Disclaimer: I don't own pokemon.

I'm so sorry everyone - I actually wrote this over a week ago but my internet was playing up so I couldn't post it :( But, here it is at last! Thanks to everyone who read, followed, and reviewed :D

Reply to Ready to fly: Your review made me laugh XD Thanks so much for your support, and for giving this new story of mine a chance! Yep I guess we'll just have to wait and see - will their hate turn to love or will they become mortal enemies for life? Hmm, I wonder... ;D

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Chapter Two

~ The Bet ~

I made it through the rest of the lesson. Just. It was impossible to focus with Hayden sitting next to me because I always write with my elbows spread on the desk but because of this habit, I kept accidentally nudging him. Every time I unintentionally elbowed him he would glower at me until I felt my cheeks heating up from the pressure of his glare and had to whisper an apology. Seriously, my cheeks were actual giving off steam at one point, his glares were so ferocious!

"Five minutes more, and the rest is for you to finish for homework," Professor Rowan informed the class. I groaned. I was no-where near done, thanks to Hayden's constant glaring. Sneaking a glance at his work, I narrowed my eyes. He'd almost finished. How could he possibly have worked that fast when he kept glaring at me? It wasn't fair.

"You could be expelled if you cheat like that in an exam," Hayden hissed in my ear, startling me. His breath was hot on my neck and I jumped, flinching away from him. I quickly edged my chair as far away from him as possible and in my haste to create some distance between us I knocked my pen to the floor. It landed with a clatter and I froze as I looked timidly up at professor Rowan, expecting a reprimand. However all he did was cast me a frosty glance before turning back to the papers he was marking behind his desk. Breathing out a sigh of relief I bent to pick up my pen and when I straightened up I looked over at Hayden. He had pulled back and was continuing to work, feigning innocence, but the stupid smirk playing at his lips gave him away.

It was my turn to lean over to him now. "For your information, I wasn't cheating," I growled in his ear. Unlike me he was completely unfazed and simply gave me a cool look.

"Then why were you looking at my work?" Somehow he made such a perfectly innocent sentence sound extremely arrogant and patronising. I gritted my teeth, wanting to do nothing more than rip that smug look off his face.

"None of your business," I snapped. Hayden raised an eyebrow in amusement as my eyes widened, instantly realising I'd been too loud and the whole class had heard what I'd said. Looking quickly at professor Rowan I saw that his mouth was open, probably ready to scold me for speaking when it was supposed to be 'silent learning', but luckily for me the bell rung at that precise moment, giving me an escape.

I hurriedly gathered my books and shoved them into my bag, intending to make a quick escape, when a smooth voice stopped me in my tracks. "Forgetting something?" Hayden asked.

I looked over my shoulder to see him standing patiently by the desk. Oh yeah, I was supposed to 'look after' him for the next two weeks. "Uh…" I hesitated, wondering if I would get into trouble if I made a run for it.

"Look Maple, I hate this as much as you do – why would anyone want to be stuck with a complete airhead for two whole weeks? But I'd really rather not get on Prof Rowan's bad side and you already have detention with him, so don't make the situation worse," he said, sounding resigned.

"You have a point," I muttered, unwillingly agreeing with him. "Fine. Come with me. What's your next class?"

"Maths," he informed me, following me out of the classroom. "But I would probably be better finding it on my own – I doubt an imbecile like you would know where the classes of any subjects which require intelligence are." He smirked, flicking his hair, and I gritted my teeth. Breathe, I told myself firmly, just breathe.

"For your information, Maths is my next class too. So there," I replied, sticking my tongue out at him for added effect as I began leading the way through the corridors, "I bet I'm way more intelligent than you are any day."

Hayden laughed, the grating sound echoing in my ears as I had to resist the urge to cover them. "That's a big bet for a little girl like you to make. How high are you willing to put the stakes?"

"We have a maths test now. If I get a higher score than you then you have to ask Prof Rowan for a new guide," I challenged him defiantly. "And you have to tell the whole school you're gay," I added as an afterthought, grinning like I'd already won the bet.

Hayden perked a brow. "I accept your challenge. And if you lose, then you have to sing a song of my choice in front of the whole school and give me lifts to and from school for the next month," he said with a confident smirk.

I hesitated. "But I can't sing…" I protested weakly, shuddering at the last memory I have of singing in public. Let's just say it did not end prettily.

"So? I'm not gay. If you don't want to sing then you better win this bet," Hayden said simply as we arrived at the maths class and I led the way in. A new determination set in as I took my seat and stared down at the paper in front of me. That was, until I saw the first question and remembered that I'm terrible at maths.

I may as well kill myself now and save my future-self the trouble, I thought. The hour crawled by and although I tried my best I knew it wasn't good enough. I could only hope that Hayden was even worse than me at maths. Looking up I saw him a couple of seats in front of me. His green head was down and he was busily scribbling away. I told myself not to get disheartened; just because he was writing a lot it didn't mean he was actually getting any of the answers right.

The bell rang, ending my misery, and as soon as the teacher had collected our papers I was out of my seat like a shot. I waited by the door for Hayden as students piled out of the classroom and while I was waiting, tapping my foot impatiently, someone jumped on me from behind, making me scream in shock.

"Ha ha, gotcha!" giggled one of my best friends as I turned to face her.

"Dawn," I gasped, my heart jumping around like a jack-in-a-box inside my chest, "you scared me so bad!"

Dawn looked pleased with herself. "Told ya I'd get you back sooner or later," she reminded me, her eyes sparkling with amusement.

