"Well… you see I was in such a rush to leave that I forgot." Paul was nervous because he finally remembered what he had forgotten to do before leaving Serena's house last night. She stood in front of him with her arms crossed and a disappointed look on her face, but something seemed a little bit off about her. She didn't seem happy like usual.

"I suppose that you coincidentally also forgot this when you left also." Serena tossed Paul a black, square shaped object out of her pocket. Paul caught it and was surprised to find his wallet in his hands. He was in such a rush to leave from embarrassment that he had forgotten his wallet and didn't even realize it.

"I count 27 dollars and 84 cents in there along with all of your gift cards and rewards cards. Any other girl would've at least robbed you of a few dollars, but you're lucky that you've hit the jackpot." Serena looked at Paul trying to figure out her emotions, but she couldn't hold them in anymore.

"Paul, I can't do school today. It's making my heart hurt and I think I need another day off."

"What's wrong Serena?"

"I'm still upset about the fight with Ash. It's making my heart hurt knowing that I'm even in the same building as him right now. I think I need just one more day off." She paused for a few seconds.

"I think that I'm in love with him."

Now this confession made many emotions boil up inside of Paul. First off, he was crushed on the inside because he was in love with Serena and was waiting for the moment to tell her. He knew deep down that she had feelings for Ash, but he didn't know the extent of those feelings. Second, he wanted to hurt Ash. Ash may have been one of his best friends and his main rival, but Paul absolutely hated seeing Serena like this and he wanted to make Ash pay. Finally, Paul's conscience took over and told him that both of these things wouldn't help Serena at all. Paul chose his words carefully before speaking.

"Serena, we can skip today and go wherever you want, but you have to either talk to Ash or get him out of your mind. There are many other fish out there in the sea and they'll treat you a lot better than Ash ever could. I strongly suggest that you talk to him sooner rather than later to get your feelings out and see how he responds in return. It'll only help if you at least let him know how strongly you feel for him."

"Thanks Paulie, you're the best." She walked up and embraced him.

Paul wrapped his arms around her and said, "If it were any other woman except for you, I probably would've called them annoying or something like that." He laughed as a scenario of him doing that to others in the past ran through his head.

"What's so funny Paulie?"

"Oh it's nothing… princess. Come on we have to get out of school don't we?" He pulled Serena out of the room feeling really stupid because of the name he had come up with for Serena. He feared that he had given away his true feelings to her.

"So you'll be calling me Princess now? Great choice Paulie, I like that name."

Paul smiled because he had gotten away with the cheesy nickname. He kept hold of Serena's hand as he lead her through the school until they were home free and the next thing he knew, they were both running at a dead sprint to his car. He got there first because he was a wide receiver after all, but Serena was no slouch herself and was right behind him. Once they both got to the car, Paul realized he had no idea where to go.

"Where am I chauffeuring you today princess?"

Serena laughed at his sarcastic remark. "I'm thinking we go somewhere we've both never been before. How does an arcade sound?"

"If that's what my princess wants, it's what my princess gets."

Paul pulled out of school and started heading off towards the Pallet Arcade. Little did he know that there was a mysterious figure following his car all throughout the school.

With Dawn and Gary

"Gary, what was Misty holding over you?" Dawn and Gary had stopped making out and were still snuggling together up in the school attic.

Gary sighed. "It's because I know the reason that Ash is stuck dating Misty. He's not doing it willingly and he's been trying to break free of her. I'm his best friend so he told me about it, but one of her contacts was eavesdropping and I got suckered into acting the old way again."

Dawn was furious. "WE NEED TO MAKE THAT BITCH PAY AND I WILL NOT BE SATISFIED UNTIL SHE EXPERIENCES MY WRATH!" Dawn paused to catch her breath. "Wait a minute, why is Ash forced to date her? This makes no sense. Can't he just break up with her?"

"It isn't that simple. Ash did the one thing that Misty will not forgive. Once she learned that, he was forced to sign a contract with Misty promising to be her girlfriend and it has been driving him nuts. He can't stand her, but there is nothing he can do unless he can rip up the contract."

"What did Ash do? I know Misty gets mad easily, but I feel like he must've done something completely awful in order to get her that angry."

"It was that awful."

"What was it?"

"Promise you won't tell anybody?"

"I promise."

"He had a four-way with Misty's sisters."

With Ash

Ash walked into school hoping to find Serena. He had gotten upset with her a couple nights ago because she had been angry at him for wanting information on May. He had realized that it wasn't normal for Serena to get mad at all and he wanted to speak with her about it. He truly regretted arguing with her, but he couldn't tell her what would happen if she found out his situation. He didn't want to further break her heart even more. Ash's heart felt pain as he recalled the phone call from the other night. This was unusual because he had never felt pain there before. He started walking towards English which he knew Serena would be in with him. Misty was suspended, so Ash was free to sit wherever he wanted and he wanted to be right next to Serena.

