Sorry if this chapter is a bit rushed. I have waaaay too much homework. (I'm sorry for the bad title xD)

Ash's POV

"Ok, Serena, stay here with Pikachu. I'll explain everything later." I quickly told her, as I ran back into the hallway and shut the door behind me.

"Uh, ok!" I heard her muffled shout through the door.

I didn't know that Miette was coming over today! We have a whole 3 weeks to work on the project, and she didn't even tell me she was coming!

I peeked out of the blinds to see that Miette was already walking down the sidewalk and about to knock on my door.

*knock knock knock*

Hearing every single knock hit the front door made me cringe. I reluctantly opened up my door and at the same time, tried to hide my anger.

"Heeey, Miette.." I said through my gritted teeth.

"Hi, Ash! Ready to work on the project?" She said, ever so innocently. Not.

"Uh, I dont have any materials for it, and you didn't even even tell me you were coming..." I explained to her, restraining myself from slamming the door in her face.

"I know, but, it's better to get it over with, right?" She tried convincing me, seriously overlooking the fact that I, nor she, brought any supplies.

"Um, what exactly are we going to do without materials..?" I asked, getting gravely frustrated with her fruitless attempts.

"We can just brainstorm ideas!" She cheerfully said, continuing to try to persuade me.

I looked back at the kitchen to see if my mom was still there, and she wasn't. She might've gone to the grocery store or something, but this was a perfect opportunity for me.

"Well, my mom's not home, so we can't exactly work on the project now." I said, so relieved that I had found a good reason for Miette not to stay.

"Oh. Alright. Just tell me when you can work on it at school." She told me, with that innocent facade of a smile still plastered on her face.

"Yeah, ok, bye." I quickly said, slamming the door in her face with half of the amount of force I wanted to use.

As I turned around, I heard footsteps move from the top of the stairs to the end of the hallway. Serena must've been spying on me. At least it will be a bit easier to tell her what's going on if she knows part of it.

I quickly jogged up the stairs and to my bedroom door. There was no sound coming from the room except for Pikachu's cries, loud enough so that I could hear it.

I slowly pushed the door open, the hinges creaking loudly. Serena was sitting on my bed with a sad expression on her face, while Pikachu was trying to cheer her up.

"Hey." I said to her, sliding over on my bed next to her.

"Hey..." She said, barely audible, refusing to look at me.

"So, you heard us down there, right?" I asked, trying to start a conversation, regardless of how awkward it was.

"Yeah..." She said with the same level of volume as last time, still slowly stroking Pikachu's fur.

It just became silent after she said that. There wasn't much more to talk about if she already heard everything that happened...

"Why did you choose her..?" She whispered, her voice starting become hoarse.

"What?" I asked, louder than her, in hopes to get her to speak up.

"Why did you choose Miette as your partner? Of all people, why her?" She said a bit louder this time, tears starting to form in her eyes for some reason.

"Oh, well, it's because everyone had chosen their partners, and Miette was the only person left." I sighed, recalling how that ended up happening earlier today.

"O-Oh." She responded, returning to her meek tone of voice.

Argh! If only Miette hadn't come today! Everything would be fine, and then Serena wouldn't be upset right now! Why does she hate Serena so much?!

You know what, I'll deal with Miette later. I have to make Serena feel better first.

"Do you maybe wanna watch TV downstairs?" I asked, in attempt to cheer her up.

"Oh. Um, ok." She responded, sadness still lingering in her voice.

Pikachu jumped out of Serena's lap and climbed on my shoulder to allow her to get up, but she still wasn't moving. She was just looking down at her feet.

"Serena?" I said, offering my hand to her to help her up.

Serena slightly tilted her head towards me as I did that gesture. I could tell that she was surprised at what I did because of how her eyes widened at the sight of me doing so. Even I was surprised that I did that too. It's just that I can't stand to see her upset, especially if it's partially because of me.

She reluctantly placed her hand on top of mine, and allowed me to pull her up off of the bed. I then released my hold on Serena's hand as we walked downstairs towards the basement.

As we stopped at the top of the basement, I walked down the stairs first so that I could quickly turn on the TV because it was too narrow for us to walk side by side.

"So, what do you want to watch?" I asked her, as she approached the bottom of the stairs.

"Oh. Uh..." She sighed, as she sat down on the couch, "Anything, I guess."

"Alright." I said, as I flicked the TV channel to Cartoon Network.

I was a little too focused on watching TV, that I forgot that Serena was sitting right next to me.

"Hey, Serena, do you-" I started saying, before looking at her.

Serena was fast asleep, her arm on the side of the couch, supporting her head. I immediately shut off the TV, not wanting to wake her up. She looked like she was hugging herself for warmth, so I decided to get a spare blanket from one of the cabinets. The blanket itself was very big, so I tucked it around Serena, hopefully not waking her up.

Once I had succeeded in tucking the blanket all around her, I turned the light switch off. I started walking back upstairs, but I took one last glance at the sleeping Serena and just smiled. I continued to tip-toe up the stairs, allowing her to sleep in peace.