10
"She does have a point." Jake agreed.
"Don't I usually?" TK pouted.
The food arrived and most were immersed with eating, especially TK. Karen and Kelly watched in amazement when TK offered to finish their plates when they couldn't eat anymore. TK polished both their dishes and the young girl stated that she was just about full.
"Just how much can you eat?" Adriana laughed. "You've been eating pretty much all day too."
"I'm usually the winner of food eating competitions." TK admitted sheepishly. "I get to eat a lot of free food and I get a prize, how awesome is that?" she beamed and stretched as the group shifted to the beach after having paid for the meal. TK immediately grabbed hold of Karen and Kelly and the trio began spinning while holding each other's hands. A few moments later the three girls fell to the sand laughing. Just as Kelly sat up, James had daringly taken a handful of sand, tugged out the back of Kelly's shirt and dumped the sand down her top. She screamed as she felt the grains slide down her back and whirled on James. He made a run for it and Kelly had to throw her shoes at TK for her to guard as the older girl chased her boyfriend down the beach.
Eventually James slowed knowing that Kelly would never be able to catch him unless he did and the pair tumbled in a mass of limbs. TK laughed at the pair then let loose a loud squeal when Jake picked her up and set her on his shoulder. She thumped on his back demanding him to put her down and he did. He literally dropped her in a pile of sand. She fell with an, "Oomph!" and glared up at him with her glistening eyes which seemed to reflect the moonlight. Jake gave her a wolfish smile and barked a laugh. Then he too was falling because TK grabbed his ankle mercilessly and yanked hard making him lose his balance.
"No Harrison don't you dare take me near the water!" Karen screamed as she pounded on Harrison's back as hard as she could while he ran towards the waves.
"Let's play chicken!" TK hollered in glee. She stood too quickly and lost her balance in the shoes that she was unused to. Her legs gave way and Jake had barely managed to stand when she knocked him down again. The pair laughed and TK immediately began taking her shoes off. She took Kelly's shoes too and everyone placed their shoes in a distinctive place so that they would be able to find them later. Then Jake and TK raced towards the waves.
"Those guys sure are animated." Zach commented as he leaned against a bolder. Adriana stood in front of him and leaned on him as he wrapped his arms snugly around her waist.
"They sure are." Adriana giggled when Zach nuzzled her neck.
"KJ!" TK yelled from the water. Beads of water were running down her legs since she ran directly into the waves without getting her clothes wet. Konstantin merely gave her a wave before sitting down. TK wasn't satisfied with that. She wasn't satisfied at all and he should've known that. But he hadn't expected her to be able to run to him that quickly. He couldn't help but notice how her face beamed with enthusiasm and her smile was enough to break the stoniest of hearts. With a firm grip, she took hold of his hand and heaved him up. She was running while holding onto his hand before he managed to get a proper footing. He stumbled a few times but never fell.
Before he managed to pull back properly, he heard the sound of crunching sand. "Uh-oh. Run!" TK laughed and tried to tug Konstantin away but she wasn't quick enough. The water managed to catch his trainers and the hem of his jeans. "You might as well join us now, you've already been hit."
"And I wonder who's fault that is," he scoffed but he did take his shoes off and rolled his jeans up.
"You guys are so lucky none of us have a change of clothes, otherwise, you'd all be dumped in the water by now." Harrison smirked.
"Wait… didn't Ray say that she'd been out shopping the whole day?" James turned deviously to the youngest girl.
"And she probably came straight here too." Jake smirked getting the hint.
"Oh no… no way!" TK squealed and quickly dodged James' hands. "NO! I don't have a towel! I wouldn't be able to dry off! And Adriana would kill you!"
"There's no escape from this Ray, unlucky that you have spare clothes with you." Jake laughed.
"Help me!" TK yelped.
"Sorry Rayne, but getting close to those boys right now might not be a good idea for us at the moment." Kelly smiled apologetically.
TK hid behind Konstantin on instinct. "HA! Try to get past him!" TK challenged the other three boys.
