The Unwanted Spy

by Scarlett Haven

  The votes aren’t hard to hack into. Like, at all. They’re not even secured. It only takes me a few seconds to break through the firewall and find the file.

  My heart races as I click the link to open the file.

  I close my eyes and take a deep breath before looking.

  Fuller, Kalvin: Roxy Villareal.

  Kessler, Ian: Roxy Villareal.

  Newman, Weston: Roxy Villareal.

  Vasiliev, Alek: Roxy Villareal.

  I stare at my computer screen in shock.

  First, I’m shocked to see that Kal voted for me. He straight up told me he didn’t. But not just him. All four of the guys wrote my name down.

  I push my hair out of my face as I look closer to make sure I didn’t miss something, but no. It’s here in black and white on my screen.

  But it doesn’t make sense. None of the guys even like me. They’ve all made it clear that they’ve pretty much hated me from the beginning. So, why did they vote for me?

  I also realize, they knew my last name. Every one of them knew who my parents were when they voted for me. Maybe they voted for me because of them. Maybe they didn’t look into me at all before voting for me. It would explain why they were so upset that day that we met.

  That doesn’t make sense. I know these guys and none of them would vote for me on a whim. They would have put in their research. I’m not the only kid that comes from The Royals—there are plenty they could have chosen. But they didn’t. They picked me.

  I still can’t believe my eyes as I look at the votes again.

  All four of them.

  I shake my head at the results.

  It shouldn’t make me feel as good as it does. What they think shouldn’t matter to me. But it so does. Knowing this changes everything and nothing, all at the same time. It changes everything because now I know. It changes nothing because I can’t just tell them I hacked into the vote.

  Did they all just decide to vote for me? Or did they all just vote for me on their own? That is what I need to know now, but I can’t know about private conversations they had before they added me to the team.

  Holy crap.

  They all voted for me.

  I look at it again, just to make sure the votes haven’t changed, and they haven’t.

  I wonder if Ian knows. He hacks into everything. Certainly, he’s hacked into this. Unless he thought that he was the only one who voted for me.

  Ian... I still can’t believe he voted for me. He will barely even look at me, let alone talk to me. And West! Those glares that he always gives me. I want so badly to storm out of my room and shove it in his face that I know, but I have to wait until the right time.

  Alek kind of makes sense, now that I know. He’s the one who has taken the time to train me. Maybe he feels guilty for voting for me. And Kal makes sense, I’ve thought he was the one who voted for me, for a while now. But after he told me he didn’t, I believed him.

  I shut the lid on my computer and lie back in my bed, staring at my ceiling.

  I’m glad I hacked into that because I feel a lot better about myself now.

  His weakness.

  Alek, West, and Kal go out that night.

  Normally, their Sunday nights are spent watching some lame movie while they enjoy the last of their weekend. I think the only reason they’re going out is to avoid me. They don’t really know how to act after what happened today, and I’m fine with that. I kind of want some time to myself anyway so I can process what I found out earlier.

  Ian is sitting on the couch on his computer and I sit next to him. Being in a room with him is kind of like being in a room by myself. He ignores me, pretending I don’t exist. But now that I know he voted for me, too, it feels different somehow.

  Have I not lived up to his expectations?

  To be honest, I don’t think my bar was set that high. My file can’t be that great. I once tripped during our monthly run at Spy School and another girl tripped over me, getting a concussion. And that is just the tip of all the things that have happened. I don’t get why one of the guys would choose me, let alone four. It’s incomprehensible.

  While I am sitting there, Ian slides over on the couch, taking the spot directly next to me. Part of me wonders if he knows that I hacked into the file, but how could he know that? I don’t think he was looking. He’s probably just trying to be nice because of what happened with my parents earlier.

  “I don’t want your pity, Ian.” My voice is harsh, but I just don’t want Ian to be nice because of what happened. I’d rather he continue hating me and icing me out than for him to pity me.

