FINDING THE MOTIVATION AGAIN

Chapter 6- I'm sorry

"All right Dawn, let's go find those statues." Ash said.

"Of course!" Dawn remarked.

"Hey, Dawn, can I talk to you?" Kenny asked, nervously.

"Um, sure." Dawn answered, then turned to Ash "Ash go on a head, I'll catch up in a minute."

"Ok." Ash said and went back outside, without another thought.

"What did you want to talk about, Kenny?" Dawn asked with a smile.

"I...I really like you Dawn. I like you, like you." Kenny confessed.

Dawn was silent, shock being her only emotion. She kind of knew about his feelings, in the back of her mind, but never actually thought he would tell her. Now the real question is, how did she feel? Realization hit her, like a lot of bricks. Like, A LOT of bricks.

"Oh, Kenny..." Dawn began, unintentionally giving the boy hope. "...I...I'm sorry, but I don't feel the same way."

"It's Ash, isn't it? ISN'T IT!" Kenny yelled angrily. Dawn flinched at his volume change. "I'm the one who has always been there for you! I'm the one who cares about you! What is so special about him!" A few tears escaped his eyes.

"Kenny, I'm so-" Dawn tried to apologize, but Kenny ran off. She didn't run after him, but did feel REALLY sorry for him. "I'm sorry Kenny." Dawn whispered. Then she turned and went to go find Ash.

"Hey, your back, I...what happened?" Ash asked concerned.

"Kenny." Dawn replied, on the verge of tears.

"What is it?" Ash questioned, stepping closer and opening his arms to hug her. "Please tell me."

"He is mad at me...He told me that he liked me...but I don't feel the same. I don't want him mad at me...we have been friends since we were kids." Dawn whimpered, excepting his hug.

"I'm so sorry Dawn." Ash said, with mixed emotions. He was sad to see her hurt, but there was also a strange feeling he was not custom to. Actually two; one was extremely pleasant and he enjoyed it, but the other was a strange anger. "Are you ok?" He asked, despite the swirl of his emotions.

Dawn held a bit tighter, and nodded against his chest. "Yeah, I'm ok. Thank you. I've really missed you too, Ash." Ash smiled at her words and the two just held each other for a while.

Unfortunately, Serena had been spying on them and her jealousy was about to go over board. Even thought she couldn't hear what they were saying, Serena would not stand for another girl taking her place.

'How dare she! Ash is mine!' Serena thought angrily as she glared at the coordinator. 'I loved him first!' Serena stormed back to the hotel to find her partner.

Clemont had been looking over the hotel blue prints on his computer to see the best hiding places for the statues. "Yay, Serena's back!" Bonnie cheered.

Clemont looked up from his computer and questioned "Where did you go? You were gone for so long I thought something happened."

"Really?" Serena asked, quite surprised that he would worry.

"Yeah, but I told him not to." Bonnie stated. "I mean what could happen?"

"A lot of things could have happened, Bonnie." Clemont argued. "She could have gotten hurt out there." Clemont paused, then directed his attention to Serena. "You never said where you were going." Serena huffed, recalling the memory and crossed her arms in protest. "Hey, Bonnie, can you go find Max or something?" Clemont asked, in a pleading tone.

"Why?" Bonnie quizzed, squinting at her brother.

"Because I asked you to." Clemont warned.

Bonnie didn't move for a moment, but agreed. "Fine." She turned on her heels and walked away.

When his sister was out of earshot, he turned back to Serena. "Are you ok? What happened?"

Serena sat down next to him and answered "It's Dawn. She is hogging Ash. I want to spend time with him too."

"But, Serena, they are friends and have known each other a long time." Clemont said, trying to reason with her.

"I was his friend first!" Serena exclaimed. "I loved him first and I should have been his partner! Not her!"

Clemont was silent, and put his head down. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said anything." Clemont muttered, focused on his computer screen.

Serena gave a sigh, knowing that she hurt him. "No, I'm sorry Clemont. I shouldn't have yelled. I just..."

"I know. Let's not talk about it and focus on finding the statues or something." Clemont said blankly, wishing to dismiss the subject.

"Ok." Serena responded and looked at the computer screen. "So where should we look?"

Clemont closed his computer and slid it back into his backpack and stood up. "Let's go. I found a few places." Then he began to walk away, expecting her to follow. She to stood up and followed him around the hotel.

The other teams also began the search for the elusive luvdisc statues. Some, wondering how to confess how they feel, to the one they love.