Ash approached the classroom and his stomach started feeling like butterflies. Ash thought to himself, "Why am I so nervous? Serena is one of my best friends and all I am doing is just apologizing to her. This feels so weird." Ash walked into the classroom and realized that Serena wasn't there. "Ok this is weird, Serena always gets to class 15 minutes early. Why isn't she here now? It's only 10 minutes until class starts." He walked up to the seat next to Serena's that was normally unoccupied and sat down right next to her desk.

10 minutes passed, but to Ash it seemed like hours. Professor Oak walked in, but there was still no sign of Serena. "Why am I so upset that she isn't here? I've never felt like this over an absence before." Ash sat and waited, but Serena never came. Ten minutes had passed in class and Ash heard the door to the classroom open. He excitedly jumped up in his seat, but was dismayed to find that it was only Dawn and Gary walking in late holding hands. On any other day, Ash would've paid more attention to this, but today was not that day. He slumped into his seat, but he knew that Dawn would probably know where Serena was.

Dawn had been in her seat for about 3 seconds when she heard a voice call to her.

"Dawn, where's Serena?" Dawn looked over towards the voice and was surprised to find Ash sitting in the normally empty desk next to Serena's. The second surprise was noticing that Serena wasn't in class. She had been talking with Serena about a half hour ago, why wasn't she in class?

"Ash, I have no idea. Why do you want to see her? I thought you two got into a fight."

"I want to apologize to her. Misty isn't here, so I can be free to sit where I want until she gets back."

Dawn knew there must've been a good reason that Serena had skipped class. She decided that she was going to lie to Ash to protect her friend.

"Ash, I think Serena is sick today. She wasn't here yesterday either. Do you think the fight could've caused her emotional pain?"

"I hope not. I really care for her and I don't know why, but I'm really upset that she isn't here today. My heart is hurting knowing the pain that I might've caused her."

Dawn knew exactly what he was feeling. She deduced that Ash had a major crush on Serena and a part of her wanted to blurt it out and tell Serena, but she knew that it wasn't right of her to do that.

"Ash, I think you should give her a call when you get home from school today, but you better make sure that libido of yours doesn't get you into major trouble again."

"How do you know?"

"My boyfriend told me."

It suddenly dawned on Ash that Dawn and Gary had been holding hands when they entered the classroom. "Wait a minute. Are you and Gary dating now?"

"We are and he told me everything. I'll do everything in my power to help you out, but Misty has major dirt on me also and I don't want a repeat of what happened last time. Why did you need all the information on May? That's the reason she got upset at you."

"May is the key to me getting free. I think she could be the one to get in and save me."

"Do you feel anything for her?"

"What do you mean?"

"Do you have any romantic feelings for May?"

Ash paused and thought for a moment. "She's very attractive, but I barely know her so I would have to say no."

"Do you have any feelings for Serena?"

Ash didn't need to take any time for this response. "Yes."

"Ash, I think instead of calling her, you should show up to her house and tell her how you feel."

"I can't until I'm free of all this Misty stuff."

"That is a problem. Once that's taken care of, I expect the first thing that you'll do is walk right over to her house then and I'll leave the rest up to you."

"I plan to Dawn. I can't wait to be free from Misty."

"BERLITZ, KETCHUM. SHUT UP OR YOU'LL BOTH GET DETENTION" Professor Oak had noticed Dawn and Ash weren't paying any attention to his lecture.

Ash and Dawn went silent and didn't say a word for the rest of class. What they also didn't notice was May sitting next to them listening to every word of their conversation. If Dawn had looked to her right, she may have noticed the tears running down May's eyes, but she was so focused on avoiding detention that she never did.

Class ended and May ran off silently towards the bathroom where she started crying to herself because her new crush didn't like her and was most likely only using her for his own personal gain. It was Drew all over again. May locked herself into a stall and let herself cry and let everything out.

"Hey who's crying? Come outside and let me help you out." May didn't recognize the voice, but she figured if help was being offered then she might as well take it. She walked outside of the stall to find Zoey, the academic genius staring at her.

"What's wrong May?"

With Kenny

This was going to be a sitch. Kenny had followed Paul and Serena out of school and into the arcade. He was going to dig some dirt on them and get one step closer to Dawn, his one true love. All he had to do was take incriminating evidence of them on a date, give it to Misty, and it would lead to their suspension, Dawn becoming his girlfriend, and with Paul gone, he would become the new starting receiver on the football team and Kenny knew that Dawn loves football players.

He saw Paul holding Serena as he taught her how to play skee-ball and he prepared to take the photo on his phone. "One more picture and I get everything I've ever wanted." Kenny was excited because this was the greatest moment of his life.

Suddenly his phone was knocked away and it fell to the ground shattering into pieces.

"KENNY, I WON'T LET YOU HURT ANYONE ELSE!"

Kenny looked to see who had committed this evil deed and was amazed to find that it was another one of Misty's contacts.

"What the hell are you doing Meowth?"

Chapter End

Well it appears that this has taken quite a twist. As always, feel free to leave a comment or a review. Let me know whether you like the story, love it, or absolutely can't stand it. I promise good things are coming. Stay tuned!