Crazy

DUEX

Ace leaned forward to cut her a sharp warning look that shot across me. "Ms. Emery here is just mad that she always gets picked to be the face of the school to all visitors, but often forget why that is." Emery opened her mouth to interject, but was quickly cut off as Ace plowed on. "Come on, Ems. I know you've noticed that nearly everyone in your group is from some long line of spies. They put you out there to give you extra special training while the rest of us have to sit inside and stare at paper for an hour 'til this guy leaves. It's not the same." 

Emery huffed and crossed her arms as she sank down into the cushions of the couch. "Not everything is about where I come from." It was though, and she knew it as well as we did.

The Carvers have been in the business of espionage since the Civil War, stopping countless numbers of assassinations and other international catastrophes that had been planned, the details of which I did not know because, of course, they were classified. Being a Carver really was like being part of a royal family and Emery should have worn that name like a chain around her neck, tattooed the six letters of her last name on her forehead, but Emery was stubborn. Unlike the rest of our classmates, she never talked about her family, never sat around in the circles after breaks and talked about her family history and what threats she had helped to neutralize.

In that way, Emery was like me. We didn't talk about family members, her legendary ones or my boring so-so ones back in Portland. When summer rolled around and her parents were in an undisclosed location risking their lives and mine were attending book club and orthodontist conventions, we stayed at Blair Wood, training day and night, staring at our ceiling, planning our futures as CIA agents.

"I'm more than a Carver, Emery. I'm good because I work hard, not because of who my family is," she said to me one night after we had just spent hours sparring with each other. My chest heaved up and down as I tried to catch my breath. Every night had been like this, me struggling to push air into my lungs as Emery took time to re-evaluate her life. I shifted in my bed and glanced at her, watching as her eyes found mine in the darkening room, the sun dipping below the horizon just outside our window. "I'm a good spy, right Bea? "

I nearly rolled my eyes, not believing that this was a conversation we were actually having Emery was nearly at the top of our class and already had agencies trying to convince her to join them after she graduated, good didn't even begin to describe her, she was a whole other level above just good. "You're one of the best students at this academy. Of course you're good."

I watched as her face turned up slightly and she sighed, the air from her mouth blowing up the stray pieces of her hair that lay across her forehead. "Yeah. Sure. It's just sometimes I need a reminder I guess."

My eyes snapped to Emery, shaking the memory away. I had a whole collection of memories involving the two of us, asking each other questions that we desperately needed answered, sometimes struggling to accept the truth for ourselves, but if I thought about it I would stare into the distance forever, always living in the past. I shoved my elbow discreetly into Ace's side, ignoring his small groan and nodded at her. "Professor Ian picks you because you're the best actress at this school. I actually thought you were a patient when I ran up."

A smirk crossed her lips and she leaned forward, "I am pretty good, huh? Lets see if I can fool the mayor too." She sat back and ruffled her hair until it looked like she had just rolled out of bed then turned to the two of us. "Do I look insane?"

Ace was quick to tell her that she always looked insane no matter what her hair looked like which ended in her reaching over me to punch him in the shoulder, and from by the way he flinched back, it hurt, bad. I swatted at the both of them and pointed towards the lobby entrance where I heard footsteps and voices rounding the corner. "Hush you two! Listen."