Important Author's Note: I'm thinking about putting this story up for adoption, since I haven't really been doing much Pokemon stuff anymore (I don't like Diamond and Pearl/Black and White; I'm more into the older episodes). If anyone wants to adopt it, please tell me in a review or PM me. I'm not sure if I'm actually going to give it to anyone to finish, I'm just saying I might.

Disclaimer: No, I don't own Pokemon. Or iTunes. Now let's move on from the obvious.

-Love Story-

Chapter Three

Chaos

The rain was relentless, constantly pounding down on me as I headed to the bus stop. I sighed and pulled my jacket on a little tighter, adjusting my bag as the strap slipped a little. I never did like the rain; it makes me feel all gloomy, especially now.

As I neared the bus stop, I spotted a head full of green hair damp from the rain. I wanted to sigh right on the spot as I dreaded our confrontation. How was I supposed to pretend to only care for him as a friend? I don't know.

I plastered a smile on my face as I got within a few yards, gathering up nerve to get his attention. "Hey, Drew!" I greeted as cheerfully as I could, because on the inside, I was anything but.

At the sound of my voice, he turned to face me, nodding in acknowledgement. "May, hi." His voice was cool and calm, and I envied him for it. Why couldn't I hide my own inner turmoil so well?

I noticed Misty, Ash, Dawn and Paul standing close by and realized that I had been so focused on Drew that I hadn't even noticed them. How was that? So I greeted them as well, which they responded with:

"Hey, May!"

"What's up, May?"

"Morning, May!"

And an uninterested "Hello" from Paul, which is pretty much the most you could get from the guy. Well, except for Dawn and maybe his mother, but they're different.

"So, how come you guys haven't done the usual hello kiss yet?" Dawn teased, smiling slyly and wagging her eyebrows suggestively.

Normally, I would have rolled my eyes and then give Drew a chaste kiss just to satisfy her, but I obviously can't kiss him anymore. So instead, I decided to just settle with rolling my eyes.

"So, have you seen Leaf, May?" Misty asked curiously. "We've been wondering where she was and thought that maybe she was with you."

I shook my head. "No, sorry," I answered apologetically. Where was Leaf, anyways? I still wanted to know how her date with Gary went.

The school bus turned the corner, stopping in front of us, and the chattering around us paused as we got on.

I found a seat on the bus in front of Dawn and Paul and to the right of Misty and Ash. Only about a moment later, I felt movement on the part of the seat beside me and turned to see that Drew was sitting down. I panicked then, hissing, "What are you doing?"

He answered nonchalantly with, "Sitting next to my friend, what does it look like?"

As the hidden message in his words sank in, I replied with a curt, "Oh." And then we fell into silence for the rest of the ride, an uncomfortable one, at that.

The awkwardness was palpable, suffocating. And I couldn't help but remember how I met him because of how alike the situation seemed.

-Flashback-

"Hi! My name's May, can I sit with you?" I chirped happily, practically bouncing even while I was waiting for his answer. Having chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast does that to me.

The green haired boy shrugged nonchalantly before turning his gaze back to the window to look out of it. I sat down next to him, but nothing happened after that, and so I spoke up again. "What's your name?"

"Drew." Was all he said, not even bothering to glance at me this time.

"My mommy said that it's not nice not to look at someone when they're talking." I said in a matter-of-fact voice.

He didn't reply, only continued staring out the window this time. So I resorted to shrieking. "Hey! You…you…jerk!"

And when you're five, jerk was like cursing at someone. So it was only natural when he turned to glare at her and sputter, "W-well…you're a…a…you're stupid!"

I gasped, already feeling tears gathering in my eyes. He seemed panicked at seeing them, hurrying up to add, "but in a good way!"

So, of course, I was totally and utterly perplexed, tilting my head in confusion and asking, "…Huh?" oh so intelligently. But it did stop me from crying.

"Um…I guess." He answered lamely.

It was silent after that, which was very uncomfortable for my five-year-old self, being all bubbly and hyper all the time. The bus pulled up into the parking lot then, everyone filing out to head to class. I did, too, where I saw that same green haired boy again.

