I'm baaaaaaack! I've been having trouble juggling sports, retarded summer work, and housework. I'm getting a new room done so currently I'm roomless :( But I'm keeping up in good spirits anyway! Even though school's starting soon, my homework's not done, and my volleyball team absolutely sucks. But whatever!

Disclaimer: I do not own any Pokemon, Pokemon characters, or Dance Moms. I do own the plot, Brandon, and Ms. Lassoni.

Enjoy!

LEAF'S POV

"One more week!" Misty exclaimed sarcastically as we stared at a light blue poster.

The big Winter Bash dance was coming up, and we were anything but excited.

"We have to wear dresses," I moaned.

"I'm the head of the decorating committee."

I looked at her as if she was insane. "Why?"

"My sisters made me. They said if I didn't sign up they'd hide my laptop and my cell phone."

"Harsh. Why'd they do that?"

Misty shrugged as we walked to our lockers. "They were each the Ice Princess their senior year, and apparently I have to follow in their footsteps."

"Are you going to campaign?"

She laughed. "No. If the rest of the senior class nominates me, then I'm kind of screwed. Luckily, that won't happen."

I slammed my locker and we walked to Language Arts.

"Are you going to go with Brandon?" Misty questioned.

I shrugged. "If he asks me. We all know you're going with Ash."

"I know, but we're going to have to go dress shopping, and there's only one awesome dress boutique in town."

"How do you know that?"

"Sisters," she answered bluntly.

"They torture you, don't they?"

"Every single day, but I love them anyway. Arceus only knows why, but I do."

We walked in and sat at our desks. Ms. Lassoni was on time, so we made sure we were too.

I looked around. "Where's Ash?"

"Hmm. I don't know. Did you see them land this morning?"

I shook my head. "I didn't see either of them this morning. I have to leave earlier than them because my mom drives me."

Ms. Lassoni began to take attendance and explain the importance of diagramming.

"Do you think something happened?" Misty whispered discreetly, fear lacing her tone.

"I hope not. Ash is one of my best friends."

"And Gary?"

I shrugged. "Not that big of a loss."

Misty sighed in frustration.

"Who's talking?" Ms. Lassoni asked in her nasally voice.

Misty and I furiously began writing notes with the rest of the class.

"Whoever it was, you better quit it." She returned to writing on the large whiteboard.

"u know u love him," Misty wrote on a blank page in her notebook.

"do not! can we just worry about the guys 4 now"

"If theyre not back by lunch, we'll try 2 figure out what's up"

"Deal." I continued to write my notes as worry built inside of me. They were never both late.

'Maybe Gary's here. Maybe it's just Ash.'

I saw Derek, one of Gary's friends and locker neighbor, sitting in the desk a foot from me.

"Derek!" I whispered.

His eyes darted toward me. "What?" he whispered back.

"Was Gary at lockers?"

He shook his head and stared at his notebook as Ms. Lassoni walked past us. I saw her shoot me a glare out of the corner of my eye, but she didn't yell at me. She walked back to the front of the classroom and wrote even more notes.

'Something's definitely wrong.'

XXXXX

GARY'S POV

"Why did this have to happen?" I asked Ash in frustration.

We stood around my Charizard in the middle of the lab. Smoke was spewing out of his nostrils, and when he coughed, black smoke came out. Ash was coming from the sink with a bucket of water. Charizard's eyes widened at it.

Ash sat it on the floor and looked at me. "Isn't water bad for fire types?"

I doused a towel in the bucket. "Yeah, but the smoke is coming from an excess amount of fire and heat."

"But it's winter."

I shrugged. "I'm not in control of the pokémon universe."

I sat the towel on Charizard's flaming hot orange skin. He slightly winced at the cold.

I handed Ash a stack of dry towels. "Put these on his skin, but avoid his flame on his tail."

Ash nodded. I usually wouldn't trust him with something so important, but I trusted him with my pokémon. I ran back and dug a pumping system out of the closet. Gramps used it when a fire type pokémon was overheated or had an excess amount of fire. I plunged my hands into the ice cold water and slowly filled the pump.

I put the nozzle into Charizard's mouth. "Don't bite it hard, but don't let it fall out of your mouth."

I screwed the lid of the pump shut and sat it on the ground. I lightly pressed my foot on it over and over again, sending the water into Charizard's smoking stomach. Ash proceeded to lay wet towels on him. The pained look on his face slowly faded, but I kept the water going just to be sure.

