We were at the clubhouse at precisely 5:30. We looked around and didn’t see the SUV only a mini van that said SOCRMOM on the license plate.

“Alexis?” Matthew called.

“Yeah?”

“I think you forgot to give them the directions.”

“WELL THEY DIDN’T ASK! SORRY!” she exploded feeling dumb.

“Well let’s go inside and clean it up before we head off. We needed to anyway.” Nathan replied stopping the argument.

“Hey guys, did y’all ever stop to think this through?” Alyssa inquired.

“What do you mean?” Nathan asked.

“Well let’s see, two random people pop out of nowhere and tell us to come meet them somewhere where they can talk privately… and we just went along with it. Two complete strangers who could just kidnap us and make us co-villians with them or something.”

“Um, we didn’t think about that… too late now...” Alexis commented.

“Well then let’s go meet our dooms.” Alyssa replied with a dramatic tone.



*







*







*

When they stepped in they were greeted by Bob and John.


“We were starting to think you weren’t going to show.” Bob greeted us with a strong British accent.

“Please take a seat.” John replied and we hurried to comply. Someone had put in beanbag chairs instead of the little wooden chairs that were there before. Once we were seated they handed us each a manila envelope and started up a projector and computer. They finished by hanging a white sheet over the neon orange and yellow wall.


“Please open your envelopes and examine the contents.” Bob told us. Inside of them were: keys, fake I.D.s, stuff about SUSPECTS, a case entry, $2500, airline tickets 1st class, passports, and schedules. As we were examining the contents, he started up his powerpoint slide show.



“Is this a joke!?” Matthew yelled.

“No, it is not. Now, please if you will no more sudden outbursts!” Bob replied.

“Now let me explain each item. Save any questions until I finish talking. The schedules are the first things you need to look over. The first one, labeled ‘Training’, is exactly that, training. You will be learning how to drive all types of vehicles, as well as learn your basic spy skills.”

“The second one will not have a label. It is simply to tell you were you are to be and when you need to be there.”

“Next, if you will, please look at the case entry. I will read it out loud and then explain.”



“Case name: Scrambled Eggs

Suspects: Dr. Sony Clockworth




Amelia Crosswind




Mr. Cameron Galm




Lewis Skinner


Mission: Someone is slowly rearranging all the continents. We don’t know why, but it has to be stopped. If we don’t everything will go completely wrong. Wars will rage, people will go hungry. Pretty much the world will end if we don’t stop whoever is doing this in time.



“Scrambled Eggs!?"Matthew exploded into laughter.



“The mission name isn’t supposed to sound like a mission name otherwise people will know what you are talking about and it might frighten them.”



“Agent Bob,” I asked, “May I ask why we of all the people in the world were chosen for this case?”

“John will explain that to you after I am finished with my speech, now let us move on.”

“Now as for your fake IDs you can see that you all have new identities and looks. Our special stylists will be giving you makeovers and we will dying your hair.”



“What’s wrong with the way we look now?” Alyssa retorted.

“Nothing at all, we just don’t want anyone to recognize you, being as you are being secret agents and all now. John, please take over now.” Agent Advance replied.



“Alrighty, now if you will please get out your keys, I will explain what each of them is for. You should all have 5 each. First, pull out the one marked 0125 is to any of the cars you will be driving. The next key will be 1398 and this is a master key. You can get into just about anything with this key. The 3rd key will be marked 1013. It is to be used for all the water vehicles you will be driving. The next key is 9054 and that is for any and all air vehicles you will be driving. The last and most important key is to get into our secret buildings all around the world. The key is to remain unmarked to remove any suspicion from it, if somebody gets a hold on your keys for any reason.”


“Now please get out your list of suspects. Read it and let me know when you have finished.”



Doctor Sony Clockworth-

Age: 47

Occupation: scientist

Suspicions: We fired him from our agency for going into classified areas of information and science/engineering. We think he may be trying for revenge.



Amelia Crosswind-

Age: 17

Occupation: High School Senior; college freshman

Suspicion: She filed for an internship leading to a job at SSE- (our company). She was declined. Her specialty in school is technical engineering and we think she is trying to prove that she should be admitted into our company.