-End Flashback-

The bus pulled into the parking lot and snapped me out of my thoughts. It was actually kind of like déjà vu for a moment there, especially since Drew was in my first period class. I got off the bus behind Misty and Dawn, listening to them chatter on about random things, my thoughts drifting off in between. I had no clue why I had all these flashbacks now of all times. "May, are you ok?" Misty asked as I continued to unconsciously trail behind them.

I nodded, forcing a smile onto my face that I was sure looked more like a grimace than anything, and answered, "Fine, Misty!" before mentally berating myself for making myself so cheerful to the point of it sounding so obviously fake.

Misty appeared hesitant to say something, but then just seemed to dismiss it. "Alright, then." She said slowly, tentatively, before continuing to talk to Dawn. But I didn't miss those glances she'd occasionally sneak at me from the corner of her eye.

I met the rest of the group at our usual place, the steps leading to the second floor of the school, after we all separated to put our bags into our lockers (they are freaking heavy!). But I immediately noticed that there were two specific people missing – a certain brunette couple.

"Where are Leaf and Gary?" I wondered aloud more to myself than anyone else. Ash, who apparently heard me, turned to me and answered, "They're probably going to be here later since they're just going to take Gary's car, anyways."

I nodded. That was true…but I couldn't help but have this bad feeling in the pit of my stomach. The warning bell rang, cutting off something that Misty was going to say, and quieting down the talking in the crowded hallways as we headed to our classes.

I laughed – though a little halfheartedly, with all the other things on my mind – as Dawn made a comment on our English teacher's new beard on our way to our lockers to get our books.

"I'm just saying – I'll bet that beard is fake and Mr. Nord is only wearing it so that he can prove that he really is a guy – which he isn't!"

I giggled as I worked on opening up my locker, an image of our English teacher gluing on a fake beard to his chin in my mind. I grabbed my textbooks, slinging my bag over my shoulder, and then announced, "Alright, I'm ready; let's go."

We arrived into the classroom just before the bell rang, taking our seats across from Drew and Ash. "Alright, class," The teacher began in his typical slow drawl, "we're going to be doing a research project that will be 25% of your grade this quarter, so it's important that you do well on it. You are allowed to pick a partner, but no more than two people in a group."

"Hey, wanna be my partner, May?" Dawn suggested before adding slyly, "Or would you prefer to spend more time with your boyfriend?" I realized that this gave me the perfect opening to tell her that Drew and I weren't dating anymore, but I couldn't seem to bring myself to do so, for some reason. So instead, I just replied, "Kay," although a little airier than I had intended.

Who knew that telling your friend that you and your other sort-of-friend weren't dating anymore was so hard?

Suddenly, Leaf entered the classroom, eyes red and puffy, as if she'd been crying, and my mind raced with questions and assumptions. 'Had Gary hurt her?' The protective side of me thought, 'If he did, I'll make sure he'll regret it!'

Leaf took her seat across the room, cushioning her head against her arms as the teacher once again began talking about the project details. I tried to focus on working on the project, considering it was worth 25% of my grade, and all, but I couldn't help sneaking glances at Leaf every now and then to try and figure out what was wrong, and I knew Dawn, Drew and Ash felt the same way (even though Drew wasn't sneaking glances at Leaf – he just always has to be Mr. Calm-and-collected).

When the bell rang, I had every intention of cornering Leaf and asking her what was wrong, but she bolted out of the room so fast that I never got the chance to, as if she was trying to avoid the situation altogether.

Next was Math Class. Oh, how I hate math. What genius out there decided to make all this stuff up, anyways?

And so what if I still have trouble calculating the volume of a cylinder or using that Pythe...Pytha…Pythagorean or whatever theory? Math just isn't my thing. It is only by some miracle that I am just barely passing as it is.

" – these review packets will count as a grade, so make sure you turn them in next class." The teacher finished as she handed out thick packets that probably had loads of math problems in them. Oh, joy.

Question one: If a(squared)=19 and c(squared)=35, b(squared)=?(AN: I found out that they don't show exponents here on FF, so I had to delete all the 2's and write (squared) instead. Sorry if you see any 2's where they shouldn't be!)

