3k votes, 200 followers and 20k reads. I love you all.   

-------- 

I avoided my Mom yet again when I arrived home, grabbing myself a few snacks from the kitchen and then spent the rest of the afternoon in my room.

By Monday. Everything would be over. I didn't know how to feel about that at all. It was what I had wanted from the beginning right? To get back to my normal life. But what was normal about it anymore? I'd quit gymnastics and was in the middle of a huge fight with my mother. Nothing seemed like it would ever be normal again.

The next morning I knew things were going to be hectic at school. Prom was happening later that night and decorations were going to start going up. But things were hectic at the agency too with plans for their agent event happening and the high school mission coming close to an end.

Eric and I didn't have our usual agent lessons since he was working with other agents on how we were going to catch the dealer. I'd stayed in the background listening in on their plans. Something to do with getting a SWAT team on standby in case the dealer had a weapon or some 'friends.' We already knew there were at least two people working together thanks to the attack at the school a few weeks ago.

"Hey, you ready to go?" I heard a voice ask from behind me. I turned away from the group conversation to see Turner.

"Yeah, let's go," I turned back one last time, catching Eric's eye, giving him a nod to let him know I was leaving. He nodded back and then returned to his conversation.

Turner and I headed out of the building and got into the limo as usual. I hated leaving the RUA building in the mornings because it was always warm in there with the heaters on and stepping outside was like entering a freezer.

"It's cold out huh?" Turner noted as he started the engine.

I nodded. "It's horrible. I wish Winter would just end."

"Two more months sadly," he informed. "Are you going to the event tonight?" he inquired.

"Which one?" I grumbled with my head pressed against the window.

"The agent one" he clarified.

"I guess I am," I answered. Considering I'd already invited Debby. If I canceled on her she'd probably get mad and complain about how we never spent any time together anymore. She'd been texting me non-stop the previous night about what she was going to wear. I hadn't even considered what the proper attire was supposed to be for these things.

"It's great, you should go while you still have a chance." he insisted.

I knew what that meant. While you still have a chance. He knew my time here was running up. While it felt like we were getting no specific leads on this case, that mobile number was likely going to put an end to the mission.

When I arrived at the school, things were hectic. Purple and white streamers hung from the ceiling and the morning assembly we had each week was canceled due to the auditorium being set up. Tasha's prom queen posters covered almost every inch of the walls in the hallway except for the fire alarm safety buttons which she was told she couldn't put her posters over in the case of an emergency. She objected and whined about it until Violet convinced her that it was a good thing they weren't hanging there in case there was a real fire and everyone needed to be notified to leave the building. There was no way Tasha could get the smell of smoke on her dress and in her hair.

I pushed away the balloons that were blocking me from walking as I stepped over their strings trying to get through. It was total chaos everywhere.

"Did you get the Snapchat of my dress last night?" I overheard one girl ask the other.

"Yes, I did! It's so cute!" the other squealed in reply.

"It's a shame that Henry had to get back with that crack head. Could you have imagined how hot we would have been if we showed up at prom together?"

"Totally."

I felt myself fuming. How dare they! They had no idea. Misty wasn't a crackhead! If anyone was the crack head, it was Henry. He was the idiot that pressured her to take the drug in the first place. And just because she was the first one to almost overdose, she was being treated like the drug addict. I'd seen the looks she'd gotten from people around the school. The whispering and staring. I could only imagine how hard everything was for her at the moment. It wasn't like she'd been the only one to take NT. It was spreading around like wildfire.

I walked as quickly as I could to avoid hearing any more of the stupid conversation I'd accidentally listened in on. I'd decided to go to English early since I knew that Tasha wouldn't be there yet and I could avoid her orders for a few minutes. As I approached the room, I noticed someone else was waiting next to the classroom door. When the owner of the shiny long black hair turned around I realized it was Misty herself. She was clutching her textbooks and leaning against the wall.

I smiled as I stopped a meter away from her.

"Hey, Amanda right?" she greeted.

"Hi," I nodded in reply. "How are you?"

"Alright, I guess." she shrugged. "Tired."

"How did things go with your jerk boyfriend?" I smirked, referring to the first conversation we'd had.

Misty pushed her glasses up on her face. "Oh, things are okay now with him. He's no longer a jerk," she smiled softly.

"Glad to hear it," I smiled. I sincerely hoped that things would work out between them. She deserved someone nice.

"Are you going tonight?" she inquired.

"Huh? Oh prom, no." I realized. "It's not really my thing."

"It's a shame," she responded, "I hear it's going to be great."

"Yeah, I'm probably just going to stay at home and watch movies," I shrugged "Have fun though!"

Before either of us could continue I heard the sound of high heels clicking on the floor and knew who was approaching.

"Misty," Tasha greeted with a tight smile, Violet standing close behind her. "How are you?"

