Spy Games

Chapter 9

"Wow, Gasman. I feel like I haven't seen you in ages." I smiled at the boy. "What have you been up to?"

He just stared at me. "What do you want?"

"Nothing. Honest." I slowly sat down in front of the boy. "Can't I just hang around with you, Gazzy?"

"I can't tell you no, can I? It is your island."

"It is," I agreed, sighing softly. "So anyway, what's been going on with you?"

He just bit into the piece of fruit he had in his hands. Speaking with his mouth full, he said, "Nothing."

"Nothing? Really? Nothing?"

He just shrugged.

"'cause I kind of heard that you guys were having a little soccer tournament today at-"

"We totally are!" He swallowed his food quickly before smiling at me. "I just didn't think that you would care."

"Of course I care, Gas-"

"Will you come? Will you come?" He bounced slightly. "Will you come watch me? 'cause that'd be totally awesome! My team is totally awesome! And with you there, then-"

"Slow down, take a breath." I stared hard at him. "Tell me a little bit about this team of yours."

"Oh. Well, there's me of course."

"Of course."

"And then there's my six friends. That's how many of us are on a team. I'm the striker, 'cause, like, duh."

"Duh." What the hell is a striker?

"Then Nicky's our goalie. He's really, really good. He's younger than me, but it's okay, 'cause he's really good."

"Of course."

"Then there's Christina. She-"

"You have a girl on your team?"

Snorting, he said, "Well, yeah, Max, but she's not really a girl."

"No?"

"No," he scoffed at me. "She's practically a guy. She does boy stuff. Kind of like you."

"Believe me, Gazzy, I'm all girl."

"Whatever. Then there's Jake who-"

"Hey, tell me a little bit about the other teams," I prompted then.

"Which team?"

"I dunno. Um…" I paused, as if in thought. "Hey, how about the one that Paul guy? Is his team any good?"

"Paul?"

"Yeah, you know, Paul."

"I don't know a-"

"Peter," I blurted out then. "I meant Peter. Sorry."

He was suspicious now, staring hard at me. Then, shaking his head, he said, "Peter's cool. He's real nice. Once, when Christina cut up her knee real bad and couldn't play, Peter played with us."

"So he's a good…soccer player?"

"Not the best," he said. "'cause, duh, that'd be me."

"Yeah, sure. Now about Peter-"

"Why do you care so much about Peter?" Gazzy frowned at me. "He's not that good. He's alright."

"Have you ever, you know, hung out with him? Heard anything about him?"

"What are you- Oh." He looked around, making sure we were alone. When he found we were, he leaned closer to me and whispered, "Is this secret spy business?"

"Excuse me?"

"You don't have to lie to me, Max. I know that you were only pretending not to know how to spy the other day, when you had me help you spy on Iggy. You're a master spy, huh?" He nodded his head. "I know you are. You have to be. That's how come you're the leader and everything. Right?"

"Uh…yeah, sure. Right." What the heck was I suppose to say? The kid thinks I'm some kind of master emissary or whatever. How cool is that?

"I won't tell nobody," he said. "Especially not Peter."

"Great," I said. "Now what info do you got?"

"Well, he's pretty nice all around," Gazzy said, going back to his food then. "He dates a lot of girls though."

"Really now."

"Mmmhmm. Was that the kind of information you wanted?"

"Uh, kind of, yes."

"Good." He smiled at me. "I'm glad I could help."

"You've been a big help."

He paused, looking off for a moment before staring at me once more. "Since I was such a big help and everything, Max, will you come to my soccer tournament? Please?"

Sighing, I nodded. "Yeah, Gasman, I guess I can-"

"That's great! I'm gonna tell everyone and we're gonna win and you're gonna be so happy and I might even let you gloat about it with me. 'cause, you know, I am gonna gloat about this."

"Oh, I know," I sighed. "Trust me, I know."


"Hey, little dove."

I smiled slightly as Fang's breath tickled my ear. "You might be the only person in the world that's able to sneak up on me."

He just wrapped his arms around me, pulling me to him so that my back was against his chest. "What are you doing?"

"What does it look like?"

"Hanging clothes," he said, watching as I tossed one of his shirts over a branch. "Thanks for washing my clothes, babe."

