Liam bumped into Chelsea the next day as she was leaving the guidance counselor's office. She had evidently taken his advice and showed the note to Miss Snyder, but the look on her face told Liam it hadn't gone the way he had hoped.
"What did she say?" asked Liam.
Chelsea shrugged.
"She says she doesn't know who Rasmus is either," said Chelsea, "and to tell her if I get another note."
"And… that's it?" said Liam incredulously.
"Yeah," said Chelsea, "I guess."
She gave another shrug and walked away in the direction of Professor Alexander's math room. Liam was sorely tempted to barge into Miss Snyder's office and demand that she take the note more seriously, but he decided against it. He was probably just overreacting. It was only a piece of paper, after all.
The first Friday of a new school year was a big event for the foreign youth group. Liam had been exactly once—for Cass's goodbye party—and otherwise he avoided it. It wasn't that he didn't think it should exist. Spending Friday evening in a small, loud room full of people he already saw at school just wasn't his idea of a good time. His friends understood this, and never made more than a token attempt to drag him along.
"I'm guessing you're not coming to Youth Group tonight," grumbled Mori as they walked to Professor Huang's class together.
"Correct," said Liam.
"You're lucky you get a choice," said Mori. "I would skip if I could."
"Isn't Youth Group the only place you get to see Dustin outside of school?" said Liam with a sly smile.
"Yeah, but..."
Mori pushed a strand of neon-blue hair out of her eyes.
"It's not the most convenient place for making out, even without Rain to snitch on me."
"Yeah, how many incidents have you caused by making out at Youth Group again?" grinned Liam.
"Shut up," Mori muttered.
They opened the door to Professor Huang's warm, cozy classroom and sat down at the back. Sylvia and Ruth were already sitting near Professor Huang's desk, but Mori always preferred to be as far away from the teacher as she could get away with.
"I miss having this class last," said Liam as he dug through his already over-stuffed schoolbag. "Second period is too early."
"Agreed," said Mori with a sigh.
The door to the classroom opened and Stephanie Thibault came in. Liam followed her with his eyes as she took a seat behind Ruth in the front. He always liked to watch Stephanie. She had a simple elegance to her movements, without any of the awkwardness most teenagers carried at least a little of. Her sea-green eyes concealed just as much as they conveyed, but always projected both intelligence and a hint of playfulness.
"Ouch!"
Mori had flicked Liam hard on the side of the head.
"Quick staring at Stephanie's butt," she said.
"I wasn't—."
Mori flicked him again.
"Don't even try to deny it," said Mori, still holding her curled fingers threateningly close to his temples. "I saw you doing it."
Stephanie, Sylvia, and Ruth glanced back to see what was going on. Liam felt his face going red.
"I'm looking at your hand right now," said Liam, lowering his voice. "Also, why does it matter to you what I look at?"
Mori crossed her arms and looked away.
"I just think you're getting over Cass pretty quick," she muttered.
The girls in the front went back to talking among themselves.
"I go to the bathroom for two minutes and already you two are having a fight?"
Vasilio hung his backpack on the chair next to Mori and set his Pokeballs on the table.
"Liam was being a pig," said Mori. "And speaking of which—."
Mori smelled Vasilio's jacket.
"You smell like Rebecca's perfume."
"Mori, quit being weird," said Vasilio, leaning away from her.
Liam noticed that, though Vasi looked annoyed, he didn't argue with her conclusion. Mori looked like she wanted to pursue the point further, but at that moment Professor Huang called the class to attention. Professor Huang was a Nanzonese woman in her late thirties with a kind face and curly black hair. At the moment, she was cradling a Trubbish in her arms. Liam liked Professor Huang, and he was especially glad that she had interrupted their discussion with Mori. Something was bothering her, and Liam was sure it had nothing to do with him looking at Stephanie's butt.
The bell for the morning break rang. Vasilio left almost immediately to find Taylor, but Liam waited for Mori as she slowly collected her things.
"You wanna go get a snack?" said Liam cautiously.
"Sure, I guess," said Mori without looking up.
As they walked down the hall towards the student government's snack booth, Chelsea Whitaker passed them in the opposite direction.
"Hi, Liam," she said brightly.
"Hi again, Chelsea," said Liam.
Mori squinted at the 9th grader as she walked by.
"Since when are you friends with Chelsea?" asked Mori.
There was an accusatory note in her voice.
"She's joining Team Virtue," explained Liam, trying to sound casual.
"Figures," said Mori.
"Figures?"
"She wants to get back at Team Power," said Mori matter-of-factly. "Believe me, I get it."
"I don't think so." said Liam. "I'm glad she's doing it, It'll be cool to… I don't know, get to know her better."
Mori stopped and peered at Liam suspiciously.
"What?" said Liam, trying not to blush under Mori's intense gaze.
"I sometimes forget how girl-crazy you are," said Mori disappointedly. "I thought you might have reformed, but I guess all it takes is for a girl to put on curves and some makeup and suddenly you're on the prowl."
Liam rolled his eyes.
