Bullets

PART 1: Agents

"Now, who can tell me the square root of 24?" The teacher asked. "Natasha?" I heard my name called, despite actively avoiding eye contact, and staring down at my book. I turned to my page of scribbles, where I was supposed to be taking notes.

"Um."

"You don't know?" The teacher asked, not amused. She stood there for another minute. "Do it on your calculator!" She said. I hurried to pick it up. The teacher's heels clicked as she marched over to me. "Maybe, if you spent less time drawing, and more time studying, you'd know." She said, loud enough for the class to hear. I cringed.

26 years old, and I'm failing college level math for dumb reasons like this, and I'm not taking one my senior year. I needed to get myself in gear. "The square root of 24 is-"

"Miss Ulan?" The teacher called on another student. But we were interrupted by the phone ringing. I froze. Chatter scattered across the room while the teacher talked on the phone. I turned around, looking back at her. Her eyes were set on me. I looked back innocently.

"I'll send her right down." The teacher said. "Natasha, head to the dean's office immediately."

"Am I in trouble?" I asked as I got to her desk.

"I can't tell you that."

Any other time I'm sent, I'm told I'm not in trouble, now I was? I remember the fear I felt walking down to the senior hallway. Every kid I passed gave me a superstitious look, like they knew something I didn't. Needless to say, it frightened me out of my mind.

When I arrived outside the office, I noticed two men in suits standing by the double doors. The one stepped aside and opened the door for me, following me, and trapping me in the office. I looked at the receptionist. "What's this all about? We need guards at the office door now." She looked at me, cluelessly. Outside one of the meeting rooms, another person in a suit that looked just like the other walked out. They all walked, almost symmetrically. The man at the office twitched his fingers, signifying to come to him. "No, someone tell me what I did first, I'm not going in there until I can defend myself!" I felt a hand clap onto my shoulder. I stepped away, batting the hand away. "Don't touch me!" I moved to go back to the door. "If nobody's going to tell me, I'll find out for myself."

More hands grabbed me, this time four of them, restraining me back from the door. "Let. Me. Go." I hissed. They each gripped my bicep and a wrist. I was marched into the office, and forced to sit in the chair. The men then stood by my chair, while the man who was waiting for us sat down across from me. He unraveled a file, sitting on the desk in front of me.

"As you can see, we've been watching you acell in your programming classes for a while, Ms. Gale."

"Yeah. So what."

"The dramatics are not necessary." The agent said. "We've been keeping an eye on your progress as you grow in skill. We fear you may wish to do more harm than good. We crackdown on these practices when young programmers break them."

"You guys can't dictate what I do on my personal time." I say, crossing my arms.

"No we can't." He said. "That's why we'd like to offer you a job."

"What?" I questioned. "At 26? What do you guys work for?"

"We work for ourselves, assisting the government with tracking down people of your practice." He said. "We offer them positions in our ranks."

"I'd be honored. What's the pay like?"

"Pay is good, for a twenty-six-year-old."

"Is it, or are you just trying to sell it to me?"

"Perhaps, you'd like some time to look into our services before you agree. We will meet you after class to discuss, and take you for a...test drive, per se."

"That would be great."

"We await your arrival. And Ms Gale-"

"Yes?"

"Thank you for your cooperation."

"Anytime."

Later that day, after school, I was met by the three agents at the door. One holding a stack of clothing. The other one held out a hand for my bag, I handed it off to him. The other handed me the stack of clothes, and the two followed me into the school. Students barely looked as I walked to the bathroom with them close behind. Each stood to one side of the door when I went in. I was quick and excited about getting it on. A suit that fit perfectly to every curve of my frame, topped off with a fancy pair of sunglasses. When I left the stall to look in the mirror, I was impressed. I looked like a shorter, female version of the Agents. I removed the glasses, like they were when I came inside, and led them again as I walked out of the school, now, really being avoided by student, and teachers alike. It felt good.

I got into the back seat of the black car, and the driver drove off. I put on the sunglasses to match them all. Quiet classical music played in the background, setting the scene for this entire encounter. Nobody talked. I sat there, fiddling with the cuff of the suit-jacket.

"So," I said, all their heads turned my way.

"Where are we headed?"

"Wherever we find trouble," The driver said, adjusting the rear view mirror to see me.

After a while of driving, we pulled into a police station. I climbed out with them, and followed them all inside.