***AUTHORESS NOTES***

NIL is back from the dead!

Sorry for the lack of updates but school has kept me incredibly busy.
Who knew 8th grade would be so hard?

But hey, at least I'm attempting to update now...

Just to let y'all know, part 5 of Emerald Ashes will be up pretty soon-I
sent the first rough draft to Twisted Alyx earlier this morning. I also
wrote a new one-shot called "Wake Me Up When September Ends" after my
current favorite song-it's egoshipping, I'm warning you now! I know at
least a few of you will be interested though, so check it out. In case
you don't know, egoshipping means Gary/Misty romance. There's very
little romance though. Just a bit of drama and fluff.

So yeah, I think that's it. I have school off tomorrow (I had it off
today) so I'll try to finish off Team Rocket Strikes Back.

Oh yeah, I remember the last thing I was going to say: Thanks to whoever
nominated me for the General category of BIC's! A friend of mine
confessed to nominating "Sapphire Sunsets" (thanks Carmella! You're a
sweetie. ^^) but I still don't know who nominated "Hold On". Thanks
though!

Yep, now that's it...

Here's part 9!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chapter 09: Chloe's Phone Call


     "Here are your Pokemon, Candace," smiled the nurse at the counter.
"I'll get you the keys to your rooms in a moment. I have to check on a
patient first though."

     "Can I walk yet? I'm getting really impatient," came the infamous
voice of Jenifer Frost from the back.

    All of the sudden, an idea came to a certain blond girl. You could
practically see a lightbulb above her head. "Didn't you say you needed
some supplies, Candace?" questioned Chloe.

     "Yeah, I need a few potions. And a couple antidotes now that I
think about it," the brunette responded.

     "Well, why don't me and Chase wait here for the keys and you and
Jeremy go get supplies while the mart is open?" smiled the blonde.

     "Sounds fine to me," shrugged Candace.

     "I don't need any supplies though," argued Jeremy.

     "The gym is open for another hour, Jeremy. Why don't you try your
luck?" It was a good thing that Candace was sort of naive and that
Jeremy just wasn't all that bright. Her idea would never work if either
were there.

     "I need a little more training," he responded. "No, wait! I do need
some more potions. I'll go with Candace." It took a lot of self-control
not to sigh with relief, but she still managed to hold it in.

     "Let's go now before it closes," Candace exclaimed, grabbing her
friend by the hand and dragging him out the door. As soon as they were
out of sight, Chloe and Chase grinned triumphantly at each other.

    "Score!" she cheered. "I knew I could convince them both out of
here."

     "Do you have a plan?" questioned the curly-haired boy.

     "Duh," Chloe replied with a roll of the eyes, sounding very much
like a certain unprofessional matchmaker named Candace Lowilla Parker.

     Nurse Joy chose that very moment to come back in the room. Two keys
were in her right hand. "Here are your keys. Sorry that took so long,"
she apologized.

     Chloe flashed a charming smile at the nurse. "It's no problem,
Nurse Joy. Actually, I have a question for you."

     "Okay, what is it?" she asked with a smile. You could tell that she
really liked her job, just like the hundreds of other Nurse Joys spread
among the regions of Kanto, Johto, Hoenn and Lasona. 

     "Is there a boy staying here named Taylor Flora?" 

     Chase nearly choked on the piece of spearmint gum he was chewing
on. Was Chloe planning on calling him for Candace? "I couldn't tell you
right off the bat," the nurse told her. "Give me a few minutes to look
it up and I'll get back to you."

     Nurse Joy excused herself to go back into the back and process
Chloe's request. Chase turned back to the blonde, who was grinning like
she had just found a bunch of money or something.

     "Why did you ask her that?" he questioned, raising one bushy
eyebrow.

     "Because if he's staying here, we could go ask him out for Candace.
Or we could call him!" 

     "And how do you expect to tell Candace we hooked her up with a
total stranger?"

     "Easy. I'll tell her I made plans for the three of us to hang out
and when we get to the restaurant or the coffee house or wherever we go,
you barge in and remind me we have plans and then we leave them by
themselves!" She had really worked this out. And it WAS foolproof...
Kind of...

     "I don't know, Chloe..." he said unsurely, but her smile only got
wider and her eyes more pleading.

     "Please, Chase? We just HAVE to do this for Candace and Jeremy!"
she wheedled.

     He sighed, giving in to her. "This better work out."

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

     The phone rang once. Twice. Chloe bit her lip. "What if he's not in
his room?" she asked the curly-haired boy who sat on the edge of the
twin bed with her.

     Three times. Four. And then finally, "Hello?" He seemed unsure
about something.

     "Hi, is this Taylor?" Chloe asked, wanting to cheer or something.
Just ANYTHING to let out this incredible feeling of relief.

     "Yeah, who's this?" asked Taylor Flora of room 322. 

     "My name's Chloe. You ran into my friend Candace earlier? Or she
ran into you... Something like that... Does that ring a bell?" she asked
nervously. Chase sighed in the background.

     "I'm going to guess you're the blonde girl in the group," he said
hesitantly.

     "Yes!" Chloe exclaimed. "Listen, maybe I shouldn't say anything but
my friend Candace? The one who ran into you? She thought you were cute,
so I kind of took the responsibility to ask you if you wanted to hang
out with us sometime." Chase sighed again, and rolled his eyes toward
the ugly ceiling.

     "Um, that sounds okay. I'm going to be in Catechi for like, a week
or something, I came to see a friend and she's not doing too well." This
'friend' was more than likely Jenn Frost. Were they going out? Or were
they really just close friends? For the plan's sake, she hoped the
latter.

     "Are you busy tomorrow night?" she asked hopefully.

     "No, actually not. Is seven thirty okay?" Taylor questioned.

     "Perfect. See you then!" she chirped and then hung up the phone.
Chase raised his eyebrows at her. 

     "You're extremely subtle," he noted sarcastically. She just grinned
at him.

     "This will all work out perfectly, Chase. Don't even worry."