Real Friends *

^{Cecily ducked her head and grasped her backpack straps as she passed through the hallway. Her classmates were all paired into little groups chatting with one another, but not her, she didn't have any friends.
    She was only nine. Here parents got a divorce when she was only four. Since then, her mother worked nights to support her, so she usually returns home alone. She isn't good at making friends because she is shy and quiet, and because of this everyone picks on her.
    She was distracted by the dismissal bell and crashed right into someone, knocking a game device out of his hands. It made a loud crashing sound as it hit the floor.
"Idiot!" The boy said, "Watch where you're going!"
"I-I'm sorry," She bent over to pick it up, "Here let me-"
"Don't touch it," He snapped, "I don't want YOUR germs all over it!"
   Holding back her tears, she bolted for the door, hearing another girl comment, "What's her problem?"
    She ran. She didn't care where she went, anywhere away from here. She couldn't take it anymore! Why couldn't people treat her the same?
    She ran into the woods behind her school. She hoped none of her classmates spotted her on their way home. She knew they would follow her for sure. She dodged branches and weeds while praying no one followed her.
    One of the weeds caught her foot, which made her trip. She rolled through the weeds until she hit a tree. Looking up, she saw a clearing ahead. The clearing had a big stone wall and had weeds growing down from the stone. Farther down, it looked like there was a hole in the rock. A cave?
    Cecily slowly got up and walked toward the hole. It was a cave! It was a little hidden under weeds hanging over the hole, but it was big enough for her to walk in. No one could find her easily here.
"Maybe I can hide in here." She thought
    When she slowly entered the cave, a clearing in the cave was partially lit by a small hole in the ceiling. The light shone down on a rock in the middle of the clearing and lit areas around it. Farther back, there was a pitch black hole that lead further into the cave. Crystals were lined by the hole and Stalagmites hung from the ceiling.
    Cecily took a few more steps in and froze as she heard a faint growling noise.
"W-who's there?" She quivered.
    She looked around and her eyes locked onto three pairs of red eyes. They were gazing from the dark hole in the back.
    Startled, she slowly backs away. The three pairs of eyes crept closer and revealed three angry Houndour. One of them jumped onto the rock and the others stood beside him below.
    All three of them were furious with the intruder. They showed their sharp fangs and crouched down into a attack crouch.
    Cecily backed away more, then realized she had a treat in her pocket that she made this morning.
"H-Here." She held the treat out trembling.
Right away, the three Houndour forgot about the intruder and focused on the tasty treat. They did flips and smiled. Cecily threw the treat in front of the rock. At once, the Houndour pounced on it. Cecily watched amusingly as the three tussled eachother for it.
    After the tussling was over, one of them tried to sneak away with the treat. When he bit down on it the treat broke into pieces and flew across the cave. All of them flew for every piece that shot through the cave and gulped them down.
    Suddenly, they looked back up at Cecily. Their eyes were glaring at her. They slowly started to walk toward her.
    Scared, Cecily backed away slowly. Her foot got caught on a rock which made her fall backwards. She waited for the Houndour to pounce on her and attack her, but instead they sniffed her. Their expressions suddenly changed from their glaring eyes to happiness and relief. They all gathered around Cecily and licked her face lovingly. Cecily giggled as she petted one behind his ear. She noticed he had a big scar behind his ear where something had attacked him and his skull was partly cracked.
"So you've been going through hard times too, huh?" She said softly.
    He looked up at her with Sympathetic eyes.
"At least you understand me." She frowned.
    One of the Houndour jumped up and started to dash for the hole in the back wall. The others perked their ears up and ran after him.
"I've finally found real friends." She said.
    So everyday after school she would visit the cave and bring new toys, treats, and berries for them.
    But one day after school, she ran for the woods until she heard, "Where do you think you're going?"
    Starled, she spun around and saw three of her classmates approaching her. One was Issak, another was Emily, and the other was Even. 
"Where are you going?" Issak said.
"Please," she spoke softy, "Let me go."
    She tried to walk away, but Issak grabbed her backpack. She was only carry the strap with one arm and it fell off of her arm!
"Oh no," She thought, "My treats are in there!"
"Give it back!" Cecily pushed her way to Issak, but Emily and Even pushed her to the ground.
"Ow!" She exclaimed.
    She watched as they unzipped her backpack and looked inside.
"No!" She shouted.
    Issak pulled out one of the treats and stared at it with heartless eyes.
"What's this?" Issak laughed.
"A Poke tweet?" Emily giggled.
Issak held it in his hand with a big grin on his face. He raised it, threw it on the ground, and stomped it into the dirt. He crushed it and there was no piece of it left.
"No, Stop!" Cecily cried as they pulled out another one.
    As Issak raised it, there was a growling noise and something raced through the woods. It was the three Houndour!
    They shot into the clearing and stood protectively in front of Cecily. The showed their sharp fangs to her Classmates.
"We'd better get out of here..." Even whispered.
"No way," Issak laughed and stepped forward, "We can take these runts!"
He slowly crept forward.
"Houdour?" Cecily said.
    The three Houndour just stood there and showed their teeth. They got back into a attack crouch, opened their mouths, and shot out fire at them. It barely missed their feet!
"Shoot!" Issak yelled, "Run!"
    He dropped her bag and the treat and bolted down the path. Emily and Even followed.
    After they were out of sight, the three Houndour ran for the treat and tussled eachother over it.
"So you just saved me for the treats?" Cecily rolled her eyes playfully.}
 
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I hope you liked it!
I'm sorry I haven't submitted anything in so long

~Chikorita-Leaf