Pep Squad (6 page)

‘Isn't hacking illegal?' asked Jess.

‘Only if you get caught. And I've never been caught,' said Ben, smiling deviously.

‘What are you, some kind of überhacker?' Emily asked.

‘He's a genius,' said Matt. ‘He can break into anything.'

‘
Almost
anything,' said Ben somewhat sheepishly. ‘Couldn't find any trace of P.E.P. Squad online. Even trying to do a reverse trace through Facebook got me nowhere.'

‘And the hacking challenge …?' prompted Jess.

‘Oh, right. It was tough, but I managed to break into this supposed supercomputer, and all I could find on it were details about me and Matt.'

‘What sort of stuff?' asked Emily.

‘Academic records, our business …'

‘You've got your own business?'

‘Ever heard of BMgaming?' asked Matt.

‘
Racing Demons
– of course! You're not … Wow!'

‘What's
Racing Demons
?' asked Jess.

‘Come on! You must have heard of it. It's my favourite game of all time,' said Emily.

The three of them looked at Jess, forks poised in front of their mouths.

‘What can I say? I'm not a gamer,' said Jess. ‘What's so special about it?'

‘It's the highest-selling product our company makes,' said Matt.

‘It's the highest-selling product
any
gaming company makes,' said Emily. ‘Did you guys write it?'

‘We both worked on the storyline, Matt did the graphics and I did the
real
programming,' said Ben.

‘Sounds like you're the brains of the outfit,' said Emily. ‘Is he here as some sort of pet?'

‘That's a bit harsh!' said Matt.

Jess fought back a smile. Emily's sense of humour was quite funny when she wasn't on the receiving end of it.

‘I think he's the one who got me in, actually,' said Ben. ‘Matt's held the title of Kuwaiti under-eighteen wrestling champion continuously since he was twelve. He's a machine in the ring.'

‘I'll bet he is,' said Emily. ‘But back to your hacking the supercomputer …'

‘Oh, right. Well, I must have passed the first round because Ms Pimsleur came up to us at GameCon and got us to play that game–'

‘What game?' asked Emily.

‘The one in the VR cell with the gunmen on the roof,' said Ben.

‘Didn't you play it?' asked Jess.

‘I didn't play any game. I was offered a scholarship here after I won the South African Go-Karting Constructathon for the second year running. I guess dodging bullets is the same as dodging other racers in home-made go-karts.' Emily shrugged, then flashed a grin. ‘Plus, I'm really smart. But my therapist says I need to work on my interpersonal skills.'

‘You have a therapist?' said Matt.

‘If you were the only girl in a family of six older brothers, you'd need a therapist too,' said Emily, matter-of-factly.

‘What about you, Jess?' asked Ben.

‘Gosh, I'm nothing like you guys,' said Jess awkwardly. ‘I don't own a company or win national championships or anything. Lieutenant Parry just came to my school posing as an exam supervisor.'

‘But why did he choose you? What's your special skill?' asked Emily.

‘I don't know. I do OK at interschool sports, and I get top marks all the time.'

‘Yeah, we heard. In fact, I think the whole canteen heard,' said Matt.

‘Refectory,' corrected Ben.

‘Whatever.'

‘Well, I'm glad you're here,' said Emily.

Jess was so stunned that Emily had paid her a compliment that her mouthful of lasagne tumbled back out onto her plate.

‘Although maybe one of those Swiss finishing schools could also have been a good choice,' laughed Emily.

Jess looked across at Emily and saw a smile playing around her roommate's lips. She'd topped the aptitude test, made some friends and her roommate was turning out to be not completely bad after all. As far as first days go, this had been a good one.

An ear-piercing bleeping woke Jess at 6:15 the following morning.

‘Morning,' she yawned at Emily as she struggled into her yellow fatigues. When there was no response she continued, ‘Did you sleep all right?'

‘I don't do chit-chat this early in the morning,' said Emily in a monotone from underneath her duvet. ‘Don't take it personally.' She groaned and then struggled out of bed, grumpily shrugging on her clothes.

