Chapter 9

Dawn looked up at Ash from the corner of her eye. He seemed focused as he went over his answers on the large textbook next to him. His eyes focused on the words in front of him as his eyes moved with each sentence. His eyebrows squinted forward in concentration as he held the pen to his lips and bit on it. Lips that looks so soft that she bet if she kissed them they would feel-

"Dawn? Hello? Earth to Dawn," he said as he removed the pen from his lips.

She shook her head waking up from her daydream. "I-I'm sorry, what?"

He chuckled lightly, unfazed by her surprised face that was turning redder by the second. "I asked you what you got for number 20 on the last quiz. I didn't really understand it then or now."

She giggled a soft giggle. "Weren't you paying attention to Professor Oak when he went over it last week?"

He rubbed the back of his neck as he gave her one of his boyish grins. "I-I sort of got distracted," he said as he avoided looking at her straight in the eyes. She giggled a bit before she went back to question 20 and started explaining the answer.

Ash tried to focus at what Dawn was saying, but he couldn't. Just like that time they were working in partners and Professor Oak explained it for the first time. He could see her lips moving, but he couldn't focus on the words she was saying. He was too busy wondering what he could do to touch her hair. It was one of the first things that stood out for him. He remembered watching her brush her hair throughout their journey and how much well care she had for it.

Ever since then, he wondered if it felt as soft as it looked. Without knowing it he reached out to touch her hair as she looked back at him.

"-Ash? Ash Ketchum, are you even listening to me?" she asked him with a small pout on her face.

"Sorry, Dawn," he said as he tried to calm down his rapid beating heart and put his hand down, hoping she wouldn't notice.

"What were you trying to do?" she asked.

Busted.

"There was something in your hair and I just wanted to take it out," he said playing it off.

"Oh," she said as she combed her hair for the imaginary item in her hair. "Is it gone?"

"Yeah," he said.

The two sat there awkwardly as they went back to their studying. One thought crossing their head.

'Wasn't this supposed to be some sort of date?'

Gary pulled on his tie, as if it would help him from feeling awkward as he parked his motorcycle a couple of blocks away from the hall where the event was taking place. He could see the traffic starting to build up and although it was a small town, it didn't stop the paparazzi from showing up. He could see from where he was the millions of flashing lights that went off with each camera.

He had agreed on showing up with his own ride, but didn't want to make it a big deal about showing up with a motorcycle. Last thing he needed was the media's attention on him. It was bad enough he was Samuel Oak's only grandson and he got bombarded with questions every once in a while, so having them know what kind of ride he had was not something he was willing to risk.

He waited for a couple of minutes until a familiar limo pulled up beside him. He watched as the tinted windows rolled down and the face of Michael Starlight appeared.

"Hey, you're early," he said as he opened the door for him and scooted more inside.

"To be fair, I haven't gone to one of these things in a while," he replied as he closed the door behind him when he sat down in front of him on the opposite seat. "What about you guys?" he said as he looked at Julie. She was wearing a strapless teal dress with silver heels. Her hair was in soft curls and in a twisted braid while her bangs had been pushed back to the side and into the braid.

She wasn't looking at him – or paying attention to him to be more specific. She was too busy texting whoever it was on her Pokégear to even notice him inside the car. Her eyebrows were brought together as if frustrated by the device or the person she was talking to.

"Okay, give me that," said Michael taking the electronic device from her hands.

"Hey!" she said as she reached out to take back her Pokégear. "Come on, Mikey, give it to me."

"Why? Who are you talking to anyway?" he asked as he unlocked her device and looked at the name. "Prince Charming? Woah, who's Prince Charming?" he teased as he let her take back her phone.

"No one," she said rather angry, although she was blushing from her neck to the tips of her ears. "And it's none of your business," she added before sending another text message and putting the Pokégear inside her silver clutch purse.

She crossed her arms and caught Gary's eye and said through her eyes. 'Not one word.'

