"Thank you for telling us what happened on the plane. May I speak with Agent Pang for a minute?"
The others nodded in confusion, determination to draw out what will happen in their eyes as they left.
"What is it?" Laura asked.
"Are you alright with them having alternate memories?" Adm. Taylor asked.
"Yes, but you know that that's not what happened on the plane! Will it just be the two of us that know what really happened?"
"No, Rebecca knows what happened."
"Ugh. She's not going to be happy with this..."
"Leave Agent Stapley to me."
"Alright." As soon as Laura had closed the door, a hand touched her shoulder. Laura jumped, then sighed when she saw Xarissa, Sarah, and Caitlin.
"What did he want?" Xarissa whispered.
Laura replied, "He just wanted me to confirm the information that you had just told him."
The others sighed in relief.
"Hey, let's see Rebecca beat up Jace!" Sarah offered.
"Ok." Laura replied.
****************
The two clashed for what seemed to be hours, when Jace was finally pinned down by Rebecca.
"Do you yield?"
"Never!"
"Fine." She started to go for the final blow when Jace pushed her off and lunged for his stick. Rebecca kicked it away, but in the process, Jace forced the stick out of her hands. Rebecca managed to keep the stick aloft as she kicked him in the weak point. Jace groaned, but kept his grip on the stick. Rebecca smiled as she saw Jace's second weak point. With one hand, she kept Jace's arms up high, and with the other she began to tickle him. Jace couldn't stand it, and loosened his grip on the stick. Rebecca snatched it out of his hand and picked the other one up from the floor.
"Yield!" She yelled.
"NEVER!" Jace shouted. He rammed into her and knocked her over. They sparred a bit longer. Rebecca again gained the higher ground.
"Yield!" She commanded.
"No. Nev-er." Jace wheezed out. "I will never yield! Why don't you tell me what happened on the plane? I'll compromise."
The offer was very tempting, but it wasn't her story to tell. It was theirs.
"No. It's not my place to say." She replied.
"Then you'll suffer." Jace staggered up and wobbled towards Rebecca. Rebecca looked at him, then shouted,
" I yield! This young man has shown every need to be an agent."
The crowd booed. Jace made eye contact, then asked, "Why? You scared?"
"No. You've been using too much energy, it wasn't a fair fight. Beside, you're will was enough to make it into the Agency, but since you are now my rookie, you will be going through a lot of…let’s say…difficulty… for the next year. Trust me." Rebecca finished with an evil smile, "I am going to enjoy this!"
****************
Jace smiled back at Rebecca. She could really pull off the tough streak, but he knew deep down inside she had a pleasant bone in her body. It was probably just one of her lacrimal bones, but it didn’t matter to him. It was just good for him to know.
****************
Laura wasn’t exactly happy that Rebecca had let Jace win, but then again, she hadn’t seen the whole match. Maybe there was something about this kid she could trust. She laughed at herself as she remembered back to the beginning. It had been pretty nice when he was the cute, popular crush. Her smile faded. So many things had changed. She wished she could go back, relive a lot of moments in the past. The world was always changing, taking her with it. As unexpected as the waves of the sea, her life drifted on in ever anticipation. And you can imagine how surprised she was when Jace asked her on a date. For real. She hadn’t expected that.
"Wow, who knew that you could be so-" Laura tried to find the right word.
"Awesome? Romantic? Cute?" Jace offered. "Not to compliment myself." Laura laughed, then shoveled in another bite of mashed potatoes.
"You'd better slow down, woman!" Jace warned teasingly.
Laura swallowed, then challenged, "Why don't you make me?" Jace looked down at his toes. "Thought so." Laura replied as she ate another big bite of food. Jace looked at his plate, already empty.
"I guess that I should speak for myself." Then he released a small burp that only Laura could hear. His eyes widened and looked at Laura, extremely embarrassed.
"Hey, it's a compliment to the chef in China." Laura said as she shoveled in another bite. "Besides, I'm only eating this fast because I don't want to waste the food. We are in a hurry."
Jace nodded, remembering what the Adm. had asked them to do after their date.
"You know, I could help you with that." Jace offered.
"After that monster of a lobster? I'm surprised that you have enough room to even finish that glass of water." Laura responded, shoveling in another bite. "Don't worry, I've got this. Ten more bites."
Laura finished her bites, wiped her mouth with her napkin, and forced out a small burp that only Jace could hear. The waiter behind them unfortunately heard it and looked disgusted. Jace said to the waiter, "She's Asian."
The waiter nodded in understanding and quickly left. Laura turned around to see the waiter shuffle off. Once the waiter had left, she burst out laughing. Jace laughed with her.
"Shall we go?" Jace asked.
"Sure." Laura responded.
****************