James swam to the twenty metre mark, he was probably scared shitless of Marc after what he did to him, he managed another ten metres and then another ten, "Nearly there James, come on." Amy was screaming, his last few strokes were slow and sluggish, he was losing stamina but he made it, his palm slapped the other end of the wall and he flung his head up taking a gasp of air, she ran over to him and lifted him out of the water and gave him a hug, she was crying which made James start crying again, he walked over to Paul and Marc, "I can't believe I'm saying this but thank you," He nods, "Your fear of this idiot has to be greater than your fear of the water for you to have to say that," I laugh as I point at Marc, "I mean it's not fun but it works, I did the same for Nat, I dangled her off the edge of the course, she almost bawled her eyes out," Marc smirks down at me, "Hey, no I didn't, I just had to sit down, what psychotic person holds someone off wooden planks fifty metres up in the sky?" I protest, "Me." He points at himself and grins.
The next day was basic training, my alarm went off at 4:30AM, it was butt early, the sun wasn't even in the sky yet, clothes and a backpack were dumped on the floor, there were two differences from the standard CHERUB kit. The t-shirt and trousers had a white number nine on it, everything was wrecked, big stains, rips. The underwear and boots were absolutely obliterated by whoever wore them last time, there was tons of equipment in the packs as well, I thought for a while, I put on clean socks and underwear, no way was I wearing that pair as well as my own boots but I assume the numbered shirts was for basic training so I slipped that on and headed out. I went to the training building which was a concrete box with the middle being a muddy enclosure, no windows, no heating and five-metre high fences separated it from the rest of campus. I saw other kids start to show up, I light up when I saw Kerry, "Hey," She walks up to me, "Woah, what happened to your hair, are you scared of the tests?" I ask her, she shakes her head, all her hair was shaven off, "I've taken the test multiple times but because of my stupid knee, I had to get pulled out when I injured it too much," She curses at her knee, "And this is your last chance," I say, she nods, "Attention!" I all snap up, everyone was here except for number seven. James. There was a man with a bushy moustache and a buzz cut, "I am Mr Large, the head instructor, this is Mr Speaks and Miss Smoke," He introduces us all, "Where is number seven? James Adams?" His voice boomed, none of us knew where he was, "Stand up against the wall, now." He orders we do so, not knowing what he'd do, "Crouch on the balls of your feet with your hands on your head until the runt arrives," He says, we were all scared, "Now!" He barks, we all quickly do so, within twenty minutes, our muscles were aching, we all didn't dare speak up or make a sound, two and half hours later, James Adams shows up, "Good morning James, smashing of you to pop in, nice breakfast wasn't it? Put your feet up didn't you? Good read of the papers? No need to worry James, I didn't want to start without you so I made all your new friends wait in a highly uncomfortable position until you arrived. Should I let them stand now?" Mr Large says in a soft voice, "Yes." He replies weakly, "Okay kiddies, up you get. James, why don't you shake all of their hands as a little thank you for waiting," We all groan in agony as we rub the cramp out of our backs, James went up to each one of the kids and shook their hands when he got to me he mouthed a sorry, I gave him a sympathetic look but was still angry and gave him the silent treatment, "Stand at bed seven, James, nice clean boots I see, clean socks too, anyone else wearing their own boots and clean socks?" I few hands went up including mine, "Very sensible, sorry for putting those filthy rags and boots out, must have been some kind of terrible mix-up. Still, you've only got to wear them for a hundred days," He introduces the instructors again for James, "Miss Smoke, would you kindly fetch me a bucket. And James, hopefully this will teach you to be more punctual from now on." He puts the bucket on James' head and pulled out a large baton and whacked the bucket making an insanely loud ringing noise, we all wince, "Can you hear me speak number seven?" Large asks, "Yes sir," James says quickly, "Good. I wouldn't want you to miss my speech, the rule is every time your foot touched the floor you get another crack with the baton like this," He whacks the bucket again, "So kiddies, you're mine for the next hundred days, no holidays. No weekends. You will rise at 0545. Cold shower, by physical training until school starts at 0900. Lessons include Espionage, Language, Weaponry and Survival Skills. At 1400 you will run the assault course again. Lunch at 1500. At 1600 two more hours of physical training. At 1800 you return here." He barks, James' foot touched the ground again resulting in a deafening whack, "Keep that foot up. Where was I? At 1800 you return here. Another shower, warm water if I'm feeling kind. Wash your clothes in the sinks and hang them up so they're dry for morning. Then clean and polish your boots. At 1900 you get your evening meal. 1930 to 2030 homework. Brush your teeth, lights out at 2045. There will also be trips off campus for survival training, the last of which will take us to sunny Malaysia. If anyone is accusing me