Entry: 8

Entry: 8
    - A new look…oh dear

   “Mom. Mom, look I’m fine.”
Finnley embraced her teary-eyed mother.
   “I’m fine. I’m fine.”
Her mom cried into her daughter’s shoulder.

Mrs. Leavenworth had gotten home several hours before Finnley got home.
Jayson had dropped her off, and was staying in his apartment just down the road.
Finn’s mom went crazy, and pelted Jay with question. Thankfully she didn’t yell at him, in fact she took everything quiet calmly.
Until he left that is.

   “I knew I wouldn’t be able to keep you away.” Her mom muttered as she pulled away, and looked Finnley in the eye.
   “You’re too much like your father. I just thank God that I’ve had you for sixteen years.”
Finnley smiled.
   “And you’ll have me many more. It’ll be fine mom.”
Her mom sighed and wiped her face.
   “Just be safe, ok? I know I won’t be able to change your mind. However I’m going to have a word with Martha.”
Finn chuckled when there was a knock on the door.
Her mom walked over and when she opened it, she made an exasperated sigh.
   “Darling, I’d say by the look on this poor kid’s face, an alien is probably rampaging through L.A.”
Finnley nodded.
    “Ok-”
   “But, why don’t you go change quickly.”
Finn nodded slowly, and turned to run up the stairs to her bedroom.

Mrs. Leavenworth turned to Jayson with a stern look, and he knew he was going to get a talking-to. (Not that he’s ever had one before, however.)
   “Promise me, you’ll keep her safe.”
Jayson nodded.
   “Promise me, you’ll make sure she doesn’t over do it.”
   “I promise Mrs. Leavenworth. I’ll do all I can to keep her safe.”
   “I know you’ll keep that promise.” She chuckled, ad gazed off at some point in the distance.
   “How do you know?”
She smiled, and looked down at him.
   “Because, I see the way you look at her. I knew from the first time you walked through my door, you two would be irrespirable. Though I will give you credit for trying.
That first week. Haha. You put yourself and her through a whole lot of troubles. But I knew you wouldn’t be able to stay away.”
   “How?”
   “Because, you’re just like her father. Exactly like her father.
I knew who you worked for when I saw how you looked at Finnley. You stare at her like you’re trying to figure out if she’s one of those dreaded Hyven . But no matter how hard you look, you just see Finnley. Her dad use to look at me the same way.” Mrs. Leavenworth seemed to know the exact thoughts running through Jay’s mind, and he figured this was what Finn kept saying was a little freaky.

   “Why?” He piped up. “Why would you let me into her life when you knew I would only put her in more danger?”
Finnley’s mom smiled at him sympathetically.
   “Because I knew that God had a plan in bringing you into our lives. And I’m glad in away, that you weren’t able to stay away. She needs someone like you.”
She paused then turned serious.
   “But I swear, if you even think  about touching her in an none-honoring way, I will slit your throat.”
Never before had Jayson ever had a mom threaten him.
   “Trust me,” He said. “she’d kill me before I had the chance!”
Her mom seemed satisfied. A little.
   “Besides our relationship is more of a…brother-sister kind of love. Which is completely fine with the both of us.”

Finnley came down the stairs in rain boots, and an old rain jacket. Her hair was in a messy bun.
   “Why are you dressed like that?” Jay asked when she came into view.
Finnley pointed outside.
   “You never know when it’s going to rain on you.” She replied poetically.
Jayson looked up at the sky. Sure it was over cast, but it wasn’t raining.
   “Uh-huh. Well come on. Martha wants you in. Something about a new mission and a new look.”
   “A new look?!” She and her mother exclaimed. Jay nodded.
   “Don’t know what that means, but we had better get going.”
   “Oh wait!” Her mom cried. Running back into the house, she left Finnley studying Jayson like a painting, trying to see if he knew more then he was letting on.
A few moments latter she came back with a camera.
   “Take pictures of that ‘new look’ and send htem to me.” She ordered, handing over the camera.
Finnley chuckled and shoved it into her pocket.
   “I’ll see what I can do mom. See you latter.” She reached over and gave her mom a hug.
Giving Jayson a look, he nodded and led Finn to a cherry red convertible mustang.
Sliding into the passenger’s seat, she realized she felt more at home in it.
   “Where did you get this one?” She asked as he pulled up the roof and locked it in place.
   “This one is actually mine.” He said as he turned it on.
A grin crossed her face when she heard the familiar rumble.
   “Then who’s is the other one?”
A boyish grin crossed his face.
   “Not mine.”
Finnley scoffed and waved bye to her mom.
   “1968 Shelby GT500KR. Not a bad choice.” She remarked. “And I imagine it has a Cobra Jet engine?”
Jay was taken aback by her knowledge of his car.
   “Yeah…how did you know?”
   “My dad had the exact same one when I was growing up.” She turned in her seat and looked at the back.
   “Though not so good if you’re trying to carry surf boards.”
That slipped out of her, and she immediately bit her tongue.
   “Surf boards?” Jay asked as he braked for a red light.
Finn just nodded and turned to look out the window.
Jayson got the feeling that he wasn’t going to get anything else out of her, and he didn’t want to push her.

They sat in silence for awhile and neither of them felt the need to break it.
However, Finnley got the feeling that Jay was trying to figure out how to start a conversation.
   “So what was my mom scolding you for?” She asked with a teasing grin.
Jay chuckled.
   “For being a lot like your dad.”
Finnley nodded and almost laughed.
   “Yeah, I agree. You are a lot like my dad.”
   “I spent most of my time trying to grow up to be like him. Guess I succeeded huh?”
Finnley smiled.
   “Yeah. And in more ways then one.”
Jay nodded.
   “So, I was thinking-”
   “Oh dear we’re in trouble now.” Finn interrupted sarcastically. Jay rolled his eyes and continued.
   “Sense you are now officially an agent. That deserves some kind of celebration.”
   “A celebration?” Finnley repeated slowly. “I’m not really one for parties.”
   “I was thinking of ice cream, sense I don’t do parties either.”
   “Oh.” She wasn’t quiet sure what to say to that. “Where?”
Jay drummed his thumbs on the steering wheel.
   “There’s a place I always go down at the beach. It’s not really ice cream, but it’s as good as.”
That’s when it all came crashing down on her.
   “The beach?”
   “Yeah. I mean you only live five minutes away from the beach.”
   “I don’t want to go to the beach.” Finn said quietly as she sunk lower into the seat.
   “What do you mean you don’t want to go to the beach>“
Jay was confused. (obviously)
   “Exactly that. I-I can’t.”
Finnley turned to the window again and wiped away a stray tear.
Jay wanted to know why. She lived five minutes away from an amazing beach, yet she claimed she couldn’t go. (Who can’t go to the beach?!)
But he decided not to say anything. She would tell him if she felt like it.
But at the moment, she wasn’t ready.

For the rest of the ride, they talked about possible different “looks”, and each one was funnier then the last. They decided that the only way to really know, was to wait and see.
   Arriving at the abandoned bank building, Finnley couldn’t get to Martha’s office fast enough.
Martha was talking to someone on her cell phone. She held up a finger and turned away from the two of them.
Kaden came in with a tablet in his hand and a mic piece on his ear.
   “Oh, hey.” He said as he came up on the other side of Finn.
   “Hello, what are you doing?” She asked as she looked down at his tablet.
   “Oh, just designing some gadgets.”
   “You design gadgets?” She asked in subtle surprise.
   “Yup. I’m the head of the experimenting class. So I design most of the gadgets, yes.”
She raised her eyebrows and looked Kaden up and down.
Today he had on skinny jeans with converse and a button up grey shirt with the sleeves pushed up.
He looked a little more “normal” then the last time she saw him. (Though she wasn’t to hip on the skinny jeans.)
But she still thought Jay looked better of the two.
   “So I hear you’re getting a new look.”
Kaden remarked.
Finnley nodded.
   “So I’ve heard.” She remarked.
   “I hope it’ll be a little more…”
Finn turned to him with a raised eyebrow.
   “Uh…feminine.” He decided finally.
Jayson chuckled.
   “Finn? Feminine?! Yeah right.” He remarked.
Kaden shrugged.
   “It could happen. You never know. Anyways, good luck Finnley. Enjoy it.”
He patted her shoulder and left.
Martha hung up and turned to Jayson and Finnley.
   “Sorry about that, had to fix some last minute tweaks. Now I’m going to jump right in here, and I need you to try and keep up alright?”
Both kids nodded.
   “Right. Now Finnley, I am not assigning you to a specific agent. Instead I am going to assign you to a team. This team is only filled with agents your age. The team is made up with you, Jayson, Kaden, Maxxie, and another filed agent that has been working under cover for several years.
She is actually from the British branch, and has been State side for several years. Here is her file.”
The kids stepped forward and took the handed files.
Finnley flipped it open and saw a picture of girl with icy blue eyes and raven black hair.
She didn’t look exactly friendly, but Finn kept an open mind.

Above the girl’s picture was her name and age.
   “Rabekah Harrison. A.K.A The Silence.” (Silence was her code name. Just as Assassin was Finnley’s.)
   “Is seventeen years old and excels at martial arts, marksmanship, she’s an amazing sniper. But anyways, she is very capable of handling herself, that was all I meant.”
   “What has she been doing?” Jay asked.
   “She has been at a school sense her freshman year. And though she has refused help time and time again, she has now agreed. Though rather reluctantly. So you five will now be a special field team.”
   “Do we have a name?” Finnley asked out of pure curiosity.
Jayson shot her a look.
   “Of all the questions you could have asked, you asked if we had a name.” He shook his head and laughed. “You are such a girl!”
Finnley placed her hands on her hips and gave him a cold stair.
   “Yes I am Jayson Stone! Deal with it!” Just to show that she was teasing, she stuck out her tongue before turning away.
Martha chuckled at their little argument.
   “Yes, as a matter of fact you do. The Phantom Team.”
Finn exchanged glances with Jay and they both agreed they liked it.
   “Now what am I here for?” She asked.
   “Right. Rabekah is in an all girls boarding school, close to Orlando. It’s called Majestic Academy for Young Women.”
Finn couldn’t control her expression at that moment.
   “I see you’ve heard of it.” Martha remarked.
   “Heard of it?! Who hasn’t?! Their full of snobby rich girls who are obsessed with the ‘next big thing’, who’s going out with who, yadeyadeya. It’s annoying.” Finn tried to control her tone but wasn’t sure she succeeded.
   “Well yes. That is true, but moving on. You are enrolling in the Academy to help Rabekah out. Seeing as Jayson can’t go in there for obvious reasons, you are an answer to our prayers. Now come, you need to have a full examination and a tracking device.”
Martha noticed the fear in Finnley’s eyes as they moved through H.Q.
   “Don’t worry, the tracker will only give us G.P.S coordinates. And the examination is for the school paperwork. Mandatory. Maxxie will take care of it so no worries. And then you’ll head over to make-up, where you’ll have your transformation.”
Martha stopped walking and Finnley peered around her.
Maxxie was standing in a blue nurse uniform, complete with gloves.
   “Hey Finnley!” She cried excitedly as she walked over and gave Finn a hug. Finnley did notice, however, that she was still wearing her platform shoes.
   “Hey Maxxie. Why are you wearing gloves?”
She was a little alarmed.
   “Huh? Oh. These are just standard procedure. Makes one look more like a doctor.” Maxxie cried with glee as she walked back into a white room with extremely foggy glass.
   “I hate doctors.” Finn stated through unmoving lips.
Jay gripped her shoulder tightly.
   “It’ll be fine. Just like a check-up. And those are never too painful. I’ll see you after your ’transformation’ what ever that means. You’ll do fine.”
She nodded dumbly and squeezed his arm.
Then remembering what Christ had told her only a few days before, she bravely walked into the room.

