Next day

Ash POV

When in doubt, save your own ass first.

That was the one thing I had learned from my dad. He's the master at protecting his own hide, especially when he's the one at fault. And right now, I needed to do that, otherwise I would have no friends. And as shallow and snooty as Misty, Calem and co. were, they had been my friends for ages.

I'd only known Sere as a friend for a month or so. It was easy to see where my loyalties lay. I could do this. I could make everything alright, because thanks to Misty and her big mouth, all my friends were pissed off at me right now.

Misty was on my list. After she spotted Sere and me in the donation center canteen and what are the odds that her step-dad would choose that day to pick her up from school.

she wouldn't leave me alone. Even when I assured her that we were just working on a project together, I could tell she didn't believe me.

And by the next day, she had spread the news around my circle of friends and everybody wanted to know why I had been blowing them off to hang with Serena Yvonne.

The crappy thing was, they were right. I had been blowing them off to hang with Sere. They just had the wrong idea about why, but I wasn't going to tell them the real reason I was hanging with her so much.

If these guys knew about my aneurysm, they'd drop me just like that. And since falling back onto the old 'science project' explanation wasn't cutting it, I knew it was up to me to crank the lies up a notch, smooth over this rough patch and practice being a bit more discreet in the future.

I knew exactly what I had to do. And when I met Misty, Calem, Rudy and Ursula on the quad at lunch time, I had my plan of action outlined in my head. Unfortunately, things never go to plan, especially when you're me.

Ursula saw me first heading towards the group and a derisive smile twisted on her lip as she shook back her light pink twirled hair.

"Oh, you actually made it. We all thought you'd totally blow us off to go hang with Serena Yvonne," she smirked, taking a single sip from her fully filled Volvic water bottle in her hand.

Rolling my eyes mutely, I sat down next to her. She was our friend, a member of our exclusive clique and as such, one of the ********* students at Lumiose.

Misty glowered at me on opposite side when seated, her arms wrapped around Calem's neck. "He's probably here to tell us he can't come to your birthday dinner tonight, Rudy," she said snidely. "He's going with Serena Yvonne. For their Science project, you know." She added.

I looked at her for a moment and said nothing, no random words coming out from my mouth as I hung my head down.

Calem snickered loudly, clearly enjoying the roasting I was getting. "You know, for a guy who barely shows up to class, you're really dedicated to this "project" of yours," he said, making air quotes as he said 'project'. "Sounds like Serena must be providing some private entertainment to keep you going back for more."

I sighed and looked up, clenching my fists in my pockets. If he said anything about Sere and sex again, I would straight deck him. And not because I wanted Sere.

"If that's all you think about, you're probably not getting any," I told him coolly. Smiling at myself of a comeback.

Ursula giggled beside me, glancing at a red-faced Calem.

"What I want to know is how you're working on a Science project and I'm not. We are in the same Science class, aren't we?" Rudy asked suddenly from beside me, tapping a finger against his nose.

I shot Rudy a very cold glare as Misty and Ursula stared, eagerly awaiting my reply.

Rudy was a huge smartass, always had a point to make and was smart. Dammit, I had completely forgotten he was in my Science class. However, luckily I had a quick answer for that. I'm a Ketchum. If needed, I can lie at the drop of a hat.

"Extra credit, buddy. We can't all be geniuses." I told.

For some annoying reason, everyone looked appeased by that, as if it was obvious that I needed extra credit work to make it out of high school. I was glad they believed my lie, but pretty pissed at the same time. Was that how everyone perceived me? It didn't feel that awesome.

"Okay, forget that for the moment," Ursula said loudly, wiggling on the hard bench we were sharing. "So you're working on a project with Serena. Why'd you bring her to the gala?"

"Because she's helping me with my project," Calem said immediately in a sing-song voice. "I swear, the girls got him whipped. She must have some good tricks."

Misty poked him in the stomach and he let out a yelp of pain. "Shut up about her," she growled threateningly, glaring at Calem as Ursula giggled harder.

Rudy nodded. "That's not a valid reason. I'm sure there were plenty other girls more- fitting, shall we say- to be your date. And you had to come up with Serena Yvonne? I mean, she's a nobody!" He calmly spoke which got me right to speak out when he finished.

I shrugged casually. "Why'd you think I invited her, dumbass?" This was such a jerky thing to do, but I felt like I had no choice. If these guys knew that Sere and I were actually friends...they wouldn't like that at all. "You guys claim to be so smart, figure it out."

Soon, Misty's eyes widened as understanding dawned on her face. "You jerk!" She stood up, slided her arms from Calem's neck and then reached around Ursula, who flattened herself against me, and punched my shoulder hard receiving me a shot of pain with a slight flinch. "You took my advice without telling me?"

Rudy glanced from me to Misty, curiosity playing across his sharp features. "What advice?" he wanted to know, as I prepared myself for the performance of a lifetime.

"I told him to take Serena to the gala as a mean joke but he was like 'oh, you're so evil, Misty'! But you actually did it?" Misty clearly explained.

Clearly disbelieving, Ursula gave Misty a rude head to toe look. "You suggested that idea?" she asked.

