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Chapter zero
' time to shine '

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10 year old, Dawn kennings walked into 5th grade, with her just new clothes, she felt joy walking back into the school, she had hoped that this year it was different, the kids in her class might have changed during the summer, seeing some kids were playing and other were standing in groups, dawn looked around, not seeing any of her friends.

as she looked around a bit more, she noticed a certain blonde, a blonde that she had known from her class, a smile started to form on her lips, it was almost automatic, dawn wouldn't deny to say she a just a little crush on her, it wasn't something serious, she knew it was a crush that would be away in a few weeks, she knew it was nothing serious.

Though others said it was something serious, she would just laugh at them when they told her, rolling her eyes sometimes id they told her, dawn didn't even realise she stopped walking when her friends, and her only two friends maya and lizzie came up to her, a smile was seen on maya's lips.

"Looking at who i think you're looking at?" Lizzie asked her friend, the smile on dawns face slightly twitched at the mention of the blonde boy, she turned her head to lizzie, she slightly rolled her eyes, "you should talk to him..it could work."maya suggested, dawn's eyes widened, shaking her head quickly.

"No, It would be so embarrassing!" Dawn said, trying to cover the blush that was forming on her face, "oh com-" maya was about to speak when a ball went flying into her head, dawn opened her mouth in shock, it wasn't a hard ball, it was more a plastic ball, dawn's hand quickly covered her mouth, and so did Lizzie,  as she looked at the direction from where the ball came from.

She saw 3 boys standing there, laughing at the two girls, dawn quickly scoffed, grabbing the plastic ball that had just been trown at maya's head, she quickly walked to the three boys, "hey you jerks!" Dawn said, grabbing the attention of a certain blonde, this had also gotten the attention of the three boys.

"You shouldn't throw balls into girls heads, it doesn't make them like you more, a simple hi would work." Dawn said, shoving the ball into liam's hands, dawn knew the guy liked maya, but she didn't think he would do this to get her attention,"now i need to get back to my friend" Dawn said, now turning around, moving forward towards Maya and Lizzie a smile was playing on her face.

★

dawn sat in class, her, Lizzie and Maya made a bet in the recess, if maya had a higher score on their last test, dawn will have to talk to charlie kincaid, the blonde kid dawn had been 'crushing' on, the teacher had just passed her, giving back her test results, '9/10' was written on the paper in red.

A smile quickly came on dawn's face, this was the biggest score she got this year, she would mostly get '7/10' or '8/10' but never an '9/10', she felt proud of herself, but she didn't know if maya now had more or not, so when dawn turned around, showing the paper to her only friend, a smile shown on  her face, she could see maya smirking, it wasn't that visible,but it was there, maya showed her friend her paper, '10/10' was written on the paper in red. 

dawn's face fell slightly, "oh come on!" dawn wispered-yelled in class, hoping that no one actually heard her, maya quietly laughed at her friend, also not wanting to be heard by the others, "now you have to talk to charlie!" maya said, still trying to keep her voice down,dawn slightly rolled her eyes, "this is so ugh!"dawn said, dawn quickly covered her mouth with her hand, not wanting to get any attention from the other, the teacher turned towards her, while charlie also turned towards the brunnette. 

"anything you like to share with the class dawn?" the teacher spoke up, she was just done with giving everyone their papers, dawn shook her head, "no miss" dawn spoke, turning back around in her seat, before the teacher started to talk again, one of the boys charlie was with in the morning turned to look at dawn before looking away, "what a freak." he muttered, dawn couldn't say anything as the teacher then started to talk again. 

dawns head fell slightly, she was used to people calling her and maya freaks, but she felt more hurt as it was from someone's friend, as her eyes turned to charlie, seeing if he was looking at the teacher, he looked at her, he almost looked guilty, almost looked sad for the girl, the two made eye contact for a while before charlie broke it, tears were filling her eyes slightly, but she did not allow any to fall, she saw charlie and his friends now laughing, dawn put her head down again, as she just contiuned to listen to the teacher. 

★

Maya, lizzie and dawn walked out of the building, school was now done for most, but they just had one last extra class, it was because they both had trouble understanding math that they had to take a tutor class, charlie and some of his friends were also included, "okay, this is now your time to shine, go talk to him." Lizzie said, slightly pushing dawn to charlie's direction, "no, oh my god i'm going to be so embarrassed!" dawn said, trying to get herself more time, hiding her face in her hands as she looked over at charlie.

"please! i got a 10/10 for the test, that was the bet." maya said, a smile was shown on her face, laughing a little, dawn let out a groan as she looked at charlie, he was surrounded by his friends, awn sighed as her feet started walking towards him, her face had already turned red even though she hasn't even started talking to him, "freaky dawny is coming over dude." one of the guys spoke, this had grabbed charlie attention as he turned around seeing that dawn was walking over, her face was red, she was nervous to talk to them, that was something charlie noticed about her first.

when dawn made her way over to him, charlie was about to start talking when his friend beat him to it, "freaky dawny, what do you want?" he spoke, dawn's face fell, she noticed to worry in charlie's eyes when he saw her face fall, dawn opened her mouth to speak but nothing came out, she couldn't form a sentence, "do you need something?" charlie asked, it came out ruder than he had wanted, he didn't mean to sound rude, but it had just came out rude, "freaky dawny!" his friend added to the sentence, they had come up with that name in first period, when dawn talked in the middle of class. 

