::Evolution::

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

Here is the seventh 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

Gary – 13

::Evolution – Chapter7::

Jessie slammed her books down on the desk. Angrily, she let herself fall down into the chair and let out an exasperated sigh. James looked sideways at her from the desk that was pulled up beside Jessie's, perplexed at this display of infuriated behaviour.

"Continue with your projects, class," Mr. Livingston directed from the front of the room, "I expect that most of you should be close to finishing. For those of you who are not... I suggest you get a serious move on. I remind you that these assignments are due in on Friday, and that is only two days away. Get to it!" The teacher clapped his hands twice as a signal to prompt the class into working mode.

James directed his gaze back to the troubled Jessie, who now had her elbows leaning upright on the desktop and was resting her face-down head in her hands. She had not yet spoken a word since entering the classroom for the afternoon's double-period of Biology. He had already seen and talked to her in an English class earlier that day, and he seemed to recall that she had been fine then. What had happened to make her so upset?

"Uh, Jessie?" He quietly asked, pausing to see whether she would respond.

"Mnhh," she mumbled, still resting her face in her hands.

"Are you okay?"

Jessie suddenly straightened, running her hands through her hair which was pulled into a messy bun at the back of her head. She spoke, trying to take care in not letting too much anger seep into her voice, "I just spent my whole lunchtime in a special class, alone, with my maths teacher, trying to understand just the basic principles of the topic we're studying in General Maths at the moment, because I'm the only one in the class who just can't get it into their head." Jessie stopped, realising that her tone was quickly rising with fury. She took a few deep breaths, and smiled sarcastically. "And even after fifty minutes of one-on-one tutoring, I still don't have a single clue about how to do any of it."

She continued to smile sardonically at James. He raised his eyebrows at her, disbelievingly.

Jessie had gone back to clutching her head, but James reached out to hold her wrists down against the table. She did not resist. "Jessie, calm down." He said, holding her eyes with his own. "It's just a bit of maths."

Jessie's eyes widened, and she wrenched her arms out of James' grasp. "How can you say that? I am too useless to even begin to understand the damn topic, and I am going to fail the subject completely!"

James' eyes darted around the room to see that Jessie's outburst had attracted the attention of several other Biology students sitting around the room. He looked back to Jessie, leant forward and placed a single hand on her shoulder.

"Jess, you're not useless. You can do so many amazing things – like playing the piano and drawing those beautiful pictures. There's no need to get so upset for not being able to do one little maths problem."

Jessie wanted to fight back. She wanted to yell back at him that it wasn't 'one little maths problem', it was a whole topic that needed to be completed in order to pass the subject. But she was still mentally reeling from the fact that James had just called her 'Jess'. Jess! Only her closest friends and family ever called her 'Jess'. She had only known James for a week, and already he was using the abbreviated form of her name.

And that hand on her shoulder wasn't exactly the gesture of a mere Biology partner being nice. Jessie suddenly made her mind up – James did think of her as a friend. But was it even more than that? She remained speechless, James still holding her gaze, his warm hand not moving from her shoulder.

"What is the topic, anyway?" He spoke, and Jessie watched in dismay as James dropped his hand from her shoulder and straightened himself up to sit back properly in his chair.

She sighed, her anger seeming to have dissolved away. Now she only felt hopelessness in its place. "It mostly involves algebra." Her tone indicated her obvious detestation of the topic.

James mouthed an "Oh," understanding Jessie's disarray. Jessie stared at the desk, the bleakness of her situation forcing her into a blank reverie.

"I could... help you with it, if you'd like," offered James.

Jessie snapped her head up, wondering if she'd heard correctly. "Sorry?"

"Well, maths is actually one of my stronger subjects. I might be able to help you out with it, if you'd like. I don't know if I'd be able to do any better than you're maths teacher, but I could at least try and help." He raised his eyebrows, the serious look on his face signifying to Jessie that he was truly keen on helping her.

Jessie was silently stunned that he had again made an offer to spend extra time with her. Okay, so it was just to help with maths homework – but still. She was ecstatic that her interest in James seemed to be reciprocated.