++++

An hour found her sitting on an examination table in a hospital gown after a full physical and complete x-rays.
Now Maxxie was having her look into a contraption and recite the letters back to her.
   “Z…M…W…C…And that’s it.”
Maxxie made a note on her clip board and nodded.
   “Ok you’re sight is spick and span.”
   “I could have told you that.” She remarked with a smile.
   “True. Alrighty then, I’m done here. Now you get to head over to Wanda! She’ll be doing your transformation. ‘kay?”
   “Do I get to put some clothes back on?” Finn asked. Glancing down at her gown.
Maxxie laughed. “Nope. Wanda will take care of that. She’s in the next room over on the right.’
   “Okey dokey. See ya!” Finn hopped down and made for the door.
   “Yup. Oh hey!”
Finn turned around.
   “Welcome to the Phantom Team.”
Finnley laughed.
   “Thanks Maxxie!”

Down the hall, Finnley was welcomed by a thiry year old woman from Kenya, Africa.
Wanda had her sitting in a salon chair and had quickly washed her long hair.
   “My goodness!” She exclaimed in a thick accent Finnley understood perfectly.
   “You have beautiful hair!”
   “Thank you.”
   “Now, I’m just going to bring your hair back to it’s orginal color and just give it a strait trim alright?”
Finnley nodded, and Wanda went to work.
Finnley had blond highlights in her hair that had begun to fade awhile back. Now it just didn’t look good at all.
So after Wanda had let the paste sit for an hour or so, she was glad to see it all just gone.
Wanda then put a little shape to the bottom of her hair by cutting it just a little, then went to work blow drying it.
To Finn’s request, she didn’t cut any bangs, and took no length from her long hair.
So two hours latter, Finnley was looking at her childhood self, grown up.
She had thick glossy dark brown hair that fell close to her waist.
   “Beautiful. Now on to a fun part.” Wanda pulled out a rolling table from against the wall and Finnley was shocked to see all of the make-up.

   “I understand you have never warn make-up before. Correct?”
Finn nodded.
   “Then I show you how.” Wanda set out dozens of little cases and arranged them neatly.
   “Now, you are a natural beauty. So, all I am going to do is highlight that beauty the Lord has already blessed you with.”
So, she then hit the brushes.
   As Wanda worked magic on Finnley’s face, she showed her how to do it all. She even had Finn wash her face, and do it herself.
Once Finn was confidant that she knew what she was doing, and all she needed was more practice, Wanda fixed up the make-up and stepped back so Finnley could gape at herself.
She only wore a light foundation with a little blush on her cheeks. Black eyeliner and mascara made her eyes really pop. Though she didn’t wear any eye shadow. (Wanda claimed she didn’t need any)
   “Wow. I never thought I could look this good.” Finn remarked.
   “Of course you can. Now sense you are so young, make sure you wash your face every night and morning and don’t apply to much on or it will ruin your completion. Here.”
She handed Finnley a cosmetics bag with everything she had just used inside.
   “I also added lip gloss. Stay away from lip-stick.”
Finnley nodded in understanding.
   “Now. To the clothes. My favorite part!” Wanda exclaimed.

Finnley placed the bag on the counter and followed Wanda over to the opposite wall of the fuchsia colored room.
Taking out a tablet, Wanda pressed a button and Finn gasped.
In front of her stood…her!
A holographic her, but her none the less.
And the holographic Finnley looked exactly like the real Finnley did now, same amount of make-up, same hair cut, everything!
Even down to her french tipped manicure.
(which Wanda had down while they were waiting for the paste to set in.)

   “Cool huh?” Wanda asked.
All Finnley could do was nod.
    “Alright. Majestic Academy has a uniform. Here is yours.” Wanda pressed a button, and the holographic Finnley now wore a blue and grey plaid, pleated skirt with a white button down shirt and knitted vest that had the Majestic seal on it.
   “Now, you can have it in different colors as well. Pink, teal, purple, and then navy blue. You will have one of each color. But that’s just your school uniform.
These are very highly educated girls, so they will dress rich yes?”
Finn nodded.
   “Well that means in order to blend in, you do as well. You will have to dress this way too. Most of these clothes are tailored just for you and are of the highest quality. Now there are thousands of outfits, but you will go through and pick out what you like.”
Wanda handed over the tablet and Finnley scrolled through dozens of outfits, plus accessories!
They both had a lot of fun and Finnley was finally able to find some outfits she liked.
Choosing an outfit she wanted to wear that day was a little difficult.

   “So…you made your move yet?”
   “What?!”
   “Oh come on. Any guy would have made a move ages ago!”
Jayson felt like punching his annoying half-brother.
Instead he crossed his hands over his chest and leaned against the wall of the lounge room where everyone was gathered. Well, everyone but Finnley.
Who hadn’t showed up yet.
   “No I haven’t. And you make it sound like a chess move!” He growled.
Kaden scoffed and rolled his eyes as he crossed his ankles that rested on the coffee table.
   “Of course you haven’t. Jeez you are so slow Jayson! It’s so easy! All you do is give her a smooch, and she’s yours!”
Jay tried hard not to laugh. Same as everyone else in the room.
   “A ‘smooch’?! Really?!”
Kaden scowled.
   “I sure hope neither of you are thinking about doing that to me. Or I swear you’ll both be on the floor with almost every bone in your body unusable.”
Everyone turned around and gasps ran through the room as they all caught a glimpse of the “transformation.”

Finnley was wearing loose skinny jeans, (yes there is such a thing) with bright teal high top converse.
Under the Nancy Drew styled trench coat, she wore a pink blouse that was made from a sheen material. (she wore a white camisole under it) It buttoned up in the front and tied loosely in the back. From the square neckline, ruffles ran along each side of the buttons.
Her chocolate brown hair was let down, and parted to the left. Wanda had braided the right side, near her forehead. Then it was held in place by a small white bow.
All in all, she was stunning.

   “Oh…my…gosh.” Kaden muttered.
Maxxie let out a squeal and ran forward.
   “Oh! You look amazing!! I would hug you but I don’t want to mess anything up.”
Finnley laughed and hugged Maxxie anyway.
Martha gave her a generous complement, and Kaden couldn’t keep his eyes off her. (Yet neither could Jayson.)
   “Keep your mouth open any longer, and you’re going to catch flies.” She said with a sly grin, as she passed Kaden.
   “You…look beautiful.” He muttered.
I hate him. Jay decided.
   “Yeah well, they say beauty can kill.”
Finn said with a shrug all innocent like. But Jay caught the subtle, evil grin.
She finally met Jay’s intensive stair again, and gave him a sweet smile with pearly pink lips.
   “What do you think?” She asked.
Jay took a sweeping glance and chewed his bottom lip.
   “I think…you can forget shopping in the boy’s department.” He said finally.
Finnley laughed and nodded in agreement. Sending her hair into a ripple.
   “Definitely.” She agreed. “Oh!” She dug into the pocket of her trench coat.
Pulling out a camera, she handed it to Maxxie.
   “My mom want’s pictures.” Maxxie laughed and turned the camera on.
Finnley posed with the same sweet smile.
Click!
   “Thank you.” Finn then seemed nervous when she saw that everyone was still starring at her.
   “Ok. Can you stop now?” She asked. That snapped most everyone out of it.
   “Alright. Take a seat everyone.” Marthat instructed.
They all ended up sitting in pairs. Kaden and Maxxie, Jayson and Finnley.
   “So as you all know. Finnley is enrolled in Majestic Academy as of right now. WE only have a few hours before Jayson has to take her to school.
Finnley, you’ll find all of your school supplies and books in locker 108. Here’s the combination.” Martha handed over a sticky note with a string of numbers on it.
Finnley nodded, and then raised her hand. Not sure how to ask a question.
   “Yes?” Martha asked.
   “I’m…not boarding there am I?”
Martha shook her head.
   “No. It’s only a few blocks from your house, you can walk, or Jayson will drive you. Either way, no. You don’t have to board.”
Finn nodded and Martha continued.
   “Rabekah is one grade ahead of you, but you’ll have some classes together so you’ll be together a good while.
Kaden.”
Martha sat down as Kaden stepped forward. He laid a whole bunch of knick-knacks on the table. Finn saw a charm bracelet, a round blush pallet with a mirror, a cell phone decorated with rhinestones, and a lip gloss.
   “Alright, now the fun stuff.” He said as he picked up the charm bracelet.
   “Oh hey,” Finn looked up at him. “Say ’hi’ to Miranda for me.”
Sighs and chuckles ran through the room.
   “Who’s Miranda?” Finn asked. The only one outside the loop.
   “Kaden’s dream girl.” Jay jumped in. “He’s never talked to her, however.”
   “No instead he just watches from a distance.” Maxxie said with a laugh.
Kaden rolled his eyes.
   “Ok, ok. Whatever. Moving on!”
Everyone’s attention went back to the bracelet.
   “Alright. Ordinary Italian charm bracelet right?”
Finn shook her head.
   “Wrong. You wouldn’t bother showing it if it was ordinary, so what does it do?”
Kaden groaned and shot her a look.
   “Oh! Sorry. Didn’t know I wasn’t suppose to contradict you. My apologize Kaden, please continue.”
She gave him a smile that she knew would make him forget it.
   “Ok, so Mickey Mouse charm,” He pointed to Mickey’s head made out of blue stones.
   “That sends out an electric shock to who ever you point it at. I’m not going to demonstrait because that would just be dumb. But you just have to squeeze his ears together.”
Finn nodded in understanding and Kaden moved on.
   “Next, this charm,” He pointed to a charm that said “Angel” with a halo above the ’A’.
   “Is…a seduction charm.”
   “A…seduction charm?!” Finnley repeated. “Are you serious?! Why on Earth would I need that?!”
   “You never know. And it’s my job to make sure you’re prepared for anything.”
Finnley sighed.
   “Ok, but what do you mean by ’seduction’? how does it work?” She asked.
   “All you have to do is run your finger over it, it’ll give out a strong perfume like…stuff, that will give you control over who ever it hits for exactly two minutes.”
Everyone’s eyebrows rose and jaws slacked.
   “You’re kidding.” Finnley gapped.
   “Nope. I’m serious. And get this, it’ll only work with your finger. See,” He ran his finger over the charm. Nothing happened. “I programmed it for you alone. So, moving on.” He pointed to the last charm, a dangling sand dollar.
   “This one can pick locks using a small exsplosive. But there’s only one, so use it only when you really need it.”
Kaden handed over the charm bracelet, and Finn slid it on to her wrist.
   “Cell phone!” He picked it up and held it out.
   “Yeah who decorated that?” Maxxie asked. Pausing her gum chewing momentarily.
   “Because they did a horrific job.”
The girls chuckled and Kaden looked hurt.
   “Well sorry if you don’t like my design. Deal with it.”
That’s when everyone burst out laughing uncontrollably.
   “You-you did that?” Finnley asked in between laughing fits.
   “Well I thought you were always a little too in touch with your feminine side.”
Maxxie muttered out of breath.
   “Ok, can we just get back to the point?” He asked with obvious annoyance.
   “Finnley,”
She took deep breaths to calm herself down as he got her attention.
   “This is an alien scanner. Press 8-0-1 and the scanner will activate. Point the end of the phone in a person’s general direction, and it will tell you if that person has human genes or alien genes. Pretty simple.”
He handed it over and picked up the travel blush pallet.
   “This is a camera. Press this button here,” He turned it and showed a small button near the mirror. He pressed it and the reflective coating on the mirror disappeared, and Finnley could see the beanie bag chairs that were behind Kaden.
   “Press the button on the side to take a picture, press and hold the one on the top and the mirror will come back. I also programmed it to send Jayson all the pictures you take.”
Finnley nodded again as she took the pallet from Kaden.
   “And last, but not least, the lip gloss. Which isn’t lip gloss at all. Duh. But anyway,” He twisted the lid and pulled out the brush.
He pressed the top down and aimed the brush at the wall behind him.
A blue beam shot out of it, and when it hit the wall, it made a hole in it that singed.
   “Your own mini gun. It’ll cut through thing cement and up to five inches of steel. And…that’s it.”
Finnley stared down at all of these amazing gadgets.
   “I have to say Kaden,” She said slowly. “You are a genius. Even if you are a little weird.”
Kaden nodded and reached down to give her a side ways hug.
   “Jayson.” Martha said, giving him a head nod.
   “Alright.” He moved forward. “Everyone link hands.”
Finnley emptied her hands and took a hold of Jayson’s with her left, and Kaden’s with her right. Martha and Maxxie linked hands with each other and the boys.
Bowing their heads, Jayson prayed for everyone’s safty and for a successful mission.
When everyone muttered “amen’s” Finnley looked around and knew that they would be spending a lot of time together.

