Spy School: Zoe or Erica?

Ben's POV finally

Okay guys, before I start, I'd like to say that I am genuinely surprised this book is doing well. Even though I have a feeling if I make it Zen (Zoe+Ben) you guys will like find my IP address and murder me in my sleep or something, I'd still like to thank y'all for reading.

Also, how the heck is this book on 56 reading lists?!

Anyways, onto Ben's POV:

The rest of a Banquet was more of a blur than something intriguing.

I could remember brief glimpses of Erica scanning the border for Jayden, coming back empty-handed, and dancing a few rounds with me. I didn't even blush during the dancing- my mind was on something else.

I could sense that something had happened to Jayden.

Don't ask me how- the second he left the room to go to the bathroom for an emergency, I immediately assumed that he was the culprit that Erica was glaring at. Why else would he look like he was in such a hurry? After all, a few seconds before, he had been eagerly watching the screen with no urge of using the restroom.

I caught a glimpse of him exiting soon after I left the security room. The door was closing slowly, and I could see from the corner of my eye that he was going in the left direction... meaning that he would either end up at a jumble of restaurants, some grocery stores, a museum, or a gas station.

I immediately guessed it would be the gas station. First of all, Jayden's not the type of person that would visit a museum when he could be looking on his phone. Second of all, he wouldn't go to the grocery stores since he didn't have any money. We all know that walking into a store, browsing the items then walking out without buying anything is certainly suspicious.

Which meant that he was going to be at the nearest 7-Eleven.

So directly after the dance ended, I had run over to the gas station. My excuse: I needed to go get some snacks for my dorm. This was partly true, since the MI6 didn't have chips of any kind in their snack cabinets, which was a letdown.

But also- the main reason I headed there was because I needed to check the security footage.

As you probably know, some 7-Elevens have a TV screen broadcasting the store and gas pumps live. In this case, all I needed to do was distract the cashier, grab the USB out of my pocket, download the last few hour's worth of footage, and explore them with certainty.

Thankfully, Erica had given me some handy things to use before the mission had started- and one of those things was a drug that made the victim need to use the bathroom. So my plan slowly formulated in my mind: secretly drop the drug into the cashier's coffee or any type of drink, the just wait. If the cashier wasn't drinking anything, then offer them a bottle of water. Trust me, they'll fall for it.

So I headed over to the 7-Eleven, making sure I wasn't being traced. 

When I arrived, the cashier was playing on his phone. This wasn't unusual. What wasn't unusual also was that the cashier had an open Starbucks™ Cappucino set neatly on the countertop. Quickly taking the pill out of my pocket, I dropped it in while inspecting the candy, trying my best to look like any regular teenager on an afternoon shopping trip.

The cashier didn't seem to notice anything, which was good. All I had to do now was wait.

I bought some things from the snack counter, as said before, and waited for the cashier to realize that he had an urge to use the bathroom.

It wasn't long after I rung up my treats from the counter that the cashier suddenly jerked up and hurried to the bathroom, hesitating before he touched the door handle. This was probably for two reasons, in which (a) He's not sure if he should leave the store unsupervised, but really needs to use the restroom, and (b) the bathrooms at gas stations are plain disgusting.

But the second he entered the restroom, I hurried over to countertop, grabbed the USB out of my pocket, and jabbed it into the security computer. It didn't take long for me to find the files I needed, and I started frantically dragging them into my USB file as fast as I could.

It was only when a customer walked in that I realized a flaw in my plan: people other than me would be incredibly suspicious that there was a kid behind the counter. I couldn't do anything about it, though. I was too busy clicking and dragging.

The girl who came in didn't even give me so much of an eyebrow raise as she grabbed a Gatorade and hopped over to the counter, ponytail bouncing behind her head.

Trying to act as formal as I could, I quickly improvised a bored sigh and said, "That'll be two dollars and ninety-five cents, ma'am."

"Wherever you're going, I'm coming too," the girl suddenly said in a cold and striking voice that I knew too well. 

"Erica!?" I hissed under my breath. "How did you know I was tracking Jayden?"

"I'm a spy, it's my job to know things. Now ring up my Gatorade and keep dragging those security files before the cashier comes out of the bathroom and the drug wears off."

"You found out about all of that?!" I exclaimed, a little bit too loud for my tastes. Lowering my breath, I leaned in as Erica laughed. 

"Your little plan was too simple. Now here's the money, keep the change," she slapped three Washingtons onto the counter. I opened the cash drawer and slid them in, handing the Gatorade to her in a tiny plastic bag.

I finished loading the last file, and I snatched the USB from the computer. Gripping it, I walked over to Erica and followed her out of the door.

"Let the stalking begin," she said, and we started heading back to my dorm to find out where Jayden had gone.