Author's Notes: Hi! Long time, no see. It's been about three months. Blame life. I've been really busy with multiple things, that I didn't even have time to sit down and write like I could in the past. But no worries, because I'm on summer break so I'm somewhat free. I have more freetime than I did when I was in school, so that's a good thing! :)
Erm, thank you to everyone who took the time out to review last chapter! :] I really appreciate the reviews guys! You really have no idea, so keep them coming :D
Um~ I hope you guys enjoy this chapter that I was finally able to finish. I started it like three months ago and finished it in two days, so I'm happy about that. I haven't written anything in a long time, so hopefully my writing isn't too bad x.x I feel like it is, but I'll let you guys be the judge of that. Anyways, please enjoy this chapter! :)
"...they must be suspended from school." Leaf sighed and tapped her finger tips lightly and steady on the table. Gary sat beside her at the lunch table and Kai sat in front of them in his usual spot.
The table seemed empty without Ash, Dawn, May, and Drew. It didn't feel right.
Kai nodded his head and said, "Yeah. May and Dawn are both in my classes and neither of them showed up for class today."
"Neither have Drew and Ash," Gary added. "I think they only received one day of out of school suspension, so they'll be back tomorrow. I guess gramps wasn't too hard on them. He was really upset about the entire thing, though."
"I'm pretty sure we all are," Leaf said.
"It's my entire fault," Kai admitted in a low tone. He regretted moving to Kanto in the first place. If he hadn't then none of this mess wouldn't have happened.
"What's make you blame yourself?" Gary asked. He agreed internally with Kai that it was his fault, however Gary didn't believe it was entirely his fault. He only asked Kai that question because he wanted him to elaborate on what he said. He could easily tell that Leaf wanted him to explain as well because she had leaned forward on her elbows a little while giving him full attention.
"Well..." Kai trailed off his sentence and thought. "I'll just tell you two everything that happened between Dawn and me."
Kai explained to the couple everything. He explained how he felt about Dawn, all the flirting they did, and everything that Dawn had told him about what happened between her and Ash up to where they kissed where he experienced it first hand. When he finished both Leaf and Gary held expressions of shock on their faces. There was a bit of an awkward silence where Kai fiddled around uncomfortably until Gary decided to break the silence.
"Wow..." Gary swallowed and looked at Kai still surprised. "So that's why Ash had an attitude yesterday morning. He didn't tell me any of this..."
"And Dawn didn't tell me anything," Leaf said. She was shocked that Dawn hadn't called her Saturday or Sunday to tell her what happened with her and the two boys. Or at least with Ash. She usually called and told Leaf everything whenever she and Ash were experiencing problems. Then Leaf figured that Dawn was probably too upset to talk about it.
"Maybe it was too soon for either of them to talk," Kai guessed. "I don't know, but I really wish things didn't go that way between them."
"Look, man," Gary said, getting Kai's attention. "Don't beat yourself up and blame this all on you. That sure isn't going to make anything better. Some stuff you should not have done, yeah, but it isn't your entire fault so don't put yourself down, Kai."
"Yeah," Leaf chimed in. "Gary's right. You should have set your limits, but it's definitely not your entire fault."
Kai shrugged his shoulders and nodded his head. "I guess."
The three were quiet for the rest of the lunch period. When the bell rung signaling for everyone to move to their last class of the day, Gary and Leaf parted from Kai and started heading for the front entrance of the school.
"Are you sure that your grandpa said it's okay for us to leave school early?" Leaf asked as she walked down the hallway with her boyfriend. She looked around with unsure eyes as if they were going to get in trouble. She wasn't used to leaving school early like this.
Gary nodded his head. "Yeah, he told our teacher to mark us as present. So don't worry. The most important thing is that I was lucky enough to convince him that you and I needed this time so we could plan out how to get everyone friends again. He didn't believe me at first. He thought we were going back to your house to-"
"Yeah, I don't need you to explain it," Leaf said interrupting Gary. "It's good he trusts you. We really do need this time to plan. I have no idea what to do right now, but I do have an idea on how we can get them to meet up."
"Good," Gary said, holding the door open for her. "Keep that in mind and think as we make your way to your house."
