MISSION MOONLARK, kotlc

19

"If you keep having me pop up all over the place like Starbucks or something, isn't that just going to make her hate me more?"

Lady Gisela sighed. "Keefe, you do what we tell you to do. Consider this your punishment for flunking your first assignment."

"I didn't flunk it," Keefe mumbled, only half-lying. He'd decided not to confess his... eventful encounter with Sophie- which sometimes felt more like the right decision than others.

His mom stared at him. Agent Umber snorted from the corner of the room.

"I'm putting you on a new mission," Lady Gisela went on, ignoring them both. She momentarily disappeared from the room, then returned holding a couple of worn files.

"Tam and Linh Song. Possible recruits," Lady Gisela whispered, her lips curling into a familiar maniacal-looking smile. "Freshmen at Exillium High School."

"Exillium?" Keefe asked abruptly.

Her eyebrows raised. "So you have been listening to your father's lessons after all."

"The school for 'bad kids?'" Keefe clarified. "Like jail or something?"

"In a way... but for crimes more redeemable. Essentially, simply think of it as an old run-down high school with strict teachers for dangerous kids."

"So this place then," Keefe said, unable to help himself.

Lady Gisela rolled her eyes, handing him the files. "Photos, and profiles. Fake student ID. Info." She hesitated slightly. "And snark? Really?"

"Present!" Keefe told her brightly.

____________________________

"And you- make sure you're guarding Sencen. If he can make it down to the end zone, and if Song can help protect from the left- I heard you two get along well -this season may not turn out as horrendously as last year- or the twenty years before that," Coach Rohana directed, rolling her eyes.

Tam sent her a withering glare and gripped the football tighter.

"Pass it over, Bangs Boy!" Keefe ordered, flashing him his trademark smirk.

He shot him a death glare and hurled the ball at Keefe's head- he caught it in midair, still smirking.

"Get out there boys," Coach Rohana growled, blowing her whistle like a foghorn.

The assignment won "Worst-Most-Pointless-Mission-Ever" by a landslide. Football wasn't too bad- he was relatively good at chucking the ball as hard as he could in Tam's direction -and Exillium itself was more extra-curricular focused than normal school subjects. But Tam's bangs...

Keefe resisted the urge to smack his forehead as he passed the ball over to Jensi Babbalos who threw it to Tam.

If he was being completely honest, high school football was a joke- at least compared to the violent food fights that happened in the Neverseen cafeteria. Sometimes he was tempted to show off his fifteen years of spy training- although Lady Gisela would kill if she found out...

"Sencen!" Coach Rohana barked furiously, blowing her whistle again. She tugged on the chain so hard, Keefe was surprised it didn't snap.

"On it, Coach!" Keefe said, mocking a salute. "End zo-"

Right as he turned around to wink, something hard whacked him in the cheek that felt suspiciously like a rubber football. When his vision returned, he found himself face first on the wet grass, the crowds cheering as the opposing team scored a particularly easy touchdown.

And from the smirk on Tam's face, he knew just who had thrown the football that had hit him...

"Get up Hunkyhair!" he teased, tugging on the silver tips of his bangs. "I thought you said grass and The Hair didn't mix well together!"

"Oh Bangs Boy... you are so on," Keefe whispered, giving up on anonymity. HIs eyes narrowed at a throw being shot across the width of the field. With an expert leap- (He'd been trained, Keefe remembered, for jumping like that when Agent Umber had challenged him to hop over cars) -he intercepted the football and sprinted down the field.

"TOUCHDOWN!" The commentator screamed as Keefe hurdled through the end zone, tumbling away from the other players and doing what felt like a backflip to avoid a diving opponent.

Mom'll be livid, Keefe thought, happy with the realization.

Tam's jaw dropped expression made it so worth it.

_____________________

"You did what?!" Lady Gisela demanded, looking, as predicted, furious. "D you not understand? This ruins everything! Whatever you do, Never. Show. Off! Look, you're even on TV! Some Black Swan jerk.."

"TV?" Keefe asked hopefully, twirling the football on his index finger pointedly and tossing it into the metal locker.

Silence.

"The kid's bound to ask you something," Lady Gisela pointed out darkly. "I need you to make your move."

Keefe bit his lip. Throwing footballs at Tam was fun though!

"Fine." Keefe closed his Imparter and slammed the locker shut.

"Yo Tammy Boy!"

He expected him to be talking to his sister- Linh, as he remembered, the star of Exillium's swim team -but instead found him face to face with a blonde haired girl.

"... I'm in," Tam was saying, as he came into earshot.

The girl turned to shake his hand... and Keefe...

"The name's Sophie," she said confidently. "Welcome to the Black Swan."