"Oh man now that's not fair. We'll get our asses whooped." Harrison grimaced.
"You'll get you ass whooped by me if you dump me in that water! I have no spare underwear!" she reasoned. While she'd been talking she didn't notice Karen sneaking up behind her. She shrieked with laughter when she felt the other girl tickling her sides. "No!" she spluttered. Konstantin turned around and watched as TK was attacked by the other two girls. TK's slender body writhed and twisted this way and that as she tried to escape. Her breaths came in short gasps as she tried to release a coherent sentence from her mouth.
"Well what do you know? She's extremely ticklish." James laughed as the three guys playfully shoved each other around.
After a while Karen and Kelly finally took pity on TK and released her from her doom. The brunette panted as she stared up at the sky trying to catch her breath. "That was evil!" she complained as she tried to get up but found that all the strength had left her body. She was still trying to recover from the mass attack. "I can't get up…" she whined. There was a soft chuckle from beside her and sudden she felt and arm beneath her knees and the other on her back lifting her up. Konstantin manoeuvred so that he stood her straight when he lifted her up and she used him to steady herself. "Thanks," she smiled up at him. "We've got to come to the beach before we move to the next location."
"It is a nice looking beach isn't it?" Konstantin agreed.
Just then TK yawned and an indescribable, cute and babyish sound emitted from her mouth. Those close enough to her just stared. "Was that you?" Karen asked her with wide eyes.
"Maybe," she murmured quietly.
"It was!" Kelly giggled. "That was so cute!"
"It's not my fault! It's a bad habit I can't seem to break." TK groaned as she ran her hand through her hair.
"What's so cute this time?" Harrison asked as the three guys came closer.
"Rayne's -" Before Karen could finish her sentence TK yawned again causing everyone to stare at her again. "- yawn," she finished.
"Was that her?" James stared at TK incredulously.
"Let's go, I'm feeling a little tired since I haven't had time to recover from jet lag." Konstantin suggested. The group headed back to where they'd left their shoes just as Adriana and Zach were returning from their moonlit beach walk.
"Hey, we're going to get going first. See you at the chat show Adriana. It was a pleasure to meet you Zach." Karen smiled sweetly.
"Thank you so much for the nice day today Adriana." TK beamed.
"Even if it was shopping?" Adriana asked.
"Even if it was shopping." TK nodded with a grin. "No doubt there will be more to follow. I look forward to you attempts to revamp my wardrobe. See you soon."
"Goodbye everyone, see you all at the chat show," the older woman smiled warmly at the group.
"It will be all of us guy won't it? The main cast for now." TK grinned.
"For now?" James asked.
"There is a character called Adrian Ivashkov in the next book, he becomes a major character too." TK explained. "Without that guy, we're the main cast, the ones who'll appear the most throughout the films. Although I'm afraid to say that we won't be seeing James anymore after the third film. Unfortunately, your character dies in the second book and then comes back in the third as a ghost every now and then in the story, and then he doesn't show up again. But let's not talk about that yet."
TK didn't even bother putting her shoes back on and headed to Adriana's car to transfer the bags from her car to the one Konstantin drove. Both Kelly and Harrison arrived in their own cars so Karen went with Harrison and James went with Kelly. TK took her seat in the middle again and in less than three minutes she fell asleep again. For the second time within the last twenty-four hours, Jake found a cute girl sleeping with her head on his lap again.
"Shouldn't it be the other way around? A girl usually sleeps on a guy's shoulder don't they? And a guy sleeps on a girl's lap. That is how it works right?" Jake asked aloud.
"Somehow, I don't think logic like that applies to her." Konstantin chuckled.
"It doesn't, does it?" Jake smiled as he smoothed hair away from her face. Just under three quarter's of an hour later everyone arrived at the houses. "Ray, we're here." Jake nudged her slightly.
"What?" she moaned as she tried to sit up.
"We're back."
"So soon, that felt like ten seconds," she yawned as she forced her body up. "I fell asleep on you again, sorry."
"Don't worry about it, let's go." Jake smiled as he helped her out of the SUV. Jake and TK shared the bags between them and the pair headed into the house.
