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Lapras Valley High – Hell Blastoise

Chapter Four - Friend

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The door was painted creamy white, with red edges and a sign that read ‘Principal’ in gold letters. Fury sat beside me, looking at the door too. I had woken her up before coming here, but I wasn’t too afraid. These guys didn’t know me, so I would just be fierce and get my way.

It had worked before.

"Come in," called a voice from the other side of the door. It sounded feminine, and chirpy, like those toothpaste commercials I saw on the TV at the electronics store in Quagsire Heights. (That store wasn’t there anymore, somebody stole all the TV’s and burnt the place years ago.)

I kicked the door open, and it swung violently, reaching the end of its hinges hard with a loud thud. Principal Tyson was a female, with her mousy brown hair held back in a clip, her gold rimmed glasses framing gray blue eyes. She was busy reading a sheet of paper that I noticed had a photo of me in the corner.

I was scowling in that photo as usual.

"Ah, Sal, good morning," Principal Tyson smiled at me, just as happy and fairy like as everybody else in this damn school. I marched into the room and sat down in one of the chairs, Fury sitting in the other.

"Mmph," I snorted, scowling and looking around the room.

It wasn’t the biggest of all rooms, about the same size as my dorm in Quagsire Heights, with the same red trim around the ceiling edge, and the windowsill. Her desk was messy and overcrowded with what looked like a miniature TV screen, and a billion stacks of paper.

I couldn’t keep my eyes off the miniature TV screen. Since when did people put a TV on their work desk? Principal Tyson saw me staring at it and grinned. "Haven’t you ever seen a computer before?" she asked.

"Well, let me think, how about NO?" I shot back.

"Look Sal, I know you’ve had a hard time, but let me tell you this," Principal Tyson began. "I came from Mount Karper."

I nearly died. Aside from Quagsire Heights, Mount Karper had to be the worst area around. I think it is worse than Quagsire Heights, but with the knowledge I have, I’m not sure.

"Bull," I scoffed.

"I’m serious," Principal Tyson replied. Then she grinned. "Anyway now that that’s out the way, I’ve read here that your only friends are Fury" (she pointed to Fury) "and a girl named Ashley Lien. Is that right?" I nodded. "Well let me tell you something Sal, my life was similar to yours. Coming to such a welcoming school, and not knowing where I belong."

"Is there a point to this?" I demanded, sighing.

"Yes there is," Principal Tyson answered. "First things first, your one of the lucky new kids I’m going to allow to call me by my first name. Jackie. Secondly, I heard you nearly stabbed a girl on the train."

"She insulted me!" I yelled. "She said that I was unidentifiable, she was insulting me and calling me names! Furthermore, she insulted Quagsire Heights! So WHAT if it’s a place where people are on drugs, alcohol and get raped every two seconds? It’s still my home.."

"Sal be quiet!" Jackie cried. "I just wanted to say, nice move. I’m being honest here. You should have stabbed that Zharman Islander!"

I blinked.

"What?"

"I’m like you, know what you’re feeling. I was once you," Jackie grinned. "I hate Zharman Islanders but as principal I can’t tell everybody that. Otherwise half the money we get would be gone. I always charge Zharman Islanders more." Jackie grinned.

A strange feeling came over my face as my lips and mouth seemed to turn upwards slowly in the corners.

"There we are, a smile," Jackie smiled. "Now get out of here!" she ordered jokingly.

Leaving her office with Fury, I looked back at her, trying to clean up her desk. I couldn’t believe it. There were principals that weren’t ****heads after all.

*

Lady Blastoise walked along the road, her pinstripe blue suit moving with her walking pace. She had a cold look on her face as she kept walking. Thoughts popped in and out of her evil mind as she stopped in the train station and looked at her watch.

"Perfect, the train is on time," she said as she stepped off the platform into the train. The train puffed out of the station, and off to her destination.

*

The middle of the day had come quickly, and I was amazed at how many people were eating rice and meat for lunch. I wasn’t one bit hungry, but I suppose that was from my ability to last 24 hours on one meal.

I didn’t feel like going into the crowded cafeteria and walked outside, where the sun was surprisingly hot. I would have to get used to this weird weather. The grass was soft once I sat down on it, and began playing with it with my fingers. I had heard about grass. It was supposed to make you itchy and be a nuisance but this grass was so soft, just like a luxurious cushion.

"No Fury," I stated simply. Fury, who had been eyeing the grass, squinting, trying to size it up, sighed and stopped. The last time we had seen grass that was actually green was… never come to think of it. We did once take a trip into town where there was this park, and Fury burnt it all. And that was exactly what was going through her mind now. Burn, fire, grass will go up in flames.

For some reason I didn’t want that to happen.

"Hey Sal," a voice interrupted my thoughts of grass. Looking up, I saw the same blonde haired Nayia, followed by a small slimy dragon. I remember seeing pictures of Dratini in books a split second before Fury put those to fire too. It was a legendary pokemon I think, really rare. I eyed it.

"Nayia," I replied as a sort of greeting.

"Sorry about earlier," Nayia apologized. "I didn’t mean to make you feel pressured earlier. I was just a bit too curious."

"There’s something you don’t hear everyday," I snorted.

Nayia sat down beside me and stared out to the hills with me. Something about Jackie’s talk with me had changed me sort of. Jackie was willing to accept me and she didn’t even know me. Maybe that’s what I should do, start accepting people instead of being so defensive.

"Why did you start talking to me?" I suddenly blurted out. The question came as a surprise to me as well, but to tell the truth, I WAS curious why out of all people she had chosen me to talk to. Even against all the rumors that I had stabbed my roommate on the train.

Nayia shrugged. "I honestly don’t know," she answered. "I guess that I was lonely and shy and didn’t really know who to talk to. Then I saw you by yourself and thought I could make a friend."

I sighed. This would be hard, but I had to make other friends aside from Fury and Ashley. Besides, Fury seemed to be getting along with the Dratini pretty well. They seemed to be playing a game of tag or something, a game that Fury normally played with Sugar. I don’t know why, but it was almost nice seeing Fury getting along with Nayia’s pokemon.

"Nixie needs friends, I’m glad she’s getting along so well with your Vulpix," Nayia commented, breaking the silence.

"Who’s Nixie?" I questioned.

"The Dratini. Nixie was my first ever pokemon, I found her egg by the river all alone so I took it home."

"Oh."

"What’s your Vulpix’s name?"

"Fury."

"Nice name. How did you find her?"

"She was about to be attacked by pokemon in the alley behind the orphanage."

"Oh."

Silence fell over us again, as we watched Fury and Nixie playing, leaping in and out of the grass. It was strange, never in my life had I talked like that.

But it was nice.

Why would Nayia talk to me though? I mean, what about me was there to like. I was tough, didn’t take shit, and was a loud aggressive bitch… how could Nayia stand up to me.

Maybe she was my friend.

"Nayia," I started. "Are you my friend?" I was suddenly ashamed of myself. Here we have tough me, asking such a non tough pathetic question.

Even Nayia was taken back, but she smiled. "Yeah."