Chapter 7: Jenn's first gym battle We got into Rustboro about eight that night. I knew that because of what happened, I was a lot closer to my travelling companion. But by then, I was so ashamed of how I completely buckled down and freaked out. I told Nathan as much as our Pokemon were being healed and we were waiting to get our respective Pokemon healed. "I understand completely, Jenn, and you shouldn't be ashamed. You went through a lot and you panicked. If I were you, I would've done the same thing." "But I freaked out and froze at just the sight of him!" I complained. "He hit you! That was to be expected! It was a natural instinct..." "Your Pokemon are healed," said the Nurse Joy, calling out to us. We thanked her, collecting our Pokemon and room keys and heading up the stairs. I expected him to head directly to his room and I was surprised when he followed me to mine. I asked him why. "I was just going to talk to you. Are you sure you're okay?" he asked me, concerned. "I'm fine, Nathan. And I can tell you're tired. You can just go to bed," I told him. He kissed me on my forehead and left. That stupid boy kept me up all night. Well, not exactly him, but what he did when he left. What did that mean? He had been acting so nice towards me, so did this mean he liked me? No, he was just trying to be a good friend and he knew I needed a buddy at the moment. I knew it was useless, all this thinking and stuff, so I rolled over on my side and tried to sleep. I kept that memory in my head and s much as I tried to escape it, it was all I could think about. I knew that stupid iron resolve of mine was breaking. I knew I was starting to like Nathan, as a crush. Oh wonderful... I sat up straight suddenly. "Thinking isn't healthy for me," I said aloud. I collapsed on the bed, hoping I could sleep and soon it came to me, though I can't say it was peaceful. My dreams were filled with memories that night, as luck would have it. I remembered the first time I realized that my cute boyfriend wasn't mentally stable. It was seventh grade and the beginning of the year. I was so hopeful, wishing that I would have a normal year. My brother and sister was back, my friendships were stable, Team Rocket was defeated, I was back on even footing with my parents and I was even hoping to go out with one of my guy friends, Cole. I was over a mishap with a boy who had caused me a great deal of pain the year before by thinking I was using him. That guy, Sam, was a memory and I had regrets about how it had ended, but my mind was so clear. I was such a happy girl, without a care in the world. I met my best friend, Alexis Quitman, over by the Ecruteak gym on the first day of school. I was ecstatic to be going back, after a lazy summer, but that summer was probably what I needed most. We walked to school, going over our summers. Ecruteak to Violet City isn't a very long walk, which is why I could stand walking. Alexis and I walked into the school. Katrina Lebrec skipped over to us, followed by Sierra Goode, Brittani Martin and Amanda Kleiner. "Oh my gawd!" cried Katrina. "You will never believe my news!" I love being greeted like that, so I was instantly entranced. "What? What is it, Kat?" I cried, shaking my blonde friend by the shoulders. "Well, you know Taylor Flora?" she started and that wasn't exactly the thing to start out with. "What about the little nerd?" Now, Taylor, as he had been before my year of doom, was quite a bit like Wally. He was frail, a freak and weak. He didn't have green hair though. Good thing for him. "No, no, not little nerd! He turned quite cute over the summer, Jenn!" she informed us. At the mention of cute boys, my ears perked up, and I swear, they actually moved. "Show him to me!" I demanded. She knew she had me hooked. I wanted to see how cute he was. Maybe he would be better to go out with than Cole. She steered me and Alexis around the classroom. "There!" she said suddenly, pointing at what I thought to be the most gorgeous teenage boy I had ever seen. He had gotten taller, he had actually done something to his hair and he had gotten rid of his glasses. His hair was tipped with blonde (I have a weakness for guys with tipped hair) and he was even wearing Vans (I also have a weakness for guys who wear Vans. The girly girl who likes boys with skater shoes. Go figure.). My mouth actually dropped open, but my credit, I did not drool. "You can have Cole," I whispered to Alexis, but that was all I could say. I was at a loss for words, which never happened (those who knew me back then could easily believe that). I think I lost my cool about five seconds later, when he looked back at our group and started to walk towards us. "Stop shaking," whispered Sierra. I smiled innocently at my friends. This was going to be fun. "Hey, Jenn." I lost a little bit of my composure then. I didn't think he would actually start talking to me. "Hey." I could hear Brittani stiffle a giggle, and I couldn't blame her. I sounded