A Dream, A Destiny

A broken relationship

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.