Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon.

Our Last Summer

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Summer time is finally here. Let's celebrate.

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Chapter 1: Touchdown

I stared up at the clock. Five more minutes.

Five more minutes until what?

Freedom.

Summer.

After months of nothing but studying, writing papers, taking grueling exams, a seemingly unending number of sleepless nights, group presentations, and stress, it was safe to say that we deserve a break. Summer was almost literally at our grasps. I twirled my pen in my hand, looking at the exam that was on my table. I'd finished half an hour ago, fell asleep for around fifteen minutes, and then looked through my answers again. I had nothing to worry about. Math had always been my strongest subject.

Four minutes.

I looked around the room until my eyes landed on two particular people. With less than five minutes to go, they were still writing and crossing things out. I rolled my eyes. May and Ash had the tendency to procrastinate when it came to studying. Gary did too, but he's a genius, procrastinating for him was not such a big deal. I saw May pout and I laughed to myself. It was her fault she didn't take up my offers of tutoring her.

Three minutes.

I could literally hear the countdown in everybody's heads. It was probably because I, too, was counting down the minutes until we were forever free from high school. Old people told me that high school would be the best four years of a person's life. While I wouldn't disagree with that, I did want to end it sooner or later. At this point, exhausted from everything, I preferred it to be sooner.

Two minutes.

"Who's still writing?" the teachers asked. I looked around the room for any raised hands. If there weren't any, we'd have summer two minutes early.

When I saw two hands in the air, I groaned. A couple of others around me did too, earning us a glare from the teacher. As much as May and Ash are two of my closest friends, I really did hate them sometimes. This time was one of those times.

"Two minutes," the teacher said. Less, actually, but whatever floats his boat.

I glanced at my seatmate who, instead of looking at the clock on the wall like everyone else was, was looking at his watch. Gary had worn that watch ever since it was gifted to him by Leaf. The one day that he didn't have it on, I swear, he had a mental breakdown because he thought he lost it.

He glanced at me and grinned. I smirked back.

One more minute.

I heard the shuffling of paper around me. Everyone was getting ready to pass their papers. At this point in time, I doubt any of us cared much about what grade we would get. I doubt everyone finished that exam, despite the fact that it was only May and Ash admitted to not being finished with the exam a bit earlier.

"Pass your papers."

I never thought I'd be that happy to hear those words. In the speed of light, the papers were in the hands of the teacher. That was a record for our class which seemed to like to delay the papers' arrival to the teacher. We didn't do that today, apparently. Most people would rather not have their summer break delayed.

"You are dismissed."

With those words, practically everybody flew out of the classroom. I hung around a bit more. I didn't want to get stepped on by the mob in the corridors. I kicked my feet up and leaned back on my chair. Gary did the same next to me. The previously empty seat next to me was then occupied by a distraught looking Ash. May sat down on the desk of the seat Ash had taken.

"I died," Ash moaned.

"Your fault," Gary mocked. "Should have spent time studying rather than playing video games. You know you're bad at math."

Ash pouted. "Whatever. It's summer now. I'll worry about that exam later."

"Speaking of summer," I said, "we're leaving right after the graduation ceremony so if you're not packed by then, I'm leaving you."

"I'm packed," May said, kicking herself off the desk to grab her bag from her original seat.

I perked an eyebrow. "Are you that excited to spend summer with me, May?"

"I'm excited to spend summer with everyone. It's our last one all together, Drew."

That's right. After this summer, we'd all be dispersing to our respective colleges. Some of us (aka Gary, Misty, Leaf and Paul) were accepted to colleges outside the country. We've already researched and never do our school holidays or breaks coincide with each other. The next time we'd be complete to spend quality time together wouldn't be until our high school called for a batch reunion. Might as well make the most of this summer with them.

Might as well make the most of this summer with her.

