::Evolution::

Disclaimer: Yeah, you know the stuff. Pokémon and its characters do not belong to me, yadda yadda yadda...

The second chapter to my new Pokémon high school fic! Enjoy, and don't forget to review when finished!

BansheeGirl

Ages:

Jessie – 17

James – 17

Ash – 13

Misty – 13

Cassidy – 17

::Evolution – Chapter2::

Jessie wove her way through the corridors of Spire City High, clasping several textbooks to her chest. The crimson-haired teenager suddenly noticed that her heart was beating a lot faster than usual – was she actually anticipating meeting with her new Biology partner in the library? Jessie looked at her watch – it was almost one o'clock. She quickened her pace, before finally rounding the corner to come to the door of the school's enormous library.

She walked along the rows of tables set aside for students to work at, keeping an eye out for her lavender-headed partner. Her eyes finally fell upon him sitting at a table talking to another guy. She took a deep breath and strode over.

"Hey," Jessie said evenly, alerting the two boys of her presence.

James and the other guy spun around to look at Jessie. James smiled. "Hey Jessie. This is my best friend Cameron," he said, motioning towards the guy standing beside him.

"Nice to meet you," Cameron said, smiling while brushing a lock of brunette hair behind his ear. "But I really have to go. Biology is just a bit too exciting for me." He laughed he and James farewelled each other, and Jessie watched as he sauntered out of sight.

Now, Jessie definitely knew that guy. She may not have been big on who was who on the popularity chart in Spire City High, but nearly everyone knew that Cameron Findlay was supposed to be one of the most popular and good- looking boys in the school. This just re-confirmed her assumption that James was not only rich, but extremely popular as well. She turned back to James to find he was setting out his Biology books across the table. Rich? Popular? She knew she had to be particularly careful with this one. No matter how different he seemed or how nice he was to her, she just couldn't ignore the stereotype.

"So, how have you been?" James asked as Jessie sat down beside him to set out her own textbooks.

She looked up at him and gave a slight frown. "Since yesterday afternoon's biology class? Errr... Okay, I guess," Jessie didn't know whether to feel uncomfortable or not.

"I went on the net last night and printed us off some extra information," Jessie continued, thinking that Biology would be the safest topic of conversation. She pulled out some sheets of paper from her folder and handed them to James. He scanned his eyes over the information.

"Excellent. This stuff looks great," he replied. The two began discussing their assignment, and started to write up the first portions of their project.

Before they knew it, lunchtime was almost over. Time had passed quickly, but Jessie and James had gotten quite a lot of work done.

"That was definitely worth it. We're well on track with the assignment now," James said, collecting his books and papers from their sprawled positions across the table.

Jessie smiled. The atmosphere between them had gotten a lot friendlier and a lot more comfortable as they had worked together on their project over the past forty-five minutes.

As James picked up the last of his books he lifted his head and the pair came face to face. Again, just like the day before, Jessie and James found themselves locked in a gaze, neither unable to shift their eyes from the other's. This time, however, it was James who first snapped his head away.

"So what do you have next?" he queried, quickly.

Jessie bent her head down to hide her now slightly red face, and flipped open her school diary. She still hadn't memorised the new semester's timetable. "Double Theatre Studies."

James raised his eyebrows. "Really?" He asked, with genuine interest. "What's that subject like?"

Jessie paused before speaking. "... I really enjoy it, actually. I'm kind of really into all those sort of cultural and humanity subjects," she said, eyes fixed on the floor. This was the first thing she'd really told James anything about her interests or personal life. Slowly, Jessie lifted her look to meet James'. He was smiling.

Jessie felt like she was going crazy. Why was this happening to her? Did she usually act this way with her class partners? She thought of her last Biology partner – a guy named Mitchell. Jessie knew that she didn't have this funny feeling inside with Mitchell, but was she so painstakingly careful with what she said or let him know? Or was it the fact that because James was giving her this funny feeling that she was being so cautious?

She shook her head of the confusing thoughts. "So, um, what do you have, then?" She asked James.

