Author's note: Wow... it's been a while since I updated, huh? Heh. And quite a few of you have moped about that. :P Well, blame the exams I've been having lately; they're stressful and cause a lack of sleep.

Also, the name I invented for the Brock/Lisa fandom, since greenfieldshipping is already taken (seriously, Skyler/Lisa? Lol. How random), is one-linershipping... since Brock only used one line on Lisa when he met her, which was, "I'm Brock from Pewter City... and I wanna be your boyfriend!" Lol. Pass it round. :) It might catch on.

This chapter has lots of Drew/May, you'll all be pleased to know... but, seriously, is it me or have I made it 'a Monday morning' a bit too often? Haha. Plus, it's rather irritating that I started this in September... and it's now June and the BMJH crew are still stuck in December...

And, finally, the little... something-something you'll come across in this chapter belongs to sunkissed42594. You'll know what I mean when you come to it. ;) (Wow, this chapter came out almost nothing like I'd planned it to... but oh well! Lol. And it's now 4am. Yay.)

Chapter Twenty-one: A Troublesome Day

It was a couple of days after everyone had witnessed Brock Peters' outburst of emotion in the park over his 'traumatic ordeal' concerning Lisa and Lucy, making it Monday morning once again... and May was seriously beginning to hate how often that day kept coming round... not that it could be helped, of course.

"So, May," Misty said as they walked to their separate lockers together, "fancy going Christmas shopping with me and Ash during the holidays?"

"Sure," May replied.

"Got any ideas what to buy anyone yet?"

"Nope... you?"

"Nope." The two girls chuckled.

Suddenly, Misty stopped dead in her tracks and May, though beside her, was still slightly behind her, so they bumped shoulders.

"What is it?" May looked in the direction Misty was looking and spotted a familiar mat of green hair. "Oh... him."

"Yeah..." Misty quickly turned round. "I think I'll take the long way. See you at recess."

"Okay... bye."

As May watched Misty disappear down the corridor, a very slight feeling of betrayal... or something of the like... hit her; Misty had abandoned her to face Drew alone? Yeah... great.

As she reached her locker, he was doing his usual 'Drew thing' by leaning on his locker, flipping his hair and smirking at her. She merely rolled her eyes and tried her best to ignore him as she retrieved her Art folder... planning to pick up her P.E. kit after Art class, just like she usually did, so she wouldn't have to carry it round.

A few moments later, however, she was growing suspicious; he hadn't said a single word yet... no 'May' puns, no 'belle' puns, not even a simple 'hello'. She looked up at him... and found him still smirking at her. Slightly uncomfortable, yet rising to the challenge, she stared intently back at him, determined to make him talk first. He raised an eyebrow at her, still smirking... which suddenly made her feel very very worried. What would make him do that? He didn't have valuable dirt on her or something, did he? The thought alone made her shudder.

Still staring at him, she shook her head, attempting to communicate, "What?" without speaking a word, which was apparently funny, as he chuckled and flipped his hair again.

"You never cease to look ridiculous, you know," he said.

May rolled her eyes again, closing her locker and locking it. "And good morning to you too, Mop Top."

His smirk vanished and his eyebrows shot up, disappearing into his hair. May turned away slightly and smirked; it was only last night that she'd come up with that new nickname for him... and was rather disappointed in herself that she hadn't thought of it before.

Drew cleared his throat. "Uh, yeah, well... how are you today?"

May gave him a funny look; he was asking how she was? Now she knew he was up to something. "Uh... fine thanks... you?"

"I'm... pretty good."

There was a long, gruelling silence where the smirk slowly crept back onto Drew's face... making a frown creep onto May's face.

"For Pete's sake, what?"

Drew chuckled. "No need to shriek at me... I've done nothing wrong."

"Not yet you haven't... but I know you're up to something."

Drew raised an eyebrow. "Is that so?"

"Yes, that's so!"

"Well... I'm offended. Here I am, minding my own business, and you're accusing me of being up to no good."

May narrowed her eyes at him; why hadn't he made any 'belle' puns yet? It was all he'd been doing all week and now he'd just suddenly stopped? It just didn't seem right... Had he finally gotten fed up with it? Or was there a sinister plot behind it?

Drew glanced out the windows on the doors. "Nice day."

Now May was really confused... though she didn't want to voice her thoughts aloud; she was perfectly happy without his stupid 'belle' puns... but her curiosity was killing her.

