Cafeteria
CIA Academy of Espionage
Washington, DC
February 26
1300 hours

Have you ever been having a really good day, week, month, or just all around good time, and then one little thing happens, and completely ruins it for you? In my case, this thing was Erica Hale coming to talk to me. Now, normally this would've never been a bad thing, seeing as I had a massive crush on Erica, and some signs that she had a crush on me too. She was dubbed the "Ice Queen" (by one of my best friends Zoe Zibble) because of her ability to show a complete lack of emotion. However, there was that one time where actually kissed me (though she said that was "only for my benefit") and those other times when she almost acts like a normal teenager around me, something I've never seen her do around anyone else (other than maybe her mom.) On our last mission, we had a semi-emotional conversation well we were being led, handcuffed, through the Pentagon—because where else would you have a heartfelt conversation? After that, she seemed to be thawing out a little. I swear I've caught her giving me a quick half-smile in the hallways at least twice, and she's helped me with aiming a gun, because i was extremely incapable of doing that, in PE when we had free time (I know it seems like a weird concept, but it was totally normal in spy school. Unless it was Erica Hale doing the teaching.) But suddenly, she had frozen up again, not even giving me so much as a glance. This was what happened every time we had a mission: she would act like we were friends and then become so distant that I would forget that she was there. She had been nicer to me this time than she ever had before. She was so nice that I dared to hope it would stick, but I was met only with disappointment. So really, Erica talking to me wasn't the downside of my week; it was the highlight. It was everything that followed after that was awful.

My friends and I were sitting at a table in the cafeteria. The tables at Spy School were round, with 6 chairs at each, adding up to over 50 tables scatter across the room. Of course, rather than doing things the logical way by having 6 kids at each table and tables left over for the teachers, all 300 kids eating lunch decided to pull chairs from their original table and cram them together at one table, which left it so people like Erica could eat lunch alone.

Even though there were never a lot of people who sat with me at lunch, the table seemed emptier than usual. Ever since Warren turned into a bad guy and left Spy School, my table felt wrong without him. Don't get me wrong, I never even liked the guy, but I had gotten so used to having him around that with just me, Zoe, Mike, Jawa, and Chip the table didn't feel right. The empty seat ended up next to me this time, leaving just enough room for someone to slip into it. I was surprised enough that someone wanted to sit by me, but even more surprised when I realized that person was Erica Hale.

She sat down like it was a totally normal thing for her to sit there, and began eating like nothing out of the ordinary was going on. She slid into the seat next to me as if she didn't always eat lunch alone. I was so shocked by the situation that my brain didn't even register that Erica Hale was sitting right next to me. Which was probably for the best, because if i had noticed I probably would've swooned. Everyone else at my table looked equally surprised. The cafeteria turned hushed as people glanced over and paused their conversations, wondering what could have brought this visit from Erica. I was wondering the same thing. Mike finally broke the ice.

"Hello Erica," he said, also pretending this interaction was normal, "how are you?" Everyone turned to face her, awaiting her response.

She chewed her food a couple more times—though how she managed not to gag was beyond me—and spoke. "I'm doing pretty well," she said casually, but it was more of a friendly causal rather than her usual emotionless causal. "I can tell you're all wondering what I'm doing here." A smile broke out across her face, "I wanted to invite you all to my birthday party!"

Chip dropped his fork, Jawa started choking, and I don't think it was from the food, and I just stared at her in shock. This was so unlike Erica, I was sure there was some other reason behind this. Stop it Ben, I thought, maybe she's just trying to be nice. It didn't seem likely. Zoe, however, was thrilled.

"Your birthday!" she practically shrieked from beside me, "I didn't know it was your birthday!"

"Yeah," Erica replied, her demeanor shifting back to its usual ice cold feeling, "I didn't want anyone to know. I'm sure the whole school knows now, though." Actually, conversations had started up in the cafeteria again, so anyone hearing us was unlikely.

Zoe's face fell, but she quickly got excited again. In a much lower voice, she asked, "when? What time? When's your actual birthday?"

Erica leaned in close and gestured we do the same. "Well my actual birthday is today, but the party is Saturday at 10 pm at the abandoned building across the street." She saw our looks of protest at being off school property, especially after dark. "Don't worry, I already talked it out with administration and it's fine." The bell rang, signaling the end of lunch. Erica grabbed her tray, then threw it out, and walked away, as though this never happened.

"Are we going?" Mike asked.

"I don't see why not," Jawa replied.

So it was settled: I was going to Erica Hale's birthday party. In two days from today.

As I got up to throw my trash away, I heard a crinkle in my jacket pocket. I knew I didn't have anything in there before. I stuck my hand in and felt it: a note. And thus, my bad week began.

A/N tell me what you think!