NEVER AGAIN

After the test, Greg and Riley had come to pick us up, and drove us to a bar. The bouncer gave us a weird look, but let us in, after verifying our IDs. Greg and Riley led us to a door, and there was a huge shop, full of weapons and assassination tools. 

"Pick what you'd like." Greg said. 

Riley hurriedly added, "This is only for your safety, remember that!"

I wandered the shop, and I picked out a small butterfly knife with a wicked blade, sharp enough to decapitate someone with one strike. I also got a Beretta 92 pistol, with an extra capacity of bullets. I picked out a botulinum toxin bottle of poison, and I thought that it would be enough for a month. 

Along with the couple of knives I already possessed, these weapons would make assassination way easier. My preferred method of assassination was a slit cross the throat with a knife, and I always carried at least two knives with me anywhere I went. 

Archer picked out a couple of guns, and a Ballistic knife. I found the Ballistic knife very interesting, so I one too. Greg paid for the tools, and then they took us to the mall, to buy stuff for us to 'fit in'. 

They bought two pairs of the school uniform each for us first, and then. bought us some normal clothes. Riley helped me select a few clothes, while Greg was helping Archer. 

"How much did the Academy pay to fund this mission?" I asked Riley, as we were walking to the trial room.

"About five hundred thousand dollars." Riley shrugged. 

I was taken aback, "Then why did we have to take the scholarship exam?!"

"To test you. And you're acting like five hundred thousand is a lot." Riley drawled. 

"What?" I said, "It is a lot of money, and we're already Rank 11, why did we need to be tested?"

"The Academy will get paid 50 million if you do your job right. And you'll be paid around one million each." Riley said.

I narrowed my eyes, "What's in it for you?"

"Greg and I will receive five hundred thousand dollars, if you succeed." She shrugged, "I have serious doubts."

"I have studied my butt off for one year. Don't you dare doubt me!" I yelled. 

She raised an eyebrow, "Give me one reason not to." And she pulled out a knife. 

One of my knife knife was strapped to my upper thigh, and the other was hid in my shoe. I pulled the knife strapped to my thigh out swiftly, and in one clean motion, I had Riley pinned to the wall with my knife under her neck. 

I heard Riley chuckle and I pressed the flat edge of the knife closer to her throat. I heard footsteps approaching, and I quickly put my knife back under my thigh.

"You are good." Riley mused, as a couple of girls walked in the trial room. A girl with long, black hair and green eyes, gave us a disgusted look, and walked into a trial room. 

Me and Riley were so close, and I was still holding her collar. It would've definitely looked suspicious to anyone. I pushed Riley away, and I tried on some clothes. 

I took the clothes to the checkout counter, where Archer and Greg were already waiting for us. "What took so long?" Archer asked. 

I waved it off, "Riley and I had a disagreement over a dress, nothing much."

Greg paid for the clothes, and I said that I was tired, so they drove to their 'house'. It was just rented for a week to get us settled into the boarding school. 

Why would the Academy go to such lengths to have Greg and Riley as our parents? We definitely ranked way higher than them. Greg and Riley seemed like solid level six assassins. 

If we wanted, Archer and I could take them on any second, with the odds in their favour. All of this seemed a bit off to me,  considering that we had almost gotten kidnapped by the fake Greg and Riley. 

When we reached the house, I placed my bags in my room, and entered Archer's room without knocking.

I opened the door, to a shirtless Archer, with his back turned towards the door. Hearing the sound of the door opening, he turned around, and his eyes widened when he noticed me. 

He grabbed the first shirt he could find, and pulled it over his head. 

"I'm sorry, I should've knocked-"
"I'm sorry, I should've locked-" Both of us said together. 

My face had apparently gotten super red, and I tried to calm myself down. Archer had a six-pack, and his muscles were so- WOW, this was probably the first time I was speechless. 

"So what did you want to talk about?" Archer said, changing the topic. 

I subconsciously played with my hair, "Um, about Greg and Riley-"

Archer clamped my mouth shut with his left hand, and my heart stopped beating. 'This place could be bugged.' He signed.

'Right, sorry. There's something suspicious about Greg and Riley. First with the kidnappers, and in the dressing room, Riley almost made me kill her.' I quickly signed. 

'How? What-?' He signed. 

'Not a big deal, but they're a level six at best. The Academy knows we're better than them. If we do need supervision, shouldn't it be from someone who can potentially overpower us, like level nine or ten?'

