Be My Fool

Chapter Two

Disclaimer: No, I don't own Alex.

xxxx

Sticky. Oily. All around me.

It was in my mouth. In my ears.

I shut my eyes. In my eyes.

Metallic. Coppery.

Slick and sticky.

It was blood.

I was drowning. In blood.

Blood... Blood. So much blood.

'NO! NO! DON'T STEAL MY CAKE MR. MUSHROOM MAN!'

. .

My eyes jolted open, my breath sharp and uneven, heart thumping in my ears and adrenaline pounding in my blood. I let out a shaky breath; thanking God Leah had woke me up with her stupid shouts of Mr. Mushroom Man eating her bloody cake.

Sitting up slowly, I started to calm myself and blew my fringe out of my eyes.

Thump..thump..thump..thump.

I sat silently, watching the sun filter through the crooked blinds. There was only one window facing east, just big enough to fit one of us through – though definitely not big enough to fit a grown man or woman. It was next to the door, which was made out of reinforced wood and was practically air-tight. The room itself was actually quite clean... even if it didn't look it.

Last night, after our packed-tea which we had brought along, we had been shuffled to our cabins and wished our friends in other Units goodbye as we stepped through the door. I had to admit; I was repulsed by what they lived in. Grey walls, cold tiled floors, metal framed bunk beds – again grey, wooden white sheets and pillows, one shower, one sink, one toilet, one mirror and one towel. Thank God we all brought our own. Looking back... we really should have seen it coming.

Thump...Thump...Thump...Thump.

My heartbeat steadied and I smiled, pushing the horrible dream aside, while peeking at the digital clock I had put next to pillow on my bed. 5:30.

Then I tried to roll out of bed and squeaked slightly as I swung over the edge and hung, by my feet, upside down. My vision swung and I blinked a few times to try and clear it, I was shocked to find where I'd found myself. I was now looking at a peacefully sleeping Leah – upside down.

Did I forget to tell you that I was on a top bunk? Yeah, there were two bunk beds at either side of the small room with one pathway into the cabin and into the bathroom at the other end. Sadly, I had forgotten. Shit.

The door opened and Eagle, I recognised, yelled, 'RISE AND SHI-I-INE!'

Double shit.

The girls screamed and I glowered slightly, knowing I'd never live this down. Leah blinked at me once before rolling into fits of laughter, the others just stared at me as if I'd grown another head. Ah...

Triple shit.

Eagle snorted, then grinned cheekily and said, 'Having fun hanging around?'

I felt like snorting right back at him – no I was not having fun 'hanging around'!

'As much as I like this, I'd love help to get down.' I replied, trying not to scream at them.

He sighed and I felt hands just above my waist, 'If you insist.'

And then I was flipped over and plopped onto the floor with a loud 'thud'. Chloe and Tulip burst out laughing too as he grinned at me, winked, and sauntered out of the cabin while saying, 'Mess hall in half an hour, girlies – something more appropriate.'

The door snapped shut and I was sure I was blushing magenta as I tugged on my shorts to try and regain some of my dignity.

'G-God!' Leah spluttered, 'Thanks for making our morning, Jen!'

I glared and Tulip managed to snort out, 'I'm sure it made Eagle's morning!'

Grabbing my toiletries and clothes, I stalked to the bathroom with a flaming face and slammed it after me.

I repeat: I am never going to live this down.

xxxx

They lasted longer than I thought, a whole fifteen minutes when we were getting our 'breakfast' before bringing it back up.

'So...' Chloe smirked slightly, 'You didn't tell us you were going into acrobats Jen! What a surprise!'

Clenching my hands , the others snickered and I glared at her – face flaming.

Sam, who had overheard as he was standing next to Chloe in the line, looked at me with a raised eyebrow, 'What happened?'

'Well!' Leah started, very loudly, 'You see- !'

I stepped on her foot, quite hard, and fake smiled, 'Turns out I'm the only one who can do a cartwheel. Isn't that right ladies?'

They all froze for a second before biting on their lips and nodding, before looking away and sniggering. Gah! Stupid friends at least know what not to do – I do not want my antics spread around my school 'mates'.

They learned that the hard way... insert evil, manic laughter here.

I grabbed a, shockingly, grey tray and held it out so that the dinner lady could put whatever the fuck that was into the bowl-like imprint. I used to have these at my juniors, before they started to understand that we weren't nursery children and deserved proper cutlery.

Stupid SAS – I glared at the tray.

She spotted my look and laughed, making me look up. I was shocked to see a youthful looking face, along with sparkling blue eyes; short, blonde hair; pearly, white teeth and a skinny frame. What was she doing in a place like this?

