JC: Yay another chapter! *celebrates while confetti falls from ceiling*

Dawn: Um....

Paul:...... Don't look at me Troublesome.

Dawn: I wasn't!

JC: SHUT UP BOTH OF YOU!! It's time for celebration because I finished another chapie! Well, it's kinda short though, but I'll hopefully be putting up part 4 real soon! :D

Dawn was feeling very nervous. More like extremely nervous. Anything made her nervous at this point. She had a bruised face and she was going to play in a basketball game. Yup, not nerve wrecking whatsoever. She always started since she was the best one on the team, even though she thought she was skilled enough to be a starter on JV. But you know, school coaches and their favoritism, and the coaches didn't favor Dawn at all. It was probably because she was so short and they just didn't want to have a shrimp on the better teams.

Right now, Dawn was in the gym warming up as her team did layup drills. Dawn never did those basic drills, instead she'd put on her headphones and play some rap music to get herself ready while closing her eyes and dribbling with two basketballs. She always was a fan of Stephan Curry, so she started warming up the same way. (A/N: Stephan Curry is BAE!! My fav NBA player ever)

Dawn kept practicing her handles, knowing that she was going to be doubled again by the opposing team. She but her tongue as she quickened her dribbling speed, dribbling between the legs, behind the back, wrap arounds, switching and crossovers at a fast pace.

As Dawn continued to warmup, Misty, Leaf, Gary, Serena, Ash, May, and Drew were all literally staring at the blunette, shocked and impressed by her ball handles.

"Tell me why she isn't on varsity right now." May said as they all had their jaws wide open. They've never seen the warmups, just a few minutes of a game, and man were they speechless at Dawn and her handles.

"She needs to swing up big time! Nobody else on the girls' teams has handles like that! Not even close!! Heck, she should play for the guys varsity team with that skill!" Gary exclaimed, Ash agreeing by nodding his head while chewing on candy. Ashs' jaw still hung open a bit, making chunks of slobbered-up, pre-chewed candy fall onto the bleachers.

"Ash!!! That's disgusting!!" Misty yelled as she smacked his head. Ash shyly rubbed his head "Sorry Mist, didn't notice."

"Ha! Ash drools like a baby! If he keeps that up he'll never get a homecoming date!" Gary laughed as Ash fixed his hat while pouting, then shoving more candy into his mouth.

"Speaking of homecoming, who are you gonna ask Gary?" May deviously asked while smirking as Gary slightly blushed. Gary opened his mouth to respond with an excuse, but right then Paul had flung through the gym doors, looking a bit wiped and tired.

"Hey Paul! Where've you been?" Gary asked, hoping to avoid the subject May had brought up. May glared at him, she knew he was trying to swerve from the question. "Gary! Stop avoiding the question you baby!" May yelled, putting Gary in his spot.

Paul sat down and took a deep breath, but then wondered what they were talking about. "What's the question Maple?"

May huffed as she turned towards Paul "The topic homecoming came up, and I asked who Gary was gonna ask to it, but he's trying to avoid it!!" She pointed at Gary, who put his hands up. "Hey! Maybe I don't know yet! How bout you Ashy boy, who you gonna try asking?" Gary said, smirking as everyone then stared at Ash, who started to turn pink from blushing.

"Um..u-uh... Someone! How about you Drew?" Ash quickly said, sighing in relief as Drew was now the center of attention. He couldn't bear to tell Gary that he was planning on asking Serena, no way since Gary would tell everyone probably.

Before Drew could respond, Misty spoke up. "Obviously they're not gonna tell us. We'll be back soon, so you boys better not pull anything!" Misty warned as the girls walked off who knows where.

"Whew! Thank goodness! May literally had me till you came in Paul! You're a lifesaver bro." Gary said as he patted Paul's back, who glared in response.

"Who're you gonna ask Gary?" Ash asked, laughing as Gary groaned. "I was gonna ask Leaf, but Red already did so I'm asking Misty. What bout you Ashy boy? Care to share who your dense head is thinking of?" Gary said as Ash made a pouty face.

"Hey! Well, I'm gonna ask Serena!" Ash exclaimed, making Gary nod in approval. "Good choice Ashy boy good choice. Now what about you Drew?"

