6- The wo-man Cave

After my last lesson that day I headed to the library. On my way there, I met the last person I wanted to see.

"Trent," I greeted.

"Ancient." he replied pushing open the library door, I resisted the urge to shut it on his face.

"What are you doing here?"

"My job," he replied simply.

"You mean my job?" I retorted rolling my eyes.

"You're too unstable for this mission." He whispered as the old lady in glasses ogled us from her desk and lifted a sharp wrinkled finger to her mouth, signalling us to keep quiet.

"And yet I am much better than you at absolutely everything,"

"Except behaving like a normal human being," he boasted.

"I have a lead. Meaning I am very capable of succeeding in this mission without your help."

"A lead? Who?" He asked with a frown.

"I aint telling you shit!" I whispered fiercely. "Now leave before you blow our cover."

"How? We are simply conversing like normal teenagers, and if anyone asks we could say we're dating," he said with a smile wriggling his eyebrows.

"I'd say keep dreaming but there's a possibility of dreams coming true." I stated sharply. "Why are you here?"

"Research. And most action spy movies usually have things going down in the most unexpected places. That is the library." He said wisely.

Honestly a reply was not worth giving at that moment.

"Blayze!" Whispered Darwin from behind the shelves, he beckoned me over.

I frowned and looked back at Trent, who was just as surprised. "Who's that?" He asked.

"My lead." I answered. "I have to go, stop talking to me at school, if this mission fails Valak will have our asses nailed above her fireplace."

"What's with you and nailing things?" he asked me and smirked at his own pun. I rolled my eyes and walked towards Darwin.

"Who was that?" he asked me when I got there. "Was he bothering you?"

"No, he's no one. Why am I here?" I asked instead.

"Come with me, I'll explain when we get there." I followed him through the large book shelves and through a door at the back of the library. Like a cat I stored every single thing a could spot, just in case they where onto me and were trying to get rid of me.

We walked down a narrow alley, so narrow it felt as though we were in between the school walls, which we most probably were. We then got to a small gate that required a gate pass.

"Fuck, I forgot my gate pass, would you mind?" He asked. I passed him mine, he marvelled at the total access written at the top before swiping it and pushing open the gate then a door.

"Hey!" Darwin yelled as we got into a small room. The lighting was quite dim and I could only make out three large brown couches, a coffee table set in front of a gigantic flat screen television, a fridge and a pool table. It looked neat, comfortable and homely, with a heavy scent of marijuana.

"You got her?" Came a voice from another room. Xenon emerged with a bowl of popcorn and a smaller one with what seemed to be jelly tots and M&M's.

"Hey Blayze," he greeted placing them on the coffee table. "Take a seat, but not there," he pointed to a spot in the corner. "That's my spot. Do you want a drink?" He asked and I shook my head.

"Marcus won't make it, he's got football practice..." Louis informed as he too entered the room. He paused when he saw me, then nudged his head in greeting.

I duplicated his action and he threw himself on the couch opposite me before returning to his phone.

"Nito! I swear if you don't stop now I'll rip that bong from your cannabis covered fingers and makeshift a distiller from it!" Xenon yelled before opening some cupboards and pulling out a few discs.

"Ah, it's KO girl" Nito murmured as he came in with nothing but his trousers on.

Xenon scoffed and mumbled a 'behave yourself.' Nito chuckled in return and made his way towards me, taking a seat right next to me and attempting to place his hand on my shoulder.

"Do you really want to touch me, after what happened this morning?" I asked him coldly, not bothering to looks at him. He hand slowly made it's way back down.

"What is going on here?" I asked.

"We are watching Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Out of The Shadows" Darwin whispered the last part dramatically.

"If this has anything to do with this morning, there's no need to try bribe me into keeping my mouth shut about your drug incident."

"Well it started off as that, but I figured you weren't stupid enough to fall for it, so instead we've decided to trust you with all our secrets." Tyme said.

"All of them?" I asked.

"Most of them." Xenon corrected. "I'm well aware you're an analyst and you're capable of ruining our entire school experience with one bad report, but you're also a student here, and you need friends. Surely you're not so ignorant to pass up the opportunity to see how boys really make it work in this Academy."

