* Computer Friends #9 * Chapter One-Eight * By: Branch *

“YOU’RE TAKING US TO PARIS?” Danny demanded, interrupting the conversation that had going on between Rebecca, Lauren, and I loudly. “PARIS. AS IN.. PARIS. FRANCE. PARIS, FRANCE?” Danny questioned, his eyes widening in disbelief.
I shrugged my shoulders, crossing my arms over my chest, “Well, yeah, but if you guys don’t want to go..” I trailed off, looking up at my group of friends, consisting of Rebecca, Lauren, Danny, Jacob, and the newest edition to our gang, Zeke, though most people on RPC knew him as Suburbia, Sub, Subby, etc.
“WE WANT TO GO!” Rebecca shouted before anyone could open their mouths to speak. “WE WANT TO GO, WE WANT TO GO, WE WANT TO GO!” Rebecca kept repeating over and over until finally she cast a glance at Jacob, Danny, Zeke, and finally Lauren, “If anyone defies thy great Rebecca, no iAgents for another week!”
Jacob’s eyes widened in horror, “WE WANT TO GO!” Jacob chanted, while Rebecca grinned broadly.
Danny rolled his eyes. “Calm down, Bexasaur, we all want to go!” He nodded his approval.
“BUT, BUT, BUT,” Lauren interrupted, “None of us speak French, how’re we going to get around in Paris, at all?” Lauren demanded, furrowing her eyebrows.
I grinned, before gesturing to Jay, “Well, none of us do, but he does!” I jabbed my finger at him almost accusingly.
Jay shrugged nonchalantly, “I-I speak a little, yeah,” He rubbed the back of his neck self-consciously.
It was finally June, finally summertime, and my parents had decided that since our “boarding school” was out for the summer, they’d buy me and all my friends plane tickets to Paris, France. We decided that we’d all pool our money together and it should be enough to get us by in food and entertain for the week Rebecca, Lauren, Jacob, Danny, Zeke, and I would be spending in another country.
Rebecca clapped her hands together, “Perfect!” Rebecca was still grinning like it was Christmas morning, and she was five years old. “When do we leave, Anna?” Rebecca glanced at me with her peculiar green eyes.
I sighed, “Tomorrow, early, around six in the morning depending on how long it takes us all to get ready.” I answered, leaning back against the counter in the small kitchen we all were forced to share, we generally gathered here for important announcements, or to discuss missions.
They were all excited, even Lauren, who was still kind of touchy after the whole me-befriending-the-idiot-who’d-kidnapped-us-over-and-over-again thing. But Jay Simmons, though the tall, gangly dark-haired boy was still an idiot sometimes, he wasn’t bad anymore, not an enemy. But I knew that they were all still uneasy about him, especially Lauren and Rebecca. Jacob and Danny tolerated him, and Zeke hadn’t been part of the team when Jay was still kidnapping and trying to take over the agency.
I had to admit, I was kind of excited myself. I’d had a mild obsession with Paris, and anything and everything remotely related to the place since I was ten. Now, here we were, at age sixteen, and I was still dressing up in black and white striped shirts and berets when nobody was around.
Besides, it was another country, somewhere far, far away from where all the action the agency provided for us was.. What’s the worst that could happen?

“Danny, get up!” Rebecca demanded. She’d gotten up before all of us, was fully dressed and packed, and was now demanding we hurry up, though our plane left at seven thirty and it was only six, now.
“I am up, I am up!” Danny groaned, before pulling the covers over his head and shutting his eyes tightly, “Now, shut up so I can sleep!”
Rebecca gave an exasperated sigh, “Ugh!” Rebecca stamped her foot, stalking off to go see who else wasn’t fully awake yet.
I laughed as I watched her stalk past and go to the other two boys’ rooms, before zipping up my suitcase. I breathed out a sigh of frustration when the zipper got caught, I attacked it again trying to zip it up.
I chose then to look up, and nearly screamed, “JAY, HOLY CRUDMUFFINS. DON’T DO THAT,” I gasped, jumping backwards and knocking my head on the bedside table behind me.
Jay laughed teasingly, “You should’ve seen your face!” He rolled his eyes briefly before grabbing the suitcase zipper and zipping it up in one, clean movement.