"This place really is huge!" Harrison commented from the second floor landing.
"Yep, man am I glad I chose a room on the first floor." TK mumbled as she walked up the steps.
"'Night Rayne," James, Kelly, Harrison and Karen called from the second landing.
"Night guys," she waved at them before entering her room with her bags. Jake followed in after her.
"Where would you like your bags?" he asked.
"Walk in wardrobe please. Just dump them on the floor, I'll deal with them when I wake up." TK smiled sleepily.
"'Night kid." Jake smiled.
"'Night Jake." With that exchange done Jake retired to his own room. TK rummaged through her bag and dug up an oversized T-shirt and a pair of sleeping shorts. She changed into her strawberry shorts and black top before picking up her toothbrush and walking to the bathroom. She wasn't paying attention to where she was going and ended up ramming straight into Konstantin who'd just walked out of his room to head to the bathroom. His arms reached out on instinct to steady her. "You don't have to walk all the way over there just to brush your teeth you know? There are two sinks in the one next to your room after all." TK offered. She walked into the bathroom and didn't even bother shutting the door as she began brushing her teeth. She heaved herself up onto the counter and sat there brushing her teeth thoroughly with her eyes half closed. Konstantin walked in a moment later with his toothbrush. "'Night KJ."
"Good night TK," he whispered. She stopped dead in her tracks and gave him a shocked look when she turned around. "I don't forget people's names once I've met them," he smirked as he leaned against the counter to stare back at her while he brushed his teeth.
"Right, yeah sorry it was just a shocker that's all. I guess I got used to being called Rayne," she smiled sheepishly. She walked back to her own room, made sure to shut the door behind her. She closed all the curtains but opened the windows above the French doors to let some air into the room. She stumbled towards her bed and slipped beneath the covers. She was out for the count before her head even hit the pillow.
TK was jolted awake by the feint sound of splashing. She looked at her watch and noted the time. 5:46. She thought back to the time that she fell asleep, it had been much earlier than usual so it was only natural that she'd feel awake at an earlier time than the time she'd normally wake up. She sat up and removed the covers from her body. She slipped out onto her terrace and gazed out at the pool, it was Konstantin. She changed into her old sandals and headed outside.
She sat on one of the deck chairs with her knees hugging her body and absentmindedly watched him swim. She wondered how long he'd been swimming to achieve such a beautiful form when swimming.
"Morning." Konstantin said when he paused for a moment.
"Morning, you're up early."
"I could say the same for you."
"Well you were obviously up earlier than I was if you're already in the pool." TK retorted.
"Well I suppose that you may have a point there."
"I usually do, even if the point isn't always obvious."
"That is incredibly true." Konstantin smirked. "You up for doing some laps?"
"Not right now," she shook her head. "I think shocking one person with my swimsuit is enough for now."
"You mean what you wore yesterday?" Konstantin arched his brows.
"Yes, what I wore yesterday." TK nodded slowly. "You saw?"
"I was sitting out on the balcony reading when you stepped out of the pool to go shopping with Adriana." Konstantin shrugged. "Do you remember the second time I met you? That time at the café when you were taking care of those boys."
"Yeah, you gave me a twenty pound tip, thanks for that." TK smiled.
"The way you flirted really didn't seem to match your style very much. Care to explain? One would never be able to guess that the girl who doesn't care for her femininity could be able to flirt like that. It looked like you knew what you were doing too."
"You're really that curious?" TK asked. "Curiosity killed the cat you know."
"I think I can handle it."
"When I first started maturing physically as a girl, boys started taking notice. The fashion sense I have now, well it was one I've had since I was a tiny kid really and I've been developing it along the way. Before I used to wear shorts more and stuff, but then I stopped when boys started to notice my legs. My old habit of wearing tank tops and clothes like that stopped too and you can probably guess why. I used to be a very nonchalant kid, but when I reached age 11, I couldn't be so nonchalant anymore. I became conscious of what I wore and made sure what I wore covered my body well. At the very beginning I was somewhat experimental with what I could do so I wouldn't say that I have no experience. I can flirt, I have the sass and I have the style to. I sort of know how to drop my tones and how to flutter my lashes to captivate my victims."
