"Yes! That was the answer I wanted to hear!" Gary jumps.

As he jumps, he accidentally bumps his knee onto the table, knocking over the trays of food onto us.

"Agh!" Clemont shouts as his burger falls onto the floor.

"My salad!" Drew pouts.

"Pika!" Pikachu cries as it watches his ketchup flavoured pokemon food fly away.

"Way to go, Gary." Paul sighs as he looks at his fries, scattered on the floor.

"Oops...sorry." Gary nervously scratches his head.

Thankfully, I was holding my lunch so it was not knocked over.

"You owe me new salad, idiot!" Drew shouts.

"I said I'm sorrry!" Gary yells back.

"Pika!" Pikachu says as he faces Gary and sparks his cheeks.

"Oh arceus." Gary gulps once he realizes what's about to happen. "I'm sorry! Just please don't-"

"Wait! Pikachu, don't!" I try to stop him.

"Piikkaaachuuu!!!" Pikachu releases a bolt of thunder at Gary.

Everyone in the cafeteria turns to us in shock. Some even ran here and circled around us.

"What happened?" A boy says as he looks at Gary.

"Is he okay?" Another boy asks.

I push through the crowd to get a better look. I find Gary on the floor covered in black soot with Pikachu in front of him. I walk up to both of them and pick Pikachu up.

"Ugh..." Gary groans.

"S-sorry about that. Pikachu didn't like what happened to his food back there." I sweatdrop.

"I-I can tell..." He slowly gets up.

"Chu!" Pikachu nods and crosses his arms.

"He kind of deserved it...I mean, that was good salad." Drew says.

"For the tenth time, I said I'm sorry!" Gary shouts.

"It's fine. I wasn't too hungry anyways." Clemont sighs.

The crowd murmurs and walks away. Gary gets up and wipes the soot off him. We sit back on our table.

"Anyways, what were we talking about again?" Kenny says.

"Ash and his liking towards-"

"Let's just talk about something else, shall we?" I glare and interupt Gary.

"No, come on. I can help you with this. I am an expert when it comes to the ladies. I can give you great advice." Gary says.

"Are you sure about that?" I sweatdrop.

"Yup, I've had about ten girlfriends so far. I know, I am way too attractive. Don't get jealous."

There he goes, trying to show off. This is one of the many things I find annoying about him, but I don't hate him for it.

"Umm, your longest relationship was only for about two weeks, not even a month." Drew snickers.

"Just two weeks?" I begin laughing.

"Shut up." He rolls his eyes.

"Are you sure I should trust you with the advice then?" I try to stop myself from laughing.

"My longest relationship has nothing to do with what I know. Just listen to me, and I garuntee you can do it." He says.

"Wait, do what?" I say confused.

I see Gary facepalm.

"You seriously don't know?" He gives me a serious look.

"N-no." I reply. "What is it?"

"Ask her out, of course." Barry says.

"U-uh, I don't know about that..." I start blushing.

"You are going to have to at some point." Drew says.

"Make your move, before someone does it before you." Gary says.

The first thing that comes to mind when Gary said that is Calem. I know how he feels about her, so there is a chance he can beat me to it.

"I guess your right..." I reply. "But I don't know what to do. It's my first time."

"I can teach you, Ashy-boy. Afterall, I am the best." Gary smirks.

"Uhh, okay then." I sweatdrop.

I am not too sure if I should be trusting Gary on this, but it's better than nothing. As I take the last bite out of my sandwich, the bell rings. I clean up and head to class. This is going to be a long week.

* * * * *

"Pika pi." Pikachu nudges me.

I slowly open my eyes. Today is Saturday. Three days have passed. Gary has taught me all I need to know about dates, and stuff like that throughout those days. I don't know when I will do it, I am already feeling nervous just thinking about it.

"Morning buddy." I smile.

I look at the time. I gasp once I see the time, it reads 10:45am. Today is the day Serena is coming over for our science project, and I told her to come over at 11.

I jump out of bed and start heading downstairs for a quick breakfast.

"Pika!" I hear Pikachu call me back.

I walk back upstairs, and find him pointing to my closet.

"Oh, right. I am still in my pjs. Thanks buddy." I sweatdrop.

I quickly change and run downstairs. I grab an apple on the table. I hope this will be enough for my breakfast.

"Morning Ash." My mom smiles.

"Mornin." I say as I dash into my basement.

"What is he up to?" My mom sighs to herself.

