She couldn't stop blushing the entire walk to Santalune City. Serena was cold, and she was thankful that Calem was keeping her warm, but...

Isn't it strange how in one single day, your life can change completely?

This morning, Serena woke up completely unaware of what might just happen, and who she would meet. She started the very first day of the journey that would surely change her life forever, and she was finally a Pokemon Trainer... She could finally begin to work towards achieving her dream of becoming Diantha's successor: the Pokemon League Champion of Kalos.

...and right now, she was snuggled up uncomfortably close to a guy she just met this morning.

Serena's eyes flickered up to Calem's pale face as they entered the small town decorated by frost-covered plants and flowers, studying his facial features curiously as she held onto him tighter. He was so...warm. And she liked the smell of his jacket, which made her cheeks flare up just at the embarrassing thought. What the hell was she thinking!? Ugh... Serena must have woken up this morning with her head screwed on backwards or something...

They rushed into the Pokemon Center as quickly as they could, and they were soon greeted with the warm, steamy air of the heater. Serena removed herself from Calem's side now that they were indoors and rubbed her hands together ferociously.

The two teens turned to look at each other's frost-bitten state, and both Calem and Serena's faces stretched into a delighted smile as the two laughed at their pink ears and noses. It was a truly amusing sight.

"SERENA!"

The blonde barely had any time to widen her eyes in horror before a small object of some sort collided with her body at full force, successfully knocking her off of her feet. Calem winced as he watched Shauna tackle Serena to the ground hard, immediately intervening.

"Shauna..." Calem warned her with his low voice, nudging the spazzy girl off of the crushed blonde on the floor. "Give Serena a break. She can only tolerate so much of your spazziness at once."

Shauna stuck her bottom lip out to pout as she crossed her arms at Calem. "Humph...fine."

"...ouch." Serena groaned as she gripped her head, shutting her eyes to avoid blinding herself by looking at the fluorescent lights above.

"Come on, up you go." Calem grabbed a hold of Serena's waist and swiftly pulled her up into the air, steadying her posture once more.

"Thanks." Serena straightened out her black trench coat, stretching her sore muscles.

Tierno, who stood over by the counter next to Trevor, watched as Calem carefully handled the petite Serena and held her firmly in his arms as he lifted her up off of the ground. Tierno wasn't quite sure what it was that he just witnessed, but something happened between those two while they were alone back at the forest exit. They seemed...closer.

And maybe even more comfortable around each other.

If anything, this just made Tierno grin from ear to ear, giving him a wicked idea.

"So, what do we do now?" Trevor rose his voice to be heard, breaking the awkward atmosphere between the two teens across from him.

"Hmm." Calem firmly pressed his index fingers to his lips, directing his attention towards the nurse behind the counter that had her pink hair tied up into two twintails. "After all of the training in the forest, we should probably heal up our Pokemon before we do anything else."

"Good idea." Serena nodded as she removed Charmander's Pokeball from her belt, staring at it scornfully. "This little moron is so obnoxious that he probably can't even handle having a paper cut..."

Shauna sweatdropped at Serena's coldness as the blonde swiftly strode past her, causing her trench coat to swish past Shauna in a cold, icy wind.

Calem shrugged his shoulders as if he was completely used to her behavior by now, following Serena's lead over towards the counter. After all the training he did earlier, his Froakie could definitely use some patching up. They did work really hard today, after all.

After everyone had healed their Pokemon, Shauna's impatient eyes darted from person to person in their group of five, very bored by just standing around. "Okay, now what? I'm so bored..."

Calem stiffened his shoulders slightly as he tried to think of something. "Well, I---"

A low rumbling noise abruptly cut off Calem's train of thought, and everyone turned and stared straight at Serena, who's stomach had just growled. The blonde's cheeks immediately flared red at the sight of the four of them just staring at her like that.

"Oh, um... I guess I sort of skipped lunch." She awkwardly ran a hand through her bushy bangs, looking at anything but the four of them.

Calem stared at her for the longest time before he suddenly started laughing, and he swiftly wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her towards the front doors. "Well then, how about I buy you lunch?"