Mr. Cameron Galm-

Age: 25

Occupation: Business Man/Lawyer/Beginner Scientist

Suspicion: He got in a car accident because of one of our men trying to catch a villain. When he tried to sue us, they sent him to a mental hospital because people thought he was driven insane. Nobody knows we exist except a few special people. Now he may be trying to devise a plan to make our company fail, therefore earning him millions of dollars for proving we existed at one point or another.



Lewis Skinner-

Age: 32

Occupation: Homeless man

Suspicion: He became homeless because he bet he could find our agency. He lost and seeks revenge to get back what he lost.



“We’re finished!” Nathan piped up.

“Ok, great any questions? No okay that’s great. Now the last thing in the envelopes is your fake information and tickets. You have passports and tickets. Make sure you are everywhere you need to be directly on time. Do not lose any of these items. And as for the money it is for shopping, gas, and eating. You need to act like normal 16 year olds.”



“But we’re 13...” Nathan commented.

“Well then PRETEND you’re 16, OK?” John retorted somewhat annoyed.

"You're also supposed to tell us why we were chosen." Alexis said in Nathan's defense.

"You were chosen because you seemed like likely candidates to help us with this mission. We've been watching your activities the past couple of weeks, and given you little school mysteries to solve and we felt that you all would make good spies." He replied through gritted teeth. "Any more questions!?" Now he was almost yelling.

“Now,” Bob got in before the argument John was trying to make got bad, “it’s time to begin your transformations.”

Now we went through the transformation, and believe me it was that. To show you just how drastically we changed I will tell you our before and after looks.



Alyssa is a black headed girl with chocolate brown eyes. She has pale skin and slight acne. She wears a black jacket whenever she can. Usually she wears jeans and either a plain t-shirt or a plain tank top.

TO….

Lily, who has wavy blonde hair which is always put up perfectly or forever tumbling down over her shoulders. Her complexion darkened and her eyes are now crystal blue. She is always dressy no matter what.

Alexis wears shoulder length brown hair with red highlights and she has pretty grey eyes. She wears girly clothes from Forever 21.

TO…..

Now her name is Selena. Her hair is auburn and loosely curled. Her eyes are green and always have a seeming gleam in them. All of her shoes are red, her pants/skirts dark jean, and her tops and dresses are dark purple. For makeup she wears semi-dark eyeliner and black nail polish. She wears simple necklaces and oddball bracelets.



I have auburn hair and blue eyes. I usually don’t wear makeup unless I need to cover up acne or if it’s a special occasion. My outfits are simple but cute most of the time, and I always wear lots of bracelets.

TO…..

My name is now Stephanie and I have (temporary) brown hair, green eyes, and a paler complexion. I also wear more skirts and dresses; when I’m not wearing that I wear skinny jeans and a fancy top. I almost always wear makeup and jewelry and my shoes are rarely flat.



Nathan has brown hair and gray eyes and a simple school person outfit.

TO….

His name is Eric. He now has dirty blonde hair, blue eyes, and jeans, converse, and a graphic tee.



Matthew has blonde hair and brown eyes and he wears jeans, white tee-shirt, and flip flops.

TO…..

Austin who has dark hair and eyes and wears jeans, button down shirt, and those leather loafers. He looked very sophisticated.



Cody has brown hair, blue eyes. He wears jeans, flip flops, and a regular tee-shirt.

TO…..

Derek who has blonde hair and gray eyes. He now wears jeans, graphic tees, and tennis shoes.



As you can see these were drastic. Well after the transformation John led us back into the room with the waiting guys. I couldn’t tell my boyfriend apart from my other friends because they all looked awesome in a different way.

“Lola?” Cody searched us, looking for me. I ran to him and gave him an enormous hug. Although his looks may have changed, his voice stayed the same.

“Oh wow they girl-ified you!” he told me.

“Really? ‘Cause I haven’t seen yet.” And as I said this, as if on cue, Bob brought in a mirror. As I looked at myself and my friends I thought we had just emerged from a Hollywood production.

“Okay, everything is going as planned. Now the last thing we need to do is to introduce yourselves as your opposite identity. Get used to being called by your fake names. I will give you 5 minutes then it’s time to go to your training school.”