"What made you stop? What made you feel uncomfortable?"
"How do you know I felt uncomfortable?" TK asked in shock.
"Instincts."
"There were circumstances that made me stop and I'm leaving it at that." TK shrugged.
"You were harassed." Konstantin stated. It wasn't a question so TK didn't feel obligated to answer. She also didn't want to talk about it either.
"There was a short period of time when I let my friends dress me up and such, but then I stopped and so did those friendships. That's back in primary school though so its fine, I made better friends in secondary school and the boys didn't dare mess with me."
"You seem to get along well with guys though."
"So? Just because the guys don't dare mess with me doesn't mean they didn't like me. What I meant was, there were teasing comments here and there but they didn't bully me and they respected me. They didn't take the piss out of me that's what I mean. I do get along with the guys and sometimes the girls resented that. Some of them thought that I used my lack of fashion as a ploy, that secretly I was a slut who wore inappropriate clothes when I was alone with the boys to seduce them." TK shrugged.
"Difficult time at school?"
"Not that much, it could get annoying every now and then but everyone goes through that during their secondary school years right?" TK smiled.
"So you're just about 15 but you've done your GCSEs, how does that work?"
"I skipped a year."
"They allow that?"
"Well there was no point in keeping me in my own year if I was never challenged so they offered to bump me up a year."
"How are you so good at combat?"
"Gee, you refused to participate in twenty questions on that ride to the airport but now you're starting a game of your own? That's sly."
"My questions don't relate to the others so it would've been pointless to ask them then. Are you going to answer?"
"When I was a young kid I used to watch a lot of cartoons, well I still do sometimes. I used to watch Jackie Chan, The Last Airbender: Aang and all sorts of things that involved combat stunts and such. It caught my interest and so every since I was tiny I've always been trying things out myself. My gran saw that I had obviously taken an interest so when I was old enough she signed me up for karate classes. I learned all sorts of things, Kung Fu, Taekwondo, Jiu-Jitsu, Jujutsu, Judo, Aikido, Kendo, Kyudo, Jukendo… all sorts of things really."
"Are you up for a sparring match?" he asked.
"What? Now?"
"I don't see why not. I'll get changed and be down in about fifteen minutes."
"Won't you having a shower wake Jake up?"
"The walls are pretty thick around the house; it's hard to hear the shower even if the house is pretty dead quiet."
"Well if you're up for it then let's give it a go. You need to teach me how to hit people without actually hitting them. I mean, I don't want to harm anyone on set so…"
"You'll be taught all that by the stunts crew but I'll show you some of the tricks I know," he nodded.
TK diverted her gaze when Konstantin got out of the pool. She had a tiny glimpse of his rippling muscles and that was enough to have her blood rushing through her veins. She waited until he was gone before starting her stretches. She was pressing up against the wall with one leg up against the wall when Konstantin came down wearing sweats. Without warning she watched as the punched sailed her way and ducked while spinning at the same time away from him.
"No stretches?" she smirked.
"I did them before swimming." Konstantin told her and aimed a kick which she blocked firmly before lashing out with a fist. The pair continued with light taps here and there for the next hour. Neither noticed the time, nor the rising sun, nor the spectators they'd gained. Their pace picked up within the next half hour and everyone watched with bated breaths wondering how the fight would end. To them it was like watching a Chinese karate movie of sorts with the way the pair moved so skilfully.
Eventually Konstantin caught TK in a lock and everyone thought that he'd won for sure. But TK shocked them all when her leg suddenly curled around his and she used her upper body to push against him causing him to lose balance and his vice grip. She immediately rolled herself up and held her hand out. "We should probably stop here before we get too into it. Concrete is not the most suitable surface for this type of thing. I wouldn't want either of us to get fatally injured," she smiled. He took her offered hand and with a firm grip she tugged him up. "I'm hungry, please say there's food in the fridge!" she declared as she ran up the stairs. "Morning guys," she smiled as she passed everyone else. "YES THERE'S FOOD!" she screamed excitedly as she started getting frying pans out and other utensils. Everyone strolled into the kitchen where there was an island table big enough to fit everyone. "What would everyone like?" she asked as she began whipping eggs.