Not like he could say anything since the car stopped and the chauffer opened to let Michael out first. The sound of screaming girls bombarded his ears, but he didn't have time to think about it since he was out next. He had forgotten how blinding the cameras were when they were all coming all at once. He could already hear the questions from certain reporters.

"Gary Oak, how long have you and Michael Starlight known each other?"

"Did you two agree to meet each other at the Starlight residence?"

"What made you come back to the spotlight after years of missing out on the world's Unifying Fair?"

So many questions, he wanted to answer them, but he couldn't because of someone clearing their throat behind him. He looked back to see Julie looking at expectantly. If he could have face palmed himself then and there, he would have. He offered his hand to her as she stepped out of the limo. It was chaos.

If he hadn't gone blind before, he sure did the second she stood upright. The questions were none stop but they all revolved around one thing.

"Julie! Are you and Gary Oak a couple?" he could hear many reporters scream out.

He wanted to correct them and tell that he already had a girlfriend, but in doing so would mean putting Leaf out on the spotlight, and he didn't think that was such a good idea. Besides him, he heard Julie giggle causing the rest of the paparazzi to quiet down, but not stop the flash photography.

"Oh heavens no," she said goodheartedly. "Gary and I are simply childhood friends, nothing more, nothing else," she added before grabbing his arm and directing him in the direction of the doors.

As they walked, both with smiles that made the cameras go into frenzy, he said in a voice low enough for her to hear. "Thanks," he said as they posed together for a couple of cameras.

"No problem," she replied as she let go of him and walked a couple of steps in front him to pose for the cameras alone, as did he. When they finished, he offered his arm to her once more.

"I'm glad this is the only time we have to see them," he said.

"Oh I wish," she said as she waved the photographers goodbye. "This is only the tip of the iceberg," she said as she waved off some question being thrown at her.

'This is going to be a long night,' he thought as he entered the highly decorated hall.

Lucas looked at his Pokégear shocked.

He had been sending messages to Julie regarding their upcoming meeting. He knew she was busy attending the Unifying Fair tonight. Although not much of a fair, it was a black tie event that invited the world's leading investors to come together and network. Although mostly made up of the richest of the rich, upcoming inventors and successful Pokémon trainers as well as special guests were welcomed, singers and actors included.

So when he got the following voice message: "Who are you talking to anyway? Prince Charming? Woah, who's Prince Charming?" His mind was sent into overdrive. Did the idol have feelings for him that he didn't know? Or were they talking about someone else and he simply go the voice message by mistake? No, the latter didn't make sense since it was sent to him directly as they read the name of the contact, and voice messages could only be sent directly when the conversation was open.

So that only left the first one, and most probably one; Juliette Starlight had feelings for him…but why?

He had been nothing but distant from her and he didn't particularly care for her, besides her physical wellbeing. They weren't friends, acquaintances perhaps, but friends? If anything they were far from it considering he basically told her he hated her from the moment they met. After that, the tension between had yet to even start melting. It had almost been a month since they met, and they had made no progress in talking to one another in a conversation that had nothing to do with the Student Council.

Yet here he was, listening to what seemed like a flustered Julie as she tried taking back her phone. He had read the message under the voice memo:

-Ignore what my brother said; he's just making things up.

Kind of hard to do for him to do since the fact that he was under the name "Prince Charming" sent his brain into a mental spiral.

"Hey, you okay, Lucas?" asked Bianca from across him.

The two had decided to stay behind to help prepare for their meeting on Wednesday. He had been standing outside the Activity Building waiting for her to come out when he had gotten said voice message. Now he was dumbfounded and didn't know what to say.

"Lucas?" asked the blonde a bit worried.

"Y-yeah," he managed to say. "I'm fine. Why do you ask that?"

"You seem a little red, are you catching a cold?" she asked touching his forehead with her hand.

