::Evolution::

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

NO, I AM NOT DEAD!

Finally, here is the fourth 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 – Chapter4::

Delia Ketchum looked up from the pot that she was stirring on the stove as the sound of the doorbell resonated throughout the house. She rested the wooden stirring spoon on the bench, quickly washed her hands and swiftly made her way to the front door. The chestnut-haired woman pulled the door open to reveal a young man with lavender tresses standing on the other side.

"Good morning, Mrs. Ketchum," the boy said politely.

Delia smiled, waiting for him to continue. She was not familiar with this young man, but guessed that he went to school with Ash and Jessie.

"I'm... sorry if I'm bothering you," the boy said, looking down at the apron that Delia was wearing, "My name is James Morgan. I go to school with Jessie, and we're Biology partners at the moment... Is it possible that I could speak to her for a few minutes?"

Delia raised her eyebrows. So this was the notorious Biology partner that had been seeming to get Jessie down so much lately.

"I'm sorry James, but Jessie works on Saturday mornings. She doesn't finish until one o'clock, if you'd like to some back then."

"Oh, okay then..." James said, looking rather deep in thought. "I sort of really need to speak to her..."

Delia looked back at James with an expression of motherly scepticism.

"About the assignment, of course," James quickly said. He hoped that he wasn't giving off the wrong impression. "I just need to talk to her about the assignment. We really need to get some extra work done on it, that's all."

Delia laughed. "It's okay, James. If you honestly need to see Jessie that much then you could probably catch up with her at the place she works. Do you know the little antique shop on Gardenia Avenue?"

James shook his head. "No, I'm afraid I don't."

"That's okay, it's easy enough to find. I'll just write the address down for you on a piece of paper," Delia said, briefly disappearing before returning with a slip of paper in her hand.

"There you go. If you can't find it, just drop into the nearest shop and ask for directions to Tilbury's Antiques." Delia smiled warmly.

James accepted the piece of paper and smiled back at the older lady. "Thank you very much, Mrs. Ketchum."

"Not a problem James," she replied, as she watched him retreat over the lawn and onto the footpath. He fleetingly waved to her before disappearing from view, and Delia closed the door to head back into the kitchen.

The pot she had been stirring earlier was nigh on boiling over, and as Delia jumped to turn the heat down she could not shake the feeling that that would definitely not be the last time she would see the lavender-haired boy.

Jessie ran her hands over the intricate gold trimming that lined the edges of a small wooden jewellery box sitting on the counter of Tilbury's Antiques. A peculiar sort of paint or dye had been etched into the metal, which shone brilliantly every time it caught the light. Her fingers continued over the several sparkling diamonds that were encrusted into the deep mahogany, and Jessie was captured not for the first time by the beauty of the little object.

The jewellery box had been at Tilbury's Antiques since before Jessie had begun working there. On her first day she had noticed it tucked away in a small, dusty corner of the shop, and Jessie had been immediately enthralled by its magnificence. Every Saturday she always managed to find some reason to wander over to that table in the corner just so that she could look at it one more time. She had initially thought that she was going to buy it, but Jessie was still reeling from the first time she queried about its value. Mr. Tilbury, her boss, had told her that it was made late in the nineteenth century, which she supposed was the reason for the $500 price-tag.

Mr Tilbury, however, had recently become aware that the jewellery box that sat in the little musty corner week in and week out was not attracting the attention that the beautiful little object ought to, and Jessie had been upset to walk into work that morning to find her treasure sitting on the counter for everyone to see – and buy. It would surely be bought by the end of the week, as stock placed on the counter was usually quick to sell. So Jessie thought she had better donate a little extra time to the jewellery box this week as a bit of a farewell session.

She flipped open the lid of the wooden box to reveal an interior cushioned with deep burgundy velvet. A tiny girl flung up on a spring and began twirling around to a tune that played out of the back of the jewellery box. Jessie knew the music but could not put a name to it. She watched as the little ballerina girl twirled around in her delicate little white dress. Jessie was so enraptured by the scene that she did not hear the door open, nor the footsteps of a person until they were a mere two metres away from the counter.

Jessie jumped, before realising that the person standing before her was only James. She put a hand over her heart and let out a sigh. "Don't ever do that to me again," she warned, swiftly snapping the lid of the jewellery box shut and sliding it to one side.

"I'm sorry," James said earnestly, a hint of a smile still showing on his face. "I didn't mean to scare you."

