Chapter 5

The men in black got down from the jeep they were in.

One of them walked up to the man in charge of the delivery. He flashed him his ID. "James Ronald, head security of Wil Hunt Enterprise." He told the head delivery guy.

James looked at the package that was being brought from the huge van by four men.

"My men and I will take it from here," James said and nodded at his men. Immediately, three of them went to collect the huge box.

They loaded it safely inside their jeep.

James gave the delivery man a curt nod and turned and went back inside the jeep.

"Package 002 is on its way," he informed his superiors as the jeep took off.

A small giggle that came from the sealed package went unnoticed.

~~~

"Why ever not dude?" Reece demanded, a bit flushed as he held an odd-looking object. He was trying hard not to get angry.

Officer Dan had taken pity on him and had let him off with an extremely stern talking to. He had also extracted a promise from Reece that he would be well behaved for at least throughout that day.

"You can't join our team with that junk!" Thomas refused bluntly, "Besides, what's that thing supposed to be?" he asked jeeringly as he pointed at what Reece had in his arms and his team mates laughed out in derision.

Reece clenched his fists. "It's my skateboard," he murmured.

Another loud round of mocking laughter followed his comment. "Sorry, I thought it was a worthless trash that needed to be recycled," Thomas said mockingly and they all laughed again.

Reece closed his eyes tightly.

I won't get mad.

I won't get mad.

I won't get mad.

I won't get mad.

He repeated in his head. He clenched his fists, trying so hard to put his emotions in check.

"Reece, c'mon get out," Officer Dan said as he unlocked the juvenile prison Reece sat in.

Reece looked up.

"What? You're letting me go?" he asked in disbelief.

Normally the officer would have made him spend the night and right then, it was barely ten minutes since he had been locked up.

"Hurry it up," Officer Dan said in a stern tone.

Reece meekly walked out. Once they were out of the cell section he turned to the officer. "Why?" he asked in a low murmur not looking at Officer Dan in the eye.

Dan shrugged. "You're not a bad person, Reece," he said simply.

Reece's head shot up. "What?"

"You just do bad things," Dan completed and Reece looked away. "I'm going to show you mercy today. Compared to the others, you're an angel."

Reece tensed. Truly, he never got involved in anything too bad.

He only stole to eat, that was all.

"Tell you what, I'll let you go off on one condition," Officer Dan continued.

"What condition? C'mon dude, I ain't got no cash on me," Reece grumbled, cutting short the policeman's speech.

"Now listen!" Officer Dan said in a sharp tone.

"I'm on patrol today. I don't want you in any fight or doing any stealing okay?" Reece looked like he wanted to argue but officer Dan cut him off.

"Just for today and that's all. I'm taking this as a promise Reece, that you will be good." His voice softened. "It's good to always be good," he added in a less harsh tone.

Reece didn't look too pleased but he managed to mutter "I promise."

Officer Dan smiled as he watched Reece rush away. If he knew one thing about Reece, it was that he always kept his promise.

"Whatever," Reece scoffed at Thomas then he turned and walked away.

He decided to go sightseeing. He walked on randomly as he looked at the various buildings.

He finally stopped at Wil Hunt Enterprise and smirked; this was really one busy place.

He slipped in with the crowd.

He stayed in the parking lot and kept his hand made skateboard down near him. He brought out some permanent markers from his pocket and grinned.

I'll teach those big shots the lesson of their lives. He thought as he started drawing on a nicely polished car.

"Hey there!"

The voice startled Reece so much that he dropped his marker. He turned round and was ready to beat a hasty retreat when the person stepped in front of him.

"Hey," she said again.

He scowled at her.

She was the girl that he had saved her purse earlier on. "Get out of my way." He shoved her aside and went to another car to continue with his mischief.

"Thanks for finding my purse earlier," she said as she smiled but her smiled waned when she saw what he was doing.

"What are you doing?!" she hissed in amazement at him.

"Teaching those stingy big shots a lesson, little dudette! Run along now, can't have you hovering around me," Reece snickered as he drew a face blowing raspberry on the car.

"My dad works here," They girl told Reece firmly.

He stood up grudgingly and eyed her.

"Man, I knew you were nothin' buh trouble when I met ya," Reece said as he scowled at her.

"What's your name?" she asked instead of taking offense. "I'm Wendy," she offered.

"Reece." He looked away as he told her his name.

She smiled.

"So...Reece..." she started.

With that they began conversing. Reece found that she was nice and easy to talk to. She was also one of the kind, sweet, well-mannered girls among the upper class families.

