::DREW::

A very graphic clip of our little kiss by the lakefront appeared in high definition on the widescreen TV. The shot was taken at an angle where you could see all the details including the romantic sunset behind us. Arceus. Harley was going to pay for this, "this" being COMPLETELY RUINING MY LIFE.

"WHAT THE HELL DREW? YOU WERE KISSING HER?" Brianna cried out angrily. Tears were streaming down her carefully moisturized and toned cheeks. She was shaking so hard that the towel she had wrapped over her hair was unraveling.

"HOW COULD YOU?" she screamed.

Shit. This was not good.

"Ummmmmmm…" I stuttered. Shit, shit, shit. What have I gotten myself into? Why'd I sign up for this thing anyways? "That was four years ago…" I said, coming up with the best explanation I could possibly think of at the moment.

Crap. What was wrong with me? I know Brianna will NEVER accept that as an answer. I should've been able to come up with something better. I'm known for spinning out intricate combinations in the heat of a battle but I can't spin out a quick lie to my girlfriend who, let's face it, I don't have feelings for anymore?

Brianna pouted while the make-out scene continued on TV. "You always said you'd NEVER fall for a fan-girl and there you are sucking face with that SLUT!" she cried.

I bit my lip, trying to hold back my fists. Anyone who called May a slut needed to get their face re-arranged but for May's safety and my safety, I held back my balled up fists. "We weren't even dating four years ago," I said as steadily as I could.

She stomped her foot. "Well that's no excuse for going around kissing random SLUTS when your soul-mate, a.k.a. ME was waiting four you!"

I rolled my eyes. I had several objections to that claim but I wanted to keep May safe. I knew Brianna had a very rich dad who had some highly trained bodyguards with highly efficient guns and Brianna was anything but afraid to call them in. Now that I think about it, I think that's the reason why I started dating her. It was that or her continuous stalking got so unbearable that I gave in. Or maybe it was a combination of both.

She gave me her death stare for a moment before turning her attention to the TV where May was hastily saying goodbye to me before running off. Seeing that scene again hurt me a lot. I wanted to reach out and pull her in, keeping her by my side forever and always but for some reason, I didn't. The pain came rushing back to me and once again I bit my lip to stop the tears.

Brianna turned to me while the camera focused back in on Harley in his Wigglytuff suit. I felt a tiny smile curl up on my lips. Seeing Harley in that suit was pretty funny.

At least he's good for something.

"Listen Drewykins," Brianna said, trying to be as serious as possible, "I'll let this one go but PROMISE me I'm the only girl you'll ever be locking lips with again," she said.

"Uhhhhh… sure," I said, though of course, that was a lie.

"And before I turn the camera away from little, adorable me, I have one last super adorable clip to show you!" Harley said happily.

I grabbed the remote before Harley could mess up my life even more and changed the channel.

"So…" I said awkwardly.

I didn't get a chance to continue as Brianna jumped on me and started making out. It felt odd, like I was cheating on May but there was nothing I could really do but go with the flow for now until she simmers down. Maybe then I could break up with her.

Then Brianna came up and stared at me intently. "From now on Drewy-pie, I'm not leaving your side no matter what." Then she went back in for more kissing.

Crap. Tomorrow was going to be hell on earth with Brianna trailing me through the rehearsal.

::MAY::

The next day started out pretty normal. I got showered, picked out a nice outfit, did my hair, the usual. After I finished doing my regular stuff, I walked over to my closet and picked out a pretty dress to wear for the dress rehearsal today. It was a light float-y dress. It had a sky blue color to it that twinkled and sparkled when I twirled. The skirt was light and free flowing making it feel weightless, a quality I desired in contest outfits I wore.

I packed it up nicely in a bag and headed over to the contest hall, stopping by the café to pick up a smoothie for breakfast. The walk to the contest hall was pretty peaceful without Drew's fan-girls around. Needless to say, I was in a pretty good mood when I arrived at the contest hall. Unfortunately, that good mood didn't last for long.