The girls laced their boots and joined the stream of cadets heading from the dormitories to the gym. The green- and red-clad cadets all seemed quite revved up.

‘How can anybody be cheerful at this hour?' grumbled Emily.

‘Does that count as chit-chat?' teased Jess.

‘Don't push it, Leclair,' said Emily in a less-than-friendly tone.

Jess fought back a chuckle. Turning Emily's medicine back on her was kind of fun.

The door to the gym was open and it was quickly filling up with cadets. All the walls were mirrored. Half the floor was covered in padded gymnastic mats and the other half was bare floorboards, which were slightly springy. The rear of the gym was full of weight machines and cardio equipment. There was a large, empty area on the right-hand side with a raised podium at one end. Punching bags lined the other side of the gym, along with ropes and rope netting that stretched all the way to the ceiling.

Signora Enigmistica stood in the middle of the padded floor, dressed in a tracksuit with a whistle around her neck.

‘Grab a bike, a walker or a treadmill or jog around the room half-pace for ten minutes, then we'll start aerobics,' she shouted.

Jess chose a treadmill and was pleased when Ben hopped on the one next to her.

‘What does she mean half-pace?' panted Ben, his legs moving wildly to keep up with the conveyor belt. ‘I've got this on its lowest setting, and it's faster than I've ever run in my life!'

‘Then how do you stay so skinny?' asked Jess, jogging lazily with her treadmill set eight levels higher than Ben's. ‘If last night's anything to go on, your diet's terrible.'

‘I don't get to eat like that all the time,' puffed Ben, sweating. ‘Plus thinking burns up a lot of energy.'

They spent the rest of the run in silence as Ben hadn't the breath to spare for talking.

‘Ten minutes is up!' called Signora Enigmistica. ‘Time for aerobics. Everybody grab a step.'

Jess and Ben joined the group of cadets gathering plastic platforms and bases.

‘If it's your first time, don't bother with the base,' a girl in red told them.

Jess and Ben dropped the bases back and set their platforms next to Matt and Emily at the very back of the room.

‘Hi, Emily,' said Ben.

‘Don't bother,' warned Jess, but it was too late to stop Emily snarling at him.

‘What did I do?' Ben asked Jess.

‘Apparently she doesn't do mornings,' explained Jess.

Signora Enigmistica turned on a ridiculously bouncy Europop track at full volume. ‘We'll start off easy with some side steps … one … two … Now grapevine left …' she said, crossing her right leg behind the other before stepping the left leg out wide, ‘and right!'

Jess, Emily and the boys narrowly avoided crashing into each other as they tried to copy Signora Enigmistica. The colourful sea of cadets in front of them moved as one, apart from the odd yellow-uniformed cadet banging into the person next to them.

‘Step basic!' called Signora Enigmistica.

After a few beats, everyone in the room was marching up on the step and back down again in time.

‘Watch the change. Grapevine left … right … step basic … grapevine right … left … step basic!'

‘I think I'm getting the hang of this,' said Matt, his feet tapping in time with Signora Enigmistica.

‘Yay for you,' said Emily sarcastically, as she kept getting the direction of her grapevines confused.

‘Knee repeater … straddle … over-the-top … indecision!' called Signora Enigmistica as she danced her way effortlessly over and around the step.

The red- and green-uniformed cadets continued along in perfect time, while the yellows, in particular Emily and Ben, did their best not to fall off the step and break their ankles.

‘At least no one can see us back here,' puffed Ben.

‘And around the step. Now turn to the back!' said Signora Enigmistica.

The whole class rotated clockwise, apart from Emily who spun anti-clockwise and crashed into Ben.

‘You two, middle back!' yelled Signora Enigmistica. ‘Back here for an aerobics tutorial after sprint training!'

‘Sprint training?' gasped Ben.

‘I blame you for this,' grumbled Emily.

‘What?' squeaked Ben, struggling to keep up with the routine.

Fifteen sweaty minutes later Signora Enigmistica turned the music off.