Misty looked put off, making it seem like the two of them talking was never common. "Oh, I'm alright I guess, just getting ready for t-"

"Great," Tasha cut her off, obviously not caring. "Do I have your vote for prom queen tonight?"

"Uh, sure?" Misty answered uncertainly.

"Great," she turned her back to Misty, now facing me. "Where have you been all morning? We need to discuss transport. Violet and I were thinking of carpooling with our dates maybe in a li-"

"You realize I'm not going tonight right?" I interrupted.

Tasha's jaw fell open and eyes widened in surprise. "You're not?"

"Yes, I've explained this several times already," I informed, trying not to sound irritated. How many times did she need to hear it?

"Oh, it's a shame, I could have used your vote," she muttered.

"As if you need it," Violet injected, entering the conversation. "You're a shoo-in."

Tasha shrugged, "I suppose,"

We all stayed silent after that, letting an awkward mood settle over us. Misty looked terribly uncomfortable and I just wanted to leave the entire situation altogether. Thankfully, the bell rang signifying the beginning of class.

"See you guys later," Violet murmured as she took off in the opposite direction to head to a different class.

I walked into the room, quickening my pace as if to get away from Tasha even though I knew that she would end up sitting next to me anyway.

"Have you seen Charlotte this morning? I've been meaning to speak to her about her dress, I need to make sure it contrasts from mine. It can't be the same color. I need to stand out." Tash explained as she sat down at the desk next to me.

"No, I haven't," I admitted honestly. "We should see her after this double period at lunch," I wished that it was Charlotte next to me instead of Tasha in that moment as I knew she was nowhere near as annoying.

I turned my head towards the door as I watched the late students file in. In my short time at Kennedy High, I'd learned most of their names and their backstories without even having a single conversation with any of them. Some had moved around a lot to different schools, others had lived in the area their entire life. Some were highly academic with a record full of competitions and event they'd participated in. Others had records with the police for underage drinking and other miscellaneous events. Looking at them all, it was hard to imagine that any of them would be behind such a dangerous drug ring that could ruin their futures.

I felt my stomach grow sick as I noticed Brad walk in the room. I had forgotten that I'd even had English with him but felt stupid when I remembered that I'd met him in this exact room when I'd bumped into him. There was always Brad. I was never one to succumb to stereotypes but out of all the people in the entire school, his type seemed like legitimate suspects to something like this. He'd made it very clear to me what kind of person he was that one Saturday night.

I looked down at my books as soon as I caught Brad's eye. Tasha noticed my sudden movement and drifted her eyes to Brad who was now taking a seat at the back of the room.

"Oh, how are things between you and Brad going by the way? I'd forgotten about trying to set you guys up." Tasha babbled on. "Ooh! Maybe he can be your date to prom tonight-"

"Tasha, for the last time I'm not going!" I snapped.

She fell silent, seeming shocked by my outburst.

I sighed. "And I'm not interested in that anymore," I muttered referring to Brad. I usually kept my temper around her while I tolerated her stupidity but there was only so much you could take.

"Oh," was the only noise she could make.

I was thankful that I'd managed to keep her quiet for a few minutes at least. But as soon as the class had started, she began speaking again. A double period meant nearly two hours of hearing about her designer-made dress, her boyfriend and the Mercedes she was planning to buy at the end o the year.

Even though I wasn't required to, I tried to pay attention to the English lesson. I figured it would be a good idea to try and learn something while on this mission so I wouldn't be too desperately far behind once I resumed my classes at my real school. Even though we were reading a completely different book to Kennedy High, it never hurt to gain some knowledge on To Kill a Mockingbird.

Relief filled me when I heard the lunchtime bell and I did my best to maintain a steady pace as I made my way to the door. The teacher was still yelling out homework tasks for the next lesson but I was barely paying attention as I opened the doors.

Before I could step out of the room, something zoomed past me, making me step back in shock. I peered forward as I tried to establish what the sight was. It was paramedics pushing a stretcher bed out the doors of the school building at a fast speed.

Other students had stopped as the sight passed them. They began whispering amongst each other in confusion. I saw two girls gossiping near a set of lockers and walked over to them.

"Hey, do you guys know what's going on?" I inquired to the pair.

"They found some chick passed out in the bathroom. They're taking her to the hospital." The smaller brunette explained, looking mildly annoyed at my interference in their conversation.

"Do you know who?" I pressed further.

"Some senior chick." The other girl chimed in. "Long, blonde, wavy hair" she described.

I felt myself freeze...Charlotte?

"Was it Charlotte Goodwin?" I requested impatiently, feeling myself grow more nervous by the second.

"Yeah I think that was her name," she replied.

Her short brunette friend began giggling. "Shit dude, the FBI are here."

