are good at something else,” I said. “That drawing looks really good.”

“Sometimes it’s easier to understand when I draw it myself,” she said almost absentmindedly. Then her face froze as though she realized what she was actually saying. Her usual scowl had returned. “I mean in this case, it was easier to take notes using my own drawings. This material isn’t difficult at all.”

“I wasn’t questioning your intelligence,” I teased her. “I was just noting your artistic ability. Do you draw anything else?”

“Of course not! I already told you things like that are merely distractions just this morning. Why are we even having this conversation? We need to focus on our work!”

Well, well, well, so Carina did have other things she was good at. Too bad her obvious talent was being wasted with her academics first mentality so my point about her being dead on the inside still stands. I didn’t bug her about it again, and she was careful not to draw anything else in front of me.

The rest of the day was pretty uneventful. Alicio and Miguela continued to ignore me in the classes we had together and that suited me just fine. Anastasio and Esmeralda were...polite in Pre-calc II. I admit it was very lonely not having anyone to talk to. For the first time today, a little part of me wished I had lied to Miguela just so I wouldn’t have to be in this situation. My mother always said there were consequences for standing firm in your beliefs. I’ll take this as practice for worse things to come when I get older.

I was relieved when the final bell rung. I gathered up my stuff and quickly left school. I felt even more distant from my classmates than usual. Maybe Carina was right and I didn’t need any help turning everyone against me...I’ve never felt so emotionally confused in my life. Why was I even caring right now? It’s not like anyone outside of my group of friends ever really liked me in the first place. I thought back to the first week when Quinn and I only had each other to talk to. She’s branched out a lot even if she doesn’t realize it.

I realize that I haven’t branched out. Yeah, I have my tutoring thing, but that really doesn’t count because I still wasn’t friends with them really. And that was mostly because they were more interested in not failing and getting in hot water with their parents as a result. Only Karyme has really gotten it; she wasn’t here today because of a class related trip but I would be tutoring her tomorrow morning before classes began.

My brain was still in a fog to the point where I was not even paying attention during my trip to Rocoso. Looking back I should’ve been fortunate that I got on the right trolley. I almost missed my stop and I earned a dirty look from the driver for asking to stop at the last second. I hope that wasn’t an omen that the rest of my day was going to suck as well, but I laughed off that fear. I always had fun here.

I walked through the front doors of the school and walked down a hallway I’d travelled three times before. It was certainly a different world than Veilstone High. The left side was mostly taken up by a pretty awesome mural of a Lucario using Aura Sphere while the right wall was filled with photographs of famous trainers and their Pokémon. Under a section simply entitled champions, I came across a picture of Carmen Lopez and Blaziken, both of them as coolly intimidating as they were when I first met them at the end of the semester.

They weren’t in the stadium this time around; instead they were hanging out in what they called the Quad—an odd named since the area was five sided. A large Torterra was snoozing in a corner and was completely oblivious to the group of little children using him as a playground. I quickly found Mateo, Mimi, and Marshall surrounded by a small group. There was Chase Navarro whose hair was now orange and a strawberry blonde girl who had modified her uniform by adding a pink petticoat to her skirt and wore pink, lacy knee high socks and high heeled Mary Jane shoes, and other cutesy accessories. I’m pretty sure she was from Chase’s clique but I didn’t know her name. I also didn’t know the other boy and girl though who appeared to have just joined them.

The new guy looked at Mimi curiously. “He seems a little runty for an Infernape. Does that affect him too much?”

But Mateo didn’t get a chance to answer. At the word ‘he’ Mimi merely looked appalled but when he said ‘runty,’ she snapped. Mimi nearly knocked the guy’s head off with a slap across the face. For a few seconds he was stunned into complete silence. Everyone nearly fell over each other laughing while Mimi still looked furious. I probably shouldn’t have been as amused as I was. I mean, would we be laughing if a male Infernape had slapped a girl or something? I say that in spite of the fact that Carina and Miguela have both also slapped and shoved me on different occasions as well and I just laughed it off.

Anyway, new guy finally got his voice back and his expression turned into outrage “What was that for!?”

It took a while for Mateo to stop laughing before he finally caught his breath. “Well she doesn’t like being mistaken for a boy and she hates being called a runt even more because she has a complex about her height. Also how many boys have you met named Mimi?”

“Okay, okay! But did she really have to hit me so hard?”

“What can I say? She has her pet peeves just like anyone else,” Mateo said in amusement. “It looks like we still have a ways to go on the anger management there, Mimi.” He added and she snorted in annoyance.

The strawberry blonde girl looked at me with a sweetly curious expression. “And who do we have here?” she asked in a girlish voice. Was this girl made of sugar or something?

“Oh right! I haven’t introduced you,” Mateo said. “Everyone this is Akira. He’s one of the few cool people at Veilstone High.” And everyone laughed again.

They all took turns introducing themselves to me. Diabeetus girl was named Laura Madison and she was indeed in Chase’s clique. Shaggy haired Amir Thomas was the one whom Mimi slapped. He had modified his uniform by adding different patches to his jacket. And finally there was Carmela Gonzalez, a black girl with long purple hair in a braid down her back. She had these odd contacts that made her eyes look very round; she resembled an anime character. Her skirt was a bit shorter than normal and she wore black thigh high boots. Like Laura, she won’t exactly be hard to forget.

“Whose Torterra is that?” I asked as I glanced at the still sleeping Pokémon in corner. Now the little girls were drawing on one of his feet with chalk.

“He’s mine,” Marshall said in a calm voice. “His name is Laurence von Schroeder, but you can just call him Laurence. My starter and my strongest Pokémon, but as you can see he’s pretty chill.”

“Pretty lazy is more like it,” Mateo scoffed. “I’m still amazed that you managed to get him motivated. But then you always did have the patience of a saint.”

“You’re no slouch yourself,” Marshall said. “I mean, you had to deal with Addison and all.”

“And still dealing,” sighed Mateo.

For a time I just sat there and listened to the conversation and enjoyed it, contributing little. Not one person mentioned standards, tests, or homework. Instead, music, art, videogames, books and Pokémon dominated the talk here. All of them had different things they liked. Amir had his guitar which he played for us to help practice for a show. Carmela was in her school’s choir and she complained because the board in charge of regionals wouldn’t allow her to have purple hair. Meanwhile Laura was making plans to go to Canalave City for spring break for a fashion show. Chase, Marshall, and Mateo continued to talk Pokémon battles—apparently Chase had challenged Marshall and was once again brutalized pretty badly. When it was time to share my hobbies, I told them all about my interest in conservation.

Yes, everything was going along swimmingly and I was having a good time just talking to normal people. But then I noticed that Laura kept looking at me as though she were trying to figure something out.

“Um, what’s wrong?” I asked her.

