It was day four and I was making my way into the factory more upbeat this time. My combat skills were improving and I was actually starting to believe for the first time that I could handle being an agent. Even though yesterday hadn't gone entirely to plan, in a way, it couldn't have gone any better. I'd needed that day off to get a better grasp of things. I'd been thrown into this case so quickly, I'd barely had any time to process it.

Another thought was going through my mind as I walked into the building: That moment Eric and I had yesterday. I didn't know why but I couldn't get it out of my head, it was stupid. All I could think about was when he grabbed my waist and let me land on him when we fell. I knew he was just protecting me from injury, but that didn't stop my mind running with different ideas. What was I even doing, obsessing over something as small as that? I needed to sort myself out and focus on the real reason I was here.

I made my way to the elevator and walked in as the door opened. I got on the ground removed the correct tile, pressed the red button then placed the tile back on top of it. I felt the elevator move down.

What was Eric going to be like when I saw him? Was he going to be more relaxed or just be the same old serious Eric? I hadn't known him for that long but I'd already worked out that he could be pretty unpredictable. He maintained a professional manner, but I knew there was more to him behind it, I'd witnessed some of it yesterday. The doors opened and he was standing there waiting for me.

"Come on, we have training first up," He told me as he walked towards the gym.

Serious Eric it was.

I slowly followed him. He didn't mention the time. I looked down at my watch and saw that I was ten minutes late and he hadn't said anything. Maybe he was starting to become more understanding of what I was going through and was cutting me some slack. Which I wasn't sure how to feel about. Part of me was relieved, but I also didn't want him to pity me or go easy or me because I was having trouble adjusting to this all. I wanted to have control. I made a mental note to try to show up exactly on time the next day.

"Okay so as you missed yesterday, a bit of catching up has to be done today." Eric began to explain as we entered the gym. "I need you to speak to Brad today and really find out more about what's happening because it's Friday and it's the last chance you'll have before the weekend."

"Okay, " I replied in agreement. "I'll try and talk to him today and maybe find out a bit about him from Tasha and all those girls first."

He nodded before quickly looking away from me the moment we made eye contact. I felt like he was trying to distance himself from me. I couldn't understand why exactly. Maybe he just wanted to get back to his work.

"Uh, you can just go to Cas now if you want, we did most of our training yesterday in those extra hours." he said quietly.

His words confirmed my thoughts and I nodded as I walked into the room, this time, shutting the door while he was still in there. I felt a little disappointed that we wouldn't have our morning training but I understood that he probably had more serious work to deal with than some teenager doing a silly drug bust. That was nothing in this industry.

After seeing Cassie and continuing our normal morning routine I left for school again. Well, 'fake school' I guess. I didn't really know what to call it, the whole situation was pretty complicated.

As I entered the school grounds, I heard the ringing of the bell fill my ears. Ugh, crap. Those ten minutes that I came late really did make a difference. I quickly grabbed my books and headed to my first class.

"Oooh! Amanda! Hi!" I turned around to see Tasha run up and hug me. I awkwardly stood there, unsure of how to react. "Oh my god, where were you yesterday? Emily from science class said that you had some fatal virus and only had 24 hours let to live."

What? I resisted the urge to look at her in complete disbelief.

"Um... I was just sick, I'm fine now." I answered. The fact the rumors about me were already spreading, especially when I was so new, seemed ridiculous. Seriously what was everyone on at this school? Oh, wait.

"That's good. We have Science first up! I can speak to Emily about being a lying ugly cow if you want?" she offered. It was strange how she could talk about being so mean to someone but say it in the nicest tone ever possible. Her eyebrow was raised and she looked at me, waiting for an answer.

"Uh...no thanks, It's alright," I replied quickly. She nodded her head and continued to walk down the hallway. Immediately, I was focused on getting answers, pulling out my tape recorder and hiding it under my jacket.

"Hey Tasha, what do you know about a guy named Brad?" I asked, pressing the record button discretely.

"Brad as in Brad from our English class?"

I nodded.

"Why, you interested in him?" She asked curiously.

