Friday, June 19

Rhythmi didn't talk to me after that until Wednesday. We managed to keep Keith's mouth shut with a heaping amount of candy, and things were (mostly) back to normal in time for our graduation party last night. (Well, technically, it's still night. It's one in the morning. The party started at 7 last night and ended about half an hour ago.)

Barlow came in to DJ the event. Janice set up pretty disco lights in the hallway and plenty of junk food to satisfy our whims.

I'm not really much of a dancer, so I just hung around the snack table and stuffed my face with salt and vinegar chips. During the slow songs, Keith would join me and we laughed as Rhyth and Isaac stepped on each other's toes.

Ponte lost a bet and had to ask Laura to dance. It was incredibly awkward. She didn't seem too happy to find that her dancing with Ponte was the result of a lost bet.

I personally couldn't figure out why all the girls obsessed over the slow songs. I thought slow-dancing was stupid. Most of the music sucked, but when they played "Semi-Charmed Life" by Third Eye Blind, I teleported to the middle of the dance floor and started rocking out. Kie and Rhythmi quickly joined me. It was probably my favorite part of the night.

...well, except maybe when I slow-danced with Keith... Arceus. I wasn't going to write about that. It was just really sweet and he was such a gentleman and argh I don't even know what to think about it so I'll probably just rip this entry out and go to sleep.

Friday, June 19 (again)

It's over. My old life at home, my life at the Ranger School. I feel like I'm floating between two phases of my life in complete darkness. My home technically isn't mine anymore. The room I'm sitting in is technically mine, but I don't think it will ever be mine. But enough with this fluffy poetry shit. Why don't we talk about what's happened since I last wrote in this thing?

I went to sleep, eventually. They let us sleep late and served breakfast at ten. Rank 5 students didn't have any classes today, mostly so we could pack our belongings. Once we were packed, though, we were unsupervised until the graduation ceremony at 6pm. Mass shitty middle school party games ensued, starting with Spin the Bottle. I tried to avoid participating, but Rhythmi dragged me to a seat in the circle next to her. I don't really remember who kissed whom, but I do remember that when a girl's spin landed on another girl, the only person to react adversely received glares of disapproval from the group.

Truth or Dare was far more interesting. I volunteered to go first. "Keith," I said. "I dare you to try to capture Ponte."

A murmur of interest went around the circle. Keith grinned, stood up, and unclipped his Styler. "Wait, why me?" Ponte whined.

"Lucky guess," I said, smirking. I sat back, ready to watch the fireworks.

Ponte curled up into an uncomfortable ball as Keith began to draw loops around him. The smug look on Keith's face quickly turned to one of frustration. "Why won't this damn gauge fill up?!"

"You have to want it, Ponte!" someone cheered.

"Yeah, dude," I chimed in. "Just relax."

The ball of Ponte groaned and became slightly less tense. Keith completed the capture about ten seconds later. Ponte uncurled himself into a seated position, then proceeded to keel over, his eyes glazing.

"Shit," I said. "Is he okay?"

Isaac produced his laptop and spent a moment typing, then started reading from the screen. "Capturing humans with a Styler. While possible, it is not recommended. Humans captured with Stylers exhibit symptoms similar to those observed after ingestion of lysergic acid diethylamide or psilocybin mushrooms.

Keith raised an eyebrow. "Can you say that again in English?"

"That was English."

"Not that English. Normal-person English."

Isaac formed air-quotes with his fingers. "He's 'tripping on acid'."

I facepalmed. "Sorry, Ponte."

"I've seen the light!" Ponte hollered, a delirious expression on his face.

"He's probably going to be able to sleep it off," Isaac continued. "Kellyn and Keith, you should carry him to bed, since this is your fault."

Keith crossed his arms. "My fault? Kellyn's the one who gave me the dare!"

"And you're the one who accepted it," Isaac snapped. "So unless you want someone to find out Ponte's been drugged up by misuse of school property, carry his ass to bed!"

"Arceus, when'd you get so damn angry?" Keith squatted down next to Ponte's head and picked him up by his underarms. "Kellyn, get his legs."

I shrugged and obeyed. "You'd be irritable too if you stayed up as late as Isaac does. Have you ever seen the guy sleep?"

Keith sighed. "Never?"

We unloaded Ponte onto his bed and rejoined the circle. "Your turn, Keith."

*

Mr. Kincaid looked down at the piece of paper in his hand. "The Ranger School's Graduation Ceremony will now commence, First, Principal Lamont's congratulatory remarks." The unenthusiasm in his voice was as evident as the tension in the air between Isaac and Rhythmi.

A smiling Lamont took the microphone. "Congratulations, graduates! I am truly delighted to be here with all of you. Rangers, Operators, Mechanics, and Scientists. Though these paths may take you in different directions, what I hope for all of you is the same. Don't worry, I'm not going to say anything impossibly difficult or challenging. Please just don't forget to smile. With these simple words I wish you the very best of luck in all your endeavors." Lamont ended his speech to unanimous applause.

"Thank you, Principal Lamont," Kincaid said as if reading the phone book. "Next, let me call upon insert name here- I'm sorry, I mean Isaac, this graduating class' valedictorian."

"Yeah, Isaac!" Keith whooped and stomped his feet like a Donphan as Isaac ascended the stage.

Isaac took a deep breath and started to speak. "Today we leave the shelter of this place of learning and nurturing. It is a giant step for us in our pursuits of our long-held dreams. To the teachers who inspired us... To Janice who was a mother to us all... To the Pokemon that loved us... We will never forget. Thank you so very, very much from all of us!"

