A/N: HOLY COW SDKJGLFJBHYLKFBG I'M BAAAAAAACK ;D

And just had a spazm attack XDDD

It's been waaaaaaaaay too long I do apologise guys ): But the lack of internet brought me down, but I'm SOOOO happy to be posting a chapter after a billion years o_O

I just hope you haven't forgotten about me! D:

(WARNING, THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS MANY SHIPPINGS THAT I AM NOT AT ALL PROUD OF!) D:

Ash's POV, Welcome back pearlshippers :']

It was raining, again. Maybe it was the weather giving me all this bad luck, or just karma. I deserved it anyway. I deserved everything bad that was coming for me. The new people I hoped would be new friends already disowning me, including Gary and Misty. I deserved the person I wanted to be with more than anything to probably be denying the existence of me now. For trying to hold together the cracks in the foundation of lies I built with my stupid reflexes.

I sat back on the seat of the school bus continuing to bang the back of my head against it. I deserved everything but what was about to occur.

"HI!"

I jumped out of my skin in shock, as the crazy pink haired girl swiftly parked herself next to me.

She grinned at me vibrantly. "Thought I'd keep you company."

"Go away Jessie" I mumbled as I held my face in my hands, the last person I wanted to see was her.

"So I was thinking about this dance, and that you should come with me. I know you've just been dying to ask me so I thought I'd just- HEY!"

I ignored her and got up as the bus stopped at school, before she could take a breath for her next pointless words. I was the first out the doors before she could catch up to me.

I arrived in homeroom and was welcomed with 3 piercing eyes watching me as I sat down. But the first thing I noticed was the empty seat in front of mine.

I held my forehead and leaned on the desk. "Look, before you judge me even more just let me explain, please?"

"Fine." Misty scowled, folding her arms.

I smiled at her with a sigh of relief.

"You got 30 seconds." She told me sharply.

"Be reasonable Misty." I pleaded, not so relieved anymore.

"28, 27, 26…" She carried on, tapping her watch.

"OKAY! Fine look I know, I was a jerk. But I lied because if I told you guys the truth," I turned to Kenny and Tracey. "Then I knew you'd totally get the wrong idea."

"So what is the truth?" Kenny demanded.

I paused and glanced around me. "That bracelet was for Dawn in the first place." I sighed.

Tracey frowned at me with confusion.

"What do you mean 'get the wrong idea'?" He enquired.

Raised an eyebrow to them, I thought they'd got the gist of what I was saying by now; I didn't want to explain in case I said something by mistake. Which was the whole truth.

"Knowing Gary anyway he'd of thought it was some way of telling Dawn I love her or something…"

I stopped in my tracks when I saw Dawn stood in the doorway, she heard the entire conversation.

"That's ridiculous!" Misty yelled, hopelessly trying to carry the conversation on as normal.

I shook my head to myself, hoping I didn't hurt Dawn's feelings yet again.

Her face lifted to an unexpected smile. "Hey guys."

We looked at her, astonished. But played long anyway.

"How are you?" I blurted out; I guess my stupid reflexes were back, only in the form of asking stupid questions.

She paused for a moment to stare at me, but it was as if she despised me. I wouldn't blame her though.

"Fine" She answered, turning her back on me as she sat down. As she began to rummage through her bag the rest of us shrugged at each other; completely lost.

"By the way Misty, Candice told me about you and Ash going to the dance together. I'm really happy for you guys and I hope things turn out for the both of you afterwards too." She smiled.

Did I miss something here? Did I wake up to some parallel universe where apparently Misty and I were gonna get together and Dawn was happy about me lying to her?

My eyes slowly widened to let Dawn's assumption sink in, until I flinched in shock and decided to defend the situation.

"Uhhm, actually we've agreed that we go together as just friends." I finished with a nervous laugh before putting my foot in it again. But it didn't work. Misty's face dropped as I said it.

I shut my eyes and sighed.

