It was early Monday morning, with two figures standing in the hallway next to their lockers.

"Wait, why can't I tell anyone that you're not coming here next year?"

"Because-just because! Please don't, it'd be better off like this." Dawn pleaded to Barry, hoping that he wouldn't say a word about it to anyone. Barry ruffled his hair, sighing. "Fine, I promise I won't tell anyone."

Dawn smiled at her friend, who grinned back at her. "I'm so glad you're my friend. What would I do without you?"

Barry chuckled as he closed his locker and held out the plastic bag full of Cheerios. Dawn happily snatched some, both of them munching on the dry food.

"I don't wanna go to class." Dawn sighed, making a dramatic face. Barry nodded in agreement. "I agree! I can't do this Monday shit anymore!" She burst out laughing at her friends' reaction, leaning against the lockers.

With Paul, he was walking through the school to go to his locker to drop off a couple things for his classes later. He stared at the ground as he walked through the silent hallways, bored out of his mind.

He raised an eyebrow at the sound of hearing a couple voices echo throughout the hallway. Who the hell would be here this early anyways besides himself?

He ignored it until it got louder every second since apparently he was getting closer to the people, and he turned the last corner to enter one of the freshman locker hallways and looked up.

He froze for a couple seconds, looking at what he saw. His eyes were locked on the scene, feeling the weight of his backpack suddenly feel ten times heavier, the air seeming too thin for him to breathe even. Just stood there in shock.

That girl he always watched over...

She was smiling. That wasn't a fake smile, she was really smiling.

Even from the opposite side of the hallway he saw her smile happily, hearing her cheerful laughter like music to his ears.

He's never seen her so alive.

The thing was...it wasn't because of him... And for some reason it stung to see it, seeing that it wasn't him standing there with her.

It was Barry, and he instantly remembered that flashback to homecoming.

He stayed in the corner for the whole time, and it wasn't even over yet.

"Hey Paul, where's Dawn?"

Paul looked to see the hyper cheeseballhead, one of another freshman football players for the school team.

"None of your business." Paul spat, making Barry chuckle and pretend like nothing happened, which honestly surprised Paul.

"Actually, it is. See you later Paul!" Barry said as he ran off to the dance floor, back to where his date was, which was Shauna, a good friend towards Dawn.

Paul was utterly confused at how Barry was involved with Troublesome, did they know each other?

Paul remembered it like yesterday.

Why couldn't he make her smile like that the way Barry does?

They hadn't even noticed Paul yet, they were too busy caught up cracking up and laughing from their jokes together.

Wait, shouldn't he be happy to see her happy? Why was he feeling his whole body just drag and slump? She was practically right in front of him as happy and cheery as he's ever seen her before in his whole life, an he was feeling SAD?!

What the fuck was wrong with him?!? He should be grateful that Barry helped her smile.

But he wasn't...he felt something else that wasn't positive at all...was it envy?

No, no no NO.

Paul shook his head and tried convincing himself to say anything positive about it, but somehow it felt wrong in his head.

Was he...jealous?

Barry was somehow making his little troublesome smile in a split second, taking no effort whatsoever. That cheesehead made it look easy top make that rare, gorgeous smile flash on her face, and he could barely even say a word without feeling worry or regret.

'Why couldn't that be me instead?'

Maybe Troublesome wasn't his to care for, maybe he just saw it in his own head.

Paul finally started walking to his locker, which was the opposite locker to Dawn's and Barry's lockers.

He watched them not even take their eyes off of each other, usually the cheesehead would scream his name by now and Troubles would be looking at him with indescribable eyes with some sort of emotion.

Not today.

Paul slammed his locker open, the door crashing into the locker beside him to make a startling loud echo, causing the laughter to instantly stop.

"Hey Paul!" Barry said, looking at one of the people he admired for being an awesome person. "Hey dude! Wassup? Hell-OOOOO!!!" Dawn giggled a little, but held Barry's mouth closed by putting her hand over and decided to say something. Barry sighed, but said hi a few more times while she stepped towards Paul.

Paul heard that cheesehead step towards him, and he clenched his palms into fists from all of this..weird negative feeling in his gut...

"Good morning Pau-"

"Can you fucking SHUT UP?!?" Paul yelled angrily, furiously and aggressively spinning around to glare at the stupid boy right behind him and slap him. He did it so fast he almost didn't even realize what he was doing.

