Chapter 3
"What are you doing here?" The whining voice of the stocky, fair-haired boy asked. "Who are you?"
Alex did his best to restrain from sneering. "My name . . ."
The boy listened closely.
". . . is Elvendork."
Looking around as if confused by the stares he was receiving, Alex cried indignantly, "What? It can be a boy's name too! It's unisex!"
They continued to stare.
He sighed. "What's it to you?"
"Why you–!" The boy growled. Sadly, it was a rather pitiful growl, especially when compared to Wolf's.
"Shush, James, he wasn't trying to be rude," the girl, clearly a swimmer and obviously related to the boy, hissed. She turned to Alex. "I'm Lauren. I know James here didn't really ask you properly, but I'm sure we" – here she gestured to her black and navy shirted companions – "would like to know the answers to his questions."
Alex tried his hardest not to smirk. "And I would like the answer to my question."
A second boy who looked older – definitely gay, Alex thought – sighed. "Look, dude, you answer our questions and we'll answer yours. Okay?"
Alex adopted an affronted expression, and struggled not to let out an evil cackle as they walked straight into his trap. "No, no! You will answer my question first, and then I will decide if the answer proves you worthy enough that I shall answer your questions. Okay?" He considered adding in an attitude flick of his hair, but decided not to. Even if the soldiers were all on a hiking trip, he didn't want to take any chances. The soldiers might respect him, but that respect only went so far.
Another girl stepped forwards. This one was quite curvy, and very well endowed, so he leered a little. "We asked you first, smart-arse!" She did add in an attitude flick of her hair. And an eye-roll. Very effective, when coupled with her distinctive Australian accent.
Alex sighed inwardly. He was going to have to think up an excuse sometime. "My real name," – he paused dramatically for effect – "is Starbright. Jack Starbright."
He congratulated himself for his quick thinking. "I am here," – he paused dramatically again – "because I am a delinquent," – here he sneered – "on 'alternative' punishment. They seemed to think this would 'beat some sense into me.'"
Lauren stepped back, nodding, appeased with his explanation. James looked miffed.
"Right. Now that's over, why don't we, like, introduce ourselves?" The second boy smiled genially and offered his hand. "I'm Kyle. You already know James and Lauren – they're brother and sister, in case you hadn't guessed. This," – he gestured to the curvy girl – "is Dana."
Alex considered putting Kyle into an awkward situation by not taking his hand, but decided even he wasn't that mean. Besides, a delinquent wouldn't do that kind of thing. Right? "So why are you here?"
"We're here because–"
Any reply James may have made was cut off by two figures, followed by the Sergeant, heading at a brisk walk towards the group.
"I hope you kids haven't gotten into any trouble," said the woman, an athlete if ever he saw one.
"We haven't," chorused the group.
"Jack was just telling us that he's here because he's a delinquent on an alternative punishment," James blurted out.
The three adults transferred their gazes to Alex. The Sergeant acknowledged his story with a subtle nod.
"Jack, is it? I'm Meryl. Meryl Spencer. This is my associate Ewart Asker," the woman greeted warmly. "So your parents just let you come along?"
Alex scrambled to find an excuse, before realising he didn't even have to lie. "I'm an orphan."
The Sergeant chose the awkward silence that followed to butt in. "Kid, you've been given the day off to help these schoolkids settle in. Just remember that you still have punishment duty tonight."
Alex mockingly saluted, knowing that the Sergeant would tell him the truth about the kids during his 'punishment'.
xox
That night, Alex went to bed wondering whether the new kids had done anything like he had. Not to sound high and mighty, but 'Help Earth'? He scoffed inwardly. Oh yeah, that's scary stuff.
With each story the Sergeant had told him about them, he found himself more and more grateful to Alan Blunt for bringing him into MI6.
God knows what would have happened if they had picked me up. I might have become like them. Suppressing a shudder, he found himself, for the first time in his short, miserable life, glad to be with MI6.
xox
Meanwhile, the Cherubs were having an impromptu meeting in their cabin.
"So," James began, "who knew that kid was going to be here too?"
He looked around the room, taking in all the shaking heads.
"Who is he, exactly?" Lauren asked, "I mean it's not as if just any teenage delinquent gets sent to a soldier camp."
Meryl entered the conversation. "I called Zara to run a search on him and he's apparently got a track record, so they probably sent him here to persuade him not to deviate again. One of the more notable things he's done was when he was fourteen. He hijacked a crane, using it to dump the boat of a well-known drug dealer into a conference on stopping drugs."
The Cherubs sat in a stunned silence.
"Whoa!" Kyle eventually burst out, "The dude is extreme! Couldn't he, like, have phoned the police or something?
Meryl chuckled and continued, "He's an orphan who's been living on the streets after his uncle died in a car accident – his parents were killed in a plane crash when he was a baby. His school records before he left indicate that he's more intelligent than normal, but he didn't work to his full potential."
"Anyway," Ewart cut in, "It's about time for bed. Go on, to your beds!"
They wished each other goodnight and settled in their hard, lumpy mattresses. Soon, all of them were asleep, renewing their energy for the next day.
xox
A few weeks later, Alex had greatly impressed the Cherubs, who were surprised that a 'civilian' could perform so much better than they could. They were surprised to see even soldiers treating him as an equal rather than adopting the superior manner they used with the Cherubs.
They were packing their bags to return to base, when Alex entered their cabin.
"Are you going?" he asked.
"Yeah. It was fun meeting you, though," replied Lauren.
Alex snorted. They had been peeved at him the whole time because he, a delinquent, had shown them up. He'd had fun antagonising them as much as possible.
"Well, bye, then. Don't forget me!" He turned around and left the cabin.
"Stupid kid," James growled. He hadn't liked having the little show-off making them look bad in front of the soldiers. They were Cherubs! They were meant to impress people, not be mocked!
They left the cabin and piled onto the bus waiting for them. When they were settled, it drove off.
AN: I know my chapters are very short, but please review. I need to know what you think and how I can improve. Any criticism is welcome.
