THIS STORY AIN'T DEAD, PEEPS!

Uh, yeah.

Just to add, my sister's a genius. SHE CALIBRATED MY NINTENDO DS IN ONE MINUTE. And I took 10 minutes. But that was unsuccessful. Ah, well, now that she helped me, I can play my COOKING MAMA! YAY!


The school was...noisy?

And the chairs and tables were...unorganised and messed up and gravely vandalised and put in awkward yet stupid positions?

...And since when did the principal started skipping about the corridors singing Barney?

Oh yeah. Since the examinations ended. Good point. Hm.

Well, as a little recap since apparently, I...need one myself...Ash and May officially made up. You know, the apology and stuff...? Yeah. Okay, let's begin, and not talk like this, 'cause I'll feel embarrassed about, uh, not remembering my story.

SO! Anyway. The school's rules were dropped for rest of the year, and thus, everyone was smooching, touching everywhere impossible, screaming, running about, having a war with a broomstick, pencils, broken pens which had its ink all...sucked up (A/N: A reference to my ex-class to-be...LOL)

But then, SOME people decided to do something unique...and a little TOO unique.

And mysterious.

And really cool.

And awesome.

And SOMEWHAT suspicious.

And, uh, uh...ran out of adjectives. CRAP.

Never mind. I'm just adding some SUSPENSE.


"URF! Hey, Jas, STOP MOVING!"

"Um, I'm not..."

"WHAT?"

"...Yeah..."

Whitney, along with Jasmine, squealed and shrieked as they merely balanced the machinery on their hands. "This...is...huff...HEAVY!"

The pink-haired girl stumbled back and forth, causing Jasmine to scream, once again, until Brawly, who was the main cause of all that excessive wobbliness due to his equally excessive kissing and hugging and just pure intimacy, decided to help out.

"THAAANKS, my sweet adorable ROMEO!"

Brawly blushed modestly, before risking the machine's life by using one arm to poke her cheeks, "I like cute nicknames, my love."

"AWW!" Whitney jumped up and down, hugging her boyfriend, before pulling away, sticking her tongue out in disgust, for one reason.

"Ew. 'My love'? It's weird, but, STILL! CUTE! HEHEHEHEHEHE-"

Jasmine started coughing violently while glaring at the couple, oblivious to their task for the day. "Ahem."

The two snapped out of their nickname exchange session, and then they quickly lifted the machine back up into a stable position. "Okay, let's get the show on the road, ladies!" Brawly yelled, in his macho-like voice.

Whitney giggled, jumping up and down hysterically like a little girl offered a lifetime supply of chocolates, while Jasmine rolled her eyes and bit her lip as she struggled to balance the machine, with its wires and all dangling everywhere and swishing about in mid-air.

Just then, Volkner popped in, grinning as he approached Jasmine. "Hi Jasmine." And then the yellow-haired boy glanced at Brawly, his complete opposite physically, acedmically and psychologically, and uttered, "Brawly," before turning his attention to Whitney.

"Drew would like that to be in the classroom in one piece." he stated bluntly.

Whitney rolled her eyes. "WELLL, we ALWAYS get his stuff in one piece, ya know."

"...Right. And I assume that you've forgotten the time Drew entrusted you with the vase that gave him an A for art, and the next day he claimed a plastic bag filled with fragments of the work...?"

"Hmph. Whatever."

Brawly grinned. "No worries, scrawny dude. We'll get this thing to the classroom! Right, my caramel popcorn?" (Uh, I didn't want cliched 'sweetie pie', so I opted for my usual SOLID movie snack.)

"YUP! HEHEHEHE-"

Jasmine and Volkner rolled their eyes stimultaneously. The brunette looked at her boyfriend and then queried, "So, how's the 'Truth or Dare' thing Brendan plotted out?"

Volkner bit his lip. "Uh, it's been...stupid, really."


"C'MON, STUPID BOTTLE! SPIN IT TO MAY OR ASH!" Brendan yelled at the non-living object, almost kicking it in Drew's hair in frustration. "AND NOT MISTY OR DREW OR VOLKNER AGAIN!"

May slumped back in her seat. "Brendan, you really are desperate to con us both into doing a dare, right?"

"Yup."

"...And why?"

Brendan paused for a moment. "I, er...HEY LOOK! HANNAH MONTANA!"

"Nice try, idiot. I'm not falling for that."

"Uh...Barack Obama?" (I couldn't RESIST putting the new president of USA in. No, seriously. I KNEW he would win ever since the news reports came out, somehow, despite my sheer stupidity at times)

This caused everyone besides Brendan to roll their eyes.