Nice going, you've really outdone yourself now.

"Oh…" Dawn suddenly turned sympathetic. "Sorry I'm just going by what Candice said, I didn't know…"

Misty shook her head at the floor. "Doesn't matter."

I made a mental note to no speak for the rest of the day unless spoken to.

After registration I dawdled over to Spanish lost in my thoughts, not to mention lost in the crowd of students that paraded past me through the corridors. I couldn't believe how much I screwed up here, I just wanted to go back home to Pallet Town where I didn't have to worry about everything I say before somebody getting mad at me. I stepped outside into the settled rain, which had now turned to a light mist that surrounded the school and made my way over to another building.

Spanish was never my strongest subject; I didn't have it at my old school. So, if I'm honest I hardly understood a word the teacher; Mrs. Rodriguez said. I sat there anyway listening to her rambling on the basics.

I noticed Gary from the corner of my eye at the desk beside me, trying to get my attention.

"Ash, psst!"

"What?" I whispered back.

"We're all going for prom outfits after school, you in?" He asked quietly.

Misty's head twitched up as he said it, who was sat the other side of me.

"I can't today" I replied, with my eyes on the whiteboard. "I got soccer practice; I'll just go some other time."

Gary slightly nodded back before Misty leaned in to me.

"If you want" She whispered. "We could go together after school tomorrow?"

I turned to her eager face, sure it sounded innocent enough, but I didn't wanna know what she was thinking.

"Sure, sounds good" I answered, looking away from her.

"Great!"

She exclaimed that a little too loud for the teacher's liking. Mrs. Rodriguez stopped chanting Spanish and folded her chubby arms.

"Quietud!"

The entire class turned to stare at Misty.

She hung her head to hide from the embarrassment. "Sorry Miss."

Lunch came around quicker than usual today. As I made my way over to the rest of group, they were finishing plans for after school before I could join in.

"It's fine anyway, I'm go tomorrow with Ash" Misty finished as I stood with them.

Dawn, who was sat against the tree with May exhaled violently to herself. Was the sound of my own name even making her livid?

May giggled below us. "Oooo it'll be like a little date then" She winked.

I glared at her, shaking my head as she sat there angelically grinning back at me.

"So how's Drew then May? Hmm?" I snapped back. She frowned and gave me the finger.

Gary came over to nudge me jokingly. "You didn't say you and Misty were an item Ash"

I wasn't laughing. I looked at Misty for her reaction to all of this, she was actually laughing along with it, not at all offended.

"We're definitely NOT." I stated, but obviously nobody listened to me.

"Come on why don't the happy couple get a kiss for the camera" Candice had her cell phone at the ready while everybody else fell to the floor and laughed hysterically.

Kenny forcefully pushed Misty over to me, who fell right into my chest and launched me to the ground. It happened too fast for me even to let out a yell.

"Go on kiss him Misty!" Tracey encouraged.

Misty didn't even move. Her face was inches away from mine, I felt incredibly uncomfortable and embarrassed. Misty was like a long lost sister to me, so as far as I was concerned, I really, really didn't wanna be in this situation. But then it took a turn for the worst.

All I could hear were the repeated camera sounds from Candice's phone, and hysterics coming from all angles around me. All I could see was radiant bright orange hair blocking my eyesight; I felt it tickling my nose… What else did I feel? I couldn't forget to mention that Misty was kissing me. Shocked right? I'll repeat it shall I? Yes, Misty was kissing ME!

About 4 things I was absolutely sure of at this moment in time. Firstly, I was definitely confused. Second, I was morbidly disgusted and wanted to throw up. Thirdly, I just wanted to wake up screaming in my bed and let this all be a bad dream, but that just led to my fourth surety. Which was that I was completely infuriated. Sure that sounds really bad, saying those things about one of my closest friends. But if the love of your life is sitting there witnessing this whole thing and also being the only one not laughing… Need I say more?

