Spy School Egypt

Chapter 15: Food fight

Erica's words repeated in my head.

"She what?" I asked, nearly screaming.

"She's working for Croder," Erica replied.

"Zoe would never do that!" I said. "She might have been a cheater, but she wouldn't do that!" I yelled.

"Of course she would; that's why relationships mess things up," She said.

"Benjamin, that's how Warren turned," Catherine said.

"No one ever turned on me," Alexander said.

"Didn't Sarah, your closest girlfriend, suddenly punch you in the face and jab a dart in you when she gave you a kiss?" Catherine demanded.

"Sarah wasn't my girlfriend," Alexander said, offended.

"Sure she wasn't; the point is, relationships mess things up. You can't date anyone," Catherine said. "Especially my daughter in this case."

"I don't like her," I said defensively.

"Right, like the time when Erica kissed you on the mountain, and then Zoe and Jessica got annoyed," Catherine said.

"Wait, what?" Mike and Chip asked, looking at me.

"Nevermind that, I said, blushing. "We need to figure out how to stop Croder, stat," I replied.

"Can I help?" Trixie asked.

"You're still too young," Cyrus said, patting her on the back.

"I'm not young! Ben's the same age as me! He did a ton of cool things!" Trixie said, and I looked away, flattered.

"That was not on purpose. You got kidnapped; we can not let that happen again," Cyrus said, and Trixie turned away annoyed,

"Anyways, of course, like usual, I have a plan," Erica replied calmly.

"What?" I asked.

"We surprise them," Erica said.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"This time, we'll be one step ahead of them," Erica said, grinning.

"That's my girl," Cyrus said, smiling, rubbing Erica's head.

"What's the plan then?" I asked.

"That's a topic for later; we need to get some food and a place to stay first; it's seven now," Erica said and then stopped the wagon in front of a buffet. I hadn't realized how hungry I was until now. I hadn't eaten since the morning in the desert.

"I'll treat you guys to a fast-food buffet for now," Erica said.

"What about some Egyptian food?" Mike asked.

"Honestly, Egyptian food isn't delicious. It's even worse than some French fries, and those are very bad and unhealthy for you," Erica said and then hopped off the wagon.

Alexander raced to the buffet, delighted.

"Ooh! I called the pizza!" He yelled, running into the restaurant and then crashed into a waiter.

"Whoops," he said sheepishly.

"Table for how many?" The waiter asked politely, but you could tell she was annoyed by Alexander's behavior.

"Sorry about him," Catherine said sweetly. "Table for eighteen, please." The waiter led us to a big round table, and we all ate like wolves. Everyone swarmed the buffet besides Erica just took a plate and filled it with as many vegetables as she could, which wasn't much because there weren't many vegetables in a fast-food buffet beside the tomatoes and green beans everyone was avoiding.

Cyrus was grabbing all the food and trying to take advantage of the situation and putting some cookies in his pocket, stealing as much free food he could get his hands on.

The boys and I were rating all the ice cream, pizza, and pretty much all the fast food in the buffet. Catherine grabbed some trifle and English pancakes, and Alexander was eating all the deserts from the sugar cubes to the strawberry ice cream to the chocolate cake. Trixie was eating the sushi bar for some reason.

We all sat down for the first time in the day and finally enjoyed the time. I got to know Trixie a bit better, and even Erica and Cyrus joined the conversation. (Although Erica was always trying to change the topic to business.)

We were having a good time until something went south as usual.

Suddenly five armed men in suits ran in and pointed their guns at us. All the customers and the workers thought it was a robbery, but it was evident that they were Croder agents.

"Put your hands up!" They yelled, and the cashier started throwing money at them.

"All we need is this group," they yelled, pointing at us.

"Of course, take them, but just don't hurt me!" A customer yelled, pushing us forward, and Erica glared at her so hard, she winced back. Of course, the great Erica Hale wasn't giving up without a fight usually.

She threw three plates at them like a ninja star and did a backflip to dodge the flying bullets like in the movies. Everyone whooped, and Erica glared at them also.

"Everyone, please leave; this is a personal thing," Catherine said, but since she said it so sweetly, no one really took her seriously and was still freaking out.

"Listen to her and clear the room!" Erica yelled. Everyone looked at her like she was the person with the guns instead of the Croder agents.

"Now!" She yelled so hard that people fell over each other, trying to get out of the room.

Everyone quickly rushed out of the room, and Catherine, Cyrus, and Erica started fighting them. I could tell who they were by their shape and voice.

The one on the left was Dane, a guy who could switch sides in a flash due to how much money you gave him. And then there was Ashley Sparks, Joshua Hall, Warren Reavis, and to my surprise, Zoe Zibbel.

I nearly fainted seeing her.

"Zoe?" I asked with fear in my voice as she snarled and at me and tried to throw a punch at me. I nearly fell with impact with this betrayal. Warren looked smug and pleased with Zoe turning on me.

"I HATE YOU, BEN!" Zoe screamed at me, and I barely dodged her punch. I grabbed a bottle of ketchup and dumped it on her face. She called again, and the room became chaotic.

Erica fought Ashley tossing all sorts of foods at her. She grabbed my bowl of fries and dumped it on her face, and punched her. Mike and Trixie helped me deal with Zoe while I squared off Warren. It was more of a food fight now, me tossing all sorts of foods at him while he grabbed whatever he could get hold of. Luckily for us, we were close to the buffet tables where you grabbed food, so it was easy for us to get food while they could only grab food off of other people's leftover food.

I snatched a live lobster squirming in a bucket of water, and I flung it at Warren. He shrieked, and I took that time to punch his gun out of his hand.

Cyrus fought Joshua, Ashley fought Erica, Dane fought Catherine, Zoe fought Mike and Trixie, and I fought Warren.

Ashley fired a bullet into the air, and Erica dodged it by throwing a slice of chicken in the air. The bullet sliced through the chicken, and it fell on the floor. Erica flung syrup all over the place, and I grabbed a bottle of orange juice and splashed it everywhere.

They all freaked out for a few seconds, and we took that as a chance to escape.

"Run!" Erica yelled, but we pretty much knew that anyway. Running outside of the buffet, Erica quickly jimmied a car and hopped in.

"Get in!" Catherine yelled, and we all climbed aboard as Ashley, Joshua, Dane, Warren, and Zoe, drenched in all sorts of disgusting sauce, and ran after us. But we were far too ahead.