Leaf smiled and playfully rolled her eyes. She was hoping that what she had in mind would work. She wasn't missing school for nothing after all.
x-x-x
"Hello?" Leaf whispered into her cell phone as she closed the door to the bathroom behind her and locked it. "Can you hear me now?" she raised her voice enough for the person on the other line to hear but low enough so no one could overhear her talking. "May just got to my house," she said. Leaf was currently on the phone with her boyfriend so they could discuss the plan.
After spending some time together, thinking, laughing, playing, and making out Leaf and Gary thought of a way to get Dawn and May and Ash and Drew to be friends. Leaf had to invite both girls over to her house and Gary had to invite the boys over and they would apologize and hopefully be friends again. It was simple, but they wasn't sure if it would work.
"Drew just got to my house," Gary stated. "Ash is on his way, so he should be here within fifteen minutes."
"Okay, great! Dawn said she'd be here in ten minutes. I was thinking of talking to May for a bit on the situation until Dawn got here," Leaf explained easily. "You know, to fully get her side of the entire thing."
"I was thinking about doing the same thing," Gary admitted casually. "I was going to talk to Drew until Ash gets here. I never got to talk with Drew - Ash either - but the poor guy must be feeling some type of sadness, though he isn't showing it..."
"I hope this all works out," Leaf said as she stared at herself in the mirror, twirling a strand of her hair around her finger. "We're skipping school to hopefully get them all to be friends again." Her chest rose slightly and fell with a sigh.
"Hopefully." The way he'd said 'hopefully' Leaf could tell that he said it with a sigh. "I wond-" Gary cut himself short when he heard a faint, familiar voice in the background.
"Leaf!" May's voice sounded through the house and traveled to the bathroom Leaf was currently in.
"Gary, I have to go, May is calling me...good luck with the boys, I'll call you tonight to tell you how everything went. Love you, bye!" The brunette hung up the phone and quickly opened the door to see May standing in front of the bathroom with a confused look on her face. "What?" Leaf asked. She tried to look cool, but she was more than sure that she looked more flustered than anything. She hoped May hadn't heard her.
"Who were you talking to?" May asked, cocking her head to the side to get a view inside the bathroom to see if anyone else was in the bathroom with her best friend, which would have been a bit weird if there was.
"Huh?" Leaf tried to pretend like she didn't know what May was talking about. "You were hearing stuff." Leaf waved her hand in the air in dismissal before she turned the bathroom light off. "I definitely was not talking to anyone.." With that, May smirked while she raised an eyebrow and moved out of Leaf's path so she could leave the bathroom.
May had a small feeling that her friend was lying. Not only because she was acting suspicious, but also because she held her cellphone in her hand. Though, she figured it wasn't a big deal, so she brushed it off as something light and nothing important.
May followed Leaf into the living room where she was before she went looking for Leaf. They both sat down on the couch and Leaf turned to face May with one of her legs on the couch - like the Indian style of sitting, except with one leg - while the other leg dangled helplessly off the couch cushion.
"So," Leaf said. "Tell me, everything that happened between you and Ash and you and Dawn." Leaf decided to get straight to the point.
"Is this why you called me over here, Leaf?" May asked half playfully. She didn't mind informing Leaf of anything, but she felt a bit of a sting because she thought that Leaf only invited her over to squeeze information out of her for whatever reason. "I thought we were going to hang out and talk about...other things."
"We are hanging out and this is girl talk," Leaf retaliated. "I just want to know how you felt about this since I didn't talk to you that day in the office. I was really too upset to to talk to you."
May moved her shoulders up and down, in a slight shrug. "Yeah...Sorry. Well, I'll just tell you everything I guess."
Leaf listened closely as May told her everything. May had told Leaf how the bit of feelings she held for Ash and the anger she held for Dawn, which had caused her to act in such ways towards the bluenette. Also, May told Leaf how Ash showed up at her house on Saturday after the heated argument with Dawn and how they kissed, and also how she'd been pushing Drew away because of what she felt for Ash, which now she regretted because she missed Drew terribly.
"Aw, May," Leaf said, rubbing her best friend's hand in comfort, seeing that she was on the verge of bursting into tears.
