A/N: Hey guys! It's been awhile but since it's summer, I've had more time to write. I even began writing a chapter story for Amourshipping but unfortunately, I recently got all of my wisdom teeth extracted so the process of writing it has been delayed. For now, I've managed to finish writing this quick one-shot inspired by one of Wong Fu Productions' videos :) Enjoy!
Ahhh high school... it can be a pain... but it can also be a joy... or is "fun" more appropriate? Serena wasn't exactly sure how to describe high school to a T but she did know that it certainly wasn't "fun."
Was it because she was the new girl? Maybe. Serena thought it was pretty cliché but she accepted it as she knew that she wouldn't be able to turn this cliché around with her shy personality. It's just with this shy personality of hers she couldn't seem to gather the courage to make a friend and when she did, it was never enough. Every time she tried to approach a person, they'd walk away with a best friend that they already have. Every time she'd attempt to start a conversation, they wouldn't answer since her voice was simply too quiet.
Maybe my life would be much more exciting if I could speak louder.
Serena shook her head at the thought. She knew that a simple matter of raising the volume of her voice was not the solution.
She needed confidence.
"Alright, everyone onto the next page," Professor Sycamore said as he flipped his textbook to the next page to follow along with his students who were nearly bored to death. With a chin on the palm of one hand, Serena used her other hand to mindlessly flip onto the next page while staring out the window.
It was partly cloudy outside and one of the clouds was currently looming over the school, appropriately casting a shadow into this rather dull classroom as the professor droned on about something that was probably boring since Serena didn't bother listening to the topic. Instead, all she could think about was her old school, old friends, old everything. In fact if someone were to ask her what she hated the most, it was the word "change."
She hated how everything changed so suddenly. She hated how her mom decided to move from their little hometown of Vaniville into the busy city of Lumiose without her consent. She hated seeing the faces of her old friends frown when she had to bear the bad news on what could've been an ordinary, happy day at school. But what she hated most of all was when she had to walk into this classroom and introduce herself to the whole class filled with new faces.
But what can she do? Hate everything in the world when things don't seem to go her way? No. That's not how life works and Serena knew that. She just had to accept that this was her reality now.
"Sorry, Professor Sycamore! I'm here."
At the sound of the voice, all pairs of droopy eyes simultaneously glanced over to the door. Nobody's eyes were droopy once they saw who it was. Serena's too.
Her eyes lit up at the sight of him just like the sunlight suddenly pouring brightly into the classroom—the sun shined brightest on the location of where the raven-haired boy stood. He was beaming with confidence.
"It's alright, Ash. You can just sit down at your desk," Professor Sycamore sighed. He didn't have the energy to ask Ash why he was being tardy again. Besides, if he had asked for the reason, Ash would end up taking over the whole class with another one of his absurd stories on why he was late, and today's lesson was important since the information was going to be covered in the midterm.
Ash was about to open his mouth to ask his teacher why he wasn't questioned about being late but closed it shut when he saw the word "midterm" written on the whiteboard and then made his way to his desk.
Everyone groaned when they realized that Ash wasn't going to tell one of his stories and were going to have to endure the whole period in boredom. However, boredom was no longer a problem for Serena since she was now staring at this boy called Ash. He was interesting.
Based on the fact that he was already snoozing a minute with his head buried into his tan-colored arms, she could tell that he was the lazy type, especially when she saw the shoelaces of his red sneakers carelessly lying down on the floor untied. While taking note of his messy locks of hair tousled in all directions for the next minute or two, she saw him lift his head and lean backward into the light, causing his seemingly black hair to transform into its true color of dark cyan.
She wondered what it was like to run her fingers through his hair. Was it soft?
Suddenly, Serena shifted in her seat uncomfortably. Why am I thinking of these sort of things?
Realizing what was happening with her feelings, Serena didn't dare to sneak a glance towards the direction of the sleeping boy. She didn't know why she was so drawn to him. Perhaps it's because his desk was the only place where the sun shined in this rather dull of a classroom.
