Disclaimers: Hey, I really don't own Pokémon and I'm not writing fanfics for business or profit! So lay off!

Chapter 5

When Old Women Can Kick Your Butt

"—Misty Waterflower."

   Ash felt like the world just stopped turning around. He thought everything just froze for a second. Failing was the first thing in his mind. He was just about to say that he'd rather fail than spend after-school hours studying with Misty Waterflower. But he didn't. He just stood there, his face pale as if he had seen a ghost. No, a monster…a monster named Misty Waterflower.

   Misty, who was getting ready to leave, hitched her bag over her shoulder and carried a stack of library books by hand. Melody was picking up her notebook on the floor; at the same moment Misty heard that she would be the tutor of Ash. She dropped the stack of books on Melody's head. Oblivious to Melody's whining and complaints, Misty froze, as a frown began to form on her lips.

   "Misty Waterflower?" Ash said, the same time as Misty said, "Ash Ketchum?"

   Mrs. Carlton smiled. "Yes. Misty, you're a top student, and I'm pretty sure you'll be able to help Mr. Ketchum here with his studies."

   "But Mrs. Carlton—" Misty began to protest.

   "Say no more, Ms. Waterflower, I have made up my mind." Mrs. Carlton took her shoulder bag and walked towards the door. She smiled when she saw Misty and Ash giving each other death glares. "I think you two would work nicely together. And Mr. Ketchum, please try to concentrate. It's not very easy picking up grades, but you'll do fine. Ms. Waterflower has tutored another student a year before and the student's grades picked up nicely." She grabbed the doorknob, but Misty put her hand on Mrs. Carlton's shoulder.

   "But I'm busy," Misty said desperately, throwing Ash a dirty look. "I can't. Why can't Melody tutor Ash? She's a top student too."

   Melody was still rubbing her head. Imagine having five, thick hardbound books fall on top of your head. She frowned at Misty. "Hey! You dropped your books on my head, and now you're dragging me into tutoring Ash? No way, sister. You're my best friend and all, but NO WAY!"

   Misty glared at Melody and gave her a look as if to say, I can't tutor that jerk. "Mrs. Carlton! Please! I can't tutor him," Mist said frantically.

   "Why exactly is that, Ms. Waterflower?"

   "I can't stand her," Ash piped in.

   Mrs. Carlton grinned, as if Ash had given her another reason to stick them together. "Well, that adds up to your assignment. You two need to get along, and at the same time help Ash pick up his grades. Ms. Waterflower, I assure you that Mr. Ketchum has nothing contagious."

   Oh, yeah? Wanna bet? Misty said, frowning deeply at what Mrs. Carlton said. She glowered as Mrs. Carlton bid them a blissful goodbye.

   Misty turned to Ash. "Why oh why do I have to tutor you, you immature jerk? There's gotta be another person who can tutor you!"

   "Like I can stand you anyway. I don't want to be under your command any more than you want me as your student. So quit whining," Ash said.

   "Shut up! Jerk," Misty said icily.

   "You shut up, Bossy Redhead Freak," Ash said.

   Misty couldn't believe what he said. She turned to Melody. "Melody! Am I bossy?"

   Melody looked at Misty, then to Ash, then back at Misty again. "I don't know. Listen, I'm out of this, so I'll just give you a call, later, huh, Mist?"

   "But Melody!" Misty shrieked as Melody bolted out to the door.

   Who doesn't have something contagious, Misty repeated the words in her thoughts. Sure, Ash does not have anything contagious, but he was getting on her nerves so much that it made her want to hit him. I wish there was a game in the arcade named Whack-An-Ash-Ketchum. She couldn't stand him from a distance, how can she stand him when they're studying together? And he called her bossy!

   Great. Now I'm stuck with Little Miss Bossy, Ash thought. Mrs. Carlton was right; Misty would be a good tutor, except when she's not acting like Adolf Hitler or Napoleon. She's very bossy, uptight and short-tempered.

   "So? What now?" Ash asked irritably.

   "Tomorrow. Meet me at the library exactly four-thirty on Friday. And don't forget to bring your books. And please, try not to act like a five-year-old." Misty turned her heel and walked out to the door. Ash made a face.