Keith sniffed and wiped away an imaginary tear. I sniggered.

"Isaac, thank you for those most moving words," Kincaid continued. "Next, the conferring of the graduation certificates"

One by one, we went up to receive our certificates. I had never seen my name written in such fancy type.

"Kincaid?" Ms. April tapped him on the shoulder. "Mr. Kincaid, are you awake?"

Mr. Kincaid flinched. "Huh? What?"

"Move over, you idiot. I have to call upon the class representative." Kincaid obliged, and Ms. April adjusted the height of the microphone to her needs. Keith cleared his throat loudly in order to conceal the forthcoming "Kincaid is a moron."

"I would like to call upon the representative of this graduating class," Ms. April said into the microphone. "Kellyn, please come forward."

I was confused. "Me?"

Keith shoved me towards the stage. "Go, doofus!" I stepped up to the platform. Ms. April hugged me and guided me towards the microphone.

"Yeah, Kellyn!" Looking towards the back of the room, I saw Lilly standing atop Dad's shoulders. Mom stood next to them, holding a large card. I smiled and waved to them, then grabbed the microphone.

"This is an honor," I said. "I-"

THUD.

It came from the basement office. A murmur of panic went through the crowd. Kincaid took the microphone from me. "I'll just go downstairs and see what it is," he attempted to reassure everyone. "It's probably nothing." He stepped over the orange-striped barricades and hurried down the stairs.

Ten awkward seconds later, he screamed like a demon and emerged sprinting, tailed by the two biggest Pokemon I'd ever seen. "H-help me!" he squealed.

"Kellyn!" Ms. April shouted. "Are you ready to perform a capture?"

I looked at the giant Pokemon in horror. "Both of them?!"

Keith sprang up. "I'll help! I'll get this one. You focus on that one, okay?"

I gave him a thumbs-up and unclipped my Styler. We quickly subdued the Pokemon. The Browser registered it as Tangrowth.

The crowd parted so we could get outside to release the Pokemon. We opened the front doors wide, and the Tangrowth exited. One turned and waved to us with an appendage. I smiled and waved back, then Keith and I closed the doors.

We reentered the building to cheers. Ms. April invited us both to the stage. "Do I still have to ad-lib a speech?" I asked.

She shook her head. "I think that capture speaks for itself. You remained calm in the face of crisis, and you worked alongside Keith for once instead of competing with him. You're the obvious choice for representative.

"Thanks, Ms. April." I hugged her, then took the microphone. "There is one thing I'd like to say. You guys are all awesome and it's been great going to school with you. I'll miss you all."

"Awww, Kellyn." Keith picked me up by my waist and threw me over his shoulders.

I felt the microphone being removed from my hand. "In conclusion," Mr. Kincaid droned, "the Ranger School is proud of all of our graduates and wishes all of them the best of luck. Refreshments will be served for the next half-hour."

Keith put me down. "I gotta go say hi to my parents," I said.

"I'm coming!" Keith followed me off the stage.

"Me too!" Rhythmi hopped out of her seat and ran to join us.

I ran to my parents. Lilly jumped into my arms. "Kellyn!"

I hugged back, then put her down and tousled her hair. "Have you grown?" She giggled.

I hugged my dad, who picked me up briefly, and then my mom. She handed me the large card I'd seen her holding from the stage. "Your friends made you this."

I took the card. On the front, "CONGRATS" was written in giant block letters. I opened it to see the signatures of my friends: Hunter wrote "Congrats, dude! Come visit soon"; Solana wrote "I hope to work with you sometime!"; Hannah wrote "Congrats and good luck :)"; and Ben just wrote his name in small, black letters. I rolled my eyes. Asshole.

"Who are your friends?" Dad asked.

"Family, this is Keith and Rhythmi." I stepped back and propped my arms up on their shoulders.

Lilly started tugging on Dad's sleeve. "Daddy, Daddy! We gotta show Kellyn the house!"

Dad picked her up and she squealed. "Want to head home?" Dad said.

"You guys start. I'll catch up to you." I stepped forward and turned around to face my friends. "So I guess this is it?"

"I'm sure we'll see each other again," Rhythmi said. "Where are you assigned to?"

"I'm assigned to Vientown." I brought out the air-quotes. "Close to 'home'."

"I'm assigned to Summerland in Fiore," Rhythmi stated. "What about you, Keith?"

"Ringtown," he said simply.

"Oh, hey," I said. "My friend Solana is a Ringtown Ranger. Tell her I said hi, okay?

Keith grinned. "You got it."

"I'd better be off." I blew out a puff of air. "I'll miss you guys."

Rhythmi stretched out her arms. "Group hug?"

I hugged them both tightly. "Good luck." I let go and headed for the doors.

"Tell Kate I said fuck you!" Keith called after me. Rhythmi smacked him. "Ow!"

I looked back and waved, then closed the door behind me.

*

hey guys look i actually give a shit about updating my stories. lol sorry this is the first update since my extended summer vacation from wattpad. i'll probably update more, because i need to type up everything in my old notebook (off which the cover has ripped) so i can put it away somewhere safe and just focus on the new notebook.

let's see if anyone reads this. since its biggest fan (*cough*COPPER*cough*) decided to leave the wattpad, idk if anyone's still interested. comment "pink fluffy unicorn" if you have read this entire damn fic

i'm going to shut up now