Shaking the head, Misty replied, "Well, Miette had some input. She wanted Ash to pull a Carrie on Serena, but he shot that idea down."

"Do you expect us to believe you invited Serena to the gala as a mean joke?" Rudy snorted.

"I didn't invite her as a joke," I said in a scornful way and slid my view to him. "I'm not 12 years old! Nope, it was purely political."

Calem was the first to get it. I could almost feel the cogs turning in his head as his eyes lit up and I grinned to myself. This was just too easy.

He snapped his fingers. "Pissing off daddy dearest. Ash, you devious son of a *****!"

Ursula wrinkled her forehead in thought. "I don't get it." She told, confused on the plan.

"What does Ash Ketchum dad. hate more than anything in the world?" Calem asked patiently to the whole group.

Obvious question. Ursula seemed to think so too, as she pointed directly at me, a teasing grin on her face. "You mean beside Ash?"

Calem nodded. "Yeah, besides Ash."

"People with no money- oh!" She answered and finally realises of the scheme plot.

"It was pure genius, man. Invite Serena- you knew the grapevine was gonna talk about it." Calem clapped slowly and deliberately, smiling widely across his face.

"Yeah, well, it was a huge mistake, inviting her." Carelessly, I shrugged my shoulders again. "I mean, she thinks we're tight now. She's been sticking to me like glue ever since I asked her to the gala. I don't know how I'm gonna get rid of her."

"Doesn't she realize you've just been using her? Girls like that are so dumb. You flirt with her a little bit, act real nice and they'll do anything for you." Calem sounded like he had experience in that field and I didn't press him. Keeping a straight face while I spun the lies out was hard enough.

"So was your dad pissed when he figured out she was broke?" Rudy wanted to know as he places his elbow on a hard table and rested his head in his cupped hand.

I cringed, remembering the tongue lashing I had received the day after the gala.

"Don't ever pull a stunt like that again! You knew how important that night was for my image! Why the hell would you bring an unknown as your date? Do you know how many people were talking about that?" And so on and so forth. Oh, yeah. He was pissed, alright.

I nodded. "Yeah, he was. She served her purpose. It's getting rid of her that's gonna be the problem."

"You don't have to worry about that," Misty said behind, a movement over her shoulder catching her eye. "Little Miss Eavesdropper heard everything."

Until that moment when she finished her sentence. My heart skipped a beat in a millisecond as I slowly turned around in my seat, willing it to be one of Misty's jokes. Unfortunately, luck wasn't on my side.

There I saw Sere and Dawn stood there with books in their bare hands firmly in place. Apparently they had been heading across the quad and something had made them pass right behind us, leaving me screwed.

Sliding my eyes. Dawn looked very furious than ever glaring her eyes on me, but Sere- she looked hurt. I could clearly see wet tears welling up in her sapphire eyes and I realized that my star turn as an actor had been too believable, since she had fallen for it too.

Fist clenched tightly with a couple of crack sound, Dawn glowered at me. "You jerk!" She shouted so loud across from our table. "I can't believe you used my best friend to get back at your dad!"

I opened my mouth to reply but the words wouldn't come out, the look on Sere's face needing an explanation, but Misty beat me to it. "Save your indignation for someone who cares."

"And next time, don't listen in on other peoples conversations," Rudy chimed in snootily. "Didn't your parents teach you any manners?"

Calem laughed out loud. "No." He pointed at Sere, who was just staring at me, a mixture of hurt and fury on her pretty face. "Her father abandoned her years ago." My eyes widen in full shock. I shot a complete stare at Calem. Sere's father abandoned her? "I don't know what Dawn's excuse is, though." He finished.

I looked back at the two girls in my sight when a single tear rolled down Sere's cheek as she finally spoke, her voice shaking. "Don't you ever talk about my dad again," she hissed, her aggressive words floating in air sending to my ears, her jaw working as she turned to look me in the eye. "And don't you ever talk to me again. After everything I've done for you!"

I stood up while facing her, reaching for her involuntarily.

"Serena...." My voice trailed off as I remembered that my friends were watching eagerly and I couldn't say what I wanted to say, which was a huge sorry.

I didn't want her to continue talking and spill my secret, even though she was well within her rights to do so. I had completely messed up just to save my own skin. But I really had no idea that she would overhear me talking about her.

The old me wouldn't have cared, but the new me that knew Sere as a friend- I knew I had hurt her badly. And I couldn't retract anything, not here, in front of my friends.

I still had to save face. So I just gave her a cheeky grin which pained me a lot, spread my hands out wide and simply said, "You had to find out that I was just using you eventually," I mocked. Then I sat down in my seat and waited for the crap to hit the fan.

But Sere didn't continue talking. She just gave me a disgusted look which chilled me, largely due to the bead tears running down her sorrow face, and whirled away feeling only regret take over me.

"Let's go, Dawn," she said, walking away with her back straight striding away from me.

Misty and Ursula mean roaring laughter echoed in the quad as I watched Sere go out of my sight, feeling like the biggest lowlife to ever walk the Earth.