Pep Squad Read Online Free PDF Page B

one way of looking at it,’ said Jess, feeling her cheeks burn just at the thought of her mum’s display in the car park. ‘How did you Aussie guys end up at a school in Ireland?’
    â€˜Both our parents work in the oil industry. We’ve been in Kuwait for the last three years. Rather than sending us to what they consider to be one of the exclusive international schools in Kuwait–’
    â€˜Oh, the irony,’ interrupted Matt, smiling broadly.
    â€˜â€“our parents wanted us to be educated at a normal school in an English-speaking country. Ireland’s only seven hours away by air, which is half the distance to Australia, so it was the obvious choice,’ finished Ben.
    â€˜Yeah, we’ll get to go back and thaw out in the holidays. Seriously, do you ever get summer in this country?’ asked Matt.
    â€˜We had two sunny days in a row last week in Dublin!’ said Jess defensively.
    â€˜Not a good idea to offend the natives,’ Ben muttered.
    â€˜So how did you hear about this place?’ asked Jess.
    â€˜This seemingly random chick approached us at GameCon to see if we’d design a game for this new VR cell her company makes.’
    Jess had no idea what they were talking about. ‘What’s GameCon? And what’s a VR cell?’
    â€˜GameCon’s a convention for computer-game industry professionals,’ explained Matt. ‘And VR stands for Virtual Reality.’
    â€˜What were you guys doing at a convention for computer-game industry professionals?’ asked Jess.
    â€˜We, uh, own a gaming company,’ said Ben.
    â€˜Oh,’ said Jess. ‘How old are you?’
    â€˜Fifteen,’ said Ben.
    â€˜I’m four minutes older,’ volunteered Matt.
    â€˜Hang on,’ said Jess, remembering the simulation in the final testing phase of her recruitment. ‘ You guys wrote that game with the gunmen on the roof of O’Connell Bridge House?’
    â€˜No, we didn’t write that one, but we did get to play it,’ said Ben. ‘Pretty annoying, really. It’s amazing technology and I had all these great ideas for how we could develop it further but, as you know, it was just the last step in recruitment and no one seemed all that interested in my suggestions.’
    While Jess and the boys had been chatting, more students had arrived. However, the auditorium was less than half full when the back doors closed and a hush fell around the hall.
    Down on the stage a group of adults filed in and sat on a row of chairs that spanned its width. They were men and women of all different nationalities, but the one thing they had in common was that they all looked very, very fit. Jess recognised Lieutenant Parry and Signora Enigmistica. They were sitting either side of a young woman with beautiful, long, shiny hair, who kept glancing apprehensively at the students.
    Jess wondered why the chair in the very centre was empty until a tall man dressed in a torn tuxedo with an open bow tie hanging around his neck jogged in from the left wing. One side of his face was grazed, and there was an open cut above his eye. The majority of students in the audience chuckled as he made his entrance, but Jess saw Lieutenant Parry’s smile tighten as the man passed him on his way to the microphone centre stage.
    â€˜Good afternoon, cadets and staff. For those of you who don’t know me, I’m Vladimir Metsen, founder of P.E.P. Squad and Principal of Theruse Abbey. Welcome to a new academic year, and an especially warm welcome to those joining us for the first time. In three years, or rather two years and ten months’ time, you too will have the opportunity to ruin expensive designer suits like this on covert missions.’
    Jess and the twins found themselves giggling along with the other students.
    â€˜Only two months ago we said goodbye to our very first graduate class, and they have already demonstrated their expertise in