‘I'll hand you over to Lieutenant Parry now. You two,' she said, eyeballing Ben and Emily, ‘don't forget to come see me after sprint training.'

‘Reds, rope climbing. Six roofs each – Ms Pimsleur will be checking,' yelled Lieutenant Parry. ‘Greens, boxing with Master Qing. Yellows, over here with me for suicide runs.'

‘Sounds enticing,' muttered Ben as they walked over to the floorboard area where Lieutenant Parry was standing. Six rows of field markers, spaced evenly apart, stretched from one side of the floorboard area to the other.

‘The concept of suicide runs is very simple,' explained Lieutenant Parry, demonstrating. ‘You run along to the first marker, touch the ground, then run back to the start and touch the ground again. Then run along to the second marker, touch the ground, run back to the start and touch the ground. And so on right up to the sixth marker and back.

‘Now everyone get into teams of four and line up behind one of the rows. When you've all completed your runs, sit down. The last team standing will get to see me after class.'

Jess, Emily and the twins lined up together.

‘Go,' yelled Lieutenant Parry.

The six front runners took off. Jess was first in her group. She'd done lots of suicide runs in her athletics training and completed the course with ease. Matt was a lot slower. He was fit but bulky and, although Jess had finished first, by the time Matt had finished their team was coming last. Emily brought them back into third, then it was Ben's turn. He started off well, gaining on the second-place team, but by the time he got to the fourth marker he'd developed a stitch. At the end of his turn, he only just managed to beat the moody-looking dark-haired boy over the line.

‘You four see me after class,' said Lieutenant Parry to the last-placed team before blowing his whistle and yelling, ‘Rotate!'

The groups of cadets moved on to the next station. Ben and Jess paired up for boxing.

‘I'm glad I'm not with Emily,' said Ben, throwing such light punches Jess couldn't even feel them through the thick impact pad. In contrast, Emily was pummelling the pad so hard that she had Matt backed right up against the wall.

Jess could hardly feel her arms after the boxing and only made it all the way to the roof twice on her rope climbs. She was completely drenched with sweat by the time they were dismissed to have showers and breakfast.

Jess was dressed and brushing her hair by the time Emily made it back to the dorm. Jess turned her back as soon as she heard the door handle turn to avoid making eye contact.

Emily was a lot more civil when she came out of the bathroom.

‘I reckon I burnt about a thousand calories just then,' said Emily, sounding like her normal self. ‘Let's go load it all back on.'

But breakfast was quite a different set-up to the previous evening. Instead of being able to help themselves to whatever they liked, they saw that the servings of food were packaged with the allocated cadet's name on them.

‘What's this about?' asked Emily.

A woman placing the freshly cooked meals in their packets smiled at her.

‘Optimum-performance portioning. Meal servings are strictly controlled to keep you in peak physical and mental condition. It's always toughest just after the holidays.'

‘Ben was right,' said Jess as they walked to their table. ‘Fish oil on green veggies.'

‘More like the food pyramid in three easy sachets,' said Emily, plonking down her tray and pouring the allocated amount of milk onto her serving of something that vaguely resembled muesli.

‘Mind if I join you, ladies?' asked Matt.

‘Where's Ben?' said Emily, looking around.

‘I think he passed out in the shower,' Matt replied, tucking into his food with relish.

‘He'd better get here quick,' said Jess. ‘Espionage starts at nine, and I get the feeling they don't take kindly to latecomers.'

‘I wouldn't worry about it – he's an eating machine,' said Matt between mouthfuls.

A clattering of cutlery and crockery made them turn around. Ben's breakfast tray was wobbling like crazy.

‘Let me take that,' said Jess, helping Ben put the tray down on the table before everything slid off it. Unlike everyone else, whose meals were made up of cereal, toast and fruit, Ben had an extra plate with bacon, eggs and sausage.

‘How'd you score all that?' asked Matt, his mouth full of toast.

‘They said I need building up,' said Ben, picking up his knife and fork with shaking arms but immediately setting them down again with a groan. ‘After all those failed attempts at rope climbing, I don't think I can use my arms.'

