CHERUB: Knight

8: Girls

 Since both boys were new at nearly everything, it turned into a competition. Who could do the most sit-ups and press-ups, who could run the furthest, who was best at karate. George found it tiresome, especially when they were swimming because while Rex's skinny frame made him bad at karate, it made him good at swimming and George always finished the two hours session feeling exhausted and humiliated. The training instructors, who were mostly black and white shirts, didn't take any excuses and hurled abuse the moment you slacked off. George progressed quickly with karate, but Rex sensed it was his weakness and often went off for extra training in the evenings while George crashed on his bed and slept or sat on the PlayStation with the other red-shirts.

They were evenly matched in German. The teacher was nice, but she couldn't hide her annoyance when George tried saying phrases in his London accent. Rex always looked smug and George would have liked to give him a smack round the head, but he usually extracted revenge in the dojo later.

"In basic training, you'll be expected to learn a whole new language from nothing," the teacher said after a gruelling session on grammar. "If you don't, you'll fail training. You don't want that, do you?"

Both boys shook their heads.

"Right, then I'll see you tomorrow, and I want to see two pages of examples. No slacking or excuses," she said severely before letting them go.

"Two pages will take all evening," George complained as they headed for the cafeteria. "Stupid bitch."

Rex laughed. "You love her really. It's all 'ja frau, nein frau' from you."

"Shut up," George said, rolling his eyes. Rex had pinned him in the dojo earlier, and it had put him in a bad mood.

The cafeteria was packed for some reason, with a queue stretching out of the door. With only half an hour for lunch, the boys had no option but to join the queue and hope it moved fast enough for them to scarf down their food and run to the pool complex. None of this helped George's mood, so when a couple of red shirt girls slid into the queue in front of them, joining two more of their giggling friends, he got annoyed.

"Come on, we all have to queue, why do you get to push in?" he complained, shaking his head in contempt.

"They were saving us a space," one of the girls said, tucking her dark hair behind her ear and glowering at the two boys. She looked Asian and had big shoulders, which gave her a masculine appearance.

"Don't care, we have to wait longer now," Rex added, returning her glare.

"Well our friends were here first, ya shoulda hurried," the other girl added.

George noticed her strong American accent and mocked it. "I've gotta get my triple cheeseburger and bucket of fries!"

"Say that again and I'll beat you into next week," she replied, making a fist.

"'Ere guvna, I'm scared of a bleedin' girl, innit?" the Asian girl replied, smiling sweetly.

George gave her the finger and Rex tutted.

"Just get out of the line."

"Make us," the American girl added, turning her back on them. "Boys are so retarded."

"Boys are soooo retarded, I mean, as an American I am allowed to jump the queue."

"Make us," the American girl replied, turning her back on them. "Boys are so retarded."

"Boys are soooo retarded, I mean, as an American, I am allowed to jump the queue to get my fix of chicken wings and a giant bag of chips," George replied in an over-the-top accent, making Rex snigger.