Lapras Valley High – Hell Blastoise

Chapter Three – True Beauty

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This was not good. I was alone, in a big school, with the only thing I could rely on, Fury, deciding to fall asleep. My dorm which was like a luxury sweet from Zephyr, a really expensive place (I saw a crumpled up piece of paper advertising it once on the streets.), was being shared with one other girl, Kayla Myssina from Zharman Island, who was a rich snob and hated me for attempting to stab her am on the train. Ashley, my only human friend, the only person I trusted and confided in and actually didn’t go ballistic at, was being sent away to some school in Kanto, about as far away from our part of the world as possible.

I sat down, feeling the doona go puff under me. The doona felt nice, something new and interesting. I had never ever felt a doona before, neither had I seen any rooms with bright colors such as this one. This was all new to me.

I glanced at the window, and gasped. There were windows without bars around. I can recall many times I stared out of the dirty window in my room at the orphanage, watching the rain drizzle down, adding extra gloom to the already dreary climate. Here it wasn’t gloomy, far from it. The window was open, giving light and a brilliant view of the school meadow and endless waves of lush green mountains. I had never seen such a sight; it was all new to me.

"What is your problem?" Kayla asked. I realized she had been watching me glance all over the room and gasp at objects that were probably common to somebody with as much wealth as her.

"All so new…" I whispered, under a trance. I went over to a door on the side of the room that read in shiny brass letters; Bathroom. Opening it, I gaped at the clean palace.

The bathrooms at Quagsire Heights were worse than the alleyways. What were white tiles bore black and green mold, and dust covered the top of the shower doors, which were filthy. The mirrors were barley useable, and the taps dripped constantly. The basin was filthy, as if a big wet muddy Arcanine had shaken off right in front of it, and the floor was covered with mud and stuff. The toilet… well I won’t even GO there. Trust me, it was better going in a bottle than using it.

But this was breathtaking. It shone, freshly cleaned, the peachy tiles gleamed. The basin was pure white, and the taps didn’t drip. I inspected the shower, clean as a whistle from Zephyr. And there was even a towel rack, with two fresh warm peach towels that read ‘Lapras Valley High’ at the corner of each one. I touched one carefully, trying not to get it dirty.

I was in heaven.

"What are you doing?" Kayla demanded, watching me touch the towel.

"Where I come from, we don’t even get curtains, doona’s, bedside tables or fluffy orange towels," I snapped. "So get lost."

"I heard a lot about Quagsire Heights," Kayla said. "It must have been rougher than I thought."

"What you think about Quagsire Heights is nothing. You’ve gotta go there to experience the pain," I replied, pushing past her into the main room and starting to unpack.

"What was it like?" Kayla questioned quietly. "I want to know what it was like for you."

"Why?" I didn’t even look at her, just sorted my jeans, T-shirts, bandannas, and pokeball into a few piles and putting them in the bedside table leaving the cupboard for my socks. I was wearing the only pair of shoes I had.

"I want to know what it was like, so I know how lucky I really am."

"Let me put it this way," I began. "It was for the tough skinned only. People found out you had a weakness and they pounced on you, tore you to shreds, hurt you, caused you to be a bloody pulp by picking on that one weakness. It is a Houndoom eat Houndoom world. You’re not careful and you’re a goner."

"Is that all?" Kayla blinked.

"No, don’t be a stupid ****wit. It gets worse. You could walk along the streets and have people try to assault you, people try and get drugs of you, and people try to sell cigarettes to you. You weren’t able to walk very far by yourself, just wasn’t safe. The streets were lined with garbage, you couldn’t walk without treading in at least one piece of garbage, and empty used syringes were part of the garbage."

"Worse than I thought," Kayla commented.

"Well duh, you try going there," I glared, enraged. She thought that stupid Zharman Island was much better than Quagsire Heights.

"I did," Kayla replied softly.

"Bullshit, a person like you, from oh so good Zharman Island would never go to Quagsire Heights," I scoffed.

"I did," Kayla repeated. "Me and my mother. We went there, when I was only 3. She was killed. I went to Zharman Island to live with my grandmother."

"Well that’s why you have to be tough, now if you’ll excuse me I have some eating to do." I exited the room, leaving Fury behind, who was still asleep. I guess early mornings aren’t so good for pokemon.

I walked downstairs, and started to look around. There were lots of classrooms; it was a school after all. There was also a large hall, with basketball hoops at each end, and a stage to one side. Speakers were on the walls, as if discos were to be held there.

I eventually found the cafeteria, and ran to grab some food. Shoveling it into my mouth, I realized how poor off Quagsire Heights really was and felt sorry for Ashley, who had to spend another week there.

"Mind if I sit here?" a female voice asked, placing her tray on the table. I had a feeling that no matter what I said she would sit down, so I grunted in response. "Hi, I’m Nayia Waterflower, who are you?"

"Sal," I replied, still shoving all food into my mouth.

"Where did you come from?" Nayia questioned, daintily picking at her rice. "I’m from Cascade South. I won a scholarship here. Mum was really proud, and she wished Dad could have seen it."

"Whoopee," I sarcastically cheered.

"What’s the matter?" Nayia asked, concerned.

"I don’t feel like talking," I snapped. Snapping must have been a habit of mine, if I got a dollar for every time I snapped today I could be a millionaire and buy a whole army of Houndoom to attack Lady Blastoise.

"Why not?" Nayia pressured.

That was the final straw. I had many final straws. I stood up and slammed my hands on the desk. "Because I’m here, my best friend is going over to Kanto in a week, and nobody in the whole world even gives a damn because they’re too nosy and want to use me!"

I grabbed my bowl and walked away, still eating. Nayia stared back at me and brushed a strand of strawberry blonde hair out of her sea blue eyes. She was obviously confused, and maybe a bit hurt. But she was the one invading, intruding in on my life so I had every right to be angry with her.

Didn’t I?

As soon as I finished the rice (which was the best food I’d had in years) I headed out to nowhere in particular, just to do something. There were so many people, all dressed differently, all with strange looks on their faces.

Smiles.

I hadn’t seen so many smiles on peoples faces at the same time since Ms Hammin went missing for two weeks. I couldn’t believe it, what was there to smile about? I mean, so what if you could actually see the sky and green grass…

I had never seen such green grass. Back in Quagsire Heights, the grass was normally covered in slime and muck and gray clouds of toxic gas covered the blueness of the sky.

"Pidgey!" a bird cooed, a caramel brown Pidgey. I was shocked at the brightness and the beauty of its feathers, as Pidgey in Quagsire Heights were either gray and white, or black and gray. It flapped down and landed on my shoulder, a note in its mouth. I snatched the note away from it and it flew off.

‘Sally-Anne McGregor – Please report to Principal Tyson immediately.’