Defeat (Book Attack Series: Book 9 - Alex Rider)

Chapter XXXIX

Chapter XXXIX

Nathan

"Alright everyone, find somebody from your realm to glitch back with. Extras should make a group of three. HEY, no Lucy! Same realm! You cannot glitch back with Angel! Sorry, not sorry. And will someone from Heroes of Olympus please take Gaea here? Her whining is starting to get very annoying, and you are NOT going back without her!"

Whoever decided that Ali should be in charge of glitch groups has officially gone insane.

As Maddie cut off Ellen's last restraint, she stiffened as she was pulled into a tight hug with the popular, "I am so sorry! This is all my fault!"

Maddie smiled and patted her back awkwardly, "It's ok. We're all alive, nothing to make a fuss about. Please?"

Maddie is not a people person. At all. Not even a little. And she especially does not enjoy hugs.

All eighteen of us teenage misfits of awesomeness gathered in a circle, laughing about who knows what. That's when I noticed Ali's hand was entwined in Carson's.

"Did you guys finally kiss, already?" I blurted out.

"What?" Ali coughed out, "How did you-"

"You guys have been doing that awkward 'both like each other but neither will admit it' dance since you met." Tanner said, "We all noticed."

Carson laughed, "Same with you and Ida!"

Ida rolled her eyes, "Except I'm willing to admit it."

Ali shrugged, "Fair enough."

The entire group was laughing again when Cassidy raised her hand gingerly, "One thing I still haven't figured out... Who was the traitor?"

"That would be moi." Maddie answered. When Cassidy stared at her, she shrugged, pointing at her eye, "Horcrux. See into my inner thoughts. All that fun stuff. Not a problem anymore."

"Speaking of which," Jordan added, looking at me, "What was that phone call about...?"

Oh crap.

"Phone call?" Maddie asked, understandably confused.

"Yeah, when he left the room all nervous-like during our planning." Jordan explained, "Nudge heard his half and said it sounded suspicious."

Maddie looked to me sternly, "You haven't told them, have you?"

Shit. "I didn't tell you either. How did you know?"

"Oh come on, it's obvious now, with all the extra brain juice. Lucas saw it too."

When I looked at him, he shrugged, "If we're talking about what I think we're talking about, then yeah, I noticed a while ago."

McKenna squinted for effect, "What am I missing here?"

I groaned, "It was from my, uh... boyfriend."

Ali frowned, "Oh. Why didn't you just say that?"

"Half of this group is devout Catholics!"

"First of all, we're Catholic. Not even close to devout." Melanie said, "Second, nobody around here is. The closest you get to that is Maddie, and only because she doesn't curse."

"Well, what about Max? I don't know Max. She could be completely against it. Maybe even willing to kill me for it."

She laughed, "Dude, I'm Jewish. I don't give a shit."

After a moment of silence, Ali clapped her hands together, "Well, if we're done here, I guess we should send the lovely characters on their way."

"Oh crap, right." Max said, "One second. Alex!"

Max ran over to where Alex Rider was standing with Sabina. They talked for a moment, then she handed him a small piece of paper. As she walked back, I asked her, "What's on the note?"

She answered, "Something he needs to know. Leave it at that."

Moments later, character after character was glitching away until there was an empty field before us. For the first time in what seemed like forever, we were truly alone.

Amy said what I knew the rest of the group was thinking, "Let's go home."

·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·Author's Note!!!·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·

Soooooooo, what's on the note guys. Definitely Area 51, right? Just kidding. You can wait until Thursday. Or maybe forever. We'll see.

Vote and comment and all that jazz.

Check out the new video on my website "The Friend Group Video 2". The background music is Come on Eileen, so it officially wins.

Mən on beş sabah çevirmək! Sizə ümid mənim sürücülük icazəsi zaman Cümə axşamı uşaqlar görmək lazımdır!

~ Maddie