Spy School - Back to Basics [2]

07: Partying and Aquatics

I have tried to include romance before, but I think this is the best. It came so naturally to me, and my eyes watered too. So enjoy.

5789 Golden Trout Drive

Vienna, Virginia

May 08

2000 hours

Erica and I stood in front of Elizabeth's house. It was relatively nice, not much larger than the other houses on the street. It was made of mostly of brownstone and the window and door frames were freshly painted white.

However, Erica didn't seem to like it that much. She scowled at pretty much every feature: the slightly out-of-date doorbell, the laser-precision cut bushes, and the stone steps leading up to the front door.

Perhaps it was because for once, her father anticipated something that she didn't. He had six cocktail party suits alone, and carried an extra suitcase of party clothes for a variety of occasions during missions. He always said that you never know when you have to infiltrate a party, although he never had too. He and Catherine argued about this before. ("You have a closet full of cocktail suits you haven't used for a single mission, maybe that's why you can barely pay your bills!" "We met at a cocktail party!")

Or maybe it was because she had to borrow some too-small clothes from Trixie. This wasn't exactly a formal event, but parties usually required some stylish clothes, so this was why Trixie's short-sleeved shirt that looked more like a tanktop than a proper tee was part of Erica's outfit.

We entered though the back gate. It looked like the party was confined to the back yard while the parents inside enjoyed some adult movies. The party was in full swing despite us being fifteen minutes late. The sun was just setting, making the empty pool with it's underwater lights the main source of light. There was a small fold-up table in the corner of the place, serving chips and punch a shade of pink that should've been impossible.

I peered over the bobbing heads listening to the music and tried to find the two Mogilevsky kids. They were invited too, and had left on time, rather than late like us. I thought I saw some of Connor's messy hair, but nope.

I had found this out when we did our daily mission brief in the bathroom. Today's had Cyrus a little more moody than usual. Our oracle-hunt barely wielded any useful information, except bad news, given that we only found out that they were actors and the deadline for Mike's death and perhaps, SKITTLES plot, was only two days away. At our time at Robert E. Lee, we did nothing except get into fights and get grades.

Also, Cyrus wasn't too excited when it turned out the field trip for all of the eighth-grade was on the tenth as well. He knew that the most effective way to stop what was going down on the tenth was for the adults to sign mine and Erica's slips, but he wasn't about to let two agents, one of them his granddaughter, go into the unknown. Eventually, though, both our slips had a signature, mine done by a supposed "Erin Kiely".

"So..." I said, not sure where to start. I had resolved to ask her out this evening, but my plans were starting to fall apart. I definitely didn't want to get karate chopped by an Erica in a bad mood.

She grunted in response.

"I suppose you don't like parties then, huh?" I asked, choosing my words carefully, but not taking an overly long time.

"Well, there isn't exactly a point in them. Plus the amount of sweaty bodies is intoxicating."

She wasn't lying. The amount of people here in such a small space would have given a fire warden a pause.

"Well, do you like any group activities other than parties, preferably ones that don't involve risk of death?"

"Everything has a risk of death. But if you mean ones with a lower percentage, skiing is nice."