Screw love screw hate,
Stuff destiny, stuff fate,
In this world we are alone,
The things we do,
And the doors we pass through,
Lead us to the final promise.
Lori Nickel
Chapter 1: a trip with out meaning
“Lori, what’s wrong I have never seen you so frozen,” A disquieted voice panics making my corpse eardrums shiver. Corbin as per usual providing that godly voice.
“High,” I muster the most pathetic of replies. I sense his eyes trace the exact same path as mine had just tripped and stumbled upon. His light energetic feet dance around me and I can just see the toes of his black Dc’s all suede and buoyant.
“Lori, look up,” his heroic voice tips me. I sketch his body from his toes to his marvelous truffle eyes. They smile at me promisingly, dependable. “Now don’t let your eyes move from there. Take my hand,” He extends one of his mighty stone hands and it locks around my child like one. “Now step in time with me, just baby steps Lori, baby steps.”
Monday 2nd of June
About 8am
No flurry of excited chatter, or delinquent view of some fashion magazine grasped my attention on this rickety old bus journey as it jogged the open road. Why would it interest me? When would it interest me? When there are more devious things at mind.
“Lorraine Nickel! Seat belt!” Hartland bleats, infuriated by my clumsy streak.
“Miss, it’s Lori,” I angelically notify her and she bitterly scowls back, and once more I’m left with my thoughts.
I block out Amber and her docile misunderstanding of everything. Silence Ry and his perverted ways. And focus on the important things. My career.
You see I’m a spy.
For a clumsy girl it’s a rarity, but that’s the thing, I am rare. I’m 15 years old you see and already I have a degree majoring in law and my minor was human biology. Basically, I’m a freak, and maybe Hartland was damn right to hate me. She wouldn’t be the first.
“Lori!” Ry popped my lethargic thoughts. His swishing blond hair radiating the sun as it was perched on the top of the seat. “Don’t you think that this is a little straight forward for us?” Ry’s straightforward, logical mind was thinking, as always, in the box. Ry was my pole opposite in some ways, he powered with his head. I fluttered with my heart, and that’s sometimes the key to seeing the bigger picture.
“Ry, Shhhh. I’m not discussing this now,” I educated him, yet sometimes he frittered key details away, and you never who could be listening in this business.
“But what about the Mona.”
“Sh!” I savagely interrupted him, and mouthed, “not now.” He only had to wait forty-five minutes and then we had a meeting planned at the service station.
“Do I have to?” He begged theatrically, his voice melancholy.
“Ry, go back to your perving,” I joked. He took it in good humour and slumped back into his chair. The seconds whizzed by and before too long Ry was hung over the chair behind him, slathering the girl in passionate comments. It was, surprisingly, not to her taste.
It was then someone else caught my eye. Paths crossing for a second. Exchange of glance. Mahogany eyes burning to chocolate lakes. That sweet taste of perfection for second and then it went, like a breath. Mr. Corbin Harks, and he were dismissive. And with that I closed my eyes and memorised the image of him.
9am
Tom, even though his leg was snapped straight down the middle, bore such authority to the group, the quiet secluded area of the games room.
“This is not just a free frolicking few weeks. The rest of the kids here maybe here for a few weeks of parties, drink and rebellion. But we don’t have time for that. The bit that poses a puzzle to me is the fact that there are no traces of where this suspicion has come from. Just a note.”
“How can they get so worried a note? It’s a note,” Ry was still not completely convinced by this mission, his logic, his streetwise swag, held him back. It posed a barrier to him.
“Ry, It’s the Mona-Lisa, the most prized, cherished and priceless piece of artwork in the world. Imagine if someone tried to steal daft bracelet of yours, you’d flip. Well that’s what they’re like with the Mona-Lisa,” I translated the issue into Ry’s terminology, although I’d only known him a year I still had every inch of him solved. To me, Ry was like an open book… that I’d already read. Tom bestowed an approving nod upon me.
Tom was the founder of Teen spy. He was strong, fatherly and confident. He oozed this ease, this omniscience glow. He had over us all, even with the disability of a broken leg, he still could manipulate anyone into there place who needed firmly returning.
“Oh f****** god!” the skinny sharp blond in the corner erupted her epithets, “ what’s with you American’s and metaphors? The Mona-Lisa is nothing like Ry’s bracelet!”
