Everybody Wants To Rule the World Chapter One Written By: LadySwan JT leaned back in his chair beside the pool side and sighed comfortably. This day was totally perfect. Nothing could ruin it. Garrett would be leaving Swans Crossing soon, yup, everything was perfect. "JT!" a sweet voice called out. A smile came over JT's face. He instantly knew who that voice belonged to. It belonged to his girlfriend, none other than Glory Booth. "Hey!" he greeted her, motioning for her to sit in the chair next to him. "What's up?" With a smile on her face, Glory sat down. "Nothing much." She looked at the deep blue water of the pool. "Common. Let's go for a swim you lazy lout!" she teased, pulling on his arm. JT held back. "No thanks. I'm already tired of getting in and out of there." he told her. He glanced over to the refreshment stand. "Common. Let's go get a drink and find ourselves a nice secluded table to stay in." A dimple appeared in Glory's left cheek. "Fine with me." Hand in hand, the two got their drinks, and found a table away from the crowd. As they sat down, JT sighed. "Everything's perfect." he murmured, gazing at Glory. She giggled, leaning closer towards him. Just as they were about to kiss, another familiar, very annoying voice. "Hey JT!" Neil called out. Glory and JT parted, being interrupted by Neil once more. "Hi Neil." JT said in a disappointed voice. "Hi Neil." Glory echoed unenthusiastically. As Neil took a seat on the other side of JT, he began talking excitedly about their project, as if Glory wasn't even there. JT glanced uneasily at Glory, who was sitting there, looking totally out of place. But then he watched her smile, as a few of her friends came over. They began talking excitedly, forgetting about the boys. JT turned back to Neil who was still talking a mile a minute. Somehow, this wasn't at all what he had planned. He turned and looked over at the bushes, only to get the shock of his life! : : : : : : : : Barek walked into the Swan Club, partly annoyed. His meeting with Owen Fowler was useless. He was an idiot. His heavy footsteps echoed in the parking lot. The laughter grew louder as he neared the pool area where everybody was at. Or rather where all the teenagers were. "I have to find those two geniuses now." Barek whispered to himself determinedly, his jaw in a straight line. "I have to find them, or else." Step by step, Barek drew closer to the pool area, where everyone was having fun. As he stood there, scanning the area for the two, Barek felt a bit out of place. There he was in his usual black getup, and everyone was in their swim gear in bright colors. Suddenly, two familiar faces caught Barek's eye. He quickly walked over to the two teenagers whom he knew the best in Swans Crossing. "Young James, Callie." he greeted the two. The two turned around startled. They both looked like they had seen a ghost. "Uh, Barek," Jimmy said, trying to act coolly. Jimmy's heart had been pounding. Slowly, it began to return to normal. "Barek..." Jimmy said again, this time much calmer. "Is there anything we can do for you?" Barek ignored the cross look on Callie's face and turned to Jimmy. "You wouldn't by any chance have seen Neil Atwater and JT Adams around by any chance, have you?" Callie's eyes flew wide open. So now Barek was looking for them too? And so before Jimmy could open his mouth to speak, Callie nudged him in the ribs hard and said, "No, we haven't seen them all day." Her voice was hard and emotionless. It was very obvious she had a dislike for Barek. "Oh well, thanks anyway." Barek said, taking slow steps as he backed away. He too, looked like he was in a big rush. He didn't want to say anything else to the two, he didn't want to give away any of his secrets. After Barek had left, Jimmy turned to Callie, "What did you do that for?" he asked angrily, rubbing the sore spot. It hurt a lot, Callie sure had some punch in her. "Sorry, I just couldn't tell Barek where JT and Neil were." Callie explained, dragging him along as she started off towards a corner. "Why not?" he asked. Jimmy stopped rubbing his sore spot and looked at her expectantly. "Isn't it obvious? All of a sudden everyone's looking for them! I think it's because of that science project of theirs that they keep on talking about." "So? What does Barek have to do with all that?" "Jimmy! Try fitting the pieces together! Barek arrived in Swans Crossing, in the middle of summer, right?" Without giving Jimmy a chance to say anything, Callie continued. "Well that was the