Spy School Party Failure

Chapter 7

Unknown Location
Building That Looks Like A School
Somewhere in The World
February? March?
0700 Hours

I wish I could tell you what the plan was. But I couldn't. Not because it was a secret or anything, but because I didn't now what the plan was. I wasn't listening to what Catherine was saying, or what Erica was saying when she rejoined the group. I was more focused on Erica herself, and what Valerie had told me. Was it even true. Valerie didn't seem like one to lie, but she did grow up with Erica, who would lie about something like that. Did she just want me to feel sorry for Erica? It worked. I knew she wouldn't appreciate me feeling bad for her, but I did. Or should I not? I was confused. I was even more confused when Catherine clapped her hands and exclaimed, "Alright, everyone got the plan? Good!" It didn't feel like a good time to tell her I had no idea what was going on, so I didn't. No one did anything immediately, they all just kinda awkwardly stood in one spot, or walked away. The room was not big enough for 10 people to have their own personal space.
Since it didn't seem like the plan of action was going into play, I stood with everyone else, and hoped it wasn't too obvious that I didn't know what the plan was. There's a good chance I did look clueless, because when I met Erica's eyes, she glared at me. But that could have been for a number of reasons, one being that that could simply be Erica's permanent face. She walked up to me.
"Ben," She began, sweetly, with a look in her eyes that made me nervous, "Do you know what the plan is?"
I hesitated, and I knew that gave it all away, but Erica waited for me to answer. She nodded her head forwards in a go on kind of way. I tried to think of something that sounded like something Catherine and Erica would plan--something with a lot of twists and turns...
"Of course I know the plan!" I exclaimed, Erica looked amused, like she couldn't wait to see what I came up with. "So first, uh, Mike, Zoe, and I are gonna cause a loud commotion, and then that's-" Erica cut me off.
"Literally all of that is wrong," She told me angrily.
"You didn't let me finished," I tried to say, but Erica didn't let me finish that either.
"That doesn't matter!" She exclaimed. "Because if you were listening, you would have known what was going on! But you weren't listening were you?" I shook my head. "Why weren't you listening Ben?"
By this time, everyone was listening to us, or at least trying to pretend they weren't listening to us, but doing a really poor job. Erica looked at me and sighed. She pulled me against one of the walls (and somehow managed to be far away from everyone in the small room), while everyone "averted" their eyes and went to talking to someone. I'm sure they were all still listening.
"So Ben," Erica began questioning me. I didn't like the tone of her voice. "Can you tell me why you weren't listening to the plan? Were you distracted by something?"
"Uhh..." I was a really bad liar.
"I saw you and Valerie over in the corner talking earlier," She mentioned, "What did she tell you?" Erica's voice got dark.
I blanked. I promised Valerie I wouldn't tell Erica, and I'm not fond of breaking promises, but Erica could be scary when she wanted to be (which was most of the time.) I see what Erica was saying about how friends can influence how you reacted to situations. I apparently considered Valerie friend enough because I was willing to lie for her. Or at least willing to try to lie.
"She was telling me about how she, umm, about how she once broke her arm while she was... Skiing. Yeah, she told me how she likes to ski and she was so disappointed because she couldn't ski for like, 3 months." I don't know why skiing popped into my head, but that's what came out. I braced myself for Erica's response. To my surprise, her eyes lit up a little bit.
"Oh, yeah! We used to go skiing all the time! I was never good at it though. But she's been skiing since she was... Did she tell you? I forgot."
Another lie! Think, think, think...
"Yeah, wasn't it, like, since she was 7? 8 maybe."
Erica glared at me. I gulped and knew I messed up.
"Really Ben? How long were you going to lie to me? Valerie's never been skiing in her life!"
I was already in hot water, I figured it wouldn't hurt to dig the hole a little deeper.
"Oh, did you think I meant regular skiing? I meant water skiing! Silly me."
She didn't buy it.
"Ben," She told me, "You do realize I'm training to be a spy, right? You can't get anything past me, so stop trying. What were you and Valerie talking about?"
I cast my eyes down. I should tell Erica, but I just... Couldn't. I wouldn't.
"It's nothing important," I told her instead. It was only a half lie.
"If it's not important, why can't you tell me?"
I was really struggling here. "Look, I just can't tell you," I said.
"Well, if you can't tell me, you're going to have to find someone else to tell you the plan."
"Fine by me," I told her, "I don't need you, I have plenty of other friends who would be more than happy to tell me what's going on." And with that, I stomped away.

Valerie beckoned me over to where her, Scarlett, and Mia were talking.
"What did she want?" She asked me. "You didn't tell her anything, did you?" She was visibly nervous.
"No," I told her, "I didn't say anything, but Erica wouldn't say anything to me about what our plan is."
"Wait, what did you tell Ben that you have to keep secret from Erica?" Scarlett asked.
Valerie cringed. "I told him about how, like, Erica and Joshua used to be, I don't know, but about them," She told her.
"Oooh!" Mia said, a bit to loudly, "You really messed up! I'd be surprised if Erica didn't beat you to the ground."
"First of all," Valerie said, "I could beat Erica in any fight, and second, it's not like Ben's gonna tell her, so it's fine."
I wondered if Valerie could really beat Erica in a fight. I doubted it, but I was curious as to what made Valerie think that she could.
"The plan," I reminded them.
"Oh right!" Valerie exclaimed. "So, first we have to make one of the SPYDER agents come check on us. We figured they wouldn't let us starve, because they need us alive for their plan, but if they don't check on us soon, we're gonna make a bunch of noise to annoy them. Then, once they're in here, you and Erica are gonna run through the door and keep running until you find a place where you can find a phone so you can plan a rescue mission. And then, the backup's gonna help us get information on SPYDER. Got it?" I nodded. It seemed like a simple enough plan.
"Thanks." I went to go talk to Mike.

I found Mike talking to Zoe. Their friendship had grown a lot lately, and I was beginning to worry they were becoming better friends with each other than they were with me. They stopped abruptly when they saw me coming.
"What did Erica want with you," Zoe asked. It was more like a snap. Zoe had become a lot more concerned about Erica's and mine relationship since I learned she had a crush on me. Or maybe I had just noticed after it was revealed that she liked me.
"Nothing," I told her, "She just wanted to know something, and then was mad when I wouldn't tell her, so she wouldn't tell me the plan."
Zoe muttered something under her breath. I pretended to ignore it.
"Do you know the plan now?" Mike asked. He was always looking out for me. I nodded.
Just then, we heard keys jingling and the door opening. Every head in the room snapped towards the door. Murray wheeled in a cart of food that looked like it could almost be edible.
"Room service," He called.
I looked at Erica, waiting to sew if she would give me a signal on when to run. She didn't. I went on my own time.
I ran out the door, passing a startled Murray, and into the hallway.
I didn't make it very far before--splat. I ran into something brick-wall-like. I groaned and sat up, finding something much worse than a brick wall. Joshua Hallal. He was staring down at me with an unnerving glint in his eyes.
"Tsk, tsk," He said, "Come on Ben, you know that's not how you're supposed to behave." He hoisted me up by my shoulders, and dragged me away.