Normal POV.
James marched confidently down the darkened deserted street, his fists clenched at his sides as his black trainers slapped against the concrete slab flooring. He halted momentarily as he reached the side street that he was expected to be at by the time the clock ticked half past nine. He glanced down at his cheap wristwatch and stared grim-mouthed at the luminous screen, the red digits glowing 21:29 pm. He sighed as he waited for the harsh red digits to flick their way to 21:30 pm. Glancing behind him to check that no one was watching him, he slipped down the alley way and walked until he reached the end. Three guys stood there.
The one was tall, easily reaching 5ft ten with jet black hair and piercing green eyes. He was a broad lad, wide shoulders and muscles in the right places. He was leaning against the dirty red brick wall, staring at his feet. His greasy fringe hung in his face as his pale spotty skin glowed in dim light coming from the moon. This guy was called Stuart.
Another lad about two inches shorter than Stuart was leaning against the wall opposite the other guy. He had shoulder length badly dyed black hair. You could see the ginger roots showing at the top of his head. He was biting his nails, one leg bent behind him on the wall, the skin of his knee showing through the massive rip in his baggy jeans. He had beady brown eyes, the colour of dog muck. They were slightly sunken into his skull.
The third guy was shorter than the other two by a good five inches but he was still a lot taller than James. He also had black hair but you could see the blonde streaks showing up vibrantly in the greasy black hair. He was taping his hands rhythmically against his thighs, creating a beat James didn't recognize. His eyes were a light blue colour, the colour of the water in the swimming pools in Spain and Miami. They were half closed as she leant his head back against the wall.
James strode towards them, shoving his hands into the deep pockets of his boot cut jeans. They were about two sizes to big for him since he nicked them from some cheap crappy shop that barely owned any clothing since some guy from Stuarts's gang had forced them off him when he first bumped into them in the street. The guy had been a good foot taller than James' scrawny nine-year-old figure so James didn't stand much of a chance at fighting back even though he tried.
He had bunked off the last lesson of school in order to replace the stolen jeans before his mom found out.
Luckily, that guy wasn't here tonight. James stopped abruptly in front of Stuart, suddenly feeling very trapped as the other two closed in on him so that there was no escape unless he took them all out.
And James didn't think he would succeed.
So he sucked it up, casually running his hand through his hair and shrugging his black hoodie back up onto his bony shoulders. "Hey man." James said, nodding at Stuart to show a sign of respect.
Stuart was the lead member of the gang, so he basically owned you once you got into the gang. The gang intrigued James. He liked the way they all had this sense of brotherhood about them. They protected each other, and that's exactly what James was looking for: protection…protection from the tough outside world. Reality was such a hardship on a ten-year-old kid.
"So you made it?" Stuart drawled, raising his head from the ground to study James.
James shrugged. "Looks like it."
"Okay smart guy," said the boy with the beady sunken eyes. "Lets see what you're really made off." He took a threatening step towards James before Stuart flung an arm out.
"Not yet." He commanded quietly.
James resisted the urge to gulp. Instead, he took a deep breath, hoping it looked casual to swallow his fear before asking, "So what do I have to do?"
The guy that was taping his thighs smirked meanly at James. "To get into the gang, you have to withstand one thing."
James tried to control the widening of his eyes at the shock of such a stupid guy knowing such a big word. "What's that?" he asked, generally interested.
All three thirteen-year-old boys standing in front of James grinned in unison.
Before James could piece their words and their actions together, something blurred in the corner of his eye and then a rock hit him in the jaw with enough force to force him back a few steps.
Another rock smacked him in the other side of his jaw and he fell backwards into the wall.
His head connected with the wall with enough force to make him disoriented. He tried to dig his nails into the wall to keep him from falling to the ground but he tasted the harsh metallic tang of blood in his mouth.
Something hard slammed into his shin, causing him to duck to the ground and clutch it.
As vicious laughs echoed in the abandoned alleyway James realised with a sharp twist in his stomach what was happening to him.
They were beating him up.
It all seemed a bit surreal to James as he lost his balance when a heavy boot kicked him sharply in the ribs, causing him to topple helplessly to the side.
Why…why is this happening? James thought through the hazy film coating his brain when another boot lashed out and hit him hard in the head.
He curled himself into a ball as best as his throbbing ribs would allow him as more fists and feet rained unrelenting down upon him.
He coughed up a bloody mouthful of spit and spat it pathetically out on the sidewalk. His blonde soft hair felt mattered and warm from blood oozing from a wound in his head.
He jerked up off the ground, causing his cloudy head to pound painfully as someone stamped hard on his ankle. He let out a groan as he heard a sickening snap.
He collapsed back against the filthy sidewalk as the grinding pain in his head became too much to bear sitting up. It felt like the walls of his skull was slowly closing in to squeeze his brain.
Blood trickled in a steady stream from his right nostril, and his stomach and ribs were hurting so badly it was becoming difficult to breathe.
"Stop." He moaned helplessly, hating to appear week but knowing that if he didn't try and stop them then things were going to get a lot worse.
An ice-cold shiver raced down his spine as he realised that the malicious laughs spilling out of the boy's throats weren't showing any indication that they were going to let up anytime soon.
He forced him self to kick out with both his feet, ignoring the stabbing pain his ankle as he did so. He felt a blinding happiness when he heard three bones snap and someone yelp like a scolded pup.
"My fingers!" he heard the guy with the ripped jeans cry.
James forced his swollen eyes open so that he could watch in satisfaction as the boy hopped round and wafted his hand in the air.
He rolled back onto his shoulders and swung his legs up vertically in the air before letting the drop forward, effectively flinging himself up into a sitting position which he easily managed to clamber up into a standing position.
He was careful to balance his weight onto his good ankle but he tried to act like he wasn't in any pain as to not alert the guys of any weak points in his tough façade.
Just as Stuart flung his fist forward towards James' cheek James shot his hand out and grabbed Stuart's wrist, twisting it until he screamed for mercy. He shoved Stuart roughly to the side as he twisted round to counter the blue-eyed boys attack to his already aching ribs.
He had already gotten in another painful hit to James' knee as he was dealing with Stuart but James snarled and punched the guy right in his bony nose. He felt warm blood explode from the boy's nose before gripping him roughly by the scruff of his tattered shirt and slinging him roughly into the solid brick wall.
His groans escalated as he hit the wall, complaining about the pain.
James leaned his weight on the guy and growled, "You think you're in pain?"
The older boy whimpered brokenly.
James slammed his head against the wall twice before letting him crumple to the ground.
By the time everything was silent, James was breathing hard, and the amount of burning pain he was in had in various parts of his body caught up to him again.
He tried limping his way towards the road, just wanting to go home now but Stuart's voice froze him in place. "You're in." he said simply.
James turned slowly, hobbling on his broken ankle. He peered at Stuart through swollen eyes before sighing.
"Come back to my house, get cleaned up. You don't wanna go home like you are now. You'll give your folks a heart attack." Stuart shifted a bloody hand into his pocket before bringing out a cell phone. He muttered something for a moment before chucking the phone back in his pocket and saying, "My brother says he can bring you to are house in his car."
"But what about me?" the blue-eyed boy groaned.
"Walk." Stuart snapped, before turning to James.