I didn’t reply.
I couldn’t reply.
I really shouldn’t reply. I was cowardly in her stormy presence. Her air of wickedness, which diminished all. Though sparky and bright she never had used in the correct manor. I abhorred her greatly.
“Nancy! Give it a rest,” Tom, a resilient father, struck her firmly. The electric tension between them, a fountain, and the way it always was. There was some ancient connection between the pair; I’d never been informed of one, I was just quite certain there to be. Her eyes misguiding blue exchanged a frazzled glair the dark clouds of her alliances. “I don’t want you girls fighting like this. Get over it. There is no room for bickering and as for American’s, Nancy, don’t generalize. Her stony face could not soften. The circle broke.
11am
The sea chopped the ferry, their godly slices the vicious teeth of beastly creatures, I could think of one. Though she wasn’t there she still left crack in the team.
“So what do suggest Tom?” Ry impatiently interrogated Tom, preying for information. It was about the forth time he’d asked. Though he seamed to bare a morsel of energy. Roping his ear to my lips I whispered “Ry leave him please. He’s stressed about Nancy.” Ry through me a gallant smile.
His rouged cheeks filled and his eyes were drizzled with cheeky smiles.
“Don’t let that bitch bite you Tom. None of like her,” Ry tactlessly remarked, still beaming like a chestier cat. Speechless, I starred gormless at Ry. Tom’s passed Ry and I to a quieter member of our table.
“Corbin? Do you dislike Nancy,” Though silken voice it still shifted the pressure to composed Corbin.
“I don’t agree with her, but as of yet, I have no evidence to dislike,” His voice meandered us, melodically, but the tune spited with flats. Those bronze cheeks never warm, classically ice.
She slithered into the fifth seat, her lardy figure making it easy to slide. Her eyes glossed with purity, but behind were them dark clouds.
“Ella,” Ry’s mocking voice sarcastically greeted her, miming the way Nancy tilted her head to warm her best friends into her arctic presence.
“Ryan,” She spitted disapprovingly. A fake over enthralled grin painted her face.
“Nancy sent me to check how things were going. Are setting of early in the morning?” her twinkling voice synthetic.
Bored by her unoriginal presence Tom said, “Yes, Ella.” His emotions withdrawn.
“Thanks,” still Barbie like, she fussed with her russet bob, “So Corbin how are you today?”
“Great, thanks,” Maturity laced reply as he drew his chair to mine, naively I followed suit.
“Have you heard about the party tonight!” she gushed, ruby colours lined her cheeks.
“Yeah, Pepper-lee invited me,” He slimly added the name of the most beautiful girl in school, to repulse her.
“Oh she told me I should go!” Ella was giddy in thought, “maybe she’s trying to say something.”
“Possibly… possibly not,” Corbin whipped his voice mystery. She smelt its scent.
“I have to go guys. Later,” her manicured hand flittered enthusiastically over the boys missing my head. Giggles laced our eyes as once more everything shifted to Corbin Harks.
“Don’t say a thing,” and he eyed Ry’s cheeky smile.
11pm (France time)
Dressed in an innocent blush dress, I attempted to attend the party that I had never been invited too. The fact of the matter was I shared a room with the almighty Pepper-lee, whose feet many swooned at. I was surprised that despite her charismatic charm and high self as steam she agreed to take me with her.
There were crowds of familiar and vain faces, looking one another up and down, knowledgeable of their style. The dagger stares were electric in the room, the frosty sheen. Pepper-lee’s halo warmed the atmosphere for instead of darkly measuring one another they all fell in awe of Pepper-lee. Her presence enchanted the room and meekly I followed her, unnoticed, the bright light swaning away with Pepper-lee.
Nancy and Ella adjourned at her feet, blithely chattering to the goddess of the school. Ry hid in the shaded corner, out of Pepper-lee’s out-stretched beam.
“Ry!” I shouted, galloping across the room through the crowd. Unaware, I raced through the crowd knocking a few in the way shoulders.
Venomously she rotated. Her blue eyes were stained with hate, disgust and repulsion.
“What are you doing?” Nancy barked, “You blithering idiot!” I recoiled. To Nancy Gregory I lost all power. I went weak, mousy and silent. In conclusion, the night was a fail. Period.