We all clustered into a circle like we do at the school dances and stuff and started doing what John had told us to do. “Hey guys, I’m Stephanie Clawson and I love to go shopping.” I almost giggled as I was doing my thing.

Alyssa introduced herself after me. “Um, hi… I’m Lily Mier and I like to be a people person.”

Then Alexis took her turn. “I’m Selena Gimona and I don’t like to wear bright clothing.”

The guys indroduced themselves as Eric Thompson (Nathan), Austin Winters (Matthew), and Derek Dana (Cody). We mingled for a bit then heard a car horn cueing us to come on outside.

As we walked through the door Alyssa screamed!

So now you may be wondering what our parents were thinking all this time we were gone. Well apparently Bob and John went by our houses and told our parents that they were from the school of Excellence and that we had been given full scholarships to go there for the rest of our school time.

They told them that we would be home for holidays, spring break, summer vacation, and intervals when the school let them.

Everything was already taken care of and all they needed to do was sign the permission slips and they would be taken to school that night.

Of course, there were hesitations and stuff, but after reassuring them that that is what we wanted to do they agreed and sent their love to us.

Oh, I probably decided to tell you this at a bad time but I thought the sooner you knew the better, you know what I’m saying? Ok, well now you may read on now and see what happens.

“Whoa there!” Bob grabbed Alyssa and stopped her from screaming.

“It’s just us. We had to call the rides for you. All your things are packed and ready to go. Also, you won’t be needing these…,” he said taking away our phones. As we started to protest, he handed us each smart phones and the chargers.

“Now get in, get in! We will be seeing you in 3 weeks.” With that they walked off leaving us to get in the Honda Odyssey in front of us. As we got in, the driver spoke gruffly, “We are off, please take your seats and remain quiet.”

The road was bumpy and the car too awkward, but despite all that we managed to get to sleep.

*












*













*

When Alexis, Alyssa, and I woke up, it was a bright and sunny spring morning and a soft breeze was coming through the windows and blowing the puffy white curtains. As we looked around the room we saw that we were in a pastel yellow room. There were 3 simple beds and matching dressers painted white and arranged neatly in the medium sized bedroom. The creamy white carpet was plush and soft under our bare feet. We walked to the door on the left side of the room and found out that it was a bathroom. There was a bathtub and three shower stalls and a toilet. There were 3 pedestal sinks with mirrors over them and little make-up stands beside them. The walls were the same color as the carpet in the bedroom and the floor was baby blue marble. All the bathroom accessories matched the floor.


We walked back into the room and into the doorway on the right side of the room. It was a huge walk-in closet. All of our clothes had been put in here. There were 3 different sections of clothes and each section had one of our fake names on it. On the left wall were our jewelry. On the opposing wall there was nothing but one huge mirror. The other walls were peach colored and the floor was a semi-dark hardwood. All the furniture matched the color of the wall, except the tables which matched the floor.


We got showers and quickly dressed and did our makeup and hair and set off. As soon as we opened the door we were greeted by two short, blonde maids.


“May we escort you to the dining room?” the 2 maids with French accents asked us simultaneously which kind of scared us.


“Uh, sure…” Alexis replied and we began walking behind them.


The hallway had a few windows along the way and a bunch of doors. The walls were baby blue and the floors were oak. We came to a grand staircase and began to descend. The foyer looked like something that belonged in a castle. A beautiful chandelier hung from the ceiling. The tile floor and white walls looked almost normal… or they would have if it hadn’t of been for the medieval tapestries hanging all along the wall. Directly past the foyer was the dining room and the waiting guys.


We stepped into the dining room and were amazed by what we saw. At the glass table were dozens of other kids. The long table was filled with all sorts of delicious looking foods. As soon as they noticed us, the room got extremely quiet.


“Um, are we in the right room?” Alexis barely whispered to Matthew.


“I think so, but I’m not exactly sure.”


“Well aren’t you going to sit down so we may eat?” A shrill voice behind us inquired. We turned around and had to look down to see the 4’ woman standing before us. She looked as if she were in her early 40’s and wore all black clothing.


“Uh…?” Cody replied dumbly.


