Never Judge a Book By Its Cover

Chapter 7

A few weeks went by with nothing major happening. Dawn and Ash continued to meet up to work on their project. Like the first meeting, Kenny would usually make an appearance either before or after and would act the way Ash instructed him to. This consisted of some variation of a brief, polite greeting to Dawn before either leaving or sitting down and getting to work on Ash's tutor session.

Kenny's actions bewildered Dawn, especially with how different he acted from their first meeting, and she did voice her confusion one time to her partner. However, Ash brushed it off and ignored her. Things were always tensed when the two Chemistry partners met up. This was reflected with, besides their initial greeting, things were strictly business between them, much to Dawn's frustration.

Like their previous meetings, today followed their normal routine that was established. Dawn showed up to the library and was not surprised to find Ash and Kenny together. Kenny and her then did their usual polite interaction followed by him leaving. Finally, a few words would be exchanged between the two partners before Dawn would sit down and get to work. This was so normal by now that all involved felt like they were on auto pilot as it happened. However, today's events would take a drastic turn from the norm.

*ring* *ring*

Ash raised an eyebrow as he calmly reached into his pocket to grab his cellphone. Besides Kenny and his mom, no one else had his number and neither of them had a reason to call him. Kenny was just here and his mom already knows where he's at. So, who was calling him? Maybe it is one of those scam calls?

Meanwhile, Dawn discreetly was paying careful attention to Ash while she pretended to work. Her feelings, like their relationship, have not improved at all these past few weeks and she desperately needed something in order for things to change.

Ash's eyebrow raised even more when he saw that the caller was Kenny before he answered it. What did he want?

"What do you want?"

"Well, if that's the greeting I get, I might us well just hang up," Kenny's voice irritatedly answered. "Never mind that I actually have some useful information that I thought I should share with you."

"Alright, alright, I'm sorry," Ash said, trying to appease the auburn haired teenager. "Could you please just tell me?"

"Now that's better," Kenny said, sounding pleased. He then coughed slightly before seriously saying, "I just wanted to let you know that I saw Serena about to enter the library as I was leaving."

"Serena?" Ash responded, not understanding why it was a big deal. "Why would I care if she came to the library?"

Across from him, Dawn's pencil dropped at her friend's name and she gasped. "Serena's at the library?" Dawn asked looking to confirm her fears.

Ash covered the speaker of his phone with his hand as he irritatedly responded to her. "No, she's in front of the library." He then went back to his conversation with Kenny. "Is that all?"

"This is bad," Dawn said as she swiftly stood up and started to throw her things in her bag. "Serena has been bothering me and trying to find out what I have been doing these past few weeks." Dawn explained as she finished packing her bag. "She must have had enough and decided to follow me. We have to hide!"

"Could you shut up for a second," Ash said back to his partner. "I can't hear Kenny over your panicking voice." He then turned his attention back to the voice on his phone. "Sorry, their was a blue haired devil pestering me, could you repeat that?"

"Disregarding that insult on Dawn, yeah, that's all," Kenny said. "Honestly, I am a little surprise at your lack of concern. I thought you would react differently."