"I see you stepped away from the mirror long enough to walk home to another mirror," May taunted, annoyed as she and the cause of her annoyance walked home from school.

They would have happily walked home by themselves, but sadly for them their houses were about five apart.

Drew flicked one of the corners of his soft chartreuse hair. "Looking this amazing all the time takes time, you know."

"Amazing looking person? Where?" May shot back, over dramatically swiveling her head around.

"I will get you to admit that you think I'm cute one day," he said calmly and plainly, giving her his award winning smirk.

"There has to be something to admit to actually admit," May told him bitterly.

"Ooh, someone's been working on her comebacks. How long did you stay up to think of that one. It's alright - not all of us are naturally witty,"he teased, whole body ras relaxed and cool as two-scoop triple chocolate ice cream cone on the hottest day of summer. With gummies.

----------------------

May flopped back onto her floral patterned comforter, her rose phone charm hitting her pillow as she chatted with Misty.

"-I now, but he's just so vain. Honestly, it kinda seems like all he talks about is how amazing and cute he is," May ranted. "What am I supposed to do?"

Misty sighed. "This is a recurring conversation, isn't it. I don't know, get a bike or something so you don't have to walk with him," she suggested.

"Yeah, but in case you've forgotten, Ash destroyed both of our bikes, and still hasn't payed either of us back," she reminded, agitated. "And if he ever does pay one of us back, he's going to pay you first, seeing as you're his girlfriend. Well, assuming he ever gets around to paying either of us back, and I don't have enough to buy a new one."

May could almost here Misty frown. "True that."

"And you know that science project we're doing? I'm partnered with him. At least he works some of the time. The rest of the time, he's just boasting like usual," she complained. "What's his deal?"

"I think he likes you," Misty simply said.

"...what?" May asked, surprised at Misty's accusing statement.

"He only acts all 'awesome' like that around you. He doesn't seem to much care what others think of his appearance or talents. I mean, he always looks presentable and such, but he doesn't usually bring any of it up," she explained.

"That's because everyone else already thinks he's all of that," she excused.

"My question is do you like him," Misty asked, ignoring May's previous statement.

"Of course not!" May argued. "He's way too self-centered for me. As for liking me, the only one that boy likes is himself."

"I'm right, and you know it," Misty mumbled, when in all honesty she was just afraid that she didn't know it. Which, sadly for her, was more than likely the case.

"Please. He's just as stuck up as they come."

"As much as I'd just love to hear you rant, I have to, like, finish my homework or, like, all four of my older sisters will, like, get mad at me, even though they haven't, like, even started their homework yet," Misty mocked, earning a few giggles from May.

"Talk you you tomorrow, then," she closed. The red button on her phone blinked, signaling that Misty had hung up.

Having already finished her homework, May popped open her silver laptop before immediately heading to google.

Her fingers flew across the keyboard as she typed the key words "arrogant self-centered story."

It wasn't like anything else she'd looked up before, but at the moment she was in the mood for reading something about and arrogant person being so insufferable and friendless. Seriously, she was that annoyed at Drew at the moment that she just wanted a story to read to give her hope that because of his attitude, some day he'd die a lonely old man.

A bit harsh, sure, but anyone who knew her was all too aware of her dangerously violent temper that had on more than one occasion gotten her into trouble with the rash decisions that it caused.

To her surprise, about three websites down was one about Greek mythology. Eagerly, she clicked on it and began to read.

The story of Narcissus:

"When Zeus, the king of the gods, grew board on Mount Olympus, the home of all the gods, he left to wander the earth. However, he kept this from his jealous wife, Hera. Echo, a mortal woman, decided to help Zeus escape occasionally and talked and talked and talked to Hera to keep her busy while Zeus snuck back.

Hera found out, however, and decided to punish Echo for helping her husband on his little excursions. She cursed the chatty Echo to only be able to repeat what has been spoken, and never to speak first. Echo eventually adjusted to her new life, and she had her sisters around her to take care of her.