“I…” she began but a look of great realization broke across her face. “Oh! Oh! Oh! I remember where I read your name!”

“Wait, what?” Where could she have possible read my name before?

“It was on the Black Hole—Veilstone’s gossip site! Apparently this girl Carina thinks you’re ruining the school for life with your…what did she call it now? Oh right, your “unwillingness to abide by standards set in place to ensure academic excellence.”

I groaned while everyone else laughed in a “is this actually serious” of way.

Chase meanwhile just looked incredulous. “Laura, are you kidding me? I know you’re aware of just about all the gossip at this school, but at Veilstone as well?”

“The Black Hole is like a train wreck I can’t stop watching,” she said. “But I think this morning was my last time reading. I don’t think I can stomach anymore…”

“You mean you found a piece of gossip too scandalous even for you?” said Carmela jokingly.

Laura nodded and her eyes grew wide. “Actually yes. A lot of the school decided to ostracize this girl just for missing a day to take care of her sick Pokémon. The stuff they were saying was really mean.”

It felt like I had swallowed a brick. I so did not want this to spoil my good mood. It was so uncomfortable that I just wished I could change the subject.

“Wait,” Mateo said sharply. “Was it Miguela Cruz?”

“How did you know?” Laura asked. “Do you read the Black Hole too?”

“I’d rather shoot myself,” said Mateo flatly. “No, she’s a friend of Akira and my brother. Speaking of, Akira why didn’t you drag her here? We would’ve definitely have tried to cheer her up.”

Remember how I said that Esmeralda’s disapproval made me feel a bit ill at ease? Well, this time I completely lost my nerve under Mateo’s green eyed gaze. “I’m surprised Alicio didn’t tell you already.” I mumbled to attempt to shift some of the weight off of me.

“I haven’t been home in a week so I don’t know what’s going on with Alicio…” Mateo said, “although I imagine he helped in his own way. Alicio definitely knows how to be supportive with people he cares about….”

I think that brick in my stomach just gained about fifteen pounds.

“I wonder if they’re free right now,” Mateo continued. He pulled his cell phone out of his pocket. “I could call and see.”

“Wait, no!” I said way louder than I intended. Everyone including Mimi stared. Even Laurence opened one eye before promptly going back to sleep. “I mean, she’s busy right now…”

I couldn’t believe I was acting so irrationally! Miguela had already proven she wasn’t a petty person so I knew she would’ve only politely turned Mateo down and moved on without even mentioning my name. What was I doing? I hated this feeling. I knew I stood my ground, so…

Was there a possibility that I was wrong?

I think Mateo had caught on that something was off, but he decided to spare me in front of the rest of group. “Good point. I doubt us interrupting her study time would make her feel better.”

After a brief chat about how awful Veilstone High students were, the conversation turned back to normal. But I was very uneasy now. I considered getting up and just leaving, but something held me there—perhaps it was the knowledge that it was time to face the music. Every so often Mateo would glance at me and reaffirm that feeling. The group of small children had dwindled down to two as their guardians came one by one to collect them. An hour passed and Chase, Amir, Laura, and Carmela decided it was time for them to leave.

“Hey, maybe we’ll get to see you in a couple of days,” Carmela said. “Practice for regionals will be held at Veilstone High so I’ll be there!”

“Cool!” I said with smile I hoped didn’t look as forced as it actually was. I watched her call for the two remaining children who turned out to be her younger brother and sister. They ran over to her and she took them by the hand.

After everyone was long out of earshot, Mateo turned to me and said. “Akira I didn’t think anything other than needles could make you come undone like that. Now what really happened between you and Miguela?”

I smiled grimly. “We aren’t on speaking terms right now because we had a…disagreement.”

“Disagreement,” Mateo repeated. “Okay, I guess that means you need to start at the beginning.”

And so I recounted the whole story from when she called me in a panic about Lucas getting sick and me calling her out on being a selfish twit, to me getting angry at her letting Carina and the rest of the school get to her the day after, and finally to our last conversation earlier today. As my story was going along, Mateo, Marshall, and Mimi looked more and more and incredulous.

“Oh, and the best part? Miguela honestly thinks I don’t care about the people I try to help.” I shook my head. “I can’t believe her.”

“And I can’t believe you,” Mateo said. “Dude…”

“I…thought I was standing up for what I believed was right,” I said. “So why do I feel like I did the wrong thing?”

“Um…well. Because you did do the wrong thing,” Marshall said.

“But she knows better,” I said in frustration—the last vestige of my stubbornness and pride. “The school is a joke but she’s still letting it get to her.

“Believe me, Akira, I see where you’re coming from,” Mateo said. “But the bottom line is that she was really hurt and needed a friend and you just brushed off her feelings.”

She was really hurt. Finally those words sunk in and I felt nothing but shame. Yesterday, she was standing right in front of me clearly upset and she told me how scared she was…and I told her to get over herself. Today she tried to be open and honest with me again and I let my ego run amuck. “All I wanted to do was to show this stupid school that focusing so much on academics and nothing else was the wrong way…so how did I…”

“Become the different side to the same coin?” Marshall suggested. “Not pretending to know you or anything, but that’s what it sounds like to me.”

I let those words marinate for a little while. “I don’t know how it came to that,” I finally said. “It started off being fun, and I mean I still have fun trolling Carina—

“Perfectly understandable,” Mateo and Marshall said simultaneously.

“—But somehow I ended up being warped by this school. I honestly have no idea how that happened.”

Mateo shrugged. “It doesn’t matter how right you are when you’re arrogant. I didn’t know you had it in you honestly.”

And there was silence again. Yes, that was the answer: my own arrogance had corrupted me. I remembered when Alicio told me that if I was provoking people as a joke, it wouldn’t end well and he was right. At the time I ignored him because I was having fun trolling people to prove a point. My intentions were good, but I was too caught up to realize that no one else saw that…I shook my head at the revelation.

“Where did this wisdom come from?” I asked Mateo and Marshall. “Are seventeen year olds supposed to be this mature?”

“Travelling forces you to grow up faster,” Marshall said.

“And learning from personal experience doesn’t hurt either,” said Mateo sagely. “If it makes you feel any better I was the same way with regards to travelling and Pokémon training. I was so convinced that my way was right, I never considered that it wasn’t the lifestyle for everyone. You gotta be willing to see things from other viewpoints…”

“Gotcha,” I said. “But I don’t think I’ll ever agree to how Veilstone High operates.”

“Oh, no. Veilstone High sucks so you don’t have to agree…” Mateo said. “You just have to show them a better way without being so conceited.”

“That’ll be a challenge,” I said.

Mateo looked at his Pokétch. “Huh, I didn’t realize it was so late. I need to get something to eat… Do you want to come with us?”

“Nah, I have to get back to help my aunt and uncle and then study,” I replied.