  “I don’t pity you.” Ian scoots even closer. “Newsflash, Villareal, you’re not the only one with crappy parents.”

  I flinch. “Don’t call me Villareal.”

  Ian’s eyes slowly move from his computer screen to me. “I’m sorry. That was kind of rude.”

  I purse my lips, waiting for him to say something else to contradict his apology. I guess... kind of like West... when he compliments me and then says something rude to offset the compliment. I’ve just come to expect it with West.

  But Ian isn’t West.

  “It’s okay.” I don’t really know how to act around this Ian. The nice Ian, that is. He has pretty much spent two and a half months ignoring me. And when he wasn’t ignoring me, Ian wasn’t very nice to me. He told me the second night we were here that I should leave.

  “Maybe we can have a do-over,” Ian says.

  “A do-over?”

  He nods. “Look, when you first came, I didn’t like you.”

  I snort. “Obviously.”

  “I’m sorry. I just... I thought you were going to tear my team apart. I still think you have the ability to annihilate us, Roxy,” he says. “But I also think you could bring us all together. You’re kind of good for us.”

  Did Ian Kessler seriously just say that?

  I pinch myself to make sure I’m not dreaming.

  No, he really said it.

  I turn my body toward his. “Ian, how could I tear your team apart? You guys are so close.”

  “I don’t think you realize your appeal.” He pushes his glasses farther up his nose, his cheeks turning pink. “I didn’t mean the way you look. I’m sorry, I made it sound that way. You are very pretty, but I mean that you’re charming, smart, and a hard worker. The progress you’ve made since we’ve came back from Santorini has surprised the heck out of me, and I know Alek and West are impressed, too. I am sorry if I ever made you feel like you’re not good enough to be a Royal. You are.”

  I suck in a breath, not knowing what to say.

  His words are what I’ve been longing to hear, but I’m also scared. What if I wake up tomorrow and everything goes back to the way it was? What if we start fighting again?

  I want to be friends with Ian. I want to be friends with all the guys. And I’m just scared tomorrow he will change his mind. He’ll realize that I’m not that great. And he’ll go back to glaring at me from behind his computer.

  “I’m not that great,” I tell him. “I still can’t beat Alek in training. No matter how hard I try, he’s always one step ahead of me.”

  Ian grins. “I can show you how to take Alek down.”

  I sit up straighter. “How?”

  He closes his laptop, setting it down, and stands up from the couch. “Help me move the coffee table.”

  I get up, lifting one end of the coffee table. We push it against the wall out of the way.

  “Alek is good, so he’s cocky. He always thinks he can’t be beat, but he can,” Ian says. “If you watch him and West when they fight, you’ll notice West always attacks from the right side with Alek, because that is his weak spot.”

  That makes sense. He does always try to deflect attacks on his right side. I hadn’t even noticed it before, but now that Ian mentions it, I can’t believe I didn’t notice it before.

  Ian then proceeds to show me a couple of moves that Alek supposedly can’t beat.


  I narrow my eyes. “How do I know you’re not saying this to mess with me?”

  He shrugs. “Guess you just have to trust me. What do you have to lose?”

  After that, we sit back down on the couch. Surprisingly, Ian sits right beside me. I can’t even believe we’re talking right now and that he just showed me Alek’s weakness. I feel like I’m living in some kind of weird alternate dimension where Ian likes me, and it’s strange.

  “You know, I would leave before I split you guys up,” I tell Ian. “I wouldn’t let myself come between you guys in any way.”

  He nods, but I’m not sure if he believes me. “Are you and Kal dating?”

  My mouth opens, then closes. We’re obviously not dating, but I’m confused why Ian would even ask me that.

  “No,” I answer. “Kal and I are just friends.”

  He picks at his shirt. “What about you and Alek? You guys go off to the gym every day for a few hours.”

  I roll my eyes. “Why does everybody think I’m hooking up with Alek? I swear to you I’m not. We are literally just training.”

