Maya dropped into her seat beside Zara, already pulling out her pencil with the calm focus of someone who actually remembered there was a test today. Zara, on the other hand, rested her head on her desk like she was preparing for a nap instead of mathematics. Behind them, Leo stared at his test paper as if it had personally insulted him. The numbers didn’t just look confusing—they looked organized in a way that felt suspicious. Beside him, Owen gripped his pencil so tightly it might have snapped at any moment, his eyes darting across the page in pure panic.
“If I fail this,” Owen whispered rapidly, “Mr. Frostbite is going to make me do math all day. Every day. Forever. I’ll be stuck solving equations until I’m eighty.”
“That’s not how school works,” Leo muttered. He groaned loudly, dragging his hands down his face. “Why are there so many questions? It’s like they multiplied overnight.”
Maya ignored all of them. She was already halfway through the first section when something unusual caught her eye. She paused, her pencil hovering in the air, and slowly looked up at the wall across the room. At first, it seemed like nothing—just the usual classroom wall with faded posters and slightly crooked charts. But then she noticed it.
There, written faintly but clearly enough to read, was something very strange.
“5
1
0
HAPPY HAMBURGER!”
Maya blinked.
She stared at it a little longer, just to make sure her brain wasn’t playing tricks on her because of the test. It didn’t change. The words stayed exactly the same, just as confusing as before. She frowned slightly but didn’t say anything yet. Right now, there were more immediate problems—like finishing the test before Owen started hyperventilating.
By the time the bell rang, signaling the end of class, Maya had already decided this was not normal. She packed her things quickly and turned to the others as they gathered near the door.
“There’s something you need to see,” she said.
A few moments later, all five of them stood near the wall, staring at the strange writing. Leo leaned in closer, narrowing his eyes like he was analyzing a secret code. Ollie tilted his head, clearly impressed. Zara yawned. Owen—
Owen immediately panicked.
“This is it,” he said, backing up slightly. “Someone knows who we are. This is a warning. A very specific warning. About a hamburger.”
Maya turned to him. “Why would a hamburger attack us?”
“I don’t know!” Owen said. “But it says ‘happy,’ which is even worse. That means it’s confident!”
Ollie suddenly snapped his fingers. “Wait,” he said, eyes lighting up. “I saw a movie yesterday where a small town got attacked by a giant hamburger.”
Everyone turned to him.
“It threw cheese and tomatoes,” Ollie continued seriously. “Very aggressive.”
Owen’s panic doubled instantly. “I knew it!”
Maya closed her eyes for a second. “No one is being attacked by a hamburger,” she said firmly.
Leo, however, looked more intrigued than worried. He crossed his arms and nodded slowly. “This,” he said, “is clearly a coded message.”
Ollie pointed at him. “You’re not the leader.”
Leo pointed right back. “I made the group. That makes me the leader.”
“The leader should be the best at disguises,” Ollie argued. “Which is me.”
“You once disguised yourself as a chair and got sat on,” Maya reminded him.
“It was a convincing chair,” Ollie said defensively.
“Can we not argue?” Maya cut in. “This is important.”
Leo nodded quickly. “Fine. No arguing.”
Maya took a breath. “Good. Because it was already decided that I’m the leader. I’m the smartest, and I’m the only one here who has never gotten detention.”
Leo straightened immediately. “The leader should have experience,” he argued. “And I have experience.”
“Spying on the principal does not count,” Maya said.
“It absolutely counts!”
“It absolutely does not!”
Their voices started rising, the argument building faster than Owen’s panic earlier. Ollie looked ready to jump back in with another reason why he should be the leader, and Owen looked like he might start worrying about leadership-related disasters.
And then—
“New teacher,” Zara said.
Everyone stopped.
Zara hadn’t even changed her position much. She still looked half-asleep, but her eyes were slightly more open now, which for her was basically full attention.
“There’s a new teacher,” she continued slowly. “Miss Lampshade.”
The group stared at her.
“She looks like she’s up to something,” Zara added.
There was a pause.
Leo’s expression shifted immediately from arguing to intense seriousness. “A new person,” he said quietly. “In the building.”
Maya crossed her arms, thinking. “That’s… actually possible.”
Ollie leaned forward. “You think she wrote the hamburger message?”
Owen gasped. “She’s working with the hamburger!”
“No one is working with a hamburger,” Maya said quickly.
But Leo was already nodding like everything was falling into place. “This isn’t random,” he said. “This is our first real mission.”
Maya hesitated for a moment.
Then, slowly, she nodded.
“Alright,” she said. “We investigate Miss Lampshade.”
Leo grinned. “Operation: Definitely Spies,” he whispered, “is officially underway.”
Owen looked around nervously. “If I get attacked by cheese,” he said, “I’m blaming all of you.”
No one responded.
Because for the first time…
This actually felt like a real mission.
Even if it involved a very suspicious hamburger.
🌀 What Just Happened?
- A math test nearly destroyed everyone’s remaining confidence.
- Maya discovered a mysterious wall message involving a very suspicious hamburger.
- The team argued—again—about who was actually in charge.
- Zara casually revealed the existence of a mysterious new teacher, Miss Lampshade.
- And just like that… Operation: Definitely Spies found its first “real” mission.
📚 What’s Next?
➡️ Continue to Chapter 04 – Agents of Terrible Decisions
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