Jessie opened her mouth to answer James, but Mr. Livingston's voice erupted in a slightly irritated tone from his desk at the front of the room.

"Jessie! James! If I hear another non-Biology related word from either of you before the end of school you'll both get detention!"

The pair blushed, even more so due to the direction of insinuating giggles at them coming from other students around the room. Quickly, Jessie and James pulled out their assignment and set to work on it straight away.

For the next two periods Jessie and James worked solidly at their assignment, breathing a sigh of relief when the final bell sounded. Jessie got up from her chair and stretched her arms out.

"We got a heck of a lot of work done," said James, standing up. "It's practically finished. We really only need to tie up a few odds and ends and then it's complete. What do you say we meet up during lunchtime on Friday before Biology and fix it up then?"

Jessie picked up the books and folders she had piled on her desk and clasped them to her chest. "Sounds great. It's such a relief to have finally gotten the majority of it all done," she said, immediately regretting her words. Did that sound like she was relieved she had almost finished up being Biology partner to James? She hoped not.

Jessie awkwardly looked to James, trying to decide whether she should mention James' offer that he had made at the beginning of the lesson concerning helping her out with maths. Even though she had been working steadily for both lessons, her mind had still mostly been focused on the prospect of spending more time out of class with him. But now it seemed as though James had completely forgotten about his proposal. Would she sound desperate if she was the one to bring it up again?

As the other students filed out of the room, Jessie and James remained standing beside their desks. Jessie shifted feet uneasily.

"So... did you want any help with your algebra?" James finally said, and Jessie found herself smiling. He hadn't forgotten.

"Well, if it's not too much trouble... that'd actually be really great," she said, trying to sound confident but without too much eagerness.

"Hey – it's no trouble at all, really. When do you want to do it?" James asked, as the pair slowly made their way together towards the door of the room.

"Well, the sooner the better... I guess," Jessie said, hoping she wasn't sounding too pushy.

James looked up, trying to remember which afternoons he had free that week. He had a pretty tight schedule. "I have an after-school Physics class this afternoon... but that really shouldn't go for more than an hour. What about tonight?"

Jessie nodded. "That's okay with me."

"Great," James said, smiling, "Where would you like to study?"

Jessie had thought about going to the public library, but impulsively decided to be a little more daring. "What about at my house?"

The seventeen-year-olds were still standing at the door, and paused the conversation to let Mr. Livingston out of the room. He gave the pair an odd look before disappearing into the crowd of students in the corridor.

James shook his head, not wanting to bother deciphering what that look just meant. "Okay, your house. I think I can find my way back there. Expect me at about five o'clock."

"I'll be waiting," Jessie said, relishing in the last smile James had flashed her before too disappearing into the typhoon of schoolkids flooding the hallway.

James walked up the stone steps leading to the door of the Ketchum house. As he pressed the doorbell, he noticed that his heart was beating a little faster than usual. The after-school Physics class had been exceptionally boring, and pretty much a waste of time since all James could think about was seeing Jessie afterwards. He had managed to get out early from the class, and as James glanced at his watch he hoped that Jessie wouldn't mind that he was half an hour ahead of the said meeting time.

Footsteps could be heard thumping through the house, and the big oak door suddenly opened to reveal a dark-haired boy with a very obvious and nasty looking black eye.

"Hey Ash," said James, an image of the poor kid being kicked relentlessly by Gary Oak flashing onto his mind.

Ash beamed, oblivious to the ghastliness of his appearance. "Hey James. Come in," he gestured, and James followed the younger boy into the house. The pair walked into a big living room, James' eyes scanning the inside of Jessie's home. Several doors led off from the sides of the living room, and a wide staircase led to the second floor before becoming a hallway leading in two different directions.

Ash walked over to a couch in the corner of the living room and plonked himself down on it to gaze intently at a brightly lit television screen. "Sorry, my favourite show is on right now and I really don't want to miss any of it," He said, his eyes not moving from the screen.