“JACOB MCKAY NIGHT, GET UP NOW OR ELSE!” I heard Rebecca threaten from the other room as I took my suitcase from Jay and set it upright. I wheeled it into the hallway that all our rooms were on, and set it next to Rebecca and Zeke’s bags.
Zeke was sitting at the table, resting his head nonchalantly on his arm. His pale blue, almost colorless eyes flickered up to Jay and I, he gave a short wave.
I jumped, startled, when there was a loud crash as something fell in the other room.
“REBECCA LILLIAN!” Someone cried from the other room, “WHAT IN THE HADES WAS THAT FOR?”
I heard Rebecca huff, “You wouldn’t get up!” Rebecca retorted, mocking his tone.
I looked between the two boys in the room, my eyes flicking from Zeke to Jay, and back again. I held my finger up, “I’ll be right back,” I laughed, before turning and speeding into the other room to see what or who Rebecca’d broken this time.
***
I watched Anna speed from the room shortly after there was a loud crash from the other room. I chuckled, it was Rebecca, trying to wake everybody so they could leave for the airport earlier. I felt a slight wave of guilt, they couldn’t even be expecting what would happen once out of the country. I shook my head slightly, sighing as the wave passed as quick as it’d come on.
I gave Zeke a short, acknowledging nod, “Zeke,” I said as I came to sit at the table with the peculiar boy.
He looked up from the empty space he’d been staring at, “Hey,” He gave me a goofy grin before brushing his reddish-brown bangs out of his face.
I forced a smile back at him as I slid into a chair. I had to be cautious if this was going to work, if I blew my cover now it was all over. Everything, all my plans, all the things I’d taken months to edit over and over until it was practically fool-proof.
“So, Paris,” I said casually, “What do you make of it?” I asked the other boy, glancing at him.
Zeke grinned again, “I can’t wait! Apparently, neither can Becca!” He laughed, and I joined him. I wondered if he could hear the false note in my laughter, I certainly could. I had never been a good actor.
I nodded, brushing my hair out of my face, “It’ll be great, a break from the agency’ll do everyone good,” I paused, looking at him again, “How long have you been here, Zeke?”
He shrugged, “I don’t keep track, obviously a lot less time than everyone else,” He laughed, then shrugged again, “But I’m not any less experienced than any of them, I learn fast,” He grinned proudly, jutting his chin out.
I nodded, forcing another smile, “I know that,” I murmured, inspecting my fingernails while he raised his eyebrows as the emphasis on the word.
“What’d you mean, you know?” He furrowed his eyebrows, giving me a long, searching look.
I shrugged, biting my lip as if nervous, “Don’t tell anyone that I told you, but.. They think they’re superior, the rest of the team, being here longer than you,” I paused, “I don’t believe that though, in fact, I think you’re a whole lot smarter than them.”
He made a face, a flash of anger and betrayal passing through his eyes in a second’s time, “I won’t tell anyone you told me,” He paused, clenching his fists, “Thanks for being honest,” He made a noise in his throat, a growl, almost.
I nodded, “Of course,” I gave another smile before getting up as Anna entered the room, dragging Rebecca along with her.
“NO MORE WAKING UP PEOPLE, BECKY, DAHLING,” Anna laughed, though there was a stern hint to her voice, making Rebecca sit by the bags.
Rebecca huffed, “Oh, fft,” Rebecca scowled, crossing her arms across her chest.
I glanced at Zeke, who gave both girls a dark glare when their backs were turned.
It was the perfect plan. Turn everyone against each other, then sit back and watch the chaos.
In reality, I wouldn’t even have to lift a finger. It was perfect, brilliant, and no one would see it coming.

“And, it’s all you’re guys’ faults that we’re late!” Rebecca reminded us for the forty-billionth time, “I tried to wake you snails up, but no, you wouldn’t get up so I had to break a lamp and now I’m getting fined from the agency, oh, psh, it wasn’t that nice of a lamp anyways,” Rebecca continued all in one breath, “And, now we’re late. To Paris. Do you know what I will do to you all if we miss this plane?” Rebecca demanded, urging us forward.
Okay, so, I didn’t exactly plan for Danny to take an hour doing his hair. He was a guy, for crying out loud. But no, it had to be exactly the kind of casual messiness.
