Serena pov

"Why do you keep staring at me?" I said, giving with my best "that-means-stop-you-Baka" glare, but I couldn't be bothered to look up from the buttons on the keypad.

"Because I'm cool," Ash responded. "Why do you lose at 8 pool"
He grabbed the phone from my hands and prevented the Game a loss screen from showing up too soon before handing it back to me.

"Because I'm cool?" I guessed except it took me a while to reply because I was about to lose again and I needed to concentrate.

After a few minutes, I frowned, "Do it again." I tossed the old flip phone back to Ash and with a few expert taps on this-or-that button, he potted some balls in the game and won the match.

He looked smugly, though, like "ha ha you so need me, you needy girl I knew it" so I decided not to let him play anymore. The free trial was about to expire, anyway. I should be playing.

The Game Over screech startled him but he didn't stop looking at my face. In fact, he seemed to be trying to pot holes this time. "Why didn't you let me take over?" he asked

Finally tossing the phone to the other side of the bed, I looked up, bored. "I forgot."

"Likely story," he said. Then he grabbed me by the waist and crushed his lips against mine. He made this really weird noise as he hauled me onto his lap.

"Mmm," he murmured. "I love it when you do that."

I broke away, flushed, and he grinned. "For crying out loud!" I exclaimed. "Would you quit it already?"

"Huh? Oh, sorry, my bad," he smirked, pointedly dragging his eyes away from my lips.

"If you don't wanna help me write this thing, you can just, oh, I don't know, leave?" I rubbed my arms uncomfortably as I tried to glare.

Ash rolled his eyes. "You were the one playing the whole time."

"Well, I couldn't find my pencil!" I said defensively as I slid out of his lap. And when I asked him to help me look for my pencil box, he said Nah, and went downstairs to find something to eat. I was going to use the notepad on my phone to write all this down but, you know, clash of clans was right next to the accessories icon.

"You were gonna write a three-page speech on your old, keyboard-less cell phone?"

I crossed my arms. "Two-page speech. Two to three pages, you little over-achiever."

"I am not an over-achiever," he choked out. "And couldn't you have just turned on your computer and opened up Microsoft Word or something?"

"My computer's broken," I managed to get out before his lips found mine again. I tried to pull back, but every time I did, he just leaned further into the kiss so I just gave up and threw my arms around his neck. He made that noise again as I climbed into his lap but I tried to remain super quiet. Suddenly his tongue was in my mouth and I made the stupid noise.

"Ah, shoot!" I exclaimed, pulling away breathlessly. "I lost!"

"What do you mean, Serena?" he whispered in a low pitch, trailing kisses down my neck.

I rolled my eyes. "Oh, nothing, it's just that I made that stupid, Ash," I moaned his name, as he nipped at my collar bone and he stiffened. "Oh, not again!" I whined, crawling clumsily to the other side of the bed.

He stared at me in a mixture of frustration, amusement, and oh
No. I hope that's not what lust looks like.

"Stop touching me, you Baka!" I huffed, eyes widening in alarm as he began crawling closer. I once gave my friend this cute pink pen I found at the store and she told me that boys didn't like the color pink.

hopefully Ash would feel that selfsame and never come near me again.
But all Ash did was laugh. He did stop in the middle of my bed while I was glaring at him from my corner, so I guess I shouldn't complain.

He grinned as he spoke, "Well, stop lying to me then. First you forget to let me save you in your stupid game of 8 pool, and now your computer's broken?"

My cheeks burned up as I fiddled with my hands, mumbling in a pitiful excuse for an apology. Then looked up. "So you'll stop kissing me if I stop lying?"

"Uh"

"Deal! Now let's get that speech written, mister!" I ran over to my computer to turn it on but stopped when I found something sitting on my huge old monitor. "Hey! My pencils!"

"Honestly, I don't think you're freaking out enough," my best friend Korrina admitted.

I switched the phone to my other ear as I typed my password in the little box, "How do you mean?"

"Well, Ash just kissed you twice today. Twice! That means two times! Shouldn't you be really mad or at least really weirded out?"

"I am, a little bit," I defended, spinning around on my computer chair.

