Misty's eyes traveled all over the shelf, eyeing curiously the products. She didn't know much about make-up, hell; she had no idea about it. She's never put it before nor owned it—except for a small bottle of glittery purple nail polish she got for her birthday and which she never used and hid in the third abandoned drawer of her nightstand.

"I don't need it!" But then, she remembered... it'd make her look pretty, right? She had the right to wear make-up. All girls her age wore it. They made them feel confident and attractive. It's all what Misty needed. Sure, she believed she was pretty; she just needed a little boost.

The redhead leaned forward and picked up a small bottle of pale beige liquid.

Y&R Foundation

Make-up fluid.

Problem solved.

-

Misty eyed the small bottle curiously. She sat at her light pink vanity, staring into the mirror and at the foundation, picking it up now and then.

"It does cost a fortune."

The redhead has spent all her money on the foundation, but at least she knew she picked up the right color. The woman at the store helped her pick up the right shade for her pale skin, and it wasn't a hard task since she had to pick up the lighter one, but Misty didn't know that at first.

Then, the woman just had to make a comment about it,

"In all cases, you have a beautiful, flawless skin, miss. What do you need the foundation for? Eye bags? We have better products for that."

Misty wasn't sure how to react to such comment. She ignored it though, faking having not heard it.

How could she not see it? Misty's skin wasn't flawless. It wasn't beautiful either. It was full of ugly freckles, sprawled all over. It wasn't pretty. It ruined her chances with boys. She knew it.

Misty felt embarrassed about it all the time. It wasn't fair that she had to be born a redhead! Her upper arms were freckled, her chest was freckled, her shoulders were, her back was... even wearing a tee shirt made her feel self-conscious. Misty hated the freckles, no matter how much Dawn or May called them cute.

No one likes redheads.

And if she was cute, Ash would have already asked her out by now, right?

The most important area was her face though. Misty wanted the pain to end. She decided she will start using the foundation from now on and hide all the ugly spots on her face. She'll look as flawless as May, Dawn, Serena and all other pretty girls (she'll save dyeing her red hair for later since her mother would never approve of such thing now).

And Ash will notice her, right? It was a shame he's been seated next to her for two years now and he hasn't noticed how much she likes him. They were good friends, but Misty wanted to get noticed in that way.

And this was her senior year. She wanted Ash to know.

-

Ash knew he did extend his limits today but he wasn't sure why he couldn't take his eyes off of Misty. He stared, not even caring to look away when she'd catch him. She was the one who'd look away instead when their eyes met. They made awkward eye contact twice already, and it was just the beginning of the day.

He presumed it bothered Misty, but he just couldn't—what was this? It's like something was different about Misty today, and thing is, Misty is always the same. Why would something be different about her today? She's always expect-able, and contrary to what other guys say, that didn't make her plain boring at all. She may be predictable but she was special in her own way. It's that why he liked her in the first place.

Misty suddenly went to look inside Ash's pen case, not bothering to make eye contact with Ash, and picked up the black pen. They always used each others' stuff anyway.

Ash caught a weird sight. "Purp—nail polish?"

They looked at each other. The redhead snapped, "What?"

"Nothing?"

"..." Misty blinked and turned to taking notes, a little bit red on the face. Nail polish? Okay, fine, that was news, but there was something else-

"Mist?"

Misty felt Ash's hand on her chin, lifting it up slowly. Their eyes met again, and Misty's face was getting noticeably red. "W-what?"

"Where have gon—I mean—how did you hide those spot-...?"

Damn it! He wasn't supposed to point that out in that way!

It was obvious Misty didn't like the way Ash questioned things. She turned to look in front of her quickly and looked extremely uneasy. Ash bit his lip.

"Hey, maybe we should go have lun-"

"Can I go to the bathroom?" Misty raised her hand and got up. Ash knew she was mad because he knew how she sounded when she was.

She left the classroom running, and that wasn't reassuring. Ash got up. "Can I-"

"Wait until miss Williams is back." The teacher answered, her back given to her students. She saw a flash by the door with the corner of her eye and recognized the silhouette.

"Hey—HEY! MR. KETCHUM! COME BACK!"

Ash got away from class quickly, trying to locate his friend. It didn't take him too long because she was just in the hallway.

"Misty."

Misty didn't look at him.

"I didn't mean it in a bad way."

"Mean what?"

"What I said earlier?"

Misty sighed. Ash noticed she was crying. "Wha—why are you crying now anyway?"

"I don't kn—leave me alone!"

"No, I'm not. I'm getting detention today anyway so I won't be seeing you after school. I won't leave you alone now."

"Oh, just..." Misty chuckled weakly and wiped off a tear.

"Sometimes, you get crazy ideas, Mist." Ash chuckled. "In a random morning you decide to paint your face!"

"Hey! I didn't paint my face! It's called foundation!"

"Who even showed you this thing? Get it off." Ash started rubbing his hand over Misty's cheek. She pulled it away.

"You don't remove it this way, stupid!"

Ash pulled away slightly and grinned. "I might believe I'm really stupid if you keep calling me that all the time."

"You are stupid, Ash."

"At least I didn't paint my face-"

"Aaaaash."

"I don't understand why you painted your face! You looked better with the fre—oh, you get what I mean, right?"

Misty blushed. "It's not about what you think! It's about what I like!"

"That's not what I meant—you get it—right—oh, just... I'll shut up."

Misty and Ash giggled.

"If someone catches us here..."

"Forget about people. I can't say you're special if you keep this thing on your face. Some girls even draw freckles on their face, Misty! Why did you hide them?"

"Stop it!" Misty tried to hide her blush with her hand over her nose and cheeks.

"Stop it!" Ash mimicked her voice, making her blush even more. "You know what? Maybe you should give me this thing instead. I need it more than you do."

"It's not the right color shade for you. You'll look horrible." Misty smiled.

"As if I don't look horrible enough with acne popping up everywhere! Hey, let's run away this period!"

"Ash! No!"

"Ash! No!"

"Stop!"

"Stop!"

Misty rolled her eyes. "You just don't-"

"HEY! YOU TWO! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" Someone yelled from the end of the hallway. Ash and Misty gasped.

"I'm not coming back to class until you remove this thing! Let's go to the restroom!"

"No—let's wait until lunch!"

"HEY! YOU TWO! BACK TO CLASS!"

"Nope! RUN!"

"What—no—Ash! No!" Misty shouted as her friend grabbed her hand and started running.

-

Ash and Misty turned to look at each at the same time. They were sitting down on a bench. Ash grinned, and Misty grinned back in a sarcastic way.

"Suspended for three days. Thank you very much, Ash."

"It was worth seeing your beautiful face, Mist."

Misty rolled her eyes. Ash laughed, brought her close in a hug and kissed her cheek.

THE END.