A tired look appeared on his face. "Specialist Maths."

It was Jessie's turn to be surprised. "Specialist Maths! Gosh, you must have some brain in there to be able to that sort of stuff. I struggle with normal Year 12 Further Maths! I honestly couldn't think of doing anything worse than Specialist... No offence of anything." Jessie was truly shocked. Specialist Maths was really hard.

"Don't worry, none taken," James laughed. "I know, it does become a real drag sometimes, but if I can get good marks on end-of-year exams, it will work well towards my university entrance-score."

Jessie smiled with sympathy. She truly hated maths.

James opened his mouth to say something else to Jessie, but his eyes diverted over her shoulder to land on something else. Or someone else.

"Hi James! How are you going?" Jessie heard the loud, painfully familiar voice come from behind her. She spun around to have a blonde-headed girl push past her and hug James.

"Hey Cassidy, I'm great," said James, as the two finished the embrace. "So you're back from your vacation at Orchidia Bay?"

"Yeah, we just got back yesterday. It was a total blast James, you really have to come along with us next time we go," Cassidy smiled nauseatingly at him.

Jessie, momentarily ignored, watched on, shocked. Her blood was rapidly simmering inside of her very veins. Cassidy Fleckman. She should have seen it coming.

James suddenly remembered that Jessie was still standing by them. "Oh, sorry!" He exclaimed, and turned Cassidy round by her shoulder to face the other girl. "Sorry Jessie, this is Cassidy Fleckman. Our families have been friends since before we were born." He turned his head towards Cassidy. "And Cassidy, this is Jessie Ketchum, my Biology partner."

After the initial look of astonishment that appeared on Cassidy's face, the two eyed each other, both expressionless and wordless. A smirk suddenly formed on Cassidy's face. "Yes, we know each other," she said in a honeyed tone. Jessie glared at the other girl.

"Oh?" James enquired. "How, exactly?"

The smirk remained on Cassidy's face. "We had a few classes together in our early years of high-school."

Jessie could not stay there a moment longer, or she would burst. How could that Cassidy just stand there with that sneer on her face? We had a few classes together? Why doesn't she tell the rest of the story? Angry thoughts screamed around Jessie's head. She had to get out.

"I have to go," Jessie spat, not caring to remove the viciousness from her voice. Right now she hated both people standing in front of her, and couldn't wait to get away from each of them. She spun around to walk away.

"I'll see you tomorrow in Biology," James yelled as Jessie hurried away.

She didn't respond.

James frowned worriedly. Something just went wrong.
Jessie slammed her bedroom door behind her, tossed her schoolbag on the floor and flung herself on the bed. School was over, and she was home. But Jessie was still furious about what happened in the library earlier that day.

Again and again, that image of Cassidy just standing there smirking at her kept forcing itself into Jessie's mind. How had this girl managed to ruin everything for Jessie once again? She felt like screaming.

What Cassidy hadn't told James was that her and Jessie were actually very close friends through most of their first couple of years at high school. They were two new girls in a giant, unfamiliar and somewhat scary new school, and had found companionship in each other after first meeting in their Year 7 English class. However, as Cassidy eventually learnt to use her wealth as a tool for popularity, Jessie was quickly dumped so Cassidy could hang out with the other popular kids of the school. Jessie was left hurt, lost and friendless.

But that wasn't all.

Cassidy made a point from then on to purposely torture Jessie whenever she saw her. Of course, being the best of friends for some time, Jessie had told Cassidy all about her parents. So Cassidy, with this knowledge, tormented Jessie with taunts of being 'an accident', 'unwanted', and 'a bastard'. And every time, Cassidy did this out in the open, so more and more people always found out about what Jessie considered a very personal, hurtful and shaming issue. It was only last term that Cassidy had humiliated Jessie in front of everyone in a café in town, when the two had inadvertently ended up there at the same time one night after school. Jessie of course had new friends now to stand up for and support her, but even though she tried to cover it up, Jessie was still hurt every single time.