"You be safe there, okay," Dad said as he helped me transfer my suitcase from our car to Drew's. After a teary goodbye and congratulations from Mom and Max, Dad was sending me off to my two month vacation with my closest friends. "I trust the eight of you enough to know that nobody will get pregnant, and everybody will come back in one piece. Well, eight separate pieces that are still whole. But I just have to remind you especially to take care of yourself."

I rolled my eyes playfully at him. "Do you really trust all of us enough?" I asked teasingly. "It doesn't seem like it." I remembered that he was wary of letting me go to this trip when I first asked permission because it did not have any adult supervision.

"Well," he said, "I trust Misty because I know she'd stop you guys before any of you do anything stupid. And if the boys decide to pull something on you girls, you have her to make sure they won't walk for at least a week."

"How about everyone else?"

Dad sighed and ruffled my hair. I squealed in protest but he just chuckled. "I trust Dawn to be a mom and make sure you and Ash and everybody else have at least something to eat. And worry about you, even though she uses that 'no need to worry' catchphrase. She worries a lot. I trust Leaf because she's responsible."

"She is when she's sober, Dad." He had already seen an episode of a drunk Leaf when she came to my home and crashed since she couldn't drive back to hers. It was hilarious.

"And she's your best friend, so she has to watch your back. You and Paul are in charge of all six of them if, and when, they do get drunk. I trust that you won't drink." He eyed my suspiciously. I nodded. At the age of eighteen, I haven't had more than one shot of alcohol in a party. I disliked the feeling after drinking it.

"Ash will," Dad continued. He paused to think. "I trust Ash to not do anything to you girls. He's a respectful guy. Although, he is a bit naïve so he might not defend you girls from any other guys trying to hit on you. He'd think that they were just being friendly."

I giggled. I could actually imagine Ash doing that.

"Which is where Drew and Gary come in. They're going to swoop in to make sure no guy on the beach hits on my baby girl." Dad threw an arm around me.

"What if either Gary or Drew hits on your baby girl, Mr. Maple?" a voice asked from behind us. I looked around and saw Leaf grinning sheepishly at me as she pulled her suitcase along. From the corner of my eye, I saw Dad raise an eyebrow. "Sorry, Mr. Maple. It was tempting to ask."

Dad shook his head and chuckled. "Then you protect her," he answered simply. He took Leaf's suitcase from her, ignoring any protests that came out of her mouth. He, as Leaf told me once, was the closest thing she had to a father in her life. "Where did Drew park his car anyway?"

"Right here, Mr. M!" Gary said two cars away from where the three of us were standing. He jumped off the hood of Drew's car before walking up to Dad and shaking his hand. "I'll get those." He took mine and Leaf's bags to the trunk of the car where Drew and the rest of the guys were.

"I'll let you two go then," Dad said. "Congratulations on graduating, baby girl." He kissed the top of my head. "Congratulations, too, Leaf. Your parents would have been proud to know that their little girl graduated valedictorian." Leaf beamed.

"Thanks, Mr. Maple," she said, hugging Dad. "That means a lot. Take care on the drive back home. Bring my grandparents back home safely, please."

"Will do Leaf." He looked to Drew's car again. "Boys," he called, and all four – Drew, Gary, Ash and Paul – looked at my Dad. "No funny business, okay?" He was intimidating, as I know from first hand, everyday experience. The guys nodded. I doubt they'd pull anything anyway. "Have a fun trip. Drive safely, Drew."

"I will, sir," he said with confidence.

"If you get tired, there are at least three other people in there who know how to drive. Swap if you need to, alright?"

"Yes, sir."

"Okay," Dad said. "My work here is done. See you all in two months!"

I dropped my bag on the floor of my room before walking up to sit on the chair at my computer desk. Everyone else was out there roaming the house, looking for the best room. From what I gathered before climbing up the stairs, Paul had already chosen the smallest room and was kicking out anyone who tried to room with him. That wasn't much of a surprise on his part, really. Knowing everyone else, the girls would divide the two remaining rooms among themselves. Gary and Ash would just have to find a couch to sleep on. Poor them.