"We can't fly on him," I said as I continuously pressed my foot on the pump.

"Why not?" Ash asked.

"He has to recover for about a week to prevent this from happening again."

Ash groaned. "I sent my Charizard to an obedience school for two weeks."

I raised an eyebrow.

"I was tired of him burning off my eyebrows and "accidentally" dropping me in midair, only to catch me a few feet from the ground."

I chuckled. "Can you call Gramps? He needs to get home immediately."

Ash dialed his number and went into the other room. I felt the towels. They were practically dry. I took them off one by one and wetted them again. I stopped pumping water into his fiery stomach, not wanting to wash him out completely. I glanced at the clock. It read 11:07. I lightly groaned.

Charizard had started out fine, but started to slow down quickly above Viridian City. We landed and noticed the smoke. I sucked him up into his pokéball and we walked back home quickly. We got home about an hour later and it took us about half an hour to figure out what was wrong with Charizard and start helping him.

"He said he's on his way, and he'll be home in about fifteen minutes."

"Okay. Do you know what time it is?"

Ash's stomach growled. "Lunch time?"

I rolled my eyes and walked into the kitchen. "What do you want to eat?"

"I don't care."

I fished out some ingredients for sandwiches. "Come and make yourself a sandwich."

We sat at the table and silently ate. Ash's phone, which was sitting on the table, started vibrating.

"Hello? Yeah, I'm fine. You sound really worried."

"Who is it?" I whispered.

He mouthed, "Misty," and kept talking. "No, I'm not dead. Yeah, Gary's fine. We're at the lab. We might come later. Okay, I guess I'll talk to you later. Love you too. Bye."

He hung up the phone and sat it back on the table. "It was just Misty. She said that her and Leaf were flipping out all morning because we didn't show up. They thought something bad happened."

"Are we going to go to school?"

"Should we? I mean, how are we supposed to get there?"

"We could take your mom's car or my gramps' car. As long as you don't drive."

Ash may have passed his driving test, but he wasn't very good at driving at all.

He smiled sheepishly. "Yeah, you can drive, but it's going to take an hour or maybe longer to get there. We won't get into class until 12:30 or 1:00, and there isn't really a point in going then."

I nodded in agreement.

Gramps walked through the door and spotted Charizard covered in wet towels. "Very good, boys. You took care of the situation very well."

He felt Charizard's exposed skin. "You might want to wet those towels again. He's still burning up."

Ash and I sat our dishes in the sink and went toward the soaking wet floor.

"This is going to be a long day."

XXXXX

LEAF'S POV

"I can't believe they didn't come at all. Something really bad must've happened."

Misty turned down the radio in her car. "Well, we're on the way to your house. After we park my car in your driveway we can go see what's up. Call them to check if they're still there."

I called Ash's cell phone and waited as it rang. He didn't pick up. "Ash didn't answer."

"Call Gary."

My eyes widened. "Arceus no. Anyone but him. Can't I call Professor Oak?"

She shook her head. "Ash said he was busy running errands and that he was going to go back out after he helped them."

I slowly scrolled through my contacts and stared at his name. "I can't do this."

"Either you call him or I do it and we get into a car accident."

"I'll go with the car accident."

Misty shot me a glare.

"Fine, but if I start yelling, it's all on you."

"Whatever."

I clicked the number and held the phone up to my ear.

"Hello?"

I bit my lip. "Hey, Gary, it's Leaf."

"Leaf?" he asked in disbelief.

"Yeah, so are you and Ash still at the lab?" I asked, wanting to get off of the phone as soon as possible.

"We've been here all day. Why?"

"Misty and I will probably stop over when we get to Pallet Town."

"Okay, you guys can come over whenever."

"Alright. Bye!"

"Wait, Leaf!"

I clutched the phone tightly in my hand. "What?" I asked.

Silence echoed through my ear.

He sighed. "Never mind. I just...never mind. See you later."

"But…" I started, but he hung up. I sighed in sad defeat.

"What happened?" Misty asked, quickly glancing at me.

I shrugged. "I don't know. He just hung up on me."

"Oh well. We should be there in about fifteen or twenty minutes, and then you can find out why he hung up. Maybe they had to do something. Do you know what happened?"

"Nope. He didn't tell me."