"Well, maybe you're not that mad because you, I don't know, like him,"

"Duh," I replied, rolling my eyes.

There was silence on the other end and I tried to keep from snickering.

"YOU LIKE ASH KETCHUM?!" Korrina screamed and I peeled the phone away from my ear calmly.

"Well, yeah," I confessed. "I just realized a couple weeks ago."

"A COUPLE WEEKS AGO?" she screamed.

"I know, weird right?"

"No, not that weird." Korrina seemed to have calmed down. "He's gorgeous and he knows how to deal with you. Really, anyone could have seen that coming."

"Well, nobody warned me," I exclaimed. "If I'd known I would've started liking him, I would have, like, moved to your house!"

"You would've moved down the street?" She asked dryly.

"Well, I was gonna say Timbuktu but it sounded so far," I admitted, clicking on my 1 unread message. Yay! Email! I'm popular!

"Ohhh," I murmured, and korrina stopped her muttering about how much of a loser I was.

"What?" she asked curiously.

"Details about My Sweet Sixteen!" I read the subject of the email perkily.

"Ohhh," she mimicked.

I quickly skimmed through the message and stopped. "I need a date?"

"Well, duh," Korrina replied. "It's a sweet sixteen, what did you expect?"

I ignored her. "Why didn't she tell me earlier? Not everyone is so charming that they can find a date in less than a week!" I complained.

"Just ask Ash to take you," Korrina suggested, as if it were obvious.

"No way!" I yelled childishly.

"I thought you said you liked him!"

"So?"

"So ask him?"

I sighed. Sweet, oblivious little Korrina. "Just because I like him doesn't mean he likes me, you big dummy! Besides, I don't wanna inflate his ego anymore by asking him out," I grumbled.

"Oh, for crying out loud, sere!" Korrina cried. Out loud. "Of course he likes you. He kissed you Twice today. Twice! That means—"

"Two times, I know," I finished, blushing. I cleared my throat. "Anyway, that doesn't have to mean anything. He just doesn't like it when I lie."

"So he punishes you by kissing you and making weird noises?" Korrina laughed.

"Hey! How on earth did you know about the weird noises?"

"Just a guess," she replied. "Anyhow, if you really don't want to ask Ash, just take Johnny."

"Wanna ask him for me?" I asked.

"Oh, whatever—JOHNNY! WILL YOU BE SERENA'S ESCORT TO THAT SWEET SIXTEEN SHE WAS TALKING ABOUT?" Korrina yelled, probably down the banister. "He said, Of course." She paused. "Hey, that's not fair—you and my brother get to go, but I can't?"

"Oh, please, you big dummy. It says I can take a friend. Like I would even agree to go to this thing if I didn't have you by my side," I finished cheesily.

"Aw," Korrina cooed. "Now tell me, just how weird were those noises?"

I groaned.

"Did he make that noise or you?" she continued cheekily, and I hung up with a huff. The 'noises' were the least of my problems. I wonder how long it would take Ash to figure out I was avoiding him . . .

"So, why are you avoiding me?" Ash asked with his hands in the pockets kind of way as I put my textbooks in my locker.

"Who? Me?" I asked, closing the locker door much too loudly. "I am so not avoiding you."

Ash pressed me against the lockers, raising an eyebrow.

I swallowed, not sure if I could take another of his kisses, seeing as I was still reeling from the ones from a few days ago. "I mean, yes, I am avoiding you."

"I noticed, sweetheart," he whispered fondly, placing a kiss on my jaw. Well, not fondly, Then pushed himself off of me and crossed his arms. "But I asked you why."

I stared into his stormy auburn eyes.

"Well, hey, did you use up the rest of my free trial games on Tetris?" I accused, pointing my finger at him.

"What?" he said, looking away guiltily. "No way!"

Hey, that's not fair. I should figure out my own punishment for him. He can't get away with lying to me!

"You so did," I said determinedly. "That's what you were doing when you took like ten minutes to program your number in my phone. I can't believe I believed you when you said that Game Over noise happened because you accidentally put too many R's in your name!"

He started laughing. "Yeah, I can't believe you believed me, either."

I punched his arm as hard as I could and he squeaked like a little girl. "Hey," he cried. "You didn't even answer my question!"

