License for Sorrow

“Morning Ben,” Evelyn greeted him with a smile.

“Good morning high school you mean,” joked Ben, with a tint of regret in his voice. “I could have done with a few more months of summer.”

“And do what? Play Minecraft all day?”

“Yes, siree.”

Evelyn smiled and started to say something but stopped.

Two teens walking down a hallway towards class is a normal September view, at least if you are in a school. But a spy walking down a school hallway is not an ordinary school sight at all. That’s why Evelyn Rider decided to keep secrets from everyone, including her best friend, Ben. Even though she was longing to tell someone about her summer, she had promised silence. And even if she did tell someone, no one would believe her. 

It all started on her sixteenth birthday. Because it was at the beginning of the summer break, many of her friends were on vacation in Hawaii, Mexico, and so on. That meant no party or anything big. But she didn't really care. All she wanted was a quiet, peaceful day to spend with her parents. Her dad was never around for more than a few days every month and whenever he was at home, he was always tired and didn’t have much time for his daughter. Her birthday was one of the few occasions where Evelyn could spend time with her dad. 

The morning went well. Her Mum made her special Nutella pancakes for breakfast and then the whole family went out to a nearby park. Then things started to smell fishy. During a hearty lunch at Boston Pizza, Evelyn noticed her parents whispering a lot. And then, her father said it.

“Evelyn, we have something to tell you.”

He told her that he was a spy working for the CIA. Evelyn took the news as a joke but soon understood it wasn’t. She was shocked and the big news wasn’t even there yet. 

“You have been observed and trained for something like this ever since you took your first step. We have all agreed that you are capable and ready for this. Do you want to be a spy?”

“Do I? I’ve been dreaming about something like this since I was ten. Of course!”

“I’m just warning you, it isn’t just like in the movies.”

Evelyn did have a thing for spies. But she soon learned what her father had warned her about on her own skin. All summer, she trained at the nearest base to her home. She even went on a few mini-missions. When school arrived she was pretty happy. 

A few miles away, a few CIA agents had tracked down the son of an agent from VENOM, a criminal and terrorist organization that was ready to do any unlawfulness. Their files told them that he was prone to becoming an agent for that organization anytime soon. Maybe he already was. And they were right. He was working for them already. One of the CIA agents had infiltrated VENOM’s system and had learned that Adrien Turner was assigned on a mission at Winterville High School. He had signed up as Adrien Evans. He knows lots of secret information about the CIA, his file said. This Adrien Turner could not be left alive. It wasn’t something that they would normally do but Adrien had to die.

Evelyn was walking towards the cafeteria to meet Ben at their usual spot when she spotted a group of girls walking towards her. But it wasn’t just any group of girls. They were the meanest girls at that high school. Jade, Rosa, and Eesha. Jade, the group leader walks up to her. She smiles cruelly and then shoves her hard. Evelyn’s books fly everywhere. Groups of students that were there by chance stopped to watch. No one helped and all were laughing. Evelyn's head hit the hard floor. The last thing she saw before her eyes and her mind closed was a handsome boy she had never seen before.

She woke up in the nurse’s office, something cold was on her forehead, soothing the pain that she felt right before she lost consciousness. The same handsome stranger was there, sitting in one of the few chairs the nurse’s office had to offer. He handed her a glass of water as soon as he realized she was awake.

“I’m Adrien. Adrien Evans. If I’m not wrong, you’re Evelyn, right? I’m new here.”

“Yes, I’m Evelyn,” she mumbled.

Mumbling could be a very normal thing after a head injury. The dizziness, the nausea, the headaches. But the reason Evelyn mumbled is that she liked him. It was kind of like love at first sight. His deep, dark eyes, his perfect features, the daring and wicked smile. The thought of him made her grin.

When Ben heard of Evelyn’s accident, he couldn’t help but panic. Even though he knew it was only a minor injury and not anything serious, he was still anxious to see her. He was also very mad and couldn’t wait to get revenge on those three girls, especially Jade. Ben liked Evelyn a lot and he wanted to be more than best friends, but he knew that Evelyn only cared for him as a friend. He had to wait. But till then, revenge awaits.

Back at CIA’s main headquarters, the head officer got a call. 

“Sir, we found our man, it’s…” That’s when things started to go awry. There was a moment of static when the agent was telling the head who their man, or maybe boy, was. Through the static, Agent 001 heard, or at least that's what he understood, Benjamin Collins. They were all making a very big mistake. The culprit was Adrien Turner or as Winterville High knew, Adrien Evans.

