Dedicated to unpredictablegold for being the awesome person she is (and also an amazing person to obsess over Shawn Mendes and Jay Taylor with)!

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Luc Mathis' POV:

"Luc, that's not fair!" Lee whines.

"Oh, come on, Lee! I'm not forcing you, though!" I reply to his whining.

Lee laughs, the very sound sending shivers down my spine. A good kind though. Not the kind that comes whenever I hear Nova Hart's devilish cackling. Speaking of whom, why did Ash just go with her? I mean, she did express a strong dislike for her earlier but now- and why did the 'Round Two' she said sound like the rounds of a boxing bout?

"Luc, is there something on my face?" Lee asks me.

"A nose, two eyes, a mouth and skin." I quip, the words leaving my mouth before I can stop them. Lee takes it in good stride though.

"You're hilarious! But, seriously, I asked because you were staring at my face for quite some time now with such a weird expression. Something wrong?" he asks, his perceptive side stepping out.

"I was just thinking..." I trail off, unsure of what to say.

"About Ashica?" he suggests.

My eyebrows shoot up and I let out an exclamation of surprise.

"How did you know?"

"Well, I just guessed from your expression that it must've been serious. And you seemed oddly concerned when you came back after talking to her. Is she okay?" Lee explains, his eyebrows furrowed with concern.

"Wow, you're quite perceptive!"

"That's been so useful..." he replies to my compliment, sounding quite sarcastic.

"You watch, it will. As for Ash, I am worried. Only, I don't know what's wrong..."

"Yet." he adds.

"I should hope so."

Lee looks over my shoulder and his eyes widen. I turn around to see that it's Ash, looking quite tired and her eyes look reddish, like she's been crying. She shuffles over to us, or so I think. She doesn't even notice us as she continues past us.

I look at Lee, my eyes mirroring his now. What happened? Ashica was never like this! I-

"Ashica, wait up!" Lee yells and runs after her, almost collapsing multiple times by the time he's reached her. Ashica slows down to let him catch up and hastens when he reaches her side.

"Ashica, slow down!" Lee huffs, eliciting a half- smile from her when she turns around to look at him. She stands, tapping her feet impatiently, while Lee manages to catch up to her. She walks at a slower pace now, easily letting him stay by her side.

I find myself unable to do anything other than just watch as they walk out. Frozen on the spot, I want to run after Ashica and make sure nothing ever happens to her, but I can't. She deserves so much better. Besides, she's long gone. I don't mean literally. Of course I can run after her and catch up easily. After all, it was Ash who encouraged me to take part in running races and trained with me, being my sparring partner.

She did so much for me, only I can't seem to do anything good for her. How I wish I were able enough...

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Leandre Kyllian's POV:

Ashica clearly looks upset. She looks quite sad and probably even mad or frustrated at something or someone. What even happened to make her this upset? She even passed by us without noticing us!

I look to Luc who looks so sad that I badly want to erase it off his face. He's upset too now. They must've been pretty thick friends earlier if he can gauge her emotions and reactions that well. He's usually not very perceptive, so I guess it must be practice. It's so obvious that he still cares about her. It remains to be seen whether it's the same from her side...

Luc turns to look at me and his expression jolts me like a splash of cold water. I can make out the desperate plea in the depths of his eyes as clear as if it were spoken out loud.

"Ashica, wait up!" I yell and run after her. It turns out to be a terrible decision despite the good intent behind it. I almost trip and fall many times and really would never have caught up to her if she hadn't slowed down, showcasing my 'klutz'iness. Wait, what's that word? Clumsiness.

When I reach her side, she hastens her pace and I easily fall behind.

"Ashica, slow down!" I huff, forcing her to stop and turn around to look at me. The minuscule traces of a smile playing around the edges of her lips lift my spirits exponentially. She taps her feet impatiently, waiting for me to catch up to her.

"Can I ask you a question, Ashica?"I ask, still a bit out of breath. Noticing, she slows down more, letting me keep up easily. She nods in response to my question.

"It's actually two. No, three. Anyways, one, can I be your friend?"

"Lee, you're already my friend, whether or not you like it. All that's left is for you to want to be. You're such a nice person and I like you a lot too! Seems to me like there's no need for any doubts here..."

"That's great! And two, how in the world do you go that fast?"

"Um, that was slow." she states matter-of-factly.

"No way!"

"Uh, yes way, Lee!"

"Wow! Why though?"

"Well, I used to help Luc train and practice for all his races and games. I got so used to running around that everything else seems terribly slow. Like if you listen to nightcore for a month and then listen to anything else, the latter will seem extremely slow."

It's so obvious that both Luc and Ashica care for each other so much. Misunderstandings between them have led them apart and against each other. Both of them seem to want back in, but both seem scared to be the first to start, the first to apologize, the one to cross over.

It makes me feel so bad when I remember the time when they were on the same side and no crossing over or anything was involved.

It's about time they patched up, and I'm going to help them as far as I can (let's hope that's a lot, now).

"Okay, and three. Who are you?"

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Hey, so sorry for posting this just now! I'd typed out the entire thing yesterday but only the first half got saved. Then I rewrote it and tried to save it but it still didn't. Now, finally, it got saved now!

Anyways, what is this I hear about Ghostbusters and Pentatonix?! :O Any idea, papersailor, ObsessedwithTivi, Lottecon or ptxlover03 ? Anybody at all?

Also, does anyone know if there is a maximum number of chapters possible for a Wattpad book? I'm asking for my book, 'Short Gems 2'. 'Short Gems' had 200, and 'SG2' is at 125 now. I can't add any more chapters at the moment. But I'll keep trying...

As for the next chapter, I'll try to publish it as soon as I can, but I'm also planning to update 'The Missing Linck' and 'Ref, Play it Back' so it's going to take some time...

Thank you for reading!

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