Parts of this book were inspired by Spy School Reunion here on Wattpad by smh204, she's an incredible writer, possibly the best Spy School fanfic I've read. (I'm sorry tehimpossible)
I know words per day... But I didn't... I have my reasons. Are they good excuses? No. But they were reasons why I didn't write. Sorry about that. Anyway, now that ziqimeng123 urged me to update, I feel guilty. So here's a new chapter.
Chapter 5 - Reunion
Spy School
July 24th
2030 hours
We were a "little" late. And by a "little", I mean an hour and a half. The event started at 1900 hours, but Sophia and I had to wrap up our previous operation and prepare for the event.
Sophia was in a stunning opal dress with strands of pearls across the linings. She had done her hair and put on a little makeup. She looked amazing. I had just gone home, taken a shower, and thrown on an old suit that I had bought myself because Alexander insisted that all good spies had to have a suit. I looked like a forty-year-old man attending the wedding of a classmate's son he had met in high school and had never talked to since.
Sophia couldn't conceal her amusement as I pulled up onto what used to be the quad in my old Toyota Civic.
"Is that your idea of dressing up? That shade of brown looks terrible on you," she told me.
"I-- let's just head inside."
The remains of the old spy school building were torn down shortly after the re-recapture of Murray Hills. The government planned to rebuild spy schools for the future generations of the CIA but at this rate, we're gonna invent time travel before they finish. It's a miracle they built it in the first place anyway.
To the government's credit, they have built a wing of Spy School, and we spies decided to use it as our yearly reunion spot. I'm pretty sure it was Mike's idea, and Erica made it happen.
The reunion and ball floor was on the quad as there wasn't enough space inside any of the classrooms, we set up fun games inside the classrooms though.
The event was larger than I expected, I didn't realize how many people were crammed into spy school until then.
The quad had a large white tent set up in the centre emitting a warm yellow light, it kind of reminded me of a wedding. When I entered the tent, the floor was crowded with giant round tables, except the middle, which was left empty.
Everyone was already at the event, so all the seats were already filled. Some people were even dancing to the music. I quickly found my old friends' table, which everyone was avoiding like the plague - presumably because of Erica's presence.
As I walked up to the table, Mike was the first one to recognize me.
"Ben! You're here for once! Give me a hug, buddy!"
I smiled awkwardly. "Hi."
"How long has it been? Three years since I'd last seen you? And you wear this to come and greet us? I thought you were better than this Benny boy," he ruffles my hair.
I quickly moved away. The others at the table were equally shocked. Chip and Jawa were there, both tall and muscular. Puberty had done wonders on Chip, and he looked like he just stepped out of a Vogue magazine. Erica had brought her computer to the party and was working on it. Zoe was nowhere in sight.
I cleared my throat, "Ahem, guys, I'm here for something important."
"Who's that, " whispered Mike before I could continue, pointing at Sophia. He waggled his eyebrows.
"Someone from work, I'll explain later," I quickly dismissed him.
"So what's the favour you're here to ask for?" Jawa asked.
"Favour? Uh- What? How did you-"
"We're spies, Ben. Also, one doesn't just show up after going missing for no reason."
"We need some of you guys' help on a mission," said Sophia bluntly.
"Uh, yes. Sophia from work and I are going on a mission, and we thought it would be nice to have some help," Erica looked up from her laptop but quickly returned to her work.
There was an awkward silence.
"Anyone?" I asked.
No one answered.
I looked at Mike.
"Ben, I wish I could, man. I want to, but I have to explain something to you," he looked around nervously and motioned for me to follow him.
"What? Mike! What's going on?"
"He's going to propose to Zoe," came a voice from behind me.
Surprised, everyone turned around to look at who had spoken. Not surprisingly, it was Erica.
"Erica!" Mike exclaimed, "Why would you say that? It was gonna be a surprise!"
"What's a surprise?" came a voice to my left. I recognized it instantly. My best friend at Spy School after Mike. Zoe.
Her eyes widened to the size of a tennis ball, "Ben!"
She hugged me and squeezed all the oxygen out of my lungs.
"Zoe, you're choking me," I grunted. She let go.
"It's just been a while," she stepped back and looked at me, "nice suit," she giggled.
"There's nothing wrong with my suit!" I proclaimed, detecting her sarcasm.
"Then there's something wrong with your sense of style," Chip said, "out of all the outfits in the world, why did you have to choose this one, bro?"
I chose to ignore that.
"Can anyone come to help Sophia and me on this mission?" I asked them one last time, hoping the answer would be different.
Silence.
Zoe looked at me with pity in her eyes, "I'm sorry Ben, but I have a mission coming up. I'm pretty sure every one of us here does too," she paused, "Well, except Mike. Can't you go, honey?"
"Oh, I- uh... I have something to do. Sorry Ben," Mike said, flustered. Then his eyes lit up. "Oh! Ben! Come over here, I need to talk to you about something."
He practically dragged me out of the tent away from everybody before I could protest.
"Look, I'm sorry I couldn't come on this mission with you and your girlfriend, but I'm sure you guys would want some time alone together."
"She's not-"
"Anyways, I need you to help me pick out an engagement ring for Zoe."
"She blackmailed me- What? You can't honestly think I would know what Zoe would want, right?"
He stared at me, "I need your help, bro."
I put my hands up, "Okay! Show me what you've got."
He showed me two rings on his phone. The first one was a beautiful ring with a diamond surrounded by smaller pieces of blue rock in the shape of a heart. 'Titanium band, to represent our unbreakable love,' Mike had said. The second ring had one large diamond surrounded by a plethora of smaller diamonds on a gold band.
"Which one?" Asked Mike.
"The titanium one," I told him, "It stands out and it's less likely to break."
"That's what I thought too!" He patted me on the shoulder, "Thanks, man."
Mike paused before going back inside the tent. He looked at me and said, "I'll go on the mission with you and Sophia," he said.
"Really?" I said, surprised, "But your engagement-"
"It can wait, I need to spend more time with you. You know what they say: bros before-"
"Shut up," I said and punched him on the shoulder. He might have been getting engaged, but he did not grow up at all.
As we walked to the tent, laughing, I couldn't help but think how wrong I was to disconnect myself from my friends all these years.
It looks like Sophia and I did have some backup after all.
Yay! Another chapter. Let's hope I update soon again. I do have ideas though, so probably at least one update. Maybe two.
P.S.
You know the "'Who's that, ' whispered Mike before I could continue, pointing at Sophia. He waggled his eyebrows." part of this book? Tehimpossible wanted to put "He waggled his eyebrows disgustingly." What do you have against Mike, Tehimpossible?? 😭