She was saved by the bell, however, so off she rushed to class, shooting Drew confused looks as she did so... though all she got in return was that same, irritating smirk.

After Art and P.E., during which May could think about nothing but Drew and that sinister smirk of his that made her incredibly suspicious of him, it was recess... and she was back at her locker, putting away her Art folder and pulling out her English and Math books... and who should show up but good ol' Mop Top?

"Hey there," he said cheerfully, doing the same as her and switching his Science and English books for his History and Math books.

"Uh, hi..." she replied cautiously.

As soon as he'd locked his locker, he gave a wave of the hand, said, "See ya" and walked off down the corridor... and, if May had been in a cartoon, her jaw would have smacked the floor. He was... walking away from her? What the-? What the absolute-? Why was he doing that?

May shook her head, even giving it a slight smack, just to be sure she wasn't imagining things. She took another look and, yes, Drew had disappeared. Unbelievable.

During recess, May started off wanting to tell Ash and Misty about what had just happened... but, as soon as she reached them at their point in the queue, she knew it was a bad idea, as, once again, they were arguing about something.

"No, I didn't!" Ash shouted.

"Yes, you did!" Misty shouted.

"No, I didn't!"

"Yes, you did!"

"No, I didn't!"

"Yes, you did! Stop lying!"

"No, I didn't! And I'm not lying!"

May sighed; did she really want to know? She gave herself ten seconds to debate the matter... and decided that she didn't... so she kept quiet.

Finally, once recess, English and Math were over, May was back at her locker, putting away the books she had, though not pulling out any books, as she had Sewing and Drama, which didn't really require books... and she hadn't used her Skitty notebook, which she'd also put in her locker, for quite some time... and wasn't planning to right now, either.

"Afternoon," Drew said as he put away his books, though, like her, not pulling any back out... just a P.E. kit and a piece of paper.

"Hey," May replied. "No, uh, lessons requiring books?"

"Nope... just like always."

"Oh..." Wow, I should really pay more attention to these things... "Me neither."

"That so?"

"Yeah." There was a slight pause. "What lessons you got?"

Drew smirked. "Besides P.E., you mean?"

"Well... heh... yeah."

"Cooking."

He showed her the piece of paper, which turned out to be a recipe for something, before quickly swiping it away again and placing it upside-down on his P.E. kit.

"What'cha gonna cook?"

Drew smirked again. "You wanna know... then you meet me here after last lesson."

May was slightly taken aback by this. "Oh... okay."

"See ya."

In a flash, Drew was off down the corridor again... and May was left staring at the back of his head in confusion until he rounded the corner and disappeared from view. She then shook her head and took off for class.

Eventually, it was two o' clock and the day was over with, to May's relief... meaning that her parents would be arriving outside the school in the family car fairly soon... but her relief was short-lived, as she suddenly remembered that Drew wanted to meet up with her by their lockers.

What notorious scheme had he cooked up? What was he planning to spring on her? It was the end of the day and, usually, the perfect time, besides the morning, to pull something on her, as Mondays usually made her quite tired, having slept in during the weekend. Now she was really starting to worry.

Since she had no books to put away, she felt incredibly foolish standing by her locker and not doing anything. In fact, she could have sworn that a couple of girls had thrown her strange looks. She merely looked away and pretended not to notice them.

"Ah, you're here," a voice she recognised all too well said.

She turned to face the bane of her existence. "Yeah... hi, Drew," she replied.

She noticed that he was carrying a glass bowl covered in cellophane and was instantly back to wondering what he was up to.

Drew indicated the bowl with a nod of his head. "Wanna see?"

Sensing danger, May slowly nodded, extremely cautious... and waited patiently as Drew removed the cellophane and handed her the bowl. Gulping, she edged her face over the bowl.

Drew laughed, making her look up at him. "What are you expecting to find? A boxing glove springing out and bashing you in the face?"

May pulled a face at him and, taking one last glance at the bowl, looked inside it to find...

"What's this?"

"Tagliatelle."

"Huh?"

"It's a pasta dish with cheese sauce... and bits of ham."

"... Oh." Huh... maybe he's not up to anything today, after all. Maybe I really can trust him. May smiled. Maybe he really has just gotten fed up of 'belle' puns. She looked up at Drew. Maybe... maybe he actually... wants to be my friend? She noticed Drew smiling at her. Yeah... I think that could be it.

Handing back the bowl, she felt, for the first time that day, really happy... and completely filled with trust. He wasn't out to tease her today! And that felt more amazing that anyone could possibly imagine.

