A Dream, A Destiny

Colours of the wind

Serena POV

Misty and Ursula's loud laughter still rang shrill in my ears as a livid Dawn followed me away from the quad.

I felt all stupid, small, and pathetic. But above all, I felt used. All this time, stupid little me had assumed that I'd found common ground with Ash, but he'd obviously been laughing at me behind my back. He seemed like he cared when I told him about Maria.... Because I were a pawn in his stupid scheme, that's why. He had to act like he cared. It was painful for me to admit it but I made myself face the fact- Ash had had an ulterior motive from the get go.

We found May sitting in a quite library with less students around on other table and as pissed off Dawn told her what had gone down, I valiantly played the part of the victim, right down to the tears.

I didn't want to cry over Ash and his jerkish treatment of me, but I couldn't help it. I'd lost someone I valued as a friend, and it hurt a lot.

All I wanted was to go home, curl up on a pillowed sofa and wonder how I had misjudged Ash so badly.

-----

When I finally got home, the hurt was slowly being replaced with anger and I had to admit, it felt good. When entering my house. Alain wasn't home, which meant that I didn't have to tiptoe around the apartment while he slept off his latest hangover.

Another rarity was the fact that My mom had the evening off, giving her the chance to unwind. She needed it.

I hooked my pink bag on hanger and sank down into a single comfy seat next to the couch she was sitting on, resting my head on the armrest. My heart tightened when I saw her wince as she stretched her legs out on the worn couch, premature lines of age etched around her mouth. She's working too hard.

My mom's voice cut into my negative introspective thoughts, making me jump slightly in my seat.

"What's wrong?" she asked in a light tone, her warm hand placed above mine, covering it against my soft skin and squeezing gently. The simple, loving gesture made my eye's brim and I blinked away the tears from my wet eyes, not to let a single tear escape.

I didn't want to tell her. She doesn't need to know about a stupid teen story like this. But I opened my mouth and found myself spilling out the whole story, starting from the homework incident up to what happened today.

"He's the one who approached me, it's not like I forced him to hang with me like he told his friends," I retorted. Raising my eyebrows, voice cracking with a lot of rage.

It was a long time before my mom replied. "I wish I could give you some amazing advice that you could use to get over this situation," she said softly. "But all I can tell you is to steer clear of him. People like that- they're more harm than good."

I mutely stared down at my own lap alongside my other gripped hand clutching onto my pink skirt, knowing that everything my mom was saying was the truth. Being around Ash had already been more trouble than it was worth. He'd already gotten me into trouble with Alain and now that I knew that he'd just been using me, it was time to cut him loose. That didn't stop me from feeling torn about the whole situation.

"I was just supposed to help him with his list," I mumbled to myself as I felt that my life was turning upside down. "I didn't expect that it would blow up into so much drama."

"He made his own drama," My mom said adamantly as I looked up at her. "Ash knew exactly what he was doing when he asked for your support. He knew you wouldn't be able to resist helping him with his list because- you're Serena. You see the good in everyone. And having him use you like that then turning his back on you is just cruel."