Drew flipped his hair "I'm going to ask May. I'm just trying to figure out how." Gary smirked "All you gotta do is give her a red rose with a bunch of food with a sign and it's a wrap!" Drew rolled his eyes at Gary.

During the conversation, Paul had barely been listening to them as he watched Dawn dribble two basketballs at the same time. She was insanely good, almost as good as his own handles probably, and that was saying something because Paul had the best handles in the school. He couldn't believe what he was watching. Was this even real?!? Any why was she stuck on the c-team when the girls on varsity couldn't even dribble that well without the ball being stolen by the opponent. She should at least replace Miette on JV since she sucks.

Paul looked back at the guys discussing homecoming. Gary then turned to Paul, since he was the only one who hasn't told them."Hey Paul, who you gonna ask? You know Ursula was going on a rage about you rejecting her today, and I'm grateful that you did!" Paul rolled his eyes, of course he wouldn't go with that stuck up brat that was always in his business.

Paul pointed to the items he brought for Troublesome "Who the fuck do you think Oaktree?" Gary looked over at his rolled up sign he made, the deep navy blue rose and the peanut butter cups.

"HEYYYY!!! You're actually asking Dawn?!? I give you props man!" Gary said as he punched Paul in the arm lightly. "You know Ursula's gonna be raging when this gets around school. I mean, one of the most popular guys in the freshman class asking a Bea-"

"Gary, shut up." Drew said, interrupting Gary before he went on his blabbering about girls and dates again. Paul smirked and Ash cracked up as Gary closes his mouth, then they all watched Dawn again. Paul was speechless, she was still dribbling?!

"Only a few minutes till it starts. Come on you stupid clock hurry up!!" Ash yelled out loud, making some of the girls from the Jaguars team start giggling.

Gary clamped a hand over Ashs mouth "Ashy boy! Be quiet!" He hissed, making Drew and Paul snicker. Ash rubbed his nose "Whoops, my bad! Forgot that there was people around here." Gary fell down anime style while Drew sweatdropped and Paul facepalmed.

"You're. So. Pathetic." Paul muttered, as Gary cracked up. "I, for the billionth time, second whatever the hell Paul said about Ash again."

"Hey! I don't mean to be stupid!" Ash whined as the three guys snickered at the dense teenager.

The doors opened with May, Serena, Leaf and Misty walking back in. "I'm surprised Ash is still one piece from being alone with you guys." Leaf said as the girls laughed, making Ash shove gummy bears into his mouth to avoid from being even more embarrassed.

May looked into one of the two backpacks that had snacks in it, revealing that Ash had eaten all of the snacks from one backpack so far. "Ash!!! You're supposed to SHARE YOU STUPID PERSON!!" May screamed as she pouted, obviously angry about the fact that Ash ate all the sour gummy worms.

Ash gulped, totally forgetting to save some sour gummy worms for May. "Uh....sorry May!" He nervously apologized, hoping he wouldn't get smacked by any of the girls. May furiously pointed at him "I'll let you go this time Ash, but next time your dead!" May said as she sat down, her words scaring Ash.

As they were in the bleachers waiting for the last minute to go by, they went onto their phones on their social media. Paul quickly glanced at his phone and rolled his eyes at the crapload of notifications he got from his Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. He discarded them so they wouldn't waste his battery, then shoved the device back in his jeans pocket. He watched Dawn set one basketball down, throwing the other to the refs. Paul looked at her bruised face and felt guilt rise in his stomach again, remembering every detail of the earlier events. She looked so confident right now, it amazed him by how much more energetic she was.

Dawn didn't dare look up at her friends, or else she might get self-conscious and start holding back. 'Don't hold back Dawn, just calm. Down. It's just a game.' She thought to herself as she quickly wiped the bottom of her black and grey camoflaudgye Nike hyperdunks.

She saw her mom smile at her as she held her video camera in her small hands. Dawn smiled back quickly, then returning to her normal blank face she wore all the time. She set herself up around the circle as the red blew the whistle, then tossing the ball up into the air. Her player tipped the ball towards Dawn, and she instantly grabbed it and took off like a bullet to the left side of the basket. She saw a couple Jaguars try cutting her off, but Dawn dribbled to the right once, faked a layup then spun around and made the left hand layup with ease.

