Chapter 8 – Dinner

Alex and Kita reached the dining room just as Mel and James walked through the front doors; for once they were silent as they glared at each other, the tension palpable between them. As they entered the dining room they were greeted with the sight of a long table, name cards were placed around one end of it, the Headmaster was sat at the head of the table. Five other teenagers, all around their age, sat near him; two had already started throwing food at one another.

'You will sit in your appropriate seats,' Mr Hope told them, he gestured to four seats around them. The four teenagers complied silently. Until they realised where their seats were.

'I am NOT sitting next to him!' Mel screamed, pointing at James; for once it seemed as if they were going to agree on something.

'Ditto,' Kita said, glaring at Alex; Alex just rolled his eyes at James and the two boys shared a smirk. The Headmaster watched the four of them with an expressionless face.

'You will sit where you have been told' he said firmly, his tone leaving no room for argument; Alex shivered internally at the voice, it reminded him so much of the man that had wanted to have him dissected.

'What if we refuse to?' Alex demanded, crossing his arms across his chest, 'Why should we be dictated to by you?'

As soon as he'd said it he knew he'd gone too far; the Headmaster stood up and suddenly the room went quiet. Not for the first time Alex thought that the man knew exactly who he was; there was an emotion in his eyes that made Alex want to back out of the room and leave the Academy. Alex hated feeling so scared he wanted to run away. Suddenly he had the feeling that he couldn't breathe, that the room had suddenly doubled in temperature and the air was stale.

'You will sit down in the places provided for you, Alex, and you will sit in them very meal time. If you do not you can return to your room and go without,' he replied, 'Now sit down all of you.'

Alex held Hope's gaze for a few seconds before shrugging and sitting in his designated place, the other three copying him silently.

'Now, let us start,' Mr Hope said, his voice once again pleasant; Alex let out a silent breath he hadn't realised he'd been holding. Dinner passed fairly quietly until Mr Hope stood up and took his leave half way through the meal.

'I will leave you to your own devices, now,' he told them, 'Now you can be yourselves without anyone watching over you all the time.'

Alex felt a shiver run down his spine at the cruel reminder of the other Academy only a few miles away. He finally let himself relax slightly once the man was out of the room and the door has snapped shut behind him. The room seemed to explode with noise as soon as the door had been shut.

'What the hell is up with that freak?' Mel demanded, 'I actually thought he was going to attack Alex.'

'I wish he had,' Kita muttered, intentionally loud enough for him to hear. Alex replied by glaring at her.

'Seriously though, mate, watch yourself,' James said, 'I don't care what the girls think but I need you to keep me sane in this place.'

Alex grinned at him, 'I'll only get myself into trouble if I know I can get out of it,' he replied. James, and two of the other boys, laughed at that. Kita just rolled her eyes.

'Grow up, Alex,' she snapped, 'The only trouble you get into is the type you can't get out of. You're not a superhero, so stop acting like one.'

Alex raised an eyebrow, 'Who asked you to comment?' he asked.

'I thought this was a conversation for everyone on the table. Obviously we're not including idiots like you in it anymore,' Kita retorted.

'I guess I forgot to mention that we're not including flirts who'll lift up their skirts for anyone who asks for a good look?'

Kita glared at him and, it seemed to Alex, that it wasn't just Nikita Long that was glaring at him.

'You know bugger all about me so keep your mouth shut, Alex,' Kita snapped; she turned away from him and started a conversation with one of the other boys at the table. He caught James' eye and the two exchanged raised eyebrows; he saw Mel glaring at him, and then spotted James' eye roll as he noticed the glare as well. The talk died down a little as the dessert was brought in and they ate the various desserts laid out in the middle of the table for them. When the chatter started up again Alex kept an ear open on Kita's conversation as he listened to Mel and James arguing yet again. Kita was talking to one of the other boys who, it was plain to see, was there for the reason that Alex had gone to Point Blanc for.

'What you here for then, beautiful?' the boy asked; Kita smiled flirtatiously at him.

'Nothing I could change if I had the chance,' she replied; the boy grinned.

'What's your name?' he asked her.

'Kita'

'Simon,' he said; reaching across to take her hand, placing a kiss on it. Kita smiled brilliantly at him.

'So… you single or you here for a marriage arrangement?' Simon asked; Kita sighed.

'Unfortunately I'm here for the latter,' she replied. Simon smiled.

'Any chance of running off with a devishly handsome boy that decides to rescue you from your room?'

Kita laughed, 'I think I'd run off with anyone given the chance,' she replied. Alex kicked her discreetly under the table.

'Unfortunately, however, there is nowhere to run to out here,' she said; kicking him back using the heel of her shoe and causing Alex to try not to grimace with pain. At that moment a loud bell rang through the school and the same voice came over the PA system.

'Please leave the dining room and return to your rooms,' it instructed. Sighing the group of teenagers stood up and started to trek back to their rooms. At the junction of the corridors though, the rest of them, including another pair who were here for an arranged marriage, set off down the other corridor.

'Aren't your rooms this way?' Kita asked Simon; he shook his head.

'We all started off down there and then we moved into the rooms we have now,' he replied; Alex frowned slightly, why move rooms? The two groups separated and, once outside their corresponding rooms, the two pairs of teenagers opened their corresponding doors.

