Serena POV

The next friday...

"Serena, you left a pink envelope behind!" Dawn shouts along the corridor as she is running towards me, waving the envelope. Sure the envelope is pink, with a heart shape seal over the flap. Simple yet beautiful.

"I dont remember having it."

"It says to Serena on the cover, read this," Dawn says excitedly as she hands the envelope over to me.

"Weird," I question, scratching my head as I ponder on who the sender can be.

"Your secret admirer, eh!" Dawn whispers into my ear.

In addition to sending chills down my spine, my face instantly becomes red.

When we arrive at our next classroom, a packet of Hersheys' Kisses (no copyrights intended) is placed on my table, together with a post-it saying To Serena. It has a similar writing style as compared to the one on the envelope.

Dawn teases, "This guy is sooo sweet," dragging her words.

Is this a joke?

My friends start to swarm me, asking me if I know this nice guy and even ask me to introduce them. But I don't even know who he is...

"Serena, why dont you open the envelope and read what's inside?" Misty recommends, looking very cunning.

Not sure if I am lucky or unlucky, the lecturer has just arrived which means that I cannot read the letter yet.

During lunch, the whole gang is crowding around me, awaiting the reveal of my secret admirer. Everywhere I go from canteen to my locker, there will always be one guy, be it Gary, May, Dawn, Misty or even Drew, following me. Uggghhh, I cannot read it at all.

Finally, the school has ended. Thank god! The last few hours feel like ages...

Thankfully, the gang deploys Ash to follow me. Ash does not seem very interested in the letter. Still hiding my letter just in case, I slowly open the letter by first removing the seal, then take out the letter from within.

Suddenly, a warmth feeling spreads from my heart to other parts of my body as I read the letter. It says all the nice things about me in vague terms, how I always love to help others, how I always support others whether in study or life issues. It seems that this secret admirer has long kept track of me.

As Ash slowly follows me to my house, I think to myself. Should I let Ash know about the summer camp? Does he remember me?

As we arrive at my house, a warm hand grabs my wrist. This warm feeling flows through my entire body.

I slowly turn my head towards Ash, the only person that could hold my hand.

He starts nervously, "I, uhmm, I have something to ask you."

"Me too, I also have something to ask you too," I reply, in a rather excited tone, slowly slipping my hand from his grip. 

"Okay, you may go first," Ash says, scratching his index finger the area below his nose.

"No, no, you go first," I answer, trying to act calmly.

After half a minute of eye contact, Ash starts, "Ok, here goes, since you are a girl, can you tell me why did Dawn kiss me last Saturday?" 

Ash emphasises eagerly as if I don't know, "Remember that kiss?"

I take a step back, not literally, but in shock. How did Ash know that I saw everything?

I calmly reply, "Well if I was Dawn, maybe she wants something from you."

"What something, what is it???" Ash questions.

"Well, that's all I can say, the rest you can figure out yourself dense boy," I replied slowly, hoping that Ash will understand.

Ash then scratches his head, as if he has many question marks unanswered.

"Okay then, what is it that you want to ask?" he asks after another half a minute of silence.

"Uhmm, well, uhmm-" I start to speak.

I stutter as I do not wish to ask him as of now. The timing does not feel right, especially after that letter.

"Its ok if you are shy to answer, you have my number right? You can message me when you are ready, I have to go now, see you on Monday in school," Ash answers.

Before I could reply, Ash's silhouette begins to come smaller and smaller. I mutter, "kay,"

I slowly enter my house and continue to ponder on my question.

"SERENA," a familiar voice shouts at me. I sort of wake up from my deep thoughts and look at my mum.

She continues, "Serena, you look troubled, is everything alright?"

"Mum, it's nothing, just homework," I lied, blatantly.

"Dear, dinner will be ready in 30 mins!" my mum said as I climb the stairs.

I acknowledge before returning to my room and then diving straight into my bed. Confused, I drift into my thoughts.

-

After dinner, I receive a message on my pokephone from Calem

It reads: "Remember about our project meeting tmr!"

I lazily type and reply to my childhood friend: "Ok, do you have all the materials needed for the project?"

We then discuss who shall be in charge of each material needed to prepare ourselves

The next day, I am wakened by birds chirping outside my window. I flip my body and see the alarm which reads 1030. Oh GOSH, I AM LATE

I quickly take a quick shower, change into my usual clothes and head down for breakfast.

Unexpectedly, Calem is already in the living room, happily chatting with Grace, my mum who notices me now.

"Good Morning, dear," Grace says.