Chapter 2: Sneaking away
June 3rd
8am
I hate mornings. I hate waking up especially when you have such an awful night as I did last night; I’m not getting into that. I’m just going to say this much. I hate Nancy.
The melodic chimes of my scrappy phone sparkle through the room, ripping me from a sweet slumber and disturbing everyone in my room (who aren’t particularly found of me anyway). Tom commanding text is my greeting.
Today we are going to the Louve.
We must sneak away. At breakfast. We will get upon the wrong bus.
Tom.
Tom’s knowledge base was immense but my adolescent and often wrong heart told me that this could never be achievable. Plus if I could fathom a glitch in the plan, so could Hartland.
Tom. That will never work because the other bus is parked in a totally different area for that reason. Plus we have to congregate in the entrance.
We could sneak away?
Lori.
It would be much more fool proof to infact goes on the excursion for today and then try to steal us away.
Okay.
I give command to you miss Nickel. We’ll do as you say.
Tom
I despised it when people referred to me as Miss Nickel, which they often did, it was diminishing. The roar of groggy, lethargic voices played like and orchestra through the room. They all wished to sleep but the clatter of my nails against the keys of my mobile was drumming them to awaken.
“Lori! Keep it down!” Pepper-Lee shouted, still intoxicated from across the room.
“It’s just Ry,” I sweetly sang back, “He wants to know what time we are going for breakfast.”
“At this rate never!” Pepper-lee bellowed, and treasured her head under her ocean of pillows.
I reconciled myself in the bathroom, alone. My icy eyes froze upon my own face and then I was focused. We were going to the Louve. I just needed to create a way.
10am
The suns jovial rays painted the world in a shimmering brisk light. We tottered down the long cobbled drive, linking my arm with Ry’s twiggy one. He was not masculine at all. His slender frame appeared to move in the dancing breeze.
We were only going to get lost that was all, perfectly tame.
Chapter 3: The Louve
12.50pm (Off the bus. YAY!)
My feet are beating off the pavement at million miles an hour.. NOTRE – DAME! And our bus! Ms Hartland is coming over. RY! MS HARTLAND!
I better get away quick!
2.30pm (just outside the Louve)
We’ve just seen the manager. I’ve got all the in’s & out’s of this mission, let me explain. OK last week a suspicious person dressed in black came to the Louve and tried to steal the Mona Lisa. All they have is the fingerprint of the person who tried to steal it and a purse that they dropped on the way out. The purse contains an ipod nano, a LG chocolate phone & a Max Factor lip-gloss. I’ve been given the bag to investigate. So far I know this person has great taste in lip-gloss. It’s a kind of plum colour with tint of glitter. It’s amazing! And matches my skin colour. Also their friends with people called Stacey & Faye. Ha Nancy has a sister called Stacey. I’m going to tell her that.
This person may have amazing lip-gloss sense but they have rubbish music sense. It’s all-classical like amazing grace. I think we are tackling a geek. I am hilarious! So back me! I need to think of what to wear to night.
Tonight we’re going back to Louve. We’re going to be alive. CCTV! And I’m going to solve this mission I can just tell. Watch this space because I’m not some dumb blonde and for once I’m going to prove it. So bad guy watch out!
Wednesday 4th of June
1am (I’m not in a good mood)
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR! I can’t stand her I can’t just sit here and let her stamp her big feet all over me. I am not a doormat. My front door is locked sealed and bared from all Nancy Gregory’s. She thinks she is something special. That she’s perfect. Boy how wrong she is. We walked in to the Louve and I pulled out my zip climber (zippy inbrakable perfection climber) and hung like a bat very bravely from the roof. Then I got my Octopus stickers and began climbing across the roof. The adrenalin of my body defining the laws of gravity, living secretly and permently on the run is so cool! If only an annoying voice didn’t start rattling into my system.
So before the annoying voice even began Corbin, Ryan and me began to move away from the troublesome twosome. We’re covering the under ground section. But kept messing about. See the entrance from the bottom of the building is a remains of some sort of fancy pansy castle. Some statues and rubble is here. I’m hid as a statue that is writing. And Ryan & Corbin are trying to make me move. Oh god was that a door slamming, I have to go. Sorry!
