Disclaimer: Do not own Ant Farm

Chapter 11

Olive had to gape at how enormous the London Suite was. It was definitely more than large enough for thirty people. It took up the whole west side of the hotel and was the size of a mansion!

The Ants deposited their luggage in the sitting area by the front door and in a clamor, pushed and shoved each other in their excitement to explore the area.

The sitting area had no walls; it was a wide open space that she felt could've fit at least four basketball gyms side to side to side to side, adorned with very comfortable looking furniture that she just wanted to sink into after an 11 hour flight.

The sitting area was boxed in by four decks that encompassed the perimeter of the sitting area. There was a spiral staircase in the middle that lead to the upper decks. It looked impressive, and she felt it could've rivaled the staircase in the main lobby.

There were no doors to rooms on the sitting area floor. Olive figured that they were all upstairs.

The most amazing sight was the west side facing wall. It wasn't really a wall. It was basically one huge window that stretched the width and height of the Suite. Olive could spot the sun, still sitting high in the horizon and wasn't going to set for a few hours, and an Olympic size swimming pool and people below.

All this was a room for one person? Olive marveled. And she thought Lexi Reed was spoiled!

Her thoughts were rudely interrupted when she heard a terrified squeak and then a sharp yelp: "What on earth is going on here? Who are you people?"

Olive groaned. It turned out that the Suite wasn't so un-occupied after all.

She rushed to where the commotion was and was met with the sight of a pretty blonde in a bikini, in her twenties, a tall dashing guy who was probably the same age, staring down at a flabbergasted Angus who was too shell shocked to say anything. The other Ants stayed way clear in the background so Angus was receiving the brunt of the blonde's sharp glare.

Angus's mouth flapped uselessly like a fish out of water, while the blonde and who Olive assumed to be her boyfriend looked like they were losing their patience.

Olive had the sneaky feeling that it was the blonde who was having this effect on him. She laughed to herself. Angus really had a thing for blondes, did he?

The blonde caught on, smiled to herself, and proceeded to wrap herself in a nearby towel, which was just sitting there in the chair. Already, Angus looked visibly more composed.

"Ok, let's try this again. Who are you people and what are you doing in the London Suite?" This time the blonde spoke with less sharpness. Olive assumed that she was beginning to get amused by the whole thing.

"I, uhh, I mean, we're Ants, but we're not the crawling kind, I fix computers, I mean I hack computers, no that doesn't sound right…"

Olive had to step in. "Hi, I'm Olive. And this is Angus," she gestured to Angus, who looked devoid of any competent intelligence. "We're American teenagers who are all part of this program called the Ant Farm. We're Ants, and that means Advanced Natural Talents, and we're all pretty much here together on a field trip."

The blonde looked impressed. "Oh, a freshman field trip then? Or are you 8th graders?" Olive noticed the blonde spoke English perfectly. She must've been American too.

"No," Olive laughed nervously. "We're juniors in high school. We skipped a few grades."

"Oh. But that still doesn't explain what you all are doing in the London Suite."

"Err," Olive groaned. She was going to have to come clean. "Ok, I guess I have to start at the beginning then."

It took the better part of twenty minutes to explain. Angus and Olive sat with the blonde and her boyfriend in the middle of the sitting area, while the rest of the Ants grew comfortable enough after a while to go about the Suite.

Over time, the blonde grew less and less stern and by the end, looked visibly giddy, curious even.

"Oh, Angus!" The blonde turned to Angus, who looked surprised to be addressed. "You work with computers? I'm good with computers!"

The last bits of nervousness seemed to slip away from Angus. Now he looked like he was back in his own element again.

"What do you know about javascript encoding?" Angus put on a thickness to his voice that to Olive, seemed ridiculously unnatural.

The blonde smiled, very much amused and was about to reply when Olive politely cut in. "I'm sorry, but we never got your name."

"Oh that's right! Silly me." The blonde leaned over to shake Olive's hand. "I'm Maddie. Maddie Fitzpatrick. And this here is Jacques." She put a hand on Jacques's shoulders, who simply nodded at the Ants.

"Right. So you're a friend of London Tipton?"

The blonde's eyes lit up in confirmation. "Sure. Good friends. We go way back from the days I was a candy girl at the Boston Tipton hotel."

Angus piped in. "So you sell candy? That's my kinda girl!"

Maddie laughed. She really was warming up to them. "I used to be a candy girl. But not anymore. I'm a diplomatic liaison. I work with both the US and Japan on issues that need working out. I'm sorta the middleman, if you can call it that." Maddie's words seemed to downplay her job, but it was obvious to Olive how much pride Maddie took in her work.

"Right now I'm working with both the US and Japan on international security. We're currently focusing on airport security right now." She looked mischievously at Angus. "As it seems, airport security is not so secure right now since a 12 year old can hack it."

Angus looked offended. "I'm 15! And I'm not just any hacker. I'm the best!"

"Yes, you are," Maddie agreed.

Olive got worried. "Wait, so if you're working for airport security, does that mean you're gunna turn us in?"

Maddie laughed. "No! Why would I do that? You kids look like you need your fun. So young and in high school. God, high school was overwhelming when I was a student! And I was the right age!"

Both Olive and Angus were relaxed completely. "Oh ok then."

Olive asked, "So does that mean we can stay?"

Maddie looked at her as if to say duh. "This Suite is huge and it's more than enough room for all of us. We'll just take the two rooms for us and you guys can work out the other 40 rooms for yourselves."

"This suite has 40 rooms?" Angus was awestruck.

"Yea but fifteen of those rooms don't have beds. They're closets for London's clothes but I'm sure we can get a few beds in here."

Olive was no longer surprised by how spoiled this London person was. She said, "That sounds great! Thanks!"

Olive and Angus made off to leave, so they can get their luggage and pick their rooms, but Maddie had one last thing to say.

"You know, it's really a great thing what Webster High is doing for you kids. Young, talented kids need a place where they can feel like they can express themselves completely. I should know. I'm talented myself. I can sing."

Olive said, "Oh, my friend Chyna can sing! Can you sing a few notes for us?"

Maddie shrugged as if to say, sure, why not, although Olive expected that Maddie had been ready to show off her singing for some time now.

She sang a few notes to We're All in This Together, to which Olive couldn't help but applaud.

"You're awesome! If you weren't so old, I bet you could've been an Ant, just like the rest of us!"

Maddie gasped, and her mouth gaped into this long, oval O. Jacques was already springing into action. He ushered Maddie quickly up the flight of stairs before Olive could register that she had offended Maddie.

"No baby, I'm sure Olive didn't mean to say you were old, just getting older."

"Oh, so now I'm getting older!" A pause. "Oh baby you're right! I'm already in my early twenties, where has my life gone?"

Olive cringed as she heard bawls of tears filling the Suite.