Entry: 7

Entry: 7
     - Strength to beat everyone in town and country!

Finnley didn’t know where she was. Or not even what had just happened.
But she knew that she now held hands with the most beautiful man she had ever seen.
She wouldn’t be able to describe him. Human words just weren’t enough.

The man was clothed in white with a violet sash over one shoulder. He smiled down at her tenderly and gave her hand a squeeze.
He had dragged her up out of the black sand with a tender hand that supported all of her weight.
Together he led her into the white light and they were in a tunnel full of light and colors. She was amazed, there was even colors that were unknown to man!

   “I believe you called Finnley.” The beautiful man said. She turned to him and smiled. But a sudden doubt rose into her head.
   “Why did you come?” She asked. “I abandoned you. I wasn’t strong in my faith. I am a hypocrite, I’m not worthy of being in your very presence my Lord! So…Why?”
Tears cascaded down her cheeks as she starred into this man’s amazing eyes. She couldn’t quiet decided what color they were. They reminded her of a water fall. The light had hit them just at the right angle and they were now bursting with colors. And not only that. But thousands of emotions.
Passion, love, hope, sadness, kindness. But most of all, Love.
   “You are my child Finnley. I always aid those who are my children. You may think things are out of your grasp of understanding at the moment. You may think that you can’t make it through the rest of this week. Or even your life. But trust me when I say Finnley. With me as your strength, anything that’s impossible. Is possible.”
More tears fell down her face.
She was over whelmed with emotions. She felt relief, and security. She knew she trust this man with her life seeing as he held the whole world in the palm of his hand. And with all that power, he was still worrying about her small simple life.
She had always struggled with the thoughts that God was always too busy with keeping everything else in balance that she was on her own.
The man cupped her cheek in his tender wounded hand, making her look at him.
   “Finnley you are my beloved. My love binds you to me, I died for you. You are mine. I would never leave you. I will always be here, no matter how far you wonder, I’ll always welcome you back with open arms and relief of the life you live. Don’t ever forget that.
I am your strength, I can get you through anything. No matter what it is.”
His eyes told her that he was speaking the utter truth.
He then did something that caught her off guard, yet felt perfect.
He breathed on her face.
Her body surged with a will power she had never felt before. She felt like she could run through the desert and never faint. She felt like she could fly thousands of miles over the ocean and never grow tired.
   “Now go.” He said tenderly. She held his hand and that still held her cheek and squeezed it.
Yup…this is real! He’s real!!
   “Live your life to glorify me.”
++++

   “…Finn?! Come on hurry up Maxxie!! Finn! Come on girl wake up. You can’t leave me now. Come on, come on.”
Finn was suddenly aware of the pressure on her chest. It was in rhythm. Perfectly spaced out.
Then she was aware of the counting. It was in time with the constant pressure on her chest, and with the two she figured it out.
Someone was performing CPR on her.
Taking a deep breath and being able to breath the sweet air, her eyes fluttered open.
   “Finnley!”
Her eye sight came in to focus despite the harsh lighting.
But Jayson’s blond hair blocked the light as he came into view. She blinked several times and took several deep breaths.
She felt perfectly fine.
In fact she felt better then she had in a long, long time.
   “How are you feeling?” Jayson’s silver-blue eyes were frantic and full of fear.
   “Fine…actually.” She said, lifting her hand out slightly. Jayson looked down and took it. He pulled her up into a sitting position.
No dizziness. So far so good.
Looking around she saw Maxxie urgently talking on a phone, though now when she saw Finn smile at her she faltered and just starred at her, gapping.
   “What happened?”
Finnley turned to Jayson and smiled.
   “I-I’m not exactly sure. But…” She chuckled as she noticed the same will power and the strength that she felt a moment before with her Savior.
   “You won’t have to worry about me anymore.” She laughed at his confused look.
   “You just passed out! Your pulse was barely there! And you’re telling me not to worry?!”
His voice had risen in volume, and Finnley noticed just how bad she had scared him. But even that didn’t damper her high spirits.
   “No.” She said kindly. “I’m telling you to trust me.”
That stopped him. He groaned in frustration with her and looked like he could ring her neck.
   “I’ll tell you everything.” She placed a hand on his shoulder and gave it a squeeze. “I swear. After I get through basic training. Ok?”
She had captured his gaze and he let out a huff.
   “You know that’s cheating.” He stated. A smile tugged at the edge of his mouth so she knew it had worked.
   “What is?” She wasn’t exactly sure what he was talking about.
   “Using that look on me. It’s not fair.” He turned and leaned back into the couch with a “huff” though she could still see the smile.
   “Well I’m going to get to bed. I’ll see you latter Jayson. G’night Maxxie.”
Maxxie made a wave as she got up and walked into her room, carefully closing the door behind her.

Finnley knew she had left him at a bad spot, but she knew it was how it had to be.
For the time being anyway.
She quickly fell into a deep and dreamless sleep, and awoke refreshed and ready to take on the day head on.

++++

Her high spirits didn’t dampen when she walked onto that training field.
And the General noticed.
   “What’s with the smile and sparkly eyes cupcake?” He asked in his usual loud voice. Finn wondered if he had to have lemon juice every morning.
   “’I can do all things though Him that gives me strength’.” She replied with a growing smile.
   “You quoting the Bible to me sunshine?!”
He made it sound as if using Bible verses was against the law.
   “It’s a free country.”
She stated with a cool gaze.
People had started to notice the argument against the General and a trainee who had nerves of steel.
   “Cupcake.” She was pushing it, she knew, but she figured she could take anything he threw at her.
‘Ooh’s ran through the small crowd.
The General was shocked by the guts this small girl had.
   “Is that disrespect?”
   “No sir. I’m just proving a point.” She replied.
The General rose an eyebrow.
   “Well then, pipsqueak, your training is going to double.”
Finn smiled.
Perfect. She thought.
Someone came up next to her and she wasn’t surprised when she knew that it was Jayson.
   “What on God’s green earth are you thinking?!” He growled at her.
   “Doing what I have to in order to pass this basic training.” She answered.
   “By killing yourself?!”
The General glanced their way.
   “Leavenworth!” He shouted. “Get rid of him and get your hide to work.”
Finnley nodded and took Jayson’s elbow as she walked him a few paces away.

   “Jayson. I’m not saying that I don’t appreciate the whole brother role, I really do.” She was keeping her voice low as she searched Jay’s eyes.
He was upset. That was obvious.
But it seemed to run deeper then that. Like it wasn’t just the fact that she was getting a little daring. He also looked scared she realized.
   “But I know what I’m doing.”
She finished.
   “Which is what?” He snapped, taking a slight step forward. Finnley was tempted to take a step back, but she held her ground.
   “I need to catch up on the training. The last few dasy I’ve been slacking because I didn’t have the strength. So I need to catch up. This was the only way I could think of doing it.”
Jayson knew her logic made sense, but he still didn’t like it.
He knew that he was probably being a jerk for being so protective. H wasn’t quiet sure where that would lead him, or portray him as. Maybe just what finn had described him as.
A brother…or maybe not.

   “The General will break you Finn.”
His voice was filled with pleading, Finnley noticed.
   “He breaks everyone. To him you’re no different. And you’ll be easier to break because you’re so young and small.”
Finnley grinned.
   “And that’s exactly why I won’t.”
Jayson didn’t follow. And Finnley guessed that, but wasn’t able to explain further, when the General called her.
She glanced back and nodded.
Quickly turning to Jay, she squeezed his hand and smiled.
   “You do your thing, and I’ll do mine. Ok? I’ll be fine. Stop worrying!”
She then bounded of with her high pony-tail bouncing as she did.
Jayson sighed as he watched  her retreating back.
   “How can I not?” He mumbled as he picked up his high board. (The flying skateboards)

++++

When the General said “double” he meant double.
From morning to late afternoon, he had her run several miles with out a break.
After that (lucky for her) he had her in the simulation building with any weapon she wanted. Which turned out to be two modified alien-specifically-made pistols called Assassin’s Fury.
These guns got their name by the fact that they were silent. When they are fired, they don’t shoot bullets, but a sort of laser.
Finn also liked them because they were small.

The day was spent hot and sweaty. But successful. And that night all she did was zone out and fall right asleep with out dinner, and with out a peep to anyone else. (It was all she could do to hop through a quick shower.)

++++

The next morning was the final day of training.
Finnley had gotten a good night’s sleep, and made sure she ate a good breakfast.
   “Oh, so now you listen to me.” Jay remarked sarcastically as Finn gobbled up her bacon and cheese covered grits.
   “No. now I’m congratulating myself.” She replied after swallowing.
   “You haven’t even passed yet!”
She gave Jayson a wink as she started to get up from the cafeteria table.
   “I’ll pass. You’ll see.” She said in a definite tone.
Jay sighed.
   “Ok. Whatever you say.” He almost said “sis” but bit down on his tongue.
Finnley laughed and dumped her paper bowl in the trash.
   “I man yot be your biological family, but sometimes, I’m probably as good as.” Finnley said with a playful grin.
Jayson nodded.
   “Yeah. You are.”
She laughed.
   “See you latter Jay.” She then dashed out of the cafeteria at top speed.
Yeah. You really are my sister Finn.

++++

   “Alright the final test,” The General shouted. Everyone was already sweating and sore from the days work.
Glancing up, Finnley saw that the sun was close to setting.
   “Is going to be a doozee.”
Well that can’t be good. Finnley thought numbly.
   “You will be racing against time in this exersize.” The General continued.
   “Get through the simulation before the sun sets. Which is…” He glanced down at his watch.
   “In ten minutes. So I suggest you get going.”
All five trainees scrambled up to their feet as they forced their sore muscles to move.

