Author Note
I do not own CHERUB, its characters, places or things in it.
Chapter 3 – The Unlikely Conversation
"Say something," Dana said tentatively.
"I..." James attempted to say.
Tears began to roll down Dana's cheek. James didn't know whether to scream or cry.
"Come on James, just say something," Dana said through the tears.
James turned around and walked out. He had no expression, not anger or sadness, he just looked empty. Dana was scared; she'd never seen him like that before.
James walked up the corridor. The security guard was a bit shocked by his sudden appearance and looked through the window into the room. When he saw that Dana was ok he decided to go and tell the nurse what had just transpired. The nurse came into the room and sat on Dana's bed.
"What did you say to him, dear?" The nurse asked.
"I told him the truth, that I wanted to cheat on him and that I wanted to break up with him," Dana explained, leaning into the nurse's shoulder.
The nurse put her arm around Dana's back and rubbed gently, but she felt a sense of disgust at the girl in her arms.
James got back to his room and sat on his bed. He didn't move for three hours. Down in the dining hall all of James' friends had gathered around a table.
"Where's James?" Bruce asked.
Kerry nudged him in the ribs.
"I told you not to talk about that arse," Kerry replied.
"Kerry, he's still my mate, and I think it's weird how he isn't here, I mean its James, he always eats," Bruce explained.
"That git is a woman beating shit head and I'll be glad if I never see his fat arse again," Kerry yelled at Bruce.
Bruce's face fell down and no one else wanted to speak. Kerry jabbed her food and thrust it into her mouth, and then chewed like there was no tomorrow.
"Where's my bro?" Lauren asked as she sat down.
Bruce, Gabrielle, and Rat stared at her as if she'd just simultaneously insulted the prime minister to his face and was warning her to run. Kerry threw down her fork and huffed.
"I'm outta here," Kerry said, whilst turning around and starting to walk away.
Lauren looked at her in confusion.
"What's wrong with her?" Lauren asked, a little too loudly.
Kerry stopped and Lauren realised her mistake.
"I'll tell you what's wrong," Kerry bellowed, "your prick of a brother hit Dana in the face without reason. I knew he was an arrogant arse and he can be an idiot but I didn't know he was a woman beating twat. He is scum and, if you ask me, he is the worst thing on the planet."
The anger inside Lauren was building up and she snapped at the last thing Kerry said.
"Oh my god will you listen to yourself!" Lauren shouted back, "he has never hit a woman before Dana and he did think that she was cheating on him, you know he has anger problems and he really loved her, so he was a bit pissed off when he lost control now stop talking about my brother like he's some animal because he's not!"
Bruce,
Gabrielle and Rat eased their chair backwards.
"How can you
justify what he did and defend him, Lauren?" Kerry shouted. "He's
scum and he deserves to die for all I care!"
Lauren couldn't believe what Kerry had just said. A tear began to form in her eye. Kerry realised that she had said too much.
"Kerry," Zara's voice called over, "my office, now."
No one had realised Zara had come in, or that she was listening. She turned around and walked towards her office without saying another word and without letting Kerry grovel. Kerry knew she was in deep trouble now.
"Kerry," Zara said, "I know you believe that what James did was wrong..."
"It was wrong, he hit a woman," Kerry interjected.
"Will you let me finish!" Zara said through a raised voice.
Kerry opened her mouth to speak but realised it was better not to.
"Now, I know you believe that what James did was wrong, and it was, but you don't know the full story," Zara explained.
"What is the full story?" Kerry asked, taking advantage of the pause in Zara's speaking.
"Michael was supposed to tutor Dana, and when he went to her room she was wearing nothing but underwear and a shirt. I have now been informed from the nursing staff at the hospital wing that Dana did in fact intend to cheat on James with Michael. He walked in before she was able to and when he reacted it was more just than any of us realised. It was wrong, and he is still going to be punished, but I need you to understand that she was also in the wrong and he did just lose control. As you well know, James has never hit a woman before and according to all our sources he was brought up not to," Zara explained.
Kerry was stunned into silence. She didn't realise that it was possible for Dana to be in the wrong as well, she had jumped to conclusions when she heard about James hitting her.
"Now to you, I have broken quite a few guidelines by telling you all this," Zara explained, "but I am extremely disappointed in your."
Kerry hated that word. She was fine if a teacher or a member of staff was angry or annoyed, but she hated disappointing them, it made her feel extremely bad.
