CHAPTER 56
I FOUND MYSELF WANTING TO MENTOR TWO
"Ugh, I might not be so opposed to the roommate re-scheduling after all!" Angie rolled her eyes when her attempts to get Bryan to get out of bed before 6 am on Monday morning failed miserably.
"I never thought I'd say that, but I really miss Jack!" Bryan groaned from under the covers, with Angie now sitting on his bed, her fists bumping against his shoulders.
"Speaking of Jack…do you think we'll ever see him after that big reveal yesterday? I mean, I feel like things kind of were left unresolved. Was he asked to be rude to us? Or is he just a dick?" Her words made him poke his head out and look at her.
"Hmm, I don't know. He was a pretty cool dude those first few days of the Academy. If the real Jack is anything like him, I kind of do want to see him again. Why not? We already saw that Amanda was only acting like a stone-cold bitch. So, maybe it was the same for Jack. Guess we can't judge him, now that we know the truth." He rubbed his eyes.
"Damn it, Angela!" He said when he finally managed to focus on the clock, which read 5:43.
"Come on, only seventeen minutes earlier. I wasn't mean to you this morning!" She smirked. She had woken him up two hours in advance, days before, and that was when he had the right to be pissed.
"Maybe if you stop banging your hands against my already sore body!? I'm awake, stop!" He suggested, feeling his hands ache from all the extra work out that he had put in recently.
"You have an amazing body. I didn't think I liked guys with muscles, but in your case…daaamn…" She trailed off dreamily.
"Eww, Hunter, don't you even think about coming on to me!" He cringed.
"Oh, I'm not. I'm just saying I like a body type like yours. But mind wise, you're an idiot and I could never be attracted to you." She said, clearly jokingly.
He then jumped out of bed so fast, tackling her to the floor and using one of the new tactics they had learned about, pretending to be handcuffing her as a criminal.
"Oh, damn. But if you don't stop straddling me I might just…" Angie kept on pushing it and he hated her for it.
"Shut up!" He put his hand on her mouth, but she only bit him and freed her mouth.
"I bet you're imagining I was your precious Agent Hotness right now. Aren't you?" She teased him, biting her lip gently. "Do you fantasize about handcuffing her? Huh? Or wait, is it the other way around? So hot!"
"You are the Devil!" He let go of her, finally, and walked over to the chair next to his studying station.
"Haha, come on. I'm just teasing you. I mean, I don't blame you – that woman is lookin' good, for her age, you know." She kept on laughing.
"I don't have a thing for Agent Hotness!" He crossed his hands against his chest.
"Yup, you definitely do not." She rolled her eyes. "Is that why you keep calling her Hotness?"
"I've told you I find at least twenty women attractive, here on Campus, since we've met. Why are you only focusing on that one tiny little comment I made about this particular woman?" He rolled his eyes, now annoyed with her.
"Because it is more fun, since she's the oldest one." She grinned, grabbing her towel. If Bryan was being mean and tackling her, she'd beat him and go take a shower first that morning. That will teach him!
"I only said that she looked good and I stand by those words. I never said all those other things you're talking about." He was starting to be a bit irritated, so Angie dropped it and locked herself in the shower.
When she got out, he jumped right in, without really saying a word to her.
During PFT they never had too much chance to talk, so it wasn't until after training that she realized he was most definitely upset with her. It was the second time already and she had a feeling she knew why.
"Sorry. I had forgotten about my promise to never bring it up again." She shrugged, now walking by his side to the sidelines, where their gym bags were. They were both in desperate need of water.
"You didn't bring it up." He shrugged.
"Well, not that, but I hit a nerve and for that I am sorry." She said, watching him take a sip of his water bottle while she just held hers in her hands.
"Look, we're friends and I respect you a lot, but I just don't want to talk about it. Ever. Okay?" He said with a weird timber in his voice, one that Angie had never heard before.
He didn't specify what 'it' was, but she knew. The profiler in her knew enough about him already.
"Can we drop the frown and go face Dan now?" She suggested.
He smiled at her. "Of course. This doesn't change the way I feel about you."
He held his hand out for her to hold, like a true gentleman, and they walked over to the main building, both still sweaty and panting from all the exercise.
