The next day started like any other. After arranging a ride home for Luna with one of her teammates so he could stay for his rehearsal after practice, Ash arrived at school and the first thing he did was pick up his copy of the paper to read the latest Paper Princess column. He smiled as he read it to himself.
"She's so confident in helping others...I hope I can find out who she is someday…" he chuckled to himself. As he finished reading the last question, Leaf walked up to him and caught his attention. "Hey babe."
"Hey." she replied before noticing the paper in his hands. "You're not reading that silly column again, are you?
"It isn't silly. From what I've been hearing around the halls she's really helping people with her advice. Us included." he pointed out, but Leaf just rolled her eyes in response.
"Baby I love you, but your tastes are weird sometimes." she said as she patted his arm. Ash sighed to himself at her response but decided to shrug it off instead of starting a fight.
"Anyways before I forget, I need to tell you that I'm gonna be busy later after practice today."
"Busy? With what?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.
"I know you don't like it, but I really have to work on my project with May. We only have a few days left and I really want to get our lines and acting down pat." he explained.
"You want to work with her outside of class?" Leaf asked, crossing her arms over her chest irritably. "I thought we already discussed this."
"I know but I really don't have a choice anymore Leaf. It's not a big deal anyway. It's not like we'll be working at my house or something. We'll just be working on it in the auditorium for a while. May's cool and wouldn't ever try anything, and you trust me right?" he asked.
"I was just hoping that we could have some us time after your practice tonight…" she sighed.
"I know I want to too, but the project is due on Thursday so we really need to get as much practice in as we can." he countered. "Look, when the project is done, I'll make it up to you and spend all of the break with you. Is that a fair compromise?"
"... You promise?" she asked.
"I promise." he nodded. She gave him a small smile and pecked his lips, a sign that she accepted his terms.
"Deal. I'll see you later baby." she said, realizing what time it was.
"See ya later babe." he replied as they both headed off to their first classes. As Ash walked, however, he met up with Gary in the hall, who appeared to be running late. Not that this was an uncommon thing.
"Hey, Ash. What up man?" he asked.
"Hey, Gary." Ash greeted back.
"Any good questions today?" he wondered, gesturing to the school paper in Ash's hand.
"Good answers at least. And maybe if you got here on time once and a while you'd have time to read it." he chuckled.
"Oh don't give me the whole punctuality speech Ash. I get too many of those as is." Gary fired back, making Ash chuckle.
"Well, you should still read it anyway when you get a chance because there's a good batch today. Whoever this person is, she's really good at helping people." Ash added, catching Gary's attention.
"Sounds like you like her." he commented, though the implication seemed to fly right over Ash's head.
"Yeah…" he smiled, glancing at the paper in his hand while a smirk crossed Gary's face.
"Oh my gosh. You've got a crush on the mystery paper girl." Ash's face lit up with a bright blush as his eyes snapped away from the paper to face his friend.
"What?! I do not!" he protested.
"Come on you've come into school every day for the past week practically running to get a copy of the paper. It'd be the same as a secret admirer leaving love notes on your locker. You totally have a crush on Paper Princess." Gary pointed out, only causing Ash's blush to deepen.
"I'm so not into her like that. I just admire her…willingness to help others." he stammered slightly.
"Oh please you're practically drooling over that paper." Gary fired back.
"Am not. And if I didn't have to get to class I'd kill you." Ash growled.
"Oh, I'm so sure. Good luck with that Captain." Gary chuckled as he gave Ash a mocking salute and then ran off down the hall. Ash grumbled to himself as he resumed heading to his class.
"I am so going to have him running drills for that…"
Within a few minutes, Ash walked into his classroom, eyes immediately falling on May who was already seated and working on memorizing her lines. His entrance drew her attention however and she smile a little, happy to see him. Ash smiled back at her and crossed the room to take his seat next to her.
"Good morning." she smiled.
"Morning." he smiled back as he pulled his script from his bag.
"Just a couple more days?" she confirmed.
"Yup." he nodded. "I think we're coming along really well. I've almost got all my lines memorized."
"Me too. I think I'll have them all down after a few more rehearsals." she agreed.
"Then all that's left is…" Ash's voice trailed off before his sentence was finished, but both of them knew the end of it anyway.
"Right…" May nodded as she took in a nervous breath. Ash stole a glance at her and was disheartened to still see such terror in her eyes. "I just…"
"Nervous, I know...and I'm sorry I haven't been able to help you get past it." he said sincerely, making her blush.