With mixed emotions, James realised that he had gained more respect in one night from the gang leader, than the other guys had earned in a month.
James whimpered as he remembered with terrifying detail the night of his first gang initiation. He remembered talking to Stuart about the general gang motto: once in a gang, you honour that gang.
He cringed into a solid wall as his chest and knees still cramped from all those years ago on that one night where he thought he was going to die. He turned his face into warmth that felt comforting against his chilled form and he snuggled closer and curled himself against the slab of glorious warmth.
Kyle wriggled momentarily as he felt something cool and human like burrowing into his chest. His eyes flicked open to see James leaning into him, cringing and frowning. He raised his eyebrows in surprise before carefully wrapping an arm around James' twitching shoulders.
"James, its okay. Your safe." He soothed, simply because it felt like the right thing to do.
The younger boy sighed and snuggled into the grip, his face and body relaxing.
James' eyes flew open and he registered two things simultaneously: the first being that he could recall every single miniscule occurrence in his flashback in perfect detail, which wasn't nice. The images danced behind his lids every time he blinked. Secondly, he noticed that an arm was wrapped round his shoulders and he detected with one whiff that the body spray coming from the sleeved arm the body part undoubtedly belonged to Kyle.
He jerked back and let out a surprised hiss. "Kyle."
The older boy looked innocently at him. "What?" he whispered.
James struggled to voice his opinion on the matter. He didn't hate the contact it was just a surprise. A pleasant surprise but James was too homophobic to say it in case he sounded like an idiot. Luckily he didn't have to since Lauren had woken up sometime in the past ten minutes and was now jumping in her seat squealing, "We're here!"
Kerry awoke with a groan but soon picked up on the excited vibes radiating from Lauren who was jiggling up and down beside her.
"Look alive kids. We're here." Zara called excitedly.
*Turner mansion*
The five people that would be occupying the Turner residence for the next however long all trooped into the house and gawked at the size of it.
It was huge. There were eight rooms downstairs: one small closet, one large lounge, one large sitting room, one large kitchen, one large dining room, one medium sized utility room and then a bathroom and a porch on the back end of the house. Upstairs had six rooms: one bathroom, one bedroom with an en suite bathroom, four bedrooms and one study.
After an eight-hour flight, and arriving off the plane at midnight, everyone was shattered. The kids staggered up the stairs while Zara made some last minute phone calls.
"I bags the biggest room." James groaned sluggishly as he tugged his suitcase up the stairs.
"No, I do." Lauren argued.
"But I just bagged it. Like right then." James complained, as he scooped Kerry's suitcase off the floor and dragged it up the last few steps for her.
"Shut up you pair." Kyle moaned. "We've been here for two minutes and you're already at each others throats."
"Look," Kerry said in a reasonable voice. "Lauren and me will take these two rooms." She indicated the two rooms at the top of the stairs. "And you guys can take the two rooms round the corner." She grabbed her bag off James and dragged it towards the first bedroom.
Lauren shrugged, over come by a yawn that was wide enough to split her face. Too tired to argue she nodded her messy blonde head and staggered towards her own room.
"Actually, I think I might take the bedroom with the en suite bathroom." James mused.
"Don't even think about it." Zara warned as she came trotting up the stairs. "Get to bed everyone. You have until half seven-tomorrow morning to get some sleep. You have school tomorrow after all."
"What?" the trio groaned in disbelief.
"Don't act so surprised." Zara chided while rolling her eyes. "Now shoo. Bed."
*Next morning- school*
James opened his eyes to the wonderful sight of sunlight streaming in through his window. "Miami…" he murmured, smiling stupidly into his pillow.
A sharp bang on his door had him jumping half a meter in his big luxurious bed. "James, get out of bed. We have school today." Kerry called through his door.
He rolled onto his stomach and groaned into the pillow. "No…"
"Yes." Kerry retorted, like she was reprimanding a two-year-old. "Be ready by half eight. The bus comes then."
James heard her footsteps fading into nothing as she walked off down the landing.
Ten minutes later he was staggering out of his room and making his way downstairs. "Where's Kyle?" he asked as he plonked himself in a chair in the kitchen to nab some toast of Kerry's plate.
She slapped his hand away before saying, "He doesn't go to school does he?"
James choked on his toast. "Lucky git." He grumbled.
"What should we wear?" Lauren chirped from her spot in front of the kettle.
"I dunno." James shrugged carelessly. "Anything as long as it fits your personality so that it will attract your targets attention."
The girls both gasped and stared at him in shock.
"What?" he asked defensively.
"That's the smartest thing you've ever said." Kerry explained.
James snorted. "Girls are weird." Was his last remark before he retreated to his room to find something to wear.
*Bus stop*
"I can't believe we have to catch the bus when we have three perfectly good cars at out disposal." James muttered crossly as he hung in the doorway to the bus stop.
He was wearing a tight black top with a V-neck and loose baggy light blue denim jeans. He had on his white trainers, and a black and white rucksack. It was boiling in Miami so he didn't bother with a jacket. He did bother with some collagen, and some Joop perfume for guys. He had one black beaded surfer necklace round his neck and a few surfer bands on his wrist. On the other wrist sat an expensive silver wristwatch.
Kerry had a white strapless top on that covered her midriff and a pair of blue denim three quarter jeans that hung low on her hips. She had a pair of white pump sandals on her feet and a thin blue cardigan slung over her shoulders. She had a white surfer type bag hanging from her shoulder, with purple swirls decorating it. Her black hair was pulled up into a messy side bun, with the end that was dangling on either side of her face curled delicately. She had some make-up on: black mascara, pale pink lipstick, and blush. She had some nice exotic perfume on, that smelt fruity. A simple silver love heart necklace hung daintily from her neck, the chunky heart nestling into her cleavage. She had a matching bracelet on her wrist. She had woken up an hour early this morning just so she could manicure her nails for today.
"Yeah, but we aren't meant to announce to the whole of Miami that we can drive." Kerry whispered despairingly at James.
"Yet." James added.
Kerry sighed unhappily. "Yet."
Lauren was wearing a tight fitting white sleeveless top that showed about an inch of her stomach. She was wearing a pair of tight short shorts that were jet black and denim. She had a pair of black strap sandals on that showed off her black toenails. She had black fingernails to match and a black leather jacket was thrown haphazardly into her black surfer like shoulder bag. One sleeve hung limply from the bag. Her blonde hair was pulled down into two low pigtails that hung cutely on wither side of her face. She hadn't bothered with a lot of make-up: mascara and blush. She wore a heady perfume to emphasise her nose for trouble. The short shorts made her legs look longer and more desirable and the mix between badass and cute innocent chick was exactly what she'd been aiming for.
You couldn't be sure when she would get into trouble and would have to pull the innocent little girl card to get out of it.
"I just can't wait to get to school and scope out the area." Lauren said, smiling at the others.
"I can't wait to get to school and see all the hot babes_" a tooting of a car horn interrupted James little speech.
Kyle was pulling up in front of the bus stop. The automatic window whirled down and he called out in a posh voice, "Someone need a ride?"
James grinned and flung himself at the car. "God man," he said as he climbed into the passenger seat. "You are a life saver. I felt like such an idiot waiting for the crappy bus when I can drive a car."
