Chapter 7 – Revelations
Lauren, Jake, James and Bethany stood in the corridor outside John Jones's.
"Bruce is gunna be pissed when he hears about this," James sighed.
"I know, but what can we do?" Lauren asked. "John has a point about him, he is kinda psycho."
They all stood around, not knowing what to say or do.
"One of us has to tell him," Bethany said.
"Wouldn't it be better coming from a member of staff?" Jake asked, "I'm not being funny but I don't want to be in the room if he loses it."
"So brave you are," Bethany scowled at him.
"I'll tell him," James chirped in, before an argument broke out, "he's one of my best friends and he won't go psycho on me, and out of the four of us I'm probably the best at handling him."
"I'll go for that," Jake said quickly.
"You sure?" Bethany asked.
Lauren heard a touch of sincerity in her best friends voice and looked at her sideways.
"Ahh don't worry about me, I can do anything," James said with a grin.
"Alright then, if you say you can," Bethany said.
Lauren looked at her briefly, wondering what was going on.
"But when you your arse handed to you I want a front row seat," Bethany added, realising she'd been too sincere before.
"Don't worry pipsqueak, I'll tell him it was your idea not to take him if he kicks off," James said scowling at Bethany, though he really wanted to just laugh.
"Well its settled then, you'll tell Bruce," Lauren said, killing an argument before it started.
Lauren turned round and headed off down the corridor, Jake followed close behind. When they were out of sight James started grinning at Bethany.
"I almost thought you were sincere when you were worried about me," James said laughing.
"Who knows, I might have been," Bethany replied with a smile.
James stopped laughing. Bethany turned to run after her friend.
"Oi!" She shouted, "don't leave me with this arse."
***
There was a knock at the door. Bruce looked up at the door. He was reading a comic book about a martial artist who was given super powers by an ancient spell.
"Who is it?" Bruce shouted.
"James," the door replied.
"Come in," Bruce said, throwing his comic to his side and sitting up.
James poked his head round the door, and then strode in. He sat down on a chair at Bruce's desk, far away from his hands and feet, though if it came down to it, he knew it wouldn't matter where he was.
"What can I do for you?" Bruce asked.
"Me, Lauren, Jake and Bethany have been given a new mission," James said cautiously, even though he knew Bruce wouldn't go violent until he heard what the mission entailed.
"Congratulations," Bruce said with a smile, "what's it to do with?"
"Someone might be rigging a tournament and we have to investigate it," James answered, "but there is something about it, and it might piss you off."
Bruce was a little surprised, but wanted to know more.
"What do you mean?" Bruce asked.
"The tournament, it's a martial arts tournament." James said quickly.
Bruce was speechless. James could tell that he was starting to get mad.
"Why didn't they ask me?" Bruce asked, trying to be calm, but his agitation came through his voice.
"They think you're too good, they think there is a chance you won't be able to stop yourself, and the second half of the events are being filmed, so if you got into the fifth round then you'd be exposed to the media all over the country," James explained.
This seemed to calm Bruce down a bit, but he was still annoyed.
"I presume you're gunna be an entree," Bruce said.
"No, me and Lauren are on surveillance for someone who might be rigging it," James replied.
Bruce was silent for a moment.
"That means Jake and Bethany are going to be entering, right?" He asked finally.
"Yes," James answered quickly.
"This is so unfair, this should be my mission," Bruce said out loud.
"I know, we decided it was best it came from one of us rather than you hearing a rumour or being told by staff," James explained.
"Thanks man," Bruce said, faking a smile.
James nodded his head and felt like he should leave.
"Why Jake?" Bruce asked as James was about to stand.
"They want him partnered with Bethany because they look like brother and sister, and they need a male entree to plant bugs in the changing rooms," James answered.
"Ok, but why Bethany?" Bruce asked, raising his voice.
"She's young enough to pass for an entree I guess," James said, shrugging.
"But, she's completely immature, and stuck up," Bruce shouted.
"Hey, come on," James said, raising his voice higher than he wanted to, "she's not that bad and she can be mature when she wants to be."
Bruce was shocked, so much so that he couldn't speak. James realised he was now standing, and had just defended his 'enemy' very boldly.
"I thought you hated her guts?" Bruce finally managed to get out.
"I do," James said quietly, "I mean I did, but..."
"But what?" Bruce asked, interjecting. "You don't just hate someone then become their friend instantly."
"I don't know, I just don't think she's as bad any more, and she can be really nice if you get her on her own," James replied.
He instantly knew he had said too much and Bruce jumped on it faster than lightning.
"On her own?" Bruce asked loudly. "When have you two ever been on your own?"
"Well it was after I hit Dana, I was on the fire escape stairs thinking things through and she walked in. Then we got talking, and I realised she's not as much of a toad as I first thought," James answered.
"Is that all that happened?" Bruce asked, with a sly smile.
"Yes," James said, but let his face lie.
"Tell the truth, James," Bruce said, prodding into James's interactions with Bethany.
"Well, we met on the stairs again, purely by coincidence, and I told her that I was allowed on missions again, because Dana admitted she wanted to cheat on me, and then Bethany hugged me, and I hugged her back," James explained.
"This is too much, 20 minutes ago I thought you two were enemies, now you're hugging each other?" Bruce asked. "Wow, it's funny how things change so quickly."
James laughed at Bruce's inability to grasp what had happened.
"So what's actually going on between you two?" Bruce asked, the mission completely forgotten.
