How To Become A Spy

Chapter Twenty-Two

I slowly reached my hand out as she explained. "I have the number written down on here, just copy it out and give me back the paper when you're done."

I looked at the paper with amazement. This was it. This was really the final link to the person who was behind it all. I grabbed the paper from Tasha and copied it into a school book I had on my, triple checking that I had got the number right.

I handed her back the paper and smiled. I took one more look down at the piece of paper that was in the palm of my hand.

This was really it. This was what was going to end this whole case. And send me back to my normal life.

Okay, so I wasn't exactly in a rush to hand over the phone number to the RUA. But I was definitely going to at some point. I'd just decided to hold it off until Eric came back. But until then, I kept it with me close by and copied it out in a few other places just in case.

I'd arrived at home once the day was over and typed the number into my computer to again help reassure myself that I wouldn't lose it or forget it before Thursday afternoon. I sighed in relief as I closed my laptop screen. I can't believe Tasha had forgotten to tell me about the stupid number. And then she'd just brought it up so casually! If only she knew the importance of me getting it...

I shut my eyes for a moment to just take everything in. This case was coming to an end so quickly that I could barely process it. It looked like Kennedy High and all the people in it were going to be out of my life by next week.

I fell back on my bed and just processed everything that had happened to me over the last few weeks. The attack at the school at night time, Brad, Eric, quitting gymnastics. It all seemed like too much to handle. The RUA had changed my life, I just wasn't sure yet if it was for better or worse.

A moment later I heard the sound of a door slam. I sat up on my bed and quickly got up when I heard the footsteps enter the house. I hadn't even realized my mother wasn't home yet. I quickly made my way to the door to open it slightly. Before I had a chance to look out I heard a loud voice call out from downstairs.

"Becca!!" My Mom yelled. I bit my lip nervously when I heard how angry she sounded. I made my way down the stairs as fast as I could in order to found out what was wrong.

My mother stood at the bottom of the stairs with her arms folded, looking irritated.

"Mom?" I asked worriedly as I stopped on the bottom step.

"Guess who I just bumped into at the supermarket?" she asked

Panic filled my head as I thought of all the possible people that she could have run into. Teachers or students from my school who mentioned that I hadn't been in attendance for the past few weeks, a member from the RUA, a student from Kennedy High.

"Coach May." She said finally, interrupting my thoughts.

I felt my face drain of color. Oh no.

"Now when exactly were you planning on telling me you quit gymnastics?" she yelled. Her face was turning red and the scream lines were visible on her face. I hadn't seen her this angry in a long time.

I swallowed. "Mom, I'm sorry, but you have to listen to m-"

"You have been doing gym practically your whole life Becca, you can't just quit now just because you feel like it. And you definitely can't quit without me knowing first or at least telling me afterward!" she yelled.

"I'm not quitting just because I feel like it!" I argued, raising my voice.

"I really don't care why you quit Becca, you obviously weren't thinking clearly. You're going back to training next week." She said firmly.

I looked at her in horror. "No, I'm not Mom! I don't want to go back."

"You are the state champion, this is what you do best! I'm not going to let you just give up!"

"It's too late!" I yelled. "I'm not doing it again, I quit on Sunday," I told her.

"Sunday?" she raised her eyebrows in surprise. "What have you been doing all this time then? Coming home late every night."

I opened my mouth trying to come up with something. Crap. I'd walked myself into that one.

"And don't say you were with Debby and Kevin because I have seen them on afternoons playing tennis at the country club."

I closed my mouth, feeling trapped.

"What is happening to you, Becca? When did you start lying and hiding things from me?" she asked.

I couldn't hold it back any longer. "You want to talk about lying Mom?" I asked angrily. "How about last night? And every other night over the past few days that you've gone out and claimed it was for some charity event party. I know what's going on Mom. You're seeing someone."

I watched her open her mouth in shock or as if to argue but I cut her off.

"Don't try to deny it. You've done this before." I had remembered her doing the same thing a few months back. Walking out of the house all dressed up and claiming to see some friends of hers. Two weeks later she'd introduced me to some guy named Derek who was in his thirties and sold CDs on the street. It didn't work out between them.

"So let's not make this all about me." I continued saying. "Before you start claiming that I'm the liar in this family, maybe you should take another look in the mirror." I turned around and started walking back up the stairs to my room, leaving my Mom standing there.

"Oh, and don't worry about dinner I'm not hungry," I mumbled as I slammed the door and locked myself in my room.

It was a total lie, I was starving. But not enough for me to actually want to go back downstairs and go to the kitchen. I wasn't going to risk facing my Mom again. It was weird, though. I think I'd known this entire time that my Mom must have been seeing someone else, but I didn't completely realize it until a minute ago.

How could she hide something like that from me? I was such an idiot for not realizing earlier. All the going out late, the charity events at our house-

"Oh my god," I said out loud.

He's been in our house.

I groaned as I let my back hit the door and I slid down to the floor. Could there be anything creepier? I've probably walked past him at some point when I was downstairs. I've probably seen the guy but not paid enough attention. He knows where we live. Great.

"Ughhh." I groaned louder as I banged my head against the door in frustration.

At least he wasn't like the guy that sold CDs on the side of the street. But still, some guy who wore tuxedos and turned up at parties to brag about how rich he was? At least my Dad had always thought that my Mom's parties were a bit over the top. I quickly shut him out of my head, not ready to start thinking about that whole different issue all over again.

I took a deep breath as I got up off the floor and moved to my bed. In all honesty, I felt like crying. But no tears would come out. It was strange because I knew that I would have to cry at some point. I knew that it was only a matter of time that I broke down in front of someone for the smallest thing. So instead of releasing my feelings, I stayed lying on my bed watching the fan swirl around and around for hours until I finally drifted off to sleep.

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A/N: Whoo we hit the twenties guys! The big TWO OH. Let's partayy! ALSO, THIS STORY HAS GOTTEN MORE THAN 500 VOTES! LIKE WOAH GUYS THAT'S CRAZY! THANKS FOR TAKING THE TIME TO READ AND VOTE FOR THIS STORY! I'M HAVING A GREAT TIME WRITING IT x

-- Future me: haha, this used to be chapter 20, hence the confusing author's note