"What do you mean I can't enter? I'm part of the tour!" I said angrily.

"I'm sorry Miss but the contest hall is only for performers only," the guard said.

"I told you I'm part of the tour!" I yelled angrily. "I am MAY MAPLE!"

"I'm sorry miss but I already let in a May Maple with her partner Drew Hayden. Now if you'll just —" The guard was cut short by a very angry voice.

"Now just who do you think you're telling to exit?" Chloe asked. She was standing behind me, apparently sober. "This is the real May Maple and whoever you let in before was an imposter."

"Good morning Miss Sparks and I'm sorry you are mistaken but —"

"No buts," Chloe said firmly. "Get that other one out here ASAP and let her in or else I quit the tour and Arceus knows how upset Mr. Contesta will be when he finds out you let his star coordinator quit the tour."

"Yes. Of course. Right away Miss Sparks," the guard said, not wanting to face the combined force of Chloe and Mr. Contesta's wrath.

Chloe smiled. "That's more like it," she said deviously. Then she turned to me. Without the alcohol messing her up, you could see the intensity of her blue eyes. Unlike mine, hers were a stormy blue that were perfectly capable of seeing straight into your soul. They could be totally charming when she wanted to be charming but at the moment they were angry and stormy.

"Explain," she simply said.

"I just got here and the guard wouldn't let me in because apparently someone else came here pretending to be me with Drew," I said.

Chloe looked up and glared at an approaching trio coming out of the contest hall. "About time you got here with them," she said angrily.

I looked over too. Sure enough, there was the guard along with Drew and someone else. The mystery person had combed her auburn hair into my old hairstyle and was wearing a skin-tight red dress. She was clinging onto Drew like fresh plastic wrap and from my point of view, he didn't look too happy about the whole setup. If I were him, I wouldn't be too happy either. He was wearing a tux and being dragged around by a beefy security guard with a slut-ish girl on his arm.

"This is the girl I let in earlier Miss Sparks," the security guard said.

Chloe twirled a lock of curling blond hair before stepping up to the mystery girl. She stared at her with hatred then pulled out a Pokeball.

"Vaporeon! Use Water Gun!" she said, throwing the Pokeball in the air.

Vaporeon appeared dutifully before firing a powerful Water Gun at the mystery girl's head. Immediately, her hair sagged back into its natural shape, ridded of the heavy amount of hair products she put into it.

Then Chloe stepped up to her and pried her away from Drew and shoved her at the security guard. "She's an imposter," she said simply. Then she pointed to me. "She's the real deal." Then she said, "Watch this. Vaporeon return! Espeon! Come on out and use Psychic!"

Vaporeon was returned to its Pokeball in favor of Espeon who loyally used Psychic for its trainer. In a matter of seconds, two tiny lenses popped off mystery girl's eyes, revealing mystery girl's eyes true colors. Instead of the sapphire blue they appeared to be, they were a blue-y green color.

"This," Chloe said, gesturing to mystery girl, "is none other than the original bitch herself, Brianna."

"What's Brianna doing here?" I asked.

Chloe turned to glare at Drew, demanding an answer and Drew gave in quickly to a combination of Chloe's death glare, my glare, Brianna's glare, the security guard's glare and the general pressure put on him at the moment. "She insisted on following me here. She didn't want to leave me so she got this so-called brilliant idea of dressing up as May and being my new partner."

Everyone was satisfied with that answer except for Brianna who started glaring at everyone else.

Chloe turned to the security guard and with a steely look in her eyes she said, "I want her banned," before trotting off inside.

I turned to Drew and shrugged before following her inside.

::DREW::

Note to self: remember to thank Chloe later for saving my butt back there.

Now we were backstage at the contest hall. May was getting ready and I fingered my tux nervously. The thing with our tag performance was that if we looked mismatched, our performance would look that much worse. I nervously picked at the lily that Brianna pinned onto my tuxedo. Ugh. I couldn't wear a lily during our performance. No. It has to be a rose. I'll give May a rose too so we match.

