Note: Hey guys! How you all doing? :) Here is the next chapter!

Thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter! FantasyLover88, Q-A Authoress, Nexxus176, Sol, aliensinnoh, Pokemonmeat, Guest, Dazzling-Moonblast, and gabed1298.

Chapter Eight: Catching Up

"Alright everyone," The ebony haired professor called out. He scanned the area, looking at the students that were spread around the empty field. "Behind you is the forest. After attending the assembly, you should all know the boundaries of it. Am I correct?" He eyed each student, making sure that they were all paying attention.

"Yes, professor." A few called out impatiently. They were all anticipating their time out of the classroom.

"Very well then." He nodded firmly before pursing his lips. "Your task is to complete the questions, and be back in class twenty minutes before the bell. Even if you don't finish, return to class immediately."

As Professor Sycamore continued with his instructions, Serena felt an elbow jam against her side. "What?" she whispered while looking straight ahead at the professor who was announcing the assignment as their homework if they weren't able to complete it.

"Switch with me, please." Dawn pleaded. "I'm not going to pass this class being his partner."

"I would…" Serena whispered. "…if it wasn't Gary." The honey blonde glanced over at the chattering brunette who was most likely whispering some nonsense into Ash's ear.

"I have to run against Alain and Amelia during the elections. Now I have to deal with him as my partner? It's too much."

Serena turned to face the bluenette as everyone around them slowly began their walk to the forest. "I have my own problems, Dawn. Plus I have to run against Gary in the election." She placed her hand on her friends shoulder. "You should be begging May." The two looked over to the pair that was ducking beneath a few branches. "Arnold looks like a smart dependable guy. Plus, he seems pretty quiet too. Total opposite of Gary."

"I already begged her! Because of that, she won't switch!"

Serena giggled. "Then you're out of luck. Besides, we only have this class twice a week. I'm sure you'll be fine." She patted Dawn on the shoulder as Ash approached them.

"Shall we start our assignment?" he asked, biting his lower lip.

"Yeah," Serena smiled brightly while turning her head to face him. "Let's try to finish before class ends. It will give me more time to focus on my campaign and practice for the upcoming showcase."

"I'll give it my best shot," he said as they headed towards the forest. "Good luck, Dawn." He whipped his head around at the sulking bluenette. "You're going to need it."

Serena stifled a laugh as they maneuvered around a few bushes.

Once they reached a spot that they deemed good enough to examine the wild Pokémon, the two sat in the grass.

The honey blonde lifted the assignment to her view and began reading the first few questions on the paper. Describe the habitat around you. What types of Pokémon do you think are living in this area? Name three different Pokémon you see. Serena looked up from the paper, and began scanning the area. Well, it's a forest, with lots of trees and shrubs… She thought to herself while tapping her pencil against her bottom lip. She then slightly shook her head upon realizing that this was an assignment she was supposed to work on with her partner.

"So how would you describe the area?" she asked while whipping her head around to look at the raven haired champion.

"H-Huh?" He gulped, immediately looking away to focus on his surroundings. "It's, uh, really green…"

Serena blinked several times upon seeing him become so jumpy. She watched as he shifted his weight on the grass before adjusting his cap.

Was he looking at her?

A small smile formed upon the honey blonde's face. She's never seen him so fidgety before. Perhaps it was because Pikachu wasn't there. He told her that they were spending less time together, but they were probably spending even lesser time now that he was attending the academy. Students weren't allowed to bring their Pokémon to class unless stated otherwise. It was considered a distraction, so they were only allowed to bring them around in their PokeBalls. But, Pikachu hated that…

"Well," she said. "We are in a forest. I expect it to be really green." She chuckled, causing the boy to blush. "We can say there's a lot of trees, and bushes. I don't think Professor Sycamore needs a descriptive essay."

"Yeah," he said, glancing over at Serena's page. He began writing his answer on his paper.

"So, what was Gary pestering you about?" she asked as they continued onto the next question. "I'm surprised Professor Sycamore didn't pick on you two since he wouldn't stop talking to you on the field." She glanced over at Ash's paper to see that their answers were fairly similar. She then looked up, searching for any Pokémon that were hiding around the area. Upon seeing an Oddish frolicking about, she wrote it on her paper.

"He really wants to be your partner," he answered.

"Thank you for not switching with him." she replied, relieved. Alain was probably going to give her a handful for being partnered with Ash, but she would rather go through that than deal with the arrogant Gary.

Poor Dawn. She wondered what she was going through at the moment. They probably haven't even started the assignment.

"I really wanted to be your partner too," he said.

She stopped writing her sentence to look at him. She was shocked by his answer, and as she stared at him with widened eyes, Ash looked back at her with a reddened face. "Really?" she asked.

"Well," he began, rubbing the backside of his neck. "I haven't talked to you in years. Dawn and May wrote to me all the time, but you never did. I just knew about you from what they said in the letters."

The guilt started to travel up her gut. It never occurred to her that Ash would notice her lack of effort to keep their friendship. He was so willing to go to Alola after his loss in the Kalos League. It made Serena feel like he wouldn't even remember her. It took him some time to even remember her from Professor Oak's summer camp in the first place.

