One: What?!
What is the best thing to do on a Sunday morning? Well, most of you will probably answer the question with sleeping in or chilling around the house but for me, Sunday morning is the best time to practice my fighting skills. I usually wake up very early in the morning, like five-in-the-morning early. (Not really though. That’s not true. I usually wake up at seven but it’s still early in the morning, right?)
As soon as I wake up, I eat some breakfast to fill up my energy and go down to the home gym to practice my boxing skills. Not only that boxing is beneficial for self-defense, but it’s also a good activity to let out your pent up anger. You’re mad at someone or something? Just go and hit a damn punching bag. Beat that shit up with all your might.
My fists slam onto the punching bag one after another relentlessly. I swiftly move my body, dodging imaginary attacks from my imaginary opponent. Right jab, left jab, slip, and right hook!
I keep throwing blow after blow onto the punching bag with all my strength. No mercy is given at the inanimate object. Despite the burn in my muscles and the ache on my knuckles, I persevere and continue my fight against the punching bag before me as swear beads rolls down my temples.
“Sophie!”
I abruptly stop my frenzied punch mid-air, whirling my head around the room as I search for the source of the voice. My green eyes then lock with a pair of blue eyes that belong to my father. I stare at him as I silently pant from my exhausting intense practice with confusion. I wonder why he’s down here. It’s been a long time since he watches over me while I’m practising.
Dad stands there under the doorframe with his arms crossed over his chest. His rigid gaze stays on me as he continues to stare at me. He’s in his serious mode. There must be something important going on. My gut feeling is telling me that it is indeed very, very important.
“Go get a shower. Mr Warren will be here soon,” dad says. His voice confirms the importance of Mr Warren’s visit. But what does it have to do with me? It’s not like I have anything to do with Mr Warren and my father’s job. So, why the hell did my dad tell me to take a shower? Am I going to meet Mr Warren as well? For what?
Lost in my thoughts, I don’t realise that my father has left the room as I bring my gaze up from the floor. Sighing in exasperation, I decide to do what he told me to do. I grab my water bottle and fling my gym towel over my shoulder as I walk out of the gym.
The cold shower I take refreshes my mind and body, dissolving the exhaustion I get from my practice. With a towel wrapped around my body, I stare at the person in the mirror with a frown. Is it really my reflection or is there another person that looks like me on the other side of the mirror? Some people say mirrors are portals to another realm. So, what if whoever the hell it is in the mirror wants to switch places with me? No one would know about that. I won’t be able to escape the other side. What if I die in another realm that exists behind the mirror? Hell no. Stop thinking about something that isn’t real, Sophie.
I shake the strange thought out of my mind and focus myself back on my reality. Now that my slightly wavy dirty blonde hair is still wet from the shower, I decide to dry it off now. I plug the hairdryer and begin to dry my hair. I mindlessly do the work as I dance a little as I hum a random song that pops in my mind, Closer by The Chainsmokers. Damn, this song is so addictive.
Now that I feel my hair is already dry, I turn off the hairdryer and stare back at my reflection. My green eyes widen at the sight of my puffy hair. Shit. Today is definitely a bad day hair for me. My hair looks like a lion’s mane. Fucking yikes.
I grimace at the sight of myself. As I brush my hair, I contemplate on what to do with my puffy blonde hair. At last, I decide to gather my hair and put it up to be a messy bun. Much better. I look so much better. I definitely look adorable and gorgeous with this hairstyle. (Don’t judge me, please. I AM adorable and gorgeous. Always.)
In my closet, I stare at my clothes and search for something to wear for the day. With my fist tucked under my chin, I continue my search for today’s outfit. Since I’m feeling a bit cold now, I decide to wear a navy blue sweater and a pair of black skinny jeans. I don’t need to look good. It’s not like I’m going somewhere other than lounging around the house.
After I get dressed and put on my indoor fluffy brown slippers, I take my phone and go downstairs. I wonder if Mr Warren is already here. If that’s the case, I better hurry and go downstairs. I don’t want to anger my old man. Mr Warren is a big deal to him and I don’t want to leave a bad impression.
Once I get downstairs, I see no one is there. I only shrug my shoulders at the vacant place and stay in the living room to wait for Mr Warren’s arrival. With the TV already turned on for a bit of background voice, I sit on the couch and begin to check my phone for any notifications from my friends.