Until one day she fell in love. Narcissus was incredibly vain. He was handsome and charming, and he knew it. And he wasn't shy about saying so. One day, he wandered farther up the mountain than he'd ever been before and got lost. "Hello? I'm quite lost. Is anyone here?" The called out.

Echo, who had been following him, hiding behind trees answered, "Here! Here!" As they were the last words he had said. She wished she could tell his that she loved him, but she couldn't as she could only repeat. "Come," Narcissus told her.

"Come! Come!" Echo cried, happily throwing her arms around him and trying to kiss him. "Stop!" He yelled. "Don't kiss me!"

"Kiss me! Kiss me!" Echo repeated. "If you kissed me, it would kill me," he told her, disgusted as he could only find it in his heart to love himself. "Kill me, kill me," Echo could only say. And there, she died of a broken heart.

The goddess of love, Aphrodite, took offense to that and decided to punish Narcissus for scorning poor Echo. When he bent down to a small lake for a drink, Aphrodite cast a spell on him causing him to fall in love with his reflection. He-"

"May! Dinner!"

May closed her laptop and ran downstairs to eat, promising that she'd finish the story later.

-----------------------------

Drew stared sadly at the mirror in his room.

"I get straight A's, but she doesn't think I'm really smart. I'm one of the fastest boys on the school track team, but she doesn't think I'm athletic. Most people say I'm good looking, but she thinks the opposite." He pulled at his hair. "Maybe it's just too weird for her."

He sighed and closed his eyes, letting his light blue walls and black desk and bed covers fade from his vision. "Why do I even try? She only thinks I'm arrogant and snobbish. But I'm not that stuck up..."

He opened his eyes. "Am I?"

He sighed again. "I guess I do talk about my self a lot around her, but she thinks I'm just a modern day Narcissus."

He rolled his eyes. "Why am I talking to my reflection. That's not really like me," he realized before sliding off his bed over to his desk to do the last bits of homework he had.

"14... Times 3... Equals..." He drawled as he wrote the problem out on a blank sheet of lined paper. For some reason, he found that eh oftener muttered his math problems aloud as he worked.

"Equals..."

He groaned. Usually, he would have figured out the answer by the time he had muttered the equation, but at the moment his best subject just wasn't coming to him.

He pulled on his purple jacket, deciding to take a walk to clear his head to get his concentration back.

------------------------------------------

May clomped back up to her room, belly full. She made a bee line to her laptop after closing and locking the door before noticing that there was someone sitting on her bed.

A dark, ominous male none the less. The kind she imagined she'd meet in a dark ally. His lips looked they were permanently disformed into a scowl, his eyes were pitch black, and he just plain had a depressing aura around him.

Her limbs locked as she stared at... it and it stared back.

"Hmph. Name's Paul, personal love fairy," he introduced gruffly.

"You're a... Fairy? A love fairy?" May asked cautiously.

"Yes." He unfurled a pair of Maleficent-looking feathered black wings. To May, he looked more like a fairy of death than of love.

"Why are you here?" May asked, still not comfortable with the intruder who had yet to do anything but frown.

"To help you with your pathetic love life, now come on because I want to get this over with." Before May had a chance to protest, he grabbed her wrist with his ice-like hand and pulled her out of the window before proceeding to pull her two blocks.

"Airhead, who's that?" May spun around to find the emerald-eyed boy staring at them.

She shook with rage. "I'm not an Airhe-"

"Who is that, and is he hurting you," Drew cut off sternly. May gave a small gasp in fear of the new emotion she saw in his eyes. Pure anger.

Why? Arceus help her, she had no idea.

"This is Paul. My... Friend."

"Mm." She saw the anger die down only to be replaced with something else.

Drew struggled to control the wave of jealously overcoming him. Friends of the opposite gender who held hands. Sure. At least, that's what it looked like to Drew when in reality Paul just hadn't let go of her wrist, knowing that she'd run away.