The girls both slammed their doors shut and then Kyle was pulling away from the curb and jerking the car round the corner to head to school.
*At school*
The school car park was thriving with kids. The hot sun beat down on the cars, causing the glare from a windshield to momentarily blind a student if they walked past and didn't keep their head turned away. Most of the cars in the car park were pretty nice. Nobody had any exceptionally good cars on show because they saved those for the races, so when Kyle and his minions pulled into the school lot in a flash blue car with a spoiler on the back and a double exhaust pipe everyone turned to face them.
"Wow." Lauren muttered, as she took a deep calming breath before slipping out the car.
"Wow indeed." Kerry grumbled as she followed Lauren's lead and exited the car.
There were a few wolf whistles as the girls leaned casually back against the boot of the car, pretending to sun themselves.
James jumped out of the car pulling his bag with him. Before he slammed the door he leant in close to Kyle and said, "Be careful today."
"You too man." And then he was revving the engine and indicating for James to shut the door.
James slammed the door shut and turned to Kerry and Lauren who were both casually scanning the area through their sunglasses. He walked over to them and slung an arm round both their shoulders. "Ladies…" he grinned.
They all started walking over to the school's entrance when a voice stopped them. "They both yours?"
James turned slowly to face the guy who had spoken. He was quite tall and not that good looking in all honesty.
James raised an eyebrow.
The guy raised his hands in surrender. "Hey man, I was just wondering in case you felt like sharing."
James snorted. "They're my sisters."
The guy grinned wolfishly. "So they are available." He said confidently.
James grinned confidently back. "Yeah. But if you lay a finger on them you'll be having a very intimate relationship with my boot up your arse."
The guy looked shocked and a few gasps whispered through the warm air. "Like you could take me."
James sighed. "Look, I have better things to be doing than standing here talking to a brainless idiot like you." He turned on his heel and placed one hand on both the girl's backs to propel them towards the school. He caught a few appraising looks of some hot girls as he walked past them which he returned with a wink. A few of the older guys were looking faintly impressed by James' back chat to an older guy so he exchanged a few nods of mild respect.
Just before they broke free from the crowd of kids in the parking lot a girl with a figure to die for and a face like a fallen angel said, "Hey. Yeah, you."
James glanced over his shoulder and refrained his jaw from hitting the floor at the sight of her. "Yeah?" he asked nonchalantly.
She smiled coyly and said, "Nice ride." She let her gaze flick to the gates where Kyle had disappeared moments and then down lower, towards James' hips.
James smirked and nodded. "Thanks I guess."
"Unbelievable." Kerry muttered, once they were in the safety off the school reception. "You already have Lisa Smith's attention and you've been in the school for five minutes."
James shrugged, looking genuinely apologetic. "I was just going with it Kerry. Its what you have to do when you're with a gang."
Lauren narrowed her eyes and asked, "How would you know?"
James had a graphic image of a fist smashing into his face. He looked away clearly uncomfortable and snapped, "Just do."
"Are you the new kids?" asked a preppy old woman from behind the reception desk.
Kerry stepped forward. "Yes." She smiled and indicated her 'siblings'. "We came for out timetables so we can scat to out lessons as soon as possible."
James snorted quietly. Kerry wasn't doing a very good job at being in character. A little less politeness would be good.
The old woman nodded and shuffled the papers on her desk till she eventually handed over three timetables. "Here you go!" she said cheerfully, still in that preppy voice.
Lauren wanted to smile at her and thank her for her help but instead she nodded, flashing a brief smile before saying, "Cheers." And disappearing down the hall.
"Kerry." James said quietly as they both started down the brightly lit corridor. There was a wall of glass trailing down the one side of the corridor so the daylight illuminated the hallway easily.
"Yeah?" the girl asked, pulling her bag back up onto her shoulder.
"Be careful today. Obviously try and get in with the correct people but don't do it if you feel uncomfortable." Even though Kerry wasn't actually his sister she was still a good friend and he would hate it if she got hurt.
Kerry was surprised at his concern. "Uh…y-yeah, you too."
James waved over his shoulder before trying to decipher the map that was on the back of his organiser, which was supposed to help him, get to lessons on time.
*Lesson four- Lauren and her target*
Lauren had had three encounters with her target so far. The classrooms in Miami Gold High School were quite large and they had single rows of one desk and chair going across the classroom. There were thirty desks to a classroom, and everyone kid that sat down seemed to be sitting by someone who was in their click. Throughout her lessons today, Lauren had noticed that the chavs sat in the first five seats of the first two rows at the back of the classroom. The popular people of the class A.K.A the people that ruled that class sat at the very back row amongst the chavs. The Goths and emos sat in the next two rows and then the sluts filled the second row from the front of the classroom and then you had the geeks that took up the first row.
Kate Smith was pretty, with a delicate elfin face and her brown curly hair was wild disarray round her face. She was a bit taller than Lauren, about three inches, and Lauren was glad to see that their outfit choice was the same. If push came to shove at least Lauren could fall back onto the safe topic of clothes. The girl never seemed to be paying attention to any teacher that droned on at the front of the class. She was usually to busy passing notes, texting or scribbling away in a little white with pink flowers on it notebook. Kate seemed to take residence in the 'chav section' of the classroom so Lauren tried to get as close as possible to them.
In first lesson, which was English, Lauren had had a seat added onto the end of the back row in the classroom. Luckily, the seat had been right next to Kate's. She didn't seem to notice Lauren until Lauren asked if she could borrow a pencil. Kate passed one over barely sparing a glance at her.
In second lesson Lauren had been dumped in a seat in amongst all the Goths in the classroom so she didn't have much opportunity to try and communicate with Kate. Third lesson was better because she was again, sitting by Kate. The lesson was biology so the teacher had ordered the class to pair up with the person on their right.
Kate turned to face Lauren, a small frown on her face. Finally she said, "You're new here."
Lauren nodded. "Yep. Just moved her yesterday."
Kate nodded. "You like it here?"
Lauren grinned. "What's not to like?"
Kate tinkled with laughter. "Its pretty great."
Lauren pretended to look disappointed, "Although, I wish there was some exciting stuff going on. It seems a bit boring to be honest."
Kate smirked slightly, obviously thinking of something Lauren wasn't involved in.
Cars…Lauren thought, struggling not to smile herself.
"Oh I wouldn't say that." Kate said casually, leaning back in her chair and flicking her hair over her shoulder.
Lauren cocked her head to the side. "You know of some fun then?"
Kate paused a moment before shrugging. "Lets just say things can get pretty hot round her in the evenings."
Lauren smiled and kicked off her sandals so she could tuck her legs up under her. "Maybe I'll go have a wonder tonight, see what's going on. What's the pigs like over here?"
Kate raised her perfect eyebrows in surprise and asked, "You've had dealings with the cops?"
Lauren snorted. "They can never catch me."
Kate grinned, leaning forward slightly. "What kind of secrets have you got clogging up your closet?"
Lauren cleared her throat quietly to avoid giggling at her success in hooking Kate in. "If I told you, it wouldn't be a secret."
Kate's eyes widened slightly at Lauren's evasiveness. "I tell you what," she said, smiling at Lauren. "Why don't you come eat lunch with me and my girls today? We can get to know each other a bit. You seem like a nice girl."
