Connecting Heartstrings | Gladion

>>Chapter 3<<

(Y/N) woke up to the sound of her alarm. She got ready for school, satisfied that all her things were finally unpacked after having spent the night unpacking. She left her house and walked to school. She was definitely not used to the heat. Galar is a very cold region compared to the tropical Alola. (Y/N) prayed that she wouldn't sweat her ass off on her way to school, she still was not used to the tropical weather.

When she was close to the entrance, she noticed Gladion getting off a fancy limousine. Next to him was a girl, which (Y/N) assumed would be her sister, or at least some kind of relative, with the exact same blonde hair and green eyes, but a little...a lot less edgy looking. The girl was wearing a sun hat and a beautiful white dress to match. She stared at them for a while, curious. That was until Gladion noticed her staring and frowned. (Y/N) quickly averted her gaze and started walking faster towards the entrance. (Y/N) was red as a tomato. Embarrassed that Gladion caught her staring. As if her blushing yesterday wasn't enough already.

Not that she was attracted to the guy or anything. After all, she was new to the place and knew nothing about him. She was just...curious. And maybe a little lonely. Yes, that was it.

She got inside, and walked the stairs up to her classroom, only to find it empty. Confused, (Y/N) looked at the printed schedule in her hand only to realise she had gym class. Groaning, she walked down the flight of stairs, looking for the gym. She remembered Hau showed it to her recently, but it was all new to her, so her sense of direction was crap. Aimlessly walking around the school, she noticed some girls in sports clothes walking off to what she guessed was the gym. She followed them and she was right, there was the gym. She ran off to the changing rooms, worried she was gonna be late, and changed her clothes quickly. She slammed the locker shut and bolted out the door and back into the gym.

As she got there, she heard the professor speaking about warm-up and then playing volleyball. (Y/N) internally cried, her hatred towards sports was too much to handle this early in the morning. Nevertheless, she started stretching with the rest of the group and mentally prepared herself for at least an hour of dodging balls like a coward. She wasn't one to play, definitely.

Time went by so slowly it was painful for (Y/N). She hated every second of gym class and was just about ready to die. (Y/N) was completely immersed in her hatred and did not notice a ball flying towards her.

She heard people yelling at her to move and turned around confused, only to be met with a ball smashing into her face mercilessly. People expected (Y/N) to cry in pain or at least cry from embarrassment, but she was furious; livid that someone actually threw a ball at her. Were they that oblivious to her awkwardness during the whole class?

(Y/N) stood up and threw the ball back to the other team with full strength, only to have Gladion hit it back to her side of the court. The game then continued and (Y/N) kept trying to dodge the ball with all her might.

After the match was over, (Y/N) walked towards the changing rooms, ready to forget about this past hour, when Gladion stopped her on her tracks. Needless to say, (Y/N) was confused.

— "The way you threw that ball, you should consider actually playing instead of trying so hard to avoid it." —He stated. (Y/N) wasn't sure if he was complimenting her or calling her a coward. Before she could reply, Gladion turned on his heels and walked away, leaving (Y/N) alone with her thoughts. "What's up with this guy?" (Y/N) thought to herself.

She continued her march towards the changing rooms and threw her gym clothes on the locker. Once she had her clothes back on, she walked up the stairs and back to her classroom.

The class was a bit boring, but it suddenly got interesting when professor Kukui decided to make a contest out of it. (Y/N) was really competitive so this was right up her alley. Everyone participated but once they got an answer wrong, they'd be disqualified. Whoever was still standing by the end of the class would be the winner.

Game on.

(Y/N) kept answering without a single mistake, determined to win just for the sake of it. The clock kept on moving and each passing minute, more students got disqualified from the game. By the end only 3 students were still standing. Gladion, a guy (Y/N) didn't seem to give a damn about, and (Y/N) herself.

— "Name the 4 Pokémon guardians of each island on Alola." — Professor Kukui said, waiting for an answer. (Y/N) was dumbfounded. What the **** is an island guardian?

— "Tapu Koko, Tapu Lele, Tapu Fini and Tapu Bulu." —Gladion said confidently. (Y/N) was out. She shot a glare at Gladion and sat down with her arms crossed. She absolutely hated losing. How was she supposed to know that answer anyway? She just got here after all.

The Pokémon contest carried on between Gladion and this pink-haired dude called Ilima. Neither of them willing to lose. (Y/N) just wanted it to be over so she could forget about her failure and go eat her lunch once and for all.

After a few more questions, Ilima was declared the winner and was met with cheers and admiration from all the girls in the room. What's up with that? Not caring in the slightest about this guy's victory, (Y/N) walked out of the class with her lunch in hand, looking for a place to sit down and eat.

She looked around the outside of the school and decided to sit next to the small lake right next to the big tree. She was about to take the first bite of her food when she heard a voice right next to her.

— "Um, hello...my name is Lillie...do you...do you mind if I sit here?" — The girl seemed really nervous but (Y/N) paid no attention to it.

— "Sure".

The girl sat down next to (Y/N) as she began to eat. She seemed like she wanted to say something but was having a hard time saying it out loud. (Y/N) didn't want to pressure her so she just sat there and waited for the girl to talk.

— "Well...Professor Kukui said that you were new and...he uh...he told me to show you around...I mean...if you want me to. He thought we would get along for some reason." — She finally spoke. She seemed kind of uncomfortable, so (Y/N) decided to be nice to her and make her job a bit easier. She didn't understand why Kukui wanted someone to show her around, but she appreciated the thought.

— "Sure, that'd be nice. My name's (Y/N)." — She said kindly. — "Maybe you can show me around after school, I need to go out to buy some stuff anyway." — The girl seemed a bit more relaxed after hearing (Y/N)'s voice. Maybe she expected (Y/N) to react differently.

— "Well you're in luck! I'm a shopping expert" — She exclaimed happily. She was definitely a lot calmer than before. "Am I intimidating?" (Y/N) thought.

They agreed to meet up in the shopping district after school. (Y/N) felt like asking about Gladion. Were they related? She ultimately chose against it. It would be weird if she asked about that and she didn't want to come off as a stalker.

She wondered if she would see Gladion too after school.