Laughing again, she said, 'My dad's the sergeant – and I know, these things are disgusting... heck, the food is too, just pinch your nose and down it I say!'

I blushed, not realising I'd said it out loud and replied, 'That sucks. Thanks for the advice too,' and then I smiled back before shuffling along and taking a bottle of water.

Leah and Tulip waved me over from a table near the back and I meandered over, snatching a spoon as I went by. Sliding onto the bench opposite them, I took the seat at the wall and started to prod the lumpy, white goo in my 'bowl'.

It wasn't long until Tulip started to cough loudly and I snorted, having looked up to see that she had decided to try and eat it. Leah dropped her spoon quickly and pushed it away from her.

'What's it taste like?' Chloe asked Tulip, mooching into the spot next to me and looking cautiously over it.

Tulip hacked out, 'Shit.' Then she shuddered heavily and pushed it away from her, 'I'm planning on starving, who's with me?'

'I am!' Leah yelled, apparently gallantly, 'Let us throw it onto the floor and stand on it to prove our point!'

Her hands grabbed the edges of her tray and I grabbed it before she could get us into trouble.

'Leah!' Chloe hissed, now a very dark purple, 'Just eat the goddamn stuff.'

Noticing the silence around us, I bit my lip and looked up into the angry face of Wolf.

Oh, bugger. Well... there goes my 'try not to get into trouble' plan.

Leah and Tulip shrunk into their seats and Wolf spat out, his face a strange beetroot colour and jaw clenched, 'I do hope that you weren't about to do what I thought because if you were,' his voice dropped even lower, 'I would send you around to the Kill House right now and make sure that you passed at least ten times before you went for food or sleep. Is that clear?'

'Yes, sir,' Leah mumbled and I watched, fascinated, as a vein in his forehead bulged.

'WHAT?' He screamed.

We flinched slightly, his vein bulged even more.

I mouthed 'yes, sir' at her again and she moved her darting eyes back to him and said, clearly this time, 'Yes, sir.'

He nodded before stalking off back to his table. The noise increased, our wonderful classmates now energetic at having something to gossip about, and we turned back to each other.

'Did you see his vein?' I blurted before I could stop myself and they all started to laugh, I blushed again.

'Of everything you have to notice, you notice that,' Chloe wiped her eyes before grinning, 'Lord, what would we do without your idiotic...ness.'

She made a puzzled face and we rolled our eyes, Leah nodded though, and she said, 'Yeah... I think "idioticness" is the word.'

Tulip and I shared a look before shaking our heads and returning to attempt to eat our food.

xxxx

Wolf and Bison stood in front of us, and by 'us' I mean J and K Unit kids. The other soldiers were loitering behind them, whispering and sniggering. They were quite alike us, school kids, but with... muscles and... scary-ness.

'Right,' Bison barked, 'This morning, you're on the agility course. Each of you from J Unit will pull a colour out of this bag,' he held up said blue bag, 'and each of you from K Unit will pull a colour out of this bag,' he help up said red bag, 'and you will partner up with the person in the opposite Unit for this task. Then grab one set of instructions between you and your partner and set off. Last partner set in will get kitchen duty for tonight. Alright? Good.'

The soldiers sodded off and he flung the bags to the floor, smirking and sauntering out. I think it's a pattern in soldiers, all high and- Oh, wait! We've started!

I rushed to the red bag and pulled out one of the last colours – the card was striped blue and red.

Spinning around, I bashed nosed with Jordan and said, 'Oh, God, sorry Jordan!'

He rubbed his nose, smiling politely, 'No worries, c'mon – we're partners,' he explained to my look, 'and I've picked out a set of instructions.'

I nodded, took a small step back and looked at the piece of paper as he unfolded it.

It read: Face the nearest tree to the red flag post, from said flag post, and turn 90 degrees. Keep on walking for 200 paces.

'Simple!' I said, smiling, and he smiled back.

Poor boy, I thought, as he looked around for the flag post.

'There it is!' He nodded behind us and I turned to look at the red flag, sitting in the middle of the lake.

'Not so simple anymore, ey?' He droned slightly, sighing, and set off towards the lake.

The others had already set off about different directions.

Shit.

He'd already took off his shirt and set off towards the middle of the lake, top wrapped around his neck so that it didn't touch the water much. I grimaced at my choice of underwear today before taking off my top and wrapping it around my neck too before wading in and starting to swim. Black lace was not good to wear when with a white top.

Gah. I'm already blushing.

Shuddering, I tried to ignore the cold of the lake and thanked my lucky stars that it wasn't windy.

He started to wade next to the flag and was looking around, he turned to look back at me when I was next to him. I thanked the heavens that he wasn't a pervert as he just ignored my awkwardness and smiled.

It wasn't creepy. Good.

