Spy School Fail-Safe

Chapter 1

Much-awaited book is finally here! Enjoy chapter 1 and let me know if you liked it! Don't forget to vote :)

If I had known the blast would be coming, then my whole life would have been entirely different. Turns out, being a spy is much, much harder than you think. I had to find that out the hard way, unfortunately.

It all started with Reverse Psychology and Flapjack Frenzy.

"Ben, over here." Mike pointed to the blank chair next to him in the quiet library. "Stuck with Reverse Psychology homework too?"

I groaned. "Yeah." Grabbing a pencil out of the small metal stand in the center of the round table, I slid into the seat next to my best friend and scribbled my name and rank into the top left corner of the sheet. We were in the far back of the library, where no one sat so it would be somewhat quieter than the other parts.

Ever since my teachers found out I have supposedly "semi-decent" mission skills, they've been pumping homework sheets on my desk nonstop. Plus, with no missions to deal with at the moment, I literally had nothing to do, so I figured I might as well spend the day checking off right answers on paper. It was a casual Saturday morning, and I was writing down answers to Reverse Psychology homework assignments with Mike, though his were much easier than mine.

"What's the answer to this?" Mike jabbed the pointed tip of his pencil at a question. "I've been cracking my brain."

"Oh, it's simple. Option A," I replied, answering the question for him as he stared at me like I'd just solved the problem of the century. "There you go."

He took a glance at my paper, perhaps curious to see what I had. "Oh come on," he sighed. "This is easy." He grabbed the paper I'd been struggling with and ticked off the right answers within minutes, much to my astonishment. "How come your homework is much easier than mine?"

I rolled my eyes. "Sure, whatever. Just sit in my class for once. It's so boring and lifeless."

"Hey, do you think we'll ever be sent on a mission again?" Mike excitedly asked, chewing gum as he relaxed in his seat, leaning back. "'Cause that would be wicked cool."

I shrugged, double-checking my answers and partially trying to avoid Mike's question. The last thing I wanted to do was go on another dangerous, terrifying, life-threatening mission. "Uh, we can go on a mission only if the bad guys actually do something. Plus, there aren't any bad guys out there anyways. There's literally been no issues."

"What about in other parts of the world?" he argued.

"They have their own intelligence agencies," I simply replied. "That's why."

Mike groaned, feeling defeated. "There's nothing to do," he complained. Which was the complete opposite of my reaction. I was in fact more than happy to hear that there was no need for any activation. Me being in one piece was good enough.

"Trouble's everywhere, though," came a voice, so unexpected and so out of the blue that I shrieked, startled. The library was a quiet place, and thus at my huge sound everyone shushed me angrily, and I turned beet red in embarrassment.

But the voice was one of the most beautiful voices ever. It belonged to none other than Erica Hale, who was leaning against a bookshelf. Her dark, raven hair wasn't tied up today, just falling around her shoulders in beautiful waves. Her icy blue eyes glinted with an emotion I couldn't read as she walked over to our table, sitting on top of it with her legs dangling. She was dressed in a sleek black unitard as usual.

Erica was one of the prettiest people on earth, and definitely the prettiest, most talented spies at the CIA Academy of Espionage. On top of all this she was my best friend, and I was hers as well, though that was an arguable topic.