NOTE: This is a very important note, so pay attention! I've initially had Lily be Serena's roommate for the semester, but it didn't work out with I had in mind, so I changed her roommate to Shauna. I've edited that part of Chapter 2 if you already read it. I just wanted you guys to know. :) Thanks so much!
Chapter Three: Boys Will Be Boys
Her eyes widened as she looked into the green eyes of the brunette standing in front of her. She hasn't seen Shauna ever since she started attending Kalos Academy. Due to unknown reasons, Shauna broke their bond as friends and ignored Serena ever since. Serena eventually gave up on trying to figure out what went wrong, and moved on with her life. From time to time though, she always wondered what went wrong with their friendship.
Serena's fingers slightly trembled in her grip before the material of the bracelet slipped from her fingertips. Her eyes widened much more as she watched the bracelet hit the floorboards beneath her.
"What are you doing...?" Shauna questioned as Serena bent over to pick up the bracelet.
"I-I.." Serena snatched the bracelet from the floor before returning it to the index finger of the jewelry stand. "I didn't mean too... I just..."
Knock Knock.
The two girls turned their attention to the door.
"Serena?" Alain's voice could be heard, followed by a few more consecutive knocks. "I talked to the headmaster. You're good to go."
"Coming!" Serena called out. As she walked towards the door, she glanced over at Shauna who let out a scoff before looking over to the ground.
The honey blonde opened the door to find Alain leaning against the wall on her right. He stood up straight at the sight of Serena before sneaking a quick glance at Shauna who stood there quietly.
"Your roommate is Shauna?" Alain asked as Serena shut the door behind her. "Won't that be fun?" He commented sarcastically as he sauntered beside Serena with his arms crossed behind his head.
"Alain!" Serena called out in a panicked manner. She wasn't feeling as calm as the boy who was walking with his eyes closed. "What am I going to do? Shauna hates me!" She freaked out.
Her past with Shauna suddenly began to scroll through her mind like a miniature slideshow. It went from best friends to enemies in a matter of seconds. She had no clue as to what caused their friendship to break off like that.
"Just relax, will you?" He slightly opened one of his eyes to see the honey blonde's arms flailing around the area. He scoffed before grabbing ahold one of her wrist. "You're going to hurt someone." He stopped in the middle of the hall before pulling Serena towards him to grab ahold of her other arm.
The honey blonde looked down to the two hands that were holding onto her wrists. She then looked up to Alain who was staring at her with serious eyes. "Serena," he said, capturing her attention. "Whatever happened between you and Shauna was over two years ago. I'm sure she's over it." Alain finished off before resuming his walk down the hall.
"You obviously don't know girls very well!" Serena said out loud before picking up her pace to catch up to him.
"I know you very well," he said. "And I know you're going to be fine."
His words caused her to stop once again. With downcast eyes, Serena's lips curled downwards into a frown. She wasn't sure as to how she was going to deal with Shauna being her roommate for the next five months. There was absolutely no way that she was going to deal with it. Not since when Shauna gave her the cold shoulder and got a few good friends like Trevor and Tierno to turn against her. What did she do to even cause that?
"Serena..." The honey blonde looked up at the Kalos Champion who stopped just a few feet in front of her. "Knowing you, you would take this chance to become her friend again." She watched as Alain's lips slowly curved upwards into a small smile. He wasn't usually one to smile, but Serena cherished it whenever he did.
"You're right!" She pumped a fist up into the air before furrowing her eyebrows in determination. "I should try to befriend her again."
"That's the Serena I know." Alain nodded before resuming his walk.
Serena stood backstage of the auditorium as Headmaster Redwood continued with addressing the rules and expectations to the students. It was the same boring speech that Serena could probably recite without any cue cards if she had too.
Standing with her backstage was Ash and Alain who were waiting for Headmaster Redwood to announce the battle going on between the two Champions. Because of her run in with Shauna, she completely forgot about Alain's inability to battle. At one point in a battle he always seemed to experience some kind of flashback that related to Mairin's death, and in the end he would break down, and would no longer be able to continue with the battle.
The honey blonde raised a finger to her mouth before chewing on one of her fingernails. Why did Alain have to accept the battle? What did he have to prove? Why couldn't he just continue with his treatment with Professor Sycamore instead of constantly disobeying him?
"Serena, are you okay?" Ash asked, removing his attention from his electric mouse pokemon. "Is something bothering you?" He blinked his eyes several times, trying to get ahold of the fact that Serena was chewing on her fingertips.
Serena pulled her hand away from her face, ready to answer his questions, but was interrupted by Alain who was leaning against the wall, patiently waiting for the Headmaster's announcement of their battle.
"Don't worry about her," Alain interrupted, garnering Ash's attention. "She does that whenever she's nervous."
"Nervous?" Ash asked before looking back to Serena. "Since when did biting your nails help with your nervousness?"
Serena opened her mouth once again to answer his question, but once again, she was stopped by Alain.
