Be My Fool

Chapter Ten

D: I don't own Alex Rider.

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Heylola (: Guess what? Okay, never mind, you probably hate me but... I've left school! :D That means I have 8/9 weeks of freedom to finish this story before I start college :P I will get this done, it is now my life mission to do so :D So without further ado, continue to read! :D

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I stumbled into the closet and Wolf flicked on the light switch behind me, muttering a snarky comment, before leaving me to get on with my punishment. The others had been taken to different areas, so we couldn't talk, and so I was left alone to mull the day over through my head.

Taking in the haphazardly-arranged equipment piled all over the shelves, I decided it would be best to start by getting it all off the shelves to see what I had to try and re-cram on it in an 'orderly fashion'.

Sighing, I started to pull all of the crap off from the shelves to the floor.

It wasn't long after Nate had decided to mutter a comment that we had all been yelled at and kicked out of the barracks. We were all split up quickly into different groups, and I never saw or heard anything from any of my friends until lunch. I thought it was hell then; it got even worse after lunch.

Y'see, since my subconscious secretly loves to make me act like an idiot and my brain seems to think it's funny to make me have an incy-wincy tiny ickle-little crush on he-who-shall-not-be-named... let's just say that they don't make me act in the smartest of ways.

I squealed and flung a shoe at a spider hanging down from a web, making sure it ran out of the closet before returning back to work. I could practically hear everyone laughing at me.

Sighing, I re-tied my hair, and kept pulling the things from the shelf to the floor.

"One potato," I flung a shoe out off the shelf, "Two potato," I flung another, "Three potato, four!" I flung two off the shelf, "Five potato, six potato," more flying shoes here, "Seven potato, mor- AH!"

The shelf above fell down, and I covered my head as it started to rain equipment. As soon as the mini-attack was over, I sighed and groaned again as I looked at the destroyed shelf. I had two options: to go tell Wolf what happened and hope he understood (as if that would happen) or try and fix it with some sort of material.

I weighed my options and I was just about to go searching for a book through the mess when somebody spoke up from the doorway, "Well that was quite a show."

So what exactly would you do huh? Come off suave and flick your hair and act like you didn't do anything? Well... I think I just about had a heart attack, jumped and hit my head off the wall – knocking myself onto the floor.

I groaned, recognising the voice, but in too much pain to care.

I heard some muttering before delicate footsteps made their way towards me, "You okay?"

"Perfect, sir." I hissed, my eyes squinting because of the brightness of the bulb and the sharp pain running through my head.

"Really? You hit your head pretty hard."

And, if I wasn't mistaken, I swore that bloody git was laughing at me. Amusement rang through his voice.

I grumbled something back, tenderly sitting up and rubbing my head gingerly. I blinked a few times before everything came into focus, including C- he-who-shall-not-be-named's face. It was truly ridiculous the effect just a person's face could make me stop breathing normally, but I could pass it off as a concussion or something like that... from hitting my head, y'know?

Tilting his head to one side, he raised an eyebrow, "I'm sorry, I didn't quite catch that."

"Yes, sir, I'm fine," I said, gritting my teeth – unexplainably angry and annoyed. Well, at least from his point of view. From his point of view I'm probably just a bratty little kid, acting like a princess being made to scrub out toilets. God, I could never act normal, could I?

His mouth tilted upwards at the side, and my heart stuttered. His eyes sparked with something akin to curiosity, as if he could hear my heart beating erratically. He was enjoying himself, that much I could tell. A sudden surge of anger, and possibly hurt, flared in me and I stood up quickly – away from him. I was not a toy.

"But if I want to get finished before morning, I should probably get a move on." I turned away from him, starting to shuffle the crap on the floor towards the corner.

I barely noticed him leaving, except from he paused in the doorway for a second before walking swiftly down the corridor.

I didn't bother to try and sort out what just happened, and my head felt like it had been left in the tumble-dryer for too long, so I focused all my energy onto emptying and re-stacking the storage cupboard. I'd had too much of a Cub today, he was starting to mess up my head.

I just wanted to go to bed and forget about the world, forget about everything that was happening. I finished a lot quicker than I thought I would have, and ended up walking back at about 12. I was the first one back, so I quickly changed into my pyjamas and fell fast asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.

xxxx

We were standing around the lake, waiting for the others to arrive. We had been told to meet here for the next part of training, and most people had already shown up. All seemed fine – the sky was blue, the sunset glowing in the distance, the lake still... it was a nice day in Brecon Beacons, for once. The others were talking, but I stood and watched the setting, occasionally nodding and smiling.

And suddenly, it changed. The skies were full of planes, and smoke was rising from the camp – we all began screaming and running. I ran and ran, towards where I knew the mess hall was. Why were the others not following? Where were they going? Soon, I was alone, and walking towards the mess hall. I couldn't run, I couldn't no matter how hard I wanted to – it only slowed me down.

