•3302 words•

This is it! Our first ever crime! I keep saying it, but this is what Ash and I have been waiting for this whole time. Oh, and Jamie, he's so stunning. Maybe I shouldn't love him, he is Ash's old foster brother, after all. I just can't help it though. At first, I thought Myliey was the one for me but now I'm thinking, 'nah, Jamie is so much more attractive.'

In just 2 days, we're going back to the UK. Crofley's needs us; we didn't just sign up to this for no reason, you know. Yesterday, I decided to tell Myiley that I like Jamie, as not long ago, I figured that she might like me. I like her a little too, but I'm thinking that maybe her and I would be better off as friends. I want to be a little more than just friends with Jamie though. He seems so handsome, kind, sweet- just all-around amazing. Myliey tried to look unbothered when I told her; I could tell that she was disappointed though. Since, she's been acting quite strangely and hasn't spoken to me much. I'm not sure if she even wants to be friends anymore.

I'm upset about Ashlyn. Her and I were best friends; now she doesn't seem too interested in me. I'm not sure if I want to be friends with her anymore. After all, she has seemed like she's more interested in Kyron. Personally, he's not my type. I don't usually go for blondes. I'm more interested in Jamie. I feel like the two of us could build an extremely strong connection, quite easily. What I'm saying is that I miss Ashlyn. A lot. She's not the same person I saw as the new girl that Monday morning back in November. It's January now: probably the peak month in New Zealand's summer. Ashlyn's just changed. I'm not saying that change is necessarily a bad thing, but since we came here, she's been nothing except interested in Kyron. She's nothing to me anymore. She doesn't even seem like a person. She just feels like a KB-attachment. She isn't my best friend as I know her. Quite sad really, but coming here has changed us both. At first, we were both looking forward to coming here to fight crime, but now that we're here, the only thing the two of us seem interested in is finding love. At least we both think that we've already found it. I know Ash has; I'm happy for her.

The next couple of days go by very fast. Now it's time to go to the UK, again. I decide I want to sit next to Jamie on the plane. I want to get to know him better and if it goes well after sitting next to him on a plane for over 20 hours, I might even ask him out. I've never dated anyone younger than me before, especially a boy, so for some reason, it just all feels a little intimidating. I don't know why. Ash decides she wants to sit next to Kyron and Myliey sits at the back of the plane on her own. The 4 of them and I decide to keep the same seats on the plane from Singapore to the UK, too. This flight goes from Auckland to Singapore- it's kind of like the other way round from getting to New Zealand from Bridgewood. Ash and I's supervisor, Lisha, comes with us, along with Jamie's supervisor, Dave, and a Berkley's worker who used to be Kyron and Myliey's supervisor, Aaron. I can't believe they're sending us out all the way to the UK, just to solve a crime. This place must be loaded! I mean, if they can afford 5 young teenagers to live on a desert island in the middle of the Pacific in an extremely modern beach house and pay for other groups of teens to do the same, then they must be full of money.

We arrive at the airport and I watch Ashlyn go over to a shop which sells these same little panda biscuits she keeps buying from everywhere. They must be a worldwide treasure. I think she's going to come and give some to me, but no. She goes over to Kyron, gives him a hug and a packet of panda biscuits, sits down and eats with him. She catches me glancing at her and smiles at me. I try to smile back but I just can't make one out. She raises one eyebrow at me, trying to ask what's wrong. I turn my head and look towards Jamie, who's talking to his supervisor. Lisha comes over to talk to me and we chat for a bit. Ash then comes over and asks me, to my face, what is wrong.

"Oh, nothing." I say, my voice sounding extremely worn-out and painful.
"You don't seem alright, please tell me what's up Brooke. I'm your best frien-"
I stop her.

I wanted to shout, but I didn't have the energy for a loud sound to come out of my voice box, so I just talk normally, but with a steady tone.

"Look, I know you're probably falling in love, Ashlyn, but you aren't my best friend anymore. You don't seem like the same person I came to New Zealand with. Not the same person I was excited to start a new life with. You don't seem like Ashlyn Evanston. You don't seem like you. You don't seem like my best friend, Ashlyn. And I want nothing more than to be with you, but you're too caught up in relationships and things, you've definitely not been yourself lately."
It's a snap, but it is a very structured snap. I keep my cool, yet I keep my voice to a serious tone. I'm proud of myself.

"Hey, Brooke, " she starts to say, "I know that I'm falling in love, and I really do feel a connection with Kyron. I'm sorry that you were feeling this way about me. You should have maybe said something earlier if you were up for it. I know you had a crush on me when we first met, but now that our friendship has developed, I think it's safe to say that we can both fall in love, but still have a best friend! At the end of the day, friendships and relationships aren't the same things...at all. We can still be best friends, Brooke, as long as we make it happen. We can, okay? I'll promise to you that I'll spend more time with you, but I'm just letting you know that if you don't like Kyron, I'm sorry. I'm falling in love with him and I'm not gonna suddenly lose feelings for him just because you don't like him. Likewise, I'd never stop being friends with you over a guy! If you don't like Kyron, I don't mind, but I hope that you could respect that I love that boy and I am going to spend time with those who I love, like I'll spend more time with you because I love you. I hope this clears some things, B. We haven't been talking much lately, you're right. I hope this little convo' changes a few things. I love you, sista. Here, have these."

