by Amma Lee
“You shouldn’t have said that, this isn’t a contest.” Robyn scolded her younger sister. Kyle didn’t agree with that though. Kyle looked at it as being a contest and he wanted to be the one that won.
“Attention all students and staff,” A voice sounded over the intercom. “Please stop everything that you’re doing and report to the auditorium.” Had something happened? Kyle thought to himself and looked over at his friends. Each of them nodded and they took off towards the direction of the auditorium.
The auditorium had to be filled with at least a thousand people. Kyle knew that the school was big, but he didn’t know that it was that big. All of the seats were put away so the students had to stand up. Just then, Ms. Richardson walked to the stage with a cat in spy gear following behind her. The students looked at her with anticipation.
“Students…” she paused. “We’ve been challenged by another spy school.” The auditorium was filled with the sounds of gasps.
Chapter Three
Kyle couldn’t contain the excitement that washed over his body. He wanted to know more about this challenge. He needed to hear all of the details so that he could wrap his head around it better.
“Lola Spy Junior High School, an all-female school, has challenged us to see whose school is the best.”
“Can they do that?” A student shouted.
“It’s an all-female school? But our school is mixed, they’ll surely lose.” The auditorium erupted with people shouting over other people.
“Please settle down, I’m not finished!” Ms. Richardson shouted into the microphone. “It doesn’t matter if it’s an all-girls school. This doesn’t mean that we’re more powerful or cleverer.” Kyle blushed. He was sort of thinking that it’ll be easy to take down a group of girls. The cat walked over to Ms. Richardson and handed her the paper that was in its mouth. “Don’t ever underestimate your opponent, no matter if they’re a boy or a girl.”
“That’s right! We’re strong too.” Jenny said nodding her head. Kyle looked over at her. Jenny was able to do many things that Kyle wasn’t able to do; maybe girls are just as strong as boys?
“They’re challenging us next Monday.”
“Next Monday!” the students shouted in unison. The school year had just started and they were already being included in a challenge? This was too surreal to them. While majority of the student body complained that it was much too early for them to partake in a challenge, Kyle was grinning from ear to ear.
“This is great,” Kyle said enthusiastically. Jenny looked over to Kyle.
“You’re not allowed to hit a girl!” she said glaring at Kyle. Hit a girl? Kyle thought. Would the challenge include fighting? He never even considered that as being a possibility.
“It’s not going to be that type of challenge,” Paul said shaking his head. Well, that definitely answered Kyle’s question. “The challenges normally tests who’s the cleverest in a situation, not an actual fist fight. Besides, hitting any student is not allowed” Jenny let out the breath that she was holding in.
“That’s a relief,” Jenny said. “Because if I saw either one of you hitting a girl; you will have to answer to me!” Kyle and Paul shivered. They definitely did not want to answer to Jenny when she was looking as scary as she was at that moment. Besides, Kyle wouldn’t have hit a girl anyways. He wanted to be the world’s greatest spy, but he didn’t want to get there by going into actual combat with a girl; he’d use his wits instead.
“Can I have your attention please?” Ms. Richardson asked while everyone was chatting to their neighbors. The students’ voices began dying down. “You’re teachers will explain to you more in detail what’s to come and they will give you exercises to help you succeed.” She concluded the meeting with encouraging words and dismissed the students.
“Who would have thought that we’d get challenged by an all-girl’s school?” Paul said with his hands behind his head. Paul did not look too worried about the challenge. “I’ll definitely be able to show off my high-tech building skills!” Paul said happily and laughed. Paul had told Kyle and Jenny that he got into spy school because he was able to build high-tech equipment. They were looking forward to seeing his skills.”
“Will you build things for Kyle and me too?” Jenny asked looking at Paul. Paul’s grin never left his face.
“Of course, because us three will be working together.”
“What do you mean us three?” Kyle asked with his eyebrows raised. “Aren’t we working together as a school?”
“Well yes, but it’s more than that.” Paul said as they made their way through the overly crowded hall. “We’re working together as a school, but in my old school when we had challenges, specific people were recognized and then promoted to a higher level. Most spy schools are like that so if the three of us do well as a team, we’ll get promoted.” This information got Kyle’s attention.
“You mean we’ll get promoted if we do well?” Kyle said unable to take the excitement out of his voice.
“Yes, but we have to be better than majority of the other students though.” Kyle knew it wasn’t as easy as just doing well.
“We’ll definitely be the best!” Jenny said loud enough to make a few of the students in front of them turn and look at her. She blushed, but she kept smiling. “The three of us will be unstoppable.” At first Jenny wasn’t for the idea of having a challenge, but it appeared that Kyle’s enthusiasm and Paul’s words had rubbed off on her.
“Well if you’re building the equipment, what are we supposed to do?” Kyle said after he realized that they should take roles. Paul scratched his hair and thought about it.
