First Faith

Chapter 20: Goliath

Chapter 20: Goliath

"What's wrong?" Dawn asked as we descended down the hill after telling her I wasn't having lunch at the church.

"I'm tired of Demi." I grunted.

"What happened?"

"She's always butting her head into my business."

Dawn continued a few more steps in silence, "She's just trying to help. She's just a little kid."

"No, she's not." I accidentally stepped on a loose rock and steadied my balance quickly so I wouldn't fall over, holding back a scowl.

"What do you mean?"

"She can read minds and she's smarter than she should be."

"Weren't you a really smart kid too, Paul?"

I ignored her.

Dawn sighed, "Well, just give her a break. She's really sweet and it's not like she chose to read minds. But she is choosing to put up with you even though you can be mean."

I stopped walking after noticing Dawn stop and her arms wrap around Piplup tighter.

"Have I been being mean to you, Dawn?" I asked, going through the past few days. I didn't feel like I'd been purposefully rude, especially towards her.

"We just haven't spent much time together. It's kind of weird."

"I haven't been very close to you either. You don't have to lie about it." I said.

Dawn turned around and gave me a gentle smile, "I wasn't trying to, but yeah. I'm not blaming you, though. You've been doing a good job at opening up. And you've had so much going on. How are you doing with handling Electivire?"

"When I'm not thinking about it, I'm alright." I took a deep breath.

"It'll be ok, Paul. Whatever happens will be for the best." Dawn walked over and linked her arm with mine so we could continue walking together.

"I really hope so." I said grimly, stumbling over a rock again.

"Wow you're clumsy today."

"It doesn't seem like anything is in your way." I observed, "You're usually the one tripping over things."

"I guess I learned how to look where I'm going for once."

"And I'm not?"

Dawn squeezed my arm, "Let's go get lunch."

Halfway through our meal, I heard the skidding of running feet round the corner and looked up as Aaron plowed into the cafeteria, his eyes scanning frantically until they found mine, "Paul!"

"What?" I asked, half annoyed and half curious as to what was wrong.

"It's Demi. I went up to the church and I heard screaming, like something had attacked her."

"Did you not stay around to figure out what was going on?" I asked, wondering how much of this was true.

"Well, I looked around and couldn't find her. And so I'm not sure where she is-"