Sorry for being inactive and indecisive. Anyway here's Max.

Vivi wiped the last counter and squinted back at me, "You really should come." I had taken up a job at a café. I hated being just-turned sixteen and feeling like a trustfund baby. I also needed something to occupy my head. My ex-girlfriend, whom I shared three different failed relationship attempts with, happened to already work there.

"What's the point?" I quizically said, "You know I couldn't give less of a fuck about training anymore."

She smirked and folded her arms, loudly throwing the rag she was cleaning with down, "Yes, but you don't just have to do that. You can play that guitar you touch yourself over so much."

"You're so bitter, Vivienne."

"Calm down, Mackenzie." She walked over to me, "Dating me or not, you know you're stuck with me." She leant against a wall and sighed, "I don't understand why you lost your spark, you know." She smiled, nostalgically, "That spark was why I liked you."

"You were nine."

"You were lucky."

I scoffed.

The first time we "dated", I was eight. And it only really happened because I was short for my age with a chubby tummy full of narcissm and knowledge and I was flabbergasted that a female, such a rare and wild specimen, found me "cute", to quote. The second time, I was twelve. It wasn't much different, it just involved a ham-fisted, and confused first kiss.

The last time, I was thirteen. She was fourteen. It doesn't sound like a huge gap, it's only a year. But it made all the difference. I was still a kid. I was confused, dazed and didn't know what pot was (oh, how times change). She was mature, developed, witty. But she liked me. And it was the closest thing to non-platonic love I had ever felt. It ended badly. I think I was just a but put off because all I wanted to do was play video games but she wanted to make out and break into abandoned buildings and sneak into r-rated movies. It was fun but in the end, I stopped it. I didn't let myself fall any further. I wasn't ready to grow up.

That was a long time ago. But I still cared about Vivi. I'd never be able to stop caring for her.

"Come." She demanded, "Summer. Sinnoh. Come."

"No." I hissed at her.

"You can't be a hermit forever, Max." She said with a hint of genuine worry that was quickly cut off by the snide remark of, "There might be more skinny, white girls for you to romance."

"What are you talking about?" My cheeks burned.

"Oh, bullshit. Don't act like you've forgotten her." Vivi rolled her eyes, barista apron draped around her hips, eyes big and brown. You could see her freckles this close up. "She was blonde. French. The teeniest, tiniest, little thing I'd ever seen. You could snap her in half."

"Don't talk about Bonnie that way. Girls like you and May always bodyshame smaller women and it's really not okay. Small girls are fucking gorgeous-"

"Max! Max!" She cackled, "Calm down, I was just trying to get a reaction out of you. She was cute. In that sort of, nïave, lost lamb in the woods kinda way. Cute." She bit her lip, "You really cared about her, huh?"

I shrugged. Did I really care about Bonnie? What did Vivi mean by that? "I guess. I miss her. She was the closest friend I ever had. She made me happy."

"Aw," She rubbed my arm, "Cheer up, buttercup." She grinned, "Come to Sinnoh with me! It'll be great." She heard me moan rather audibly and responded, "Listen, you do one shitty course in training, bomb it, and get to ace one in music. Think of all the places it could lead."

"If I wanted fame, I could have it. Getting rid of it is the hard part."

"Don't be so cynical!" She tapped my hand. She looked up at me with those damn, demonic brown eyes. The tools of possesion. The tools of "it'll be fine, your parents won't find out" and "I really want to kiss you" The type of eyes you can't say no to. "Please."

I grunted, "Ugh, okay."

"Knew you'd cave in! You always do, Maple!" She pumped her fist in the air and threw off her work apron, tossing it onto the peg on the wall. She hugged me, "See ya!"

"But I'm paying for it myself! Not my dad!" I shouted as she darted out of the glass door.

And pay for it I did. A few months later, I was in a stuffy auditorium, in grey, plaid pants and a white button-up shirt. Most people were also from places in Japan, here in Sinnoh, Hoenn, Kanto or Johto. But there were a few Westerners, Unovans and Kalosians. The room was increadibly noisy and I was sweating like an Emboar. The people around me's mouths were always open and buzzing sounds like flies came out.

