Chapter Sixteen
The next morning, I was in the limo and on the way to Kennedy High as usual. I was feeling better after the attack on our late night mission because of the training I did yesterday afternoon with Eric. I just wanted to be ready in case I ever found myself getting attacked again.
"Prepared for another day?" Turner asked from the front seat.
"As ready as I'll ever be." I sighed and rested my head against the car window.
"That's the spirit." he replied as he placed his hands on the steering wheel to turn it. I continued looking out the window dully at the scenery. We drove past shopping centers and people waiting at bus stops or walking as usual. It was weird watching it all now because I always thought there was nothing special about living in this town, but now I knew there was a whole secret agency and I was helping it.
"How have you been?" I asked Turner as I turned my attention away from the dull scenery outside.
He placed his sunglasses that were sitting on top of his head, down onto his eyes. "I've been well," he replied. "Just working hard on my missions as usual."
"Oh, yeah that thing in France about the whole prostitution ring or something," I remembered.
He shook his head and laughed, "No we closed that case last month after we completed it. I'm working on another mission with Cassie now" he informed me.
I felt my eyes widen. "You already finished that case? How long did it take?"
"About 2 weeks." He slowed down the car as we reached a traffic light.
I started to feel sick in my stomach. I adjusted my seat belt as it started to feel like it was constricting me."It only took you two weeks to solve that case? It sounded extremely complicated. I've nearly been working two weeks on this one."
"Don't worry, I've got a lot more experience and we had more agents working on that case then this one. We also knew who the bad guys were, you, on the other hand, have to find out yourself," he assured me.
I placed my head back on the window and continued to look out of it, still not feeling completely confident. That hadn't helped me feel better at all.
When we arrived at the school, I got out as normal but noticed that fewer people were watching. I realized that people were starting to get used to it, as was I so they didn't stare anymore. It was reassuring to know that the attention had died down. I guess the stares just made me uncomfortable.
I walked up the stairs quickly with my backpack and entered the school building. As I did, I felt my phone go off, I took it out of my pocket to see I had gotten a message from Debby:
Have fun on your mission today and try not to die :D :D :D #spylife #getwitheric
My eyes widened at the text and I quickly deleted it. The last thing I needed was somebody to see a message like that on my phone. I made note to give her a stern talk about keeping this under the wraps the next time I saw her.
My eyes were still locked on my phone as I continued walking and I accidentally felt myself bump into someone. "Sorry" I said quickly.
I looked up immediately and saw that it was Brad. He smirked casually. "Can't get enough of me huh?"
I smiled back awkwardly as I put my phone away. This had to be the third time I had bumped into him. Why did this keep happening? "Sorry," I apologized. "I really need to stop doing that."
He continued smiling. "It's okay."
I gave him a small smile back and continued walking to my locker, more quickly now. I hadn't even been in the school building for more than a minute and I'd already had my first awkward interaction for the day.
"Wait!" I heard his voice call from behind me. I turned around to see him catching up with me, almost jogging.
I stopped walking, waiting for him with a confused look on my face. He stopped once he had caught up to me.
"Do you want to do something this weekend?" he placed his hands in the pockets of his leather jacket.
I stayed silent for a moment, stunned by his question since I felt like I hardly knew him. "Like what?" I asked once I managed to unfreeze.
He leaned back on the lockers next to him. "I don't know," he turned so he was facing me more. "How about on Saturday night we meet at a restaurant or something?"
"Uh," I froze as I tried to come up with a response. What was I supposed to say to that? I definitely hadn't been prepared for this scenario. "Sure," I said as casually as I could, moving a strand of hair off my face.
"I'll text you the rest of the details later." he said as he got up off the lockers and walked away.
I was going to point out that he didn't have my number but then I figured he would probably just be able to get it from someone else. He seemed like the kind of guy that would snoop around and knew enough people. I barely had time to process what had just happened when I heard the intercom go off above me.
"Amanda Ryan to the principals office, Amanda Ryan to the principals office." the female voice repeated.
I leaned against the lockers for a moment. Amanda Ryan...why did that name sound so- oh crap. I stood up straight and started walking to the office as quick as I could. I was Amanda freaking Ryan.