  He finally meets my eyes. “What about...”

  I cut him off. “I’m not anything with West either.”

  He nods. “Okay.”

  After all those questions, he just ends it with ‘okay?’

  I don’t understand guys.

  “I don’t really do the whole dating thing.” I play with the end of my hair, not wanting to look at him while I tell him something so personal. “My focus has always been on Spy School. I’ve never had a boyfriend or anything like that.”

  “Me, either.” His cheeks turn red. “I mean, I’ve never had a girlfriend. A girl liked me once, but she got mad at me for ignoring her for my computer.”

  I laugh, because I can totally see that happening. “Computers are better than girls anyway.”

  “Probably.” He sighs. “Tell that to the others, though. They go out to find girls.”

  “That’s not a relationship. That’s just... temporary fun,” I say. “And they’re dumb.”

  Ian grabs the end of my hair that I keep twirling around my finger. “Your hair is really soft.”

  I open my mouth to say something, but I don’t know what to say.

  Ian clears his throat, scooting over a little to put distance between us. “You’re right, though. Random hookups don’t sound fun. Just the thought of making out with somebody I don’t know makes me feel gross.”

  “Ditto.”

  I don’t have a lot of experience with guys. Or really any experience. Guys try to hit on me, but I’m never really interested in them. Girls at Spy School thought I was weird for turning guys down all the time, but I wasn’t going to say yes to a guy I didn’t have legit feelings for. It didn’t seem right to toy with somebody’s feelings like that.

  “Do you think I’m weird?” I ask Ian.

  He nods. “Yeah, but so am I. I don’t think being weird is a bad thing.”

  Maybe. Ian is kind of weird, but I like him.

  “So, does this mean we’re friends?” I chew on my bottom lip as I wait for his response.

  He shrugs. “I guess it does. Do you want to be friends?”

  I nod.

  “Okay, then. We’re friends,” Ian says.

  I like that.

  Ian is definitely the last one I thought would become friends with me. Well, other than West, but there really is no hope for him.

  But I like the thought of Ian and me being companions. It’s us against the world.

  Saturday, October 28

  Are you going to fight me or kiss me?

  It’s been almost a week since that awful phone call with my parents, and things have been... different.

  Ian has been nicer, which is definitely a good change. We actually talk and he’s spending less time on this computer. But that seems to really annoy West for some reason, so West has been extra cranky with me. I didn’t think his brooding could reach a new level, but alas, I was wrong.

  As for Kal, we’ve been getting closer, too. Last night, instead of going out with Alek and West, he stayed home. Ian, Kal, and I had a movie marathon where we binge watched every King Kong movie ever made. Well, except the cartoons, we skipped those. But it was fun. I barely paid attention to the movies at all because Ian and Kal kept cracking jokes. When West and Alek walked through the door about one o’clock in the morning, they were both genuinely surprised to see the three of us still up. West crankily yelled for us to ‘go to bed,’ and that was that.

  Even though Saturday is a chill day for us, we still do our daily run. Though, instead of running at five in the morning, we run around ten o’clock. I like that I get to sleep in, especially after staying up so late last night.

  This week with Alek has been weird. Our training sessions are just as intense as ever, but I’ve been holding my own against him. I still haven’t beaten him—I will. I’m just holding onto that move that Ian showed me. I’m waiting for the perfect moment to make my move against him. But he’s been surprisingly nice to me. He usually has all these sarcastic comments during training and this week he’s just been quiet. He even helped me off the floor after knocking me over. It’s... weird. I am not sure if I like it.

  Today is a muggy day. October in Florida is just another month of summer. It’s still been warm enough to swim and today it’s sweltering. I start sweating almost the moment I step outside, but I can’t complain. I heard that Spy School has already seen some snow this year—just a few flurries, but still! Snow in October? Ew. I will gladly take a few extra months of summer, please and thank you.

