Spy School: Was It All A Dream?

13- I have a plan

Just so you guys know, and I know you're gonna hate me for this: My most popular story, the Fifteenth Olympian has almost reached 10,000 views and I'm 9 chapters away from finishing it. This is gonna be a really short chapter 'cause it's 11:30 at night

Erica had just left. I sat down on my bed, my eyes looking toward the dresser for photos that I should have known weren't going to be there. Zoe had found me bleeding out on the floor of the box, and had rushed me to the infirmary. I had bandages up and down my arms. I laid down and thought. My parents had been called, hours before. The school had used a new name, and had contacted my parents and Mike. Now that the mole knew who I was, they weren't going to be able to use me to draw him out. I suggested Mike, and then said that I could keep an eye on him. Surprisingly, the big shots easily agreed. Everytime I had seen Joshua in the hallways, he had snorted at my smile. Our parents had agreed to the funded science school that would guarantee my future. I had had to take some tests to determine where I would be placed. I was lucky that the stuff had been drilled into my brain. I easily passed all of the exams, and I was waiting for my results. 

At the moment I was thinking of this, Catherine came into my room. I turned away from her, and faced the windows. 

"We got your results, Ben." I still didn't look at her. 

"You have to look at me sometimes. Anyway, they're making you a full agent, but you'll pose as a student and possibly teach some classes." I looked up at her then.

"Teach some classes?!" She nodded and told me quickly that I should get supplies and find my way around the school. Catherine left me in the bed, and I stood up after counting to 30 I found the supplies I needed in the desk. I slept restfully, and the next morning I found a schedule on my desk with a blueberry and lavender muffin. I tested the muffin with a kit and found that it was, indeed, a muffin and not baked with iocane powder, one of the deadliest poisons known to man. (If you get this reference, we are now BFFs)

I quickly got dressed and headed down to Crandall's lecturing hall. He was sitting in his chair, doddering on to the class. The teenagers looked half-asleep. I knocked on the door, turning all their attention to me. Several girls gasped, and I fiddled with my sweater. 

"Hello, I'm the new..." I didn't know how to describe myself. Student? Teacher? Agent? Luckily, Crandall saved my arse. 

"Ah, yes, Agent Ripley, do come in. I say, do you like tea?" He blinked sleepily up at me, and then noticing the class was still there, he barked up at them. 

"You are dismissed!" He blabbered onto me, while making tea and gathering cookies. I recieved mine with a warm smile. 

"Please, Crandall, drop the act. I assume you know why I'm here." His back straightened, and he seemed to loose years. 

"Don't be foolish, boy, of course I know why you're here! Say, how did you know that I was acting?"

"I'm a spy."

"Ah. Very good. Let's discuss your plan of action. You can teach my next class." We talked for the next fifteen minutes until the new class started filing in.

"Very good, class. I will not be teaching you today. Your teacher for today is Mr. Benjamin Ripley." I stepped out from the desk, and waved awkwardly to the class. They looked to be about 16. Whispers abounded, and I could hear some. 

"Thank you, Lucas." I smiled at Crandall, and heard some gasps from the class. He smiled back and left, grabbing his bag. 

"Hello, class. My name is Benjamin Ripley. I will answer some questions about myself."

"How old are you?" One girl called out and she and the rest of her friends giggled. 

"I am 18." I heard her whisper for her friends that I wasn't too old. 

"I have a girlfriend." All the girls who were talking sighed and I nearly flinched when I realized it wasn't true. 

"I'm going to give you 3 hypothetical situations and I want you to tell me how to work them out. 1) You've accidentally been framed for blowing up this school, and you've been expelled. Let's say that you have to go back to normal school where you're approached by an agent of an enemy syndicate, who asks you to join him. What should you do and why?"

No one got the answer. Everyone answered something along the lines of "Are you insane?! Don't join the enemy!" I sighed and explained what to do. Each student looked interested and engaged for probably the first time in that classroom.

"Second situation: You've been recruited to go on a mission to Colorado to find out what a business tycoon is doing there. You befriend his daughter, and find out that he has been going on helicopter rides wearing suits and talking about someone or something named 'Molly Denham'. What is he doing?"

A boy cockily raised his hand, and I nodded at him. 

"Andrew. We have no proof that he's doing anything wrong. You're just a new agent, maybe you don't know about how it works here." He smirked at me. I smiled widely back. 

"Well, if you actually paid attention, you would have known that the Climax mine is in the rockies, and if he's taking helicopter rides, he's probably going to blow it up to corner the world's market on molybdenum. Doing this, he can increase weapon sales because molybdenum strengthens steel alloys. I do know how it works here." Andrew looked gobsmacked, and I continued with the lesson.

"Onto the third one in question. You've been summoned by the president because he has heard that there is going to be an assassination attempt on his life. On the first day, you set off the bomb sniffing dogs. On the second day, you do it again, but you realize that there is a bomb in your jacket. Three days later, you're on the run from the whole national guard. You find out who put it there, but they escape. Other people hurt by the bomb blast was the joint chairman of staffs and some secret service people. What was the bomber aiming to do?" I pursed my lips after three minutes of waited. I heard a soft padding from the door, but I didn't turn around. I knew those footsteps like my own voice. I had heard them in my dreams. 

"Agent Hale. Would you mind explaining the objective of the bomber to my class?" Erica seemed surprised that I knew she was there, as well did the class. Erica stepped out of the shadows and made her way toward me. She kissed my cheek, and I felt her reach for my gun holster. I grabbed the senior spy's hand, and judo-flipped her over my shoulder out of instinct. 

"I wanted to see if you were ready." She smiled and held her hand out for me to take to pull her up. I looked at it warily. Erica was really reaching for my gun holster, and maybe the hand was a trick as well. 

"Don't try and see what kind of gun I have again, and we'll be even." I held out my hand and pulled her up. 

"Now, if Agent Hale isn't going to explain, I will. The bomber was trying to take out the join chiefs of staff to replace him with a mole. The joint chief basically controls all of our country's nuclear war and the army." Erica looked pensive. 

"Nice point of view, Ben. Even I didn't think of that." The class went on for a bit, Erica chiming in occasionally in the background. When the lecture ended, I found myself questioning this Erica's competence. If she really was as good as my Erica, she would have waited until I was fully distracted and flustered by the kiss before reaching for the gun. If she really was like... my Erica, then she would have thought of the bomber situation. I didn't think of that myself, my friends helped. This Erica was different. She seemed more open. She didn't seem happy, but weighed down. I didn't know how to describe it at the time. I didn't know who Erica Hale was.