A/n: Hey Hey. I think i should forewarn you now about something that wouldn't fit into the summary. A slight gay relationship that might be occuring in this fic (I hope thats not going to be a problem.) Hehe. I tried writing romance once a while back and it did actually work fairly well (to my suprise i might add), at least thats the response i got. So here goes, there'll be enough action to keep it moving, :) This is my first fic in a loooooong time so i'm rather looking forward to it all. If you do happen to have a moment of spare time please review, ^^. Anyway i won't stall you any longer, i'll just add a disclaimer just to keep u from reading it for a few moments more :D.

Disclaimer: Unfortunatly i don't own Alex Rider, Otherwise i would now be on a beach in the Mediterranean getting a suntan :).

Chapter 1.

"Mr Rider?!"

Alex snapped to attention, his pupil's instanenously bulging to take in every inch of the room. His arms flashed in front of his torso ready to block a frontal attack, while his ears strained for the second of a weapon being cocked. Only, they never heard anything. It took him three embarrassing seconds to realise he wasn't in danger, no members of the Scorpia organisation were abseiling down from a helicopter, nor was there any threat of being blown to pieces, but then again Alex reasoned fleetingly, with his science teacher you could never be sure.

Alex's science teacher was called Mr Grimstone, a short stocky man who was standing pompously at the head of the classroom. Currently with a single eyebrow raised at Alex's rather unusual reaction. Alex sighed, it wasn't the first time and he'd be willing to bet it wouldn't be the last. When he'd first come back to Brookland, it had taken time to readjust to a normal, school life. And while that was perfectly understandable and a rather serious problem in his opinion, his classmates found it hilarious. In particular, his unique twitch when he jumped was what had brought on the giggles; at least now most people were content with simply calling him a prat.

"Hmm?" He mumbled, not quite mustering the energy needed to speak.

"Hmm is not an answer! I think you'll find pardon is the more polite version, and throwing a sir in there now and again would earn you a few brownie points." Mr Grimstone said. His voice laden with sarcasm. "You seemed to be dozing off; perhaps you can answer this question for me."

Alex sighed wearily, trying to fight the urge to close his eyes once again. It was true he'd not been paying 100 percent attention and might, have fallen asleep for half an hour but in all honesty it was probably a better use of his time. Looking around the class he noticed that a large proportion had done exactly the same. Half the front row had fallen asleep making no attempts to camouflage it, two of them snoring slightly too loud for any reasonable teacher to ignore; but Mr Grimstone had a crazy vendetta against Alex which he himself had never been able to place.

Alex watched as he walked to the board, protruded a large stick to tap the notes he wasn't quite tall enough to reach and began talking in what seemed like gibberish. Even the exchange student from a physics university seemed to be struggling against committing suicide, if only to escape the boring voice. Mr Grimstone's lessons were all the same, and the most exciting thing that had happened thus far was when he'd set his chair on fire during a bunsen burner safety demonstration. Since then it was all theory; on the board right now were a series of arrows all pointing in different directions with numbers written next to them. It made no sense to Alex, and it didn't seem he was going to be spun any lifelines.

A polite cough emanated from the row in front, causing Mr Grimstone to stop speaking his eyes enlarging, enabling him to home in and scan the classroom to find the culprit. When his gaze fell upon the class genius he permitted himself a smile, and as usual the guy didn't disappoint. Alex sighed in relief, catching wild words including 'trigonometry', 'perpendicular', 'resolve', and a fair few more, before they passed through the other side of his head. His relief was short lived, something moved in front of him that caught his eye; upon closer inspection it turned out to be Tom's latest girlfriend, Emma. Once she was sure he was watching, she reached over and began to gently rub her hands over Tom in a mocking gesture, reminding Alex of a factor he knew far too well that he was alone. Fortunately this didn't have the full effect because Tom was also snoring his head off and for the moment completely oblivious.

Mercifully at that moment the bell chose to ring, - ring being a rather large understatement – ending another tedious lesson. The sound blew the door open, causing the class to reanimate with a start. Alex hastily swept his books into the bag, and made way towards the door; the bell had signalled lunch and fortunately this was one of the few days when Emma wouldn't be there. Alex would be able to talk to Tom, and their recent friend James, and quite possibly actually enjoy himself. If he didn't have them, he wasn't sure he stay at Brookland much longer.

"Alex, how you doing?" Tom greeted, as he hurried to keep pace. The pair of them headed swiftly in the direction of the courtyard. Although it was the lunch hour, Alex's appetite at school was minimal, and Tom seemed more interested in keeping him company then following the groans of his stomach.

"I'm alright. I think that teacher has got something against me…"

"Oh really? Whats he done this time, I must've dozed off." Tom replied.

"I noticed. You might want to be a little slyer next time." Said Alex with the faint traces of a smile. They walked towards the entrance where a couple of festively plump characters Alex knew only too well were trying to look tough, and epically failing, as a group of year sevens snorted at their feeble threats and slid through their fingers. Tom smiled, and one of the guys saw it, he walked over to him and threw out his chest, pausing only too glance at Alex, upon which his chest rapidly deflated, as well as his pride. He'd never forgotten when Alex roundhouse kicked him in the stomach the previous term.