The last time I had been to any sort of school or educational environment was when I went to Kalos. I hated it. Maybe I should have taken that as some sort of sign.

After all, what's the point of school if you're smarter than every teacher there?

Vivi nudged me from the seat next to me, "Oh my god, you look like you swallowed a bug. Cheer up, will you? You're killin' my vibe, Maple."

"Don't you die inside everytime you realise you've been alive for seventeen years and you're sat here, wearing a uniform." I mumbled.

She chortled, "Oh, Max, boys love to see me in schoolgirl outfits." She winked, "They just usually need to get to know me a bit better first."

I couldn't do anything but roll my eyes. Vivi. One of a kind.

The head of the summer school was Angie, an overly enthusiastic, grown adult that repeatedly used the phrase " fun time" to describe the activities here to point where "fun" and "time" didn't feel like words anymore. When she'd finally shut up, we spent first half of the morning locating our dorms and unpacking.

My roommate was a heavy-set guy from Kalos called Kye. He seemed a little bit loud and absent-minded but he could have been a lot worse. He leant back in the chair by the desk, englufimg himself with a Snickers, "Max, where are you from?" It felt oddly serene to have somebody not recognise me as the son of the famous and adored piece of shit Norman Maple.

"Petalburg, Hoenn." I bluntly stated, dusting off my hands and tucking my suitcase into a corner of the room.

"Hoenn! Always wanted to go there. You got hot springs, hot chicks. For some reason Hoenn girls always got them huge tiddies, you know?" Oh. "The contest queen man, oh my fucking god!" He loudly smacked his lips together, "She's a snack! What's her name again? June? April?"

"May." I said through my teeth, "And she's a very nice person worth a lot more than her cup size."

"Shit, dude, my bad." He shrugged and dropped his chocolate in surrender.

Thankfully, he was taking training and art so when my first class, music, rolled around, I could meet up with Vivi and not have to be near his pathetic self any longer.

We were some of the first people to get there, only two or three others at the door. "What on earth are you doing at a music school, Vivienne?" She wore her read locks scruffily tied up and unlike the other girls, she wore the grey, plaid pants rather than the skirt.

"What, you don't think I'd be a good pop star, Max?" She joked.

"Seeing as you don't really have any musical capabilities, no." I smirked.

"Well, I'm pretty," She tapped me on the shoulder, "And that's all you need to be a pop star in this day and age." I got this weird feeling that I'm out of place when she touched me. Why was she doing it? It wasn't meant to happen. It felt kinda nice though.

The rest of the class, and then the teacher finally show up. Everyone was sighing and looking at their phones for a time, when a messy, blonde young-ish adult in an orange turtleneck and brown blazer finally came dashing down the corridor, papers flyimg out of his hands, "Sorry, I'm late, kids! Feel free to head straight in!" The room is set out so there is a large space in the middle and desks with keyboards and some with computers placed in a horseshoe shape. The walls are light green. The lights are warm.

We all chuckle slightly as we hear the teacher bang into the door and yell the absurd phrase, "I'm gonna fine this door!"

He gathered himself together and stood in the centre of the room. We were all the sat at the desks, turned towards him. He cleared his throat, "Good morning! I'm Mr Futaba, but last names are for old people." This guy had a serious problem, "I'm cool and hip so call me Barry."

At that moment the door swung open. The girl who strutted in was short and rolled her skirt up at the waist. She was blowing bubbles with gum and her eyes were a piercing shade of blue. Her hair was blonde and up in a pony tail.

Vivi whispered to me, "Oh my god, look at this girl! She won't last a minute."

"Excuse me, miss, but you are late!" Barry (very hypocritically) announced to the whole class, "And your socks are against uniform policy. Roll them down right now until they are below your knees or I'll fine you!"

She rolled her eyes and simply sauntered over to an empty desk, opposite me, beside a guy with long, shaggy hair who was eagerly awaiting her. She squinted at me. Then her eyes got wide. And wider. And wider. Pop! Pink bubblegum got on her nose and she quickly looked away and peeled it off.

Surely, she wasn't...

There was no way.

Never in a million years.

"Miss, what is your name?" Barry stomped his feet.

"Bonnie." She gasped. "Bonnie Bergamot."

I guess there was a way, after all.