Sam officially felt like crap. Knowing that Tom was actually on a mission didn't make him feel better about being left out. It made him feel a thousand times worse. Not being able to scream it in Herrison's face made him feel even more frustrated. So he'd basically turned into a walking storm cloud, huffing and puffing at innocent people like Harry and Lisa. And Christine.

Except Christine wouldn't take it lying down. She huffed and puffed in return and pointed out that he should stop being a jealous asswipe because it did nothing for his sex-appeal. Which Sam didn't give two craps about.

"Honestly, Sam, stop caring so much," she said, rolling her amber eyes at him. "It's actually good that you're not the biggest dork for once. Increases your cool factor."

Sam slammed his locker shut, his hands trembling with nerves. Yes, he was in a crappy mood and it wasn't her fault, but damn it, he'd had it with her nagging.

"It's actually fun that you're the troublemaker in detention while Tom is the good boy," she continued, amused. "I like you better like this."

"Like me better?" He twisted to face her, his fists clenched. "Don't you have something better to do?"

Christine's eyes widened in shock, probably at his rude tone. "Oh, excuse me, I didn't know I was bothering you."

He saw it. The displeasure in her voice, the trap laid out for him. "You're not bothering me, but you're not helping either."

"I'm trying to help. I just don't see what the big deal is. Tom just went on an internship."

Even if her attitude bugged the hell out of him, Sam had to give her some credit. His frustration made no sense to her because she didn't know. Of course she didn't understand.

"Tom's not on an internship." He lowered his voice to a whisper. "He's on a mission."

She stared at him blankly for a few seconds and Sam's shoulders relaxed. But then she let out a long breathe as if she were relieved.

"Thank God," she said.

"What?" Fortunately he'd sounded shocked rather than incredibly pissed.

"That means you're staying home."

No, it didn't. It meant he'd be leaving soon, too. Very soon, he hoped. But the fact that Christine couldn't make that basic logic connection kind of bothered him. He hadn't ever thought of his girlfriend as stupid until Tom's jab, but now he wondered if he really knew her at all.

"No, it doesn't," he said flatly.

He watched the expressions change on her face: shock, worry, confusion, annoyance. Defeat. And he couldn't understand why and it hurt. Because it made him question his entire relationship and his feelings and hers. The warmth he felt in his chest for her was still there, but could they actually have a real conversation about serious stuff?

"Sam, I don't want you to go," she finally said.

She'd said that before. But this time, he didn't feel as selfish as he did back then. Because this time, it was all about helping Tom and Angie. "I have to help Tom."

"No, you don't." Her words felt like a slap in the face. "You have to stop being such a control freak."

"Excuse me?"

Christine waved her hand. "This damn hero complex you have. Why can't you trust that Tom is just as competent as you and can handle his assignment? Why do you always have to make it about yourself?"

Was he really making it about himself? Guilt and fear of being unfair pushed his stomach to the floor, twisted it in an uncomfortable knot and set fire to it. Now he was just hollow and probably a control freak with a hero complex. Was that why he felt so crappy? Because he was untrusting rather than worried? Jealous rather than responsible?

"Honestly, Sam. You can't save the world by yourself."

He turned away from her and stared at the shining grey locker. Was it so wrong that he wanted to try?

⭐⭐⭐

Tom and Angie sat on the small couch in the hotel room, taking in the papers spread out on the coffee table. Billy, Eddie, Yuki and Emiko loomed above them, trying to see as well.

"India," Angie breathed. "Snitch Gravel thinks one of the jewels in India."

"Lucky you," Tom mumbled. "You always wanted to visit." He turned to Eddie. "Has Steve managed to make the secure connection so we can send these things to Herrison?"

Eddie looked at his phone. "Almost. It's at 83%."

"There's not much here," Angie said. "Just general indications. Country, the possibility of a legend and..." She flipped one of the pages over. "Telling us to look on page ten which we don't have."