same time that JT and Neil really got into their project. I've always thought that there was something off about Barek, now it all just seems to fit." Jimmy opened his mouth in protest. "Oh common, you can't believe that! You don't have any proof!" All throughout the summer, Callie had been saying pretty nasty things about Barek, but this was the worst! "Jimmy, don't you find it strange that all Barek wears is black, all the time, and that those strange men that we keep seeing also wear only black?" Callie asked. She didn't want to argue with Jimmy, but this was the only way to make him see the light. "You can't just judge a person by the way he or she dresses!" Jimmy argued, defending his boss. Callie's face turned soft. "Jimmy... I know you don't want to believe it, but it's probably true. And I think, that deep down inside of you, you know it's true." she told him, placing a hand on his shoulder. Jimmy looked down on the ground. She was right. Everything did fit. It was all correct. Jimmy hated to believe it, but he had to believe the truth. He looked up at her. "Ok, I believe you." They exchanged a small and faint smile. "But now what do we do?" : : : : : : : : Mila and Sydney were seated among the tables, talking, gossiping, doing whatever. Sydney was having a great time, that is until Garrett came up to their table. "Hello girls." he said, in a tone of voice that Sydney found quite annoying. She had always hated it, and Garrett knew it. Mila smiled up at him. "Hi Garrett. Wanna join us?" she asked sweetly. Sydney coughed, as she adjusted her seat. She would die before having Garrett join her in any table. No way was she going to sit in a table with Garrett, in this life or the next. "Sydney, are you ok?" Mila asked, turning to her best friend. Garrett smiled smugly, as he watched Mila trying to help Sydney out. He knew that there was nothing at all wrong with her physically. It was just him. "I'm fine." Sydney assured Mila, sitting upright. Mila looked relieved and then turned back to Garrett, patting down the chair beside her. "Sit, Garrett?" "Sure." he said taking the seat. "So Sydney, what time do you think the party will end?" Mila asked. "I don't know exactly. Probably when they throw us out." she said, not looking at Mila, but shooting a hard glance at Garrett. "This is a lovely day for surprises, isn't it?" Garrett wondered outloud. Mila turned to Garrett. "What do you mean?" Sydney threw Garrett a murderous look. Garrett raised an eyebrow and patted his pocket, where he usually kept the birth certificate. Sydney got the message. She bit her lip, she still had to try and be nice to him, even though it was his last few days in Swans Crossing. He could still show the stupid certificate. "Excuse me, I have to check the songs they're going to be playing." Sydney said, making up an excuse at random as she went along. She pushed back her chair, making a loud screeching noise, as she stood up. "Ok, Sydney." Mila looked at her unsure, but didn't say anything else. Sydney ignored the smug face on Garrett as she walked away. Real smooth move, Sydney thought to herself sarcastically. : : : : : : : : JT stared in shock as he looked over his shoulder and saw a Baldie watching them behind a couple of bushes in the parking lot. Pretending he hadn't seen, he quickly kicked Neil under the table and asked gave him a grim nod. Sitting across the table from JT, Neil understood JT's expression. He gave him a nod back and together they stood up and left the table. "Where are you going?" Glory asked. "I'll be right back." JT promised, as he continued walking away, aware that Glory was still watching him, obviously worried. They mixed in with the crowd and then quickly made their getaway. As quietly as they could, they made their way to the parking lot. Their footsteps were very heard for the parking lot was silent. Step by step, JT and Neil tried making their footsteps more softer. Beads of perspiration slowly began to trickle down JT's head. He felt his heart thumping loudly. Neil nudged him and pointed behind a spot behind the Mayor's car. JT nodded and followed Neil behind the red Mercedes. They quickly looked around to see if anyone was watching them, thankfully, there was no one in sight. They crouched down as low as they could. "So, did you see anything suspicious?" Neil asked as softly as he could, so as if not to let anyone hear them. "No kidding!" JT whispered back. "I saw one of those strange men, those ones that are always in black with a bald