"Since she took a beauty class involving fake nails. She hated them so much that she would end up trying to bite them off. Eventually, she somehow conditioned herself to chew on them whenever she got nervous."
"Wow..." Ash raised his hand to his nape and began rubbing it. "You two must be really close, huh?" He looked off to the side with a slight frown on his face.
"Well... come to think of it..." Serena placed an index finger on her lip as her mind began to ponder over her friendship with Alain. "I think I see him almost everyday... Half of the time, I don't even want to see him. He's just there."
"Thanks." Alain deadpanned upon hearing Serena's comment about their friendship.
Serena giggled before turning to look at him. "I'm just kidding." She laughed. "I enjoy seeing you everyday, and you know it!" She winked before giving him a thumbs up.
The Kalos Champion scoffed before looking away, and closing his eyes. He once again began resuming his ignorance of the others around him while waiting for Headmaster Redwood's announcement.
"You're so lucky to have found someone that knows a lot about you," Ash commented as Serena turned her attention back to him.
"I guess so..." Serena smiled. "But I'm sure that you met a few friends that know everything about you too."
"Yeah." Ash smiled back, lopsidedly. "But none of them are yo-"
"Everyone! Please welcome your two regional Champions, Ash and Alain!" Headmaster Redwood's voice resounded throughout the auditorium, followed by a cheering crowd who was already chanting the name of the person they wanted to win.
"That's my cue," said Ash before looking over to Pikachu. "Excited, buddy?"
"Pikachu!"
Serena watched as Ash moved the curtains to the side to enter the stage. The cheers of the students grew louder at the sight of the Alolan Champion taking his place on the stage. The honey blonde then watched as Alain walked ahead of her, walking up the set of stairs to take his own place on the stage.
"Wait!" Serena pestered, grabbing onto his arm. "Are you sure you want to do this?"
"Well, I can't back down now, can I?" Alain pointed out before shaking Serena's hand away from his arm.
She continued to watch Alain head up the small plight of stairs. "If something goes wrong, I'm closing the curtains!"
"Whatever you want." He waved his hand without turning back to look at her.
The honey blonde clenched her fists as the cheers of crowd grew much louder, before finally settling down at Headmaster Redwood's command. As she exited backstage through another door, Serena could hear Master Redwood announce the rules for the match. She continued to scuttle down a set of stairs before walking in front of the stage where a bunch of students stood up in excitement for the battle.
"Who are you going to cheer for?" Dawn asked as Serena took her seat beside her at the very front row. She then watched as the stage began to shift into one of a battlefield like any other gym. "It's hard for you to choose between the two isn't it?" She teased, causing Serena to roll her eyes.
Serena watched as Ash threw his pokeball out in front of him, releasing Greninja onto the battlefield. She then looked over to Alain who did the same, but of course, releasing his Charizard onto the field.
"Alright!" Ash called out, "I'll let you go first!"
"If you insist," Alain said before issuing his Charizard to mega evolve. Alain took his stance as his watch began to react with the mega stone hanging around Charizard's neck. The light from the mega evolution began to blind the crowd, but it also sent them off the edge, and the Alain fans could be heard much more clearly.
Serena looked up once the mega evolution resulted in Charizard's color to change from orange to black with a blue underbelly, and blue flames burning brightly from its mouth.
"Alright then!" Alain called out, "Charizard, use Dragon Claw!" He issued his pokemon.
Charizard happily obliged as it raised its arms out in front of it. It's limbs, and claws began to glow a bright blue. It then locked its eyes on the water pokemon in front of it, before charging straight ahead to attack it.
"Greninja! Water Shuriken!" Ash commanded.
Greninja jumped up into the air before forming a Water Shuriken between its webbed fingertips. As Charizard jumped up from the field to meet Greninja eye to eye, it raised its claws, before throwing its arm out in front of it to hit the ninja pokemon. Before getting the chance to meet contact with it, Greninja threw its star at the fire pokemon, causing it to fall backwards, and land on its feet back on the ground.
"Your Greninja's Water Shuriken looks to have gotten stronger since we last battled," Alain complimented.
"Well, I am the Alolan Champion," Ash replied with complete confidence. "I'm sure that I can beat you now!"
"We'll see about that..." Alain scoffed before issuing his Charizard to use Flamethrower.
"Not so fast!" Ash called out before instructing his Greninja to use Double Team.
The entire arena began to fill with hundreds of replicas of the frog like pokemon.
Serena looked around the auditorium to see that the Double Team even extended far towards the back of the auditorium. A few of the fans even tried jumping up to touch a copy to see if it were actually the real one. Serena then looked over to Charizard who began shooting out its blue flames from its mouth, destroying each copy, one by one. She then looked over to Alain who suddenly began to lean over, with his arms resting on his thighs. She could tell that he was suddenly having a hard time with the battle that was going on around him. It always seems to happen when he would command his Charizard to use Flamethrower.
