It was... a lot easier to be around you back then.
February 14—Valentine's Day, is arguably Marnie's least favorite holiday for multiple reasons. Starting back in middle school, she remembered being surrounded by her girl-friends as they egged her on—chocolate hearts in her quaking hands as she approached the guy she liked.
He was one of those "popular" types, with the natural-blond hair and emerald green eyes, one of the best Pokémon trainer/athletes in the entire building. She liked him solely for his looks of course—she was more naïve back then. She wanted to believe that despite his swarming harem of ladies, she, the emo kid, had some kind of chance.
He held up his hand with that pristine smile of his that he always flashed to his fans, and slowly Marnie lowered the chocolates.
"Sorry, but I'm just not interested in your type."
Those girl-friends of hers stopped hanging around her after that. She's certain now, that it's because they were just waiting to watch her heart crumble before their sickening eyes—hungry to watch the black-painted lips of a 12 year-old stereotype tremble in self-loathing as her final act of confidence fell to its resting place.
I have never forgotten those words. They changed me forever.
She remembered dropping the emo shtick when she entered the tenth grade. It's because she realized something along the way—something about the school's caste system that she'd never realized. If you stuck out in any way that wasn't "society approved", you were branded and outcasted at the bottom. Marnie always wanted to express herself differently—she liked deeper, more mature things, and she experimented a lot with music and her appearance, but nothing she did was ever accepted.
In the end, she realized that "interests" were things to keep private. However, she still admired her brother Piers' style, so she never dropped it entirely. But the pixie cuts, the black lipstick, the heavy eyeshadow—she discarded all of that so she could finally rest in peace.
And of course, Marnie was never rejected again—but only because she faded away entirely. By not sticking out in any way, she was able to develop a true sense of individualism at the cost of being constantly alone.
Skip a few years later, and now she's the gym leader of Spikemuth.
There's cheering and whooping from everyone on the court—Marnie's fans, Team Yell.
"That's our Marnie!"
"You should've accepted defeat before you came, kid!"
Marnie extended her arm to shake the trainer's hand. He was leering at her heavily, his eyes squinted in teary frustration as he collected his Baltoy into his arms.
"Sorry kid," Marnie sighed, "It wasn't exactly wise ta' bring a Psychic Pokémon, I hope ya realize that..."
He reluctantly shook her hand, still glaring sourly at his shoes, "I didn't have a bloody choice," he spat rudely, "You took out my others—I had to resort to this one, and I still lost.
Letting go as if she were poisonous, the kid took an enraged step away and flipped his fingers at her, "I'll beat the crap out of you next time, you stupid goth girl! Dark types are pathetic, and they always will be!"
Without another word, the challenger stormed out of the stadium and wasn't heard from again.
A member of Team Yell whistled in disturbed surprise, "Geez—what a bad sport... the challengers these days are getting more and more entitled every year."
"Yeah—usually they don't make it this far before getting beaten, but still..."
Marnie shrugged, used to the occasional rough treatment by now, "Y'all get over it. This ain't the first kid like that, and it won't be the last."
At the sound of her reassurance, Team Yell dispersed a bit to relax back into Spikemuth's alleys, leaving Marnie alone in the center of the court. The kid's rude remarks weren't original, but even now they still hurt to hear. She sighed bitterly to herself and began to walk off the field.
You just can't please all of 'em.
Then, pulling out her phone, Marnie decided to dial up Gloria's number.
The two of them were very different people. Gloria was sweet and open-hearted, always in the mood for fun, while Marnie was often more laid-back and level-headed—with a dash of salt, of course. Despite their contrasts, the two girls were genuine friends by now, hanging out on every weekend they could manage—often also accompanied by Bede.
Gloria's perky voice immediately popped up in the phone's speaker, relieving Marnie of all her pent-up annoyance dealing with barrages of rude challengers.
"Hey Marnie!" she beamed, "Finished with your challenges today, have you?"
"Yeah, pretty much. After this jerk of a challenger showed up, I'm ready to close up the court early today."
A sympathetic sigh filtered through the phone, "Again? I'm so sorry Marnie... some people are just sore losers."
She dismissed it quickly, "It's fine, really. I've seen it enough to be pretty callous to it if m' honest now."
"I'm sorry to hear that... want to hang out to make up for it?"
