RUMORS OF LOVE

Chapter One: You Just Got Wonder-Dummied!

"One's destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things." - Henry Miller

"There is no moment of delight in any pilgrimage like the beginning of it." - Charles Dudley Warner

"A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step." - Lao Tzu

-HOMEROOM: MONDAY-

Dawn Berlitz walked into homeroom, about five seconds before the bell rang. She walked in, to see her friends, May Maple, Leaf Green and Misty Waterflower, whispering among themselves, in the three back seats in the corner. One seat that would complete the square was saved for her. She quickly took her seat, before their evil demon of a homeroom teacher, Ms. Shirona, came in to yell at her.

May, Leaf, Misty and she had been friends since they first met. May was the daughter of a gym leader in Hoenn. Misty was a Sensational Sister from Kanto. Leaf's brother owned the company in Snowpoint that came out with the Pokétechs, the hottest new strategist analyzer for battlers and coordinators. Dawn's mom was a two times Grand Festival Winner, who is the pride of Twinleaf.

Currently, the four of them attended Oak Academy, a private school, founded by Professor Oak located in Veilstone.

"Why are we suddenly in homeroom?" Dawn asked. "I didn't even know until I went to first class and Aaron told me that we had to go homeroom, so we walked here together," she indicated the blonde boy she had walked in with.

May agreed, "I know, I was walking to first class when over the announcements they said that our grade must report to homeroom."

"But why? I mean it's not like we are starting a new semester. Spring break is coming up in a few weeks." Leaf whined.

"Does anyone think it's funny how it's just our grade?" Misty pondered.

The girls tried coming up with reasons why they were called to homeroom with no explanation, but none of their theories seemed to make sense. Headmaster Oak died? No. Aliens are taking over? No. Got out of school months early? No. Something bad that would ruin their lives? Probably.

Ms. Shirona walked in, "Good morning students, I'm sure you all are wondering why you were called here. I will make the announcement in a few minutes. In the meanwhile, talk amongst yourselves."

Ash Ketchum, a good friend of theirs, walked over to them. "So do you guys know why we are here?"

Misty smiled at him, "News flash Ash, no one knows why we are here."

"Oh yeah, right." Ash grinned and scratched the back of his head.

May groaned as she noticed the rest of Ash's friends walking towards them; Paul Shinji, Gary Oak, and that dumb, stuck-up, arrogant, idiot Drew Hayden.

Ash was the second best battler in the school and from Kanto. His dad was the former Frontier Brain. He was best friends with the girls and super nice, besides the fact that he was a bit dense. Ash and Misty had been friends before she even came to Sinnoh. Paul was the best battler in all of Veilstone. His father Cyrus, owned a company, Galactic, that was just as huge and successful as Leaf's brothers'. He didn't talk much and when he did, his remarks were sly and sarcastic and mean. Dawn couldn't stand him. Drew's parents were both successful Grand Festival Winners and very popular in Hoenn. He was the heartthrob; all the girls fawned over him and he loved to tease May for some reason. Gary's grandfather was the headmaster of Oak Academy. He was known as the player from the school, but Dawn figured that was a cover up of his true feelings for Leaf (It was so obvious he had a thing for her). No matter how obnoxious they were (excluding Ash) most of the girls in this school loved them; Dawn, May, Misty and Leaf thought it was ridiculous.

"Well hello there ladies, and May," Drew smirked at them.

May bit the inside of her cheek. "As great as it is to see you, Drew, it isn't. Go away."

"No manners," Drew looked appalled, "But then again, I expect nothing less than your species. What was it? Beastous Hideous?"

"WHAT?" May stood up and looked ready to attack Drew.

"Drew! May! I don't need you two fighting so early in the morning! Sit back down." Ms. Shirona called them out from where she was sitting.

Drew grumbled and cursed May under his breath as he went back to his seat. Paul, Gary and Ash still remained on their side.

Ash and Misty were engaged in a conversation about whether her Marill could beat his Bulbasaur in a battle.

Gary was trying to flirt with Leaf but she just ignored him and patiently listened to May rant about how much she hated Drew.

Paul just stood there, hands in pocket. His uniform was ironed and completely professional, but like his friends, the tie was slightly loosened. Dawn just stared at him as she watched him stare out the window, not caring and not talking. He looked like the image of his brother, one of the most highly respected lawyers around Sinnoh.

Suddenly he turned his head and their eyes connected and she turned her head to listen to May and Leaf's conversation (even though May was doing most of the talking). She twiddled her fingers as she pretended to an active member in May and Leaf's topic of discussion. Aw crap, I really wish he hadn't caught me staring, Dawn prayed that they would go back to their seats.

"Drew has to be the biggest jerk, I've ever met! I mean seriously he walks around like," May was still going on about Drew's negative qualities.

She could feel his eyes on her; she felt embarrassed that when she spaced out, it looked like she was staring at him. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Gary say something to Paul. They grabbed Ash and went to sit back down. Dawn let out a sigh of relief.

Paul sat down at his desk. Drew instantly rounded on them.

"What the hell? Why didn't you come back with me? I looked like a loser in front of Maple, not having my friends come with me."

"Funny how you care what May thinks," Gary whispered to where only the four of them could hear.

Drew clenched his teeth, "I don't want her getting the idea that she can beat me."

