"Heheheh."
Liam jerked awake. It was early morning—a pink and orange glow flooded the art room—but it took Liam a moment to work out where he was and why he was there. Orchid Ng was sleeping soundly on his shoulder, his Sneasel curled in her lap. Taylor was standing over them with a wide grin.
"Oh, young love," said Taylor wistfully. "You two are lucky it was me who found you and not Christine."
"More like young tiredness," said Liam, rubbing his eyes. "What time is it?"
"A little after five," said Taylor. "How long have you two been cuddling on the floor?"
Taylor nudged Orchid with his foot. Orchid groaned, blinked up at Taylor, and gave a frightened squeak. She scrambled to her feet with a look of terror in her eyes, sending Liam's Sneasel tumbling to the floor.
"T-Taylor!" she stammered. "I… I…"
"Dang, you move quick, Orchid," said Taylor teasingly. "You at least could have told me something."
Orchid's face had gone so red Liam could have mistaken it for a medical emergency. She looked like she was about to run.
"Taylor, we weren't cuddling," said Liam, determined to defuse the situation before Orchid lost her head completely. "We were just talking and it was late and we fell asleep."
"Hey, Orchid," said Taylor, putting a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "I'm kidding. Don't worry about it. Weird stuff happens at lock-ins. People fall asleep in all kinds of weird places. Arthur's asleep on top of the middle school lockers right now. I'm going to wake him up next."
Orchid smiled despite herself, and she appeared to calm down. She still clearly found the entire situation very embarrassing, and she carefully avoided Liam's eyes as they collected their things and followed Taylor to the middle school lockers on the third floor. Sure enough, Arthur Liu was curled up on top of them, dozing peacefully with one leg dangling off the side.
"Wake up, sleeping prince," said Taylor, rattling the lockers.
"Go away," moaned Arthur.
"I'm comin' back with Liz and she won't be nice," said Taylor. "Last chance."
Arthur waved them away. Taylor shrugged, tossed his long black hair, and beckoned for them to follow him downstairs. They found most of the high school gathered at folding tables in the atrium, enjoying an eclectic breakfast of eggs, bacon, baozi, rice porridge, and—to Liam's amazement—erkuai.
"How did they get erkuai?" asked Liam as he snatched one each of the sweet peanut and spicy varieties.
"I have connections," said Sylvia. "Being a local has its perks."
Although Arthur and Sylvia were both Unovan citizens, their parents were from Nanzo—their father, Mr. Liu, was Everspring City's police commissioner, while their mother's family had founded one of the most successful companies in Nanzo, taking advantage of the economic liberalization that began with the region's opening to the world three decades ago.
"I didn't see you at the dance party," said Vasilio, nudging Liam with his shoulder.
The dark circles around Vasilio's bloodshot eyes told Liam he hadn't slept a wink.
"Yeah, I was asleep," said Liam with a yawn. "I wish I was still asleep."
Liam, Vasilio, Taylor, and Orchid found an empty table and settled down to enjoy their breakfast. They were joined shortly by Rebecca, who looked decidedly grouchy with her black hair tied up in a very messy bun, and Liz, who was laughing to herself.
"That idiot," she said, taking the seat across from Taylor. "How did he even get up there?"
"Arthur is a man of many talents," said Taylor, taking a bite of his erkuai. "One of them is sleepin' in high and uncomfortable places."
"I'm gonna have my Heracross blast him with Bullet Seed if he's not up by six," said Liz. "But I guess I'll let him sleep. For now."
Liam snorted and took another bite of his erkuai. In the seat next to him, Orchid was still avoiding his gaze.
"You alright?" he asked.
"...yeah," Orchid mumbled.
Liam wondered what was bothering her so much. Sure, falling asleep side by side had been a little embarrassing, but Taylor was right—weird things happened at lock-ins. At least they hadn't fallen asleep on top of the middle school lockers.
"When do we get to go home?" asked Liam.
"Seven," said Vasilio. "Anyone got an Electric-type? I need a wake-up jolt."
The mention of Electric-types would have turned Liam's thoughts to Cass, but at that moment two unexpected people took the remaining seats at their table.
"Hey, Taylor," said Dustin in a raspy voice.
Annalise, Dustin's second-in-command within the small clique he led, sat down next to him.
"Hey, man," said Taylor. "Where've you been?"
Dustin mimed taking a long puff on a cigarette. Taylor gave a forced snort, but Orchid's eyes glittered as she gazed at the cool, rule-breaking senior. Liam understood why Orchid, and Mori, and so many others found Dustin so entrancing. He was quiet and, despite his prominent slouch, confident, with curly, reddish hair and dark freckles. His dark eyes projected a detached intelligence, as if he were too good for everyone and everything around him. A slight smirk always played around his lips, as if there were some joke only he and his crew were in on. He wore thick, black studs in both ears.
"This whole night's been so boring," said Annalise in her emotionless deadpan. "At least they finally gave us something edible."
Annalise had long hair like Orchid's, only her's was brown and parted down the middle. Her staring brown eyes and sallow face revealed as little as her tone of voice, but her mouth seemed to hint at the same big in-joke that Dustin's did.
"You think everything's boring, Annalise," said Taylor through a mouth full of bean sprout and rice cake.
"Did you call Mori?" asked Vasilio abruptly.
Dustin shrugged.
"She didn't call me," he said dismissively, "So I assume she's fine."
Vasilio scowled, but a meaningful glance from Taylor told him to drop the subject.
"Where were you all night, bro?"
Liam turned to see Marsha and Chelsea hobbling together out of the school gate, looking like participants in a three-legged race for tired people. They wobbled slightly as they walked, clinging to each other and resting their heads on each others' shoulders.
"Asleep," said Liam. "Like a sane person. What about you?"
"We ate, we fought, we danced, we sang…" chanted Marsha wearily.
"We died," added Chelsea.
Liam chuckled. He decided to slow down so the 9th grade girls could catch up with him.
"Ooh, are you escorting us to the bus stop?" said Marsha punchily. "What a fine gentleman."
"I'm just worried you two'll get on the wrong bus and end up in Jadetower," Liam protested. "Seriously, you're walking proof that staying up all night isn't a good idea."
"But we had a good time," said Chelsea. "Unlike you."
"Who said I didn't have a good time?" said Liam.
"Well, did you?"
Liam shrugged.
"I got to hang out with Orchid a bit. That was cool."
"Ooooh," said the girls in unison.
"Oh, are you two going to interrogate me about Orchid at our next study session?" said Liam, rolling his eyes.
"Maybe," said Marsha.
Liam knew that meant yes.