It has been a whole month since school started for Ash and co. During this time, a lot has taken place. Calem and Serena rarely hang out anymore. Ash is always there to comfort Serena when she needs it. Gary and Misty have been ditching the group of friends relatively often for some odd reason, while Paul and Dawn have grown to be extremely close despite their conflicting personalities. May and Drew are always fighting about one thing or another... they never seem to get along.

Nothing special really happened during the first month. Everybody was still studying hard. Ash was still training every single day while Serena was still practicing Rhyhorn racing.

Its a Monday morning and we join Ash and his friends during the start their first lesson.

Serena's POV

I walk into the classroom and see Ash and Gary already in their seats. They seem to be fighting about something. Its too early in the morning, and its Monday so I don't have the strength and willpower and deal with having to stop them right now.

I start walking towards my seat. Ash stopped fighting and looked up towards me.

"Good Morning Serena!" he said while waving at me and giving me a huge smile.

I have gotten very close to Ash and everything about his seems so familiar to me. Its almost as if I have known him for years even though I've only known him for a month now.

I smile back at him and reply.

"Good Morning Ash!"

I went and sat down on my seat. Soon Dawn and the others entered the classroom. Dawn walked over to me, greeted me and sat down next to me.

Eventually, the class started filling up. Finally, Calem and Shauna entered. They were walking together. Even though they weren't talking, they seemed to have content smiles on their faces. This was something I had gotten used to over the past month.

Calem looked at me and smiled. I smiled back at him. Even though Calem and Shauna acted like they were together, I was, and still am, his girlfriend. In any other relationship, that would have meant something, but in this one, it doesn't. We barely even talk. I don't even know what we are doing. I guess its because of the fact that both Calem and I are afraid of change.

"Serena, are you OK?" asked a voice behind me.

I snapped out of my thoughts and realised that my head was drooped and I had a frown on my face. I quickly turned around and saw that it was Ash. My frown immediately transformed into a smile at the sight of him concerned face. I don't like seeing him concerned but that fact the he is concerned about me makes me feel really nice.

"I'm fine Ash, I was just thinking about something."

Ash the smiled back at me. The morning sunlight was lighting Ash's face from the side giving his Auburn eyes an even lighter shade and making them twinkle. His Raven hair turned into a dark Bronze colour under the rays of the sun. He looked absolutely amazing.

I know Ash is a good looking person, but that's not all. Over the past months, I've gotten to know him quite well and what Gary, Dawn and the others said about Ash on the first day was completely true. His personality is amazing and he always seems to put others above himself.

I only realised that I was staring at Ash when Dawn nudged me. I noticed that Ash was staring back at me too. This made my cheeks flare up. I broke eye contact and quickly looked forward and away from Ash. I faced Dawn and she had a knowing smirk on her face. She quickly glanced at Ash and the looked back at me. I knew what she was implying and that made me blush even harder. I gave Dawn and glare and then shifted my gaze towards Prof. Rowan. He was about to start the class.

After what seemed like an eternity, Maths finally ended. Dawn said that she had to go to the bathroom quickly so she left. Gary quickly ran over to Misty as they left the class together too. I was packing up my bag when I heard someone talk behind me.

"Umm... Serena?"

I turned around to see Calem. He sounded nervous and he looked even more so.

"Oh, hi Calem, what's wrong?"

"I need to talk to you about something. Can you meet me by the Sports Field after school is over please?"

I was a bit confused. I was wondering what he wanted to talk to me about so suddenly.

"Uh... Sure!"

Calem the smiled at me and walked back out of the room.

I then heard a but of shuffling and saw that Ash was right there too. It was only him and me in the room now. He had a small frown on his face. Ash, as I've come to know, is always an upbeat person. It is very rare to see him upset. He is always happy and optimistic. Whenever he gets sad, it hurts me for some reason. He is such a nice and caring person. It is really painful to see someone like him upset.

"Hey Ash, lets go. We don't want to be late for our nest lesson."

He looked up at me. I then grabbed his hand and started running out of the classroom.