I look at the clock. 10:53am. I dig through a box full of art materials. I grab half of the materials we need for the volcano, while Serena brings the other half. I find the materials, and try to pick hold them all at once.

"Oh, man!" I say as a few paint bottles slip from my arms.

"Pikachu!" I call.

A wait about a minute or so, then Pikachu arrives and tilts its head.

"Pika?"

"Hey bud. Do you mind picking those up and helping me carry em' to my room?"

"Chu!" Pikachu nods and picks up the paint bottles.

I slow down the pace as I walk to my room, so I won't drop anything.

Serena's P.O.V.

"Come on guys. Time to go." I turn to Pancham and Fennekin.

"Cham!"

"Fenn!"

I walk to the door downstairs and open it.

"Ahem." My mom stops me.

"Oh, right. I'm heading over to Ash's place now." I say.

"Remember Serena. You are going there to work on your project, not to fool around." My mom puts her hands on her hips.

"I know mom." I reply.

"Okay dear. See you later. Be home before 7."

"I will mom. Bye!" I smile.

I head outside, followed by Fennekin and Pancham. I slowly walk to Ash's house. I am really happy to be his partner, I love spending time with him. I know I tend to get nervous and fluttery around him, but I feel safe with him. I need to tell him how I feel soon, but I can't do it. I am way too scared. I shoudn't be scared though, I have a feeling he likes me back. The way he has been acting says it all. I start blushing at the thought of this.

I reach his door, and ring the doorbell. I wait for a while, then a woman, most likely his mom opens the door.

"Hello." She says.

"Hi. I am here to work on a project with Ash."

"Oh, you must be Serena. I am Delia, Ash's mother." She smiles.

"Nice to meet you." I reply.

"Come in."

I follow her into the house. I look around. I am in the living room. His house is a lot different from mines, with his being urban and mines being modern. Many pictures are hung up on the wall. One picture consists of a family picture of Ash, his mom and a guy, most likely to be his dad. I can see that Ash only lives with his mom, just like I do.

"You can sit on one of the couches for now. I will go call Ash." She smiles.

"Thank you." I say as I sit down.

"Ash! Come here!" She calls.

"Be there in a sec!" I hear him reply in a faint voice.

Delia walks over and sits across from me.

"He will be down soon." She says.

"I see. Thanks." I smile.

"Your welcome." She replies.

There is a small silence, until Delia speaks up.

"Ash has told me many wonderful things about you."

"H-huh? He did?" My cheeks turn pink.

"Mhm. He told me about how kind and sweet you are. He said you have beautiful blue eyes too." She giggles.

"O-oh...how nice of him." I give a small smile.

I did not expect Ash to say those things about me. I couldn't help but scream on the inside. I want to jump for joy. These were more signs of Ash having a liking towards me. If I get more signs like this, I actually might consider telling him how I feel very soon.

I hear footsteps coming down. I look up to see Ash and Pikachu. We make eyes contact.

"Sorry I took a while. Just had to get organized." He says.

"Now you make sure to not make that big of a mess, Ash Ketchum." Delia says.

"I'll try not to." He replies.

"Okay. If you need me, I will always be here."

"Yeah, okay mom." Ash playfully rolls his eyes.

I let out a small giggle to this.

"C'mon." Ash leads me to his room.

I enter his room, and take a good look around. His room is about the same size as mines. The walls are white with a blue carpet. On the walls are a few pictures and posters of different people and pokemon. On the floor are the materials for the volcano.

"Welcome to my chamber of freedom." He says as he sits on his bed.

"Chamber of freedom?" I giggle.

"Well, I like calling this place my chamber, and here I can do what I want freely without anyone stopping me."

"I see." I reply and place my backpack on the floor.

"Pika!" I see Pikachu running around in circles with Fennekin and Pancham.

"They really seem to enjoy being with eachother." Ash smiles as he watches them.

"Yeah, it's so cute."

"Maybe I should let my other pokemon out too." Ash says as he takes out two pokeballs and tosses it into the air.

"Fro!" Froakie says as it emerges from its pokeball.

"Fletch!" Fletching chirps.

We spend the next minute watching the five pokemon play and chase eachother around the room.

"I think we should get started on the volcano." I say.

"Oh, right." He nods as he walks to the floor and sits down.

I take a seat beside him. He starts reading out loud the intructions of the volcano. I don't pay much attention to him, instead I glance over and admire him. I notice he isn't wearing his hat. He usually has his hat on, so it's unusual for me. His messy raven black hair is all over the place. This makes him a lot more attractive.