"I know that people on CHERUB campus don't get along and there have probably been such things said in private, but never ONCE have I heard someone publicly shout that they think someone deserves to die," Zara said, then raised a finger, "not only saying they think someone deserves to die but saying it to that person's sister whose brother is the only family she has left, as you well know."
Kerry let a tear roll down her cheek.
"I want you to make a written apology to both Lauren and James, and you are on ditch digging duty for the next month, or until you are sent on a mission.
"Yes, chair woman," Kerry said solemnly.
"Now, get out of here," Zara said firmly.
James sat up in his bed. He'd laid down about 20 minutes ago to try and sleep but it just didn't work. He realised he'd been stuck inside his room for nearly 4 hours now, and he decided to get out of the room. He went to the door and turned the knob. He stepped into the corridor. He was going to head for the lift but there were two Grey Shirts who were messing about in the corridor and he couldn't be bothered with the noise. He turned towards the fire escape and went through. The fire escape was hardly used and the only lighting was from the windows. James liked the darkness that was in there, compared to the corridor. He sat half-way down a flight of stairs and sat down. He didn't want to go for the walk now. Suddenly a wave of emotion came over him and he put his head in his hands and began to cry.
"Oh god, of all the places you had to be it had to be here," Bethany's voice sounded.
James lifted his head and turned it round. He looked his sister's best friend in the eye, which was scowling back at him. Then something happened that James didn't expect. Bethany's expression softened.
"Are you alright?" Bethany asked, sounding sincerely concerned for what seemed like the first time ever in James's head.
"Do I bloody look alright?" James snapped back.
Then another unexpected thing happened. Bethany dropped her head to the floor.
"Sorry," she whispered.
James was shocked. He had never heard her say that word and mean it. He realised he shouldn't have snapped.
"Me too, I didn't mean to snap," James said, wiping his eyes.
Bethany looked up and gave him a slight smile. In all the times that he'd seen her he'd never seen her smile like that, and he realised that without a permanent scowl plastered on her face, her smile seemed quite nice.
"So, what's wrong?" Bethany dared to ask.
"Nothing," James answered, not wanting to tell his enemy his secrets.
Bethany took a few steps towards him.
"Come on, I know you're an arse and we're not exactly the best of friends but I can't just leave a guy crying to be on his own," Bethany explained.
James didn't know what to say. He went over the last 20 seconds in his head, working out if Bethany was really being serious.
"I know you don't trust me, and you'll probably laugh at me for saying this but, I can be alright and I will listen if you want me to," Bethany said.
She nodded her head slightly and turned to walk away.
"Dana was going to cheat on me," James blurted out.
Bethany stopped. James couldn't believe what he'd just done, but he heard something in Bethany's voice that just made him trust her. She turned around and began to walk towards him.
"How do you know?" Bethany asked, sitting down about 3 foot away from James.
"She told me," James answered.
"I'm sorry, I know you liked her," Bethany said, but realised she might have said too much.
"I thought you hated me, and never paid attention to me," James replied, in confusion.
"I say I hate you but I don't really, you've never actually done anything bad to me, you just didn't make a good first impression," Bethany explained.
There was an awkward silence. Neither one knew what to say.
"I really liked her, I thought we would last, and I thought she was happy," James said, changing the subject back to the reasons behind him crying.
"Some girls can be real bitches," Bethany said seriously.
"Yeah, you're a prime example," James said, with a laugh.
Bethany pretended to be insulted and slapped him on the arm, but she had a smile on her face.
"Sorry," James laughed.
"It's ok, I can be sometimes, you just gotta keep on my good side," Bethany said, with a raise of her eyebrows.
James laughed. It felt strange being made to laugh by a girl who, until a few minutes ago, would say she hated him. He considered her, and how strange this Bethany, who was sitting across from him, was.
"So are you going to be alright?" Bethany asked, losing the laugh.
"Yeah I'll live," James said softly.
"Good," Bethany replied, "now I can go back to hating you."
James looked at her in seriousness, but when he saw her grin he just burst out laughing.
"Don't worry, the secret that you care about me will stay safe," James said.
"Ok, and if you tell anyone, I'll just tell everyone that I found you crying on the stairs alone," Bethany said smiling.
"Ok then, it's a deal," James said, holding out his hand to shake on it.
Bethany hesitated. Then she reached out her hand and shook it. A moment passed which they were holding hands then they both let go. Bethany smiled and nodded then walked off.
"Oh, and thanks," James shouted after her.
"You're welcome," Bethany shouted back.
James looked out of the window at the sky, still smiling to himself that he got cheered up by his sister's best friend.
"Oh no..."
