Chapter Text
"My life as an individual shouldn't be dependent on others."
This is a life motto that Dawn reminds themself of every now and then. She's already gone through 15 years without relying on other people and has turned out completely fine. Of course, he’s had their fair share of struggles, but she didn’t need another person’s help to get through them.
Little did he know that this mindset of theirs would change a lot sooner than she thought.
DAWN
Dawn was on their way to school with his friend Brook. She's a year younger than Dawn and a lot shorter than them too. She stands at around 5'4 while Dawn is 6 inches taller. He and Brook had known each other since the 5th grade and have been together ever since. Dawn’s first impression of Brook was that she was weird and annoying. Not that that impression has changed very much. Their dynamic is essentially Brook saying and doing weird things while Dawn gets annoyed or on occasion, goes along with it although it’s rare.
“You know when you listen to someone’s voice for hours or listen to people talk in a certain accent for hours, and then later read something, you can only hear the words being read in that particular voice or accent?” Brook asked nonchalantly with her usual relaxed expression.
“What?” Dawn asked
“Because like,” Brook continued
“I watched Stampy for 6 hours straight yesterday, and then when I switched to reading Shrek fanfics, I could only hear them in a British accent as I read them.” Brook chuckled lightly
This type of conversation was a usual occurrence for these two. They walked as they continued to converse about whatever came to mind.
“Wait, why the hell were you reading Shrek fanfics?!”
PHOEBE
Phoebe was being driven by her dad to her new school. She was excited to be back in America after all these years! How long has it been? Four? Five? Oh right, it’s been five years. She remembers that she had to go back to the Philippines after 4th grade because her family was struggling financially. Her dad decided that they move back to Los Angeles because apparently his investment in a tech company in Silicon Valley suddenly paid off. Everything pretty much looks the same except for maybe different stores and such. She remembers being bullied in her old school, but it was a long time ago.
She also remembers being friends with someone by the name of ‘Dawn’. They met when kids in a playground were picking on Phoebe, and then she suddenly saw a tall bruised-up girl with messy chin-length hair. Phoebe watched this cool-looking person as she beat up the kids who were making fun of her.
“You okay?” The taller girl asked as she extended her arm to Phoebe who was on the ground.
“Yeah, I’m fine.” Phoebe replied as she took the hand that was offered to her.
“I’m Dawn. What’s your name?”
“My name? Oh, it’s–”
Wait a minute, she almost forgot that she didn’t go by ‘Phoebe’ back then, so even if Dawn still lived around the area, she wouldn’t recognize her by that name.
Phoebe still remembers what Dawn had said in reply to her answer.
“That name doesn’t suit you.”
“Huh? What do you mean?”
“Never mind.” Dawn paused
“Let’s go play hide and seek.”
After that, they continued to meet up at the park after school for a few months until Phoebe suddenly had to leave the country.
“We’re here!” Phoebe exclaimed when she saw the school building. “Yup! Do you want me to go with you?” Her dad asked. “No, it’s okay.” Phoebe replied as she opened the car door. “Alright then. Just text me if you need anything.”
“Have a good day, Phoebe! I love you!”
“Love you too, Dad!” Phoebe smiled as she waved goodbye to her father.
Dawn was in their seat waiting for the teacher to arrive. She could hear Brook dozing off behind him. Everyone in the class looked sleepy which made sense because it was around 8 in the morning. A few more minutes pass by, and Ms. Thompson, the Visual and Performing arts teacher, finally arrives as she apologizes for her tardiness.
“Good morning class! I’m so sorry for being late. We have a new student joining us today.” The teacher stated as the students started whispering to each other.
“She’s attended this school before so some of you may know her already.”
The chattering continued until Ms. Thompson told everyone to settle down. It’s the middle of the school year so a new student during this time was strange. Dawn has been in this school since kindergarten so there’s a good chance he’s already met them.
“Please come in, Phoebe.”
