This was a stupid idea.

I stared at my reflection in the full-length mirror. I'd done my makeup, hair and...I was also wearing the black dress that Eric had told me to keep after I'd gone on that shopping spree.

This was a ridiculously, stupid, terrible idea.

I owned plenty of dresses that I never wore. My Mom and I were practically the same size and even shared outfits, doubling the amount of options I had. I had so many things to choose from and I went with the one thing I shouldn't have. The one dress that linked me to him. What was I doing? Was this some desperate attempt to catch his attention? Make him reconsider his decision for us not to be together? I am pathetic. A completely pathetic idiot that has no idea what they're doing. But I had to admit, it was a nice dress. I had been the one to pick it out in the first place. I doubted he would even recognize that this was the dress he'd told me to hold on. Why had he even done that anyway? Was he suddenly some expert on fashion? Again, I was overthinking things. I glared at myself in the mirror and told myself to just calm down. I decided to stick with the dress and not argue with myself further.

When I'd arrived home, I'd noticed my Mom's car gone and knew she must have gone out. And if I didn't know any better I'd say it was with her new 'guy', whoever the loser was.

I heard the sound of a car honking and looked out my window to see that Debby had arrived. I quickly grabbed a purse and then headed out of my room as fast as my heels would let me. I wondered whether I should leave a note for my mother to tell her I was out but then decided against it. If she was going to go somewhere without telling me, I would do the same.

I dove into the car to avoid the strong cold wind that was making me shiver.

"I really need to get my license," I grumbled.

"Well hello to you too," Debby grinned. "Nice dress, you look hot."

I pulled a face, like always did when people tried to compliment me but gave in and accepted her remark. "Thanks, You too."

Debby was wearing a bright yellow dress that ended just above her knees and her dark red hair was slightly curled. "You have to help me with directions, I've only been to this place once and I wasn't really paying attention to where it was."

"I will," I reassured her. I'd gone to the RUA so many times that it seemed impossible for me to ever get lost.

"I'm going to turn on the heater, its cold as hell" Debby muttered, leaning forward pressing a button and turning a dial near the dashboard. The warm air started exiting the vent after a few seconds. "If Summer doesn't hurry up already I'm going lose it.

I scoffed. "I don't even care about Summer, just give me any season that isn't this one."

As Debby continued driving down the street, I watched the sun begin to set from outside, removing any warmth that was still left outside. As I continued staring out the window I couldn't help but wonder what was happening at Kennedy High with their formal. I imagined all the girls with their dresses that draped down to their floor, hiding their six-inch heels. The crazy amount of hours they all would have put into their appearance, all for just a few hours of dancing – or whatever you were supposed to do at proms. The whole thing seemed completely stupid and the idea completely foreign to me. I'd already had the displeasure of listening in on countless conversations about people getting ready for the event, all I could wonder was if it truly lived up to its hype and was worth everyone's time.

"Debby..." I piped up after a moment.

"Mmm?" she kept her focus on the road in front of her.

"When does our school have prom?" I asked.

She looked up for a moment, thinking about it. "Probably not until the end of the year, so...another six months maybe?"

"Huh." I stopped looking out the window and settled down in my seat.

"Are you thinking of going?" she pried. "You should, considering you already missed the junior prom we had ages back." She reminded me as if still holding onto the disappointment her fifteen-year-old self had felt when I couldn't go.

I rolled my eyes. "You know I had late night gymnastics training, the competition was only a month away." But I stopped when I realized that I wasn't doing gymnastics anymore. "Did I miss a lot of things because of gymnastics?"

Debby scoffed, adjusting her hands on the steering wheel. "What didn't you miss because of gymnastics?" she joked.

"It couldn't have been that bad," I argued.

"You missed my 14th and 15th birthday party, you missed Kevin's tennis tournament that put him into the finals, you missed school camp last year and our retreat, I think you missed our Chemistry class' Christmas fundraiser too-"

"Okay, I get it," I cut her off, before the guilt of all that she was saying could consume me. We stayed in silence as I thought it all over. I couldn't believe it. It was if I could finally see now that gymnastics wasn't there. All the experiences I'd missed out on, all the friends I could have made, all missed opportunities. I'd always been told if I wanted to be the best, I had to make some sacrifices, put gymnastics first and at the time, it had seemed like a reasonable request. But now, I wasn't quite sure.

"Don't miss prom this year. It's our last one." Debby ordered.

"I won't" promised, meaning it. Even if I didn't think it sounded like the best event, I didn't need to skip out on it. "It'll be a lot of fun," I added. "We can get a hair and nails done, all the fun stuff we've been talking about for the past few years!"

Debby smiled warmly, glancing over at me briefly before returning her eyes to the road. 

