The Elites

Chapter One

Four years had gone by and she still looked just as I remembered her. Not that I was particularly allowed to be looking. If she knew, she would most likely kick my ass. Or someone else would do it for her.

I had still seen her face every day since I got back, though. The group picture from nine years ago was still hung on my wall - what used to be her wall, too. Eighteen and fresh faced - ready for whatever the Elites Agency had lined up for us. I kinda missed it; in comparison to what we do now alone, I'd take it back any day. Not that I wasn't any good at what I did now, but things were far simpler back then.

I'd known her for longer than that. We'd been best friends since we were eleven years old. I was from London, and she had just moved from New York. It was the first time I'd heard an American accent off of the television. I made her say all sorts of words just to hear what they sounded like, and she did the same. It felt like being four years old, not eleven. Like when you first sit next to someone on the first day of nursery and suddenly you were best friends. I'd never really had any friends in Primary school, and she was new to the system entirely. It was like we were meant to find each other.

As we got older, one thing had led to another. It was probably around fifteen that I started falling for her. It wasn't just a crush, though. It felt like real love. I had already known her inside and out; we trusted each other with everything. She wasn't just some girl I was kinda sorta friends with that I thought was cool. She was my best friend, and isn't falling for your best friend just so poetic?

I kept it hidden for three years, and if I do say so myself, I had kept it hidden rather well.

As it turned out, so had she.

There we were. Eighteen years old, leaving sixth form. She was a literature freak and I was a maths geek. Both top students, I might add. We were set to go off into our own dream paths. For her, it was a journalist. For me, it was somewhere in the medical field; I hadn't decided by the time the Agency came into our lives.

Graduation day came, and she just kinda kissed me. No warning, no signs: just... kissed me. And I kissed her back. It was like everything was going just the way we wanted it to.

And then the Elites Agency came around.

What is the Elites Agency? To put it simply: we're agents that get flocked about like celebrities. Mr Hetley always said we were like the UK's equivalent to the FBI, just a whole lot more famous. 

I knew I shouldn't have been staring at her from across the hall. It was my first Agency party in years; I barely recognised any of the people there - they always turned out more as reunions for the old guys.

She was standing alone, as was I. No way could I approach her; she'd probably pull out a knife from her make-up bag and poke at me with it until I moved away.

She hadn't changed much at all in the four years I hadn't seen her. Her hair was still as long and dark as ever, pulled back into an elegant ponytail, her eyes a pale icy blue. She wore torture devices on her feet and a dress that looked ridiculously uncomfortable. It was much more sophisticated than the style I remembered her having.

It was amazing how we had managed to avoid each other for four whole years considering we both worked for the Agency, both shared two best friends and both were a part of the same initial group. But then I hadn't been around much in about five.

Soon she was approached by Blair and Will - the two best friends that we shared. They were married; a love match made in the Agency was not uncommon. We had managed to escape that title, but only just - our first kiss was the day before training had started.