Undercover: A Romance

Chapter One

I sat in the back seat of the car preparing myself for my first day of high school. Believe it or not I was kind of nervous. I had watched several movies and TV shows to prep me for this mission. What I had found was that there are several different categories of students. You have the "nerds" as they put it, the "skater dudes", the "Jocks", the "cheerleaders" which can also be put into the next category, which is the "skanks" or "sluts" or the "populars" or for lack of a better term, the "bitches" of the school. But then there was usually a group of kids who happened to be somewhat normal. From the movies I had gathered that if you were prettier than the "Populars" you were automatically labeled a threat. So to say the least, I was nervous about them. Not because I was scared they might "try" to make my year a living hell, but because I was told that I wasn't supposed to damage or kill anyone while I was here. It's to be "avoided" they said.

I sighed rather dramatically in the back seat of the Mercedes and my driver, Dan, looked at me in the rear view mirror.

"What's wrong, pretty lady?" he asked. Dan always called me that. He's been driving me everywhere since I was a teenager. He was what the CIA called a untraceable helper. Meaning, if he helped me kill someone and dispose of the body, he couldnt be linked to me. He was pretty stealthy to be a forty two year old. He wasn't that bad looking either, if I do say so myself. He had graying brown hair and a strong jaw line and amazing blue eyes.

I glanced up at his eyes in the mirror, "Nothing. Just thinking about how I'm going to have to stay off of everyone's bad side here." I grumbled, furrowing my eyebrows.

Dan laughed, "Oh right! I forgot you have to avoid confrontation on this mission." He chuckled. "You can do it. I know that you can." But as sure as he was, I wasn't so positive. Just watching the movies made me want to slap some of the people.

I sighed again and looked back out the window. Clearwater is a small town. Very old looking. It was apparently in the process of modernizing itself but it seemed to be doing so very slowly. I was staring at the outside off the school wondering how I was going to make this year fun while completing my mission. The school wasn't as big as I was hoping. I shook my head. I was convinced that my stay here would be long and adventureless. I took a deep breath and controlled my emotions. By now it was 6:50, but the parking lot was still virtually empty. I decided I'd go in and look around.

Of course in this small town the schools had to wear uniforms. But I didn't mind. I was wearing low rise khaki Aeropostal pants and an a white polo. I actually didnt look as bad as I thought I was going to look. I allowed myself to be lazy that morning and simply slipped my feet into some black bobs. No laces, no worry. I'd also only brushed my hair and let it hang natural down my back. The only make-up I had on was mascare and a little eyeliner and lip gloss. My natural look was the only angle I wanted to take on my first day of high school. Of course, I had to look seventeen.

I patted Dan good-bye on the shoulder and got out of the car. I looked over and saw a man doing the same, except he was getting out of a black Corvette. Hm. I guess even in small towns you have flashy cars. But I don't know how I didn't see him pull into the side alley between the main school building and what looked to be a workshop. He was a tall man, maybe four inches taller than my 5'5", putting him at maybe 5'9". He had what looked like from a distance, brown hair and a beard. He only looked to be about in his thirties. I shrugged and looked away and saw William walking toward me.

William is an old friend of the family I guess you could say. He knows who I am and my career. But he's not CIA, he's just the principal of Clearwater High School. He's a tall man with a big stomach. He has clear blue eyes and sandy brown hair and a matching mustache. His mustache reminds me of Mario. It was just that cool.

He walked up to me and hugged me.

"Ariabella. I see you made it okay." He smiled slightly. "Turn around." he prompted me gently. I knew why he wanted me to turn around, he wanted to see if any of my weapons were poking out anywhere. I sighed and raised my arms and turned in a slow circle. I knew he wasn't going to see them. Because I was wearing form fitting clothes and my pants flared out at the bottom, I decided to strap two knives to my right calf and two small hand guns to my left calf. I grinned hugely at him.

"Where did you hide them?" he asked slightly amused at me.

"My calves." I replied smoothly.

He slightly shook his head at me, "You're something else ya know."

I tilted my head down and looked up at him through my eyelashes and gave a sexy smirk, "I know," I replied. I saw him swallow and knew my look worked. Now I knew I could use it on Mr. James Rae.

I reached into the back seat and grabbed my purse and the three notebooks that I had brought. I shut the door and looped my arm through William's. "Alright. Show me the way, Sir." I smiled up at him and we started walking for the front doors. I noticed the man with the Corvette standing and gawking in my direction but I ignored him.

I looked up a William, "Alright so can I say you're my cousin or something, because if we walk through the hallways with our arms intertwined everyday, someone will think we're screwing." He looked down at me and smirked at my choice of words. "Well I guess you could tell everyone that." He leaned down and kissed me on the cheek, "But the screwing I wouldn't mind." He winked at me when he said that. I playfully slapped his arm. "Now William you know if my father ever heard you say that he'd blow your head off, right?" His smirk got wider but he simply nodded and we continued to walk through the front doors.

The school wasn't much. When you walk in the front doors you immediately stepped into the hallway. To the left was the office, which looked small, in front of you was a wall with a trophy case on it and apparently behind that wall was the gym.

William directed me to the right and we passed the girls bathroom and then we passed a classroom door that had Mr. Daniels on it. The next classroom door was open and that's the door we went in. William handed me my schedule.

He patted me on the shoulder and whispered a few things to me about the school and my target's daughter. I nodded my understanding. I didn't know anyone else was in the room until William cleared his throat and started talking.

"Alright Nikki, this is your English teacher Mr. Matthews." At first I was slightly confused as to who the hell he was talking about and then I remember that I had an undercover name. I turned around to see the man with the Corvette standing behind the teachers desk. I blinked. His hair and beard were in fact an auburn brown color. His eyes were a bright hazel. He wasn't gorgeous. He didn't have a rocking body, in fact he had a bit of a pudge. But something about him seemed to pull me in. I realized I was staring so I gathered myself and smiled. As I walked towards his desk and realized that he had been staring at me also. But his face held a look of awe and a look as if he was trying to figure out what I am. As I reached his desk I stuck my hand out. "I'm Nikki Cook." He physically shook his head to clear it and grabbed my hand. His hand was big and warm and grasped mine firmly. My stomach started to tingle and my eyes got bigger. From the look of his eyes he was experiencing the giddy feeling too.

I quickly hid my feelings and let go of his hand. I walked back to William and looked him dead in the eye and said, "After school I have to talk to you." He just simply nodded and walked out the door. I was left alone with Mr. Matthews.