The smell of sizzling meat was wafting throughout the house as I stood in the kitchen alongside my mother. I could hear her softly humming as she stacked large white plates on top of each other.

I was nervously cutting a tomato on the wooden board, thinking of how I was going to tell her. Christ, just tell her, Becca. I could hear my thoughts pressuring me to speak up but I pursed my lips together, refusing to say a word.

I tried to work out how I was going to tell her.

Hey Mom, do you remember how I was involved in that agent thing two months ago where I got stabbed several times in the leg and nearly died? Yeah, well I've been training with that same agency all Summer instead of taking that art course like I said and I'm probably going on an even more dangerous mission within the next week and it'll probably cause you several anxiety attacks as you worry about my safety and there's also the slight chance that I could die. Is that cool?

She'd barely gotten over the fact that I'd lied to her last time. She was happy I was alive, sure. But she was also extremely mad at me for lying to her and missing out on a few weeks of classes.

I'd almost died for god's sake. I'm sure that would terrify any mother. And then risking my life again? There was no way she would approve of that. I'd probably get locked in my room for several weeks and handcuffed to my bed.

"Hey Michael!" she yelled out, startling me from my thoughts. Her eyes were locked on his as he stood a few meters away outside behind the barbecue. "How's it going out there?"

"Shouldn't be too much longer darling," he replied, turning a few sausages. "How's the salad going, Bec?"

I looked up from the cutting board, exiting my worrying thoughts. "Oh, um yeah. Nearly done," I called back awkwardly.

"How about Kevin and Debby? Will they be much longer?" My Mom asked, turning to me. She was in a seemingly good mood and I knew it wouldn't last for much longer once I told her about the RUA.

"Debby just texted me. They're on their way. Should be any moment now." I replied trying to sound casual but my Mom noticed the edge in my voice and raised an eyebrow.

"Are you alright?" she asked.

"Yeah" I cleared my throat as I put down the knife. "Fine. I'm just going to check up on them and see if they're close by." I walked away from the counter, abandoning the salad.

It wasn't my main intention to check on my friend's whereabouts, but rather a way to get me away from my mother. The guilt was suffocating me. I couldn't stand to be near her knowing that I was about to ruin her good mood and cause a huge scene.

I sat on the lounge chair, facing the door as I began anxiously tapping on my phone. There were dozens of thoughts swimming around in my head as I let out a huge breath, trying to release my worry. But in an almost instant, the thoughts were back, refusing to leave me alone. I was nervous.

I tried to think of how I was going to tell them. Do I just announce it loudly during dinner?

Or maybe afterward so there's no chance of anyone throwing food at me?

It made sense to at least tell Debby first, so I could get a good idea on what the general reaction would be. And it would relieve some of the pressure from having to tell my mother.

The loud knock on the door startled me from my thoughts as I jumped slightly, dropping my phone on the hard tiled floor.

Shit.

"Becca it's us!" I heard Debby Edmonds yell from outside. I could see the shadow of her figure from the bottom of the door.

Shit.

I knelt down to the floor, in search for my phone only to freeze when I saw it under the lounge, lying screen down. Oh God.

"Just a moment!" I yelled out as I reached forward to grab the device. The cold tiles pressed on my skin making me shiver.

Please don't be cracked. Please don't be cracked. Please don't be cracked.

I chanted in my head nervously.

"Hurry up I'm hungry!" I heard Kevin Watoski's muffled voice, banging on the door.

"One moment!" I repeated again as I stretched my hands under the lounge, feeling for the phone. I got on my side, my cheek pressed against a tile, as I tried to see the phone again from under the dark couch. My hand moved from side to side as I patted the ground desperately.

"Becca, did I hear someone at the door?" My mother's voice called to me from the kitchen.

For the love of God.

"Yeah, one sec!" I yelled as loud as I could, with it coming out angrier than I meant. I felt the phone with the tip of my fingers and quickly dragged it out, shuffling my body away from the couch. I held my breath as I turned the device around.

I let out a huge sigh of relief as I saw the screen intact and free of scratches.

The loud knocking on the door continued until I got off the floor and ran to answer the door.

"I'm coming, jeez," I muttered as I made it to the door.

I grabbed the handle, keeping my grip on it, but not turning it. I closed my eyes and sighed. I didn't know how I was going to cope with tonight. What if I was faced with the worst and most angry reactions ever? My main goal tonight was to get support. I already knew how dangerous the work that I was doing was, I didn't need to be reminded of that fact repeatedly. I didn't want them to worry about me or think that I'd gone crazy or something. I just wanted them to understand me. I wanted them to respect what I wanted to do. After all, I was helping save lives... or at least trying to. It wasn't like I was about to tell them I was on drugs, pregnant or engaged. It would be the same as announcing I was joining the military but without the long leaves and probably not as dangerous. Probably. The truth was, I didn't know what exactly my missions would require of me. It all depended on the case. Sometimes it was just a simple as going undercover to find out information. Other times, like in the case of Eric, it involved taking down powerful and dangerous people - which often meant some form of conflict and violence. I didn't want to think about it. It freaked me out the more I thought about how I was going to get through my first actual case. My main goal was just to get through tonight.