‘Phoebe’ walked into the classroom with an excited expression on her face. She had long and straight black hair that almost reached her elbows. It was almost like one of those Pantene commercials.
“Would you introduce yourself to the class?
“Good morning everyone! My name is Phoebe Delos Santos, and I just came back from the Philippines where I stayed for 5 years.” Phoebe introduced herself while the rest of the class whispered to each other.
"The Philippines? Cool, one of my friends in Discord is Filipino." Brook said simply. She woke up a while ago when the teacher mentioned a new student.
"Phoebe, please sit beside Devika. The tall one with glasses."
Phoebe scanned her eyes around the room looking for 'Devika' and she spotted a familiar face.
Dawn?! She's actually here?!?! Wait, but why did the teacher call her 'Devika'?
She walked to the middle row of the classroom to sit beside her childhood friend.
DAWN
Dawn could feel someone staring at them and it was undoubtedly the new kid.
What does she want?! Did she accidentally fart or something?!?!
"Ok class, so today I'm assigning all of you to make a podcast. Each episode should be around 10-20 minutes and a minimum of 3 episodes. It can be about any subject but if it's something too inappropriate then you'll have deducted points for that. The reason I'm allowing you all to make a podcast about any subject is that I want this class to be able to express their thoughts freely with no restraint. This is due in 7 months so send me the link to your podcast once it’s done."
Dawn thought it was ironic because the teacher just said that it couldn't be about anything too inappropriate so there technically were some restraints.
"Oh, and this is a group project with a group of three. I'll be assigning the groups on the whiteboard so please go to your respective group members once your name is there." The teacher said as she began to write down the groupings.
"If we're in the same group, you have to admit that we're soulmates." Brook teased as she tapped Dawn's shoulder
"No."
By the time Dawn had replied, they had already seen both they and Brook's names together in a line for the groupings. What comedic timing.
Dawn could hear Brook giggling to herself behind him.
When he looked at the whiteboard again, he noticed the name of the 3rd group member.
Brook, Dawn, Phoebe
Great. They were grouped with the new kid. It wasn't that he already hated her, it's just that he's not good at dealing with new people, which is why (and he hates to admit it) Brook is his only friend.
"Ok, please go to your group mates to discuss for the rest of the period. This will be due in 6 months so use your time wisely. We will still have our regular class schedule, so I expect all of you to work on this outside of class hours."
Dawn and Brook awkwardly looked at each other and then at Phoebe who looked as if she were too happy about being in school right now. You don’t see that often nowadays.
“Hello! I’m Phoebe, as you’ve heard earlier.”
“Hey, I’m Brook.”
“Call me Dawn.”
Phoebe smiled sweetly in return.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Brook and Dawn.”
She’s so formal.
“Yeah.”
“Guys wait, I gotta piss, I'll be back soon.”
“Can’t you say something normal for once?”
“Nope.” Brook replied as she got up from her seat and asked Ms. Thompson if she could use the restroom. Dawn and Phoebe were left alone to discuss their podcast assignment.
As of right now, Phoebe’s smile progressively became more awkward and less sincere.
“..So, Dawn, do you have any ideas about what we should do for the podcast?”
“Not really.”
Dawn wasn’t the creative or artsy type. They has a hard time coming up with ideas right away. It also shouldn’t be that surprising for you to know that Dawn doesn’t use social media or go online very often whereas Brook is the complete opposite. She sometimes makes random references that Dawn doesn’t understand; like when she randomly replies to something Dawn says with “Okay, Shadow The Hedgehog.”
Phoebe hummed to herself unable to think of what their podcast should be about at the moment. Thankfully, Brook just came back from her potty break. She walked back to the seat she was originally sitting on before she left.
"Hey guys, did ya think of a topic yet?"
"No.." Phoebe sighed
"Oh, good because I thought of one when I was on the toilet."
"Enough with the bathroom talk."