“Let’s roll,” He’d said calmly, even through Rebecca’s furious yelling that it was seven already, and there was traffic, security, then she reminded us of everything else that could possibly go wrong, the whole car ride here and all the way through security, she continued ranting now, as we sprinted down the corridor towards our gate.
We reached our gate, just as they were calling our names. I snatched up everyone’s passports, and shoved them towards the man monitoring the passengers getting on. He gave a grunt of annoyance, then shifted through our passports, one by one, stamping them. Finally, finally, he handed them back to each of us, then waved us forward, onto the plane.
I nearly collapsed in my seat. We were spread out across one aisle, there were four seats in each, Lauren, Rebecca, Zeke, and I all sat on one side, and Jay, Danny, and Jacob took up the other, leaving two seats unoccupied on their side.
I leaned my head back against the seat, letting exhaustion wash over me. We’d made it to the plane, now we just had to sit back for the next nine hours and relax.
I let my eyes flutter closed, and I was welcomed into the comforting darkness of sleep.
***
Rebecca thanked her lucky stars she was in the aisle seat. Lauren, Anna, and Zeke were all passed out beside her, she sighed, unbuckling her seatbelt and standing up, before starting down the aisle way. Sighing with relief, she stretched her legs as she continued down the aisle.
Now was my chance. I knew I’d never get her alone again, she’d always be around Lauren or Anna, chattering about something girly, or maybe she’d be discussing the best way to strangle someone. You never knew with Becca.
I unbuckled my seatbelt, and lurched to my feet. I hated airplanes, they always made me sick. Ugh. I breathed in deeply, then out, trying to get a grip on myself before starting down the aisle after the dark-haired girl with peculiar green eyes.
I caught up with her easily, only a foot or so from her when she turned around to go back to her seat.
“Oh, hey,” Rebecca said, her voice cheerful, “Can you believe it? Only a few more hours, and we’ll be in France!” Her eyes glinted with excitement.
I nodded, smiling back. It wasn’t hard to pretend with her, she didn’t get on my nerves as much as Zeke did, though I didn’t show how much the boy annoyed me when I was around him. Of course not, I needed to be friends with all of these stupid, unsuspecting children. That’s what was the fun part, the fact that they’d be so paranoid, they’d never know what was coming.
Of course, I’d have to make it look like I was paranoid to. That would be another fun part, making it look like I was just as angry with the rest of them for “talking behind my back”. Stupid, stupid children.
“It’s going to be great,” I agreed, “I mean, with all the food and architecture of the buildings..” I trailed off slightly, “It’s going to be amazing, provided no one realized you’re out of the country and tries to terrorize you all,” I gave a short, humorless laugh.
Rebecca then, was all seriousness, “If they do, we’ll deal with them easily,” Rebecca paused, “Especially, if I have a machine gun,” Rebecca broke into a fit of laughter, a note of hysteria hidden in the giggles that kept on going for five minutes. That’s what she got for getting up so early, and with the time difference.. Oh, man, jet lag was going to have a bad effect on all of us, though I was already technically nocturnal and the time difference probably wouldn’t bother me much. And maybe, just maybe, it’d work in my favor. They’d be so sluggish during the day, and up all night. It’d all go as planned, perfectly.
I forced a smile, laughing a little with her so she didn’t suspect any ulterior motives, which I certainly did have, “Yeah, and everyone else on the team, ‘specially Jacob,” I paused, “Anna and Lauren think you guys make a good couple.”
Rebecca frowned angrily, “Oh, ugh, gross! I thought they’d gotten over that stupid phase of them thinking we were dating,” Rebecca looked angry, her fists were clenched, “Look, for the record, Jacob and I are just friends, got it?” Rebecca demanded, grabbing the front of my shirt and pulling me in close, just to make sure I got it.
“I know, I know!” I exclaimed, glancing back to see if anyone of importance heard. Nobody. “Don’t tell them I told you, but go ahead and tell Jacob,” I informed her.
Rebecca gave a short nod, letting me go slowly.
“They think you make a good couple, and,” I added before she could interrupt, “They don’t think you’re cut out for the agency, they want to get you guys kicked out so they can have the spotlight,” I clicked my tongue in mock disapproval.