Here goes nothing.

I opened the door to the sudden greeting of Kevin screaming in my face. This wasn't weird to me considering how long I'd known him but even over the many years I had, I still hadn't managed to find it less annoying.

The high pitch noise continued to escape his mouth as he hugged me.

"Are you done?" I asked as I grinned at his stupidity.

He finally released me as Debby stepped forward, enveloping me into another tight hug. I felt a sudden relief of pressure and anxiety escape me. I hadn't realized how much I'd missed them. I hadn't seen them since after the first few weeks of graduation, the rest of the time we'd gone off in our own directions. Kevin and Debby had both been accepted into the same College. Kensington State was only a few miles away from our town, meaning they wouldn't even have to worry about moving out of home. Debby was going to be taking on a law degree while Kevin was chasing after a Bachelor of Fine Arts in graphic design. 

"I've missed you so much!" Debby squealed, she released me from the hug and then stared at me seriously. "Where the hell have you been all Summer?"

I pursed my lips looking for an answer. I could feel the pair of eyes on me as they awaited a response.

"Uh, art," I answered, mentally slapping myself almost immediately as the words left my mouth.

She raised an eyebrow, a smirk appearing on her face. "Art? You mean the course you took?"

"Yeah," I responded simply, not wanting to lie any further.

"All Summer?" She continued to press.

"Yeah," I repeated. "Can I talk to you for a minute?"

She was taken aback by my serious tone and knew something was up.

"Uh, sure," she answered uncertainly. "Your room?" she offered.

I nodded eagerly.

She handed a bunch of flowers I hadn't even noticed she'd been holding the entire time, to Kevin as she muttered something to him about giving them to my mother.

He nodded giving us an odd look as we abandoned him at the doorstep, making our way swiftly up the stairs.

I hopped up each stair with Debby following closely behind trying to keep up. As we reached the end of the staircase, I grabbed her arm and dragged her into my room. I quickly shoved her in and then shut the door behind us.

"I need to tell you something." I began, still pressed up against the door.

Debby eyed me carefully, her eyes widening as she let out a smirk. "No shit."

I ignored her sarcasm. "It's serious," I muttered as I walked over to my bed, taking a seat on the edge of it. She joined me, sitting next to me.

"What's up?"

I was suddenly reminded of the first time I'd told her about the RUA. We had both been sitting on my bed months ago when I'd told her why I hadn't been at school for ages. It felt like only yesterday and here we were now, it all happening again, like some weird kind of deja vu.

I took a deep breath. "Wow, this is harder than I thought it would be," I muttered.

"Just tell me" she urged, shuffling closer to me on the bed.

"Okay," I felt my grip tighten on the fistfuls of my blanket that I was clutching onto. "I haven't exactly been honest with you about where I was this Summer." I took another deep breath. "It wasn't art school."

Debby was staring me directly in the eyes and I felt my eyes shift further down to the floor, though I wasn't focusing on anything- just my thoughts.

"I figured that much," Debby responded after a moment.

I looked back up at her. "What do you mean?"

She gave me a look as if I was the stupidest person on earth. She sighed, rolling her eyes back. "Becca," she began slowly, "you suck at art."

I looked at her horrified "What?" I let out as a squeak.

"You dropped out of it in junior year when you got a D on your painting of a cockroach." She reminded me.

"It was supposed to be a butterfly" I grumbled as I dangled my feet of the bed and watched them swing back and forth.

Okay, so I wasn't exactly the world's best liar. And maybe the art school cover hadn't exactly been a good one. But I'd been put on the spot when I'd first been asked where I was disappearing off to every day so I had to come up with something quickly. I'd said 'school' at first but when reminded I was not actually in school any, you know, with graduating and all, I had to clarify to the only school I could think of – art. It was either that or Clown College, which seemed to be the other only thought that was popping up in my head at the moment.

"Are you avoiding me for some reason?" she asked, raising her eyebrows.

"What? No." I argued.

"Well it sure seems that way," Debby continued. "Not a single call, text, tweet or even frigin' email from you. All Summer! This isn't like us. We hang out all the time. School only ended like three months ago and we're already drifting apart?"

"We're not drifting apart," I tried to argue. "And I haven't been avoiding you. I've just-"

She cut me off as she continued. "And blowing me off when I do try to catch up with you? Every single time? If you don't want to be near me anymore just say it. Your Mom was the one that even invited us over tonight for god's sake. If I hadn't bumped into her at the grocery store, I don't know what would have happened."

She continued on and on as I tried to squeeze in a single word.

"Debby-Wait- I- I have to-"

"What happened to us Becca?" she questioned. "I mean, the last time we spent so long apart from each other was when" she cut herself off, completely going silent. Her eyes widened as she looked up at me, scanning me all of a sudden.

I shifted uncomfortably as I felt her eyes on me. The awkward silence was killing me. She finally broke it when she opened her mouth.

"How did you get that bruise?" she asked.

I looked at her confused. She gestured to my arm.

