Spy School Egypt

Chapter 11: Makeover

We were sitting in a taxi, and I suddenly received a call. I took a look at the number and saw it was Trixie's number. I immediately picked up the phone.

"Trixie?" I called Erica, who sat next to me and peeked over. Erica's eyes lit up, and she snatched the phone away from me before I could complain.

"Sis?" Erica called with concern. This was the first time I had ever seen Erica show emotion to anyone besides me. Instead of Trixie's sweet voice talking, there was another voice instead.

Joshua Hall.

"Why Erica, it's a pleasure to meet you again," Joshua said, delighted. Erica's face only seemed colder.

"Where's Trixie," Erica demanded.

"Why she's doing amazing, her temperature is fine, and she's very health-,"

"Shut up, you know what I mean," Erica said, cutting off Joshua.

"Now, let's be reasonable here; I'm the one with the hostages, so be nice," Joshua said. "Unless you want Trixie's dead hand cut off in a box." Erica looked furious, but she remained calm.

"Fine, how is Trixie doing, sir?" Erica asked nicely, shifting into her "sweet" mode.

"That's better, Trixie's doing fine, but we need our money, ten million dollars. I have a better idea, 1 million dollars for every hour that passes starting now. Your grandpa is also doing fine, but we had to knock him unconscious because he keeps beating up the guards every time they offer food," Joshua responded.

"More money? How in the world am I supposed to get that money from?" Erica asked, tears in her eyes. "That's going to be around 18 million dollars!"

"Well, no one said life was fair Erica, you either get it, or she dies," Joshua said, smirking.

"I can't even bring the money! Stupid Ben here broke his leg, and I can't even contact the CIA!" Erica cried although I was pretty sure that was a lie.

"Ben seriously broke his leg?" Joshua asked. Erica winked at me, hinting at me to get into acting.

"Ow, my leg, it, ouch, I can barely even walk across the room, ouch, I can't walk that for carrying that much money on my back!" I yelped out. "The CIA doesn't even trust us and thinks we got into the dark side! Ouch, I can't get the money! Plus, everyone in the CIA is on a mission in, um, er, Antarctica to save the polar bears, uh, I can't even contact them!" Erica rolled her eyes at how lame my excuse was.

"Seriously, Ben, they're not even in Antarctica; they're in Greenland right now," Joshua said.

"Duh, they moved the polar bears from Greenland too, um, Antarctica, to put them in safe habit," I lied.

"Look, Ben, either you shut up and get the money or Trixie, and Cyrus dies," he demanded. Looking that we couldn't lie anymore, Mike spoke.

"Fine! We'll bring the money! Where do we put it?" He asked.

"Bring the money to MARFI's front door. Every second is an extra dollar so hurry up," he said and then hung up.

"Smooth, Ben," Erica said, rolling her eyes.

"Ben did a pretty good job at lying, sweetheart," Alexander pointed out.

"And that, coming from a person that makes up the ridiculous lies about deflecting a bullet with a teapot," Erica said.

"Well, since I lied my whole career, then doesn't that make me a lying expert?" He asked.

"Shut up, that's exactly why I don't trust you," Erica said. We quickly paid the taxi driver and tipped him one thousand dollars extra not to spill anything we said to anyone.

"Let's go," Erica said, slamming the car door shut.

"Where are we going now?" Alexander asked.

"To steal Croder's files, obviously," Erica said and then walked into a clothing store. As I walked into the clothing shop, I asked, "What are we going in here?"

"Seriously, Ben, did all of your brain cells die just now? We need a disguise to get into the store," Erica said and then marched in. The store was pretty new, and it had a fancy name called Sabrina's Clothing Store. The store looked like it was sweeper well, and due to the clean windows, it looked like it was washed recently. Seeing that there were also some snacks in the store, I quickly paid for a snack pack full of all sorts of goodies and then ran off to find a disguise.

"Alright, children, I don't shop often, but I know what's a good disgust and what's not," Catherine said, walking into the center of the wig.

"Mom, I don't need a disguise; I can disguise myself well enough," Erica said confidently.

"Alright, honey, you go find something to wear, and the rest of us will follow me," Catherine said, and then Erica dissolved in the store.

"Now we have to look different, so we have to have different looks. So Alexander," Catherine said, grabbing a green collared shirt and some black pants, "put this on."

"This? I don't wear this sort of stuff; it's going to make me a nerd; you know, I'm more of a flashy person," Alexander complained.

"Isn't that the point of disguises then? Now stop complaining and put it on," Catherine said firmly, tossing it to him. "Go to the fitting room and change, also, take this." Catherine handed him a fake pair of glasses, and Alexander groaned.

"Now, what shall we do for you, Benjamin?" Catherine asked delightfully and then thought of something. She grabbed a gray T-shirt black pants for me.

"Put it on, oh and also, take this," Catherine said, handing me a can of hair dye. I grabbed all the items and shuffled to the bathroom.

Tossing on my T-Shirt and black pants, I almost looked like a normal kid. And then came the hard part. Reading the intrusions on the can of hair dye, I followed it. I used the water in the bathroom to wet my hair and then added a bit of hair dye. The intrusions said to wait for precisely ten minutes after and then rinse. It didn't say why but I followed it anyway. After 15 minutes of dying, drying, and rinsing, it was ready. I nearly fell right on the spot. My hair was blond, with a bit of orange in it. Although I didn't like my new hair color, I still kept calm with it. I usually would comb my hair sideways, but since I had to look different, I used some hair gel to make it look messy and spread out. Adding a bit of makeup to my face, I couldn't even recognize myself. My cheekbones looked brighter, and I didn't have dark circles around my eyes anymore. The light freckles I added to my face looked natural. My hair was bright blond, and the shirt I was wearing made me look a few years older than I was. I looked...popular and every day almost. After cleaning up after myself, I walked out of the restroom. I didn't want anyone to notice that someone was using the bathroom to dye their hair.

Walking back to everyone, they all gave me weird looks.

"Do I know you?" Mike asked, looking strangely at me.

"It's me, Ben!" I said.

"Ben? You look different!" Mike said, his mouth wide open. Mike honestly didn't look like himself either. His usual dark blond hair was dyed jet black. He was wearing something similar to me, and he had added some makeup to his face. Catherine's distinctive British look had been changed. Her long dark brown hair had been dyed light brown. Her hair had been put up in a swagger ponytail, and her straight hair had been slightly curled. She was going for the "cool mom" look, and she nailed it. She looked younger almost, looking as if she was only twenty. But the most shocking part was Erica. Her hair had been dyed orangish-red, and she looked like a redhead. Adding light makeup, she had added a ton of freckles to her face and had red lipstick on. She was chewing a large piece of gun and was dressed as a pop star. She had a crop top on and had a cute mini shirt on, which I had never seen her wear before. Her hair was straightened so smoothly it looked like it was flat.

Mike must've noticed me staring at Erica because he taunted, "looks like someone has a crush..." I ignored him and turned my direction away. Alexander had just run over wearing a nerd outfit, a professional black suit with a pair of boring gray glasses.

"Now that everyone is finally ready, let's sneak in," Catherin said, smiling.