I stared at the question for the first five – maybe ten – minutes. Meanwhile, Mr . I'm-so-perfect sitting across from me was already on…question seven! The showoff…

His emerald orbs peered up at me from his paper. "Will you stop that?"

I was genuinely confused. "Stop what?"

"That tapping you've been doing since we've started this packet."

I looked down and realized that I was, in fact, drumming my fingers against my desk, and immediately stopped.

"You're still on question number one?" He asked almost mockingly, raising an eyebrow. Oh, I so wanted to just punch him in the face for that one. But I didn't, seeing as I could probably get suspended for that. Instead, I only answered, "Yeah. We can't all be as good in math as you, ok?" I muttered crossly.

He shrugged. "That question isn't exactly very hard, you know."

"Then what do you do then, huh?"

He turned my paper so that it was facing sideways and began writing on it.

"a(squared)+b(squared)=c(squared), right?" He asked. It was rhetorical, but I nodded anyways to show that I understood at least that.

"So if a(squared)=19 and c(squared)=35, then it means 19(squared)+b(squared)=359(squared)." I nodded once again. "192= 361, an –"

"Wait." I interrupted, "Why does 192= 361?"

I could tell Drew wanted to smack his palm on his face when I asked that question. "May," He began slowly, as if I were a five-year-old, "19(squared) means you multiply 19 by itself two times. That means 19x19, which equals 361."

I made an 'o' shape with my mouth, glaring at him after. "And stop acting like I'm mentally retarded, or something."

He rolled his eyes. "May, even ten-year-olds would know how to use exponents."

I huffed angrily, crossing my arms over my chest. "It's not my fault that I suck at math this bad."

He rolled his eyes again, but – and I'm not sure if I was just imagining it, or something – his eyes seemed to…soften. Sort of. At least I think so.

"Anyways, back to the question." He said as he began writing again. "19(squared)=361, and 35(squared)=1,225. So that means 361+b(squared)=1,225. You just subtract 361 from both sides –"

"Why do you need to subtract it from both sides?" I asked.

"Because you need to get b(squared) alone to find the value of it." He answered. "Anyways, when you subtract it, 1,225 – 361=864, so b(squared)=864. That means b=the square root of 864 –"

"Why the square root? Why not 864(squared)?" I interrupted once again.

"Because b squared equals 864. You're trying to find the value of b when it's not squared. Since squared is when you multiply a number by itself, and the square root is when you find the two equal factors whose products equal that number."

I stared at him in confusion. "…Huh?"

Drew shook his head in mock exasperation. "Just forget about it. We'll talk about it another day." Another day. Does that mean he's going to be helping me on this again?

"So, the square root of 864 equals…" He pushed buttons on the calculator, and a lot of numbers came up.

"Just round it." He advised, scribbling down 29.4 on his paper. "If it doesn't have an even square, you can just simplify the square root –"

The bell rang, signaling the end of class. I looked up from my paper to glance at the clock, and true enough, class was over. Wow.

I stuffed my papers into my bag, but the teacher stopped me before I could make it out the door. "May, Drew, can you see me at my desk, please?"

I nodded, following Drew over to where she sat. When we reached her, she turned to me first. "May, I noticed that you're struggling in math. I was originally going to recommend staying after school to get some extra help, but then I saw how well you and Drew were working together." She then turned to Drew. "Drew, you excel in math – do you think you could tutor May for a while – just until she can raise her grades up?"

I gaped in a very unladylike manner. Oh, how I hate math.

Author's Note: I don't think I really like this chapter. Oh, and sorry for the huge math lesson; just thought it would make it seem more real since May would naturally have to ask a lot and Drew would have to explain a lot (plus there's a little teeny bit of Contestshipping if you squint). But since I wanted to have this up soon and it's Spring Break and all, I had to pretty much force myself to write this (and I didn't want it to be as short and all as the other one so I kinda forced myself to write at least 2,000 words, too). I also didn't get to reread this to fix mistakes since I wanted it up so bad, so I'm sorry if you see mistakes in it (feel free to point them out)!

Please Review and make my day all happy! :)