It was more for my benefit than anything else. Iggy and Fang had taken to the idea that washing their clothes in the river and then hanging them up was too complex of a concept and decided to just not wash their clothes all together. There was no way I was going to let people call my boyfriend stinky. …Not to mention, the stench was starting to get to me as well.

"Mmmhmm."

He kissed the back of my neck. "Now that you're about done though, what do you say we-"

"Make no plans, Fang. We already have some."

"Oh yeah?"

"Mmmhmm."

"And what exactly would those be?"

"We're going to watch the soccer tournament."

He paused. "Max-"

"We have to, Fang," I told him. "I promised Gazzy I would go watch his team."

"You promise that you would go. I made no promise."

"Do you want to keep having a girlfriend? Then you're going."

"Love how you just took my answer to that question as a yes."

"Was it a no?"

"Most certainly not."

"Okay then."

Fang just sighed. "Why exactly did you promise that?"

"Because, Fang, we never do anything for the Gasman and-"

"Really, what was your reason?"

I shrugged slightly as I turned to face him. "I needed info about Paul."

"Paul?"

"Peter. Whatever."

"What?"

"The guy that Nudge is dating. I wanted to get us some information. Now I have. It just came at a price."

"A price of having to sit through a soccer tournament," Fang said dryly, staring hard at me.

"Well, yeah, actually."

"Max-"

"Look, it's not like his team will actually be any good," I told Fang. "We'll take Angel with us, sit through a game, play like we really want him to win, and be an all around cute little family. It might even boost my popularity around here."

"Yeah, you do kind of had a bad public imagine around here," Fang agreed. Not catching my glare, he went on. "I mean, a lot of people around here think you're kind of a bitch."

"Fang!"

"I said some people. Not me." He smiled. "I just think you're a cute little dove."

I made a face as he pulled me in for a hug. "You're lucky that I love you."

"Very lucky."


"Gah! Why didn't anyone ever tell me?"

"Tell you what?"

"That soccer is so boring," I groaned. Fang frowned at me.

"Max-"

"It is though. God, why couldn't they play a more interesting sport?"

"Like what? What sport interests you, Max?"

What is up with Fang and putting me on the spot recently? God, that was annoying too.

"Ping pong."

We both stared at each other for a moment before he looked off, back at the makeshift soccer field, shaking his head slightly. I looked down there too, trying to figure out what the point of this whole thing was. Soccer was so boring. God.

"Look, Max, Gazzy got the b- Never mind. He lost it," Angel sighed. Leaning against me, she said, "Can I leave?"

"No," I told her, making a face. Not if I can't. "We're here to support your brother."

"I'm actually shocked, Max, that you're down here with us little folk. I mean, with how important you think you are, I figured you'd be sitting on a throne that you made us build for you just for this occasion."

I glared over at Iggy who was lying on his back, his head in Ella's lap. "Shut up, Iggy. God. Like you really even do any work."

"Let's just watch the game," Fang said, wrapping an arm around my shoulders. Angel, who was on my other side giggled, but I ignored her as I leaned into him slightly. "And hope to God that Gasman loses."

"How come Nudge doesn't have to be here for this?" Angel asked then, frowning. "It's not fair. And what about Total?"

"Total wasn't invited because he's annoying as crap," I told her. "Watching this game is bad enough. And besides, Nudge is here. She's sitting with her friends."

I pointed further down the grass where Nudge and a group of girls were. By some luck of the draw, her stupid boyfriend's team was the first one that Gazzy and his friends had to play.

"How come she gets to be with her friends?"

"Stop whining, Angel," Ella told her then. "It's not that bad. You should be happy that Gazzy wants us here to cheer him on."

"Us? Try me," I said, shooting her a look. "The rest of you are just here so I don't get bored. Not to mention, I don't trust any of you guys not to misbehave while I'm preoccupied with this stupid soccer thing."

"We don't misbehave, Max," Iggy told me. "You just don't understand our actions."

"Oh, bull."

"I get in trouble when I say bull like that," Angel mumbled. "Huh, Fang? Shouldn't Max not be allowed to say it then?"

"Yeah, Max," Fang said, nodding his head. "You're no longer allowed to say- Ow. Why did you pinch me?"

"To get you to shut up," I told him simply. "So do that. Shut up."

"See? She thinks she's better than all of us."

Ella thumped Iggy's head. "Knock it off."