“Uh, NOTHING! Sit down so we can introduce you to the other students.”


Quickly we shuffled to the six empty chairs. Nathan started to help himself but stopped when he got a stern look from that woman.


“Now before we get any farther I am Mrs. Martha Parish, the dining teacher. These new students are getting used to their new identity. You will know who they really are after their first mission, as is the custom here. New students as I call your names I would like you to stand and give your age date of birth and your favorite food. Lily Mier?”


Alyssa stood up. “Um yeah, I’m 13 and I was born on April 5, and my favorite food is,” here she paused, looked at her hand and said, “Cherries!? I hate… oh sorry forgot what I was saying.” With that she sat down looking quite embarrassed.

“Selena Gimona?”


“Hey everyone, I’m Selena Gimona. I’m 13 and I was born on February 4. My favorite food is dark chocolate.” Alexis sat down looking satisfied because she had played the part well.




“Stephanie Clawson?”


“Ok. Yeah. I’m 13 and was born on May 7. My favorite food is…. Hmmm... a healthy salad i guess." I spoke all preppy and it sucked.


“Now for the new boy students. Eric Thompson?”


“Hey I’m a 13 year old guy named Eric, and I was born on November 7. I love eating tacos with a whole lot of hot sauce.” Nathan spoke in an off to himself manner, which is definitely an act.

“Austin Winters?”


“HEY! I’m Austin and I was born March 12, and I’m 13 My favorite snack is a fresh and juicy green apple.” Matthew sped through his introduction, looking hungrily at the apples on the table, to further his point.

“And last but not least, Derek Dana?”


“Hi! My name is Cod… Derek and I’m 13. My birthday is August 23 and my favorite food is Neapolitan ice cream.” Cody definitely had some humor in his voice.



“Now these 6 students will be staying for 3 weeks and they will be leaving the day after the monthly dance. After they fulfill what they are to do while they are gone, these 6 will become a permanent part of our school. Now if we are through talking, you may begin eating.”


Apparently we were finished talking because everyone sat down and dug in. You would expect that the room would be bustling with noise and laughter, but except for a few whispers to neighbors to pass the syrup, and the clinking of silverware, all was quiet.


All of a sudden with no reason whatsoever, Cody burst into laughter.


“Derek!” I nudged my boyfriend. “What are you doing!?” Everyone there could tell he was desperately trying to stop laughing but to no avail. Finally, Mrs. Parish stood up and did what I least expected. She let out a blood curdling scream. There was immediate silence.


“Now, young man, if you are finished with your…,” she looked at him as if he were a dog and continued, “Fit, I suggest that you clean up your spot, pick up a schedule, and head to detention. Because of your outburst, you will spend 2 hours in detention, everyday for a week. Your breakfast bagel will be brought to you at 8 every morning. Am I clear?”


All the color and laughter drained from Cody’s face as Mrs. Parish talked. He solemnly replied, “Yes Ma’am.” and left quite glumly.


“Now unless any of you care to join him, I suggest you remain silent until I excuse you.”




More silence.




“Smart children. Now I suggest you finish up, because you only have 15 minutes until class starts.”





Wow tough lady! I thought. After seeing my boyfriend go through such humiliation, I wasn’t too hungry. I picked at the remainder of my food until the bell finally rang, releasing us from the awkwardness of the room.

I grabbed my schedule as I flew out the door, then motioned for my friends to meet me at the base of the stairs.


“I think we should try to find detention hall, see how it’s set up and excuse ourselves early tomorrow to break Cod… I mean Derek out of there. It can’t be too hard because we’ve done it multiple times, but for Matthew.” I told them.


“Well first let’s take a look at the schedule and map… maybe it’ll give us a clue as to were we need to be.” So saying we looked at it and were upset to see that we would have to be getting up so early everyday.

“5:30 AM!!!!” Alexis nearly had a fit at the thought of it.



“Yeah, I know that’s crazy… must be a REALLY busy day.” Nathan commented.



“Let’s go ahead and look at the map. That might help us.” I broke the conversation. On the map we saw all the classes on this part of the campus. This must be a huge campus to have a living room #5 I though. This made me think why about why there didn't seem to be any other grade levels but ours. I guessed that they were just in different parts of the school.



