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Willow's phone rang. He put the half-empty glass on the table and picked up the phone to look at the caller ID. He pressed the button to take the call and picked the glass with his empty hand.
'Hey, Sabrina.'
There was a moment of silence on the other side.
'Willow, you sound… drunk. That's unusual.'
'Just tired. I'm only halfway to the drunk part.'
'Ah. Well, I admit I was considering that direction myself.'
Willow made a circular movement with his glass and watched the liquid slosh around inside.
'It was a bad idea to try to send them to school, wasn't it?'
'You said it yourself: if they are to function in the society they need to interact with people more.' in the background Willow could hear the sound of a bottle being uncorked and liquid being poured into a glass.
'You still don't sound convinced.'
'Noire already got suspended.’
‘Let’s be honest, Noire getting suspended was well within our expectations.’
‘Yes, but I was hoping it would take more than a week.’
***
Noire took a bite out of their chocolate bar and spread out on the grass. They had proper lunch packed but didn't feel like eating it. Noire would have loved to play with their Eevee right now but the school had a strict no-pokemon-on-the-grounds rule. The rule was made to prevent any bloodshed during school hours - the school was full of Rocket employee kids and aspiring Rocket members, and the fights usually happened on the parking just outside the school. It made the whole thing even more of a fucking pointless waste of time. If they could have Pokemon fights at least breaks would be good for something. Noire was two years younger than the rest of their class but the teaching level was still so much below them that they spend half of the time sleeping. The only thing that kept them from just walking out was the fact that Sabrina mentioned that Blanche also went to high school now. If Blanche could bear this it then Noire would too.
'Isn't that the little twerp that got here thanks to their connections?' a shadow fell on Noire. Oh great, the stupid dickweeds.
'Haven't I told you to fuck off already?' Noire sat up and looked with deep annoyance at the group that approached them. Four guys one girl, all of them three years older than Noire, most of them twice their size. Ever since Noire's first day they've tried to haze them and Noire has ignored it so far because they were just so fucking terrible at it. Well, it could be something to do, Noire thought. They got up, stretching their hands in front of them. 'Look guys, if you want to fight let's just...'
The phone in Noire's pocket rang and Noire froze. It was the one special ringtone set for messages from the one special person. Noire's hand automatically took out the phone and pressed the button to read the message.
"Coming to the city this Sunday. Can we meet, please?"
Noire bit their lips. They so desperately wanted to meet Blanche… they needed to make up a good excuse to stay away from home because two days was barely enough time to get prepared emotionally to act cold towards Blanche. It was hard enough not to call Blanche back right away.
'What do you have there?' tears in Noire’ eyes made them not register that the biggest bully reached for their phone until he took it out of their hands. 'Oh, a date? Good, we'll help you prepare. Because you see, we're graduating this year, can't fight on school grounds or it'll look bad in our records. But if we see your face in the city on Sunday?' The dopeass leaned over Noire. 'We'll make sure it's beaten nice and purple for your date - provided you'll still be able to walk to get there.'
‘If you see my face in the city?’ Noire felt their blood boil; the bully standing over them recoiled seeing their expression change. 'How about' Noire's eyes flashed red, 'I'll teach you to stay the fuck away when you see someone with my face?'
***
'Make no mistake' Sabrina continued, taking a small sip of wine every couple sentences. 'I would be pretty disappointed if Noire wouldn't be able to take down five attackers. But school staff is pretty particular about three students being hospitalised during the first week.'
'They are, aren't they?' Willow's voice sounded much more strained than when they started the conversation. Sabrina wondered how far from drunk was Willow now.
'Don't tell me… Blanche wouldn't.'
' Of course they wouldn't.'
'Candela then?' Sabrina changed her position on the sofa to a more comfortable one and took a long sip from her glass. It felt pretty good to remember that Willow had more than one problematic young teen in their care.
'See, I tried to be careful. The school they go to has strict no-pokemon-fights rule and I also told Candela she's not allowed to fight with her fists at school.'
***
Candela was pretty torn. Since Blanche hadn't attended school before they had to take tests to evaluate their level and ended up three years above what their age suggested. Which meant Candela, who skipped two years, was in the same class and could enjoy seeing Blanche's exquisite vacant face staring out of the window during classes.
