Chapter Three

I laid on my bed, looking at the ceiling. I didn’t really understand what was different from this gang and all the others. All I know is what Matt told me, the fact that their numbers are increasing and they’re becoming uncontrollable. It meant one thing, that we needed to fix this and soon. I looked at the clock and it showed 5:45.

My door suddenly slammed open, "Riley! I don't know what to wear! I have never been to high school before," Rachel said nervously as she walked into my room wearing nothing but a towel as her wet hair dripped down her back.

"I haven't either," I said, shrugging.

"Oh, this is my specialty! Girls, I will have you ready before school starts!" Emily said, skipping in. She had her long blond hair in a fishtail braid going down to the middle of her back. She was wearing a white shirt and a green vest with light blue skinny jeans and a pair of black sandals. Emily was the only one of us who had been to high school, which was partially the reason she came on the mission. She was only there for half of freshman year, because she wanted to focus on her training and decided to get home schooled.

All of us have a backstory of how we joined the agency. Most of us joined because our parents are or were in the agency so naturally we would just join, too. I sat on the edge of my bed as Emily started to go through my bags of clothes I hadn't bothered to unpack.

"Okay, Riley, you are going to wear this. Now go take a shower," Emily said, shoving clothes in my hands and pushing me into my bathroom. The bathroom was three times bigger than my bathroom at home. Apparently, my theme was gold, silver, and red for my room. All the curtains were red and had fancy designs on them in gold.

I looked at the clothes she handed me. A pair of blue ripped shorts that would go about mid0thigh and a purple tank top. I rolled my eyes but took a quick shower, washing with vanilla and honey soap. I dried myself and put on my clothes, walking out of the bathroom to see Emily just finishing Rachel's hair. Rachel was now wearing a pair of black skinny jeans and a white crop top that showed her belly button ring. She wore a pair of light pink Converse to match. Her brown hair, which had caramel highlights, was left down naturally in its waves.

"This is about to be fun as hell. Now sit, I'm going to do your hair. Hurry up, because we have thirty minutes to get to school," Emily ordered.

"Please explain to me why I am the only one who has to wear shorts?" I asked when she finished blow drying my hair.

"Well, it may have to do with the fact that you have beautiful tan legs," Emily said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Where am I gonna keep my knives or gun or any weapons?" I asked, annoyed. I refused to go to the school without a weapon. It’s not like I honestly needed one but if worse came to worst. It's good to have one just in case.

"Well, you are one of the best agents. I’m sure you can find a spot," Emily said, and Rachel laughed. Emily finished up my hair by leaving it naturally straight.

"Is there a reason why I look so special?" I asked.

"It's the first day of school. You’re supposed to look good. Now put your weapons on and let’s go. We can all take your car. I'm pretty sure Joey is already waiting downstairs for you," Rachel said, smiling and skipping out.

I decided to just bring one pocket knife and to just stick it in my bra.

"R-Riley, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you in anything but black. You look good," Joey said nervously, rubbing the back of his neck as a blush appeared on his cheeks.

Rachel laughed as he stuttered, causing him to go even more red. Emily and Rachel gave me a knowing look that I wasn’t sure I completely understood.

"Thanks." I smiled, grabbing my keys.

"Bye, Matt!" we all yelled and got into my black 2008 Ronn Scorpion.

"Wow, nice car," Joey smirked, sitting up front with me.

"This car is my new baby," I said, patting the leather seats with one hand as the other was on the steering wheel. We made it to school in less than five minutes. Surprisingly, it wasn't that far.

"Oh, my gosh, this is going to be amazing!" Emily squealed while clapping her hands.

"Yeah, like totally! We get to see like hot boys and like make out with them and stuff," Joey said in a fake high-pitched girly voice.

Rachel and I laughed as Emily glared at him.

"Here is everyone’s schedules and earpieces," I said, opening the folder Matt gave me.

"Why do we need earpieces?" Rachel asked.

"In case we need information on things so Matt can look it up," I said and she nodded.

"Ready?" I asked.

"High school, here we come," Joey said, and we all slid out of the car.

"People are staring," Rachel whispered worriedly.

"Hun, that's a good thing," Emily whispered back.

"Really? Because I’m not liking some of these looks," Joey said, glaring at a few guys.

"Oh, lighten up. I'm here for one thing and one thing only. This is a strict business trip," I said, and Joey sighed in relief.

Emily only shook her head before looking around while saying, "What were the names of these so-called guys anyway?"

"Jesse Farone, Taylor Jones, Christopher Hall, and I don't remember the last one. I think it started with a J," Joey answered.

"James Ward," I answered.

"Anyone remember what they looked like?" Emily asked, and I nodded.

“You all should remember, if you don’t, spend an hour sitting in the bathroom or a hall closet looking at your folder again. This is a big case, your focus should be on nothing else besides this.” I said sternly.

“Now, we will have to find them and keep an eye out. Any clues, let me know. Oh, by the way, Matt didn't want to give us all the same classes because it would look a little suspicious so we will probably only have a few together," I said and Rachel groaned.