"OOOHHHHH!!!!" Gary, May and Ash yelled as they watched Dawn completely fake out two defenders. Leaf, Misty and Serena cheered as Drew and Paul just clapped, since they weren't the type to scream their lungs out. Paul watched her movements, and they were perfect. Her spin move after that fake shot had actually shocked him, he wasn't expecting her to do anything like that.

Dawn rolled her eyes as she heard their voices. 'This'll be easy' she thought to herself. The girl she was guarding on the wing was a few inches taller than her, but Dawn held her ground easily. As their point dribbled up, the girl grabbed her jersey and tried pulling Dawn behind her, which pissed her off. Dawn grabbed the Jaguars jersey back and shoved her a bit, hopefully warning the Jaguar that she wasn't messing around. Dawn looked at her number, which was #2.

"Get your hands off me you bruised face bitch." the #2 Jaguar spat at Dawn, who continued holding her jersey since she wouldn't let go either. "Not my problem." Dawn said back, pissing #2 off. The girl shoved Dawn really hard, making Dawn stumble back a few feet.

"Ball!" #2 yelled as her teammate passed her the ball, but Dawn wasn't letting her get the ball, hell no! Dawn sprinted to the pass, stealing the ball and taking off towards the hoop again, wrapping the ball around her back to show off, then quickly finishing a reversed layup, smirking at the girl. "Guess the only thing you can hold onto is my jersey right 2?" Dawn spat sarcastically into #2s ear, making her try shoving her again, but Dawn moved away a little so the girl tripped on her own feet and stumbled to the ground.

"Oh man Dawn's killin' her!! She's beating someone three inches taller than her!" Gary laughed, making everyone laugh as Paul smirked. He watched her start to hold the Jaguars jersey back, and thought it was hilarious when the girl tried shoving Dawn towards the sideline, but tripped over herself. Troublesome was sure entertaining alright. After the first quarter, they were ahead 30-3 with Dawn scoring 18 of those points. She sat out in the second quarter to let the bench players play, since the other team wasn't even good.

At the half, it was 40-5, and Dawn just wanted the game to end. I mean, they were gonna win by a lot anyways, so why continue the game when the other team can barely shoot? Dawn sat in the chair chilling as her teammates were putting up shots during the halftime.

"Hey Dawn!" May whispered in her ear, scaring the crap out of Dawn. She jumped in her seat a little from her, making May, Leaf, Serena, and Misty crack up. They were all right behind her seat.

"That girl got so pissed at you when you smack talked her back! It was so funny!" May laughed as Dawn slightly smiled at the memory. "She started it, and I hate it when people do that! I mean, I know I'm short but she got what she deserves. She called me a fucking bitch, so I just decided to make her pissed." Dawn replied, making the girls laugh as the guys in the bleachers snickered.

"You've got most of your points already, so don't worry bout anything. This game is practically over anyways." Serena said happily as the girls continued to chat.

Paul smirked to himself as he heard Dawn talk about #2, which he found extremely funny. As halftime ended, Dawn started again and scored another 6 points, then getting subbed out for the rest of the game since the Jaguars hadn't even scored 10 points yet.

Paul started thinking about her again as he watched her sit in her chair. His fingers twitched from his sudden nervousness inside himself, so he ran a hand through his hair while sighing. What was she gonna say to him when he asked her? Would she say yes? Reject him?! No, don't think negatively, think about anything else.

Paul bit his tongue as the game ended, feeling his legs slightly shake under him. He wasn't used to the feeling since it was so foreign to him, but he couldn't go back now. Hopefully it would turn out alright.

The team went to the lockeroom after his friends had said their congrats and goodbyes to Dawn, leaving him to wait for her. He grabbed the items and walked out of the gym towards the hallway and leaned against the wall waiting for her to walk out.

Hell, he was nervous alright, but chickening out now would be low, he wouldn't forgive himself. He crossed his arms as he waited, hoping he wouldn't mess this one chance up.