Misty sighed. "Leaf, I really have to talk to you about this."

I raised an eyebrow. "Why? About what?"

"About you and Gary, that's what. You're going to lose your entire relationship with him if you're not careful."

"We're not even friends anymore," I stated, looking at my lap.

"I'm your best friend, but so is he. You've known him since you were five. You've loved him since you were eleven. You're going to let him go?"

My heart swelled with pain as memories flooded back rapidly.

"We'll be best friends forever," I said when we were only six.

Gary nodded. "We'll stay friends until we both die."

I nodded. "Forever."

I gasped as I opened the large green box and pulled out a white hat. There was half of the poké ball symbol in red on the front of it.

"Happy 13th birthday, Leaf. Do you like it?"

I gave Gary a hug. "I love it!"

He laughed as I put it on my head and posed. "I'm happy you like it so much."

"I'm never going to take it off."

More recent ones came after that, knocking the wind out of me.

"That's not why you're upset. Why won't you tell me?"

"I can't," he replied shakily.

"I can't believe you…" I whispered to myself, just loud enough for him to hear.

"Leaf…"

"Are you going to tell me what your problem is or not?"

He intently stared at the floor.

"Fine. Don't tell me," I said, heading for the door. "If you want to hide yourself from me, go ahead. I won't care," I said, my voice cracking.

"Leaf, please…"

"Save it for someone who cares," I barked, venom dripping from every word. His eyes widened in surprise at what I said, but before he could reply, I slammed the door in his face.

"It's too late," I whispered as we pulled into my driveway.

"Too late for what?" Misty asked gently.

"He's never gonna want to be friends with me ever again. There's just been too much tension between us lately, and it's pushing us farther and farther apart."

She turned off the engine and looked at me. "You need to talk to him."

I sighed and rested my chin in my hand. "I've tried, and he never tells me what's wrong. I'm not the only one making it difficult to be friends."

We climbed out of the car.

"Let's talk about it later. We should go visit the guys and you should see if you can do anything about you and Gary."

I nodded and we started to run toward the lab. Misty rang the doorbell and we waited.

Ash opened the door and smiled. "Hey, guys."

"What happened?" I asked as we went inside.

Ash was still in his school uniform from this morning, and I saw Charizard curled in a ball sleeping in the center.

"What happened?" I asked again.

"He got overheated and full of excess smoke," Gary said, coming out of the kitchen.

"Is he going to be okay?" Misty asked.

"He needs a week to recuperate."

I touched Charizard's snout, and I pulled my hand back quickly. "He's really hot."

Ash and Gary started to peel dry towels off of Charizard and drench them in water from a bucket.

"How long have you two been doing this?" I asked.

"All morning," Ash moaned.

"Well, we better get going," I said, turning toward the door.

Misty snatched my arm and pulled me back into the room. "We can hang out for awhile. Do you guys need help?"

I tried to wriggle my arm from her grasp, but she squeezed tighter.

"Yeah, do you need help?" I asked weakly.

Misty released my arm and I rubbed it tenderly.

"Sure, just lay these wet towels on Charizard."

I started to help take towels off of Charizard and cringed when the cold water touched my skin.

"Ash, can you go and fill this up in the bathroom again?"

Ash lifted the practically empty bucket and started toward the bathroom.

"I'll go help you!" Misty exclaimed, running after him.

I shot a glare at her back as she walked away with Ash.

That left me and Gary in the same room. Together. Alone. For as long as Misty felt like torturing me.

"What happened to Charizard?" I asked quietly.

I looked over at him, and his eyes met mine. "He started to give out above Viridian City, so Ash and I ran back here and started cooling him down. We had to stay home and watch him."

I nodded, my eyes never leaving his. I looked back down at my hands as I blushed, and I heard him sigh.

I looked back up quickly. "What's wrong?" I asked.

"Nothing," he said, slightly shaking his head

"Why'd you hang up on me?" I blurted out.

I mentally kicked myself for being stupid. We were actually having a civilized conversation, until I had to open my big, fat mouth.

"I don't know," he admitted after a few seconds. "It's confusing."

"Tell me," I whispered.

He shook his head. "No. I've told you this a million times, I can't."

Anger boiled inside of me. "Why not?" I asked through gritted teeth.

"Don't get mad at me. I really can't tell you."

I stood up. "I really have to go."