"Does anyone have Physics first?" Joey asked and we all shook our heads.

"Well, I'm going to go get my books and then go to my locker. Anyone wanna come?" Joey asked us.

"April will go," Emily said, and I gave her a weird look but nodded anyway.

"Yeah, I'll come to the office with you, let’s go, Alex," I said and we headed to the office. "I don't know why Cole picked Alex. It doesn't fit you at all," I said, scrunching up my nose.

He laughed and flicked my nose, earning himself a playful glare.

"Hello, what can I get you two?" the lady asked, tilting her glasses down a little.

"Hi, we're both new here and just wanted to pick up our books," I said politely.

"Names? And grade?" she asked.

"April Waters and Alex Lubin," Joey said.

She nodded, grabbing our books. "Hope you have a good year at Wood's High," she said politely and went back to typing on her computer.

"Well, I'll see you later," I said to Joey and he nodded.

"I would give you a hug but, as you can see, my hands are full," he said sheepishly.

"Bye," I said as I headed to put the books in my locker. As I was watching the numbers, I didn't realize someone was in front of me. I bumped into them, causing all my books to fall. I groaned. How cliché.

"Watch where you’re going," a girl with long auburn said.

"Sorry," I said sarcastically, and she just flipped her hair over her shoulder and walked away.

"Oh, my gosh, are you okay?" A girl ran over to me. She had bright red, long, curly hair. She looked at me, searching for any signs of me being hurt.

I started picking up my books and said, "I'm fine. It’s not like her bumping into me can really do much harm."

"Be careful, she is the one of tops at the school here. I'm Lily." She held out her hand to shake.

"I’m sure that won’t be a problem. I'm April." I smiled, shaking her hand.

"You’re the new girl, right?" she asked me curiously.

"Yup. I'm one of them," I said, picking up the last two books and standing up.

"Well, I guess I should say welcome to this hell hole. What's your first block?" she asked me with a smile as we headed toward my locker.

"Calculus," I replied and her smile got even bigger.

"So do I. You can sit next to me!" she said and I nodded, opening my red locker.

"Oh, I feel bad for you!" she said, her smile replaced with a worried look.

"Why?" I asked, raising an eyebrow as I gave her a quick glance before turning back to my locker.

"This is the bad part of the school," she responded, looking around warily.

"The bad part?" I asked, amused, ignoring someone else who bumped into me. I was definitely interested in this part of school.

"Toward the end of this hallway is where the school's bad boys hang out," she said nervously. “This is like that section you don’t really go in the school unless you want to go for a smoke break or you have some extracurriculars with a certain someone.”

"What’s so scary about these bad boys?" I asked, leaning against my locker with my Calculus book.

"They don't talk to anyone and rumor is they are in a gang from the south side. They never even come to class," Lily said. "There are four of them, and Jesse Farone in the leader. Taylor Jones is his best friend. James Ward and Chris Hall are the other two. They like never come to school but when they do, you’ll be captivated by them." Lily sighed dreamily.

"I still don't get what makes this hallway so bad," I said as the three-minute bell rang, and people started rushing to their classes, bumping into me.

"I heard they keep guns and stuff in their lockers," she whispered, looking around.

"Is this place always so crowded?" I asked and she nodded. “It's like going through an Elephant Stampede," I said, and Lily giggled as I got bumped into for the millionth time.

"So, like I heard there were three other new students. Are you all brothers and sister or something?" she asked me as we sat down in the middle of the classroom.

“You’re cousins,” Matt said in my earpiece and I raised an eyebrow. Really? He was listening into our conversations?

"Nope, we are actually cousins." I smiled.

"Oh. Did you move here from England? I can tell you have a British accent or am I mistaken?” she said.

"No, it's a British accent." I smiled.

"Okay, class, quiet down! We have a new student today. Would you like to stand up and introduce yourself?" Mr. Trout asked me.

I nodded and stood up. "Hello, I'm April Waters, and I'm a transfer student from the UK." I smiled then sat down.

"Oh, by the way, Jesse Farone is in this class, too, but he never shows up, so I wouldn't count on seeing him," Lily said and I nodded.

Mr. Trout started going through the lesson quickly, giving us a few questions for homework then he sent us off as the bell rang.

"April," Rachel yelled, running up to me.

"Hey." I smiled.

'There was this really cute guy who sat next to me in French!" she squealed, and I couldn’t help but laugh. Yes, this was mission, but I could understand the slight excitement from being surrounded by normal people who weren’t agents.

"Yeah, it's high school. There are going to be a lot of cute guys here," I said and she squealed again.

"Oh, how rude of me. Lily this is Mandy. Mandy this is Lily," I said and they smiled, shaking hands.

"Well, I have English next, so I'm gonna go," I said.

They both said bye as we all headed our separate ways. I made it to English a minute before the bell rang, and I noticed Joey was sitting a little toward the back. He waved me over, and I smiled then joined him. After we introduced ourselves, Mr. Williams started to take attendance.

