Ohai everyone. Thanks for reviewing, those who did. Here's the next chapter!

I have practically no time so it's taken a while. Please tell me what you think! It only takes two seconds. (:

I've kind of stopped the Diary entries because I can't be bothered. Please tell me if you want me to keep them going, though.

Thanks for reading my story so far. Please keep reading, and remember to review!

- Charli

-Leah

Leah awoke in a strange bed, in a strange room. For a minute she thought that her father's arrest had all been a dream and she was still on holidays with Liam in some hotel. Her second thoughts were that they had moved her to a new foster home overnight. Then she thought that maybe she had been moved away to her own room because the house parents had thought Jackie had been a bad influence on her.

When she sat up, Leah realised that the room was high up. A quick glance at an alarm clock on the bedside table told her that it was past ten in the morning. She didn't normally sleep this late but from what she could remember, she'd been up late the night before talking with Laura and everyone else and presumed that whoever was looking after her wouldn't mind her sleeping in.

The room was large with a big window that overlooked trees, trees and more trees. Out of the bathroom window, she could just catch a glimpse of a tennis court and a few random buildings.

Around the room, there was a small sink, a kettle, microwave and a miniature fridge. There was also a wall-mounted TV and a large desk with all the latest computer equipment. Whatever foster home this was, it looked pretty cool.

There was a clean set of clothes on the floor. On examining them, Leah realised that they were fairly military-styled, with khaki trousers, boots and an orange t-shirt.

Leah quickly got changed and, keen to find out where she was, opened the door and stepped out into the corridor.

Nobody was around at all and Leah came to the conclusion that they were all at school. The window at the end of the passage had a much bigger view than her bedroom, and Leah realised that she must be somewhere pretty elite. She could see an athletics track, more tennis courts, a large Japanese-style building and a large banana-shaped structure. There were also playing fields and a large building that looked like a gym. The area looked like it stretched on forever.

Leah heard a sound behind her and turned instinctively. A girl of about fifteen was struggling with her keys and books. She noticed that the girl wore a navy shirt, rather than orange. 'Hey… can you help me?'

'Sorry, can't talk to orange.' The girl said.

Leah felt the familiar feeling of rejection coming back. 'Don't you want some help? You look like you're about to drop those.'

The girl sighed. 'Yeah, thanks.' She passed the load of books to Leah and unlocked the door. 'Go down the lift.'

'Thanks,' Leah said, as she gave back the load. She hurried off to the lift and pressed down, like the girl had said.

After about half a minute, the doors opened up to reveal a reception area as a mechanical voice announced her arrival. Leah figured the reception lady would think it rude to ignore her, so she went right up to her and tried to sound reasonably confident.

'Hi, where am I supposed to go?'

The receptionist looked up. 'Good morning, Leah. Doctor McAfferty will only be a minute. Just take a seat and he'll call me when he's ready.'

Leah nodded and sat down, but it was only about ten seconds before the receptionist beckoned to her.

'He's ready now.' She led Leah down a long corridor to a large door near the end.

Leah felt awkward and wondered if she was supposed to knock. Just to be on the safe side, she rapped three times.

The voice that answered reminded her of her uncle up in Scotland. 'Come in.'

Leah opened the door slowly and went in. The room was massive, with bookshelves everywhere and huge floor-to-ceiling windows.

'Welcome, Leah. Have a seat.'

Leah sat down. 'Where am I?'

Doctor McAfferty smiled. 'You're in the England, more specifically Cherub Campus. We are an organisation who use children as spies.'

Leah went silent for a moment. 'So… you take children away from their homes and use them? To catch criminals?'

'Precisely,' said McAfferty, 'Except I can assure you that every kid here was taken from a care home. Nobody here has parents or relatives, apart from siblings of course.'

'Wow, Doctor. And you want me to join?'

'Exactly. You can just call me Mac, by the way.'

'Sure, but why do you want me?'

'You're intelligent, speak two languages and you're reasonably fit. You're also not afraid of what others think of you and can stand on your own two feet when under stress.'

'How'd you know all that about me!' Leah felt shocked.

'Before we pick an agent, we survey their everyday lives.'

'You've been watching me?'

