The next day flew past and so shall be ignored.

It was now Friday, no honestly! Trust me, I’m a politician! It was the afternoon, really, it was!

James, Paul, Roxanne and Michelle were all in James’ car and were heading in the general direction of the cinema, not to see a film, to work. The cinema was new and getting a job had been quite easy in the beginning. They weren’t at school as their lessons had finished and they were allowed to go home, so they worked. They were singing merrily to the radio, it was currently churning out Abba’s classic tune "Waterloo", the lights they kept approaching were red but it didn’t bother them, it meant more singing time. When they arrived they fell out of the car with laughter, mainly because James actually did fall out of the car. They got inside and it was almost empty. There were more staff than people waiting, when films were showing and it was quiet they all had a laugh. James and Roxanne went off to get changed into their work clothes and the others reported to their respective stations. Michelle to the Hagen Däzs counter and Paul to the popcorn, sweets and drinks bar. James came down a few minutes later and sat behind the glass of the ticket booth and Roxanne joined him. They logged on and James adjusted his headset

"MM this is TB3 logged in" he reported to management. The entire team had radios and it was used as a means of telling everyone what was happening. Roxanne followed suit

"MM this is TB2 logged in and ready to serve" she looked at James and stuck her tongue out playfully.

"I’ll cut it off," he warned playfully with a grin.

"Oh yeah, with what!" she retorted. James looked around him for something that was hinted at sharpness. He picked up a biro and waved it triumphantly. "You could always bite I off," she added playfully. James ignored the final comment and looked at what films were on and how many people were expected to be there. He was just slipping off into the world of the computer when his radio started talking to him.

"Mother Hen, this is Little Chick! Mother Hen, I have spotted the monkey and shall have her roasted soon" coded Paul. James looked over the cinema and saw Michelle cleaning one of the ice cream trays out. The arcade was next to her and James surmised that Paul was hiding there.

"Little Chick, this is Mother Hen. Pull out of the pan, the monkey can smell the garlic…breath". As James finished his sentence Michelle span round and threw a spoon at the arcade.

"OW! THAT REALLY HURT" Paul sounded somewhat dejected.

"Remember Little Chick, "There is no spoon"" James felt proud as Paul emerged handing Michelle the spoon with one hand and rubbing his head with the other. He returned to the drink bar and one of the screens emptied.

"Staff, screen 3 has ended. C’s to report" the basic translation went something like "OK guys the film in screen 3 has finished and everyone has left. Cleaners, do your thing". James leant over to Roxanne and muttered "Looks like we’ve got chief whip on duty" Roxanne tried not to laugh as she handed a customer his ticket. James sat back up and smiled at the kid walking up to the window.

"Three for the 4:30 showing of Blade" the kid said trying to sound confident. James thought about what was happening. If a kid was here, they should be a sixth former or at college, this kid was not in either, as a result he, and his friends were clearly not old enough to see a film with an 18 rating. James tapped a few keys on the computer and the radios beeped.

"Do you have any ID on you? With it being school hours I have to ask." James tried to sound as if he was on the kid’s side. The kid looked shocked.

"I’ve never been asked for ID before!" he spouted indignantly. As James was about to answer John the manager appeared on the same side of the glass as the kid.

"Is there a problem here?" John was six foot and two inches tall, he clearly had the height advantage. The kid ceased his opportunity

"Yeah! There is! HE won’t gimmie a ticket."

"What film for?" John queried.

"Blade"

"Well have you an ID?" I don’t need no fucking ID.

"No ID, no admittance." John was clearly spoken and his voice was quite neutral.

"I wanna see the manager" the kid demanded.

"I am the manager" John assured the kid. It was at this time that two policewomen arrived. James had sent the message to John that there were two underage people in causing trouble, John had seen them and got the truancy police in.

One of the kid’s friends yelled to his friend

"Dom, cops!" Dom, as he was now known, glanced over his shoulder and kicked John in the stomach. John creased in two and the kid pulled a gun out of his jacket. The policewomen un-holstered their own weapons. The two friends dropped to the floor and lay still with their arms and legs out. Roxanne and James dived under their desks, as did Paul and Michelle. James got Roxanne through a half-height door and into the back. He whispered into his radio for the other staff to stay clear of the foyer and to stop anyone trying to get in there.