What?! 38 messages and 5 missed calls from Claire?! What the fuck happened to her? What’s with all this messages and phone calls?
I immediately dial her number, not even bothered to check her messages. I hope nothing bad happened to her. Or any of my friends. I hope they’re okay now.
“Sophie!” Claire’s shouting makes me accidentally throws my phone away. I quickly take my phone from the floor and it’s unharmed. Thankfully. With my ears still ringing slightly from the sudden loud voice, I bring my phone back to my ears carefully.
“-are you there?” Claire asks. Worry is clear in her voice.
“Claire, please don’t yell. Calm down. Tell me what happened,” I say.
“I’m sorry but it’s just- it’s- Cody is in the ER,” Claire says. Now she sounds anxious. I can see her pacing back and forth in the hallway of the hospital while she waits for the doctor or anyone to tell her that Cody is fine.
Again? Cody is in the ER again? For the hundredth time? I’m just exaggerating but Cody is a frequent visitor of our local hospital. What happened to him now? I hope he’s going to be okay. He will be. He always ends up okay after leaving the ER no matter how bad his injury is.
“What happened this time?” I ask.
“He was in the bathroom and then slipped because the floor is wet. He then slammed his head against the sink and passed out. At least that’s what his mother told me,” Claire explains shakily. I then hear her sniffling. The sound brings a frown to my face. I wish I’m there with her now and tell her that Cody is going to be okay. Too bad I can’t leave now. He has survived so many accidents in his whole life but every time something happens, Claire always gets anxious over it. Death comes so unexpectedly so I understand her fear of losing Cody despite him surviving countless near-death experiences.
“Don’t worry about him. He’s gone through this kind of shit so many times already. He always survives and I’m sure he’ll survive this one too,” I say, trying to reassure my friend.
“But what if he doesn’t survive this one?” Claire asks and then sniffles.
“He will, Claire. He will survive. I’m sorry I can’t be with you now. I wish I can but dad wants me to meet someone so I’ll be there as soon as possible, okay?” I say.
“You know what? You’re right. He’s going to be okay. Don’t worry about me. I’ll see you later,” Claire says. Despite her reassuring words, I know she’s still worried about Cody’s condition. She won’t calm down until she knows for sure that Cody is fine. I hope she’ll get a good news about his condition soon enough.
“I’ll see you soon,” I say. After hanging up the call, I put my phone down on the couch.
Now, allow me to introduce you to Cody. He is one of my friends. If you haven’t figured it out yet, he’s Claire’s boyfriend. That’s why she’s worried about his wellbeing right now. You can say that he’s the most clumsy person in the world. That’s why he always gets into accidents. Mild ones and severe ones. The mildest ones are something as simple as stubbing his toe on a furniture and cutting his finger while he’s chopping vegetables and the worst one was falling down a cliff and into the ocean. It’s quite unbelievable that he’s still alive to this day but I’m glad that he is still with us.
Despite his clumsiness, Cody is gifted with a brilliant mind in math and physics. He always gets A- or above for those subjects and never less than that. Cool, right? Well, that’s not because of no reason. At first I thought he’s smart because all the accidents he has gone through. Like when he slammed his head then bam! He can suddenly speak Russian and bam! He can now play saxophone. It turns out that it’s not like that at all. It’s actually because he’s already into math since he’s three years old. Here’s a snippet of our first conversation.
“Did you get your smartness from banging your head almost all the time? I’ve read a lot of news about that before,” I say.
“No. It’s not like that. My parents figured out that I like math since I was three years old. They then decided to teach me basic math and made me take math lessons,” Cody explains.
“Really? That’s so fucking cool. At that age, I don’t even know the result of 1 + 1,” I say, still staring at him in disbelief.
“As cool as it sounds, I barely know how to use the potty at that age,” Cody says. I furrow my eyebrows at his odd confession. That’s definitely something that i would never tell a soul about and take it to the grave.
“What?” I ask.
“What?” Cody asks me back, seemingly forget about what he just said a few seconds ago.
That’s how it went. What a strange but funny first conversation.
With a sigh, I lie on the couch and stare at the ceiling, wondering when Mr Warren is coming. My eyes begin to feel heavy. They only get heavier as seconds pass me by. My consciousness starts to slip away from my body as I feel sleepier than before. I close my eyes and let myself fall asleep.
“Hey! Wake up! Mr Warren is here!”