Paul hmphed as the two went on to argue like usual. He just wanted this whole thing over with.

"BE QUIET, YOU NARCISSUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'VE HAD MORE THAN ENOUGH OF YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" May screeched before stomping off in the direction of her house.

Paul's lips twitched into a smirk. He had the perfect idea....

---------------------------------------

May slung her backpack onto her shoulders while simultaneously attempting to bush the bed-head out of her hair and choking on a piece of toast, trying to just get out the door.

Ah, a typical morning of May Maple's life.

Great... Drew's just going to mess with me due to how disorderly I'm being. It's not my fault that he's a morning person and I'm not, May thought.

She stopped about three steps from the door. Sure Drew always teased her when she was in her usual disarray, but when she thought about it, he always carried her backpack for her while she struggled to eat and make herself presentable at the same time, occasionally throwing in some forgotten homework.

She shrugged it off, although that stayed on her mind as she stepped onto the sidewalk. I mean, she had always acknowledged that he did it, but it never really hit her that he was doing something pretty nice for her, even though his words differed.

May chewed on her lip. Come to think of it, he had never been physically unkind to her, she realized. He had always been willing to help her when ever she needed it. Even though he teased her in the process. The realization more than shocked her.

When had this started happening? Was it always there? Why did he do it? Was it possible that he didn't mean his words, but meant his actions?

She gave a small, secret smile. That would be nice, if he really only meant his kind actions...

She pulled her lips into a frown as she regained control over her brain. I really don't care which one he means, she told herself. But he's sending me mixed messages here...

Drew exited his house as May neared it, walking slowly with his eyes trained on his phone. She caught up quickly due to their opposite paces, May's being fast and Drew's bordering on crawling.

"Whatcha lookin'..." She looked over his shoulder to see what was pulled up on his device that intrigued him so much. To her bewilderment, it wasn't even on! The screen was just black! "...at?"

To May's even further surprise, he simply ignored her.

"Drew?"

Nothing.

"Drew? ...are you mad at me? If so why?"

No response.

"Drew? Why aren't you talking to me? H-Hey, look out for that pole!" She grabbed his arm and jerked him to the side so he wouldn't crash face first into the stop sign he was about to hit.

Instead of flicking his hair or making an excuse like she thought he would, he turned and glared at her. May's breath quickened and a chill ran down her spine. She was aware that not many kids wanted to get into a fight with him due to his intelligence, athletic abilities, and intimidation skills, but she had no idea that he could be that menacing when he wanted to.

What bothered her even further is that he seemingly had no reason to be mad at her.

"Why did you do that?" He all but growled. May was taken aback. He had never been hostile to her before, not even when he was making fun of her.

"Because you were about to hurt yourself," she argued. "Drew, are you feeling alright? You're really scaring me here..."

"Don't do that again," he ordered. "I can't see it as well when you move me that fast."

"See what?" She asked.

"Him."

"Him?"

"Him." Drew pointed at his screen. May blinked in surprise as he stared lovingly at it.

"Wait... But... That's just your reflection!" May told him before slapping herself. No der, May. And that thing you're holding is a partly eaten piece of toast.

Drew said nothing to her statement and continued looking at the screen.

She grabbed his elbow. "Come on! We're going to be late for class if you don't hurry up!" She begged. She yelped as he forcefully shoved her hand off of him. "I told you," he snapped, "that I can't see it as well when I move any faster than this. And keep your hand off of me, you simple-brain."

May just stood there, mouth open, staring at him. That was just so unlike him...

--------------------------------------

To May's worry, he was still acting that way by the time the end of the last class rolled around, and she didn't even want to count the number of times he'd gotten in trouble for having his phone out in class.

The walk home was a silent one, Drew being too busy staring at his reflection.

"Drew," May started. "Why-"

"who are you?" He interrupted.

May blinked. "Um... You got me? You can stop the joke now?"

His brow furrowed. "Who-" he waved a dismissing hand. "Whoever you are, you're not worth it. It doesn't matter," he told her before returning to the screen that was doubling as a mirror.