Lauren tapped her hands on the desk as she pretended to think. "Yeah, why not?"
Kate grinned. "Great. You might find some fun around here after all Lauren."
Lauren smirked. "I hope so. What's life without a little risk?"
Kate laughed. "You took the words right out of my mouth."
"Kate, Lauren! Do your work. This isn't a social gathering!" The teacher –Mrs Lewis- shouted, slapping a board pen against the white board with a hard metallic crack.
"Keep your hair on you old bat!" Lauren retorted, wriggling in her seat till she faced the teacher. She deliberately brought her knees up to her chest and rested her chin on them to emphasise her boredom.
The teacher spluttered as Kate burst out laughing. "You know something Lauren…I really like you."
*Lesson four- James' target*
James was sitting on a plastic chair leaning over a math book that was explaining how to do simultaneous equations. He clamped a hand over his mouth to cover a yawn. It wasn't that he didn't like math. He did. He liked it a lot. He just didn't like doing work he had already aced a year ago. But he scribbled away answering the questions to appear academic even though he didn't feel it. He wanted more than anything to be racing his new car and picking up some hot Miami babes.
Tom Smith was a quiet boy who was always too absorbed in his studies to notice what was going on in the classroom. He was James' height, with dark brown hair and light blue eyes. He wore blue denim cut offs with a white tight fitting top on. He had a big black surfer rucksack that looked heavy enough to render someone unconscious if it was used as a weapon. The boy had a few brown surfer bracelets on and he had an expensive Rolex watch on. He had a shark's tooth necklace hanging loosely round his neck.
Tom was bending over his work, his face so low to the table his nose practically brushed the smooth surface. He was writing furiously in his math book, but about ten minutes later James noticed that Tom was pushing his math work out of the way and pulling out some rolled up pieces of A3 paper that were sticking out of his bag.
He unfolded them and smoothed them out, frown lines appearing between his eyes as he stared down at his work.
James finished the last sum he was on and closed the exercise book. He glanced at the clock and grinned. He had finished the work a whole fifteen minutes before the end of the lesson. This was a knew record for James. Leaning back in his chair and pretending to stretch, he shot a curious look at Tom's sheets of papers.
They were littered with equations; complicated long equations that sometimes took up a whole corner of the paper. In the middle of the page was a half finished drawing of some sort of engine. The half that was finished was labelled in great detail and James stared wide-eyed at the paper, intrigued by the work.
Its cars, James thought suddenly. Its car engines.
He leaned slowly towards the paper, his eyes greedily scanning the notes to try and decipher the equations. He became so engrossed in the work that he didn't realise that Tom was staring at him until he snatched the paper away from James' eyes.
"What you doing?" he asked, frowning at James.
James cleared his throat. "Uh, sorry." He said. "I couldn't help but notice your work. It's really good. Its car engines right?"
Tom looked shocked. He clearly hadn't expected James to figure out his equations in just ten minutes. Regardless he nodded his head, unable to resist continuing a conversation that was sophisticated and with another one of his classmates. "I've been working on it for a while."
James smiled. "I like learning about the way engines work and the physics behind it all."
Tom grinned, coming out of his quiet shell. "Really? I mean, me too but I just didn't expect for someone else to be…" he trailed off, glancing down at his work.
James tapped a finger against a section of the drawing that was empty. "That's the fan. You have to work out how fast the fan spins according to the car's speed to know how fast the cool air will travel."
Tom cocked his head to the side, thinking it through. "So, the speed of the fan basically depends on the car's speed."
James nodded. "Its directly proportional."
Tom grinned widely. "Thanks." He went to write it down and but then he turned back to James who had started flipping through the school textbook in boredom.
"Um…" Tom began cautiously. "Do you fancy coming over mine tonight? I know you don't know me and you're new here and stuff but I thought since you seem interested in this stuff I could show you some of my other projects I've been working."
James spun round in his seat and smiled happily. "That'd be great, thanks mate."
"You should join me and my mates for lunch. Get to know us…you can tell us what its like to have travelled from…?" Tom folded his work up as he spoke but then glanced at James.
"Manchester." James confirmed.
"…Manchester to Miami. I bet is weird."
James laughed. "Hell yeah."
*Afternoon –Kyle's target*
Kyle pulled up into the earthy opening to the Miami Smith's garage. He had traded the flash blue car he had driven the others to school in for a slightly less good looking car which had been deliberately fixed to break down when he was on his way to the corner shop at the bottom of the street a few buildings away from the garage.
He jumped out of the car and looked round, scouting out the area while also looking for his target: Jack Smith.
The older boy was leaning so far into a car bonnet that you could barely see his upper body. Kyle only realised it was him when he bobbed his head out from inside the bonnet to grab a tool before diving straight back in.
Kyle swiped his hair off his forehead before making his way casually over to the boy. "Hey." He called cheerfully. "Can you give me a hand?"
Jack coughed and ducked out from under the bonnet. He turned to face Kyle and wiped his hand on his dirty jeans. "Sure. What's up?"
"Well it's my car." Kyle began, jerking his chin in the direction of the car. "It broke down just as I got onto the street. Good thing this garage is just a stretch up the road, eh?"
Jack chuckled. "I'll come take a look."
He cranked the bonnet open and peered inside. "Ah ha. That's your problem the engine is flooded. Very flooded. It'll take a while to drain it. You won't be using this car anytime soon."
Kyle sighed and leant back against the car. "But you can fix it?"
Jack nodded enthusiastically. "Oh sure. It'll take about a day because I have to clean the engine but it won't be difficult."
Kyle smiled. "So, when do think it'll be good to pick it up?"
Jack scratched the stubble on his cheeks. "Tomorrow afternoon should be good."
*End of school*
James quickly sent Kyle a text asking him to come pick them up.
It was the end of the school day, and James couldn't wait to get out of school and relax at Tom's. He was actually looking forward to seeing Tom's work and not just for the mission. He generally liked cars, and it was a shame that he didn't have more of an opportunity to study them while at C.H.E.R.U.B.
"So is it okay if I go home and pop over later? My mom needs help unpacking." James asked, while pocketing his phone.
Tom waved his hand dismissively, a grin on his face. "Sure, sure. Just drop me a text before you arrive."
"So what kind of projects have you been working on?" James asked as the two boys made their way towards the school gates. "Have you got any cars for us to look at?"
Tom smirked. "Oh don't worry about that. There will be plenty of cars to look at tonight."
James frowned slightly, feigning confusion. "How many cars do you own?"
Tom stared at James a moment, his calculating gaze studying every inch of his face from his blonde hair to tip of his chin before making his mind up about something. He gripped James' bicep and pulled him towards the corner of the corridor where it quiet, away from the herds of kids all pushing and shoving to get out of the building and into the sun. "Tonight, there's a…car convention…of some sorts going on in the streets by the beach. I'll take you over there and you can check out some of the cars I helped my brother fix up for his…own needs." Tom explained in hushed confidential tones.
James grinned acting way more surprised than the situation warranted but Tom seemed oblivious. "Seriously? That's cool."
Tom nodded. "You'll love it if you're as in to cars as you say you are. Think of it as some sort of test of realising how in to cars you actually are."