   "Please try not to act like five-year-old." Ash mimicked, putting on a girly-voice that sounding more like a crying dying sheep than any girl's voice.

~*~

"That's your fifth job!" Misty said, flabbergasted.

   Lily Waterflower, age 19, currently studying in University of California, but not currently working at McDonald's—because she just got fired from her job.

   "I know. I know! I was caught drinking straight from the soda machine," Lily said. "Not very hygienic, isn't it?"

   Daisy snickered. "And now you're telling us that it's not very hygienic? So why did you do it?"

   "I don't know. It seemed kind of fun," Lily said.

   Daisy, Lily and Violet (I think they're all in the same age, as in, triplets? Aren't they? Oh well, this is just a fic. But if anyone would like to correct me, just e-mail me or place it in the reviews or whatever.) Are all 19, in short, they're triplets. These three sisters differ in many ways even though they're all pretty. Lily was the stubborn one, and of course, the troublemaker. She just drank straight from the soda machine, didn't she? Daisy is more like Misty—the beauty and the brains. Violet is the artistic one. She paints a lot, and is currently working on her sculpting skills. The four sisters (including Misty) are wonderful girls, which is why Dr. Waterflower, a brain surgeon and Mrs. Waterflower, a successful lawyer, are proud of their children.

   Lily flopped on to their expensive Persian carpet. "I will never save enough money for that diamond bracelet if I keep getting fired."

   "Well, if you stop breaking the rules maybe you will manage to buy that bracelet. Until then, you're broke," Violet said.

   "Thanks for pointing that out, Violet," Lily said.

   "What are sisters for?" Violet said, pushing the door towards the kitchen.

   Lily growled. She looked at Misty. "You don't happen to have $275, do you?"

   Misty placed her hands on her hips and arched a brow at Lily. "Even if I do, I'm not giving you a cent!" Misty turned away. "It's your fault for drinking straight from the soda machine, so don't go running to me."

   "How can you be so selfish to your own sister?" Lily said, putting her acting skills to work. She gave Misty the puppy-dog face. "Oh, please…it's not like I'm never going to pay you back. Please, beautiful and smart Misty."

   Misty shook Lily off her leg. "Get off, Lily! I'm not giving you anything! And yes, I do think that you're never going to be able to pay me back because you keep getting fired from all your jobs!"

   Misty gave Lily a very exasperated look and stalked upstairs, carrying her bag and books over her shoulder. And she thought knowing Ash Ketchum was bad! Studying with him was worse. Insensitive, self-centered and annoying…Misty thought as she turned the doorknob. She pushed the door open, and there it was: her ROOM. Clean, neat, orderly and organized. Posters were taped properly on the walls, her desk was spotless, her books and things were properly organized, her TV was dusted and cleaned, her bed was fixed and the sheets were folded, her carpet was vacuumed and her blinds and windows are cleaned neatly. She carefully lifted the plastic covering of her computer and pushed the power button.

   On the far end of the room was the bathroom door, which connected her room to Daisy's. (I got this idea from the movie The Haunting, starred by Catherine Zeta Jones and from another book…I think it was Sweet Valley Junior High or some book like that…) The next door was her walk-in closet. She pulled the closet door open, stepped inside, changed, stepped outside and flopped in front of her computer.

   As you can see, Misty is a very organized person. And now we're about to discover how their rooms differ from each other's…

~*~

"Ash Ketchum!" Delia Ketchum said in disbelief. She stood in the doorway of Ash's bedroom. Ash rushed upstairs.

   "Mom!"

   "Ash Ketchum! How can you live in this…this…this—" Delia was out of words to describe Ash's bedroom, "—This sty?"

   Ash frowned, and stepped inside his room. "It's not a sty, Mom. It's a room."

   "No!"

   The doorbell rang. Ash ran downstairs. It was Tracey and Brock. "Hey."

   "Hey! So whom did you get for a tutor? Brock's anxious to know because he's got a feeling that your tutor is a girl," Tracey said.

   Ash groaned. "Misty Waterflower."

   "She is very beautiful. And smart," Tracey said. "What's your problem?"

   "She is very bossy. And short-tempered," Ash said, using an annoyed tone. "I'm hating Mrs. Carlton for this."

