Thank you everyone! Here is a new chapter for you! Enjoy :)

"Ash, honey? Can I please talk to you in the kitchen for a minute?" Delia Ketchum asked her son in a firm, but caring tone. Delia looked very young for a women in her 40s. Her auburn hair is always tied back in a low ponytail, making her daily routines easier. There's a hint of youthful mischief in her golden eyes, but they show compassion and motherly pride for her son. She owns the local diner in town that Ash sometimes works at when she needs help. That's how he helped get Misty and May jobs. Delia is the head cook and only a couple of trusted employees know her recipes.

"Just a sec mom! I'm finishing replacing the oil in my car!" He yelled from inside the garage. Ash took pride in his beat up old truck. Ol' Blue, as he calls it, or rather her, has been his trusty car for years now. Misty often tells Ash what a wreck it is, but it gets the job done and runs like a champ...most of the time anyway. He wiped the sweat from his brow with an old rag, and looked down at his shirt. It's ruined. The once white fabric is completely stained. Luckily it was an old shirt. The bottom of it is frayed and tattered. He used to have to mend his shirts when he was younger. Back when his father had left them, he had took nearly everything, leaving Ash and Delia to pick up what little was left and start anew. Delia's business was just starting out and Ash had to work overtime to help his mother. His grades hadn't been the best back then. Ash also was able to help out around the house with his knowledge of repairing things. The cooking was done by Delia, the handyman jobs by Ash, and finally the cleaning done by Delia's pokemon Mr. Mime. They weren't the most functioning trio, but it was all they had. Ash walked through the kitchen door, and proceeded to lean against the island.

"Did you finish?" She passed him a glass of lemonade from the fridge. Delia made the best lemonade.

"Yeah. It's all ready to go."

"Okay," she smiled at him, her eyes crinkling," Ash, honey. I need to ask you for a favor."

"Sure mom, anything."

"It's just that, Daniel is coming over tomorrow night for dinner, and I would like you to be here." Ash almost dropped his lemonade. Daniel? Ash inwardly groaned. Daniel was Delia's so called boyfriend. He was apparently charming, and charismatic, and all these other adjectives that just made Ash want to barf. Ash had refused to meet him fearing that he would lose his lunch. He looked down at the table, avoiding his mother's eyes.

"Oh."

"I know that you don't like him Ash. But could you please do this for me? Just once?" He sighed. Ash supposed he could tolerate one dinner with him. But only one.

"Fine. But can I invite Misty?" She pursed her lips.

"I suppose so. If you two behave yourselves. What about May?" Ash shook his head.

"She has some art show she's going to."

"Okay. Misty it is then. Now go up and get ready for bed. You have school tomorrow."

"All right. Night mom, love you."

"I love you too Ash." Ash walked up the carpeted staircase, turning off into his room to call Misty. He would need a lot of help surviving tomorrow night.


"Wait wait wait, what's his name again?" Misty asked Ash as they talked together on the phone, her legs pulled up on her bed crisscross apple sauce. Her toenails were painted a dark blue color. She wiggled them admiring her work. In the background, her music was blasting, the heavy sounds echoing throughout the house. She loved pissing off her sisters.

"Daniel. It even sounds horrible!" He replied, his voice clearly disgusted. She smirked and leaned against the backboard of her bed. The bedspread resembled the ocean, the soft waves, blue and calming. Her walls were painted a light yellow color which reminded her of the beach, but it was hard to see with all the posters adorned on her wall. Her desk was neat and organized, but her closet was a mess the clothes splattered around the floor and on the shelves. A dart board with ash's face was pinned on the wall. She threw one. Bulls eye, she thought, cheering. Misty wrinkled her nose at the thought of the name.

"Eww. Where did she even meet this guy?"

"Heck, I don't know? I just really don't want to meet he guy. He sounds like a prick."

"Well obviously Delia wants you to, at least give him a chance." She heard him groan on the other end.