'More or less.' Mac smiled. 'Anyway, before you join you'll have to take some tests. Then you can go back to your home and decide whether you want to join us.'

'Right.'

'The test is split into five parts and will last the rest of the day. You up for it?'

'Sure.'

The cab dropped Leah off at the care home at ten o'clock. She was starting to wonder what the house parents would be saying when they realised she'd been gone for nearly three days.

Surprisingly, nobody said anything. It wasn't until after eleven that a house parent found her asleep on her bed.

'Leah! Where on earth have you been?'

Leah groaned. 'Huh?'

'I said, "Where on earth have you been?"! It's been nearly three days since we've seen you!'

'I want to sleep. Go away.'

'Don't speak to me like that, Leah. Where have you been?'

'Oh, you care? That's got to be the first time ever.'

'Excuse me?' The house parent enquired.

Leah realised she shouldn't have seen anything. She scowled.

'I'll be reporting you to your social worker. It's unacceptable to speak to a house parent like that!' She dumped a bag on the end of the bed. 'You were meant to start school today, and we still expect you to. Get your uniform on. There's a packed lunch in there too, and a few exercise books. There's another kid waiting outside for you. He'll show you the way.'

'Are you serious?' Leah growled.

'Do I look like I'm joking?' The house parent asked. 'Get dressed and get out. If you're rude again, I'm going to start docking your pocket money and privileges.'

She walked out. Leah growled again and sat up. School wouldn't be too bad, at least. It was only for a few days, anyway. She'd be moving to CHERUB pretty soon.

She donned her uniform and found a decent bag to carry her lunch and books in.

There was a kid waiting outside for her, just as the house parent had said.

'Hey, I'm Josh.' the kid said. 'I'm meant to show you the way.'

'I'm Leah,' Leah said. 'Hi.'

'So, how come you're up so late?'

Leah shrugged, quietly scrambling for an excuse. 'I went to stay with a friend last night.' She hoped he'd buy it.

'Oh sweet, sounds fun.'

They walked in silence to the school.

'Your form is over there, in room twelve.' Josh said. 'I'll be in room ten if you need anything.'

Leah nodded. She wouldn't be going back to him to ask for help, of course, but it was nice knowing someone cared. She pushed her hair out of her eyes and opened the door.

The teacher looked up at her. 'Hello there, Leah. You're late.'

Leah gave a small shrug and sat down at the nearest desk.

'Well, class, this is Leah. She's just moved into the care home down the road, so please make her feel welcome.'

The kids glanced over at her, some smiling, and some scowling. It was pretty much the same at any school. Nobody seemed to care.

Well, thanks just so much, teacher, for mentioning that I'm in care. Thanks a million. I'll only be here a few days, but you still suck for saying so.

Well, I suppose I'll be a loner for the next few days. Not that I really care. Actually, I think I'll make the most of it and be as bad as I possibly can. I doubt I'll get that sort of freedom at CHERUB, anyway. Who knows, maybe being a badass will earn me 'points' or something. Blahh.

Anyway, this class we're in is really, really boring. It's maths. Oh joy.

I'm sitting next to this nerdy-ish girl. She's trying to read what I'm writing which is kind of stalker-ish, don't you think?

Oh gosh, I can't wait until this class ends.

The kids streamed out of class as soon as the bell rang. Leah went out slowly; she was jet-lagged and felt like she was about to collapse.

'Hi there, Welcome to Lakes Creek high.' Leah realised there was someone speaking to her.

'Oh, hey.' Leah replied, looking up at the person. She was pale, but her hair was dyed black with a bright orange streak through it. 'Nice hair.'

'Thanks.' the girl smiled. 'I'm Alex.'

'Leah.'

'Want me to show you around, or something? It's a pretty big school.'

'Thanks.'

Alex led her through the crowds and out to the playground. 'So, how come you're in care?'

'Just came out of a foster home.' Leah replied. She decided not to mention about her parents and sister. Just the thought of Annie gave her a lump in her throat.

'Oh, right.' Alex said. They were approaching a large group of kids sheltered in the far corner. 'These are my friends.'

'Cool.'

Alex introduced her. 'Guys, this is Leah. She's new.'

