Heeeeey, remember me? Ha ha, yeah, so I haven't updated in awhile. Big deal :P

I've actually been kind of busy. . .sort of. I got the fifth Harry Potter book (BIG sob at who dies ;_; ;_; ;_; ) and I've been reading that, I had a riding lesson and Gus was a complete fruit loop, and I found out how Shane felt when he fell off of Mars.

My first ever fall off a horse! Kodak moment! Ha ha. Yeah, you try not falling off when you're cantering and you loose both stirrups and your holding onto the horse's mane for dear life trying to put your feet back IN the stirrups. It's impossible. I'm still sore.

And I landed on my head (thank god I was wearing my helmet. . .-kisses helmet-), which has affected my story-writing ability -sob- It has not given me Writer's Block, but EXTREME Writer's Block. It blows. I'm having trouble writing an ending (-sob-) to this fic.

But it shall soon come! When?

. . .

As soon as I shut up and let you read the chapter, which is. . .NOW!

~Chapter Nineteen~

"Man, I wish I actually had hair," I mumbled, holding up a hair tie. "You guys can actually do stuff with your hair. Mine's just. . .there."

Allison laughed. "Yeah, but it's the prettiest color," she said, wrinkling her nose at her own nice, blonde hair.

"Yeah, and you NEED it short anyway," Julie laughed. She ran a brush through her long, dark brown hair, but it was nowhere near as dark as mine. "You just cram it under a riding helmet all the time."

I grinned. "Yeah, but I wish it could at least be shoulder length so I could put it up in a bun or something. My hair is going to look the worst out of everyone's."

"Nah," Julie and Allie said in unison, and we all laughed.

It was Saturday morning---the morning of the Big Dance. Julie and Allie had slept over, and now we were experimenting with our hair to see what kind of fancy hairdos we could create. My hair was too short to do anything with it, really. Like Julie had said, I always kept it short so I could stuff it under my helmet.

"So Diana? When do we get to see this mysterious blue dress of yours?" Julie asked, putting a bobby pin in her hair then taking it out in disgust.

"When I put it on," I laughed. "I haven't seen your dresses either, so we're even."

"Yeah, I suppose so," Allison snorted. "AUGH! I can't decide how to do my hair."

"Guys, guys, why are we worrying about this now?" I said, laying down my brush. "We have all day. The dance doesn't even start until seven this evening. We can worry about our hair later."

"Thank goodness," Allison laughed.

"Want to go ride Princess?" I asked. "Come to think of it, we can all go on a trail ride."

"Really?" Julie and Allison cried.

"Yeah," I smiled. "Danielle. . .Mrs. Mavens. . .wants me to exercise Pass," I said, explaining to them about Passion Fire. "And one of you can ride Princess, and I'm sure we have another gentle Ponyta or Rapidash for one of you to ride."

Julie and Allie looked at me, grinning and nodding.

"Okay then!" I smiled, clapping my hands. "Let me just get on my breeches." I looked at the shorts my friends were wearing. "You two---put on long pants."

"Yes sir," they joked, and grabbed some jeans from their bags and we all went into separate rooms to change.

~*~*~

"So, who wants to ride Princess?" I asked once we were at the barn. Both of my friends put on huge grins.

I sighed. "Okay. . .I think Allison should ride her. You had trouble mounting last time, Julie."

Julie sighed, but still looked happy. "Okay," she said. "It would probably be easier for me to get on a Ponyta. . .is there one around here I can ride?"

"Hmm. . .Mrs. Mavens!" I called. She came out of Pass's stall. I told her about our plan to go trail riding.

"I'll tack up Pass for you. . .and. . .I think Mars would be good for you, Julie."

"Mars?" I asked, my voice squeaky. "Um. . .there are plenty of other Ponytas, Mrs. Mavens. Why Mars?"

Danielle raised an eyebrow at me, but all she said was, "Ever since Shane has been riding Red Spot again, Mars hasn't been getting any exercise. People are leasing all of the other Ponytas and riding them all the time."

"But isn't she a little tall for Mars?" I asked. Julie riding Mars. Oh boy, I couldn't let this happen. . .

"No, actually, she's a pretty good height. Mars has been growing," Danielle said. "I think he's going to evolve soon. It's perfect. Mars is dying to be ridden."

"Sounds okay to me," Julie smiled, giving me a weird look.

"Great!" Danielle smiled. "I'll go tack Pass now. . .Diana, you can help them get Mars and tack up Princess and Mars for me, okay?"

