-Chapter Four-

[Start of next summer]

School was done at last. Though, not forever. It was hard to imagine going to school for another whole year, but I'd manage somehow. I'd gotten through one year after all.

I knew I'd have to practice some over the summer to keep my hard-won pawwriting skills, but for the moment it was time to relax. I'd gotten better at standing up to do homework and even writing with my left paw but I still had a soreness from the end-of-year projects that would take days to get rid of.

I grabbed a noodle and made my way to the pool. It took a moment to realize why the journey was taking so long and why the noodle was dragging on the ground.

"Eve," I sighed, face meeting the palm of my paw. Instead of grabbing the noodle with mouth like I normally would, I'd grabbed it in the dull claws of my right paw as I tottled along on two legs. I really had to get back to acting like a normal pokemon this summer. Paul's mom already called me creepy once when she caught me at the kitchen table. I was so tired that morning that I'd made the mistake of unconsciously mimicking Paul. I'd actually taken my bowl of poke-kibble to the table and started eating it with a spoon of all things.

I leaped into the pool, feeling my stress melt away into the water. Yes, this summer would be a peaceful one. Instead of math and the history of Cristoforo Kolumbis I'd focus on being a lazy, cute little poke-pet. No more troubling my head with human problems for the next couple months. Mostly. Daytime television was a terrible thing, but I now had the secret to avoiding it. With the help of a dictionary I'd gotten through the Wizard of Oz. Upon finding out there were more than a dozen other books in the series, I knew exactly what I was going to spend the rest of the summer. And the greatest part of learning to write was that I would be able to ask Paul to get them for me and have him actually understand me.

"Eevee, where are you?"

I jerked, clutching my pool noodle as Paul's call interrupted my relaxation time. Had he psychically guessed that I was planning on asking him for a favor?

"Eev," I called back.

"There you are."

I tensed, preparing myself for the worst. I'd never asked Paul for anything before. Technically still hadn't, but if he sensed my desire I was sure he'd drive a hard bargain. Whatever it was, even unexpected summer math homework, I mentally prepared myself to carry it out for the sake of more stories about Dorothy.

"I'm hungry. Make me a grilled cheese sandwich."

It wasn't anything like what I'd expected, but lacking any other ideas, I nodded. Slowly I paddled to the edge of the pool, shaking out my fur after I climbed out. Just what had I gotten myself into this time. The closest I'd ever gotten to cooking was pouring out my own poke-kibble when Paul was too busy to do it. I'd certainly never cooked a grilled cheese sand-witch.

I was fairly sure he didn't want to eat an actual witch. Which meant… cheese carved to look like a witch? I could do that. Then I'd just have to figure out how to turn the burner on and hang the cheese above the fire.

[Two hours later]

It all ended well. His other came home and made him a sandwich, one that looked nothing like my attempt. I took special care to watch every step.

As for my attempt, the less that was said of it the better. The cheese melted and went everywhere, even as it burned. Not a bit of it was edible, or anything like the sandwich his mother produced. The only good thing I could say about it was that I was to clean it up before his parents saw it. An hour's work and the aid of my claws to dislodge some of the more stubborn bits had it all disappeared in time, barely. At least so long as one ignored the suspicious sour-smokey smell in the air. His mother looked at us a little funny but thankfully our combined cutesy-innocent poses won out against her suspicion.

One thing was for sure, never again would I try cooking anything without putting it in a pan first.

[One month later]

Despite my monumental failure with the grilled cheese, that wasn't the end of his cooking requests. Once he got it into his head that he could have someone make food for him during the summer months whenever his parents were busy, he wouldn't let it go. Not just grilled cheese either (which was vaguely edible the next time I tried making it), but all sorts of foods.

Half the summer was gone, but through hard work and persistence and Paul's scathing critiques, I'd gained some ability to cook. The grilled cheeses came out golden-brown, chicken fingers weren't frozen in the middle, and I usually managed to prepare his cereal without spilling the milk now. It had been a week since the last time he had to spit out any of the food so I finally felt confident to ask for a favor.

I worked hard on my timing, waiting a very long time for him to finally beat some villain named Ganon in Zelda so that he'd be in a good mood. On silent paws I padded up beside him and gently placed my message on his lap. Then I backed up a little, just in case he took it the wrong way.

"What's this?" He mumbled to himself as he started to read my letter but soon cast it aside. "I can't read this. Stop bothering me."

I retreated backwards out of the room. "Eev…" Strange. I did look up some extra words in the dictionary, but he'd learned most of the ones I knew along with me in the classroom. Hadn't he?

[One week later]

It took me a week to work up the courage to ask again. This time I gave him a much simpler message. I wanted patiently as he read it, my tail lightly thumping the ground from my eager anticipation.

"You want Wiz- Wi-zard of Oz books?" Paul snorted. "No way. Those are girl books. I can't ask Mom and Dad for those. Besides, what does a stupid pokemon need books for anyways. Just play with this."

I stepped aside as he threw me an old shoe, holding a paw over my nose against the smell. Between the rejection and the all too appropriate criticism against a pet pokemon reading books I nearly gave up. But something inside me rebelled. I'd been looking forward to reading those books for too long to let this go so easily. Also, TV reruns were starting to drive me a little mad. I needed something new, something a little more stimulating.

I pulled out the big guns. I opened my eyes wide, batted my lashes against imaginary tears, and did my best to simultaneously look as cute and pathetic as I could. Paul was highly resistant, but after ten seconds he growled and got off the couch. My head cocked as I watched him scrounge around the room.

"Found it." He brushed some dust off the small object. It didn't look like much to be excited about. "I'm not gonna get those dumb books, but you can get'em yourself. Mom says this makes them free or whatever at the library next to school."

I took the card out into the hall before reading. 'A library card?'