Rebecca was shaking with anger now, “Seriously? Seriously?” Rebecca punched the seat nearest, waking a middle-aged man from sleep.
Rebecca flashed an apologetic smile at the man, before pushing past me and stalking back down the aisle. Rebecca took her seat, crossing her arms and glaring at Lauren and Anna while they slept.
I took my seat, sighing contentedly. Rebecca and Jay would be against Lauren and Anna, Zeke wouldn’t trust any of them.
It was all going accordingly. Of course it was, my plan was flawless, I’d made sure of that.

I was shaken awake by Lauren, who’s normally perfect light brown hair was a mess, the result of sleeping sitting upright on an airplane. I laughed at her expression, she just made a scoffing noise in her throat, “Don’t you say a word, Annabelle Marie,” Her threat hung in the air as she turned to get her bags.
I stood up and stretched, yawning widely before glancing at Rebecca, who was moving stiffly, not meeting my gaze. Okay, something was up, just a few hours earlier, she’s been talking nonstop about how much fun this trip was going to be, and now she was flat, devoid of personality.
I poked her shoulder, “Hey, dude, Becca, what’s wrong?” Well, that didn’t exactly come out as sincere as I planned.
“Nothing.” Her voice was sharp as she looked up at me and glared crossly, her eyes flashed dangerously, and I stepped back, throwing my hands up in surrender.
“We’re all just tired, I’m sure,” Danny shook his head at us, throwing one arm around each of our shoulders. “Now, knock it off and get along. Or you’re going home, got it, children?” He grinned.
I rolled my eyes. “Shut it, McGavok,” I teased him and ruffled his hair, which earned me a glare from him, before I followed Jay off the plane. Lauren followed closely behind me, followed by Danny, Rebecca, Jacob, and finally Zeke took up the back.
We went through customs quickly, we’d gotten off the plane before anyone else, and managed to get there before the real crowd formed. We each handed the lady sitting at the customs check-in our passports in turn, and she waved us onward, “Bienvenue en France!” She chirped as we passed, Jay translated this to, “Welcome to France!” easily, it was a simple language once you got the hang of it, he informed us.
We made our way through the fairly crowded airport, though it was midnight here, it was only nine in the morning back home. We needed to catch a train from the airport that would take us to Rue au Citron, which Jay translated roughly to Lemon Street, which was the street our hotel was on. Lemon Street? Man, we had so much better names for streets in America, I thought with a sigh. We’d check into our hotel, unpack, probably hang around in each other’s rooms, order room service, be generally disruptive, as usual with us.
As we made our way towards the train station, located on the opposite side of the airport. And then suddenly, someone had run into Danny. But it was staged, even I could see that.
Danny was knocked to the ground from the force of the pale, tiny girl with curly blonde hair that had run into him. It was a staged fall, it was oh-so obvious, but Danny was mesmerized.
“Oof!” His breath was knocked out of him, he stared up at her, unblinking.
“Oh, oh my!” Her voice was high-pitched, like a fairies, and in that one instant, I knew I didn’t like her. At all.
Jay seemed even more interested in her than Danny was in this moment. His ice-blue eyes were locked on her, and he seemed to be holding his breath.
“I’m so sorry,” Her voice was still high-pitched, grating against my nerves as she apologized, “I didn’t mean to run into you, oh,” Her expression confused me, it didn’t match the sincerity of her voice, not at all.
I watched her scramble off of him, stand up, and then hold her hand out to help him up. He stared at her tiny hand for a few seconds before finally taking it. It seemed he didn’t have to help her pull him up at all, it looked effortless to her, which confused me further, she was tiny, and Daniel McGavok was an agent. That didn’t add up either.
Jay’s ice-blue gaze was still locked on her, “Vous essayez de perdre ce pour moi, n’est-ce pas?” He spoke this foreign language, at least to us, flawlessly. He paused, hesitating, then spoke to us, “I told her to watch where she was going next time, I didn’t say it as rude as that sounded, though,” He gave a short, humorless laugh without taking his eyes off the tiny, blonde girl.
Her laugh was a bell, a tiny bell that tinkled and gave me a headache, “Oh, monsieur, calmez-vous,” Her fairies voice returned in perfect French, before giving us an apologetic nod, and turning to leave.