Just as I was finishing pinning on the rose, May stepped out of the dressing room in a light blue float-y, layered dress that flowed freely around her legs. The top of the dress was tight and strapless and made of silk.

She twirled around, showing off the lightness of the dress. Then she turned to me and asked, "What do you think?"

I smiled. "It's okay," I said. No way was I going to admit she actually looked pretty in the dress.

Then I tossed her a red rose similar to mine and she looked at me with a confused expression on her face. "What was that for?" she asked. I smirked and said nothing but helped twist it into her long, silky locks. She blushed and I felt a sense of accomplishment.

I felt myself leaning in. Crap. My arms slid down to her tiny waist. Get the hell out of there before Harley gets this on video! I pulled her in closer. WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING DREW? I went in for the kiss…

But got interrupted by Chloe yelling at a beefy security guard. "I thought I fucking told you to keep that bitch out of this place!"

"Yes Miss Sparks. I will notify the others."

"You better!" she snapped. Then she softened up and smiled charmingly. "If you successfully keep her out, I'll talk to my uncle Volkner who's now part of the Sinnoh Elite Four to get you a job at their headquarters," she said sweetly.

The security guard nodded and dashed away quickly.

Then Chloe turned to us and saw our awkward position. Her brow furrowed. "Whycan'tyoutwojustmakeoutalready? Makemylifeeasierandjustdoit!"

We stared at her in shock. "Is she drunk?" I asked.

"Probably not," May replied. "She hasn't yelled at anyone for giving her a glass of water over a martini yet."

She stared back at us and stormed off, angry that we didn't get the message.

"Should we just forget she even said that?" May asked quietly.

"I guess," I said somewhat reluctantly.

I don't get it. How does she not like me? I have hoards of screaming fan-girls all over Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh and the girl I like just happens not to be one of them. At this point, I guess you could say I'm getting desperate for May's attention.

"May!"

We both turned around to see Dawn and her orange haired partner come running towards May. Dawn was wearing a pink hoop skirted dress and her partner was wearing a blue stylized suit.

"Dawn! Zoey!" May said happily, rushing over to her friends. They started furiously talking in a way only girls could. I decided not to interrupt their girl-fest and find a videophone to call home.

"Congratulations! This is your fifth ribbon I suppose?" I heard a familiar voice ask.

"Haha!" And there was that familiar laugh belonging to a certain life wrecker. "Chloe dear! It's only my fourth but after I pay a short visit tomorrow I'm heading straight for Blackthorn City and winning my last contest there."

I looked over. Sure enough, Chloe, all dressed up in her contest outfit and Harley, still wearing his hideous Wigglytuff suit were chatting it up on a videophone.

"You'll do fabulous Harley!" Chloe said happily. "How's that new Toxicroak and S of yours?" she asked with a smile.

Toxicroak? Well, Harley's always had a love for odd Pokemon.

"He's doing fabulous!" Harley said happily. "Oh! And Solidad tells me to tell you 'Hi!'"

So Solidad knew Chloe too. Go figure. They probably met each other at a contest or something.

"Oh look Sugar Snap! We have a visitor!" Harley said gleefully, pointing to me. I glared at him but he seemed oblivious to it.

Chloe smiled and clapped her perfectly manicured hands together. "Drew! I take it that you know my good friend Harley?" she asked sweetly.

Good friend? Well, one crazy nutcase deserves another.

"Yeah," I said as I turned towards the screen. "We've known each other for a while. Harley was always stirring up trouble back in Hoenn, Kanto, Johto, and Sinnoh," I said.

Chloe giggled. "You naughty boy Harley!" she play-scolded.

Harley filed his nails. "Like you wouldn't do the same hon," he said before inspecting them.

Chloe laughed. "I'll leave you two alone to do some catching up while I speak to Contesta about changing my performance."

"Toodles!" Harley said before turning his attention to me. "So hon, how's life treating you?"