"Yeah, boys don't read in libraries, we own man caves, like this one." Darwin added.

I nodded, seeing how well this would work for me. The closer I got to them, the higher the chances of me finding the culprit.

"How are you feeling?" I asked Tyme and Xenon looked over at him.

"Better. I- I'm sorry you had to see that."

"It's fine. Just wanted to know if you were okay." I answered with a tight smile. Silence exceeded it's limit and I suggested they start playing the movie.

Darwin turned off the lights and we sat quietly as the movie began. Nito put his hand on my thigh and I immediately grabbed it and twisted it backward. "Touch me again and I will rip off your balls and use them as a bell clapper. Capiche?" I whispered in his ear.

"Mh, I love when you talk dirty like that," he answered. I rolled my eyes and sighed. Just like Trent this moron wasn't afraid of me even after knocked him out in the morning. It's like his brain cells had evaporated and been replaced by hot air and testosterone.

So I knocked him out again.

"Want to switch seats?" Xenon asked.

I shook my head, seeing as he was already unconscious. " No thanks, I got it covered."

**********

Two hours later I was stuffed with popcorn and orange flavoured slushy. I'd made a habit of not taking in too many liquids, especially on missions, but my bladder threatened to burst and I needed to make sure that wouldn't happen.

"Got a bathroom?" I asked Louis, seeing as he was the only one in the room besides a sleeping Nito. The rest of the guys were clearing up and changing into their clothes.

"Xen! You all packed for Friday?" Yelled Darwin in the room next door. I heard Xenon smack him hard and he whimpered.

"You don't not want to use the one here." Louis answered. "Let me show you to the girls bathroom."

Oblivious to whatever he said my mind kept playing on their words. I needed to find out what was happening on Friday before it was too late. There was a high chance all six of these boys were responsible for the theft of the Hydrogen and it was secured at Xenon's laboratory where it's radiation was sealed.

Louis and I quickly made our way out the library then down the school corridor. He pushed open the door and I went in then he shut it.

It was only then that I remembered that this was an all boys school, and from the lockers, this could only be the boys changing room.

"That was an amazing game!" Echoed a loud voice as multiple footsteps entered from the back door. After trying and failing to open the one I currently stood at, I quickly hopped onto the lockers and balanced on the bars by the ceiling; praying none of the boys looked up.

"Yeah, Parker runs like a maniac!" I heard a familiar voice comment. Trent.

Eight boys emerged into the locker room and began removing their kits. Among those were Marcus and Trent.

"Yeah, his dad is set on making him an athlete." Marcus replied as he took off his shirt. I swallowed and blinked to adjust my eyes to his body. He looked pretty ripped and although I hated to admit it, so did Trent.

Soon the other guys left and it was just the two of them, conversing like old friends. "Trent, you're an awesome guy, you should come with on Friday," Marcus said. I waited impatiently to finally hear what was so great about that particular day.

Instead of explaining further, he whipped off his shorts and I gasped at the sight of his butt. Trent look up my way and he went panic-stricken.

"Hey! Why don't you go take a shower first!" He yelled at Marcus trying to shield my traumatised gaze from him.

"Yeah I guess I could use one," he replied sniffing himself.

"Yeah, go ahead, come on. Shorts on. Into the bathroom," Trent advised in a panic, pushing him into the shower room.

I sighed with relief and got down. "Spying on naked boys now, ancient?" He asked.

"Some stupid blonde locked me in here and I need the bathroom, fast."

"Well thanks a lot because you just blew my mission! This guy has been talking about Friday like it's Judgement Day and I was just about to fit the final piece of the damn puzzle."

"You're supposed to be watching me not working on my mission!" I yelled shoving him back.

"Yeah, cause you're doing such a good job, getting locked in boys bathrooms and all," he shot back. "Face it, you're not cut out for this."

"Fuck this..." I swore walking to the door. "Unlock it for me." I commanded.

He swiped his card and the door clicked open. I walked out with revenge being the only thing on my brain.