"Do you like Grace Shaw?" asked Marsha.
Liam looked up at Marsha and Chelsea, trying to keep his expression neutral. He was more than a little annoyed. He had been dragged into staying after school on a Friday under the pretense that he was helping the two 9th graders with Werner's class, but there hadn't been much work done so far.
"Why do you ask?" he said.
"It's just you two hang out together a lot," said Chelsea, "And it seems like you're really close. Don't you think she's pretty?"
"Yes," said Liam hesitantly, "So?"
"Liam thinks all girls are pretty," said Marsha matter-of-factly.
Liam frowned.
"Who told you that?" asked Chelsea.
"Rebecca," said Marsha, "She has told me all about everything that happened in high school last year. She said she thought Liam and Grace were going to be a couple at first, but that Grace only likes bad boys, so it made sense that Liam and Cass ended up together, but—."
"I'm glad you're such an expert on my life," muttered Liam.
"You know, he never answered the question." said Chelsea, "Do you like Grace, Liam?"
Both of the girls were staring at him. Liam felt his face going red.
"I don't have to answer your questions," said Liam at last. "Also, she goes by Mori, and if she hears you calling her Grace it'll piss her off."
"Okay, bro," said Chelsea knowingly.
"What happened to wanting help in Tactics anyways?" asked Liam.
Marsha sighed.
"I guess we had better study," she said, "I don't understand this question about priority moves."
She held out her textbook to Liam and pointed to one of the written response questions at the end of the chapter.
"Okay," said Liam, "This one is kind of a trick question. Sucker Punch does have increased priority, but only of +1, so if it were being used against a faster Pokemon using a move like Aqua Jet, it wouldn't work, but only if that Pokemon is faster."
"What?" said Marsha blankly.
"Let me break it down," said Liam, feeling uncomfortable in the role of instructor, "So, imagine you have a Murkrow with Sucker Punch, and you're going against a… I don't know, what's a Pokemon that's faster than Murkrow that learns Aqua Jet?"
"Sharpedo," said Marsha immediately.
Evidently battle camp was good for something.
"Right," said Liam, "So, if Sharpedo were to use Aqua Jet, which has the same amount of increased priority as Sucker Punch, Aqua Jet would go first because Sharpedo is faster than Murkrow, and Sucker Punch would fail because Sucker Punch has to move first to succeed. Does that, uh, make sense?"
Marsha still looked perplexed, but Chelsea nodded vigorously.
"So in the next question," said Chelsea, scooting closer to the textbook, "It asks what would happen if a Pokemon uses Sucker Punch against another Pokemon using Fake Out. Does the same thing happen there?"
"No," said Liam, "Because Fake Out has even higher priority than Sucker Punch. It's so fast that it goes before everything."
"This is hard," said Chelsea, holding her head in frustration.
"Yes it is," said Marsha. "So Liam, what about Stephanie Thibault? Is she pretty?"
"Yes," said Liam. "Of course she is."
"Ooooh," said the girls in unison.
Liam rolled his eyes.
"As a question, 'Is Stephanie pretty?' is more of a vision test than anything else," grumbled Liam. "Anyways, I thought you were worried about that B."
"So what you mean is you're in love with her," said Chelsea slyly.
"I think we have found the truth at last," said Marsha with a satisfied nod. She gave her friend a high five.
"You're free to think that if you like," said Liam. "You're wrong, but... whatever."
Chelsea noticed the weary and annoyed expression in Liam's eyes.
"Let's do one more question," she said, "then we should get going."
"Okay," said Marsha.
Liam glanced gratefully at Chelsea. He was glad there was someone with a little bit of tact to balance out Marsha's ill-timed inquisitiveness. Their eyes met, and Liam grunted and reached for the textbook again.
"You're still not over Cass, huh bro?" said Chelsea quietly.
"You're perceptive," Liam granted. "For a freshman."
"Ugh! Liam, Chez, stop flirting and help me with this question!" Marsha whined.
Chelsea laughed the accusation away and opened her textbook. Liam, however, paused for a moment.
"What?" said Chelsea, noticing his expression.
"Oh, sorry," said Liam. "I just didn't know people called you Chez."
"Well, you don't really know me that well, bro."
"I don't really know priority that well," said Marsha irritably. "Hurry, let's do question five. I thought you two wanted to go."
They slogged their way through the final question, with Liam doing the best he could to explain the finer points of non-damaging increased-priority moves. After about ten minutes, Marsha gave a defeated sigh and snapped her textbook shut.
"Sorry," said Liam. "I told you I wasn't an expert."
"You've been very helpful," said Marsha in a forced way. "Same time next week?"
Liam was surprised Marsha and Chelsea wanted to make a habit of these study sessions, but he wasn't against it.
"Sure," said Liam. "I'll see you two Monday."