"What? Tell me I'm wrong. Go ahead. Lie."

"What is up with you and hating Max today?" Fang asked him with a frown. "Knock it off."

"You'd be angry with her too if you knew what I knew."

"What do you know?" I asked him, frowning.

"I heard you and your mom this morning, Max. Gossiping about Fang."

I flushed. "You-"

"What did you say?" Fang was looking down at me, slightly amused. He probably thought I had been talking about how hot he was or something. He was pretty egotistical like that. "Max?"

"Noth-"

"She and Dr. Martinez were talking about your parents, Fang," Iggy told him, sitting up now slightly. "Like it was any of their business. About how your mom was, like, mentally ill or-"

"Stop, Iggy," I said, glaring at him now. Fang shifted away from me. "You don't know what you're-"

"I know exactly what I'm talking about. You think just because you know who both your parents are that it's okay to talk about the rest of ours. Well, guess what, Max? It's not. Our lives-"

"Shut up, Iggy." Fang looked at me then. "What did she tell you?"

"Fang, this really isn't the time or-"

"What did she tell you?"

"I-"

It was then that a loud yell cut me off. We all turned our attention back to the soccer field where I could see Gasman down on the ground, holding his knee. I jumped up, Fang quickly doing the same. Iggy was asking what was going on and Ella was trying to explain it to him.

"You little brat," one of the guys on the other team was yelling at him. Gasman moved to get up, but I could tell from the way his leg was that it was more than likely broke. "Get the hell up. How are you going to freaking shove into me and then act like you're hurt when I shove you back? You-"

"Knock it off, man." One of the other guys on his team came to grab the one yelling at the Gasman's arm. "Seriously-"

"Leave him alone!" The little girl on Gazzy's team ran up and kicked the guy in the shin. "You big jerk!"

"Hey!" I was on the field now, having picked my way through the small crowd of people watching. "You leave him alone."

The guy still just glared down at the Gasman. "That's why we don't need to play with fucking kids. I swear to-"

"Leave him alone." Another guy on his team got between the Gasman and him. It was off course Nudge's stupid boyfriend. Because my life sucks, that's why. "Serious, Jackson, knock it off."

"Come here, Gasman," I whispered, going over to him. "It's broken, isn't it?"

"No! I can play. I can keep playing."

"No, you can't, buddy." Fang was next to me then, standing over him. "I'd carry you, but my back-"

"I don't need you to." He tried to stand again, but couldn't. That girl on his team, Christina, quickly let him wrap her arm around her shoulder, supporting him on the side with his bad leg. "I need Iggy. Iggy can heal me."

"I want Mom to check it out," I told him.

"No! Iggy can heal me and then I can play."

"Even when Iggy heals something, it's not perfect, Gasman. You'll still need to stay off it. You can't play soc-"

"No! I can play soccer! I can play soccer!"

"Oh, Gazzy, I'm going to kill you," Fang groaned as he reached down, lifting the boy up. I knew Fang could carry Gasman, I mean, God he could carry me, but I really didn't want him to at the moment. "Let's go see Dr. Martinez, huh? And then, if she says so, you can come back. Alright?"

"No!"

Fang was walking off now, wincing as he did so. Finally one of the older guys in the crowd of people watching got up and took Gasman from him, the two guys heading off towards the scientists' caves, a whining Gazzy going along with them.

"Now what?" The goalie on Gasman's team frowned. "We gotta have another player."

"I'll play!"

For the first time I noticed that Angel was at my side. She was bouncing up and down, clearly excited.

"Angel," I began. "I don't-"

"Please, Max?"

Her brother had just broken his freaking leg. She didn't really think I'd let her-

"Yeah!" Christina smiled at Angel. "You can be on our team."

"Cool."

"I-"

"Alright, alright, let's start the game again," one of the older guys standing on the sidelines said. I think he was supposed to be the referee. When he saw me glare at him, he quickly said, "It's okay with you, Max."

I just turned back to the guy who had been yelling at Gasman. He'd calmed down some now, but still looked pretty pissed. He was about my age, but shorter than me. The shorter you are though, the more fiery the temper, right?

"If you ever yell at any of the younger kids like that again, I'll send you off on a freaking raft and let you pray for the best," I told him, glaring into his eyes. "And don't doubt I won't."

With that, I headed off to the caves to check on my little Gasman.