"What've we got?" Harrison asked with a yawn.
"Eggs, bacon, bread, sausages, mushrooms and cereal."
"Two bacon sandwiches please." Jake and James piped up.
"Two each?" Karen gawked.
"Yep," the pair nodded.
"Anything else need cooking?" TK asked.
"Fried eggs please, I'll do the toast." Karen asked.
"I'll get the coffee." Kelly said. "Don't worry about me Rayne, I'm having cereal."
"Harrison?" TK asked.
"Full English breakfast, fried egg, if you can manage please."
"There won't be hash browns." TK smiled apologetically.
"I can do without." Harrison shrugged.
"KJ?" TK was met with silence. She turned around and glared childishly at the man. "Well?"
"I can manage my own thank you."
"Oh come on, I won't poison you. Everyone else has already given their orders, so what do you want?" she asked again as she placed her hands on her hips.
"Scrambled egg and two slices of bacon please. Karen I would like two slices of toast," he said eventually.
"Gee took you long enough." TK sighed. She made the bacon sandwiches first, then the full English breakfast and Karen's fried eggs. Then she made the scrambled eggs and bacon for Konstantin. Lastly she began making her own breakfast, a cheese and tomato omelette with French toast. "Thanks for the coffee Kelly," she smiled.
"Thanks for the breakfast," everyone else chorused.
"Who's up for pancakes tomorrow? It'll be the thick kind not the thin crepe like ones." she asked cheerfully as she ate a mouthful of syrup coated French toast.
"Like the ones in Japan?" James asked curiously.
"Yeah! Have you had them before?" TK smiled.
"Once in a restaurant." James nodded.
"Are they good?" Harrison asked.
"If done right it tastes amazing." TK sighed dreamily. "I am so having pancakes tomorrow."
"So are we," James, Jake and Karen chimed.
"I'll try it, I've never heard of it before." Kelly smiled tentatively.
"I'm up for it but don't poison me kid." Harrison smirked.
"You know, since you mention that, I just might do it purposely," she smirked back. "You're all quiet again," she grumbled as she flicked a kitchen towel ball at Konstantin. "Are you up for pancakes?"
"Yes please," he nodded.
"Kaz do you drive?" TK asked.
"Not yet," the older girl shook her head.
"Konstantin you're going to have to drive I'm afraid." TK smiled.
"What's this?" Kelly asked curiously.
"I'm showing him a book store I saw yesterday and I'm accompanying Karen shopping for today. I need to get a phone as well."
"I'm up for shopping." Kelly commented. "Mind if I tag along?"
"Not at all," the other two girls shook their heads.
"What time shall we leave?" Kelly asked.
"Whenever you guys want, I only need to buy one thing." TK shrugged. "How long do you intend to spend in the book store?" she asked Konstantin.
"A few hours would be good." Konstantin said.
"Well these two probably want to spend hours at the shops too."
"How about we leave in about an hours time?" Kelly and Karen suggested.
"That'll give us plenty of time to finish eating." Kelly said.
"And no doubt plenty of time for you girls to get ready." Jake laughed earning a glare from the two mentioned girls.
"I'll get a start on flicking through the script." TK shrugged. At that everyone except Konstantin shared a worried glance. "What's with that look?"
"Nothing, don't worry about it." James shook his head.
"I cooked and since you boys didn't do anything, you guys are on clear up. I'll be in my room so just come get me when you two are done." TK smiled when she left the table and headed to her room after picking up the script left on the foyer table. She changed into a pair of three quarter length cargo pants and a baggy button shirt. Then she quickly hung up what had been bought yesterday with Adriana and placed the shoes on the shoe rack. Adriana had kept the dress that would be needed the next day because she wanted to make some adjustments.