The kid has his back to the booth but had glanced and realised that James and Roxanne had gone. James could hear the policewomen trying to calm him down. James could see through a gap in the board by the base of his chair one of them moving slowly to the two of the boys’ friends. He screamed at her to leave them alone, he went mad and fired a shot. James saw the moving policewoman go down clutching her arm. Dom shifted his weight and stepped into James’ view. He was yelling at the other policewoman now, threatening her. James was too shocked to fully take in what was happening. James sat away from the board and grabbed hold of the underneath of the work desk. He pushed himself up threw his full force onto the board with his feet. It gave way easily and James continued through with the force of the motion. The board smacked into the back of Dom’s knees and he folded and fell forward, the gun sailed from his hand. James scrambled from the hole and saw the policewoman grab Dom. James shouted into his radio

"Get an ambulance quick, we’re safe". James stopped by the injured cop who was losing blood fast. Michelle threw him a first aid kit and he got out a glove and a sterile pad and applied pressure to the wound. The bullet had passed through and was lying on the floor; James tried to remain calm as he talked to the woman on the floor.

"Stay with it, what’s your name?" she wasn’t that much older than James and was looking pale, as if she were about to fall unconscious.

"I said WHAT’S YOUR NAME!" James shouted at her and she gained a small bit of focus.

"Uugghhhhhhharhhhhhh…Jay…J...Jayne" she struggled.

"Right Jayne, I’m James. You’re going to be fine, you’ve only got a flesh wound, you’ll be fine. How are you feeling?"

"F…kin crap. You?" she managed

"Oh me, I’m well pissed with you!" her look went from pale and dazed to pale and concerned. "You’re bleeding on my floor and on my new trousers". She managed to half smile

"Shhhorry. I’ll mae ‘tup ‘tou"

"I’ll hold you to that" James smiled. At this point the men from the ambulance burst in and took over. James told them what had happened and they had carted the policewoman, Jayne, to hospital. Her partner went with her and some other guy had taken her place. He was taking down everyone’s account of what had happened. James went and got him the security tape too. The cinema was closed for the rest of the night but James stayed to help clean up. Roxanne and Michelle stayed too, they felt that James needed some support, Paul had to leave. He’d feinted when he saw all the blood, and it had made him feel most unwell.

James was sweeping up the last of the wood from his booth when he just stopped. Is face glazed and went blank. Roxanne saw and went over to him.

"It was my fault" he said vacantly "If I’d just given him the ticket, everything would have been fine" his eyes welled.

"It wasn’t your fault" Roxanne jumped in "If it was anyone’s it was John’s for ringing the police! You’re the one that saved everyone! You did that, nobody else, you!" She gave him a smile but it didn’t register. He broke and sobbed heavily the broom fell from his hand and he dropped to his knees, his head in his hands.

Roxanne and Michelle managed to get him calmed down; they all ate some ice cream and locked up. They all knew that things would never be the same again.

James didn’t sleep well that night, his parents were away at one of dad’s work meals, when they’d heard what had happened they’d rang James and left loads of messages for him to get back to them. James kept seeing Jayne being shot, over and over again. Then he was trapped, under the desk of his booth, it was cold, metallic; he couldn’t move. Dom walked up to him and raised the gun

"It’s all your fault," he said as he fired. James felt himself falling. He hit the floor with a thud. He was upside down and his foot felt like it was burning. He opened his eyes and saw his room the wrong way up. He glanced upward to see his foot tangled in his quilt.

His bed was a metal bunk bed, the bottom being a sofa. He’d been pressed against the bars then gone over the top and got his foot caught. He struggled to right himself but his foot untangled and he landed in a messy heap on the floor. He looked at his clock. It was only half past five in the morning, with no energy James curled up on the floor. He dreamt of nothing, but he could hear a ringing, it sounded distant to begin with and grew louder.

"Oh fuck" James tore out of his room and dived at the phone in his mum and dad’s room. "Hello?"
"James? It’s Roxanne. Are you going to come into work today or not? Mike’s on instead of John and he says you don’t have to if you don’t want to". James looked at the clock.

"Oh fuck, sorry I didn’t realise what the time was. I’ll be there in fifteen minutes" James hung up the phone before Roxanne could argue with him. He had a quick shower and got dressed. On his way out he saw his trousers in the washing machine, they were still red so he put them on another intensive wash. He suddenly had a flashback of how Jayne looked when he got to her; he banished it and ran to the car. He took it easy driving to work the last thing he needed was a speeding ticket on top of everything else.

