It was one busy day in Brooklyn, 2017. Owen was watching TV while his sister was having a playdate in their house, but every once in awhile, Zoe would say, “Turn down the TV!”

But, then Owen would say, “At least you have a friend over!”

That night, at dinner, the parents, George and Gianna, said they were going to Las Vegas. Then Owen and Zoe danced around the dinner table chanting, “We’re going to Las Vegas.”

But then the parents said, “No no, we are going to Las Vegas. You two are staying here because now that you are older, you guys have responsibility of the house. You guys are in charge!”

Womp, womp, womp.The siblings were disappointed a little, but then they realized they could watch rated-R movies, order pizza, and drink sodas all night long. Party without parents.

Their parents left for the airport a week later. Then the next day, Owen and Zoe got back from the grocery store and found a man sitting up sharply on their couch. He was in a tuxedo. They didn’t know the man, he was just there. Owen quickly and quietly ran to the kitchen so he could get a butcher knife in case the man was dangerous.

With the sharp, heavy blade in his hand, Owen felt brave enough to ask the man, “Who are you? And what are you doing on our couch?”

The man replied, “My name is Alexander. I work for the CIA.”

Then Zoe had the guts to get out of her hiding spot.

Owen asked, “What do you want?”

Alexander said, ”I want to recruit you guys for the Junior Agency.”

Zoe asked, “Really?”

Then Alexander said, “Of course. If I’m not going to recruit you, why would I be here?”

Zoe said, “This is so exciting. I can’t wait for it to happen!”

“But before we start, both of you have to approve,” said Alexander.

Then at the same time, they both smiled and said, “Yes!!!”

The very next week, they got to spy camp. Their parents were still at Las Vegas while the kids were at camp. But they were separated because the training divided recruits into boy and girl camps. So the counselors brought each of them to their dorms, and right when Owen walked in his dorm room, he met his new bunk mates. His bunk mates names were Jack, Teddy, and John. Jack had spiky, black hair and had been there for four years. Teddy was short and had flat, blond hair. He had been there six years. John had puffy, red hair and had been there for five years.

Zoe walked into her dorm. Her bunk mates were named Emma, Skyler, and Bree.

Emma had short, black hair that she was wearing in a ponytail. She had been at spy camp for three years. Skyler had long, black hair. She had been at camp for five years. Bree had shoulder length, dark red hair, and she had been camp for seven years.

Owen looked around the dorm. His dorm had two bunk beds on either side of the room with a big, red rug in the middle. There were pictures up on the shelves with spy books, and the walls were painted gray. Owen liked his room. Zoe’s room was just like Owen’s except her walls were pink, and there was no rug in the middle of the room. Zoe wanted her room to have more toys.

After  they unpacked, they went to the lunchroom so they could get dinner. It looked like a school cafeteria. It had white brick walls and long, rectangular tables. Dinner was not so great. The pasta was rock hard. Disgusting, Owen and Zoe thought. But Owen got to meet someone who knew everyone in the camp. His name was Douglas. He had short, red hair, and his arms were tattooed. He waved hi to everyone who passed him. Everyone seemed to like him because he was nice. He had been at camp for thirteen years, and he was nineteen years old. Then a boy with wavy, brown hair walked by and slammed his hand on the table Douglas and Owen were sitting at.

Then Douglas said, “Idiot,” quietly.

“Why do you call him an idiot?” asked Owen.

“Because he is the bully of the camp,” said Douglas. “His name is Chip.”

Then Owen said, “Which dorm room are you in?”

“Oh, I’m in dorm 144,” said Douglas.

“Oh, I’m next to you. I am in room 145,” said Owen.

Zoe didn’t meet anyone new, but she talked to Skyler a lot during dinner. They talked about spy school and said that they liked it here because there were no parents, and they liked the fact that when they weren’t training, they got to use electronics.

“You can stay up late. You can carry a gun everywhere, even the kids,” said Skylar, ignoring the food in front of her. “Because for drills, everyone needs to take their guns and act like there is an enemy in the base.”

“From where do you get the guns?” asked Zoe.

“You have to pass target class before you can get a gun,” replied Skylar. “You get the guns from the armory.”

“Oh, okay, that doesn’t sound too hard,” said Zoe.

Skylar said, “It’s not as easy as it sounds because it’s not just about pulling the trigger. It’s about aiming and loading too. Once the ammo is in, the gun doesn’t automatically fire.”

“You lost me after aiming,” replied Zoe, rolling her eyes.

Owen and Zoe went to bed at 10:00 p.m, sharp, but they didn’t fall asleep until 11:00 p.m. The next morning, they woke up feeling tired and rubbing their backs. Owen cracked his back and yawned while stretching. They had two hours to get dressed before their first training exercise.

Zoe’s first class was target practice. Since she was new there, she didn’t have a gun, so the counselors gave her a gun to keep. It was a medium-sized, black pistol. Zoe was not good at target practice at all. All of her shots missed on the dummy. Only one hit the dummy and she only hit the dummy’s big toe, nowhere close to the bullseye. She felt frustrated, so she shot the floor with her gun, and then shot it up in the air.

“You get no dinner,” yelled her teacher.

I don’t care for dinner here, she thought.

Owen was a little bit better than Zoe. Well, Owen was actually doing hand-to-hand combat, and since he’d already done karate, there wasn’t a big difference. He wasn’t as good as his bunk mates though.

Jack flipped Owen over. He landed on his back.

“Ouch,” Owen said.

Then John kicked Teddy in the stomach, and then Teddy punched John in the face. John had a bleeding nose, and Teddy had a stomach ache because he just ate and he was kicked in the stomach by John. Owen saw it while Jack flipped him again.

Oh god, how am I going to survive? he thought.

Then the kids went to breakfast. Today’s breakfast was pancakes. The pancakes were pure plastic.

Owen said, “I’ll pass on breakfast today.”

So did everyone else. They all didn’t want to eat it.

Some kids said, “This is the worst thing we have ever seen.”

Zoe had lost 12 pounds in two days because of the exercise and the fact that she didn’t eat here.

Today was day 34 at spy camp. Zoe had gotten really good with the gun, and Owen had gotten really good at hand-to-hand combat. Now they pretty much knew everyone at spy school, and they got used to the smell of food at spy camp. They also got a promotion for spy school. They were counselor assistants. They were so excited.

Meanwhile, their parents just got back from the airport. They were inside the house, and they were screaming their heads off and crying.

“I’m calling the police,” cried their dad. He yelled into the phone, “My kids are gone!”

Instead of the cops picking up the phone, an agent was on the other line. He said, “Your kids are at spy school.”

***

The parents heard that their kids were at spy camp. Since they had heard that they were at spy camp, they had been trying to visit them. But the agents said that they weren’t allowed to see them for another five months. Even Owen and Zoe wanted to go home because they were home sick. They also missed their parents a lot. George and Gianna were extremely mad at them because becoming an agent was a big thing. But they were also happy for them because they were growing up.