Heya! I finally started on Pride and Regret!

Kinda sad, really, since I'm leaving for Cambodia soon (one more day) for five days, and I can't update, or see my reviews (which I MUST have), so please send a review. If you don't review, you don't care.

I made the main characters be Ash and May because I'm comfy with 'em. I have never written a story centred around Misty, so...yeah. REVIEW, like as a present for coming back from charitable works in Cambodia!

Sometimes, your future can be so unpredictable.

You could be a nerd; but yet you could turn out to be some famous superstar. You could be the jock, the popular one; but you could always end up a scientist, researching on the things you had never dreamt of even reading.

You could be the one who dated boys like they were oxygen; but you could end up single and alone. You could dump a girl as a joke, and you could be the victim of such cruelty, and by the very someone you truly love. You just don't know.

Life is like that, isn't it? A little game of luck, full of pride, regrets, tears, happiness. A true mix of everything.

"Okay kids, see you all tomorrow!" May waved, with a friendly grin as all her kindergarten students scurried out of the classroom in squeals of excitement.

The 25-year-old brunette watched them run to their respective parents, hugging them and recounting all the things they've learnt for the day. She let out a small sigh of envy, before breaking into a small smile, observing all the eager children grab their parents' hands, tugging them wildly.

She wished she could be a parent. But apparently, love overlooked her application form and didn't bother giving her a second chance.

Well, being a preschool principal-teacher was as close she could get.

"Yo, Miss Maple!" a cheery voice resounded. The blue-haired woman pranced into the room, smiling gleefully.

"So, you like the job?" May asked, as she gestured for Dawn to sit down on the tiny desks of the children. Dawn declined, choosing to lean on May's table instead.

"Heck yeah I like it! With you as the principal, Whitney as our admin person, and Anabel and I as teachers, we make an awesome preschool!" Dawn wrestled the worksheets May was about to mark out of her hands, and she put it down, eliciting a shocked expression from May.

"In fact, I just asked Whitney and Anabel. We're gonna go out on an all-girls' night to a club nearby! You seriously need to come along, since I have Whitney at the door so you won't escape saying 'no'." Dawn smirked triumphantly, crossing her arms proudly. May slumped back in her seat.

"Fine...I don't have anything on anyway."

Ash crawled back into bed, obviously exhausted. Not like he had never experienced it before. In fact, it was starting to get mundane.

Not like he had never experienced mundane before.

He sat up weakly as he watched Misty shuffle into the room. She looked at her fiance, glancing at her blankly, before she wordlessly walked away into the toilet, presumably to have a quick shower.

Ash frowned. His life was so messed up sometimes.

He had no life to speak of, to be honest. He had no proper, steady job; no one seemed to like his sloppiness, his tendency to sleep, and his basketball skills, which had withered and slackened over the years.

He didn't have a place to call home; his house happened to be a run-down house in the middle of absolutely nowhere, and the house was inherited from Misty's ancestors. This house is freaking older than me, the thought entered his brain, and left just as suddenly as it came.

He didn't have a nice car; the Ferrari he had always dreamed of was far beyond what he earned (not like he did earn much)

He didn't even have happiness and bliss. His fiancee; the title seemed to glue itself in his head, was driving him crazy, always calling him to inform him about whatever happened at home, or what to buy on his way back. Maybe she was lonely too, pursuing happiness in the form of calling him up.

No children, none on the way; the couple had no means to raise one, no means to even hold the wedding. Misty was searching into that; she will find a way. Somehow.

The raven-haired man let out a loud sigh. He wanted a little...thrill back in his life. Like when he was 15; that was ten years ago. Heh. Like that's ever gonna happen.

May entered her lush apartment gingerly. She was hyped out over the all-girls' night; she never partied for a long time. Maybe it was just Dawn who influenced her. Maybe it was the fact that it was the first time all four classmates, schoolmates, and then colleagues, would be going out together. Just them alone; the thought made her shudder with anticipation.

A loud meow echoed through the room, and May let out a small laugh. "Come here, Amber," she called out affectionately, and a tabby cat with large, wistful emerald eyes emerged from the darkness. The cat stretched lazily, before it slipped into May's embrace, meowing in response.

May smiled, scratching the back of its ear, and stroked its belly. After a minute of quietude, with the occasional mews, May set it down, and she let the cat follow her to her bedroom to change.

Cats are always attracted to lonely people.

"Hey Ash," Misty called, as she strode out of the toilet with her soaked hair wrapped up in a towel. Ash didn't bat an eyelid at her nightdress; he used to find it alluring, but now...just normal.

"Yeah?"

She sat down next to Ash, who was already sitting up on the bed. "We need more shampoo. I'm going to get some soon, 'kay?"

"Sure, sure, I'll be fine."

Misty smiled warmly, and it was enough to let Ash break into an equally warm smile.

May headed out in her car, watching the neon lights of the city blur into crooked lines from the corner of her eye. It was blinding, so blinding. May squinted, as she drove the convertible at a steady pace. The streamlined car glided along, earning admiring glances from the night crowd.

Then, she stopped right in front of the night club, where Dawn had arranged to meet. May took a huge breath, and she confidently stepped out of the car. The brunette was wearing a bright red strapless dress that reached down to her knees. She calmly took off the purple scarf that had covered most of her neck, revealing a simple necklace.

A necklace of importance.

"Here I g-!" May stopped short when she saw a certain orange-haired lady shuffle across the street, looking slightly disoriented.

The brunette watched as the headlights shone deafeningly at the lady. "M-Misty...?" She turned around, to see a drunken man; driving at a slow, reckless pace. His bloodshot eyes glazed over to Misty, still oblivious.

Glaring headlights. A blare of a horn. A piercing scream.

And then, nothing.