Brendan huffed, crossing his arms and pouting, causing his girlfriend Misty to giggle.

Ash Ketchum, who had been gaming on his Nintendo DS, coughed. "So...are we done with the game?"

"NOT UNTIL EITHER YOU OR MAY GETS DARED!"

"...Whatever. I'm sleeping. Wake me up when it's time to go."

"Or DARED!" Brendan yelled, pointing an accusing finger at the now already half-asleep Ash, before cackling insanely, and then settling down, smiling as though nothing had ever happened.

May rolled her eyes. "I'm using Ash's knees as a pillow. Not like he'll wake up anytime soon."

And with that, the two fell fast asleep, with all handphones and cameras or any device capable of calling, messaging or alerting anyone for a camera to take a photograph for blackmailing purposes in their bags, which was locked by a...lock.

Brendan looked at them and groaned.


Volkner shook his head as he narrated everything to Jasmine, and Jasmine alone, for Whitney and Brawly were too busy devising brand new nicknames for each other, which was really stupid, considering the fact that they raised the exact same few nicknames every 5 seconds or so, due to their almost pea-sized brains.

"Now that I thought about it, Brendan should just place the bottle in their direction, wake them up and make them do a dare..." Volkner paused for a moment, and then realised his handphone was still locked up. "Ah, well, hope they're smart enough."

Jasmine cocked her eyebrows. "They won't." She turned back, barked at Brawly and Whitney to stop their tickling competition, before asking, "And...can I ask what dares did they have to do...?"

"Well..."


May grinned mischievously as she glared at Brendan, who had no choice but to do a dare.

"Okay, Brendan...do a chicken dance."

And later...

"Misty, during the class chalet lock yourself up in a room with Brendan alone for a night." Ash laughed after that for the next one minute after Misty agreed.

And later...

"MESS UP YOUR HAIR, DANCE ABOUT IN A CIRCLE AND SAY YOU'RE BROCOLLI MAN, DREW!" May shrieked, laughing insanely. Ash looked at May and then he grinned. "We think alike, May."

And the two started cackling evilly, something a couple SHOULDN'T really do in public. But school's okay.

And that was when Volkner realised he was the only one left in the group who had yet to do a dare. He slipped out of the room for a toilet break, never to be seen again...

Until Jasmine saw him just moments ago.


"Ah, in the very least you escaped..." Jasmine mused, smiling.

"Yeah..."

So, after a long journey to the designated classroom, though it wasn't supposed to be a long one because it was a few flights of steps away, Volkner, with the help of Jasmine, managed to get Brawly and Whitney not to tickle each other for the sake of Drew' expensive machine, which was slightly dented with the 3 falls it had to endure, they finally made it.

"Now, we have to set up this piece of junk." Brawly announced the obvious, punching his fist in the air for no apparent reason aside from impressing his easily-impressed girlfriend and annoying Volkner by showing off the muscles the latter didn't have, before pausing to ask, "Uh, how do we do that?"

Whitney blinked. "Is there an instruction manual?"

"No, but I'm guessing its that white thing that was blocking my view of you just now that I threw away."

Volkner and Jasmine had one logical thing to say.

"We're screwed."

"C'mon, bottle. My whole reputation depends on this..." Brendan muttered, clasping his hands in mock prayer. May and Ash were still sound asleep, with the brunette's head on Ash's knees, and Ash...well, just being plain Ash, with his cap pulled down to shield his eyes from the light, and his head drooped forward slightly.

Rather unromantic.

Misty was still trying to pry open the lock on the locked bag. And Drew, well, he was still recovering from what he did to his hair. And his cool-ness. And his whole life. Basically, he was traumatised.

"Must...not...broccolli...hair..."

The orange-haired girl, exhausted from trying the millions of number combinations (there were 7 numbers to crack), she groaned. "BRENDAN, gosh, just SPIN it."

"Right."

His lips quivering, Brendan slowly, steadily, spun the bottle. For the first time, everyone stared at the bottle, spinning, then slowly...slowly...

Volkner and Jasmine watched the couple before them, and then they yawned.

"No, YOU'RE the cute one!"

"No, YOU'RE the cute one!"

"YOU'RE CUTE!"

"YOU'RE CUTER, DUDDETTE!"

The exchange session had been going on for the past, what, thirty minutes?

"It's strange. They haven't got Ash and May to do the dare yet. And we already set this damn thing up..." he gestured towards the machine, all wired up and ready to be...used.

"Yep."

"Well, let's just hope Brendan got them to d-"

They got exactly what they wanted. Brendan, who was rather prominent with his white hair and idiotic grin, ran into the classroom, screaming and jumping and flailing his arms like he won three lotteries in a day.