May closed her eyes and opened them to clear her eyesight. "Leaf, I do feel bad about everything. About being so mean to Dawn, about liking Ash and kissing him, pushing Drew away, and fighting Dawn..." May chewed gently on her bottom lip, just wishing that she could go back in time and change her decisions. She wished that she would have approached Dawn like a true friend instead of giving her the cold shoulder.
"How bad do you feel?" Leaf asked, trying to dig deeper into May's thoughts.
"What do you mean?" May bored her eyes into Leaf's, trying to interpret her question. It may have been a simple question, but she knew it met something.
"Like bad enough...to talk it out with someone?"
May adverted her gaze around the room in thought. She actually did feel that bad. Honestly, she would do anything to put the past behind her and get her boyfriend back and Dawn back as her best friend and Ash as just an old friend like before, before things got weird. She'd like a new start. May brought her brown orbs back to Leaf's and nodded her head without saying a word.
This brought a smile to Leaf's lips.
And as if on cue, the doorbell rang, much to May's surprise because she jumped a bit from the sound. She wondered who it was as Lead moved to the door. Leaf looked at May and put her hand on the doorknob and said, "Well, May, now is your chance."
Leaf smiled thoughtfully and opened the door to reveal Dawn, who's eyes widened when she peered into Leaf's house and saw May sitting on the couch.
May was equally surprised. Though she was actually happy that Leaf had set this up - she figured it out easily when she added two and two together - her heart was beating in nervousness.
x-x-x
"Make yourself at home, dude," Gary said to Drew who had just plopped down on his couch and began to instantly surf through channels which made Gary roll his eyes. As part of the plan, Drew had just arrived to Gary's house and now he just had to wait for Ash to arrive. Gary jogged lightly up the stairs and went into his room, closing the door behind him so he was out of earshot when he talked to Leaf.
Gary moved to his bed and sat down on it, before dialing his girlfriend's number. It rung two times before he heard a faint "Hello?" on the other end. She was obviously whispering into the phone.
"Why are you whispering?" Gary asked. "I can barely hear you."
He heard a small amount of shuffling before Leaf's voice came back, louder this time so he could hear her more clearly. "Can you hear me now? May just got to my house."
That explained it for Gary. She must have been in the same boat with May as he was with Drew. She didn't want to be overheard.
"Drew just got to my house," Gary said. " Ash is on his way, so he should be here within fifteen minutes."
"Okay, great! Dawn said she'd be here in ten minutes. I was thinking of talking to May for a bit on the situation until Dawn got here," Leaf explained easily. "You know, to fully get her side of the entire thing."
"I was thinking about doing the same thing," Gary admitted casually. "I was going to talk to him until Ash gets here. I never got to talk with Drew - Ash either - but the poor guy must be feeling some type of sadness, though he isn't showing it..."
"I hope this all works out," Leaf said airily. "We're skipping school to hopefully get them all to be friends again." He heard her let out a sigh when she finished talking.
"Hopefully," Gary said, releasing a sigh at the same time. He also ran his hands through his fluffy, brown hair and threw himself back on his bed. "I wond-" Gary cut himself short when he heard a faint, familiar voice in the background.
"Leaf!" He heard May's voice in the background. Soon after, Leaf was talking fast into her cellphone.
"Gary, I have to go, May is calling me...good luck with the boys, I'll call you tonight to tell you how everything went. Love you, bye!"
Before Gary could even mutter a word, Leaf had hung up. He hoped, himself, that May hadn't heard Leaf talking.
Gary spent a few minutes on his bed, staring up at the ceiling before he decided to get up and head downstairs where he would talk to Drew until Ash got to his house. Once he got downstairs, he saw Drew lying down on the couch watching the news channel, only half-way paying attention.
"Get up," Gary demanded to his best friend. Drew, surprisingly, listened and sat up so Gary could sit on the other end of the couch.
"I was comfortable, you know," Drew said, glaring at the brunette boy.
"Oh, well," Gary said nonchalantly. "We have something to talk about." This spiked the green haired boy's interest and caused him to raise his eyebrow, waiting for Gary to continue talking. "So...I was wondering how you feel about everything." Gary said. "I mean...about Ash. And May."
