Leo narrowed his eyes and pointed dramatically at a random student walking past their table. “That one,” he whispered, leaning in like he was revealing top-secret information. “Definitely suspicious.”
The student in question was simply holding a notebook and walking at a normal speed, but Leo watched him like he was about to pull off an international heist. Maya didn’t even look up this time. She let out a long, tired sigh, the kind that suggested she was already mentally exhausted and it wasn’t even the next class yet. “Leo,” she said flatly, “that is a student who is probably late for class.”
Right on cue, another student ran past them at full speed, nearly knocking over a chair. Owen Rivera’s eyes widened immediately. “That’s it,” he said in a hushed, panicked tone. “They know. They’ve all found out we’re spies. This is the moment. We’re being hunted.”
Before he could continue spiraling into complete panic, Zara lazily reached over and clapped her hand over his mouth without even sitting up properly. “No,” she muttered, not bothering to look at him. “We’re not doing this today.”
Ollie leaned forward, eyes lighting up with excitement instead of fear. “Wait,” he said quickly, “what if we disguise ourselves as students and sneak in with them?”
Maya slowly turned her head toward him.
“Ollie,” she said, placing one hand on her forehead, “we are students.”
Ollie paused. “Oh,” he said after a moment. “Right. That actually makes this much easier.”
Another student sprinted past their table. Then another. And then another, all moving with the same urgency, like something extremely important was about to happen somewhere very soon. Even Maya, who usually dismissed everything Leo said within five seconds, straightened slightly and looked around.
“…Okay,” she admitted slowly. “This is a little suspicious.”
Leo immediately stood up, seizing the moment like he had been waiting his entire life for this exact situation. “As the leader,” he announced, puffing up with importance, “I will decide our next move.”
“You are not the leader,” Ollie said instantly.
Maya crossed her arms. “I’m the leader,” she corrected. “Because I’m the smartest.”
Leo looked deeply offended. “Leadership is about confidence!”
“Leadership is about planning,” Maya shot back.
Another student dashed by, this time shouting something about being late, but no one at the table caught the full sentence. Zara, who had been half-asleep for most of this conversation, suddenly sat up just enough to look around.
“Oh,” she said casually. “I know what’s happening.”
Everyone turned to her immediately.
Even Owen stopped panicking for a second.
“Well?” Leo demanded.
Zara stretched slightly, clearly not in a hurry to explain anything. “There’s a math test,” she said. “Mr. Frostbite said no one should be late.”
There was a pause.
Then everything clicked at once.
Maya’s eyes widened. “The test,” she said.
Ollie jumped to his feet. “THE test.”
Leo gasped. “The test we forgot about!”
Zara yawned. “The test I planned to ignore,” she added.
For a moment, no one moved.
Then all five of them bolted out of the cafeteria at the exact same time.
They sprinted down the hallway, dodging other students, nearly crashing into lockers, and definitely not looking like a group of highly trained spies. Leo ran at the front like he was leading an important mission, even though he almost slipped on the floor twice. Maya kept trying to calculate how much time they had left, while Ollie attempted to “blend in” by running in what he believed was a normal way but looked extremely suspicious. Zara somehow kept up while still looking half-asleep, and Owen—
Owen was panicking.
“He’s going to give us 27 hours of detention!” Owen cried as they ran. “Or 30! Or a whole week! What if we fail? What if we get expelled? What if—”
“No one is getting 27 hours of detention!” Maya snapped, not slowing down.
“That’s not even a normal number!” Ollie added.
They reached the classroom just as the bell was about to ring. Leo grabbed the door and pushed it open dramatically, as if they had just completed a life-threatening mission instead of running late to math class.
Inside, Mr. Frostbite stood at the front of the room, already holding a stack of test papers.
The entire class turned to look at them.
All five of them froze.
Owen slowly raised his hand. “…Is it too late to transfer schools?” he whispered.
No one answered him.
Because everyone else was too busy trying to catch their breath and pretend they hadn’t just sprinted in like absolute chaos.
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