Realizing that I hadn't thought that far ahead, I quickly stuttered out a reply. "Oh yeah sure, he's really hot...I guess." I mentally slapped myself for not being ready to answer that question. Of course I would have needed a reason to ask about someone. Otherwise, it would have looked sketchy.

Tasha gave me an odd look due to my jittery response. "Okay cool...all I know is he can be trouble."

"What kind of trouble?" I asked. "Like detention trouble, or police trouble?"

"Police for sure. A lot of us think that Brad is actually the one behind the NT drug." She answered, twirling a strand of her hair in disinterest.

Bingo.

"But yeah, you should totally date him if you're interested," she continued. Her voice lowered as she began nudging me. "Maybe he could hook you up with those drugs. Get us all a discount?"

I smiled tightly at her, not warranting her with a response. Like hell.

"Maybe I'll try to speak to him a lunch," I offered after a moment. I needed to find out as much about this guy as I could

"Yeah, I'll totally introduce you to him!" Tasha said excitedly.

I grinned and turned off the recording. This was certainly going to be an interesting conversation to listen over this afternoon with Eric. He'd said I needed to do whatever I could to get closer to the people on this case in order to earn that trust - romantic involvement hadn't exactly come up during that discussion.

We both walked into our science classroom and found two vacant seats. Tasha sat down next to me, dumping her books loudly on the desk.

"Hey, a bunch of us are going shopping on Saturday morning. We need new outfits, wanna come?" she asked.

I had to hold back the urge to groan. Shopping with a bunch of self-absorbed teenage girls definitely did not sound like my ideal weekend. But getting close to these girls meant going along with everything they said.

"Sure, sounds fun," I lied. It definitely did not sound like fun.

Tasha smiled brightly before pulling out her phone and typing away. "I'm texting you the deets right now."

The things I was doing for this mission.

Our science teacher entered the room just in time to save me from having to talk to Tasha more. Eric had told me to make a note of this guy - he knew his science stuff. Anyone who understood chemicals and substances definitely was capable of making drugs. The fact that he also had frequent access to science equipment and laboratories, put him higher on the suspect list.

"Hello students, welcome another fun science lesson with your totally cool teacher, Mr. Hank." he dragged on in a boring tone which immediately made me realized he was being very sarcastic. "Now for this unit of study, we will be looking at isotopes and their effect o-"

This guy didn't look like he was on drugs. But heck, he probably needed them. His personality duller than anything I'd ever witnessed before. However, no matter how much I wanted to tune him our or fall asleep, I couldn't. I had to keep a closer eye on him, watching for anything that could help this case. Sadly, I had him for an entire two-hour session. I sighed as I straightened up and turned my attention to the front of the class.

He drawled on and on for what felt like a lifetime and when finally the bell rang two hours later, I nearly wept with joy. I lifted up my head realizing that I had almost fallen asleep listening to this guy despite my best efforts not to. Tasha got up and linked arms with me.

"Come on, let's go see Brad." She cooed, nudging me with her elbow.

During that entire lesson on antibiotics, I'd almost forgotten at Brad. I felt my stomach churn at the idea. This was going to be nerve wrecking.

He was just outside the room, sitting on a nearby bench with a look of disinterest.

"Hey Brad," Tasha greeted as we approached the bench.

"Hey," he said, looking up suspiciously. I'm guessing Tasha didn't talk to him much, or ever for that matter.

"Have you met Amanda yet?" Tasha asked, shoving me in front of her. It took me a second to realize I was Amanda. Was that name ever going to stick with me?

"Oh yeah, I bumped into you when leaving English yesterday," he said grinning at me. I gave a small smile back.

"Oh, would you look at the time I have to be somewhere for something. You two stay and chat, bye." Tasha said as she walked off quickly. I seriously hoped she wasn't taking Drama because that was the worst performance ever. Her obvious attempt to spring us together only made things weirder.

I awkwardly smiled at Brad. I wanted to shrivel up and die on the floor to avoid having this conversation with him.

"So, where are you from?" He asked in an attempt to start a conversation.

My smile faltered. Damn it. Where was I from again? Toronto, Chicago, Detroit, Texa- "L.A!" I said, loudly remembering. "I'm from L.A," I said more calmly.