Drew fidgeted on the couch as if what Gary was saying made him uncomfortable. He began to think. Ever since yesterday, he hadn't really thought about May or Ash or anything about the previous day. He didn't want to. He really wanted to forget about it and move on. But now that Gary had brought it up, he had to talk about it now. He actually suspected this to come sooner or later. It just came sooner than he expected.
"Is this why you called me here?" Drew asked suspiciously, avoiding Gary's question.
"Maybe. Look, I'm just worried about you, okay? You're like my brother, of course I'm going to ask you about this."
Drew smiled a bit and shrugged his shoulders. Gary was right. This was like a brotherly thing to do and he was happy that Gary was worried. He always liked this side of Gary. "Well," -suddenly Drew's cheery, carefree voice changed into one of sadness as he spoke- "I'm hurt and upset, Gary. I never thought Ash would do something like that in a million years. I mean, we were best friends - I'd known him forever. And for him to say that he'd kissed May just sparked something inside of me and pissed me off so much that I had to get him. I do feel bad about it now, but...I just thought I could trust him. And May...I knew something was up, because she'd been brushing me off for a while. I just didn't expect her to cheat on me and kiss Ash. That hurt me a lot..." Drew's green eyes sparkled with tears brimming in them as he spoke.
"I love her a lot, Gary and to know that she cheated on me, killed me. Especially with Ash." Drew stopped talking and wiped his eyes, clearing the tears away.
Gary felt bad for his friend. "So...would you ever consider being friends with Ash again?"
Drew thought for a bit before he spoke. "I...I would," Drew answered truthfully. "I mean, Ash has been my best friend forever, it's hard to let an old pal go that quickly...I'm just not sure if I'd actually be able to trust him fully again."
Just before Gary could respond, the doorbell rung, startling the two boys. Gary knew exactly who it was. He stood up from the couch, without saying anything and moved to the door. Gary put his hand on the doorknob and before he opened the door, he looked back at Drew and said, "Drew, if you want to make up with Ash, then now's your chance."
The brunette opened the door to reveal Ash casually standing at the door. It took him a few seconds to see Drew sitting on the couch. This caused him to eye Gary skeptically, while Drew simply held a look of surprise.
x-x-x
"Well, are you going to come in Dawn, or just stand there?" Leaf said in a joking tone. Dawn looked at Leaf, slitting her eyes slightly before she walked into Leaf's house.
Dawn didn't know what to say. She finally figured that Leaf must have set this up. Dawn stood a couple of feet away from the door, not making any sudden moves to the couch near May.
May sat uncomfortably on the couch as she shifted. She focused her eyes on Leaf and tried not to make eye contact with Dawn.
"Sit, Dawn," Leaf said as she walked over to the couch and sat beside May. Dawn quietly and skeptically walked over to the couch and sat down beside Leaf who sat between the two girls. There was an uncomfortable silence between the three, and Leaf could feel the growing tension, so she spoke. "First off, yes, I did plan this obviously. And you two should know why." Leaf looked at both girls evenly. They didn't say anything. They only avoided each other's eyes. "You two have to talk," Leaf sighed. "Neither of you are leaving here until this is worked all worked out." Leaf folded her arms across her chest in a child-like stubborn manner and looked back and fourth between the girls.
"Fine," Leaf said finally after waiting a minute for one of the girls to speak. "Since you two won't talk, I'll just choose one too, and you better start talking." The word 'better' dripped off Leaf's tongue like venom. This scared the two girls a little. It let them know that Leaf was serious about this. "May, you go first."
May breathed in then out and looked at Leaf who stared back at her with an annoyed expression. May then adverted her brown eyes to Dawn's when she began to speak, "Dawn, I really am sorry." Her eyes started to well up with tears. "I'm sorry for kissing Ash, fighting you...for being a bad friend overall. I should have came to you...we could have avoided all of this mess. This was all my fault."
Leaf smiled to herself. So far, this was going good. She then looked at Dawn, waiting for her to respond.
Dawn looked at May for a moment, trying to find her words. This was all so sudden to her. She really wasn't prepared to come to Leaf's house for a make-up session, but she admitted to herself that she was glad this was happening. "May," she said softly, "don't blame yourself, really. We all know this was my fault. I've said this so many times already, but I should not have been all over Kai the way I was. The time you talked to me about it, is when I should have listened and backed off then. So, really I'm the person to blame in this situation. I want to be friends again, May. Like before." Dawn wiped her eyes with her hand.
