Thank you all so much for reviewing so far! As promised there is more Bade and more criminal stuff in this one, so I hope you enjoy. Would like to personally thank CinziaTwut for knuckling down on my errors haha, seriously, it helped – to answer your question: This is based on the main outline of what Cherub does, with a few twists to fit this particular storyline. Hope you guys enjoy this chapter and please, please, please review, even if you didn't like it, or if you don't even know what to say, just say cool or something haha I don't know. Anyway, ENJOY!
Chapter 2:
Jade's POV
It was finally lunch time. Beck had been in another one of my classes and he had stared at me questioningly the whole lesson, probably wondering why I wasn't swooning over him like Tori Vega was. She was looking at him, he was looking at me and I was looking at my notebook, but being aware of everything around me. As soon as the bell rang, I had seen him snap out of his daze and start to walk over to me, but I had grabbed my books and shot out the door before he could get too close. I walked over to my locker, shoving the textbooks inside and grabbing out my Theatre History and Music Class books for the classes I had after lunch. I turned around and walked right into someone. Of course it was Beck, just my luck, of course Mother Nature wasn't going to make this mission the slightest bit easy.
"Oh hey" he said,
"Yeah, hi, um, I'm going to lunch now" I said, tucking hair behind my ear as I tried to sidestep him. He laughed,
"Do you want to sit with me and my friends?"
"Why would I-"I stopped myself as my brain clicked. He was friends with Tori. "Sure" I said.
"Cool, I'll just grab my books" he turned to his locker, which was three lockers down from my own. His tanned arms dived into his dark locker, retrieving books and a small container, assumably full of food. He slammed it shut and turned towards me, a lazy smile on his face and sauntered past me, assuming I would follow. We walked out to the Asphalt Café and sat down at a round metal table just below the balcony. Tori and the dreadlocks guy were already there.
"Hey" I greeted,
Tori eyed me suspiciously, standing in close proximity to Beck. She snapped out of it quickly.
"So how has your first day been?" she smiled, making me remember Beck kissing me this morning in the alphabetical improvisation exercise.
"Besides getting hit on by Aladdin over here, it's been pretty great"
Beck gave me a hurt but amused look, his brown eyes glinting while Tori and Andre? I think that was his name, cracked up laughing. I smiled smugly, this whole sarcasm thing worked for me. Not that I wasn't already sarcastic, I was just acting a little bitchier than my usual self, looks like I wouldn't have to act like someone too different whilst on this mission.
"Jade, just to let you know, yesterday in Music we were told we had to do a duet for our assessment, so you will need to find a partner by tomorrow I think, cause you're in my Music class aren't you?" Tori asked,
"Um, I think so, are you in Mr. Barry's?"
"Yep" she smiled, taking another bite of the turkey sandwich in her thin fingers. Andre picked at the burrito he was eating, taking the tomato out, then smiling and shoving it in his mouth. I grabbed out my chicken salad and realised I hadn't bought a fork.
"Crap" I muttered to myself.
"Fork?" Beck asked beside me and I nodded. He grabbed one out of his bag and handed it to me.
"Thanks" I said, looking up at him genuinely. What the hell? We had just shared a moment … over a fork! I should just pull out of this mission now, this is a lot to handle, and I have never felt this way before.
We continued eating and the red-headed hyper girl came and sat down beside Tori, a few seconds later, Jew fro and the puppet came as well, the ridiculous muppet saying some witty line and Afro boy taking offence. They started to have a group discussion as I just listened, picking at the lettuce leaves in my salad.
"Do you want to be my partner?" Beck asked me, I almost spat out the cucumber in my mouth.
"What?"
"For the music assessment" he said matter-of-factly, knowing he had confused me with his question. He smiled smugly and my lips pursed,
"Um, sure, I guess it couldn't hurt"
"Cool, do you want to come over after school on Wednesday? Because I'm busy tonight and tomorrow night with my parents?"
"Okay" I answered simply, knowing it was probably a bad idea. But I was Jade West; I was the sarcastic, strong and independent woman who could do anything, that also meant keeping my teenage hormones controlled around a charming boy, maybe.
"So, Tori, who are you pairing up with?" I asked, trying to start some kind of friendship with this girl.
"Andre" she said, smiling over at him and he smiled back quickly before turning back to his burrito.
"Cool, what are you guys going to do?"
"Well, I was thinking, we could write some cool song and Andre plays it on piano and sings back up while I sing lead"
"That's what it is" Leon nodded, not looking up from his food. I shoved another piece of grilled chicken into my mouth and saw that Beck hadn't stopped looking at me since I said I would come over.