"Hey, babe, Wanna go sneak off to the janitor’s closet?" a guy whispered in my ear. “That’s the place to go around here.”

"No," I snapped, rolling my eyes.

"C'mon, babe. You know you'll enjoy it." He smirked and I glared at him.

"Move. You’re in my seat,” a gruff voice said behind him.

"No find yo—" he started to say but stopped when he saw who was behind him. "Sorry!" he squeaked and quickly moved seats. I noticed Mr. Williams didn't even bother to look up from his desk.

"I'm guessing he is one of those teachers who write questions on the board and makes us do them," Joey said.

"Most likely," I said and looked to my left where a guy with brown hair was sitting. He had light blue eyes that would have given him a little boy look if he wasn't glaring at the board. I noticed his jaw was clenched, and he seemed to be tense. He was wearing a white shirt that stuck to his muscular chest and a plaid shirt over it. His black jeans went well with the outfit, so clearly he cared about his appearance.

"What?" he snapped at me.

"Oh, nothing,” I said, feeling my face heat up. “Sorry." I got out a piece of paper and wrote I think I found the leader! then passed it to Joey. He raised an eyebrow at me, curiously.  In response, I dropped my pencil next to him and got up to grab it.

"I think the leader, Jesse Farone, is right next to me," I whispered.

His eyes widened when he looked over. "Why do you think that's him?"

"I have an instinct. Trust me, I think that’s him," I said.

"April? Alex? Is there a problem back there?" Mr. Williams asked.

"No, I'm just grabbing my pencil," I said, sitting back in my seat and blushing as everyone looked back at me. Tons of whispers started when people saw who was sitting next to me. All I kept hearing was the same name over and over again in their whispers.

"Yep, definitely Jesse," Joey whispered.

I took a small glance at Jesse and noticed his fists were clenched and his knuckles were turning white.

"Hey, are you okay?” I asked him, and he turned his dark look toward me. The bell rang and he quickly got up and stormed out of the room. Everyone just stared and continued to talk, walking out of the room a couple seconds after.

"How are we supposed to find out anything about him if all he does is glare and snap at people?" I asked Joey as we walked out together.

"I don't know, but we will find a way," Joey said encouragingly.

"Yeah, I guess. I got some information on them from my new friend Lily," I said to Joey.

"What did you find out?" he asked as we stopped at his locker.

"I'll tell you at lunch with the others," I said and he nodded.

"See ya later," Joey said, walking the opposite way. I went to my Physics class, which went by fast since Emily and Rachel were in it. When that class finished, we were lucky to all have lunch together thanks to Matt.

"I'm gonna go to my locker and drop off my books. Why don't we all meet on the bleachers at the football field?" I asked.

"Yup, sounds good," Emily said and we all split up.

When I opened my locker, I dumped all my books in and was about to shut it when I looked in the mirror and saw Jesse standing at the end of the hall with his group, looking to be in a deep discussion. My view got blocked by a guy standing behind me, causing me to jump in surprise.

"Um, hello," I said, turning around.

"Hey, you must be my new locker neighbor, April. Right?" the guy asked and I nodded.

"I'm Eric," he said, holding out his hand.

"Well, Eric, it’s really nice to meet you, but I really must be going," I said, closing my locker.

"You want to come eat lunch with me and my friends?" he asked.

"Sorry, I already told my cousins I would eat with them, but maybe another time we can eat together," I said with an apologetic look.

"Yeah, maybe another time. It was nice meeting you, April." He smiled, showing off his dimples.

"You, too." I smiled, before walking away. I turned back to wave goodbye, but instead my attention was caught by Jesse, who was looking directly at me from the end of the hall.

I smirked, walking away. Getting his interest was all I needed.

"I was just coming to get you. What was taking you so long?" Joey asked, walking up to me outside the football field.

"I'll explain when we sit down," I said and he groaned.

"Okay, Riley has some information that she wouldn't share unless we are all here. So, Riley, please feel free to spill. Now," Joey said with an exaggerated sigh.

"Well, when I met Lily today, she walked with me to my locker and she told me that my locker is in the worst hall," I said.

"Why is it the worst hall?" Emily asked.

"She said it was the worst spot to have my locker because it's by the bad boys’ lockers. I asked her what was so bad about that and she said that the rumor going around is that all four of them are in a gang. I have no idea why, but when he sat next to me, he seemed really tense. When I was looking in my mirror, I saw all four of them seemed to be in a deep discussion about something," I said, moving a piece of hair out of my face.

"Do you know what the discussion was about?" Rachel asked me.

"No idea. I would have tried to listen in, but my locker neighbor decided to introduce himself," I said, scowling.

"That sucks. But I have a tiny bit of information, too," Rachel said and we all gave her a go on look.

"Okay, well, I ended up seeing Jesse in the hall with his friends, and it seems that Matt was wrong. Christopher is actually the quiet one, not James, and I overheard James say they are going somewhere on Friday during the school day," Rachel said and I smiled.

"Now that is good information. Okay, so we will get information about where they live and follow them," I said and everyone nodded.

This mission will be over before we know it.