Finnley was the third one behind the guy in the lead.
The first thing she noticed that it was a thirty yard dash to get the rope climbing area.
Glancing back at the sun, she knew would have pace herself.
Her track training kicked in, and she fell into her familiar rhythm.
They reached the rope course in only a few minutes.
Getting a grip on the ropes, Finnley hoisted herself up and forced her sore muscles to work with her.
She just managed to get over the top of the rope wall.
   “Oh my.” She muttered as she saw the waist deep mud pit below.
One of the other trainees ahead of her, had slipped and was now wadding through the mud.
   “Well, I have no desire to do that today.” One of the other girls stated. Finnley noticed a rope hanging off a steel beam that would get her across the pit. Obviously the other girl saw it too and she jumped for it.
As soon as she had, Finnley knew she wouldn’t make it.
She was to far to the right.
The girl realized this too, but not before she did a belly-flop in the mud.
Taking a deep breath, Finn dove for the rope.
Her fingers snatched it out of the air and her momentum swung her over the pit.
Now wanting to stay on any longer then she had to, she let go as soon as she was on the other side.
Pulling herself into a tight ball, she rolled over and came up on her feet.
    “Always wanted to do that.”
She muttered with a grin.
Not like she had much time to congratulate herself, however.

She kept running till she noticed a table with her guns lying on it. She also noticed that the other guy in front of her was going from them.
Picking up speed, she knew she wouldn’t be able to reach them before he did.
She noticed ruins of buildings start to crop up, and knew they had entired a simulation.
The man was only twelve feet away from the table.
The walls were growing closer, and closer, and an idea formed in her head.
Running up to one wall she got up a little ways on the wall, pushing away from the wall, she flew over to the opposite wall.
Doing this several times, she ganged up on the guy.
Nearing the table, she dove down and snatched up her two pistols.
With her momentum, she slid across the table, knocking all of the weapons off.
Landing a little hard on her shoulder, she grunted but kept going.
Well that was less then graceful. She remarked to herself as she swung her right arm in a full circle to get rid of some pain that came when she landed on very pointy guns.

A manor house loomed up ahead of her and she hesitated only a second before slipping through an open window.
She choose that route, so she might be unnoticed. Seeing as the front door was rotten and would probably be stubborn.

Sneaking through the old, creaky mansion, she gripped her guns that were charged and ready to go.
She figured that this might be the last thing she’d have to get through, seeing as the sun was a quarter of the way gone already.
She was barely breathing, hoping she wouldn’t trigger the holographic aliens that looked very much real.
However, she yelped when she heard a sudden boom that scared her half to death.
There was the sound of something crashing to the ground, and she figured out that someone decided to knock down the door.
And the large crash was followed by immediate sounds of gun fire.
This noise triggered the rest of the aliens.

One made a loud shrieking noise and Finnley came face-to-face with a Hyven.
Again.
She quickly fired and gasped when pain ripped up her arm and into her shoulder.
She ducked behind a plant and gripped her shoulder. It felt all wrong and messed up.
I must have dislocated it when I hit it. She thought grimly.
Shoving one of her pistols into her belt in the small of her back.
She had to figure out a different way through the house then the hallways.
She wouldn’t fight with her left hand to well so…

Glancing up, she saw an air vent.
Setting the plant down she dragged the table it had been sitting on, over to the vent.
Taking out her gun and turning the power down a little, she fired at the bolts holding the vent closed.
She glanced around, knowing that the noise would attract more aliens.
Jumping up on the table she reached up and pulled herself into the small air vent.

(ok so the song's a little random. Psh)

Crawling on her hands and knees, trying to move her right as little as possible, proved to be a very difficult task.
Not to mention the fact that the vent was old and rusted she felt for sure it was going to break!

With every step she took, the harder she prayed.
There was a creak and she froze.
Scared to even breath wrong, she listened as the creaking got closer, and more frequent.
It suddenly stopped, she let out her breath. Only to shriek when the vent gave way under her.
Crashing through the metal vent, and the ceiling, then to land on the hard wood floor, makes lots and lots of noise!
When the dust settled, she glanced around as she quickly scrambled up to her feet.
Dashing down the halls, she tried to get her bearings.

Taking a hard corner she saw a hall full of aliens, and right behind them, the door out.
She whipped out her gun and shot the first one standing in her way.
That brought more to her doorstep.
Spinning out of the way of an axe thrown by an alien with six eyes and a massive body. She didn’t ease up on the trigger.
She shoot two aliens down but five more moved up behind them.
Ducking a laser, and jumping over a short one that came up to her waist, she grimaced at the pain running through her right shoulder as it hit the wall.
The momentary pain left her vulnerable, and the aliens advanced.
They were multiplying by the second. Soon they would overwhelm her, and she would definitely wouldn’t make it out by sunset.
With her back against the wall, she glanced around quickly for an escape route. Finding a window a few yards away, she made her way to it. A large holographic alien with six arms stood in the way of her and the window.
She had to keep moving.
Then a through struck her down like lightening.
Wow! I’m such an idiot! She yelled at herself. Charging forward she ran strait through the alien and crashed right through the window.
   For a moment she was freefalling, until her feet hit the hard ground and somewhere a horn blew.

When the pain subsided she saw the General looming over her.
He offered her a hand an hoisted her up to her feet.
   “I see you didn’t kill the aliens.” He remarked.
   “You didn’t say to kill aliens. You said to get through the simulation before the sun set.” She looked to the west and saw that the sun had indeed set.
   “And that’s what I did right?”
The General grunted.
   “I hate to say this,”
Uh-oh.
   “But you passed.”
The field broke out into an applause. She was stunned into silence as she looked around and saw everyone standing (or flying) around smiling at her and giving shouts of approval.
   “Yes, Finnley Leavenworth,” The General said with a grin.
   “You passed. And made it to the rank of agent.”

Sorry!

Hey, sorry for taking a while to post the new chapter. I'm having...computer difficulties. So it might be a little while. I apologize!! Sorry!!

^_^

Entry: 6

Entry: 6
    - Training daily, making memories lazily

   “So...what now?” Finnley asked. Jay still hadn’t backed up, and neither had she.
For a fleeting moment she thought he might kiss her. But he just grinned.
   “Now, you have boot camp to get through.” He took a step back and took her baseball glove with him.
   “Come on, you had better go tell Martha your decision.”
He led her back into the old bank building and through the science lab. Walking down the hallways they quickly came to Martha’s office.
   “I don’t think there’s any reason to prolong the inevitable.” Finnley stated. Martha looked up from her salad, as did Maxxie and Kaden. She was slightly startled that the other two where here, but Jay gently touched her arm, telling her to continuing.
   “Your stuck with me.”
Martha and Maxxie grinned and Kaden made a move towards her. She held up her hand and stopped him.
   “Uh-huh. You freak me out. Just...stay.” She said as she walked up to Martha’s desk. She heard Jayson laugh.
   “Ooh, burn.” He mocked.
   “Jay,” She turned to him with a strait face and her hands on her hips.
   “Straiten up or you won’t get with in a ten foot radius of me.”
That sobered him up.
Martha smiled with a raised eyebrow.
   “I think you’ll be good for those boys. You have something they both want, and you wont give it to them unless they behave. Very smart.” She gave Finnley a wink, who couldn’t help but feel a little embarrassed.
She chuckled and shook her head in her hands as the boys protested loudly.
Martha waved away their noise and handed Finnley a salad.
Now, normally, Finnley would rather eat a big mac, then a salad. Of course she wasn’t a rude girl so she didn’t say anything but she wasn’t to eager to eat it.

Jay tossed her something from his backpack. Catching it she saw by the wrapper it was a burrito from Taco Bell.
She grinned and unwrapped it as she sat down on the floor in front of the coffee table.
   “You don’t look like the girl who counts calories.” Jayson said quietly as he sat down beside her.
   “Nope.”
Jay chuckled and the room went silent as everyone ate their lunch.
   "Finnley."
She looked up and saw that Martha was speaking.
   "I hope you know that the next few days are not going to be pleasant. The trainer is know for weeding out the weak. If you want out, now's the time."
Finnley bit her bottom lip and a small grin crossed Jay's lips. He knew what that look meant.
   "You're going to be feeling the fire all week. And it wont let up till you past. Then after that it's strait to work. It's tough, and everybody breaks."
Kaden piped up.
   "It's true." Martha jumped back in. "And with what's going on, you'll be burning on empty soon."
Finnley laughed, and placed her burrito on the coffee table.
   "You can't scare me away. Like I said, 'you're stuck with me.' Whether you like it or not. I'm stronger then even he knows." She jerked her head towards Jay.
   "I don't scare off easy. I may look small and maybe a little pathetic at times, but I've got a fire burning in me, no one can put out. No matter how hard you try."
She met Martha's stern gaze with an all-knowing grin.
   "You are so much like your father.
The training will only last five days, and then you will be assigned to a mentor." She went on to explain. "We believe in learning by doing. So we'll team you up with another agent, and send you out into the field. The training here will only provide you with some martial arts and how to use our weaponry. Then it's up to your mentor to teach you what he thinks you'll need, in order to survive."
Of course, at the thought of a mentor, Finn was dying to figure out who it was going to be. And Martha picked up on that.
   "And you'll know who your mentor will be after your basic training."
Finn made a face which made everyone laugh.

++++

Once everyone was finished, Martha took Finnley aside.
She led her down another hallway that opened up into a lounge room.
It held several leather couches in a square around a coffee table. There was also a few beenie bags on the right side of the room in front of a television unit.
To the back of the lounge there was several doors that Finn assumed led to rooms.

Martha led her to one of them, and opened the door for her.
Stepping into the room, she saw that it was spacious with little furniture.
   "Oh, lots of space to dance." she blurted out. Martha rose an eyebrow, and Finn tried to correct herself.
   "Uh, when ever I have the time."
Martha smiled.
   "Well, this will be your room while you're here."
   "Oh snap!" Finnley cried, jumping suddenly.
   "What?!" Martha demanded, slightly startled.
   "I need to explain this all to my mom. Or...something. I mean how do you tell your mother and only parent, that you got hit upside the head by aliens, had to get seven stitches, went on the run with a boy I hardly knew at the time, and then ended up in this secret agency that doesn't "really" exist. And now you're joining up with them?! It sounds just a little far fetched don't you think."
Martha was impressed that Finn managed to say all that in one breath.
   "Sweetie, that's what I was going to tell you."
Martha led her into the room and sat her down on the bed.
Deciding to get strait to the point, Martha took a deep breath.
   "Your mom already knows."
   "...What?" Finnley was sure she hadn't heard right.
   "Your mom already knows about H.U.N.T.E.R, and aliens, and the guns, and the high-tech equipment. The whole sha-bang. She knows about all of it."
   "How?" Finn wasn't connecting the dots. Her mind was exhausted.
   "Your father was one of us."
   "What?!"
Martha nodded. "Yes, he was one of the best. So, just tell your mother that you're with Martha. She'll understand. Now get some sleep. Jayson's just down the hall, but after curfew you have to stay in your own room. And I don't mind if you're in each other's rooms talking, but please leave the door propped open."
Finn nodded.
   "There have been some clothes moved into the closet for you."
Finnley opened the closet door and made a slight face as she pulled out a pair of green shorts, that were extremely short.
   "Do you happen to have a boy's uniform I can wear?" She asked.
Martha was a little confused by her question.
    "You wear-?"
   "Yeah, she agrees with me." Jay inturrupted rudly. Sticking his head into the door.
   "The girl's uniform is rather....revealing. Which does nothing for us guys. And for Pete's sake, get her a guy's uniform. She's better off keeping her purity."
He made a clicking noise and gave his foster mom a wink, then with a grin that made Finnley's heart skip a beat, he walked away.
Get over it girl! Gosh I hate crushes! She scolded herself.
Martha sighed and turned back to Finn.
    "He always has been pushy. Alright I'll get you that uniform. you'll only have to wear it for the several days of training, then you'll be back at your own home. How does that sound?"
Finnley smiled.
   "Sounds great! Thanks!"
Martha nodded and left, pulling the door to as she left.