“Jenny does a very good job at planning stuff,” Paul said looking over to Jenny. “How about you come up with a plan that we can follow?” Jenny beamed.
“Leave it to me!” she said with confidence. “I’ll come up with a plan that nobody can trump.” Paul and Jenny’s roles were picked, now what was Kyle going to do? He wasn’t particularly good at anything so far.
“What about me?” Kyle asked shyly. Paul thought about that for a moment.
“Well so far you’re the best when it comes to getting out of scary situations.” That was true considering that he did think quickly when he was in the cave, which had led him to being the best at the endurance exercise. “Just in case something doesn’t go the way we want it to go with Jenny’s plan, we’re expecting you to come up with something quickly.” Kyle grinned. He liked the sound of that.
“So you’ll be like our leader!” Jenny said grinning from ear to ear. Kyle grinned too.
“If everyone is fine with that, Kyle you can be our leader.” Paul said. Paul didn’t like holding too much responsibility over his head, so he didn’t mind if Kyle took charge of leading them. There was always someone who made the plans and someone who enforced the plans but was quick to change it up if it’s not working out the way that they needed it to work out. If Kyle believed that he could do it, then Paul wouldn’t mind having Kyle as their leader. Plus, Kyle was the most determined one of the group, definitely a great quality to have as a leader. He wasn’t the best at balancing, but he studied and practiced hard.
“Geez,” Kyle said rubbing the back of his neck as he blushed. He was happy that they made him the leader, but he was starting to feel a little modest with the way they were talking to him. He’ll try his best to make them proud.
“We should hear what our next hour teacher has to say before we come up with a plan though,” Paul suggested and Jenny and Kyle nodded their heads. That would be the smart way to handle the situation. Kyle couldn’t wait to get to their next class and see what their teacher had to tell them about this fantastic event.
Chapter Four
“Little Lizzy would definitely be an asset to defeating those Lola spy girls,” a woman in spy gear with dark brown short hair said.
“Well what can you do little Lizzy?” a man with a dark beard said. Kyle, Paul, and Jenny looked at each other. Were they teachers?<
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“Well I am the fastest one in my class!” the small blond haired girl whose hair was pinned on top of her head said.
“Excuse me,” Paul said walking closer to them. “Can we get past you? We’re trying to get into the classroom.” The man, woman, and student looked at them.
“Sorry, but we’re not letting anyone into the class yet.” The man said.
“Are you the teachers?” Kyle asked. Why would they keep them from coming into the class?
“No we’re not,” the woman said and listened to whoever was speaking to her in her ear piece. “We were asked to come to your school and assist your teacher in getting you trained for your challenge.” Okay, but that still didn’t explain who these two people were.
“Oh, are you teachers at another school.” The young student looked up at Jenny.
“No silly, these are spies! These two graduated from here many years ago.” The man groaned then.
“You make it sound like we’re incredibly old,” the man scratched his beard and other students began lining up behind Kyle, Jenny, and Paul.
“Did they just say that they’re spies?” one student asked.
“Yes they did!” a girl yelled out. Their class was excited and Larry decided to push his way towards the front of the group.
“Out of my way!” he yelled growing, agitated that the students wouldn’t let him pass. “I’m the best in the class so I want to speak with them first!” he said as he shoved himself to the front until he was eye to eye with Kyle. “You shouldn’t even be in the front.” Larry said and leaned backwards in a way that suggested that he was falling. Kyle glared at him.
“Leave him alone!” Jenny said. “You’re not even the best because I’m doing better than you!” Jenny didn’t like when Larry was being mean to Kyle. Kyle was her best friend and she wasn’t going to let Larry disrespect him. Kyle blushed, he appreciated Jenny for doing that, but he didn’t want her help because that made people tease him more.
“Well how can you be the best if there’s someone better than you?” Paul said placing his hands behind his head. “And besides, Kyle did way better than you in the endurance exercise.” Paul pointed out. Kyle cheered up some then. He was right! Larry actually was the last person to get the crystal and he looked bad when he made it back to them.
“Beginners luck! Besides, he only came out ahead because he cheated.”
“That’s not true and you know it!” Kyle yelled enraged. Kyle worked too hard to cheat and he didn’t like the fact that Larry just couldn’t admit when he was wrong about something.
“You seem to have a chip on your shoulder big fellow” the man with the thick beard said. “You’re too quick to judge someone and call yourself the best. Normally people with that attitude fail early on in their spy career.” The class erupted in laughter. Finally someone was able to put Larry in his place. Kyle grinned when he saw Larry’s face flush. Whatever he was going to ask the spies was completely lost to him because he turned around and made his way towards the back.