Marnie smiled, "Sure, why not?" then, twiddling with a split end in her hair, she went on, "Can we invite Bede too? He always seems to be with us these days."
"Oh? Bede?" she could hear Gloria grinning on the other side, "Wow I never thought I'd see the day when you invite him!"
Marnie rolled her eyes, but there was a secret smirk on her face.
"Alright, alright. I'll call him. Meet me at Hammerlocke then—we'll all get ice cream at Hammerlocke like we usually do."
When they said goodbye, Marnie stared for an extra moment at the screen.
"Bede..." she mumbled, the consonants of his name imprinting on her lips as she thought of him momentarily.
Then she smiled, and turned towards her house to change out of her uniform.
* * *
Naturally, Marnie was the first one to Hammerlocke. After all, she only lived a bike ride's distance away, and she was the first to know where they were all going. This early arrival gave her extra time to sit down on a park bench and observe the children as they lackadaisically romped about on the jungle gym.
I invited Bede myself this time, she realized, tucking her hands into her jacket pockets, Is that a good thing?
Bede was such a strange case. Out of everyone she'd ever hated, no one got under her skin the way Bede had. He was flamboyant, egotistical, rude—all the traits that green-eyed blond boy had proudly worn whenever he strutted about the school halls. When Marnie saw Bede for the first time, she vowed never to cross his path—fearing the incident long ago in her middle school days.
But of course, Gloria had to go and befriend him for some reason.
Though she sympathized with her after losing touch with Hop, Marnie detested the idea of Gloria befriending Bede. She envisioned nothing good coming from their friendship—assuming he'd belittle and disappoint them over and over again, but she couldn't have been more wrong.
Somewhere along the line, Bede changed. He altered his attitude, humbled his blunt insults, and even bothered to occasionally compliment people; and for some reason that enraged her. She wanted to believe Bede was the same as that blond-haired brat—thus she teased and clashed with him at every waking moment. But she found that he either couldn't be bothered, or was simply too oblivious to notice all of her snide comments.
So recently, she gave up.
"I see you're already here," a familiar voice noted from behind.
She turned around to see Bede staring over at her a few paces away.
"Naturally. I only live a mile and a half away—it's an average bike-ride."
He nodded in agreement, "Mind if I sit?"
With a small shrug, Marnie scooted a few centimeters away to make room for him, and he plopped down tiredly on her left side.
They were both quiet for a moment. Marnie had now taken out her phone and begun scrolling down slowly, absentmindedly observing posts from her various acquaintances. Bede simply sat with his hands in his jacket pockets, eyes focused on the half-overcast evening sky.
She could feel her heart catching in her throat.
Do I talk? she glanced at him, then back at her phone, This is starting to feel awkward... I hope Gloria gets here soon.
His eyes were half-obscured by his long, curly bangs, and the hood of his jacket was shifted up around his neck. It wasn't a particularly cold day, but Bede's scrawniness prevented him from retaining very much heat.
Marnie let her gaze wander to his arms, hidden under the folds of the slightly over-sized hoodie.
Yup. Still scrawny as ever despite Opal's desperate attempts at weight-training... she glanced momentarily at his torso, noticing it was the only tight part of the hoodie, Although... admittedly I think his upper-half's developed a bit. I reckon he can actually lift 20 kilos—
"What're you staring at me for?"
She jolted quickly.
Oh crap—he noticed...
Luckily, Marnie was much better at lying and covering up embarrassment than Bede was, "I just noticed the jacket. You usually wear your uniform—is it new?"
"Oh—this?" he tugged at it casually, "No actually. It's just been a while... it's actually a little small up top, I think."
I noticed...
"Are you familiar with Wyndon's Pokémon Academy of Excellence?"
Marnie nodded, "Of course. Everyone is. The PAE's one of th' most prestigious Pokémon high schools in the world—endorsed by ex-Chairman Rose. That's were all the famous snobs go, I believe."
"Yeah, pretty much," he showed her a crest on the left quadrant of his jacket, "I bought this jacket to match my uniform when I went there, actually. It's been nearly two years since I've attended."
Her eyes widened in surprise, "Wait—what!? Hold on Bede—you went to the PAE!? How in tha' bloody name of Arceus did you land yourself there!?"