"Cool," he replied. I nodded slowly and then we just sat there in silence, neither of us knowing what to say.

"So Amanda, tell me about yourself," he spoke with a glint in his eye. I hated this question.

"Uh, not really much to tell I guess," I responded with a shrug.

"Huh," He pushed his hair back with one hand. "I guess I'll have to find out more about you myself then,"

He was blatantly flirting with me. I tried to remain calm and prayed that my face wasn't reddening like the tomato I was. I'd never really been in this position before. I had no idea what to say or how to even flirt back with someone like him - or anyone for that matter. He was very attractive, but a part of him also made me feel uneasy. This whole interaction was making me feel uneasy.

After a moment's silence, I spoke up. "Well, I should get back to my friends then," I gestured down the hall to where the cafeteria was. "See you around, I guess?"

He smiled lightly. "I guess so."

I turned around letting out a sigh of relief as I walked away. That had not gone down the way I had planned it to. I thought I would have been able to easily have a conversation with him and know exactly what to say, but when the time had come, I was lost for words. Maybe I would have to recite some phrases in front of a mirror or something.

As I walked down the hall I felt someone bump into me, pushing me back in surprise. I noticed the long jet black hair and realized that it was a girl who was crying. As she crashed into me, her books went flying.

"Oh my gosh are you okay?" I asked, steadying her by putting my hands on her shoulders. It was the same way Eric had done to me when I'd walked into headquarters yesterday morning in an unstable state.

She removed her glasses to wipe the tears from her eyes. "Yeah, I'm okay." I got down on the ground and started picking up her books for her. She got down joining me.

"Are you sure?" I asked her. "I mean, you are crying." I pointed out obviously.

"Yeah, I'm fine." she sniffled, standing up. "Just my boyfriend being a jerk."

"Well, whatever's going on he's not worth your tears," I said as I handed her back her books.

She gave me a small smile. "Thanks."

"Do you need anything else?" I asked her with a concerned expression. She was in a complete state of chaos.

"No, I'm fine, thank you again, though," she replied, already walking away from me.

Slightly stunned, I started to walk towards the cafeteria.

"Wait!" she called out behind me. I turned around to see her running up to me with something in her hand. My spy device. "I think you dropped this."

I quickly grabbed it from her. "Oh, thank you," I said casually. Instead my head, I was screaming and looking for a quick coverup.

"Just a fake phone prototype I'm making for an assignment," I explained, shoving it in my bag in a haste.

"Oh, cool," She muttered, not really looking that interested. She definitely had something else going on with her life that she was more concerned about.

I smiled at her thankfully before turning around and continuing to make my way towards the cafeteria.

Eventually, school ended and I was filled with complete relief. It was this feeling that I got when I competed in gymnastic competitions too. Like I'd made it through something tough, even though I had a lot more to go.

"Hey, Agent Turner." I greeted cheerfully as I entered the limo after school.

"Well someone seems happy, getting a little less hard for you out there Becca?" he asked.

"Things are normal," I said nodding. Just normal. "I've just decided I need to take a more positive approach," I explained.

"Makes sense," he nodded starting the limo. He started driving and we stayed silent for a moment.

I rested back, feeling relief at the fact I was no longer pretending to be Amanda Ryan. Being caught up in so many lies and having to constantly remember which ones to tell was nauseating.

The limo vibrated softly as I stared out the window, watching the blur of gray buildings we drove past.

"Hey...Turner?" I spoke up suddenly.

"Yeah?" I heard his voice say from the front seat.

"What does Eric do when I'm away at Kennedy High all day?" I asked, "Is he doing the same case as you?"

Turner laughed. "No way, he's working on way more complicated missions. I think he's working on something to do with human trafficking in South Africa."

My eyes widened in shock. That sounded a million times more difficult and dangerous than anything I could imagine. The face he was working on something so complicated only made me respect him more.

"Wow," I replied in awe. "That sounds...complicated."

He nodded. "It is. Which is why it's strange that Captain put him in charge of training you. When we get new agents, they usually train with a different division. Plus, he's usually too busy doing his own thing."

