Chapter 7 – Arrival

Nikita shivered as they stepped out into the snow, an icy wind was blasting them from the front; a car was parked about 100 metres away from them, a tall, thin man was standing beside it. The group made their way towards the car, arms wrapped around their bodies to try and keep in a little warmth.

'Bloody long way to go to get to the car,' the boy from the plane muttered; the girl next to him rolled her eyes.

'You know, if you weren't such a bloody whiner maybe I could just ignore you in peace,' she snapped.

'Oh piss off, Mel,' the boy retorted.

'Only if you jump off the mountain,' she replied; the boy opened his mouth to reply but they reached the car before he could say anything.

'Greetings, and welcome to Mont Blanc Academy, we hope you enjoy your stay here. I am to take you to the Headmaster, Mr Hope,' the driver said, opening the door to the back seats of the car and bowing to the teenagers. Alex glanced at Kita and saw her raise an eyebrow and walk towards the door; the other girl, Mel, followed her with a last glare at the other boy.

'So what you in here for?' the boy asked Alex as they climbed in after the girls.

'Same reason you are, I expect,' he replied, happy to hear another English boy at the academy. The boy rolled his eyes.

'I swear that girl is the devil,' he said, Alex smirked.

'Join the club,' he replied, risking a glance at Kita who had started talking with Mel in the seats behind them. The boy followed his glance.

'The two devils are plotting, I can tell,' he said, he grinned at Alex, 'I've grown used to being able to tell when she's talking about me,' he told Alex, 'It means I can evade whatever crack pot plan she thought up to get rid of me. Unfortunately our parents don't agree with our views. James.'

'Alex,' Alex took the offered hand and leant back in the seats, still not able to fully relax with the shadow of the Point Blanc Academy only a few miles away.

& & & & & & & &

The car stopped outside the huge building Alex had seen from the plane, the sun was starting to set over the Alps and the Point Blanc Academy was just visible as a dark silhouette to anyone who knew where it was. The driver got out and opened the door, allowing Alex and James to get out first leaving the two girls to climb out after them. The car door was closed and the driver led them up the stairs and into the building; as Alex glanced back he saw people at the car that had pulled up behind them taking out the trunks and starting to carry them into the Academy, presumably to different rooms. They were led along elegantly dressed corridors and up majestic staircases until they reached a mahogany door, a gold plate was nailed to it that read "Mr Hope, Headmaster". The driver knocked on the door once and then waited, after a few moments of silence a voice called from inside the room and the door was opened to allow the teenagers into the study. Alex heard an almost inaudible gasp from Nikita as they stepped into the room; the carpet was a deep red, with dark wood panelling along the walls. A mahogany desk sat in front of a set of very large windows which let in a lot of the early evening light; lights positioned around the walls gave off a soft glow, giving the room and eerie appearance, bookshelves lined the walls and ornaments sat in front of many books. At the desk sat a large man with a head of black hair and a very large black moustache. He gazed over the rim of his dark glasses at the four teenagers, his fingers laced together as his elbows rested on the desk in front of him. Alex was truck by the similarities and differences between him and his half brother, and felt a rush of dread rush through him as the man's eyes lingered on him.

'Welcome to the Mont Blanc Academy, I am Mr. Hope your Headmaster. Whilst you are here you will continue your studies, should you wish it, in the classrooms provided; there are topics for you to study on the computers and, should you not understand anything, there will always be a teacher in the next room ready to answer your questions. The computers also have access to the Internet so feel free to use them for that purpose as well,' he spoke as if he had rehearsed and said this speech countless times. 'While you are here you will abide by the few rules we have. One is that you do not enter the basement or the restricted areas on various floors; these are off limits as they are in need of repair and are also used as storage rooms, they are also used by the servants as their rooms and I'm sure you can respect their privacy enough to leave them in peace. You will not leave the grounds of the Academy, I'm sure the fences will tell you where the boundaries are, and you will all be in bed by 11pm at the latest. Any questions?'

None of them spoke up; Mel gave a huge yawn that she didn't bother to try and conceal and Kita smirked when she caught the other girl's eye.