I tilted my head curiosly. "What?" 

She laughed, shaking her head. "Nothing. I just realized how much I've missed my best friend, that's all." 

Her words made me also smile, and a bit of saddness dawned on me. I had missed her too. The hardest part of all of this hadn't been the mission, the confusing stuff with Eric, or even getting beaten up in a school hallway in the middle of the night - it had been not having my best friend beside me the whole time. What I would've given to be able to be able to talk to her. I hadn't realised how isolating this whole experience had been until this moment. But right now I couldn't think too much about that. We had a job to do - I was just glad we could do it together. 

"Left," I muttered after a few minutes later.

Debby glanced at me quickly before turning her eyes back to the road. "Huh?"

"Left turn." I clarified, pointing at the end of the street.

"Oh," she realized, turning the car. We approached the street the factory was located on.

"Do you think it's gonna be awkward for me? Considering I don't really know anyone in there." Debby asked we walked to the building, her heels loudly clacking on the pavement.

"No, it's fine, I'll be with you all night. And it's not like it's some random party full of bitchy girls, it's a formal event full of adults," It was then I realized Debby and I would be the only teens there. The youngest -which worried me. Were we going to look out of place? I hoped not.

As we approached the building, Debby waited for me to punch in the 30 digit code.

"I still have know idea how you memorized that," she muttered, watching me in amazement as I punched in the numbers. "I can barely remember my own locker combination."

I grinned as I heard the sound of the door unlock and swing open. As we walked into the old abandoned factory, I looked around in disgust. It was always in such a poor state with rusty leaky pipes, pieces of broken splintered wood, damp flooring and one morning, I swore I saw a rat scatter past my feet. It was hard to believe there was a fully functioning and highly professional establishment running right below it.

"How can we be going to such a formal event yet trying not to get dirt and bacteria on our dresses on entry?" Debby asked, practically reading my mind.

"You've got to give them credit. It's an amazing cover. No one would expect an undercover agency here." I admitted as we waited for the elevator. It was taking longer than usual, due to more people using it. I wondered how many people would be at this event.

When the doors finally opened, Debby and I stepped in quickly. I got down on my knees, making sure my dress wasn't in the way to access the tile on the floor.

"You're going to ruin your dress!" Debby warned, watching in horror.

I rolled my eyes as I hoped back up after pressing the button. "It's fine." I felt the elevator start to move down. I turned to Debby, fixing my hair. "Okay honestly, how do I look?" I asked, adjusting my cocktail dress.

"Got someone to impress?" she grinned, raising an eyebrow.

I shot her an annoyed look. "I'm going to punch you so hard."

"You look great Becca, calm down," she laughed.

I bit my lip nervously, "You sure?"

"I'm sure," she smiled warmly as the elevator doors opened suddenly, the sound of classical music hitting our ears. "Just use protection" she whispered as she walked past me and out the elevator.

I opened my mouth to call her some foul words but was suddenly distracted by the room. My breath was taken away when as looked around in awe at the decorated office, with the door wide open revealing the gym.

"Woah," Debby gasped as we both stood still. There was a lot of people in the gym, all dressed as formally as we were. I mentally gave myself a pat on the back for not completely effing up the dress code. White and light blue streamers hung from the ceiling and I could make out a large diamond chandelier in the center of the room.

"Come on," I said grabbing her arm and dragging her with me to the gym. There was no way I was entering it alone.

The room look absolutely stunning, to say the least. Tables draped with white cloths stood at the far end corners of the room and placed on them were all kinds of food and drink.

"Oooh," Debby cooed as she noticed a table full of champagne glasses that glistened next to us. She picked one up swiftly, bringing it to her mouth to take a swig.

I quickly snatched it from her grasp and put it back down on the table. "You're underage." I reminded her.

She scoffed, "You're no fun."

Before I could reply, I heard a shriek behind me. We both turned to see Cassie enter the gym, shortly followed by Turner. She was wearing a long red dress that stopped just below her knees and Turner was wearing a tuxedo, like every other male in the room.

"You made it!" she squealed, leaning in to hug me. "and you look great!"

I laughed, "Wouldn't have missed it for anything," That was kind of a lie, considering how much I'd been debating coming in the first place. It had been an impulse decision only this afternoon.

Turner grinned at me as he stood beside Cassie. I smiled back before hearing Debby clear her voice behind me.

"Oh right," I realized turning back to her. "Guys this is Debby, the friend I was telling you about." I introduced. "Debby this is Cassie and Turner."

"Oh confidentiality waver girl," Turner teased, reaching out to shake her hand.

"That's me," she grinned grabbing his hand.

"It seems like Becca can't keep too much to herself huh? Has to tell someone," Cassie joined in.