Behind him was Ash, rubbing his eyes drearily, his mouth etched into a frown, and May, arms crossed, seething with indignation. Then, she stifled back a yawn, before storming into the room.

After the two was Misty, giggling as she held up the cardboard microphones made for the occasion. "Hey, Jas, got the karaoke machine up and going?" she asked, raising her voice, and grinning madly.

Jasmine looked at the karaoke machine she and Volkner had set up moments ago, and she gave Misty a thumbs-up and a wink, before watching at Brendan, jumping in jubilation.

Misty grinned wider, before joining her white-haired YOUNG boyfriend in his jumping and cheering.

Drew came in soon after that, rolling his eyes, his hands stuffed in his pocket. He sulked as he looked at his reflection in a window, before shaking his head and shuffling into the room.

"OKAYYY! EVERYONE'S HERE!" Whitney announced triumphantly, as though she had roped in everyone all by herself, before settling down on Brawly's lap. "BEGIN!"

Jasmine smiled meekly, as she flipped the switch of the karaoke machine on.

Brendan decided to become MC of the event. "OKAY! PEEPS! WE ARE NOW WATCHING THE DARE OF ASH AND MAY!" And he gave everyone a cackle, before whispering audibly, "They were dared to sing a duet."

May pretended not to hear it, while Ash rolled his eyes, blushing lightly.

"LET'S BEGIN!"

Then, the screen began...screening the words:

"AT THE BEGINNING: ANASTASIA" (Done by Richard Marx and Donna Lewis. My cousin recommended this song to me)

May and Ash gulped, clutching their respective microphones.

The song soon commenced, and May had to sing the first part solo.

We were strangers
Starting out on a journey
Never dreaming
What we'd have to go through
Now here we are
And I'm suddenly standing
At the beginning with you

For the entire time, Ash stared at her, mouth agape.

But that was normal. Everyone else was doing it as well.

May looked at her audience as she sang, raised her eyebrows, and then did the only thing acceptable at the moment.

"Yeow..." Ash winced, as he looked forlornly at where May had considerately stomped on, "That's uncalled for!"

"Your turn to sing, Ash."

"...Right."

No one told me
I was going to find you
Unexpected
What you did to my heart
When I lost hope
You were there to remind me
This is the start

This time, everyone was staring at Ash. "Dude...he sings like an angel." Brawly whispered, but then he was met by a certain powerful resistance: Whitney's annoyed face. "Uh, but you're MY angel. Ash is May's angel. Yeah."

Brendan hissed back at the couple, "SHUSH! The duet part's coming up."

Life is a road
And I want to keep going
Love is a river
I wanna keep flowing
Life is a road
Now and forever
Wonderful journey

That was when May connected the few events before the examinations. The time when the two ignored each other for a while after that incident, the time when they made up, was that a sign for her friends that they should just...patch things up immediately?

Something like that.

I'll be there
When the world stops turning
I'll be there
When the storm is through
In the end I wanna be standing
At the beginning with you

Well, they were at the beginning. When they first met...


"What's your level position?" was the question Ash Ketchum asked while they were playing basketball after school.

"Uh…you first." May blinked at him curiously.

"48." The boy smirked.

"Whoa. I got 47."

Ash gave May a look of pure shock.

"How…coincidental." He muttered under his breath. And then, seizing the opportunity, he snatched the ball away from May and dribbled on to the basket, where he promptly dunked in the ball.

"Uh, yeah…"


And when Ash promised that he would someday bring her to the Mcdonalds. But he never did, didn't he?

...He probably forgot about this.

But why did she remember it...?

We were strangers
On a crazy adventure
Never dreaming
How our dreams would come true
Now here we stand
Unafraid of the future
At the beginning with you

And the time when he caught her when she fell when she sprained her ankle after arguing over Kentucky Fried Chicken. She still held the belief that the best way to eat it was to go to Kentucky itself.

Well, she only liked the fact that he carried her to the bus-stop.

Until, of course, Harley came over.

Ah well. Memories like that rarely fade.

...But she meant the carrying part. Why was that so?

Life is a road
And I want to keep going
Love is a river
I wanna keep flowing
Life is a road
Now and forever
Wonderful journey

By then, Lunick and Solana arrived from the canteen. Apparently, ever since the examinations were over, they were kissing each other for hours in the canteen.

Well, but they totally forgot about the karaoke thing.

May rolled her eyes. Oh yeah, she remembered that time...


Solana gave Brendan a you-know-what-to-do look.

Brendan silently crawled behind Ash, and as they were clashing with words over whether Indian food from the canteen should be eaten by May or not, Brendan banged their heads together, hoping that their lips would somehow lock together.

