Ages:
James- 14,
Kyle- 17,
Lauren- 12
Kerry- 14.
Chapter 3: Invitation Normal POVLauren groaned as she fumbled round with her blanket. Finally she ripped a hand out from under the covers and slapped it repeatedly on the alarm clock until it shut up. She snuggled back under her blanket a moment, despising the idea of getting out of bed after only five hours sleep. She hadn't gotten in till half one yesterday and then she was so pumped after the evenings excitement she couldn't get to sleep for another hour.
But after ten minutes the smell of bacon filled Lauren's nostrils and it was enough to drag her out of bed and down the stairs. She plonked herself down at a seat at the dining table and grinned across the table at Kerry and Kyle. James staggered into the room moments after, rubbing his eyes and moaning.
"Damn school…making us get up early…"
Kerry grinned. "Morning James, beautiful day isn't it?"
James snorted and collapsed into a chair next to Kerry. "Where's the grub?" he demanded.
Kyle frowned. "Be patient man, Zara's cooking it. Unless you want to step in and show us some skills in the kitchen then you'll have to wait."
"Like the rest of us." Kerry added, with a playful dig in James' ribs.
"Skills in the kitchen?" Lauren hooted. "James? No way!"
Kyle grinned at Lauren while James frowned.
"Don't make me come over there and kick your little butt sis." James threatened.
Lauren's grin became more pronounced. "I'd like to see you try. I know some funky dudes who would gladly kick your punk ass if I just gave the word."
"When did you manage to do that?" Kerry asked curiously, taking a sip from her orange juice.
"Last night." Lauren chuckled. "When you guys were off trying to catch a race I was actually doing a drug deal."
Kyle gasped. "You actually did a drug deal? Already?"
Lauren preened. "Oh, I had a major break through last night. I found out some fantastic details on a current drug deal and then I got involved in one."
Kerry shook her head in amazement, her black hair flying over her shoulders. "But how did you do it?"
"Breakfast!" Zara chirped, as she carried a tray over to the table and handed out the food. She sat down next to Lauren and sipped some coffee.
"Perfect timing Zara_" Lauren began.
"_I'm starving!" James exclaimed as he rammed a chunk of bacon sandwich into his mouth.
Lauren continued as if her brother hadn't spoken. "_I was just about to explain what happened with Kate last night."
Zara grinned. "Are you sure you can remember? You were so hyper when you got in last night I was worried that when you woke up you would be blank."
Lauren snorted. "I was just hyped up. Nothing I couldn't handle. Anyway, last night, when I went to spy on Kate I turned total ninja. I arrived ten minutes before Kate to scope out the area and luckily there was only one table there so I went over there and stuck a voice recorder to the bottom of the table. I hid in the bushes not far from the café, it was across the road and the table was outside and kinda isolated so I didn't have to worry about other people interfering with the voice recorder."
Zara nodded approvingly. "Good work so far Lauren."
"Thanks." Lauren smiled. "Anyway, this guy showed up and I managed to snap a few pictures of him on this camera I attached to my jacket collar. We can run checks on him later."
Zara nodded, swigging her coffee.
"After their meeting I stayed hidden for about ten minutes while the guy left and then Kate left five minutes after him. She went into the café to wait for me, order a coffee, and make it seem like a normal gathering for when I arrived. I changed my gear in the bushes in case anyone recognised me, and then went a little deeper into the tree section –you guys know where it is, its like a little green patch of shrubbery, for attraction and stuff- anyway, I hitched my backpack up a tree so it wouldn't be found easily and then I doubled back to the farther down the road so I could sneak up to the café and snatch the recorder from under the table as I passed. Kate didn't suspect a thing!"
There was a mesmerized moment of silence at the table while everyone absorbed the information.
Finally Kyle managed to splutter. "You came up with that on the spot? Amazing!"
Zara smiled. "That really is good work Lauren. I'm very impressed."
Lauren shrugged. "There's more but I'll have to tell you later because we'll be late for school if we don't hurry up and eat."
James was already finished so he began to explain the events of the night before.
"So, you think the reason they kicked you out early was because there was going to be a race?" Lauren asked as she swallowed the last of her egg sandwich.
"I know it was because there was going to be a race." James corrected.
"So what are you guys going to do now?" Lauren asked, gulping her orange juice.
"Well I have to pick my car up from the garage this afternoon so I'll probably try to wheedle some information out of Jack then." Kyle stood from the table and stretched. "I won't promise anything though. Jack seems to know his stuff and he's very confidential. He'll take a while to crack."
