Spy School: The Rise of Gama

Chapter 2: Eight More Seconds

 Liz wakes up the next morning unaware that she had even fallen asleep. She sits up and looks around the room and a wave of panic washes over her until she remembers where she is. The events of yesterday slowly return to her memory. The plane ride from Pennsylvania to Portland, the drive from the airport to the school, and finally moving into the room and meeting Nico.

She turns on her phone to check the time and see if she has any messages from her friends back home. To her disappointment there’s no messages, or signal. Liz groans and pulls the covers back over her head not too excited about facing the day. A knock at the door causes her to sit up.

“Liz Sanders? Are you awake?”

“Depends on who’s asking.” Liz mumbles through her sheets.

“Ty Anderson, Delta student. I’ve been instructed to give you a tour and help you become accustomed to the way of life around here. I’ll wait for you to get ready then we can head down to the dining hall for breakfast.”

Liz listens to the soft, retreating footsteps until she can’t hear them anymore then finally sits up. After brushing her teeth and hair and throwing on a fresh pair of jeans and tee shirt she grabs the key to her room from the folder. She makes one final check in the mirror to make sure she looks presentable before heading outside into the Beta commons. Sitting in one of the chairs is a girl with long black hair and stunning emerald green eyes.

Her face lights up in a bright smile when she sees Liz, “Hey, ready to get something to eat?”

Liz can’t help but smile in response, “Yeah, lead the way.”

Ty leads them both down the steps then turns right into the first doorway, “This is the dining hall. You’re lucky being on Beta, you’re the closest to where the food is kept.”

The dining hall is split into two different areas. The area that you enter when you first walk through the door has tables with chairs set up around them. On the other end of the room is the preparation area. There are counters, refrigerators, and cabinets. Liz walks over and opens the cabinets one by one until she finds the one containing Poptarts, cereal, and oatmeal.

“So we make our own food?” She asks, turning to look back at Ty.

“Yeah,” Ty responds, nodding. “Breakfast foods are kept in the cabinet you found, the next two over have food meant for later in the day. There's microwavable soups, peanut butter, granola bars, fruit snacks, and a ton of other stuff for you to choose from. The fridge holds things that need to be kept cold, obviously. If there’s one thing this school is good at it’s keeping the students fed.” She continues to chatter. “The cups are in the cabinet next to the sink, the plates are over in the cabinet near the fridge, and the silverware is in that drawer over there. I think that’s everything.”

Liz grabs a strawberry Poptart and closes the cabinet, “I’m assuming we have to do our own dishes then?”

“Mmhmm, although sometimes you can talk others into doing them for you, but that doesn’t happen often. Everyone is kinda responsible for their own chores around here.” Ty follows Liz over to one of the tables and sits down across from her. “So, you’re the principal’s daughter huh? Is she always so strict and scary looking?”

Liz chews on her Poptart thoughtfully, “Sort of,” She says after swallowing. “I mean, she has her nice moments, I guess. I haven’t really seen her much to be honest. She’s always been away, either here or on missions or whatever.”

“When did she tell you? You know, about her being a spy and all that?” Ty watches Liz with a glimmer of excitement in her eyes.

“About a month ago.” Liz admits quietly, “All she told me before was that her job required her to travel a lot. She’d leave me with my grandmother for months at a time.” She finishes her Poptart and stands up to throw the wrapper in the trash. “So, you’re giving me the tour today, right?”