There was a round of nods in her direction. Leah felt awkward as she sat down on a bench with Alex. She hated crowds of people; she wasn't used to everyone talking to her and acting friendly. All her life, she'd been the outsider.

Leah strolled into her room and dumped her bag on the floor. She'd only just sat down when there was a knock at the door. A house parent was there, and Leah was surprised to see Liam's mum standing behind her.

'Hi, Mrs Mills.'

'Hi, Leah. Get your things, you're to stay the night with us.'

'Really?' Leah grinned. 'Cool, thanks.'

'It's my pleasure. Liam has a few things to tell you, so we decided to set this up.'

Leah sat in the back seat of the Mills' car, pondering. She wondered what Liam had to tell her. But she was worried about getting to CHERUB. How would they know where she was? Maybe they'd follow her. Creepy.

After about twenty minutes, they pulled into the Mills' driveway. Mary and Liam were already waiting.

'Took a while,' Mary smiled, opening the door for Leah.

'Only just got back from school. Had to pack all my stuff up and everything.'

'Oh okay, no problem.'

Leah turned to Liam. 'You had something to tell me?'

'Oh, sure.' She realised he was getting fidgety. This must be pretty significant news.

'We'll leave you to it.' Mrs Mills smiled. She and Mary disappeared inside the house with the bags.

Leah felt awkward.

'So, do you want to take a walk?' she asked.

'Sure.'

'What is it you were gonna say?'

'It's pretty long, actually. I guess I should start at the beginning.' Liam said. 'You're being recruited to CHERUB, right?'

Leah was speechless. 'Uh…'

'Sorry if I freaked you out there.' Liam said. 'I… I really don't know how to put this.'

'You're a cherub?' Leah gasped. 'What… how…?'

Liam sighed. 'Yes,' Leah noticed he sounded different. His Newcastle accent he'd spoken with was gone and now he spoke with a rather thick London accent. 'They recruited me a few years ago after my parents died. I've been here on a mission for the past few weeks. Since you didn't appear to have family ties, we thought you'd be a good recruit for when we busted your foster dad and that menacing housekeeper. That was the mission for me, anyway.

'We took the holiday down south with you so that MI5 could access your home without suspicion, since Miss Gardenia was away. It was totally by chance that we met your sister.'

'Wow.' Leah was listening to this whole story, totally rapt.

'Anyway, they decided take you in for tests when we got back. And now you're coming back with us!'

'I…' Leah's mouth hung open. 'I guess that explains why your accent just radically changed.'

Liam laughed. 'The world is full of surprises. But do you know why I chose to go on this mission?'

'Why?'

'A long time ago, before I was recruited, I had a best friend. The best friend I ever had.' He smiled. 'But I never got to say good-bye to her. As soon as I received news about my parents' death, I was told to leave town immediately. I've always dreamed of the day I could meet her again.'

He took a deep breath and laid his hands on her shoulders. 'Leah, that girl was you.'

Leah looked confused. 'Huh?'

'I'm not 'Liam',' he smirked and held out his hand. 'The name's Jared.'

Leah stared up at him. 'Oh my g- …wait, are you serious?'

He was laughing now, 'Do I look like I'm kidding?'

'So you came on this mission to see me?'

'That was more or less the intention.' he shrugged. 'I kind of wanted to apologise. For leaving you. You know… without saying goodbye.'

Leah felt a rush of emotion and pulled him into a hug. 'I've missed you.'

'Jared' smiled. 'Me too.'

- Annie

Annie, Lee and the rest of the gang sat on the back fence of the local oval, chatting and moaning about their lives. It was Friday night, and although she was with all her friends, Annie wasn't happy.

It was Little Athletics night. It wasn't that she didn't like athletics. She was stuck in under twelves, without Reece.

Lee was with her, but she had Sean. Things were different than what they used to be.

Kati and Jay were already heading over, so everyone started following. Lee and Sean sprinted off. Annie ran to catch up with them.

'Hey,' she waved as she got close.

'Yo,' Lee smiled. 'Did you remember dinner money? I forgot mine; I was hoping I could borrow off you.'

Annie shrugged. 'Sure, just pay me back.'

