A slightly shorter chapter that introduces 2 more new characters. I have to say, I am really excited to finally incorporate them into this story. I initially had the idea for these two months and months ago but it finally took me this long to develop them into the people that you will soon see they are. Also, I wanted this chapter to focus on two things: Blaze's developing feelings and her realization of them, and Dawn's ever present guilt, the reason for its existence something we still don't know the reason of.

Also, apologies for the super lateness of this chapter. College has been taking up the majority of time and when I do have breaks, I just end up passing out and sleeping and spending time with my family and friends once I am awake. Hopefully between the mid to late part of December and mid-ish January, I can finally sit down and write because I'll be on winter break then.

Anyway, thank you so much for sticking with me for this long. I think this story is going on 4 years or so but I only really started taking this seriously 2 years ago once I had this elaborate idea. It morphed from this high school love story to something much more and I'm so excited for this story to unfold into what I want it to.

Now enough of my incessant rambling, and let's get on with this story!

~Deepika

Chapter 24

Everyone was up bright and early the next day since Dawn had insisted on showing everyone the amazing ski slopes. After much hustle and bustle, the ten teenagers (Paul had joined them early this morning) stood near the ski lifts with their equipment in their hand. Dawn, May, Aisha, Rocky, and Gary had opted for actual skis. The rest of the group decided to go for snowboards. Unsurprisingly, the guys had been super excited and gone on ahead of the girls, who didn't seem to care all that much. They took their sweet time to get the lifts and make their way up the gigantic slope. As they met the boys going up, a ringing bell caught their attention.

The ten teenagers gasped as they were pushed to the sidelines. Almost about to yell, Blaze looked up and became slack jawed as she saw a bunch of snowboarders make their way to the top of the slope they were currently on. She gasped as she saw one clear front-runner and then a bunch of people trailing behind.

"And there goes Hunter McKinley, taking the lead as usual. Look at that form! Hunter's on fire today!" the announcer shouted over the cheers of the clearly enthusiastic crowd. "But let's not forget about Jesse Thompson! Man, those two could fight for days just to get first place!"

"But we all know who would win; she would totally beat his ass!" a sideline fan said. Blaze smirked. So one of them was a girl. Looking over to her right, Blaze looked at Byron, who seemed to be in heaven. She shook her head, knowing how much of a sports enthusiast he was and how this competition was getting him excited.

"A girl and a guy fighting for first place? We all know who would win," he gave a roguish laugh. Blaze gaped at him.

"You're not serious?" she incredulously laughed. Byron raised a brow. "You are such a sexist!" she gaped and Byron laughed again.

"Chill B, I was just kidding. Don't worry, I believe that girls can achieve something," he snorted. Blaze rolled her eyes.

"And the winner is...Hunter McKinley!" The crowd went wild and Byron smirked, turning to his friend.

"See B, I told you he would win." Blaze smirked and raised a brow.

"Uh...turn around By," Blaze giggled. Byron turned around just in time to see the winner of the snowboarding competition take of their helmet and shake out their hair. "Oh my Arceus, Hunter's a girl," she laughed.

Indeed, Hunter was a girl. She had pale blonde hair that flowed down her back all the way to her waist. She had gray and purple-flecked stormy eyes that seemed to compliment her hair perfectly along with gorgeous porcelain skin. She gave a dazzling smile as hundreds of camera flashes were aimed in her direction and she posed for a couple of minutes before politely stepping away. The second place winner, Jesse Thompson, took off his helmet as well and came up to Hunter. Hunter smiled another gorgeous smile at the 6 foot 2 silver haired boy. His hair seemed to naturally fade from black near the roots to silver on the tips.

"Oh Mew..." Byron whispered. Blaze's eyebrows furrowed and she turned her body completely towards Byron, arms crossed over her chest. His eyes seemed to glaze over as he stared at the gorgeous and athletic blonde. To their surprise, both Hunter and Jesse started walking over to them. An excited squeal caused both Blaze and Byron to turn their heads to its source.

"Hunter, Jesse! Oh my Arceus it's been ages since I've seen the two of you!" Dawn cried as she ran forward to embrace the two athletes. After a sweet reunion with the three apparently good friends, Dawn turned around to her new friends from LaRousse. "Guys, this is Hunter McKinley, aka the best snowboarder in the entire world and Jesse Thompson, aka the second best snowboarder I know." Hunter stepped forward first.

"Hi, I'm Hunter," she flashed a blinding grin, her voice oozing with an Australian accent. Blaze felt her stomach knot but walked forward and shook her hand, introducing herself. "And this lump of silence over here is my best mate Jesse." Jesse smiled sheepishly and gave a little wave. "Now if memory serves me correctly Ms. Berlin, you haven't been here in 2 years. Care to explain?" Dawn waved her hand nonchalantly, attempting to look casual about the entire thing.

