I looked out of my window and saw daylight peeking through the blinds. Oh great. Looks like I stayed up through the night. Ugh. 5:45? I got off my desk chair closing my laptop along the way. I grabbed my clothes and walked in the shower.

“Honey? Are you done yet?”

“Yes, Mom. I’ll be out in a minute!”

“Breakfast is on the table!”

I walked out of my room and grabbed my backpack. I straightened out my uniform and walked to the kitchen.

“Morning, Mom” I said with a smile as I took a seat at the table.

Mom was concentrating on reading her daily newspaper. She looked up with her reading glasses, “Good morning. Ready for school?” She gave me a big smile.

“Not exactly.” I gave her a face.

“Why not? Look here. You have nothing to worry about. It’s just junior year.”

“Yeah… just junior year.”

“Krys. Don’t worry. Pretend it’s just another mission.”

Let me formally introduce myself. My name is Krystal Jung and I attend the Arcadia Academy for Exceptional Young Women. Normal people would assume that I’m a rich snob attending the most prestigious and premier school in the world. Too bad, it’s a school… for spies.

Now, unlike normal junior students, I don’t have to worry about boys, prom, makeup and that nasty breakout or that overdue homework assignment. Not that I don’t have to, it’s just that I can’t; attending Arcadia Academy means that I can speak twelve different languages and can change my look with a pair of tweezers and shoe polish.

I finished my breakfast and started to get up.“Okay, Mom. I’m gonna head to school now.” I walked over and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

“Relax. Just be yourself.” She gave me a smirk.

I gave her a look. Yeah, thanks Mom, cause being myself is totally what Arcadia has taught me. Becoming someone else is by far easier than being yourself.

“I’ll see you later. I’ll be in my office by orientation.” Oh, did I forget to mention that my mom is also the headmistress? “I love you!”

“Love you too!” and I walked out the door and into the black escalade waiting outside.

“Jeremy! Did you wait long?” Jeremy has been our family driver even before I was born.

“No, Ms. Krystal.”

“Jeremy! Why won’t you ever just call me Krystal?” I gave him a pout.

Jeremy just laughed and drove me to school. 6:40. Perfect timing.

“Krys!”

“Tal!”

I turned my head and saw my two best friends waving like maniacs.

“Sulli! Luna! Come here!” and that’s when I knew I just made a big mistake.

Two little flying animals started running towards me. I made a run for it. I started sprinting in the direction where our dorm room was before they trampled me.

“Where are you going?!”

“Saving myself!”

“Finally! Took you long enough.” a voice came through as I opened the door.

“Now, now. Victoria, you don’t have to be so loud.”

Victoria got off her bed and went to hug me. Soon after, Sulli and Luna came running from behind and we ended up in a big huddle. Suddenly the school bell rang and we all went to grab our school bags off the floor. One by one, side by side we walked through the halls of Arcadia Academy for Girls.

The Academy, of course, has high security, which makes it hard for anyone and us to get pass. The school sometimes reminds me of a university. You could spend some nice walks around the school. Sometimes it makes me feel normal. There is plenty of scenery to look at and the school isn’t too big or too tall. There’s a garden near the back of the school. We call it The Arcas Circle because our school was named after him. His mother was seduced by Zeus and as a result, Arcas was born. We’re taught to be as loyal as Callisto, his mother, and to be as tough as Arcas, the great hunter.

If you came for a field trip you’d never suspect it was a spy school, until you get a glimpse of one of our class schedules.

“Krystal, what class do you have tomorrow?”

“Um, I have Covert Operations. Aren’t we all in it together?”

“Actually it’s just us three” Sulli said and she gestured her fingers toward Victoria, herself and me.

I looked at Luna. “You have Tech Mathematics, again?”

“Girl, you got to stop staring at Mr. Lee and start doing your work.” Victoria advised her.

“Unless this girl is just staying in there to stare at him all day.” I pointed at her.

“Well, what can I say,” Luna flipped her hair, “he is so good looking.” We all laughed together. It always felt like home with these girls, I don’t know what I’d do without them.

“Lu, I know you know all the stuff. Hurry up and ask to transfer to Covert with us! We can’t do missions without you!”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. But my husband will be so disappointed!” She gave us her best it’s-not-your-fault-it’s-mine look.

I walked out with Sulli in hopes of finding food. “Oh gosh, I’m starving!”

“I know, me too!” Sulli said in return. “You know, I don’t get it. Why do they still make us come for orientation when we’re juniors. We obviously know what we’re doing.”

“I don’t know, it’s probably cause we need to set good examples and stuff. I didn’t even get any sleep last night.” I let out a deep sigh.

“And we had to be here by 7 to check in…”

“And orientation isn’t until 11…”

We headed towards the direction of the main hall where the rest of the Arcadia Girls were at. As we walked down the hallways, we heard a voice in the distance. Which made us stop in our tracks and look at each other. Everyone was in the main hall waiting for my mother to make her speech.

“She didn’t suspect anything?” said a deep voice. Mr. Ahn?

“Suspect?” Sulli asked.

“No, Krys doesn’t know anything.” My mother’s voice rang through my ears.

As a spy, there are things that make us stop. As a girl, hearing my name of course I’d want to know what it was about! Sulli’s eyes looked like they were about to explode and she leaned in a whispered, “What don’t you know?”

“We can’t let her know,” my mother’s voice spoke again, “We can’t let anyone know.”

“About blackthorn?” What’s black thorn, blackthorn? Blackthorne? Whatever it was, it was classified and I wasn’t supposed to know.

“No, not about anything. Not yet, i