Lee gave her a hug. 'Thanks,'

They were rather late. Dozens of kids swarmed them as they got close. The five and six-year-olds from the 'Tiny Tots' age group were screaming about, whilst mothers tried to calm them down. A line was rapidly growing at the sign-on desk.

'Heya,' Bradlee sidled up next her. 'How's it going?'

'Oh, the usual – crap. I hate being in twelves,' growled Annie.

Bradlee smirked. 'Yeah, well, thirteens isn't much better. I don't even like Athletics, but mum makes me come.'

'So does mine, though I could probably get out of it pretty easily if I wanted to,'

'Then why don't you?'

Annie shrugged. 'Nothing else to do. It's boring at home when everyone else is out here.'

Bradlee leant down and wrote both of their names on the sign-on sheet.

'Well, should get going now. My leader gets mad if I'm late.'

'Bye,' Annie waved and headed over to Lee and Sean. They both smiled and slapped high-fives.

'Life?' Lee asked. It was the usual greeting these days. It had started out with "How's life going?" then it'd been shortened to, "How's life?" Now it was just the one word.

Annie grunted. 'Reasonably okay,'

'Coolies, same.' Lee smiled, then rolled her eyes when she realised their leader, Sally, was yelling at them. 'Better get going.'

The first session was high-jump. Definitely not Annie's specialty. Lee, however, was a rising star and jumped way higher than everyone else. Normally Annie didn't stress over being short. Now it was getting to her.

Kati and Jay huddled underneath a tree in the far corner, deliberately missing their turns.

After what seemed like ages, they finished and were free to do as they wished until the session ended and they moved on to the next event. Naturally, Annie moved straight over to under thirteens.

The thirteens sat in a group in the middle of the oval, yelling over a game of Mexican snap.

Reece smiled and waved. 'Hey,' He gave her a hug and moved over to make space. 'What'd you have?'

'High-jump,' said Annie, grabbing her card pile. She noticed that Bethany wasn't there. Probably talking to her mum. 'You?'

'Hurdles,' Reece said.

'Sounds fun,'

A bell sounded suddenly and a groan rumbled around the circle. Everyone started getting up and heading off to their next event.

'Need to go, I guess. See you,' Reece smiled and hugged her, before departing back over in the direction of the discus nets.

Annie looked around for Lee but couldn't see her anywhere. She spotted Sean, however, sitting in the shadows with his coke.

'Where's Lee?'

Sean looked up at her. 'I was wondering the same thing myself,' His green eyes sparkled in the moonlight and his hair looked close to black from the darkness.

'You like her, don't you.'

There was a long, rather awkward silence. 'Yeah,' he admitted.

Annie laughed and sat down next to him. 'Ask her out, then?'

'She wouldn't like me in that way.'

'Says who?'

There was another silence. Finally, Sean spoke again. 'She just wouldn't. It wouldn't work.' He looked away. 'I really like her, Annie. But we've been friends so long and I can't really imagine dating her. Not yet, anyway.

'We're too young. If we start now, it's gonna get all messed up. I know, I know, you've been going out with Reece practically since the beginning of time. But that's where you guys are different. You're more mature and you know how to handle things.'

Annie sighed. 'I guess,'

They sat in silence once again. Annie was used to it; Sean didn't talk much. He normally kept to himself, unless Lee was around and or he had a good topic of conversation to contribute to.

After a few minutes, Lee appeared out of nowhere. Sean went bright pink when he realised she'd probably heard bits of their conversation. 'What secrets are you two sharing in this extremely dark and private area?' she inquired.

Annie smirked. 'Oh, you know. Stuff...'

'Sally said we have a free session.'

'Sweet,' Sean eased himself up. 'I'm gonna grab some dinner, coming?'

'Sure,' Lee said. She grinned at Annie and held out her hand. 'Pay-ya.'

Annie laughed and dug around in her bag for her purse. 'Pay-me.'

Lee and Sean went off together, and Annie headed back over to the nets to see Reece. She was disappointed to see that he'd gone off somewhere.

'Looking for Reece?' said a voice behind her.

Annie turned around to see Bradlee, leaning against a light-post. 'Sure.'

'He went off somewhere... should be back soon.' He pulled a packet of mixed lollies out of his pocket. 'Want some?'

