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"Jessie! Meowth! I thought I'd never see you again!" James ran over and, to her surprise, jumped happily on Jessie and hugged her. "How come you're back?"
"The boss is gone", That's the best answer that Jessie could give him.
"Some girl had filed a complaint, accusing him of sexual harassment." Said Meowth, still shocked to hear that his old trainer is facing these kind of accusations.
"What?" James couldn't believe it either. "Who is this girl?"
"Dey don't know."
"God, this is shocking. I knew that the boss is evil... but I would have never thought that he is capable of that..."
"Dat's because he's not!" Meowth jumped angrily, "of course!"
"Why would a girl lie about such a thing, Meowth?" Jessie was a bit angry to see Meowth blindly defending the evil man that she hated so much.
"Dunno, Money, power, revenge... do I need ta continue?"
"Well, you know that the boss had done many evil things and he might be capable of this..." James tried to help Jessie out.
"Dat's bull! I've known da boss forever and he never did nothing like dat! I hope that who ever dat girl is, she'll be punished for lying!" And after he said that, he jumped angrily out of the door and disappear.
"This whole thing is weird." Said James quietly to himself, "But at least we are together again!" He turned around to Jessie and noticed that she was crying. She was overwhelmed by the cruel things that Meowth said.
"Jessie? What's wrong?" He came closer to her and put his hand on her back. "Why are you crying, Jess?"
Jessie didn't answer. She knew she had to keep the deceit a secret so that no one but Lauren and herself, and of course the boss, will know the truth. But how can she lie to James about it?
"Jess, what's wrong?" He kept asking her in a soft tone. "Please, tell me."
He rubbed her back softly with one hand, trying to calm her down, and put his other hand on her thigh. Then he saw the blue bruises on the inside of her thighs. She pressed that leather cushion so hard, that the blue marks haven't disappeared yet.
"Jessie, what are those? Where did you get those?"
Still she didn't answer, and he put both hands on her cheeks and lifted her face a bit: "Jessie, answer me," He looked into her wet blue eyes, "You are the one who filed the complaint, aren't you?"
"James... I..."
"Did he do that? Did he sexually harassed you?"
She didn't answer, just nodded.
"Oh, Jessie... my god... I'm so sorry..." He hugged her tightly, and she wept on his shoulder.
"So, yer the one, Jessie."
They turned around and saw Meowth.
"I can't believe ya'd do sucha thing." He said in a cold voice. "Da boss took ya when ya had nowhere ta go to. How can ya do dis?"
"Meowth, Jessie is your friend, how can you accuse her of lying and defend that evil rootless man?" James faced him angrily.
"Dat man was my trainer and he is yer boss, and I know him better than youse two."
"Look at her legs! She has marks!"
Jessie couldn't take it anymore. "Stop it! Both of you!" She yelled and ran into another room, where she cried for a few more hours. The plan got them back together, but tore them apart. Then she fell asleep until morning.
"James? Why are you sitting in the dark like this?"
He pointed at the newspaper. "There's another girl. She's... she had filed the same complaint against the boss."
Jessie sighed. She felt relieved- Lauren is taking her role in the game.
"Really?"
"Yeah. And there's something that happened 10 years ago too."
"Oh," Jessie turned around so that James won't see the relieved grin on her face, "What's the girl's name?"
"Sherry. Umm... Sherry Terner."
She froze. Sherry Terner? "Let me see", she took the paper and opened it. In the big article was mentioned that the girl is only 14, and that she worked in the mechanical Pokemon park. It wasn't Lauren.
"Jessie, are you ok? You look pale."
Jessie's hands shivered. "I... I have to go out for a while," She said shortly and went outside before James had a chance to ask her where she's going. She found a public phone and called Lauren.
"Lauren?"
"Jessica, I was expecting your call."
"Who is Sherry Terner? Is this a part of the plan?"
"No, Jessica, but it can certainly help us."
"I want to see her." She shortly demanded.
"Why?"
"Because... because if I lied and you lied, how come the boss really did it?"
"You should be happy that you're not ruining an innocent's man's reputation. You may see her if that's what you want, I have her home address for you, but no matter what, don't tell her that you lied. You'll get both of you in big troubles."
"I need the address, please."
"Jessica! You have to promise me. If you blow this thing out, you and your friends will suffer the most. Giovanni will punish you all." Lauren sounded almost angry, and Jessie had never seen her losing her temper before.
"Fine, just give me the address."
Lauren gave her the address and then Jessie hung up and got into the team's rental van. After 30 minutes of driving, she arrived to a little house far away from any city or any people. She got out of the car, walked over to the big door, took a deep breath and knocked. No body answered, and she knocked again.
The door opened only to a crack and a woman peeped from behind it.
"Yes? What do you want?" She said impatiently.
"Is Sherry home?"
"Look, all you reporters, stay out of here! She ain't gonna talk with you!"
"I'm not a reporter, my name is Jessie M..."
"Jessie...!" She recognized the name and opened the door. "Come in, please... Sherry! Come down here!"
A young girl came down the stairs and gave Jessie a cold suspicious look.
"Sherry, that's the girl who complained against your nasty boss!"
"Hello", Jessie smiled at her, "I'm Jessie, I'd like to talk with you."
Sherry's eyes lit as she realized who Jessie was, and she ordered her mother to go out of the room and leave them alone, and so she did.
"I'm glad you came here, I wanted to meet you." Sherry shook Jessie's hand shyly, "I think what you did is great. You gave a chance for girls like me to tell their stories."
"Sherry..." Jessie didn't know what to say, "Did... did Giovanni... really hurt you? I mean..."
"Of course he did, what do you mean? Just like he did to you." Sherry sounded defensive.
"Sherry, I need to know if he really did those things to you."
Sherry stepped back. "What do you mean? I'm helping your case... The boss is a nasty, cruel man who exploits his employees all the time. He wouldn't give me money when I needed it to help my sick brother, and I worked so hard for it..."
"But did he sexually harassed you?"
"Why are you insisting on that? With out me your case doesn't stand a chance..." And she turned her back to Jessie.
"Sherry..." Jessie felt sorry for the young girl, "Lying won't do any good, it'll only hurt you. And if you need money... there are people who can help you with that... lying isn't the solution..."
"I think you better go now." Sherry said shortly. Jessie looked at her for a few moments and got out of the little house. Sherry lied. And she did it to support Jessie's lies.
~~~~ TO BE CONTINUED ~~~~
Like it so far? Pleaaaase e-mail me... so I will post the rest of the fic sooner : ) rocketpower83@yahoo.com or jessie_mbx@hotmail.com