::MAY::

Today was the day. The big performance. We got here late because Brianna was being all clingy with Drew so we missed Chloe's friend's big kick off performance. Dawn told me it was epic.

"Ready for this?" Drew asked as he gripped my hand. We were sitting backstage, watching the first couple of coordinators perform. Even though we've seen them time after time, they each looked magical and enchanting. I was hoping ours would look the same.

I nodded nervously and Drew gave me a smirk. "As usual, May has no self confidence at all."

That got me riled up. I stood up defiantly and got ready to yell at him but Chloe decided to waltz into the room, dressed in an entirely different dress. It was a powder blue, princess-styled dress with a sweetheart neckline and embellished with pretty beads.

"J'aime aujourd'hui!" Chloe said happily with a twirl of her dress. "Encore!"

Chloe then started rapidly talking in French, peppered with the occasional, "Encore!"

"How is she not nervous?" I muttered silently. While everyone was going over routines and stuff, Chloe was twirling around like it was just another regular day.

"She's Chloe," Drew muttered back.

Then she noticed us standing there uncomfortably and smiled at us. "Vous deux coup d'oeil si joli ensemble!" she squealed.

We looked at her quizzically and she frowned at us. "You don't know how to speak French?" she asked unhappily. "Quelle tragédie!" She looked at us again then slapped her forehead. "What a tragedy!" she translated. "You two look so cute together!"

We looked at her quizzically again, not because she was speaking in a foreign language or anything, because of what she said. About us being cute together.

"Well," she started impatiently, "say something!"

"We're excited for today too," Drew replied smoothly.

"You speak French?" I asked.

He shook his head but then mouthed the words, "I only partially understood what she was saying. Basically, I'm winging this."

Chloe gave us a small smile before spitting something out in French. The only word I understood from that string of French words was "Fantina."

"May! Drew!" a familiar voice called out.

We looked over to see Zoey and Dawn walking over.

"Ready for today?" Zoey asked happily. She didn't look a bit worried. Something about her calmness always reminded me of Solidad, a little bit of Drew, and to a point, Chloe.

"I guess," I said sheepishly.

"No need to worry May!" Dawn said happily. I smiled. It happened to be one of Dawn's confident days today. She was all smiles in her pretty dress.

"May! Drew! You're up!" the stage crew said. They ushered us away from Dawn and Zoey and we stood in the wings while we watched the other people go. Their combinations were so simple, but yet extremely polished and I gripped my dress in worry.

Drew raised a perfect brow at me and mouthed the words, "Chill," to me before turning his attention back to the stage.

I took a deep breath and calmly waited. To entertain myself, I started watching the people in the audience. There weren't many people I recognized, just a person there, a person here, a… Jessadia?

I decided to shrug that off and continued scanning the crowd. Just as I finished looking through, I saw a familiar white hat pass through the contest hall doors…

"Brendan!" I whisper-shouted.

Drew shot me a confused look but shrugged it off. Then he spotted Jessadia and mouthed to me, "Is that Jessadia?"

I slapped my forehead and mouthed back, "I honestly don't care if that's Jessadia or not! My boyfriend is here to see me all the way from Sinnoh!"

I saw Drew's lips purse into a tight-lipped frown but he said no more.

"And next up we have May and Drew! These two have known each other since they were just little ten year old coordinators! Since then, each of them has won three Ribbon Cups and has participated in several Grand Festivals! So give it up for May and Drew!"

Drew gave me one last reassuring look before entering the stage. I did the same.

Once I was out, I looked out into the crowd and gave Brendan a big grin. He grinned back and I felt warm and tingly on the inside. But then I felt my smile morphing into a frown. The tingling wasn't as warm as it should've been. Actually, it almost felt lukewarm, not racing-hot, or even fuzzy-warm, just lukewarm.

I pushed that out of my mind and called out my Beautifly in sync with Drew's Masquerain.

Drew gave me one last concerned look before letting it morph into a smile. I smiled back.

::DREW::

Ugh. Great. The last thing I needed was for her boyfriend to be here. Not only will she lose focus on the performance, and the connection will be weaker and everything will feel like it's falling apart.

May flawlessly called out her attacks to her Beautifly and I think I did pretty well with Masquerain. The sparkling attacks mixed perfectly with the lighting, creating waterfalls of twinkling lights. Needless to say, May looked like an absolute goddess right now, basking in the glow of the sparkles.

We ended our performance with a flourish and May blew a kiss out to the audience. I angrily glared in the direction the kiss went to, which was a white-capped dude who blew a kiss back.

That must be her boyfriend, I thought angrily.

We walked off the stage — May was glowing happily, while Chloe floated onstage with a grin plastered on her face. May and I silently filed in backstage and watched her performance on the TV. Her eyes were filled with determination as she added the final touches to the watery rose and gave her speech.

When she came backstage, she was smiling at us.

"What did you think?" She didn't wait for an answer before walking off. Then she tossed her head back and said, "We're going to a buffet to celebrate the kick off of the tour. You're not allowed to invite other people without my permission. Call me for more details! Toodles!" Then without another word, she floated off into Chloe-land.