May smiled and said, "friends again?"
"Best." Dawn smiled and reached over Leaf to give May a big hug.
Usually Leaf would have been annoyed if they reached over her like that, but this was a good moment, and she couldn't scold them right now. She was happy.
The two girls had a tear or two trailing down their face as they pulled back. "And sorry for attacking you," Dawn said giggling and wiping her face.
"You were mad, it's understandable." May laughed a bit and wiped her face as well.
"It feels good to have to two back," Leaf said, as she looked back and fourth between them. Then she saw the look on Dawn's face. She suddenly didn't look too happy anymore. Her face held a look of sadness. "What's wrong, Dawn?"
Dawn sighed. "I want everything to be normal again...I want Ash and Drew to be friends again. And I want Ash to be friends with Kai...and I want Ash back." A tear trailed slowly down Dawn's cheek. "I don't think he's going to take me back."
"And I want Drew back," May said. "I regret pushing him away...I don't think he'll take me back now either."
Leaf sighed to herself. "Look, guys," Leaf said, getting May and Dawn's attention. "Ash and Drew are at Gary's house now, making up. If that works, then we'll make a plan to get everyone back on one accord again. I promise, this will all get worked out, okay?" Leaf smiled at the two girls and brought them in for a nice group hug. "For now, let's be happy that we all have each other again."
x-x-x
"Are you going to just stand there and look stupid, or come in already?" Gary said as he tapped his foot lightly on the floor, showing impatience. Ash didn't say anything, he simply walked through the door and sat on the same couch Drew was sitting on. If Gary had another couch in his living room, then Ash would have sat there instead. He made sure he kept a nice distance between him and Drew.
Gary shut the door behind Ash and walked to the living room area and stood in front of the couch with his arms crossed in a professional and serious manner. The brunette-haired boy then began to pace a small distance in front of the boys, eyeing them both carefully as he spoke. "I brought both of you here on purpose," Gary said. "To make up, obviously. You two were like brothers, you've known each other ever since you were kids. And I think it's best if you two made up right here, right now." He stopped pacing and stood in between the boys, looking down at them with his arms crossed. He waited for one of them to speak. He was growing impatient, so he said, "Drew, you told me you wanted to work things out between you and Ash, so start talking."
Drew felt a lump in his throat as he searched for the correct words to say. He looked blankly at Ash who looked just as nervous as Drew felt. "Ash," Drew started, "look man, I'm sorry for fighting you. I was mad, I mean, you told me that you kissed May. I couldn't just sit there and let you get away with it. I regret my actions now, trust me, but...I just want to know why you kissed her. I don't understand, I thought I could trust you, Ash."
Ash took a minute to think before he spoke. He could feel Gary's eyes burning a hole through him. "I really didn't mean to kiss her, Drew...you see, Dawn and me got into an argument that day...I ran out of Dawn's house crying and I drove to May's house. I told her everything that happened between Dawn and I. She comforted me and...told me that she had feelings for me. I told her I still liked her too, from middle school. Honestly, I don't know why I said that. Maybe I was just caught up in the moment, I don't know, but I really don't like her in that way. I stopped liking her when we got to high school. Well, anyways, after that, we kissed. It felt so wrong, yet right at the same time. Finally, I pulled away and left. I should not have even went over to her house in the first place, whatever. But, Drew, I'm sorry man. You had every right to punch me in the face." Ash laughed sheepishly.
Drew smirked. "Cool again?" he asked with a small smile on his face. Ash nodded his head happily. "Bro hug?" Drew stood up with his arms open and Ash followed his lead and came in for a hug.
Gary stood back, pretending to wipe away tears from his eyes. "Such a beautiful thing," he said as if he were crying.
Drew and Ash pulled away from each other, both feeling good that they made up and were friends again.
"So," Drew started as he sat back down on the couch. "What happened between you and Dawn that day? I'm curious."
"Yeah, me too," Gary said. Even though he'd heard the story from Kai, he'd like to hear it from Ash who actually experienced the situation. He situated himself on the armrest of the couch and looked at Ash.