Brook ignored Dawn’s comment and continued, "Wouldn’t it be fine if we made the podcast a place where we could talk about anything?”
“Huh?” Phoebe reacted tilting her head a bit.
“Just hear me out. Everyone’s probably already thinking of a specific topic, so wouldn’t it be more unique if we made a podcast about any topic?”
“Like.. an ‘anything’ podcast?” Dawn asked
“Yeah! We could call it The ‘Anything’ Podcast!”
Phoebe argued, “Wait, but it’s possible that there are already podcasts with that same theme and title..” She took out her phone to check on Spotify for podcasts named The ‘Anything’ Podcast.
“And? It’s the same for any other podcast that our other classmates could come up with!”
“You have a point..” Phoebe admitted
“So, when and where are we gonna start working on this?” she continued.
“I can make a group dm on Discord” Brook suggested.
“Alright! What’s your username?” Phoebe had Discord, but she rarely used it.
“Mine’s humbuglover. Dawn’s is just their name with extra n’s.” Dawn only had Discord on their phone because Brook told them to join a ‘server’. They had to figure out how to mute the notifications because they’d get way too many pings.
The three teens spent the rest of the period talking about their podcast. They decided that they were gonna meet up every other week on Fridays after school and they scheduled their first meeting at the school library, then Phoebe’s house since Brook’s house is too far from school and Dawn’s parents will be home on Friday. The reason why that’s a problem is because Dawn isn’t sure whether Phoebe would be comfortable with them around. They’re not exactly the most hospitable people when it comes to guests other than family guests. He’s unsure of why he even cares about how the student will react to his parents. Usually, Dawn doesn’t care about anyone. Maybe it’s because Phoebe reminds him of someone? He couldn’t put his finger on it but Dawn feels as if he's met her before. The thought eventually passed and he didn’t bother thinking about it again.
The hours went by and school was already over. Everyone was tired and they all wanted to go home. Well, maybe except for the new student. Dawn saw her in the hallway and she looked just as she did this morning. Good for her.
PHOEBE
After school ended, Phoebe saw Dawn again in the hallway. She’s a bit disappointed at the fact that Dawn doesn’t seem to recognize her at all. They were friends for a good few months before Phoebe had to leave abruptly for the Philippines.
She let out a sigh.
“Welp, we’ll grow close again eventually!”
Phoebe walked by herself on the way home. She was content with everything she's learned today and she was happy to see a familiar face. Aside from the fact that Dawn has a long ponytail and has glasses now, they pretty much look the same. They've gotten a lot taller now too! 177 cm maybe? The last time Phoebe got her height checked, it was 5'4.
They're still so cool.
"I'm back!" Phoebe called out when she opened the door to her house. She saw Aron cooking dinner in the kitchen.
"Welcome back Phoebe! I'm cooking chicken inasal for dinner." Tito Aron insisted on coming along when my dad told him that we'd be moving back to America. He's really fun to be around and his food is delicious!
"Thank you, Tito Aron!"
On her way to the stairs, Phoebe saw her little sister Mika with the door slightly open. She's really into this character named 'Venti' from Genshin Impact and would talk about him almost every day. Dad even bought her various merchandise such as posters, plushies, and keychains for this character. Phoebe thinks it's cute, but she's a bit worried about when she'll grow out of this phase.
Phoebe poked her head through the door.
"Hey, Mika! Say hi to Venti for me!”
“Ate stop!!”
Mika got up and closed the door shut in embarrassment.
“Haha!”
Phoebe finally walked over to her room and shut the door. She put down her bags and changed into house clothes before doing the homework she was assigned that day. After doing her homework, she ate dinner with the rest of her family and brushed her teeth afterward. She's usually very happy-go-lucky, but she was even more so today because of her reunion with her childhood friend. Phoebe reflected on the events of that day before letting herself drift off to sleep with a peaceful smile on her face and her arms wrapped around a pillow snuggled under her blanket.