"I don't get why we're all looking for rooms," Gary said as he strutted in my room, dropped his bag next to mine, and laid down on my bed. Excuse you, Gary, but this is my room. Please don't walk in as if you own it. But then again, this is Gary. There wasn't really much I could do about that arrogant prick.

I rolled my eyes. "Because we need a place to sleep for the next two months. And because we need a place to put our stuff in."

"Hm," Gary said as he stared at my ceiling decorated with glow-in-the-dark stars. He grinned as if he found something to blackmail me with. Glow-in-the-dark stars are part of everyone's childhood and are not blackmail material. Find something else, Gary. "If that's the case, I'm rooming with you. The girls have kicked me and Ash out of the rooms, and you know neither of us can share a room with Paul. Not that we want to in the first place. So Ash went exploring and found your attic and decided to room there." There was an attic in this house? Well, you do learn something new every day.

"No you're not rooming with me," I said. This guy, really. Can't he just find another place to sleep? Or he could share the attic with Ash. "Get out and find a couch in the living room. I'm sure the drawers there have never been used before so place your stuff there. Or check to see if this house has a basement." If there was an attic which I didn't know of, I wouldn't be surprised if there was a basement too.

"What if people walk in on me in the middle of changing clothes?" Because that's obviously such a big problem for someone like you. You know you'd like it, idiot, so stop pretending like you won't.

"Do I look like I care?"

"You're okay with the girls being scarred for life? Because, really, I don't really mind if they see me."

I grimaced and made sure that Gary saw my face. Sometimes I wonder what goes on in that mind of his. Then I realized that I didn't want to know. Ever.

"Fine, you dickhead." I gave in to him because, well, there's no denying that the girls might walk in on Gary changing, and I wouldn't want to scar them for life. "You take the couch though. Or the beanbag. I don't care. Just don't get anywhere near my sleeping figure. I don't want to wake up in the morning infected by you."

"You sound like a girl." I do not. "It's not as if I'd sleep next to you on your bed anyway," Gary said. "I'm not gay, and you don't really attract me." I rolled my eyes. He admitted to me once when he was drunk that he'd go for me if he were. "The rooms are just for storage of our clothes, honestly. We all know that all of us would probably end up sleeping together. Or at least with people who weren't our room buddies. That's how our sleepovers normally go, if you've already forgotten."

I smirked. "You just hope that a certain someone ends up sleeping next to you." Just as expected, he didn't deny that. Instead he smiled. . Although he and his female best friend did not officially have the "boyfriend" or "girlfriend" title, they were together. At least, that's how everyone looked at it. They were in love, at least. And anyone could see it. Well, claimed to see it.

"You do too."

I surprised myself by not denying that.

"'No funny business' though, or Norman would have our heads," Gary said. "That's his daughter and his honorary child we want next to us."

I rolled my eyes.

"I, unlike you, have enough self-control to keep me from doing anything for the next two months."

"That's what you think, Hayden."

"Touchdown: Drew's beach house," Leaf said as she dropped face first on her bed. I giggled. Of all the people who needed a vacation, it was her and Gary. Both wanted to do stuff in science for college and needed top scores in order to get accepted into the best colleges for science courses. They'd been working non-stop for the past year. While Leaf constantly worked hard and Gary normally procrastinated, the guy never did when it came to things he was passionate about, such as getting into a good school. It was nice to see the two let go of all the stress.

"I'm going to unpack," I said, pulling my suitcase to the closet across my bed. I heard Leaf get up from her bed and drag her suitcase too to the other closet.

I looked at the contents of my suitcase and frowned. Maybe it was wrong for me to ask Dawn to pack my clothes for me. If I knew that me suitcase would be full, of fancily designed clothing, I would never had agreed to this. Then again, I lost a bet and this, letting Dawn choose my entire summer wardrobe, was my punishment. I had no choice either way. I would have changed the clothes, had I been able to open the suitcase. As expected from Dawn, she padlocked it so that I had no access to the things inside until she gave me the keys this morning.