James caught sight of Kerry striding down the corridor just behind Lisa Smith and her posse. She looked slightly annoyed and James realised that it was most likely because she hadn't had much success today.
"Hey, would it be okay if my sister came with us too? Its just, she likes cars too –or maybe its just the guys who drive them- and I think she'd really like it if she could get a peek of some of 'em. It'll probably help her gel with people at school more easily as well. Once you get her settled she won't stop. She's a lot of fun our Kerry." James knew that there was a likely chance that he was pushing his luck with this request but he thought he might as well ask.
Beside, if Tom thought it was suspicious he could always whip out some of his gang mojo and smooth things back over. He was used to how people in gangs worked so it wouldn't prove difficult.
Tom looked hesitant at first, like he wasn't sure how to cope with the situation but then he shrugged and smiled. "Sure. But just you two yeah?"
James nodded. "Sure man thanks a lot. I'll catch you later then."
"Look forward to it." Tom waved and then backed out of the school.
James grinned broadly to himself.
Another fantastic performance James…he thought arrogantly as he sauntered over to Kerry and tapped her shoulder.
*Back at the garage with Kyle*
Kyle was just chatting to Jack about how you clean an engine when his phone chirped. He pulled it roughly out of his pocket and stared at the screen.
"Ugh, sorry Jack, but I have to go fetch my siblings from school. Its their first day today." Kyle said, pocketing his phone and sighing.
Jack glanced at the car. "How will you get there? I mean we have your car so…"
Kyle laughed. "Oh, I have way more than one car."
Jack raised his eyebrows looking impressed.
Just as Kyle was about to round the corner onto the street and out of sight Jack shouted, "Kyle!"
Kyle ducked his head back round the corner and cocked his head to the side.
"Why don't you swing by my house tonight? Show me these cars?" Jack suggested.
Kyle shrugged. "Yeah, whatever."
"It's the mansion two blocks over from here. You'll know it when you see it."
Kyle nodded and jogged steadily back to his house. Grabbing a pair of car keys off the hooks in the kitchen, he made his way to the large garage at the front of the house and prepared to drive the lean mean machine to Miami Gold high school.
*Back at school*
"Hey." Kerry said, smiling weakly. "How was your day?"
James grinned. "Excellent. Yours?"
Kerry huffed. "Bloody awful. I didn't even speak to Lisa once. She's too busy lapping up all the attention she gets from her slutty posse. God, she always has someone in her face, fawning over her_"
James laughed and interrupted Kerry's rant. "I get the picture. But don't sweat it, you can try and talk to her tonight."
Kerry stared at him. "How?"
James smirked triumphantly. "I got us invites to their 'car convention' tonight." James made exaggerated air quotations round the words 'car convention'. "I hit it off really well with Tom today and he invited me over and then I managed to get him to invite you_"
"Wait." Kerry demanded. "You got me an invite?"
James nodded. "Yeah, I figured you could do with the help so I_"
"I do not need help!" Kerry snapped.
James blinked, slightly put out by Kerry's anger. "Well, last time I checked I was the one with the invite and you were the one with nothing." He pointed out.
Kerry scowled. "I could've got one myself."
James raised an eyebrow. "Did you?"
Kerry snapped her mouth shut.
"That's what I thought. Now quit your belly-aching and show a bit of appreciation." James ordered.
Kerry sighed.
James glanced outside. "Kyle's here. I wonder how he did today."
Kerry shrugged. "Knowing Kyle he probably pulled his weight and did good."
James bumped his shoulder with Kerry's. "Let's go find out. We can gloat about how we got invites and how he probably didn't."
Kerry was still frowning.
James bumped her shoulder more demandingly. "Its fuunn…." He said, trying to lighten the sudden heavy mood.
That cracked a smile from Kerry. She looped an arm through the crock of James' elbow and tugged them towards the car.
"Oh Kyle…" she sang, as she clambered into the shotgun seat.
*Back at the house with Zara*
The front door slammed open and Kerry stalked inside. She ditched her bag at the bottom of the stairs before stomping into the kitchen and yanking the fridge door open.
Zara had jumped up from her chair when she heard the front door bang open but when she saw Kerry stalk into the kitchen and heard the two guys laughing down the hall she relaxed and let her breath out. "Kerry, what on earths the matter?"
Kerry gulped down her glass of orange juice before answering. "Lisa Smith sucks."
Zara raised her eyebrows. "Well I doubt you will win her over with that attitude."
James walked into the kitchen, took one look at the scowl on Kerry's face and dissolved into the giggles again. Kyle was slightly more composed as he finally entered the kitchen after kicking his shoes off at the door. He managed to make it to the frode and pull out a bottle of water before he snorted.
Zara shook her head fondly at the three children. "What is going on?"
James took a deep breath and was careful to keep his gaze away from Kerry while he spoke. "Well today was a massive success. I got in with Tom and he invited me over tonight and he's going to show me some cars he's been working on. I'll scope out the area, find out what I can…"
Kyle took over explaining the successes of the day. "When I arrived at the garage I managed to speak with Jack straight away. We talked a bit about cars and then I had to go pick James and Kerry up. He invited me over tonight. All I had to say was that I had more than one car and the BAM he was all like 'bring them over tonight and we can take a look…' and stuff. It was pretty easy. Easier than what I thought."
James jumped in. "Your not in the gang yet Kyle. You aren't even invited to the races yet. It's not over yet. We still have to get into the gang."
Kyle frowned. "What do you mean?"
James cleared his throat. "We got invited to their house. That can be a big step away from being invited into their gang. We have to first get an invite to a race, and then we have to work on being welcomed into the gang. That's the hardest bit because gangs never let people in easily. You have to earn their trust…sometimes go through certain tasks to even be noticed as a possible applicant into the gang." James had a sudden wave of nausea take over him as he thought of Kerry being beaten up just to get into a gang she didn't even in tend on staying in. He shook his head slightly and continued his explanation, "But once you're in its great. We'll be trusted and if we earn enough respect the higher-ranking people will tell us the really juicy stuff. Most probably like Jack Smith I'm assuming. He seems like the leader of everything, obviously ranking under his dad."
There was a peaceful silence in the room as James' words rang out clearly and everyone absorbed them.
Kerry looked sceptical though. "How do you know all of this?"
James swallowed and shrugged. "Its just the way it works."
Kerry shook her head, her soft black hair falling out of her bun in little wisps. "That doesn't answer the question_"
"Yeah James. Did you used to be in a gang or something?" Kyle asked playfully, but with an undertone of harsh seriousness to his voice.
"Just leave it alone, eh? I don't know why the pair of you suddenly decided to turn into a replica of Nancy freakin' Drew but it stops now." James snapped, folding his arms defensively when Zara swung her gaze towards him.
She held his gaze a moment, giving him a calm understanding look before saying, "So Kerry, it sounds like it was a good day so far, how was your day?"
Kyle dissolved into laughter again and took a bit out of an apple to try and control himself.
Kerry glared and said sulkily, "It was_"
James saw the flash of pure humiliation in her eyes and decided that he should intervene. "She got an invite to go out with me and Kyle tonight."
Everyone seemed to happen at once then: Kyle choked on his apple and stared at James obviously wondering why he wasn't taking the opportunity to brag about his 'skills' and Kerry's failure. Kerry glared at him, as if waiting for him to continue and say something snide and cruel.
