Litten furiously typed on his phone.

"Mom... coming... home... on... the... bus... no need to pick me up," he wrote.

"Are you sure you don't want me to pick you up?" his mom wrote back.

"I'm sure," Litten wrote.

"OK, love you," his mom wrote back.

Litten rolled his eyes. "Love you too," he wrote.

"Hey, Litten," he heard.

Litten turned around and saw Cyndaquil and his friends.

"What's up?" Cyndaquil said.

"Not much," Litten said. "You?"

"Dope as usual," Cyndaquil replied. "Hey, are you trying out for any sports this year?"

"Well, lacrosse," Litten said. "This school doesn't have a badminton team, so I'll just play tennis. Close enough."

"Nice," Cyndaquil said. "We're trying out for lacrosse too. What about first semester sports?"

"I was thinking of just doing P.E," Litten said. "I mean, I've never played football or volleyball before,"

"Dude, only losers take P.E," Cyndaquil. "Go try out for football with us. I'm sure you'll be good."

"Um, OK," Litten said. "I will then."

"Good," Cyndaquil said.

The bus pulled up. Pokémon started to file in.

"Hey, Litten," Cyndaquil said. "You want to sit with us?"

"Sure," Litten said. "That would be great."

On the bus ride home, Litten, Cyndaquil and his friends talked about sports, school, girls and just about everything.

When the bus ride dropped Litten off, he was almost sorry to leave.

"See you tomorrow, Cyndaquil," Litten said.

"See ya," Cyndaquil said.

Litten smiled. Today had been a good day.

As Litten walked into his house, he realized something. He actually was social and talked to others today.

Maybe this is a turning point in my life, Litten thought. Maybe I could be in the in-crowd. Maybe I could be a jock or a cool kid. This is sort of nice.

Litten went to bed with a contented smile on his face.

Life is good.