"Tom is pretty cool. If I play my cards right and exercise my expertise I should be able to find out some more inside information…maybe even see what happened at the race yesterday." James turned to Zara. "Have I got a car here somewhere?"
Zara grinned. "I was wondering when you would ask me that. It's round the back in the garage. Don't go driving it round the town as if you own the place mind, its only meant for races."
"No worries. I was just checking in case I invite Tom back to look at my car. That'll probably won't be today though, I have to find the right opportunity to tell him that."
"I'm proud of you brother, you seem to have everything sussed for the first time ever!" Lauren said, with an exaggerated amount of surprise in her voice.
James rolled his eyes before pushing his chair under and swigging the last bit of juice out of his glass.
"What am I supposed to do?" Kerry asked indignantly.
"Stick with Lisa until she cracks." Zara replied before standing up and clearing the table.
"This is so unfair. Everyone is doing something cool except me." Kerry whined.
"Don't feel bad Kerry, I'm sure something good will come your way soon." Lauren said reassuringly, but she couldn't help feeling a little smug that she was already acing the mission.
*At school- Lauren's class*
Lauren spied Kate and her posse sitting at the back of the classroom talking quietly amongst themselves. She walked confidently into the room and slouched into the seat next to Kate. "Hey."
"Ah," Kate grinned as she leaned across the desk and swung an arm round Lauren's coated shoulders. "Here she is…the hero of last night."
Lauren smirked. "Last night was alright…at least it's not as boring here as what I thought." She shrugged nonchalantly.
A guy sitting on the desk behind them looked up from the long tanned legs of a girl a few seats away and raised an eyebrow. "You mean you didn't find it exciting?"
Lauren glanced at him, her gaze calm and friendly. "I've done better." She said casually.
Everyone surrounding Kate started whispering…some surprised at her comment others clearly offended that she thought that played things safe.
"You were there last night?" A girl with short brown hair asked.
"Of course she was. Didn't you see her? I did. She was, like, the leader!" Another girl answered animatedly.
"Wait…are you saying last night was average?" the guy said, sounding baffled.
Lauren suppressed a laugh and lifted one shoulder. "If that."
A gasp went up round the crowd.
"But that was one of our best nights_" the brown bobbed haired girl started to complain but a sharp elbow to her ribs by Kate made her shut up quickly.
"I told you she was awesome!" Kate said proudly to the guy, nodding her head for emphasis.
The guy held his hands up in surrender although he didn't look convinced...surprised but not convinced. "Wow, Kate, okay. Just chill."
"Just because you bother with Jack a lot doesn't mean you get to order Kate around_!" A girl that Lauren assumed was Kate's best mate jumped angrily to Kate's defence.
"Oh shut your trap Lucy, you think because you're her best friend you get to boss everyone_" the boy snapped back, his jaw clenching tightly after each word.
"So, anything good on tonight then?" Lauren asked, just wanting to break up the bickering and tension slowly building waiting to erupt in a bomb of red hot laver, flooding the room.
Kate opened her mouth to eagerly reply but the guy interrupted her. "Kate, your brother_"
"_Is absolutely fine with it." Kate finished. "Now, you really need to come over my house tonight so we can chat and get everything sorted."
"Kate!" the guy snapped, clearly startled.
"Oh shut up Gareth. Its fine." Kate snapped. "But you really do have to come over tonight- its important." She said seriously to Lauren.
Lauren grinned. Success…
*In James lesson with Tom*
"Hey." James smiled as he swung himself into the seat next to Tom. "How did the car thing go yesterday?"
Tom looked up from a book and nodded quickly. "It was great." He smirked almost as if he couldn't help himself. "It was excellent actually."
James snorted quietly. I bet…wish I could've stayed for it… "Were there any really good cars arriving after I left?" He said instead.
Tom shrugged. "Some were good."
James smirked. "Any as good as Jack's?"
Tom laughed. "No where near."
James nodded approvingly. "See? Isn't your brother lucky to have you?"
"Us." Tom said.
James quirked an eyebrow. "Huh?"
"Us." Tom repeated. "You can officially start helping me out on the cars if you want."
James couldn't help the enormous grin spread across his face. "That'd be awesome."
Tom reached over the desk and slid a book towards James. "We're re-building the engine this evening, if you can make it that is."
James snatched the book up eagerly. "Shouldn't be a problem."
Out the corner of his eye he could see Tom smirk knowingly at him.
"What?" James asked, flipping through the book. Ah, he knew how to do this stuff; he didn't need a book to show him…
"I just had a feeling you'd be into it." Tom mumbled, suddenly embarrassed.
