by Emery Hale
With a groan and pulling a lot of unflattering faces I shimmied out of the bed. It took me a moment to realise I’d taken the duvet and blanket with me though, so when I went to take a step forward, my foot caught and I landed flat on my ass. Let’s pretend that didn’t happen.
At least it couldn’t get worse from here – what’s worse than landing on your butt first thing in the morning?
Then I felt it, wet, warm and dribbling. Oh no. I shot up, dropping the covers and looked down to the grey pyjama bottoms with adorable little smiling avocado cartoons on it, to see red seeping through the crotch. Oh come on! Now? Would they even have any pads or tampons? They all took that pill – wow, this was embarrassing. I didn’t even know where the bathroom was but I needed toilet paper fast.
I threw open the door and ran, but didn’t see a sign for the bathroom anywhere: every door in the hallway was closed and completely identical. The sticky warmth started running down my thigh faster so I lunged for the closest door and barged in. Sadly, it wasn’t the bathroom.
Lily sat on her bed throwing a basketball into the air. She looked up a little startled, and her eyes quickly travelled down to my crotch.
‘Oh, honey,’ she said with a knowing smirk.
‘Where’s the bathroom?’ I pleaded.
She shook her head. ‘OK, first calm down, we have stuff to get the blood out and I’m sure Quinn won’t kill you for wrecking her fave pyjamas,’ she said, standing up from her bed and dashing out.
Oh crap, these were her favourite? Why the hell did she give them to me?
I followed Lily two doors down into the bathroom. For a communal place it was quite big: three bathroom stalls, a large mirror opposite that took up a big portion of the wall, with three sinks underneath. Lily slid open the tall cabinet beside the door, rummaging through it.
‘Now, are you a tampon or pad girl?’ she asked.
‘Pad.’ This felt a little intimate.
Lily handed me a pad and a fresh pair of pants, along with some scrunched up loo roll, which I stuffed into my pants for the time being, ‘Sometimes we miss the pills by mistake and end up with that lovely wake-up call,’ she said. ‘Believe me, you don’t have to be embarrassed. We’re ladies after all.’
‘Thank you,’ I said quietly.
‘Don’t sweat it. Just throw your undies in the washing basket, then grab some shorts from my room.’
As she turned to leave I asked, ‘Lily, what about your parents? Do they know what’s going on?’
The girl stopped dead, her hand hovering over the doorhandle, then slowly turned around. She took in a breath, almost like she was forcing herself to talk.
‘My parents think I’m attending a posh boarding school. They live in Osaka, when my sister became a lawyer they couldn’t ship me off fast enough.’
‘Osaka, that’s in Japan, right?’ I’d heard of the place before but only seen it in pictures.
‘Yeah,’ she said with a melancholy smile. ‘You know I hated it there, but I’d give anything to see it again . . . now you get changed, don’t need a crime scene in the bathroom.’ With a two-fingered mock salute Lily left, closing the door behind her.
I thought Lily would have been harsher, or wouldn’t care as much but she was the opposite. She reminded me of a tomboy or like someone who’d rather have a group of guy friends than girls. Even the way she dressed, black jeans, baggy top, plaid shirt tied around her waist, tall combat boots and part of her eyebrow shaved off. If I saw her in school she’d be one of the girls I’d try and avoid – they always looked at me like a speck of dirt, like I wasn’t tough enough to join their group.
Maybe I’d been getting this all wrong, turning away from people like her because of a couple of glances. To me, Quinn was approachable since our style and personality were similar. I’d have to get comfortable with everyone in this house, even though they were all so different.
I quickly changed my pants, sticking the pad to the fresh pair before grabbing some wipes from the sink, cleaning myself up. I pushed back the flood of embarrassment as I peeped my head out of the bathroom and darted to Lily’s room for the shorts. What was I doing? They were all girls for crying out loud! Besides, I could create life in my uterus, that was something to be proud of. Although just as the thoughts of how great my reproductive system was ran through my head, sharp twisting cramps crunched through my lower stomach.
OK, I needed to find pain killers.
