From Another Dimension

Chapter 17

The distant echo of the school bell ringing pierced Ash's senses like a gunshot. Why do I always have to be late? Ash groaned as he felt his heart drop. He and a few other late-comers hastily began dashing into the main building and hurried to their lockers. The boy letting out a sigh as he saw a sea of rushing students in the hallway. Maybe if he and Pikachu didn't have that useless debate over which starter will be the best choice in the newly announced Pokemon game, Ash wouldn't be this late. But at least he won the discussion without being electrocuted, right?

Ending his long train of thoughts, Ash became one with the rushing students and navigated his way to his locker. If being late had a positive, he mostly went unnoticed within all the chaos of being late to class. Usually, as Ash walked to class, there would be sneering comments by other students. But when it was busy, and everyone was in a rush, it was like he was invisible. Well, aside from the occasional shoves and dropping of the shoulder as he navigates the crowded halls. But that was just because they were rushing to class, not cause they went to pick on him, the loser of the school, right?

But, with his newfound aura abilities, these ' innocent shoves' became less of a worry for the raven head as Ash glided through the crowd like he was some ninja. His aura flaring whenever someone got close to pushing him. He felt like spiderman with his spidey sense. Aside from being in the air and swinging, the rush of energy he felt when sidestepping a person's shove like he was some professional NFL or Rubgy player felt excellent to Ash.

In record time, he managed to reach his locker and quickly shoved his bag into the locker, retrieved the items needed for the lesson and dashed off the class. The hallways gradually became less and less chaotic with each corner he took. As he turned one corner, he suddenly collided with a sea of honey-coloured hair. The two fell, both letting out a small groan as they hit the floor with their items scattering everywhere.

Guess I haven't perfected spidey sense just yet, Ash thought as he rubbed his head and sat up.

"A-Ash," A voice nervously croaked.

Ash opened his eyes and immediately let out an internal wince. Out of everyone I decided to bump into. Why did it have to be her?

"Serena! I am so sorry I should have been watching where I was going," Ash replied hurriedly after helping the girl up. "You are not hurt, are you?" Ash questioned while envisioning the broad smile on Pikachu's face at this situation.

A faint blush grew on Serena's face as she grabbed Ash's hand and got up off the ground. Her heart was beating at the speed of sound. "I-I-m fine, Ash. I shouldn't have been standing here in the first place."

Ash nervously nodded before the two quickly began picking up their books and pens off the ground. Both of them didn't dare to look at each other as they cleaned up their mess. Just as Ash grabbed his last pen, Serena reached and held it at the same time. The two then locked eyes, and soon after, a bright blush raced across their faces like it was a 100m sprint. The softness and warmth of each other hands contributing to the world record pace.

If Serena's heart was beating at the speed of the sound before, now it was the speed of light as she got lost staring into Ash's brown eyes. Forgetting the outside world around her and only focusing on the raven head in front of her.

At the same time, Ash got lost in Serena's cerulean ones. His body felt like it was about to rip itself apart. His mind screamed at him to look away, but his body and heart stayed frozen, yearning for it.

I shouldn't be doing this, Ash's mind tried to reason.

Ash knew that the girl in front of him had feelings for him, it was clear as crystal, and he wasn't the dense child from years ago. The stuttering, blushing, and just nervous behaviour when he was around were just some of the many signs of her crush. But that is what makes Ash afraid. Could he genuinely return those feelings after being betrayed by her? Admittedly, the raven head had feelings for Serena even if she betrayed him, but that wasn't the problem. The issue was, could he bring himself to trust her again?