Read CHERUB: Man vs Beast for Free Online Page A

well earned break as their mouths dropped open.
    Then Mac smiled a little. ‘You don’t have to run it all at once, obviously. I’ll give you three weeks to fit the laps in. Twenty laps works out at eight kilometres per day and you’ll even get a day’s rest in the middle.’
    Lauren felt tears welling up in her eyes. The running was going to be tough, but she’d survived worse. What really worried her was the gaunt look on James’ face as he steamed out of the office. It was like she’d ripped out his heart.

6. ADMISSION
    320 laps later
    Lauren could run eight kilometres easily, but doing it every day was entirely different. Without time to recover, aches and pains didn’t heal and after four days the fifty-minute run became too much. CHERUB’s athletics coach, Meryl Spencer, advised Lauren to split the laps into morning and evening sessions and take it slowly, by walking or jogging most of the way.
    This made the laps manageable, but also meant they took a two-hour bite out of Lauren’s day, which, like all cherubs’, was tightly scheduled with lessons, homework, combat training and occasional mission training exercises.
    On top of everything else, the lifts in the main building were closed for annual maintenance. Lauren and Bethany looked shattered as they rounded the sixth-floor landing. They’d both showered after their evening laps. Wet hair ran down their backs and they held carrier bags stuffed with damp towels and running kit.
    ‘Here,’ Lauren said, holding her bag out to Bethany. ‘Dump this in my room, will you? I’ve made up my mind, I’m gonna go see if James is in.’
    ‘Don’t,’ Bethany said sharply. ‘Let him stew for a while. He’ll come running when he wants something out of you.’
    ‘AAAARGHHH!’ Lauren said, shaking her hands at the side of her head. ‘Stop speaking like that, Bethany. It’s you thinking like that what got us into trouble in the first place.’
    ‘Thinking like what?’ Bethany said indignantly.
    ‘You always plan out how everyone is gonna react.’ Lauren said. ‘You’ve always got to think five steps ahead.’
    ‘Fine. Give us your dirty washing,’ Bethany tutted. ‘Just don’t blame me if you make everything worse.’
    Part of being best friends was being able say stuff that you’d only dare to think about your other mates. Lauren and Bethany always had little digs at each other, but it never turned into a big row.
    ‘Wish me luck?’ Lauren grinned, as Bethany snatched the rustling bag.
    ‘Yeah,’ Bethany smiled back, ‘but if our pocket money hadn’t been confiscated, I’d bet you every penny that James’ll blank you.’
    ‘With friends like you …’ Lauren said, tailing off as she started down the sixth-floor corridor towards her brother’s room.
    As Lauren closed on James’ door, she realised it was going to be awkward and kind of hoped he wasn’t in. She didn’t do her usual distinctive knock, because she didn’t want to get marching orders before making it through the door.
    ‘What?’ James asked aggressively, as he turned away from the homework piled on his desk and saw his sister in the doorway.
    Lauren felt sad as she edged into the room. ‘You don’t really hate me do you, James?’
    It was a difficult question and James didn’t want to answer it. ‘I’ve got a massive Russian essay to write,’ he said irritably. ‘I don’t have time for this now.’
    Lauren had been preparing a speech in her head the whole time she’d been doing her evening laps, but now she was on the spot her mind was blank and all she could do was whine.
    ‘I’ve said sorry like fifty times, James. I even bought you that game for your Playstation. What more do you want me to do?’
    ‘I don’t want anything from you. I told you to take the game back to the shop.’
    Lauren had felt really bad about the whole blackmail thing ever since the meeting in Mac’s office, but she was also slightly aggrieved that James hadn’t forgiven