head. Those strange people we keep seeing all over town." Neil's eyes grew huge. He took slow deep breaths. "We're going to have to do something. We can't hang around here, we can't go back home, I'm sure they know where we live..." "So where do we go?" JT asked, his voice rising. His pulse had already quickened, and JT was already beginning to panic. Neil looked back at him worriedly. "I don't know." : : : : : : : : After Sydney had walked away, Mila turned to Garrett. "What do you think made Sydney suddenly decide to go and check the songs they're playing?" Mila wondered. Garrett shrugged. "Who knows?" He had a clueless look on his face, but deep inside him her was grinning. Chalk up another victory for Booth, Garrett thought to himself arrogantly. Mila pushed the thought aside. She leaned her head against Garrett's shoulder. There was one thing bugging her pretty badly. And she had to bring it up now, before she lost her courage. "How am I ever going to make it through high school without you?" she groaned. Garrett out his arm around her comfortingly. "I'm sure you'll manage. You'll probably have a record deal even before you finish half the school year." he assured her. That is if Sydney remembered to send the tape in, he thought to himself silently. "Promise me you'll never cheat on me while we're apart." Mila asked him seriously. This was really serious to Mila. Garrett was her first boyfriend, she never wanted to let go of him. "Never." he promised. "What made you think of that anyways?" he asked curiously. Did she think he was already cheating on her? With who? Mila smiled. "Well, you're such a catch, and a long distance relationship is pretty hard to keep. I don't want to lose a guy who is really amazing and not to mention gorgeous." Garrett grinned back at her arrogantly. "Yes, you sure are lucky." Mila rolled her eyes. Instead, she reached for Garrett's hand on the table and squeezed it. Garrett smiled and pulled her so that she was now sitting on top of him. He wrapped his arms around her and she giggled. She's the only girl I know who actually likes it when I'm like that, what am I going to do without her, Garrett wondered, smiling. : : : : : : : : Jimmy stared at Callie expectantly. "So what do we do now?" he asked her, looking at her expectantly. "I don't know!" Callie retorted. "Do you actually think I know everything?" she asked him. She bit her lip. She hadn't ment to make a rude comment like that, but there was just too much on her mind right now. Jimmy just stared at her, as if there seemed to be something wrong with Callie, making her feel even more guilty than she already was. "Sorry, Jimmy." she told him. "I'm just really stressed out and all." she said apologetically. Taking a step closer to her, Jimmy put his arm around Callie's shoulder and she leaned her head against his shoulder, as if an action to say he forgave her. He didn't say anything, he only squeezed her affectionately. Callie turned her head towards Jimmy's, and tilted her head in that same direction, leaning closer to kiss him. Jimmy did the same. He closed his eyes, and anticipated the moment when his lips would touch hers. But just before the two were able to kiss, JT and Neil came running towards them. "Callie! Jimmy!" they hissed, "We need to talk to you. It's important!" Jimmy groaned inwardly. Interrupted again! He turned to face the two, pasting a neutral face on him. "Yeah?" "There are some strange men here, watching us here in the Swan club!" Neil exclaimed, forgetting to whisper. Callie's eyes opened wide in shock. "Oh my gosh! That must be the guys we saw after you before!" "You mean, we've been followed, before?" JT asked in confusion. Jimmy nodded grimly. "I'm afraid so. Common, we need to take you somewhere safe." he said, as all four of them headed towards the parking lot towards their bikes. "Where are we going?" Neil asked. "All of you have your bikes? Good." Callie said, rechecking. "We're hiding you at my place." she said in a muffled voice, as she placed her helmet on her head. With the roar of all the engines going, all four bikes headed towards the docks. : : : : : : : : Garrett was having a fun time, watching all of his friend's swim and make fools of themselves. He shook his head as he turned around and saw his dad walking over towards him. "Yeah dad?" he asked, trying to sound casual. Why was his dad here in the first place anyways? "I just wanted to remind you, your plane leaves early tomorrow, maybe you should leave the party early so that