Love & Lies (Complete)

Chapter 9

Everyone's excitement once we arrived in Turkey also got me a little hyped up. I think Louisa had been right, I had been a little down since Harbour but I was trying to get over that. This was my life now, with my career and my amazing friends who never failed to make me laugh. Like when James was trying to flirt with all the flight attendants on the plane and failed miserably. Or when Louisa stayed up with me the night before and we watched my favourite movie, almost missing our flight the next morning. Or when Dean sneaked in a bag of sweets and shared them only with me, knowing the Louisa and James, especially James, would finish it in a heartbeat. And even Aaron, who I swear had a tear in his eye as he came over to wish us luck for the mission.

Yeah, those were the people that made my life complete. I didn't need people like Hunter to take over my thoughts. He was the reason why I was so distracted and failed my mission at Harbour. It was time to take him out of my thoughts. I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and concentrated on the feel of the sun hitting my face as I sat on the beach, the soft sand laying underneath me.

"Ella" someone shouted from the distance. "Ella"

"Hunter?" I whispered as my eyes opened, crinkling as they adjusted to the sun and leant up from the warm sand beneath me.

A figure walked towards me and my heart was beating fast in my chest. The figure got closer and my heartbeat slowed as I realised it was just James.

I breathed a sigh of relief. So much for getting Hunter out of my mind. "Hey James" I smiled as he sat down beside me.

"Isn't this place great?" James grinned "I love it here. I could stay here forever" he sighed contentedly.

"Yeah, it is nice. But don't forget we've got to start the mission tomorrow" I reminded him.

"Spoil sport" he scoffed.

"I've got to be honest, I do love a good beach" I grinned lying back down on the sand, loving the feel of the warmth around me.

"And the great thing is, our resort is right beside the beach"

"Aaron did good hooking us up with this place"

"He sure did" James replied. "It's as if he's deliberately testing us to see if we will actually concentrate on the mission with all these distractions around."

"Well, if that was our real mission, I know who would fail that one" I laughed.

"I hope you're not talking about me" he chuckled. "Just you wait, I'll show you who's boss on this mission. I can do this without any distractions"

"Oh yeah?" I replied, sliding my sunglasses down my face and looking past James. "Hey, Louisa" I waved.

His eyes widened and he looked to where I was waving. "Where?" he said exasperated.

I laughed. I knew Louisa would be at the bar, drinking as much cocktails as she could before the mission and flirting with the boys at the bar, "See, you can be distracted so easily" I smirked.

James humphed "That's not fair. You tricked me"

I laughed "Speaking of Louisa, I'm going to go see where she's at" I said as I got up off the ground and dusted the sand of my dress. "I'll make sure to give her your love" I shouted back to which James just shook his head.

Everyone at the academy knew there was something between James and Louisa. I think they just didn't know it.

I managed to find Louisa sitting at the outside bar and, as I guessed, she was giggling away to the guy behind the bar.

"Having fun?" I asked as I took the seat next to her.

"Lots" she grinned and took a sip of her cocktail. "What's not to love about this place? The sun is shining, the beach is gorgeous and not to mention all the cute boys" she giggled.