1.13am (still a statue)
OH MY GOD! Need to text Ella.
Ella.
Black figure slighted on floor -1 using Bus park entrance. Corbin was dressed as a statue & was stolen. Me & Ry r flowing him!
Be on guard.
Lori
My feet are sprinting at a million miles an hour. What was that? A bang. My eyes glance at Ryan. His face looks just like mine. We have the same Idea but no one wants to say. So I’ll say. I think it was a gun shot into one of the windows. And I’ve just got a text from Ella.
Lori.
Jst got Ur txt. Nancy’s gone 2. She said she was goin 2 the toilet. But I cnt c her. & She’s been gone an hour.
Ella
(Did u hear that)?
Ok I’m going to the ground floor. Going up!
2am
HELP! HELP ME! S.O.S! I love Corbin but he’ll never love me. And now he’s stuck in side a tiny birds cage dangling off the edge of the top of the Louve. (And that’s pretty high) the only way I can get my one true love back is to go and steal the Mona Lisa myself & that would make me the criminal. What would Indian Jones do in a time like this? Or Charlie’s angles? Oh light bulb! I’ve got a plan like no other. 1 minuet let me tell Ry.
“ Take me! Or I’ll jump.” I scream.
“ Why would I want a punier girl? He’s bad enough” the manly voice replies.
So I run. Run like the wind. Fast as light with wind brushing fast through every strand of my hair. Closer. Closer my hands grasp the windowsill and I flip out. I grasp the hand of a beautiful carved male statue with a handsome face. Who pulls me to my feet I reach for my belt and switch my shoes to jet and magically float? I can hear them talking above.
“ So skimpy what are you to do? Are you going to help me or let him go?” I hear the gruff manly voice say.
“ Let him go I am mourning,” Ryan cries.
So he does as I unroll the net. Which is stuck to my statue friend for safety. Corbin falls and falls and is caught.
“Get your jets on Corbin,” I whisper.
“Lori. Lori! Am I dreaming you can’t be alive & nether can I,” his voice quivers.
“Grow up Corbin. There is a reason why I have jet shoes,” I murmur.
“Oh.” He replies blushing tomato red.
I float to the window and stand on the windowsill, turn off my jets, lean forward & tap the shadowy criminal on the shoulder.
“Bet you didn’t expect to see me.” I brightly smirk. And before he could reply. Kapoweey! A simple kick straight in back.
I think I better leave you a minuet diary.
4am (big oh-no)
What on earth has happened? I am in mammoth trouble and I don’t where I am. It’s 4am, that’s all I know. Oooh my head, it hurts. OH MY GOD! MY HEAD! It is covered in stitching &… I HAVE STICHING! And look at the blood. EEEERR BLOOD! I AM GOING TO BARF! Oooh bless Corbin. He sat beside me and I’m in mega pain. What just happened? Corbin has only just given you to me.
Ok I’m going quiz Corbin about what just happened. I’ll write soon.
4.30am (And I’m in trouble)
OH NO! I’ve landed everyone in gigantic trouble all because a stupid back flip. Why am I a show off? All I can remember is a dark figure standing near the window coming closer and closer. Corbin told me that I back flipped out of the window because the figure was chasing me and when I reached to grab the statues hand I slipped and fainted while still falling. Tom was at the bottom to catch me but because of his leg I was to heavy and we both landed into the fountain. Corbin went to save me, which left Ry to tackle the villain. The figure punched Ry and ran away there were no more traces of him; I mean villain after that.
I caught my head on a rock or something & sprained my wrist, so I’m writing with my left hand (trust me it’s hard). Tom’s arm is badly bruised and so is Ry’s head. Oh No. How do I cover this from Ms Hartland? Why isn’t life like Harry Potter? He breaks all the rules then gets a medal for at the end.
Fabulous. So the girl how got us into this mess has to how get us out.
One minuet I can get rind of the bruises. It’s called the art of make-up. Now what to do about my arm. Hmm. Ooh LIGHT BULB! Right I need story and a way to of sprained my arm. Right. Ok. Hmm. GOT IT. If I could fake falling off my bunk then I can sprain my arm. Quick BACK TO THE ROOM.