The wind began to pick up as we parted ways. I remembered that the meteorologist told us to expect snow overnight. Geeze, could spring just get here already? I randomly thought of Miguela making fun of me for hating this weather so much and smiled to myself. Earlier today I couldn’t wait for the end of the school day and now I eagerly awaited my return. This time it was my turn to eat some humble pie…maybe Miguela will go easy on me and it won’t taste so bad.

~ ~ ~

The next morning I was awakened not by my alarm, but by the sound of scuffling and thumps. I sat bolt upright and looked around wildly into the darkness to see the silhouette of two figures wrestling around. The groan escaped my mouth before I knew it. I flipped the light switch on, and sure enough, my Treecko Ryoma and my Ralts Izumi were going at it yet again. Instead of immediately intervening, I just stared at the scene. Izumi was playing keep away with Ryoma’s toy and she was doing a pretty impressive job for a Pokémon that wasn’t supposed to be the physical type.

Ryoma attempted to go in for a head butt, but Izumi skillfully teleported away and Ryoma ending up hitting my futon instead. Izumi cackled while Ryoma went after her again, undaunted by his collision. Those two didn’t even realize a) that I was awake or b) that the lights were on. I cleared my throat loudly to make my wakefulness known.

“I thank you two for being my wake up committee,” I said sarcastically. “Izumi, give it back. Now.”

She looked sheepish as she passed the toy back to Ryoma.

“And Ryoma don’t you dare retaliate. You two have done enough for the morning.” I said before another fracas could break out. I rubbed my eyes and looked at my clock and saw that it was fifteen minutes till my alarm was supposed to go off. There was no time to get back to sleep, so I went ahead and got ready for school. Miguela would be here soon, and I would offer to apologize then. But I received a surprise when I took Ryoma and Izumi to be with the other Pokémon—Lucas was already there.

Sensing my confusion, my aunt Yume said, “Miguela arrived early this morning. She said she had a lot of work to do and wanted to get to school as soon as possible.”

Yeah right. She wanted to avoid me, and this time she succeeded. I don’t even want to think about what time she had to have gotten up to get here so early. She couldn’t get away from me forever though. There was homeroom and all the other classes we had together…not to mention the Ambassador’s Club meeting after school today where we would be finalizing our itinerary for the trip to Unova. As I thought about it, I realized that if she indeed had a lot to do this morning, after the meeting would be the best chance to talk and make amends. Ugh, that meant I would spend another day only wishing for school to be over…

After I finally arrived at Veilstone High, I found myself a lot more aware of my peers than usual. Normally I completely ignored them, but this time I caught snatches of their conversations. Grades, school work, the Culture Festival, and the dance dominated the discussion, but I perked up when I heard Miguela’s name from two people who were close by.

“Did you see how early Miguela got to school today?” said the girl with the black hair.

“Oh I definitely saw,” her blonde friend said. “Do you think she spent more time goofing off with her Pokémon to get all of her studying done?”
They both laughed at their own terrible assumption. I walked over to them and kindly pointed out the obvious hypocrisy.

“And why were you two here so early? Did you also have trouble finishing up all your work?”

Both girls looked at me in shock. “Who do you think you are, loser?” they said in unison.

I raised an eyebrow. “I never brag about grades, but I think the situation calls for it this time. I think I’m the guy who has scored number one on all of your stupid tests since school started…and I think Miguela tied with me this time around. What do your scores look like?”

That shut them up immediately. The black haired one tried to come up with another argument but utterly failed. I thought the other one looked impressed for just the briefest second. Heh.

“I’m just messing with you,” I informed them. “You really shouldn’t put so much stock in test scores. When will you guys learn? Also, have some fun. I promise it’ll help you out….” I said. It was my attempt at being a little less…abrasive. At least, I don’t think there was sarcasm in my voice. At any rate the girls looked confused for a second before awkwardly walking away.

Unfortunately that proved to be the only exciting part of my day. Classes were tougher than usual because we were heading towards midterms which were only the warm-ups for the big tests at the end of the year. We’re up to our necks in quizzes, tests, quizzes, and more tests and I suspect that more than a few are pretty close to drowning even if they’re good at hiding it. It makes for a pretty boring day to describe though. Once again, my only reprieve was lunch time when Quinn joined me. I told her about yesterday when I was finally brought to my senses and my plans to make amends.

“Well, that’s a relief,” Quinn said. “I miss us all being together.”

I sighed. “Yeah, I do too. I just hope she accepts.”

“I don’t think you have to worry.”

When I thought about those words afterward, I realized I was more concerned that things would be awkward between Miguela and me. She hadn’t even looked my way at all today despite the classes we had together. That was a little understandable because we were working from the beginning to the end of class. Shoot even Carina didn’t bother to glare at me. I still think she was miffed about me noticing her drawing yesterday, but that’s a whole different story.

Once again, I was happy to hear the final bell ring. I was the first person in the meeting room which never happens. Usually I was the last person strolling in and everyone was pissed off even though I was still technically fifteen minutes early. They respected Miguela and hated me—the usual. This time was different though. After what happened two days ago, I wondered if the other ambassadors would give her a hard time. The seniors were the next to arrive and they looked incredibly stressed out. Like, bags under the eyes stressed out. They paid no attention to me and immediately took out their notes to start studying and not wasting a second of time. I thought senior year was supposed to be easy… Yeesh. The juniors also took out textbooks to read and they only looked slightly less harried. So it was going to be that kind of meeting.

Miguela finally arrived and took her place next to me as my fellow sophomore ambassador. She had a quiet sort of self-confidence about herself that I’ve always wanted her to have. I guess I did help her to achieve it but not in the way I wanted… She took out her laptop and starting working as well. I didn’t try to talk to her and left her to it. Once the freshmen and our advisor arrived, we began the meeting.

“This meeting will be very brief because you have plenty of work to do,” said Mr. Varranos, the leader of the English department. He was an older man in his early sixties with hair that was somehow still mostly black even though he didn’t seem the type that would dye it. He was impeccable and was likely one of the toughest teachers here. “The seniors have taken the liberty to create an itinerary for our visit to Castelia City,” he said as pulled it up on the projector. “I’ve sent it out to our hosts so that we’re on the same page.”

I facepalmed at the horror of it all. Instead of seeing some of the awesome sites around the city…we would be mostly attending school. And not even a cool university either, but our hosts’ high school. The stupid seniors only did this to ensure that they would have as much time to study as possible on this trip which now seemed pointless. Also isn’t your host supposed to be setting our schedule for us? Ugh, Veilstone High presumption at its best. This trip was going to blow and I don’t quite know why I expected otherwise. However I received a surprise as Miguela raised her hand.

“Yes, Ms. Cruz?” Mr. Varranos said. The seniors and juniors glared at her for making the meeting longer than it had to be.