Jessie frowned at James. She was quite surprised to see him. He was the last person she had expected to see walk into the shop, even though she had been thinking about him considerably throughout the morning. Yet she was not about to forget about the situation that still existed between the two.

"How did you know I was here?" She asked first, coldly.

James' calm expression didn't falter. "I stopped by your house and was told that you were working here this morning, so I got the address and headed over."

Jessie cynically glared back at him. "And just why are you here, exactly?"

James looked up and took a deep breath. "Look," he said, lowering his head back down to face Jessie, "I don't know why, but somehow things have become really... intense between you and I. And... I really don't want to have to spend the next week working on an assignment with you when all we'll do is fight. I don't know about you, but I'd really like to get high marks on this project, and you and I both know we won't be able to achieve that if we don't work together as a team. So... if you'll just tell me what's upsetting you... then perhaps we can sort out our differences and make this an A assignment."

Jessie lowered her eyes to the counter, not wanting be allured by James' earnest, emerald ones. She didn't know whether she was comfortable with this. James had actually travelled all across town to come and reconcile their differences? He seemed to be sincere about it, but then again first impressions are not always the true ones, Jessie thought. But then again... this wasn't the first impression, was it? Jessie had known him for four days already. Was it possible for the next ones to be happy and settled between them, or should she keep her guard up, just in case he really was just another high-class snob?

"Please?" James said, and Jessie lifted her eyes to look at him again. "Please, just tell me what's wrong."

Jessie sighed. How did he manage to pull on her heartstrings like that? That look in his eyes just made her want to jump into his arms and tell him everything! What was going on?

"It's just..." Jessie started, and an immediate look of happiness appeared on James' face at his success in getting Jessie to talk. Jessie paused before speaking again, knowing very well that what she was about to say could incredibly offend the person standing in front of her. "I really, really hate Cassidy Fleckman. In fact I'd call her my worst enemy. And, well... you seem to be on very good terms with her."

James actually looked slightly taken aback by what Jessie had said. "You... hate Cassidy?"

Jessie nodded.

James took a moment to process the information. "Um... why?"

Jessie sighed again. She really did not want to enter the details of it all. "It's a long story... and it really doesn't matter anyway. It's just safe to say that I very much do not like her, and she very much does not like me, and there is no way on earth that will ever change."

James smiled ironically, seeming to accept what Jessie was saying. "All right then. You can hate Cassidy, but let's not let that affect anything between us, okay?"

James watched Jessie smile for the first time since that day in the library. "Okay then..." She said.

James grinned, and clapped his hands together. "Well, now that that's sorted out, what do you say we do some work on our assignment this afternoon?"

Jessie slowly nodded, and James continued. "Great. Do you want to meet in a café or something, and do some work on it there?"

"Sure," Jessie said, "...do you know where Hutchy's is?"

A blank look appeared on James' face. "Errr... no, I don't, actually," he replied.

Jessie's jaw dropped. "You've never been to Hutchy's before? I can't believe it! You honestly don't know what you're missing out on – Hutchy's is the best café in all of Spire City."

James laughed. "Guess it's decided then – Hutchy's it is. But... you're going to have to tell me where the place is."

"It's on the corner of Bromelia and Jonquilis Streets, just down from North Spire Mall."

James looked up, as if reading an imaginary map suspended in the air. "I think I know where you're talking about. I'll manage to find it. Erm... what time do you want to meet there?"

Jessie looked down at her watch. "Well, I finish here at one o'clock. I'll have to go home to have lunch and get my books... what about two thirty?"

"Sounds perfect," James said, and he smiled at her for a couple of seconds. "I better leave you to it... your boss might fire you if I hold you up for too much longer."

Jessie returned the smile, and as if on cue, Mr. Tilbury appeared from the back office. James mouthed a silent goodbye and swiftly exited the shop.

"You're not flirting with the customers I hope, Jessie?" Mr Tilbury playfully prompted. He was an old, slender man of about sixty with a mop of grey hair and a moustache to match, whom owned the antique shop with his wife. Jessie got on quite well with the old couple.

Jessie, however, seemed to be stuck in a daze as her eyes followed James' form through the shop window and into the street until he was out of sight.

"No Mr. Tilbury, not me," she sighed.

After all, customers are people who actually buy things from a shop, aren't they?

A waiter lifted two tall milkshake glasses off a tray and individually placed them on the table in front of Jessie and James. They were sitting on opposite side of a booth in Hutchy's, and had decided to order a milkshake to accompany the work they were gong to do on their assignment. James looked at Jessie's milkshake and a strange look appeared on his face.

