Disclaimer: I do not own Codename: Kids Next Door

So sorry for the lack of updates, I had a little case of writer's block. During class today, I finally had a stroke of luck and as soon as I got home, I wrote the best I could. Enjoy!

Chapter 5: Bait

Melissa walked home that afternoon with a defeated look on her face. Even though Kellie's plan had worked, the end result had been terrible. No one had seen Celeste since lunch since none of them had last period with her. They had seen her run away, but hadn't gone after her, believing that she should have some time to herself.

What infuriated her more than anything else was the fact that Harry didn't realise what was happening. It was evident that he enjoyed being pampered by Anne-Marie, unaware that she was blackmailing his friend. Watching the two in drama had become nauseating and she couldn't work anywhere near them anymore. Her partner had instantly agreed, having the same view as her on the pair.

She thought of what Celeste must have been thinking. Harry was not only her leader, teammate and a best friend, but the first person to talk to her. A small girl clutching her mother's dress at a get-together and a boy willing to play in the sandbox with her. The two were fast friends, to put it mildly. Celeste must have been very distressed to hear she needed to stay away from him.

"Hey, Numbuh 52," came a voice behind her. Kellie was there with the same tired expression on her face, smiling sadly.

Melissa sighed a greeting, not bothered to say anything. She was about to ask Kellie whether she'd seen Celeste, but stopped herself after turning the corner. Her eyes grew wide and she turned to Kellie, who was oblivious and looking sideways. She nudged her in the ribs and pointed ahead.

"Oh..." Kellie was speechless, and Melissa couldn't blame her.

Right in front of them was Celeste, giggling to her heart's content with a boy from her music class. They were walking home together, by the looks of it. The boy grabbed her hand and she smiled, her giggling ceased. He said something the other two couldn't hear and she burst out laughing again.

Melissa held her head in her hands. "Oh fu-"

"Numbuh 52!" Kellie whispered loudly. "What's going on?"

"I have no idea. I mean, Celeste? Sweet, little Celeste? I never thought she'd get a boyfriend so soon!" Melissa was both surprised and elated. Celeste was mostly a bookworm who wasn't interested in boys (except Harry, of course), but the new Celeste in front of them was acting differently to the way they were used to.

Beside her, Kellie was almost bursting with excitement. She obviously felt that this was a turn for the better. It was in a way, seeing as she wasn't concentrating on Anne-Marie's note that much. The only real reason it might have been bad was why she was doing it: to forget about Harry.

"Come on! Let's go to the tree-house and wait for her to get back!" Melissa let out a yelp as she was whisked away.

They dashed to the tree-house so they would arrive there before Celeste. Thomas and Truman were already seated on the couch playing video games. Neither of them looked up as the two girls burst into the living room. Kellie tapped them on the shoulders, but they didn't budge. She then called their codenames, but that didn't work either. She stomped her feet on the wooden floor like she was having a tantrum and, once again, received no response.

"I'll unplug your video game!" she threatened. The boys took no notice so she stormed up to the television and pulled out the plug leading to the game console.

"We were playing that!" Thomas whined. "I was winning!"

"Who cares?" Thomas glared at Kellie, who was enthused once again. "Numbuh 58 has a boyfriend!"

Thomas dropped his controller, his mouth becoming very ajar. "What? We just comprehended that Numbuh 361 has a girlfriend and now we have to deal with Numbuh 58 having one too?"

Kellie rolled her eyes. "Oh, be happy for her. It means she isn't caring about Anne-Marie's note anymore." She sighed dramatically and a dreamy expression took over her face. "I wish I had a boyfriend..."

Sensing that Thomas was about to do something irrational, he quickly said, "How do you know she's gotten over it?"

Kellie's carefree expression faded and her eyes flickered to the floor before she answered. "I don't know, I guess I was just hoping she would have."

"Oh, I see. So, what's his name?" Truman inquired, not pressing the subject on any further.

Melissa answered before Kellie could. "We don't know, but I know I've seen him around. I think he's in my science class. Yeah, his name's Mitchell." She suddenly remembered seeing the black haired boy sitting up the back of her science class, staring out the window like all the other bored students did.

"Hey, guys! What's going on?" Harry had entered the tree-house and was now staring at them. They had all discontinued their conversation when he came in and they were suddenly feeling uncomfortable. "Uh, is anything wrong?"

"No, nothing!" Melissa hastily replied. She was fiddling with her fingers while silently debating whether she should tell Harry about Celeste. "Numbuh 58 has a boyfriend."

Harry stayed silent for a few seconds with everyone watching him. Finally, he burst like a balloon to a needle. "What? You know what that's going to do, right? She's going to start thinking about him more than the team and before you know it, we're all going to be heavily injured from a mission that she didn't bother to come to and she says she was busy while she was actually with her boyfriend and-"

"Excuse me?"

A red faced, teeth clenching Celeste stood behind Harry. The others had been concentrating so much on Harry that they hadn't seen her come in. "Why would I abandon the team?"

Harry's demeanour hadn't changed in the slightest. "You heard me; you're going to pay too much attention to that boyfriend of yours."

"Oh really? I expect Anne-Marie will make Numbuh 52's second in command position pretty active, huh?" Celeste snapped.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Harry shouted. "How do you know about Anne-Marie?"

"How can I not? Celeste started. "Everyone knows who she is! You keep parading her around and flirting with her in front of everyone. We know she's there, so you can stop it already! Next thing you know, you'll be eating each others' face off in the middle of the quad and it'll be so gross that they'll start ringing the evacuation bell!"

"The middle of the quad? Just because you and your boyfriend do that sort of thing-"

"Do you even know who my boyfriend is?" A silence followed immediately after as Harry realised he didn't actually know who he was complaining about. Celeste didn't wait for him to answer, instead looking him in the eye fiercely. "Exactly. Mitchell wouldn't parade me around, or vice versa. If you'll excuse me, I'm going to do my math homework."

Every person in the room watched her press the button to the newly installed elevator and hop inside. The doors closed and she disappeared, leaving everyone to look at Harry, who looked like he was going to be sick, faint or both. Avoiding the elevator, he ran up the spiral staircase next to it. When he disappeared, there was nowhere else to look, so they sat there in the tension-filled room.

"Wait, we had math homework?"

Unknown to everybody, a figure leant against the trunk of a nearby tree just outside the tree-house, smiling. It had been such a great day, filled with achievement. Hearing the last of the argument somewhere upwards, she flicked her communicator open and a voice spoke through it.

"They took the bait?"

"Fell right into it."

"Excellent."

Teehee, I'll try and update, I really will. I promise, really. PLEASE BELIEVE MEH! Anyway, review! :)