Well that’s not good.

To catch you up, my name is Jill. I am your average teenaged girl, so I don’t exaclty know how I ended up in the my own wrecked house with the knowledge that my parents are spies.

Looking back, it might not have been a good idea to attempt to hack into a secretive USB file that I found lying on the kitchen counter…

… but in my defense, that thing was just asking to get broken into.

It had some descriptive stuff about kill codes and had, like, a bunch if symbols. ‘Supposed to be really important stuff, I guess. Next thing I know some weirdo came through the window and tried to wrestle it out of my hands, like, hello? Rude, much?

I ended up throwing the drive into the garbage disposal and glared spitefully as I turned it on full blast. He didn’t like it, kidnapped me for ransom or something, then my parents come get me cause they’re spies or whatever, some intense stuff happened during the escape, and here I am.

My parents left just a little bit ago after I told them I memorized the different symbols and letters on the file, kind of leaving me here. I mean, they weren’t that complicated and I have long learned how to memorize those types of things to pass exams.

I honestly don’t know what to do at this point, standing in the middle of my ruined home while the radio is still going. It was soft instrumental stuff that my mom always puts on making the entire scene super ironic.

“Ok, this is what we need to do!”

I jumped when my best friend was suddenly bursting through the door with a large black duffle bag slung kver her shoulder.

“Uh… what?”

She rolled her eyes and shoved the bag into my arms, “you remember the codes in that drive because you are still on a study high from midterms. That means you are in danger.”

I scoffed, “in danger of boring myself by remembering multiple x’s in a row?”

She looked me in the eye, clearly not amused, “in danger of a secret organization dead set on destroying the entire world with atomic weapons that can only be disabled with those ‘multiple x’s in a row’. We need to leave, and you need to relay those codes so that we can use them to put a stop to the utter destruction.”

Hmm… thats difficult.

“Okay…” I start, dragging out the last syllable, “but, and hear me out, what if we did it… tomorrow?”

She looked at me. She just looked at me, as if i was a first grade question on the highschool finals. “You… CAN’T be serious”.

I shrug, “I don’t know. I’m pretty tired, and- uh… i have a bunch if homework to do so…”

She shakes her head violently, “wha- We BOTH know you aren’t going to work on homework! You are a CHRONICH procrastinat- oh, no… Oh. No.”

“What? I do my homework! Plus, atomic weapons sound like a lot of work, and a lot of work takes a lot of time! I can wait a few days!”

She just keeps shaking her head, with the added effect of a maniacal laughter bursting from her throat, “God, this is the worst possible time for you to be you”.

Ouch

“Okay, this isn’t going to do. Jill, you are going with me. You have no choice in this matter, and it can’t be put off. I am taking you to the bunker where you will write down the codes you remember and hand them off to one of our agents. If you don’t, you will have to input the codes yourself. Considering how dangerous it is, this is NOT something to procrastinate!” She was getting hysterical at this point. It was kind if funny, and I would have toltally teased her if it didnt seem like she would punch me in the throat for something like that.

“Okay! Yeah, I’ll go with you. Don’t need to be so pushy…”

I couldn’t even take a step before she grabbed my arm and pulled me along as if she was afraid I would change my mind last second. Which, by the way, is totally rude! I’m not THAT bad!

She drags me into the back of a van (not creepy at all) and tells the driver to step on it. Like, seriously? I thought we had time! It’s not like I’m procrastinating when I’m literally STUCK IN A VAN!

The entire ride is silent as she looks at me like I’m a child in need of supervision. Of course, I start to feel sleepy about 10 minutes in since I have nothing else to do. I am very thankful that Bestie decides to leave me alone as I doze off.

I am NOT very thankful when I am literally yanked awake by her pulling me by the arm out of my seat. Unfortubately my legs didn’t figure out in time that it was their cue to shine. I took a few minutes to peel my face off of the floor of the van, all while hearing my best friend shoutibg various combinations of “the world is at stake” and “we are running out of time” and “faceplanting is no excuse”. I mean, she never actually said that last one, but it was heavily implied.

She starts dragging me again when I finally stand up. I am too exhausted to actually pay attention to where we are going, but had enough brain power to realize and underground bunker when I saw one.

“Okay. We are here. Now sit down”, she shoves me into the closest chair, “and write down those damn codes!” She slams a piece of paper and a pen on the table.

