Protecting Jason

I held the gun to my temple and watched him as tears filled my eyes. “I don’t do attachments,” I mumbled.

He ran towards me, it seemed like everything was moving in slow motion. Carol punched the shit out of the guy, Caden encouraging her, suddenly, I felt a loud blow on my back. Memories flooded my mind as I looked at him one last time before falling into a deep slumber from which I knew I could never escape.

Six months ago, I received a call from the headquarters at midnight for an urgent meeting. Carol and I rushed to the location and found ourselves sitting in front of the person who had trained and guided us into who we were; agents.

Derek is a typical African man who came with nothing but a Martial arts certificate in his twenties. It’s been nearly twenty-five years since he established this business and found allies ready to die at his command. That was him.

“Commander Derek, what was the emergency?” I broke the silence.

“Amanda,” He paused as he played with the cube in his hands, “Sorry to call at this hour, and I know it was a short break for you guys I permitted but I have a new mission for you both.” He gave us a warning look and continued, “You will work in pairs. Amanda, your task is to protect the target, while Carol will assist with the technical work given her expertise.” I exchanged a this-will-be-fun look with Carol.

“Your target is Jason Blake, son of a well-known businessman. The opponent is unknown for now, and Mister Soren’s son becomes an obvious and easy target.” He explained.

It didn’t come as a surprise to me when I heard about it, as I’ve dealt with similar cases during my five years of service. People require security constantly, and our undercover bureau, ‘Insiders’ assists them in this regard, earning recognition worldwide.

“Does he know that he will be under our guard?” Carol asked curiously.

“No, he doesn’t, you have to take care of it.”Ha, that’s an easy task, no it isn’t!

“I will provide you the details later and umm...don’t freak out about what I say next...” Carol clutched the seat as I raised an eyebrow at him.

Don’t drop a bomb, commander.

“You guys will enroll in the high school he goes to,” There was a pin-drop silence as we processed his words, followed by a screeching voice of Carol enough to shatter the glass table, kidding.

“What!”

“Damn it, not so loud.” She glared at me to keep my mouth shut as I snorted at her.

The reason was, that we had never been to school, let alone high school, and we never needed one! We were experts in our fields and were found always on-demand.

“You are doing it for the subject, pull the show, no choice!” Derek crossed his arms. “Suck it up.” We gasped at him.

“Come on, Derek, show some mercy, can’t we keep an eye on him outside school?” I don’t want to wake up every day to do some shitty routine, life gets boring!

“Nope.” He said popping the ‘p’, giving the looks of a tough commander we couldn’t resist.

“Fine.” We said in unison and stood up.

“When are we starting?” I questioned.

“The adjustments are settled you’ll start tomorrow.” I nodded as we walked to the door that connected the room. “And one more thing,” Derek called out. “He is important, don’t make the mistake you did in one of your previous cases.” I spared one last glance at him and walked out of the office.

“Guy’s hot,” Carol said as we reached our flat, gawking at her phone as my phone hummed with messages.

“Sure,” I said, scrolling through the details Derek had sent us, and the first thing that came to my mind as my eyes settled on his picture was trouble.

“Prescott High School.” I read out loud, unnecessarily grabbing the attention of the passersby.

“We are throwing ourselves into Hell,” Carol whispered as we walked to the office, I couldn’t agree more.

We opened the door boldly to hear a voice, “How may I help you?” The principal looked up from whatever he was doing with a confused smile.

“We are the new students, our guardian must have already informed you about us?” Carol asked as we sat down, unsure if Derek exposed our identity.

“Oh yes, I believe you are Elora Taylor-” He looked at me then to Carol. “-and Rose Perez, did I mention that correctly?”

“That’s us.” I extended my hand as he handed us our admission forms and schedules, we shared the same classes, gave us our locker room keys, and disclosed the school rules and regulations.

“Rose, really that’s so cringy!” I shrugged at her as I scanned my schedule.

“We have literature,” I announced as she nodded, walking ahead of me. The thing we both didn’t realize was that we had no idea where the class was, I smirked as she came to a halt and turned around with a frustrated look.

We entered our first class a little late, the perks of being newbies were excused. I scanned the whole room as my eyes settled on the reason we were there; Jason Blake. He smirked when he saw me staring. I rolled my eyes.

First impression check.

“Class, we have new students joining us in the middle of the year.”Was she happy or disappointed?“Would you like to introduce yourselves by stating your full names?”Is that a rule or something?

Carol put a hand on my back silently, forcing me to start. I mentally cussed her. “Hey, the name’s Elora Moon Taylor, would prefer El.” I introduced myself to my fake name when I actually would like to say ‘Hello, this is Amanda Ruth Jean, I am a qualified secret agent.’ with a wink, I continued by giving a speech about how I got expelled from the previous school because I bullied students, just so no one messes with me. After Cary gave her speech as ‘Rose Waffles Perez,’ yes you heard that right from ‘Carol Gem Karas,’ we walked to the only empty seats in the back row.