Shauna watched Calem guide Serena out the doors with a grim look on her face, but what really bothered her was just how in sync they were with one another. She had known Calem for years, and he had never smiled at her like that... Serena had known him for only a day and Calem seemed closer to her than he was anyone else.

It just wasn't fair... Was it because she was fifteen, and he was nineteen? Or maybe it was because he saw her as nothing more than a little sister to him...

All Shauna did know was that the throbbing pain in her heart couldn't be helped. She should have known the second that a gorgeous and mysterious girl like Serena moved in next door to Calem that her chances of ever getting him to like her would be slim. Or even nonexistent...

She doubted he even knew that he was falling for Serena so incredibly hard... Calem was pretty dense like that. After all, Shauna had a crush on him for five years now and Calem was none the wiser. Then again, it was equally her fault that he didn't know, since she never said anything...

But even if Shauna had said something, would it change the way things are now?

...

Probably not...

What was it about her that he liked so much? She was older, taller, and blonde... She was cold, distant, witty, strong-willed, and very sarcastic. Was it maybe that she wanted to be a really good Trainer some day, just like Calem wanted to be? Or that they were the only two collecting the badges?

Shauna just wanted to know what it was Serena had that she didn't...

"Come on, Shaunee." Tierno, sensing her foul mood, wrapped one of his burly arms around both her and Trevor, following after Calem and Serena. "Let's go too."

"Okay..." She kept her eyes glued to the floor, completely unaware of a pair of green ones watching her every move worriedly.

_______________________________

"Why the hell did you sugar her up?" Serena stared at Shauna in horror as she watched the smaller girl hyperactively down what must have been her fourth cup of hot chocolate.

A nervous bead of sweat dropped down Tierno's forehead as he watched her too. "Er... It seemed like a good idea at the time?"

Completely unaware of the conversation going on around her, Shauna looked up from her plate of food with a whipped cream mustache and awkwardly grinned at everyone. "So, what are you guys going to do on this journey?" She looked around the table at the other four teens, blinking her bright eyes with a smile on her face.

They had all stopped at a small diner close to the Pokemon Center that was called Martie's, and they were sitting at a table together eating lunch on this fine afternoon. Martie's seemed like a combination of a diner and a pub; there was a bar as well as both a stage and a microphone, which Serena could only assume had something to do with all of the "karaoke night" signs hanging up around the small restaurant. It wasn't very packed, but it wasn't empty, either. It was perfect in a sense, and the quiet music hummed through the air as waitresses whirled by with serving trays in their hands.

"Well..." Trevor rested his head in his hand as he mindlessly stirred his drink, thinking about Shauna's question seriously. "I really want to focus on the Pokedex and become Professor Sycamore's successor. I really have to work hard to make him choose me over his assistant."

Serena flinched as she shoved another bite of pasta into her mouth, trying not to seem too affected by Trevor's wish. A wish she knew probably wouldn't come true unless she either stepped down from her position, or talked to her uncle... Based on what had already transpired, Serena was pretty sure that her uncle had it set in his mind that she would be his successor one day.

She was getting sick and tired of everyone always deciding things for her.

Her mother wanted her to be a Rhyhorn racer; that's why Grace had personally seen to jump starting her daughter's racing career back when they still lived in Kanto. Now, her uncle wanted Serena to become just like him. Her father and Diantha were the only ones who really wanted to know what Serena wanted to do with her life, and now one of them was dead.

"What about you, Tierny?" Shauna asked the oldest boy as she reached out to grab another cup of hot chocolate, which was immediately slapped away by Serena. Shauna pouted at her tremendously at that cold hard rejection.

"My dance team, of course!" Tierno nodded his head with a bright smile as he finished eating his sandwich.

Everyone knew that Tierno loved to dance; so much so, he wanted to train a team of Pokemon dancers and open up his own dance studio in Lumoise City. He loved dancing, and choreography... Just studying the way Pokemon move was what really made Tierno happy. He was very passionate about dancing; probably more than anyone else in the whole world. He really understood what it was all about, and you would be surprised by what he would have to say if you ever sat him down and really asked him about it.

