Chapter 13

"I still can't believe the price," said Misty for the ninth time as the glass doors slid open, giving them access to the Cerulean City Gym.

"Well, she said it'd be cheep," Miranda replied with a shrug, putting the awkward cardboard box she held on the reception desk and checking the time on her watch, "Well, we've got about an hour to get ready... Mind if I make a phone call?"

"Sure," said Misty with a shrug and a hint of mirth as she headed on towards the main area while Miranda reached for the phone, "My sisters have to pay the bill, not me."

Behind her she heard Miranda's short laugh before the vid-phone announced that it had obtained a connection and the woman turned the volume down. "I'll be up stairs!" called Misty over her shoulder, half noting that Miranda waved an affirmative as her sisters came down the stairs.

As they often were, the three sisters were as done up as humanly possible, but this time, their attire was far more formal. Their dresses seemed more like ball gowns than simple formal wear, and Miranda was certain that the way they clung tightly at the waist as well as pushing up at the bosom was excruciatingly uncomfortable.

"What's with the fancy get-up?" inquired Misty, her intuition suddenly sounding an alarm.

"Oh, like I can't believe we so forgot to tell you, little sister!" laughed Violet, giving her best "Oh, I'm so forgetful" pose, "As Cerulean City's Gym Leaders, we received passes to the opening of that new restaurant! Isn't it, like, such a cool coincidence that we only got, like, three? But your friend there went and won you both passes? Pretty neat, eh?"

Misty twitched a little, feeling her heart sink and suddenly using every once of her willpower not to simply grab the three spoiled, manipulative brats and toss them all head first into the pool. 'At least then they'd be late, ' she thought sullenly. "Oh, then I guess we'll see you there then," she replied with the false cheer they always ignored anyway, "have fun."

"Oh, but do you know what would be so, like, cool?" asked Lily in a tone that had all the subtlety of an air strike, "If we, like, all went together! Then we could all sit at one big table and talk about old times and stuff!"

Misty felt her insides clench as a sudden anger threatened to cause her to burst. "No..." she said quietly through gritted teeth, somehow containing herself as she clenched her fists and almost crumpled the box containing her new dress before raising her voice to a yell, "You are NOT ruining MY perfect evening with Miranda! Not now not EVER!"