Deception
(Part 3)
By Jame's Rose

Chapter 6: Thoughts in the sun

"Okay everyone, times up, stop writing please."

James and Jessie put their pens down. The exam had seemed to go on for hours. Each question got harder and harder, and in the end, both of them just ended up guessing. Well, maybe not both of them.

‘Pretending not to know things is pretty difficult’ James thought to himself, ‘That had to be the easiest paper, even when I do have a headache.’

Before the party the night before, Giovanni had asked to speak to James on the phone. He had told him to fake all his knowledge and deliberately fail the exam. He had already had planned with the headmaster to mark Jessie’s paper to be the lowest in the school. Without her qualification, she will have to be forced to join Team Rocket as a full member, not like she was now.

James obviously agreed. After all, although James was so skilled he could easily kill Giovanni whenever he wanted, Giovanni was still his Boss. Still, there was a nagging feeling at the back of James’s mind telling him what he was doing was wrong. But it was such a small feeling James barely even noticed it.

The teacher came round and picked up everyone’s papers.

"Alright every one, now that that exam is over, the rest of the day is yours. Go out and celebrate. Your exam results will be up on the notice board first thing tomorrow morning,"

Sighs of relief were heard from everyone’s mouths, as the sound of chair against floor filled the room, as everyone got up and immediately started talking with their friends about the exam. As everyone filed out of the room, Jessie and James were the last to get up. They slowly followed everyone else out the room, and out the front door of Pokèmon Tech

The sun was shining brightly as mid-day was drawing up. Most students went back to training their pokèmon, some went back inside to rest, others were sitting outside under the shade of a tree reading a book, while others sun bathed and talked. Jessie and James looked at each other and nodded. They decided to sunbath. However, they also decided to let their pokèmon out. As they set everything up, Jessie released her Ekans, while James released his Koffing.

They both lay down on the blanket and soaked up the sun. Koffing and Ekans played with each other nearby, as the sun slowly drifted by.

As James lay there, his mind drifted back to the nightmare he had. Jessie screaming for her life, while he watched himself, slit her throat. He squinted at the memory and tried to push it to the back of his mind. But why was he getting so flustered over one dream, and why were his feelings going haywire over Jessie? Then his mind went back to other things he had done before this mission.

The robberies, innocent people that he had killed to get the Boss what he wanted. He quickly took a look at Jessie, to make sure she wasn’t looking, before he smirked evily. That was the James that was deep inside him. That was who he wanted to be. Seeing people cower in fear at the sight of him, just like the two guards and that secretary had done before he was given this mission. He liked that James, and as soon as this mission was over, he wouldn’t hesitate to get back to it as soon as possible.

He hated this mission, being all nice and loving, cowardly and pathetic. He hated it. But once again, that tiny feeling at the back of his mind pestered him. And, once again, he tried pushed it back, but this time it came forward, and his mind returned to the memory of Jessie kissing him in the elevator. He cursed himself for getting so drunk. He nearly crossed the boundary’s the Boss had made perfectly clear not too. However, because they were both so drunk, neither of them could stay awake for very long. Thank God.

Jessie was lying there thinking how hard that exam paper was.

‘It was ridiculous’, she thought to herself, ‘I’m mean who the hell is gonna know the length and width of a Pikachu’s finger?!?!’ she asked herself. Receiving no answer, she tried to go to sleep.

However, although the sun was making her drowsy (no pun intended on the Drowsy part), she couldn’t help but think about James. He was the bestest friend she could ever have asked for. He was so nice to her, no matter what she did to him. No one else would put up with someone treating someone else like that. Jessie wondered why James didn’t do anything to protect himself. She didn’t really care that much though. As long as she was in control it didn’t matter.

Chapter 7: "We got the lowest scores in the history of the school!"

When it was time to go back to their separate rooms, James and Jessie said their goodnights.

"Well, see ya in the morning James, let’s meet down here so we can face the exam results together." She chuckled.

"Yeah, goodnight."

They went down their separate corridors, both feeling sleepy after the excursions the night before, and went to their rooms.

In the middle of the night, a terrible storm had broken out. Trees had fallen over; tiles of the roof had come off. Lightning and thunder racked the whole building. But after the night before, both were to tired to stay awake, even when the loudest clap of thunder came.

@~>~>~~

The bright sun cast it’s warm waves of light on to Jessie’s face through the crack in the curtain. The storm during the night had passed and all was back to normal. Yawning, she stretched and sat up. She rubbed her eyes and looked down at her clock. 8.30am. She had half and hour before school officially started.

"Morning Jessie." Smiled James as Jessie appeared out of the elevator on the ground floor.

"Morning James. How long have you been waiting here?"

"Two minutes, don’t worry, I slept over a little too."

She smiled at him, and then looked over to were a crowd of people were standing around the notice board.

"Well, let’s go see our brilliant results, we’re sure to pass."

She wasn’t being sarcastic. James and Jessie walked side by side down the hall, and a few cheers and sequels could be heard from the other end. Daniel, the one who had insulted Jessie and James yesterday, turned to see them coming towards them.

"So, you decided to show?" he asked, smirking, "I guess you two really were thinking about each other in that exam, cause your mind defiantly wasn’t on pokèmon."