I sighed and threw the entire contents of my suitcase onto my bed instead. I'd given up on my unpacking before I had even started. I'd fix all of those clothes in the closet tonight. They could wait. The sun and the beach, however, couldn't. It was our first day in Drew's beach house and I just wanted to taste the beach already! I've been deprived of such things since senior year started and now I'm craving for it.

"Leaf, help me pick out clothes," I said to my best friend who was already neatly stacking her clothes in her closet. She'd give up on that job sooner or later, like I did. I'm betting sooner. We've never been a patient pair.

"Are you a baby that you can't even pick out your own clothes?" she asked, not looking at me. I chucked at pair of shorts at the back of her head. She sighed and looked at me with an annoyed expression.

"I don't know what looks good on me of these clothes," I said, eyeing a bright pink tank top. "Dawn packed weird stuff for me."

"Honestly, May?" Leaf asked. "Just wear anything there. You match stuff better than me. Just wear anything. You'd impress boys regardless of what you wear. Or what you don't. You could go naked if you don't know what to wear, and you'd attract people."

"Gary is rubbing off on you and you're becoming a pervert," I commented. "And I'm not trying to impress anyone."

"Yeah, keep telling yourself that."

Knowing she was right, at least about the fact that it wasn't really that hard to match a top with a pair of shirts, I pouted and got a random pair of clothes and swimwear before walking up to the bathroom to change. "Who would I want to impress anyway?"

"Who indeed?" I heard Leaf mutter before I closed the bathroom door.

I wonder that too.

Not really. I knew who she was hinting about. It was a known fact among my girl best friends that I'm crushing on this one particular guy. That isn't to say though that I had to impress him. He's seen me at my best and worst, so might as well be normal around him.

"I'll be home late tonight," Leaf said when I walked back into the room. She seemed like she gave up on neatly transferring her clothes out of her bags. "Gary just texted me and asked me if I'd be willing to sneak out with him without you guys knowing." Leaf, if you're going to do something that I shouldn't know, then maybe you shouldn't tell me? But whatever, she was inclined to tell me everything because we had a best friend pact.

"What did you say?" I asked although I already knew the answer.

"Yes. Duh."

I rolled my eyes. "You guys are so cute together."

"I know."

"I call bridesmaid to you wedding," I said, grinning cheekily. I could just imagine myself in that turquoise gown. Knowing Gary and Leaf, they'd have a silver and turquoise themed wedding. And their wedding would probably be sometime near Christmas. I should probably call godmother of their firstborn, but that's probably thinking too far ahead.

"I've already decided that you'd be my maid-of-honour, silly," she said. Just then her phone rang again. "Gary's inviting us to a double date at the beach. You and me with him and Drew. He said Ash kidnapped Misty and Dawn and brought them to get ice cream, and that Paul's being antisocial as usual. Wanna go?"

I shrugged. "Nothing better to do here anyway. Plus, I'd get to see Drew."

I did not just say that out loud. I heard giggling next to me and frowned at the source of the sound.

"Please don't forget that I'm your date and not Drew." She waved her phone to me with a mocking smirk.

Whatever, Leaf. Just shut up. Haha.

"I've been ditched," May said at my door. I swivelled in my chair to look at her. I wanted to ask her by who, but seeing how Gary wasn't around, I had a pretty good guess who May was ditched by.

"I don't care," I said. How many times have I said that today? Oh well, it didn't matter much anyway. It was a normal response from me, which doesn't affect her anymore. It's conversations like these which our relationship revolves around. Friendship. Which our friendship revolves around.

Without my permission, May stepped in my room and plopped herself on my bed. I stared at her. Did people not know how to knock before entering a room? Or at least ask permission from the owner of the room? I glared at her, which she ignored.

