Spy School: Zoe or Erica?

The Meeting

The second I saw Erica, I didn't know how to exactly react.

Yes, it's me- Ben. Try not to cry in relief, since, in my opinion, my POV is the best of the best. You should think that too.

Okay. So- we got sidetracked by Berlin. Erica and Zoe were kidnapped and taken to somewhere else, and while they were escaping, we spent a long, long time in Berlin, going on a wild-goose chase for a note that said "hahahahha you guys DIDN'T FIND US! SUCK IT!"

Yeah. Five day's worth of research and tracking just for a piece of paper and an abandoned headquarters. Worth it, if you collected dust.

When we took an airplane back to London, I had been in a complete stress breakdown. What if that clue Erica gave me was a fake? What if I had just messed up the whole mission? What if Erica and Zoe were.... dead?

They weren't. And I hadn't been a complete failure, since Erica was sitting right next to me, explaining what had happened. 

"I thought that we had been rendezvous for Berlin," she said. "After all the evidence I collected... it seemed obvious that their headquarters was there. Sorry about not thinking ahead."

She seemed genuinely sorry- and when she was, it made her face look unnecessarily cute to drastic measures. I tried not to stare and focused on the foliage of the nearby garden.

Okay- let's rewind back to when I first saw Erica.

My mind had been in a haze. I didn't know if she and Zoe were dead or alive, and there couldn't more suspense.

I was pacing around the tiny dorm of mine when I heard the telltale cold Erica voice- but for some reason, mind me, it sounded a bit excited. That was unusual. Erica's tone was usually cold, coldness, and more coldness.

But my mind wasn't on that. My mind was on omgomgomgomg ERICA IS ALIVE!!!! Oh yeah, and Zoe is too.

Bursting out of my room, I found Erica standing in the hallway with a smirk plastered on her face. I didn't know what to do at the moment- hug her or sigh in relief. But after staring at her newly-made scars and injuries and her dry and clean clothes, I decided that the fact that Erica was alive is already enough to calm me down.

Erica stared back at me, still smirking. She seemed to be just fine- though I didn't understand why she was so calm after such circumstances. And where was Cyrus and Catherine? I shook off the comments floating around in my brain and focused on the main point: Erica was alive.

Two seconds passed by. Erica sighed, staring at me. I held her gaze.

"Come here," she said, opening her arms and rolling her eyes after I finally blinked in surrender.

I dived in for a hug- probably the only one I was going to have with her in a long time. Trying to avoid my fluttering heart, I breathed in the familiar smell of lilacs and gunpowder, and- wait, was that sea spray!? Something tells me wonder girl had some particularly interesting adventures that I was grateful not to experience.

Erica seemed to be enjoying the hug in a slightly accepting way. The kind of acceptance that radiates from your teacher when you just barely manage to pass the final exam.

The hug lasted for five straight seconds, then Erica pushed me away

"You just stopped breathing," she noted after examining my current state. "And your face is the color of a tomato."

"Typical Ben," Zoe said, striding into the hallway and deftly breaking the moment. "He gets flustered around you, Erica. Anyways, I'm happy for you tw-"

"We are not together, period," Erica said. "If we were, then you wouldn't have saved those cosmetics in your pocket in hopes of impressing Romeo over here." she waved her hand over to me, and I raised an eyebrow.

"What cosmetics?" I asked, squinting my eyes to look around Zoe. Zoe's face turned the same color as mine when I was in the hug, and she turned her body at an angle so I could only see her face.

"Zoe stole some cosmetics from the cruise ship in hopes to impress you when we came back," Erica said.

"Key word being hope," Mike interjected from the other end of the hallway and resorting to his room.

"Cruise ship?!" I exclaimed. "Where the heck did you manage to get a freaking cruise ship!?"

"Long story," Erica said. "You don't have to know for you're own good."

Zoe was practically in fumes when I turned to face her again. I was about to comfort her, but she burst into a long rant before I could say anything.

"At least I wasn't the one who carried a picture of Ben around!" Zoe shouted. "Ice Queen has the hots for you, Ben. And you like her back- don't even think about denying it." With this, she burst into her room and slammed the door behind her before I could ask more.

"You what!?" I said, turning towards Erica after a split second.

She had disappeared in thin air- which deemed impossible, since her room was in the next building. And the doorway to the end of the hallway was at least two hundred feet away.

I shook my head and attempted to clear my thoughts. My mind was a jumble of confusion at this point- two girls who liked me and tried to impress me in two ways. What was happening in my life? I didn't come to Spy School for this. I came to train on protecting America! Actually, scratch that. From my previous missions, I had saved the whole entire world. If I could do that, then why was I struggling with girl trouble?

Ah, stupid teenage years.

Okay- so that was what happened. Now that everybody settled down, I was sitting at a picnic table and happily munching on my McDonald's french fries with Erica at my side. Before we had exited to eat, she had pulled me over and hissed under her breath in my ear:

We do not speak of the picture, unless you have a death wish. Got it?

I had nodded and shook the thought off.

srry guys gtg again :(((