Author Note

I do not own CHERUB, its characters, places or things in it. In this story there will be use of foul language. I created this story because when reading the books it just sprung out at me that the events that are going to unfold should unfold and it would be an interesting thing if they did. To set the story at the best possible place I have had to do it out of cannon and it is set after The Sleepwalker. For official purposes these children do not exist (sorry, couldn't resist :p). Enjoy.

Chapter 1 – Meteor Shower

It was 11 o'clock at night on CHERUB campus. Although it was winter the night sky was devoid of everything but stars. It was a new moon, so where ever there wasn't lighting on the grounds it was pitch black, and because they were so far out in the countryside, if you weren't near a light you could see every star in the sky.

James Adams stepped out of his room. He looked in both directions before heading towards the lift. The doors opened with a ping. James was shocked to se the lift wasn't empty. Stood inside the lift were; James' sister Lauren, Rat, Bethany, Jake, Bruce, Kerry and his girlfriend Dana.

"Going somewhere, bro?" Lauren asked with a smile, thinking he was sneaking off somewhere.

"Just going for a walk, James answered casually, not alleviating Lauren's suspicions, "why are you all here?"

"We're going to the lake," Rat answered.

"There's supposed to be a meteor shower at midnight," Kerry continued.

"It's supposed to look really cool," Lauren added.

"So we made a picnic basket," Dana continued.

"And we were coming to see if you wanted to come," Bruce finished.

James looked from person to person as they spoke, impressed at how they managed to talk simultaneously, as if it were a shared through.

"I don't think that pea brain of his can handle that much thinking," Bethany tutted.

Lauren turned round and scowled at her best friend.

"If you're not gunna be civil to him just don't say anything," she warned.

After this there was an awkward silence where Lauren and Bethany were staring each other down.

"Yeah, sure," James said, in an attempt to break the silence and lighten the mood again, "I'll go."

He stepped into lift in between Lauren and Bethany. Bethany looked at him and once again and scowled at him, then she folded her arms and pouted.

***

At half past 11 the group had settled by the lake. They had eaten some of the food but the big interest was the hot steamy drinks that had been prepared in 4 different thermoses. The boys all sat together and the girls all sat together. In the boys group all eyes were on Jake as he recounted, for what must have been the millionth time, how he took out Hassam Bin Hassam on his 'big' mission. He was in the process of explaining how he took the knife from his hands and knocked him out with punch. Each time he told the story the events were more and more exaggerated, and this latest one was just another one of those exaggerations. Rat noticed that during some of the story Jake's mind seemed to wander, he carried on telling the story but he had less enthusiasm and his eyes seemed to wander too. Then he would carry on, but not before letting his lips curve into a smile for a moment. Rat looked over his shoulder and could only figure that he was looking at either the girls or something in the distance.

In the girls group Lauren, who had her back to the boys, was also retelling the events of her latest mission, the same mission as Jake. Her version was less exaggerated but it was still not the full truth. She made Jake sound lucky and that she was the more skilled as she managed to keep her calm. When she was telling her story she kept sweeping her glance across all her friends. She noticed that every so often Bethany's attention wasn't always on her and she seemed to be looking past her. Lauren knew the boys were behind her but she couldn't work out who her best friend was looking at. Lauren sighed inwardly to herself, and realised that Bethany had now begun to fall to the allure of boys that young teenagers have.

By noon the groups had shuffled together. Bethany, Lauren and Rat sat in a line together with Jake sitting just behind his sister and Lauren. He said it was because he wanted to stay close to his sister, to which Bethany replied "oh god I'm never gunna get rid of you". Just in front of these four Bruce and James were sat about a foot apart, each other their legs spread wide. Kerry was sat in between Bruce's legs and Dana was sat in between James's legs. Bruce and James had their arms wrapped around their respective girlfriends and were all looking at the sky.

"We should be able to see it whilst looking at Orion's belt," Lauren said, even though everyone already knew this anyway.

Silence ensued. At about 20 seconds to the hour Rat looked across at Lauren, but also noticed that Bethany wasn't looking at the sky, but towards the four older teens in front of them.

The meteor shower started exactly on time at midnight. It started with one solitary meteor. A single orange line graced the sky, but passed through at such speed that it was only in the sky for a split second.

"Is that…" James began to shout, in slight anger.

He didn't finish his sentence because as he was saying it, a massive flood of orange lines shot through. They swept through the sky, like hot lines scratching through the stars. They kept coming and coming. James heard a series of gasps, ooo's and ahh's. He figured it was coming from the girls but when he looked around he saw that Rat and Bruce were also making the noises. He smiled at how beautiful the meteor shower was, and how his friends all seemed happy. He saw his sister grinning brightly towards the sky. He moved his head to the left and saw Lauren's best friend. She was looking right at him. Her expression was unreadable for a second, before it turned into a scowl. She tutted and averted her eyes upwards. James shook his head as a fresh wave of anger swept through him, aimed at his sister's best friend. He looked back at the meteor shower and let the beauty alleviate his mood again.