He could feel his face heat up more. "I-I'm fine, thank you, Bianca," he said stepping back and looking away from her. He couldn't think straight now, and being around Bianca did not help. The blonde had always had a soft spot in him that he rarely showed towards anyone, he had come to recognize that he might have some feelings for her, but he was not quite sure about them yet.

He could see the Sun setting off in the distance and knew it was time to start heading back to the dorms.

"We should get back," he said as he turned around and started walking away, leaving Bianca to watch his retreating back.

When she didn't follow he turned to her. "Aren't you coming?" he asked as he offered his hand to her, his eyes looking in a different direction as his face kept it's dark shade.

She smiled before catching up to him and holding on to his hand. "I am," she said, the light tint painted on her cheeks made his lips grow into a tiny smile.

No one knew of their relationship, they didn't want people to know. Correction, Lucas didn't want them to know. Even though they had been together for a year now, he still wasn't sure about how he truly felt towards Bianca. At first he went out with her because he didn't know how to turn her down, but as time went by, he couldn't find it in his heart to break it off.

He didn't want to say they were together because he pitied her. Not at all, he cared for her…he just wasn't sure if he reciprocated her feelings back. The two walked in perfect silence and even though the school was located in the outskirts of town, they could see the line of cars waiting outside the Illusionary Hall to drop off their clients. He wondered if Julie was getting bombarded by the paparazzi for hanging around Gary.

He knew the two had gone together in the same car because he could hear him chuckling in the background of the voice message, but he wondered if Leaf knew. Probably not since Dawn did mention something about her being down after school when she left on her study date with Ash. Yeah, he knew about the date, even though she didn't specifically say the word "date," but it was implied. He sighed. His mind couldn't help but go back to the young idol who was probably posing pictures at this moment.

"You sure you're okay?" asked Bianca. "You keep sighing."

"I'm okay," he said as he squeezed her hand. "Trust me."

She smiled and turned back to the path in front of them.

He knew she trusted him, he just wondered if he did as well.

After going around the hall and talking to different people, Gary found himself in the back of the room with a glass of apple cider in his hand. He managed to lose Julie while in the middle of talking to a young inventor named Clemont from the Kalos region. He didn't know how, but when he asked Michael about it, he said not to worry.

And he didn't…until 5 minutes turned into 25 minutes.

Now, normally he wouldn't be as worried, but considering he had practically begged his grandfather to let him come so he could ask Julie a couple of questions and get to know her again. He was kind of worried if someone had managed to kidnap the idol. He remembered when they were kids whenever she would go missing was because someone had taken her capture. Now, those old memories were starting to resurface. He put his empty glass on the tray of a passing waiter and entered the crowd in hopes of finding his childhood friend.

Ironically as soon as he did, the hostess of the event and Sinnoh Champion, Cynthia came up on the stage wearing a long, black dress and her hair picked

"Ladies and gentlemen if you would please find your seats," she said as Gary and the rest of guests found their table and sat down. "The Unifying Fair will now begin with the performance of Sinnoh's very own Juliette Starlight!"

She walked off the stage as the curtains opened and Julie was in the middle with a grand piano and a microphone tilted in her direction. She waited until the audience stopped clapping before speaking.

"This song if called My Immortal," she said with a small smile. "I hope you all like it."

She started playing softly a few cords and soon she started singing:

"I'm so tired of being here
Suppressed by all my childish fears
And if you have to leave
I wish that you would just leave
'Cause your presence still lingers here
And it won't leave me alone

"These wounds won't seem to heal
This pain is just too real
There's just too much that time cannot erase…"

She didn't show any emotion as she played and her voice didn't waver for one second, but Gary could tell just from the lyrics alone how deep the song was. Many of the guests simply watched the young idol as she performed. Others tried to sing along even though they did not know the words to song and he could see a couple of people whispering to one another and pointing towards her discreetly.

"I've tried so hard to tell myself that you're gone!" she sang more forcefully as she put more force against the keys of the piano.