She sits down next to me on the little bench in the airport, gives me a hug and gives me a pack of panda biscuits. Kyron smiles from afar and blows Ash a kiss. She blows one back, stands up and turns around, so she's looking at me. She blows me a kiss and walks back over to Kyron. I smile. Like I said earlier, I am happy for her. They aren't official yet, but I know how much she loves that boy. I can just tell.

Ash and I's little chat made me feel a lot better about how she's been with me, and what she feels around Kyron. After all, I do think I'm falling for Jamie, although I haven't told her yet.

Shoot.

She knows that I said I find him attractive, but that's nothing more than a little 'fancy.' Ash doesn't know that I think I love her ex foster brother! This is bad. If I tell her that I actually love him, things could get a little... let's say-dangerous.

It's time to board the plane and Lisha, Dave and Aaron are going to all get on the plane after us. The 3 will sit together on a row of 3- aisle 6, seats 27,28 and 29. They wait for us 5 to board the plane before they follow on after. I'm not so nervous, definitely not as nervous as I was last time, anyway. Our bags are in the overhead lockers like last time but unlike last time, no sick bag for me. I look over towards Ashlyn and she sort of looks like she's about to throw up, although coming to New Zealand, she was completely fine. Hm. Maybe she was trying to put on a brave face for me, aw. Maybe she feels more comfortable around KB, also, aw. They're holding hands, just like Ash and I did on our journey here. The plane is about to take off when I turn to my left. I'm sat in a middle seat in aisle 10. Jamie is sat next to me in the window seat, no one sat next to me in the aisle. We have all 3 seats to ourselves. He taps my thigh.
"Hey, Brooke, please can we hold hands? I'm really scared of take-off, and I'm not scared to admit it to you. You're really pretty by the way."

Oh my God.

Di-Did Jamie Corvanze just call me pretty? He wants to hold my hand- aww.
"Oh yeah, of course, " I say, virtually speechless. "Thanks, I think you're really handsome, Jamie." I reach out to grab his hand and he shifts up beside me. I take his hand and it feels warm against mine. I gape at it for a moment and then JC points something out to me through the window. We've already taken off now, but I'm not paying attention to what he's showing me. Thoughts are scurrying around my head; do I see Jamie as someone I'm falling in love with, or more like a younger brother? I'm not quite sure yet.

JC is wearing a reddish-orange hoodie with a guitar logo on it. He tells me all about his favourite bands, his favourite hoodies, his family (uh-oh: Ashlyn) and tells me everything else about himself. He asks me some questions and I start to answer them when suddenly Ash turns around in her seat and spots me. I'm still holding Jamie's hand. We haven't let go of each other. Maybe we are in love. I decide that if I quickly let go of his hand, she will notice the rapid change in movement, so that's a no. I decide to pretend I haven't noticed her. Maybe then she'll notice that I am possibly falling for JC, and I hope that she can understand that no matter who I fall in love with, our friendship won't change. They're her words, not mine. So, same rule applies, right? I stick to my plan and just point to something random out of the window, whispering to Jamie, through gritted teeth, "shhh, Ashlyn's looking." I catch her in the corner of my eye and she smiles. I really want to look at her and smile back, but I decide not to.

We're going on this trip with Berkley's workers and supervisors but yet we're doing this pretty much all on our own once we get there. When I say on our own, I don't mean the whole crime is expected to be solved by four 15-year-olds and one 13-year-old, other people will be helping from different organisations. Berkley's and Crofley's are working strongly together on this, and more Berkley's workers are going to be flying to the UK on other planes to help out with it too. After all, this has made worldwide news. We've been told that we're some of the best teen detectives in Berkley's/Crofley's and maybe in the entire world! That's why they want us to work on own, mainly, during this crime. It'll test out detective skills, for sure, but will probably also test our friendship and relationship skills between the 5 of us.

Touchdown. We arrive in Singapore. We're here for an hour and then back on the plane. Woo-hoo. Don't you just love being on a plane for 16 hours straight? The airport's the same as I remember it being a couple of weeks ago, (well, duh) but this time Ash decides not to go into any shops. Jamie and I are stood in the airport, holding hands. We're not trying to hide it, so I don't mind if Ash says something. To be honest, I kinda want her to say something. It's not like I'm dating her brother anyway. It's her foster brother and she's not even in foster care anymore. That practically means he now has nothing to do with her life (except he's living in a house with her on the other side of the world from where they're from). Still, I don't think it's a crime for me to love Jamie. He is a very handsome chap, after all. And we're supposed to be solving crimes, not committing them.

