Forget Tierno and Shauna! Just let Ash and Serena battle!

Serena's POV

Man. This is only getting even more awkward by the second. Both of us aren't even saying a word to each other. It's almost as if it's getting more and more silent by the second, if that's even possible...

"Hey, Serena?" Ash asked, breaking the built up silence.

"Y-Yeah, Ash?" I responded, caught a little off guard of his sudden talking.

"Do you wanna hang out after school? Like, when we aren't suddenly forced to?" He asked me, looking in my direction, waiting for an answer.

"S-Sure!" I nervously accepted his offer.

"Cool. Just meet me at the bus stop and we can talk then." He told me, now stretching up from sitting.

Before I could say anything else, we could hear the bell ringing when someone opened the front doors of the school.

"Oh. Well, gotta go, Serena!" He said, standing up and getting ready to sprint inside, "See you later!"

"Oh. Bye, Ash." I sighed, now sad because he was leaving.

Who am I kidding. I couldn't even talk to him for 5 minutes straight. He would probably want to leave. He probably thinks that I'm weird now...

But I'll worry about that later. I have the rest of the day to deal with. My French classroom was actually right in front of the entrance doors to the school, so that was really convenient for me.

The French teacher started talking, primarily in French. I have had a little bit of a background in French, but I ultimately couldn't understand what she was saying. At least she started talking in English when she was explaining what supplies we needed for the class. I would've been completely clueless if she hadn't.

French is probably the class I like the least. If I can't understand half of what the teacher is saying, I'm probably not going to get very far.

Once the bell rang, I took out my schedule and studied it one more time because I had forgotten what my 7th period class was. It was actually my business class, which was up on the second floor.

It's going to be annoying going up and down the stairs constantly everyday...

The room number was 200. It was a good thing that the room was straight ahead of the staircase. Upon walking in, I saw Dawn and Iris already sitting in their seats. Dawn was in the middle row and Iris was sitting behind her.

"Heeey, Serena!" Iris loudly greeted, once she spotted me, "Dawn, Serena's in our class, too!"

"I can see, Iris." Dawn sighed, inviting me to sit next to her, "Come and sit down, Serena."

I didn't say a word as I sat down. I could clearly see that she had something to say, based on the expression on her face.

"So? How'd it go?" Dawn eagerly asked, anxious, almost, for the answer.

"Horrible!" I yelled, tears about to fall from my eyes, "I couldn't even talk to him for five minutes straight! He probably thinks I'm weird now!"

"Serena, calm down for a minute." Dawn sighed, "He is still your best friend and has been for the past 10 years. I'm sure he's seen all the weird in you so far."

"Uh, thanks..?" I semi-asked, not sure whether to be offended or feeling better.

"Besides, it's normal to be nervous when you are next to the person you love." Iris commented.

"W-Wait! What??" I shouted, astonished that that might just be the case.

"Well, yeah. We thought you knew already. It's quite obvious." Dawn shrugged her shoulders, "Besides, this is an ideal situation for you. You already know him so well, so if you play your cards right, you can skip part of the friendzone phase."

"B-But what if it doesn't work out?!" I freaked out, tears now fully streaming down my face, "He will hate me, and I'll lose him! I'll lose my best friend, Dawn!! I don't want that to happen!!"

I'm sure everyone in the room heard me crying, but nobody said anything, so it's fine by me.

"Then we will help you." Iris said, putting a hand on my shoulder.

"Yeah. We will. We will make sure you guys end up together." Dawn seriously promised, no tone of teasing in her voice.

"O-Ok. Thanks." I thanked them, wiping my tears away.

"No problem." Dawn said, before turning around and looking towards the door, "Hey, isn't that Clemont right there?"

I turned around to see for myself, and Dawn was right. It was him.

"It is!" Iris confirmed out loud, "Clemont! Over here!"

Clemont noticed us and waved. He walled towards us and sat in front of Dawn.

"Hey, guys!" Clemont greeted, before looking at my tear-streamed face, "Serena? Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." I assured him, "Don't worry about it."

"You sure? Do you need a tissue?" He offered me, with the same amount of concern as the last question.

"Clemont, don't worry. I'm alright." I reassured him, hoping he would be satisfied with my answer.

"Ok. Let me know if you need anything." He said, before turning around to the front of the room.

"Alright. So let's get this started." Iris said, now that Clemont had turned around, "We need to have a time where you and Ash can hang out. Alone."

"Well," I started, remembering what Ash asked me, "He invited me over to his house earlier."

Instead of an answer, all I got were two faces looking at me with an 'are you serious' look.

"Serena. How can you be worried that he will hate you?! He just invited you over to his house to- Well, who knows what." Dawn yelled, before her face started growing a smirk.

"Dawn!" I scolded, hitting her lightly but not so lightly on her shoulder.

"Sorry, sorry." She apologized, while rubbing her shoulder, "Anyways, this is perfect! It will be just the two of you, alone, in his house! This saves us a ton of work."

Iris was about to comment on what Dawn had said, but the teacher announced that he was going to start class soon.

"If we don't see you later, Serena," Iris whispered, "Good luck."

Dawn also gave me a thumbs up to encourage me. I smiled and nodded to acknowledge their good wishes, and then turned to the front of the room to start listening to the teacher.

I could feel myself not paying much attention during class. All I can think about is what I'm going to do with Ash at his house.

Just a minute ago, I was scared about hanging out, alone, with Ash, and now, it's all I want to think about.