The Fifth Agent

Chapter Two

"I. Packed. Your. Swimsuit." Tom spoke slowly as if talking to a child. Kara rapidly started shaking her head. "Come on," Tom whined, "it'll be fun. And it would also feel nice after sitting in a car for five hours." Tom looked at her with a hopeful expression.

Kara narrowed her eyes, then after a long moment, of contemplation, sighed in defeat. "Fine. I'm in. How about you guys?" She looked at Jeremy and me.

Jeremy shrugged. "I didn't bring anything and I don't think Tom packed them for me." He scowled when Tom shook his head.

They looked at me. I just bluntly said, "I don't swim," before getting out of the car and going around the back to unlock the trunk. Dropping three duffel bags on the ground, one red, one blue, and one pink (I shuddered to think whose that was) I grabbed my black one and slung it over my shoulder before heading to the door of the motel. The others picked their bags up and followed me, looking around at the desolate area. Inside, the stuffy, dim lit room was crowded with cheap, dusty furniture, and the garish purple colored walls did nothing to ease the nausea now swirling in my stomach. 

Leaning on a counter in the corner of the room was a teenage girl with dyed blonde hair, texting on her phone. She looked up at us when we came in, and her brown eyes showed an extra spark of interest as they landed on Jeremy.

The girl straightened up and batted her eyes at Jeremy so violently I thought she had an eyelash stuck in them. "Hi," she said in a sickly sweet voice, all the while twirling a finger around a lock of her dried hair. "How can I help you?"

I rolled my eyes and walked forward, resting my bag on the ground. "Two rooms, please, preferably on the first floor." The girl looked down her nose at me, tugging at the bottom of her hot pink V-neck shirt.

"Oh, honey, no one else is here, you can have whatever room you want." I stared at her until she twitched uncomfortably.

"How much?" I asked, already getting my wallet out of my pocket.

"Two-hundred dollars." I put four fifties on the counter before she smirked and said, "For each room." My eyes darkened and the girl had the smarts to look nervous for the first time as I slowly reached into my wallet and pulled out four more fifty dollar bills. I slammed them onto the counter. The girl's eyes widened and the others protested, but I held up a hand.

"I'm paying." I didn't want to be in debt to anyone. And it wasn't really my money anyways - it was the agency's, so I didn't have any qualms about it. The blonde grabbed four sets of keys and motioned for us to follow her down a hallway. Upon reaching two first floor rooms right next to each other, giving each of us a key, she began to walk away, but I caught her sleeve.

The girl twirled around, her white tennis skirt twirling with her. "Are there any fast food spots around here?" She tapped her finger against her chin as if considering before she answered.

"There is a pizzeria down the street. They do deliveries." After giving me the number, I turned and walked into the room I was sharing with Kara, the boys already having opened the joining door between their room and ours.

Resting my duffel on the bed closest to the door, I called out, "How does two extremes sound?" The others nodded and shortly after I ordered the pizzas. After hanging up the phone, Jeremy and I sat in a tired silence while waiting for the delivery person to bring us our food. Tom and Kara had already changed into their swimsuits and could be seen splashing each other in the pool that conveniently happened to be right outside the window. Once the pizza was delivered, Jeremy and I joined them, sitting on the edge of the pool and putting our feet in the water. Once everyone had had their fill and the pizza boxes were thrown away, I turned to Jeremy.