I opened my mouth, grinning in shock. "It wasn't like that, she was onto me!" I argued.

"It's true," Debby grinned. "You can't keep too much from me. I like to pry."

We all laughed and I started to feel myself relax a little. This was going okay so far.

"I love your lipstick," Debby said to Cassie. "Is that-"

"ItGirl Lipstay?" they both said at the same time.

"Oh my god I love their products!" Cassie squealed.

"I basically have their whole mascara range!" Debby chirped back.

"ItGirl does the best eyeliner, let me tell you..." Cassie began, excitement shining in her eyes.

Turner and I locked eyes as the two continued, grinning at how excited they were both getting. We walked closer to each other, leaving their conversation.

"Put the limo away for tonight?" I joked.

Turner shrugged, "I might have used it to pick up Cassie,"

I laughed as he watched her with admiration as she continued talking to Debby about makeup.

"So did you just get here as well?" he asked once he turned his attention back to me.

"Yeah, same time as you guys it seems," I replied. I looked around the room at all the agents I could recognize. Some of them had brought partners with them, others were just hanging around each other.

"How does everyone outside this agency have time to date?" I asked.

"Beats me," he replied. "It's not exactly like I found my partner outside of work."

I glanced back at Cassie. It felt horrible to know they couldn't be too close tonight. They couldn't risk anyone suspecting they were a couple. If they spent too much time around each other, they would only arouse suspicion.

"But there's a strict rule captain has that says you can only tell your partner that you work for the RUA if you're married."

I looked at him, intrigued. "Really?"

He nodded. I thought about the idea of lying to the person you loved right up until your honeymoon. That was sure to create some tension.

"That kind of sucks." I murmured.

"It does." he agreed, adjusting his plain red tie.

Keeping something from a loved one for such a long time and then having to let them know after your wedding that you're an undercover agent that works dangerous life-threatening missions on a daily basis?

"Well, there he is," Turner said.

"Who?" I looked at him, leaving my thoughts.

Turner gestured to the other side of the room. I knew who was talking about the second I locked eyes with them.

Eric stood next to Captain and another agent who were having a conversation but he had his attention on me. I continued watching him like I was in a trance. Was it bad of me to admit he looked really good in a tux? I mentally slapped myself. Stop it. Chill Becca.

"Are you going over to say hi to him?" Turner asked, making me realize Eric and I were still staring at each other. I broke eye contact as I returned my attention back to Turner.

"No, not right now." I tried to say casually even though I could feel that my face was flushed and my cheeks probably as red as Cassie's ItGirl Lipstick. I was still kind of pissed off with Eric though and I wasn't exactly sure where we stood. Sometimes I felt like I wasn't even the slightest asset to this case. I was just some stupid decoy distraction. Organizing a whole operation to take down a drug dealer and just using me as some sort of bait? It didn't exactly make me feel special or appreciated. More like one of those actors that looked like a twelve-year-old that they hired on To Catch A Predator to lure the creep into the house.

Debby and Cassie finally finished their conversation and walked to where Turner and I stood.

"Right, well, we'll leave you two alone," Cassie said, now holding a glass of fizzy golden champagne in her hand. "I've got to circulate." She walked away before I had much of a chance to respond. Turner nodded at me before walking away too, except in a different direction towards other agents. Keeping their distance.

"She is so awesome," Debby announced, still watching Cassie.

I nodded in agreement. "She's cool. If I hadn't had her on this case, I would've been hopeless. "

"She was showing me this spy device that she had that looked like lipstick but was actually a pocket knife! Do you know how cool that is? Like, you could just be doing your makeup in front of a bad guy, then grab the lipstick and then all of a sudden STAB! It's amazing. Even though I don't know why you'd be doing your lipstick in front of a bad guy..." she continued.

I was distracted from her excitement when I heard a beeping noise from my phone. I let out a stressed sigh knowing it was probably my mother, wanting to know where I was. I still fumed when I thought about her actions over the last few days.

I decided to pull out my phone to read whatever angry verbal abuse she had thrown at me but realized the text was from another number I had saved on my phone. A number I never expected to get a text from.

And then I felt my heart stop.

-----

A/N: Okay, please don't murder me. I know I haven't updated in like two months. I can't apologize enough for that guys. I've just been studying and had a lot going on (recently turned 16!) but I feel terrible. I love this story but I just got so distracted I forgot about how awesome it was. Fear not! I am back! And will update frequently until I finish this book! (If people are still reading this, I'll be surprised! Cause I'm like 300% done with my own shit at this point) But it kinda works out great because Becca's at this formal event and I have my own semi-formal tomorrow! Eppp! I should be sleeping now but I had to update! This book is not far away from finishing, just a few chapters left so I'm sorry I made you guys wait so long.