'Found the tree. D'you know degrees well?' He asked me, pointing to the tree on the sandy shore rather than the rocky one.

I nodded, turning in the water ninety degrees and pointing to where a small sign was, 'That way.'

And we set off, in silence until we got out. I was pretty sure I was a deep red by now as I pulled my top off from around my neck but he said that it would be useless to put it on straight away, if I was soaking wet.

That sounds a bit perverted, but he did look quite uncomfortable so I took his advice into account and dabbed most of the wet off before putting it on.

I smiled sheepishly, 'Sorry, self-conscious, but thanks.'

He nodded and we set off, leaving a trail of water behind us.

xxxx

It wasn't long after when we came to a large, flat, oak panel at least 30ft high. We'd just travelled through a tunnel of trees, having only realised when I looked around to see that this was our only way forward and I doubt that if we turned back and tried to find another route, we would come before last.

There were small holes and blips that stuck out, and so we began our ascent.

'Bagsy the right side!' He yelled, a small grin on his face as he raced forward to begin. Smirking at the thought of a challenge, I ran and jumped onto a small ledge on the left side and slotted my hands into two ledges above me.

Hauling myself up, I was tired when I had only reached a third of the way up – I was shattered when I got to the top of it. I swung my left hand above me, grabbed the metal ring at the top and let go with my right hand to help haul myself on top.

It only occurred to me that there was nothing to catch us if we fell – on either side.

God. I'm stupid.

He was sitting there, poised, looking at the descent below us and the ropes. Damn it, I was sitting here panting like a freaking dog and he's completely fine! Stupid, tall lads. Idiotic genes.

Then, without any warning, he slipped his other leg over and grabbed the rope before sliding down it. My heart jumped to my throat but he was alright, just wincing in pain and blowing on his hands.

Ouch. Rope burn.

Well, time to go shirtless! Or burn my hands...

I decided on burning my hands, nearly killing myself and falling over as I hit the bottom. And, like the gentleman he was, he ignored my bruised ego and helped me up.

'Okay, I've nearly killed myself once. What's next?' I asked, turning to him.

He was already climbing up the ladder and called, 'Hurry up!' over his shoulder at me.

So I stumbled after him, climbing the rope ladder and taking his hand as I reached the top. Screw my ego, I wanted to finish! It felt as if somebody has sucked out all of the oxygen from the air and my chest was tight. My body was already protesting in pain and my legs and arms thumped from the strain. We'd barely started and I was already knackered.

'Okay, monkey bars and a zip wire. Then I think there's a rope to cross and we're done,' he said, then turned to me, 'You want to go first?'

Sighing, I nodded and jumped onto the monkey bars, using my momentum to swing two bars each time. When I was little, I used to love doing this – I used to watch the other kids being held up by their dad's and mine would yell at me to get a move on so we could go home and watch the football.

Yeah, my dad was a fanatic football fan. He passed away a few months ago, and my sister screwed herself off to a fancy university in the USA so I was given a nanny. She was bonny and had a little wrinkled face and knitting hands. Like a grandma, I guess she was my grandma now... We were close, quite close. She became a bit like family, I guess...

Shaking myself out of my stupor, I concentrated on swinging across to each bar.

I landed cat-like at the end. Putting my hands on the ends of the bar, that was hung over the top of the rope, I jumped. I could see others finishing at the ends of my vision – Sophie and Peter had just stumbled over their line and had collapsed on the floor.

Seeing the landing pad ahead, I hit my feet off the side to stop me from passing over it and dropping into the water. I bent my knees as it swayed and turned to see Jordan setting off on the zip wire. Spinning, I looked at the wire in front of me before grabbing the one above me and putting my feet on the one below. Scurrying along, I tried not to think about the others who were also close to finishing.

Clumsily, putting my feet one after another on the wire, I reached the end and slid down the end slide.

...

Yes, a slide. There really was a slide.

These people really were strange.

Wolf glared at me as I started to stretch out and Eagle winked, grinning like a Cheshire cat.

'Nice choice of lingerie today, Gray,' Eagle said loudly and I glared at him, my face turning a horrible shade of magenta.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why I am never going to wear a lacy black bra ever again while I'm here... Even if Wolf did give him a dirty look and punched the back of his head, yelling something about 'inappropriate' and 'little teenaged girls' and 'hormones' – I will never do that again.

Jogging over to Chloe, she grinned at me and said, 'Well, at least it wasn't that pink and frilly one I gave y-'

I tackled her to the floor.

xxxx

Hey! Nearly 3k words! Compared to what it was before [about 2k], I think I improved it!

So... yeah, you know what to do!

LoveYou

InsignificantBlimp

**[[24thJune2011]]**