Spy School Goes North (fanfiction)

Chapter One: A Mysterious Call

June 12th

4:15 pm/1615 hours

Ben's POV:

After the alligator wrestling show, which was actually pretty interesting, while Trixie Hale, Mile Brzezinski and Zoe Zibbell were asking some questions and getting a closer look at the alligators, I gently squeezed Erica Hale's hand, and she turned to meet my gaze. I took a deep breath and whispered, "I've decided to pick option 2". She looked at me for a moment and whispered, "Follow me." Then carefully got up without making a sound and we left without drawing any attention to ourselves.

Erica quickly led me over to a picnic area, where Alexander Hale, Catherine Hale, Cyrus Hale, and Mary Hale were all sitting. Mary and Catherine both looked up at us. Cyrus was too busy muttering about something and Alexander was cloud gazing, for either of them to pay attention. I took another deep breath, "I'm picking option 2". This got everyone's attention and Catherine turned to Erica, "Did you call her yet?"

"I was about to," Erica answered before pulling her hand out of mine, getting her phone out and stepping away. Catherine turned to me, "Benjamin, could you please bring Michael, Zoe and Trixie over here?"

I nodded, "Of course." After making my way back to the alligator wrestling spot, I found my friend standing outside, looking around in varying states. Trixie and Mike both seemed to be laughing or teasing Zoe, and Zoe looked like she was trying to hide the fact that she was jealous. 

"Where did you 2 go off to?" Mike asked immediately. 

"We had to tell her family something," I answered, "Did you guys get 2 options?" 

"Yeah, I picked option 2," Trixie responded. 

"Me too!" Mike and Zoe agreed. 

"Right, so I just had to tell her family that I picked Option 2" 

"Oh," Trixie said, "That's much less interesting than what we thought." 

I gave the 3 of them a very confused look wondering what else they could have been thinking. 

Mike noticed and answered, "We thought you 2 had gone to go make-out." 

I felt my face get hot and my mouth stopped working, "What nooo,... um... Erica wouldn't... I mean... ah...no...," I sighed, "Look Catherine asked me to bring you 3 with me, come on" 

Mike and Trixie both snicked at me. "Alright, guys lets go," Zoe said, looking seriously annoyed.

As we quickly made our way over I to the picnic tables I wondered who  Erica had gone off to call, after all last I knew she had a total of 4 people in her contacts list, her mom, her grandfather, her grandmother and me, and all of us were here, so who could she have been calling? 

We approached the area at the same moment that Erica walked in putting her phone into her utility belt. 

"We have to go to a field that is a little more than 10 miles North from here." Her voice was cold, but sounded a bit drained and her eyes seemed a bit more tired than usual, however I doubt anyone noticed but me.  

Alright Catherine, you take Erica, Ben, Alexander, and Zoe in that car." Cyrus pointed at the SUV, "and I'll drive the rest of them in the minivan." Catherine nodded and motioned for us to follow her into the car. 

Catherine got in the drivers seat, and Alexander called shotgun. Zoe sat on the far left and Erica sat on the far right, leaving me with the middle seat. Almost as soon as Catherine pulled away Alexander fell asleep and started snoring. 

Now that we were sitting, I glanced at Erica and noticed that she looked quite tired, "Are you okay?" I whispered to her as quietly as I could hoping no one else heard. Erica turned from looking out the window to look at me and nodded, "Just thinking," her voice was somehow quieter than mine had been. 

"I'm always here if you want to talk." 

Erica smiled, "I know, thank you Ben." Erica slipped her hand into mine, and turned back to the window. I followed her lead and watched out the window, enjoying the feeling of her hand in mine. 

(All characters belong to Stuart Gibbs, I only own the plot and any characters later introduced)