The harsh tap my father gives to me on my shoulder drives me away from my sleep. Damn it. I was just about to sleep. What a great timing, dad. Real great timing. I almost fell asleep and then he woke me up! What kind of person disturb someone from their sleep? Well, a lot of people like teachers. They’re the best at that. It’s even worse when you get a detention because of it.
After I get myself to sit, I stretch my arms over my head and let out a big yawn. Not so ladylike of me but who cares? No one is here with me now to witness my awful manner.
Dad and Mr Warren finally enters our humble living room. I get on my feet and greet Mr Warren with a polite and welcoming smile.
“Hello, Sophie. It’s been a while. How are you doing? How’s school?” Mr Warren asks.
“Hi, sir. I’m fine and school is also fine,” I say. Mr Warren nods at my response with a smile.
“Good to hear that,” Mr Warren says.
We take our seats immediately the living room. Mr Warren takes the armchair while my dad and I sit next to each other on the couch. My gaze is fixed on Mr Warren as he pulls out a file from his suitcase. I begin to ponder about why I’m here with my father and Mr Warren. What’s my significance for being here with them? Did something happen?
“I’m sure you’re wondering why you’re here with me and your father. Well, I’m here to tell you something important,” Mr Warren says. His dark grey eyes gaze into my green ones with absolute seriousness, almost scaring me shitless. I’m no one important. I know I’m my father’s daughter but that doesn’t mean I’m as important as him. So, why tell me such an important information?
“What is it?” I ask. Mr Warren’s posture goes rigid as he straightens his back and sits straighter in his seat. He breathes out through his nose, his gaze unwavering on mine.
“I will tell you the reason why I’m here with you and your father,” Mr Warren says. Damn it you old man. Stop stalking and say what you want to say already.
“I need you to go undercover,” Mr Warren says. His statement perplexes me, causing me to stare at him in disbelief with my eyes wide open. His serious expression has now been replaced with a playful one. He’s now grinning at my reaction to his previous statement.
Wait, what?! Go undercover?! Holy shit. This is a fucking dream coming true for me. I’m going to be a spy like my father! But, out of all people, why me? I don’t think it’s fair to choose me over people who are more capable of handling the job just because my father is one of the best agent in the agency. Don’t I have to be in the agency as well to take the job? Isn’t there a test I need to pass to join the agency and do this kind of job? I’m also still a high schooler. I don’t have sufficient knowledge and training to go undercover. This has to be a joke. Ain’t no way Mr Warren is dead serious about what he said.
I turn to my dad. Just like me, he also has a confused look on his face. He’s as bewildered as I am about the news. He gives me a little shrug, silently telling me that he has no clue about what Mr Warren just said to me. I shift my gaze back to Mr Warren, chuckling nervously.
“Uh, did I hear that correctly? Are you serious? Me? Going undercover?” I ask.
“Yes. I’m serious,” Mr Warren says. Shit. He’s not joking. I still don’t believe him though. There’s no way this is real. This has to be a stupid joke. My father and Mr Warren is pranking me now. There’s no reasonable reason for me to be an undercover agent.
“Mr Warren, it’s an honour. However, I don’t think I have the capability to go through with your wish. Considering I haven’t gone through proper training, I am very under qualified for the job,” I explain.
“I know you haven’t gotten any proper training but I already have one person in mind to give you the training,” Mr Warren says. I raise an eyebrow at his statement. Who could that be?
“Who?” I ask.
“Your father, of course,” Mr Warren says with a grin. My gaze shifts to my dad again, and just like before, he looks as confused as I do.
“Pardon, sir but I don’t think she’s ready for the field just yet. My training alone won’t be enough to get her ready for the role,” Dad says with a frown. He’s right. As much as I want to be a secret agent, I know damn well that I’m not that well-prepared for the role just yet. I still need a lot more time for the training. I need at least a year of training to get me ready for the job.
“Worry not, Tyler. She still has a few months to train,” Mr Warren says. A few months?! That’s not enough. I need more time. I don’t want to die because he tells me to accept a job that could possibly be dangerous for my amateur ass.
“Respectfully, sir, I can’t let her accept the job. A month isn’t enough for her to train. It took me years to train before I got my first field job. I don’t want to endanger my daughter’s safety by putting her in a vulnerable situation,” dad says.
“I know Sophie is very intelligent. She’s a fast learner. She’ll be able to learn the needed skills to be an agent within a month. You’re one of my best agent. I trust you to train Sophie to be as skilful as you,” Mr Warren says.