"What... is actually in that milkshake?" He queried, not knowing whether he truly wanted the answer.

A smile crept onto Jessie's face. "Cinnamon, boysenberry, Irish cream... a mixture of things," she paused, before continuing, "Do... you want to try it?"

James winced. "Ergh. There's nothing sinister in it, is there? I don't want to drink a milkshake with Pikachu blood in it or anything."

"Just try it! Trust me, it's good," Jessie persuaded, pushing her glass towards James.

The worried look on James' face remained as he lifted the straw out of his own milkshake, took a deep breath and plunged it into Jessie's concoction. Jessie watched intently as he sipped the drink.

James slowly lifted his head up and pulled his straw out of Jessie's milkshake. "That was..." James articulated, with quite an odd expression on his face, "different. You know, I think I'll just stick to my triple chocolate." He laughed and quickly dunked his straw back into his chocolate milkshake.

"Awww! How unadventurous," said Jessie, and she took a few big sips of her milkshake before turning back to the assignment-related paraphernalia that was spread out all across the table. Jessie started to read aloud some information from a book, while James listened and speedily typed it onto his laptop. Every now and again they'd stop to discuss a particular point, and both silently realised that they were working much more efficiently now that they were on good terms. Of course it would have been a lot easier if both were sitting on the same side of the table, but neither felt quite up to that stage yet.

"Hang on," James said, frowning at his laptop screen, "pause for a second, I just have to fix something."

Jessie stopped talking and looked on as James fiddled around with his computer. He brushed a lock of his lavender hair behind his ear, and she watched as one small piece slid back down into his face. Jessie felt her face grow hot and thought about something Delia had said to her before she left for Hutchy's that afternoon.

Jessie had walked in the front door after getting home from work earlier that day and quickly ducked into the kitchen to make herself some lunch. Moments later Delia had appeared, asking how Jessie's morning was and all of the traditional questions. Jessie's heart quickened, however, when her aunty asked whether James had caught up with her at the antique shop.

"Yes, he did actually," Jessie had quickly said. "I have to meet him at Hutchy's later to work on our assignment."

Jessie didn't know why, but she didn't like the look that Delia was giving her. "He's a very nice boy, isn't he?" The chestnut-haired woman had said.

Jessie didn't like the fact that she could feel her face going red as well. "I suppose," she had mumbled.

"Very good looking, too," Delia continued. Jessie kept her head down, trying to conceal her scarlet face from her aunty. Why did she have to feel so embarrassed?

Delia had smiled enigmatically, and wished her niece good luck with the assignment that afternoon. Jessie had tried to push her aunt's mysterious implications to the back of her mind, but now, looking at James, she could not shake them.

He was good looking. Really good looking. And he was a 'very nice boy' as well, wasn't he?

Jessie was snapped from her reverie as James began talking.

"I just have to wait for this program to install. It should only take about five minutes," he stated.

Jessie nodded and finished off the last of her milkshake.

"...Your mother is very nice. She gave me the address for the antique shop you work at when I stopped by your house this morning. Very helpful," James said, trying to make conversation.

Jessie was stopped dead by his words. He meant Delia. He thought Delia was her mother. When people made that mistake, Jessie usually just let things slide and tried not to complicate things by explaining that Delia was not her real mother. But for some reason she felt like she had an obligation to tell James the truth about her family situation. She looked down uncomfortably.

"Um, she's not my mother..." Jessie mumbled.

James stopped drinking his milkshake and looked at Jessie. He too began to feel a bit uncomfortable, having obviously touched a tender topic for Jessie. He didn't know whether to keep talking or press any questions.

"Oh..." was all he managed to get out.

Jessie lifted her head to make eye contact with James. "...I never knew my father, and my mother died in a car crash when I was seven. The lady you met this morning is my aunty. Her and her husband took me in and I live with them and their son." Jessie watched as James digested this information. She found herself wishing more than anything that he would not judge her or be scared away by this revelation, like so many other people had. She smiled melancholically.

A strange look fleetingly flashed on James' face, and Jessie wondered for a moment whether it was a flash of understanding. Outside of her family, she had never seen that look before, not even in Vanessa. It was only a brief expression, but in that second Jessie had seemed sure that James somehow understood more than what Jessie had told to him.

"I'm sorry," was all he said, and he turned back to his laptop.

The installation was completed, and the pair continued with the work on their assignment. They worked for almost another hour before finally deciding to call it a day. Each piled together their books and bits of paper and before they knew it Jessie and James were standing on the footpath outside of Hutchy's.

