Serena's POV

Ash ignored me, I thought to myself. I lowered my head, making my way back towards the group. My heart felt pierced, sadness and hurt overtaking me.

"What's his problem?" Calem asked, folding his arms across his chest. Aimar stayed quiet, a knowing expression on his face.

"I don't know.. I went to congratulate him and he just ran off, completely ignoring me." I sighed. Did I do something wrong? If so, what did I do? All these questions in my head left unanswered.

"Maybe he's just a sore loser." Calem shrugged, taking a sip of his water.

Aimar scoffed. "Coming from the kid with anger issues." Calem nearly choked on his water before swallowing. "Excuse you?"

"You heard me." Aimar retorted, closing his eyes and looking away.

"Why don't you go jump under a bus?" yelled Calem, his words rising with anger.

"Why? So that I can bench it?" Aimar shot back, simultaneously flexing his chest. The two glared at eachother, a strong tension between the two. Calem was the first to turn away, crossing his arms. "I thought there was only one dumbass out here today. Turns out there's two." He retaliated, referring to Ash and Aimar.

Aimar smirked. "Yeah but with you it's like there's four more."

"Why you-"

"ENOUGH!" I yelled. The two froze in place, looking over at me.

"You guys aren't making the situation any better." Dawn scolded them. She turned to face Calem. "Calem, I think you should go."

"Me? Go? Tell that to cocky narcissist who started it all!" He exclaimed, pointing to Aimar. Aimar stayed in his spot, not moving an inch.

"Calem, go." I demanded, not making eye contact. He huffed, turning around and walking away. "If you need me, I'll be in my dorm."

The next few minutes were silent, the only sound being heard was the beating of my heart. Dawn was sitting beside me, comforting me with her presence. Aimar was standing, his arms still crossed. He was the first to break the silence

"That kid's such a jackass." He bluntly stated.

I adverted my eyes towards him. "Everything's not his fault. He had nothing to do with Ash leaving." I responded, a bit of anger in my voice.

"He really was. Ash was about to win the match until he realized that you were paying more attention to your horrible excuse of a friend rather than him. What were you thinking? I noticed from across the field. You looked up and saw Pikachu being revived; you didn't even see how Gengar won the match. And then you decided to go up and tell him you thought he had him? Not the smartest move."

Normally, I'd argue back or maybe even defend Calem, but not this time. To tell the truth, I felt shitty. I completely forgot about Ash for Calem, who knows how that made him feel.

"He's might've not confessed yet, but I'm sure you've known he's liked you back for a while now." Dawn added on. "To see the girl he likes pay attention to another guy more than him? Those kind of things make anyone feel bad."

"Not to mention the fact that you basically ditched him for Calem earlier today." Aimar continued.

I swung my head down in shame. "I really didn't mean to hurt him, not at all." I thought aloud, "How do I fix this?"

"You should be telling him that, not us." Aimar responded, pulling his hoodie off his waist and sliding it on. "Here," he dug through his pocket and tossed a key towards me. "It's the key to the door. Go to him." I looked at the key in my hand and put it into my pocket, pulling myself up and making my way towards their dorm.

What am I gonna say to him? I can't just walk in like 'Oh, hey Ash, just casually walking in to let you know that I'm sorry for earlier and yeah, nothing much. Also I really like you but that's not important.' I mentally kicked myself.

I reached the door and turned the key, listening for the little click confirming I unlocked it. I took a deep breath, twisting the door knob and slowly walking in. I scanned the room, looking for Ash. I looked to my right, my eyes widening at the scene going on before me.

"You are worth it," a shirtless Ash told his reflection, flexing his arms. "You are magnificent. A, umm, a trophy! More expensive than gold!" He seemed to be struggling to compliment himself, not able to find motivational things to say about himself. He caught my reflection in the mirror, his face going redder than a tomato as he threw his arms down. "S-Serena! What are you doing here!?"

I couldn't hold it in any longer. I burst with laughter, slight tears visible at the side of my eyes. "Why were you doing that?" I laughed.

