Spy School: Zoe or Erica?

The Trap

Suddenly, Trixie stepped on the pressure plate, causing the multiple actions to happen under a second. A metal cage sprung up from the ground, snapping together and trapping Trixie in the cage. The shop owner screamed.

Trixie's expression went from shock to betrayal, then it averted to the coldest glare I've seen in my entire life.

"It was you for the whole time," she seethed, collapsing onto the floor of the cage. "You were the double agent!?"

"No, I-"

"I trusted you!" Trixie cried, wiping tears from her eyes. "I thought you were the partner-in-spying that I would perfectly pair with! I-i liked you!"

I retracted in surprise, in which I couldn't hide. There were a million questions spinning around in my mind, but I couldn't necessarily get them out in one breath.

Trixie took out a sedation gun, hands trembling, and pointed it through the bars of the cage. Her raven-black hair fell down onto her shoulder as her fingers tensed on the trigger, ice-blue ice glistening with tears.

"I don't want to do this to a friend," she said silently. "But you've teached me a valuable lesson. People that I think I can trust aren't always my friends."

And with this, her finger pressed down onto the trigger, but the one who was sedated in the end wasn't me- it was the shop owner.

"Wha-" I said, desperately trying to get a good point out of my mind. "Why didn't you-"

"We have things to talk about," she said, trying to hold in her sobs.

"I'm so confused!" I said. "You were the one who told me to set this trap in the first place! You met up with me last night and gave me instructions on what to do!"

Trixie's expression turned to confusion. "I know nothing about that. Last night I was sleeping in my room! And you were the one who told me to meet up here! You left a note in my room telling me to meet up with you here at exactly 8:30 AM in the morning to talk about the mission briefing!"

"What?" I said. "You left me a note, not me leaving you a note! I never wrote anything last night."

"Yes, you did!" Trixie said, pulling a slip of paper from her pocket. Unfolding it, she held it out to the bars of the cage with trembling hands. Squinting my eyes, I could barely read out the following:

Meet up with me at the Ice Cream parlor two miles to the left of the hideout tomorrow at 8:30 AM, stat. We'll talk about the mission briefing then.

The weirdest thing? It was all in my perfect handwriting.

"I never wrote that!" I said, desperately reaching for nonexistent proof. "Look at the cameras in my room! I didn't write anything!"

"I disabled them," Trixie said miserably. "I didn't want to invade your privacy."

Suddenly, SPYDER's plan fell straight into my mind.

It was the most well-thought-out plan I had ever thought of.

First of all, they faked two notes. One to me, saying to meet up at 2:00 AM in the living room. Another, to Trixie saying to meet up here at 8:30 AM the next morning. They simply just mimicked our handwriting in this step.

Second, they faked the meet-up with me at 2:00 AM. That was the reason why the 'Trixie' said the lights couldn't turn on! They didn't want me to see who the person I was talking to was!

I couldn't help but slap my face in disappointment. How hadn't I thought of this earlier!?

The Trixie that I was talking to that night wasn't even Trixie herself! It was probably an undercover SPYDER Agent that had a voice moderator!

Then, they duped me into setting the trap here and making Trixie fall for it.

Genius, like a typical SPYDER plan.

Mind struck in thought, I didn't even realize when the door opened once again and two familiar SPYDER agents stepped in.

Jonas and Joshua strolled in, walking behind the counter and helping themselves to a complimentary strawberry smoothie. Cackling, Joshua took a look at my shocked expression.

"You don't have to act for Trixie anymore, Agent Jayden. You did well as a double agent for us," he said, taking a sip of his smoothie.

"I'm not a SPYDER Agent!" I shouted defiantly. "You're setting me up!"

Jonas laughed. "Stop soaking in your acting skills, trainee. You did well, as we already said. Manipulated this damsel perfectly into our trap."

"Now we can blackmail Erica all we want !" Joshua said, laughing along with Jonas. "Imagine the things we could get from her- important documents, key information, all of it!"

Trixie's glare just deepened into mine, breaking our eye contact and sniffling. She curled up into a ball, and for once, I wanted to hug her. After all of this happened, she was the toy that got trapped. She was the innocent person that got thrown into the cage. She was the blackmail item.

Trixie took another look at me, shaking her head in betrayal.

"I trusted you, Jayden. I trusted you."