Spies In Disguise: The Skills and the Spies (#2)

Chapter 3: Spies Learn to Sneak

On Tuesday, Maddie and I have our Observation and Body Language classes at the agency. Katrina meets us in room 4B, and the class begins.

"Welcome to Observation and Body Language!" says Katrina brightly. "Right now, we will be focusing on the 'Observation' part. That means you'll learn how to sneak around, hide, eavesdrop, and escape from any building. You'll also learn how to spy on other people without getting caught."

"YES!" Maddie and I exclaim in unison. We've always wanted to learn how to do that, and now, we're actually learning how to do it!

"Alright. Now, sneaking around is a difficult process, and often, it is difficult to escape," continues Katrina. She starts walking around and talking at the same time, which she does all the time. "The first thing to do is to get to know your environment inside out. It is essential, because it means that you can spend less time escaping if you have to do so. With me so far?"

"Got it!" I reply, eager to hear more.

"Me too!" adds Maddie.

"Second, if you see someone, the first thing you should do is to hide, but if they ask you why you're here, then you come up with an excuse. But if they scream, and they try to attack you or do anything like that, then you run away and escape."

"Got it!"

"Me too!"

"Third, when you're sneaking around, remember all the spots that creak, and be quiet as possible, because shoes will make a lot of sound."

"Got it!"

"Me too!"

"Alright, let's go down to a spare room in the basement, and you two can practice sneaking around quietly."

Maddie and I grab our purses and follow Katrina down several flights of stairs to a creaky room in the basement, where we try to sneak around and be quiet (which fails. Duh). It's not until the end of class, where Maddie and I get picked up by our moms that we rejoice, because we can be loud and noisy again. Being quiet is a lot of work.

"Being loud is AWESOME!" Maddie exclaims, and we high five each other.

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When we get home, Ryan's doing math homework in the kitchen, and Dad's sitting next to him, trying to explain how adding two digit numbers works. Dad looks pretty frustrated, while Ryan looks super confused.

"You add the ones digits, and then you carry the tens digit to the next column!" Dad's saying irritably.

"What tens digit? I don't see any columns!" Ryan insists, looking around.

"Not around you. On your homework sheet!" grumbles Dad. He sees Mom and I walking into the kitchen and brightens up. "Excellent, you're here! Sabrina, can you help Ryan with his homework? He doesn't understand the concept of adding two digit numbers!"

"You're not going to say 'Hey, how was your day?', or anything like that?" I pipe up.

Dad and Ryan whirl around, and they say in unison, "Hey, how was your day?"

"Where were you, anyway?" asks Ryan curiously. "You weren't home for another hour today. Hey, I have an idea...YOU WERE DOING SOMETHING SECRETLY! YOU'RE SECRETLY A SPY!" Ryan jumps up from his seat and points at me excitedly, as though he solved a mystery. Dad forces him to sit down.

"Uh..." I say nervously. Does Ryan actually think I'm a spy? If he does, we're all dead. "No! I'm not a spy...heh heh heh! Where'd you get that idea from?"