--One month later--
"Maze?"
"Parker, how many times have I told you, just call me Katy."
"...fine. Katy?"
"Yes~?"
Parker rolls his eyes as he drives, gripping the steering wheel a little tighter than before in his annoyance, "We're nearly at the drop point and you've been zoned out this entire time. Are you really up for this mission?"
Katy scoff's quietly, but she knows that the question is from genuine worry for her that he'll never admit to a soul. She runs through her mental checklist and hums in confirmation instead of actually answering. Then she takes a long, and purposefully loud, slurp of her tea, which is in a bright pink thermos. Katy pins the blame on Nelly for getting her to actually use the thermos because she'd bought it for her before very obviously guilt-tripping her into bringing it with her on this job.
She watches in amusement as she watches Parker tense and scowl deeply at the sound, his eye twitching slightly. His next words are more of an annoyed growl than anything.
"I asked a question, Katy. Making a noise is not an answer. Use your words like a grown ass adult."
"Fine, fine. I have all the supplies I need, I've read the material provided 'bout a dozen times, and I've triple checked that the tech to make sure it's all in working order, which it is."
"And do you even have a plan yet? Or are you just going to, what's the phrase you use, 'wing it'?"
Katy laughs heartily at her favorite phrase coming out of his mouth, since he's a stickler for the rules and for clean, concise steps for every part of any mission he's assigned to.
"Yes, Parker, I have a rough plan. Easy to mold to whatever situation occurs and, yes, I'll probably be winging about eighty percent of this mission. But winging it is my specialty, so I'm confident."
"Of course you are." Parker says with dry humor in his voice. After a beat of silence, Katy starts snickering and it quickly turns into proper giggling. Her laughter, as always, is contagious, and Parker starts chuckling along with her.
The rest of the drive, all of about 20 minutes more, is spent in Katy making bad dad jokes, Parker suffering through them, and the two just enjoying each other's company. But deep down, below the carefree mood, there's the underlying feeling of melancholy, since neither knows when the next time they'll get to share a moment like this.
And that's only if Katy makes it out of this mission alive.
----------------
A wave of perfectly cool air rolls over Katy as she walks into the main building of Eastview High, the school at which she'll be undercover in until further notice. Filled to the brim with entitled teenagers, the kids of some of the most powerful, rich, and influential people in the world. It started as a school for the rich kids, or the kids of highly important people in the N.A. because they wanted a place where their kids safety is certain. As the first decade of the school's life wore on, more and more incidents happened and the school didn't faulter in the least. They learned from each incident and improved their safety measures and, soon enough, there were people from all over the world calling in favors and offering payment to have their children attend.
All of this Katy knows from the mountain of files that she had to read the month prior to the mission started. She read all of it so many times that she swears up and down that she can explain it all while being dead asleep. Despite the comical wording she used as she complained about all the information, deep down, she really dislikes the whole concept.
Not the concept of having the best of the best of the best security systems to protect all of the most important kids of the future. She gets that and she appreciates the amount of work that goes into the care and keeping of the school to keep up to that standard. No, what she dislikes, and at a certain point, hates, about the school is simple.
It's the self-intitled, snob nosed, spoiled brats who attend the school.
"Miss Westford?"
Katy snaps out of her thoughts and refocuses her eyes on the young man in front of her, the current Headmaster of the school. Well, she calls the guy young in her mind, but he's probably a decade and a half older than her. After a beat, and to play the part of a bored teen, she yawns.
"Yeah?"
"You seemed to have zoned out for a moment. May I continue?"
Katy nods with a subtle eyeroll that she knows the man catches, though he's paid more than enough to not really care how the students react when he talks to them. He goes on to continue his simple explanation of what will be expected of her as a student, how to treat other, rules, and blah, blah, blah.
She knows more about this school and all of the high priority students in it than this guy will ever have the clearance for.
As she pretends to listen, she observes the building around her. With incredibly high ceilings, the metal beams crisscrossing along those ceilings, the open floor plan is flooded with so much natural light from the walls of glass that there are only fourteen artificial lights even installed.
To many, the concept of having a building made nearly entirely out of glass as a front reception in a school that houses so many important kids is simply idiotic.
However.
This specific glass is enhanced with two layers of hair-thin panes of Xintgal (zin-teh-gal) and has enough durability to currently withstand bullets of any caliber, hand grenades, and shockwaves.
"And, according to your files that were submitted, you'll be staying in our on-site dorm building. Lucky for you, we have a total of twenty five students who also live in the dorms, so you won't ever get bored." The Headmaster says with a clap of his hands, snapping Katy out of her thoughts for the second time in the last eleven minutes.
Katy involuntarily lets out a small snort at his words, since she knows that she'll probably get a teenager version of a hazing for an introduction to her fellow dorm livers.
"And don't worry too much, we have security cameras covering most of the dorm building, so the....introductory shenanigans aren't very extreme," The Headmaster explains, knowing right to where her mind went, as most rich kids do, "And we have very strict rules when it comes to that sort of thing, and the kids here are aware of it, as are their families."
'Ah, he's subtly explaining that the kids here know that they walk a thin line between making a good impression and a bad impression on their parents/families reputation. Interesting,' Katy thinks, nodding slowly as the Headmaster goes on to add more, which Katy tunes out.
'Now my interest is piqued. I wonder just how entertaining these "introductory shenanigans" will be'
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Many much time skips
Why'd the alternate universe Spider-Man do so well on his driving test?
He's an excellent parallel Parker.
YOU ARE READING
Project: High School
ActionKaty Westford. Better known as Sergent Maze, the youngest person to achieve the rank in the history of the North American Military. She worked hard for the respect from her supervisors and her hard work payed off. Or, at least, that's what she thoug...