"Don't be sorry...you've gone above and beyond what you should've had to do and I'm so grateful to you for that…I just wish I knew how to get over it so that we can do this right...I'm really sorry…" she insisted.
"It's not your fault…" he promised her.
"But it is...I'm the one who keeps hesitating…" she said, looking down at her lap in shame.
"Hey." Ash said as he put a hand on her shoulder, drawing her eyes back up to his. "You have nothing to apologize for May...you've been working so hard and you've already come such a long way in only a few days. I'm incredibly proud of you."
"Y-You are…?" she asked, her blush deepening even further.
"Of course I am. And I have complete confidence that you're going to pull through this when it counts." he assured her.
"Th…Thank you Ash…that means more to me than you know…" she managed to say, though her voice was quiet.
"Of course. When you really think about it, all you need is a way to boost your confidence a little bit more. Once we do it once, the one we do at the presentation won't be any big deal." he reminded her.
"Right…There has to be some way…" May agreed, leaning back in her chair as tried to think of a way to do just that. Ash put a hand to his chin and attempted to do the same. Both were quiet for a few moments before an idea suddenly struck Ash. His eyes widened and he turned towards her.
"May, why not try asking Paper Princess for help?" he suggested, causing May's eyes to widen as she looked up at him in complete shock.
"M-Me talk to Paper Princess…?" she stammered.
"Why not? She's always helping out anyone who asks with great advice and you can do it completely anonymously. Sounds perfect to me." he pointed out, making May blush. Her mind raced as she tried to come up with something, anything as a reason for why she couldn't do that. How could she possibly give herself impartial advice?!
"I-I don't know Ash…we only have a few days before our project is due…and with all the questions she must get she may not be able to answer before our presentation…" May tried.
"I know it's a long shot but I really think it would help. Paper Princess is really great and I think she'd want to help if she could." he insisted, his comments catching May's attention.
"You…really think she's great…?"
"Oh absolutely. Someone who just wants to help others so much that she stays anonymous so she doesn't take credit for it? And on top of that, she gives out amazing advice to boot? I think someone like that must be an incredible person." Ash smiled, showing no hints that he was speaking anything but his own truth. May blushed as Ash unintentionally complimented her, and it almost made her want to tell him the truth. The key word being, almost. She forced herself to shake off her fantasy just in time and took a deep breath, refocusing herself on the task at hand.
"Well, I...I guess it couldn't hurt…" she finally conceded. "I'll write to her later today…"
"That's really great May. You won't regret it I promise." he smiled.
"Thanks…" she said with a tiny smile. "Shall we rehearse…?"
"Sure thing." he nodded. Both of them took a deep breath to get into character, and then May began her monologue. The two of them went through the scene once again, bantering back and forth with more confidence in their lines until finally, May said her final line and they looked into each other's eyes. Ash held still as he looked at her, not moving until she would move so he wouldn't pressure her. Both of them blushed and finally, May looked away from him once again unable to complete the action.
"Sorry…"
"It's okay...maybe when we meet up this afternoon we'll get it right." he offered, making May smile a little. It was nice that he didn't seem to blame her for their issues. She certainly wasn't used to a partner doing that.
"Right…well for now we could...try the first part one more time…?" she offered.
"You bet." he nodded, returning her smile.
Later on in the day, Ash was once again eating lunch with his team as Leaf walked over to join them as per their usual routine.
"Hey baby." she greeted as she sat next to him.
"Hey babe." he smiled. Leaf pecked his lips and he reciprocated before they both began eating once again.
"How's my man?"
"Doing great."
"I've been thinking about something that I think you'll find very interesting." she commented, causing him to raise an eyebrow.
"And what's that?" he wondered.
"About how well things have been going since we took the next step in our relationship." she replied, winking to make sure he got the full hint. Which he certainly did.
"Oh. What about it?" he asked.
"Well, how would you feel if we take another big step forward?" she smiled eagerly.
"Well uh I'm all for it but…how exactly would we do that?" he questioned her with a genuine curiosity.
"Well, how about a promise ring? A way to promise me that soon, it'll just be you and me forever?" she hinted, lacing her fingers with his. Ash blushed in surprise at her suggestion. Even someone as dense as he could be knew that a promise ring was typically meant to be a way to signal he intended to marry her one day in the future. He absolutely loved hanging out with her and had no plans to change that any time soon, but it still seemed like something that they had time to think about.