She couldn't tell him that she was avoiding him though. He wasn't allowed to know about her perseverance to diminish the flame that contained all of her feelings for him. It was too embarrassing.

"I'm sorry… I always meant to write to you, but as soon as I started, something came up, and I forgot about it," she lied, and was feeling a tad bit guilty about it too.

"Ahh, I see." He lowered his head before returning his attention back to the assignment. "That makes sense. Dawn and May did say that you were always busy with the student council, and practicing your performances. They even sent me a video of you practicing once."

Serena perked up. "Really?" She raised an eyebrow before throwing her pencil onto her notepad. The lines on her forehead wrinkled as she began to think of the million times that Dawn and May filmed her practicing her routines. It was something Palermo recommended to help everyone examine the moves they needed to work on.

She didn't think that those two would send a video to Ash though. She really wanted to yell at them for that, but it was too late now.

"Yeah, you've improved a lot. I remember when you had a hard time just trying to attempt one flip, but now, you're doing a whole bunch of stunts on the stage. It's really exciting to see." He complimented, bringing a tint of pink to Serena's cheeks.

She knew she's improved a lot over the years, but hearing it come from someone else felt entirely different. She felt happy whenever she was able to perfect a certain move, but having someone else point it out made her training feel like it was much more worth it.

"Thanks Ash." She smiled before reading the next question.

"Plus," he continued. "Your battle yesterday was pretty awesome. I think you'd have a chance in the league." He lifted his index finger to his cheek and scratched it in a shy manner. He then glanced over at Serena's paper, making sure that they were working on the same question. Despite not talking about the assignment in front of them, they surely were copying their ideas from each other's pages.

Serena giggled. "I don't think the life of a Pokémon Master is for me. That's something fitting for you."

"Well, if you ever decide to give it a try, I'm here to help you out."

"You actually help me all the time, Ash," she admitted.

"What do you mean?" He stopped writing to look back at her.

"I took a few battle classes, and sometimes Palermo wants the performers to battle with one another. Most of the time, I think about what you would do. Your battling style always amazed me. Whenever I'm in a pinch, I always think - what would Ash do?" she said. "And most of the time, I win because of it." It was a strange thing for her to say. She tried so hard to forget him, but whenever she thought about him in battles, it felt completely different.

"Re-Really?" he asked quietly.

"Yeah," she said. She looked back to her paper, rereading her sentences. All of this talking could have messed with her sentence structure, and everyone knew that Professor Sycamore liked proper grammar.

The honey blonde placed the tip of her mechanical pencil below her words, and began gliding it along the page while reading each word. She mumbled to herself as she did, and then glanced over the remainder of questions.

"Is it okay for me to ask what's going on between you and Shauna…?" he was almost reluctant to ask. The hesitancy in his voice gave it all way.

As Serena began answering the next question on their assignment, she said, "You can ask me anything, Ash. It's been awhile, but I already feel like I can talk about anything with you." He blushed, and Serena teared her eyes away from the questions in front of her to look at him. "To be honest though, I don't really know what happened. I'm still trying to figure it out." She sighed as her mind began to wander over to Shauna again. And then over to Alain's outburst, and Ash witnessing it. "I'm sorry you had to witness all of that," she said.

"It happens," he said. "I wish I was here when your friendship took a hit. Maybe I could have helped with preventing it."

"Maybe…" Serena trailed off as the events of losing Shauna began to scroll through her mind. She shook her head as she returned to her work. "It's all in the past now. I can't do much about it."

"But… Alain helps you cope with it, right?" he hesitated to ask.

"I wouldn't say he helps me cope with it, but he listens to me vent about it. May, Dawn, and Miette help me cope with my problems, but their techniques don't really prolong my worry free period. Sometimes I wish someone could just make me feel okay with all of it, you know?" She looked back at Ash who was staring at her, bewildered. "I just wish I could get through my problems without a single worry or fear. I mean, they're always going to be there, but I just want to go through it feeling at ease."

"I-" Ash blinked several times with his lips pursed together.

Serena giggled as she stared at the flustered champion. "I kinda got serious there, huh?" She glanced over at her paper before looking back over to his. "We're finished our assignment," she said before taking a look at her watch. "And we still have an extra twenty minutes until we have to return back to class. Did you want to grab a snack at the cafeteria?"

"Well." Ash sighed with a slight look of disappointment on his face. "I actually still have your macarons," he said with a smile. He rummaged through his bag until pulling out the little box of confections.

"I forgot about those," Serena said as she grabbed the box from him. She peeled the small bit of tape that was sealing it together before opening it to reveal the three pistachio macarons.

"I was going to give them to you yesterday after the battle. Since you won, I thought you'd like to eat one, but then… you know."

"Yeah," Serena chuckled. "I really am sorry for all of that." She handed him a macaron before divulging herself in her own.

"Because of yesterday I have so many questions, but I don't want to overwhelm you with all of them."

"You know, I have a lot of questions about Alola, but I don't want to overwhelm you with all of them either."

"Then, maybe when we have more time, we can catch up more?" he asked as Serena split the third macaron in half for them to share.

