Chapter Seventeen

Eric was listening to me patiently as I explained this morning's events. After I finished talking about Misty and Henry, he finally spoke up.

"So you think Henry is the one behind this all?" he asked while holding the pen he had been writing with up against his lips.

"It would make a lot of sense," I replied with a shrug.

"If I find out that he was the stupid asshole that attacked me the other night I will break both his legs," Cassie spoke from the back of the room.

We were all huddled in Eric's office and had been there as soon as I'd returned from Kennedy High.

"We still don't know if it was him, Cassie," Turner reminded her. He was also in the room standing less than a meter apart from her. "We don't even know if it was a guy."

Cassie clenched her fists. "Either way, they're going to get it when we find out who they are."

"Are we going to find out who they are?" I asked turning around to face them leaving my back to Eric. "You guys have had unsuccessful missions."

"Every agency has unsuccessful missions, but they're usually because agents get killed or the suspect flees to an unknown location. I highly doubt that will happen on high school mission." Eric answered.

I knew that he was probably right, but the thought of actually dying on this mission scared me. All I had to do was find out who was dealing the drug, get my evidence and then we could arrest them. But it was proving to be more of a challenge than I thought. At this point, anything drastic happening on this mission seemed completely possible - and that scared me.

Cassie opened up the laptop that had been resting on her lap. "Okay, now show me where this Henry guy was with the girl this morning."

I walked over to her, standing behind her and looked at the footage that was playing on the screen. "Go to the camera in front of the main lockers," I instructed.

She did as I said opening a new video.

"Fast forward to 10:30" I continued.

She pressed down a button on the video and everything began to speed up. A moment later I saw myself walk into the picture. This had been just after my conversation with Principal Constance.

"Okay stop," I said leaning in to see the video better.

I watched myself lean down and sit on the ground to put my books away in my locker. A moment later I saw Tasha come up behind me.

"Okay, he's coming on any second....here." I pointed at Henry as he entered the shot. I recognized his clothing from earlier today.

Once she nodded, I left her and walked back over to where Eric was sitting behind his desk.

"I'm going to look over this footage in my office," Cassie announced as she gripped her laptop tightly and opened the door.

"I'll come too," Turner said following her as they both exited the room. It took me a moment to remember that they were together in a way so they probably could have just gone off to make out. I really hoped that wasn't the case because we needed all the help on this mission that we could get.

I also remembered something else. Brad. How was I going to tell Eric?

"Um, so" I began, trying to sound casual "Brad was talking to me this morning."

Eric stayed exactly how he was waiting for me to finish.

"And he kinda..." I continued. "Kinda asked me out."

It looked like Eric's face expression softened for a moment, but when I looked again his face stayed the same. I thought that I'd maybe imagined it. "What did you say?" He asked simply.

"I said yes," I admitted. "You said that I had to build whatever relationships I could in order to get closer to these people." I reminded him of something he had said to me one training lesson.

"But I thought you said he looked innocent?" Eric argued with an eyebrow raised.

"Yeah but you were the one to tell me not to quickly dismiss people remember?" I replied.

He let out a deep breath. "When's the date?" he asked.

I had gotten a text from Brad later on that day with all the details.

"It's at some restaurant in Seaville on Saturday night."

Seaville was a small town a few minutes away that remained close to the ocean. It was known as a peaceful place, mainly for old retired couples. I'd been surprised when Brad had arranged for us to meet there of all places.

"You know I'll be keeping an eye on you right?" he raised an eyebrow.

I smiled. "I wouldn't expect anything else."

He must have told me a billion times in that hour to bring up the drug to Brad when on the date, just in case he told me something vital. I think Eric's main concern was I that I was going to treat this date like it was real and disrupt the mission with any feelings I had. Sure, I thought Brad was attractive, but I definitely wasn't going to treat this as anything more than a mission in my mind.