"Just in time. Please, take a seat." Dan pointed at the only two empty chairs around the table in his office. The other three were occupied by Amanda, Jack and himself.
"Hey guys." Both Angie and Bryan greeted them warmly, already having discussed that they would be giving them a chance to explain before they form an opinion on the real Amanda and Jack.
"Now, before you start hating on them, you should know that everything was my idea and they had little-to-no say in what went down." Dan started off.
"We know. We're not judging. In fact, we wanted to hear their side of it." Bryan said politely, showing that they held no grudge.
"I was the Wild Card of the Academy last year. Amanda was my best friend through all of it and we made it, graduating together and moving on to build a career in different Units, but we stayed friends after that." Jack spoke hesitantly. He had been very rude to both Angie and Bryan and he felt so guilty about it.
"Jack graduated top of the class, followed by Amanda, down by just three points." Dan pointed out, since Jack was too humble to give himself the praise he deserved.
"The Wild Card?" Bryan then asked.
"Every year, the Academy Mentor chooses one person who does not show potential at first sight, to be the Wild Card. He then puts them through Hell and back, breaks them down both physically and mentally…" Amanda started to explain.
"Puts poison in their water?" Angie raised an eyebrow and her addition to Amanda's words finally made sense to Bryan. That was why she hadn't yet taken a sip of water after training that morning.
"Yes. I was asked to do that and I might have accidentally put double the doze this last time, for which I am extremely sorry." Jack shrugged. It had never been his intention to put her in a hospital.
"Why would you do that to me anyway?" Angie asked, but facing Dan, since he was the mastermind.
"Because, Trainee Hunter, I believe you have immense potential hiding somewhere between your big mouth and your colorful bow. I believe you haven't bloomed yet, but when you do, everyone would be sorry for calling you Cheerleader in class. Because, I believe that you are way smarter, way stronger and way more capable than what you show." Dan's words were making her feel something.
Anger? No. She was calm.
Doubt? No. She believed him.
Pride? No. She was humble.
"Last year I put a lot of work and time into Jack and he is now an amazing Agent. Same goes for Amanda. As soon as I realized her potential and I figured out the field she would best fit in, it was obvious that she was a valuable one for the Bureau. I have mentored them both in class and separately, giving them assignments with different divisions, making sure they had the best opportunities they could have. All I asked in return was hard work, sweat and sometimes, tears." Dan spoke.
"We spent endless nights in the ER, went in the field with broken bones in our bodies, suffered the most traumatic nightmares for months…" Amanda added. "But it was all worth it when we finally graduated and walked in our assigned Unit offices, holding that badge, with the gun safely holstered to the side of our non-khaki pants." Amanda laughed, she hated the Academy clothes so much.
"What we're trying to say here is that, if Dan chose to toy with you, this is nothing but a compliment and you must be proud. He never wasted time on weaklings. He only trains the best of the best and we, much like you, were being tested mercilessly. But now, looking back at it, we know that we've been lucky to be chosen." Jack said, adding to Amanda's words.
"Well, last year I focused on Jack. I only had Amanda on my radar by the end of the Academy training. Plus, I only get the budget allowance to focus on one Trainee each year. And with the budget cuts this year, I can't even afford one…" Dan sighed. "And yet, I found myself wanting to mentor two."
Angie raised an eyebrow. Two? Her and Bryan, clearly. But, why?
"I did not plan on telling you all of this so quickly. But you two have proved worthy of my time and my limited budget. And I clearly feel really bad about the stunt with Angie's water…" He trailed off.
"Yeah, what was the point of that?" Angie said, a bit irritated.
She was parched and she was now scared to reach for a drink, no matter where she was, afraid that it might be poisoned.
"The point was for me to see if you will crack and crumble into a ball, like a scared little girl, the moment your body did not feel prepared to meet our expectations. And you fought that nausea, like it was nothing! You dragged a bin to the training area, just in case you were going to be sick, but you did not allow yourself to slack in any of the training. And you kept your head held high in class, sucking the pain in and focusing on your lectures. You smashed your goals and then you smashed our expectations, placing yourself on top of almost every teacher's list." Dan's words only made that weird feeling in Angie's stomach grow stronger.
What was it?