you can pack your bags." he suggested, placing his hands in his pockets. Garrett felt a twitch of annoyance. The reason he was enjoying this party so much other than the fact that it was Sydney who threw it, was that this was the last day he was going to be with his friends. He hadn't told them that he was leaving earlier, only Mila, that he was leaving the day before. Besides he didn't want to go back to the house, not just yet. He cleared his throat. "I'm sure I can manage later tonight." he said. Mr. Booth looked at his son, as if he was unsure of him. "Ok, if that's the way you feel...." he drifted off, not trusting his own son with his responsibilities. His son had never been responsible in his life, and that was why he was sending his to France in the first place. "It is." Garrett said quickly. Mr. Booth shot his son a look. "I want you home no later than 7, do you hear me? You need a good nights rest." A good nights rest was exactly what Garrett needed, for on the plane he would just get jet-lag. Garrett silently groaned. Seven? If word of this got to anybody at all, his rep would be shot. "Fine." Garrett said, stalking away. His conversations with his dad never went well. His dad was always so hard to talk to. He always thought that if his brother was successful, he would be too. But Garrett was totally different from Grant. Another thing that Mr. Booth probably didn't like in Garrett was that a couple of months back, he was still 'friends' with Sydney. He couldn't keep his daughter away from being friends with her, but he could definitely try to keep his son away from a Rutledge. Garrett rolled his eyes as he walked away, somewhere, he didn't know where. Maybe his favorite thinking spot, he thought to himself, heading for the only cliff in Swans Crossing. : : : : : : : : "I guess you'll be safe here." Callie told JT and Neil. "I know it's not much, but it'll have to do." She shrugged. They all sat down on the chairs rather uncomfortably. "So... how come those guys are after you?" Jimmy asked the two. "What is this way important project of yours that has everyone all shook up about?" JT and Neil exchanged an uneasy glance. "Maybe we should..." JT murmured. "We've kept it in the dark this long." Neil looked uneasily at the window as if he expected a baldie to pop through the window. He sighed. They were safe... for now. Now would be a better time than ever to tell anybody. He nodded at JT. JT looked over at Jimmy and Callie, not knowing where exactly where to start. There was so much to say about Ub2b, and he wasn't sure if they'd catch on all of the scientific talk. "Well, Ub2b is... it's... it's a rocket fuel." he finally said. Callie leaned closer in her chair. "It's not just a rocket fuel, right? Otherwise these bad guys wouldn't be chasing you so?" Neil winced. "Yeah. Ub2b is a special type of rocket fuel, which could help a lot of scientists. Ub2b has been mine and JT's project this whole summer. It needs a lot of special chemicals, which we've been ordering from out of the country with the alias 'Professor Vann.'" Callie and Jimmy had their mouths hanging open as they listened to Neil. So this what was the cause of trouble althroughout the entire summer? It was because of some silly summer project that some bad people had arrived in Swans Crossing? That Glory had gotten kidnapped? That all of their lives were in danger? Jimmy threw a glance at JT who was just staring down at the ground blankly. "You lead a dangerous life." he patted him on the shoulder. JT forced a smile. He suddenly looks up. "Callie? Can I use your phone? There's someone really important I need to talk to." : : : : : : : : "Here, these are the songs I want you to play for the rest of the party." Sydney said, going over the list of songs to the DJ. She had picked some certain songs she had wanted them to play. She showed him the list, showing him the order she wanted them to be played. It was important that the DJ did all the songs in the exact order. people may not realize it, but even the order of the songs is very important. From the corner of her eye, she could see Grant Booth walking over to his son. I'm sure I didn't invite his dad to this party, she mused. But then again, she didn't really want to invite Garrett either. What were they talking about, Sydney wondered to herself, straining her eyes so that she could listen in. It was no use though, they were too far from her. And the music was too loud. She watched as Mr. Booth told his son something that looked