'In which case, Mr Peters will show you to your rooms. Feel free to mingle with the other students here; including you four there are now ten of you. Good bye.'

With that the four teenagers were led back out of the study by the driver and back along the various corridors of the school. The group was silent as they made their way through the large building, Alex and James walked side by side, Mel and Kita followed behind them. Finally they reached a corridor with doors leading off it at regular intervals down both sides of the corridor. Peters stopped at one of the doors, took out a set of keys and unlocked it; he opened and turned to the four teenagers behind him.

'Miss Smith and Mr Harper, this is your room,' he said; Mel sighed.

'See you later, Kita,' she paused then added, 'Maybe sooner rather than later depending on how soon the prick drives me nuts.'

James rolled his eyes and mouthed the word 'devil' at Alex; Alex grinned at him before the door was closed on the other two.

'Do we get keys to the rooms?' Alex asked as they walked to the next door along. Peters shook his head.

'The rooms are locked until someone comes to stay in them. Then they stay open,' he replied, unlocking the door to their room, 'Miss Long, Mr Moth, this is your room.'

Kita walked past him into the room and Alex followed once she'd walked in. The door closed behind them and the sound of footsteps slowly faded. Kita turned to face Alex.

'So what do we-'

Alex clamped a hand over her mouth and pressed a finger to his lips; taking out his I-pod he went into the screen option menu and selected 'black and white'. Immediately a plan of the room came up; Alex frowned.

'It's clear. No bugs,' he said; Kita raised her eyebrows.

'Isn't that a good thing?' she asked; Alex shrugged.

'In a way it is, in a way it isn't. If it was like the Point Blanc Academy they'd be watching our every move-'

'But it doesn't feel like anyone's watching us,' Kita finished; Alex nodded.

'Exactly. Plus there's no other bugs in here to listen to us. So if he isn't following in his brother's footsteps then what is he doing?' he wondered aloud. The two friends were silent for a few moments.

'Well I'm going to unpack, any idea when and where dinner is?' she asked; Alex smirked.

'They did fail to mention that didn't they?'

Kita rolled her eyes and nodded; turning to her suitcase she started to unpack her things into one of the wardrobes provided. Obviously the Headmaster wasn't taking any chances as regards arguments over wardrobe space as they had a wardrobe and chest of drawers each. The sounds of raised voices from next door made Kita giggle.

'Something tells me Mel's gotten annoyed with James already,' she said; Alex tried to keep a straight face as they heard the door slam and footsteps coming towards them. Someone pounded on the door and Kita went over to open it; a fuming Mel was standing in the doorway.

'I swear I'm going to kill that boy if he comes near me again!' she screamed, walking into the room.

'Alex get out,' she said to him; Alex opened his mouth to argue.

'Hey this is my room too!' he said; Kita glared at him.

'So go see James. We,' she pointed at herself and Mel, 'Need girly chat time. Now get out.'

'Make me,' he said, crossing his arms and sitting on the bed. Kita threw her hands up in frustration; there was another knock at the door.

'If it's that absolute retard tell him to go away,' Mel said as Kita walked to open the door again. Sure enough James was stood in the doorway.

'I thought you'd need rescuing,' he said to Alex, Alex grinned and walked over to him.

'Oh now you leave,' Kita said, slamming the door behind the two boys. James raised his eyebrows at Alex.

'She looks like a handful,' he commented, Alex laughed.

'You have no idea,' he told him as he followed James back to he other boy's room.

Inside the room Mel was ranting at Kita about what James had done as Kita finished unpacking her things.

'So when I went to put my stuff in the bathroom there was no space left, so I asked him to move some of his stuff and he just flat out refused! I mean I need to put my make up somewhere, so why can't he move some of his stuff to make room for mine?' she demanded as Kita finally closed the wardrobe door.

'Well that's boys for you,' Kita said as she sat down on the double bed.

'I can't believe we have to share a bed!' Mel yelled, lying back on the bed, obviously her ranting had finished because she seemed to visually calm down.

'Now that's off my chest, how's Alex been? Anything as bad as James or not really?' Mel asked her; Kita grinned.

'We've ignored each other so far. As per usual,' Kita said; Mel sighed.

