If you love me, let me go......

Chapter 1: Langley's

"It takes skill and profession." my teacher said as she paced back and fourth around the classroom. "You must be quick and accurate. Any false type and it's over." 

A tiny bead of sweat trickled down my forehead. Gosh, Mrs. Matthews really knows how to scare her students. I thought to myself.

"Ready?" Mrs. Matthews asked, not wanting for a reply, "your time starts now!"

The classroom suddenly erupted with the sounds of millions of clicks as each and every student hacked away at the computer keys. There was literally a double meaning to that. As I sat in Hacking 101, which had, by the way, been one of my favorite classes since I could remember, I tried to recall every computer code i knew of. 

Here at Langley's every class put you in a real life scenario that you might encounter in the outside world. It presented every danger or circumstances any spy might run into while on a mission. Yes, you heard that right, I am a spy, or at least I'm training to be a professional one. To any person passing by Langley's  Home for Kids, it looks like the typical orphanage in every movie. It appears to be an old building with worn paint and a sign that once used to be beautiful now lying half on the door. There is a worn doormat with the word welcome barely visibly due to all the dust and many people who have walked into Langley's over the "years." And the windows are grimy with the curtains always drawn shut. That  was Langley's to those who didn't know it. If someone dared to open the rusty old door and sneak into the back room, they would discover Langley's is no ordinary home for orphans. In fact its so much more. Langley's raises children starting at age eight and teaches them all they needed to know about being a spy for TSA. TSA stood for top secret association.

I continued to type of the rest of my code with amazing speed and gaining confidence. I'm going to be the first to finish! I thought. I looked up to see the time on the clock and in that split second, it caused me to mistype a key. Before I knew it, I was back to square one. 

"Ugh!" I vented in frustration. It must've been louder then I expected because almost half the class was now staring at me. 

I looked down at the keyboard in embarrassment. 

"Alright everyone, thats time," Mrs. Matthews said, just as the bell let out a loud ring. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I walked down the grand halls of Langley's at the end of all my classes. It was about five o'clock and dinner would be starting at six thirty. That gave me approximately one hour and thirty minutes to do all my homework, take a shower, snatch some data from my possibly toxic hybrid plant and be ready for dinner. Easy. 

"Hey!"

A familiar voice sounded from behind me, breaking my thoughts. I whirled around and found myself face to face with my best friend, Hailey Beamers. 

"Oh hey I didn't see you there," I said.

"Well obviously! I was behind your back," Hailey laughed.

I laughed along with her.

"So, are you ready for that field trip in two days or so?" She asked.

"Yes, I'm extremely excited to hear Ms. Clark talk about the history of our "amazing " spy ancestors. It'll only take about two years for her to finish!" I replied, rolling my eyes.

We both laugh at my sarcastic comment. 

"No, but seriously, are you?" Hailey asks again, "because I kinda am, I mean we're going to learning how to break into things and stuff. Plus, we're at a museum and you know I love museums."

"I mean I guess it would be fun to be there with you but if you don't go then I'm going to be "sick" in two days," I laughed. 

"I'm going for sure so you don't have to be "sick"." 

We both laughed as we entered our dorm room. Since Langley's is kind of like a boarding school,(with occasional holiday breaks) we all have dorms that we live in. I am so lucky Hailey is my roommate because I have no idea what I'd do with out her. 

I throw my backpack on the floor and immediately take out my Hacking 101 book to review the new code I had to study. I mean seriously, there is only so much code you can learn before you run out of space in your brain. I think Mrs. Matthews forgets we are students and not computers. We can't memorize everything.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~one day later:

I racked my brain trying to recall all the French words in my head. 

"Ou est al la station d'essence la plus proche?" I asked Hailey in Frech. 

"Links abbiegen dann geradeaus." Hailey answered in German. 

"Nailed it," I said, giving Hailey a high-five. 

"Thanks. I don't know if I'm exactly going to "nail it" when I actually take the language test."

As we entered the Language classroom, we both laughed knowing we were waking into certain failure.