Spy School Invasion

Chapter 2 | Welcome

Armistead Dormitory

St. Smithen's Science Academy for Boys and Girls

Washington D.C.

May 16

1300 hours

Suddenly, I heard a knock at my door. I sat up and looked to see who it was. It turned out to be who I guessed as a fellow student. 

"Who are you and what do you want?" I asked calmly.

"Why are you giving me the cold approach? You know I could just bust down your door, right?" he said.

"Well, if you do, I will personally make sure you never see the light of day again," I said. "If I'm feeling merciful, maybe I'll just break your legs."

"Yeah, right," the kid laughed. "Now open the door or I'll open it for you."

"Be my guest," I said. He smashed open the door, but I was ready for him. I slid to the side and tripped him, smashing my knee into his nose on the way down. He groaned and tried to punch me, but I dodged it and brought my open hand down on his thick skull. He cried out in pain and attempted to pull me down, but I stepped on his fingers instead. Finally, I finished him with a blow to the forehead, leaving him unconscious.

I dragged him outside, where a crowd of students had amassed after hearing the beating. I tossed him into the crowd and was about to walk back inside y room when someone grabbed my sleeve. I looked over my shoulder to see a girl my age with big, green, cartoon character like eyes and long brown hair.

"Wow! That was so cool! Nobody can beat Chip up, except for Erica. How did you do that?"

"Well, he wasn't very smart, so I tripped him and broke his nose and kicked him in the chest."

"That's amazing! By the way, I'm Zoe. What about you?"

"I'm Ben," I introduced myself. 

"How about your nickname is Rapid-Fire since you beat Chip up so fast?" 

"Sure," I replied. "Nice to meet you, Zoe."

"You too. Now, we should probably get to supper, don't you think?"

"Okay," I said. "Lead the way." She led me down the hall and the stairs to a room labelled 'Mess Hall'. 

"This is the mess hall, but people call it the mess," Zoe said. "The washrooms are down that way and the gym is one floor down." I sat down with Zoe at a table, trying to ignore the stares of all the kids. There were some other kids there, one was introduced as Warren, another was called Murray. 

"So, I hear you beat up Chip, eh?" Murray asked.

"Yeah," I said.

"Nice," he said. "That guy's been needing one since the day he was born."

"Is he that bad?"

"No," Murray said. "He's worse." The dinner was spaghetti and meat sauce, and I gulped it down without a second thought since I was so hungry. It tasted okay.

"Good choice," Murray said. "Spaghetti is the best thing they make here." Soon, we finished supper, and I went back up to my room. I looked at my phone, which had a few texts from others.

Hey Ben! I miss you at school a lot. Please come back soon to help tutor me! Love you!

That one was from Kate.

I barely even looked at those texts and just flopped down on my bed. I wondered what was in store for me the next day.

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The next morning, I woke up to my alarm clock beeping. I rolled out of bed, put on my clothes, and walked outside. I made my way to my first class of the day: Social studies. It wasn't called social studies of course, since we're in spy school, but the lessons were basically American history. I groaned inwardly. I sucked at history. My average in history back at Robert E Lee Middle School was a B. 

I took the seat at the back. I was there 15 minutes early, and the only person there was Erica, who was reading a textbook and eating a salad from the mess. I wasn't hungry, so I skipped breakfast. I looked at Erica.

"Hey Erica, can I sit next to you?" I asked. It seemed right to be polite and not just sit there. I also preferred all my body parts attached.

"It's a free country. Do whatever you want," was Erica's response. I smiled gratefully at her and sat beside her. She might have smiled back, but she turned away so I couldn't tell for sure. About 10 minutes later, the rest of the class poured in and the back row was quickly filled up. I recognized one person, Zoe, and she waved and sat beside me.

"Hey, Rapid-Fire!" She grinned.

"Hi, Zoe," I replied.

"Just so you know," Zoe said, "This class is a real bore."

"I figured," I said. She smiled. Then this old man with a grey beard and hair walked in. I took him as the teacher since he sat down at the desk in the front and started babbling about how the War of 1812 burned Washington DC down or something like that. The rest of the lesson dragged on with boring topics. Finally, the class was over and he gave us the homework. I quickly walked out and went to my next class, which was self-preservation. I knew I'd fail at history probably, so I would try my best with the rest of the subjects.

Self-preservation was taught by this guy called Prof. Crandall. He looked like a real bore. Good thing I got there a couple of minutes early so I could take the back row. Erica was probably in a different class since she wasn't here. Crandall wobbled in, looked around, and started looking through his papers like he forgot something. We sat there in silence for about 10 minutes, with Murray fast asleep. Finally, he staggered over to his desk, sat down, and started saying that you could avoid ninjas by staying out of Japan. 

He quickly got distracted and started rambling on about the Cold War and how they were fighting Russia or something. I turned to Zoe.

"Is he always like this?" I asked.

"Yeah, pretty much," Zoe replied. 

"Wait, are you the kid who smashed Chip?" A random kid butted in.

"Yeah," I replied. Everybody turned to me and introduced themselves. Suddenly, Prof. Crandall whipped around from where he was drawing the battlefield of the Cold War on the blackboard and his gaze landed on me.

"Mr. Ripley, do you come from a school where it is appropriate to hold court during a lecture?"

"No sir," I replied.

"Let's see if you were listening. Pop quiz!" For some reason, everybody suddenly jumped up and ran outside. 3 ninjas dropped down from the ceiling with nunchucks and katanas. I slowly got up from my seat.

"Let's see what you got, Ripley," Crandall said. He sat down at his desk and the ninjas rushed me. I immediately jumped up over the ninjas. Then I whipped around and grabbed one's katana, spinning it so hard I heard his wrist break. I then swung the dull part of the sword and tripped him into a knee in the chest. Instincts told me there was a ninja behind me, bringing his nunchuks down, so I sidestepped and let the nunchucks go down on the other ninja's head, knocking him out.

Then I backfisted the second ninja, the one with the nunchucks, in the face. Then I did a roundhouse kick and seriously injured the ninja's face. Finally, I threw my katana and speared the other ninja by his clothes to the wall. I only needed to give him a good, solid punch in the head to stupefy him. Crandall was staring at me in shock. Judging by my math skills, it was lunchtime so I headed off to the mess.