He nodded, 'That does make sense. And I figured that they are getting paid a lot from this.'

'I don't know why, but keep your guard up here. Greg and Riley could be problematic.' I warned him and turned to leave the room.

He grabbed my hand, "Wait. Shouldn't we go over the details of the mission first? The school starts day after tomorrow, and we move in the dorms tomorrow."

"Yes, totally." I gulped. My attraction for Archer was starting to be a problem, and I couldn't stop intrusive and vivid thoughts from flowing into my head. 

"We're in the same grade as Jaylen Blackwell's son, Rafael Blackwell and Marceline Avila's son, Mark Avila. Our first targets should be them." Archer said. 

"Target, as in? Should we hold them hostage, to get to their parents? Or d'you mean that we should be their friends?" I questioned

Archer clarified, "We wouldn't have needed to get into the school in the first place if we just had to kidnap them. I guess we must become good friends with them." 

"The file says that both of them play basketball. I don't think I've ever played basketball before." I said.

"I haven't either. I think there was a basketball court two blocks from here. Do you want to go there to practice?" He suggested. 

I agreed, and asked for five minutes to get ready. As Archer reached for the door, to get out of the house, Riley stopped us. "Where do you think you two are going?"

"To practice, for the mission." I said, trying not to sound disrespectful.

"You are not allowed to leave the house till your mission officially starts." Riley said. 

Archer stepped in, "Riley, Blackwell's and Avila's sons both play basketball, and we haven't played basketball. Our plan is to get in the basketball team to become friends with them."

"Fine." She gave in, "Though I will be supervising you!"

We walked to the outdoor basketball court, and with the orange ball in hand, I went through the rules of basketball with Archer. 

"Seems easy enough." I shrugged, and started dribbling the ball. 

"Arc! Try taking the ball from me!" I shouted from across the court.

He closed in the distance between us, while I ran and dribbled the ball. He swooped in to gain possession of the ball, but I quickly switched my hands, and did not let him steal the ball. I struggled my way near the basket, and I was just about to shoot, but Archer stood in front of me and blocked me. 

I tried running away with the ball, but I couldn't because Archer had me covered from all sides. I stopped dribbling, and held on to the ball tightly, because I knew Archer wouldn't go as far to get the ball out of my grasp.

I was right. He just stood there, covering me, waiting for the time I could hold on to the ball be over. I sighed, and gave him the ball. 

He started dribbling, and I knew my safest bet would be to not let him get in range to shoot the ball. I mirrored his footing, completely blocking him from getting forward. He turned around and started sprinting, so he could take a roundabout to the basket. 

I ran after him, but he was still very fast, while dribbling the ball. I barely got in time to stop the shot from getting into the net. Thanks to the special training, I had a pretty high vertical jump, and I could stop the ball before it went into the basket. 

I jumped up, and flicked the ball to the other side, so the ball did not go in the basket. I ran after the ball, and so did Archer. This felt like the children's game, Dog and the Bone. 

Archer got there first, but I kicked the ball out of his reach. "Foul." Archer called me out. I had totally forgotten that using feet was not allowed. I groaned and passed the ball to him. His first free shot went neatly, the ball perfectly entered and exited the hoop without disrupting it. 

"Let's do shooting practice." I suggested, and for the next half an hour we practiced shooting the ball from different directions of the court. 

It was actually really fun, and I had forgotten that this was training for a mission. Archer and I had been taught to focus on one object, so all our shots got us a point. Archer could shoot a ball from mid-court, but the best I could manage was a three pointer. 

I could dunk though, because I could jump high enough for that. It was considerably easier for Archer to dunk, as he was more that one foot taller than me. 

"Ok! We need to go back to the house now!" Riley yelled, after both of us were drenched in sweat. We walked back to the house, and I realised that we had been playing non-stop for three hours.

I glanced over at Archer, and walking back to the house, gave me a sense of deja vu, like I'd done that before. It felt like the two years I'd spent walking around with Caleb, and I winced at the memory. 

Caleb. The guy who I'd thought would be here instead of Archer. The guy I had been in love with for two years. The guy who was supposed to save me. The guy who betrayed me. 

I felt like crying. No, Aurora, no more crying! Not over Caleb. Never again... Tears pooled in my eyes, but I refused to let them fall. I have Archer with me now. Archer would never leave me, would he?

I had thought the same thing about Caleb. I decided to distance myself from Archer. It was for the best, and I don't think I could handle being heartbroken again. Never again.