James' eyes glanced from side to side. Was Ash just going to leave him to walk about the house to find Jessie himself? Should he say something? Ash was obviously very rapt in his television program. James didn't know what to do. He was afraid that if he walked off to look for Jessie, the Ketchums might think he was snooping around or something. The last thing he wanted was for Jessie to think him a busybody.

James slowly wandered over to stand behind the blue couch Ash was sitting on. He looked to the television screen to see a Charizard and a Houndoom locked in fierce battle, their trainers yelling commands and encouragement from special raised trainer boxes.

"Uh, Ash?"

Ash raised a single finger in response, signalling for James to wait. A minute or so passed, before Ash finally turned around to face James. "Okay, commercial break. Sorry about that. Watching Pokémon Stadium every night is like my religion."

James laughed. "That's okay. How are you feeling, anyway? Jessie told me you got everything checked out and there was no serious damage. Still very sore though, I presume?"

Ash nodded exaggeratedly. "You don't know the half of it. I thought yesterday was bad, but when I woke up this morning everything hurt twice as much."

"Still making an appearance at the school formal, then?" James provoked, knowing for certain that Ash wouldn't miss the formal for the world.

"If Misty still agreed to go with me, I'd go to the formal in wheelchair if need be," said Ash, typically. "What about you? Are you going to be making an appearance?"

James' eyes automatically fell to the ground with slight embarrassment, but he mentally scolded himself and forced them up to look at Ash again. "I'm not quite sure. I haven't got a date yet, so if I can get one between now and then, yeah, I guess I will."

Ash frowned, as if what James had just said made absolutely no sense at all. "But I thought-"

His words were cut off with the sound of a melodic voice coming from a room upstairs. Both boys looked upwards. James had noticed music playing as he walked in, but had thought it a mere CD playing somewhere in the house. Yet as the familiar voice floated downstairs, James realised that it had been Jessie making the music.

"Obviously Jessie didn't hear you come in," Ash laughed, "she never sings in front of anyone but her music class – and that's only because it's compulsory, and mum, dad and I."

James' eyes remained fixed upwards. He spoke slowly, his mind mesmerised by the beautiful tune coming from above, "...I should... probably go up there... or it'll be night-time before we even get started... on her maths."

The sound of Pokémon Stadium reappearing on the television grasped Ash's attention, and he spun back around on the couch to face the screen. "Okay. Her room is the third door on the right," he said in monotonous tone, the program quickly gaining his undivided attention.

James ascended the stairs and swiftly sidled along the banister which overlooked the living room below. As he approached Jessie's room he slowed, coming to a halt at her half-open door. James peered inside to see Jessie facing away from him at a keyboard. Just like at his house, her hands danced over the keys with ease, as if playing such an instrument was an innate behaviour for her.

Now that James was right at Jessie's door her words were clear, and he soon recognised the song that she was playing and singing to. It was a song by the band Evanescence, called My Immortal. Jessie still had not noted James' presence, and he leaned into the room to better hear the music.

James felt his skin tingle as Jessie echoed the haunting words of the song,

"I've tried so hard to tell myself that you're gone

And though you're still with me

I've been alone all along..."

James wondered whether the raw emotion that Jessie seemed to be injecting into the melody came from her personal relation to the words of the song. The melancholic lyrics sounded as though they'd match the heartbreak of losing a mother. James had never really taken a great interest in Evanescence, but right now he felt like going out and buying their whole album so he could play it over and over again in remembrance of this magical moment.

The room quietened as Jessie faded her singing and entered an elaborate keyboard solo. James proceeded to take a further step into the room, accidentally knocking the door completely open in the process. The sound immediately caused Jessie to wrench her arms away from the keys and spin around in horror to see James standing at the door of her room.

Her eyes widened in dismay at the discovery of James' spectatorship of her singing. "How long have you been standing there?" She said, her voice trembling. James watched as her face actually began to whiten. "I can't believe you just heard that!" She continued, her voice becoming frantic.

James sprang over to Jessie and placed his hands around her upper arms. He gently lifted her up from the seat, and stared directly into her sparkling sapphire eyes. "Jessie, that was the most beautiful thing that I have ever heard," he said, totally serious, "Don't you dare even think about being ashamed or embarrassed about what I just witnessed. Okay?"

