Spy School: Why did you leave me? [EDITING]

[Chapter 17]

"Zoe, your energy level is inhuman," Mike said, rubbing his eyes.

She smiled. "Come on in," she said. I greeted everyone, but then I saw something was up with Erica. "Good Morning, Erica," I said. She grunted in return. I raised my eyebrows and looked at Zoe, asking her a silent question. What's wrong with Erica? She just shrugged, indicating she didn't know.

"Before we start, we have to pick who's going to make today's dinner," Natalya said, appearing next to the wheel that she spun yesterday. Natalya spun the wheel, and I felt like it was spinning forever. When it finally stopped, it landed on...

"And today's dinner is going to be made by... Mike!" Natalya announced.

"Uh...Mike? Can you cook?" I asked him, slightly worried.

"Yeah, I guess, I mean, I cook dinner for my family all the time," Mike said.

"Yeah, Mike is a great cook!" Zoe complimented.

"How do you know what his food tastes like?" I asked, smirking. She blushed and turned away.

"Okay now. Let's get down to business. We have an hour before breakfast. At that time, we are going to do a timed run. You must run 8 miles in less than an hour. That means you should roughly average 7 minutes 30 seconds per mile. There are 4 of you, which means only 3 of you will get breakfast..." Natalya said.

"Wait, come again?" Mike said.

"You heard me. Only 3 of you will get breakfast," Natalya said, frowning.

"But why?" Zoe asked.

"Let's just say this is a test," Natalya said, smiling.

"Okay?" Mike said, clearly confused.

"Well then, follow me," Natalya said, walking towards the door. We followed her down a few flights of stairs and out the front door of the hotel. We crossed a few streets until we reached our destination. It was the beach. The sun hadn't risen yet, so I could just barely make out the horizon.

"This is your test. You will run along this beach. 4 miles in that direction," Natalya said, pointing towards the right, "you will come across a pole. This pole will have 4 silver badges attached to it. Grab one, and come back. This is to prove you ran all the way there and back." We lined up at a line Natalya had drawn with a stick and started stretching. After 5 minutes, Natalya told us the race was about to begin.

"On your mark..." Our hands touched the ground, and we extended our left legs backward.

"Get set.." We all bent our legs.

"Go!" We pushed off, gathering as much traction as we could. Erica took the lead, with Mike and Zoe right behind her. I realized that at this rate, they would be finished before I even completed the first mile. I need to think about something that gives me energy. I scanned my brain until I found something.

Think about Jessica, my brain said. I did, and at that moment, my feet and hands started moving on their own. My hands moved back and forth, and my feet took longer strides. The weird thing was, I wasn't tired anymore. Instead, I felt energized, like I could do a million push-ups. I guess this is how Zoe feels every day. I had caught up to Mike by now, and my speed wasn't showing any sign of stopping. Soon enough, we all arrived at the pole. Natalya was right. There were 4 silver badges, glistening in the light. I took the first one, Erica took the second, Mike took the third, and Zoe took the fourth one, and we all started to sprint back. I was doing so well, I wasn't paying close attention to where I was running. I tripped on a hard surface, probably a rock, and got a face full of sand. Mike ran past me without even glancing at me. What's up with that? When Zoe came, she started to slow down.