"i- i just wanted to talk with charlie.. i'm sorry i'll go" dawn said, trying to find a sentence to say, the guys laughed at her, as charlie just started at her, she stood frozen as she felt all of their eyes on her, "okay well charlie doesn't want you here, right charlie?" the guy asked charlie, turning his head from the brunnette to the blonde, charlie's mouth opened but closed again, before one of his other friends nudged him to speak , "you can say it charles." the friend spoke up again, swining him arm around him, looking at dawn, "you just say, goodbye freaky dawny." he spoke again, now making eye contact with him. 

"good- uhm" charlie spoke, dawn's face fell even more, she didn't even know it was possible, she looked back at her friend with teary eyes, before turning back as her eyes turned back to normal, "goodbye freaky dawn.." charlie said quickly, how whole friendgroup laughed at dawn, thats when a tear fell from dawn's eyes, "say something more charlie, come on don't be a loser" his friend said, nudging his shoulder, charlie's eyes didn't leave dawn, who kept looking back at her friends, "please go away, your breaths stinks.." charlie said,in a quiet voice as he watched dawn turn around, walking back to maya, quickly running to her arms, "dude, next time say freaky dawny, it makes her feel even worse." his friend spoke up, but charlie wasn't listening, he could only think about the girl he had just seen, he wanted to apologise. 

★

dawn and maya walked into dawn's frontdoor, Maya had wanted to sleep over and her parents had said yes already, dawn knew her mother would also agree if she knew that maya's parents had also already said yes, "we could tell your mom?" Maya almost questioned, they had been talking about what happened in school that day, dawn shrugged her shoulders, doing off her jacket and putting it on the coat rack, Maya did the same, "tell me what?" dawn's mom came around the corner, "mom." dawn said, she felt relieved when she heard her mother's voice. 

running to her mother, she hugged her, maya had already taken off her shoes and jacket, "hi miss kennings" Maya said, greeting dawn's mother, a smile was growing on her face, "come on you two." her mother said, letting the two girls walk over to the kitchen table, on the table there was food placed, there were three plates sitting on  the table, dawn's smile only grew wider as she saw what they were going to eat that night, she was happy her mother chose that food 

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The next morning dawn stood there, waving goodbye to her friend, who was now walking to her mothers car, a smile was shown on dawns face as she rememebers what fun they had the other night, playing with dolls, watching movies, making puzzels, dawn and maya had great sleepover together, her mother was stood leaning on the kitchen island.

her phone had gone off at the end of breakfast, dawn walked over to the kitchen, sitting on one of the barstools that was apart of the island, grabbing her book that was laying further onto the island, she started to read as she waited for her mother to finish the call, "now? tomorrow?" her mother spoke, her tone was full on questions, just as dawn was about to get up and leave her mother to finish her call, her mother put the phone down. 

sighing, letting her head fall into her head, she rubbed her eyes, "what is it mom?" dawn asked, closing her book she was reading, "you know aunt Anna" her mother said, her hands not leaving her head, dawn nodded her, one of her eyebrows raised as she waited for her mother to continue talking, "yes? what is it with aunt anna?" dawn asked, growing slightly impatient, she could hear her mother sigh again.

"dawn you're aunt anna passed away in a car crash, and  your cousin  harper is now alone, and her father won't be home until a few years.."her mother said, tears filling her mothers eyes, but non  dared to drop, dawn's mouth opened slightly, in shock, sure she wasn't close with her aunt and cousin, but she still felt bad about the fact that her cousin will be alone for a while. 

"oh my god.."dawn said, covering her mouth with her hand, tears started to fill dawns eyes as she thought about the moments she had with her aunt Anna, but no tears dared to spill out of her eyes, "so, tomorrow we will take a plain, and stay there until her dad returns.."her mother said.

 dawn's aunt, had always told her mother that if something would have happened to her, that they had to take care of the kids, so now dawns mother had to take care of harper, dawn was trying to look on the bride side of these, but she didn't think of anything, she only stood up and walked over to the side her mom was leaning on, wrapping her hands around her mother, they both cried. 

later that night, dawn stared at the ceiling in her room, as she was laying on her bed, she couldn't sleep, she had even completely forgot about her friend who she had to say goodbye to, the only though it dawns mind was, 'is harper going to be okay', harper was dawn's age and she couldn't imagine loosing her mother.

she couldn't image living without her mother, as the night grew older, and dawn was on the plane to London, she had forgotten to even say goodbye to her best friends, she couldn't send a text now, and she also couldn't call, she would have to text when she lands, she felt horrible for leaving without saying goodbye, she couldn't imagine what Lizzie and Maya were feeling, she had though wondered how charlie react to see she wasn't in school anymore.

AUTORSNOTE 

MAYA NEVER MOVED AWAY? IT WAS ONLY DAWN WHO DID MOVE AWAY, ALSO I KNOW CHARLIE SOUNDED MEAN BUT I PROMISE IT WAS ONLY BECAUSE HE HAD SHITTY FRIENDS

This is an au where maya never moved away 🫶 also the birthday part where charlie said Maya's breath was stinky was switched with liam, right after dawn left, so liam said that maya's breath was stinky 🫶

i first wrote this with only Maya in it then i realised Lizzie says, "reunited with my elementary school bff" or something, so i had to make them 3 bff's, but dawn is closer to Maya 

I'm going to start giving dedication stuff so reply here to be tagged in the next chapter for dedication / my motivation 💟🫶

- Mai 🫶