   "Misty Waterflower? Cute, but not my kind of girl," Brock said with a dismissive air.

   Tracey looked at him. "What? You have girl-types? I thought you'd go after every pretty girl you set your eyes on."

   "Ash! We're not done discussing your room yet," Delia said. She leaned on the banister of the stairs. "Oh, hi! Tracey, Brock." She held up a piece of fabric of what looked like Ash's underwear. "This is clean underwear. This is supposed to go inside your underwear drawer. What's it doing on top of your television?"

   Ash blushed, and Tracey and Brock cracked up. "Mom! Not now!"

   "Now!" Delia said fiercely. She looked at Tracey and Brock. "Tracey, Brock, do you mind waiting while Ash is cleaning is room?"

   Tracey laughed. "We-we d-don't m-mind, Mrs. Ketchum. In fact, we'll even watch Ash do it." Tracey broke into a fit of chuckles again. He hardly had the air to speak. Brock, on the other hand, was laughing and rolling on the floor. Mrs. Ketchum walked towards Ash and placed the underwear over his head.

   "I want you to wear that underwear on your head until I see your room properly cleaned." Delia walked the rest of the steps downstairs and disappeared in the kitchen. (Oh yeah, I've decided to make Mrs. Ketchum a very famous interior designer/decorator for her profession) Then her head reappeared from the kitchen doors. She looked at Brock. "Uh, Brock? Are you done with my wallpaper books you borrowed because your think it would make a good hobby since you're dateless?"

   Brock grinned. "Yes, definitely, Mrs. Ketchum!"

   Tracey shook his head. "Mrs. Ketchum, can you let Brock keep the wallpaper books for a few more days? I think he's going to need it for Friday's Homecoming Dance." Ash laughed along with Tracey.

   "Cut it out!" Brock said.

   "All right, Brock. Just hand them to me when you're done," Mrs. Ketchum said.

   The three climbed up to Ash room, which was a real mess. His used and new clothes were mixed up in different heaps in different parts of the room. Ash spotted his Teddiursa-printed pajamas hanging from the bedpost, and he slipped past Tracey and Brock so they wouldn't see his pajamas. He stuffed them under his bed. Brock turned around. "What're you doing, Ash?"

   "Cleaning," Ash said quickly.

   "You look like you're stuffing something under your bed."

   "What? No!" Ash said, his face turning red. He let go of his pajamas and started feeling something else under the bed. He felt a basketball. He held the basketball, which was all dusty and dirty. "Here! I'm grabbing this!"

   "Sure…you're grabbing a basketball from under there. With this mess, how can you even remember that you have a basketball under there?" Tracey asked, trying to avoid stepping on Ash's DVD and PS2 CDs. Brock followed.

   "Watch it!" Ash yelled, diving for his CD player. Brock held his step back.

   "You really need to organize or at least clean this room of yours, Underwear Boy." Tracey spotted an unused sketchpad by Ash's laptop. He picked it up and grabbed a pen. Tracey is also an excellent sketcher and artist. He draws a lot and sketches a lot. "I know! I can draw a comic of you and Brock! The Adventures of Underwear Boy and the Girl-Crazy Rock…isn't that cool? I could be famous!"

   "Can it, Sketchit," Brock said. He turned to Ash. "So when are you and Misty starting your tutorial lessons?"

   "Tomorrow afternoon." Ash picked up a greenish-square from his desk drawer. "This must be my ham and cheese sandwich!"

   Tracey grabbed it from his hand. "Disgusting! How long has this been sitting in your desk drawer?"

   "About six months, I guess. Probably that's the sandwich I brought up here six months ago when we were working on that end-of-the-term Geography project," Ash said. Tracey threw it inside the black trash bag Delia gave to Ash for his room cleaning.

   As Ash picked up the clutter, he rediscovered various things that he had forgotten about because they were buried under piles and piles of things. Tracey and Brock kept making fun of him, especially when he saw the cracked picture frame with his former girlfriend Giselle's picture in it. Ash looked at Tracey and Brock.

   "What should I do with this?"

   "I suggest you keep it!" Brock said.

   "Should I?"