"Oh, life got a little too crazy for Mom and I and we just never got the time to get to come here. It was really heartbreaking if you must know. I look forward to seeing some of my best friends that I only get to hang out with about once a year," she laughed softly. Jesse looked like he wanted to say something but decided not to.

"Well the good news is that you're here now," the silver haired boy gently cut in before Hunter could say something else. Dawn just looked relieved. "But it does look like you've made some new friends. Have you moved from Twinleaf or do you just not talk to Kenny and Leona anymore?" Jesse asked. A dark look crossed Dawn's face before she laughed.

"As if I could ever get rid of those two! No, I moved to LaRousse city; it's a beautiful island that no one really talks about but one of the most beautiful and futuristic cities I've ever been to. That's where I met this group of people. Turns out I can't get rid of them either," the bluenette joked. May slung her arm around Dawn's shoulder, giving the two newcomers a gorgeous and patented Oak smile.

"She can't, even if she tried. But hopefully you love us enough not to get rid of us...anyway, I digress. How did you all meet each other?"

"We all used to take skiing and snowboarding lessons with each other," Hunter grinned. "This was before Dawn realized that she hated the cold and left us to go dance and do gymnastics or whatever." Dawn pouted.

"I love skiing and snowboarding but clearly not as much as you two. I mean, you've been homeschooled for almost as long as I can remember!" the navy haired girl tilted her head in confusion when Hunter and Jesse's faces dropped. She looked at them but decided to question them later on.

"But anyway, how about we go down the slopes together? It'll be nice to catch up and chat with you, Dawn. And meet your friends of course," Jesse grinned. Hunter nodded her agreement. As they walked up the slopes, Byron ran forward to start a conversation with them, with Blaze looking after him with a strange look on her face.

"You ok?" Aisha asked, startling Blaze out of her thoughts. The fiery-haired girl sighed and swallowed thickly. Blaze nodded at Aisha, the strange look appearing on her face again and the knot in her stomach sinking deeper and deeper.

"Yea, yea, I'm fine...just..." Blaze trailed off, not having any words to describe how she was feeling. Aisha gave her best friend a sympathetic smile. Sha knew that Blaze had always had a hard time expressing her feelings in general, and an especially hard time when it came to emotions such as jealousy and attraction. "Sha, I've never felt like this before. I'm not the best at expressing emotions and just telling you how I'm feeling goes against every fiber in my being. Every time I look at that Hunter girl, I just see red." If the situation wasn't so serious, Aisha thought she would have doubled over in laughter at her friend's obliviousness.

"Oh sweetie, that's jealousy you're feeling. I know you're not used to it but it was bound to happen sooner or later," Aisha explained quietly as to not attract the attention of their friends as they trekked through the snow.

"What was bound to happen sooner or later?" Blaze scoffed, tossing her head to the side to watch the snow melt off of trees and observe the people going down the slopes. Aisha sighed, almost amused that the redhead still didn't get it after all this time. It was so obvious in her face, in her actions, and even in her voice.

"Babe, you're in love with Byron. And even if you aren't in love yet, you definitely have a giant crush on him. And that thing you're feeling is jealousy, because this is the first situation you've seen Byron give a girl other than us the time of day." Blaze scoffed once more and looked away, decidedly more uncomfortable than she had started out in the beginning of this trip; even more uncomfortable than when they had to spend over four hours with each other in a car stranded in a snowstorm.

"I don't fall in love Aisha; I never have and I never will. Besides, all it does is lead to heartbreak and fights and divorce. Why even try for love if it's all going to fall apart in the end?"

oOoOoOo

Byron watched in fascination as Hunter maneuvered her way down the hill in a graceful movement. He had never seen anyone so elegant on a snowboard or any kind of board for that matter. For some reason, he couldn't help but stare, and only stopped when he heard the clearing of a throat. The spikey haired boy turned around to see the ever-so-fiery Blaze looking at him with a strange look on her face. Byron raised an eyebrow.

"Keep staring at her any longer and people will think that you have a problem," she said, although it came out quieter than either of them expected. A slightly painful knot twisted in his stomach and suddenly, Byron found himself unable to say anything. Here he was, chilled and lay back as usual but he was so enthralled by the magic of it all that he found himself speechless.

"Don't be ridiculous B, there's no problem," Byron laughed a little nervously as his eyes once more gravitated towards the beautiful blonde.

