‘Lie down,’ Alex commanded, her rifle still aimed at him.
Charlie removed his mask and dropped it on the ground. ‘As tempting as that sounds, I don’t think this is either the place or the time –’
Alex shot him in the leg, and he winced, hopping back on one foot. ‘In your dreams, Charlie Blake.’ He heard the laughter in her voice.
Submitting, he got down and lay on his back.
Alex stood over him. ‘Always keep your guard up. Better luck next time, eh?’
As Charlie lay against the cold, hard ground, a tingling, electric surge of energy rippled through him, and in that moment, every sound came alive. Although the air was calm, carrying only a light breeze, he heard the faint rustling of leaves above him. Muffled voices and the sound of footsteps were like music to his ears. He hadn’t planned to nor did he wish to cheat, but at times, he found he had no say in what he was feeling or doing.
It was as if he had become part of the earth. He focused on the light thud of approaching footsteps and smiled. ‘Yeah,’ he finally said, ‘better luck next time.’
Alex must have heard the sound too, for she spun around abruptly.
‘Gotcha!’ Richmond shot her twice in the chest.
Alex sighed and dropped her weapon. Removing her mask, she looked down at Charlie, who patted the ground beside him and said, ‘I saved you a spot.’ She got down and lay beside him. ‘Go get it, Birthday Boy.’ Charlie held his hand up, and Richmond gave him a high five as he ran by.
Charlie and Alex locked eyes, smiling.
‘This was fun,’ Alex said.
‘Yeah. It feels good doing something so ...’ Charlie paused as he searched for the right word.
‘Ordinary?’ Alex offered.
‘I’m not familiar with that term.’
Alex grinned. ‘You know, you two would make thee worst spies ever. The aim is to sneak up on your enemy unannounced and take them down. We heard you coming from, like, a mile off.’
‘Blame Rich. His paranoia meter is off the charts.’
‘Oh, really, he’s the paranoid one? Do you want to rethink that? Maybe the paintball fumes are messing with your head. You remember that thing Candra said, don’t you?’
‘Which thing would that be? There are so many –’
Alex nudged Charlie in the side. ‘You’re supposed to be acting normal. You know, draw less attention to yourself.’
Charlie grinned. ‘You saying I’m not normal?’
Alex smiled for a brief moment and then shook her head. ‘Don’t do that.’
‘Don’t do what?’
‘Don’t bat your eyes and flash your charming smile. That trick might work on some girls, but not me. And stop changing the subject.’
‘Okay. But just answer this one question.’
‘What?’
‘You really think I have a charming smile?’
Alex rolled her eyes. ‘I think you’re an idiot.’
Charlie laughed. ‘All right, fine. I’ll try to be more normal.’
‘Promise?’
Charlie held one hand up, crossing his middle and index fingers. ‘Cross my heart and hope –’
‘Don’t say that.’ Alex’s soft voice trembled.
Charlie caught a glimpse of sadness in her eyes before she looked away. He stared at her for a moment and then looked up at the canopy.
‘So how’s training going?’ Alex asked, breaking the silence.
Charlie huffed a heavy sigh. ‘Let’s just say I’m more human now than when I started.’
‘If you’re looking for sympathy, Angel Boy, you’re not going to get it.’
‘I’m being serious. I swear, if Candra hadn’t been around my whole life, she’d probably think she got the wrong kid.’
‘You’re being too hard on yourself. You’ve only been training a few months. Give it some time. You’ll get it.’
‘You think so?’
‘I know so,’ Alex said.
Charlie glanced sideways at her. ‘So you’re psychic now. You sure you’re not Arcadian?’
Alex laughed. ‘I just know you. I can’t help it if I’m more attentive than you are.’
Charlie chuckled. ‘Oh, really? You think you know me better than I know you?’
Alex shrugged.
Charlie turned onto his side and propped himself on his elbow, facing her. ‘Your favourite colour is pink –’
‘Blue,’ Alex interjected.
‘Oh, so you’ve repainted your room?’
Alex’s big brown eyes penetrated Charlie’s. She bit her bottom lip, a smile playing at the corners of her mouth.
‘As I was saying,’ Charlie resumed. ‘Your favourite colour is pink, your middle name is Louisa, you want to be a pilot so you can travel the world, and whenever you’re watching a horror movie and think a scary part’s coming up, you cover your ears because you think it’d be less terrifying, but you still scream.’
‘I so do not cover my ears.’