I'd had enough. I rested my hands tightly against Misty's cheeks, and broke away from the motionless kiss we just shared and rolled her off beside me. She sat there speechless, covering her mouth while I waited for an answer for why she just did that. Her face turned as red as her hair as the entire group stared at her, gob smacked and no longer laughing.

"Oh, my, god…" May gasped, shaking her head.

"I wasn't being serious Misty, I mean what the hell?" Tracey asked in disbelief.

We were all pretty much saying the same thing in our head. An awkward silence broke out as we waited in anticipation for her to say something. Unfortunately Candice broke it with very unwise words.

"These are so going on Facebook you guys." She breathed, flicking through her cell phone.

I grinned at her sarcastically, trying to hold back the lump in my throat, which was basically a mix of disgust and anger.

"If you do that" I said through my teeth. "I will take your phone, drop it, and crush it with my foot. So can you please delete the photos?"

"I was just kidding you think I'm that evil? Here," She threw the phone in my lap. "You can do it yourself."

Dawn stood and gave me a heart-rending look of disapproval at me. "Well I hope you'll both be very happy together" She told me and Misty before walking away towards the cafeteria.

"Geez what's rattled her cage" Gary wondered.

That was it. That was the last straw. I hit breaking point as I watched her disappear in the building. I just wanted to yell until the entire world went deaf.

(DAWN'S POV)

Screw Him. Screw Misty. Screw life. SCREW EVERYTHING!

I let out a scream that wasn't even on a frequency measurement right in the middle of the cafeteria; I couldn't care less about the whole school hearing me. Traditionally I would've waited until I got home so I could scream into a pillow, but if I waited till then, soon enough I would end up back outside cursing at Misty.

I couldn't think straight, I couldn't even see or breathe properly. I felt as if my world had just shattered around me and I was crumbling with it. I couldn't come to terms over what just happened, I had to keep replaying it in my head over and over to make it seem real. This just wasn't happening. But the strange feeling was, I couldn't even cry. I wasn't upset, I was just mortifyingly pissed. Everything was a blur as I walked in and out of students or bumping into them, one particular person stood out from the rest.

"Hey watch where you're going!" A familiar voice called from behind me, I turned to see who it was. If you thought my day couldn't get any worse well surprise, surprise. It just did.

"Oh, it's you Dawn" The voice's owner grinned at me.

"Wow this is sure turning out to be my lucky day." I sighed.

The purple haired boy smiled at me crookedly, and started to come closer.

"So Paul, kill any puppies lately?" I asked, folding my arms.

He looked away and chuckled slightly. "Of course, you know me I just hate everything right?"

I glowered at him and started to walk away, I was definitely not in the mood for his sarcastic games. I felt a tight grip on my arm as I did so.

"Wait."

I turned to him, astonished. "What do you think you're doing?"

He shook his head as he let go. "Don't worry I'm not going to wind up your little bodyguard and pack of dorks. Where are they anyways? Shouldn't they be circling a security wall around you?" He mocked.

I turned my back on Paul again but didn't move any further. "I couldn't care less."

"Why? What have they done?" He seemed really concerned; I turned back around to him, confused.

"Why do you care?" I asked.

Paul paused for a moment; I stood there trying to examine his face. It wasn't the same Paul from a couple of weeks ago.

"Come on, take a walk with me." He insisted, walking out the exit.

I frowned at him suspiciously, I didn't know weather to trust him or not. His twisted mind could be thinking anything, but at this moment in time he was having a personality disorder and I didn't have the patients to be questioning him. I walked with him outside to the steps of building four.

As Paul sat, a swell of sweet sympathy washed over his face. "Tell me what's wrong."

I squinted my eyes at him. "It's none of your concern; I was perfectly fine until you dragged me out here."

"You know you want to tell me." He grinned, like a begging child.

I sighed and sat beside him. "I just wish I knew what they were thinking."