I glared at him. "Why are you trying to ruin my life?" I growled. Harley looked at me quizzically then I cried, "Those clips of May and me kissing! What if May saw them? What if her boyfriend saw them? I know my b*tch of a girlfriend saw them then basically threatened to kill May!"

By now, all eyes were on me but I seriously didn't care.

"Oh pish posh," Harley said, filing his nails again. "They were just innocent harmless fun. Besides, even with that playboy persona the media creates for you, there has to be some truth behind it," Harley said casually.

"Not really…" I mumbled as I held back my fists. Harley better be thankful he was all the way over in Johto and not face to face with me.

"Anyways, I'll be there tomorrow cheering you on! Toodles darling!" Harley said before ending the call.

Grrr. That Harley was going to get it!

Just at that moment, Chloe decided to waltz into the room, head to toe in her master coordinator glory.

"How was your little chat with Harley?" Chloe asked cheerfully.

"You don't want to know," I responded stonily before walking away.

::MAY::

"You look so pretty May!" Dawn said happily. "Drew is going to be all over you!"

"Who said anything about Drew?" I asked defensively. "And besides! I have a boyfriend!" Just keep telling yourself that May. You have a boyfriend.

"Awww. May's blushing!" Zoey said teasingly.

This was getting out of hand. Time to turn the tables on them. "So what Pokemon are you using in your performance?" I asked.

"Zoey's using Glameow and I'm using Piplup," Dawn said happily. Then, as if on cue, Piplup puffed its chest up and said proudly, "Piplup!"

Zoey apparently saw past my attempt to turn the attention away from me and said, "Did you see the special on you and Drew last night?"

"No…" I said. What special? "I was too busy washing off Vaporeon's Muddy Water attack," I said. Then I held up a lock of hair just to check there wasn't any leftover mud.

Zoey laughed then got serious again. "It was done by some guy named Harley on the Coordinator Channel,"Zoey said. "It's part of a special series they're doing for the countdown to the opening day of the tour."

Harley? I didn't know he was a TV star. "Was this Harley wearing this hideous pink abomination of a Wigglytuff outfit?" I asked.

"How'd you know?" Zoey asked.

This could not end well. Knowing Harley, he probably twisted everything to make him look good at our expense.

"What was on the special?" I asked.

"Well…" Dawn started. "You probably should see it to believe it." Then she pulled out her Poketech and showed me a video clip.

Harley was all dressed up like Wigglytuff and was chatting mindlessly about us. Then he said he had a clip of us after the Sinnoh Grand Festival. Then Harley played the "super cute" clip and I thought I was going to die.

I never did regret having that kiss with Drew until now. In other words, I didn't really regret it that much until a certain purple haired, backstabbing, Wigglytuff dressed idiot we call Harley showed it to the entire world! How'd he even get that clip? He wasn't even there!

"I am going to die!" I moaned.

"I think it's cute," Dawn said after the clip was finished. "Besides. There was no harm done. You weren't dating anyone back then and neither was Drew! See? Happy ending! No need to worry!"

But Zoey didn't look so happy. "He did play another less innocent one though," she said warily. Then she took Dawn's Poketech and scanned through the clips before coming up to the right one.

It showed Harley still talking with a blurry video behind him. You couldn't see much except for a crop of green hair and a lock of brown hair making out in a dark hallway. It was kind of hard to tell but no doubt it was Drew with the green hair and me with the brown.

And it was taken very recently

At a sushi restaurant.

While we were both soaked with muddy water.

Shit.

Whoever took this/planned this was going to get it!

"Whatcha looking at?" Chloe asked as she waltzed in, dressed in a wedding dress.

I was too mad to properly string together a sentence so Zoey answered for me. "Apparently this guy named Harley played these 'super cute' clips of May and Drew kissing," she said angrily.

Chloe remained emotionless. "Why don't you talk to Drew about this? He just finished a little chat with Harley," she said, not relinquishing a single ounce of emotion.

"Maybe I will," I said softly before floating/storming off to see Drew.