“Sir, I’ve been emailing our hosts in Castelia City, and they had a few suggestions about the schedule that I think would be important to consider,” she said. “They would like to show us the culture of their city by taking us to the Castelia Gym and to a street fair that will be happening while we’re there. They also tentatively mentioned traveling to Nimbasa on our last day to have some fun there.”

“No, no, no,” snapped one of the senior ambassadors, a guy named Vicente. “This is not a pleasure trip. We’re going on business to show them how efficient we are and to foster a relationship between our two schools which will help us form networks as adults.”

“Perhaps you really haven’t learned your lesson from your indiscretion after all, Miguela,” said Lily, a junior ambassador. “Stop focusing on your distractions and keep your mind on what’s important.”

“I am focusing on what’s important,” Miguela said coolly. “I focused on the fact that no one else in this group bothered to contact them as a show of goodwill and we’ll be continuing in our poor taste if we aren’t open to their ideas. Oh, and I’m not sure what reality you live in, but networking isn’t only done in school or at work but during recreational activities as well. I’m surprised you didn’t know that. I mean, don’t your fathers go golfing?”

Silence all around. Well dang. Was that Miguela showing some backbone? To her classmates? It looks like she really has turned the corner now and I have to say that I like the results. Lily and Vicente still looked pissed off, but everyone else including Mr. Varranos seemed intrigued. He cleared his throat and spoke.

“Well, Ms. Cruz, it appears that you’ve really put some time and thought into representing our school well to our hosts. By chance, have you drafted an alternative schedule for us?”

“Our hosts and I have, yes,” she said with a slight smile. Mr. Varranos allowed her to take over the projector and she displayed the revised schedule for the class. This one was far more manageable than the last one and included open breaks so the seniors could get their precious study time. We’d have time for the street fair, the gym, and even dinner on a ship that sailed around Castelia. Wow. On the business side of things, we’d get to talk to some university faculty and students to learn what it took to succeed in college. If we didn’t get a chance to make it to Nimbasa City, we would instead visit Unity Tower which honestly sounded just as fun because of its international flavor. Now this was kind of trip I had in mind. It’s a shame that the rest of the ambassadors and I left Miguela to do it pretty much on her own.

We all took a vote to decide which schedule we wanted. Only Vicente voted against the revised schedule because even Lily reluctantly agreed to it. Everyone else was a bit more enthusiastic but the freshmen seemed really excited—especially Cristina Gomez, the black girl with braided hair. If I could pick out another ambassador who had a chance to not get roped into the Veilstone Way, it would be her. She would try to fit in because she was a silly freshmen but I could look in her hazel eyes every once in a while and see that she wasn’t feeling it. I always doubted she would make a stand so I kept my distance. Maybe this trip would change her mind. With our decision finalized, Mr. Varranos adjourned the meeting.

As the classroom emptied out, I pulled Miguela to the side. “Miguela wait.”

She looked up at me and I could tell that she noted the apprehension in my voice. “Yes?”

I shook my head. She wasn’t giving me any leeway at all so I took that as my cue to continue. “Look,” I sighed. “I’m sorry for the way I treated you. I was a total douche for not being there for you. At the very least I could’ve helped you badmouth Carina or something.”

That remark made her expression brighten just a little. “Apology accepted, but what made you change your mind? Yesterday morning, you seemed gung ho about not giving in.”

“To put it simply, I took a trip to Rocoso yesterday and Mateo and Marshall helped me to see just how arrogant I was,” I said as I looked into Miguela’s green eyes. Her beauty gave me pause before I recovered. “I couldn’t believe what I’d turned into. All I wanted to do was show this school a better way and I ended up becoming a jerk.”

“In this case, two wrongs don’t make a right. Your arrogance only makes them more stubborn so you could never show them anything,” said Miguela.

“I see that it’s still possible though,” I said. “You had a major victory today when you got them to agree to the alternate schedule. We’re going to be doing some legitimately cool things.”

“It’s all in the art of compromise like my parents told me,” Miguela said. “Wanting academic success isn’t wrong in and of itself, but we took it too far…that’s something Alicio and I learned from you.”

“Mateo said I had to show people a better way without being conceited,” I mumbled.

“Well, yeah,” Miguela said. “Like I said, it’s the art of compromise. For example, you said you wanted to see more done with the greenhouses. Well, frame it in a way that would appeal to us.”

“And how would I do that?”
“Say… by allowing more student run experiments in the greenhouses, we could give Veilstone High students more of a competitive edge in university science programs.”

“That sounds really good,” I said as I sat up straight. “In fact, it makes me wonder why this school hasn’t thought of that before.”

Miguela smiled. “While this school is undoubtedly good, it’s not that great at creativity so it ends up being stuck in a rut. People just study for tests, but don’t think outside of what’s possible because it’s just easier not to.”

“Whoa,” I said in shock. That was pretty profound. She’s really changed…but even as I thought those words, I realized that was wrong. It was in her all along and getting herself out from under Carina’s thumb released it…

“Don’t look so surprised,” she said. “You said that this school’s pressure cooker environment was detrimental to students because of the obvious stress. But I realized that’s not the only reason why it’s bad…” Miguela looked up at me with those clear green eyes. “Don’t get a swelled head, but you were right about this school needing to be stirred up. Just don’t be so…obnoxious about it to everyone.”

I looked at her smugly. “Well, I’ll see what I can do. I can’t make any promises you know.”

We both laughed. Truth be told, I was highly impressed with Miguela. She knew how this school worked and she knew how to make my ideas appeal to the people. I think we could really change things here if we worked together…

“Miguela?”

“Yes?” she said as she looked up from what she was reading.

“Do you want to go to the dance with me?”

She looked at me in surprise. “What? All I’ve heard you say about the dance was how stupid it was going to be.”

“Compromise, remember? So…is it a date?”
She tried to keep from smiling but failed. “Yes, I’ll go with you.”

“Excellent.”

OOC: This is 18 pages long. I don't know how that happened.

 

[Psycho Monkey]

*Declares himself captain of the MiguelAkira ship*

*Ahem* This is a very solid chapter Carmen and very much worth the wait. What's ten months when you get this level of quality as reward for your patience? I'll take 18 dense pages of greatness over five pages that can called mediocre at best any day.

I had always liked Akira and seeing him get such significant character development this chapter was such a great feeling. And seeing Miguela finally standing firm and doing what's best for her and everyone else is really refreshing as well. I can't wait to see the kinds of things those two can accomplish working together! ♥

Even if it takes you another whole year to give us the next entry I know it will be worth it to see those two conquer the school! Keep up the good work!

 

[Cycloneblaze]

Reminding me that I still have to re-read this... I think I recalled previous events, just. Also, has it been ten months? :x

 

[Carmen Lopez]

Unfortunately yes. It's been a pretty difficult ten months as well what with the area over graduate school that contributed to a massive writer's block. I apologize for that...

