Spy School: Danger is my Middle Name

Who likes Pocky lmao

---POV is still Benjamin Ripley's---

The by far worst part of being stuck with your friends?

That you get peer pressured into doing things that you don't really want to do. And when we say 'things,' I'm meaning things that are so embarrassing you don't want to mention them.

So as soon we finished the restaurants, the movie, and the hype, we all headed home, still on the high of the night. I didn't know what Ivar and others were doing, but I immediately assumed they were also on some kind of high.

Not that we take drugs. When I say 'high,' I mean the mental version. Kind of like the one you get when your mom says 'just take the phone and go away,'. 

"Where are we staying for the night?" Trixie said, flinging her jacket onto her shoulder. "I've had enough for staying in random hotels, and besides- we don't have the money."

"Looks like we'll be staying in the same house together today, then," Dylan sighed. "The most we can rent is one penthouse beside the beach. If that's the case, then I call the shower first."

Kylie blushed. "Wait- we'll be that close? But I don't feel like...y'know...taking a shower that close to you guys."

Jayden flipped a chip into his mouth. "No worries, sweetie. I'm gay."

"Don't call me any pet names!" Kylie said, blushing even more. I held in a laugh as Jayden winked at me, satisfied that he managed to get into Kylie's heart.

I didn't care about the weird conversation, since my mind was on something else in particular. Other than the fact that I didn't know how we were supposed to rent a penthouse, I had a nagging feeling the Croatoan weren't done with us yet.

After all, they had only threatened to drop one thermonuclear bomb on California. It's not like we stopped their whole organization. Just a few men and a helicopter, that's pretty much it.

"What's wrong, Ben?" James said. "You just got that 'deep-in-thought' look again."

"It's nothing," I muttered. "Don't ask."

Jayden raised an eyebrow. "James, continue pressing him. I want to know those lewd thoughts swirling in his mind."

"They are not lewd!" I said in defense, swirling around. "They're about stuff much more serious than your dirty mind can comprehend!"

Jayden tilted his head, taking a good look at me. After briefly narrowing his eyes, he backed down. 

"I took that as an insult at first, but seeing you have level 16 Math skills and such a high IQ, I'll shrug it off. After all, it's true." he said bluntly, tossing his empty chip bag at my head. "But please don't take advantage of how I said that phrase. If so, I'll use your head as my new punching bag."

Dylan yawned. "All jokes aside, where are we going to sleep? It's not like we brought our sleeping bags with us, and I'm betting that the penthouse doesn't have ten beds."

I was about to answer, but Trixie beat it to me. She seductively moved directly on front of Dylan, closing the space from her face to his to only a few centimeters. I was pretty sure all the boys within a thirty-foot radius of her's short-circuited, since everybody just stopped talking.

"We'll share a bed, silly," she whispered, twirling her hair and batting her eyelashes.

"Nice try," Dylan said, pushing Trixie to the floor. "But no thanks. I'd much rather share a bed with Ben. Or maybe Jayden over here- at least he's better at joking than you are. That was the most sarcastic statement I've heard in my entire life."

It was Jayden's turn to blush. "What?! No... I can share a bed with a girl instead! I'm gay, so sharing a bed with a guy is like sharing one with a girl!"

Kylie rubbed her temples. "This is confusing, but it somehow makes sense. Okay, how about this: we agree that Jayden can sleep with Trixie, or maybe me- and stop giving me that look. You know what I mean by sleep with. Anyway, Dylan can share a bed with Ben. And the rest will be decided furthermore after this."

"Agreed," James said, helping Trixie up from the ground. "But it's only 7:30 PM. What are we going to do before going to our temporary house?"

"I'd recommend probably going to some kind of entertainment place," Dylan said. "After all, there's nothing better than to take advantage of this free time. In a week, we'll probably be back to our daily grind at the Academy."

"True," James noted. "How does heading over to the local strip club sound to you?"

Trixie and Kylie both slapped him at the same time, adding two extra bruises to his face. Jayden laughed so hard that his face also turned red, and I virtually ignored them. After all, I was pretty used to all of this dirty behavior.

"For the last time," Trixie said. "This book is PG, and I'd like to keep it that way!"

James groaned, rubbing the impact wounds. "At least I'm not the one who's trash-talking Dylan."

"Exactly!" Dylan said. "Finally someone who understands me. Thank god."

Trixie pouted. "But that's still PG. A strip club is not PG."

"But I'd appreciate it if we went to one-" Jayden said, but then was interrupted with his own round of slaps. This time, I joined in also. This conversation was going a bit too far, and they knew it.

"Say that again and I'll make you eat Pocky through your nose," Trixie said, sashaying back towards the start of the group. "And I'm betting you don't know where I'm referencing that phrase from."

"Doesn't matter," I said. "Just at least tell me where we're going already."