AHH!! I can't believe I just left it off right here, at a cliff hanger and never updated, I'm soo

sorry!

This is chapter 4 of Why You Should Never Cheat On You Girlfriend!

Enjoy!

I should have just told her the truth. Because the whole thing was completely innocent. I'd never even met May. She was just a cyber buddy. I pictured the words coming out of my mouth. Of course Misty would understand.

Then again, the sun would rise in the west tomorrow.

"She's my cousin," I blurted.

"Your cousin from Johto? I thought she was 12." Misty eyed the photograph again.

"From France," I said. "Her name is May. Dad wrote to these cousins in France, and they sent pictures. They live in Paris. That's where we're going to stay. With them."

"Didn't your dad just decide to go to France tonight? And she doesn't look French," Misty said staring at the picture.

"What does that mean?" I said. "Do you want her to wear a beret and smoke a cigarette?"

"She is wearing PokeGear," Misty said.

"They have PokeGear's in France," I said. "They love PokeGear's there. As a matter of fact, we're taking some over as presents when we go. . . ." I remembered what Dad had said about a hard sell, so I shut up.

Misty was barely listening, anyway. She was staring at the picture. "She's pretty," she said. "But her expression is kind of weird. Like she knows she's pretty, and she knows that you know. You know?"

"No." I took the picture back and stuffed it in my pocket. "Anyway, you don't have to be jealous. She's my cousin."

Misty gave me a funny look. "I'm not jealous," she said. "Why should I be?"

"No reason," I said. "No reason at all."


WHAT ABOUT BOSTON? May typed back when I told her about the trip to Europe. I thought we could finally be together!!!!

I've been to Europe. Believe me, it's no big deal. It's PEOPLE who are important. Not PLACES. I know I'm being selfish. It's just that I'll miss you so much. {{{{{{Ash}}}}}}!!!! WE BELONG TOGETHER!!!!!!

I have to admit I was taken aback be May's reaction. She used uppercase letters, which in cyber space is the equivalent of shouting. I'd never had a girl get so upset over me before.

After all, Misty hadn't said she'd miss me during my exotic vacation. She was just looking forward to the stamps.

When my dad got his credit card bill, I shouldn't have surprised that my online bill had tripled. I'd been talking to May for hours and hours for weeks. The problem was, I couldn't pay for it. And that was the agreement with my dad.

"The service is supposed to go on a flat rate soon," I said hopefully.

"Great,: Dad said. "Terrific. So when you finish paying off this bill, you can sign on again."

"But, Dad–"

He looked over the bill at me. "Yes?"

Suddenly I felt that reminding him that he'd just gotten a promotion and he could afford to be generous wouldn't go over well.

"Nothing," I mumbled.

"I'll pay this so that I'm not behind with my bills," Dad said. "But, Ash, you have to pay me back. Until then, your online service is cut off for duration."

I made a few quick calculations. Considering the size of my savings account, which was zip thanks to my new car, against the size of my paycheck, which suddenly seemed puny, "the duration" could last at least a month. Maybe six weeks. And then we'd be taking off for Europe.

In short, I'd be offline for the whole summer.

May! She had freaked at the thought of me offline for 2 weeks. What would she say when she heard about this?

That morning, May was quiet for so long that I thought she'd turned off her computer. But after I prompted her:


May?????????


She answered:


I'll wait for you.

We didn't spend very long saying good-bye. I didn't want to run up anymore charges.

I expected to feel totally bummed when I switched off the computer. That I'd feel weird, and spacey, like I was cut off from everything. But I didn't get the chance, because Misty called.

"It's gorgeous out," she said. "Can you leave the furniture stripping for once and go swimming?"

"Meet you outside in fifteen minutes," I said.

I'd taken Misty for a ride in my car when I first got it. But this is the first time we'd really cruised, with all the windows open, the sun shining, and a whole summer day ahead of us. We went to the river and paddled around on inner tubes. We listened to music and splashed water at each other and caught rays on the big rocks by the shore. Misty had packed chicken salad sandwiches and soda in a cooler. It was an unbelievably majestic day.

I realized that I'd been inside the house for weeks because of that computer. And May. And I'd missed stuff. I'd missed the river getting warm enough to swim in. I'd missed how Misty's legs were getting tan, and seeing that there were now eleven freckles on her nose.

I counted them solemnly while she tilted her face to the sun.

"No, wait–twelve," I said. "There's one over here by your ear."

"You are a complete and utter weirdsmobile," Misty said, smiling with her eyes closed.

I touched my fingertip to a couple of freckles. "Do you know, that if I traced these, I could make an isosceles triangle? If I used this one by your left eye . . ."

Misty batted my hand away. "How do you know what an isosceles triangle is, anyway? You practically flunked geometry."

"Hey, I got a C."

"Only because I saved you sorry butt," Misty said, opening one eye.

I squinted at her face. "I could even bisect it," I said. "Let's see now–the square of A plus B cubed–"

"Don't even try," Misty said laughing.

"Equals C," I said, but I had to stop, because Misty leaned over and kissed me. It was probably just to shut me up, but I'd take what I could get.

And I didn't miss May at all.

Over the next few days, I caught up with summer. Misty and I hit the movies, and the mall, and went swimming every day. We had killer Ping-Pong games with Gary. We cruised up ad
down the river road in my car with all the windows down and the radio on.

Misty bought this emerald blouse that made her eyes look woodsy green. When she kissed me goodnight, there was no where in the world I'd rather have been than in Pallet, Kanto. And no girl I'd rather have been with than Misty Water-flower.

The summer had shifted into neutral, and it was fine by me.

Late one afternoon, I dropped Misty at her house before pulling into my driveway. She paused with her hand on the door.

"The magic number is three," she said.

I knew what she meant right away. In only three days we had to start our summer jobs.

"I know," I said. "I wish we could goof off all summer."

"But it will be nice to have a paycheck," Misty said. "Hey, I have an idea. Tomorrow, let's drive up river and rent inner tubes. It's supposed to be almost eighty degrees. It'll be a perfect day to do a river trip."

We'd done the trip at least once every summer. We'd float down river for hours, going through tiny rapids with sodas tied onto our inner tubes in case we got thirsty. When we got hot, we'd roll off the tubes and swim.

"Sounds fantastic," I said. "I'll pick you up at ten."

Misty kissed me swiftly, then hurried up the walk to her house. It was her night to cook dinner. I drove the short distance to my house and pulled in the driveway. As I turned off the ignition, my mom came running out of the house. She had one arm in her denim jacket, and it flew behind her as she raced to her car.

"Ash, you have to pull out," she said. "I have . . . to . . ." Tear spurted out of her eyes.

"Mom what is it?" I said.

"There's been an accident," she said, her voice shaking. "It's Dad. Someone ran him off the road. He's in the hospital!"

Well that's it for me today. :) I wrote this all in one day for you, I hope your all happy! xD

Thanks for reading!

2/18/09