Paul mentally hit himself. "Gary, why are we here?" Gary was Headmaster Oak's grandson; he would know why they were here.

"Our grade is going on that trip the Orange Islands on like Thursday and they are announcing it today. I checked the list, everyone in this homeroom, plus some are coming."

"That's bad timing," Drew complained.

Ash chuckled, "Everyone is coming; it'll be fun!"

"That means those dorks are coming." Paul indicated Brendan, Barry, Lucas, and Rudy.

Drew and Gary started bashing them, immediately. Paul just looked across the room to see Dawn laughing with her friends. He caught her staring at him. It was pretty funny to catch her, he was sure her face flushed more colors of red then there were possible.

Suddenly she turned and caught him sneaking a peek.

Damn, it was his turn for his face to flush scarlet.

Ms. Shirona clapped her hands to get everyone's attention. "Hey! The reason why you are all in here is because the trip you paid for last year is coming up in a couple days. I have a sheet with those who filled out the paperwork and paid their deposits, so that they can come. The room assignments are also on here. We will be leaving Veilstone Thursday morning, and will be traveling to the Orange Islands. We will be traveling by train to the Islands, and then by bus to our hotel. And since we teachers aren't as dumb as you think, there will be a dance on the last day of the trip. And to make sure there isn't any funny business, since all of my homeroom is going, I will be one of the chaperones. The rules will be strict." Ms. Shirona paused so she could smile at the groans from the students who were disappointed that she would be attending. "And the last thing, you all may NOT bring your Pokémon. They have to stay at home. The last thing we need is an incident because two of our not so bright battlers or very arrogant coordinators are trying to prove a point. No one cares about how good of a battler you are, save that for some other time," She stopped and looked at Ash, Gary and Drew, who started sinking in their seats. "And we don't need any fights involving Pokémon attacks. Any Pokémon found will be confiscated. Seriously, we'll be doing a bag search, so don't even bring them. Now you stampede of Dodrios stay seated until I post the list and get out the way."

Ms. Shirona posted the list and went back to her desk. In an instant almost the whole homeroom was up by the list except for the girls, Ash, Paul, Drew and Gary.

Misty rolled her eyes at the yelling students. "We'll just wait till the Dodrios sit down."

"The trip!" May squealed. "This is going to be awesome. All the best things happen on school trips. It's all about romance."

Leaf rolled her eyes playfully at May's enthusiasm. "You act like you have so much experience."

May responded by sticking her tongue out at Leaf.

"How unprofessional, May."

Dawn laughed at them. "The only bad thing is that we have She-Witch Shirona coming too."

They all giggled, remembering that they were not the favorite students of their homeroom teacher.

As their classmates started to sit down, the girls went up to see the list and who was going.

Room Assignments:

Girls:

101- Marina, Melody

102- Dawn, May

103- Misty, Leaf

104- Zoey, Brianna

105- Daisy, Solidad

106- Ursula, Lyra

Boys:

201- Kenny, Barry

202- Paul, Drew

203- Ash, Gary

204- Aaron, Rudy

205- Nando, Jimmy

206- Brendan, Lucas

"Why do I feel like this group of people is going to ruin my trip," May muttered darkly.

"Hey May! Move out of the way, your big head is blocking my view!" Drew called out.

"SHUT UP DREW."

Drew flipped his hair, "It's no surprise to me that you wonder-dummies are taking such a long time to read this list." Gary came up grinning and gave Drew a high five as Misty glared darkly at them.

Dawn turned to look at them, "Who do you think you are calling wonder-dummies?"

"Obviously you," Paul smirked.

"With May being your leader," Drew grinned evilly as he enjoyed the sight of May's anger bottling up. He couldn't wait for the explosion.

"Whatever," Dawn spat back. "You guys have no life besides us."

Paul started reading the list, "Confusing reality with your dreams again?"

May and Dawn inhaled deeply, preparing to attack, but then Misty dragged them away by the arm. But not before May could get back at Drew. As he made his way back to his seat, May tripped him. He fell face flat on the floor. The girls burst out into giggles and Ash and Gary started laughing. Paul smirked and shook his head.

Drew looked up as May laughed at him. She gave him an innocent smile, "Oh Drew, looks like you just got wonder-dummied!"

He glared up at her. Gary was still laughing, "Damn Drew, you just got owned by May!"

"I'm just going to pretend I didn't see or hear that," Ms. Shirona called from her desk.

When they all had sat back down, Misty looked dark. "Melody is on this trip. I can't stand her."

"We all have girls we don't like coming. So who cares if Brianna," May glared, "Or Melody," Misty looked away, "Or Daisy," Leaf pretended to gag, "Or Ursula," Dawn's expression darkened as she spoke her name, "are coming? We are going to have the best time, the four of us."

May suddenly had a worried look. "I don't care about them. I'm worried about who we'll take to the dance!"

Leaf waved it off, "We're pretty attractive. I'm sure some guys will ask us."

"But, what if…" Misty stopped mid-sentence.

The four of them just looked at each other, each of them getting a feeling eating at their stomachs.

There was a sudden explosion of chimes as everyone looked at their phones. It was a mass text sent by an unknown person, the school's personal wannabe Pokegossip Girl with her signature: PG.

A trip to the Orange Islands! Is everyone excited? I am, yes, I am coming too. I'll be constantly texting all the deets and gossip, so try to keep your secrets hidden deep. ;) -PG