   "Your choice, Ash. Have you spoken to her ever since the breakup?" Tracey asked cautiously, trying not to make Ash feel bad.

   "She's in Australia, remember?" Ash reminded his friends. "She called me to the airport, said goodbye and she said she had a new boyfriend, and presto! She's off to Australia with her parents."
   "Oh, yeah…" Tracey said, scratching his head and giving Ash a goofy grin.

   Ash just set the frame aside and decided to think about it later.

~*~

"Ash Ketchum! Late fifteen minutes…" Misty said, grumbling as she pushed the button on her green G-Shock.

   It was Friday afternoon, time for their first tutorial.

   Ash decided to annoy Misty, deliberately coming to the library late. He popped his gum and began chewing it again. He saw Misty on top of the stairs, already annoyed. Revenge, Ash thought.

   "You're late!" Misty said angrily.

   "I am?"

   "You are, you dense oaf," Misty said icily. "Come on! I have things to do, so can we just get over this?"

   "Fine," Ash said.

   They found a table in the library. There were hardly any people there. The mean librarian, Mrs. Portia, gave Ash and Misty the 'evil eye'. Misty opened her Math textbook. She stared at Ash, who gave her a mirrored look, except with a goofier expression, just to make fun of her seriousness.

   "Open your book!" Misty grumbled, trying really hard to keep her voice down.

   Ash did, opening it to the very first page. "Done."
   "Open it to page 32," Misty said.

   Before they can even start, Ash began popping his gum inside the library. They were very close to the eagle-eyed, hook-nosed and elephant-eared librarian, who hissed at them like an irate snake. She was giving them a warning.

   "Stop chewing your gum," Misty whispered.

   Ash looked at her, with a slightly cross look on his face. "Why are you always like that? So bossy, so uptight…"

   "And why are you asking so many questions, you arrogant jerk?" Misty snapped.

   "I was just asking! Why are you so irritable?" Ash retorted.

   Misty slammed the book on her desk. "Shut up!" She shouted. "I don't what was Mrs. Carlton thinking about pairing the two of us!"

   "I knew this wouldn't work," Ash hollered, now equally irritated as Misty. This wouldn't work. Not ever! Misty is just so annoying, he thought.

   Is there anyway I can get out of this task? I can't tutor a person who is so infuriating! Misty thought.

   Mrs. Portia was now standing in front of them with an evil glare. Everything happened so fast, and the next thing they knew, she practically kicked them out of the library. Their collars were stretched; clearly they were grabbed there. Ash and Misty landed on their butts on the pavement of the library, and there was a shower of school supplies and books.

   Misty and Ash exchanged the same evil look Mrs. Portia gave them. Misty gathered her stuff and left. "Jerk!"

   "Snob!" Ash yelled right back. He picked up his books and bag. We will never, ever get along, he thought.

~*~

Wacky Witch: I like this chapter! It is boring and stupid, but at least it's long and compared to the other chapters, this is much better.

Eevee, M*Y*S*T-L*A*D*Y, I LUV Ash Ketchum, Slate and Pipi, Alitna, Erin-chan and Violet Emeralds: Thanks for the nice reviews. ^_^ Please say that you will still continue to read and wait for the further chapters of this story…

Hey, Violet Emeralds, I love your fic. ^_^ You better continue or I'll…I'll…I'll haunt you. LOL! Just kidding.

M*Y*S*T-L*A*D*Y, thanks so much for the nice comments. And I've read two of your fics…they were nicely written. Good job!

And to all,

THANKS!!! (I was really in a good mood when I finished this chapter. ^_^x)

(Wait…about that French thing on the last chapter, the teacher asked Ash what time was it, and Ash replied that it was Thursday, so he was wrong. Misty corrected him and said it was 9:20 AM. I'm not French; I don't know how to speak French except for "Bonjour" and "Merci". I got that translation from AltaVista Babel Fish Translations. Another thing, what Misty meant of 'immature'? It meant that Ash was acting like a five-year-old [In her opinion].)

Suggestion Credits: N/A

Sorry, Slate-and-Pipi, I can't consider that it was YOUR suggestion because I originally planned that Misty will be Ash's tutor, so that idea had been in my mind already. But thanks anyway. And thanks for your review and you said it my fic was good.