 

[Luckii]

Aww yiss. Motha. Fookin'. Veilstone Diaries.

CHARACTER DEVELOPMEEEEENT!

Very, very impressed by this one. You've fleshed out Akira a bit more, which is definately a good thing, because he was getting borderline Sue-esque (tall, attractive foreign guy with ultra-impressive grades, a rebellious streak and a daycare centre). This is definately a positive move in the right direction (y'know, more in the right direction than it already was). It's nice to see one of the main protags be an arsehole and get their just deserts once in a while.

You take as long as you have to on these chapters, Carmi. If the rest are up to this standard, I'm willing to wait decades for them!

 

[Cycloneblaze]

Unfortunately yes. It's been a pretty difficult ten months as well what with the area over graduate school that contributed to a massive writer's block. I apologize for that...

This chapter is reward enough, don't worry.

 

[Carmen Lopez]

OOC: I was stuck all day at home yesterday with no internet and no cable which effectively killed any plans I had for that day. So what's a girl to do? Well, celebrate the end of the summer semester by working on her long neglected fic! But first, here's something a little different:

A single tear rolled down the face of Amanda Diaz as she sat shivering on her bed. Her coat, scarf, hat, gloves and boots were warm but they only helped so much.The house was freezing cold, but asking Mother to turn on the heat was out of the question—she was in enough trouble as it was. Her third bad grade… The first two had been horrible enough with her mother coming to scream at her in front of her classmates and then being forced to exercise until she threw up. Amanda couldn’t imagine what would happen to her now. Mother wasn’t the only one who would punish her; Carina would be sure to tell her how stupid she was for failing easy assignments. Everything was a lot easier when Ana, Mother’s personal assistant, was around to help her with her homework. But since she quit and moved away…

She thought about how Frankie would play with his brothers and how María and her sister would go to the park and have fun together. She wished she could do that with Carina, but she always said there was too much to do to waste time like that… At times she dreamed that her eldest sister Salisha would come to take her away from here. She didn’t remember eldest sister much or even what she looked like, but she remembered that Salisha was kinder than Carina and never yelled at her. But she knew that Salisha would never come because Mother hated her.

Amanda looked at the grade on her vocabulary test and it sent a new wave of goose bumps over her. There was no way she could face Mother and Carina. Without thinking, she jumped off her bed and began shoving a few clothes and her tablet into a backpack. Fortunately it wasn’t snowing so it wouldn’t be hard to see. She conjured up the directions in her head: down past the art studio and then a left on Piney Street. Mother and Carina were pre-occupied downstairs trying to talk to Father over the phone so she had a chance to slip out the back door unnoticed. The air was colder out here than inside her house and she felt a sense of absolute terror, but there was no turning back. Amanda set off to her destination and hoped she wouldn’t be kidnapped along the way.

Quinn: Culture Festival Prologue
​

Dear Diary, there is much to talk about…

Seriously, there was a ton of stuff going aside from the usual Veilstone High shenanigans. We were in the final stages of preparation for the Culture Festival! It took a lot more work than I thought it would. You see, while I assumed that the students here didn’t put much stock in the arts, I came to the realization that things were more complicated than I thought. There’s no question that academics are king here, the students do participate in a few artistic endeavors to make themselves look good on a college application. Their interests mostly revolved around the classical arts—particularly music and dance, which were seen as refined and tasteful. As film students, we were definitely the outliers. Ever since my encounter with that staff lady the first week, I knew very well that school saw film as a frivolous pursuit. I found out later that the class always in danger of being cut and that this could be it.

The idea weight heavily on our minds as we considered the, uh, nature of our film. Anastasio, Esmeralda, and I realized that our film could backfire spectacularly and spell the end for film at Veilstone High. True, no one was likely to miss it except us, but still. Anastasio has toyed with the idea of doing film as a career and I certainly wanted to explore it more… Alas, there was no going back now. Our movie was made and that was that.

I wasn’t the only one with a lot to do. Miguela and Akira were preparing for their ambassador’s trip next week, but things seem to be going smoothly thanks to Miguela. She’s really changed since she finally broke her friendship with Carina for good. She was a lot more confident than she used to be and a lot happier. Things are better now that she (and eventually Alicio) patched things back up with Akira. And now they were even going to the dance together. I’d tease her about it, but then I’d remember that Alicio still hasn’t asked me to the dance and I got depressed.

The dance was still about two months away, but I was anxious because my crush on Alicio hasn’t decreased in the slightest. Lately however he’s been acting strange—distant almost. It’s a good thing I had the situation with Miguela and Akira to distract me or else I would’ve DIED by now. DIED I tell you. I hate to admit it, but my leaving the table to hang out with Akira that day was less about him and more about just getting away from Alicio.

And so that brings us to this evening. It was going well enough, actually. Miguela decided to stop by so we could study together because in spite of the Cultural Fest we still had work to do. She’d spend the night afterward. My mother was so thrilled that I actually had a friend over that she cooked up an enormous pot of this delicious soup that she hadn’t made since we’d arrived in Sinnoh. I joked that she wanted to impress Miguela but I think she was happy that Miguela was truly my friend. My mom was awesome like that.

For her part, Miguela was an excellent and gracious guest too. She got seconds on the soup and she entertained my sister who was a bit disappointed she hadn’t brought Lucas. Ha, what a drastic difference from my first meeting with her when she had that cold, dead look in her eyes. I knew for a fact that mentioning Akira’s name would make her blush, but I fought the urge…and then Miguela did that intuition thing again. Why did she have to do that intuition thing again?

“So Quinn….” she began in quiet voice. “What’s going on between you and Alicio?”

I sighed deeply and was grateful my mom and sister were out of the room. “I really don’t know.”

I saw Miguela’s face twitch as though she wanted to smile. “You still like him, don’t you?”

“Yes…”

“Then why don’t you ask him to the dance yourself?”

My eyes grew wide. “I-I can’t do that!” I stuttered. “I-I mean if he hasn’t asked me yet, doesn’t that mean he doesn’t like me anymore or something…”

I trailed off as I let the disappointment settle in. Maybe I was mistaken after all. Sure we get along better than ever, but still no invitation to the dance. Miguela only smirked as she returned back to her homework, but before I could question her more, we heard a knock at the door.

Mom and María walked back into the living room. “Who would be visiting at this hour?” Mom said. She looked through the peephole and as she said, “I don’t see anyone,” there was another knock.

Puzzled, she opened the door (way to worry about dwarf axe murderers there, Mom). To our surprise, it was Amanda, Carina’s little sister and María’s best friend, standing there. She was dressed warmly in a coat very similar to the one Carina wore the first day of school. The little girl looked around the room and instantly burst into tears. Actually ‘burst’ into tears doesn’t accurately describe it. She had a complete meltdown and just SOBBED. We stood there like four Stantler in headlights, before Mom got it together and pulled her inside the apartment.

