Kit frowned, his hands on his hips. He shot a ‘seriously?’ look at Ari, but Ari merely gave a small shrug.

‘We’ll start getting ready now. Anything else we should bring?’ she asked.

Ari’s mouth opened, but Kit spoke first. ‘You’ll be fine. It’s been all set up for us. It’s pretty sweet down there.’

‘Great,’ she replied, looking back at him uncertainly. His glower had suddenly gone. She smiled and patted Johnny on the shoulder. ‘We’ll get the equipment ready.’ Johnny lifted the camera – still on its tripod – and they left the room together, not saying a word until they were on the floor below.

‘No, your room,’ she whispered. ‘Beau’s not the only one who’ll have a sore head today. Sleeping Beauty’s still snoring.’

They went into Johnny’s room and shut the door. ‘Did you see that?’ she asked.

‘What?’

‘He didn’t shoot fire from his eyes at me. He was almost helpful.’

‘Well, I’m not sure he was falling over himself to be helpful,’ Johnny grinned. ‘But yeah, he wasn’t picking a fight. I expect it’s too early, even for him.’

Clover didn’t say anything. Johnny had no idea about her altercation with Kit regarding the chess game; he didn’t know she was sporting bruises as dark as tattoos on her arm. He didn’t know about the apology.

‘That was odd though, didn’t you think? With Ari and Beau, I mean. The way Ari lost his rag at him like that. It just seemed to come out of nowhere.’

‘Well, he’s bound to get frustrated by the situation, I guess. He’s trying to keep Kit focused – not helped by us being here, naturally – and Beau’s just freeloading, trying to distract him.’

‘I guess.’

‘I mean, Kit pulls off a Switch Backside 1260 and Beau’s the one who goes out and gets hammered? Come on! It’s bound to lead to tension.’ Johnny walked over to his wardrobe and unzipped an equipment bag, collapsing the camera and tripod and putting them in.

‘Mmm. That was a decent start though – the comment Beau made about everyone bending their knee to him? That’ll go down like a lead balloon. It’s all supposed to be fraternity and brotherhood out there. And Foley wants to be king?’

‘I know,’ Johnny agreed, pulling out some lighting filters. ‘It just confirms what we all already know – Kit Foley’s not a team player. Never was, never will be.’

‘And it’s clearly not lost on them he’s being ostracized.’

‘Do you think he cares?’ Johnny asked.