little did we know

Josiah 3

I get to my bunk nearly ten minutes after I return Ella to her room. Noah and Carter, my roommates, are already there, sitting on their beds. As soon as I walk in Noah shouts, "Hey, Josiah! How was your delivery?"

"Fine." I grumble. "How was yours— oh wait. Your not important enough to get asked to do things." Noah frowns.

"What's your problem?"

Carter whispers something to Noah, but loud enough so I can hear.

"He's in love with the package." This causes Noah to laugh.

"Ha! Are you? Joey's in love with his delivery?"

"She's not a delivery. Or a package. Her name is Ella."

"Oooooh," Carter mocks. "Her name is Ella"

"Shut up, Carter." He glares at me.

"What did I do?" I ignore him. Noah and Carter are jerks, bullies.

I am an agent for Maris. So are they. We all had to go to the same training. Carter and Noah always picked on the weaker kids. Mr Galloway, our instructor did nothing to stop this. In this company, lying, cheating, and stealing were all praised upon. So when they beat me up, gave me black eyes and bloody lips, Mr Galloway called it "bonding". So, since we had "bonded" we were put in the same room together, only adding to the eternal torture of life.

Carter is the annoying one, most of the time. He uses his words, because he's not strong enough to physically attack me. The only thing he really does is say I'm in love with things. Like, "oh, Joey went to the bathroom. He's in love with the toilet" or "Joeys eating a sandwich, he's in love with bread." Of course that leads to, "Joey delivered a package, he's in love with it." I don't take it too personally, because Carter is so dumb and clueless. Tell him Canada isn't real and he'll believe it. And we live in Canada.

Noah is polar opposite of of Carter. He's the brains and the brawn behind the operation, whereas Carter is... Not humor. Definitely not good looks. Maybe just someone to post the blame on. Anyways, Noah is 15, only a year younger than me, but most definitely smarter. Noah is clever, and very good at planning things. Attacks and ambushes... pranks. That makes him the best partner in the annual agent Prank War.

The Prank War has happened every year that I've been here, and I've grown up here. My parents work in the lab at MarisTech (Maris's company), and live in the provided bunks. When I was little, I worked in the warehouse, putting stickers and labels on the MarisTech products. When I was about ten, I got put in the soldiers training program, or STP for short. I had to go to that training for four years, then had to take the final exam that upgraded me to official agent rank. Being an agent meant that I could participate in the prank war, not watch. My first year in was awesome. Noah, Carter and I, teamed up with the guys from bunk 8 and totally dominated the other teams. Since that year, the six of us have always joined forces. I've participated in the Prank War for three years now, and our group has always won. The Prank war isn't allowed by Maris. In fact, she said she'd fire any agent that participated. But since every single agent takes part, Maris couldn't fire all of them because she needs her agents for something and therefore, none of us lose our jobs. This year, guys from bunk 3 have challenged us, informally. They are always the runner-ups. Second place. Never first. I know it's just a game, and that a stupid Prank War shouldn't be taken this seriously. But I know, no matter what, I will win.