Outside, the fresh air wafted over Alex's face, waking him up and slightly raising his spirits. He allowed himself a smile, and further boosted his ego when he noticed a group of girls nearby staring rather too intently. It was strange thought Alex, that after being shot at and all the rest that had happened, he still couldn't approach people due to some innate shyness he seemed to posses around new groups. Even though he thought such things were mainly insignificant in comparison.

"I swear time slows down in that classroom." Tom said, breaking the silence. "Perhaps the clock is loosing the will to live as well, one day it'll stop altogether."

"Hmm, I wouldn't be surprised."

"Well at least we didn't get homework; he usually sets us a ton."

"Indeed." Alex spoke, his voice slightly vacant.

"You seem a little odd today Alex, you ok?" said Tom. His voice etched with concern. He was after all the only one at Brookland who knew the truth and that Alex had indeed spent the mass amount of time out of school acting as a spy for the British Secret Service. Everyone else either didn't care where he'd been, or believed the rumours flying around that he'd been everything from skiving to thrown in a mental asylum.

"Yeah fine." Said Alex, he crossed to the edge of the grounds and leaned against the fence, watching the road beyond. It was mainly empty with the passing of a few cars and a single pedestrian walking slowly and deliberately towards the school. Alex blinked and shook his head, slowly and deliberately?! He was over 150 feet away, it was impossible to tell. Maybe he really did need to go to a mental asylum, if only for a couple of days.

"Well no," he began. Deciding to share what was on his mind. "I miss it. I have no idea why but it's true, I miss being a spy. I miss the adrenaline, the missions, it was horrible I know, but I had a purpose in mind. Here it seems I'm going nowhere, I'm mocked over saving the world – which I can't tell anyone by the way – and it doesn't seem to be getting any better."

Tom looked at him for a moment or two, slightly stunned.

"You know I think you might be getting a little sentimental, you told me u hated it all!"

"I thought I did."

"Well look at it this way," replied Tom. His tone optimistic. "At least it can't get any worse."

"Good Afternoon, my good looking friends!" Cried a jovial voice behind them. Alex and Tom both turned around to see James standing before them. He was slightly taller than both of them, with a brown emo fringe and very green eyes.

"I take that back. It can." Tom said with a grin.

"Let me re-phrase that. My good looking friend and you." James said, before slandering up to the fence to stand next to Alex. "Still thinking about your spying days eh Alex?"

"How long have you been listening?!" Tom asked.

"Long enough. What does sentimental mean? Another big word you're using in a random context, probably wrong?"

"Actually no, he's got it right this time." Alex remarked.

"Hmm all right then. I guess I'll look it up at home if I can remember. Though that probably won't happen."

Alex blinked, and corrected his mental mistake. Tom wasn't the only one who knew about his link with MI6, James knew about it as well. Alex liked James, despite his obsession for appearing twice as camp as he actually was; he was light hearted, seemingly always optimistic and very good at cheering him up.

"Do you want the good news or the bad news?"

"Either." Said Alex.

"Well the bad news is, you're possessive and annoying partner, also known as Emma is looking for us." He said, turning his attention to Tom.

"That's bad?" Said Tom, choosing to overlook the cheek directed at his girlfriend.

"It will be when…" Began James but he trailed off as a gorgeous blond haired guy walked past them. "When she f…" He stopped again as an equally good looking man hurried after his friend.

"You're such a slut at heart" Said Tom laughing.

"I am not!" Replied James in protest. His face fell a moment later. "Oh dear she's found us."

With that he turned and moved rather hastily in the direction the guys he'd spotted earlier had gone. James had only openly admitted to being gay two weeks earlier, although it wasn't a massive surprise to Alex. He'd known earlier, he just couldn't explain why he had known.

"Hello," came a soft spoken pout. Alex turned around to see Emma standing before him. She cast him a one second glance of contempt before turning to Tom, batting her eyelids.

"Hey hun, how you doing? Listen I came over here to see if you wouldn't mind escorting me through the hall. My friends are dying to talk to you again."

"Erm… but…" said Tom, his protests rather feeble.

"Lovely," replied Emma. She slipped one of her hands into his, stroking it gently while moving her body slowly closer to Tom until he just couldn't resist. He cast an apologetic glance in Alex's direction and allowed himself to be led away. Alex sighed and turned his attention back to the figure approaching the school; maybe he'd been right earlier. Now Alex could make out his blond hair.

For some reason Emma had taken a dislike to him right from the moment he'd come back. She was at the heart of the school, the coolest of the coolest so the speak, and knew everyone in the year. She was also very judgemental, and more importantly to some, exceedingly pretty. Her babyish face worked exceptionally well in conjunction with her brown hair, and caused many to stare in awe. Tom was the receiver of many envious glances.

Alex's insides jumped as he did a double take at what he was seeing. He'd recognised the figure approaching the school. It was impossible, yet there he was. Plain to see and in broad daylight too.

Yassen Gregorovich was walking towards him, slowly and deliberately.