"S-Serena?" he sounded surprised by my actions.

I looked back at him while running and smiled at him.

I wasn't looking where I was going and ended up tripping on my own leg. I started falling forwards. I was bracing for impact but then I realised that Ash was holding my hand. He would stop me from hitting the floor... right?

Unfortunately, I was running so fast that Ash was out of balance too. As I fell, he fell too. I slammed down onto the floor. Thankfully, I softened by blow using my free hand as a cushion for the fall. Ash on the other hand wasn't so lucky. He ended up stumbling ahead and ended up banding his head on a table. He then quickly fell backwards.

So, I was lying on the floor on my front and Ash was about a meter ahead of me, also on the floor, on his back while clutching his forehead.

I was slightly disappointed. I wanted Ash to catch me so that we would end up in a hug or something... or at least have me fall on top of him or vice versa, but nooooo. There I was on the floor with my palms stinging and a slightly painful knee and Ash, who was holding his head while repeating various forms of whispers of pain like "ow" or "damn it hurts". Pikachu was on the floor, right next to him staring at him while tilting its head.

After a while, Ash and I sat up almost simultaneously.

"I'm sorry Ash. If i wasn't so rash, this wouldn't have happened." I said while looking down.

"No problem, Serena. Accidents happen!" he said to me while giving me a grin.

Ash then stood up. I tried standing up but couldn't. The pain on my knee just grew. It didn't look like there was a physical cut or graze or anything. It was probably just the collision with the ground that caused the pain. Ash seemed to have noticed this and came over to me.

"Serena, are you OK? You look like you're in a lot of pain." he said.

"I think... I hurt my leg."

He looks down at my leg and his eyes suddenly widen. It looked as if he was deep in thought for some reason. He then quickly shook his head and he had a... mischievous? smile on his face.

He squatted and took a look at my knee.

"Don't worry. It will be fine. Here." he said as he extended his arm.

I knew I couldn't stand up all by myself, so I took his hand. He pulled me up with a bit too much force and I fell into his arms. It felt... familiar. Almost as if I had this happen to me before. I the realised that I was hugging Ash. I felt mi cheeks heat up... again. I wanted to pull back but couldn't. I felt so much warmth radiating from him. It was so comforting, especially since it was a cold autumnal morning. Just having him embrace me made me feel so safe. It was a completely new feeling to me. I have hugged others before... but I have never really felt like this. There was a small part of me on the back my head telling me I have felt this before... but I couldn't remember.

We stayed like that for about 10 seconds when Ash finally spoke up.

"You gonna let go of me anytime soon? We need to head to out next class you know." he said while chuckling.

I blushed immensely. I quickly broke out of the embrace and started walking towards the door. I heard Ash walking behind me. I started feeling slightly awkward now. I turned about to ask him if we are lite but instead ended up bursting out in laughter.

There was a horizontal red mark right across his forehead. It must have been because of his impact with the desk earlier.

Ash just stood there dumbfounded.

"Whats the matter? Why are you laughing?" he asked with a very confused expression.

I couldn't stop laughing so I just took out my hand mirror and gave it to him. As soon as I did that, he looked quite offended... that was until he looked at himself in the mirror.

"I-Its not funny!" he said while trying to rub the mark off.

I clamped my lips together using my hands to stop myself from laughing... but I was failing badly.

I was looking at Ash. He was looking at the mirror and his expression soon turned neutral. The red mark was still there. Ash's face suddenly fell serious and that's when I stopped laughing. I may have crossed a line there. It wasn't too nice laughing at him like that. The same thing happened on the very first day. I was expecting Ash to get angry or just ignore me and walk away, but instead, his lips curled up into a smile. The smile then turned into light giggles which then evolved into a full blown laughter.

I was slightly confused at the beginning too but ended up laughing with him.

The laughter slowly died down.

"Well, that was quite an experience." he said.

"It sure was" I replied, which earned me a chuckle from him.

He looked down onto his watch.

"Shoot! We are 10 minutes late already!" he said while panicking.

"WHAT?"