Jessie narrowed her eyes at him, but he just laughed.

"Hey everybody, Mr and Mrs ‘Lowest scores in the history of the school’ have turned up!!"

Everybody turned to them and laughed. James tried to get Jessie to calm down but she was fuming.

"Please Jess, lets just take a look at our results first, then we can pummel this lot later" he said, fixing a glare on everybody.

He so wished he could get back to the old James. He wanted them to be scared of him, not being laughed at.

His heart was a black as a crow, and just as harsh as it’s cry. But somewhere, somewhere in that blackness, a nightingale’s song could just be heard, whispering, tempting the blackness to melt away. But its song was still too small; it needed to grow before it could conquer the evil. It needed something to coax it along, and that something was…

"Jessie, please, come on."

Jessie let out a harsh sigh and straightened her shoulders. She marched through the crowd of people to the board and looked for her name. She found it, and looked across to the score.

Disaster.

All colour drained from her face…

12%

She just stood there looking at the board, then turned to everyone else.

"What the hell are YOU looking at?!?!?" she demanded

James came next to her and looked for his score.

15%

‘Ha’, he thought, ‘that’s a laugh. Well, what are my acting lesson’s for?’ he asked himself jokingly.

"Look Jess, we BOTH got the lowest scores." He whined.

When she looked at James score, she smiled slightly.

"Well at least we failed together!" she laughed, but inside she was screaming.

Chapter 8: The Phone Call

As they were the only ones to have failed, Jessie and James had to leave Pokèmon Tech to go on somewhere else. Jessie was in her room packing her bags, while James was just wondering around outside, when suddenly one of the many staff came running out.

"James! James?"

James looked towards her

"Yes."

"There was a phone call for you yesterday, he wanted to speak to you but I said you had already gone up to your room. He told me to tell you to phone him back, but after the storm last night, all of the phones lines have been knocked out. You’ll have to use one down the road."

"Oh ok, what was his name."

"Giovanni."

James’s expression became a serious one.

"Right, thank you."

The woman ran back inside while James walked through the gates down the road.

The storm had had quite a devastating effect. The road was out, dozens of trees had fallen, and there was even a forest fire that a gang of police Squirtles were fighting.

A phone booth could be seen by the side of the road now not to far from James. Luckily that hadn’t been damaged.

He walked inside and dialled the number on the screen phone. After a few rings, a woman answered.

"Hello, welcome to Salon Rocket, the fashion you want, we create. May I help you?"

James smirked at the cover up Giovanni always used.

"I want to speak to Giovanni."

"Who?" she asked innocently

"I said, I want to see Giovanni…now." He said again, in the same tone as before.

The woman on the other end became silent for a moment. She looked at him, and he just looked right back. Suddenly, a spark flashed in her eyes. She stared at him for a moment.

‘That voice.’ She thought, ‘It sounds familiar.’

She then looked into his eyes, and the way he was looking at her, made her realised who it was

"Alright," she said, "I’ll patch you through." She said, a hint of fear in her voice

"That’s better," he said, mimicking what he had said before to her.

‘God I miss that.’ He said to himself

A short silence followed before Giovanni picked up the phone.

"Yes, what it is?"

"This is James. You called last night?"

Giovanni turned round to the screen.

"Ahh yes, James. Now that you and Jessie have deliberately failed, it’s time she became a full time Rocket member, with you working beside her."

James faced grimaced at the thought.

"Sir how long do I have to stay on this mission?"

Giovanni smirked: "Why, Jessie getting to tough for you?"

"Hardly" he replied, "I just want this over and done with so I can get on with the important stuff."

"Oh this is important James. You’ll see. This is, very, important."

For the first time since he joined Team Rocket, James felt un-easy about the way Giovanni had spoken to him just then. He had never felt un-easy before.

"Now then," he continued, "As I’ve already told you, you’ll be working as a White Rocket. I’ve got a special little surprise that’s gonna be joining you two as well."

James raised his eyebrow

"I found a Meowth today, but not just any Meowth, a talking Meowth."

James was shocked.

"Talking? That’s impossible."

"As I thought before I met this specimen. Now, I want you to toughen Jessie up, even more than she already is. To do that, now I know this may seem strange, but to do that, I want to make sure that everything you do fails ok?"

Now James really was confused.

"Fails? How is that going to toughen her up?"

"I want her to know what it feels like the fail. Know the disappointment. A couple of years of that and she’ll be even tougher than you James." He laughed. "Only then will she be ready to face the ultimate test I have ready for her."

"A couple of years?" James asked, sighing.

"Yes. Now, don’t waste any time. Bring her to the headquarters in Viridian as soon as possible. If she asks, just say you were planning on joining Team Rocket, as was she full time. Understand?"

"Perfectly."

"Good."

With that said, Giovanni put the phone down and the screen went black.

‘I don’t think I can stand much more of this’ he said as he walked out of the phone booth.

‘Two more years with Jessie, a talking Meowth, deliberately failing, and all for something he isn’t even telling me. Life is good’ He thought sarcastically, as he walked back to Pokèmon Tech.

To be continued…….