Somebody yelled - they'd found me. They were catching up to me fast, but still my body refused to run. I was on the floor, and the next thing I knew my head was being held up by my hair and I was on my knees. A man, dressed all in black, lifted up his gun and pointed it at my face – laughing. They were all laughing at me.

I squirmed and struggled, but it was useless. I was pinned down and I saw the barrel of the gun again the bridge of my nose. I saw his hand pulling against the trigger and I knew this was it-

WHAM!

Disorientated, I blinked a few times before I realised I had been pushed onto the floor. I could also recognise voices whispering to each other, and some aimed at me.

I snapped out of my stupor when Tulip shook my arm, "Jen, hey, you awake now?"

"Wha- oh, yeah, yeah," I sat up, "Sorry, I must have been out of it."

"Yeah, you were out like a light – it's took us half an hour to wake you," Chloe smiled at me, "We were thinking of leaving you but..."

Leah stepped in, "We thought you'd be upset if you missed out – we're planning on going down again."

I was suddenly wide awake, and alert, "What are you waiting for then? Let's go!"

Leah smiled smugly at Farah, who rolled her eyes and slid down before all of us. It didn't take long to get down, and we'd left a rope to climb back up. We'd padded some pillows in our beds in case they decided to check on us (fat chance, but Tulip said it was better to be safe than sorry), so we were covered.

It was just as we'd left it, except this time we didn't bother to carefully look around – we went straight to what we wanted to look at. Most of them went to the computer, but I went over to where the chest was. Chloe soon followed.

"So where d'you want me to look Cap'n?" She grinned at me, sitting on the filthy mattress.

I looked at the trunk and said, "We could try pulling everything from the trunk and looking at it all?"

She shrugged and we got started, slowly lifting out different artefacts that looked as if it could have been here for 20 years – maybe longer.

"Awh, look at this!" Chloe showed me a picture of a stunning woman in a white wedding dress, "Isn't she beautiful?"

"I wonder who she was," I muttered, looking at the picture for another second – she looked vaguely familiar, I shook my head slightly before returning to pulling out other things, "So how exactly did Leah convince all of you that it was a good idea to come back down here?"

"Actually... It was Tulip. She wanted another look, and Leah agreed. I figured why not – it was only Farah who didn't really want to but she came along anyway since she was outvoted." Laughing, she continued, "Democracy at its best."

I snorted, pulling out a small stack of leather-bound books and letting them fall to the floor. Coughing from the rising dust, I peered into the box, "Has anybody brought a torch or something?"

There were a few murmurs of 'no' and I sighed, before continuing to pull things out.

"So... What'd you been doing before you came back?" Chloe asked innocently, genuinely interested, "I was shoved into kitchen duty." She shuddered, recalling some memory, "I honestly don't know how you survived, I don't think I'll ever get the smell of cleaning products out of my hands anytime soon."

I grinned and cleared my throat, keeping my eyes fixed on the box, "I had to clean out one of the storage cupboards."

I could tell she was giving me a look, but I didn't bother to look up to face her, "And... what? Did something happen?"

The question wasn't needed, it had to be obvious. Hell, I knew how to lie – but my throat just seemed to close up. I didn't know what to say.

"U-uhm, well..." I pulled out some newspaper articles, "I started by pulling out the boots, as you do, and got attacked by a spider. I also broke a shelf and uhm... yeah."

"'And uhm, yeah'?" Chloe quoted, mocking me, "So what exactly does that equate to? You find some sort of super-secret gov op plans? Or a uranium bomb that could explode at any moment, killing us all?"

It worked, and I laughed, "No, no, it's nothing like that... Cub just showed up."

There was a small pause, "Huh, what happened?"

I stopped pulling things out, looking at her – but she was focusing on a paper she'd pulled out, "Nothing that you're thinking of, that's for sure."

"I wasn't thinking of anything." She replied innocently, looking up, "It must just be your imagination."

Glaring, I flung an old tennis ball at her and she burst out laughing.

"Fuck off." I spat out, turning away, my face flaming.

Snorting, she sat up, "Okay, okay, Mrs. Sensitive. What really happened?"

So, I explained, muttering quietly and quickly under my breath – but I was positive that she heard every word. "...I don't know, I just – don't know."

"Look, Jen, you might not like what I'm going to say – but this is my perspective on it." I nodded, accepting that I couldn't yell or be angry at her, considering she only wants the best for me, "Well, to be honest, maybe you overreacted a bit." Then again, she should know not to push her luck... "Okay, it's a bit harsh but... I don't think he'd do that. I mean..."

She let out a loud sigh, before looking up at me, "If he really was interested, despite the fact he would, not probably, but definitely, lose his job for it – he wouldn't think you as a 'play thing'. My guess is that he's just as messed up as you are... actually, truthfully, he's older than us and doesn't has the hormones of teenage girl – no offence!"

I glared at her, my hands twitching to throw something at her, "Just finish what you're going to say."