Jay grabbed her shoulder and spun her back around, “Ah, ah, la main au portefeuille plus,” He gave her a stern look, she met his gaze head-on without wavering, then reached into her pocket and pulled Danny’s wallet out, handing it to Jay, before she turned, and walked away, her heeled shoes making a loud tap, tap, tap whenever she walked.
Jay handed the wallet to Danny, “Pickpockets, they’re all over Paris,” He muttered sheepishly, brushing us off before he turned and stalked toward the train station ahead of all of us purposefully.
Danny turned the wallet over in his hands, then shoved it back into his pocket,
“Of course, no pretty girl approaches me unless she’s going to steal my money, just lovely,” He scoffed. Lauren and I giggled, while Rebecca and Jacob pushed past us, following Jay. Zeke followed suit, Danny, Lauren, and I exchanged a look before following our friends to the train.

I leaned against the seat of the train, staring out the window, though there wasn’t much to see, as the train whizzed through the underground, networking tunnels. I glanced over at Rebecca and Jacob, who both sat together opposite from Lauren and I, speaking to each other in hushed tones. What was up with them lately? It seemed ever since we got off the plane, they’d been avoiding Lauren and I, though they had no problem talking to Danny, Zeke, or Jay. I couldn’t have done anything to make them angry, could I? I mean, I called Rebecca, ‘Becky’, just before we left for the airport but she had laughed it off good-naturally. It didn’t make sense.
Neither did that tiny blonde girl from the airport, she gave me the chills, and I couldn’t quite figure out why. Her whole appearance screamed ‘average’, average height, curly blonde hair, jade eyes, the bridge of her nose lightly freckled. But that wasn’t what got me. It was the fact that Jay and freaky-girl-that-I-didn’t-like seemed to know each other. Or Jay knew her, he’d held his breath when she appeared and “tripped”, falling into Danny. It had been so fake, faker than.. Miley Cyrus’ singing at a concert! (She lip-syncs, and her voice is auto-tuned, she’s faker than the fake.)
I poked Lauren, “Laurie? You know that girl back at the airport, I didn’t like her, don’t like. It’s just Jay-” I began to explain, but she interrupted me.
“Jay? As in the ex-bad guy idiot that you have a crush on? Oh heck no, don’t you even dare start talking to me about him. I hate him, he’s not good, and I can’t believe you can’t see that,” Lauren said in one breath, before turning away from me slightly.
Well, this trip wasn’t exactly going as planned.
***
Lauren sighed in frustration when there was a noise, a coughing kind of noise, and then the train slowed to a stop on the track. I had to work fast, I’d only messed with the engine, nothing too terribly hard to fix.
Lauren, as I’d expected, jumped up and started pacing the length of the train. I waited until she got halfway behind where our seats were, then slid past Zeke, who appeared to be asleep. I shook my head in disgust at the boy, he was the most childish of them all, so unaware of everything that was going to happen.
I walked down the aisle way between the seats, taking my time. I didn’t want to startle Lauren, she’d hit me for sure, and even so, she’d regret everything she’d ever said to me, all of them would, really. I’d make them regret everything, everything, and all it took was one stupid, curly-haired girl to do it.
I didn’t notice when my pace slowed, as my thoughts drifted. It wasn’t hard to fool Anna, to trick her into pitying me, into believing I wasn’t bad, anymore. It wasn’t as hard to convince everybody else, it took careful planning, endless days, and lying. But it worked. In the end, they all trusted me, to a point. Me? Trustworthy? Never.
It wasn’t hard, and getting them to trust me was just part of it. I’d had to drug Anna’s mother and father, torture them a bit until they agreed to pay for the tickets to Paris, sign them and everything. Then I’d locked them in a closet in their house, I’d left food of course. Not a lot, but it still, they weren’t going to be dead from starvation.
Then, I’d had to mail the tickets to Anna, and wait until they finally got to her, then he’d had to act excited when she told him the news, I was the first to know, naturally. I was one of her closest friends.
Then, they’d arrived in Paris, and Miranda nearly blew the whole thing! I clenched his fists angrily at the thought of the tiny, blonde-haired angel that’d “run into them” in the airport. I’d told her to stay far away until he’d given the okay, but no, the devil’d insisted on nearly blowing it for him, for Smith.
