May's POV

About four months ago, my friend Misty met a guy. Ash. Dark hair and warm amber eyes. I immediately distrusted him. But Misty loved-no-she was obsessed with Ash. At first it was small, just her sighing and staring at Ash dreamily. But when that approach failed, Misty tried to push jnto his conversations, laugh at jokes he made.

Then things got out of hand. Misty bought herself a new camera and followed Ash everywhere, taking pictures when the opportunity arose. She plastered these photo of Ash on her bedroom walls. Misty began losing sleep, conversations could never be about anything but Ash, and her grades plummeted. No matter what I said or did, the stalking continued.

Then one day in English, Misty came to my desk and burst into tears. Her mid quarter math average had been one point above failing the class.

And so the creeping stopped. Misty got more rest, and her grades improved. Our conversations became normal, usually about new movies and which teacher we collectively hated the most.

The next year, things were looking up until the Friday of the first week.

"Hey, remember Ash?" Misty asked.

Panicking, I said, "Um...no?"

"Oh sure you do. Black hair, awesome eyes. Six pack," Misty sighed, a dreamy look crossing her face.

"Where are you going with this?" I asked nervously.

"Well, obviously, my approach last year didn't work, so i'll try something different," she said.

"And that would be?" I asked with dread.

"You, May Maple, are going to get him to ask me out.

It took Misty several weeks to convince me, and when I did agree, it was mostly to show her that her plan would never work.

I started small. Saying hi to Ash in the hallways, acknowledging him he never we crossed paths. After a few days of this, Ash willingly spoke to me for more than a few sentences.

It went uphill after that. My friends sat with his friends at lunch, and I included Ash at group outings. We began to hang out at each other's houses.

During all this, I saw Ash in a new light. The way his dark hair shifted whenever he moved, and the way his amber eyes caught the light. I decided this was just my determination to get him with Misty.

I was busy thinking about Ash one day at lunch when I realized Misty was talking to me.

"May! May! Earth to May!" she snapped.

"Uh?!" I smoothly replied.

"I think you're becoming too friendly Ash," she said with her arms crossed. "I heard you guys went to the movies on Tuesday, and that he's going to your house on Friday!"

"Look, it's just me trying to drop hints about you, nothing more," I said calmly. In truth, I had steadily been dropping hints about Misty for the past week. "If it will put you at ease, I'll cancel our Friday plans."

Misty grabbed her bag and headed out the door. "You better, " she called over her shoulder.

I decided to tell Ash about Misty after school. Really, I should have felt excited. Misty was going to get the guy of her dreams. But giving Ash to Misty... it felt more like a loss than a gain.

"Hey Ash, wanna take a walk with me?" I asked as the bell rang.

"Sure!" he said, grabbing his backpack. We strolled through the campus, talking casually while I managed to restrain my inexplicable heartache.

"I've gotta tell you something, Ash," I said as we came to a stop in the school garden.

I took a deep breath and went on. "There's a girl in our grade who really, really likes you. I mean like, a lot. I think you should ask her out, her name's-"

Ash interrupted me by cupping my face in his hands, "I know," he whispered.

Then he kissed me. It was not a long kiss, but still a sweet one. I could tell he wanted to say something, and when I saw a familiar head of red hair, I did.

"Crap."

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