"You don't get it, Mist. What if he tries to act all fatherly towards me? I don't think I could handle that." She frowned. Misty knew about Ash's family issues. His dead beat father left him and Delia to fend for themselves. He took all of the money too. Misty wasn't sure if he was a trainer or what, but he left them for dead without a word. It made her blood boil.

"I don't think he knows you enough for that. But you never know, the might be nice. You might actually like him."

"I doubt that."

"Well, what does he do for a living?"

"I have no idea."

"What does he look like?"

"I don't know! I don't care!"

"Well, how long has she been dating him?"

"I don't know? Six months?" Misty's eyes widened.

"Hang on, your mother has been dating this guy for half a year and you don't know anything about him? Ash! No wonder she wants you to meet him! God, you don't even know him. You can't just judge him!"

"Why not? You judge people all the time!" She scoffed, crossing her arms. Not that he could see or anything.

"Yes but I have proof!"

"Oh really?" She could almost hear him smirking at her. Oh how she loathed him.

"Yes really!"

"Ok why do you hate Melody so much? You claim she's one of the biggest bitches in the school. She's nice to me." Misty growled at the thought of her. She threw another dart at the board, this time imagining it was Melody. It hit her right on her prissy upturned nose.

"There are a million reasons Ash. One, she's a complete bitch towards May! I mean Mew, they like terrorize the poor girl! Not to mention that in middle school, I was alone at lunch time since you and May had it at a different time, and you know what happened? I tried sitting next to her because of course I was clueless towards the social classes of the damn school, and she laughed at my face. She laughed at my fucking face, pushed me away and made me land on my tray of food! The whole lunch room laughed!" She scowled some more. Not to mention that she constantly flirts with Ash right in front of her. It makes Misty's stomach feel sick. Why can't she do it when Misty isn't around to witness the barf fest?

"Okay okay I agree she's a bitch. Well what about other people? You judged Dawn before we met up with her and the others for the project. She turned out to be nice!" Misty shook her head at Ash's optimism.

"Ash you really don't get it, do you? You think that tomorrow at school all of us are going to be best buds? That we will all just suddenly eat lunch together, and hang out as one big happy family? No. Nothing is going to change. Dawn and Gary and Drew are going to continue sitting with their preppy group of friends. Dawn isn't going to try to talk to May and I like we are the best girlfriends ever! Gary isn't going to go up and brofist you. Drew isn't going to call May up and invite her into his car again or anything like that. Leaf isn't going to get her head up out of the books she reads and talk to us. And Paul sure as hell isn't going to consider us friends. We met up for a project that was required. When this all blows over nothing is going to change. We will all go back to our normal lives. Can't you see that?" She said, her words filled with malice. It might have hurt Ash's feelings, sure. But Misty was bitter. And at that moment she just didn't give a damn.

"You don't know that, they could change." Misty grew angrier.

"Why do you want them to so much?"

"Because, because...I don't know, okay? It's just I don't understand why we can't all be friends Misty. We all go through the same shit. We're all just humans. Maybe I'm crazy, but when we were all at the pizza place and Dash came on the stage, it was like all of our bodies were in sync. It was like, we all experienced that same out of body experience. I felt something. It made me think that maybe this was supposed to happen ya know? We were all meant to have met. I felt something with all of them, Mist. Who knows though. We all are going our separate ways when we graduate anyways. I'll be traveling here throughout Kanto, May might be going to Hoenn, and you still haven't told me where you're going. I just thought that if we knew more people, we could all be allies in the real world. We could know somebody. I don't like being alone Misty. I really don't." She frowned. A shuffle was heard on the other end.

"I just don't know Ash."

"Yeah well, I guess I don't either. I got to go, my mom's yelling at me to go to bed. So you're up for tomorrow?"

"Yeah."

"Okay bye."

"See ya."

The click was heard, and the line went dead.