I turned my head to where the girl was looking to see she was right. Two FBI agents had gathered near the ladies bathroom a few meters away. One was holding a notepad and pen and on closer inspection, I realized they were interviewing someone - Henry.

Questions flooded my head on why he could possibly be getting interviewed but before I had more time to process what was happening, Tasha came up behind me.

"What the hell is going on around here?" She commanded, taking in the same scene like everyone else. The sound of sirens speeding off could be heard from outside as students ran to look outside. I stayed frozen in shock.

"I-I think that Charlotte might be on her way to the hospital," I stammered, realizing it as the words left my mouth.

"What?" Tasha shrieked. "What happened?"

I continued staring at the distant conversation between Henry and the two FBI agents. "I don't know" I answered. But if Henry was involved, it didn't look good.

Tasha ran over to Violet when she saw her enter the crowded hallway while I continued to stay where I was. I reached into the pocket of my jacket and grabbed my spy device. I waited until the FBI walked away from Henry before I held down the record button and walked over to him.

He had his back turned and was beginning to walk away.

"Hey," I began, walking more towards him.

He continued walking, unaware of my appearance.

"Hey!" I repeated, raising my voice.

He turned around and gave me a look of confusion. I knew he was probably surprised because I'd never talked to him before.

"I'm Amanda, I'm friends with Charlotte," I explained.

"I know who you are, you hang out with my sister," He interrupted, seeming irritated by my presence.

"Yeah," I acknowledged, taken back by his quick response. "Anyway, do you know what happened to her?"

He shrugged. "Passed out I guess," he began walking away again.

"Why were you getting interviewed by the FBI?" I pressed further as I walked to catch up with him.

"I found her," he answered bluntly.

I scrunched my nose as I looked at him more carefully. "So...you were in the ladies bathroom?"

"Look, I've already been interrogated, so if you don't mind," he barked as he pushed past me. Suddenly, Tasha sped past, stomping her way over to him.

"Henry! What the fuck did you-" She roared as I heard her voice trail off as she followed him down the hall.

Without thinking, I made my way over to the janitors closet and shut the door as I entered. I pulled the device out of my pocket that I was still clutching and hit the green button that would allow me to contact the RUA.

"Eric," I hissed into the device, anxiously awaiting his reply. I stared around the dark small space around me. A second later, I got a response.

"Becca? Is everything okay?" I heard a female voice ask.

"Cassie?"

"Yeah, Eric left his device in the conference room, he's in a meeting right now. What's going on?" She responded.

"Things are crazy," I huffed out, trying to explain. "I think we just had an overdose at the school,"

"Woah, hold on.. what?"

"I don't know, they took the girl to the hospital and the FBI are here," I hyperventilated.

"Becca, stay calm," she ordered.

I tried to control my breathing, slowing it down.

"Look here's what I'm going to do, we all need to have an emergency meeting right now. Make your way to the nurses' office, pretend to be sick and we'll pick you up in ten minutes." she proposed.

I took a deep breath and massaged the temple of my forehead. "Yeah, okay. Give me a minute."

"Don't worry, we'll sort everything out. See you soon." Cassie's device clicked off not giving me a chance to speak more.

I closed my eyes taking a moment to adjust to the situation before bursting out of the janitor's office. I noticed Tasha and Violet standing together and walked up to them.

"Oh there you are," Tasha piped up.

"Yeah listen," I began, not giving her a chance to continue. "I'm not feeling well and I'm going home," I explained.

"Okay, I'll see you late then," she replied, uninterested as she turned back to Violet. "Jeez, I hope none of this will put a delay on prom. Tonight's my night."

"I know, I've already booked the limo and everything," Violet added.

"What?" I squeaked. I stared at the two, unable to process their behavior. "One of your friends is in a life-threatening situation right now and all you give a damn about is prom?"

The two of them stayed silent with guilty looks on their faces. They didn't even try to defend themselves. Of all the shallow behavior I'd seen from them over the past three weeks, this by far was the worst.

"Unbelievable." I huffed as I turned away from them and stormed off. I marched my way down to the nurses' office, full of concern, anger, and fear.

Following Cassie's instructions, I faked an illness and managed to get permission to leave school. As promised, the limo was waiting outside for me with Cassie in the driver's seat.

I hopped into the car and it drove off straight away.

"What's happening with this girl?" she asked, skipping the greetings.

I rested my head back on the seat and closed my eyes. "I don't know, the FBI were involved so it looks like it had something to do with the drug. She was on her way to the hospital the last time I checked." I sighed. "I have no information whatsoever on her current situation."

I heard Cassie take a deep breath "Did you know her?"

"She was in the group of girls I was hanging out with," I explained.

"We'll find out her condition as soon as we can," she reassured.