“Honey…what’s wrong?” said Mom as Miguela handed her some tissue so she could wipe her tears away. If nothing else, she wasn’t as cold-hearted as Carina if this is any indication. I don’t know what caused this, but she looked completely devastated.

After about two minutes of crying, she finally spoke up. “I want to stay here,” she said in a small voice.

Suddenly her stomach growled loudly. Even through the tears, she managed to look embarrassed. Time for me to come to the rescue!

“I’ll go heat up the rest of the soup from dinner,” I said. “How does vegetable soup sound?” She nodded even though she still looked miserable.

While I was in the kitchen, Mom had Amanda sit on the couch while María sat beside her. I’m really glad Miguela was here because it turns out that she and Amanda had a better relationship than I’d thought. It obviously must have happened when Carina wasn’t looking.

“M-my mommy is going to kill me,” Amanda said in a shaky voice. “I got another bad grade in class.”

Ooooh boy. My mom tried to comfort her by saying that her mommy wouldn’t be that upset at her; Miguela and I avoided each other’s eyes. In fact, Amanda had probably dug herself into an even deeper hole by running away. I felt a wave of anger toward her mother and Carina and despair toward Amanda. I thought about how badly Carina reacted the first time she got third place and that time she bullied Miguela into staying up late to do math problems just to achieve absolute perfection. I always thought it was stupid because Veilstone High students were stupid, but now it seemed downright scary when you think about a little girl being put under that much pressure. How many Veilstone High students have been put through similar thing as kids? Suddenly it was nothing to laugh about.

I filled up a bowl of soup and grabbed a couple of breadsticks and brought it back to the living room. They had finally got her to stop crying, but her eyes looked really red as like the waterworks would restart at any moment. She did perk up a bit when she saw the food though. I put it on the table in front of her and she knelt down in front of it and started devouring it. I was glad I didn’t make it too hot, but in the back of my mind, I was wondering if they ever fed her…or were they withholding food from her. Oh, why does my brain always go to the worst possible option?

“Miguela, Quinn,” said my mom as she got up from the couch. “Can I talk to you in the back?”

Maria looked a bit scared, but she didn’t say anything. Ugh, she was too smart for her own good. She knew what was coming next <<

When we were in Mom’s bedroom, I said, “Okay so I know we have to call her mother, but do we have to call her mother?”

Mom just gave me a look. “Her mother is probably worried sick about her! Miguela do you have their number?”

I knew Miguela’s hesitation was from all the crap Carina put her through recently. “I have Carina’s number memorized yes, but recently she’s harassed me and had other people send me hounding texts. I don’t want her to have my new number at all. Is there a payphone around here I can use?”

“No, no, that’s not necessary. You’re free to use mine.”

I know the whole ‘getting a bad feeling about stuff’ isn’t really my thing, but I was getting a bad feeling about this. If they were really worried sick, they’d answer any phone number in case it was Amanda trying to call them. Instead, Miguela’s first five calls were rejected—we know because they would ring about three times and then abruptly go to voicemail. Amanda certainly didn’t seem to mind. We heard their laughter from the living room; from the sound of it, they were talking about something funny from school. Finally Miguela decided to send a text instead (I guess we should’ve done that from the start) and that’s when we got a phone call back and it was a doozy. O.o Carina’s mother was practically screaming. No speakerphone needed.

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN AMANDA IS WITH YOU? SHE WAS JUST UPSTAIRS A SECOND AGO. HOW DID SHE GET THERE?” (So much for a hello. And what do you mean ‘a second ago?’)

Miguela rolled her eyes. “She walked? I have no idea how she found her way to here. Maybe she got the address from her friend from school.”

“FRIEND FROM SCHOOL? SO YOU MEAN SHE’S NOT AT YOUR HOUSE? GIVE ME THE ADDRESS NOW.”

All three of us looked genuinely scared at this point, but Miguela obeyed. Carina’s mother hung up without another word.

“At least we can call the police if something happens,” I said in a sad attempt at a joke.

Miguela shook her head. “Ramona is a piece of work. I almost didn’t want to call her either.”

And on that gloomy note we went back to the living room to wait on the inevitable. We had to tell Amanda that we called her mother and she looked deathly afraid at the prospect yet again, but her fear wavered as the minutes ticked by. Miguela told us that Carina’s house was roughly twenty minutes away from us, so why was it taking two hours? Meanwhile María was asking if Amanda could simply stay the night. I didn’t even want to tell her what a bad idea that was, so instead I said,

“I think her mommy would rather have her at home tonight,” I said.

“It is a school night, remember?” Miguela reminded her. I’m glad she backed me up there. There was no way Carina and her mother were going to let Amanda stay here and the night was already bad enough without having to explain that.

While we waited, we played card games to pass the time. Amanda even managed to have a good time and laugh.

“I haven’t been able to play games like this in a long time,” Amanda said a little too enthusiastically.

“Why not?” Mom asked gently.

“Mother and Carina say I don’t have time for silly games because I have a lot to do,” she said as she put down a card. “Violin, piano, pageants, lots of schoolwork. But…I miss playing.”

Dang. I joked that they start them young, but here was conclusive proof. I felt even sorrier for her than I did before…

We were in the middle of our third game when we heard someone bang on the door like they were the police. The smile slid off Amanda’s face and it was replaced with abject terror. Once again, Mom went up and opened the door to reveal the terrible twosome.

As expected, both Carina and Mama Diaz looked absolutely amazing as if they dressed up for the occasion: expensive jeans, designer shirts and shoes, luxurious coats, freshly done hair the whole nine. (Maybe that’s why they took two and a half hours <.<) For a hot second, I wondered what it would be like to have money to spend on clothes like that. I was then very quickly brought back to reality by the fact that Carina and her mother looked positively disgusted. Mrs. Diaz was shaking in anger. Gulp!

She looked to her daughter, down to the card game, and back to her daughter completely enraged. “You little brat!” Mrs. Diaz shrieked. She kinda resembled an angry Fearow. “What do you think you’re doing?!”

She and Carina stomped into our apartment like it was theirs and slammed the door behind them. Carina shot a look at Miguela who countered with her own icy stare. Almost all the color drained out of Amanda’s face. I was half afraid she was going to faint.

“I-I don’t know,” Amanda said, and she burst into tears again. She said something else, but I couldn’t understand a word of it. Apparently Mrs. Diaz did because she looked even more pissed off if that was possible.

Carina strode over and snatched Amanda up by the arm, which made her wince in pain. That’s when my mom stepped in like a boss.

“Stop it!” she said. “You’re hurting her. She’s just upset because of a bad grade she made. I know she scared you to death by running away, but the important thing is that she’s safe now.”

