(Ash POV)

The sounds of the cafeteria beckoned me once more as I walked into it with my food on my tray in my hands. I was thinking about sitting by myself with Gary, but I promised to sit with Alexandria and the others. I saw Serena waving over towards me when I looked up to see where they were, and briskly walked over into a conversation between Dawn and some blonde haired male.

"Dawn, you don't understand. You find the standard deviation of the data first, and then either add or take away 2 x the standard deviation to find your outliers." He sighed, pointing out on the graph what to do.

"Clemont, I don't get it." Dawn smiled with a little laugh, clearly confused by the statistics work.

"Seriously?" I mentioned as I sat down. "Standard Deviation is the main thing you need to know off by heart for stats. It's literally just the mean squared over the amount of numbers, and squared rooted."

"Sorry we're not a smartypants like you, Ketchum," Dawn said, her fiery glare visible, causing me to gulp as she stuck up a finger. "And surprise to see you here and not alone with Gary."

"Well, hi might have been a nicer first word, but OK then," I muttered, my voice trailing off at the end.

"Oh hi, Ash," May smiled bubbly, her split hair swaying gently as she moved her head about.

"At least some of you have manners," I chuckled, only to get a glare from Dawn. "And for a matter of fact, Gary is..."

"Right here Ashy Boi," he cut me off as he sat down beside me. "Oh boy, statistics, loving those dank memes to be honest, lit weed at its finest." He joked as he looked at the work in front of him that Dawn was mulling over.

"I would rather have you piss off right now then joining your friend in teasing me about it. Seems as this scientist who uses graphs all the time can't explain them right to me." Dawn looked away in disgust from the two of us, turning her attention back to Clemont, who looked bewildered and mockingly hurt, holding his fist to his chest.

"Oh thanks Dawn," he mocked hurt.

"Hey no prob," she smiled, causing everyone else to laugh, our eight raucous laughs filling the air above us, seeming as Mallow and Kiawe joined in with us. This felt so nice, as if it was a big family already.

Everyone had their own personal quirks about them, and they each complemented each other with these different quirks of theirs. It felt warm and inviting, just to be a part of this environment I felt, could do wonders to my life, and maybe even help me to improve as a person.

"Hey big brother," Alex sang as she sat down on the other side of me, in a much happier mood then she was this morning.

"Oh, hey Alex," I smiled, and introduced her to everyone. "And finally, this is Serena, the on who helped me change." I smiled, causing said blonde to smile and turned her head away in embarrassment, her face turning bright pink.

"Ash, you think too highly of me," she returned the smile. "And I finally meet the sweet girl that Ash described to me."

It was Alex's turn to blush and be embarrassed now as she shyly put her face into my shoulder. She looked back up with a smile, a smile on her face. "I should really be thanking you, Serena," she said, reaching over and placing her arms around Serena, who did the same back. "For changing this doofus into an actual brother again."

"No problem," she smiled, snickering at me, as I contemplated life and how I might need to run away, a sudden dark cloud of despair from two girls who had evil smirks on their face looking at me. "All jokes aside, when is the first game of the season, Ash?"

Ah, finally, a good topic to divert my mind back to. "It's this Friday evening, 5:30 tip-off."

"You need anymore players, Ash?" Kiawe asked, looking over with importance, seemingly intrigued in our conversation.

"Erm, no I don't think so," I thought, looking upwards as I scrounged the remnants of my brain cells, looking for any info I had. "We're pretty set. Although it would be nice to see you all there with banners and stuff for support."

"I'll make sure they're all there, Ash," Gary said to my left. "I mean, a future NBA star has to have all of his friends and family there for support, I mean, come on, I..."

"Only came to the games last year to flirt with the cheerleaders, jog on Gary, everyone can come on their own accord." I laughed, only for Gary to mockingly square up to me, fists raised.

"You want some?" He asked, jockeying in front of me, causing me to stand up, everyone turning their attention to the two of us. "Cause I'll give it ya!" And it was at that point that the bell rang, leaving everyone else laughing and as they started to pack up and walk to their lessons, leaving Gary with a distraught face, as I patted his back and walked onward towards my next lesson. Oh how fun the rest of the year might be...

(Serena POV)

Another tiresome and overall decent day of learning had passed and I was destroyed. I hadn't had much sleep over the weekend thinking a lot about Ash, as well as being quite excited to start working soon and earning my own money. Deciding against walking home, I decided to go and watch the basketball team practice in the small arena we had for sports. The bleachers were practically empty as I arrived, slowly clambering up them to the top far corner against the wall. I pulled my headphones out and placed them in my ears, playing my music playlist as I quietly worked on an essay due in for homework at the end of the next week.

The players slowly came out of the changing rooms and went through their warm-up and starter drills, before most of the squad went off to do their own thing, whether that be passing or dribbling, while I could spot Ash talking with Coach Shore, presumably about the game Friday night. He looked up and saw me, waving at me, as I smiled back and raised my hand to wave. I focused back to my work as I felt the heat in my cheeks rise slightly.

Did he do that deliberately or just as a friend? Cause if that was any other girl, she would be crying with happiness. Me, that was his first try to flirt with me. And I feel like he succeeded. because he had made me blush from just looking at me.

"What you listening to?" Ash asked as he sat down next to me, sweat dripping down his tanned face, taking out one of my headphones and placing it in his. "Ah, Ed Sheeran, good choice." I was so tempted to reach out and touch his face, wipe his brow clean and send him back to practice more.

"Do you want a drink?" I asked as I pulled some money out of my pocket, getting up to go to the vending machine in the hallway outside.

"Yes, one diet Mountain Dew, please." He smiled as I nodded, swiftly bringing back two drinks, his energy drink and a bottle of fruit juice for myself. I had wondered this for a while now, and I decided to ask him.

"Ash, have you got yourself an agent or anything for next year for this deal with the Thunder to go through?" I asked, tapping my fingers against my knee. "Because, you might get endorsements and contracts to sort out and you won't want to lose focus on your game."

"I have a few options lined up at the minute. Red is wanting me to sign up with his agent so we can have all affairs covered under one roof. Why'd you ask?" He looked at me, seemingly interested.

"I was wondering if you ever wanted me to do it?"

"Wait, Serena," he moved onto the balls of his feet on the row of seats in front of me, taking my hands into his. "You shouldn't be worrying about me and my future. Worry about yourself over me, your future is important too. What is your dream?"

"I," I sighed, knowing it sounded slightly stupid. "I want to be a teacher and give back to others what our teachers have given to us. It's stupid I know, and I don't think I can.."

"That's not stupid at all," he smiled, that killer one that took me to my knees every time he used it. "That's an awesome dream. I really hope you get there, for everyone important to you, not just yourself." I smiled at his kind and thoughtful words. I don't know why I was always doubting myself,I guess I want to do her proud is all.

"Thanks Ash," I hugged him round his upper body, shortly releasing soon after as he smiled, and rebounded back down the bleachers to the court. I felt so fuzzy inside, and I gulped.

It had only taken him a month for him to do it, but it felt amazing. It felt like I was falling for Ash Ketchum...

Sorry about the long gap in between chapters, I've had a lot on recently and haven't had time to write, nor been in the right mindset either. I hope that the history on Reagan I've got to do this weekend will help me to be able to write again, more often and with more passion. Thanks for now, please vote, comment and share, and I'll be back soon!