::Evolution::

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

The third 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

Brock - 15

::Evolution – Chapter3::

As the bell signalling the end of lunchtime sounded throughout the schoolyard, Jessie could feel her whole insides dropping. For the next two periods she had Biology – which meant she would have to face James for the first time since her abrupt exit yesterday after finding out that he was good friends with Cassidy Fleckman, who was, coincidentally, Jessie's worst enemy.

"Ohhhhhhhhh!" Jessie groaned aggressively, catching the attention of her best friend, Vanessa, who was standing up next to her.

"What's up with you?" Vanessa queried, slightly amused. She held her hand out to pull Jessie up from where she was sitting on the ground.

Jessie looked hesitantly at her best friend's hand, before finally accepting the gesture. "I have double Biology next," she said, as Vanessa hauled her up from the grass.

Vanessa cocked one eyebrow. "I thought you didn't mind Biology."

The two girls began walking towards the closest entrance into the school. Jessie sighed, staring up at the sky. "It's not Biology itself... it's my Biology partner."

"I thought you didn't mind your Biology partner either," Vanessa said incredulously. It was so hard to keep up with what was going on inside her friend's head.

Jessie shot her an exasperated look. "Well, yesterday I found out that he's 'old friends' with, wait for it – Cassidy Fleckman." The sapphire-eyed teenager scowled.

A look of understanding suddenly appeared on Vanessa's face. She smiled sympathetically at the girl next to her. "Oh well. Just think of it this way – in two weeks or so you'll never have to talk to the guy ever again."

"Yeah, despite the fact that I share ten classes with him every week," Jessie said doubtfully.

The pair entered the school and each collected respective books from their lockers before parting for the afternoon's lessons. With every step Jessie took towards her designated Biology room, her stomach tightened with dread at the thought of having to spend two whole periods working alongside James. The door soon came into view.

Jessie slid the door open and stepped into the classroom. Her teacher, Mr. Livingston, swiftly met her with instructions to work with her partner on the assignment over the next two periods. Jessie sighed. She had expected no less.

James was sitting in the far corner of the classroom, already tapping away at his laptop. He had also already pulled two desks together for him and Jessie to work at. Jessie took a deep breath and walked over. As she silently slid into the seat next to him, James lifted his head and smiled.

"Hey. How are you going?" He said in a friendly manner.

Jessie said nothing. She was suddenly surprised by the fact that even though she knew that he was friends with the likes of Cassidy Fleckman, as James sat next to her, smiling and talking so warmly, that funny feeling somewhere inside of Jessie appeared once again. That feeling which told her that James was different from the rest. That he was somehow... special.

"Jessie?"

Jessie snapped her head up, pushing the thoughts out of her mind. She reminded herself of what she had walked into this room thinking.

"Listen, can we just get to work? It isn't going to do itself," She said coldly. She put her head down and flipped through one of her textbooks, exerting a little more force every time she turned a page.

James slowly turned back to stare at his laptop screen. Slightly miffed by Jessie's brusqueness, he was puzzled by the sudden feeling of guilt he had inside. What did he do? James felt a twang of alarm – he didn't know where things stood between him and Jessie, but he knew that he didn't want there to be any hostility amid them.

"Um, I know it's probably not my place to say," James started, trying to choose his words carefully, "but is something upsetting you?"

Jessie lifted her head to deliver a positively antagonising glare at her Biology partner. "You're right. It's not your place to say," she spat, jerking her head back to continue reading her textbook.

James frowned worriedly. "Is this about you storming out of the library yesterday? Did I do or say something to upset you?" He braced himself for her response.

Jessie sighed angrily and slammed her palms down on the desk. "Did you not comprehend what I just said? Mind your own business, and let me do some work."

Jessie and James suddenly became aware of the several odd looks they were receiving from some of the other Biology students in the classroom. The two bent back over to carry on with their work, the feeling of confused animosity between the pair wordlessly rising.

A few minutes passed, the situation not having changed. As Jessie turned the next page of her book, she accidentally knocked one of her pens off the desk. It landed near the leg of James' chair, and the lavender-haired boy automatically bent down to pick it up. Jessie quickly bent down to grab it before him, but James reached it first. She swiftly snatched the pen out of his hand.

"I don't need you to pick up after me, thanks very much," she scowled.

An expression of incredulity appeared on James' face. "Just what, exactly, is your problem?" He asked, this time not bothering to be careful with what he said.

"What's my problem?" Jessie retorted. "I think you should take a step back and ask yourself the same thing."

"So, this is about me! Look, I'm sorry for whatever I did, but it'd sure help if you told me exactly what I have done to make you so upset!" The two were arguing in half-whispers so as not to attract attention from the other class members again.

Jessie tittered disbelievingly. "Don't flatter yourself by thinking I would get upset over you."

