Serena's POV

Woah. Woah. Wooaaaaaaah.

Calem just asked me to be his girlfriend?! We met only today! How can he develop a crush on me that quickly?!

"Uh, why do you want me to be your girlfriend?" I asked, starting to panic inside my head but keeping my voice stable.

"Well, uh, you're really sweet, and I just admire that about you.." He explained to me, while starting to tilt his head back down towards the ground.

"Y-Yeah, thanks, but you barely even know anything about me!" I started raising my voice, keeping the fact that I still had to meet up with Ash after this in my mind.

"Oh..." He sighed with a tone of defeat, "So I guess that's a no?"

"Uh, I mean, we can still be friends, if that's ok with you." I lowered my voice, trying to let him down easy.

Calem didn't seem happy at all with my response, and neither did the small crowd surrounding us. For a minute, I had forgotten that they were watching the whole thing go down between Calem and I, as hard as it is to believe. At least it wasn't as big of a crowd as before, assuming that some people had left.

"Yeah..." He groaned, slowly lifting his head up once again, "We can be friends.."

"Alright." I said, giving him a small smile, before reminding myself where I had to be now, "Well, I have to go, so see you later!"

"Bye, Serena." He responded, as I slipped my way through the people and walked towards the forest to meet up with Ash.

~•~

When I had reached the forest entrance, I stopped and looked around me. Ash was nowhere to be seen. I didn't take that much time talking with Calem, did I?

I pulled out my phone from my pocket to see if Ash had sent me a message about where he was, but I had no new texts. Might as well try calling him.

*boooooooooooop*

*boooooooooooop*

*boooooooooooop*

"Your call has been forwarded to an autom-"

That stupid voice that plays when a call isn't picked up just bugs me so much...

But that's odd. Ash has never missed one of my calls. And I definitely don't think that he would just leave me here...

Oh well. I can't just stay here forever. I'll let Eevee and Fennekin out so we can all walk home together.

"Eevee, Fennekin, come out, please!" I called them, taking out their Pokéballs from my bag and opening them.

"Fenn!"

"Eevee!" They cried, after they emerged from their capsules.

"How would you guys like to walk home with me today?" I asked them.

The both of them jumped and cheered for joy when I allowed them to stay out of their Pokéballs and walk with me.

"Alright. Let's go." I said, as I started to walk into the forest, with Fennekin and Eevee by my side.

The whole forest was really quiet as I walked through it. Fennekin and Eevee were playing with each other as we went, and I was simply watching them.

When we reached the river, Eevee was able to skip over to the other side with ease, but Fennekin, on the other hand, was afraid to cross over and stayed put.

"Fennekin, you can climb on my shoulders and we can cross together, if you'd like." I offered, crouching down so that Fennekin could climb on.

She quickly and happily obliged, jumping onto my shoulder and clutching on tightly.

*riiiiiiiiiiing*

Oh my god, finally! It's about time he called.

"Hey, Ash!" I immediately picked up the phone and at the same time started walking across the river.

"Ash?" A female voice on the other side of the call said, "Serena, this May..."

"Huh?" I said, taking my phone away from my ear to see who it was, "Oh, sorry about that."

"No problem." She said, "So, what happened between you and Calem under that tree, hmmmmm?"

"Oh. He actually asked me out. He also gave me this ro-"

"Yeah, I know. I was there." May cut me off, with a know-it-all tone in her voice.

"Then why did you even ask?" I questioned her, looking for Eevee and Fennekin, as I saw the two holding twigs in their mouths for some reason.

"I just wanted to see how you reacted at first." She admitted, then followed up with a slight moment of silence, "I actually do have some bad news though."

"What is it?" I asked, trying to keep my curiosity at a minimum.

"So, you know how there was a crowd around that tree you and Calem were under?" She started, getting to her point slower than I would like her.

"Yes, I do know that." I responded, annoyed with her slow pace.

"Well... Ash was in that crowd..."

"What?!?" I yelled, startling both Fennekin and Eevee, making them drop their twigs from their mouths.

"And... He saw you blushing when Calem gave you that rose and probably thinks you are a couple now *pant*." May quickly blurted, probably afraid to witness how I would react.

"Oh." I simply said, my mind screaming at me to get home and talk to Ash as quickly as I could, "May, can I talk to you later?"

"Alright, fine. Call me later though, because I need your help with something." She said.

"Ok, bye." I said to her, hanging up the phone and quickly placing it back in my pocket.

"Fenn?" Fennekin cried, tilting its head to the right in confusion.

"Guys, I really need to talk to Ash, so let's try to pick up the pace, ok?" I asked both Eevee and Fennekin, holding in my anxiety to myself.

"Eevee!" "Fenn, Fenn!" Both of them cried in agreement.

"Thank you! Now let's hurry!" I told them, as I started sprinting my way out of the forest and towards Ash's house.