He parked the car hastily and dashed in. The carpet men had just finished laying the new carpet when he sat down at his computer, the carpet was identical to the last one, a bit cleaner mind. James poked his foot forward and it met with a new piece of wood, they got things done fast when they wanted to. He logged onto the computer system and announced his presence on the radio.

"James, it that you?" the radio replied.

"Yes it is. Why?"

"Hang on a sec" Mike appeared not too long after and had a quick word with James. He tried to convince him to go home but James wasn't having any of it. He was adamant that he was going to stay at work and not let the "incident" phase him.

The thing in distant space had stopped stirring now and was looking round, as if it was deciding where to go. I know it is an it as I got a second opinion, and then a third, I decided not to get a fourth and so went straight to getting a fifth. By the ninth opinion we were all in agreement that it was definitely an "it".

Two hours had passed and James decided to take a break, he let one of his colleagues take over his terminal and went to the staff room. He got a coffee and sat down, just as he started to close his eyes his radio chirped.

"James, someone on the phone for you" came Michelle's slightly distorted voice "line four". James picked up the phone and let the call ring through.

"James Bell speaking"

"Hi, it's Jayne" James' mind whirred slightly and then it got a fix.

"Oh right, hi. How are you?"

"Not bad. My arm hurts like hell, I'm not going to be able to go on duty until I've had enough physiotherapy to be able to shoot again"

"Oh, sorry to hear that" James replied genuinely.

"No, I still get paid. As I recall I owe you don't I?" it was more of a statement than a question.

"Not really, I was trying t-"

"No, I feel that I should do something for you" Jayne interrupted with a harshness James didn't expect.

"Oh, ok. What did you have in mind?"

"Well I would suggest that we go and see a film but I think I'll avoid the cinema for a while" there was a much lighter tone in Jayne's voice now.

"Right I can see your point" James almost laughed.

"How about if I buy you dinner. Now before you say no I'll pay and that's that!"

"Guess I've got no choice in the matter then" James realised that he didn't actually know anything about this person. Her personality was much different when she wasn't bleeding heavily.

James gave up and they decided that they'd go out next Sunday night and eat. Jayne was picking the restaurant and James was simply to turn up at her house. She faxed him through a copy of how to get to where she lived and James sat back on the sofa. Michelle walked in quietly. James opened his eyes

"I am awake"

"Sorry, did I wake you?"

"No, no. I can't sleep at the moment. I'm gonna be a wreck at the ball!"

"You'll be fine. Here take a few of these, they keep me going" Michelle handed him some caffeine tablets and fetched him a glass of water. "They'll start to work in about ten minutes and should last until about two o'clock tomorrow morning". James knocked them back and smiled "Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeee" he blazed with a massive grin.

James went back down and finished his shift. When he got home he started getting ready to go out. He wasn't feeling tired, he made a mental note to get his own supply of Michelle's wonder-tablets.

He sat down and carefully chose a CD to play whilst he was getting ready. He couldn't decide on any specific CD so he chose a selection and told his CD player to randomly play tracks from each of the CD's. It had the choice of Republica, Abba, Steps, Ministry of Sound, Garbage and Madonna. James prided himself in his wide selection of music. The track started quietly and James realised why; he'd left the volume on a mere setting of 2. He quickly remedied the situation and whacked the volume up to 15.

"There, that's better" he said to nobody in particular. He went and had a shower and drove down to the hairdressers. He had his hair trimmed and styled for the ball. It was too hard for him to do at home so he paid someone else to risk life and limb to do it.

He got home and tried his best to remove and remaining flecks of hair from around him. He got into his suit, all apart from his jacket which he didn't want to crease. The doorbell rang; he shot down the stairs and opened the door. As it swung open he saw Paul stood in a dinner jacket and a bow tie. Paul looked surprised to see that James wasn't ready.

"Hi, you're early" James said over the volume of the Steps version of Tragedy.

"No you're running late! Come on". James shot back upstairs turned the music off, grabbed his jacket and ran back downstairs. Paul looked at the base of the stairs and saw James whirl by in the general direction of his shoes. Seconds later James emerged fully dressed and ready to go. He locked the house up and got into Paul's car, which was being driven by his mum.

They arrived fashionably late and went straight to get a drink.