We ran to the next lesson. My leg was feeling a lot better. It was only a knock to the knee so the pain subsided quite quickly.

The next lesson was English with Professor Ivy.

Ash's POV

We finally made if to the front door. I was running in front and Serena was directly behind me. Her knee seems to be better... which is nice.

I was in a rush so I accidentally slammed the door open. Prof. Ivy looked at me and then at Serena. She was quite a nice teacher so she wouldn't yell at us for being late if the reason was valid.

"Ash, Serena, why are you guys late?" she asked.

She then noticed that I had a red mark on my head and Serena's clothes were slightly dusty.

"Oh, we just had a small accident. Sorry we're late." I replied.

She seemed to understand. It was quite clear from the way we looked that there was a small incident.

Prof. Ivy then motion for me and Serena to go to our respective seats.

English along with History and Science were alright. After those four lessons, it was lunch.

Calem and Shauna seemed to disappear during Lunch. Gary, Paul, Kenny, Drew, Barry, Clemont and I sat on our own table while Serena, Dawn, May, Misty, Mallow and Iris sat on their own table.

"So, what happened between you and Serena before English?" asked Gary. He seemed to me smirking at me.

"Nothing. We were running to class and just tripped, OK?"

"Why did you have that huge red mark on your forehead then?" asked Drew.

"Well, I tripped and slammed my forehead onto a table." I chuckled while scratching the back of my head.

I was telling the truth and they seemed to believe me so that was alright.

Serena's POV

"Hey, Serena. Where were you and Ash just before English?" asked a very curious Dawn. She had a devious smile on her face.

I blushed as I remembered what happened. It felt so nice to be in his arms. Even the awkward moment after that quickly disappeared when we started laughing together. I smiled at the thought of it.

I hadn't realised that instead of answering Dawn's question, I was blushing and smiling while staring into space. I was broken out of my thoughts by a few giggles.

Dawn, Mallow and May were giggling while looking at me.

"Wh-Why are you guys giggling?"

"Thinking about someone special, are we?" asked May.

I blushed even harder at the comment. That's when Mallow, May and Dawn started laughing while even Misty and Iris started giggling.

I was getting quite nervous and embarrassed now. Misty seemed to notice it and thankfully, she stepped in.

"Guys, lets just eat now. The food is getting cold and we have a lesson in 20 minutes." she said.

The laughter soon died down and we all started eating. When we finished, there was still 10 minutes of lunch left. We were sat around conversing when Dawn went back to a topic that I thought we left behind.

"So, Serena, what do you think of Ash? You have had enough time to get to know him and he appears to be closer to you than any other girls, including us." she said.

I was surprised. I had never noticed but Ash and I did spend a lot of time together.

"Well, he is a really nice person. He is very thoughtful and caring and he has this very likable personality. He is always looking after all his friends and he makes me feel really happy when I'm around him. I feel nice and safe around him and he always manages to cheer me up. He is always there for me. He also has amazing eyes. Those Auburn ey-"

I cut myself off by putting my palms above my mouth. DID I JUST SAY THAT OUT LOUD!?

I looked around the table and everybody's mouth was slightly agape and their eyes were open wide. Dawn's lips then slowly curled up.

"I knew it!" she said.

"Knew what?" I replied, slightly confused.

Now, even Misty, May and Iris had a smirk on their faces. I was starting to get worried.

"Serena, you might now realise this yet but... you like Ash Ketchum." said Dawn.

I immediately chocked on air and my eyes widened like they never have before.

"WHAT!?"

"It's obvious from the way you look at him and way you act around him and the way you just talked about him. You might not know it but you like Ash." she said. She was slightly more serious now.

"Serena, there's no point in denying it now. We are your friends and we will help you through this!" said May.

"May's right. We can help you with this situation. Ash is so reckless at times and someone needs to do something about it. You might be just what he need too you know." said Misty.

I thought deeply about it for a while. Ash has always supported me and even promised me to help me figure out my real dream.I knew I was in a relationship with Calem, but I wasn't happy. He has been ignoring me for quite a while now. Ash has always been there when Calem hasn't... and he has done a heck of a lot better job than Calem ever has. I knew what this meant. I had feeling for Ash...