James nodded. "What's not to like? Now, are you sure you have all the stuff to do it? It's a fairly uncomplicated job if you have all the stuff_"
"Wait," Tom blurted, "You know how to do it?"
James sighed slightly impatient. "Of course. Now have you got the stuff or not?"
"Where did you learn to do it?" Tom quizzed, clearly impressed with James.
But James was suddenly overcome with an idea – a risky idea- that was much more important than Tom boosting James' already swollen ego.
If he said he'd learnt it from a gang that he had been apart of before, Tom might see him as a traitor because he didn't stick with the gang, but if James took a leap of faith, it could result in Tom thinking he was a good asset to have in the gang and he could get in immediately…
"Attention please!" The teacher yelled abruptly.
James jumped, startled out of his thoughts while Tom quickly shoved his book and papers into his rucksack and slid it under the table.
With a humph James realised that he had missed a vital opportunity.
His phone buzzed in his pocket and after a quick glance round to make sure no one was watching, he slipped it carefully out of his pocket and clicked the glowing message icon on the screen.
From: Lauren
Sent: 12:02
I'M IN! KATE THINKS I'M A LEGEND!
James was so shocked he almost dropped the phone. He fumbled for a moment, shoving his phone roughly into his trouser pocket while mulling over Lauren's text.
This was bad.
James was supposed to get in first.
James was supposed to see what the initiation was like before anyone else did.
James was supposed to be in control.
*The end of school*
James raced out of the school building as soon as the bell for the end of the day clanged loudly.
He ran through the corridor, knocking a year seven with an armful of books flying into the hard wall. He threw an apology over his shoulder but continued to sprint towards the exit of the school.
He charged straight through a couple snogging frantically on the last but one step of the school and scanned the crowded hurriedly for Lauren.
He sported her, laughing and joking with Kate before waving and walking over the lean against the school gate.
His stood still a moment, allowing his racing heart to slow to a normal pace. Casually, he strolled down the last step and walked threw groups of excited people towards his sister.
"James!" Lauren squealed as she spotted his messy blonde hair.
"Move. Lets get home. We have to talk now." James gripped Lauren's shoulder and tugged her towards the path least crowded as they weaved they're way towards the estate they lived on.
"James, what's going on? Did you get my text?" Lauren asked as she narrowly avoided getting her head hit by a bag being passed back and forth by some rowdy year eights walking in front of them.
"Oh I got your text alright. You need to tell me everything that's happened last night." James ordered.
"What is wrong with you?" Lauren demanded, staring bewilderedly at her brother, who was looking abnormally pale. "Seriously, tell me. You look so wound up you could spew at any moment."
James swallowed and glanced at Lauren, whose eyes were wide and staring at him. He could tell he was creeping her out. "Its nothing. We just need to talk, y'know?"
"Okay." She nodded, although she didn't look convinced in the slightest.
*At the house*
The front banged open and shuddered thunderously as James shouldered it open. He stormed to the kitchen, slinging his bag down as he reached the bottom of the stairs. He was in a right state, twining his hands and slamming his feet down harder than what was necessary when he walked. He walked loudly to the sink, flicking the tap on and gulping water straight from the tap.
"Eww! James cut that out you little pig!" Kerry shrieked as she came into the kitchen to investigate the noise. She had only gotten home a few minutes before James and Lauren, and was hoping to have some time to relax and unwind after having yet another failed attempt at fraternizing with Lisa about something that didn't orientate round James.
"Is Kyle here?" James gargled, water dribbling unattractively out of his mouth.
Kerry felt her gag reflex kick in violently. She coughed a few times to control it before nodding her head.
"Well don't just stand there! Go get him." James ordered, swallowing the water and swiping a hand over his mouth.
Kerry ran from the room, her black hair swinging wildly in its high ponytail.
Lauren watched her go until she disappeared and then she turned her gaze to her brother. "What is going on with you?" She demanded, placing her hands on her hips.
James felt a sudden harsh pang of guilt for making his sister so nervous so he tried to smile. "All in good time dear sister."
Lauren wasn't buying it. "James_"
"What's the emergency?" Kyle asked hurriedly as he stumbled into the room. "Are you okay?" he asked, staring worriedly at James.
James relaxed as soon as he heard Kyle's soft commanding voice. He sagged slightly against the sink and nodded more than once. "Yeah, are you okay? Did you get another meeting with Jack_?"
Kyle shook his head. "No I was about to go over there actually_"
"No." James snapped abruptly, sounding a lot more anxious than what he was aiming for, but this Kyle's safety in question for crying out loud! He had to keep him safe.