"And through it all, you had the strength to carry Bryan with you, helping him out when he needed. You cracked the Amanda case, you smashed your profiling classes and don't you think for a second I haven't asked individual feedback on you, from every single person who ever trained you. In fact, I begged all of them to treat you with disrespect, only to have you prove to me how much you want to be here and how much you deserve to be it…" Dan smirked.
"It?" She raised an eyebrow.
"My Wild Card this year." Dan then came out and stated the obvious.
Oops, there is was. That feeling, again.
Satisfaction. Yes. Because Angie was completely satisfied with all she had done so far and was now proud to hear her actual unfiltered feedback.
"Well, that's good to know. So, may I be free to assume that people will stop terrorizing me from now on? I'm not keen on bullies." She sighed.
"Usually, Dan's testing period extends to the first five weeks of training. But given the crash-course he's put you through, it is safe to say that you will only experience what you deserve from now on. No biased bad feedback from teachers." Amanda pointed out.
"Except from that dude at Tactical Driving. God, he hates my guts." Angie laughed, completely unmoved by the conversation.
It was as if she had accepted it and moved on, all in the matter of seconds. Yes, she felt good about it all, but she wasn't one to waste time on dwelling on the past, nor basking in her glory.
"Yeah, you might want to put a little more effort into that class." Dan laughed. This was, by far, the worst feedback he had received on her.
"I plan on doing that, Sir." Angie once again replied in an educated, polite way. Besides her occasional Diva moments, she was really well-behaved.
"Now, you'll have to excuse me, but I have a meeting with my Superior, who hates the fact that I am now requesting extra funds for the mentoring of two Trainees. So, it should be obvious by now that I need you to do your best and to make me proud. Because, guys, I am betting big time, on both of you." Dan looked at Bryan first and then he stared at Angie for a bit longer, since she was his original chosen one from the start.
They both nodded, understanding what he meant.
"Drinks tonight?" Jack offered as they all walked out of Dan's office.
"We can't leave the Academy yet." Angie looked at him challengingly. "Plus, I wouldn't want to give you yet another chance to spike my drink."
"Then it's a good thing you have friends who are fully accredited Agents and can bring the party to you." Amanda smirked, mentally preparing a checklist of all the things she had to buy.
"Look, I didn't mean to harm you…" Jack started, but Angie just laughed.
"Dude, I'm just messing with you. But hey, if I can guilt-trick you into getting us both pizzas from anywhere outside Campus, then I'm going to milk the scenario where I play the victim and you feel obliged to make up for what you did to me." Angie said innocently.
"You do know that there is something way chilling about the way you speak, right? Like, you could tell me three different ways you might want to export my organs by, and I'd freaking laugh every single time, because you are just too cute when you speak, even if you are the Devil…" Amanda did not finish her sentence.
She had noticed Angie's manner of speaking and of saying things, masking them under different feelings and emotions, a long time ago. And Amanda was an expert on pretense. She was, after all, a skilled undercover agent.
"Uh, thanks…" Angie was not sure if it was meant as a compliment, but she took it as one anyway.
"You'll have a bright future in Undercover. If that's anything that might interest you, well I'm here to talk to you about it." Amanda offered.
"Ah, no. I'm not interested in pretending to be anyone else but Angela Hunter." She smirked.
If they only knew how she went by Danielle, just a month ago.
"Plus, it is so weird to see you have a soul." Angie added, making Amanda confused. "I mean, just because I was so used to your snappy comments when you were my roommate."
"Oh, trust me, she is snappy and she is snarky and she is bitchy and she is awesome!" Jack commented, earning himself a small slap on the shoulder, much like Angie liked to slap Bryan sometimes.
"We have to go for our SWAT training now." Angie hated it, but they had to separate yet one more time.
"SWAT? I heard they were short out of a training officer." Jack commented.
"I dunno. It's what our schedule says." Angie's shoulders rose a bit before they said their goodbyes. Temporary ones, this time.
They made plans to hang out that evening and Amanda and Jack went back to their Units, while Angie and Bryan went to the field where SWAT training was held at.
"I'm so excited for this." Bryan commented, as this was one of his favorite trainings at the Academy.
Angie was only just about to add that to her top favorites.
