Spy Surf School

Reunion

"Children!" Catherine Hale cried happily as we burst through the doors to her hospital room. 

"Catherine!" Alexander Hale exclaimed, hurrying to her bedside. I followed close behind him, with my best friend Mike Brezinski and Catherine and Alexander's older daughter Erica Hale on my heels. Alexander wrapped his arms around his ex-wife, and she gratefully returned the hug. On the other side of the bed a pretty Chinese girl sat, grinning and jumping up when she saw Mike, Erica and I. 

"Hey guys!" Jessica Shang chirped, jumping up and running over to give us hugs. Mike and I allowed Jessica to put her arms around us, pulling us into a big hug, but Erica shifted away uncomfortably. Up until very recently, Erica had been the coldest, most closed off person I had ever met. She thought that smiling and hugs were disgusting and only for hippies and over-enthusiasts. Since Erica and I had started going on missions together, she had slowly begun to warm up, but it was kind of like watching a glacier melt. At the end of our last mission however, Erica had admitted to me that maybe she was wrong about friends being liabilities, and that she might even be ready for a relationship. She had even kissed me, although afterwards she had kind of run off, making a lame excuse about having to wrap up some more things from the mission. It wasn't exactly how I was hoping it would end, but I was lucky to have even gotten that far.

"Erica! Boys! Come give me a hug!" Catherine said to us. During the same mission where Erica kissed me, we had been in a car wreck that had badly broken Catherine's leg. Mike and I obediently hurried over to give Catherine a hug, but Erica walked over slowly. 

"Oh Erica. Don't be a wet blanket- give your mother a hug." Erica turned the faintest shade of pink, then gave Catherine a quick, awkward hug. When she pulled back Catherine smiled at all of us.

"Alexander updated me on how your mission ended. I have to say, you three are the bravest young agents the CIA has." 

"Thank you." I said, smiling proudly. At the same time Mik said-

"We are pretty brave aren't we?" and Erica said-

"Yeah, obviously." Catherine laughed. 

"Now children, Alexander, we have a lot to discuss. For starters, Where Jessica is to go now that both her parents are- well..." Catherine looked to Jessica to make sure she was okay with her going on. Jessica nodded. "um, incarcerated."

"She could come to Spy School with us." Mike suggested. Erica frowned at this. She had never liked Jessica much. When we first met her in Vial, Colorado, Jessica had seemingly been into me. According to my friend Zoe Zibell, Erica had been jealous of how close Jessica and I had been getting, and I had gotten the sense that she was correct. 

"She isn't exactly Spy material." Erica grumbled quietly.

"Neither was Ben, but look how he turned out." Mike pointed out, and Erica went back to frowning. 

"I think that Jessica would make an excellent addition to the Academy." Alexander said, backing Mike. Erica shot him a dirty look.  

"I would love to join Spy School." Jessica said, grinning. "I'm a blackbelt in karate and last summer daddy brought me to a shooting range and I learned how to use a riffle."

"That doesn't make you qualified to be a spy." Erica muttered under her breath. 

"Erica." Catherine scolded sharply. "that's quite enough." Erica scowled, but obediently flopped into an armchair on the other side of the room. Catherine turned back to Jessica.

"I agree with Mike and Alexander. I think that you would make quite the spy. And besides, you wont be the only new student joining." Erica, Mike, Alexander and I perked up.

"Who else is joining?" Erica asked suspiciously. 

"Guys! Hey!" a sunny voice at the door interrupted us. We all turned to see who it was. Mike's eyes immediately lit up.

"POOKIE!" he exclaimed. 

"SNUGGLEBUNNY!" the girl at the door ran and jumped into Mike's arms. Erica stood abruptly, fire in her eyes. On the contrary, Catherine and Alexander grinned at the girl. She released Mike and turned to me, her usual bright smile glowing. 

"Ben! Its nice to see you again!" I returned her smile.

"Hey Trixie."