"But... I've walked with you to and from school every day for the past two years!" She argued. "I walked with you this morning!"

He shrugged. "I don't remember anything from this morning. Honestly, I really don't remember anything. None of it is deserving of my attention or brain space."

Not... Not deserving of his brain space? The words pierced through Amy like an iron spear.

"My name's May. Please don't forget it," she begged.

As quickly as she could, she reached out and grabbed his arm to steady him when he nearly fell off the curb. The usual Drew would be helping her up when she fell, not the other way around. "Careful," she cautioned. "You know, maybe it's better not to look at your reflection when you're walking," she suggested.

He stood still for two seconds before wheeling around to face her. He gripped her shoulder tightly causing her to squeak in alarm. He pulled her towards him, slamming his forehead against hers.

"Stay out of my business, you hear me?" He growled, his breath fanning across May's startled and frightened face. He pulled away, turning his head back to his phone.

May wiped her eyes in the back of her glove. She blinked in surprise as she noticed a few droplets of water retaining on them. Tears? But... This shouldn't be effecting her like it was...

-------------------------------------

May let her book bag fall to the floor of her room with a cluck.

"Anything interesting happen today?"

May spun around to find Paul sitting in her bed again. "Oh, yeah. You."

"You didn't answer my question."

May sighed. "Drew was acting really, really weird today. When he wasn't yelling at me, he was ignoring me. And for some reason, he was just plain obsessed with his reflection-" she stopped, having caught sight of Paul's sly smirk. "You already knew that didn't you?"

He smirked wider than ever. "Guilty."

May felt a wave of fear crash over her. She had already established that he was not the sort he would want to meet in a dark ally, and if he could use magic, then...

"What did you do to him?" She meant to sound threatening, but her voice came out no more than a whisper..

Paul's cold, lifeless eyes somehow became even more unfeeling. "I only did what you insulted him with last night."

May racked her memory rows for what happened. "We were fighting like normal... The usual name calling... Then I called him a Narcissus-"

Her hands flew to her mouth. "Y-Y-You... You made him fall in love with his reflection!?"

Paul rolled his eyes. "Ding ding ding, it has a brain."

Normally May would have retorted or fought back, but she still had to process the truth through her brain. Paul had made Drew fall in love with his reflection... Paul had made Drew fall in love with his reflection... Oh, Arceus...

Paul smirked in satisfaction. He was a love fairy - his job was to set up two young people who were too scared to admit their feelings, were in a just plain hopeless situation with their crush, or didn't even realize their feelings. This one felling all of those categories, and Paul had been rather bored lately, so he had decided to have a little fun with case.

After all, it would either end up with the two living happily ever after, or in a huge disaster that would sentence him to be a dungeon slave for the rest of eternity.

But, the risk was worth the show.

------------------------------------

That week went by like a routine by that point. Drew would gaze lovingly at his reflection, muttering softly to it words that would probably make May throw up if he said them loud enough for her to hear. He was talking to his reflection for crying out loud!

May would walk with him to school making sure he didn't fall, run into anything, or hurt himself.

During class, he would hide his phone and just stare at his reflection, getting little to no work done. May thanked the heavens that it was near the end of the year, (after all of the testing) so there wasn't actually a whole lot of content or any tests that he was missing while he wasn't himself.

During lunch, he would watch his reflection while he slowly ate his food, then repeat the classes, then May would look out for him on the way back same as the way to school.

May herself was miserable. Drew was just acting so strange, and even if she knew why, for some reason it really hurt her. When he yelled at her for helping him on the walks to and from school was painful. He'd never lashed out at her before, and May missed the old Drew, no matter how arrogant or self-centered she thought he was.

Then, four days later, something in the routine changed.

May had sat down with her homemade, edible lunch as usual, and as usual, Drew sat to her left. As usual, she started on her snacks like chex mix, then onto fruit, then to her sandwich. She had taken a few bites of the last phase when she realized something was amiss.