‘Hurry up and eat that, or I'll eat it for you,' said Matt, spearing a piece of Ben's bacon with his fork.

‘I wouldn't if I were you,' warned Jess. ‘They've probably got hidden cameras in the cutlery to make sure you only eat what you've been allocated.'

‘And I bet they weigh your poo to make sure their calculations are right,' said Emily.

‘Emily!' said Jess.

‘It'd be quite simple, really. They could put an inbuilt fingerprint scanner in the buttons on the toilets to identify whose waste it is, then channel it to the lab for individual analysis,' continued Emily, as Jess threw her spoon down in disgust. ‘It'd be the perfect way to tweak the optimum-performance portions. The food's probably all genetically modified anyway–'

The bell that rang to signal ten minutes until the start of morning classes interrupted her, to everyone's relief.

‘Time to go,' said Matt, stealing a sausage from Ben's plate on his way out.

After brushing their teeth, Jess, Emily and the twins joined the growing group of excited yellow-uniformed cadets back in the gym where that morning's Espionage 101 class was going to be held.

‘Good morning, cadets,' said Master Qing. ‘I trust you all enjoyed Fitness Training this morning? Now it is time for the real work to begin. As you are aware, this subject is called Espionage 101. In this class you will learn many vital skills that you may need to use in the field to complete a mission, save your life or save the life of another. Please assemble yourselves into four rows of six.'

The cadets got into four rows with Jess, Emily, Matt and Ben in their usual spot at the back.

‘On Mondays throughout this term,' continued Master Qing, ‘I will teach you the martial art Aihi Choo. It is one of eight martial-art disciplines of which I am a Grand Master. Aihi Choo is primarily hand-to-hand combat. The movements are smaller, faster and more powerful than in similar disciplines, therefore more effective against an opponent.

‘Before we begin, I have a very simple rule. Here at Theruse Abbey there are many strong personalities. Your course load is heavy. That can lead to some stress. Let me make it perfectly clear that the practice of Aihi Choo is only permitted inside this classroom, under my strict supervision. Is that understood?'

All the cadets nodded.

‘Very well,' said Master Qing. ‘We will start with the warm-up.'

He pressed his right fist against his open left palm and bowed deeply. The cadets bowed back. Then Master Qing launched into a series of movements, shouting each movement's name as he did so, expecting the class to follow.

By the end of the warm-up Jess's already aching arms had gone completely numb. She was beginning to regret not finishing her breakfast.

‘Gather round,' said Master Qing softly when the warm-up was over. ‘Today we will practise felling an opponent.'

He beckoned to Jess.

‘Have you studied a martial art before, Ms Leclair?' asked Master Qing.

‘No,' said Jess.

‘Good. Sometimes it is harder to unlearn than to learn from scratch,' said Master Qing. ‘Now, the secret to felling an opponent is to get in close and use their weight against them,' he continued, moving quite close to Jess. ‘This can be difficult if your opponent is armed, particularly with a short, stabbing weapon. So the secret is to be swift.'

Master Qing took another half step towards Jess and the next thing she knew he'd snaked a foot behind her leg and kicked her feet out from under her. Jess found herself flat on her back staring at the ceiling.

‘Notice how I stepped swiftly behind her, without allowing her time to react?' said Master Qing, helping Jess to her feet. Jess looked at the teacher warily. She had been expecting a little more warning and a lot less thump.

‘Now, find a partner and practise. Remember, use your opponent's weight against them.'

Jess and Emily paired up. Ben turned to Matt, but he had joined a large group of boys clustering around the blonde-haired Russian girl, whose name was Svetlana.

‘I get on my back for no man,' said Svetlana, instead choosing to work with her roommate, Lauren.

During the class Jess found it was a lot easier to fall over when Emily was on the attack than to hook her own leg in behind Emily's knee and try to knock her over. In the course of their little duels, Emily only fell once, and Jess thought that had more to do with Emily sneezing than her own Aihi Choo skill.