I looked down, turning my arm around so I could see where she was looking. Towards the end of my elbow, there was a bright purple mark on it that I hadn't even realized was there. I thought back to how I must have gotten it. It must've happened when I was in combat training with one of the agents.

I looked up at Debby who was still awaiting an answer from me.

It was time to tell her.

"Training" I answered meekly, not looking forward to her response.

She raised an eyebrow, confusion crossing over her face. "From...gymnastics?" she asked uncertainly, but I knew she was aware of the real reason. I'd quit gymnastics over six months ago and she knew I had no intention of ever returning.

I looked back down at the ground for the hundredth time, feeling ashamed for lying to my best friend all Summer. I shook my head and made a quiet noise that sounded like 'no.'

The look on her face told me she knew exactly where I'd been all Summer. And she wasn't impressed.

She released a big deep breath and tilted her head back.

"Becca...no."

I felt my stomach tighten at her reaction. "It's not that bad." I defended. "It's not like my life's in danger or anything."

"Oh, cause it wasn't last time?" she snapped back at me.

"That was different" I sighed, realizing it was going to be hard to get through to her.

"Okay, how?" she pressed as she drew herself further away from me in resentment. "How is it any different? Don't forget that you were the one telling me a few months ago not to worry about you because it was just a high school mission and no harm would come to you. The marks on your legs would tell me otherwise."

I looked down below the hem of my skirt at the faint but still visible stab wounds on my thighs from where Tasha had impaled her knife. The walking pain was long gone but sometimes when I put a lot of pressure on those wounds, I could still feel a sharp pain.

I knew what she was saying to me was right, whether I wanted to agree with it or not. But I couldn't bring myself to see things from her perspective. I knew how dangerous it was. I knew it better than anyone. But I also knew I could handle myself. I just didn't want anyone to worry about me. As far as I was concerned what happened in that dark classroom at Kennedy High was in the past. It was a one-off incident that would never happen again. It was just a chance encounter that the drug dealer happened to be a complete and total psycho bitch.

Debby continued her argument. "And if that was supposed to be an easy high school mission, then what the hell are you doing now? My bet is it's a lot more dangerous than what you did last time."

I had no words. She was completely right – not that I'd ever admit that to her. But of course, whatever mission I was going to be assigned next would be a whole heap worse, there was no way of convincing her otherwise. But I had to do it, a part of me even really wanted to. Something about the danger excited me and knowing that whatever I would do would help make the world a better place was a satisfying feeling. How many more people would have overdosed on NT if we hadn't stopped Tasha and Violet? How many of them would have died? Yet I couldn't argue this to Debby. All I could do was sit there in silence as she finished her rant.

The awkward silence from my absent response was only making things get tenser. I couldn't bring myself to even look at Debby. Whether that was because I felt shame, guilt or whatever. I didn't know. But I couldn't bring myself to do it.

I heard her release a deep sigh beside me as she adjusted herself to face me more.

"Look," she began, her tone more calm and quiet. "You weren't the one who was waiting beside an ambulance crying in the freezing cold in the middle of the night because you thought you best friend was dying."

I felt myself stiffen as she continued.

"I care about you, Becca. I just don't want to see you get hurt again. And how would your Mom feel about this? Does she know yet?"

I finally found my voice as I cleared my throat. "Not yet. I was planning on telling her tonight. At dinner."

I looked up at Debby to see her shaking her head furiously.

"Look, I can't talk you out of this. You're a headstrong person and you're going to do what you want in the end but listen to me on this one."

I raised an eyebrow in concern.

"What?"

"Don't tell your Mom." She instructed. "Unless you want her to have constant anxiety attacks every time you walk out the front door, you need to keep this to yourself."

I stared at her in complete disbelief and shock. "How am I supposed to keep something as big as this a secret from her?" I asked in horror. The concept seemed completely ridiculous to me.

"Oh come on, you've already done it this entire Summer and you did it on your last case. It can't be that hard to keep it up-"

"Okay, I'm not a compulsive liar." I cut her off in defense. "Plus, in case you didn't notice, school's kinda over so I can't exactly use that as an excuse anymore. And the supposed 'art classes' I've been taking this entire time are supposed to be over now too. I've got nothing."

"Then don't be an agent!" She suggested loudly.

I shushed her, worried that someone from downstairs would hear.

"That's not an option." I hissed. "I've made my decision and I need you to respect it. If you're not willing to help me with this then don't bother trying to stop me from doing it."

"Okay, okay, calm down," she raised her arms in her defense. "Look, I'll help you with this, but I'm not exactly all for it."

I let out a small smile in relief. "Thank you?" I offered.

She waved me off. "Just know that I'm not completely for this idea and I'm probably going to need future convincing from you that this is okay because so far, I don't think it is. I can't support you doing something that could completely endanger your life." She paused for a moment, pursing her lips in thought. "But... you're my best friend and I'm here to support you no matter what, even if I may be completely against it. Now here's the plan." 

--------

A/N: Guys its 3am and I just laughed really hard when I realized the word assassination has 'ass ass' in it. I need sleep.

Night. x