Just as my uterus recreated the Battle of the Bastards, I made it into Lily’s room. Heading straight for the brown chest of drawers opposite, filtering through tops and questionable red thongs, I found a black pair of shorts. As I slipped them on I noted how Lily’s room was red and grey with a couple of classic film posters on the walls. She had a large glass of red wine on a small black desk but the rest of the room was mostly taken up by the pull-up bar and weights station, along with a lot of clothes and more questionable lingerie all over the floor. Maybe it was just Quinn and Jess who were neat freaks?
With that in mind I left the room and plodded down the stairs. What I was honestly expecting was to see everyone walking about with guns and grenades, but that wasn’t the case at all. Jessica and Lily were in workout gear, Grace in scrubs, while Quinn was still in her pyjamas, nibbling on a single piece of toast as she watched something on her laptop.
‘We have half a loaf of bread, about a slather of butter, two oranges, one avocado, and two bottles of water.’ Lily announced proudly but there was a smirk on her face. ‘Since now we’ve basically been told we’re getting diddly-squat for another week, I say we call your brother.’
Jessica turned around, mixing what looked like a protein shake.
‘Yeah, I’ll drop him a message today, see when he can get here.’
‘Do you think Christopher will come this time?’ Quinn asked innocently, and Lily’s eyes lit up, while Grace, standing beside Jess, looked completely bored by the subject.
‘Oh yes,’ Lily started. ‘I wonder if good old, handsome yet daring Chris will grace us with his presence – but then again, none of us get any sleep when he does.’
‘Bite me,’ Jessica snarked.
‘I’ll leave that to Chris,’ Lily teased.
Who the hell was Christopher? Was he a student here too? I really needed to get up to speed with everyone, there would be no use in writing this story if I didn’t know who half the people were. Just then, Jessica caught my eye and she smiled.
‘Morning. How’d you sleep?’
‘Oh! Auntie Flow came to visit,’ Lily announced.
My cheeks flushed red as my eyes darted over to her – why did she have to tell everyone? What happened to privacy? Or, I don’t know, the girl code.
‘We can give you stuff to stop that,’ Grace suggested.
‘The plan is to get us out, not her in,’ said Jessica.
‘Just saying.’ Grace raised her hands in surrender as she went to pop the kettle on. ‘Thank God for coffee.’
‘Yeah Grace, can you pray that the coffee doesn’t run out?’ Lily asked. ‘Or we’ll all have to resort to green tea, and then the world really will be ending.’
Grace rolled her eyes, holding up a hand to tell her to shut up. Lily didn’t comment further but she had a smirk on her face. How did she have so much energy?
‘So, briefing,’ Jessica said, taking a quick shot of her protein drink. ‘Today is simple, we go about our business. Lily and I have training with Duke and Ames for a couple of hours, so we’ll deal with that. However, if Ames starts banging out the suicide drills we’ll hold back on the questions. After last night I don’t think I can run another five miles.’
‘Mr Tommy Ames, now he would know his way around a woman,’ Lily muttered, and Jessica gave her a disgusted look. ‘What? I may be gay but I know a hot guy when I see one.’
‘Stop with the comments, it’s too early in the morning. And I said get close with the staff, not sleep with them.’
Once again, I was out of the loo
p. I barely knew who they were talking about so stood at the door in silence, arms wrapped around my torso. I didn’t belong here at all. I wasn’t trained from a young age like them, I didn’t know what all the code words meant or who all these people were.
I felt like I was right back at the start. Not two minutes before, I’d told myself I had to pose questions, be the first one to speak, but now all I seemed to do was stand around. Was it my place to ask questions?
‘So define close – am I supposed to snog Dr McKay on my ward shift?’ Grace asked as she poured her coffee. ‘Cause I don’t think his wife would be too happy about that.’
Jessica sighed, exasperated. ‘No, all I’m saying is get more friendly than hostile, maybe they’ll answer more of our questions.’
‘Your type of friendly or our type of friendly?’
Jessica pointed to the door. ‘Just grab a mic and get out.’
‘All I’m saying is that last time you were friendly with someone Chris ended up in your bed.’ My mouth dropped open. Hold up, what now?