Ash and Misty came back in with the bucket full of water.

"Leaf, where are you going?" Misty asked.

"My mom texted me and said she wants us home," I lied. I glanced at Gary, who stared at the floor.

"Okay. Bye, Gary. Bye, Ash." She kissed Ash on the cheek before leaving the lab with me.

"What does your mom want?" she asked as we walked toward my house.

"Well, she wanted to make sure we were home."

"She didn't see my car? It's neon blue. It's kinda hard to miss."

"She wanted to know where we went, so I told her we were at the lab and we would be heading home."

"Okay," Misty said.

I sighed in relief inwardly. 'I'm safe!'

We walked into my house and into the kitchen. "Do you want a cookie?" I asked Misty casually.

"You know it!"

I unwrapped the platter of cookies that sat on the table. "Mom, can Misty and I have a cookie?" I shouted.

"Yes!"

I rubbed my hands together mischievously and chose a cookie. Misty rolled her eyes and took one off the plate. We ran upstairs and into my room.

"What really happened?" Misty asked from my neon green beanbag chair.

"What are you talking about?" I asked nonchalantly. I was lying on my bed and staring at the ceiling to avoid her stare.

"Mmhmm, because we all believed your mom texted you because we were running ten minutes late."

"She did!" I exclaimed.

"No, she didn't. Don't lie to me. You wanted to get away from Gary as soon as possible."

I laid in silence. "Yeah, you caught me," I stated.

"What happened this time?" Misty asked. She sounded annoyed with me.

"It's not my fault! I asked him why he hung up on me and he said that it was confusing. Then he said he couldn't tell me why. He's the one locking himself up high and far away from me," I exclaimed. "I can't be friends with him if he doesn't try to fix what's broken too," I said softly

She sighed. "I don't know what else to tell you to do. You're obviously trying."

I rolled over and rested on my elbows. "I've been trying all along, but he won't cooperate."

"He wants to be friends with you again, that's for sure."

"How do you know?"

"Gary's no idiot. He wouldn't give up on one of his best friends that easily."

"But he is!" I exclaimed exasperatedly. "I mean, how badly can Brandon irritate him?"

Misty laughed nervously. "I'm not really on Brandon's side either."

My eyes widened. "Do you have a problem with my boyfriend?"

"Sure, he's a good and caring friend, but I've heard he's not the best boyfriend."

"What do you mean?" I asked cautiously.

"I heard from Sonya that he cheated on her with Stephanie last year, and she had absolutely no idea."

"But isn't she super smart?"

Misty nodded. "Sonya said she never got why he'd be all couple-y at some times and act normal at other times."

"No. He's not doing that to me."

I thought of all the times Gary tried to steer me away from him indirectly.

"I don't think he's your type."

"I don't want you getting hurt."

"How are you and Brandon?"

"Ash is supporting this?!"

"He's been looking out for me all along," I whispered in disbelief.

"What?"

"Gary's been watching out for me the whole time. He kept telling me that he didn't think I'd like Brandon and all this crap because he didn't want me to get hurt." I laid my head in my covers and screamed, "I hate my life!"

"I'm not a fan of Brandon, but that doesn't mean you should just break up with him. I mean, what if he's not cheating on you and you break up with him? He could've changed from last year to this year, and Sonya isn't the prettiest girl. I can kind of see why he'd cheat on her."

"Misty, that's not nice!" I exclaimed.

We both looked at each other and burst into hysterical laughter. We took a few deep breaths and calmed down.

"That's still mean."

Misty shrugged. "Mean but true. At least Stephanie is pretty. You're pretty too, so there's no reason for Brandon to cheat on you."

I felt my confidence in Brandon and my relationship with him return.

"He might be okay, but he better watch his back with me as your best friend. I'm sure Ash and Gary would join in on his beating too."

I rolled my eyes. "Please don't beat the crap out of my first boyfriend. You'll scare everyone else away from me."

"No promises. When are we going to go dress shopping?"

"We can go tomorrow. Are we bringing your sisters with us?"

Misty nodded. "They want to approve of the gowns, and they have credit cards."

I sighed. "There's always an ulterior motive when your sisters are involved."

"Okay, so we'll run it by your mom and we'll drive out and squish my sisters into the backseat. Then we'll go to whatever this dress boutique is called and the torture will begin."

"Seems simple enough."

"Girls, time for dinner!"