"Entertain me," May said. I smirked. Wrong choice of words, sweetheart. I could push her to lie down, pull a Gary, and kiss her senseless right there and then. I caught myself and mentally slapped myself. Like I told Gary earlier, I had self-control. At least, physically. My mental self-control, however, is somewhat questionable. Oh my, I'm such a guy when she's around me.

"Please leave and find someone else to annoy," I said instead. What was she doing here when she had Misty and Dawn to bother?

She stuck her tongue out at me. "I would if there was someone else in the house," she said. "Gary and Leaf snuck out on a romantic little stroll at the beach which is why they're not here. Plus, even though I know where they are, I don't want to third-wheel. Dawn and Misty have dragged Ash and Paul to the supermarket since Ash ate all the food and they didn't want to go alone."

I perked an eyebrow. So we have the whole house to ourselves on our first night at the beach house? I felt the corners of my mouth tug up. Hormones, please clam down.

"Go read a book or something. Just get out of my room." You aren't safe here, trust me.

"I don't want to be alone," she whined. God, she even makes whining less annoying to the ears. The things this girl does to me.

"Fine," I said. "What do you want me to do?"

She shrugged. "Talk, maybe?"

"Why?"

"I haven't talked to you in forever and I miss you." Well, I didn't expect that.

When a girl manages to miss you even though she sees you every single day, does that mean something? Or am I just reading too much into this?

"Okay, let's talk." We haven't had a deep and meaningful conversation in a while, after all. All the conversations we had lately have been revolving around school and now that that's out of the way, we can now talk about everything and nothing. I stood up from my chair and sat next to her, intentionally making our knees brush against each other. "What's on your mind?"

"Love." Well I didn't expect that either.

"Expound."

She didn't talk for a while. I watched her try to get comfortable on my bed. She ended up lying on her back, on my pillow, underneath my blanket. I'll bet five bucks that she's going to sleep here tonight. I ended up lying next to her, on top of the blanket, on my side with my elbow propped to support my head.

"It's just that," May said, staring at the ceiling, "when I see Gary and Leaf, I get jealous. Not because I like Gary." Good, that guy already has so many admirers and I couldn't let her be one of them too. "I just want what they have. Even though they don't have a label, you can really see that they love each other. Anyone can see that. I just want to experience what they have. I want someone who loves me, and someone who I can love back."

I stared at her.

"Why are you talking as if you won't have that? Why does it seem as if you're thinking that nobody's going to ever treat you like that?"

"What if nobody does?"

Is the serious?

"Somebody will."

"Really?" she asked, challenging me.

"Yes, stupid," I said playfully. "I promise." She just nodded. "Why, are you thinking of someone?" She turned red, and any non-oblivious person would know what that meant.

"No," she said in a small voice. She was never really a good liar. As much as I wanted to know, I let her be. She'd probably storm away if I tried to pry it out of her now anyway.

"Okay."

Okay.

"Are you going to leave my room now?" I asked, just so that we had something to continue our conversation.

"Are you waiting up for Gary?" she asked. I checked the time. It was an hour past midnight and it was only then I realized how tired I already was. After having to drive a van with seven other people, six of which wouldn't shut up, and playing in the beach all day after that drive, I was pretty tired.

"No. He probably won't be back soon anyway. And I'm sleepy. So out of my room."

"Can I sleep with you then?"

A guy can interpret that in many different ways.

"You're being awfully blunt, aren't you?" I teased. She turned even redder.

"I didn't mean it like that!" she squealed before punching my chest. I should really teach this girl how to punch to actually inflict pain on the thing she's punching. Or I could ask Misty to teach her, 'cause that girl can really hurt someone.

"I know you didn't. I'm not that stupid, you know?" She rolled her eyes.

"Well? Can I sleep here tonight? I don't want to sleep alone." Needy little girl.

"Just don't do anything weird to me, May."

"As if I would."

I made sure to put a pillow between us before either of us fell asleep because I would if I wanted to. I really, really would.

Edited 1/3/2015