After having breakfast in the main cafeteria, the four of us walked down the hall to our classes.

“Alright, this is where we part.” Luna said as she pointed to her left.

“Luna, hurry up and get out of that class already.” Victoria lectured, “Stop staying in class just to look at the teacher. Stop making yourself look so dumb.”

“Okay, Mama Song!” She said as she twirled around and skipped down the hall to class.

Sulli and I just scoffed at her little actions. When will she ever stop being so adorable?

We continued down the hall to the sublevel elevators. The school may seem like an old mansion for spoiled princesses on the outside, but in reality, there were five underground levels- and that was only what wasn’t classified.

Sublevels were only open to students who had passed the previous class requirements. Ahem, Tech Mathematics being one of them. After passing the class, students allowed to enter, and that was only one level at a time.

This year was the first year we were able to access the sublevel. We walked up to the screen on the right and put out I.D. cards out to scan and then we stood in a straight line to let it scan our eyes. The doors began to open slowly and all that could play in my head was a robotic voice welcoming me.

Welcome to Sublevel 1, Krystal Jung and friends.

Mr. Ahn walked into the class and called for everyone’s attention.

“Alright class. How was everyone’s break? Ok? Good. Now I have a special announcement to make.” He touched his ear and focused on the wall. He must have gotten a message. “Sorry, everyone. I’ll be right back.”

Mr. Ahn walked to his office on the other side of the room and closed the door. Soon, Someone opened the classroom door. A girl with a small build and straight black hair walked in. Luna. She took small quiet steps to our seats and sat down next to me.

“I see someone finally decided to show up.”

“Well, I figured two years of that class was enough.” She pretended to wipe a tear, “Goodbye, future husband, Mr. Lee.”

We all laughed.

“So how’d you transfer out?” Victoria asked.

“Right when I walked through the door, he told me he transferred me to Covert.” She stuck her tongue out.

“Even he wants you out.” Sulli smirked.

“Nah, he already knew that I knew all the material even before I walked into the class.” She put her head on her fist and sighed.

Mr. Ahn walked out of his office and walked towards the front. All the students fixed their posture.

“As I was saying. I have a special announcement to make. As you all know, every year we have practice missions. Tonight, we’re going to begin our first mission. So I need everyone to meet at the gates at fourteen hundred. You’re all dismissed.”

We were lounging in our room before we had to meet at two. Krystal and Sulli were getting ready while Luna and I snacked on some trail mix.

“Can we please get some real food first?” Luna suddenly said agitated, “I’m so sick of this.”

We laughed at her sudden outbreak and reluctantly agreed. We just got to school and we haven’t had time to have a real meal yet.

“Can we go to the sandwich shop downstairs?” Victoria shouted from the bathroom.

“Yeah! Can we?” Sulli asked ecstatically.

“Sounds good!” I shouted along. I stood up and tied my hair up in a ponytail before we all left the room and locked the door.

The cold wind blew in our faces as we stepped on the cobblestone driveway of Arcadia to meet the rest of the class. As much as we’re taught to be calm under any circumstances, it’s always nice having eight girls standing together.

We started for the familiar van just at the end of the driveway before Mr. Ahn called out, “That’s not our ride.” Eight highly trained operatives stumbled to a stop and looked further down the driveway for another van to pull up.

“Then how are…” I stopped mid-sentence when I noticed the snow behind Mr. Ahn began moving. I blinked a few times to double check and I swear the ground was shifting. Pretty sure it wasn’t an earthquake.

My mind went blank for a moment when the ground opened up and Mr. Ahn showed a faint smile. A helicopter slowly rode up and Mr. Ahn pointed behind himself, “That’s how.”

I know we’re juniors at a prestigious spy school, but helicopters were something foreign! We’ve been taught chemistry, biology, calligraphy, and even mechanics, but this is some new stuff. My stomach started doing flips. I don’t know if it was the height, nerves or just the sight of blindfolds in the grip of Mr. Ahn’s hands, but I was slightly shaking, and no, it wasn’t because we were flying mid air.

“Sorry ladies, but this won’t be a sightseeing tour.” He handed out the blindfolds and we obligingly put them on. “Now get comfortable, this will take a while.”

After exactly, thirty-eight minutes and twenty-three seconds, I felt the helicopter descend slowly. We’re here. Mr. Ahn had told Hana to stop peeking twice, but other than that most of the ride was dead silent except for the soft murmurs of the helicopter blades slicing through the winter air. I had absolutely no idea where we were headed, which direction and if we just flew in circles the whole time.

The helicopter touched ground and we were guided out to a idled van nearby-blindfolds on. Once we were all neatly seated inside we were once again heading to another unknown destination. We finally came a to a stop and were allowed to take our blindfolds off.

“Alright, tonight is the big game. We’re playing with the pros.” Mr. Ahn spoke out. “Last semester some of you proved you could blend in when you wanted to” -he looked right at me- “and tonight, you’re going to switch the roles. Tonight, you’ll be tailed.” He paused. “And that, ladies, it is much harder.”

Mr. Ahn was definitely right. Last semester we learned from tailing Mr. Chu how much he had to do in order to enjoy a night out in town. It was tiring just from watching him, and I knew what Mr. Ahn meant. The bad guys could be anywhere, and the odds were always in their favor.

The doors swung open and the cold breeze filled the van. “Groups of two and don’t be late to the meeting,” Mr. Ahn handed Liz a packet before the metal doors clanked and he was gone.

“Open them, Krys.” Sulli spoke up. I glided to my right and opened it slowly.

“We’re at the mall.”

I opened the door fully as our eyes adjusted to the brightness. We slid out the back of the van one by one until all eight were on our feet. I turned around and shut the van