We ran down the stairs as a delicious aroma filled our noses. "Pizza!" we shouted at the same time, running for the table.

My mom laughed from the living room as we each grabbed a slice and sat in front of the couch.

"What are we watching?" Misty asked.

"It's a Dance Moms marathon."

Misty and I gasped and looked at each other. Dance Moms was beyond one of our favorite shows.

"How long is it on?"

Mom looked through the guide on the TV. "It's on until 10:00 tonight, so about five hours."

"Can we sleep down here tonight?" I asked.

"Sure, I don't care."

Misty and I high-fived each other.

"Let the marathon begin!"

XXXXX

GARY'S POV

"Do you like anyone?" Ash asked me casually.

We were sitting in my living room in our pajamas watching TV. We were going to go to his house, but we decided to stay at the lab in case Charizard's heat levels starting acting up again.

"No. What should we watch?" I asked, quickly changing the subject. I flipped through channel after channel nervously.

"Do I have to go all Dr. Phil on you?" he asked.

I turned toward him. He had a clipboard and a pen in his hands. "Tell me how you're feeling."

I swatted the clipboard and the pen out of his hands and he looked at them lying on the ground.

"Okay… I guess you're not a big fan of Dr. Phil."

"Really?" I asked sarcastically. I continued to search TV until I found a decent hockey game.

"I know who it i-is," he sang.

"Then why are you asking me?"

"Because the first step to fixing a problem is admitting you have one."

I raised an eyebrow at him. He had another clipboard and pen.

I groaned. "Put it away."

He threw everything behind his back. He stared at me.

"What?" I asked.

"Are you going to tell me?"

"No way!"

He shrugged. "Fine, I'll say it. You have a crush on Leaf."

I felt my face grow hot as I murdered the channel button.

"I knew it!" Ash shouted like a maniac.

"Will you be quiet? Gramps lives here too, y'know."

"Sorry," he whispered. "So why are you ignoring her all the time?"

"I didn't do anything. She's the one who stopped going to school with us and not talking to me."

"But aren't you best friends?"

"We were, but we got into this huge fight."

"About what?"

"About her dating Brandon. I know you guys are friends, but I don't trust him. He cheated on a few girls last year. What if he does that to Leaf?"

"You want her, don't you?"

I sighed in defeat. "You bet I do, but she's mad at me because I won't tell her why I don't like Brandon."

"Just tell her about the cheating thing. She probably already knows that."

"I know, but she's psychic or something. She'll know that there's another reason, and if I don't tell her, we'll be back at square one."

"Just tell her you like her. How hard can it be?"

"Dude, you must be retarded. First, she hates me. Two, it'd ruin what little remains of our friendship. And three, she's got a boyfriend."

"Whatever, Gary. You two can't fight forever."

We sat in silence and then started to scream at the TV and its stupid hockey players. We didn't talk about it after that, but Ash's words kept replaying in my head.

"You two can't fight forever."

I sighed. I wouldn't be so sure.

XXXXX

MISTY'S POV

It was around 1:30 in the morning, and Leaf was passed out at the other end of the couch. I texted Ash to see if Gary told him anything.

M: hey leaf likes gary

A: he likes her 2

M: we need 2 set them up

A: how should we do that?

M: idk but we need 2

A: he said he cant ask her out cuz she hates him & she has a boyfriend blah blah blah u get the point

M: shes just mad cuz he wont tell her y he doesn't like Brandon

A: what do u mean?

M: its like he tries 2 tell her then gets nervous & gives up

A: hes not even going 2 the winter bash

M: WHAT?!

A: he doesn't have a date

M: ½ the skool would go w/ him if they could

A: I know but I guess hes 2 hung up on leaf

M: they need 2 go 2gether

A: but isn't she going w/ Brandon?

M: yeah he asked her at the end of the day :(

A: then idk what we should do

M: even if we don't get them 2gether til after that hes still going 2 the dance

A: I just asked him & he said theres no way hes going just cuz I asked him 2

M: ugh ill figure something out & tell u about it ttyl!

A: kk luv ya

I lightly groaned in frustration. Why do they both have to be so blind?!

Alright, so I'm gonna have a poll for two or three dresses I think Leaf should wear. I'd love it if you all voted, because it'd be pretty sad if I only had one voter. Whoever votes gets their name at the beginning of the next chapter!

Luv you all and please review!