Children's Book : Spy School (1): A Troubling First Day (Detective books for Kids, detective Series, Mysteries for kids, Book for kids ages 9 12)

by Amma Lee

  “It’s because you two weren’t ready to attend a spy school yet.” The girl with glasses said walking over to them. “Only a select few students are allowed to attend the elementary school, so don’t feel too bad about it.” Kyle’s face grew hot. He didn’t care if only a select few was allowed to attend. He should’ve been a part of that select few.

  “Shhh…” the students behind them got back into line and the two students who spoke with Kyle and Jenny followed their lead. Kyle and Jenny turned around and saw a student walking towards them so they shuffled and got into line as well.

  “So, you think you have what it takes to be a spy?” the older student said and all ears was on him.

  Chapter Three

  The tour of the school went by fast, almost too fast because the students were already in their classrooms in their seats. They chatted to each other for a few minutes before a smoke bomb was thrown into the room all of a sudden. Jenny screamed, shocked by the sudden noise and some of the other students followed.

  “Never scream in battle. You’ll be setting yourself up for failure.” a voice said coming from the smoke. The students looked around the classroom, waiting for their eyes to adjust, and they were surprised to see an old, short woman standing near the front of the room. “If you scream you’ll alert your opponents to where you are and they would get you!”

  “What would you know about that old woman?” A chubby student by the name of Larry said and the class grew quiet. They couldn’t believe that he had the guts to say that. The woman narrowed her eyes at Larry.

  “What’s your name boy?” the woman said with authority. Larry stood up and pounded on his chest. “My name is Larry and I am the best spy in the world.” The students in the class mumbled under their breaths.

  “He can’t be serious,” Kyle said quietly to Jenny.

  “Is that so?” The woman said and placed the clipboard that she was holding in her hand down onto the podium. Quicker than the speed of eye, the woman placed her hands on a table in front of her and did a frontwards flip. Seeing the old woman flipping in the air on the desks was something that Kyle didn’t even know was possible. Before long, the woman was eye to eye with Larry. “Now let me see you do that, Larry the greatest spy in the world.” Larry’s eyes widened in amazement, but he sat back down in his seat.

  “I just got through eating,” Larry said and looked away from the old woman. The class began laughing.

  “Silence!” the woman said and did one back flip in the air and landed back in her previous position. The class silenced themselves and the woman straightened out her blouse. “My name is Mrs. Griffin and I will be teaching you Balance and Algebra.” The class groaned when Mrs. Griffin mentioned Algebra, but they quickly closed their mouths when she gave the class a sharp look.

  “I love Algebra!” Jenny said excitedly. Kyle was a bit annoyed. He came here to perfect his spy skills, not learn math.

  “Well I hate it,” Kyle mumbled. He was more interested in the balance portion of the class. Would learning how to balance help Kyle do flips like Mrs. Griffin did? He was shocked that a little old woman could do such a thing and he knew that if she could do it, then he surely could too.

  “I will first take roll call and then I will begin with the Algebra lesson.” The class groaned again. Why did they have to get into math the first day of class? They’d much rather work on their balance first. Kyle propped his fist under his jaw. He was sure that this was going to be a long day.

  ****

  “Alright…. Good…. Good job…” Mrs. Griffin said as she walked around each table and watched the students try to solve the Algebra problem. When she got to Jenny, Mrs. Griffin grinned. “Very nice job young lady,” Jenny grinned brightly.

  “Thank you so much!” Kyle glanced over at Jenny’s answer and noticed that he had something completely different. So he began erasing his question and started over.

  “Mrs. Griffin?” a gentle voice could be heard throughout the room. All eyes went towards the direction of the voice.

  “Oh yes, Ms. Richardson. I’m up here.” Before Mrs. Griffin got a chance to look over Kyle’s work, she began walking down the stairs. Kyle noticed that the woman who called out to Mrs. Griffin was sort of pretty. She had long medium brown curly hair and she was wearing an all-black outfit with a belt that looked like it could carry many different gadgets. She was dressed just like a spy.

  “She’s pretty,” Jenny said and Kyle just sat there staring at the woman. He wondered why she was in the class. She looked too old to be a student, but too young to be a teacher.

  “Class,” Mrs. Griffin began. “This is Ms. Richardson. She’ll be assisting me with showing you the balance exercises. You may put your Algebra book away.”

  “Aw,” Jenny pouted. “I was having so much fun.. Kyle grinned and the rest of the class appeared to have felt the same way as Kyle. Ms. Richardson walked towards the front of the room where she’d be able to see everyone.

  “Welcome to our school,” she began. “You should be proud of yourselves that you got into this school. It means that you might have what it takes to become a spy.” She inhaled and dropped something onto the floor. The students’ eyes went towards the object, but before they could see what it was, a bright light erupted from it and the students were temporarily blinded by the light. When the students’ eyes finally adjusted, Ms. Richardson was no longer in the front of the class.