like a Munchkin in that one movie, The Wizard of Oz. I could practically see rainbows over my head. "You look fabulous," he said sweetly. I knew my friends were expecting me to cough up a hairball or something. I expected myself to. I was kind of frozen. "You don't look too bad yourself," I said, batting my eyelashes. As I have mentioned before, I usually get what I want by doing that. Or at least I do with my dad. But it was worth a shot with Taylor. "Listen, would you like to go to the movies or skating or something this weekend?" Oh. my. gawd. He was asking me on a date! But I initiated my own fate by answering. "Are you asking me to be your girlfriend?" Ooh, Jenn, not so sly there. Yikes, he hadn't said anything about THAT. "Well, no, I wasn't. I was going to ask you that at the movies." Ooh. That smacked me in the face. "But I do want to go out with you. Will you go out with me?" he asked. I was about to pass out, but I managed a nod. "Great." Of course, the teacher decided to mess up my nerve by announcing the start of class. Math quiz? Like I could focus on math. Who cares about a dumb old quiz anyways? My dreams about the first day of school were interrupted by myself and Sam Brady. Sam is the guy who caused me that great deal of pain last year, but I happened to sit next to him in English this year. "Hey Sam?" I asked him. The hallways were empty, well naturally, it was after school. Me and Sam were the only ones there. So I thought. "Yeah, Jenn? What's up?" I was so at ease with Sam, but yet, we were at odds with each other. "Do you know what the homework is for English?" "We don't have any." "Okay. Than-" I was poked in the back then. "Hey, Taylor." "Done socializing?" he asked coldly. "Screw this, let's go." I let him drag me off towards his house. He was quite bitter, and said nothing on the way home. Once we got in his room, it was quite different. "Wasn't that your ex-boyfriend that you were talking to?" he asked me. I felt like I was being interrogated in prison. "Yeah, he sits next to me in English," I said quietly, wondering what this was leading up to. "Bet you have fun with that," he said nastily. "No, actually-" I was cut off with a swift smack on the face. I was beyond shock. That was NOT what I expected to happen. "Don't argue with me, bitch." He pushed me back then, and I hit the wall. I wanted to cry out, but I didn't think anyone would hear me. Taylor's neighbors weren't home, and neither was his mom. His dad had left them when he was three. "What the hell are you doing?" I screamed. I got onto my feet then and I prepared to walk out the door, but Taylor grabbed me by my hair. It felt like a million hot needles were being stuck into my had at once. He kicked me in the stomach and I fell down again. I hit my head on his wooden floor. He kicked me again. And again. And again. "STOP!" I screamed and I began to cry. "Stop... Please stop it! STOP!" I felt the kicks, but I knew I was regaining conciousness. I could still hear myself screaming. "Stop... Taylor, stop!" I was muttering. My first sight when I woke up was the face of my travelling companion. I was shaking. "Did you have a nightmare?" he asked me, once I had quit yelling that one word. I nodded and as I glimpsed myself in the mirror, I saw tearstains on my face. "Do you want to talk about it?" he questioned me softly. He put his hand on my shoulder. "It was the first day of school... And my friend Katrina pointed Taylor out to me. He asked me out and I said yes. That dream ended and I was in the hallway with my ex-boyfriend, asking him about the English homework... And Taylor came and took me away. Next thing I knew, he hit me across the face... And he pushed me. No one was at his house or next door. I tried to leave, but he grabbed me by the hair and kicked me in the stomach so many times. I told him to stop and he didn't listen." I was crying again. Nathan was hugging me. "Oh my gawd, I didn't know it was so bad," he said quietly. "You know what? Just forget all of this," I said suddenly. "I'm going to get dressed, and we'll go battle the Rustboro gym leader, okay?" "Sure, Jenn," he agreed quickly, but he didn't move. "Hey Nathan?" "What, Jenn?" "Care to let me get dressed? Battling the gym leader in my pajamas doesn't sound too fun." "Right. Sorry, I was spacing out." He got up to leave. "Thinking about me again? You really need to get over me," I said jokingly. He burst out in laughter. "Right, Jenn. Can you picture us together? I'm out of here." He closed my door and that stupid boy got me thinking again. As I got ready for my adventures of the day, I was thinking about our conversation. Had he been thinking of me? And did I want him to be? And was he being sarcastic when he had asked if I could picture us together? As a matter of fact, I could. So ha. I walked downstairs and he whistled when he saw me. I know he was joking but I was already distracted. Without realizing what was happening, I fell down