"Serena good morning," Calem adds.

"Uhm God morning, oops," I reply.

Both of them chuckles while I turn away to head to the kitchen for a quick bite, embarrassed.

I faintly hear my mum, "Calem dear, why not you head up to her room,"

"MUM, DONT, MY ROOM IS STILL IN A MESS AND ITS A GIRL'S RO-," I shout across the 1st floor.

"Dear, it's okay, I am sure Calem has no problems with that, given how close both of you are." Grace cuts me and goes on.

Then, I faintly hear the stairs producing cracking sound while I continue munching my bread. I guess Calem has already made his way to my room. I sign.

As I finish my breakfast, I head to the living room where Grace is still at. "Mum, next time, please dont let Calem, no, any boy into my room!" I say.

"Ok dear, next time," she replies cheekily as if sometime is bound to happen.

When I return to my room, Calem has already laid out all the materials required for the project and even starts on some part of it.

Given that Calem is quite talented in Arts, we finish the diagrams of the poster by lunchtime.

"Calem and Serena, time for lunch!" Grace shouts.

After eating our pasta and chatting about school life and a bit of our past, we return to my room to complete the finishing touches.

"Serena, shouldn't we place this here, it looks nicer here," Calem says as he moves the description text to another side of the poster.

"No, here is better," I rebut in a more professional way. "You see, this diagram is already here, so placing it at the bottom, rather than the side looks more beautiful."

"No, if we place at the bottom, we will not have enough space for the next few diagrams," Calem argues.

"Okayy, oh I see, then follow your way," I stop arguing, taking a step back to look at the bigger picture.

We have collaborated many times before. Yes our ideals are shockingly different, yet we still produce great results from these projects. We argue a lot, but still we get our shit done.

After completing the poster, we decide to play some PokeStation 4 games such as Pokekart racing and Pifa (Poke version of fifa).

At one moment, we are neck-to-neck in the last lap of our pokekart racing. I is trailing Calem for most of the previous 9 laps. After pushing Calem's car off the road, I finally win Calem in a best of 5 racing. I celebrate crazily and punch my fist into the air.

Calem POV

I look at Serena celebrating. It never fail to make me happy. Whenever she feel happy, I feel even more happier. I look away from the instant Serena calm down. I can feel a surge in feelings for Serena. It is telling me to confess to her. It is telling me the truth. It is telling me to be brave.

Taking a deep breathe, I approach Serena who is now sitting in her bed from her vwin. I place both my hands on her shoulder. Apparently, she is slightly taken aback by my actions.

Quickly, I say, "Serena, I have something to tell you."

Serena POV

I land on my bed after celebrating my victory against Calem. Calem usually wins me in Pokekart racing and I rarely win, perhaps he let me win. Calem then walks towards me. I look into his serious eyes.

When he places his hands on my shoulders, I instinctively take a quick look at his hands before returning eye contact.

He starts off, "Serena, I have something to tell you." That same phrase Ash tell me to repeat in my head. The subsequent conversation with Ash also somehow recollects in my head...

"Serena," he calls my name.

"Yeah?"

"Well, have you received the letter?"

How did he know about the pink envelope? Not unless he is the one?

As if telepathy, he says calmly, "Yes, I am the one who wrote the letter. Serena," he pauses for a moment then continues, "I just want to let  you know how much I eye-candy you for the longest period of my life, do you remember the great times we had together? Every weekend, we would hangout together, play, eat and enjoy together. Do you still remember once, you dared me to steal some food, something you always wanted but was too expensive from the nearby grocery shop. I accepted not because I wanted to prove to myself. It was because you are my everything, I love you." 

Serena instinctively continues the story, "Afterwards, we landed up ourselves in trouble once the shop owner notices you stealing.  He immediately gave chase and we ran away from the shop with the thing I wanted on your hands."

"You remember! Serena," he pauses for a while, "We were only eight years old then and we already held each other hands."

As Calem slowly explains, he removes his hands' grip from my shoulder and instead grabs my hands.

He continues, "And I would love to continue to hold your hands again and again, even for eternity." He pauses, allowing me to absorb his words and thoughts.

He continues in a reassuring tone, "Serena, would you upgrade me as your best friend to be your boyfriend?"

Serena does not expect this moment to come so soon. Silence overwhelms my room as I have lost my words. As I try to open my mouth to speak, no words came out from it. Yes, Calem is indeed a nice guy, an awesome childhood friend, but I am not confident if I can replicate the same feelings he has towards me...

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