"These look like sketches anyway rather than proper research," Tom said, scratching his head. It already hurt from too much confusion and adrenaline. Not a good combination. Even if he'd woken up a few hours ago, he actually felt tired.

"And done." Eddie leaned over them and took pictures of the papers. "Sending them and waiting for indications."

"Do you think the others will be briefed now?" Angie asked.

"Sure hope so," Billy muttered, pulling as far away from his siblings as he could.

Tom felt like asking what the problem was, but could hardly do that with the twins there. Billy was a lot quieter than usual anyway, as if his voice fueled Yuki and Emiko's life force and he wanted to see them dead. Though if he stopped to think about it, Billy was probably resentful that his father left him alone all the time to probably come and spend time with his other children.

Eddie's phone started ringing, and he answered it with an overexcited grin. "Yes. Aw, come on, I can tell them!" Pause. "Fine!" With a huff, he put the phone on speaker and placed it on the table.

"Great work, team," Herrison said. "By the looks of it, India is your next destination. I will secure you a private plane to New Delhi where you can begin your mission."

"Why thank you, Herrison," Tom said pleasantly. "Just one small problem. What the hell are we looking for?"

"Don't worry, Tom. We've already forwarded the papers to Jessie and she should start the research immediately," Herrison answered in a relaxed tone. "The others will also be briefed and you'll all randez vous in India."

"You're kind of sending us in blind," Angie pointed out.

"I know, but we're in a hurry. I'm not very worried. Sam is very efficient." No one could argue to that. And it wasn't like they could actually do anything about it. "Now the six of you get some rest. I will text you your flight arrangements."

"Six of us?" Billy asked outraged.

"Yes, Billy. The backup team needs field experience, too."

"Booya!" Eddie pumped his fist in the air and leaned against Emiko. "What do you think, beautiful? Ready for a life of adventure?"

"Gross," Emiko muttered, shoving him away.

"Hey, the more the merrier," Tom said.

"Exactly. I'll contact you soon. Rest well." And Herrison hung up.

Eddie, Billy, Yuki and Emiko started talking at the same time, bickering about their roles in the upcoming mission. Tom sighed and smiled. The others would be briefed, they would all meet up, and everything would be alright. The Agency had finally realized there was strength in numbers and were doing this properly.

His chest tightened at the thought of seeing Sam again. How pissed off would he be that his own twin kept things from him? At least they hadn't messed up. Yet.

⭐⭐⭐

India. Their target was India. Sam fought with every fiber of his being not to tell Herrison that it was about damn time he let them know what the hell was going on. He'd been a good boy and acted surprised, even a little excited. Kept Jessie out of trouble. And in return, she'd given him the news a day before Herrison had. He acted like Tom leaving on a mission without any of them knowing was no big deal.

Even if he would've liked to focus solely on research and finding as much about their destination and the jewel as possible, Sam couldn't miss school. Especially since he was in detention. Fortunately, he could enlist the aid of the school library which hadn't let him down before. Unfortunately, it meant having to deal with people interrupting him. Like Harry.

"What are you studying for this time?" he asked with an eye roll, glancing at the huge pile of books on Sam's table.

Sam gritted his teeth. He'd become such an asshole over the past few days, to both him and Lisa, but the current situation sucked so much, he couldn't help it. "Remember the last time you laughed at me for studying too much?"

"Um, yesterday?" Harry asked, taking the seat next to Sam and pushing away a pile of books so he could actually see him.

Sam glared at him.

Harry just laughed. "Okay, okay. At the beginning of the summer, I think."

"Exactly."

Harry looked at him skeptically. Then he frowned and finally seemed to be doing the math. His jaw dropped open and he picked up the first book in the pile: Indian Legends and their grounds. He put it down and continued to stare at Sam with wide eyes, his mouth opening and closing.

Sam sighed, the annoyance finally leaving him. It felt like someone lifted a weight off his heart. "I'm sorry I've been an asshole lately. I'm just really worried." He pointed at the books. "About this, and about Tom."

