Jay's laughter filled the air as they stepped into Autumn's Café. Heads turned their way. There were various people already situated within the store, but only one group caught their attention. Her eyes met with one of the group of four and felt anger course through her veins, for various reasons that she couldn't even begin to explain. Mia stood rigid, frozen to the ground. Jay ignored it and tugged at her, glaring.

"You're never going to live it down if he realises he has such power over you!" she hissed into her best friends ear.

Stiffly, Mia nodded and turned away to sit at the other end of the tiny café. It didn't matter to her. It shouldn't matter to her. She was over it. Had been long ago…

You can't lie to your heart.

'I can damn well try,' she thought back furiously. Jay gave her a questioning look, but she just shook her head. This didn't concern her. It concerned no one but herself.

And him.

He watched from the corner of his eye, some girl named Amber hanging onto his left arm. Another one of his mother's friends' daughters. It was beginning to get tedious. He was only 19; he didn't need this. What kind of mother attempts to marry off their son at the age of 19? No, since before then? The amount of girls he'd been introduced to had increased ever since he'd turned 17. The same year his cousin was found out to have been… not interested in girls. He rolled his eyes.

Stupid homophobic mother.

He could assure her as much as he wanted that he was straight, and that he was capable of finding his own girlfriends, but she still didn't listen to him.

"Hey, you alright?" he asked, glancing at the person seated beside him.

Gary's gaze pulled away from the girl and focused on his drink. He nodded for confirmation. Ashley watched suspiciously then pouted, slapping Gary on the shoulder. He turned blankly to look at her. She remained pouting at him. He sighed mentally, putting an arm around her.

She doesn't care. Not anymore.

The question was why she didn't care anymore. What had he done? Nothing. Nothing at all. Why was she so angry at him? If he could only know where he'd gone wrong, he would be content. Beside him, Nick was staring intently at him. Gary took his hand away from Ashley's shoulders, refusing to look at either of them. He wasn't up for confrontations this morning.

Mia refused to look. She refused to acknowledge him in any way, whatever the cost. Had he forgotten? Or did he just not care? She remembered Ashley. She remembered her all too well.

"Hey Darlin', what would you like today?" asked Autumn in a lightly cheery voice which spelled out concern.

Mia gave her a weak smile to inform her that she was fine. Autumn sighed inwardly. This girl… she always was stubborn until the end in everything she did, whether it was right or wrong. Jay interrupted Autumn's attempt at starting a conversation by giving their order in a clear voice which told her to leave it alone. Autumn accepted that and nodded, still smiling, before walking off.

"She doesn't know when to let things go," she muttered to Mia.

Mia, in return, smiled and shrugged back at her friend. The only other person, other than, she supposed, him, who know why they'd broken contact. She trusted Jay with everything and Jay in return, knowing that, did the best she could to protect her from anything and everything she could. Mia had been the first ever person who seemed to care about her and not patronise her for her choices. She had been the friend who opened her eyes where others could not by gently guiding her towards the truth, not just telling her without any information. Nevertheless, in the end, the truth hurt.

Stupid Julius. Stupid Travis. Didn't she ever learn? Nick was right, for a change. Never trust anyone from an opposing gang. Even if you feel as though you'd die for them.

Flashback

"Hey Travis!" she called out, running up to her boyfriend with a cheerful smile as her eyes sparkled with delight.

A guy with black hair, gold highlights, and grey eyes turned around with a bored look. His hair, gelled to, in his opinion, immaculate perfection, didn't even react to the wind's constant blowing. Jay's own hair had been tied up, but had been giving her trouble ever since the wind started up. Her halter top and jeans had both been chosen by her boyfriend. She wasn't allowed to wear a jacket against the cold because it wouldn't match her outfit. He demanded perfection and nothing else. Even now, she slowed down as he began to frown. Quickly she took out a comb from her backpack and brushed through her ponytail, the comb gliding through with ease.

"Better?" she asked hopefully.

He didn't say anything, just began to walk in the direction of the Mall. It wasn't unusual, so she followed him in without a word. Then, when they entered the Mall, it happened. Everything began to fit. All the signs, all the little things she tried to ignore, resurfaced in her mind. She took a step back in her heels, and stumbled, backing into the automatic sliding doors. Quickly, she stood up straighter before she could fall.