Paul swung his arm as hard as he could with his fist balled up, aiming for his face. After he swung, his eyes instantly widened and stopped his whole body, barely missing the head of someone else by less than an INCH.

Dawn's eyes instantly grew as the fist went over her head, letting out a small, scared whimper as she felt her body freeze up again and shake a little.

His first collided with the lockers, making a few clatter loudly, but that didn't bother him one bit as his wide eyes never went away from the girl he had almost punched. Luckily, Barry was about his height, but the girl was only to his chest so he only hit air...and the locker that was now bent tremendously.

"Blue-I-I'm-I didn't mean it- Troublesome-" Paul choked out, his own voice stumbling from the guilt and regret he felt. He slowly, cautiously, carefully moved his hands to her, his hands shaking. He stares into her wide, watery navy eyes glistening back at him with her tiny body trembling.

"...Paul..." Dawn whimpered, knowing full well that his punch was definitely NOT intended for her.

But it still scared her to the point of shock filling her. She's never seen his face show so much regret...his eyes reflected guilt, and it made her feel a little less fearful.

"HEY!! You BASTARD!!" Barry screamed as he lunged for Paul, failing miserably as Dawn reacted faster and somehow had enough strength to actually move Paul out of the way and stop Barty from slamming his head into the lockers.

"Barry, stop! Please! He-"

"He almost HIT you!"

"It was an accident."

"You're kidding me?!? That was BLATANTLY INTENDED!!!"

"He didn't mean it!" Dawn stomped and yelled at Barry, who continued to yell back at her. Paul was in utter SHOCK, he didn't think she'd stand up for him much less push him out of the way from being tackled.

They screamed and yelled at each other, their voices growing louder.

"HE TRIED TO HURT YOU!!!"

"That's a lie and you know it." Paul interrupted, glaring at Barry.

"Maybe you should look before!" Barry yelled back, glaring back at Paul with hatred for trying to hurt his best friend.

"That was gonna be a knuckle sandwich for your FACE."

"You have terrible aim then!!!"

"Stop!"

Both boys shut up and looked to the short girl between them, the only thing keeping them from fighting one another. Dawn had her right hand on Barry's and her left on Pauls chest, but it was different with one another, and it was only noticed by Paul who watched her.

Her right hand pushed the body a tiny bit and instantly retreated, but her left hand lingered a second longer, softly grazing on the surface then taking her hand away.

"I'm sorry Dawn, it just got me riled up seeing that." Barry admitted, shaking his head and glanced down at his feet. Dawn sighed, but jumped slightly when a hand touched hers for a couple seconds.

Paul still felt the lingering touch of her delicate hand leaving the small trail on his chest, and it tingled a little bit. He noticed the difference of how she pulled her hand away, and it almost made him want to smile, knowing that she'd forgive him.

"Sorry Paul."

"Whatever." Paul muttered, rolling his eyes and shoving a hand in a pocket and closed his locker.

"I'm gonna go now, but we'll battle later! I'll beat you in training class today for sure Paul!" Barry exclaimed excitedly as he ran towards his class, leaving Dawn and Paul alone.

Paul took a deep breath an shifted his feet "Da-"

"No need to worry."

He looked at her face that had a tiny smile, and felt a tug at one of the corners of his mouth upwards.

God dammit, why was he feeling so soft and light-hearted?

Paul leaned slightly closer and just contently looked into Dawns eyes that glanced back into his. It wasn't that awkward eye-contact, it was something else that neither of them could describe.

It made Dawn feel like having butterfree flutter inside of her.

For some reason, Paul really liked the foreign rushing emotion running through his body, nothing else could have the unknown feeling like this.

They hadn't noticed some other students going about, chatting with others, stopping by their lockers, gossiping, not even their closest friends who were around fifteen feet away staring at the two. Hell, Ursula was gapping and was gossiping to Hilda, Miette, Beianna and Melody if he should sulk her way towards her crush that was totally hot.

Some random freshman boy wasn't looking as he was chatting to his friend while walking, and Paul noticed it. Right before one of them would've bumped into Dawn, Paul grabbed her hand and pulled her towards him, hearing her let out a small chirp from surprise. They both glanced at the boys who just went on their way, Paul glaring for a few seconds.

Dawn hadn't realized that her right hand was slightly clutching his shirt while Paul forgot he was still holding her delicate hand until they glanced at each other for a second and quickly looked away.

