Chapter 4
"Maya?!" Shawn said clearly shocked. "What the bananas are you doing here?" He asked clearly he hadn't put the pieces together. "What am I doing here? What are you doing here?" I counter ask, no one should be here, especially not Shawn. "I asked you first," he said folding his arms across his chest. "What are we five?" I say, really not in the mood for this.
"Hey Shawn," I here Cory call from behind one of the walls, "What do you thin...oh no," Cory says as he sees me. "Look Shawn I can explain everything," Cory quickly said hoping to save the current situation. "Yeh, you better," Shawn said clearly angry. "And you young lady have a lot more explaining than he does!"
Cory lead the two of us into the conference room, I was really starting to hate this place. And before any of us could take a seat Josh walked through the doors, completely oblivious to Shawn. "Cory I got your message that you wanted to...oh...hey Shawn," he says as he finally notice Shawn standing looking very mad. "Josh? Okay that's it, is anyone else I know going to come through that door?" Shawn says pointing to the glass doors of the conference room. "Look Mr. Mathews, I don't think Maya..." Lucas says pushing the doors open, but suddenly stops when he notices us all standing there. "Oh, Okay. I will just come back later," he says as he slowly closes the door leaving everyone that is left in the room in an awkward silence.
"Right, let me get this straight. Cory, you created this whole organization a few years back, however it requires the help of children to succeed?" Shawn asks looking at Cory. Cory nodded as Shawn had got that spot on. "And Josh, you are apart of this whole thing?" Shawn asks now looking at Josh. "Yep, since I was four." Josh says with a hint of pride in his voice. "And Maya, you too?" Shawn says looking at me with a hint of hurt in his voice and in his eyes. "Yes Dad," I say not meeting his eyes, as I didn't want to deal with the guilt. "Okay," he said sighing and slumping into his chair. "Cory, Josh can I have a minute alone with Maya please?" he asked. "Sure," Cory said. He got up from his chair and left the room. Josh glanced at me before he got up and left too.
"How could you not tell me Maya? Does your Mom know?" He asks me.
"It's part of the sacrifices I have to make and I really wanted to tell you, I just wasn't allowed to," I tell him, "and no mom does not know, nor does Gran and I really want to keep it that way, at least for a little while longer." I finish looking at Shawn hoping that he will keep this secret. "Okay…so when did you start here? And why did you start here?" Shawn asked me while gesturing to the whole area. "Well, I started around the same time as Josh did actually, when I was four," I say receiving a shocked look from Shawn. "And I started because we needed the money and it was a way I could get away from home. And don't say that you could help, because I'm in to deep, I love this job and I love the people here too," I say looking at Shawn. "You really love it?" he asked in a whisper. "More than anything," I answer. "Okay, I will keep your secret, but on one condition," I says holding up a finger, "You tell me everything and you let me help you," he finishes. "Yes, of course," I say with a large smile o my face. At least I don't have to lie to Shawn anymore. And it truly felt great.
After five minutes of just casually talking with Shawn, Josh and Cory walked in. "Glad you two worked everything out," Cory said with a smile of success on his face. "Yeh, you could say that," Shawn said giving me a warm smile. "Good, now Maya I need you and Josh to go change. I have a simulation I need you two to run through," Cory told me. I nodded my head and walked out the door that Josh was holding open.
After changing, Josh and I made our way to the training center that is situated on the other side of the massive underground building we call headquarters. It gave me some time to think, as we walked in silence, about the encounter I had with Josh outside the changing rooms.
After getting dressed and ready I left the girl's change room to find Josh waiting for me outside. "Maya, I really need to talk to you," Josh rushes in before I can walk away from him. "There is nothing to talk about," I say walking towards the training grounds. "Maya please, hear me out," he pleads. "Hear you out?! Josh, a week ago you "couldn't stand the grounds I walk on" and just under a month ago you said, and I quote, ' you are pathetic little girl that needs to grow up' so I'm sorry Josh if I don't want to hear you out," I finish giving him a disgusted look. "Okay, I understand why you angry," he said grabbing my arm as I tried to walk away. "But please, please just listen to what I have to say," he says with a pleading look in his eyes. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. I couldn't believe I was agreeing to this, but I nodded my head, indicating that I would listen. But before he could say anything else Cory called us and told as to hurry up.
"I still can't believe you didn't tell me," Shawn says to Cory as he watched Maya and Josh warm-up. They weren't talking to each other, or even looking at each other for that matter. Something wasn't right; it looked like there was some bad history between the two. Yet he had known Josh his whole life; or at least he thought he had, but if this is the Josh he knew then something must be seriously wrong, because the Josh he knows wouldn't ignore Maya. I mean he had a crush on her since he first saw her when he was three.
"Are those two alright?" Shawn asks Cory pointing to Josh and Maya. "I mean, I know partners fight and get sick of each other. But by the looks of it, those two can't stand to be near each other," Shawn states his observation. "They aren't close as what they used to be, something went wrong last year and none of them want to tell me whenever I bring it up. But they still make a lethal team. Its really intimidating," Cory tells Shawn while watching Maya and Josh enter the simulation. "Come on, they can't be as good as us," Shawn jokes with a playful grin on his face, but it was soon washed right off when he saw the dead serious look Cory was giving him. "Just watch and see for yourself," Cory says while pushing a button that had a microphone printed it on it.
"Right, today you two will be working on trust and teamwork. This simulation is situated on a boat with the rough seas and you need to get all the principles below deck. However the catch is that you have to navigate your way through pirates without being caught, one of your principles is injured and another is freaking out and not to mention there is no one steering the ship that is heading for a garden of rocks. This should help you for your next assignment" Cory's voice comes from the speakers. "You have five minutes to study the map and then you will have another five minutes to come up with a plan," Cory finishes. "Cory, not to question your skills, but this exercise seems like it was made to be impossible. And by the looks of it Maya and Josh don't seem to trust each other at all," Shawn says as he looks at the exercise over a computer that is in one of the desktops and up to Josh and Maya as they study the map of the ship. "Oh it is supposed to be impossible, they should fail. There is no way they can succeed in this one without getting one of their principles or themselves captured or killed," Cory says with a devilish smile on his face.
After 10 minutes Cory sends in some of the other Buddyguard's agents to play the role of the principles and the pirates. "Begin," Cory shouts over the speakers.
Within 10 minutes Josh and I complete the exercise, having found an escape root, that no one would think of using, that lead to the main cabin. And because Josh is strong and I have amazing powers of persuasion, all of our principles were able to get there alive. We managed to go undetected through the whole exercise and didn't meet a single "pirate". Josh and I didn't need to talk that much, as we have been working together for a long time, so long that we know what each other is thinking when it comes to situations like these.
As we exit the simulation Cory comes storming up to us with Shawn hot on his heels. Clearly Cory is not happy that we were able to beat his exercise so quickly. "How'd we do Mr. Mathews?" I ask with an innocent expression on my face as he reaches us, I know the answer, but I do like to irritate him from time to time. Shawn gives me a thumb's up and Josh lets go of a little chuckle as Cory's face goes tomatoes red. "Just go to the conference room. And Josh please go and fetch Lucas and his sister so that we can go over the plan incase something were to happen on the cruise," Cory tells, I swear you could see the steam coming from his ears. I give Josh one more death stare before we go our separate ways.