"Wouldn't that be invading their thoughts? Which is kind of an unfriendly thing to do."

I rolled my eyes at him stating the obvious. "No wonder you don't have any friends."

"I choose not to have friends because all they do is screw you over, am I right?"

I stared at Paul's face for a moment. I wondered if his enthusiasm and concern with me was an effort or, actually meaningful.

"Why are you such a jerk all the time, and all of a sudden the sun is shining out of your ass?"

"That's not exactly what I was getting at-"

"Answer my question." I interrupted. "Please."

He looked away from me and sighed at his lap.

"Look, I'm not the kind of person to… Let's say 'open up'"

"Why not?" I pushed. "Just because you're labeled here as the 'school bully' you don't have to be so macho all the time."

"You're not going to give up are you?" He laughed. But it wasn't his usual mocking laugh, it was genuine. Almost human and musical.

I shook my head and grinned. "Nope."

A new voice suddenly entered the conversation. "Dawn?"

"Kenny, hey" I looked up to him standing beside me, blocking the sunlight.

"What did you run off for?" As he said that the bell rang for next lesson.

"I just needed… To see something." I lied. Paul stood and darted up the stairs into school without saying a word.

I watched Kenny eyeing him with hatred and loathness, he held out a hand to pick me up from the step.

"And why were you talking to him for?" He demanded. I felt the irritation creeping from him.

I began to walk backwards up the stairs towards the doors. "Doesn't matter, I'll see ya at lunch." I called out turning my back on him.

I arrived in English and marched to my desk. I struggled to pull every ounce of my dignity together to try and avoid Ash's perfect face and attractive voice. It soon broke when he spoke to me.

"Hey."

One word. That's all it took for me to melt into him, I looked up to be lost in his russet, innocent eyes and smiled hopelessly.

"Listen, I explained to the others after you left." He began. "In no way or form are Misty and I an 'item' as Gary described it."

I breathed a sigh of relief and beamed at his words.

"I know that." I smirked. "We've all had that little joke going on since you got here." I informed.

Ash rolled his eyes and face palmed in complete embarrassment.

"I really wish you hadn't." He sighed.

"Misty was never in on it you know, we didn't know she would take it a step further."

"I think taking it a step further is an understatement. More like, crossing the line until it appears to be a tiny dot that soon disappeared into nothing." He breathed.

I raised my eyebrows and stayed silent, unable to respond. I couldn't believe how pissed he was at the situation; our emotions weren't being controlled by each other anymore. They were being mirrored. I didn't think he would take it this way, after all it's only Misty, his supposedly 'best friend'. Although, probably not anymore after what she did.

"That's enough class." Mrs. Bell interrupted. She continued on in the background making notes on the board.

I coughed to break the silence. "I didn't realize it bothered you that much" I whispered.

He grimaced, facing the front. "I don't exactly approve of it, I don't want anybody to… especially you."

I could see he was distressed over the whole thing, so I decided to drop it and not push him anymore.

"So how's soccer going? Are you gonna find out if you've made the team yet?"

It was such an out of the blue question; he turned into me with an astonished look on his face.

"I thought everybody forgot about that." He said in amazement.

I giggled and shook my head. "Of course not, well, I haven't anyways."

He stopped for a moment and gazed at me, like he saw straight through me. His warm eyes were falling deep into mine; his smile sent goose bumps up and down my body. It was a reminder of exactly why I fell so irreversibly in love with him.

As the lesson drove on, things started to feel right again. All the mixed emotions just weren't important anymore. We talked without any awkwardness or doubts, even discussed things we had in common, which was surprisingly a lot. Just as we started to get that little bit closer, it was the end of the lesson.

"Guess I'll see you tomorrow Dawn."

