"This is the 29th time you've had to leave the school, Chris! Next time, I'm not going to let you go without a permission slip!" says Mr. O'Brian.
He has a PHD in reality, but prefers to be called as Mr. and not Dr. I can't really say I understand his tantrums in such small things but all I do know is that this has something to do with him getting it at 15 years of age. And better yet, he has his PHD in law! Still, he is wasting his time as a headmaster here at St. James' High. Quite a remarkable man by all means but, doesn't unleash his skills. Again, something to do with getting a PHD at 15 years of age. He was quite a sweet man as I've heard, but his years as a headmaster have taken their toll on him. But, I know he has a special place in his heart just for me. There's a glint in his eyes when he talks to me that tells me just that.
As he goes on about following the rules and how they were not made to be broken, I zone out to see a mirror in his office. I look at it for some time to admire the way my wavy black hair fall on my white-toned skin, the way my pale blue eyes are staring back at me and I just realise it, I'm again bending down to look at the mirror. Now I know that this will take extra long now Mr. O'Brian has seen me not paying attention. But, instead of another long speech, he just ends with, "Do you hear me, Mr. Holloway?! The last time!"
"Yes sir, the last time. Now, if you'll excuse me." I say. Just as I head out, he says, "Chris, remember, more is expected from a 16-year-old."
"Yes sir." I say.
I make my way out of his office that just screams depression. I run outside the school gates, showing Joe, the guard, a permission slip from Mr. O'Brian. As I go outside, I take one last look at our school sign, St. James' High.
Outside, my friends, Diana Golding and Conner Lennox, are waiting for me. We three go to different schools. Diana goes to Madison Girls' High and Conner goes to Collymore High.
"You took long enough, Chris." says Diana, she's definitely in a mood to scold me.
"Yes, Chris." Conner says, agreeing with Diana.
I just hate it when they gang up against me. I know they do it to irritate me, but not this time. We're going undercover to see whether the new hardware store that just opened up on Beach Circle has something mysterious going on or not. Beach Circle is not that street where you open hardware stores. It's a place to rent scuba gear or yachts or boats or something like that, I think.
This time Conner and Diana are really going to get it from me. Diana's in her school uniform and Conner has worn skinny jeans and a striped shirt! Conner wears the same clothes all the time! So much for being undercover!
I so wanted to shout at them but, instead, I just say, "I got stuck with Mr. O'Brian. Maybe we could stop at each other's houses to get disguised. We're going undercover after all."
"You're right. How about we go to my house first? I always take the longest." Diana says.
"Sounds like a plan." Conner says.
As we rush to Diana's house, I get this horrible feeling that we're going to take longer than normal here. Being a very punctual person, I detest tardiness. Diana has a collection of wigs from which me and Conner usually borrow. Her dad is some huge politician, and her mom's a pilot. This always leaves her house open to us at any time of day. Plus, she doesn't have any snooty siblings willing to rat us out. We enter her house and go down to her room, the basement. I still blame her for this, out of all the huge and luxurious rooms in her house, she had to choose the basement. I know the reason why she chose it, she has installed a secret room there which has all her disguises in it. Another reason why having both parents working is an advantage in some ways.
As we reach the basement, Diana runs to a corner of the basement where there is a lot of seepage. She takes a rag from a table and starts to rub it on the wall. As the wall starts to clean up a bit, a biometric fingerprint scanner starts to show. The moment the scanner becomes clear, she scans her hand on it. Then the wall slits through the middle, forming a door. She steps through it, me and Conner follow her. As we get in, the doors shut behind us.
No matter how many times I've come here, I'm always mesmerized by not the room, but how Diana has managed to keep it a secret from her parents till now. I have to get those secrets out of her someday. I look around at all the different wigs and disguises she has. On the right, every color of wig has its own wing where it has been divided into subdivisions such as male, female, density of color, etc. On the left, There are costumes arranged from A to Z depending on the occasion. I go into the red wig wing, to find the perfect wig for me to cover my jet black hair. Conner goes into the blonde wig wing to pick out the perfect wig to hide his red hair.
I find a lovely red wig and wear a green newsboy cap. To hide my face, I find a half-face mask like the one Alan Walker wears. Conner comes out of the blonde wig wing and goes into the turquoise wig wing. He comes out wearing a light turquoise wig which brings out the green in his dark green eyes and reflects his light-colored skin so beautifully. He picks up round sunglasses and wears them.
He comes over to me and asks, "How's my disguise?"
"Umm, good, I think. Yeah it's perfect."
"Liar. You've got something to say about it, don't you?"
"Maybe, maybe not." I reply, teasing him (as always).
"How long do you think we're going to be here?"
"Forever. She always takes forever. She thinks of doing something new, but then goes with the same thing, as always." I reply, half-laughing. He starts to laugh with me.
Suddenly, Diana emerges from her changing room, and looks at us laughing. She immediately asks us, "Why are you laughing?"
"Because of the joke Chris told." Conner replies, determined to keep our little secret about Diana safe from her. Knowing Diana, she would skin us alive if she got to know why we were really laughing.
"Well then tell me the joke too, Chris." Diana replies, wanting to know everything. I shoot Conner a dirty look for landing me in trouble with Diana.
"What happened to the bear who lost his ears?" I say, knowing it's going to be a bad joke.
"What?" Diana asks.
"He became a bee." I say, and give Conner a look so that he would go with it and start laughing. To my surprise, he does. Diana looks at us as though we're crazy or people who just escaped from a mental asylum. Sometimes, I wonder how I even became friends with her.
"Whatever. How's my disguise? I know it's awesome." Diana says. I study her for a second. I look at her turquoise crop top, her ripped jeans, unusually dark red lipstick and eyeshadow. I study her hair, she's put on a ginger wig. There is a dishwater blonde strand poking out from under the wig. My eyes dart to the huge sunglasses she's wearing to cover her face and dark eyes.
"I can see a blonde strand of hair poking out from under the wig" I say. She runs back to the changing room to fix it. She comes out, having fixed everything and ready to go. Just as we leave, my eyes wander back to the mirror at the end of the room, I look at my headphones hanging around my neck, my sweatshirt and my jeans, knowing we're ready to go.