Spy School: City Crisis

0 6 : t o u r i n g

Even Addie looked shocked by this.

"B-boyfriend...I-um...right." I stuttered. My brain became even more jumbled then it was. Erica was going to be my pretend girlfriend. My goodness gracious.

"Oh wow, well it's very nice to meet you both." Ms. Andrews said, "Well, we're going to have one of our students give you a quick tour of the school. Sounds good?"

Erica gave Ms. Andrews a smile and a nod before turning to me with her bright eyes full of excitement.

"Oh I can't wait Ben!" She said excitedly, throwing me off a bit. I haven't seen Erica like this since we went to Vail, and I sure wasn't used to her change of persona. 

"Yeah, me neither." I managed to say without stuttering.  

Ms. Andrews gave us one last smile before turning to go to the phone, probably to get the student who was going to give us the tour.

"How many bugs." Erica suddenly whispered with her usual icy tone.

"Three." I whispered back, "Any idea where the others are?"

"With the other students, they're trying to spot out our target." Addie whispered, then turned to Erica and gave her a knowing smile.

"Boyfriend? That wasn't the plan." Addie said while raising her eyebrows in amusement.

Wait. So Erica had made up the boyfriend part? This wasn't actually part of the real mission?

Erica rolled her eyes, "Saying that he was a friend from an old school wouldn't have been believable. There were a lot of holes here and there that could throw us off if we're questioned."

Although Erica pretended to have a reasoning for this new "boyfriend" facade, I had a glimmer of hope that Erica had made this change on purpose.

When we saw Ms. Andrew's walking back to us, I quickly tried to make up some new conversation.

"Lauren, did you hear about the one on one that happened on the field last night?" I said. 

Erica looked a bit impressed when I actually made up a story that was believable, making my smile on the inside grow wider.

"Of course I did! It was real intense, I honestly thought that Roberts was gonna lose though." She said, exaggerating her hand motions.

"Exactly!" Addie added in for good measures.

"Well kids, we have the student coming down now. I need to go back to the assembly to clean up, so he'll meet you guys here." Ms. Andrews interrupted. After we nodded our heads in understanding, Ms. Andrew waved at us and left for the large double doors that must have been the entrance to the auditorium.

"I wonder who the student is." I said out of both curiosity and acting. 

"Same here." Addie said, but suddenly hushed as she looked behind me, her eyes beginning to widen.

"What is it?" I asked, turning around to look where Addie was staring off at.

If it was possible for there to be a dramatic slow-mo that they had in the movies, this would have been the perfect time for one. 

The elevator door dinged and opened up to reveal a boy around 14 or 15, tall, tan, chiseled facial features, windswept hair, and striking royal blue eyes. I could swear that all the girls who saw him let out an audible sigh. He looked very familiar, making my head exploded whilst trying to figure out where I had seen him before. 

Then it hit me.

So this was the boy. This was Brandon Snider.

Brandon started walking our way, looking me straight in the eyes. I gulped silently. Even with the smile on his face, he somehow made me feel intimidated.

"Well, you must be the new students." Brandon said cheerfully, then put his hand out to Erica,

"Brandon Snider, pleasure to meet you." He said flirtiously. So he was already making a move on Erica. Of course. Erica got right into character, gave him a smile back, and gave him a handshake. At least, I was hoping that she was just acting.

"Lauren Hale." Eric's responded enthusiastically, making my blood boil. 

He then turned to Addie, but his expression changed from flirty to admiring when he did. He looked at Addie for a bit longer, and his mouth stood gaping. This would have been a funny time to tell him to close his mouth, but I didn't want to make a bad first impression, so I just stayed silent.

"Addison Yang." Addie finally said quietly. 

"Uh, um...yes...hi..." Brandon stuttered, a little red creeping into his cheeks.

"And I'm Benjamin, Lauren's boyfriend." I said, giving Brandon a look. He turned to face Erica, then turned his head back to me, and gave me an understanding nod with a warm smile. Well, that turned out better then I thought it would.

"Really nice meeting you all, so let's go on the tour, shall we?" Brandon motioned for us to follow him.

To be completely honest with you, I wasn't really paying attention to anything that Brandon was saying. Most of the time, I was trying my best to study him. Erica had started teaching me a while  ago about how to figure out a person's whole life only by looking at them. I decided to give it a try.

Sadly, this was easier said then done. All I could really figure out was that he probably worked out, judging by the toned body, the tan showed that he possibly surfed or lived near a beach, and a bunch of girls loved him.

The only thing that really through me off was his small mannerisms. Like how he sometimes smirked without meaning, or his continuous massaging of his wrists as if he was warming up for a fight. I couldn't place my finger on why he acted this way.

"So what do you think Ben?"

A voice suddenly jolted me out of my thoughts, and I turned to see Erica giving me a smile. I couldn't help but get butterflies in my stomach from this small thing. I seriously wasn't going to get used to that smile anytime soon.

"Um...it was really great. Can't wait to attend the classes here." I said, trying my best to act as I was actually listening to the tour the whole time.

Brandon turned around and gave us all a welcoming smile,

"These are the dorms. Girls live on the left wing, boys on the right. One of our head managers for the girls became sick, so we have a new substitute that's taking her place. She should be here any moment." Brandon said to the girls.

I started to look around to see where I was. I wasn't paying much attention to where we were headed during the tour,  but it seemed as if were were now in some sort of intersection. There was a sign with an arrow pointing to the left that said GIRLS, then a similar sign pointing to the right, saying  BOYS.

I looked down one of the hallways to see that the door of one of the rooms had the numbers 398 on it. Well, what our luck, our dorm was on the same floor as Brandon's.

"Oh Brandon, you got something right there," Addie suddenly said, then reached her hand towards Brandon's hair, and grabbed a piece of dust.

Brandon immediately blushed, "Wow, um...thanks."

Addie just nodded in response, them brushed her hands off. 

As we stood in the hallway, I suddenly heard footsteps from the left corridor.

"Oh, here she is. Guys, this is the substitute manager for the girls, Coach Rivera." Brandon said as a figure made her appearance.

The women that walked out from the left hallway had on a pair of maroon aviator sunglasses that complimented her blazing ginger hair that was up in a tight ponytail. She had on a slim running jacket with a pair of gym leggings as well. Her fit body showed that she obviously was a fit woman. 

But for some reason, she looked very familiar.

The women looked at us, then took off her sunglasses and propped them on top of her hair. I had to try my best to hide my look of surprise,

"Well these must be our new students. Welcome to Darrow guys." said Catherine Hale.