5am (back at the room)
Ok, ok. If I lie on the floor then thump my fist flat off the floor and start wailing. I could fake it. No they won’t believe that. Unless, I really do fall of my bunk, ok that’s what I’ll do. Ok.
3…………..2………..1… 1/2………..1/4… ok just go for it.
0.
7am (back on the road again)
I’m such a genius. I’m not bragging or anything but that was smart. They took me to ‘le intensive car’ (French intensive care). And guess what? I had a sprained arm. Wow. I’m being sarcastic. But I’m back on the bus again. Do want to know what I’m wearing. Well. I’m wearing a pink tartan skirt and a white blouse. I look so cool. Boy have I bumped my head or something I’m being so braggy. I’ll stop. Or try to anyway. Today were going to the theme park. No not Disney land, that’s too expensive for my cheapskate school. Were going too Coaster parc. Wow-ee. They apparently only get 50 customers a day & there are 40 of us, least queues will be short. Very Short.
I hate rides why do I have to go. I’ll only get forced on to the biggest rollercoaster in France, so everyone can laugh at the photos.
Synopsis of Teen spy Paris Edition
Lori Nickel, a clumsy, quirky, impulsive blonde, is the youngest and newest member of Teen Spy and co. (A group of spies who solve mysteries all over the world, who are teenagers. It’s basically what it says on the tin). She is a girl blessed with beauty, grace and intelligence but her naïve nature is her down fall, never mind how easily she falls into trouble and jumps into action way before she can think about what she’s doing.
Ry Mirabelle Is Lori’s best friend, and the pair fight like cat and mouse but they’ll always have one another’s back. Ry is a cute youthful boy who has an awfully perverse nature and loves nothing more then to flirt, he is also a junior at teen spy.
Thirdly is fellow and final junior Corbin Harks, the cute and cool dream boat of the school with an often mysterious nature. Corbin doesn’t pay that much attention to Lori, but she has fallen completely head over heels in love with him.
Ella is the intermediate at Teen spy. Being an intermediate is the stepping-stone between being a junior and being a head. Ella is curvy and voluptuous to say the least and is basically a tart. Ella is also a bitch, and often bullies Lori but she has someone else pulling her strings.
That person is Nancy, co. head of Teen spy and co. And apparently Ella’s best friend. But best friends would not manipulate and control people the way that Nancy does Ella. Nancy is queen bee, dark and mysterious and she has a lot more hidden up her sleeve then your average queen bee. Nancy hates Lori and is quite abrupt about her feels towards her.
Fellow founder (along with Nancy) and Co. Head of teen spy is Tom, who is infact the complete opposite to Nancy. He is kind hearted, mellow and loves Lori like a little sister. During all of Lori’s stupid stunts Tom is the one looking out for her and the one catching her when she falls, literally.
This Teen spy tale follows our group’s adventures in Paris. They arrive there on a completely normal school trip, but there are darker forces at work. The Louve get in touch with HQ to inform them about a believed plot to steal the Mona Lisa. It’s up Lori and her friends/enemies to find out which criminals intend to steal the Mona Lisa before it happens.
The group set out on their mission to find out how it is planning to steal the Mona Lisa. However every time things gets into action Nancy and Ella and miraculously disappear. Yet Lori wonders if that could ever possibility be just a coincidence, the only thing that doubts her is that every time that they have ever bumped into the criminal it has obviously been a man.
The first time that they bumped into him he stole Corbin and hung off the side of a building in a bird cage, and the second time he tried to convince Lori to steal the Mona Lisa for him, when she rejected he tied her Tom and Ry to a tree. Lori then tackles the villain and kicks him before getting tied up. When Lori gets back to her room though she gets devastating news.
Her belovered Corbin is dating Pepper-lee, a pretty popular girl who everyone adores. In anger she starts to write a letter about him, but when looking for her pen she finds a scrap of metal which had fallen off her enemy, it is then that she works out that they are dealing with a robot. They then go to inform the head of the Louve.
That night there is a fire in the hotel in which the group are staying which Lori is accused of. To prove her point in her exceptionally stubborn way, Lori runs back into the building and ends up getting seriously burnt until Tom rescues her. Both characters suffer from severe burns from her idiocy. Both Lori and Tom end up having an extra special skin graft, which means that they can get back on the case in a day.