Instead of being concerned at Amanda’s fear and relieved for her safety like normal people, they once again looked even more disgusted. Carina even tightened her grip on her sister’s arm. What was wrong with these people?

“She should be upset,” Carina said. “She’s getting lazy and she’s just looking for somebody’s pity and it looks like you all were dumb enough to give it to her. She’s stupid just like Mother said she was.”

“Exactly,” Mrs. Diaz said as she stared us all down. “Don’t act like you know my daughter better than I do.” She eyed Miguela. “Carina told me what happened between you two. Looking back I should’ve known she was much too good for you. She supported your education and made sure you adhered to a standard. Now look at you.”

“Indeed, look at me,” Miguela said coldly as she looked Mrs. Diaz right in the eye. “I finally feel whole and like myself again. Oh, and not that it really matters, but which one of us has better test scores again?”

Z. Snap.

Maybe it was my imagination, but I saw a spasm of…something cross Carina’s face. Was it anger? Jealousy? Either way, it was gone in an instant. Neither she nor her mother had a response to Miguela’s question, though. Amanda was trying to loosen Carina’s grip on her arm, but Carina shook her instead. The little girl looked so defeated as tears continued to roll down her cheeks.

“I still think you’re blowing this way out of proportion,” Mom said to Mama Diaz. “You two should really lighten up. You’ll all feel better and there won’t be this overwhelming pressure.”

Carina smirked. “No, we thrive on pressure. And Amanda here knows what will happen to her if she can’t handle it.”

Mrs. Diaz exhaled in disgust. “This brat has wasted enough of our time. We’re going home.”

“Wait!” María said. “Can she spend the night? She can come to school with me tomorrow and you—

But the look that Mrs. Diaz gave her made her stop instantly. “Get her bag and let’s get out of dump now before someone steals our car.”

Carina let go of her sister’s arm and shoved her towards their mother. She grabbed Amanda’s book bag and they stormed out of our apartment as quickly as they’d come in. We could hear Amanda’s sobs as they traveled away from us until they finally faded from earshot. All of us just stood in disbelief at what had just happened. María’s crying brought me back. I’ve faced some pretty bad treatment from my Dad’s family before but when I finally told my mom what was happening, she quickly put a stop to it. She felt so guilty that it went on as long as it did, but it wasn’t her fault I was good at hiding stuff back then. Amanda basically had no one to protect her from her family…

My mom picked my sister up and hugged her.

“We’ll send cookies for Amanda tomorrow,” I told her. “You and Frankie just keep being her friend, okay?”

She looked at me tearfully and nodded. In a lot of ways that just made me feel worse. Normally María would’ve protested and asked if she could do more like most idealistic eight year olds would have, but it was like she knew it was totally futile. Wow…

After Mom and María went to bed, Miguela and I talked some more about the situation because I just couldn’t get it out of my head.

“Was it always that bad?” I asked her.

“Yes and no,” Miguela said. Ramona has always been strict and horribly demanding, but Amanda’s already starting to burn out over all the pressure. She expects Amanda to be like Carina who was able to succeed in that environment. And well, it’s really no secret that Carina is the favorite of the three daughters…”

I perked up immediately. “Wait, three!? Since when did Carina get another sister?”

“Oh, that’s right,” said Miguela, “We never told you and Akira about Carina’s older sister.”

“No, you didn’t.” I was amazed.

Miguela sighed deeply. “Her name is Salisha and she’s three years older, so she was before our time at Veilstone High. We thought she was the perfect student, so Carina and I looked up to her. She was never as mean as Carina, but she was still a cold person. Her grades were immaculate and she was in about eight or nine different clubs on top of taking extra classes. She also took cello and etiquette lessons. And she made sure to always look her best doing it.”

I raised an eyebrow. “When did she find time to sleep?”

“Turns out she didn’t sleep a lot of the time.” And when I looked confused, she said, “Boost Shots and pills to stay awake. But it all came to an end the second semester of her junior year. Apparently a class tripped her up and her whole career went down. She just fizzled out. Their mom was furious, but the damage was done. Salisha became an undesirable. She had to transfer to Rocky Pointe High School just to get away from the ridicule. Not too long afterward, their mom kicked her out the house and I really don’t know what she does now. Carina despises her though; the last time we saw her, she threw a drink in her face.”

“Whooooa,” was all I could say. That family was even more messed up than I thought.

“Salisha doesn’t seem as cold now though. She was genuinely concerned about Carina,” Miguela said, breaking the silence. “I’d like to find her, but I have no idea where to even start looking. I don’t even know if she’s even still in Veilstone City.”

“And it’s not like we can ask Carina…” I said.

After that we did a bit more homework before finally going to bed. I thought about the Veilstone students some more. Surely not everyone had upbringings like that. But…maybe a good bit of them did. There was no other way to put it; I was starting to feel sorry for them. After despising them for so long, it was weird to have some sympathy for them. I wonder if this is what Akira felt like after vowing to tone down his smugness. Now one person I didn’t feel sorry for? Carina. She’s able to succeed under the immense pressure and she thrives on making other people feel inadequate because they can’t. The best part of it all is that she’s a hypocrite. I haven’t forgotten that she was also cheating by having others do her work…

And then there was the Culture Festival. I thought about the premise and started to feel sick. Making fun of people seemed fun at the time, but now it seemed childish and in light oh what I just witnessed, it was downright insensitive. But there was no way to back out now…Or was there? I had to explain to Esmeralda and Anastasio how I felt to see if we could possibly change it even though it was at the last minute. Maybe we didn’t necessarily have to reshoot anything, just…alter the tone somehow. After all, we shot and reshot a lot of scenes back when we were trying to decided the direction of our mini-movie. Fortunately most of the ones Esmeralda picked at least showed some restraint so we could use those. For once, Anastasio’s packrat tendencies of never deleting stuff came in handy.

I felt a little better about it, but still I didn’t sleep well; all night Amanda’s crying haunted me. The whole event disturbed me because it reminded me of how mean my relatives were to me. Now I had a term for it: emotional abuse. It’s really too bad you can’t have people arrested over that. I remember my relatives punishing my sister and me over what my father did. Like it was our fault our lying father cheated on his wife at least twice. I remember the one scene at my last piano recital when my aunt yelled at me the same way Amanda’s mother yelled at her. And the names she called me. I haven’t played the piano since because it brings me back to that moment.

Ugh…I turned over onto my stomach and buried my face in the pillow. I did not want to be thinking about this, especially not with the day I had tomorrow. I’d fall asleep eventually but I’d need caffeine to get me up in the morning.

~ ~ ~​

Turns out I didn’t need that caffeine after all. The logistics of fixing our movie came crashing down on me and gave me plenty of adrenaline to wake me up. You could hardly tell I was running off only five hours of sleep. Miguela and I got dressed and headed to school after my mom and sister were gone. When she asked me why I was walking so fast, I broke down and told her about our movie. She was definitely less than impressed, but was glad I was changing it. I think she had gotten tired of the pettiness of this school year. But I knew I was making the right decision. Anastasio wouldn’t be too thrilled about it, but Esmeralda would probably agree with me.