I saw May's face twist into a frown.

"What's wrong?" I asked softly.

She looked at me with a sad face. "That means I'm not allowed to invite Brendan," she whimpered.

I frowned, not because she wouldn't be allowed to invite him, because she romantically cared about a guy other than me.

Why do you care? I asked myself.

Nonetheless, I pulled myself back together and comforted her, reminding her I can't invite Brianna either. We sat like that for a while before a familiar voice shocked us out of our serene trance.

"You two look so adorable together!"

We both spun around and my arm withdrew from May's shoulders.

"And you told me you weren't dating!"

I internally groaned. Of course it would be Harley disrupting the peace. He was still wearing his Wigglytuff suit and was smiling broadly at us.

"Hi Harley," May mustered.

"Long time no see you two," another familiar voice said. Unlike Harley's voice, this voice was much more welcomed and controlled.

"Hi Solidad," I said with a smile.

"Your performance was great," she said with a smile. "There was some nice chemistry between Beautifly and Masquerain," she commented.

"Thanks," I replied.

"And you know what they say!" Harley sang. "Pokemon reflect their trainers!" he finished in a sing-song voice.

I saw May roll her brilliant sapphire eyes.

Harley opened his mouth to speak again but was interrupted by another voice.

"May!"

We all whipped around to see her boyfriend rushing towards her. I groaned with annoyance but I don't think anyone realized. Chloe was fuming that the little get-together she planned got interrupted. Harley and Solidad looked on with a piqued interest. May was calm, as if she could honestly care less about her boyfriend at the moment, which made me feel a lot better.

"Brendan," she said calmly, intercepting him with her arms, giving him a hug. He tried to kiss her but she smoothly twisted away.

Then she turned to us and said, "This is Brendan"; she hesitated quickly, flashing a look at me before saying," my boyfriend."

I felt a little part of me die right there. A rush of jealousy surged through me as I ached to be in Brendan's spot right now, slinging an arm around her soft shoulders, cheek brushing her silky hair.

"Nice to meet you Brendan," Solidad said, as calm and collected as ever. Her gaze still showed an interest in him, as if she were decoding him. "I'm Solidad."

Harley stepped up next. "Nice to meet you hon. I'm Harley," he said, with an extra big smile.

Chloe jerked her chin in his general direction. "Chloe," she simply said before walking off in the opposite direction.

"And who's the green-haired kid?" Brendan asked.

"My performance partner Drew," she said, choking slightly on the words "performance partner."

"Ohhh," Brendan said in a slightly suspicious tone.

If you're going to accuse her of cheating on you, she's not! Anything that happened between us was an accident or history… even though I wish it wasn't.

"Sorry to interrupt," Chloe said coldly, "but we're planning a little celebration dinner between coordinators right now. You can come back later."

"Oh. Okay. Have fun love," Brendan said, giving May a quick kiss and glaring at me before leaving.

We stood in a microsecond of silence before another voice piped up behind me. "So I guess I'm not invitedagain?"

I looked behind me and saw Brianna giving Chloe, Solidad, and May murderous looks, and Harley a confused, bewildered, and grossed out look.

Chloe's eyes flashed murderously. "No you are not," she said, her voice dripping icicles. "Unless Drewupright invites you, same goes for what's-his-face, you. Are. Not. Invited."

Brianna turned to me with a look that said, "Invite me or I make your life living hell."

"I'm sorry Lily," I said calmly, "but I want a drama-free celebration night."

"Are you calling me dramatic?" Brianna screeched.

"Not you personally," I lied, "but I don't want Chloe getting mad at you again."

She huffed before storming away.

"Good riddance," Chloe said indignantly. She proceeded to invite us all to a party at a friend's mansion nearby, whose name she would not disclose before walking off to invite some other people.

May and I talked with Solidad while doing our best to ignore Harley. Eventually he got annoyed with being ignored and gave us a dramatic exit. In seconds we heard screaming and pouting so Solidad went to go check on Harley and make sure he wasn't tearing up the world, leaving me alone with May.

She awkwardly fiddled with the hem of her dress while I pretended to show interest in the people currently performing. Then May stopped twisting the fabric of her dress and asked, "Why do you think Chloe hates Brendan and Brianna so much?"

I looked at her with a surprised expression. I never really expected May to pick up Chloe's strong discontent for them, let alone out right address it. "I-I don't know," I said, stuttering a little.

She sighed. Then she leaned in to hug me before walking away.

I felt my legs twitching, aching to go run after her, but I didn't, and I felt it in every part of me; I felt like a total idiot. It probably didn't help that my head looked more or less like a Hoppip

Sorry for the shortness of the chapter, but at least it's an update? :P Yeah I know, I sound so lame right now, but my brain is pretty much clogged with chlorine so bear with me here. Also about the chapter, sorry if it sucked or seemed choppy or the POV changed around.

Love you all
~Hay