He made sure that Jessie could not look away from him, and she was forced to nod her head in agreement. James released his grasp, and the pair suddenly became awkward and stepped away from each other. Jessie turned around to switch off her keyboard, and wandered over to lean back against her desk.

"I thought you said that you weren't coming until five o'clock?" She said, frowning slightly.

James slid his bag off of his shoulder and dropped it at the end of Jessie's bed. "Well, I managed to get out from my after-class early. I'd hoped that it wouldn't be a problem..."

Jessie sighed. "It's okay. I know that I shouldn't be embarrassed or ashamed, but I just can't help it." She started to relax, and walked over to sit down on her bed. "It's just that... music is a kind of... I don't know, expression of my soul, or whatever. And I just feel a little uncomfortable baring my soul in the presence of other people..."

James walked over and sat beside Jessie on the bed. "Well in that case... I think you have a very nice soul."

Jessie lifted her lashes to look at James, and smiled. It was a very odd comment, but somehow it was the most charming thing anyone had ever told her.

James leaned in over Jessie's shoulder and pointed to a section of the textbook that was resting on her lap. They had been in Jessie's room together for almost an hour and a half now, and counting. After James' comment about Jessie having a 'nice soul', the pair had found themselves engrossed in a deep conversation, the topics ranging from school subjects, family matters, politics, films, music, hobbies and beyond.

They had talked about places they wanted to visit around the world, and were surprised to find that their travelling ambitions were quite similar. James had joked that maybe they could be travelling partners, and Jessie wondered whether the humour in his voice was due to the fact that his parents would never let him travel so extensively right after high school anyway, or whether it was a simply ludicrous idea that he would actually travel with her.

James had revealed that he collected bottle caps as a hobby. Jessie was delighted to hear that he hardly ever told anyone about his prized collection, and that she had become privy to this personal piece of information. Jessie had revealed that she had wanted to be a weathergirl when she was little – something which prompted a laugh from James. He meant no offence, but said that he saw her doing something with her life that actually required neural activity.

James had told Jessie about his parents wanting to betroth him to a wicked girl named Jessibelle. He had fought long and hard with his mother and father to try and convince them to forget about the betrothal, and finally they had agreed after James threatened that he would run away if they didn't. Jessie had told James about the perils of not knowing her father, but still knowing that he was out there in the world somewhere. She had contemplated many times trying to search for him, but every time Jessie was pulled back to the one thought – if he didn't want her before, why would he want her now?

All things considered, they had had a pretty deep and meaningful conversation. It was a long while before either of the pair admitted that they had better get cracking on the maths homework before the night was over.

Jessie had thought that there was no point in trying to understand any of it anyway. She could not comprehend any of the topic normally, and with James there, she thought she'd find herself even more unable to concentrate. Even while trying to teach her maths, he still made her heart futter and her insides melt.

Yet after only half an hour of tutoring, Jessie was astonished to find that what James was saying actually made sense. Instead of all the numbers, letters, equations, and formulas going in one ear and out the other like they usually did in class, James somehow had a way of actually making things stay inside of her head. She did not know how, but algebra was actually starting to sound logical!

What was the world coming to?

Now, James watched over Jessie's shoulder as she attempted to complete an equation that he had set out for her. Slowly, Jessie went over everything James had told her, and etched at the paper to finally come up with a solution. She looked at her final solution, amazed that she had actually been able to get to the end of a problem on her own. Now it was just a test to see whether the answer was right.

Jessie turned to James, a look of expectancy on her face. "Is... is that it? Did I get the right answer?"

James secretively looked at a seperate piece of paper on which he had previously worked out the problem. "Was your answer seven?"

Jessie looked to her piece of paper to double-check. Seven! That was her answer!

"I got it right!" She cried, her eyes widening and a wave of relief washing over her. She wasn't useless at it, after all!

"James, I got it right!" She cried, bouncing up and down on the bed.

James laughed, also relieved that Jessie had managed to overcome her problem. "Calm down! You're going to lose everything I've written down for you!" He cried, quickly catching a pile of papers that were bounced off the bed before they hit the ground.