~~~

Adam hurriedly drove into the parking lot and parked in the VIP area.

He got down in a rush, loaded with a bunch of paper work in his hand. He hurried towards the entrance of the massive Wil Hunt Enterprise. He narrowly brushed past a teenage black-haired boy chatting with a blonde girl in the parking lot.

Suddenly he stepped on something and it started to roll off furiously.

'Whoa!' Adam exclaimed as it wheeled him into the building. Just then Reece turned back to see Adam's fleeing figure.

"Hey!" Reece yelled, and gave a hot chase in pursuit of Adam.

"Old dude! That's my skateboard! C'mon man!" Reece tried to keep up, pushing past people as he ran.

Adam screamed in horror as he saw he was headed towards a wall. He jumped off the odd-looking skateboard just in time as it crashed into the wall and broke to pieces.

He took in a deep breath of relief as he landed on his feet.

Who kept that thing there anyway? He wondered as he picked up his papers which had been scattered on the floor.

"Hey! Skateboard thief!" Adam heard a yell behind him.

"Where? Where?" Adam looked around for anyone on a run-away skateboard.

"C'mon man! Give it back!" Reece said a bit aggressively as soon as he sighted Adam.

Reece went into a fighting stance when Adam kept looking at him with a baffled expression.

"Fine then, you don't wanna give me my skateboard! I'll just take it by force then," Reece threw some punches in the air, preparing his fists.

Some people stopped to stare.

"Don't think cos you're an old dude I'll go easy on ya, ooh no," Reece bounced from one place to the other, poised to attack.

"Stand back y'all, it's about to get ugly," Reece said as he started to do some jumping jacks. "I'm just going to get my buff on, y'all just wait and see," he boasted.

Adam looked at the hyper kid in front of him with a puzzled expression.

"What in the world--?" he started but Reece cut him off.

"Oh, no, you don't!' Reece cut in, going into battle stance again. "You ain't gonna talk yourself out of this one, old fella, you brought this upon yaself."

Just then two security men came up to the scene.

"Any problem here?" One of them asked with his gaze fixed firmly on Reece.

Adam sighed in relief as he saw them. "Greg, William, get this kid out of my building immediately!" he instructed in an authoritative tone.

"Yes sir." They both nodded respectfully and turned to Reece.

Adam turned to start walking away.

"Crazy kid," he murmured as he rearranged his papers.

I ain't gonna let this go that easy, big shot fella! Reece thought and out of the blues flung himself at Adam but the two guards caught him quickly on both arms.

"Let's get going," William said in a harsh tone at Reece who struggled in their grip.

"Hey! Where's my skateboard?! You took it from the parking lot! Hey! You horrid old dude! Give it back! I swear I'll get even with this! This isn't the end! Hey! Big shot fella! Get back here! You cheat!" Reece hollered at Adam's retreating form as he struggled with the security men who were whisking him out of the building.

Adam paused at the entrance of the elevator and turned back when he heard what Reece was saying.

Skateboard? Parking lot? His eyes widened in realization. Was that thing a skateboard?! His skateboard?!

Adam turned quickly and met the securities just in time as they were trying to shove a very resistant Reece out of the building.

"Security! Wait!" Adam called and they all looked up at his advancing figure.

"Let him go please; it's my mistake. I just realized it," Adam said when he reached them.

Reece scowled at Adam as the security men reluctantly released him from their iron grip.

"Are you sure sir?" Greg, one of the security men asked, somewhat hesitant to let Reece loose like that.