She grinned sheepishly, "Well, he's obviously got a lot on his plate as well – y'know? Sure, he was probably just seeing how you'd react, but I doubt he was getting some sort of sick amusement out of it. I mean, come on, he'd have to be really pathetic to do that and he would be spending his time doing something more productive than messing with some girl. Which makes me think that..."

"Maybe you're not just 'some girl'," Leah finished, having been listening in. I sighed, not bothering to scold her for eavesdropping.

I looked at my hands, blushing, before sighing and groaning, "I'm such a dolt."

Collapsing onto the floor on my back, I just wanted to sink in and disappear from the world.

"Of course you are!" Leah sang happily, laughing when I tried to kick her, "But that doesn't matter, he probably already knows that."

I groaned again, covering my face with my hands, knowing that was more than a hundred percent true.

I could hear them sniggering slightly, and smiled slightly myself. You could either laugh or cry in situations like this, and I wasn't planning on crying anytime soon.

xxxx

Tulip had set up a programme on the computer before we'd left, to recover all files, documents... all of that. And we climbed back up at about half one, absolutely exhausted and knowing we were going to be dead the next day.

Surprisingly, I had woken up before Eagle had even snuck in – around quarter to five. The sun was already streaking through the window, and I sat still while looking around the cabin.

It was day... what? Four? Five? Five. Yes, day five. It was weird to think that we'd already been here for four days... or, well, three and a bit considering we arrived towards the end of the day. We were supposedly staying here for two weeks, but they said that could change to be shorter or longer if needed. I wondered how far our investigation would go, or if it would be cut short. I'm not really sure what we were doing down there, but there was a pull of curiosity that seemed to draw all of us down there.

The face on the photograph still stuck in my mind, but since it had been so dark I couldn't say that I actually knew them. Next time, we had to make sure that we brought a torch with us.

Glancing at the clock, I noticed it was five and I barely had time to wonder where Eagle was before the door burst open. My eyes widened as I took in his attire – it took me a moment to register that he was dressed in a Santa costume, and another to see the sack on his back.

"MAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIL DAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY LADIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEES!"

He pulled out a letter for each of us, and a bungle of packages, before screaming "Ho Ho Ho!" and running out again.

Shaking my head, I jumped down and took the letter what had my name scrawled across it (I guessed the Sergeant's or something, considering it was on all of ours) and the small package with the same tag and took it up to my bunk.

The others were stirring, each greedily taking their own packages when they discovered the mail and I grinned, tearing open the letter. My smile faltered when I saw it was from my older brother, and not my Nan, but I still happily opened it up.

Hey Jen,

I heard from Mum that you've been sent to camp! I heard from my friends the real story though... This will probably be checked before it gets to you then, but they can't do anything about it – technically, I am still SAS even though I never did anything for them.

Speaking of... I decided not to go ahead with the plan. I'm quitting the Army for now, while Mum needs our support. I've took on a job at Suzan's, you know Suzan right? Well, anyway, I can pay the bills for the house and food and stuff – so you don't have to worry about Mum while you're there.

I moved back home a day or so ago... I'm looking after Mum now, and she's getting better. She's been getting up each day, making her morning cups of tea... She'll be back on track before you know it!

Oh, and the package – make sure to keep it hidden from the SAS. They'd do anything to get their hands on actual edible food! I'd make sure to keep it all safe. Oh, and while you're there you should look out for my friend Adam. I think his codename is Lion or something, you met him once remember? Say 'Hi' from me to him, will you? And tell him I'm sorry. He probably arrived a day or so ago, when I was meant to arrive.

Thanks bud, James

I nodded a few times when reading it. James was previously in the Army, and was going to be promoted to SAS – but it looks like he's turned it down to stay at home with mum. Mum had lost a little of her marbles when Dad died, but it sounds like she's starting to heal – slightly. She was meant to be seeing a psychiatrist, which I guess must have helped. The last part stumped me though – sure I'd heard of Adam, having been tormented by him for multiple years during my childhood, but I hadn't seen him around. I'd have to keep my eye out, even though I had no idea how I'd even get close enough to talk to him just finding him would be a start.

Shaking my head slightly, I turned to the package and grinned while ripping it open. Cookies!

"Oh my God, I smell edible food!" Leah jumped up, looking at my little parcel, "You bitch!"

I laughed, grabbing one and shoving it in my mouth before taking the box and sealing it again before putting it in my toiletry bag. I doubted that the SAS would go anywhere near there, and I smiled before grabbing my clothes and getting into the bathroom after Farah left.

It was looking like it could be a good day.

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You know the spiel – please leave a review/feedback! (:

Anything would be lovely, and I'm willing to take into account constructive criticism! I've also added a cover for the story, tell me if you like/dislike it and if it should be changed – note I don't have any editing software or anything like that so I can't do much!

Thanks for reading!

InsignificantBlimp

3rd July 12