"Well, I…" he hesitated. However, upon looking into her face, he realized that the hesitation wouldn't go over well. The eagerness in her eyes was unmistakable and he knew exactly the answer she was hoping for. He was still hesitant but decided to push those thoughts to the side for now. It would probably be ok. After all, it wasn't like they were actually getting engaged yet right? "I guess we could find a way to do that."
"That's my guy." Leaf smiled as she gave him a peck on the cheek. "I look forward to seeing what you pick."
"Guess I have some research to do…" he chuckled nervously.
"Good boy." she replied as she then proceeded to kiss him. Ash kissed her back and they both moaned softly before Leaf slowly pulled away and they both smiled at each other and Leaf stroked his arm sensually. "Of course…It could done be sooner if we spent some time together this afternoon after school…"
"Leaf...we talked about this…" he reminded her, sensing where the conversation was going once again.
"You could just ditch the work you know…" she hinted, moving her hand up his arm.
"I'm sorry but I can't…I just can't ditch May to spend time with you…I promised her I wouldn't do that to her again." he said, doing his best to communicate in a firm tone with her.
"Come on now baby. Who's more important to you?" she asked teasingly.
"Leaf you know I love you, but this work has come first right now. How would it look if the Captain of the basketball team can't play because of failing a midterm?" he pointed out.
"Too bad…" she said with a big sigh on his arm. "And here I was all ready to show you something amazing…"
"What's that...?" he asked.
"I suppose it can wait...it's just too bad you won't be there for it." she hinted as she rubbed his arm, making him blush with curiosity.
"Well...can't we find some kind of compromise here...?" he asked, really wanting to find a way to stop her teasing before he did something stupid again.
"Like?" she wondered.
"Maybe...I can be quick with May for rehearsal today or…oh you could watch until we're done with rehearsal and then we can leave together?" he offered hopefully.
"Well...I suppose I can stomach watching you two for a bit." she decided, making Ash sigh in relief.
"That's great. Thanks so much." he said with a relieved smile. Leaf kissed him again and he was quick to return her affection. It wasn't the ideal situation for May he knew, but he was fairly confident Leaf would behave for him.
Later that day, as the basketball team was leaving their practice, May was in the auditorium finishing up some other homework she had while she waited for Ash to arrive. Soon enough Ash did indeed walk in to meet her, and May smiled upon seeing him. But her face immediately fell when she saw Leaf follow him in.
"Ash...?" she wondered, setting her book and papers to the side as she immediately felt a way of nerves come over her. "What's going on...?"
"Hey, May. I'm sorry about this but Leaf and I are planning to hang out after our rehearsal. Is it alright if she watches us just for tonight?" he asked hopefully, causing May to gulp and flinch in fear.
"U-Uh…can we talk…?" she asked nervously. Ash nodded and turned towards Leaf.
"Can you give us a minute?"
"Sure." Leaf chuckled as walked to a seat near the middle of the auditorium and sat down with her phone in hand to play with. Ash took May aside so they could talk privately and she looked up at him with a familiar nervous look on her face.
"Ash I...I don't know if I'm comfortable with this…" she explained quietly.
"I know it's not ideal but please try to relax. She won't say a word I promise. Besides, we'll be acting in front of our class on Thursday. We really do need to get used to doing our scene in front of other people." he reminded her.
"Th-That's different...this is your girlfriend…" May quietly protested.
"She doesn't mind really. It's just for the grade right?"
"...Right…for the grade…" she mumbled.
"Thanks, May. It'll be alright I promise." he assured her before he headed for the stage stairs. May gulped and nervously followed him onto the stage. Doing her best to ignore Leaf's gaze from the audience, she stood a few feet from Ash on the stage, guessing about where they'd set up their props. She rubbed her arm nervously as Ash then nodded to her signaling he was ready to get started. Taking in one final deep breath, she then began reciting her lines, trying to put all her attention on Ash and the scene to block out Leaf. Ash started saying his lines as well and started approaching her as the dialogue brought their characters closer together. He mimed climbing up the tower to the balcony and took her shoulders in his hands. May flinched in surprise, not used to this level of dedication from him. And suddenly she became very aware of Leaf watching them from her seat. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Leaf flashing her a devious smirk, judging everything about her without saying a single thing. May's whole body began to shake with anxiety as she tried to continue but began messing up line after line. And Ash took notice of this, breaking character and giving her a concerned look. "May are you ok? What's wrong?"