"How are you getting home?" Jessie asked James.

"I can take the bus pretty much all the way home, and then I just walk the rest of the way," James replied.

"Yeah, that's about the same with me."

James laughed, "It's always usually a bit of a struggle for me to go anywhere by foot or public transport. My parents insist on me being driven everywhere by one of the chauffers." He looked up at Jessie, a little ashamed by his pitiful story.

Jessie gave an expression of amused sympathy, but decided not to continue the thread. "So... in which direction are you travelling?"

"East... I... live in Frangipani Hills," James said, in the same tone as before.

Frangipani Hills... Jessie didn't expect anything less. Of course, Frangipani Hills was the rich suburb of Spire City. "Well, we're getting on different buses, but we both have to wait at the same bus stop. We may as well make our way down there now - there's no use hanging about on the footpath all day long." She turned and the pair started walking together.

"How did you find out where I lived, anyway?" Jessie asked James.

James smiled. "I rang up the school and asked the secretary to find it from the school directories. She wouldn't let me at first, so I made up this big sob story about an assignment that was due in on Monday that we would fail if I couldn't get to your house. Only a slight tweaking of the truth, of course..."

Jessie laughed incredulously. More and more sides of James were being uncovered by the minute!

"Actually, I was surprised anyone was even there on a Saturday. I would have thought all of the staff would get away from the school as quickly and for as long as they could on weekends. They must be more dedicated than we give them credit for."

The pair crossed a road and Jessie let out a cry to see her bus just pulling into the stop. "There's my bus!" She hailed to the driver to let him know that she was getting on. "I better get on... those bus drivers can get really cranky sometimes," Jessie said to James, turning around to face him. "I'll see you on Monday."

James smiled and nodded.

Jessie was about to turn around and leave, but on impulse decided to thank James for the afternoon. "Hey James... I just wanna say thanks for coming around to the antique shop... and for this afternoon, and all..." Halfway through saying it, she already felt like a complete idiot for even opening her mouth again.

"No worries," he said, and Jessie could tell that he was happy with the day as well.

Jessie quickly ran to board the bus, and James watched as it pulled out from the kerb and disappeared through the traffic.

Jessie went to open the front door of her house, yet it was opened by someone from the other side before she even laid a finger on the doorknob. Standing in front of her were Misty and Ash.

"Hi Jessie," said Misty.

"Hey," Jessie replied, suddenly remembering Ash's little hangout he was having that afternoon. "How was the game?"

Misty smiled. "It was really great, thanks." The orange-haired girl stepped past Jessie and onto the lawn. "Thanks for the afternoon, Ash. It was really nice," she said to Ash, who had stepped out to stand beside Jessie.

"We should do it again sometime," said Ash, his grin taking up the whole of his face.

The other girl stood smiling at Ash for a few seconds, made slightly awkward by the presence of Jessie, before suddenly turning to walk out onto the footpath. She waved to the two Ketchums who were standing on the steps leading to the front door, and soon disappeared from view.

Jessie looked down at her cousin, though not by much. In another year or two he'd be towering over her. She smiled deviously. "How was your afternoon?"

Ash looked back with an equally sly smirk. "Good. How was yours?"

Jessie turned around and twisted the doorknob to go inside. She looked over her shoulder at her cousin, who still had his eyebrows raised in wanting of an answer.

"Good."

Well, miracles do happen, don't they? Yes, I finally got around to writing the next chapter to this fic! Woohoo! I am so sorry for the extremely long wait, but I have just been so busy with homework, it is not funny. But I'm really determined to get as much work done as I can on this fic during the next few weeks, so hopefully I'll get some more chapters written soon. Don't worry! I will not abandon this fic to be left unfinished, with readers eternally wondering what ever would have happened in the unwritten chapters! Plus, I'm a bit more motivated to write lately seeing as I WON MY VERY OWN LAPTOP (go me!)!!! Woohoo! So now I can sit in bed until eleven o'clock on a school night to finish chapters (which is currently what I am doing right now). Gosh, the things I do for fanfiction!

Anyway, please review this chapter if you've read it, because reviews are so greatly appreciated by me. All you readers need to tell me what you think!! Is the story going okay so far? If there's anything I could do to make it better, tell me!! Plus, reviews are really good for making authors write the next chapters faster... c'mon, you know you want to...

Stay tuned, and keep those reviews coming!

BansheeGirl

PS. If you're waiting between chapters, check out some of the other Pokemon stories if have written (all rocketshippy!) that are posted here on !