"But though you're still with me,
I've been alone all along!" she sang as she closed her eyes and looked down at the keyboard and kept playing until she looked back up to sing the chorus once more.

"When you cried, I'd wipe away all of your tears,
When you'd scream I'd fight away all of your fears
And I held your hand through all of these years,
But you still have…
All of me…"

He had forgotten how powerful her voice was. The last time he had seen her sing live had been a couple of years ago, but even then it wasn't as touching as it was now. When the song ended, Gary – along with many others, stood up and gave her a standing ovation. Julie simply looked down a bit embarrassed and said, "Thank you," before getting the microphone from the stand next to the piano and handing it off to the Sinnoh Champion.

The event continued as time went by. Some speakers went up to say a couple of words followed by the presentations of new inventors. Next was dinner and the social gathering commenced in full swing. Some people danced in the area provided while others stood on the side or sat down near the bar and tables to socialize. He managed to find the young idol surrounded by group of young ladies talking to her.

"Well, aren't you a sore thumb," he heard Michael say as he stood next to him.

He shrugged. "I haven't been in one of these for a while. Kind of forgot how they went."

"If I were you, I'd go and take Julie away from the crowd," he said as he drank some champagne.

"What are you talking about?"

"Those girls are winners of the Kalos region's Showcases. Although some have yet to earn the title of Kalos Queen, their performances were enough to have gotten them an invitation. However, like every single girl that meets Julie, they start asking for advice when handling boys, exes and current boyfriends."

"Ouch."

"Yeah, it's a something she's been branded as, and she can't seem to escape it."

"But why should I take her away from there?"

"She's starting to feel overwhelmed," answered Michael.

"How do you know?"

"She's twisting the ring she got from her mother. It's a habit she hasn't been able to break; she does it every time something bothers her."

"Observant much?" teased Gary.

Michael shrugged. "I've had to be or else I won't know when to step in."

"So how come you can't step in now?"

"Because it makes people talk," he answered before giving Gary a light push in Julie's direction. "Now go on, make yourself useful."

Gary stumbled for a second but recovered quickly. He walked towards her with a confidence that he had been known for years ago.

"Excuse me, ladies," he said gaining their attention. "I was hoping I could dance with my childhood friend, at least just one song," he added when he saw the hesitation in their faces.

"All right," said Julie when no one spoke up. "It's been a while, since I've seen you dance, but let's see," she said as she took his offering hand.

The group of girls started to pout and whine a little.

"Not to worry, I'll come back and have a dance with each and every one of you," he said as he gave them a wink that made them swoon.

When they were out of earshot, Julie giggled. "Does Miss Leaf know you do this sort of things behind her back?"

"Ha ha," he said sarcastically as he put a hand on her small back. "I'll have you know I have been nothing but faithful to Leaf."

"What about now?" she asked she followed his lead.

"What do you mean?"

"Does she know that you are here…with me?"

He avoided eye contact.

"You didn't...you have got to be kidding me," she said as she glared at him.

"I didn't think it was important-!"

"Of course it's important!" she replied a bit louder than she intended to. A couple of people turned to watch them. 'Great,' she thought sarcastically. 'Me and my big mouth.'

"Do you have any idea of how bad this will look for you when she founds out? For me?" she hissed.

"I know, but – wait, what do you mean you?"

"It's girl code," she said as if he understood what that meant. "Basically, you can't hang out with your friend's boyfriend alone without her being there or other people, more so when you just met said boyfriend."

"But we've known each other since who knows when," he contradicted.

"Does she know that?"

"…"

"Honestly, Gary how did you ever managed to swoon a girl like Leaf anyway?"

He chuckled. "I made a love potion," he replied in a teasing manner. "Ow!"

"Sorry, did I step on your foot?" she asked with a twinkle of mischief in her eye. "But seriously, how did you do it?"

