Chapter 12

Roxanne

Joe went to his class with Roxanne the next day, sitting through another harsh lecture from her, as she insulted most of the people in the class. After the class was over, the students hurried out of the room. Joe was last to leave, although in his rush to get out of the room, he ended up tripping once reaching the hallway. That was when he could hear sobbing coming from some girl… and not just any girl, but Roxanne.

"Why does he treat me this way?" Roxanne said between sobs. "What have I done to him?"

Joe first thought Roxanne was talking about someone in the class, but then he realized that she probably was mentioning someone else. He thought about continuing on his way- after all, Roxanne wasn't the type who seemed to need any help- but his good nature won over, and he went to talk to her.

"What's the matter?" Joe said.

Roxanne first ignored Joe, continuing to cry. But after seeing that Joe wasn't leaving, she decided to talk to him.

"It's a guy named Hiker," she said. "He's my boyfriend, and he's also a teacher. He treats me horribly, though. He's always insulting me… it's so difficult to take."

"Why not just break up with him?" Joe said.

"I can't," Roxanne said. "I've invested so much time into this relationship… I just can't."

"You don't deserve this sort of treatment," Joe said.

Roxanne looked at Joe, stopping her crying for a moment. "You really mean that?" she asked.

"No girl deserves it," Joe said.

"I'm sorry," Roxanne said. "I've come to class after hearing Hiker criticize me and belittle me every morning, and I've taken it out on you. I was never like this before- well, maybe I was a little arrogant- but I never treated any of my classes like this. I'm so sorry, Joe."

"It's okay," Joe said. "You can't allow yourself to take all this from him, though… you have to break up with him."

"For you to care enough to try to help someone who's treated you the way I have… I'll listen to you," Roxanne said. "I'll also make it up to everyone in the class."

Joe walked out of the classroom in shock. Roxanne was a real person, just like him; she had only been acting like this because of her troubled relationship with Hiker. He went to his dorm room to talk to Giselle.

"You mean that girl was going through relationship problems, and took it out on her class?" Giselle said.

"That's right," Joe said. "I felt really bad for her."

"Well, you shouldn't have," Giselle said. "There's no reason to feel bad for people who treat you like dirt."

"Yes there is," Joe said. "You never know why someone acts the way they do until you hear their side of the story."

"You're too thoughtful, Joe," Giselle said. "But I guess that's why I like you so much."

That afternoon, Will came back from work to see Sabrina. He immediately could sense something was wrong when he came to the door.

What's the matter? he asked Sabrina telepathically.

It's Liza, Sabrina said. She's gotten so focused on her psychic training, that she's started to act really strange.

Will and Sabrina went upstairs to see Liza, and they found her just staring at the wall. Liza sensed that they were watching her, and she lifted them up into the air psychically. Sabrina immediately released herself from Liza's psychic hold, then used her power to release Will, who was not as psychically strong as either female psychic.

Liza, what's going on? Sabrina asked.

A doll then floated up from next to Liza and began to speak to Sabrina and Will.

Isn't it fun to play? it said.

"That's my doll!" Sabrina said out loud, in shock.

"Isn't this what you told me happened to you?" Will said. "You split personalities with your doll because you became so focused on your psychic training?"

"Yes, but I didn't think Liza was this focused," Sabrina said. "Liza, speak to us!"

Liza doesn't want to talk. Liza wants to play! the doll said, as Sabrina and Will were thrown into a wall.

"Enough is enough, Liza!" Sabrina said. "You're out of control!"

"Why did you get her this focused on psychic training?" Will asked angrily.

"I didn't know she'd become like this!" Sabrina said. "Come on, Liza!"

Maybe you didn't hear me, the doll said, picking Sabrina and Will up psychically. Sabrina then fought back, letting herself to the ground while throwing the doll at a wall.

This isn't funny, Sabrina said to Liza. I'm not letting what happened to me happen to you.

Liza gave no response, still staring at the wall.

"What can you do to break her out of this?" Will said, coming back to the ground.

"I don't know," Sabrina said. "It took laughter for me to break out of it, but I don't know if that's going to work this time."

Sabrina took her Haunter out of its Poké Ball.

"Go make faces at Liza," Sabrina said.

Haunter began making all sorts of silly faces at Liza. Liza then used her psychic powers to send Haunter flying across the room.

"Liza!" Sabrina said.

"Obviously that's not working," Will said.

"Maybe I should attack her with my psychic powers," Sabrina said. "I could easily overpower her."

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Will said.

Sabrina paused. "I guess it's not," she said. "What can we do to help her?"

Liza then picked up the bed in the room psychically, and she was about to throw it at Sabrina and Will, but they left the room in time before they were hit by the flying bed. They then went downstairs, trying to think of a way to snap Liza out of her trance.

The next day, Joe went to his class with Roxanne. All the other students in the class came in as well, dreading what Roxanne was going to do in today's class.

"Joe!" Roxanne snapped. "Come on up here!"

Joe gulped. Maybe Roxanne was still going out with Hiker, and thus still struggling.

"I want everyone in this class to see what a compassionate person looks like," Roxanne said. "This boy cared to talk to me even when I was being awful towards him, and I want to thank him for that. Thank you, Joe."

"You're welcome, Roxanne," Joe said.

"Now I'm going to run this class the way it's supposed to be run," Roxanne said. "I'm very sorry for all the trouble I've caused you. We're starting this class over today, and trust me, I won't fail any of you for pointless reasons."

The class breathed a sigh of relief as Roxanne began to teach the class- the right way. After class, Roxanne called Joe aside.

"I can't thank you enough for your advice," she said. "I broke up with Hiker last night."

"That's good," Joe said.

"I'm going back to Hoenn this weekend, but I'll see you on Monday," Roxanne said.

"Have a nice trip," Joe said.

"By the way," Roxanne said, "you were passing the class even while I was still with Hiker. You're a good student."

"Thanks," Joe said. He went back to his dorm room and told Giselle the good news. Giselle was not so pleased.

"It sounds like you like this Roxanne," Giselle said.

"No, really, I don't," Joe said. "You're my girlfriend."

"Roxanne looks similar to me… I can see you falling in love with her," Giselle said.

"Trust me, Giselle, I'm not in love with Roxanne," Joe said.

"Yeah, sure you aren't," Giselle said. "I knew this would happen if you went away to Pokémon Tech."

"Can't you have some faith in me?" Joe asked.

"All right, all right," Giselle said. "I'll trust you. But you better not fall in love with this Roxanne!"

"I won't, Giselle," Joe said, before he hung up.

Joe felt satisfied. He was doing well in his class, apparently, and he had helped Roxanne out. He knew Giselle was jealous that he even talked to another girl, but he was not about to cheat on her. He was happy that his compassionate personality had paid off for him- and for Roxanne.