of cruelty, I remind you that the fences that surround us are not to keep you in but to keep your little chums from slipping in and giving you a helping hand or a tasty snack. You are free to leave the training facility at any time but if you wish to be a CHERUB agent you will have to resume basic training from day one. If you get an injury that stops you from training for more than three days, you start from day one. James, put your foot down and take off the bucket," He finishes his speech, "You were very late this morning James weren't you?" Large says, "Yes sir," He nods, "Well everyone, because James is still so full after his lie-in and his cooked breakfast, I think you can all skip lunch. Not to worry though, it's only eleven and a half hours until dinner," He puts on a sickly smile, we all glare at James. The nine of us were split into pairs, the first pair number one and two was Shakeel and Mo. Shakeel was as big as James but only ten, born in Egypt and had been at CHERUB for three years. Mo was three days past his tenth birthday, he had boney arms and was swatting away the flies. Three and four were Conner and Callum, they were identical twins. Five and six were Gabrielle and Nicole. Gabrielle was Caribbeans and eleven. Nicole was twelve, red hair and overweight. Number seven and eight were James and Kerry, that left only me, "Um, sir?" I ask, he whips around to me, "Oh dear, it looks like we have an extra." He looks me up and down, "Should we boot you out of this basic training?" He asks me, I shake my head, "No sir, I would like to participate," I stand up straight, "Are you sure about that?" He asks, I nod again, "Yes sir," I was worried what he would do, "Fine by me, you'll just have to go to hell and back. Pair activities, you'll be with me, sparring and fighting, you'll be fighting me," He stands up straight, he towered over me, "No point in running away now. You'll be lucky if you just get a few broken bones," He grins, the other kids were whispering and muttering, how unlucky I was. He led us to the assault course first, "You can do this by yourself," He barks at me, I quickly nod and start the course. We had to wade through muddy tunnels, catch the rope to swing across the lake, swim and so on, hidden cameras lined the course, apparently if you don't do it properly, they'll drag you out of bed at 3:00AM and make you rerun the entire course. We ran the course, out shirts and trousers thick in mud and we were soggy, we were all numb from the cold and our muscles ached, Nicole was on the ground too tired to move, Miss Smoke put her boot on Nicole's head dunking it in the mud, "Get up tubby," She screamed, Nicole got up and stormed towards the gate, "You can't come back. One step outside and that's it." She shouted but Nicole just kept storming, fifteen minutes later she came back crying for another chance but it was too late. We warmed up as best as we could in the few minutes we had in the showers, dinners were wheeled from the main building in a heated trolley, Smoke handed out the dishes, we ripped open the metal lids, it was stir fry rice, dry from being kept warm but everyone was already starving so it tasted heavenly, I lifted up my lid but I saw on the backside of the cardboard written in permanent marker,
Hey Babe,
Having fun? I bet you are,
everyone loves basic training,
you're basically selling your soul
to get a grey shirt. Don't feel too
lonely without me, I'll see you soon.
- Marc xoxo
I smile at the note, "What's that?" I hear Large behind me, I flinch, everyone stares at me, "A note?" He snatches it from my hand, "Sir, I promise I didn't tell him to write me anything," I freak out, his eyes scan the note, "Hmm, Marc..." He throws the lid back down to me, "Wait, why isn't she getting punished?" Gabrielle stands up and jabs her finger towards me, "At CHERUB, teachers and instructors aren't meant to have favourites, however. Marc Toussaint, the crappy handwriting says it all. He's the definition of a CHERUB agent, black shirt at only fifteen, straight-A student, exceptional at physical courses and training, I pushed the kid off the fifty-metre obstacle course, he didn't even squeak out a scream, that's what a CHERUB agent should be like. He gets the fast pass from any teacher at the institution." He walks off, everyone glares at me, "Hey, I didn't do anything, I swear." I hold my hands up, "Did he sneak you anything?" Kerry asks, she didn't have any dinner, just an empty Mars bar wrapper, she must've snuck one in, "Sorry, but I don't think so," her face dropped and sunk in her seat next to me, her stomach rumbled, "Wait..." I took another spoonful of rice and I saw something shine, I pushed the rice away and I saw a chocolate bar, I smiled, "Here, have this, he snuck it in," I wipe the grease off the wrapper and passed Kerry the Cadbury bar, "Wait, are you sure? It's meant for you?" She was staring hungrily at it, "Oh come on, we're friends, right? Besides, Large plans of starving you, just eat it before he gets back and if he blames you, I'll take the blame for it, promise," I hold my pinky out, she smiles and takes the bar and knots her pinky with mine, "Hey, you know if you're feeling generous partner?" James holds his hand out to Kerry, "Oh in your dreams, you held me back in the swimming portion, you swim like a five-year-old," She snaps blocks off and passes it around to the other kids who all nod, and forgave me for even having the smuggled bar in the first place.
