MEDICINE | alex rider

three

The girl had waited until the locker room had cleared out to change. The locker room still had the sweet smell of vanilla perfume from the class before hers, the mirrors were still fogged with steam, showing they had just recently been used. She slipped on a pair of sweatpants and a long-sleeved athletic shirt, wearing the same shoes she had been wearing all day. She shoved her uniform in her locker and closed the door locking it behind her.

She pushed open the door inside the locker room leading outside to the track. She saw everyone in her gym class stretching on the grass, she joined the class bending over touching her toes, hoping the gym teacher wouldn't notice she was late. She felt the satisfying burn in her hamstrings, holding the position for a few seconds before switching on to the next.

The phys ed teacher looked up from his clipboard and clapped his hands together startling half of the class. "Alright everyone line up." There was a collective group of sighs throughout the teenagers, the girl lifted her torso upright and followed everyone else onto the track. They all lined up into several rows and somehow she got pushed to the middle, but she didn't blame anyone for not wanting to be close to the front.

"Four laps around the track, you'll be timed, begin." As the last word left his mouth everyone broke out into a slight jog.

Phys ed was her last period of the day so the sun was a bit harsher than it would have been if she had the class in the morning. The agency had picked her schedule for her so she didn't get to pick what class she got and when she wanted it. She didn't know why they had picked the particular schedule she got, she assumed it was some lower-level agent who didn't have any common sense because if it was up to her she would have chosen a double study hour instead of gym.

Earlier that morning a package had arrived at her door containing a burner phone and a sticky note attached to it that had the words written for an emergency. The phone had one number programmed into it and had several VPNs, making sure it was untraceable. She wasn't sure why the agency would send it, if she had been compromised she knew they wouldn't send anyone in to help because if her captors didn't put a bullet into her head, the agency sure would.

The girl had finished her first lap and by now most of the class had slowed down. She was now in the front of the class running in the second to the outside lane. She felt a presence next to her, she looked over to see Alex running by her side. His long strides hit the track keeping up with her, he stared straight ahead as if he didn't notice her.

When the girl had gotten home from school the day before she had taken the time to look up Alex. Nothing, in particular, stood out about him, he was overwhelmingly average. Orphaned at a young age, his uncle had adopted him who had died a few months ago. He wasn't very active on any social media, he posted a picture of him and Tom every once and a while. He currently lives with his, Nanny? Jack Starbright, from what she could find she had been living with him for almost 8 years, while she studied in London to become a lawyer.

The weird thing was the day before she was supposed to get deported she had suddenly got her visa extended for another five years. Sure, she could just have been lucky, and if that was the case she would've had her flight booked back home ready, had packed her bags, and was spending her last day in London saying goodbye to her sweet little Alex; But that wasn't the case no, she spent what was supposed to be her last day in the Uk grocery shopping, acting as if everything was normal. Maybe she loved Alex enough to stay in a foreign country illegally. Or maybe she knew someone close enough in the government to know she didn't have to worry too much.

It could also be that the girl was reaching, maybe she was trying to catch the first string that was dangled in front of her face. Everything felt as though it was laid out for her, it was too perfect. What was the probability that the first boy she looked into was the agent that this whole mission was set around on? It was highly unlikely. She had a better chance of choking to death on a baby carrot.