After looking it over for a few minutes we decided to follow the map to detention. When we got to our destination, we couldn’t believe what we saw.



Instead of a normal classroom, it was like a jail/gym class. The door was made of steel bars and had lasers just beyond that. Inside was worse than being in gym, it seemed. There were normal gym equipment, but it didn’t look so normal. There were speakers on everything and they were yelling at whoever was using them. The room was very menacing.


Cody was running around the room, on an inside track while a gruff looking coach with a high voice yelled at him to keep going, he still had 3 more minutes. We ducked out of the way, when the coach turned around.


“This is hopeless! We’ve never had a challenge like this before. Every entrance is guarded with lasers and barbed wire. I can’t believe what Derek has gotten himself into this time.” Nathan had disgust in his voice.


“As much as I hate to say it I think we…,”


“As much as you hate to say what?” a small voice behind us said. We wheeled around to find a girl who looked about 9 years old. She had on a bright orange convict suit and her hair was copper colored and unruly.



“Um nothing, a secret conversation.” Alexis replied quickly.



“Ok, well in that case, may I please get through?”



“You have detention!?!” I asked incredulously.



“Yeah, well I made both Mr. Martin AND Mrs. Parish mad. Let’s just say, don’t make any comments about strange outfits. I have detention everyday for 2 hours, for a month.” She sounded scared as she made her speech.



“AMY PHILLIPS! You’re late! And Mr. Dana, I will see you tomorrow at 7 AM. SHARP! If you’re early or late you will start your morning with 500 push-ups.”


“Yeah I don’t think we are getting in there, unless we get detention, and then there’s no getting out.” Nathan muttered.


“Awwww, yeah I guess not…” Alexis replied.


“Hey guys.” Cody sounded miserable, but he didn't sound out of breath like he usually did when he had to run for any length of time. I was curious but I didn't say anything.


“Well I doesn’t sound like you had fun.” I reached over and gave him a hug. We may have stayed there like that for a little while if Matthew hadn’t spoken up, saying, “Uh, unless we get a move on we are all going to suffer that.”


Realizing he had a point we hurried to class and arrived as the bell rang.

“Welcome to your basic school classes at BSA room 401. My name is Mrs. White. Here is where you learn your mathematics, ELA, science, history, creative writing, drama, art, and music. I realize that it seems like a lot for a 3 hour block of time, but we usually do your lesson then you do the assignments for homework. Drama, art, and music are extra curricular and you will not participate in any of them if homework is not turned in promptly. Now let us begin with mathematics. Take out your books and turn to page 54.”

So went class. We tried to be quiet and respectful to avoid being sentenced to detention. 5 minutes before class ended, Mrs. White called us up to the front of the classroom. We crept cautiously toward the front, afraid to do anything to make this young teacher upset.


“Students! These are you’re new classmates. If they need anything, help them, or they are to report to a teacher immediately. Now, for homework, you will do the remaining assignments that you did not finish in class. Any late or unfinished homework will result in no extra curricular activities. You may be dismissed, well except for Selena.”

“Huh? Why? I’m not in trouble am I?” Alexis sounded genuinely afraid.

“No I just need to discuss something with you. Now off with the rest of you.” Mrs. White shooed us, and Alexis shot us a “HELP!” look.



We probably waited 10 minutes, and almost had to go to the next assignment before Alexis came back out.

“What was that about?” Alyssa asked.

“She was just worried about my previous grades from Beaufort Middle School, with all the extra stuff. She wants me to get a tutor and recommended a few.”


“Oh wow.” said Alyssa. Only small talk was made from then until we got to lunch.

Lunch is not what I expected. We were outside in a courtyard and there were picnic tables and blankets everywhere. Teachers were milling around, probably getting ready for the discussion. There was a line to get your picnic basket, for however many people were sitting with you. It was pretty nice. We went and got our basket which consisted of tuna salad sandwiches, chips, fruit, and water bottles. We spread out a blanket a little way away from the tables.


As we were about to get up, a group of about 6 girls came up to us.


“Hello, I’m Esmera. I saw that you were new over here and just wanted to welcome you to The Spy Academy.” Their leader spoke. She wasn’t very tall, and was kind of chubby and ugly because of all the make up she had on, but you could tell she was rich enough that she didn’t really care.