'Thanks,' Annie crashed next to him. She frowned. 'Where the hell is Bethany? I haven't seen her since sign-on.'

'She was here before, but then she disappeared again. To put more make-up on, knowing her.'

'Mm,' Annie nodded. 'Let's go buy food, I'm starved.'

The canteen was crowded. They passed their orders onto Lee, who was at the front of the line, to avoid waiting.

Once they were outside, Annie excused herself to go to the bathroom. She'd thought she would find Bethany inside, carefully applying her make-up, but the place was deserted.

She re-did her hair and washed her hands, trying to get as much of the grit off as possible. She was about to head off when she heard voices. It appeared to be coming from the back wall of one of the cubicles. Curious, Annie stepped inside and pressed her ear onto the cold metal.

'You idiot, why did you take so long?' a girl growled. 'They're bound to notice we're gone sooner or later!'

The other probably said something back, but their voice was inaudible.

The first voice cut in again. 'I thought you said you dumped her! You have to choose one of us. You can't two-time, loser.'

The other person sighed. This time, she could just make out the words. 'I pick you,'

The girl giggled and something thumped and shuffled against the wall.

Annie glanced outside and noticed Lee, Sean and Bradlee looking for her. Quickly, she dived out of the bathroom and rounded the corner to the back of the toilets, hoping to catch the two out. What she saw made her heart stop.

By now, Lee had spotted her and was running over. 'Dude, what's wrong? You look so-' she stopped short when she saw what was happening. 'Oh God.'

Reece shoved Bethany away like she was made of molten metal.

Annie felt fury burning through her. 'You cheating son of a-'

'It wasn't how it looked!' Reece protested.

'How long as this been going on?' Lee demanded.

Reece opened his mouth to speak, but Bethany's stuck-up voice got in before him. 'About two months.'

'What the hell?' Annie gasped. Lee put her arm around her and she burst into tears.

'You, mate, need to watch it.' Bradlee growled and gave Reece a shove. 'Need I remind you that I know taekwondo? You mess up my best friend, I mess up you.'

Reece didn't even look at him. Instead, he looked at the ground. Bethany was humming innocently in the background and Annie longed to run over and slap her senseless. But there wasn't any point now. In Lee's arms, she realised that yelling and slapping wasn't going to get her anywhere. But even on that note, she couldn't stop crying. The guy she'd been so in love with and so faithful to for the past year and a half didn't love her anymore.

Annie.

Annie deliberately slept in so she didn't have to walk to school with Reece. This meant she was late, but after all the crap that had happened to her over the past three days, she didn't care.

Annie walked through the open classroom door, trying to ignore the stares and whispers. There was no doubt that Friday evening's events were spread throughout the whole school now.

The teacher frowned. 'Why are you arriving at school at half past eleven?'

Annie shrugged and sat down.

'Do I get an explanation?' The teacher was in a bad mood, she could tell. Might as well throw fuel on the fire.

Annie shrugged. 'Guess not.' The class smirked.

'Anna-Beth Seemore, stand up! I'm sick of your behaviour!' Miss Giblet snapped. 'Every morning you are late for class. You're rude. You never pay attention. You've been to god-knows how many lectures about this, and nothing is improving. Get over to Principal Gresham's office, this instant!'

The class went quiet. Everyone knew Miss Giblet when she was in one of her moods and didn't dare to say a word. Annie slowly rose from her seat. Bethany smirked in the seat next to her.

'Bethany Spark, quit it unless you want to join her.'

Annie gave her the finger and walked out.

She wasn't worried. Just angry that Miss Giblet wouldn't leave her alone and even more angry at Bethany.

She felt a twinge of guilt as she knocked on Principal Gresham's door. She'd been in this position far too many times before. Sooner or later, things were going to get much worse than just a scolding.

Gresham looked up as Annie entered the office.

'Annie, take a seat,' he sighed. 'Now tell me, why has Miss Giblet sent you to me?'

'I was late.' Annie replied.

'Why were you late?'

'I was sleeping,'

The principal settled down into his chair and shifted his glasses. 'You are late far too often, Annie. Lateness doesn't look good on your record, let me tell you. If you don't start clearing your act up, you're going to have a lot of problems later on in life. If you want to sleep, you should go to bed earlier so you can get to school on time.'