"I-I…" she stammered. She could feel Leaf's cold brown eyes burning holes in her skin even without looking in her direction. Even without saying a word, Leaf had complete control over her and the entire situation. And May knew with one word, Leaf could convince Ash to shut down this entire thing.
"May talk to me…" Ash insisted, snapping May out of her thoughts. She looked up at the concern in his eyes and her heart sank. How could someone so amazing be so controlled by a woman like Leaf…? Scolding herself for thinking in such a way, May shook those thoughts from her head and pulled herself free of Ash's grip.
"I...I don't think I can do this today...I'm suddenly not feeling well…" she lied, quickly picking up her things as she avoided looking at either one of them.
"Oh...a-are you sure…? I could give you a ride home if you're not feeling well…" he offered, but May adamantly shook her head.
"N-No…I-I'll just walk...you two have fun with…whatever you were doing tonight…" she insisted.
"May…" Ash tried, but she quickly ran to the auditorium door, stopping only to look at him with a sad expression on her face.
"I'm sorry…" she whispered before she bolted out the door. Ash sadly watched her run off as Leaf walked up onto the stage to join him.
"Well looks to me like you're carrying this whole project. She doesn't seem very good at this." she chuckled.
"I don't understand it…she's never gotten that anxious when we were practicing before…and she's become so confident over the last few days…" Ash commented, genuinely concerned for his project partner.
"Oh well." Leaf shrugged before she suddenly wrapped her arms around his neck. She ran her fingers through his hair and smiled at him. "Now on to more important things...I believe we had a date?"
"W-Well I…" he stammered. He really wanted to go check on May, but she was long gone by now with how fast she was running to get out. And he knew that there was no way his going after another girl would go over well with Leaf. Sighing to himself, and making a mental note to check on May in class tomorrow, he turned his attention back to his girlfriend and did his best to push his concerns aside. "Alright…"
"Fantastic." Leaf smiled as she took his hand in her's and walked out to his car with him. They both piled into the car and Leaf pulled Ash into a kiss which he returned. A delighted moan passed between them until they slowly parted their lips and shared a small smile.
"So what is this amazing thing that you wanted to show me?" he wondered.
"Well now, you'll have to take me home if you want to see it." she hinted.
"Then to the Green Residence we go." he chuckled. He turned on his car and started driving them back to her mansion as Leaf held his hand. Ash lightly squeezed her hand as she did. It only took a few minutes for them to arrive at the Green Mansion, one of the most beautiful and luxurious buildings in the entire city. Ash pulled into circle drive near the front door and they both hopped out of the car. They then headed inside and Leaf lead the way to her room. Ash followed her and was surprised to see her heading to her private bathroom suite. "Uh...?"
"Come on in baby." she called for him.
"Uh, alright." he answered, walking into the bathroom. Inside he found Leaf standing next to a massive luxury hot tub that one would've normally found in a professional day spa. Leaf smiled at him and began removing her clothes.
"Daddy just bought it for me on our trip. They just delivered it today." she explained. Ash could only stand and stare as she disrobed right in front of him. "And now they're gone all afternoon. So you want to go skinny dipping with me?"
"...Oh you know it!" Ash grinned, taking off his clothes as well, completely captivated by her and her suggestion. Leaf giggled to herself as they both eagerly entered the warm and bubbling water.
Meanwhile, across town, May was locked up in her room crying. She absolutely hated herself for how she acted. All the progress she had made thanks to Ash had all evaporated in just a few minutes. The power and confidence that surrounded Leaf like a powerful Aura were just too much for someone as meek and timid as her. How was she ever going to get through this project with her sanity in check? She needed help, she knew that, but who in their right mind could help her? Ash and Dawn were too involved to help with a clear mind, and there was no way she could talk to her family about this at all. As much as she hated to admit it, Ash's suggestion was best. She needed Paper Princess.
"Guess I've got no choice…" she sniffled as she pulled out her laptop and opened it up. She'd just have to do her best to separate her two characters. Taking a deep breath so she wouldn't cry all over her keyboard, she wrote her question to Paper Princess. And once she had completed it, she took another deep breath as she did her best to put herself into her Paper Princess character. Filled then with as much confidence and kindness as she could muster up, she began writing her column. "This has to work…it just has to…"
To be Continued...