"Aimar told me that whenever I felt down, to look in the mirror and to tell myself that I'm a magnificent creature made from the beings of above, or something like that." Ash responded, sheepishly smiling. I laughed even harder; it made sense that Aimar had something to do with it. I looked at him, and realized he had slight bulked up a little bit since the last time I saw him. Maybe spending all that time with Aimar did do him some good.

"Don't listen to him, maybe the things that work for him don't work for you." I told him, still giggling a bit.

"Yeah, maybe." He responded. My expression grimed as I realized my reason for being there.

"Ash.. I'm sorry, about earlier."

"It's fine, I don't really want to talk about it." He responded, his face looking another direction.

"What was wrong earlier?" I asked, still staying on the topic.

"I said I didn't want to talk about it." He sternly replied, slightly turning his head towards me.

"Well too bad, I'm not gonna just pretend like this never happened." I responded.

"Well then in that case just leave! Go hang out with Calem, leave me for him again. Don't forget to say bye this time, either." He yelled, fully facing me. The words he said hurt, like daggers stabbing into my heart. A part of me actually wanted to leave, to just lay down and forget about this. I turned around, tears swelling in my eyes. I opened the door, and stopped.

'What the hell are you doing?'

Dawn's voice rang in my head. 'If you leave now, you're putting your whole friendship on the line! Do you really want to throw it all away? Do you really want to lose him forever? After all that time you two have spent together, all the memories you share and the moments that are to come, do you really want to risk losing it all?'

I slammed the door. I spun around, and looked Ash dead in the eye.

"Dammit Ash, quit being so stubborn! I know you don't want to talk about it, I know you don't want to see me right now, I know your mad I left you. I know I don't deserve your forgiveness, but please stop pushing me away!"

"You're not the reason I'm mad!" He shouted, his voice cracking. Tears streamed down his face as he sobbed. "You're not the reason why I'm struggling to love others! You're not the reason why I'm currently sitting here in my room, burying myself deeper into a pit of hate that I dug for myself. You're not the reason I spend my days thinking, pondering, wondering if he ever wonders what I'm doing right now.. You're not the reason he left!" He sobbed, his voice cracking here and there. His limbs went numb, falling forward. I caught him, surprised my knees have yet to buckle. I held him tight as his tears stained my blouse. "A-Ash.." I silently whispered, crying with him. I sat down, still holding him in my arms. "Ash.. I'm never gonna understand what it was that you went through, nor what it is that you're feeling, but I do know one thing.. I'll always be here." I whispered to him, sobbing. He looked up at me, his eyes red.

"You promised me you would always be here," I continued, "And I promise you that I'll never leave. I care about you too much to let you go.. You meant so much to me, all those years ago, and I didn't even know you. You inspired me, gave me hope. And now that Ive met you, the person you are, the person you've become, I know he'd be proud." I pulled him close as he started to break down again.

Around two hours or so passed, and my body got tired. I didn't want to tell Ash though, I was in the middle of comforting him. He shifted around, sitting onto the bed. He shifted his body and laid on the bed, patting the area next to him. I smiled, crawling into bed as I checked the time. 8:07. I looked out the window, seeing the orange and pink sky. I pulled out my phone, and sent a text to Dawn.

'Hey Dawn, where you ?"

'At the dorm w Aimar, he's eating our food lol'

'Is it cool if I crash here?'

'TELL ASH TO USE PROTECTION -Aimar'

I turned my phone off and put it on the ground, getting up on my arm and turning to face Ash. '"Hey Ash, do you mind if I stay the night?" I asked, slightly blushing.

"I don't see why not." He smiled, giving me a shrug. I smiled back and laid back down, pulling the blanket up to my shoulders.

"Serena.. I want to thank you. For what you did today." He said behind me. I turned to face him, nuzzling my head into his chest.

"Don't thank me," I responded, "I'm just returned the favor." He let out a slight chuckle, and wrapped his arm around me. I flinched at first, but then slid closer as I realized what he was doing, thankful he couldn't see me blushing. "Goodnight Ash." I said.

"Goodnight Serena, sleep tight." He replied. I smiled and closed my eyes, slowly drifting off to sleep.