"OUCH!" the two yelped simultaneously, their foreheads hitting each other. "WHAT WAS THAT FOR?!?"

Solana smacked her forehead, and gave Brendan a death glare. "Smack their heads again!"

"Oh, okay!" Brendan shoved their heads together again, but Ash managed to do a judo throw.

Brendan's scrawny body was flung violently into out of all people, Solana. Brendan headbutted the poor girl into a table. With Lunick sitting on it. So you could imagine Lunick's and Solana's faces when Solana landed onto Lunick.

Solana's face was red like an apple, from the intimacy, while Lunick's face was green like a green apple, as he was suffocating by the 60 kilograms girl on top of him.

Just then Solana looked up to see a 50 kilograms Brendan screaming in mid air, "BODY SLAM!!"

Brendan landed forcefully face first…into Solana's chest. Yes, in the middle of her mountains (as my friends put it sarcastically).

Lunick just passed out from getting too green from suffocation.

Solana screamed. "BRENDAN WHAT IN THE WORLD ARE YOU DOING IN MY CHEST!?!"


Ah. Sweet memories of the beginning. Ash and May got closer and closer by the days. Even though they were made a tad bit closer with the help of their friends.

...She even remembered that? Oh crap.

I'll be there
When the world stops turning
I'll be there
When the storm is through
In the end I wanna be standing
At the beginning with you

And the Halloween dance, but it was cancelled because the school thought that it was a waste of money. Stupid.

There was also the time when Ash actually held her hand. But why did she let him do so? And why, why, WHY was she so happy that day?...


As Ash quickly ran down to get to class, May leaned on the wall beside her. She grinned, blushing as she rubbed her cheek with the hand that Ash touched and held.

She absorbed everything that just happened, squealed and thought, "Why am I reacting like that? It's…wow."

Then May shrugged it off and started to dance in a crazed state, humming to the tune of Lonestar's Amazed.

Ash watched the dancing girl from the corner and laughed. "Every little thing that you do…it amazes me…May." He muttered softly before quickly running off to class.


Maybe she liked him.

Maybe.

She once asked Anabel about all this before the lavender-haired girl switched to an arts school after the examinations. It was a shame her true best friend couldn't see her here. Well, she just told May to...follow her heart.

How amazingly simple.

I knew there was somebody somewhere
Like me alone in the dark
Now I know my dream will live on
I've been waiting so long
Nothing's gonna tear us apart

At the last line, May laughed. Not even butterflies could tear them apart...


Finally, the last thing was that Ash was screaming his head off.

"AAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!"

May, getting very annoyed by his screaming, grabbed him by his hand, calming him instantly.

"Ash, just relax. Look, I'll hold you so you won't be afraid. I got your back, and I'll stick with you through whatever, not run away. Face up to your fears, Ash."

Ash was speechless. He relaxed slightly with May firmly holding his hand.

"Look, a butterfly duo is coming…"

A bright red butterfly and a blue one fluttered around the two humans. Ash was about to panic when May tightened her grip on his hand.

"Somehow…this feeling I get…it's strange." He thought.

He relaxed a little, trying not to focus on the butterfly that rested on their interlocked hands.

The butterfly was obviously not smart, for it climbed up Ash's arm to reach his friend on top of Ash's head.

"GAH!" Ash yelped but May firmly held him down.

"Let it be. Don't provoke it."

Ash watched in fear as the butterfly approached his cheek.

To his surprise, the butterfly nuzzled his cheek a little, before taking off into the air and doing a mini somersault.

Ash and May laughed.

"So…how are butterflies now?" May asked curiously as they watched the two butterflies fly off.

"Beautiful…" Ash whispered. He shifted closer to May.

He brought his lips to May's cheek, before hastily whispering, "Thanks."

Then he quickly got up to his feet and ran off.

May blushed instantly. Then, she realized she was the last one to leave the area. "ARGH, ASH, WAIT FOR MEEE!!"


May smiled at the memory. How bold she was.

Bold enough to show Ash her affection.

Her love.

Maybe.

She still wasn't sure though.

Life is a road
And I want to keep going
Love is a river
I wanna keep flowing
Life is a road
Now and forever
Wonderful journey

The journey was made funnier with Ash's cousins. Oh yeah. What fun they had. And Evelyn, she believed the girl was called that, she noticed that May had a little...soft spot for Ash?

They were too innocent to know it...

...Right?


"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!! WHEN HE COMES BACK, I'M GONNA, I'm GONNAAAAAAA…WAHHHHHHH!!" Charis was screaming like a lunatic. Evelyn decided to play 'Follow the leader" and she started screaming as well. Shan Leong was…looking very bruised.