really serious. Garrett looked like he didn't really like what his dad was telling him. It was real obvious, even from over here, where Sydney was standing. She felt a pang of sympathy for Garrett. His dad was really hard on him, he really was. Sydney knew that from some personal experience, and not just from listening to her mother rave about how much she hated Mr. Booth. Sydney had her own opinion too after all, didn't she? She watched as Garrett walked away from him, leaving the party. Raising her eyebrows, Sydney figured whatever Mr. Booth had to say to his son, Garrett really did not like it at all. She felt really sorry for Garrett. Although she disliked Garrett, she disliked his father even more. He had made life more tougher than it already was. To Sydney, anyways. Instinctively, she threw the paper to the DJ. "Here, just play these songs. In whatever order you want." Curiously, she followed Garrett, leaving her own party as well. Whatever Garrett was up to, she wanted to know, one way or the other. : : : : : : : : Sandy stood in the middle of the basement, tapping her foot impatiently. What a day! First, she hadn't had the time of her life at the party, now she had to deal with Mila, and her love sick partner, Owen. Two for the price of one! She walked over to the keyboard, where Mila was leaning over along with Owen, talking about her songs. "I thought you'd be spending as much time as you could with Garrett, now that he's leaving." she told her coolly. Mila shrugged and forced a smile. "Garrett had to leave already. Besides, when Owen told me to come over quickly, I rushed straight here. When I told you guys I was one hundred percent dedicated to singing, I wasn't lying." she explained. "Oh." Sandy simply said, nodding her head up and down slowly. "I see." Finally, Owen looked up. "Ok! Shall we get started?" he asked, a bit too happily. Something told Sandy that Owen was still thrilled to be in the same room with Mila, even until now. "Sure!" Mila said enthusiastically. She ran to her favorite position, right behind the lead singers mike. Sandy felt her blood rush. She hated it when Mila always got what she wanted and everybody let her get away with it. Well, I'm not going to let her. She walked up next to Owen. "Aren't we going to play one of my songs?" she asked. Mila's happy face dropped. "But I thought we were going to play my songs! You promised!" she said, looking at Owen. Promise or not, Owen was putty in Mila's hands. "Well, if I did promise you..." he looked at her smiling. "But what about my songs?" Sandy insisted, stomping her foot on the floor. Owen shook his head. "You know Sandy, it's not very flattering to hear anyone whine." "You can't get everything you want." Mila said, looking at her blankly. Sandy felt her face turn red. Hot tears were starting to form in her eyes. "Well if that's the way you feel!" she exclaimed. She stormed out of the basement before anyone could see her begin to cry. This was not a very good day. : : : : : : : : "JT? Where are you? Are you ok?" Glory asked into the phone frantically, as she worried about her boyfriend. "Glor? I'm at Callie's and I'm ok." he assured her, trying to comfort her. He felt pained to know he was making her worry. "Why are you there? Are you sure nothing's wrong?" "Well, Glor, I don't know how to put this exactly, but I can't really explain it to you over the phone... but if you could come here-" "I will." Glory interrupted. "I'll be right over as soon as I can." she promised. JT sighed with relief at the thought of being safe with his girlfriend. "Great. I'll see you soon, Glory. I love you." he added in a soft whisper. "I love you too." Glory whispered back, before putting the phone down. She glanced around the Swan club. Now who could she get to give her a ride? Garrett wasn't around... it was obvious JT, Neil, Callie and Jimmy had gone... all of her friends had left! Glory sighed wearily and placed a hand on her forehead. Something was definitely up that day. Something bad. : : : : : : : : From a safe distance, Sydney followed Garrett as he left her party and away from the Swan Club. She followed him all the way to the cliff in Swans Crossing. It was that cliff, the one where Neil and JT were testing their rocket out that day that Sydney and Garrett had come back for the summer. That day when he had pulled his first prank of the summer, on her. But that didn't matter at that moment though. Not now. She saw him on the edge of the cliff, sulking out, as he stared out