Thanks for the reviews guys! I 3 you all!
Okay. I'll the rest of those who requested it to my PM list. There's a fair bit going on this week, but I'll try and get two chapters or more in if I can.
I stood on the front porch, watching the road ahead. I had my elbow on the fence and my head rested on my hand. The sound of celebration could be heard behind me. It had been a long time since I had walked out on Drew and come out here. I had gone inside to have dinner, and then just come back to this place where I felt calmer. The Pokemon tournament that Ash was hosting was going on inside the house, and I had changed my mind about participating. I usually socialized at parties, but today there was no point. Ash had met most of the people at the party before he had met me, while he was touring Kanto and Johto, that's why I didn't know any of them. Come to think of it, the only people that I did really know were Harley and Drew. I didn't really want to talk to either of them. Well, I did want to talk to Harley but my body didn't.
"There you are May!" came Ash's voice. I turned around and saw him walking towards me.
"Oh, hi Ash," I said, turning back to face the road, smiling slightly. I felt comfortable talking to Ash. No, there's nothing going on between us like Misty always says… it's just that we're good friends.
"Why didn't you participate the tournament?" said Ash, coming closer to me.
"Because I don't really know anyone, and I didn't really feel like introductions much. You would have beaten me anyway," I said, shrugging.
"No!" said Ash, looking shocked, "I didn't win. Drew did… he's gotten stronger! He's got all of these new flashy Pokemon. He just swept the floor with me,"
I groaned. So Drew had won the Pokemon tournament. That would add another point to the arrogance list.
"What's up May?" said Ash, hearing my groan, "Why did you just make that noise? Why don't you feel like socializing today? I know you! You're usually bubbly and really friendly to everyone,"
"It's nothing Ash," I said impatiently. It's annoying when people question you about your feelings. Ash looked me in the face,
"I've been watching you today," he said slowly, "And it looks like you're avoiding someone. You wouldn't come out of your room and you didn't participate in the tournament when I know you'd never say no to a challenge! Tell me, what's going on?"
I sighed, Ash was a great friend and he was the type of person who would never give up when it came to something like this.
"Listen Ash," I said, "If I tell you, you'll laugh, or mock me."
"What makes you think that I'll do that?" said Ash with a hint of outrage, "You can tell me anything. Come on, who're you avoiding?"
"Okay," I said, giving in, "I don't know exactly why, but I'm avoiding Harley," I sighed again. Now Ash would ask the questions which I've already asked myself a thousand times, and still have no answers to. Ash didn't say anything right away though, he seemed to be considering my words.
"You're avoiding him because you like him, right?" he said, turning back to face the road.
"Yeah," I said with a little nod. It was easy to admit things to Ash for some reason, "How did you know?"
"Because it always happens when you first fall in love, I felt like this when I first fell for Casey,"
Casey was Ash's long-distance girlfriend. I didn't know her very well, but I knew she lived in Johto and followed sports. She and Ash never saw each other but they were still going out, which didn't really make sense to me. Ash was meeting up with her when we went to Johto as she couldn't come to his birthday (Due to sporting commitments). I didn't know how they were still together as they hadn't seen each other for a while, but then again, love had many mysteries.
"Really?" I said, a little relieved that I wasn't the only person that this happened to. "But at least you and Casey were friends even before the love started… it's not the same with me and Harley. I mean, we used to be rivals but now I don't think that he knows of my existence!"
I had always pictured myself asking Brock or Misty about this sort of thing, not Ash. He was a good friend, but I didn't think that he was the right person when it came to love.