Finnley found a bathroom attached to her room and decided to take a shower. While gathering her night clothes she passed the computer that sat on the desk.
   "Hmm...I wonder..." Walking over to the computer, she quickly hacked in. Just the long in screen mind you, seeing as she didn't know the password.
Realizing who she had just hacked, she quickly found the email system.
She sent an email to Martha explaining what she just did and begging her to keep the SWAT team from breaking down the door.
   Martha replied with a chuckle and a warning not to do that again, she also included the password.

With that off her chest, Finnley found iTunes. Clicking onto a Taylor Swift song, and turning it up loud enough to be heard in the bathroom, she jumped through a quick shower.

Finnley was brushing out her hair in her room while bobbing to "Enchanted". Not knowing she was being watched, she mindlessly started singing with it.

"Your eyes whisper 'have we met'?
Across the room your silhouette
Starts to make its way
To me.”
Feeling like a little girl, she held her hair brush in front of her mouth like a microphone.
   “The playful conversation
Starts,
Counter all your quick
Remarks,
Like passing notes in secrecy.

And it was enchanting to meet you.
All I can say is
I was enchanted to meet you!

This night is sparkling,
Don’t you let it go
I’m wonder-struck,
Blushing all the way home.
I’ll spend forever wondering
If you knew.”

She started to dance silly, around her room. Feeling like the little girl she use to be when her daddy would dance with her in the living room. The next line was a little silly but she sang it anyways.

   “The lingering question
Kept me up.
2:00 A.M., who do you love?
I wonder ‘till I’m
Wide awake.
Now I’m pacing
Back and forth
Wishing you were
At my door.”

Jayson chuckled quietly as he watched Finnley dance around her room.
Oh if only you would turn around. He thought with a grin.

   “I’d open up and say,
‘It was enchanting to meet you.
All I can say is,
I was enchanted to meet you!’

This night is sparkling,
Don’t you let it go.
I’m wonder-struck
Blushing all the way home.
I’ll spend forever wondering
If you knew
I was enchanted to meet you!”

Finnley stopped dancing and bounced her leg to the beat as she messed up her wet hair with her free hand, knowing if she opened her eyes, the whole dream would evaporate.

“This is me praying!

This was the very first page,
Not where the storyline ends.
My thoughts will echo
Your name until I see
You again.
These are the words I held
Back
As I was leaving too soon,
I was enchanted to meet you.”

She sang the next part like she was hoping with all her heart as she spun around. And Jayson noticed.

   “Please don’t be in love
With someone else,
Please don’t have someone
Waiting for you.
Please don’t be in love
With someone else,
Please don’t have someone
Waiting for you.”

The chorus came back and Jayson knew he had better leave before he got caught, but he couldn’t seem to pull himself away from behind the door.
So, there he stood, watching someone who knew how to be a little girl in the midst of all the madness around her.

   “Please don’t be in love
With someone else,
Please don’t have someone
Waiting on you.”

Finnley ended the song with a twirl, but she lost her balance and was doomed to hit the hard concrete floor.
Being the hero type, Jayson sprinted into the room and managed to get a hold of her. Twisting around, he was the one that hit the floor while Finnley landed on top of him.
They both landed with an “oof”.
Finnley had closed her eyes when she fell, but now she opened them and starred right into Jay’s screaming silver-blue eyes.
Pure horror raced through her whole body.
   “Please tell me you didn’t hear that whole thing.” She pleaded.
Jay gave her a smile that told her “yes.”
She groaned as Jayson pushed himself into a sitting position.
Finnley ended up in Jay’s lap, and Jay was leaning back on his arms.
   “You weren’t suppose to see that. I never sing when I know there’s people watching.” She muttered. “And of course, I just draw so much attention to myself.” She kept talking to herself, and was seemingly absentminded of where she was. (though that’s extremely far from the truth.)
   “I just had to run off at the first sign of trouble with someone I hardly knew, and now I’m falling for- Let me guess!” she interrupted her own thoughts as she figured out how he most likely ended up behind her door.
She turned to Jay, who was just having fun listening to her ran on.
   “you were walking past the door and you just had to stop and watch. Why?”
Jay, ever so cool in almost every situation, answered with out hesitation.
   “It was cute.”
She raised an eyebrow, sensing there was more to it then that.
Jay gave a slightly nervous chuckle as his eyes darted around.
   “You were cute ok?”
Her eyebrow stayed put as a slight grin grew on the left hand corner of her mouth.
   “Now would you get off me?” Jay asked.
   “You’re kind of heavy.”
Finnley gasped and slapped his arm as she slid to the ground beside him.
   “Just remember, you’re the one who got yourself into this position.” She stated, pointing an accusing finger at his chest.
Now it was his turn to cock an eyebrow.
   “Oh, so you would have rather hit the hard cold floor?” He asked.
   “We girls sometimes, want to take the fall.” Finn shot back.
   “Why? That makes no sense.”
   “Just to prove that we’re strong too, that we can do what the big boys can, so that way we earn some respect as well. How do you think those women in the military make it?”
It took Jayson a moment to let her words sink in.
   “Well you know what?” He asked. “My dad taught me to protect town and country. That was his code of honor.” He scrambled up to his feet, and looked down at Finn with a kind, yet determined look.
   “’was’?” she asked. A twinge of pain ran through him.
   “You know what else?” He continued, ignoring her question. He offered a hand and pulled her to her feet.
   “’Protect the women and children first’”
Finnley bravely asked,
   “What category do I fall in?”
Jay gave her a mysterious grin.
   “Tell you what, next time, I’ll back off.”
He laughed at her face when he obviously didn’t giver her the answer she wanted.
   “Oh gee thanks hero.” She stated sarcastically as he walked towards the door.
   “Don’t mention it princess.”
   “’Princess’?! Do I look like a princess to you?!”
Seeing her in baggy flannel pajama pants and an old t-shirt, with her wet hair a mess, and that cute mad/shocked look on her face,
Jayson just grinned and left her hanging.

Finnley scoffed and picked up her cell phone. Dialing her mom’s number, she got her voicemail.
   “Um…hey mom. It’s me. Um…I’m ok. But I-uh-I’m with Martha. She said you would know what that meant, but don’t worry, I’m doing ok, so just…enjoy New York and go shopping. Love you mommy. Bye.”
Finnnley sighed and turned out the lights and curled up in the unfamiliar bed, and turned to fall asleep. She did, but she was chased by nightmares.

Ghostly images of her father flashed through her mind’s eye. Spinning her around on the swing, balancing spoons on their noses together, laughing at the most random things. But then he was gone. Like he had been so often her subconscious realized.
Her memories were so vivid, even in black and white. She saw small details that she had missed when she was six.
   “-no. Finn’s birthday is today.”
She remembered that really sad birthday where he didn’t show up. The one person she wanted to see so bad, never came. He let her down.
She remembered the countless times he wasn’t there for her.
In her head she screamed, and cried.

Gasping for air she jerked strait up in her bed. Her vision went blurry and her head hurt like crazy. Finding the reason why she couldn’t see anything, she rubbed the tears out of her eyes, and jerked badly when she heard someone.
   “You ok?”
Looking over, she saw Jay standing against the door frame.
   “What are you doing?” She was a little confused on why he was standing in the doorway. He gave her a duh look.
   “It’s past curfew. I’m not allowed in your room.”
She nodded slowly.
   “So…you just stood there…watching me scream?”
He sighed.
   “Which took a lot of will strength. But yes.”
She shook her head and crawled out of bed and went into the bathroom.
Splashing her face with water she took shaky breaths, trying to slow down her heart beat.
Walking out of the bathroom she looked at the clock. 4:35a.m.
Might as well stay up. She thought.
   “You ok?” Jayson repeated as she walked to the closet.
She nodded.
   “Alright. Make sure you eat a lot of breakfast. I’ll come get you when the cafeteria opens up.”
Again, she nodded numbly. Jay knew something had triggered her. And he wished he could delay her training. But there was nothing he could do about it. She was on her own.
For now.

++++

Despite Jayson’s warning, she didn’t eat much breakfast, which she knew was probably a huge mistake, but she just couldn’t get anything down without gagging on it.

Her and a few other new trainees, reported for duty on the training field. Several other agents were already out there, including Jayson who was using one of the flying skateboards.
He gave Finn a thumbs up, but she was still not at her best. The nightmare had caught her off guard. And now here she was with a whole five days ahead of her with Mr. Jar-Head.

Her first glance at her teacher she knew she was in trouble. But she knew she couldn’t back down now. Not after what she said to Martha.
Lord…your going to have to be my strength and my will through this, so please hold me close, and don’t let me go. She prayed as the wolf barred it’s teeth.

   “This is not a tea party! I am hear to break you down till there’s nothing left!”
The General (as he was called) walked back and forth with the most strait face and loud voice Finnley thought it should be illegal.
The five new trainees were lined up with their hands behind their backs and their feet apart. There was two girls and three boys. The other girls laughed when Finn showed up in a boy’s uniform. But she paid them no attention.
   The General stopped in front of her and was only an inch or so away from Finnley’s face.
   “Got that?”
   “Yes sir.” She answered gazing off at some point in the distance, trying to ignore the fact that his breath smelled like he had beef jerky for breakfast.
   “Well then princess, I suggest we get to work.” He backed off and started yelling.
Why does every one call me ’princess’??

Her first day of training was horrible.
The General drove them on till they had nothing left,…and then some!
It went from crawling around in the mud, to shooting holographic aliens from the sky.
That was not Finnley’s favorite part. She hated flying.
She forced herself to do it, though she did really poorly.
The General wasn’t helping because he was always yelling at her to speed up or to do better she thought she might punch him.

The next day didn’t go any better. She was just as bad, and just as slow.
The General’s taunts attacked her and stuck to her like glue. She tried to shake it off, but by the third day she was shaking like crazy because her blood sugar was so low and not getting enough sleep wasn’t helping her condition.
And it got so bad that Jayson started to get really, really worried for her.

   “Finnley, I want you to eat and drink all of this!”
Jayson set a Hershey’s bar and cherry Coke in front of her.
Finnley chuckled.
   “Ok you’re getting very….fatherly, and it’s freaking me out.”
Jay raised an eyebrow from a few feet to her left. They were both sitting on the same small couch in the lounge room just in front of their rooms. Finnley had already changed in to her PJ’s, and they both had wet hair from their showers.
Maxxie was also sitting across from them with her platform leather boots on the coffee table, smacking gum.

   “’Fatherly’?” Jayson inquired.
Finnley reached for the chocolate bar and noticed just how bad her hands were shaking.
   “Well ’motherly’ doesn’t work for obvious reasons. So yes. ’Fatherly’.”
She explained as she tried to tear open the chocolate bar.
Failing miserably, Jayson took it and opened it for her.
   “Well if that’s what you want to call ’taking care of you’, then sure.”
He handed the chocolate back and Finnley rolled her eyes teasingly as she slid back into the couch and pulled her socked feet under her.
   “Are you two always like this?” Maxxie spoke up.
   “Like what?” Jayson asked.
   “Like that.”
The two exchanged confused looks.
   “Like what?!” They asked simultaneously.
   “Like,” Maxxie linked the two by waving her fingers between them. “That! I mean you act as if you know each other inside and out! Like a brother and sister, or a couple, but you’ve only known each other for a couple weeks!”
Finnley decided Jay should do the talking, so she busied herself with eating her chocolate bar.
Jay gave her a friendly glare when he realized what she was doing.
Mouthful, she simply pointed to the candy and smiled. Knowing he knew exactly what she was saying.
   “I don’t know how to explain it Maxxie. It’s a God-thing. It’s as simple as that.” Finnley liked the way he put it. And it was very true!
She had often wondered what would have happened if she had never met him.
She was never happy with those out comes however. Dispite the fact that he had destroyed her life and showed her that her reality wasn’t even real at all, she knew that God had a plan for everything, and as a follower of Him, she wasn’t going to question what He put her through.

