Covert Affairs

A new recruit this late in the year?

The sun was shining bright on this Saturday morning, casting its warm rays through my window. Normally, I would still be snuggled up in my cozy bed, enjoying the weekend's lazy start. But today was different. I found myself sitting outside of Headmistress Morgan's office with my fellow classmates. The time read nine am on the dot. It was unusual for her to really work on a weekend, but there we were, called in by her summons. Forced to wear our uniforms, neat and tidy.

I flexed out my ankle after walking on it to get here. It's been a few weeks since the ankle incident and my ankle was completely healed, but it still hurts from time to time in the later part of it's recovery. I ditched the crutches a few days ago. While I'm glad I'm not confined to those two sticks, I am, however, going to miss Tyler carrying around all my shit for me.

Speaking of Tyler, we've been nearly attached at the hip since my rock climbing incident. The tension broke and our friendship came in hard and fast. It was as if we've been best friends our entire lives. I don't have to fight the fact that I feel so comfortable around him anymore. It's crazy to think that I wasted so much time holding that grudge against him when I could've ended this squabble weeks ago. We just click. It's as simple as that.

My phone buzzed revealing a text from Tyler.

"Might head to the library in a bit to get a head start on this history of espionage paper we have due. Wanna come?"

I sighed, replying, "Can't. Headmistress Morgan called the girls and me down to the office."

His response was quick and teasing, "Uh oh. What did you do now?"

"Nothing. We're innocent!" A moment passed before I added, "Though...we did do some (unauthorized) hacking the other day, but I feel like that should be counted as extracurricular activities."

"When you get kicked out of school, don't expect me to follow you out in protest." Tyler responded.

"Ha ha." I heard the office doors opening up. "I've got to go, we're getting called in."

"Take a seat girls." Headmistress Morgan greeted us, pointing to the chairs in front of her desk. We reluctantly took a seat, my stomach twisting. I was running through all the possible reasons we could've been called down here. We've been pretty good recently. Haven't broken too many rules. Our grades are impeccable, we've called a truce with the Blackthorne boys so what is it?

"Don't look so nervous," Headmistress Morgan said with a smile, her eyes glinting mischievously. We all tried to hide our unease, but I could feel my hands shaking slightly. We had been summoned to the Headmistress's office unexpectedly, and that alone was enough to put us on edge. "You're not in trouble, I simply need a favor."

"What do you need from us, Headmistress?" I asked, still a little worried.

"I need you guys to give a new girl a tour," Headmistress Morgan replied, still smiling. We let out a collective breath of relief, our shoulders relaxing. This was easy. I'd never given a tour here before but I'm sure it won't be that hard. At least not as difficult as whatever I was originally expecting the Headmistress would be asking of us.

"Sounds easy enough," Dee said, her voice more relaxed now.

"Well, there's a catch," the Headmistress added, her expression turning more serious. I guess I spoke too soon.

"What's the catch?" Jess asked, her eyes narrowing slightly.

"We need to have the parents and the student have very different perspectives of the school," Headmistress Morgan explained. "Basically, the parents need to view the school as what we market it to be to people outside of our world, an Elite boarding school for exceptionally gifted young ladies. All of the charm and elegance the school has to offer, aka what we print in our brochures. However, the young lady needs to get a slightly less appealing view of the school. I don't care what you say to her, just do your best to convince her not to want to join this school."