  “Being a spy isn’t about having fancy gadgets,” the students heard her voice behind them and all eyes focused towards the back of the room. Ms. Richardson was there doing a one-handed handstand on the back of a chair. “You have to be well-balanced physically as well.”

  “How did you do that?” A student shouted from the front of the class. Mrs. Griffin walked over to the student and glared at her.

  “Raise your hand before speaking girl!” Mrs. Griffin yelled. The small blond haired girl squeaked before she raised her hand. Ms. Richardson smiled.

  “I have perfected balance throughout my entire body. This is what I will have you do today.”

  “Oh, I should be able to do this well. I’ve practiced yoga and we have to balance when we do that.” The small dark blond hair girl said again.

  “Speak out of line again and you’ll be sent back home to do yoga!” Mrs. Griffin said and the girl went quiet. Being able to do a one-handed handstand should be a piece of cake, Kyle thought to himself. He could already do a two-handed handstand, so how much harder would a one-handed one be?

  “I hope everyone is as enthusiastic as she is,” Ms. Richardson said.

  “Yeah!” the class said in unison and Ms. Richardson grinned.

  “Well let’s get to it!” Jumping off of the chair and doing a double summersault into the air, Ms. Richardson landed on her feet with grace. When the students started to clap, their desks were pulled underneath the floorboards. The students’ got up from their seats quickly and watched everything disappear underground. “Take several long breaths and think of a time where you’ve experienced the most happiness and you will be on your way to your first balance lesson.” The students looked around confused. How would that help with their balance? They closed their eyes and inhaled deeply.

  Chapter Four

  “Listen to my voice” Ms. Richardson said once everyone had closed their eyes and breathed in deeply. “Try to be as relaxed as possible as you think of the happiest moment of your lives.” Kyle had his eyes tightly shut; he wanted to be able to do whatever Ms. Richardson wanted them to do on his first try.

  “I feel so sleepy.” Jenny said beside Kyle, but he paid her no mind. He needed to focus.

  “Now,” Mrs. Richardson started talking again, this time very close to Kyle’s ear. “Once you’ve got that image of happiness in your head, I want you to bend your bodies’ backwards until your hands touch the ground and your feet are in the air.” Kyle opened his eyes and began bending backwards. Before Kyle’s hands touched the floor Jenny called out beside him.
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br />   “I did it!” she yelled happily. “I did it on my very first try!”

  “Me too!” a male’s voice called from the other side of the room.

  “Hey, I did it too!” another voice said. After a few more moments just about everyone had done it. Kyle couldn’t concentrate because the students’ were laughing and calling out congratulations to each other.

  “Come on Kyle!” Jenny said and nudged him. “It’s super easy and that was the first time I’ve ever done a handstand.” Kyle straightened back up and did what Ms. Richardson told them to do. Once he brought back the image of him receiving his acceptance letter in the mail, he bent backwards and placed his hands onto the ground. When he pushed his feet off of the ground, instead of going backwards, he went forward and fell hard on his back. The class exploded in laughter.

  “Wait!” Kyle called out and jumped to his feet. “I wasn’t ready yet!” Kyle went through the motions again and just like before, when he tried to lift his feet off of the floor, he fell down instead.

  “Aw, the newbie can’t do it.” Larry said and a few of the students joined in with Larry when he started mocking Kyle. Kyle blushed and brushed his dark brown hair out of his face. He knew that he could do it. If big Larry could do it, surely he could.

  “Quiet down class.” Ms. Richardson said. It was apparent that no one heard her because the students continued laughing at Kyle and his face grew hotter and hotter.

  “It’s okay Kyle,” Jenny said patting Kyle’s shoulder. “Everyone learns at different speeds.”

  “SILENCE!!” the room was instantly silent when Mrs. Griffin’s powerful voice called out.

  “Thank you,” Ms. Richardson said and walked over to Kyle. “It’s okay that you weren’t able to do it. Everyone is different.”

  “But everyone else did it on their first try.” Kyle muttered. He was embarrassed and he felt a little out of place. How could Jenny do it when she hadn’t trained much to be a spy?

  “What is your name?” Ms. Richardson said looking over at Jenny.

  “I’m Jenny,” Jenny said happily brushing her long dark brown hair over her shoulder. “This is Kyle. I’m sure he was just a little nervous.” Kyle knew that Jenny meant well, but having her stand up for him made him feel weird.

  “It’s nice to meet both of you.” Ms. Richardson said with a pleasant smile on her face. Jenny liked her. She was real nice. “You two seem pretty close,”

  “Yes, we’ve been friends since we were real little.” Ms. Richardson’s smile widened.

  “Would you mind helping Kyle a little more, unfortunately class is ending soon and I wanted to squeeze one more lesson in before you switch classes.”

  “Of course,” Jenny said excitedly and grabbed Kyle’s arm. Kyle was feeling worse by the minute. There was no way that he was going to let Jenny help him.

  “May I go to the rest room?” Kyle asked suddenly. Ms. Richardson blinked a few times and then moved back.