"Oh yeah," I remembered, laughing at the memory. The night of the school play a few weeks ago I had waited for Dawn after the show finished in a dark, deserted corridor. When she walked through it to get a drink, all by herself, I jumped out of her and given her the fright of her life. "I still can't forget your face when I leaped out at you!"

Dawn mock-glared at me. "It wasn't that funny; I seriously thought I was going to die!" she exclaimed dramatically.

"Who's going to die?" Misty, my other best friend, asked as she came up to us. Dawn and I just looked at each other and laughed. While Dawn was attempting to explain, Hayden finally emerged from the classroom, talking to Ash Ketchum – one of our other friends.

"Finally!" I exclaimed in irritation, checking my watch. "You took so long, break is almost over."

Hayden and Ash both looked at me in confusion until the latter spoke up. "It's nice of you all to wait for me but you didn't have to," he said.

"Uh, no offense Ash, but I wasn't waiting for you. I was waiting for him," I explained, pointing at the green-headed know-it-all.

Noticing the new student, Dawn suddenly perked up. "Ooh, you must be Drew! Nice to meet you, I'm Dawn," she introduced herself with a charming smile, holding out her hand for him to shake. I watched as he took it, a scowl on my face.

"The pleasure's mine," Hayden said smoothly, winking at her. She blushed and my scowl deepened.

"Don't make friends with the enemy," I glared at her. Being nice to new people was kind of Dawn's thing but this was one new person she absolutely couldn't be friends with.

"The enemy?" Dawn echoed in surprise. I wasn't going to explain with Hayden standing right there, so I promised to tell her later.

"And I'm Misty," my red-headed friend then decided to introduce herself. "I see you've already met Ash," she added, glancing at the raven-haired teen who was also one of her best, and oldest, friends.

"Yeah, he's offered to show me round from here so I don't have to suffer any more of air-head's incompetence," Hayden said, glancing at me with a smirk on his arrogant face.

"My – name – is – May," I ground out, clenching my hands. "And you can't talk, you… you…" I hesitated, searching for the right name for him, "You Grasshead!"

Misty and Dawn were staring at me like I'd grown a second head and even Ash looked surprised at the viciousness of my tone. "Right, well, I'm going to introduce Drew to some more people," Ash said. "See ya later guys." He led Hayden off, who gave us a two-fingered salute, and the girls immediately turned to me.

"Okay, what was all that about?" Misty demanded.

I sighed, grabbing their wrists and leading them through the corridors towards our lockers. "Drew Hayden is a complete and utter jerk," I spat angrily, telling them what had happened this morning. "And Prof Rowan said I have to be his guide for the next two weeks," I complained as we reached out lockers.

"He didn't seem that bad," Dawn piped up as I keyed in my code.

"Yeah, are you sure you're not blowing things out of proportion May? You know you have a tendency to overreact," Misty agreed.

I shoved my maths booth into my locker fiercely. "Just because he was flirting with you Dawn," I muttered. "What happened to Paul? Huh?"

The blundette's face instantly darkened. "Don't even talk to me about Paul," she said flatly.

Forgetting all about Hayden, I zeroed in on Dawn's unhappiness. "What happened?" I asked softly.

Dawn sighed. "I thought he liked me because when boys are nasty to girls it usually means they're into them, but I guess I was wrong. I saw him with Ursula when I was walking to school this morning," she told us sadly.

Misty frowned. "Are you sure he wasn't just putting up with her? You know she's always going after him, he may not have wanted to walk with her," she pointed out sensibly. That's Misty all right, the most sensible of us.

"Maybe," Dawn murmured, still looking down.

"Well, I know something that will cheer you up," I announced, remembering my plans for tonight.

Dawn looked at me, interested. "Chocolate? Cheerleading practise? Cute pokémon?" she guessed.

Misty laughed. "Wow Dawn, how did you managed to make all your favourite things begin with 'C'?"

"I guess it was just meant to be!" Dawn giggled, then she looked shocked. "Ooh! That rhymed! I could be a poet, like Gary!"

I raised my eyebrows. I'd always thought she had a thing for Gary Oak, and that gave me and idea. Maybe he was exactly what she needed to get over Paul, who I couldn't really picture her dating anyway. Yes, Gary was the school player, but maybe dawn would be the one to change that… I got lost in thinking about how to match-make them until Misty clicked her fingers in front of her face. "Earth to May," she grinned. "You were telling us about your surprise?"

"Oh, yeah," I nodded, "guess who's coming to stay with me for a few months? My cousin! And she's arriving tonight!"

Dawn and Misty both squealed and hugged me, squashing me between them. "I can't believe she's coming back! We missed her so much!" they exclaimed. I grinned. My cousin used to stay with me every summer and she, the girls and I were all really close. But then our parents fought and she stopped coming altogether when we turned eleven. It was really sad, and I missed her especially, but I was so glad she was finally coming back!

Unfortunately my elation was short-lived. "Oh, no," I groaned, remembering that I have detention tonight. My heart sank right to my feet, like a stone falling to the bottom of the ocean.

"What's wrong?" Misty was the first to notice my expression as they pulled away from me.

"I have detention tonight," I told them, a lump rising in my throat. "It's not fair! The night my cousin arrives and I have to spend it in stupid detention."

Both my friends looked dismayed, but a thoughtful look entered Dawn's eye and she spoke confidently. "Don't worry, you'll be there for when she arrives. Leave it to me, I have a plan."

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Author's Note: Hmm, I wonder who May's cousin is? ;) *Hint* She's going to be a major character along with May, Dawn and Misty (although May is the main character, sub-plots for the other three will be included).

Thanks for reading!

~ Jay