I sighed.

"You guys are right. I do like Ash." I said with a small smile.

I saw all their smiles drop to a frown.

"What's wrong?"

"You see, Ash is very dense. To be honest with you, every one of us have had these feelings towards him during our journey with him... but he doesn't seem to understand the concept of "liking" someone, you see." said Misty.

"All of us did get over it quite quickly though. We knew it was hopeless." siad Iris. Even Iris had a crush on him?

"But that's not all. Ash is actually waiting. Waiting for someone to return to him. He said that he met a girl when he was very little. It was 10 years ago apparently. Ash is hopelessly in love with that girl and has been waiting for her to come back ever since." said Mallow.

I don't know why, but I wanted to cry. I just found out that I like Ash and the immediately found out that he already has a special someone. He has been so loyal to her. Waiting all these years just for her to return back to him. I felt so jealous of this girl. She was so lucky to have someone like Ash waiting just for her. I didn't want to come in between Ash's Fairy Tale love story... but I didn't want to give up on Ash just yet. Maybe, just maybe, I still have a chance. As Ash always says "Never give up until the end!".

I smile back at the four and they seemed to be taken aback by it. They were probably expecting me to be depressed, but no.

"I know you guys gave up on him... but I wont. Not yet. Not until the end."

And with that, Lunch was over. We all headed to our classrooms.

Soon school was over. Ash and I walked out of the classroom. I told him I was going to the Sports Field and I could tell that he was giving me a forced smile and asked me if I wanted him to come along. I told him that I'll go alone so he replied that he was going to walk around for a while.

I didn't want to do this to him but I had to, so, I started walking in the opposite direction to him. The sky was getting darker. It looked like it was going to rain any minute now.

I remembered what Calem had said so I went to the sports field. I saw him waiting over by the benches. I walked up to him and smiled at him.

"Hi Calem, what did you want to talk about?"

"Hi Serena." he said with a weak smile which seemed forced.

"I wanted to talk about you... and me. Us." he continued.

I was now feeling quite nervous. It has been a while since Calem talked about our relationship.

"What about it?"

"You see... I don't think... I don't think it is working out for us. I was happy with you but I found out that I can be happier. I promise you that I have not cheated on you. All I have done is hang out with-"

"Shauna..." I cut him off. Tears were streaming down my face. No matter the situation, I have had feelings for Calem for quite a while and I was quite happy with him. It is difficult to break them just like this.

"I'm sorry Serena. I just... don't love you anymore." he said as he turned away and started walking away.

Those words "I just don't love you anymore." kept replaying in my head. It was just so painful when he said that. It felt like my heart was ripped right out of my chest and shredded into pieces.

I cried my eyes out as I started running in the opposite direction that Calem went to. I ran towards the woods near the school. I ran deeper and deeper into the woods as tears kept streaming down my face. I only stopped running when I felt like my heart was about to burst from all the running.

It soon started raining so I seeked shelter inside a hollow tree. I was tired from all the running and the heartache. I felt so alone. This time, Ash wasn't there to comfort me... mostly because I turned him away earlier.

I thought about all the good times Calem and I shared and cried even harder. Soon, exhaustion kicked in and my eyes grew heavier and heavier as I finally fell asleep. I didn't even care if I was outdoors and sitting underneath a tree. I just fell asleep.

End of Chapter 9.

Well, the new Sun and Moon anime looks quite good. I enjoyed the first two episodes. I still miss Serena a lot and I am really hoping that she returns. I didn't like how close Mallow was getting to Ash. Pikachu's Gigavolt Havoc was amazing though! It was so powerful!

What did you guys think about the new episodes?

This chapter, Serena finally realises everything clearly. She breaks up with Calem too (Calem breaks up with her really...). She is now alone in the woods during a rain storm.

Next chapter should be quite nice. All of it should basically be Amourshipping so stay tuned.

Thanks for reading.

See you guys in the next chapter!