“Ummm… I’m pretty tired…. Do you think i could rake a nap first?” It is a genuine concern that i might pass out at this rate. My body didn’t wake up correctly, and now feels like it needs a second chance.

By her face, I’m guessing she was not ammused. Which, okay I get it, but I wasn’t joking in the first place.

“You need to sit and write. If I could stay here and supervise you the entire time, I would. Unfortunately, I have other things to attend to, so PLEASE! PLEASE Jill, just write the damn codes!” She finishes with a dramatic flair before inching out of the room, her eyes on me.

I pick up the pencil, and she sighs before closing the door behind her.

I drop the pencil.

“I have time” I can’t help but mutter under my breath. Hence begins the waiting game.

I don’t know how long it’s been when my best friend bursts through the door.

“JILL! PLEASE tell me you got it done!”

I only blink. It hadn’t been THAT long. I was almost going to do it before she interupted my though process… probably.

I saw her face reden so quick she could have been mistaken for a traffic light. “Jill…”

I throw my hands up in a quick, but flimsy defense, “Wait! I WAS going to do it! I swear I was! You just broke my concentration!”

Jill release a sigh heavy enough to start weighing my shoulders down. I WAS going to do it.

“You’ve been left along for 12 hours, now.”

….

What?

“Oh…”

She rolled her eyes, “yeah, and now we’re out of time. You will come with us to the base we discovered and will disarm the weapon. You will have a team of eight men to protect you, but we can’t help you navigate the technology because we don’t have the codes. I’ll let you think on why that is.”

“Whoa, woah, woah, wait! I can’t do somethin like that! I can barely make my own breakfast in the morning without breaking the toaster! THE TOASTER! If you leave this in my hands, everyone’s going to die!” I don’t know if my voice is yelling or screaming, but its loud. You can’t blame me, though, this was pretty sudden and nervewracking. Not to mention how I perform under pressure… Stage fright is a real disease.

“Yeah, well, we don’t have much of a choice right now! Get up and get moving before we miss our chance!” And suddenly I am practically being manhandled by my best friend to my death. For some reason it sounds more reasonable that I would think.

Everything turns very fast-paced too quickly. I swear I get whiplash from the force that pushes me back into the van where I can just barely recognize a group of robots before the van peels off and speed that are probably bot healthy for the human body.

The van twists and turns through the maze of streets before it stops abruptly and I fly forward because of stupid Newton and his stupid laws.

I am tugged out if the van and pushed to an unassuming building by my best friend as a circle of heavily armed guys (not robots) surround me while somehow marching in pace with each other.

I was expecting some evil dude in a chair or a group of identical goons but instead it was an empty room with my parents staring at me with hopeful eyes.

“Uh…. Hi?”

They completely ignore me and turn all of their attention on my best friend, “Well? Did she do it?”

All it took was a shake of her head before my parents deflate and look at me with dull eyes.

“What? I thought I had a second chance with the code things! I’m going to put them in myself with my best friend and her army’s protection!” I don’t know why I was trying so hard to defend myself, I just know I do NOT like that look on their faces.

They kind of kept standing there before my dad waves his hand and all of the armed people start leaving. One of them stops before the door and turns back, “so… are we getting payed through PayPal, or…?”

My mom just shakes her head, “just wait outside. We need to have a talk with our daughter first.”

One nod and then it is just us four in the room.

“Jill, you have a problem.”

It was such a simple statement that packed a huge punch. My mother just said what people have been telling me for a while, but it had never been her before.

I only nodded because my throat is too tight to make any legible sound.

Dad steps forward to put his hand on my shoulder, “we have tried so hard to get you to realize how dangerous this procrastination will be for you. It just never clicks”.

And then it clicked (ha). “Wait, this was all staged? The USB! The underground base! My best friend’s badassness!”

“Nope, that parts real”, Bestie quickly interjects.

Mom shrugged, “well yeah. We got a call from your school and you passed your finals by a hair. It was a close call considering you will be living on your own soon in this world.”

I was at a loss of words. Then ⟊ heard a snicker.

“Hold on, Jill” my best friend started, “did you just refer to me as your best friend?”

“Uh…. Yeah? ‘Cause you’re my best friend…?”

She covered her mouth with one hand and a sparkle in her eye, “I know. What’s my name, Jill?”

Shit.