"Drew," she said quietly, "why aren't you eating?"

He looked at her blankly. "Who are you?"

May sighed. He seemed to forget her if she left for so much as five minutes, all of his brain capacity dedicated to himself.

"I'm May. Drew, why aren't you eating?"

She saw tears form in his eyes. "I don't feel it," he said softly and tenderly.

"Feel what?" She inquired. She looked at the table, unable to face the pained look in his eye.

"Love," he replied, turning the the 'mirror.' "He doesn't love me back. I just... I guess I'm just not hungry."

May stared at him in fear. He was loosing the will to eat. He needed to eat.

"Drew..." She said, gently pushing a few slices of orange towards him. "Eat something. Please."

"No," he resisted. "NO!!!" He yelled a little louder, rage building up. He snatched May's shoulders. "LEAVE ME ALONE, AND QUIT INTERFERING WITH MY LIFE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

May glared back. "DREW, LISTEN TO ME!!!!!!!!! YOU NEED TO TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF!!!!!!!!!"

More likely than not, a full argument would have broken out if the bell had not rung at that moment.

---------------------------------------

Like usual, Paul was sitting on her bed when she got home.

"Alright, mister," she said angrily, slamming her bag onto the ground. "What did you do to him!? He's not eating!!!!!!!!!!"

Paul just folded his arms. "Did you finish the story of Narcissus?"

"No..." She popped open her laptop to continue the story from where she had left off.

"When he bent down to a small lake for a drink, Aphrodite cast a spell on him causing him to fall in love with his reflection. He stared at his reflection, but he, just like Echo, wasted away and died of a broken heart because his reflection could not love him back."

Narcissus wasted away and died of a broken heart because his reflection could not love him back. May's breath quickened as she remembered earlier that day. Drew hadn't eaten because he was heart broken that he didn't feel any love from his reflection...

"No..." She gasped. "No, Paul, WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" She screamed, tears flowing down her cheeks. "What have you done..."

Later May lay on her bed, staring up at the ceiling.

Why do I care so much about him? She wondered. Why? Lately, since he's been under the curse, it's just like all I wasn't to do is protect him, take care of him, and make sure that he's going to be alright. Is it possible that I might... Actually... Like him? She gasped.

No, no, no. Not true.

Though even as she denied it, she knew that she was lying.

But... He's going to die. Because of me. I was the one who called him that, which I now realize was not true, she realized. I feel horrible...

------------------------------------------

It was Sauturday morning, and May was more than worried. Drew hadn't eaten in almost four days, and it was really starting to show. He was extremely tired, his peridot eyes lacked their usual shine, and he was pale, droopy, and sluggish.

No matter how hard she begged, Drew still wouldn't eat. It was only a matter of time, she knew, before Drew wasted away just like Narcissus did in the story.

Likewise, it didn't matter how much she begged Paul to remove the curse, he refused. In fact, May was starting to suspect that Paul himself didn't know how to take it back.

May stared out at the lake, and it's tiny blue ripples until something a little bit further down the lake's bank caught her eye.

A quick jog towards it revealed that it was Drew, kneeling near the edge, watching his image wave slightly in the water. Tears were falling down his cheeks, causing May's heart to break a little more with each droplet.

"W-who are you?" He croaked when she knelt beside him.

"It's okay," she whispered soothingly. "It's okay, Drew. You're going to be okay."

"He doesn't love me," he argued. "I just can't take it. I c-can't..."

May wrapped her arms around him, and for the first time since the curse took place, he didn't push her away.

The wheels in his head started turning. The girl looked familiar, but from where? And... He felt something different. Like he was loved, and...

May. That was the girl's name.

Everything started coming back into focus.

Drew felt heat rise to his face. Oh, Arceus..., he realized. May is hugging me. May is hugging me...

"M-May?" He stuttered.

"Drew? You... You remember me?" May asked, squeezing him a little tighter, to his delight.

