Chapter 9 – Rain

James reached Bethany's floor and ran towards her room. As he got three doors down, one of the other doors burst open and Jake flew out. James stopped immediately, nearly falling forwards as he did.

"Listen you little brat," a voice boomed from inside, "I am not gunna help you get Lauren."

Jake stood up, tears streaming down his eyes.

"You're a git Bryan," Jake screamed, "I only wanted help."

James looked inside the room. A 14 year old CHERUB agent was stood inside, his fists in bunches and his face boiling in anger.

"It's not my place to help you, Jake," Bryan shouted.

Jake turned to run, but ran straight into James. James was looking at him, in confusion and agitation.

"You fancy my sister?" James asked.

"Leave me alone," Jake said, barging past and going at a run.

A hand grabbed the door handle of the open door.

"Sorry you had to see that, James," the red headed CHERUB agent said.

"Don't worry about it, Bryan," James said, with a smile.

Bryan nodded to him and then closed the door. James shook his head, putting the events in the past. He then set off back running down to Bethany's room.

He knocked on the door, but there was no answer. He knocked again and again, getting louder and louder. Another younger agent came out of their room, with sleepy eyes and pale green pyjamas on.

"Stop being so loud," the CHERUB complained.

"Sorry, but I need to find Beth," James said, "and oh my god, I just called her Beth, I never call her Beth."

The CHERUB didn't understand what was going, and because of the time, he didn't care.

"I think she went to Lauren's room," the CHERUB replied.

"Ugh," James moaned, "thanks little guy."

The CHERUB yawned and went back inside. James set off down the corridor. Lauren's room wasn't that far away. He ran the seven doors back the way he'd come and arrived at her room. He burst through the door, hoping that Bethany would be in there.

Lauren jumped up from her bed.

"Jesus Christ!" Lauren shouted.

James was panting slightly.

"Where is she?" James asked, frantically.

"Who?" Lauren asked, though she really knew who.

"Bethany," James said quickly, "I don't have time to explain, but I need to find her."

"I know where she is but I wanna know why you want to know," Lauren said, slyly smiling as she made her brother squirm.

"Listen," James said firmly, "I am going to search this entire campus until I find her, so you'd be saving me a lot of effort if you just tell me where she is."

Lauren's smile dropped.

"You are really that serious about her?" Lauren asked quietly.

"Yes, I am," James said, gaining control of the panting. "I need to find her, I can't wait."

Lauren thought for a second.

"She went to your room, but if you're not there I don't know where she'll have gone to look for you," Lauren explained.

James nodded his thanks and ran back towards his own room, in hopes that she will have waited for him.

Bethany reached James's room. She put her hand on the door knob and took a breath, patting down the nerves. She twisted the door knob and pushed the door open. She expected James to be laid on his bed, but he wasn't.

"James?" she called out.

There was no answer. Bethany checked the bathroom but it was empty. She remembered the last time she had been in here, and the distinct lack of clothes James had been wearing. Her stomach lurched and she decided it was best to get out of the room before she got too excited by her thoughts.

Out in the corridor she made a snap decision to ask Bruce if he'd seen James. She went to his room and knocked quietly on the door.

"James, I already told you, go and find her, stop wasting your time here," Bruce shouted from inside.

A moment later the door opened and Bruce stood there. When he saw Bethany his face went deathly pale.

"Go and find who?" Bethany asked, worry rising in her mind.

"He's gone to find you," Bruce admitted, still in shock.

"Damn it!" Bethany shouted.

She realised where else he might be. She turned and ran towards the fire escape. She pushed the fire escape doors open and began to run down to the bottom.

The next floor up, James burst through the fire escape doors. He headed down the two flights of stairs to his own floor. He pushed the fire escape door open and sprinted down the corridor. He noticed Bruce had just turned to go back into his room.

"Bruce!" James shouted.

He didn't hear him, and shut the door. James slammed into the door and burst into the room. As he did, he realised that it had begun to rain outside.

"Has Bethany been here?" James asked without saying anything else.

"She just left for the fire escape," Bruce said, getting tired of these two missing each other.

James didn't say anything else, but ran out to the corridor. He ran towards the fire escape but it opened before he got there. Jake was stood on the other side. He was absolutely soaking wet. He walked towards James with a face that could make an ogre feel bad.

"What happened?" James asked, stopping running.

"Was out in the rain, Bethany told me to stop being stupid and come inside, I think she's still down there," Jake said without even stopping.

James grinned and ran for the fire escape.

Bethany had reached the bottom of the stairs. She saw that James wasn't there, and was about to go back up when she had realised the fire escape door was open at the bottom. She pushed it open and looked out. Through the pouring rain she saw Jake stood alone in the middle of the car park. Bethany ran out, gasping as the cold rain soaked her brown hair.

"What are you doing out here?" Bethany shouted.

Jake turned around.

"Just thinking," Jake said, coldly.

"About what?? It's pouring down out here," Bethany shouted at him.

"Lauren doesn't like me, what am I supposed to do?" Jake replied. "She's the first girl I've really liked like this."

"Oh stop being stupid, this is one of the reasons why she won't go out with you, you need to grow up before anything can happen between you two, she does like you but she doesn't want someone who acts like a child as a boyfriend," Bethany snapped. "Now get inside."

Jake pushed past her and ran to the fire escape. Bethany screamed out to the night and stood there looking at the sky for a minute.

"Bethany!" A voice called from behind her.

"Bethany!" James called to her.

He was walking slowly forward, not caring about the rain, not caring about the cold, only caring that he had finally found Bethany. She turned round to him. By now her hair was dripping wet. James stopped about half a meter from her.

"I've been looking for you," James said.

"You too," Bethany replied, "I must look a mess because of this rain."

"You look beautiful," James said, but went red straight after.

Bethany didn't know how to reply to that. She had never been called beautiful before. She smiled, at James and because of him. James, too, didn't know what to say next. His heart was beating so fast that it threatened to break out of his chest. He took a step forward. Bethany's stomach leapt. James took another step. He put his hand on her shoulder, and ran it down to her hand. She gripped his hand softly and stared deep into his eyes. James took his other hand and gently brushed some of Bethany's hair away from her mouth and eyes. He then leaned forward. Bethany's eyes closed at the same time as his. Their lips met and the moment they did time seemed to stop. They let their hands go. James put both his hands behind Bethany's back and pulled her towards him, tightening his grip on her, and making the kiss last even longer. Bethany rested her arms on James's shoulders, and closed her hands together around the back of his neck. The rain poured and poured, but they didn't care, because now, in that moment, they were together and they never wanted to part. They broke the kiss, even though neither of them wanted to. Bethany smiled up at him and James smiled down at her. There was no need for words, and if they spoke it would only spoil a perfect moment.

Kerry stood at the fire escape door. James hadn't closed it properly. She watched as he and Bethany kissed. A single tear rolled down her cheek, but she passed the sadness stage and hit anger in an instant. Rage boiled up in her blood. She turned, her hair flying round her. She began to walk towards the stairs. A lightning bolt struck the building and knocked out the power. Kerry continued walking as if it hadn't happened. She put one hand gently on the banister and walked up the stairs, her boots making an echoing sound as she walked. Another bolt of lightning flashed, lighting up the stair way for an instant. Kerry was lit up for a moment, her anger seeping into the light before it disappeared.