"I'm sorry, too," Harry whispered. "I really thought you were being a prick because you were jealous you were left behind."

Sam's face caught fire. "Well, you know me well. That was pretty much the reason until I found out what was going on."

His friend laughed, but it was short and forced. He thumbed the books. "This looks bad."

"I'm not really sure how bad, and that's what's bothering me." Sam stretched and his shoulders popped. He'd been sitting hunched for too long.

Harry bit his lip, still studying the surface of the table and the many cuts and notes on it. "Do you..." He swallowed. "Do you think the backup team will be called, too?"

"Some of them have." Sam squinted at Harry, a strange sense of unease grabbing hold of him. A mixture between worry, disbelief and excitement. "Do you want to come?"

He shook his head rapidly. "I thought I did." He picked up the book again and looked at it. "But I'm scared. My dad has been keeping me away from training lately, claiming I should focus on school, that I'll have all the time in the world when I'm older..." He looked at Sam tragically. "I don't think I'm ready."

None of us are ready! Sure, they were more ready now than they'd been for their last two missions because they'd had two extra weeks of training. But two weeks was nothing. Two months was nothing. Sam had gotten beaten up by school jocks, which said a lot about his skills. And yet he still believed that he deserve to go, deserved to know.

He sunk his head in his hands, trying desperately to make sense of all this. Being back in school made it clearer than ever that he had two lives, and he wasn't sure how to make them work together. How to make Sam-the-school-boy cooperate with Sam-the-team-leader and Sam-the-younger-brother. His simple life had become one giant mess he could no longer control.

"Whatever happens, it's going to be okay, Harry," he said, his face still covered.

"I'm sorry I've been such a crappy friend, trying to ignore all the changes in our lives."

Sam lowered his hands to look at him. "You haven't been a crappy friend. I have."

"No. I was so jealous of you. Because you're the leader who gets to know everything and leave as soon as there's action, and because of Christine."

"Christine?" Sam asked shocked.

Harry's cheeks turned a bright red. "I feel like she's trying to change you and I don't like it. I don't like her. And I know I shouldn't be saying this..."

"You're right, you shouldn't. " Sam let out a sigh. "But I'm sort of glad you did. I kept wondering why you two keep glaring daggers at each other."

"She's just-" Harry bit his lip. "She's like one of those mean girl queen bees and you're so not the dumb jock she usually ends up with."

"It's not like that."

"I know it's not. I can see you truly care about her, or you wouldn't be together, but I'm scared that she'll chew you up and spit you out."

Sam had to admit that he was a little bit afraid of that himself. Probably because his relationship was like a runaway train he had no control over. It was either blissful or tense depending on how Christine felt about him and his actions every single day. And he still felt like she was way out of his league and their relationship was a figment of his imagination.

"And I'm really sorry about Tom. I hope he's okay," Harry added.

"He apparently is. He completed the first part of his mission successfully." The part Sam had nothing to do with. And it made him feel strangely both proud and jealous of his twin. Maybe Christine was actually right and he was a control freak with trust issues. She kept pointing that out almost every day now. That and asking him to go shopping.

Sam had no time for shopping. He didn't even have time to eat or sleep properly because he dedicated all his time to reading. It was probably stupid, but he wanted the research part out of the way as soon as possible. He wanted to leave for India and meet the others. He wanted to see Tom and Angie and congratulate them. He wanted to be part of the mission and figure it out fast. Because he strangely wanted to come back home and focus on school for once.

But before that, there was more India to research.

🌟🌟🌟

We're very close to getting out of school and back into the wilderness for some exciting adventures involving shooting and chasing and other stuff like that.

But before that... I want to know how you feel about Sam at this point. Does his confusion make sense? Do you understand why he has conflicting feelings about Tom?

And what about Christine? How do you feel about her at this point? About her relationship with Sam? And Harry?

Thanks so much for reading. Now go vote and leave me a comment I can work with or so help me! (Totally quoting Monster's Inc)