"Why_?" Kyle began; shooting a glance at Lauren, which clearly indicated a silent, is James going crazy?
"I am not going crazy!" James stated indignantly, realising too late that this statement did indeed make him seem crazy since what he wanted to say was where the hell is Zara?
He finally voiced his question, just to have Zara breeze enthusiastically into the room.
"Hey guys." She ducked forward and squeezed Lauren's shoulder. "Ready to tell the rest of your adventures?"
Lauren nodded before waving her hand wearily at James. "I'd love to but James seems to be having a nervous breakdown_"
James saw red. "I am not! God, listen to me. It's really important! God, why can't you people listen to someone who knows what's going_" James cut off abruptly from his rant He did not need to go any further…that would be bad…besides, he seemed to have their attention now.
"Okay James, calm down and tell us what's going on_" Zara said softly, trying to calm down the somewhat slightly hysterical teen.
"No." Lauren interrupted crossly. "Let him finish a minute. James, what were you saying?"
James swallowed and tapped his fingers quickly on the counter behind him. "Look, the first thing we have to do is hear the rest of your escapade."
"But I have to meet up with Kate by, like, five the very latest." Lauren protested.
"Then you better start talking." James said flatly.
*Time skip- almost five o'clock*
"So basically, you and Kate ended up getting cornered by this guy who wanted drugs and you managed to get them to meet you guys outside Kate's house later on that evening, but the police showed up and you salvaged the situation by getting the police of everyone's trail." Kyle summarised at the end of Lauren's very long explanation.
"Yeah. To be honest it couldn't have worked out better for me because it was just that day I was telling Kate about how I always managed to evade the cops and stuff. Kate was extremely impressed." Lauren couldn't help but let a small lilt of superiority creep into her voice.
"What happened after that?" James asked solemnly.
"Well, we hadn't quite finished the drug deal yet so Kate insisted I stayed and helped out with that and then we just hung out in her room for a bit with some of her other mates." Lauren answered.
"So you're in very high praises with Kate's lot?" James fired off again.
Lauren shrugged. "I'm in deep with the important people like Kate and her best mate and some of Kate's other close friends but her more distance friends seem to be a bit weary."
"Jealousy?" Kerry guessed.
"Probably." Kyle replied.
"Can I go now?" Lauren asked hopefully.
James shook his head. "Not yet_"
"Not ever." Lauren added bitterly.
"That is not what I'm saying so just cut out your nonsense and_" James said sternly.
"Are you jealous James?" Lauren snapped.
"I don't know what you_"
"Yes, I think you do." Lauren growled. "You're just angry that I've got better leads on this mission than you!"
James shouted, "Get over yourself you silly cow! I'm trying to help you here!"
"Who are you to think that you know everything on this mission?" Lauren shouted furiously back, rising from her chair.
James mimicked her action. "You can never take telling! All the freakin' time you think that you're right and I'm sick of it! You always have to dominate the mission_!" James shot back hotly.
"Guys, stop yelling so loud! People will here you and get suspicious_" Kyle tried to intervene and calm down the situation, after all, every window in the kitchen was wide open.
"Why are you taking her side?" James snarled.
Kyle met his glare with a steady one of his own. "James, I'm not taking sides, be rational."
"No!" James jerked away from Kyle. "I can't believe this!" James started to feel sick as he walked towards the doorway, a burning hot ball of acid churning relentlessly in his stomach. Everything was going wrong…
"Is someone out there?" Kerry asked quietly, indicating the scenery beyond the window.
"Don't be silly." Zara said absent mind-idly, staring after James, trying to work out his abnormal behaviour. Something was seriously wrong if James is worried…
"James_" Zara started, moving quickly to catch up with him but a hard rapping at the door had her halting in her tracks.
OH MY GOD.
Silence enveloped the room, not even the steady sound of breathing could be heard.
James eyed the front door wearily, wondering who was standing on the other side of it.
Well this whole afternoon has been a disaster so far so might as well make it worse…James realised too late that this wasn't exactly what people would call 'logical thinking'.
Taking a deep breath he walked slowly towards it and reached out shakily to take the cool gold handle in his sweaty palm.
He twisted it round, listening intently to the sounds of the lock clicking out of place and sliding back.
"James, don't_" Kyle hissed down the hall but the door was already slowly yet steadily opening…
"Shit." Kerry breathed, now staring into the dazzling bright light of the sun squeezing its way through the gaps around the figure leaning in the doorway.
A/N- Hi, sorry for the super duper long wait for the chapter and I know its a lot shorter than what you're probably expecting for this story, but I'm back in school now so its work, work, work…
Please review and I hope you enjoyed!
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