'Lucky. James whines too much for me to ignore him in peace,' she said; Kita laughed.

'Well we are on the third floor. If it gets too bad just push him out of the window into the piles of snow below and watch him make his way back round to the front door. Then block the door to your room so he can't get in,' she suggested, Mel's eyes lit up.

'You know that sounds very promising,' she said; Kita laughed as the door to the room opened and James and Alex came back in.

'Would it kill you to knock?' Kita demanded; Alex just ignored her as he sat on the couch, James closed the door and then joined him. The two sets of teenagers glared at each other for a few tense moments.

'Did you come here for a reason, or was it just to annoy us?' Mel demanded; James sighed.

'See? I told you she's the devil incarnate,' he told Alex, putting his arms up in frustration. 'When will you leave me alone, you bloody demon?'

Mel sat up and gave him a death glare, if looks could kill James would be dead and buried. 'When you decide to get out of my life,' she retorted, 'You know I had a nice boyfriend before you came into our lives and then our parents decided we should marry. Big deal! I just wanted to carry on with my happy life, but no! You have to come along and spoil it!'

'You think I want to marry a bitch queen like you?' James demanded. Mel screamed in anger and stormed out of the room.

'I'll talk to you later Kita, I just can't stand being in the same room as him at the moment,' she said, slamming the door behind her. James groaned.

'Great, something tells me I'm not going to get any peace if I stay in the same building as her until she's calmed down. That bloody temper of her's drives me round the bend. I'm going outside for a walk. See you guys at dinner I guess, when is dinner?' he asked; Alex shrugged.

'I guess they'll tell us,' he suggested, James nodded and waved a quick goodbye before walking out of the room and leaving the two of them alone. When their eyes met Kita burst out laughing.

'I know I shouldn't laugh but the arguments those two have are just so funny,' she said; Alex smiled and nodded.

'They should be interesting to sleep next to. Wonder how late they'll be up arguing till?'

'11pm if Mel's temper is anything to go by,' Kita answered.

'That brings up another problem,' Alex said, pointing to the bed, 'We only have one double bed.'

Kita raised her eyebrows, 'Really? After Mel's rant I wouldn't have guessed.'

Alex snorted, 'Yes well, normally I would say one of us, meaning me, would sleep on the couch but as that's not really who I'm playing-'

'We both get the bed,' Kita finished, nodding. 'Makes sense.'

The sounds of arguments from outside drew Alex to the window.

'Looks like our new friends found each other,' he said; Kita laughed.

'Let's just hope they don't push each other off the mountain,' she said, lying back on the bed and stretching.

'Well it might solve a few of their problems. Wonder if they can have enough arguments to solve anything?' Alex wondered aloud.

'From what I can tell those two could argue about the colour of the sky,' Kita replied, Alex laughed.

'Now that's something I would like to see,' he said.

'I wouldn't… there'd be fists flying by the end of it. I think Mel almost threw a vase at James before she came in here.'

'And I thought you could be dangerous,' Alex said.

'I can be dangerous?' Kita asked, looking over at him as he stood by the window.

'The way you took out Michael Cook and his two mates? Yeah I'd say you can be pretty dangerous,' he replied; Kita sat up.

'They seemed pretty spooked by you, Alex, why is that?' she asked him; Alex turned to look out of the window again.

'They picked on Tom a while ago, I gave them a lesson behind the bike shed,' he answered shortly; Kita raised an eyebrow.

'You didn't get caught?'

'They didn't tell a teacher,' he replied. A short silence followed; then a gong rang through the building and a voice appeared over a PA system.

'Dinner will be served in the dining hall, located on the ground floor off the lobby.'

Alex raised his eyebrows at Kita.

'Guess that's our cue,' he said, Kita smiled and they walked out of the room; the air around them turned colder as they took on their appointed roles.

A/N: Sorry it's taken so long to update. My computers got a virus at the moment and it's making it difficult to go online, so it might take a bit more time than normal getting updates up. Hope you enjoy this chapter and a big thank you to all my reviewers! Another thank you goes to my readers, you're all wonderful and I love you all! Keep your eyes open for a few more updates to appear.

Ciao for now,

Starsword