"Yes, yes," Adam said hastily as he glanced at his wristwatch again.

The security men both left but not before shooting glares and dagger eyes at Reece.

Reece turned to Adam.

"Kid, I honestly didn't know that was a skateboard. I mean honestly, did you even look at it? It was like a recycled junk and--" Adam stifled a chuckle.

"Hey! Don't poke fun at my skateboard! I made it myself, ya know!" Reece protested with a flushed face. Adam was really annoying him.

"Yeah, whatever," Adam waved him off. He wasn't interested in hearing the historical background of some rusty old thing.

"Anyway, the thing broke," Adam informed him.

Reece's eyes went wide. "What?!" he shrieked in bewilderment.

"But I promise to make it up to you," Adam glanced at his wristwatch again. "Look, kid, I can't stay a minute longer as I'm running late for my meeting..." He could tell that Reece was going to say something, perhaps give him a piece of his mind so he quickly added, "but I don't mind you crashing in at my house, my house keeper will let you in, okay, kid?"

He gave Reece his card. "It's endorsed," he said flatly.

Reece blinked.

"You're sure man? You ain't gonna mind me crashing in at your place?" he asked in disbelief.

"No, kid. Look, I've gotta go," Adam turned and rushed towards the elevator.

Reece shrugged and glanced at the address printed on the card. "I can hitch a ride to this place," he said to himself as he walked out of the building.

Adam got off at floor 32.

Immediately his entourage that were waiting at the entrance of the elevator crowded him.

They all started walking towards the meeting room.

One of them collected all the papers Adam was holding while another collected his briefcase.

"Mr. Adam, you're really late," one of his retinue of staff said.

"Yeah, yeah," Adam muttered hastily as he hurried on.

"Mr. Adam, Miss Susan dropped by," another staff said. "I'm not going to be the face of her magazine! They do nothing but gossip about famous people's lives," Adam said with a frown on his face.

"Mr. Adam, the 'Star Wil' recording company's representatives have booked an appointment with you," one of his staff informed him.

"Okay, sure," Adam nodded as they all rounded the corner.

"Mr. Adam you have an appointment with your fiancée’s parents by 3:00pm," another staff member told him.

"Really?" Adam sighed inwardly.

"Mr. Adam, your manager isn't happy," another staff member said.

"Who cares?" Adam scoffed.

"Mr. Adam, 'Gresta High School' sent you a gift basket as a way of saying thank you for the donation you gave the school on Monday," another person told him, showing him a well decorated basket filled with snacks and other goodies.

"Keep it," Adam pushed the basket away from his face.

"Mr. Adam, here's a new suit for you," one of his workers said.

"Thanks," Adam collected the neatly folded suit.

"Mr. Adam, stocks are down in 'Bud Wenk'," another staff member said.

"What?! Who's in charge of 'Bud Wenk'?" Adam asked in disbelief.

The worker quickly checked his notes. "That would be Sir Kyler," he told Adam.

"Cut his holiday short; I need him to work harder," Adam told him.

"Mr. Adam, the demand is high in Fillia,' another staff informed him.

"That's good," Adam nodded, pleased.

They all walked on briskly in the hallway, talking rapidly one after the other as they went along.

"Mr. Adam, a hip hop celebrity has invited you to his concert which is on Monday, next week," his publicity secretary told him.

"I'm not going; I hate hip hop," Adam snapped his refusal. "Cook up a good refusal story for him, Tim," he told the man.

"Yes sir," Tim nodded.

"Mr. Adam, your award show is tomorrow morning by 9am," his assistant P.A. told him.

"Really now?" Adam said indifferently.

"Mr. Adam, Your signatures are needed--" one worker was saying but Adam cut her off as he waved impatiently.

"I'm having a meeting now, till later." He entered into his office and his workers all dispersed, going back to their different posts.

Adam quickly changed his clothes and headed for the meeting room.

"Sorry I'm late everyone," he said as he entered the spacious board room.