It was lunch time.
Sandy and her gossip group shared a table in the cafeteria. That day, Ariel sat opposite Sandy instead of her usual place beside the brown-haired girl. Esper, beside Ariel, stared alternately between her and her brown-haired friend. Selina quietly ate a hot dog as she sat beside Sandy.
Ariel that day had less than her usual amount of food - just some meat pie and a can of soft drink.
"You're not going to be able to fill the Air Blimp on just that," Esper told Ariel as she pointed at the blond's food with the handle of her fork.
Ariel shrugged and continued cutting her meat pie into bit-sized pieces.
Then Esper looked at Sandy. "And you'd usually laugh at that."
"Hm? Yeah..." uttered Sandy as she bit into Momma Lois's sandwich.
"What's wrong with the two of you?" Esper asked, "Both of you have been very quiet all day."
Ariel gave Sandy a hard look through lidded bespectacled eyes. "Ask her."
Esper looked to Sandy. "So what's the story?"
"Oh, nothing," Sandy replied.
"Nothing!?" Ariel exclaimed, "You got me kidnapped!"
"And you tried to kill me!" Sandy threw back at her.
Esper put her fork down. "Wait, wait, what?" She turned to Ariel. "That wasn't literally true, was it?"
Ariel hung her head. "It was," she admitted quietly.
Esper's eyes widened. "What? Really?"
Through Esper's careful promptings, Sandy and Ariel slowly supplied pieces of their weekend adventure for the curly-haired girl to put together.
"It's probably in the news today," Ariel concluded.
Esper was still matching the pieces together in her mind. "Both of you aren't joking, are you?"
"There's a patrol car parked outside the school," Selina informed them, "It's been there since morning."
"O-kay," Esper uttered.
The police had the whole story out of the girls the day before. They were not sure then if the story about Oscar Killington's estate was true, so they were taking precautions. Precautions such as posting a patrol car to watch each girl's house overnight and to take them to school.
Sandy had ridden to school in a patrol car that day. To avoid questions, especially from a certain black-haired reporter-wannabe, Sandy had asked to be dropped a block away from school. She had regretted it when she had to walk the rest of the way in the freezing cold, with the patrol car following conspicuously behind.
Esper looked at Sandy. "Let me get this straight. You're some rich heir?"
"Yes," Sandy admitted proudly, "You should know, you gave me that bugged puppy for Christmas." She took another bite of her sandwich.
"I what?" Esper asked.
"The puppy doll you gave me. It had some kind of bug in it that tracks me." Sandy glanced at Selina. "And there was one in the shoes you gave me too!"
"Was there?" Selina asked. She looked at Esper. "Did you put something..."
"No," Esper denied as she raised her hands, "I've no idea what's going on."
Ariel looked to Selina. "You sure you don't know anything about this?"
Selina shrugged.
Ariel continued watching her tall friend. "It's just that, while we were locked up, we thought that you may be a secret agent of some kind."
Selina shrugged again. "Entirely possible."
Esper too looked at Selina. "Are you saying...?"
"There's no proof that I am or I'm not one," Selina stated, "In fact, any of us could be one."
"True," Ariel agreed, "But of the four of us, you're the most likely to be one. Your exam results are perfect, you show exceptional physical skills..."
"Just means that I'm bad at hiding my identity, that's all," Selina said, "A good secret agent wouldn't draw attention to himself." She took a sip from her box of juice.
Esper thought about that. "That's true. If we consider that, the person most likely to be a secret agent would be... Sandy!"
"Me!?" Sandy blurted.
Esper faced her brown-haired friend. "Sure. No one will suspect you because you're bad at studies. You do well in gym. And, you hang around school at odd hours doing who knows what secret stuff. Sometimes, you disappear without reason too."
Sandy had to admit to herself that it was all true. Especially since it involved activities that she had been paid to do in the past, things that she would rather remain a secret. She needed to get away from the uncomfortable attention. Time for Sandy to drop a Slander Bomb. "Ariel could be the secret agent!"
Ariel stopped with her fork of pie near her mouth. "What? Me?"
"You're the least suspicious of us all," Sandy said, "You don't stand out. If anything, you're the perfect cover for a secret agent."
"Don't be ridiculous," Ariel said, "I can't be a secret agent." She ate the food on her fork.
Just then, a familiar black-haired boy popped by their table. "What's this I hear about you being a secret agent?" Keith McDowell asked Ariel. His notepad and pencil were already out and ready to note.
Ariel glared at Sandy.
***
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