The problem was, Blanche was one of those people who during puberty turned more and more beautiful each day. It wasn't a problem for Candela, no. The actual problem was that other people noticed it too. Pretty and petite, Blanche had drawn attention of some of the annoying boys in the class. The same didn't happen other way; Blanche had no time for mediocrity, and besides, they were too preoccupied with the journey they were to take the upcoming weekend and the hope of meeting their sibling. Candela thought she'd also like to meet Noire. After watching for over a year Blanche break down, abandoned and rejected by the person they cared about the most Candela couldn't stop fantasizing about close contact with Noire - to be precise, close contact between Candela's fists and Noire's face.
Candela saw Blanche take out their cellphone and press the send button with a determined expression and swore quietly. It must have been the message Blanche had been writing half the night and couldn't gather the courage to send. It was a very bad time to do this, in public, while some idiots hovered over them, clearly trying to pick them up.
'Trying to set up a date? You sound pretty desperate there, though. What if they don't reply?' Candela saw Blanche's face go white and cursed audibly this time. 'Why don't you go with u…' The boy looked around in surprise when Candela bodily picked him up.
'Hello darling' Candela smiled at Blanche. 'Don't mind me, just throwing the trash out.'
***
'Through the window?' Sabrina didn't even try to hide her laughter. Willow couldn't blame her; he also almost laughed when he heard it for the first time, which met with a disapproving look of the school headmistress.
'Yes. Candela argued that throwing people doesn't count as fighting with her fists. Both times she aimed perfectly for the dumpster two floors below.'
'Both…?'
'Well apparently there were three boys that have been pestering Blanche since they started school. The second one was the size of Surge.’ Willow wondered what Candela would be able to throw when she grew up. Snorlax, probably.
Sabrina laughed again.
'Well, you can say our proteges are definitely building up their leadership skills.'
'I am not training Candela to be a Rocket type of leader, Sabrina.' Willow's glass was empty. He checked the bottle but it was also empty. He never went through a bottle that fast before.
'Sure you aren't; Rocket would have thrown all three out of that window.'
'Well, I'm pretty sure Candela would, but before she managed to do that Blanche said something that made the third guy break down crying.' Willow never learned what it was but he didn't really want to know. 'Blanche also made their teacher cry later.'
'... OK, so for how long did yours get suspended?'
'Oh, neither of them did, that's the best part. The teacher thought it's a good idea to give them a really hard assignment instead. Biology. Pokemon evolution .'
'Ah. How did it go?'
'They both wrote it in a couple of hours and then I had the teacher call me and ask for help because she couldn't understand half of it. Not sure about Candela but I'm pretty sure Blanche did it on purpose.'
'I wouldn't be surprised. Speaking of Blanche, how are they doing?'
'The fever is mostly down but I don't think they'll be back to school for a few days.'
'Or maybe at all?' There was a moment of silence on the other end of the line. Sabrina's tone was much more serious now. 'Willow, I know this is not my place to say but with all the education they've got so far school might be just an unnecessary burden for Blanche.'
'You are not wrong. But if I take Blanche out of school what are you going to do about Noire?'
'When Noire comes back from their suspension they're probably going to wreak more havoc and their name will spread among Rocket wannabes.'
'So what you're saying is, don't let Noire know?'
'Yes, I would be grateful.'
***
Noire lay on the bed in the darkness of their room, clinging to their Eevee. Blanche came down with a cold and that meant they had to cancel their trip. This made Noire glad, because it meant they didn’t have to put up the cold and indifferent act. At the same time Noire was really worried about Blanche's health and missing them terribly. They'd like nothing more than to be there for Blanche and nurse them back to health.
Eevee put her paw on Noire's face and Noire curled up hugging her, their tears sinking into the fluffy fur.
***
Blanche blew their nose and weakly threw the tissue to the ground. Noire didn't reply to their texts - neither the one announcing their visit, nor the nest one cancelling it. Blanche wanted to call but Candela took their phone and said they're too sick to be calling anyone. Blanche didn't have the strength - and, to be honest, barely had the voice - to argue.
Blanche's Eevee whimpered in his sleep. Blanche patted him gently and gingerly changed their position. It wasn't easy; they were flanked by two sleeping Eevees and Candela, who insisted on staying with them until Blanche fell asleep and dozed off herself. The bed was cramped and warm and somehow… somehow right now Blanche didn't feel like crying when thinking about Noire. They closed their eyes and fell into a calm, healing sleep.