Bonjour. I decided that I was going to quit sunbathing, because my legs got burnt, and write another chapter.

Have you ever been sitting in the sun, not really paying much attention to anything because you’ve been reading a book, then looked down and thought ‘bugger, I have a streak down my legs from where the sun has only hit the front’? If you have, can I join the club?

Disclaimer: I do not own Alex Rider by any means…neither do you and neither does the other person, or the other person, or the other person, or…well you get my point.

Chapter 8.

Alex Rider sat next to Kerry Chang, looking at the food in front of him. Why did he not get good food at the SAS camp? It was so unfair. He was about to dig into his food when he glanced up to see Lauren staring suspiciously at the plate of spaghetti Bolognese in front of her. He frowned, almost amused, and leaned forward.

“Explain to me why you are looking at your meal as though it will jump up and strangle you at any moment.” She looked up at him, eyes narrowing, and opened her mouth to reply, but James interrupted all of them.

“You know, Zara’s going to town tonight and she said that she could fit four of us in the car with her, to like shop or whatever. Who wants to go?” Everyone looked up at him.

“I can’t, got a meeting to inform me on my next mission.” Dana said, looking at James. He turned to her and pouted. She laughed and returned to her dinner.

“Well I won’t ever say no to a trip to the big city centre.” Bruce said, grinning.

“I take it that means that you’re coming then, Kerry?” James turned to his ex-girlfriend, after already establishing that Bruce was coming.

“Yeah…I guess.” Kerry replied, smiling across the table at Bruce, who’s grin grew wider.

“Sis?” James turned to Lauren, looking at her. In his head Alex was praying that she would say no, knowing that it was very likely that he would bump into someone from school.

“Well yeah, duh. Alex would have to come as well, obviously.” Lauren looked briefly at Alex, who was trying very hard not top bash his head against the table, before turning back to her brother and grinning at him.

“Groovy. Hey…er…new dude? You coming?” James turned to the asthmatic boy, who looked like he was about to laugh.

“Aren’t you meant to be good at maths? That’s five people going. You want me to sit on your lap or something?” the boy said, his lips curling up. Alex heard Kerry stifle a laugh.

“I like him.” She whispered to Alex.

“He’s normally shy…well he was when I knew him. His mum has probably made him more confident. His dad was always putting him down, not liking the asthma.” Alex remembered the way the boy’s dad used to look at him over dinner plates, disapproving of the fact he had a son who couldn’t do anything athletic because of his illness. Alex remembered him being great at tennis though. Kerry nudged Alex, turning him back into the present.

“Huh?” Everyone was staring at him.

“What?” He asked them.

“I said…is it possible someone could have poisoned my food?” Lauren repeated her earlier question, and looked at him eagerly.

“Well…yeah it’s possible. But I don’t really think they would kill someone that ruined one of their operations with a bowl of spaghetti. They would want you to suffer.” He grinned at her, and she blushed.

“I’m sure that reassured her. ‘Don’t worry, you won’t die peacefully unconscious after being poisoned, you will be tortured in unimaginable ways first.’” Dana muttered loudly, making the whole table laugh at Lauren’s face, which had gone very pale.

“Hey.” Alex kicked her lightly with his shoe under the table, “That’s what I’m here for right? To make sure that doesn’t happen.” Her eyes locked with his, and she smiled weakly. He grinned at her, before turning to James, who was telling a joke, but not really listening.

He knew what it was like, to be looked for by a load of crazed murderers. He knew what it was like to live in fear. The look on her face just now told him that Lauren was very scared, terrified, but was so used to making herself seem tough because of who was around her, and because of where she was. He was snapped out of his thoughts by a hand waving in front of his face. He turned to Kerry.

“That’s the second time in five minutes. What is on your mind?” She asked. Alex opened his mouth to answer, but was cut of once again by James.

“Okay! I’m fed up. Is anybody even going to tell me his name?” He looked around the table, pointing at the boy.

“Why don’t you ask him? He is sitting right there you know.” Alex replied, smiling, knowing he was the only other person apart from the boy who knew his name.

“I tried. He seems to think that torturing me with curiosity will be fun.” James turned to glare at the boy, before turning to Alex, waiting for him to tell him the name. Alex glanced at the boy, who nodded and shrugged at the same time, signalling that he didn’t care if he did tell James his name.

“Okay. His name is Paul. Paul Drevin.” James opened his mouth to say something, but was cut off when Zara walked in.

“Ready to go?” She asked them.

“Yep. See ya Paul. I still don’t see why he couldn’t tell me his name, it’s not exactly hard is it…” James continued to ramble on about Paul. Alex rolled his eyes at Lauren,who smiled back at him.

Once in the car, James and Kerry started bickering, making everyone groan. Alex could hear Bruce giggling at the ridiculous insults that were flying around the car, and couldn’t help but laugh a little to. It was contagious.

“BRA STUFFER!”

“MAN WHORE!”

“OH FOR GOODNESS SAKE, IF YOU DON’T SHUT UP SOON I’M GOING TO TURN THIS CAR AROUND.” Zara shouted, turning in her seat to glare at James and Kerry in turn. Lauren was in the front seat. Alex was reminded of a typical family moment, kids shouting in the back, mum shouting at the kids shouting in the back, and the young one sitting in the front looking very pleased with themselves because they were sitting there. This reminder was short lived, however, because normally the typical family moment didn’t involve another car smashing into them. Which is what happened. Lauren screamed, the headlights turned off and the car was plunged into darkness.

Ohhhh!! So it’s Paul Drevin?! Wow! Surprising! Not for me…because I knew from the beginning. But you know…yeah. Just…yeah. Hoped you enjoyed this chapter.