"You have forty minutes to make a game plan," Alex addressed the four in front of him, "each go to your own side and confer with your teams; you'll be released into opposite sides of the arena and an alarm will signal the start of the game." He concluded and checked his notes that this was all that needed to be said. He glanced back up at them all and shook his head with a smile as he saw the boredom on Middleton's face, the excitement on Cheong's face, the terror on Hex's face and the dreamy look on Paulo's face as he glanced over to the girl's side. Alex sighed and walked over to the boy's side, but before he got to the wall Amber held an arm up to stop him moving.

"Since when were you in charge?" She asked quietly and Alex smirked.

"Since someone realised I'm waaaaaaaaaay to good for this." He said smoothly in reply, Amber laughed.

"Watch it Craig," she said in reference to his fake arrogance, "you're no James Bond." She smiled at him and Alex glanced down as she fingered the gun in her hand, he leant in a little closer to her ear.

"And you're no Bond girl." He replied and walked away, leaving Amber with her mouth open in shock and detest to his comment. She looked to her friend Li who was trying to hide her sniggering.

"Those guys," Amber said to her and they turned to the wall to see Alex walk through the door, "have no idea what they're in for." She waved as Alex turned and saluted to her from the other side. The door shut behind Alex and he sighed; was it weird that Middleton actually scared the hell out of him? He looked over to Hex and Paulo who greeted him with a nod of the head, as they walked back to the bench behind him to talk to their teams someone shouted from the back;

"What happened between you guys?" They were referring to the relationship between the leaders of the boy's team and the leaders of the girl's teams. The boys shook their heads; if it weren't for the girls they might've been spared the task of squadron leaders. If it weren't for the events on their first night.

Their First night

Alex made his way to his room; he looked at the tag on the key they'd given him: 39 was his room number. He knew he was sharing with two other boys and there was a girl's room opposite but none of it bothered him much; he was looking forwards to the events this place had to offer. He lifted his bag up over the heads of some children as they sat in the hall playing cards. This place was referred to as a "camp," but everyone saw it more as a training centre. The camp received the latest technology in terms of survival expertise and military training; on the ride here Alex had talked to other kids about the place and they'd all suspected it was a place that trained the next generation of spies. Of course they weren't serious and they'd been surprised to find that Alex hand already been promoted (via a letter to his home) to the position of a Leader. It simply meant that instead of participating fully in events he'd be supervising them, organising them and babysitting the kids. He didn't really mind though; the selection process to get to come here was hard enough. Seventeen cities around the world had taken part in a search for 250 kids, aged 7-17, who'd be good enough for this place and seeing as Alex had gotten a place to come he wasn't going to start complaining. He reached his room and inserted the key in the lock but as soon as she opened the door he was sure there'd been a mistake; he only got a glimpse of colours of pinks and lilacs and a wave of perfume hit him as he was engulfed by some ear piercing music, before he was pushed, coughing from the fumes, out of the room.

"You can't just walk into our room like that!" Someone shouted at him and he cleared his throat and finally looked at the person in front of him.

"I thought it was my room!" He said instinctively before blushing as he realised the girl in front of him was just in a towel. He averted his eyes and the girl who had slanted eyes and a petite frame walked over to him. She came very close to him and stared at him as he tried to look away.

"Let me see your key." She said quickly and he became flustered before holding it up to her face, feeling the temperature rise as she leant closer to him to see the number. "OH!" She said loudly as she read the number. "There's been a change in rooms," she said before turning away from him and Alex was glad he could breathe again but still found it very difficult to look at her. "Here," she said and threw another key at him, he grabbed it and looked at her in confusion. "You're in the room opposite Craig." She pointed to a door with the number 40 on it and walked into her room, as the door opened Alex covered his nose form the over powering smell of the perfume before he realised she knew his surname.

"They got you too?" Alex jumped back as the door to number 40 opened and a well built, handsome Hispanic boy stood before him. What is it with the people here; they just jump out at you whenever they like! Alex nodded grimly.

"At least you didn't get sprayed!" Another boy shouted and came out of the room to join the two at the door. "I still stink of that perfume!" He said with a smile, Alex found himself looking at a mess of brown hair with intelligent green eyes that seemed to almost process Alex like he were written information. "Hex." The boy said and held out his hand, Alex smiled too and took his hand.

"Alex," he said and turned to the Hispanic boy who seemed to be more interested in the door of number 39- it was opening and closing and he moved his head to glance inside.

"The perv is Paulo." Hex said and hit his roommate on the back to get his attention.

"Oh sorry," Paulo said an took Alex hand before practically pulling him into their room. "Did you say your name was Alex?" He asked as though suddenly realising something. Alex threw his bag on the only empty bed and as he turned around he nodded. Paulo whistled and removed his t-shirt, still pondering over Alex.

"You...like the name Alex?" He asked uncertainly but Hex, who was sat on his bed cross-legged, looked up from a small gadget in his hands.

"No it's not that," he leant back against the wall and spoke rather bluntly. "Your surname's Craig right?" Alex nodded and sat down opposite him, "well then you're the guy who got promoted before we even got here." Hex said and went back to whatever was shown on his screen. Alex blushed, he really didn't think it was that big an achievement but he had no idea he was the only one! He didn't want to seem arrogant so just shrugged when Paulo smiled at him. Alex stood up and looked around the room for the first time; it was pretty basic, en-suite bathroom, three cupboards for each of them, three beds, a mirror on the wall which Alex suspected Paulo would use the most and already there was a mess of papers and luggage dotted around the place. Alex took one of his cases and opened it, checking it was alright; Hex looked up and peered around Alex's hands. "NO WAY!" He shouted and came to sit next to Alex. "Is that a Fender American Deluxe Stratocaster?!" He shouted and looked into the bag with such a look of awe that Alex laughed as he'd spoken so quickly too.