‘Mics are by the door!’ Jessica exclaimed, her eyes cast down to the floor.
Grace let out a scoff, and as she grabbed her coffee cup on the way out she patted my shoulder. ‘Good luck, you’re gonna need it,’ she laughed, before leaving.
I turned to watch her go and saw her pick up a black microphone from the table and attach it to herself as she went out the door. This was it then, we were really doing this.
Although, corrupt governments could wait, I wanted to know who Chris was.
‘So, Christopher?’ I asked, crossing my arms over my chest. Sure I didn’t know much about the spy world but I could talk boys. ‘He’s what? Your boyfriend?’
Jessica groaned. ‘Naomi, don’t,’ she said coldly, sliding into a seat at the table.
As I walked further into the kitchen I realised Lily and Quinn wore smug grins – oh, so this was her boyfriend? I tried to get any information from Lily, but she pulled two fingers over her lips like a zip. Well if I wasn’t getting anything from her then there’s no chance –
‘He works with her brother!’ Quinn exclaimed.
‘Your brother’s best friend?’ I asked, surprised. ‘You slept with your brother’s best friend? When did this happen?’
‘We did not sleep together,’ Jessica said, and Lily let out a laugh.
‘Yeah Jess, and I’m a unicorn,’ she said, grabbing one of the water bottles from the fridge. ‘Naomi, don’t worry, we’ll supply you with earplugs or a good playlist.’
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I guess it couldn’t always be doom and gloom around here. If anything, I was proud of her for getting some action.
A playfulness rose through my cheeks as I saw a small tint of blush on Jessica’s. ‘Oh come on Jess,’ I said. ‘You and I used to talk boys all the time.’
Suddenly, Jessica flipped, her chair screeching back as she stood, fury raging through her shaking body. What the hell had I said?
‘We don’t have time for this, we have a job to complete. The team has bigger issues than idle gossip. You have a job of your own, Naomi, get to it,’ she snapped, before turning to Quinn. ‘I also said I needed those reports by nine, Quinn, look at the clock once in a while.’ Then she snapped her fingers at Lily. ‘You, outside in three minutes or I will leave without you.’ Jessica marched out of the kitchen, and the door slammed shut.
My whole body went rigid – what the hell was that all about? I hadn’t said anything out of turn. What was it with everyone around here? One second it was all happy town and the next they were jumping down my throat.
‘Did I say something?’ I dared to ask, and Quinn shook her head, but without the sympathetic smile I expected. She looked worried.
Lily still stood at the fridge, watching the empty space where Jessica had sat, biting her lip in agitation. Then she locked eyes with Quinn. They shared some sort of mental conversation before Quinn spoke.
‘Grace and Jessica have been acting out lately, more aggressively,’ Quinn started. She sounded horrified. ‘We think it’s the red pill, whatever’s in it. Lily and I wanted to test the theory so we stopped taking them for a couple of days, but ever since everything went pear-shaped those two have been taking them like their lives depended on it.’
‘Christ, we’re going to need to take them before the Friday check-up,’ Lily groaned.
From their reaction I knew that this behaviour had become common. But the pills had to do more than just make them snap.
Yesterday was full of emotion: she’d hugged me, let me catch a glimpse into her life, but now I was shut out, like a stranger. I had to break back in.
‘Grace said she’s going to check at the pharmacy, see what those pills really are.’
At that I paused. ‘Wait, does Grace actually work at the hospital?’
‘Kinda,’ Quinn said. ‘We have a medical wing in the Academy, she works there mostly, but any time they need an agent at the hospital to protect someone or transport them, Grace goes. She’s still studying medicine, though.’
‘That’s what I don’t get,’ I said. ‘Why go to the trouble of a scholarship? Surely there’s enough going on in your lives without having to study for a degree too?’
Lily shrugged. ‘Lennox – she’s the resident psychologist – said it would be healthy to have something else to focus on. It makes us flexible in different situations. Instead of relying on the doctors here, our team rely on Grace for anything medical. For all technical needs we go to Quinn, anything involving sports I’m your gal, then anything to do with theatre Jessica steps in.’
