"I will bet you an ice tea that she won't finish this equation before the bell rings," whispered Vasilio.
"I have a better idea," said Liam. "I will bet you five ice teas that she will never finish an equation at any point this year."
Despite Vasilio's initial cautious optimism, Coach Tang's Pokemon Chemistry class had turned out to be exactly what everyone feared it would be—a muddled, confusing slog through a complex subject that even Coach Tang clearly didn't understand that well. Watching their teacher spend half the class trying to balance a relatively simple chemical equation quickly became a regular feature, and this Friday it was an especially unwelcome one.
"Somebody should ask her about the time she caught Pokerus," said Vasilio with a grin.
"Don't you dare," said Mori in a panicked whisper. "Vasi, if you say one word, I will—."
Vasilio raised his hand. Mori, in turn, pounced on him and did everything she could to wrestle his arm out of the air before Coach Tang noticed it. It was a pointless scuffle. Coach Tang was so absorbed in solving the problem on the board that she didn't notice either Vasilio's hand or the sound of Mori trying to choke him to death. When the last bell of the day finally rang, Liam wasn't the only one that gave an audible sigh of relief.
"Lock-in time!" said Vasilio, doing a drum roll on his desk.
"Hooray," Mori groaned.
She looked particularly sour. Clearly the prospect of spending an evening alone with her parents was weighing heavily on her. As she packed her things listlessly into her bag, Liam noticed her black notebook peeking out of its main pocket.
"So, what are you gonna do tonight, Mori?" asked Vasilio.
He sounded casual, but Liam could tell he was concerned.
"Read some yaoi and feel sorry for myself," replied Mori dryly.
Liam gave an uncomfortable cough, but Vasilio snorted.
"I'll call you later and tell you how it's going," he said. "I wouldn't want you to get too lonely."
Mori shrugged, but Liam thought he caught a glimpse of a barely-repressed smile.
"We'll walk you to the bus," put in Liam.
"Okay, now you're just coddling me," said Mori, rolling her eyes. "I'll be fine. You two have fun. Liam, talk to some girls. I'll see you guys on Monday."
"You sure you don't wanna do something tomorrow?" said Vasili as they left the chemistry room. "Maybe get some lunch at Feather and Petal Street?"
"Now you're just being stupid," said Mori. "You guys will not be awake enough for anything tomorrow."
"Fair point," Vasi acknowledged.
Liam regretted agreeing to stay for the lock-in almost as soon as it began. He stuck close to Vasilio through the ice-breaker games, but Rebecca's presence made him feel like an awkward third wheel. It wasn't that he didn't like Rebecca, or that Rebecca, Vasi, and the others didn't include him—Liam just found the highly-structured socializing and mingling tiresome, and having to share Vasilio with his doting pseudo-girlfriend meant he had no one to complain to. By the time the pizza finally arrived, Liam was thinking enviously of the uncomfortable dinner Mori was having with her parents. He would have gladly taken tense silences over this many people.
As the students lined up for pizza, Arthur came by and collected Vasilio from their group. Liam took the opportunity to ditch Rebecca and Liz and join the girls from his class at another table. He was glad to see that he wasn't the only one who had taken more slices than was polite—Ruth had piled her plate even higher than his.
"Looks like we should've put Ruth in the competition instead of Vasi," teased Sylvia.
Ruth stuck her tongue out at Sylvia and took a large, resentful bite of pizza.
"Oh, let Ruth eat in peace," said Liam. "Also, what competition?"
As if in answer to his question, Arthur, armed with a microphone and a cheeky grin, lept onto a nearby table.
"Ladies and gentlemen," said Arthur dramatically, his voice echoing through the school atrium, "Welcome to the battle of the century! In this corner: with a voice that will break your heart and a guitar that will break your eardrums, a rock god who trained under Silas himself, the Don Juan from Driftveil City—Taylor Moran!"
Taylor bowed dramatically as the students cheered and whistled.
"Don't worry girls, I'm here all night," said Taylor as he blew kisses.
"And in this corner," said Arthur, pointing to Vasilio. "The azure-eyed sophomore from Fall City in Fiore—sorry ladies, he's taken—the Ice-type underdog with a stomach of steel—Vasilio Autunno-Gallagher!"
Liam and the other sophomores cheered wildly, but none of them were as loud as Rebecca, who whistled and made hearts shapes at Vasi with her hands.
"And now, their challenge," said Arthur, lowering his voice to draw in the watching students. "For the next five minutes, these two contestants must eat as many slices of pizza as possible. Each slice must be fully consumed—crust included. Only fully-devoured slices will be counted towards your total. Whoever eats the most pizza will be crowned Grand Glutton and will win a date with my sister, the student council president, to Santiago's Coffee House!"
"I thought we agreed to make your Steelix the grand prize!" called Sylvia.
The other students laughed. Arthur, as usual, couldn't quite keep up with his younger sister.
"Okay, so maybe I made up that last part," mumbled Arthur sheepishly. "You get a plastic Snorlax medal and a gift card."
"Sounds good to me, dude," said Taylor, licking his lips."You all ready to lose, Vasi?"
"Only if you are," said Vasilio with a smirk.
"Get ready," shouted Arthur. "Get set…. Eat!"