Another thought that crossed my mind was why Eric was so concerned about the matter. The main obvious reason was probably because as an agent you couldn't get attached to the people you are with when undercover and he was just enforcing the rule. But another small part of when wondered if he was jealous. But that was stupid and I knew I was being stupid for crushing on a guy I know probably didn't see me as anything more than someone he had been forced to take under his wing.

After we talked more (mainly about him briefing me on the date), I finally left headquarters and rode my bike home. It was beginning to get dark since I had left later than usual so I'd peddled fast - despite my already tired legs.

When I finally arrived home, I was almost out of breath. I pushed open the front door and was overwhelmed by the smell of a roast. Like I said, my Mom barely ever cooked. Only on the rare occasion or if we had people ove-

"Becca! Hey, guess who's here to see you!" I heard my Mom yell from the kitchen. She had heard me walk in.

I decided to walk into the kitchen instead of yelling back. My Mom stood there wearing oven mitts and an old apron.

She opened the oven door and pulled out a tray holding roast chicken. I cleared my throat to let her know I was there. She looked up at me as she put the tray on the kitchen counter.

"Kevin and Debby are upstairs in your room." she informed casually as she turned back to the oven to get out a second tray that was holding roast potatoes.

"What?" I dashed for the stairs and started climbing them two at a time. I was fine with Debby knowing but if she had told Kevin about me being a spy I would flip out. He was the worst at keeping secrets.

One time in the eighth grade, we both walked into class late and he yelled out 'Sorry we're late, Becca stepped in dog poop and had the clean her feet in the bathroom sink.' I remembered hearing an outbreak of laughter throughout the classroom. I mean, it had been true, but you just didn't tell people things like that - especially an entire classroom of people. That was the last time I walked with Kevin to school.

I burst open my bedroom door to find Kevin and Debby lounging on my bed watching something on the TV.

"Hey herpes!" Kevin yelled out when he saw me.

Debby shushed him "Kevin, I told you she just has bronchitis, she was contagious but isn't that bad now, she's still not one hundred percent ready for school." she looked up at me and winked and I sighed in relief and gave her a grateful look back.

"Yeah, sorry I wasn't home I had to go to the doctors," I explained as I put my bag on the empty seat in front of my desk.

"I thought you said she went to see her Aunty?" Kevin asked Debby.

Debby shot me a desperate look and I felt my heart race.

"Uh yeah, my Aunty is a doctor," I said, ignoring Debby's facial expressions.

"I thought your Aunty was an artist? Doesn't she own a studio in Brooklyn?" He asked curiously.

"It's a different Aunty, what are you guys watching?" I sat down on the bed hoping to distract Kevin from further questioning.

"We're watching some documentary on monkeys," Debby answered, also trying to distract Kevin.

"Yeah but it's boring as hell, let's switch to karaoke." Kevin grabbed the remote that sat at the end of the bed.

I shot Debby a look as Kevin looked down at the remote. That had been a close call.

"Isn't a school night?" I shuffled back on the bed so I was sitting at the back with Debby.

"Well not for you Bronchitis Becky." he pressed a button on the remote.

I threw my head back groaning, I really hoped that nickname wasn't going to catch on.

"So what have you been doing this whole time?" he continued. "Watching movies, reading books?"

"Something like that," I muttered in reply. It couldn't have been further from the truth.

A few minutes later, Debby and I had begun talking quietly to ourselves in the corner of the room while Kevin was busy singing karaoke. The song "Piece of Me" by Britney Spears was booming throughout my room.

"I'm misses lifestyle of the rich and famous, I'm misses oh my gosh that Britney's shameless." he screamed in a goat-like tone with the microphone held against his lips

"So what's up with the surprise visit?" I asked Debby while Kevin continued singing, too loudly to hear us.

"He kept asking about you and I felt like he was getting suspicious so it was the only thing I could think of" she explained.

I titled my head back so it was leaning against the wall. "Okay, but maybe a little warning text wouldn't hurt next time."

She shrugged "I didn't have time, but I did alright, didn't I?"