I didn’t particularly like the middle-aged lady, Ms. Smith, the boss of the CIA, the same lady that’d tried to get Anna, Lauren, Rebecca, Jacob, and Danny had stolen a plane from her agency. Luckily, the boss of the agency that they worked for, a branch of the CIA, had come to their rescue just in time.
That’s when Smith contacted me, told me she had someone who needed to be dealt with, and those people happened to be the people I’d been targeting for the past couple of months after the ordeal.
So, I agreed. On my terms, of course, that I got to mess with Lauren. I was going to slowly drive her insane, my revenge. Lauren had to be the smartest, she didn’t trust me, and that got on my nerves. Lauren was also the one who taunted me constantly, hit me whenever she could, and let me tell you, the girl can pack a punch. It’d be a sweet revenge, watching them at the other’s throats.
Manipulation is an art. You must be precise, make sure you’re persuasive, you’ve got to make sure you strike a nerve. Zeke’d been easy, he was so insecure about his status in the agency, having just joined a few months previous, so I’d targeted that weakness, made him think everybody thought they were above him.
Rebecca wasn’t hard either, one of the things that got on her nerves was that rumor about Jay and her dating. I’d gone for that, and it had the desired effect. Rebecca’d told Jacob, and they were both angry. Rebecca, and her best friend, twin, both angry and ready to rip some throats out. Perfect.
And then Lauren. She was going to be tough, but I knew that though she was still bitter about Anna choosing to trust me, Anna was the person she trusted most. Lauren trusted Anna with her life, trusted her with all her secrets, telling her that her best friend had said something nasty behind her back, to another close friend? That would tear her apart. And Lauren, being the emotional wreck she was when it came to Anna, would be the final perfected flaw in my plan. Lauren’d confront Anna, and all heck would break loose.
I shook the thoughts of my brilliant plans, and reached the angry, pacing girl quickly. I gave her a half-smile, “Lauren,” I acknowledged her briefly.
Lauren glared up at me with blazing eyes, “Jay,” Her voice was thick with fury as she spoke my name, “What do you want? I’m not setting you up with Anna,” Lauren added at the end of her angry question.
I nearly laughed. Anna? Oh, ew, I almost thought I was going to be sick.
“That’s not what I was going to tell you, but if you don’t want to know..” I trailed off, waving my hand dismissively, “You probably already know, I mean, she is your best friend and all..”
“What did Anna say?” Lauren demanded, crossing her arms tightly across her chest as she continued to glare at me.
“Well..” I trailed off, drawing it out, her anger shot through the roof in that second, she lunged forward and grabbed the front of my shirt, jerking me down to her level.
“Tell me, now!” Lauren hissed through gritted teeth.
“Anna said that you were clingy, and that she didn’t want to be your friend anymore, that I was a much better friend than you!” I breathed, watching as her face turned from furious to sad in a second.
“B.. B.. I..” Lauren stuttered, staring at me for a long moment. Then, her emotions took another change, “ANNABELLE MARIE JONES, YOU PICKED THIS IDIOT OVER ME?!"

And then all heck broke loose.
Lauren was yelling, that was about all I could understand. I didn’t understand what she was yelling about, though. It made no sense to me. I blinked, sitting up as she stomped her way down the aisle between the seats of the train, I was vaguely aware of Jay, slipping back into his seat and watching almost excitedly.
“Wha?” I raised my eyebrows at her, “Lauren, I think you’re really, really tired or something-”
“SHUT UP, SHUT UP RIGHT NOW!” Lauren shouted, her voice rising slowly, “I know you talk about me behind my back! I know! So don’t bother lying!” Her tone was full of venom, but quieter this time.
“What? Lauren, what in the heck are you talking about?” I demanded, staring at her in confusion.
Lauren jabbed her finger accusingly at Jay, who was just sitting back as if this were completely normal, “He even told me so!”
I looked at Jay, bewildered, “Jay, I never-”
He interrupted me, “Anna,” He shook his head, “There’s no point in trying to lie anymore, they all know you’ve said things about them.” Jay sighed, frowning at me.
“W-what?” I stuttered, “I never said-” I was interrupted again.
