Spy School: Danger is my Middle Name

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Chaos

--- Agent Benjamin Ripley's POV --- 

Well, after that heck of a mess, we directly headed back to the hotel. Erica decided that after destroying so many people, we could use some rest.

Yeah, for once we could get some rest that was administered by Erica herself. It was a rare occasion, but the other boys had something else on their minds than just sleeping inside their dorms.

You see, Christmas was coming up. They wanted to go out to shop for presents for their family, friends, and most importantly, the girls 🙄.

We were having a present exchange happen, it was going to be exactly on Christmas day. The terms were quickly organized by Zoe and Kylie, who both appreciated a good present on Christmas day from their friends.

After the boys heard about the present exchange, they gave each other interesting looks, called an Uber, and dragged me along with them to the mall, where we would eventually buy a ton of secret gifts for everybody we knew.

Of course, we all went our own ways. Revealing our presents to each other was the last thing we wanted to do, and revealing the presents we had for the females was also the last thing we wanted to reveal to each other.

Immediately, I headed over to the local gun shop. No bias, but Erica was the first person I was going to buy a present for, since if I didn't, then I would be thinking of what I should be getting for her the whole shopping trip. It was pretty much just a nagging thought that I wanted to get rid of.

Whilst walking to the gun store, I ran into three of the other boys. We just looked at different ways and started walking to different stores, like Welp, totally not buying Erica a present first. In the end, we all ended up in the gun shop, but we just avoided each other, since the last thing we wanted was to talk about how we wanted to get Erica a nice present.

After picking out a rather expensive weapon for Erica and avoiding the suspicious looks from the other adults in the room who were confused about why there was a fifteen-year-old in a gun shop who knew all of terms and names.

Walking up to the shop counter, I slapped my credit card onto the counter, placed the gun next to it, and looked up expectantly at the shopkeeper.

The shopkeeper looked at me and raised his eyebrows. "Kid, you realize you can't buy weapons, right? There's an age limit."

I put on my most serious on my face, put my hand into my pocket, took a furtive glance at my surroundings, and lowered my voice to a whisper. Slipping my hand into my pocket and taking out my CIA's Academy of Espionage License, I slapped it onto the table along with everything else.

"Benjamin Ripley, CIA's Academy of Espionage," I said proudly. "Everything you know about me is classified information. If you speak a word about this, then be prepared to be lightly maimed."

The shopkeeper backed up a step, eyes turning as wide as quarters. His gripped loosened against the counter, and he fell backward, crashing onto the ground beneath him in surprise. Quickly, he picked himself up before he attracted too much attention.

"Understand?" I said, cracking my knuckles and leaning onto the counter.

The guy nodded, shaking, and quickly completed the transaction. After watching me walk out of the store, he quickly excused himself and ran over to the bathroom. I swear, if he made a TikTok out of this, I was going to track him down and murder him in his sleep.

Shortly after visiting the perfume store and grabbing a Pumpkin Spice scented bottle for Zoe, I ran into Dylan, who was on his way to the perfume store himself. Though I couldn't talk to him, since he was chattering with someone on the phone.

"...yeah, I know, I know! You hate the cinnamon smell! Then what do you want instead? Geez, people don't usually ask for their Christmas present when it's during a Present Exchange. It's supposed to be a surprise."

After a while of silence, he hung up the phone and heaved a giant sigh. "Girls these days."

I walked over to him. "Who were you just talking to?"

Immediately, his mood went from annoyed to innocent. "Me? I wasn't talking to anyone! I-" stopping his sentence, I gave him an exasperated look.

"Okay, okay, I'm well aware there's no point in denying. I was talking to Trixie," he said. 

"Why do you have Trixie's contact?" I said. "I  don't even have Trixie's contact. Anyone other than you that has her phone number is Jayden and Erica!"

"I didn't have her contact," Dylan said. "She called me, telling me to buy her a certain type of perfume. And trust me, she's not only calling me. She's calling everyone on the team, because, apparently, according to her, these presents aren't' supposed to be kept secret."

"She's calling everyone?" I said, looking at my phone. "That just sounds like a lame excuse to cover up the fact that she's only calling you."

"Anyways," Dylan said. "That's not important. What did you get for Trixie?"

I didn't mention the fact that he was still avoiding the question, but dutifully opened my plastic bag, showing him the Glock that I had ordered for her.

"Nice!" he said. "Well, I have to be heading over to buy more items. See you later!"

I said a brief goodbye and left him to shop on his own. Continuing my trip, I decided that I was going to take a quick break from the shopping and eat a meal from the local Chinese food shop, located inside the mall.

While I was picking at my Chow Mien, John, the new member, walked over to me. He was carrying a heavy load of bags, though he didn't really seem to mind the weight, just shrugging it off.

"Hey, Ben!" he said. "The shopping's been getting a tad overwhelming, because I didn't know what to buy for everyone!"

"Hi, John," I said, scooting over so he could sit in the seat next to me. "Nervous?"

"Yes!" he said. "Being around all you stars is like hanging out with celebrities! Yesterday, that was the first I ever talked to Erica Hale!"

"Yeah, yeah," I said. "I understand, and I'm flattered, though you'll get used to it eventually. Heck, I'll bet after a while you'll be hoping you were back at the Academy then here."

"Really?" John said. "I doubt that, since I just got a look at my hotel room. The thing was giant!"