*a week and a day later*

Birdo woke up with a smile on her face. She was finally able to get a decent amount of sleep. And she hadn’t overslept.

After taking a shower, Birdo went to her kitchen to eat breakfast. She served herself a bowl of Star Bits (not actual star bits). Birdo was eating peacefully and temporarily forgetting about her problems when she got a FaceTime call from Toadette. Birdo accepted the call…

And the first thing she saw on her phone screen was Yoshi. Birdo gasped and blinked several times.

“Bow, what’s wrong?” Toadette asked. Birdo suddenly noticed that Yoshi was nowhere in sight. I must’ve been hallucinating, Birdo thought.

“There was an ant near my breakfast!” Birdo exclaimed the first lie that she thought of.

“Umm… Okayyy,” Toadette didn’t look very convinced, but she bought the lie nonetheless. “I was just gonna inform you that we’re almost at your house.”

“Okay, I’ll go outside in a bit!” Birdo replied and ended the call. She shuddered, remembering Yoshi’s face. That has never happened to me before, Birdo thought. She tried to forget about it and went outside.

Peach, Dixie, and Toadette came to Birdo’s house just in time.

“Hi, Birdo!” Peach waved.

“Hey,” Birdo said to all three of her friends. They can’t know about what happened, Birdo thought. And why do I talk to myself in my head so much? Birdo listened to her friends’ nonstop talking, but she didn’t join in. She wasn’t really in the mood to talk.  Birdo was zoning out into her own thoughts.

“Birdo,” Peach suddenly said.

“What?” Birdo turned around and saw that Yoshi was where Peach was supposed to be. She screamed.

“What’s wrong, Bow?” Yoshi (Peach) asked. Oh gosh, it even sounds like him! Birdo thought. Once she blinked, Yoshi was gone.

“It’s nothing,” Birdo lied. Unfortunately, she began hyperventilating right after she said that.

“If you say so,” Dixie replied. “But, you know you can tell us anything.”

“I know,” Birdo sighed shakily. Luckily, her friends dropped the subject and immediately moved on to another one.

*during History class*

“And thus, the great Kingdom War started…” Mr. Shy Guy was giving the students one of his many semi-boring lectures. Birdo couldn’t help but zone out into her own thoughts.

She knew Yoshi was on the very end of the front row, just out of her sight. Birdo tried her hardest not to look at him. She copied some notes from the whiteboard to distract herself.

“Birdo?” Mr. Shy Guy said, causing Birdo to look up. “Do you know what year the Kingdom War ended for good?”

“No…” Birdo replied honestly. Mr. Shy Guy frowned.

“Who knows?” he questioned, glancing at the entire class. “Bowser?”

“Umm… 1681?” a voice said from her left. However, it wasn’t Bowser’s voice. Birdo fell out of her chair when she saw that Yoshi was seated on her left. Two Yoshis? she thought. Once again, Birdo started hyperventilating… Very loudly.

“Yes Bowser, you’re correct,” Mr. Shy Guy then averted his attention to Birdo. “Birdo, what is wrong?” Birdo soon began sweating, even though the room wasn’t very hot.

“Nothing, don’t worry,” Birdo slowly stood up and blinked. When she turned to her left, she saw Bowser and only one Yoshi.

“Are you sure?” Mr. Shy Guy asked.

“Yes, sir. I’m fine,” Birdo lied, sitting down again.

“Alright, let’s continue the lesson,” Mr. Shy Guy said. “Students, please go to page 231 in your textbooks.”

*at lunch*

Birdo fortunately didn’t have any more hallucinations after the one in History class. Peach, Dixie, Toadette, and Birdo went to their usual table after buying their lunches (the lunch of the day was fried chicken).

“Have you seen Daisy’s outfit today?” Peach giggled. “Fashion catastrophe!” Dixie laughed along, Toadette just smiled, and Birdo forced herself to laugh along as well.

“Why are you laughing, Bow?” Suddenly, Yoshi was at their table. “I thought you didn’t hate my friends anymore.” Birdo squeezed her eyes shut and began hyperventilating… Again.

“Go away! GO AWAY!!!” Birdo yelled.

“Birdo!” Toadette was worried about her best friend. “What’s wrong?!” Birdo slowly opened her eyes and noticed that Yoshi wasn’t anywhere nearby.

“He’s not here…” Birdo said.

“What? Who? Why?” Birdo’s friends bombarded her with questions.

Suddenly, Birdo started feeling dizzy and everything became blurry. She passed out as her friends repeatedly called her name.

*four hours later*

Birdo opened her eyes and looked around. She was no longer in the cafeteria. Birdo was now lying on a cot in the school clinic. Birdo barely remembered what had happened or how she fainted. She noticed the school nurse, Nurse Waddlewing standing a few feet away.

“Hi, Birdo,” Nurse Waddlewing said.

“Hi,” Birdo sat up. “How long have I been passed out?”

“You’ve been here for four hours,” the nurse stated.

“So, that means it’s dismissal time?” Birdo said, knowing she passed out during lunch.

“Yes, you just have to claim your clinic form. You have to get it signed,” Ms. Waddlewing replied. “And when you have it, you can leave whenever you’re ready.”