“But-“
“I won’t offer this job to her if it’s too dangerous, Tyler. I will make sure she’ll be safe under my watch,” Mr Warren says.
“Alright, sir. I trust you,” dad says.
“The reason why I want you in this case is because our target’s son is in the same age as you are,” Mr Warren says.
“Okay. So, what’s my task?” I ask. Despite my confusion about the sudden job offer from my father’s boss, I maintain my composure and focus on the matter at hand. Inside of my mind, it’s as chaotic as that one SpongeBob SquarePants’s episodes where there’s fire everywhere in SpongeBob’s brain. It feels like lots of questions are running through my mind to the point I can’t catch any of them before finding the answers.
“For your next school year, you’ll be transferred to Harrington Private High School. You will be studying like a normal student but you also have to gather important information for the agency and me. You will be gathering the information from Matthew Williams,” Mr Warren says. He slides the file to me and I immediately check it. My gaze immediately falls on a picture attached to the top left of the file. I continue to go through all the pictures of my target, Matthew Williams. He has light brown hair, a pair of deep blue eyes that I oddly can’t stop staring into, sharp jawline, and a perfectly lean body. Hmm. He’s not bad.
“The agency has retained some information regarding his parents’ illegal drugs sale but those information aren’t convincing enough for an arrest warrant. Matthew’s parents are the owner of one of the biggest medicine and medical equipment companies in the US, Williams-Johnson Corporation. For that reason, it is quite hard to find the needed evidence in the midst of their legal business activities.
“Matthew’s parents have lots of connections to be able to go under the radar, including having spies of their own. Courtesy to agents I’ve sent to investigate the family. Because of that, you must tread carefully when interacting with our targets,” Mr Warren says. He said this job is not dangerous. Now it seems like he’s telling me otherwise. Whatever. He thinks I’m fitting for this role so I’m going to trust his judgment on me.
“Your father has taught you some of his skills, correct?” Mr Warren asks. I nod my head in response to his question. “Yes.”
Dad has taught me some self-defense and fighting skills as well as a bit of hacking since last year and damn, hacking is hard as fuck. I thought my head was about to explode when I first learn coding and those kind of stuff related to hacking.
“Your father will teach you more necessary skills later such as handling a gun, using our equipment, acting, infiltration, and other important things,” Mr Warren says. That’s cool. I’m still kinda scared about what awaits me in the job but I also can’t help but to feel excited about learning more stuff from my dad.
A gloomy frown suddenly appears on Mr Warren’s face. My heart drops at the sight. Oh no. That doesn’t look good. What now?
“Unfortunately, your identity will be a girl with braces and glasses who’s a straight-A student,” Mr Warren says. What?! I’m going to turn into a nerdy girl? It’s not like it’s a bad thing. It’s just- I’m not that academically gifted. How could I pretend to be someone who’s smart as fuck?
“Why?” I ask with a frown. Mr Warren burst into laughter at my reaction. Why is he laughing? There’s nothing funny here! I might fuck up my job if I can’t pretend to be who I am supposed to be.
“I’m joking, Sophie. However, you still need to wear glasses because apparently, Matthew likes girls with glasses,” Mr Warren explains. Uh, how did he know about that? That’s odd. I know that it’s easy for him and the agency to find that kind of information but still, it’s strange. Why is Matthew attracted to girls with glasses anyway? What makes him like those kind of girls? Don’t boys that look like him attracted to girls that look like models? Oh right. You can’t judge a book by its cover.
“I am serious. All of Matthew’s exes use glasses,” Mr Warren adds.
“How many exes does he have?” I ask. If Matthew has many exes, it’s going to be pretty difficult for me to make him close to me. For all I know, his crazy exes probably have a club called “Matthew’s exes club”. Their main purpose is to scare away girls that want to be close to Matthew and be his next girlfriend. If the girl ends up being with Matthew, she might join the club one day after she breaks up with Matthew.
“Five,” Mr Warren answers.
“Oh. Okay,” I say.
We spend more minutes discussing about my future job. When we finally come to an agreement and the end of the discussion, my dad and I already prepared to bid him goodbye for the day.
“I’m leaving this file with you. Good luck and have fun with your training,” Mr Warren says. Oh absolutely. I’ll definitely have fun with my dad. I just hope I won’t end up killing my father accidentally when we’re practicing with guns or anything dangerous