“Actually, the real reason I came over here was to invite you all to join my club.” She may have been talking to all of us, but she looked directly at Cody as she was saying it.


“Well that’s nice of you, but we’re fine, thank you.” I replied as nicely as I could, although I was almost gritting my teeth. How could she have the nerve to look at him like that!


“A little word of advice,” Alexis grinned, “Lay off the makeup. If you have natural beauty, you can’t tell through all that makeup.” Alyssa looked at her like she had finally learned something about being mean, and gave her a high five.


“Well, Miss Selena, you have made a mistake.”


“Oh really?” I replied for Alexis. “She couldn’t say it if it weren’t true. And,” I lowered my voice to a whisper, “Lay off of my boyfriend.”

Esmera snapped her fingers as she stomped away furiously, her pale skin red from embarrassment. Her crew followed her like dogs.

“Well I fear you girls have just made us an enemy.” Matthew piped in, after our giggling subsided.

“Yeah. Derek…,” I started when I was interrupted by the thundering sound of helicopter blades, then screaming. A huge helicopter was about to land on everyone in the courtyard!

The teachers were trying to regain control, but with the helicopter getting closer every second no one would listen. Then as suddenly as it showed up, it vanished again, leaving us startled and wondering what had just happened.

“STUDENTS PLEASE GO BACK TO YOUR SEATS AND CALM DOWN! EVERYTHING IS UNDER CONTROL!” Mr. Martin yelled into the intercom system in an effort to get everyone's attention.

“What was that about!?” someone at one of the center tables yelled. A bunch of murmurings started, but quickly ended when the intercom started to come on again.

“We aren’t sure what just happened but, we still need everyone to remain calm while we try to figure this out. Lunch is dismissed, and your free time starts now. This does not excuse you from the rest of your classes this afternoon.” Mrs. White’s sugary voice was stressed sounding as she spoke but she kept it even.

Despite what had just happened the school was surprisingly quiet. Everyone milled back into the school, occasionally discussing something, but other than that all was quiet. With the extra free time everyone decided to spend it hanging out in the living room. Well that is except me. I decided to take the time to study for the exams we were having on Friday. I went to my dorm room, and opened the window, and was completely absorbed in my literature when there was a knock at the door.

“Who’s there?” I answered, distractedly, because the literature was quite interesting for once.

“Derek… can I come in?”

“Oh hey,” I called back, “you could, but you’d risk more detention, as that is against the rules.”

“Okay, well will you come out here please?” he replied, laughing. I didn’t figure he needed a reply so I got up and walked to the door.

“Ah, I guess that worked, ha-ha.” He greeted me with a hug.

“You can’t stand to be away from me for an hour?” I joked.

“Nope, because I have to ask you something.”

“Ask away.” I replied not at all expecting what came next.

“Well, Friday night is a free night, because we’ve already taken all the exams and stuff, right?” I nodded and he went on. “Okay, so I was thinking, we haven’t actually gone on a date before. So what do you say we hang out with Selena and Austin Friday night, like catch a movie then stargaze or something.”

“Um yeah that would be cool, but wait… Selena and Austin? Are they going out now?”

“Yeah, he asked her out just a few minutes ago. Austin and I had been discussing it, and he decided to go for it.”

“Wow that’s awesome. Poor Lily and Eric though. I wonder if they’ll ever get together. I really don’t think so though. They really have never liked each other.”

“Yeah haha. So maybe Friday night about 20 minutes after dinner?”

“Yeah sure. That works. See you then. Now can I get back to studying?”

“Yes I guess so.” he grinned and walked down the hallway.



*












*













*

The rest of the classes went pretty good, and I discovered I like the disguises class best. We only ran into Esmera and her crew in 2 classes out of 5, which isn’t bad considering. Each time she shot us all icy glances, then turned to her friends to gossip, about us most likely.

The time finally came for our first dinner at our new school. We actually had to dress fancy for dinner of all things. So at 4:00 we went to go change.

“Ugh, I really hate having to dress fancy, and hate even more that I have to wear a dress. A DRESS!” Alyssa complained.