"How about I walk you outside? Your parents should be here soon, right?"

"Yeah... thanks, Drew."

The walk to the road outside the school was amazingly pleasant to May, as she and Drew chatted casually about... well... all sorts of things. They talked about their families, their hobbies, which seemed to be fairly similar, both involving MSN and Pokemon games, their favourite Pokemon, May's being Skitty and Beautifly and Drew's being Roselia and Flygon, their favourite songs, May's being 'Just The Girl' by The Click 5 and Drew's being 'Enter Sandman' by Metallica, though they did have open-mindedness about music in general in common, and even their favourite colours... though the latter was rather obvious, anyway; May's was red and Drew's was green.

After all those months of knowing Drew, May was finally able to see him in a new light... a positive light... and found that she just couldn't stop smiling at him. His past behaviour towards her didn't matter... all that mattered was the here and now... and, in the here and now, he was being so nice to her that she felt as if they'd been best friends for years... and was almost into thinking that maybe the real Drew had been abducted and replaced by a Drew clone... one much nicer than the original. She had to chuckle at that.

"That your dad's car?" Drew asked, pointing down the road.

May looked in the direction he was pointing. "Yep, that's the one," she replied.

"Guess I'll see you tomorrow then, huh?"

May chuckled. "Course you will... you see me every day."

Drew chuckled too. "Very true."

There was a moment in which May looked unblinkingly at Drew with a smile on her face... and he was doing he same... as the wind gently blew their hair and the remaining sunlight of the day made their faces glow a slightly golden colour.

It took a few seconds, but they both eventually looked away, May glowing on the inside; she'd made a friend in Drew! She'd made a friend in Drew! She wasn't really sure why that made her so happy, but it did.

As her father parked the family car, May sneaked a glance at Drew... and was shocked out of her mind to see that he was staring at his Tagliatelle with a blush on his face! For a few moments, she just couldn't stop staring; she had never ever seen him blush before!

When he noticed she was staring at him and looked up, she looked away, blushing herself in her embarrassment... and she praised the Heavens when her father wound down his window and called out to her.

"Hey, May! Come on!" he said.

"Well..." May said, "guess I'll see ya, Drew."

"Yeah..." he replied. Waving goodbye, May walked off towards her father's car. "Oh, wait!"

May stopped and looked back at him. "Yeah?"

"Hold this bowl for me a sec, would ya?"

"Oh... sure." Returning to Drew's side, she took the bowl off him just before he began to dig around in his pocket. "What's up?"

"I've got a present I wanted to give you."

May's slight blush returned. "A present?" She smiled. "You giving me another rose?"

"No, not this time."

May's expression turned curious. Gee, she thought, if it isn't a rose, I wonder what it could be...

He pulled the present from his pocket and held it out for her. Shifting the bowl's weight, she freed one hand and grabbed hold of whatever it was, then carefully handed the bowl back to Drew. Next, she turned her attention to the object he'd just given her. She raised an eyebrow, pulling the lid off the black cylinder, revealing... red lipstick. She looked up at Drew, who was back to smirking at her. Suddenly, she felt a disturbance in the peace.

"Like it?"

"Uh, yeah. Thanks, Drew." May paused. "So... what made you want to get me this, anyway? Y'know... out of curiosity."

Drew shrugged. "It goes with your outfit?"

May blinked at him. Is... that all? she thought.

As a silver car pulled up beside Norman's car, Drew began walking towards it, still smirking at May. She continued to stare at him and, just as he reached the car door, he shrugged again and called out, "May-be it's Maybelle-ine!"

May suddenly felt as though a train had smacked into her at full speed without stopping. Her breath caught in her throat... her heart skipped a beat... her eyes widened... and her mouth dropped open... all while Drew was giving her both the widest smirk possible and a two-fingered salute before climbing into his car. This... couldn't... be... happening...

In her immense shock, she walked very slowly towards her car and climbed in, still staring unblinkingly ahead of her. She didn't even completely register whatever her mother said to her before giving up and telling her father to set off home.

Drew knew her name... he actually knew her name... She'd always suspected... but never actually thought... and she'd thought... that he was her friend... but he... did this to her... meaning that he... had planned this all day... hoping to trick her... and he succeeded... meaning that... he was going to torture her forever... with the valuable dirt he'd dug up on her... meaning that... she was so... totally... screwed... for the rest... of her life...