It was Zara that broke the awkwardness that was soon enveloping the modern room. "Well that's great Kerry. You all did really well today. I'm proud of you."
James grinned, leaning a hip against the kitchen table. "Lauren sounded as if she did pretty good too_"
"Oh my God!" Kerry gasped loudly, springing away from the kitchen sink and looking flustered. "Where's Lauren? I forgot about her. Oh my God, I'm such a bad friend!"
James screwed his face up slightly, staring at Kerry as if she was insane. "Chill, Kerry I know where she is. Jeez, do you really think I'm so irresponsible that I wouldn't check up on my little sister?"
Kerry visible relaxed, shooting an annoyed look at James. " Why didn't you say something?"
James looked tamping mad. "Its not like you were all that worried before. You only just remembered!"
"You still could've said something!" Kerry retorted impatiently.
James lost it. "For God sake Kerry, I can never do anything right!"
There was an astonished silence from everybody in the room. James had lunged a step away from the table so he could stand up straight and glare fiercely at Kerry.
"Catch you later Kate!" the front door banged shut and then footsteps were pounding along the stone hallway and then they bounced heavily on the first few steps of the stairs.
"Lauren?" Zara called loudly.
The noise on the stairs paused before resuming. Lauren appeared in the doorway, looking flushed and very pleased with herself. "Hey Guys…wow, why does everyone look so tense? Did someone die?"
"Not yet." Kyle muttered, aiming his apple at the kitchen bin by the door and jerking his wrist forward, releasing the apple.
Everyone watched it with intense concentration until it landed in the bin with a little rustle as it brushed the bin bag before hitting the bottom.
Lauren cleared her throat awkwardly before saying, "Ooookay. Well, I'd love to stay down her and chat and update you all but I gotta run. I really hit it off with Kate and she invited me over today but she asked if I could meet her at a café instead of her house and I said yeah sure. I think its because she's meeting someone and hopefully that someone will be involved with the drugs thing so I'm going to change and get over there early and hide to see what they say." She turned quickly and it wasn't long before you could hear her scurrying up the stairs.
"Sounds like she had a successful day too." Zara said, for the sake of banishing the silence.
"Uh-huh. Well I had homework today so I got to get that done before I see Tom." James left the kitchen, avoiding Kerry's apologetic look and Kyle's small smile.
Nobody dared to say anything about him actually willingly doing his homework for a change.
*James' Kerry and Kyle getting ready to go out*
James was preening in front of his full-length mirror in his bedroom. He was wearing a tight fitting white t-shirt with a brown leather surfer necklace round his neck. He had a few matching leather straps round the opposite wrist to his watch. He had blue denim cut offs on that was a little frayed round the edges and a brown leather belt to keep them firmly on his hips. He was tousling his hair in the mirror when Kerry bounced into the room.
They were still a little sore over the argument earlier on but they were both determined to get over it.
She was wearing a sleeveless top and a pair of black jeans with a cardigan on. Her hair was pulled back into a ponytail and she had no make-up.
James gawked at her. "Kerry, you can't wear that."
Kerry glanced won at herself and then back up at James. "Why the hell not?" she asked.
"Because," James spluttered, "You aren't showing enough skin."
Kerry instantly stiffened. "James, I do not have time for you and your piggish mannerisms."
James shook his head frantically. "No, Kerry, you don't understand. I'm seriously not being a typical guy; I'm trying to help you out. You saw those girls that Lisa hangs round with. If you want to fit in you're going to have to dress…" James didn't want to say it to a girl who could pin in a second and dislocate his thumb in another. "…Well like a slut." He finished awkwardly.
Kerry raised her eyebrows in disbelief. "Excuse me?"
James swallowed. "Besides, when you turn up at races in the future all the guys there will expect you to dress accordingly. So basically like the other girls. It's the way these things work."
Kerry looked fraught. "Are you serious?"
James sighed in relief, glad to have a different question to the notorious how do you know this stuff? "Deadly. Now go change into something, uh, revealing." He was trying hard to phrase the inevitable in a way that wouldn't make Kerry cringe.
Kerry folded her arms over her chest. For a change, the gesture wasn't offensive or defying. It was as she was trying to become invisible. "James…no, I can't do it."
To say the boy was surprised would've been an understatement. He knew Kerry was having difficulties getting to grips with this mission but he never thought that she would openly admit to not wanting to do something. He smiled, hoping Kerry wouldn't mistake it as condescending, and said gently, "Don't worry about it. If anyone makes a move on you I'll kick their ass. It'll fit in with the cover story to…" he waved his arm dramatically in front of his face as if he was painting a picture. "Best brother in the world jumps to his sister's rescue when a dick makes a move on her."
Kerry smiled weakly. "I…have no clue what to wear. I've never wore anything slutty before." She said bluntly.
James nodded understandingly. "Don't sweat. Just wear as little clothes as possible. You know that girl on campus that wore next to nothing when we went to that holiday thing last year?" When Kerry nodded vaguely James continued. "Basically wear something like that."
Kerry gasped. "But she was practically wearing nothing!"
James grinned. "Exactly."
Kerry rolled her eyes and stomped over to her bedroom that was two doors down from James'. Kyle's room was in the middle. You come up the stairs and then you have a straight landing which has the kids bedrooms and then you turn a corner and the bathroom is next and then its Zara's and then a spare room and then, finally, the study on the small landing that curves round to follow the banister back to the stairs, that is opposite the spare room.
Ten minutes later, James was swinging in a kitchen chair drinking a cup of tea that Zara had made and catching up on some gossip that was flying round the town.
"Did you see anyone that seemed suspicious? Like an ideal suspect to investigate that might be involved with the Smith's? I saw no one at school that looked fishy, but that's because I was really focussed on getting in with Tom." James explained, taking a slurp from his tea.
Zara nodded. "There was this one guy I bumped into in the bakers that looked really fishy. Well actually I didn't even bump into him he walked right into me and then shot me a filthy look like it was my fault before hurrying out of the bakery. I caught this other guy staring at him looking kind of annoyed. It was definitely something to note down."
"Zara, if you ever see him a dark alley way you should totally go all crucio on his ass. He shouldn't get away with being able to bump into a nice lady without apologising." James said sternly.
Zara burst out laughing and almost slopped her tea over the floor. "What do you want James?" she asked knowingly.
James pretended to look affronted as he said, "Me? Wanting something? Never. I was just showing some compassion for you Zara. I'm nice like that."
Zara shook her head, smiling. "You're laying it on a bit thick for the situation James. Spit it out."
James narrowed his eyes as he thought how he wanted to phrase his question. "You seem to know everything about me, right?"
Zara nodded, waiting for him to continue.
"Well, how do you know about my ga_?"
They were interrupted by Kyle bouncing into the room, freshly groomed from a shower and looking very good in a light green shirt with darker green stripes going vertically down the material. It hugged his fit body in a very tantalizing way and James found he was getting slightly warm in the face and had to look away.
What the hell was that all about? He snapped to himself viciously.