the stairs. He looked kind of horror-strikken as he helped me up. I was by far embarrassed and everyone in the Center was looking at me like I was some kind of psycho. "You really need to stop thinking about me," joked Nathan. "Don't use my line! And besides, you should've seen yourself when I walked down those stairs. You know I'm a babe," I shot back. "Can't deny that. But I was not in any way awed," he said solemnly. "Were you being sarcastic when you agreed with me, Nathan Pickens?" I asked realistically. "Maybe yes, maybe no, future Jenifer Pickens," he laughed. When he said that, I was drinking a vanilla frapiccino from Starbucks. I spit it out all over the sidewalk. "Yeah right!" I said between coughs. Jenifer Pickens... It had a ring to it... Crap, I couldn't be thinking like that! Iron resolve... Well, that didn't work. That iron resolve that I had was now non-existant. By then, we had reached the gym of Rustboro. "Hello?" I called. Lights started flashing on and off and instinctly, I grabbed Nathan's hand. When I realized what I did, I grabbed my hand away. "Do I have challengers?" said a young, girlish voice called out. She looked directly at us. "What a cute couple!" I decided right then and there that I didn't like that Roxanne chick. Even though I secretly agreed with her, we were NOT a couple and I told her as much. "We're challengers and we just happen to be travelling together," I added. "How about I take you on with a double battle?" she asked. As pleasantly as we could, we agreed. I knew by then that we both wanted to kill the girl, but we also wanted our badges. "Let's go, Gully!" I yelled, letting out my Wingull. I was so proud of myself for thinking of a nickname. "Come on out, Torrent!" said Nathan. I thought for a moment about how I had never seen Nathan battle with any of his other Pokemon, but here, he had a type advantage and that'd sure help. "That means you too, Geodude and Nosepass!" Ha.We were creative. We had nicknames. "Water gun!" we yelled simultaneously. The Geodude was knocked out immediately, but the Nosepass was only slightly damaged. "Harden!" called Roxanne. I blinked. The Nosepass didn't do anything. Oh yeah, harden only raised defense. Crap. "Water gun!" yelled Nathan again, but I stopped myself from yelling the same thing. "Supersonic," I told my little birdy. For once, it actually listened to me and Nosepass was confused. "Tackle!" said Roxanne feebly. The Nosepass, in it's confusion, tried to aim for Torrent but ran into a wall at first. "Finish it off?" Nathan asked me. I nodded. "Water gun!" we yelled again. The Nosepass was put out of it's misery and knocked out. "Great job!" Roxanne congratulated us, handing us each a badge. My first ever Hoenn badge. While Nathan didn't seem to take it too seriously, I was glowing. We walked back to the center and left our Pokemon with the nurse. "Let's go back to your room," Nathan suggested. So we did, and we sat on the floor. I looked down at my first Hoenn badge, so proud of myself. "Congratulations, Jenn. I'm proud of you." He would never know how much it meant to me that he was proud of me. I think part of the reason I was so proud of myself was that I felt that for the first time, I had made someone else proud too. "Thanks, Nathan." I smiled. "But it feels like I did a lot more than just beat the first gym leader. I think I finally did something without someone to scare me into not doing it." Nathan moved closer to me, and it felt there were a million Beautiflys bouncing around in my stomach. "You've been through a lot, Jenn, and you don't deserve it. What you need is someone who won't hurt you anymore." I smiled at that, feeling the truth in his words. "Like you?" I asked, dazed. I could feel the tension in the air, and I felt his head come closer to mine and maybe we would've kissed, if I hadn't sniffed the air. "Nathan... it smells like gasoline in here. I think someone's about to light this place on fire." He sniffed the air. "Holy crap, Jenny... You're right!" I was too freaked out to notice that he called me Jenny. He threw the door open and we ran down the stairs. "Nurse Joy!" I screamed. "We need to get out of here! Someone's going to light the place on fire!" "That's silly," he told us, dismissing the idea. "But here are your Pokemon." We grabbed our Pokemon and tried to explain to her how we smelt gasoline. Now, the other people in the center believed us and ran outside towards safety. But after three minutes of uncooperative behavior, we grabbed her and started to lead her outside. "What are you doing?" she screamed. We finally got her towards the doors as flames engulfed the second story. I knew that when I was standing outside with my head rested on Nathan's shoulder, I saw red. I KNOW Taylor, or at least Team Magma, was behind the fire. Taylor had told us to watch out, but after I had put my trust in Nathan, I didn't think his warning was a threat. I think we REALLY needed to watch out.