"Nothing, we're just friends," James insisted, "well secret friends, but just friends."
Bruce smiled and shook his head.
"James, my boy, no two people are just secret friends, there has to be something going on," Bruce said, going to his knee's on his bed.
"Well we are," James said, with a gleeful smile, as he thought he was winning the discussion.
"You like her don't you," Bruce said, more a statement than a question.
The statement took James by surprise and he hesitated to answer.
"No way, we're just friends," James replied.
"Really?" Bruce asked rhetorically, "so what was it like to hug her?"
James cast his mind back to the hug, but he let it wander and spoke without thinking first.
"She was so soft and warm, I could've stood there for ages, it felt nice to just hug someone," James said, adding the last part when realising what he had said.
"See, you do like her," Bruce said grinning.
"I don't!" James said, shouting but laughing.
"Just admit it, I won't say anything," Bruce said.
"No, I don't like her," James said, still laughing.
"You seemed to be defending her pretty badly," Bruce said.
"You're being ridiculous, I was defending a friend," James insisted.
"James, my dear, if you just admit it then maybe there is something you can do about it," Bruce suggested.
James thought for a moment. He thought back to how Bethany had made him feel during that first conversation, how he felt when she hugged him, and smiled at him, and laughed at a joke they'd shared. He remembered her touch when he hugged her. He remembered the sincerity in her voice when she asked him what was wrong. He looked at Bruce.
"There we go," Bruce said.
"What do I do?" James asked meekly.
"You have to find out if she shares those feelings," Bruce suggested, "then if she does you two can make it work."
"I gotta go find her," James said, standing up.
He headed for the door.
"Go get em, tiger," Bruce said.
James looked back and smiled. He then walked out the door and headed for Bethany's room. When James had gone Bruce burst out laughing on his bed.
***
There was a knock at the door. Lauren only just heard it over her music that was turned up loud. She looked at the door then ran to her CD player to turn it down.
"Sorry," she shouted.
"It's me, Bethany," Bethany called out.
"Oh, come in," Lauren replied.
Bethany opened the door and slid through, closing it behind her.
"Sorry, thought it was one of the others telling me to turn it down," Lauren laughed.
Bethany let out a brief laugh, and then headed for the window. She stood and stared out at the dark sky.
"It's really cloudy out, I think it might rain," Bethany said quietly.
Lauren was surprised by this, and thought it was an odd thing to come to someone's room just to say that.
"Yeah, we might even be in luck with some lightning," Lauren said, grinning.
Bethany let out another brief laugh, but her mind was out of the window.
"What's wrong, Beth?" Lauren asked. "You look pre..."
"I'm falling for your brother," Bethany interrupted.
Lauren's mouth hung open. There was a moment of complete silence, Lauren frozen with an open mouth and Bethany still looking out of the window at the clouds, which were slowly getting darker.
"What!" Lauren shouted.
"James, I'm falling for him," Bethany said, turning round to face her gaping best friend.
"I don't know what to say," Lauren admitted.
"Tell me what I should do," Bethany said, looking desperate.
"I don't know what you should do," Lauren admitted, "I have a million questions to ask before we get that far."
"Like what?" Bethany asked simply.
Lauren was shocked, she could see in Bethany's face that it wasn't a joke, but she couldn't think of anything to say.
"When did all this start?" Lauren asked.
"I bumped into him on the fire escape and we got talking, I think that's what started things off," Bethany answered, so calmly it was almost creepy.
"How come you're acting so weird?" Lauren asked, noticing the strange calmness.
"I..." Bethany began but she couldn't finish.
Lauren looked at her, wanting her to go on.
"I think I'm panicking," Bethany finally got out.
Lauren smiled at this thought. She coughed a laugh, and then cracked up. She burst out laughing and had to sit down from laughing so much.
"This isn't funny!" Bethany said, stamping her foot.
"It really, really, is," Lauren managed to say through laughing.
"I can't stop thinking about him, when I see him it takes me all my strength not to smile at him, and I think he feels the same but I'm not sure, but recently whenever I spend time with him it's the happiest I've ever felt, and when I hear him laugh it just makes me feel soo good," Bethany blurted out, "and I hugged him once, and I wished I'd never have to let go."
Lauren stopped laughing. Suddenly she was stunned back into silence.
"Wow," was the only word she managed to say.
"I mean, I really like him, and I care about him, I didn't think I did until we talked on the fire escape, but I really do care about him, and..." Bethany went on, "and... and I don't know, I just want to be with him."
"Wait, this isn't just a crush is it?" Lauren said, standing back up and looking her best friend in the eyes. "This is serious, the real thing isn't it?"
Bethany looked deep into Lauren's eyes. It was a moment which you could tell that these two were going to be friends forever. There was an unspoken trust right then between the two. Bethany nodded her head.
"Then what the hell are you doing here?" Lauren shouted, making Bethany jump.
"What do you mean?" Bethany asked, in confusion.
"Did he hug you back? Does he smile at you when you smile at him? Does he share private jokes with you? Did he tell you stuff you wouldn't expect him to?" Lauren asked.
"Yes, to all," Bethany answered, beginning to realise what Lauren was getting at.
"I can't believe I'm actually going to say this but," Lauren shouted, getting excited, "get the hell outta my room and find my bloody brother!"
Bethany grinned. Lauren pointed to the door. Bethany turned and ran. She ran out of the room and towards James's room.