Spy School: Operation Roaring Rhino

As normal as it can get

(Remember this is a sequel to my other book Spy School: The Rescue Games, probably read that one first)

September 5th

Morning

Ben's dorm

Ben's POV:

I woke up and gave a sigh of content. It had been ten days since we had all escaped from the game maker's lair, and the past few days had been great, everything had gone back to normal. But there was one thing that I hadn't loved, the fact that Erica hadn't agreed to going on a date with me, even after all we had gone through, she was being nicer to me than before, though, so while that was disappointing, it was at least better than it had been. Anyways, I got up, put on a long-sleeved red shirt, black jeans, and red high tops( red was my favorite color, and high tops were my favorite types of shoe). I went into the bathroom, brushed my teeth and put gel in my hair, doing my signature side comb. I walked out the door and headed towards the breakfast hall. I met Zoe and Mike at our regular table. Erica was sitting over at her own, but when I waved to her, she actually gave a small smile and an even smaller wave back.

"Ooooh! Looks like you and the ice queen will be doing some smooching!" Mike chuckled. I groaned and retorted,

"Dude, we aren't even dating." 

"Yeah, but has that stopped you before?" He said gleefully. I sighed and said to him,

"Even though the last few days have been great, they would've been better if she had just accepted to the date I proposed, instead she just said she was busy, then she apologized and walked away." 

"I told you you shouldn't have gone chasing after her again." Zoe said with a hint of jealousy in her voice. I sighed again and replied,

"I know, but I just can't help i—" I was interrupted by the intercom coming on and saying in the principal's voice:

"Is this thing on!?" The whole student body, who was used to this, yelled back,

"YES!" And he said,

"Oh, good, can Benjamin Ripley, Erica Hale, Catherine Hale, Zoe Zibbel, and... how do you read that? Oh, yes, Mike Brezoinksi come to my office immediately." The four of us stood up, and we walked down the hall together.

"Think it's another mission?" Zoe said with hope in her eyes.

"Why do you sound hopeful? Literally every mission involves us almost dying five times." 

"Yeah! But almost dying is fun." I groaned, and we came into the principals gutted office. I'll admit, it was me who had blown it up with a mortar, but it wasn't totally my fault. There had been a sad attempt to fix some of the walls by affixing sheets of tin to the holes, but the principal wasn't the best builder, so the sheets constantly made an annoying swishing sound as they blew around everywhere, only affixed to the wall with a small piece of scotch tape each. Then the principal at his desk said to us,

"You twerps are all going on another mission." He said grumpily, like he was under duress to say it, which, now that I think about it, he probably was. Then a tall man with short and curly black hair and South American features walked in through the door and said,

"Have you heard of Eliza Kane?" We all shook our heads except for Erica, who nodded. The man continued,

"She's a ranger at the San Diego zoo, and she sometimes works there too. We have gotten an anonymous tip that she is secretly smuggling expensive animals, like rhinos and elephants and jaguars and red pandas, to her own house or facility while they are being delivered to and from the zoo. Your mission is to get jobs as junior rangers, and to befriend her daughter, Mary Kane, who is also a junior ranger, to find information about Eliza and her plan." We all nodded, and he handed us each a folder that said, "for your eyes only" I opened mine up, and inside was a picture of a blonde girl about Erica's age, or a little younger, I was going to be named Jimmy Wiesman, and was going to be acting a year older than I really was. Since Sasha Rotco had been used too many times and might be recognized, Erica was Lisa Wiesman, Mike was George Wiesman, Zoe was Milly Wiesman, and Catherine was Lorena Wiesman, our mom. Once we were situated about our identities, Catherine said, 

"It's time to go!" And we left the office and began driving to the airport.

The start was boring, but now we're entering the action. Please comment, cuz if you do, you will get a shoutout in the next chapter!