When we arrived at headquarters, I informed Eric, Cassie and Turner on everything that had happened that morning. After we'd had a quick discussion we decided to act quickly on the dealer before it was too late.

Eric and a few of the other agents had begun discussing plans for a siege on the dealers that would take place on Monday morning. We had gathered in some meeting room with everyone sitting at the table aside from Eric, who was standing and facing the group. I had taken refuge in a corner of the room, leaning against the wall, keeping out of the conversation.

"Are you kidding? You can't do a siege in a school during the day! Do you know how many people could be put at risk?" One agent protested.

"We need to do this as soon as possible. We are one more disaster away from losing the lead on this case! If we have so much as one small overdose incident, our dealer could bail on this whole operation when the realize how close they are to being caught." Eric argued back. "The FBI are already involved," He reminded the group. I noticed the looks of annoyance on the faces of the agents as they were brought up.

"Who's the main suspect?" a female agent asked.

"A student, Henry Bridowen. He's supposedly been in the presence of both victims during their overdoses." Eric informed.

"Look, I understand the urgency to get this case solved, I really do. But why should we all come up with some half-ass plan that could backfire and land us in shit?" Another agent piped up. "just because you'll be the only one who gets away with no scratches because of your strong relationship with Captain, doesn't mean we should all risk our jobs for this fail of a plan."

"Cool it Madison." Cassie glared at her.

I tried to stop myself from interjecting but couldn't help myself. "Why don't you just do a night siege?" I piped up.

The agents who had been talking loudly, turned their heads to me. Most of them smirking and rolling their eyes. Being a high school teenage girl wasn't helping people take me seriously in that moment.

"Think about it," I reasoned further, "We fully know that these dealers have access to the school at night, so what's stopping them from dealing at night as well? No one innocent gets in the way or caught up in the drama and we can surround the building without causing a stir."

"That's actually not a bad idea," Eric muttered, his eyes drifting away in immediate thought.

A few of the agents lost their smirks and I grinned towards them in satisfaction.

"Okay this is great and all, but we need to work on it more tomorrow. We have an event to prepare for tonight remember?" Agent Madison reminded.

"Okay fine," Eric sighed. "We can discuss this more tomorrow morning." The agents got up and started filling out of the room.

"TGIF baby!" Cassie cheered as she walked out the room, placing her arm over an obviously annoyed Madison with Turner following closely behind, smirking at Cassie's behavior.

"Can I speak to you?" I asked Eric as everyone else left the room and we were by ourselves.

He nodded and shut the door as the last agent left the room. "Everything okay?"

I opened my mouth to answer but then sighed in confusion. "I have no idea." I sat on one of the empty chairs that surrounded the conference table. "A girl is in the hospital because of this drug, Eric. We could have prevented this." I sighed using my hands to hold up my head on the table. "These girls are spoiled, and annoying, and rude, and obnoxious, but they don't deserve to die." I felt tears welling up in my eyes.

Eric sat down in an empty chair next to me.

"I have no control over anything that's happening in my life. I quit gymnastics, my Mom and I are fighting because she's been dating this guy behind my back. A guy that I have no clue who is. I understand that she wants to find someone else after what my Dad did but I just-" I sighed as I felt a hot tear of frustration stream down my cheek, stinging my eyes.

"Your Dad?" Eric queried, moving closer to me in concern.

"He had an affair with his receptionist and then ran off with her to Beverly Hills" I grumbled. "Last year."

"That's horrible" Eric muttered sincerely.

I sighed again. "No, it's not. Eric, you've been through so much worse and here I am complaining about my pathetic life."

"You can't compare one person's problems with another's, we all experience heartache and tragedy in different ways," he explained.

"I'm just- I'm tired of everything." I squeezed my eyes shut tightly as I felt more tears stream down my face. All the hurt, anger and sadness I'd been holding in for the past few weeks, was pouring out of me uncontrollably.

"Stay strong okay? It'll all be over by Monday." He assured, placing his hand on my shoulder/

"Is that all you have to say?" I snapped as I brushed him off me. "For God's sake Eric, we kissed!" I blurted out. "You act like none of this means anything to you!"

"It does," he released a deep breath. "It means more to me then you know Becca, but you also know why we can't happen."

"Yeah, because you care about your job so much and it's your entire life and I'm not a part of that and blah blah blah," I mimicked him. "I've heard it before Eric."

He stayed silent as if it was his way of agreeing with me. There was no point in arguing with me if he knew I was right.

I wiped my eyes and took a deep breath. "I'm- I'm going to go home for a bit. To get ready for tonight." I stood up, not bothering to push in the chair.

Eric got up and followed me to the door. "You're going tonight?" he asked, seeming surprised.

I gave him a sad smile. "Might as well go while I'm still an agent."

-----------

A/N: This scene from OiTNB reminded me of Becca at the RUA meeting hahaha