"Well," said Ash thoughtfully, "Maybe you should talk to him. You don't have to tell him how you feel yet - let that come naturally – but you should talk to him a bit and remind him that you exist,"
"But," I said impatiently, trying to think of a way to express what my body thought without attracting too many questions, "But I can't talk to him, I just… can't,"
I knew I sounded stupid. I wished that I hadn't even started this conversation with Ash. I wished I had kept my mouth firmly shut. I tried to back what I said up,
"I don't even know why I like Harley, but I know why I can't talk to him," I said, looking this time at my own feet, "It's because he's too girly for me. I wish he was a bit more manly, then I know that I can go up and talk to him, but right now, I feel like the only thing I can say to him is to tell him to be more masculine, but I can't go and say that because it'll offend him and…"
"May!" said Ash, a little loudly, "I know what you're saying, I felt the same way when I fell for Misty a few years back. May, this means that Harley's not for you,"
I felt as though something had dropped into my body, something cold and heavy. Not for me? I was confused again. I thought that Ash's talk would give me some idea of what this love was about but now it had confused me once more.
"What do you mean?" I said as my hair fell, guarding my face from Ash's eyes. My voice sounded different too, it sounded a bit depressed.
"Listen," said Ash timidly, putting his hand back on my shoulder, "No one changes just because you ask them too. The kindest will try, but will end up failing and turn out to pretend. You'll just get fed up, and you'll be bored with it. If you don't like Harley for who he is, then maybe he's not for you, okay,"
I nodded. Ash was making a bit of sense again. I was already fed up with how Harley was pretending to help me in contests. I knew it was fake. Maybe he wasn't for me.
"Don't get too upset about it, I mean, you can try if you want to, but I don't know whether it'll keep you happy. Harley's already gone anyway," said Ash, shrugging. He moved towards the door, "The party's over, The last people are leaving. I better go and say goodbye," he waved and left.
I made for my room after that. My head was still full of what Ash had said. Well, I've got to make a decision, I thought. I could either try and get Harley to change, but would he? Maybe it was best to leave Harley for a while.
I couldn't sleep for a while, so after half an hour of trying I got up and opened my scrapbook, just like I had yesterday. I still had to stick in a few photos. While I was turning pages however, I fell once again on the page which had Harley's picture on it. I wanted to turn the page, but something kept my hand from moving. I just stared at the picture, I hadn't made up my mind yet: Was or wasn't I going to give him up.
"He's not going to change you know," came a voice from behind me. I turned in an abrupt manner and saw that Drew was standing in my room, sitting on my bed.
"What the hell?" I began, looking at him in outrage. If I guessed right, either Ash told him everything or Drew was eavesdropping. Knowing Ash and Drew, I was pretty sure it was the latter.
"I heard you talking to Ash earlier," he said, a smirk playing on his face, "And I've just got to say that you know nothing of love,"
I seized a pencil sharpener from my desk and threw it at him. I knew that I didn't know much of love, and Drew knew very well that he shouldn't have been eavesdropping. The sharpener missed Drew who sat there looking nonplussed.
"I try and give you some advice and you throw things at me, what sort of gratitude is that?" he said, still smirking.
"You call that advice?" I said, standing up in anger, "I call it st-"
"Stating the obvious?" Drew finished for me, "Listen May, no guy in their right mind is going to change for anyone, least of all you, so you might as well give him up altogether."
"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked, glaring at him.
"Are you really that stupid?" said Drew, his smirk reaching a point that it was almost terrifying. I groaned
"I mean, what do you mean by least of all you?" I said, still glaring at him. Drew was probably just having a go at me, like usual but I had nothing better to say.
"I mean that you're a hopeless romantic May," said Drew, standing up and yawning. Only then did I realize that Drew was in his pajamas.
"What on earth are you still doing here? And why are you in your pajamas?" I asked, praying that the answer wasn't what I thought it was.
"Well May, you are behind the times," said Drew, walking up to the door and stepping out of the room, "Brock's going back to his gym after this, some sort of catastrophe happened there involving his mum. I told Ash that I was going to Johto after the party, and he said that I could join you guys,"
"He WHAT?!?" I shouted in outrage.
"Yeah, well he did," said Drew, shrugging, "And I said yes."
I stalked walked over to the door and slammed it in his face. I fell onto my bed and groaned. Great. This was just what I needed to make my trip worse. Great.