"James! Jessie!" They each snapped their heads up. "It's all very well to talk about your assignment in here but it would be nice if you'd both stop chatting and actually get some work done," Mr. Livingston directed from the front of the room.

Jessie and James threw one last glare at each other. For the remainder of the Biology class nothing was said between the pair. No noise was made, apart from the constant tapping of the keys on James' laptop, or the scribble of Jessie's pen against paper on the desk. They both knew that they were supposed to be working together on this project, but at this very moment civil communication between the two teenagers seemed impossible. The hostility surrounding them was almost thick enough to cut with a knife.

After what seemed like several hours had passed, the bell finally rang. A wave of relief washed over Jessie. She had been constantly glancing at her watch, waiting for that bell to ring so she could escape the suffocating confines of the classroom. The minute hand had seemed to move ever so slowly - Jessie had felt like the day would never end.

As the bell concluded its sounding, Jessie leapt out of her chair and gathered her books as quickly as she could. James was no different, and snapped shut his laptop before hastily shoving it in its case.

As he lifted his head James only just glimpsed the back of Jessie as she swiftly exited the room.

Jessie closed her eyes and slid the volume dial on her discman up a few more notches, trying to block out the thoughts in her head. But even with the extremely loud music blaring directly into her ears, she could not stop thinking about James, and the argument she and him had gotten into in Biology.

She had been so angry when she found out that James was a companion of Cassidy's, that Jessie had vowed to hate him forever. But today, seeing and being with him, Jessie had begun to think twice about her assumptions. And now she was feeling angry all over again. A hint of confusion and helplessness had also been also added into the turmoil of emotions.

Jessie wanted to hate James. She hated his kind, and the superficial way they all acted. She had even seen James act like that himself. Or was that the way he normally acted, and was he being superficial with her? Jessie was so confused. But the thing was, no matter how much she told herself that she didn't like James during fifth and sixth period that day, there had always been that warm, fuzzy feeling niggling away at the back of her mind.

Even if Jessie was wrong about James, and he was actually a decent person, there was no way things between them could be resolved now anyway. She had expressed to James that she had a problem with him, and James had ended up responding in an equally hostile manner. They were hardly even on speaking terms.

Jessie sighed. Whatever was going on, she decided it was best to stop thinking about him. James only proved to be a nuisance no matter what angle she looked at things. Whether he was a selfish, egotistical guy or a friendly and charming one, Jessie didn't think she could deal – or didn't want to deal with the emotions he teased out in her. Hey – after only three days of knowing James he already had her in a state of absolute frustration and confusion. Jessie didn't try to think about what many more could do to her.

Jessie was roused from her thoughts by a sudden tugging on one of the plugs lodged in her ear. She blinked her eyes open to find Ash and his best friend, Brock, towering over her. She pulled on the cords to remove the plugs from her ears and hauled herself up into a sitting position on her bed.

"Hey Brock," Jessie said, greeting the strongly tanned boy.

Brock grinned. "Hey Jess, how are you doing?" Jessie got on well with most of Ash's friends, especially Brock, who always seemed to be over at the Ketchum household. Nobody minded though – he was pretty much considered a part of the family.

Ash left no time for Jessie to answer. "Brock and I are going down to Hutchy's for a milkshake. Do you want to come?"

Jessie grimaced. Ash had noticed her bad mood as they walked home from school that afternoon, and she knew that he was doing this to cheer her up. She really didn't want to go anywhere right at that moment, though.

"No Ash, it's okay. I'm fine here, thanks. You guys go ahead," she said, moving to replace the discman plugs back in her ears.

Ash quickly jumped to stop his cousin. He snatched the discman out of Jessie's hands before she had even gotten the plugs in her ears and set it on the desk beside her. "I don't think so, missy. You're coming with us to Hutchy's whether you like it or not."

Brock added a "yeah," in, just for effect.

Jessie looked pleadingly up at the two boys. "Really, I don't want to go."

Ash and Brock fleetingly exchanged knowing glances before each grabbing an arm of Jessie's. Together they hauled her up off the bed.

"I told you, you're coming with us if you like it or not. Even if we have to drag you," Ash commanded, and the two proceeded to drag Jessie towards the door of her bedroom.

"Okay, okay!" Jessie yelled, giving in. "Just let me do my hair again and I'll meet you downstairs."

Ash and Brock smiled victoriously at each other before leaving the room. Their footsteps could be heard thudding all the way down the stairs.

Jessie pulled out the hair-tie from the messy ponytail she had obtained after lying on her bed. As she ran a hairbrush through her shiny, crimson locks, she quietly laughed at the deviousness of her younger cousin. No matter how upset Jessie ever became, Ash always managed to find some way of cheering her up or making her smile. Damn him.

She threw her hair into a sleek ponytail, and headed out of the room and downstairs to meet the two boys waiting for her.