Maxxie took a deep breath and looked like she was trying to cover the boredom, or slight displeasure.
Finnley suddenly realized! Maxxie wasn’t a Christian!
With this realization, a feeling in her heart broke the surface.
She felt sorry for her. Her heart ached to show her just what God could do if she would just open her ears and heart to Him.

All of these thoughts and feelings made Finn realize what a hypocrite she was!
She realized that God, in her mind, was a distant figure that did nothing but give her what she wanted. A genie waiting to grant her wishes.
She never thought to stop and think what His dream was!
She hadn’t even asked Him wanted her to do with her life.
It was always about her.
What she wanted to do.
Where she wanted to go.
Who she wanted to see.

Tears slid down her face silently as she realized just how utterly lost she really was.
Jayson and Maxxie faded from her vision, their voices dulled out till she couldn’t hear them at all, and then everything went black.

++++

She was standing, floating, flying (or all three for all she knew!) in a tunnel of pure darkness.
At first she just thought it was her eye sight. But she suddenly noticed that it wasn’t just darkness.
It was pitch black sand! Shifting in a large circle around her. Shifting, shifting, every shifting.

At the end of the tunnel was a hole of white light as big as her hand.
So they weren’t joking when they said there’s light at the end of the tunnel. a passing thought stated.
“Am I dead?” she said out loud. She was suddenly scared of this tunnel.
The strange white light was gradually getting bigger, so logically, she figured she was getting closer.
But as she got closer, she also got lower.
Lower.
Lower.
Even lower.
Her bare feet touched the sand for a split second.
She gasped when the sand suddenly reached up and grabbed her ankles.
It pulled her down to her waist in an instant.
A scream left her lips as the quick, black sand swallowed her.
She flailed about wildly as more tears fell down her cheeks.
   “Help me!” She didn’t know why she was screaming, but at the moment she wasn’t really caring.
A sob got choked in her throat as the sand rose higher and higher. She gasped for breath as her head went under.
Her lungs screamed for air, but the sand was suffocating her slowly. Her right hand was the only thing that hadn’t been taken by the sand yet, and even that was soon to be gone.
For one bleak second, she thought for sure this is how it would end.
She had some many things she wanted to do. So many places she wanted to go.
She didn’t want to leave yet. She hadn’t lived yet. She hadn’t lived out her dream. One that had been put into her heart ever sense she was handed her first baby doll.
She didn’t want to go.
She didn’t want to leave him.
A sudden grip on her hand gave her hope. She wasn’t sure who it was. But she didn’t care. Her only hope was this grip on her hand.
Quickly it pulled her up and out of the sand. Her head broke the surface.
Air never tasted so sweet!

Entry: 5

Entry: 5
      - Welcome to H.U.N.T.E.R


Finnley woke up with a splitting headache and remembered why.
She hadn’t taken her pills last night.
   “Oh shoot.” She muttered as she pushed the blanket off. She was disoriented for a moment as her head spun, and she couldn’t remember where she was.
When everything finally came in focus she saw the richly furnished office and it all came crashing down on her.
   “Oh yes. I just figured out that my whole reality is a lie. Awesome.” She scoffed and shoved her feet back into her red converse. Rising from the couch she saw that no one was in the office at all. There was two guards outside the door, but no Jayson.
She caught her reflection in a mirror and scowled at herself.
Running her hand through her hair she quickly did it up in a Dutch braid that went from the left side of her head and wrapped its way around, falling across her right shoulder.
   “Well at least it looks a little better.” She said to herself. “But...where is everyone?” She turned back to the office and looked around.
Humming a Taylor Swift song she walked lazily around the desk. She didn’t touch anything, she knew she would probably trigger and alarm or something and then get arrested. (Ok so maybe her imagination got the best of her sometimes)
She found a note though, just lying there on top of all of the folders and papers. She was shocked when she found that it was addressed to her.
    “Finnley, Jayson and I (Martha) are out in the training grounds, someone should be coming a long shortly.

   “Oo-kay then.” She muttered.

    P.S. There’s a fridge under the desk with food, help yourself!

Looking under the desk she found a little black fridge. Opening it up she was shocked to see that it was all gourmet food.
   “Oh my word! This is insane! Who on earth would spend this much money on food??” She asked herself. Picking up an apple from a fruit platter, she bit into it.
It wasn’t long before she had finished that and tossed the core in the trash can. But what really bothered her was that she couldn’t find her pills. They weren’t in her pocket where she had left them and she searched high and low for them but they weren’t anywhere.
   “Ok...who’s coming along shortly?”
Just then someone burst through the doors.
Finn was a little shocked and turned to see a short woman who looked to be late teens, early twenties. She had a pixie look about her, her bleach blond hair (which had pink tips) was short and stuck out in the back. She had a heart shaped face and the most darling smile.
   “Oh!” She said with a big smile as she walked over to Finnley. “You must be Finnley. I’m Maxxie.” She said giving her a big hug.
   “Nice to meet you Maxxie.” She said with a smile. She already knew she was going to like this little lady.
Maxxie smiled and gestured to the door.
   “Should we go?”
Finn nodded. “Lead the way.”

Finnley was able to see the headquarters much better in the day light. They didn’t go through the room with the globe again, but instead went the opposite way.
Maxxie told Finn all about the places as the passed them.
They came into a big room that looked like the science lab in Bill Nye the Science Guy.
Lots of people were going around with things in their hands, shouting from one to another, trying to get things done. Finnley found it kind of funny.
   “I’m forensics, so my office is back there.” Maxxie said, pointing to a closed door.
   “I’ll have to show it to you later but I think you’d like it.”
Finn smiled as they continued right on through the science lab.
On the opposite end there was two large metal doors. She watched as Maxxie ran her ID through a panel next to the doors and placed her hand on it as well.
There was a beep and the doors rumbled out of the way.
Finnley saw a grassy incline that they both walked up. There was still a roof over their heads till they came to the top of the incline. At the top, Finnley gasped.

   “No. Way.!” She cried in glee.
   “Pretty darn cool isn’t it?” Maxxie asked with a grin of pride.
   “Yeah!”
Turning around in a circle, she tried to take everything in.
For one thing, hardly anybody seemed to be on the ground. They were either strapped to jet packs, sitting on flying motorcycles, or floating skateboards that could go insanely high!
   Most everyone was carrying some kind of weapon, mostly guns though. (However Finn did see one person using a bow.)
The whole field (which was several acres big) was set up with obstacle courses, for the most part, however there was an old building in one corner that had holographs of what looked like more aliens, some of the agents were seeing how many they could kill with in a certain amount of seconds.
   Looking up, Finn saw obstacle courses in the sky! it was insane! They were everywhere. It looked like these aliens had wings, so they would chase the agent around till the agent would find someway of killing it. The holograph would then fall, but disappear before it hit the ground.
   There was also a section of the field that had the physical training. The boxing, martial arts, running, weight lifting, stuff like that. They also had lots of people sparring which Finn found interesting to watch.

   “So she’s alive.”
Finn turned to see Martha standing a little ways off, sparring with a man. She hadn’t bothered to pull back her dark curls where were now heavy with sweat. She was also in a jogging outfit that was black.
  She didn’t keep her eyes offer opponent when she was talking to Finn, she did however, dive under the guy and give him quick jabs in his midsection. The man dove into her and brought her to the ground.
Finn cringed a little, but Martha wasn’t out.
She rolled over as the man tried to hit her again. Stopping at his left side, she used her leg to hit the back of his neck, causing him to fall forward. She quickly jumped up and made to punch him, but instead she gave him a help up and they shook hands.

   Grabbing a towel from a bench on the side lines of the mat and her water bottle she walked over to Finn.
   “How’d you sleep?” She asked with a smile. Finn nodded.
   “Good thanks. And yes you were right, that was a really comfy couch.”
Martha laughed and gestured to someone behind her. Finn noticed a boy who had been slouching on the bench beside the mat stand up and walk over. He had wind tussled brown hair, and dark brown eyes. He wore kaki skinny jeans with Sperry Top-Siders. He was on the small side, and she couldn’t tell if he had any muscle what so ever seeing as he was wearing a sweater. Not like one she would wear, a big baggy one that was comfy but wasn’t exactly good looking. He wore one that was a grey turtle neck, and it looked to be knitted. It fit snuggly, and she had a feeling he was a “pampered poodle”.
   “This is my biological son, Kaden.” Martha introduced. “Jayson’s foster brother.”
Finn smiled and shook his hand when he offered it.
   “Hi. I’m Finnley. Though I’m sure your mom’s already told you that.” She said with a smile. Kaden nodded.
   “Yeah she might have mentioned it.” He said with a charming smile.
There was something about him that gave Finn the impression that not many people said “no” to him.
There was a hum and a sudden wind picked up. Everyone took a few steps back and Finn followed their example. Looking up she saw Jayson strapped to a jet pack, he lowered the throttles and cut the engines a foot above the ground. He landed with a heavy thud and pulled the helmet off his head.
   “Jayson what did I say about not using a jumpsuit to fly?” Martha scolded.
Jayson took a controlled breath. Finn glanced at him and saw that he was just wearing his usual leather jacket and jeans. He tugged off his gloves and tucked his helmet under his arm.
   “Hey Finn, how you feeling?” He asked. She nodded and tucked her hands in her back pockets.
   “Well I’m not so tired, but have you seen my pills? I couldn’t find them anywhere.”
Jay dug into his pockets and pulled out her pill bottle.
   “Fell out of your jacket while you were sleeping.” He explained.
Finn took the bottle and looked around.
   “What do you need dear?” Martha asked.
   “Some kind of drink I can take these with.”
She eyed the pill bottle suspiciously.
   “What are they?”
   “Morphine.” Finn answered.
   “Why do you have morphine?”
Ok now she wondered if this lady was blind. Jay tugged off her hood.
Oh. That might be why she cant see the massive band aid. She thought. Duh.
She turned her head so Martha could see the big bandage.
   “Last night, yesterday, someday yesterday I got hit upside the head with the butt of a gun remember?” She asked.
Martha nodded and handed over her water bottle.
   “Thank you.”
She was a little self-conscious with everyone starring at her so she took the pills as quickly as she could. She made sure her lips didn’t touch the bottle and offered it back to Martha.
   “Back to work boys. I’m sure there’s something you can do.” Their mom ordered with half a smile.
Both boys sighed and Kaden took Finn’s hand again. She wasn’t sure what he was going to do until he kissed it.
She could hear Jay groaning beside her and she felt her self blushing all the way home.
   “See you latter.” He said as he jogged off.
Maxxie giggled and touched Finn’s shoulder.
   “Watch where you trod.” She grinned.
Finnley shook her head and mindlessly wiped the back of her hand off, trying to do it in such away that it wouldn’t draw attention.
But of course Jayson saw her. And he grew a smug smile.
   “What are you smiling at?” She asked sternly. “Go back to work.” She ordered with a playful push.
   “Careful what you wish for.” He warned with a grin as he pulled the helmet back on. She stuck out her tongue at him and turned her back. Determined to ignore him.
He chuckled and turned his jet pack on. The wind whipped her hair into her mouth and as she pulled it back she risked a glance only to see that he was still watching her. She rolled her eyes but couldn’t help the grin.
Sheesh girl! can you get any more obvious?? She asked herself with a chuckle.
   “Walk with me?”
She looked up and met the kind gaze of Martha.
   “Sure.” She said with a grin.