I began walking quickly as the nerves swirled in my stomach. I had no idea why I was being called to meet with the principal. I walked up the hallway until I made my way to a door next to the staff room. It read "Principal Constance", so I knew I was in the right spot. I hesitated before knocking lightly on the door.
A moment later it opened and I saw Misty walk out. I tried to hide my surprise as she walked past, barely acknowledging me. I didn't realize she would be back at school so soon.
"Come in Amanda," A voice inside the room called.
I pushed the door open wider and saw Principal Constance at her desk. I walked in and awkwardly shut the door behind me. The room suddenly got a lot quieter and I found myself lost for words.
"Have a seat," she said gesturing towards the empty seat in front of her desk.
I sat down nervously not knowing what to expect. Was I in trouble? Did they know I was a spy? Did someone see me at the school a few nights ago? Millions of thoughts ran through my head as I felt myself grow more and more nauseous. There could have been dozens of reasons why she had called me in here, and the suspense definitely wasn't helping.
She looked up from whatever she had been writing. It appeared to be some kind of form and I figured it must have had something to do with Misty returning to school. She pushed her glasses back and smiled at me.
"I just wanted to see how you've been. I usually check up on our new students a lot earlier but I've been busy dealing with...other issues" she put carefully. I felt relief instantly that I hadn't been caught out on anything. This drug problem was consuming her life as much as it was mine.
"I've been doing alright." I said giving her a sincere smile, yet unsure whether I meant what I'd said.
"How have you been finding your classes?" she asked.
To be honest, I didn't pay much attention in my classes. I didn't have any reason to since they weren't going to go on my actual school record - only Amanda's, who wasn't even real. I mostly just spent class time trying to work out who could be a suspect in this case and gathering my thoughts. "They've been going well," I answered.
"Made any new friends?"
"Yes." I lied with a more fake smile this time. I didn't know what to consider the girls I hung out with, but the word 'friends' definitely didn't come to mind when I thought of them.
"Well I'm glad," she began as she took off her glasses and put them on top of the book that rested on her desk. It was an old copy of 'To Kill a Mockingbird'. As my eyes drifted around the rest of her office, I noticed she had a lot of books in it, all stacked up on top of each other neatly. On the wall hung some diploma she must have gotten from college. "If you have any issues or problems, don't hesitate to pay me a visit okay?" she stood up and I did the same.
"Of course, thank you," I answered.
She followed me to the door and watched me leave. I walked out of her office and kept walking until I turned the corner and knew I would be out of her sight.
That was, nice I guess. Kinda weird, but nice of her. Considering I had been at this school for nearly two weeks I knew she must have been super busy if she didn't have a chance to check up on me. I wondered how much she had found out about the drug dealer, that was if she knew anything at all about them.
I headed back out into the main hallway so I could put my bag away finally after this morning's interruptions. As I reached my locker, I squatted down and entered my combination in my locker. I thought back to seeing Misty in the office. I wondered what they'd been talking about. Maybe the drug? Or maybe Constance was just trying to make sure she was okay after everything. I mean, the poor girl had ended up in hospital after all, so it was pretty serious.
"Hey!" I heard a voice say behind me. I turned to see Tasha standing behind me, she was still holding her backpack meaning that she had only just arrived.
"Hey," I smiled trying to look happy to see her. I realized that Henry was walking past us as she stopped. He must have come to school with Tasha. I recognized him from the shopping trip I went on last weekend with Tasha, Charlotte, and Violet. He still had his jet black hair and was wearing a plain white shirt.
Tasha started talking to me about something to do with some guy she liked but I wasn't paying attention. My eyes were following Henry but every so often I would nod my head to make it seem like I was listening to her.
Henry had a serious look on his face. I wouldn't say it was guilty, but more like the kind of look you have right before you walk into a funeral, or a math test. I could definitely tell that something was up.
"So anyway, he snapchatted me this shirtless photo of himself last night, and I was actually surprised that he had a six pack...." Tasha continued.
I stared at Henry and watched him walk over the group of lockers. At one of the lockers stood Misty, who had just finished putting her books away. She froze when she saw him.