Some time later, Jessie was sitting on one of the stools at the counter of Hutchy's café, slowly sipping her milkshake through a bright pink straw.

Alone.

Some cheering up those two set out to do, she thought to herself, referring to Ash and Brock. Jessie had hardly finished ordering her milkshake before Ash and Brock had gulped theirs down, and rushed out the door saying they had to duck down to the mall for a second to buy a new video game. Five minutes, they said they'd be. Jessie looked at her watch. So far it had been fifteen minutes, and counting.

Jessie folded a serviette around in her fingers to occupy herself. She was really getting bored. She tried to listen to all the sounds around her, just in order to stop her mind from wandering back to a certain problem that wouldn't seem to leave her alone. Somebody was ordering two double- chocolate milkshakes, two girls were stationed at a booth talking about what they were going to wear to some party tomorrow night, someone kept tapping a spoon or something against the side of their glass, a man was complaining to one of the waiters that there was not enough jam in his doughnut, and there was the never-ending sound of the bell on the door as people walked in and out.

Jessie suddenly looked sideways as a girl who appeared to be a few years younger than Jessie slid into the stool beside her. The girl had bright orange hair, and as she turned Jessie marvelled at her sparkling ice-blue eyes. The girl smiled.

"Hi," she said.

Jessie returned the smile. "Hi. You here alone?" She felt like being sociable.

"Yeah. My three older sisters kind of just got into this really huge fight back at home so I thought I'd make myself scarce. You alone as well?" The girl seemed friendly enough.

"Well, I did come here with my little cousin and his best friend, but they ditched me for a few minutes to go and buy some new video game or something," Jessie said, looking at her watch, "but that was twenty minutes ago," Jessie rolled her eyes. The other girl laughed.

A boy appeared on the other side of the counter. "May I get you anything, miss?" He directed at the orange-haired girl.

The girl looked at the interesting-looking milkshake that Jessie was still sipping away at on the counter. "I'll have what she's got."

Jessie raised her eyebrows. "Are you sure? Do you know what's in this thing? Not many can keep down this concoction."

The girl's grin broadened. "Sure. I'll try anything once."

Jessie looked to the boy behind the counter, whom she knew quite well after many visits to Hutchy's, with a doubtful look on her face. "You heard what she said, Lewis."

"All-righty then," Lewis said, rubbing his hands together. "I hope you know what you're in for. Jessie here has been the only one so far who's been able to stomach this milkshake. In fact she was the one who first requested the... let's say, strange combination of flavours." The boy grinned and disappeared for a minute, before coming back and sliding the mystery milkshake onto the counter in front of the girl next to Jessie.

"Enjoy," he said, before hurrying off to attend to another customer.

The girl peered inside the tall glass. "So, um, what's actually in this thing?"

Jessie smirked. "Well, first you have a mixture of raspberry and boysenberry syrup and creamy vanilla icecream. Then there's a bit of powdered cinnamon poured in, plus some Irish cream. Pour the milk in, plus some finely chopped banana chips. After it's whizzed by that fabulous milkshake machine over there," Jessie said, pointing to the giant silver milkshake-maker over the counter, "a dollop of whipped cream is plopped on top, and a few chocolate-mint flakes are sprinkled on top to finish it all off."

The girl stared wide-eyed at Jessie, before turning to the glass before her. She took a deep breath. "Well, here goes!" She bent her head down to sip from the straw poking its way out of the whipped cream on top.

Jessie leant forward intently, as the girl lifted her head up from the drink. "Well?" She asked.

The girl turned to Jessie, moving her tongue around in her mouth as if giving her tastebuds more time to assess the flavour. Finally she finished, and the corners of her mouth slowly curved upwards.

"Yum!"

Jessie's mouth dropped in disbelief. "You really like it?!" She asked, incredulously.

The girl nodded her head vigorously, and took another giant sip from the milkshake. "This is great! You're a genius!"

Jessie laughed. Who would have thought?

Two figures suddenly appeared beside Jessie. She looked up at them. "Where have you guys been? I thought you said you'd only be a couple of minutes?!"

"Sorry!" Ash said, holding his palms up in defence.

"There were a few more new games out and we had trouble deciding which one we really wanted to buy," said Brock.

Jessie finished the last of her milkshake. "And which one did you end up buying?"

Ash and Brock turned slightly red. "Errr... ...The one we were going to buy in the first place," said Ash, as he scuffed at the floor with the toe of his shoe.

Jessie rolled her eyes once more. All of a sudden Ash became aware of the girl sitting next to Jessie.

"Misty!" He cried.

Jessie snapped her head around to look at the girl next to her. She had been unknowingly chatting away to the love of Ash's life?

Misty smiled shyly. "Hey Ash. Hey Brock."