Kyle had a pair of dark blue jeans on with a smart black belt and he smelt of joop. He sat down primly down on a kitchen chair beside James as he carefully eased on his shiny black shoes with shoehorn. James got the full blow of his agonizingly wonderful cologne, and found he was taking big whiffs of the scent, along with a few sneaky glances at Kyle.
James couldn't deny that Kyle looked good. He would be a total liar if he denied it. It was a fact: Kyle knew how to dress and he knew how to get attention from it.
He slammed his fist roughly into his thigh to help focus his mind on something that wasn't about Kyle and his gorgeousness.
I mean Kyle and his hair. Yeah, Kyle had nice hair. James slumped back in his chair from the effort of trying to sort out his extremely varied emotions.
"So we ready to go?" Kyle asked, as he stood up and delicately hooked the shoehorn onto a spare hook on the key block by the back door.
James composed himself –after having a mini freak out match in his head over where his sexuality lied- and looked up at Kyle. "Not yet, Kerry's still is getting ready."
Kyle's eyebrows shut up quickly as he stared at James. "Are you serious? She's taking longer than me. Now that is saying something."
James chuckled. "She had to change."
"Why?" Kyle demanded, glancing at his watch. "We are so going to be late! What ever happened to punctuality_?"
Zara choked on her mouthful of tea.
James glanced at her, preparing to jump in and do the Heimlich manoeuvre but he got distracted as he caught sight of what she wall looking at.
Kerry stood in the doorway, looking extremely angry.
Kyle was still raving about manners. "Its our fist night! What is everyone going to think when we_"
"Yo, drama queen. Tone it down a little. I'm here." Kerry growled.
Kyle turned his head to look over his shoulder but then gasped abruptly as he saw what she was wearing. He leapt round, wide eyed. "Kerry, what are you wearing?"
She had traded her jeans and her top for a white top that was strapless and only covered her boobs and a bit of her higher stomach. She had a black pleated mini skirt on that looked more like a belt than a skirt so it showed a lot of her legs. It covered two inches below her bum. She didn't have any kind of jacket with her, and she wore a pair of black-strapped sandals that had a wedged heel about four inches tall.
She had curled her hair in loose delicate ringlets that sat neatly on her bare shoulders. She had traded no make-up for a layer of foundation and blush and a thick rim of black eyeliner on the top and lower lids. She had shades of grey coating her eyelids and heavy mascara on her lashes.
"Well you certainly took my advice." James said, just for the sake of breaking the silence.
Kerry blushed. "Didn't seem like I had much choice, did I?" she retorted angrily.
"You have nothing on –almost!" Kyle stated unnecessarily.
"Kyle!" James said wearily. "Leave her alone. Maybe you should be in her position and then we'll see how you feel."
Kyle held up his hands in surrender. "Okay, chill. I'm sorry Kerry."
Kerry shrugged. "Lets just go."
They all trooped out the backdoor into the wonderful warm sunshine, and the air seemed to visibly clear between everyone, probably because there was more air to breathe without having to be so close to everyone.
"Be careful!" Zara shouted after them, as she emerged at the back door.
James went to get into the blue car Kyle had been driving today but Kyle slapped him on the shoulder, leading him to the garage. "This way man."
James shrugged and nodded at Kerry. They both followed Kyle to the garage. The cream door to the garage whirled up and there sat a lime green racecar.
James grinned when he saw it. It was shiny, with tinted glass panes in the back three windows. Glittering steel alloys were on all four wheels and a sleek spoiler jutted out on top of the boot. There weren't any backdoors to the car, only two front passenger doors. The green paintwork was accessorised with black swirl type patterns.
James whistled in appreciation. "She's certainly something."
Kyle smirked. "I know. And she's mine."
James pouted. "Lucky git. If I don't get a car like this I'm going to kill you…" James took on a mock intimidating pose. "…And then bring you back to life just so you can see me take your car."
Kerry snorted. "Get over it. It's a car. No open the door and let's go." Kerry tapped her foot impatiently. "God Kyle," she added, "considering you were so keen on punctuality your not doing a very good job at conducting it." She added, a teasing lilt to her voice.
Kyle raised her eyebrows. "You're a lot feistier when you're half naked."
Kerry grinned. "Grrr!" she purred.
James frowned. What the hell is Kyle playing at? He's mi_meant to be gay! "Okay, lets move it out."
Kyle pulled a key from his back pocket. He raised one finger in the air before saying, "Listen to the best sound of your life…" he paused dramatically before hitting a button on the key fob.
The car made a bleep bleep sound.
James smirked. "Heaven."
Kerry sighed, aggravated by the guys' obsession with cars.
*Almost at the Smith's house*
James had decided to sit in the back with Kerry to try and take her mind off the party thing that's happening tonight. She was fidgeting in her seat tugging her skirt down to try and cover her legs but to no avail, while James admired the chrome interior of the car.
"Nice interior." James commented to Kyle.
Kyle nodded before breaking out into a smug grin.
James narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "What?"
"It has bullet proof sheets to."
James' eye bulged. "Its bullet proof?"
Kyle nodded, looking unbelievably self-satisfied.
"That's pretty cool." Kerry said, as she readjusted her top for the twentieth time in the ten minute ride.
James stared at her a moment, trying to think up a way to make her feel better when suddenly he actually had an idea. He scooped the hoodie that he had with him up off the car floor and chucked it at Kerry.
She jumped before looking at the hoodie and then at James. "What?" she asked.
James rolled his eyes. "Jeez Kerry, do I have to spell it for you? Put that on until we get to the Smith's house. You'll have to take it off when we reach the crowds though."
Kerry tugged the hoodie on reverently. "Thanks."
James shrugged, as if it was no big deal. "No worries." He was acutely aware of Kyle watching them in the rear view mirror.
Why do I care? James thought darkly. I shouldn't care!
"We're here!" Kyle announced, pulling the car to a stop at the bottom of a grand driveway.
The front door to Smith residence opened and Jack peered out apprehensively at the car sitting at the bottom of his drive.
Kyle decided that now would be a good time to get out of the car, and once Jack caught a glance of Kyle he grinned and rushed down the driveway towards them.
"Hey man, nice ride." He ran a hand over the paintwork admiringly.
Kyle smiled. "I got my brother and sister in the car. James said Tom invited him over."
For a moment Jack look thrown but then Tom came bursting out of the front door and down the driveway just as James emerged from the car. He leant back in to give Kerry a hand while Tom explained to his brother, "Oh, yeah, this is James. I invited him over to see some of the cars tonight. You know, at the convention thing tonight? He's really into them. He's the one that helped me crack the fan thing today. I was going to show him some of my work and then we could all pop over."
Kerry stumbled out of the car. "And this is his sister. I invited her to." Tom added.
Kerry glanced at him and then at Jack. "Hi."
Jack nodded back and then shot Tom a warning look. Tom sighed.
Kyle and James exchanged identical looks of what the hell before following Jack into the house.
"Excuse us a second." He said, before shoving Tom out the room and closing the door behind them.
"Yeah, because that doesn't look suspicious." Kerry snorted quietly.
James smiled. "Not everyone can do things like you, Little-Miss-Perfect."
Kerry preened while Kyle laughed. "Do you think they keep the drugs here?" Kyle asked.
James shook his head quickly. "Course not. It'd be stupid."
Kyle shrugged. "I suppose. Just a thought."
