"Well, well, well," said Taylor as Liam stepped through the school gate the next morning. "Look who's dating a freshman like a complete loser. Robbing the cradle. Have you no shame?"
He gave Liam a congratulatory slap on the back.
"Who told you?' said Liam, feeling secretly pleased that his relationship with Chelsea was already common knowledge.
"Orchid," said Taylor. "Which is too bad, because I was kinda hopin' something was gonna happen between her and you, you know what I'm sayin'? Plus I put all that work in to getting you and Cass back together. But I won't hold it against you."
"Thanks," said Liam sarcastically.
Vasilio gave Liam another—even harder—congratulatory backslap.
"Ow!"
"Took you long enough," said Vasilio. "You want all those make-out spots now or later?"
"Maybe later," said Liam. "I, uh… crap."
Marsha was striding towards him like an angry Scyther, and he thought he saw his doom glistening in her black eyes.
"What?" said Vasilio.
"I think I'm about to be decapitated."
Marsha stopped in front of Liam, squinting fiercely up at him. Liam rubbed his neck nervously.
"Chelsea is very happy," announced Marsha.
She then turned on her heel and strode off. Vasilio and Taylor burst into laughter at Liam's evident relief.
"Guess the crazy best friend comes with the territory," Taylor observed.
"Yeah," said Liam. "It's worth it though."
"That's disgustingly cute," said Vasilio. "Don't let Mori hear you talking like that—unless you wanna get strangled."
Liam laughed. One side effect of being in love was being a little less afraid of Mori.
"Liam!"
Miss Snyder was calling to him from across the schoolyard. Ordinarily, this would be cause for anxiety, but Liam was in such an excellent mood that he wasn't really worried. With a shrug, he left his friends by the gate and met Miss Snyder by the doors to the campus' main building.
"Hey Christine," said Liam. "What's up?"
"Cheeky today," Miss Snyder observed. "Follow me."
Liam was surprised to see Mori sitting on the couch as he followed Miss Snyder into the office.
"Can you wait outside for a moment, Grace?" said the guidance counselor.
Without a word or glance at Liam, Mori got up and left, closing the door behind her. Liam looked curiously at Miss Snyder.
"Why was Mori—?"
"Not your business," said Miss Snyder curtly. "Sit down."
Liam reluctantly sat down on Miss Snyder's couch and waited as the guidance counselor put a stack of forms away in her filing cabinet.
"I want you to appoint another student officer for Team Virtue," said Miss Snyder as she finally sat down at her desk.
"Oh," said Liam. "Uh… why?"
Miss Snyder's freckled nose twitched slightly.
"To put it frankly, it's not appropriate for you to be running Team Virtue by yourself and dating one of the initiates."
"Oh," said Liam sheepishly. "So, you… heard about me and... "
Miss Snyder gave a confident smirk.
"Right, you find out about everything," said Liam. "You know, Tim Choi is technically—."
"When's the last time he came to a meeting?"
Liam swallowed.
"It was… maybe, early November?"
Miss Snyder opened her planner and began writing a note.
"Have another officer picked out before the end of the week," she said. "I'll check with you on Friday morning. Got it?"
Liam nodded. He wasn't sure how he was going to find someone before Friday. He didn't have that many options. He respected all the younger initiates but none of them—Jera perhaps excepted—were more than average Pokemon trainers.
"Alright, get out of here," said Miss Snyder brusquely. "And send in Grace Shaw if she's still out there."
Liam climbed slowly to his feet. He had thought there wasn't anything that could spoil his mood that morning, but he felt decidedly down as he stepped out into the hall. He found Mori leaning against the wall with her arms crossed.
"Christine says you can go in," said Liam.
Mori fixed her large, black eyes on Liam, studying him carefully.
"So it was him," said Mori glumly. "I figured."
"What?"
"Forget it," said Mori. "I'll see you in class. Maybe."
She stepped around him and closed the door of Miss Snyder's office. The morning bell rang. Liam took a deep breath.
"Hey, bro."
Liam jumped. Chelsea was just inches away from him, and he definitely hadn't heard her approaching.
"H-hey Chez," said Liam breathlessly. "Did you teleport to school?"
Chelsea nodded proudly.
"I actually woke up five minutes ago," she confessed as they started walking towards her homeroom. "So I'm not just slacking on my makeup because I've caught you now."
Liam snorted. His fingers felt their way to hers, and their pinkies and ring fingers furtively intertwined. Even this was technically against the rules, but Liam couldn't help it. He needed to touch her. He had missed her in a way he knew was totally irrational. He had lain awake in his bed, staring at his top bunk and replaying the day in his head over and over again. Now—finally—he was with her again. And, as they arrived at the door to Professor Wort's science classroom, it was already time to part again.
"I could get used to my boyfriend walking me to homeroom," Chelsea said wistfully.
She reluctantly loosened her grasp on Liam's fingers.
"Well," said Liam, leaning in to risk a goodbye kiss. "I guess I'll see you at—."
"Don't even think about, buster."
The voice was Sylvia's. She grabbed Liam by the arm and began escorting him back down the hall and away from his girlfriend. Chelsea looked torn between mortification and amusement, and she managed a sheepish smile before she disappeared into Wort's classroom. Liam knew better than to fight against Sylvia's grip.
"Did I just fall afoul of your new anti-PDA campaign or something?" Liam grumbled.
"Actually, Vasi sent me to collect you," said Sylvia pleasantly. "He was worried you'd be late to class for some reason."
"What a great friend," said Liam, rolling his eyes.
Even Professor Rollon had a knowing smirk ready for Liam when he arrived in the sophomore homeroom as Sylvia's prisoner. Liam was, of course, secretly pleased by the attention, but he kept up the appearance of being annoyed as well as he could.
"I have rescued him from almost certain temptation," announced Sylvia as she marched Liam to his usual seat.
"Yay for me," said Liam. "Come on, Sylv, I think I'm safe from any PDA violations now."
"Ooh, what'd he do?" said Vasilio with a smirk.
"Nothing!" Liam insisted.
"Attempted PDA," said Sylvia.
"That is very serious," Ruth concurred.
"You can't arrest someone for attempted PDA," said Liam.
"Liam's right, Sylv. That's not even a real thing," Vasilio pointed out.
Professor Rollon chuckled. The second morning bell rang, and Stephanie closed the door to the Literature classroom. Glancing around, Liam confirmed what he had already been suspecting.
Mori was nowhere to be seen.
"Is she still with Christine?" Liam wondered aloud.
Vasilio shrugged, but Liam noticed that it was the shrug of someone who knew something, but didn't want to talk about it.