"Sure, okay," I sighed. Danielle went into a different paddock to get Pass, and brought him in to start tacking him up.

I grabbed Princess and Mar's halters and lead ropes and sighed again. Julie continued with her weird look, but Allison spoke up.

"What was that all about? It's only a Ponyta," Allison shrugged.

"He's Shane's Ponyta," I grumbled, opening the gate to the paddock. A few of the Pokemon looked up from their grazing and trotted away, but most of them just stayed and grazed.

"Oooooooooh," Julie smiled. "That would explain it. But. . .I'M riding him, so what's the big deal?"

I shrugged and shook my head. "I don't know. I just. . .don't know."

"Hey, speaking of Shane, do you know if he's going to the dance?" Allie asked. I gave her a Look.

"So he IS!" she grinned. "Interesting. He's going to a school function. That's a first."

"Yeah, it's only Shane though," I mumbled, clipping on Mar's halter. I handed the lead rope to Julie. "Here, hold him. I have to get Princess."

"Admit it Diana!" Julie called after me. Mars didn't like the shouting and pinned his ears back.

"Admit what?" I asked, cornering Princess. She snorted as I put on her halter and led her across the paddock back to my friends, looking over her shoulder at Red Spot.

"Admit that you like him," Allison said.

"Who?"

Julie and Allie rolled their eyes and shook their heads, almost in unison. "Nothing," they sighed. Allison took Princess's lead rope from me and led the Ponyta and Rapidash to Princess's stall.

I stared at them for a few seconds before running, closing the paddock gate, and catching up to them. Princess whinnied for me and I rubbed her neck.

"Sorry girl. Allie's riding you today," I said. I stared at my friend. "Only if she and Julie tell me what they meant back there."

Allison looked at Julie and shrugged. Julie took a deep breath.

"Diana. . ." she said quietly. "Listen, we know you better than anyone else. We've been friends since PokePreschool. And we also know when you don't want to admit something."

"What are you guys talking about?" I asked. I did NOT like where this conversation was going.

"Like remember when you liked our teacher in first grade and you didn't say anything the whole year?" Julie giggled. I snorted, remembering my school crush on my, handsome at the time, male teacher.

"Yeah? So what's your point?" I asked, getting a knot in my stomach.

"Well. . ." Julie started, but thankfully was interrupted my Danielle. She came up to us holding Pass's reins and handed them to me. "I'll leave the gate open so you guys can go out when you're ready. . .if you're ever ready," she smiled. "Want me to tack up Mars so you can get going?"

"Yeah. I mean, sure. Thanks," I said.

Danielle gave me another weird look, but went into the shabby tack shed to retrieve Mar's bridle, saddle, girth, and a saddle pad. I followed her and got Princess's tack. The Pokemon were brushed and tacked in just ten minutes, and Allison gracefully swung onto Princess, I mounted Pass, and Danielle gave Julie a leg up on Mars.

"I'm just no good at this Ponyta stuff," she laughed.

"Yeah you are," I said. "So you have trouble mounting. It's nothing. Now let's ride!"

The three Pokemon walked off the property, and soon we were in single file on the side of the road. Allison was first, since I knew I could trust her and Princess, Julie was in the middle, and I was in the back to keep an eye on things.

"So we're just riding on the side of the road?" Allison asked.

"No," I said. "Take the next left, and then you'll see a broken fence. We go through there."

"We're going to jump over a fence?" Julie asked. I could tell she was a little scared.

"Mars will probably just step over it," I said. "So will Princess," I called to Allie, "If you pull back her reins."

"Okay," my two friends called back.

We soon reached the broken fence. I remembered discovering this trail last year when I was thirteen. I was looking for a good place for Princess to graze and so I could eat the lunch I had packed. Princess noticed the gate and we jumped over it---and found a secret trail. I hadn't told anyone about it---until now.

Allie tugged on the reins a little, and Princess sighed and stepped over it like Allie wanted. Mars also stepped over it, but I wanted to jump over it with Pass.

He flew over it, and Allie and Julie clapped. I grinned.

"Welcome to my secret trail," I said. "It's wide, so we can walk side by side."

"Cool," Julie said. "Now we can talk."

I looked ahead. If we were going to talk about what I THINK they wanted to talk about, I wasn't joining in."