Shocked at her exclamation, Bede leaned back a fraction and shrugged, "I was the Chairman's chosen trainer that year. He got me in via a letter of recommendation..."
Marnie leered sourly at him, "Stupid prodigy... you really are a stuck-up aren't you?"
"What? Hey! I just got lucky—I'm not as stuck-up as I used to be, you know!"
For a moment, they both returned to a mildly aggravated silence. Then, after letting out a huff of air, Bede resumed staring at the clouds.
"Don't envy me so much Marnie. Honestly, I wasn't a good kid back then. You... wouldn't have wanted to be in my place."
Though the sudden calmness of Bede's expression worried her, Marnie bit her tongue and remained silent. She was already well-aware of Bede's confidentiality, but knew it wasn't her place to pry him open.
Gloria's the one who does that... she sighed, turning her gaze back to her phone, She's so much braver than I am—always getting in Bede's face and flashing smiles at him like free candies... her kindness would give him diabetes.
Then she stopped scrolling.
If I had that kind of bravery, what would I do with it? she glanced at Bede again, who was now yawning sleepily, It's Valentine's Day, isn't it?
Her throat tightened.
Nevermind.
A few more minutes passed until Gloria came bounding up to the two of them.
"Marnie!" she shouted, waving happily as she exited the Corviknight taxi.
Grinning kindly, Marnie waved pleasantly back as she closed the cab door, "Hey Gloria! Took you long enough, heh."
"Sorry—you know how the weather is sometimes! Route 10 can be very unpredictable up in those clouds... we almost got blown off course."
"Oh—well, I'm glad you made it okay," Marnie added, giving Gloria a quick hug, "Either way, we're ready to have some fun."
"Me too!" Gloria grinned, then glanced around Marnie to spot Bede standing sheepishly in front of the park bench still, "Hi Bede! Happy Valentine's Day!"
As if he'd been struck over the head, Bede's back and shoulders suddenly straightened back as red plumes dashed across his cheeks.
"O-oh yeah—I almost forgot about that..."
Marnie blinked at his overreaction, That was interesting. He didn't stammer or jump like that when it was just me—why's Gloria any different?
Gloria stepped past Marnie to grin more closely at Bede, "Oh? Did you? I thought you always got loads of chocolates for Valentine's Day! You know—from your fans and such?"
"Well... that's technically true," he coughed into his fist and avoided staring into her eyes, "But I've started hiring an assistant to open all of that stuff for me and sort out the chocolates... I refuse to eat anything from an anonymous source."
"Eeh—cautious as usual I see..." she smirked suddenly at him, "Did you get mine then?"
Marnie watched as her gaze locked in on his. The suddenness of her words startled Bede immensely—sending even pinker cascades of color down his neck and ears as she subtly withdrew a heart-shaped box from her bag.
"You... sent me something?"
What is this charade? Marnie suddenly clenched her fists, Here she goes again—taunting him about romance just for fun... will she ever give him a break?
"Do you think I sent you something Bede?" she asked, her eyes glittering as she now held her chocolate box behind her back, "I mean... I never said I sent something, but that depends on whether or not you received it."
For some reason, hearing Gloria's words annoyed her. Marnie, who normally never had any problems with Gloria and teased Bede along with her, was frustrated. There was a small burning sensation in the pit of her stomach—similar to a smoldering campfire.
"W-well... I..." Bede stepped back, but Gloria stepped forwards to re-close the distance.
"Hmm?" she egged on, "Your face is awfully red Bede—are you feeling oka—"
"Zwoop!" suddenly, interrupting Gloria's mischief, Marnie yanked the box of chocolates out of Gloria's slender hands and held it above her head like a prize.
Both Bede and Gloria suddenly cried out in shock.
"Marnie!?" Gloria immediately attempted to reach for the box, "H-hey! That's cheating! I was about to—"
"Ch-chocolate!?" Bede suddenly scowled, "Augh! You were teasing me again, weren't you Gloria!? C'mon—it's a holiday for Arceus' sake! How could you?"
"Marniiie—you meanie!" defeated, Gloria's shoulders slumped as her little prank was ruined.
"Serves you right, you Impidimp. Don't you know it's cruel to toy with a boy's heart on Valentine's Day?"
"Yeah..." Bede agreed disgruntledly, "Though I personally think that should apply every day... what were you even planning on doing with those?"
