Spies in Disguise: Short Stories

Story 4: Our Cousins Try To Help

"I'm bored," I groan one wintery day.

I'm lying on the couch doing nothing. I'm not on my phone because nobody's sent or posted anything, and I don't want to go on my laptop. It's not snowing right now, because when it does, I sit at the window and watch the snow fall slowly to the ground, and become part of a steadily increasing blanket of snow.

"Your problem's been solved, Stef," Dad says suddenly, walking into the living room. I sit up straight and look at him. "Aunt Irene and her family are coming to our house later."

Is that his solution? Me socializing with my older cousins Percy, Cole, and Martin? Nope, not happening. I can't remember the last time I had a proper conversation with any of them. Whenever we actually do talk, they either ask me for the wifi password, or their parents ask them to ask me something.

"Don't worry, Aunt Alicia and her family will also be coming, but Uncle James' family isn't," Dad assures me.

"YES!" I exclaim. "We can have Stef and Maddie time!"

"BUT, you have your big algebra test coming up soon for school, that's what you told me," Dad reminds me before I can say anything else. "Cole has also been through the Scholastic program, and he knows what Scholastic math is like, so he's offered to tutor you in algebra!"

"WHAT? NO!" I shout. "You can't do that!" The Scholastic program is a gifted program that I'm part of, and that's why I go to Silverdale Public School - it has the Scholastic program.

Now enough of my nonsense and let's get back to the point.

"They'll be here in an hour or to, and Cole said that you'll need some paper, pencils, and a calculator," Dad adds eagerly. "You'll be tutored in the basement, in the area where Ryan plays videogames.

"But what will Maddie be doing while Cole tutors me?" I frown. "Won't she be doing nothing for a while?"

"Martin will be helping her learn a piano piece she has difficulty playing," answers Dad. I can imagine the look of disgust and shock on Maddie's face when she finds out that Martin will be tutoring her.

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One hour later, Aunt Irene, Uncle Harold, Percy, Cole, and Martin arrive at our house. All of them have light brown hair and blue eyes like us. Uncle Harold's eyes are a darker shade of blue, Aunt Irene is the shortest of the group, and both her and Uncle Harold wear glasses. Percy, Cole, and Martin are 17, 15, and 14 respectively, and all of them are quite tall.

I see Cole carrying a large whiteboard, a backpack, and an easel. Oh no. I think he's taking this very seriously.

I scamper to the basement with some paper, pencils, my phone, and a scientific calculator, to the end of the basement where Ryan plays his videogames. Cole soon comes down later, carrying his things with him. He sets up his easel in front of the TV, props up the whiteboard on the easel, grabs a whiteboard marker, whiteboard eraser, and calculator, and looks at me expectantly.

"What?" I ask.

"Get your pencil and paper ready, because I'm going to ask you to copy down some equations and expressions and solve them," Cole says briskly. Like I said earlier, he's taking it more seriously than I am.

Slowly, I get out my pencil and paper, as Martin comes down the stairs with Maddie.

"Oh hey Maddie!" I greet.

"Hi Stef!" Maddie says enthusiastically. "What's Cole tutoring you for?"

"He's giving me an algebra lesson that looks a bit too thorough for me," I tell her.