"So where were we?" Allie wondered out loud. "Oh yeah---admit it Diana!" she squealed gleefully. Princess snorted.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," I said. "Want to trot?"

"Don't change the subject," Julie said. "But sure. I think. Is he good with trotting?" She looked nervously at Mars.

"I've never ridden him, I wouldn't know," I said. "But I guess he is."

We all clicked our tongues and nudged the Pokemon with our heels. They moved into a trot, and we sat there trotting for awhile. Soon after, Julie got tired of posting and we slowed to a walk again.

"So, I wonder what the dance will be like," Julie said after a few minutes of silence. She looked at me. "I can't wait to see your dress."

"Yeah," I looked at my watch. "We better start heading back. It's already three-thirty now, and it takes a half hour to get to the school to the hotel from my house."

The dance was being held at a giant hotel in between Cherrygrove City and Violet City. It was certainly better than the gym at school or something.

"Plus we still have to get back to the stable, untack this guys, groom them, turn them out, eat something, take showers, fix our hair. . ." I babbled on and on.

"We get the point," Allison laughed. "We have a lot to do. C'mon, let's go back."

~*~*~

Thanks to Danielle's help, Princess, Mars, and Pass were all ready in twenty minutes. Danielle said she'd turn them out. We thanked her and ran back to my house.

I was extremely happy. I hadn't seen Shane all day. . .yet.

"Okay," I said once we were back in the house. Mom had ordered a pizza in honor of the dance, and we were all chowing down in the living room. "We only have two bathrooms. . ."

"That's hard to believe," Allison laughed. "Two bathrooms in THIS monstrosity of a house?"

"Yeah, I know," I gigged. "Anyway, I'm going to ask Mom if she has any ideas for my hair. You guys take showers first. . .JUST enough to wash out the stable stink," I warned as Julie went to the upstairs bathroom and Allison took the downstairs one.

I walked into the kitchen, where Mom was looking at some sort of book. She was muttering to herself, but immediately stopped and slammed the book shut when I came in the room.

"Hi Mom," I said. I didn't ask about the book. I knew from the Den you shouldn't ask questions about stuff. What if you didn't like the way it turned out?

"Hi honey," she said. "Excited about the dance?"

"Yeah," I smiled a little. I sat down in a chair next to her.

"You don't seem excited," she frowned.

I sighed. "Well. . .someone's going to be there that I don't really want to see."

"Shane?" Mom asked.

I looked at her. "How did you know?"

Mom smiled a little and ran a hand through my hair. "How does a mother not know? Honey, don't worry about it. Just have a good time. Stick with Allison and Julie."

I groaned. "They're not going to help."

Mom shrugged, but still smiled. "If he comes too close, dump the bowl of punch on his head."

We both laughed.

"Am I missing something?" someone asked. It was Julie. She was done with her shower.

"Mom, when I come out, you must help me with my hair," I pleaded.

"Of course."

~*~*~

Finally, we were ready, nearly two hours later. Mom had done some sort of French braid thing to my head with lots and lots of curls. She did Julie and Allie's hair too-she put Julie's hair in an elegant twist and for Allie, piled all her hair on her head surrounded by curls.

I loved how it came out. It even made my hair look longer, surprisingly.

Julie and Allie loved my dress. Of course I didn't tell them why I picked out a dress in this particular color---any other dress I had probably would have been black---but they ooed and ahhed over it all the same.

After we all put on our matching silver charm bracelets---we've had them since second grade and added a new charm every year---and our shoes, we were ready for the biggest dance of the year---the finale that would close us off from school and into the real world.

"Oooh I'm so excited!" Julie squealed, smoothing down her long-sleeved silver dress. She looked in a mirror in the hallway. We were waiting for Mom to find her shoes so she could drive us to the dance.

"Me too," Allison sighed happily. Her dress was a gorgeous green---but not like that neon green I saw in Burdoff's. It was a deep, forest green with long sleeves and a square neckline.

"MOOOOOM!" I called. "DID YOU FIND YOUR SHOES YET?"

"Yes, and no need to yell," someone answered. I spun around and Mom was right behind me, holding the keys to her card and covering one ear.

"Sorry," I laughed.

"You girls got everything?" Mom asked.

"Yes," we answered in unison.

"Okay then," she smiled. "Let's go."

~*~*~*~

MUHAHAHAHA! I love filler chapters -grins evilly-

Well, maybe you don't, but you know how to get me to put up a better chapter soon?

That's right. . .

REVIEW! ^_^