"Ah, a master never reveals his secrets."

"That's a magician."

"Same thing," he said dismissively.

She rolled her eyes at him before sticking out her tongue at him; in return he leaned in a little and pretended to actually bite her making her put her tongue back in the safety of her mouth.

When the song ended the two left the dance floor and went towards the bar to order their drinks.

"Water, please," said Gary as Julie leaned back.

"Do you want to leave?" she asked him all of a sudden.

"Huh?"

"Do you want to leave?" she asked him again.

"Right now?"

"Yeah," she said nonchalantly.

"Can we?" he asked as he gave her a glass of water.

"Sure," she shrugged. "Wouldn't be the first time," she said with a knowing smile.

"All right," he said.

"Wait for me near the kitchen doors."

"…all right?" he said as she walked away.

She found her stepbrother socializing with who she recognized to be the Kalos Queen.

"Hey, Mikey," she said tapping his shoulder. He turned to her. "I'm going to hang out with a couple of friends, so don't wait up for me tonight."

"All right," he said understanding the cue.

She grabbed her purse from her table and went towards the kitchen doors where Gary was waiting. The two waited until one of the waiters went in and followed in.

"Hey! Miss Juliette, it's good to see you again," said one of the chefs. "Here for a bite of dessert?"

"It's nice seeing you again, Chef Kurt," she answered with a smile. "But not tonight, I was hoping to use your backdoor as a getaway for tonight."

"Is the food not to your liking?" he asked almost dropping the plate in his hands.

"No, no!" she hurriedly explained. "Everything is delicious; I was getting bored of the event, it's all."

"Well, please take this," he said handing her a neatly wrapped box. "I took the liberty of saving you your favorites."

"Thank you so much!" she said taking the box in her hands and giving him a wide smile. She grabbed Gary's hand and pulled him along. "I'll make sure to come by sometime later next week," she said as she weaved them through the many working people inside the kitchen.

Once outside, she let go of his hand and took in a deep breath. "Finally!" she exclaimed.

Gary looked at her confused.

"Okay, so the back entrance of the kitchen isn't exactly the most impressive sight there is," she said. "But I can finally relax! Be myself! And I don't have to keep so many pins on hair," she said as she undid her braid with such ease and put away all the pins inside her purse.

He chuckled.

"What?"

He shook his head. "I don't think I've ever seen you so free," he said as he put his hand in his pockets.

Julie blushed a little as she looked down and smiled.

"Well, the night's not over," he said as he led the way to the main street. "What do you want to do?"

Julie thought for a minute as she looked up to the clear sky. "I don't know," she said looking back to him. "You?"

Gary smirked. "Well, there is something…"

"I'm open for anything. What do you have in mind?"

"You'll see," he said as he walked towards the spot where he parked his motorcycle. "Hope you don't mind, but we'll have to take my bike there."

"Not at all, I haven't ridden one in a while," she answered as she walked alongside him.

"Michael rides?"

"Sometimes," she giggled. "But only when my dad is being a jerk. He mostly does it to piss him off," she explained as they reached their destination.

He took his keys out from his pocked only to pause. "Wait, you're wearing a long dress. I don't this is going to work."

"Oh, don't worry about that," she said as she grabbed the tail of her dress and expertly tied it into a knot. "Problem solved, now it'll be easier to get on and off the bike."

He smiled. "Good," he said before mounting his motorcycle and bringing the vehicle to life. He brought the passenger footrest down and turned to her. "Sure you'll be able to get on?"

"Sure," she replied as she mounted on sideways easily. "See, I told you."

"Make sure you don't fall off," he said as he put on his helmet.

"I will," she said making herself comfortable on the back before putting her arms around his waist with the box she had gotten from the chef in between.

The engine roared louder and soon the wind was blowing in their faces as they passed the banquet hall where Unifying Fair was being held and into the lit streets.

Merry Christmas, everyone and Happy Holidays!

~Karie