Paul chuckled and shifted his gaze towards his feet, letting his hair cover his closed eyes for a second from feeling heat flash to his face. Not even the cold lockers against his back could cool him off. Dawn bit her lip and looked sideways, feeling her cheeks blushing and a smile flashing on her face.

"What the fuck is my Paulie DOING?!?" Ursula shrieked, gripping her pigtails furiously from watching Dawn get all lovey-dovey with him.

"Omg look at them! It's disgusting!" Miette spat, watching some hot guy Ursula was crushing on flirt with that trash bag! Like, how the fuck could that girl get his attention?! She's never seen Paul even give anyone a chance to speak without scaring them with his glare, but he was totally flirting with someone who wasn't even cool OR pretty!

"I know! They're totally opposite, they're too fucking different!" Brianna said as the gossip girls gapped at the scene. The same thing would happen, he'd look at her, she'd look at him, they'd both look away blushing, he'd say maybe a couple words, she'd giggle and smile, he'd tilt his head slightly and gaze as her when she wasn't looking, and honestly she was insanely jealous and envious of Dawn. Why can't that be her and Drew?!?

"Darling, it's called 'opposites attract', shut up." May smirked as Serena, Misty, Leaf and Shauna laughed as Gary, Ash and Drew chuckled and cracked up. Brianna flipped May the birdie, but Misty just mouthed the words 'fuck you bitch' back.

The bell rang throughout the school, signaling that there was still ten minutes left until class started.

"I've got t-"

"I'll walk you to class?" Paul interrupted Dawn, who cheekily smiled back at him again.

"Sure." Dawn blushed as she stepped back from being so close to him and he walked to her pace on her left side. She kept her eyes towards the ground, watching her feet and smiling to herself, not realizing that the boy next to her could barely keep his eyes off of her.

Dawn's heart fluttered as she felt his fingers hold hers during the time they were walking together. Even through her crappy weekend, Paul always found a way to make her feel safe, and today he was making her feel so happy.

Dawn instantly frowned for a second, remembering the whole conversation with her mother about transferring schools, and her heart dropped. She wasn't going to be here next year, so why would she let Paul closer? In the end, she's going to hurt his heart even more if she keeps it up, and she couldn't live with the regret of pushing him away after this...

What was she supposed to do? Push him away now so he wouldn't hurt in the end, or take in every moment and let it all crash down on him in realization that she was going to be gone?

"Troublesome, what's wrong?" Dawn looked u at Paul to see him have a serious expression on his face, somehow reading her body language that she was conflicted. How did he do that?

"It's nothing." Dawn replied a little too quick, looking away from Paul.

Big mistake.

Paul gritted his teeth together, he knew she was hiding something, but she never said anything about it. He knew, he could almost see right through her that she wasn't alright.

"Don't lie to me." Dawn heard his voice say to her, and she gulped to keep herself from stuttering, bit her tongue to keep tears from ever showing in her eyes.

"It's nothing you need to worry about, no need to worry." Dawn replied as they finally got to Dawns classroom. She smiled up at him and turned around to reach for the door handle, but was spun back around and had his hands grasping her own.

Paul didn't even know why he pulled her back, but he just gazed at her with mixed emotions, trying to read anything.

"I'm sorry about this morning." He apologized, his voice somewhat softer and quieter than the usual monotoned gruff voice he had.

"It's okay Paul. No need-"

"Dammit Troublesome, that's when I worry the most." Paul smirked as Dawn gripped his hands, throwing a cute fit about him interrupting her again.

Dawn looked at the clock to see that there was only two minutes left, not noticing how fast time went by. "I don't want you to be late for class because of me, so you should go."

"You're worth it for me being late to class." Paul smirked again as he looked at her blushing face while she playfully punched his arm. She took one last glance at him before she walked into the classroom to find some of her friends waiting for her.

Paul shoved his hands in his pockets, and on the way down to his class the bell rang, signaling that class had started.

Who cares, he'd rather be late everyday walking her to class. She's worth more than she thinks.

Gary: Holy shit you finally updated!!!!'

Ash: YAY!!!!!!

Me: Shut up, I've been busy.

Paul: You should've just gave up.

Dawn: Paul! Not nice!

Paul: Whatever.

JC: Just be thankful we updated. AMEN.