"I want to become the best and the strongest Pokemon Trainer out there..." Calem grinned fondly to himself, holding Froakie's Pokeball in his hand. "I won't stop for nothing. I will become Champion someday, no matter what. No one can stop me from achieving that."

No one took notice of Serena slowly slumping down further in her chair, awkwardly remaining quiet as she buried her face in Charmander's orange, pudgy body.

The fire lizard worriedly shot his Trainer a glance behind him. "Are you okay...?"

"I'm fine..." Serena hushed her cool breath, making sure no one else could hear her.

"I'm still going for the designer status!" Shauna elicited a cute grin as she winked at her friends, holding up a peace sign. "I will shop at ALL the boutiques in Kalos, and I will become a fashion designer myself some day!"

Tierno chuckled at her enthusiasm, ruffling her hair childishly. "Sounds like a nice dream you have, Shaunee."

Serena tensed up when she felt Shauna's eyes on her, knowing the inevitable was about to happen: she was going to ask her what she wanted to do on this journey as well. And if she told the truth, that she wanted to be the Champion too...

She thought it would just make things awkward between her and Calem; her first...friend.

But before Shauna could ask Serena what she wanted to do...

A bright flash of white light erupted from the Pokeball Calem was holding, and Froakie spawned in front of the girl Calem was sitting next to: Serena. The little frog Pokemon eyed Serena curiously, and as soon as the blonde realized what he was about to do, he outstretched his slimy tongue and licked her face once again from the bottom of her chin all the way up to her forehead.

Calem slapped his hand over his mouth as he watched Serena shut her eyes tightly in irritation, and she cracked open an eyelid to glare at the frog Pokemon. "I'm starting to wonder if you're going to make a habit out of this..."

Calem handed her a napkin, biting down on his tongue to keep himself from laughing too hard. "Umm... I'm really sorry."

Serena wiped the frog slobber off of her face, looking at Froakie with a malevolent glare. "I can't tell if he hates me, or if this is supposed to be a sign of affection..."

Calem reached over and grabbed Froakie, placing him in his lap. He stood up from the table and motioned to leave, glancing back at everyone. "I think I'm going to go challenge the gym."

"...Oh. Alright." Shauna blinked at him awkwardly, tearing her eyes down to the floor. She was hoping they could all stay like this for just a little longer, talking and laughing with each other.

"Hey, Serena." Calem stood behind her chair and peered over the blonde's red hat, smirking down at her face. "Wanna come?"

Shauna watched as Serena's eyebrow quirked and disappeared into her hairline, and she felt absolutely crestfallen when Serena shrugged her shoulders and said, "sure," getting up from her chair and hugging Charmander close to her chest.

The brunette watched Calem and Serena go with a very depressing look on her face, and she felt her heart sink down into the pits of her stomach. It was official; she really had lost...

And yet, strangely enough... She still wanted to be friends with Serena.

Was that weird? Wanting to be friends with someone that stood as your competition? Well... She wasn't really Shauna's competition. If you thought about it, there really was no contest here: if it came down to it, Serena would win without a doubt. Even if she didn't like Calem at all. Or even if Calem didn't like Serena like that, she'd still win: Calem would end up being a closer friend to Serena than he would be to Shauna, since they were so similar. They were both so incredibly stubborn, it was almost a little obnoxious.

Maybe it just...wasn't meant to be?

...who was she kidding? She's liked Calem for five years now; even though she knew she'd have to get over it eventually, there was no way she could do it in one day.

This...was going to hurt. But Shauna knew she would come out of this okay.

But, on the other hand...

...

If she couldn't be the one to get Calem's stubborn head out of the clouds, then maybe...

Maybe Serena could.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mrahhhh. I felt like working on this book some more. What else do I have to do when I'm laying in bed all day sick? XD

Anyways, I know this book is a slow start, but... Just bear with me XD once they REALLY get going on their adventure, I promise it will go a lot faster, and the action will pick up.

Read, comment, vote, and enjoy :D