"Ugh... fine. Since Marnie ruined the surprise, I bought you some nice chocolates," finally receiving the box back from Marnie, she held it out to Bede, "It's the Battle Café's brand—handmade by a real chocolatier. This one box cost me nearly ₽2,500, so be grateful..."
"Dear Arceus—that's ridiculous! I'll... um... thoroughly enjoy these," he sheepishly accepted the box, finally putting an end to Gloria's supposed prank.
However, as Marnie shook her head, she felt a lingering twinge remaining inside of her. They walked as a group of three towards the ice cream shop, Bede stashing the ornate box carefully into his shoulder bag, while Marnie found her eyes landing quietly on her own shoes.
She knew she hated Bede. She hated his attitude for the longest time—but just like any human being, he'd changed.
He matured into a genuinely nice person—though still grumpy and sassy as ever. He was stubborn and charming and annoyingly expert on lots of various subjects—but he was also... nice. Nice, as in: he'll complain about going out, but he'll still do it just because you asked. He'll be on time, he'll ask how your day has been, and he'll know the exact lines not to cross in basic conversation. And if he happens to insult you, he'll always apologize.
Maybe it'll be worded in an awkward, twisted-sounding way, but he'll still apologize. Every single time.
She supposed that was the reason why she was so mad.
Looking at Bede again, she understood that the guy before her was remarkably alike to that blond nightmare in middle school, yet what annoyed her was their one difference: Bede accepted her as a friend.
Stupid Bede... she clenched her fists again, It would be so much easier to deal with you if you weren't so nice. Then I wouldn't have ever felt this way about you...
Her throat went dry.
I can't afford feelings. Not when I have a history of getting hurt by them.
For the duration of the time they spent at the ice cream shop, Marnie was fairly quiet. Gloria and Bede were as lively as ever of course, laughing and making snarky back-and-forths while they slowly chipped away at their soft-served cones. Marnie watched with quiet contentment, secretly wondering if it was right for her to inject herself into the conversation—nonetheless remaining silent.
It wasn't long before the shop began to close up, and the three were forced to step back outside. By now the sun had gone down, turning on the scattered array of streetlamps that dotted the city streets.
"Well that was fun!" Gloria declared, stretching her arms up refreshingly, "What should we do now? I've still got some time to kill."
Bede looked up at the sky once, then checked his phone to see the time.
"Let's see... it's only 8:26," he noted, retrieving his phone, "Say—there's a hot air balloon festival today, isn't there? To commemorate Valentine's Day?"
Surprised she'd forgotten, Gloria clasped her hands together in awe at the suggestion, "That's right! Down at the Lake of Outrage, right? I hear it's free admission to watch the show, but for a small price you can take a balloon ride!"
Strangely, Bede winced at the comment, "O-oh really? But I mean wouldn't it be prettier to watch from the ground?"
They both blinked at him, shocked he'd so quickly shoot down the idea.
"What?" he mumbled disgruntledly, "I'm only trying to save us money, here."
"None of us are particularly poor though, Bede," Marnie egged on, raising an eyebrow, "C'mon—don't be a wuss, it'll be fun."
"If you're worried about price, I hear couples get a discount!" Gloria suddenly suggested, obnoxiously grinning at Bede.
"Too bad we don't have any couples here then!" he bit back, glaring just as forcibly back at her.
Marnie rolled her eyes again as they once again started to bicker, Get a room, you two...
Then, midway though an argument, Gloria suddenly jolted in surprise, "Oh—wait!" she realized, her skin suddenly turning pale, "That's right, I—I left my purse at the ice cream shop!"
"What!?" Bede jumped equally as fearful as she did, "Arceus Gloria—you better run before they completely close!"
She nodded, turning to Marnie before leaving, "I'll be right back—go ahead and start making your way there, okay? I promise I'll catch up!"
Without another word, she disappeared to hurry back towards the shop, leaving Marnie and Bede once again alone. For a brief moment, they just glanced at each other—both gazes riddled with awkwardness. Then, turning away, they slowly began to make it towards Hammerlocke's exit.
Just us again, she sighed, glancing at Bede from the side, Why does this keep happening to us? I know I was excited to see him today, but for some reason I just can't relax...
"So..." Bede suddenly said, rubbing his neck in discomfort, "How's your Valentine's Day been?"