"Okay" I said, my mouth still half full of food, "Listen Romeo, I am going over to your house to get a good grade. Period"
"Whatever you say babe" he answered smugly,
"Excuse me?" I exclaimed, swallowing my food and glaring at him.
"Whatever you say Jade" he remarked innocently, looking up at me with wide eyes.
"Better" I answered, my eyes narrowing. "Don't ever call me that"
He chuckled and took another sip from his water bottle as Tori and Andre decided to start discussing their music assessment. This whole assessment wasn't going to be easy, especially since I had to go to Beck's house on Wednesday. I had two days to sort out my hormones.
The next day, I woke up at the same time and did all the same things before leaving at exactly the same time. Going to a regular school was so boring; thank goodness this school was a little twisted, being a performing arts school. I hadn't talked to Beck almost the whole of Music class yesterday and had blindly taken notes in Theatre History. I had completed the small amount of homework I had gotten for all my subjects in under twenty minutes and had texted my friend, Grace, on campus. Of course, once we had finished I had to delete everything off my sim card so that if anyone checked my phone, they saw no messages, common knowledge among the agents of Cherub. I walked the same distance to school again, my iPod in my ears, belting out old classics because I didn't have time to keep up with the new pop hits of today. It was too often that teenagers were stereotyped as abusive, ignorant and conceited people who only listened to rappers and songs about drinking and rebellion; I wasn't like that, stupid pop culture.
I opened the double doors to the school, astounded by the creatively constructed main hall of the school. I had heard someone say yesterday that coffee was sold by some weird truck outside in the Asphalt Café in the morning and I loved coffee, so I needed some, now. I dumped my homework books in to my locker and shoved the books I needed for first period into my large shoulder bag. I walked out to the truck selling breakfast foods and beverages. I lined up behind three other people who all grabbed chocolate chip muffins and milk-induced tea.
"So, you like coffee?" I heard someone whisper in my ear. I could feel the side of their hair tickling my ear so I turned around slowly and was met by deep brown eyes.
"Yes Beck" I said, turning back around, I couldn't keep looking into his eyes; I fell for them more every time. He chuckled as he crossed his arms casually over his chest and sauntered to my side. I crossed mine irritably over my own and sighed, why were these people taking so long? Finally the last girl in front of me moved, her blonde curls flowing out behind her as she pranced off with her tea and cupcake in hand.
"Hey, um, black coffee with two sugars?" I asked politely, getting out my wallet.
"Ah, sorry body, we don't have no coffee today?" the scrubby looking man said in an accent I couldn't recognize. His greasy hair was pulled back into a pony tail and a hint of stubble lined his chin, his dark eyes looking at me apologetically.
"What?" Beck and I both asked at the same time. Oh god, we both said something in synchronization, why don't we just get bloody married!
"We have no-"
"Don't repeat it!" I exclaimed, how could they have no coffee? Coffee was what got me through during the day when I had access to it. I mean I had gone on missions where I hadn't touched it for months, but now that I knew I could access it, I was craving it. I stormed away from the truck, so much for convenience and service. Beck hurried along beside me as I went back to my locker and put the wallet back inside.
"Are you-"
"I'm fine, I'm going to just go to Sikowits's class, and it starts in ten minutes anyway" I said, turning away from him and trotting down the hall. He didn't follow and I wondered where he had suddenly flustered to. I entered the room and was met by Tori.
"Oh hey Jade!" she greeted,
"Hey, what's up?" I asked civilly, my coffee meltdown would have to wait until after I got Vega and I hooked as friends.
"Not much, just going over something Andre and I put together yesterday afternoon"
"Okay cool"
"Um, listen" she started. I dumped my bag beside me and slumped on a chair, turning my attention towards her, "My dad-" Yep, now I was interested, "Well, whenever someone new comes to school or whatever he likes to throw a bit of a welcome, so he said you should come over for dinner tonight. I mean if you don't want to, we completely understand, he won't be there anyway, but my mum cooks a great lasagna and my sister, Trina will be out for half the night so…" she looked up quickly, the words had tumbled out of her mouth quicker than I could listen, but I had caught the important parts.
"Yeah, sure, that'd be cool" I smiled convincingly and other people started to enter. The sounds of chairs scarping and bags dropping on the floor filled the air. A few minutes later the bell rang and the crazed teacher had entered the classroom. He was about to say when I heard the back door open.
"Sorry I'm late" I heard the voice of Beck whisper; Sikowitz just nodded and motioned to the chair next to me. He came and sat beside me, and I smelt something, was that…?
"Black with two sugars" he smiled, handing me a medium cup of coffee. I looked up at him and smiled, this boy knew how to please Jade West.
"Thank you"
He almost spat out his coffee as his eyes grew wide and looked at me, and smiled,
"Was Jade West just nice to me?"
