Model in Disguise

8. Meet the Partners

Dedicated to: bookhunger

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      September 1st
     Agent R. Harris arrives at her destination. The mission commences at Smile Academy for Modeling Teens. Operation Smile begins with Agent R. Harris, Agent K. Masters, Agent A. Nichols, and an unknown partner to be discovered.

    Ch. 8: Meet the Partners
    Date: September 1st

To prepare for a mission there is a protocol that every agent must follow. Usually I follow it. Except today, it seems I’ve forgotten the rules. Although I suppose I have a right to.

       Nicole Harris is my boss; she should know better than to pair me up with someone that I don’t get along with. Clearly the thought that Kyle and I can’t stand each other hasn’t registered in her mind.

        “I don’t understand why you won’t help me,” I mumble, shoving a water bottle into the fridge. I turn to face Aaron again seconds later with a disapproving expression on my face. “You have just as much authority as she does. You can get me out of this but you choose not to. And I want to know why.”

       Aaron glances over his shoulder into the living room, where Kyle is seated on the couch. I cross my arms and follow his gaze. The boy watching TV is engrossed in a football game, his broad shoulders hunched as he leans forward onto his knees. When Aaron turns back there’s an apologetic look on his face. “I’m sorry, Ray. I can’t do anything.”

        “But you of all people know I can’t work with him.” I run a frustrated hand through my highlighted hair, pushing long strands of brown and yellow away from my face. “So can’t you just do me this one favor and kick him off my team?”

       Before Aaron opens his mouth to answer me Kyle comes barging into the kitchen. I can see his olive-toned face over Aaron’s shoulder, his annoyed expression mirroring my own as Aaron turns to face him. I narrow my eyes at his entrance.

       Now he wants to listen to our conversation about him?

        “What, you don’t think I can hear you?” Kyle hisses. I return his glare. “I don’t care how opposed you are to me working with you. Neither of us have a choice. And two years ago I’m sure you would’ve been ecstatic to get this chance of a lifetime with me. So stop complaining.”

        “Kyle,” Aaron warns, but I interrupt him before he can continue.

        “You know what?” I say, exposing my teeth in the fake smile that I’ve perfected over the past two years. I’m one step away from taking off the stupid heels I have on and chucking them at Kyle’s head. “Never mind. I’m fine working with you. Just try your best to keep up, Agent Masters.”

       The amount of venom in my voice surprises me so much that I have to make sure nothing leaks through my words the next time I speak. “We can’t have you messing up the names of some of our potential leads. And we all know how you get with names; I mean, we all know how long it took you to spell mine correctly. But anyway, I guess I should get started on my cover. I’ll see you around, Kurt.”

       The sounds that my heels make as I leave the kitchen are the only things that pierce through the silence. But right before I’m out of hearing range, my sharpened senses pick up the familiar sound of someone’s knuckles colliding with another person’s face.