The crowd of students and Pokemon that formed around Taylor and Vasi blocked Liam's view, but he could tell from the occasional cheers and growing chants of "Taylor! Taylor!" that the competition was proving pretty one sided. He thought about getting closer to support his friend, but he figured Vasi—who knew how Liam felt about crowds—would understand if he didn't. As Arthur's buzzing phone announced the end of the five minutes, Liam wasn't at all surprised to see Taylor climb onto the table with him and begin giving comic curtseys and bows.
"I think Taylor ate his entire weight in pizza," groaned Vasilio as he joined his classmates at their table.
"I told you we should have sent Ruth," said Sylvia with a toothy grin.
"I am not a glutton," Ruth insisted. "I just… enjoy eating."
"Yeah, what Ruth needs is a test of endurance," snickered Liam. "See how much pizza she can eat in five hours, not five minutes. She'll crush us all."
Ruth cocked her head.
"Thank you?" said Ruth, clearly still pondering whether it really was a compliment.
"You're welcome," said Liam. "I guess."
"Liam."
Liam looked up from his third plate of pizza, wondering if he was somehow in trouble. Miss Snyder was standing over him with her arms crossed.
"What did I do?"
"Nothing," said Miss Snyder. "Well, almost nothing. Silas wants to talk to you about Chelsea."
"Oh," said Liam. "Like, now?"
"No, next week," said Miss Snyder with a roll of her eyes. "Yes, now. He's over there. I've got some things to take care of. Don't make the school look bad."
"How often have I done that?"
"Never," said Miss Snyder. "But you could always start now. It's my job to head off potential delinquents. Get going, the Champion's time is valuable."
Liam pushed his plate across the table to Ruth and got up.
"Don't take too long," said Vasilio. "Victory Road is starting in like 10 minutes."
Liam wasn't sure what "Victory Road" was, but he was sure he didn't mind if he missed it. With his Sneasel perched on his shoulder, Liam crossed the atrium to where Silas, the League Champion of the Four Region, was leaning against the column near the door. He wasn't hard to recognize—from his spiked blonde hair to his heavy black boots, Silas exuded coolness and confidence.
"Liam, right?" said Silas.
"Yeah."
"You've bumped into Team Power quite a bit."
Liam nodded. Silas' tone wasn't accusatory, but here was still something in it Liam couldn't quite place.
"You've got no idea who's sending Chelsea those notes?"
"No," said Liam.
Silas frowned.
"That poor kid," he mused. "After what happened last year…"
"Hello Liam, Silas."
Liam turned and found himself caught between the Pokemon League Champion and Principal Kahakai, who was wearing a burgundy cardigan and a wide smile.
"Mariam," said Silas with a nod.
Liam recalled that Silas had graduated long before Principal Kahakai took up her post at Everspring, and had therefore never known her as a student, only as a fellow adult.
"Miss Snyder just told me you were here about the odd note Chelsea found," said Principal Kahakai. "I hope it wasn't too much of a shock."
Silas grimaced.
"I heard about Raz just a few minutes before I got Christine's call," he explained. "It happened last week—Thursday night. One of the monks had to walk three days to get down from the temple cave, and then it took a long time to make its way to the Tubon Plateau."
"Is there any danger for the school?" asked Principal Kahakai, her smile fading. "Should the students—?"
Silas shook his head.
"Raz is dangerous, but it'll be a long time before he's dangerous to us in Nanzo. I'd be more worried for Team Power. Either way, he'll be in a bad state. Imagine waking up after being asleep for three years. It'll take a long time for him to get it together."
"Good," said Principal Kahakai.
They were all silent for a moment.
"Do you, uh, need me for anything else?" asked Liam
"You're good," said Silas. "Thanks for helping me out, Liam."
Liam didn't feel like he had been helpful at all, but the approval of someone as cool as Silas still made him feel cool by proxy, and he wasn't going to quibble with that. With an awkward smile and a slight bow, Liam excused himself and went looking for Vasi. He wasn't anywhere in the school atrium, but with a little help from Rebecca, Liam found him pacing the second floor landing with his phone to his ear.
"Yeah… No, we just finished. Taylor won. Yeah, don't rub it in… You sure you're doing okay? ...Yeah, he's fine. Yeah, I'll tell him to call you… Mori, are you… Yeah, okay. I'll talk to you tomorrow. Mori—."
Vasilio sighed heavily and put his phone in his pocket.
"How's she doing?" asked Liam.
"Well, she got in a fight with her dad," said Vasi gloomily. "And I called her before Dustin did, which made her mad at me, even though…"
He sniffed.
"It's hard to feel sorry for her when she acts like such a bitch when you try to care."
Vasi drummed his fingers on the railing and shrugged.
"She's actually doing alright this year," he granted. "All things considered."
"Well, that's good, right?"
"I guess," said Vasi. "I'm still not a big fan of the Mori-Dustin thing. I know why she thinks I'm not a fan, but that doesn't matter to me. I'm not jealous. I just know it's going to end with her getting hurt."
"Why?" said Liam. "I mean, why are you so sure Mori's gonna get hurt?"
"Because I called her first," said Vasilio simply.
Vasilio's phone buzzed again.
"It's Rebecca," he said, looking at the screen. "It's probably time for—hi. Yeah. we'll be done in a minute. See you."
He hung up.
"Victory Road time," said Vasi with a grin.
"What's Victory Road?" asked Liam apprehensively.
"You'll see."