The Apprentice

Chapter 14

"You're still to rigid." Jane said to her friend. Jane had been trying to teach Mike the basics of wielding a lightsaber. Key word trying.

The boy took a deep breath trying to relax his body. This had been a regular thing. Either he was too tense, or too loose. He didn't think this would be easy, but he wasn't expecting such a challenge.

"Why don't you take five Mike." The girl said. She could tell he was over thinking the whole thing, and when he over thought things he would get stressed out. With a sigh he extinguished the green blade. Mike walked to where Jane was and sat next to her.

"Are you sure these are the basics?" He asked her.

"I'm positive. It's the same moves I started with too." Jane responded.

"Then I'm hopeless." Mike said laying back.

"Mike it's only been two weeks. You can't expect to be a mater over night." She told him. Mike was quiet for a moment. The boy sat up and regarded for a second.

"You know I just realized something. I have been going through the motions, but I don't think I've seen you actually use the lightsaber." Mike said. Her heart sank at those words. The girl turned her head away from him. Mike noticed her change in demeanor almost immediately. She had put up her walls again. He'd seen this before when they were kids when she didn't want to talk on a subject.

Trying to muster up a shred of courage; she managed to look back at him. Her brown eyes locked with his dark ones. His eyes were full of both care and worry. She felt bad for making him worry about her.

"Sorry. I just have bad experiences with training is all." Jane managed to say. Not a total lie. After the words left her mouth she looked away from Mike again. As Mike watched the girl he reached out with his hand. With light fingers he grasped her chin. Ever so slightly he moved her head to face him again.

"Was that how you got this." He said referring to the scar on her cheek. When he first saw it he didn't want to focus to much on it. He himself had acquired a few battle wounds here and their. The one on Jane's face was a dark angry line. It wasn't just a mere cut though.

In Mike's eyes however. It took nothing away from how beautiful he thought she was.

At Mike's mention of the scar on her face; the memory returned to her mind. Eight trying to kill her, the blade on her face, and the eventual death of Eight by her own hands.

"Yeah something like that. It was practice gone wrong." She told Mike. Once again not a lie.

With the same feather light touch he traced the scar with his finger. Jane's eyes were wide, and she could hear her own heartbeat. Slowly, ever so slowly he placed a light gentle kiss on the marred flesh. The girl thought she was going to melt into nothingness, but not before her heart explodes out of her chest. The two locked eyes again. Both of them were leaning in. This was it. This was the moment they were waiting for.

But before it could happen. The two broke away at the sound of someone obnoxiously clearing their throat. The two teens looked behind them to see Steve leaning on one of the walls. The older boy had an (obviously fake) innocent smile on his face.

"Sorry to break this up lovebirds, but Nancy needs us. She says it's important." Steve said. Jane nodded and quickly walked away. Meanwhile if looks could kill Steve would be dead ten times over.

"Do you guys hate me or something? Hate us? Every time, every single time we're about to kiss you guys come in and ruin it." Mike said obviously not happy about what transpired. The smile was wiped off of Steve's face at that.

"Wait. You mean to tell me you two haven't been making out this whole time?" He asked the younger boy.

"We probably would be if you didn't walk in." Mike said quietly.

"No I mean since tatooine." Steve clarified.

"Once again we get close." The younger boy started.

"Only for one of us to interrupt. Shit dude I'm sorry." Steve said feeling bad. Mike said nothing. He began walking away until Steve caught up to him. "Mike you know you can come to me for anything right." Steve told Mike.

"I don't need your help with Jane Steve." Mike said tensely. He had known Jane for years. They were connected by the force of all things.

"No I don't mean girl advice Little Wheeler. You two are obviously smitten with each other. Everybody knows that dude." Steve said pulling out his old nickname for Mike. The boy couldn't fight the heat rising to his cheeks. "I could've helped run distraction for you. We could work out a series of hand gestures to signal 'Hey about to kiss the girl of my dreams keep assholes away.'." The older boy said. Mike said nothing until he stopped walking.

"You'd do that?" He asked Steve.

"Yeah. Of course I would." Steve said like it was no big deal.

"You're the best Steve." Mike said with a smile. Until the horror of the situation dawned on him.

"Oh, ho. I'm the best now. Nothing I didn't know already, but it's nice to get recognized every now and again." Steve said oozing arrogance. As Steve walked away Mike looked on with a sense of dread.

"What have I done?"
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The two made it to the holo table where the other's were waiting. Mike shared a small smile with Jane before looking at his older sister. She had her arms crossed, and had a tensed, worried expression on her face. Before Mike could inquire Max spoke first.

"What has you in such a good mood?" She asked Steve.

"Nothing, nothing." He responded that cocky smile still on his face. "But according to Mike I'm the best. It's nice to know at least one of you appreciate all I do." Steve said looking at each of them pointedly. Max shot Mike a deadly look across the holo table. The boy just hung his head in guilt.

"Are you done?" Nancy asked. She was met with silence. "Good. A few weeks ago I sent one of our operatives to scope out your next run." She said referring to the party. "We lost all transmission with him and we can't track his location." She added. Making a pointed look at Will she spoke again. "I'm sorry Will, but it's Jonathan." She said. The boy had a clearly distraught look on his face.

"We have to go find him then. We have to save him." Will said.

"That's why you're here." Nancy said to reassure the boy. "Is their anyway you could track his location? You're the smartest group here you have to have some idea." The older girl spoke. Dustin, Mike, and Lucas immediately started brainstorming. While Max, Steve, and Nancy went to reassure will. Jane had merely watch on the entire time until she found her voice.

"I can find him." She said to the group. Everybody stopped talking to regard.

"You can?" Will asked in a hopeful voice.

"Yes I can find him." She said in a resolute voice