They walked off to the side of the field and onto a gravel path. Finn looked up and saw a cute little white gate and arch with flowers growing on it. She was a little shocked to see a garden in this place.
   “This is my garden, I started it when I was about your age.” Martha said as they stepped in. Finnley felt like she had been blown away to some kind of fairytale land where the roses bloomed all the time.
Martha led her to a little bench swing and they both sat down. Being in this garden, Finnley suddenly wished she was wearing a bright yellow, or pastel pink dress. (with coordinating converse of course)
   “Finnley, I understand the dangers you risked in coming here. And I am pleased you are here. I really am.”
Finnley knew something bad was about to happen.
   “But...you have to decide if this life is one you want to lead. We go around and kill aliens, and you can’t tell your family about this. Not a single soul. It’s a very hard life to lead. But...there’s another option as well.”
Martha paused and Finn took a deep breath.
   “We have an operation that will leave you with no memories of this.”
Finn looked at her with a look of horror on her face.
   “I know it sounds horrible but you would be able to go back to your old life. However...you would forget everything that’s happened in the past few weeks.”
Finn did the math.
   “I’d forget Jay?” She asked slowly as she looked out at the beautiful garden.
Martha sighed and nodded.
   “I’m afraid so sweetie.”
Her stomach grew into knots and she felt like she could throw up.
   “I know this is a big decision for you, so I’ll let you think about it. You can tell me this afternoon at lunch. We’ll just be eating in my office. I’ll let you have your space.”
Martha stood up and gave Finnley an understanding smile.
   “But Finnley, if you choose to stay, I have some thing you might be interested to hear. But the choice is yours.”
Martha then left and closed the gate behind her.
Well that’s just not nice.

++++

   “Life couldn’t be more confusing could it?” Finnley was still in the garden a few hours later. She was now pacing back and forth, looking at all the flowers while mindlessly picking out the weeds in the flower beds and shoving them into a trash can. She really didn’t know why she was doing this, but she always had to multitask if she wanted answers, and this was what there was.
   “No, instead you can either forget the one amazing guy you’ve ever met in your whole life, or you can lie to the rest of the world.” She groaned and felt like chucking something.
   “Catch!” She spun around on her heels with her hands up in front of her. Her hands met the hard baseball and she tried to ignore the momentary pain.

Rising to her feet she saw Jayson with out his leather jacket. He wore a Colts jersey, and aviator sunglasses were perched on top of his head.
Oh how Finnley wished she had a camera.
He was tugging on a baseball mitt and she noticed the second one under his arm.
He gestured with his head towards the gate.
Not glancing back at the garden, she walked after him as he headed out into the field, which she found was now empty.

Walking a little ways off after he handed her the glove he waited for her to throw the ball.
This was also something she could do. She wasn’t really good at most sports, but she use to toss a ball with her dad.
Ignoring the rising question of how Jay knew this was what she needed at the moment she threw the ball as hard as she could.
She was rewarded with a nice hard smack sound when it hit Jayson’s mitt.
His eyebrows rose slightly as he tossed it back lazily.
She easily caught it out of the air and heaved it back.
   “I take it your frustrated.” He stated as he threw the ball.
   “Really? I wonder what gave me away.” She stated sarcastically.
   “You’re not going to stay right?” He said it in such away that it sounded like he wanted her to leave.
   “I don’t know. Maybe.” She said quietly. He dropped his hands and looked at her. Though she wasn’t sure how he was looking at her sense he had sunglasses on.
   “You can’t be serious.” He stated.
   “Well maybe I am.” She shot back.
   “Finn, you can’t go and lie to your mom and Tanya, every time your called away to go save the world.”
Finnley sighed and looked out over at the field. Trying to figure out all these thoughts and feelings. One thing was for sure, she didn’t want to ever forget Jay. No matter how long they’ve known each other she felt like he was a treasure and she didn’t want to let him slip between her fingers.
But on the other end, she didn’t want to lie to her mom and to her best friend.
And then there was the dangerous side of working for H.U.N.T.E.R.
   “What if you got hurt?” Jayson asked. “What if you died out there. Your mother would never know. We’d have to tell her some messed up story and she wouldn’t know the truth. Do you really think that’s worth it? Really?”
He seemed really upset that she might even consider joining them. And Finn didn’t know why.
   “Jay that’s just a risk I might have to take.” She said, desperate to get him to understand with out coming right out and saying she couldn’t bare to forget him. (seeing as she would probably sound really dumb)
   “No. No it is not. You can walk the other way. You can go back to your mom, to the only parent you have left. And then everything is going to be like it was.”
   “And what about you?” She asked.
   “What about me?”
   “How would you feel if I suddenly woke up and had no clue who you were. If I woke up, starred you in the face, and asked for your name? Huh?” She had caught him by surprise she could tell.
   “This isn’t about me.” He mumbled. He wound up, and threw the ball at her. Now she knew he was upset seeing as he threw it harder then he had before.
   “Yes it is. This decision will affect you just as much as me. And to be honest, I don’t think I want to ever hurt someone like that. Ever.” She threw the ball back. Jayson stopped and took his sunglasses off. He took determined steps up to her and she was a little scared of him at the moment. The look in his eye,... she had never seen that before.
He only stopped till he was close enough that she could reach out slightly and touch him.
His breathing was heavy and his mouth was in a strait line.
Finnley took a breath and hoped he couldn’t hear her frantic heartbeat.
   “Would you hate me if I stayed?” She asked quietly. Keeping her eyes down cast to the grass between their shoes.
She heard Jay take a sharp breath and braced herself for some kind of verbal blow.
   “No.” He replied, equally quiet. “I wouldn’t.”
She was a little shocked by his response and looked into his eyes to make sure he wasn’t teasing. He was dead honest.
   “Really? or are you just saying that to make me happy?” She ventured to ask.
A smile crossed his lips. Finnley shoved her hands deep into her pockets to keep herself from doing something stupid.
   “I’m serious. I-I don’t know how to explain how I feel at the thought of you staying here. It’s like-like-”
He sighed and looked over her head. Running a hand through his blond hair he tried to find the right words.
   “Like you had the strength to do anything, possible, or impossible? Like your so happy your heart might burst into a thousand pieces, each one sparkling as bright as the stars?”
Why did you just say that Finnley?! She yelled at herself. I mean come on girl! do you know how dreamy, and completely and utterly hopeless you sound?!
She didn’t want to hear how he reacted. She wished she could take back what had just slipped out. She wish she wasn’t there.
But, then she did. She wanted to know how he reacted, she wanted to know what he would say.
So all she could do was wait.
A few seconds felt like hours dragging by, all the time she was locked in his silver-blue eyed gaze.
   “Yeah...It feels like that.”

Entry: 4

Entry: 4
      - First glance

When Finnley got back, she found that Jay had already changed and taken a shower.
She found him lying on the couch flipping through channels on the TV. He finally stopped when he found that one channel was playing Fast and Furious.
She rolled her eyes and placed a grocery bag on the kitchen counter. She had noticed the fridge had no sodas what so ever so she had stopped to get some seeing as she could hardly go a day with out a cherry Coke.

She jumped through a quick shower and quickly pulled out her new clothes.
They weren’t her first choice seeing as most of them were boys clothes (due to the fact she couldn’t seem to find a decent T-shirt in the girls part)
She looked at herself in the floor length mirror on the bathroom door.
“Oh gosh. I sure hope I’ll be able to get a new outfit soon.” She muttered. Though it struck her as funny because most of the clothes she owned at home where from the guys department in Target.
She now wore a pair of skinny jeans (from the girls department) still with her red converse. She did not plan on getting rid of those anytime soon.
But she wore a boys shirt that was a little baggy but it would do. In fact it was a vintage looking Coke T-shirt. She had laughed when she picked it up and just had to get so here she was now.
Taking out a brush from the bag she ran it through her hair and tossed it up in a really messy bun.

She let out a sigh.
   “This is as good as it’s going to get Finn.” She said to her mirrored self.
Opening the door, she tied her old clothes in a plastic bag.
Jay was still watching the movie. She glanced at it and tried not to laugh as the kid tried to drift, and just managed to hit everything he tried to avoid.
Walking into the kitchen she found that she was starving and needed something to eat. Glancing at the clock on the oven she laughed.
6:45pm. Yeah that would be why she was hungry.
Humming her daddy’s lullaby again, she looked though all the cupboards and fridge.
   “What are you doing?” Jay asked, getting up from the couch and walking over.
He was dressed in black jeans, and a Mt. Dew shirt that looked an awful lot like her Coke shirt. Only green. Duh.
   “I am hungry so I was thinking of making dinner.” She said turning back to ransacking the cupboards.
   “You cook?” He asked in shock. She laughed.
   “Yes. My dad made sure of it. You have a lot of noodles, do you have pasta sauce?” She really was just thinking out loud, but Jay answered anyways.
He reached over her and opened a cupboard. When he pulled out his hand he was holding a can of pasta sauce.
   “Yup.” He answered as he handed her the can. She smiled and pulled out a pot.
Setting the noodles to boil, she leaned against the island counter as Jay lounged on the couch again.
   “Is that from the guys department?” He asked pointing to her shirt.
She chuckled.
   “Yeah.”
His eyebrows shot up.
   “You wear guy clothes?” He asked in shock. She nodded.
   “Only because there isn’t a decent shirt to be seen in the girls department.”
He nodded.
   “That’s true. I hate what girls wear these days.” He muttered. She took that little tidbit and filed it under ’Jayson’ in her head.
   “Yeah. Most of my clothes at home are from the guys department anyway.” She added thoughtfully with a laugh. “People thought I was a little weird, but I couldn’t care less about what they think.”
Thinking of home she thought of her mom and was grateful that she was up in New York.
She suddenly gasped and scrambled for her phone.
   “What?” Jayson asked a little startled. She didn’t answer and scrolled through her contacts till she came to Tanya’s name. She was about to hit the little green button when Jay suddenly jumped up from the couch and knocked the phone out of her hand.
   “No!” He cried. “You can’t call them! Ok? You can’t call Tanya, you can’t call your mom! You can’t call anyone. Not on a cell phone anyway. Alright?”
Finn was taken aback by his sudden outburst. She had completely forgotten about all that, she just wanted to call Tanya to tell her she was ok.
She knew that Jayson was right, but it had just taken her by surprise and it had shaken her up. Not only that, but everything that had happened in the past day!
The aliens, finding out who Jayson really was, getting beaten by an alien, steeling a car, it all came down on her hard.

Jay sighed, and figured that he probably had overreacted.
   “Sorry Finn, I didn’t mean to snap at you.”
She didn’t answer, her head was getting dizzy and her hands were shaking.
Sugar. My sugar levels are low. She had lived with this all her life, so she knew what to do when her sugar level dropped.
   “Finn? are you ok?”
She managed to shake her head. Walking over to the grocery bag she pulled out a Coke and a Hershey’s bar.
   “Finnley what are you doing?” He asked as he watched her try to open the chocolate bar.
   “My blood sugar is low. Really, really low.” She said slowly, trying to prevent her voice from breaking.
   “Here.” He took the bar from her hands and tore it open and handed it back, then popped open the Coke.
   “Thanks.” She muttered as she bit into the chocolate.

