Oh, boy! I'm finally writing again – I can't believe it. Thanks for giving my story a chance, and SORRY, SORRY, SORRY!! I was just so busy to remember to update! (This whole chapter is Ash making out what's going on with Misty, May, and himself – yes, he even thinks it through!)

Ash was lying down on his bed – thinking. There wasn't anything else to do. Think, think think.

Three important things had happened since he arrived back in Kanto.

The first was Misty and May's unusual behaviour; especially towards each other.

They'd been exchanging rude glares ever since May's show of distaste a few days ago. Misty was always near him and May somewhere else - not that he minded, actually, he liked it very much. But he couldn't help noticing her miserable look. And he couldn't understand it.

Misty walked beside him every chance she got, and May flanked his other side, trying to get his attention. But he couldn't keep his eyes straying away to trace Misty's eye-catching face, her radiant copper hair flowing down her shoulders and her brilliant cerulean eyes. They always caught his and he had to look away not to stumble into anything.

He just couldn't stop staring – and this took him by surprise. Why now that he suddenly found her the most beautiful creature alive? Why now that his heart missed a beat every time she looked at him?

May could see his total adoration of her despite his fruitless attempts to hide it, and he saw it in her expression every rare moment he wasn't absorbed with the red-haired angel somewhere near him. She hated it; she did with her whole being. And there was an edge to that loathing of his mystifying devotion to Misty, something he didn't like. He saw that something in every glare she sent Misty – exactly like she hated her.

Ash covered his eyes with his arm.

Who could possibly hate Misty?

Glorious as she was, though, why was her attention always on him? He felt her eyes on his face when they ate, and they were side by side almost endlessly, not that he was going complain. It was just very confusing – what could be so interesting about him?

The next big thing was a certain piece of blue paper tacked to the Gym's notice board.

It caught his eye when he walked past it – alone, for once, because Misty had gone on a shopping trip with her sisters. They said that he "needed a little space." What were they talking about?

The flyer read:

"The Aqua Ball is just around the corner! Have YOU gotten yourself someone to go with on this special day?

Remember: Not too flashy attires.

Be there at seven o' clock sharp.

Cerulean Marine-Plaza, room 238

Don't miss it – it's sure to be the time of your life!"

[THIS FLYER SERVES AS AN ENTRANCE PASS FOR 0NE (1) COUPLE]

"Aqua Ball, huh?" He muttered to no one in particular.

An image was forming in his head: Misty in a gorgeous blue gown, her hair magnificently cascading down the middle of her back, spinning gracefully under his arm and her body circling toward his. He saw himself winding his arms around her and she laid her head on his shoulder sighing happily.

Wait, what?

None of that made sense to his already swimming head. Uncompleted scenes were spinning faster than his daydream-Misty, but all of them concluding no different than the one that just flashed in his head. Their arms were around each other, blissful.

The final incident was just taking place right now: a summing up of all his experiences, an answering to all his questions.

He noticed his strange behaviour around Misty: the sudden flaring of his pulse, the distraction of her mere beauty, the desire for her company, the electricity shock wherever she touched him. Yeah, it was all making sense now.

Then Misty's behaviour: why she was always so close to him, why she shared a very unpleasant link with May. Could it be?

And finally, May's. He didn't have much knowledge in this particular subject, but he had a hunch. The clue was May's total detesting of Misty, of her hatred of every second they were together.

He had to laugh. That possibility was completely ridiculous.

Well, at least he was sure of a few things.

Ash was in love with Misty, and there was no denying it.

May could see this too, and she was jealous. The idea was impossible, but what else could it be?

But the next thought was so hopeless and unreasonable that his heart ached terribly for it to be true. But that was out of the question.

Misty couldn't really like him, too, right?

"It can't be true... can it?" He murmured once again to no one in particular in the darkness.