"Too bad!" I said, raising my fist again.

"Okay, okay," he put his arms up in surrender. "So, Serena, do you have an escort yet because—"

"Yes."

Ash blinked at me, obviously not expecting that. Then his jaw tightened and his eyes darkened. "Really."

"Yep."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah."

"Are you lying because I might just have to kiss you like you've never been kissed before and—"

I blushed hotly. "I'm not lying! Johnny's taking me!"

"Who on earth is Johnny?" he spat.

"Some guy," I answered as vaguely as I could because Ash was being quite annoying. "Who are you taking?"

He blinked, scratching his neck. "Well, I—I'm not sure yet."

I furrowed my brows. "You're not? We've only got like a few days before—hey, you weren't planning on asking me, were you?" I asked, surprised.

"What? I—no way," he said incredulously. "Don't flatter yourself."

I blinked at him, a little hurt. "I was just asking." I walked away as the bell rang, pretending I didn't hear him call my name.

"And then he looked at me like I was crazy for even suggesting that he was planning on asking me!" I pouted. "I told you he didn't like me."

Korrina reached across the lunch table to pat my hand. "I'm sure he was just trying to save face."

I sniffed, tucking some of my honey blond hair behind my ear. "Well if that's true, he certainly didn't have to be so mean about it!"

"I know, I know, all boys are insensitive and pink,"

"And?" I grinning.

"And they smell very, very bad and pink," she finished, patting my hand again.

"Yeah, seriously. Alright, time to eat!" I cheered, and we stood up to go to the lunch line.

Well, Korrina stood up. I tried to, and fell back in my seat.

"Oops," a male voice muttered and I sighed in relief.
Oh, but here's one more to add right back. The wall was Ash Ketchum. Dum dum dummmm!

"Excuse me," I said, getting up and trying to slide right past him.

Ash grabbed my wrist before I could get too far. "Serena," he said, running his other hand through his lovely dark hair. "I didn't mean to, you know, be mean earlier. It's just that I—" he stopped, furrowing his brows.

"You what?" I yanked my hand back and crossed my arms, eyeing the lunch line that was getting longer and longer as if that interested me more.

He opened his mouth and I raised my eyebrows. "Forget it," he muttered in frustration.

Korrina glared at him. "Well, if you aren't the pinkest male I've ever known, then I don't know what you are!"

I looked at her gratefully before turning back to Ash. "Yeah! You are so pink it freaking blinds me!"

Ash narrowed his eyes, stuffing his hands in his pockets. "What does that even mean?"

"They think that 'pink' is the insult above all insults when directed at any given male. But that would probably only be true if you were a four-year-old kid, so . . . yeah, they're just a little weird."

We all turned to look at the grinning blonde boy who had black sunglasses covering his eyes. offering Ash his hand. "Hey, I'm Johnny." They'd never met because Johnny was in some super-smart program at our school and didn't share classes with Ash, Korrina, and me.

Ash eyes narrowed and he pretended not to notice the offered hand. "I'm Ash," he said grudgingly.

Johnny looked amused. "Well, it's a pleasure to meet you, Ash, but I'm pretty sure these ladies are hungry, so—" our hero looked at Ash pointedly. He was blocking the lunch line.

Ash glared. "Well, aren't you a little gentleman?"

Johnny raised an eyebrow and opened his mouth to reply but I jumped in, feeling a little uncomfortable. "Hey, Ash, it's fine, okay? I was just overreacting earlier. Besides, I already have a date, so . . . we're good, honestly. I'll talk to you later?"

Ash looked between Johnny and me silently with a frown on his face.

Then he swallowed, nodded, and walked away with his hands in his pockets. I bit my lip, feeling that there was something there I missed.

"He was so jealous!" Korrina laughed excitedly as she pulled the curler things out of my hair. "I have no idea why anyone would be jealous of my brother for a second—" she ignored Johnny's half-hearted protest from where he was sprawled across my bed, "—but it was adorable. I told you he liked you, Serena."

I pretended not to hear her and pulled out my phone to play a free trial game of PacMan.

"Actually, my sister's right," Johnny agreed. "Why else wouldn't he like me? Everyone likes me."