'Okay.'

'Annie, 'okay' isn't a good enough answer, I'm afraid. I've called your Mum; I need to have a chat to her.'

Annie froze. A chat? Surely lateness wasn't that bad! What would he say to her mum? Would she be suspended? Again? All she knew was that the fact that Gresham had rung her mum was bad news.

Annie had to sit out in the corridor when her mum went in. Mrs Sanders had given her a look when she passed. It was the sort of fed-up, disappointed look you get from most mothers when their little darling hasn't been behaving themselves.

They were in there for ages. Annie was starting to get fidgety and was just considering running down the corridor to the toilet to text Lee when the door opened.

'Come in.' Gresham gave her a serious look.

Annie took a seat next to her mum and tried to compose herself.

'Anna-Beth, I've had a long chat with your mother over your behaviour. You know it's unacceptable, and the staff and myself here have done all that we can to help you to improve.' Mr Gresham sighed. 'We've decided that we can't any more. You are a continuous bad example toward the rest of the school, especially the juniors.

'Being a very popular person, I believe, most of the lower school look up to you. We can't have them turning into what you are. I'm very sorry to say this, but I'm going to have to ask you to leave Palm Hill College.'

Annie stared at him. 'Wha-'

'Yes.' The principal cut her off. He picked up a sheet of paper from his desk and read from it. 'The first day you were here, you were caught making out with a boy from another school behind the auditorium. Whenever a junior gets into trouble, quite often they blame you for 'teaching' them. You've been suspended seven times, mostly over bunking off and being late.

'I've had far too many complaints about your rudeness in class, and you're probably the most disobedient child ever to come here. That's enough, in my opinion. You can consider yourself expelled.'

Annie sat, frozen to the spot. Expelled? What the hell? Since when were people expelled for being late?

Mrs Sanders sighed in the seat next to her, and picked up her bag. 'I need to get you off the grounds straight away. I'm really sorry to say this, Annie, but I'm also going to have to send you away...'

Annie stared at her. 'What?'

'There are no other schools within safe walking distance, I'm afraid,' Gresham cut in. 'You'll have to go back into care until they find you another home.'

Annie thought about it. To be honest, it seemed like an okay deal, since she wouldn't have to see Reece or Bethany again. 'Can I at least say good-bye to Lee and everyone else?'

Mrs Sanders shrugged. 'Sure, but be quick.'

Annie got up and ran back to her classroom. She felt like she was about to cry, despite being able to escape Reece and Bethany. Palm Hill was her home. It was where her friends were. Where everything she knew was. Living elsewhere would be a massive change.

She reached the door and knocked. Miss Giblet gave her a look.

'Can I please speak to Lee, Sean and Bradlee? Outside?'

Miss Giblet frowned, but seeing the look on Annie's face, she guessed immediately what had happened and nodded. 'Be quick,'

The three filed out, looking rather surprised. Annie closed the door and led them out of earshot.

'They expelled me. There are no other close schools. I have to move.'

Lee's mouth fell open and for a minute Annie thought she was going to run off.

'We can still meet sometime, I guess. I just wanted to tell you before I go.'

Lee tried to speak but couldn't. Annie hadn't experienced friends moving away before, so she didn't know how she felt. But she could imagine how sad it must be. She pulled her into a hug.

'Don't worry, it'll be okay,'

Lee found her voice. 'Ann, you're an amazing friend. I'll never forget you,' she smiled.

Bradlee and Sean tugged at Lee's shirt, 'Move off, we need our hugs too,' Bradlee grinned. He gave Annie a hug. 'Miss you, girl,'

'Thanks Brad,' Annie smiled. 'Miss you, too,' Sean moved in and gave his hug, and then they sat on the bag racks and talked, since none of them felt like leaving. Lee was in a state, but she didn't want anyone to see.

Sean was the only one who noticed. He put his arm around her, rather self-consciously. She smiled. Annie grinned.

'Well, better get going. I'll probably leave early tomorrow, so I'll come by before I go. Leave your windows open,'

The three nodded, and said their last goodbyes. Then Annie set off down the corridor, trying to hide her tears. She might never see them again.