  “Of course, please don’t be too long.” Kyle shook Jenny’s hand off of his arm and exited the room with the other students’ eyes following him. This was the second time that day that he’d embarrassed himself.

  ****

  The bathroom had automatic everything. The door opened once it scanned the students’ body to make sure they were the right gender. The lights turned on automatically and the unoccupied stalls opened inviting Kyle in, but he went to the sink instead. He stared at himself in the mirror,

  “Why was I the only person who couldn’t do it?” Just then Kyle heard a toilet flush and a student exited the stall.

  “It’s probably because you weren’t as relaxed as you thought you were.” The boy said as he lifted up his sleeves and washed his hands. Kyle looked at him.

  “What do you mean?” Kyle asked confused. He didn’t remember seeing the boy in class. The boy finished washing his hands and grinned at Kyle. The boy seemed friendly enough, unlike the other students who had laughed at him.

  “You have to be relaxed and comfortable with yourself,” the boy said. “You need to take everything out of your mind, especially the thought that you would be able to do it.” Kyle blushed. Being accepted into the school definitely was not the only thing that he was thinking about during the balance exercise. He was thinking to himself that he’d be able to do it better than everyone.

  “So, could that be the reason why everyone else could do it besides me?” Kyle asked looking at the still smiling boy. The boy nodded his head.

  “Yes, and I know this because it happened to me back in elementary school.” So this boy had been attending spy school since elementary school.

  “My name is Paul by the way.” The boy said and extended his hand out to Kyle. Even though Paul had to be either eleven or twelve years old, he was definitely mature for his age.”

  “I’m Kyle,” Kyle said taking Paul’s hand. “How were you able to get into spy school so early?” Kyle had to know what Paul was able to do that he could not.

  “Oh, I’m good with building gadgets and I’m good with computers.” Paul smiled at Kyle and began walking towards the door. “We’re having a thirty-minute break before the next class starts.” Paul stopped walking and looked over his shoulder at Kyle. “If you want, I can help you with your balancing exercise.” Kyle nodded his head quickly and eagerly walked over to Paul. Kyle didn’t want to hurt Jenny’s feeling because she technically was told to help Kyle, so as soon as the bell rung signaling their break, Kyle walked over to her and sighed.

  “Please help me with the balancing exercise.” Jenny beamed with delight.

  “Of course Kyle.”

  Chapter Five

  “Wow Paul! You’re really good at balancing.” Jenny squealed. Paul, Kyle, and Jenny were outside near the back of the school yard. Paul and Jenny were showing Kyle how to balance on his hands, but Kyle still wasn’t able to do it.

  “Oh no, I was in an advanced class in elementary school that showed us how to do this already.” Paul’s happy smile spread across his face. “I’m more impressed that you were able to do it on your very first attempt.” Kyle was happy for Jenny, he truly was, but he needed them to pay more attention to him

  “Hey! How am I supposed to lift my legs up without falling back down?” Kyle said as he kicked his legs into the air trying to make them go straight.

  “I told you that you have to think of a happy moment without thinking about anything else.” Paul said walking over to look at Kyle’s form. “You’re positioned right, but I can tell that you’re thinking about something else.” Kyle couldn’t help it though. He really wanted to be able to do this right. Paul looked at his watch quickly.

  “Time’s up! Class is about to start.” Just when Kyle thought he was about to balance correctly, he fell back onto the ground.

  “Are you okay Kyle?” Jenny said with a concerned expression on her face.

  “I guess,” Kyle said, getting up and rubbing the dirt off of his pants. “What’s the next class?” Kyle asked looking over at Paul.

  “Endurance class,” Paul said as he started walking. Jenny and Kyle followed closely behind him. “It’s like a boot camp mixed with a traditional gym class.” That was the best way that Paul could explain it considering that he’d never been to a traditional school. “The class is always held outside, even when it’s raining!” Kyle frowned. He didn’t like the sound of that, but since he really wanted to be a spy, he’d have to endure it.

  The three of them walked to the front of the building where they saw the same students that were in their class before. “Are we always going to be in the same class?” Paul shook his head.

  “No, students can be taken out of a class and moved into another class at any time.”

  “Why?” Jenny asked and Paul turned towards her.

  “If the teacher’s thinks you’re good enough, they’ll put you in a more advanced class. There have been people who graduated this school in less than a year and then moved on to Stevenson High Spy School!” Kyle
’s eyes widened at this. If he worked hard enough, he’d be in a higher grade level than all of his friends at home.

  “Wow, is that what happened to you?” Jenny asked and Paul placed his hands behind his head.

  “Of course, I actually graduated elementary school early. I will turn eleven next year.” There was a lot that didn’t meet the eye with Paul. Kyle couldn’t believe that Paul was two years younger than him and in the same grade as him.

  “Alright, enough chatting,” a firm voiced called out in front of them. There in front of them was a tall man with a freshly shaved head and light stubble decorating his face. Kyle, Jenny and Paul knew right away that the man was the teacher. “Go on now and get in line with the other students,” the man said and they hurried to where the rest of the students were at.