The irony of his question made her momentarily pout. Bede, noticing this, cringed and started to dismiss his own question.
"Forget it, I guess it was rude of me to ask—"
"No," she cut in quickly, shaking her head, "It wasn't rude or nothin'. I'm just... not having a great day."
"Ah..."
Relieving some of her tension with a sigh, Marnie spoke again, "How was your Valentine's Day, fairy boy?"
Ignoring her light insult, he just shrugged, "Other than the chocolates from Gloria, I haven't actually had much happen. I suppose there was a small clique of girls waving to me in the lobby this morning, but that's about the extent of it."
Marnie's eyelids lowered in annoyance, This boy—! Having fans regularly enthralled with you isn't such a regular thing, you realize. Some people have to work for love...
"Planning to return any chocolates for White Day?"
He swallowed hard, making it obvious he'd thought about it, "Not particularly... though I might hand out some obligatory chocolates to you and Gloria, I guess..."
She rolled her eyes, "Right, right... 'obligatory' chocolates. Those excuses to give chocolate to your crush without it looking suspicious, am I right?"
His face dashed with red instantly, making him protest, "A-as if! We're just friends, after all—none of you two are my—" he swallowed again, this time also coughing once into his fist, "I don't have something as foolishly trivial as a crush, Marnie. You of all people should know that."
Though he clearly meant nothing by it, his sentence suddenly made Marnie stop walking. Bede stopped a few steps ahead, turning around to see why she'd stopped, and was surprised to find her eyes dark with anger.
"You of all people should know that"? What the heck is that supposed to mean, huh?
"Marnie?" Bede asked, stepping forward, "Are you alri—"
"Shut-up," she spat crossly, striding past him to cross the street, "As if you even know anythi—"
"MARNIE!"
Suddenly Bede grabbed her wrist, yanking her away from the crosswalk. The force of his pull surprised her, causing her to spin back around and fall onto her knees. The force of it tore two identical holes through her tights and caused both knees to begin bleeding—but before she could scowl at him, a loud honk from the road flooded her ears.
Concerned, Bede rushed over towards her and knelt down to see if she was hurt.
"Marnie, are you alright?" he asked quickly, eyes wide with worry.
She blinked, completely confused about what had just happened.
"I'm..." she mumbled, then winced at the scrapes on her knees, "Ugh—I'm fine, but—"
"Then what were you thinking!?" he suddenly shouted, shaking her shoulders before relinquishing a disgruntled sigh, "The crossing signal was red you idiot—you nearly got hit by a car just now!"
"Oh..."
Rubbing his eyes with his fingers for a moment, Bede reached into his bag and rustled around for a first-aid kit.
"Good thing I keep these on me..." he sighed, withdrawing two band-aids, "Hold still, I'll put this on. It's my fault after all that you fell..."
She watched in stunned silence as Bede's fingers carefully laid the bandage across her scraped knee. From the angle she was in, despite her wearing a short skirt, Bede didn't have even a trace of embarrassment on his face. His eyes were calm, face normal—only knitted with worry, and his hands focused on the band-aid.
It was as if he wasn't thinking about her at all—as if her presence brought zero emotions to his mind, except maybe that of friendship.
When he withdrew his hand to open the other band-aid, Marnie saw a glimpse of the hot air balloons rising in the distance. Imprinted on the nearest one, in cursive writing, it read the simple words: "I Love You".
"I promise this is the last one..." Bede sighed, dabbing a bit of ointment onto the bandage, "After this we should hurry to the Lake of Outrage—I think the festival's already started."
He was about to place the sticky side of the band-aid down, when her hand suddenly shoved it away.
"Stop it, Bede."
The sound of his name rather than the atrocious nickname "fairy boy" was enough to send a chill down Bede's spine. He didn't know why, but Marnie was deadly serious about something—and he was afraid to find out.
"I can handle it myself."
She snatched the band-aid from his hands before he could finish, and crookedly slapped it onto her remaining knee. Even though it stung, Marnie was able to stand back up with ease.
Joining her, Bede got to his feet.
"Sorry Marnie," he shrugged, "I didn't mean for you to fall... I thought maybe you—"
"Just stop it."
The pause in the air seemed to suck the life out of Bede's lungs.
"Marnie—" he tried again.
"I don't want to go anymore," she decided, turning around to leave the way they came.