“One more question- how did I get here?” Birdo questioned.

“You fainted during lunch and your very kind friends went and told me about what had happened. I put you in a wheelchair and brought you here. Of course, I transferred you to this cot,” the nurse explained.

“Oh… Thank you,” Birdo stood up. “I think I’ll leave now.” Birdo got her clinic form and went to her locker to get her belongings. Then, she went home.

*at night*

Birdo decided to relax after going through such a stressful day. She plopped down on her bed and turned on her TV. Birdo was happy that Infinitely Yours, a romantic movie that was released last September, was showing. She happily watched, not caring that this was the first movie she and Yoshi watched together.

Of course, he had to show up.

“Not that movie,” Yoshi groaned. “I saw that already… WE saw that already.” Birdo got so startled that she jumped up from her bed. Luckily her parents were out with their friends, so no one would witness anything that involved Yoshi.

This time, Birdo couldn’t speak. Her eyes widened, she started hyperventilating, and she stared at Yoshi.

“Why don’t we watch this instead?” Yoshi suggested, changing the channel to one that was showing Incoming II: Asteroid Assault, the sci-fi movie that Yoshi wanted to see on his and Birdo's third date (but they saw Infinitely Yours instead).

Birdo was too shocked to change the channel and she stood completely still. Yoshi glanced at Birdo, confused.

“Bow, what’s wrong?” he asked. Birdo slowly picked up the remote and turned off the TV.

“I don’t feel like watching TV,” she said quietly. Yoshi’s eyes lit up.

“Do you want to dance instead?” Yoshi asked, extending a hand to her. Birdo happily took his hand. Using her other hand, Birdo tapped on a song on her phone and music began to play. It was a fast song, so Yoshi and Birdo danced quickly along to the beat.

“And darling, it was good, never looking down,” Birdo sang. “And right there where we stood was holy ground!”

Birdo felt as if everything had gone blurry, except for Yoshi. She forgot that she and Yoshi weren’t dating, she forgot that Yoshi was a bad dancer, she forgot that she was a bad singer, she forgot about pretty much everything in those moments.

“Tonight, I’m gonna dance for all that we’ve been through,” Birdo sang. “But, I don’t wanna dance if I’m not dancing with you.”

Birdo and Yoshi danced carelessly until; the three-minute, twenty-second song came to an end.

“Tonight, I’m gonna dance like you were in this room,” Birdo sang. “But, I don’t wanna dance if I’m not dancing with you.”

Birdo let go of Yoshi’s hand, fell backwards onto her bed, and passed out for the second time that day.

*dream*

Birdo found herself in a completely empty room with white walls, a white ceiling, and a white floor. Suddenly, a very familiar green figure came into Birdo’s view.

“Why?” Yoshi asked.

“What are you asking?” Birdo replied, her voice wavering a bit.

“Why did we have to break up?” Yoshi elaborated.

“Because of me,” Birdo sighed. “I made a very big mistake and you got mad at me about it.”

“I remember that… I’ve been trying so hard to move on from you and carry on with my life, but it’s very hard. I know that I said we should pretend we never dated, but I underestimated the difficulty of that,” Yoshi admitted.

“Yoshi…” Birdo said. “I can’t move on. You’re always on my mind and the more I try to forget, the worse I become.”

“I feel exactly the same way,” Yoshi stated. “If you want me to be completely honest…”

“I actually think that…” Birdo mumbled.

“Breaking up with you was a pretty bad idea,” Yoshi and Birdo said at the exact same time.

“I should thank Peach,” Birdo gave Yoshi a small smile. “She made me become more open-minded and understand you and your friends more.”

“And it was because of her that I learned that not all populars are like her,” Yoshi smiled as well.

“I want to get back together with you, but I’m just scared,” Birdo admitted.

“Of what?” Yoshi questioned.

“I’m scared that I’ll lose my friends or something will go wrong,” Birdo stated nervously.

“Well, things will go wrong either way. However, I also have to make that decision. I want to move on from you, but I don’t think I can,” Yoshi replied. “I don’t know what to do…”

“Thanks for talking to me, Yoshi,” Birdo smiled. “I think I might know what to do now.”

“Okay, but I’m still stumped,” Yoshi admitted. “Bye, Bow.”

“Bye, Yosh…” Birdo felt as if she was suddenly falling down a bottomless pit and she heard faint beeping.

*dream over*

Birdo woke up to her alarm clock and quickly turned it off. I think I know what to do, Birdo thought. I just hope my plan will work.

If you didn't understand the dream I don't blame you. Basically Birdo and Yoshi's minds were speaking to each other and saying their true feelings. That means Birdo was unknowingly reading Yoshi's mind since she was the one having the dream! Tbh I was a bit nervous in publishing this chapter. So pls what you thought of it! And the song Yoshi and Birdo were dancing to was Holy Ground by Taylor Swift. Yes I've mentioned it before. You should listen to it if you haven't already. I put the song in the multimedia. Btw be prepared for more drama to come in the next few chapters! Anyways pls add, comment, vote, etc. Thanks!

- pinkandpeachy