Suddenly, Daryl appeared from the bushes, saw his sister lock eyes with him, and he yelped. Charis screamed a war cry before tackling him to the ground, something an avid and talented soccer player like Daryl could foresee, but he just covered his eyes and awaited his doom.

Instead, she started bawling. "DAMN YOU, DAMN YOU, DAMN YOUUUUUUU!!" Then, when Daryl saw his sister crying and had officially let his guard down, she tackled him once more and did scary stuff to him. May saw the commotion and quickly pulled the rabid girl away.

Evelyn noticed her instantly. "HEY YOU'RE ASH'S GURL FWEEENNNNN!! HEY HEY YOU YOU I LIKE ASH'S GURL FWEENNN NO WAY NO WAY HE BETTER NOT TRY TO DUMP HER!!" she sang.

May blushed. Evelyn noticed this too, and she said, "HEYYY TOMATO BOY AND TOMATO GURRLLLL!!"

Charis giggled and Daryl quickly took his sister away from the 'girlfriend of the meanie'. Then he gingerly set her down before running off to Shan Leong's side.

May sighed. "Okay, I'll tell you a secret. I…I…um… kinda…I'm not Ash's girlfriend but… I…"

Ash cut her off by running towards her. Then he looked at her. "Um, hey."

"Yeah…hey." And they both blushed more.

"Charis, are there any other words to describe red?" Evelyn asked.

"Ketchup."

"…COOL."

Then Ash rented a bicycle with 5 seats, set everyone in their baby seats, and then he smiled at May. "Well, I'll, um, see you."

"Yeah. 'Kay." May smiled, and Ash blushed.

"Ketchup." Charis muttered, and Evelyn yelled "CONFESS, CONFESS, AHHHHHH!!" Then she looked at May. "What were you gonna say before Meanie interrupted?"

"Uh, um, nothing, I just thought, well…uh, NOTHING." May stuttered. She shuffled her feet.

Ash shrugged. "Evelyn, you're reading WAY too many Kingdom Hearts fanfiction…"

Evelyn screamed, "CONFESSS!!"

Then they parted ways.


Hm. Perhaps Evelyn was saying that to the entirely wrong person.

Maybe. Not a definite 'yes'. Just maybe.

...Why was she thinking this way?

I'll be there
When the world stops turning
I'll be there
When the storm is through
In the end I wanna be standing
At the beginning with you

She smiled at the recollections she had so far, singing the words, remembering every moment, savouring them, loving the lyrics...

...And slowly developing feelings for her duet partner beside her. Singing the lyrics with her. Being in every single recollection she had so far ever since she started singing.

Life is a road and I wanna keep going
Love is a river I wanna keep going on....
Starting out on a journey
Life is a road and I wanna going
Love is river I wanna keep flowing
In the end I wanna be standing
At the beginning with you.

When that was finally over, everyone, even the duo standing in front of them, sat in silence for a few moments, as the lights mysteriously lit up the room, and the karaoke machine slowly switched itself off.

And then the shocks began.

Brendan was clapping with glee. "YAY! NO MORE TRUTH OR DARES FOR MEEEEEE-"

"SHUT IT, BRENDAN. They're still singing...are they? Their voices are in my head. Holy chicken." Misty muttered, biting her lip, and then she turned to Jasmine and Volkner, who sat there with their mouths agape.

"They ain't singing, Mist. But boy, THAT WAS AWESOME, GIRL!" Solana squealed, her eyes sparkling with admiration, but when she heard a cough from Ash, she smiled apologetically. "I mean, couple."

Another cough, this time louder, from the two.

"Darling, I think you should just say 'duo'." Lunick muttered, his lips curved to form a smirk.

Drew rolled his eyes after yet another traumatising experience. In the very least he overcame both by then. "Ew. What a lousy song. But the karaoke system was AWESOME?...Oh yeah, its mine."

Whitney was...giggling at Brawly mimicking how they sang.

Ash started to yawn. "I need my sleep."

May blinked, before grinning. "Dibs on your knees."

"...You slept on my KNEES?"

"What? You didn't know?"

"No. I just thought I had one of my cousin's teddy bears on it."

And that sparked yet another beginning.

Yup, they were at the beginning again.


Looking at all the chapters I've written so far, I guess my writing really changed, or matured? Weird. Ah well. Was it good? The past flashbacks were from the past chapters, from the beginning to the end. The chapters that had some significance...? Yeah.

I'm still considering what titles I should use for this story. I need shorter ones. Hm. I'll change the title by the next chapter.

R&R!