He didn't move, afraid the moment would end as the past week and a half or so rushed back to him, as did the hunger.

"Drew? Are you alright?" She asked as Drew clutched his stomach.

He smiled weakly. "Yeah. Just a little hungry..."

May gave a huge, relieved smile as his stomach rumbled. "C'mon. Let's go get you some food," she half laughed. "Drew, um, do... Do you remember what happened the past little while?"

He nodded. "I have no idea why it happened, though. When I woke up that morning, it was just like, bam. I don't know what came over me," he confessed.

May sighed. "It's a long story and you're probably not going to believe me, but you were cursed by this weirdo love fairy." She looked away. "I know. It sounds really stupid."

"It does sound a bit far fetched," he admitted, "but not that much more crazy than me falling in love with my reflection. So for now, that's what we're going with- UGH!" He bent over and clutched his stomach. "It really hurts," he whispered with a pained look on his face.

May bit the inside of her lip. "Stay still. I'll go get some food so you can feel well enough to move," she told him. "I'll be right back."

True to her promise, May was back within ten minutes with a basket.

"I packed a lot," she explained. "I figured we could just have a picnic here or something."

He smiled. "Thanks, Airhead."

"GRASSHEAD!!!!!!!!!"

-----------------------------------

"May, I have something to ask you," Drew began after he had eaten a little bit. "Why are you doing all of this for me?"

May cocked her head. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, while I wasn't acting like myself, you took care of me. You tried and tried to get me to eat, and you kept on coming back even when I yelled at you and pushed you away. Why?" He explained.

"Well..." She started, not sure how to explain. "We're somewhat friends, I guess. I just felt like I needed to make sure you were going to be okay."

Drew stared at the bite of pear he was about to eat. "You think of me as a friend? Even after I tease you so much?"

"Yeah," May confirmed.

Drew's eyes shifted to the ground. "I thought you hated me," he said softly.

May shook her head. "Sure you're annoying and arrogant, but I don't hate you." She closed her eyes before hesitantly asking, "Do you hate me?"

"What? No. Never," Drew assured. "It's the exact opposite."

"When someone says that in a movie, it usually means that they like them. But, hey. Life's not a movie," May commented, sitting back a little bit.

Drew munched on a grape to hide his embarrassment. Could she really guess? Nah. She was just a dense little girl who loved romance movies.

"Thank you," he told her softly. "Thanks for not just giving up on me."

May grinned. "Friends?"

"More?"

"What?"

"Questions?"

"Wait-" May rubbed her forehead. "What... What did you mean by more?"

He smirked. "I'll show you."

"MMFH!!!!!!"

-------------------------------------

Hi guys! This is the reason that I still haven't updated With You By My Side, so I really hope you like this.

Plus, this took me a loooooooooooooong time to write, seeing how fast and often I write. I have to say, this is probably my longest bit of writing so far.

See, I'm trying out this new app to write on that Amphy suggested. It's called Werdsmith, and it allows you to write just the same as on Notes, but it gives you a word count and also lets you set a gold of how many words you want your writing piece to be, and it tells you what percent you're at to reach your goal.

At first I set it pretty low - two thousand five hundred words. However, I reached that goal pretty quickly, so I increased it to three thousand words.

I just kept writing on it and writing on it until it was easily my longest work. It's more than likely about double my second longest chapter or one shot. It's that long.

And you want to know how long this thing is?

Drum roll please...

Bum bum bum bum bum bum bum bum bum bum bum bum...

five thousand and three words. Yeah. 5,003 words.

That's over five thousand words, guys.

5,000 words, people. Five thousand words.

Wow.

Just wow.

I really surprised myself here.

Well, did you guys like it?

Worth the delay on With You By My Side?

I must admit, this is one of my favorites.

Bad Paulie Bear. Bad Paulie Bear.

Oh and by the way. I'd like to know if you guys like my third person point of view better or my first person point of view. I haven't done first person point Of view in quite a while, if you haven't noticed. Please tell me.

See ya! ^_^