"I guess he's just helping me because he was once an agent at seventeen too," I suggested.

"Maybe, we never get agents this young - and this is quite a different arrangement to anything we've ever done." He replied. "You're lucky anyway; he's the best agent in this division."

I continued looking out the window, soaking in his words. I guess I was lucky.

When we arrived back at the RUA, I got straight down to business.

I was in the gym with Eric again, listening back on the tape. Eric had a serious look on his face.

"Hey, Tasha what do you know about a guy named Brad?" I heard myself ask on the recording.

"Why, you interested in him?" I heard Tasha reply. I looked at Eric who seemed to be listening to the recording more now.

Then followed my awkward stutter of a reply as I told her that I was interested in him - my cover for asking about him in the first place.

I look at Eric to try and see if I could register any change in his facial expression, but it stayed as focused and unreadable as always.

The recording ended with Tasha saying she would 'totally' introduce him to me.

"It looks like the only way I'll be able to get to Brad is by pretending to like him," I explained. "We've had a small conversation and I'm trying to work things up from there."

Eric's face stayed serious, "Does he seem interested in you?" he asked.

"I guess. I'm not really good with this kind of stuff..." I admitted. Well, this was awkward.

Eric nodded, though not looking completely sure. "Anything else?" he asked.

I groaned. "I have to go shopping with Tasha and all those girls tomorrow morning."

"Don't you have gymnastics on a Saturday?" he asked.

I shook my head. "The dates change. And I'm not going to any group training because everyone there thinks I've got some disease or something. So shopping it is."

He got up from the chair and walked towards the door. "Follow me," he ordered.

I did as he told, following him out of the gym and into the main office. He took me to a room that was practically empty aside from a safe in the corner to the room.I watched as he entered in a heap of pin numbers at a lightning speed. How did he memorize all these numbers?

A few seconds later, the safe door opened. There were a bunch of miscellaneous items in it that I couldn't really see well. He reached his hand in, digging around for a moment before pulling out a black card. He held it out to me, waiting for me to grab it.

I looked at him in confusion.

"For the shopping" he explained.

It suddenly clicked. "Oh no, I couldn't, it's fine I don't nee-"

"Take it," he said sternly.

I sighed as I grabbed it from him.

"How much is on here?" I asked, holding the card with caution.

"A lot. Something tells me these girls like to shop designer," Eric answered. "Just keep the receipts for proof of purchase so we can file them."

He led me out of the room, back into the main entry point of the RUA. I watched as agents walked around the room, some talking to others and others looking deep into their workload.

"You need to come here in the morning tomorrow so Agent Turner can take you to the mall in the limo. As soon as you're done shopping, come back here straight away for training." He ordered firmly.

I stayed silent, not knowing what to say in reply. His mood had suddenly become very stern and ordering. I didn't know what had caused him to turn so serious but I knew better than to question it.

"Okay, I guess I'll see you tomorrow," he said.

Nodding, I began heading for the elevator. I pressed the button and stepped inside. Eric was still standing there and we looked at each other in the eyes before the doors slowly shut. I sighed as I felt the elevator moving up.

I had no idea what was going on between us. I was trying so hard to understand the guy but it had only been three days. There were times where we got along really well and I saw this other side to him where he could laugh and joke around with me, but most of the time it was just this stern attitude. I didn't even know what to expect from him. He was my 'mentor', according to him but some stupid part of me began questioning if there was something more to us there. I shook them out of my head. He's only doing this because he has to. He's in charge of me. For a mission.

Thoughts were running wild in my head about so many things. Eric, Brad, Debby, Kevin and Tasha. Heading home to my mother also reminded me that I would have to lie to her some more and pretend I'd just gotten back from school.

There was so much lying.

I needed to get control of my life - not Amanda's. I reminded myself that this was just a case and once it was over, Amanda would be too. But Becca would still be here and I had no idea where that would leave me.

All I knew was that I needed to start working things out sooner or later or all these lies would catch up to me sooner or later.

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A/N: ewwww I'm currently editing and I hate the way this chapter was written. 14 year old Dorothy had no idea how to write well haha