‘Oh, please, that hair fiddling thing you do is so obvious.’
‘I happen to have a lot of hair on my head, which can be a little obstructing at times –’
‘You have a lot of hair on your head? Really, that’s the excuse you’re gonna go with?’
‘Yeah. You got a problem with that?’
‘Nope. Your secret is safe with me. But, for the record, I’m very attentive.’
‘Well, I always knew you were one in a million. Yep, definitely one in a million – or should I say seven billion?’
‘Funny. Everyone’s a comedian today.’
A yell of joy reached them, and Charlie looked up and saw Richmond standing on the stone base, waving the flag above his head. Looking back at Alex, he caught her staring at him. ‘So apart from your lame alien jokes, what else do you know about me?’
Alex’s gaze shifted. ‘Hmm ... You’re a terrible dancer, an even worse singer –’
‘I wonder what the bad points are?’
‘You don’t like country music,’ Alex went on, as if he hadn’t spoken, ‘you’ve read ''Peter Pan'', like, twenty times since I met you and you love the beach – like, insanely love the beach.’ She regarded him. ‘Who goes to the beach in the winter?’
Charlie hesitated before answering. ‘My mum did.’
Her expression mortified, Alex squeezed her eyes shut, covering her face with her hands. ‘Just pretend I’m not here.’
Charlie took hold of her hands and pulled them away from her face. ‘Not possible.’ Alex opened her eyes and met his gaze. ‘Look, I don’t want to brag, but I clearly won.’ Alex shot him a serene smile, which he returned. His eyes lowered, lingering on her full lips –
Charlie groaned as a sharp pain shot through his right leg. He sat upright and saw red paint where the pain had struck him. Looking up, he met Rebecca’s intense blue eyes.
‘Oops,’ she said, her rifle aimed at him. ‘I thought you were attacking my teammate.’
Charlie narrowed his eyes at her and glanced at Alex, who was also sitting up. ‘Still think she doesn’t hate me?’ he said as he and Alex got to their feet. ‘Can you not point that thing at me?’ he said to Rebecca, indicating at her rifle. ‘The game’s over. You can relax.’
‘Oh, right.’ Rebecca lowered her weapon, a smug grin on her round face.
Hearing a scream of joy, Charlie looked past Rebecca at Carla Shu, who was running towards them. He spotted a few of the other players in the distance.
‘Blue team won,’ Carla exclaimed. As she approached them, Charlie noticed she didn’t have a single paint on her. Removing her mask, she advanced towards him and gave him a hug, a huge grin on her face. ‘Not bad,’ she said as she pulled away. ‘We make a good team.’
‘Yeah we do,’ Charlie agreed.
Carla eyed him up and down. ‘Wow. Someone wanted to make sure you were dead.’
Charlie looked to his left at Alex and arched his eyebrows.
‘At least we won,’ Carla added.
‘With a team like ours, it was written in the stars.’ Charlie shot Alex a knowing smile.
Alex turned to face him. ‘At least I got to kill you,’ she shot back.
‘Don’t feel bad,’ Charlie said. ‘Winning isn’t for everyone.’
The corners of Alex’s mouth curved into a smile, and she approached Charlie menacingly. ‘Be thankful we’re playing paintball and not archery.’
‘Hey.’ Carla grabbed Charlie’s hand. ‘Let’s go congratulate the birthday boy.’
Speaking slowly, Rebecca said, ‘Yeah, let’s do that before I puke.’ She approached Carla and linked arms with her, slipping between Charlie and Alex as the two of them headed off in Richmond’s direction.
‘This day just keeps getting better and better.’ Alex smiled, but Charlie saw the fury in her eyes as she bent down to pick up her mask and rifle. ‘Remind me again why Rich invited them?’
Charlie retrieved his gear. ‘You could try talking to them.’
Alex’s gaze shifted to Carla and Rebecca and then to the rifle in her hand. Glancing at Charlie, a grin spreading across her face, she wagged her eyebrows at him.
Charlie snatched the rifle from her hand. ‘Go.’ He gestured with his head towards the direction the girls had headed.
‘I was joking.’
Charlie raised his eyebrows at her.
‘Fine,’ Alex said, still grinning as she walked off.
Smiling, Charlie shook his head. He had only taken a few steps when he heard what sounded like a whisper and stopped. He turned around, his eyes sweeping across the forest. The other players were still making their way towards them some distance away. A cool breeze rose up out of nowhere and ruffled his hair. He felt his body stiffen.