Travis slipped his arm around her. This unknown. Perfect in every way, she could have been a model. Her clothing suggested there was no such thing as modesty, and her sultry look suggested there was no such thing as 'going too far'. Jay felt her heart begin to pound unevenly. Who was she? What was Travis doing? He'd told her he loved her… Didn't he?

Then it happened. And her world came crashing down. Travis smirked and turned to kiss this… this thing. And she couldn't do anything. She was paralysed as she watched the scene unfold. She couldn't move as he pulled away slowly to look at her with a malicious sneer. There was nothing she could do as they turned and walked away.

How much had she sacrificed to be with him? All the slander… the arguments… Did that mean nothing to him? What she went through just to be with him? What they had? What she thought they had? Why was he doing this to her. He'd told her he loved her… Loved… Past tense… No… It couldn't be… It wasn't. He did love her. So then why was he walking away from her with another girl in his arms? Why?

End Flashback

Later, she would accept the fact that he didn't love her. She would then call up Mia to tell her what happened, but end up crying into the phone. Mia would run to the Mall in search for her, still trying to comfort her, mobile in hand. She would then end up talking to a frantic Nick when he took the phone away from the crying figure of Jay. He would tell her their specific location and she would appear seconds later, out of breath, but still able to rush over to her friend and hug her.

They went through all of that for her, and then she stupidly fell in love with Julius and it happened all over again. What the hell was wrong with her? She just had a knack for falling in love with the wrong people. So she swore never to love again. Never to give her heart out without another thought.

When the break up with Julius occurred, Mia had been in the middle of a tour. She had wanted to fly all the way home for her, but Jay wouldn't allow it. Jay refused to let her best friend lose another opportunity just because of her. Besides, how would she explain it? I had to fly home because my best friend acted like an idiot and fell for someone in a different gang, who was really just out to infiltrate the Vixens?

"Thinking?" she asked.

Jay looked up, startled out of her reverie. She looked away from her best friend, sighing.

"It never leaves you, does it?" she asked, smiling up at Autumn as she placed down their orders and left.

"Nope," muttered back Jay darkly.

Mia took a sip of her drink.

"It's best not to forget," she continued.

Jay shot up in surprise to stare at Mia. She was joking, right? No. She was serious. The look on her face was, at least. She followed Mia's gaze to a couple outside, across the road. They looked only about 12, and happy. The girl was jumping and running, trying to catch a butterfree, the boy following after her, laughing.

"If you don't forget, you learn not to make that mistake ever again. If you do, then you have another memory to remind you."

The girl turned around, pouting, poking her tongue out at the boy. She crossed her arms and stormed off in the other direction. He ran after her.

"To forget is merely to bury it under many more memories. You can't forget entirely, so there is no point in trying. Rather, you learn to accept."

He caught up with her, laughing, and reached out into the air before bringing his hand down, close to the girl.

"To accept it is to accept your mistake and to make certain that the mistake is never repeated ever again. Nothing can be ignored forever."

The girl watched as the butterfree sat staring at her in the boy's hand. It was particularly small, which would explain why no Pokemon trainers had caught it yet. Few would wish for a butterfree of that size. However, as a gift, it was perfect. Surprisingly, when the boy took out his pokeball, it didn't attempt to fly away. Instead, it closed its eyes and allowed itself to be caught.

"So we don't ignore it. Instead, we accept it and allow ourselves to learn from it. We move on."

The boy handed the pokeball over to the girl. She gasped in delight and hugged him, laughing. Releasing the butterfree, it perched on her shoulder, making her laugh again. She took the boy's hand, making him blush, and they continued their walk together.

"Maybe they will have better luck than we did."

Jay spun around to face her friend, surprised by this last comment. Seeing that there was nothing she could really say to the silently pained expression on her face, hidden by a mask of nothingness, she chose to remain silent, only nodding in agreement to her friend's remark as they watched the couple stroll out of sight.

Haha, talk about pointless… For those who didn't realise, Travis is Jay's ex. He was also Jack's second in command of the Black Onix's. Ashley… If you read Misty's Hope, you might remember her. If not… it'll come up again in the next chapter! Hopefully…

Angel Skykitten