I sat on the fortunate vacant seat in front of Jason as Carol sat beside me. “What if I call you Moon?” A voice whispered as I turned to him, his messy black hair flung in front of his electric grey eyes as he leaned forward keeping a five-inch gap between us. I smirked at him.

I have multiple names, call any.

I decided to keep silent, I rolled my eyes and focused on the lecture. It was so boring to sit in a place, I couldn’t even keep my eyes from dropping, it was a lullaby to my ears. The class ended then the next and the next. I put my books in the bag rubbed my eyes and turned to Carol with a sleepy grin. It was lunchtime my favorite part of school.

We made our way past Jason’s table and took the empty table. I chewed on my french fries as Carol took a bite of her burger, deep in thought. “Whatcha?”

“Nothing.” She shrugged as she took my french fries, trying to mislead me. I slapped her hand and gestured for her to put it down with my best glare.

“Amanda doesn’t share food.” I quoted Joey from ‘FRIENDS’ as I raised my brow at her. “Seriously, tell me,” I demanded.

She huffed. ” You know this guy I was glaring at in the morning?” I signed as I remembered her gazing at someone in the crowd while presenting herself to the class. “And he sat next to me in the second lecture.” Yup, I heard giggles and laughs. “He asked me on a date.”

That was not what I was expecting at all! “Okay..?”

“Um, he is friends with Jason, his name is Caden.” She took a glance at Jason’s table. “The white T-shirt guy.” I turned to look back at her.

“So?”

“Won’t it be a problem...our rules?” She asked.

“That’s for him, not his friend, duh,” I said as a matter of fact. “Do you like him?” I asked curiously.

“Like is a big word.” I nodded as I finished my food.

“Find out.” The bell rang.

I could tell that Jason was initially confused when we entered each of his classrooms, but he soon replaced his confusion with smirks and winks.

Trouble he is.

It was the last class for today, and Jason was sitting next to me, lucky bitch? Honestly, I was freaking out because of the stares he gave me all day, and now his shampoo fragrance wasn’t helping either. I cleared my throat to shoo my thoughts.

He whispered in my ears, “Ask you something?” I didn’t realize Jason was so close to me until his breath fanned my cheeks, sending shivers.

Damn Amanda, control!

“Shoot,” I said, exhaling.

“Why do I see you in every class?” I moved away and turned to look at his smirking face.

You are the reason I am here.“Are you the one following me?” I raised a brow at him.

A voice interrupted before Jason could reply, “Mr. Blake and Ms. Taylor, no talking.” I was confused at first if she was calling me, had to check my ID to confirm.

“Sorry,” I said to her and glared at Jason. “Shut up!” I whisper-yelled at him when he giggled. Soon the bell rang which meant the end of the hell-hole they call the school. I stretched as I got up and yawned and turned to Jason, who looked amused. “What?” I snapped.

“You are wierd.” He said, standing up.

“Well, weirdos find weirdos, isn’t that how the whole thing goes?” I shrugged at him with a sly smile. He shook his head laughing, his voice was deep.

“El?” Carol called me. I seriously have to get used to getting called Elora slash El. I turned to look at her standing with Caden, as Jason walked and stood beside him. “Meet Caden, Caden, this is my best friend.” Carol introduced me.

“Elora.” I stretched my hand out inspecting him, dusky with charms, a gym addict, I nodded. “I figured you were taking Rose out for a date?” I asked him.

“Yes.” He smiled at her. So it be.

“Rose, can you wait for me outside while I talk to your date?” I asked in a calm tone. She gave me a pleading look as I assured her. I know it sounds duh, but a best friend has to be a best friend. I took a step towards him. “Caden, you seem to be a nice guy and I trust that you won’t do dumb things and be a gentleman to Carol?” I gave an if-you-do-anything-stupid-you-are-dead look.

Jason started laughing, “Did you drug N2O because this ain’t funny!” I glared at him and focused on Caden’s words.

“I will be nice.” He assured me with a smile. I nodded and walked out.

I picked out the books I needed to complete the homework the professors gave us from my locker. I shut the door and turned around to be greeted by a redhead.

“You are the newbie, am I right?” She asked.

I hummed, “Elora.”Okay, I am done introducing myself to the whole school!

“I am Kourtney, nice, not nice to meet you.” Well, congratulations, I am going to kill you first. She leaned forward warning me, “Stay away from Jason. We-” She smirked and blew her nails “-are in a relationship.”

“Why would I care? And who are you to mother me?” I raised an eyebrow.

“I am the queen.” She smirked as the minions behind her whom I just realized stood there, agreed.

I laughed, “Who is putting garbage in your teeny tiny head that you can boss around?” I huffed. “Does this school have some normal kids?” I asked, looking around to no one.

“Hey.” A minion yelled. I glared at her.

“Tsk tsk Kourtney, I suggest you visit the counseling room for help.” I patted her shoulder. “And if you feel shy to go visit there, I am here, okay?”

“If you don’t back off, then you will face the consequences.” She tried to warn me.

“It better be something good.” I winked at her as I walked to Carol, waiting in the parking lot.

“What took you so long?” She asked me as we sat inside the car.

“Invitations.” I grinned as she shook her head.