When we got to school, Miguela went to the library while I went off to find Anastasio and Esmeralda. I could’ve texted them, but I knew they would be in the film room. I dashed off in that direction to the disapproval of several seniors. Sure enough there they were; Anastasio was putting on the finishing touches of our movie opening.

“Ta-da!” he said happily. “We are totally finished. I know I said that last week, but this time I promise that I won’t touch it ever again. It’s too perfect—uh oh, what’s wrong?”

I opened my mouth, but I couldn’t get words to come out. Instead I just looked dismayed. Esmeralda and Anastasio looked concerned. “Quinn, are you all right?” she asked.

I pulled up a chair and sat down next to them, but I couldn’t look at them at first. “We have to change our movie,” I said in a small voice, but they heard me clearly.

“WHAT?” Anastasio exclaimed. “We can’t do that! I just added the finishing toucheeeeees,” he whined. (See, I told you he wouldn’t be thrilled.)

“Shut up, Anastasio,” his sister said. “Did something happen, Quinn?”

“Yes,” I said. “Something happened that let me know that our movie will only piss people off. They’ll dismiss it and it won’t make them think at all.” I then told them everything that happened last night from the point when Amanda Diaz showed up on our doorstep. The horror she felt over her bad grades and the abuse she took from her mother and sister. All that pressure on an eight-year-old little girl. I also told them the fate of Carina’s older sister. “I know every Veilstone student’s childhood wasn’t that bad, but what if a good chunk of people only act the way they do here for survival?”

Esmeralda and Anastasio looked shocked at my story and then Anatasio made a noise of frustration to our surprise.

“UGH, that would’ve made a great film!” Anastasio said. “Quinn, why oh why couldn’t you have learned this earth shattering lesson sooner? I mean, think about it! We could’ve shown how a child progressed from being cheerful to being cold-hearted and then show them that it doesn’t have to be! Quinn, how could you?”

I smiled in spite of the situation.

Esmeralda was still on shock though. “Well, I feel like a terrible person. All that time I looked down my nose at how people were acting and I never considered why. Or maybe I just didn’t understand how serious it was.”

“At least you didn’t participate in all the lunchroom gossip with us,” I told her.

“No, but that didn’t mean I didn’t enjoy it. I knew it was wrong and yet I still got a sense of voyeurism in it all. Then I tried to act maturely about it.

“But you are mature!” I argued. “You’re quiet, sensitive, and one of the wisest people I know.” I hope that didn’t sound creepy, but hey, I believed it was true. She seemed to have it together when the rest of us didn’t.

She shook her head and laughed. “I may be quiet and have a little wisdom about certain things, but that doesn’t mean I’m not petty even if I don’t show it. I might be the worst one of us all…”

I looked at her in wonder. It looked like this semester has brought changes in all of us.

Anastasio snickered. “I just love it when you admit that you don’t know everything!” Esmeralda playfully punched him.

We all made the decision to alter the movie. It would’ve been nice to reshoot some new scenes, but that was impossible with our tight schedules, so we had to work with what we had which was a lot thankfully. We agreed to meet after school to finish it up, but we even worked during lunch. Mostly we spent that time talking and reflecting though. While Veilstone students looked down on us, we started looking down on them right back and ended up being no better than they were. No it was time to stop that madness. Toward the end of lunch, Carina, who was sitting two tables away from us with a new group of friends, caught my eye and glared at me and I glared right back. Hmph, I guess she was still mad from last night, but then so was I. I hated what she was doing to her own sister. In a way, this movie was for the students who may have been like Amanda as kids. It was like a weird culmination of the lessons we’d learned this year.

We ended up going to Esmeralda and Anastasio’s to house to finish up and it was EXHAUSTING. We had a lot to do after all and it took hours. Now I was grateful that Miguela insisted on getting ahead on homework because I would’ve never have had time to finish that. By the end of the editing process at about ten that night, we had a movie that went from making fun of Veilstone students to a girl who was being pressured by her friends and her own negative thoughts to someone who realized school wasn’t the end all be all and stood up for herself. We couldn’t take out all the parody-like elements but we still had genuinely touching moments. Overall it worked, really.

The next day we had the challenge of convincing our film teacher, Ms. Calderon, to replace our film at the last minute. She told us we’d lose points for a late assignment, but we accepted the consequence. I cringed again at the idea of our first film being shown before the students. If she’d told us she’d dock half our grade, I still would’ve said yes. Then she asked why we wanted to make a change.

“Well, we wanted to make a movie that made the students here think,” I began.

“But then some things happened and it made us realize our film would fail at its purpose if we didn’t make changes,” Esmeralda continued.

Anastasio handed her the flash drive with our newly completed movie. He said he wasn’t going to touch it after our last revision last night, but I knew from the bags under his eyes that he’d lied. He couldn’t resist tweaking stuff, the perfectionist <<. But hey, he was pretty good at what he did so I trusted him.

“All right, I’ll review it and then change out your film,” she said without another word. We knew for a fact that she probably hated our film, but at the beginning of class, she told us that she wouldn’t judge the content as long as it was appropriate and met a certain quality. Because most Veilstone students never bothered to toe the line, there was never a need to screen for content anyway. But then we came along. The whole time we were shocked that she let it fly. Maybe she knew it would bomb and the student body would tear us to pieces. Actually, that doesn’t sound so unlikely.

We all breathed a sigh of relief when we left the office. Ms. Calderon may not have showed any overt emotion, but I could still somehow sense that she was glad we made some edits. The Culture Festival started tomorrow and while I’m sure it was going to be dry overall—I mean, I know for a fact one group made a movie about how great Veilstone High was and compared to other schools in Sinnoh (Zzzz…)—but it would still be an adventure.

OOC: Originally this chapter was going to be much longer, but it dragged on and on and just felt repetitive. So I decided to cut to the chase--I promise the second part wasn't rushed (on purpose anyway) lol.

 

[Secad MS]

And here we return to the most intense high school in Sinnoh! I must say, you're quite good at portraying this kind of abuse. Emotional abuse is more subtle, often conveyed as strictness or concern over 'improper behaviors' to outsiders. It's pretty dang accurate to what I've seen in life.

 

[Cycloneblaze]

And here we return to the most intense high school in Sinnoh! I must say, you're quite good at portraying this kind of abuse. Emotional abuse is more subtle, often conveyed as strictness or concern over 'improper behaviors' to outsiders. It's pretty dang accurate to what I've seen in life.

I've gotta agree on this point. I hate what's going on in the story, and the culture in this school, but you write it really well, and I really have to appreciate that.