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

Chapter 9: Spies Get Tested

Maddie and I are now in the change rooms, in our karate uniforms. Maddie's sitting on a bench, playing with her fingers nervously, while I'm pacing around the room.

"I'm really scared," says Maddie nervously. "Are you?"

"Obviously I'm not scared, I totally don't look scared, and I'm not pacing around the room," I say sarcastically, while still pacing around the room. "I'm scared. What do you think?"

"Sorry, I can't really think," apologizes Maddie.

Someone knocks on the door, and I hear Katrina's voice saying, "Maddie Stewart, you're up first. Meet me in the karate room."

Maddie looks at me nervously, and she looks like she wants to faint. I can't blame her, I look like I want to faint as well. I kind of wanted to go first, so that I could get the test over with.

"You'll be fine, good luck!" I say reassuringly. "At least you get to get it over with first."

"T-thanks," stutters Maddie, and slowly heads out of the change room.

Now it's just me...alone in the change room...with nothing but our bags for company.

And then I realize that I brought my phone and a book with me, and I check for any text messages quickly. I read a few extra chapters in my book, and then I hear it.

"Stephanie Carter, it's your turn. Meet me in the karate room."

Wow. Either time flew by really quickly or Maddie spent a long time in the karate room.

Speaking of Maddie, she bursts into the change room, looking extremely scared and tired at the same time. She pants, and goes to sit down next to me.

"What happened?" I ask. "And why are you still scared? You got the test over with!"

"I'm not allowed to tell you what happened cause Katrina doesn't want to spoil the test for you," sighs Maddie. "You should go now. And I'm scared cause I don't know what the results are."

"Okay," I say nervously, and I leave the change room and go into the karate room.

The karate room still looks the same, except this time, there's one huge mat on the right of the room, and several hanging pillows on my left. Katrina is standing in the middle, a clipboard in one hand, and a pen in the other.

"Hello, Stef," she says smoothly. "You can warm up in the middle of the room. I need to go scribble some comments about Maddie's assessment."

Katrina walks over to a nearby chair, sits down, and starts scribbling on her clipboard. I start stretching, and when I'm done, Katrina continues scribbling. Either Katrina has a lot to say about Maddie, or she's scribbling other things.

"I'm done warming up," I call to Katrina, who stops scribbling and looks up.

"Excellent. Head on over to the hanging pillows, and let's see your punches," Katrina says.

I head over to the nearest hanging pillow and start studying it. It's red, it hangs from the ceiling...not really much to describe. Katrina stands near me, pen in her hand, and ready to scribble notes.

"I'm ready any time you are," says Katrina. "Start with the front punch."

I nod in reply, and stare at the pillow, getting ready to start. I can feel myself getting hot and a bit sweaty, and I feel like I want to get this over with.

I don't know how, but I feel my fist colliding with the pillow, and I see Katrina looking at me for a while before scribbling down a few notes.

After showing Katrina all my punches and kicks, Katrina tells me to go to the change room and get Maddie, because Katrina needs both of us in the karate room. I do so quite eagerly.