“Don’t listen to him young one.” The woman said to Kyle just then. “There are always people like this because it makes them feel better about themselves. If you allow his words to affect you, you’ll never make it as a spy, but I sense strength in you that I don’t think you know that you have yet.” Kyle couldn’t stop his shy grin from forming on his face. He needed to hear her words just then, even though he didn’t know this woman, Kyle felt he needed to show her the strength she believed that he had.
“Why are you all standing around? Come on come on hustle.” The sound of Mr. Dove’s voice could be heard. Instead of being outside like they were on the first day of school, they were having class indoors. “Oh, it’s you.” Mr. Dove said as soon as he saw the man and the woman standing outside the classroom. “You two go in first.” The woman grinned and walked into the classroom, the students followed the man, woman, and “little Lizzy.”
“Class we have special guests today as you can see,” Mr. Dove began once the students were in their seats. Kyle looked towards the front of the class in anticipation. “This is Rebecca,” he said pointing to the woman and she flashed the class a bright smile. “This is George,” George bowed. “Also, this is Elizabeth; she’s actually in an advanced class.” Kyle looked at the bubbly girl with awe. She was around the same age as Layla, but she appeared to be much more mature than she was. He felt like he could learn a lot from her since she had advanced so quickly.
“Hi everyone!” she waved to the class. Jenny smiled and waved back.
“Hi Elizabeth!” she said. The girls appeared to have taken a liking to each other quickly.
“Enough of the introductions,” Mr. Dove said. “They will be assisting me in showing you some techniques that can be used in the challenge next week.”
“I really don’t care about that; I really just want to build something.” Paul said under his breath. Kyle cared about it all, the techniques, Paul’s handy devices, his leadership role. He needed them to succeed and come out on top.
“Well, it’s not going to be all about building Paul,” Jenny said and stuck her tongue out at Paul. He laughed.
“I know my fingers are just anxious to create something new.”
“I want everyone to stand up,” Mr. Dove said and the students did exactly as they were told. “I know that normally your teachers would put your desks away, but I want to see how fast each of you can run with obstacles blocking your path.” Kyle wasn’t expecting this as their training for the day. He looked around and noticed that even though the seats were spacious enough, most people wouldn’t be able to move around quickly.
“I’ll show you an example!” Elizabeth said and she began running wildly around the classroom. She ran fast and her movements were precise. Kyle could barely keep up with how fast she was running.
“Wow, look at her go.” Jenny said in amazement. Every time it looked like Elizabeth was going to run into a student, she dodged them at the very last second swiftly and smoothly.
“Great demonstration, Lizzy,” Rebecca said as she looked at the small blond running around the students.
“Let’s see how she does with other people running around her!” Mr. Dove shouted and then nodded to Rebecca and George. They took off running beside Lizzy and even with the limited space they had to run, they ran fast without bumping into each other.
“Amazing,” Kyle said and watched them run. He watched them closely memorizing everything that they did. He took as many mental notes that he could remember so that he’d be able to practice this when he was at home.
“You think you’ll be able to do that?” Paul asked looking over at Jenny and Kyle. Jenny was uncertain, but she said that she’d try her hardest. Kyle said nothing, not hearing a single word that was spoken to him. The only thing he could focus on was Elizabeth’s, George’s, and Rebecca’s movements.
Chapter Five
For the rest of the week, the students’ worked hard, especially Kyle. Kyle practiced everything that he learned over and over again at home and again on breaks. Now it was Monday morning, and the spies from Lola would be there around noon.
“Wow, you’ve approved a lot Kyle!” Jenny said as she watched Kyle balance on his hands for almost three minutes.
“I’ll say,” Paul added in taking the peanut butter and jelly sandwich that Jenny handed to him. “It’s hard to believe that it was just last week that you could only hold that position for fifteen seconds.” Kyle stood up and pounded his fist to his chest in pride.
“I told you that I would be able to do it!” Kyle said and moved his long dark bang out of his face.
“I didn’t doubt you for a minute, but let’s go into a lab. I want to make us wristwatches right quick.” Paul finished his sandwich and placed the sandwiches that was wrapped up tightly back into Jenny’s bag.
“Why are you making us watches?” Jenny asked and stood up with her bag full of sandwiches in her hand.
“You’ll see,” Paul g
rinned and ran towards the entrance. Kyle and Jenny looked at each other in confusion, but followed behind Paul. When they had gotten to an abandoned lab, Paul took some small tools out of his backpack and went to work. “Give me twenty minutes; I’ll be done by then.” Not wanting to disturb Paul, Jenny and Kyle decided to remain silent.
****
They walked up and down the lab filled with all sorts of things. Computers, beakers, and machines they never knew existed! They occasionally walked over to Paul and looked over his work. At first, the things that he made looked nothing like watches, but as the minutes went on it started to look like one. Paul picked up something that looked like a pointer that the teachers used back home to shine a red dot near something that they were reading. He pushed the button on the top of it and a beam shot out at the watch which melded the sides together.