Ash turned an even deeper shade of red. He was choked for what to say.

Jessie noticed, and quickly spoke instead. "So you're Misty, huh? I think I've heard Ash talk about you before. All good stuff of course."

Misty laughed nervously. Ash shot a desperate look of 'what are you doing?!' at his older cousin. Jessie smiled calmly back at him. She had everything under control.

"Do you play video games, Misty?" Jessie asked.

Misty nodded her head. "Yeah, I do actually."

"What's the game you bought today, Ash?" Jessie queried, as Ash pulled the brand new video game out of its bag.

"Uh, it's called The Dragonites of Rubysmoke. Have you ever heard of it? It's a role playing game." Ash looked timidly up at his crush.

Misty eyed the game, then peered back at Ash. "Have I heard of it?! I've been waiting for ages for this game to be released! I didn't know it had come out yet," she said enthusiastically.

Ash's eyes brightened. "It was just put out in the shops today."

"Ash and I bought it as soon as we could," Brock added.

Ash looked at Jessie. He wanted to ask Misty something, but he didn't know if he could work up the courage to do it. Jessie subtly nodded her head in encouragement. Ash turned to Misty, and took a deep breath.

"Do you... would you like to come over to my house tomorrow perhaps... and play The Dragonites of Rubysmoke?" He said, rushing in some parts while pausing in others. He diverted his eyes to the ground and braced himself for her response.

"Sure, I'd love to," Misty said simply.

Ash peered up at her, utter shock showing on his face. He took a moment to speak again. "G-great!"

He could not contain his excitement.

"I live at 24 Chrystia Avenue. Do you know where that is?"

Misty nodded. "My grandmother lives near there. I'll be able to find it easily."

"Excellent! Come around, say, one o'clock then?" Ash asked, eagerly.

Misty laughed. "Okay!"

Jessie stood up. He was going so well, she thought they should leave before Ash said something stupid. "Well, we better go. It was nice meeting you, Misty. I'm glad I've found someone who likes my milkshake creation."

"No, thank you for introducing me to your milkshake creation, Jessie!" Misty twisted her fingers together. "Seeya Brock... Bye Ash." Jessie noticed the other girl's face turned slightly scarlet.

"Seeya Misty," said Brock.

"... I'll see you tomorrow Misty," Ash said, and Jessie had to tug on his arm before he moved from the spot where he was standing. She quickly waved to the still sitting Misty, and the three exited the café.

Once they had gotten out of sight of the café, Ash jumped into the air.

"Woohoo!" He yelled, attracting the attention from several passers-by. He grabbed onto the arm of his cousin. "Thankyou! Gosh, if you hadn't been there and said something I would have just stood there like a stunned mullet. Brock isn't really much help," Ash playfully accused his friend walking beside them.

"Hey!" The other boy cried.

Ash laughed. "Don't worry Brock, I saw you eyeing that blonde waitress."

Brock dropped his jaw in mock-astonishment. "How dare you accuse me of such a thing."

The three teenagers laughed, and continued walking along the footpath.

"I want to ask her to the school dance," said Ash, after a few moments of silence.

"The dance?" Jessie questioned. She didn't even know there was a school dance coming up. She never really got involved in those sort of things.

"Yeah, it's next Saturday. Do you think I should ask her?"

"Of course you should," Brock and Jessie said simultaneously. Ash looked around at them incredulously. Why did things seem so certain for them?

"She likes you Ash, even if you can't see it. Trust me," she reassured. "Just be yourself and everything will turn out fine."

Ash looked at Brock, and then his cousin uncertainly. He thought he'd wait and see how things turned out on the weekend before making any decisions.

Jessie smiled to herself. Well, at least she had managed to help Ash on track with his love life. Now she just had to sort out her own.

And so the trio pressed on towards the Ketchum house, Jessie candidly unaware that she had just referred to her crisis with James as her love life.

All right! Aha! Third chapter in the bag!

It's been kind of hard to work on this fic because EVEN THOUGH IT IS SCHOOL HOLIDAYS, I still have a truckload of bloody homework to do! I really hate the person who invented homework. Really, I do.

But anyway! What did you guys think of the third instalment? Good? Bad? Ugly? I WANNA KNOW! Please review, it means so much to an author (if I could call myself that .;). Thanks to everyone who has reviewed my story so far (don't stop now!), every word has been greatly appreciated. There was a lot more of Ash in this chapter, plus Brock was introduced and we got to meet Misty. So hopefully I'm pleasing a few people.

Stay tuned for the next chapter – will Jessie and James resolve their conflict? And how will Ash's afternoon go with Misty? ALL WILL BE REVEALED IN THE NEXT CHAPTER OF EVOLUTION...

And remember folks, if you want me to continue writing this story... REVIEW!!!

Till next time,

BansheeGirl.