at the rippling water. I can't believe this is the same guy who gives me all of these orders, she thinks to herself. Sydney inched closer to where he was seated to get a closer look. As she did, her ankle got caught in a small bush. "Ow!" Sydney whispered in pain, trying to keep her voice low. She bit her lip and tried to conceal her pain. She rubbed her ankle and walked over to Garrett and sat down beside him. "Hey." she said softly. She looked at him sincerely. That wasn't an often look Sydney wore when she was with Garrett Booth, that is not including the time when she was in love with him. She knew he was having a hard time, and it was her duty as his 'slave' to help him in anyway she could. No matter how much she disliked doing it. Funny thing was, she didn't feel one bit forced wanting to talk to him at the moment. He looked at her in annoyance. "What do you want?" he asked. Why was she here? To torture him maybe? Sydney looked at him seriously. "To talk. I want to talk." She wasn't sure if Garrett would talk to her, but she would certainly try her best to force it out of him. "About what?" he asked coldly. "You know what I mean. What did your dad say to you that got you so down?" she asked, her eyes filled with concern. It takes a lot to get Garrett Booth all gloomy, I wonder what it was, Sydney wonders. Garrett sighed and turned his head in the other direction. "Nothing much of the unusual. Just reminding me that tomorrow I'm outta here." He turned back to her. "What do you care anyways?" "You're leaving tomorrow?" Sydney asked in surprise. "But I thought you'd at least be here even after school got started." Garrett's scowled. "Well, my dad decided he just couldn't wait for me to leave earlier, so he scheduled me for an earlier flight." "Oh." "Why do you care anyways?" he repeated. "Maybe because before you leave for France, I don't want to say goodbye to an enemy, I want to say goodbye to a friend." she said sincerely, placing a hand over his shoulder. "After everything I've done to you over this past summer? Why?" he asked her, still not trusting her. He kept wondering if she had something up her sleeve. Sydney bit her lip and shrugged. "I guess I'm all out of arguments and hateful things to do or say." "So why are you suddenly being so kind? Are you still worried that I'll show someone the birth certificate and you need some kind of assurance?" he questioned. This time it was Sydney's turn to face away. "No. Not really. I don't even care about that stupid piece of paper anymore." Her comforting voice, turned blank. Garrett was touched by everything that Sydney had said. "You mean it?" he asked. She nodded. Now this time it was Garrett's turn to pause and think. Sydney wants to say goodbye to me... as a friend? She doesn't care about that phoney birth certificate? Now it was totally useless in two ways. One, she didn't care about it. Two, if she was going to try and make an effort to try and be friends with him, he might as well... by tearing up the birth certificate. "Well, then I guess there's no more use for this anymore." he said, taking the birth certificate out of his pocket and tearing it up into pieces and throwing it into the water. Sydney's eyes opened up wide. What was he doing? "I mean, if you don't care about it-" He was interrupted by Sydney who had a look of happiness, gave him a big hug. "Thanks Garrett." she said, hugging him tightly, a few tears falling down her cheeks. "You don't know how much that means to me. After an entire summer of torture..." she trailed off. She practically choked on her tears. I can't believe this is the same guy I was despising a couple of minutes ago! "You know, I could still use what you're doing now against you." he teased. Sydney released herself from her grip on him and hit him on his shoulder, as dried her tears and still managed to laugh. She extended her hand. "Friends?" He shook her hand. "Friends." he said smiling. "I promise to write to you everything." she promised. "Everything that happens, and even what might become of Mila's love life." she teased. He raised an eyebrow. "You better." They laughed. Garrett stood up and helped Sydney up as well. "Common, you're the host of this party we're missing." Together, they headed back to the Swan Club. To be continued... 1999 LadySwan If you have and comments, suggestion, questions, ideas, or any kind of criticism at all, please email me, LadySwan, at ladyswan_1@hotmail.com ! Thanks!!! :
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