While in the hospital, Lori has a dream where she foresees herself being flattened by a column.
After she has had her skin graft Lori is informed that the Mona Lisa has actually been stolen. That night they go to find some CCTV footage to work out who stole the Mona Lisa but when they enter the CCTV room Lori can smell tranquiliser, and the guard is missing. When they go to find him no one has heard from him.
Lori then rings the phone operator to try and find out the owner of a phone, which the head of the Mona Lisa gave her. She found out that this phone could control the robot so she set out to find out who owns the phone. When she phones that operator she finds that infact Nancy owns the phone. This makes one thing clear and definite; Nancy in their villain and Ella is her accomplish.
Using her “god given talent” on lying Lori and Tom fake illness and stay a day in the hotel to try and find out more about Nancy’s scheme, but in true Lori fashion she stumbles across something a lot darker then expected.
Lori finds the missing security guard from the Louve stuffed into Nancy’s cupboard. Luckily his is asleep, but it seriously scar’s Lori; they speak to him and then find out what his account of that night was. He tells of seeing a man stealing to Mona Lisa and then blacking out, this makes everything fit together in Lori’s head. She sees that Nancy and Ella must be destroying their witnesses while the robot would steal the Mona Lisa with out leaving any finger prints.
Lori, then gets her dreams realised when after falling out with Tom (Tom has a very hidden impatient side of him, and can snap when he feels the tension) and she goes out on to roof in the huff. Corbin follows her, but then he scares the life out her, nearly sending her falling over the edge of the roof. Corbin catches her and then there is a spark, they kiss. But then Corbin makes her stop because it is wrong for him because he is dating Pepper-lee. She falls out with Corbin at that point.
Lori finds herself stressing out on all of her friends and leaving herself alone. It is at this point Lori turns to the darker side in her mind and join’s forces with Nancy and Ella. Seeing her as way of finding out the plans of her enemies, Nancy uses Lori as a chance to find out much needed information. Yet Lori is much clever then this and lies; and after a few hours Lori decides that cannot handle Nancy that much. In her firecracker way she loses her temper and tells Nancy exactly what she thinks of her the pair start fighting, which is admittedly Lori who starts it but the passion is too strong, and Ry and Tom must break them up.
At this point Lori makes ammines with the boys after their quarrels. Lori and Ry then set out on their own mission as they both wish to prove themselves as worthy. They set out to find the Robot which they quarrel with through out the book, yet then they find the where bout’s of the Mona Lisa and take that back to Tom and Corbin.
In true Tom style though he is still not impressed as he doesn’t think that their care is safest. There fore they join their class on their trip to Sucre Blur and then sneak of to the Louve to return it. On the way to the Louve Lori realizes that Tom, Ry and Corbin have gone missing and she thinks it’s simply because she has been running to slow. She soon finds out that Infact Nancy and Ella snatched them and had the Girls from her year group. They intend to Kill the boys unless Lori joins their team, Of course Lori won’t. But she manages to free her friends and harm their captives.
But them Lori realizes that she has lost the bag with the Mona Lisa inside of it. Tom is even more furious at her at this point and after the whole of teen spy go looking for it she remembers that she left it on the bus the whole time. When Teen spy return from the Sucre Blur, Lori heads to her room. When she gets there she hears two people talking in the room, she hears Corbin breaking up with Pepper-Lee.
This is a great moment for Lori Nickel. At the end of the book everyone who has been on the trip attends a ball on a boat down the seine river. Lori and Corbin dance the night away but when they go back to check on the Mona Lisa they find it missing, and Nancy and Ella running off with it. They jump off the end of the boat and Lori and Corbin follow while Ry and Tom contact the police and steer the boat away Lori and Corbin.
They chase Nancy and Ella up the Eiffel tower until they reach the balcony of the 2nd floor. It is here that Nancy and Ella abseil off the edge of the balcony. Lori is terrified as is Corbin and the two confess their love for one another and then they follow Nancy and Ella of the edge. Lori snatches the bag and at the bottom of the tower the police catch Nancy and Ella. Lori and Corbin start dating and they give the Louve the Mona Lisa back. Ry, Tom, Corbin and Lori all walk off to live happily ever after… possibly.
I have started a second book that follows this plot on
Gender:
Points: 1620
Reviews: 24