Covered Correspondence

Chapter 9 A.C.T (Part 1)

BOOM. Okay, so I already had this chapter done a long time ago, but  somehow got deleted and I had to re-write the WHOLE ENTIRE THING. Annoying right? Enjoy! Your Faithful Writers-Steve~Lewis-

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"CHELSEA!" The girl screeched. She stomped up to us. "What are you doing?" She had bleached blonde hair and heavy make-up on.

"Oh, please, Kate." Chelsea stepped away from me. "I was just comforting Mark." She said matter-of-factly.

"Yeah right," Kate flipped her hair. "This is the last time I catch you alone in the bathroom room with a guy. Remember the 'Reed incident'?" I pushed myself against the wall. I felt like I was invading on personal girl biz.

"Oh please. We all know that was Reed's idea." Chelsea waved it off. "Let's go Mark." And we did, leaving Kate alone in the bathroom room to pout.

"Soooooo," I said awkwardly, scratching the back of my neck.

"Sorry, Mark," Chelsea apologized. "I completely forgot that was the girl's bathroom and that guys couldn't go in there AND that if a guy were caught in there, they'd be dead!"

"Ahhh, it's alright," I said. "Ahh, so Chelsea...who do you think stole all the money?"

"Who can tell?" Chelsea shrugged.

"I thought you said there was dirt all over?" I inquired, raising my left eyebrow. I couldn't help, but raise it! It's a family thing. We all do it! So if you see someone raise their eyebrow at absolutely everything...it's probably someone related to me.

"Well," Chelsea pursed her lips. "I kind of exaggerated on that...They only left us enough to know what they're after."

"Oh, should we report what we know the board?" I asked stupidly, completely forgetting that I was in an agency that probably  knew more about myself than I even knew.

"Well, they already know everything...But...They haven't applied anyone for a mission yet! That's brilliant, Mark! We can apply for a mission together! It would be great! You'd have to take the A.C.T. though," Chelsea grabbed my wrist and pulled me down the hallway to an old elevator that looked out of place.

"Um, when is the A.C.T happening?" I said nervously.

"I think in a month of so, but don't worry, Mark! We'll both do great!" Chelsea reassured me.

"The A.C.T for first years is before the rest of you guys, right?" I remembered seeing a flyer for the A.C.T that was supposed to remind everyone that they had to take. The flyer had all the information on it.

"Yeah, but fifth through tenth years did theirs a little while ago." Chelsea led me out of the elevator and into a hallway I had never seen before.

"Oh. Okay." That made sense, because Chase had taken his A.C.T  while ago. That would have made him at least a fifth year though, and it bothered me that he was more experienced than me.

Chelsea walked me up to an office window. The woman behind the sliding glass window looked up at us with a blank, irritated expression. Her round glasses reflected my and Chelsea's faces.

"What can I do for you?" the woman said in a tone that made me want to say: "take a vacation!"

"We would like to apply for a mission," Chelsea glowed. She still held my arm and I was pretty uncomfortable.

"Have you taken you A.C.T. yet?" inquired the woman giving me a disgusted stare.

"He hasn't, and I'll be taking mine next month. I got a ten on my last one though." Chelsea said. Before I knew it, I was registered to take the A.C.T. next month and I was knocking on my door after a another card failure.

" Hey, Mark," Reed gave my 'the eyebrow' and a smirk. I walked in.

"Um, hey, I breathed.

"Okay, so you totally missed it! Fynn, Jake, and Paul all dueled in the Training Center to see who would get to take Heather out and-," Reed rambled, but I cut him off.

"Look, I have to take the A.C.T."

"You've been with Chelsea haven't you?" Reed laughed, but I could tell it was forced. His eyes clouded over and his voice become harsh.

"Yeah," I sighed again. "But I need to do this!"

"Don't do it, dude! She is a bag o' hammers!" Reed exclaimed. He tried to make it seem like he was joking, but he failed and instead made him seem mad.

"What do you mean? She's right, I should take it."

"Look, Chelsea is ALWAYS right! That's her thing! She always has the right information, but doesn't know how to act upon it," Reed said angrily, he obviously gave up on his act to try to be calm.

"Well, you know what? I'll start hanging our with other people once they talk to me again!" I exclaimed, "Chelsea is the only one besides you, of course, that has said anything remotely nice to me in the last month!"

"Alright, alright! I'm just saying," Reed sat down on a chair and ran his fingers through his hair.

"Now that I've gotten that out, tell me what I need to know for the test."

"DUDE! Snap out of the boring school kid routine! Wake up, this is not see what you KNOW, it's to see what you can DO!" Reed explained. We spent the next eight hours training for the A.C.T.