Ash handed me a note before darting off to next lesson without letting me reply. I sat there confused; until I opened the note and it all made sense. It was his e-mail address, along with; 'Hopefully we'll pick it up later, speak to you tonight. Have fun shopping for prom.' With a smiley face at the end. Effortlessly, without a command to the muscles of my lips, a smile spread across my face. A strange feeling of warmth bubbled up in my throat, and then I actually felt some kind of hope. That Ash and I; as weird as it sounds, may have a chance.

But right at the bottom of my heart, I had some doubts. I didn't trust all of this to last, there's always something in the way. This hope I felt was a slippery, precarious layer of ice that I balanced on, and it wouldn't take much for it to crack and break.

School was over, as I waited for the gang to join me I noticed Ash coming out of school, going around the back towards the playing fields to soccer practice. I gave him a wave and crossed my fingers to cheer him some good luck.

When finally we were all good to go, we piled on to a public bus to go into town. I listened to music while May jabbered on about Drew in the background, she'd had a good lesson with him and was hoping for a prom invitation from him soon enough, and so was I. We didn't waste time gallivanting around different stores at the mall, Candice knew a quaint little boutique hidden away on the high street, which is where we went our separate from the guys. Tracey suggested meeting back at the store in 2 hours to go to dinner together, to which we all agreed to before entering the shop.

Nobody else was here, just owner, an old French gypsy looking woman wearing a poncho with grey hair in a bun. She obviously didn't like wearing the beautiful clothes in her own store.

"Ah! Girls nice to see you" She greeted us with flawless elocution in her English. "Anything in particular we are looking for today?"

I smiled at Candice and May, then back at the old woman, we knew this place definitely had our approval.

"Eveningwear dresses, we assume you have, a lot?" I asked.

"Come with me" She smiled, and led us through a curtain to a huge closet full of gowns.

It was a very large selection, within seconds we had a variety of dresses to try on. After diving in and out of our dressing rooms, I already had my dress with no hesitations, a knee length puffy, scarlet red strapless number which I had in my mind for a while.

On the other hand while Candice was also done with her choice, a long pale pink dress, May was having a meltdown trying to find hers.

"Nothing is going right! They either make me look shapeless in the most obvious places or just don't suit my hair color!" She breathed.

I sighed and went back to my reject rail while Candice consoled her.

"This ones perfect for you." I insisted, holding out a bright orange frock over my arms. She looked at me doubtfully.

"Just try it May, I think Dawn's right" Candice agreed.

She later came out of the dressing room with her eyes bawling up.

"This is the one" She nodded. "It's perfect!"

Candice high fived me as we shared compliments towards May.

I was glad that was over and done with; shopping with May isn't the best experience.

It felt weird when we gathered for dinner with the guys, without Ash and Misty I felt like a huge split was sent down the middle of the group, and we didn't know which side to take. We chatted with mouthfuls of Italian food in between about the dance, hoping it would meet out expectations and excitement. I excused myself to the bathroom and was welcomed back out by Kenny standing outside the gents.

"What are you waiting for? Is it full in there?" I asked him, peeking through the gent's door.

He laughed and shook his head. "No, actually I wanted to ask you something… Alone."

I sensed the seriousness in the tone of his voice and wasn't looking forward to his next words.

"Sure, what is it?"

He stood there confidently and stern, maybe this isn't what I assumed.

"You've probably been expecting this from me for a while so I'm just gonna go ahead and say it in a nutshell. Dawn… Do you wanna go to the dance with me?"

Oh wait, yeah it was.

A/N: Muahahaha I'm back with a vengeance ;D Cliffy... rather XD

I can't believe I did Pokeshipping and Ikarishipping in one chapter. O_O

BIG THANK YOUUU to Anonymodude for his support and faith in this Fic, you rawk :'] This was veryyy rushed because I didn't wanna let you down since I made a promise to post it TODAYYY So I hope I get your approval

And not to forget everybody else who's read/reviewed this story. BIG THANK YOUU :D

Only one more chapter before the big one, that's right PROM :D I can't wait to write that, you wont be disappointed ;]

Until some time next week, later pearlshippers! :D