"Doesn't seem like it to me," he heard her mutter. He then turned again to see Blaze following his line of sight. This struck Byron; for some reason, Blaze was acting stranger than usual. "Is...everything alright Blaze?" Byron cautiously asked, afraid of setting her off. Blaze was like dynamite; seemingly harmless, but once the flame was ignited, she exploded. Blaze gave him a withering look.

"Everything's fine Byron," she drawled with no joking look in her eye like there usually was when she yelled at him. Byron felt himself chilled to the bone at her look. Blaze grimaced at him and saluted. "I'll see you at the bottom I suppose." Byron watched as the orange haired girl positioned herself correctly with her snowboard and without as much as a thumbs up or glance, she jumped and began to snowboard her way down the hill.

oOoOoOo

It was just getting dark when the gang decided to head back inside the lodge. Even though Hunter and Jesse had their own places at the little town near the ski resort, they decided to follow Dawn and her friends back to their place, since they hadn't seen the bluenette in nearly 2 years. When they got to the lodge, everyone decided to disperse. Some people went to their rooms, others went to the kitchen to start making warm drinks for everyone. Dawn, Hunter, and Jesse all made their way towards the fireplace, eager to get warm and catch up. The two athletes took a seat next to one another on the love seat while Dawn curled up on the single sofa chair, snuggled up in her blanket. The trio was quiet for quite some time as they took in the crackling of the fire and the slightly tense silence lingering in the air. Hunter decided to break the ice.

"So, tell me how you've been. You cut off all contact two years ago for no apparent reason." Dawn swallowed as she saw the sadness swirling in Hunter's stormy gray eyes. Jesse gave the blue haired girl a reassuring smile that made the tense knot in Dawn's stomach slightly unravel and the weight on her shoulders lift.

"It was a tough time for the family...stuff happened and we were all thrown in for a loop. I had to step in and take care of Mom because she suddenly found herself unable to function anymore...and friends were the last thing on my mind."

"So the move from Twinleaf to LaRousse?" Jesse asked, his perception as on point as it had been two years ago. Dawn sighed, looking into the flames of the fire as if they would give her the strength that she needed to stay calm.

"The best decision the two of us have ever made. Mom really needed this move; she seems so much happier now," Dawn sighed, a soft smile playing on her lips. Jesse nodded, taking in the information and storing it for later.

"And what about you? You've talked about your mother so much but you haven't said a word about yourself." Dawn startled and looked up at the perceptive silver haired boy. Dawn flashed him a waning smile.

"Well, it seems you haven't lost any of your touch Jess," the bluenette chuckled mirthlessly. There was a pregnant pause and when Dawn didn't offer up any other information, Hunter decided to change the subject.

"So how's school? I mean, we can obviously see that you've been making a ton of friends...and one of them has been staring at you for quite a while now," Hunter commented, then lowered her voice down into a conspiratorial whisper. Dawn faintly blushed and allowed a gracious smile to blossom on her face.

"It was a challenge, that's for sure. But thankfully a stray soccer ball introduced me to one of the best people I've ever met- apart from you two, of course. And that in turn allowed me to befriend an entire group. Some days I can hardly believe it. It's been a whirlwind of media and attention, that's for sure. It gets a little overwhelming at times."

"Well at least you found something to keep you happy." There was a tinge of bitterness that caught Dawn's attention. Her brow perked up as she registered the agitated look on Hunter's face and the uncomfortable look on Jesse's face.

"Hunter, what's going on? The last time I talked to you, you were being homeschooled so you could train for nationals!" Dawn exclaimed. Hunter bitterly looked away.

"Yea well...times have changed and we may not be able to be homeschooled anymore. Our moms and dads have been talking about having us transfer to public school," Jesse explained. Dawn scrunched her face up in confusion.

"I mean, I know you've always wanted to be a doctor Jess, so it's not surprising to me that you have to move to another school...but you Hunter? I thought your dream was to be a professional athlete!" Dawn exclaimed. Hunter grimaced and rolled up her pant leg despite the cold and frigid air. Dawn was shocked to see a knee brace on a badly beaten up knee.

"One too many knee injuries...doctors say that I can never compete on a national level, but that I can still snowboard if I take it easy. I guess I can't be too upset since I still get to do something that I love."

"I...I'm so sorry. I never thought...no, there's no excuse for how terrible of a friend I was, but the good news is that if you guys do end up coming to our school then I can make up for it!" the bluenette commented and Jesse nodded thoughtfully.

"Well, we best get some sleep now. I'm assuming you're going to take the entire group skiing and snowboarding at the more difficult hills?" The lanky boy unfolded himself from his position and held out a hand to the female next to him. Hunter took his hand and he pulled her up, keeping hold of her hand as the two of them bid goodnight to the bluenette, who was left looking guiltily at the folded hands in her lap.