"Wait, but what did I do—"
"Nothing, just leave me alone."
She started to pick up speed, Bede still right at her heels.
"If I did something wrong, just tell me so I can apologi—"
"Shut-up! You didn't do anything wrong!" she bit back, speeding up.
"But I—"
"What's going on?"
It was Gloria's voice that had cut in. She was standing a meter away, purse around her arm.
"I actually have no idea!" Bede exclaimed exasperatedly, "She won't tell me what I did wro—"
"I'm going home!" Marnie shouted, silencing them both.
There were now tears in her eyes, accompanying a broken, shaking frown.
"I hate Valentine's Day," she finished, wiping away her mascara-ridden tears as she rounded the corner and disappeared.
Bede almost called out again, but this time he was silenced by Gloria.
"Why?" Bede pressed, "If she's hurting she should tell us—"
"Not everyone is as open as you, Bede." Gloria then sighed, rubbing her forehead, "Everyone's different. Some people, after a bit of prodding, will spill all of their life secrets out. I'm like that," she then glanced at Bede, "You're a little more closed-off than me. You hate it when people get into your business."
Bede swallowed, knowing she was correct.
"But I've been getting better about opening up..." he explained, "I figured Marnie..." his voice trailed off.
"Marnie's like you, in a way," she went on, "She likes to keep to herself most of the time, and she hates it when she becomes the center of attention in drama," her eyes fell down to the ground, "Whenever she's like this, all you can do is let her be. She'll overcome it eventually... or she'll get drunk and spill everything regardless."
"Ah..."
They both paused for a moment, watching as the hot air balloons started to take off.
"Should we try to make it?" Bede asked, glancing at her.
Finally smiling again, she nodded once and took his hand, "Sure! If we run, I'm sure we won't miss all of it!"
* * *
Marnie was huffing by the time she finally made it to her bedroom. Her lungs were heavy from sprinting home, and her knees were still killing her from earlier. Once in the doorway, she carelessly let her bag fall to the floor and discarded her shoes along with it. The faint glow from the hall was enough to illuminate the bright pink walls of her room, revealing the array of heavy metal posters that were plastered across them. Various magazines and changes of clothes were scattered across the floor, catching her eye until she finally shut out the light.
The sound of the door closing nearly startled her in the silence of the room. He fingers remained for a moment around the handle, before sliding down to her sides. Her heart nearly bleeding, she shuffled the last few paces to her bed and threw herself into the pile of pillows that waited for her there.
Then finally, the thoughts came back.
He didn't feel a thing. He didn't feel a bloody thing while he was taking care of me. I might as well have been a stranger—he wasn't even cautiously embarrassed.
A sudden choke pushed through her lungs, sending forth a cascade of ugly sobs.
Stupid Bede! Stupid Valentine's Day! she cursed angrily, throwing some of her pillows across the room in a fit of rage, This is exactly why I don't fall in love!
Mid-throw, she stopped herself.
Am I in love? Is that—is that what this is?
Suddenly she drew the pillow to her chest and squeezed it as hard as she could.
I don't want it to be... she begged, more pleading than questioning, Not like this—not when I know he likes...
She could see them again, teasing one another about the chocolates.
Could I possibly... win him over? but she already knew the answer to that. Gloria, her closest friend, was already in love with him—and she knew she couldn't bear to steal that away from her. That would be selfish—especially knowing how Bede felt already about Gloria.
Just... a little longer, she finally accepted, letting her head fall against her bed again, more sobs escaping her lips, I'll get over him. I will. One of these days... I'll finally...
The bedroom door opened.
Overshadowing her from the doorway stood her brother Piers, expression the same as ever—even as he spotted the tears on her cheeks.
"What..." she mumbled, sniffing once, "What're you doing here? I thought you were asleep on the couch..."
"You were cryin' so loud it woke me up," he answered simply, scratching his cheek.
"Oh..."
Slowly, she stood up and approached her brother. Her head was still down, her lip trembling in silence as she held back her tears.
Then, without needing to say anything, Piers opened his arms, and she plopped into them—tears once again streaming down her face.
He sighed once, patting her on the back—having done this many times in the past when they were young, and whispered quietly, "It's alright, sis. I hate Valentine's Day too."
-END OF VALENTINE'S DAY SPECIAL-