  Alek and I don’t break from our training sessions on the weekend either. I’m glad that he likes training just as much as I do, because I need the extra work. I know that Ian said he’s been able to see my improvement, but I still have this need to show the others that I can be part of their team. I know I can be a valuable asset.

  Usually, Alek taunts me as we spar, but he’s stayed quiet today. I don’t like it when he’s quiet. I much prefer when he’s yelling insults at me and yelling in Russian. I’ve learned quite a few Russian insults from him. My favorite is perhot’ podzalupnaya, which I think means pee hole dandruff, but Google translate isn’t the best, so who knows. But it always makes me laugh when he says that.

  “Come on,” I taunt him. “Can’t you insult me or something?”

  He just grins. “You look lovely in that outfit. That peach top thing really compliments your skin tone.”

  I nearly fall over from laughing. “Oh, my gosh, Alek. You’ve lost your touch.”

  “Have not,” he argues.

  Whatever. Maybe I’ll just have to beat him today. It’s about time I pull out the moves that Ian showed me last weekend.

  I advance on his left and he grins, knowing that he’s going to beat me—he always beats me. He’s amused that I still try to fight him. But I fake going left and attack from the right. He isn’t expecting the move and I pin him to the floor.

  Victory.

  I grin triumphantly down at him, unable to believe that I, Roxy Villareal, was able to defeat Alek Vasiliev. He looks at me in complete shock and his eyes widen, but he doesn’t stay shocked for long. He quickly regains control and overpowers me, pining me to the ground.

  Alek leans down to whisper in my ear. “I hope you enjoyed that, because it will never happen again.”

  He loosens his grip on me, but he doesn’t let me up.

  “Alek!” I yell.

  “What is your problem?” he asks.

  I roll my eyes. “Are you going to let me up?”

  He just shrugs.

  “Are you going to fight me or kiss me, Alek Vasiliev?” Because he’s definitely looking at me like he wants to kiss me.

  He narrows his eyes. “Are you offering?”

  I wrinkle my nose. “Heck no.”

  “Good. I didn’t want to have to turn you down and hurt your feelings.” He gets up from the floor. “You’re not my type.”

&n
bsp; I’m... not his type?

  “Then stop looking at me like you want to devour me.” I sit up as Alek stands up from the floor.

  He holds out a hand to help me up.

  “I can’t help how my body reacts. You’re a pretty girl and it’s been a while since a girl has paid any attention to me,” he says. “But it’s definitely not because I’m attracted to you.”

  I nod, but I’m not sure if I believe him or not.

  This conversation is... surprisingly not awkward. I should feel awkward though, right? Instead, I feel warm all over. But I’m not attracted to Alek like that. No way. Especially not Alek, of all people.

  If I’m being honest with myself, he’s not bad to look at. Oh, who am I kidding, he’s a complete babe. I highly doubt it’s been a long time since a girl has paid attention to him. He went out last night. If he wanted to make out with somebody, I’m sure plenty of girls were throwing themselves at him. But it’s not his looks that makes my heart race—it’s everything about him. I like how driven he is. He takes time out of his day to train me and he works so hard to learn French, even though it’s not going well for him. I’ve never seen anybody at Spy School study as hard as he does. I find that very attractive about him.

  Alek also has great hands. During training he is so hard, yet soft at the same time. He’s never once accidentally hurt me. Usually when you spar, people get hurt. It’s just part of training. But Alek is always so careful to not put a scratch or a bruise on me. I feel like if he did hurt me, it would hurt him.

  I also think he’s funny. From the moment I met him, he’s been cracking jokes. We’ve had our ups and downs in the almost three months I’ve been here, but he’s never ignored me like Ian or been rude to me like West. He’s been pretty consistent with his feelings.

  And... he voted for me.

  Yes, all the guys voted for me, but that doesn’t lessen the fact that he thought enough of me to put my name in for consideration. He hasn’t admitted it to me yet, but I know it. And it does change things.