‘So it’s all about purpose?’ I asked. ‘You all have different skills –’
‘– so shove us in a team together, we just about cover everything.’ Lily cut me off, although she seemed to muse for a moment. ‘Maybe that’s why Harkness takes such an interest in our team.’
Quinn shrugged. ‘Could be, not every team is like ours. Kayson’s team doesn’t have a Techie or Medic, it’s made up of Runners.’
Interesting – not every team was constructed like this one. I wondered what that was about. Not everyone could specialise in certain things, but I’d thought there would have been some structure to it. If they didn’t choose their own teams, then the staff must have put them in certain ones for a reason. If Kayson’s team was filled with Runners then maybe that’s what they needed? It couldn’t be random – the Academy calculated every move meticulously.
If the Runners were like Lily and Kayson, then I assumed they were all muscly and extremely fit – maybe the Academy wanted a team that specialised in fighting? So if they needed a strike team, they’d send Kayson’s? Could that be how it worked? They created teams for specific purposes then developed them through different kinds of training? It was a lot to assume, but after catching sight of what this place really was, it wasn’t entirely out of the question.
‘I better get going,’ Lily said, but before she moved she looked to me. ‘We were only able to get wires for today so you’ll have to deal with just audio until Quinn can snatch us some cameras.’
‘Temporarily misplace,’ Quinn added quickly, and I let out a small laugh. I had a feeling that even though the girl was sweet she could make your life a living hell with a couple of taps of her keyboard.
Lily snorted and headed out of the house, but she called back, ‘We’re training at the back of the school, use your fancy laptop, get a good look at the first years when they arrive!’ Then the door swung shut.
Oh yeah, that’s right, even if we didn’t have the lapel cameras we had James’ laptop. We’d only get stationary access but I wanted up and personal. Then, just like that, I was hit with another insane idea.
‘First years?’ I asked.
‘Yeah, they’re doing an orientation day, they get to put on the uniform for the first time, get a black card . . . why are you looking at me like that?’ she asked, her face crinkling at the growing smirk on my face. ‘I don’t like that look.’
‘How hard do you think it would be to put a new first year student on the system?’ I asked. Quinn’s eyes widened as she caught on to my utterly amazing yet completely flawed plan.
‘No – No!’
‘Oh come on, you want to help your friends, I’ll borrow someone’s uniform then I’ll be able to walk around the school without being noticed.’
‘Without being – Naomi! They only take thirty students in every year, you seriously think people won’t notice?’
‘Not if you put me in as a first year, they’ll be too busy to count us all’
Quinn groaned, her head falling into her hands. But what gave me hope was seeing the gears turn in her mind. Was she actually going to let me do this? Sure, it was crazy, but that way I would get to see for myself what kind of place this was. Besides, I wanted into the Academy, not the dorms.
‘There’s an intense screening process – I can’t just drop you in without being noticed. I’d have to do it from the main computer lab, and even then you’d need a fake name, background story – you can’t memorise all of that.’
‘Jessica used to run lines with me – I know the entirety of Legally Blonde inside out and that was over one day. I’m sure I could get this in an hour.’
‘Jessica is never going to agree to this. She’s Team Lead – anything we do has to be sanctioned by her.’
‘I’m not on her team, Quinn.’
Quinn opened her mouth but she looked like she was running out of ideas to deter me.
‘Thompson, has he ever seen you?’ she asked. ‘It’s an orientation, you go around every department.’
Shit, mum keeps a picture with me on her desk, and as her screensaver – would he recognise me? If I was caught there was no doubt I would be taken out, to put it politely.
‘There’s a chance.’
Quinn mulled over the thought but then she looked up, hope glinting on her face.
‘What am I saying? In espionage, looks are never an issue.’
* * *
One hour and thirty minutes, that’s how long it took Quinn to transform me from average to – well, less average. In the movies all the glow ups had amazing results, but according to Quinn no one ever looked better in a disguise. She said the idea was to attract next to no attention, and frankly I was grateful because blending in was a strength of mine.