Tuesday, May 12

So Outdoor Class was today. We all gathered around the Pledge Stone. A Vientown Ranger named Crawford came in to teach the class. "I thought up 37 questions to ask the Ranger," Keith said proudly, holding up a list of said questions.

Rhythmi crossed her arms. "Keith. Really."

"Everybody shut up!" the Ranger yelled. He had a puffy brown afro, the official Ranger uniform, and a mischevious grin that rivaled Keith's.

"Students, this is Crawford," Ms. April explained. "He's a Pokemon Ranger from Vientown."

"Hey," Crawford said. "I'm Crawford."

"Yeah, we noticed," Rhythmi muttered.

Crawford performed his Ranger pose for us. He laughed, tossed his Styler in the air, caught it, and pointed it at the sky. "Class, this is a Ranger pose," Ms. April explained. "You should each develop your own. Now, does anyone have any questions for the Ranger?"

Keith's hand shot up. "I do! Question one: what Pokemon is the hardest to capture?"

"Hmm..." Crawford paused to think. "I'd say Beedrill because it keeps flying around everywhere."

Keith glanced back at his list. "Okay, question two: how-"

"Keith, one question each, please," Ms. April said.

Keith shut his mouth and put his arms back at his sides, clearly disappointed.

Rhythmi raised her hand. “Ranger, do you think I’ll be a good Operator?”

Crawford looked carefully at her. “Well, I don’t really know you as a person. But sure! I think you’ll make a great Operator.” He flashed a grin, and Rhythmi swooned. Keith and I looked at her, then looked at each other. We locked eyes for a second, then Keith crossed his eyes and stuck out his tongue. I had to bite my lip to keep from laughing.

Crawford went around the semicircle of students arranged around him. Each asked a relatively stupid question. Then he came to me. “Do you have a question?”

I didn’t have one ready, so I thought about it for a moment. Then I came up with the question I knew I wanted to ask. “Is it fun being a Ranger?”

He smiled a genuine smile. “Hell yes. It’s the best job ever.”

Suddenly, his Styler made a noise. Crawford pushed a button and a gruff voice came out of it. “Voicemail! Voicemail!”

Crawford held his Styler up to his face and spoke into it. “Yeah, Barlow?”

“A Mantine is in trouble in Puel Sea. We’re sending a boat to the Ranger School to pick you up and bring you out.”

“Got it.” Crawford pushed the button again and clipped his Styler back to his belt. “Well, students, I’m very sorry, but I’m going to have to cut this Outdoor Class short.” A motor boat pulled up to the school’s dock and Crawford ran off towards it. “Good luck, everyone!”

“Wow,” someone said. “A real Mission!”

“Alright, everyone,” Ms. April said. “Let’s go back to class.” Everyone followed her up the stairs, except Keith and Rhythmi. I hung back with them to see what they were up to.

“I’ve still got 36 unanswered questions, but I think I’m going to answer them myself,” Keith declared.

“And I’m going to be the best Operator I can be!” Rhythmi added. “What about you, Kellyn?”

“Hmm…” I thought about it for a few seconds. “I’ll do whatever it takes to keep people and Pokemon safe.”

Rhythmi glanced over to the Pledge Stone. “We should make a pledge,” she suggested, putting her right arm out in front of her.

I placed my right hand on top of hers, and Keith placed his on mine. “Let’s all work as hard as we can to achieve these goals and not let anything stop us,” I said.

“Hands up on the count of three!” Keith said. “One, two, three!” Our hands went up. We all cheered and headed back to class.

*       *       *

Janice tapped on the door and opened it. “Mail call!”

“Ooh, mail!” Keith vaulted off his top-bunk bed and took the stack from Janice’s hand. “Thanks, Janice!”

“No problem.” She smiled and shut the door.

“Now let’s see…” Keith shuffled the pile around, then grabbed the first one. “Ponte, this one’s yours.”

Ponte had been lying in bed and staring off into space when Keith called hum. He glanced over at Keith. “Toss it to me.”

Keith tossed it at Ponte’s outstretched hand, but it missed by an inch and hit the wall next to him. He picked it up and opened it listlessly.

He read off a couple more names, and the student the letter belonged to got up to retrieve their mail. “Kellyn, you got two letters,” he said. He walked over to me and placed them in my hand, then grinned and returned to the door. I wondered what all that was about, then stopped wondering and had a look at the letters. One was from Lilly and the other was from Hunter. I opened the one from Lilly first.

Dear Kellyn,

I hope you’re doing well in school! Mom and Dad have been talking about moving to Almia so we can be closer to you. Wouldn’t that be great?

Love,

Lilly

Moving to Almia? I didn’t even know where I was going to be assigned after I finished school. Besides, what about my friends? I’d already left them. If my family left too, I might never have a reason to visit. And Hannah… Damn, I missed her. I made up my mind to write her a letter telling her how I felt. I wondered why I had waited until I was so far away from home to decide it had to be done.

The letter from Hunter was longer than Lilly’s; it was at least a couple of pages. I set aside the envelope and started reading.

Hey, Kellyn.

So how are you? Climbing the ranks of Dante’s Inferno or nah? Life’s pretty boring back here without you. Well, at least it is for me. Video games. School. The like. Hamburg’s practically throwing a party now that your parents are thinking of leaving. I wonder what’s going to happen to all your farmland once you guys are gone. With our luck, Hamburg’ll buy it and take over the whole town.

Anyway, Solana became a Ringtown Ranger. After you left, she gained this interest in Rangers and asked her parents if she could go to Ranger School, but they said no. So instead, she decided to beg Spenser, Ringtown’s Ranger leader, to let her become a Ranger, and he said yes, so she took the job. she still comes back here on patrol to say hi to us.

Oh, and I really hate to be the one to tell you this (I want to barf up my guts thinking of how it would feel to hear this if I were you), but

ah shit I can’t do it.

Wait, no, I have to. Hannah and Ben hooked up about a week ago, and they’re looking kind of tight. I’ll spare you the rest. I’m really sorry, man. Anyway, I hope you’re doing alright and hope you write back. I know that’s a shitty thing to have to say and I’m really sorry. Take care, okay?

Your friend,

Hunter

What.

In that moment, the only thing I felt was pure anger. Ben KNEW I liked Hannah. I clearly remembered telling him back when I first started liking her. Why would he do that? What gave him the right to just--

I took several deep breaths, then got out of bed, crumpled up the letter, hurled it into the trash can for a three-point basket, and stormed out of the dorm. I sat down at a table, breathing heavily.

Janice, who was mopping the floors, hurried over and sat down next to me. “Kellyn, honey, what’s wrong?”

“Everything,” I said flatly. “The universe is collapsing in on me.”

“What happened?” she asked.

“One of my best friends decided to up and date my crush.”

“Oh, that’s the worst.” she patted my shoulder reassuringly. “But it’s not the end of the world.”

“It damn well feels like it,” I muttered.

The door to the boy’s dorm slid open and Keith came running out. “Kellyn, are you all right?”

I crossed my arms. “Hmph.”

“Girl troubles,” Janice explained. I love how she assumes I’m talking about a girl.

“Aww, that sucks.” He gave me a quick hug and took the seat Janice wasn’t in. “Do you want to talk about it?”

“Not really,” I said.

“Well, do you at least want to go back into the dorm? I promise nobody thinks you’re psycho.”

“Fine.” Keith grabbed my hand and pulled me up. I followed him into the dorm.

“Goodnight, boys!” Janice called after us.

“‘Night, Janice,” Keith said as the door shut.