One week after the accident, in Math class, her smartwatch started vibrating. Looking down at her hand, three letters filled the black screen. SOS. Evelyn quickly excused herself from class and ran to the nearest bathroom. Once she was there, she pressed the special button that had been inserted into her watch. It would transmit calls without them getting intercepted by enemies. The robotic voice of the device greeted her. Then, she called the agency.

“Evelyn, I’m glad to see you called this fast. We have a very important mission for you. Only you can complete it because of where you are. An agent of VENOM has entered your high school disguised as a student. You need to get rid of him by the end of this week. That’s when he leaves. His name is Benjamin Collins. A parcel will be sent to your home today with all the materials needed. That is all I can tell you. Good luck.”

The watch beeped once, signalling the end of the call. 

“Benjamin Collins? But that’s Ben. My best friend Ben. No way,” Evelyn whispered to herself.

But she had to believe it because when the package arrived later that evening, the letter describing her mission clearly said Benjamin Collins. It was almost impossible for Ben to be a villain. He had been fairly quiet ever since school started but that was mostly because Evelyn would be the one talking non-stop. Her heart could not do what she had been assigned to do but as an agent, she had to blindly obey each and every command or else it was treason. She had to kill Ben. 

The package contained a bottle of cyanide, a deadly chemical that kills you in minutes and an instruction manual on the dose measurements and safety precautions. There was also a necklace with an emergency signal and a GPS, just in case there were any unexpected troubles along the way.

A few minutes after the package had arrived at the Rider household, another package arrived for Benjamin Collin. It was a gold necklace in the shape of a heart, with the word Evelyn written on it. Ben was going to tell Evelyn how he felt about her. There was the chance of Evelyn rejecting him but he was willing to give it a shot. 

Adrien Turner was also making plans of his own. He had to kidnap the Winterville High principal before the end of the week. Mr. Zoumis had lots of information about a nuclear bomb, hidden in the Alps. VENOM wanted the information and they would get it in any way possible. 

Three plans, one out of force, one out of love, and one out of hatred.

Evelyn spent as much time with Ben as possible that next day. She knew it was pretty ironic because she would have to kill him that very day. On the other hand, she sought refuge in the new boy, Adrien. He was always there to talk to, even though Evelyn didn’t reveal anything other than the fact that she was going to lose a very good friend. His charming smile and his quick-witted replies always made her feel better. With Evelyn spending so much time with him, Ben was raising his hopes that Evelyn would also like him back.

“Hey, Ben.” Evelyn had to do this as quickly as possible. “Do you want to go hang out after school? We could go to McDonald's or something.”

“Yes! I mean yeah, sure. See you after school.”

Evelyn quickly smiled and started walking rapidly towards the girls' washroom with tears in her eyes. She quietly sobbed in a stall for a few minutes before getting herself back together. She was a real spy after all. 

The day passed faster than usual and Ben’s end was near. They went to McDonald's together. Ben ordered his usual McCombo and Evelyn ordered ice cream. She was too nervous to eat anything but had to appear normal. They had a meal together and left to go for a walk. Ben took his drink with him. Evelyn took Ben to a remote part of the park, where she had been instructed to in the letter she had received. When Ben wasn’t looking she poured the contents of a tiny vial she had in her pocket into his Coke. It was cyanide. 

Ben took a sip. A few minutes later, he started complaining about a headache. Evelyn only smiled and fought back tears. Then Ben fell to the ground, his lips turning blue. He started breathing with difficulty then stopped whatsoever. He was dead. 

Right when she was about to call a nearby agent, Evelyn heard shouts from behind her.

“Stop! Stop! He’s innocent! It was Adrien Evans!”

The word innocent hit Evelyn like a brick in the head. And let's not talk about the other sentence. But it was too late. Evelyn fell to her knees beside Ben, tears pouring like two streams. In the confusion that followed, a golden chain fell out of Ben’s pocket. It caught Evelyn’s eye in a flash. She lifted it from the ground and saw her name engraved in a heart. Ben had loved her and she had killed him. She bent down and kissed Ben’s cold, blue lips. Then she fainted. 

Back at Winterville High, Adrien Turner was completing his job. The principal was unconscious in the back of a van driven by one of Adrien’s bodyguards. Time was running out now. With only a few hours left on the clock, the CIA had to track down the real criminal, Adrien Turner and save the kidnapped principal.