Cadet [Wattys 2016]

High School

Lake Fisher High, Monday morning

Ward and I spent last night reviewing my cover story and schedule, as well as a map of the school. My name is McKenna Fairoaks, a transfer from Ohio. My family just moved here for job reasons. I play the saxophone, and I'm not the best student. I spent a couple years in Britain. The last one is to cover up my accent.

I take a deep breath and step into the school. It feels weird. If I were normal, this wouldn't happen for a few more months, and maybe, just maybe, I'd be in London.

"You know what to do. Make friends. The software on your phone should be trying to locate the bomb." Ward's voice comes over my earpiece. "Right." I reply, taking another deep breath. "High school, diffuse a bomb, no biggie. Just one thing. Where's my first class again? This school is much bigger inside." I can hear Ward sigh over the intercom. "Three hallways up, take a right. E210. It should be Science. Going silent."

I follow his instructions and wind up at my desired classroom. Here goes my biggest challenge yet: Act normal, which means purposely miss questions. Agent Graham would be horrified.

My first teacher is a woman in her late twenties name Mrs. Greenich. She walks in and notices me sitting in the back. "Class, we have a new student who recently transferred from Ohio, McKenna Fairoaks. Do your best not to scare her off." Well that doesn't sound good. I wave slightly, my bright red hair shimmering in the light.

Mrs. Greenich turns out to be extremely boring. She drones on for about a half hour before asking me a question. "McKenna, where is DNA found?" Nucleus! I know this! Every instinct says to shout the answer as fast as I can.

I fight it, and pause to appear as though thinking it over. "The nucleus?" I ask, trying to appear as though I'm not fighting every cell in my body not to get up and take over the class.

Finally, finally, it's lunch. My earpiece pops on again. "Try and make friends." I hear. "Right. And how exactly am I supposed to do that?" Ward sighs. "How am I supposed to know? You're the teenager here."

"The only teenager in SHIELD to be exact." I mutter. "Watch it." Ward says. "SHIELD is classified intel. You know that. Friends, now."

I look around and find a group of girls beckoning me over. Friends. Right. That looks like a good place to start.

"New girl, right?" One girl asks me. I nod. "We just moved here from Ohio."

"Cool." Another girl says. "So what elective do you take?"

"I'm in band." I say cautiously, not sure of how they'll take this. "I play saxophone." It seems to go over fine.

"So how old are you?" The first girl asks. She's wearing a pink shirt and white shorts that go well with her blonde hair. "I turned thirteen about a month and a half ago." I swallow a bit.

"Little young for high school, aren't you?" The second girl, who's wearing dark blue points out. "I guess." I shrug it off. "Sit. I'm Jamie. This is Gabby." The first girl orders. Friends, huh? Doesn't sound like it.

The girls drill me for a bit longer, asking basic questions. Favorite Hobby? Studying biolog-I mean reading. Favorite color? Blue. Favorite Sport? Track or Volleyball. Finally, Ward cuts in. "Make up an excuse and follow my directions. We've got a location.

"I'll be right back." I say quickly, getting up and swinging my backpack over my shoulder. "Bathroom." That sounded bad but it came off the top of my head. Oh well. Everyone's used that before.

"Copy that." I whisper once I'm out of range of anyone. I follow Ward's directions to the theatre classroom. "Our sources say the bomb should be somewhere by one of the props." Ward says. I scan the room, looking for odd signs. I spot a group of props. In the center of the prop circle is a small box with wires hanging out. "Found it." I say. "What now?"

"Eliminate the threat and meet us by the front of the school afterward. And, Rose, I know you can do this." Ward says before going silent again. I'm on my own.

The wires are a mess, but I quickly spit two main ones, a red and a blue. I trace both wires to their sources. The red leads to a battery. The blue leads to a control system. I grab a pair of scissors from my backpack and cut both wires just to be safe.

"What are you dong in here? I thought you were going to the bathroom." A voice says behind me. I whirl around. It's Gabby. "I got lost." I stammer. "Took a few wrong turns. It's a big school." Gabby buys this response for long enough for me to scoop up my backpack and sprint out of the theatre room. I run all the way to the front of the school, where a car is waiting for me. "Nice work." The agent waiting for me says. Gabby comes out of the school, her phone to her ear. "Drive." I say urgently. "And thanks."