"Greninja, now!" Ash instructed as Greninja appeared from behind the dragon like pokemon, using Cut to strike it on its protruding belly.
Charizard growled before losing its footing and falling on its side.
"We can do this..." Alain uttered before commanding his Charizard to attack once again using Dragon Claw.
Serena furrowed her brows in worry as she looked at Alain who was slowly losing it. She could tell that he was slowly withdrawing himself back into a state where Mairin's death was taking over his mind.
I have to do something... Serena thought before heading backstage in search of something that would help her with saving Alain from humiliation. If I close the curtains, I'll just disappoint everyone. I can't do that... She frantically looked around the area before running up a set of stairs that led her to the platforms above the stage. She looked over the railings at battle that was happening below her where Charizard was suddenly having a hard time with keeping up with Alain's commands.
She then looked past the cheering crowd, and finally looked up towards the fire sprinkler systems that were situated around the ceiling. She took a deep breath before reaching into the pocket of her blazer for one of her pokeballs.
"I knew that you would find me here." A familiar voice sounded from behind her.
Serena whipped her head around to see Gary standing on the platform just a few feet away from her. "Gary?" She questioned as she removed her hand from her pocket. "What are you doing here?"
The brunette in front of her smirked as his Magmar appeared from behind him. "Don't act like you don't know. I know you came up here because you saw me about to cause trouble."
Serena raised an eyebrow before slightly squinting her eyes in confusion. "Uhm... Okay. Why are you here exactly?"
"To make you go on a date with me."
"Excuse me?" Serena took a few steps back as Gary began to take a few steps forward.
"A bet is a bet, Serena. You owe me that date, and I know what will make you say yes."
"Do we really have time for this?" Serena asked as she leaned over the black railings to eye Alain who trying his best to keep Greninja from constantly attacking his Charizard.
"Yes we do. My Magmar here will use its Flamethrower to activate all of those sprinklers if you do not say yes."
Activate those sprinklers...? Serena looked up at the sprinkler system that she was going to happily allow her Delphox to use its Flamethrower on. A smirk formed upon the honey blonde's face before she looked over at Gary and met his eyes. "Go ahead." She encouraged him .
"Wh-What?" He was taken aback by Serena's reply. "You can't be serious... I was only kidding..." He took a few steps back with confusion taking over his face.
"I really don't want to go out with you Gary," said Serena. "And if you really have a problem with that, then I guess you should set off the sprinklers."
Gary scoffed before standing his ground. He looked at the honey blonde, trying to read her mind. "You're bluffing. You wouldn't encourage me to do that. I thought you were student body president."
"So you're telling me that you were lying if I said no," Serena pointed out before nodding her head with disapproval. "That's no way to get a girl to go out with you. You're just a liar."
"WHAT!?" Gary pouted before crossing his arms over his chest. "I am not! Magmar use Flamethrower on the sprinkler system!"
Boys and their egos... Serena rolled her eyes as she watched the flames from Magmar's mouth shoot upwards towards the ceiling. In a matter of seconds, an alarm was sounded, and the auditorium began to pour with water. Serena looked over at the students who were now rushing to exit the auditorium with Headmaster Redwood and the other teachers telling them to remain calm and exit in an orderly manner.
Serena sighed with relief as she looked over to Ash who was returning his Greninja back into his pokeball. She then looked over to Alain who seemed to be lost in his thoughts, but was quick to receive help from Headmaster Redwood who was also aware of his situation.
"You two!" Serena looked past Gary to see Professor Sycamore walking up the set of the stairs. He had his arms crossed, and his face was filled with complete anger. "Serena, I thought you came up here to put a stop to Gary, so I didn't bother to do anything. Unfortunately, it seems that you were more of an accomplice to him than a figure of authority. I am very disappointed in you. I will see the two of you in detention!"
Serena's eyes widened at the word detention. She has never received detention before.
"I guess we'll be seeing more of each other," Gary winked before following Professor Sycamore down the set of stairs.
A/N: Yeh, I am still aware that its still boring, but it will get better. I know Serena may appear a bit OOC, but I've changed her a bit because she did grow up (and everyone else). Also, the amourshipping is going to be somewhat slow moving, but if you're into school fics anyway, I hope that you will be patient. :)
I also wanted to make a point because of a review left by aliensinnoh. A few of you amourshippers might think this is a SerenaxAlain fic, but I'm just trying to point out that while Ash was gone, Serena formed a close friendship with a different guy. This is important to the relationship that will develop between the two, and I'm just trying to point out their closeness for future drama. I was initially going to make Alain's character be Calem, but I changed Calem (whose a minor character) to be Serena's older brother instead. If you don't like it, then I'm sorry. I mean, I personally lowkey ship Serena with Alain... Oddly enough. haha :)
Anywho, thanks to those who left a review for Chapter 2! Thank to aliensinnoh, 2 Guest's, Frostburn243, Bluejack222.