Before Team Rocket had consumed his life, Giovanni had been more attentive to his son than most working fathers. He had taught the boy right from wrong and for the most part, his lessons had been similar to those given to children in normal circumstances. By the time he was four years old, the boy understood the difference between good and evil better than most adults. He also knew the difference between murder and manslaughter, something that had needed to be explained after an unfortunate incident with two Grunts and a machete.

Silver didn't know what he'd done wrong. He was usually aware of the moments when he was being an asshole, either because someone had called him out on it, or he was enjoying something too much. He hadn't enjoyed calling Lyra a whiny bitch, but he figured that it was appropriate considering she'd just spent five minutes shouting at him. He hadn't been expecting the slap in the face that followed his comment, or for his friend to storm off, leaving the two boys alone in the Pokémon Centre bedroom.

"What'd I do?"

"Called her a whiny bitch, asshole."

"Yeah, and? I call her that every day."

"You picked a bad day to call her a whiny bitch," Ethan scoffed knowingly. Silver glared at him from the desk chair.

"How is today a bad day? Tell me that. She was fine ten minutes ago."

"Yeah, and?"

"And what?"

Their conversation was interrupted as Lyra stomped back into the room. The two boys stared at her as she picked up her bag, throwing it angrily onto her shoulder.

"I'm going home," she snapped.

"Like, New Bark Town?"

"Yes, New Bark Town!" Lyra threw her hands up, exasperated by Silver's question.

"See you," the red-head added, without looking up from his Pokégear. It wasn't until after the door slammed, again, that a pillow came hurling towards his face. "What's your problem?!"

"My problem? What's up her ass today?"

"You're kidding, right?"

"What?" Silver finally looked up when Ethan with the tone he got when he knew things other people didn't. "Just tell me what you know," he sighed. Ethan grinned, proud of himself, and sat up a little straighter to indicate his superiority. Silver rolled his eyes.

"It's just, y'know, her time of the month."

"What?"

"She'll be normal again in a couple of days. Man, you're lucky you've never caught Kris on hers, she's dangerous."

"Yeah, still not following," Silver said, finally slipping his Pokégear into his pocket. He looked over to see that Ethan still had that smug grin of his plastered all over his face.

"She's on her period, she'll be fine. You might not be though, she was pretty pissed."

"So why was she pissed?"

"You'd be pissed if your vagina was bleeding. Again."

"Yeah, stop there. I don't want to know."

"What, you don't already know that shit?" Ethan asked, sitting forward on the edge of his bed. "You know what a vagina is though, right?"

"Okay, shut up," Silver said, returning his attention to the Pokégear so he didn't have to see the look of disbelief on his friends' face. "I know, I just don't need to know more."

"Oh man, seriously? You don't need the whole 'Pidgeys and Beedrills' speech, do you?"

"No, I got that."

"And?" Ethan laughed at Silver's expression of vague disgust.

"And it was Petrel that told me. I don't need to hear any more."

"He wasn't so bad."

"He was when he was talking about that."

"So he explained how girls work?"

"Kind of."

"Kind of?"

"He'd tell me when to be nice to Ariana."

"Your education is seriously lacking," Ethan said, standing up. "Wait here," he added.

"As if you know what you're talking about!" he shouted as the dark-haired boy left the room. He checked the room for an escape route, planning to leave before Ethan got back. The window seemed like his only choice, since he didn't know where he'd gone in the house. It was only one floor off the ground, he'd be fine if he jumped. He was sure there was a garden outside, but had no idea if it was below Ethan's window.

"I do, because," the self-assured voice interrupted Silver's escape plan, "once when she was thirteen, Kris slapped me so hard my neck cracked. They told me everything then."

"That would've been a fun family event."

"Shut up," Ethan scowled. "Just take all this, go to her house, and say you're sorry."

"I'm not sorry."

"So? Tell her you are."

"Why?"

"Because that's just how girls work. They're crazy. I bet you ten bucks she'll cry."

"What? Never mind," Silver said. He stood up and snatched the plastic bag from Ethan's hand, not caring to see what was inside it. He didn't know much about girls, that much was true, but he found it hard to believe that Ethan knew any more accurate information about them than he did.