Just then Jack and Tom walked back into the room. "Hey James, wanna come join me upstairs then?"
James nodded, grinning. "Yeah, lets see these projects."
"Sorry, Kerry, Lisa's out with some mates at the moment. You weren't invited?" Jack asked innocently but Kerry sensed a note of suspicion under his friendliness.
Kerry smiled sheepishly. "Afraid not, hectic day at school. Didn't really have time for introductions. All the teachers and stuff were on my back to make sure I was prepared for lessons and stuff. You know what their like."
That banished Jack's suspicion since he grinned and said, "Sucks to be you. Well since you're coming with us tonight, I'll see if I can catch her to introduce you pair."
Kerry clapped her hands together and smiled. "That'd be great. It'll be nice to have some friends. I don't think I could live here if I didn't have some excitement. Party hard, that's my motto."
Jack nodded his head at Kerry. "Party girl, eh?"
Kerry smirked. "Of course." She lied easily.
"Well maybe you'll fir in here after all." He muttered before raising his voice and saying, "Lets go see this car then."
*Upstairs with Tom and James*
When the door to the bedroom was securely closed James asked casually, "What was all that with your brother? Doesn't he like having people over?"
Tom shrugged uneasily. "Nah, it isn't that. He just likes to be careful."
James contemplated whether to act confused or to just act normal and go along with what's being said and say something understanding.
In the end he settled for the latter. "Yeah, I guess that's only sensible. You never know exactly who to trust nowadays."
Tom looked at him, startled. "Yeah. Exactly."
James smiled. "Now show me this car stuff."
Tom jumped up off his bed and shuffled through a few stacks of paper before grabbing a portfolio and grinning jubilantly. "Check this out…"
*Car 'convention'*
James was vibrating with excitement by the time they reached the car park by the beach. It was a car park that was in one of the fields not far from the beach and when Kyle pulled down the short stretch of road to car park and stopped.
The car park was heaving.
You could hardly see the ground, as it was a sea of multi coloured flash sport cars all parked messily in every which way. There were orange cars, blue cars, green cars, silver cars, yellow cars, pink cars all squashed together with at least ten people round each car.
Kyle parked the car diagonally in a free corner and instantly had people all swarming to look at the car.
Jack was in amongst them, and so was Tom. "Kyle, come meet a few mates."
Kyle waved vaguely at James before wondering off after Jack.
Kerry and James both glanced at each and then outside, at the people all yelling over each other to try and get their opinion in about the new car.
James pushed himself out the car first and nodded at a few guys that were standing with Tom. "That's James." Tom grinned.
James was about to wade through a crowd of about eight people to reach Tom on the outskirts when he heard a few wolf whistles and the crunch of shoes on gravel. He spun round and watched Kerry slam the car door shut.
"You okay?" he asked.
Kerry waved away his concern. "Yeah, fine. Go do whatever. Catch up with you later."
James nodded but then kicked some gravel at Kerry.
She glanced at him, looking slightly peeved but James made a tactful gesture of plucking the corner of his shirt. To anyone else he would've just looked like a pimp but to Kerry, it signalled loud and clear: take the hoodie off.
She tugged it roughly over her head and slung it into the backseat of the car. When she slammed the car door for a second time and turned round resisting the urge to cover herself and smack a guy in the face that was making inappropriate comments, she had a girl right up in her face.
Kerry automatically took a step back, preparing to drop into a fighting stance but then her brain registered that this was Lisa Smith so punching her pretty face in wasn't going to be a good idea. "Hey." Kerry said casually, placing a hand on her hip.
Lisa smiled. "Hey. Kerry, right? The new girl?"
Kerry bristled at the last sentence but forced a smile on her face and nodded. "Yeah, Lisa right?" she mimicked slyly. "I saw you class but I didn't get a chance to introduce myself."
Lisa nodded knowingly. "Yeah, I kind of popular. Its hard to get a chance to speak to me sometimes."
Kerry raised her eyebrows but didn't comment. "Shame that."
Lisa smiled. "I know right. Anyway, who was that guy you arrived with?"
Kerry smirked, not being able to resist the opportunity to knock her down a peg. "Which one? I arrived with two."
Lisa looked a little put out but she instantly replied. "The one that got out the back of the car with you."
Kerry smiled. "Oh, him. That's my brother James."
Lisa's perfectly groomed eyebrows raised. "Wait, your brother? Not boyfriend?"
Kerry sighed. "No brother. If I meant boyfriend I would've said boyfriend."
But Lisa was too elated to notice any annoyance in Kerry's voice. "Oh my God. That is so cool. Can you introduce us?"
Kerry glanced across the car park at James and then back at Lisa.
That jammy bugger, Kerry thought. Already a girl and it's the first freakin' day!
"I…" Kerry began tiredly but then she spotted James chatting up some chick. With a mean grin, Kerry changed her mind. "Actually, why the hell not? Lets go." She looped an arm through Lisa's and towed her towards James.
"Oh James…" Kerry sang. "I want you to meet someone. This is Lisa. Lisa this is James."
"Hey!" Lisa squealed.
James smirked at Lisa. "How you doing?" he asked.
Lisa smirked coyly back and ran her hand over his bicep. "Not bad thanks. I know how I can feel better though…" she leaned forward to whisper in his ear.
Kerry snatched her arm away from Lisa, slightly disgusted.
Yeah, I just live to be used by you, Kerry thought sarcastically.
"I can't wait for tonight." Kerry heard one guy say to another guy.
She sidled over to them and batted her eyelashes. "Hey, what you talking about?"
The guy that had spoken looked her over suggestively while the other guy looked sceptical. "Who are you?"
Kerry ignored him and moved in on the guy who was still looking at her. "Come on, what am I missing out on?"
Suddenly, Jack popped out of nowhere and was grabbing Kerry lightly yet firmly by the arm. "Hey, this is going to be over soon so you might want to grab your brothers and get out of here before the crowds start exploding."
Kerry pulled out of the grip and shot a sour look at the sceptical guy that snorted.
"Its doesn't look like its finishing." Kerry pointed out after she looked round.
Jack frowned agitatedly. "Leave."
Kerry wanted to push and keep pushing until she pushed all her luck like she usually did but then she realised that she didn't have any luck to push. Backtracking, she quickly took a step back and muttered an apology. "Thanks for inviting us. See you round."
*On the way Home*"That is just too weird." Kerry twisted round in her seat so that she could face James fully. "I mean, did you see how agitated he got when I questioned him?" she flipped her head to look at Kyle in the rear view mirror. "You saw it right?"
James sighed. "Kerry, it isn't difficult to work out."
Kerry looked startled. "What do you mean?"
Kyle sighed this time.
"What the hell is up with all this sighing?" Kerry snapped.
"They wanted us out of there because they were going to race and we weren't meant to know about it." Kyle explained, jerking the car sharply to spin round the roundabout.
Kerry slammed her hands against the door to stop her from flying into the window. "I'm so stupid." She groaned.
James smirked but decided that saying something would benefit less than just sitting there and basking in his glory. "Don't worry about it. We'll be in soon enough."
"How do you know?" Kerry asked immediately.
James couldn't resist this one. "I'm not the one failing simple logic."
Kerry snarled while Kyle chuckled.