& & & & & & & & & & &

Once inside Alex leant against the door as Kita went over to the bed and sat down, taking off her shoes and taking a pair of tracksuit trousers and a sleeveless stop into the bathroom without saying a word to Alex. He frowned as the door closed, she hadn't thought he meant anything he said down in the dining room had she? Sighing to himself he lay down on the bed and stared at the canopy above him. His mind drifted, unbidden, to his first assignment when he had found a piece of paper written by Ian Rider above his bed and it had led him to discover what Herod Sayle had really been doing in Cornwall. He was drawn out of his thoughts by Kita coming out of the bathroom, now changed. He stayed silent as she started to stretch and then started to do her gymnastic routine. They stayed silent for about five minutes, Kita doing her routine, the moves slowly getting more demanding, and Alex just watching her from the bed. Eventually Alex spoke.

'You know I didn't mean any of the stuff I said down there, don't you?'

Kita was currently in a hand stand, she placed her balance onto one arm and lifted the other up. 'I know,' she replied. Alex raised his eyebrows as she came out of the handstand and stood up; he got off the bed and took hold of her arms and turned her to face him.

'What's wrong?' he asked her; she pulled away from him, Alex let his arms fall to his sides.

'Nothing's wrong, I'm fine,' she snapped; Alex shrugged.

'Whatever you say,' he said. He watched as Kita tensed up.

'Alex, I'm fine just leave me alone,' she told him; putting her arms up and doing a handspring. Her feet went out from under her as she landed; Alex leapt forward and caught her by her shoulder's before she hit the floor.

'Somehow I don't think you are,' he said as she looked up at him, 'Because I've seen you do a few of them already and you made them look as easy as a forward roll; so that means something's got you worked up.'

Kita sighed as he helped her stand; 'It's nothing I want to talk about.'

Alex sighed, 'Was it something I said at dinner?'

Kita didn't turn to look at him as she walked back into the bathroom. 'I said I don't want to talk about it, Alex.'

Alex scowled, 'Fine, I was just trying to help. Next time I won't bother.'

Kita turned to face him, frowning. 'What's wrong with you? One minute you're really calm and collected and the next you're stressing out about something or acting like a prick.'

'It's nothing I want to talk about,' Alex replied, mimicking her words from a few minutes ago. Kita sighed.

'That's just being childish, Alex,' she told him.

'It's something that I don't talk to anyone about' Alex replied, walking to stand over by the window to look out over the Alps. Over to where he knew the looming ruins of the Point Blanc Academy stood; an ominous reminder of his second mission. That mission had very nearly cost him his life.

'Is it about one of your missions?' Kita asked him; Alex stayed silent.

'I know about the Point Blanc Academy,' she said; Alex turned to look at her and Kita took an involuntary step back at the cold stare he gave her. It was as if the Alex she had come to know had disappeared into a cold shell.

'No you don't,' he told her, his tone was cold and Kita was surprised it was Alex standing in front of her. He turned and continued to stare out of the window.

'I know you had to escape from the Academy on a snowboard down an expert black ski slope and almost got killed by a train on the way down. I also know you were sent back in even though you didn't want to go back,' she said; Alex snorted.

'That all they told you?' he asked her, ''Cos they told you nothing.'

'Then tell me,' she said, putting a hand on his shoulder. Alex spun around and caught her wrist with his hand, spinning them around so he was pinning her against the wall.

'That is a part of my life I never want to remember. It's a part of my life I never wanted to happen. So I'm sorry if I want to keep it hidden from the rest of the world,' he said quietly, his voice was so cold it made Kita shiver.

'Alex let go,' she said, tears starting to well in her eyes; startled Alex let go and Kita pushed past him and put a few steps between them before turning and facing him again, rubbing her wrist where he'd held it.

'Kita, what-?'

'Look let's just leave this conversation as it is,' Kita said. Alex frowned, there'd been something in her eyes when he'd pinned her that he couldn't quite place and he had a nagging feeling that it was something that would mean a breakthrough in their stalemate of secrets.

'We better get changed,' Kita said, walking over to the bed and indicating the clock, 'It's half ten already. Dinner went on for longer than we realised.'

She grabbed her pyjamas without waiting for Alex's answer and walked back into the bathroom to get changed again. Alex sighed to himself and collected his pyjama bottoms from his suitcase and got changed while he waited for Kita to come back out; all the time going over their argument in his mind to see if he could make sense of what had happened. He had no idea why he'd become that cold towards her, he hardly ever acted like that but the Academy had really got him spooked; it was so alike, and yet so unlike, the Point Blanc Academy that it was unnerving and it was making him tense and uneasy, keeping him on the edge all the time and they hadn't even been here 24 hours.

A/N: So what do you think? Like it? Hate it? Please R&R and give me some feedback so I know what you're thinking. I'm getting stressed with work and revision at the moment so if it takes me a while to update I'm really sorry. The muses seem to have attacked me with ideas for this fic and have even started on ideas for sequels! I haven't even got this whole fic planned out and already my mind is being attacked with ideas that are semi unrelated to the fic. Help!!

Thank you to all my wonderful reviewers, if you want anything specific to happen do tell and I'll see if I can fit it in. Even if it's just little things between characters, or you feel the characters could be behaving differently. Anything you can think of I want to know! Lol. Thank you also to my readers I do love you all, even if I don't shout it as loud as I do about my reviewers.

Thanks again to everyone, please R&R it might take away some of my stress and make me write a bit more.

Ciao for now

Starsword