::CHLOE::

My plan was going perfectly. If they won't face the facts, then I'll make them face the facts. That's what devious little matchmakers such as myself do.

I have to remember to thank Harley later for doing all that for me. I was the one who got the clip of the sushi restaurant and the one after the Sinnoh Grand Festival. How I got them would remain my little secret though.

"So you know May?" the redheaded girl named Zoey asked me. According to what I heard, she was also a Top Coordinator, and a very talented one to boot.

"Yeah," I said as I twirled a lock of curly blond hair. "We met yesterday. They decided to try and stop me from drinking my ass off and I decided I liked their spunk," I said simply before taking a sip of water. Lately, I've been trying to stay sober to focus on the little matchmaking task I've taken on.

"I first met her during the Wallace Cup five years ago," Zoey said. "She beat me in the semifinals and we've been close friends since then," she explained. "Because of that defeat, I've been working hard to defeat her in battle, something I have yet to accomplish."

"May's tough alright," I said. "Did you meet her partner Drew?"

"The one with green hair?" Zoey asked.

"The one and only!" I giggled.

"Yeah I met him," Zoey said. "He seems pretty arrogant and is always pushing May's buttons but he seems to motivate her even more than she motivates me," Zoey said. "They seem to work well together and I don't know, this is just a hunch, but they seem to like each other in a more than friends way."

"I know what you mean," I said. "They go perfectly together and you can just tell they like each other."

"Of course," Zoey said, "neither of them will ever admit it."

I said nothing but simply nodded. My little chat with Zoey confirmed exactly what I was thinking, that a) May and Drew are heads over heels in love with each other but b) they'll never admit it. My next goal is to figure out why and get them to face the music and that goal was going to be accomplished whether or not they like it.

::DREW::

I was still fuming after my little talk with Harley. There wasn't anywhere I could go without missing my performance so I simply walked myself into a quieter spot in the contest hall to fume and unwind.

"Drew?" a familiar voice called out.

I furiously whirled around and saw May scrambling towards me with a confused look upon her perfect face.

"Did you see those clips that —"

"Yeah I saw them," I said. "And I'm not happy with them." I looked over at May and saw her hurt expression before quickly correcting myself. "I didn't regret the kisses," I said quickly, "I just wasn't happy with the fact that Harley played them without our permission."

She looked up at me with her big blue eyes and with an uneasy look she asked, "So what do we do about it? I'm pretty sure my boyfriend Brendan didn't see it so what he doesn't know won't hurt him? Right? Just as long as we promise not to do it again," she babbled.

"Uh… sure," I said. "So pretend this never happened?"

She looked back at me with an unreadable expression. "Yeah," she said quietly. Then she leaned in and gave me a hug. I didn't know what to do so I just hugged her back.

I was peacefully enjoying the moment when I saw a shadow move followed up with a flash of white fabric and a blond curl.

May looked up at me. "What's wrong Drew?" Then she realized she was still clinging onto me and quickly retreated.

"I think I saw something," I said quietly. Then quietly, I went in the direction I saw the shadow and May followed me.

We continued searching for the shadow but with no result. We were just about to continue going in deeper when an announcement for all performers to meet backstage in preparation for the beginning of dress rehearsal interrupted us.

"I guess we should go," May said before leaving.

I quickly followed behind her but for some reason, I felt like we were being watched.

::CHLOE::

That was a close one.

Great. Now I need an alibi if they saw me sneaking around. Shit. What's a good alibi I can use? Maybe I can just say I was trying to find Mr. Contesta when I stumbled upon them and I didn't want to ruin the moment. Yeah. That sounds good.

"Alright Umbreon, you can come out now. The coast is clear."

Umbreon stepped out from the shadows and followed me out.

"Great job Umbreon," I said as I pulled out her Pokeball. "Take a nice long rest."

Umbreon happily returned to its Pokeball and I quickly trotted off to the backstage area, making sure no one was watching me. That would just put all of my hard work to waste.