"Yeah, soak it up while you can, it aint going to happen again". I sipped on the coffee and it was perfect. I was filled with bliss as the hot liquid calmed me and I was able to completely listen to Sikowits's lecture about method acting. The lesson went by quite quickly, everyone getting up and doing small exercises. Beck and I laughed as we paired up and created shapes of animals with our bodies, we had bonded and I liked it. I knew it was wrong, I was falling for a guy on a mission, this shouldn't happen, why couldn't I focus on Tori? However, I had gotten into her house on the second day of the mission … that was a bonus, right? I mean, now that I had achieved that, I could fool around a little on the side … maybe?
Maria dropped me off at Tori's house at ten past six that evening, I had worn a black dress and the black combat boots with a deep blue chunky necklace around my neck. I looked quite good. I thanked Maria, as the SUV drove off into the night and I was left standing outside the large Vega family home. I walked up the tiled driveway and onto the neat porch. I grabbed the door knocker on the large oak door and knocked twice. I heard voices inside and then the door was opened by someone who wasn't Tori.
"Tori, it's your friend!" the girl called. She was tall, had very thin legs and her hair curled around her face, she looked like an older version of Tori, she must be Trina.
"Trina right?" I asked, trying to be polite and genuine.
"Obviously" she answered before gesturing for me to come in, I nodded at her rude answer and just peered around. I had a large black shoulder bag on my arm filled with sensor bugs, my phone and tiny cameras just in case. I walked over to the couch and leaned on the side, glancing around at the grand piano on a raised area, the large kitchen and dining table, the modern staircase that led up to assumably bedrooms. Tori came down a few seconds afterwards in a simple red dress and black flats.
"Hey, happy you could come!" she smiled, pulling me into a hug. I wrapped my arms around her lightly and gave her a small squeeze before detaching myself from her. Her mother walked down the stairs, in jeans and a white blouse, her hair curled and flicked up at the sides.
"You must be Jade!" she cooed, her arms outstretched. Oh joy, more hugging. I gave her a quick squeeze and smiled,
"I am thank you for inviting me tonight Mrs. Vega"
"Oh darling, call me Eloise" she said, swatting her hand in front of her face in a don't-worry-about-it manner. She shuffled into the kitchen and played around with the steaming pots of food on the oven plates. Tori walked up the stairs and gave me a follow-me kind of look. I pulled my bag closer to me and followed her up the steps and into a large sitting area. She walked down a hall and I saw a door that opened to an area that looked like a desk, that's what I thought I could see through the sliver of the opening. I was assuming that was her father's office. I needed to get in there; the bathroom was the next door down, perfect.
We sat in Tori's room for a while, casually talking about television shows, half of which I had never heard of. Then she started talking about something I had forgotten most teenage girls talked about, boys.
"So, you and Beck, huh?" she asked, raising her eyebrows suggestively.
"Uh, no, he thinks he has a chance" I said smugly, crossing my arms over my chest.
"Seriously! You're just going to ignore him!" she looked horrified at me quick denial of a relationship with him. "Girls drop at his feet daily, most of them would die to go out with him!" she continued.
"Yeah, yeah" I shrugged; this girl wasn't going to drop it.
"He has been flirting with you, like, every single time he sees you"
"I know" I smiled. Oh shit, good one Jade, smile like a hormonal and giddy teenage girl that will make it better you moron!
"You do like him!" she exclaimed, her hands coming over her mouth as she giggled.
"No!" I denied,
"Yes, Yes, Yes!" she fussed, one of her fingers shaking at me.
"Okay, maybe a little" I muttered, trying to hide the blush on my cheeks. She came over and sat by me.
"Do you want some advice?" she asked, I looked up at her. She genuinely wanted to help me and regretfully all I thought at the time was, yes we were now friends, it was time to get this mission started. This was the part of the mission I always hated, betraying the trust of the person I had just worked hard to gain, and try to pull it off without breaking their trust, if that makes sense.
"Not really" I said, smiling at her jokingly,
"I think you should go for it" she said punching my arm lightly, I nodded and took her into a hug.
"Well, you know what I really need to go for right now?"
She looked at me questioningly,
"The bathroom" I smiled, she smiled back and pointed to the door.
"Turn right and then third door on your left" I thanked her and walked out the door turning towards the office. I quickly waddled into the office and pulled out a few bugs from my bag. I climbed up and stuck one on the top of the bookcase on the side of a statuette, one in the crevice underneath the desk and one on the underside of the leopard print rug. I was just about to start looking through the doors when I heard footsteps. I raced to the door and shoved everything back in my hand. I flung the door open quickly and rushed out only to crash right into someone. Oh God, this was bad.