Jessie suddenly bounced forward and wrapped her arms around James' neck in a big hug. "Thankyou so much James!" She exclaimed, and after passing through an initial shock at the forwardness of Jessie's gesture, James lightly slid his arms around Jessie's waist to return the hug.

"That's okay... I guess," he said into Jessie's sweet-scented hair.

Jessie became aware of the sudden action that she had just brought herself and James into. They were sitting on her bed, bodies pressed together and arms wrapped around each other. Quickly, she pulled away from the embrace.

"Uh... sorry," she said, trying to laugh in order to brush the situation off.

The pair remained at a gaze. While they had pulled apart from the embrace, their faces were still only mere inches away.

Wait... Jessie thought. Why was she pulling away? Hadn't she spent every minute since the weekend amazed at just how much she was enraptured with this guy?

And before she knew it, Jessie was leaning back in towards James. James too, was moving his head closer to hers. Jessie tilted her head sideways, with each second feeling the approaching warmth of his skin. Their cheeks brushed, and-

Knock knock!

Jessie and James snapped their heads apart and turned to see Delia opening the door and poking her head through to speak. "James, will you be staying for dinner, dear? Jessie's aunt queried, oblivious to the moment she had just interrupted.

Both teenagers were severely blushing. James quickly stood up from the bed. "Errr... I'd love to, Mrs. Ketchum, but... I had probably better get going. You didn't want to do any more maths work tonight, did you Jessie?" He said, more of a statement than a question.

Jessie stood up from the bed as well. "No, that's enough, I think. Thanks for your help," she was speaking very fast, and knew that Delia was suddenly realising that she had just intruded on something.

James picked his bag and smiled fleetingly at the two Ketchum women. "Well, thank you for the afternoon. I'll see you later."

Jessie hardly had time to respond to the farewell before James swiftly exited the room. Her and Delia remained silent until they heard the front door open and then close again downstairs.

"Honey, I'm sorry. I didn't think," Delia said apologetically. She walked over and put an arm around her niece's shoulders. "Are you and James... an item?"

Jessie looked helplessly at her aunt. "No! We weren't even doing anything. We haven't even done anything, at all. But... I think we were about to," she said, regretting that there was some bitterness showing in her voice. It was one thing for James' mother to walk in on the pair at an almost-kiss, but when it was her own aunty - ! Jessie now felt she was the one to blame for the interruption.

"Mum!" Ash's voice suddenly came from downstairs. "I think something's burning in the oven!"

A look of recollection suddenly appeared on Delia's face. "Oh no, the lasagne..." The chestnut-haired woman began towards the door. Before leaving, she turned back to Jessie, "Jess, I'm so sorry. But I know things are going to work out for you two, I promise." With that, she disappeared.

Jessie went back and sat on her bed, slightly dazed at the series of events that had just passed, and the one that had been a mere instant away from happening. She lifted her hand to touch the skin on her cheek that had so briefly brushed James'. She had almost kissed James. Jessie seemed to be able to recall every moment of the few seconds in which it happened, but one particular detail kept pressing itself into Jessie's consciousness – the fact that he had been moving in to kiss her as well.

And that's the seventh chapter finished!!! Yay!!!

Hope everyone liked this instalment! I'm starting to get these chapters out regularly now, which is good. I hope everyone is thankful (glares evilly at anyone who thinks otherwise)! Err, kidding! Heh, heh. Yeah.

Anywho, I'd really love for you to tell me what you think! Don't be scared, just drop in a review! Trust me, I won't bite! ...Hard. KIDDING! Again... yeah. Actually, I might not bite, but the herd of crocodiles I have living in my bathroom possibly will. You might just wanna watch them.

I just wanna send out another BIG THANKS to everyone who has reviewed so far! Keep them coming! A special mention to Dawn, who recognises the absolute ROCKINGNESS (new word) of the band R.E.M., and Tear22 who has been with me throughout every chapter of Evolution. You are a CHAMPION!

Hopefully you'll be hearing from me again soon!

Till next time,

BansheeGirl.