Gary was in his weight room, trying to clear his mind with exercises. But every time he thought about her, his concentration went askew. He almost dropped the dumbbell on himself. The blush rose to his skin. He needed some water. Damn it Gary, snap out of it, he thought to himself. He couldn't believe it. A damned girl was messing with his mind. He was supposed to make them go all jelly legged, and red in the face, not the other way around! He groaned. What was the world coming to? The memory raced through his mind again.


(Flash back)

Everyone had just exited the pizza place. Misty, May, and Ash had drove off, Paul had left on his motorcycle, Drew took off in his ride, and Dawn left on her bike. This left Leaf and him. He caught up to her.

"Can I offer you a ride?" He had said, trying out his best wink. Okay so he was shamelessly flirting with her. He didn't care. Despite the fact that she was quiet and a little bit nerdy, Gary couldn't deny the fact that Leaf was good looking. Really good looking. She had long legs, soft looking hair, and a really pretty face. She was also kind of scary and dangerous, especially when she yelled at him, but somehow that made her look ten times hotter in Gary's opinion. She played hard to get sure, but he knew she'd be worth it. His stomach tied in knots when she looked at him. Bright green eyes tearing into his own, full pouted pink lips, a soft looking complexion. She was honestly breathtaking.

"Why the heck would I get into a car with you?" She replied back.

"Well, er, because," she raised an eyebrow at him, "because who wouldn't want to get in a car with The Gary Oak?" He mentally cursed. So lame!

"Me."

"Wait!" he grabbed her wrist pulling her towards him, "please? I promise I won't try anything. I just don't think it's a good idea letting a girl walk home all by herself. The gentlemen in me says I can't let you do that." She snorted.

"I think I'll be fine." He sighed. He wasn't the most patient person out there, plus it was getting dark. He grabbed her and pulled her to him bridal style.

"Sorry Leafy, but there's no way you're walking home alone in the dark." She punched his chest and screamed.

"LET ME GO JACKASS! I'm pretty sure this counts as kidnapping!" He plopped her into the front seat. And got in himself.

"Come on, let's go." She crossed her arms.

"I could get out right now you know!"

"Sure."

"Don't think I won't!"

"Come on Leaf. I'm not a jerk." She sighed, crossing her arms over her chest.

"If I'm late home, I'm blaming you!" His face lit up. He started the engine.

"So where do you live?"

"Ivy Street." They didn't drive for too long. Gary attempted to make conversation to her, but she was somewhat distant. He did manage to make her laugh a couple of times though. She pointed to the house she lived in and he parked in her drive way. Her house was simple and wooden, with a large willow tree planted in the soil to its right. There was a small swing on one of the branches.

"You know we live pretty close to each other."

"Thank you for that valuable information." She rolled her eyes.

"Well I guess this is goodbye."

"You guessed right." Leaf gave him a half smile and scooted towards the door to open it. Her sweater lifted up in the back, and Gary could have sworn he saw an ink mark.

"Is that a tattoo?" Her hands flew to her sweater covering it up. The back of her neck went red. She faced him with wide eyes, her mouth agape.

"No! It's nothing!" He smirked at her.

"Wow Leafy, I didn't know you were that kind of girl. What's it of anyways?" Her face went through ten different shades of red. She stumbled out of the car and slammed his door. "See you tomorrow then?" She flipped him the bird, and proceeded to slam her front door. He chuckled.


Gary groaned again. Thinking about her made his heart beat faster. Gary always kept his cool sure, but in reality he was a nervous wreck. Leaf just had that effect on him. Not only was she smart, and sweet, and quirky she was also fun and from what Gary could tell, secretly wild. He wondered what the tattoo stood for. He thought about her some more. Leaf may have forgotten, but he knew her from middle school. Ever since he first ran into her, he had never gotten her out of his head. Now it was senior year. If he didn't try to get her now, she would be gone. Determination was all around Gary. He would ask Leaf out! He would!