Maybe she knew him because they were childhood friends until a terrible incident caused her to fall under the case of amnesia. Or maybe they knew each other in a past life or an alternate universe.
Serena closed her eyes shut tightly, trying to jog some kind of memory of Ash... if there ever was one in the first place.
"Serena? Are you feeling ok?"
Serena opened her eyes and saw Professor Sycamore staring straight at her with a look filled with perplexity. Her classmates did the same (except Ash who was now snoring obnoxiously loud).
"Yeah, I'm fine, Professor Sycamore." Serena bit her lip. It was a habit that she did whenever she felt nervous or embarrassed.
"Ok, just let me know if you need anything," Professor Sycamore said.
Serena nodded her head and watched as her teacher turned around and began writing stuff down again on the whiteboard, much to the other students' dismay. Serena sighed and placed her chin on the palm of her hand once again and resumed her thoughts about Ash.
Maybe she didn't know anything about him. Maybe he really was someone that she's never met before in her life at all. If so, will Professor Sycamore magically pair them up for a school project? Will Ash suddenly come up to her and ask for help on Algebra homework?
Serena's thoughts were interrupted the second time when the bell rang, signifying that class was over. Serena stood up and slung her backpack onto her shoulder. She wondered what would've happened if Ash was miraculously standing right behind her. Maybe she would've accidentally hit him with her backpack. What would happen then? Would they become friends?
"Hey, Ash wake up!"
Serena watched Professor Sycamore who was currently failing at his attempts to wake up Ash. The dark-cyan-haired boy was still snoring ever-so-loudly, silently relishing his nap. Serena smiled at the sight. He was such an idiot.
Meanwhile the professor himself wasn't smiling. For some reason, Serena half-expected Professor Sycamore to turn towards her and ask to help him wake up Ash but it didn't happen. Instead, the teacher just walked back to his desk while muttering something along the lines of, "He'll wake up later. It's the last period anyway."
Sighing, Serena ignored the feeling of disappointment as she left the classroom. While walking out in the hallways, Serena was still thinking about him while snaking her way through the crowd, careful not to bump into anyone. If he was still awake, would he have stood near her locker, waiting for her?
By the time Serena arrived at her locker, nobody was standing there to wait for her. She wasn't surprised or anything though since she was still the new girl. She opened her locker to retrieve the books she needed for studying, smiling sadly when a letter of confession from Ash wasn't waiting for her inside.
As if that'll ever happen, Serena thought.
Once Serena proceeded to walk towards the school parking lot where her mom was planning to pick her up, she decided to stop thinking about every cliché scene that she could possibly think of because those kind of things only happened in movies.
Those movies were cheesy and life wasn't cheesy. It was never cheesy. It never will be cheesy. And Serena knew that. She knew that if she was ever going to have a chance to talk to him, she was going to have to actually make an opportunity to talk to him because again, life isn't cheesy enough to open up an opportunity for her.
Serena nodded her head, this time in a more bold fashion compared to the embarrassed one she had earlier in class. She was going to talk to him tomorrow.
"My, aren't you looking so determined," a voice said while chuckling.
"Mom! Serena exclaimed when she saw her mom Grace and her car pulled up against the curb.
"Did something happen today at school?" Grace asked.
"No." Serena wasn't really lying. Nothing really did happen... not with him.
"Oh?" Grace raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure it's nothing? I've never seen you this excited since we moved."
"I'm sure," Serena said, getting inside the car.
Seeing that her daughter was not willing to say anything, Grace stopped her interrogation. "Oh, alright. I'll stop asking you questions." Grace then began to turn the wheel, guiding the vehicle outside the parking lot.
On the way back home, Serena stayed silent but kept her thoughts to herself.
Tomorrow I'll talk to him. But for now, I'll remember today.
Serena smiled and turned around to look back at the school.
The day on how we never met.
A/N: I was going to put "Professor Sycamore" as "Mr. Sycamore" since professors are usually used in college but I thought "Mr. Sycamore" just sounded weird so I kept it as "Professor Sycamore." See you guys next time and hopefully I'll be able to write more things in the future :)