"He wants to see a pic of me in my bra and I was like, ew no, you have to be dating me first and so he was like-"
God, did this girl ever shut up? "Uh huh, yeah," I said still pretending I was listening to her as I focused harder on Misty and Henry.
Henry's facial expression softened but Misty scowled at him with hurt and anger in her eyes. She grabbed a few books out of her locker before slamming the door shut and walking off, not speaking to him at all. Henry tried to follow her but she walked into the girls bathroom. He stood by the door and sighed running his hands through his hair before walking off. As he did, I heard the bell ring.
"But isn't that the stupidest thing you've ever heard? I mean everyone knows that Miranda Kerr wasn't at this year's Victoria's Secret fashion show."
I turned my attention back to Tasha. "Yeah, everyone knows that," I answered trying to look like I was interested in what she was saying.
She nodded her head and then walked off to her locker finally. "See you in English second period!" she yelled out as she increased her walking speed.
I turned around and rolled my eyes as I grabbed out books for first period. At least I had a lesson without her, that girl could be too much sometimes.
I was still feeling overwhelmed and confused at everything that had happened this morning. Brad asking me out, my conversation with Constance, Misty returning, it all seemed like too much to handle. I was also still feeling a bit of shock from seeing Henry at school since I hadn't seen him once at school over these past few days. Misty was really mad at him and he seemed to be guilty of something. He was starting to look more like a suspect every day.
I realized that Misty would still be in the bathroom so I decided to check it out before going to class, I didn't care if I was late. As I pushed open the doors I saw her standing in front of one of the sinks, staring in the mirror and fixing her eye makeup. She had obviously just been crying but I was trying to look like I was unaware of this. I looked around and noticed we were the only two in the bathroom.
I didn't actually need to go to the toilet or anything but I couldn't just leave or that would be suspicious so I pulled out the stick of lip balm I had in my pocket and started applying it in front of the mirror next to Misty.
She looked up after putting on some eyeliner, finally noticing me. "Oh, hey I remember you." she placed the eyeliner pencil down on the sink.
I smiled at her warmly "Hi," I greeted her in a soft tone.
"Sorry about the other day when I... you know, that thing in the hallway." I knew she was referring to when she ran into me in the hallway, crying. She turned to face me now and I suddenly felt extremely sorry for her, I didn't know her that well but I could already tell she was a genuine person and didn't deserve what had happened to her other the past few days. It was just in the way that she acted. Tasha for example, had a way of walking around with confidence as she thought she was better than everyone else while Misty had more of shy personality which meant to me that she did lack confidence. One thing that made me curious was that someone like her could be dating a guy like Henry who looked more like a popular bad boy. Well, they at least were dating, I wasn't so sure now.
"Oh it's alright," I said, replying to her unnecessary apology before adding "How have you been? I mean, I heard about...the-"
"I'm better now," she answered knowing exactly what I was talking about.
"It just sounded pretty serious." I placed the lid back on my lip balm and placed it back in my pocket.
She nodded her head and let out a deep breath. "It was, my parents are probably going to ground me for life and the whole school won't shut up about it but I guess in the end, I'm just glad I'm okay. I just did something stupid and now I have to deal with the consequences."
Quietness filled the air. I wanted to ask her more about the drug and what happened but I knew it would look suspicious.
"It's no fun having the police question you while you lay half dead on a hospital bed." she muttered as she stared at her reflection in the mirror.
"You were questioned by the police?" I obviously already knew that but was trying to find out anything else I could about the issue.
She placed her makeup tools back in her bag "Well, drugs are illegal." she said simply.
"Of course," I mumbled, looking down at the floor. Obviously, she wasn't going to tell everything about her personal life to some new girl she hardly knew, I didn't know why I'd expected any different. There wasn't going to be any way for me to get her to open up to me. Well, at least not for now.
"Anyway, see you around, I've got chemistry and my teacher can be a bitch if you're late." She grabbed her bag and slung it over her shoulder before pushing open the bathroom door and walking out swiftly.
I let out a huge sigh as soon as the door closed and I was alone. "See you around."
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