“I knew it!” Rebecca suddenly burst out, jumping up, pointing at Lauren and I, “You guys talked about that stupid rumor! Ugh, I have half a mind to pull a machine gun on you both!”
“I never talked about that rumor, you-” Lauren started to protest, which resulted in Jay, Rebecca, and Lauren getting into a yelling match.
“Children, play nice!” Danny interrupted, raising his voice above all the shouting.
We all turned in unison, “Daniel McGavok, shut it!” We all shouted at the same time.
“I said it first, you guys are unoriginal!” Zeke accused.
Rebecca started screaming at him again, Lauren joined in.
“You guys! This is madness!” Danny tried to intervene again.
“THIS IS SPARTA!” Zeke shouted back. Everything was silent for a long moment before we all burst into laughter.
I high-fived Zeke, “EPIC WIN!” We both shouted, laughing.
“See? You’re all just crazy,” Danny huffed, grinning. We sat back down as the train starting moving again.
Rebecca gave him a sharp look, “I will take iAgents off of RPC, if you don’t shut up!” Rebecca said very seriously, before laughing a bit at the end.
Danny whimpered, giving her a puppy-dog eye’d look, “You wouldn’t!”
I rolled my eyes, glancing at Lauren, who was glaring at Jay as he sat down, fists clenched, eyebrows knitted into a frustrated line over his eyes.
***
Friendship. Ugh. It’s ridiculous, it’s stupid, and it’s getting in the way of my plans.
I expected Rebecca to throw one of them out of a window, I expected to have Lauren ripping Anna’s throat out, but no, they don’t have the decency to give me even that.
We arrived to the hotel in a matter of minutes, the driver explained that there had been some simple engine problem, nothing that didn’t happen often.
And now, I was sitting in my room, thinking. Smith.. What was she going to say? They were all supposed to hate the other now. And Miranda, the impatient little devil, would grow bored and mess everything up.
I picked up my cell phone, and hesitated, staring at it for a couple long seconds. Then I dialed the number.
“Miranda, darling?” I drawled.
I heard her giggle on the end of the line, “Yes, Jay?”
“I have something for you to do, love,” I murmured, keeping my voice low out of habit.
“What is that?”
“We’re heading out on a tour bus that will go around the city tomorrow morning, I’ll suggest we stop to get something to eat near Notre Dame, just be there around noon,” I hissed into the receiver before shutting it abruptly as the door opened.
I flashed an award-winning smile at Lauren, “Hi, Laurie, love,” I greeted her, standing up and brushing myself off.
“What kind of sick game are you playing?” Her voice was barely a whisper.
I gave a short, humorless laugh, “Game? Ah, well, I guess it sort of is, isn’t it?” I mused, pursing my lips.
Without warning, she shoved me up against the wall, her hand gripping the front of my shirt, her face twisted into a furious snarl, “You almost got caught today, everyone’s suspicious, especially Anna,” Her voice was low, threatening.
I pursed my lips, my eyebrows furrowing into a tightly knit line over my eyes, “That won’t do, that won’t do at all, now will it?”

It felt kind of like being on a rollercoaster, riding on the top of the neon green double-decker bus with large words in French painted on the side in a fancy, curly-q’d style. Lauren burst out into hysterical laughter when Jay nearly got hit in the head by a tree branch as we were driven down the streets of Paris. He just shook his head and muttered something under his breath.
“OH MY GOSH, LOOK, LOOK, LOOK!” Rebecca was freaking out every very literal five seconds, pointing to buildings and scaring the living daylights out of Jay, who sat on her side.
I snapped a picture as the bus approached the Notre Dame, located in the center of a busy square that branched off onto smaller, less known side-streets. It was around noon, in this time-zone, and we were already tired. We’d had breakfast at the hotel, then left at around six thirty, caught this bus, and we’d been on it ever since, touring around the city.
Jay was inspecting one of the maps, the green line on the map showed where our bus would stop along the way.
“Hey,” He said as our bus pulled to a stop on the curb of the cobblestone street, the engine slowly falling silent as some of the tourists made their way off, while some stayed on and chattered with others. “Why don’t we get off here? Another bus comes ‘round in an hour and a half, that gives us enough time for lunch and sight-seeing,” Jay suggested, looking between all of us to see what we thought.