"That would be nice," she said, actually feeling like bringing Ash back into her life was a genuinely good move. "It's a date!" She teased.

"D-Date?" His face reddened upon hearing the word.

Serena giggled. "I'm kidding. You're jumpy whenever something revolving around the topic of love comes up. Are you sure you didn't have a secret girlfriend in Alola?"

"If I had one, I think I would know," he muttered beneath his breath as Serena began stuffing her notebook and pencil case back into her backpack.

After she finished, she stood up from the grass, and began patting away any loose strands that were sticking to her school uniform. "We still have a bit of time before we have to return to class. Do you mind coming with me to the performers faculty to pick something up?"

"Sure, what is it?"

"Just a few accessories I want to add to my dress for the upcoming showcase in Couramine City."

The honey blonde closed the door behind her after handing the raven haired champion a few ribbons and glittery rhinestones. She then thanked him before proceeding to stuffing the crafty accents into her backpack.

"I wonder what your dress is going to look like," he said, stunned by the amount of accessories she needed to grab.

"You should come to the showcase then," she said as she fixed the straps around her shoulders. She glanced over at her watch again, noticing that they had to be back in class in three minutes. "We should go back to class now. I don't want to receive another detention for not abiding to his rules."

The honey blonde began picking up her pace as she turned the corridor with Ash following close behind her.

"Hello! Shauna! That's not how you do it! If you're going to do it, you should do it right!" Serena heard a voice snap as they reached the lounging area that was located by the front entrance.

The curious honey blonde came to a stop before turning to her right to see Amelia, her henchmen, and Shauna sitting at a table. Lying around the area were a couple sewing machines, and fabric, and some rhinestones.

"I WANT IT TO LOOK LIKE THIS!" Amelia snarled, causing Ash to come to a stop just in front of her. "MY ASSIGNMENT IS DUE NEXT PERIOD AND YOU'RE RUINING THE DESIGN!"

Serena walked down the small plight of stairs and squinted her eyes to get a better look at Shauna. She looked sad, and stressed out.

"Even these idiots here do it better than you!" Amelia grabbed the dress from Shauna's grip and threw it to the ground in front of her.

The honey blonde furrowed her eyebrows in anger before clenching her fists. She stomped over to Amelia, and tapped on her shoulder.

The angry performer whipped around to look at the honey blonde. "What do you want?" she snarled. "Can't you see I'm busy here?"

"Why are you being so rude to Shauna?" Serena asked. "She's the Kalos Queen. You have no right to treat her that way."

"In this school, I can treat her any way I want," said Amelia. "It's none of your business anyway."

"Outside of school, she can ruin your career as a performer, so I suggest you treat her better." Serena shot back. She was tired of Amelia's schemes and attitude. She always got people to complete her homework, and only treated people nicely if she wanted something from them. How was it possible that she even got into the program? How did Palermo not see her revolting attitude?

"She doesn't have the guts to do that. She would have done it already if she had any."

"I may not be close to her anymore, but I know for a fact that Shauna has more guts than you." She glanced over at Shauna before narrowing her eyes at Amelia.

She then whipped around before stomping out of the building.

Ash followed behind her as she began picking up her pace. As she descended a few more stairs she raised her wrist to take a look at her watch. They were going to be late, but if they ran, there was a chance that Professor Sycamore wouldn't give them an earful.

"Serena?" Ash called out to her as her speed continued to increase.

"Yeah?"

He grabbed onto her wrist, and brought her to a halt. He then took a few steps forward until he was in front of the honey blonde. "I don't think you have to worry about Shauna anymore," he said.

"Why not?"

"Because you stood up for her. That's what true friends do. When she realizes that, she'll be ready to talk to you."

"I don't know… you would have done the same."

"Trust me, okay?" He placed a hand on her shoulder. "And if she doesn't come around, then that's when you truly should let go. Don't bring yourself down over something you don't know. Just breath." He smiled before turning on his heel. "Now let's go before we get in trouble by Professor Sycamore."

Serena slightly smiled as she followed behind him. Maybe Ash could be that friend who keeps her worries and fears away. There was always something about him that made her let go of her negative thoughts.

Next Chapter Preview: Couramine Showcase

"Welcome to the Couramine City Showcase everyone!" Monsieur Pierre greeted with a buoyant attitude.

XXXX

"Serena… Your dress... It's ruined…" Dawn pointed out. "May and I were only gone for a second."

"What am I going to do? I won't be able to perform in the freestyle round!"

I seriously need to have some kind of format with my notes. haha.

Dazzling-Moonblast asked why isn't Ash running for a post in the student council.

I didn't really want to have everyone character be a part of it. I don't know if you get what I mean. Sometimes when I read things, for instance, everyone needs to have a boyfriend/girlfriend in the end or everyone has to be 100% part of something. I don't really like that. I like to have some people in, and some out. If you get it. Alain running isn't a huge deal either, it will be explained in the next chapter. :)

Also, the Shauna's grudge will be revealed I think 3 chapters from now. :)

I hope you guys still enjoyed the chapter! Leave your thoughts in a review or PM. thanks! :)