I ignored him, too, and stood up, twirling around in my midnight blue dress. I grinned and winked at myself in the mirror.

"Shoot, I'm smokin'," I said, pulling at the black bow around my middle and waggling my eyebrows.

"No, me!" Korrina bumped me out of the way with her hip, sending me sprawling to the ground dramatically.

She smiled cutely at herself in the mirror, fluffing out her blonde curls and smoothing down the baby blue dress that complimented her eyes perfectly.

Johnny just rolled his eyes at us. "Idiots."

"Please, you were staring at yourself for like an hour before we left," Korrina said dryly and Johnny shrugged.

"So." They looked up at me. "Was he really that jealous?" I asked, cheeks flaming.

I swallowed a couple times before opening my mouth to speak.

"Maya Lillian Bauk, you're beautiful," I said into the microphone and she smiled shyly, hiding behind the curtain.

I grinned to myself. Lillian and I may have drifted apart over the years, but she hadn't changed much. She was still shy and radiant as ever.

"You're sixteen now—well, duh—and it's easy and it's wonderful to see that you've got your father's passion and your mother's patience. But it's like you've taken these things to a place that is truly and completely your own and . . ."

When I finished speaking a few minutes later, I looked up to smile at the birthday girl again, and saw she was crying a little.

"Thank you," Lillian mouthed and I gave her a thumbs up before stumbling behind the curtain.

"I thought we agreed that you were just going to tell jokes the whole time," Ash grabbed my arm and spun me back around to face him.

I rolled my eyes and shushed him, covering his mouth with my hand as I listened to the speech going on the other side of the curtain:

"The reason I love Maya—I mean, Lillian— is because she's so funny! One time we were at cheer practice, you know? And Ms. Garfield wasn't there!—"

I looked at Ash wide-eyed and covered my own mouth to contain the peals of laughter. He rolled his eyes and dragged me farther away from the curtain.

"They actually talk like that?" I said hilariously. "Oh, my gosh—"

"That's my date," Ash said darkly.

My mouth dropped. "What I meant to say was, uh, she is just so eloquent and funny—"

Ash mouth covered mine and he wrapped his arm around my waist. His lips smooched over my own, over and over and over again and I positively melted. Suddenly my back was pressed against the wall and I was pressing into him and—what on earth were my hands doing in his raven hair?

"Serena," he murmured huskily as his lips found my neck. "Serena, Serena, Serena," he whispered and I swallowed thickly.

Would he quit saying my name like that?

"Mmm, Ash . . ." My eyes snapped open after I'd made the strange noise and I shivered at the dark intensity of his gaze as I tried to pull away.

"Serena," he breathed, placing a kiss on my jaw. "Do you like that Johnny guy? I mean, he said the two of you were just friends but—"

"No," I said, blushing, and he visibly relaxed, placing a kiss on my ear. "I don't like that Johnny guy. Do you like Eloquent and Funny Girl?"

"Who?" he said carelessly as he grabbed my hands and wrapped them back around his neck.

"Your date," I clarified dryly, feeling a little guilty now.

"Oh," Ash laughed. "She's not my date. I don't have one."

"Oh," I said, feeling lighter. Then I punched him as hard as I could. "You dirty rotten liar."

Ash smirked at me to cover up the wince. "See, I don't see how it's fair that when you lie, both of us get to enjoy your punishment—" he waggled his eyebrows, "but when I lie, only you get the satisfaction."

I glared at him and responded, "Who says I like your punishment?"

"What? I thought you said—"

I raised my eyebrows. "I don't like Johnny. Doesn't mean I like you. In fact, I think you're kind of gross. And you make weird noises. And you're pink."

Ash stared at me with narrowed eyes and then kissed me sweeter than I'd ever been kissed. "You almost had me there, you little blondie. So you do lie just to get me to kiss you senseless!"

I grinned cheekily at him and he smiled warmly.

"My kind of girl," he said. "By the way, you look beautiful—" I cooed at him and he rolled his eyes, "and thanks for making Maya so happy. Even Mom thinks we should get married."

I looked away to hide my blush. "Wow, if I didn't think you were so ugly—"