"Serena?" Ash calls.

"H-huh?!" I blush as I notice I have dazed off.

"I asked you a question." He chuckles.

"Oh, sorry. I didn't hear. What was it?"

"Did you bring your part of the supplies we need?"

"Yup. They are in here." I take my backpack and open it.

"Okay." He replies.

Ash takes out the modeling clay to build the volcano.

"Chu!" Pikachu walks up to Ash with his hat in his mouth.

"Oh, thanks buddy. But I am not going to wear it right now." Ash smiles as he takes his hat and places it beside him.

"Why not?" I ask him.

"You see, this is my favourite cap. I figured that if I wear it, there is a chance it can get erupted on by the volcano, and I wouldn't want that."

"I see." I reply.

"Do you were caps?" He asks out of curiosity.

"No, I am not really into them." I shrug.

"Only straw hats?"

"Yup." I nod.

Suddenly, I see Ash reaching for my head. He removes my hat and places it on the floor.

"A-ash what are you doing?" I couldn't help but blush.

He picks up his cap and places it on my head. He examines me for a while, and smiles.

"You should wear caps more often." He scratches his nose.

"W-why?"

"Cause you look great!" He chuckles.

I blush a deep shade of red. I should be hiding my face right now, it's so embarrasing. But I can't look away from him.

"Is something wrong? You face is turning red..." He starts to worry.

"N-no! Everything is fine...ehehe." I nervously try to get rid of my blush.

"Oh, okay then." He smiles.

I sigh of relief. Thank arceus he didn't figure out that blush was caused by him.

"Let's get started on this volcano." He says.

"Right." I reply.

About 6 hours later, we finally finish the volcano. We tried our best to paint it and make it look like an actual volcano. We already tested it out, and it erupted just fine. It's not perfect, but it's good enough for us to get a decent mark from our teacher.

"Finally. All done." Ash stretches his arms as he stands up.

"Yup. Took us a while to get it finished." I say.

Ash pick up the volcano and carries it over to his desk.

"I will bring it to school on monday." He says.

"Alright." I reply.

I look at the time, and it reads 6:30pm.

"I need to go. My mom told me to be home by 7." I say.

"Oh...already?" He sighs.

"Yeah...I'm sorry." I say as I pick up my backpack.

"I-it's fine."

"Let's go guys." I turn to Fennekin and Pancham.

Ash leads me downstairs to the door. I reach for the doorknob and open it.

"W-wait!" He stops me.

"Hm?"

"Before you go, can I ask you something?

"Sure."

"Umm, are you doing anything tommorow?" He nervously looks at me.

"No, not that I know of. Why?" I ask.

"Well, I was wondering...umm, i-if..." He quietly says.

I look at him a little confused. He is acting so shy right now, I wonder why.

"D-do you want to maybe...spend some time with me tommorow?" He quickly looks down to hide his face.

"W-with you? Just the two of us?" I start blushing.

"Yeah..." He looks back up at me.

I couldn't help but smile. He is actually asking me to go out somewhere with him tommorow.

"Of course, Ash."

"R-really?" He jumps. "Oh, I mean...that's great."

"Where to?" I ask.

"Well, I don't want anything like a restaurant. I feel like that's too much. I am thinking maybe...a carnival."

"A carnival?" I repeat.

"Yeah."

I have never been asked out to a carnival before, but it does sound interesting.

"Sounds fun. Okay then." I smile.

"Great! See you tommorow then." He smiles back.

"Bye." I say as I head out.

"Bye Serena." He replies.

I step outside and close the door behind me. I happily skip to my house and open the door.

"Hey mom." I give a big smile.

"Welcome back sweetie. Did you finish the project?"

"Yup! I feel like we did great on it!"

"That's good." She looks at me. "You seem like you are in a good mood. What happened?"

"Nothing big. Anyways, I'm gonna go to my room." I reply as I walk upstairs.

"Oh, okay then." She gives me a weird look.

Once I get to my room, I throw my backpack onto my bed. No one is here to see, so I start squealing out of joy.

"Did you here that guys? I am going out with Ash tommorow!" I turn to my pokemon and jump.

"Panch!"

"Kenn!"

I jump onto my bed and take my phone out to tell Dawn, Misty, Iris and May the great news. I couldn't stop myself from blushing. I am going out with Ash. Or even better...a date?! I hold my cheeks because I feel like I am going to explode. I can't explain all the hapiness I am feeling right now.

I smile to myself at the thought of Ash. Tommorow is going to be a fun day.