"Yeah-"

"What's that?" Paulo asked, coming out of the bathroom in just a towel. Alex removed the electric guitar from the case and Paulo nodded as he saw it. "What's so great?" He asked and Hex stroked the smooth wood of the guitar's body.

"It's just so...do you have amps?" He asked Alex suddenly and Paulo realised he wasn't going to get an answer so turned to the mirror. Alex shook his head-

"They said there'd be some here-"

"Why would they want you to bring a guitar?" Paulo asked and saw in the mirror Alex shrugged.

"They didn't say, it just stated that if i played an instrument it would be advisable to bring it with me." He said and thought for a moment, "maybe it'll count as an extra-curricular activity or something?" He wondered out loud and the other two nodded in agreement. Hex was going to ask Alex something else when they heard some loud music coming from the room opposite, at least they thought it was. They were silent for a minute to listen to what it was;

"I've been thinking about
How you've been messing around
Why do you get your kicks from hurting me?"

Hex almost through up.

"That's a disgrace to music." He muttered and stood up, he went to the door and put an ear against the hard wood. "Some girl band." He stated with evident distaste and walked to his bed. "Do you guys mind if I put something decent on?" He asked and the other boys shook their heads. Alex began to remove his coat and placed it at the end of his bed; it was 11pm but he wasn't feeling sleepy.

"So long as it's better than that." Paulo pointed to the door, indicating the girl's music before putting a top over his bare body. Hex smiled and a moment later music was playing from a small gadget in his hands. Alex was surprised that the music could be that loud from the device, it got louder as Hex hooked it up to some speaker from his bag. Alex smiled when he heard the music properly.

"You aren't allowed to say that you're better
You aren't allowed to say that cause you're the hipster type."

"The Cribs," He said, nodding in appreciation. Hex smiled at him before lying down and playing with the gadget again. "What is that-" but he stopped speaking, all the boys stopped what they were doing. The music from the girls room had gotten louder.

"Sorry, no can do
'Cause you're never really gonna make it better
So forget forever"

Hex merely reached across to his speakers and pressed a button three times, the music instantly became at equal volume to the girl's.

"You've got a lot to say, but don't mention
The mirror kissing ways of the hipster type
You aren't allowed to say anything"

"You were saying?" He looked at Alex who stood up and pointed to the device in his hands.

"Yeah what is-"

"Don't try to sweet talk me no more
'Cause I've heard it all before
What makes you think I'd want you back again?"

Hex reached across again and put the volume up; it was a little louder than they wanted it to be.

"We kicked around down water lane
But you're not all there
You aren't allowed to say anything"

But Alex never got a chance to ask his question because, for the next five minutes there was a battle between the rooms of who could get their music louder. It got so bad that Alex, hex and Paulo simply sat on their beds with their hands on their ears.

"Make it stop!" Paulo shouted to Hex who risked taking his hands from his ears and turning their music off. Now just the girl's music was blaring in the background, the boys took their hands away from their ears.

"Let's just go ask them to turn it down!" Alex had to almost shout over the noise. The other boys nodded and they all went out of their room. As soon as Paulo extended his hand to knock on the door the music stopped. They all looked at each other ominously as they heard what sounded like shrieks and the quick movements of people running around before an eerie silence ensued. Paulo knocked. The door crept open to reveal a slim and tall black girl in tight jeans and a t-shirt, besides her stood the anglo-chinese girl Alex had bumped into. He was grateful to see she was wearing close, it did unnerve him though when she winked at him. "Erm," Alex began, "we were just wondering if you could," he gulped, there was something the way the dark skin girl glanced them all up and down that unnerved him.

"Could what? Talk faster." She prompted him. She looked over to Hex. "Alright gadget boy?" She said scathingly and Hex's eyes narrowed on her.

"Could you turn your music down?" Alex said quickly as he saw Hex was going to retaliate. The two girls turned to each other before Li pointed what looked like a remote control to the sound system in the room. She pushed the button.

"Sorry, no can do
'Cause you're never really gonna make it better!"

They shouted the lyrics at the boys who just stood in stunned silence as the girls, and others in the room simply began to dance.


"So forget forever
Now it's time to face it boy we're through

'Cause I ain't got time for your conversations
So sorry, no can do"

The girls slowly moved back into their room and the door shut.


"Don't try and even call me on the telephone
It don't mean a thing 'cause I'm on my own..."

The boys looked at each other after a few moments.

"What the hell was that?" Alex asked, still dumbfounded by what just happened.

"They didn't listen to us at all!" Paulo shouted in vain hope they could hear him in the room.

"They just signalled war." Hex said ominously, Alex and Paulo looked round to him. "Alex, are you familiar with protests songs of the sixties and seventies?" He asked calmly but Alex could tell there was something in his voice that meant he had a plan. Alex nodded. "Good." He stated simply. "I've got an idea."

Yeah so not much is happening but pretty much every review was like- What the hell is going on?!- so i thought SOME explaining was needed. I told you it was going to be an odd story XP

This chapter was inspired by real life events XD it's what gave me an idea! Except I was on the boys side...weird but whatever- i like both songs. They were No can do, by the Sugababes and Mirror Kissers by The Cribs. Also, I don't really know much about guitars so please no one be like- WTF?!

Reviews welcome!