A few minutes latter she felt much better, the shaking had stopped and the dizziness left. She rescued the noodles from Jay and turned them off before they boiled over.
Instructing him how to drain them and then heat up the sauce, he looked pretty pleased with himself that he hadn’t burned anything.
The pasta was pretty good and seeing as he didn’t have a table
( “Who doesn’t have a dinning table?!” ) they ate on the floor. Which was fine with both of them. Finn thought of it as a indoor picnic. Just with out the ants.

   “So what do we do next?” She asked as she signaled Jay to wipe his mouth off.
   “We go to HQ.” He said simply. She nodded as she took another bite.
   “And where would that be exactly?”
   “Downtown Orlando actually.”
She rose her eyes and nodded.
   “Alright then.”
   “Yup. There you’ll have to choose though.” That seemed to slip out of him before he could get control over his tongue.
   “’Choose’?” She repeated.
He clenched his jaw and she figured out by that he wasn’t going to explain.
She let out a sigh and jumped up from the ground. Taking her bowl and empty Coke can with her she scrubbed the bowl clean and dried it off.
   “We have to go.”
She turned and saw that Jayson was peaking out the window.
   “Why?” She asked.
   “Because...He’s back.”
She bit her bottom lip as she tried to get her thoughts together.
Jayson went into his room and came back with his leather jacket and a hoodie.
He tossed her the hoodie, she pulled it on then grabbed her jean jacket. He flipped off all the lights and they walked down the stairs and went into the garage.
   “Oh. My. Gosh.” Finnley gapped as she saw a sleek black sports car with a green strip on the bottom.
   “No way! how the heck can you pay for this thing?” She asked as she walked around the car.
   “Killing aliens isn’t with out it’s perks.” Jay said with a chuckle.
She hopped into the front seat as he got into the driver’s side.
The car’s engine was a soft hum that told her that this was a really, really expensive car! She was almost afraid to move in the car, afraid she’d mess something up.
A holographic mini computer thing came out of the dash board, and Jay clicked a few buttons. The garage door opened and he drove out onto the street.

Finn couldn’t help but constantly glancing in the side mirror to see if the weird zombie dude was following them again.
The city passed by quickly, lots of clubs and their rather disturbing signs were all lit up with lines going all the way out the door.
She tried to ignore the uneasy feeling she had in the pit of her stomach as she sunk a little into the seat.
She also tried to pretend she didn’t notice Jay’s constant staring at her.
But at one point she just couldn’t take it.

   “Would you stop that?” She said, keeping her eyes out the front window.
   “What?” Jay asked all cool like he had no idea what she was talking about.
   “You keep starring at me when you think I’m not looking.” She said, rising back into the seat her full height.
She saw Jayson blush a little. Which made her chuckle.
   “Why do you do that anyways?” She asked. “Just curious.” She added when she saw him hesitate.
   “I don’t know. I guess it’s just years and years of trying to see through an aliens disguise.”
   “Ok that I get, but you don’t do it to everyone. Sure maybe an alien but you do it to me the most.” She pointed out in a low voice. This was all new waters for her. And she admitted that she has no clue where she is, or where she’s going.
Jay didn’t say anything, and Finn was hoping that she could take that back.
You just should have left it at that Finnley! But no, you can never leave well enough alone can you?!
She cupped her chin and starred out the window.
   “Probably because your the only girl who’s ever given me a second glance.” Jay said slowly after a moment. She was surprised by his statement. Glancing over at him she couldn’t believe that.
He was the typical surfer guy who every girl wanted. So what was that about?
But she didn’t know that Jason had thought the same thing about her when she said that she was usually invisible to everyone else. (Besides Ryan Stevens apparently)
   “Well I guess that goes for both of us.” She said with slight smile.
He glanced over at her as she fiddled with her purity ring. She had to remind herself of the commitment she made several years ago. And once she did, all the butterflies flew away and she felt just like...her. Which was odd because she felt like she could never truly be herself for anyone. Even Tanya.
   “Have you ever had a friend who knew you through and through?” Jay asked.
   “Someone you could be yourself around no matter what’s going on?”
Finn thought it was just a little freaky that he seemed to know exactly what she was thinking. (Though she knew he really didn’t, but it felt like it.)
   “Not really. Not before now anyways.” She said quietly. “Everyone always expects something out of me. Either to be quiet and not exist to the world, or to be a tough girl that doesn’t show what’s going on the inside. Or just to be the track runner, or dancer. Nothing more nothing less. It’s quiet tiring actually.”
   “I know what you mean. That’s the same with me. I’m the youngest field agent in H.U.N.T.E.R and as such I have to keep a reputation. If I slack I loose respect. Respect I’ve worked extremely hard for. But no one ever wants to really know me. They just all think I’m some kind of super solider. But....”
   “You have feelings just like everyone else.” Finnley finished for him.
He glanced at her and grinned.
   “Yeah. Apparently we more a like then we knew. But lets see, I’m going to say that we’re also way more different then the same. Seeing that you fight aliens, where as I am just a dancer or a track runner, or what ever. But mainly just the ordinary girl next door.” She rocked back and forth in her seat and started humming again.
   “To everyone else.” Jayson added.
she smiled. At the moment she didn’t connect it. At the moment she wasn’t really thinking either. But she felt the bond between them grow stronger. And she wondered if he felt it too.
   “So when are we going to get there? Where ever ‘there’ is?” Finn asked.
   “Do you ever stop asking questions?” he asked. She could hear the teasing note in his voice and just grinned.
   “No. I don’t. Now answer please.” She said snapping her fingers a little impatiently.
Jay shook his head.
   “I don’t think so Ms. Leavenworth. You’re going to have to figure it out just like the rest of us.”
   “Rest of us?” She questioned. “How many kids are in this...this agency?”
   “Um....” he pulled up into an old bank building that looked to be run down and abandoned.
   “well, one that actually does something? Uh one. Me.” He got this Doctor Who grin on his face that made her burst out laughing.
   “What are we doing here?” She asked. He gestured with his head and they both hopped out.
   “Now I have to warn you. You might not get a warm welcome. Their a little....stingy.” He explained.
That didn’t exactly make Finnley feel comforted.
He chuckled and squeezed her hand.
   “Don’t worry. I won’t leave your side.” He said quietly. Only loud enough for her to hear it. Not that there was anyone else to here it though.

Jayson didn’t let go of her hand, and for that, she was more grateful then she could find the words to express.
He opened the rusted looking door and they found themselves in what would have been the lobby.
There was cobwebs everywhere and dead plants. There was no lights in there except for the moon light.
Jay led her over to the front desk and bashed his fist on the desk.
   “What are you doing?” She whispered, not really wanting to break the heavy silence. He put a finger to his lips and she bit her bottom lip.
There was a sudden hiss and two people came out with guns and they were pointed at her.
Her grip on Jayson’s hand tightened and she held her breath.
   “Hey, don’t get trigger happy.” Jay said as he starred them down. “Martha knows she’s here.”
The lady in the expensive suit motioned for the two armed men to put their guns down.
   “Long time no see Jayson.” She said, clasping her hands in front of her.
He didn’t look particularly happy to see her.
She frowned and made a ‘tsk tsk’ sound. Then she snapped her fingers. One of the men put away his gun and pulled out a tablet. Coming up to Finnley, he grabbed her right hand and forced it down on the tablet.
She quickly figured out that they were taking her finger prints.
   “You could have just asked you dolt.” She muttered.
Jayson chuckled beside her and the woman rose an eyebrow.
   “Well, well. You always attract the wild ones don’t you Jayson?” She asked.
Jay rolled his eyes and the agent let go of Finn’s hand.
   “She’ll be processed,” the other lady said. Finn didn’t like the sound of that. “After, Martha sees her.”
Jayson didn’t wait for his escort, he shoved past the lady and Finnley followed him.

They walked through another door that looked like a wood panel and soon she found herself in the rest of the building. Only it was extremely high-tech, there was lots of people, no cobwebs, and it looked nothing like the lobby. But she had kind of guessed that. She chuckled as they walked past rows of computers and tons of people talking on headsets. A big holographic globe was the center piece in the room. There was red blinking dots all over the country that she couldn’t figure out what they meant.
   “They tell us where our agents are.” Jayson whispered in her ear.
   “Oohh. You know that’s just plain freaky.” She whispered back.
   “What? how we track them.”
   “No. How you know exactly what I’m thinking.” She answered. “How do you do that? your not some kind of mind reader are you?”
He just grinned at her. Leaving her with her mouth hanging open. She rolled her eyes as they left the big circular room and into a series of hallways. He led her into a huge, huge office.

It was all richly furnished with expensive wood furniture and leather. Paintings filled the walls and livened up the room. But what Finnley was shocked to hear was Mozart playing in the back ground.
Standing in front of the antique record player was a woman with short dark brown curled hair. She wore expensive looking slacks and a pretty blue blouse.
But when she turned around, Finnley was shocked to see how young her face looked.
She smiled at the two of them and walked over to Jayson. Giving him a hug.
   “Oh it’s so good to see you Jayson. It’s been to long. Really.”
Finnley felt a little awkward, until the woman gave her a hug as well. She was completely shocked that she was stunned.
   “And yes, you must be Finnley. It’s good to meet you. Seeing as I’ve heard a lot about you.”
The woman walked back in front of her desk and pulled out a file. Finnley saw a flash of her latest school picture on a page and couldn’t control the slight anxiety that ran up her leg, making it bounce.
   “I see you’re quiet the dancer. And no criminal record so that’s always good.”
Finnley let out a small sigh and tried to act interested. But to be honest her head was hurting again and she was exhausted.
The snooty lady came back in and reported that she hadn’t been processed yet. Finnley was tempted to stick her tongue out at her.
   “Don’t.” Jayson whispered.
She took a deep breath and tried to control the urge.
   “Darling how are you feeling?” She realized the woman was speaking to her.
   “Um....” She was having trouble processing the question. “Honestly?” She asked.
The woman shooed the nasty lady away and nodded for Finn to continue.
   “I’ve got a splitting headache due to the nasty blow I got from the butt of a gun that was held by some freakin’ alien who turns out to have blue blood. I’m freaking out because I just stole someone’s care, so there goes my spotless record. I find out that...he’s some kind of secret agent,” she made a sweeping gesture to Jayson. “And kills aliens for a living. And frankly I can go on a little longer but soon I’m going to turn into a zombie.”
She stopped her rambling and waited to see how she would react.
Martha (Finn assumed she was Martha) turned to Jayson.
    “Well I see you held nothing back.” she said. Finn scoffed.
    “Oh he’s held tons back. Which is a good thing because my head is about to explode.” She muttered.
   “What’s this about a zombie?” Jay asked turning to her. Finn looked at him as he should know this.
   “She’s tired Jayson.” Martha said coming up and putting a hand on Finn’s shoulder.
   “And you should be. You can sleep on the couch, it’s actually rather comfortable.” She gestured over to the only piece of furniture that wasn’t made of leather.
Finn was a little hesitant to let go of Jayson’s hand. And Martha noticed.
   “Oh don’t worry, he’ll be here in the morning I can promise you. And as a matter of fact, he’ll probably stay right outside that door. He’s real good about guarding the people he loves. Now go. You’ll need your rest.”
Jayson nodded and let go of her hand.
Martha handed her a blanket and she sighed. The couch did look awfully welcoming. Kicking off her shoes, she curled up with the blanket and fell fast a sleep.