“Well get over it. We just have to get used to it.” Alexis replied, picking out a royal red, knee length, halter top dress. It was really pretty in the ‘strictly red, purple, and black’ wardrobe way.

“Yeah I agree. Now help me choose. I swear I will never have to wear the same thing twice with all these clothes!” I exclaimed and Alexis came over to help Alyssa and I choose our outfits. We ended up going with a cute tank top style yellow dress with a little over shirt for me; Alyssa wore a hot pink, floor length, princess style dress.

“What would we do without you, Selena?” I joked as we did our makeup. Alyssa was glaring at her false reflection, as if it would change the fact that she had to wear makeup.

“Oh, I don’t know. You certainly wouldn’t look nearly as fantastic all the time.” We all laughed at this remark, and sat down for a few minutes.

“What do y’all think of this school so far?” I asked.

“Oh I really think it’s great. I love the fact that we can be someone completely different.” Alexis sounded really enthusiastic.

“Well, it’s okay, but I don’t know, it just seems strange, to suddenly be picked up from our everyday lives and be dropped into someone else’s who doesn’t exist.” Alyssa did not have very much enthusiasm in her voice as she spoke.

“What about you, Stephanie? What do you think about it?”


“Honestly, I love the classes, the clothes, most of the people, but I already miss my parents and siblings. Zeke and Allie are probably wondering where I am, and I just wanna run home and give em’ a huge hug, and have our regular Monday Wii night.”


“Wow… I wouldn’t have known all that from the way you act.” Alexis replied.


“Well, as much as I’d love to sit here and talk all night,” Alyssa interrupted looking at the time, “We should probably head downstairs unless we want to join Derek in detention tomorrow.”


“Great point, let’s go.” Alexis laughed.

And we would have… except for the fact, that, when we went to open the door, we were locked in.


“Um, guys, was this supposed to happen?” Alexis looked worried, as if she could already hear the detention teacher yelling at her.


“I don’t think so, so let’s think for a minute on how to get outta here!” Alyssa sounded equally as worried, which was rare for her.


We tried everything to get through that door, but nothing seemed to work. The lock on the inside wasn’t what was holding it, and there didn’t seem to be anything on the outside, or at least not in the line of vision for the spy hole in the door. As a last resort, we started beating on the door and yelling, hoping someone would hear us while they were going downstairs. No one came, and we were quite frightened, not just about not being able to escape, but also what lied ahead for us when we didn’t show up for dinner.


Just when we were about to give up we heard heavy footsteps down the hallway, and Darth Vador breathing. We didn’t dare to breathe. Step, step, creak, groan, step, breath, step, step. Then, the walking stopped abruptly… in front of our door!

Alyssa and I, while trying to restrain ourselves from screaming, actually put a hand over Alexis’ mouth, because she was about to scream like a girl from a horror movie. That’s what it felt like sitting there, in the low light, cowering behind the beds, waiting for the footsteps and breathing to go away again. After a few long minutes, when we thought we had imagined it all, there was a click, then the footsteps started walking down the hallway again. It was another long few minutes until we gathered up enough courage to walk to the door, and check to see if it would open. Sure enough, whoever was in the hallway a minute ago, had unlocked their door, and disappeared. We didn’t, however, stop to investigate. Instead, we rushed down the hallway, jumped down the stairs, and arrived at dinner, where everyone was just sitting down.


“You’re late, girls. Do I want to know why?”


“We were locked in our room,” cried Alexis, “And just when we thought we wouldn’t be able to get out, someone came down the hallway and let us out. We don’t know who it was that locked us in, or who let us out, but that’s why we are late, Mrs. Parish.”


“Preposterous! Lies! I will not stand for such nonsense! You all three have detention with your friend for the rest of the week, at the same time.”


“But,” Alyssa tried to interject, but was interrupted.


“Do you want to double your sentence?” She roared.


Alyssa shook her head.


“Well, then sit down and do not speak again.” With that she motioned us to our seats. We took them quickly and silently, and tried to say with our eyes to the guys what happened.


Cody leaned over and whispered, “I believe you. We will figure this all out tomorrow.” I nodded and mouthed “Thank you!”