Written in the Stars

26: Liar, Liar

 ❝if he's the reason that you're leaving me tonight / spare me what you think and / tell me a lie❞

- tell me a lie : one direction

Ever since Lucy moved back to the Palm Woods, Jo had been doing her best to pretend that it didn't bother her. Kendall was struggling to act nonchalant. Part of him worried that this would interfere with his relationship, and he didn't think he could handle losing Jo a second time. So, he did his best to act normal.

Kendall had set up a base of operations in their living room. He put up a bulletin board that showed a map of the Palm Woods and the words 'Sightings,' 'Command Central.' and 'Alert,' by Kit's telescope. His laptop, two pairs of binoculars, a small satellite, a pen, notepad, and four walkie-talkies had been set up on the table where Kendall sat. He leaned against it, his palms flat. He spoke into one of the radios:

"All agents report. I repeat: all agents report. Over!"

He sat back up in his seat, switching it off.

Meanwhile, Carlos staked out the area where Lucy had lived before she moved. He hid behind some potted plants with Penny. The girl had on a tree hat and Carlos had stuck fake leaves to his helmet. Carlos lifted his radio to his mouth, pressing the button as he spoke:

"No eyes on red falcon on the fourth floor. Kssh," He hissed into the receiver to mimic the static of a radio and signal his signing off.

James had chosen the easy route. He put on his bathing suit, flip flops, and a black tank and made his way down to the pool. The boy laid back on a lounge chair with his eyes closed. He had a lemonade and some water to sip on by his radio. He reached a hand out lazily to pick it up and answer Kendall.

Calmly, he spoke. "She's not at the pool."

Kendall asked, "Are you sunning by the pool, surrounded by girls in sunglasses?"

James's eyes shot open at having been caught. He lifted the radio back to his mouth.

"What? Uh, no. I'm g-going through a tunnel. Kssh! Reception—tunnel—shwshw!"

He threw the walkie-talkie aside. Upstairs, Kendall rolled his eyes.

The blonde boy moved on to the next radio.

"Logan, Kit," he said. "Have you spotted the nest?"

The couple were huddled together behind the front desk, wearing matching black sunglasses. Kit picked up the radio and pressed the button, holding it between them. It was Logan who spoke:

"I am unable to hack into Bitters' system–"

He lowered his sunglasses, sparing a worried glance at the screen. Kit frowned, pushing her own pair up onto her forehead, taking the hair that framed her face with them. She tilted her head and bit back a laugh.

"And I'm a little freaked out by his screen saver."

Logan and Kit stared at it again. Wordlessly, Kit pulled out her cell phone and snapped a photo to show Kendall later. The image in question was the final shot from the boys' first-ever Pop Tiger photoshoot. Bitters had photoshopped his own head over Carlos's, though it was much larger than the others'.

"Aw," Kit added. She turned to Logan, "I forgot how cute your dimples were in that picture."

Logan's cheeks flushed lightly at this. He clicked the radio off and leaned in to press a soft kiss to her lips, muttering a thanks.

Kendall stared down at the radio in his hand, both confused and disgusted. He put it back into its place by the others.

Mama Knight walked into the room. She was surprised to see her couch had been taken apart to make room for Kendall's command center and the cushions were proposed up behind his bulletin board.