Ash took in a deep breath and let it out slowly, preparing himself to tell them the story. "Well..."
When Ash finished explaining the story, he was close to being in tears again while Drew and Gary were shocked at how everything went down. They all remained quiet for a minute until Drew broke the silence.
"That's...crazy," Drew stated. He didn't know what else to really say. At least now he knew the entire story and how he ended up kissing May.
"Wow..." Gary muttered. "So, Ash, I have a question for you." The black-haired boy lifted up his head to look at Gary, giving him his attention. "Would you...ever take Dawn back?"
Ash thought hard about Gary's question. He did still love Dawn, but he wasn't sure if she was even worth it to be with again. What if she pulled the same stuff that she did again? Ash didn't want to go through that again. "To be honest, Gary...I don't think I would. I'll always love her, though. Maybe we could just be friends. Nothing more."
Drew nodded his head slowly. He understood where Ash was coming from. If May had put him through as much as Dawn put him through, he wasn't sure that he'd take her back himself.
"Understandable," Gary said. "Drew, would you take May back?"
"I actually would," Drew said honestly. "I want to talk to her and get everything right again."
x-x-x
"I just want to forget about that day entirely and get Ash back," Dawn said to May and Leaf. She had just finished telling them what happened between her and Ash on their anniversary. "But, I'm sure he won't take me back after what I did." Dawn sighed.
Leaf rubbed Dawn's back in comfort. "Well, Dawn, you don't know that yet."
"It doesn't really matter anyway," Dawn said. "I'm moving soon anyway, so...what's the point in trying?"
"You two can still be friends," May added.
"Yeah," Leaf said. "That's better than nothing."
Dawn simply sighed. She really wanted to be with Ash again more than anything, but her chances with him were looking very slim.
"I bet-" The ringing of Leaf's cellphone cut May from talking.
Leaf looked at the caller ID and saw Gary's picture on the screen. She had to take this call. "I'll be right back guys." Leaf got up from the couch and quickly went up the stairs to her room, closing the door behind her. She tapped her phone screen to answer. "Gary! How did it go?" she asked anxiously.
"They're cool again," Gary answered. "It went better than I thought it would go. What about May and Dawn?"
"They're friends again, too. This is great!" Leaf exclaimed. "So, the next thing we have to do is get them back together. Well...do they even want them back?" Leaf asked, lowering her voice.
Gary took a minute to answer. "Drew said he'd take May back. Ash said he probably wouldn't. He said he'd just be friends with her."
Leaf stayed silent. She thought about Dawn and how she said she wanted to be with Ash again. She felt bad for her friend. "Poor Dawn. She wants Ash back."
"Isn't she moving in a few weeks anyways?" Gary asked. "They'd just have to break up again anyway, which would be worse. We can just get them to be friends again."
"Yeah..." Leaf trailed. "And May told us that she wants to be with Drew again and since Drew wants to get back together with her, that'll be easy to get them to make up!"
"Exactly. So, how are we even going to set this up?"
"We'll all meet at your house!"
"When? It's pretty late now..."
"Right," Leaf remembered as she peeked outside her window and saw the sky was getting dark. "Alright, tomorrow at lunch we can just get the to make up. Since they want each other back, it shouldn't take long."
"Okay, that sounds good," Gary said. "What about Ash and Dawn? Getting them to be friends...even though Ash wants to be friends with her, I feel like they're going to be pretty hard to get to communicate."
"I'll think of something," Leaf said, looking in her mirror. "Trust me, they'll be friends before Dawn moves. I can't let my girl down. Plus, my plans work."
Gary laughed. "This plan worked...don't get your hopes up too much just yet, princess."
The brunette smiled and blushed at Gary calling her 'princess.' "And my future plans will work too, just wait."
Author's Notes: I don't really like the ending too much, but eh. It was the best I could do for right now xD. Well things are starting to look good, huh? :D Let's just see what happens! ;)
I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. It was pretty fun to write. Finally having them make up is such a joy to write after having to write sad and crazy stuff. Finally things can get happy again :D...maybe. You guys will just have to wait and see. ;P
Until next time (hopefully not too long though)
Please review! :]
- Angel _o/