Rebecca nodded furiously, “Yes, yes, yes!” Rebecca chanted before any of us could protest. Before any of us could say anything else, she grabbed Jacob by the back of the shirt and dragged him off the bus.
I laughed, getting up and collecting my camera before following the overly enthusiastic Rebecca. Danny followed close behind, snickering as we heard Jacob yelling at Rebecca about how he didn’t appreciate being dragged off like he didn’t weigh more than a pound.
Lauren stared at Jay, “You go first, I don’t trust you,” Lauren stated in an icy voice, gesturing for him to go forward without moving from her spot.
Jay laughed humorlessly, before stalking off the bus. He lingered, watching Lauren for a moment before he stepped onto the sidewalk and joined the small group of people.
“Where to, Mr. Frenchie?” Danny looked at Jay. Rebecca, Jacob, Zeke and I all laughed, while Lauren just scowled.
“Um,” Jay paused, seeming to search the thick crowd of people going back and forth across the square, then, a smirk sprang to his lips, “This way,” He finally pointed toward one of the side-streets that branched off of the busy square, “There’s a restaurant down this way, I’ve heard it’s really good.” Jay said coolly before starting in that direction.
I was vaguely aware of Lauren’s sour muttering as we followed, “This oughta be good.”
***
Miranda was impatient, I could tell, though I couldn’t see her crisp, minty eyes, as they were covered by a brand name pair of sunglasses. Her lips were pursed as she waited in the shadows, near the restaurant that I was leading the group of agents to, and she shifted her weight from foot to foot. Another smirk sprang to my lips as I sat down with the agents at one of the tables outside.
“Hey, guys, I’ll be right back,” I informed them, getting up from the table, “I need to use the bathroom,” I lied coolly.
Anna nodded dismissively, as she scanned she menu with eager eyes. “’Kay,” Anna murmured, not really paying attention.
I nodded, walking coolly in the direction where Miranda lurked. I looked behind me to make sure nobody important was watching, Anna was still looking over the menu and discussing with Rebecca and Lauren, Danny and Zeke were having an apparent staring contest, and Jacob was just staring at the menu in what looked like horror.
Miranda’s golden curls fell just past her shoulders, her freckled nose was wrinkled, her pale pink, lip-glossy mouth was pursed, and her crisp eyes were trained on me.
“Jay,” Her voice was low as she greeted me, her eyes flickered from my face to the agents sitting at the table a couple yards away.
“That stunt you pulled in the airport was incredibly stupid,” I informed her, my voice coming out sharper than intended. Her bottom lip stuck out slightly, she batted her eyelashes innocently at me.
“I’m sorry, Jay, you’re not angry are you?” Her voice was a mere whisper as she leaned up on her tiptoes and kissed me lightly, “Please, don’t be angry.”
I sighed as she pulled back and watched me with her peculiar eyes, “I’m not angry, love,” I assured her, twirling one of her golden curls with my finger absentmindedly.
Her giggle sounded in my ears, “Now, tell me why I’m even here,” Her voice had an authoritative edge to it, an edge that only came into her voice generally when she was doing.. Well, this.
Miranda Sanchez, born and raised in America, traveled all over the world with the help of her wealthy family fortune, but France was the only country that stuck. Miranda stuck around for another half a year, learned everything she could about the country, the language, the places you just had to see. Then she’d met me, Jay Simmons, while I was on one of my trips. And we’d been dating for the past six and a half months, in the middle of that, I’d learned she was an ex-agent, she’d been kicked out as she’d let her temper get the best of her and snapped at one point or another. And to be honest, I could understand why the agency had been a little afraid of her when she snapped like that.
“Mm, I tried to get them to fight and it didn’t work, they all made up, there’s still tension between all of them, obviously, but..” I trailed off, frowning in frustration.
“Oh!” Her giggle was brief, “Well, then, let’s hurt the one you hate so much, and blame it on one of the others,” Her tone was matter-of-fact as she looked up at me questioningly.
“You’re absolutely brilliant, you know that?” I demanded before kissing her lightly. Miranda gave me a sly smile, “That wretched girl won’t be coming back in a single piece,” She assured me before kissing me once more and stalking off in the other direction.