I didn't reply but I knew she'd done the best she could. The incident had been enough to put me on edge the rest of the evening. I stayed silent for a moment with only the sound of Kevin's terrible singing being heard in the background.

"Anyway, how's the super secret spy life of Becca going? What's happened since we last talked?" Debby spoke up, grinning slightly.

I sighed. "Well, I'm going on a date on Saturday," I told her reluctantly.

Her eyes brightened, "With Eric?" she squealed, interrupting me.

"No." I shook my head quickly, killing her sudden excitement. "It's a date with that Brad guy I mentioned to you, it's just for the case. I need to get closer to these people." I picked up a stray piece of hair that had been on my face and began twirling it with a finger.

"The bad boy, right?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. Everybody seemed to act like that when I brought him up. This whole cautious and 'I'm worried for you Becca' look.

"Yeah, that's him." Her face grew more concerned. "But it's fine," I continued "At the moment we think he's not guilty, it just never hurts to do a little more research you know?"

She lowered her eyebrows but still kept her concerned face. I only she knew about the school night attack, then Brad would be the least of her problems. I decided to lighten the mood by changing the topic.

"Anyway, how's tennis going?" I asked smiling.

Her face brightened at the mention of it. "I think it's been going really well, Kevin's been helping me still and I'm almost getting as good as him" she gazed over at Kevin while she said that and we both laughed at his dramatic dance moves as he continued singing.

"He's really something isn't he?" she said after our laughter died down.

It was weird. Kevin had always been Kevin but for some reason, I felt something changing about Debby's point of view of him. Like she was only just starting to really know him. Even though we'd all been best friends for years.

"I guess," I replied, untwirling the hair that had been wrapped around my finger.

At that exact moment, my door opened and we both looked up to see my Mom walk in. She had taken off her oven mitts and apron now revealing that she was wearing a red dress underneath. "Dinner's ready kids!" she said simply, leaving the door open as she started heading down the stairs.

I got up and stood in the door frame. "You're getting a bit dressed up for just dinner with the three of us, Mom," I said suspiciously.

She reached the end of the stairs and reached for a pair of high heels that had been sitting at the end of them. "Oh, I'm not eating with you guys I have an event."

"An event?" I asked, digging for more information. I folded my arms and leaned against the staircase.

She had begun putting on her heels with one hand and placing red lipstick on her lips with the other. "Mmm-hmm," she replied with her lips pursed. She threw the lipstick on a sofa nearby and stood up properly once her heels were on, walking to the same couch where she then picked up a purse. "Bedtime at ten, I'll probably be back later than that, bye love you," she said as she headed out the door without giving me a chance t respond.

I stood there at the top of the stairs, confused by her sudden exit. I heard Kevin and Debby walk up behind me.

"What are you waiting for? Food downstairs!" Kevin cheered as he ran down the stairs while Debby stayed by my side. We both rolled our eyes at his childish behavior and walked downstairs to join him.

Even though Kevin and Debby weren't completely aware of what was going on in my life, it still felt amazing to have them back with me. I felt a lot of stress leave me when they were around. It felt good to know that even though I could be experiencing the craziest of things, I could still come back to find my two best friends behaving the same way. It made me realize how much I'd missed them.

The comfort of having people around to love and look after you made you feel safe and content and for some reason that made me think of Eric. I knew he had no living family left, so who did he have? The RUA couldn't be all. I wondered as I walked down the stairs who he talked to when he had problems - who he trusted.

"Are you hungry?" Debby asked me, snapping me out of my thoughts as we walked down the stairs.

I actually was. In the mornings I skipped breakfast in order to get to work on time and for lunch, I was stuck eating unfulfilling salads with Tasha and her group. "Yes," I replied smiling as we reached the bottom of the stairs and walked into the kitchen.

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A/N: Just a quick celebration because guess what? I've reached fifty pages on this book! Ahh so exciting! I promise you this won't be one of those books that drawl on forever with more than fifty chapters. It will end soon (not too soon!)  but in the meantime, I hope you guys are enjoying! Please feel free to leave your comments because I always read and love them.


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