We board the second plane: Singapore to the UK. I don't really have many feelings for this flight. I'm not excited nor nervous. Just, meh, I guess. I sit next to Jamie and we talk for hours- literally. Ash and Kyron are sat in similar seats to last time and they're holding hands too. Myliey is sat where she was on the first flight and all our supervisors are in aisle 6, like before. I turn around and I can see Myliey glaring viciously at Ashlyn and KB. She looks so envious of them. Somehow, she doesn't catch my eye. She turns her head back to the right to look out of the window. She has to look over two old men, as she's sitting on the aisle seat. I turn around too, to look at Jamie. I admire his gorgeous face for a moment, look back at Myliey, and then back at Jamie again. I'm definitely in love with JC, not Myliey, not Ashlyn, not Kyron: Jamie.

We arrive in the UK and it's absolutely freezing, no surprise there. This is where I've grown up my entire life, of course I know how cold it is. We collect our bags from the plane and have a sit-down in the airport's lounge. Jamie and I are sat together, holding hands again, when Ash and Kyron walk over to us. Myliey is sat on a bench across the room, and glares at the couple as they walk towards me as Jamie.
"Hi," the pair say at exactly the same time.
"Um, hey? How did they plane ride for you two?" I say, Jamie looking at Kyron, mainly.
"Great, thanks." Ashlyn says. "We need to talk to you about something though, more specifically you, Brooke. Kyron and I really think that we are in love, and-"
"YOU'RE PREGNANT?" I scream out, stupidly.
"No, haha, silly. It's official- we are dating."

I stop in my tracks. Time slows down for a minute. I feel like screaming, but no. Remember what you said, Brooklyn- you are happy for Kyron and Ashlyn.
"Ah, ah-okay." I stutter. Then out of of nowhere, I say, "So are Jamie and I." Jamie looks at me and raises an eyebrow. Without thinking, and so that Ash and Kyron can't see him looking confused, I throw myself towards him, and kiss JC. I shuffle myself back to where I was sat, smile, and look deep into Ash's eyes. Then I look at Kyron's. Those two look at each other and then back at me. Meanwhile, Jamie leans over and kisses me. I turn my head and we kiss each other on the lips for at least 6 seconds. Kyron grabs Ash's hands and tries to pull her away, Jamie and I stop kissing. Ash won't budge though. She is stood there, staring at me, and then looks at Jamie. She looks at the pair of us, back and forth, back at forth. Ash looks so confused. I mean, her best friend and her ex-foster brother have just made out, right under her nose. Eventually, she follows Kyron back to the other side of the airport lounge. I see them whispering and looking at us. I don't care though, I look deep into Jamie's soul and we both kiss each other again. Our first kiss together, in an airport, ha.

Myliey starts to watch too. She is starting to seem really suspicious to me; she keeps watching Kyron and Ash when they're together and now she can't stop looking at me and Jamie. I feel something extremely strange going on. We pick our bags up and get in the taxi to go to Crofley's.

We arrive. We're given a sort of dorm to stay in- the five of us. Jamie and I choose a room together, and so do Ash and KB. Myliey chooses to have a room on her own, and each of our supervisors sleep in the block of staff flats inside of Crofley's. We're nowhere near them. Straight away, we're given a set of tasks to do to help solve the crime. Wow. It has at least 60 different things we need to do on it, before even entering Crofley's main building and before going to the detective station to meet the chief detective, helping to solve this crime. It's a big one, and it's my first ever crime to solve. It's also Jamie's, Myley's, Ash's and Kyron's first crime. We're all in it together. I'm worried for this, but I'm also relatively excited. I hope we can catch this killer. Or maybe there's more than one.

We go down to the police station, and it's our first day here back in the UK. It's also Myliey and Kyron's first ever time here. I'd love to show them around, and I'm sure Ash and JC would too, but we're not here for tourism, we're here to fight crime. We're being taken to the police station now, to meet the police officers helping to solve the crime. This violation has made worldwide news, so many officers from around the country (and around the world) are helping, along with some of the world's head detectives. One of the most notable detectives in the world is Cheif Detective, Sir Harold Loffiet, and he's working with us during this crime. Apparently, we're going to go and meet him tomorrow. I'm sorta excited, I'm also not, though.

We arrive at the police station. There we meet head police officer, Rufus King. He shows us around the place a little, then takes us into a special room where he begins to talk about the type of work they do, and how they solve crimes. I'm personally finding it a little boring, but I look over to my right and Ash looks extremely inquisitive. I'm gradually starting to listen more, and realising that maybe this isn't so boring. If we want to fight crime and catch murderers, we need to show, and have, a good interest in it.

When the meeting's over, we pack up our stuff and leave. I can't wait for this. Now it's off to Chief Detective, Sir Harold Loffiet, tomorrow. Bring it on, Loffiet.

Brooke x