"I'm not on the prowl after Chelsea," he protested.
"Good," said Mori, "Because Chelsea may be in a C-cup now, but she's still a kid."
"And how do you know?"
"Because I'm me," said Mori, flicking Liam's shoulder. "I can just tell. She's still at that phase where she's obsessed with relationships—any relationships. Lots of girls go through it. But if you actually want a guy, you need to know who you want. Just wanting a boyfriend isn't enough. You have to want a boy and get him."
"And you're accusing me of being on the prowl," complained Liam. "What are you?"
"I already have what I want," said Mori, brushing her shoulder against Dustin, who happened to be passing, "You just need to figure out what you want."
Liam thought for a moment.
"I want Cass back," he said, as if to himself.
Mori stopped again, and before he knew what was happening, she wrapped her arms around him and pressed her face against his chest.
"I'm sorry," she said. "I need to have more faith in you. I know you miss her a lot."
"Hey, no PDA, you two!" calle Sylvia from the snack booth.
"This is not PDA," protested Liam, trying to gently pry Mori off of him. "Mori, come on. I'm fine."
Mori let go abruptly and flicked him in the face before he could defend himself.
"Ow! What did I do this time?"
"That was an affectionate flick," said Mori with a grin. "Learn the difference."
"I don't think there is a difference," grumbled Liam, rubbing his head resentfully.
They got in line at the student government's snack booth, which was being run by Sylvia and Liz. It wasn't really a booth—just some peeling shelves and a repurposed welcome counter—but it did a good business for the student government, and took up most of their time outside of planning school events. Liam and Mori gradually reached the front of the line, where they found Sylvia manning the cash drawer.
"Two chips," said Mori. "Liam's paying for mine."
Liam took out his wallet without question, but Sylvia wasn't satisfied.
"Did Liam say he would, or is he just being a pushover?" asked Sylvia, leaning over the counter like a friendly bartender.
"It's okay," said Liam, but Sylvia held up a finger to tell him to hold in tongue.
"Chips are 200 Pokedollars, Grace. Cash only."
Mori's nostrils flared.
"I can get it," insisted Liam, but Sylvia's glasses flashed dangerously, and Liam realized she was going to carry her point.
"Fine," said Mori.
She put two crumpled green bills on the counter. Sylvia straightened herself and pushed her round glasses back up her nose.
"Thank you, Grace," said Sylvia with a toothy smile. "I'll see to Mr. Holbrook now."
"Sorry," mouthed Liam to Mori, but she was already storming off.
"What was that about?" Liam asked Sylvia as she handed him his bag of chips. "Mori's going through something right now, Sylv. She doesn't need—."
"Liam," said Sylvia, crossing her arms. "You're the fourth guy this week that Mori brought here to buy her chips. It won't hurt her to pay for her own snack once."
Liam felt embarrassed. He grabbed the bag of chips that Sylvia handed to him and nibbled on them absent-mindedly as he walked alone through the fourth floor halls. He wanted to find Mori, but he had a sense she didn't want to be found. He bumped into Vasilio by his locker as they were getting their books for class.
"You okay?" asked Vasi.
Liam shrugged.
"Something's up with Mori, and I wanted to be nice to her and get her a snack, but Sylv wouldn't let me because apparently I was like the 20th guy that bought Mori a snack this week. And… I feel kinda stupid."
Vasilio closed his locker and motioned for Liam to follow him. Together, they leaned on the fourth floor railing to watch a Pokemon battle between two third graders in the atrium below.
"Mori's saving up to buy her boyfriend something," explained Vasilio. "That's why she keeps on trying to mooch off everyone else. My mom gives me money whenever I ask, so it doesn't matter to me."
A crashing sound made a few nearby students jump—a third grader's Pancham had just knocked over his opponent's Togedemaru with a Low Sweep.
"Yeah, well I didn't know that," said Liam despondently. "I thought I was just being nice, not getting played by my friend."
There was a quick flash of light as Togedemaru used Spark.
"C'mon dude," said Vasilio, flicking Liam on the shoulder. "You've known Mori long enough to know she can be kind of a—."
Vasilio paused as Professor Wort walked past.
"Kind of a bitch sometimes," he finished. "Look, you haven't even seen the worst from Mori by a long shot."
"She's been through a lot," said Liam defensively.
"I know," said Vasilio. "Remember, I was here for all of it—when her dad gave her Purrloin away, when Claire gave her that fake Valentine, when she ran—.
"I never heard about that," interrupted Liam. "The Valentine thing, I mean."
Vasilio sighed.
"That was… well, that was really bad. Claire sent this really gushy Valentine's Day card to Mori as a prank. Mori took it really seriously, and spent all day trying to find out who sent it. Most of the middle school was watching when Claire told her she did it. Mori was… well, I think that was when she first started…"
Vasilio shook his head. In the atrium below, applause and cheers told them the third grader's match had ended.
"I know Mori trusts you," said Vasilio, "but I think that's something she'll need to tell you about. She's sensitive about it."
"About what?"
"Like I said, she'll need to tell you."