And now the witch had come to ruin another part of Jessie's life! Just when Jessie had thought she'd met a guy who was different from all the rest, along comes her archenemy to destroy everything. Was Cassidy's mission in life to make Jessie's a living hell? Could not Jessie ever escape Cassidy and her complete wickedness? And the worst part was, around other people – i.e. James, Cassidy acted like the relationship between her and Jessie was just great... as if they were two people who wouldn't rip each other's throats out if they had the chance.

Jessie became even angrier. How could she have become so preoccupied over a guy who was 'old friends' with the bitchiest girl she had ever met? She silently chided herself. She should have known. All those rich, popular people are all the same, Jessie thought. And James was just another one of them.

Her mind again drifted back to the library scene. James even acted like a totally different person when Cassidy appeared. She winced when she thought of how fake he seemed to behave, and noticed that he did almost the same thing when Cameron was around as well.

Jessie was snapped out of her enraged reverie at the sound of a knock at her bedroom door.

"Come in," she yelled, though not particularly wanting to see anyone at this moment.

The door was opened to reveal her aunty Delia on the other side. The woman stepped inside the room and quietly closed the door behind her.

"Are you okay, honey?" She asked in a concerned tone, and sat down on Jessie's bed. She waited for Jessie's response.

Jessie stared up at the ceiling. "I'm fine, aunty Delia," she sighed, and was met by an unbelieving look from her aunt. "Really, I am."

"Are you sure? School's not getting you down, is it? Have you had a fight with one of your friends?"

Jessie looked to her aunt. She knew that Delia always became very concerned when her niece seemed to be having emotional problems. Jessie knew that Delia worried that she wasn't providing her adopted daughter with the motherly advice and care that she should. She felt that Delia believed that she couldn't fill Miyamoto's role in these times of emotional turmoil. So Jessie always tried to cooperate with her aunt in these situations, just to show that she considered Delia to be the greatest mother she could ever wish for after her real mother's death.

She sat up next to her aunt. "No... I just... I'm just having some problems with my new biology partner, that's all."

"Do you want to talk about it?" Delia pressed.

Jessie smiled weakly. "No, it's okay. It's nothing I can't handle. Don't worry."

Delia smiled back, and pushed herself up off the bed. "Okay. Just let me know if you need anything though, all right?" She bent down and kissed her niece on the forehead.

"Thanks aunty Delia," said Jessie, and she watched as Delia exited the room.

Jessie flopped herself back down on the bed. Well, at least Delia had managed to calm her down. But now Jessie only felt angry for allowing herself to become so worked up over James. What was so special about him anyway? It was probably better that Cassidy came along earlier rather than later anyway, so Jessie didn't make a complete fool of herself when she found out the truth about James.

Jessie turned on her side, and suddenly realised she was utterly exhausted. She slowly closed her eyes and began drifting off to sleep, and unconsciously wiped away the single tear that slid down her cheek.
Woohoo! Second chapter finished! Firstly, may I just say that I am SO sorry to anyone who has been waiting so long for me to bring the next instalment of this story out. I know, it has been quite some time since I wrote the first chapter of this fic. But I have seriously been flat out with homework, work and all that other nonsense that make teenager's lives so stressful. Yeah, you know the clichés. But anyway, I'm on school holidays at the moment so I should be able to pop out a few more chapters before I return to the grind again.

So anyway, what do you think of the story so far? Please let me know by reviewing, IT WILL MOTIVATE ME TO WRITE THE NEXT CHAPTERS FASTER! Sorry to Ash and Misty fans for not giving these characters appearances in this chapter, but don't worry, they're going to be main characters in the next one. As you probably gathered, I've added another of our original Pokémon characters into the story (Cassidy) (what do you guys think?), and there's at least one more that's going to play a part in the tale. So there's plenty more action to come!

Stay tuned for next time when –

Jessie must confront James after her discovery that he's friends with her greatest enemy,

AND

Ash has to try and work up the courage to ask Misty out on a date!

REMEMBER – YOU REVIEW FOR ME, I WRITE MORE FOR YOU! ...Well, it's true!

Till next time,

BansheeGirl